Awwww. I love how much they love and care for each other. One of the (many) things I like about Red’s writing is that she does a rare thing called “letting characters care for each other without romantic connotations”. Every mundane show of affection is romantized nowadays so it’s really nice and refreshing seeing such a close and loving friend-to-friend relationship.
This page made me realize just how strange the concept of prolonged physical contact with anyone who isn’t immediate family or a significant other is to my autistic brain. Most of my friends are also autistic and don’t like being touched, and my only exception is my parents, and my best friend’s exception is his girlfriend. So I see these two in what I KNOW is a platonic relationship, and yet my brain yells “SHIP SHIP SHIP” because that’s what it thinks a romantic relationship looks like (I’ve never been in one, but any page where Ali is leaning against Kendal reminds me of how my friend and his gf interact sometimes).
TL;DR: another page of gently reminding myself this is a platonic relationship (my autism says otherwise).
I don’t think you’re alone. I’m not autistic (afaik), and I’m either demiace or aroace. I very much enjoy platonic contact; leaning against a friend to watch a movie, or just to chat, exchanging hugs, etc. But my brain also immediately went, “Oh, is this a thing?” I think we’re so innudated with shipping in media and online that we’re almost…trained to see it. Or expect it.
…That being said, I have a very loose understanding of shipping as it is 😛 I use ‘ship’ for anything from ‘they make a nice couple/trio/etc.’ to ‘friends who exchange intimate gestures’ to ‘partners in crime’. It’s very nebulous to me. What I know is I love all the various displays of love and care (and ‘oh my God would you PLEASE start taking care of yourself before I do it FOR you’) in Aurora from our dear Floof Squad.
Well, I’m not autistic myself, but I have the same situation. I enjoy a prolonged physical contact with my girlfriend and don’t enjoy it with anyone else, even parents included. I have friends with similar situation and friends who love physical contact with other people. Possibly it happens to some people, but I don’t know for sure (although my anxiety disorder may play the role for me). So probably because I have friends who are not strangers to physical contact with other people, I can relatively easily persuade my brain that it’s platinic relationship, even though I can’t imagine me being in such sitution.
This has a lot of the same vibes as the scene in Castlevania season 2 where Trevor and Sypha cuddle up. Something about the blocking just makes me think of it
Finally someone takes Erin’s sleep and rest advice, and he’s not here to see it.
Oh yeah, kinda forgot Alinua used to sleep inside a life-magic woven tree. Her in a tree is used in 1-20-2 to visually show how small, sad, and alone she was before; it’s understandable why she wants to leave memories of that decade of her life in the past. I get the distinct feeling she, Tess, and Kendal will be spending the night on deck, no matter how cold it gets.
Now that I think about it, Alinua’s sleep and Kendal’s activities have a complicated history. Kendal was away talking to Ilia while Ali slept and was attacked by V.D., Kendal snuck out to find Falst while Ali slept in Hilltop, and it took Tess to convince her to sleep while Kendal was injured in the dungeon arc. I wonder if there’s an element of Alinua wanting, subconsciously or not, to know where Kendal is when she sleeps, and that he’s not going to do shenanigans while she dozes.
Is it just me, or is that final panel screaming for a scene change away from the Ship of Fools? Maybe we’ll get a peak at the (first?) complication to their journey on Friday. Another completely unintentional Friday cliffhanger, eh Red?
There once were two friends on a ship
And Alinua needed a kip.
She wants to be sleeping
While by his side keeping
So she leans on his shoulder and hip.
I am just now seeing how many people posted the Tumblr text. Whoops. This is a really nice page; I like how Alinua and Kendal (word of Red, I think) don’t have romantic feelings for each other, yet they still have a very close bond. On a mostly unrelated note, does anyone know how much in-universe time has passed since Vash got taken by the collector?
It’s not entirely clear as far as I’m aware, but probably not much more than a month. Kendal said it had been nine days in chapter 10, but obviously there has been a couple timeskips since then.
I wonder how far they got in testing if he needs to breathe, and if he’s buoyant. Maybe they should give him a compass just in case, so he can walk the rest of the way if he gets lost.
I have been waiting for Kendal to pull a Beowulf with “lungs the size of a school-bus” since coming across the comic (I watched that video by red then found the comic). It looks as though my waiting will soon end.
After all of the heavy pages, this one is so…peaceful. and the way the head angles are drawn is really cool. I’m glad these two are getting a moment.
Kendal does have a habit of running off while his companions are asleep, doesn’t he. Fortunately there’s not really anywhere he can go on this nice, relaxing ocean voyage…right?
My bet is on him falling asleep and dream-traveling somewhere, possibly getting his soul kidnapped by the Collector as it figures out what he is. Or at least the attempt.
I’ve always taken their relationship as having a “we’ll figure out what’s going on between us once we don’t have anything more important to focus on” vibe.
It sort of read as an older and younger sibling thing with me. Especially with the ways they show how they care. things like sleeping on their shoulder or hugging/crying. Both absolutely can be romantic, but just as easily could be any other form of trusting/vulnerable dynamic. My siblings have slept on my shoulder before and I’ve cried in their arms before as well.
