#and that’s like nonissues

[starlooove]

“There is no fanfic on Stephs treatment I have checked” that’s like the whole point.

[prince-liest]

I’m a sex-repulsed ace, and reading the latest chapter of 666 (as well as your analysis here on Tumblr) made me realize that I have been subconsciously thinking about MY OWN sexuality from an allo perspective? And that it has kinda been messing me up?? Like, ever since I learned that sexual attraction was actually a Thing and that it’s Important To People, I had been carrying around a fear of being deficient in some way and not being able to love to the same extent as allos. (1)

Even though I know logically that’s complete garbage and totally untrue, I felt left out of the loop because people seemed to care strongly about this thing I couldn’t even imagine. Whenever it looked like a relationship might happen I panicked for a reason that I couldn’t understand. But now I’m starting to realize that it’s because I was subconsciously terrified of an ‘ulterior motive’ behind the other person’s reasons for wanting to be with me. (2) That part of the reason they even cared was because of something I don’t experience. So thank you, because this realization just clicked into place while reading your work. The thing is, this way of thinking was just internalized in such a way that I didn’t even realize it was there until literally this week. And I think you’re right; one of the main reasons behind that is because I’ve always consumed media written from an allo perspective. (3) If ace/aros are shown at all, they’re depicted as “lacking” and their character development usually revolves around being “fixed” by the story. When I was ~10 years old my mom sometimes let me watch the Big Bang Theory with her (looking back, maybe not the best decision). Anyways, there was one episode deep into the series where Sheldon (who for the past nineish seasons was probably the closest thing to mainstream ace rep) has sex with his girlfriend for the first time. (4) Afterwards, he says something along the lines of “that was better than I thought it would be”, and it’s presented as a Very Good Thing and a big step in their relationship. I think a lifetime of stuff like that makes it very easy to internalize aphobia and feel like the lesser part of the relationship. Or to feel like the other partner is making a huge sacrifice to be with you. That got wayy too long, sorry. All that was just a lot of words to say that I appreciate you. Take care of yourself!(5)

The portrayal of asexuality that you see in media being almost exclusively as you described is very tedious to me because it presumes that something is inherently lacking in aro/aceness rather than that feeling of "lacking" being something that is induced by societal norms. Actually, one of the things that I find additionally alienating is that fandom spaces specifically have been getting better and better about ace characters - but got damn does fandom not jive with aromanticism. Like, a character doesn't want to fuck? That's becoming a liiiittle more fine, it's 2024, we stan consent. But not shipping someone romantically?? Not so easy, now.

I'm glad that my work has been something that resonated with you in this respect! Alastor cares a lot about his reputation as a demon but is pretty blatantly a person who could not possibly give less of a shit about being "wrong" for not being experiencing romantic or sexual attraction. The explanation Viv gave at one point for his own understanding of himself (that he thinks he's just "waiting for the right woman") actually stuck out to me a lot because it's a very "well, nothing is wrong with me for not feeling anything, it's the world that's failed to produce a suitable person" perspective.

But having that kind of confident perspective of your own rightness in the world is really not often portrayed in media, or even in fandom, which even ten years ago was still in the throes of standardizing "Oh, no! Me, gay? These feelings are so wrong!" style m/m content and is honestly not that far off from essentially that for aro/ace characters.

Anyway, all of that is to say that there's not yet much out there that doesn't frame allo/amatonormative values as the default that "even aro/ace people can (and should want to) achieve," and that it's really fun to write a fic that is unequivocally from the perspective of a character who is aroace and doesn't see it as even remotely a fault in himself. Does he have moments where he's a little confused and trying to process how things fit for him? Absolutely. But he just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who thinks he owes romance to Vox of all people, hahaha. I've written him trying to conform to allo/amatonormativity more with Mimzy, because I think the social standards of their time could push him into it, but Vox? Absolutely not, he does not respect Vox enough for it to even enter his mind.

And then, on the other hand, writing it from an aroace perspective centers the way that romantic and sexual interest can feel like a betrayal of a good thing. With a character like Alastor, it frames romantic and sexual attraction the same alien way that we usually see aromanticism and asexuality framed as.

In the end, this is just one of a plethora of different experiences that aro/ace people can have, but it's one that I really wanted to see represented more, so I'm very happy to write it. I'm glad that you're enjoying it!

[fishnchip3011]

the bfs..... i saw a cute outfit in a store a while ago and felt like drawing rowan in it. then the 2nd pic happened

+ some character info! i initially made rowan without intending to ship him with anyone specifically but i realized he & seb would be really good for each other (seb helps rowan become more assertive, rowan helps seb be more empathetic). them BAM gay people 💥

[foxgirltail]

Palworld critiques are looking more and more like Tumblr call-out posts they're all like

Long, drawn out, effective non-issue with several sources/instances

Another non-issue

This one is actually of substance and should be the main point, but it's buried by minor issues of little consequence

Another non-issue

[dingoskidneys]

Sleeby

[bullrunpicnicker]

if i was famous in some way and i saw that someone making mlp designs made me (or one of my characters thats just me wearing a hat) an earth pony i would be so pissed

[avallachs]

what the hell do you mean owlcat has begun using ai & several devs are pro russia/anti ukraine

[simplydm]

My only consistent critique about the hermits is I think ppl need to listen and respond to Joe more

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

for the megumi and the world's most inconvenient custody battle, i just head canon geto and gojo screaming at each other in front of kfc (AGAIN) and the conversation goes something like:

Geto: I HAVE MORE EXPERIENCE I HAVE TWINS AT HOME ILL BE A BETTER PARENTAL FIGURE THAN U!

gojo: THATS MY BABY I CHANGED HIS DIAPERS! HE CAME OUTTA MY WOMB! GIVE HIM BACK!

megumi and the kfc workers are so so done someone get these gay men couple therapy pls

i have so normal feelings for ideas i totally dont think about them every single day.

