#and people should accept that without me having to say i’m aro

[lunimy]

i do have the weirdest coming outs ever i don’t really come out in the first place cuz i’m really open about saying i don’t like anyone but i usually don’t put a label on it bc i don’t believe i should have to but the other day i got ask by this guy he’s a little weird in general but the conversation went: are you gay? no are you straight? no are you bi? no are you asexual? yes (but actually i don’t really consider myself to be ace??? i actually feel more connected to the aro label or aroace but i’m not about to explain that to him)

[crystallos-sol]

Warning you now under the cut is me rambling about my perspective on multiple popular fandom ships and such. My perspective won’t be accepted widely and that’s cool no hate to anyone who does ship these characters. Y’all do you I’m just sharing my word vomit. (No I did not mention any ship by name so this should stay in the tag it belongs in!)

I’m saying that the entire relationship between Luz and Amity always read a little weird to me. I don’t tend to enjoy most canon or fandom favorite ships so I really did not think much of it but the way they wrote romantic relationships was so off putting and inherently worse than how they wrote the platonic relationships within the show.

And no it’s not just Luz and Amity’s relationship that’s off putting to me, even Gus and Matt and Hunter and Willow (although more implied with the ending of TOH). It just doesn’t read as if any of them are comfortable and able to just exist together. Amity can’t go two seconds without mentioning or thinking of Luz (which is a major annoyance and is largely why I hated it when she was around because she lost anything that made her interesting and her own character but that’s another can of worms).

Willow gets downgraded into being “ Hunters girl “ which is not fair in the slightest to her. I love her character! I really like that we got that intense moment of her putting her damn foot down more than once! But it’s really disappointing and disheartening to see her entire character go down the drain because someone decided Hunter needed a partner (which has much as it’s a cute idea I genuinely do not think if he had a partner that it should of been Willow but again another can of worms.).

And goodness has funny has it is to see Gus make fun of Matt it’s also really hard for me to see it has romantic? Or in a romantic context. To me it just reads as two best friends but again nothing against people who do like these pairings, I get it it’s fun to ship characters. I just personally do not see it.

It also just irks me when a character gets completely put down and ruined because someone wanted to shove them into a relationship. Like damn I was enjoying Willow and Amity but okay ruin my two favorite characters in the whole show.

Again every ship I’ve talked about I don’t have an issue with. I don’t want anyone to think I’m out here mad or something I am disappointed in the way they’ve handled Amity and Willow’s characters after they got partners. I however contrary to most people in the fandom would of loved AceAro Luz or even Willow hell even Hunter. I just think it would be neat to see and because as much as relationships can be cute and all it’s always nice to see Aro representation.

(Also because Luz is very friend oriented and made her own found family which is so so cute and Willow went around and befriended everyone she could and also Hunter grew up with a fucked up understanding of the world and has canonly said his friends mean the world to him and that’s so fucking cool and nice to see for once). I also think it would work for their characters and arcs. Idk would of loved to see their characters remain intact that woulda been neat.

[sandcobangevent]

FlashBang Fic!

Written by: @whrys  With art by @aro-sherlockholmes

Sherlock Holmes is a strange man; I’ve known that since the first day I met him.

Forgetting that day is almost impossible. I was looking for someone to share a flat with since I had just come back from the war. Luckily, he was too. I was very happy I had found someone so quickly, and I hoped we would get along. I expected him to be a bit strange, yes. We all are. Maybe he put milk before cereal, or he had the most ungodly sleeping pattern. 

What I did not expect when I entered that room was Mr. Holmes on a treadmill, bleeding from the arm. He seemed completely nonchalant to both my presence and the wound currently leaking blood down his bicep. Our first conversation was mostly me trying to get to know him at the same time as I was trying to understand why he was bleeding and running on a treadmill. I found out relatively quickly that it was because he had cut himself and was measuring his adrenaline compared to his pain. I still could not understand why, and I was so confused I kind of stopped trying to get to know him, instead I tried to get out of there. This was too weird for me. 

But he suddenly got off the machine and went to a surgical sewing kit, and to my surprise, he started to sew the wound on his own arm shut. This is when my doctors’ instincts kicked in and I asked if I should sew it as I had been a doctor. He proceeded to tell me everything about my life, without me adding anything. 

He got it all. 

From the war to becoming a doctor, me getting blown up and my hurt leg, he even said I had PTSD, which even I did not think I had at the moment but have now accepted. He listed all his disorders, and then it was off to the flat. I was just dragged with him, not physically, but it felt like this could actually work, so I silenced whatever voice in my head that was unprepared or even scared, and I went off to 221A Baker Street. And after a mishap with the number of beds that were needed; the company believed we were a couple, and that we only needed one bed; we had rented 221B Baker Street.

After that it was us and Mariana, somehow running a company together. It went very well, actually. We got cases, and solved them, even though some of the more interesting cases for me, were completely lost on Sherlock. But after the last case we did, some rich guy exploiting his workers, it felt like some kind of Scooby Doo episode, he has been acting weird. 

I would like to say I’m not suspicious of people, and that I’m very trusting, but war does things to you. He has been gone more and more, and I thought it was a drug problem at first, some kind of relapse. But when he actually comes home, he seems fine. No noticeable symptoms or weird behavior. But he does do something weird, he asks questions. 

I didn’t think of it much at first, Sherlock likes knowing things. He asks about people things a lot since he has a hard time understanding them sometimes. I answer as best I can and he seems satisfied with them, if not a bit confused. But as of late, the questions have been getting more personal. 

“John”, first name, huh. “Have you dated before?” 

“What?“ This caught me off guard, as we had been sitting in silence for a while. “Um, yeah, I have. Why do you ask?” 

“No particular reason, just wanted to know. Research. Generally.” He was fidgeting with his phone, and I could see him thinking really hard about something. More than usual, that is. 

“Oh, okay.” 

“How many?” He asked. 

“Only a few. The normal amount, I guess.” 

“And how many is that?” I could hear him using the particular voice he uses when someone isn’t giving him the information he wants. 

“Four or five, I think. Many were in college, and not serious, so I don’t remember a lot.” He seemed bothered by that and typed something out on his phone. 

“And how…far, did you get with them?” I was not expecting that. Sherlock never asks about these things; he hates personal stuff. Me and Mariana have had small talk about our respective love lives, but when we do, Sherlock can be heard very audibly sighing. Something must have happened for him to ask about things that are this personal. 

“Wow, that’s very personal.” 

“It’s for research John. Just answer.” 

“Okay, okay. I guess, um, third… base. With a few of them. And the first ones I was with we just kissed.” 

He went silent again. I was doing anything short of literally just sinking through the floor to escape my embarrassment. He was typing again. “What are you researching?” I asked. 

“Relationships.” 

“Why?” 

“Watson, I have to go. I’m meeting a friend.” 

“Oh, okay.” 

And he stood up and went out the door. I was left wondering what the hell just happened. I was slightly confused at that time, but now that I’ve thought about it for a while, it seems weirder by the day.

Right now, I’m sitting on the couch in our apartment. I’m supposed to be editing the latest podcast episode, but it’s very hard when Sherlocks phone is buzzing constantly on the table. Not even my headphones can block it out. The ping sound that happens every time isn’t helping either. 

My eyes are automatically drawn to the phone every time it happens, and it is really messing up my flow. It pings again. I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. I picked up the phone and read the text. I should at least know what all this ruckus is about. 

“OMG It sounds like you like John!!”

What. What does that mean. Who is this that Sherlock is talking to?

And what do they mean that he likes me? God, my mind is racing. What am I supposed to do with this? Should I talk to him about it? Will he be mad that I looked at his phone? I slowly put the phone back on the table after what feels like an hour. I guess I’ll just wait until he gets home and talk to him then. Wait, is he even away? His phone is here, would he leave without it? I look around the apartment and don’t immediately see him from where I’m sitting on the couch.

Well, I will definitely not be able to work now, so I just put my computer down and go on my phone. That doesn’t work for long, my thoughts are too fast. What should I do when he gets home? Or comes downstairs, if he already is home. Do I even like him back? Does he know if he likes me? 

The questions he asked the other day. That’s what they were about. He’s curious about my love life because he likes me. 

The door opened. 

I hear someone coming upstairs. 

My heart is beating through my chest. 

“Hello Watson.” 

“Hey Sherlock.” 

“Any luck with editing?” 

Am i supposed to take it up now? Immediately? “Eh, not really.” I say, trying to catch Sherlock eyes. He walked past me and sat in his chair when he walked in. “Sherlock, I want to talk about something.” 

“Yes, Watson, what is it?” 

Alright, here we go. I’m not sure what i want from this conversation, but Sherlock is very important to me, and I want to be honest with him. 

“You left your phone on the table. Someone was messaging you quite a lot.”

 “Oh,” he said, and I could see him looking for the phone, “I’m sorry if it disturbed you.” 

“Well, a bit, but I was wondering what they wanted? It seemed important.” 

“Probably nothing, or a case I don’t care that much about.” But I could see he was worried, or interested. Maybe both. He grabbed his phone from the table. 

“Oh, okay.” I say, and then silence. It was deafening. 

“John, did you read the texts?” 

Damn that detective ability of his. “Yes, I did. I’m sorry, Sherlock, I didn’t mean to. It was just on the screen and i happened to see it.” 

“That’s… okay, John. I guess you have questions.” 

“I do, you okay with answering some of them?” He’s taking this surprisingly well. 

“Yes.” Then we talk. With every question I ask, he seems to be more emotional. The person he was talking to was one of his friends, who he was asking some questions about relationships to. Just like me, although less personal. Turns out he has been worrying that he likes me but doesn’t want to do anything with me. 

“So, you thought you were broken somehow?” I asked carefully. 

“Well, from what I’ve heard, intimacy is a part of every relationship.” 

“Did you learn something?” 

“I did. Have you ever heard of asexuality, John?” 

“Yeah, in passing. So, that’s what you are?” 

“Yes, I believe so. Along with aromantic.” 

“But you think you like me, romantically?” 

“Yes, that is the problem, and why I was consulting with my friend.” 

“And have you come to a conclusion?” I ask, tilting my head to the side, watching Sherlock intently. 

“I believe so.” 

“Do share.” 

