He reaps what he sows in not being taken seriously =w=
@ilaya: Sorry for dredging this back up—feel free to ignore this—but it's a fascinating topic with fascinating characters, so as I've just finished this chapter I'm totally going to indulge myself weighing in XD (even if a lot of what I'm saying has already sort of been covered)
Just thinking... His perspective of her is certainly not "objectified" in any of the more
usual relationship senses—that is, as a sex object, or a status symbol, or as a tool to some end. It's a more neutral dehumanization, like viewing someone as an entertaining TV show they're particularly fond of. Still not normally the basis of a healthy relationship, but...
Gets into interesting moral questions of whether his apparent inability to see anyone as fully human should bar him from romance in general: Especially given that he is presented self-aware that his "love" isn't exactly quite normal, and is open about that, is there room for such a consensual odd-relationship within the bounds of morality? (This presumes consent that he does not presently have, mind—but he's seeking it, it would seem.)
My first instinct is "yes, that should be fine if everyone's clear what's involved". Whether whatever follows would be "romance" in the traditional sense is a sort of interesting separate philosophical question; regardless, it seems like it
could be a healthy relationship of
some manner of affection, that I could appreciate without qualm.
Of course, his tendency towards sadism is an entirely separate problem I'm not addressing here.
(Oh, and he is at least conscious and cognizant of her wants and desires, so we're not talking the worst-case scenario as objectification goes, or I might lean a hair more skeptical. Zero functional empathy would be just about a non-starter for anything even resembling a relationship.)