The funny thing is that Megumi actually have no awareness of Gojo at all during the custody battle due to the intricacies of the binding vow (there's a clause where Megumi has to kill himself if Gojo intervenes at all during the span of the agreement. Geto wanted the clause to be that Megumi has to kill his sister, but Megumi threatened to kill Geto and then himself if he made that the clause. Geto doesn't actually want to make Megumi kill himself, it's just a dead man's switch to keep Gojo from swooping in and ending the entire thing prematurely. There's nothing Geto can do to actually stop Gojo, but he can deter Gojo with the consequences of a binding vow which even Gojo cannot break, and he knows Gojo won't actually risk his son, so he'll let the entire thing run it's course naturally). So it's just:

Megumi: *very grumpily going ice skating with Geto's twins because he's under binding vow to play nice and cooperate with the cult members during the terms of the vow*

Geto and Gojo, squatting behind a vendor's cart: *having the world's quietest and most hostile divorcee bitch fight*

[startrekgaysex]

kinda funny when you see bad advice on a tiktok and go to see if the comments point it out and they're turned off........

[brokenarpeggio]

the schneider frame garage kit at wonfes.......oh how i wish the maker didnt just sell at conventions i would get it with a proxy and paint it like rusty in a heartbeat it looks so fucking sick......but also if there isnt either an iguazu garage kit or licensed kit i will blow something up

[pluralaita]

Am I the asshole for making it clear that I will never drive?

We are 17 and our parents have been wanting us to learn to drive. We started to learn in 2022 a bit before I came back from doormacy. Many alters have shown interest in driving and even call it "relaxing."

But around November of 2022 I came back from doormacy and immediately got front stuck. Because of this I got deemed the new host (there's three of us but I'm like the one the fronts all the time)

Our parents have been teaching us to drive very sparely. Due to things like money concerns and just not having the time we only got behind the wheel once in 2023. And even then I forced (let's call them R) R to do it.

I am aboustly afraid of being behind the wheel due to source stuff. Ive sworn that I will never learn to drive. Even being in the car has caused be panic attacks. I am working through it tho but because of the fact that we live in a small town and almost 30 minutes away from the nearest Walmart we need to learn to drive. Especially with us planning to go to college not learning to drive is out of the question for us.

R has stated multiple times that it's ok with driving and that they like it but in no offense to R they have trouble standing up for itself. I don't want to force them to do this but like at the same time me getting behind the wheel would take a lot of work.

So am I the asshole?

** the second NTA option should read NAH

[girlrry]

i got 4 calls about stanley cups at work today. these people are sick in the head it is a CUP

[unicofan3011]

the beefs..... i saw a cute outfit in a store a while ago and felt like drawing rowan in it. then the 1st pic happened

[gay-artificer]

Sorry but the current RW twitter discourse is the biggest "Dont you have literally anything else to worry about" type thing ever

[blueskittlesart]

what are your opinions on the themes of age in botw (or loz in general tbh). bc i think botw is incredibly interesting in the sense that it seems to be somewhat concerned with the theme of age, possibly as an extension of its theme of passing time, while also having so much incredibly weird age stuff (like, implying link is 17 by not allowing him to drink alcohol and his only retort being a joke about how he’s actually ‘over a century’, but also constantly making adults hit on him) that at this point i don’t even know what the game is even like, trying to say about this theme. or why it even bothers bringing it up as a theme in-story

I think that age in botw, specifically link's age, is completely dependent on its theme of destruction and reconstruction. link's age is somewhat muddled in dialog and never actually stated outright because he doesn't KNOW how old he is. Who he was 100 years ago has been entirely lost to him along with that version of hyrule, the version that exists pre-calamity. When link's age is brought up, it's either as a joke or to draw attention to the fact that he has essentially lost 17 years of his life and is being forced to rebuild himself from the ground up. I've mentioned this before in my analysis of botw as a whole, but it's important to the overall cohesiveness of the game imo that link's character arc mirrors hyrule. pre-calamity, hyrule was well-constructed and thriving at first glance, but upon deeper analysis there were a ton of internal problems, specifically the way link and zelda were treated as the supposed saviors of the kingdom. (this isn't even going into some of the implied narrative with the sheikah, but that applies here as well.) But when he wakes up, link finds that hyrule has been destroyed by the calamity and rebuilt all over again, and in the absence of any real government, its people have still managed to come together, to form tightly-knit communities, and to continue to grow. link, similarly, wakes up a blank slate, essentially in the "destruction" phase. His journey through hyrule in botw is the rebuilding. it's him finding himself and learning to grow around the wreckage of his old life, just as hyrule has grown around the wreckage the calamity wrought in his absence. In this way, i think the idea of age becomes sort of... unimportant, i guess? when analyzed in terms of the story as a whole, because link's hundred-year loss is less about him actually aging and more about a metaphorical destruction of his past self that allows him to grow anew.