#romanceeeee

I was tagged by my dear husband @theskeletonprior! Thank you for tagging me! Hmmm... I think I shall tag @jess-p-edits, @the-void-writes and @thelittlestspider Plz tag me in your responses so I can read about your characters! I love romance and affection and intimacy in writing so very much, so I'd love to hear <3

FEMI Protectiveness which comes for much more than bodily safety is the fiercest show of love she knows. There are things that can be damaged that take longer to heal than flesh and bone, and those things she will protect and honor for those she holds dear. There's also the fact that there's always something that can be given to offer comfort and contentment, a kiss or a meal or a kind word, even things given in pain if she can give them will be given out of love. Caring for others is, to Femi, about being a safe place to land, a haven in storms and being an external source of honor, validation and respect. When she cares for someone, she takes it upon herself to represent them, defend them, and most of all carry the truth of their personhood in completion and with the grace to love their flaws as much as their virtues.

MERCUTIO For someone who thinks surely his love is some sort of curse, he is quick to give it up and share it, and not quick to let it go out. He's steadfastly loving in a quiet, subservient way. Love is sacrifice, a free fall of giving up and giving up and giving up, and hoping what's given back is enough to not leave you emptied out. Luckily he makes himself difficult enough to handle that people who will leave do leave quickly, which is best for them, even if he'll quietly love them long after they're gone. He's got a hyperbolic idea of what love is supposed to look like, and has to remind himself that there are small gestures which count for it, that aren't just passing fancy or simple kindness. Small things can be love too, not just kneeling to wash feet or hanging oneself from a tree, it's not always the ultimate sacrifice or the most blatant show of humility. He shows love in those tiny ways constantly, without even knowing he's doing it and someone who knows this truth about love better than him might see he is being loving long before he realizes it.

IPHIGENIA Iphigenia believes that the business of loving anything or anyone is to know it inside and out, better than anyone. To love something well, you must understand it, be able to care for it expertly, to sometimes do what's best for it even if it doesn't know any better. They've poured this sort of love into understanding the natural and supernatural world, but when that love is turned on people, it's often arduous. People are unpredictable at best and everything requires subjective context in a way Iphigenia can't apply their scientific mind to. But learning and failing and trying again, better, that's love even more than knowing with certainty when it comes to people. Love is a wonderful, difficult experiment and for them no matter how small or large the hypothesis, being willing to try, fail, try again better, is how they show they care to see conclusive results.

DOLCEZZA It's really rather simple. Give what you can, forgive what can't be given, love like it is the last moment you'll see each other and like you've the rest of your lives to play at it all at once. Love must have grace and humor and humility. Love is virtuous, even a cruel, evil person can have it and be at least said to be human. It's important too, to let love lead-- there's a lot of love missed by listening to good, cautious sense. Love is simple, but it certainly isn't about being sensible. It's a beautiful, quietly consuming madness, and Dolcezza lets it rule him, lets every impulse to kiss or give or run or share go answered, even if it's scary or humiliating. Those sorts of feelings only live long if they win out, but those fear born emotions never worth the trouble of not expressing love. LEOPOLD Leopold has loved and lost so much that the two are inextricable from each other, so loving is a constant preparation for loss. That means all the time spent must be meaningful and sincere, that memories must be made and all the details should be retained. The risk has to be worth it, and if it is, you cannot turn back, you shouldn't. And of course there's loyalty. Loyalty is even above love, to Leo- even if you've fallen out of love in some way, even if there's love without liking or fondness, loyalty can't be rescinded. It's owed, for earning his love, even if you've lost it along the way. So even if the love has long gone, you could pick up the phone years after that dwindling and call on Leopold's loyalty and help and he would give it willingly.