Romance, Alpacas, Rain

There was an interesting discussion over at sacae 's LJ a while back that got into romanticism vs realism in FE 'fic and the question of how much is too much in either direction. 

Dealing with Nyna and her issues got me thinking about the realism bit again, especially from a femme-centric perspective.  It's not going to be lost on Nyna that her predecessor/historical parallel, Artemis, didn't just get forced into marriage with the guy she didn't love.  Artemis died bearing that guy's son.  I guess I just kind of have a problem with people hand-waving away the unromantic details and going, "Uh, menstrual cramps aren't a problem-- they have magic!  Birth control isn't a problem-- they have magic!" given that the most exalted woman on the continent of Archanea still died in childbirth.  That magic stuff clearly only goes so far.  And I doubt she's the only such case in all of Fire Emblem-- hell, I'm pretty sure she's not.   

I don't have a problem with people writing escapist fluff (though I'm not likely to read anything with "fluff" in the label).  We all want different things out of 'fic.  But if you present me a world where magic solves all the little piddly unpleasant details of life, but has big glaring holes (why so many one-parent or no-parent families?), I'm going to find that world just a wee bit dystopic.  Or at least have some serious doubts about the priorities of its leaders.

Oh yeah-- it's not every day I blunder into an alpaca breeders' convention.  Wow.

Also... I love my garden.  If I came home every day to my previous place of residence instead of to my new digs, I think I'd have cracked by now.