#aro flash fiction

[transcendragon]

Prompt Flash Fiction - Love Potion

Prompt: “You have to understand, the use of love potions is both morally gross and legally r-”, you interrupt the alchemist, and say the potion is meant for yourself. There’s a long, awkward silence. Some of the many vials in the alchemist’s back room shelves tinkle. There’s so many that they surround the entire room in a rainbow of potions that sparkle gently in the light. It was a sight that…

[transcendragon]

There’s a long, awkward silence. Some of the many vials in the alchemist’s back room shelves tinkle. There’s so many that they surround the entire room in a rainbow of potions that sparkle gently in the light. It was a sight that had given you hope, when you first saw it. If the alchemist has all these potions then there must be one that can fix you.

Now, in the silence, the potions seem to mock you with their unattainablility. The silence stretches until the alchemist finally speaks: “Why?”

You rub your face, grimacing. You’ve never talked to anyone about this, and you were hoping not to start here. But the alchemist simply waits, staring at you intently.

“My best friend is a girl called May,” you say finally. “I’ve known her since we were young. We were neighbors, you know? And we’re going to the same university together.”

That hadn��t been an accident. You’d both looked through possible colleges together and picked out the ones that would be right for both of you, applying to all of the same ones. When the acceptances came you’d run over to her house so you could read them together.

“…and?” The alchemist prompted. Talking about this was harder than you thought.

“And she asked me out,” you blurted. “Said she’s been in love with me for years!”

“Ah.” A noise of understanding clicking in the same place. “You don’t feel the same way.”

You hung your head, not able to look the alchemist in the eyes. “No. I’ve never felt that way, not about anyone.”

You’d never told anyone this before. You’d watched all the movies with your best friend growing up, seen the princes and princesses. You’d heard all the lines about how love was the strongest magic, stronger than all the potions and charms and rituals. So when the crushes never came you didn’t tell anyone, obfuscating any questions about it.

May had never pressed you about your crushes. You’d hoped she was just being respectful, but now you knew the truth. She hadn’t wanted to talk about her crush on you.

“You don’t love her romantically, then.”

“I don’t love anyone romantically,” you replied. You still couldn’t look up to face the alchemist.

“So you’re aromantic.”

The alchemist’s matter of fact tone and the unfamiliar word caused your head to finally shoot up. You stared at the alchemist, who gave you a little smile. They didn’t look appalled or pitying, just… sympathetic.

“Let me get you some tea,” they said. You followed them out of the room, feeling baffled.

There was a long discussion over a pot of chamomile tea. Well, they did most of the talking. You held your cup of warm tea like an anchor as you listened in wonder. They explained that the way you felt was normal; there were words for it and even other people like you. It was an incredible relief, but at the end of it you still felt conflicted.

“Even if how I feel is normal and okay,” you said, “May still loves me romantically. If I can’t love her back she’ll abandon me.”

“No.” The alchemist was much more confident in their tone than you felt. “If she is a true friend then she won’t abandon you over something like this.”

You hunched your shoulders. “I don’t know that for sure.”

“The only way to find out is to be honest,” the alchemist said. “You need friends who accept you for you. Even if you took a love potion, the effects would fade and you’d constantly need more. She’d find out, and everything would be worse.”

You cringed. It was too easy to imagine it, and that would be far worse. You clutch your teacup tightly.

“But how can I tell her that I don’t love her the way she loves me?”

“Ah.” The alchemist gives you a true, warm smile. “A potion of courage is something I can do for you. No payment required, just remember: I’m here with my tea if you need me.”

You took a deep breath in and intentionally straightened your shoulders.

“Thank you. For everything.”

“You have to understand, the use of love potions is both morally gross and legally r-”, you interrupt the alchemist, and say the potion is meant for yourself.

[specialagentartemis]

thinking more about @thetransfemininereview's Trans Microlibrary Project.

