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Author's Note: This blog is not meant to offend or bash anyone associated with characters mentioned in this blog. Characters used are used as base examples to save time with me making up my own. People will RP the way they want, regardless of whether it bugs me or not. And I'm fine with that. This blog is simply my take on how romance should be played up. Felt I should add this.
So you and another member of a forum or game based RP (such as the many found inside the Warcraft 3 Battlenet community) have agreed that your characters will begin a romance. Bravo and congratulations. You've taken the first step towards either:
1. A brutal failure that will scar the eyes of any who are made to scroll thru it and is there for the sole purpose of getting both writers' hot and bothered.
or
2. A wonderful piece of co-writing that not only speaks wonders about your characters, but also has a bearing on the story and how it could turn out.
'But Nron,' you say, 'how do we know if we're making one or the other?' An excellent question, one that has some very simple answers which I will be happy to share with you, my dear (and most likely bored) reader.
____________________________________________________________________________
It is far easier to tell when you are managing to ruin the concept of romance and 'love' than it is to tell when you're creating something worth reading. The main things that will tip you off are:
1. Overuse of 'Love at First Sight'
2. Going red in the face and blushing at the smallest of things.
3. Going from platonic strangers to full blown, bodily fluid exchanging lovers in the space of 20 posts.
[spoiler='Hey.' 'Hi.' "Ohgodiwantyouinsidemerightnow!']Yet another self explanatory point. This ties in directly with point one. When two character have just met and exchange hardly 5 lines of dialogue before one confesses their 'love' and the two proceed to bang the living daylights out of each other it not only feels forced and poorly written, it feels as if the writers just wanted an excuse to make some slashy fan fiction staring their own character.
What's worse is when this is caused by some form of special power/charm/potion/spell used by one or both characters. Unless a very well thought out reason is given for such things, you may as well just title all of the corresponding posts as 'Personal Fapfiction'.
A recent example (No names will be given) is of a character who is an Incubus, a demon notorious for RAPING women in religious and mythological texts (He's just one step below a Twilight vampire). Said Incubus is a kind hearted soul who has the power of attraction and, using said power, he makes a previously uninterested character fall madly in love and they begin to practically finger each other in public. To make matters worse, the moment a villain attacks (in the vain hope of another player to break up the fapfic) the two completely ignore the fireball tossing lunatic and retire to the backroom of a bar to bone like mad.
Truly, this sub-plot had a purpose. That purpose was to fill trashcans with tissues.
[/spoiler]
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Now for how to tell when you're making a masterpiece of romance.
1. Attraction Builds
[spoiler='I've known you for three years, and in that time I've come to realize what an intelligent and wonderful woman you are.']---Baron von Stereotype had known the kindly Huntress for about a year. When they first met he couldn't have disliked her more, constantly bashing her lack of class or a proper upbringing. Slowly though, after the two had saved one anothers' necks more than once, the Baron found that he was openly complimenting her in and after battle, even giving advice on small matters now and then. It wasn't long before he began to ask her to accompany him on some form of guild work, be it a safe job where the two could spend otherwise boring carriage rides talking or taking work as mercenaries, assaulting keeps and storming cultist roosts.
He found that he enjoyed having her around him, that her company not only made him more confident, but also left him able to put his guard down, to let go of some of the stress that had been eating away at him for so long. Now though, he fully realizes the extent of his attraction. Perhaps, just maybe, he is in love. ---
That's right. You read correctly. Attraction grows (Or shrinks) as you get to know a person better. A five minute coffee talk might let you figure out what kind of music they like or where they went to school but it's nothing compared to months or years of being around someone, learning about them as time passes and growing to realize, slowly, that you may be in love.
While I realize that this isn't exactly easy for most people to do in an RP (subtlety for most Role players being a bull in a china shop) it certainly isn't hard to get the hang of. Unless characters have known each other for quite some time beforehand (be it mentioned in backgrounds or in-character conversations) it is rather difficult for readers to accept that 'Hey! These two are really emotionally connected.'