Fun fact: in Rolling With Difficulty’s Per Aspera campaign, most of the crew of the Per Aspera didn’t sleep in their staterooms.
Kyana rarely used hers at all, and slept on deck whenever there were stars to look at, Dani slept in the engine room, Finbar slept in the kitchen, and Vhas pretended he hadn’t been offered a stateroom. Only VR-LA and a few passengers regularly slept their stateroom.
Awww
universal reaction moment
It’s all fun and cutesy until Kess jumps down again and electrocutes the wall
D’awww…
For mobile readers
Alt text: no kendal you are going somewhere that’s what the boat’s for
image source: okay
So focused on staying awake that I forgot to do this. Thanks.
Everyone’s tired today it seems
Good to see you where are my questions??
Five days later and I’m just now reading this and I’m tired and have been tired for days now
Twitter Text: so eepy
Tumblr text: what a chill and peaceful voyage
tumblr text: what a chill and peaceful voyage
I don’t usually do this, but I don’t see it on here yet, so…
Tumblr text: what a chill and peaceful voyage
i just had the thought that you could just lie about any of these things amd at least someone would belive you. thank you for your honesty.
HES GOING SOMEWHERE
Alarmingly fast actually, but since we aren’t busy other than that….
Kendal now knows what it’s like to have a cat.
Que thud of sudden ninja splat-snooze!
awwww they are the besties of all time i love them so dearly
OMG, they were besties
Hasn’t Red explicitly stated that this is one of her outlets for writing romantic but nonsexual love? Or am I just making that up?
I would love it if that’s the case, but I do not know how to fact check it
awww
also look at Tess in panel 1, staring musingly into the distance lol
it’s cute
Kendal, that sort of statement is just begging Fate or Chaos to step in and whisk you far away from the gang.
Alinua and Kendal sit on the deck,
She leans on his shoulder.
Preferring not to sleep cooped-up,
She rests with him to hold her.
Gladly permitting it, he watches the sky,
Like Tess atop the mast.
He sees the birds, the moon, the clouds,
As they cross the ocean vast.
Uh-oh, we know everyone’s location. Is this when Chekhov’s mermaids attack?
Cant wait to see Chekhov’s water gun in action
Alinua yawns, but would rather stay on deck
Drifting off with a friend and resting by his neck
Awwww. I love how much they love and care for each other. One of the (many) things I like about Red’s writing is that she does a rare thing called “letting characters care for each other without romantic connotations”. Every mundane show of affection is romantized nowadays so it’s really nice and refreshing seeing such a close and loving friend-to-friend relationship.
Aww this is so sweet. I had a stress dream, so opening my phone and seeing this afterward was really nice and soothing.
DEEP PLATONIC BONDS MY BELOVED
FRIENDSHIP
“Kendal, what’s this red thing in your hand?”
“Oh, I don’t know, it just floated down from the sky, looks like some kind of… flag?”
This is Alinua, and her emotional support Kendal, and his emotional support Magic Sword.
So that raises the question… who is the emotional support for the magic sword? Vash? Or does it wrap back around to Alinua or Kendal?
THEY ARE THE BESTIES EVER!!1!1!1!1!1!!1 ASJSJAHAJ I KOVE THEM SO SO MUCH
This page made me realize just how strange the concept of prolonged physical contact with anyone who isn’t immediate family or a significant other is to my autistic brain. Most of my friends are also autistic and don’t like being touched, and my only exception is my parents, and my best friend’s exception is his girlfriend. So I see these two in what I KNOW is a platonic relationship, and yet my brain yells “SHIP SHIP SHIP” because that’s what it thinks a romantic relationship looks like (I’ve never been in one, but any page where Ali is leaning against Kendal reminds me of how my friend and his gf interact sometimes).
TL;DR: another page of gently reminding myself this is a platonic relationship (my autism says otherwise).
I don’t think you’re alone. I’m not autistic (afaik), and I’m either demiace or aroace. I very much enjoy platonic contact; leaning against a friend to watch a movie, or just to chat, exchanging hugs, etc. But my brain also immediately went, “Oh, is this a thing?” I think we’re so innudated with shipping in media and online that we’re almost…trained to see it. Or expect it.
…That being said, I have a very loose understanding of shipping as it is 😛 I use ‘ship’ for anything from ‘they make a nice couple/trio/etc.’ to ‘friends who exchange intimate gestures’ to ‘partners in crime’. It’s very nebulous to me. What I know is I love all the various displays of love and care (and ‘oh my God would you PLEASE start taking care of yourself before I do it FOR you’) in Aurora from our dear Floof Squad.
My thought (almost) exactly
Well, I’m not autistic myself, but I have the same situation. I enjoy a prolonged physical contact with my girlfriend and don’t enjoy it with anyone else, even parents included. I have friends with similar situation and friends who love physical contact with other people. Possibly it happens to some people, but I don’t know for sure (although my anxiety disorder may play the role for me). So probably because I have friends who are not strangers to physical contact with other people, I can relatively easily persuade my brain that it’s platinic relationship, even though I can’t imagine me being in such sitution.
