#apl things

[wittness]

not to be dramatic but i’d rather kms than have [thing]friend partner alts used on me.

[chaotic-carnifex]

Today's aro mood is the sheer fucking relief of becoming aromantic

[lovelessrage]

Pro-kink advocacy goes hand in hand with aspec advocacy and if you don't understand this you need to start.

[godsfavoritescientist]

oh i gotta know the aplatonic odile lore

Here's what it boils down to:

She says this after having spent a long time traveling together with this group. She might be a withdrawn person, but she clearly enjoys spending time with these people and has been on friendly terms with them for a while. It's only the idea of being friends, specifically, that she hesitates to agree with.

Here's a link to the full scene where this dialogue gets said. I very much doubt that aplatonicism was the authorial intent here, although the game has good aspec representation in other areas. Odile's in-game explanation for not seeing them as friends is that she's so much older than everyone else, but I'm choosing to interpret that as an inaccurate best guess.

[weedgrouper420]

oh uh um yeah this exists. heres something im proud of

[abcwordsurge]

incomplete list of states that I usually headcanon as aspec:

Illinois (aroace)

Nebraska (aroace)

Missouri (aro)

Gov (aro)

Florida (arospec)

Rhode Island (aroace)

Alaska (ace)

[sir-arlieosaurus-lung-struggler]

possible names include: proximiplatonic (proximity+platonic), intaplatonic (interaction+platonic)

Expiriencing platonic attraction only or mostly close after & during interacting w/ someone. Only Expiriencing attraction during and after interacting with someone you're friendly with, but that attraction fading soon afterward (could be minutes to days). After no interaction for a long-ish duration of time (week+ for example), the attraction fades, isn't as intense, becomes dormant, or one losses all attraction till further interaction.

Sorry if that dosn't really make sense lol

Flag color meanings:

Blue: the aplatonic spectrum

Yellow: the color commonly assigned to friendship, the stripe is made to be slightly smaller than the rest to represent the short time of feeling attraction.

Green: fluctuating levels of attraction toward those you're friendly with

I coined this cause I haven't seen any lables w/ this description, but I also may have just not found it if its out there, so if you know of a label simmilar to this please point me that way. If there isnt, anyone can feel free use this flag as long as its in good faith, you don't need to credit me but its apritiated.

[goldfinwrites]

Nonacearoweek 2025 prompt 1: experienced aro helps out questioning aro

Hemlock kicked its feet, perched comfortably on the railing while playing on its phone, which buzzed as a new text came through. It scowled, exiting the game to check who wanted its attention. Swiping through, it pulled up messages with CONTRACTOR (IMPORTANT), where an unread message sat.

Busy?

Scrunching up its face, Hemlock leaned back, resting its back along the top of the railing and facing the sky. Unusual for Eric to reach out unless he needed something work-related, but Saturdays were his day off, so that wasn’t likely.

Hemlock tapped out a question mark before flipping through pages of poorly-organized apps. However, within seconds, the phone buzzed again.

Lunch, im paying

That caught Hemlock’s attention, and it sat up, then hopped down from the railing onto the ground.

PARK TRUCK 15 MIN OMW

Pocketing its phone, Hemlock darted towards the doorway and skipped down the stairs beyond, ignoring the other complex residents in pursuit of reaching the bottom floor as quickly as possible. Shoes slapping against the stained concrete as it jumped the last step, it hummed cheerfully, pleased at the prospect of free sliders.

It quickly tied back its messy hair in an attempt to look somewhat presentable before entering the park, head swiveling around for its contractor. After a few minutes of searching, Hemlock spotted Eric standing under a tree, scrolling on his phone. As quietly as possible, it approached him, sneaking around to see what he was doing. Peering at his screen, Hemlock skimmed a wall of text. Based on the results of this survey, mages under the research and development departments perceive a higher sense of autonomy and independence compared to the…

“Ughhh, I don’t understand why you bother to read those things.” Hemlock scrunched its face and shook its head. “Their periodic surveys and press releases are so boring.”

Eric sighed, clicking the power button. “Snoop.”

“Yeah?” Hemlock paused. “Wait, you’re not taking back buying lunch or anything, right? Because I totally didn’t bring my wallet.”

“No, I said I would.” Eric hesitated, then tipped his head towards the truck. “What do you want? You find somewhere to sit.”

“Sure,” it chirped, “I want cheese! And fries and a milkshake!”

