#(labels to show how an individual labels themself)

[porcelainvino]

last piece of my portfolio 😵😵😵

[im-a-goddamn-cat]

I found your post "sorry (not) sorry" where you talk about asexuality and aces who say they love sex etc.

That post ended up on my "for you" and I'm glad it did. I wrote a reply in that post but I was typing too quickly and it was a mess. So I deleted it and decided to write a message instead.

I have to say that I agree with your post 100% and it's quite sad that your opinion is "problematic" in ace community.

Can aces have sex? Yes. Some say they do it solely to please their partners, which sounds very RAPEY. It's interesting how little we hear about the allosexual individuals, who might masturbate instead of having sex with their asexual partners.

Nowadays, it seems like everyone is obsessed with labels and twisting words to fit their own narrative. I'm not against labels, just use labels that fit you. A lot of times I feel like allos just use asexual label so they can preach how they love sex & they can show aces that they can love sex too like every other "normal" person.

Sometimes when I see someone talking how they never want sex or that they are sex repulsed there always have to be some "ace" that screams BUT DON'T FORGET ACES LOVE SEX TOO! WE LOVE KINK! WE LOVE FUCKING!!!

It feels like you're being erased, but erased by someone who's not even asexual.

I come to ace tags a lot, because I would like to follow some people, (also I come to the tags a lot so I can block bots that started spamming the tags) but it's always the same story. I see people who say they are ace but they also say things that show me that they are pretty much allos. It's sad because these people made me avoid ace spaces... because it really feels like 60% of them are allos who just use ace label. 30% are aces who don't want to be rude and they're like "all are welcome, all can use ace label!!! No one can tell you that you're not ace" and then 10% people just don't say a word because they don't want drama.

This is why people won't take us seriously because a lot of people who don't know much about asexuality hear just "I'm ace but I still love and enjoy sex!. And this is why some people think being celibate and being asexual is the same thing.

Sorry for a long message & my rant but it's RARE that someone who's ace actually say things you said in that post out loud... and it's refreshing to see that.

I don't really know how much we have in common but I will follow you just so I can read more of your ace posts in the future. Because I really need that.

thank you so much for sending this message, i'm really glad that my post resonated with you. and i agree with everything you said. it's awful that the asexual label/community has been overtaken by this narrative that aces can have sex even tho it's just false. it's actually pretty scary bc, like you said, it sounds so rapey. you rarely hear ppl adovacting for allos to have sex just to please their partner or for allos to have sex with ppl they aren't attracted to bc everyone recognizes how disgusting that is, but for some reason, ppl think it's normal and okay to do this to ace ppl.

i hate being one of those ppl who tries to tell others what their identity is but i truly do feel like ppl who claim that their ace but still want/enjoy sex aren't actually ace, they're allosexual who decided to call themself ace for some reason. asexual ppl do not experience sexual attraction so they would not be seeking out sex with ppl nor would they enjoy it. if someone claims they enjoy sex despite being ace, i feel like there's a good chance that they're not actually ace.

i've also seen the argument that "asexuality is a spectrum" for why aces can have sex but i'm gonna be honest, it seems more like it's allosexuality that is the spectrum; there's only one way to not experience sexual attraction (asexual) but there's many different ways to experience sexual attraction and there's nothing wrong with that but it doesn't mean you're asexual. if you experience sexual attraction, you're not asexual.

i've also seen ppl get harassed for saying that they're asexual which means they don't want to have sex and/or dislike sexual content and i've experienced that myself. i've made posts just talking about my own sexuality and have had multiple ppl who jumped in to try "correcting" me by telling me that aces can have sex, which again is false, and it just shows how creepy this attitude is bc why do ppl always feel the need to try forcing this mindset onto any actual asexual person they come across? it really feels like ppl are just trying to pressure ace ppl into forcing themselves to conform to allosexual society's standards.

anyways, i think you hit the nail right on the head, you're so right about everything. it seems that even the ace community has been overtaken by a compulsory sexuality and rape culture mindset and it's so sad. this is supposed to be a community for ppl to celebrate and bond over their identity and yet you have so many ppl either trying to coerce asexual ppl into having sex and/or ppl who aren't even asexual who are claiming the label and twisting it for their own weird narrative.

thank you so much again. 💕 ik it sucks and it makes me sad and angry that ppl do this awful stuff too but always remember that there is nothing wrong with who we are and that we should try to stay positive and fight against ppl's acephobia as much as possible. 💕

[valleyfthdolls]

I'm gonna try to say something intelligent about FNAF's use of the "split personality" trope- a very distinct trope from proper DID coding- as a horror/shock tactic.

Basically, it remains among my least favorite parts of Security Breach because it, unlike Sun and Moon's autistic coding- is not a neurodivergent character made neurodivergent for the sake of developing them or representation, but instead to shock the audience. To make a horror character that the player can point at and go look at how freaky and insane that is.

There's a distinct difference between DID coding and the "split personality" trope. In the case of DID coding, a character is often stated to be mentally ill, and experiences internal conflict and personality shifts consistent with a system. Characters coded as having DID rarely explicitly have alters, because that often takes them into explicit DID territory (rarely are characters with alters plural in any other sense), but they have something that can easily be read as alters- different parts or "versions" of themself, for example, that take on different roles or encompass different personalities. These characters are usually written for narratives about these internal conflicts. The split personality trope, however, usually sees a character not explicitly or implied to be mentally ill, who is scared of their single "evil alter ego" who comes out at a random trigger and hurts others. This trope is removed from all but the most basic ideas of DID, and is usually done for shock value.

Sun and Moon are not DID. They are the split personality trope. The Daycare Attendant shows no internal conflict, no internal conversation, no relationship to or between the individual alters, no difference in memory or actual identity- simply "daycare attendant" and "evil daycare attendant"- and Ruin implies that the two fuse into one balanced and functional identity- Eclipse- and only then are they no longer dangerous. Sun and Moon are so far removed from any ideas of actual plurality, that like I said, they don't fit into a single label of plural coding aside from the ableist split personality trope. And I don't think I have to explain why the idea that systems have to fuse into one identity to be functional, stable, and not a danger to the people (read: singlets) around them is itself also ableist.

Now, obviously, it is tough to code an animatronic with a total of ten minutes of screentime and maybe five voice lines as mentally ill, but the thing is... they coded it as autistic just fine. Everyone picked up on it. They could've made an attempt to actually give the Daycare Attendant any semblance of real plurality, and they didn't, because they weren't thinking of it to make it mentally ill. They were, plain and simple, using it for shock value. And it really shows.

So, anyway, time for your reminder that systems do exist and we are not just your scary freaks for your horror stories.

[orange-orchard-system]

Disability Pride Month is a complicated time for us, as we have a complicated relationship with the word "disabled". Technically, we could use it to describe ourselves, but between our history with it and the way our conditions affect our life, it's not really something we're comfortable using. Instead, we typically either describe our specific problems (ex. our chronic pain), or use other terms, like "disordered", "with a condition", or even "handicapped". Occasionally, we'll play around with words and describe ourselves as "someone with conditions that can be disabling", but "disabled" as a word is not really one we use for ourselves.

... Which makes it a bit estranging when we enter Disability Pride Month and, oh, look! Lots of people talking about the same struggles we face! Lots of people with our same conditions and problems speaking up about them! Lots of people spreading awareness about how to make things more inclusive and accessable for people like me! Lots of people showing pride for... how they fall under an umbrella term that we don't personally use. Yeah, it gets awkward fast.

But I've come to accept this awkwardness. I don't really mind the widespread use of the word "disabled" – it's fitting, and it works as an umbrella term for a lot of difficulties and/or inabilities people have. Honestly, my main complaint is with those who accuse folks like me (who could describe themselves as disabled but choose not to) as "just having internalized ableism". My fellow on Earth, I promise you, even if that's the case, shoving people into a label before they're ready for it will not help. Maybe go target the causes for this hypothetical internalized ableism before you start demanding people just get over it. (Also, aren't we supposed to show support for both person-first language and identity-first language, depending on a given individual's preference? Some people just prefer the former, especially if some of the disableism they've faced is people refusing to see them as a person; show some compassion, jeez. Someone describing themself as "a person with disabilities" rather than "a disabled person" is not your enemy.)

