"I think it's... hm." He considers how to put it. "I think a lot of stories use shorthand. The same way that battles in a story are always exciting and bold and often heroic in similar ways, right? It's a way to talk about the idea of war without the messy parts where sometimes people are shouting contradictory instructions, and sometimes soldiers just trip over nothing in particular, and sometimes the same person is both brave and cowardly in different circumstances regardless of their underlying virtue or lack thereof. Who wants that? That's a mess. I suspect it may be the same with romance."