un: anonymous;

[thisisamazing]

Name: "anonymous" (Hiccup Haddock III)
Date: Feb. 2
Format: Text

some things recently came up and it has me thinking a lot. i'm not sure who else to ask this? the person i'd normally talk to is... part of it.

is it possible to have romantic feelings for more than one person at the same time? does that make you a bad person? i never had to consider it before because i thought everything would be simple, for me at least, but now it isn't so simple and i'm not

sure what to do

i don't want to hurt them

[ooc: Hiccup is posting anonymously but as this function isn't always reliable, let me know if you want him to anonfail! He's having some relationship troubles whoops.]

Comments

[thisisamazing]

[He's bad at being anonymous. Real bad.]

i

i don't know. i'd sacrifice anything, for either of them, both of them, and i think that's the problem. i don't want to hurt him, but i don't want to... to be betraying her.

hell, i've already hurt him. everything's a mess.

[freeing]

You've found yourself in the middle of turmoil. Matters of the heart and matters of the conscience may often battle one another.

The advice you seek will not be found here by strangers who do not share the intimacy you have with either of these individuals. It is no one's responsibility but your own to make a choice. That is a privilege you are given here.

[thisisamazing]

i know, i know i have to figure things out myself, and i don't expect anyone to be able to tell me what i should do, but...

i don't know. a new perspective sometimes helps. that's what i wanted to get out of this. he wanted me to take some time, and think about everything, and that's what i'm doing.

[freeing]

If I provided advice to you that insists you return to your betrothed as quickly as possible, to serve her as you swore — would that be ignored? I believe you know the answer you want most. The heart can hold so much, it is not wrong for it, but... duty.

It is a difficult subject, I'm sorry.

[thisisamazing]

no, it wouldn't be ignored. but

you talk about relationships like they're a duty. something you're required to do. why is that?

that isn't what a betrothal is supposed to be.

[freeing]

Love is precious and earned, but it is often not intertwined with promise and duty. I learned you can have both, but also... there are time where only one must be the focus.

You, however, offer both love and promise to your betrothed. That makes this more difficult.

[thisisamazing]

it's not about duty for us at all. it shouldn't be, not

you can't build a life together like that. she wouldn't want it to be seen that way either. love comes first.

that's why it's a difficult situation for me, because i care about him too. but... someone else talked about regrets, and i don't want to have any when i finally get to go home.

[freeing]

It should. Some, however, must make sacrifices. Perhaps this is not the case for you – that is for kings and queens to bicker over.

However, I wish I could offer you more insight. What you speak of borders both love, duty, and the delicate balance between. You are blessed to have that balance. It is clear that this weighs on you.

I will say... although I know we will return home one day, many believe this is our new life. If you never believed you would find your betrothed again... would she want you to be lonely?

[thisisamazing]

you can't build a life with someone on a foundation of duty. some might have said my father had a duty to find me a new mother, when we thought mine died, but he never did. he loved my mother too much. he wouldn't have been happy if he'd married someone else. and i wouldn't have wanted him to be unhappy.

it weighs on me because of their feelings, not

not because of duty. [He firmly believes that, that love is something wholly separate. Some might have said a chief should remarry, especially a chief with an infant son, but Stoick the Vast held out for Valka til the end.

That's part of why he's struggling now, really. That idea that you find that one perfect person for you, and that's it. Hiccup has found two now.]

no. she wouldn't. i wouldn't want her to be lonely either, if we had to be separated for good.

[freeing]

[ She wonders if she expands upon duty versus love, if she'd make him uncomfortable. Dany was close to explaining that one's sense of duty may be a sacrifice for a greater good – an alliance, a barter, safety... many things she had faced.

It makes her think. Really think.

If she was wrong in her view, she begins to feel guilt over pressing the ideals of her own situation upon this "stranger". ]

The best advice I could offer you is to listen. Not to me, not to anyone else here, not to your obligations, not to your wishes. Your heart – find the path that your heart will lead you down when no other path feels just.

[thisisamazing]

[It probably would, honestly. The idea of marrying just for an alliance or safety would be... abhorrent, to someone like Hiccup, who always tries to find his own way to do the right thing, and subvert people's expectations of what a leader should be.]

i'm hearing that a lot, i think. i guess it must be good advice. i never intended to just go along with what anyone said, but... sometimes you need a new perspective when you encounter a problem you've never had before.

[freeing]

You face this problem of all things in a world of magic and wonder... curious, isn't it?

[ She teases. ]

[thisisamazing]

the world of magic and wonder part was a lot easier, is that weird? that's probably weird.

[Even though he's supposed to be anonymous, it's still somehow easy to joke with her, to be teased. He'll feel a little bad for hiding his identity later.]