#I genuinely love it when someone infodumps to me about anything

[stellarphileistic]

This is mainly for my queer and asexual people.

John Calhoun, an ethologist had conducted an experiment between rats. Primarily researching the collapse in behaviour caused by overpopulation. The experiment itself is called “Behavioural sink” and lasted four years.

Basically 4 rats were introduced to an environment where they were provided with a large living space and enough supply of food that they never needed to scavenge for it. Thanks to this the rats’ life span and quality of life improved. Important fact about rats is they create social hierarchy, quite similar to wolves (alpha, beta, gamma and zetas). At the start the population drastically increased and the rats were living in a utopia. As more rats were being born they had a harder time getting to the food and water supply. This caused the “utopia” to start to collapse. The female rats had a harder time conceiving and even if the conception was successful, many had miscarried. Many rats became infertile. The female rats also started isolating themselves more, sometimes even living on their own without a mate ‘til death. They would nest alone above the ground and over time many had become asexual. Some became completely dominant (alphas) and lived alone until death The male rats started grooming themselves, primarily bringing themselves to the focus rather than finding a mate. After a time many became homosexuals. This part is very hidden of the experiment and many sources mainly focus on the female rats, however after digging you can find more about this. Homosexual also was shown in female rats too, however the male rats were more prone to it. The entire rat population started being very withdrawn and became quite antisocial. Some rats became violent, but also cannibalised each other. The violent behaviour was also found in the dominant females living alone. Alongside the infertility, much fever pregnancies were occurring. The rats had lost so much social skills, that even if they were taken out of the enclosure, they were incapable of acting normal around different rats. It’s very long, but to cut it short, after a while the rats were incapable of conceiving and after the last pregnancy the rats basically were headed to extinction.

Long story short my main point is that I hear so many people claim that being gay is a choice, and that asexuality is because someone hasn’t found the right person, however this experiment proves that it is genetics. The rats turning gay due to overpopulation is erased in many of the sources provided about this experiment. Even I had to do a lot of digging. This whole thing was carried out in 1958-1962, so obviously this answers why some parts of the experiment didn’t surface so much at that time. To me it’s fascinating how much power nature has over us, even if humans like to believe otherwise.

[donnydamakkk]

unpopular opinion: there is no point in the show in which jeid would have made sense. jj never seemed interested in him, and his feelings always felt misconstrued and misplaced. they never had that kinda chemistry.

[dykexenomorph]

there is literally nothing more painful than DESPERATELY wanting to learn more about a topic but not knowing how to go about gaining the info.......

[nekropsii]

Hiiiiiiii! Insane your iceberg post and was wondering if possibly i could have the sources for: the one about horrus being a system, the cronus abelism one as Well as the one about kurloz talks cronus out of being the hero if its not too much of a bother! Have a lovely day and Take care!

Oh, sure! I absolutely can do that! Easy-peasy!

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On Horuss Being a System...

Horuss's Plurality is quite an easy one. He references it multiple times! It verges on interesting, but every time the bait is taken, we get hit with the switch of it being a really cruel punchline against an extremely vulnerable group of people.

Yikes!

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On Cronus's Disillusionment...

We mostly get this one from Aranea's infodump on Cronus. Here it is, verbatim, with the relevant portion in bold:

The 8ard of Hope may seem a little jaded these days, 8ut once he had a deeply abiding faith in magic, and dedicated himself to 8ecoming a great wizard. He 8ecame convinced he was hatched to defeat an extraordinarily evil magician, one he swore the angels foretold of. Though when pressed for the name of the man, he would not say it, claiming it was too dangerous to even enunciate. Part of his self-aggrandizing mythos was that this magician once somehow from afar tried to strike him down at a young age, so he would never have to face him. But the evil spell was deflected, sealing the magician's spirit away in a series of unassuming vessels until he could find some other cunning way to enter our universe. The attack supposedly left him with his distinctive scar. 8ut at some point he became disillusioned with magic. Any truth to his far fetched vision, the legacy of defeating the evil magician would have to 8e passed on to his descendant, or if his descendant proved to be as much of a failure as he did, then perhaps on some other Hero of Hope. I'm unsure why he suffered this crisis of faith, aside from the obvious reasons having to do with an overall lack of character, or any other redeeming qualities. Perhaps someone talked him out of his 8eliefs. Maybe a friend close to him. Or, if one is to 8elieve his fantasy held any water, perhaps someone who was in league with the evil magician.

Yep! It's just fucking Harry Potter, with a twist! But it's implied that Kurloz did that. He is pretty well known for colluding with the "Evil Wizard" in question, being Lord English, as well as mysteriously being there at every major event, ever... And Cronus is terrified of him, so. I think the only reasonable assumption is that Once Again, Kurloz Did It.

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On Cronus's Ableism...

And finally... Wait. Wait, hold on a minute...

Did you just ask me for evidence that Cronus is Ableist?

The other two things are understandable, but... Really? You need a source on Cronus Ampora being Ableist? Are you... New here? Have you ever actually read anything Cronus has ever said? Brother, Cronus being Ableist is just about the most obvious trait he has. This is one of the key takeaways most people get from the Openbounds. His ableism is so fucking bad it's what made most people stop reading the Openbounds. His ableism is so bad it's genuinely triggered people before. It's so bad it's made people physically nauseous.

Well... You asked for it. I appreciate you seeking out knowledge, even if I'm a little confused by it. Here's a compilation of SOME - stressing, SOME, not ALL - of the vile things he's said to Mituna, who's mentally disabled due to a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Presented without further comment. Do I really need to make one?

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You have a lovely day, too, Anon. Take care. May fortune find you, in mind and in wallet. Lol.

