(( um. ))
So yeah, I've wanted to write this one. But I wanted to finish Chisame's first and give her her due!
People might have noticed that Tomo can be--really inconsistent when it comes to her reactions to sexual things. She's disturbed by Emilio's advances and thrown off by Iono's attentions and was FUCKING PISSED when Light kissed her, and yet she can lick Fllay, bite Robert's neck, sneak into bed with a boy she's openly stated she'd like to have sex with, and feel up Ed in his bed, with Al in the same bed and not see any of it as inappropriate or "weird."
This all ties in very closely to "Tomo has control/power issues," which is a muuuuch much longer essay that I will write someday (ATTN: THIS IS A THREAT). But for now, let's focus on--!
So, okay. One of the most important character traits of my Tomo, the one that informs a hell of a lot of what she does and doesn't do in camp and which is always there in the back of my mind when I'm playing her, is that in Tomo's mind, her actions don't exist outside of their intended consequences.
What that means is that to Tomo, she performs an action to get a specific reaction, and the idea that she won't get the right reaction is absolutely unthinkable. Despite the fact that it happens all the time, heh. Whenever it happens, she smooths things over and then immediately forgets it--not the incident itself, but the lesson involved. The lesson she took away from the incident where she got Sano really angry with her over the Robert bodyswitch? "Always tell Sano when I'm in someone else's body, and making Sano mad at me gives me really bad feelings inside, so don't ever get Sano mad at me again." But the whole "sometimes shit you pull has unexpected consequences, so think things through before you go and do them"? That's not something that can stick in her mind for any length of time. Whatever Tomo is angling for in a conversation or situation, to her, that's what will happen. She doesn't take the unpredictability of other people into account. Because Tomo is amazing! She is brilliant and sexy and all-powerful and all-knowing!
It's not that Tomo doesn't like surprises, because she does. Surprises are exciting! She just likes power more. Futhermore, she takes it for granted that she wields it, the same way she takes it for granted that everyone likes her or will like her someday. And people reacting unexpectedly to something she does takes her power away from her. It's inconceivable to Tomo that she could yield power to someone else; thus, an unexpected reaction is simply NOT POSSIBLE.
She adjusts her view of "expected reactions" based on past reactions. For example. Sano's shown time and time again that he's not interested in her sexually. This is completely clear to her and is just filed away in her mental bank of Eternal Truths. It doesn't matter if she wants to wall him, he doesn't return that feeling. And that's okay!
But Tomo thinks of things in terms of absolutes. Sano Does Not Want Her. This means he never has and never will and nothing will ever change this, unless she's in the process of actively trying to change it (in which case it would inevitably change because She Is Tomo). This means he will never react with awkwardness to anything inappropriate she might do to him. Because what reason is there to be awkward around someone if you're not interested in them?
When Tomo does something like sneak into Sano's bed, she honestly has no ulterior motives, and this is why she can honestly think ridiculous things like "What's the big deal that I'm sleeping in a bed curled up and latched on to this guy I've made it abundantly clear I'd fuck in a heartbeat? What's so weird about that?" XD It's why she can bite him, play strip blackjack with him (Tomo absolutely would not be embarrassed to be stark naked in front of Sano), climb all over him, make jokes about doing him on a pool table, and on and on . . . without worrying about it. Because it's a given that Sano doesn't want her, and thus he won't be affected by anything inappropriate she does! This encompasses obvious physical reactions as well as embarrassment or anger or confusion or even surprise. In Tomo's mind, Sano has no reason to react negatively to being molested by her, because they both know he's not interested, and thus absolutely everything is fair game. 8D
But with Sano SHE wants HIM, and so she does show a little restraint. She's never bitten him anywhere suggestive, or groped him, or flashed him, or anything like that. She doesn't sleep with him as often as she does Ed. Because she's vaguely aware of the limits of her own self-control, and the fact that she DOES have sexual feelings makes stuff like that . . . Real. More real, anyway. While she doesn't have direct ulterior motives there, she knows there's more reason for doing something like that, underneath the surface.
When it comes to, like, Ed and Robert? This becomes a non-issue. Tomo's feelings for them are entirely platonic uuuusually. And neither of them are even remotely interested in her. Robert's asexual, and Ed is gay or asexual depending on what tall dark and evil mastermind is around. >D And so Tomo . . . doesn't really have physical boundaries when it comes to either of them. She restrains herself slightly with Robert out of slight fear of him (and Mal), and that's all. Because it's unheard of that either Robert or Ed will ever have a reaction to anything she does to them, ever. Why? Because she doesn't plan on them having one. Because she doesn't particularily want them to have one (the fact that she also doesn't NOT want them to have one has no bearing on this). And so it will never happen. And if nobody involved is ever going to react to it sexually EVER, then it doesn't count! It's not real.
