#more aro ace characters please

[thissliceofnonsense]

So apparently my parents are more aro/ace phobic than anything else so here are some characters I need plz and thank you.

Aro Ace people that are the kindest people on the planet and are there for anyone who needs and people are there for them.

They don't die alone.

Neurodivergent (high empathy) aro ace characters that are, again, extremely kind.

Neurodivergent (low empathy) aro ace characters that aren't incapable of love or kindness but show it in different ways.

Aro ace protagonists so they don't have a romantic side plot.

Asexual characters that have romantic side plots.

Usually I prefer the whole "its normal so don't make it so the whole thing is about them being x but rather have them be a character who just happens to be x". But something like Nimona (where the thing itself is normal -as it should be- but the narrative is a commentary on the thing) where the story is a commentary about how humans have built literally their entire lives around a twisted form of love and romance. It is absolutely TERRIFYING to think that if you can't get married then your family is "justified to ostracize you".

(Like no, family please, you don't have to act like tinder and send me a bunch of pictures for a semi-arranged marriage because I need a different life)

Additionally-

Demiromantic/demisexual characters

greyromantic/greysexual characters

Aroflux/aceflux characters

lithromatic characters

characters in a queer platonic relationship

Just... more aspec (happy) characters thank you.

[thissliceofnonsense]

Okay. Let me try my hand at this.

Starting off the general point/metaphor/ message because I like to start from there. (I'm listening to AJR's neotheater so that may affect this.)

How about - you aren't the same person you were a few years ago, months ago, or even days ago. You will always be changing, the personality you once were, is gone and you can't stop yourself from changing - in essence, control over your own mental world.

As far as main character goes... how about someone who is effortlessly able to 'switch their personality' to match the one who would best fit the person they are around. They have been able to do this for as long as they can remember, and as far as they are concerned, this is the only part of their personality that has been consistent. They cling to this 'magic power' unconsciously, getting defensive whenever someone asks them to 'be themself' or 'be authentic'. They've been able to be the best person possible for everyone else, they don't know what their true personality is like. Do they actually like that color? Is that actually their favorite show? Arte they actually a nice person? Are they selfish? Arrogant? They don't really know.

What they want most in the world is to have a more consistent personality, perhaps they have a fuzzy memory of who they used to be when they were little, but they know that no one called them 'unauthentic' when they were young, so they desperately try to figure out (subtly of course) who they were when they were young and try to act like that, be their 'true self'.

They want this because they think that others will trust them. Never in their life has anyone seen them as trustworthy or a good friend. And the constant apprehension towards them is getting old. They are so tired of being lonely even when they are surrounded by people. They just want to be the one that makes the others happy instead of guarded.

As far as beliefs and fears go. They believe that deep down inside, they have a 'true personality' that they need to bring back. That their 'magic power' is actually a curse covering up who they truly are.

They fear that they are nothing. No one. That their whole personality is just copies and constant changing to match others. Do they even exist if all they are is a collection of reflections?

Basically - this song: (" I hope I made you smile, that's all I ever wanted". )

AND NOW, PLOT - Let's say the protagonist is meeting up with childhood friends that they haven't seen since they became an adult. (And perhaps one of these friends is the original one who told the protagonist that they aren't authentic and are 'really fake', and the protagonist cares a lot about the opinion of this person). And to their surprise, they can't personality shift anymore, instead, they feel quite.. dull, and are easily influenced. They get really scared, thinking that this is who they truly are (nothing) and tries to figure out how to get their personality shifting back, because even that was better than nothing. And I'm guessing that some of these childhood friends aren't so toxic, and they help the protagonist realize they have always shifted their personality and there is nothing wrong with that. And they realize that they never had a set personality to begin with, not even 'this magic power' is consistent. They will always be changing and can never 'keep' one personality, not even the fact that they change personalities is consistent. So they decide to enjoy this weird thing called life instead and find others who understand that they won't ever get 'the true *character name*' because there isn't one. I imagine they become a plant parent and get a cat.

And maybe all the friends have 'tiny magic powers' also, perhaps that's one of the reasons they are friends.

If anyone else see's this, here what I would need help with if I were to continue this.

Names for character (They are going to be non-binary and from the middle east because I said so... and they are lithromatic asexual because happier aspec characters :) )

Names for childhood friends

In general, suggestions and ideas.

