#buriphelt

Johnny x Testament: 10/10

-Aside from the name spawning a whipcrack SFX, johnnytest is an EXCELLENT ship.

-Both Johnny and Testament are both extremely similar in philosophy, but come at it at a very different way. Johnny chose the life he leads, but Testament never got that choice. Thus, while Johnny actively goes out of their way to defend people, even founding the Jellyfish pirates, Testament, for every game except Strive, thought the most moral option was to isolate themselves as penance.

-I can see Johnny welcoming Testament onto the ship just to check in on them, to see how they are doing. I would even love to see a fic set between XX and Strive where Johnny talks to Testament, who is probably at their most lonely.

-Also, when I talked about colors in Shanoa x Laura, I do think black is an exception here, since it still gives the two a really good contrasting silhouette of Johnny's jacket making him seem wider, or more open, and Testaments looking thinner, being more closed-off, ig. I'm not a character designer, please god don't flame me for bad takes on this.

Elphelt x Bridget: 8/10

-Honestly, same as Johnnytest, but a bit weaker?

-I think Elburi is good when we look at their stories. Elphelt is attached to the concept of belonging, to love for others, literally given that trait by the Universal Will, while Bridget is kind of about finding yourself, understanding that you are your own person, even while belonging to a community.

-Also, the line "I've moved on, by my own will", in The Town Inside Me, immediately comes to mind as a line that would make SO MUCH SENSE also applied to Elphelt.

-It's just...eh? I just don't have much to say? It's simoly kinda just a Chocogummy situation: pretty good thematically, I just think the relationship going off purely canon is boring, idk.

-Like, it's just Extrovert x introvert, and pink x blue, which eh? good, but, like, I'm stretching to make something more interesting.