#would I recommend reading just for aroace reasons

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Apollo Ascending series

Greek myth inspired fantasy romance series

Apollo is forced to spend a year with the prince of a neighboring kingdom before ascending to godhood, despite hating everything gods stand for and wanting to stay mortal with his sister

Prince Hyacinth is dealing with taking over his father’s responsibilities, and having to host the unruly almost-god, while his sister tries not to be forced into a role and marriage she doesn’t want, as she’s in love with a stablehand

romance, drama, tragedy, and a war against the gods,

5 POVs, m/m m/f & aroace

[polyamorousmood]

hey! I hope this isn't too non-traditional of a poly situation to be sending in, but this is the only place I think I'll be able to get good advice. As a pre-ask thing, to be clear, my best friend is the love of my life, I am aroace, we're very happily in love.

So, a while ago, we were dating, and it ended pretty quickly bc he came out as aroace. I asked him a lot whether or not that was the full reason he broke up with me and he insisted that it was and if it was going to be anyone it would have been me. I figured out that I was also aroace a couple months later. Recently (about a year after we first met and started dating) he got a boyfriend. I already set a firm boundary of no talking to me about his boyfriend bc it made me have a paranoid breakdown once and I don't want to do that to him, but even just the knowledge of him existing is pissing me off so much. I can't ask him to break up with him because I would never do thst to him and I love him more than anything even if this situation is hurting me like this, but I did recently ask him how the relationship was going with him being aroace, and he said that he isn't really aroace and he just wasn't ready for a relationship with me and thinking about that makes me want to cry. I don't want something romantic with him, I'm very much aroace and very sex and sensuality repulsed, I just hate that this random guy who I don't even know and never will (I don't want to bc I know I'd end up being a dick to him if I did meet him) is somehow more important to him than me, even if he insists thst isn't how it is. Since the situation isn't changing, I really need help with dealing with the jealousy. I've tried a ton of stuff and every single time I think about him I still want to kill him. I really don't know what to do, and my therapist isn't being particularly helpful (she isn't poly tho so she doesn't have experience with weird situations)

Hi. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with this.

I'm curious how "he got a boyfriend" went down, and why you didn't bring up your concerns about his honestly to him when he was initially talking to you about it. Or if you did, why it still... doesn't seem resolved😬.

Not to put emotions in your mouth, but it sounds like a large proportion (though certainly not all) of your issue here stems from you feeling lied to about the breakup. This would damage anyone's trust and faith in the relationship, and I think having a formal talk about why he handled it the way he did and if that will continue in your refigured relationship will really help you. Maybe he didn't lie, maybe he was genuinely confused (for example, "if I can't make a relationship work with this person I feel a deep connection with, I must be aroace!" [one year later] "yo wtf I wanna fuck this other person?")! I think you should acknowledge -- with him, if possible -- that hurt. You feel like you want to cry? So cry. Giving the feeling full expression makes it easier to work through (and the only way out is through, darling).

Be prepared to explain why it hurts so much. The betrayal, your assumption that since he was aroace y'all were on the same page and he'd functionally be your life partner, or whatever the fuck.

Aside from the advice in this post (please read it in full📖, it is all applicable here), you have a LOT of legwork🦵 to do in unpacking and deconstructing your feelings. I think this worksheet outlines how to do that well (though, you know, tweak the wording in your head, because its aimed at a more traditional romance). If done right, it will be difficult and time consuming⌛. I recommend working through the worksheet slowly, in at least two separate sessions an hour or longer each. 'Cause shit takes time to sink in. In fact, you will have to remind yourself of the things you learn doing it for weeks to come, if not longer, so don't be afraid to revisit it! There is no shortcut, but I hope you and your best friend can be on the same page and you can have support while you navigate it.

Remember, the boyfriend didn't do anything wrong. He cares about this guy you care about. Try to see him as an extra support for him, rather than competition.

Good luck out there, space cowboy. There is hope 💛 <- its a yellow heart for friendship, get it?

[prince-liest]

I feel like this is a risky question but if you don’t want to answer you know what to do. Reading 666 I questioned so many things on love and relationships that I’d already started to question before, but not to such extent. Inevitably this led to a talk with my psychologist (you know how people joke “my therapist will hear about you” well yeah that happened) and asked her what’s the difference between romantic and platonic love if we exclude social expectations. To this she replied it’s sexual chemistry you can have with more than one person, and nothing more. Beside that, it’s technically still just “platonic”. The more I think about it the more sense it makes. In which case, I wanna ask if you agree as an aroace, and in the terms of 666 does that technically mean Alastor loves Vox in that sense? I think you’ve said before he wouldn’t go as far with anyone else, so I guess I’m asking you if he feels genuine sexual chemistry with him, because I do have a hard time figuring that out while reading (unreliable narrator is my enemy) and most of the time I’m even more confused than Vox is on how much Alastor is enjoying anything sex related

I have a couple of things to say about this one, haha. It was interesting to think about, and I'm admittedly more delighted than I should be that I've made it into someone's therapy session, hahaha.

Firstly, I disagree with your psych about how to define romantic love and I think the same would go for a ton of people both aro and allo. "Friends with benefits" is a known concept that is different from "romantic partner" for a reason, and I don't think we'd have so many "we started out friends with benefits but, oh no, we caught feelings down the line, how unexpected!" romance plotlines if friends with benefits was the same thing as a romance apart from social expectations. Also, this way of describing non-platonic love makes it impossible for non-aro ace people to love romantically purely by definition, and I think many non-aro ace folks would disagree with that.

Secondly, Alastor isn't sexually attracted to Vox in 666 regardless. He enjoys the things they do, which is very different. Not to get too clinical about it, but he doesn't even tend to experience sexual arousal unless they're getting up to the very specific type of acts that he's personally into, which is why every time Alastor is taking on the dominant role his internal narration is pretty much just going on about wanting to eat Vox whole - it's entirely a non-sexual sadism thing for him, even if Vox is still getting off. It's possible to enjoy sexual activities for reasons other than sexual gratification, and that's about 80% of what Alastor gets out of their encounters.

