#calpen

[spookyrobbins]

You know ot's funny how this fandom characterized Callie as almost perfect, when she was actually canonically selfish, didn't care about Arizona's opinion, didn't take her complaints seriously (like Mark), always expected Arizona to give up things and so on. Not hating on Callie, but she wasn't like a perfect partner to Arizona.

honestly, hard agree. and disclaimer: i love callie, i'm not bashing callie, i love arizona, i'm not bashing arizona, please stop telling me i hate one of them or whatever.

but yes, i'm obsessed with callie's flaws, of which (much like arizona) she has many. and her selfishness is a pretty major one. i've spoken about it previously, but a lot of it has to do with how she was raised, and how carlos made sure she always had everything possible. callie puts herself first in a lot of situation, and she just so happens to be surrounded by people like her dad and arizona and mark who also prioritize her and agree with her on most things. like callie and arizona have sort of perfectly inverse traits in so many ways that it leads to situations. callie also never thinks she's in the wrong, or if she does, she's able to rationalise it to a pretty significant extent; arizona on the other hand somehow always blames herself.

that said, i don't think callie was a bad partner, but she certainly wasn't perfect.

the fandom and the show both protect (i don't think this is the best word for this but alas) callie a lot. i think part of this is bc in calzona, callie's the main character, so it's always her pov and that influences a lot. but the point is that callie, like you said, is very near to perfect in most characterizations. which is why i think it can seem jarring to some when her flaws are showcased. i also think that it's led to a lack of balance in the fandom generally, in that making callie almost perfect/flawless/etc, arizona has taken on a lot of the burden of issues in their relationship. obviously there are moments like the cheating etc where the responsibility falls solely on arizona, but i'd argue in pretty much every other issue in their relationship, you can make an argument for both of them being responsible.

a major one for me is the custody battle, which a lot of people say is really ooc. i kinda disagree with that. i think aspects of the build up, namely calpen's relationship which was just never that believable, can be seen as ooc. but how callie went about telling arizona about nyc and then how she reacted and acted during the custody battle? all callie. callie isn't a person who fails or loses, especially because carlos i think in his own way always made sure she succeeded. and arizona always bends for callie, except for that time, and callie reacted, well, how she reacted.

[pearlcages]

hey! so not to make you think about calpen, but how do you think callie’s break up with penny went down?

oh DESPERATELY bad. i think penny probably took it super hard, and callie moved on almost immediately. the problem is that the relationship meant a lot more to one party than the other

[honeykngdom]

I notice you interact/reblog from a lot of other oc accounts .. do you have any oc crossovers you love in particular?

T O N S .

Calpen: Cal ft. Aspen Mills, one of Ally’s oc’s. MY MVP’S!In an AU world in which Callipea is endgame, Aspen is Calliope’s live-in bestfriend. They share everything - clothing, food, music, boys, you name it! Theybartend together at the Wyrm until it’s shut down, which is when Veronicaoffers them both jobs at the Speakeasy, and hires Asp onboard at Pop’s. Cal hasanxiety about everything 24/7 and Aspen is here to make sure that the girllives her best damn life and BREATHES every once in a while. Personally, in thisAU, Sabine wouldn’t likely exist and so Aspen would be her partner in crime,her bestie, life partner, saltmate, the one she gets into all the trouble withand the one that knows her better than anyone. Ya’ll don’t understand how muchI sTAN aspen.

Rhyliope: Cal ft. Rhys Thorne, one of Emily’s oc’s. They’rebesties, they share a lot of the same dark humor, bonded over how shittyparents are. They don’t really know boundaries when it comes to each other, butthat’s okay. The friendship features a lot of 2 am phone calls just to saywassup, eating a lot, face painting and face masks. I think having Rhys aroundoffers a great amount of solace.

Malliope: Cal ft. Mallory Black, one of Erin’s oc’s. I hadstarted compiling my photo stock and inspo for a throwback aesthetic I wantedto post for Calliope’s parents, and Nat’s maiden name prior to marrying Byron,was Black. We started talking about the possibilities, and Erin’s interest andoffer to have the girls become cousins actually helped solidify the timelinefor Nat/Byron. It’s probable that she will make an appearance during Bad Omenin a later chapter when Calliope learns more about Nat, and Mal is there toanswer her questions. Outside of this, I’d like to think the girls would getalong beautifully well; they’re probably more alike than either of them seem tothink, just because their tastes are so different, so it’s very much two sidesof the same coin.

