#reasons to ship norkus

[my-name-is-markus-with-a-k]

I HAVE to get something off my chest.

RK1K is not something I ship because I didn't see the Simarkus light. I didn't kill off Simon my first playthrough, he was one of the lucky ones that actually made it to the end of my game (RIP Josh, Hank, Kara and Luther).

I honestly just didn't see chemistry between them beyond being bros. Truth be told, coming off my first playthrough, I didn't ship Markus with anyone. I just didn't even really consider it. I managed to dodge the Markus/North romance all together somehow. I was downright giddy every time Markus and Connor interacted because they were my faves, but I didn't really consider that either because all their interactions are so brief and I need a neon fucking sign to begin to ship things.

My neon sign for RK1K was when I delved into the DBH fandom for the first time. I saw Simarkus art and thought, yeah that's pretty cute but it didn't really catch me. Norkus, I learned about my second play through but it didn't really catch me either (that happened much later) But then I saw my first RK1K art and I fucking KNEW this was my ship. It clicked with me in a way that no non-canon ship had ever done for me before.

Gosh, just the amount of parallels between the two, the way they're so similar yet each other opposites. I mean the deviant hunter and the deviant leader? Who COMPLETE EACH OTHERS MODEL NUMBERS? Like, the whole opposite forces working against each other until one convinces the other to switch sides????And Connor being willing to lay down his life??? And THEN BRINGING MARKUS AN ARMY? And then you have the whole other side where they're enemies. Like obviously that doesn't end well but my god, the sheer POTENTIAL. Enemies to lovers is popular for a reason. Watching these two powerhouses duke it out is sexy af.

I'm sorry but RK1K is much more than just something I ship because I missed out on Markus and Simon moments. I just like a different thing to you and that's okay.

[themasterofcider]

Reasons to Ship Markus & North (Marth/Norkus) 03.2

They’re Attached at the Hip (CONT)

The aftermath of the march sees the Jericho advisors giving council to Markus about what happened. When Robo Jesus makes his decision on their next move two of the four leave the room. North and Markus are once again alone. This gives him a chance to let his guard down and confess what's really on his mind. Something he doesn't do when the whole squad is in the room. He's more leader-like when they're together. With North, he is less so. In relaxing himself he becomes more ordinary, more human. He has to really feel safe around her to do this. North gives him comfort and validation by attesting that it didn't matter what he did or what the outcome was. It gave everyone - including her - hope. We know this woman isn't one to mince her words or say things just to appease people. She believes in him with everything she has. There's some talk about a bomb, but that quickly shifts into another tender moment between the two. North admits that she's happy they met. It's not surprising. She's been by his side since he got to Jericho, and she's still there. If that wasn't enough they do their memory sharing hand touch. Notice this time North doesn't seem anxious and stays right with him. She's obviously liked him for a while, but this is a testament to how much more comfortable she is around Markus now. She trusts him and is okay with trusting him. As well as him knowing her most intimate memories. This is relationship growth. He goes in to kiss her, (IF YOU DIDN'T KISS MY QUEEN YOU ARE A HERETIC) and she stays there perfectly content with him. Given her background this is really important. Especially if you had kissed her earlier and pissed her off. She goes from not wanting you to touch her again to forgiving you and being comfortable kissing you. I'm pointing this out for the sake of people who say this relationship was static and forced. Those opinions are inaccurate. Somehow North manages to pull herself away from Markus to let him do leader things, but not before turning back and letting him know she doesn't want to lose him. Based on body language it seems like she doesn't really want to leave his side. She's worried about what could happen if she's not there with him, but she tears away to get back to doing whatever being a war leader entails.

Then the ship gets attacked. During the chaos Markus runs into (of course) North first. He gives his commands, tells everyone his plan, and the group breaks apart. Markus goes his own way, while North and Connor go the other. Not without North hesitating, clearly worried about what may happen to Markus. When the five (Markus, Connor, North, Simon, and Josh) regroup North gets shot and falls. Markus rushes in to save her, and the two take out the soldiers immediately behind them. Then he uses himself as a crutch to get her away from danger while Connor protects them. After this everyone jumps to safety.

Now we're in the church. It's not a particularly long scene, but it's very sweet. Markus goes around to check on all of his friends, who agree to support him no matter what. When he approaches North he asks if she's okay. Like he's done before. They talk about everything from why he saved her to the situation with the rest of their people, and North admits that she loves him. He doesn't verbalize it, but he holds her hand and uses their connection to (what I believe) express to same thing. There's a lot of good body language between the two in the latter half of the game. It may seem weird to examine people that don't technically exist, but you have to think of the devs. They didn't make these characters stand or turn for no reason. There has to have been a purpose to it. That's why I think it's worth mentioning.