If you want to see what it looks like when I write from the POV of a character who is sexually attracted to their partner as a point of comparison, I recommend reading How to Bag an Angel: Take That, Depression! and then contrasting that to Alastor's internal narrative in the 666 chapter where he fucks Vox. But as a straight answer, I write Alastor as a character who sometimes gets off on being forced into submission/humiliation, and not really all that much else.

I think defining romantic vs platonic feelings can be very personal, and both psychologists and philosophers have been trying to do it for ages, so it's something that you kind of have to define for yourself - but that's my view on it as pertains to this fic, at least! I hope that was helpful!

[greenhorn-art]

Castles in the Sky by Shadaras @shadaras

Fandom: 全职高手 | The King's Avatar

Rating: General Audiences

Category: Gen

Relationships: Chu Yunxiu/Ye Xiu

Words: 36 613

Here are two truths and a lie: Chu Yunxiu is Misty Rain’s captain. Chu Yunxiu is dating Ye Qiu. Chu Yunxiu is happy to have the Shu twins on her team. Of course, a lie can become true if you believe in it enough… (A Chu Yunxiu character study.)

About the book:

FONTS: Alegreya [Google Fonts], Raleway [Google Fonts], Catchy Mager [purchased from MyFonts], Segoe UI Emoji

IMAGES: Clouds from Rawpixel (ID: 9581058); Misty Rain logo from The King's Avatar Wiki (stretched slightly horizontally and traced)

MATERIALS: Domtar Earthchoice multipurpose copy paper, cream, 11"x17" cut in half to form short-grained letter size paper; Recollections' Gilded Ink paper pad; Cialux bookcloth, black; heat transfer foil, gold; 2mm binder board; waxed linen thread, 30/3 size; wheat paste (this time I used 1:4 flour to water ratio, and heated until conditioner-like consistency. An improvement over last attempt.)

PROGRAMS USED: typeset in LibreOffice Writer; title page mocked-up in Procreate then designed in GIMP; imposed with Renegade's Community Imposer.

I spied this fic towards the top of the kudos and kept it in the back of my mind while trawling for more HanYe fics. Thought, well it's gotta be there for a reason so should be good! ooh look aroace queerplatonic relationship 👀👀 Definitely bumping up to top of Read Next!

The amazing thing I've found about The King's Avatar is that the CP possibilities are endless! The characters are both friends and rivals, there's respect and history and it all mixes and clashes creating more possibilities and chemistries than I've ever seen in a fandom before. The fact that AllYe is so popular (and not just in an NSFW way) is testament to it, and also, in part, what drew me to this fic. Asexual representation is scant, aromantic even more so — especially in fandom (in my experience of it at least).

If I were to add a tag to describe Castles in the Sky it would be 'heartwarming'. Shadaras' writing and characterization is wonderful, and I really enjoyed the both the story and the aroace representation. They took a character with relatively little content (in comparison to others in fandom. I have not read the source material) and gave her a voice, dreams, and made me really care about her. I was touched, and after finishing it I jumped to my laptop and set about turning it into a physical book.

So, onto the details.

The thing that stuck out and stayed with me the most about the story was the aroace aspect (Shadaras fed my smol aroace heart so well), so that's what I focused on design-wise.

The title page features a large black ring, referencing the black ring worn usually on the middle finger of the right hand as a symbol of asexuality. The colours of the asexual pride flag are also represented: the text is purple; the clouds colour the page in shades of white and grey; and the ring is black. For the endpapers/cover backing I chose paper that mixes green, purple, and blue: green for the aromantic pride flag; purple for the ace. I also found the green-blue mix of colours to be rather fitting, inspired by the description of Misty Rain's HQ with the "cool blues and greens of Misty Rain's walls" (chapter 5: Transformations). While I personally find CYX's relationship with YX significant, her relationship with her team is just as important.

When choosing which cover each endpaper goes on, I thought about how the story begins with CYX and YX's relationship, and about how after it's established we see her team and it's future at the forefront of her mind. Following that line of thought I put the paper with more purple on the front cover (purple for aroace CYX), and the more green-blue paper on the back (Misty Rain's colours).

The process of foiling the cover took me 3 hours (the length of the movie RRR — good movie actually, would recommend. Which is surprising because I usually find Oscar movies rather boring). The foiling was done with a heat pen. Three hours is not the norm: first, I had the foil backwards and foiled my template instead of the cover; then, my power banks kept dying, so I had to take charging breaks, and I also went over everything again just to make sure that I didn't miss a spot; and of course I was also watching a movie while working, so that ate up some time too.

I had initially planned to bind it as a casebound book, but I didn't have enough time to do it (I was about to go on vacation and wanted to read the book in my downtime). Instead, I did a Coptic binding. The covers were pulled from the press and foiled leaving me 5 hours of sleep to spare.

I went simple on the outer covers to contrast the fun paper on the inside of the covers. I used black Cialux bookcloth instead of my green-blue 'petrol' Iris bookcloth for the contrast, and because it picks up the black from the title page. The text foiled onto the cover is a simple sans serif (Raleway, the same as used inside), and the image is Misty Rain's logo from the donghua. (Image came from The King's Avatar Wiki. It was stretched slightly horizontally because it seemed a bit squished compared to other versions seen on Google, and then traced). Using the colourful paper inside was a practical choice: I couldn't get two covers out of one sheet of paper, but one sheet would do the inner covers with some material leftover.

The sewing and construction of the book was done while camping — I'd packed up what I needed and brought it with me: the signatures (folded and punched); the finished covers; thread; a needle; and an awl. As for the actual sewing, it's supposed to be Coptic but don't look too closely. This was the second time I've tried Coptic stitching and I didn't have any instructions with me. (My first Coptic binding was a thin 2-signature notebook I did a few weeks ago. It was for taking notes at the event I was at, Pennsic War 50).

