#terapsina's shipping rambles

[terapsina]

And those rarest of creatures...

My Top 10 Favorite Canon ENDGAME OTPs

(and I realize some of these will be a surprise because I haven't posted that much about them but... well, when everything is perfect and nothing hurts there's less need for venting... also a bunch of them don't align with my Tumblr heavy periods or precede them entirely, so...)

1. Parker and Hardison - Leverage

The absolute sweetest couple maybe ever. The way Hardison just... loves Parker, without ultimatums or impatience. Just there once she's ready to meet his feelings with her own. And Parker, knowing she's developed feelings for... 'pretzels' and admitting it in the only way she can initially. So good.

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2. Aneela and Kendry - Killjoys

You give me two amoral queens, have them be evil and immortal, and have them fall in love? I was a goner from the word go. Giving them a sci-fi kid just added fuel to the fire.

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3. Jo and Zane - Eureka

I shipped the 1.0 version too. But when they accidentally erased the original timeline and had Jo remembering being in love and nearly engaged and having Zane not? Damn. Talk about angsty ship bait.

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4. Kensi and Deeks - NCIS: Los Angeles

Sunshine and gunpowder. Freaking made for each other and doing a proper piney slow burn. My jam.

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5. Magnus and Alec - Shadowhunters

I mean. Do you think I could resist a grand wedding crash with a 'if your son wants me gone he's going to have to say it to me himself' with the widely grinning sister of the miserable groom going 'I invited him'? What am I, made of stone? (War of Hearts is tattooed on the inside of my eardrums).

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6. Nico and Karolina - Runaways

Okay. But like, even beyond the flawless imagery of Gothic Witch Queen and Royal Heir of Sunshine and Rainbows... they were so captivating. So ready to sacrifice anything for each other's happiness. I love them your honor.

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7. Xiao Lanhua and Dongfang Qingcang - Love Between Fairy and Devil

"Everything in this world is fate. Only love is not fate."

Talk about ripping out my heart. In a story built around two people more trapped by fate than anyone, they save each other by doing the one thing fate has no say over.

(I usually prefer my romances to be the B and C plots, but these two? They are the exception that proves the rule. This whole show is their love story and I was spellbound for 36 episodes straight).

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8. Shawn and Jules - Psych

So. Much. Pining. And the inclusion of the cruelest 'I love you' known to man, because who doesn't love a good 'I've been shot, and the guy who shot me just let me call my girlfriend but I'm using the call to give out clues about how to find me, so I'm pretending you're Abigail, but he's listening and he wants me to tell you that I love you and I know... think... suspect... that saying it will hurt you, but I don't have a choice and I'm so sorry'.

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9. Nikita and Michael - Nikita

They both know what it feels like to lose someone you love. Which is why the way them kinda having at least a scene a season where one of them thinks the other just got killed is brutal. But I live for the looks on their faces when they figure out they're wrong.

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10. Korra and Asami - Legend of Korra

What's more fun than falling in love with the ex boyfriend's ex girlfriend? Nothing. They got me to stand up and pay attention right quick once I realized where this was going (and the finale was how I started watching reaction videos... it made me so happy watching everyone else cry, cheer and squee too)

[terapsina]

Shoutout to the temporary ships that were created with the intention of getting in the way of the intended ship but that I actually liked way more than the ship the writers were trying to get me to root for.

(a.k.a I kinda get a bit salty on this one)

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1. Laurel and Tommy - Arrow

As soon as they got introduced I felt the feeling of doom. Because they were so immediately adorable and full of chemistry. I loved them from the word go even though it was so clear they were going toward a Laurel and Oliver resolution (and then to add insult to injury they changed their minds on that, but Tommy was taken from Laurel anyway).

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2. Clara and Danny - Doctor Who

It's up for debate if Clara's relationship with the Doctor was meant to be romantic-coded or not (I personally prefer it as 'not' but they really were very fuzzy with the lines) but either way Danny was still used as the threat that might separate them. And that was really annoying for me because I liked Clara and Danny so much. And then they killed him (which is a scene that still tears my heart to pieces).

