#but i love fleshing out my succession selfship

[lookingupatthesamemoon]

CORPORATE CONNECTION - a lore guide

a VERY long-winded lore guide to the ship of Kendall Roy and Gogh, my Succession self-insert :3 !!!

cw: substance use

(SUCCESSION SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT !!!)

meet Gogh, my Succession self-insert !!! she’s a mid-20s actuary working for Waystar Royco (well, at least until s3). she begins her business relationship with the company working for an insurance company that has close ties to Waystar, but after a year or so, Waystar makes her an offer to join their own risk management team – they need the new blood.

by the start of season one, Gogh has been working directly for Waystar for about eight months. she only ever sees Kendall once a month at meetings – and that’s being generous. she can’t really deny that she’s attracted to him, but she keeps it under wraps considering he’s essentially one step away from being her boss. it isn’t until Tom’s bachelor party (s1e8) that we properly see them interact. Gogh happens to be at Rhomboid with her own group of friends, and runs into Kendall shortly after he has a stressful conversation with Stewy and Sandy. they get to talking, and very soon after they take Ketamine together, ending up lazily making out in a corner as the night goes on. she sees him at the office a few days later and they have a more proper conversation about what had happened between them. Kendall floats the idea of Gogh accompanying him to Shiv’s wedding, but she declines.

as we head into season two, Gogh hasn’t seen much of Kendall since before the wedding. this is, of course, because he was sent to rehab after committing manslaughter in the midst of his sister’s wedding. she sees his news appearance (s2e1) and attempts to reach out to him, but can’t get through. she assumes that whatever the hell they had going on previously meant nothing to him, as he continues to brush her off when he sees her at the office. finally, around s2e3, she gets a call from Kendall. he tells her he’s been having a “really tough time,” but he wants to take her out. she accuses him of using her as a distraction, but he swears that’s not his intention. he just feels like she’s one of few people in his life that won’t give him any bullshit. he thinks he can learn to trust her. he wants to. she takes this to heart, agreeing to give him a more serious shot. during the whole safe room fiasco (s2e4), they start to realize just how much they’re growing to care for each other.

despite this, Kendall still has a bad habit of putting the company above Gogh in any given situation. for instance, he still hooks up with Naomi Pierce (s2e5). this upsets Gogh greatly, obviously, as she thought she and Kendall were starting something serious. he brushes her off when they argue about it, making the excuse that he only did it to help his dad in the PGN deal. in an attempt to make up for this blunder, Kendall invites Gogh to Argestes. she almost declines, worrying that the PGN deal will fall through if she’s there, but Kendall assures her that the deal is already fucked, so she agrees. this is the first time the two are seen together by Logan, and frankly, he’s not enthused.

(from this point on in my own canon, anything that happens between Kendall and Naomi in the series is actually happening between Kendall and Gogh or is not happening at all).

after the events of s2e7, Gogh gets a phone call. Kendall finally tells her about the events of Shiv’s wedding, how he accidentally killed a young waiter while trying to score cocaine. he feels like he can’t tell anybody about what happened, and the few people he feels like he can refuse to listen. but Gogh listens. not only does she listen, but she offers her support and sticks by his side. it’s clear as day now to Kendall that he needs to keep her in his life. 

from this point on, the two are practically inseparable – perhaps to an unhealthy degree. they attend Willa’s play together. Gogh accompanies Kendall to Logan’s birthday event (s2e8) and cheers him on during L to the OG. she’s at the court during the hearing in s2e9 – she feels very uneasy about it, but she’s there for Kendall. they become attached at the hip, but the court date definitely puts a pit in her stomach.

she puts this in the back of her mind though after the events of the season two finale. he invites her onto the family yacht for the weekend for emotional support, but she ends up leaving on day two due to pressure from Logan – she suggests Kendall join her, but he insists on staying until the weekend is over. by this point, Kendall’s position at the company is in jeopardy, his father ready to throw him under the bus as a sacrificial lamb. he doesn’t speak to her between her leaving the yacht and his television appearance, during which he speaks out against his father. she watches live from her apartment as it plays out, her jaw dropping as he makes his statements. it’s the bravest thing she’s seen him do in all the time she’s known him. he gives her a call later that day, offering her a position on his own personal business team - not a particularly involved one, but rather a guarantee that she's on his side. of course, she accepts, immediately resigning from her position with Waystar.

