no, YOU DON'T GET IT!!!! YOU CAN'T BE THE RIPTIDE PIRATES WITHOUT ONE OF THEM BECAUSE IT JUST FALLS APART. WITHOUT CHIP, JAY AND GILLIAN DON'T HAVE THEIR MAIN GUY, THEIR MAIN REASON FOR DOING ANYTHING BECAUSE HE SAVED THEM. WITHOUT JAY THEY WOULD LITERALLY JUST CRASH N BURN AND ALSO NOT GET COMFORTED THE WAY SHE IS WITH HER BECAUSE SHE ISNT AFRAID TO SHOW HER EMOTIONS OR BE EMOTIONAL AROUND THEM. WITHOUT GILLION THEY JUST DONT HAVE HIS SILLINESS AND WHIMSY, AND ALSO LIKE A LITERAL ROCK FOR THEM. IN THIS ESSAY I WILL-
So brief intro for any one who is un aware what poly pirates is.
Poly pirates is the ship name for the ship of Chip x Jay Ferin x Gillion Tidestrider from jrwi riptide.
NOW
Why does this work????
Poly pirates as a poly ship is like the TOP TIER example of three traumatized people who just deserve to live together and have cats.
Chip and Gillion go together like two peas in a pod, largely supporting eachother and helping eachother, while still having problems like normal people do.
Chip and Jay coexist super well, Chip teaching her how to free herself and Jay teaching Chip how to forgive himself.
Jay and Gillion are parallels, Jay running from the chosen path, Gill being forced from it. Both had childhoods taken from them and Interact kindly. (Kindly as you can expect anyway)
Chip loves them both because he hasn't been ABLE to live properly before, but we see him find solace in two people who decide to stay for and with him.
Jay loves the others because they're two people who don't expect her to do everything right. Two people who do follow her unconditionally.
Gillion loves them because like Jay, he doesn't have to be the champion or perfect or amazing. He can be himself and make mistakes.
As you can see I am completely normal about them (lies)
In trying to make a quick joke in only five minutes, I have had to ask myself questions about colors, the recognizability of symbols, and my own photo editing skills. The polyamorous flag doesn't seem to have quite the same effect when faded over an image as the rainbow pride flag, either due to the saturation of its colors or due to just being less instantly recognizable.
- chip and gillion definitely hold hands like, all the time. especially with as distracted gill gets at times, someone has to keep him from running off towards every interesting thing he sees. but sometimes, chip gets distracted by whatever gillion is looking at too,,, and then jay is left to wonder Where The Fuck her co-captains have run off to.
- the way that gillion was so averse to affection confused them at first, like why he jolted away from chip putting his hands on his shoulders to look the fish man in the eyes like he had been electrocuted. or when jay would lovingly put her hand on his face to comfort him and it felt like a fire spread over his face. (surprise! it's bc trauma) but once gillion realized that not every touch from his crew mates was because they were reprimanding him, he began to get a lil clingy, and now he doesn't want to let go of them ever. (they cuddle every night, your honor.)
- chip has always been a sucker for affection, but being raised as a human male, he thinks that it's not okay for him to want stuff like that. so he does it in off handed ways, like gently punching gill in the shoulder or grabbing Jay's wrist to keep her grounded when she's upset. but same as always, the crew is at the ready (especially queen), helping him realize that it's okay to want a hug every now and then.
- jay often gets lost in her own thoughts, (*slaps her forehead* this baby can fit so much overthinking!) but whenever she finds chip and gillion getting up to some shenanigans (like messing with Earl), it immediately breaks her out of it. sometimes she'll just laugh at their antics, but other times she'll join in, and it makes the joke so much funnier.
- jay is the one who everyone goes to when they have a problem, no matter what it is. chip accidentally broke gills armor? jay fixes it before gillion even realizes. gryffins gun arm gets jammed? he (begrudgingly) asks jay to help him, since he only has one actual hand. gill gets stuck in his barrel? jay can always hear him calling for her, even through the muffling effects of the water he sleeps in. she's a problem solver, a big thinker (and quite possibly the only reason chip and Gill are still alive.).