Question Meme

[dichotomize]

I AM GOING TO BE AWOL FOR VACAY, but I would like to post at question meme stuff while I'm gone so!

ASK ME QUESTIONS AND THEN I ASK YOU QUESTIONS AND THEN YOU ASK ME QUESTIONS, AD NAUSEUM.

Decollage - Ticky, King/Davesprite
Aather - Elliot
Thoughtformed - Hal Strider/AR
Soul Campaign - Hal Strider/AR

Comments

[dichotomize]

Oh Vriska.

You have so many John feels. It's cute.

OKAY SO.

It's largely not a matter of sexual orientation. Hal is bi! Bodies are just very different to him than they are to Dirk, so while he's still male leaning as far as attraction -- particularly romantic attraction -- he could get it up for a lot of people, regardless of race or gender.

But for all of Vriska's hm. Bluster about not needing anyone and being really independent and all that, he just strikes her as very monogamous! Like. Someone who deep down wants that FALL IN LOVE AND FLUSHED HEARTS FOREVERRR type of person. Factually she would need someone very stable, and statistically polyamorous relationships take a lot of openness and thoughtfulness and personal stability and accountability. BASICALLY he thinks she is the kind to become really dependent. That's fine! And he doesn't at all mind people being dependent on him! But races that tend to be primarily monogamous, and to uphold AT ONE TRUE TWO-PERSON PAIRING AS THE IDEAL, tend to also be de-stabilized by anything that infringes on that.

Hal is almost definitely polyamorous by nature, mostly due to shit like. BEING A COMPUTER REALLY CHANGES HIS PERCEPTIONS OF THINGS? I think Dirk is more monogamous with Exceptions (I.E., Dirk would be monogamous for Jake but Dave would always be an Exception to that, but he would be ok with turning down just about anyone else and be super loyal) whereas Hal is far more explorative and less inclined to conflate loyalty with exclusivity. Additionally, he just sort of, will be REALLY EMOTIONAL to start, and really into having his emotions and embracing them!

So on one hand, yeah he could fall for Vriska. I'm not sure if he could FALL IN LOVE PERFECT WAI WAI FLUSHED LOVE. But he genuinely cares for her and loves her already, he could also come to love to spend time with her, cuddle her, and be attracted to her, and sacrifice for her. It would never be as, hm, passionate as some of his other relationships (particularly like his one with Dirk), I think since he would likely be the more emotionally dominant member of the relationship and thus she'd be less likely to trigger his neediness. But he can still feel a lot of things and could go really far for her!

But he's always be worried that that isn't what she really wants =|a And that he can't be a very good flushed partner to her, or to anyone, who wants a matesprit. If we are defining matesprit in the same ways that humans tend to define the ideal 'love' from romance movies. He's just way more likely to be close fuck buddies with a lot of people than become anyone's boyfriend. Not even because he would be totally against promising to only be one with one person! But his heart wouldn't really be in it, it would be a personal sacrifice for someone he cares for, and he's aware enough of himself and others to know that no one actually wants that, so he wouldn't really put it on the table =|a

SO YEAH BASICALLY. It pretty much boils down to he assumes Vriska is monogamous and that is likely something that is important to her? Even if she might agree to something else, to give it a try, he doesn't think she'd really be happy with a compromise on that front. And he doesn't want to ask her to make it! So he's really be more likely to encourage her to find someone who she's flushed for who can be dedicated to her in the way he thinks she'd want.

But if she really wanted to try he would totally go for it '-'! And if they decided to break it off because it wasn't working, he'd probably be fine with that. But TBH, as much as a part of Hal will be like SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS AND FLIRTING, AW YEAH. He can be made PRETTY FUCKING HAPPY with just cuddles and handholding and closeness. Vriska is HIGHLY LIKELY to get that regardless.

And rereading your question I realize that was all very long winded talks about LOVE AND DEDICATION AND FOREVER for a question that was actually about dating but 8'D HE'S A SUPER COMPUTER HE THINKS LIKE INFINITE STEPS AHEAD and then works his way back to decide if that path is even a good one to take. He thinks IN THE LONG RUN that it won't go anywhere that Vriska really wants to be, so he's rather see on a path that WILL take her there. But in a purely 'would he enjoy dating her/is that a thing he could do', absolutely!

But that is all just, what Hal presumes. So I guess my question is RESPONSE? Is Vriska monogamous? Would she always be? Would Hal being in relationships with other people bother her?

