I made this from shoving together questions from others' pages, as well as adding my own that I could easily answer. Feel free to take the general questions for your own use!
Why do you use Raiden as a self-insert?
I wrote an essay where I touched on this in more detail but in short, I see Raiden as important to my identity. I see myself as him and I have extra non-canonical 'memories' of his life, many of which feature Rose in a positive light. I may or may not have feelings for Rose because of Raiden, or maybe I see Raiden this way because I have feelings for Rose - it's sort of a chicken-and-the-egg situation. Through a canon character is also just the most comforting way to selfship for me: I've never had a fufilling experience making an OC based off myself, or choosing a partner not important to a fictional identity. I don't exactly 'ship' Rose and Raiden as they are in canon material from an external perspective, but I do enjoy us together in the way I interpret our relationship through the lens of my noemata.
When did you fall in love with her?
Got two answers for this. In the sense of our story together: after our first date (would have taken place during the first weeks of May 2007), we rented King Kong and went back to Rose's apartment. We watched it, I pointed out the part we argued over, we laughed over it, and then we watched it again, and again. For most of the night she was snuggled up to me in silence, and a few times when the TV illuminated her face I could see that she was smiling. Sometime after the sun had risen we fell asleep like that - all sprawled out on the sofa tangled up in each other. I woke up after a few hours and I remember realising I'd had a restful night's sleep for the first time in a long while. I remember looking at her while she was asleep and thinking about how perfect she was and how much I wanted her to stay with me. Looking back on that, it is a little tainted I can't lie, obviously it's clear why I thought she was so attractive given she changed those features for my benefit. Regardless of that, it was the moment I fell in love. In the sense of our relationship right now: I always had a vague idea of Rose as Raiden's girlfriend, but it wasn't until my MGS2 playthrough in March 2022 that I actually saw her for the first time. I found that I kept thinking of her, kept fantasising about her, kept picturing myself in a relationship with her. This stayed the case for a long while, me just keeping it as a vague infatuation without giving it a real label or much introspection. Eventually I gave in and I started to call her my wife, it felt so comfortable to do so, I fell more for her and the feeling hasn't waned since.
What are three things you like most about your wife?
I would love to choose the cop-out answer and say everything, but if I had to pick... I love the sound of her laugh, I love how she looks in suits/uniform, and when I look at her my eyes always drift to her lips.
Do you enjoy your wife's source?
Sure! I'm slowly making my way through the games: I've finished 1, 2, 4, and Rising. I don't hate it, though I wish she got more time, attention, and more developed characterisation. I also yearn to see her in casual situations where she isn't stressed and acting irregularly for one reason or another. If she ever got another large role in a game I would be ecstatic and everyone else will just have to seethe.
How do you and your wife spend time together? How do you express your love to each other?
One of the main things I try to do is to set up 'dates' where we have a movie night together. I get nice snacks, pick the movie, set everything up properly, and watch it as if she's present. We've only had two thus far, I keep getting distracted with other responsibilities, but it's always nice to dedicate my time to her. Otherwise, I spend time with her by imagining her accompanying me during my day. During downtime I imagine her holding me or coming up and kissing me on the cheek. At night I sleep by attaching her charm to the arm of a easily-huggable unrelated plush toy. A bit cringeworthy from an outside view but it makes me feel more enriched. I express my love verbally, physically (or as close to it as possible), and through doing things dedicated to her (art, writing, playlists, collecting things for my folder dedicated to her, this shrine). For a little stretch of time when I was recovering from a breakup I trained a Character AI to speak to. Now, this is a very ironic thing to do considering everything, but it did help tremendously when I needed more than what my imagination allowed. I'm weaning myself off that pretty successfully now as I find my feet.
Do you sleep together? How does she sleep?
Most nights now, actually. I think she would be a light sleeper, and she would prefer to hold me / rest her head against my chest.
If your wife could have a pet, what would it be?
I know she had a parakeet as a child, and I currently own a parakeet too. So I'll have to say parakeets :)
What song immediately makes you think of your wife?