[vanderlesbian]

rdr2 x autistic reader headcanons

saw someone else do this but i wanted to give my headcanons too! enjoy tehe... includes arthur, john, dutch, and charles!

gn!reader + no warnings / fluff

arthur morgan

arthur is so patient and understanding with you

from the moment you met him, you never felt the need to mask around him because he never questioned your behaviors or belittled you for them

if any problems ever arised, arthur would always be quick to come to your defense

hes very careful with you; he handles you like he's holding a butterly. not because he thinks youre fragile or incapable, but because he cares for you too much and never wants to hurt you

he also knows that youre sensitive to things and will take mental notes

if he sees that you cover your ears when something loud happens, he'll be sure to be quiet around you

if you express that you don't like how a certain food feels, he'll start bringing other options along to make sure you're eating

he's not very good at being upfront with his emotions, and you can't always catch onto his hints which ends up with you being confused

but he's trying to break that habit

all in all he's a very understanding partner who prioritizes you above all

john marston

lets be real john is also autistic

youre both very understanding of each others needs and its nice to be able to completely be yourself around your partner

in a relationship he can be very touchy sometimes, but he can recognize when you dont want to be touched. if hes unsure, he'll ask

he will wait or ask for permission to do pretty much anything

"can i kiss you?" "can i hug you?" "is it alright if we hold hands?"

hes definitely awkward but he just needs the confirmation

he is veryyy blunt but to you its a good thing

it makes me feel like neither of you have to worry about if the other is beating around the bush or something because both of you say whats on your mind LOL

both of you are trying to figure out this relationship thing together

from an outside perspective, people might think the two of you are moving really slow, but for both of you its a perfect pace

dutch van der linde

dutch is your biggest fan when you start infodumping

he will listen to you speak about whatever for days on end, and you'll do the same with him as he talks about whatever philosophical tangent he has for the day

hes so infatuated with you its crazy

you will finish your infodumping tangent and he will scoop you up in his arms and go,"you're so beautiful/handsome, you know that?"

like oookaaayyy huhehehehehhehhshsh

he will SPOIL you with things related to your special interest. anything he sees that he knows you'll like, he'll snatch it up so quick to give it to you

he'll definitely boast about you to the other members

"they're so INTELLIGENT and HARD WORKING...perhaps the rest of you should take a note or two"

he lets you fidget with his fingers because you like his rings

he makes sure that your shared tent is perfectly up to your standards

the feeling of the blanket overwhelms you? suddenly hes sending arthur out to fetch a new one

he definitely pampers you a lot and sometimes it might feel suffocating at times but not bc you dislike it, you just need a moment to recharge

you'll tell him you need a moment to yourself and he'll oblige

charles smith

the two of you love parallel play omg

you two will be completely silent while he makes arrows and you partake in one of your hobbies but its so comforting to both of you

charles will always be the first to notice when you start to get overstimulated, so he'll tell the others to quiet down, give you space, or whatever else you need to calm yourself

hes kind of overprotective of you, so sometimes you'll have to reassure him that youre fine

he just cares about you more than anything

now that im thinking about it charles is also probably autistic

he's usually very quiet but with you he'll never shut up because he knows that you'll listen and show genuine interest

he will craft things for you to fidget with omfg

he'll notice that youre very antsy with your hands or legs and one day you'll come back to your tent and see a small handmade doll sitting on your bed

"did you make this for me?"

"i noticed you play with your fingers a lot"

he's genuinely the sweetest ever and he will just have heart eyes for you all the time

[maochira]

hey! for ur event, can i request hanging out w the bastard munchen and them finding out that the reader has a crush on kaiser (and he returns the feelings hopefully) (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

BASTARD MÜNCHEN MY BELOVED!!!

Spending time with the Bastard München Team + falling in love with Kaiser

Requests open! - Event list - Event introduction

Tags: gn!reader, first silly headcanons about spending time then the falling in love with Kaiser part

Event sypnosis: you, Claire (@deerangle3 ) and Mao (me) are assistants in the Neo Egoist League

-usually, mixing the players from Germany and those from Blue Lock doesn't go well. But you, Claire and Mao bring some sort of balance into the group, and it usually goes fairly fine. Usually. Most of the time you don't spend time as the entire team anyways (that'd be a lot of people), usually you spend time together in smaller groups, depending on who asked you to hang out

-if Igaguri is there, he gets bulled ALL THE TIME. He deserves it <3 (you still make sure to keep it lighthearted, you'd get into trouble if you genuinely start bullying the players)

-spending time alone with Isagi means he rants about Kaiser to you a lot, you never know what to say so you just listen

-DOING SHARK NOISES WITH KURONA!!!

-doing that actually starts a game where you and Kurona do random animal noises. Some of the others join as well. Gagamaru can do a hella good bear impression and it actually terrified you for a moment

-Raichi can make feral dog noises idk he gives off that vibe

-Isagi sucks at making any animal noises so you get a good laugh when he tries

-Claire becomes best friends with Yukimiya super quickly and she talks about animal facts a lot with Kurona, you join them to listen sometimes!

-for some reason, Mao became super close with Raichi and now he's her bodyguard. Also, she keeps bugging Gagamaru to let her sit on his shoulders (he's tall, she's small, let her see the world from up there)

-whenever Kaiser and Ness join any group hangouts, the balance gets off a bit. If it's only you out of the assistants, it's definitely going downhill. But if Claire and Mao are with you, it barely changes anything

-besides that, Ness is super nice to talk to! He's probably a good listener so you can infodump about things you like or just talk to him about whatever is on your mind

-surprisingly, Kaiser can be nice to talk to as well. He's nice to you because you're one of the assistants and he knows he has to show you some human decency

-but the more he talks to you, the more he notices you're worth being nice to not because you're an assistant, but because you're genuinely a lovely person

-whoops, guess who fell for you!

