#adding to this: this also goes for ships!

[ussuri-tiger]

I'd be tempted to shift the focus to a realization going from 'I need someone I can trust to watch my back' to 'Adora also needs someone she can trust to watch her back' . Catra certainly expresses these underlying needs as you say, 'Adora always has to be the hero' but part of the subtext to that is at the cost of abandoning me and leaving me without someone to watch my back.

By Corridors Catra has recognized the pattern that Adora's not just threatened by external forces but by her own habit of diving in headfirst and hoping she can punch her way out. Always has to be the hero turns out to have a cost for Adora too. By this point Catra's more or less given up on finding safety for herself but hopes to shield Adora by removing the obligation to dive into danger on Prime's ship.

By Failsafe there's another level of understanding added, not only does Adora need someone to watch her back but Catra is uniquely capable of doing this, in some way Catra is special to Adora. I think that's part of why she's so heartbroken at the end of Failsafe.

I'm of the opinion that Catra ends up expressing herself in a somewhat misleading way at the end of Failsafe, not exactly unusual for her. She starts by focusing on her bitterness about Shadow Weaver's words and Adora's lack of pushback, but a connected thread here is Catra can't help Adora. She circles back to Adora's self-sacrificing nature though with 'when do you get to choose, what do you want Adora' .

This is the core of CatrAdora's problem at the end of Failsafe, Adora's going to sacrifice herself and there's nothing Catra can do about it, she's played every card, made every argument and Adora made her choice. With the facts available to both of them Catra tagging along will only make things worse.

Her conversation with Melog is a whole lot of her trying to build a plausible fiction for herself that's a bit less painful then the truth. Loving Adora but only being a friend to Adora would be painful, yes. Loving Adora and being loved by her only to have that realization on the literal eve of her demise? Worse by far. Makes all the what-ifs of their past all the more painful.

On top of Catra's departure putting some distance between herself and what would be an excruciating situation for her it also helps Adora. Adora usually just denies her way out of the downside of her self-sacrificing nature but Catra brings that issue back into focus during their conversation and underscores the seriousness of it with her departure.

This helps Adora get to the point of standing up to Shadow Weaver and washes away that thick layer of denial that she uses to shield herself from danger in her head. Mara helps further drive home the point that right or wrong it's a tragedy that Adora's walking to her doom and she at least has the right to mourn all the things she hasn't done, which is precisely what Catra is doing with Melog. Mourning the passing of her fondest wish.

What alters things is Catra being presented with an actual material thing she can do to help ( Prime going after the Heart ), Adora may still die but Catra will be damned if she's going to see all her hopes and dreams burn in magical fire and not save Etheria from Prime. So she goes back to help Adora and in the process they both discover that Catra can save Adora even from the Heart and so Adora lives and She-Ra can save the universe.

another old-account exhumation, for those who missed it the first time.

[olderthannetfic]

You know, even if the lack of black and brown ships IS based on internalized and social racism, I would also like to just point out that literally nobody bitching about these things does anything to help with that either.

Like only way to fix this bullshit is by grabbing the problem by the roots, but instead people just make long tangents about the morality of shipping and some attempt at framing their ship wars as activism. And any kind of white or Asian shipping as a moral failing in comparison.

If you are someone who ships brown and black characters you're immediately put under intense scrutiny. Even if it's not put under a magnifying glass within your fandom, if it becomes big enough to be noticed outside your fandom, you're still gonna get backlash.

If people don't ship because of internalized bullshit, you're literally not helping by also adding another layer of bullshit to even turn those away who'd be more interested to ship. If your moral compass is based on how you ship two characters, of course you're gonna get nowhere.

Nobody is gonna want to put energy into publicly shipping a ship in fandom, if half that time is spent trying to avoid lectures, rants, and being "educated" because you're shipping them wrong.

No this isn't specifically about SW, because I never got into that fandom. Just an observation from other fandoms where this seems to be how the shipping goes in circles.

--

When I reblogged the exposé about what was going on in Old Guard fandom and talked about how it related to past fandom bullshit, a bunch of fans instantly showed up going "Wow, this is exactly like POTO right now. We thought we were somehow at fault!"

