#I wrote an essay on shipping

[skitskatdacat63]

"The Boy With The Thorn in His Side"(x) - The Smiths × 2023 Strollonso moments + pundits' reactions

[peawinkls]

why jfabe is NOT!!!! boring and lifeless and proving that wrong, an informational thread discussing their relationship and dynamic, because honestly im getting tired of ppl saying their boring

contains s3 spoilers!

The relationship between JFK and abe from Clone High is something alot of people within the community discussed, especially before s3, being talked about more after s2's finale. Many speculated that the two would remain friends or even become more than that.

Now with season 3 out, we have a lot more things to work out with, specifically episode 3. It's something a lot of people are too afraid to admit, but jfabe/abefk would make the show a lot more interesting, rather than its repeatable joanabe plotline.

So, I'm here to talk about the inner workings of this pair, why their so interesting, and why they work out so much, whether platonic or not. If ur not a fan of jfabe/abefk, or heavily dislike the ship, I'd recommend turning away from this post.

Introduction, the who, the when, the why, the how...and their differences n similarities

So, we all know these two characters. JFK the beloved, Abe the hated. Something that many people picked out of the 2020 clone high fandom. But what if i told you that the beloved and the hated were truly meant to be together from the start?

What we already know is that they are the complete opposite of each other in many ways. JFK is meant to be a parody on 90s jocks from highschool movies and tv shows. Abe is the weak nerd who desperately wants to be cool.

JFK is buff and shorter, Abe is tall and lanky. JFK is a douchebag, Abe is the nicer guy. The list goes on and on. And they even have stuff in common, such as the fear of abandonment and the fear of ruining things.

But one difference i can note is that Abe is way more naive than JFK, JFK is portrayed as empty-headed, but not empty-headed enough to not realize whats going on. Of course, despite the differences, both characters make a really good team.

And this was even evident in s2 ep10, aka the finale, where they both realize that they make a great "duo of bros who'll remain friends for the rest of their lives". Jfabe shippers were FEEDING on this shit back then you have no idea

So with this stuff out of the way, it's time to talk about my favorite episode out of season 3.

Bible Humpers: A Much Needed Praycation

This episode revolves around JFK getting tired of having meaningless sex with girls and partying hard, and decides to seek out a new life when he and Abe discovers the prayer pals club, hosted by Lady Godiva. And at first, Abe is happy to see that JFK is taking on new opportunities.

"Where the slut goes, the wing slut follows."

But eventually, JFK starts straying away from Abe and his friendship, to the point of even FORGETTING about the broniversary that Abe had planned for the both of them (he literally baked a giant cake for him, look at me and tell me thats straight cmon now).

Seeing how Abe had already lost Joan and Gandhi, he didn't wanna lose JFK either, and does everything he can to make him happy and thats so clear. And even at the end of the episode, it's revealed that Abe even respected his choice on ultimately choosing celibacy.

He really does care a bunch for JFK, liking him for who he truly was (compared to JFK's other dates) and respecting his choices. And despite choosing celibacy over Abe, the two still remain close, which really tells you how great their bond is.

So something HAS definitely changed throughout the years, from them hating each others guts to potentially becoming clone highs next couple...which didn't happen, and I'm still petty about it i will admit.

But even if they didn't become canon at the end, you could really tell that some people who worked on this episode wanted them to be a thing, and that's a good enough sign for me that they could hopefully become canon in the next season if we ever get one (still petty though).

Let's circle back to season 1 again. I'm not making a jfabe thread without mentioning Litter Kills: Literally, which is another episode that jfabe shippers fed on. In this episode, JFK's close friend Ponce dies, and he's left to grieve over him.

And in this episode, we see a side of JFK that we never saw before. He starts wondering why the hell he's feeling all of these emotions, because he's a Kennedy, and he's not used to them. But Abe helps him realize that emotions like this are normal.

And even if the two hated each other, Abe apologized to him in the end and finally realized his mistakes. It seemed like Abe disliked him, yet he cares about him. Abe never knew what if felt like, because he hasn't lost a friend close to him.

So he starts berating Cleo for comforting JFK and was even aggressive towards JFK as well, believing that he was only doing all of this just to take Cleo away from him. That was all because he NEVER knew what it was like. But he finally understood.

He was sorry, but he felt like he couldn't do much to help because he didn't experience the same thing. So he just hugged JFK and held him...for a really long time.

But that was just enough for JFK, all he needed was comfort, and Abe chose to do that. So even at the episode, he couldn't help but ask JFK if he was alright. And by the next episode, JFK was already feeling better. All it takes is someone to tell you that its gonna be okay.

So what I'm trying to say is despite their own anxieties, flaws, characteristics, whatever, their PERFECT for each other. I don't like how people label them as "boring", when their so much more deeper than that.

Jfabe/AbeFK is one of my comfort ships for this exact reason. Their lore, dynamic and relationship goes beyond that, i don't ship them just because i think their cute, but because their interesting, and it may seem like im going insane over a white boy ship, but i truly, truly, from the bottom of my heart, love this ship to pieces, and hopefully people can see that through me. Thank you, clone high.

[chickensoup1025]

CREEK THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE BREAKUP

The FACT that the only people in town who were upset by their "second" breakup was 1) Tweek 2) Craig 3) Both's parents because they were worried about their sons.

NOT THE WHOLE TOWN.

They had NO REASON to go back to being in a fake romantic relationship. The pressure wasn't there anymore. The town didn't care anymore.

So when they made up, they both got their good friend back but also unnecessarily made up as a romantic couple. Why do that?

BECAUSE IT WASN'T FAKE ANYMORE.

[kkolg]

eNVy for ship bingo?

Ok I might get a little political here🧍‍♀️/silly but I don’t like it at all that much- IN THE CURRENT TIME OF THE SHOW. I actually really like manor envy specifically but current envy is a no for me😔 I think their relationship is just really unhealthy ESPECIALLY in the early episodes of the show like omg- in later episodes they’ve definitely started to heal that but I think of them better off as close friends rather than partners

NOW I DONT HATE ENVY SHIPPERS I DONT WANT THAT TO BE WHAT YOU TAKE AWAY FROM THIS

I just don’t really like the ship :)

[originalaccountname]

For Anon who wanted to know more about what pro/anti-shipping is, the best source I can give you is the Fanlore wiki page about the term "anti-shipper". It has the history of the term, common incidents from both sides and a lot of sources linked for both sides' concerns as well as a few academic papers on the subject. I also recommend this translated short article aimed at Japanese fans interacting with American fandoms for an outsider point of view. This tumblr post talks about fandom history and provides good context for why being anti-censorship (especially) in fandom is so important.

