faith, like a jackal

Oliver Huntingdon as Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Oh such a terrible fate... How cruel you are to me...

What made you ship it?

Right after I finished the show I was searching up the biggest Irving ships because I did NOT know where to start but wanted to request something Terror-related in an exchange that was about to close. I was truly baffled by Tozer being the #1 Jirv ship because I could not remember them interacting. But then I read turn you to the new religion & other excellent fics and completely saw the vision :') it's very easy to get me with pairings that don't really interact but their personalities are compelling in relation to each other; also it makes it a lot of fun to explore it in fanon. I'm never really drawn to flagship ships because they're usually already well-developed in canon & fanon. More importantly though what was up with the spyglass. And... Tozer noticing Hickey wearing the coat...

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Aside from some obvious tropes that always get me (insecure x self-possessed, power dynamics, repressed x liberated [or: going to hell for looking at a man x what's a little sloppy toppy between marines]) I enjoy that despite rank & differences they evidently have SOME kind of rapport, and all the different ways you could interpret that are so fun. It's kind of satisfying to me that after Irving dies, Tozer has his freak-out about souls being devoured, also the fact that Hickey is an enormous part of both character arcs. The class stuff, the clashing masculinities of it all (related: Tozer being the highest ranking marine and Irving the lowest ranking lieutenant). The different types of compassion (for lack of a better word) that they possess: Tozer is ride or die for those he thinks are worthy of it & Irving is much more distant but clearly wants to make inroads with his fellow man & can only seem to access compassion via God & ideas of religious brotherhood (and again it's just very fun to me that Tozer exhibits this quality very naturally whereas Irving is struggling).

I had a shower in the middle of writing this and thought of SO many things but I've forgotten them all now. Oh: I loveeeeee when characters are on opposing sides or have opposing ideologies but through hypocrisy (or guiltily or fully aware but compartmentalising or whatever) they make an exception for each other, or there's just some thread of affection that complicates the easy category of "enemy" (or in this case: sinner, bitch ass posho who thinks he's better than me, higher/lower social status, beneath me in every way). Also just think it would be funny as hell for Tozer to have feelings for Irving and be so mad at himself for wanting to protect him; Irving simultaneously self-flagellating in his cabin for glancing at Tozer's waist one time.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?