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3. Cordy and Doyle - Angel: The Series

They were short and sweet and I enjoyed them (and though the Cordy and Angel thing wasn't really a thing at the time, there were some signs that it was on the writers' minds... and I wasn't a fan). And then they killed Doyle (...I might have to rename this post to 'killing off the love interests I actually enjoyed to give way to the ships I didn't').

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4. Rachel and Joey - F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

This ship went past my notice when I watched the show as a kid (my entire obsession rested on Monica and Chandler) but after rewatching as an adult I actually really liked their potential. It might have come up a bit unexpectedly but there really was something quite genuine about it (and Rachel deserved so much better than Ross). I wish they hadn't ended it as such a joke.

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5. Worf and Troi - Star Trek: The Next Generation

They were created with the sole intention of getting in the way of Troi and Riker. But I liked them better. I just found them more interesting.

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6. Tamsin and Bo - Lost Girl

They were more fun to watch than Bo and Lauren, had better chemistry and I just enjoyed them a lot more ('and then you see you' living in my head rent free for years now). But instead they gave Tamsin the short end of the stick and used her as a stepping stone (in so many ways, genuinely, even past shipping they just never gave that Valkyrie a single break... and then killed her in the most insulting way possible, because of course they did).

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7. Wynonna and Dolls - Wynonna Earp

Talk about chemistry. Season 1 of that show was so good and I really did fool myself into thinking this was where they were heading but no, of course not (I should have learned my lesson about Emily Andras after she killed off Hale on Lost Girl). How is an old dude with a gross mustache more interesting than a literal dragon? The answer as far as I'm concerned... they're not (now guess if they killed him off. Guess!).

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8. Lucy and Flynn - Timeless

A tragic love story happening in the wrong order and out of time because he meets her when he needs something to hold on to and she gives him a crusade. And she meets him while he's zealously following that crusade and thinks he's just a terrorist? Dude. But no, apparently the happy ending is supposed to be the guy that wanted the cake and to eat it too (sometimes I genuinely boggle at how the writers just will not notice when they've hit gold and instead go on beating that dead horse even more to death (and yup, somehow manage to kill the gold)) .

9. Dutch and Johnny - Killjoys.

(First I have to say that I still recommend this show a 100% and this is just quibble of a shipper at heart) But how is it that when you build the whole series around the heart of this relationship, you still end up using Johnny as a brief stop point (a la basically a Married!AU) before you put Dutch back with his brother? Like, yes, they're each other's best friends and always will be but people that are in love can be each other's ride or die best friends too.

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10. Mel and Abigael - Charmed (2018)

Alright, Mel went through the intended love interests like candy (and I liked most of them well enough) but Abby was the one that intrigued me the most, so it was a great shame that she was never properly Mel's love interest at all and more enemy/antagonist/ally/friend with mostly one-sided feelings for Mel (enemies to friends to lovers was RIGHT THERE).

[terapsina]

For the ship ask game, you know who I'll ask about! Hope/Lizzie

And you know my answer 😁

Ship It

What made you ship it? - I've got a huge weakness for a slow and gradual buildup of feelings and tension. I've also got a weakness for rivalry to friendship to love. And Lizzie and Hope have both in SPADES. Also, I just enjoy two already badass girls becoming an unstoppable battle-couple together. Also the delicious angst of their time while Hope didn't have her humanity and yet was kinda obsessed with Lizzie? Amazing. Essentially, I started liking them early on because they're exactly my wheelhouse and then with every new development of: wishing the other out of existence, comfort hug, romantic gift of a dress and a title, spontaneous remembering, new hurt, trapped in an AU, snapping of neck and pinky promise... the hole I'd dug myself got deeper. But if the question is about which single scene made me START shipping them? Then I think it was that moment in the car where they looked at each other like they'd never seen each other after the reveal of the Big Lie.

