Porn Post-Mortems: Seymour x Aizen @ the_love_hotel - Part 2

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Part 2: Seymour Guado, You Ain't Nobody's Boss

Chart Porn; or, putting values on the invaluable.

Let’s talk about chart porn.

So whatever, I already have a reputation for being obsessive. I can’t tank that any worse: I am unquestionably very obsessive, just like many other people are unquestionably very stupid or very unpleasant. But you don’t see me casting aspersions, do you? No, that’s because I have boners I need to get involved with.

This Aizen thread was very important to me for a number of reasons both as a writer and as a sympathetic person. I had an exquisitely keen sense of the fluctuating power levels in this scene - I could almost feel Aizen taking control of the scene in places, and also, with (and as) Seymour, it was equally intense and specific.

There are about 50,000 different power games going on in this thread both IC and OOC and at the twilight margins of both. If I diagrammed all that out it would take a hundred years. Instead, I’m going to quantify and talk about five different kinds of energy:

Seymour’s Mental Control / Aizen’s Mental Control - Each character has a level of mental control over himself, his partner, and the situation. Mental control includes: being the guy who is making demands, being the guy whose demands must be followed (there’s a difference between these two, you know), confidence, grasp of what the other guy is going to do, control of elements of the environment, etc.

EX: When Aizen shows up in Seymour’s bed announcing “give me back my clothes, my lad, and nobody will have to get hurt” - he has a high degree of mental control over himself, and more than a little over Seymour, who now has to answer the implicit threat and explicit demand.

Mental control of the scene is not a zero-sum game: both characters can have a high degree of mental control at the same time, and it is actually this situation that I like best. The opposite of a cold war!

Seymour’s Physical Control / Aizen’s Physical Control - Like mental control, there is also a kind of control that has to do with the control of space and of bodies and of contact. Taking up a lot of room physically, initiating kisses or caresses, doing things that require the other guy to respond physically - whether in motion or arousal or whatever else - that’s all physical control stuff.

EX: When Seymour directs Aizen’s own hand to his own nipple, he is expressing the almost complete physical control he holds at that point in the proceedings. He is more or less free to do whatever he wants to with Aizen’s body at that point.

Again, it’s not a zero-sum situation and again, I like things best when both parties have a lot of control over each other - which is the case in most sympathetic passion.

Ambient Smut Level - sexuality has its own kind of power, which influences everyone involved in ways both subtle and gross. I rate the Smut level of a scene based on the degree of appealing sensual and sexual detail - think of it as a “that’s hott” factor.

My ideal situation is to max out all five levels.

All quantifications are non-percent numerical values from 1 to 100. They are highly subjective - the numbers I will be presenting here are completely my own invention and reflect only my own experience, and it’s likely that Reg saw everything quite differently.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
1	09/06/09 09:30 AM	Seymour	181	65	65	40	40	15
2	09/06/09 10:51 PM	Aizen	331	50	50	55	55	15
3	09/06/09 11:47 PM	Seymour	131	55	55	55	55	20
4	09/07/09 12:21 AM	Aizen	215	50	40	60	70	20
5	09/07/09 01:07 AM	Seymour	139	65	45	50	65	22
6	09/07/09 02:07 AM	Aizen	254	60	45	55	65	20
7	09/07/09 04:21 AM	Seymour	203	70	45	55	65	15
8	09/07/09 07:37 PM	Aizen	196	70	50	50	60	15
9	09/07/09 11:02 PM	Seymour	265	75	60	50	55	20
10	09/08/09 12:28 AM	Aizen	223	75	60	50	55	15
11	09/08/09 01:08 AM	Seymour	156	80	65	50	50	15

The Tags: 1-6
- I will be reproducing almost all tags in full since they are too dense to excerpt in most cases. The flow of information and implication is pretty important.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
1	09/06/09 09:30 AM	Seymour	181	65	65	40	40	15

We start in a familiar place: here, in the tyrant's bed.

The light that spilled from the ornate filigree lamp was dim....

"Forgive me; it was more expedient this way, my love."

As noted in the Kasumi write-up, this is a tag that posits Seymour as reasonably in-control of the situation to begin with. People entering this thread have to do so in a way that explains why this pervert is addressing them so familiarly, and most people (okay all people) chose to interpret the situation as a kidnapping, for better or worse. Whatever, that still means Seymour is in control.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
2	09/06/09 10:51 PM	Aizen	331	50	50	55	55	15

Maroon lashes fluttered as he stirred from his slumber; unconsciousness clinging futily in an effort to prevent him from waking. The dim glow cast by the lamp was familiar and comforting in its own way, resembling the languishing decadence of his own bedchambers.

If not for the heady incense he might not have awoken at all, but as he shifted into a more comfortable position - the naked cobbles of his spine dragging against what could only be his own sheets for how soft they were - an inhalation of the scent burned its way down the back of his throat, destroying the illusion. His brown eyes finally opened completely, and in them hardened an instant comprehension of the obvious facts: this wasn't his room, it wasn't his bed, and someone - or possibly something judging by the sound on the other side of the curtain - had placed him here while he was sleeping.

