Writing Prompt #6: Romance oo-lala! (Not er-you know what I mean dang it.)

[Crystal Dragon]

Romantic situations and romance does often come up in story and character development as characters meet people they like, fall for, and become infatuated with. Sometimes it's just a flirting situation with a dear friend, and sometimes it evolves into something more.

How does your characters handle romance?

 

Admittedly, it's an ongoing joke that Crys' has developed a pretty intense crush on Veracor, but she is too blasted shy to approach or even discuss it with him or his partner. She likes him, appreciates his friendship and his playfulness but also knows when work is a priority, to try not to distract him when she and the others are on the job. The teasing just goes on and on, from her friends, her mates, and even her family members poke fun at her over her crush on the big ol dragon raider pro. It's all in good natured fun however, nothing serious intended behind it, and I doubt he even really takes notice since he's not deep into the RP aspects of the game. Crys' is all thumbs when it comes to talking to people she has become infatuated with, sometimes she just acts on impulse and lets things unfold from there. She's had bad relationships and good but her openness, insightfulness and appreciation of those around her kind of gives her a bit of a charm most folks kind of like about her. 

[Greycat]

Hmm.

Cat: Doesn't. Hasn't really looked, doesn't really feel she has time, or really anything to offer. Plus there's this odd outfit that, for some reason, changes how she acts and feels somewhat... including that she's really missing someone who's supposed to be in her life as it is.

 

Rez: Has Robert. Loves Robert. Robert gives good footrubs and is fun and silly and lovable.

 

Ishku: Has Matt. Dates. Enjoys said dates. They "get" each other. She's happy.

 

Pri: "Romance? ... no idea." (Bonus answer: Grace - "Absolutely not." Friends are fine, but ... bad experiences.)

[Bushranger]

Dorothy is utterly oblivious to romantic interest. It was half running gag, half tragedy back in her days at The Boot, and resulted in two years "wandering in the wilderness" before the two loves of her life returned and they reconciled into the Terrible Trio they are now.

 

Cassie is not quite as oblivious as her aunt. She isn't very romantic, per se, though - spending her teenage years in the robot apocalypse amongst a lot of super types doesn't lead to romantic connections. She got nudged into her relationship with Yuriel by a mutual friend, though, and has found her emotional rock and love of her heart.

 

Lisa wasn't looking for love but decided this blonde electrical cutie from the past was irresistible.,..

[Coyotedancer]

Kai has a thing about a guy named Travis. 'Just some random Journalism major at Paragon U. You know, your typical, everyday "average guy". He has nothing to do with alien expats, or mind-reading or evolving bioarmor. And he certainly doesn't get involved in any dangerous, heroic shenanigans like saving the world, or anything like that! Nope, Nothing like that at all. He's more worried about passing his midterms. He swears.

 

Long, long ago, before the war with the Mu or the Circle's forced retreat into darkness, Amtes... a well-travelled magus called "the Historian" by her people... happened to meet a jinn while out exploring in the Atlas mountains. He was a friendly sort, made of animate stone, and in spite of all of the wandering she'd done, Amtes had never met anyone else quite like him. She especially appreciated his wicked sense of humor and his well-developed sense for the absurd. When she returned to the Temple and Thorn Island to settle into her role on the council, she brought Khalil with her. He's been at her side ever since. Even through war and disaster, and centuries of having nothing but a ruin full of ghosts for company.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Coyotedancer

[Latex]

No romantic interests for Aeva, shes more the type for casual flings in questionable clubs and situations. She has a type though, the old 'Strength vs Dex' meme (and she is Dex), the bigger and broader the guy the better. Especially likes that primal human core psyche and those that air their mind regardless of consequence which typically means Villain-types. She is robotic but doesn't act like a robot unless the curtain is purposefully peeled back. Long term romance and relationships is something she is likely not interested in, there are more adventures and people to meet without settling down with a single person at least in her opinion.

[TigerEmperor]

Way I see it, Raphael Firestar (Hero) was one of those "He may be big and tough but is still not sure how to talk to a girl he's attracted to outside of work." types prior to the expedition that changed his life and sent him to the dark side for a while. Even now, long after having seen the light, he's able to amiably flirt and show a gal a good time but is still a bit shy when it comes to actual crushes. One night stands aren't exactly his thing but if he and the lady in question are having a good time... He won't say no that easy. Especially if it's with a woman resembling the one who helped him regain control of his body.