“Since I’ve concluded that I am aromantic, these feelings I have for you are different from romantic ones, but stronger than just platonic friends, I’d like to propose something. Wait. John, I forgot to ask how you feel about all of this. I have just sprung a lot of information on you. About me and us. I’m curious about how you feel about it.” 

“Sherlock, you are very special to me too. I’d like you to tell me the idea you have. It seems like it isn’t romantic feelings, which I don’t have either, but you are very important to me.” 

“Okay. You know I crave knowledge. In cases and in my personal life, but I’ve never craved knowledge about another human as much as I do about you. How would you feel… about being in a queerplatonic relationship? It’s not the same as a romantic one, there’s no intimacy and we won’t call each other boyfriends, but it will be special.” 

“Oh.” 

“It doesn’t matter that much, we don’t have to, I’m just happy I figured it out and that we talked about it.” 

At this point I am very overwhelmed with emotions, and I make my way over to Sherlock to look him directly in the eyes. “And what if I want it to matter? I like your proposal a lot. How would you like me to act in this relationship?” 

“I don’t want much to change. But maybe more physical affection? Not much, but hugging and holding hands are very appealing.” 

“I can do that,” At this point I’ve automatically taken his hands. “What a fantastic idea, Mr. Detective.” 

We stand there for a bit, just existing. 

Then Sherlock wants donuts, so we get ready to go get donuts. 

As we leave out the door, I can’t help but think ‘I’m so happy I get to be with this strange man’.

[docmerlin]

i think. one of the reasons ppl hate aros so much (and aces as an extension, but these thoughts came from seeing arophobia) is because a lot of allo people who do things the traditional way suffer so much for the sake of their romantic relationships, and they’re just... taught to be okay with that. like that’s Normal. “i hate my wife” jokes, “my boyfriend won’t let me do this,” “marriage is the end of your life,” etc. looking at these sorts of relationships from the outside, it seems like people are miserable and yet they don’t question it.

the default expectation is to pick one person to commit to for as long as you live, so a lot of people settle for someone they’re not 100% happy with, and they end up hating their spouse or they just get divorced and look for another person to fill some kind of void they think is there. and it seems like most people will just pick one person kinda early on in life since they’re afraid of being single or “dying alone“ or whatever. there’s this immense pressure to “settle down“ before everyone else has been claimed by a romantic partner, and if you don’t, people see that as a failure.

so when someone takes a step outside that default expectation and coins a term for it (aros, aces, polyam people, relationship anarchists, etc) people feel threatened. they go through So Much in order to find that one perfect romantic partner, and other people are out here having different types of fulfilling relationships without following the formula they’ve been taught all their life.

i think it’s the same with other types of queerness honestly. trans & nonbinary people break the Gender Rules set by society, so people get upset and yell “you can’t do that!“ bi/pan/etc people experience attraction to more than one gender, whereas you’re “supposed“ to be attracted to only one, so people think mspec people are a threat to them somehow. they think they need to point and laugh and shame these people for breaking tradition, so they can keep their fragile status quo.

i want to clarify that i am NOT saying aro/ace/polyam/RA people are inherently “better” for their identities or relationship styles. i’m not saying romantic relationships = suffering or that people can’t have healthy & fulfilling monogamous relationships.

i’m saying the widely-accepted culture around monogamy & romantic relationships in general is incredibly toxic. deconstructing these ideas of what we “should“ be doing in our relationships would benefit everyone, whether you’re queer or not. if you’re miserable in a committed relationship, you shouldn’t have to stay in it just because society tells you you’re worthless if you don’t have one. and if someone doesn’t feel a certain type of attraction or chooses not to engage in traditional relationships, they don’t deserve to be mocked and bullied for it.

if you have a fulfilling romantic relationship, or you want to seek one out, i’m so happy for you! this post is not an attack on you. it’s for people who are assholes to anyone who doesn’t follow tradition.

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

This is my first time using the ask feature on tumblr, let’s hope I’m not doing this wrong

For the past year or so I’ve had a feeling I was aromantic but I never looked into it and I always simply convinced myself I was wrong or making it up. Around 5 days ago I finally decided to look into it some more. I spent a few hours during the evening reading about aromanticism online and thinking about it and I realized that I strongly related to most of the descriptions and traits of aromanticism, and I got thinking about things about me that I’ve never understood that would make sense if I was aromantic (such as basically forcing myself to have a crush on a guy I know. I find him physically attractive but honestly there’s zero romantic feelings for him, it’s all platonic). I felt kinda weird about it so I just went to sleep and tried not to think about it. The next day I continued to think about it and finally accepted that I was aro, and honestly it felt good to be able to tell myself that. Everything felt more clear if that makes sense, like I didn’t have to convince myself i felt romance anymore

But even after I’ve accepted it the part of me saying I’m faking it hasn’t gone away. No matter how many times i try to, I just can’t validate myself. I just feel like I’m making it all up.

I’m still young (not going to say my age but I’m a minor) so I keep wondering that maybe I’m not aromantic and I just haven’t met anyone who I feel romantic attraction to, and I feel like if I call myself aromantic without knowing 100% for sure I am I’m stealing the spotlight from actual aromantics. I know how stupid that sounds but it’s still weighing on me. I could list off all the reasons I feel like I’m a “fake” aromantic but it wouldn’t really achieve anything

And when I’m not stressing over whether or not I’m faking being aro I’m thinking I’m broken or something. I guess I’ve built up some internalized stuff over the years because, like I said, I feel broken. Like I’m missing something or I’m heartless

Idk. I guess what I’m getting at is that I can’t accept myself and I feel like I’m faking it. And it hasn’t even been a week since I discovered I was aro. It’s tiring. This is mostly just a rant on my end but if you have any advice then thanks. It feels weird asking a stranger on the internet for advice but hey you gotta do what you gotta do I guess

Feeling like you're faking is actually very common for aros, especially if you've only recently started identifying as aro. One of the big reasons is that you're defining an absence, and it's human nature to wonder if maybe you're just missing it somehow. It's very different then when you're defining a presence of something, and you can focus on something tangible that you can feel when you're feeling unsure.

I have a theory that we often also feel like being aro should feel like something, we should feel different. But often we just feel normal, and if we normal we feel like we should be normal (as society defines it, as being allonormative). But being aro is normal too, and it's what's normal for us.

But neither of these things mean you're faking, Anon. And often the longer you identify as aro, the more those feelings of being fake tend to settle down. One big thing that can help is knowing that it's OK to have these feelings, and they're not a sign of anything being wrong or that you've made a mistake.

This can be harder too when you're a minor because a lot of people will invalidate you, but minors know how they feel and they know if a label is right for them or not. And I know a lot of aros who started identifying that way in their teens, and still aro well into adulthood.

As for the possibility that you may develop romantic feelings later, it's possible, though less likely the older you get. We can never 100% predict the future (even people well into adulthood will sometimes experiences a change in orientation), but I always encourage people to go with what fits them now, and remember labels aren't written in stone and can always be changed later. Though if you'd rather wait a bit before using the label officially that's OK too and something a lot of minors also choose.

You're not broken, but it can take a while to unlearn all the societal messaging we get around the importance of romance/romantic relationships. A lot of this messaging is harmful even to alloromantics. Like the idea that you need a romantic partner to be happy/fulfilled, or that you're incomplete without one, since it pressures people into relationships that may not be right for them because they think being single is worse (often it's not), or discourages them from understanding themselves or developing their life and who they are outside of the context of romantic relationships.

In reality life is complex, and there's so many things that may make a person happy or feel fulfilled. And what that will be and won't be fulfilling to someone will vary from person to person. It's up to us to figure out what's important to us. For some that involves romance, for some it doesn't. But you're not broken, anymore that someone who isn't interested in say food isn't broken, even though their best friend may be a professional chef.

My big advice would be try and follow some aro blogs, and consider joining a community like on discord or a forum like arocalypse. Some people also live near meetups, so that's something else you can look into if you want to. Seek out aro media, there's more out there than a lot of people realise, especially for podcasts and books. (You can often google rec lists too and often find stuff.) And that should help a lot.

Sometimes it also just takes time to process a change in identity, it can be a big change in how you think about yourself and the world. So don't be afraid to move at your own pace, and don't think you have to have everything figured out right away.

And don't feel bad for reaching out, this is why the community is here.

All the best, Anon! Good luck!

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

So I rewatched TMNT 2012 cause my brain is fully committed to being obsessed with TMNT and here are my thoughts:

Thankfully it has knocked me out of my month-long writer's block but before I start writing headcanons again (for either series) I want to put my hot takes out there 

I don’t hate April 

Do I love her? Absolutely not

She’s annoying and impulsive and arrogant and selfish and she can be incredibly one-dimensional at times 

But so is the rest of the group

She’s not my favorite character but she’s not my least favorite either 

She’s just a teenage girl written by old men so it’s not surprising that a lot of people find her unrealistic 

I fucking hate Casey Jones/j 

I want to strangle him but I also want to hug him 

I want to punch him and sew little pockets into my clothes so I can take him with me everywhere 

He’s so stupid and my favorite character 

I like Donnie but I skip most scenes with him and April 

I chose to ignore the stalker plot-line 

In my mind, it’s nonexistent and adds nothing to the story 

I treat the whole Karai/Leo thing with the same energy 

Because why the fuck did the writers think that was a good idea 

Every single relationship was poorly written 

April is an aro/ace queen and I will accept no arguments 

They should have kept Karai and Leo’s relationship purely platonic 

I would have loved to see her become sort of a mentor to Leo but all we got was a disgusting love story that went nowhere and added nothing to the plot 

I think we should swap out every “my love interest is actually my sibling?!” plotline with a “my rival/enemy/mentor is actually my sibling?! Fuck yeah!” plotline 

Shini and Karai had the most chemistry and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were secretly dating 

I lowkey ship Casey with everyone except the girls 

But I mainly ship him with Donnie… Don't judge me I love enemies to lovers 

Leo is a trans woman, Donnie is nonbinary and uses he/they pronouns, and Mikey and Raph are gender-fluid (no I will not elaborate)

I’m fully convinced that every single person who claimed Raph Donnie and Leo were terrible brothers are only a children 