But it IS funny! And so this leads to things like biting, spanking, hair molesting, sleeping in the same bed, cuddling, tickling, straddling, making blatant sexual jokes or advances. Often in a SLIGHT NON-CON! sort of way. |D Because in Tomo's mind, there's no reason why doing something like that to a teenage guy should be strange if it's not her intention that it should be. And there's no reason anyone ELSE should find it strange either. It's just two friends messing around. No weirder than playing Scrabble or something. If she was actually doing it to get a sexual reaction, or if they'd made it clear that they were capable of having one (and she decided she didn't want that)? It'd register as "weird," and she'd stop doing it.
This has happened once before, on Naked Day, with Arnie. Tomo and Norma were naked with him in his bedroom. They hugged him and generally molested him and boobsquished him. And Arnie . . . reacted to it, and Tomo was completely thrown, even though it should have been obvious to anyone that something like that was very likely to happen. XD Tomo hadn't even CONSIDERED it, because a reaction from Arnie wasn't her intent at the time, and so the idea that it could happen didn't occur to her. Arnie was gay and safe and brotherly and most importantly TOMO wasn't interested and thus climbing all over him in the nude was completely socially acceptable! And then very suddenly it wasn't, and with Arnie it never will be again. Tomo won't touch him that way anymore.
But with anyone who has never reacted to her and never will, like Sora, Fllay, Wolfram, Sano, Robert, Ed, Norma, any NUMBER of people, Tomo has absolutely no shame. And she honestly doesn't understand why, for example, Al would see her sleeping with Ed as "strange." Despite the fact that while they were having the discussion, Tomo was playing with Ed's hair and just being very touchy in general. Her physical boundaries with Ed are as blurred as they can get, and Tomo sometimes considers Ed's body hers in a way despite the fact that they're not sexually involved and never will be. haha probably
In Tomo's mind "Tomo doesn't mean it that way" = "Nobody else should or will see it that way." If things look a little weird, that doesn't matter; it just makes things funnier! The bottom line is, nothing is physically off-limits to Tomo until the other person reacts to it in a way Tomo doesn't expect or desire, at which point power is stripped from her and she will BACK OFF. She'd never bedninja with Emilio, because Emilio would take it as a serious advance or would want it to be, and getting an entirely unwanted sexual reaction from someone confuses Tomo and shifts the balance of power by 1. throwing her off and 2. making it clear she wasn't in control of their reaction. She wouldn't bedninja with anyone who hinted they could be turned on by it, or had been in the past.
(If it were someone she totally unconsciously labels as "I actually wouldn't mind it if they did react"--Sano, Ed, Robert, Norma, or Greed--she'd be cool with it. BUT I ALREADY WROTE THAT ESSAY.)
People might have noticed that Tomo can be--really inconsistent when it comes to her reactions to sexual things. She's disturbed by Emilio's advances and thrown off by Iono's attentions and was FUCKING PISSED when Light kissed her, and yet she can lick Fllay, bite Robert's neck, sneak into bed with a boy she's openly stated she'd like to have sex with, and feel up Ed in his bed, with Al in the same bed and not see any of it as inappropriate or "weird."
This all ties in very closely to "Tomo has control/power issues," which is a muuuuch much longer essay that I will write someday (ATTN: THIS IS A THREAT). But for now, let's focus on--!
So, okay. One of the most important character traits of my Tomo, the one that informs a hell of a lot of what she does and doesn't do in camp and which is always there in the back of my mind when I'm playing her, is that in Tomo's mind, her actions don't exist outside of their intended consequences.
What that means is that to Tomo, she performs an action to get a specific reaction, and the idea that she won't get the right reaction is absolutely unthinkable. Despite the fact that it happens all the time, heh. Whenever it happens, she smooths things over and then immediately forgets it--not the incident itself, but the lesson involved. The lesson she took away from the incident where she got Sano really angry with her over the Robert bodyswitch? "Always tell Sano when I'm in someone else's body, and making Sano mad at me gives me really bad feelings inside, so don't ever get Sano mad at me again." But the whole "sometimes shit you pull has unexpected consequences, so think things through before you go and do them"? That's not something that can stick in her mind for any length of time. Whatever Tomo is angling for in a conversation or situation, to her, that's what will happen. She doesn't take the unpredictability of other people into account. Because Tomo is amazing! She is brilliant and sexy and all-powerful and all-knowing!
It's not that Tomo doesn't like surprises, because she does. Surprises are exciting! She just likes power more. Futhermore, she takes it for granted that she wields it, the same way she takes it for granted that everyone likes her or will like her someday. And people reacting unexpectedly to something she does takes her power away from her. It's inconceivable to Tomo that she could yield power to someone else; thus, an unexpected reaction is simply NOT POSSIBLE.
She adjusts her view of "expected reactions" based on past reactions. For example. Sano's shown time and time again that he's not interested in her sexually. This is completely clear to her and is just filed away in her mental bank of Eternal Truths. It doesn't matter if she wants to wall him, he doesn't return that feeling. And that's okay!