 

Ra-Akhnaten, the evil priest that took Raphael over, isn't interested in romance in the typical sense. Female 'acolytes', maybe, but he knows most modern women aren't going to go for that without a lot of effort that he doesn't have the time/energy for while retaining control. All he really wanted was to regain his former mystical might and establish himself as the singular ruler [or, failing that, to have a position of power, influence, and worth where he could shape everything].

 

Raphael Firebane (Praetorian) is also kind of disinterested. He figured that once he held Praetoria get its stuff together under Emperor Cole/Tyrant, he could take the time to untangle seeing his parents killed by the Resistance and free up the emotional and mental energy for that sort of thing. But any relationship he might have had prior to going to Primal Earth might have been a little dysfunctional due to the power and status differences. And how he was in the mindset of "If it's for the good of Praetoria.", "If Marcus says it's for the good of our nation.", or "If it will give me more authority to make Praetoria a better place." before other things.

 

And Carmilla De Borgia... Well, it's not that she's disinterested. More that after her corruption by the Carnival of Blood, her inherent preferences got overshadowed by the desire to turn young women she finds, much like she herself was converted. At least until she can work through the issues around that and perhaps get a bit like Sister Psyche and Mother Mayhem turned good: having more of a mental relationship of shared thought and feeling, helping other troubled women/former villainnesses to get better, before having a physical connection.

[Chrono-Bot]

Mine aren't really into romance - they've got a lot going on that occupies WAY more of their time and also most come from a situation where they just spent years dealing with complete dopes (Outcasts, Warriors) that's sort of put them off it in regards to men, and they're only really starting to meet people outside of themselves now that they've finished their various jail sentences. But overall, they wanna get through their own stuff first.

 

Chrono-Bot was not programmed for what you humans call 'love'. Actually she was, but her system keeps registering it as a virus and deleting it.

 

I will say Blazed goes a little dizzy in the head every time she sees a lady with some nice biceps though.

[chase]

There's some truth in the old adage that it's hard to let somebody love you if you don't love yourself.   Tabby tends to miss the early signs of interest- writing them off as jokes or misunderstandings or just taking them far out of context- ("I mean-- it couldn't actually BE that they LIKE me that way, right?  Hilarious." ) When the indicators become impossible to ignore, the nervous energy starts building up with each hint becoming hader to pretend was something else until she faces the now-obvious-to-everyone-else  truth the only way she knows how- by blaming the would-be suitor:   

"What the hell is wrong with them?! " 

Of course she knows the answer- she's made the mistake of googling "catgirls" without safesearch on before (warning: don't). She just didn't expect that her new friend/confident could have been one of those FREAKS.   

 

"I mean- they seemed so NORMAL before... well, normal for someone that wears tights and taps extradimensional energy to zap bad guys wearing what seem to be broken appliances for armor... but normal where it counted, at least.  

"I'm usually such a good judge of character."

She's not.   

 

After the initial panic abates (it doesn't) she has a measured and mature conversation about their shared feelings  runs for the hills, avoiding said suitor and immersing herself in some new ill-conceived bound-to-fail potentially-self-destructive scheme to cure her current condition.   After all, if she was human then someone could like her without automatically being a freak -maybe- and maybe she can forget the whole "hopefully-borderline furry" aspect of their personality.

 

What about her own romantic interests? 

Well, when anyone asks about her own interests, she'll demur but with a hint of loneliness in her voice. saying she hasn't given it much thought.   That might even be accurate- she's actively opposing so much of her own identity that maybe she's just not ready to face yet another aspect of it, let alone question how much of what she feels is real and how much is part of her condition.  Then again, it might he that she gives it too much thought- the twisted anxiety that anyone she lets herself be romantically interested in might (gasp) express interest back and therefore be a FREAK that must be banished from her presence... and she can't have that since she likes being around them... but if she has them around and they maybe reciprocate... and she maybe... and then they.... and oh-that's SO wrong... dammit gottaFindACureFAST.  

 

Probably a little of column a, a little of column b.