Furthermore, just because a character is attractive should not instantly make them some kind of instantly desirable object. Some of the best romances I've witnessed in RP came from character who were rather plain or dull looking, with no overly outstanding physical features. They were simply people, though they may have had special powers or may have no even been human to begin with. Perhaps that is why those stories worked so well. They were about normal looking characters instead of your standard BishÅ nen characters.
[/spoiler]
2. Keeping in Mind Their Personality
[spoiler='Want to hold hands?' She said to the demon. The demon, for his part, grabbed a hold of her hand and crushed every bone inside it.]So the Emotionless Samurai has met a girl whom, he admits, he is quite taken with. The two have worked up their relationship, starting out as employer and bodyguard. Now though, he realized that he may very well be falling for her. So what happens when the girl requests that the Samurai stand guard over her that night as she sleeps, as he has done over three dozen nights before?
He bloody well stands guard and doesn't go blushing or babbling or stuttering because of it. He isn't an eleven year old who's just been confessed to by the prettiest girl in school. He is a samurai, a warrior trained to hone and control not only his body and mind, but also his emotions. Just because he is taken with a girl won't be affecting how he acts to her on the job. Sure, he may take a few extra risks to keep her safe now, but he wont be blushing or tripping over his speech just because he has to sit next to her on their drawn cart.
His personality (and background) has been remembered and as such the character can go about his duty without seeming like everything up to this point was an act to make readers think he was 'cool'.
[/spoiler]
3. Surroundings and Events
[spoiler='Baby! Why are you stopping?' "Woman! A missile literally just blew a hole thru our hull. Men and women are dead or dying! I happen to be the doctor on this vessel!"]So Lieutenant Badass and Combat Nun McMary have hooked up. It's official. The two are swapping saliva and preparing to retire to the nearby bombed out library to get in a quick snog before the final assault on the citadel of the infamous Doctor Insano. But whats this? A surprise counter attack by the Insano-bots? However will our heroes react?
By grabbing their damned weapons and kicking some robot ass that's how. They may share a Crowning Moment of Awesome, sharing one last passionate kiss whilst firing over each other's shoulder to take out some incoming 'bots (adding no small bit of humor into the story) but once that's done, by god do they divide and conquer!
Just because your characters have been waiting months or even years to do the deed does not instantly excuse them from partaking in The Big Fight, The Last Job or, god forbid, ditching out halfway thru the Generic Undead Uprising to bump uglies behind the corpse piles burning in the streets.
A writer should always be conscious about what is going on in a story, no matter how small. Even if the writer is taken by surprise by something as insane as, well, Dr. Insano and his Insano-bots that writer should still be prepared to drop everything the characters are doing to deal with the situation.
That isn't to say one couldn't use that as a moment of humor though. Two characters in the middle of 'The Act' could be made, comically, to mistake the shuddering of a star ship's shields being struck by laser fire and rocking the entire ship for some intense 'action', so long as they stop for a moment eventually and realize, 'Wait... was the port side window ALWAYS such a huge gaping hole with only a force field to keep us from being sucked into the black void of space?'
[/spoiler]
UPDATE: Due to me being pestered to do so, I've added the last of my part in Monster High to here as an example.
No sound escaped the void, nor did any living creature. The void was closed off from the world, nothing would be able to pass thru the void.
Nothing but a song. It started quietly, almost undetectable to the ear. Quickly though it grew in volume, encompassing the entire island.
Malagnis found himself wandering a black and barren plane where nothing lived and nothing grew. The sky was red as blood and the moon shining down upon him was tainted brown. Malagnis found that no matter how far he walked he never seemed to get any closer to his goal, a simple one room hut on the opposite side of a flowing river. The river oozed along, it's waters murky and black.
The song continued to ring out across the barren plane, bringing with it memories of the past. Painful memories. Sickening memories. Malagnis found his body being racked with pains. It began in one of his shoulders, the pain so intense that he began to tear at the afflicted area, eventually tearing off his own shoulder. To his own horror his shoulder did not grow back. Instead, the pain transferred to a new part of his body.
As he continued to tear at his own body, slowly ripping himself apart, the bones shattering as they hit the ground, Malagnis was filled with an overwhelming sense of self-loathing and guilt. He saw the faces of all those he had destroyed over his lifetime, each and every one of their faces becoming etched in his mind.
