| SPOILER WARNING! This article contains spoilers from Episode 5 "Home" and Episode 7 "Mass Destruction" |
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Jessa is the femslash ship between Serial Designation J and Tessa Elliott from the Murder Drones fandom.
Canon[]
The Promening[]
Towards the finishing point of the episode, Tessa arrives on Copper 9 via landing pod. Notably, hers is the only pod that didn't crash due to her intelligence regarding piloting. She decapitates a male Worker Drone under the suspicion of him being under the influence of the AbsoluteSolver and realizes her mistake. She summons J, who appears fully regenerated from the blast of Uzi's railgun. The episode ends with the two standing closely alongside each other.
Home[]
Notably, Home is the episode where it greatly explores the status of J and Tessa's relationship. During the day of the gala, Tessa is panicking about the mass amount of people arriving. She is shown to be anxious about social interactions considering the only individuals she converses with are Worker Drones, including J. J silently watches as Tessa experiences a panic attack. Tessa’s anxiety reaches to the point she cares about the drones success as well, telling J to apply the demeanor of a royal stud. When the two perform a toast, Tessa winces and rubs at her wrist as J watches with concern. Tessa notices and assures the latter she is alright.
N and Cyn appear at the scene, and Tessa is too distracted to notice Cyn behind him. She asks who the male worker had brought with him and acknowledges Cyn’s presence, glaring at her due to being confused on how Cyn had escaped her confinement. Cyn claims that J forgot to release her from her “timeout” and J points out how she managed to escape regardless. N asks why J and Tessa are locking her away, but before Tessa can answer, they are provoked by her mother.
After N had confronted the Elliots, he, alongside Tessa, were punished. Tessa desperately attempts to break free from being chained to the ground and demands J to help. The latter declines due to the loyalty and possible fear of disobeying orders. Eventually J is convinced, and she gnaws and punches at the chains and releases her human friend, convincing herself that her actions were “unrelated layoff”, notably because Tessa helped J gain the strength to break the chains by angering her with company related topics. Once Tessa is freed, the duo heads to the gala, hidden by sneaking on the balcony.
Tessa asks J how the latter feels about murdering a “robo-child”, referring to Cyn, before she is interrupted by bumping into a suit of armor. Frantically pushing it back into position, she notices the steel sword it possesses, whereas J discovers a pistol. The two display their weaponry before realizing that the opposing person would be a better wielder of their weapon and switch their arms. N whispers to Tessa to obtain her attention, and they notice V’s shattered glasses on the floor due to being possessed by the Solver, thus she has no use for them. The trio huddle together with their weapons prepared.
The eldritch V abruptly drops from the ceiling and atop of them, causing everyone to be launched and spread apart from each other. As V nearly pierces Tessa’s skull, J jumps in and rescues her. She informs N to continue on their journey to the basement and Tessa and her will keep V occupied. J and Tessa eventually burst into the gala and confront Cyn. Tessa repeatedly projects multiple items at Cyn in vain in hopes of inflicting damage. Cyn places every Worker present in the room under her influence, controlling J to slam the door behind her, leaving Tessa stranded. What occurs afterwards is unknown, but it is presumably the massacre of the humans attending the gala.
Towards the end of the episode, Doll successfully steals the key bug from Uzi and heads outside the colony to meet up with J and Tessa, who she currently is serving. The duo wait for her patiently, and once they obtain the key from her, they are surprised by V, Uzi, and N’s quick and sudden arrival.
Dead End[]
Tessa explains her current situation and task for being on Copper 9 with occasional butt ins from J. Distracted by their conversation, Doll retains the key bug and dashes. She is swiftly pursued, but she successfully escapes by dipping in a ditch. J and Tessa simultaneously explain their task further, and Tessa orders J to patrol the ship. J appears hesitant at first, but follows the demand of her boss, flying away from the scene and leaving the rest of the squad alone.
Mass Destruction[]
Despite the unveiling of Tessa’s deceased status, J brings the ship from the corpse house and delivers it outside of the ditch’s location. She attempts to communicate with “Tessa” via communicator but is interrupted by a brutal impact of a school bus. This causes her to drop the keys into the ditch and frustrates her. Meanwhile, “Tessa”, who’s corpse is merged with Cyn’s drone body drags Uzi into the massive pit that leads to space.
Quotes[]
- Tessa – “J, industrial machinery, chuck us a hand!”
- J – “ Sorry, boss. Corporate's spoken.”
- — Tessa asks J if she could free her from the chains
- Tessa – “It wants paid time off to attend UUUUnion negotiatiOOOOns!”
- J – “THIS IS AN UNRELATED LAYOFF!”
- — J when she finally frees Tessa
- “How do you reckon we murder us a robo-child, J?”
- — Tessa wondering how she and J will defeat Cyn
- “J, Quick! Pretend to be a ripping royal stud!”
- — Tessa talking to J nervously because humans are coming
- “ Do your basement thing, we got the coma patient you creeped on.”
- — J defending Tessa from V with her sword
Fanon[]
The pairing grew in popularity due to J and Tessa’s close relationship in both “The Promening” and “Home”. An arguable cause for the ship could be J’s endless loyalty to JCJenson, and in episode three, Tessa is shown to be an employee and or associated with the company. Fans of fictional stories whereas a human and a robot engage in romantic relationships could be a main factor as well. Despite these reasons, the birth of the pairing could derive from J’s very low count in ships (OilRose, Enjay, and Juzi) thus Tessa was a bonus in ships J could be included in. Many believed J to be unaware of Tessa's true position as Cyn and thus explaining why she worked with her, but J was confirmed to indeed be aware of Cyn and is truly working for the possessed drone. The ship receives major controversy regarding Tessa being heavily implied to be a minor.
After the finale and Tessa's true origins were revealed, Jessa fans were devastated. Although this would make the ship gain a certain notary on several fics focusing on J's angst in the post-canon, with her alone and missing Tessa. Many see this as a potential depth on J's character, which many were unhappy with.
Others focus on AUs where Tessa survived the gala or one where she was turned into a drone and eventually began a relationship with J.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Tessa James Elliott/J tag on AO3
- Tessa James Elliott & J tag on AO3
- Jessa hashtag on Twitter
- RippingRoyals hashtag on Twitter
- RippingRoyals posts on Twitter
Trivia[]
- Fans assumed in a leak image of J (it sponsors her pointing her missile at something while looking apprehensive and depressed) in the teaser trailer of the finale, that the reason why J appeared sad was due to her about to assault "Tessa". However, once the episode released, this theory was proven false, and the missile was pointing at V during the brawl between the two females.
- Tessa's VA, Steph Crothers, when asked if she likes the ship, she said that couldn't confirm nor deny.[1]
- Later, when asked if Tessa is a lesbian and was in love with J, she agrees but it's only her personal opinion.[2]
- The aforementioned quote from Tessa asking J to pretend to be a ripping royal stud gave rise to the ship's other name, Ripping Royals.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
