#also ace aro link REAL

[echooefrost]

TGS MEDIEVAL AU :0

Is this Historically accurate? no. Does that matter? no.

Alright, This is gonna be a lot, so thou shalt be warned

In the Au, Robert is a prince and Lanyon Sr. is the King, they rule over a small kindom somewhere in England - name TBA (so not like real monarchies which rule over entire countries etc.) The premise is basically; The Lanyon's personal/private doctor recently passed away so they call in a new doctor/chemist from Scotland - did you guess? yep, It's Jekyll. Hyde exists before Henry/Edward meets Robert (I haven't worked out the exact logistics about it yet, but I will) Jekyll/Hyde are more Chemists/Alchemists than Doctors but they are both still very good doctors regardless (so they don't really wear the 'plague mask' thing) I aged only Jekyll, Hyde and Lanyon down to about their early 20's so it matches around the original timing of when J&H met Robert in TGS. There are other smaller reasons but they aren't to important, all you need to know is that it doesn't really change anything

Lanyon is betrothed to Everly from a neighbouring kingdom -this is where it differs slightly from TGS, it's a political marriage not a lavender marriage. Neither Robert nor Everly are happy about this however, they are both only children in royalty so they don't really have an option.

Hyde is essentially the local gremlin that has in-built eyebags and a sense to sell you things not very discreetly that he probably shouldn't be selling. His Cape is comedically large and has a very extensive collection of illegal powders, drugs, and other nefarious items. Almost everybody knows Hyde becasue at some point they have all needed some rare item from him. - this is where the blackfog comes in (yes it exists!) the Blackfog is basically the same but Hyde really wants to go so he can buy/sell lots of items for his little side-business he has going on, however Lanyon Sr. is opposed to it and it's existence because well... illegal.

*Hyde also goes by: The Spirit of [insert Kingdom's name] at night (soooooo original, ik)

Jekyll stays pretty much the same, He really cares about his reputation so he can move up on the social ladder and create his own Science business at some point, and I mean he doesn't want to make a fool of himself in front of the King of all people, that wouldn't be a very good look, would it?

In this universe, The lodgers are all citizens of the small kingdom and they all sort of have different occupations/roles in the town. They can't all be scientists, but do not fear because they still as equally crazy and chaotic as before. Rachel is the Lanyon's personal chef but she also helps run the bakery in town with Mr. Doddle. Jasper looks after most of the animals and creatures in the kingdom, he used to be a farmer but moved to get away from home. I am yet to work out how Jekyll and Jaspers relationship dynamic stays the same in this universe but I will figure something out.

There is A LOT of Jekyon and Lanyde going on here, so I've got something for everyone, (there may or may not be a masquerade at some point...) and it's not just centred around romance, there is lots of other plot stuff happening so do not fear my ace/aro friends (or just people who aren't a fan of romance)!

That's most of it for now... I'll draw some more stuff at some point and give some extra details, If you have any questions please ask (my asks are open) I'd love to hear from you all!!! Don't be afraid to offer any suggestions or other criticisms. Maybe I'll write a fanfic one day who knows, we will see.

Thanks for listening to my rant (*^▽^*)

*Footnote - I don't think you guys realise how hard it was to make hyde not look like either A.) a fucking elf or B.) Link. Did I succeed? not sure.

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia” but where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss? When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet? Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be.

I got my laptop out for this, goddamn. Where would i even start?

"You’re pissed that no one took any accountability for their supposed “aphobia/arophobia”" This tells me everything about you, you possibly don't believe in aro/ace identities. You don't believe people can hate on, or be hateful to, aro/ace spec people. And yes I am pissed. Because it was fucked up.

I would try to justify it with "if this was transphobic/homophobia you wouldn't be acting this way" but im guess you don't care about that as you obviously don't see it the same way.

you were also probably someone who sent asks like this (but more hateful) in 2016 and before, you were probably also someone who posted and reblogged aphobic content and said it was "just a joke" later while still sending asks like this to people. Take of that anon and show your face coward.

"where is the accountability for the constant inhumane and disgusting homophobia, biphobia and transphobia STILL spewing out of ace spaces like puss?"

where is the accountability for the homophobia, biphobia and transphobia still spewing out of ALL lgbtqia+ spaces? Where is the accountability in the REAL world? Where is it anon? Where is the accountability for the acephobia, the arophobia and so many other "not real sexualities/gender identities" -phobias?

You saw a post about aphobia, and instead of being like "yeah that was f-ed up" or "i dont care" you went "but what about meeeeee" which is very all lives matter of you. (I am not comparing racism to homophobia, however the "what about me" bs can be summed up very easily using all lives matter as an example) For the fucking record, all spaces have assholes, all of them. On behalf of the "normal" aro/ace spec folks, i apologise for any homophobia, biphobia and/or transphobia you have experienced from us. "When will you all realize you feel that way because you are directly adjacent to the oppressor class and have next to nothing in common with the LGBT community as a whole but nearly everything in common with the average cishet?" This is a main aphobe talking point so thank you for doing this by the text book so i can break it down easier!

Three pages about asexual hate crimes which im sure every average cishet has to deal with (assuming their white and male) 1 2 (a booklet for asexual people to be actually fucking included) 3

An incredible interview is here but im going to quote a few things from it as theres a 99.9% chance aphobes wont click a link

"We know aromantics and asexuals have existed for as long as humans have. However, it’s only through the terminology recently going mainstream"

"Because of Freud’s influence, many of us grew up learning that our sex drive is the primary motivator of human behavior, but that isn’t the case."

"That mindset replicates itself within the community so that when a new identity emerges, or when people try to explain themselves, there is resistance and pushback from within the community with the mindset that “if we let these kinds of people in, then that will dilute the access to power and resources we have.” And it forces the community to maintain adjacency to white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, ableism and classism, all while leaving behind entire groups of people."

" Do you think there will be more identities joining the LGBTQIA+ acronym? JP: Yes. The more words we have to describe ourselves, the better we are understood."

"The biggest comparisons are the lack of visibility and exclusion from communities on the basis that they’re weird, different, othered or “don’t belong in this space.” Every queer person has experienced this narrative and as more join under the umbrella, the newbie will experience the same challenges, discrimination and misunderstandings as those who came before." and here is another article that has a quote i just live by

"When did trauma become the mark of queerness?"

but back to the aphobe ->

"Y’all aren’t queer for not wanting to fuck, only fucking sometimes “if you emotionally connect”, or being emotionally unavailable to romantic partnership. "

if you think queer = sex then so help me. queer does not equal sex, queer is sexuality. and guess what that is NOT always sexual. sexuality is who your attracted to, whether it be romantically OR sexually.

and Asexuality is a spectrum, some asexuals never have sex, some don't want to have sex but have had it due to trauma or peer pressure, some don't care for it, some did it for a partner but just dont care about it.

same with aromantic. Its a spectrum. By your process here, so so so so so many people are removed from the lgbtqia+ community but you couldn't possibly mean that-

"And if you aren’t also gay, trans, or bisexual, you never will be."

-oh you did.

So none of these are part of the community either then? Agender, Bigender, Intersex, genderfluid, pansexual, omnisexual, Omnigender, Questioning, transgender and queer?

interesting anon.

Anyways i hope my followers enjoyed that! Let me know what you think if you finished reading all this!

Love;

An aegosexual, pansexual, aromantic, trans guy with to much fucking time on his hands.

[maluron]

Julian Bashir likes Women and Yet is Not Straight; a manifesto.

aka: queerphobes fuck off.

gasp oh no not me vagueblogging about someone who pissed me off like a tired old petty fangull

but @snowflake_challenge suggested we wrote a manifesto; In your own space, write a promo, manifesto or primer for a beloved character, relationship or fandom.

so.

