#but he is SO ace-spec

[sparkyskid]

Gale Dekarios The Wizard of Waterdeep ace-spec propaganda

Spoilers for Gale’s romance below the cut

I, an Aroace, have finished BG3 having romanced Gale and taken the route to “fix him” (I.e. encourage him that he is enough as he is and doesn’t need godly power, that his value does not depend on his power or talents or usefulness to others.)

Yes you make out a little in his romance scenes. Yes he says that he has been intimate with mortals before Mystra, and was Mystra’s lover.

BUT.

It is never stated that you have sex with him.

At most, it is implied that you are physically intimate in some way, primarily the post-game where he asks you to marry him, you wake up together and you can beckon him to come back to bed.

Even then, even when it is implied, Gale’s romance is entirely chaste. For a game so horny, a game so ready to let you fuck so many people, a game that gives you power to make your party hang out at camp in their underwear or even naked…

Astarion and Shadowheart definitely have topless/nude scenes. Karlach and La’zell express sexual attraction. Wyll is entirely unknown to me. But Gale, despite being very upfront about his feelings in some key moments, does not have a nude or partially nude cutscene. A game that loves showing or describing the sex you have with NPCs, and Gale has none of it.

Furthermore, the moment that stands out the most as possibly showing sexual attraction, in Act 2 when he comments about reading a book that links the rush of battle with desires for other “stimulation”. He is having such thoughts, but even as he says he wants Tav, it seems to be about pleasure and stimulation more than flat out sexual attraction.

As we all know, willingness to engage in sex and the experience of sexual attraction are different. Gale expresses a very ace or demi sort of relationship with sex- for him, it’s about pleasurable stimulation with a beloved person.

Take this in contrast with Halsin. In my game, Halsin came onto my Tav in the last night before the final battle. He spoke of natural desires, of wanting skin on skin etc. similar to how La’zell expresses a desire for Tav’s body in Act 1 or Karlach “ride you till you see stars”. Halsin, La’zell, and Karlach, all clearly express sexual attraction. Astarion is, well, Astarion. I don’t know Wyll very well, but his first romance scene is a dance and he gets such puppy eyes when you reject him. There is none of these things in Gale’s route.

One last thing, the compliments Gale gives. Yes, this is a difficult thing to write because the appearance of Tav can vary wildly. But his compliments are centered around aesthetic attraction, not physical. “Beautiful” is one of his most common ones. Non-specific, wholistic, and aesthetic. It would be hard to write anything more specific with the Tav’s appearance being so variable. But the other NPCs still have doubtless sexual attraction.

So Gale is a romantic, so what? He could also be a “wait until marriage type”? False. He has not been married, but (at least implies that) he has had sex before.

But it could just be that his route is supposed to be the most romantic, and not all of the NPCs need to have equal levels of horny? Yes. Not all of the NPCs should be the same amount of horny. And the least horny, if they are this different, will always come across as ace-spec or aro-spec, if only by comparison (as it is in the real world).

Consider another detail as well: how the people closest to him are expected to react to him finding a relationship.

Both his BFF Tara and his mother apparently want him to get in a relationship. Tara is obvious, Gale speaks of Tara encouraging him to have more mortal friends after his relationship with Mystra ends. And Tara does at one point comment on Gale finding a mortal partner in-game. Later when Gale asks Tav to marry him, if you accept, he remarks how his mother will also be very pleased to hear the news.

This is a theme in his life. People pressuring him to find a relationship. This is also a very commonly shared experience for a-spec people of all kinds. Pressure from others to find someone. (The most toxic variation being “you haven’t met the right person yet”)

My own mother would be overjoyed if she heard I found someone to get married to, even though she knows I don’t want that. Sure, many parents are this way about their allo children as well, but that’s hardly talked about. Parents of a-spec people, whose children “finally get married” or “finally find someone” are specially invested in the outcome. Of course anyone’s supportive parent would be happy if their child got married to somebody they loved. But it’s noteworthy here, for some reason. As if his mother has, in the past, also given him some grief about it in a way that Tara does as well. If she hadn’t, why mention her at all?