Donoline: Don ft. Caroline Grey, one of Ariella’s oc’s.First of all, let me just say that this is probably my favourite, if not one ofmy favourite oc crossovers I’ve done and it’s literally just because of howsoft these two are together. Don met Caroline on her first day at Southside,walked her to and from every class, and has never stopped. What started out asa good friends lending helping hands and shoulders to cry on quickly became somethingmore; in this au, there is no body but her, there is nothing more safe, thereis no one more perfectly made for him than Caroline. The image of the two ofthem throws everyone off, just because they’re both tough-as-nails kids thathappen to turn into putty when they’re around each other.

Donospen (? we haven’t decided on a ship name): Don ft.Aspen Mills, one of Ally’s oc’s. Since both of our main oc’s happen to beshipped with Sweet Pea, in the au verse in which Callipea is endgame, Aspen andDon would be paired together. They’re that couple that’s so cute it’ssickening; they dance in their underwear, they like to bring the jealous sideout in each other, they love passionately and all at once, it’s all or nothingwhen it comes to them. Whether or not they can handle themselves is irrelevant,because they’re not alone and they come as a pair.

Hobbs-D'Angelo: Hobb’s boys ft. the D'Angelo boys, a familyof oc’s created by Ally. It just so happened that the boys all matched/lined upin ages; Don/Luca, Danny/Gabriel, and Dean/Chris. They’ve grown up together,they’ve shared classes together - regardless of whether or not they’ve everreally been close and friends doesn’t matter, they’re two families in theSouthside that have co-existed peacefully, and they’ll remain that way (tholbr, the boys have totally hung out, and lbr, when you throw Cal into this mix,you already know she’s smitten over Gabe)

[chlobenet]

when 2 faves plot together ‼️👌🏼 cal x asp = calpen? don’t care, living my best damn life

@sweetpca can calpen rise?

[sweetfogarty]

Rules: Tag 15 people you want to get to know better!

I was tagged by: @babygirlgelxx and @sweetpca - Thank you to both of you lovely ladies for tagging me in this ⭐️

Relationship status: Single Favourite colours: Green, blue and anywhere in-between those two  Lipstick or chapstick: Chapstick/lip balm, or lipgloss (I know that wasn’t an option but I play by my own rules on this blog) Three favourite foods: Burritos, pasta and brownies Song stuck in my head: Two Fingers - Dan Calpen Last song I listened to: Still Want UUU - Zak Abel (absolute banger, I recommend it to anyone and everyone) Last movie I watched: I watched Smallfoot in the cinema with my brother because it’s half term for him and I wanted to treat him   Time: 20:19pm Top three shows: Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Black Mirror (and Riverdale, not because it’s good but because I’m too invested to stop watching it at this point) Books I’m currently reading: I started reading The Secret Barrister and loved it, but now that uni has started again I have no time to read anything other than stuff on here in bed and textbooks hahaha Last thing I googled: ‘How to get a horse brush on Red Dead Redemption 2’ because I’m playing that game on Xbox at the moment and my horse keeps getting dirty  How many blankets do you sleep with: My duvet and if it’s extra cold in my room then also a huge throw blanket from Primark under my duvet Dream trip: Croatia 100%, that place looks mad Anything you really want: Happiness and health for my family and friends (and to get a commendation in my LPC but that’s selfish hahaha)

I tag: @rivendell101, @riverandale, @a-l-c, @fcgartys, @drewrtanner, @sweetpeas-sweetpea, @mrsfangsfogarty, @southsidewrites, @hugharekillianmesweetghoul, @sweetpeasbabydoll, @serpentineo, @worriestothewind, @findmeinpops, @thebetterjonesboy and @serpvntsluts 

[drdelphinecormigay]

I’ve seen this floating around but surprised no one’s asked you it:

rank these — callica, calpen, callie/george, carizona, mallie, az/leah, az/eliza

Ooh yeah I’ve seen people discussing this but I never stopped to think about it before! Here goes:

Carizona are definitely my favourite of that lot. I don’t really like any of the others but I love carina with all of my heart she’s so cute and they were actually such a vibe together. If I didn’t love calzona so much I’d really have rooted for them. Good chemistry and just all round good vibes.

Az/Eliza probably come second, and this is weird for me bc I really hated Eliza. She was so annoying and pointless and badly acted and the actress looked like Arizona in a brunette wig which was creepy. BUT, Arizona was so hot in this relationship. Like, that elevator scene, goddamn, I had to take a minute pause and regroup. Even my Arizona-anti gf (we don’t talk about it) was like damn, that was hot. So they come second exclusively and solely for Arizona. But I didn��t like the relationship and was so glad it ended lol.