[haaam-guuuurl]

Love the flavor of soulmates that is a main m/f partnership dynamic that's mostly platonic but also romantic but also dysfunctional and yet completely essential - like these characters would not work without each other, but they barely work with each other, and most importantly they know each other carnally better than anyone else, but it's also not about sex at all it's about the partnership and navigating the highs and lows of intimacy and letting someone in, but also maybe they do fuck, but also maybe don't, but also...

[mariajamel]

A farewell and a reunion or perhaps just two farewells

[these-detestable-hands]

It's been a bit since I've interacted with octopath so my stuff on these ships may be a little rusty but I'll argue for them anyway.

Castitio (Castti x Partitio)

Before the game even came out, I thought they'd be a silly couple. Lady who doesn't remember and guy bursting at the seems with kindness. I think they're got a neat dynamic, with Castti teasing him a bit but they get along and are friends. Some post canon hcs I have are that Partitio would help Castti set up an organization that produces medicine and teaches about it cause he loves her and he's got the funding anyway. Also I do think being exposed to the poison rain twice did stuff to Castti so I like to hc she's disabled post canon, being a wheelchair user due to muscle weakness, having very little lung capacity and CPTSD. Also not a disability but she has eczema-like purple splotches on her body. Sorry I needed an excuse to quickly mention my disabled Castti headcanons. While they're engaged, Partitio and Floyd work on completely renovating a house to accommodate all of Castti's needs, so like low counters she can reach while on her wheelchair, only one floor, wide doorways, blackout curtains so she can sleep during the day, etc. Castti keeps insisting that she doesn't need that much help and that she's navigating normal houses just fine but then she'd see all the accommodations in their new house and bawl for hours. She'd work less and take it easy post canon. Listen I just think they'd be a really cute couple. Castti patches up your broken arm then her husband comes in and starts cracking jokes and talking about affordable public transportation. I feel like I'm also forgetting a lot of stuff but oh well. I've got a few fics for them posted on ao3, account name: BigOrangeOnion

Ophikari (Ophilia x Hikari) (I also call them The Radiance (hollow knight reference and it makes sense for an au))

OKAY SO this ship started out as an au when the ot1 travelers were added to ot2 for that update last year. Basically, post canon, Hikari visits the arena whenever he's in Montwise. This time, he goes and there's some omega powerful warriors fighting ruthlessly and with no concern for themselves. He realizes it's because they've got some kinda of curse, similar to him with the shadow (I THINK that's what it was called).

So Hikari starts working on figuring out how to free them because their current existence seems miserable. The first he manages to free is Ophilia, by using light magic near her. The light magic makes her briefly remember who she was but it's enough for her to snap out of the mind control that she's been put under. She talks to Hikari and explains that her and her friends were mind controlled by a very weak but not quite dead Galdera, in attempts to conquer and gain more power so he could heal himself faster. So the two of them start working on freeing the other travelers together.

Along the way, they ofc fall in love. I don't remember an awful lot about them unfortunately but I implore anyone reading this to write stuff for them :]

Here's a little drawing I did of them together. I'd include Castitio drawings if I had any but I am not big on drawing ship art unfortunately.

H'aanit x Cyrus x Castti (in a QPR!!! :3)

So this is probably the one I've explored the least purely because I never really shared it with anyone. I keep it to myself because of the amount of hyper specific and sad headcanons. But basically it was an au where I'd just mix and match travelers n stuff. Like just putting different travelers in different continents with weird team compositions cause I'm a big fan of aus and crossovers.

One of the ones I liked the most is where Castti leaves Solistia by herself to explore post canon because she's not very close with the other travelers and self isolates a little. This au starts out kinda sad cause of the focus on my hcs for various characters' mental illnesses. H'aanit is initially traveling alone but Castti joins her and they're a relatively quiet but very effective and productive duo. Later, Cyrus, Olberic, Primrose and Ophilia join. They all have their problems to work through and get through them together.

Castti has to deal with self worth and realizing that she's more than just the team healer.

H'aanit has always had anxiety around losing Z'aanta, which is really bad throughout the entire story so Castti often ends up calming her down during panic attacks and they get really close because of the mutual trust there.