I talk about it more under the cut, if you want to. The tl;dr version is that all concerns about the potential influence of "immoral fiction" can be fixed by making sure people have a solid understanding and opinion of the concepts featuring in the fiction beforehand.

In fandom spaces, currently anti-shipping means to be against ships and pairings (romantic and/or sexual) that are considered unhealthy, toxic, predatory, taboo, etc, more specifically when they are not explicitly labelled "bad" in-text. As these ships are deemed immoral, a danger to impressionable minds, and are accused of normalizing abuse, ships not meeting a subjective moral bar (which absolutely changes from person to person, sometimes in wild ways) should be shamed out of existence, and the people enjoying them are called bad, evil, immoral, abusers, predators, etc.

Pro-shipping means to be pro (support) all ships, without exception. This means you believe any fantasy can be explored through fiction. It does not mean "problematic shipping". You can be a pro-shipper without shipping anything "problematic" yourself: you just need to refuse to censor fictional character ships. You also don't need to like these ships or even tolerate looking at them. Block freely. I know I have.

I understand the fear of fiction having a damaging influence on someone who doesn't yet know better; that's why we came up with age ratings for TV, movies and games. However, if someone can't identify the problem depicted in a work of fiction, they won't be able to identify the problem in real life either. That's your red flag, not the existence of the story or its author.

What we need is education and support. Censorship is a very, very slippery slope that fails to tackle any issue at the source. Instead, spread resources on consent, bodily autonomy, internet safety, respecting your own boundaries, irl crisis resources, etc. Spread awareness about the importance of proper tagging. Stop using the word "disgusting" and explain why something is bad. You need to address the underlying issue of a real person not knowing why these relationships are dangerous.

If you find yourself hesitant on this topic, remember that, in real life, the most popular TV series for multiple years was Game of Thrones, which has "problematic" everything. People love fucked up stories. You don't get a callout post for writing character A killing character B. It's just that a lot of people get particularly queasy when it comes to sexuality and romance.

[thewallsaretalking-again]

you know what?? Fuck it, there's something I've GOTTA talk about:

(don't worry this isn't like a serious post or anything. also its gonna be really badly written with grammar errors because I'm just really excited to finally be talking about this and I'm shaking like a leaf) (also, if you don't agree with this that is completely fine; everybody ships different ships, this is just one that I personally love and me explaining how it came to be and how I image it. I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything, this is just for fun. If you don't like, that's fine! All I ask is that there is no hate and that you just move on. Thank you!)

I love rairpairs. Like, LOVE them. Anyone who's seen my old transformers art knows that I ship DreadOp which is like, a nonexistent ship. like, the ship equivalent of being an endangered species (there's like 10 fics about it on AO3, so you KNOW it's rare). There's a few examples of me being like this but this is the best example that i have.

But this has gotten to the point where i have done something absolutely ridiculous: I have created an entirely new ship- no, TWO entirely new ships (I'm only going to be focusing on one rn). AND I'VE GOTTA TALK ABOUT THEM because honestly? I love them! so, what monstrosity have I created? Whoo... prepare yourselves (especially you, dark cacao cookie fans...)

Yep. Don't hate me. Please hear me out because honestly iv'e seen more heinous ships in my time on the internet.

so, first of all, the white dude is known as the milk village elder in CRK, and we only see him once in the entire game (that i know of). I love taking npc's and giving them characters, so this is kinda how this happened. I'm gonna start by talking about the milk dude and how i headcannon/ imagine him because it will come into play later.

I gave the milk village elder the name Whole Milk Cookie, because i couldn't exactly call him Milk Cookie; that names already been taken

Whole Milk Cookie isn't actually anyone's grandfather, despite him being called grandad/ grandpappy in the actual game. We never see anyone his age in the milk village, and I like to imagine that its sorta like an honorary title. Like, he acts like everyone's grandpa, so everyone calls him grandpa but no one is actually related to him.

Whole Milk Cookie is like, ungodly sweet. Like, diabetes kind of sweet. its ridiculous. there are only a few ways to get him angry; and trust me, you don't want to...

He's strong. Like, think Hollyberry type strong. Gives the BEST hugs too.

Nobody knows exactly how old he is, but people suspect that he's actually much older than he looks. This could be caused by his extreme talent with the milk that comes from the villages well; if its used right, the milk can cure disease, help pains, or even extend someone's lifespan/ help retain youth. either that or he's some sort of demon but hey, who's counting?

got all that? good. Now the question everybody's asking; why the hell do i ship this? What's the story here? What's the origin? Well hold onto your pants folks because this is where we get into me overanalyzing shit.

behold the line that started it all:

This is so SO vague. why the hell did they put this in here it is SO VAUGE. what does he mean by "THAT king"? you know what it sounds like? someone reminiscing of their time with a loved one who has now changed....

they never elaborate on what exactly this line means and this is the very last line we hear Whole Milk Cookie say in the main story

wondering where exactly he's gone instead of wondering when he's coming back? idk man you sound worried about him...

also saying "laid your eyes upon" just sounds so gay/loving and i don't know why. yeah your laying something thats for sure glfbnvbrfnjkrb (im so sorry)

There's also this line:

The ally thing is kind of given, but why and how isn't this guy talking shit about dark Cacao? Like, he has EVERY right to! but he's not.... its almost like he cares.... and sure he mentions the generation thing but just because your parents were friends with some dude doesn't mean you necessarily like them right? so what gives??

Then there's the matter of Dark Cacao Cookies SON:

who is DArk CHOCOLATE

now Dark Chocolate usually doesn't have any milk/dairy in it, but it DOES need a fat, which whole milk DOES have!!

So, in theory, it would make sense for cacao and milk to make chocolate of some kind, AND it would account for Dark Choco Cookie having a lighter skin tone than his father (lighter eyes and the double white hair streak too)

I also like the story implications outside of cannon:

two people who would generally not be allowed to be in a relationship due to differing status keep a relationship going for years behind the backs of their communities

Dark Cacao Cookie taking full responsibility for taking care of their son, only for everything to become too overwhelming and he begins to remove himself from everything emotionally, wanting to give his son over to his other father to be properly taken care of but can't due to the dangers that poses for everyone in his family

Dark Choco nearly kills him and Dark Cacao has to exile him and (because of a mix of psychological manipulation, grief, and regret) locks up the citadel, leaving Whole Milk Cookie out of the picture entirely

Whole Milk Cookie stews in anger due to everything that's happened and Dark Cacao cookie not taking proper care of their son but eventually falls into guilt as well because he saw the signs of stress and overworking from his partner and didn't step in, assuming that everything was fine (but is still mostly mad at Cacao because he REALLY fucked up and it's not an excuse)

Gingerbrave and the crew comes strolling up and gets the citadel open, and Dark Cacao admits to Dark Choco that he didn't care enough and that he should have done things differently, and that he loves his son. Dark Choco leaves the cookies of darkness and begins a journey of recovery while Dark Cacao vows to do better for his family and kingdom in the future.

