Bertie is disturbed by a problematic erotic dream. Tuca worries about following up with her nurse friend.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: There's nothing wrong with weird sexual fantasies or kinks, even if you've experienced sexual violence in the past, and you can use them to set healthy boundaries in real life. Bertie begins having fantasies about Pastry Pete, and is disturbed that they're more effective than her usual ones. She discusses this with her therapist, who tells her that there's nothing inherently wrong with such fantasies, and they can in fact be perfectly healthy - they're Bertie's brain's way of processing her trauma and making sure she's the one in control of the power dynamics. More importantly, Bertie has no way of knowing whether she would have developed these predilections even if she hadn't been molested as a child, so they're not an indication of her being "broken" or "tainted". Her therapist also encourages her to be honest with Speckle about the fantasies, as he can help her translate those feelings into something less disturbing for her. The couple tries it in the bathroom that night, and not only are they much more communicative to each other this time, but they both thoroughly enjoy it.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: As Tuca grows more and more anxious about waiting for Kara to reply, everywhere she goes just reminds her of those three texting "dots".
- Running Gag: After tossing her vibrator into the river, it is repeatedly seen swimming with the fishes. Eventually, it's shown to have sex (thankfully off-screen) and spawned kids with one of the fishes.
- Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer: In-Universe example; Speckle gets sucked into his fantasy adventure game's gardening subsystem.
- Shout-Out: One of the posters in Big_Hairy_Stallion_69's room is called Bloodhorn.
- Something Else Also Rises:
- Bertie's orgasm after Pastry Pete hijacks her fantasy is represented by a volcano erupting, waves crashing against a rock, a bread rising, and a black gloved hand stamping "ORGASM" on an order form.
- The pufferfish inflates with intrigue when it notices Bertie's discarded vibrator.
- Stalker with a Crush: Tuca kind of becomes this, repeatedly going by the lighthouse and stalking her social media streams (Luckily her crush is totally chilled with, showing she's also looking up Tuca's older online posts).
