#aro besties

[fatallyaddictedtofiction]

House of Hades Headcanon:

Leo Valdez and Calypso are Aro best friends.

Calypso, after finally getting freedom from her life of endlessly falling in love with men who leave her one day realises she doesnt want that anymore. Maybe she never really wanted it, only the idea of it. Thats why she would love them when they first arrived and grieved them leaving, because it was just an idea.

She wants to live a life without romantic love, without what she was forced to endure for (thousands of years?)

Leo Valdez, constantly trying to find a partner and going to extreme lengths, pulling up all the flirty posts he's saved on his phone but never actually knowing what a crush feels like. He talks to Percy about liking girls (seen as he's dating Annabeth), and after realising that he hasn't ever felt that quite the same. He thinks "oh, ive got it" and goes and speaks to Nico and finds out that its just the same thing but with guys. Leo is confused, Leo is scared.

Nico tells Leo to talk to Reyna (i hc her as acearo most of the time bare with me) and he tells her that he hasnt had "a crush" or "feelings" for anyone and hes not sure whats going on. Reyna gently explains that there are some people in the world who dont have crushes or feel romantic attraction for anyone, no matter their gender. Reyna further explains aromantisism to Leo and he realises, thats him. Thats what he feels like, thats what hes felt like this whole time.

Leo explaining to Calypso that he's aro but still caring about her so much, Calypso basically confessing the same thing. They hug. Maybe they cry. They go eat some burritos like good besties.

They are happy not pursuing what they originally thought was an integral part of them but now are realising that they can change and be who they are comfortable being.

Reyna, Nico and Percy watching on in proud parent/wine aunt mode. Will and Annabeth are sighing at how emotional Percy is getting.

[f-loys]

Platonic makorra for life

[biboomerangboi]

The whole party’s so codependent that this hardly matters anyway but Queerplatonic FabRiz is actually so important to me like all I picture is them at 20 being like Fabian “Hello my future lover, this is my emotional support provider THE BALL, I run most of my decisions past him and lose my mind if he’s not around.” Meanwhile Riz just gets the confirmation he’s actually loved for being a great friend and just the validation that his friendship is as important to someone’s life as a romance partner and also getting to at some point to be Fabian’s Sugarbaby.

[supernowa-art]

ONE PIECE BEING FULL OF CANON QUEER ICONS!!!!!!

[dolls-self-ships]

doodle dump bc I drew SO MUCH today and I can’t wait to finalize my ideas and post them so you all get to see the drafts before they’re complete ✨

some of these will become comics and some are just gonna get finalized <3

[perihelion-crew-lounge]

Then Amena said, "Do you love my second mother? Thiago thinks so." I should have known this was going to turn into an interrogation. I said, "Not the way he thinks."

I really love that Murderbot doesn't deny that it loves Dr. Mensah. Of course it does, she's its favorite human.

There's no "and then this character reels back in shock at being confronted about stooping so low as to LOVE a human!" or any vehement denial. It just keeps investigating the shuttle.

Also that it's implied that Thiago thinks that MB loves Mensah romantically, and that's denied. Not all love and deep devotion is romantic.

[mspaint-flower]

we can now exist for a week

[mr-president]

I think one of my favorite Funtermina things is how it uses characters as narrative foils, specifically in how those characters interact with each other and everyone else.

Karin and Daan’s is the most discussed as it’s probably the most apparent within the text: their volatile opposing viewpoints on life via their upbringings (despite being extremely similar otherwise). When Karin and Daan interact, it’s like a person arguing with themself. They clash like ammonia and bleach, unable to reconcile how similar they are (haha cleaning chemical analogy) yet toxic in their association.

Marina and Levi represent the different realities of Prehevil, what with Marina’s privileged upbringing versus Levi’s absolute shitshow of an existence. And yet, they get along incredibly well and form a cadence with one another because through each other, they can reconcile their upbringings in Prehevil. Levi is the Prehevil Marina tried to escape—Marina is the Prehevil Levi hoped to return to.

Marcoh and Olivia are interesting because—and I will argue this to the death—their relationship is wholly as siblings. And they’re also deeply connected by their relationships with their sisters, specifically how those sisters formulated and defined how they see themselves. Marcoh has done nothing but live to protect his sister, while Olivia has forever lived in her sister’s shadow. Their identities revolve completely around their sisters, and this also colors their relationship with each other as siblings.

I wish it was explored more, but I think there’s a level of disenfranchisement when Marcoh fervently tries to protect Olivia the same way he protected his younger sister (edit: rb for amendment). He clearly sees her in that role, and Olivia’s already got guilt written into her about her disability making her a “charity case.” I say this also because of their different opinions on guns, power, and death: Marcoh has no bloodlust and seems exhausted when he has to hurt others, while Olivia becomes almost jubilant when she receives a gun. And those reactions to enacting violence are directly informed by their relationships with their sisters: a begrudging responsibility vs empowerment.