If I see one more person edit depicting Mikey as this helpless victim while the others are these evil abusers I will rip my hair out 

Are there moments when Leo/Donnie/Raph hit Mikey when it is unnecessary? Yes

Are there moments when they ignore him when he brings up a good point? Totally

Could I make a 30-minute compilation of the boys insulting Mikey’s intelligence? Absolutely 

But I can’t bring up all of that without mentioning the hundreds of times when Mikey is being an asshole

He’ll make fun of Donnie or tease Leo or mess with Raph 

Because that’s what siblings do!! (especially younger siblings)

They shove and they tussle and they poke fun

Some of my siblings show affection in a very similar way to Raph (they’re not great with words but they show their love with their actions) so when I see people write shit like “Raph is a terrible brother” it frustrates me to tears 

I have this memory that I will always cherish of my older step brothers and sister dragging me into a wresting match that ended with me at the bottom of a dog pile 

And I almost cried not because I was in pain but because it was something I had watched them do when I was younger and never participated in because it felt like a “sibling thing”

And they knew this and I knew they were telling me in their own way that no matter what anyone says I’m their little sibling 

Splinter is a fantastic master but a terrible father (no I will not take criticism on this take) 

I wanted to turn off my laptop every time Shredder came back 

Like don’t get me wrong I love a recurring villain as much as the next enby 

But he’s so one-dimensional that I tuned him out after season 3 

Now I will be rating all the seasons 

Season 1: 8/10 

In my personal opinion, it’s good 

Not outstanding but it’s a good foundation 

Season 2: 9/10 

I loved this season 

I honestly loved the whole conflict between April and the boys 

And it introduced my baby/rat bastard 

Season 3: ♾️/10 

My favorite season out of all of them 

I wish they stayed at the farmhouse 

Everyone seemed happier there 

‘Race with the Demon’ is my favorite episode 

‘In dreams’ is my second favorite 

Season 4: 7/10 

I fell in love with fugitoid 

Also, this might seems stupid but half of my enjoyment of this season could be credited to the voice actors 

And I also recognized a lot of them so it turned into a fun little game of where’s waldo 

I would be listening to an episode and go “doctor who?” “Godbrand??” “Andrias?!” “CASSANDRA JONES!!” 

I loved the fact that Karai and Shini were trying to build their own foot clan and make it honorable and I wish they talked about it more

I like Apri’s corruption arc but I feel like they completely swept Donnie’s death under the rug

Like they immediately forgave April even though they watched as she pulled Donnie apart molecule by molecule 

Season 5: 0/10 

Throw this dumpster fire away 

God I hated this season 

It felt so random

There was no rhyme or reason 

It just feels like they shoved half bakes ideas into a season and expected us to like it 

It made my viewing experience incredibly bittersweet

Cause I just watched season after season of amazing episodes to end it with this charcuterie board of half-baked ideas

[aro-comics]

Aro Joy

Aro Joy, 1/1 - it’s almost AUTUMN!!!! 🍁🎃🧣 ✨ (and I’m very excited lol, early fall is one of my favourite times of year 😂). Ok but back on topic - I’ve actually had a vision for this specific comic for ... a while 😭 Like, half a year ago. It’s been a journey, accepting my arospec identity (and from what I’ve heard talking to y’all, it’s been like this for many of you too), and though I’ve been open about the bumpier parts of the experience, I wanted to also talk about the positives, all the joys of being aro, too 💚💚🐸

As a general disclaimer: The sentiments here aren’t meant to speak for all aros - because some aros want to be in romantic relationships (or be otherwise partnered), and of course this is equally valid and should be respected! And on the same note, allos can be happy with being, or just want to be single, because again - this isn’t something defined by orientation.

But I think for a lot of us, our arospec orientation can be tied to how feel about our lives in relation to partnership ... which is that, we're okay (or happy) being single! For the longest time, I held it against myself that I wasn’t in a relationship, but not because I wanted to be in one - I just thought it was a milestone that would make other people think of me as a 'real' adult 😭😭 Realizing I was aro gave me the opportunity to reassess how I viewed myself, and my relationships with other people. I was able to actually let go of that idea of having a “””missing piece”””, and appreciate everyone and everything I have in my life. I sound kinda cheesy saying this, but for the first time, I think I have everything I've ever wanted, relationships wise? I'm at peace, and I really appreciate it.

__

School's gonna start soon for me and for some of y'all, so I hope that goes well for everyone! Please take care, and as always I'd love to hear what you think! What are your favourite things about being aro? 🐸

[Image Descriptions:

Slide 1: “I find it fascinating, the way alloromantics value romance.” Celia stands outside in front on a vibrant fall day. She seems to be on a walk on a trail.

Behind her, the leaves are a bright orange, and she is wearing a white wrapped top, jeans, and an orange ribbon choker.

Slide 2: “When I bring up the fact -”

A flashback to an earlier time, where Celia is talking to another girl (who is alloro). Celia says “You know, life without Romance is not inherently bad, or unfulfilling -” 

The other girls says, “yeah, but it’s DIFFERENT.”

Slide 3: [Pure text] There’s this really deep, engrained idea, even amongst people who are accepting and understanding of the idea that being aromantic is valid, that romance brings a new level of joy to life. A kind of special fulfillment they would be lost without.

Slide 4: “And I’ve got to say …” Celia speaks to the viewer.

Slide 5: “That sounds really hard, yikes” She shrugs nonchalantly.  

Slide 6: Celia speaks from the bottom of the panel, and a big speech bubble says, “People seem to have such a hard time with dating? Pining? Trying to court people? (I actually do not know much about romance, despite my love of the genre) It just seems like so much work, just to feel fulfilled.”

Extra doodles of character struggle with online dating, pining with writing love letters, and dollar bills with a rose exemplify the various struggles mentioned.

Slide 7: Shot switches back to Celia in the forest. She’s now holding a maple leaf in her hand, staring down at it contemplatively as she speaks. “I’m … actually feeling pretty good about my life.”

Slide 8: She holds the leaf up to the light now. “I don’t really feel like there’s something missing without a partner. Although, maybe one day -” In the bottom half of the panel, the perspective switches to her POV centered on her hand with the illuminated leaf, “I’d also be happy with a QPR.”

Slide 9: It’s one of the things that makes me grateful that I’m aro.

The shot has switched to be from behind Celia, staring out at the landscape of mountains, the fall foliage, and the river below. Celia has let go of the leaf and it drifts away in the wind]

[chimerickat]

Hey, do you have/do any platonic writing for Reader and Kaiba? I’m aro ace so I’m not into romance. (And frankly, Kaiba seems aggressively aro ace to me, but I understand that there are tons of girls with crushes who desperately want that to not be true, so obviously there’s a much larger market for romantic stuff.) But SOMEHOW, over the last year, I’ve developed such a squish (platonic crush) on this disaster of a man.

I just want to be friends. I want to help him make virtual reality games, and slowly grow to be friends because we have shared interests, mutually feel protective of Mokuba, and are both needlessly theatrical. Kaiba would show me the cool stuff he’s working on, and I would be suitably impressed and give good feedback like a sensible person, but also, when Kaiba tells me things like he wants to launch Duel Monsters cards into space so if there are aliens they’ll learn how to play his favorite game, I’m like, “That is ridiculous, but I love ridiculous things because I too am ridiculous. Also, that is a dope idea and you should do it immediately.”

I don’t want to fix him, I just want to largely ignore his past and have adventures and become someone he trusts. And we’ll have a great time helping each other out and problem solving for twenty years or so—at which point the Ener-D Reactor will blow up and ruin everything. I don’t know what you headcanon as happening to Kaiba at that point. Personally, I imagine he ends up being the public scapegoat for all the destruction, is bared from using his technological know-how to help the newly formed Satellite, and is found guilty in a kangaroo court. I can’t bring myself to accept that he would probably be executed, so I say he’s sentenced to live in Satellite for the rest of his days, separated from Mokuba and having lost most of his worldly possessions. (Maybe he owns a house in the area that became Satellite, and he gets to keep it and his cards?) And uh, realistically, that event will be my own downfall as well, because everyone knows I’m his friend, and heck, my name is probably in the documentation for the first Ener-D Reactor somewhere. But let’s be real, I knew from the beginning it was dangerous to befriend Seto Kaiba, and I did it anyway. 🤷‍♀️

Hi! *Waves* Thanks for reaching out! :) I can see an aro-ace reading of Kaiba. (Overall I try to be supportive of headcanons for Kaiba but an aro-ace reading is one that I can vibe with.)

First, I’m going to recommend a fic by someone else because I think it’s more what you’re looking for and I am reading and enjoying.

Acquaintances by JoeyTaylor is a reader insert focused on Kaiba and Mokuba that doesn’t have any romance at all.

Now as to me personally…

How to Trick a Sick CEO is a very short one shot that can be read as the reader being an overly meddlesome best friend. The idea was romantic partner but there’s nothing in the actual text that states that.

Maybe Someday has a reader who is Not Interested in Kaiba romantically. However Kaiba is interested in her so you might not vibe with that.

Here’s a link to all of my Kaiba centric work without any romance at all. It’s not Reader insert stuff though:

I also have some recs by other people if Kaiba centric is stuff you enjoy.

If you like my writing, I’m definitely open to writing a reader insert for Kaiba where the relationship is best friends. :)

ALSO, if you’re open to fics where the romance is Not the plot but rather a background that you can ignore, I would like to try to sell you on A Handful Of Bullet Shells. We are 50k into the story and you have to squint real hard for any romance. It’s more about the relationship developing between Kaiba and the reader ( who is working on one of his games). Right now they’ve gotten to a point where they’re friendly (and I don’t mean wink wink friendly). Eventually there will be romance but it’s not going to be the focus. (Disclaimer: I try to sell this fic because I think it’s my best work when it comes to Kaiba’s characterization but I also feel the lack of romance due to that makes it less popular.)

Also, Virtual Remains is a thriller and based on my current plans you can skip the last chapter because that’s the only place any hint of romance will show its face. (I’m not even there yet. I just don’t see any romance featuring in this until like the very very end and even skipped the romance tag because of it.)

Posting this publicly because my followers may have other platonic Kaiba recs?