as we head into season three, Gogh is firmly on team Kendall (because of course she is). she doesn’t see him until late in the evening, the night after his legendary press appearance, when he invites her over to his little hiding spot – his ex-wife’s apartment. it’s awkward to say the least. Gogh doesn’t love the idea of making this their meeting spot, but she’s cordial, of course. her interactions with Rava are clumsy. she realizes, too, that she’s not 100% sold on the rest of Kendall’s team. she doesn’t work well with Greg, and she gets a bad vibe from Comfry… she sticks by Kendall’s side, but wonders why his siblings are so hesitant to join his side.

she accompanies Kendall to the CPWJ event (s3e3), as well as the afterparty that he throws at Greg’s(?) apartment. she’s by his side comforting him after Shiv’s letter regarding his wellbeing goes public. at this point, she distances herself even further from the rest of the Roy family, recognizing their effects on him are only becoming more negative. she is also in the audience at the shareholder meeting in s3e5. anywhere Kendall goes, Gogh tends to follow. he spends much of his time at her apartment throughout the season, his own place constantly being swarmed by news outlets, paparazzi, and various groups of protesters. 

throughout s3, Gogh finds herself very conflicted on how she views Kendall. she cares about him, deeply, and she’s proud of everything he’s doing – well, almost everything. but at the same time, she can tell he’s not doing well. she struggles to find a good balance between supporting him and trying to keep him in check. she knows it’s not her job to do so, of course, but she still feels compelled to try. they argue off-and-on about his drug use and his work addiction among other things, ultimately getting nowhere.

of course, things start crashing down for Kendall at his 40th birthday bash. Gogh helps him plan the party, despite being a bit concerned about the excess of it all. as the night progresses, Kendall goes from being on top of the world to being down on the concrete of his balcony. he begins to realize that no one in attendance actually cares. it’s just another rich asshole’s birthday party that people are using for clout, and the only people around besides Gogh that care are his kids, whose gift to him gets lost in the shuffle. his siblings offer him nothing but a buyout offer and a card that says five words: “cash out and fuck off.” he’s lost any leverage he may have had over Waystar. he breaks down, asking Gogh to take him home. on their way out, Roman and Shiv have to get in one last punch – literally.

soon after, the two of them travel out to Tuscany for Kendall’s mother’s wedding. during the trip, Kendall seriously considers the buyout offered to him at his birthday party, and sits down to discuss it with his father. the conversation shakes him for the remainder of the trip, and he almost drunkenly drowns himself in his pool before Gogh pulls him out. she encourages him to attend a sort of “intervention” with his siblings, and while he does go, he remains defensive. at the wedding, Kendall finally admits to his siblings that he was at fault for the death of the waiter at Shiv’s wedding back in season one, tearfully seeking solace in them – but less than a minute later, the three get an urgent call, causing them all to team up against their father, just as Kendall was trying to do weeks prior.

as season three comes to a close, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv all find themselves shut out of Waystar. in the months leading up to season four, the three continue to work together as their own team – and Gogh remains a part of it. she’s not fully in the business, but Kendall bounces ideas off of her here and there, and their relationship continues, more peacefully than it ever had before. she allows herself to get closer to Shiv and Roman again, noticing that things finally seem copacetic. Kendall is finally sober, he’s in therapy, and he finally has the relationship with his siblings that she thinks he needs.

Gogh accompanies Kendall to Connor’s wedding (s4e3), during which Logan passes away, on a plane on his way to a business negotiation. she’s sadder than she expected she would be hearing this news – she had always hated Logan, but seeing the way the news was affecting Kendall made her feel especially awful. in the wake of their father’s death, Kendall and his siblings have a lot to deal with, which means Gogh does too.

at Logan’s wake, Gogh follows Kendall closely, supporting him through the crowd of empty condolences, but gives him space with his siblings. she knows they have to discuss the future of Waystar, and that they’ll jump into these talks as soon as possible. Frankly, she isn’t sure she wants to be involved with the company all that closely. of course, the biggest fish to fry is the GoJo deal.

after the discovery of Logan’s letter, in which he seemingly suggests Kendall take over as CEO of Waystar, Kendall immediately talks with Gogh. she’s hesitant to encourage him in either direction, seeing as his emotional stability has once again come into question after his father’s passing. she wonders, out loud, if going back to Waystar will actually do him any good, but tells him that the decision is entirely his. by the time the wake is over, Kendall and Roman have been named co-CEOs – Ken and Gogh are on top of the world, despite some of Gogh’s concerns. she helps him move his things back into his office (among other things 😇). she feels almost sick being back inside Waystar headquarters, but pushes it down for Kendall’s sake.

of course, being involved with the new CEO of one of the largest media conglomerates in the country has its perks, including but not limited to expensive gifts, fancy dinners, and private flights. Gogh accompanies Kendall to Norway for the GoJo retreat as the siblings prepare to make their deal with Matsson. as far as Gogh knows, the plan is for the deal to go through, for a large portion of Waystar to be sold – so imagine her surprise when things begin to unravel, and Kendall purposefully attempts to torpedo the deal. his attempts fail, of course, but he refuses to give up, desperate to keep the title of CEO.

