b’s gender fascinates me. nonbinary ass name. relationship with ripley is lesbian as hell. referred to as they/them for 99% of the book. ripley calls them her toyboy. they probably wear lipstick relatively often because ripley suspected them of wearing poison lipstick without immediately noticing something different. on the last page ty throws in a buzzer-beater he/him. i love it
The good thing about headcanoning B as nonbinary is that they can have both doomed yaoi (Ty/B) and doomed yuri (Ripley/B) without needing to sacrifice one
So, uh. I was going to write the B character analysis, but then I realized. It was not going to be written in one night. This is gonna be, uh, a long-term kind of project. With, like. Citing sources and shit. (Oh god did I trick myself into writing an essay—)
So! To tide y’all over until then, have some spoiler-free headcanons about B and Ripley’s relationship before the events of canon. Why?
Why not? :P
Oh god B cannot flirt. At all. The Division did not consider “social skills” any way important when raising him, outside of how to manipulate people into doing what you want, and their education on sexuality and romance boiled down to “how to use it against your enemies”. B didn’t even realize you could be legitimately into someone, so his first few convos with Ripley after developing a crush were. Something, to say the least :P
That said, he did learn! Primarily through reading many romance novels. And watching many rom-coms. They might’ve made him a romantic way too much for his own good :P Still, he and Ripley got together. Somehow.
Movie night dates were pretty common with these two. As mentioned, B is a die-hard fan of romance, and I’m gonna yoink one of Lunar’s HCs and say Ripley liked spy movies, action films most of all.
Kinda funny mental image: B mentions in Mission 8 that the ritzy, glamorous casino is pretty different from the places he remembers Ripley liking, so. Dumb thought, Ripley dragged poor B into places like biker bars and gambling dens a lot. She’s an adrenaline junkie, her idea of a good date is running away from pissed off people :P Don’t worry, they never got caught. (Or, if they did, the Division stepped in to smooth everything over; like hell were they letting their top trainee and the asset they’d been grooming since childhood go to waste.)
For a sillier one (even more so than that last one), Ripley’s “lovebug” nickname for B was born because B had an odd fascination with insects. (It’s funny shut up :P) She was basically the only one who would listen when B would go on about how butterflies are actually scarier than moths, because caterpillars literally melt in their chrysalis to die and be reborn as the butterfly, and everyone says metamorphosis is beautiful but it’s also terrifying because the caterpillar never has a choice but to be the butterfly, and what if the caterpillar wants to stay a caterzzzz— sorry. Fell asleep :P
(Yes, I know moths and butterflies undergo metamorphosis. I said B was fascinated with insects, not that he knew much about them :P)
B’s love language? Acts of service. You want him to get the door? Already on it. Want him to cook breakfast even though he has no idea how a frying pan works? Can do. Want him to carry all your bags? Sure. Want him to go retrieve those important documents? Got it. Want him to break a few fingers, get the guy to talk? For you, anything. The people in his life mean the world to him. He’ll do anything they ask him to. Anything to make them happy.
Ripley’s love language, meanwhile, is quality time. She likes doing stuff with the people around her; dangerous things are a million times more fun when there’s someone right in the thick of it with you. They’d both say their languages are compatible: Ripley asks B to do things with her, and B does them, no questions asked.
Oddly enough, throughout their entire relationship, they never really…talked about their pasts much? Ripley mentioned her family a couple times, but only in passing, and whenever she asked about B’s life in turn, he immediately steered the conversation to something else. Meaning Ripley had no idea B was raised by the Division…and, for almost all of Bordergrams proper, still didn’t. And also meant that, when the Director started favoring Ripley, B couldn’t help but feel some resentment…even if he never said why.
…the truth of the matter is, their relationship wasn’t the healthiest. They loved each other, don’t get me wrong. In another life, a more peaceful life, they probably could’ve been better, figured themselves out a bit more, and lived happily. But between B’s myriad psychological issues, Ripley’s desire for adrenaline overtaking everything else, and the general nature of the Division…in a lot of ways, they were doomed from the start.
It took B some time to recognize he and Ripley had a messed up dynamic.
🏘️Heinz Emigholz ✨ So pleased this year to present a special Heinz Emigholz session, online and live from the Louvre auditorium! The French premiere of "The Last City", a film about the state of the world, cities and our lives. Online and free access. Friday 26 February, 9pm Programme ► http://art-action.org/prog_en #ripb2021 Image by Heinz Emigholz