From here on is the conclusion of the game. There are so many ways this can go, and forgetting to push a button can totally change the outcome. I'm going to do my best to cover the ending and get all the major points. I'll probably miss some details, since I've never been truly pacifist and never screwed up bad enough to botch the revolution entirely. Let's get to it.

During the successful revolution route we begin with Markus leading the charge to liberate his people from a concentration camp. Taking out the first few soldiers, he jabs his flag down before making a brief pause. We see him steal a glance back at North, who is just a few steps from flanking him. Bear in mind, Simon and Josh are both still alive at this point, and neither of them are chosen to stand near Markus. It's North and some random android. They do join his side later, but the obvious intention is to give his relationship with North priority. She's also the only one of the three advisors to speak before the second attack. A line that Markus parrots back, mind you. The big four lead the charge, then swiftly duck behind a barrier to protect themselves from a flurry of gunfire. North is naturally to Markus' left. It's cute, but kinda funny at this point. They're in the middle of battle and they have to be near each other. If they weren't such good leaders I'd hope someone reminded them that they can't always keep fighting like they're glued together. Not that I'd mind as a shipper, but this is a war now. The battle wages on, and I unfortunately lose Simon and Josh at this point. (As a side note is there any way to not get the shit shot out of Josh in the revolution ending? I feel like I saved Simon my first playthrough, but Josh always dies.) Meaning he has no choice but to regroup with North now. I'm hoping this doesn't weaken any future points. Using a (I think) rocket launcher Markus ends the clash, and North approaches him happy that her people are free. In the meantime, Connor has liberated the androids from the Cyberlife tower and rejoined Markus. North is standing behind him. Our lord and android savior steps forward to examine his new charges, and North walks closer once again talking about freedom. She then says that the others want him to speak to them, but he doesn't do that right away. In one of those rare moments where he prioritizes his own emotional needs first, he focuses on North. He connects their hands, takes his lady in his arms, kisses her, and doesn't let her go. He then makes a speech with North standing behind him smiling brighter than she ever has before.

 I know the next few pictures aren't from the scenes I'm talking about, but I don't have gameplay of those. Enjoy the random Marth/Norkus moments!

The successful protest ending sees the androids marching towards the camp. Markus is once again in the lead with his advisors flanking him. North is directly at his side again. Even when the humans surround them with tanks she refuses to move. The humans shoot as they  approach, but Markus persuades them to hold off for a moment. During this respite North talks to him about what to do. This is a conversation that could've been given to one of the other generals, but the writers saw fit to have North be the one to talk about it with him. As I've mentioned before, we really need to look closer at these moments where the devs could have chosen someone else but stuck with North. It's pretty telling who they were trying to get you to want him to be with. Going on, team Markus has built a barricade to protect themselves from the humans. Once they're done he confides in North about the hollowness of the situation, and she is right there to lend her support once again. North tells him she - and everyone else - trust him, because he's their hope. This is a really nice moment as we know North would rather be fighting instead of marching. She doesn't jeer at him for not doing it her way as he wonders if this was the best choice. She wants him to stick to his convictions even if they're different from hers, because she believes in him and wants to give him confidence. How many times have you seen either friends or couples argue with each other because one of the parties didn't do something the way the other wanted when they (1) voiced their doubts about it or (2) it didn't turn out well. North doesn't go "well this wouldn't have happened if you did it my way." She, as the selfless, good girlfriend she is would never do that to him. She's completely supportive and totally on his side. Briefly touching back on trust, North has to trust this man completely to even attempt this. She is helping her people in a way that definitely isn't her first choice with a high chance that the humans (the species that assaulted her) will kill her without her truly fighting back. Knowing where she came from, this is a major deal. She trusts that under Markus' leadership the androids will win. From behind the barricade North sees Perkins approach, and she calls Markus over. Stepping forward he (yet again) is beside North to see what's going on. He offers a chance at negotiation. Should you accept, Perkins and Markus talk about what will happen to his people. Seeing his initial offer not working, Perkins sweetens the deal. He uses North as leverage. Not Simon, not Josh, not even Markus himself. This man, who doesn't believe androids are equal to humans and who probably doubts that they have feelings is able to pick up on the fact that Marth/Norkus have a connection. That's impressive. When I first saw North I thought she was pretty and jokingly hoped that Markus could get with her, but never expected it to actually happen. The point is what took me several scenes to imagine the possibility of took Perkins two. In the game's universe these two must be even more painfully obvious than even us shippers assume. The special agent uses North's life and her safety as a way to goad the android leader into surrendering. We all know North wouldn't want him to take that deal, and I don't think Markus would take it either. That being said I believe Jesus Bot would at least consider it, and it's pretty obvious he does. From the way he looks down, to the camera focusing on North gazing worriedly, to getting the option in the first place. Even when we look back to earlier in the game such as the vandalism in the park and during the Jericho attack we see instances of Markus prioritizing North above some of his people. There's a lot of emphasis in the fandom on how Markus' death influences the revolution, but not about the power of North's life. To steal a quote from Outlast 2 "they always hurt women to punish men." It's very fitting here. I'll be honest when I say the ending of this game isn't really my favorite thing in the world, but I'll give it some credit after writing this. There's pretty good character depth here as well as plenty of motivation to ponder. Should you deny the offer, or refuse to speak the agent orders the humans to  attack and back the androids into a corner. You have several options here. They are to kiss North (the correct one), use the dirty bomb, sacrifice yourself, or sing. I'm going to omit two of them as I don't count sacrifice as a success (also since Markus is dead he can't be in the same scene as North), and that I don't believe the nuclear Ending has any moments between them, but I could be wrong. If you sing, North (who is beside you AGAIN) is the first to join in. Markus turns and gives her a little smile, and she looks at him hopefully as the other androids add their voices to the night. Finally we have the kiss. With death staring them in the face, Markus decides to take the chance to kiss North for what may be the last time. If God Droid is to die he's gonna get some love from his woman before he goes, and I'd do the same thing. They even do their signature hand touch. It's so damn adorable. The last thing they want to do in their life is share memories of their pasts and each other. Luckily this is the successful route, and they get to live on for their people. The ending to this and the revolution are very similar, just some different words.

