More romantic scenes...

[fajrdrako]

Since I posted this morning my answer to the Livejournal Writer's Block question, "What is your all-time favorite, romantic movie scene?" I thought I would answer the same question with regard to other media.

Books

From The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett; page 440 of the Century edition: the scene fans call "the anvil moment", edited here a little, by me.

...She was no longer ten, and had put to use the years of study and practice. How old, then, was she?

The year he fought his brother, they had met. The year of Pinkie, or the spring just after. Which made her... nearly twenty.

He was aware of a deep surprise. But of course, the mind which had comprehended and discussed with him all the intricacies of the present blunderings of nations was not, could not be a child's. The loving spirit which could serve Queen Mary, seeing clearly all her weaknesses, had nothing immature about it....

Unlike Kate, this girl had broken from her setting. All that Kate was, she now had. And standing on Kate's shoulders, something more, still growing; blossoming and yet to fruit.

All that he was not.

...And deep within him, missing its accustomed tread, his heart paused, and gave one single stroke, as if on an anvil. 'We're here, sir,' Nicholas said.

The air hurt his skin. His nerves, unsheathed, left him oversensitized and defenceless, as sometimes happened... He remained perfectly still.

'...Sir?' Nicholas said.

The chapter ends: Too late, too late, too late; it had happened.

Comics

In X-Men comics, the relationship between Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Phoenix) was so long-established I thought it would last forever, nothwithstanding Maddy Pryor. But no: it has been superseded by the love affair of Scott Summers and Emma Frost, formerly the sexpot-villainous White Queen of the Hellfire Club, and I love it. Comics don't often get romance right; but this goes beyond romance, goes to the point where sexual tension becomes plot tension. It isn't even a match of opposites, as you would think. It's a match of equals. It's brilliant.

Its apex for me is a recent comics, from a few weeks ago: Dark X-Men: The Confession, a one-shot by Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost and artist Bing Cansino. It may be difficult to keep secrets from one of the world's greatest telepaths, but Scott has a few, and Emma has been hiding things from Scott - each had secrets so terrible they thought it would destroy the other's love for them.

Hank tells Scott "these secrets will kill us". Tensions mount: Emma is on the point of leaving. So Scott says to Emma, "I don't want there to be secrets between us any more." So they have it out. And instead of their confessions bring them together. The story ends with each pledging to the other, on a kiss:

Scott: No more secrets?
Emma: No more secrets.
Scott: Do you trust me?
Emma: Forever.

Television

The best television romance is that between Veronica and Logan in Veronica Mars. But how to pick any particular scene or moment? All their scenes together are wonderful: picking just one would be impossible.

But their first kiss is remarkable. For one thing, this is a show built on words, clever words, dialogue, plotlines. Logan Echolls is a smart-mouth rich kid, introduced to viewers by Veronica as the "psychotic jackass" of the high school, her best friend's mouthy former boyfriend. He is one of the prime suspects in So it come as a surprise to us (and to Veronica) when she and Logan kiss, and suddenly the whole story changed - and in a TV show full of clever words, this happens without a word.

And then Veronica runs to her car, and turns, and she and Logan look at each other.