It was a man's hand that parted the curtain, not a monster's, and for a moment he suspected that this might simply be one of Gin's jokes. The face that followed dissuaded him of that notion immediately. The stranger had strong features, cobalt blue hair, and striking eyes that clearly swept in an unreserved examination of his body.

He responded wordlessly at first, his languid movements as he rose to sit reflecting only confidence and fearlessness. The situation might be new to him: finding himself naked in a stranger's bed, confronted by a declaration of love - because really, how ridiculous! - but the actions would always have been the same. Satisfied, but still unashamed of his own nudity, he settled eyes that were now as hard as granite on the mysterious stranger and spoke.

"Everyone is forgiven a single error in judgement. Return me my clothing immediately, and we can forget this happened." His voice is a dulcet baritone, but every word sounds with authority even though he doesn't raise his voice beyond conversation level.

Aizen's first tag hahaha I seriously did goggle a bit at this. (Incidentally there is running commentary on this stuff up to a point over here. "And now you have a tag~ I genuinely hope that you enjoy it." Aizen-mun notes, as though it was no particularly big deal. The first of many tildes that she would come to inflict on me.)

This tag instantly indicated Aizen as a threat to Seymour, and Aizen-mun as a threat to me. He's why.

1. Totally attuned to environment - touching, looking, sniffing, remembering, interacting. This world that I had built was instantly hers as well, at least within the bedcurtains. I lost a critical degree of momentum right away.

2. Naked and pissed - naked I'd seen before, but pissed I had not. This recontextualizes Seymour's position: something is going on here other than a little gentle bodysnatching - this was Seymour trespassing upon a powerful man and stripping him and who knows what else. It was actually a huge curve ball to pitch my way right out of the gate, even if it did presume tremendous power on Seymour's part.

3. Already barking orders - well I mean, not barking, but still: the first friggin' thing he says is an order backed by a threat. Jesus Christ how could this possibly lead to anything but a fight? And immediately Seymour is forced to answer the order and the threat rather than dictating any further terms and policies.

OHSHIT. This is not a helpless character or an unimaginative player. You can see me directly take five psychological steps back while I desperately try to concoct narrative out of what Aizen-mun had pitched at me.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
3	09/06/09 11:47 PM	Seymour	131	55	55	55	55	20

Seymour was indeed examining him minutely, his focus sliding almost tangibly from the nape of Aizen's neck to the intricately masculine bones of his wrist, and from there he began to silently curse the rumpled sheets. Though he was unconscious of it, he licked his lips with the tip of his tongue.

He suddenly had a visceral flash of memory: undressing the unconscious Aizen, whose light, luxurious clothing seemed to melt away in his hands; the strong tanned body emerging as though a genesis. He'd suffered the momentarily dizzying sensation that he had created Aizen in his nakedness rather than unwrapping him.

"How sad that so splendid a form should be wasted on so incurious a mind." He replied, his tone as bittersweet as the incense. "Your reputation exceeds you, Captain."

So my immediate first-tier solution is:

1. Get creepy
2. Talk smart

Don't underestimate the power of getting creepy, guys. Do not write it off as the express province of actual IRL creepers or the product of a deranged mind. Controlled creepiness is guerilla warfare: the idea is to force your opponent to back down by punishing their progress with creepy tentacles. It is a low and ignoble victory, but it is still victory.

In going directly to creepy, I basically abandoned the field to Aizen-mun's direct physical and psychological dominance. I fled before the army even really showed up, to continue the metaphor at painful length. Creepiness makes a bad first resort.

Talking smart - I mean, that just works. Smacking a dude down makes that dude small and you big. But in a situation like this it reads to me as talking instead of doing. Rather than answering Aizen's threat like a gentleman, Seymour is answering it like a bureaucrat - with words and inactivity.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
4	09/07/09 12:21 AM	Aizen	215	50	40	60	70	20

Aizen was distinctly aware that every detail of his body was being absorbed, as though the steel grey eyes were sponges. No, not absorbed: devoured, if the lascivious wandering of the stranger's tongue was to be taken at face value. It was triviality that he simply allowed it. This man could be no threat to him.

His elegant fingers smoothed across the thin sheet that concealed him, then curled almost carelessly amongst the folds of silken fabric, prepared to throw it aside so that he could physically remove himself from this situation. He halted, however, even as the muscles in his arm visibly tensed, and he raised his face subtly; just enough to look down at the stranger, even from his position on the bed.

Setting aside a sharp response regarding his curiosity, he settled on what he considered to be the more important comment. This man had known who he was, and yet he had proceeded anyway. Just who did he think he was? Clearly finding out was his first priority.

"Then I am at an immediate disadvantage," he prompted. "I am not in such a fortunate position as to know who I am speaking to." It went unsaid that perhaps this was because the stranger didn't have reputation enough to attract his notice.

To which Aizen responds, basically "I see that you mean to answer me like a bureaucrat and not a gentleman. Also, I'm taller." Note the details of physical supremacy in this environment. I feel them very sharply and was genuinely shaken. In fact, I was starting to lose confidence in myself completely.

