#ship meta

I'm tired of explaining the same concept 170000 times.

I like the term SoulSeeker for Tomarry/Harrymort because, to me, it applies to both and neither at the same time. It feels broad enough to encompass the whole spectrum of the ship, which is also very convenient whenever someone asks me what exactly I'm talking about.

One of the reasons I love Tomarry/Harrymort so much is the sheer number of possibilities their dynamic offers. It's one of the ships that made me realize stories can be anything. Tragedy, obsession, redemption, horror, romance, destiny, choice, time travel, soulmates, enemies, identity crises, you can take them in almost any direction and somehow it still works.

Very much so.

At first, Imu would physically punish Ginny for getting too close, but then Dragon would stonewall mu and that's no good.

Things that have proven more effective in expressing Imu's displeasure without the stonewall factor include (but are not limited to):

-Limiting both Beloved's and the mouse's access to the mouse's spawn, variations on this are good for degrees of displeasure. Limiting Beloved alone is good for lesser ones, for something bigger separating the mouse and child is better because Beloved does not like being the cause of his follower's (and follower's child's) distress.

-Lending the mouse out to one of the God Knights. See, Imu can reward mu's Knights and show Beloved what's best for him at the same! Very effective!

-Muse out loud about capturing another Revolutionary for fun, not seriously because having more competition for Beloved's attention is a no but it's so fun to see the fire in his eyes whenever mu thinks about it!

Really, one of the more fun parts of writing the Dragon x Imu ship is that both sides have great power over the other but not in any way they themselves think that matters.

Imu wants Dragon bad enough that mu is changing old behaviors that mu usually uses for bed slaves. Dragon makes Imu active in ways that mu hasn't been for centuries. But Dragon can't use any of that interest to make Imu stop destroying the world, torturing people.

On the other hand, Dragon could seriously ask Imu for almost anything and be granted it. Imu is the ruler of the world after all. But Dragon won't change to actually want anything from Imu, though Imu desires that desire from him most of all.

When people talk about Kayce and Andrea's best scenes, the finale hug usually gets most of the attention. And I get it. It's emotional. It's beautifully acted. It's the first scene that openly wears its feelings on its sleeve.

But if you ask me, the real turning point happens six episodes earlier. Because Episode 7 is the moment their connection stops being about chemistry and starts being about understanding. It's subtle, quiet, and easy to miss on a first watch. But once you see it, it's impossible to unsee. I genuinely think this is the scene where a lot of viewers went: "Oh."😏

Before this, they had chemistry, banter, and curiosity. This scene gives them understanding—and that's a much bigger deal. By the end of it, they're no longer just two coworkers getting to know each other. They're two people quietly recognizing parts of themselves in one another.

The Setup: Their Own Private World

The first thing I noticed rewatching the scene is how isolated they feel from everything around them. The bar is busy, there's music playing, and people are talking and laughing. Yet, the framing consistently keeps the focus locked tightly on Kayce and Andrea. They're surrounded by a crowd, but it feels like they're sitting in their own private little universe.

The conversation begins with Andrea asking:

"You really haven't asked anyone else since Monica?"

What I love is that Andrea doesn't ask this as a joke. There's teasing in her tone, sure, but beneath it is genuine curiosity. At this point in the season, Andrea has spent months trying to figure Kayce out. In the early episodes, she challenged him constantly, questioned him, and pushed back. But by Episode 7, that curiosity has evolved into something softer. She's no longer trying to solve the mystery of Kayce Dutton; she's trying to understand the person underneath it.

What's especially revealing is Kayce's reaction. He doesn't answer immediately. He pauses, looks down, shakes his head, and then completely redirects the conversation:

"Did your mom ever date after your dad?"

Which is such a Kayce response. Instead of talking about himself directly, he immediately reaches for another person's experience. He needs distance, a comparison, a safer way into the conversation.

Andrea catches it instantly:

"Oh, now we're getting somewhere."

I love her expression here. It's amused, a little triumphant—almost like she's thinking, "There he is." She knows exactly what he's doing. He dodged the question, but the dodge itself is revealing. For perhaps the first time all season, Andrea isn't interrogating him; she's watching him slowly open up. Then, she immediately circles back to the thing he clearly doesn't want to discuss:

"Does this have anything to do with the Weaver Ranch swag at your house?"