Callica are my third. And I know this is probably controversial but I didn’t hate Erica, like she was annoying as a character and a bitch in the end, but I thought she and Callie were kinda cute! Sure, most of the appeal was definitely getting to see Callie explore her sexuality, but there were elements of it being Erica that I did really enjoy. Like, I loved that scene where Erica is looking at Callie in the elevator and smiling to herself and Bailey is watching on like ‘what the fuck’, it’s just 10/10.

Now we’re into ‘least worst’ territory once again but Mallie are next. I love them as friends (even though they’re definitely a bit too close in a way that makes me really feel for Arizona and Lexie). I didn’t love them as a couple but like, they weren’t really ever a couple so idk. Their dynamic is pretty fun and I didn’t hate the friends with benefits thing they had going on. I’d definitely rather Mark was less involved in calzona’s relationship though, like there should have been less flirting with Callie and definitely zero fetishising the pair of them bc GROSS.

The final three are pretty much tied bottom but if I had to rank them, Callie/George made me feel the least bad so they can go here. I big time hated it bc George was such a cow and treated Callie so badly when she just wanted someone to love her. Also she was done so dirty and made out to be such a weirdo my poor baby. 0/10 terrible couple. But not as devastating bc Arizona didn’t exist yet.

Calpen were just so ugh. Nasty. I wouldn’t even have hated it that much if Penny weren’t such a bland character and they actually had some chemistry. But the chemistry was completely absent so it was just so uncomfy to watch. Plus it was tragic to see Callie banging on about being happy and Arizona being so upset about it and the custody battle and everything was so gross, I don’t think I really need to elaborate more!

Az/Leah are my bottom one. I know this is a bit stupid bc calpen were worse for calzona’s relationship, but I just hated literally everything about Arizona and Leah. It was so weird and unnecessary and Leah was so fucking annoying and they absolutely did not match at all (outside of the fact that they’re both blonde). I know that was probably kind of the point - Arizona is insecure and self destructive and just going for someone that is the opposite of Callie but like even so. Was it really necessary? Idk. I just hated it. Bad bad vibes.

Thoughts?

[imasaraandgreysmess]

@therealsararamirez #drcallietorres #ortho #orthogoddess #greysanatomy #greysloanmemorialhospital #singer #actress #broadway #rollercoaster #pennyblake #calpen #samanthasloyan #mexicanirish #lgbtqsupporter #girlcrushonher

[spookyrobbins]

I think they were setting up s13 with Callie who actually takes accountability for her mistakes and fights for Arizona's forgiveness. Because other than their last scene with the plane tickets, which wouldn't have happened if Sara stayed, Arizona was just so. done. with Callie after the custody battle.

i always refer to any potential s13 callie storylines as the callie torres apology tour. obviously arizonas the biggest one and the one that would probably take the longest time. but she probably could do with some apologizing to other people like bailey and meredith.

i do think s13 would be the first major time where arizona isn’t so quick to forgive callie. and callie would have to really show that she understands why arizonas so hurt after the custody battle and why arizona doesn’t feel like there’s anything left to fix.

i’ve done a few hcs of what a calzona s13 storyline could look like if callie still went to nyc, but i don’t think ever one where she stayed on seattle without the possibility of going to nyc so here goes (side note: i haven’t watched s13 in a while so some plot points may be out of order/missing):

at the end of s12, instead of arizona giving callie tickets, it’d just be callie going to visit penny to work things out bc they’re the great love story, right, right?? (they probably wouldn’t even show callie going to nyc or anything, just mentioned that she did bc that’s the calpen way)

callie would have this weird on/off long distance relationship with penny where her heart is completely not in it and it’s frankly irritating to everyone around her. but callie’s determined not to fail at this relationship even though it’s completely lost steam and they barely talk

arizona, who’s far less miserable, but in this super weird space with callie where they’ve stopped speaking, is still going to at bare minimum flirt with eliza, if not outright date her.

the early stages of the season with calzona are centered on the fact that they actually have a custody agreement that arizonas in charge of and arizona who’s never going to leverage that against callie but it bothers her quite a bit, and the general lingering fallout from the custody battle.

interns and residents will actively flee if they have to work with the both of them bc it’s so uncomfortable and they aren’t fighting, they’re just very cold and snippy with each other in a pseudo-professional way

arizona eventually caves and offers a sort of truce with callie where absolutely nothing is resolved

callie is feeling kinda isolated bc a lot of people were bothered by the custody battle and callie trying to leave for nyc and just the whole penny thing - namely bailey and meredith and in his own way, alex. bailey is the first to sort of forgive her and kind of cryptically makes a comment about callie sorting out her priorities. meredith needs a bit more time bc the stuff said about how arizona wasn’t sofias mom along with the penny of it all was just too much. they just don’t really talk.

