#aka tell me youve never been a victim

[sanguinarius-archive]

uh so im about to discuss about salvis aka sal x travis (and no its not going to be me calling it problematic and im not gonna bash you if you like it, im going to be explaining the flaws that come with the ship regarding the canon character dynamic) so click read more if youre up for it!

warning for mentions of abuse, internalized homophobia, uhh i think thats it

alright so a lot of people tend to think that when someone tries to explain the little issues with a ship that its because theyre defending their own ship they like. and... for me? no, thats not the case. yeah i dont ship sal x travis but im not going to say i dont or argue why just because i prefer my own ship over it. thats a bullshit reason and we all know it.

as a victim of abuse and self-insecurity i completely understand what travis has gone/is going through. he cant accept that he likes boys. he’s been raised to think that its sin, that its disgusting and that the one person or being who he ever felt has truly heard his cries, aka god, hates him now. and i understand if you have been through that situation yourself and therefore you project onto him, and youre someone who has a tough time dealing with issues independently. i understand completely. as i said, ive been there before.

but i personally dont think it’d work to ship travis with, not just sal, but anyone in general. he’s a character who still has a lot of development. what he truly needs right now is a friend, and yes, i understand thats what a lot of you are trying to go for, but its hard to not see undertones of them (travis and sal) being shipped in your content. travis has been physically harmful towards sal and has harassed him and his friends. and while that is because he deals with being abused himself, causing him to not really know how to deal with his emotions, he still knows and is aware that what hes doing is wrong. hell, in the note (who im assuming is for sal) he says hes crazy about him. and then he goes to tell him he doesnt actually hate sal. so he knows what hes doing is wrong.

and can he control his anger? probably not. and thats okay, i understand that. but again as someone who has been abused and has taken out my own issues on others in different ways, ive come to learn that its inexcusable. no matter what form of abuse youve been through, no matter what mental illness you deal with, no matter what, you have to learn that taking out your problems on others in any sort of way is damaging and does not help you heal and grow from your issues.

and i think a lot of people tend to subconsciously make sal a big part of travis’ “redemption arc” in fanon content. i do acknowledge the fact that sal has said he forgives travis and is willing to befriend him, and understands that his home life is tough, but he should not be playing such a huge role in travis being redeemed. adding a relationship to travis does not erase his current issues, it only worsens them because now he has a relationship added on top of the abuse he endures from his father and his still-healing internalized homophobia. its just not healthy in that way. i dont see it working.

a lot of people tend to think especially in characters that a redemption arc is easy, that with characters you can just change them completely like the flick of a light-switch. but with how real and raw sally face is, its important we try and take travis being redeemed very slowly and steadily. he has to accept himself, first and foremost, with the occasional help from sal and his friends. he has to learn that he is not a disgusting person for loving who he loves and that with time he will get better, he just has to set initiative to that. then he has to find out how he can tackle the abuse he endures from his dad. worst comes to worst, he doesnt find a very complete way of healing from his abuse and simply runs away or turns his back on his father. and you know what? thats okay, because as long as he can escape it one way or another, and have time to heal afterwards, its okay.

it isnt easy to accept yourself while being abused at the same time. and like i said i think a lot of you tend to subconsciously make sal play a huge role in travis becoming a better person, when really, sal should only be there for small bits of advice or when travis is in desperate need of comfort. travis needs a friend, nothing more, nothing less. he doesnt need a relationship because that only adds to the problems he faces already. travis is a good character and id personally love to see him be redeemed in the last episode (aka the next episode), but i want him to be able to do that on his own.

as i mentioned before i am someone who has had a very hard time coming to terms with who i am in the past, and i have been a victim of abuse. i know how hard it is to heal and to grow, and trust me it takes a very long time. its never easy. and if you are a victim of abuse or you have dealt with/are dealing with internalized homophobia or whatever it may be, and you ship travis with sal or whoever, thats okay. i understand if its a comfort for you and a way for you to project. but you know what? in reality, unfortunately, a relationship like sal x travis, with the past dynamic theyve had, it most likely wouldnt work. it would only cause more trouble and probably for both sides.

im not hating on the ship, i just want to speak out about the flaws it has. im not discouraging anyone from shipping it, im only letting you know that it wouldnt be the Healthiest with how their dynamic is. im not willing to argue on this or start a bunch of discourse. i just thought this would be an interesting topic to make a post about.

if youve made it up to here, thank you for reading, i appreciate it and i hope you took something from it. again im not hating. i kinda think itd be cute too if they didnt have the dynamic they have in canon. but because they do have that kind of dynamic its just not good realistically.

[werewolfmind]

L.I.S   B.T.S thoughts under the cut

in summary though: not a fan. The vibe of the game is off, the writing is cringey (and not in the charming way the original is, in the IM AN EDGY ANGSTY TEEN way where LIFE IS SO HARD, I dont like chloe, I dont like rachel, and cant forget the blatant “everyone is crap and takes their own issues out on everyone else” problem thats expanded to ALL characters instead of just Chloe

sighs

CAN WRITERS AND FANDOM FUCKING LEARN THAT JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO A CHARACTER, IT DOESNT EXCUSE FUTURE OR PAST ACTIONS WHICH HURT OR ENDANGER OTHERS

AND YEAH SHIT CAN HAPPEN TO CHARACTERS AND YOU FEL BAD FOR THEM, BUT BEING BULLIED OR AFRAID DOESN’T MAKE KILLING OKAY, ESPECIALLY IF ITS OUT OF REVENGE 

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DID THE WRITERS BUY INTO THE ‘POOR BULLIED NATHAN’ THING IM PISSED NATHAN WAS A VICTIM AND I FEEL BAD FOR HIM BUT HE STILL DID SOME PRETTY FUCKED UP THINGS ON HIS /OWN/ LIKE THREATENING MAX AND CHLOE AND OH YEAH HELPING VICTORIA RUIN KATE AND POSSIBLY GETTING /HER/ KILLED AND IF YOU FAIL TO SAVE KATE HE REALLY DOESNT SEEM AFFECTED BY IT SO YEAH

HE EXPRESSES REGRET FOR RACHEL LATER AND IS GENUINELY WORRIED FOR MAX BY THE END, BUT AT THE TIME THESE EVENTS ARE HAPPENING HE STILL DOES SOME PRETTY AWFUL FUCKED UP THINGS NOT UNDER JEFFERSON

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why do I feel hetero-hate coming from this game?