Thanks for listening to my thots. :)

i wonder if magic is real, but only in a really mundane way.

when i was little i could almost inerringly switch back to disney channel right as the ads ended when i was channel surfing.

maybe youve never accidentally crushed a ladybug underfoot. maybe your microwave popcorn never burns. maybe you can spin around lots and lots of times before you get dizzy.

is that magic??

honestly im not sure if these are magic or just small, invisible skills. im not sure which i like better.

[moonmoonthecrabking]

“the lgbtq+ community is over-represented in media, specifically in regard to sexuality” is a statistical error. riverdale, who confirmed 90% of its characters to be gay or bisexual by the series finale, is an outlier and should not have been counted (but should be normalised).

[astranauticus]

the whole joke about seeing discourse pass like the shadow of a whale under a ship becomes a lot less funny when the shadow is like. the creator of something your really like responding to a criticism that is frankly completely baffling for people to raise against said thing. anyway if i find out who are the people calling the summer hikaru died queerbaiting im beating them to death with hammers

[moinsbienquekaworu]

I'm aroace but I need to see some aroallo rep in media. The next aspec character people on my dash get obsessed with shouldn't be aroace or alloace they should be aroallo and have so much sexual attraction and sex

[starwanderer18]

How can I continue to thrive in this environment when my social, emotional, and physical needs are continually unmet?

Humans need other humans

we seek social interactions

in order to regulate ourselves

and to center our sense of self

regardless of whether you call yourself

"introvert" or

"extrovert"

We all need the same things

To be heard

To be seen

To be present

To be known

To live

But there are times where I feel alone

lost at sea while my friends

are all on solid land

unseen

unheard

absent

unknown

a shell of a person

This is not

an unusual feeling

for my 22 years of life

I've had to hide myself away

To step back from friendships

Knowing I was invisible

A ghost of a person

Having to be a shell of myself

In order to please disapproving eyes

To please a mother

Whose love was filled with anger and

Self-hatred projected on a child

Born of her mistakes

Told to never repeat hers

And vowing to never be her

If I ever had to raise

my own child

My dad wasn't always there

But when he was

He was a gentle force in my life

A beacon that let me shine

I do not have to dull myself

To please him

Allowed to live and love things

To have a passion and be heard

Knowing he can relate

And takes the time to learn

And understand

All sides of an argument

He does not look at me

with self-hatred

But instead with compassion

He, too, is discovering himself

Learning he and I are echoes of each other

And willing to listen

without judgement.

He knows and understands

that he will never likely have grandkids

that come from me

And he's okay with that

God, I fear that love is violence

But I know it is not

It is gentle moments

shared with those you love

not just blood but found family

But it's still so lonely sometimes

in my college friend group

I keep being left out of the social loop

While it's not the end of the world

It still hurts

And being left out of the loop

has been hurting my academic life

Twice, I've left my things

in a friend's room while I go to work

(a five minute walk from my dorm)

Intending to work on things

Upon returning

Confident they will recall

That I need access

to my things

Something that I had told them

Before leaving

But promptly is forgotten

and I return an hour or two later

to find that nobody is there

that I wasn't notified

when they had left

or told when they would return

So I waited hours

for their return

Expecting only an hour

or two

But left waiting until midnight

For them to finally return

Scrolling idly on my phone

Reading

Plagued with anxious impatience

Hoping everything is okay

Praying they return soon so I can work

Wondering what the delay was

Watching their location change

When I dare take a peek

To keep from destroying the mood

or intruding emotionally on others

I isolated myself in my frustration

Until it faded the next day

Both times

I intended to get homework done

in advance of the due date

but I couldn't.

My things were inaccessible

and I felt like I couldn't say,

"What about me?"

"What about my needs?"

Without feeling like

I have overstepped

And intruded on another's

Struggles

I have invited my friends

To join me on necessary adventures

when I am too anxious to go alone

But they are too busy

So I am told

"No. Sorry. Have fun, though."

While I have eagerly said, "Yes"

When asked if someone could join

And travel out of our

College town

And it feels kind of

Two-faced.

Backwards.

And I know college is a lot

And they have their people

But I don't.

Or at least it feels like I don't.