Malagnis had never feared anything. He was invincible, having consumed the bodies of the living, the dead, and the immortal alike. Gods and devils had found their way into his being, his power growing each time. None had ever defeated him. Until now.
Now he was afraid. He feared the pains that were forcing him to tear apart his own form, tearing away at a lifetime of destruction. He feared the faces that flashed before his eyes, their looks of hatred and anguish filling him with dread. He feared death, the prospect of what awaited him, he who had ended the lives of millions, almost overwhelming him.
Eventually the pain was all but gone. And so was Malagnis' form. Where once he had been a giant construct of bone and sinew, he was now nothing more than a normal looking skeleton, still quite tall but far from the threatening abomination he had once been. He had collapsed to the ground where he was clawing at his own head, his real head, trying as hard as he could to get rid of the pain. If only he could stop the pain! Stop the pain! STOP THE PAIN! STOPTHEPAINSTOPTHEPAINSTOPTHEPAI-
"Why are you crying?" A soft, gentle voice said above him. Malagnis stopped trying to tear off his own skull, looked up. There, standing over him with a quizzical look on her face, stood The Child.
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"Why are you crying?" The Child said again, her voice gentle and sad. She was standing over Malagnis, her soft glow still present. Malagnis wasn't sure what she was talking about until he noticed small droplets of water hitting the black, barren ground. Reaching up, his fingers came away wet. He was crying.
This realization only made him cry all the more, a wailing cry echoing throughout the barren plane as tears flowed out of his empty eyesockets. His body shuddered with each sob, his bones rattling as each cry racked his body further. And The Child smiled, a small sad smile. And she drew him to her and held him.
And soon they were both crying, The Child's tears mixing with Malagnis'. They held each other as they cried, pouring out their sorrow and their grief, at lives lost and lives taken. They had both committed atrocities on a scale that was almost incalculable, taking but never giving back.
And now they could finally realize the truth, here in this barren world where nothing changed, nothing grew, and nothing lived.
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Eventually there was nothing left for the two to cry over, nothing left to regret. They continued to hold each other long after the tears had stopped falling, long after they had dried up and the barren land had fallen quiet again, their wails and sobs silenced. When they finally stood they stood together, hand in hand. The Child gave Malagnis' skeletal hand a squeeze and smiled up at him. He, in turn, reached down and brushed one last drying tear from her cheek.
The two made their way to the river, the waters no longer oozing, but instead flowing red. As they made their way across the red waters and onto the shore opposite The Child remembered a legend, long lost to the world.
The story spoke of a being of old, one of the first to walk the earth. The being was worshiped as a god by a certain tribe consisting of both monsters and human. The god was a benevolent being, who asked nothing of those who worshiped him. But the people were not satisfied with simply living their lives in homage to their god.
Instead they came to the conclusion that the only way to truly appease their god was to sacrifice to him the most precious thing they had: A life. And so the first child born upon the blood moon was chosen. The child was given no name, for her sole purpose in life was to be devoured by the god her people so worshiped.
When the child came of age she was sent out into the deep woods in which the god of her people was known to dwell. Eventually the child came upon a hut, small but sturdy. No animals could be seen around the area, having all fled ages ago. This was the home of her peoples' god. When she came closer to the hut a voice called out to her, clattering and snapping. She stopped and watched as the god of her people stepped out of the hut.
This god had no flesh, no blood, no muscle. And yet it moved and spoke in it's odd tongue. The god beckoned the child forward, asking why she had come, if she had a request from her people and if so, why had the priest of her people not come himself? The child told the god of her peoples' wish, to give a life to their god.
The god grew silent, his empty skull staring into the treetops. The child simply stood there, unsure of what to do. Her god had not yet taken her into himself, had not taken in her essence. Was she not pure enough? Was she not worthy enough? At the thought of this the child began to weep. She fell to the ground, he head in her hands as she wept, tears falling between her fingers to the ground below.
And then the god was there on the ground with her, holding her as she cried, his skeletal limbs encompassing her entirely, comforting her. When she had no more tears to cry, the god took her with him into his hut, inviting her to sit and stay with him awhile. The hut was simply, with only a bed made of cloth and moss and a low table that looked to have been crafted by one of her people.