-Kaiser doesn't like to admit how quickly you won his heart. But he still confesses rather shortly after realizing the way you make him feel. He confesses so soon because he's sure you won't reject him

-and of course, you don't, because you actually developed these feelings for him first! But you were always too shy to confess. So you were more than overjoyed when he confessed to you

-you actually planned to keep the relationship secret, but Kaiser immediately goes around and tells everyone that you're his. He makes it extremely clear, especially in front of Isagi

-Kaiser also likes to brag about the fact that he's your boyfriend to a point where as soon as he opens his mouth everyone around him just goes "We know you love (Y/N)"

-Kaiser always gets a bit sad and maybe jealous when he finds out you're not assisting at Bastard München that day. But you always make sure to spend some time with him in the evening!!

-you know uhh the BLTV thing??? Someone made a "Kaiser and assistant (Y/N) holding hands" compilation

[isa-ghost]

happy early borth use me as a vessel to infodump about your qphil headcanons immediately that’s an order >:D

This too-broad I Just Wanna Hear You Be Abnormal About Your Guy prompting thing is gonna become an inside joke between us I s2g

I think rather than hcs I'm gonna go on a rant about this sTUPID MOTHERFUCKERS WACK ASS BRAIN. YOU ARE YOUR OWN BIGGEST EMOTIONAL DETRIMENT, YKNOW THAT qPHILLIP MINECRAFT? GOD.

This entire thing applies to AMFMN Phil btw

That son of a bitch is such a MESS. He's so deep in his own bullshit he doesn't even see the times he contradicts himself or acts like a hypocrite.

He has to care for everyone (he feels obligated to as the Usually Oldest And Wisest + being constantly put into the paternal/caretaker role) but god forbid anyone takes care of him, even when he needs it most. When people take care of him he feels like he's failed somehow and he gets this not-quite ashamed or embarrassed feeling, but still Distinctly Uncomfortable And Awkward nonetheless.

He's like thousands of years old and has had more life experience to handle stress 100x heavier than "just a scratch" or "feeling a bit sad." He's spent decades just fucking around risking his life in hardcore mode, which puts near-constant strain on a person. Which has definitely warped his perception of what's too much for himself. He has a HUGE problem with being too critical of when something is or isn't Enough to be "worth" letting himself be upset or down for the count for a while. (In AMFMN he's going to be told straight up he Should Have Literally Died with how bad of shape he'll be in and that's the only reason besides his body being in literal physical shambles that he's going to remain bedridden during the recovery arc).

It's so foreign to him between his habitual isolation (hc life), rarely actually being taken down long-term by any threat, and his own evasion of being the one depending on someone that he just. He doesn't know what to do here. It's like putting socks on a dog and watching them try to walk all weird, he's like What The FUCK Is This?? How Do I Navigate This Situation?? He hates it.

Also survivalist brain hates feeling vulnerable in any way in general obviously, so that's another factor. But FUCK MAN sometimes you NEED to, it's HEALTHY even!! You dumb ass motherfucker!! Like yeah he'll cry, but not in like a Go To His Room And Let Himself Break A Little way, in a "these extremely stressful circumstances are actively happening/ongoing and it's overwhelming me so badly that I couldn't hold this back if I tried" way. Case in point: Ender King's initial arrival and how the kids couldn't see anything, or his actual possession and telling Tallulah to flee.

Alternatively if something involves not him but his loved ones, THEN he'll cry. Assuming it's not something he can do anything about (bc then his default reaction is Pissed The Fuck Off and preparing to throw infinite hands). Case in point: the goodbye letters pre-Purgatory.

But generally speaking this idiot is SO BAD at emotional self-care and letting himself be the one looked after for a change, it feeds into a lot of his other flaws (ie: being strong all the time & how he pushes that on Chay). But like. It's not just done out of refusal due to stubbornness.

It's fucking tragic, honestly. He's spent So Long being this way, he just straight up genuinely doesn't know How to be in the reversed role. Like even if he Wanted to be, it's so beyond his comprehension now that he doesn't think he Can. And a shred of why he continues not to just Start is bc he knows deep down that there is SO MUCH shit he's bottled up and buried or ignored over time, esp ever since The Nightmare, that if he let himself stop being a brick wall he'd crumble for so long he doesn't know what he'd be like once he recovered, or if he would even bounce back properly. And he does NOT like the idea of being irreversibly fucked up by properly digesting the trauma and grief and stress he's been through over the last year.

He'd rather truck on and "keep it together for the kids." :)

[demontonic]

Obi wan with a bf who infodumps a lot?

OKAY IM GONNA DO THIS FIRST CUZ ITS GONNA BE LIKE REALLY SHORT

you would be the first guy hes with

hes pretty shy at first but youre just so excited about someone finally showing interests when you go on a ramble

the first time you did it he was simply looking at the stars and suddenly he was sitting down in the grass next to you listening to you talk about supernovas and black holes

you thought he was genuinely interested in what you had to say and that you were telling him things hed never knew

it simply was not that he hadnt known everything he needed to know about the stars, but you talked so passionately about the topic he was so entranced

he made it a point to be at the spot the next night hopeing you were there

to his disappointment you werent, the next morning however he saw you working in a small restaurant

he took anakin with him and had lunch there, you quickly noticed him and started taking his order

he was shocked to see someone so smart and full of knowledge working as a waiter, it was almost too mundane for you in his eyes

he questioned you as his, what you assumed to be, brother watched the interaction

“I thought you were a librarian, or an astrologist- even a pilot with all your vast knowledge”

“Oh- no no I just like to read a lot of books, I’ve always worked here it’s actually my families restaurant so I didn’t have a choice- not that I don’t like working here or anything it’s just expected I mean even my cousins work here and it’s always been family owned! My great grandmother opened this restaurant a long time ago so- um im sorry what can I get you?”

Anakin teased Obi wan for days after that, especially once he found out you two were meant to hang out with each other soon

It wasn’t a date or anything… right?

