elsewhere pengo used “rip” just to mean “this sucks”, e.g. when telling mel that curly was feeling bad. and i certainly remember his using it even less seriously at the time, e.g. on tumblr. in my experience he uses it like i would use “ugh”.
pengo was emphasizing the sparking outlet, so that’s what i was replying to. it looks like mel just missed that earlier text about the sirens, which is unfortunate, but leaves us with nothing to really analyze.
mel did try to cheer him up after the first text with a joke about baltimore, where she and marl used to live. that’s probably what i would’ve done, too. if there’s something better to say then please let us know for the future.
clearly “mom had an accident” is something bad, but generally people only say that much if it’s something relatively minor — anything from slipping in the kitchen and spraining one’s ankle to a minor fender bender would also qualify, and those things would be inconvenient, but wouldn’t cause any of the results that pengo complains mel “ignored”. i certainly don’t see how she could’ve been expected to guess that a person died and a family was stuck without transportation from just that single phrase.
ok actually i gotta say another thing about the night of that dinner since i guess i didn’t drive it home hard enough
mel was hanging out with friends and family she rarely got to see. mel wanted to hang out with pengo, as well, but he repeatedly declined.
in the situation pengo chose to put himself in, a few otherwise mundane events triggered his paranoia.
it seems so completely ludicrous to me to condemn mel for this, in any way. she should’ve, what, put everything on hold to coddle pengo at any microscopic hint of distress?
she didn’t reply to a text? so what? we’ve been together six years and sometimes we don’t see (or even get) each other’s texts for days. if it’s that important, maybe call? on the phone you are holding?
pengo is, and was, a capable adult. to suggest otherwise, to suggest that other people – yes, even a significant other – is OBLIGATED to read his mind about every minor problem he has and what the solution ought to be? THAT is treating people with mental illness as though they are helpless on their own. THAT is what fucking ableism looks like.