In the aftermath of December 12th. Reveling in canon Garashir. Making a couple celebrating shitposts that gain traction. And I get one stupid comment

"i wish bashir still liked women [sadface emoji]" 1) wow rude—ever heard of the fandom rule «don’t harsh my squee»? make your own post if you want to complain don’t spam mine; 2) bitch he does what are you yapping about??

So yeah here’s my manifesto. Julian Bashir Does indeed like Women (among other) and Yet is Not Straight.

His hologram ending married to a man does not invalidate that the template was a huge bisexual xenophile slut (affectionate) who liked women and at least one man and possibly others and fondling their feet (entirely canon) and possibly getting his ass smacked (personal fanon) (note: having a kink has not influence whatsoever on sexual orientation but pointing this out is likely to piss off heterosexist bigots, so)

I posit that Bashir’s attraction to Jadzia while very real was stemming out of Doylist comp-het [insert siddig "spark" interview https://www.tumblr.com/beechicory/772072920481742848] and was also in the Watsonian way not very gender-traditional. She’s a beautiful statuesque young woman who exsudes Gender Energy, she’s got several lifetimes of experience as both men and women, she can bodily pick him up and toss him and that’s what attracts him: no despite, because. If they’d been to fuck she would peg him and smack his bottom. [insert "not straight" siddig interview https://www.tumblr.com/nimue44/773490608390176768]

[insert robinson "i want to fuck him" interview https://www.tumblr.com/pajamasecrets/718997301079719936] The actors themselves have said time and again that Garak and Bashir had so much more chemistry together than any other pairing involving either. I’m not going to epilogue on that: there must be already so many garashir manifestos out there. It’s fact.

I’m personnally not a fan of Bashir’s relationship with Leeta; I’ll file it under comp-het again but I admit his feelings were real and won’t invalidate them.

(I can’t argue about Ezri and how it’s unhealthy because at this point I only have second-hand knowledge.)

What I’m saying is

this twink Cannot Sit Straight and exsudes Disaster Bi vibes; also neurodivergent vibes and that’s canon too but subject of another manifesto. (I’m not saying that looking like a twink makes you gay—but acting a certain way gives you higher odds of being Not Straight)

Also Star Trek is in The Future where people should be so very chill about identity and orientation—fuck Berman forever (I still need a link to that «in the 90ties everyone had to be straight» post please, can someone point me to it?) and every character should be assumed bi until proven otherwise. And Bashir has proven to love at least several women and one man! (again I’m not saying either Everyone Is Bi, period; lots of characters can still be attracted to only one gender and/or sex but a lack of shown attraction to the other is not the same as proof of absence—unless they explicitely state one strong preference)

Now the LWD Bashir married to Garak is a hologram. They could have forfeit programming any attraction in it and made him aro-ace but they didn’t. It’s only logical to assume they made him as bi/pan as his template. The hologram marrying One (1) Cardassian man does not make Bashir Just Gay And Not Attracted To Any Woman. It makes him attracted to at least one man and Prophets know how many other people or any and every and no gender before and/or on the side.

Regarding how the LWD alternates make Garashir canon I’m choosing the "soulmates" for lack of a better word, interpretation—it’s not that they were fated to be together but that in the Prime universe they could have been, they would have been, they shoud have been but circumstances conspired against them, and in another universe given the chance they totally do. [insert perfect choice post here https://www.tumblr.com/believethestars/770420215813177344] [insert Mac interview https://www.tumblr.com/wanderingwriter87/771121857095172096]

And now if you’re really a homophobic shit or if you just happen to have a different ship ie Bashir joins the O’Brien Polycule while Garak marries Parmak or whatever yes there are alternate universe versions yes one is a hologram so maybe not a perfect copy so you can still interpret original Prime Bashir however you want and blame the hologram’s actions on a fancy grown-beyond-their-programming accident.

But bemoaning that Woke made your fav character Not Het is not a good look. Queerphobia is never a good look. Doing so in an untrue fashion looks stupid and this one was stupidly biphobic. You’re allowed to not like a canon development but think long and hard about why exactly you don’t like it before you come spouting bigoted shit especially on someone else’s post.

Ok that manifesto was mainly just an excuse to collect Doctor Twink pictures because I love him. And his stupid lizard husband (affectionate). https://www.tumblr.com/see: smileyobrien/769842115232563200 https://www.tumblr.com/dreamerdrop/773084827961491456 They’re in love and I love them, Your Honor. Thank you for your attention.

(and queerphobia on my posts will still get you blocked)

[nyxtheeclipse]

Question: Aspecs experience in queer spaces and in an allonormative society?

So for context, I'm a psych major and next tuesday I'm supposed to lead a guided discussion on the following article

I chose this article to be one im the discussion leader for because I am aromantic, and I knew it would be better to have an aspec person doing this article

But for why I am making this post! I need to link real world examples, and I mean I am going to scroll through the aromantic, asexually, and aroace tags for some. But I also thought I should ask y'all your experiences as ace, aro, or other variation of aspec in queer areas, and or in general in an allonormative culture.

Now I'm not expecting many people to see this, but I thought it was worth a shot, so if you want to share your experiences leave them in either the comments or tags! No pressure though, do whatever you want.

[ketterdamskaelishprince]

ada's spectre, and why i'll likely always feel sad about it

here is the promised analysis/talk about ada's spectre. going to preface this by saying i obviously don't know the true intent behind everything and her design, i just like to look, giggle and then make sad little observations which just help me love this silly webcomic even more. so if you disagree with me on something– totally ok! i love to learn and i love to see different interpretations.

there's also a few bits i missed out because i wrote this all last night in a bit of a haze, and i cannot be bothered to expand on some of my ideas, especially when it's just stuff like "BROS SO PARANOID AND RAW RIGHT NOW".

anyways, here we go :) @mugcereal this one's for u pookie <3

so i think with ada's spectre, we first need to look at the instance as to how she gets it, because that always makes things way more sad!

to specify, she turns into her spectre at episode 69, and i think it's really sad how she does it. she basically gets a string of roasts from prospero that go along the lines of calling her "conceited" "twadry" and "... and stupid!" – effectively throwing back in ada's face what she believes everyone thinks of her.

(obviously, as a very big and glaring sidenote, i believe prospero is aro/ace or just aromantic so OBVIOUSLY i am not bashing him for this. bros told her so many times that he doesn't want to be with her, let alone to be touched. that is a flaw in ada's character and is a reminder to us on the importance of boundaries!!!!)

so, ada is basically there, collapsed on the floor in a robe– effectively showing the most intimate and private part of herself as an insecure and lonely girl. and that's when she transforms.

i think it's interesting to understand how this most likely links to her life and how she died. so we know she was killed with an axe, most likely by the man she fell in love with and worked for, and how prospero's words in this situation, hurt her just the same as the words before her death. why?

because they remind ada of what she knows and fears she is: just a stupid, fake and cheap person who will never have the same status and respect as the people she pretends to be and surrounds herself by.

i think it's also interesting that she's clutching her stomach/torso here, and correct me if i'm wrong but that could be a potential signal to the part of her that was axed to death (?). no idea if that's a good shout or not but it's what i first thought!

anyways! now we move onto her spectre design!

first of all, her spectre design eats. like just a personal side note, i love it. it's just so gorgeous and i don't care if she's terrifying to some because to ME? to me, she's my gorgeous little pookie who can scream and show people their worst fears and she looks amazing whilst she does it <3

ok anyways, actual design.

to first understand her design, i thought i'd show you what banshee's traditionally in folklore look like!

typically, they are described in two ways. the first way is a youthful women with long black hair, blue eyes and just super pale. this description could also lose the blue eyes and just keep the black hair– either way the first depiction of a banshee is a super young woman.

this is not the one we're focussing on today folks!

we're going to focus on the second depiction. a hag/ old woman, with red cheeks, a grey cloak and a green dress, often seen to be combing her hair. banshee's throughout folklore are known to wail, scream and cry when a family member had died. to most, the banshee was a sign that death was coming to your household and they are known in myths and folklore as a predictor of death.

now, hold onto the green dress and look at ada's design real quick for me.

here we see a lot of green, which yay! definitely shows signs it comes from the second depiction. i think, on top of it being a nod to the second depiction, i think it could also be an allusion to something else: jealousy.

green symbolism in media can often vary, from meaning new life, luck and also jealousy. and i think if we take in the things ada screams whilst in her spectre form, such as this from episode 82:

you see there definitely is some sort of jealousy there, but this isn't something i necessarily want to focus on, it's just an observation i made that may or may not be true!

anyways, to continue, i want to look at ada's outfit when she's a banshee. i'm going to basically be making my notes i took last night look nicer.

