An Evening with Purple Shadows

[Ozymandias]

I feel Adam and Eve were extremely fortunate sometimes. Adam was made the first man. It was him and the animals, plants, and insects. God saw that he became lonely this way, so He made Adam his most fitting companion: Eve. The first woman. The were quite literally made for one another, and knew it. Despite the rather dire troubles they ran into, after all too short a time in perfect peace and harmony- though they did fight, and fear, and such -their relationship; their love, endured.

 

I look at my own experience with women and see that life as pretty simple.

 

...sometimes.

 

Shortly after the very beginning, the wooing began. A wife was not a commodity to be won; not an animal to be trained, nothing of the sort. She was a peer, and more importantly, an equal that was at the same time a half- one that the additon of you to the equation, would make one whole.

 

Which is how it has always worked, and always will, because that is how God has made us- male and female together.

 

Once there came many people more, the process of finding a wife became out of necessity (since your future wife no longer in fact, already lived in your town...well, it was no longer a guarantee, at least) more and more complex, because your mate quite literally became harder to find, the further the human race expanded.

 

Dating, in the strictest sense is the current most common practice of seeking a mate.

 

Dating is actually not an old process, though. It's fairly new, when compared to husband and wife, or even romantic relationships themselves. It really only came into being in the past 100 years. Its predecessor, courtship, was both simpler, and much more complex. But then, the same can be argued about dating.

 

Ozymandias hummed a merry tune to himself as he prepared for his evening with Shadows. He had after much deliberation decided to go with some cotton robes that were the blue of a clear desert sky at dusk. The silken and satin had crossed his mind, but in the end cotton had won out, as it was well-appointed clothing and his customary dress, which would be be more comfortable for him and ideally would help put Shadows at ease as well.

 

Courtship was an exclusively public venture. The basic flavor consisted of a suitor visiting a woman's home under the watchful eye of her parents (most of, and often the entire visit) and spending time talking with her, as well as her mother and father, listening to music togther, recitations, and/or other such diversions. The entire community most often had some sort of say in the relationship as well. The only consistent exception to this method was the poor class, who, not having large enough houses to properly entertain even one guest, found it more feasible to let the couple go out on their own (though they very often still had the community influence).

 

There were other divergences in courtship throughout history that did not last as long, but were still quite noteworthy. Courtly love, for example, is still widely known even today. In fourteenth century France, most knights practiced it.

 

A knight would pledge himself to a woman (often one who was already married), and write poems and ballads for her, as well as dedicate great deeds to her. It was most often unrequited love. It was in all, one of the stranger yet more poetic offshoots of romance.

 

Shadows peered intently at the chess board. Ozymandias watched in quiet confidence. Suddenly, her hand snaked out, made her move, and shot back.

"Knight to Rook six", she said smugly. Ozymandias' jaw dropped.

 

"How...?"

 

"Feminine wiles, my dear Loremaster", she grinned.

 

The old pharaoh shook his head in amusement. "Indeed."

 

 

The British Isles seem to be well-marked for their whimsy in courting ritual, as well as in writing and conversing. In 1400s Somerset, peasant maidens would block the streets, permitting eligible men to pass only after paying a fine. The next day, the men would turn the tables, and finally the proceeds from both days would go to the local parish. A much more civic-minded and friendly method of going out and finding someone to chat up and flirt with than such modern "conveniences" as nightclubs.

 

 

Despite such interesting and at times dramatic departures from the historical norm, the age of parental arrangement of courting (and marriage) continued largely unabated until the twentieth century.

 

 

It was in the early twentieth century that dating first began to seriously evolve; and it grew out of the United States. The second world war started it; as with so many men gone, women were out of necessity called in greater numbers than ever before to the workforce, and by extension into many more social freedoms.

 

Though things did return to somewhat normal once the war was over, women in the U.S. saw things much differently now, and began to change their expectations and roles in society, and in private life radically. One of the many such examples was the desire to court whatever man they desired, not just the other way around, and to be able to do so without reproach. Couple this and other factors, such as the already old wealth level divide in courting rituals, and dating began to gather serious steam- even before the sexual revolution hit.

 

Shadows laughed. It was a rich, throaty sound which the man who now only thought of himself as Ozymandias thoroughly enjoyed.The court was genteel, and polite...often to a fault, but there was so little true joy to be found in those people I had to spend every hour of every day with.

 

...even before the plagues. This girl is more of a balm to a soul such as mine than she thinks, I'd wager.

 

He smiled back at her, and before he could even speak the question, she answered it.

 

"What would my parents think?", she wondered aloud, eyes glimmering with mirth, and a hint of sadness. "An evening with an elder! Although," she added slowly, "the fact that you're a king and all...might assuage their concern over a two-decade age gap."

 

His answering grin flashed teeth that were strikingly white against his dark skin.

"You are too kind, Milady", he said, voice dripping with saccahrine.

 

"Thank you, Your Highness. But, if I may say so...?"

 

"Of course."

 

"Checkmate."

 

Ozymandias looked at the board incredulously.

 

"Damn it!!"

 

Which brings us to today- where, though it is still mainly in the U.S.A., the evolved form of courtship, dating has come to the fore. Gone are the strict rules, gone are any overreaching rules, really, which can make discerning where a relationship stands difficult at best, and at worst, lead to many, many recklessly hedonistic and meaningless relationships that never have a chance to grow precisely because they are so rushed, or so shallow; being so without tested and proven goals to guide them.

 

Gone also is the close watch of parents and other members of the community; here to stay is intimacy and privacy such as countless couples never knew for thousands of years. In some regular arenas, such as the internet, outside influence is essentially gone completely.

 

The freedom to choose whatever they want to do, and with so little worry of being held to the wishes of others, what we have in the U.S. and in a growing number of places around the world is almost ideal, as well. Finally, a man and a woman are totally free to move at their own pace in a relationship and are free to get to know one another with only the other being the concern in their time together, not having to worr. over the opinion or attitude of a mother, father, or neighbors for that matter.

 

Clarity may be down drastically, but all in all, if we can solve that problem, as well as keep to our moral guns, this could well be the greatest time for romance in history (minus the tragedy, even!).

 

Ozymandias and Purple Shadows stood outside her the door to her quarters, winding down one last bit of pleasant chatter.

 

"...we shall just how to reteach you how to dance then."

 

Ozymandias smirked. "I have the distinct feeling, if I hear one more woman say that, I may just be in trouble."

 

Shadows smiled back, like him, tired, but happy. "I had a very good time tonight, Ozy."

 

His smirk transmuted to beaming. "I'm very glad. I did too." Not missing a beat, after a suitably long passage of seconds, Shadows leaned in toward the Loremaster...

 

and rapped him on the forehead with a thin wooden cudgel.

 

"OW!!!"

 

Demurely replacing her club, Shadows folded her thin arms across her chest and gave the old Egyptian a challenging look.

 

"Guess you did still owe me that one, eh?", he mumbled contritely while gingerly massaging the swelling. With a slow, knowing nod, she agreed.

 

Despite himself, Ozymandias flinched as she leaned in toward him again. This time, however, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek and smiled at him again.

 

"I really did have a lovely evening. Let's do it again sometime."

 

Smarting, but amused, he offered Shadows a warm smile of his own.

 

"Let's. Goodnight, Shadows", he said to her retreating back.

 

She turned just before closing her door.

 

"Goodnight, Ozy."

[purple_shadows]

*flyingtaklehugs* thank you Ozy

*hugs again*

whoohoo.

 

I'm all excited that it's up and done and things! Yay!

 

*hugs*