If you are unsuccessful the outcomes are extremely painful. Should you accept Perkins' offer of surrender, you get to see the other androids rounded up while Marth/Norkus watch on. North is clearly experiencing disappointment, fury, sadness, and confusion. So much so that she won't even let Markus touch her. From what she says I don't think she even knew why he made that choice. If she found out I can imagine she'd be even more enraged than she was. We know she doesn't value herself more than her people. She wouldn't ever forgive Markus for doing something like this. Thinking about it now, this is as much a break up scene as it is a defeat. The reason this is important is that it goes back to the previous paragraph about the weight of North's life to Markus and the fact that the devs put so much importance on this relationship that we don't even get to see a reaction from Markus' other friends beyond their relationship meters tanking. Of course Perkins was a lying shithead and kills them. Meaning they died as angry, purposeless casualties. For the failed revolution, Markus gets wounded. Seeing this, North's first reaction is to offer her heart. We have to decide if we want to let him die, or if we want to sacrifice North to save him. If you, the player choose to die they press their palms together, Markus tells North he loves her, and they have a final kiss. She cries and closes his eyes. I've said it before, but I think it'd be extremely out of character for him to ask her to die, thus enabling him to live. The game even proves this, since he gets killed immediately after. I like that. The narrative itself is telling you not to be a selfish coward, and that North is an important character. Likewise I see the reverse being true as well. Though if you do choose to sacrifice North, they do their memory sharing touch, North says her heart is beating inside his chest, they kiss, and she shuts down. Like she does to him, he closes her eyes and lays her body down. It sucks to see our heroes fall, but in a weird way it's beautiful too. These characters love each other so much they'll die for each without a second thought. Even the script is perfectly written here to make you feel every single emotion. I know Simon gets this scene too, but only if North is dead. That in itself is pretty telling.

Whew! It's finally done. That took me a while, but I'm pretty happy with it. This post deviated (heh heh) in some spots from just mentioning the moments they were together to analyzing them, though I don't think that's a bad thing. Doing this reaffirmed my opinion that they are the best romantic options for each other, but you don't have to agree. I just found it fascinating how many moments they actually had. Not just that, but the sheer amount you can actually talk about insane. It's crazy how much time and subtlety this couple actually had. At some points I dare say I wished they had less, because there was so much to write. I was also left wondering how they weren't tired of being around each other. I know it had only been a few days, but they spent damn near every minute together. These two have to be beyond close (which they are) to not be sick of all the interaction. I know I would be, but I'm definitely a person who likes their alone time. Unless it's just an android thing, but I highly doubt that. The writing for these two isn't perfect, but it's not as bad as a lot of people make it out to be. I do think all the Jericho advisors should've been romance options as Markus was the only character to have an arc this focused on that type of relationship. I even wish some parts about Marth/Norkus were smoothed out, and more discussions had before they became an actual couple, but they're not the worst written pairing in existence. Far from it. Ship who you want, but don't act like this couple got no substance or time, as that's blatantly untrue.