(keep in mind that when i wrote these, my ideas were literally bouncing off my brain and sometimes they're a bit contradictory, but i think that's the beauty of my crack theory analysis!)

i think the act of almost showing her bones to the outside, there's a level of rawness to ada we don't usually see. her spectre form essentially gives her the power to scream out her anger, and by seeing her bones it's almost as if to say this is the ada she doesn't show people. this is the ada that she keeps to herself because god forbid anybody love her (because in life and death it's become abundantly apparent to her that nobody does seem to love that ada).

but then, what i thought was also a super cool thing as how the bones almost act like a corset!

then i got sad because i looked at the bows, and because something dawned on me and it made me start to frown. there was a sad realization to me as i looked at ada's spectre design that even in this all powerful form, she hasn't lost her insecurities, they just become more prevellant. because for all of the traditional wrinkles, hag-like appearance a banshee is meant to have, ada barely has any.

obviously this could be in part to character design and stuff, and yeah probably– but let me be sad!

because ada carries her frills and bows from life here because she doesn't want to be ugly, she doesn't want to be this creeping monster who rips apart people. because if she's not got her intelligence or status or anything going for her, she has her appearance and by god she's not going to let that go to waste. so here her spectre form is, a banshee.

so what must ada do? she must takes her frills and keep her insecurities, her fears and her crippling need to be loved.

another aspect which is super interesting is the stitching on her body. one one hand, it could be an allusion to her violent death, suggesting the man she fell in love with didn't just stop at axing her once, but just kept on fucking going (which, you know: fuck you, whoever you are).

but on the other hand, it could be a metaphor for ada's thinly veiled facade she puts on of being a prim and proper lady (which we actually, interestingly enough, see she looses a lot the more time she spends with montresor– opting to take parts of his language like "ain't" and "beggin'". this sort of leads on from previous ideas people have made of ada willing to change herself to be loved. she swaps civility for the wild wild west all for a bit of love).

ada offers up parts of herself in this metaphor. that's what she always does. she offers herself to the rich man she fell in love with, she offers herself up to prospero (again, look at the. side note. bro wasn't wrong for rejecting her he literally can't like her) and she offers herself up to the acolytes and she fucking barks for them (because i'm not over that).

piece by piece, she strips away everything she is until she literally is just skin and bone. and once she's torn herself apart, she needs to stitch herself back together– because it's against the facade she's put on to look so broken and messy. and so she repeats the cycle again, giving more and more until she is literally hanging on by a thread.

her powers are also super cool. traditionally, as i said, banshees wail when a family member is soon to die/has died, and is often like an omen/predictor of death. so yeah, ada having a banshee scream makes sense. but the whole 'fear itself' is also super cool. i kind of like that she has this– because its sort of satisfying for her, the girl who's been pushed over but still comes running back, to watch as people become paralysed with fear. idk, retribution or whatever.

i'm going to leave you with this not very profound thing i wrote last night (and then just some other mumblings):

i think that although spectres are super powerful and also just a very fantastic concept, they're also fragile. spectres are quite literally the monster inside of you. yet here ada's monster is, and with all her bows and revamped dress of a banshee (or potentially an allusion to her life as a maid) she tries desperately to be anything but that. because to here it's ugly and it's too much of her on display. and with some much of you on display comes the very fear that if you are hated, disliked or something repulsive, you no longer have anything to blame on anybody else. you just have yourself to blame.

(as morella says here in episode 88).

i'm not saying ada isn't deeply flawed, because she is. she has so much fucking baggage and insecurities that they literally forbid her from doing the right thing sometimes. i don't think she's a good person, but i also think that she has the opportunity to be a good person/ do a semi-good/ non-bad thing, and all she has to do is take it. but i also think it's nice how that's shown in her spectre design.

and, you know, if none of this makes sense, that's also fine!

anyways, yeah. somebody tell me never to make a random analysis at night again because it's a bit of a bitch to translate in the morning.

[leikeliscomet]

Having some thoughts on why the Black-ace-culture-is blog is doing way better than ace-lesbian-culture-is blog and why Black asexuality seems to be growing as a distinct identity whilst asexual lesbianism or lesbian asexuality isn't or isn't as much (this is just based on my own experience and this post is mostly yappery and speculation). Time for another long post lads:

Firstly I think its cus the two are perceived differently. I think there's contexts where ace lesbians can exist in just lesbian spaces or we're at least tolerated but Black aces are just mainly alienated. TERFs and radfems mainly just see us as lesbians that don't fuck or celibate women that can get dykey with it. And like obviously that's bad. If we just focus on our lesbianism we get a 'pass' but essentially if we get to loud with it we're not rated like that and tbh I do question if I'm actually supported by non-ace lesbians at times or if it's a case where the othering is silent but will get louder if I ace things up too much. But racist asexuals on the other hand don't see us as asexual in any real context. We're seen as non-ace and Blackness as in opposition with asexuality because they treat the identity as a form of sexual purity. They see Black music e.g. hip hop as uniquely sexual, their idea of sex obsession in society keeps pointing fingers at Blackness. Or it's microaggressive racism. They don't see Black ace representation as ace representation. They don't look at ace activism by Black aces. Large reason why there's a growth in Black asexual specific asexual things is because of the antiblackness we get in AND outiside the asexual community. So the choice is between being seen as incorrectly performing lesbianism vs seen as an invader of 'pure' asexuality so there's a bigger push for one of these to be its own separate sexuality. (Not to say being an ace lesbian is 'easier' than being a Black ace cus race x sexuality is different to sexuality x sexuality)

There's a few things inside lesbian theory already that can act as an asexual lesbian framework. For example when Audre Lorde wrote about The Erotic, she specifically included non-sexual intimacies like romantic, platonic and individual and these were just as revolutionary forms of joy and pleasure. It's not inherently asexual but you can easily get an ace lesbian reading from that. You could also look at stone lesbianism and the idea of lesbian sex without engaging in specific physical acts as a giver or receiver. Is it inherently asexual? No. But it unintentionally includes sex favourable ace lesbians who might prefer topping or bottoming without being touched or being the one doing the touching. That's why we have ace lesbians that are stone and stone lesbians that realised they're ace. There's also bambi lesbianism. Again, not inherently ace but ace lesbians that are sex repulsed can easily fit in as it's a form of sexless lesbianism outside the context of puritanism and linking to Audre Lorde a form of lesbian erotic that is non-sexual. Asexual lesbianism technically already exists as a framework just not called 'asexual lesbian' outright. So we don't need to fully reinvent the wheel, but just stick an ace ring on it.