What are your favorite things about the ship? - I guess I already touched on that just now, but FURTHERMORE I absolutely love the way the further the story got the clearer the absolute faith in each that they have was revealed. More from Lizzie's side admittedly but I kinda attribute it to the fact that Lizzie is much braver with her heart than Hope, so Lizzie has the majority of the big clearly romantic gestures. But yeah Lizzie absolutely means just as much to Hope and I just... I love that about them.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? - No idea, I haven't really seen all that much disagreement within the community of people who ship Hizzie about why we think they'd work so well together. Maybe just the fact that I hate HATE when they get compared with D3lena just because of the sire bond, but I've seen just as many people agree that the comparison doesn't work at all.

(For this ask game)

[terapsina]

Okay. How about this one.

Steve Rogers- but you tell me who you ship him with most and why, answering the ship questions!

Honestly?

Ship It

What made you ship it? - 'On your left.' I mean if there's one way to flirt with someone according to Steve Rogers it's annoying them into interacting with him until they have no choice but to like him. Never fails.

What are your favorite things about the ship? - idk I just like that Sam was the first person that Steve chose to get to know after he woke up from his decades long nap (everyone else he got to know in consequence of the job).

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? - not really? I don't think it's popular enough of a ship for there to be unpopular opinions about it.

(From this Ask Game)

[terapsina]

smolder bravestone and ruby roundhouse????

(From this Ask Game)

Don’t Ship It

Why don’t you ship it? - Mostly because I don't feel like I actually KNOW Bravestone and Roundhouse. I mean from the Jumanji game world's POV we basically see them getting body-snatched by aliens and get to know the aliens. As for Spencer and Martha... they're sweet but not... dramatic enough to steal my heart.

What would have made you like it? - Hmmmm, if there had been less players and the two of them remained themselves through the shenanigans? It might actually be funny, especially if they were allowed to be self-aware enough to notice their BFFs getting body-snatched? Or maybe if there were some flashbacks to them as themselves?

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it? - I mean I love the hilarity of Martha-as-Ruby and Spencer-as-Bravestone and their scenes are fun to watch. I don't have any negative feelings for this ship, it's just that this wasn't really a shipping kind of movie for me.

[terapsina]

the life of the average fic writer that gets distracted too easily while reading

- as described by me

me reading a book that includes a romance on most occasions: yes, yes he's very attractive, we get it. now get back to the life and death stakes and the cool worldbuilding.

me reading a book that includes romance when it's done in a way that actually scratches my brain in very interesting ways: oooooh, the pining is intense here I should really keep this scene in mind the next time I want to write fic for one of my otps. Which... could be now. No, stop it, book, you're enjoying the book, why are you thinking about stopping in the middle of the good bit to go fail at recapturing this absolute magic? Especially when you don't even have an idea for a plot. 'Vibes of intensely descriptive mutual longing' are not enough information to base a fic around, you know you're just going to write two paragraphs and hit a wall. Just finish reading the book you are actually enjoying goddammit.

[terapsina]

OMG I just realized who Agatha and Rio's ragey aggression + blatant come-ons remind me of.

Early day Shaw/Root!!!

...I rest my case.

[terapsina]

I'm so happy you're watching Fangs of Fortune. It totally has both big found family!vibes AND a looot of queer subtext, and I figured that was in your alley, hah! Been meaning to nudge you to this drama, but never got around to it :P

Not to paraphrase Joey Tribbiani but...

i went in because I was intrigued by a few gifsets of Wen Xiao and Pei Sijing I saw around. I know Significant Pining camera shots when I see them.

But it took me like... half an episode to realize OH they're pulling Significant Pining camera shots on...

...everyone.

Everyone everyone! (RIP, you flew before you could walk babes)

Everyone everyone everyone!

Everyone everyone everyone everyone!

Okay, that's all the everyones I've gotten to so far...

BUT... I already contain suspicions that this dude is included in everyone.

(also totally here for the found family, I'm just in relatively early days and though I feel the slow-burn they're taking that on too gradually for me to be able to comment on it yet).

[terapsina]

Let's decide on the IMPORTANT Fangs of Fortune question! Which of these two is the BIGGEST BISEXUAL FLIRT?