Dark Cacao meets up with Whole Milk Cookie to truly apologize to him, admitting everything he's done wrong and that he should have done far, FAR better. He tells WM that he deserves better than him

Whole Milk is obviously still angry and will never forgive Dark Cacao for what he's done. but he still loves him despite everything and would much rather the two of them work together to fix things (not necessarily romantically, more just not hating each other wise) moving forward instead of breaking things off and stewing in grief and anger.

The two of them take things extremely slow and carefully because it's been a long and difficult process, but they, eventually, get back to where they were.

Their recovery process takes years, but by that point Dark Cacao has improved himself exponentially, wanting nothing but the best for his partner and kingdom (and now knowing exactly what NOT to do) They also eventually find Dark Choco Cookie and fix things with him, but that's a whole other can of worms I'm not going to open here.

Just generally a story of two very different people, who despite goin through unimaginable hardships, do their very best despite the circumstances. they love each other more than even they realize and the fact that they are able to fix what was broken by their own hands is a testament to that, despite all of the arguments and tears along the way.

TLDR: Dark Cacao fucks up, his husband is mad but still loves him because he knows him better than anyone else, Dark Cacao actually makes an effort and succeeds to be much much better, and the two of them eventually figure things out. An unlikely love story :)

Ok, wow, that was a lot and kinda sad. But there are a few thiings that i couldn't fit into the rest of this so imma just stick them here:

Whole Milk Cookie finds Immense joy in picking up his husband and throwing him across his shoulder like some kind of really important sack

Whole Milk calls Dark Cacao "Cacao bean"

Dark Cacao loves Whole Milk Cookies cooking to a stupid extent

Dark Cacao loves playing with his husbands fluffy hair

the two of them will often help each other do their hair because they both just have SO MUCH of it

Dark Cacao, despite popular belief, is a flustered mess around his husband and can very often be found blushing like a madman whenever Whole Milk uses his strength

these two have the ABSOLOUTE WORST bedheads. Like, Cacao HAS to braid his hair before going to bed because otherwise the two of them will wake up tangled in it. And Whole Milk will just have an untamable afro.

uhh anyways. thanks for coming to my ted talk

[kivaember]

Not sure if anyone's asked you this yet but PLEASE drop the walt/mich essay!!!

OKAY i went crazy and did an actual essay. im not joking this fucker is long. i'd open the read more in another tab, just to warn you.

ALSO ALSO! This was just me sitting down and rambling about things. It's a summarisation of my thoughts, and I pared it down since it was hitting 5k (it's about 4.4k words long lmao). If this essay has you thinking of specific questions and the like, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them!

Now without further ado, my ramblings below:

THE WALTER/MICHIGAN SHIP ESSAY!

INTRO

That's right baby, I'm giving this an intro and everything. Alright, this essay is all about exploring and explaining my version of the Walter/Michigan ship using the characterisation I gave them for the APV verse. First I'm going to drill down into the individual characters, what makes them tick, their backstory, etc, before finally going into detail about how they mesh together as a ship and why they're both good yet terrible for each other.

THE WORLD LORE

To understand Michigan and Walter, we need to understand the type of world they were born into. Furlong Dynamics is a major powerhouse on the Jupiter colonies, owning several shipyards and carving a specific niche for themselves as the weapon-dealer for interstellar craft. They may not be as well-known or successful as Arquebus or Balam in the defence industry in terms of MTs or ACs, but if you're arming an interstellar craft, you sure as shit are going to use Furlong Dynamics weaponry.

Problem is in post-Fires age, that corner of the market is stagnating due to a lack of new interstellar craft being built. Prior to the discovery of Coral as an energy source, humanity had to do long-stasis and slow-walking their way across the galaxy, which meant trade and the like was incredibly limited between extrasolar colonies. With Coral, however, they were able to make tremendous technological shortcuts to create what they called the "C-Wave Drive". It functions a lot like the hypothetical Alcubierre Drive, with Coral producing the insane amounts of energy required and running the equally insane amounts of calculations needed to ensure the craft doesn't crush itself into a singularity (also, Coral has a very strange relationship with spacetime, the scientists found...). An added bonus as well was that these "C-Wave Drives" required no refuelling.

The interstellar craft needed crude fuel for sublight travel and other functionalities on the ship, but as for long-distance travel? There was no need to make pitstops or set aside cargo space for fuel, so many ships got used to just carrying a small amount that would allow them to travel as needed locally, as it would be easy to refuel when arriving at their destination as and when was needed.

Post-Fires changed this landscape drastically. Overnight, the interstellar craft market was rocked by the realisation that the previously thought limitless and abundant miracle substance that made FTL travel easy and convenient was now extremely finite had them all scrambling. The UEG openly seized every single galactic store of Coral from the corporations, citing "galactic security", and all orders for new interstellar craft - amongst other Coral technologies - instantly halted.

By Young Jupiter time (ten years post-Fires), Furlong Dynamics is beginning to feel the strain. They built their empire on focusing predominantly on interstellar craft - their designs, their weaponry, their engines - and their frantic R&D into solving the energy problem the Coral had shortcutted wasn't going very well. All that could be done was continue to maintain the existing ships that existed, as theoretically the C-Wave Drives could run indefinitely until some sort of mechanical failure happened due to wear and tear. As for new ships, the only ones being built were those utilising the old "slow-walker" engines, which meant bigger, bulkier, slower ships, with less room for ammunition fabrication and storage, and more for stasis compartment and fuel storage. Corporations that had specialised mostly in stasis technologies enjoyed an unexpected windfall, while those like Furlong Dynamic began to languish.

But as they say, shit rolls downhill. With the Corporations struggling to adjust to the Coral shortage and the UEG viciously hording the few galactic stores that remained, the working class found their workload increasing - heavily.

Factories that had benefited from the automation of Coral technologies found themselves in the position where they needed heavy reliance of human productive power. Yet they didn't want their productivity to lower thanks to human limitations, and neither did they want their profits to dent by either hiring too many workers, or paying the few higher wages to make up for the harder work. The few worker protections that had been steadily built up over the past few decades were immediately torn down and rescinded, and the working class were forced to work to maintain the corporations' and the UEG's productivity in their factories and fabrication facilities on basically starvation wages.