Gale being pressured by those closest to him to get a relationship is thematically similar to the way ace-spec (and aro-spec) people get pressured by those closest to them. And the relationship he crafts is one based not on physical attraction, but on aesthetic attraction and romantic attraction. Gale shares physical forms of affection with his partners for the pleasurable stimulation of it. He does not exhibit the same lust or sexual attraction that the rest of the romanceable/fuckable NPCs do. All this to say that Gale is consistently sex-favorable, but does not experience sexual attraction in the same (allo) way that everyone else does. Therefore, he falls on the ace spectrum. Most likely ace or demi.

[pant--eater]

I've seen plenty of autistic Wallace headcanons (DESERVED because that man is Autism Incarnate. He also gives me low empathy energy, which makes me happy because it's so rare to see low empathy heroic characters in media 💖)

and I've yapped a lot about autistic Mr. Tweedy before, so now imma throw to the table the girl with croissant hair

🥕🥕Autistic Lady Tottington 🥕🥕

hyperfixates on vegetables. Girl dresses up as a carrot for the fair and has a whole ass fancy royal greenhouse dedicated for veggies. Queen shit 🎉 Hell, all of her outfits are somehow nature inspired and I hc she sews many of them herself! :> Ask her about growing them, fertilizing and reaping, and she will NOT shut up. (also yes my Willace hc still stands that after some first inital difficulties, she and Mr. Tweedy become besties who infodump to each other about veggies and apples respectively <3)

Just like Wallace with cheese, her safefood and continual samefood is vegetables. She was that rare child who always ate her greens LMAO and preferred them to candy

Animals and caring for them is absolutely another hyperfixation point!! Her mansion after the movie's events becomes a bunny haven and she grows rabbits, both as pets for herself, and to give them away to people that she trusts would be caring owners

(more under cut)

She also has a soft spot for other creatures too that are seen as pests or otherwise disgusting, and will always be open to adopting them instead of letting them get killed. Such as rats, cockroaches, ants, possums, raccoons, you name it.

(in fact Nick and Fetcher have more than often crashed in her place LMAO, pretty much using the mansion as a midway resting location, during their big trips to the mainland from Chicken Island. And I imagine they would at some point tell Ginger about Totty, which makes Ginger and the chickens wonder that maybe not all humans are evil to animals!)

Totty has a very strong extreme moral drive, and stirring away from it upsets her to the point of tears. (protecting innocent animals and getting rid of pests in humane ways, no matter how dangerous the situation gets. It does get irrational sometimes but she just can't bring herself to see any sort of critters in pain 💔💔💔💔THIS LADY HAS A BIG HEART OKAY???) She tries her best to make Lord Victor bend to that and be kinder to animals, even if that asshat is a lost cause.

The videogame adaptation also mentions she is a vegan, so she def gets massive discomfort from eating anything animal related

Her kind and forgiving, sentimental nature sometimes makes her stress herself out and put her energy to people who don't deserve it. It's clear that she is not happy with Victor, but she stays and tries to make it all work with him, because she wants to believe she can change him and bring out a kind man in him. (Girl please, your "I can fix him" game is off the charts) And she only dumps him for good once he crosses a line and tries to kill Wallace. Heck, maybe she does not have many genuine friends, also due to her noblewoman status being intimidating to many :( And that's also why she stayed with Victor, and it wasn't until meeting Wallace and Gromit that she was able to get out of the toxic relationship.

Victor clearly sees her as naive and annoying for her autistic quirks and personality during the movie, and is only after her because of her status, money and looks. Reducing her to a trophy. If that ain't a relatable autistic experience I don't know what is

In my hc universe she does not get romantically involved with Wallace. I know Aardman likes to shiptease them as canon and I don't have a problem with it, it's cute! I just personally prefer them as platonic friends, especially since the Were-Rabbit movie subverted the "love triangle" and "nice guy gets the girl" tropes where the whole punchline was that Totty in fact did NOT marry Wallace after him pining for her the whole movie, and it was so refreshing to see. Especially since Wallace was not upset at all about being rejected!! We stan a king 🫶🫶🫶

The whole scene of Totty going "I have caught feelings for you" was, in my hcs, Totty being comphet :''') 💔💔💔She has grown fond of Wallace because he is the first man in a long time who does not treat her like a pretty prize like Victor. And poor Totty, being the affection starved girlie that she is, who also has grown in a heteronormative British noble society, thinks that it means automatically romantic feelings. PLUS she is very touchy and affectionate when it comes to interacting with people she likes, so it's easy for people to mistake it for romantic interest

Either way she and Wallace are very good friends with autism 2 autism solidarity, and THIS SCENE LEGIT MAKES ME SO HAPPY, Totty showing her appreciation by copying Wallace's stim <3

[bottlecap-joe-spooky]

Justice for Grayromantic Demisexual edgeworth

[nicosraf]

ace rosier.... brb i'm going to cry of joy <3

Demon duke of lust in hell and his asexual spouse...