The god set a small meal before the child, indicating that she should eat. While the child ate the god explained to her that he would not take her into himself, quickly making sure that she realized that this was not due to any fault of her own. Instead, the god decided, she would live with him, in his forest and in his hut.
And so it came to pass, that the child lived with the god and walked with the god, speaking to him at length and growing in knowledge of the world. When she had been a part of her people she had been kept in solitude, only being taught the most basic of things. The god however, shared with her his seemingly limitless knowledge of all the things in the world. And the child was happy.
After living with the god for many years the child was no longer a child but a young woman, beautiful to behold and with a voice as pure as moonlight. The woman found that she had, in the years spent with the god, grown to love him dearly and the god in turn was much the same. They were happy, for a time. Until the priest of the woman's people realized that their sacrifice of years ago had not given herself to their god.
They came in the night, during the blood moon, waving about their spears and their tools. They tore the woman away from the god's grasp, keeping him away and telling him that the woman was evil, that she had tricked him all these years. And they killed the woman right before the god, his wailing cries heard across the land.
And when the woman's blood began to soak in to the soil of the woods that they had walked together so many times, the god was driven to madness. The god set upon his people, slaughtering them in droves, and devouring their corpses, growing in size and in shape. He was no longer the benevolent god they once knew. He was a god of hatred and judgement, slaying those who had taken what was most precious to him.
When the blood moon had passed and the sun peeked over the treetops the land was in ruin, the people of the god all slain, even down to their smallest infant. And the god sat staring at the only body left in the land, that of a young woman who had been stabbed thru the heart. The god had not slain her, of that he was certain.
Yet the god could not remember who she was or how she had come to be there. The god could not even remember who he was, knowing only that he felt a burning hatred for all that lived and walked the earth, be it human or monster or immortal. And so the god walked the land, no longer a god, but a monster.
Malagnis turned to look at the woman now standing beside him in front of the hut that sat on the opposite side of the red river, her long glowing hair and kind eyes filling him with comfort, the soft sway of the woods that now surrounded them and the hut giving rise to feeling long forgotten. As they made their way into the hut, The Child realized that Malagnis may have forgotten the legend. But that was alright. There was plenty of time to remind him.
They had all eternity after all.
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Outside of the barren plane, the dark voids dissipated, leaving no trace that they had ever been.
It would be revealed later that day that across the world a strange song had been heard by all, driving many to suicide. The official global death toll ranged around 1 million though many more were suspected to be unaccounted for.
And the legend of the god and the child left the world along with those who passed, never to be remembered again.
And there you have it. This should be enough to let you know what to do with any romance you may encounter later on.
So you and another member of a forum or game based RP (such as the many found inside the Warcraft 3 Battlenet community) have agreed that your characters will begin a romance. Bravo and congratulations. You've taken the first step towards either:
1. A brutal failure that will scar the eyes of any who are made to scroll thru it and is there for the sole purpose of getting both writers' hot and bothered.
or
2. A wonderful piece of co-writing that not only speaks wonders about your characters, but also has a bearing on the story and how it could turn out.
'But Nron,' you say, 'how do we know if we're making one or the other?' An excellent question, one that has some very simple answers which I will be happy to share with you, my dear (and most likely bored) reader.
____________________________________________________________________________
Doing It Wrong
It is far easier to tell when you are managing to ruin the concept of romance and 'love' than it is to tell when you're creating something worth reading. The main things that will tip you off are:
1. Overuse of 'Love at First Sight'
I WUBBED JU DAH MOMNT I TAW JU
Now this isn't always a sure sign, but it is normally a good warning signal to alert you of when you are entering areas of writing that are best left in the cesspits.
While it is perfectly possible that people can fall in love at first sight, having it happen over and over is like taking the reader's suspension of disbelief and crushing it's windpipe under your boot.. Not subtle and extremely painful.
Attraction however, is natural. Being attracted to someone physically is nothing new and is always a good gateway towards actual romantic feelings. I'll discuss that in the 'Doing It Right' section.