So, we have a world that has suffered from a fatal blow to the comfortable status quo. Furlong Dynamics is desperate to try and stem the bleed from their profits that the Coral shortage had started, and the boot has never been heavier on the working class's neck. It's an atmosphere that creates considerable tension within the various stratas of society, and the Jupiter colonies especially - known as the industrial powerhouse of the solar system - have become a bubbling pot. Any socialist talk or gatherings are viciously cracked down on by the corporate and government forces, and the workers are becoming increasingly frustrated and antagonised.

So it makes sense why Walter and Michigan initially have a bit of a rocky start, coming from these polar opposites of society. Michigan, the son of a Furlong Dynamic's director, and Walter, a Rubiconian refugee clawing his way out of the slums.

But alright, world context has been laid down, it's time for the character context. First up:

MICHIGAN - THE PRINCE WHO WANTS TO BE A PAUPER

So, Michigan. G1. Hell On Four Legs. Where did he come from, and who is he? To answer that, we need to look at his family... and Furlong Dynamics' leadership.

Every corporation is unique in its structure and the way it handles leadership. For example, Balam is well-known for its unusual meritocratic selection process for its CEO, though that hasn't exactly escaped the nepotism that pervades the upper echeleons of corporate society. Those with advantageous beginnings normally win the meritocratic race: they just have to work a little harder than most. Furlong Dynamics, however, are upfront about their leadership roles being hereditary.

Five families sit on the board for Furlong with one presiding as a CEO, a role that rotates every five years in a set pattern between the five families. This is a system that has worked for almost as long as Furlong Dynamics had existed (almost 300 years by this point), and needless to say that those five families were old money. They're the equivalent of an aristocracy in a hypercapitalistic galaxy.

One of these families is Rivera, which Michigan was born into as Gabriel Rivera. It was expected of him to succeed his father and sit on Furlong Dynamics' board as a director, so from a very young age he was prepped for this eventuality. His father dictated everything in his life, from his hobbies to what he wore and right down to what he ate. He was drilled in everything to do with business, politics and the interstellar industry, as his father was keen for Michigan to be ready and prepped for when he succeeded him, especially as Furlong Dynamics was entering a critical slump for the first time in its long history due to the Coral shortage. He didn't want his son to be the weak link.

Michigan despised this. He hated the people his father forced him to interact with, he hated the two-faced communication and backstabbing schemes he was encouraged to learn and inflict on others, he hated how boring yet stressful this kind of life was. Contrary to his personality later in life, Michigan was reclusive and anti-social when he was young - a direct result of his father's overbearing and relentless micromanaging - and when possible would hole himself up in his room and escape by watching classical films.

Classical films being... war films and action movies.

Though plenty of media had been lost when Earth suffered from ecological devastation, many had been salvaged throughout the centuries. It had begun from Michigan pilfering from his father's collection, something to put on display and boast about possessing rather than watching, and found himself hooked.

Brave soldiers heroically saving their comrades, taking charge of their destinies, denying fate, overcoming the odds, starting from the gutter and rising to the top from their own merits, making fire-forged friends that were genuine and not shallow transactional facades... this type of fantasy entranced Michigan, giving him a craving that he couldn't quite itch with his luxurious yet empty life. He desperately wished he had been born as some poor bastard whose only option was to join one of the corporate militaries, and distinguish himself by commiting acts of heroism, have people awed by him because of his own merits, and not because he is a Rivera and surrounded by brown-nosing sychophants.

It was a delusional dream driven by an intense desire to escape and forge a genuine connection with anyone, and after years of burying himself deeper and deeper in the propaganda belched out by these old action films (the message of 'war is hell' from the more solemn ones flying miles above his head), Michigan decided: he was going to disown himself and become an MT pilot.

Which he managed. To cut a long story short, Gabriel Rivera became just Michigan, the Rivera name used sparingly and only for legal reasons. He left behind the comfortable executive life to start at the very bottom of the pilot ranks, working his way up with grit and determination, denying any advantages or opportunities that came his way due to his blood or name. He wanted to emulate those heroes that he had watched in those films, he wanted to start with nothing and become something, all with his own efforts, and leave behind the Rivera name and reputation for good.

He started acting more like those gunslinger heroes, loud voice, boisterous personality, easy-going nature and possessing a masculine charm. He's always seeking that big, heroic event, that euphoric moment of victory and achieving the impossible against the odds... but he never really found it. Even after abandoning Furlong Dynamics entirely to jump ship to Balam, he realised that it was just more of the same, his battles against downtrodden workers protesting against their inhumane treatment, or furthering corporate interests over some useless moon in the middle of nowhere. There was no glory or higher purpose - just the company's bottom line.

Michigan started his piloting career as a rich kid craving adventure, naive to the true gritty nature of the galaxy. After decades of piloting under his belt and with an intimiate insight on both sides of the corporate ladder - both at the bottom and the top - to say Michigan was jaded by the time he landed on Rubicon would be an understatement.

He learned that there's no such thing as big damn heroes in this shitty galaxy. All the titles and medals he earned were just window dressings to whatever shitty advertisement his corporate master touted to bolster its reputation or sales. He hated his "Hero of Jupiter" title, and he took great pleasure in launching his "medals" off a cliff and into the ocean like they were frisbees. He hated that in the end his father had been right, that becoming a pilot wouldn't let him run away from the corporate lifestyle, it'd just throw him down to the very bottom and get him trampled

In short, Michigan's a man who tried to forge his own destiny by following a childish dream. His naivety resulted in him being trapped in a life that only had one escape - crawling back to his father and retaking the name Gabriel Rivera - and he viewed that worse than being a corporate attack dog with no real freedom. He'd rather die in some shitty hole in a random ditch somewhere over some pointless resource that meant nothing to him. Was it pride by that point, or stubbornness? He really didn't know.

He just knew that he was just another guy suckered in by the corporations' glitzy and false promises.

WALTER - THE AVENGER WHO KNOWS HE'S DIGGING A GRAVE FOR MILLIONS

Walter, meanwhile, was born to a privileged family of a different sort.

A good few decades before the Fires, Rubicon had done the unthinkable in human history: it had broken away from the UEG and declared independence, becoming a self-sustaining colony with a distinct identity - and able to negotiate with the fuming UEG on equal footing due to its sole access to Coral and its development of the C-weapons. The UEG couldn't take Rubicon or its resources by force (though it surely contemplated it from time to time), and so begrudgingly dealt with them as a peer, legitimising Rubicon as an independent colony and allowing it to forge its own desinty on the galactic stage.

While UEG and its many colonies functioned as a hypercapitalist ogligarchy, Rubicon became a technocracy, with the Rubicon Research Institute having considerable sway over the Rubiconian central government - to the point where it was understood that despite the elected 'president', it really was the Institute that was in charge. This gave rise to the 'intellectual elite', the scientists and academics who ran the Institute - the class that Walter belonged to before the Fires.