[terapsina]

You know there's a thing that I've noticed for a while now that I haven't seen people talk about concerning shipping "17" year old characters with adult characters SPECIFICALLY when those characters are played by actors who are like 5 to 15 years older than the people they're portraying.

Cuz like. There's the part of the brain that goes 'ew no' when we focus on the canon ages. Which is fair. My brain has gone 'ew no' lots of times.

And then there's the part that looks at the actors and consciously or subconsciously thinks 'dude that's a 25 year old, it's fine if they make out with the 30 year old'. Which is also fair.

Because like... you might not always be aware of it after you've watched like a hundred shows with thirty year old "teenagers" but the moment there's a show with teenagers played by actual teenagers the difference is immediately HUGE.

So let's give you guys an example of what I mean.

(I didn't actually ship this but they're a good portrayal of my point)

Canonically: Buffy's not even 17 yet. Angel's a vampire that's in his mid-twenties and was turned multiple centuries ago.

Basically, ewww.

Outside canon however: Sarah Michelle Gellar was 19 or 20 during filming of season 2. David Boreanaz was 27 or 28.

So in real life there might be need for some careful handling of the power dynamics but everyone's a consenting adult so it's basically fine.

Now here's some pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar when she was actually 16 or 17.

Now I don’t know about you but I would have been calling the cops on Angel for mooning after this Buffy.

Now there is the discussion to be had about how casting adults to play teenagers in teen dramas might affect the way teenagers view themselves (and definitely how it might also affect a certain percentage of adults in the ways they view real teenagers)...

From a purely shipping perspective however?

Maybe when you're about to go on a puritanical rant on someone about shipping that underage character with the older, cooler, more adult character maybe allow for the nuance of how what they're actually shipping is two total adults here.

And maybe when you're about to rant about how stupid it is that there's someone who is very squicked out by your favorite ship containing a 17 year old character and that other character who's in their early twenties (or a vampire), they too have every right not to find that ship at all palatable.

[terapsina]

for the ask game: for fandom: tvd with question 3 and question 9 for the ship.

elejah for the ship and question 9 and question 20 them. For characters: question 8 for elena

and question 19 for elijah please

(from this ask game I made)

The Vampire Diaries:

3. ...which scene I would like to erase from the universe and why.

Oh, so many scenes. But most of all probably the one where after Elena has regained her humanity she goes back to Damon and tells him her feelings are real. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that that is exactly what he told her he wanted from her while she was sired to him.

9. ...which characters I think should have interacted more in canon.

I have said it a hundred times and I will say it a hundred more but it's Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. They should have been the central focus of the story instead of the Salvatores and Elena. This show would have shined so much brighter if the main meat of the story followed more the formula of like... Charmed, instead of this extremely tired love triangle.

I wanted to see them fight for each other the way they did in the early seasons. To forge their bonds into iron instead of watching as they frayed until seeing them just... hurt.

-

Elejah:

9. ...what my ideal endgame for them is.

Honestly? I guess I would have wanted to see them keep in touch after Elijah left for New Orleans. For Elena to remain a vampire, because getting the cure wasn't actually what she wanted. To see them occasionally meet each other the way it was the case for Klaroline. To eventually have one of them mention that there were depths of unacknowledged feelings there and that maybe it was time to... explore them.

And then, an eternity ahead.

20. ...how and when they should get/should have gotten together.

I'm not choosy. Literally any point after American Gothic would have worked for me 😂.

I'm choosing AFTER because honestly every single of their interactions is too important to me. I don't really want to alter them when I really think about it (I know I've occasionally played with it in fic but if I had the power to alter canon I'd only focus on stuff that takes place after their last conversation).

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Elena:

8. ...a headcanon I have about this character.

All my canon headcanons for her are very depressing so I don't really want to go too deeply into that. Let's just say that the character assassination she experienced and the way she felt most like her old self while having had her memories of the older Salvatore erased... makes me consider whether the sire bond ever actually broke. Which just... thinking about that just kind of breaks my heart.

As for a rare happier headcanon (for a certain definition of 'happy'). I consider it as my personal truth that she didn't actually ever lie when she had her humanity off, and that she was utterly and completely herself, just without the part of herself that let herself care. But her every angry, ugly word was true.

