Now it's time for my ROMANTIC dream!

[shanghaiworld]

this place really needs to be used more

So, we all play in a game based on the ideas of romance. So, I was thinking, why don't we all talk about that?

By that I mean why not tell us about your characters and romance. Do they have someone they fancy/are with? Do you have plans for them in this sense? How into ladies are they? Do they enjoy longs walks, dinners or something else entirely? What would they want from a relationship? Or do they just want nothing to do with it all?

So, come on, speak up and talk about romanticism and relationships!

Comments

[fionna_time]

This is a pretty interesting query! I thought a little about it, and the best way to sum it up is by comparing and contrasting instances of Finn and Fionna.

Finn has, at one point, expressed how he thinks people and things should love whatever makes them happy. This makes sense, him being the last human and all too aware how thing can get muddied and complicated by boundaries. Finn is simple, and believes that whatever makes people happy should in turn be simple, as being with that person to begin with takes work. You can relate that to his whole attempt to be with Princess Bubblegum despite their age difference, social statuses and degree of intelligence. Even Finn knows that getting something takes work and dedication, and hopes to win PB yet.

With Fionna, we get a bit of a different shake. Again, I still think she is older than thirteen, and as such forms beliefs similar to Finn's but with a bit of a different take. In the episode in which she is featured, she is wooed by Prince Gumball only to find out its really the Ice Queen in disguise. Her fury is NOT in Ice Queen being a girl, but that she was tricked and played for a fool. Despite this, you could see that Fionna was honestly falling in with Gumball much deeper, much as Finn would if PB actually acted on his feelings. Once she realizes it was a trick, Prince Gumball's sudden interest in taking her out seems like an insult than something for her to explore. She's carried her torch awhile, and to find that her enemy has more game than her seemingly intelligent love interest is enough to get Fionna to shake off love, and concentrate what she does best.

Do I take that to mean she won't find love? Of course not. It means that whoever she find love with has to be a person who she finds herself attracted to on a level deeper than looks: they have to be fun, and make Fionna smile and be the kind of person with the ability to make her feel warm inside. She's been through a bit since coming here, from losing Cake to questioning her own femininity to accidentally hurting her best friend. The person to make her see the good things in her has to be pretty unique.

[ported]

Kris and romance is an interesting story!

Mostly because it's a really odd/new thing for her. She has a crush on Akiha but it's all grounded in the wrong places. Akiha keeps her around and uses her and takes care of her. So despite all the negative things she has done, Kris sees this as appreciation which causes her to see Akiha in a different light. It's not healthy at all but she's grown up in an environment where money can do anything and feelings are brand new.

I think what makes it unique is that these same feelings could extend to almost anyone who shows even similar attention to Kris. Romance still being a newish different thing to her, she wouldn't see the need to reserve it to one person unless informed to do differently. Though getting her to listen is another thing altogether.

How into ladies Kris is...it's a good question. The first time she went out on a BIG ADVENTURE, she was with a bunch of guys. The campaign itself had almost no romance to speak of (everyone was to busy having fun being sadistic) but Kris came to see herself as one of the guys. By the end of things, Kris ended up not caring who she was with physically as long as it was fun. She never had romantic feelings before as said above, so it's definitely a whole new area to expand on.

[ritsu_kouyou]

Akiha is a special case when it comes to love. For she is indeed in love, deeply, at one point obsessively, in love... with her brother. NOW WAIT A MINUTE. Yes, it's creepy and a little disturbing, but it's not incest as her brother, Shiki, is adopted and Akiha has always known they weren't related.

She's a tsundere to the core, especially when it comes to love. She's the girl that would rather just be near the one she loves than let them know for fear of rejection. She's also the jealous, possessive type that will try to run off/mistreat others who show an interest in the one she loves.

That said, Akiha... She knows she's a monster. Her brother denied her love, choosing someone else over her. In fact, she snapped (having inverted) and tried to force him to pledge his love to her, and then tried to kill him and the one he loved after he refused. One of those 'if I can't have him, no one can' things. But he fought for her, forgave her and she realized she loved him too much to deny him happiness. So she stopped being crazy, regained control and accepted that he will never love her.

This means that Akiha doesn't believe she deserves love. People just don't love people like her. So whereas she desperately wants it, the man she loves didn't want her. And Akiha is young enough to not understand that it's okay to love more than one person. She wants someone, but also has a really bad habit of mentally comparing potential people to Shiki. Combine that with the fact that she doesn't really like herself, and you have a very, very frustrated girl. So frustrated - both romantically and sexually - that she writes horrible self-insert fanfiction as a way to deal with it all.

At the Gardens, Akiha has lots of feelings. And a lot of them she doesn't understand. Kris is the big one, because the magician confessed love to her, which Akiha doesn't understand. She knows she treats Kris like crap a lot and yet Kris still loves her. But Akiha does like Kris, as the magician has kind of wormed her way close to Akiha's heart - no part in the girl's ability to take Akiha's attitude and manner with a smile, but also because there are times when Kris reminds her of Shiki. They've shared a few kisses, a few cuddles, and Akiha is slowly, slowly starting to appreciate Kris.

Akiha also has a strong attraction to Katina which pisses her off. She doesn't like Katina. All they do is argue and fight, but damn Akiha wants to jump her. This bothers her a lot as it doesn't make sense to her teenage mind. So she suppresses the attraction (except when inverted - oops).

Then there's Kohaku, and it's complicated. Akiha states in canon that she likes Kohaku... during a very hot suggestive scene. Akiha freed Kohaku from the nasty abuse her father put the girl through, taking her on as her personal servant, but not before there was too much damage done for Kohaku to ever have a normal life/normal feelings. Kohaku is also the one Shiki fell in love with and chose over Akiha. Some of that resentment is still there because though Akiha has accepted Shiki's choice and sort of moved on, she still loves him. But Kohaku at the Garden comes from a time before she developed feelings for Shiki, and Akiha knows it. So...yeah. It's complicated.

Akiha vastly prefers men, but canon did give us that one scene between her and Kohaku strongly implying there was a sexual component to their relationship. So while preferring men, Akiha isn't adverse to women. she just won't talk about it or openly admit it as she's a private person and Japanese. Such a thing is seen as improper in Japanese society, and Akiha's upbringing is very hard for her to move past.

/tl;dr

[snowboundheart]

Yuki here is an introverted nerd who has trouble expressing herself, and even more trouble asserting that she wants this something. This makes her attempts at romance, which are almost always directed at Kyon, very awkward.