But anyway. Happy pride month to all those like me, who have complicated relationships with the disabled label and/or community. Having pride during this month can be awkward or difficult at times, but you're not a bad person for opting out of an umbrella term, or not being ready to use it. I hope you're able to find words and community that work best for you!

[internalself]

oh epic youve got this blog set up! id like to ask u now, uhm like.. gah words are hard, sorry if this sounds kind of incoherent. how would you explain trace or transabled on a moral standpoint? like i am someone who is already definitely transage and transspecies, so i understand identity incongruence, i am just a little confused on a moral standpoint. i have been told, the entire time ive known about those identites, that they are Bad, but i want to approach them with an open mind. i want to really think about it, but i feel a little lost

I would start to on a few different layers.

On the first label, I would say morally, regardless of your initial feelings: there's already the factor that to be against these people is to be against other people's freedom of expression, speech, and identity as well as against other people's bodily autonomy in many cases.

I don't really understand how to answer the concept as "morally". So I'll just give a quick summary that you can ask further on if something doesn't make sense.

We need to start the discussion of trace with the knowledge that race is a construct. This is something that I can go into more and/or you can look into articles talking about. Some events that may help understand this view I would list as:

The history of the Jewish race in America, and it being revoked or reinstated depending on the antisemitism of the time

Historically Asian American immigrants being called Chinese on their papers regardless of country of origin, making many 2nd, 3rd and so on generations unsure of their parents/grandparents+ nationalities

Usage of black to describe race across the world

Debates between different counties on if people who have pale skin are ever any race other than white. (Ex: Americans saying Roma are white, Europeans disagreeing.)

The discussions a few years ago on if Australian indigenous populations can call themselves black

Blood quantum and ongoing indigenous genocide in the US and Canada.

The way race as a rigid construct hurts mixed race people

Blood quantum applied to non-n8v communities (the idea of "when does 1 race's linage stop being their race?") And the idea of "pure blooded" race

So on and so fourth.

This is why in our pinned we specify that just because a construct exists doesn't mean it isn't based off something real. Race exists either to describe a group of people with a similar ancestry, physical characteristics or country of origin, often a mix of all 3, but is more made up than you'd think.

Generally, race as a construct exists mostly for the reason of oppression at the hands of colonialism. By creating race, you can enforce the idea of a "lesser race", alienate and divide people, control them and genocide them.

Most ideas of race are things that are solely physical, and our ideas of race are constructed through a settler lens with the intent to oppress other "lesser" races. Regardless of race, a person will not be born with cultural or mental differences, they are learned. In a non-physical space, race is entirely invisible, the only indicators of race being culture, including learned fears and prejudices.

Moving from this point, let's open a hypothetical that will show up on this blog a lot

Let's say, a group of people, like 100. Exist, mentally mature and not physical. In a world without learned prejudices and insecurities, when ordered to create themself a body, my hypothesis would be that each individual would create a seperate self. Each person would find a different feature more attractive / desirable, or otherwise find more self hood in them. If given the chance, to create yourself entirely, would you create your current self perfectly? Many people would continue to keep their gender, race, species, age, many would not. In an ideal world, would you choose every piece of you that you still are? Many trans people would choose to keep the relationship they have with their body and their gender and sex- Many would also not do this and would choose a more "cisgender" body. Many disabled people would keep their disability, many may not. While many of these actions would be inspired by prejudice in the world that was learned- I am confident that many people would choose these as well based off personally enjoying the body they would create more.

The idea that someone should not deviate the idea of their assigned race, a construct designed to oppress people, is in of itself racist. Why should I be forced to use the word for my people that was given to me by settler oppressors? This is especially true for people who identify with races outside of what is assigned. (Non-recognized races)

Further, most arguments against trace individuals is racist as well. The assumption that PWIIOC are too fragile and stupid and would only desire to a different bodily race because they face oppression and want to escape it, and that a bodily white person would only want a different bodily race to join an oppressed group or because they have a fetish is both racist and... familiar, isn't it?

Is it not recycled transphobia? The idea usually communicated by transphobes, "trans women are pretending to be women to join women's oppressed class or because they have a fetish" and "trans men are just stupid and fragile girls who transition to join the oppressor class to escape oppression" are exactly what is being parroted when people say what I described in the above paragraph. It's a flawed logic that entirely disregards the internal self being not wholey influenced by the learned behavior. It also is built entirely on stariotypes and assumptions and insists all PWIIOC are cowardly and would never know themself well enough to self define- and all white people could only care about POC for a sexual or sadistic reason, re-enforcing ideas of whiteness as inherently opposed to all other races, and that all other races are either stupid or spineless and unable to know about themselves, the same way trans men are targeted as "stupid, scared, autistic girls" and trans women are targeted as "men in dresses who want to be women to complain and for sexual gratification."

-------

Secondarily, I will move on to the idea of disability and transablity.

The basis against transabled groups is based in ableism. Unlike many other identity parts we will discuss, the idea of disability as identity is debated, and varied from person as well as from disability.

Generally I won't speak on mental disability or illness in this segment. I have never experienced, do not know enough about or confidently understand the experiences of people who feel as though they should be more or less or with a different, mentally disabled / mental disability.

When it comes to physical disability I will say again, bodily autonomy is king. If someone has felt like they are supposed to only have 1 arm, it doesn't matter if you understand this- they have a full right to get it removed because it's THEIR body.

"What if they regret it?" People get tattoos they regret all the time. And yet, people aren't barred from getting tattoos due to the possibility of regret.

Further, this is acting like a surgery is comparable to a tattoo. This feels like most medical fearmongering- "trans people shouldn't be able to get SRS because what if they regret it?" "If we made abortion legal, everyone would get one all willy nilly!" But the reality is that people generally don't go into an expensive, physically intensive surgery mindlessly. Once again, no respect is offered to the PWII. It's assumed the people seeking a treatment that would make them happier are simply too stupid, and the person who is hateful of them knows the person seeking treatment more than they know themselves.

It also agrees with the ableist idea that being disabled is to worsen oneself- the idea someone would choose disability and be happier disabled as impossible and that someone would only choose disability if they're unable to make sound decisions, or have a sexual reasoning.

A disabled body is not a tragedy. People have a right to their own body, and every abled person is a potential disabled person- at any moment, someone could accidentally become disabled. If someone was already seeking disability- how are they more valid if their disability is the result of something that couldn't be helped, like a car crash?

If people will give themselves the result they desire anyways, there should be a safe and professional way to have it done. A societal hatred for people who desire a disability will not stop those who are intent on having the body they desire. They will just do it in a less sanitary and less safe space- and are more likely to botch their surgery and be unhappy with their results.

Is you can understand that some people feel as though their disability is a part of their self, and they wouldn't become abled if given the chance and are happier disabled, you also need to understand that some people would choose disability, and would be happier disabled. To be hateful to people who find a disabled body desirable for themselves also attacks people who would continue to choose their body to continue to be disabled.

Personally, ever sense I was young I felt like I needed glasses and should have worse vision.

I would even lie to my doctor that I felt like my vision was fuzzy, but I'd ace the vision tests. To this day I can't help but pick up a pair of glasses around the house and put them on for a quick moment of euphoria. I prefer fictional characters with glasses. In a sense, it's not that I see myself in them, but i want to. It's a similar feeling to gender envy to me. I'd press down on my eyes as a kid to have my vision fuzzier, I'd unfocus my eyes and stare at the whiteboard.

The repulsion from people who would insist that I must be crazy to desire this, that doing so would be worsening me, that it would horrifying and repulse someone so strongly to anger which nears humor that I- someone with good vision would desire disability, is ableist.

Disabled bodies will always exist, disabled bodies deserve to exist, disabled bodies are beautiful, disabled bodies would exist even in a world where people built themselves manually, ability aids and disability does not make a body less attractive, less worthy of respect, less worthy of being desired or deserving of the repulsion we get.

Finally, the assumption that all transabled people are abled is ableist. I am not and most transabled people I've seen are not fully able either. We understand disability. Many transabled people even already have disability in the area their incongruence targets.

