#they’re both aroace and they love each other so much but there’s not a word for what kind of love that is

[crystal-cliffs]

I wish people within the fandom actually acknowledged and played with the fact that Alastor is aroace.

I know that asexuality and aromanticism is a spectrum and is an entirely different experience from person to person, but I feel like the fandom just pretends he’s not in favor of shipping him with whoever people ship him with when there’s so many different types of human relationships that aren’t romantic or sexual in nature that we can explore.

This is my segway into Queer platonic Radiorose because I love these two so much.

Still, I yearn for fandom content that acknowledges Alastor’s identity (that he doesn’t even know about) and isn’t afraid to at least try and portray it rather than completely ignoring it.

Edit: I’m not saying that that type of content doesn’t exist, it’s just personally it’s difficult for me to find that sort of alastor content

[slices-of-naranja]

Thinking about just roll with it riptide and my interpretations of it as a work as an aroace person and the commentary of what love is.

I think Chip and Gillion and Jay all care about each other the Same Amount. Because obviously. They’re all co-captains, all a crew. But I think Jay sees them more as the siblings she loves and needs to protect and look out for. Because she loves her sister and in looking to avenge her, she found some more family along the way. If that makes sense.

I think Gillion sees them both as the physical manifestation of the love he never got growing up, outside of his sister. Familial and other things too. Not quite his siblings. But like a pack. Closeness without a name. Love without a label. And that’s scary to him because there’s a part of him that’s more devoted to them than he’d like to be. Maybe more devoted to them than he is to his so-called “destiny.”

And chip. Chip is just looking for someone, I think. Anyone. Yes, he’s looking for Arlin. Of course he is. That’s basically his pirate dad. But he’s also just looking for someone that cares for him as deeply as he needs them to. That will be proud of him and love him. In whatever way possible. Someone that will protect him, as much as he doesn’t want to need protecting. And he found that in them too. Evidenced by how he was going to give up being a pirate, his life long dream, his mission in life, for the sake of his crew.

Their love for each other fucks me up. They’re a crew. They’re captains. Maybe two of them are a little gay. Maybe two of them are siblings. Maybe all three cuddle at night when their dreams get scary. It doesn’t matter. These labels aren’t real. Because the word we’re all (or, at least, I am) looking for is friends.

Friends means whatever the fuck you want it to mean. They kiss, they cuddle, they sing, they fight the world for each other, they bicker, they love. They all see each other differently. They all love each other differently. There’s not gonna be one word for it. One description. I see most people going “yeah I don’t want fnc to be canon” because they don’t need to be!! And they wouldn’t work either!!! Because their devotion to each other, all three of them, goes beyond words and typical labels! They’re friends!!! They’re a crew!!! We don’t need to put other words to justify the deepness behind their friendship!!

They love each other. They know they’d fight the world for each other. I don’t know. I am so exhausted and got up in my aroace feels so let me know if none of this makes sense.

I don’t know. I don’t think we need to get caught up in “these three are all romantically dating” or “these three are all siblings” to justify closeness with each other. Using familial ties (yes, I know I used familial ties for Jay, sue me, family is the most important thing to her so it’s how she labels her love for them) or romantic labels to justify intimacy and love is just kind of silly to me. No offense to anyone who enjoys those headcanons. I personally love fnc and love people comparing chip and Jay to siblings. Do whatever you want, creativity is fun and encouraged! Different interpretations are valid!

But sometimes, as an aroace person, seeing them just being acknowledged as close friends means a lot. Like, yeah. They are. And just calling them “friends” doesn’t diminish how deep their love is. Because that’s what they are. Friends.

[kittiwittebane]

Ok but why people gotta be so aggressive about who’s dating who?

I don’t care if you ship Lunter. I like Huntlow. That’s my opinion. No, im not gonna change it coz you think so. Have your opinion, just don’t go barking at me.

In my OPINION: (see the word opinion)-(you can have ur own)

HUNTLOW/WINTER: bestest ship. Works well. They complete eachother and only have a 1 and 1/2 (approx) age difference, which is pretty normal for teens. My personal favourite. Very cute, fluffy and makes u have the fuzzies. They have a good chance of long lasting relationship.

LUNTER: Lunter would work. Lunter is undeniably a great relationship. Only 2 year age gap (approx), also normal teen age. They go well together. But I headcannon them as siblings. HEADCANNON. So for me, Lunter is sweet home Alabama.

*EDIT: I no longer headcannon Lunter as siblings but I do think they they see each other as siblings.

GUNTER: Look, ship what you want but the age difference is too much for me, 4 years, isn’t a lot, but while in teenage years, it’s a bit weird. Maybe when they’re older, like in their 20’s, but as teens? Not so great. They’re closer to brothers. They would support each other. Good relationship.

HUNTRIC/GOLDRIC: Objectively, there is nothing wrong with it. They’d probably get along super well. Same age. But they haven’t even met. And along with my ‘Luz and Hunter Siblings’ headcannon, it would be a brother-in-law, so also quite incest.

*EDIT: one again, headcannon no longer in use

AMITER: They would fight a bit, both having competitive attitudes and lots and lots of trauma. All the characters have trauma but I think Amity and Hunter as a couple would overthrow the trauma scale. Also I’m a Lumity person, so Amiter just doesn’t work for me.

HUNTLOWDRIC: um. Imma have to go with a no. Nothing wrong with it except the fact: Hunter and Edric have never met, Willow has trauma with Amity despite making it up, dating her brother is a little weird, and again it would all revolve back to the siblings thing.

*EDIT: no sibling thing

SKARA AND/OR VINEY X HUNTER: Both of them would be compatible with him, but I headcannon Viney as Lesbian. Skara, she’d be fine. If Willow didn’t exist she’d probably be what I’d ship Hunter with.

VINEARA: Very goods. I likes. Viney x Skara is good, but not my fav Viney ship. Skara sits with bat boy.

VINEMIRA: Best Viney ship. Viney and Emira. The lebanons. Lesbeans. Lesbiabians. Women lovers. Both headcannoned as lesbiansss.

LUMITY: yes. Shows main ship. Cannon. Works well. Help each other. Just yes.

GUSTHOLOMULE: not a popular ship, but I quite enjoy it. Matt is gay af. I think it’s a cool ship.

GUS X BRIA: no. I don’t- why- why. Why is this… I don’t get it.

HUNTER X CAMILA: 👁️👄👁️… [no words] (also goes for EDA X LUZ, LUZ X CAMILA, EDA X LILITH, ODALIA X BELOS, KIKIMORA X BELOS, HUNTER X BELOS, LILITH X BELOS, VEE X CAMILA, HUNTER X EDA, HUNTER X LILITH, HUNTER X KIKIMORA, CALEB X PHILIP, EVELYN X BELOS, [ANYONE NOT TOH] X [ANYONE IN TOH] and other ships like that. RAINE X BELOS and etc.

ODALIA X ALADOR: it was toxic. It- it was horrible. She was using him. Better be divorced.

LILITH X [ANYONE]: look. shes Aroace. I’m specifically talking about LILITH X STEVE. They good friends. Nothing more. Besides, isn’t Steve like.. 20 and Lilith like 40??

DARIUS X ALADOR: look I gotta say I love it. I just love it. But it would be kind of awkward, as then amity and hunter and (headcannoned) Luz and hunter would be siblings lol.

*EDIT: not siblings

Edit: I MISSED THE FACT AMITY IS A LESBIAN. She cannot date Hunter anyways! *she can but she lesbian so why would she :3

I probably missed a few, but yeah. I think you get the idea.

[phlurrii]

So, Meau and Noe are in an QPR/AroAce relationship, correct?

Well, I'm curious about how a couple things would work in their relationship, such as:

Showing affection for each other - How intimate would said affection be? What would typical affection for each other be like?

Sleeping - Would they sleep separately? Or cuddle with each other?

Verbal interactions - Would they say that they love each other, or is that not accurate to what they have? What kind of compliments would they give each other?

Love languages - Would the 5 love languages apply to them? If so, which would mean to most to them?

One thing I wanna state right away, my depiction of aroace companions is not the end all be all. It’s simply how I view my character’s specific relationship,

Affection: Pretty standard all things considered, physically they are quite affectionate, but mainly in private. Smaller and shorter little comforts mylems, hugs, and snugs they’ll do around others. However nuzzles/head bonks are probably they’re closest form of affection, they don’t kiss.