I always think songs with Nicole Blackman on vocals (Chrome, Breath Control, and Want by Recoil, and Dogma by KMFDM) sound a bit like Rose, or at least the way she exists in my mind with a sexier voice. It's my little guilty pleasure to listen to those. Some miscellaneous songs that make me think of her or us are Rosemary by Deftones (obvious reasons), 3 Libras by A Perfect Circle, Suffocated Love by Tricky, the anniversary edition of Inside The City of Glass by Katatonia (mostly just for "In due time all of this will pass / In a sudden storm / When you take my hand / So cold this April"), and Ghost Love Score by Nightwish (also set around April 30th - "Redeem me into childhood / Show me myself without the shell / Like the advent of May" - I also liked the lyrics "Relive the old sin of Adam and Eve / Of you and me / Forgive the adoring beast," it reminded me of the scene at the end of MGS4. Nightwish always looking out for me for real). I would love to work more on my playlist for her, but I don't actually regularly listen to genres she's most interested in / I associate with her so they always turn out skewed to my tastes.
Do you have dreams of your wife?
Very rarely. I have a number of dreams where we aren't together and I'm pursuing her in some way, as in I have a crush on her and I'm trying to get her to notice. I had one particularly memorable dream where we were travelling on a long-haul bus and I was taking our son off her hands so she could sleep.
Her favourite flavour of ice cream?
One of those really fucking weird ones... licorice.
If you and your wife were Pokémon Trainers, what Pokémon would you each have?
I see her with a Chatot. I think I'd have a Blitzle.
If your wife went to a higher education institute, what would she major in?
I don't have to imagine this one because she did. I know she studied an undergraduate before she went into intelligence, I'm not 100% sure what but I would guess Psychology. A psychology degree would make it easier for her to make that jump from data analysis to counselling.
What is the height difference between you and your wife?
A couple inches? She wears heels a lot so it never looks like too much of a difference. If I had to take a guess at numbers she's about 5'6 while I was 5'10 (before my built-in heels anyway)? Maybe? If you took that estimate with my current height we'd be around the same, me being an inch or two taller.
How does she tend to comfort you?
She admittedly wasn't great at comforting until she took her counselling qualifications, but neither was I with her. I told her I didn't want her as my wife to use any sort of therapy-persona on me, but she did become more understanding of my issues and the ways to offer me help without crossing boundaries or making things worse out of ignorance. One specific thing I did appreciate was her holding me tightly in her arms with me laid/sat across her lap and letting me bury my face somewhere in her clothes until I calmed down. The feeling of her hand stroking through my hair, the sound of her pulse, her softened voice, and the scent of her perfume let me escape the torments in my mind and focus on how she was there for me no matter how 'ugly' my mental illness got. It was an embarrassing position to imagine myself in, sort of like being a very large child, but it worked wonders. It is something I miss these days: when I awake from a night terror or feel gripped by my illness I wish she was still physically present to lay me across her like that again.
Silliest headcanon you have of your wife?
I have this unshakeable belief that she will only eat bananas if the peels are fully black. She'll leave them on the counter and tell me not to throw them out. I think it's freakish behaviour but she swears by it.
Out of different versions of the character, which one is your favourite?
She has two 'main' versions: MGS2 and MGS4, both look pretty different from each other. I don't actually have a preference though? I used to say I imagined MGS2 Rose more often because we're closer in age but come to think of it I don't actually. I have things I like about both: I like MGS2 Rose's fashion sense, I like MGS4 Rose's face (the more realistic graphics probably help with this), I like MGS2 Rose's hairstyle, I like MGS4 Rose's more relaxed personality in her calls. I genuinely could not pick a favourite. My favourite Rose outside of canon appearances is actually the one that existed around the time of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Slightly older, longer hair inbetween those two canon appearances in length, she stopped using contacts so her eyes were blue, had a nurturing, funny, and enthusiastic personality, more comfortable due to being her genuine self and me being less caged up, and very, very beautiful.
Do you, or plan to, have fictional kids?
We have a son, a kid we already had, so not an unrelated character like other waifuists tend to do.