My favorite is probably Abella and O’saa as foils. As characters they’re probably my favorites, and their foil makes it even better.

Abella easily connects with everyone around her, ensuring that they’re all getting along (or not killing each other) and she tries desperately to help everyone, even at her own detriment. She cares, so much, even too much.

O’saa on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He actively chooses to connect with everyone as little as possible, to the point where you can kill someone in front of him and he won’t give a shit. This is, obviously, to his detriment in terms of his goal towards enlightenment. He cares too little, even if at all.

They perfectly represent the dichotomy between altruism vs selfishness, the mundane vs the macro, democracy vs individualism. Fundamentally, both Abella and O’saa get shit done, and what makes them so compelling as foils is how similar the results of their different processes are.

Both of them are the only two that are capable of saving everyone. Abella does so by interacting with many of the other contestants, while O’saa does this by ignoring everyone and just occam’s razoring that shit. They both get shit done and to the greatest net success, but in both cases, because they operate on extremes, it’s to the detriment of themselves. The game shows this literally because, well, they sacrifice themselves to Logic for the greater good, but the game also implies this detriment via their moonscorches.

Chaugnaur represents how others have reduced Abella to a sexual object for their pleasure or a mindless brute for labor. It is a physical manifestation of how interacting and connecting with others can be to one’s detriment because Abella often cannot control how people see and define her. Mastermind, on the other hand, is O’saa’s brain swelling and overtaking everything else on his head to the point where he is blind (save for the eye) and mute, only able to speak in mumbles. Mastermind is how O’saa values logic, knowledge, comprehension over anything else, becoming blind to other viewpoints save for his own. Additionally, it’s unable to communicate or connect with anyone else, only able to ruminate get never share its thoughts.

Abella is one of the first to Moonscorch; O’saa is one of the last. I love them as foils because even though they’re the most different in terms of anything, they don’t hinder one another at much all. They’re just kinda chill. And this makes sense because their dichotomies aren’t volatile like Karin and Daan’s, nor complementary like the others. Rather, they operate in balance—you cannot be too altruistic without some selfishness. To help everyone and to achieve enlightenment, you must consider both the mundane and the greater picture. Society operates on a shared democracy and on empowering individuals.

Still, the fact that even operating on the extremes has the greatest positive effect (in terms of utilitarianism) really says smth abt whether these values even matter. But I’d argue that they do matter, cause it’s that question of whether it’s worth it to suffer or even sacrifice for the greater good.

As a whole, each foil represents a central theme/motif of Fear & Hunger: internal vs external locus of control (Karin and Daan), environment dictating identity (Marina and Levi), relationships and their impact (Marcoh and Olivia), and the thematic shitshow that is Abella and O’saa.

Tldr; the game is about some girls and their boy best friends.

[infiniteorangethethird]

being loveless does suck sometimes but less bc of some "ohnooo I'll never be able to loooove what will I ever doooo" bs but because how the hell do you tell the ppl around you that you view all relationships as business transactions where the currency is care and support and the reward is trust? How do you tell someone "hey so I could not care less about you as a person but also I enjoy every second we spend together and I'd fight the universe for you if you asked and if you ever disappeared I probably wouldn't miss you but I'd still cry for all the things we never got to experience together" without being the asshole?

[eldritch-ace]

Hannibal sapphics be upon yee 🧡🤍💖

[fatallyaddictedtofiction]

When your best friend says

"going to rip someones heart out with my bear hands to i can feel like i belong to someone"

[peevesiehasasideblog]

Aromantics on 5th June:

[magniloquent-raven]

they 💚🤍🖤

✨here be memes✨

[greenteaandtattoos]

being romance repulsed but wanting a partner like i just want a bestie to live with in a little cottage on the outskirts of a little town and we have a garden that we grow herbs to do spells with and fruits and veggies to sell at the farmer's market. is that too much to ask?

[wonder-and-wildflowers]

I think not realizing that I was aromantic until I was like 19 is kinda mental in retrospect.

Not just because of the way I used to 'assign' crushes to myself. Or would genuinely become heartbroken when very specific best friends (who I now realize were squishes) would date someone and that person would become a priority over me.

Or when I would start mourning when one of said very specific people (the squishes) would confess romantic feelings for me.

But, if for no other reason, because I have literally always treated friendship rings/ necklaces/ bracelets with a level of reverence mirrored primarily in allo's comitment to their weddings/ engagement rings.

I wear those things until they break and then become genuinely completely devastated when they do.

[icannotgetoverbirds]

LET'S GO LOVELESS AROS

loveless aros my beloved and appreciated. y'all are great and i hope you enjoy this olm!