brasca wrote: ↑Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:51 pm
While I like this bonus story I think the second one would've been more fitting.
The one where Ruby imagines herself as a yaoi director.
That was a nine-page PDF — twice the size of this. It’d be rather a lot of work to squeeze it down to a one-page filler. Aside from that, it’s for sale on its own at Gumroad; giving it away for free would be a good way to irritate people who’ve paid money for it.
Ruby never sees herself in her fantasies and maybe Andy actually sensed this or perhaps Ruby is projecting her insecurities.
I am very unconvinced by the idea of Andy sensing anything. He’s been written as utterly clueless ever since his first appearance, and there are no suggestions at present that he’s deliberately ignoring Ruby’s hints. Nice guy, but total himbo, it seems.
If she doesn't think herself sexually desirable in her fantasies then she might believe Andy feels the same way.
I don’t think that Ruby really sees herself as undesirable. When people tell her she’s attractive, she may look grumpy, but she doesn’t call them liars — and no woman who defined herself as truly unattractive could wear that LBD. Heck, she didn’t run with that idea once Dillon called her attractive this time; she jumped straight to looking for other explanations.
What she is, is nervous. She doesn’t insert herself into her fantasies because she’s genuinely worried that sex will be uncomfortable, even painful for her — or maybe just humiliating. And her image of a woman participating happily in sex is the hated Amber. So yaoi was a godsend for her; it gives her a whole library of erotic fantasies which don’t require any female participation. She’s at the same stage as a 13-year-old with a crush on a boyband; she’s found a safe way to work up to the idea of sex.
But she’s ready to move on, with a little encouragement. Unfortunately, what she’s got is the totally unencouraging Andy.
Perhaps her disdain for her sister goes so far that if she imagined herself doing anything sexual she'd be too similar to her sister for comfort.
Her attempted hints at Andy say that she’s got past that problem. But she’s still got to be subtle and indirect, because yes, her only model for a sexually forward woman is Amber, like whom she cannot be. The yaoi has been good for her, but honestly, she now needs fantasies into which she can place herself.
This would be a great opportunity for a Kiley cameo and I think Ruby's issue is tame in comparison to the crazy people she'd dealt with prior.
[Valmont]Too easy.[/Valmont] Ruby’s hang-ups and issues really aren’t hidden very deep. Kiley wouldn’t have to work any magic to sort things out, and would just end up looking like a glib
deus ex machina.
What Ruby needs to do is sort out her Amber problem for herself, with whatever encouragement Dillon can provide. (Sadly, Amber is amazingly clueless about why her obsessively truthful, friendless sister is angry over Amber never offering her friendship but asking her to lie for seven years, and will probably be bugger-all use here.) Once Ruby can disentangle the idea of overt female sexuality from the mental image of Amber’s pudenda, she’ll be able to ask Andy directly why he’s failing to keep his promise or take a hint.
She’ll probably then release so much tension in one go that Andy may be ruined for other women, and indeed his job. She may also become a great vibrator saleswoman, though I can imagine her losing a few sales with a “Meh, I’ve seen bigger”.