they would get divorced in one universe just to find eachother in another one
alternatively titled: sometimes you're the level-headed token flesh-head impulse-control-and-polycule-member of a stubborn, eccentric, and hearty telephone-headed drug addict, and there's cruelty in the world you deem fit to suicidally fight, and that either goes about as well as you'd expect it to, or you learn about love and the value of your life and junk along the way
post timeskip they start calling zoro a good boy because he's taking orders and being so much less grumpy about it and he gets painfully turned on in public. sabaody like is the start of this it starts really fucking early
apparently it's way easier to plan scenes and plotpoints for a fanfic if i draw them first, so here we are <3 featuring me rambling abt this scene under the cut!!
i was specifically thinking about Haym and Rikki's entire relationship?
especially very early on, right when Rikki is properly assigned as Neon J's apprentice and whatnot. this was meant to be the moment Rikki realizes they're not coping very well with leaving Ban behind in Beachside Archipelago, and how they're actually gravitating towards Haym because of how similar he feels to Ban - yknow. being the same model and all
cause Rikki has some serious issues with needing absolute control over every aspect of their life. and right now, they're stuck with a job they don't exactly care for, trying desperately to suck up to Neon J so he'll actually promote Rikki to a DECENT job designing security bots for Vinyl City, not BABYSITTING 1010
(which isn't even babysitting, moreso than being monitored 24/7 in a localized space where they can't be shady since Neon J doesnt. trust them. at all. for various valid reasons)
so witnessing Haym pull some stupid but well-meaning stunt to force Rikki show off how good they are at fixing and repairing shit makes Rikki go????
A LITTLE FERAL????
BECAUSE THEY UNCONSCIOUSLY PROJECT ALL THEIR UNRESOLVED FEELINGS ABOUT BAN ONTO HAYM
but they only realize this when their body shuts down and cannot act the way they would've wanted, seeing Haym entirely fucking wrecked being very similar to how they found Ban when they first met makes them spiral a little
Haym doesn't even KNOW he's not the original Yellow model, he has his suspicions but is overall kept in the dark. befriending Rikki is something he does entirely out of genuine curiosity, motherfucker has no clue he's in the middle of a 4 year long unresolved break-up between two losers who are constantly pining after each other both romantically and platonically
im thinkingggg Haym might be seeking out Rikki's presence mostly because he's noticed that they treat him slightly different than the others. not necessarily better, just different enough to get him curious. so the need to build an identity away from 1010 as a group/unit and his inherent curiosity just gets him into this mess
they will genuinely never EVER get tired of the wiggly cheer wave they've been doing since they won the cup (re: sasha forsy and stenny doing it as they came out of the locker room at 3am) and now they'll never stop you can count on THAT
well at least this time we see luosty and mikksy join in on the antics this time (usually its just lundy and sasha lmaooo)
rip to uvis trying to get a beer from the crowd and it sailing clear over him you will be sorely missed fly high angel im sure a random floridian enjoyed a free brewski that day
lundys off by himself meanwhile these three are propegating a how much tension can we generate in 17 seconds competition
mikksy is winning, luosty is not even aware this is even a competition and sasha is currently too busy with crowdwork. unsurprisingly man whos mastered the art of pinning is winning. fork found in kitchen.
(you can see his gaze bounce from sasha and the cup to coordinate the wooing to luosty having fun and like mannnn)
Panthers Championship Parade | 6.30.24 (x)
in other news this man has refused to let go of that champagne bottle in literally half of the parade bus videos good for her
augh the ot3 and saimatsu...... i just love themb so so so so so much there are so few ships i feel this strongly about... nine times out of ten if i "ship" something it's in a sorta hypothetical way where i hardly ever imagine them doing romantic things together and more just. i like them when they stand next to each other and their dynamic is good/silly/tragic/etc. but saimatsu and saiibomatsu make me so unwell (positive) like. if my aro romance repulsed ass is imagining a ship getting married i have it BAD for them ok
and another thing thats funny about vocal synth communities and the intentional lack of official "canon" for many of the mascots is how it is essentially a fanbase of people holding out headcanons at eachother. i hand you a cartoon character i think is friends with another. you hand me a cartoon character you think makes out with another. and then we hold hands.
i like that ror2 is another less-story-mostly-lore type thing cos im free to imagine how the greater UES Safe Travels polycule works as much as i want at my leisure. i can just make shit up!