The Flustered "Ambush" and the Emotional Heavy Lifting

Again, she's teasing him, but she's also refusing to let him hide. Then we get:

"Hey, Dolly ambushed me."

And honestly, Luke Grimes' delivery here tells us everything. The line should be funny, and it is, but what stands out to me is his grin. It's immediate, genuine, and almost boyish. For a brief moment, he looks completely disarmed and a little flustered, like he's embarrassed that Andrea caught him. This smile feels entirely different from the guarded expressions we usually get from Kayce. It's playful, comfortable, and unusually open. Kayce rarely lets himself be this playful unless he is completely safe with the person he's talking to.

[I am literally screaming at my screen rewatching this part. The way his whole face just lights up because she's teasing him?? He is SO incredibly weak for her and he doesn't even know it yet!! 😭❤️]

Andrea immediately laughs:

"Really? Drive-by date? Oh, I underestimated this chick."

She isn't simply laughing at him; she's enjoying the fact that she can see right through him. There's a confidence and a familiarity to her reaction. The entire exchange feels effortless, like two people who have developed their own language. Then she takes another sip of her beer, looks directly at him, and asks the real question:

"Did you enjoy it?"

And that's where the scene changes. Because now we're no longer talking about Dolly. We're talking about whether Kayce allowed himself to enjoy being with someone who isn't Monica. The mood shifts instantly. The teasing disappears. The real conversation begins.

Shared Grief and Shifting Boundaries

One of the most interesting things about this scene is that Andrea is doing almost all of the emotional heavy lifting. Every major revelation happens because she gently guides the conversation there. Kayce spends most of the conversation reacting; Andrea spends most of it leading. It mirrors their entire relationship dynamic, except she isn't investigating him anymore—she's caring for him.

When asked if he enjoyed it, Kayce replies:

"As much as you and I focus on avenging our dead... guess we can betray them, too."

This line is enormous. Notice the wording. Not "I." "You and I."

He's grouping Andrea with him. He's acknowledging that they're carrying similar burdens and explicitly placing her inside his emotional world. Kayce isn't talking to Andrea as a coworker here; he's talking to her as someone he believes truly understands him. Someone who shares a similar wound.

Andrea immediately translates what he's struggling to say:

"Hanging out with Dolly felt like cheating on Monica. I see."

This might be one of my favorite Andrea moments all season. She doesn't judge him, dismiss him, or tell him he's being irrational. She simply understands. In fact, she understands him so well that she articulates his feelings before he can even find the words.

Look at Kayce's reaction. The boyish smile completely disappears. His posture changes, his gaze drops, and a heavy tension settles into his face. Andrea just put words to the exact thing he's been avoiding. She looked directly at the heart of his guilt and named it. He doesn't deny it because she's entirely right. It’s a moment of profound vulnerability—not because Kayce reveals something, but because Andrea sees it.

Making Room in the Heart

Then comes the emotional core of the scene. Andrea shares the story about her mother dating after her father's death.

"My mom dated. Then she met a great guy, and I realized she wasn't replacing my dad in her heart. She was just making room for someone new."

Andrea isn't giving advice here; she's sharing a deeply personal lesson she had to learn herself. The softness in her expression matters so much. There's sadness there, but also warmth, hope, and compassion. She's essentially telling Kayce that loving someone new doesn't erase the love that came before, and she does it without ever pressuring him.

Then she asks:

"What about your dad?"

And suddenly, we understand something fundamental about Kayce. His only model for grief is John—a man who never moved on, who stayed trapped in loss, and who left no room in his life for anything except anger. When Kayce describes him, there's an immense sadness underneath the words. Whether he realizes it or not, he's describing the exact self-destructive path he's been walking.

Andrea sees that immediately, which leads to the most important question of the entire scene:

"And do you think Monica would want that for you?"

Notice what she doesn't ask. She doesn't ask if he likes Dolly, or if he's ready to date, or if he wants to move on. Andrea understands that none of those are the real issue. The real issue is guilt.

The Devastating Echo: Sharing a Language

Then comes the moment that absolutely destroys me. Kayce looks directly at Andrea. Throughout the scene, he has broken eye contact whenever things got too close to the chest, but here, he locks eyes with her. He is intensely focused, completely bare, and says:

"I'd love the chance to ask her."

On the surface, he's talking about Monica. But emotionally, he is unknowingly triggering a flawless dialogue parallel.

