Anya (Mouthwashing)

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Do-gooder
Full Name	Anya (surname unknown)
Alias(es)	Nurse Anya Anya Noname (placeholder surname on ID card)
Origin	Mouthwashing
Occupation	Nurse of the Tulpar Freighter
Powers / Skills	Intelligence Medical knowledge Psychological evaluation
Hobby	Hanging out and celebrating with the crew. Talking to Curly. Studying. Running. Binging reality TV and fast food. Playing board games.
Goals	Protect herself from Jimmy after he raped and impregnated her. Administer Curly his painkillers (failed). Put Curly out of his misery (abandoned). Kill herself (succeeded).
Family	Unborn child †
Friends / Allies	Jimmy (formerly) † Curly Swansea † Daisuke †
Enemies	Jimmy
Type of Hero	Honorable Optimist

“	I have to believe our worst moments don't make us monsters, Jim.	„
	~ Anya to Jimmy.

Anya is the tritagonist of the 2024 psychological horror game Mouthwashing, developed by Swedish developer Wrong Organ.

She was the nurse aboard the intergalactic Tulpar freighter (of Pony Express), when the co-pilot, Jimmy, steered the ship into an asteroid, marooning the crew. Shortly beforehand, Anya had been raped and impregnated by Jimmy, with only Curly to turn to for guidance - arguably the only crew member she felt truly comfortable with.

On the stranded ship, Anya was tasked with administering Curly’s pain medication following his horrific disfigurement, but all the while, she was emotionally and verbally abused by Jimmy. Under the pressures of pregnancy, and the general tragedy of the situation, Anya eventually committed suicide by overdosing on oral medication.

Appearance

Anya is an adult woman with fair skin, black eyes, and black hair styled in a wolf cut. She wears a Pony Express overall over a pink, green, and white turtleneck, paired with brown sandals and white socks. Her downturned eyes, prominent eyelashes, and constant pout give her a perpetually sorrowful look.

Personality

On the surface, Anya is a quiet, reserved, and somewhat gloomy woman who often appears nervous. She has a gentle, soft-spoken manner and tends to be shy around the rest of the crew, though she tries to do right by them, even when mistreated. Anya is also prone to anxiety and breakdowns, and tends to withdraw from others when overwhelmed. Before the crash, Curly was usually the one to comfort and reassure her during these moments, especially in matters related to her relationship with Jimmy, the primary source of her depression.

Anya is clearly afraid of Jimmy throughout the game. Following the crash, Anya gives fawn responses when around Jimmy and takes great care to avoid upsetting him, offering him praise to keep him appeased; she is also frequently startled by Jimmy appearing unexpectedly throughout the game, particularly at night.

Anya often asks Jimmy to administer Curly's painkillers instead of her, as it makes her uncomfortable; this is likely due to memories of her assault being triggered by both the act of forced insertion, the sounds Curly makes during it, and sympathy for Curly. Still, Anya serves as his primary caretaker, even without much experience and with only the resources of a first aid kit on board. Despite his mistakes, Anya is very nurturing towards Curly and hates to see him suffer.

Despite her apparent melancholy, Anya is a very kind, intelligent, and determined woman at heart with a strong passion for nursing, and she was able to care for a critically injured Curly for up to 4 months without a noticeable decline in his health, even with meager resources and after Jimmy (and Swansea) suggested she was incompetent at being a nurse. She was also shown to be playful and competitive during board games with Daisuke, had a sense of humor by teasing Swansea at the birthday party, and tried to see the best in other people. The medical office's corkboard suggests both an artistic taste and enjoyment of nature via the photos and doodles.

All of her positive traits contradict the protagonist's perception of Anya as weak or inept, as players interact with her primarily from Jimmy's perspective to reinforce how she is dehumanized by him. This irony is also highlighted when Jimmy hypocritically and clumsily attempts to save a mortally wounded Daisuke with mouthwash as disinfectant, even though Anya had previously said it wouldn't work.

