dramadramaduck | (no subject)

[giggling. all the giggling]

You might have opened a can of worms there.

Perhaps. But if it is as important as this 'internet' would have me believe, then it would be irresponsible of me as a leader to ignore its potential.

All right. It goes by a few names, but I've seen "yaoi" and "slash" the most. It's usually fanfiction and sometimes it can be smutty, but it's always romance between two male characters.

Are you implying that the gender of two partners plays an important role in the romantic fiction of your world?

More about attraction. Some people are attracted to the opposite gender, some people to the same gender, some people don't mind either way, and some aren't attracted to anyone at all. And then some people may consider their genders to be different from just male or female anyway. So there's a lot of leeway there, but most professional romantic fiction centers on male/female pairings. So a lot of fanfiction tries to make a push for same-gender writing, but most of that focuses just on male/male.

But that...

How...

Why? That is such a foolish way to delineate romantic attraction.

You're acting like we have a choice who we're attracted to. Or what gender.

It simply surprises me that you delineate your preferences by such an odd construct. Certainly there are some worlds in my universe that also have such archaic systems but...form? Class? Social standing? all these are far better ways of dividing attractions.

I mean...by this system I would be "yaoi" and that is just...silly.

There are still places in my world where class and social standing come into play more than orientation. They're considered barriers.

Indeed. One can hardly be immortal and expect to have the same kind of love as a short-lived person. Or to be trained in espionage and easily love artists who speak only truth.

So we try not to worry about that and make it work. It's not a reason to look for someone. It's something to overcome.

Perhaps. True Love is forbidden to my caste, so I would not know.

Why would it be forbidden?

Because the love of the individual can blind us to the love of humanity.

It doesn't have to be that way. Sometimes, loving an individual person can give you a sense of the importance of the general.

And when that individual dies, one can lose all hope and descend into madness. Humanity as a whole could last beyond any one lifetime. One is far more important than the other.

There's a saying: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. And we understand that. Loving one person doesn't necessarily make you lose sight of that.

Perhaps. But that is a danger that would be best not to test, correct?

Sometimes, you don't have a choice. If you find yourself falling in love, denying your feelings may help for a short time, but the longer it goes on, the harder it'll make everything.

There are epic tales told in my universe about how wrong that ideology. And historic record shows that Vara herself once requested a lover blow up a sun for her...and so besotted was he that he obliged, thus forcing his whole solar system to fall beyond.

Those with power should never love, lest their power be destabilized and chaos reign down upon their subjects.

There are tales told both ways in my world. Forbidden lovers who thought their love might end the feud between their families, but they were only proven right through death. An army made up entirely of lovers fought to the death to protect one another, and when the king of the opposing army realized what they had done, he threatened to kill anyone who would speak ill of them. The women of a castle under siege were allowed to live and take anything they could carry, so they carried their husbands out, and the enemy king had to hold to his word.

Love itself doesn't make someone strong or weak. It just amplifies whatever's already there.

Perhaps such tails of heroics and love are appropriate for those who live for but a hundred years.

For those of us who live longer, however...the darkness and pain of humanity is far more of a danger. Perhaps a short-lifer might have equal good and ill in them and the good is shown through their love. But among my kind, there is much suffering we must hide. And if love shows ones deepest desires and amplifies all...well, with the power we possess and the horrors we have seen, there could be little left of the galaxy when we were done venting our darkness.

Isn't that inner darkness something that would be dangerous regardless of love?

Yes, but we can control it. That is part of the reason we are trained to repress our emotions. And why we value High Compassion so much.

I can't say I agree with everything, but I do understand.

(no subject)

elloran - 2014-08-18 12:17 (UTC) - Expand