#otp: equal parts joy and dread

[marlahey]

"sorry, is this alright?" "i don't see how else you'd fix it." aka dr. jack "dodger" dawkins touching belle (aka the love of his life) for purely medical reasons aka hands hands hands for @missgoalie75

Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Maia Mitchell The Artful Dodger (2023–)

[crackinglamb]

OTP Asks, fully knowing how you are with 'favorites' but indulge me anyway: #25, 26, 33, and 43. *bonk* 😘 and an extra 💖

I will indulge you, because I love you. *bonk* 😘 And I'll do these for both of my girls and Solas, since I need to get back into their respective headspaces.

This got super long, so I'll put it under a cut. Questions are from this list.

25 - Favorite canon moment of them? (oh, this ought to be fun, since neither of them are 'canon' romances)

Imogen

Honestly? Anytime they have each other's back in the field of battle. They are a Power Couple, and it shows. I mean...

(this shot is included in chapter 54 of WG)

...need I say more?

Lark

The nature of Lark's existence falls so far outside canon that it's tough to find in-game things that match her relationship with him. BUT! The soft tone he uses when he tells stories, and the soft tone she uses when she asks questions is arguably the best thing ever for both of them. They are disillusioned, bitter and Tired(tm) people, who are soft for no one...but each other.

26 - Least favorite canon moment of them?

*snort* Am I allowed to say that it's the fact that neither of them can canonically romance him?

Like, I get the whole aspect of his being Like That about other races. To him, humans are newcomers barely out of barbaric infancy in comparison to his own culture (regardless of how they end up mirroring each other; Tevinter conquest anyone?). And dwarva...well, I don't want to get spoilery. You get to claim beta's rights to know my thoughts on how Elvhenan affected the dwarves. (Solas, I love you and I'm sorry; you're a Boomer.)

But the level of Tragically Doomed Relationship is still incredibly high with both races, and I wish we were given an opportunity to explore it as part of our character arcs as players. I would love to know how the Crestwood breakup would have gone with a human or dwarf. Qunari too, for that matter. Would it still have been about duty or would he have found some other, equally as painful justification for it?

33 - How do their personalities compliment each other?

Imogen

Imogen is clever, intelligent (those being two different things), curious and confident. All of these combined into being absolutely irresistible to a trickster god. She understands his motivations in a way no one else in the Inquisition does. And he understands her sense of displacement and overwhelming exhaustion at having to be a reluctant leader. They can be themselves together, no facades, no lies, no hiding the ugly parts. She gives him the space he needs to work through stuff on his own, and isn't afraid to call him out on his bullshit when he needs that too. They are very similar in the ways that matter.

That said, Imogen hasn't lost her childlike wonder. She's able to bring that to the fore for him when he's overcome with his own guilt. They have both lived through the cataclysmic loss of their previous lives. But she still finds joy and beauty in the present. She drags him - yes, kicking and screaming - into building something new, rather than focusing on what came before.

The fact that she knows exactly who he is doesn't hurt. He was initially intrigued by her foreknowledge, then a little bit frightened at just How Much she knew, then comforted by the fact that someone in this chaotic world got him on a level that no one aside from Cole does. Besides, the sex is amazing.

Lark

In much the same way as Varric, albeit from a slightly different angle, Lark challenges Solas. She gives as good as she gets when he's on his soapbox about spirits, lost empires and just...humans in general. She doesn't want to be here any more than he does. They have something of a rogue's pact between them. Get the job done, then move on.

Of course, it gets complicated as soon as emotions get involved. Unlike Imogen, Lark doesn't know he's the Dread Wolf. Not yet anyway. But she understands having to make tough choices. It's not so much that she's particularly forgiving, because she really isn't, but that she truly knows that desperation leads to the road to hell lined with good intentions. And deals with the devil only cost your soul.

The pair of them have more in common than they think, and more than mere shared languages and mourning the lost things. Lark is also rather tricksterish. She loves a good con. She's adept at hiding in plain sight. She's scholarly. She's got a temper. too. They are very much the 'I'm either going to kiss you or kill you' kind of couple.

I haven't quite decided what that means for them, post-Trespasser. I have a feeling she'll never stop trying to convince him to do things differently. And she'll never give up on trying to preserve his better moral self (which is saying something considering her own).

43 - How do they say ‘I love you’ without actually saying it? Ex “Have you drank any water today?”