His parents were both scientists that worked on the Xylem and lived on-site. They were passionate about their work with the Coral and highly respected within their community, but while they clearly loved Walter, he was always second priority to their research and ambitions. Walter was the only child growing up in the labs (at least, the only one that wasn't a test subject of some kind), and only ever interacted with adults - all of whom were scientists or the security staff. He had never left the Xylem either, his concept of the 'outside world' being the small, sanitised courtyard with the lone tree, and the street he could see past the bars of the labratory's secure and gated exit. While he had some freedom of movement within the facility, there were areas he was barred from entering due to sensitive experiments, or to minimise his interaction with detained test subjects.

As a result, Walter became scarily self-sufficient from a young age, and came across as taciturn or emotionally stunted. He spoke like an adult but struggled to navigate social situations in general, unable to sugarcoat his words and coming across as rude or abrasive when speaking to others. While he found himself occasionally curious about interacting with people who weren't harried scientists that barely tolerated his prolonged presence, Walter genuinely found himself unbothered about his isolation. He was lonely, yes, but he occupied himself well enough, and filled the long stretches of time in furthering his education - determined to become a scientist like his parents and continuing on their work, as what was expected of him.

Then his father began the augmentations and everything went terribly wrong.

His mother volunteered to be Gen Zero, the prototype used to present to the Institute to have the augmentation project greenlighted. Initially, things went well. His mother suffered no significant drawbacks, and demonstrated an incredible boost in mental acuity and calculation power that current neural implants couldn't even begin to compare to. Once the Gen Ones were well underway, however, with a significant death rate at that, his mother began to rapidly degrade, physically and mentally. Walter's last memory of his mother was her unable to recognise him and talking to people who weren't there, knowing that it was the Coral's fault somehow.

His father was driven to perfect the augmentations to ensure his wife's sacrifice wasn't in vain. In Walter's words, he began a carnival of horrors within his labs, killing and mutiliating hundreds within his labs in his pursuit of the refining the augmentation process, with the Institute pumping unlimited resources, funding and test subjects into the project. The glimpse of the future Gen Zero showed them had them eager to achieve that perfection, no matter how many bodies they had to stack up.

It disgusted Walter. While he had never been emotionally close with his parents, he had still respected them, and to see his mother reduced to a crazed husk of herself before dying and his father turning into a monster, destroyed the pedastal he'd put them on. Walter found himself fostering a near irrational hatred for the Coral, rationalising that none of this would've happened if Coral had never been discovered - if it had never existed. He wished, vehemently, for it to disappear.

He got his wish with the Fires.

While the augmentations had made Walter view the Coral with a negative lens, seeing the damage it could do in the wrong hands, the Fires cinched it as a traumatic avatar of destruction in Walter's mind. The Coral was too dangerous to exist in their galaxy, not with how greedy humans could be, and blind to the dangers in pursuit of power. But his motivations weren't noble: he absolutely despised the legacy it represented, how he couldn't hear the word 'Coral' without thinking of his father, his mother, and how everything was robbed from him. It seeded in him an obsession, a hateful, vengeful obsession, because focusing on that, on gunning for a tangible entity that you've vowed to destroy, is far easier to stomach than processing the fact that your life was utterly ruined by selfish ambitions and a freak accident.

Overnight Walter went from part of the very prestigious intellectual elite on Rubicon, to a penniless refugee on one of Jupiter's colonies: Ganymede. It was a shock to the system to find himself in a world where food wasn't simply there whenever he desired it, that shelter wasn't a given, and that clinical cleanliness was a privilege, not a right. He fortunately had Carla with him, though, and while the first few years were rocky, they managed to find their footing by creating a scrapping service in the Ganymede slums, Carla using her previous experience in R&D at the Institute, and Walter his education, to repurpose old tech and mechs or salvage somewhat valuable tech to sell on.

From there, they began to plot, to focus their shared hatred and distrust of the Coral to really make sure it was gone for good, that it wouldn't come back. In the filthy slums beneath Ganymede, with a promise made between two emotionally exhausted yet furious Rubiconian refugees, Overseer was born.

But that's its own story.

Walter's endless conga line of misfortune did well to harden him and make him adaptable to unpleasant surprises. He always expects shit to go wrong at the most inconvenient times, he doesn't trust a single person to do the right thing even if he's known them for years (Carla, who all but raised him, he only trusts to a certain extent), and he realised how hypocritical most people could be. Though he was born as one of the intellectual elite, witnessing and experiencing first hand the oppression and indignity the working class suffered in UEG territories genuinely sickened him - and cemented in his mind that this galaxy couldn't be trusted with the Coral at all.

He had to destroy it for good. He had to make sure it could never come back and hurt anyone else. He had to erase every drop of legacy his shit-for-brains father had built and let history bury him forever. Walter, for all of his outwardly cold and emotionless masks, feels deeply and intently, and all of it is bitter rage.

Walter just doesn't know how to process his emotions well - he was never taught, and he missed those vital milestones with his lonely childhood, locked away in an ivory tower filled with nothing but scientists and test subjects. He feels so much over his father, the Fires, the Coral, but has no idea how to sort through it all. So he stuffs it away. He keeps his gaze fixed on the horizon where his mission to destroy the Coral hangs. He tells himself that once he destroys it for good, it'll all go away: these incomprehensible, heavy and painful emotions. The source of them all will be gone.

Imagine that: condeming millions to death because of crippling, unaddressed daddy issues.

THE SHIP ITSELF

Right, with all that context given, onto the part people really care about: so, why does the Walter/Michigan ship pair well? Or at least, why does APV Walter/Michigan pair well.

Michigan's POV:

From Michigan's side, he's fascinated with Walter. Everything about him just doesn't make sense. He's a 'sewer rat', a working class drone that managed to claw their way out of the muck and elevate his social standing through stubborn grit and determination - but his demeanour belies that. Walter demonstrates a level of education and sophistication that the working class just don't have. Michigan has grown up on Ganymede, and despite the high-ranking executives living in their gated communities and busying themselves with the day-to-day running of their businesses, they do keep an eye on what the working class are up to.

The corporations have perfected subjugation and propaganda to an artform. They can only achieve this if they know their target audience. Michigan knows, as any self-respecting Rivera knows, how the working class tick, their current worries and desires, the statistical trends of their few purchases and which style of propaganda they're most receptive to. Walter fits none of the established norms for Ganymede working class - he doesn't even have a recognisable Jupiter colony accent - so he already presents himself as an interesting puzzle for Michigan to break down.