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
5	09/07/09 01:07 AM	Seymour	139	65	45	50	65	22

"That is because you were not brought here to speak."

This was not true, in the strict sense of 'truth.' Yet where truth is not useful, it should not intrude; so he thought as he watched Aizen's fingers, with their peculiarly precise knuckles, slide over the sheets as his own fingers had slid over his taut abdomen. How vicarious this pleasure.

There was a banked fire in Aizen's expression, and in the threatening curve of his body, that inclined him despite himself to be cautious. Yet there was no sign of unease on his features, nor tension in his tattooed shoulders. A sharp metallic taste rose in the back of his throat, and he smiled - a quiet, secretive, unpleasant smile.

"Were you aware that there is an almost perfectly flat morsel of skin behind your right ear?"

Three separate people, including Aizen-mun, told me that "That is because you were not brought here to speak." was a great line and a genuine slap in the face to Aizen. Yet I can't personally extract it out of the failure of the rest of the tag - more creepiness and effeminate twiddly bureaucratic detail. While I awarded hefty Seymour Mental Control Bonus Points!!! based on the positive responses to "...not brought here to speak," I maintain that Aizen is clearly and vastly winning the Who Is A Big Man War, claiming more and more space physically and mentally. At this point in the thread I still have not even recovered from Aizen Victory Point 2: Naked And Pissed (otherwise known as "why am I here?")

I noted as much explicitly in the OOC thread:

I should say for the benefit of our viewers at home that this scene is particularly challenging not only because Aizen is a little uber, but also because I'm so unused to be seriously challenged at all.

Moreover I'm having a lot of trouble managing the physical space: Aizen is big, and he is capturing big areas of the space available in this scene both mentally and physically. Whether out of perverse embarrassment or reluctance to get inelegant, I have been opting to shift into notions of obscurity, silence, and penetration rather than overt physical overpowering. I feel that I do not have a grasp of the momentum of this scene, and this makes me confused.

While this is very rare for me, I am actually blocking out this scene IRL so that I can re-grasp the physical aspects in play.

The question permanently hollering at me is WHY - not on Seymour's part, that part is obvious to me (only) and one of the few aces I feel are solidly in my hand. But what motivation can Aizen be provided with?

DON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION. This is my puzzle and I will conquer it.

Aizen-mun replies

My only suggestion is that perhaps over the next few posts, I can provide a little character insight through his actions and reactions that might provide, both for yourself and Seymour, some kind of prompt or suggestion.

And as a note I often find myself copying the previous comment into the box so that I can snip out the bits that I have to remember to respond to.

That would definitely be good, as my ignorance is at least part of the reason I'm struggling. At the same time: how dare you indulge me. I will break you.

Also, I enjoy the ambiguity and challenge, though they are torture. Also I will slit your throat for that OOC comment on your last (wonderful) tag.

Was my answer. The OOC comment, by the way, was "Just let me know if it gets too much ♥" I was basically crying aloud for mercy and guidance.

At the same time, Aizen tags:

Tag #	Timestamp	Author	WordCount	SM-Control	SP-Control	AM-Control	AP-Control	Smut
6	09/07/09 02:07 AM	Aizen	254	60	45	55	65	20

The instant effect of those words was to quiet any more words immediately. It wasn't obedience so much as righteous indignation, which bubbled up in his chest like caustic soda, threatening to burn the skin and give the petty feeling away. Nobody had ever - not in a hundred and twenty years - dared to say such a thing to him. Yet this stranger - and it seemed that he was determined to stay a stranger indefinitely - had done so almost off handedly.

Just as the stranger remained impassive, so too did Aizen. The smile that he recieved was eerily familiar, and yet for once his own cruel smile was completely absent, leaving behind a guarded expression in its wake. His lips were pressed into a strict line, brown eyes smouldering with something that was far from pleasure. He challenged himself to speak if only to break the silence, only to find himself interrupted before he could begin.

This man had undressed him. He had laid him bare and mapped every part of him as a lover would, while he could not so much as lift a finger to prevent it. Without his permission.

He was not often angry, and he had never demonstrated it. This, however, had ignited a quiet rage beneath his fingertips and behind the curtain of his eyes. When he speaks, however, there is a note of genuine curiosity in his voice.

"If you know who I am, why are you going to such lengths to test my patience?

Super, angry god on Seymour's hands. No problem, I was already doing so well. Note too that my Creeper Strategy comes back to bite me in the ass here so hard: now not only is Aizen enraged, he is also unquestionably justified. This is why creepiness is not a first-tier strategy, gang.

I lost. By this point, I had completely lost and was utterly foundering. I couldn't answer the question: why is Aizen there, and what does Seymour want to do with him. Without that answer, I had no way to motivate either party, much less beat Aizen into a corner as he so richly deserved, and the scene would just end.

ROADMAP




That's where matters stood at the end of tag 6: lost Seymour, supreme Aizen. By tag 11 this situation would be almost totally reversed. Stay tuned!