A Travelling Salesperson Making Their Final Rounds On The Last Day Of Autumn

“Finish it, Slim.”

Judge is not “unholy”

Judge is the Anti-holy

the actual meaning of the word aplatonic

I’ve seen a lot of hate recently on certain words used by the aromantic community to describe their experiences, so I feel that some clarification needs to be made.

The term aplatonic does not mean someone who doesn’t want friends. It does not mean someone who doesn’t have friends, or someone who is antisocial. It is not ‘uwu I don’t have any friends I’m so queeeeeer’. No, stop spreading that information. Aplatonic is simply a descriptor used by some aro people to explain that they do not experience squishes nor desire to be in qpps/qprs. (Squishes are essentially friend-crushes, it’s the aromantic equivalent of a crush, except there is not romantic attraction involved. QPRs or QPPs are queer/quasi platonic partnerships/relationships: essentially non-romantic domestic life partners)

Because of the confusing way these are often explained and because of the -platonic suffix, people unfamiliar with these terms automatically jump to “so friends?” Lemme stop you right there buddy. No, people in qpps are not 'just friends’. It is a term used to essentially describe non-romantic life partners. People in qps sometimes live together, get married, raise children together, etc. It is not 'just being best friends’. It is not trying to make friendships seem unimportant or secondary.

Many aro people do desire to be in long term relationships. They still do not experience romantic attraction (hence being aromantic). Many aro people experience squishes. However, many do not. In order to simplify this, the word aplatonic was created so that people who do not experience this can more accurately describe their experiences in the aro community with as few words as possible. There’s a lot of focus in the aro community on having qpp/qprs, so there was absolutely a necessity for this word. 

Aplatonic is a word also often used by neurodivergent aroaces who struggle with forming relationships of any kind with people, and tumblr’s quick jump to make fun of it is frankly kind of ableist.

That one post that was being spread around where the anon was asking if aplatonic people are LGBT+ was not someone asking if people who don’t want friends are LGBT+. Rather it was asking if an aroace person is in a domestic partnership with someone of the same gender as them, and they are considered LGBT+, shouldn’t all aromantic asexuals be considered LGBT+ as well because their attraction(s) are the same? (And yes, I know that in that case the partners would be seen as gay from society, even though they are aroace, but I digress) At least that was my interpretation of the ask.

The -platonic suffix is not meant to be used like the -romantic and -sexual suffixes used in the ace/aro split attraction model. The whole discourse honestly has confused a lot of people about what the split attraction model is and it’s really irking me. People gotta stop acting like 100% cis straight people are going to suddenly start identifying as aplatonic. It’s specifically an aro word to describe the ways in which aro people experience attraction. It is not an identity by itself, no one is claiming it to be. It is a descriptor of aromanticism. Anyway, people outside of the aro community need to stop policing aro words and stop taking the parts that make up a word at face value.

my turn on the local bog hags 

Digital illustrations by Aykut Aydoğdu

*Chefs kiss*

Bonus top table reactions:

I dont wanna get a job or have real life responsibilities I wanna be an overpowered gay x-men character

Can I get a fuckin uhhhh G2, N4, Q5, U4, Y5

G2. what is the most attractive part of their personality?Intelligent but not in a way where he ever makes it a competition.N4. what is the most embarrassing thing they’ve done?Probably a thousand things when he was younger in Capital. Probably did some theatrical romantic gestures like singing in the street to the window of someone he was in to, or something similarly so overboard that even his Riojan buddies thought it was a little too far. I think he’d own it, though.Q5. are they curious?To an extent, sure. If it’s some topic he’s interested in, then by all means; testing spells, following music, going to see new performances, trying new food, inspecting something odd on the job, stuff like that. But not the Mint-tier “I wonder what type of feral creature is hissing inside this barrel” curiosity. U4. have they ever been doubted?Yeah. Early on as a Helltrooper, you’d probably doubt his value as a soldier, too, if all he contributes to a bar fight is the opening war cry of “OH FUCK!” as he gets decked by a single hit. Nowadays I think it’s probably more of a joking doubt from the others, like when some crossbowman doesn’t fall for the old “image of a head peaking around the corner” trick and the other troopers are like “Why do we even keep you around.”Y5. what’s your favorite thing about them?That Paisley is so real in my mind. He’s one of the only characters I’ve written that feels genuinely human to me, contradictions and all, even though I don’t have all the details fleshed out and he’s a fair bit less self-inserty than other characters I’ve had in my head. I just hope I can communicate some of it without it seeming stupid lmao.

Truth 

(as per my Chain OCs post a while back)