Ep 3: Shipping

Hey what's up hello! Today Sarah answers questions about shipping as an asexual person, and Kayla and Sarah talk about their OTPs, favorite and least favorite tropes, and romance plots in fiction in general.

Episode transcript: https://www.soundsfakepod.com/transcripts/shipping   

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Transcript

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SARAH: Hey, what's up, hello. Welcome to Sounds Fake But Okay, a podcast where an aroace girl, I'm Sarah, that is me.

KAYLA: And me, a straight girl, Kayla.

SARAH: We talk about all the things to do with love, relationships, sexuality, and pretty much anything else that we just don't understand.

KAYLA: On today's episode: shipping as an ace.

BOTH: Sounds fake, but okay.

*Intro Music*

KAYLA: Heyyo, welcome back. A quick disclaimer from your non-ace member of this podcast, since I will be the one asking a lot of the questions in this one. I don't think shipping as an ace is fake. Obviously, Sarah does quite a bit of shipping.

SARAH: I do; and I do know other people that I have met through shipping who are also aroace.

KAYLA: So it's not fake, and I know that. It's just something that I am curious about.

SARAH: And that is the point of this podcast. We're going to talk about things that seem a little interesting. But yeah, so this week, we are talking about shipping (KAYLA: Should we just...?) We will, keep your pants on. Shipping as a person who is under the ace umbrella, but specifically, me, an aromantic asexual. So shipping, for those of you who live under a rock and/or in the year 1700, or both. Well, I said and/or. Wow, okay. (laughs)

KAYLA: You lost me. (laughs)

SARAH: Good. Basically, shipping comes from the word relationship, relationshipping, where you believe that two or more people that are often fictional characters, like on a TV show or a movie or a book, but they don't have to be fictional.

KAYLA: (interrupting) It's a little weird when they're not fictional, though.

SARAH: It gets a little real when it's real.

KAYLA: That maybe can be another episode of how I feel about that situation.

SARAH: (laughs) Yeah. But basically, you think that they should be in a relationship. That generally means a romantic and sexual relationship. You also have (KAYLA: Your BrOTPs) BrOTPs.

KAYLA: Your NOTPs.

SARAH: NOTPs. Because an OTP is a one true pairing, so just people that you ship a lot. So, there are BrOTPs for, you know, platonic relationships and that sort of thing. But basically, a lot of people, especially those who are really involved with fandom, really involved in the community surrounding the media that they like, and the media they consume, are really into shipping characters. There are ship wars. It gets ridiculous. It gets crazy.

KAYLA: (interrupting) Oh my god, there's so much drama sometimes.

SARAH: Yeah. But basically, Kayla was kind of wondering, because I am an aromantic asexual person, I don't have romantic or sexual attraction to anyone.

KAYLA: But she does have some very strong ships.

SARAH: (emphatically) But I get real into my ships.

KAYLA: And I have to hear about all of them.

SARAH: Oh yeah, she hears all about it. But yeah, you had confusion and questions.

KAYLA: Well, it's not so much confusion. I know that you have it, but for me personally, with a lot of my ships, I like them a lot because I see myself in them. Or like, 'oh, that would be a nice thing to happen in a relationship' for me. My OTP, personally, shouts out, is Jily, from Harry Potter. So, it's James and Lily, which is Harry Potter's parents.

SARAH: Mm-hmm.

KAYLA: What's also nice about that fandom, side note, is that there's not a lot written about them in the books. So it's all very original content.

SARAH: Right, all those headcanons.

KAYLA: Anyway, Yep. So, what I get out of a lot of my OTPs is I see myself in them, and I'm like, 'oh what a nice, romantic situation' that if happened to me, I would be like, 'yay!'

SARAH: Woo-hoo!

KAYLA: So but, for you, you don't want that.(SARAH: Mm-hmm.) So I was like, you know, what's the appeal to you? And I know the other day, you were talking about how weddings made you very emotional.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: I think the reason weddings make me so emotional is because I want that. (SARAH: Right.) And so I was like, 'well, why do you get so emotional about weddings'?