But Tomo thinks of things in terms of absolutes. Sano Does Not Want Her. This means he never has and never will and nothing will ever change this, unless she's in the process of actively trying to change it (in which case it would inevitably change because She Is Tomo). This means he will never react with awkwardness to anything inappropriate she might do to him. Because what reason is there to be awkward around someone if you're not interested in them?
When Tomo does something like sneak into Sano's bed, she honestly has no ulterior motives, and this is why she can honestly think ridiculous things like "What's the big deal that I'm sleeping in a bed curled up and latched on to this guy I've made it abundantly clear I'd fuck in a heartbeat? What's so weird about that?" XD It's why she can bite him, play strip blackjack with him (Tomo absolutely would not be embarrassed to be stark naked in front of Sano), climb all over him, make jokes about doing him on a pool table, and on and on . . . without worrying about it. Because it's a given that Sano doesn't want her, and thus he won't be affected by anything inappropriate she does! This encompasses obvious physical reactions as well as embarrassment or anger or confusion or even surprise. In Tomo's mind, Sano has no reason to react negatively to being molested by her, because they both know he's not interested, and thus absolutely everything is fair game. 8D
But with Sano SHE wants HIM, and so she does show a little restraint. She's never bitten him anywhere suggestive, or groped him, or flashed him, or anything like that. She doesn't sleep with him as often as she does Ed. Because she's vaguely aware of the limits of her own self-control, and the fact that she DOES have sexual feelings makes stuff like that . . . Real. More real, anyway. While she doesn't have direct ulterior motives there, she knows there's more reason for doing something like that, underneath the surface.
When it comes to, like, Ed and Robert? This becomes a non-issue. Tomo's feelings for them are entirely platonic uuuusually. And neither of them are even remotely interested in her. Robert's asexual, and Ed is gay or asexual depending on what tall dark and evil mastermind is around. >D And so Tomo . . . doesn't really have physical boundaries when it comes to either of them. She restrains herself slightly with Robert out of slight fear of him (and Mal), and that's all. Because it's unheard of that either Robert or Ed will ever have a reaction to anything she does to them, ever. Why? Because she doesn't plan on them having one. Because she doesn't particularily want them to have one (the fact that she also doesn't NOT want them to have one has no bearing on this). And so it will never happen. And if nobody involved is ever going to react to it sexually EVER, then it doesn't count! It's not real.
But it IS funny! And so this leads to things like biting, spanking, hair molesting, sleeping in the same bed, cuddling, tickling, straddling, making blatant sexual jokes or advances. Often in a SLIGHT NON-CON! sort of way. |D Because in Tomo's mind, there's no reason why doing something like that to a teenage guy should be strange if it's not her intention that it should be. And there's no reason anyone ELSE should find it strange either. It's just two friends messing around. No weirder than playing Scrabble or something. If she was actually doing it to get a sexual reaction, or if they'd made it clear that they were capable of having one (and she decided she didn't want that)? It'd register as "weird," and she'd stop doing it.
This has happened once before, on Naked Day, with Arnie. Tomo and Norma were naked with him in his bedroom. They hugged him and generally molested him and boobsquished him. And Arnie . . . reacted to it, and Tomo was completely thrown, even though it should have been obvious to anyone that something like that was very likely to happen. XD Tomo hadn't even CONSIDERED it, because a reaction from Arnie wasn't her intent at the time, and so the idea that it could happen didn't occur to her. Arnie was gay and safe and brotherly and most importantly TOMO wasn't interested and thus climbing all over him in the nude was completely socially acceptable! And then very suddenly it wasn't, and with Arnie it never will be again. Tomo won't touch him that way anymore.
But with anyone who has never reacted to her and never will, like Sora, Fllay, Wolfram, Sano, Robert, Ed, Norma, any NUMBER of people, Tomo has absolutely no shame. And she honestly doesn't understand why, for example, Al would see her sleeping with Ed as "strange." Despite the fact that while they were having the discussion, Tomo was playing with Ed's hair and just being very touchy in general. Her physical boundaries with Ed are as blurred as they can get, and Tomo sometimes considers Ed's body hers in a way despite the fact that they're not sexually involved and never will be. haha probably
In Tomo's mind "Tomo doesn't mean it that way" = "Nobody else should or will see it that way." If things look a little weird, that doesn't matter; it just makes things funnier! The bottom line is, nothing is physically off-limits to Tomo until the other person reacts to it in a way Tomo doesn't expect or desire, at which point power is stripped from her and she will BACK OFF. She'd never bedninja with Emilio, because Emilio would take it as a serious advance or would want it to be, and getting an entirely unwanted sexual reaction from someone confuses Tomo and shifts the balance of power by 1. throwing her off and 2. making it clear she wasn't in control of their reaction. She wouldn't bedninja with anyone who hinted they could be turned on by it, or had been in the past.
(If it were someone she totally unconsciously labels as "I actually wouldn't mind it if they did react"--Sano, Ed, Robert, Norma, or Greed--she'd be cool with it. BUT I ALREADY WROTE THAT ESSAY.)