The point is that they don't fall into the trap of an oppressive society
Svsss power dynamics are absolutely wild, and I've seen another post mention that already, about how every time you think you're seeing a fucked up dynamic, it's actually three layers deeper and flipped and more imbalanced than you could ever imagine
But the point! Is that they live in an environment that is Always giving each character some power over the other person in the relationship! And none of them ever use it
The novel is critiquing these power trip fantasies and the exploitation often seen as inherent in porn and BL and wish fulfillment stories
Sqq was lbh's teacher. There is often abuse inherent in the teacher/student dynamic. Sqq never even considers lbh as a romantic option until they have been apart for years and there is no age gap
Lbh has a tracking device on sqq and the ability to seize control of sqq's body at any time. He never uses this and only wields his blood parasites to heal
Mbj is sqh's boss who regularly heaps too much work onto him and would physically attack him. Mbj's role as boss is never utilized to coerce or manipulate sqh into a romantic relationship. Mbj was engaging in demonic bonding activities that were acceptable within his culture and stopped the Moment he realized that it was not received that way
Sqh invented the world and created his dream man who he is now romancing. He could be considered a god. It could be wish fulfillment. He uses his knowledge to protect mbj's kingdom and mbj himself and takes up a servants role
There are a thousand other tropes in this book like this. You hear student/teacher, god/creation, body control, fuck-or-die, demon lord/prisoner, age difference, corpse in bed, boss/employee, King/servant. You think you know what kind of book this will be, what kind of abuse and power differences there will be
But the point is that they all just love each other instead! The world is Constantly giving them the opportunity to abuse each other, manipulate, take power over another person. And the point is that they all choose to ignore those customs. The teacher just wants to relax and live a simple life. The god wants to serve. The king learns to serve. The demon lord wants nothing more than to leave it all behind and become a housewife
And it works! They get their happy ending! They fix the world by refusing the opportunities to exploit and abuse others
It's beautiful! And it also makes it absolutely impossible to recommend this novel to anyone!
They're all here!! If anyone remembers these designs, I finally finished the set with the brodia and solm siblings :D the engage characters are so fun to draw!! I may add to this series with the fell xenologue siblings and the alears+veyle, but we'll see!
so i've been listening to the warrior cats audiobooks and there's this scene where fireheart is explaining to bramblepaw and tawnypaw that their father tigerstar is a traitor and it's really dramatic and ends with bramblepaw getting upset and running away but at the beginning it said that fireheart tucked his paws under him so all i could think about was how he was loafing