Sleeping: They snuggle together without fail if they are together at the time, occasionally they’ll want space and sleep separately since it’s nice to stretch out now and then, but due to personal preferences of their past; they highly prefer snuggling together.

Verbal Interactions: They aren’t very likely to verbalize “I love you” often, but that’s mostly down to their personalities, not their relationship. Between the two of them Missingno is the one who says it most often, Meau very rarely. She shows her love in actions, while Noe does words and actions. Compliment wise they also don’t comment much, it’s very much show, don’t tell, type of a relationship.

Love Languages: For their love langauge, Noe is big with Physical touch, both to show his love and to receive love. He’s a snuggler and always will be, most greetings result in a small nuzzle or snuggle from him. While Meau’s is 100% quality time, she was very… very lonely for a very, very long time. All she wants is to spend time with and have a friend. Though her way of showing love would be Acts of Service, demonstrating instead of saying as mentioned before.

[splinnters]

transmasc or aroace cole?

good morning/afternoon/evening dear anon, I only knew what day it was today because I reblogged the “Cole Screaming” Sunday post! yipppee!

aroace cole pride month headcanons!

when Cole meets Jay, he thinks he’s was in love for the first time. he likes Jay a lot, they get each other’s humor and although they’re at each other's throats sometimes, they always make up afterward. the only problem is that Cole doesn’t want to kiss him. it sort of grosses him out, imagining himself kissing Jay. maybe he needs to wait it out?

then comes Zane, and Cole figures he isn’t in love with Jay, because he feels the same way toward both of them. Zane is sweet and thoughtful and smart, and Cole loves him just as much as Jay. all three of them become good friends before Kai shows up

Kai is different than Jay and Zane. Cole sort of wants to strangle him sometimes, but a lot of the time they work well together without ever having to say a word to each other. Cole wonders if THIS is what love feels like, not obvious outward affection, but just knowing each other before you’ve spent more than a few months together

he never brings it up to any of them, after all, the three other ninja all openly express attraction toward girls, so Cole assumes he’s not even up for consideration. for a while he even “competes” with Jay for Nya’s affection, although Cole was just trying to be friends with her. she’s a lot like Kai, and he likes Kai, and he likes Nya too, especially after she apologizes to him after the whole fiasco and asks if they can be friends 

Cole agrees to that wholeheartedly. he doesn’t think he likes girls anyway

watching all the new relationships grow in the group, though, Cole feels more than a little left out. Lloyd joins the ninja, adventure after adventure occur, and every single time, without fail, the couples pair off and go about their romantic business. Cole finds himself especially lonely during the tournament of elements, when Kai pairs off with Skylor

Kai doesn’t end up with Skylor, though, in fact, Kai starts spending a lot more time with Cole. Cole enjoys it, of course, Kai is fun and they have a good time no matter what they end up doing! Cole forgets about falling in love for the first time in a while and he just gets to hang out with Kai all the time. Jay and Zane join them sometimes, but they always leave to find their respective partners

and then… Kai is at his door with flowers and a very red face. he’s stumbling over his words a little, which is weird because Kai is always confident with his friends, always loud and sometimes a little overbearing… and Cole realizes that in no way will he ever be in love with Kai, or anyone, for his whole life

it feels wrong to hear Kai ask him out, it feels wrong because Kai is his friend, his best friend, his ride-or-die, his brother. and it feels wrong because Cole will never be able to give Kai what he’s asking for

he cries right there, and Kai apologizes a million times before Cole explains, in a shaky voice, that he loves Kai, but not like that. never like that, because he never has and never will love someone like that. Kai hugs him and tells him to forget the whole thing. they go watch a movie and Kai is on his phone for the first half, furiously typing

he explains to Cole after the movie that he googled what Cole told him and found a whole Wikipedia page describing exactly what he said, along with thousands of people who feel the exact same way. Cole doesn’t cry anymore, he just hugs Kai again and they spend the rest of the night talking, just like they used to

Cole keeps the flowers and puts them in the kitchen where everyone can see in the morning, and he explains to them the same morning that he’s asexual and aromantic 

they all hug him, and Cole hugs his friends right back. he knows he won’t fall in love the same way people do in movies, but he does know he loves his friends so much, and they love him too, partner or no partner 

after adventures and missions, they start going out for dinner and cake instead of splitting off like usual. Cole sits in the middle of it all, beaming at his family

[lover-cook]

Hello. Feeling super lovey dovey in this house tonight so…. Love letters moment :}

Gonna start with Sanji cause woooo I love this motherfucker! So much!

I want to just. Talk about how we love each other and my headcanons with my self-insert cause that kind of thing is always so fun to me. Gonna put a cut to not clog peoples dashes wahaha

Okay so.

Sanji is so clearly a black and white thinker when it comes to loving people and showing that, right? Men get tough love quietly said through actions and mutual trust whereas his love for women is very showy and over the top and shown through acts of service. I’m not the only person to think this and point out how it codes a lot about him as queer but that’s besides the point right now wahah

But I think me being non-binary and openly queer makes that interesting. Like sure the other Strawhats are queer (Nami and Robin being lesbians, Zoro being gay, Luffy being AroAce in all but words, etc) but I think my self insert would be the first to be visually trans. I already talked about how I think the idea of Ray getting little treats and such along with Robin and Nami is kind of funny from a “Ray gets special treatment and Sanji doesn’t get why he’s compelled to do that” angle but I want to expand that!

Cause like no matter what when Sanji loves you he’s LOUD about it! He wants you to KNOW even if he’s a bit more awkward with men showing more through actions than words.

I love the concept of Ray being the one Strawhat allowed in the kitchen and actively allowed to be around while Sanji is cooking super early on (everyone else obviously gets that privilege eventually bar some zip ties and a very angry “no captains allowed” note on the fridge lol) and I loveee watching Sanji cook and be at work! It’s not my fault he’s so pretty you got to just watch him doing what he’s passionate about! The two of them having that connection and platform of trust from the Baratie is something I love a lot even if it’s still not that much about the others!

I have this idea in my head of the two getting closer and talking more at night when the ship is quiet and Sanji is cleaning up from dinner and everyone else is either asleep or doing their own thing. Maybe Usopp, Robin, or Zoro joins in on this ritual sometimes but they both like when the ship is calm like that. And maybe it brings them some comfort cause it feels similar to how it felt closing the Baratie every night. Ray handing off dirty dishes to Sanji and clearing the table and sweeping while he washes and whips down the counters. It’s relaxing.

They like experiencing a lot of that together. They’re each other anchor in a way and LOVE doating on each other. And while Sanji often is over the top and vocal about his adoration for Ray it’s the little things that mean the most. Things like Sanji purposefully making extra parts of meals cause he knows I/Ray don’t like it, leaving out extra blankets whenever the other as nightwatch duty, etc.

And once they start dating (still haven’t decided WHEN that happens cause part of me wants them to not put a label on it until post time-skip but also the idea of them having dated before time-skip makes me… oughh/pos) they spend a lot of time together where that means going out to pick up supplies or just cuddling on the couch together or playing with each others hair or any other things. Plus I think Sanji is absolutely a “words of affirmation” person and that means lots of sweet nothings and sappy moments with them that play in my head. So much (I swear I call him pretty-boy and compliment his smile so casually in my head. So often. He’s my pretty boy!!)

I think they would be VERY doating and affectionate, as a treat <3 Especially with all the worrying to two do pfff. And I can’t say I DON’T love the idea of them having date nights (that absolutely get crashed by the other strawhats more often than not much to Sanji’s annoyance) but that’s a post for another time this is so long already NANSBSBHW

[fem-the-artist]

Explaining AJ part 2 🦇

Ok this is mostly going to be explaining her relationships with the rest of the cast 

it all starts with Mimzy

Obviously, AJ knows the other overlords via the meetings and such but I don’t think she cared much for them and half the time she wouldn’t even show up to meetings but I’ll get into that and the second

With Mimzy being a flapper and AJ being a punk, they’re essentially both the mold breakers of their decades, which I feel like they’d be able to like bond over in a sense. Mimzy flair for stirring up trouble also gives AJ more excuses to act and violence, which is her favorite thing to do.  they’re an odd pair aesthetically, but I feel personality wise they bounce off of each other surprisingly well, what can I say AJ loves an instigator 

Speaking of instigators, a friendship with Mimzy opens the door to A.J. friendship with Alastor although friendship, feels like too strong of a word wouldn’t really call them acquaintances though idk

They already knew each other via overlord meetings. They just never interacted before it Mimzy got involved.  in pointing out they Surprising amount similarities.