There's also some genuine respect there too. Michigan acknowledges that Water had to work hard to get where he was, and he appreciates that Walter doesn't mince his words or beat around the bush. He's blunt, direct and isn't in the business of brown-nosing or fawning to ingratiate himself. You always knew where you stood with Walter, or so Michigan felt, and admittedly, Walter reminded him a lot of a certain character achetype in his precious films: the underdog, the guy you ended up rooting for just because he worked so fucking hard for what he wanted.

So, to Michigan, Walter's interesting, he's mysterious, and he's a representation of what Michigan wanted for himself. He wants to be like Walter: a poor as shit refugee making something of himself, with a whole future to distinguish himself and build his own reputation, to forge himself in fire! Michigan is mildly envious, but thinks as well that if he sticks close to him, he'll be able to live vicariously through him, to get a taste of dream he really wanted to achieve...

And because he's so fascinated with Walter, he starts to learn all of his tics and mannerisms too. He begins to understand the minute shifts of Walter's expressions, what he leaves unsaid and knowing when Walter is feeling but just doesn't know how to express or word himself. Michigan is the more emotionally intelligent of the two, and very perceptive despite how he acts. Combined with his easy-going nature and his respect for Walter's hardworking nature and competency, this helped him break through a few of Walter's walls - despite Walter doing his best to rebuild them as fast as possible.

Not to say they don't butt heads: they butt heads a lot. Arguing is their favourite pasttime. They challenge each other, and Michigan knows that he can say whatever and Walter can dish it out right back. Walter doesn't give a shit about any potential ties Michigan may have to the Rivera family - he just gives a shit about Michigan waking him up at 6am and asking him to go running with him. He snaps at him, argues with him, insults him... he treats him as Michigan, and this is what Michigan cares about the most.

Walter's POV:

Meanwhile, Walter's feelings towards Michigan are very complicated. He's irritated by what he sees as Michigan's nosiness towards his private affairs, and he doesn't appreciate him trying to figure him out. Mostly because he doesn't want him figuring out his true identity. Walter wanted to sever any and all ties between him and his father's legacy, and he and Carla took great pains to have no one realise that he was the famous Dr Kohler's son. And the disowned heir of the Rivera family? Definitely in the best position to connect the dots.

But Michigan's also the first person to ever just... treat him normally and roll with his verbal punches. People are usually scared away by Walter's cold attitude and sharp words, but Michigan gave as good as he got, and always shrugged off Walter's meaner comments. It left Walter at a bit of a loss, and after a while he slowly desensitised to Michigan's presence. He rationalised that it's just pointless wasting energy trying to chase off Michigan, but the fact was he... ended up liking his company. He had no idea socialising could be so enjoyable, once you learned to tolerate their more aggravating parts.

There's also a colder and more pragmatic side too: Michigan is useful to him, as a son of an executive, disgraced or not. Walter is aware enough to acknowledge that a small chunk of his tolerance is proportional to Michigan's use for him, but in his mind he sees it as an expected part of their relationship. It's transactional, what they share (or so he tells himself). He offers entertainment to Michigan, who in turns offers the same - and lets Walter take advantage of the few perks being "friends" with an executive's son offers.

He tells himself he can't get attached - he has his mission after all - but by this point Walter's good at ignoring his feelings and burying himself under six feet of concrete denial. He clings to the rationalisation that they're just "friends with benefits" for years, that from the beginning they were only making use of each other - there wasn't really anything there. Even to him that sounded hollow when he finally cut ties and left, to pursue his hopeless and doomed mission. He never really stopped thinking about Michigan, the what-ifs.

He hated it.

...

Also they both share a hatred of their respective fathers, so they Get That. They're part of the Dads Suck club.

CONCLUSION

So basically........ they're gay, your honour.

[moonlitgraffiti]

S o. As few people are probably aware, over a year ago, I made a joke post that Joseph Pulitzer and Theodore Roosevelt are bitter exes in Livesies and that I would not be elaborating.

... As many fandom things tend to go, it is Definitely not a joke anymore. As such, I will now be elaborating as I did not all those months ago. For those of y'all willing to at the very least entertain it, strap in.

A l r i g h t so for everyone coming along for the ride, let us begin at the basics: the canon we are given to start with. Early in act I, we see even m e n t i o n of Roosevelt gets under Pulitzer's skin; he gets loud, he gets angry, he has to rein himself in. He will find any means he can to criticize and does not shy away from it.

Roosevelt does not come up again until late, l a t e game, where he shows up unannounced in Pulitzer's office. And it's where things start getting very interesting.

Pulitzer tries to be professional with him, tries to address him in a proper manner, calling him "Governor", trying to lay out his case before him from the start. But Roosevelt doesn't display much interest in this propriety. When he first lays eyes on him, he calls him "Joseph", and nothing more. Medda gets her full name, and he does not address anyone else. It's familiarity, and also some slight disrespect on Roosevelt's behalf. But it's also t e a s i n g, he smiles, he seems to enjoy watching him squirm. Not to mention the comfort in Pulitzer's personal space.

(Now kiss.)

He waves his power in Pulitzer's face, all the while refusing to call him anything other than "Joseph", despite Pulitzer trying to iron out the interaction into anything vaguely professional.

We also have the "hard heart, soft head" exchange.

Theodore where are you l o o k i n g??

After Jack manages to get a deal from Pulitzer and these two are standing up on the platform together, they continue to antagonize each other. But Pulitzer seems to be sliding into Roosevelt's game: he calls him "Teddy", a name which Roosevelt's real life counterpart despised. He moves to push his cane into Pulitzer's chest, and when Jack interrupts them, they both turn to give him this look:

I'm sorry, was he interrupting something?

Foreplay?

Sadly, here is where our canonical events end. However, now we jump into the richness of the relationship.

In the events we see in Newsies, I see this pair as bitter exes. As it so happens, based on the timeline of reality, Pulitzer and Roosevelt were in New York City at the exact same time for a while, immediately after Roosevelt's wife died. (I feel it important to note here that while I draw from real events, this is not to be intended as RPF. This is for the characters Newsies, specifically Livesies, has made of them both and only these characters. The real Pulitzer and Roosevelt led vastly different lives and neither were even present for the strike at all. So Newsies is fudging it, and so will I.)

At any rate, Roosevelt would have been young and vulnerable and emotional during this time. He and Pulitzer catch each other's eye, and after an age begin a tentative love affair. But Pulitzer can't bring himself to be open and honest with his emotions, especially not in a way that a vulnerable Roosevelt would so desperately need, and is too blinded by his own ego to see that he is causing problems.