Book is primarily set in Alegreya. It's currently my favourite body font, and has a matching sans serif family. The fonts used in the title page are Raleway and Catchy Mager. Raleway is also used for titles, headings, etc. Segoe UI Emoji was used for any emojis that cropped up throughout the text (Pretty sure they're the same emojis as seen while reading on my phone and laptop). Catchy Mager was purchased from MyFont. (The first and only font I have ever bought, but I saw it used in a fic's title art and fell in love.)

Lastly, onto The Comedy of Errors, or: When-You-Finally-See-All-the-Typos-and-Mistakes-Once-You're-Done-and-Can-Only-Laugh-While-You-Cry-Inside.

Appendix's footer says 'Epilogue', so I must have missed something with the paragraph style for the Appendix heading.

Forgot about using Segoe UI Emoji font and did not include it in the About the Book.

Missed fixing the archive info for gnomen in the Author's Notes — the copy/paste of metadata into Notebook to remove formatting also removed the commas and spaces between tags.

Because I hadn't planned cover materials/design before printing, there isn't a section for that in the About the Book. Also the reason why the artwork on the cover is not credited in it, as I had not planned to use it.

[crystaiskiess]

Okay, after catching up on 113.6k words, I am here to ask questions. (Sorry, work on slowly losing my fixation on Merlin caused me to get behind the last four months.) A lot happened in the four chapters I got behind on, and I have a couple questions.

First question is why did you decide to cut The Secret Sharer? I guess I’ve always seen that as a really good magic reveal episode and also just a good episode setting up for future characters in season five. Although, I kind of assumed you’d have the magic reveal in The Sword in the Stone because of how you’ve been building the story. How you did the magic reveal of Merlin having no other choice was realistic, though. If he was put in that situation, that’s what he would’ve done. I just didn’t know if there was a certain reason you decided to cut that episode.

Second question deals with the lamia. First, love that Elyan is aroace. I like that no one is judgmental or tells him he hasn’t found the right person yet. Very nice and refreshing. I was just wondering if the change that everyone attracted to women being affected by the lamia was to reveal he is aroace and Gwen is attracted to women as well. Or did it stem to wanting Elyan and Merlin to have that moment where they finally really talk to each other? (Which they should’ve done in the show. It’s clear they care for each other, but it would’ve been nice to see that kind of conversation in canon.)

Lastly, not a question, but I feel very confident in love confession being the next chapter. It only makes sense because Arthur is like, “well, guess I just need to get married” because he believes Merlin does not feel the same way about him. I have literally nothing to bet on it and could very much be wrong, but I’m still confident in this. Intense slow burn is good for this; however, I want them to be together for the entirety of season five. Like dude, let them have this, please.

Also, I read The Sword in the Stone while at work and kept getting annoyed when my coworkers would come over to ask me questions because I was trying to finish up reading. Apparently AO3 went out during this, but I didn’t know so the chapter length saved me.

Okay, hopefully I don’t disappear for four chapters again. (No promises, though. Blame my job.)

HI !! welcome back !! i hope you enjoyed your catch up reading shfjshdhs !!

in answer to your question regarding secret sharer this was actually one of the most interesting chapter cuts for me - it was actually included in the plan up until the point i got up to it, when i realised that the plot of the episode itself no longer works in oafk because of arthur’s character development- in the show the only reason that episode actually works is because arthur doesn’t trust/believe merlin enough to listen when he says it isn’t gaius to blame and is instead agravaine - but in oafk arthur trusts merlin so completely i couldn’t make that work without it seeming largely out of character for oafk!arthur and merlin/arthur’s relationship - for ,,,, other reasons that i cannot reveal it didn’t really impede anything to cut it altogether so i thought it was better to do that than try to force character decisions that would feel out of place (however i agree it’s a great episode for magic reveals and if you haven’t read it i highly recommend turning the page by queerthedagger it’s amazing)

i’m really glad you enjoyed the magic reveal too 💕

in regards to lamia, aroace elyan is truly one of my favourite details to get to include and i’m so glad it’s gotten such a positive reception - the lamia does actually affect people attracted to women even in the show (the reasoning for why gwen isn’t affected in canon) - it’s meant to be implied that merlin isn’t affected because of his magic, but weirdly gwen never really questions that beyond an initial “huh that’s strange” - i just leaned heavier on the attraction part of her spell so that merlin has a cover for his magic, and subsequently it gave me a great opportunity for him and elyan to talk which i really wanted to happen because i think their dynamic is an extremely fascinating and moving one - aroace elyan and bi gwen has been sprinkled throughout other chapters too but this one was a great way to properly confirm both of those details

and i love your theory regarding the love confession !! i guess we’ll have to wait for the next chapter to see if you’re right or not 💕 alas i must keep my lips sealed

i’m glad the insane length of sword in the stone saved you from the ao3 shutdown HFJSHDHSH

good luck with work and i hope you’re well !!!!!! so lovely to hear from you again !!!

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

Shilling my queer fanfic for calendar reasons

Hey everyone, since it's Pride Month I figured I'd post some of... well you read the title, you know what's up.

Easily the most accessible thing I got out right now with explicitly queer characters is a little trilogy of Amphibia fanfic I like to call "Lost in Amphibia". It's three individual stories, each of them accompanying one of the girls in their adult lives. The first one is "Coming Out", about Marcy going to a therapist to talk more openly about Amphibia for the first time, but then ends up doing a tangent and coming out as aromantic.

This one is specifically aromantic representation, not asexual or aroace -- I just felt like aroace usually gets mushed together all the time, so I figured I could try to talk about one of them without the other.

The second one is Anne's chapter, "Missing". in which Anne, while not queer herself, eventually confides about her mental health with her friends, and during it, Sasha shares a personal story about how it was to have a trans significant other around her family, who doesn't support her.

Being transparent -- this story is a lot more about mental anguish from Anne's part than about Sasha's queerness, and I wrote Anne as straight. Don't want to start Pride month baiting you, but if that sounds interesting, hey check it out--

The last and third one, however, is about how queer Sasha is, and a lot of other things, but her queerness is pretty key to the story. It's long, it assumes you read the others, I don't quite know how well it ages thematically, and please feel free to just tell me if it reads poorly. It's called "Fear Not" and it ends the trilogy.