SARAH: We could do a whole pod on that one. (KAYLA: Okay.) I've got mixed feelings about it.

KAYLA: Weddings for another time. (laughs)

SARAH: But yeah. So basically, something I've realized, and I've this kind of recently because when I first started shipping, it was long before I ever knew that I was aro or ace. (KAYLA: Mm-hmm.) And so, it was like, oh, this is a normal thing to do, right? But then, since I've discovered that I am, in fact, aroace.

KAYLA: (interrupting) Since you've chose.

SARAH: (laughs, sarcastically) Since I've chose. Right. That's totally how that works.

KAYLA: That's totally how it works.

SARAH: I've kind of thought about that a bit and been like, huh. Why am I so into shipping?

KAYLA: You're so invested.

SARAH: I am. I got my ships, man. And I was kind of thinking, you know how there are some fanfictions and some whatever where it's like self-insert fic? (laughs)

KAYLA: (interrupting) Those make me feel so uncomfortable.

SARAH: Where it's the character or the person sometimes, a real person, which is a little weird, if you ask me. (KAYLA: It makes me rather uncomfortable.) Whatever, not right now.

BOTH: (laughs)

SARAH: And the other character is you, and what they'll often do, is they'll do y/n, like your name. (KAYLA: Mm-hmm.) And listen, I went through a phase where I would read those sometimes, but y/n was never me. It was supposed to be me; That was what was intended so that the reader would imagine themselves.

KAYLA: Oh, I also don't read it like that.

SARAH: Yeah. (KAYLA: Oh.) For me, y/n is a person. Y/n is some mysterious person (KAYLA: Is it supposed to be me?) Yes.

KAYLA: Mmm.

SARAH: Yeah, but that was something I noticed, is I'm never picturing myself in that scenario. It's like I'm watching it. It's exactly like I would be watching on TV. And I thought that was kind of interesting. And obviously, it's not just aroace people (KAYLA: (laughs)) who are that way.

KAYLA: I also was like, 'what?'

SARAH: Right. And so, for me it's kind of this idea of...I don't personally experience this kind of attraction, or necessarily want it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it when other people who do want it experience it. And it's not so much I'm living vicariously through them. I don't think that's what it is, because I feel like since I don't want it, how can I live by...you know what I mean?

KAYLA: Mm-hmm.

SARAH: But I still feel good reading and watching it. I'm like, 'hey, this is a cool thing'. It's kind of related to that question of, 'well, if I could have a romantic relationship, would I?', or 'are you actually living vicariously through this?'. Again, a whole other pod topic. But it's still something that I enjoy, and it's kind of hard to pin down why.

KAYLA: Well, I've been thinking about it (SARAH: Mm-hmm.), and the kind of reading and research I've done on fandom, in general, it's become very attached to your characters. (SARAH: Yeah.) I mean, even if you don't want a romantic relationship, but you know that romantic relationships make other people happy. So, if you're very attached to one character, and you see that this other character, this relationship, makes them very happy and fulfilled, it would make sense why your reason for shipping someone would be because of their happiness.

SARAH: Right. And I think an interesting thing was, one of my fave ships is FitzSimmons, which is Fitz and Simmons from the TV show Agents of Shield. And basically, theirs was a whole mutual pining for a literal decade. That sort of thing.

KAYLA: That's my favorite kind.

SARAH: (laughing) I know, it's great. (KAYLA: Oh, girl.) And so, when they finally got together, that was a big deal. And then when they finally did the do for the first time, that was a big deal. (KAYLA: Yeah, I heard about it.) And I, too, was very excited about that. Which is interesting, thinking about our last pod, about how sex doesn't make a relationship more important (KAYLA: Yeah.) But I think for me, it was like...obviously they're characters, they're not real (KAYLA: Whatever.), but I knew that's what they wanted, and (KAYLA: Wanted for so long.) I knew that that was what was important to them.