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I hope this helps, if you want to discuss any parts of this in more depth, please specify further.

[wndaswife]

You don’t seem to understand what a terf actually is. You just like throwing that word around and using it towards anyone that doesn’t agree with you, which only shows just how immature and ignorant you actually are.

People are allowed to have differing opinions to you. I get that being online all the time and only surrounding yourself with people that agree with you/have the same opinions as you, has made you think that everyone must agree with you and that only your opinions are “right” - but real life outside of the internet doesn’t work that way.

Lesbians do not like dick. I know that you want to call yourself a lesbian but if you’re attracted to penis, whoever the penis may be attached to, you are not a lesbian. And saying this does not make me a terf. It’s simply a fact.

You’re all “you shouldn’t reduce someone down to their genitals, women aren’t just boobs and pussy” - and yet you’re making posts yelling about how you want to suck girl dick and how women can have dicks, which completely contradicts what you’re saying as you yourself are reducing people down to their genitals by saying these things.

Lesbians are not attracted to men, nor are they attracted to penis, regardless of who the penis is attached to. That is just what a lesbian is. That’s the reason why we have a label to set us apart in the first place, so that people know that we are individuals that are not attracted to men or penis.

If you yourself are attracted to penis - good for you! You can suck all the dicks that you want to! Nobody is stopping you or saying that you can’t! But your want to suck cock means that you’re not a lesbian. It’s that simple. That isn’t “terfy”. That’s just what the lesbian identity is. And you cannot push your own personal attractions onto other women. Just because you find cock attractive, it doesn’t mean that lesbians have to. Not being attracted to male genitals does not make you a terf.

This whole “lesbian means non men loving non men” is nonsense. Tell me this - is it right for an AMAB male-presenting individual to insist upon calling themself a lesbian just because they identify as nonbinary? Even though they are male presenting, with male genitalia, and have zero plans to present themself in a feminine way or transition physically in any way? Everything about that person is physically still male, the only difference is that they say that they now say that they identify as nonbinary rather than cis?

Explain to me how you believe that person can acceptably call themself a lesbian, despite physically being every inch cis male. Explain to me how you believe that lesbians - women loving women - are now supposed to be attracted to that person, otherwise you would call them a terf. Because that’s what you’re doing.

terfs: “please don’t force us to like dick guys please we are actually very frightened of penises <//3 please don’t try and invalidate our lesbian identities just because we don’t like penises please <///3”

also terfs: “IF YOU LIKE DICK YOU’RE NOT A LESBIAN”

women are not their bodies. it’s really that simple. if you cannot find any value in women past their vaginas then you are the problem. have some respect for women, it’s that easy :)

secondly sexual attraction is not inherently objectifying.. it’s actually kind of scary you’d think that. why would you think that attraction to trans women can only ever be objectifying? are trans women not able to be loved like everyone else in the world can be? why does reading that someone can be attracted to trans women mean degradation? yet when you read smut with a cis woman i bet you never think omg :( why are we just objectifying tits and pussy now :( like fuck off lmao

[revenant-coining]

💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤

whoo that was a lot :3 here ya go !

Emportulum (link): an identity where you are a character, but also not. you may be based off of that character, you may identify so strongly with them you almost feel the same but you're not, you may feel like you come from the same cookie cutter shape, you may feel like them in an uncanny valley way; etcetera.

Copingflicker (link): an identity that feels like a copinglink and/or a kintype, but is unstable, weak, or feels "in the background" when not engaged with. This identity can feel like it flickers in and out of one's identity, and could be involuntary or voluntary. Regardless, there is a distinct feeling this identity is meant for coping.

Polychaoschro(nal) / Multichaoschro(nal) (link): a polychronal / multichronal term for when one is multiple ages due to chaos / being chaos.

Concerare (link): an alterhuman / nonhuman term for identifying as / with a concept because one is attracted to it.

:]gender: a gender connected to the :] emoticon.

꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱emotic (link): a gender connected to the ꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱ emoticon.

Affectishowion (link): a gender felt when giving or showing platonic displays of affection. this gender is soft and love filled!

Carriongamic (link): a gender connected to the game Carrion.

Porksodauvel (link): a Feruvel term connected to the song Pork Soda by Glass Animals.

Pasiyic (link): A gender related to pastels, pacifiers, babycore imagery, plushies, nurseries, and naps.

Ductuaffectian Attraction: attraction in which one feels an animalistic sense of desire and connection to an individual.

Cedural Attraction: a form of attraction that revolves around wanting to feel protected, covered, understood, tutored, and supported by someone else.

Melmaeus Attraction (link): a form of nonhuman tertiary attraction ( Alteraffectis ) that describes how a slime creature feels towards other slime creatures.

Vivorient Attraction (link): a form of nonhuman tertiary attraction ( Alteraffectis ) that describes how a sentient zombie feels towards human survivors.

Facere- (link): a prefix meant for a attraction type that is actually multiple attractions types that make up the attraction.

MLMflexable: gayflexible through pan; a gay man with flexibility in attraction to many genders without distinction.

Autodimenic (link): an autospec label for experiencing attraction of any kind to alternative dimension versions of oneself.

Auto Spec: Experiencing some form of attraction towards oneself, exclusively or not.

Queer Platonic Objectum / Conceptum: Queer Platonic attraction to objects.

Assigned Chaos at Birth / ACHAB (link): a neoAGAB where one's assigned gender at birth is chaos.

Assigned Slime Creature at Birth / ASCAB (link): a neoAGAB where one's assigned gender at birth is slime creature.

Alporksodacorum (link): an aldernic / almusicorum identity where one has or wishes to have a body of / connected to the song Pork Soda by Glass Animals.

ROTTMNTartstyleic (link): a aldernic for having or wanting to have a a body in the style of the show Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles's art style.

Alderfamilial (link): an aldernic term for one is or wants to be the embodiment / personification of familial attraction, or when one has or wants to have a body that is connected to familial attraction.

Incuperspesque (link): a perspesque term for wanting incubi / being an incubus to be very intertwined with how others perceive you.

Tutelaryaceive (link): an attraceive term (link) for when one wants to be perceived as caring, protective, and supportive due to tutelary attraction; whether that’s attraction one feels, or attraction one wants others to feel towards themself.

Darknessphoid (link): A multiuse label with the suffix -phoid for an individual who both identifies as darkness and is phobic of the dark (nyctophobic). May be considered paradoxical.

Platopetnamial (link): a phosial gender that is lit by light from, reflected off of, or filtered through pet names one gives their friends.

MLMIN (link): mlm in nature

Kirin (link): masc+neu presenting gay man

[cryptwrites]

Writing LGBTQ+: Asexuality

Jump scare! Gay people! So hi, on my quest to become a better writer, I read. A lot. And watch shows. And while the LGBT rep is getting a bit better... kinda... the asexuality rep is not! At all! Podcasts are like, the once source of representation I see that does it right. And even then, it's kind of iffy! So what do we do about it? We take advice on writing asexual people directly from the source. Hi I'm crypt and I'm ace, and I'm gonna tell you how tf to write asexual people into your stories.

So just like everything else, everyone's experience with asexuality can be, and is going to be different. The label itself can mean a lot of different things depending on the person. Some asexual people don't experience sexual attraction, but they can experience other attraction forms. Aside from sexual attraction, you can experience romantic, aesthetic, physical, platonic, and emotional attraction. So there are many different ways that attraction can be formed.

Some individuals experience no sexual attraction. Some people identify as asexual and experience sexual attraction only under certain circumstances. In that case, they may go by a different term or choose to label themselves as something else. But it doesn't take away from their asexual identity.

Identify your character

When writing an asexual character, the first thing to ask yourself is, are they also a romantic? Do they have a desire for a romantic relationship? But Suprise! Asexuals can and cant be romatic!

Basically this means that some asexuals are romantic, which means while they don't experience sexual attraction. They do enjoy romantic things such as being married, having a romantic relationship with their significant others, kissing, holding hands, and things generally associated with romance. Likewise some asexuals are aromantic, which means they don't experience romantic attraction as well as sexual attraction. This is commonly referred to as being aroace online!