This also ties into the third point.
While it is perfectly possible that people can fall in love at first sight, having it happen over and over is like taking the reader's suspension of disbelief and crushing it's windpipe under your boot.. Not subtle and extremely painful.
Attraction however, is natural. Being attracted to someone physically is nothing new and is always a good gateway towards actual romantic feelings. I'll discuss that in the 'Doing It Right' section.
This also ties into the third point.
2. Going red in the face and blushing at the smallest of things.
OMG HE LIEK, TOTALLY JUST ASKED ME WHAT I LIKE TO EAT!
This is rather self explanatory. When a character or two characters converse and one or both are constantly blushing despite their personalities having shown up to this point that they would not do so or that they should have no reason to do so.
A prime example which I've stolen from a RP I was in charge of years ago involved a 'cold blooded killer' and a 'naive young schoolgirl'. Upon simply asking him what kind of music he listens to, the killer's face reddens entirely and he begins to stutter. This is despite the fact that the 'killer' had had no problem speaking to the schoolgirl previously.
Why NOW would he be blushing if he has been able to speak to this girl without a problem for upwards of 3 In-RL days? This blush was not out of embarrassment over his music tastes, no. It was over the fact that she had asked him ABOUT his tastes.
A prime example which I've stolen from a RP I was in charge of years ago involved a 'cold blooded killer' and a 'naive young schoolgirl'. Upon simply asking him what kind of music he listens to, the killer's face reddens entirely and he begins to stutter. This is despite the fact that the 'killer' had had no problem speaking to the schoolgirl previously.
Why NOW would he be blushing if he has been able to speak to this girl without a problem for upwards of 3 In-RL days? This blush was not out of embarrassment over his music tastes, no. It was over the fact that she had asked him ABOUT his tastes.
3. Going from platonic strangers to full blown, bodily fluid exchanging lovers in the space of 20 posts.
[spoiler='Hey.' 'Hi.' "Ohgodiwantyouinsidemerightnow!']Yet another self explanatory point. This ties in directly with point one. When two character have just met and exchange hardly 5 lines of dialogue before one confesses their 'love' and the two proceed to bang the living daylights out of each other it not only feels forced and poorly written, it feels as if the writers just wanted an excuse to make some slashy fan fiction staring their own character.
What's worse is when this is caused by some form of special power/charm/potion/spell used by one or both characters. Unless a very well thought out reason is given for such things, you may as well just title all of the corresponding posts as 'Personal Fapfiction'.
A recent example (No names will be given) is of a character who is an Incubus, a demon notorious for RAPING women in religious and mythological texts (He's just one step below a Twilight vampire). Said Incubus is a kind hearted soul who has the power of attraction and, using said power, he makes a previously uninterested character fall madly in love and they begin to practically finger each other in public. To make matters worse, the moment a villain attacks (in the vain hope of another player to break up the fapfic) the two completely ignore the fireball tossing lunatic and retire to the backroom of a bar to bone like mad.
Truly, this sub-plot had a purpose. That purpose was to fill trashcans with tissues.
[/spoiler]
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Doing it Right
Now for how to tell when you're making a masterpiece of romance.
1. Attraction Builds
[spoiler='I've known you for three years, and in that time I've come to realize what an intelligent and wonderful woman you are.']---Baron von Stereotype had known the kindly Huntress for about a year. When they first met he couldn't have disliked her more, constantly bashing her lack of class or a proper upbringing. Slowly though, after the two had saved one anothers' necks more than once, the Baron found that he was openly complimenting her in and after battle, even giving advice on small matters now and then. It wasn't long before he began to ask her to accompany him on some form of guild work, be it a safe job where the two could spend otherwise boring carriage rides talking or taking work as mercenaries, assaulting keeps and storming cultist roosts.
He found that he enjoyed having her around him, that her company not only made him more confident, but also left him able to put his guard down, to let go of some of the stress that had been eating away at him for so long. Now though, he fully realizes the extent of his attraction. Perhaps, just maybe, he is in love. ---
That's right. You read correctly. Attraction grows (Or shrinks) as you get to know a person better. A five minute coffee talk might let you figure out what kind of music they like or where they went to school but it's nothing compared to months or years of being around someone, learning about them as time passes and growing to realize, slowly, that you may be in love.