KAYLA: Right.

SARAH: And so I appreciated it, and I was glad it happened because it was for them an important point in their relationship.

KAYLA: Right.

SARAH: Even if for me, I'm like (KAYLA: Gross.), it's just a thing (KAYLA: Yeah.) two humans do.

KAYLA: (interrupting) Right. But I mean, just because it's a thing that two humans do doesn't mean it's not very important to someone (SARAH: Right!), or that it shouldn't be very important to someone (SARAH: Right!.)

SARAH: And I think that's kind of part of it. Also I think, I'm really into a good old BrOTP. Found family dynamics, oh man. (KAYLA: That makes me too sad.) Agents of Shield, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, oh god, I want to die.

BOTH: (laughs)

SARAH: So it's not just the romantic relationships I'm into. I am also like, 'hey, BrOTPs, please!' I also think that stories don't need romantic relationships to be successful or to be good.

KAYLA: (interrupting) Ooh, nothing makes me more mad than a movie or a book that just plops in a romantic- (SARAH: Mm-hmm.) Girl, I just went to see the movie The Dark Tower, which is based on a Stephen King film. (SARAH: Mm-hmm.) So, I don't know what happened in the (SARAH: Film? (laughs)) nine series books. It was based on a book, turned into a film.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: So it was like, a nine book series and it got turned into one movie (SARAH: Yeah.), so obviously there was some crunching. (SARAH: Mm-hmm.) So I don't know if this relationship actually existed in the books, and that they just put it in there for a second, but there was this moment in the film where the main character kid kept looking at this girl and was like, 'ooh', and basically the whole reason for it was at some other point in the movie, he was supposed to be hiding from these people that wanted to capture him, but instead he went and saved this girl (SARAH: Mm-hmm.), and then he got captured. So I understand, kind of, the need for that (SARAH: Yeah.). (emphatically) But I don't, also understand the need for that.

SARAH: Yeah. I have real big amounts of beef - back to the beef (KAYLA: So many cows.), those cows. Poor cows. (laughs) Movies, whatever, books, who put in unnecessary romantic subplots (KAYLA: It makes me so mad.) - Avengers: Age of Ultron, don't want to talk about it.

KAYLA: Wait, is this one of the reasons - you always get mad at me for talking during movies, but if that happens (SARAH: Yeah.) during the movie, like when I was in the theater, seeing that with my boyfriend, and I looked at him, and I was like, 'are you kidding me?!'

SARAH: Yeah, and I think a lot of times, people do shove those romantic relationships in there because they think they're necessary for people to like it, and that's just not the case.

KAYLA: So, if they not like it more or something. It's the opposite.

SARAH: I'm all for a well-written romantic, whether that's the main plot, whether it's a subplot (KAYLA: Yeah.). If it's well-written, if it's well developed , I'm all for it (KAYLA: Yeah.), but if you're just going to put it in there for the sake of having a romantic subplot?

KAYLA: So stupid.

SARAH: The worst! But yeah, so that's where I stand on that front.

KAYLA: Mm-hmm. I know you mentioned one time that a lot of your ships start out as friends.

SARAH: And even better, enemies to lovers. Enemies to friends to lovers, oh god, don't even.

KAYLA: That is also my favorite (SARAH: Jily! (laughs)) tropes because Jily was like, 'I hate you, and you're the worst kid at Hogwarts (SARAH: Right.) And then they were like, 'You're pretty neat, let's be prefects together.' And then they were like, 'Let's make babies.'

BOTH: (laughs)

SARAH: Well, one baby, and then we'll die.

KAYLA: Actually, sad fact.

SARAH: What?

KAYLA: She was pregnant with a second child when she died.

SARAH: Really? (whispers) Oh, no.

KAYLA: I know.

SARAH: Oh, no.

KAYLA: But they were also twenty, and I don't think they meant to have.

SARAH: They were very young. (emphatically) They were children!

KAYLA: They were fresh out of Hogwarts.

