[ SECRET POST #4332 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4332 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 22 secrets from Secret Submission Post #620.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

01. https://i.imgur.com/1vQVvWG.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it's a lovely fantasy.

[(Anonymous)]

I love it because I like seeing weird characters people wouldn't think of being together together.

As you can tell, I like the ones that are basically crack ships and ships-that-pass-in-the-night.

[(Anonymous)]

same
same
same

[(Anonymous)]

I never liked it because it felt like a cage, being "forced" to fall in love with someone and trapped with them forever whether either of you liked it or not, instead of love/partnering being a choice. But I can readily admit I have issues, so.

[(Anonymous)]

I get where you're coming from but for me, at least, part of the soulmate concept is that, not just are you destined to love this person, but they're the perfect person for you to love - the person that, given perfect knowledge and choice, you would choose. So that kinda gets around that issue to me.

[(Anonymous)]

This. As someone who never especially wished to be in a relationship (I'm not completely opposed to it either, it's more of a "eh, maybe, if I meet someone who makes it feel worth it, but I feel completely satisfied already and if I never do I won't be sad about it at all), it just feels extremely creepy and trapping.

You could argue that in a universe where soulmates are a thing I *would* meet that one person that makes it feel worth it, but it's the fact that it would be an inescapable certainty that makes it the opposite of something I'd look forward to.

[(Anonymous)]

I only like the ones where it's subverted somehow, or people who hate each other are soulmates. In real life I'm in a very happy long-term relationship so maybe that's why I like the twisted ones?

[(Anonymous)]

My absolute favorite soulmate fic was a subversion of the trope. It's so beautiful and romantic. "Normal" soulmate fics are boring, IMO.

[(Anonymous)]

My main problem with it is the pairs people keep picking, and consequently the things they have 'destiny' gloss over because of it. Because I'm telling the universe right now, 'destiny' is no way in hell enough of a reason for me to hook up with, to cherry pick some random examples from various fandoms: someone who murdered my mother; someone who raped and murdered my first boyfriend; someone who lied to me for two years straight; someone who forcibly mind-linked with me against my will; someone who helped genocide my people. Etc, etc, etc. Actions matter a hell of a lot more than destiny to me.

So, for me, it's a lovely idea in theory. In fanfic, though, the impression I largely get is that if I lived in one of these universes, I would either be wishing for death myelf, or the supervillain on a crusade to pull Destiny up by the roots and beat it to death instead. With a shovel, most likely.

[(Anonymous)]

Are soulmate fics with those pairings worse than generic, non-soulmate romance fics with those pairings?

(sincere question)

[nightscale]

I don't utterly detest the idea of soulmates in ficiton, it can be done in a way I find cute, and I gotta be honest sometimes I'm just in the mood for some happy, silly, feel-good soulmate-fluff fic.

But I hate the idea of it irl, it's depressing and mildly horrifying to me tbh.

[(Anonymous)]

Soulmate fic is absolutely my favorite. I know people do not like it, and I've heard their reasons why. They baffle me because all of the reasons I've heard seem to be looking at something that's not a soulmate fic. I get what they're saying but they're the only ones I've talked to where I don't think they're looking at the trope as it's really used.

When it comes to real life, I've seen people who have soulmates, in that they have found someone who feels like the perfect person for them and they self describe as finding their soulmates, and these people are often 50+ who have been married for 30+ years. I think that's cute.

But people who are waiting to find their soulmates feels like they're looking at things wrong. I never conflate real life/fiction, and this is one trope that is firmly fiction for me - a fun fantasy.

[(Anonymous)]

I like soulmate fic if it's a pairing I ship because of COURSE they belong together, but the general concept is kind of depressing. What if you never meet your soulmate or they die before you could have met? At what point do you say "Fuck it" and try to start a relationship with someone you know is not your soulmate? What if you meet your soulmate but then they die fairly soon after? Any relationship you could possibly have after that will be lesser and you will KNOW it.

Soulmates means you only get one shot at real love.

[(Anonymous)]

To me, those things don't need to be worried about because soulmates are magic anyway.