[north-peach]

I know that the replies for the post about aros writing romance are turned off, but I need to thank you for what you wrote. Well, to be honest, I hadn't realized it was you at first. I typically bypass urls but I needed to reach out.

After reading this a few times, it's knocked a few things loose in me. For one, I hadn't realized how conditioned I was into expecting romance in everything at some level. The relief I felt when I realized it was all platonic, just existing with another person? But showing it in ways I hadn't realized I was missing?

Your post let me realize that this is something that's perfectly acceptable and it shouldn't be restricted to just lovers. Humans are meant to exist as a group, a community. The necessity of skin contact has been scientifically proven. What society sees as acceptable often do not correlate with what people need. Why should this be anything different?

Also, it showed me that this is what I've been missing and adding to a large part of my depression. I've been separated by circumstance from my partner for a while now and while I knew I was depressed, I hadn't realized how much of it was from that very physical need. Now I can use this to try and help myself heal.

Thank you

I- well.

I really struggled and still struggle with this so I understand where you’re coming from.

Honestly, it was when I found out I couldn’t write smut, but I could write platonic relationships, I could write fluff and comfort and squishy relationships.

I could take friendship and make it romance and I could take romance and make it friendship but the two character’s didn’t have to change, just the characters around them were making different comments.

I discovered, obvious in hindsight, but a revelation then, that my relationships were between me and the people they involved and no one else. 

Regardless of what other’s saw, the relationship was nothing I didn’t say it was.

I call @wolfsrainrules my wife and I’d legally marry her in a heartbeat, but honestly? Nothing would change. 

I’d move in with several people without question, and nothing would change.

Thankfully, I reached my conclusion at a young age.

It was my life, I wanted hugs, headpats, cuddles, teasing and affection however the other party was willing to accept it.

If other’s saw that as flirting, as something more, that was their problem not mine. I just made sure that everyone that was involved knew that hey, you are are my friend and I love you, I’ve got your back, but I’m not comfortable with this and likely will never be.

I am the affectionate cat that will love you without hesitation or question, but I come and go as I please. 

That’s me, and there’s nothing wrong with me.

But I’m glad my thoughts were able to help you. 

So thank you for letting me know!

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

What's so important about the very ending scene of TFATWS, for me as an aro, is that Bucky is accepted into Sam's family without having a romantic relationship with any of them.

I know this might anger some SamBucky stans and that's not my intention, but Sam and Bucky were not framed romantically in that scene. It would be very obvious if it was supposed to be interpreted that way. But the two of them are close friends, and we can see that clearly. They've got a real and undeniable bond.

And that bond extends into a wider acceptance of Bucky into Sam's family. The rest of Sam's family accepts him too--he's like the fun, eccentric uncle who plays with the kids and gives out cake and maybe drives Uncle Sam a little crazy sometimes. Bucky belongs there, and he feels at home. He's relaxed and enjoying himself.

This is one episode after Bucky told Sam that he worried that, if Sam retired the shield, Bucky would lose the last bit of family he had left.

And even before officially, publically taking up the shield, and thus taking those worries out of the picture--Sam gives Bucky a new family. He opens his doors and brings him in and everyone surrounds him with such warmth and love that he is finally secure enough to make his final amends with Yamashita-san.

Bucky had put it off for so long because Yamashita was his only friend--his only comfort and companion in a life full of nightmares and old, dead things. But he was able to tell him the truth he deserved, and accept the fact that he would lose that friendship in doing so, because he finally had someone else there to go to for support, comfort, stability, belonging, you name it. He had a family again. Even though they weren't related by blood. And even though he didn't have romantic connections to any of them.

And that is critical for me to see as an aro. This life can be so long, and so lonely, and I often wonder what I'll do when I'm alone as an adult and something goes wrong and I have no one to turn to. Where will I belong, if I don't have a family? If there's no one to come home to, then is it really a home? Will I have to celebrate my birthdays with a solitary cake and mourn my losses without any shoulders to cry on? When I have nightmares, who can I tell about them?

These are debilitating worries, and I got to see Bucky struggle with them too. I saw him deal with such poignant loneliness in episode one, when he just wants to connect with other people, but can't trust them, can't be the person he wants to be. I saw him wake up by himself and watch Walker's announcement by himself and make amends by himself and go through so much by himself. I heard him struggle in therapy with his identity, and what he should do with his life (because what is it worth?), and break down a bit with Sam because what if he wasn't fixable? What if he was deluding himself into thinking he could be whole?

Bucky saying to Sam, "If he [Steve] was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me!" was really saying, "What if that's why I'm alone? What if I'm so bad and messed up and wrong that I won't ever have genuine connection with anyone--what if even the people who loved me left me behind because I'm just so broken?" This is particularly crushing because Steve abandoned Bucky for Peggy, a romantic partner. Steve was, as Bucky indicated through his later comments about the shield, the last family Bucky had left, and he summarily--and selfishly--abandoned Bucky, because someone else was worth more to him. (Talk about an aro nightmare, am I right?) It left Bucky reeling, depressed, and unable to find his identity or purpose. He was unable to trust people. He floundered.

And seeing all of these things matters. Through Bucky, I got to see someone struggle and fight through the same worries I have, the same issues I have, the same wounds I have. That in itself is therapeutic, to be honest. It was touching. I felt seen.

But it means so much more to me to see Bucky accepted into Sam's family without having to do anything "more" to belong. He didn't need to be in a relationship with anyone. He had no "concrete" ties to the family. Sam's family was under no obligation, social or otherwise, to accept him.

But they did.

They welcomed him in with open arms, and they showed him he has a family, and a place to belong, and someone to talk to about his nightmares (thanks, Sam), and that he wasn't alone. They helped him see he's allowed--and he deserves--to be happy, and to have a life he can enjoy, and people he feels comfortable with. They helped him overcome the things he struggled through.

They showed him he wasn't too broken to be loved--and maybe, he wasn't really broken, after all.

And for someone who so often feels broken herself, for those exact reasons, that is an incredibly healing message to hear. There is a space for me.

For all of us.

[ninjakittenarmy]

Yeah. The headcanon itself is completely reasonable, and I usually find it a pretty interesting take. Queer headcanons themselves are something I’m no stranger to, being queer myself. Trouble is that there’s this major arrogance that comes with them in fandom spaces where “the straights” or “the cis” just “don’t get it”. Like not seeing a character as queer when there’s a potential queer reading is because you’re “uncultured” or “a coward”. I get that it probably started as a bit but I feel like people committed so hard it’s no longer a joke for some, or if it is, it’s becoming more mean-spirited.

A part of queer liberation ideology has always been that heteronormativity and cisnormativity and other similar forms of structural prejudice hurt everyone, INCLUDING non queer people. Things like homophobia, transphobia, aphobia, and biphobia are the logical conclusion of societies that believe people should be forced to have the sorts of relationships that it’s structured to benefit from, and it’s not the only form of that. There are in fact ways this hurts people who aren’t queer.

Like, the arranged marriage thing is probably the best example. There’s all sorts of historical accounts of people running away from those an eloping with people of the opposite gender. This is like, the oldest romance plot in the book. Straight people didn’t like it either. Neither did bi people. There’s a lot of intersectionality between people forced into that situation and queer people.

That’s really the key issue here. Implying that cis or straight people could face any sort of oppression from the system gets you mocked and jeered. They can’t be oppressed, they’re the oppressors! Everything is perfectly catered to please every cishet person at the expense of queer people! Saying otherwise automatically makes you a centrist who’s afraid of losing their privilege! Because we have an eight year old’s understanding of how oppression works. We and our predecessors fought tooth and nail to get people to accept us, to understand our perspective, to let go of their prejudice. And most did, at least in places like America. And we’re making a lot of progress in places that haven’t come around yet. Queer rights has a lot of support. People are finally trying to help dismantle the structural oppression in our society! Cishet people are learning about the queer community, meeting queer people, reading queer stories, and relating to them too! Shock of all shocks, you can relate to people who aren’t like you!

Oh and don’t say shit like “why are you trying to govern queer spaces? You can just go to any cishet spaces if you don’t want to deal with this!” That’s an incredibly idiotic excuse. 1) I’m queer and so are a lot of other people who take issue with this, and saying you can only have access to a safe space to be yourself and avoid bigotry and discrimination is if you put up with OTHER discrimination against yourself or others for different aspects of your identity is a terrible thing to do (yes, this has happened to me numerous times). 2) Being a community that faces oppression doesn’t absolve you of addressing your own prejudice, regardless, and let me emphasize REGARDLESS of whether they have privilege or not. Bigotry doesn’t actually stop being bigotry if the group you hate doesn’t face systemic oppression. That’s not what systemic bigotry means, it’s not what the person who coined that term meant. Interpersonal bigotry still exists and hurts everyone. A lack of systemic oppression doesn’t give you a magical force field against other types of discrimination.

There’s also inherent biphobia and aphobia built into this sort of assertion. Ace and Aro HCs tend to be brushed off or even attacked for daring to suggest a different reading of a character than yours on a public platform, ESPECIALLY one that involves not wanting sex or romance, because God forbid someone challenge social norms WITHOUT being horny about it and/or having a romance. And the idea that the only reason you’d oppose an arranged marriage is because you aren’t into the opposite gender implies that bi people would just be ok with it. After all, they’re into the opposite sex too, so why wouldn’t they be cool with getting pawned off to a stranger of the opposite sex? Because as we all know, being into a sex means being into everyone of that sex.

So what I’m saying is, enjoy your queer headcanons! Share them! But let other people do that too. And if someone has a non queer reading or a different queer reading, keep an open mind and treat it like you want yours to be treated. Or, if you can’t say anything about it without insulting them, then just shut the fuck up!

Fandom Problem #4988:

People using a female character not wanting to be in an arranged marriage as proof that she's lesbian. I mean, could she be? Sure, but I could think of at least a few reasons why straight women also would not want to be in an arranged marriage.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Mo Xuanyu is banished from Koi Tower, but manages to take Wen Ning (or maybe a captured Nie Mingjue, your choice) with him. Now he has to figure out what to do with a well known fierce corpse. [🎶🎶 anon]

Crybabies - ao3

“Okay,” Xue Yang said, looking up at the ceiling with an expression that suggested he wanted to kill something and probably would, very soon. “What are you crying about now?”