Also, I think if they hadn't tortured and manipulated Elena into turning her humanity back, it would have been Bonnie who would have brought it back (and okay, I actually also think that Elijah got very, very close).

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Elijah:

19. ...a song that describes how I feel about this character.

Maybe Unstoppable by Sia?

It's got that... 'perfect, flawless, unbreakable outward armor he wears but with the storm underneath' FEELING.

[terapsina]

Ship Questions (questions borrowed from @dammnitveronica)

1. Favourite Ship?

To be honest my favorite ship changes from a day to day basis but Parker and Hardison was (and is again) the couple that never disappointed me and got their happy future and so they just hold a very special place in my heart because of that fact alone.

2. First Ship?

I think. I'm pretty sure anyway. Either them or Jarod and Miss Parker but I think Cory and Topanga preceded The Pretender.

3. First Ship You Were Crazy For?

Some of my more embarrassing teenage memories involve me gushing to friends about this ship.

4. Newest Ship?

I've had some mini ships since then but Hope and Lizzie is the latest ship that's gotten me good enough to make me write fic for them.

5. Ship You Like But No One Else Does?

I mean I know there are other people who love them but it kinda sometimes feels like that's not the case. But they really are beautiful and epic and I want to see more of their future.

6. Ship You Wish Was Endgame?

There are so many to choose from but this was literally THEIR SHOW. I am still really bitter about this.

7. Ship You Wish Had Screen Time?

Alright, this one's hard because literally all my ships have had at least SOME screen time together. But I guess if we enter into hypothetical ship territory, then I think that Faith and Tara could have made for a very interesting and potentially even healthy couple in a world where Faith never went bad and stayed in Sunnydale long enough to actually meet Tara.

(OMG what? The actresses have been in a different show together? I didn't think I'd have a gifset for this one)

8. Ship You Wish Had More Screen Time?

They did have some utterly amazing moments but I do wish they'd have had more of them (I wish the show had lasted long enough to have had time for more of them).

9. Ship You Wish Had Been Canon?

*manic laughter* sooo many but...

Adorable, stupid bastards deserved their goddamn love story getting realized at the end.

10. Ship You Want To Be Canon?

I don't want to use the same ship as answer for multiple of these points (but if I did it would be Hizzie). Instead...

The tension. The sweetness. The aggressive flirting from one side and the rolling eyes and hidden amusement from the other.

[terapsina]

I think I have 'friends' as an essential part of my shipping preference but in a really specific way. And that's 'enemies to friends to lovers' or 'strangers to friends to lovers' or 'colleagues to friends to lovers' or 'reluctant partners to friends to lovers' or 'frenemies to friends to lovers'. So the friends stage is essential because without it it feels unrealistic and too fast and annoying. But some kind of first stage before the friends stage is essential too, because basic 'friends to lovers' will probably make me bored.

[terapsina]

17, 20, 36 for the shipping questions.

17. Characters that you ship and can’t imagine to be friends .

Uhhhhh. Literally all my OTPs because I am STUBBORN, and you'll erase the romance over my dead body. But.

I guess there's a few that I ship that canon tries to tell me are 'just friends' and I have to snort and roll my eyes because I've never heard anything more ridiculous in my LIFE.

(if those two are just friends I'm a pufferfish. Myka and HG were so completely and angstily in love I needed tissues during like their every other episode)

(there's not a one single other character on that show that thought Clarke and Bellamy were platonic, and I think at least half of the entire bunch of them have actually commented on it at some point).

(yeah no they were married in every sense except the legal one and I WILL fight you on that).

20. Ship that you liked but don’t anymore.

I'm not sure? I really do tend to be very permanent about my ships? I don't really change my mind and really rarely move on.

But erm... I did once upon a time ship Richard and Kahlan. Except then of course Cara showed up and... the rest is

history.

36. Characters that you can’t decide if you prefer as ship or brotp.

No, no. I'm VERY decisive. I always know.