Gogh watches, concerned, as Kendall becomes more frantic. he seemingly enters a manic state, and Gogh worries he’s back on cocaine despite his claims of sobriety. she watches nervously as he makes his Living+ pitch at Investor Day (s4e6), sticking the landing far better than she expects him to. things are shockingly going his way. still, Gogh worries the bough might soon break, especially with Election Day on its way. she attempts to talk with him about his friendship with Stewy as well, believing it to be a bad influence, but Kendall refuses to engage.

Gogh spends most of the following night on Kendall’s arm at his tailgate party (s4e7). things are mostly looking up at this point. granted, Gogh doesn’t know every single detail of the business moves Kendall and Roman are making, but as long as Kendall is in a good position, so is she. she’s known, to some capacity, the types of people that Kendall has been working with during his short time as CEO, but this is her first time having to interact with any of those types face to face – and she does not like seeing Kendall schmooze fascists and their friends. she starts wondering if this is all worth it. if Kendall really is the kind of person he likes to think that he wants to be. does he even know what he wants to be? Gogh has her doubts. nevertheless, she grins and bears it for his sake.

she stays as far as humanly possible from the Waystar offices on Election night. she watches the number come in at home, anxiously awaiting each network to call it. she never watches ATN, but she has her eye on them tonight. Kendall calls her during the Milwaukee debate, hoping to get her perspective with her statistical skills, and she, like Darwin, agrees that Jimenez would have taken most of the lost votes. she’s terrified, thinking about the party the night before, that Kendall and his siblings might not make the right call, despite Kendall reassuring her.

of course, by the time Kendall returns to her apartment, ATN has called the race for Mencken – and the worst part of all, of course, is that Kendall played a part in this. he and Gogh get into a huge argument about this, resulting in Gogh threatening to leave him. she can’t stand to watch him put his father’s business in front of his own morals over and over again. she wants so badly to believe that he’s a good person, with all this other shit in the way, but she can’t overlook the part he’s played in this election.

still, she attends Logan’s funeral the following morning. she doesn’t ride in with Kendall, so she’s unaware of the unsavory conversations he had with both Rava (his ex-wife) and Jess (his assistant) on his own way there. she acknowledges him there, of course, but remains closer to the back during the service, feeling the need to keep her distance. she ends up sitting near Jess, actually, and as she listens to Shiv’s speech about Logan, hearing her say “he was hard on women,” she and Jess share a look of understanding. Kendall was following in his father’s footsteps whether he realized it or not. he was becoming hard on women, too. he was becoming selfish and over-absorbed by the business. as Gogh observes the interactions in the crowd between Logan’s own mistresses, she starts to feel as though she’s become part of a pattern. Kendall, in a relationship with one of his underlings (well, at least when they started dating), was no better than his father having an affair with his own assistant. she feels sick. still, she catches Kendall at the end of the service, and shares a moment with him before they head separately to the burial. she hopes to talk with him again, but he’s busy discussing the business with Hugo, so she silently heads home.

Kendall ends up staying the night at Gogh’s apartment yet again – she’s almost mad at herself for even letting him in, but she can’t help but empathize with him. he’s going through a lot, and she knows it, because she’s been by his side for almost all of it. she becomes so anxious, though, that she can’t stay in bed with him. he notices this, and gets up, joining her in the kitchen for a much needed conversation. Gogh talks him through what she felt at the funeral, and finally, she admits that she can’t stay with him. he tries to fight this, to keep her, but she holds her ground. she lets him sleep there, in her bed while she stays on the couch. he’s gone without a trace the next morning.

of course, Gogh knows today is the big day. as far as she knows, Kendall has the numbers to block the GoJo deal, effectively remaining the CEO of Waystar until he either retires or dies. at this point, she figures he’s ready for it. as his father would have put it, he’s become a killer, finally proving he could handle the position better than his siblings. he deserves it, she thinks to herself. but then she sees the news. GoJo has officially purchased Waystar, and has named Tom the new CEO. her stomach drops. she attempts to call Kendall, but he doesn’t pick up. she tries again in the morning. still no answer. she tries to call Connor, just to see if he knows anything, but to no avail. finally, she decides to search for him herself. praying he isn’t dead, she walks through the city for hours, eventually finding him sitting in Battery Park, looking unwell as ever. as soon as he sees her, he breaks down. he realizes, in some way, he still has her love – if he didn’t, she wouldn’t have been the one to find him. over the course of their relationship, Kendall was always Gogh’s greatest weakness. she sighs to herself, holding him against her chest, as she ponders giving him another chance – after all, she doesn’t know any better.