Such as

• Hyperviolence

•Having a very specific unknown moral code 

•Despising, one of the vees (i’ll get into that in a second)

•Being aroace 

•Hating being told what to do 

And of course, Alastor becomes endeared to her because he’s a girls girl and AJ is a freak and those are his two favorite things 

Now about the Vees, starting off with vox 

I think it’s a really funny, running joke that Vox keeps obsessing over the aroace who want nothing to do with him (I found Alastor a little too relatable, i’m also aroace and I also have been put in the situation of ‘hey I don’t wanna date you please leave me alone’, so this is me venting a bit. because I feel like it’s way too often portrayed from the allosexual‘s perspective and how it’s sad and tragic but in reality, it’s just fucking annoying and inconvenient)

Anyway, vox is a pathetic bisexual disaster, but then again, what else is new I just think it’s really funny that his taste is the most sophisticated man you’ve ever seen and and a woman who looks like she fought her way out of a dumpster 

(also, you can tell that these sketches with Vox are older than the rest that I’ve shown because it was before I fully committed to curling Alastor’s hair just a fun little fact )

Now moving onto the V that AJ actually hates 

It’s velvet, but you of them are the youngest overlords if I had to roughly guess I’d assume velvet died around 2003 or so 

And most of their beef is really entangled in fundamentals of what they stand for

Velvet is a conformist. She participates and creates trends. She lives by the mold, and even when she’s breaking it, she’s breaking it to establish a new one valve it stands out, doesn’t stem from anything important or anything she believes, and she does it for the notoriety and the look she is fundamentally shallow and she likes it that way

AJ, of course being punk opposes all of that she breaks the mold because it is inherently flawed and believes there shouldn’t be one in the first place she’s alternative not to be cool or stand out from the crowd it’s because of what it represents for her her punk identity is deeply important to her Because when she was alive, she fought for change (she was really hyper violent about it and let her anger cloud her judgment a lot which is why she she is in hell) but that’s neither here nor there 

The point is, they are opposing forces on each other’s identities. They despise each other out of principle, and because they genuinely fucking hate each other. 

Speed round

I don’t have drawings to accompany those ones

Cherrie- has a deep respect for AJ and they also hang out and blow shit up. Sometimes they both got the punk aesthetic

The two of them, rile each other up like there’s no tomorrow  and when left alone together will do something crazy

Rosie- friend of a friend, AJ and Rosie get along fine. The only issue is they have nothing to talk about so they constantly need a third person as a buffer usually Alastor

She will take every opportunity she can get to try to dress AJ up though there’s no stopping that woman

Niffty- AJ loves getting messy Niffty has a need to clean. You can figure it out from there. 



[belabellissima]

Fic ask: P, R, T

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

I’m an architect most of the time! I love plotting out stories and my outlines are usually several thousand words. However sometimes the outline will say “they travel two weeks here + bond” and other times it will be a full paragraph complete with dialogue that I’m imagining right then. By nanowrimo terms I’m a plantser! (Combo plotting and flying by the seat of your pants)

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Rosaria Munda is a huge influence in how I write politics and regime structures, and Nicki Pau Preto is a big influence in fantasy world building and complicated sibling relationships! (I’m an only so I don’t always remember to give my characters siblings😂 and I find those relationships to be harder for me to write)

Blue_Sunshine/ @blue-sunshine-mauve-morning (hope you don’t mind being tagged😅) is also a huge influence on how I plot things. Reading their Desert Storm and Rise and Fall series’ completely transformed my ability to plot stories. Their ability to foreshadow is next level, and every time I reread those I find something new. They also are so so good at writing a multi-pov narrative without losing the reader. I can connect with every character and they all feel so unique. If you like Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jango Fett, Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze, Anakin Skywalker, Shmi Skywalker, or all of the Jedi that I can’t list here, that’s the series to read. Also I just love the way they write Shmi and female rage, and it definitely influenced how I write anger and hatred in general, both in fic and original work. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but reading that fic literally taught me more/helped my writing grow more than my actual degree in creative writing did.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

I feel like this is more of a trope in general than just fandom specifically but I can’t stand when female characters lose/give up their magic😭 there’s literally only ever been one book series where that happened and I was okay with it, and only because it immediately gave the narrator the option to get it back if she was willing to brave walking through fire, thereby making her a sort of narrative reincarnation of the first of her people to get magic/beginning the cycle anew.

I’m not putting the name for spoiler reasons but I’m always down to talk about this series if it sounds interesting to anyone. It’s got magic (obvi) and rivals to friends to lovers (I’d say enemies but really they just get off on the wrong foot and they don’t ever actually try to kill each other bc it’s YA and they’re teenagers) and bonded animals and the fallout of a bloody war of succession that left both heirs dead and genuinely nice male characters who respect the women in their lives and multiple canon queer characters (including an aroace girl, a bisexual guy, and two gay guys).

But back to the actual question! I also don’t like unhappy endings😂 I generally won’t read something if I know it has mcd or a sad ending. Unless that’s like…. The whole point of the fic in a ‘this is a classic tragedy’ sort of way designed for catharsis. There was a fic that I read and thought the mcd tag applied to the death in the beginning, so it took me completely by surprise when, after ~60 thousand words of healing from that, the best friend was then killed right in front of the narrator in the second to last chapter. I still can’t listen to ‘somewhere only we know’ without thinking of this fic and it’s been S I X. Y E A R S. Never again🥲 it’s called Paradise and is Young Justice fandom if anyone wants to experience the same pain😌

[conscharacterscentralised]

Propaganda for “Team MARC or something like that…” for @group-oc-tournament

Who are they?

A group of friends since they were around 11/12. All met through school, when Mia, Xander and Ricky all moved to the same smallish town Carol lives in. Totally coincidental. But hey, you can make some great friends through moving schools.

They’ve been friends for 10 years now, even though all are on very different path trajectories. And no matter what, they’ll be friends for life. They promise. No matter what…

Richard Samuel Keyes

Also known as Ricky, he’s the oldest of the group. You’d think that would make him the de-facto leader but he’d prefer to stay in the background. He’s the most studious of the group, and the only one actively seeking further education, specifically in literature. He’s one to never mince his words, which while favourable in some circumstances is less so in others. Would do better to learn tact, but he’s not going to directly hurt your feelings. (He’d describe you being happy rather than him being displeased.) The most open book of the group, yet still somewhat unknowable. Birthday is November 3rd, and he is aroace.

Caroline Elizabeth Godliman

Also known as Carol, she’s the free-spirited creative of the group. The token “rich kid”. An only child who is always looking forward in life and never looking back, mostly because she doesn’t want to be stuck in the past and waste her life worrying. Which worries her. Very much aware of her catch-22, Carol is currently fundraising for a local band she works for with loading and transportation. Her favourite holiday is Christmas, mostly because she likes to pretend everyone is celebrating her birthday, which is December 24th. She is an asexual heteroromantic.

Mia Jolene Holmes

They’re not known by anything else. She’s short and to the point. Loyal with a fierce temper. The most extroverted and social of the group by far, and despite boasting that she can flirt with anyone she’s absolutely terrible at it. Doesn’t matter tho, they love corny one-liners. Used to have a different name and different life but she’s not one for over sharing. What you see isn’t always what you get but Mia tries hardest to make others solely see Mia and nobody else. If you’re in a pinch, they’re the one to call for affection and fun. Birthday is April 22nd, she is a pansexual demigirl.

Alexander Michael Stone

Alex to his family, but Xander to you. Makes an effort to go-with-the-flow and not cause a disruption. The self-nominated jokester and seemingly the easiest going… but he’s got a lot under the surface that he’s trying to hide. Everyone’s sussed out he’s not fully honest and honestly it makes them happier about their own secrets, but Xander himself isn’t generally thrilled. Still, why dwell on that when you’ve got a down-to-earth pal of the world who will teach you to drive and go on wild tangents with no meaning? Birthday is July 18th, he is a demirose bisexual (and also autistic. And dyslexic. Those aren’t the issues btw, there’s more).

