E is for Erinni

Narancia: My token sex and romance repulsed AroAce. If you ever wondered why I don't ship Fugonara it's because Narancia is deeply put off by the idea of being even in a qpr; he loves his freedom and abundance of friendship. I think he's very physical with his friends but I wouldn't necessarily call him affectionate, like he enjoys the contact and casual leaning and touching and poking and shoving and cuddling, but I think the moment anything other than tactile nonsexual affection gets involved, he gets various levels of cagey. A kiss on the cheek or forehead? He'll live. Might even get used to it and appreciate it for what it is, but it's not his preferred means of affection. A little peck on the lips? Yeah, someone's getting politely shoved off. Hand-holding only works if the other person is okay with him playing with their hand constantly, otherwise it's a bit too boring and restrictive for him. Tries to keep his distance from both romance and sex but if he's in the vicinity of a conversation regarding the two, he will silently glare and make disgruntled noises out of courtesy but not jump in. He knows people are weird and care about these things, and who is he to judge?

Giorno: Demiromantic asexual, but functionally AroAce, because he doesn’t really obey traditional romance and doesn’t care to, and it just works completely different for him. Very cat-like when he experiences romantic attraction or when he's being generally affectionate aka sometimes being an asshole is a love language <33. Knows less about sex and romance than he's willing to ever admit, but who can blame him when it was never relevant to him in the slightest and any sort of cultural imprint of romance completely missed him. Would prefer a qpr because his romance attraction comes and goes and there's less pressure to perform it in a specific way.

Mista: Grayace aromantic, and perfectly comfortable in that. Experiences moments of AttractionTM but it's like spice of life to him rather than anything to chase and latch onto once it happens. Isn't a stranger to fwb and hook-ups but, again, it's a spice of life rather than a need, and a lot of it is probably dedicated to kink anyway, so sex isn't guaranteed. Has an appreciation for love and romance in general (has a soft spot for romcoms and a degree of cheeziness), but doesn't need it for himself, as much as he thinks it's beautiful for others. Unlike Narancia, definitely up for a qpr if it feels right, but wouldn't rush into it just like that, it's a very deliberate decision on his part. Poly, but would be okay in a monogamous qpr if his partner preferred that. Overall just in love with the human condition and the experiences that come with it, so he'll give what he's comfortable with and take what's being offered.

Fugo: An AlloAro icon, who actually loves the structure and sense of officiality of relationships. Once he’s developed a close enough bond with someone, he’d be down to enter a queerplatonic/romantic relationship if asked, he just loves his people and would love to show it to them in a more formal union. Doesn't think about romance on his own nearly at all and thinks a lot of the culture around it to be weird and incomprehensible, but isn't bothered by it. Is half-convinced it's not real and is just a scam people fall for, but it would be rude to say that out loud. Can be shockingly affectionate, though, once given proper instructions for what's allowed and expected and given space and freedom to figure out what feels right to him, but if those conditions aren't met he's a bit stiff about both giving and receiving at first. Generally not that physical, but can be trained through positive reinforcement. Has a handful of gestures he absolutely adores (hand-holding specifically. Very soothing for him) and doesn't have any restrictions for whom he can do them with. Also poly; might've wistfully daydreamed about being in a (nonspecified) relationship with all his closest people a few times, but then remembered he can be just as attentive and loving as a friend and was suddenly cool with it. 

Sheila E: AlloAce but is the most aro-coded person in this group of aros, which is to say her idea of romance is so specific and fundamentally more internal than externally observable that it doesn't register that she could possibly be alloromantic from the outside, the fact she could most likely live without any serious romantic involvement not helping in not confusing the enemy. Views crushes and love as something deeply private that's nobody's business but hers, if she has a crush on someone, it has nothing to do with them in fact, so they better not ask her about it. Very much asexual but so strong on sensual attraction that if things are communicated well, she's favorable to negotiations, otherwise bears some levels of distaste over how sex is portrayed and regarded in society and tends to avoid the topic because of it, but at the core deeply neutral towards anything sexual, it's just a thing that exists and exists for a reason. Has a pretty clear idea what sort of affections she seeks, but has relatively strict limits for what she's open to doing with friends, if you wanna get to the real fluff, you need a promotion to partnership.

