shipping ships

[Alicorn]

Huh, I'm puzzled by you identifying Bells as not-joyful. Sometimes they are very happy. Maybe you're just categorizing the kind of happy they get as "playful" instead for some reason. Do other greens do "joy" as you characterize it? I mean, Bells are significantly characterized by considering the entire universe not good enough and wanting to fix it, but they don't have flat affect or anything as a result.

[Tamien]

No, Bells don't have a flat affect, nor are they uniformly unhappy... but when they are happy, I wouldn't generally describe them as joyful. Joy in my mind is a particular quality of happiness.

So okay, here are some words I would use in an attempt to describe my general impression of the emotional range of Bells:
They are typically anxious, discontent, frustrated, focused, interested, or curious.
When they are upset, they are distant, self-absorbed, demanding, controlling, frantic, single-minded, or snappy.
When they are beyond upset and into broken, they're unsure, nervous, clingy, despairing, listless, self-excoriating, or so distant as to basically be absent.
When they are happy-in-the-moment, they are relieved, giddy, gleeful, playful, excited, or exultant.
When they are happy-in-general they are calm, content, satisfied, relaxed, confident, comfortable, or maybe pleased or even smug.

As for other Green templates... Olympians are definitely joyful. Kanims I can't think of specific examples but I would expect them to be joyful at least some of the time. Nathan I could see being joyful but I can't think of an explicit moment. Kerron is more joyful than Nathan. Chelseas I see as being more blissful than joyful. Aftons are not very joyful. Rosalie and Emmet are somewhat joyful, with Rosalie moreso. Esme is joyful, Carlisle is not very joyful but I think have the capacity. Alice and Jasper... could be joyful? I haven't seen enough of them in their native habitat to say, I guess. Bell siblings are typically more joyful than Bells but not terribly joyful. Green Bell children are mostly between siblings and Bells in terms of joyfulness (Carinna is less joyful than Bells).

I suspect it has something to do with where the character's happiness set point lies in addition to the particular qualities of the way they are happy when they are. The most joyful Bells are probably Glass and Angela, followed possibly by pre-Helen-fiasco Amariah, and then maybe... Cam or Stormy? I donno. And even Glass and Angela really strike me as more "comfortable and satisfied and content" than "joyful" per se. Bells take pride in things, they take satisfaction in things, but rarely to me does it seem they take joy in things. Their happiness-in-general is quiet and in some ways characterized more by a lack-of-bad-things than by a presence-of-good-things, I guess?

[Bluelantern]

I barely started reading the Glass thread and I really enjoying Glass and Sherlock interactions, I wonder if it is because Girl!Sherlock?

Also, I don't have a proper list, but I think it should be mentioned to alicorn that "shipping" has a element of simply what you enjoy, rather than what you think it is likely or stable. I like Scissac from Teen Wolf, but I don't think it would ever happen. It would be awkward if they broke up because Isaac doesn't have a family and is living with Scott (and is Scott's Beta)

[kuuskytkolme]

And then there are people like me who like dysfunctional ships and uneven power dynamics, so for me shipping correlates negatively with stability.

I also think Girl!Sherlocks are the best thing since sliced bread, and was very disappointed when I noticed Kiri was marked as straight in the spreadsheet.

[Tamien]

Yeah, shipping for me doesn't correlate well with stability either. It correlates better with like, vulnerability-to-each-other, which could really go either way in terms of helping or hurting stability in a relationship.

[modrony]

My favorite couples in order

Juliet & Minus
Pattern & Ripper
Sarion & Co.
Soph & Red
Glass & Co.
T'mir & Lalita
Aegis & Sue (because of Sue/War thing)

I support Tonies finding their own partners rather than tagging along in triangles since they tend to get overshadowed by Sherlock intensity.
Tonies have lot of potential for playful & relaxed relations that we do not get to see much of.

I tend to like less co-dependent & more playful relationships of 'lesser' groupings more.
Sarion&co. escape this only by having demonstrated that they can live without each other for long periods of time without excessive moping.

There are not a lot of Jokers on my list. I would hate the kind of eggshell walking their SO:s need to do. Lalita has potential thou.

Chelseas to me read like children of alcoholics with their desperate need to be liked.
I do not think they require mental treatment and they are actually kind of nice. Only part of their power I would object to is the snipping of affections some are capable of. Ship them to reserve & spawn enough Aftons to keep them happy. I might even emigrate there if I'm still single at 200.

[Kappa]

Eggshell walking? XD

[modrony]

You disagree?

[Kappa]

I'm curious about what you mean.I wouldn't characterize Jokers-as-a-whole as needing a particular kind of 'eggshell walking' from their SOs, at least not one I can currently think of.

[modrony]

Any kind of ordery comment is likely to have negative consequences is my main point.
Further Jokers are likely to become self-destructive in any situation where they need to take on non-trivial responsibility or their freedom is curtailed in any way.
Thus those situations need to be avoided. This is luckily possible for many Bells because of their near omnipotence, but without very large resources or deus-ex any Joker relationship is very likely to combust.
Most importantly Bells with Jokers do not have the freedom to leave without large negative consequences. To me this reads as forced relationship even if Jokers do not mean to force anyone.
I am mostly talking unpealed here. Joker-collective does help mitigate their unstability.