So, it can be tough when you're writing because many people generalise that asexuals don't want romantic relationships. Sometimes it is easier to make a character who's asexual and aromantic. But if at all possible, make it clear that those two are not the same thing. Knowing your characters as well as you know yourself will be one of the most important things to do when writing any character well.

Sexual relationships

Some asexual people are sex-repulsed, which is self-explanatory, and some are sex interested. A lot of people call this sex-positive, which is fine, but that presents the idea of being sex-negative. While people can be sex-negative, it tends to be more puritans than asexual people who are sex-negative.

If you are a non-asexual person writing an asexual character, do not have them have sex. At all. You do not have the scope to be able to balance that writing of an asexual character who's decided to have sex for whatever reason. If you are an asexual person, do whatever you want to because you have that experience.

Asexuality is normal

One of the easiest ways to express sexuality on the page is to name it. If you're writing a book set in a time period where we have the vocabulary for asexuality, call it what it is. It doesn't do anyone any good to dance around it and pretend. If your character is set in the time period where they are able to call themself asexual, have them do that. Asexual people are usually pretty chill and proud of their identity.

As I said earlier, representation for asexual people is pretty much non existent, so if you have the chance in your writing to spell it out that your character is asexual. Do so. Don't dance around it, just come out and say it. As a queer person myself, I hate when writers allude to a characters sexual identity but don't ever confirm it within the writing, usually because they want to appease homophobic cishet people. Now some characters might not label themselves, and that's cool too, but if you choose to do this, please make it clear someway else.

When you're writing an asexual character, try hard not to make them an alien or robot or another race of beings that are all asexual. *Shakes you violently* we're people to dammit. We have feelings and emotions and we experience everything else life has to offer! With this being said, you may want to write a demisexual character, and that's fine. But then you have to make it clear that that is a demisexual character. Now, your character may identify with the asexual label, and that's cool too, but make that clear in your writing.

Careful of representation

Asexual people belong to the LGBTQ+ community, and they are queer. Whether they're homoromantic or a heteroromantic person, they're still LGBTQ+. Some queer folk, like myself, enjoy reading about asexual people (As long as its done right) because it makes us feel seen, like we're real people and not just concepts.

So, you have to be careful writing asexual characters because there are so few, especially canonically asexual characters, out there in the world at the minute. 

Avoid social awkwardness

Examine your attraction model and see where that leaves you and how you can build a model of attraction for a character who is asexual. Ask yourself these questions:

• What is it you like about a person?

• How quickly do you think about your character?

• How does that make you feel internally and externally?

Does your heart pound in your chest? You can usually figure out all of the non-sexual aspects of your relationship building, and therefore you can build an asexual character based on those factors. So it is the best way to do it because it's fairly realistic.

Don't hurt the community

Many people who have experienced trauma can become sex-repulsed, usually for a limited time. But they often can recover from it. So those people are not asexual. It labels them asexual against their will and damages them because they don't want that. But it's also damaging to the asexual community. Then it's thought that asexuality only happens when some trauma is involved in making them that way, which is entirely untrue.

If something has happened to you and you feel that you would be most comfortable identifying as asexual, then that's perfectly fine. Go ahead and do that. I'm only making it clear that writing a character who has had trauma is sex-repulsed because that trauma does not make them asexual. For example, I myself am Asexual, and I also have experienced sexual trauma. I was asexual before my trauma occurred and I still am. I know my asexuality has nothing to do with my trauma and vice versa.

Notes

Asexual people can be of any race or any agenda. Also, they can have different romantic attraction levels. There's such a thing as aromantic and romantic. Typically, romantic attraction falls into the same basic set as sexual attraction. So most people are romantic, but asexual people tend to divide their attraction model.

People tend to divide them out of attraction so that they are always asexual. But sometimes, they're always romantically attracted to one specific group, whether that group is the same gender, opposite gender, multiple genders, or whatever.

So, it's a thing to be aware of when writing asexual characters characters. When you can afford them, mix it up. Be aware of these stereotypes, so you don't accidentally fall into them. It is very easy to do, and then you've got to write yourself out of it once you get that.

[mxanigel]

21. Free ramble card wee

For Shion

Thank youuuuu 💜

I started drafting a Shion-focused response, but it was too rambly (yes there absolutely is such a thing) and so instead I'm using this ask as an excuse to share the Shion/Levi/Hange OT3 relationship chart~

Click here for the original chart!

I spent waaaaay too long tweaking this. I could continue tweaking it. I'm sure others will disagree with many of my choices, especially alignment (I'm terrible at figuring out D&D alignments, and what I chose is affected by how these characters evolve throughout Shion's version of the story and thus may deviate from canon). But dammit, I had fun. Especially with the trope choices.

This is a very queer OT3. It succeeds in part because they're all queer. And because of who they are as individuals, how they grow by knowing and loving each other. It continues to impress me how, well, fair these three insist on being to each other. Shion having low jealousy ends up being a critical component in that, though that characteristic of hers adds dramatic spice when the OT3 goes from subtext to well-defined. Levi being his observant self catches onto the subtext before either Shion or Hange (hence why Hange is labeled the oblivious one; Shion is technically somewhat oblivious to Hange's romantic feelings, but she can blame Hange for that!).

With respect to affection, Hange's fairly verbal, but that's dwarfed by how easily they express physical affection whenever and wherever they please. Meanwhile, Shion's expression of affection depends on the situation, but she'd rather show it than not show it. Levi... look, he's prickly and they both love him for it. But he won't hesitate to show affection when he wants to.

"Initiates contact" was one of the more challenging choices since it evolves over time, but if we think about who pushed for contact first, it was absolutely Hange. With each of them. Alas, they take a while to admit to themself that they want more than affectionate friendship. But the journey in getting there, and the triad the three of them subsequently establish, renders any sort of proposal unnecessary. Which I just love. 💜

Original list of Pride OC asks! Send me one if you'd like more rambles about my queer OCs~

[rasshase]

The comforting chill sprawled over Inaba for the season. Trees naked across every path, everyone in town lending a helping hand to clean it all up.

The yellows, oranges, browns, and some red were present, too, in the forest of people’s hearts. Looking out and over it all as a whole made it appear as an impressionist painting, why, appropriate as it sounds.

Two figures sat lazily in front of a TV, their legs as cozily within a kotatsu.

“Mushrooms up on sale again. Would the kids like a hot-pot?.. Would they be here for a hot-pot..?” the man in glasses sighed as he saw the ad play on screen. He popped a chocolate in his mouth from a decorative box.

“Hm… how ironic,” a wispy haired individual hummed. Their face rested against their hand as they watched TV with a drowsy stare.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s quite a perfect day to laze about, and here you are thinking of a hot-pot.”

“Anything wrong with that?”

“No,” they smiled gently, “I’m happy to hear you say that.”

Adachi laughed through his nose, reciprocating the same type of gentle happiness his partner had. As they yawned, he quickly planted a chocolate on their tongue, to which they retreated into their mouth and chewed with teary eyes. The situation was so charming, the two couldn’t help but laugh again. Oh, would that bear love to see a sight like this.

TV chatter and warm, airy laughter filled the air that cold afternoon. Adachi continued making his commentary at whatever was on screen, while the albino simply sank lower and lower to the table as they listened to him.

The box of chocolates was labeled with a cute, loopy handwriting that read “from: Rise ♥”. The lovely girl had given these chocolates and other gifts to Marie, for herself and the whole family. There seemed to be an “extra” box of chocolate Adachi was too modest in accepting, physically pushing it away from himself as the idiot who was bringing it up to his face. They simply opened the box and left it on a table, then the rest was history.

That box was almost empty now. The variety show segment of people going through a pottery workshop had also just ended.

Adachi mindlessly planted his hand into the box and felt the last piece of chocolate. “Ah,” he went as he noticed it. “Here,” he said, having picked it up and held it in front of his partner’s face.

The pale haired fellow opened their mouth again, fang just peeking out from their upper lip, for Adachi to shoot the chocolate back into their mouth. They chewed quietly as Adachi merely played with the plastic bits and flowers from another box of candy they both finished just before the chocolates.