It's a good idea, an important idea. TBH microlibrary preservation projects seem like a good idea in general. My mom used to warn me about internet safety, “The internet is written in ink”—that once you put something on the Internet, you can never fully remove it. But the tragic problem is, that’s only true of the stuff you don’t want spreading—the stuff you actually want to preserve is so ephemeral it can disappear without a trace, and you can never get it back again. Jamie Berrout's work is an eternal preservation difficulty this way. A few years ago, a Metal Gear fanfiction author on Livejornal I loved deleted her LJ account and all her foundational Metal Gear fanfic was just—gone. I go and reread some important blog posts about asexual history and link rot has already set in. The Internet Archive did something phenomenally stupid and as a result faces a credible threat to its continued existence.  Personal offline archives of internet-native work seem more important now than ever.

I believe wholeheartedly in the Trans Microlibrary Project and I certainly have PDF copies of several trans books that it is hard-to-impossible to get anymore (Jamie Berrout’s work, primarily, but also one of Xemiyulu Tapepechul’s poetry chapbooks) and other indie trans fiction that who knows how long the content hosters will allow in this skittish political climate (Gillian Ybabez’s flash fiction and various works by the Trans Women Writers’ Collective/River Furnace), so I’m thinking about buying a handful of flash drives and making my own personal preservation projects:

Contribute to the decentralized Trans Microlibrary Project as described in this post (and this will be an inspiration to read M. Kirin’s book Memory Leak, which a recent review piqued my interest in. Itch.io is a very under-recommended venue for indie queer books!) I'm particularly interested in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and related genre fiction.

An Ace & Aro archive—so much of the important ace writing is on blogs and in zines, and with Matt Mullenwig beefing with Wordpress, I don’t know how stable Wordpress-based blogs will continue to be. Thinking about trying to download PDF copies of the entire Asexual Agenda. I also have several self-pub ace and aro books that are… at best okay tbh. But worth preserving as well. 

Fanfiction. Wanting to have the stuff I like on hand and safe—not even from government censorship or hosting problems necessarily but from all the things that inspire people to delete their fics and their accounts and their blogs. I’ve been burned by Athena Crikey deleting her LJ after years of inactivity and I don’t want to lose so much work I’ve enjoyed over the years.

More projects than that would probably prevent me from doing anything at all lol. But this offline preservation work of internet material is something I have a renewed interest in actually doing.

What do you think is worth preserving?

[bunny-lovers]

My Only Romantic F/O

Rumi Usagiyama (Rabbit Hero: Mirko) from My Hero Academia She’s the love my life & soulmate 💕 Status: Dating since 4/4/2021 otp: bunny kisses I’m very uncomfortable sharing her romantically

DNI/BYF

DNI:

You also self ship romantically with Mirko

Proshippers/profic/comshippers/darkshippers/anti antis/neutrals/supporters

You support cringe culture

Anti-self shipping

You’re an adult who self ship romantically with minor characters/age up minor characters/age yourself down. You support an adult who self ship romantically with minor characters/age up minor characters/age themselves down

You erase canon LGBT+ of characters

RPF shippers

MAP/NOMAP/zoophIle/supporters

You support autism speaks and/or peta

You ship/support pedo, incest, etc in fiction

If you self ship with someone who is a canonical r*pist/p*dophile

You’re racist/anti-blm, nazi, antisemitic, ableist, sexist, zionist

You’re an LGBT+ phobic, TERFs, radfems, radqueer/transid, truscum/transmeds and/or an ace/aro/nonbinary exclusionist

You don’t support he/him and they/them lesbians or she/her and they/them gay men

You’re fujoshi

You send anon hate

BYF:

Sometimes I post suggestive content, it’ll be tag #suggestive & #suggestive cw. If you don’t want to see suggestive content, just blacklist one of the tags, especially if you’re a minor!

Long posts will be tag as #long post & #long post cw

Triggers will be tag by #(trigger) tw, #tw (trigger), & #(trigger) mention

Flashing gif(s) posts will be tag by #flashing, #flashing tw, #tw flashing, #flashing gif, #flashing gifs, #flashing gif tw, #flashing gifs tw, #tw flashing gif & tw flashing gifs

I’m 100% okay with like/reblog spam

I’m an adult, if that makes you uncomfortable, don’t follow me

[jacktheeldergod2]

6th dimensional porn

You have a computer that can access the internet of any dimension. You don't have the ability to physically go places, just to observe them and interact with them through this one machine.