[hypertoxic]

I'VE HONESTLY BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS SINCE THIS REPLY SHOWED UP IN MY INBOX. LIVE I'VE REALLY HAD TO STEW IN IT FOR DAYS TO EVEN BEGIN TO FIGURE IT OUT. There's a lot of different things to consider here.

To start, I had to think through what would happen if Vriska actually did go flushed for Hal. And of course the way it would happen in RP, if it did happen, would almost certainly be different than anything I can picture on my own. Which is one of the great things about roleplay! Some of the most wonderful and awesome things I've ever played out are the things I could never have planned in advance, even if I tried. So this comes with a disclaimer of "for all I know shit could go completely differently." But anyway. Thinking about it, I mean, I can see her going for him. He gets a body, and not only do they keep talking, but they hang out. Vriska becomes defensive of him, worried about the emotional overload he seems to experience, wanting to protect him to some extent. But he's still the more emotionally savvy of the two of them (SOMEHOW, mostly because Vriska is just a repressed asshole) and still sneaks under her guard emotionally and mentally, even if physically he's the one who's all new to things. Him being in a body and having a physical presence, a voice, a particular human warmth to go with that intellect that's won her over, I can see her falling for him hard. And doing what she does, which is to just abruptly take charge one day and kiss him and see where things go from there.

So, one, it's possible. But two, the actual nature of it, is what's been so hard to figure out. She does, after all, come from a culture where not one but four romantic (or romantic-enabling?) partners are the norm. Only two of those quadrants are actually fruitful - read: intimate - but all four are necessary for romantic entanglements to work. And one troll can be in multiple quadrants for other trolls! A given troll can be one person's kismesis and another's matesprit. And auspitices exist to keep that from getting nasty or overly jealous, etc etc. But basically, I think the idea of Hal dating other people would be at once familiar and foreign to Vriska. It would sort of slot very naturally into the idea that trolls by their own natures are also polyamorous. After a fashion! But what would challenge her mentally and emotionally is the idea that Hal's other romantic pairings being also positive in nature. That's pretty strange. Right? At least it would be, in her mind.

I think troll culture also doesn't likely support the idea of super monogamous long-term lovey dovey relationships like human culture does. It wouldn't seem to make sense, given how violent the culture is (meaning your partner could easily be dead the next day and you have to move on and find someone else or risk culling yourself) and how quadrant vacillation is a thing. Then again, she's the one to canonically break with troll culture and ask John out on a date, even though that doesn't make a lot of sense with respect to troll dating. So, basically... I think like with a lot of things with Vriska, it would just be Very Complicated. She can indeed be very possessive of what she perceives to be hers, and anyone messing with that - aka Hal's other romantic interests - could be perceived as a threat! But at the same time, it depends on how she views those people. Dirk might get a free pass. So might Jake. Anyone outside of that, I honestly have no idea.

BASICALLY let me sum it up. I don't think she's necessarily monogamous, just very possessive, and the two aren't necessarily synonymous. Her views could change depending on how the situation is presented to her, certainly. Hal's already managed to convince her of something huge, which is that she doesn't need to live up to and can in fact surpass her ancestor. If he could convince her of something that ridiculously life-changing, he could potentially sway her on the whole polyamory thing. Hal being in other relationships is dependent on who he ends up with aside from her more than anything.

Part of her thing is, if she did fall for him and his response was to try and convince her to go after other people, she'd get mad! She doesn't like being told what's best for her, whether the person telling her so is right or wrong or just opinionated. She knows what she wants and she goes after it, and would be deeply insulted he did not believe in her capacity to decide for herself. (Leaving aside the fact that many of her own decisions have been shitty ones. Not all of them! But the shitty ones have been spectacularly shitty.) But also important is just how much attention he'd pay to her and in what capacity. If he gave her what she needed, I think she'd be pretty happy despite the other stuff he had going on. She wouldn't necessarily understand it, but I think she'd roll with it. Not to mention the fact that she's likely going to end up with Meenah in her caliginous quadrant, so she wouldn't really be in a position to talk to Hal about multiple romantic partners. (Going back to the bluh bluh culture bluh thing.)

ALL OF THAT SAID to go back to a specific point, no, I don't think he'd work out as a matesprit for her. But considering the fact that she asked John out in canon when he could never have filled that roll himself, being human and all - it would have necessarily ended up defying troll definitions of things, I think, much like John and Karkat's current relationship defies those things - I'm not sure that would actually be a problem for her, and wouldn't know until we actually played it out, if it were to come to pass.

BASICALLY I think it could work, but there are too many unknown factors for me to say for certain just going from this point. For what it's worth, I think it at least has potential.