Fuck that was a lot, okay. I have other stories with queer themes that I am less confident recommending -- one would be the Steven Universe fanfic The Diamond Authority, which I am holding back because it is incredibly long, and the other would be X-Men fanfiction Check, which is about Magneto and Xavier being there for each other in a bad moment, not quite having the language to say to each other what their relationship is, and pussyfooting around it. You know, like the comics! Which is why hey if you're interested feel free to scroll down my finished works, I haven't put that many stories there so it should come up soon.

I also got an original story I might publish on Amazon for the minimum amount which is about a lot, but also about a protagonist figuring out their assigned gender is not the one they want to use after a significant life event. More to come on that later, especially if there's interest.

Either way, hey, I was born in Pride Month and I never celebrate because for most of my life I didn't really consider myself a part of it, so I figured it would be nice to do it at least once now that it's... shit, sinking in, I guess. A lack of community means I don't really very secure in the flag I believe I was assigned by the internet, but I do like writing about identity a lot, so the thoughts come out one way or another.

Hope you like the art! Or at least don't get annoyed reading it! Happy Pride Month and please feel free to tell me if this shit is tacky, people have such strange relationships with fanfiction that they don't have with fanart, I never know how this comes off.

[educatingmerlin]

I just found this blog and I am SO happy you are adressing things without condeming people whose faorite ship is Merthur. A lot of the time I cannot be included in spaces that talk about these kinda things in the Merlin fandom because of people talking about it judging anyone who likes Merthur. As someone who enjoys Gwen and also ships Arwen (Though not nearly as much my borderline aroace brain only gives me like one couple to fixate on per like five years) I love this. Most merthur creaters I have seen (And I have not seen many besides tumblr and some discords I will admit and Tumblr doesnt tent to recomend me racistgwen stuff) treat her well But I still remember the time I asked for Merthur fics that treat gwen nicely and one person just gave me their fic WHERE GWEN DIES IN CHILDBIRTH for no reason in a pretty disrepectful way and I was left going WTF. I stopped reading it.

I've been lucky to avoid a lot of the racism I think.

Thank you for your submission.

I am happy that you are enjoying this space! This page was definitely created to try and bring all Merlin fans (regardless of who they ship) into raising awareness about racism and antiBlackness.

Unfortunately fandom can be messy and there have been many times when my posts have been accused of being hateful towards certain ships (particularly Merthur) despite the fact that there have been discussions about racism and not the actual ship itself. It is also why I constantly put disclaimers that certain posts are not denouncing certain ships or shippers. Fandom would be a lot more productive in tackling antiBlackness if there was not a constant need for discussions about racism to be put down to 'ship wars.'

I am glad that you have been able to avoid a lot of the racism. Unfortunately fics and posts which treat Gwen negatively are common in the fandom so I am sorry you had that experience.

Regarding your comment about other fans judging people who ship Merthur, of course I am unaware of the details so it depends on what exactly you have been seeing, but I think it is also important to view things from the side of fans of color and have been at the end of racism in the Merlin fandom.

Of course this isn't isolated to just Merthur shippers, there are plenty of other people who are involved in racism, but they do dominate the fandom and unfortunately a significant amount of racism has come from them (as you have already mentioned with your example of a fic recommendation). With that in mind, it is understandable why there may be some judgement or apprehension there.

This generally isn't related to ships, rather that a big part of a community have been known to engage in racist activities. Again though, this is not all Merthur shippers, nor is it isolated to just them.

There has been a lot of uncomfortable-ness when talking about Merthur shippers and how they are in the fandom because (as mentioned before) many fans cannot see past their 'this is hating on my ship and the characters I love' blinkers.

So I think it is important in trying to understand the perspective of POC, particularly if they are acting a certain way towards certain ships or shippers. I obviously cannot speak for everyone but it could well be a response to racism they have experienced or seen.

There are a lot of Merthur shippers who do partake in anti-racism in the fandom. Who do love Gwen and challenge anyone who is racist towards her. Hopefully this is something that will continue to spread amongst them.

But yes, this page doesn't condemn Merthur shippers! They are welcome here and we can tackle racism together!

[daybringersol]

Hey ! I’m Sol, Juno, Chip or Art, whichever you prefer, and you can use he/him, eon/eons, myr/myrrh, hy/hymn, it/its and masculine terms for me. I’m a paradox, I don’t abide to labels and stuff like that, not in the way that I don’t use them, more in the way that I just go with what feels right in the moment, without forcing myself to stay static. Right now, I’m an anarchaqueer, biaro man, but I’m fluid, so don’t get attached too much ! I’m also québecois, and not shy about it; feel free to talk to me in french or english.

more pronoun options [link]

read CROSSTALK [link]

Working towards being an editor professionally, so open to beta for fics or other stories, just DM me !

I’m currently trying to cut back on political commentary on here, both in reblogs or in my own posts, because it triggers my moral OCD. Please note that you cannot extrapolate how much activism someone partakes in based on their tumblr activity.

I’m for the liberation of Palestine, against antitransmasculinity (as not being so would betray my own life experiences), for the independence of Québec, against antisemitism, for a kind of aspec solidarity that includes non-aroace aspecs and respects the differences in our experiences, against the police & the current psychiatric system, for the destigmatization of kinks, fetishes & ‘scary’ mental disorders, against exclusionism & label policing in the queer community, for the exploration of complex topics in fiction (including in ‘lowbrow’ medias like fanfiction), against both gender & sex essentialism & binaries, for LandBack, against the criminalisation of (all) drugs & sex work, and passionate about much more topics than those included in this short list. I believe that morality is not determined by your thoughts but by your actions, and that what kind of bigotry you’re affected by is not determined by your identity but by how & if it is perceived. If you’re planning on harassing me about any of these beliefs, I’d recommend simply blocking me instead, as I will not answer any questions I don’t believe to be asked in good faith.

I’m 21 so keep that in mind. There should be little NSFW stuff on here, pretty much only artistic nudity & jokes.

