#anyway picking fights and making the romantic rival a foil NEVER

[alienor-woods]

Me, reading this Vanity Fair piece, remembering all the times the old guard cautioned newer Jon x Sansa shippers to just chill out, enjoy the fic and fan art, to ship and let ship, that different people are drawn to different relationship dynamics, that arranging your shipping life around how you think the story will end just creates conflict with other fans, to not make hating Dany and vilifying Dany so central to the ship ethos, lest we drum up a stupid ship war that will overshadow the overarching story and make everyone’s lives miserable:

And heeeeere we are!

[mars-the-4th-planet]

But thats gay tho

Yuri Gagarin woke up, after her first night having the Penny that was supposed to belong to Freedom Sayori but since Yuri Gagarin got her first, she recognized Yuri Gagarin as her owner.

Freedom Sayori was not pleased by this, and had gone off to complain to EA Robotics Headquarters Co™®© about the absurdity that was having a robot assign itself automatically to whoever opened the box, and to demand another one for free.

"Good Morning Yuri my best friend! I hope you slept well!"

"Nnngghhhh..." Yuri Gagarin groaned. She did not sleep particularly well, as she had nightmares of having her rocket break down in space and being trapped and unable to move out there in the black void, forever circling the sun.

"Wait... Um... Were you standing there the whole time Penny?"

"Yes! You told me to stand guard remember?"

"Oh.. See I thought..."

Penny hugged Yuri Gagarin. "I am happy too see you are awake finally!"

Yuri smiled a bit. "You werent just watching me the whole time were you?"

"I was, is that bad? A spider was about to crawl on you but I made it shoo. You looked beautiful sleeping, dont worry!"

"Thank you, I suppose? That is very strange... Weird that you could watch someone for hours on end."

Yuri Gagarin wiped drool off the side of her mouth, immensely doubting she looked beautiful as her hair was a huge purple tangled mass wrapping around her upper body. "Time to brush my hair... I hate doing it, my hair is so hard to make look nice." She grumbled.

Penny picked up a brush, and said: "Okay!"

Yuri Gagarin didnt mean she had to do it, but was pleasantly surprised that she interpretated it that way.

Some getting ready later, made much quicker with the help of her Penny, Yuri rolled out of her room. Freedom Sayori still wasnt back.

"Say, Yuri? Have you tried becoming Friends with Sayori? She seems nice!"

"No, she I have not. Okay once I did to trick her but in the end I was sorely beaten anyway..."

"You should be friends with her for REAL!" Penny suggested happily.

"N... No..." Yuri Gagarin muttered. "She and I are not compatible. She is the champion of freedom, and is so powerful, I am just a loser really. The soviet union does not even exist anymore, and I for one am no closer to bringing it back than I was when it first fell."

Penny put down a calculator. "According to my calculations, it is extremely unlikely that it will ever work... If you want my honest advice..."

Yuri Gagarin glared at her slightly... And then stopped and said "I do."

"Then I suggest giving up on the soviet union, Yuri! I think you would be better off trying to help Russia be the best it can be the way it is now! Modern Russia has done something the Soviet Union never could... Subjugate the United States president while he is still in office! And improve the standards of living for Russians! Think about it Yuri!"

Yuri Gagarin did not want to think about it, but she could not stand to deny it either since Penny was only telling her the truth. Maybe... Maybe it WAS time to let go of the past, and look to the future of her homeland instead. "Perhaps someday we will try socialism again, in a better way that works... Like what China has achieved..."

"Or maybe like Norway..."

"Or Sweden..."

"Or even Finla-"

KT-TSSHHHH

The sound of glass breaking filled the house. Kuusi Palaa slammed into the couch and lay there stunned.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!"

Kuusi Palaa seemed to be coming to her senses, slowly.

"Wait, Yuri. Give her time to recover okay?" Penny suggested.

A minute or so later and the Finn got up, only to realize then she had been placed in a cage.

"Kyarven taoji skalivaa da Monarcha en bitch." She explained.

Penny translated what she said to Yuri, minus the last word since Penny couldnt curse. And it was unnecessary anyway.

"That does sound bitchy." Yuri Gagarin agreed. "Why did you come to us though?"

Kuusi Palaa explained that sense Monarcha had ordered Kuusi Palaa to stop Yuri Gagarin from escaping, she assumed they were enemies and Kuusi Palaa wanted to switch sides.

She also added that she was almost out of fuel because using her rocket to smash through the glass and escape resulted in a tiny leak that drained the compressed alcoholic fuel that she relied on to fly. (Remember, her rocket is made of glass covered by foil.) Kuusi Palaa hoped that if she gave Yuri information, she would help her by fixing the leak and giving her more fuel.

Penny believed her but Yuri Gagarin was not so sure. She doubted Kuusi Palaa was trustworthy and doubted even more that Monarcha would try to eat her. Yuri Gagarin did not really consider Monarcha an enemy, or even a rival. So she didnt understand why she would go through the trouble of sending a Finland bottle rocket girl after her.

And so, Yuri Gagarin stuck the cage on a shelf. "You will stay there until I can confirm or deny what you claimed." Yuri Gagarin said.

Kuusi Palaa just shrugged, happy that she was in a relatively safe place where she would not end up unable to fly and get eaten by Monarcha. She was still shaking a bit from the close call.

"Now, Penny?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I will try to befriend sayori. After all, she does not like the current administration of the United States either so maybe she can compromise with me?"

"Yay!"

"Truly this day has been a day of discovery, much to my confusion I have been toss't into the midst of decisions and new information! Is my goal maybe too unreasonable? Must I reconsider my path? Perhaps so! Has Russia gone down a better path? It seems like it! Can I become friends with the beautiful Freedom Sayori by letting the past stay in the past? I think maybe I can! Can I bring forth socialism in America and Russia?! Maybe someday I will if I am not spending my life fighting Freedom Sayori!"

"I am so proud of you Yuri, my friend!" Penny hugged her tightly.

Yuri Gagarin responded to this by hugging her back and kissing the robot on her artifical lips. Yuri got romantically attached quickly to her friends, such was her way.

Kuusi Palaa whistled.