Original anon here: I feel like you're being disingenuous. Why ping in for crit if you're going to tell your criticizers they're wrong? Clearly people are seeing something here that you maybe aren't aware of.
I definitely see the competition with other girls. It always feels like Ariel's trying to show her friends how much prettier her dress is, or how she's had sex and maybe her friend hasn't, and what you might think of as enthusiasm comes across as competition between Ariel and the other girl. I can think of at least three scenes I've read or participated in where Ariel has made her female friend feel like less, or 'playfully' stole a guy from under her friend's nose, or flirted with the male counterpart of a couple to the extent that the female felt insecure about it.
You might not mean for her to be like this. But it definitely makes me wary of pinging with her, because it feels like no one is safe, and she'll flirt with a character's boyfriend, then turn around and act like the best of friends with her while being -- by my perceptions -- sort of passive-aggressive.
I'll also touch on the Seifer issue, though I have no dog in that race -- from reading those threads, it really does not read like Ariel has no intention of going after him. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but it seems like there's a token amount of "He used to date Rinoa, I can't....but I'll flirt up a storm anyway!" And the Ariel I know from canon has stronger ties to friendship than that. I guess that's my biggest problem. Ariel's a Disney Princess. As such, she has personality traits that are universal across all of Disney's 'good guys'. She's compassionate. She's kind. She's a good friend. I don't see a lot of any of those traits in your Ariel.
Re: Ariel / Alexander of Daventry / Shunsui Kyōraku / Jane Porter / Butters Stotch / Charlie Swan
I definitely see the competition with other girls. It always feels like Ariel's trying to show her friends how much prettier her dress is, or how she's had sex and maybe her friend hasn't, and what you might think of as enthusiasm comes across as competition between Ariel and the other girl. I can think of at least three scenes I've read or participated in where Ariel has made her female friend feel like less, or 'playfully' stole a guy from under her friend's nose, or flirted with the male counterpart of a couple to the extent that the female felt insecure about it.
You might not mean for her to be like this. But it definitely makes me wary of pinging with her, because it feels like no one is safe, and she'll flirt with a character's boyfriend, then turn around and act like the best of friends with her while being -- by my perceptions -- sort of passive-aggressive.
I'll also touch on the Seifer issue, though I have no dog in that race -- from reading those threads, it really does not read like Ariel has no intention of going after him. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but it seems like there's a token amount of "He used to date Rinoa, I can't....but I'll flirt up a storm anyway!" And the Ariel I know from canon has stronger ties to friendship than that. I guess that's my biggest problem. Ariel's a Disney Princess. As such, she has personality traits that are universal across all of Disney's 'good guys'. She's compassionate. She's kind. She's a good friend. I don't see a lot of any of those traits in your Ariel.