Is there a story to these four outside of just friends and stuff?

Yes! I’ve gone into details on my own blog if you’re super curious but I’m planning on making it into a webcomic so I won’t go into huge amounts of detail (though the main spoilers can be seen fairly easily through the tags and art both I and others have made). But the basic gist is these four are bored one day and decide to go into a part of town they’ve never been before. Specifically to a different section easily passed through under a bridge. It’s not too long but it can leave you in darkness for a while.

Whilst walking through and joking with each other, they start seeing some odd movements in the shadows. Thinking they’re about to be attacked, they turn and leave, only to find the tunnel is a lot longer than they thought. Then one of them feels an unfamiliar hand on their shoulder… and a strange yet oddly familiar figure greets them before disappearing and the tunnel returns to normal. Slowly though, everyone feels the presence of something subtly messing with their lives, up to and including threats, violence and dragging up the past and the things they wish to remain hidden.

They call this entity Vanta. He’s almost like a fifth main character, but he’s the villain and doesn’t want to be a part of “Team MARC or something like that…”

What’s with the name? Why MARC?

Doylist reason: the forms said a name and I didn’t have one planned. I could’ve called them the Encroaching Darkness Quartet or the Vantaverse Quartet or even just The Gang, but I had to be extra.

Watsonian reason: Carol came up with it on a whim. They had to use Xander’s full first name because nobody knew how to combine together their first initial without it sounding cringe. It still sounded cringe to her, hence the trailing off… but hey! It’s nice to have a name!

Why should I vote these guys?

A vote for “Team MARC or something like that…” is a win for long lasting friendship, being queer and proud of it, autism, modern day antics and getting over your fears and being free.

Is there anything else to note?

Obviously this is all for fun, and even if my guys don’t make it past round 1, I’m happy I got to share my brain dwellers with the world. They lived for too long rent free up there, it’s time to pay tax /j

[madammayh3m]

I'm just going to spray you with a bunch of questions for Thais from the slightly obscure question list and you can answer as many or as few as you like, just whatever takes your fancy:

4, 8, 20, 25, 32, 39, 50, 53, 59

4. If your character was a work of art, how would you describe them?

That's a hell of a question lmao. I'm thinking something from a classically trained horror artist - uncomfortable to look at, with subject matter that's designed to be horrifying, but beautifully rendered. You have to be able to look past how initially off putting she is to notice what's underneath.

8. What is something they cannot resist?

I know this is probably supposed to be referring to like... an object, or a vice or something, but truly the only correct answer is "her fiance."

20. Can your character flirt? Are they aware they’re flirting? How do they do it?

Yes, but only with her fiance. Thais is demi-aroace, and she has literally never been interested in anyone aside from Yeska. So she can flirt and is aware she's flirting provided it's with him (because after knowing each other for thirty years, they're pretty familiar with how the other operates). Her flirting so far is a lot more body language and expressions rather than outright words. If she's going to use her words, she's going to be direct about what she wants, especially if she's speaking in Dwarvish (which, for some reason, is the only language other than Common that she and Yeska can both speak), because she knows damn well they're the only two that can understand what she's saying, and she's absolutely going to use that to fluster him a little.

25. How does your character feel about spending money?

It depends on what she's spending money on. When they've come across unmarked graves and altars while wandering the woods, Thais has frequently left offerings of a couple gold pieces as a sign of respect for the dead. But I don't think she really sees that as 'spending money.' She and her fiance both grew up pretty poor, and so she's used to having to save up, and she's not a big spender when it comes to herself. For example, she really likes nice dresses and shiny jewelry, but it's not practical for her everyday life and it's expensive, so she won't spend money on that kind of stuff. She will absolutely drop a fuck ton of money for her fiance to be able to get whatever the hell he wants tho, lmao

32. Does your character daydream? What do they usually keep their mind occupied with?

She's not much of a daydreamer, so when she needed to keep her mind occupied, she'd usually ponder over what she remembered of her past or things she needed to keep track of, like where she and Ferrin needed to go next, or how much money and rations they had and if it was enough to get them from one town/job to the next. So, fairly logistical. The major exception was after she realized she was in love with (and wanted to bone) her fiance, but before she and her fiance got together. Then she was playing catch-up with all the bullshit her friends learned how to cope with during puberty lmao. Lots of spicy daydreams.

39. What does your character believe their party lacks?

Well, up until recently, she and Ferrin were getting their asses beat pretty bad because the two-person party dynamic and the relatively strong (or just numerous) enemies they were facing made it hard for her specifically to actually do shit from a distance like she's meant to. So, taking a lot of damage and neither of them really knowing how to heal (or having the resources to seek out a healer) meant we ended up not really being able to approach combat efficiently. Now that we've had four (possibly five if Ferrin can swing things in the right direction next session) NPCs join the party, our bases are a little bit better covered. Ireena and Parpol can both help Ferrin as close range fighters, Vasilka and Yeska can help Thais from long-distance and then with Yeska being a cleric, he can buff and heal.

50. What is their native language? If they know multiple languages, how do they speak/act differently?

I headcanon that her first language was Elvish, but the language she speaks the most in her day-to-day life is just Common. She technically knows four, although Thieves' Cant isn't so much a spoken language on it's own, so I'm not counting it for this question. I think when she speaks in Common, she's a lot more straightforward and to the point than she would be when she speaks Elvish. She kind of uses Elvish as a way to say the shit she'd be embarrassed to say otherwise, since she's the only person in the party that can speak it (as far as both of us are aware). Meanwhile, she and Yeska can both speak Dwarven, so while she hasn't utilized this yet, it'd be handy to tell him things she doesn't want the other party members to know. So her speaking to him in Dwarven is either purely practical, or downright filthy, and there's no in-between lmao

53. What does freedom mean to them?

Before she died, it meant being able to marry the man she loved without the fear of Strahd getting in the way. Now, I don't think she really knows. Her being a revenant is, in a twisted sort of way, a second lease on life, but it only lasts until she kills Strahd. She doesn't really see a way out of that, so I don't think she sees herself as being able to be free. The best she can hope for is securing a better future for her loved ones.

59. What’s something your character has realized?

Well, she's realized a lot of things over her first week back in Barovia! Number one, she's actually a person with thoughts, feelings, opinions, and a past, as opposed to being this hollow, undead thing that exists solely for the purpose of seeking revenge on the one who killed her. She's also realizing that her divine purpose and what she wants are pretty at odds (not because she doesn't want to kill Strahd, but because killing him means she'll die and she doesn't want to put Yeska through that again). She's realized that Strahd has sunk his hooks deeper into Ferrin than she initially thought, which is fucking horrifying and something she's worried about trying to navigate going forward. But mostly, I think she's realizing that, despite everything, she still has the capacity to be gentle, and kind, and to love (and be loved in return).

[corelliaxdreaming]

SWrarepairs 2023 Dear Creator Letter

This was so not supposed to be 2,000+ words, wtf...

First of all, thank you for writing for me! (And thank you for dealing with this massive letter omg.) No matter what, I absolutely can’t wait to see what you come up with. I’m pretty easy as far as fics go. If you want to ignore everything in this post and only incorporate the pairing, that’s fine! I enjoy anything from tooth-rotting fluff to soul-rending angst, any rating at all, and I only have a few DNWs. I’d prefer no noncon/dubcon/cheating/violence/etc between the main ship, but if they’re included elsewhere, as long as there’s a heads-up, that’s fine. I don't mind hard angst such as character death, even characters in the requested ship. Also please try to refrain from amatonormativity/compulsory sexuality – philosophies that all people inherently desire romance/sex and would be happier without them. As an aromantic asexual myself, I love a good ship, but that stuff isn't for every single person.

As for what I do like, my very favorite thing in the world is hurt/comfort, particularly of the emotional variety. If, even metaphorically, someone is crying and someone is hugging them, I am very happy. Being an anxiety sufferer myself, I also have a soft spot for seeing characters dealing with mental illness stuff, anxiety and depression particularly, especially if their partner/s are there being super supportive and helping them through it. I've also recently started therapy and working on my own coping skills, and I love to see my faves using them to help themselves/each other. Any kind of porn with feelings also never goes amiss. Being aroace, I absolutely love to see my faves being represented as on either or both of those spectrums. I know this is a romantic/sexual-based exchange, but if you felt like throwing in a queerplatonic relationship as well (or instead? Is that legal?), I'm all for that.