The TV chatter melted into the background as the atmosphere just got lazier and lazier. The albino sat up and adjusted themself from resting their head on the table. Flyaways sprang up from one side of their hair, while their silhouette would begin going back to normal with the help of gravity. They rested their head back on their hand, resetting their position just as before. Only, no longer staring at the TV, but simply across themself with even less thought than the moments prior.

Adachi gave a big yawn this time around, his gums showing from under his lips and tears showing up on his eyes. His cheeks moved his glasses out of place, but before he could fix it himself, he could see his partner rise from their own position. Blurry as it was, he saw them raise an arm, a hand reached to his face.

They gently wiped the sleepy tears from his face and adjusted his glasses. Adachi had felt their calloused thumbs on his eyelids touch him with care. As he opened his eyes, the albino sat a little closer and started playing with his bangs. He was only a little startled, but he didn’t mind quite as much with this idiot.

“What are you doing?” he asked, not demandingly, but more out of instinct, as one does.

They did not respond. They only hummed as the smile they wore had stretched gently across their face.

They rubbed the short, albeit choppy, locks between their fingers. Adachi became a little sleepy as they hummed a little song. Like a little bird tweeted inside his chest, he felt light and his heartbeat relaxed with careful hands inspecting his hair. They swept his bangs to one side, and with the way it brushed against forehead, he snickered at the sensation.

The other giggled in return. Every action was contagious between the two.

Adachi furrowed his brows lightly, and jokingly demanded, “Oh, come here!” He shot up his arms that knocked the one holding his bangs out of place, then he held the moron by the shoulders to turn them around.

The other complied, of course, lifting their legs off the floor and swiveled on their butt, still giggling the whole way.

Adachi himself fixed the way he sat down, his whole body now facing the curiosity in front of him. The TV he would now hear through one ear, and the leaves from outside rustled behind him. To the other side was the couch, and in front of him was a giggling mess whose foot tapped against the tatami.

He sighed through a smile, then dove his hands into their wispy hair. It was chilly, as it always was… a sensation he’d always seek. These locks had gotten a lot longer the last he actually felt it, trying to tousle the ends which went past their shoulder blades this time around.

From the fit of little laughter, his partner returned to humming, to which Adachi hummed along with. Some sort of melody he didn’t try to harmonize with, but rather continue in the silences left from every albino’s breath to the best of his musical ability. It was a peculiar song, as if the wind made the trees sway in the same time of the waltz the two decided.

Adachi combed through the long locks of hair, enjoying its softness and breeziness. He’d twirl it around his own finger with ease, then it would uncoil from his hand when he would release any tension that had kept it together, like a lazy little snake bored of its prey.

At this point, he would bunch much of it together and rest his face inside, like putting his face against bear fur. Except this time, he gathered much near their eyes that they snickered a bit as his fingers passed their ears, before twirling locks together and made them stay with a messy knot of hair. He reached for the table and pushed away the box of chocolates, then went for the plastic bits he had been playing with earlier.

Flowers and hearts and butterflies and the like. They were all clean from candy, sugar, and saliva, of course, then he stuck these trinkets in the more taught parts of the hair he put together.

“…There,” Adachi announced warmly, retreating his hands as he’d finished his work.

Their hair was speckled in colorful bits of plastic, as Adachi could see from afar. It felt as whimsical as those little clips Marie once bought from a boutique in the other city.

With their humming dying down as if their song were coming to an end, the albino turned around. “So?” they asked curiously, seeing their own partner with a little smirk.

Then he laughed. “You got a little something,” he said through a snort.

Adachi lifted his hand and reached out for their face. There, his hand hovered over their cheek and he wiped a smidge of chocolate off their lip. “There, you messy eater.”

At that moment, the little fool’s eyes squinted tenderly as they smiled. Adachi saw their face washed with pink, which gave him the urge to hold them with the hand he held over their face. The other obliged, sinking into his hand as it cupped around them, closing their eyes.

It was a warm and pleasant sensation, much different from their wispy hair. Adachi could tangibly feel their happiness from the bump of their cheek as they smiled. He would like to rub it gently, but he still had the chocolate smidge on his thumb. So he merely sat there and held them, feeling them sink into his hand like a cat.

As Adachi looked at his partner with all the love in the world, he felt his own hand held by theirs. So characteristically calloused, like a hard worker of many aspects. Unlike his admittedly delicate ones in comparison, save for a few scratches here and there.

A calloused palm held him and he couldn’t help but feel more relaxed. His expression began melting so much he squinted until his eyes were ablur. Adachi felt the albino open their eyes, as he felt their eyelids move and their lashes move the air around his fingers.

Then he felt their whole face move into his hand. Their nose brushed his palm, and he felt their soft lips on it. Just as his heart was racing from what he knew what could happen, they kissed his palm as he held them.

Soft lips pressed into Adachi’s hand and their pale eyelashes swept across his fingers. As much as this would tickle him, it tickled his heart more. He still couldn’t help but laugh, and his laughs fluttered out of his mouth like butterflies wanted to escape his lungs. “…You idiot…” he managed to croak.

“…My love,” he heard, spoken into his palm before they continued kissing it again, now reaching his fingertips as they covered the whole area of his hand.

Adachi’s heart swelled at this fleeting remark. His vision tunneling into their face further than it already had. He would be a puddle seeping into the cushions and tatami if he started melting literally.

Just as his posture was faltering, he felt a much warmer sensation engulf his thumb. His eyes focused again to see what was going on. There, he saw the moron put his thumb in their mouth. Before he could protest, he felt them lick off the chocolate before releasing his finger and showing off a little smirk.

“Why you..!” Adachi yelled as he threw his hand behind their head and pulled him towards his face where their foreheads touched. But he couldn’t stay mad, it felt just the same when Kumori licked his thumb when he just finished preparing tomatoes. Just a lot less scratchy, and this time, he didn’t let the culprit get away.

He didn’t say anything more. The distance just closed between them, and they spent their time breathing until they were in sync.

The albino looked at their love through his lenses that couldn’t be any more fake. “My dear…”

“I—… No, no…” Adachi began, “what was that other thing you said?”

“Why’s that?”

“I ‘unno… the last one rolls off the tongue better,”

“But if I say it too much, you’ll get used to it…” they said, with a smirk across their face.

Adachi only grumbled, “Mmm…”

“Hmhm…” they laughed through a hum. They thought he was adorable.

As the two had been talking, Adachi propped his legs around the other’s hip, while they held his waist in return. He held his partner's face with both of his hands now, staring intently into each other’s eyes. Still sitting there in indecisive and patient silence.

Adachi rubbed the face in his hands with both thumbs. He would have imagined them purring at this point.

He carefully tilted his head and closed his eyes, but they creaked back open as he felt his lips tremble, still. At that moment, his partner pressed their own lips against his.

He made a little startled sound, but quickly melted into the moment, closing his own eyes and indulging himself as they kissed.

Adachi’s posture began to falter again, and he started leaning backwards despite the support from his waist.

His idiot merely followed suit and gently laid him down on the tatami, their lips still never leaving each other.

From the gravity, Adachi felt their hair on his hands. He felt the coolness and the simulated breeze as the locks brushed against him, as well as the little bits that knocked into his knuckles.

And they sank deeper and deeper into one another. Adachi never missing the chance to brush against their canine with his tongue, now tasting the half of the box he fed them. Like he tasted mint which he stopped himself from recoiling from, and nougat that hadn’t disintegrated yet.

They pulled away from each other to breathe, Adachi still considerably panting, as embarrassed as he feels about it.

The albino tucked their hair behind one ear as they rose. “…White chocolate,” they answered, “I thought you never liked white chocolate?”

“I don’t…” Adachi replied. “You can have the rest of it.”

“But what about the almond?”

“Think of it as a topping.”

They hummed with a smile at his answer and raised a hand from holding his waist. They gently brushed against his warm cheeks, almost in a tease, then took his eyeglasses off carefully from the bridge. It was almost as if they mouthed, “It’s not like you’ve needed this right now,” as they put it aside, never breaking their gaze on the other.

And it was true. The scarlet in their eyes still glistened like a tempting red as what their partner had been perceiving, while the blush on Adachi’s face looked even more obvious than just previously. The albino even felt his hands tremble on their face begging for them to come back. And so they complied, fixing the smile on their face back into gentle, closed lips and kissed him again. Their face still held with so much want.