Idk exactly how to describe Cyrus' problems but he's really jumpy and nervous and a little bit angry all the time because of being accused of, y' know, sleeping with a student. Yeah no I never understood why Cyrus wasn't that angry about it, even when I first played the game at age 10.

I think Cyrus is just dealing with the new found rage he constantly has. He had anger management issues as a kid but worked through them and they're just now coming back cause he's been thrown out of his home and people he used to be friends with think the worst of him and he's got no one but this new friend group he hardly knows. You get it.

The story is the three of them (and Olberic, Ophilia and Prim, but this post is about ships so I'll talk about them another time) as they deal with their mental health issues. Through helping each other with these very personal problems, they become very close and eventually decide to be in a qpr together. I think they'd just live relatively quiet lives in S'warkii cause Cyrus is too upset to return to Atlasdam and Castti isn't too keen on going back to Solistia after falling head over heels in love with two people in Osterra.

I don't remember way too much for this au unfortunately. I think they should all cuddle and finally get a good night's sleep for once cause no way a single one of those bitches sleeps well with the crap they see and have experienced.

Sorry I wrote so much. Here is a little drawing based on an Olberic chapter 2 travel banter and the most important H'aanit fact.

I miss octopath yapping with people so uh yknow what! We’re gonna play a game!!

Explain in the notes what y’all’s favorite ships are and why you like them!!!

Only rules are

1) do not explain why everyone should think your ship is canon, as that is not the point of this post 2) do not put any other ships down bc that is also not the point of this post 3) ALL games are included (yes including cotc) 4) ANY SHIPS ARE ALLOWED!!! GO NUTS!!!!

[shyhandart]

wanted to show you my rainbowglider kid so far! just a WIP ☺️

Holy crap! Alternate universe siblings!!

This is Caustic Phantom, but everyone they know calls them tommy :3

[fandomfive39]

Les Mis movie/tv where nothing is cut, and there's an ever present narrator who takes over the camera Lemony Snicket to ramble about all the things Victor Hugo does before we see the director and crew forcibly cut him off to continue the storyline

[sonknuxadow]

remembering when the covers for the issue where amy and surge first interacted were coming out and people were saying they wanted surge to fall in love with amy at first sight and immediately decide to change so she can be with her . as in actually wanting that to happen in the comic not just as a fanfic thing . and sorry not to be a hater but i can't be the only one who thinks that surge suddenly becoming good because romance kind of would of sucked right .... like idk that just doesnt sound like a very good direction to take the story . sorry .

[nandors-girlwife]

No but is it really one of your favs ships if u don't have a playlist for them

Yes I wrote this post only to share my ship's playlist if any of y'all care so WHAT anyway here they are

Merthur Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7qC8kcwkTy8zUwwMtNdHEJ?si=4CarnOY5T1ewqmF8mhQnXA&pi=u-SN42Cs1oTvei

Nandermo Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2e9mFwufBGWVoMK7f6XvuX?si=xZk2rdD2QXSmEZnYNXR6UA

Innefable Husbands Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4WikaxxtH3Ng8XzF0O8FHJ?si=aHVR_0sLQiaj1D2eIj16mQ

Spirk Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4O0QIOgqo7XqudFnVwqgNq?si=JKO0dVzrRrS8MCgEUfPT1Q&pi=u-AQYOd9ueTZGa

HaiYin Addicted Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1tFgmi573GBCl6S4WmcdV2?si=QZrvfnFzRTqC6duWC7FFSA&pi=u-8vZmJe-7QKWC

Starsky and Hutch Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3b1mBG9fLViODX8RGgvcyU?si=blQ2LemBR6OuBx6hDEjtGQ&pi=u-L0oTCcAvQ1aA

HiraXKiyoi MBM Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4pqPVCBF4MA150J5p46Lkl?si=I50S8qSvRSiS0ZetP0LiWg&pi=u-XKj5oLVNRCWT

MoonjoXJungwoo SFH Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/629rkeb2aOZGivxbOZtD1V?si=UEt6bwZjTTCnj3KiS8sRFg&pi=u-0hbm4T-hSRmh

Johnlock Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FQcrmLVlmLw5hK4PHlNbm?si=22Yt14mrSXyfTTvZN-dWsw&pi=u-HaXVuA4bTc2x

JuwonXDongshik BE Playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1CCdkdJnhPFGRSNsdEPDgV?si=lJQpUXWoThyP4QeKDkzuFg&pi=u-2-ueYj5xSOOs

This is my legacy

[proshipaes]

Everytime I see one of those ''Gregory is Michael's son and that's why he looks like CC!" theories/AUs all my fucked up brain can think is... What if Gregory looks like CC because he's also William's kid?