Before her assault, she was lively and got along with the rest of the Tulpar crew. She also had high hopes for the future despite the less-than-stellar conditions of her current career. Only after being assaulted did her demeanor begin to shift and become less high-spirited, along with the news of Pony Express going under, her lack of savings, and being stranded amid a group of male colleagues with the only one she trusted being incapacitated. It's also worth noting that none of the men give Anya proper sympathy or regard despite Jimmy's case being the worst and most overtly ill-intentioned, as Swansea had written her off and Curly effectively failed to protect her.

Despite the hand she was dealt, Anya still retains a semblance of optimism, kindness, forgiveness, and inner strength, looking for a way out and wanting to believe that "our worst moments don't make us monsters," which is a sentiment related to both Jimmy and Curly, especially the latter, whom she continued to care for after the crash despite his grave lapse in judgment in enabling Jimmy. Although she appears timid and standoffish at first glance, she has a higher level of accountability and resilience compared to Jimmy, who, despite being controlling and self-assured, found it emasculating to respond to pressure responsibly or humanely, instead reacting with impulsivity and abuse rather than with the rationality and maturity that Anya had.

However, the immense tragedy of her situation, including her pregnancy, the physical loss of her once dependable captain, and the feeling of having nowhere to turn, overwhelms Anya with sadness and dread, but also defiance. She calls her final act of suicide the "best decision [she'll] ever make" by going out on her own terms, echoing her own words from earlier about Jimmy and Curly's "worst moments" and rejecting the possibility she might die due to Jimmy's actions or an outright attack, as she had previously hidden a gun for herself. She also locked herself and Curly in Medical right before overdosing, effectively dooming him to death; whether this was out of mercy or spite is unclear, and it could be a mix of both.

Anya is also noted to spend most of her free time studying, and she runs to clear her head. When Anya needs to zero out, she binges on "the worst reality television and fast food known to man," though she would never admit to that.

Biography

Anya has attempted to get into medical school eight times without success and is only permitted to practice as a nurse on Pony Express because of her nursing classes. She joined Pony Express to earn money while continuing to pursue medical school. Despite her success in keeping Curly alive with minimal medical supplies, Jimmy frequently questions her skills as a nurse.

Gallery

Anya's Steam trading card wallpaper.

Anya with Curly in Medical.

Anya and Swansea.

Anya's suicide.

Trivia

• From what can be seen on Anya's ID card, fans had originally speculated that her last name could be "Musume."
  • Johanna Kasurinen later revealed that the card actually reads "Anya Noname" as a placeholder, as she did not expect the unburnt version of the cards to be in the game originally; currently, Anya has no canonical last name, but she will be given one later via "something else."
• Her appearance resembles that of Wendy Torrace from the Shining, which was an intentional choice on the developers part. This is stated in the Mouthwashing Developer diary #1 on their Steam page.
• Anya quotes the words from the positive affirmation poster in her medical office when she says, "Our worst moments don't define us."
• Anya has many nursing books in her office, such as "Human Anatomy 101," "Epidemiology 101" by Dr. Byrgenwerth, "First Aid on the Frontline" by Dr. M. Sarang, "First Year Nurse," "Medical Diagnosis & Treatment," and "Intro to Medicine."
  • There are also fiction books on her shelves, such as "Stories from Overlooked Hotel."
  • She has other books, such as "Pipeline" and "Up or Down? Illusion of Choice" about pain perception in fish.
    • The book "Up or Down? Illusion of Choice" is a reference to another game by Wrong Organ, How Fish Is Made.
• The name Anya in Latin means grace, delicate, strength, and in Hungarian, it means mother.
• Anya's favorite Pokémon is Glaceon.
• Anya's office was inspired by classic, dingy, middle school nurse rooms. This was to highlight the absurdity of the ship's design, where giving the crew comfort by the company is always done in a soulless, ineffective way.

External Links

• Anya on the Mouthwashing Wiki