Responses
Thank u for finding the words for this because I have been feeling this and didn’t know how to phrase it. I think another contributor is the choice to have Little A satisfying them without satisfying himself. Like typically when we see dubcon a character is things to another for their own sexual gratification. But since Little A is straight up fully clothed not even touching himself, it’s easy to forget what he’s doing is non-consensual
Yes! That's also a huge part of it!
I feel like the author is trying really hard to make the usual smut tropes NOT dubcon
Because during smut scenes it really goes as far as it can, but as soon as it stops being insanely explicit, the characters say something that immediately reframes what just happened (like Milton here wishing the machine wasn't destroyed bc he was 99999% satisfied??)
OR
Little A himself is put in a position of "helper" who will ultimately choose the well being of the animal people
I can't believe this is making me think of narrative choices and how the author is approaching consent like I'm analysing a high fantasy essay