“Got it.” Eric started off towards the food truck, leaving Hemlock to scout out a suitable place.

Hemlock immediately set off towards the pavilion, which housed a selection of picnic benches. The area only had a few people, leaving most of the seats empty, so Hemlock picked the furthest spot from any visitors that remained under shade. Sliding onto the warm metal bench, it drummed its fingers impatiently on the table, idly looking over the park guests until Eric returned, lunch in hand.

He set the food down carefully, sorting out the separate orders, before sitting across from Hemlock, who eagerly popped open its Styrofoam containers and began wolfing down fries. Eric instead sipped on his drink before absently picking through his fries.

“Hemlock, can I ask you something?” Suddenly, Eric set his cup aside, staring at the shapeshifter.

Midbite, Hemlock chewed rapidly and took a sip from its strawberry milkshake, swallowing with a head bob. “You want me to kill someone?”

Ignoring its comment, Eric pressed ahead, his usual apathetic demeanor replaced with a slight jitteriness. “I’ve been,” he sighed, then pressed his fingertips together lightly, “Leah and I broke up. And my parents are pretty upset about it. But I think that I just… don’t want that. Any of it.”

Hemlock finished off the last few bites of its slider, unnaturally sharp teeth closing with finality. “Leah didn’t like me anyway.”

“You asked if she was going to eat her pet rabbit!”

“They taste good! How was I supposed to know she was going to be that mad about it?”

Eric sighed again, giving up on the detour. “It turned into a big fight. With everyone, except Mark. But I just couldn’t do it anymore. I know Leah wanted this… beautiful future together and none of it felt right.”

“Yeah, that kind of stuff is…” Hemlock stuck out its tongue, disgusted “…mundane. Empty. I’d rather be stuck as a research subject forever instead.”

“I just… I don’t think I want that. I don’t know what I want, really, but not that.” He tapped his fingers along the side of the cup, eyes staring down at his partially-eaten meal.

Hemlock looked over its contractor before shifting awkwardly and slowly reaching its hand into Eric’s field of vision, getting his attention. “So you came to me? And not Mark? Why the hell?”

“I know he wouldn’t think anything of it, but…” Eric looked over to Hemlock before breaking eye contact. “I’m different than Mark is. Mark doesn’t want anything from people. Outside of samples, at least. Whereas the hard part with Leah wasn’t her, it was more her expectations of me. I even liked spending time with her.”

Hemlock tipped its head slightly, with lightly narrowed eyes. “Still there’s something…” It paused, then grinned and dragged its tongue across the bottom of its teeth in amused contemplation.  “Ohhh, I see. You came to me because I like sex. Especially with none of those pesky attachments from people.”

“I like some of the attachment,” Eric immediately jumped in defensively.

“No, you don’t.” Hemlock replied smoothly and slid his uneaten food over to its side. “The only people you even talk to regularly are me, Mark, and Leah. And that’s sometimes even out of obligation.” It gestured a fry at Eric before popping it into its mouth. “You barely like people and find most of them boring. I’m surprised you even made it two years with Leah.”

 “That’s not…” Eric’s face twisted in a rare expression of pain before he continued. “That shouldn’t be true.”

“Why? People aren’t worth it most of the time anyway.”

“Because!” Eric floundered around, before staring at Hemlock, “That’s not…”

“Nice? Right? Fair? None of that really means anything.” It shrugged, taking a long sip from the remainder of its milkshake. “If you cared about that kind of stuff, you wouldn’t have paired with me anyway. Just throw away convention and life gets a lot easier.”

“That’s easier said than done.” Eric lightly bounced his palms quietly against the tabletop, for visual effect. “Or what, am I supposed to be like you? You’re…” He stopped.

Hemlock arched an eyebrow. “I’m what? Honest? Shameless? Go on.”

“You’re…” Eric deflated. “You’re right. But it’s not like you’re happy either.”

Huffing airly, Hemlock closed the empty containers. “Well, that’s thanks to the shackles more than anything else. I’m sure I would be happier free, but that isn’t happening.” Flashing a pointed grin, it continued. “Yet.”

Eric groaned and dropped his head onto his hands, pressed against the table. “I can’t be you, though.”

“I am one of a kind!”

“Thank god, but that doesn’t help me out.”

