I'm curious.

I've listened to several of you talking and found myself wondering what constitutes a relationship and the level of desire for such a thing. What you seek, what you desire, what you find fulfilling.

Oh, I don't particularly care about how many and in what configurations you find interesting (thank you O' Mighty Master Of Cities) but I am wondering how many of you actually have relationships of romantic or sexual nature. And in that vein I'm curious as to whether any of you prefer long term and complex relationships or maintain simple and shallow acts of gratitification, mutual or otherwise.

And to preemptively deal with an inevitable subject (Hello Endeavor, ronin and Solitaire) - hyper-developed intellect doesn't preclude sexuality or appreciation of the sensuous. On the contrary and statistically speaking, the greater the intellect the more creative the approach to "idiotic" couplings.

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5" color="#BC47ED">W</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><font color="#D673FF">idget,</font><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="1">

I dated a lot before eruption, mainly in search of the right one. I didn't find her, but it resulted in a few interesting relationships.

After my eruption, I have not found anyone interesting enough to bother.

I was with an extraordinary lady for some time. Her name was Nimue Barrows, one of the Barrow's Triplets who I served with when I was with Utopia. Nimue is the one who encouraged me to leave Utopia and she is the one who opened up my mind when it came to the Terat philosophy.

She was beautiful, brilliant, powerful and utterly ruthless. I loved her more than I understood at the time and her loss is something that haunts me still. Perhaps, given the time that I have ahead of me, I shall again find someone to whom I can dedicate myself utterly. Until I'm ready for that I doubt I could bother trying any sort of social dalliance.

I am curious to what brought on this question.

Yes, I have had a few recent sexual relationships, but not many. My attempts at long-term relationships have had ... problems.
Currently; nothing's going on.

What constitutes a relationship? The mutual desire for companionship and a level of trust. That's my definition, anyway.

Sex for physical gratification? Not much, anymore.
Likewise, I no longer feel the need to "procreate", or to have someone call me daddy. I am rather old and don't seem to be aging, so there is no rush for 'genetic immortality'. The desire remain, though.

I have found sex is best when you love your partner(s), though telepathic gestalt comes in a close second.
Though you didn't ask it, I will add it to the list. Yes, I believe in love and that it is something more than a mere biochemical reaction. I guess I am just silly that way.

My preferences? I prefer long-term relationships. In the process of changing and evolving, my desires and needs have changed as well, so my past relationships have been with other novas who have been part of that process. I am not sure it is within us to have an 'eternal' relationship. So my experience leads me to believe, anyway.

And when you have both? It's utterly fabulous.

Not too long ago I discovered that a co-worker has been carrying a torch for me all these years, and kept it under his hat, where the metaphor stretched too far and burnt his scalp. I'm thinking about the feelings I have for him, and whether or not I really want a romantic relationship at this time.

I can say that I have thought a little about telepathic gesalts and illusion powers and how they could, erm, enhance things a little. But I'm an old softie at heart and I guess I like to feel romantic instead of just horny.

Let's just say I'm not the easiest person to get along with.

Widget.

I've had a goodly amount of time to try both long-term, meaningful relationships and the occassional (very occassional -- I've always been a loner) sex-only relationship.

Current developments have made sex with anyone other than an incredibly strong nova a pointless pursuit, so even if I was satisfied by the purely sexual -- which I am not -- it would do me no good.

I have loved and been in love a handful of times, and I found it thoroughly rewarding and some of the most positive experiences of my life. The who's and the when's exactly are currently nobody's business but my own, but suffice it to say that I have had some very wonderful relationships with a rare few women and men.

Love is, of course, painful at times, but I don't so much mind. I have little left to feel aside from emotion, and I embrace the pain as much as the pleasure.

I quite hope to love again some day. I walk my path quite nicely alone, but a fellow traveler makes the journey so much more enjoyable.

.ronin

*shrugs shoulders*

Eh, this sibject isn't my cup of tea. Sensuality, if it was a school subject, I'd regularly flunk. But, if the need arose... er... perhaps I shouldn't go further.

As a baseline I found long term complex relationships to be, well, long term and complex. To put it another way I found them repetative, restrictive and having a tendency for one or both partners to view the object of their affections as an extension of themselves. As a nova my views haven't changed so I stick to the so called 'simple', 'shallow' acts.

After all is it not a great romantic truism that if you love someone enough you should be prepared to let them go?

Allow me to wax lyrical at this point:)
If one sees a beatiful flower growing wild and free it is best to let it live in such a state. One gains nothing by cutting the flower and placing it in a vase to make it's beauty more accessible, for the flower will soon fade and lose it's colour.

Think about it.

I'd be being a little redundant to point out the fact that my physical age being considerably less than my chronological and emotional age seriously dampens my ability to have a meaningful relationship with an adult of the opposite sex. I get plenty of attention from the opposite sex(and..er..some from the same), but the tendency is that women of my actual age still think of me as some emotional idiot-savant. My appearance may still be one of a 16 year old, but my hormone systems are that of an adult. The first years as a Nova were grand, considering the ease that I attracted lovers, but as my mind matured, my body did not.

Had my body aged older than my true self, that would have been an advantage, seeing how there are many more women who prefer older men than there are ones who prefer younger ones...I'm in my late 20s now. Associating with others my age (even Novas, who are particularily open-minded) takes time and patience before they accept me as a adult. It's frustrating.

Widget, my girl.

You see, my form or relationship? Isn't possible within one lifetime. Unfortuantely, the "interview" process is probably longer than most baseline lifespans.

And I doubt Novas have the patience.

I must be too choosy I suppose.