This has a lot of the same vibes as the scene in Castlevania season 2 where Trevor and Sypha cuddle up. Something about the blocking just makes me think of it
Finally someone takes Erin’s sleep and rest advice, and he’s not here to see it.
Oh yeah, kinda forgot Alinua used to sleep inside a life-magic woven tree. Her in a tree is used in 1-20-2 to visually show how small, sad, and alone she was before; it’s understandable why she wants to leave memories of that decade of her life in the past. I get the distinct feeling she, Tess, and Kendal will be spending the night on deck, no matter how cold it gets.
Now that I think about it, Alinua’s sleep and Kendal’s activities have a complicated history. Kendal was away talking to Ilia while Ali slept and was attacked by V.D., Kendal snuck out to find Falst while Ali slept in Hilltop, and it took Tess to convince her to sleep while Kendal was injured in the dungeon arc. I wonder if there’s an element of Alinua wanting, subconsciously or not, to know where Kendal is when she sleeps, and that he’s not going to do shenanigans while she dozes.
Is it just me, or is that final panel screaming for a scene change away from the Ship of Fools? Maybe we’ll get a peak at the (first?) complication to their journey on Friday. Another completely unintentional Friday cliffhanger, eh Red?
There once were two friends on a ship
And Alinua needed a kip.
She wants to be sleeping
While by his side keeping
So she leans on his shoulder and hip.
Awwww, they’re so precious!
THEYRE SO CUTEEE
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS IS AMAZING. I wish I had a friendship like theirs. This page made me feel things.
TL;DR: Sleepover on the deck… of a moving boat.
I am just now seeing how many people posted the Tumblr text. Whoops. This is a really nice page; I like how Alinua and Kendal (word of Red, I think) don’t have romantic feelings for each other, yet they still have a very close bond. On a mostly unrelated note, does anyone know how much in-universe time has passed since Vash got taken by the collector?
It’s not entirely clear as far as I’m aware, but probably not much more than a month. Kendal said it had been nine days in chapter 10, but obviously there has been a couple timeskips since then.
*chapter 9, sorry
I don’t know, Kendal, you saying that makes me think you’re going to get tossed into the ocean or something
I wonder how far they got in testing if he needs to breathe, and if he’s buoyant. Maybe they should give him a compass just in case, so he can walk the rest of the way if he gets lost.
I have been waiting for Kendal to pull a Beowulf with “lungs the size of a school-bus” since coming across the comic (I watched that video by red then found the comic). It looks as though my waiting will soon end.
AWWWE
Kenlinua truthers here’s how we can still win /hj
After all of the heavy pages, this one is so…peaceful. and the way the head angles are drawn is really cool. I’m glad these two are getting a moment.
Kendal does have a habit of running off while his companions are asleep, doesn’t he. Fortunately there’s not really anywhere he can go on this nice, relaxing ocean voyage…right?
My bet is on him falling asleep and dream-traveling somewhere, possibly getting his soul kidnapped by the Collector as it figures out what he is. Or at least the attempt.
Oof, poor Alinua:
“I TOLD him to sleep! This is ALL MY FAULT!”
Chimera swimming away from the boat with Kendal hanging from its mouth like a dog with a toy.
alinua and aggresively uninterested asexual, fight!
Ok. I know Kendal is confirmed asexual, but is he also confirmed aromantic? Because those don’t neccessary have to go together.
I love Kendal an Alinua’s relationship whatever it is though. They’re so sweet.
I’ve always taken their relationship as having a “we’ll figure out what’s going on between us once we don’t have anything more important to focus on” vibe.
It sort of read as an older and younger sibling thing with me. Especially with the ways they show how they care. things like sleeping on their shoulder or hugging/crying. Both absolutely can be romantic, but just as easily could be any other form of trusting/vulnerable dynamic. My siblings have slept on my shoulder before and I’ve cried in their arms before as well.
So cute, and so sleepy
real friends let you sleep on their shoulders (Kendal, 2024)
Fun fact: in Rolling With Difficulty’s Per Aspera campaign, most of the crew of the Per Aspera didn’t sleep in their staterooms.
Kyana rarely used hers at all, and slept on deck whenever there were stars to look at, Dani slept in the engine room, Finbar slept in the kitchen, and Vhas pretended he hadn’t been offered a stateroom. Only VR-LA and a few passengers regularly slept their stateroom.
i know!!! its actually so funny to me how even in this story red is like channeling kyana with her characters sleeping on the deck its so cute
THEY’RE ADORABLE!!!?!!
I can not shake this feeling of foreboding looking at the moon Shield in panel eight. Surely it’s just my imagination in overdrive…
Red has officially unlocked approximately one hundred and twenty percent of her potential
the two mirmirs
This absolutely isn’t going to help with the Alinua/Kendal shippers.
Romantic or not, Kendal and Alinua make me happy and I want them to be together forever.