Imogen

She lets him in, no reservations, no using him to enhance her own power or status, no judgments. When he needs space, she gives it. When he needs to be held, she holds him. She thinks of him, including him in her planning stages, making him better armor and weapons, making sure he has what he needs. She indulges his sweet tooth and doesn't poke fun at his toddler's palette. She imagines after several millennia of uthenera, food has a lot of Unpleasant Sensory Experience for him.

He, in turn, takes care of her. He makes sure she eats and rests and gets out of her head from time to time. One might call it a soft dom approach, although there's very little of that dynamic between them. Well, okay, there's more than a little if we're going to be honest. But it comes from a place of devotion and not obligation, perceived or otherwise.

Their love is also expressed in the little things that aren't so little. Touches of assurance after battle, moments of trust in tense situations and constant support.

Lark

Lark listens. Solas has spent much of his life being disregarded, but not by her. She might not always agree with what he says, but she allows him to say it and she weighs it instead of brushing him off. She's highly observant, and a lot of their relationship seems invisible because they often do things unspoken. She keeps track of his mural supplies and orders refills before he needs to ask. She notices the trend of books he asks for in his research and finds sources he might not have thought of.

She accepts him as he is.

He gives her freedom. It's the greatest gift he can give to anyone. She is free to do as she likes without fear of reprisal from him. He does not own her time or affection, and he knows it. He doesn't judge her previous life as a smuggler and assassin. In his time he has been both himself.

He also collects things she might find interesting and leaves them where she'll see them. He welcomes her son into his life as part of her with no resentment or difficulty. In a way he sees Fedric as a gift to himself too; it's been too long since he had a hand in shaping the spirit of a child. And there is nothing quite like watching the potential of a child grow.

He accepts her as she is.

Bonus round: Lark and Garrett Hawke

Just for this question because at the heart of this complicated FWB/unspoken polycule is love.

Lark was immediately drawn to Hawke as another someone who took on a mantle of responsibility with reluctance and got their heart broken for it. Up to and including the inability to ever go back to what they were before. She gives him a soft place to land and asks no questions he doesn't want to answer. She knows their arrangement is not permanent and holds no resentment for that. But neither does she treat it with less respect than it's owed, because they do care for each other, very deeply. But not all relationships are meant to last, and they're both aware of it. It doesn't make the present any less precious.

Hawke gives her steadiness, in a way he can't give himself. He's someone outside of her circle of advisors and companions and the politics of her position. He's always there for her to unload on, either in words or actions. He puts no demands on her. He brings lightness to an otherwise very dark time of her life.

Losing him nearly destroys her, much more than she thought was possible.

I mean...what? Nah, it's fine, they're fine. Promise. 😇

[rilldineth]

So a friend of mine told me that given that we are now in 2020, it will be fun if I did a top 20 ships of the past decade for me and boy, did I thought was a good idea and I have decided, why not right? I will be listing them here and...if followers decide to read it...well...

You will quickly notice that probably that most, if not all the ships fall on the following categories: a) rare-ships that are obv not canon; b) ships that are obviously crack; c) ships that had wasted potential, the ones hinted but never happened or briefly happened in canon and writers decided to fuck up. There’s also only one...one RL ship and I am ashamed yet not, but had to list it because I spent a long time hung up on it so don’t judge me.

So yes list...

Before the list, no list is complete without some honorable mentions, these are mostly ships I either got into the hype to recently (not being dedicated for years as the one I will list) or had my fancy then lost it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Charlastor from Hazbin Hotel (recently got into it)

Clack from Final Fantasy VII

Cloud x Squall from Final Fantasy/KH series.

Hayffie from The Hunger Games.

TodoMomo from Boku Hero no Academia.

Gency from Overwatch series ( on and off )

RinMako from Free!

Terraqua from Kingdom Hearts series.

TOP 20 SHIPS OF THE PAST DECADE

20. Spuhura - Spock x Nyota Uhura (Star Trek original and reboot): Again this was another ship that I liked, since the original series, while everyone was Spirk this and that, I was like,’’yas, yas give me the sweet, sweet Spock and Uhura interactions’ and I was happy the reboot hooked them up, even if that ended dubiously but for a glorious moment, I had it.

