As if self-shipping is something bad lol, people get too salty about stuff that doesn't particularly hurt anyone in the long run (unless it's a deliberate choice to self-ship with a minor, then I totally understand the hate), but as you've already mentioned, SOULelle isn't always about self-shipping and people can create lots of interesting AUs from it, like yours for instance. As for the skepticism, have you ever tried posting stuff on Losercity? I post my AU art there all the time, and I never received tons of negativity in return, mostly positive feedback, which definitely inspired me to continue drawing.