Not anymore

They make plans without me

Not asking my opinion

Not seeing if I need to go

shopping for things I need

Or just to get away

From the monotony

Of the dorms

Two of my friends are romantically involved

with one another

(Happily so)

and another two are in a qpr

(Both are aro ace)

And everyone else is busy living their lives

Or too far away

Twice this semester

I have been forgotten

and neglected in our relationships

and I've shoved down my feelings

so that their lives

don't feel intruded upon

I've been tucking myself

deeper and deeper

into a corner

because I don't have

a person for myself

like they all do.

I'm lonely.

But I know they love me

For me.

But they have an odd way

Of enforcing that concept

When I get forgotten

And left behind

And can't bring myself

To let them know that.

My mother made me a people-pleaser

Fawning so I don't get hurt

And it's my downfall

Therapy's expensive

Traumatizing my characters

and healing their hurts

Is one of the few ways

I can help myself heal.

I hope they can forgive me for the hurt

While I help them heal

And myself through them.

I don't mean to hurt anyone.

I don't want to hurt anyone

But it's hard to heal the hurt

When hurt is all I know

[autistic-daydreamer]

Headcanoning the kind fat/chubby characters as pansexual is OUT, headcanoning the skinny broody, recluse characters who hate everyone as pansexual is IN

[pavlikbuonarroti]

i love dungeon meshi and have a lot of respect for ryoko kuis work, and i DO agree with the ace reading of izutsumi, but can we please have better standards for what we consider ace rep than reading into one (1) line. please.

[faradaykay]

being aroace is crazy bc sometimes it's like. whoo yay i have such a wider perception of relationships that's so cool yay!!! and sometimes it's like. i hate this it sucks

[streetsandsodiumlights]

(tags from @no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist)

By the way "some aroace people still date and have sex" and "it's weird how internet spaces makes every single aroace character romance and sex favourable" can and should co-exist. Sincerely, an aroace person

[235uranium]

I love how ppl say they're writing ford as aro when they're writing him as aroace and by love I mean I find it deeply frustrating

[polyshipweek]

Polyship Week 2024 - Daily Prompts

[ID: Poster for Polyship Week 24, taking place 17–23 November, listing the prompts for each day. /end ID]

The prompts for #PolyshipWeek24 are here! As with last year, the final prompt of each day links to an image — feel free to use the phrase or the image itself for inspiration, and please credit the original creator if you remix their work.

Day One

Team as Polycule

"Is that my hoodie?"

Breakups

Group Hug (smolmoss)

Day Two

"Blorbo Has Two Hands"

Gift-Giving

Thunderstorms

Stair Cuddles (adorkastock)

Day Three

Queerplatonic Partners

Beach

Reverse Tropes

Through the Years (shutterstock)

Day Four

Aro/Ace & Polyam

Promises

Time Travel

Let's Dance (shutterstock)

Day Five

Relationship Anarchy

"You're burning up!"

Arranged Marriage

Only One Bed (House promo image)

Day Six

Queer Disabled Polyam

Parties

Kink Discovery

Tight Squeeze (Sailor Moon, gif by xbuster)

Day Seven

Free Day! Happy Polyamory Day!

Event Guidelines

Works featuring polyamorous characters and relationships of all kind are welcome — any characters, ships, fandoms, and OCs too!

Queerplatonic relationships, as well as asexual and/or aromantic characters are explicitly welcome on ANY day!

Works may be in any medium — fic, art, gifsets, podfic, vids, and more!

Participate in as few or as many days as you like. Choose your favorite prompt each day or mash them up — whatever sparks your imagination!

Please tag us @PolyshipWeek or use the hashtag #PolyshipWeek24 so we can reblog your creations!

Need even more inspo? You can view the entire list of suggested prompts here.

Ao3 Collection | SquidgeWorld Collection | Twitter | Bsky

[thefairfeline]

I know it's kinda selfish, but can I have more asexual charactes that aren't aromantic? One who stands up and says that you can love without sex, and that they deserve love without having to engaging in something they prefer not to?

Also a aromantic character that isn't asexual? One who doesn't feel guilt about needing and wanting people, but not seeking a romantic relationship with them? One that is open and proud, and in no way ashamed for their lack of love and need of sex?

Please?