He took you into the jedi archives, you’d traveled and seen many beautiful libraries but nothing compared to the jedi archives

He’d spent about 10 minutes explaining the different areas and topics, especially the areas with knowledge only open for jedis

after that he wondered the aisles with you until both of you were holding at least six books

you’d sat in a far corner together quietly speaking on the different books you had collected

obi wan would never tell you but he’d read most of these books, yet he sat nodding along to you explaining like it was a grand secret

once you two started dating he hadnt even told anakin about you, he was too scared to lose you

at first you didnt want to if you had to remain a secret, but you were already too in love to stop now

you hadn’t meant to tell anakin as you knew obi wan was scared he’d tell but when anakin started talking about obi wan in battle you couldn’t help yourself

“Obi Wan is extraordinary truly it amazes me to hear of his adventures, makes me wonder if im worth it”

“so you two are together”

Id imagine in this instance anakin would then come out about padme and you guys would all live happily ever after

[pencilpat]

Dukeceitbrainrot here on anon. Do you have any ripe headcanons for Janus/Remus? 💛💚

Who am I fooling, we have so many that I can't even write them all out in one place without overwhelming myself! Here's some juicy ones though, just for you. @dukeceitbrainrot

Janus and Remus both have really bad abandonment issues, both from things Thomas has been through as well as losing Virgil from such a previously tight knit group. They cling to each other very, very hard. They fell in love out of necessity, out of proximity, out of 'you are the only one left for me,' but they still love, love, love.

They both watch a lot of horror films, sure, but their tastes are completely different. While Janus would bring things like Run. or Us to movie night, Remus will bring things like Slaughtered Vomit Dolls or Cannibal Holocaust and spend the whole film infodumping about the horrific backstories and crimes involved. Janus sits there utterly horrified the whole time, but he lets Remus have his fun nonetheless.

Remus eats a lot of weird stuff that's very bad for his health (I headcanon that he has the disorder pica among his menagerie) and Janus has to help him quell those compulsions in any way he can. That resulted in Janus learning to bake and cook creations that look or feel in texture exactly like the things Remus would want to eat. Such as sugar glass for that nasty glass swallowing habit, or fondant to replace fancy soaps. Janus once created candy that looks and feels like razor blades, just for him.

They are SO 'horrible beast and enabling owner' coded okay, "I don't know, I just let him play," and all else are you kidding me?? Janus enables the chaos for his own amusement and Remus's antics are an endless source of entertainment for him. Janus can be pretty easily grossed out, but it's creates flabbergasted affection towards Remus more than anything else.

A bit nsfw, skip if you need to. But their sex isn't actually as weird as you'd expect from Remus. He's a lot softer and sweeter to people he genuinely loves. He gets worried when he loves someone, will he scare them off, will he make them hate him like most others have, will they be just like the others? Their opinion actually matters to him, which is bizarre and terrifying for him to deal with. Janus is very good at reassuring him and keeping him close and safe when emotions do interfere with their encounters. Remus needs a lot of aftercare most of the time, he's very prone to those rushes of negative emotions following sex.

Remus gets injured a lot, either from fights with Roman or his own tendencies to step on/into his own weapons. Janus knows very basic field first aid because of this, and has to patch him up while chastising him pretty much 6 out of 7 days of the week.

Janus has really bad days sometimes, where his responsibilities and his role as Denial crash onto him like a train. He's hiding so much, holding so much back and away from the others. It's a taxing task. Remus shows a surprisingly strong soft side on those nights, caring for and comforting Janus through every trauma reaction he may have, be it screaming, crying, scratching at himself, etc etc. It can be really rough for both of them, but Janus is always incredibly grateful to Remus for staying with him through it, despite.

Remus does not care whether Janus likes affection or not, he WILL be being kissed and laid on and grabbed and tackled and shoved into Remus's chest 24 hours 7 days a week and he is not allowed to complain.

Shockingly domestic, sweet couple. always baking or gardening together or sitting on the sofa together doing nothing at all. The only difference is that There Is An Eyeball On The Coffee Table or Remus Filled That Pot With Human Waste So I Cannot Use It or other bizarre inclusions of disgusting things among their neat little domestic life.

Remus is a coffee drinker, Janus is a tea drinker. There are many arguments over this. 200 dead, 5000 injured.

Janus likes to try and plan civil, nice dates in The Mindpalace for them, but Remus always fucks it up in some horrific way, intentionally. What is love worth if it cannot flourish in chaos, huh Janus? Huh??

That's all for now, I love these two idiots so much

[bonesandthebees]

Hi Bee! You seem to read a lot of books, and I've been trying to get back into reading books rather than fanfiction as of late (which is going good atm). I used to read a lot of actual books when I was younger, but once I was a pre teen I'd discovered fic and had trouble reading actual books unless I had to for school lol. Anyway, my question is do you have any book recs? While for right now, it is going well, I only have two books I'm planning on reading after I finish the two I'm reading simultaneously right now. So it'd be nice to have some more for once I finish those as well. :D

Another reason for my wanting to get back into reading actual types of books is studying a more formal written literature to improve my writing, and to observe what author's do with their writing style that I'd want to incorporate in my own writing. If you have any tips for studying/observing, I'd also love some of those.

While this doesn't really have to do with the whole book thing, I just wanna say that you definitely inspired me to want to write more. Most of your titles always sound so cool and make me wanna read anything of yours solely based off them, and your plot, descriptiveness, metaphors, Greek mythology references, and so many other little things about it make it so enjoyable to read and something I'd strive to be within my own writing. A little silly, I know, considering it's MCYT fic, but your writing is genuinely so cool.

That's all I wanted to say, bye bye.

this is so kind thank you!! it seriously makes me so happy anytime someone tells me my silly fic writing inspired them to start/improve their own writing. writing is such a beautiful art but it's also a skill you have to put so much time into. you're off to an amazing start already with recognizing that you have to read published novels to improve your writing. it seriously helps so much.

