#like my beloved fail st4ncy and fail st0ncy (censoring so not to turn up in tags)

[findafight]

(Okay, gonna try and send this again)

I had a whole spiel about how R0nance has the potential to be very interesting and stimulate character growth on both sides in a similar way to Steve and Eddie. Not to say that Nance needed “ego death”, but she has built too much of her identity around being the smartest person there/the only person who can find the answers, and having Robin challenge her in that way (at times without even needing to) would provide some much needed growth. Because at the moment she’s giving “gifted student who didn’t struggle in school and is going to be eaten alive at college”.

Or, if you wanted to lean into the “Bad R0nance” side of things, they have the potential for a lot of interesting dynamics, scenes and conversations that they couldn’t have with other characters. Like, Barb is already such a charged subject with Nancy - add to that the fact that Barb ditched Robin to become Nancy’s best friend. To say nothing of Steve, who is such a big part of Robin’s life, he’s going to be part of Nancy’s what her she likes it or not.

Hell, assuming that that argument prompt wasn’t meant to be cute or funny, that’s a dynamic that could be interesting to explore. Honestly, I find Nancy’s difficulty with admitting that she’s in the wrong/having to have things done her way interesting, especially in contrast with a lot of the guilt she carries being over things that weren’t really her fault (if a bit too close to how certain loved ones of mine act sometimes). And I already see enough of her sticking to her guns despite common sense going unexplored in the show (quite literally; I love surprise gun-toting badass Nancy as much as the next person, and her and Max sawing down the shotgun was a cool visual. That being said; WHEN have guns ever worked against the Upside Down?).

Anyway - my point is that it’s not that I dislike R0nance, I just find a lot of the stuff written to be OOC, that it ignores many of the elements that I think would make them interesting together, or that it downplays Steve’s importance in Robin’s life/ignores it in favour of treating him more as Nancy’s ex-turned-kinda-friend.

haha yeah I got the first one and was like hm. that's not finished...hope they continue!

yeah Nancy doesn't need the same kind of ego death as Eddie did, but she's in desperate need of the realization she doesn't need to form her identity around her academics and journalism and her ability to Solve the Mystery etc, she can be something other than that. The tidbit from rebel Robin that if Robin tried a bit more, she could be valedictorian or something is so juicy for this! I don't think this is exclusive to romo rnce tbh i think them getting a kind of friendship could be really interesting and change them.

The Barb of it all would be so good and neat to explore. God. the hurt and guilt on both sides? I want them to have a conversation about Barb!! How robin mourned her even before she died, and maybe felt like a fraud for crying herslef to sleep when Barb went missing, because they weren't really friends anymore. How Nancy feels guilt for letting Barb leave, how she wishes she could take it back. How Robin resented Nancy for "stealing" barb away, about her insecurities in her friendships because of that. I want to see it! They could have such a rich friendship!

I want to see them argue! yell! scream and cry! There's so much potential here! their personalities would clash in glorious ways even in a friendship, let alone a romo relationship! hoo hoo!

Poor Steve is just. He's there too. He can't not be, because he might be an ex Nancy didn't talk to unless the world was ending, but Robin would see him everyday? and that's awkward. idk I think people also miss that for Nancy, dating the best friend of an ex she broke up with in....not the best circumstances and tried to avoid since then would be majorly awkward! idk like Nancy has warmed again to Steve in s4, but clearly didn't interact with him a lot between seasons, but she was also flirting with him and then went back to Jonathan, so it's probably not a situation she wants to be in! Besides the whole mess it would be for Robin considering if she actually wanted to date a friend's (best friend's) ex, the ex, Nancy would probably have to consider spending time with an ex like that. (because you're correct! for robin Steve is non negotiable)

(the prompt was absolutely supposed to be cute it blew my mind) But it's such an interesting dynamic, and absolutely something that I can see Nancy doing. It's been haunting me for weeks! Her feeling guilty over things she had no control over, but then not taking accounatbility for things she did and could change, that's so neat! With her relying on body language, and not adequately communicating to partners what she actually wants/needs/is thinking, Combined with Robin not being good at reading people and generally nervous about that inability to read more subtleties, it would be brutal. They would both dig their heels in, but robin wouldn't know why. FASCINATING.

Common sense doesn't exist in Stranger Things <3 Also I know next to nothing about guns but for some reason I know (am pretty sure of?) that sawed off shotguns have worse accuracy. I was like "nooo nancy you don't need to do that! It will also not help at all!" please let Nancy get a meelee weapon please let her beat the shit out of a demogorgon please let her actually inflict damage!

Uhg yes agree. I think it's one of the few ships I dislike more because of the shippers and how they interact with the characters, and that I see it as sort of a relationship that wouldn't last, and the shippers wouldn't like that and also want it canon. So much stuff I find ooc, and also for some reason a number of steve haters (super uncharitable ones that really, idk why they like robin, a character who loves steve so much she wants to combine with him, if they hate everything about Steve). Big turn offs. Not a lot of nuance happening! (which is NOT rnce exclusive!! I exit out of fics with ships I like because I find them ooc etc.) It could be a really interesting ship that would be messy and possibly implode but oof it'd be neat to explore. I've said before that I can see them liking each other and just not working out in an au where Steve and Nancy never had that history, because honestly another part of it is that I just don't see them as compatible (and included it in one of my not at all canon adjacent aus!).

I am with you on a lot of the content fumbles how Steve fits into it. The complexities his relationships both past and present to both Nancy and Robin would bring up between them could be explored more. Like yeah maybe steve's fine with his bff dating his ex whatever. but how would they feel about it? how would Nancy feel about steve being Robin's ride or die? how does Robin's friendship with steve effect that relationship? there's interesting bones here but alas. He's often shoved to the side as Robins friend and nancy's ex-turned friend. WHERES THE JUICE THERE? c'mon! i get some folks want non-conflict romance but maybe the ship that has potential to be so so SO messy that isn't going to be the most incharacter interactions.