Thirsty For Strong Friendship

And I clutch the little warm tubes of blood and feel this sick person warming my hands and I think about how kind you might be and how I wish I could hold your hand and how badly, how really really badly, I want you to get better and stay warm and hold someone’s hand again.

And anyway sometimes it’s better to not think so vividly about the people I’m doing tests for. I’m a good little cog in a vast machine of people all trying to heal and cure, and my cog feels so fucking small sometimes. But I hope the blood I prepare for you helps you breathe better and laugh and wake up feeling well rested.

I know it varies from person to person (as identities do) but what could be some telltale signs of being aro or ace?

a non-exhaustive list of signs you might be aromantic, as i've seen from being in the tumblr aro community for 4 years:

having had few to no crushes

having trouble understanding romance or its appeal

current or previous romantic relationships feeling forced

a personal connection to the color green

a personal disconnect from the idea of love

identifying as asexual*

the word "aromantic" sounding right in a way you can't explain (<-me)

enjoying romance in media or even developing crushes on fictional characters, but being averse or repulsed by the idea of dating in real life

being averse or repulsed by romance in general

placing platonic friendships higher in priority than other relationships

faking a crush to appease peers

being afraid to show affection to friends in case it is misunderstood to have romantic intent (<-also me)

The reason webcomics are so bad (and I'm a firm believer that more than 99% of them are terrible ❤️) is that the bar to entry is extremely low.

Anyone can draw a few panels. By hand, with ms paint. I've seen webcomics where it was photos rather than drawings. (I say drawings rather than art because photos, of course, are also an artistic medium)

Anyone can write a joke. (Most of the bad webcomics I've seen have purported to be comedies.) In fact, when you think of a webcomic as just an illustrated joke it becomes really clear how low the bar to entry is.

And on the level of artistic expression that's a great thing. Anyone SHOULD be able to draw a few panels, write a joke, slap it on the internet, and make a webcomic.

For quality, it's a very bad thing. You don't need any practice, you don't need any training, you don't need any editors, you don't need any test audiences. These things all get a bad rap (and certainly there are many artists without formal training and there are great writers without editors) but they generally raise the quality level.

So there you have it. Webcomics are bad and that's why.