While I realize that this isn't exactly easy for most people to do in an RP (subtlety for most Role players being a bull in a china shop) it certainly isn't hard to get the hang of. Unless characters have known each other for quite some time beforehand (be it mentioned in backgrounds or in-character conversations) it is rather difficult for readers to accept that 'Hey! These two are really emotionally connected.'
Furthermore, just because a character is attractive should not instantly make them some kind of instantly desirable object. Some of the best romances I've witnessed in RP came from character who were rather plain or dull looking, with no overly outstanding physical features. They were simply people, though they may have had special powers or may have no even been human to begin with. Perhaps that is why those stories worked so well. They were about normal looking characters instead of your standard BishÅ nen characters.
[/spoiler]
2. Keeping in Mind Their Personality
[spoiler='Want to hold hands?' She said to the demon. The demon, for his part, grabbed a hold of her hand and crushed every bone inside it.]So the Emotionless Samurai has met a girl whom, he admits, he is quite taken with. The two have worked up their relationship, starting out as employer and bodyguard. Now though, he realized that he may very well be falling for her. So what happens when the girl requests that the Samurai stand guard over her that night as she sleeps, as he has done over three dozen nights before?
He bloody well stands guard and doesn't go blushing or babbling or stuttering because of it. He isn't an eleven year old who's just been confessed to by the prettiest girl in school. He is a samurai, a warrior trained to hone and control not only his body and mind, but also his emotions. Just because he is taken with a girl won't be affecting how he acts to her on the job. Sure, he may take a few extra risks to keep her safe now, but he wont be blushing or tripping over his speech just because he has to sit next to her on their drawn cart.
His personality (and background) has been remembered and as such the character can go about his duty without seeming like everything up to this point was an act to make readers think he was 'cool'.
[/spoiler]
3. Surroundings and Events
[spoiler='Baby! Why are you stopping?' "Woman! A missile literally just blew a hole thru our hull. Men and women are dead or dying! I happen to be the doctor on this vessel!"]So Lieutenant Badass and Combat Nun McMary have hooked up. It's official. The two are swapping saliva and preparing to retire to the nearby bombed out library to get in a quick snog before the final assault on the citadel of the infamous Doctor Insano. But whats this? A surprise counter attack by the Insano-bots? However will our heroes react?
By grabbing their damned weapons and kicking some robot ass that's how. They may share a Crowning Moment of Awesome, sharing one last passionate kiss whilst firing over each other's shoulder to take out some incoming 'bots (adding no small bit of humor into the story) but once that's done, by god do they divide and conquer!
Just because your characters have been waiting months or even years to do the deed does not instantly excuse them from partaking in The Big Fight, The Last Job or, god forbid, ditching out halfway thru the Generic Undead Uprising to bump uglies behind the corpse piles burning in the streets.
A writer should always be conscious about what is going on in a story, no matter how small. Even if the writer is taken by surprise by something as insane as, well, Dr. Insano and his Insano-bots that writer should still be prepared to drop everything the characters are doing to deal with the situation.
That isn't to say one couldn't use that as a moment of humor though. Two characters in the middle of 'The Act' could be made, comically, to mistake the shuddering of a star ship's shields being struck by laser fire and rocking the entire ship for some intense 'action', so long as they stop for a moment eventually and realize, 'Wait... was the port side window ALWAYS such a huge gaping hole with only a force field to keep us from being sucked into the black void of space?'
[/spoiler]
UPDATE: Due to me being pestered to do so, I've added the last of my part in Monster High to here as an example.
The End
The Song
The Song In English
No sound escaped the void, nor did any living creature. The void was closed off from the world, nothing would be able to pass thru the void.
Nothing but a song. It started quietly, almost undetectable to the ear. Quickly though it grew in volume, encompassing the entire island.
Malagnis found himself wandering a black and barren plane where nothing lived and nothing grew. The sky was red as blood and the moon shining down upon him was tainted brown. Malagnis found that no matter how far he walked he never seemed to get any closer to his goal, a simple one room hut on the opposite side of a flowing river. The river oozed along, it's waters murky and black.