SARAH: Fresh out of Hogwarts. (laughs)

KAYLA: They won that war.

SARAH: Sounds like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

KAYLA: Fresh Prince of Hogwarts (SARAH: (laughs)) Oh my god, the Half-Blood Prince! (SARAH: Oh my god!) The Half-Blood Prince is the Fresh Prince of Hogwarts!

SARAH: The Half-Blood Prince of Bel-Air.

KAYLA: The Half-Blood Prince of Bellatrix. You know what would make this funny? If Snape wasn't stupid (SARAH: All right.) Another pod.

SARAH: We don't want to alienate our listeners, Kayla.

KAYLA: I do. I do. I hate Snape. (SARAH: Another pod.) My hate of Snape.

SARAH: But yeah, listen, FitzSimmons were not quite enemies. For a hot second, they were rivals. But listen, Peralsiago, Jake and Amy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine? (claps) Oh, my children!

KAYLA: Did they hate each other?

SARAH: They had such a rivalry going.

KAYLA: Okay, but was it sexual tension rivalry, or was it actual rivalry?

SARAH: I think it started as actual rivalry, and then it 

BOTH: turned into sexual tension rivalry.

KAYLA: I love when you've got sexual tension.

SARAH: Oh, yeah. And then they became friends, (quietly) and then they slept together. Oh, it was great. Spoilers! (laughs)

KAYLA: Also, it's interesting to think about, because you're ace (SARAH: Mm-hmm.), and I would say I'm maybe demi (SARAH: Mm-hmm, maybe.), and so my relationships that I have, I want it to be a friendship also.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: And so it's interesting that that's what we put into our ships.

SARAH: Yes.

KAYLA: Also, I'm assuming if you were to ever have a relationship (SARAH: Right.) then it would be with someone you were friends with.

SARAH: And I think that's also why I have beef! We're going to count how many cows I have killed just in this.

KAYLA: Ten.

SARAH: But I have real beef with love at first sight storylines. There's a lot of reasons for that. I think part of that is just to do with me not understanding, necessarily, how it works. But I also think it's just because you don't know each other.

KAYLA: I mean, love at first sight, I get infatuation at first sight.

SARAH: Or like,

BOTH: attraction at first sight.

SARAH: Sure.

KAYLA: But I think attraction and infatuation and love are very different (SARAH: Right.), because love is something that you have to work on and maintain (SARAH: Right.)

SARAH: (interrupting) You know where I do believe in love at first sight?

KAYLA: I don't want to know.

SARAH: With dogs; Humans and dogs.

KAYLA: Explain that to me, though. How do you cultivate a deep-

SARAH: (interrupting) I look at a dog, and I love it. (laughs)

KAYLA: That's every dog, so it's not specific-

SARAH: (interrupting) Actually, not all dogs. (KAYLA: What dogs?) I don't like rat dogs.

KAYLA: Small dogs, like chihuahuas?

SARAH: I don't like really small dogs.

KAYLA: Well, that's pretty sizeist of you.

SARAH: (laughs) I hate you.

KAYLA: Anyway.

SARAH: All right.

KAYLA: I mean, I understand attraction at first sight, but when people are like, 'we fell in love at first sight', it's like, (SARAH: Wrong! (laughs)) okay, so at that moment, you liked everything about them and were willing to make these sacrifices, (SARAH: Right.) or do this for them. No!

SARAH: I had a conversation with some friends years and years ago, about how two famous people had gotten engaged after dating for eleven months, and I was like, 'that's not very long! That seems like you're jumping in head-first.' Everyone else in this group chat was...not mad that I said that, but they were like, (defensively) 'well, what's wrong with that? They're in love.'

KAYLA: (laughs)

SARAH: And I'm like, 'okay, but there's more to getting married than just being in love.' (KAYLA: Yeah.) And they were saying, 'oh well, I know so-and-so. They knew each other for seven days before they got engaged, and now they're happily married.' I mean, cool, but (sighs) there's a lot there.

