Why I Ship Fossilcleaning (and why you should too!)
This post does NOT insist that Fossilcleaning is canon, nor does it insist you have to ship it. It exists solely as an appreciation and explanation post. Also, Shelly and Tisha are both canonically NON-RELATED ADULTS as confirmed by Qwel. Thank you.
Shelly and Tisha interact multiple times throughout the game, twice in the elevator and once in a storyboard together. These may come as incidental at first, but compared to how these toons are treated by others, there's a lot of weight behind their words.
Shelly and Tisha are each other's exceptions. This is crucial to understanding their relationship. Where most toons forget about Shelly or treat Tisha as a glorified mop, these two see each other in a way that nobody else does.
Starting with their first interaction: Tisha asks Shelly how she is, which does not come as a surprise to her.
In a considerable amount of interations, including those whom Shelly would be friendly with, she is shocked that they even think to talk to her, let alone ask her how she's doing.
Other toons that don't elicit surprise from Shelly, that being Teagan and Rodger, either have a reputation for looking out for other toons...
...or are only talking to her to further their own endeavours.
Tisha is special in that her attentiveness towards Shelly is only for Shelly.
As well, Tisha and Shelly proclaim they have each other's backs. We've discussed why this would be meaningful to Shelly, but the same goes for Tisha. Where many toons leave her out to dry...
...Shelly makes sure that Tisha knows she's on her side.
Their second interaction continues this pattern. Shelly asks Tisha for help, Tisha immeditally knows she's talking about her fossils, and agrees without a second thought.
For both characters, this is VERY out of the norm. There does not exist another toon who gets involved in Shelly's dinosaur-related hobbies. Some may ask her questions or entertain them for a short time, but it never goes past elevator dialogue that leaves no lasting impact on either toon.
Tisha, meanwhile, helps Shelly with her fossils enough that they speak about it casually.
And Tisha may enjoy cleaning, but she gets frustrated when toons ask her for help without thinking of her needs or fail to tidy up after themselves.
Yet when Shelly brings up cleaning her fossils, Tisha gleefully accepts, saying it "sounds fun." So... what makes Shelly different?
In their shared storyboard, Shelly happily hugs Tisha upon finding out she cleaned her fossil for her, to the point of dropping the fossil in the process. Her happiness doesn't come from the shiny fossil, but from Tisha going out of her way to do that for her.
We can assume this storyboard is indicative of their relationship, perhaps even how their friendship began, seeing how it's from one of the first episodes of the show. (In the top left corner, the storyboard is labeled "SEASON 1 - EPISODE 8") We even see it repeatedly on Shelly's map, proving its importance to the ammonite and her show character.
Before we move on, I want to bring up one more interaction: Shelly and Yatta's.
Yatta shows interest in Shelly's sewing hobby - much to her excitement - after she finds out about it from Tisha. Again, Tisha is Shelly's exception. Some toons don't even remember her name, but Tisha actively talks about Shelly to others and gets them interested in talking to her. Yatta wouldn't have known Shelly was into sewing if not for Tisha, and because she did, she ended up giving Shelly some of the attention she dearly craves.
There's a certain rivalry that I need to address: Tisha and Vee's.
I wholeheartedly believe that Tisha's reasoning for disliking Vee is because of her (unintentional) mistreatment of Shelly in their interactions. Let me explain.
We know from Tisha and Vee's dialogue that Tisha is the instigator of this conflict. Vee is unaware of why she dislikes her, seeming to dislike her back out of pettiness. We can deduce that Tisha is not upset for any cleaning-related reasons. She would have no problems telling Vee off if she were being untidy, as she does with other toons. Rather, she claims that Vee doesn't "appreciate certain things" in Gardenview, which would correlate to her dismissiveness towards Shelly.
But most toons are dismissive of Shelly! What makes Vee different?
Vee's dismissiveness does not come from forgetfulness, it comes from disinterest.
She shuts Shelly down when she asks if she wants to talk about dinosaur facts because she "knows them all."
And she only wants to spend time with her when it's to "move around supplies."
And we must keep in mind that Tisha was not here for these conversations. She would have heard about them from Shelly, who we know was upset by the end of both of them. Because she doesn't know the full story, it would make sense for her to assume the worst of Vee.
But from Vee's point of view, these conversations with Shelly weren't negative. She isn't acting out of malice, but rather out of logic. She knows Shelly's facts, so why would she listen to them? She needs help with something, so why wouldn't she ask Shelly?
Never would Vee think she came across as unappreciative, and because Tisha doesn't explain it to her, she doesn't reflect on her actions. It seems as though Tisha's protectiveness over Shelly blinds her to Vee's side of the situation.
So, what does this collimate into?
This part will mainly consist of how I interpret Shelly and Tisha's relationship. It will focus less on canon itself and more on the fun ways you can build off of it.
Shelly and Tisha have a bond that cannot be broken. They are each other's biggest supporters. Shelly's memory lives on with Tisha, who remembers her habits and talks about her to others. Tisha's work is valued by Shelly, who is always thankful for the effort she puts into keeping Gardenview (and her fossils) clean.
Everything they want out of someone, whether it be recognition or acknowledgement, they find in the other. Why else would you need to master Tisha to unlock Shelly if she didn't mean the most to her, as Cosmo does to Sprout or Brightney does to Vee?
Fossilcleaning has been my favorite Dandy's World ship since I got into the fandom. It thrills me to finally talk about them so extensively, as I believe this pairing to be severely underrated. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading! Have a good day and a Happy Pride!