Hemlock snorted. “I don’t exactly do helpful.” Looking over its contractor, it chewed the inside of its cheek before lightly knocking a knuckle on Eric’s head. “I’ll make an exception for you, but you owe me.” Drawing back, it rested its chin on its palm, eyes fixed on the park walking path. “Look, there’s a lot of different kinds of relationships out there and you don’t need to follow a ruleset on how to build one. We’re both adverse to managing the hard stuff and it’s possible to find people who are fine with that. Most people won’t be, but whatever.”

Eric lifted his head, grumbling slightly. “It seems like everyone just wants everything. Love, moving in, marriage, all of it! And it’s just stressful.” After a slow sigh, he sat up fully, leaning back. “Leah and I started arguing because I didn’t want to move in together. And then it escalated and she… said some things about me. It was accurate, but it hurt to hear anyway. Stuff about me skipping dates and avoiding her family… that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, ‘cause doing that stuff sucks?”

“It’s not supposed to, though. I think.”

“But it does.”

“I know that! Remembering stuff like which flowers she liked and all was exhausting! I think her older brother is annoying! I…”

Hemlock hummed in acknowledgement, eyes back towards Eric, who listed off his frustrations with his now ex-girlfriend. Eventually, Eric’s annoyance burned out into exhaustion. Hemlock had thrown away the trash of their spontaneous lunch during his rambling, leaving their space neat. Hemlock yawned and its fingers habitually opened its current game, tapping through the daily missions as Eric wound down.

“…Thanks, Hemlock. You can be useful sometimes, I guess.”

“Don’t make a habit of it… Dammit!!!  I really wanted that SSR! I saved all week for it…” Hemlock whined, showing Eric its phone screen.

“They all kind of look the same to me.”

“Ughhh, you just don’t get it.”

“Absolutely not. I don’t want to. Also, I have to head out; I’m supposed to pick Mark up from school in a bit and should probably clear out my car to make room.”

“Sure thing,” Hemlock waggled its fingers at Eric, who was starting to get up from his seat. “I’ll see you later this week anyway. Apparently, Ross found something weird and wants us to check on it but is waiting for the official request to finish going through. So look forward to that.”

“Terrible. See you later.” Eric headed towards his car, leaving the shapeshifter slouched on the table, complaining at its phone over the draw rates.

Hemlock spun through its game a few more times before turning the screen off. It had made a good choice in partner, it thought, someone who was similar. Humans who are alike were rare, but perhaps if he made it past a human lifespan, he would turn out like it as well.

[antfarmingantfarms]

kinda inconsequential and irrelevant but why are posts like "if we are mutuals that means We Are Friends :)" so popular and widespread. because like ... no??? i am NOT your friend just because we're mutuals. i have like 3-4 mutuals i consider my friends depending on how i feel that day, and an even smaller amount i consider myself even acquainted with. and i have way more mutuals than that. i have to actually know you before ill even consider giving you Official Friend Status. and i do NOT know you at all you are not my friend </3 (<- not directed !! /gen)

[our-aplatonic-experience]

Someone needs to explain love to me in a way that makes sense to my autistic brain cause everyday I get more confused and ik I'm aroace and afamilial but also idk if I even understand what 'attraction' in certain ways means and whether I'm loveless or not :(

.

[mintoezz]

Also they should bring back the popularity for alterous attraction/relationships btw I think it can be nice than just have qprs being the only ones

[capricorncorvette]

XD Tumblr is the best descision of my life 😂💅

I love this sm glad i joined

Saw SamCat and MegatruxFR on there so i joined

[lovelessrage]

Reminder that deconstructing the prioritization of romance doesn't mean creating new pedestals for friendship and other types of relationship! Levelling the playing field means levelling out all of it. I've reblogged posts about it and made my own before, but aros do have a major platonormativity problem, and it won't go away on its own. There needs to be an active effort in understanding platonormativity and how aro communities can play into it.

Aplatonic aros are here and we're not going away. Siding with platonormativity and openly agreeing with it doesn't make us go away. It just makes us feel unsafe around spaces we should be welcomed into, and devalues our aro experience.

[apl-culture-is]

Apl culture is finally coming to terms with being Apl and feeling guilty for "leading on" people platonicly?? if u can even do that- and that talking to them felt more like a chore then something you were excited to do and the only reason that you miss people is because you crave attention- pay attention to me without the friendship part, pls n thanks <3

.

[taxi-boi]

GUYS I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY

APLATONIC LUCIFER

[wittness]

me when i color pick the apl flag from myself :].