I can definitely give you some recs! I'll put them under a read more, but since you asked for tips when reading novels:

try to pay attention to things you like and don't like about the author's writing style. like if you're reading a novel and there's a line of description that's particularly gorgeous or sets a scene super well, consider annotating the book with a pen or highlighter or if you don't own the book itself, copy down the line/paragraph somewhere (notebook, notes app, smth like that) to refer back to later. or if you find yourself super immersed in a conversation going on between two characters, take a step back to notice how the author writes out the conversation. is there a lot of physical description of what the characters are doing while they speak that lets you picture th escene easily? or is the dialogue rapid fire back and forth which forces you to just be sucked into it? what about it do you like?

or, on the contrary, if you find yourself struggling to enjoy a book try to notice what about the writing style is pulling you away. is there too much flowery description that makes you want to skip ahead? is there too much exposition so you feel like you're just getting an infodump instead of a narrative? take stock of what your own thoughts are as you read and then try to figure out why that is.

also, a tip I heard once is that you can always try to emulate a specific style. if you want to improve your writing and you just read a book with a writing style you really want, maybe try and write a random scene in that same style. it doesn't have to be anything original or even good, no one ever has to see it, it can just be for your own practice. just keep the book beside you and try to pick out what makes the writing style distinct, and try to emulate that. not saying you have to adopt that style, but just trying out a new style can give you some variation to help you develop/improve your own.

okay now book recs time, this'll get long so putting it below

now you didn't specify what kinds of books you like to read so I'm going to just throw in a few from a few different genres I've read. most of these are books I've recced here on my blog before but they're all a bit scattered so I'll rec them again. now, I mostly read fantasy or historical fiction because I just like those genres but I'll try to include some variety here

Genre: Fantasy (Typical Medieval)

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

one of my all time favorite novels. incredibly expansive fantasy worldbuilding that draws from a variety of cultures that's not exclusive to just europe. of course there's one country that's fantasy england, but you also have countries that take inspiration from asia, africa, and the middle east. you follow several characters that vary in age, race, gender, sexuality, etc. and they're all wonderfully fleshed out and fascinating. the story itself is also just fantastic and the world really swallows you whole. there's also a prequel to this called A Day of Fallen Night that I actually think I liked a bit more than Priory, but I'd recommend reading Priory first because it's easier to get into the world through that one whereas ADOFN is a bit more dense.

Genre: Fantasy (Apocalyptic? Sci fi? Kind of?)

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

similar to priory, the fifth season is a masterclass in worldbuilding and creating interesting worlds. that's where the similarities end though. technically speaking The Fifth Season is a fantasy and not a sci fi, although it feels more like sci fi to me tonally. The Fifth Season explores a world that is so regularly tormented by apocalyptic natural disasters that everything is formed around survival and it makes for such an interesting culture. the story also does an incredibly interesting and unique thing with POV that I rarely see in novels so that's also super fascinating to dig into for writing study. currently reading the sequel to this one and I love it so far.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Hild by Nicola Griffith

alright if you really wanna stretch some writing/reading muscles this is definitely a book you can try out. but be warned, it is dense. I'm a fairly fast reader and it took me so much longer to read this than I was expecting just because of how dense the writing is. this story takes place in 7th century Anglo-Saxon Britain so there's a lot of Old English words thrown in, and while there's a glossary at the back it doesn't cover everything. this is a really interesting novel though that dives deep into the time period and the specific life of one girl as she grows up at the heart of the political machinations of the Anglo-Saxon kings. really great if you're like me and think learning a lot about what life was like in this time period is super fun, but I could see it being a drag for people not super into history like that. I still think it's a really good story though on its own, especially with how the main character is characterized as she grows up, and how it represents all the politics going on at this time

Genre: Satire/Dystopian Fiction

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

I'm including this because I'm trying to give you a bit of genre variety. If you want to read an adult dystopian book for our modern day this is definitely an excellent one to pick up. warning, it's incredibly effective as a dystopian novel because all I felt was dread and fear after finishing it. it takes place in the near future where the prison industrial complex has been combined with the entertainment industry. prisoners who are serving a sentence of either 25+ years or life are given the option to compete in televised gladiator style death matches. if they survive 3 years, they'll be released. the novel is incredibly on the nose and not subtle whatsoever about it's criticisms of capitalism and racism, especially the racism that the prison industrial complex is built on. the horrifying thing about reading it is how easily I could see this becoming a reality, especially the brand sponsorships. it made me want to laugh and cry at the same time because of how ridiculous but realistic it was.

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

And here we have my all time favorite novel. this novel is a great example of unreliable narrator and how to tell a story two different ways. if you don't know the twist for this already, go into it blind, I promise it'll be more fun that way. the premise of the story seems simple—the morning of their 5th anniversary, a man's wife goes missing and the story follows his attempts to find her. but it gets way messier than that. this novel is an excellent example of how to characterize horrible people and still make them enjoyable to read about. also, if you're like me and enjoy media about two shitty people having an unhealthy and fucked up relationship, you'll adore this.

Okay that's a lot so I'll stop there for now, but feel free to pop into my inbox if you want anymore recs! especially if there's a specific genre you're looking for. if I've read anything that fits what you're looking for I'd be happy to throw it your way!

[iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia]

i would love to hear your infodump on the patrons and their deals if you're willing to share <3 you genuinely are the first writer in YEARS on here to feel like actually gets the characters and the world of the arcana (imho) so please share if you so desire!!!

Brainrot's Arcana Essays: The Patrons and their Deals

Bear in mind, anon, you did ask for this XD

One of the most consistent things about the Arcana Patrons (as they are represented in the story) is that they are archetypes intended to nurture their beneficiaries, and in doing so, empower them to make good change. As such, the deals they make seem to me to look a lot more like a commitment than like a legal contract. Hear me out:

One of the most straightforward deals we have in the story is Julian's (which to me makes sense, as he's the least magically invested). He describes it like a trade: he gave the Hanged Man his memories, and in return, the Hanged Man gave him the ability to heal any wound or illness. That's as far as the description goes, so one would think Julian could just snap his fingers and the person would be okay. But that's not how it pans out.