KAYLA: Yeah, and I think it depends on the relationship and the people, too.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: Some people, I'm sure-

SARAH: (interrupting) Some people could get along with anyone living with them for the rest of their life.

KAYLA: Well, yeah. Relationships all are on different timelines (SARAH: Yeah.), so if you can act that quickly and have your shit figured out, and have your life figured out, and you're ready to settle down and have a mutual life with someone, then fine. But I think it just very much depends on the people and the situation you're in.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: Two celebrities...they already have their life set, they're probably going to sign a prenup. It depends on how big a deal marriage is to you, I think, too.

SARAH: That's true, and I think my problem with it is marriage is like, 'cool, you're in love; congratulations, pat on the head.' Marriage is so much, you have to know, can you live together? (KAYLA: Yeah.) Can you work together? Are you going to share your finances? That's a lot.

KAYLA: Mm-hmm.

SARAH: And if you get married after knowing each other for a week, that's a lot.

KAYLA: You have no idea.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: That's why I think, too, with people our age that get married (SARAH: Yeah.) and they're still in college...my thing with that is, what is the point? Because I think the legal reason to get married is to share your finances (SARAH: Right.), so in emergency situations (SARAH: Right.), they can be in the hospital room, and to get your benefits from whatever their job is.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: In college, you have none of that, you have nothing.

SARAH: Yeah, and I know for some people it's a show of devotion, but I don't think (KAYLA: I feel like there's other, cheaper ways.) an expensive wedding is the only way.

KAYLA: There's other, cheaper ways to show your devotion. Like, 'here's a flower.'

SARAH: I picked it off the ground.

KAYLA: (laughs)

SARAH: I killed it for you. (laughs)

KAYLA: I killed this for you. I just feel like this has started a whole thing (SARAH: It has, we've gone on a tangent.), but whatever. It's fine.

SARAH: Yeah. I know another one of the questions you wrote on this handy little doc for me, which I answered very eloquently, was ..because I dabble in fanfiction (KAYLA: Oh, yeah.), writing it.

KAYLA: That's a good question.

SARAH: Do you want to ask it to me?

KAYLA: Sarah!

SARAH: (laughs)

KAYLA: So, Sarah's a writer.

SARAH: I am.

KAYLA: She's writing us a musical.

SARAH: I am writing a musical.

KAYLA: Minute by minute.

SARAH: It has an aroace lead. More details later.

KAYLA: More details, probably a thousand episodes about it later.

SARAH: Yep. (laughs)

KAYLA: But she also writes fic, a lot of FitzSimmons fic.

SARAH: I wouldn't say a lot.

KAYLA: Not a lot (SARAH: I do write it.), but enough. And so, I remember when you were writing part of our musical, where two people were flirting, and you were joking about... (SARAH: How do I write about flirting?) flirting. It makes me think about when you write romantic relationship things (SARAH: Mm-hmm.), since you have no experience (SARAH: Right.) with that, really - on purpose, at least.

SARAH: Right. (laughs)

KAYLA: You don't want that. Is it harder for you to write or is it- (SARAH: Yeah.) I imagine it's different, at least.

SARAH: Right. And when she wrote that in the doc, I responded by putting that shrugging emoticon.

KAYLA: I looked at that (SARAH: laughs)) and I said, what the fuck?

SARAH: Yeah, but basically, I feel like it's very hard for me to say just because the only experience I know about is myself.

KAYLA: Yeah.

SARAH: I mean, writing can be hard regardless, so sometimes it's like, 'is it the writing the relationship that's hard?', or is it just like, 'ugh, writing!'

KAYLA: (laughs)

SARAH: I think it's just a lot of times, it's impossible to avoid seeing romantic relationships in media.

KAYLA: Yeah.

SARAH: (aggrieved) Because everything has it.

BOTH: (laughs)

SARAH: And so, I know what they're "supposed to look like" (KAYLA: Mm-hmm.), so I feel like I'm able to imitate that to a certain extent. I don't know if I could imitate what it feels like. Because fic is almost exclusively written in third person.