Like I'm pretty sure it couldn't work because blah blah timeline, but I desperately want to fuck up Michael's life even more by having him have his own father's kid.

[phantajam]

my hot take about descendants is that NONE of the core four were ready for a relationship until maybe like, the third movie (rant in tags)

[dunadaan]

i'm thinking about the time 4 years ago when i was rping with a girl and we shipped blackwall from da:i and créa and it was fun until her personal life exploded and ended our friendship. and right in the middle of that i had gotten a commission of our characters...and by the time the sketch came back from the artisti was like. welp. i dont even talk to that person anymore. but ill still pay you for this commission bc you worked hard on it and it really is beautiful

so now i have this really pretty commission for a ship i dont even ship anymore and have never posted anywhere LMFAO

[electoons]

how you know the ship is good and true

[peacockrulz]

youre so right about narration!! i could go on all day really, its the biggest thing for me that takes a fic from good to great, especially with characters like j- characters with a persona of sorts, characters that lie to themselves or are in denial, or characters with a lot they need to sort through, and j is sort of all three in some capacity. i cannot wait for hostile takeover to update! if you ever decide to try writing a fic id love to give it a read! ive noticed you have a lot of interesting ideas about characters and their dynamics through your fanart, something i think could translate to writing well. you also clearly have an understanding of what makes a fic good- though i know from experience its often easier said than done. still, id love to see you try! this is actually my first time rp-ing canon characters, ever. right now im playing j (thanks hostile takeover) in a discord server, though i might try n soon because i reaaallly struggle with characterizing him. ive been roleplaying my whole life really! i started with roblox warrior cats though... im shuddering with you id kill for more dollxn art from you though. no pressure but you get them it seems. its been a while since i listened to final girl but its definitely their song suggestive lyrics or not i hope they die and go to robo-hell together <3 - juzi anon

*sigh* putting this under a readmore because HOO BOY did I maybe went full analyzer on this one. thanks for your time Juzi Anon <3

I've read alotta fics in my time on the internet and honestly? I don't think I've ever read a fic that hooked me on a character narration quite like Hostile Takeover's J. J's awareness of every part of what shes doing and how shes doing it makes it even more subtle when you realize that despite all of that, she has so little awareness over what she thinks. Like she doesn't question it. Uzi's narration makes a point to show how she censors her own thoughts, she doesn't allow her mind to wander to certain parts of the past, shes completely aware of how some thoughts sound and decides against saying it all together. Meanwhile, J will go on and on about how much better the job would be without V's constant talking back and N's inability to do anything right, and in the same paragraph be constantly thinking about the argument with V, and what got V so messed up to begin with. J is like a rock, a precipice of confidence. But the moments where she doesn't know what to do, (like when she thought she was going to die in that church tower from the rising sun) its almost like she has to put on appearances even in a moment where shes completely panic-ed, that she still somehow has to pretend she knows what shes doing, even with no one around. Its why the fic made me rethink J in general, I've loved J for while but Hostile Takeover was the first time I actually was able to SEE what J could be as a character story. It really puts into perspective how important narration can be in telling a damn good story. (Sorry this became a J paragraph. I could analyze fics for the rest of my life and be happy lol)

Haha maybe one day I'll finally sit down and write. I'm not really the greatest at translating my thoughts to text, for some reason its easier for me to illustrate my feelings about a character then to write it out. The only reason I can draw fanart like that is because I analyze these characters to death lol. Looking at all the angles of two characters and then asking the question of 'what would it take for them to be on friendly terms' is a pass time I indulge it frequently!!!! Thats why I like rarepairs, sometimes they're dynamics are alot more unique than most, even if they're 2 characters that have never once canonically interacted (which is my favorite. Alot more creative thinking with that one yknow?) Still, maybe I'll get to it :O (prolly would practice writing analysis post first. because I always have to stop myself from doing it on other posts XP)

I've also grew up on roleplaying (my brother is into roleplaying and that got me started on it lol) used to roleplay on roblox even before I could read (which. isn't a joke actually. who gives a 5 year old unrestricted internet access???) funnily enough I can't even say I ever completely grew out of it, I still visit alot of roleplay maps on roblox (including WCUE!! never actually roleplayed there but I think its fun to spec) but mainly I used to roleplay on animal-based mmos like FeralHeart in my younger days.