“I don’t have any friends,” Mo Xuanyu explained. Xue Yang wasn’t allowed to kill him – Jin Guangyao said it would be politically inconvenient – so he felt moderately safe around the other man.

“What am I?” Xue Yang said. “Dirt?”

“Way too scary to be friends with someone like me.”

“…good point,” Xue Yang said. “You are kind of pathetic. A real crybaby.”

Mo Xuanyu was pretty used to statements like this.

“Actually,” Xue Yang said, and smiled. “That gives me an idea.”

-

Mo Xuanyu did not like Xue Yang’s idea.

“I don’t want these types of friends!” he wailed at the door, then, sniffling, turned around. “No offense meant.”

The two fierce corpses stared back at him.

“I’m sure you’re very nice,” Mo Xuanyu said, voice wavering. “Just very, uh…dead.”

Xue Yang cackled from outside the door. “I even took out their controls, just for you!” he sang out. “All the crybabies together in a single room. Have fun!”

And then his footsteps went away.

Shaking, sniffling, Mo Xuanyu turned to look at the two fierce corpses. It turned out they were chained to the wall, which was a bit of a relief.

“…are you the other crybabies?” he asked, curiosity temporarily overwhelming him. There was no one else in the room but them, but it seemed implausible.

Implausible, but apparently correct: tears started dripping down the face of one of the corpses.

“I want to go home,” he said, sounding genuinely miserable.

Mo Xuanyu looked at the other corpse.

“I want to go to his home,” he said, ducking his head and stuttering a little. He didn’t cry, but his eyes wrinkled up, like he wanted to but couldn’t. “It sounds nice.”

Mo Xuanyu had never heard of a home that sounded nice before.

“What’s it like?” he asked.

-

Mo Xuanyu really hated disappointing people.

It sometimes felt like he’d never done anything else: disappointed his mother when his father lost interest in him and stopped visiting, disappointed his aunt and her family by existing, disappointed his father after he turned out to be useless after he’d gone to all the effort of bringing him back to Lanling City, disappointed his teachers, disappointed his half-brother Jin Guangyao, disappointed – everyone, really.

So when he heard that he was probably going to get kicked out of Lanling, it wasn’t really a surprise. He’d long outworn his welcome, after all.

But then he also heard that they planned to send him back to Mo Manor and just – no.

He couldn’t.

He’d just have to disappoint everyone one more time.

“I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to do this,” Wen Ning said, rubbing his wrists as if it would help return the circulation he didn’t have. “Friends or no friends.”

“They said I was going to have to go home,” Mo Xuanyu said, shivering from terror at the mere thought. “I don’t want to go back to my home. I want to go to his home.”

A-Jue wiped his eyes with his sleeve and sniffed. He was the biggest crybaby of the lot of them, but it wasn’t his fault; according to Wen Ning, he’d lost a big part of his memory and higher order thinking skills when he’d become a fierce corpse and spent any time that he wasn’t murdering people in a crazy frenzy of rage on Jin Guangyao’s orders at the mental age of about seven or eight.

It also didn’t help that, out of the three of them, he was Jin Guangyao’s favorite.

It was not a good thing, being Jin Guangyao’s favorite.  

“We’re going home?” he asked, looking between them, watery eyes and all. “Will Sangsang be there?”

“Maybe?” Mo Xuanyu said, and looked at Wen Ning, who shrugged helplessly. Neither of them had any younger siblings, and Wen Ning hadn’t known anything about politics long before he’d died; he’d been in the dark rather deliberately. “Hopefully.”

“We should try to avoid being seen,” Wen Ning said wisely. “I have an idea.”

-

“This cart stinks,” A-Jue mumbled, knees pulled to his chest. Even folded up, he was nearly as big as Mo Xuanyu was stretched out. “I hate radishes.”

“I hate radishes too,” Wen Ning said. He looked like he wished he could cry, looking at them, but then again he looked like that a lot; he’d been the first one brought back, so he hadn’t kept the ability to actually shed tears, which was awful and unfair and something they’d have to fix as soon as they had some time and weren’t being chased.

“This was your idea,” Mo Xuanyu pointed out.

“I said it’d work, I didn’t say we’d enjoy it,” Wen Ning said, and Mo Xuanyu had to admit he had a point. No one would look for two fierce corpses and one runaway teenager in the back of a radish cart, and the farmer driving them in the general direction of Qinghe had been more than happy to accept some gold in exchange for not saying a word about them.

(“How d’you know I won’t take your money and sell you out anyway?” he’d asked before they set out.

“Because if you did, we’d prioritize ripping your throat out before we got captured?” Wen Ning suggested. Mo Xuanyu elbowed A-Jue, who obligingly stretched out his hand to demonstrate the length of his reach, the strength of his arm, and the length of his sharp nails.

“…good reason.”)

The ride only got them a day or so of travel north before the farmer had to make a turn that led him further away from Qinghe rather than towards, but they were in the countryside, not a city, and that was already something.

“We can make the rest by foot,” Wen Ning decided, and A-Jue put Mo Xuanyu on his back so that he wouldn’t slow them down. It was surprisingly comfortable. “I hope you’re right about your sect, A-Jue.”

“I am,” A-Jue said. “Sangsang will be there. He’ll know what to do.”

“Isn’t he only two years old?” Mo Xuanyu asked suspiciously.

“If I’m big, he’s big,” A-Jue pointed out. “And if I’m dead, he’s sect leader. It’ll be fine.”

-

Mo Xuanyu was nominated to be the one to go in and try to get an audience with the sect leader of Qinghe on account of him being the only one not dead.

It was a very compelling argument.

He got into the main city without a problem, gate or no gate, and then walked up to one of the guards outside the main clan complex. “Uh,” he said, fidgeting. “How do I get to see the sect leader?”

The guards looked at him in pity.

“Tell us what you want him for and we can direct you to the appropriate person to help you,” one of them said, not without kindness.

“I’m pretty sure the sect leader is the appropriate person, though…”

“Maybe you haven’t heard,” the other said. “But Sect Leader Nie isn’t actually good at anything.”

“I’m supposed to find him,” Mo Xuanyu said stubbornly. “Just him.”

“Kid. Listen. It’s not happening.”

Mo Xuanyu knew he’d screw this up. “Can you at least pass on a message?” he said hopelessly. “Tell Sangsang that I have something he’d be interested in –”

“Hold up,” the first guard said. “Sangsang?”

“…isn’t that his name?”

The two guards looked at each other. “Maybe you should go in,” the second one said.

“In fact,” the first one said. “We’re going to insist on it.”

-

“Please stop crying,” the young man with the fan and the frills said. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“I’m under arrest!” Mo Xuanyu howled, tears and snot streaming down his face. “I’ve never been under arrest before!”

“I’m pretty sure that was just an overreaction,” the young man said soothingly. “They didn’t really arrest you, they were just being mean and exaggerating. Weren’t they?”

He looked at the two guards by the door, and Mo Xuanyu followed his gaze.

They both nodded.

“Sorry,” one of them said.

“Didn’t mean it,” the other said.

“Big mistake.”

“Won’t happen again.”

“Do you accept their apology?” the young man said, and Mo Xuanyu nodded. “Good, good. Now go – no, not you, them. You stay where you are.”

Mo Xuanyu sheepishly sat back down.

“Now,” the young man said, putting his elbows on the table. “You look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Uh, maybe?” Mo Xuanyu said. “I was at the Jin sect for a while, but they kicked me out.”

The young man blinked, then his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Oh,” he said. “I see. No wonder you’re scared of getting arrested.”

Mo Xuanyu wasn’t sure he understood the connection. Wasn’t being arrested scary everywhere?

“Different question,” the young man said. He was playing with his fan in his hands and not really looking at Mo Xuanyu directly, which was a relief; it made him feel like the other man didn’t really care that much about the answer. “The Nie sect leader…who told you he was called Sangsang?”

“Uh,” Mo Xuanyu said. “It’s a bit complicated. You see, he doesn’t remember things very well, but A-Jue said –”

The fan snapped in two in the young man’s suddenly clenched hands.

-

It turned out that Nie Huaisang – that was the sect leader’s actual name – was just as much of a crybaby as the rest of them, which he really should have made clear from the beginning. Mo Xuanyu wouldn’t have been nearly as afraid of him if he’d known that.

As it was, he was still hugging a somewhat confused A-Jue (mostly marveling at how large his Sangsang had gotten) and crying his heart out while blubbering a whole lot of incoherent things, so Wen Ning patted the ground next to him and Mo Xuanyu went to sit.

“Is this a good sign?” he checked, and Wen Ning nodded.

“The Nie sect is pretty strong,” he said. “They’ll be able to protect us. Well, the two of you, anyway, I don’t know about me –”

“I don’t think surnames are really the most important thing right now,” Nie Huaisang said, finally pulling away and wiping his red eyes. “You helped bring my da-ge back home; you can stay as long as you like.”

“It really is a nice home,” Mo Xuanyu whispered to Wen Ning, who looked a little impressed.

“I told you,” A-Jue said proudly. He still had an arm wrapped around Nie Huaisang and wasn’t letting go – they’d offered to help Nie Huaisang out of his grip earlier, but he’d politely refused – and he seemed to be settling in very well to his older brother role. It was a bit strange to adjust to, but he was still A-Jue in the end. “I have the best home.”

“It’s nice enough,” Nie Huaisang said, still a bit teary-eyed. “Right. Enough feelings. I need you to tell me everything you remember about your time in Lanling.”

“…everything?” Mo Xuanyu said.

“Everything relevant,” Nie Huaisang clarified.

“You’re not going to like it,” Wen Ning said.

“Probably not, no. Tell me anyway.”

-

Mo Xuanyu patted Nie Huaisang on the back as he started trying to throw up again – it was all bile and dry heaves by now. It was a human failing that they shared, and the fierce corpses didn’t, although they were sympathetic enough.

“It’s not that bad,” Wen Ning offered. “We’re not really – awake, during much of it. The worst parts.”

That didn’t seem to help.

“He mostly only got mad at me,” A-Jue said, hovering anxiously. “He didn’t like that I didn’t remember him. Said it was no fun. So he didn’t spend that much time with me.”