Edit: I realize some aroace people got frustrated at this post due to having next to no representation already, and I admit it was blind of me to phrase it how I did.

I was (unfairly) annoyed when I made this post because I kept seeing people write ace characters I really like to be aro as well. (Which is more then fine to do btw!)

This tumblr dwelling feline was a salty bean who didn't think anyone would see this.

Thank you to everyone who gave recommendations in the comments!

And please don't start arguments.

[winndycakes]

Winndy Rambles And Gushes About Chuck Tingle

Wanted to ramble a little about one of my favorite authors, creators and overall just super rad people; Chuck Tingle.

Like many people, when I first heard of Chuck, I took him as some sort of meme. A troll, a joke, someone not to be taken seriously. After all, the majority of his works are "silly short erotica stories around dinosaurs, cryptids and even living concepts and items". How COULD this be serious? It's a question I asked before, years ago, and one that many still do to this day.

One holiday season, a friend had made a post on FaceBook saying "first five people to comment I'll gift you a book". So I did. The book I got was a physical copy of the "Space Raptor Butt Invasion Trilogy" by Chuck Tingle. Since I had a book of Tingle's now, I really had no excuse to not read it for myself.

Erotica normally isn't my thing (I'm pretty ace and grey aro too), but very quickly, I was charmed by the prose. As you read Chuck's stories, there's a fact that becomes very apparent. Chuck Tingle is a great writer, a really great writer. How he writes, how the words flow together, one sentence going into the next. The characters, the plot, the little bits of lore, dialogue and all he puts in... You quickly begin to see; this is NOT a joke.

It is not a meme. He is not trolling you. It is art. Passionate, sincere, genuine art. And it's beautiful. The more you read, the more definitive it gets.

I will admit, I have read aloud many a Tingler for friends and others in Discord servers, both to share my joy of Tingle with others, but also, it is fun to look at how different his works are. It's fine to laugh along with them even.

The moment that really was like... angels singing, light shining down and there's bishi sparkles and a heavenly soft pink background appearing for me though was the summer Chuck Tingle released on of his first full novella's; "Trans Wizard Harriet Porber and the Bad Boy Parasaurolophus". Like many, I was crushed and gutted at JKR's extreme turn to committing to transphobia (and of course the hindsight of realizing... the HP books and universe were not as kind and welcoming as I remembered growing up). So when Chuck Tingle (in one weekend mind you) came out with a 50k novel affirming trans people and their belonging in not just queer spaces, but being on this Earth, as fellow human beings, it was... affirming. It was the welcoming feeling I had gotten with the original HP books all those years ago, but it was real. (Also please read both Trans Wizard Harriet Porber books. They're delightful, fun and the magic system Tingle creates is so, so cool and interesting).

The next thing that got me just mega hype for Tingle was his first foray into horror; "Straight". "Straight" is Tingle's answer to the ever popular trope and genre of zombies and the apocalypse that comes with them, and what a fun turn of tables he takes on them. Zombies in the Tingleverse are not undead beings, they're not humans afflicted by a virus, instead a strange cosmic event happens once a year, when one night, all cishet people on Earth get this animalistic, violent urge to brutally harm and even kill all queer people. I won't get too spoilery about it but it is a very fun romp, and as someone who has been fatigued by zombies, it is a welcome new perspective.

Not long after this, Chuck came out with two full, traditionally published horror novels; "Camp Damascus" and "Bury Your Gays". Both are very different experiences in horror, both a joyful celebration of being queer and your authentic self even in the face of those looking to silence you, permanently if they must. I had the pleasure of meeting Chuck (twice!) while he was on tour for both of these books, getting my copies signed (along with my copies of the Trans Wizard duology and my beloved copy of the Space Raptor trilogy) and was able to tell Tingle myself just how important he is to someone like me; another queer autistic creator. (I was also one of the few people to win the little mini games he gave, twice, but that's a different story).

Ultimately that is what I am trying to get at. Growing up, and even for all of my 20s, there wasn't really someone like Tingle. Someone unabashedly authentic, themselves, queer, open and imo most importantly, joyously so. One is often told "just be yourself" but that can be hard to do when it seems like the world is against you for one reason or another.