Admittedly, I’m deeply neutral about Fugirl. I think transfem hcs are neat and important by the virtue of existing and I love them for diversifying fanon headcanons because I think there’s nothing worse in fandom than when too many people agree on a headcanon to the point they forget it is still but a headcanon and other people can and should add their two cents to the ideas fund, so I like Fugirl on that front, but I have to confess that, having watched this hc grow over the past year or two and read various takes on it, I do not see the vision SOBBING EMOJI

Like, this is probably entirely a MeTM issue, but when I see (most of the time tme) people make Fugo’s story and character be nearly entirely attributed to her transness, with strong conviction and little to no room left for other interpretations and explorations of other aspects of her story (familial abuse, trauma, being neurodivergent, environmental factors, etc.) and treating it as basically canon, I feel like I can’t properly engage with it unless I 100% share the vision, whereas if someone makes a post or fanart with the tone of “here’s my girl Fugo <33” I can be like hell yeah! She’s wonderful, have a like.

I think there’s also something to be said about fandom transmisogyny and how it manifests, among other things, as a strong focus on the suffering in the experience of being a trans woman, in the choice of which characters (again, mostly tme—) people identify as (closeted) trans women, e.g. the most misogynistic, hateful, miserable incel-type male character, as well as the correlation to whiteness, where you most often see the whitest male chars be picked to be the tgirl in a group with multiple options, and I frankly see all of this in Fugirl to various degrees. It also ties to my previous point about making Fugo’s whole character abt her transness, because it’s heavily focused on all the suffering she endured and tying it all TO her transness, and I always read it and can’t help but think “But why can’t she just be happy being a girl. Why not show more of her realizing she’s a girl through positive experiences and adoration for womanhood as opposed to her suffering life-long dysphoria, why not have her realizing she’s trans be the best thing that ever happened to her and that allowed her to start a new, happier chapter in her life?” Like, yes, to most being trans isn’t a painless journey but 1. variety is important, for some the journey is more smooth than others and I think we’re focusing on just one type of experience by over-depicting the suffering of being trans, and 2. compared to how often transmasc hcs tend to be portrayed with a lot of focus on gender euphoria and joy, I think the transfem hcs r being robbed of that sort of representation, of the mirth of finally becoming who you are and wanna be.

In the sense that how fucking sad would it be if Fugo didn't mind his name and was neutral abt it, but every single adult outside of his family just naturally gravitated towards their last name always, either due to various degree of adultification or personal discomfort and sense of weirdness with the name disguised as professionalism (random rich person voice I am not calling this kid Cooked Cream, like nice status symbol to name your kid that but idk. At least I can call them by their family name, since they're so MatureTM), and it further emphasized the lack of warmth and care and love in Fugo's life. And Fugo FEELING it and learning that yeah, people don't like my first name and are allergic to using it, and accommodating others this way and internalizing all the possible implications that brings (people don't want to get close to me, they think my name is embarrassing => they think it's embarrassing to be close to me, people rely on me being mature, what I want isn't important, other people's comfort and preferences matter more than mine, etc.). Like, I personally think Fugo is actually neutral towards his name and has just gotten used to it all and doesn't have any strong feelings towards it anyway because, well, it’s easier in many ways to default to your last name, so why not lean into that convenience, but just thinking abt a kid feeling hurt and confused abt why nobody is calling them by their name, that people prioritize their family's legacy over them as a person, and they LIKE being called by their name because that implies closeness, care, love, but people feel awkward abt using that name, thus signaling that they feel awkward fulfilling the kid's emotional needs and sense of self.

Sheila being a Giorno worshipper is a fun enough joke, but it being written so black and white in the book actively flattens Sheila and over-simplifies or downright discards the weight of her situation, because it paints her seamless obedience of Giorno’s orders as something inherent and akin to sincere worship rather than a reaction to a complex situation where she has nobody and nothing once she finds out that Illuso’s dead and Giorno winds up being a very convincing and convenient figure to follow because 1. what else does she have to do, 2. he DID kill Illuso, so technically if she decided to follow him it would be a matter of honor and not weakness and aimlessness (she has a justification that protects her from being vulnerable about this), 3. his resolve is quite inspiring and his confidence is effective in making people believe in what he says, and at the time she needed that sort of security.