As you can probably tell from my request list, my absolute favorite part of Star Wars is the fighter pilots. I love the angst inherent in the constant battles and always being on call and losing people. The stress and exhaustion. Pilot/pilot pairings knowing they could lose the other in battle at any time. Pilot/non-pilot pairings with the non-pilot feeling so helpless as they watch their partner go off to fight and so relieved when they come back. Commanders hurting because they care about their pilots so much yet there’s only so much they can do to protect them, and every death hurts so much. Just – pilot feels!!

For similar reasons, I love JFO. Cal is a perfect character for me – all angsty and hurt and sad but also determined to do the right thing and learning and growing and u g h. He just needs a nice boyfriend.

I know we're carefully separating different SW sub-fandoms, and that's kind of complicated, but I will mention I prefer the Legends side of things when there's a choice (unless stated otherwise). But I'm not a canon hater, and it’s always interesting to see where what can happen when the two get mixed together. The X-wing book series (and the era in general) is by far my favorite time period. I’m currently reading NJO: Star by Star and will be finished by the time of reveals, so if possible I’d prefer something without (or with very light) spoilers past the end of that book. I'm also interested in seeing things set during this time.

I prefer to see any OC/OC ships with unspecified genders be queer in at least one way – whether it be one or both of then is trans/enby, mspec, acespec, arospec, etc etc. That doesn't necessarily mean they can't be m/f, but queer aspects, please. :)

I think we still include our own AO3 links on these just in case, so here’s that – https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/profile.

As for thoughts on the particular pairings I requested:

Wedge Antilles/Wes Janson (C-EU)

I'm interested in how the Fab Four's relationships change in canon now that Tycho is out of the picture. Especially with Wes and Wedge, once Hobbie is also gone post-Hoth. Two FACPOV stories have shown us these two are close, with Wes being Rogue Squadron's XO. Surely I wasn't the only one who thought for a hot second they were gonna hook up in the ROTJ one?

Wyl Lark/Sonogari (C-EU)

The books tell us this relationship just sort of didn't work out, and I respectfully disagree. Wyl deserves a nice, soft boyfriend to help him will of his nice, softness (and sadness) – even if he does die later.

Original Downed Rebel Pilot/Original Farmer Hiding Them From the Authorities (OT) Original Overworked Rebellion Therapist/Original Overworked Rebellion Medic (OT)

These both seem like great opportunities for h/c! Especially the therapist/medic. Such mutual potential angst and comfort. :D

Idealistic Resistance Pilot/Jaded Former Rebellion Pilot (ST)

This sounds like fun. I'd prefer to not see it that the Resistance pilot just “fixes” the Rebellion pilot's views. Maybe more like they affect each other and more both come closer to the middle of that binary.

Pilot Who Stayed With the New Republic/Their Resistance Pilot Lover (ST)

Juicy! Would love to see it focus on their different ideologies, especially if it's one of my fave things where the NR pilot doesn't necessary disagree with the Resistance but just isn't the kind of person who can leave their whole life behind and live like that – and they can still do good where they are. Would love to see the Resistance pilot understand this, even if they are frustrated by it. And at the end of day, even if they don’t quite see eye to eye, their love is strong.

Tallissan Lintra/Paige Tico (ST)

I still ask myself constantly how I fell in love with Tallie with like five seconds of screentime and two lines of dialogue, but here I am. Paige is my fave lady to ship her with. I like the dynamic that it's very much Tallie's actual job to protect Paige while in battle. (I know I can't actually request additional character, so totally feel free to ignore the rest of this section.) It's be nice to see Tallie be friends with Rose, as with the sisters being so close, I feel like that would be a thing. Quadruple bonus points for any mention of Tallie's sister, Kallie, who was mentioned for like two sentences in the ROTJ junior novel.

Cal Kestis (JFOS)/Wyl Lark (C-EU)

When I absolutely fell in love with Cal even before JFO came out, I needed a good boy to ship him with. The game didn't really provide, so I went looking elsewhere in the saga and came up with my other favorite good, soft boy at the time: Wyl Lark. I played with the idea of Cal somehow getting cryofrozen or whatever and waking up the same age in Wyl's time, or Wyl somehow getting transported to Cal's time, but if you choose to write this, is whatever you wanna. Also a fan of Force-sensitive Wyl. Obviously you're not beholden to this, but I headcanon Cal as asexual bi and Wyl as demisexual pan.

Bode Akuna/Cal Kestis (JFOS)

And then Survivor gave us Bode! At first my headcanons with them were very soft, and then – oof, that reveal. Really anything goes here that involves these two genuinely caring for each other. Canon-compliant, AUs, whatever. I don't tend to read/write a lot of Jedi, and I've loved what I've seen of these two connecting through the Force if that comes out in time. I also looove the idea of Cal being a virgin when he gets together with Bode and Bode being all gentle and caring and leading him through his first time. (I mentioned above no dubcon/noncon, and I know some people would consider Bode's identity stuff that – I'm cool with this pairing, no matter how you play that.) As mentioned above, though you're obviously not beholden to it, I do headcanon Cal as asexual (and both he and Bode as bi), and it would also be cool to see them figuring this out together.

Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu (Any), Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu (Legends)

*yelling* My #1 OTP! 10/10 will adore anything where they’re together. Something set during that first six months after Tycho’s defection where Wedge was afraid to get close to him and wouldn’t even call him by his first name? Yep. Any type of Lusankya-related angst? Yep. Trial-related angst? Yep. Tycho comforting Wedge when the burdens of command are too much? Yep. Wedge comforting Tycho when the burdens of command are too much? Yep. Anything about what they're doing during all that off-page time in early NJO? Yep. Role-reversals of any kind? Yep. Literally anything? Yeeeep. (Bonus points if anything with Tycho set in NJO features him Not Vibing with the Jedi's pacifism bs.) Genuinely my favorite thing in the world is to just beat one of these guys (usally Tycho, but either way is great) over the head with angst and pain until they break, then have the other one gently put them back together/help them put themselves back together. <333

Nejaa Halcyon/Scerra Halcyon/Rostek Horn (Legends)

Look me in the eye tell me there wasn't something with these three. (Okay, I respect it being what it is canonically, but also.)

Tycho Celchu/Corran Horn (Legends)

You know those things you start shipping as a joke and then – oops, feelings? Yeah. At some point along the way, I just got really invested in these two being friends, and I’m interested in that becoming into romance as well. I especially love the idea of them really bonding after Corran’s return from Lusankya, with having that shared trauma between them. Corran leaning on Tycho to help him though it, Tycho finally having someone to talk to who really gets what he went through. Or maybe it’s before that, Corran trying to deal with being attracted to Tycho while also not trusting him? Big headcanons on Corran being bi and not quite ready to accept it. The two of them struggling while in quarantine on the Lusankya together. Or even something later on, once all of that is done with and they trust each other and are flying together. Tycho is pretty eager to jump to help Corran during I, Jedi. Or maybe Tycho supporting Corran through his exile nonsense in NJO? (Bonus points if anything with Tycho set in NJO features him Not Vibing with the Jedi's pacifism bs.) Anything goes.

Wedge Antilles/Corran Horn (Legends)

That said, I also got a little spark of “what if this pairing?” on my last X-wing reread. Maybe something to do with Wedge's reluctance to get close to the new Rogues, but Corran getting under his skin anyway? Nothing really specific, just intrigued by this premise.

Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu/Luke Skywalker (Legends), Tycho Celchu/Luke Skywalker (Legends)

With the popular pairing being Wedge/Luke, and my personal OTP being Wedge/Tycho, I'm just kinda interested in smooshing those two together. Maybe two are already together and third pines? Idk. On a similar note, just Tycho/Luke. Again, nothing real specific for these two pairings either, just find the idea interesting. (I am intrigued by the possibility of Force-sensitive Tycho, so maybe that could be something to play with?)