(divider by @/thecutestgrotto, moodboard by me :3)

[libertys-lovers]

That does it! Explain your selfship tags, because I wanna know if there's a story behind 'em. Please and thank you!

ANAJWNWK- Ya got it boss! 😎👍

All of my self-ship tags are like that because I ADORE the fandom ship-names that are lil puns based on the characters involved… but I don’t think that’s the part I needed to explain lol. You’re right though, most of my self-ship names/tags have a bit of a lore behind them! I’ll try to make this post not the longest thing in the universe, but I am warning you… there’s gonna be a lot.

(I, uh… idk if it was a specific tag that made you curious. I’m just gonna go over all my individual Romantic F/O tags; but if it was one of the poly-tags that you were curious about, or if it wasn’t even a Romantic F/O that peaked your interest, then lemme know!)

———

🕶💥Dramatics💥🕶 - Karamatsu and Freedom are both dramatic people. That’s… that’s it really. 🕶 is Kara’s emoji because he wears sunglasses. 💥 is Freedom’s emoji because it looks like one of those effects you’d add in comic books, and she’s a comic artist so- | 💉🖋Blueprints🖋💉 - So, the reason Dr. Flug and Inkwell started working more together was because Inkwell could turn Flug’s blueprints into physical models, which helped him flesh out his inventions. It also works well because, like, Blueprints are sciency things and they use ink, so it fits both their motifs anyway. 💉 references this one shot I adore of Flug, where he’s holding this syringe full of nasty green stuff and is just looking sinister. 🖋 is there because pens have ink and certain pens need inkwells.

🏜📰One Shot📰🏜 - So, Sniper is…. a sniper, and Journalist has a writing-centric job. So the name’s kinda like, idk, a pun. One Shot here means both “shooting once and being successful” and “the style of writing”. We’ve got 🏜 for Sniper because he’s from the outback, and 📰 for Journalist because, ya know, the news! | 📋📰Secretary Dept.📰📋- Both Miss Pauling and Journalist have secretary-esq jobs. AKA: They write reports all the time. The emojis link to their respective forms of writing. | 🐸📱Songwriter📱🐸 - Lúcio makes music, and Dime was an author/social media influencer. So, songwriter was a word that perfectly fit the both of them! 🐸 represents Lúcio’s frog aesthetic, and 📱 references Dime being an influencer.

🔩🍀Successful Operation🍀🔩 - Stein’s known for his biological/physical experiments, and Lucky’s whole thing is that she’s like a good-luck charm to Death Weapon Meister Academy. So the name’s kinda means, like, “hey, the surgery went well! how lucky!”. The 🔩 represents the literal screw in Stein’s head, and the 🍀 represents Lucky’s luck. | 👊💡Transformative Love💡👊 - So, Goku and Fluores’s shticks both revolve HEAVILY around transformations. Goku has his 50 gazillion different forms, and Fluores can hop between a human and alien form. And tbh Transformative Love just had a nice ring to it. 👊 references Goku’s violent tendencies, and 💡 represents Fluores’s name-source (fluorescent), which in itself references her moth-like alien form.

(This next paragraph is all about the Cookie Run self-ships. To save time, I’ll just tell you now that all their emojis reference their flavors. The only exception is Licorice’s emoji, ☠️; that’s just a ref to his aesthetic.)

🍾🍇Viola Rosa🍇🍾 - Viola Rosa is literally just a brand of wine I saw at the store one day. Sparkling’s based of champagne and Faux Berry’s themed after berries! Seemed fair enough. | 🧀🍇True Crime Novella🍇🧀 - Roguefort is a HUGE wanted criminal, and Faux Berry is an author! So why not combine those themes by referencing mystery novels, but except clarify that they’re REAL. The novella part of the name just sounded fancy; the distinction in what book it is has no real meaning. | ☠️🍇Dark Arts Scribe🍇☠️ - Licorice does dark magic! And like I said earlier, Faux Berry is an author! The name’s just another cute way to fuse their jobs. | 🍰🍇A Dog’s Tale🍇🍰 - Red Velvet controls an army that’s made up of essentially dogs, so the base for the ship name is A Dog’s *Tail. But I replaced tail with tale because, once again, Faux’s job. | 🌸🍇Tricolor Tea🍇🌸 - So, if you look at Cherry Blossom and Faux Berry’s color palettes, the pink from Cherry Blossom would stick out & the blue/purple/pink from Faux would stick out. Those three colors can be associated with the duo then, & as a cute bonus they both have pink, so the other colors they have can kinda be tied together! The tea’s just a reference to the fact Cherry Blossom likes tea.