Feeling ignored and twice brokenhearted, Roosevelt takes off to the Dakotas after the end of the legislative session without telling Pulitzer. This leaves Joseph confused and hurting, bitter and angry, and never wanting to see him ever again.

Years pass, and Roosevelt's fame grows. Pulitzer grows more and more bitter, thinking about the abandonment he's convinced himself was his reality. Until they meet again. Roosevelt as governor to confront him as a titan.

And so brings us to canon day. When your skinny, fiery, weak voiced lover crashes back into your life and he is big, loud, confident, and sexier than he's ever been.

I'm not asking you to ship it, but I'm asking you to at least consider how it can be compelling. Rekindling a love affair that ended so badly when both parties are older, wiser, and much better equipped. For those of you that want to see Pulitzer suffer, he will! That personal growth to force him out of his closed off emotional constipation, to make him confront that he isn't alone and doesn't have to be. And to slowly trust each other again.

[hamartia-grander]

Number one Ada Wong fan I’m scurrying up to you as a pathetic lover of the blonde sad lil guy. I just wanted to know. Why do you think Ada kissed him in re2??????????

Ada showed signs of genuinely being attracted to Leon, though maybe not as much as he clearly was to her. That being said, I honestly think it was a tactic that she considered would be effective in getting Leon to stop talking, and also giving him the boost of confidence he was clearly in need of. She could tell he was attracted to her (who wouldn't be😩), and even if those feelings might've been reciprocated in the slightest, Ada would never have allowed herself that kind of affection if it wasn't advantageous to her situation. Maybe she also enjoyed it a little, but her purpose for kissing him was to encourage him to finally get off her back in a way that would be helpful to her. Leon spends the entire game after they meet trying to follow Ada around and "help" her when she never asks for it nor needs it, and even when she eventually allows him to tag along, it's reluctant - and she's always on edge, always looking for a way out. She knew they'd have to separate eventually, and the the sooner the better, because Leon was not just a cop, he was also a naïve young man who wanted to be the hero, and that was detrimental to Ada's mission from the start.

Ada is incredibly smart and perceptive, and so she realises about halfway through that her tactics to get Leon off her back have all failed and only gotten him to want to help her more. So she switches gears, allows him along, starts to actually care about him against her will, and then realises that because of Leon's hero instincts, she could get him to help from a distance by playing up her injury. She never goes so far as to be out of character (telling him not to push it when he offers to carry her) but she definitely could've completed her mission without him, and when she walks up to him towards the end, she's hardly limping. But despite wanting to help her the whole time, when she finally gives Leon something to do, he begins arguing that he shouldn't get involved (which is what Ada was telling him the whole time. Lol.) Whether he was aware of it or not (and he honestly probably wasn't aware of it) he was looking for her validation, he just wasn't giving her the chance to say anything. So she shut him up with a kiss, that he very much liked, and used his dazed state to encourage him.

Again, I'm not saying she didn't also enjoy it - we know she certainly cared a lot about him, to the point where she was willing to forfeit her entire mission just because she couldn't kill him. (And I could also talk forever about how faking her death was not just to benefit her but also to help Leon move on but that's another discussion). My point is that Ada wouldn't have kissed Leon just because she wanted to. She'd have to have another reason, another motive that was pertinent to her job, in order to do something like that. And her guess was right, because it worked in her favour.

We do also have to be aware of capcom's misogyny, and how they've always used Ada's character to be the mysterious, sexy love interest of Leon's and nothing else. Now she does get to be more, she does get to be her own character, but they still can't stop tying her to Leon. So this explanation of mine is an attempt to explain the in-game reasoning behind Ada's actions as a character, ignoring capcom's reasoning of having Ada kiss Leon just because they wanted that to happen all along. If that makes sense

Thank you for this ask!!! I love Ada asks

[glorfindel-of-imladris]

Glorfindel and Erestor for the ship alignment chart?

Glorestor is so funny because of course it compels me, can you not tell from my blog and entire shipping, even pre-AO3 career? I have been shipping these two for 20+ years, but whether they make sense or not depends on who you ask and what you mean by “makes sense”. I am very aware that Glorfindel and Erestor are shipped literally by virtue of them standing next to each other—twice, mind you, which in the 90's and heydays of shipping, was plenty. (Once, after all, was enough. 🤣)

I can write (and have written lol) entire essays about why I love this ship so much. Glorfindel is my one true favourite Tolkien character—my one true favourite fandom character, period—and have devoured every lore available for him to come up with pretty solid headcanons for the guy, if I do say so myself. Erestor, on the other hand, is pretty much a result of my by now life-long quest to give Glorfindel the most delicious happy ending an absolute Best Boy™ can deserve. These two characters on their own are individually compelling. Glorfindel easily just is, because how good must a person be to be returned from death, to be released from Mandos early, to become an emissary of the Valar, to be reborn better than before, equal to the Maiar? And Erestor—who even is he? What does it take to become the chief counsellor of one of the wisest Elves of the Third Age, in Imladris where Elves who have seen the light of the Trees still dwelt? I even read in a forum (lol omg remember forums) once where people wondered who even had the higher rank: Glorfindel or Erestor. Imagine being at a level where one could potentially be Glorfindel's superior—it blows the mind. But also personally for me, I love the idea that someone like Glorfindel could get quite lonely returning to an unfamiliar world—not only is Gondolin gone, but it's not even Beleriand anymore. I also imagine that returning from Mandos comes with its own grandeur that would set him apart from younger Elves in Middle-earth. It comforts me to know he would still have equals in a world like that, who would not be intimidated by him and with whom he could forge a trusting friendship.

The other thing that works for this ship is the setting with which they could meet. I have said in the Russingon post that the First Age is a painful age to me. Not only that, it's comparatively short; Glorfindel was “Glorfindel of Gondolin” for a mere 400 years (even less) before he died. Meanwhile, assuming he returned to Middle-earth c.a. 1600 in the Second Age (which is the most likely among all “canon” possibilities), the Second Age spanned for a good 3,000+ years; the Third Age, another 3,000+. Lindon under Ereinion Gil-galad’s reign saw the longest peacetime, and Rivendell once made and ruled by Elrond is arguably the most comforting Elven realm ever made. There is simply much more one can do in a setting like this, with characters like this who have so much history—or, in the case of Erestor, potential history. It's that ✨ potential ✨ that I find most compelling, and honestly I have been writing for these two for years and I feel there is still so much one can do and unearth with them.

[mdeathinside]

I genuinely can't believe that people read the whole Beastars manga and still think that Riz & Pina's friendship was unnecessary and came out of nowhere when the whole Murder Resolution Arc points in that direction:

Because Riz & Tem's relationship is meant to be a representation of everything wrong in Beastars. Their society fears conflict, so they try to avoid it, BUT they do it wrong.