The song continued to ring out across the barren plane, bringing with it memories of the past. Painful memories. Sickening memories. Malagnis found his body being racked with pains. It began in one of his shoulders, the pain so intense that he began to tear at the afflicted area, eventually tearing off his own shoulder. To his own horror his shoulder did not grow back. Instead, the pain transferred to a new part of his body.
As he continued to tear at his own body, slowly ripping himself apart, the bones shattering as they hit the ground, Malagnis was filled with an overwhelming sense of self-loathing and guilt. He saw the faces of all those he had destroyed over his lifetime, each and every one of their faces becoming etched in his mind.
Malagnis had never feared anything. He was invincible, having consumed the bodies of the living, the dead, and the immortal alike. Gods and devils had found their way into his being, his power growing each time. None had ever defeated him. Until now.
Now he was afraid. He feared the pains that were forcing him to tear apart his own form, tearing away at a lifetime of destruction. He feared the faces that flashed before his eyes, their looks of hatred and anguish filling him with dread. He feared death, the prospect of what awaited him, he who had ended the lives of millions, almost overwhelming him.
Eventually the pain was all but gone. And so was Malagnis' form. Where once he had been a giant construct of bone and sinew, he was now nothing more than a normal looking skeleton, still quite tall but far from the threatening abomination he had once been. He had collapsed to the ground where he was clawing at his own head, his real head, trying as hard as he could to get rid of the pain. If only he could stop the pain! Stop the pain! STOP THE PAIN! STOPTHEPAINSTOPTHEPAINSTOPTHEPAI-
"Why are you crying?" A soft, gentle voice said above him. Malagnis stopped trying to tear off his own skull, looked up. There, standing over him with a quizzical look on her face, stood The Child.
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"Why are you crying?" The Child said again, her voice gentle and sad. She was standing over Malagnis, her soft glow still present. Malagnis wasn't sure what she was talking about until he noticed small droplets of water hitting the black, barren ground. Reaching up, his fingers came away wet. He was crying.
This realization only made him cry all the more, a wailing cry echoing throughout the barren plane as tears flowed out of his empty eyesockets. His body shuddered with each sob, his bones rattling as each cry racked his body further. And The Child smiled, a small sad smile. And she drew him to her and held him.
And soon they were both crying, The Child's tears mixing with Malagnis'. They held each other as they cried, pouring out their sorrow and their grief, at lives lost and lives taken. They had both committed atrocities on a scale that was almost incalculable, taking but never giving back.
And now they could finally realize the truth, here in this barren world where nothing changed, nothing grew, and nothing lived.
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The Story
Eventually there was nothing left for the two to cry over, nothing left to regret. They continued to hold each other long after the tears had stopped falling, long after they had dried up and the barren land had fallen quiet again, their wails and sobs silenced. When they finally stood they stood together, hand in hand. The Child gave Malagnis' skeletal hand a squeeze and smiled up at him. He, in turn, reached down and brushed one last drying tear from her cheek.
The two made their way to the river, the waters no longer oozing, but instead flowing red. As they made their way across the red waters and onto the shore opposite The Child remembered a legend, long lost to the world.
The story spoke of a being of old, one of the first to walk the earth. The being was worshiped as a god by a certain tribe consisting of both monsters and human. The god was a benevolent being, who asked nothing of those who worshiped him. But the people were not satisfied with simply living their lives in homage to their god.
Instead they came to the conclusion that the only way to truly appease their god was to sacrifice to him the most precious thing they had: A life. And so the first child born upon the blood moon was chosen. The child was given no name, for her sole purpose in life was to be devoured by the god her people so worshiped.
When the child came of age she was sent out into the deep woods in which the god of her people was known to dwell. Eventually the child came upon a hut, small but sturdy. No animals could be seen around the area, having all fled ages ago. This was the home of her peoples' god. When she came closer to the hut a voice called out to her, clattering and snapping. She stopped and watched as the god of her people stepped out of the hut.