19. Swarkles - Barney Stinson x Robin  Scherbatsky (HIMYM): This is one of those ships I am bitter, bitter and salty about, there are more in this list in fact next spot is another one. But I loved it and I did think they complimented each other better than the wet noodle they stuck Robin with, they took the time to know the other, grown separately and then together, the episode where Barney proposed to Robin gave me all the feels and it was so sweet, and then fuck the writers deciding to do what they did. It’s no wonder the finale of this show is so hated.

18. Lotura - Lotor x Allura (Voltron Legendary Defender): When they announced a new reboot to Voltron I didn’t think much of it. I had fancied Lotor x Allura in the original series, as dubious as that was, but then I started to watch this Netflix thing and there was something between them, something more tangible and I was happy. It was this strong woman with an equally strong man encouraging her strength and not putting her in the box of the exotic pretty princess, like a certain dude, and wanted to know her mind and interests, they discovered things together and for a brief moment knew peace and I was here so happy that we were getting something good and then fuck the writers again that decided ‘Nah bro, you’re not getting it’ and you know to fuck off again. I will always have fan fiction I guess.

17. VinTi - Vincent Valentine x Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII series): This is a ship that I think started to like during my second playthrough of the game, I always figured the both could work, both having loved people that for one reason or another couldn’t fully love them back (Lucrecia due to damn guilt and Cloud because of Aerith) and both were mature enough to fit together, I just like them okay.

16. Helsa - Hans x Elsa (Frozen): Truly, I have never made it a secret that I really dislike this movie, I truly do. The only good things were Hans (which I am still huh at the ‘turns out he is evil’ I still call trolls) and Elsa (because of her damn powers) and then the next step was shipping them and honestly, he should have gone for the older sister lmao, they make more sense and there have very nice fiction out there.

15. Yuzuvier - Javier Fernandez x Yuzuru Hanyu (Figure Skating): Ahh, we have reached my dreaded and dark secret only RPF fancy. Be it broship or more, I always liked the friendship and camaraderie these two skaters had with each other, they were rink mates and rivals but above all friends. I was kokoro break when Yuzuru was telling Javi that he couldn’t do it without him and stop it you two. I just like them, they are wholesome.

14. Victuuri - Viktor Nikiforov x Yuuri Katsuki (Yuri!!! On Ice): And here we have another precious figure skating duo when I started to watch this series it was only because it was a figure skating anime and I love figure skating, I never expected to see a wholesome and wonderful healthy relationship to explode in front of me. The relationship between Viktor and Yuuri is just so lovely, so mature, they both worked through issues, grew from them and accepted them even and I can’t I love it. (Special mention here to Yurio x Mila, as is another ship I love from this series and so underrepresented).

13. Jonerys - Jon Snow x Daenerys Targaryen (ASOIAF/GoT): Regardless of the stupidity committed in the series, I have shipped them since the books, because I can read in between the lines and there are too many parallels between them and their journeys, ones that at will some point collide and bring them together in a way that will be worth it, so better make it count George. 

12. Rhaegar Targaryen x Lyanna Stark (ASOIAF/GoT): Yes, mea culpa, I love tis ship and no one can shame me for liking it and boy has people tried to do so. Were these two smart of escaping like that and not saying a thing? Nope, they were so not. Was Brandon smart going to Kings Landing, knowing there was a crazy king with a penchant of burning people and demanding his heir's head? Nope, that was probably the stupidest move of all. Do I want to believe they loved each other? Why not? Martin has a penchant for tragic love stories, I know this ship is problematical for some, but I still love it and if you see spot 10 here, well I have varied tastes.

11. Soriku - Riku x Sora (Kingdom Hearts series): Come on, this is a given. Prior to Kairi appearing, it was clear Sora was Riku’s world and Riku’s was Sora, they were attached to the hip, the rivalry for Kairi more felt like Riku being jealous of Kairi and wanting Sora’s attention back. Then we have KH2 where Sora spent the whole damn game being all ‘Riku, Riku!’ and Riku doing his damn best to help him from the shadows, ashamed to be seen. DDD was more Riku protecting him and Sora leaning on him, even KH3 had Sora wanting to find and reach Riku, and then Riku going once again to find him by the end, so I am sorry but if there was a love story written here it was between these two. 