But with asexuality it's different because with Black asexuality we're making everything from scratch. Black asexuality as a framework and a culture is distinctively different from mainstream asexuality. Black asexuality in terms of theory actively addresses white supremacy in a way mainstream (white) asexual activism doesn't. It's in direct support with Black aromanticism and Black aros, whilst the wider aspec community is starting to form separatist movements between alloace, aroace and aroallo. It's in direct support with the rest of the LGBTQIA community recognising their struggles are also connected to compulsory sexuality whilst (white) liberal ace activism consistently feeds into the idea of a unique asexual oppression with no correlation to the rest of the community. Obviously Black aces can and do participate in mainstream ace culture with the garlic bread and ace rings but this wasn't made with us in mind. Like I very much doubt the Denmark invasion stuff was made with any asexual POC in mind because if it had then it wouldn't exist as a joke about participating in colonialism when we're colonised peoples. Because we have the experience of being Black and not just asexual in isolation I think we can understand how culture operates better. Large parts of mainstream ace culture is made from creating an asexual version of a non-ace queer thing instead of making something with a specific social and political context. Like cake and garlic bread were originally a play on food being better than sex and the idea of non-sexual pleasure but it's just treated as a quirky ace thing now. We had the ace deck terms but those don't get used as much anymore. Some aces don't understand or engage with non-ace queer people, their spaces or history so that's why there's this constant 'we need an asexual butch and femme' 'what's the ace version of 'we need an asexual version of ___' instead of understanding the historical and social context behind why those terms where created. With Black asexuality we're making our own it's not just 'asexuality but Black' it's combining Black culture with asexuality to make something new. SoulAce Day is uniquely African American AND asexual. We have Tyger Songbird writing about Black asexual manhood, Sherronda J Brown writing about compulsory sexuality from a Black lense, Ianna Hawkins Owen on asexuality and the Mammy trope like it's all things that have never existed before. It's not a Black version of an ace thing or an ace version of a Black thing - it's fresh!

I think it's also based on power dynamics too. I think it's because white asexuals can see being Black as a marginalised identity and something they could wield power over (well... at least some do...) but a lot of non-lesbian aces don't see lesbianism as a marginalised identity. Their only exposure to lesbian culture is ace-exclusionist lesbians and the visibility of lesbian representation (which is mostly white cis and gender conforming) more than asexual rep so they assume they can't engage in lesbophobia or that it could exist in asexual spaces (I think this is an issue with how gay and bi aces are treated too). They can accept they can discriminate against Black aces but not lesbian aces. I think that's why some people are more comfortable when I talk about Blackness and being asexual instead of when I talk about lesbianism and being asexual, which is one of the few times another one of my identities has come 'before' my Blackness. A non-ace lesbian saying anti-asexual shit fucking sucks but I can still recognise they're not my oppressor on the basis of my asexuality on its own because lesbian sexual attraction isn't a protected class but a white asexual saying antiblack shit does make them one because they're benefiting from white supremacy whilst I'm marginalised by it. But with a non-lesbian asexual person saying something lesbophobic it's tricky because whilst asexuality isn't an oppressor class it's still marginalising me, especially if it's a straight ace saying it, because lesbianism isn't a protected class either. So in this context I get why some other ace lesbians can mostly do okay in lesbian spaces and not necessarily need an ace lesbian specific space whilst Black aces are having to leave essentially and make our own.

Then we can mix and match because we can definitely get into the antiblackness of the lesbian community and the birth of Black lesbian specific theory and culture in response to that, why we have stud, stem, fish, dom, tom, boi, AG and more. I think Black asexuality is going the same way but there's less of it again not because of 'allosexual privilege' or it being 'easier for the lesbians' but because it's just a matter of time. Modern lesbian culture started to grow within the mid 20th century so Black lesbian specific culture grew towards the end of the 20th century whilst modern asexual culture started to grow in the early 21st century in the 2000s so Black asexual culture is growing afterwards too but this time we're all watching it in real time.

TL;DR - Different things are different. Asexual lesbianism and Black asexuality exist in two different social contexts so ace lesbians are kinda scattered across the ace community, the lesbian community and joint ace lesbian spaces because of compulsory sexuality and lesbophobia whilst Black aces are forming our own stuff because of antiblackness.

[carrawayband]

I've never felt the need to come out.

Oh boy, here's a long winding text post, for context my band has recently finished recording our debut album- you can listen to the first single Mile marker (it's on all platforms and you can find all our accounts on my pinned post or like one post under this I literally linked them all) It has been our most successful release to date, I've gotten many kind messages about the song and I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to interact with our art. This music is something I've been working on for a long time and comes from a very genuine place that I started making when I felt like I would never make music again.

That being said... I tag everything I do with LGBT and some people have asked me "Nick, why do you do that?" Which is a fair question. I think I've thrown the off hand mention of identifying with the term "queer" here and there but I literally have not in my entire life "come out" as anything. This has been and I guess still feels like the case to me even in the process of writing this post, I don't feel the need to "come out" as I never thought I was "straight" or "cisgender" I never openly identified as a man... I've always dressed weird and as a kid I was as into "girly" things as I was the masculine things. I never thought of myself of as a guy, or a girl. As a kid I didn't really experience "crushes" as a lot of my peers did. That was fine, I equated a few very strong platonic friendships particularly with members of the opposite sex as crushes. That being said there was never the slightest bit of real romantic feeling there. I still have a hard time distinguishing those feelings, but I've been in a relationship for coming up on three years and I'm lucky enough that my partner understands that sometimes I just don't feel traditionally romantic.

What's the point of this winding post? I don't really know, I wanted to make a post to explain to all the new friends I've made here and old friends who I've never really explained anything about my sexuality or gender identity to that I definitely don't feel I fit into the cisgender heterosexual binary- I think labels are a really difficult thing... I never have cared to describe my gender, I haven't thought of myself as a man really ever. As far as sexuality goes when I was younger I messed around with a few like pan and bi but the truth is I never have really thought about gender at all when it comes to attraction but just feel saying bisexual is the easiest cop out to those close enough to know that my celebrity crushers were both Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (those are still the BEST Spiderman movies and I'll fight ANYONE). The one label I do know properly describes me is aro/ace and that is something that I have told two people in the entire world. My partner and my therapist. Well three now, Tumblr you count as one person <3.

I try to be as genuine to who I am on here and in my music as I can. I have always felt a strong connection to the queer community and a lot of our music has themes and messages that directly relate to that feeling. I don't want to be a big sap who's just posting some crazy long post to make everyone go OH CONGRATS. this isn't congrats-able this is barely even a coherent post. This is just me being honest and the truth is I appreciate you all and I want to be honest about my identity both with you and myself- without making a seemingly trite sappy post like this I feel like I'd be doing a disservice to those who feel like their identities aren't represented by there peers and also as a disservice to myself for not being honest with the people I appreciate most.

Listen to Mile Marker. Yes I'm plugging AGAIN in the coming out post. We have so much music to come and I hope you're around for it. I appreciate that you would take the time to read this.

tl;dr Nick identifies as queer and aro/ace

[duskforged]

self intro

Mostly just transferring my old side blog to its own separate account. Old mutuals, please make sure to hit me up so I can follow you back (again)!

I'm Ezra, an artist, writer, worldbuilder, gamer, and probably more besides! I'm trans/nonbinary, they/them, and aro/ace, with strong lean on the aro. My identities often influence my works, so don't be surprised.

Links:

Ko-fi: donate and/or become a monthly member for special posts

Bsky: hope to post more here soon!

Twitch: I stream every other Tuesday - mostly games but sometimes also art

YouTube: stream highlights and other projects (though video editing is something i'm still inexperienced with...)