But the closest that KIND of qualifies is Dutch and Johnny Jaqobis. I absolutely did ship them (without a doubt) but their friendship also meant so much to me that this is the one very rare case where I also seriously friendshipped them too.

[terapsina]

I think I've done it. For real this time. I've identified the crucial detail that I need to dive headfirst over a cliff into shipping something.

S l o w b u r n 🔥

See, the thing is, I don't like it when the character ends up with someone they already had a crush on before the setting of the story takes place. I want to see the characters move on from those as their characters develop through the story. Married people and exes often being the exception to the rule.

And I almost never like it when they end up with someone they immediately 'fell for' during the start because those always feel too fast and get boring. Crushes that no one immediately does anything about are a different thing entirely though.

But slow burn. Ohhh, that's the stuff.

And it doesn't have to be a specific kind of slow burn. I'll fall for BFFs who slowly develop feelings for each other, and turn into pining idiots who look like this 😍 every other minute which makes them obvious to everyone except each other.

And I'll adore rivals or even enemies forced to work together and developing a respect and a friendship and then ultimately one day realizing 'oh fuck I'm in love with that idiot'.

And exes who have recently gotten back in the same area after a while apart, trying to move on and fighting their old feelings and starting to feel like it's working only to be punched in the face because nope. Still utter fools in love.

And I'll go for the friends who slowly develop opposing views and goals and become enemies but still care about each other and love each despite the fact they're now on opposite sides of a bloody conflict, despite the fact that maybe they don't want to care and wish they could stop.

And I'll enjoy the partners in arms who don't start particularly close but that just makes it easier to talk to each other because they don't feel like they need to be something particular for each other and that makes them get to know each other on levels no one else ever has.

And I don't need them to develop their feelings at the same pace. Like who doesn't enjoy a good fight between an OTP where one of them screams an abrupt and angry and painful 'because I love you' when the other person had no idea and hadn't even taken the time to explore their own feelings up to then.

And no, I won't love every slow burn, there are some that rub me entirely the wrong way and make me utterly recoil from them. An excellent example being the old 'bad guy trying to manipulate the good guy to not trust their friends', or the ever infuriating 'I'm the only one who cares about you', or the always toxic undercover mass murderer going 'but I didn't know I would fall for you for real when I planned to do to you what I've never felt guilty doing to others' 🤢.

I mean I do sometimes ship villains with heroes. And the villains can be terrible people who have done a lot of bad things, but they have to respect the heroes boundaries. They have to shut up and accept the hero not feeling the same way without petty retaliation. They do that? I'll ship it and find a fic where the hero actually does return those affections.

Actually this one is important to the 'good guy characters' too. If they don't accept no for a no I don't care that they're on the side of the good guys and have never done anything bad or murdery. I'll hate that ship.

So I guess the thing that floats my boat is slow burns of various kinds as long as they contain the characters respecting each other's freedom of choice.

Unless we're talking two characters who are utterly awful people who should objectively speaking both be in prison but it's fun to watch them be a mutually destructive dumpster fire disasters who will probably burn each other alive. In which case I still have some rules but they can do as much petty retaliation on each other as they want and I'll just go grab popcorn.

And absolutely none of it needs to be canon. The writers just need to do the background. I can get to the 'and then they kissed' 😘🥰 allllll by myself.

Thank you for coming to my ship captain talk. It's been fun 😎

[terapsina]

The evolution of my early femslash shipping experiences.

1. My first bury your gays heartbreak.

2. The one that made me think all the queer ships can have hope 🤡.

3. The first time I was queerbaited.

4. The second time I was queerbaited.

5. The first time I kinda wished the show had lasted long enough to queerbait me a third time.

6. The first time I was given a femslash ship but not the femslash ship I actually wanted.

7. The first time I was convinced that 'if one of them was a man they'd have been canon'.

8. The first time a femslash slow burn actually became canon. Alternatively. The first time a tragic ending didn't piss me off because it did fit the story.

9. The second time I was given a femslash ship but not the femslash ship I actually wanted.

10. The first time I experienced the feeling of 'I wish this had come out when I was a kid'.