 

The issue's become harder... or easier... or just a damn lot more confusing since she discovered her fanbase's very active fanfic forum.  She's been shipped with virtually every hero or heroine (or villain) that she's ever been caught on camera with and many more she's never met.   Yes, 90% of them are total trash that just reinforce her belief that all catgirl-fetishists are absolute FREAKS in need of therapy, but that doesn't stop her from spending a lot of downtime sifting through them for the good stuff  for "opposition research"  (gotta stay one step ahead of the freaks, after all).  Yes, they keep downvoting her anonymous suggestion for a story contest themed, "Tabby finds a cure and true love" but surely eventually someone will cover that topic- (...an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards...) .   Sometimes it's just nice to not to feel so isolated- to imagine that something she's missing is really present- without so much freakiness (if she ignores a few paragraphs/pages/chapters/doesn't-click-past-the-title).   

 

That is, of course, until the next time she encounters those fanfic matches IRL...

[Grey-Ghost]

Grey-Ghost, (Robert) although he was married before back in Praetoria, it was to his childhood sweetheart, so he literally had never really dated before. After she died and he came to Paragon, his life changed quite a bit. He is quite clueless romantically and had to clued in by his friend Elowynn that ladies were interested in him.  Eventually he got the nerve to ask his, now girlfriend,  Misty if she was flirting with him.  Once she said she was, they began dating.  Now they've moved in together and he's very happy.  She is warm, honest, and kind and has helped him through a lot of trauma.  He's still pretty clueless sometimes, but she is patient with him.  He makes her breakfast in the morning before they go to work and always checks in on her to make sure she is well.  Some day he hopes to marry her, but remains clueless on how to ask.

 

Brick.Wall (Richard)  never had a long term relationship until he fell in love with a former Seer from Praetoria.  Unfortunately that ended badly, because she did not love him back.  Heartbroken Richard had a long talk with his friend Risa who helped straighten him out emotionally and kept him from riding off into the sunset.  This was fortunate, because not a week later, a beautiful woman named Trixie came into his life.  She was a legend among heroes and he had heard a lot about her but didn't really approach her.  Fortunately for Richard, she approached, and began flirting with him.  He flirted back in a friendly matter, not expecting anything, but inadvertently asked her to dinner, which she accepted. Although their first two dates were chaperoned by her best friend, eventually, on their third date, they got some alone time and had a fun time at a jazz club.  Richard became smitten and fell in love with Trixie.  They are currently dating.

 

Peanut-Butter (Peter) He's 11, so girls can be friends, but kissing is weird. So Yuck! Though some girls are pretty.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Grey-Ghost

[White Cobra]

((This is an introductory story about heiress Rei Mizuni and her somewhat alternative approach to romantic affiliations))

Display screen numbers started changing rapidly in response to the elevator’s descent from the penthouse towards the ground floor.

Chris Case shifted his feet in what he self-diagnosed as slightly nervous anticipation. He had never done anything like this before, but the budget of an up-and-coming actor was tight, and the paycheck was just too good to pass on. Besides, it was a social escort job purely, so there was nothing unethical about it, or so he tried to convince himself.

As the elevator reached the ground floor, he braced himself for what shock might meet him when the doors opened. Given the salary on offer, she would most likely reveal herself as something resembling a Devouring Earth and Failed Experiment hybrid on a bad hair day, but it was just for a few hours, and then he wouldn’t have to worry about his finances for the foreseeable future.

The elevator doors opened, and the creature emerged. He gulped.

She was…ravishing. The cerise dress went just above the knees and hugged her slender figure in what he could only describe as seductive elegance, accentuated by pumps in matching shade and a pink diamond necklace.

She closed the distance between them, surprising him with a mix between a curtsy and a polite bow.

“I am Rei, Mizuni Rei. It is my pleasure.”

“But…you look…stunning…” He hadn’t meant to say it like that, or for that matter at all, but he was still struggling to recover from the surprise.

“That is most generous compliment. But there is no reason you should pretend before we are arrived at the party.”

“But…”

A giant shadow towered up behind him. Chris turned cautiously and gulped again. The man was built like a mountain gorilla on steroids. The young heiress gestured towards the giant and smiled.

“This is Mouse. He is in charge about my security.”

Moments later they were in the backseat of an indigo Lexus. After some minutes of awkward silence, he braved the question nagging his mind.

“Can I ask - why are you doing this? The whole escort arrangement I mean?”

Dark eyes looked at him in apparent puzzlement.