Wedge Antilles/Broak Vessery (Legends)

The always-wonderful Rogue Podron podcast put me onto this one with how they talked up Vessery and his interactions with Wedge. I like what similar characters these two guys are: both skilled pilots, super dedicated to the people flying with them. Not exactly allies, but not exactly enemies, being forced to work together for a greater goal. I like the idea of something happening between them on Isard's base, like non-even-quite-friends-with-benefits, just an understanding of each other as people and blowing off steam, maybe getting some comfort. Again, I know I can't really request additional characters, but bonus points for Tycho opining on the situation, whether he doesn't like it or is encouraging.

Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu/Wes Janson/Derek “Hobbie” Klivian (Legends)

Ah, the classic OT4. I just love how these four are always together in the X-wing fics. Friends, lovers, any combination among them? Golden. Just some random ideas: How the four of them got together and in what order. Dealing with Wedge being the only one there when Tycho got back from Lusankya and Wes and Hobbie not being able to see him for some time. Dealing with their separation while Hobbie and Tycho are with the Rogues and Wedge and Wes are with the Wraiths. Or, y'know, anything. ;)

[hella1975]

Me with my internalized transphobia upon hearing what the new chapter is gonna be about: oh god. This is gonna destroy me isn’t it?

Me after reading it: I’m fine I’m so normal and okay and totally. Having normal emotions. None even I’m fine. They’ve only read about love in a thousand different stories and it’s never looked like them. That’s cool and fine actually. Unrelatable and fine. Didn’t take those words to heart at all.

Seriously though I know it’s was a gay thing and not a trans thing but it’s so intertwined. Being bi was easy for me but being trans was something I buried for 10 years and still do and it’s just like. I’ve read, I’ve watched, I’ve listened, and no one looks like me in these stories. And if they do they die or they are villains or they’re boring or background characters with no characterizations. That fucks with you. I didn’t realize exactly how much shame I carry about it until Zuko and Kanut were talking about theirs and ugh. I know in my head that it’s okay but I also know it’s something to be swept under the rug and hushed and privated. I know that I’m only safe in certain places. This has turned sad, my bad, but anyway. I saw myself in this chapter and I wanna thank you for writing it, it was very well done and you can tell you thought about it genuinely. Bato talking to Kanut about how much he loves despite it being unromantic/sexual killed me too. Also! I agree that current terms and labels are jarring to read in fantasy settings, I’m writing a book and I chose to have those labels at the front and just talk about them in the stories but not have the labels said cause it’s. Idk something about it is so weird to read. I love that you agree with that I haven’t seen anyone else with that opinion

ill answer the end bit first before we get into some serious things lol but yes! idk i just read things sometimes in various fandoms where modern lingo is used interchangeably with their universe and it just feels so out of place? like it feels like reading a sci-fi story and suddenly some guy uses the full latin name for a plant like in what world would that just be common knowledge lmao

as for your other comments, im so glad that you could see yourself in this chapter even if it might have opened up some wounds that were easier closed. i was very careful with the dialogue of ch40 and it saw me writing and backspacing and writing again like a million times for each sentence, because it was massively important to me that this wasn't just the 'zuko is gay and kanut is aroace' chapter, but instead the queer chapter. there's a really worrying trend amongst the tiktok generation atm that really sees queer identities pitted against each other. there's no nuance or intersectionality and it becomes 'bisexuals cannot relate to lesbians' and 'aspec cannot relate to other sexualities because i have a fucked up view that queerness is inherently sexual and dont realise how much that shows my age' and 'trans is a gender thing while gay is a sexuality thing so they dont overlap' etc etc. whereas in reality, and i tried to show this in ch40, the thing with being queer that underlies so much of our experiences is always that sense of otherness. zuko can painfully relate to the shit kanut says despite their experiences being incredibly different, one being gay and one being aroace, and it's literally just because they are both queer identities. and you know what? as much as i wanted the dialogue to be perfect so i tweaked it a lot, it was actually an incredibly easy thing to do. i found it very easy to write a mlm character and an aroace character despite me myself being an allo wlw. and im not saying my rep is perfect because it would be my honest to god worst nightmare to be put on a pedestal like that bc i KNOW i'll make mistakes and already have done, but it doesn't change the fact that the basic theme of queerness was very easy to tap into.

i guess what im saying is that being trans is a different thing to what we tackled this chapter, but like you said, it's also not. there's a massive community here for you with open arms, and that's not going to be a miracle cure, but you deserve to know from people who get it that it’s not something to be swept under the rug or hushed or privated. unfortunately, you're right about only being safe in certain places, but this is one of them and you will find others. queerness is beautiful and it makes you you, and that's never something to be ashamed of x

[ayamturd]

aroace│mcyt hc

warnings: small mentions of hate, fluff

prompt: (requested) “could I request headcanons on how each mcyt would react to reader coming out as aroace? platonic btw!”

pairings: irl platonic! dream, ranboo, and tommy ; c!technoblade

a/n: as i myself do not identify as an aroace, pls correct me on any misconceptions or things i did not portray accurately 

a special thanks to new friend @youtubesthings​! they’re pretty pog and gave helpful insight to specific parts 

wc: (1.0k) - m.list

dream - 

you’ve known dream for a while now, long before he began to attract online fame

even then, you were still hesitant to come out to him 

rationally, you knew how supportive dream was for his friends, but reason doesn’t stop the fear of rejection for being yourself 

he’s an affectionate guy that isn’t afraid to express his (platonic!) love for others, and while you’re not romantically involved with him, it’s still terrifying to think that he might push you away for how you perceive relationships

whether you identified as an aroace for some time or only recently discovered the fact for yourself, you felt trapped and needed to tell someone

would approach him one evening and be closed off the entire conversation

he obviously would take note to your strange behavior and softly confront you about it

“Y/n, you okay? You seem on edge.”

“Actually, I-I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

moment you managed get get the words out, there’s a slight pause before he speaks

“Oh. Is that all?” 

he’d pause and realize the implications to how his words sound and begin panicking

“No, wait that’s not what I meant. Y/n, that’s honestly so amazing, I’m so glad you trust me.”

if you were still wary to telling others, dream is the most trustworthy of your secret until you’re ready (he’s able to disclose only the things he wants people to know very well considering he’s faceless)

but if you decided to fully come out, you can bet he’s the loudest and most supportive person you know

will not hesitant to defend you from any haters or trolls and tries speak out for all aroaces 

admits he’s not the most knowledgeable but tries (will search things up in his own time)

genuinely takes your coming out seriously but treats you the same like the person you’ve always been

c!technoblade - 

let’s be honest here, technoblade isn’t canonically shown to have any romantic advances towards anyone in the smp

as a close ally and friend, you trusted techno easily and didn’t think much about coming out to him

“Hey Techno.”

“What?”

“I’m Aroace.”

“‘kay cool.”

this isn’t to say he doesn’t care, but he doesn’t see a point in fawning over the fact when it’s just you coming out as yourself

he’s closed off to some degree about how he normally feels on certain things, but your trust in him makes him feel more welcome to sharing his own thoughts and feelings

will honestly become confused should a person mock or be unaccepting of the fact, and instinctively will unsheathed his weapon

“Why are you laughing?” 

*pulls out Orphan Obliterator*

“No seriously, why?”

that being said, he honestly just forgets about it from time to time

he can keep secrets, no doubt, but considering how normalized he finds it, he isn’t really strict about talking about it if the situation comes up

if someone were to somehow imply you both were romantically involved, Techno would be so casual about it

“Aren’t you two together to something?”

“What? No, y/n’s Aroace, that’s weird.”

“…what?” :D

i mean you should’ve expected this when you first told him-

he’s the almighty Blood God, a fearless warrior that strikes down all his opponents mercilessly, and truth be told, someone who respects his friends greatly

ranboo - 

ranboo is unmistakably someone you thought of first when contemplating coming out

from his donation stream to his constant efforts of normalizing LGBTQ rights, ranboo has always been considerate of the fact

so one day you decided to tell him after a stream

it was late and he was honestly tired, but you wanted to get it out of the way before you lost the confidence go through with it again

“Hey Ranboo?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m Aroace.”

“…”

“Ranboo?”