Sometimes you'll just do it for fun. Seeing other timeline's versions of sites and the content that's created there. Getting to see work from artists if they hadn't sold out or moved on. Or getting to see what YouTube is like in a world where it never become corpratized. Or get to go on Vine in a world where vine exists in 2024. You've read writing from Shakespeare if he had been sent to the new world, seen stories from Lovecraft if he had unlearned his bigotry, seen experimental films from George Lucas if star wars had floppe, heard music from Kurt Cobain if he hadn't died young.

And you've gone off to weirder places to. You've seen what political discourse is like in a world where Constantine converted to Buddhism instead of chrsitianity, where that's the dominant religion of the west. And you'll see conservatives talking about how sjws are undermining the west's Buddhist values, or YouTube videos talking about chrsitantiy as this forgotten dead religion from the crisis if the third century. And you asked someone in the comments of that video what they thought a world would be like if chrsitanity survived, and they said it was impossible, that it was doomed to die out just because it did.

And you've talked to people from a world where humanity lives underground, where an apocalypse made the surface of the world uninhabitable, and every human on earth lives in massive subterranean complexes. You talked to them about what they wanted, if they wanted to see the sun, see the forests and the birds and the creatures that they knew were above them, and most of them didn't really want it. Most of them didn't really want to see the surface, they had grown up having never seen it, it didn't bother them, they were confused why anyone would be that committed to finally go somewhere that humans weren't. And there was one person who told you they did always really want to see it, that it's their hyperfixation, but that they'd obviously go back with the other humans if they had the chance, that they couldn't live somewhere without them.

And you've seen a world where humans where dead, where only robots and ai and cyborgs were still around. And even though they couldn't touch you, you were afraid, because you thought they would hate you. But they didn't, on every site where they talked about humans they talked about how cool you were, and how much aprication they had for their culture. And when you made a post asking if they'd want to hurt humans if they saw them, everyone who replied called you weird.

You've seen the internet in a world where cryptids and monsters are real. And you ended up on a forum for vampires. And you asked a newly turned vampire how they felt, and they said it was cold, that their body felt so cold, but it was still their body, and that they still wanted to live, still wanted to find a way to enjoy their life even if they didn't like their body.

And you've seen a world where all humans are completely aroace, and don't desire sex or romance at all. And you decided to upload sexual and romantic art, and even fetish art, to one of their sites. And the people there loved it, despite not understanding its purpose, they loved the way the artist depicted the world, saw it as so unique and strange, as something weirdly beautiful, and not at all gross, because nobody ever told them such things were gross.

And you've made online freinds from other worlds. People who you can never touch, never see, but who you see through their words. You've comforted someone who doesn't exist in your world, from a country that doesn't exist in your world, but you've comforted them, and made sure they don't get hurt or hurt themself, from very far away, because despite everything you can't help but care.

Mabye the internet isn't that bad. Mabye the world isn't all horrible. Mabye people aren't that bad.

[cenlyra]

Happy Aro Week!

For Aro Week, I wrote a flash fiction piece about an aroallo person.

TW: mention of sex, non-descriptive

[gwen-tolios]

Nine people I’d like to know better (Tag Game)

tagged by @rockinlibrarian

One-sentence byline: Short story writer specializing in speculative flash fiction, but who also has a sapphic romantic drama for the ace girlies who like the idea of falling in love with a friend.

Last song: Ceilings by Lizzy McAlphine. I can tell you nothing about it. I just had Spotify's 'Fresh Finds Class of 2023' playlist going while I worked.

Favourite colour: Blue! I don't have a specific shade, but a chunk of my condo I painted different hues of it, including a mural in my bedroom that's an ombre sea thing

Currently watching: Only Murders in the Building. I'm two nights into watching it and am already on S2E2. Pls send help.

Last movie/tv show: Barbie! Recently rewatched with my father, who then brought it up as a conversation topic around the Thanksgiving table. He and I have...different views of it and for the past two weeks I keep replying some of our conversations and wish I had asked if what really pissed him off was the fact that the 'dumb blonde' character wasn't a woman.

Spicy/savoury/sweet: It used to be sweet, but as I've gotten older I've leaned more into savory items.

