#romance m

[delta-syrup]

Happy Valentine’s Day! I thought this would be a good opportunity to draw my poly ocs! :]

[applearo]

alloromantic: I feel like I’m losing my friends as they get into romantic relationships :(

me: yeah, that sucks, doesn’t it? it’s related to something called “amatonormativity” and I suggest you talk to aros because we’ve discussed this a lot

alloromantic: I feel like people are putting too much emphasis on me being in a relationship and it’s causing me to rush into relationships that end up being unhealthy because I feel like I need to be in one

me: again, amatonormativity. you should talk to aros.

alloromantic: so I have this problem with romance culture--

me: amatonormativity. talk aros. please.

[raimi]

What if Pearl... aro. Attached to romance as an ideal, but then even as she grows up she doesn't start experiencing it like she's expecting and it feels really hollow and like something's wrong but then she finds out about aromanticism and it's just :O

[aros-in-fandoms]

So, fun fact, but nobody can define romance in my experience. I was in a chat with a bunch of people and the topic of romace came up and I mentioned I was aromantic and then I put a general question of “well what does romance feel like” (give or take a few words because it’s been a while) Most of them couldn’t describe it. I don’t remember specifics, but from what I got the reason people say “you just know” when it comes to feeling romantic feelings is because they find it hard to describe too.

Conclusion: feelings are weird

[delta-syrup]

AW this one was so cute!! i had to think abt this one a bit since i have so many ocs who i love to draw smooching BUT i had to pick Daffodil and Lilac in the end :) I don’t draw them together doing couply stuff but they are a very lovey dovey couple

[raimi]

Okay but can we talk about how good Xania's wedding stories are? You almost never see stories like this about not understanding love that DON'T end with the person meeting someone else and just being like "oh *this* is love" especially not with a personality like hers, and I don't think I've ever seen anything else not written by an aro person that depicts the struggles with amatonormativity that Xania has.

[Image description: a screenshot from Xania's wedding stories. No character is on the screen. In the textbox, Xania says "I don't understand love or marriage or my reason for living, and that makes me feel as though I'm lost."]

And you know how this is resolved? She decides to focus on her relationship with herself instead of forcing herself to try to get into romance she doesn't understand! (There's one amatonormative comment that it'll make her a better partner *when* she's ready, but you can't expect alloros to get everything right.)

And the fact that this narrative is on a wedding alt of all things? *chef's kiss*

[raimi]

Actually you know what fuck "fuck marry kill" I don't want to marry anyone

Give me three characters and I'll sort them into Fuck, Friend, and Fell. No more forced romance.

[aros-in-fandoms]

Did you ever have that annoying experience in fandom where, when reading a fic about a strong friendship, you get really invested, only for it to turn romantic at the end when this wasn't in the tags or the description at all? Like, just call it a slowburn, it's not hard.

I honestly haven’t read fanfics in a really long time, but yeah I know what you mean. It’s really disappointing.