“Sorry what? I didn’t hear you.”

he had yawned in the middle of you talking and didn’t hear you come out

honestly it was really funny to look back on, but he’d probably feel awful every time you reminded him

once you repeated yourself though, he was quick to celebrate and congratulate you

ranboo isn’t one to go into many heavy conversations, but if he noticed any hate or criticism once you fully came out, he will stop his stream just to emphasize how any hate is not tolerated on his channel, especially regarding his friends

if ever need be, he will (with your permission) speak on your behalf if someone didn’t understand what being aroace meant

he knows how to lightly joke around the topic and chooses to do so as a way to show he accepts you for how you are

that being said, doesn’t mention it often since he knows doing so can be demoralizing like a label

overall, never fails to express his support and (platonic!) love, and sees you beyond your coming out as his friend that he respects and appreciates

tommy - 

alright, okay

this is tommy we’re talking about here, a known advocate for LGBTQ rights; though he can say some mixed up intentions, his devotion to enforcing those rights on his channel and throughout his daily streams has always been endearing, but much like dream, the idea of telling someone so emotionally driven was nerve-racking 

it’s not like you didn’t plan on telling him, but he probably would have found out by accident

you had been in a discord call with him late at night and it slipped out naturally

“Have you noticed you’ve been shipped recently with (someone someone) lately?”

“I have, yeah. I hate it.”

“… why?”

“Oh it’s nothing against them, I’m Aroace.”

“Wait really?”

“…”

“...”

“Oh fuc-”

after you explained to him how you trusted him but honestly didn’t mean to tell him, he’d respect you for what it was and leave it be

tommy is sincerely mature when he needs to be, and won’t bring the subject up until you wanted to talk about it with him (since he wasn’t originally meant to know)

once you were ready though, he would go full protection mode

online, he’d make his support loud and clear, and while he’ll make mistakes from time to time, he has good intentions to heart

privately, he always tries to be subtle in his understanding if the topic or situation called for it

he’s proud of his friends (that’s a given), and will never hesitate to make it known that you are someone he admires for being themself

[arotechno]

Jughead (2015), Issues 9-11: Discussion and Commentary

This brings us to the first arc written by Ryan North, who saw that the aroace Jughead train had left the station and simply could not resist tagging along for the ride. If you’ve followed anything about Jughead as a character at all, then you’ve probably seen many screenshots from these three issues before. It’s the Sabrina arc (that’s right, as in the teenage witch)!

I have a lot of analysis at the end of this one, so buckle up!

The gang ends up at Pop’s, as usual, where Jughead meets the shop’s new mascot, a talking burger lady. Jughead is, unsurprisingly, thrown off his game by this. After all, burgers are his one true love, but girls? He doesn’t really have an interest in them. It’s a confusing moment for him, and when his friends witness this, well… they assume he’s got a crush on her.

This is an iconic page in the “aro Jughead” canon. Here we have Betty trying really hard to be a good friend and doing what in her mind is the best for him, trying to help him through what she and the others perceive as his first crush. Jughead, meanwhile, is diving headfirst into a spiral of confusion (and later, discomfort) at the idea of having any sort of interest in another person.

I want to give my utmost respect to Ryan North for explicitly having Jughead say that he doesn’t get crushes. It’s not the only time that North does this during this arc, and I think it makes all the difference between making this awkward and relatable rather than making it seem like Jughead is being stripped of or “cured” of being aro.

Betty pushes Jughead to talk to Sabrina (the burger lady—it’s Sabrina), and after a while of running into each other day in and day out as Jughead frequents Pop’s on a regular basis, they strike up a friendship. Jughead has gotten what he wanted—to be friends with the cool burger lady—and he seems genuinely satisfied.

…But unfortunately, things do not go as planned for Jughead. The next time they see each other, Sabrina asks Jughead out. And Jughead, in true stereotypical oblivious aro fashion, agrees, without realizing until it is much, much too late that what he has just agreed to is a date. Like, a real date.

If you think about it, Jughead has probably never been asked on a real date before. And this is something I ABSOLUTELY would have done (and may still do today, if I’m completely honest with myself) as a teenager. Jughead’s immediate regret is so palpable here, and so relatable to me as an aromantic.

In his panic, Jughead turns to his friends for help. They are… not helpful. They’re trying to be helpful, sure, but whereas Jughead doesn’t really seem to want to go through with this at all, his friends are more set on giving him romantic advice (with varying degrees of usefulness). Jughead really has to go out of his way to defend himself and insists on multiple occasions that he thinks the girl in the burger costume is cool and interesting, but that he doesn’t like-like her, he doesn’t even really know her!

Unfortunately for Jughead, he ends up going on the date. And who does he call for help? His only other openly queer friend (I say openly because let’s be real with ourselves, none of those kids are cishet), Kevin Keller.

And okay, this scene with Kevin is genuinely kind of funny. You get the impression that Kevin has had a lot of practice dealing with straight bullshit, and that he’s more than a little disappointed that Jughead’s “big emergency” turned out to be something this totally mundane and not worth his time.

Ultimately, Kevin is also super not helpful, even after Jughead steals his phone in an attempt to get him to come to the table and diffuse the awkward situation Jughead has found himself in. So Jughead resorts to what I can only assume is plan Z, which is to call Archie for backup.

Only semi-related, I really love the way Ryan North writes conversations between these two. It just feels really genuine and believable. And anyway, I don’t know what Jughead was expecting, but resident himbo Archie Andrews is of no help to him, and only ends up making things a hell of a lot worse.

This leads to Sabrina rushing off to the bathroom and casting multiple spells to try to get Jughead to at least play along, if not outright fall in love with her, all of which fail spectacularly and only end up making her far angrier with him. I don’t blame her for being upset—the date was a total disaster, and right at the moment Jughead was about to be honest with her, Archie showed up and made things worse. Sabrina storms out, and vows that she’ll get revenge on Jughead for this, somehow.

All of Sabrina’s subsequent spells on Jughead also backfire. She tries to make him fail his classes, and he passes with flying colors; she tries to make him spend the whole day with resident asshole Reggie, but he ends up befriending him against all odds. She even ends up unleashing a giant eldritch horror by accident, and—well, that’s not important.

In the end, Jughead decides to make things right. He never meant to hurt Sabrina, and she seems to be in a tough spot, having just moved to town, so he brings her some food as a peace offering and explains what really happened. And Sabrina is… surprisingly receptive, in fact more receptive than Jughead’s friends were when he came to them for help, despite the fact that this is something they should already understand about him. Being upset with Jughead wasn’t doing her any favors, so Sabrina already seems to be at peace with what happened and is more than willing to forgive him and be his friend despite all that transpired between them.

This is a really great scene. There’s a nuance to it—the way Jughead acted on their date was unfair, both to Sabrina and to himself. He needed to be honest from the beginning, but instead, he just kept trying to escape. At the same time, Sabrina gets it, and it wasn’t very cool of her to try to use magic to get what she wanted, either (not that Jughead knows she did that).

Jughead helps Sabrina re-enroll in her old school and quit her job at Pop’s to move back in with her aunts, so that she can live out the rest of her teenage years the way she’s supposed to. Afterwards, Sabrina and Jughead both seem really happy, and thus volume two ends on a positive, quiet note.

I really like this arc, for the reasons I’ve already stated and more. It’s funny and awkward and endearing (I say that a lot about this series, don’t I?), and it portrays a realistic and relatable aromantic problem without it being aboutaromanticism. It’s more about Jughead being honest about his feelings and making a new friend than about Jughead being aro, even though that contextualizes the situation. A great deal of the series is about that—Jughead being honest with himself and others. In the first arc, it’s Jughead shaking off a persona of apathy. In the second, it’s Jughead being honest with Archie about their friendship and the way Archie’s behavior has been making him feel. Here, it’s about Jughead being honest about who he is at his core, and accepting it about himself—and Sabrina accepts it, too, no questions asked. Even if he never says “I’m aromantic,” the sentiment is there plain as day, and it’s a refreshing beat for the story to land on.