KAYLA: Yeah. Oh, if it's in first person, I get so uncomfortable. 

SARAH: I close it.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: I Can't.

SARAH: Writing books and stuff, sure, go for the first person (KAYLA: No.)...I can do first person.

KAYLA: I don't know if I've read anything in first person for a very long time, so I guess I don't know. 

SARAH: Well, I feel like I tend to write - if I'm writing my own thing that's novel form - I tend to go first person.

KAYLA: Oh, yeah, I guess.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: I don't know.

SARAH: Regardless, if I were writing a first person love story, I don't think I could do it. (KAYLA: It would be weird.) I would have to conduct interviews.

KAYLA: And also, because when you're writing first person, you need to know their thoughts.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: And your experience, you've only seen relationships from the outside (SARAH: Right.), so you can write them in third person.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: Writing it in first person is something totally different (SARAH: Right.), because then you would have to know the feelings and the thoughts (SARAH: Exactly.) that go with it.

SARAH: And I could guess at them, because it's not like I don't experience any type of love in my life.

KAYLA: Right, but it wouldn't be as complex (SARAH: Right.) because you would have your base level.

SARAH: Right. Because I mean, you can feel complexly about people who you feel platonically, you know (KAYLA: Right.) You have a platonic relationship, but it's definitely different when it's romantic (KAYLA: Yeah.), and that's something that I will never be able to fully understand (KAYLA: Right.), in the same way that you'll never be able to fully understand what it's like to be me.

KAYLA: Right.

SARAH: So, I do have kind of a question that was related to our tangent.

KAYLA: Yes.

SARAH: Because I know, a lot of times, people will ship people who aren't together - who aren't even hinted at being together - which listen (KAYLA: Yeah.), guilty as charged.

KAYLA: (laughs)

SARAH: Do you find that that happens to you in basically everything you watch or read? Like, you find some ship in everything?

KAYLA: Hmm.

SARAH: Because I sure don't.

KAYLA: There's a different level to ships, I think; Jily is my OTP. (SARAH: Right.) I grew up reading Harry Potter, thinking that Ron and Hermione would get together.

SARAH: Mm-hmm.

KAYLA: I do think...well, it's hard to say, because a lot of movies just have romantic plots in them.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: And so, you automatically just kind of go with whatever the main couple is (SARAH: Yeah.) And so, it's not so much that I ship them. It's that I agree with the storyline they're in.

SARAH: Mm-hmm.

KAYLA: Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies and musicals.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: And Maria and Captain von Trapp, who is a MILF. (SARAH: No.) A DILF.

SARAH: (laughing) He's a MILF!

KAYLA: He's a MILF! They end up together, and that's also an enemies to friends ...I love it.

SARAH: (laughs)

KAYLA: Anyway. I've watched that movie since I was a kid, so I (SARAH: Mm-hmm.) can't tell you for sure whether that's a ship of mine, or if it's just that it's the plot of the movie.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: I mean, I guess there's a NOTP in that movie also with the regional bitch he was engaged to.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: The older you watch the movie, the more you realize that she is a (emphatically) bitch.

SARAH: (whispering) Never seen it.

KAYLA: Die!

SARAH: (laughs)

KAYLA: So it's hard to say, because it depends on how invested I get in it.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: But I do think the more...if there's a chance that the relationship could not go well, it would make it so I would ship it more. Because if it's a relationship that you know is gonna happen (SARAH: Yeah.), there's no other options - I'm thinking of Princess Diaries 2, right now (SARAH: Right.) - her and Chris Pine, that she ends up marrying. Yeah, she could have married the other guy she was engaged to, but it's not something you're worried about.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: So if there's something that I'm worried about it, or I vehemently don't want her to be with this other person (SARAH: Yeah.), then I think I would be more passionate about my shipping. (SARAH: (laughs)) But if I know what's going to happen, then...

SARAH: I think that's why a lot of people get mad at writers on stuff, who always are tearing characters apart.