“It is obvious, I would think. I wish to…how do you say…portray…myself as romantically and socially eligible person for this event.”

“But…there must be others. Real suitors?” He looked around cautiously, really hoping this wasn’t some kind of prank or candid camera.

“There is Nakayima-san, I suppose.” She said it with the hint of a scowl reshaping her still exquisite features.

“An ex-boyfriend?”

“It is more like business rival.”

“Oh - what is it you do exactly?”

“I am CEO of Mizuni Holdings.” She paused and smiled proudly, “Perhaps you are aware already about this Zaibatsu group of companies?”

“I…uh…don’t follow business much…”

“I see.” She folded her arms across the chest and her eyes went from dark-brown to black. “Well it is quite understandable I suppose that you should not have this prior …how do you say…acquaintance. It is after all only most modest business conglomerate.”

The rest of the journey went by in silence and with the young CEO’s eyes still moonlighting as black flamethrowers. Chris couldn’t help thinking that even the sulking became her. As the car pulled up in front of what was either a very big mansion or a medium-sized castle, she finally spoke again.

“It is only required we shall make the brief appearance for them to see. Then you shall be…how do you say…relieved…from your duty.”

The prospect of a swift party exit was sweet music to Chris’ ears. Getting his payment was one thing, but he figured that playing his cards right, he might be able to continue this tête-à-tête with the breathtaking heiress under more private circumstances, and who knew what that could lead to…

The party went by in a rush, and it didn’t make much demand on his acting skills to feign affection for the Japanese beauty attached to his arm. Before he knew it, they were back in the Lexus and rapidly approaching the Mizuni Tower building where Rei’s penthouse was waiting. Now it was just a question of making his move.  He took a deep breath…

The soft tone of her voice lured him out of his reverie.

“Pardon?” He looked at her quizzically, enjoying her smile.

“As I did say, you have performed your role most admirably. Mouse will make sure the payment is…how do you say…augmented…with the most well-deserved tip.”

“Uh…great, thank you…but listen…how do you say, if we…”

“I must apologize about to interrupt you in my haste. But I have in shortest moment most important teleconference. I hope you will spend a most pleasant evening.” In a flash she was out of the car.

Chris sighed. The whole evening had been surreal, so it was perhaps no wonder it ended in a Cinderella-style vanish. Unfortunately, there was no glass slipper left behind for him to keep, only the huge wad of cash presented to him by Mouse.

He sighed again and could only hope that Rei Mizuni would soon have another party or charity event to attend and still be in need of an escort.

[White Cobra]

((A story about the Lady Cobra and an online dating site.))

Emily Chang had never closely studied a dating site application form before.

But the Lonely-hearts Fiend, as he had been dubbed, had an Asian fetish and at least three of his victims had been members of Madam Wong’s Heavenly Romance site, so it was time for the Lady Cobra to put herself out there as bait.

As she scrolled over the various information boxes – some required, some voluntary – she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like, if she were actually joining the site in pursuit of romance or – dare she say – love.

The temperature of her love life could challenge scientific consensus on the Absolute Zero. There had been no one before William, and after … well, it had taken a long time licking the wounds, and she was still not quite over the relational phantom limb pain.

So, unless she was on a mission or patrol, evenings for her were spent in solitude reading romantic poetry and listening to Mong Gei Ta on repeat. For variance, she might alternate between the Teresa Teng and Shirley Kwan versions, but the underlying vibe of self-pitying loneliness was unmistakable.

She had tried nightclubs a few times. But when she wasn’t on a mission or in disguise, it just didn’t work for her. As herself, she never knew what to say. So perhaps online dating would be the way to go for real. But first, she had to make sure that the Lonely-hearts Fiend was rendered harmless and caught.

“Name” the box said.

She pondered what to respond. Anything involving Emily or Chang was a no-go of course. She briefly considered Mary Tzu, but this was probably no occasion for jokes. Then, as another thought of her own depressing social life clouded her mind and she started yet another YouTube Mong Gei Ta, she smiled to herself and entered “Teresa Kwan”.

She finished filling out the application and found a profile photo that would hopefully speak to the predator’s preference.

Emily hit “submit application” and sighed, reaching for her current poetry book as another Mong Gei Ta started up.

Now she could only wait and hope that the Fiend would take the bait.

Edited December 20, 2021 by White Cobra