When the other boys of the drama club leave the school, Legoshi notices that carnivores and herbivores coexist and live together in peace. Later on, when they end up in the BAM, Bill tells him that they are happy BECAUSE of the BAM, because they can have a place where they eat meat.

Basically, what Bill is saying is that carnivores and herbivores can live together and be in peace, as long as carnivores still have a space for themselves to show their real instincts. It is the same idea their whole society has: carnivores want to eat meat, so even if it is wrong, as long as they do it in a hidden place away from herbivores, the peace outside the BAM will remain.

Later, Juno comes up to a similar conclusion. Yes, the infamous "What's wrong with segregation?" For some reason, she's been criticized a lot for that lol, even though she's just saying what everyone else thinks is the right thing.

And, even if she's wrong, her reasoning does make sense (from a logical point of view). She understands that predation cases reinforce herbivores' bad views about carnivores, and in consequence, it makes carnivores' lives harder. So, she sees the same solution Bill and society see: as long as each has their space, and as both sides hide the worst parts of themselves while being kind on the outside, they can maintain peace.

However, that doesn't work, and Tem's death is the perfect example of this.

Riz believes that other animals like him just because they think of him as a "cute, nice bear". But the thing is, Riz doesn't want to be liked just because of his virtues, he wants to be liked completely as he is, to be accepted despite not being perfect. That's why, when he tells Tem about the pills, he feels happy: he has just admitted that he can be a lot more intimidating, and Tem offers to spend more time with him regardless. Riz believes that, since Tem already seemed to be fine with that information, then he would accept him and love him even if he saw him as he is naturally— bigger and stronger.

Now, of course, the execution goes terribly wrong, BUT, Riz's reasoning is actually right. The thing that can solve all their problems and make them all happy is to accept the other completely, with their flaws and all, and not just ignore that which they might not like.

In fact, that's exactly what Els does with Bill: she calls him out on ALL his mistakes, but she admits that, despite his flaws, he's a good guy at heart. She's not ignoring his wrongs, instead, she acknowledges them, and accepts him as a friend regardless.

THAT is what Riz wanted. For someone to see him as flawed as he could possibly be, as dangerous as he could possibly get, and still love him anyway. Beastars is not the typical "oh, you're not so bad after all!", nor the "I guess we are not so different, huh?" NO. That's not how true acceptance works. Beastars is the exact opposite: it is "Yes, we are different, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to understand each other". It's a "Yes, you are flawed, terribly so, but that doesn't mean you're undeserving of love".

Riz was happy when Tem pointed out he was scary and when he called him a monster, because it was the first time that someone, FINALLY, saw him as something more than a cute bear. Someone, finally, saw him as something else than perfect, and that is good! Because no one is perfect, because we are all flawed. The point of the story is to accept that imperfection is good, and is part of the beauty of life.

Riz, in his fantasy, believed that Tem had seen him as monstrous as he possibly could be and had still seen him as a friend worthy of love. Unfortunately, what truly happened was that Tem, who up till then had never actually seen carnivores as a real threat, suddenly had to face what everyone else told him: that carnivores hide their true, dangerous self.

The big tragedy about their story is that none of them are wrong. Tem did exactly what society taught him to: be nice and friendly to carnivores, and they'll be nice to you. He just saw Riz as another classmate, another boy just like he was, not even aware of their differences.

But that's the problem with the whole Beastars' world: you don't truly accept someone until you know everything about them, and that includes the negative things. Ignoring stuff you don't like solves nothing. As Riz realized, the way to shorten the distance between carnivores and herbivores is to show yourself as you are, with all your virtues and flaws, and hope for others to accept you as such. You can't hide what you're afraid to show others because you don't wanna be rejected, because it will eat you from inside, and that's what ends up causing carnivores to lose it: the stress from trying to be what others want you to.

And that's exactly why Riz's headaches and side effects went away when talking to Tem: the pills are just a narrative device that works to show how, the more "likable" carnivores try to be around others, the more it hurts them. It's not a placebo effect, but it is only an example of how things get better when we just talk and listen to one another.

Seriously, if you paid attention to the whole story, you'd see that Pina was literally the only one who could give him the relationship with a herbivore that Riz longed so much for:

Pina, who knew that he ate Tem. Pina, whom he threatened more than once, Pina, whom he literally hurt just to get Legoshi mad. That sheep, who saw the worst of him, accepts him anyways, deems him deserving of forgiveness, and befriends him. Pina is what Riz always wanted: someone who could see him as a complete monster and love him regardless.

Herbivores' and carnivores' relationships are about taking that risk, accepting that things may go wrong, but trying to be better together anyway. Yes, Riz does deserve to be in juvenile because he made a mistake, BUT he also deserves kindness, and someone willing to help him, and Pina is the one animal that can do that for him. Just like Riz & Tem's relationship represent the mistakes most make, Riz & Pina's represents the way to do things better.

[malaierba]

Strawberry Blond by Mitski reminds me of T/oshiro -> F4lin x M4rciII3

I love everybody because I love you I don't need the city, and I don't need proof All I need, darling, is a life in your shape I picture it, soft and I ache Look at you, strawberry blond Reach out the car window tryna hold the wind You tell me you love her, I give you a grin Oh, all I ever wanted was a life in your shape So I follow the white lines, follow the white lines Keep my eyes on the road as I ache

It's a bit of a shame that this fandom is sooo abnormal and sooo boring about stablished unrequited love because I. I loooooooooveeeeee unrequited crushes are you kidding lol.

Especially when they're a 1st love type of deal, there's somethinb so bittersweet and melancholic and. just youthful? about them?

[phi1l1y]

May end up talking to myself here but I think GK fans grossly misinterpret things for their own yaoi-brained benefit . No, Ogt taking Yuu to a brothel was not because he secretly desires him. This is historically how men have bonded with each other— through objectifying women. Yuu went along with it at first (albeit uncomfortably) because he knew that expectation himself. That is what made it manipulation: Ogt was taking advantage of that societal norm to ruin his brother’s image and purity out of his own personal vendetta against him . He even says it himself… I think forgetting that part of the story, making it something it wasn’t, both dumbs down the reading and denies the real harm of said expectation that still pervades our world to this day

[alittlebitgoofy]

ik i don't really write these days but but but but but dame planning a really romantic date night only for tia to just fucking start infodumping about doctor who and low key ruining their plans but dame is all for it and thinks it's insanely hot

[musicalmoritz]

Reblog this with your ao3 writer brags. Essay comments, fan arts of your fics, popularity, etc. This is the year of boasting

[frostbite-the-bat]

a post dedicated to me and the other like 3 people who like him