Love?
The first rays of dawn came in and with them so too did a feeling of loneliness. But the feeling was normal by now and aside from a few moments of sadness in the morning it sat at the back of the mind. So, the day proceeded as Shaw worked through the various monotonous tasks to make herself presentable, fed the cat, watered the plants, and finally off to work.
The small power plant that she maintained powered the small enclave of alchemists and tinkerers where she lived. She wouldn’t be working here at all if she had any talent of her won, even the slightest bit of tinker ability, and you were set for life.
Must be nice, She thought to herself.
On the way to work she purchased her usual breakfast, a fried donut, from her favorite shop.
How does the rest of the world get on without fried food?
As far as procrastination could get her, she still had bills to pay, so into work for the day, tighten this, loosen that, “HELP! I flooded the toilet...” Finally, onto break, where she could relax. That was, if Emanuel would stop shoving pictures of his new boyfriend into everyone's face. She headed back to her ‘desk’ (in reality a pile of boxes with a tarp and chair, but it sufficed) and tried to ignore the burning feeling of loneliness and shame.
Whaaaat the hell is wrong with me?
She thought to herself.
Shouldn’t even say hell, can’t blame a demon for not loving anyone.
Shaw never had crushes. From when she was in grade school to now not a single person had ever given her... A...?
My apologies, it seems even my omnipotence has limits...
Perhaps you could call it a fire in her loins, as the poets of old did. But put anyway, the concept of romance has always been a “someday” thing. That just happened when you were older. It wasn’t until she was an adult that the feelings of loneliness came, likely because she was now older, and someday was supposed to be now.
She stopped by the library that night, to renew her loan, the one book she always kept on her “Theories on romance, by Jean Tallow.”
Perhaps it was a chance that she saw the book.
Perhaps because it was her favorite author.
Perhaps it was the color of a sunset draping down the seemingly ancient leather.
“Revised theories on romance, by Jean Tallow.”
“Hey hon!” Said the librarian, she began to scan the two books under the clockwork monstrosity designed by some tinkerer to keep track of checked out books (and of course, to take fines when necessary). The librarian paused looking at the books, “Old and the new I, see?”
“Yup!” Shaw smiled back. By now she was familiar with most of the librarians.
The walk home was quiet and peaceful; the crisp autumn air was just the right temperature for a light jacket. Shaw stopped at the park just a street before her house and settled in to read the book she hoped would solve all her problems.
The first step to romance is understanding that you cannot control or force it. It is a force of nature, not an achievable goal.
Shaw frowned and looked back at the first book.
Romance is a goal. And as such we all must work at it to eventually achieve it.
Could this really be the same author?
Loyal readers will be sorely aware that this entirely contradicts the basis of my previous guide to romance, and that is because, like the world, I too can change. My recent experiences have led me to a very different perspective...
She read on, past the introductory section, and theories on romance.
...as far as I can tell, this process must start with a ‘crush’. This is an inherently unknowable phenomena, caused by magic science and theories of consciousness which we do not yet understand. However, there are exceptions, whilst the majority of the world will experience this attraction at one time or another, almost every culture has an example of a group or person who does not experience attraction. This can be observed in the larger populus by various names as well. The most scientific of which, and what I shall henceforth be using is Aromantic.
Shaw frowned. That doesn’t make much sense... Doesn’t everyone experience romance? Everyone I know, definitely.
She read on, to the section on love, which in the previous book covered how to determine if your partner or you were in love.
One might assume that love is inherently tied to romance, for an in-depth guide to romantic love. This will mainly focus on the other types of love, per philosophy that originated in the modern-day Hauan union.
Unconditional love- The least common, this is often considered exclusive to spiritualism and the love between parent and child.
Romantic love – See original guide.
Affectionate love – This is the love of friendship, the kind for those who you spend time with.
Self-love – This one is self-explanatory, but it is love for oneself. I personally believe that this one must be achieved to experience others fully.
Enduring love – Similar to romantic love, this is what holds relationships together, whether romantic or not.
Playful love – This is the kind of love that is paired with excitement. This is often categorized under crush, but I think it can also be the feeling one gets when they have a new pet, or job, or roommate.
One can clearly see that romance is not necessary for the full breadth of human experience.
As Shaw read on, she began to see how this fits her more and more.
Perhaps I don’t need someone else to be happy.
Perhaps that feeling of loneliness doesn’t have to change, maybe you just need to change the angle.
Maybe it’s content.
Maybe being by yourself can be a happy feeling.
An important message for anyone to learn :) Well done
Thank you my friend!
Your freind,
The Graiffe