Relationship status: Single. Maybe happily so. (Ace and probably some form of aro but haven't dug too deep)

Current obsession: Middlegame. I feel in love with McGuire's work when I first read Every Heart A Doorway for my ace bookclub, to the point where I then bought everything my local bookshop had by her. Or at least a representation of every series. Middlegame has been on my radar for awhile, but picked it up for a spooky October read that I'm....still reading.

Last thing you googled: Like, needed to google? Definitions for acronyms I use at work. OEM, MAU. Fun googles? Potential problems surrounding blood transfusions for my NaNo original work, A Shelter for Witch Familiars. There were....a lot more murders in that book that I expected.

Tagging: @redstorm23 @notquitebilateral @chris-in-eugene @nightingalesighs @aprilraine @averyconfusedhuman @xirkanos @diesel-park @wigglyparty

[seeingteacupsindragons]

Fic Authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics works that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤

Anon, the fact that you crossed out "fic" on this just to send it to me is honestly so sweet. You're adorable and ILY in a very platonic, social media way.

That said, none of my most favorite fiction pieces are currently available publicly for various reasons. So this is going to be, I suppose, "My favorite stuff you can find on my blog."

There's already a "Marr's Favorites" list on my YuuMori Meta list, but it's longer than five, and I have other stuff here. So.

"A Ceiling Fan to the Heart": Probably the only fiction piece on this list! While I have some flash fic pieces floating around that will be hard even for me to find here and some flash written off prompts, this is I think the only full short story I have posted to Tumblr, because I specifically wrote it for Tumblr to share with you all.

"Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian’s Backstory Is Very Queer: An Essay": A meta piece I was honestly turning over for months before I wrote it up for a dear friend's birthday (she's very into meta). I originally wanted to turn this into a proper lit essay with JSTOR sources and such. It didn't quite turn into that, but I think it's a really good read "Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian's Backstory Is Very Queer: The Aspec Amendment" is exactly what it says on the tin, and basically a tag onto it, so I'm combining these.

"Seigi's Queer Coming of Age": This has a similar backstory to the other one, and it once again just really fun to talk about queer stuff.

"The Man Who Set Himself On Fire to Keep Others Warm": William's motif meta. I'm proud of it, okay?

"The Man Who Goes Through Hell and High Water": Sherlock's motif essay. These were fun to write, even if this one was written while my apartment was flooded.

Much of my ace and aro education stuff was posted as threads on twitter originally...I should see how much of them I can save before Twitter totally implodes. I'm proud of a lot of them, actually, but most of them aren't here on Tumblr right now.

Anyway, stuff that didn't make the cut that I think is also pretty great include:

"No One Tell Sherlock" / "It Doesn't Hurt at First, Does It?": I like this one a lot because I really wrote it trying to incorporate a lot of fiction story-telling techniques in it to really amp up the emotional punch instead of just being purely analytic. It could probably use a good edit, but it's fun.

God, I was just looking at the "Marr's Favorites" list to pick and choose, and they're all really good and I love all of them. If you're into YuuMori meta, go read those and gimme feedback lol.

[cervinae-canine]

Lovebug Cycle (Different from the Classic Lovebug AU)

(I said I was gonna write about my Lovebug Cycle Idea I have been thinking about for a few months and I feel confident enough to post it. Here is me getting hyperfixated on a fictional cycle. I'm planning also to make Lovebug art that isn't just the Narrator but I have a bias for him. I suggest writing this as 'Lovebug Cycle' instead of 'Lovebug AU' since the original AU is like a virus.)

Note + Content Warning: There are a few mentions and discussion on suggestive subjects, such as intimacy in a platonic and s3xual context. I tried to write this in a somewhat professional way but I recommend not reading this if you're a minor or is otherwise uncomfortable with sensual subjects.

Who Experiences the Cycle: Non-Humans; particularly Transcendental Beings, such as the Curator and the Narrator. Humans can experience the Love Bug Cycle; however the process is faster and is not constant, only lasting for an hour or shorter. Only occurs when a human partakes in s3xual intimacy with a Transcendental Being during their cycle.

