ysabetwordsmith | Cuddle Party

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Crossposts: https://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/6228362.html

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Cuddle Party

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

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*Fuzzy J bounds in, wearing a silky purple button-up shirt with short sleeves and rosettes down both sides of the buttons and a pair of light gray pants. She deposits a serving bowl of Southwestern Goulash on the food table, adding appropriate labels, then grabs herself a sticker before settling at the craft table. The sticker reads "she/her," "energetic today," and "up for cuddles OR games."

She settles her yarn bag beside her, not drawn to working on her pink fuzzy blanket, and all caught up on her temperature blanket for now. Instead, she grabs some blank papers and coloured pencils and starts doodling things in the ace pride flag colours.*

**scampers up to fuzzy friend, climbs leg under robe, climbs up around back, peeks face up out of collar of robe** **skritches hairs at back of neck**

Hello friend! *makes happy purrs for the skritches*

Yeah, most of the pride flags are easy to knit or crochet because they're just stripes, although that makes them poor heraldry. The ones that include an emblem are much easier, like bear or intersex.

I might make myself a scarf or blanket with the ace flag colours, though that is probably a later project. My cousin has a blanket with a diamond and stripe design that is incidentally in ace flag colours and I love it so much. (Apparently they have a rainbow of blankets in the same style.)

I don't know much about heraldry, but I'm going assume that you usually want something more unique than just stripes?

>> I might make myself a scarf or blanket with the ace flag colours, though that is probably a later project. My cousin has a blanket with a diamond and stripe design that is incidentally in ace flag colours and I love it so much. (Apparently they have a rainbow of blankets in the same style.) <<

Good idea. :D

>> I don't know much about heraldry, but I'm going assume that you usually want something more unique than just stripes? <<

That's one aspect. If you have any batch of things that are too similar, they're hard to tell apart. If they're all just stripes, you have to memorize the colors, which is hard.

The best designs are both simple and distinctive. One to three colors plus one emblem usually works well. Bonus if your emblem is also unique.

Another key heraldic rule is that you don't put a color on a color or a metal (white/silver or yellow/gold) on a metal. This improves clarity. Some pride flags are fairly legible even with similar colors together, like the lesbian flag, but they're still less recognizable from a distance than things like the genderqueer flag.

If you look at the history of heraldry and flags, you will see people playing around with these concepts. The most effective ones tend to become more common, and the less effective ones get abandoned or actually ruled out. So there are a few gold/silver examples, but they're old, and people don't make new ones that way. Occasionally people will add something new and distinctive, like the black-and-white cow "fur" in African heraldry. Studying this history gives an excellent background in design if you want to make awareness symbols, logos, speculative flags, etc. I consumed all the heraldic and flag resources in local libraries growing up.

>>That's one aspect. If you have any batch of things that are too similar, they're hard to tell apart. If they're all just stripes, you have to memorize the colors, which is hard.<<

Yes, I find I have this problem with telling apart some of the ace/aro/demi flags. Although there is the benefit of the shared colours meaning you can indicate multiple orientations with the same clothes/accessories (useful if you aren't quite sure what your orientation is but know that you're somewhere on the spectrum).

Thanks for all the info on heraldry! It's always fun to learn something new, and this is a topic that I have very limited knowledge on, so that makes it extra fun.

nice reference, gonna bookmark.

I could use a flag for "straight ally", but I have no standing to complain or request, exactly because I'm not a member of any part of the LGBTQI+ community which all these flags belong to. But I can & do use this icon, which I made myself. :-)

Straight Ally Pride Flag

Heterosexual Pride Flag

Everyone has an orientation. It's natural for people to want to feel good about themselves, which often includes broadcasting their identity. At occasions like dances where people couple up, advertising one's orientation (including variation of ace for "not interested") can minimize awkwardness. So long as nobody uses their orientation to bludgeon other people, it's all fine.

It is fairly common for allies to join in pride marches, although not all marches are open to all identities. I think if they're banning some identities, that rather defeats the point of fostering unity.

There's a Chanter (short curvy thirty-something white woman, long brown hair, white cane propped in a corner) making coffee in the kitchen. She's brought her own supplies, which today include small glass jars of cardamom, ginger and cinnamon, each with their own dedicated spoon directly alongside. Apparently, someone goes in for spices with her caffeine. There's a notecard sign balanced on the counter that says 'Please rinse spoons after seasoning your mugful! Please recycle spice jars if you use the last of something.'

Chanter's already wearing a she/her pronoun pin, but she's added a sticker that includes the ace flag and the request 'Please ask before touching; do not grab.' Not that people at one of these gatherings are likely to grab, but...

Yay! I'm glad you could make it.

Hmm, we could make cashew butter smoothies with those spices.

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Cuddle Party

Cuddles!

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Try this ...

Maybe not cuddles, but...

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