Iffff,,, I could say anything about N's character,,, to hopefully help inspire some ability to write him (and sorry this gets its own paragraph) I would probably say that he is a very self-destructively selfless person, whos never gotten over anything or anyone in his life (I.e when V was in stasis during their time in the manor, N constantly visited her and would draw pictures of the two of them together ((as lizards)) and is kinda implied to have been reading books to her during this time. Even after getting 'digitally lobotomized', while N couldn't exactly remember V as he knew her back then, he still carried that affection he had for her all that time ago. He never stopped caring about V, even when he forgot) while I wouldn't describe N as in anyway 'innocent' or 'naive', N still has a habit of unconditionally caring about pretty much anybody lol. He had like, what, a 27 minute conversation with Uzi? And while it wasn't enough to completely convince him, it still was something that made him hesitate ("I really enjoyed our time together,"). And while I'm here (having mentioned Uzi) I would also say N is a very lonely character, seeing as he was often belittled by his peers (J) or in some cases completely ignored (V, but she had her reasons and thats a different discussion) a funny part of N's character is just how much he IS like Uzi. A person completely isolated by his kind because of how he is, who was never given an explanation as to why, why everyone is so oddly cruel to him. The biggest difference though being that N never fought it, he completely accepted getting knocked around if it meant he could stick around. It took someone else to point out how fucked his situation was to make him think twice about it. Uzi is the type of character to go down kicking screaming and punching(asterisk but thats also a different discussion), and N, despite being in such a similar place to her, isn't that kind of guy. While I wouldn't say N is the type to take everything lying down, there is something to say about just how much he is willing to take before getting angry, yknow? Overall, I think N is a very loving, loyal-to-a-fault, kinda guy, but his compassion for those around him is often times the reason he gets so tunnel-visioned in the first place (i.e causing explosions and throwing rocks and debris everywhere in a mass, angry panic, trying to go save V.) and its why he is so willing to get himself hurt in the first place. ("I really enjoyed our time together, but I can't have you shooting V with that thing.") (Or yknow, cutting his arm off, but thats alot less selfless-ness and alot more self destruction) His patience and understanding is one of his biggest strengths and somehow always the reason he gets hurt. Basically I think he need to go a lil insane as a treat.

((Oh its also good to note that his unconditional love for everyone around him is also the only reason why he has lived this far to begin with (the characters this includes: V, Uzi, AND Cyn.)))

I also think the above, is the reason why I enjoy NxDoll so much. it takes SO MUCH for him to hate someone and yet Doll did the one thing that would make him do it (hurting someone he cares about the most). I just knoooowwww if they saw eachother in that church it would've been ON. That fight would've taken out the whole god damn BUILDING. it would be two people fighting for the exact same fkcing reason!!! REVENGE!!! the horrible chain of trauma contuines with them!!! killing one will only leave the other with what remains!!!! And yet I also see them as two people who would really benefit from being on friendlier terms. Both becasue N's softness is just not something we ever see Doll treated with, and because Doll's avocation for justice might just be the thing N needs to get a god damn backbone for once and earn himself some self-appreciation.

But I also think its more fun when its enemies AND lovers.

They should make eachother worse <3

[sorrygotthesesacks]

Sometimes I look at my works on AO3 and think "I don't remember writing that" but then I'm like. "oh WAIT, yes I do remember writing that JJBA/hypmic crossover for FugoNara Week last year - how could I possibly forget such a thing exists?"

[supatroopa]

Girl send help I'm struggling, the disventure camp all stars is doing the thing where the relationship drama is the focal point and I am not having it put the blorbos in a blender not a miscommunication plot