and now the eliza situation: much like all of the other attendings, callie is not happy about eliza. perhaps doubly so bc eliza’s been foisted onto her department and she does not care if she’s highly regarded in sports medicine, she doesn’t want someone messing around with her department. they clash a lot professionally and callie just can’t stand her well before she knows there’s anything with eliza and arizona.

callie would finally get an ortho focused resident after eliza makes a whole thing about how lacking ortho has been in producing strong residents since callie took over (ie callie was the last good orthopedic resident)

not to forget about leah, there’d be a lot more calzona conversation with leah’s reappearance and a little convo between callie and maybe bailey about the whole leah and arizona situation and callie and arizona where arizona tries to apologize and it’s all very awkward and weird bc they’re awkward and weird now.

as eliza and arizona are starting up, callie would finally break up with penny after an entire episode with a sub plot of callie missing pennys phone calls. penny would break up with callie and callie would accuse her of cheating which she wasn’t. this would be the catalyst for meredith and callie speaking again.

the breakup with penny causes callie to do a lot of self reflection and for a change, she doesn’t try and jump into dating.

arizona is genuinely the last person to find out about the calpen breakup and finds out from jo or someone like that. she makes a point to try and check in on callie and encourage her to get back out there - bc calzona are truly the weirdest and worst exes

arizona is a bit more resistant to eliza than in canon purely bc callie’s still around and it’s confusing. but her frustration and hurt with callie after the custody battle mellows her affection for callie for a while, allowing her to be open to dating in a way she wasn’t before.

when callie finds out about arizona and eliza, she is the least chill of everyone unsurprisingly. but she insists it’s because it’s not professional (which admittedly hilarious) and because eliza is against the hospital and arizona doesn’t get it because she didn’t do her residency there and callie has a whole thing about loyalty etc which has great potential for a very loaded conversation with arizona about loyalty and arizona who would never deny that she was disloyal in their marriage but also callie has consistently come after her character when she’s been nothing but cordial after their divorce and she’s tired

callie all the while is refusing to ponder the possibility that she might want to try again with arizona, that she might have feelings for arizona and that’s why she’s so bothered by eliza. multiple people try to prod callie towards the truth of the matter but she’s very stubborn about it.

not to forget alex in all of this, callie’s the one who tells arizona that they don’t know where alex is and think he’s gone to jail and callie tries to comfort arizona and saying she knows how important alex is to her and arizona basically rejects anything from callie and really, calzona are sort of at an all time low of not being on the same page which really says something for them

all throughout its sort of building up that callie has re-developed feelings for arizona but has absolutely zero clue that she does and arizona never stopped having feelings but she doesn’t think they have a chance and she’s really lost a lot of trust in callie

and then in the finale, callie keeps looking for arizona. like singlemindedly looking for arizona. asking everyone if they’ve seen her and clalie keeps missing her. she’s always just left wherever the last person told callie. and callie’s freaked out. like convinced arizona is dead freaked out. and someone like idk alex saying “why do you even care” and callie snapping back “because she’s my wife and i love her” which is quite the take

and then as sort of the final calzona scene of the season, callie showing up at arizonas door in the morning and seeing arizona opening it and callie saying “hi i think we need to talk” and then cutting away

[spookyrobbins]

lol i love the idea that penny thinks she and callie are this great epic love when in reality callie just settled for something easy and safe. also i love imagining that penny understands she's being compared to arizona, she just tries really hard not to think about it too much.

ahaha yes completely. i always feel slightly bad for her bc she really had no idea what she was getting herself into with callie.

penny who thinks she and callie are this great love story and she talks about it constantly. and callie’s not going to tell her otherwise bc maybe if she hears it enough it’ll be true. but she knows that it’s not and she knows what that great love story feels like. and penny who’s talking about marriage and babies and callie who would’ve wanted all of that ten years ago with arizona and the idea of all of that with penny just feels unsettling.

but also penny who knows that arizona was callie’s one. she’s all too aware that everything she does is compared to arizona and all too often she feels like she’s coming up short. and sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, she tries to push callie on things, ask things that she already knows the answer to.

i don’t think calpens breakup was really about arizona at all but she may have been mentioned at least. i think it was more about sofia and being in different life stages and moving too quickly and being in a new place with too much pressure to be together. and on penny’s part it’s all compounded by the fact that she’s not arizona.