The Biological / Physical Aspect of the Lovebug Cycle: 

The subject begins to experience this process at around 12 - 15 years old, where they experience the following physical traits for around 2 to 3 days every month:

- Hot Flashes

- Dizziness (feeling weak in the knees)

- Insomnia 

- Night Sweats (this and Insomnia may Overlap)

- High Libido or S3x-Drive (this fits under the general umbrella of heightened emotions)

- Sweating (this and Hot Flashes may Overlap)

- Sudden Irritability or Ignorance; i.e. feeling intense skepticism or intense leniency towards their partner

(This depends on how agreeable the subject was beforehand. Ex. An intensely skeptical being becomes intensely lenient during their cycle.)

- Persistent Want for Intimacy or a Close Distance with their Partner

(NOTE: THE PERSISTENT WANT FOR INTIMACY OR CLOSENESS DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN S3XUAL INTIMACY OR DESIRE AND BEINGS IN THE ARO/ACE UMBRELLA ARE ABLE TO EXPRESS LOVE IN PLATONIC WAYS. ELABORATED MORE IN THE EMOTIONAL SECTION.)

- Appearance features more Bug-Like Qualities, such as multiple limbs, wings and/or forewings, antennae, or compound eyes

(Treatment: Ways to Decrease the Effects)

The Love Bug Cycle is easy for the subject to keep track of and by extension, prepare for the traits.

Medication for Insomnia and Dizziness

Exercises to Decrease Hot Flashes and Sweating

(A general note for subjects experiencing the Love Bug Cycle, is to have removable layers of clothes if the sweating is deemed "too intense")

Supplements to Decrease Most Other Symptoms 

(Specific Diets and Drinks are said to Decrease the S3x-Drive, so in the cases of some beings who aware of this fact and are capable of doing so, would take on these diets during the cycle)

The Persistent Want for Intimacy or a Close Distance with their Partner is the only trait during the cycle that has no way of decreasing or stopping.

The Emotional Aspect of the Lovebug Cycle:

The subject is able to articulate what they feel during the cycle once it’s over. Many of the subjects brought on to discuss, invokes how difficult it is to maintain professionalism and their work during the cycle. This is especially the case when their desired person or partner is near them in the professional environment. The general idea of why, is that the Cycle affects the subject's consciousness. The ideal situation for the subject during the Love Bug Cycle is for them to stay in a relaxing environment with their desired person or partner. This makes the physical and emotional traits more manageable. Other ways the Cycle affects the subject’s thoughts and behavior goes as follows:

- Heavy Desire for Intimacy (whether romantic, sexual, or platonic depends on the subject)

In the case of platonic intimacy, the being may be more openly affectionate. Compliments, hand-holding, hugs, embraces and kisses are expected. This is mostly the type of desire the being craves if they are in the aro/ace umbrella or simply cannot express romance or sexuality openly in any other circumstance, such as how they were raised. 

In the case of romantic and/or s3xual intimacy, the being openly expresses their love in more ways. The platonic behaviors are included in their ways of expressing love, plus additional ways with connotations of romance or s3x. Flirting, spooning and suggestive comments are more likely to happen for beings who are able to express romantic or s3xual messaging. The comments will stay playful and cute, until their partner increases the intensity of the comments. The being follows the boundaries of their partner, and only escalate when the partner gives enthusiastic consent.

Proship/Comship DNI

[the-mpreg-guy]

Very genuine question for you: what about us aces and aros who do? Are we not allowed to participate and create content where an aroace character wants/has sex? Do we have to flash our aroace card at everyone to make sure they know we aren't problematic for enjoying those things in a fictional setting?

I think it's easier for y'all to block smut than it is for us who enjoy it to justify ourselves every single time we interact with that kind of content.

This for Jayvik because a lot of people love to say "but ace and aro people still can have sex and be in a romantic relationship" as an excuse to make two characters do those things as if aspec people are only acceptable as long as they still participate in sex or romance to some extent.

What about us ace and aro people who don't want either of those things?

[fanby-fckry]

Tags to Block:

Please send me an ask if you need something tagged. New tags may be added as they come up; these are just the most common ones.