Please note that I do have a separate (appropriately tagged) NSFW account, and that if you go looking for it, it’s your fault for seeing things you don’t want to see. Bringing here what I post to that account, or ‘exposing’ it to others with the goal to judge or mock me is sexual harassment. There’s a reason those accounts are separate.

I’m fully fine with (appropriately tagged) NSFW topics being explored in fandom, including JRWI (as those same things are explored in the source material). I believe the council’s boundaries are to not do RPF and to not show them porn of their characters. Feel free to block me if that makes you uncomfortable.

I’m not going to tag every time I talk about my own experiences with abuse, addiction, SA, C-PTSD, pure O (internal OCD, in my case moral), P-DID and stuff like that, so feel free to block if that’s something that could trigger you. I don’t talk about it often though, and will tag it if it’s too graphic.

I am the host of a system, this account should be mine & mine only but we’ll see. The way I see my plurality is not the generally agreed upon way in the plural community (e.g. I am my body; the others are at best symbiotes, at worst parasites), so don’t think I represent anyone else but myself. Don’t ask me to have an opinion on endogenic systems, I don’t care.

If you tag me in stuff where you have to tag your friends and then they tag their friends, I enjoy and appreciate it, but I most likely won’t tag other people cuz it makes me anxious !

I usually do PTs, IDs and/or alt text on my flags and userboxes but I don’t always have the energy that requires of me, so sorry about that.

Flags can be used on tumblr without credits, and userboxes can be used without credits as long as you reblog the post, but please don't repost the rest of my art (paintings, drawings, sketches, poetry, music, ect.) without credits. If you repost my flags on other website or put them on wikis, I would very much prefer to be credited (at least a link).

[aromantic-pantyanarchy]

With Gwenpool coming out, slash-discovering herself, being a bit of headline news in our little community here, I, as a resident comics deep diver, wanted to say a couple things on those interested in the character.

1) What to read! Gwenpool is a pretty easy character to look into, she has one solo run, and it’s the most defining run of her career, the full publication title being The Unbelievable Gwenpool. It’s really good and it’s the main reason that people actually know who she is. I would recommend reading the whole thing, you can maybe skip #0 but it’s not a huge deal either way (#0 is essentially a Howard the Duck issue which was used to test the waters on the concept of the character). If you want the storyline where she comes out as aroace, that’s Love Unlimited Infinity Comic #s 43-48.

I’ve not personally read the West Coast Avengers run where she dates Quentin Quire, I tend to intentionally avoid anything with Quentin Quire in it, so I don’t know if that adds any important context to her orientation.

2) Do not read Gwenpool Strikes Back! For my sake and for yours, please. It’s just a bad comic. It is explicitly about Gwen acting out of character, it’s really tryhard with the meme shit, which the original Gwenpool run explicitly decries, and more than just that it takes the absolute wrong followup from the ending of the original run. And it’s weirdly horny, which is probably the opposite of what you want from looking into an asexual character.

3) TRN does not mean anything! I’ve seen at least one person so far identify Gwenpool as “Gwen Poole (Earth-TRN565)” and, no, that is incorrect, I’m sorry. TRN stands for Temporary Reality Number, it is a system that the Marvel Wiki, which is run by Fandom and not affiliated with Marvel at all, uses to classify universes which do not yet have a concrete designation. The Sony Spider-verse movies, for example, still use a TRN number because despite the movies giving the universes reality numbers, they are reality numbers already in use (616, 1610, etc.), and thus could not give the characters and locations unique webpages. The TRN is purely a clerical tool used by the wiki to prevent overlapping URLs, not any kind of designation on the universe that Gwen comes from.

Gwen’s home universe is, officially, “Gwen’s Home Universe, a world similar to ours without superpowers where Marvel characters are represented in comics and media the way they are in our own”. It’s not a satisfying answer, I know, but until Marvel pulls the trigger on whether Gwen’s a mutant or not, it’s the best that we have.

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace book lists masterpost

#aspec books / aro & ace books database (tinyurl.com/aspecbooks)

A couple notes:

These are books I have read, with the occasional exception. I always state when I have not read a book I’m including in a post. May add to and edit posts when I read more relevant books.

I mostly include books I recommend, but to varying levels (and sometimes I'll include some I dislike but they might be worthwhile for someone else) There will of course be some of my personal bias to what I prefer (SFF, YA contemporary)

I prioritise books with aspec main characters. Will include the occasional side character if I have a gap to fill and it’s reasonably significant and/or the author is aspec. Like, would it be worth it to read the book just for this character?

however, when it's a main POV character, that doesn't necessarily mean it's extensively explored within the story, sometimes it's just a brief mention

The things I am choosing to group by are based on commonalities I’ve noticed. If I group by one thing but not something similar it's because there's not enough I've read to make a worthwhile post!

Most posts encompass ace & aro & the spectrums (because there's a lot of overlap in the books) but some are one or the other, and I've generally marked them as such here

under the cut, as I will be frequently updating as I post more

asterix* & smalltext means the same post is being linked for a second time (for example if it's gender and genre specific, it might be under both sections)

identity

gender/sexuality

trans part 1 / part 2

nonbinary (YA/MG)

nonbinary (adult/NA)

aroallo books

aroace girls (contemporary YA)

ace girls (contemporary YA)

ace girls (YA low sff)

ace boys (YA contemporary/real world)

aroace men/boys

demisexual (YA contemporary)

relationship

queerplatonic

ace/ace

f/nb

f/f (ace, YA)

f/f (adult)

m/nb

m/m (ace, YA)

m/m (adult/NA)

other

autistic aspecs

aro books by authors of colour

aro books by Black authors

genre

broad

YA contemporary (aro)

YA contemporary (ace girls)*

YA contemporary (aroace girls)*

YA low sff (girls)*

YA speculative fiction (aro)

YA dark high fantasy

middle grade (aro)

adult: high fantasy (aro)

adult: historical/contemporary fantasy/etc (aro)

historical (1900-1990)

space (opera, or general space setting)

specific

assassins

dragons

fairytales

fey

ghosts

multiverse/portals

parents & parent/mentor figures

pirates

robots/cyborgs

TTRPG/DND inspired

university setting

vampires

format

Graphic novels

with illustrations

other/misc

some no-romance books centering a friendship

a few fav aro books

[aroace-poly-show]