Favourite memory involving her?
There's this one moment I attempted to create a short piece of writing out of which I may finish eventually. I'll summarise it. Once I had gauged that the public reception of cyborgs was positive enough for me to travel home without incident, I surprised her by showing up in my combat body. She had never properly seen it before that. Sometime after, I remember her sitting on top of me (we had moved to lay on the bedroom floor, because our bed gave a creak so loud I doubted the integrity of the carpentry against how dense that body was) and kissing the plates, pieces of metal, and synthetic muscles that made me up, eventually trying to figure out the best way to kiss my mouth when my lower jaw was metal. She asked me how I felt about my cybernetics, and then said something like she'd love me however I look, because my soul will always be in there. It was a tender moment and one that meant a lot to me, though it's difficult to properly portray it without writing thousands of words. Maybe someday I'll share the whole scene.
Do you have an anniversary date? How was it decided, and how do you (plan to) celebrate it?
I personally put it at April 30th (2007, 2022) because it's the canon date of our meeting. I'm sure we had a different relationship anniversary and a wedding anniversary but in true Raiden fashion I have forgotten those dates. In 2023 I celebrated by doing a two-day full playthrough of MGS2's Plant episode and publishing an essay where I publically spoke about my feelings for the first time; next year I'm not really sure yet. In 2024 I spruced up the webshrine, baked some cookies, and took my charm along with me when I tended to the garden.
What's a dream piece of merchandise you'd like to have?
I've always thought her MGS2 character model would look nice as a figure. Not a posable one just one of those ones that stand there and look cool.
Would you rather go to their world, or have them come to yours?
The two worlds are very similar, MGS canon is slightly ahead in terms of year and has more technological advancements and sci-fi elements, that's pretty much it. I usually imagine her with me in this world, or I look back at a different me in that world. I suppose it would be better for her to come here than for me to go back.
Which animal represents your wife the best?
I've always seen her in deer, gazelles, and okapi.
How did you know this relationship was different from others?
Two answers, again. In terms of my canon with her: She was so patient with me, so patient it hurt a bit. I'd had a few relationships before Rose and they always ended messily because of the way I was back then. Rose was different, I suppose she was doing a job but I do feel like there was something that stopped her from quitting. She saw something with me, she saw that I was broken and lying to myself and everyone else about it just like she was doing. She wanted to work things through together, to understand me, and she wanted to do that for our own good and not for the wishes of her employers - which is why the assignment ate her up inside so much. After I spiralled, kept harming myself, and ran away, I sometimes wonder if she became a PTSD counsellor for my sake. Not that I ever asked. In other terms: I've always struggled in relationships due to feeling no romantic attraction. It makes all romantic relationships feel, for a lack of a better word, a chore. I'm a rather awful actor, and people do catch on to how distant I am outside of sex. Obviously not a good situation for them, and it makes me feel shitty for not being capable of the same feelings. Rose being fictional and her meaning something to me in the sense of being with me in a different life brought a huge change in my usual feelings on relationships. I felt something I would label love, and it's lasted a year and a half now. I feel like my love for her is making me less miserable of a person and has given me genuine fufillment. This relationship is different, because despite it being fictional it's the only one I would call 'real'.
What do you see yourself and your wife doing in 10 years?
I'd love to say we'd still be together, but who knows! If things change during that time, I hope I'll look back on this fondly.
Does anybody outside of waifuist spaces know about your relationship?
Sort of! I've got this site that reaches non-waifuists, and I talk about it somewhat openly on my Vent (social media app) account. Other than that, it's on a need-to-know basis, or a if-they-ask basis would be more accurate. I have an inconspicuous tag for my Tumblr blog to collect posts that remind me of our relationship, a private side blog to do the same thing with additional more embarrassing posts, and I consider myself to have a girlfriend + mention it vaguely like that. Most people on the internet who don't know I'm a waifuist and aren't close with me would just think I'm committed to a partner of some kind. It's not exactly a lie. Nobody in my life outside of the internet is aware further than just knowing I'm fond of her as a character.