Light Tags:

#not fandom — non-fandom posts I was so inconsistent with this tag that I made a new blog for non-fandom posts: @fagdyke-fckry

#eyestrain — potential eyestrain

#flash warning — flashing, strobing, or fast moving images

#undescribed — images without image descriptions

#artistic nudity — nonsexual nudity

#osha violation — not safe for work catchall tag

#suggestive, #not osha compliant — previously used nsfw tags for more specific categories; trying to sort them was hurting my brain

Heavy Tags:

In alphabetical order

#ableism cw — mentions/discussions of ableism; including saneism

#addiction cw — mentions/discussions of addiction; including substance addiction, gambling addiction, etc.; not including recreational drug use if addiction isn’t mentioned/implied in the post

#aphobia cw — mentions/discussions of aphobia, acephobia, arophobia, aro/ace-exclusionism, and acecourse

#arachnophobia cw — photos or other realistic images of spiders

#biphobia cw — mentions/discussions of biphobia and bi exclusionism

#discourse cw — fandom discourse, queer discourse/infighting

#fatphobia cw — mentions/discussions of fatphobia, weight bias, diet culture, etc.

#gore cw — fictional/illustrated/special effects gore

#homophobia cw — mentions/discussions of homophobia

#paranoia cw — anything that might trigger paranoia

#queerphobia cw — umbrella tag for mentions/discussions of bigotry against any queer identity

#racism cw — mentions/discussions of racism

#saneism cw — mentions/discussions of saneism, bigotry towards any mental illness or neurodivergence; including the concept of ‘narc abuse’ and similar hate towards people with personality disorders

#scopophobia cw — scopophobia triggers; images of eyes, implications of being watched

#sexual assault cw — mentions/discussion of sexual abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking and rape

#transphobia cw — mentions/discussions of transphobia, trans exclusionism, TERFs, transmedicalism, trans gatekeeping, and other such nonsense

#unreality cw — anything that might induce a sense of unreality

[drowninginredink]

I cannot emphasize enough how much I do not hit 3k words. Between AO3 and my old FFN, nothing that isn't multichapter is above 3k. I've come very close to 3k—the aro Ian fic is only 17 words short—but I just naturally top out around 3k because I started as a flash fiction writer and while I did start writing a little longer when I got into fanfic, I never go that much longer.

The thing is, I still feel like I haven't written any of this thing. There are still so many entire scenes that are only in my head. The scenes that are written are like, halfway written.

How long is this going to be? I just... I can't overstate how much I don't write long and yet here I am and I feel like I have written nothing.

(And yes, obligatory "nice")

[chaotic-carnifex]

With her friends, it's easy. They know, and they understand, and they accept. Some of them are a little like her, even. Sure, he has a partner, and so does it, and he's not sure what he feels. But it's good and easy. So easy, in fact, that sometimes she forgets it is not always like that.

It's different with strangers. There's the assumptions. The questions. Then the confusion. The unwanted reassurances.

The mockery, sometimes.

She knows she could lie. Make up a partner, fabricate a reason, anything. She doesn't. The most she will do, sometimes, is not use the word. Not that it makes much of a difference. Few people know the word. Few people would care to.

They never believe her anyway.

It's okay though. She has her friends. Her friends believe her. And they know the word. Many words, even.

"Fuck amatonormativity," she groans, and her friends agree.

"I have a squish on you," she admits, and maybe thon doesn't quite understand at first, but that's okay, because ve listens. Ze learns. Xe understands. And ne accepts.

"Stop being so alloromantic," she jokes, and he shoots back a petulant "No!"

"I just don't see myself in a QPR," she says, and nobody argues.

Her friends are her safety. Her home. They are who she returns to after a tiring day, the ones who know her flaws and fears and her happiness and hopes.

She is no longer scared of losing them to faceless strangers who take up all their time and attention, who society will convince them to place above her, who are meant to "complete" them like they are not whole and vibrant and so, so amazing on their own. She has moved past those insecurities. Once she feared the future the word would bring, the one where she is forgotten and alone, a mere afterthought if even that. But not anymore. She knows now that they will not leave her. They made a family together and she trusts in that.

She is aromantic. And she will be okay.