[spookyrobbins]

I'm sorry but I just can't take CalPen seriously. They're so mismatched on every level. To me it's like Callie/George levels of bad, they just didn't fit together at all. There's no way Callie was in love with her, she was just in love with the idea that she found someone who isn't like Arizona at all and who seems stable and unproblematic and easy and unexciting to be with.

callie was completely in love with the idea of loving someone who wasn’t arizona, who was just easy.

which tbh to that end, i’m surprised she stuck with her through the derek stuff for a variety of reasons, including the fact that penny had to know who callie was, where she worked, that she probably knew derek and didn’t think to warn her about her connection to merder when she was starting at grey sloan. also there’s no way callie didn’t say “hey we’re going to dinner at my friend meredith’s house” maybe even said she recently lost her husband and it seems like derek was a major impact case for penny so it just seems like such a major oversight on pennys part.

[spookyrobbins]

calpen was never supposed to be callie's endgame. that's just what happened because sara left, that's the only reason. but there's no way calpen was supposed to win over calzona. you don't spend 6 seasons developing a pairing for one of the characters to then end up with some underdeveloped rando nobody gave a fuck about

on the one hand i wish they had gotten the chance to do s13 calzona

but on the other i think arizonas development with callie gone would be sort of crucial for calzona reuniting especially bc they didn’t really do any of that while callie was still in seattle.

that said, i think they could’ve had half of s13 be arizona casually dating eliza while callie’s on her apology tour and then finally fix calzona in te second half of s13

alternatively, give arizona her own penny in s12 and have calzona being absolute weirdos about the fact that they’re both with other people

[spookyrobbins]

callie was so delulu for that and honestly she slayed. like i aspire to be that level of dramatic. if sara wasn't busy being so sad that whole season i think they could have had a lot of fun w it. like the whole hospital being like ?? meanwhile az is over there with her noble self sacrificing bs. peak comedy.

i love the idea of the entire hospital just smiling and nodding through callie’s extensive monologues about how penny’s great as if they all haven’t seen calpen together.

and meanwhile, arizona’s internal monologues about how callie’s finally happy after she made her miserable for the better part of a decade. and she’s moping around the hospital except for when callie’s around and then suddenly she’s perky and happy bc she doesn’t mind that callie’s moving on, not at all.

[spookyrobbins]

also, calpen "endgame" is not the only example of grey's just running too long and actors leaving all the time. you think the plan was for lexie and mark to die instead of ending up happy together? would derek die if the show ended sooner? would alex end up with izzie off screen if the show didn't drag on for 200 seasons? yeah, no

this!! they always play out the short game but set things up to fail in the long game bc they dont get to anything quickly enough and then actors leave.

[spookyrobbins]

omg it's really the nsfw calpen hc's for me. like those have the most potential to play around with bc i feel like they have so little chemistry that the sex has to be bad (and by bad i mean bland).

also calzona have such intense sexual chemistry like can u imagine going from arizona to effing penny. rip callie for real

idk why but i have this great mental image of callie very awkwardly talking to arizona in s12 and being like “was the sex… yk ever bad with us?” and arizona just staring at her in confusion and horror when she realizes.

even worse, callie asking arizona for sex advice.

just fun things to think about

[spookyrobbins]

no yeah that's real af. they were written to be bad. their lack of chemistry was just an added bonus

i think the writers were trying to ride the line between calpen seeming like a realistic relationship while also not being a great, notable relationship bc like i said i think they were trying to build back to calzona. and then you add in the lack of chemistry and it’s all downhill from there.

[spookyrobbins]

No, I totally think Callie did love Penny. I just think she was never in love with her. And she tried to be but it’s hard to force things like that when it just isn’t there. Penny is also like the opposite of Arizona in many ways, and I think that had a lot to do with why Callie stayed with Penny for so long. I am loving your nsfw headcanons about calpen. Kinda made me laugh honestly. Did Callie ever fake it with Arizona? I like to believe that Arizona is the only person she hasn’t faked it with. Even when they were in a bad place, sex between them was never the problem. So yeah, I’m kinda curious what your nsfw headcanons are about Callie and Arizona now.

i think callie also is still very much carrying around the baggage from george and penny and going to nyc feels like a regression back to the impulsive person who married an intern in vegas. so she can’t just give up and go back. she has to hold on even if she’s really not that into it. plus pennys not arizona, she’s nowhere near as risky as arizona and that counts for almost everything.

i could kinda see callie really early on being nervous bc arizonas much more experienced with other women and callie is out of her element and kinda faking it. but arizona calling her out and having a conversation so she can understand what she can do differently.