As Yuki has really experienced romance before the present, she also tends to freak out when she thinks that someone is interested in the same person she is, as she did when she saw that Haruhi was giving chocolate to Kyon for valentines day. In all, Yuki is very shy about matters of the heart and when she does have feelings for someone, is very clumsy and awkward when trying to express those feelings.

As for Yuki's sexuality and choice in romantic partners, in canon she has only ever been shown to be interested in Kyon, which makes it hard to spell out anything for sure. From the way I see her, however, I imagine it would be likely that she is most interested in people who make her feel safe and whom would be willing to work with someone as inexperienced in the matter as she is. I also think Yuki is primarily attracted to men, though her interactions with Ryoko [the alternate reality one from the movie!verse, not the one currently in the garden] border on romantic at times.

As of the current moment Yuki is not interested in anyone in the Garden~

[queen_of_bel]

Tsukasa's romantic status is a bit complicated at the moment. As she's told a few people in the garden, she is interested in her older, older being 24 in this case, cousin Naoya. She also has a bit of a complex over being in love with her own cousin and is sometimes worried about what others may think about that fact.

Aside from Naoya, Tsukasa was involved with a girl named Souji in the garden for quite awhile and was absolutely devastated when she went home. The experience also confirmed in Tsukasa's mind that she was interested in women, though it takes her awhile to become interested in anyone romantically regardless of their gender.

Like Yuki, Tsukasa is not currently interested in anyone around her. Mostly due to her intense loyalty to Naoya. Friends-wise, Tsukasa is always looking to meet new people, as long as they can get past her being the queen of demons.

[hungry_like_the_wolf]

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Gavril has trouble becoming attached to people. This is mostly due to the fact that she sees others as an expendable commodity as best and food at worst. Most people she hangs out with back home are members of her gang who tend to die off quickly and then replaced with roughly the same speed. Suffice to say Gavril has very few friends, let alone being romantically linked to anyone.

However, that isn't to say that Gavril is completely incapable of forming bonds with others. It just takes a certain level of shared interests, such as hunting or bloodsport, for Gavril to form a strong friendship with someone. People like Grell who are connected to such concepts are those who Gavril tends to gravitate towards naturally, it takes longer for her to bond with others, though it is not impossible as she does like people such as Fionna who participated in her hunt but may not hold the same interest in death and destruction as Gavril herself.

As it is hard for Gavril to form friendships, it is almost impossible for her to be romantically attracted to someone. Mostly because romance involves admitting that you care about another person more then yourself, which is a difficult idea for Gavril to process as her usual mentality is to do what is best for her and have no concern for other people at all.

That being said, Gavril has recently been coming to terms for her own feelings for her fellow zombie-girl, Zinc, and has confessed her affections as well. Due to not being familiar with how to handle such feelings, Gavril has been very direct with her emotions and tends to get aggravated when she believes things are not working as they should. Though, as Gavril recently found, Zinc is just as new all this she is and thus Gavril is trying her best not to let it get to her.

[notvitiligo]

JESSICA! Definitely has someone she fancies, WHICH CAN NEVER BE because Sephiroth is not really an ideal romantic partner. That's starting to cool off a bit as she gets a better idea of Things, although I expect there'll always be a kind of "OMG SHE'S SO AWESOME AND HOTTTT AND SMART" fangirling thing going on there.

Got plans to try hooking her and Gal up, because adorable nerdery. :3

As far as the more general stuff... Jessica is a late-bloomer, not least because she's got that idea that nobody could possibly be interested in her. (And a bit of "THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO!!!") She's also just awkward and not really into the typical ideas of romance. (Other than homemade sweets.) For her, quality time hanging out is probably superior to the higher-effort dating things.

Sexualitywise... Eh, she's p. much bi, and hasn't explored her identity before arriving in the Gardens. The idea of sticking out even more in general society makes her slightly uncomfortable, but at least in this setting it's a kind of normalized thing, so there's less of a mental barrier.

Any objections to romance/sexuality are all on her end, and she has no problem with anyone else being all schmoopy and gay all over everything that isn't her. (And is a very quiet fangirl of Sora/Xion.)

[made_of_science]

VITALIA! Is a strange, strange person in these affairs.

She has attached herself to Kuja like a puppy that also does maid service. Is this going to ever be romantic? WHO KNOWS?

Any sort of romance with her is Weird because she's at once fairly easy to lead on and extremely aware of Propriety. It's slightly easier in the Gardens just because, in typical Victorian Times attitudes, Lesbians Don't Count, so there's less of an idea that she must be constantly on guard lest her Precious Virtue be snatched from her by some Horrible Cad!!!

Her ideas of romance are very rigidly codified with the usual old-fashioned courting and whatnot, as well as the fact that her father absolutely must approve of any suitors, because OBVIOUSLY he knows best!

Vitalia's sexuality is pretty unformed; she hasn't been given much opportunity to explore and has been very strongly inculcated with the idea that It's All About the Reproduction, Baby.

Overall, she's your usual naive, sheltered girl who's suddenly been dumped into a new setting without any chaperones. Hijinks ensue.

[pinokosthewife]

Congratulations, Vitalia. You are officially more old-fashioned than Pinoko, miss "WAAAAH, I farted in the company of others, now I can never get married!"

[just_your_problem]

Oh, good question!

Well, Marceline is weird enough on her own. But when it comes to romance she is super weird. She does have daddy issues, pretty severe ones. Then again, that is to be expected when your Father is a major league evil soul sucking demon. As far as it has been told he wasn't there for her though most of her life, from which Marcie learned to be Independent to the point of being a proud loner. The one time he was active in her life he taught her a harsh lesson in trust. Because of those factors Marceline grew to loathe the idea of trusting anyone, so love was right out of the question.

That was until she met her first, and only boyfriend, Ash. During her time with him she opened up greatly. Although a total punk, Marcie is a romantic at her core. Little trinkets and displays of affection make her totally melt. To be honest, she loved being loved and loving someone. Given that she lived through the end (and rebirth) of the world emotional connections are a rare and sacred thing. First love is a many splendid and messed up thing. It's thanks to Ash that Marcie walled herself away emotionally. He wasn't just a jerk, he was a super jerk. He was bossy, rude, sexist (to him Marcie's place was in the kitchen or at his side) and refused to let Marcie have friends (he had to approve of them and he generally didn't approve of anyone that wasn't supernatural or magically inclined). Yeah, so add racist to his long list of problems.

