#risuresponds

NOTP Zelos and Genis. Not only does their extremely disparate maturity levels make this feel kind of Bad, personally, I just. Do not see a world in which they ever have more in common than liking Lloyd and Colette. While Zelos is probably self-destructive enough to enter a relationship that's not good for him (see below) even if he knows it's bad, I just don't see Genis wanting a relationship, ever, with someone he doesn't like, and Genis will never like Zelos. Accept, sure. Acknowledge, maybe eventually. But not like.

BROTP This was really hard XD it was rough picking between the characters Zelos has potentially fascinating interactions with...but I think I'll pick Colette. Chosen4Chosen platonic angst and maybe, hopefully, a little bit learning how to be human together.

OTP Lloyd, obviously.

Second choice pairing Hm, I think this is almost more basic than the OTP choice, but I actually quite enjoy Sheena and Zelos as a pairing, too. Specifically only if they're a little fucked up, though. Like Sheena has contributed to Zelos's spiraling self-worth, and Zelos has dismissed and belittled Sheena with casual misogyny, and their whole friendship has been rife with distrust. But, despite that, they know each other pretty well--in a universe where they finally were honest about how they were both hurting, I think there's a path to reconciliation that could easily become both compelling and romantic.

Fluffy pairing I mean...Zelloyd? Lol. Zelos is a very angsty character, so the only way I think to get a fluffy pairing out of him is to put him with a very upbeat character, and our upbeat characters in ToS who have enough chemistry with him to be interesting are...Sheena (see above), Colette (Chosen/Chosen could never be fluffy lmao I'm sorry), Genis (who would not be fluffy with Zelos), and Lloyd. You see my dilemma. I'm cheating and saying Zelloyd again.

Angsty pairing Zelos is like an instant angst flavor packet lmao there's too many choices. Okay, in seriousness, while I acknowledge the angst potential of the Chosens and also of something like Zelos/Mithos or Zelos/Regal (that one could arguably have a happy ending), I think my favorite angsty pairing is fairly basic. It's Zelos and Hilda. I think they could easily be forced into a public courtship or marriage, and they would both hate it, but while Hilda would be allowed to show her disdain, Zelos would hide it, and they would end up in an endless feedback loop of hatred and pettiness and resentment, all the while reinforcing the worst traits in each other. It would be toxic and destructive and the kind of thing that would probably lead to multiple tragic plays and epics.

Poly ship While I do have a soft spot for Sheena/Zelos/Lloyd, I think my favorite poly ship is the one I like to call "The Adults are Talking," and it's Raine, Regal, and Zelos. I could very much see a situation where the three of them have a mutual and open FWB thing going on when the stress of what the rest of the Sylvarant Squad is up to gets to be too much that eventually leads to some genuine vulnerability and intimacy.

8. To what degree do you use your OC as a means to explore your own romantic proclivities (or shortcomings)?... A...lot. Lmao. Like a ton. Most of what I know about myself and my relationship to romance and sex comes from the stories I have read (and how I react to them) and the stories I write. But, to be honest, usually I don't know what a given story is going to teach me until I write it. For example, I never considered that I might have a dominant aspect of my personality until I started to explore the sexual tension between Yrrce and Ayumo. I never considered how my own difficulty rejecting people could lead to more pain down the line until I explored that as an aspect of Elex (TWC). I didn't really understand the degree and flavor of my ace-ness until I started thinking about Inky (FF14) and her relationship to attraction vs. fantasy. So, often, I find that even when I start out with a character who has a romantic inclination that I initially think is just an interesting personality trait to explore, the desire to explore that tends to come from something inside me that's asking to be interrogated. OCs are a low-stakes way for me to do that.

25. ...Can you give an example of someone who is particularly good at writing or otherwise portraying romantic and/or sexual relationships?... Basically every author I follow on tumblr? My mutuals are exceptionally talented.

That said, I have a particular fondness for @floreswrites's works. He has a way of inextricably linking identity to romance so that the characters feel quite three-dimensional. And, there's always this aspect of tension in his works. Usually it's pining and angst at its core, but the tension never feels contrived or like a pure plot device, so its resolution is an immense catharsis both for the relationship and personally for the characters involved. That's not to say that being in a relationship is the end-all-be-all of personal development in his work; he does an excellent job of showing that relationships are stories unto themselves rather than a hand-wave happy ending, but still.

I can't really answer the sexual part of this question well since I tend to focus more on the romantic fulfillment that comes out of sex due to my own biases. But any author who can write a sex scene that feels pleasant for me personally to read has my admiration because I don't even know how to do that yet. It's a work in progress.

32. [nested questions, difficult to summarize, shhh, the text is in the ask <3] My personal type, when it comes to OCs, comes down to characters who tick one of two boxes: (a) characters who use flirting/charm to deflect from their own insecurities, and/or (b) characters who struggle with unconditional acceptance and love because that was withheld from them in their backstory. These two archetypes often overlap. I don't think this "type" extends to my actual preferences, because the partner to those types of characters often takes on a sort of savior role, and that's not really a recipe for a healthy relationship IRL 9 times out of 10, but in fiction? Delicious.

I can't answer every part of this question for every OC, but I do have three notable examples of romantic development that kind of address this question.

First up is Inky, who I initially thought was not going to have a love interest, and if she did, that it would never in a million years be the two people she ended up with. I didn't create her with the goal of "romancing" anyone in FF14, and so when Heavensward finished up with no signs of her being attracted to anyone, I thought she would just be the ultimate platonic Scion soulmate.

And then in came Thancred with a steel chair, fulfilling her childhood dashing-hero dreams in a very real, tangible way, now with the form of someone she had time to get to know as a good friend and who accepted her for everything she was, and I had a very real oh no moment. Then, the two of them broke up during/after Shadowbringers, and I was very content with the idea of that relationship just having been a small part of their story--until Urianger came in with a whole adamantite throne and not only saved Inky's relationship with Thancred, but managed to--despite being the only Scion she didn't fully click with for four expansions--develop in a direction that made them just as endearing and attractive to her. And now she has two boyfriends. So that was a fun surprise.

Second in the interesting ships list is Ytelarien and @undyingembers's Lenarius/Lenosa. We had an RP with the two of them where they met in an alternate reality that was ongoing for some time (but unfortunately hasn't been for a few years now--mostly my fault). Despite both of them having other "canon" love interests, there was a level of tension between them in the RP that developed quite naturally, even if we never got to pursuing it properly. It surprised me how compatible the two of them were despite also having a good deal of friction. Maybe someday that will be fun to explore again and see what happens.

Third is an example where I did noticeably change the OC involved. One of my longer-running D&D characters, Montgomery, underwent a massive personality shift about two sessions into playing him because I realized that, since I was the only player in the group with experience playing D&D, the other players were looking to my character for leadership, despite me not having designed him that way initially. For the sake of the group dynamic and making sure that the sessions weren't emotionally distressing to the other players, I talked to the DM and altered Montgomery's personality behind the scenes to take him (away from the fantasy-Silicon Valley rich kid who needed to learn how to be a real person) and shift him to a young man whose queerness--in all senses of the word--had left him contorting in all the wrong ways to try and earn love and approval.

As a direct result of that change, a romance became possible with one of his party members, Lorelei, that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. I didn't make the shift with the end goal of romance in mind, but considering that Montgomery and Lorelei's relationship is one of my favorites that I've ever been a part of writing, it hits me a lot just how close I came to never experiencing it if I hadn't altered his backstory and personality.