Discord server: join the chaos crew! ko-fi members get special roles

(stream updates can be found on bsky and discord)

I love anything to do with fantasy, and do enjoy sci-fi as well (though I have a weird phobia about open space)! Found family, blood family, and friendships will always get me, as well as more complicated/blurred lines relationships, and non-romantic, non-platonic attraction between characters. I also love time travel and transmigration/reincarnation/isekai (within certain contexts).

More more more aromantic stories! Send them to me right away! Moreso if the protagonist/antagonist (or both) are aromantic, or if it's a story specifically about being aromantic in some way.

With worldbuilding, I adore non-European settings and would love to hear about yours. I also love conlangs and am a bit of a linguistic nerd. Cultures are always fun as well. I also enjoy stories or meta that explore non-human reproductive types for fantasy/sci-fi species!

I'm not much of a fan of romance, and especially slow-burn romance. I'll endure it if I really enjoy the rest of the story, but it just undercuts the experience for me. I'm otherwise fairly flexible, honestly.

My current 'main' projects are under the cut. There are SPOILERS!!

UNTO SUMMER KINGS (Book I of The Round Table) wip intro type: novel status: on hold

inspiration: Arthurian legends genre: grimdark (ish?) fantasy world: urathla - #urathla tags: wip: unto summer kings, wip: usk, wip: round table series, wip: trt

A single night sweeps Arthur, his sister Morgana, and their friends into the wind like so many dandelion seeds. Ash and blood choke the rivers of their home, and they flee towards the kingdom to the north, seeking sanctuary and vengeance. Guided by friend and foe alike, they each learn and grow, catapulted into situations far above their stations.

worldbuilding: extremely WIP. takes place several thousand years after WISC. meta notes: originally this was going to be a historical fiction/fantasy (as much as Arthurian legend counts as historical), but there were so many 'inaccuracies' that I wanted to include that I decided I might as well make its own fantasy world for it. sequel titles (because i cant help myself, apparently): By Dawning Glory (II), Within Sundered Heart (III), Through Haunted Crowns (IV)

---

WOLF IN SHEPHERD'S CLOTHING intro post type: webcomic/graphic novel status: thumbnailing and character design

inspiration: Ancient Mesopotamia genre: fantasy world: urathla - #urathla, #ometeys, #avajra urathla is the world, ometeys is the region, avajra is the conlang tags: #wolf in shepherd's clothing, #wisc

Lahar is a shepherd who lives in the foothills of the northern Vhysurra valley, content to help raise their half-brother and tend to their flock. But with their memory loss, it's hard to say if they've seen anything that's been causing the disappearing livestock of late. And unfortunately for them, they're the harbinger of a brand new magic, and a brand new curse.

worldbuilding: plot-related 80% finished. meta notes: what if the first werewolf was a shepherd...? and what if it was inspired by the history and culture (ish) of ancient mesopotamia? of course, not everything from this is inspired by that, but it definitely set up a good basis. like USK, i wanted this to take place in real life mesopotamia at first, but i realized i wouldn't be able to make it 'accurate' enough to my tastes. so, they got put together! - hopefully i will start posting more on ko-fi (and maybe here too!) soon.

---

THE VESPERTINE wip intro type: novel status: on hold

genre: medieval (?) fantasy world: moia - #moia tags: #wip: the vespertine

Aselhi is one orphan among many on the streets of Kestramore, eking out a living as a servant in a minor household. Unlike other orphans, they’re one of the vespertine, an alien people who ate through the cosmic Weft separating Moia from the other realms and setting the Causeways alight.

worldbuilding: extremely WIP. meta notes: plays with gender even more than my other fics. features a fantastical species with non-human sex characteristics, among other things.

[prototypesteve]

hi! I just came across your acc and read some of your posts and you seem a really inspiring individual. im a 18yo demisexual person who's really close to their queerness (both in the sexuality and gender aspects) as its a fundamental part of my individuality. and i dunno, both my being acespec and genderqueer are a tricky... thing to get into when i want to get into relationships. im trying to be happy by myself. and this was very random and all, but as you're an adult aroace (i see very very few of them) its inspiring to me knowing I can still have a good, normal life? while living in full authenticity. idk. sorry if this is random. you dont have to reply. your account was nice to come across. have a wonderful day

Thank you for this. This is why I’m here. Honestly this is most of why I came out. Seriously.

Being Different and “New”.

The world is catching up with you, so you’ll have to be patient sometimes. Language often outpaces feelings. People know how to address genderqueer (they know all the words) but they’re still learning how to process genderqueer (they’re deconstructing all the old gender “archetypes” and stereotypes they were taught by parents and teachers who didn’t address or process genderqueer in their day). They will figure it out, because they can see it’s real. But it’s frustrating, in the meantime.

Even our own community of LGBTQIA+ (in Canada we use 2SLGBTQIA+, leading with 2S for two-spirit) is catching up with us in a lot of ways. The queer community has largely thought of queer as for/about genderqueer, and so when they see aros and aces and demisexuals and demiromantics, they have to either accept or reject that there’s a whole other layer of queer called relationship queer who intersect and overlap with genderqueer inside the bigger (and for some “newly bigger”) queer category/world/thing.

Being alone.

Alone is a complicated word for us. Aspec people experience a few kinds of alone-ness. There’s completion, which allos sometimes don’t get. We’re complete inasmuch as aspec people don’t have as many spaces in their lives where they need an “other half,” even though many of us spend a lot of our lives being told we have that space and we need to fill it. I wrote about that, here.

Then there’s the way we can can feel isolated from the bigger queer world because of the ways some people refuse to accept asexuality and aromanticism as queer, because they see it as a cishet thing, somehow.

We can feel isolated from traditional communities built around faith, politics, ethnicity, national identity, or even generational identity (GenX was wiiiiildly amatonormative), all because our defining differences are falsely interpreted as “new”. People misread our orientation as a phase, or a “made up internet thing” even though we’ve always been here. For ages, the world didn’t want to talk about all the asexual, aromantic, demisexual, and demiromantic people they could see everywhere—unlabelled, but plain as day—and now that we want to talk about ourselves, they’re going to say “you’re making that up”.

Then there’s the alone-ness of trying to explain how we do love, but differently. That one’s hard. I think that’s the one I’m going through the most, this year.

“See Also”:

Anyway, here’s a poorly-sorted and always growing “library” of links to my most popular social media posts, and stuff I’ve learned as an older ace. The recurring theme is that it really is going to be okay.

I’m still me, but now I know why. (How I explain my “thing” to straight friends who knew me from before I came out.)

Phase (You don’t outgrow it. I’m proof.)

Complete (Our complex relationship with “Alone”)

1994 (The counsellor story)

When I realized (Slow origin story)

Lifeline (Something bad happened to me when I was young, and believe it or not, Spider-Man rescued me.)

Recipe for Disaster (When life happens BEFORE you figure out your orientations)

Sexual Induction rather than a sexual awakening. (Things won’t always follow the romance novel playbook.)

Complicated. (Being queer AND Christian.)

Din Djarin Aroace Rep (We love. We just mostly do all the other kinds of love)

Treasure (a note to my trans friends)

Happy Ace Week (yes we’re here)

Masked (About not being out to everyone)

Negotiating (About gaining “acceptance” from the bigger queer community.

[linked-through-the-centuries]

Here’s a bit of an intro to the Links in this au!!

Feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions or wanna know more about any of them :)

Warriors (Hero of Warriors)

- He/Him, Asexual Biromantic

- 27 years old

- Games: Hyrule Warriors

- Good friends with his Zelda

- Not a real blond, dyes his hair regularly to keep up the appearance that he is. He has no one fooled

- Absolutely fantastic at doing eyeliner, everyone’s jealous

- Knows Mask and Tune from the War of Eras

- Natural born leader, acts a bit over the top to cover up insecurities

- Bad food anxiety from being poisoned a lot but he’s doing his best

Tears (Hero of the Wild)

- He/They, Bisexual

- 24 years old (124 years old)

- Games: Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom

- Married to their Zelda (recently)

- Rebuilding Hyrule slowly after everything that’s happened

- Missing an arm, wears a prosthetic. Has startled several of the others by just removing it at random because they forget it’s a prosthetic sometimes

- Very friendly, selectively mute so they use sign to talk sometimes

Wolf/Twilight (Hero of Twilight)

- Currently stuck in wolf form so Tears just calls him Wolf because no one knows he’s a hylian, they just think he’s a really odd wolf. Will eventually be called Twilight once he can turn back into a hylian

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 24 years old

- Games: Twilight Princess

- Assisted Tears on their first journey when Tears was 17-18 and Wolf/Twilight was 23. He has been stuck as a wolf ever since

- Lives with Rusl and Uli, but has been missing for a whole year

- Quiet and anxious, incredibly loyal

Sky (Hero of the Skies)

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 22 years old

- Games: Skyward Sword

- Chronic pain, lightning scars (look up lichtenberg figure), tattoo of wings that wrap around his wrist in honor of his loftwing

- Plays his harp as a way to relax

- Very friendly and talkative. Good person to go to if you need a chat

Tune (Hero of the Winds)

- He/Him, Pansexual

- 19 years old

- Games: Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass

- Didn’t loose his eye, he just wears and eyepatch “for the aesthetic” (that’s his answer when people ask him why he wears it) but also so one of his eyes is always adjusted to being able to see in the dark so if he has to go below deck quickly for an emergency one of his eyes is well adjusted and he isn’t disoriented. His right eye is also extremely sensitive to light and the patch protects it

- Wears dark eyeliner under his eyes

- Curly, shoulder length hair that he ties up and has several small braids weaved into

- Knows Warriors and Mask from the War of Eras

- Very talkative, misses his boat

Hyrule (Hero of Hyrule)

- He/Him, Aro/Ace

- 18 years old

- Games: The Legend of Zelda, Adventure of Link

- Pretends to be a lot more shy and quiet than he really is

- Loves people but is very cautious around them

- Looks a bit frail because his clothes are a bit big for him, but is actually quite strong. He is not someone who should be underestimated

Past (Hero of Legend?)

- He/They, Pansexual

- 18 years old

- Games: A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds, Link’s Awakening, Edit: And the Oracles games

- Dyed Pink hair, has the longest hair of the whole group

- Happily lives with Ravio

- Loves apples

- Has a rabbit form he can shift into to squeeze into tight spaces

- Friendly but cautious, isn’t the most trusting

Calamity (Hero of the Calamity)

- He/Him/They/Them (usually prefers He/Him), Bisexual

- 18 years old

- Game: Age of Calamity

- Mute, doesn’t speak at all, only uses sign

- Doesn’t trust Tears at all, in fact at first Tears makes him extremely uncomfortable. Calamity makes Tears sad because they’re reminded of all the trauma the both of them went through, but Tears recognizes they’re two different people

- Looks up to Warriors a lot

- Very facially expressive

Mask (Hero of Time Masks)

- He/Him, Bisexual

- 17 years old (physically)

- Games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask

- Refuses to tell anyone his mental age, that’s between him and Hylia

- No one knows he is the Hero of Time, he’s scared to admit it because the others hold the Hero of Time up on a pedestal and he’s scared they’ll be disappointed to realize it’s him

- Has the Fierce Deity markings on one side of his face and one of his eyes is completely white but he can see out of both of them.

- Shy, quiet, reserved and mistrustful. Extreme abandonment issues have left him to expect everyone will leave. He only trusts Warriors and Tune, it takes him quite a long time to warm up to the others

Spirit (Spirit Tracks Link)

- He/Him, bisexual

- 16 years old

- Games: Spirit Tracks

- Friend of the birds

- Sees spirits and talks with them occasionally

- Absolute gremlin

Minish (Hero of the Four Sword)

- He/Him, straight

- 15 years old

- Games: Four Swords, Minish Cap

- Selectively mute, uses sign sometimes to communicate

- Very sweet, a little shy at first but quickly warms up to the others

- Misses his grandpa very much

- He and his Zelda are childhood friends

[echo-bleu]

Intro post

Welcome to the new people who found me through the radar! I've been meaning to do an intro post forever so this is a good time.

Hi, I'm Echo! I mostly use they/them but any pronoun is fine, I'm queer and autistic and I draw and I write fanfiction (and original things occasionally). This post will be pinned and is subject to change.

Links: My AO3 is EchoBleu. I'm also on Instagram as florilegeart.

My art: I mostly draw digitally. The tag is #echo's drawings. My commissions are open! Information here.

Please feel free to send me random (nice) asks about my fics or my art or anything else, I love chatting about what I do and the fandoms I'm in.

Blog navigation under the cut.

Fandom: My main current fandom is the Silmarillion, and by extension everything Tolkien. You'll find things on my blog from my previous fandoms as well (Witcher, Shadowhunters, Hamilton, etc) and from fandoms I occasionally dabble in (Leverage, Discworld, etc).

All Tolkien things are tagged with #tolkien as a meta tag. I have far too many WIPs but my niche in this fandom appears to be drawing and writing disabled characters, so you can check the tag #disabled tolkien characters for that (and also #queer tolkien characters).

My fics are all on AO3, though I post most one-shots and some longer fics here as well under #echo's fanfiction. I like posting snippets here too (same tag) and sometimes meta under #echo's writing thoughts. Longer fics and series are also tagged by title, currently you can check out #the bark of our bones, #those towers we built, #on that tree i'll carve your name, #elrond vs the valar, #shine still brighter, #silm xmen au, #the imperfect, #werewolf finrod, #queen nerdanel au (all Silmarillion).

#beautiful art and #fic rec are for other people's wonderful creations. I don't always have the spoons to leave gushing comment tags but if I reblogged it, I loved it.

I tag most other things as #[something] things. The most used are probably #autism things, #neurodivergent things, #aro things, #ace things, #nonbinary things, #queer things. And not following the tag rule, #linguistics, #tall ships. All fandom things are tagged with the fandom, plus the characters if it's a fandom I'm in. #echo's ramblings is my tag for random things about IRL or rants (which is why I'm not linking it, but you can mute it) and #real world things for reblogs of current events (that you can also mute).

I try to tag CWs and TWs to the best of my ability, usually with #cw [thing] but please warn me if I miss something. I'm unlikely to post or reblog anything explicit but if I do it will be warned. My own images have IDs in alt text, or in plain text for older posts. I don't have the energy to add IDs to other people's post very often, and I do reblog undescribed images, but I try to make my posts as accessible as possible.

[deathstroke-the-himbonator]

It's been a few days since I posted my uquiz, so I'mma go through my favorite responses thus far

Wonderful creature, thank you <3

I have watched it (all three of them) and I do love it, I'm just stupid af and forgot to put it in the quiz :(

Valid.

Both were pretty good ngl, but I think I liked Rainwater more. If only they were on Spotify 🥲

I'm quite the fan of Will Wood, so I'll give it a listen! *5 minutes later* .........very good, I'm having a Moment now. The outro killed me. Glad to have a new song to add to my "songs to break a mirror to" playlist!

Thank you! I barely watch them but when I do I either love it or hate it, there's no in-between. I should've added the original Super Mario movie, that shit is unironically pretty fun.

<3 Real ones know that Clue: The Movie is peak cinema <3

And I like you, anonymous quiz taker!