Hence why I don’t read her loyalty as genuine but rather a product of her circumstances that shift and re-shape in real time during PHF and also why she is so quick to change her mind about being loyal by the end. Nobody who’s truly loyal to someone would switch teams the moment someone who’s “more right” comes around, let alone be aware of this mindset of theirs. Sheila HAS to feel that her loyalty to Giorno stands on there not being someone BetterTM as of right now and perhaps even overcompensates for it bc of that, which is why I think she reacts so strongly when that fact is brought to light by Kocaqi’s Stand and cannot be ignored anymore + other stress and trauma gained from all the encounters that happened during their mission piling up.

In Sheila's case, I think she sometimes pushes buttons to test boundaries and as a way to reassess if the trust she bears for the person is deserved AKA if they don't go off on her, belittle her, respect when she distances herself and walks away etc. She's also equally stubborn about the things she's right about and about the things she's wrong about, and unless it's a matter that strikes a personal note, she never cares either way, it's not a competition to her. If she's right, then she was always right, if she's wrong, she will literally just walk away and move on with her life, much to the fury of whoever she's been unintentionally ragebaiting for the past 10 minutes. I wouldn't necessarily call her contrarian for the sake of it, but her general strategy for petty arguments is to be purely reactionary and disagreeing with what the other person says and then standing her ground no matter what, with virtually no stakes in the game. Ultimately, for her it's a means of enrichment and Quality Time together, unbeknownst to whoever decides to engage with her with the intent of proving her wrong or changing her mind.

As for Fugo, I don't think he ever really starts playful arguments and his attempts at banter are subpar. He engages with everything genuinely (unless he has an exceptionally playful day and shamelessly shoots those subpar attempts at banter), which means he's, at the core, just trying to help and/or get the record straight rather than come out on top. He's quite ragebaitable, however, except he's got the spine of an invertebrate and will drop the issue if the other party walks off (figuratively or literally) or if they disapprovingly comment on him taking it too seriously, then he gets embarrassed and walks off himself. The way he finds himself in spats is that he either says something factually incorrect (more often than he's given credit for) or when he wants to politely inform that he doesn't think what someone else has said is the case. Either way, he's losing against Sheila.

There's a lot of other funky ways to explain it. Anthro animals have been present in human cultures in many, often symbolic, ways, so Voodoo taking the form of a tracker animal would fit perfectly for its ability of tracking down people's secrets. Or, to get into my Sheila lore a tiny bit, Voodoo Child summoning in order to protect her and be her guardian and companion and a friend in a cruel world, it would make sense for it to resemble an animal since Sheila has had a very close bond with her dog as a kid and so her subconsciousness giving Voodoo a partly animal form would also fit, as a symbol of trust of sorts 

Fugo's no exceptions to this, being extremely worried about Himself and the FutureTM in that scene until Sheila starts opening up, but seeing Sheila be vulnerable and unravel the trauma that's been hiding in plain sight that he and everyone else could afford to not pay that much mind to – since Sheila has been functional and reliable as always, creating this illusion of Being Okay on her own – made him recognize that he's not the only one suffering and struggling, and him locking in to come after her and commit to killing Volpe, from a purely from a characterization perspective, shows a degree of selflessness, compassion and empathy that I very much connect with Fugo (because of the anime) but that's also missing in his PHF characterization but that's a post for another day—

I know we don't much of this sort of attitude in terms of interpersonal relationships and more mundane situations in phf, since Sheila's in a VERY fucking weird place in her life during the book and the book does only cover the mission the phf trio is sent to, but I think even the moments like her, without hesitation or stopping to think if there could be a key, using Voodoo Child to kick the door open or sinking the yacht with a rock after Murolo expresses concern about someone finding it count as demonstration that 1. Sheila's always looking for the most straight-forward, hands-on solution, 2. she has a very specific way of thinking that no one around her can quite match, 3. she doesn't care if anyone follows or not, she just does things and moves on immediately.