This is the fic i was reading: defining love by tinkonka. have i finished it? no. apologies if it takes a weird turn. however, i present two pieces of YEHFDKSKJKLFJSDLKFS: 1. implied arospec rui and 2. the most BASED emurui takes ive seen in my whole entire life.

and for completionist's sake, here's a few more fics i have bookmarked, in no particular order!!

poor communication kills by HakaiEve: THE og aroace wxs fic. also recommend their other wxs works too because they get them. (also i think they have a tumblr with some aroace wxs art, if you haven't seen it yet!)

ikanaide by Gummysaur: maybe im just a sucker for sick fics and poetic language but. they all just care about their idiot troupe leader so much.... there's another one by them with the reverse plot of tsukasa taking care of emuruinene too that i remember relating to quite a bit!

the study of the sky, the sun, the star, and the moon by JadeMeraki: MY FAVORITE SERIES OF ALL TIME THE LANGUAGE THE HEADCANONS THE ABSOLUTELY UNFILTERED RAW TAKES i love this characterization and have accepted every word into my personal canon. i love this.

and by the same author, with hope: rui writing letters to his future self. im genuinely not ok reading this fic. the crossed out lines. the language. the despair and the hope that defines rui's core. this fic inspired me to write my own journal.

polysho nails by nonchalantatall: to be perfectly honest i do not remember this fic but 1. miracle paint reference 2. acey's favorite band reference (ajr) and 3. i must have saved it for a reason so now you will figure that out

How to Be Free by SkylerHyrule: VBS FANTASY AU (featuring the one and only tenma tsukasa and co). looooooove the way this is written and also this author understands vbs so well. really fun akian interactions too, a rarity in the field. If you like vbs i would also recommend their Misadventures of VBS's Clothes!

Infinity Spectrum by kjcoded: mizuki focused fic! the way this author describes gender stares directly into your soul and gives feelings you didn't even know you had a voice. i think about some of the lines in this daily.

Disparate Threads by MiyoatThePineapple: a little tsukasa-focused poem on creation and loving your friends a whole great deal :) (i am a sucker for poetic language)

if you're ever tired of being known for who you know (you know, you'll always know me) by dizzi_dizzy: like it says on the tin, tsukasa through ichika's eyes. it has been a while since i read it but again. bookmarked it for a reason. i think it had some great language on the passage of time?

july 27th, 2015 by anonymous: i left a comment here about dragonfly symbolism and characterization. i think that's all i need to say about it actually. yeah. loved it.

that was... a lot more than i thought i had. lol. anyways. book club!

ourgh saving all of these to my marked later thank you so much acey i will have so much to read. if i remember some bookmarked fics in particular that i really liked i will recommend them to you as well. book club!!!!!!! :3

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 The Perfect Guy Doesn't Exist Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD Name one favorite and one "ugh, no" trope OR what fictional character would you love to date IRL? ❓ 🦇 What if your favorite TV character appeared in your bed one day and claimed to be your soulmate? When Ivy Winslow wakes up with the house to herself for a week while her parents are away, she doesn't expect to find the very hot fictional character from her favorite show in her bedroom. To figure out why her fanfic brought him to life, Ivy must team up with her current best friend Henry and former best friend/crush Mack. Can Ivy and Mack deal with the fallout of their friendship, or will they realize there was something bigger behind their fight all along?

💜 The strongest aspect of this story was the satire on overused media tropes (both from a television and writing standpoint). Weston starts off all heart-eyed, head-over-heels for Ivy, and it appears sweet and innocent. Once the bigger tropes come into play, readers see how they'd never work in real life. Even the "only one bed" trope we all know and love becomes frustrating (hello, boundaries?). "Touch her and you die" almost became a thing. The fanfic fusion into YA aspect is fun and playful, though I do wish we'd seen a few more parallels between Ivy's writing and Weston's actions. This is definitely a book fanfic writers will adore; a great example of messy wish fulfillment. Beyond that, the writing is effortlessly queer, as queer characters SHOULD be.

💙 Suspension of disbelief, especially when used in an otherwise contemporary setting, is crucial for a story that contains magical realism. For it to work, however, your characters have to act reasonably. Ivy just seems too naive. It takes her WAY too long to realize that Weston wasn't pulled from her favorite TV show, but from her fan fiction writing. Her reactions are a little too silly. Even her word choice makes her seem younger than she is. I understand differentiating Ivy's fanfic writing by adding grammar and spelling errors, but she's a student. It shouldn't have been THAT cringy to read. Usually, Sophie Gonzales writes young adults with a level of maturity and emotional intelligence. Ivy is less mature than expected (and yes, you can have a mature character who struggles with confidence and independence AND anxiety), which makes it difficult to connect with her. One of the benefits of reading YA is universal experiences (as adults, we've been there, we get it, so we can connect to it), but I couldn't connect to Ivy (and I was an anxiety-ridden fanfic writer who obsessed over every fandom, so I SHOULD have!).

💙 Ivy's lack of chemistry (even from a friendship standpoint) with Mack is concerning. There are versions of healthy co-dependency between friends, but these two don't have it. The flashbacks should have given us more of a reason to love these two together than Ivy coming out to Mack and having a crush on her (after that, we immediately see the flaws in their friendship, which completely lacks communication and therefore feels toxic). Perhaps it would have worked better without the romantic aspect; if we'd focused on Ivy and Mack restoring their friendship.

🦇 Recommended to fans of Rainbow Rowell.

✨ The Vibes ✨ 🌬️ Bi, AroAce, & Lesbian Rep 🌬️ Sapphic Romance 🌬️ Young Adult Fantasy Fiction 🌬️ Friends-to-Enemies-to-Lovers 🌬️ Multiple Timelines 🌬️ Magical Realism

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[yandere-class-1a]

💗 About Me

Name: My name is Sunlight or just Sun for short

Nicknames: Fell free to call me any (SFW) nickname you want, I'm not really picky. If your going to use gendered nicknames please ask my prounouns though.