“I hate him,” Nie Huaisang said. His voice was raspy, his eyes red, and he looked a little bit scary. “I’m going to destroy him.”

“Okay,” A-Jue said at once, because he was a big old softie as well as a crybaby. “We can destroy him. No problem. Just don’t be sad, Sangsang.”

Nie Huaisang’s lip trembled, which rather destroyed the scary effect. “Okay, da-ge,” he said. “I won’t be sad. You’re going to stay here at home with me, and then we’ll focus on making you better, okay?”

“Uh,” Wen Ning said.

“Not the corpse thing,” Nie Huaisang clarified. “The – memory thing.”

“You can fix that?” Mo Xuanyu said, surprised. “How? Senior Jin and Senior Xue both tried really hard and couldn’t manage it.”

“Yes, well,” Nie Huaisang said, and rubbed his eyes. “They don’t know that da-ge was a little kid the first time he picked up Baxia. I think that dying cut off his connection to her, and that she kept everything that was – you know – after. So maybe reconnecting them…”

“That means you’ll be grown up again!” Mo Xuanyu said to A-Jue, who seemed pleased. “That’s great.”

“I’m going to need your help, though,” Nie Huaisang said. He was mostly looking at Wen Ning. “No matter what da-ge says, you helped do – a lot of things, and if we’re going to bring down Jin Guangyao…I’m going to need help.”

“We’ll help you,” Mo Xuanyu said, and Wen Ning nodded. “I mean, we’re not – really helpful. We’re kind of all a bunch of crybabies. But whatever we can do, we will!”

“I appreciate that,” Nie Huaisang said. “Also, don’t underestimate crybabies.”

He smiled.

“We’re a lot more dangerous than you might think.”

[eulangelo]

callout for @genderfluidlucifer

google docs

tw for transmisogyny + TERFs + emotional manipulation

Transmisogyny

Lucifer is a huge transmisogynist who will complain 24/7 about how TERFs hurt the ace community, but the moment @randomclustermissile , a trans girl (who is not an exclusionist at all) tries to point out transmisogyny in inclusionist circles (in the most vague and general way possible, without pointing fingers nor calling anyone names) Lucifer will immediatly jump to block her and so they did with me (another inclusionist) and i have to suppose to everyone else who agreed with that post, even arriving to vagueing about us in private group chats to suggest that we were “sympathizing with exclusionists”. all because we dared point out transmisogyny in inclusionist circles. lucifer is TME but apparently they think they’re the authority on TERFs and their talking points but actual trans women are not, according to them, since this is the stuff that they would go and spew to other people. (screenshots from @enbyoctoling​)

here’s more examples of Lucifer (again, a transmasc person) going deep in detail about how according to them, TERFs/SWERFs hate aro/ace people and are an active threat to us

1. link

[Image ID: Three screenshots of a post by Genderfluidlucifer. The first screenshot is of a paragraph that reads, "Hey. So I can actually answer this. Anon your commentary about how you thought terfs would approve of sex repulsed aces is sort of it. Except...not. Basically terfs hate ace people for not wanting sex in the approved by terfs way. Terfs are actually extremely interested in [forcing] amatonormativity onto everyone. Because for as sex negative as terfs are...they don't want to actually acknowledge or change the fact that amatonormativity is at the root cause of rape culture and misogyny."

The second screenshot is a zoomed in section of the post that reads, "So yeah no I have NO idea where exclus allies are getting this idea from that terfs would even remotely care about the sexual rights of ace people. Terfs generally hate any sexualities in the LGBTQ+ acronym that aren't LGB because they can't force a gender binary onto those sexualities. At least, not as easily. That's why it's actually a massive sign of someone who doesn't call themselves a terf being a crypto terf if they use the term LGB in a positive manner. Along with the term SGA, as it is deliberately exclusive of nonbinary and not inherently SGA centric queer-aligned sexualities. /END ID]

link to the full post, these are just excerpts but the whole thing is just a very long rant about how TERFs hate ace people and so on (i think it’s worth noticing that although the actual post is kinda long, trans women are never once brought op in a conversation about TERFs issues and the only time transmisogyny is mentioned is not relevant to the conversation)

2. link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblog by genderfluidlucifer. The original poster is nothorses. It reads, "Because apparently I have to say it: Testosterone is not a 'violent' hormone. It doesn't make you 'more aggressive' or a worse person, it doesn't make you 'dangerous,' or 'toxic.' Transmascs do not need to be 'warned of the dangers of T.' We do not need to spend our transitions terrified that we're going to become a danger to those around us - that HRT is going to turn us into a monster.

Everyone experiences mood swings during hormonal shifts (pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, estrogen HRT, etc.) and while you might have grumpy moments or feel anger/frustration that you need to learn to handle differently, that doesn't make you a bad person.

Testosterone can change the way you access/process emotions somewhat, but if you're already thoughtful about how you handle your feelings and treat others, you're going to be fine. It's normal to lash out on occasion, by accident, then apologize and work to do better. It doesn't make you a bad person. Everyone on HRT is prone to this, and everyone experiencing hormonal changes is prone to this.

Getting HRT should be positive and affirming; you should not have to spend your entire transition terrified of becoming a monster."

The post then has a reblog by captainlordauditor that reads, "The big danger of T is that needle ouchy." /END ID]

here’s them reblogging from known transmisogynist user @nothorses (once again, the irony that a post about how testosterone is seen as the "aggressive hormone" does not mention transfem at all which are literally the main victims of this rethoric in the first place)

3. link (1), link (2)

[Image ID: Two screenshots of posts by genderfluidlucifer. The first screenshot reads, "Queer exclus: We're not repackaging terf rhetoric! Saying that is transmisogynistic! Also queer exclus: Remove the plus from LGBT!" and has tags that say, "I will pay these people to grow some god damn self awareness. Imagine being this dense. Queer discourse." The post has 15 notes.

The second screenshot reads, "Honestly it is so stupid and frustrating to see ace exclus continue to deny that the ace discourse was started by terfs. Proof was given countless times. And a big name terf like galesofnovember even admitted to starting it. Those of you who demand proof but ignore all of this never wanted proof to begin with." and is tagged with, "ace discourse. The post has 38 notes. /END ID]

heres another two post of theirs conflating TERFs with ace exclusionism

4. link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblogged post by furbearingbrick. The original poster is boxlizard, Lucifer's old account. The original post reads, "By the way for people still in denial about it, here's galesofnovember, a terf, admitting that she intended to start the ace exclus movement. She's taking credit for it. Normally if the victims of this behavior weren't ace/aro or other queer identities y'all be ready to rightfully lynch her. But since it's us, y'all just still wanna stamp your feet and go, 'Nuh uh!' instead of acknowledging facts." The part that says, "admitting that she intended to start the ace exclus movement" is a link to a galesofnovember post.

There is then a reblogged addition from furbearing brick that reads, "archived versions of the receipts" and has two links to the webarchive. The tags read, "Bringing this back since it's apparently still relevant. Terfism mention. Aphobia mention. Queerphobia mention. Blocklist." and has 1,455 notes. /END ID]

this is their post that ive already talked about but basically they found a 52 notes post made by a TERF in 2012 and this one person said "i dont know why i dont get to be the princess of the anti-ace-brigade" and apparently they are convinced that this means TERFs started the ace exclusionism movement and that this is one of their goals. which is insane when TERFs in real life only care about making life miserable for transfem people first and foremost.

5.link

[Image ID: A screenshot of a reblog by genderfluidlucifer. The original poster is yu-gay-fudo. It reads, “Just in case you happen to be unaware, some of the “radfem lite” they post to warm you up to their rhetoric, just off the top of my head:

- Ace/aro exclusionism

- Bi exclusionism or claims that bi people are “less queer” bc of “straight passive privilege”

- Saying you have to be dysphoric to identify as transInvalidating nonbinary people

- Calling queer a slur regardless of context, saying people can’t identify as queer, and saying that it can’t be reclaimed

- “Mogai hell”, “kweer”, or otherwise mocking less common labels and claiming they are “just cishets who want to feel special”

- Excluding sex workers from feminist discussions or claiming that sex work is inherently evil

- Basically anyone who thinks they can determine what other people identify as”. The tags read, "queerphobia tw. twerfs tw. no id." and has 70,727 notes. It was reblogged on March 22nd, 2021 /END ID]

another example of conflating radfems to things that, while wrong, have little to nothing to do with them because being a radfem, again, is something very specific that has all to do with transfem oppression.

Emotional manipulation

Lucifer has done nothing but block, break boundaries, spread lies and vague about people, some of which were even mutuals with them knowing they would see the posts. when confronted about it Lucifer's only answer was "just say you hate me and block me" but they actually ended up blocking everyone first, making it impossible for anyone to set some boundaries with them or even just to calmly confront them about anything.

[proof: Io(popncourse) and Lucifer had a disagreement in a shared discord server, which prompted Lucifer to vague Io in a vent post. Io confronted them, as being vagued is one of buns triggers, to which Lucifer initially agreed to delete the vent post, but then proceeded to victimize themself and immediatly blocked Io. later on, Jude(malewifedeckard) was confronted by Lucifer, then after Jude told them “I’m worried that you’ll vague me just like you did with Io” they proceeded to block Jude and vagued about him too. when Io made a post (which was not a callout, it was just bun setting buns boundaries) explaining what Lucifer did, Lucifer immediatly jumped to victimize themself, acting like they were being called out and straight-up lying, even going so far as to say that no one tried to hear them out, which is a blatant lie if you consider the aforementioned Io and Jude’s attempts at doing so, with Lucifer immediatly blocking and cutting ties with the both of them. ] 

(screenshots taken by @popncourse and @malewifedeckard)

as seen in the proof above Lucifer’s behaviour is not ok because they don’t accept any kind of confrontation and immediatly jump to blocking, and after blocking, they'd immediatly go and vague about the people who confronted them pacificly, spreading more lies and painting themself as the victim and even arriving to say “no one hears me out at all” which is simply not something you can say when you block people who are trying to hear you out in the first place.

this is by no means an invitation to go and harass them, send them hate or anything like that. i absolutely don’t want anything even remotely hateful or negative to be sent their way after this post. 

this post was only made because:

1. as an ace person who fully supports the inclusion of aspec identities in the lgbt+ community i don’t want to support an enviroment that costantly downplays transmisogynistic oppression in order to be taken seriously. there are hundreds of ways to make aspec activism without acting like we(as in TME aspecs)are the victims of a system that seeks for the annihilation of transfemenine people in real life everyday. i especially don’t want to support TME individuals who act transfem-friendly but then block any transfem who tries to speak on transmisogyny without a second thought.