Instead, he is granted the magic to take somebody else's injury or illness upon himself, and then heal from it exceptionally quickly. This process is a lot more defined by what kind of person Julian is and the traits he shares with the Hanged Man (self-sacrifice & a quest for knowledge). It doesn't seem like anything more than a dramatic detail to add if the deal was just a trade, but it's a very relevant detail when you remember that the Hanged Man is Julian's patron. So how does that patronage play out?

We see patron - human connections the strongest between Asra and the Magician and Nadia and the High Priestess, and in both cases, the patron takes their beneficiary under their wing and assumes a mentoring role. So when a deal is struck, it's not meant to be exploitative or a legally-bound trade. It ends up looking more like a patron offering to empower their beneficiary, but needing something belonging to that beneficiary in order to do so.

To my knowledge (and to be fair, I'm still unlocking all of her content), Nadia has had a gift of clairvoyance that comes from the High Priestess since she was just a little girl. It's highly unlikely that the High Priestess would offer a binding contract to a little girl, but to offer a gift as a form of empowerment and nurture? That seems a lot more in character. It also explains Nadia's relationship with her own sight - she experiences it as an extension of herself more than she does as a tool that she's been handed.

In short, there's no point at which we see a patron and beneficiary (with a good relationship) hashing out all the details of a bargain like it's a trade deal. (e.g. Does Muriel have a daily limit on how many people can forget him at once? Does Julian lose extra memories if he exceeds a certain amount healing per day?) What we're more likely to see is a patron saying "I'm invested in you enough to give you this 'thing' that will help you, but I'm going to need something from you in order to do so." The way that deal plays out afterwards seems to have a lot less to do with a character's step-by-step decisions and a lot more to do with how they see the world and function in it. It's also designed to contribute to the beneficiary's personal growth and is easily repealed once that growth has been achieved.

This really shows up with Muriel - he doesn't snap his fingers and wipe someone's memory of him, or turn completely invisible. He just walks away, and then people forget once they lose sight of him. It perfectly plays into how he already functions in the world. It makes even more sense of the workaround for his curse - he doesn't just decide that this one person is going to be immune, he has to give them something that represents him, that they can hold onto in his absence. Muriel received his "blessing," as he calls it, when being alone and forgotten was essential to recovering from a lifetime of trauma, and it begins to fade away when he reaches a new stage of healing that involves becoming a part of the community again.

This (to me) has major implications for how we understand two of the biggest sets of deals in the Arcana story - Asra's deal to bring back MC, and the Devil's and Lucio's bargaining habits. I'll start with Asra's deal.

Asra wasn't offered his deal, he pursued it. Most fan estimates put about a year between his return and the disastrous Masquerade, but either way we know that they spent a long, long time trying idea after idea to bring MC back. Their deal was the result of actively pursuing a specific outcome, which is why he's the only one of the M6 who ended up receiving a gift from someone other than their patron Arcana. MC has the Fool's body, not the Magician's.

Two things play into this: first, the Fool's body was already on the table because Asra's ability to ask for it came from him hijacking Lucio's ritual. Second, Asra had help on multiple fronts to make this deal. We know from some of his returning memories that Nadia knew what they were planning and gave them her full support. The Magician never outright says it, but they also seem to know plenty of details about the deal considering that they weren't the one Asra was asking.

It suggests (to me) that Asra knew ahead of time what the deal was going to be, and that once they made it to the realms the Magician was already prepared to help him convince the Fool to let him have the body for MC instead.

That's a lot more meddling with fate than what you'd normally see them do, and it further reinforces what a powerful character MC is. Asra themself says that, if anything, MC was a stronger magician than he ever was (which is no small feat - other characters comment multiple times on how famous he is for his skill with magic). If you follow their route, MC's magic is shown to be on par with an Arcana's, and while part of that is attributed to having the Fool's body, much of it is also credited to MC themself. Pair that with the fact that MC inherited a magic shop from a family member, and we know that magic has been a big part of their life in nature and in nurture.

It wouldn't be too much of a stretch (though it's still speculation) to say that the Fool is MC's patron. So when we put all of this together, Asra's deal to bring back MC is part of a much broader effort. It required (at least) Nadia, the Fool, and the Magician all pooling their resources to bring MC back as well, and we know for those three characters that that wasn't a light decision they made simply for Asra's sake. They worked together to bring back MC for MC's sake, with Asra spearheading the movement. It's why he takes responsibility for the danger of what was done on the Lazaret, saying that he led people who trusted him into a situation even he didn't fully understand, and why they were the one to ultimately make the the deal. He takes responsibility for the initiative, but he includes other people in the picture.

In both cases, Asra and the Fool are giving up something that is theirs and allowing it to be changed to who MC is. The Fool's body changes its appearance to match MC's soul, and Asra's half-heart changes to carry MC's emotions and personality instead. If we assumed otherwise, then MC wouldn't be too interested in dating anyone because they'd be totally in love with themself (following Asra's emotional state). It means that MC is still entirely themself, even if their memories are missing. They're still growing and changing as a person but they are doing so on a path that is completely their own. So while MC comes back from the dead without knowing anything and needing time to relearn how to use a body, they don't come back fundamentally different as a person. (Though headcanons where that happens will never not be fascinating to me)

In short, when it comes to the deal that brings MC back, the context is so much bigger than just Asra. Asra is the only human who remembers it, but it took him, the Magician, Nadia, and the Fool (at least that many - Julian was likely involved as well, considering how he aided Asra's research, and other Arcana patrons may have contributed) all working together to bring MC back. MC is a big deal. (pun intended)

So let's contrast that with the other deal that has multiple people working together. When we compare what other patron deals look like, it's a lot easier to put a finger on why the Devil's offers always feel so wrong. His deals are designed to mislead and exploit.