They felt Adachi wrap his leg around theirs when they gently bit his lip once. All the moaning coming from him, to which they chimed along rhythmically like a harmony. Especially as they burrowed their hands into his shirt, rubbing the sides of his waist and gently massaging his abdomen, earning a hitch in his breathing with every movement. His hands curled over their ears at this point, entangling in their hair trying to pull them even closer than they already are, like he yearned to get lost in it all spiritually. Thorough enough until the taste of chocolate was gone, left as a lingering memory in the full embrace of the flavor of the other.

They gradually slowed their rhythm to pull away and whisper, “…Tohru,” their nose nuzzling him.

“Hm?” Adachi asked, opening his eyes gently, a breath slipping through his mouth.

“I love you.”

Adachi laid silent at the proclamation, and still held the albino in his hands. “Hm…” he hummed, “I love you, too.”

They both smiled sincerely and kissed each other quietly.

Adachi’s love began to trail kisses down from the corner of his lip to his jawline, down to his neck where they nestled their face into. They laid next to him, one arm in his shirt, enjoying this intimate warmth. Now in tranquil rest, Adachi sunk his hand into their hair, tousling the ends of it while admiring the wave across their body, speckled in pinks, blues, and yellows.

[caeca-iustitia]

In the same vein as my last post...

That era of Vincent, thusly dubbed Hojo Era Vincent, would be so confused at seeing someone claiming to be their kid just appear in the room.

Because presumably, this is before Lucrecia implants Chaos but after Hojo has left them to suffer.

So they're out here thinking this is some twisted hallucination but then the poor boy touches them on the arm, or something, and they're hit with the fact that this kid is real.

So they listen, because they can't exactly find the ability to question anything, as Seph explains all the shit he'd go through in the future at Hojo's hands which makes them rightly furious.

Now, given that they can't yet move, they bide their time until after Hojo shoots them (again) and fucks off back to Midgar with their kid. Then they force themselves up, regardless of how weak their body is, bust down the door and walk all the way to Midgar on a single mission.

Rescue their baby.

ShinRa would hardly be expecting someone labelled as missing to show up and upend the entire science department only to take Sephiroth (and any siblings depending on the verse) and leave without a trace.

Sure, they'd be a wanted individual who are constantly hunted by Turks and SOLDIER but they are, themself, a former Turk so they know all their tactics and tricks.

They do their best to raise Seph whilst on the run and being physically no stronger than a piece of wet tissue paper.

And hey, pretty much anything is better than Hojo, right?

[interroughbang]

Unhinged Woman: BookTok, Genre and Gender

When you see ads for books—rare as they might be—where do you find what it’s about? How do you decide to pick it up? It depends on the kind of summaries you’re reading; what you want out of your read.

Many Americans born in the 90’s and 2000’s alike remember flipping through the Scholastic Book Fair catalog, reading through the tiny blurbs to decide what books to buy. Depending on the magazines and periodicals you’ve read, they still publish blurbs anywhere from a paragraph to a page long, fit with succinct phrase reviews to advertise the draw of a book. What happens when you try to condense that—a book’s central concepts—into a 20 second video?

TikTok’s explosion of popularity and effective streamlining of video content has presented an interesting new form of marketing. Everything from clothes and music to cigarette boxes and keychains has a set of keywords that can carry them into a subculture or niche of the social media platform. The condensation of book discussions is no exception, giving rise to the “BookTok” niche. Users show the books they have read along with their recommendations and short descriptions, ranging from individual recorded discussions to grouping reads by keywords and tropes. The latter has especially seen an explosion on the platform—I myself have scrolled past (on Instagram Reels) videoed stacks of books labeled with “enemies to lovers”, “slow burn”, “toxic romance”, “unhinged women”, et cetera.

It’s a pretty effective way of getting across a central function of the book’s plot across to people who enjoy a certain kind of trope. Books are neatly filed away into what they do for their readers, the kinds of character perspectives readers will immerse themselves in, and what to expect of the read. With the level of simplicity espoused by some corners of BookTok (and TikTok’s algorithm), though, categorization becomes quite literally the name of the game. In a digital world algorithmically naming aesthetics, tropes, and all sorts of presentations of art and the self, nothing is exempt from being named and graded on a keyword rubric.

When it comes down to checklists and keywords, it’s easier to see book-reading as a fulfillment of requirements. Readers become primed to look for nameable patterns in the books they read, deciding what they like by looking for a repetition of tropes in their next read. When they find a book they like, they can go on BookTok and find more books to narrow down their favorites into searchable phrases or advertise their own recent reads under a conveniently named list.

Pattern-focused consumption of media has very real drawbacks, though. When categorization dominates the search for more nuanced experiences, nuance takes a backseat as consumers filter out what they don’t want and see books for the sum of their most popular parts rather than a standalone work of writing. A book about a cannibalistic woman, regardless of her reasons or context, is one of a stack of ‘unhinged women’ books recommended by a video on the For You page. I genuinely came across this once when I had a TikTok account.

These microlabels assigned to books are not infallible. As the content can be interpreted in myriad ways, so can the categories they fall into. But let’s zoom in a bit and examine the mechanics of some of their consequences. When books focus on women with severe mental trauma/illness, morally fraught situations, or any kind of intense interiority, they are easily chucked into the ‘unhinged’ pile. This categorization is attractive to keyword-trained readers—and this categories is popular, especially because people find it relatable. It’s put perfectly into words by one blogger who, to paraphrase, writes that their enjoyment comes from seeing people like themself, and instead of being labeled ‘crazy, unhinged, mentally ill’ as accusations, they are able to reclaim their experience by embracing the identity of the ‘unhinged woman’. It is a comfort, and understandably so—women are constantly told they are crazy, with a much lower threshold of what constitutes ‘crazy’ than men. But this is also internalized to a high degree. Women often consider themselves to be mad as well, as the conditioning of woman as an ‘other’, unlike the man, and often the occupant of a role (daughter, wife, mother, etc.) places many restrictions on what they are “allowed” to be while still being considered a typical woman. Deviation from the role, inability to keep up with life without betraying the more deep-cutting aspects of human emotion and suffering, is more ‘unhinged’ when a woman is deviating rather than a man.

Referencing Phyllis Chesler’s “Women and Madness” Dr. Shoshana Felman writes on the intricacies of how woman’s failure to fulfill their assigned role is more easily classified as something absurd:

“From her family upbringing throughout her subsequent development, the social role assigned to the woman is that of serving an image, authoritative and central, of man: a woman is first and foremost a daughter/ a mother/ a wife. ‘What we consider 'madness', whether it appears in women or in men, is either the acting out of the devalued female role or the total or partial rejection of one's sex-role stereotype’” (Felman, Shoshana. “Women and Madness: The Critical Phallacy.”)

The “unhinged” woman is a wide subgenre. It ranges from the main character of Gone Girl to Fleabag to again, a literal cannibal, which I cannot get out of my mind. What really hits home about this category is that it is inapplicable to men with how society treats gender. Gender is not just a set of roles; it assigns personality stereotypes to people. As Chesler writes, “a woman is first and foremost a daughter/ a mother/ a wife” in the consideration of how many understand women’s participation/role in society—therefore, when a woman is primarily defined by something else in literature, especially anger, which is so heavily policed for women, it reads as particularly shocking and absurd. The kind of anger that is actually messed up, that results in the death of others, and is unapologetically violent and destructive reads to most, at the very least subconsciously, as unexpected, or simply less possible for women.

If these books and media had their ‘unhinged’ female characters replaced with men, I have a feeling they would be called something else. I leave you with this thought:

Have you ever heard people call Crime and Punishment an ‘unhinged man’ novel?

Do you think they would think to do that? What do you think would be different if they did? If more people did?

And what if being a man defined the story more than what the man did?

--- Citation below the cut ---

Felman, Shoshana. “Women and Madness: The Critical Phallacy.” Diacritics, vol. 5, no. 4, 1975, pp. 2–10. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/464958. Accessed 21 Feb. 2024.

