Straight Ships - Blog Posts
Quick essay that no one asked for on the ship of Seong Gi-hun and Hwang In-ho. I see this pairing being commonly compared to the likes of Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, and while I definitely see the similarities, to me, the (oddly enough, heterosexual) couple they remind me the most of is Catherine the Great and Peter III of Russia.
These characters are from the television show The Great, and long story short, Catherine the Great begins as a naive and optimistic young woman who marries Peter III, and her optimism shatters upon realizing how cruel and spiteful her husband is, and she decides to overthrow him. However, despite everything they do to each other over the course of the series, including attempting to kill and overthrow each other and murdering one another's loved ones, they somehow fall in love.
Their love is so powerful and all-consuming that even those around them, closest to them, cannot fathom it after all that they have done to one another and to me that is how Seong Gi-hun and Hwang In-ho are. Often people argue that Gi-hun would never in actuality love In-ho after what he did to countless players and Jung-bae, but that is the point: like Peter and Catherine, their twisted love transcends the violence and betrayal, showing a deeper connection that defies logic and reason.
Specifically, there is one scene played out between Peter and Catherine that I could easily see happening between Gi-hun and In-ho. In a fit of rage, Catherine finally stabs Peter (who is actually a body double of him), and she thinks she has killed him, and upon realizing what she has done, she breaks down in sobs and falls to her knees. Then the real Peter appears, and Catherine, realizing he is alive and how she felt when she thought she had killed him, realizes her feelings, and he holds her while she cries. I can totally see Gi-hun somehow managing to shoot The Frontman (who is actually a double as well, let us say) only to similarly break down in tears and feel utter devastation over what he thought he had done. Then In-ho appears, revealing that the individual in the Frontman outfit was a double, and Gi-hun is overcome with a multitude of feelings like relief, shock, and love, and cries before going to the other man and embracing him.
The Tuggoffelees (and two more) kittens.
Castillo - The oldest of the litter. Basically the walking definition of calm. He couldn’t care less about drama and is always that one guy that brought the chips when everyone else forgot. He loves his dads, but he’d rather hang out with someone else’s parents for a change. His own can be kind of a lot sometimes.
Atticus - Skimbleshanks is a firm believer this is HIS kitten and he’s absolutely right. It more of “heat of the moment” kind of thing with Mistoffelees, but also some revenge for the kitten Tugger would be having with a certain female. Despite this, Tugger absolutely adores the little guy. Skimble often took him for little trips on the railway until he lost Atticus in the luggage van and then Misto refused to let his kitten go anymore.
Lennox - Tugger and Misto’s little ray of sunshine. Most of his looks came from his grandmother, so they kind of thought he’d Ben like her. Nope. He learned to smile much quicker than his siblings and he did it on a bad day for his parents, which made things a bit better. He found wonder in things a lot of cats took for granted and made new things out of the junkyard’s trash. He wasn’t actually magical, but it sure felt that way with how he could brighten up a room by simply walking into it.
Willow - Sweetest of the bunch. Willow adores her aunty Victoria and loves to play with her cousins more than anything in the world. She has some slight magical abilities, but they aren’t as powerful as she’d like them to be. So far, she’s been able to make a ball of light.
Scrimshaw - Born around the same time as his half-sister was, but with one eye. It was just a hollowed out hole in his face that he grew self-conscious about and Tugger never saw it until he came back from the other birth. Jennyanydots just took him aside one day, gave him an eyepatch, and never said anything about it afterward. Tugger, nor Misto were sure what to name him, so he was nameless for the first week of his life until Misto heard of a scrimshaw and said “That’s the one.” Tugger is still questionable about the choice of name, but Munkustrap finds it to be quite a good name, mainly due to the fact that he had said it when Misto picked the name out.
Emalanna - Tugger and Bombalurina’s kitten. She was born in a separate den around the same time as her half-brother. She considers him her twin, though it isn’t known if he feels that way about it. She was envious towards how her mother acted with her father, wanting something like that for herself, but without some other cat being with her lover. She has a STRONG dislike towards Mister Mistoffelees and really only likes the fact that he’s the ‘mother’ of her half-siblings. She does however have a huge crush on that adult tom, Alonzo.
Daffodil - The runt of the first litter and originally a daddy’s girl. Due to the magician’s exhaustion, she had a harder time coming into the world. Her dad was the first sight she saw and she became clingy to him. Tugger had always kept an eye on her after that, making sure was doing okay and getting her in particular to adulthood became one of his main focuses. Of course, the one terrible day he had his back turned to talk with Bomba, she’d wandered off. Next thing he knew, he was bolting out of the junkyard as the growls of a dog and painful cries of a kitten could be heard. He didn’t know how to fight for the life of him and was flung off until Mistoffelees comes in claws and magic to save the day. She was never trusted around Tugger again and Daffodil became attached to Misto instead.
how do i make my straight couples shippable guys they always end up having more chemistry with other people (gay...) TT