Where other Arcana patrons seem to be focused on the nurture of their beneficiaries, the Devil describes Lucio and the other courtiers as his puppets. He's only playing for his own gain. He has no interest in connections, whether it be with the other Arcana or with humans. (sidenote: ever notice that the uniting difference between Upright and Reversed endings is growth and community vs stagnation and isolation?)

Of the two bargains for a new body, one requires half a heart, which is willingly given. The other requires blood stolen from multiple Arcana representatives and the surrender of the human realm. There's a considerable difference in what is required, and that's because the Devil likes to bargain. He likes to take, to request more, to exploit, and to give as little as possible in return. That kind of example likely played a big role in how Lucio became his worst self before meeting MC and mending his ways - while he's naturally the kind of person to take without asking, the influence of a character like the Devil would explain his development from enlisting help to fight someone he was expected to defeat (though not necessarily expected to kill) to starting unnecessary wars and building and maintaining a place like the Coliseum.

It explains why the Devil's deals are often described as bargains, and why, instead of a mark of magic, everyone who trades with him ends up in chains instead. Where other Arcana patron deals intend to promote growth and are known to end if that growth achieves a bench mark, the Devil's intend to hold someone under his control far longer than the results of the deal last.

So let's put the two side-by-side and get a really big picture, shall we?

MC exists due to the combined productive efforts of both human and Arcana. The Devil builds his power by exploiting and destroying both human and Arcana. We know that the Fool never shared the Devil's vision, so it's safe to assume that the trade promised to Lucio didn't happen because the Fool wanted to give their body to him. The Fool gave the body to MC instead, keeping their body out of the Devil's clutches almost as a form of safekeeping, because they were already known to be a powerful magician. We see the same collaboration happening again in (if I remember correctly) Portia's and Lucio's routes, where the Arcana patrons gather together and collectively give MC their support.

When it comes to how the deal for MC's life creates growth, the answers exist on multiple levels: as the Fool's beneficiary, they get to keep growing personally. As a powerful magician, they get to keep working to make the world a better place. And as an ally of progress and healing, they are someone worth recruiting to challenge forces that the Arcana patrons themselves struggle to resist. There is consistent faith in MC's innate ability to challenge disaster - it's the attitude MC displays about whether they have any faith in themselves that determines the outcome.

There you have it, anon, there's my little infodump! I hope you like it and found it somewhat interesting! ^.^

brainrot

[aspd-culture]

@brandon666

First off, you have some *really* inaccurate ideas of what ASPD is. Do you think we can survive in the world acting like you expect me to act? Far more often, pwASPD appear detached and callous rather than actively hostile the way you're saying. We aren't 12 year old kids on Xbox Live voice chat, * s p o o k y voice* we are all around you. You wouldn't be able to pick most of us out of a crowd, even if you had direct interaction with us. In fact, a running joke here and in my real life is that people often tell pwASPD "don't worry, I can sniff out a s*ciop*th a mile away" or similar not realizing they're talking shit about us to our face.

There *are* pwASPD who are still entirely valid who act the way you're saying - and also plenty of prosocials who behave like that too. But it isn't all of us, all the time. Most of us are capable of and maybe even prefer to be cool, calm, and calculated about how we speak and act because of the trauma we have.

Unlike people on TV like Dr. House, there are real life consequences to the behavior you describe, and many of us strive not to be happy, but for life to be as convenient as possible. Kinda hard to get convenience while you're pissing everyone off. Ever heard the part of ASPD where they mention we are manipulative and charismatic? Yeah that isn't exactly compatible with being crass, careless, pranking, or offensive. Careless actually specifically bothers me because we are often said to "play a social chess game" with people we talk to. Many of us are extremely calculating and overly cautious. And many of us aren't, but it certainly isn't like you're saying all the time. Even pwASPD who *do* act like that usually are calm and "respectful" sometimes.

Also, I never claimed to be unmasked on this blog. Most of the time, I am absolutely masking to some degree - although much less than IRL. You can actually see that in the tags, I use "a rare unmasked aspd-culture" as a joke about this fact. Whilst this is a safe place for other pwASPD to unmask if they'd like, my posts on this blog are different. My side of this is helping educate people - prosocial, antisocial, whoever - if/when they have questions for me about ASPD which is fairly frequent. This isn't to say I am not ok with unmasking here, like I said it's happened before, but consider the context of what's happening.

I'm often asked genuine questions about ASPD, some of which are ableist (almost always on accident!) and many of which are based on extremely common misconceptions. If I were to unmask while answering those, I would end up being really shitty to people who are trying to learn - often people who want to do better for the pwASPD in their life, or for themselves. We talk about coping mechanisms and the development of ASPD a lot here; with those topics there is little room for my unmasked behavior *and* education. If I were to unmask while answering, no one would be getting anything out of asking those questions even if I was providing info because it's hard to take in new information from someone when they're being defensive or hostile.

I don't want to be hostile towards them, I want to help because if ASPD is ever going to be destigmatized, someone has got to answer their questions and help show them what it is and what it isn't! We can't expect prosocials to fend for themselves in the cesspool of stigma that the typical google results on ASPD show - someone has to help them. And since one of my special interests (something autistic ppl like myself have and love to infodump about) is mental health, especially my own disorders, I am happy to be one of the people they can ask these sometimes tough questions to.

I am also helping pwASPD! Many questions I get are people trying to understand their own disorder or the disorder they think they might have. It sucked for me, learning this all on my own (and I'm still learning too), so I can use the cognitive empathy I've taught myself over the years and remember the feelings I went through when I was trying to find unbiased info.