[nexthitjcink]

our skill system

for NEXT HIT's first preview, i thought it important to give potential members a look into our SKILL SYSTEM! this kind of system may be new to some, so i wanted to layout how it will be run on this new site. it's an important part of events and character progression in our universe, so i want to make sure everyone is on the same page before we begin. also, on next hit: all characters begin their time as trainees. under which label/path/goal (touched on under the cut) your character finds themself is up to the player, but all characters will be trainees. as characters progress through the roleplay and events, they will be given the chance to debut.

now, before we get into the system, i want to preface that i did not come up with the idea of a skill system being used in a korean entertainment/idol roleplay. i want to give credit to sites like: rookieskrp, lgcrp for inspiring next hit's system. while i did my best to make our system specific and tailored to this site's goals, i felt it necessary to give credit where it's due.

onto our system!

first: BASE SKILLS these are the skills that all characters are trained in while under NEXT HIT, but it is up to your discretion as mun to put (or not put) points towards that skill! base skills include:

vocals, rap, dance, creativity, charisma, and any instruments

instruments are tracked individually, so your character will have x number of guitar points, x number of drums--if any at all. for in universe reasoning: all trainees underneath NEXT HIT are given access to lessons on those skills.

next: BONUS SKILLS are specific to the paths i mentioned earlier! we have four different paths for muses to choose from. they correspond to the four different labels that make up NEXT HIT ENTERTAINMENT--which will be given their own post, so be on the look out for that! each path has it's own set of skills that trainees are given regular lessons on and expected to have a level of competency in. the paths and the bonus skills that apply to them are as follows:

IDOLS variety, acting, modeling, and songwriting

ACTING acting, directing, writing

MODELING modeling, design, marketing

PRODUCERS songwriting, sound engineering, choreography

you may notice that IDOL trainees' bonus skills are sort of "stolen" from the other paths. this is because we want to give idol trainees an opportunity to, while they are still trainees, be able to start work on building their own roles and identities for their future groups. so, if you have an idol trainee that also wants to dabble in producing when they debut, they can start working on that skill now. opportunities will be given to acquire skills in other paths, but for acceptance you just have to focus on the skills applicable to your path.

finally, another important "skill" that is available to all muses is EXPOSURE. similar to experience points in traditional roleplay games, exposure notes how much your muse's name gets put out there. not directly correlated to popularity or fame, it shows more of how much your muse has done while under NH. for all new characters this starts out as 0, since your character.

skills will be tracked on the main profile of every character, edited and kept up to date by the admin. skill points can be acquired through activity and events. all trainees start out with a base set of points, using the following this formula:

100 (for base points, what your muse had at their audition) + 20*(Months of Training IC) = Starting Skill Points

for simplicity sakes, we say that all trainees have started the first of the month, whenever you chose that they joined NH. also, don't count the month that your trainee is accepted in (OOC) since acitivity points will be awarded for that. so instance: if my trainee started training in january of this year, they would have 11 months of training under their belt and the math would follow: 100 + (20*11) = 100 + 220 = 320 starting points, to distribute how i wish!

these points are specific to them, so allocate them how you see best reflects your character. for those that read this post and want to jump the gun & get started on making their points, don't forget weaknesses! all of the characters here start out as trainees and will be given time to grow. they do not have to be perfect at everything.

that's the preview for today--thanks for reading and i look forward to fielding any questions you have and chatting in the discord!

[taurealuna]

astrology observations part 4🌼🌷✨

hello loves!! its been a long time since and i kinda miss being on the blog! once again please don’t feel pressured to take my observations as absolute facts and do cater your observations too if any 🧡

1. where virgo lies in your birth chart suggests the area that you may struggle to ‘perfect’ and feels the need to do things perfectly. due to the nature of virgo’s need for simplicity and ‘perfection’ in a way, they may feel that the area of the house is almost impossible to perfect, but they will still strive for it anyway. it is important to learn how to let go sometimes and allow things to flow on its own eg. virgo in the 4th may struggle with expressing their emotions, hyper-fixating on their relationship with their family members and their emotional side

2. on the virgo topic, a reason why virgos are perceived to be ‘perfectionists’ all the time despite that being an over-used stereotype is because virgos have a tendency to work in a linear manner, to balance out their sister sign pisces. however, the world does not always work in a linear fashion which throws virgos off, thus they feel the need to ‘perfect’ or straighten things out. 

3. the house in which the 10th house’s ruler lies in is important for finding out your public identity and ideal working environment as well. a leo midheaven with the sun in the 2nd as opposed to another with a sun in the 9th would differ greatly in the aforementioned ways. sun in the 2nd focuses more on the self identity through stable income, where sun in the 9th focuses more on self expansion and higher learning

4. having a cancer ascendant can tone down the sun & moon of a person greatly, especially if they have a fire sun/moon. the fire placements would still be a core placement to the person, however the cancer ascendant would shift the focus away to seeking a safe and stable relationship with others. 

5. capricorns are extremely emotionally intelligent, and more often than not they have a great intuition as well. they are known as the ‘sage’ after all~ on a side note, please stop undermining their emotional abilities and labeling them as ‘cold’. in fact, every sign has a cold and warm side, and it is important for everyone to express their emotional side. by stereotyping them as emotionally distant or cold is denying their human needs

6. gemini sun, especially females, have a tendency to control their friend groups and often want to have control over other’s thoughts and emotions. while this can be healthy when applied to the right group of people, it can turn obsessive and make them extremely insecure when they feel the slightest lack of control

7. in persona charts, the house of your sun in your ascendant chart can indicate how you present your ascendant naturally eg. libra ascendant with sun in the 3rd house in persona chart = you present your diplomatic and friendly side in an outgoing and verbal manner. you may enjoy chatting and learning more than others

8. you may struggle with being friends with the sign opposite of your 11th house. this is natural as you with opposite signs, you find that your friendship style and personality in a friendship group may differ from the personality of the other person eg. a scorpio in the 11th may struggle with being friends with a taurus sun. although this tension can be fixed, the friendships are often not long-lasting unless there are other placements in common

9. the house/ planet that sagittarius lies in also shows where we are (almost blindly) optimistic. although the house/planet may not always be lucky in that area, they often find little pockets of luck that makes these natives hopeful. more often than not, others may find it hard to understand why these natives often seem so optimistic. however, it is important for these natives to express their optimism and take that leap of faith to get what they want. eg. sagittarius mars =  optimistic attitude towards their passion. they may not always win/ get their way but they will find themselves being the most passionate when they are optimistic about their dreams and follow their instincts

10. earth signs in the 4th house may struggle to relate to their parents or family members. there could be times where these natives do not receive the emotional support they need from their family and feel as though they have to work towards it, even though it may not always be the truth. as a result, they could be more introverted and find comfort through their friends, their tv shows, the internet depending on where their moon and the ruler of the 4th house lies.

11. for people with north node in leo, one of the life lessons that these natives have to learn is to be ‘selfish’ and draw their own boundaries. they could have a tendency to allow others to take advantage of them/ take the attention away from them which brings down their confidence. thus, they have to learn how to assert themselves confidently and learn to accept healthy attention. 

11. sagittarius over the 3rd house may feel that they may offend others easily through their words/humor if aspected harshly or they have a cruder sense of humor. it is important to balance their thoughts with the emotions of others. despite this, such natives are known to be straightforward and enjoy discussions and conversations

12. scorpio placements often start out hopeful and innocent, however life has a tendency to show them the truth of betrayals and realities of life. because of this, they can develop a reclusive and guarded side that others often perceive as harsh and aggressive in some cases. they really want to find reliable people they can trust though

13. for those who believe in past lives, our chart placements and aspects can show how your past life was and how you can achieve your destiny in this lifetime. it is important to read the chart as a whole instead of one individual placement such as eg. sun in the 1st is often interpreted as a ‘positive’ placement that brings an individual confidence and charisma. however, if the individual has a aquarius north node in the 7th, they have to learn how to balance their ego needs with the emotions of others. they may have a tendency to demand excessive attention from their partners, which can be detrimental and prevent them from building healthy relationships. thus in this life, they would have to learn how to balance themself with others and respecting the boundaries of others. 

