[video] riddle, riddle on the wall

[riddleman]

[The man is dressed in a classy suit with green highlights, using needlessly dramatic lighting as he starts to talk, very master of ceremony.]

ImPorts and Very ImPortants!

[He turns the camera around to show a wall that he has artfully decorated with a word cloud. Yes, he has put a lot of work in.]



Some of you might have enjoyed the riddle page of the Heropan Post before. I've been architect of it for a few months now. You're welcome!

Yet here I come to you with a riddle that I can't ever seem to quite figure out by myself.

[The camera is turned around again and he can be seen slowly drawing a heart in the air with two fingers as he talks.]

I'm worthless to one but priceless to two. What am I?

I am love.

Wait! That's not the riddle that leaves me puzzled. It goes deeper. One of the few questions where I'm not certain of the answer yet. Whenever I think I know, I get thrown for a loop.

So.

What is love?

Or, should I ask, what is it to you?

Comments

[hondoyota]

Complicated situation, but the salient part is that I started getting jealous. I also became aware of how deeply I'd come to trust him, which is significant for me. I don't trust easily.

[He doesn't talk like this easily or offer up personal details, but he appreciates Edward's analytical approach to this, and suspects that they have a similar approach to emotions in general: as a foreign land that they don't know how to navigate and aren't even sure that there are advantages to doing so.]

[riddleman]

Jealousy and trust. I see.

I don't trust easily either, so I can relate to that. I don't think I've ever trusted anyone the way I trust them. but that's all the more reason for me to not want to risk messing it up. Losing them entirely.

[hondoyota]

You've already risked that, though.

[Adam doesn't mean anything specific, although he does have certain very specific suspicions regarding how one response to this post was Very Different and much more personal than the others.]

Existing means the risk of messing up, and caring for someone means the risk of losing them. If you engage in a romantic relationship--drawing a conclusion here from the information provided--and it doesn't succeed you might sour the friendship. If you refuse, that might sour the relationship.

Risk cannot be avoided, but it can be calculated for. If you risk losing them entirely, then make it worth it. Evaluate what you want, evaluate what they want, and choose the course that best provides for those variables.

[See? Love can be reduced to logical hypotheticals! High five.]

[riddleman]

Fair enough.

[He supposed that is pretty obvious, just looking at this post and the responses, but he's always sort of been aware of that risk.]

You have a good point. The maths checks out, so to say. I'm glad it has worked out for you, friend, and I'll see what will happen with me going forward.

Unfortunately I doubt they'd be interested in filling out a questionnaire.

[hondoyota]

Listen, do you really want to date someone who doesn’t like questionnaires?

[Have some standards, bro. ]

[riddleman]

Valid point.

However, I think at this point he'd be more likely to feed me the questionnaire than to fill it out.

[Oswald has a temper.]

[hondoyota]

Sounds like you’re going to have to work the questionnaire into casual conversation. Or casual makeouts, as the case may be.

[riddleman]

Actually, not a bad idea. It may say a lot about me that that thought made the concept of casual make-outs a lot more appealing. Not that they were a bad thought before, but still.

Questions add to everything.

[hondoyota]

I hope it works out for you two.

[riddleman]

Thank you for your help.

I actually mean that sincerely.

[hondoyota]

You're welcome.

So does that mean the casual make-out question session went well?

[riddleman]

I'm sure it would have.

But actually I organised a scavenger hunt for him and he followed it with great reluctance and a lot of complaint.

However, it turned out well enough ultimately.

[hondoyota]

You'll just have to train him that scavenger hunts are positive things. Blowjob for every successful step solved. That should do the trick in positive reinforcement quickly enough.

[riddleman]

I might have to go a bit slower with it than that, but I like the way you think. Personally I love to turn everything into a bit of a game when I can get away with it, it's just more fun that way.