KAYLA: Yeah.

SARAH: Because it does kind of make us more invested, but it also makes us more mad.

KAYLA: Yeah.

SARAH: Because you're like, 'just put them together!'

KAYLA: Because if you know what's going to happen, 'she's going to end up with him, he's going to end up with her' (SARAH: That's fair.), then whatever, then I don't need to get invested in it. (SARAH: Right.) I can kind of watch passively and already know how it's going to end.

SARAH: That's true.

KAYLA: But if you tear at my emotions and make me sad about it, then I'm going to be like, 'well, now I have feelings.'

SARAH: Right. And I think with movies, it's a little bit of a different story than with TV shows or with book series, where it's drawn out.

KAYLA: They're drawn out, yeah.

SARAH: And I feel like with movies, I do tend to just kind of ship with what is...once again, Avengers: Age of Ultron, don't want to talk about it.

KAYLA: (laughs)

SARAH: (laughs) You do kind of tend to go along with it. I think TV shows is a little bit different because it is more drawn out.

KAYLA: (interrupting) It's more fleshed out, and there's more relationships that are possible, I think.

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: Movies, you can't have infinite characters.

SARAH: Right.

KAYLA: You only have a specific amount of time (SARAH: Right.). With book series and TV shows, there's so many possibilities (SARAH: Mm-hmm.) because they're so much longer, and you can have such a wider cast (SARAH: Right.) that there's a lot more relationships (SARAH: That is true.) and things that can be felt all the time.

SARAH: Yeah, and I find that I do tend to ship people in almost everything I consume, but definitely not everything. And I don't go into being, 'oh, who am I going to ship?' (laughs) There are some pieces of media where I do not like the ship that ended up happening.

KAYLA: Like what?

SARAH: We can do a whole episode (KAYLA: Okay.) about The Hunger Games, Kayla.

KAYLA: Oh, well that's just...

SARAH: I'll explain to you after this (KAYLA: Okay.). We could possibly do an entire pod (KAYLA: (laughs)) on just The Hunger Games.

KAYLA: Probably, honestly.

SARAH: It's just, sometimes I just don't ship them with people, and I don't see anything wrong with that. (KAYLA: No.) Because for me, you don't ship them with anyone. Fine. But there are some people who are like...on Agents of Shield, there's a character named Daisy, whom I love very much. And she has had three possible love interests so far. One of them was hinted that it was possible, but it never actually went there (KAYLA: Yeah.) Two of them, it did go there. And of course, the one that I ship the most is the one that never actually went there. Now, basically, things have happened to all of those people. And so, it's not possible for her to be with them anymore.

KAYLA: Yeah.

SARAH: And so, everyone's like, 'oh, she needs a girlfriend now.' And I'm like, 'listen, I'm all for a girlfriend.' (KAYLA: (laughs)) Because bi Daisy for days. (KAYLA: (laughs)) Also, people are like, 'she needs a relationship now', or like, 'we should get her a boyfriend or a girlfriend, or whatever,' and it's like, why?

KAYLA: Yeah. You know what's interesting, is a lot of things I've seen, like 'give Elsa a girlfriend.'

SARAH: Yeah.

KAYLA: That would be great, but also, why can't you give her nothing?

SARAH: Yeah. I do understand everyone thinks she's gay, so give us that representation.

KAYLA: Well, yeah, but I think that gay representation and what would be ace representation (SARAH: Yeah.) or just single life representation is equally important.

SARAH: Lol. What is ace representation? Non-existent.

KAYLA: It's in this podcast.

SARAH: I bought a book. It's right there; I'm looking at it right now. Just because (KAYLA: It had an ace character.) it had an ace character. I haven't read it yet. I'm excited about it.

KAYLA: You don't read a lot of things.

SARAH: Shh. I've got about twelve books I haven't read yet.

KAYLA: That does say something, though.

SARAH: Yeah, I have actively sought out things with ace characters, and they're very hard to find.

KAYLA: Yeah, because you want to see yourself in the media.