[safyresky]

Scrimbly Jacqueline 29/52: adult supervision does NOT go according to plan...

✨🧪🔥😴💚🧡✨

"Right. Okay. So. Let me get this straight." Jacqueline took a brief, long deep breath in. "You think you've finally managed to perfect your sleeping elixir and Ken's going to test it for you."

"Yep."

"That about sums it up, yes."

"And you decided it'd be best to have an adult on hand, despite both of you being adults."

"I mean...is nineteen hundred really adulty?"

"YES."

"I dunno, Jacqueline. I don't feel very adulty. Ken's way more mature than me."

"Not nearly as such."

"You're too hard on yourself, dude! You're super mature."

Ken blushed. "Oh! Well. Thank you, Fino."

Fino grinned. "Of course!"

"Right. Okay. So you both decided an adult would be wise, despite being mature," she enunciated the T, her voice popping up an octave. "but are still going through with this despite, y'know, all the red flags."

"Yep!"

"Correct."

"And you can't like, test it on like, a mote, because?"

"Motes have a very different physiology from magibeans, Jacqueline."

"And it already works on them! So Ken said he'd give it a try!"

"Us orcs have very high constitution, after all."

"It's true! I've seen him nearly poison himself four times this week alone and seventy-five percent of the time he had zero side effects! Didn't even know he'd ingested poison! The worst thing that happened was a gnarly case of diarr—"

"We don't need to give your sister all the details."

"He's just being a supportive partner!"

"I know how much it means to you to master all facets of magic. I can make sacrifices."

"Right. So. Why me? Why not Mom or Dad? Jack? Lucy?! I mean, she's a MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, Fino."

"Yeah, and would probably tell us to not do this."

"Debatable. Woman loves her science. She'd MAYBE protest in case, you know, the side effect to sleeping potion is DEATH. But she'd probably stay on site and be able to, y'know, HEAL you BOTH if anything untoward happened."

Fino squinted. "You turn more into mom every day."

"I can't tell if that's an insult or a compliment."

"Just an observation."

"Compliment," Ken clarified.

"Right. Okay. So you decided, quite idiotically, that Lucy was a no. Mom and Dad?"

"Didn't want them to worry!"

"Jack?!"

"Didn't feel right!"

"So you settled on me."

"Yeah! I dunno, I guess I just thought, y'know, out of all the more adulty adults in my life that aren't Ken—"

"We're the same age, Fino."

"Yeah, but maturity! Anyway, the niblets do crazier things—"

"—goddess above, don't remind me."

"So I figured that for something like this, you'd be ideal! You've got the experience, Jacqueline. So? What do you say?"

Fino grinned. His eyes got very, very big and for a brief moment Jacqueline was reminded of when he was much littler and asking for her to pretty please keep the cat, he really likes your room—

She sighed. Rubbed a spot on her temple. "Okay. Fine. But I do NOT approve."

"Don't even worry about it, Jacqueline!"

"There's a very good chance it doesn't work on magibeans yet, after all. Potions and witchcraft aren't Fino's strong suit."

"A fact you will never let me live down," Fino teased, scooping the sunset reminiscent liquid out of the cauldron and pouring it into an uncorked jar. He swirled it; the pinks and oranges gave way to purples and blues, the mixture sparkling.

"I got the colouration right! Yes!"

"Hmm. Perhaps I stand corrected. Well, bottoms up, eh Fin?" Ken took the flask from Fino, lifted it into the air, and chugged it in one go. Placing it down on the counter, he swallowed the last droplet, smacking his lips. "Tastes like gobstoppers."

"Unexpected but delightful result! And how are you feeling?"

Ken licked his lips. "Fine for the most part, though my tusks are a little bit tingly—" his eyes snapped shut and he fell down, face hitting the corner of the island as he plummeted to the floor and landed on his knees, tilting forward until his chin landed on the dirt floor, arms alongside him, ass in the air.