[(Anonymous)]

To me, I've always seen it as being that soul mates are just the person who could be the 'best' match, not your only match, and not the only one that can make you happy and fulfilled.

[(Anonymous)]

Except that it doesn't have to be that way. Authors can worldbuild soulmate AUs however they want so bad outcomes are guaranteed not to happen. Some AUs I've read have the potential for more than one soulmate. And you're not going to find an AU where the pairing didn't find each other unless it's a subversion of the trope.

And if we're talking real-life, then people can certainly have more than one profoundly deeply relationship in their lives. Soulmates don't have to mean only one shot at love.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, me too, OP. I even believe in it, to an extent, IRL. You ever run into someone you just CLICK with in what seems like an instant? They don't necessarily have to be lovers, or even friends, but I think it's reasonable to believe you can get on with certain people who fit your lifestyle and personality in an instant, and see if anything evolves from there.

Love takes work. It's something that must be built and maintained, and it's common to wonder what might have been with other potential lovers. Even so, I believe, even IRL, that there's someone out there for anyone who's looking.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel the same way. I do like Soulmate fics (if it's a pairing I like; I've seen too many of one pairing that's 'you're an abusive prick who bullied me through my whole childhood, my Soulmate!).

One fic I know of is a non-fandom fic about Soulmates suddenly happening, and it leads to societal collapse due to people freaking out about predestination. It's utterly fascinating.

I've also written fic where the soulmate marking (first words) can go horribly, or amusingly, wrong, because some 'first words' without context can be taken the wrong way entirely.

[(Anonymous)]

Soulmate AU's just make my heart melt! There's enough variety in them too, so I'll never get sick of them.

[(Anonymous)]

Soulmate fics are like candy for me. I like to read the super fluffy ones after a long and stressful day of work.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree that the idea of soulmates (i.e. your best match, who you will love passionately forever and who will never stop loving you) is a very beautiful and comforting idea.

That said, I only sometimes love soulmate fics. My love of UST and angst prevents me from enjoying a lot of soulmate fics. I'm just super uninterested in fics where the soulmates meet and realize they're soulmates right away and get togeather and settle right in to loving each other forever. I need complication and angst and shit or I get so bored so fast. Therefore, the kinds of soulmate fics I love are the ones where the characters somehow fail to realize they're soulmates. So they get to know each other and become best friends but they don't realize their ~soulmatey~ feelings for each other are reciprocated, and there's angst, and maybe they try to date other people, but really they'd DIE for each other and they can't stand to be apart for long, and they're both ashamed that they feel so ~soulmatey~ about a person who (they believe) isn't their soulmate, etc. etc.

OR I like the kind of soulmate fic where the characters realize that Fate has deemed them soulmates, but they meet on adversarial terms, so they're like, "Fuck that, you're not my soulmate!" But then fate forces them to stay close to each other somehow, and they end up going through shit together and realizing that all of their initial beliefs about each other were wrong, and they fall for each other slowly.

[philstar22]

I actually find this a really depressing fantasy. So we have on soulmate? What if we never meet them. What if they die (does that make any subsequent relationship not true love). I think love being an accident, a choice, a process is much more romantic.

[(Anonymous)]

I dunno. The fantasy that there’s one person out there for everyone and everyone actually finds their soulmate is nice, but all the complications used for angst/conflict, or maybe glossed over because it’s happy fluffy soulmate fic, make me wary of soulmate AUs. All the “I’ve given up on finding my soulmate so I’m gonna be a miserable asshole because I assume I’m the exception that doesn’t get one oh oops I have one after all” fics, the “oh boy I’m just a mild mannered pastry chef but my soulmate is a serial killer oh well he’s cute so idc” fics creep me out.

I can’t imagine just shrugging off years of misanthropy because “twu wuv,” or worse, “I’m a presumably normal person who is totally fine falling for a genocidal madman because fate says so.”

[(Anonymous)]

I actually hate soulmate fics. I just find them a bit childish, a fantasy of someone who has no social life or opportunities to form relationships the regular way. "I'm antisocial so I'm going to write a fantasy relationship that requires absolutely no effort from the antisocial party".