I can't imagine how warm it must feel to come across someone's notes and discover that they have done their darndest to understand people like you specifically. It must be like reading a hug! 😭

I've actually still heard "squish"! I mostly hear it from aros describing their fond feelings for others that aren't romantically inclined, but are very "favorite person"-y.

I think it's telling (about players & news sources, mostly) that your show is the first time that I've heard that it was even possible to play as aroace, since EVERY single other piece of coverage or playthrough has been focused on the fact that you have Parvati & on playing matchmaker for your crew (which... yawn). At this point, having an ace character whose narrative DOESN'T revolve mostly around dating feels rarer than a sasquatch. Can I recommend Sam Maggs' novel about the Marvel character The Unstoppable Wasp? Because the character's comics creator "didn't find the right time" to reveal that the lead character Nadia is ace, so she did it in her novel. And then she got grief from fans of the creator for "stealing from lesbians again". Given how the creator handled Nadia's BPD (with bad stereotypes & using guilt trips to prevent suicide, while also using it to get some cheap hype for the book in a really hinky way), I'm glad he didn't get to do it because I don't think he would have done it well. I DO think Maggs did a good job, making it organic to the character (same with her mental illness) without having it be the sole focus/character trait she has or treating it like a PSA. I think Nadia is an interesting case study of creator intentions, hearsay rep, & audience reactions to ace characters. (Also publisher reactions, since Marvel just pretends Nadia doesn't exist whenever any kind of queer-focused book comes around, but that sadly isn't surprising.) I also think that maybe the topic of "creator forced to out themselves by social media pressure" could be a topic. This is the 3rd example I've heard of it, and as someone who has to stay closeted IRL & also wants to share creative work, that's 3 too many. I don't think people understand or appreciate the risks, especially for bi/pan/ace people (who have all been the subjects of this trend), and it makes me personally even more reluctant to put anything out there. I can't be the only one who dreads a wave of Too Online kids with no concept of privacy making me a target for this. Also, finally, I think the window of time where you could get mauled for not watching Firefly has, thankfully, passed. I watched it and thought it was... fine. And I doubt I'll ever go back to it cuz it's as Whedony as it can get.

Never knew this about the character because I didn't use her on my crew (I forget why, I think I didn't wanna see a wholesome character get hurt when I'm bad at the game) Edit: I remember now I accidentally it the right trigger when talking to the guy you need to make step down and ended up having to kill him so Parvati didn't like that