What did Marcie take from that? Love sucks. As far as she knew her Father didn't love her, her boyfriend didn't love her--forget love as a whole. Those experiences really warped her. After that? Well, the way she shows affection is really messed up. The darker the lyrics about you, the more she likes you. If she messes with your head (plays pranks on you) it's a sign of respect. If she goes out of her way to plain irritate you, her feelings for you are beyond measure. She no longer does mushy stuff, it doesn't fit the image she cultivated to hide her pain and loneliness. Rather than say that she loves you, she gets angry at you. Not just any old anger, no. If she loves you she is quick to go into blinding rages or hissy fits aimed in your direction (or toward who or whatever hurt you).

Really, Marcie never emotionally grew up beyond being a teenager. All those confusing feelings? They still confuse and upset her, even though she is over a thousand years old. She wants to love, she really does; however, she isn't sure that she knows how. That and love is painful when time stands still only for you and not those you love.

As for her sexuality? Well, she is rather in the middle. OOO doesn't seem a place where gender or appearances matter. While it may be a factor for some, I don't think it is a factor for Marceline. Her attraction seems based on how fun she thinks you are. That and with her tendency to only get furious with those she cares deeply about, there is Princess Bubblegum whom she just loves to annoy, pester, piss off and fight with.

Being in the Garden is a good thing for Marcie, she is finally beginning to emotionally mature. Well, not mature as much as she is beginning to understand things. Here she doesn't have to worry about her title, her image or her responsibilities (Vampire Queen isn't just a title, she really is royalty just like Bubblegum). In the Gardens she is just..Marceline! In being just Marceline she has been able to repair her relationship with Bonnibel, which was something she always longed for. Sure, it's damned awkward and a few things have happened (that never would have if they remained in OOO; however, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Then again, in meeting people outside of her world she has begun having a whole new set of feelings--romantic and platonic. Outside of Bonni she has taken a shine to a particular tyrannical Queen of an aquatic nature. The feeling she has is alien, not quite at the point of crush but it could easily be tipped that way! There is also the issue of the Bunny girl (yeah, I'm talking about you Fionna). She wants to protect her, yes. She does see Fi as a little sister. However, there are strange prickly feelings that began to surface after the New year's masquerade.

[pinokosthewife]

Very interesting read! ^^

[jemerite]

Romance. Oh dear.

Well, I should probably preface this with the fact that when Zinc was alive, she was a pretty staunch opponent to romance. She doesn't believe in it, and considers 'love' to be nothing more than a mutual lie. Honestly being the terrible sociopath she was... she wasn't capable of love. Zinc's entire emotional spectrum was pretty much stunted to 'what she wanted' and 'what she didn't.' Totally greedy, selfish, and hedonistic. She really didn't have enough empathy to build an emotional relationship with anyone or anything.

She had strong feelings for some people, but it was more respect and obsession than it was love. Some of them she did outright hate, but hating someone is a lot more interesting than finding them boring, and it was all about being entertained for her. Since she doesn't really differentiate between positive and negative emotion in the same way other people do, she gets very... intense and focused on people, obsesses over them until they do something disappointing and then she drops them like a rock because now they're boring.

There were only a couple of exceptions to that, which were the two men she'd consider as 'mentors.' They're both incredibly questionable gentlemen.......... Cotnari was twelve years older than her when he started being sexual with her in her teens, but she adores him anyway. She probably considers him as more of a father than anyone else. Then there's Barbet, who she also adored. Barbet is the one who infected her with the Reanimation virus and is the one who keeps her locked up. She loves him and hates him and is still pretty obsessed with him.

Zinc's only real understanding of 'love' is that really painful and obsessive thing that she has for Barbet. All of these softer emotions that she has been developing for some of the girls around the Garden really aren't comparable, at all. There isn't anyone in the Garden that she loves, and the only one who gets even close is Kuja because of how much she acts like Barbet.

But... friendship is really just as completely foreign and intimate to Zinc. Since Zinc is completely asexual, there's a lot more importance placed on the emotional and supportive aspects of her relationships. There are some people that she acknowledges are much more important than friends, Kuja, Xion, and Gavril, but she has no idea how that fits into 'love' or 'romance' and she isn't all that interested in figuring it out, she just doesn't want to be alone. Her self-esteem is very tattered, so it's not like she thinks she has much to offer anyway.

[pinokosthewife]

;_;

[esoteric_rose]

Grell and romance-at surface level, it is another element to be added to the great stage play of life, for Love and Death are so closely intertwined-see Romeo and Juliet, which she has memorised completely. Love and being in love are passions she considers exquisitely divine, however the common forms of natural love, like the ways of her time of showing little affection, are something she has absolutely no desire to work with or accept as her life. She wants to be pulled to the side in a darkened corridor and kissed passionately, wants someone who will get jealous and defend her honour, wants arguments resolved with embracing in the rain, wants to tango on a dance floor while the world looks on with disapproving propriety-veiled eyes. To that end, she would do the exact same to her true love, being fiercely protective and doing whatever they wished as long as they stayed close to her. Love is something she considers necessary to a fulfilling life, and in that regard, something she needs to have in her life.

My use of gender-neutral pronouns is no coincidence, I firmly believe Grell is pansexual, in part to both her race and her own gender. Reapers seem more advanced than humanity in canon, and so it's not a stretch to think that they would have different codes and social rules than the present day Victorian England. Why does it matter who is in love with who, as long as you get your job done? Certainly there might be some funny looks, but at the end of the day, do you really care that the fellow working in Dispatch goes home to another man? Adding onto that mindset, reapers aren't supposed to bring their emotions into their job, love being one of them, so love is in general valued little. (Grell is an exception to this, as she is to pretty much everything.) Now, with all of that influencing her, Grell is also transgender. Having to come to terms with herself and knowing exactly how hard that would be, I believe she would not see herself in a position to judge anyone for who they loved or happened to think was sexy, or judge herself for falling for someone no matter what their body looked like. Even with her body matching her mind at last, she'll not discard the life lessons she learned from that. She fell in love with Angelina completely, in spite of her attraction to her superior officer-something I see as more of a power dynamic at the core, even though it doesn't hurt that William's ridiculously attractive, and had a crush on Sebastian for his violence and cool ways. I don't think she would deem any of these a "fake" love necessarily (though that flirting? Watch how it only revs up as a battle tactic-and only after Angelina is dead.) though some are more fleeting than others. In the Gardens, Grell has definitely shifted over to more homosexual inclinations than her base neutrality, but rather to be expected after having relationships with both Dot and Zenobia. I have no more plans for the future, but am entirely open to her falling in love again-she has a whole list of people she'd love to kiss.

Don't take that to mean she'd flutter about from person to person-she's flirty with a whole host of people-but as far as acting on it? Heck no. Loyalty is a prime virtue for her, and she wouldn't cheat unless for some reason her relationship was going horribly, horribly wrong (and even then, she'd prefer to break it off before becoming unfaithful). She falls in love easily, but again, it wraps about to true lovers in fiction, who stay together with their burning affections even with other temptations. Her love is scattered about until she can focus it on one person with returned affections. Juliet didn't marry Paris even though her husband was dead to her. Devotion to one person, far enough to break rules and codes both legal and social, is at the core of her love. As much as they give to her, she'll give in return, and likely even more. Because no matter what the world throws at her as far as reality, she'll still believe in true love.

[pinokosthewife]

Awwwwwww. ♥

From one believer in true love (and whose mind works like a romance novel) to another, PREACH IT, SISTER.

Seriously, though, that's very well thought out! ;3;

[science_with_bonni]

Bonnibel is distinctly sapiosexual. Since her attractions tend to be on intellectual and emotional levels first, which then blossom into more physical ones, gender, binary or not, is no real issue at all to her. And she has been aware of that for some time. Back when she was thirteen (for the second time), she really did return Finn's affections. If they had grown up together, or had been a little closer in age then the attraction would certainly have been there from the beginning. And as Finn aged it was possible that she could have developed feelings for him all over again, had she not been taken to the gardens.

Bonni tends to be particularly attracted to intellectuals, scientists, musicians (especially those who play strings), people who can be clever with words and language, and fun people who can show her that responsibility isn't all there is to life. She expresses her fondness for that last group terribly, but it's there none the less. Her very biggest weak spot, though is for people that see her and treat her as herself, and not just her royal title.

As far as what she likes to do with her romantic interests, Bonni more or less would enjoy spending time with them at all, in just about any way that isn't related to work. But she especially enjoys antagonizing and being antagonized, listening to them play music, discussing science, doing just about anything fun, or even just sharing a meal. (In particular Italian or Korean.)

However since she doesn't really have any experience in anything beyond just crushes she tends to handle them a little bit poorly. Her affections are expressed with an odd flip flopping of utter irritation and flirting. She can also be anxiety ridden, jealous and quick to anger, and has a tendency to jump to conclusions and assume the worst. After the masquerade ball though she is trying to make a change for the better on all of those fronts, and has been making some decent progress.

Bonnibel has a long standing crush on Marceline that stretches all the way back into her childhood, but she wouldn't have readily admitted as much, even to herself, back home in Ooo. There Marceline was just about everything that she, as the princess of a rather affluent kingdom was expected not to be interested in. And, while that just added untold amounts of fuel to the fire, it also kept her very quiet about the whole thing. Eventually she just grew bitter, angry and tense around Marceline, and the two of them managed to tear their friendship to pieces.

Since coming to the gardens they've managed to repair that friendship, and have even had some little glimpses of more, especially at the masquerade and its aftermath. She's sure of her own feelings, and even relatively certain of Marceline's, but has no idea how to proceed from there without taking things back into awkwardness and weird.

[tyriannicull]

Poor Bonnibel. I still need to harass my own present royalty. She's already making wonderful friends with Marceline.

[pinokosthewife]

I don't imagine Pinoko to be too interested in other girls romantically, if only because we've only ever seen her express interest in men. Although, I have reason to believe she wouldn't be entirely incapable of harbouring romantic feelings for another woman, she probably wouldn't act on them because of her love for her "husband." Although the jealousy and posessiveness of the Gardens' female Black Jack is a special case. :D;



Pinoko is very straightforward about her feelings. She can be a bit of a flirt (crank that up when it comes to Black Jack... then, she can be downright ridiculous) and she has gone on pretend dates before to try and make Black Jack (the male Black Jack from her world!) jealous, but in the end, despite all her little crushes, Black Jack is and always will be number one in her heart. She even says so, while crushing on another man in the chapter Titles, if I'm remembering correctly. ^^;

She's an absolute sap and her mind works like a romance novel; she pulls silly stunts in the hopes that her latest plan will lead to the Doctor falling madly in love with her. Or something. She very badly wants for Black Jack to return her feelings and for them to act like an ordinary married couple. She's made herself into an ideal home maker for this reason! And she's a great nurse too.

Sadly, it seems the Doctor thinks of her more as his daughter than a potential love interest (well, in most chapters), so she's pretty much doomed to an eternally unrequited love.

Still, despite this, she keeps hoping and striving in hopes of having her feelings returned and will push her body to its limits for his sake; like when she went on a long and rather dangerous journey to find Black Jack after he'd up and left her in Pinoko Goes West.
Likewise, she brings some degree of normalcy and stability to his life, as well as providing him some much needed companionship.

Oops, did I just turn this into another listen to Bird gush about JyaPino thing? I did, didn't I?

Might as well end it with just one more, then:



... yeaaaah, can't see her getting over him anytime soon.

[just_your_problem]

Cutest forever waifu!

[snake_tailed]

Rumia hails from a world where romantic relations of any kind between humans and monstrous races, a general term used by humans for demihuman races who aren't on good terms with humanity as a whole, while not illegal is frowned upon by mainstream religion and society to the point that being involved in such a relationship can get one excommunicated from most churches and shunned in many social settings.

An even greater stigma is placed upon children that result from human/demihuman unions are reviled by most people and treated as offenses to the human race as a whole. All of this leaves half-human demihumans like Rumia few options when it comes to love and romance.

Rumia herself is rather naive when it comes to matters of the heart, a trait that comes primarily from her spending most of her youth working alongside her adoptive mother, who was also something of a romantic recluse, rather then spending time with other children her own age. Because of this, Rumia's view of romance comes primarily from books and tends to be overly optimistic and idealized.

As for what type of person Rumia would be attracted to, she would be most interested in someone who accepted her for who she was and cared for her unconditionally. She also tends to like people, both romantically and in a platonic sense, who are kind and go out of their way to help others. Other then acceptance of her demi-human nature, kindness is likely the biggest thing Rumia looks for in other people.

If anyone wants to do anything romantic with Rumia, let me know! It's something I've been interested in for awhile. The same stands for friendly interaction, as the poor little snake-girl could also use more friends.

the most tl;dr ever

[britainsbiscuits]

Well, first I should start out by saying that everyone in the Hetalia fandom has their own ideas of histories and head-canons. I, myself, have spent countless hours researching England and the United Kingdom, and its relationships with other countries, both current, and in the past. My ideas are most likely very different from other peoples' because I like a very obscure pairing, and my head-canon caters to it.

In my head-canon, the most important people to England are Prussia and America. America is, obviously, her baby, and they have a Special Relationship. England believes America is an idiot, yet she is almost always jumping in to save her. America, likewise, has similar thoughts when it comes to war and world politics. The only time they were not allies was when America wanted to break away. Then, the rest of the time, they stand together.

I like to believe that England plays some sort of guardian angel figure to America. She constantly watches over her shoulder and hopes to guide her in the right direction. When America does something she disapproves of, England feels shame or anger. But when England feels that America has grown, she feels nothing but pride and adoration. Her love for America is that of a big sister or mother. It is not romantic, and she doesn't like to think of it as romantic. She has never had thoughts about herself and America kissing or dating, or whatever. The bond is strong, but not in a sexual way. This is a very innocent love.

When it comes to Prussia, England is definitely attracted to her romantically, sexually, and unconditionally. Why? There are a few reasons. Probably the biggest turn-on to England is power. Being a country, England's life has revolved around becoming stronger and growing, to protect her people and herself. She never wants to be seen as weak in the eyes of another country. She was once considered the strongest world power in the world, and Prussia was right there beside her. They lived like queens on top of the world. England misses this time very much.

They have known each other most of their lives. England's people came from Germanic tribes (see: Angeln). Albion, as she was called, met Teuton (from the Teutonic Knights) when they were young. I like to imagine they called each other 'cousins' (Cousin Albion, Cousin Teuton). And they grew up together. The idea I had was the first time Albion saw Teuton was during some battle, and the little girl in white was running around with a sword and splattered with red blood. They continued to run into each other, and Teuton helped Albion/young England with the Crusades. I also believe they had an innocent love together.

England's days as a pirate are wild and rebellious. She is a 'teenager' by this point, and she wants to run around. Her motives are unclear at this time, because she says she is only looking out for herself. She makes enemies with all of the countries and mocks them. But there is another rigid side of her that intends on stopping herself from hurting the people she cares about. I like to believe that she has a very definite case of multiple personality disorder these days, going back and forth between pirate and naval officer. Her romantic life here is... really non-existent. She possibly fooled around with Spain a bit, but Prussia is still her number one target of affection. And there is also that little baby island she and France are fighting for...

Back to Prussia. So these two twine in and out of each others' lives (and that is something Himaruya overlooks in his comics. they have a long history together). England's respect for Prussia grows. She finds herself wanting to be like Prussia more and more. When she suffers from the Black Plague, she vows to overcome it so she can show Prussia how strong she is. There is this unhealthy obsession with proving herself to Prussia growing. She doesn't want the person she idolizes most to think she is a weakling.

This continues for a while, England trying to become stronger so Prussia will notice her. She becomes allies with Austria in the War of Austrian Succession, and just a few years later, she jumps over to Prussia's side to aid her in the Seven Years' War. Of course, England has the goals of her people in mind when she is going to war, but there is always the underlying tone of 'I want Prussia to notice me' hidden beneath the surface.

Finally, the worst thing that could ever happens happens. Prussia offers assistance to America in helping her break free from England. Prussia's motives were pure, obviously. She wanted to see the younger nation grow, maybe to tease England a bit. But England sees this as an act of betrayal by both of her favorite people. It breaks her mentally and physically. After that war, she becomes subdued and pretty much keeps to herself. This is where she turns into a full-on tsundere. She even goes back to being a pirate for a little while as an outlet of her anger.

She settled down once she realized France was trying to take over. England was reunited with Prussia during the Napoleonic War, and she could not have been happier. She and Prussia teaming up together to kick the crap out of France? Big turn-on. This was enough for England to put aside her depression for the time being. The 19th century brought better things for her. The Age of Enlightenment gave the people of Europe more hope for a better future. There were advances in thinking, science, and politics. England was still sore over the fact that America left her, but she was also earning respect for her. England was eased by the fact that her little country was growing and becoming smarter. America really didn't need her anymore. However, her other colonies were following in America's footsteps and they began breaking away, too. She was able to keep moving during the Industrial Revolution.

The most romantic part of England's history with Prussia was very short, but sweet. I like to call this the 99 Day Honeymoon, as that was really the amount of time they had to be together before separating. Prussia had this Emperor, Frederick III, who was an Anglophile. He married Queen Victoria's daughter, and both parties hoped to secure a strong alliance between the two countries. These were the happiest times of England's life. She had had alliances/marriages before with other countries, but this one mattered the most to her. The days she spent with Prussia were filled with joy and hope. And then tragedy.

William grew old and ill. He was diagnosed with cancer by a British doctor and he died without finishing what he wanted to do. His son took the throne and practically cut off all ties with Britain. It was then that England's happy marriage with her beloved Prussia came to an end.

England and Prussia were both enemies in WWI and WWII. In regards to WWII, England and Churchill believed that Prussia was the main cause. The Allies would punish Prussia for her treachery, only years later to find out Hitler was not Prussia's fault at all. Of course, England has felt guilty for this, and she probably will continue to feel this way for years to come. She helped break down the country she loved. England will never forgive herself.

England is a tsundere. A lonely tsundere. So other peoples' opinions matter to her. She may talk about how great it is being alone. She will run away, but she wants to be chased. Almost always. Her love for Prussia is no different now that she is in the Gardens. She has eyes for no one else. But Prussia is a difficult woman to love. They are so similar and so different. England hopes that they can one day have a steady relationship. She is incredibly romantic, but also a realist. She would not be surprised if Prussia didn't return her feelings, but it would break her heart just the same.

[mnementomori]

The best description of Xion is probably "naive", but not in the typical sense. She was raised by what amounts to a bunch of sociopaths who told her she was incapable of feeling, so it kind of...stunted her emotional growth.

Still, she made friends (Axel and Roxas) and they became the most important people in the world to her. In that sense, her idea of love is very pure, and she didn't really encounter the idea of only loving one person until she came to the Gardens. Axel explained "love" to her and Roxas very vaguely and dismissed it eventually, saying you needed a heart to love, which Nobodies didn't have. This left the two wondering about it even more. Xion eventually decides for herself that Axel and Roxas are the ones she loves, no matter what. They're still incredibly important to her, but she's learned to open up more, and started to understand the different types of love.

Sora is a very special case for her, because even without her feelings, the two of them have a strong connection, Xion being the replica (copy) of Sora's Nobody, Roxas. (for those not KH-savvy, a Nobody is created when a person's heart/inner self becomes consumed by darkness, leaving an emotionless shell behind. It's much more complicated than that...but that's the basic idea.) So basically, they're connected whether she wants it or not. Initially Xion resented this a little, because it more or less meant her life turned out pretty terribly, but meeting Sora in person changed that. She can't blame Sora for anything that happened, so the two bonded quickly instead.

In the absence of her friends, especially, Xion sort of clung to a familiar face as well, which is why she and Sora got so close. Their relationship was a sort of natural result of that, as well as the fact that they're two friendly girls that get along well together! Xion is finally starting to understand the difference between platonic and romantic love, but she doesn't really have the ability to be interested beyond chaste kissing, her age aside. (physically 15, actually only 2.) Her real body actually has a completely gender-neutral appearance, though she sees herself as female and therefore projects the illusion of it.

tl;dr KINGDOM HEARTS WHYYYY

[persical]

Claire has a very relaxed and idealistic view of love, though the physical aspects are another story...she grew up with the story of her parents meeting each other in a dark cave and falling in love, then staying together even upon seeing their expectations of the other person's appearance weren't quite accurate. She really, truly believes that love is all about what's on the inside, not the outside.

That said, her canon is pretty unclear about whether her feelings for Veigue, her surrogate brother, are familial or romantic. Really, it could be taken either way, so I myself am undecided on it. Suffice to say she cares for him a lot. They're the most important people to one another for most of the game.

In the Gardens, however, there's Reno, who flirts with almost everything. This behaviour confuses Claire to no end, because she doesn't understand purely physical affection, and she sees the way Reno expresses it as insincere. Despite the fact that they (usually) get along, they're on completely different sides of the romantic spectrum. So while Reno's expressed some attraction to her, Claire has sort of brushed it off, because she needs a consistent emotional connection that she knows Reno can't give her.

Claire herself isn't really interested in anyone in particular this point, though she does enjoy spending time with people and making friends. She's just not in a hurry, and is the type that believes love will just sort of happen, so she's not exactly looking actively.

[nohometown]

Sephiroth is aloof and can come across as cold. It's difficult for her to form strong emotional attachments to others. The only two people she will ever manage to form a strong emotional bond with (back home) are her two best friends, Angeal and Genesis. She was raised without being shown much emotion, and was trained to react logically rather than emotionally. She was even encouraged to suppress her feelings, as she was more or less raised by a corporation to be an instrument of war. She has never had anything that could be considered a romantic relationship. However, she does have sexual urges, and she is quite matter-of-fact about satisfying them. She doesn't believe sex needs to have an emotional component, though she is very choosy about her sexual partners and hasn't had very many of them.

Before arriving in the Garden, she was mainly physically involved with/interested in men, because she works and lives in an environment (SOLDIER and the army) where women are a very small minority. However, where physical attraction is concerned, gender is not really an issue for her. She does find physical strength appealing, but she's just as likely to be attracted to someone of impressive intellect.

She might be indifferent to romance, but she values friendship highly, and though she is not a warm friend, she is a loyal one.

[nohometown]

Although, I should add, she--in spite of all this--basically has what amounts to a domestic partnership with Reeve: they live together, eat together, sleep together, but Sephiroth considers that she looks at it sensibly and doesn't have the kind of feeling one would call "romance", and she doesn't categorize it as anything of the kind. They're friends, and it is what it is, that's all. The societal constructs/ideas of relationships and romance don't make much sense to her, and she doesn't associate herself with them.

She does feel something of a stronger pull toward to people who share Jenova cells, but that's not romance, it's science (fiction), as it's in the nature of Jenova cells to be drawn to each other. It's a feeling of kinship or connection rather than one of passion, which might explain why she feels closest to Angeal and Genesis and finds it difficult to form that bond with others.

Sadly, she has no idea that this is the case.

[hopelessdreamer]

Gal is kind of tricky, because she's been shaped by her circumstances. And they're...pretty crappy circumstances. (I think Claire is the only non-tragic character I play...) Unlike some other canons where it's ambiguous, Abyss is a decidedly heteronormative world, so she's slightly homophobic in the sense that she just...doesn't really understand same-sex relationships. Simply since she never encountered them. She's adjusted to the idea somewhat from her time in the Gardens, but it still confuses her a little. That said, Gal has distanced herself from the idea of ever having a romantic relationship in the first place, because of another problem:

She kind of has a crippling fear of guys.

And by kind of I mean, when she was five years old, her family was killed and her older brother's body fell on her, trapping her underneath it. She was rescued by a servant after being left for dead, but ever since then, she can't get physically near a man without nearly having a panic attack. This made her life pretty difficult, especially since she insisted on learning swordsmanship in order to honor her brother's sacrifice. As a servant in the Fabre household, she was thankfully assigned to their only daughter as her personal maid, but she still had to answer to the Duke, his knights, and his chief manservant.

She finds men attractive, certainly, but since any advances tended to end in disaster, she almost unconsciously tries to make herself undesirable to them. She never even considered a woman finding her attractive, so there's that. But with the idea presented to her, she resents it a little because she sees it as an insult. As if she'd have to settle for being with a woman simply because she couldn't handle being with a man.

All of this really isn't great for her self-esteem, which is a contrast between her and her male canon counterpart.

tl;dr 21, still a virgin with a lot of internalized self-deprecation. Fun.

[rhododendronic]

Kiriko has... some bad experiences when it comes to romance. She's very hurt, and tends to approach emotional relationships of any sort with extreme caution.

In my headcanon for Kiriko, back when Kiriko was a nurse, she fell in love with a soldier under her care. When the military hospital was bombed, Kiriko lost her eye and was badly burned - but worse than that, she watched the man she love go from nearly recoved to near death. He was suffering terribly, and she couldn't bear to watch. She mercy killed all of the patients before they had a chance to be rescued, including him. It was such a traumatizing experience for her that she avoids romance of all kind to avoid losing someone again, or being hurt.

(I'll also take a moment to say that even when playing Kiriko as male, I still incorporate this backstory. Obviously a nurse is quite a different job than a soldier, so the dynamics are different, of course, but it still exists.)

Her second real.. "romance".. was a canon one. In the anime, Kiriko once met a lovely french actress named Michelle Rochasse - who under a different name, Michèle Putti, published pornographic titles in her young age of which she was very ashamed. Michelle had become deathly ill, and that combined with issues from her past had made her suicidal. Kiriko rescues her from the wreckage of a car crash, and realizing how sick she is, races to find a cure for her illness and nurses her back to health. Kiriko and Michelle bond, though Kiriko gives her a pseudonym, never revealing her true identity.

After Kiriko helps Black Jack find a cure for Michelle's disease, she finds that she's fallen in love with her. One night, Kiriko sneaks into her room to wish her well and give her some flowers, promising she'll return one day. Michelle gladly accepts them... before asking Kiriko if she's ever met the legendary doctor known as "Dr. Kiriko." She wanted to contact Dr. Kiriko so that they could give her a peaceful death, because she was tired of living. Kiriko responds that Michelle is destitute, and even if she did know who Dr. Kiriko was, Kiriko would never help someone as poor as her. Michelle starts crying, and Kiriko leaves - never to return, realizing they could never be happy together if she ever learned who she was.

So now Kiriko has issues with romance with both men and women, yepyep. There's only one person she talks to much anymore, and that's Dr. Black Jack. Though the two are friends on some level, Kiriko is very antagonistic towards the Doctor, constantly insulting her and trying to make her life as miserable as possible. By making her only friend her enemy, she has put enough distance between them so that she cannot be emotionally injured by her. Kiriko has even fallen out with her own family for fear of getting too close.

To be honest, the mun and I are considering taking Black Jack and Kiriko to a shippy level eventually, but that would never happen until Kiriko learns to outgrow her fears of love and commitment. Dates are fine with Kiriko, and she enjoys casual romance, but once things were to become a bit more intimate Kiriko would probably bail or have something of a mental crisis. It's just a part of her personality. I suppose we'll see if she can bring herself to fall in love again, or if she'll just continue to have a somewhat unhealthy frenemy relationship with Black Jack.

[lifes_expensive]

/CASUALLY DRAGS INTO EMBRACE

This ship is gonna take decades to play out. Decades.

And every hair-pulling, name-calling, mom-dissing moment is going to be beautiful. c:

[branded_twin]

Mion and romance are very conflicting and confusing, as is evidenced by the fact that she's well aware of just how confused she is about the whole matter.

All her life, Mion was a 'tomboy': she was brash, outgoing, dominating, courageous, and generally possessing every 'male' quality beyond that of any of the males around her. She did not resent feminine things: for example, considering her status in her village, she has experience playing up the 'female' things and even more so while pretending to be her twin sister, Shion, who is generally more 'feminine'. She even wears skirts and very pretty bathing suits without a second thought.

She's even confident and composed about her body and its related sexuality! Despite acknowledging and bragging about being a tomboy and the manliest person in her hometown (to the point that she and everyone else calls her the Old Man, making her essentially that one creepy uncle in a teen girl's body), she'll use her breasts to make others uncomfortable as a joke.

Now, this doesn't really have anything to do with romance so far, but it is coming:

Mion's first crush is/was on Keiichi. This was the result of him 'saving' her from a group of creepy greaser thugs by singlehandedly beating the shit out of them. I put 'saving' in apostrophes because Mion was well more than capable--and likely far more capable than Keiichi--of beating the shit out of them herself, having the fighting skill superior to that of a 40-year-old professional veteran bodyguard (canon). This incident and her resulting 'doki doki' over a guy that treated her as a girl threw her entire self-perception into whack and made her think about romance for the first time.

It was then she realized she did have a 'feminine side', which made her very confused because she was totally at a loss as to how to compromise her personality and image up until then with this new part of her she discovered. Although she would never want to stop being the brash, wacky, perverted, confident, supportive ('male traits') she always was, she nonetheless wanted to be acknowledged as a girl, having feelings, and wanting to be loved.

To explain how she posed as Shion or behaved as a 'girl' for the sake of her family and her position, Mion's exceptional (whether it be a good or bad thing) at separating herself and her identity from her actions if those actions are not born from her own wants: her mimicking of Shion's 'girly' behavior was simply playing pretend, behaving 'properly' was just for the sake of tradition and ceremony, and she generally doesn't equate what she wears with 'male' or 'female'.

Now, how this applies to romance: Mion's feelings for Keiichi began and grow stronger whenever he genuinely and honestly treats her as a girl despite the way she behaves. Such as saving her from the thugs or being perceptive enough to give her a cutesy doll that most anyone else would have thought didn't fit Mion at all.

Although she has not figured it out yet due to being a confused teenager only recently thinking about love, Mion ultimately wants someone who accepts every aspect of her, even if she herself has difficulty doing so--her conflicting feelings about her crush and general femininity cause her to pick on Keiichi more than anyone else and then regret it, because she can't bring herself to do something as sensitive as admit her feelings to him.

This, however, could apply to anyone, not just Keiichi. The key to Mion's heart is treating her as a girl now and again and accepting her, and being perceptive enough to know that there is more to her than the crazy-ass perverted man-in-a-teenage-girl's-body.

Due to the teenage nature of her crush (even if she and Keiichi ARE best friends), it's fully possible and not unlikely for her to develop feelings for someone else.

[loveloveattack]

Excellen's perspective on love is somewhat similar to Mion's, but far more matured and self-aware. In canon, the person she develops feelings for had saved her life (or, rather, tried to and technically failed, but it's genuinely the thought/action that counts) and is generally a very heroic (even if incredibly quiet and grumpy) man.

This is important not because she needs to be saved. Regardless of how she behaves, Excellen is an amazing fighter, emotionally and mentally strong, incredibly courageous, and brilliant. She is the Obfuscating Stupidity Trope's mascot. She is well more than capable of taking care of herself and is actually the one to save others often.

What is important is, again, the sentiment. The concept of an individual that would risk everything without hesitation to keep her safe and happy is what makes her fall in love. She is self-perceptive enough to know this herself.

She also just generally likes rough-around-the-edges grumpy types that don't hesitate to punch evil in the face no matter the odds and act like it's no thing.

And, no, while very much appreciated in a different way, treating her like she is the hottest thing in the world won't get you anywhere, despite what she may say. Again, something she is entirely self-aware of. She likes to flirt and is proud of her appearance and DOES want physical interest, but it needs to be secondary and based out of affection, not arousal at the fact she's smoking. In fact, if she can walk around you in the nude and you're completely unfazed by it (such as the canon target of her romance), you're far more likely to be in the running.

Now, as for her canon romance: She's had feelings for Kyosuke ever since he saved (er, well, attempted to save) her (about three years ago), but she never actually met him until about six months ago, so it's only relatively recently before her arrival in the gardens that her crush on 'that dude I never met that saved me' became a bit more than just a fantasy-type thing. So, while it may be a bit difficult since they did start dating before her arrival here (a couple months), it is possible for her to develop feelings for someone in the gardens.

She will also have been here for exactly six months to the day on Valentine's Day, which is about as long as she's actually known Kyosuke, so her feelings are going to be getting confused and a bit sad.

[tyriannicull]

And here you shall discover why Her Imperious Condescension is a terrible being.

First and foremost, Troll romance is based not only on love but also hate. Think intense, fated rivalries that almost get to the point of killing the other but never do but also involve making out and sex. They generally have two sexual partners, one for 'love' and the other for 'hate', which are considered entirely distinct and Troll society expects every Troll to have both a loveship and a hateship simultaneously.

That said, things are even more messed up for the Empress, because she is Troll society and what she says goes and what she wants SHE GETS. She exercises this as far as possible and her treatment of 'romance' is twisted and terrible even by Troll standards. Especially by Troll standards.

To put into perspective: She kidnapped a Troll titled the Psiionic and, against his will, used his tremendous psychic power to power her battleship beyond lightspeed and, against his will, made him into her mate. She did this for over 2,500 years. Due to having the power over life itself, she is effectively immortal--however, other trolls do not have this and are meant to die long, long before that. She tortured him as a love slave and an engine for her war for far, far beyond his natural lifespan by using her powers to give life and heal.

This is because the Psiionic helped lead a peaceful rebellion against her empire and would never have loved her--so, being very much attracted to him and his power, she took him by force and broke him.

There are no examples of kismesisitude (hate-based romance) for her (if one could be so twisted as even argue the thing with the Psiionic was love-based), but it is a bit moot. She does not possess love, only powerful carnal attraction, usually towards immense power. Despite being one of the biggest driving forces of shaping Troll society during her 4,500+ life, the distinctions between the romances essentially do not apply to her. She takes what she wants regardless of what it takes.

Is it possible she could have long-term relations with someone without breaking them? Yes, assuming they are essentially evil as well and wish to cooperate OR are simply wishing to serve an incredibly powerful and immortal entity (i.e. her) in some way. She may be even willing to protect them if she enjoyed them enough, like one would protect their favorite toy.

If someone were strong enough to fight against her and her goals without being broken, she may be able to have a long-term relations with them as well--assuming they would be interested in having a physical, intimate relationship with someone they hate, which is generally not considered normal outside Troll society. But, even then, her goal would be to break their spirits and make them hers.

Her Imperious Condescension is a putrid, disgusting being incapable of love and only possessing the potential for carnal attraction or, perhaps at most, affection in the way one loves their favorite toy.

[lastwaltz]

... wow I kinda have it easy, since Ryoko is essentially an alien-computer-program-bot.

Data entities think of emotions as 'errors'. So for the most part, Ryoko has practically no emotions at all. Well besides a little bit of sadism in trying to kill Kyon. She operates on a kind of cheerful flatline and is always smiling, whether she's speculating on a classmate's love life, trying to shank a dude, or even having her data link nullified (essentially 'dying'). Probably the one thing that really made her double-take was Yuki trying to stop her murder attempt--I guess that Ryoko thought that Yuki would be on her side. But even so, apparently she isn't that attached to her superior because she's perfectly willing to fight back and terminate Yuki too?!

However, in the Disappearance alternate universe, she's fully human and capable of emotions, just as Yuki is... well, maybe? Weirdly enough she also seems to be aware that she was basically created by Yuki as a safe-guard for her reimagined universe and is obligated to protect her at all costs. For example, by shanking a dude, funnily enough. I... guess I don't really know for sure if Ryoko is just madly in yanderes with Yuki in that universe, or still an alien-bot and highly self-aware of her role. Also I totally haven't read the last few light novels in full, but I did look over the part where Ryoko reappears for a third time, just to see if she possibly remembers her time spent during the AU. And I pretty much have no idea if she does or not. But I'll probably play her as if she does, though for the most part she's still entirely emotionless.

HOWEVER, like Yuki, she's able to develop emotions of her own! And, like Yuki, this means that she's prooooobably capable of learning to be attracted to someone, especially if she remembers her yandere protectiveness over Yuki in the alternate universe. But this'll probably take more work than it did for Yuki, because Ryoko's a lot more sociopathic and sadistic and her interface persona is already an extrovert, so for the most part she already knows how to handle/respond to human beings. But hey.

[variabledge]

Prepare for tl;dr, Captain!

Okay, Raven has a long and torrid affair with romance, pun intended. When she was young, she was...well. Damura was pretty much what every noble couple didn't want their daughter to be. She flirted, she slept around, she dressed up like a commoner and went out and got drunk and slept around some more. Her family was pretty scandalized by this, and despaired they'd never be able to marry her off. She decided she wasn't having any of that anyway and ran off to become an Imperial Knight. (canonically, as a guy Raven was sent to the knights by his father so as not to disgrace his family anymore.)

She carried on with the same behaviour there, too, but it started to lose its appeal for her. There was a distinct separation between noble-born and common-born knights, as well as males and females, despite the fact that women were allowed in the ranks. She was never comfortable as a noble, and got treated disdainfully by both groups, not noble enough, but too noble to really fit in with the commoners. On top of that, female knights were usually relegated to healing and support roles, which didn't thrill her adrenaline-loving personality at all.

Then she met Casey. A female knight that specialized in both short-range and long-range combat with a bow, she basically beat respect and pride into Damura, before eventually accepting her as an equal. Damura fell pretty hard for her, which came as a surprise since she was mostly interested in men before that. However, Casey had a sweetheart who always sent her flowers, so Damura kept her feelings to herself.

Then war happened and Casey died protecting her, but it was a vain sacrifice, because Damura was killed anyway. Her body was salvaged from the battlefield and fitted with an artificial heart, but upon awakening, she couldn't accept what had happened. She was dead, and so was the woman she loved. Before she could drive herself to madness with her fixation on her own death, her commanding officer created a new identity for her to hide behind: Schwann. She latched onto it, burying her old self underneath a new, dignified, frosty demeanor.

Schwann was the "perfect" knight, all business, no nonsense, ultimate loyalty. She never questioned orders, never got drunk on her days off, was never seen doing anything unseemly. In fact, she wasn't seen often at all. She did her duty, and that was it. But when more questionable orders were given to her, something changed. She had to go undercover, and what could be better than reconstructing a dead woman the way she saw fit?

So "Raven" was more or less Damura reborn, flirty, fond of the drink, loud and brash and a little irritating. But with nothing to connect her to the nobility any more, this image was immediately accepted. The only flaw was that she wasn't young any longer, nor was she able to actually get physically close to anyone. While she may have been able to push her feelings away in order to use her own body to get information, she couldn't risk anyone seeing her artificial heart. Too many questions would be asked. So she's all talk, and the moment anyone shows genuine interest, she's out the door and long gone.

Ultimately, Raven is still extremely hung up on Casey, on top of her worries about physical intimacy. Not to mention she betrayed a group of people that she'd actually come to like before coming to the Gardens, so she hasn't really forgiven herself for that. At this point she'd have a hard time with anyone expressing feelings for her, being afraid and not entirely understanding them. She doesn't really see herself as someone that can be loved any more. She's a walking corpse, after all.

Let's just say Tales games are depressing.