Jacqueline gasped, gently stepping back. Fino lifted the flask. He flushed, looked down at his partner, then up at Jacqueline through the empty vial. He chuckled, embarrassed, and scratched the back of his neck, his fiery locks warm on his skin.

"So, uh. Heh. I guess it worked?"

Ken began to snore.

"Yeah! Maybe a little too well!"

Ken snored louder, the dishes in the sink behind them rattling gently.

"That's probably not a comfortable sleeping position."

"Not unless you're like, five."

"I have a levitation spell for this—"

"Absolutely not! I think he's had MORE than enough magic for the day. I'm calling Donnie. She can lift him easy."

Fino placed the flask down and cleared his throat. "Good call."

✨🧪🔥😴💚🧡✨

hehehe huehuehue hahaha. Meet orc friend! And 1900 year old ish Fino, FULLY REALIZED! And the RETURN of MILF JACQUELINE. FEATURING STOCKING GARTERS. She's only getting Milfier, guys.

Anyway I love Orc Friend (Kenothy, aka, Ken,) sooo much you guys. You don't even KNOW. Today I decided he has the most luscious, wavy, L'Oreal shampoo commercial hair. One day I'll draw him in cleaned UP scrimbly format! But for now, BEHOLD! A BUTT.

Design Notes:

I really did give Fino a goddamn mullet. He's working it.

He alternates between vest and no vest. Since he's at home practising potions, it's a no vest day. This is deffs NOT code for "I forgot he wears a lil vest sometimes. a lil waistcoat, if you will"

Milfline's bun is poofier because it is closer to the end of the day. That thing is five seconds from pulling a Mrs. Claus up-do explosion, and Ken being KO'd by a sleeping potion certainly doesn't help!

K and I were talking about garters and stays and such today and adding them to Jacqueline's fit hit me so hard my desk chair wheeled back on me! More on this next week.

I got a really cool pair of boots in Dreamlight Valley and if I don't adapt them to Milfline I may die about it, more on that next week too!

I RIPPED the PAPER bc I originally had Ken drawn like. Across the page? But I was picturing him butt in the air the way kids pass out. I got home from work, looked at it, and went no wait. this is how it should be doodled, and voila! Orc Friend Butt

Orc Friend Deets, if you're curiouse :3 (under the read more)

Post Colouring Thoughts:

I forgot how. In theory. Fino's patterned dress shirts and rainbow lined cloak are cool as FUCK. But in PRACTISE. Make him look like a bowling alley carpet.

You know what tho? It matches the mullet >:)

Which I am wildly proud of tbh!

Decided that orc friend DOES dress fancy! hence the (matching) green coat with golden buttons >:3

His hair is SO luscious and I put the gold in just to see the lines bc after I coloured it it didn't really show, but now I'm like. idk! I kinda like it!

His right hand got eaten? I sketched it. And now it is gone. I think it's under all that hair.

He also has a BUTT TON of earrings, ya girl just got sleeby and forgot to add them in! But he has like. 5 on each ear and one of the earrings is two studs linked by a chain bc it's NEAT

Maybe I'll do like a proper scrimble of him! I really like Orc Friend you guys :3

[thekegelelf]

I keep seeing posts about "oh idk why people still ship radiodust it's definitely not going to be canon Alastor is ace and Angel is definitely going to end up with xyz" as if that's at all the point of shipping. Do you think I care about canon beyond using it as building blocks for my silly little fandom fun time? Absolutely not

[chotachica]

Oh? you hc Vash as autistic, on the asexual spectrum but bi/pan romantic, transmasc and having some type of Ed? That's me. You're headcanoning him as literally just me. Just so you know

[demonmoonsupreme]

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I actually just think Gwen and Arthur just kiss a cuddle.