This god had no flesh, no blood, no muscle. And yet it moved and spoke in it's odd tongue. The god beckoned the child forward, asking why she had come, if she had a request from her people and if so, why had the priest of her people not come himself? The child told the god of her peoples' wish, to give a life to their god.
The god grew silent, his empty skull staring into the treetops. The child simply stood there, unsure of what to do. Her god had not yet taken her into himself, had not taken in her essence. Was she not pure enough? Was she not worthy enough? At the thought of this the child began to weep. She fell to the ground, he head in her hands as she wept, tears falling between her fingers to the ground below.
And then the god was there on the ground with her, holding her as she cried, his skeletal limbs encompassing her entirely, comforting her. When she had no more tears to cry, the god took her with him into his hut, inviting her to sit and stay with him awhile. The hut was simply, with only a bed made of cloth and moss and a low table that looked to have been crafted by one of her people.
The god set a small meal before the child, indicating that she should eat. While the child ate the god explained to her that he would not take her into himself, quickly making sure that she realized that this was not due to any fault of her own. Instead, the god decided, she would live with him, in his forest and in his hut.
And so it came to pass, that the child lived with the god and walked with the god, speaking to him at length and growing in knowledge of the world. When she had been a part of her people she had been kept in solitude, only being taught the most basic of things. The god however, shared with her his seemingly limitless knowledge of all the things in the world. And the child was happy.
After living with the god for many years the child was no longer a child but a young woman, beautiful to behold and with a voice as pure as moonlight. The woman found that she had, in the years spent with the god, grown to love him dearly and the god in turn was much the same. They were happy, for a time. Until the priest of the woman's people realized that their sacrifice of years ago had not given herself to their god.
They came in the night, during the blood moon, waving about their spears and their tools. They tore the woman away from the god's grasp, keeping him away and telling him that the woman was evil, that she had tricked him all these years. And they killed the woman right before the god, his wailing cries heard across the land.
And when the woman's blood began to soak in to the soil of the woods that they had walked together so many times, the god was driven to madness. The god set upon his people, slaughtering them in droves, and devouring their corpses, growing in size and in shape. He was no longer the benevolent god they once knew. He was a god of hatred and judgement, slaying those who had taken what was most precious to him.
When the blood moon had passed and the sun peeked over the treetops the land was in ruin, the people of the god all slain, even down to their smallest infant. And the god sat staring at the only body left in the land, that of a young woman who had been stabbed thru the heart. The god had not slain her, of that he was certain.
Yet the god could not remember who she was or how she had come to be there. The god could not even remember who he was, knowing only that he felt a burning hatred for all that lived and walked the earth, be it human or monster or immortal. And so the god walked the land, no longer a god, but a monster.
Malagnis turned to look at the woman now standing beside him in front of the hut that sat on the opposite side of the red river, her long glowing hair and kind eyes filling him with comfort, the soft sway of the woods that now surrounded them and the hut giving rise to feeling long forgotten. As they made their way into the hut, The Child realized that Malagnis may have forgotten the legend. But that was alright. There was plenty of time to remind him.
They had all eternity after all.
_________________________________________________
Outside of the barren plane, the dark voids dissipated, leaving no trace that they had ever been.
It would be revealed later that day that across the world a strange song had been heard by all, driving many to suicide. The official global death toll ranged around 1 million though many more were suspected to be unaccounted for.
And the legend of the god and the child left the world along with those who passed, never to be remembered again.
And there you have it. This should be enough to let you know what to do with any romance you may encounter later on.
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All the romance on the RPs on PMC are all basically:
Herpderp: David looks at Jenny from across the room, but Alexandre passes in front of Jenny, and David looks at Alex by accident.
David says to Carl, "I instantly love her despite the fact that I've been having a five-year-long affair with my childhood crush,", and then he rambles on about how much he loves Alexandre. He then walks up to her, instantly stuttering and blushing like a clown that got punched in the face, and says "Alex, I love you so much like a turkey does to a unicorn! Marry me?"
Derpette321: Alex blushes and stutters to say, "OHEMGII I WILL, DAVID. I'VE LOVED YOU FOREVER AND EVER." And they both start kissing, their tongues licking eachothers' noses.