🔥🌿Traveling Circus Rose🌿🔥 - Rengoku is the Flame Hashira, and The Wisteria Wanderer is a vigilante that themed herself after the flowers that demons are weak to. The Circus Rose is a flower that looks a lot like fire, so it references both Rengoku’s fire aesthetic and W.W’s plant aesthetic! The traveling part is because they both have to travel for their jobs. 🔥 represents Rengoku’s fire and 🌿 represents the hanging nature of the wisteria tree. | 🐦💭Head in the Clouds💭🐦 - Hawks can fly, and Daydream’s whole aesthetic is dreamlike. Therefore, the phrase “head in the clouds” can be both literal and metaphorical! Like, you can literally have your head in those clouds because you’re flying, or your head is just in those clouds because you’re spacing out. 🐦 represents Hawks’s bird aesthetic, and 💭 is a thought-bubble for Daydream, cause ya know, she essentially daydreams for her quirk! | 🌌🎧Artificial Nature🎧🌌 - This one references their contrasting aesthetics and values! Dororo has a more traditional aesthetic & loves the outdoors and nature. Miss Machina has a futuristic(ish) aesthetic, and loves technology and human progress. The name’s like, idk, the written counterpart to those phone towers that look like trees; it just combines their two vibes. 🌌 represents Dororo, because he’s an alien! 🎧 is there because Machina had headphones in her design when I made the tag, but now it’s just there as a standard nod to tech.

🎹🕊Angel’s Choir🕊🎹 - 2-D is the lead singer of the band, and Lily does backing vocals! 2-D has the voice of an angel, and Lily’s whole aesthetic is vaguely-inspired by angels (even to the point that 2-D thought she was a guardian angel for a bit). And, ya know, they sing together, so it’s like a choir! 🎹 is there because 2-D can play the keyboard, and 🕊 is there to reference Lily’s angelcore aesthetic. | 📚🌺Assisted Romanticide🌺📚 - Okay, so Gary and Libby each have a self-defined purpose of existing to assist the ones they care about, including each other. Romanticide is a word for death that is, in some way, caused by romance; THIS is here because Gary and Libby have had to protect each other many many times. 📚 references Gary’s love for comic books, and 🌺 references those vacation button-ups that dads are known to wear (Libby’s shtick is that she’s a dimensional tourist, if that helps to add context). | 💎👻Graveyard Stones👻💎 - Henry is a Rock-Type trainer for GO Rocket, and Liberty is a Hex Maniac (AKA: she trains Ghost and Psychic types). So the name combines both of their type preferences by referencing all the rocks you can find at burial sites. 💎 is a gemstone for Henry; I would’ve given him a 🪨, but that didn’t show up on PC for me. 👻 is for Liberty, because ghost. | 🛋💽FOCUS.EXE Has Crashed💽🛋 - Sasha and Libs both have technological aesthetics linked to them, which explains the techno-blabble in the name. The reason that it’s FOCUS.EXE specifically crashing is because, well, you tend to lose your focus when you’re brainrotting over your lover! 🛋 is for Sasha; it was meant to vaguely reference his weird grudge against lamps, but the emoji honestly just fits his vibe. 💽 represents Libs, since she has the more heavily-used computer aesthetic

I’ll explain 🏩Lavender Lovers🏩 too since I’m about to use it. This is my catch-all tag for when I talk about a TON of F/Os. So, like, my signature color is purple, and lavender is a shade of purple. So my lovers being titled as lovers of a color that’d surely make them think of me is very wholesome. It’s also a reference to the Lavender Lands, which in my self-ship lore is the big cross-over dimension that everyone gets to mingle in. The emoji is 🏩, which I think is a Love Hotel, but might be a Love Hospital instead? That emoji’s just there because there’s a lotta lovers living in the same place (the crossover dimension has this huge mansion we all get to chill in; it’s the biggest roommate trope known to man lmao).