Earlier in the episode, when the young girl asked Andrea if she thought her father was a dirty cop, Andrea responded: "I think I'd love the chance to ask him." Because Andrea's father is dead. The first time we heard that line, it sounded like simple professional empathy. But once you remember her history, you realize she was speaking from her own deepest, unresolvable grief. She was talking about her own unanswered questions.

Which means when Kayce says those exact words, he is echoing Andrea almost word for word. Whether he consciously realizes he's doing it or not is beside the point. The vital thing is that her words stayed with him. He listened. He remembered.😭

Throughout this entire conversation, Andrea has been trying to help him articulate what he's feeling. She provided the emotional vocabulary for a conversation Kayce was struggling to have. And in the final moments, Kayce responds using language that originally came from her.

In a scene built almost entirely on subtext, that matters beautifully. By the end of the conversation, they aren't just sharing stories—they are sharing a language. They're expressing two completely different losses through nearly identical words. It’s definitive proof that these two people have been paying attention to each other on a soul level. Andrea's perspective has reached Kayce, and her words have found a home inside his own grief.

The Final Look

And what really gets me is Andrea's reaction. 😭 Watch her face carefully in those final seconds. For a split second, something clicks. Her breath catches and her eyes widen just a fraction. It's the micro-expression of pure realization: He heard me. Out of all the ways he could have expressed that thought, he used her exact phrasing.

Suddenly, her entire expression softens. A slow smile appears. Not her teasing smile, not her amused smile, and not the playful smile we've seen throughout the rest of the night. This one is entirely different. It's tender, knowing, and deeply emotional.

For a character who spends so much of the season playing the detached observer, there's something incredibly moving about this. Being understood is powerful, but realizing someone has been paying that much attention to you is intoxication

The scene begins as a conversation about dating after loss. It ends as something infinitely more intimate. They aren't talking about Dolly anymore, or Monica, or Andrea's father. They're talking about loss itself, and the questions they'll never get answered.

Based on these two polls [X] [X], I will write an analysis that'll also include how I feel about the ship (similarly to my Digimon shipping game analysis posts).

Other ship analysis posts: [HomuMado] [KyouSaya] [HomuSaya] [HomuMami] [KyouMado] [KyouHomu] [MadoMami] [KyouMami]

Disclaimer: I won't claim this to be a conclusive/definitive analysis of all of the ship's aspects. I have watched the original 12-episode-series and movies (including Rebellion), the Magia Record anime and I've read several manga series (the Original, The Different Story, Wraith Arc, Rebellion Story, Oriko Magica, Another Story, Mitakihara Anti-Materials). But I'm aware that I haven't seen/read all of what's out there and am also not thoroughly familiar with the games. Plus, oftentimes, ship dynamics vary depending on which series/timeline you are looking at. So this is going to be my personal take on it.

[Small rant about Chaggi, Easy and it's meta. Part one: the whole "coercion" thing ]

[Photo ID: Screenshot of a bluesky post from user Danidraws, that says: "No way ppl are saying Vaggie coerced Charlie into sex", alongside several crying and skull emojis]

Alright, let's start off taking out main points off the back:.

- Was it intentional? Absolutely not.

- Did Vaggi actually coerce Charlie into having sex (in canon)? No.

- Was it a fumble and massive mistake when it comes to the reading of the scene and the whole context and message that it conveys? Yes, completely. It conveys a flawed message that ends up in the romatization and normalization of emotional neglect, coercion, and toxic positivity in relationships, that the writers refuse to ever take accountability for.

Ok. Fine. At its best, it was really shitty behavior to portray in what's supposed to be a "wholesome" couple.

In my humble opinion, they messed up with how they actually came off in "Easy", and obviously won't admit it. They thought it would be a "tender, nice message" but they didn't have in mind how in their lesbian sex song they literally wrote how one partner is on the edge of a breakdown, trying to express herself, only to get told to shut up several times by her gf, telling her to not spiral and just convinced her to have sex instead because everything would be fine, as if that'd fix anything at all.

Now, Vaggi obviously doesn't tell Charlie to have sex with her in the literal lyrics of Easy. But it doesn't really help their case when she's told her to shut up about two or three times in the song and not let her vent. It's mostly the direction's fault for wanting to make an implied sex scene, whilst not double checking how the lyrics will actually make things seem in the final product or whole context of the song.

