(100) Days of Summer
Aloha, amigos (huzzah mixing languages!). Summer has unofficially begun, and I think it's about time for some fun. I've had a crazy few weeks of organizing and festivities and holidays. I just got back from a brief but eventful trip which included my birthday, visiting friends I hadn't seen in ages, and, most importantly, no internet access. So
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I'm so glad to hear that your trip went well and that fun birthday times were had \o/
Um, this meme is super rude. Like, I'm reading this thinking 'yeaaah, duh' except that when I get to the small print, I realize that none of my existential shipping woes actually match your high set criteria??? SMH @ THE WAY THIS IS LAUGHING AT ME AND MY TERRIBLE FANDOM CHOICES. So, there is the kpop experience (or any other hellish rpf-branche), where jealously clinging to your one and only OTPs means crazy discipline and systematical shunning of all the merciless temptations (which: lulz, why would anybody?). Obviously the whole will they or won't they takes on an additional layer of bittersweet because lbr your faves will nevah. Thus is the harsh law of real person shipping, I'm afraid. (Not that this absolves us from the frantic nailbiting whenever a new era comes up and it's all about who'll get the flirty screentime and matching outfits and effing liferuining skinship and the greasiest fanservice - ah, the privilege of narrative-driven-fandoms!) Anyway, I could make a long list of the dilemma-producing-couples-of-pain, but you'll prob only pat me on the head. A good tv-fandom based example of the internal civil shipwar syndrome? TVD is as good as any! The ships that caused me the most internal conflict being the infernal trio of : Damon/Alaric/Elena. Which I all ship in duos and fake trios (like when one is dead and the other two are being delightfully self-destructive and rebound-y and p a i n). The unfairness of it being that only D/E had canon!ship supremacy, because there was no way in hell the two other options would be allowed on that show (WHY THO). These fuckers are the ones that got me hooked on the show. But Ric/Damon is was brought me to TVD fic!fandom and that alone breeds scary ship!loyalty - I don't think there was a way I could un-ship it. ELENA/ALARIC ARE FOREVER MY DOOMED SHIP OF ALL SHIPS AND THERE ARE FEW THINGS I SHIP LESS FERVENTLY. So like, watching the show there wasn't a ton of ship!drama to be had, since to begin with there is no room for 2/3 of my OT3 to happen on screen. But when it comes to headcanon shit. Or idk PICKING AN ULTIMATE OTP?? Then it gets dirty. Spoiler warning: Alaric systematically wins, idek why, but he's totes mister popular. Damon usually loses, but what else is new...
Multishipping is hard, yo. One of your cherished pairings is always neglected/suffering!!!
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AAAAAHHH THAT IS THE WORST I'M SORRY THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME ENOUGH TO WRITE IT A THIRD TIME.
I realize that none of my existential shipping woes actually match your high set criteria?
Lol, is it high set criteria? Apologies.
I feel your ship woes, my friend. For most of this show's run (until Stefan became the actual worst), one of my primary ships was the Brothership. And there is pretty much nothing less likely to appear on my television than a sex scene between two brothers on a network show, but THE HEART WANTS WHAT IT WANTS. Sometimes impossible shipping can be relaxing, though. The show can't ruin a ship it won't (canonically) touch.
Ack, but you've hit on the one ship I've never been able to ship! For some strange reason, Elena/Alaric freaks me out. I want so badly to like it, because i see all the inappropriate chemistry, but I just can't? Woe to me, basically.
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THIS basically. I think the fact that there are no circumstances in which Alaric/Elena could have been explored that way on the show solidifies this ship even more for me. They are (and have to be, lbr) the absolute anti-romance ship. They are broken and as taboo as it gets (the more you break it down the more fucked up it gets, so I can totally understand you being freaked out) and most of all they are ugly, as in plain heroes (this isn't true obvs, but the only thing that matters is what they believe). The fact that they are so intrinsically unepic (lol Alaric can never be epic /pets him) is one of the main factor of attraction to me. Their angst isn't romantic or grand, it's pathetic and unpleasantly realistic. And what I mean by realistic is this : you have two people who fight narratives, one that vehemently works at negating his own story's worth, the other who cling onto writing and rewriting until she gets it right (or somehow writes herself back together). But then you put these two characters and have them build something together and their bond becomes what they fear most - a caricature of a narrative, something that is so absurd it's parts funny, the only way to fix two broken paths and make a bridge to start healing... And that's what most of us get ; life doesn't give us neat arcs and love stories that make sense. What we get is messy paths, irony and love. Somehow we made it work and create disfunctional functionality over and over again. (HAHAHAHA MY UGLY SHIPPER LOVE LET ME SHOW IT TO YOU)
Okay this was embarrasingly rambly enough, I will spare you the rest of the shipper's manifesto *facepalm*
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(MY INSANE SHIPPER LOVE IS EVERYWHERE I NEVER BOTHER TO RESTRAIN MYSELF WHY SHOULD YOU REALLY CARRY ON.)
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