SARAH: Exactly.

KAYLA: There's a whole, we could definitely-

SARAH: That's another pod. How many times have we said that in this pod? 'That's another pod.' (laughs)

KAYLA: Yeah. Representation in the media is just a whole (SARAH: Whole other shebang.) situation.

SARAH: But yeah. That's all I've got to say on that. Shipping happens even if you're aroace. It's kind of like how you can ship gay characters (KAYLA: When you're not gay.) when you're not gay. And if you are gay, you can still ship straight characters. (KAYLA: Yeah.) Or at least, a heterosexual couple. (KAYLA: Yeah.) I think you don't necessarily have to fully understand everything they're feeling to still appreciate that they are feeling it.

KAYLA: Yeah. And to the point of whether I ship things in every media I consume, I really think that that has more to do with the media than my sexual or romantic orientation (SARAH: Mm-hmm.). For me, it's really how engaged you get, and different shows are better at having people engaged (SARAH: Right.) as a fanbase and as just a viewer than others. So I don't know, for me, that that has anything to do with-

SARAH: (interrupting) Right. I think it does for some people, because I do remember at one point in the Agents of Shield fandom - the FitzSimmons fandom, specifically - we were talking about reasons why people love FitzSimmons, and a lot of them said it was because they did relate to one of the characters or both of the characters, or relate even to the relationship. (KAYLA: Mm-hmm.) So obviously, some people do experience that, but I don't think it's required that everyone should and does experience that.

KAYLA: Right, yeah.

SARAH: Holler. All right, so if you have any feelings on that topic, or if you don't have feelings and want to send us dank memes of cows (KAYLA: Ooh, yes.), hit us up on Twitter, @soundsfakepod, or email us at soundsfakepod@gmail.com.

KAYLA: Yes, and you can also send us your cow thoughts or your shipping as an ace, or shipping in general. (SARAH: Yeah!)  We just talked a lot about our shipping in this. So tell us, what are your favorite ships.

SARAH: And why are they your favorite ships?

KAYLA: And why are they your favorites? So, you can send that to our email or our Twitter, or wherever you're listening: SoundCloud, iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Google Play. Leave us a comment or a review.

SARAH: Please don't send us dick pics.

KAYLA: (emphatically) No.

SARAH: (laughs)

KAYLA: You will be banned, probably. I don't think that's allowed. But yeah, do a subscribe or a follow to get all the updates, and leave a comment or a phat five-star review telling us your thoughts.

SARAH: Telling us things.

KAYLA: Click one for...

SARAH: For shipping. Click two for yachts. Click three (KAYLA: No, no. I have a better one.) for a freighter.

KAYLA: I have a better one.

SARAH: What?

KAYLA: Click one if you ship me and Sarah.

SARAH: (laughs)

KAYLA: No, click one if we're your OTP. Click two if we're your BrOTP. Click three if we're your NOTP.

SARAH: Oh my god. Please everyone, say NOTP.

BOTH: (laughs)

KAYLA: That's how I feel.

SARAH: I hate you.

KAYLA: I wish we were in love.

SARAH: Yeah. All right, cool. Keep shipping, folks.

KAYLA: Do it.

SARAH: And if you don't ship, you probably do and don't realize it.

KAYLA: Don't say that!

SARAH: No, a lot of people just don't know what shipping is.

KAYLA: Okay, but there could be people out there (SARAH: I'm sure there are some people who do not care about relationships.) who don't ship at all.

SARAH: No, but I feel like everyone ships to a certain extent. It might not be romantic, but BrOTPs and that sort of thing.

KAYLA: Maybe there's someone who just hates everyone.

SARAH: Just hates all people and hates all human interaction.

KAYLA: Psychopaths, psychopaths have no empathy, so you would think they would not.

SARAH: All right. Well, if you're a psychopath listening to this pod (KAYLA: Fast forward.), fast forward. (laughs) All right.

KAYLA: See you all later.

SARAH: See you all later.