Seeing a creator like Chuck shows how important it is to have such a presence in the world, and I was glad I got to tell him myself. I've had a lot of hardships in life, a lot of losses, a lot of grief, but someone like Chuck is there to tell you to keep trotting and remind you; Love Is Real.

And that's truly the ending message:

Love Is Real.

[skys-archive]

I think in honor of pride month and also in general forever we should stop trying fit queer people into the identities we think they should call themselves.

And I know no one is going to see this because no one ever does but I'm going to talk about it anyway because this is important.

Bisexual doesn't mean you don't date trans people, it doesn't mean you like men and women, it doesn't mean you can't have a preference. Someone can identify as polysexual or bisexual or omnisexual and have no preference and you don't get to say that that means they're pansexual. Because no, if they don't identify as pansexual then they're not pansexual.

Transmasc doesn't mean you use he/him pronouns. It doesn't mean you identify as a man. Transfem doesn't mean you use she/her pronouns. It doesn't mean you identify as a woman. You can be nonbinary or genderqueer or agender or any gender that isn't binary and not use they/them pronouns. You can use any of those labels and still identify as a man or a woman. You can use different pronouns than is typically used for your birth sex and not consider yourself transgender. People can be gender non conforming and not he trans. People can be trans and not gender non conforming.

A trans man can be fem. A trans woman can be masc. Nonbinary people don't owe you androgyny. Intersex people don't owe you androgyny. Intersex people are people, they deserve way more attention than a way to one up transphobes. Intersex people face discrimination and body altering surgeries without their consent and then are only ever talked about to say "some cis women have penises" or "some people have an extra x chromosome" and then we never talk about the struggle they face as part of the queer community.

Asexuality and aromanticism is a spectrum. Some aces like sex, some aces are repulsed, some aces only experience sexual attraction to one person or once in their life, some aces need a deep emotional bond, some aces their attraction changes. Some aros change identities. Some aros are repulsed by romance unless it's a fictional character. Some aros have romantic feelings until they get to know someone. Some aros crave a romantic relationship but never have romantic feelings. You don't get to say someone isn't asexual or aromantic enough.

Asexuality and aromanticism is having a unique relationship with romance or sexual feelings and impulses. Someone who is transgender has a unique experience with gender. You don't get to decide that they don't have a unique experience. But guess what? You don't get to decide if they do either. Someone can have a unique experience and still not identify as asexual aromantic or transgender. You can cross dress and still fully feel like a man. You can use he/him pronouns as a cis women. You can have trauma around sex and not identify as asexual. You can never have a romantic relationship and not identify as aromantic.

You can have "contradicting" labels. I don't know as many of these because I don't personally identify as any but please fell welcome to add in reblogs. There are trans men lesbians and gay women. There are sex loving asexuals. I know there are others I just genuinely am not educated enough.

YOU DONT GET TO CHOOSE SOMEONES LABELS

ANYONE CAN EITHER IDENTIFY OR NOT IDENTIFY AS QUEER

Please feel welcome to add anything in reblogs. I'm sure there's things I've missed. I haven't talked about neopronouns I haven't talked enough about "contradicting" labels. I haven't talked about queer platonic relationships or kink or polyamory or enough about intersex people or pronouns vs gender. There's so much important things but at the end of the day it's just so important to not choose other people's labels.

[mylavellan]

Okay let me talk about it.

Like everytime a character is canonized aroace people started to get annoying about it, shouting that aroace people can have relationships and if you are uncomfortable with them being shipped with another character you’re aro/ace-phobic.

Don’t get me wrong, they (we) can have relationships but I don’t think this is what people are uncomfortable about.

I personally think the problem is that you (generic person, not you reader) don’t really care that they are aroace. You don’t try to understand aromanticism or asexuality, you only use them to defend your ship.

What I’m saying is sure you can ship them, there’s no problem, but please at least try to understand it, try to talk to aroace people to know better the subject, most of all if you’re a fanfiction writer.

Sure, there’s aspec people too whose ship aroace characters, I’m not saying they don’t or that they shouldn’t, but I’m not talking about them now.

Not use the aroace spectrum just when it’s convenient to you, remember that it’s an important trait of the character.

Let’s not erase a sexual/romantic orientation that it’s so under represented and let’s use this “opportunity” to learn something more about aspectrum.

so, ship anyone you want, but try to contextualize it.