Age: I don't wanna post my exact age on here but I will say that I am bellow 18.

•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•

Gender: Genderfluid

Prounouns: Switches between She/Her, She/ They, They/Them, He/They, He/Him, She/They/ He, She/Her, It/it's, and mirror prounouns. At anytime you need to know my prounouns for somthing you can just ask, I promise i'm not mean! If you don't really want to ask for any reason just use they/them, like when referring to a swarm of bees.

Sexuality: omnisexual, Panromantic, Demi-aroace, Polyamorous

Dating Status: Currently not dating anyone, and not looking to.

•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•

Asks: Everone is welcome to send asks as long as you don't go against my DNI or my other boundaries. So feel free to send me anything ranging from a picture of your cat to a deep poem of your choice, I don't really care dude (Using the term dude as a neutral name)

DM: Ummmm, this one is a bit tricky. It all really depends on the circumstances. Like your lonely and think I'd make a good freind? Absaloutly you can message me. You want to tell me something but are really scared to put it in a ask? Of course you can, as long as It doesn't go against my bounderies. I am a minor however so I would prefer if only 18- private messaged me.

Touching: Only If we are really close. I am autistic and even the though of someone I'm not close with touching me makes my entire body cringe.

Flirting: Absaloutly not. I am Demi-aroace (meaning I need a strong emotional connection to be romantically or sexually attracted to anyone) so I don't feel very comfortable with flirting. I am also technicaly a minor soooo yeah, Absaloutly no flirting.

DNI: Basic DNI criteria (Homophobic, Terf, completely and/or untaged NSFW, Racist, cringe culture, ect). I don't have a super detailed DNI but I do block freely.

Warnings: This blog is based around all of class 1-A as yanderes. This blog is a more SFW version of yanderes with nothing sexual, however there are obbsesive and other yandere themes. If your not comfortable with this than I recommend you don't read this.

💗 Navigation

Request Rules

Masterlist

[takaraphoenix]

In TOA, Riordan wrote that the entire camp was trying to find a mate for Reyna and that everyone but Jason knew about her conversation with Venus, making her the target of gossip, pity, and unwanted recommendations. He then had her join the hunters of Artemis and later declared on twitter that he wrote her as an asexual character.

Omitting the fact that no one at Camp Jupiter mentioned Reyna's love life in HOO and that that seems more like a indirect criticism to fans, does any of the character's conclusion make sense?

I mean, there was talk of Reyna's love life in HoO, specifically from Reyna herself who expressed interest in Percy, and before that from Jason about them perhaps being involved in TLH (before, ya know, Riordan retconned that there was never-ever-ever anything between them because Riordan has this warped perception that any other attractions invalidate the current one, so to booster Jason and Piper, Jason could not possibly have an ex-girlfriend).

It was part of what made Reyna so incredibly interesting in HoO, because she had unfulfilled romantic plotlines whereas Riordan tends to herd characters off like that ship was named Arc II and not Argo II.

That being said, I think that the conclusion both makes total sense as well as not making sense at all, so let me elaborate.

Firstly, the not making sense part. Her being asexual reads very much like an allo doing the most surface level reading up on aspec identities.

Because what he wrote for her very much reads more as an aroace identity than an allo ace identity, and thus reads like an allo author who doesn't know how to separate sexual attraction from romantic attraction and just conflates them.

If she were actually asexual, there is no... no reason to join the Riordan-version of a cloister (I have many negative thoughts on his interpretation of the hunt) and avoid all advances, there is no reason to hide away from romantic advances and avoid them all at all cost?

She'd still experience romantic attraction as an asexual person, so why shouldn't she go on dates, meet people, get into a relationship?

It would actually have been a great way to have her come out as asexual to her partner and explain that while she does feel romantic attraction, she may not be interested in sex (and I am saying "may" because many asexual people are interested in sex, despite not feeling sexual attraction).

All of that, coupled with the twitter outing, makes it not really feel... fulfilling. It makes it feel half-assed through and through, both in the research on this identity department, as well as the coming out. Because there is nothing more frustrating than when writers prove to be too incompetent to put their story on actual paper and instead of giving a character a fulfilling arc and a real, canonical coming out, they just post some random tweet like that's worth shit.

Sure, hearing the author confirm a queer identity even in a non-canonical setting can be rewarding in that it recognizes a queer identity, but... it's not representation, it's a cop-out. Representation happens in the canon medium at hand.

Now, if he actually pulls through with this and has Reyna come out in one of the approximately 125 coming PJOverse books that he's going to write? Because it is worth noting that we're not talking about a closed story here and that his tweet could just be a "hey, guys, it's a slow build up and the coming out is gonna happen later but I want to clarify that yes, this is canon". That's the good faith argument here.

And on that note, I want to say why it is a satisfying conclusion, particularly for me as an asexual lesbian.

One of my favorite characters of all time is ace? Holy shit, that's a massive win! A leading character in one of the biggest YA series of all time is canonically ace? Hades yes, that is amazing and could do so much for visibility and also for helping younger aces figure themselves out earlier (provided, of course, that he actually puts the conclusion in a book).

I'm an even bigger fan of late coming out stories. Stories of queer people who pretended to be like everyone else around them to fit in and may have even lied to themselves.

Because there's a modern trend of gold-star-ism. As in, these queers came out of the womb queer, they have always known they were x identity!! Now, those very much exist, but the amount of this kind of representation in media very much warps the perception. Because not everybody always knew and many queer people struggle for varying amounts of time with finding their identity.

It's never 'too late' to confirm a character as any queer label, because real actual queer people may go through allo/CIS/het pretenses before coming out and if you take a character you previously portrayed in such a way and give them a journey into realizing they may be any share of queer, that is still a valid portrayal of real experiences and, even if on a meta-level it may be a "retcon" in that the author may not have always considered this character queer, it still very much checks out in-universe as a realistic journey.

