Casanova

Hide your daughters, here comes Romeo. Every attentive father in the room loads his shotgun, older brothers form a protective circle around their baby sister like wildebeest facing down lions, and boyfriends stop making out with their significant others in the car and drive away at top speed, because everyone knows that when this guy's around, even the most wholesome and naive of girls is likely to forget herself. Even though he's never had a girlfriend, and as far as i can see has been celibate the entire time he's been around.

You see, just like an urban legend, everyone is absolutely positive that this guy (and i do mean a guy) is a stud/player/Casanova, because he's a flirt and they heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that their cousin's sister's best pal had their heart broken by the guy, and they said he'd had more partners than a maverick cop. lolz.

But...again, just like an urban legeng.... there's no actual proof.

Yes, he's always talking to girls. Yes, he flirts. Maybe he even makes entirely heterosexual males wonder if it might be worth making an exception, just this once. His friends scold him for "playing around" and "toying with people," maybe he's even got a few (un)flattering nicknames...

But then, why the hell is he permanently single?

A reader (or chatter) has never seen him with a partner, not even a 'Girl Of The Week' sneaking out of his room at dawn after a one night stand. He's never encountered a previous partner on the street. Females might drop at his feet, but he never bothers to pick them up, dust them down and escort them to his bedroom. In fact, he's quite the gentleman, in a lot of ways.

He's a character, a Casanova in two distinct types.

The first is where even the reader/chatter isn't quite sure what to make of him; some claim he's promiscuous, he's charming and chatty with the ladies, and innuendoes are made left, right and centre.

Yet it seems as though his romantic success is a bit of an Informed Ability — with the possible exception of his canon love interest (wink wink), he doesn't seem to be making serious advances on anyone. He's not likely to steal anyone's girlfriend or wife, although he may well flirt with them, and may in fact be much better behaved than more "sensible" males.

I'm not sure whether to assume that he has other lovers, or whether a higher purpose has made him put romance on hold, or whether he is genuinely pretty chaste, if not actually a virgin.

The second type is the Chaste Flirt.

This guy just likes girls, and knows how to make them smile without any intention of marking notches on his bedpost. He's very socially skilled, but may not have much experience beyond the "chat-up" stage.

Perhaps he flirts deliberately because he's virginal/celibate, and has found that flirting means that people assume you have a love life, and stop asking embarrassing questions.

In the case of a girl with casanova, she'll nearly always be the Chaste Flirt (or Chaste Vamp in some cases), because heroines are always "good girls" at heart. Milder/younger versions of the trope omit the sexual overtones and this is the guy who "could date any girl he wants"...but oddly enough, never seems to have a girlfriend.

Casanovas, Don Juan's or Playa's are men who devote a large amount of their energy to bedding as many women as possible. They are charming..they have to be.. and often intuitive about women's emotions, knowing which buttons to push to make women feel both flattered and attracted.

But personally, i think this practice can be detrimental, not just to the women they seduce, but also to the men themselves, who say that their single-minded pursuit of women distracts them from their careers and friendships.

The very skills that make someone an accomplished womanizer...such as manipulation..often work against them when they do settle into long-term relationships....

xoxox