WHAT IS LOVE etc etc

[cobbledtogether]

Characters: Lambda-11 and OPEN, followed by Lambda-11 and Akiha Tohno
Date: Sunday, September 9th
Summary: Lambda reads some books and asks some questions.
Warnings: Should be nothing. Will update as needed.


Love was proving to be a very complicated topic. Things Subaru said conflicted with things Urd said. Things Urd said contradicted with what Akiha had mentioned before. And, having no real frame of reference of her own, it was hard for Lambda to determine what information was the most correct.

Obviously, then, the best course of action would be to give herself a frame of reference. Under normal circumstances, she spent very little time in the library, but reading the literature located there seemed like a good way to do this. So, that was where she chose to spend her afternoon, barefoot and clad in her standard leotard as she paged through book after book.

Most of them were proving less helpful than she had hoped. After finding herself unable to parse the pertinent information from one, she would set it aside and pick up another, her demeanor growing a little more frustrated each time. She seemed oblivious to the way her brow had begun to furrow.



So, when the library proved not to be very much help after all, she returned home to the Tohno Mansion. It was evening by the time she did so, and once inside she decided to stop by Akiha's room on what was almost but not quite a whim. She trusted Akiha more than anyone else in the Gardens, so if she was confused about something, it seemed right to make her the one she asked.

She hesitated outside her door longer than was typical, seized by an uncharacteristic feeling of uncertainty. Then, she lifted a hand and knocked.

Comments

[ritsu_kouyou]

"You may enter," Akiha called.

She was lounging on her side on the made bed in casual clothes, hair pulled up in a ponytail, with an open notebook out before her. The girl's writing was scrawled across it with many places of things being scratched out.

Pen twirling in her fingers, she turned back a page and reread over what she'd written.

[cobbledtogether]

Lambda did so, but she didn't step far into the room. Instead, she lingered near the door even after she had closed it behind her, that same abnormal shyness hanging about her as she watched Akiha read over whatever she had written in that notebook. A few seconds passed before she spoke up.

"...Akiha-sama. Are you currently available? I...desire to speak with you."

[ritsu_kouyou]

"If I was not available, I wouldn't have let you in," Akiha replied lightly. "This isn't important, just a silly past-time of mine."

She looked up at Lambda and raised an eyebrow. "You're welcome to sit."

[cobbledtogether]

"...Understood." Her eyes flicked to the notebook for a moment, but she didn't ask about its contents. Instead, she did as Akiha suggested, though her movements remained cautious.

Ultimately, Lambda didn't bother with much in the way of explanation. Instead, she simply informed her, "I am having difficulty understanding the concept of love."

[ritsu_kouyou]

Akiha blinked and closed her notebook. What brought this on?

"You certainly aren't the first nor will you be the last to have difficulties with this. I'm not sure anyone really understands it, nor can it be explained well. Just as any emotion is hard to quantify."

She tilted her head. "I can attempt to help clarify if you'd like."

[cobbledtogether]

"...Sexual attraction is not necessary for platonic or familial love." She recited the information mostly to herself, as though reassuring herself of it. "Is it...required for romantic love?"

[ritsu_kouyou]

"Sexual attraction?" Akiha raised an eyebrow and shifted into more of a sitting position. "The very definition of platonic love excludes sexual attraction and it's... not proper to couple sexual attraction with familial love. That's, unfortunately, not always the case, just as familial love and romantic love are not supposed to cross."

Not supposed to, but Akiha loved Shiki...

"As for romantic love... That is the kind of love where sexual attraction is acceptable and, in fact, expected, but I don't think it is a requirement. There are some people that just don't experience sexual attraction. It could be because they lack the biology for it via a hormonal imbalance, a lack of reaching puberty, or they're just asexual, having no interest in sex to the extent that the mind suppresses the body's natural reaction to sexual attraction."

...she really hoped that made sense.

[cobbledtogether]

"It is not required?" That reply made her perk up a little. It was almost relieving to hear, in that it made the fact that she had been brought to the Gardens in the first place more logical. After all, when the formation of that kind of bond was generally regarded as the reason they had been abducted to begin with...

"How do you determine what type of love you have for an individual?"

[ritsu_kouyou]

Who had been talking about sexual attraction with her cyborg? Akiha very much wanted to know so she could give that person a piece of her mind. The half-demon has already poked at Lambda to see if she was capable of sexual attraction when her demon side was in control and eliminating her inhibitions. It simply wasn't acceptable for anyone else to do that.

"I believe the leading example of romantic love without sexual attraction is called courtly love," Akiha pointed out, hoping maybe Lambda knew of it in her databanks or read it in literature. "I'm not sure how to describe how to know what kind of love one has for another."

She pondered a moment. "Well, feeling sexual attraction usually directs the love immediately into the romantic, but when there is no sexual attraction... it's hard to say. Platonic love is generally just another name for friendship. Familial love is more wanting someone to feel safe with you, to belong in your household, someone that you will fight to protect, even if it means sacrificing your life to ensure they're safe and... have a future."