[lintwriting]

some of y’all are so weak when it comes to being horny. excuse me if you think that nobody can be into a milf young man pretending to be an old man with the prudiness of a fine young mistress, excuse me if you think the only way men can be attractive is if they’re peak gender role—muscled and abbed for days. what, you think I’m pretending to want to IMPREGNATE Shizun???? you think only a man designed to be a male power fantasy harem protagonist can be fuckable? stop projecting

don’t get me started on those who make Shen yuans prior self unimaginably pretty. fashionable clothing with tasteful glasses and a beautiful two block haircut and an ulzzang face.

don’t talk to me until you’ve thirsted imagining a horribly ugly incel Shen Yuan with a NON trendy short buzz cut that makes his fucking hair spiky thanks to how asian hair texture works, a weak chin, those terrible thin rectangle glasses that most real life nerds seem to land on, and an anime shirt ugly jacket combo that I saw everywhere growing up in a Asian American high school.

the algorithm brainrot has gotten to you if you can’t imagine old Shen Yuan that way, tbh. Mans was a lying flat syndrome hikkikimori neet aka an incel aka likely not the most interested in the extremely niche beauty standards that the algorithm pushes onto you, and trust me I’ve seen my share of Asian dudes that look like how I’ve described. God, I go on here and I feel like I’m TOO weird and freaky for thinking that Asian guys don’t gotta look like Pinterest boys to be beautiful.

[a-lonely-tatertot]

Alright thats it if i see one more character who super smart cant understand human emotions or desires made aspec im just gonna start stabbing

[idmnbc]

After seeing that many people only rescue the asexual and not the aromantic in Isaac, I hope that in the next season we can see moments where his aromanticism is more emphasized. The word was only mentioned once, while 'asexual' did come up at different times, like when Isaac grabs Angela Chen's book, which was amazing and beautiful. But we need the aromantic joy to be exposed and shouted from the four winds <2

[probablyaspeccharacters]

Steve is AroAce

[iwasthenightingale]

I have so many big interpretive feelings watching Aziraphale's response to the confession and kiss as an ace spectrum person. The desperation and panic and love and fear of that moment aside, I know how it feels to love someone so much it hurts, but have no instinct of how/if I want to express that feeling to them physically. I've been the person panicking over a touch that was exactly what I thought I wanted and was also way too much. I've agonised over wanting to do it again but not knowing how to approach it on my terms

So on top of all the hurt at realising he and Crowley are on different pages, running full speed towards different goals, when the words they've used haven't worked and their last possible avenue is a desperate touch, he has to process this kind of intimacy that's so foreign and so different. A kind of touch that Aziraphale may have never considered before. That's so essentially human in a way he isn't, at least not yet. He loves Crowley more than anything in the universe, but Crowley is always a few steps ahead, always going a bit faster and in that moment I feel like poor Aziraphale is barely clinging on

[killianhemlock]

Shipping is a pretty big part of nopixel from what I can tell and every time someone in links community starts a ship name with someone he talks to for 5 seconds, it gets me thinking as to who the FUCK he would actually be interested in.

He is so laid back. Like he’s just. Link. He’s laid back in relationships but a workaholic by day AND night. He has a hard time trusting anyone even as acquaintances (normal for nopixel but not normal for link). He puts on a voice and flirts with men the way (gross) nopixel men flirt with women, but Link keeps it light enough for a quick exit. He has several cars but doesn’t drive them. He gives rides to ppl on his bike. Link just. Is. Idk how else to put it. He just is. He’s certainly something but there’s no label for it. Fuck labels anyways, bro is just an idea!!!

I don’t think he’s in a spot for relationships (senz has said he doesn’t want relationship rp) or even short winded crushes. People crush on him and he just says “👍”. Bro gets hit on and he just says “oh! well..” and drifts off into space or the topic gets interrupted or dropped.

He’s just “👍” personified and I think that’s beautiful

[altruistic-meme]

WIP tag game

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

i got tagged by @irregularcollapse eheheh thank you B i have no complaints about being forever tagged cus i loooove tag games (even if i can be really slow/forgetful a lot of times skdhfskdhf)

again i think im going to just stick to my BSD ideas from my discord threads lmao, im also going to limit it down a considerable amount bc the plot bunnies have been. multiplying. a LOT. and many of the WIPs don't actually have anything more than just plotting/ideas.

who tf is "slug"????

blackhole time fuckery

will you be mine? (no sir)

it's a safehouse, right?

dazai and the horrible crush

the port mafia boss's most loyal dog

ex roommate

11 birthdays au

happy pills

selfish

surprising how many of these are actual.... NAMES that i will probably actually keep for the fics vs placeholder names that are just the first thing my mind could think of to let me immediately know what the doc contains lmao

mmm i shall tag @iworshipsappho @daylightaftertherain @zee-has-commitment-issues @cozy-fish-crow and @kevin-day-is-bi for this for now <3

[sdentii]

Happy pride <3