Also, the "everything will be ok!" excuse doesn't work, she's still written as if denying Charlie the chance to actually talk about what troubled her in good depth just so it can be ignored again thanks to the optimism. It may not seem all that bad for some, but have in mind that the optimism, paired with the lack of acknowledgement for Charlie's feelings, just does absolutely nothing to help nor address the issue. Optimism and support without actually listening to a partner is pure ignorance that may lead to an issue not getting addressed, the partner not confiding in one another, and just making everything worse. It'd be a type of toxic positivity.

So paired up, it makes it seem as if Vaggi not only refused to let Charlie express her bottled up feelings and stress because it's a "bad thing to spiral", but also did what she believed would be "good for her", (sex and reassurances to "calm down" for some reason?) rather than what was actually good for Charlie. (Emotional closure and a safe space to express her feelings fully) This is a clear flaw on Vaggi's side, and I don't mean to imply that she did out of ego or for her self benefit, because that's not how her character is at all. Still, it doesn't excuse the way the scene came off, it doesn't excuse Vaggi for ignoring her partner's feelings.

One argument that could somewhat "debunk" this whole thing is that, "well, Charlie seemed willing and happy to have sex with Vaggi at that moment!"

Well yes. Vaggi didn't actually coerce Charlie in canon. Ever. It's a big part of what I wanted to explain here, that she canonically doesn't do that. It's just the misconception that a ton of folk have about "messaging and intent of a scene = canonical character intent". Vaggi does not do that ever, it's only that the show itself messed up with the surrounding context that gives off the vibe and whole fandom critique regarding coercion.

But please do have in mind that SH [spindlehorse] wanted to do a sex scene from the very first moment, so they weren't going to paint one of the partners as of realistically reluctant to have sex. Looking at it from a meta way, there's no way they wouldn't have done the scene without having both of them idealistically happy.

What's wrong about "Easy", is the message it conveys. The typical "sex will fix everything so there's no need to be emotionally vulnerable with your partner, just ignore it". It doesn't matter if the characters are happy in the sequence, the intent and flaws of the song and context are what ruins the whole thing. It doesn't matter if the characters were canonically happy and consented, the way it's conveyed is flimsy.

In hindsight, it's a major fumble that should've been fixed. Both in writing and artistic execution, as they could've also not had sex in that specific song but idk, it's their thing that it was also a sexy lesbian song that talked about telling one partner to shut up several times.

But for the same reason as always, they refuse use the characters flaws for actual development in the future, and yes, this includes a slight fumble like this one, it can be messy but it could've been addressed in the future as an actual flaw of Chaggi. (And also to add actual depth to the pond level ass ship)

But no, for who knows why, they're always hell-bent on insisting that their toxic ass relationships and how since they intended to write them as healthy, then they MUST [must] be in reality too, whilst ignoring the obvious flaws of their ships. (Cough, cough, Stolitz, cough..)

I've said it before in a comment once, but Easy could've absolutely been an amazing song to portray how seemingly "healthy" or "wholesome" relationships can have their dark side and/or toxic traits as well. (Which is something everyone here seems to be oblivious of?)

Nonetheless, they're incredibly hell-bent on insisting how coercion isn't a thing or how they "good ships" can do absolutely no wrong, and that they weren't ignorant writers on how some things will come off, but that people are making shit up just to hate. As always. They never check what they actually implement onto a ship, just the "cool things" they wish to portray, but ultimately fail at the execution of it.

The way that Sam was standing there waiting for Andy, and the second she comes out the door, the way he pulls her aside and has all this immediate concern written all over his face — ugh!!

Pulls on my heartstrings hardcore!!

Sam is sooo full of this mix of tenderness and panic at how close he came to losing her. Clearly too close for comfort for him.

Sam just doesn't look like he can be convinced that Andy's actually okay, though, like he's soo not convinced by the way he's searching her face, his eyes flicking over her entire face, like he's seriously doing a thorough memorization of every detail of her face, just to really, really make sure she's okay.

It's so crazy to me that the moment that Andy looks at Sam, though, her masks just completely cracks, not like a big breakdown or anything, but the crack is enough to let Sam see inside. He steadily grounds her, and it's exactly what she needs in that moment, when everything is still shaky.

When he's touching Andy's face, it's like you can just see every little change in his body language, when he leans in even closer, touches her so gently, caressing her face in a way that's far too soft, far too personal to be "just partners".