2. Lucifer’s behaviour has hurt two friends of mine and i don’t want to associate with someone who actively breaks people’s boundaries without taking accountability when messing up.

3. i cannot associate with someone who spreads lies about me accusing me of sympathizing with exclusionists all while having me blocked so that i can’t see it nor defend me. they complain about people not hearing them out but they’re the very first person who does not try to hear people out, and instead jumps to spread baseless rumors. this is not someone i can nor want to associate with. 

(image descriptions provided by @malewifedeckard)

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

Severus Snape being an awesome teacher and human being

Au Volant - Elsa & Emilie

He makes sure to let students work on their own when they brew Amortentia. They only have to pass in a list of things they smell and he draws little smiley faces on them because he knows a lot of kids are very insecure about their feelings. (Once a kid passed in a list that just said, I’m sorry Professor but it doesn’t smell like anything, and on their paper Severus drew an ace and aro flag and a time for the student to be at Mcgonogall’s office that weekend for tea, along with a smiley face and an O grade.) (The student was Newt.) (Hailee’s just read, People are gross and if I fall in love with one I want you to kill me, to which Severus responded, Valid, and drew her a picture of a turtle.)

He makes fake batches of Felix Felicis and gives one to every student secretly before their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s so they feel extra confident going into the test but aren’t actually cheating.

He knows his area is Potions, but he teaches defense spells to students who come after class or report bullying anonymously. Severus Snape does not fucking stand for bullying in his classroom or outside of it. If you dare to pick on one of his students, he will burn you so hard with his mere words that you will wish you were dead. Do not fuck with Severus Snape’s kids.

On parent-teacher day, he drinks different batches of Polyjuice Potion to imitate certain students, all of whom hide away in their dorms after drinking a fine batch of invisibility potion. He then follows these select parents around and endures their horrifying, demeaning remarks about their “failure of a child” so his students don’t have to. He makes sure to give these students glowing praises to their parents when it’s his turn to offer feedback (after making up an excuse to go to the bathroom as the student), and takes mental notes of the parents’ most prominent criticisms so he can be sure to compliment those parts of his students during their next assignments (and also just because).

He brews sleeping potions for students he knows stay up all night studying and sometimes slips it into their drinks if they refuse to take it willingly. He then gives them back their (usually almost flawless) tests with the note that if they want a full O they need to sleep more.

He invites kids he knows don’t have many friends to have dinner and lunch and breakfast in his classroom whenever they’d like. He tries to make friends with some of them too, hoping to make their lives a little less lonely than his was.

He keeps an eye out for abusive home situations. He does his best to come up with excuses for those unfortunate students to stay at Hogwarts over breaks or to visit often over the summer. He tries to find them friends that will help them the way James helped Sirius and Regulus, and speaks to Mcgonogall about opening a home for these kids on campus. He does his best to be the parent he knows these kids don’t have, and is open about his own horrid past in hopes of getting some of them to fess up so he can help them better than he can without hearing it explicitly from their mouths.

He uses his Pensieve to collect happy memories of and for his students to reflect on when they need to and they sit in the corner of his classroom. (Among them are his wedding day to James and Lily, the day Harry was born, a couple playdates with the other Marauder children, Sirius and Remus’ wedding day, studying with Remus, pranking James with Sirius, Sirius and James asleep cuddled together with Remus on the couch in ugly Christmas sweaters, his son and many nieces and nephews playing dress-up, reading with Hermione and exploring with Luna and Newt, dancing with Draco (he likes to dance but was always ashamed to do it at the Malfoys), going on long drives with Regulus, the Blacks’ funeral (Regulus and Sirius performed a very gay stripper dance on top of their graves, it was beautiful), and many, many more.) Sometimes he can see his saddest students watching them and smiling, and their sad eyes twinkling make him smile.

He brings in a box of small kittens, puppies, and bunnies one day and lets them wander around the classroom. Some kids start crying because they haven’t felt this loved in years. After an incident with a bad potion and a rainbow puppy, he stops bringing them all out during class, but they’re there on the weekends and whenever a student needs to hug one (or borrow one, much to Mcgonogall’s chagrin).

He works to break down House biases and help students develop inter-House relationships and friendships. He wants every student to be proud of their House and not to treat anyone differently because of theirs. He creates (with Dumbledore, Sirius, and Regulus’ help) an annual House Pride, in which every student dresses up in their House colors and has their nails and skin painted and everyone is smiling and laughing and waving flags with their House emblems in the air. Even the teachers get in on it.

He stresses the importance of friendships, communication, and choices. He urges students not to make his mistakes by treating their friends well, talking about their feelings even if they’re ugly, and making the right choices in life for you and your loved ones, even if those choices are hard. He invites Lily in to talk about this too sometimes.

He sends out his Patronus every night to wander around the school. Often it comes back to him with nothing, but sometimes he can hear a student crying through it. He’ll instruct his doe to sit with the student until he gets there, and then he’ll walk around the castle, pretending to “accidentally” happen upon the crying student. He’ll sit with them until they’ve calmed down and listen if they want to talk and then take them to their dorm, bidding them goodnight and get well soon.

He gives students hugs when they want them. He didn’t want to originally, but Harry would greet him every class with a hug, and then one day Draco came in crying and attached himself to Severus like a sloth, so he patted him on the back and continued to hug him. Not long after, Hermione couldn’t figure out a potion and burst into tears out of frustration, turning and burying herself in his chest. After Luna wrapped her stick arms around his neck for no reason, Severus just accepted his fate and let his students hug him.

A lot of first years get scared in the hallways, since the staircases move and everywhere is incredibly crowded and they are oh so very small. Severus will often hold the hand of the most anxious ones for the first few weeks and walk them to class. Eventually they become more confident with the castle and themselves and stop needing it, but the occasional sixth year will slip their hand into his just because sometimes.

He walks around campus with students sometimes. He can tell when they’re nervous or sad or angry and he takes them on walks around the outskirts of campus and lets them vent. He also teaches them how to throw curses at the Whomping Willow just because (it’s for Remus but nobody’s gonna say it out loud).

He teaches students how to walk dramatically (as he should). He puts on student drag shows in the Great Hall with James’ help (who always kisses him way too enthusiastically because of it) and Dumbledore’s permission (so long as he gets to be the finale). The students work with Sirius on their drag looks and Sirius and Remus both join in the drag show for the opening act. Sirius’ job is to design and create the students’ looks while Remus tells them they look pretty and tames their stage fright. Severus just sits in the audience smirking while Lily screams in delight. (Regulus also shrieks with excitement eventually, though he does usually spend the first half trying to look disinterested.) (Peter’s job is to get the cookies and sweets (and underage alcohol).)

He turns into his snake Animagus form sometimes without warning when his students aren’t looking and just slithers around the classroom scaring the crap out of people. His favorite students are the ones brave enough to pet him. Harry and Newt are the only ones brave enough (and allowed) to wind him around their shoulders. Severus and Harry sometimes have conversations in Parseltongue.

He invents spells to help with dyslexia and other learning disabilities in his spare time. When he’s done with that he plans to try looking into some cures to mental illness. He’s thinking possibly a potion that treats PTSD by replacing traumatic memories with pictures of puppies, unicorns, bunnies, cats, and parrots. What do you think?

He tries hard to come up with solutions and modifications to his lessons for students with ADHD. He often talks to James about what the best steps to take are because James has ADHD. (So does Sirius, but his insecurities are bad enough that he won’t talk about it with anyone but Remus and James.)

He plays the violin sometimes during tests and uses Sonorus to make it echo throughout the classroom. Occasionally he cancels class and just plays until most of his students fall asleep. Those who want to work on extra work can, but he tries to keep their stress and general teenage angst to a minimum. (Though he encourages the emo phase.)

One of the first things he does after the Prank is get to work on a lycanthropy solution for Remus. After a couple years he invents the wolfsbane potion, but it doesn’t quite do the trick. Eventually he manages to figure out the cure, and when Remus finds out he cries so hard he can’t breathe right for days. (Sirius also cries. So does James. And Peter. And Lily and Regulus and Mcgonogall. Seriously, everyone cried and everyone hugged him and Severus tried to get away by transforming into his snake form but toddler Harry just grabbed him and refused to let go, so that didn’t work.) (He also helps Remus become a wolf Animagus when he asks almost a year later.)

He teaches certain kids Occlumency and Legilimency after school. It’s strictly for kids he knows come from abusive homes, whether they’re open about it or not, so they can tell when it’s going to be a bad night and get away or protect themselves. He teaches Occlumency for those who need to hide things from their parents (like Sirius and Regulus used to) and Legilimency to all, just in case. He focuses on stealth and untraceable versions of the craft to earn the kids as much time and protection as he can.

He figures out how to remove the Dark Mark from his own arm after the war. The next person he calls is Regulus, whose he also removes. He writes down the entire process and when the war starts up again, he keeps an eye out for students suddenly wearing long sleeves. He speaks with those he does find and helps them to make the right choice and join the right side of the war, starting with removing that horrid tattoo. (Draco bawls uncontrollably when Severus removes his.)

When they do the lesson on Veritaserum, he’s extra careful to make sure students don’t test it, especially on themselves or their friends. It, along with Amortentia, is the most guarded potion in his stash. The only times he uses it is when a student from an abusive home is too scared to tell him what’s going on, in which case he finds them somewhere private, asks them if they’d be okay with it and if so which teacher they want to be there to ask the questions (usually Remus, Sirius, or himself), and then administers the potion and leaves or begins to ask yes or no questions. It’s helped a lot of kids escape their families.

He tries to ease trepidations about himself early in the school year, since he’s aware he can be intimidating and the rampant stories regarding his time under Voldemort (though entirely as a spy) do not help. His friendships with Remus and Sirius often serve to alleviate students’ fears though, as they tend to tell embarrassing stories about him from their own Hogwarts days that make him seem more human (and make him want to strangle them, but that’s neither here nor there).

