#zoaisy

I propose to you a fanart wip of my FAVOURITE beloved rarepair 🥹 I actually freaking love this ship SO much it’s in my big 3 the doomed yuri is impeccable and one day I will in fact be writing a fanfiction about them❤️‍🩹

(In my opinion🥹)

Daisy is usually shown through the lens of Jake—idolised, glorified, and sanctified. She’s an ‘angel’, something pure and unsullied by the dirt of a dog-eat-dog world. Always good, always kind, always perfect.

It’s only when she talks to Sean that we can see her through a less skewered lens, but still a lens, one of a good persons. When Daisy talks to Sean, she sheds the false skin of perfection. She opens up about feelings that are ‘selfish’ not ‘good’, but at her core she still has to be good, and is.

Daisy has to constantly present herself as somebody perfect and, again, good. Maybe to the point that everybody expects it from her subconsciously. Which is also interesting when you think of it in relation to the patriarchy; Daisy is a young woman who is, at the bulk of it, dehumanised and objectified into something to worship (at least by Jake).

ANYWAYS. All this is to say, she is repressed. Daisy is drowning in extra-curriculars, schoolwork, responsibilities and expectations. She is repressed, but she desires freedom—one which unfortunately, feels unattainable.

Now cue Zoey: She’s all the things Daisy isn’t—all the things she can’t afford to be. She’s brazen, mean, outspoken, bratty; Zoey doesn’t accommodate others, she makes them accommodate her. She’s your typical high school bully-slash-popular-girl. She goes shopping all the time with her friends, she’s outwardly self-obsessed. She gives off the air of someone who’s lived as if the world revolves around her—and I think it’s something she got attached to. Zoey needs things to revolve around her. Attention, popularity, unwavering loyalty.

Fundamentally, they operate completely differently. It seems unlikely that they’d even interact with each other—they’re on totally different sides of the spectrum. But I think it would actually make sense if they did. Why.???

Because Zoey represents the teenage life Daisy has always been missing. She’s brazen, and mean, and outspoken, where Daisy is kind and diplomatic. Zoey doesn’t give a fuck about accommodating others. Daisy’s whole life has been spent doing just that.

We know for a fact though, that she craves freedom, and we have also seen her perform an act of rebellion (aka letting Jake use the speakers). Even if it seems trivial, it symbolises the beginnings of a change within Daisy—one where she puts her personal values and wants before expectation and duty.

Zoey is not a good person. She does not try to be a good person. She’s, to put it frankly, a little shit, and it seems like she could not care less. Of all the things she expects from people around her, none of them relate to being good. Were they to interact, while Zoey likely assumes Daisy is a goody-two-shoes, she doesn’t care if Daisy isn’t.

I’ve talked a bit about why Daisy would befriend Zoey, but what about Zoey? Why would she acquaint herself with somebody like Daisy? I think this is a muuuuch harder question, purely because we know so little about Zoey. But what I do know is: her favourite colour is white.

The obvious: Daisy’s hair is white. That’s like, FATE. But I also want to look at it more symbolically. White represents innocence, purity and goodness in western culture. Zoey is neither innocent, pure or good. You could say those descriptors are anotonyms to her character, and yet white is her favourite colour! The way I look at it, is deep down, Zoey feels a draw (and perhaps a desire🫢) for innocence, something she’s already lost.

(I don’t think anyone reading this would know what Thousand Autumns is, but if you do, think of her as VAGUELY reminiscent of Yan Wushi‘s personality).

Daisy has innocence, ‘purity’, goodness, and I think that would at least instil a curiosity in Zoey. How the curiosity manifests depends on Zoeys relationship with innocence/purity. Personally, I think she both seeks it in herself, and wants to see how long it lasts in Daisy. Maybe she likes the idea of purity as in idealised concept in her head, but thinks it’s impossible in reality. Why is Daisy so nice? Can I make her cruel? How come people treat her as some perfect angel? Is it real, or an act?

And the answer is the latter. Duh. Something zoey probably knows, because like I said, I don’t think she believes anyone can actually be some pure angel. I bet whenever she heard Jake droning about how wonderful Daisy was, she called bullshit. An annoying goody-two-shoes bitch though? Sure. It might seem silly to look so deep into a colour, and I likely wouldn’t if it was, idk, blue, but white in particular has very strong connotations. It’s the colour of people’s wedding dresses for a reason, LOL.