the bittersweet tragic love meme

[wrongs]

The Bittersweet Love Meme


Happy endings are what we crave, right? If we see a couple we like in movies or in real life, we root for them to make it. Why, then, is there such a desire to see love that's tragic, doomed, or bittersweet? People watch sad movies like Titanic, and they know what will happen, but somehow that makes it more poignant. This goes all the way back to tales like Romeo and Juliet. There's just something about a good cry that makes us feel that much more human and even more receptive of beauty.

This meme is equal parts tragedy and beauty, sweet and bitter. Some prompts may be triggering, so tread with caution.

How to Play
- Comment with your character, preferences, etc.
- Comment to others.
- Roll the RNG to determine which scenario to play out.

Prompts

1. Romeo and Juliet: The classic starcrossed lovers. You can't be together because of warring factions, and you're at the end of your rope. You have to do something.
   
2. Not the Same: Angel and demon. Human and god. Whatever the combination, you're not of the same kind. This probably won't end well, especially if one of you is immortal and the other's not, or there's some kind of power difference.
3. Past Wounds: One of you was hurt in the past, and it was so bad that it's hurting your relationship. Can you be healed by love, or is this something that can't ever be fixed?
4. Bad Things: This bad thing isn't in the past. This happened when you were together, and now it's affecting how your lover behaves toward you.
5. Loss: Perhaps it's a loss only one of you suffered, like a family member. Or it's something the both of you share, like the loss of a child. Sometimes, together you can pull through. Other times, it's just too much to bare.
6. I Can't Live Without You: Whether it be through injury, curse, terminal illness, one of you is dying. There's only a limited time left. Will you spend your last days with the person you love, or will you end it for their own good, so they don't have to watch you die?
7. Unfaithful: One of you has been unfaithful, even if you still love your significant other. Can this wrong ever be forgiven?
8. Gone Away: You're being torn apart by location and distance.
9. A New Start: The sweet part of bitter. Where one relationship ends, another begins. But is your heart too hurt to accept new love?
10. WILDCARD

Comments

Derek Hale | Teen Wolf

[lurkerwolf]

Ruby Lucas || Once Upon a Time || M/F

[cloaklikeblood]

Yukina Suzumori | Toki no Kizuna | OTA

[not_a_woman]

Kariya Matou (female AU) | Fate/Zero | OTA

[tosaveyou]

Sherlock Holmes {} Elementary

[i_favour_you]

Bad Things with a side of Loss

[formersurgeon]

The first attempt on their life had been a bomb at the Brownstone.

Sherlock and Joan had meant to be home that evening. Sherlock was going to meet with Alfredo for a while to talk about his progress, and then the two of them were going to teach Joan about various home security systems, how to identify and disarm them. But they were running late. A forensic test had taken longer than expected, so by eight o'clock they had only just flagged down a cab. Joan called Alfredo to tell him they would be there in about fifteen minutes, and he said it was cool, he'd just wait on the steps for them.

Ten minutes later, they were close enough to hear the explosion.

The Brownstone and everything in it was destroyed. All they found of Alfredo were pieces that weren't even identifiably human, save they contained his DNA.

The second attempt on their life was a sniper.

Sherlock and Joan had both thrown themselves into finding the bomber, and Detective Bell was helping them as much as he could. They were at the house of the man whose car the bomb had been placed in when there was a gunshot. It grazed Sherlock's cheek, and went through Bell's skull. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Now they're in a seedy little motel in New Jersey, one of a string of no-tell motels that they've gone to, registering under false names, paying with cash. Joan is sitting on the sagging bed, cross-legged, reports and photographs spread out in front of her, trying to piece things together, to see something new in the files she's seen a hundred times by now.

[i_favour_you]

Sherlock stares in the mirror. The cut from the day Bell died has healed into a thin white scar along his cheek. Before they had given up their phones, Gregson had sent a text, promising to help if they needed it. Sherlock wouldn't take him up on that. He'd already lost too many important people, he wouldn't lose Gregson, too.

He splashes a little water on his face and steps back into the main room, where Watson is going over the files. She shouldn't be here, either, he thinks. She could be just as easy an accidental target.

"I can get money from my father," he says. "Have you and your family go away for a while. A long while."

He's not certain quite where he got the nerve to finally say it, but it's time.

[formersurgeon]

She slowly lowers the report she was looking at, the ballistics on the bullet that killed Bell. She's been expecting this for some time, actually. She knew that eventually Sherlock would do this, push her away to protect her. It would be touching, really, if it wasn't so completely useless.

"My family, fine. Not me."

[i_favour_you]

He shakes his head. "Whoever it is doesn't really want your family, that was just me trying to give you an excuse to go." He swallows and straightens, and actually sort of wishes he had his tee-shirt on right now because he feels a bit exposed.

"I'm not going to have you shot or blown up when whoever it is tries to kill me again, Watson. Losing Bell and Alfredo was hard enough."

[formersurgeon]

She stands to face him.

"You're assuming that whoever this is is just trying to kill you. There's absolutely no evidence of that. Both times we were targeted while we were together. And yes, I know, we're always together, but that doesn't mean they're not after both of us. I won't go with my family, because I won't bring this danger to their doorstep. And I won't leave you because neither one of us is safer alone, and because the faster we're able to solve this, the less time there is for whoever it is to succeed."

[i_favour_you]

Sherlock gestures to his face.

"They weren't aiming at you, Watson."

[formersurgeon]

"The first bullet wasn't. They didn't fire a second because we took cover."

[i_favour_you]

"And they never will, Watson," he says. "Not at you."

He can't let something happen to her. She doesn't understand when he tells her that he won't be able to forgive himself. She doesn't get it.

[formersurgeon]

"You have no way of knowing that. The only way either of us are going to be safe is if we find this guy. And that will happen faster if we're both working on it."

She knows he's trying to protect her. She knows that losing her may very well destroy him. But he doesn't understand, doesn't get, that she would also never forgive herself if something happened to him, and she hadn't done everything she could to protect him.

[i_favour_you]

He sighs. "Two people who were trying to help me are dead, Watson. You won't be the third."

[formersurgeon]

"Two people who were trying to help us are dead. Sherlock, you can't protect me by sending me away. If anything, you're putting me in more danger."

[i_favour_you]

He nods, if reluctantly. She's far from right, of course. And trying to argue with her, or push her away, will only make her pull closer. Someone has to protect her, and Sherlock can be that person. Or perhaps she'll protect him.

"Anything interesting in the files?"

Q | skyfall | ota

[mustyoutoucheverything]

meulin leijon | homestuck

[hearnoevil]

Tohko Amano-Bungaku Shoujo-OTA

[tohko_amano]

aqua • kh: bbs • open

[almostforgot]

Duo Maxwell (Borrower AU) | Gundam Wing | OTA

[thief_in_the_walls]

John Watson l BBC Sherlock l OTA

[bloggerdoc]

Elizabeth | Bioshock: Infinite

[agnusdei]

Damian Wayne | DC Comics | Aged up.

[imperfectson]