#if more time onscreen together = better then i think fjorester wins

[utilitycaster]

i know you're getting a lot of asks recently, so feel free to ignore this, but I'm really curious on your thoughts on why Dorym (a ship where both characters were separated for most of the campaign) works and Imodna (a ship where the characters have actually interacted for hundreds of hours) doesn't. to be very clear, I agree with this assessment, but I haven't been able to articulate why. I did my best to search your blog, but I couldn't find any dorym meta you've written before- if you have, and I missed it, I'd love to be linked to it!

It feels like there are two separate parts to this so:

If I wrote Dorym meta it would be tagged Dorym. Off the top of my head I don't think I have; I enjoy Dorym but to be blunt this campaign and the character relationships within it, even the ones I enjoy, are insufficiently deep enough for meta. A lot of meta writers scaled back due to harassment, but also a lot of us have scaled back because there's not like, a lot to write about other than why the campaign isn't working.

In a hilarious twist of irony for the Number Bigger Means Ship More Good crowd, the main reason I think Dorym works is because they were separated for the majority of the campaign, and have had a number of meaningful conversations in both EXU Prime and after Dorian's return as well as nods to a sense of interest while they were split up, particularly on Orym's side (unsurprising as Liam is main cast and Orym has had much more time onscreen). The amount of time Imo/dna has had has actually worked against them, because they're physically present all the time and have known each other for two years prior and at no point does it ever feel like this is true. As a result, Dorian and Orym feel like they are making the most of limited time, and Imogen and Laudna feel like they are squandering an entire campaign of screentime. Also, I know chemistry is "you know it when you see it" and ultimately subjective but Imogen and Laudna fail to have it and Dorian and Orym do for me and it's that simple. I think this post also makes some good points about how in failing to ever challenge each other and in dropping every disagreement without resolution, Imogen and Laudna feel flat, whereas Dorian and Orym haven't resolved every disagreement but neither have they ignored them, which makes it a much more dynamic relationship to watch despite the decreased amount of time. I think had Imogen and Laudna's relationship been a slow burn, if any sense of the two years together was ever developed, or if any of their fights had actually come to something, this wouldn't be the case but as is more time actually hurts them because that time is about as interesting as sawdust.