Cause look okay I know this is cliche to say but really. Warren was portrayed as some pathetic puppy and the writers give you like 10 chances to hook up with Chloe but theres only 1 right way to play things if you want Max/Warren

Now in BtS HOW many girls hit on Chloe and Rachel JUST in chapter 1 (to the point where its hitting Mary Sue levels. No everyone is attracted to the bad girl aesthetic ok?) In addition to Chloe blowing off her bf of 2 months because she got roped in with Rachel…

And like. Okay. Chloe is gay, POSSIBLY bi? So far we know she was attracted to/dated guys up until the events of BtS and shes kinda figuring out her sexuality. Max has the option of both Chloe and Warren, and assuming outside of game mechanics being able to flirt with Chloe while crushing on Warren means she’s bi and just never considered girls until Chloe came back into her life…

BUT the overall feel is that guys = bad, girls = good. The guys are either sexist, overbearing, or downright scumbags (not mention certain homicidal fucked up ones). And all the girl pairings consist of the sweet/shy girl crushing on the badass punk (Chloe or Rachel)

Not to mention the fact that theP.ricefield shippers overlook and even DEFEND how abusive and manipulative Chloe is to Max IN CANON and their very first defense is “gay ships need more representation stop hating”. Tbh I wouldnt be very happy if the first REALLY good representation of an ace character was of them also being emotionally abusive to their partner

idk. this fandom and now the pattern in the games of man-hating/portraying specifically lesbian relationships as picture perfect to Mary-Sue levels of writing? Honestly, it pisses me off

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lol yeah

the entire vibe of this game is “straight relationships suck”

because you know

just having a good girl-girl romance wont actually send a positive message ]]

#ooc

#im

#YES OK WE GET IT YOU HATE GUYS AND STRAIGHT PEOPLE

#no really#Warren and William are the only two guys in boh games so far#that ARENT complete assholes#i mean like wow#teenage boys can be awful#but fucking REALLY?

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#WOW#and I liked Rachel#until she turned into a bitch and yelled at Chloe#what#youre mad because you saw [spoiler] but instead of just telling Chloe#you attack her and then go all#'yu dont ask a girl out and then not buy her a drink’#glad to see Chloes into the same type as her#girls that verbally abuse you for things wthout telling you what the real problem is#(honestly this says more about the writers views on women than it does on their relationship or the characters…….)

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AND WHEN CHLOE CALLS RACHEL OUT FOR SUDDENLY TREATING HER LIKE CRAP

RACHEL LASHES OUT

“I forgot its always about you. sad chloes fucking sad again!”

And you know what? THIS MIRRORS HOW CHLOE TALKS TO MAX WHEN SHE ANGRY

THIS IS LITERALLY A CYCLE OF ABUSE THAT ONLY END BECAUSE PEOPLE DIE

THIS IS NOT AN OKAY RELATIONSHIP, EITHER OF THEM

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you wanna know the real romance of theis game series?

Kate/Max and Max/Warren. aka ships that stood by each other and would never hurt each other and value each other for their brains and kindness over how “cool” they are ]]

#ooc

#funny how theyre both Max ships

#really tho

#Kate/Max = the ACTUAL true gay ship

#fuck you writers

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“Because I dont want to ruin this the way I ruin everything else in my life”

RIGHT THERE

THERE IS THE POWER DYNAMIC YOU SEE IN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS

RACHEL LASHES OUT AND ATTACKS CHLOE WHEN CHLOE WAS TRYING TO HELP

CHLOE CALLS HER ON IT AND GETS ANGRY

RACHEL WALKS OFF

AND THEN NEXT THING CHLOE SAYS TO GET HER TO STOP IS ESSENTIALLY SAYING THE FIGHT IS HER FAULT

AND RACHEL’S ANSWER? “What is ‘this’ exactly?!”

not adressing the real issue, instead bringing it back to the DAY-OLD RELATIONSHIP between the two making it seem like Chloe’s playing games

like jfc I could understand if theyve been hanging for a WHILE and Rachel thinks Chloe might leave her or keep waiting on her to make the ove

YOUVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR 24 HURS AND YOU WANT TO MAKE IT ABOUT CHLOE NOT MAKING A MOVE ON YOU?

SHE MANIPULATES THE CONVERSATION TO BE ABOUT HER WHILE YELLING THAT THATS WHAT CHLOE DID

FUCK YOU RACHE

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#ok#chloe finding the car#was hard to watch#her reaction there is understandable#ooc

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#this writing#its gone from cringey to#just bad writing#characters knowing things they shouldnt#and contrived convos#lol nope#this is dumb#ooc

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Ravens….Rachel’s scream…..

um

did the writers watch TW and rip off Lydia cause

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Hey Rachel, good job causing an out of control forest fire because youre upset

look your dad cheating sucks but can you not destroy nature cause of it?