It's a stinking hot summer afternoon and the client doesn't want the fan on, or perhaps a frosty winter morning with the heaters on full blast. It's time to get creative: your sweat dripping onto the client's back isn't sweat, it's essential oil. Sea salt and musk. Why yes, of course it's supposed to be this pungent, it's for clearing the sinuses. You're welcome.
Types of attraction
Sexual - I wanna have sex with that
Romantic - I want to date that
Sensual - I want to hug that
Platonic - I want to be friends with that
Platonic crushes do exist. They are called “squishes”. You go through the same process of having a romantic or sexual crush but instead of landing them in bed, you’re on the floor at 2am with pizza rolls, Shrek in the background, talking about eldritch monstrosities (or whatever your shared interest is)
Aesthetic - that looks so heckin’ cool/pretty I love it
Intellectual - the desire to engage with another in an intellectual manner, i.e. having a conversation, picking their brain, and finding out how they think
Terms describing degree of attraction
Aromantic - lack of romantic attraction
Asexual - lack of sexual attraction
Aroace - lack of both sexual and romantic attraction
Demi - attraction only forms once a strong emotional bond has been formed
Grey/gray - rarely/seldom experiences attraction
Allosexual - someone who experiences sexual attraction
I think I’ve also heard/seen it referred to as ‘arosexual’ but that’s honestly a bit confusing
Alloromantic - someone who experiences romantic attraction
I personally shorten both of those to “allo” (pronounced ‘aloe’)
Apothiosexual - sex-repulsed
Apothioromantic - romance-repulsed
Apothiaroace - often shortened to just ‘apothi’. In addition to being aroace, apothis are repulsed by romantic/sexual scenes, items, displays, etc. to varying degrees
Sex-neutral and sex-positive/favourable aces exist as well
Not all of us have the same level of comfort with sexual and romantic activities so please check. I mean that applies to everyone anyway, but please check and don’t assume that just because someone is aro/ace, that doesn’t mean they are sex/romance repulsed
Queerplatonic - Queerplatonic typically refers to a relationship that bends the lines between a romantic relationship and a non-romantic relationship. A queerplatonic relationship (QPR) often goes beyond what is socially acceptable for a platonic relationship but does not fit the typical notion of a romantic relationship.
Alterous attraction - a type of emotional attraction to someone that isn’t entirely romantic or platonic.
Chastity - actively refraining from sexual activities. This is NOT part of the ace/aro spectrum, though it is a common assumption when someone says they are ace/aro. Thankfully we’re getting a bit more representation in media now so it’s not as common of an assumption as it used to be, but it’s still there, especially in those communities.
Microlabels/Terms describing flavour of attraction Note: -sexual is used fo many of these so we don't have to deal with duplicates confusing things. All of these prefixes can be used with -romantic, -sexual, -platonic, and I imagine -alterous as well
Abrosexual - orientation fluctuates between a variety of orientations
Aceflux - similar to abrosexual, but orientation is contained to asexual spectrum
Acespike - someone who is asexual but may experience intense, brief, and random bouts of sexual attraction
Aegosexual - disconnect between oneself and the target of arousal
Amicusromantic/sexual - only experiences romantic attraction to those who they have formed a platonic relationship with (subset of demi)
Angled aroace - the same as oriented, but for those who are demi, grey, flux, etc.
Anthrosexual - someone who is attracted to humans and alterhumans regardless of gender identity/expression
Caedsexual - previously allo, but now ace due to past trauma
Cupiosexual - wanting a sexual relationship but not experiencing sexual attraction
Finsexual/gynesexual - attraction to femininity
Fraysexual - opposite of demi. Attraction dissipates once an emotional connection has been formed
Linsexual - attraction to androgyny
Lithosexual - experiencing sexual attraction but not wanting it to be reciprocated
Loveless Romantic/Lovelessromantic - those who cannot feel love or feel disconnected from love but can feel romantic attraction/don't feel disconnected from the concept of romance
Minsexual/androsexual - attraction to masculinity
Placiosexual - not wanting to be on the receiving end of sexual activities but wishing to perform them on others
Quiosexual - unable to distinguish between sexual attraction and other forms of attraction
Qui(r)oromantic - inability to distinguish between platonic and romantic attraction
Reciprosexual - not experiencing sexual attraction towards someone until you discover they experience sexual attraction towards you
Requiessexual - similar to caedsexual, but rather than trauma, ace identity originates from a state of emotional exhaustion, usually from a past sexual experience
Oriented aroace - an aromantic asexual (aroace) individual who experiences a form of tertiary attraction, that they feel is significant enough to warrant a place alongside their aroace orientation. (i.e. gay aroace, bi aroace)
Examples of mixed orientations
Heteroromantic asexual biplatonic
Poly greyromantic pansexual
Apothi abroplatonic
Placiosexual aromantic finplatonic
Aroace cupioplatonic
Pan lithioromantic
Fraysexual biromantic aplatonic
You can get WAY more specific than what these cover, but just to give a general idea
Amatonormativity
happy boyfriends <3
Eren:
Mikasa:
Armin:
Connie & Sasha:
Jean:
Marco:
Annie:
Reiner:
Berthotld:
Krista/Historia:
Ymir:
Levi:
Erwin:
Hanji:
Scouting legion:
So you've got gas during the session. Blame it on the clinic's therapy animal. You can make one up if necessary. Oh dear, Fluffy's popped off again. Fluffy can even be another client's service animal in the other room, a neighbour's pet come to visit.
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K is something like 75% gag with the rest being fluff and serious, and the fanfiction that focuses on the 25% is so fucking visceral.
The negative side effects of Saiki's powers are described with graphic depictions of migraines, nausea and dizziness. The slow, reluctant realization that his friends like him and he likes them is heavy, sad and joyous. Makoto and Kusuke's behavior goes from pathetic to dangerous, with the horror of it written so vividly I have to take a break from reading. The autism and aro/ace vibes, already present and relatable in canon are even stronger.
The difference between canon and fanfiction, wow.
Re-reading Karneval after Kaiju no. 8 is kind of wild. Every time the Circus crew talk about defeating their enemy, Kafka, I just think about Hibino Kafka and the face he'd make if he could hear them, lol.
The initial ranking could be either during the Sorting Ceremony or at the end of first year after you’ve actually done some stuff.
You can rank up by academic achievement, doing really well at sports (mainly Quidditch), special services to the school, becoming an animagus, accomplishments outside school... But maybe rank ups have to be justified with evidence/witness, so stuff like saving the Philospher’s Stone may or may not qualify.
There’s probably a slowly-changing tendency for blood status and other prejudices to influence rank, and you can bet that Umbridge would’ve demoted Harry and his allies as much as possible while she taught.
I can see Neville starting right at the bottom and steadily rising up like Iruma does.
Say it with me! Wheelchairs aren’t sad! Mobility aids aren’t sad! Mobility aids are instruments of freedom!
Mashwood hands Hcs!! Because they’re rotting my brain :DD
Recently found this lovely manga at my library with what seems to me like great aroace representation! 'I want to be a wall' by Honami Shirono.
It's about an aromantic asexual woman and a gay man who marry for appearances and become close friends. (In Japan, asexual and aromantic are often referred to as the same thing, which is explained in the volume translation notes btw)
Here's a few pages that I thought did a good job of discussing things. As an enby who likes romance in stories (especially BL) but not so much in real life, I felt pretty seen.