Lastly, I want to get into the part about indirect criticism of fans. The way you put that, I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean, but I'm assuming you're referring to the many fans who headcanon Reyna, or go a step farther and think she should be canonically a lesbian. I do remember backlash from that side of the fandom in regards to this.

But... again, as an asexual lesbian, I don't entirely see a problem there unless you do not actually know what asexuality means. Because she could very well still be a lesbian. You could still headcanon her as a lesbian. So, this isn't exactly something Riordan did that spites and destroys that headcanon, and the uproar about it was equally... pointless? The only way this could have been an indirect criticism toward fans would have been if he indeed just conflated aro and ace, and if the fans who took offense, also conflate aro and ace.

So, that's my answer to your question. It is most definitely not a perfect way of handling this and I hope he does something more with this in future books that truly puts this identity into a canonical framework, I hope he differentiates aromantic and asexual identities here more clearly, but I'm glad for any representation to come out of even clumsy writing.

[ghostreviewer]

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

4.5/5⭐️

CW: spoilers

Omg this was one of my favourite books in middle school(honestly still really like it). It’s a story about how Tana and Adrian(Adrian ends up being turned into a vampire. Have I mentioned this is a vampire book? Cause it is and I love vampire books) go to a Coldtown, which are places for vampires to live. There was a farmhouse murder where the story starts and Adrian gets bit. And we meet Gavriel and omg he’s hot? Like, we got the messy black hair and the piercing red eyes, I would date him(I’m aroace and would prefer to not be killed by a vampire but if I do, what a way to go). Anyway, they pick up two more kids along the way(Winter and Midnight) and reach Coldtown.

The first bit of the book is a lot of like, car travel and honestly I vibe with that. Gavriel gets Tana a coffee, have I mentioned that Gavriel is really hot? I digress, but it’s seriously so fun to see them all interact with each other.

The Coldtown security system is like, really cool to see also. It’s like, giving military base vibes of entering and then there’s a lot of questions and a way to turn in vampires. You either get a cash reward or a poker chip that can be used to guarantee your freedom from the Coldtown if you’re not a vampire. It’s also where we learn Gavriel possibly has more power than originally left on. I believe it starts off with Gavriel being the spider(I think, it’s been a hot minute lol) and as the story progresses we learn that Gavriel is the Thorn of Istra which is like, kinda the crime boss of vampires lol.

Anyway, the whole reason Gavriel wanted to go to the Coldtown was to kill this other vampire named Lucian. Along the way Winter dies, Midnight and Adrian become full blown vampires. Tana’s little sister Pearl hitchhikes to the Coldtown because she watches all of the videos shared and it looks glamorous and she wants to do all of that with her sister(it’s not actually glamorous lol). Anyway, Tana ends up being the one to kill Lucian(hell yeah girl boss) and saves Pearl.

This book is so much fun, it’s one POV which I really like, and you’re left guessing at points on what the other characters motives are and how they’re all connected. And it’s just so much fun, like, there aren’t many books where I’ve read them multiple times through borrowing them from a library and then going on to buy them for myself. I would really recommend this book, it’s so much fun and yeah.

[mars-rnr]

Welcome to My Blog!

[Introduction Section]

I am Conner Renier, simply call me Renier. I go by any pronouns because I do not have any preference and I'm AroAce. I like to create art and currently learning new hobbies.

[Thing I Don't Like]

I do not want any hateful and judgemental people interacting with my blog. I'm referring to zionist, racists, homophobes/ transphobes, xenophobes, etc.

I'll just block you, if you are giving off shitty vibes and stinking up my space :]

[Thing I Like]

I really REALLY like webcomics (Ask me about webcomics) and also animated shows. I also have a keychain collection because keychains are my go-to souvenirs. I prefer the cold weather and any chance I get to wear my hoodies and jackets.

{Comics I like}:

Witch Hat Atelier

The Doctors Are Out (Webtoon)

In The Bleak Midwinter (Webtoon)

Ember Knight/ Epic of Gilgamesh (Webtoon)

Love Me To Death (Webtoon)

Bugtopia (Webtoon)

Cinder and Charm

The Last Golden Child

The Greatest Estate Developer

The D!ckheads

REVEAL OUT!

After School Lessons for Unripe Apples

The Prince of Southland

The Mafia Nanny

Tangled In Red

Summer Boo

Idiots Don't Catch Colds

Unruly

The Leg Less Traveled

BUUZA!

Life Outside the Circle (Webtoon)

It's Warm Over Here (Tapas)

Wake of The Clash

Golden Hour

Peach and Her Papas

Hungry Heart

Horizon Walkers

Spicy Mints

Afterlife (Tapas)

I Disagiati (Tapas)

The Masked Queen

Brutalizer

Dream About Me

Ladies of The Knight

Three in a Tree

Hollow Trails

Princeling

Mermaid Huntress

KAI

Finding Home

Les Normaux

{Shows and Animes I like}:

Dungeon Meshi

Gangsta.

Shadow House

Ranking of Kings

Pluto

School Babysitters

Saiki K

Kemono Jihen

My New Boss is Goofy

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix

Mech Cadets

Fionna and Cake

Castevania Nocturne

Final Space

The Hollow

I have more to add on however the comics I want add on are , however I first one to catch up on it or actually read it

If you want me to recommend to webcomics and shows. it would be: Ember Knight, BUUZA!, Les Normaux, The Doctors Are Out and In the Bleak Midwinter

As for shows I'd recommend: Ranking of Kings, Dungeon Meshi, Pluto, Castlevania Nocturne, Fionna and Cake, and Shadow House

[What Do I Draw?]: Fanarts & My original characters

I shall write the name of the character and the show they are from in the tags, if it is Fanart. I currently can't draw anything complex, just simple doodles, but I hope I can improve my art with this art account as well as bring a joyful good change with it.

[Who Are My Oc's]: Cappengrin, Finn Chase, & Noxus Volent

Cappengrin and Finn have been in each others lives for a while yet do not know the reason why the other is on the run, and they prefer it that way, until Noxus Volent stumbled into their little space ship and starts getting curious and throwing questions and materials out of the ship.