#ship: hand in unlovable hand

[merge-conflict]

“I’d like to keep this civilized.” Birdy was annoyed, voice pitched low enough that it was just audible. It was a mild evening for early spring, and there were plenty of others taking advantage of the weather to enjoy a little rooftop dining and the cheapest happy hour in the block. Comfortably public, with clientele that was unlikely to be too observant.

V tilted her head slightly to the side. She couldn’t relax the stiffness out of her shoulders or spine, but she maintained her blank expression. “Am I not being civilized?”

Birdy’s mouth tightened in anger, and she dug around in her purse until she found the slim cigarette case she normally tucked away in a hidden pocket. “You haven’t said anything for twenty minutes.”

“Apologies, director,” V said, blandly. “What would you like me to say?”

“Very funny.” Birdy lit up a cigarette, staining the filter with her dark lipstick, which she’d just finished touching up. Her fingers moved with grace and precision, snapping the case closed and slipping it back in the bag. “Whatever you’re planning, it’s not going to work. There’s no point in embarrassing yourself.”

V made a brief conciliatory gesture with one hand, and did not reply. There was no point in embarrassing herself.

[thots-aboard-the-black-moses]

Lucien, I gotta tell you something.

I've... missed you. Missed your voice right next to my ear tellin' me what you want me to do to you. Missed the look in your eyes when I tell you how goddamn hot you look in lingere. Missed gettin' to leave marks all over you....

You've been on my mind non-fuckin'-stop, and if you'll have me? I'll make sure you feel just how wild you drive me.

- Yamazaki

[billiuspendragon]

When it comes to shipping Makoto with Kusuke, I have two very different opinions on it depending on how seriously I'm taking it.

Because, realistically, they would be toxic as HELL. I mean, we've got one guy who's canonically clingy, possessive and jealous over his loved ones - and this is assuming he somehow gets over his sister complex in the first place which is uhhh gonna be difficult - and one guy who gets off on competition and conflict. That is going to be one hell of a train wreck.

I don't think them being together would solve their issues, in fact it would possibly make them worse. They're both awful, and if they're put together that awfulness is gonna be multiplied to fuck. It's just gonna be a great big mess.

On the other hand. It would be really fucking funny.

[fuckbrained]

This is the only ship dynamic that matters btw

[jadedharleys]

wtf...gay people???

he/she june (john is fine too), she/it/8 vriska, she/they/it terezi

[sparkdoesart]

Isat siffrin and loop short animatic thing for my au~

Spoilers for the secret ending!

So much i wanna talk about with these two~

But alas, I'll keep it to myself for now,

[qcomicsy]

Attaching a picture of every time Wade and Weasel are not dicks to each other for emotional reasons.

[ratcandy]

can't ship characters and just imagine them cuddling or kissing or whatever no i have to consider all the things that would cause a divorce instead

[liesmyth]

Ship or not:

Augustine/Mercymorn

SHIP IT

What made you ship it? “But my bones will rest easy next to your bones”

What are your favorite things about the ship? The fact that they truly, genuinely, actually loathe each other, and it's a bitter proxy war for a millennia old grief they refuse to think too hard about because it'd mean blaming their cavaliers.

And, ofc, the Leyendecker themed thirst trap.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I truly 100% believe that Augustine wanted Mercymorn dead until the moment it happened and he realised he didn't.

[devildarlindumbass]

I haven't heard this song in ages and then I did again and was like ouhhhh no I have a really good animatic idea for something I don't usually make stuff for uh oh

[ctrl-lupin]

Yes, I would be very interested hearing your head canon (@tim-ribbert-56) (in response to this post)

I have decided for my personal entertainment that Clarisse de Cagliostro is related to Lupin III, and here's why.

-pulls out Arsène Lupin's Wikipedia page-

In the novel La Comtesse de Cagliostro, a young Arsène Lupin (at the time going by the name Raoul d'Andrésy) was courting Clarisse d'Etigues, a young lady of a well-to-do family, and trying to win her hand, despite her father's disapproval.

Throughout the course of the novel, Lupin meets and falls in love with Joséphine Balsamo, aka the Countess of Cagliostro, and abandons Clarisse in favour of her. To clarify, Joséphine is not actually countess of anything, she is (or claims to be) a descendant of Giuseppe Balsamo aka the Count of Cagliostro (who was also count of jack shit), a famous conman from the 18th century.

Shenanigans ensue, which I will not go into in details on, but oh my god I am insane about Raoul and Joséphine, I want to dissect them and study them under a microscope. It turns out Joséphine aka Cagliostro is evil as fuck, Raoul/Lupin realizes that and goes back to Clarisse (whom he had previously abandoned like an old sock, I fucking hate this guy), marries her, and a few years later has her kid.

Unfortunately Clarisse dies in childbirth, and Joséphine, who was still around and very very pissed at Lupin (and jealous as hell of Clarisse whom, may I mention, had never personally antagonized her in any way whatsoever, Joséphine is just fucking bonkers). Joséphine also kidnaps Lupin and Clarisse's son, Jean, and raises him as her own son. (I have not yet read the following novel The revenge of Cagliostro so I don't really know what Jean's deal is, I just know he's an antagonist).

The following is my headcanon, based on these events. In the universe of Lupin III, Joséphine Balsamo was actually countess of the small kingdom of Cagliostro (maybe Giuseppe was count, maybe he conned his way into becoming count, maybe he bought the land and built a fake kingdom with a fake history, who knows).

