#hateshipping

Though I see your vision, I personally hateship character A and character B. I feel like their enemy dynamic is so good.

Idk. That's my example of hateshipping, or making two characters enemies. Idc if they were best friends in canon, their dynamic is actually really good as enemies (or potentially even frienemies).

"You...! You... Wow, okay, I think I ran out of insults."

I hope you don't mind that edited the first line punctuation formatting a bit. This is definitely longfic au idiots. It's a bit risque (because Bakura lol).

"You...! You... Wow. Okay, I think I ran out of insults." Atem couldn’t help but chuckle a little seeing the dopey, awestruck stare Bakura was giving him. “The day you run out of insults is the day the world ends.” “Then consider this the Apocalypse.” This time Atem let out a hearty laugh. “I can’t believe all it took to make you speechless was a pair of leather pants. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t worn them before.” Bakura folded his arms across his chest and straightened out his face. “Technically it wasn't you wearing them. Also, this version of you is a bit more golden,” he said defensibly. Atem brought a hand up, pretending to stroke his chin in thought. “Oh? So it’s my complexion that makes a difference?” he teased. Bakura’s smirk appeared. “Well, you know I do have a fondness for anything gold in general…but it might also have something to do with the fact that you are topless and your ass is being squeezed by leather,” he growled. Atem quirked a brow upward. “You almost sound jealous of the pants.” Bakura’s smirk widened into a grin. “I am.”

1st line fanfic ask

I hate you, I hate @bluecoloreddreams​, I hate the whole discord. (I kind of hate myself, tbh) FINE THEN.

#16, ftr, is still “lazily”, apparently I don’t know how to write that?

This was going to be a couple hundred words and then turned into an entire goddamn 1100 word fic?

Playing Hooky

For the shipping meme (still open to questions): 

6. How do you feel about love triangles?

*Marge Simpson noise* From a critical perspective, I disapprove of love triangles because they are hardly ever justified, and even more rarely done well. Most often it's obvious who the protagonist is "supposed" to end up with. The losing party will often be a tragicomically bad choice, like a completely terrible person for some reason or another. When they're not that, they will be summarily killed off for cheap angst (I encountered two examples of this relatively recently) because they are too likable, sometimes more likable than the "winning" love interest. If it's not that, then it's a rushed "reward" beta pairing, which is actually the least unpalatable possibility. Think something like the epilogue of *Imagine You and Me*.

From a fannish perspective, ugh. It flattens characters that I would otherwise like. It derails characters that I already *did* like. If I actually like both competing pairings to the same extent, it's much more sensibly resolved by a stable triad, which is my preferred mode of multi-shipping, anyway. Why always the love triangle, fandom? Why not the threesome? And anyway, those who've been following me for a while have already witnessed how un-compassionate I am to people's boo-boos over being romantically rejected. I cannot and will not ever view it as a tragedy. So that just contributes to the likability-killing.

I can't ever recall being really entertained by a love triangle, except in a fannish mode, where canon exists solely to be subverted. In which case, either a threesome or a third option -- singledom, or an unrelated fourth character. Or the sub-species of singledom third option known as "Team Bella". Because too often these characters really can and do deserve better, and if they stay in their gross love triangles, eventually they, too, stop being sympathetic. You can put an end to this! Just do it already! So, yeah, disapproving Marge Simpson noises are my basic feelings on love triangles.

19. Have you ever shipped something despite yourself? 

Hum. I don't like guilty pleasures or liking things "despite myself". Ordinarily I'd rather either learn to be okay with liking it, or set it out of my mind and pursue something I'm more comfortable with. More often I have things that I want to like, but can't muster the enthusiasm despite my best efforts. Or even, in fandoms like Dragon Age... my fandom experience would have been so much better if I could just manage to like the most popular characters, at least a little. Possibly I wouldn't have ghosted if that was the case.

I have sometimes been surprised at liking het pairings more than f/f ones, or even as much as f/f ones.

No, I don't think I've ever really shipped something despite myself. By nature I'm a cantankerous anti-shipper, my feelings against pairings will always be stronger than my feelings for them.

26. Have you noticed a pattern in your shipping? Is there a romantic dynamic you’re more drawn to?

There's a kind of polarity to it. On the one hand, I enjoy beta couples and other types of ships that are typically drama-free. Basically adults conducting adult relationships and talking about their problems like grown-ups. None of the forced misunderstandings and willful ignorance that mark most major romantic conflicts. And established couples.

On the other hand, hateshipping. Rival romance. Enemies to lovers without passing through friends. Trash ships of trash people who are terrible for each other (and themselves). Emotions so strong that no one can pretend they're positive or constructive in any way. Downwards spirals with people dragging each other down. Listen, thirty years of believing yourself to be fundamentally broken doesn't just disappear overnight.

The basic thesis behind hate-shipping is that a relationship has two axes, valence and intensity. The valence, positivity/negativity, of the ship is immaterial. All that matters is the level of emotional intensity. Following a massive crisis, which is the catalyst for most fictional romance, a normal, functional person would go into a period of recovery. Which is healthy and all, but it dials down that intensity a whole bunch. On the other hand, if mortal peril led them to sleep with their nemesis, if anything the intensity gets dialed way up. so there's the appeal of that.