Akiha pulled her ponytail in front of her shoulders, stroking the ends of it. "Romantic... that's even more complicated because someone you romantically love can infuriate you to levels no one else can, but you also put up with more than you should. You accept and even embrace a person's flaws... You want to see them smile, to see them happy. You can... just be yourself, be vulnerable, in front of them and know it's alright. And your heart aches when they're not around and the thought of never having them in your life in neigh unbearable."

A pause. "It's even possible that you'll do irrational things to keep from losing them." She shakes her head. "Those are just a few examples - not all are required. I'm not even sure if any of them are... but that's what I believe."

Sorry to pick your brain again!

[fionna_time]

It was actually becoming a common thing, for Fionna to find spare time and, making sure that no one was looking, popping in to read more of the poetry. It had started innocently enough when she and Chihiro had started poking around, but now Fionna was more interested in reading the romance poetry, especially the ones written by women. So making sure she was alone, she used her flashlight to find a dark, hidden corner of the library to start reading.

Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Futile the winds
To a heart in port,
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart.

Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in thee!

Man, they spoke weird, some of this poetry stuff. She alraedy had a dictionary out.

[cobbledtogether]

Unfortunately for her, she wouldn't be alone for much longer. Lambda's search for information led her deeper and deeper into the library, and she wasn't the the type to leave a stone unturned—or a shelf unchecked, in this case. It was only a matter of time before she found Fionna, huddled in her corner with her flashlight in hand.

"...Fionna."

Yep. There she was.

Sorry for the wait, message was pushed into my spam folder for some reason

[fionna_time]

Fionna almost jumped a foot in the air, and put the book down quickly, blushing like crazy.

"O-oh! Hey Lambda, what's up?"

[cobbledtogether]

Lambda tilted her head at that response.

"I am performing research." ... "What are you doing?"

The question sounded prying than was perhaps normal for Lambda.

[fionna_time]

Fionna blushed a little bit here, but had a smile hidden.

"I'm just looking up some poetry. Never really looked at it, but its got some real nice ways of saying things, especially to people you care about!"

[cobbledtogether]

Good thing it was dark enough for her blush to be hard to see, then.

"...Why are you in the dark?"

It seemed to Lambda that it would be much easier to read if she picked a spot with more light.

[fionna_time]

"I'm sorta trying to keep this a secret," she said, looking embarrassed. "I know no one might care, but still. I've got my reasons. What are you up to here?"

[cobbledtogether]

"What are your reasons? ...I am attempting to obtain a greater understanding of the concept of love."

[whataprettyname]

...it's almost like she's following herself.

Chihiro gathers up lost books throughout the library, dusting off their covers and replacing them on the shelves. She hadn't found them terribly helpful, either, when she'd embarked on her own search for the answer to this particular riddle. All the same, a book was a book.

All the same, when she came across Lambda and saw her furrowed brow over the top cover of the book, Chihiro could only be sympathetic. Drawing nearer slowly, she reaches out and gives a soft tug on Lambda's sleeve.

"What are you reading?"

[cobbledtogether]

Lambda glances toward her as Chihiro tugs at her sleeve, her expression largely blank but her eyes curious. She tilts her head ever so slightly, but before she can ask what Chihiro wants, she receives a question instead. Wordlessly, she closes the book in her hands and holds it up to show her. It's one of the "age appropriate" books the bears keep pushing her toward whenever she tries to see if there's anything of use in that guarded section.

[whataprettyname]

Having been carted off multiple times to the "age appropriate" sections of the library by the bears whenever she wanders in too deeply, it's a title Chihiro actually recognizes. She frowns, but nods with remarkably sagacity for a thirteen year old.

"There's another library, too, you know," she says, trying to be helpful. "It has some love story plays - they're kind of strange, but there's no bears."

[cobbledtogether]

Lambda tilts her head some. She has wandered into Kuja's library on occasion, but she is largely unaware of its contents. "I...am seeking a greater understanding of the concept of love. Will they...help?"

[whataprettyname]

"...I don't know."

Chihiro gives a helpless little shrug. She'd been torn between offering reassurance and offering the truth, and practicality had won out.

After all, it hadn't helped her much. But, something had.

"I met some people while I was looking, though. I asked them, instead. After some of what they said...I think I might understand a little more. At least about how it works, here."

[cobbledtogether]

She tilts her head a little at that. "What did they tell you?"

[whataprettyname]

"They told me what it feels like when you're in love. Where you feel really happy just to be with that person, and you want them to be happy no matter what, and you think they're one of the greatest people ever. They make you feel special."

It hadn't been terribly clear to Chihiro either, at the time. But, Fionna's words had been a start, and something to mull over.

"You could read a play. A lot of them are about love."

[cobbledtogether]

Lambda mulls that over. That information is specific enough to be helpful, though enough of it applies to Akiha that it makes her feel somewhat muddled again. Still, in the end, she nods, saying, "...Thank you. You would...recommend a play from that library?"

Well, something like that would at least be more concrete than poetry.