That said, I do have a bone to pick with this arc. There’s a line in the sand here between Zdarsky and North. In the last arc, we saw Zdarsky portray that really subtle but meaningful interaction between Archie and Jughead, in which Archie seems not only keenly aware of Jughead being aromantic—even without the word—but also tacitly supportive of him, such that he knows immediately when he’s crossed a line. Here, we see Ryan North take a bit of a step back from that, such that Archie may be aware of Jughead’s orientation but seems way too quick to assume all that’s changed the moment there’s even a sliver of possibility that Jughead has a crush. That’s the reality of having different writers stepping in to interpret the same characters in loosely connected stories like this, but it still bothers me. I prefer Zdarsky’s style of storytelling in general, but in particular I also prefer his portrayal of Archie, as much as Ryan North’s on-the-nose aro moments and undying love for Reggie make me very happy. As a whole, nobody ever stops to ask Jughead what he wants, they only tell him what they think Sabrina wants. Jughead says so himself:

I suppose one could make the argument that Jughead’s friends, or even Jughead himself, are only really aware of the asexual bit (if at all—for all we know Veronica and Reggie have no idea, for example) and that’s why they don’t only never mention aromanticism but also sometimes seem ignorant of it. It’s possible that the aro side of Jughead’s orientation is still something he doesn’t have the words for, despite it being a truth he knows about himself, and in fact I think that would have been an interesting angle to take, had this series continued beyond 15 issues. But what I have an issue with isn’t so much the fact that Jughead’s friends are unhelpful (because let’s be real, sadly a lot of us have been there), but the fact that never are they asked to apologize for pushing him to do something he so clearly didn’t want to do. Whether he or they know he’s aromantic or not, he was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of going on this date—and not just due to a lack of experience. I would have liked it had Archie, or Betty, or Kevin apologized, or even once asked him what he really wanted. Betty comes the closest, by talking it out with him in the first place, but even she still earnestly pushes him to go through with the date anyway.

Anyway, there are two arcs left for me to discuss, and frankly I’m not as enthused by either of them as I was for these past three, for a variety of reasons. The Ryan North train continues for one more arc, and then it’s on to Mark Waid and Ian Flynn’s big finish. Those two updates might come a little slower. Until then, I was going to include a compilation of Jughead looking uncomfortable, but I've only got one image slot left thanks to tumblr, so instead I leave you with this:

Same, Jughead. Huge same.

[hyacinthus-orientalis-linnaeus]

My opinions on various Miraculous Ladybug ships!

*keep in mind that these are all my personal opinions, so don’t even start with the hate*

Adrinette: Would be toxic. Marinette can’t even speak real words around him half the time. Her obsession is honestly unhealthy and they would never last.

Ladynoir: They’re pretty much just the reversed version of Adrinette, just with more identity shenanigans. Chat Noir needs to move on from Ladybug because they’ll definitely work better as friends.

Marichat: Honestly, it’s better than Adrinette and Ladynoir, but a hero/civilian relationship would be too dangerous to work and they’re both into other people.

Ladrien: They’d be too busy tripping over themselves to be in a relationship with each other. Have you seen Adrien as a civilian? The boy has no chill around Ladybug. Also, same hero/civilian issue as Marichat.

Lukanette: Very cute. Marinette crush on Luka is much healthier than her obsession with Adrien. They have many things in common and can have conversations without more than the typical teenage awkwardness.

Adrigami: They understand each other in ways that none of their friends do and their relationship would be great. They can let loose around each other in ways they can’t typically with their parental figures around.

Lukadrien: My favorite Adrien ship! And my favorite Luka ship! I live for them together. They have such a great dynamic and following the show’s own yin and yang logic, Lukadrien would be a more healthy, less obsessive Adrinette in how they compliment each other.

Marigami: You can not tell me that these two don’t have sapphic energy around each other. Marinette’s tendency to question herself constantly and Kagami’s “I never hesitate” attitude, they would compliment each other perfectly (also, see Lukadrien for my yin and yang comparison).

Marcaniel: They are the ultimate couple goals. They are meant to be in all the ways Astr*c tries to claim Adrinette is. Seriously, they’re perfect.

Julerose: Same argument as Marcaniel.

DJWiFi: They’re cute. I don’t get all fired up over them like I do with other ships (see Marcaniel and Julerose), but I like them together.

Mylivan: Same as DJWiFi.

Kimdine: I don’t mind them, but I don’t really ship them either.

Kimmax: I love this ship. What can I say, I love the “best friends to lovers” trope. I just think that they’d work really well together.

Clonath: I don’t like this ship. I just... it seems like it would be a bit toxic with the canon characterization, but even in fanon I don’t ship it.

Chlolix: I can see where people are coming from here, but I personally headcanon Alix as aroace.

Chlodrien: I see them having more of a sibling-type relationship.

Lila x Anyone: I hate it.

If there are any more that I didn’t list that you want me to do, let me know.

[aroaceshigeru]

Gary Oak (related) Headcanons:

Gary is aroace. And quite confused by allo people sometimes

★ 

When Brock asked about his relationship to his cheerleaders he stated that they’re good friends he wasn’t lying. I just love imagining them all having fun as a big group of friends ;w;

But I also like to think that they where all once in love with him - before he turned every single one of them down (maybe even with the words “Sorry, I’m not interested... but you can be my cheerleader if you want” lol)

Also his cheerleaders later realized they’re bi/pan/lesbian and have a polyamorous relationship with each other

And they are very popular professional cheerleaders now, getting booked for league tournaments, festivals, etc. 

★  

He has nicknames for his pokemon which he only uses in private because he thinks it would be unprofessional as a trainer/researcher

He loves tea and drinks it pretty much every day

★  

As a smol child he sometimes watched his Grandpa draw and loved looking through his old sketchbooks

This inspired Gary to start drawing too but he stopped after a while, getting busy with other things

★  

And now for something bigger...

Delia is actually Professor Oak's secret child - making Gary and Ash cousins! I mean look at her. She looks like she could be Gary’s mom

Like, her being his daughter is SO much more wholesome than the having-an-affair-thing the whole fandom jumped on for some reason. And it gives everything more depth, which is always nice.

To elaborate on that... Not only does it just look like they’re related and would explain why Professor Oak and Delia are seen together that often, but there’s some stuff in Pocket Monsters: The Animation (those old anime-novels that got never released anywhere outside of japan) that could be seen as “evidence” or hints for that. Professor Oak moving back to Pallet out of nowhere when he basically just started being a professor at Celadon University

“[Professor Oak] became an esteemed professor in the Celadon University Portable Beast Department at the unprecedented age of 25. However, for some reason he didn't publish any other notable studies and moved back to his hometown Pallet Town in his 30s and started up a small Pokémon Laboratory. There were many rumours about the reason for this ranging from having reached the limits of his research or having his heart broken by an actress in a Pokémon movie that he had acted as a supervisor for, along with many other explanations, however the true reason remains a mystery to this day.”

And him hanging out at Delia’s restaurant every night, without interacting much with her, eating stuff that’s easy to make and that he could get elsewhere, as if he was just there to look after her...

”Ash had seen Professor Oak late at night before coming to Pallet House: Delia for dinner. It was always right before his bedtime, and it wasn't something he'd ever really discussed, but he considered him to be a strange old man as despite having the option of Delia's famous cooking he would simply order furikake ochazuke and instant curry, then quietly read a book in the corner of the restaurant while eating his meal. “What an oddball. He could get furikake and curry at the convenience store.” The restaurant is busy at night. And Hanako never seemed to take much notice of Professor Oak.“

And it’s said that both, Ash’s dad and grandpa, went on a Pokémon journey and never came back and that they don’t even appear on the list of registered trainers - this never got resolved (as far as I know) but it kept being brought up how weird and mysterious it is. It all would easily be explained with my headcanon of Professor Oak being Delia’s dad. Delia’s mother (who may had been the reason Professor Oak moved back to Pallet town) broke up with him before she had her and raised her on her own, while Professor Oak found someone new and by request of Delia's mother, kept his past with her a secret and she told Delia the lie of her father having abandoned them to become a trainer (making up name and everything) After Delia’s mother’s death, Professor Oak started looking after her more and more, without ever telling her about being her dad. (and well, as for Ash’s father not appearing in the registered trainer list… he might just really be a failure, or he never actually became a trainer after leaving for other reasons. Maybe he found out about Delia being Oaks daughter and he confronted Oak and that somehow ended in him leaving *shrug*)

I also like to think that part of the rivalry with Ash is because his grandpa just spends a lot of time with Satoshi’s family, that he maybe even had suspicions about that whole thing in my previous point, and felt a little neglected and jealous