ledbythewind | [Voice/Action]

[Ah, Valentine's Day. The one experiment a year Richard hates most, for a variety of reasons. Granted, this year wasn't TOO terrible, as he was spared the unfortunate fate of falling in love with anyone under the effects of the experiment... but that didn't stop other people from from falling in love/lust with HIM, much to his dismay. And that's left him with many things to think about, as have some of the reactions to the experiment that he's seen from other people. Which leads him to ponder...]

Indulge my curiosity: what sorts of things are considered traditionally "masculine" where you come from?

[A bit later on, Richard will head out of the house on a shopping trip to All Passions and the item store, where he can be found looking for a new wardrobe and a few other things, probably as a result of some of the answers he received to his question. After picking out a bunch of things to take home with him, he chooses something new to wear home as well: cargo pants, combat boots, and a leather motorcycle jacket, because all of those things are super-masculine, right? Alas, on someone with the approximate build of a toothpick and delicate features like Richard has, the end result is a bit ridiculous, but don't tell him that. (Or do, your choice.) He can't quite bring himself to cut his hair - he's still far too proud of it - so instead he opts to pull it back into a ponytail.

There. Much better, in his eyes. Now the question is, what will his friends and housemates think of this?]

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[He's not really buying that, but he doesn't know Richard well enough to attempt any rude prying just yet. Maybe it'll come out if he keeps talking, so...]

That bit's kind of tricky, I guess- I mean, everyone's different, so what one person finds attractive might not match another's. Traditionally, though... being physically fit, muscular, harder features rather than effeminate. Sometimes facial hair helps. People also like confident, charismatic guys a lot of the time.

Physically fit and muscular seem to be descriptions that have been coming up rather frequently. A few people even mentioned facial hair as well, although one of them also said that included eyebrows.

[He's not so sure on that one.]

There does seem to be a general consensus that overall body structure plays a role, however.

[Oh god, did someone tell him to grow bushy brows? Because that mental image is kind of scarring.]

Yeah, that's kind of the downside of the whole "ideal man" fantasy- some guys just don't have the bone structure for it. I mean, I'd never be mistaken for a girl [he really hopes] but I've always known that I could never be a normal jock, either- I don't have the natural build to support it even if I got myself more muscular. Lots of guys don't.

There's nothing wrong with it though. Going against traditions, I mean.

[Blame Rock Lee for that one, man. And don't worry, Richard finds the mental image just as scarring as you do.]

And I suspect that some people can't become all that muscular even if they tried.

[He's pretty sure that he can't-- not even the swimming he did when he was younger managed to put any sort of real muscle on his frame. He's always been slender; delicate, even.]

But what is a "jock"? I've never heard that word before.

A jock's like- ...how to explain. Okay, in high school where I'm from, schools have kind of a pecking order of rank, who's cool and who gets shoved into lockers or beaten up for lunch money. At the very bottom you've got the geeks and the shy kids, or the quote-unquote "ugly" or poor kids. In the middle there's the neutral ground, people who aren't cool enough to be cool but are normal enough to blend in. And at the top there's the jocks and the preps. They're usually athletes, really good looking, tough, and popular. And since they're cool they have to be nasty to everyone beneath them. Either that or pretend they don't exist.

[Most of this goes right over his head - "high school" doesn't exist in his world, much less "lockers" or "lunch money" or "preps" - but he thinks he gets the general gist of what Billy is saying.]

In other words, they maintain their status by attacking everyone who is weaker, much like animals or monsters. Then again, there are no shortage of humans who do the same thing in my world as well.

Yeah, it's not something that people will automatically grow out of once they graduate out of school. They lurk around like predators and hardly ever get punished for it. Especially if they're sports stars- everybody idolizes them and nobody wants to get them into trouble.

Because everyone is either afraid of them or wants to be like them and gain their favor.

[Yep, that sounds familiar. He's been around politics for long enough to know that it's basically this exact principle, just polished up and given a fancy facade and pretense of actually accomplishing things.]

Basically, yeah.

[It's kind of a universal concept, which is unfortunate as it is familiar.]

Yet another thing that doesn't appear to differ between worlds.

[Which is too bad, but unsurprising.]

I figured not. Worlds might be different but people don't really change that much.

The more I speak to others, the more it's starting to sound like that is the case.

...Well... if it's any consolation, this place is amazing for people being able to accept everyone as they are.

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