10. Hannigram - Hannibal Lecter x Will Graham (Hannibal): Quite honestly, from all the things I ship, they are probably what one will consider the most toxic one I guess, which fair considering one part of the ship is a charismatic yet cannibalistic serial killer. But there was something in the way this relationship was developed by Fuller and brilliantly brought out by Mads and Hughs that just hooked me, their soft moments, their violent ones, it just somehow worked for me. I guess this is also one of the few canon ships that I have, funny enough.

09. Rivetra - Levi Ackerman x Petra Ral (Shingeki no Kyojin): Who will have thought that a series about human eating titans was going to give me one of my most everlasting and also shortlived OTP’s. Years can pass by and I will still love this ship, my heart will still believe there was something more between them, something that was realized or something that wasn’t, I don’t know, but I will forever love it and even though years have passed since she died, I always enjoy the hints here and there that he still remembers her or hints where we are supposed to do so.

08. Squinoa - Squall Leonhart x Rinoa Heartilly (Final Fantasy VIII): People can say whatever the fuck they want ‘the love story was rushed’ ‘we hate Rinoa’ (fuck you btw) but it doesn’t change the fact that Squall fell in love with her and that Rinoa helped him to open up, to not take things for granted and Squall taught her to be even stronger and conquer her fears, they helped each other grow and it’s what matters in the end.

07. Feanor x Nerdanel (Tolkien): This is probably, from all the romantic relationships that Tolkien has gifted us, which I have loved the most and held my attention the longest. They have the happy times, the ones that were full of joy when they met and fell in love and had their children, then we have the tumultuous times when he became too obsessed with this craft, the separation when he left with their kids leaving her behind in her pain and then their possible reencounter when he leaves the Halls of Mandos and how they might deal with it.

06. ItaHina - Itachi Uchiha x Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto): Both the heads of two of the most important clans of their villages, both with heavy expectations upon their shoulders that nearly broke them, only one was talented from the start and the other had to learn, yet they are also similar. Both love their siblings to a fault, sacrificing so much for them and their happiness, both seem to hate conflict yet know is necessary and both are devoted and loyal to a fault, they would have suited each other wonderfully, in an AU probably they would have gotten engaged, who knows, but it would have been wonderful.

05. SessKik - Sesshoumaru x Kikyou (Inuyasha): A ship that could have been but that we didn’t have. This is a ship that has been with me for years and I don’t plan to let it go, they were the best players (in a sense) in that game against Naraku, also probably the strongest, both level headed and smart, not easily intimidated and calculating, together they would have been quite a formidable force and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see that.

04. Bethyl - Daryl Dixon x Beth Greene (The Walking Dead): Another wasted potential and gone so soon, not to mention forever salty at the waste. The way they were being developed promised so much, in the few time he was with her, well, she taught him to have faith and it’s something that apparently still shows from times to times (I am not sure as I stopped with this show) and imagine how it will have gone if they had more time. Just a waste.

03. Romanogers - Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanov (Marvel/MCU): I have been shipping them for years, like honestly, and when the MCU was showing me the seeds of potentiality I was happy, not even that stupidity with Bruce killed my hope, as they still had this steady relationship, he trusted her and she trusted him, something that she couldn’t say of many, they had each others back and took care of the other...but again another wasted potential right there.

02. Huddy - Gregory House x Lisa Cuddy (House MD): I spent years, kind of, season after season watching the delicious and lovely UST between these two characters, watching them snark and then help each other, watching the ‘won’t they will they’ dance, waiting for the moment when these two will finally collide and my lord was it glorious when they finally did, and I was eager to see where it went, as they both seemed to be in relatively good places, but no once again forbid the writers to stop House from being self-destructive and another ship I had waited years was ruined.

01. Terrence "Terry" Graham Grandchester x  Candice "Candy" White Adley (Candy Candy): And this is still my most important ship of the decade, I was forever bitter they never ended together and that their authors decided to make them suffer so much, but then Final Story came and all clues were pointing that aha they did found the other again and ended together as they were supposed to be, and before anyone says shizz, I did manage to read the novel and I do believe all hints were there to let us all know the identity of her husband was Terry and I am so happy.

And there it is, all the ships of the decade for me lol. Next stop, I should maybe make a list of mythos ships I like lmao.

[marlahey]

it's an aortic aneurism, isn't it? yes. and when it bursts... this is all over. i don't want to leave this world without knowing love fully. you are loved. fully. Thomas Brodie-Sangstar and Maia Mitchell The Artful Dodger (2023–) 1.08: "Untapped Potential"