After the events of The revenge of Cagliostro, Jean settles down in the country of Cagliostro, gets married, has a child, and that child will later have a daughter of their own, who they name Clarisse, after their late grandmother. Clarisse de Cagliostro, of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro fame, would thus be the great-grand-daughter of Arsène Lupin, making her Lupin III's cousin/niece/whatever you call this specific degree of separation.

I am choosing to make Clarisse de Cagliostro a great-granddaughter of Arsène Lupin, rather than a granddaughter, because Arsène Lupin was very young when the events I described unfolded: he is 20 years old when he meets Clarisse d'Etigues and the whole Cagliostro debacle happens, and 25 by the time Jean is born. I'm assuming he had Lupin II much later in his life. So Jean and Lupin II (half-brothers) would have a significant difference in age, and so Jean's hypothetical child (grandchild of Arsène Lupin, so of the same generation of Lupin III) would be much older than Lupin III. Clarisse de Cagliostro is younger than him, maybe around the same age if you stretch it, so she's have to be a great-grandchild.

Now I need to read The revenge of Cagliostro and study Arsène Lupin's wikipedia page in more detail to determine when exactly Lupin II was born and who his mother was. And also where Albert's family branched out, because the fact that he's called D'Andrésy should theoretically place him as a descendant of Arsène Lupin's mother but not of Arsène Lupin himself; but Jean was also going by that last name, so who fucking knows.

No I am not insane I promise, I am just a gigantic nerd.

[merge-conflict]

The appeal of starting from the ending and working back is that you put a cap on every Might Have Been, every wandering tangent, etc. that your drafting mind might otherwise wind down. And there's nothing more irritating then having a good idea when wrapping something up only to realize you didn't have time to foreshadow it like you did the other 2 or 3 recurring consequences (TV writer woes).

Everything in the final conversation Abernathy has with Valentine has to be doing the work of two or three callbacks. Right now I've only hit the initial callbacks, and as I sketch out the ideas mentioned her in passing, which evoke certain strong emotions, then I know I need to do something with V's work involvement with Biotechnica, with some sort of clash with Jenkins, with what Valentine is like when she loses her temper. And I know that because it's what Abernathy is fixated on trying to control this breakup conversation, and also reveals what Abernathy herself is concerned about, and perhaps has been concerned about for a long time and never shown. (Or has she?)

Anyhow I love talking process, so this is the kind of skeleton script I'm going to be working backwards from. It will most certainly not survive exactly like this, but it's a good anchoring point:

<>

“If you tell anyone about anything, I’ll have you removed and handled as a double agent. You have been awful involved with Biotechnica lately.” - “I’m not going to warn you again. Do you understand?”

(dully) “You do that and they’ll know I was telling the truth.”

“It doesn’t matter what they know, it matters what they can prove.” (you know this. we've talked about this. don't be stupid.)

“I suppose next you’ll be asking me to use my new position to spy on Jenkins for you.” (petulant. bitter. a tool, you were always a tool, do you understand?)

“No. I know how you get when you’re angry.” (thinking. malicious. flippant.) “Besides, I thought you’d enjoy a chance to get your claws into him.”

(silently angry. is the implication that she’d do for him what she’d done for her? that she’s just a dangerous beast? that she knows her and her anger so well?)

“Well?”

“What do you want me to do? Beg for leniency? Make some emotional plea? You want me to ask if you ever even gave a shit about me? You want me to put on a show?” - “You wouldn’t believe a word I said anyway. Give me a cigarette.”

(hands one over, lights it. finally makes eye contact. this is real.) “Don’t look so glum. You wouldn’t have gotten half as far as you have without my help. You can cry into your bank account if you want, but it’s not like I’m kicking you out on the street.”

“Alright.” (inhale. peace. emptiness. drains her drink. drops the cigarette into abernathy’s.) “It’s done.”

<>

Re-reading this I already know I need to work in some reference to Valentine's mother and some warning/advice/celebration they have near the end of this reverse story. Something that ties back to her own failed marriage and divorce and dashed expectations. Something about finding a reason to keep going on until you can't bear to any more. Something that echoes the familial stubbornness which means Valentine in the damn things overlap will endure anything so long as she knows the expiration date.

The most fascinating part of writing these two to me is that Abernathy has this very strict rule about never admitting guilt or regret directly, but she'll say something like "I'd apologize but it's already done, isn't it?" and it's like YOU COULD STILL SAY IT! But she sees that as weakness. And Valentine picks up that same attitude here "What do you want me to do? Beg for leniency? Make some emotional plea?" They're mocking each other for the very normal human desire for acknowledgement. They're intelligence agents who think they're just making sure they're not fooling themselves (they're fooling themselves). Sincerity is only useful for pre-empting someone else trying to expose your vulnerability.

Anyway, they're operating on a certain set of fucked up toxic social rules that are in some respects even harsher than the normal corpo set. They're self-policing, because Abernathy is obsessed with gaining favor with someone who is a misogynistic homophobe, and she's playing for keeps against people who aren't reviled by this person. The idea might also come up that she doesn't NEED to be doing it to this degree, but she's warped her own idea of what she needs to do, and what kind of person she needs to be, and applied that to Valentine as well. The tragedy is that they love each other. They work well together. It's never going to work out. It didn't work out. But look at what they had, and how fucked up and funny and exciting it all was before it went to shit.

[superkitten-poison]

the thing is no ship does no children by the mountain goats like slimeriana does no children by the mountain goats

[arsenicflame]

i am once again asking that you stop making Izzy being loved contingent on him fundamentally changing who he is

[precalamity]

entitled: can y’all stop being gay for 5 seconds I’m having a fucking panic attack

[fifiophobia]

Art challenge: If your ship has a cat/mouse dynamic going on, draw the pair wearing one of these together: