The Wayhaven Chronicles General Discussion (SPOILER FREE FOR BOOK THREE!)

I think it’s important to understand the difference between being aro and not understanding/not yet feeling romantic emotions.
Let’s use kids with crushes as an example. At such a young age, they might not understand what they’re feeling. Why are they nervous around X? Why is it exciting when we hug? I usually HATE boys, but X is pretty cool! Etc
This is how I see M. They’ve never experienced this before, and they have a hard time wrapping their head around it. But it IS happening. We’re one of the only people they’ve known for extended periods of time. I think it’s entirely possible that he simply hasn’t developed a relationship with anyone he’s into like they have with us

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Your explanation is way better than mine! (And I always loved your ell analogy)

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image

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And he told me yesterday, he doesn’t socialize…come over here, and take your ribbons :ribbon:

Nate/Nat: N would totally draw the MC into an embrace, kissing them and whispering ‘I love you’ in different languages against their skin.

damn…

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It’s funny… I had started a long response to @JBento explaining why I still think M may be aro, then had to go to a meeting. Came back and saw your post and went, “meh, N’s reaction doesn’t really do much for me” and realized that maybe @JBento and @Anna_B are correct. Because, while F and A’s reactions definitely trigger a “romantic” reaction in me, N’s is almost as bland and mood-killing as M ignoring the gesture altogether.

Plus, I remembered the cheek kiss in the b3 demo, which was pretty damned awesome, especially coming from Mr. Eww-I-hate-romance-and-only-want-sex. That was definitely a romantic gesture on M’s part, and it was done impulsively. I don’t think aro people would have that kind of impulse at all. So M probably isn’t aro, he just sucks at responding to romantic gestures from the MC.

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Not gonna lie, in the response above to help with the example I ALMOST asked you how you felt about boddicerippers like Harlequin. Because I think your answer would be something along the lines of “burn them all with fire”, and that thing hasn’t been selling a gazillion fucking books for as long as I’ve been alive because women don’t like it.

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You nailed it. Burn them with fire.

I went through a spell when I was like 17-20 where I tore through similar books (not Harlequin, but some other branded version). After the first 10 or so (I read fast), I kept reading them to see if any could actually satisfy me. They did not. I never found a single one of those books that did anything for me. Too corny for my tastes. And the dialog made me cringe.

To this day, I still don’t get what people see in them. The kiss/bang at the end pisses me off beyond all reason. Hell, erotic novels at least let people get into a relationship halfway through the book before doing things to tear them apart and get them back together. Those are more satisfying to read… the dialog still makes me cringe, though. :stuck_out_tongue:

Exactly. I just didn’t think anything triggered that romantic response in M. The cheek kiss, though, proves otherwise. Even if that’s the only proof we have thus far that M’s romance will actually have some romance in it.

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Why I’m being Tagged? :grin:

I don’t think one can control how one feels about a character or a person. What’s bland for one is fun for another… :woman_shrugging:

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Yeah, that’s what I expected from you regarding them. :smile:

Because it’s fuuuunnnnnn. @E_RedMark

Actually, I think it’s because sometimes people reply to a thread by using the reply button in the last post instead of the blue reply button below the last post. :thinking: I’ve done that by mistake a couple of times.

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Or maybe my dear friend @EvilChani wants me to rile her up a bit? :thinking:

Hmm,

Not exactly. It work for peoples, just not you.

I mean the rules of ‘To each it’s own’ and all that? :rofl:

Just think about it! You get 4 Hotties, and you decided to go for the Slut of the group!

Talk about bad taste! may as well just ask for a Gigolo at this rate! Or a bordello?

Hm, think she gonna nuke me?

In…3…2…Oh hell! I’m out of here! :rofl:

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As an aroallo person, I don’t really get the feeling that M is completely aromantic myself! I do think they’re probably on the aromantic spectrum, but then they’d be more along the lines of grayromantic. But I think we’d need more insight into their romantic and sexual past to get a good grasp of it, which I honestly doubt we’re gonna get.

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You read me quite well, then!

I think one thing is that the first books I ever really read and enjoyed were sci-fi/fantasy. My ideas of romance got shaped by those (and watching my parents happily bicker). Hell, two of my favorite romances of all time were in those books: Paul and Chani in Dune (hence my handle) and the romance in Glory Road by Heinlein. Of course, I also loved Time Enough for Love, but… we wont’ go there.

I was agreeing with you. :stuck_out_tongue: That yes, one person may like a certain type of romance while others hate it or find it bland. It’s just personal taste.

I find M’s story the most interesting read. I made MCs for all of them, but Dezh (M) is probably my favorite with Zaraya (A) a very close second (even though A’s romance is ranked dead last for me as a reader and personally!).

Yep. I always have this image of Z and A having sex for the first time and Z being like, “You know, I’ve never done this before, but why don’t you let me lead…” Because he’s not doing it right, lol.

F and Jax, I have all sorts of images of them trying kinky shit and having no idea how to go about it. Jax, being “sexily” spanked by F: This is weird…
M, from the other room: You aren’t supposed to tell jokes while you’re doing it, dumbasses!

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You’re one to talk. You got 4 hotties, and you decided to go for the one that’s emotionally unavailable. :stuck_out_tongue:
Also, that just means M’s better at it. If I’m getting surgery I prefer a surgeon with experience, I dunno why it’d be different if I’m getting sex. :thinking:

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I don’t. Their personal story (M that is) is the one I have no interest in.

I don’t know. I think it’s probably because for some reasons, it remind me of the past of Wolverine? Ya know, the guy from XMEN?

I’m guessing it would be something similar. And I though Wolverine story was so boring.

Then again, to be honest? I kinda don’t care about the past of any of them. I’m a bit curious about A past, just to see if my intuition was right? And I’m curious about N…because it seem there is tie there. Dont care for F past either…

And I mean when I say don’t care as in ‘If its never revealed, no big deal’ kind of thing. Not ‘Dont care cause they are boring or something’.

I dunno, I just don’t feel like something is missing if it was never revealed. But again, that is just me.

Jokes on you! I love 3 of them! You only like M! Ah

Check and mate! :grin:

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Lies and slander, I also love F. And I like N, but I’m finding their romance mostly meh by the end of B2.

I play the trump card and make bingo!

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We are derailing the topic…

Anyway, I know you and EvilChani keep saying that A is emotionally Unavailable.

But I really don’t see it.

So what gives?

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I feel that way about A’s past. N’s interests me to a point, because I want to see him lose his shit and go all Angelus to my MC’s Buffy. F’s trauma is clearly his mom. M’s is the most noteworthy, even if it does turn out to be a Wolverine thing. I always loved Wolverine. :smiley:

I love F’s (only with my childish MC, though). N, I found boring from day one. So I stuck him with a hellion of an MC, kinda Dezh-lite, only without the PTSD and emotional constipation from shit caused by her past.

Really? A’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Won’t let out emotions, won’t get physical (because A’s demi, I know), but there’s nothing there. There are a lot of “almosts” with A, but they always pull back. Always throw out the snide lie that the MC means nothing to them and there’s nothing between them. If that’s not unavailable, I don’t know what is.

Edited to add: I’ve also always despised the “I can’t be with you for your own good” shit. That pisses me off quicker than anything in “romance” stories. Why? Because it’s bullshit. You want to protect someone? Then be by their side and face trouble together. You can’t protect someone you aren’t with. Believing otherwise is idiocy and selfish because, in the long run, every time someone says that, they’re really just doing it to protect themselves. At least have the balls to admit it.

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There’s a segue into the trolley problem (or possibly bumper cars) here SOMEWHERE, but I just can’t quite find it. :thinking: I am disappointed in myself. :cry:

The entire A romance so far is A going “but we mustn’t”, and then you don’t. And then they wear perfume and dress up for a sewer trip to entice you, but you still mustn’t, and then you don’t. If I wanted to be jerked along, I’d wear a leash.

Ah, yes, I almost forgot the repeated infantilising.

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You two are like peas in a pods :grin:

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M, smirking: I’ll get you a collar, sweetheart/handsome, and we can see if it does anything for you…

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