14. last but not least, it is crucial not to force yourself to change how you express your chart placements. your chart placements are natural indicators to your personality, and if you struggle with them it could be due to aspects and placements that makes you struggle with it. only by accepting and expressing yourself fully can you unlock your full potential in yourself. however this does not excuse toxic and bad behaviour that can arise from traumatic experiences or biased opinions

[aro-culture-is]

If I (cisgender AFAB) simply say I’m “straight” sometimes when my orientation is brought up even though I identify as a heterosexual aromantic specifically which is not your stereotypical heterosexual heteroromantic, is that inherently arophobic to myself and other alloaros who identify as being heterosexual? I sometimes just say I’m “straight” for myself personally a lot of times because I usually don’t have the energy to explain to people in depth why I’m “not actually straight” and how I experience sexual attraction but not romantic attraction only for them to respond with, “Right. So you’re straight.” I recently started identifying as aromantic so I’m still learning about the label and everything with it, so I’m incredibly sorry if I’ve phrased anything incorrectly!

hi! there’s two main points I want to touch on here:

how you identify and present your identity to others is up to you. it’s rough, often, to explain aromanticism - a lot of people do brush it off with variations of what you’ve heard, and I don’t think anyone should fault you for not wanting to experience that. my personal policy is to always follow the lead of how someone identifies themself. my roommate in my freshman year of college was a straight trans guy, and he was stealth (ie, presented masc and did not reference himself as trans, and was not open about being such to the others). Despite the number of questions we got about myself, as an openly trans individual rooming with him, I followed his lead. It was no one’s business but ours how we ended up rooming together. You have the right to chose how out and open you want to be, and safety, physical and emotional are important. It’s not arophobic to decide that being open is causing more emotional harm than not.

the only limitation: if you actively portray that as applicable to a whole community. from the sound of your ask, this isn’t a problem. if you had claimed, “i’m a straight aro, so all aros are straight and cannot identify as queer”, we’d have a problem. But you’re seeking to represent yourself, and checking to make sure it won’t hurt others. That shows that you care. I trust you to do the best for yourself.

- mod kee

[mercurytrinemoon]

Keywords for overall energies of the signs

Aries: a baby, a tomboy, the sporty type, loud, aggressive, determined, a literal cartoon character, “let’s do it now!”, what you see is what you get, the one to yell while playing arcades, sexual, competitive, you can find them at the gym, flushed skin, friendly, protective, “yaaaaay!!!”, sooo much energy, confident, so many ideas yet so little time, cheerful, inpatient, fast, creative, sports fan, gets emotional easily, “I will fight you!”, bold, clumsy, independent, charming, in your face, a leader, sharp features, a golden retriever on crack.

Taurus: sensual, possesive, materialistic, stubborn, loves art, history and beautiful things; vintage item collector, fashionable, sweet tooth, likes fancy things, great at managing money (or spending it lol), doesn't like change, consistent, a nice voice, lightly scented perfume, is probably into ASMR, gentle, graceful, patient, chill, great advisor, calm, lazy, has an eye for quality, loves good food, in tune with their body’s needs, physical touch is important to them, will buy you gifts, all about the 5 senses.

Gemini: social, talkative, intellectual, gossipy, bubbly, funny, likes word plays and riddles, crafty, good with their hands, pays attention to the details, anxious, will google random things, gathers knowledge on everything, will stumble on their words, A LOT of nervous energy, gets easily distracted and easily bored, a lot of hand gestures, needs constant mental stimulation, very changeable, on-and-off, curious, witty, a cameleon, knows all the memes (or is a meme themself tbh), a talented writer, animated, *Chris Evans left boob grab*.

Cancer: homebody, sensitive, sentimental, clingy, nurturing, loyal, sympathetic, motherly, will babysit you, moody, soft, family type, giggly, protective, expresses emotions through creativity, feminine, will dabble in both lighter and darker themes, likes traditions, probably into picnics and tea parties or that weird tiny food cooking, needs to feel comfortable, easily influenced by moon phases, quiet, feminist activist, a home cook, a great listener, introverted, clear watery eyes, great memory, dark romantic glam; what youth is used to, age remembers.

Leo: flashy, confident, the star, dramatic, expressive, artsy, joyful, shines on stage, swag, prom queen/king, theater kid, great hair, charismatic, proud, the most chill out of the fire signs - they’re just too cool to be that obnoxiously loud, slow-mo sexy walk, egotistical, loves to be the best at what they do, "look at meee!", literal sunshine, heart of gold, generous, attention-seeker, bright smile, irresistible charm, stylish, every child’s role model, knows how to look good on camera, bling! bling!, *Tony Stark throwing a peace sign*.

Virgo: hard-working, perfectionist, pedantic, a know-it-all, shy, critical, analytical, great with details, will do most of the work in a group assignment cause they don’t want the other person to screw up the project, practical, the nerdy type, an egghead, low key funny, a smartass, nitpicky, polite, obsessive, tense, always willing to help, sincere, fitness and nutrition junkie, hypochondriac tendencies, “diD yOu kNoW tHaT...”, usually not social but can speak and communicate very easily, great journalist, basically Hermione Granger.  

Libra: the pretty one, a social butterfly, tactful, indecisive, the nicest of the signs, dyplomatic, balanced, always dating, symmetrical shapes, delicate round features, likes beauty, fashion and makeup; great artistic sense, well-balanced taste, the one to compliment you, great communication, charming, flirty, soft colours, needs harmony, hates confrontations, offending anyone is the last thing on their mind, repulsed by brash people, can be old fashioned to the point of tackiness, cute, the basic bitch, fake, vain, probably into pinterest moodboards.

Scorpio: dark, mysterious, possessive, secretive, jealous, manipulative, reflective, will see right through you, is into the occult or criminology or some horror and stuff, goes through transformative situations in their life, dark type romantic, edgy jewelry, “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais, intense, goth on the inside (or the outside), leather and lace, deep DEEP emotions, Winona Ryder’s iconic roles, hard to open up, holds grudges, *frowns brows while staring into the distance*, will secretly stalk & observe you, will give you a death stare and make you cry.

Sagittarius: enthusiastic, can compete with an Aries with their loudness, goofy, blunt, genuine, tactless, a bookworm, likes travels, fascinated with anything foreign, soooo generous, a walking party, the one to put their foot in their mouth, needs freedom, happy-go-lucky, optimistic, impulsive, spontaneous, forgetful, short attention span, obnoxious, will ask existential questions, pHiLOsOphIcAl, can also be very zen and spiritual, the class clown, pop culture junkie, "I can't be taaaamed", *Bilbo Baggins running screaming “I’m going on an adventure!!!!”*.

Capricorn: authoritative, ambitious, hard-working, stoic, workaholic, opportunistic, rigid, responsible, resting bitch face, with an attitude, all about status, patient, reliable, serious, a shy type of smile, cold, loyal, sooo self-critical, sarcastic, *Dave Grohl breaking his leg on stage and still playing the whole show*, is into high status and brand names, ages well, a great storyteller, self-sufficient, an investor, being a damn pro, dark sense of humor, "You like my hair?? Gee thanks, just bought it... I see it I like it I want it I GOT IT" 🎶 .

Aquarius: flashes of brilliance, intellectual, aloof, a humanitarian, an activist, liberal, concerned with social issues, "emotions? I don't know her", genius, friendly, a weirdo, chases aliens, a trendsetter, eccentric, a proud rebel, stubborn yet open-minded, friends come first, great sense of humor, likes new gadgets and inventions, quirky, science nerd, loves and hates people at the same time, funny, distant, dreams of the utopian world, an individual, needs to be unique, hates labels, the inventor, a lightning bolt, “Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist”.

Pisces: a dreamer, big imagination, artistic, lives in their own bubble, believes they're psychic, can be so pessimistic omg!, likes to talk to animals, compassionate, empathetic, head in the clouds, pretends they're in a music video when they listen to music, delusional, sees everything as doom and gloom, creative, will love you despite your flaws, big glossy eyes, sensitive, shy, sophisticated, a sweetheart, a poet, a blind follower, in tune with the nature, will pucker their mouth, literally loves being in the water... or sailing... or being on the beach.