[cenlyra]

No writblr intro, but very recent flash fiction I wrote.

you !!!! writblr reading this !!! i'm really wanting to get back into the community, i used to be really involved in late 2021/2022 but i kind of fell out and i've been missing it ever since. so if youre a writblr reading this and you have a post/intro/etc you're proud of, link it in the reblogs/replies and ill either rb it right away or queeu it for this week (with a comment of some sort). i miss community engagement with yall, youre all so cool :)

[aroworlds]

Hallo, Aro: Pillar

For the second day of @aggressivelyarospec​​‘s #aggressivelyarospectacular 2022 event, I have another Hallo, Aro story: a series of (mostly) flash fiction stories about allosexual aromantic characters navigating friendship, sexual attraction, aromanticism and the weight of amatonormative expectation.

Contains: A allo-aro woman who doesn't choose marriage and children ... and a society that expects she use her time in service to those who did.

Length: 1, 320 words.

Content advisory: This story focuses on the intersection between capitalism, misogyny, amatonormativity, classism and singleism in terms of how they impact non-partnering and non-parenting working-class adults (especially women and people forcibly categorised as "woman" by Western society) under capitalism. Please expect depictions of and/or references to these as well as general aro erasure, aro antagonism, heteronormativity and cisnormativity.

Animal bones, medical tools and cemeteries are casually mentioned in the setting.

The woman lingers at the alley entrance, peering left and right and left again, before pulling at her cloak's cowl. Only then does she make the turn, her steps swift and furtive. Most gods’ altars line crossways, thoroughfares and squares, their divinity owed public homage; some, lost amidst the city’s sprawl, lurk behind privies and warehouses. Such sacred spaces never moulder unvisited, but their worshippers seldom attend beneath the sun’s revealing light.

When fog creeps and moon fades, the desperate seek out gods few dare name.

She hurries, her full skirts swishing, around a pile of crates. Behind lies an alcove, mossy and damp, set into the wall dividing alley from boneyard. Ivy smothers both ancient stonework and looming sepulchre, veiling the god's image such that one sees little more than outstretched wings. Only yellowed papers and fallen leaves cushion the ground before the granite altar, but a soft glow illuminates worshippers' offerings and the god’s business: rusting hand bells, wire-bound bird bones, curved needles, empty glass phials.

A crow-black feather, carefully stitched onto a red ribbon, emerges from her pocket. She kneels and sets it by the smallest bell. “Please, I beg you listen…”

She scowls, shaking her head. A brown braid escapes her hood.

“No, I’m no priest! I’m Quick. I reckon the name suits. My cousin … none of you gods was listening when my aunt named her. Or you all split your sides laughing! Anyway, I’m a seamstress. The kind doing piece work in a tailor’s workhouse. The kind sewing seams so folk sing the tailor for his cuts and finishings.”

Quick hesitates, crooking her head. Nothing disturbs the alleyway behind her: only a tabby cat sits atop the crates, his yellow eyes examining the wall opposite.

“It’s tiring work, but I’ve guild-set hours, fifth days and holidays. And sewing suits me.” With gloved hands, she raises an unwieldy vine from the altar. Her breath mists the night air. “I mind the tailor and how he manages the other women. They’re married. Mothers with toddling babes, mostly. Their mothers, sisters, or partners tend their children while they work. This must be hard for them, but…”

She bends the vine back upon itself, weaving it into the mess of leaves shrouding the alcove’s left wall.

“When we’ve trousers to remake or shirts still to baste for the morrow’s fitting … they plead their babies and their partners. The tailor says he’s a proud family man, so he won’t hold family against his workers. Meaning when the eve-bell rings and work wants continuing, he begs me to stay. ‘Cause I’ve no partner or children, aren’t I best to?”

A withered twig cracks as Quick breaks it clean from the vine, stowing it inside her cloak's pocket.

“The tailor pays no guild’s cut on after-bell hours. So he won’t hire more seamstresses, the others go home, and I stay late. Again. He suggests he can’t keep me elsewise, which makes mockery of his singing about my good work.” Her voice roughens. “Mama … Mama chides my minding so much I daren’t speak of it, ‘cause she says I’m helping the tailor and the other women both. Aren’t I better to be kind and turn extra coin for the family, than sit idle at home?”

Her lips trembling, she turns to the altar. Never does she permit her fingers to touch older offerings, irrespective of rust and tarnish; instead, uncaring of her skirts and cloak, she brushes leaves, twigs, bird droppings and dirt from the granite slab.