Wow, thanks! ...Wait, what was that last thing?

You're welcome! Thank you for taking my deranged quiz <3

As you should. Thank you, I'm very picky about watching movies! My dad only got me to watch Big Trouble in Little China a few months back- it's his favorite movie of all time- and it was Outstanding. 10/10 would recommend.

Funny how that works, huh?

Hopefully they weren't all traumatic!

As. You. Should <3 (Also, today is her 4th birthday!!!)

Don't encourage her! /j (Don't worry, she has Many Skills, one of which is picking up coins with her paws and throwing them on the floor in the middle of the night to frighten me. My little darling <3)

This actually made me very happy, thank you <3

Glad to know it wasn't completely incomprehensible. I'm just here to have a laugh ngl

And finally, my favorite:

They got Pyro TF2 💀

Also, here's the current percentages on results:

Batman (with 19): not that surprising tbh, he's kind of an Everyman but for Tumblr girlies (gender neutral)

Link OOT/MM (with 13): this one did surprise me, but I suppose it shouldn't, since most of his answers are very ace/aro/minor friendly. He's also just a neat lil' guy

Agent Washington (with 13): I knew I still had some RvB bastards following me! Everyone loves the Catboy

Will Graham (with 12): he's a neurodivergent feral detective with a cannibal boyfriend, what's not to love?

Pyro (with 10): the enby character ever <3 of course they're (technically) in third place, I know my audience

Ethan Winters (with 10): I'm honestly surprised he's not higher, but hey, he's higher than my actual RE8 fav which is honestly funny af to me

The Hollow Knight (with 9): despite their personality/feelings not being touched on much in the game- for very understandable and lore relevant reasons- they're my little meow meow <3

Shadow the Hedgehog (with 9): congratulations, nine of you passed the vibe check! /j ((they're all good results, I'm just obsessed with this freak rn))

Karl Heisenberg (with 8): I can't believe I played three Resident Evil games because of this whore. Worth it. ((and now I like RE2 the most, whoops))

Robin/Dick Grayson (with 7): the original blorbo, I'm happy to see so many people resonate with his vibes

Kreia (with 3): genuinely shocked she's not in last place with how niche a character she is, but it's not like this is a "pick a fav" quiz. I love this cunt <3

Tom Eddsworld (with 3): I'm actually low-key relieved he's so low, I don't need anymore flashbacks of that period of my life. Still love him, though. Transed my gender

Ice Bear (with 3): yeah, that's fair. Y'all should watch a few episodes of We Bare Bears, it's a nice comfort show with low stakes. Ice Bear my beloved <3

Scout (with 2): how tf is he second to last??? He's so cringefail, how can I not love him?

Boba Fett (with 1): only one of you is without sin /j

[doomed-era]

Zelgan and sidonlink for the ship game?

Ok god every time I get asked about what I ship I forget just how many things I'm incredibly neutral on 😔so just like btw when I say I don't ship something I don't mean it in like, a "yuck" way unless I specify I'm put off by it, I mean this in a "I'm personally just very ambivalent about it"

Sidon/Link:

Okay I actually really like Sidlink. Somehow. I prefer it in a non-romantic context because I think BOTW Link is ace/aro, but it's fine romantically. They are adorable and it's my preferred post-calamity Link pairing for a reason. I used to hang out with a bunch of people who hated it, but after my friend started posting some super nice Sidlink fanart I started thinking about them a little, and, well, yeah. They're dorks. I love art of Sidon being super supportive and friendly towards Link while also being this Massive Shark Guy like it's just funny.

Why I ship it in particular? I think it's the most supportive relationship for Link post-calamity, and I like how it bolsters BOTW's themes of healing and moving on from the past. Ideally, Link is able to help Sidon heal from Mipha's death and grow beyond the legacy she's left for him, and Sidon is able to support Link in forming a life beyond knighthood and Zelda, to start thinking about what he wants instead of being burdened by the responsibility of saving an entire country.

Hot takes? Uhhh. I don't know, Sidlink is neat

Zelda/Ganondorf:

some TOTK spoilers ahead so I'm putting it under a cut.

I'm ambivalent enough towards Zelgan to say that I don't really ship it but I am generally speaking on board. Again I think Ganondorf is ace/aro(?), so that does somewhat color my view on this, and also in a lot of games Zelda's a kid so I can't see them in a romantic context at all. However...in TOTK I think they're kinda neat. The whole Puppet Zelda thing?? What is going ON there man!! The hatred Zelda must feel for this man ruining her life over and over and using her likeness to do it? Seriously, that's really compelling. Problem is in TOTK in particular Ganondorf is seemingly just doing all this stuff For Funsies and there's no real...mutual hatred unless you want to read into it. If there was, though (aka if TOTK was competently written because My God the Cutscene Story Sucks So Bad)...I'd be so invested. There is a lot of good stuff to explore there.

ANYWAY all that being said I generally prefer Zelgan in AUs, because the mutual hatred and anger can be put on full display. I guess since they're not really feasible in canon most Zelgan works are AUs, but yeah. Their relationship is so cool, and seeing people explore it is just. mwah. idk something something oot zelda calls ganondorf pathetic. however I think I would eventually get bored if they stopped hating each other, so I'm still kinda...eh about it I guess.

[heyftinally]

I saw a post earlier that I'm not going to link back to purely because, quite frankly, I don't trust tumblr at large to be normal about this, but against my better judgement I wanted to talk about it anyway.

The short version of the post was "horror movie where an aro/ace person gets dosed with a love potion and nobody believes them because they seem 'normal'/'finally found The One' and they're stuck in this living nightmare of being Wrong and having to figure it out alone"

And that post hit me not because I think it would be a compelling piece of media, but because that's essentially what happened to me in college (minus the whole "potion" part).

Anyway, personal story about changing attraction and The Horrors associated with that under the cut, because this is probably going to get long.

Now without getting *too* personal (because y'all don't need to know me like that), suffice to say I was with my ex, and realized several months into our relationship that my aspec orientation was a bit more on the "spec" side of things, if you catch my drift.

Now, as someone who had spent a good six years prior to that firmly believing I was a sex repulsed asexual, full stop, it was genuinely terrifying to be launched headfirst into the realization that my orientation was not that cut-and-dry.

But here's the thing: nobody really understood, or even seemed to care, about just how destabilizing it was. And I'd chalk to up to my friends not being aspec, but even the aspec community online just...didn't talk about it, and the few people who responded to my posts about it at the time more or less said "that's rough, buddy. You'll be fine".

And yeah, I was fine - but I had to get myself there myself. I had to sit with that new information, understand it, come to terms with it, and validate myself because not a single other queer person would help me do that.

And that right there is horrible.

Just imagine for a moment that an intrinsic fact you knew about yourself changed entirely overnight, and not a single person around you cared to give you more than a passing pat on the shoulder.

I get why the concept this post what talking about would be compelling, but I also think it's important to recognize that queer experiences can and do shift for many people, and that experience can be horrifying, especially when we don't recieve adequate support. Like, yeah, it would make a decent horror movie, but it's also not that far off from real life experiences.

[scr-ppup]

@ Scr-ppup | 🪦👁️

—"Even the divine of the mercy and prayers will not help you..

"For I will still smite your ass to the oblivion's growing hunger."—

- liomogai: neogenders, general & alterhumans flags and terms.

- request status: open

Ask box: — (24 requests) | queue: 35 | drafts: 500+

Creds; PFP mask.

Coinfight info link; team Villains.

Anons; 🌊🐈‍⬛,

— "sir, If the hounds don't kill you, I will make sure I have your head at my feet by sundown."

"You hear me, old bastard?"—

> my main is @ Reveseke and that's where I'll be interacting from. Don't get spooked lol.