Every year, he works with Remus and Lily to arrange Muggleborn Pride. It’s an incredibly popular event with tons of Muggle inventions and artifacts floating through the air over students’ heads. At any time they can reach up and pull one down to study it. Many students dress as their favorite Muggle icons and characters. Because of this, Muggleborn students are more comfortable being who they are than ever before. (Some have even reclaimed the word Mudblood by setting up mud pits during their Pride.) (They also have more Slytherin Muggleborns now than any other time in recorded history.)

He tells Regulus’ story to every class of students, to teach them what true bravery is and how love and family, even if not blood, can change the course of history. Regulus survived his encounter with the Horcruxes and worked to destroy them and eventually Voldemort, but now lives away from the public eye in a secluded part of Muggle London. He and Severus are friends and visit often, and Regulus will occasionally come back to Hogwarts to say hello to his brother and mum (Remus), but for the most part he keeps his life intensely private. He allows his family to tell his story because he wants other kids to know they are not alone and that there is a way out, and that you are not a bad person for things you did in your childhood. Severus does his best to do it justice.

He has incredibly loud arguments with Dumbledore until he finally agrees to implement sex ed as a mandatory class at Hogwarts. Severus works with the other Marauders on the curriculum and they try to include multiple angles and identities in their lesson plan. At first they try to trust Remus with it, but Remus doesn’t go anywhere without Sirius who is less than tactful and Remus himself has some deadpan sarcasm and a lack of shame to rival James Potter’s, so. They try Lily. She can’t stop giggling. Finally they beg Regulus to come back and teach it. He’s surprisingly… perfect for the job. (He steals parenting books from Amir, that’s his secret.)

When James visits, everything becomes chaos for a bit. While he mostly hangs out with Sirius and Remus and causes trouble with them, he certainly seems to enjoy sitting in the back of Severus’ classroom and bothering him during lessons. The only way to get him to leave is to turn into a snake and wind himself around his shoulders, which makes James shriek and sputter and run away (James has always had an irrational fear of snakes; odd that he married one then, innit?). But when James isn’t causing chaos, he’s following Severus around adoringly and grabbing at his hand, whispering jokes in his ear and kissing his cheek. Despite all of the times he’s a pain in the ass, there are always these little moments that remind Severus why he fell in love with him in the first place (entirely unwillingly and with much stubborn pride on both ends, but, well. It is what it is and they got here eventually, so that’s all that matters).

When Lily visits, everything is calm. She reigns all of the Marauders in and forces them to have picnics under the tree where they all used to do homework. She often holds Severus’ hand and dances with him there, turning his insides to useless goo. She’s always full of laughter and fairy bells, and though she makes every student question their priorities and life decisions, she’s a favorite of them all. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t pull him aside and say, “You’re a lucky, lucky man.” (Or, in James’ case: “Fuck, love, how’d we bloody manage that?” (Severus just shrugs. It’s not like he knows.))

He helps kids with autism feel more like they belong. He also works to educate non-autistic students how to better socialize and respect those who are, and takes extra care to dispel myths about autism and its causes, effects, and characteristics. Lily helps when she can.

Above all, Severus tries to give his students the education he never had. Anything he can provide for them he will. He’s been given a second chance and by Merlin is he going to bloody use it.

[therealvinelle]

what do you think of The Children of the Moon?

(I have not read the Twilight Guide so I have no clue whether we know much more about them from it than from the books)

How do you think they differ from the shapeshifters?

also, how do you think of the vampires of twilight? as some sort of other predatory species, or parasites, almost science-like or fully as just supernatural? sometimes I think that vampires are depicted just as an evolutionary phenomenon in canon... which makes me question how can the shapeshifters exist in the same universe as their legends telling how they came to be are so rooted in spirituality and supernatural, with the whole souls thing

The Children of the Moon are a very small, but all the more fascinating part of the Twilight worldbuilding.

They’re worse than vampires. They’re just as powerful if not more so (or they wouldn’t be able to kill a vampire singlehandedly), they’re feral, and they prey on humans. What is described in the wiki is essentially unusually powerful vampires without any control, and most of the time you can’t find them because they’re human.

I think the Children of the Moon are one of the reasons the Volturi are necessary. A creature with their powerlevel could easily level a entire village in one night, and that’s not to mention the fact that unlike vampires, who are largely detached from human society and have no interest in it, the Children of the Moon are still humans in the day, meaning they are a part (however fringe) of society and have human interests. And as being a lycanthrope would pretty easily fuck up their lives (good luck having any kind of home stability when you turn into a vampire-killing apex predator at night), which would make these people ripe for radicalization or being taken advantage of. What I’m saying is, they would become weapons of war. Get even just one of these people inside the enemy stronghold before a full moon, and bam. Your enemy has been decimated.

That was supposed to be a paragraph on the Volturi and the Children of the Moon, it went off-topic - what I planned to say is, these creatures are extremely dangerous, to humans, to themselves, and to society at large. And, as I explained in the linked meta about why the Volturi are necessary, the reason why the law exists in the first place is because saying “don’t hunt in excess” would have been too subjective to effectively enforce. Aro’s solution of making vampires a secret from the world is a sensible solution. And werewolves who ravage entire villages at full moon and threaten the food supply are very much not secret. They may not be vampires, but they’d still be a threat to the secret, and as such to vampires. 

The Volturi would, following the ethical standard laid down by their law, be as justified to take out a Child of the Moon as they are in taking out an immortal child.

And this is where we get into how the Children of the Moon imply some very exciting things about the Twilight worldbuilding.

Though, to answer your question about vampires being magical or biological before I go any further - I think it’s both. I think vampires are a species of their own, a sentient and cloned single-cell parasitical superorganism that converts the host body into an ideal climate. I also think they’re magical, or they wouldn’t have gifts. And there’s something magical about some of the more impossible things they do, like run across snow without leaving footprints. They’re the xenomorphs from Alien, with magic.

More, and this is where the exciting worldbuilding comes in, magic clearly does exist in the Twilight world. Shapeshifters exist, Children of the Moon exist, and gifted humans exist.

And this raises the question: why, in this fantastical world of magic and sci-fi, are these the only creatures we hear about? I’m sure there are more creatures Bella hasn’t heard of, Carlisle’s friends and the Volturi were unsurprised enough by the existence of the shapeshifters (if brand new supernatural creatures were unheard of, they would have made a much bigger deal out of these teens turning into werewolves. Their quick acceptance is telling) that non-vampire creatures are clearly a thing. And yet, the vampire community is just that, it’s a vampire community. We don’t hear a single word of any other creature, nothing. Carlisle has no mermaid friends. When the Volturi enforce their law, they speak only of humans and vampires, not humans and vampires, fairies, elves, and witches.

It seems that if these other types of creatures exist, and it is likely they do (or did), then by the time canon begins they’re either small minorities or straight up extinct.

And it just so happens that Twilight is a 'verse where we have an elite force of organized executioners who have devoted themselves to keeping the humans unaware of the existence of vampires, at any price necessary.

And we know, from the Volturi taking out the Children of the Moon, that this force already wiped one supernatural species.

There’s also the fact that while the Children of the Moon were more powerful than vampires, the reason why people speak of them might be because they were more powerful than vampires. I doubt this would apply to every supernatural species: if it did, vampires would not have risen to become the dominating species that they are in the present day.)

Then there’s the fact that so much real life myth and lore features things that go bump in the night as threatening to humans. Sirens, nøkker, nisser, huldre, trolls, so many creatures (I’ll admit I mostly used myths from my own culture’s folklore for this listing) are in some way sinister. They’ll trick us, damn us, or kill us, and within the Twilight world where these myths can be assumed to have a grain of truth in them, the Volturi might have a problem with these creatures.

I think, within Twilight canon, we have reason to believe that there used to be far more supernatural creatures around than there are now, and that these were driven extinct by the Volturi.

Depending on what these other creatures were and whether they too preyed on humans, or were in other way obstructions to vampires, or just fun to hunt, it is also likely that other, non-Volturi vampires helped drive them to extinction.

(On that note: I think the shapeshifters are safe from the Volturi. They’re not a threat to humans, on the contrary their raison d’être is to protect them. In one of their myths, their ancestor prevented the slaughter of their tribe. On top of this they even take secrecy seriously, Bella who already knew about vampires and Embry’s own mother weren’t allowed to know about the shapeshifters. The Volturi should have no quarrel with them.)

[cat-sapphics]

aroace lsbian is just as harmful as bisexual lesbian

.....................no?? i can tell you're the same anon, although that doesn't matter and idrgaf anyway

no. bi lesbians imply that lesbians can be attracted to men, are not inherently attracted to trans and (some) nonbinary people, and redefine what it means to be a lesbian in a harmful way without our input. it is inherently invalidating, even if the person using the label is doing so in "good faith."

an aro and/or ace lesbian either lacks romantic and/or sexual attraction, experiences it on a spectrum (meaning not fully but they still do, and that's where i stand), or lack both forms of attraction but want other types of relationships, so they may feel platonic or aesthetic or sensory attraction to only women. saying all aroace individuals who experience neither type of attraction are lesbians is obviously lesbophobic, yes. but if the types of attraction they do experience meet the same qualifications, well, it's still lesbian by definition.

i understand that this may come across as "just replace some words and you're defending bi lesbianism" but one of these is harmful and the other is just a different type of lesbianism under its same closed, safe definition without invalidating other lesbians. as long as one's identity is not invalidating others, i don't care if it seems contradictory (which... even then... it really isn't...). there's a difference at play here.

do NOT compare me to the harm caused by mspec lesbians. if men had the audacity to control themselves and respect women, as well as understand what lesbian actually means, they would not approach an aro/ace lesbian and expect them to date or even hook-up. it'd make sense for them to at least shoot their shot if they had reason to believe lesbians could be attracted to men.

so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ enough. i'm not answering anymore asks about this unless they're genuine questions being asked without malice, or if it's something i think i should probably defend if it's actually even worth my time. otherwise, leave my inbox alone going forward. it upset me more than i thought it would to defend an identity i have already struggled with accepting.