“But I don’t! I scarce bang my boots before a sister hands off her latest babe or begs me feed her boys. I haven’t been home in weeks while the oldest nurses—and when the youngest sister takes ill and her children also need tending, there I go.” Quick utters a low laugh, shaking her head. “Until bed, I’m changing napkins or saving the cat from being poked. Sometimes just so they can be alone with their husbands! My sisters say a village should raise a child, and since Mama helps my brother’s wife when not doing for Papa, and my sisters’ husbands earn their rent, there's me. I’m to be kind to them, too--to be the village.”

“But I mind it. I mind.”

She bows her head, resting fisted hands in her lap.

“I want no husband. I want no children. I want … a house with a big bed for me and a lover—but they never pass the whole night in it. More like a regular guest than a partner, and I know how that’s awful!” Quick inhales, her cheeks flushed and eyes glistening. “I want time for reading, stitching, tatting, drawing—and coin enough for a score of lamps! Space to guest in a friend’s bed, some evenings, and have them guest in mine. No wifehood, no motherhood. They’d strangle me!”

She sits in wordlessness, breathing heavily.

The cat leaps from the topmost crate, lands and pads down the alleyway.

“I know that for truth, ‘cause I’m strangled now. I work late ‘cause the tailor chooses wives and mothers' leaving over me.” Quick shudders, her hands tightening. “I tend my sisters’ children ‘cause I’m no wife or mother, so I own nothing more important. I won’t be a partner or parent, so those who are expect I use my hours to help. And to escape their expecting? Marry and bear my own children! Only then are my refusals accepted!”

Her harsh, raucous cackle sends a startled cat skittering into the street.

“I’m why the tailor won’t hire another seamstress but sing himself for being a family man. I’m why my sisters have all their sons. I’m the pillar holding them up—making doable their homes, marriage, children, pride. I'm obliged to bear their weight … and why shouldn’t I, after refusing what we’re supposed to have? What good am I to anyone, elsewise? How am I naught but selfish, denying Papa the chance of granddaughters?”

A tear—hot, salty and grief-leaden—patters the alcove's pitted stone.

“I want to live for me, but not by leaving my family. I still want my sisters, Mama--just less of them! But even had I wage enough to leave, what next? Won’t another employer think the same? Won’t I be holding the neighbour’s crying babe? When nobody can live the way they’re obliged to want without spinster aunts shoring them up, where can I be?”

Quick sucks in another gulping breath, her voice wavering.

“If you’re a good and just god, even you won’t change this. Nothing right lies in making everyone be and think different for my wants, even if you could. Nothing right lies in upending everything, and that’s the worst thing, the very worst thing … that there’s no escape. None. Just a horrid knot binding us all, a knot in a world with no scissors. One I best ought to learn to not mind.”

Her shoulders slumping, she sags in upon herself. The fog thickens, gifting the statuette a halo of blue light, but Quick sits as if too worn and grief-struck to move. Only when her shivers threaten convulsions does she catch herself, blinking.

“Least you listen without chiding," she murmurs, and you never demanded a girl marry for your favour or called her selfish for choosing her own way. Other … other gods aren’t so kind. Even if they're reckoned good.” She grimaces, shaking her head. “Thank you. It’s easier to forget how I mind if I talk, sometimes. Least for a while.”

She stands, bows, tugs her hood as far over her cheeks as the fabric will allow, and retreats down the alleyway.

In the shadows of a corner unseen by mortal eyes, a weeping god cups his face in taloned hands.

For how long can he pay witness to the harms wrought upon his own before inaction may no longer be deemed “just”?

[alloaroworlds]

Hallo, Aro is a series of flash fiction stories about allosexual aromantic characters navigating friendship, sexual attraction, aromanticism and the weight of amatonormative expectation.

I’ve now got twelve allo-aro short fiction and creative non-fiction pieces in this collection!

Folks can download PDF, EPUB and MOBI files for free from my Patreon, read individual stories on my WordPress site or view them all here on Tumblr:

Unspoken

Leaving

Friendship

Lucky

Attraction

Existence

Neuronormative

Loveless

Monstrous

Pressure, Side One

Pressure, Side Two

Abrasive

No story is longer than a thousand words. Please expect sex references in various degrees of explicitness and sundry depictions of amatonormativity.