> here's my pronouns cc & pronouns.page

> I am neurodivergent & disabled, 06/18 & genderqueer, Finnish entity, transspecies, alterhuman & holothere.

> Call me mainly Koiri or Ashlin on this blog, or Kalma.

> I don't have a DNI for my terms and flags, but I do block folks that are specified in my BYF if following. :)

> please use tone tags with me, it makes it easier for me to interpret y'all when it comes to answering questions and interactions in general. I have a tendency to interpret the tone wrong in text. Also please don't use fonts or colored text in the asks, thanks.

Masterlist nav. — req list - tag nav.

— "The world didn't go too easy on you, did it, Kalma?"

BYF

- I belong into quite a few blankqueer/-punk stances in some way; reclaimed feralqueer, hallowpunk, redemptionqueer, darlingqueer, yandequeer, (ally) rabiespride, eepyqueer, para-health, Beastpunk, mangledqueer, Sataniqueer & freakqueer.

None of these labels will override *my* stances that I've laid in my BYF. Beware of this. (Also I'm going to get all the links in a bit lol.)

I am anti harassment, pro-para - anti-contact (+ a para myself) & pro- safe recovery, anti-censorship & I'm peacefic. I'm pro good-faith / contradicting terminology, I believe everyone has a unique sense of self and should be able to use the terms and call themselves what they want to reflect themselves. I stand with the 4B, land-back, black lives matter movements, and pro decolonization.

My political view is anarcho-leftist, however I do not go into that side much since this is a hobby blog.

I am not interested in ship- or syscourse and I find radical pros and antis extremely harmful from both discourses. Do not include me in them. (Besides I'm singlet thus I don't think someone calling themselves endo or supporting or not supporting them is something I should be "included in" on or concerned by. Pro & anti endos alike can interact if they want, just know where I stand and don't break your own DNI for the sake of it.)

Also, those who cannot separate fiction from reality or glorify and romanticize real-life murderers, S/A, mafias, criminals, and so on, you're not even on the thin ice if you follow me you will be blocked.

I do not fuck with (read: i am a heavy anti of) wrongfully used harmful transid folks, rad./queers, xeno.satanists. white supremacists, nationalists, facists, or racists & ableist at all. (Neo) Na.zis and supporters/apologists, pro-colonialists and -capitalists, pro-cop / blue lives matter / all lives matter believers. Neither do I fuck with those who glorify, romantize, or demonize (or speak over folks with) mental illnesses, personality disorders or disabilities.

Also label lumpers and exclusionists (""bi-spec"", aros to aces, aphobics, transphobic, multitransphobic, intersexists, etc), queer-phobic/anti-LGBTQIA+ folk. SW-/TERFs, Radfems, misogynist & misandrist alike; sexists in general. + folks who suibait, witch-hunt, and harass others or condone/support it.

—"you look like an animal, a cornered hound baring its teeth in front of certain death..."

Themed after a CoD oc named Kalma.

—

Questions are always welcome, but please bear in mind that if the question is asked in noticeably bad Faith it will not be answered unless I feel the need to answer it because it's important.

[sparkyskid]

Gale Dekarios The Wizard of Waterdeep ace-spec propaganda

Spoilers for Gale’s romance below the cut

I, an Aroace, have finished BG3 having romanced Gale and taken the route to “fix him” (I.e. encourage him that he is enough as he is and doesn’t need godly power, that his value does not depend on his power or talents or usefulness to others.)

Yes you make out a little in his romance scenes. Yes he says that he has been intimate with mortals before Mystra, and was Mystra’s lover.

BUT.

It is never stated that you have sex with him.

At most, it is implied that you are physically intimate in some way, primarily the post-game where he asks you to marry him, you wake up together and you can beckon him to come back to bed.

Even then, even when it is implied, Gale’s romance is entirely chaste. For a game so horny, a game so ready to let you fuck so many people, a game that gives you power to make your party hang out at camp in their underwear or even naked…

Astarion and Shadowheart definitely have topless/nude scenes. Karlach and La’zell express sexual attraction. Wyll is entirely unknown to me. But Gale, despite being very upfront about his feelings in some key moments, does not have a nude or partially nude cutscene. A game that loves showing or describing the sex you have with NPCs, and Gale has none of it.

Furthermore, the moment that stands out the most as possibly showing sexual attraction, in Act 2 when he comments about reading a book that links the rush of battle with desires for other “stimulation”. He is having such thoughts, but even as he says he wants Tav, it seems to be about pleasure and stimulation more than flat out sexual attraction.

As we all know, willingness to engage in sex and the experience of sexual attraction are different. Gale expresses a very ace or demi sort of relationship with sex- for him, it’s about pleasurable stimulation with a beloved person.

Take this in contrast with Halsin. In my game, Halsin came onto my Tav in the last night before the final battle. He spoke of natural desires, of wanting skin on skin etc. similar to how La’zell expresses a desire for Tav’s body in Act 1 or Karlach “ride you till you see stars”. Halsin, La’zell, and Karlach, all clearly express sexual attraction. Astarion is, well, Astarion. I don’t know Wyll very well, but his first romance scene is a dance and he gets such puppy eyes when you reject him. There is none of these things in Gale’s route.

One last thing, the compliments Gale gives. Yes, this is a difficult thing to write because the appearance of Tav can vary wildly. But his compliments are centered around aesthetic attraction, not physical. “Beautiful” is one of his most common ones. Non-specific, wholistic, and aesthetic. It would be hard to write anything more specific with the Tav’s appearance being so variable. But the other NPCs still have doubtless sexual attraction.

So Gale is a romantic, so what? He could also be a “wait until marriage type”? False. He has not been married, but (at least implies that) he has had sex before.

But it could just be that his route is supposed to be the most romantic, and not all of the NPCs need to have equal levels of horny? Yes. Not all of the NPCs should be the same amount of horny. And the least horny, if they are this different, will always come across as ace-spec or aro-spec, if only by comparison (as it is in the real world).

Consider another detail as well: how the people closest to him are expected to react to him finding a relationship.

Both his BFF Tara and his mother apparently want him to get in a relationship. Tara is obvious, Gale speaks of Tara encouraging him to have more mortal friends after his relationship with Mystra ends. And Tara does at one point comment on Gale finding a mortal partner in-game. Later when Gale asks Tav to marry him, if you accept, he remarks how his mother will also be very pleased to hear the news.

This is a theme in his life. People pressuring him to find a relationship. This is also a very commonly shared experience for a-spec people of all kinds. Pressure from others to find someone. (The most toxic variation being “you haven’t met the right person yet”)

My own mother would be overjoyed if she heard I found someone to get married to, even though she knows I don’t want that. Sure, many parents are this way about their allo children as well, but that’s hardly talked about. Parents of a-spec people, whose children “finally get married” or “finally find someone” are specially invested in the outcome. Of course anyone’s supportive parent would be happy if their child got married to somebody they loved. But it’s noteworthy here, for some reason. As if his mother has, in the past, also given him some grief about it in a way that Tara does as well. If she hadn’t, why mention her at all?

Gale being pressured by those closest to him to get a relationship is thematically similar to the way ace-spec (and aro-spec) people get pressured by those closest to them. And the relationship he crafts is one based not on physical attraction, but on aesthetic attraction and romantic attraction. Gale shares physical forms of affection with his partners for the pleasurable stimulation of it. He does not exhibit the same lust or sexual attraction that the rest of the romanceable/fuckable NPCs do. All this to say that Gale is consistently sex-favorable, but does not experience sexual attraction in the same (allo) way that everyone else does. Therefore, he falls on the ace spectrum. Most likely ace or demi.