#biswee

Note: I kinda refer to Boo almost like they're a character? Just know that "Boo" and "Listener" are interchangeable here ^^.

Another thing I really like about Bittersweet is Boo, and how the narrative is not afraid to treat them like an actual person. Or rather, how the narrative doesn't coddle them.

A real standout moment for me, one which caught me off guard on my first watch was Chapter 1 Episode 6 during Alphonse's confrontation with Seth, and ofc his blowup at Boo. Since BS was my first delve into longer form/narrative ASMR roleplay, I was coming in from the perspective of someone who'd mostly listened to typical bf asmr. The kind where the listener ftmp does no wrong (no shade ofc). So it definitely surprised me, but I found myself really into it.

Because, to be real, I agreed with Alphonse in that moment. Even though Boo's actions did result in Seth/Al's reconnection, they still overstepped a boundary without asking first. That was invasive, and unfair, imo. And Alphonse responding the way he did made sense. And the fact that Alphonse's feelings didn't have to be tempered or omitted for the sake of Boo/the listener speaks a lot to how well BS was written, and specifically how it trusted it's audience to be intelligent and mature enough to handle the conflict. And I like that a whole lot.

I think it's also worth noting that, while Alphonse and Seth care dearly for Boo, and want them to be safe, it never feels as though Boo is some sort of damsel that cannot survive outside of their line of sight. We see this in Chapter 3 Episode 3, where, though understandably nervous, Alphonse leaves Boo in the car while he and Seth handle business, trusting that Boo is capable of handling themself, even in a high stress situation like the one they were in. And ofc it's regularly alluded to that Boo is notorious for taking things into their own hands (hell, we see it towards the end of the same chapter when they literally smoke Derek 😭 ts was crazy), but I think their agency, and the other character's trust in them once again speaks to why I enjoy them and the plot so much.

Helpless characters tend to be a drag imo, quite literally in cases where the other characters are forced to drag them around in order to ensure their safety. Especially in situations that present lots of danger, it's extremely annoying to me. E s p e c i a l l y when it comes to insert content. I feel as though it simultaneously centers and excludes the listener/reader from the events of the plot. Centering in that it makes it so the characters must have their attention on the listener the whole time, but excluding in that, because the listener is entirely reliant on the other characters to handle things and to take care of them, they don't actually get to, ya know 👁👁 do anything. Like, it's kinda a snooze. I like how that consistency isn't the case with Boo. In fact, I think it's reasonable to say that the majority of the major story beats rely on Boo's involvement, which I prefer for insert stories.

I also want to touch on is pedestals and autism. As far of the former goes, I was kinda getting my life at the fact that Alphonse dispelled any worried Boo/listener might have had about him putting them on some pedestal. The plot acknowledges Boo as a fully formed, three dimensional person but so does Al. And from a listener perspective, I find that cathartic. Because, holy shit, being expected to maintain some unspoken images of yourself for a person is e x h a u s t i n g. And to be known fully, or as fully as someone can, and be accepted and loved all the same, in fact because of all of your facets, is real as hell.

The final thing I wanna touch on is autism, and how it effected my enjoyment of these elements of BS. That is to say, as an autistic person, an autistic adult with fluctuating support needs and interests that are seen as "childish", hell as a disabled person in general, experiencing a listener that gets to experience tenderness without being damn near infantalized to achieve it is EVERYTHING. Y'all aren't gonna get the tea on my day to day, but I think part of why I keep going back to BS might have something to do with my lived experience and how agency is very often stripped from you when someone realizes you're autistic. People become distrusting of your ability to accomplish simple tasks, let alone hard ones. Or worse off, they treat you like a baby that cannot navigate your way through conflict, danger, or even your own emotions.

And though none of the characters attempt to inhibit Boo out of some warped idea that they're incapable (like I mentioned before, it's well known that the opposite is true), seeing Boo take the reigns again and again, to see how much they're genuinely respected, and their resilience without having to downplay that which is soft about them means a lot to me.