gentle reminder that people do not have to like/ship the popular ships in a fandom. widely popularized ships do not equal canon ships and even if they were, people are allowed to have different pairings they prefer. if one fandom creator popularized things, it does not mean that every single other creator has to also do that thing.
please be respectful and considerate of the people making free content for your enjoyment as well - you never know whats going on on the other end of the screen to cause an author to not upload a new chapter or why the artist hasn't posted new art in three weeks. their boundaries are just as important as anyone else's and deserve to be respected as a basic human right.
if you're a minor, do not participate in 18+ spaces! this is for your safety as well as the safety of everyone else. if anyone over the age of 18 insists its okay for you to participate in nsfw topics with them, run. be careful with what you're posting online, too. you never know who has ill intent when interacting with you.
be also incredibly mindful that not everyone wants to participate in fandom discourse. proship/antiship discourse, ship wars, "what are your thoughts on [insert problem here]", - these are good and fun in their own respects, but can be incredibly distressing if brought up out of nowhere.
fandom is supposed to be for fun, and it isn't fun if its stressful and dangerous.
Willow/Kennedy isn't really my ship, personally it wasn't for me, but as someone who is also in the "widely unpopular and overall not well liked canon ship" trenches I do feel for people who like Kennedy or the Kennedy/Willow ship. Like I rarely see shippy content for them or people saying nice things about them... and honestly I know how that feels. So while I won't lie and say I like Willow/Kennedy, and I might critique the ship, I wouldn't post flame-y hate about Kennedy or the ship. (I mean I don't usually post hate about anything).
I’m listening to a compilation of Buffy love themes on YouTube, and whilst nothing is ever going to beat Bangels or Calendiles’ themes, I have to admit that the theme for Buffy and Riley is actually really lovely.
Some of you may know this, but I'm one of the mods on the Buffyverse discord server, which is space dedicated to, well, the Buffyverse fandom (we welcome all ships etc). You can join here. Hope to see you there!
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Riley Finn/Buffy Summers, Riley Finn & Graham Miller
Characters: Buffy Summers, Riley Finn, Graham Miller (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Joyce Summers
Additional Tags: Fluffy-ish, Romance, aftermath of traumatic stuff (aka aftermath of the S4 finale), Between Seasons/Series, Male Friendship, acute stress disorder (implied), implied mental health issues, cuddling and kissing, Happy Ending
Series: Part 2 of Debrief-verse
Summary:
Follow up to Debrief. Buffy takes Riley home, but their struggles are far from over.
Seriously though, modern fandom, y’all need to remember that you can, like, ship multiple ships.
Like I can ship two ships that are diametrically opposed, at the same time, because I like both ideas. You don’t have to choose one or the other.
Like I can ship, for example, Sam/Frodo, and also Sam/Rosie, both AT THE SAME TIME. I don’t have to pick ONE couple and denounce all others, and tell everyone else that their ships are WRONG and BAD and mine is the only TRUE AND CORRECT ship.
The thing I don't get about all the Riley hate is that I don't think he did anything worse than anyone else? Like, Spike goes around having massacres with Drusilla (and so did Angel). I mean I understand people finding Riley a bit bland and not liking him but like. I don't understand all the hate.