#anonyme

This is a really good question. Honestly, I generally don’t really think about my fics beyond the last line. My opinion is I wrote what’s there and once it’s posted it’s up to the readers to decide what happens next. Historically I am terrible at sequels because of this, like I closed the door in my head (but I have been rolling around an Ilya prequel — who knows).

That being said, since you asked — I am generally a big Shane-and-Ilya-want-kids Truther, but I think in the world of Vessel, maybe not.

The first reason is that logistically speaking, having children would be really complicated for them. My husband is just a deckhand, doesn’t own his own license or boat, and for the months of April - June he’s like a ghost in our lives. April he spends the whole month prepping with his crew, and then May and June he leaves the house at 3am, comes home at 3pm if all goes well, and is asleep by 7:30. In the few hours he’s home and awake he is exhausted and in pain — it is HELL on your body. Sometimes he naps 4-5 and still goes to sleep at 8. The kids barely see him, I barely see him. I do all the housekeeping and child minding during those months, especially May and June. And obviously our sex life takes a hit (how much Shane and Ilya are fucking is maybe the most unrealistic thing about Vessel). When I was working full time this was even worse. Now I don’t think Shane and Ilya would be willing to give up either of their boats, so as Captains those days would be even longer, and there would be twice as much work to do. I knew a couple that fished together and their kids basically lived with their grandparents for two months. It’s miserable for all involved. Of course they would be FULLLLLL of money but in a small village there is not that much hired help to be had, and it would be extremely stigmatized to hire someone for anything.

Also, like you mentioned, I think Shane’s climate anxiety would really play a role. Plus, I mean, this isn’t mentioned really in Vessel but when you live in a small village, there is always fear that they will close the school, that healthcare is hard to access, etc etc.

Then there is Ilya — we as connoisseurs of the Source Material know he is riddled with depression. But in this AU, does he realize it? Probably not yet! Remember, he spent his winters in Russia taking care of his father (‘obviously i’m miserable and don’t want to get out of bed, my life fucking sucks’) and his springs and summers working like a madman and fucking around a beach town. Before that he was fuckboying his way around the world. The first winter he spends in Pardon’s Point would be the biggest culture shock of his life and he would probably fall deeeeeeeeeeeepppp into that black pit in his mind that he has only dipped his toes into so far. And Shane hates winters too. So like, it’s bad all around.

I can see them wanting children at first to fill that void in the dark winter months but Shane would maybe eventually push back on this. There’s this line from Vessel that is like ‘having children out of a sense of duty is horrible, not having them is maybe worse’. He probably talks to his mom about it. In this world she was a school principal (inspired by my mom lol) and has probably seen all kinds of mentally ill parents. She probably tells Shane that they shouldn’t have kids just to fill the time in the winter, and they would probably have a big fight about it, and then he would realize she’s right.

I wanted to make Yuna kind of insane about it in Vessel (she really is the one putting the pressure on Shane about kids in every conversation) so he probably clues in like if Mom thinks it’s a bad idea then it probably is for real.

Finally. I don’t think I did the best job of explaining just how traditionally masculine and heteronormative this environment is. Out of the hundreds of fishers I know, I’ve known of maybe 6 or 7 women. Two of them captains. Never known anybody openly gay who fished. It’s all machismo, drinking and drugs, lots of racist and homophobic jokes. Big trucks big boats big money big industry. The women stay home and care for the house and children for the reasons I discussed above. The men provide. This is one of the parallels between the NHL and the fishing industry that I saw in my head. Shane would probably have a hard time imagining what having children would look like for them. Bad enough to be gay publicly. The other fishermen would look at them differently for sure.

Anyway. I think you could make an argument either way. This is just how I would see it!!! Welcome any discussion / debate on this because there are other ways to go with it

hiiii anon!!! you’re right, i was MIA for a while and i’ll prob do it again soon.

i wanted to give a film rec, ‘rose of nevada’ by mark jenkin, it has some similar themes to your fic, the challenge of economic decline/generations living within a town, but it’s set in a cornish fishing village in the uk

i think it’s p much all shot on analogue film, with a beautiful b-roll of the harbour (your writing reminded me of a lot of the cinematography) it’s more of an arthouse-y kinda slow… slice of life of a film but with a cool twist to it. it moved me quite a lot as my grandad used to work as a skipper in the north sea, but i wanted to rec as i think you’d like it if you haven’t seen it already :)

ohhhhhh thank you so much for the kind words and the rec! yes i will check this out, it seems right up my alley. ❤️❤️

the last captains is Fisherman Approved ✅ the lobster fishing starts in episode 3 but the first two episodes are really interesting too! it’s not as sensationalized as say the deadliest catch, but it is a very honest view of the world’s most dangerous career

i will tell you a secret — i’m percolating an ilya pov prequel to vessel that would be about ilya learning to fish in his first year. cause i’m not sure how he even survived and i wrote it. anyway! no promises but i’ve been rolling around some ideas in my head

i love magneticwave’s work! and thank you for the other rec! janitor ilya is a funny concept to me im not sure that man had ever cleaned a toilet before in canon

i am compiling more AUs! but i’m a little picky tbh. like you said a lot of them there is usually one person who is a hockey player — which i still love and will read of course — but the purpose of my exercise in particular is finding out how people handle them not being superstar hockey players. i haven’t found that many out there!

other topics i’m working on for reading lists is hollanov in the media, hollanov vs language, hollanov vs money, and fics that i think are genuinely funny. but i have hundreds bookmarked and could probably make lots of different lists if i thought people were interested.

"If I'm caught speeding or drinking or missing an appointment, I'll have everything taken from me immediately, so I must prevent a fate that seems like certain death (obsession) through constant hypervigilance and avoidance (compulsion). Since I never break this rule, my anxieties are never disproven, so I remain in fear of it (compulsion satisfies and retriggers obsession)"

Coulda pulled that from the DSM-5.

I also think your headcanons read really closely to the intersection of Autism and OCD. Idk if that was intentional, but I feel like it's accurate to his character. Especially given how badly he wants to break out of these structures to be with Ilya as his most vulnerable unmasked self.

well, you said it not me, but i’m inclined to agree at least for the autism part because i have more experience with that (both partner and child are autistic). but i will say i wrote in another post a couple weeks ago in regards to his eating habits (and i think we can extend this to other spheres of his life), that he will ALWAYS find ways to justify them. when he is an active player it will be so he can #optimize and be the best player, when he has children it will be to teach them healthy habits (not debating here whether or not he wants children, in canon it seems likely he does), when he is old it will be to preserve his body/run away from death/stay with ilya as long as he can. the actual food he eats and the quantities may change, but he will probably always have weird eating issues that he will not believe are issues because they are backed up by Science

i think one of the great tragedies of shane is that like — he breaks ONE rule (being a practicing gay with Ilya) and then finds out he is kind of right in that his worst fears do kind of come true (re: montreal, getting outed x2, commissioner does threaten them). he is the best which affords him some protection but it’s still a precarious industry (gretzky got traded TWICE). so idk if he’d ever get over his ‘compulsions’ and anxieties about anything.

and frankly is that not the whole thing with professional athletes, they have incredibly important rituals and superstitions that they believe will make them play their best … so he’s surrounded by guys not just enabling or encouraging these very strict beliefs but ALSO they have their own ‘oh i must listen to this one song 14 times and eat the same sandwich every game day because it’s what makes me the best’ kind of superstitions. like he’s weird but whatever hollander is doing must be working, he’s a beast on the ice! and no one questions it deeper than that (except for ilya)