There's a transaction here - a major part of ASPD if you didn't know - I calmly and respectfully answer people's questions, and the world becomes slightly less ignorant and we get a slight amount of progress on destigmatizing this disorder. That makes my life easier too. In the process, I see many culture asks that remind me I'm not alone in this. Often, posting those gives me some catharsis, and you will sometimes see me going off in the tags about what I've dealt with. But for the most part, I'm giving other pwASPD an open space to unmask as well as to ask questions to someone who will, 95% of the time, give a masked and respectful answer. Friendly is a stretch tho lol unless you missed the original post about the syscourse that you commented this on.

So yeah, long and short, you're definitely missing something here and that's ok. Just learn and do better. I know you might see that as another thing that is flying in the face of ASPD or whatever, but it's no skin off my back if you think I have ASPD or not, and anyway I'd rather you just learn and maybe next time someone says something like that to/around you about ASPD, you'll have the knowledge to correct it. Spreading info is an exponential situation - once I tell you guys things, some of you will inevitably tell someone else that, and so on and so forth until a good handful of people now know things about ASPD they didn't before. If not, oh well. I got to infodump and see relatable posts that made me feel seen.

Either way, it's been, and hopefully will continue to be, a net positive. You are absolutely welcome to keep this dialogue going if you have questions, want clarification, are enraged that I gave you a calm response, whichever. Even if you don't get anything out of this, someone else seeing it might.

I'll really fuck with you now - I genuinely hope you have a good day.

[horsegirlwarcrimes]

bury's tips to ACTUALLY combat writer's block

a lot of the time when you hear writers talk about writers block and what you can do to fight it, the advice that you hear is 'just write'

i took this to be true for a long time, and it's not the worst advice or whatever. at the end of the day anything you want to get done w writing does need to be solved by simply writing. but it took me until i was writing much more regularly to realize that actually thats nonsense

there are totally things you can do to help w writers block! ive been experiencing a bout of it recently, so i thought id share some tips partially to help out those who might read this, and partially to help myself out of that same slump

FEEDING THE MACHINE. in my experience, a lot of the time writers block is less of a blockage getting in the way of a flow of creativity and more like a machine running out of fuel. thoughts, ideas, and emotions CAN come from nowhere, but... usually they are coming from somewhere! i get my worst writers block when i am bored, under-stimulated, or stuck in my real life. try getting out into the world and doing something you don't usually do. this can be wild and exciting, or small and plain. take a different route home than usual, go for a drive somewhere cool, take yourself to a garden, bookstore, museum. if you're stuck at home try a new hobby; draw a weird picture, bake something, bird watch. this is really my top advice for myself at least, and something i have to remind myself when im despairing my own worth and dedication as a writer. you cant pour from an empty cup! you cant make something out of nothing! theres no point scraping yourself dry without trying to fill yourself back up.

FEEDING THE MACHINE... DIFFERENTLY. same principal applies here, but with what stories you are consuming. what actually got me to start writing and posting fic regularly was starting work in publishing that meant i was reading 1-2 books/manuscripts every day. they were often outside my usual reading genres, and sometimes i genuinely hated them... but they were food for the machine. the brain doesn't care if you like books about cows, the brain cares about variety and expanding its horizons. read something new and interesting! try a classic. try getting into queer classics you've never heard of if you're tired of old white men. read a murder mystery or a biography of a cool person or the history of the romance novel or frued's melancholia. try that new fantasy novel youve heard good things about. even if you only end up reading three chapters, thats still something new youre giving your brain. documentaries are also great for this if you're not feeling a new book; sit back and learn something.

CLEAN UP YOUR ENCLOSURE. humans feel yucky when we're in a yucky environment. cleaning is often exhausting and annoying and it sucks, but so is sitting in an environment that makes you feel bad. try clearing off your desk or table. set something nice you like nearby! choose a sunny spot to work in.

TALK YOUR IDEAS OUT. i really struggle with this one, because i dont like bothering people and im really embarrassed about my ideas, especially in the planning stage. it can really help though! try talking to yourself in the shower like you're being interviewed about your work. try going on some chat site, find a stranger to talk to, and infodump until they leave (or stay and you've made a new friend!). ask around for someone who wants to chat ideas; you can share yours, they can share theirs. if you have a loved one who would listen, ask if they would sit down for 45 minutes and let you talk.

LIMIT DISTRACTIONS. this one also sucks but yknow. turn on forest: stay focused. close discord. ask your dog politely to stop barking. get off tumblr and stop writing advice posts about writers block. turn on some ambient music and rain noises or chappell roan's red wine supernova on loop.

may add to this later as i think of others, but the point here is that writer's block isn't laziness and, even if you do in the end just need to write, there are ways to uplift yourself and make doing so more pleasant. these also dont fully apply to what i think the actual cause is of what we often call 'writer's block,' which is just exhaustion and lack of free time; i wouldn't consider that in itself writer's block. these tips are more for when you have that time, or you're making it, but you just cant seem to make it happen.

[autisticgirliesbracket]

What makes Asa Mitaka from Chainsaw Man the autistic girlie ever of all time? Here's what the people have to say:

Asa-related asks/reblogs: x This post will be updated after each round!

Image ID in alt text and under the readmore.

[Image ID. White slide with a manga panel of Asa in the top right corner, she has been edited to be wearing a blue cap with the words "Please be patient I have autism" printed on the front. She is surrounded by text boxes which read,

"Goes to the aquarium with a guy and infodumps about sea anemonies."

"I kin her unironically. Unbelievable social awkward. Goes to an aquarium date where she spends the entire time explaining facts about the Animals fully in an attempt to impress her date. She must be avenged from the ADHD vs Autism bracket. Is isolated from her peers. Chronically lonely but won't open up to anyone(not sure if that's an Autism thing or just a personal problem probably a combination of both) Have you read the Manga?"

"has a VERY hard time with social interaction"

"She is absolutely baffled by everything + doesn't get most things at first"

"there's an extended scene where she flirts with a boy by lecturing him about sea anemone life cycles, breeding patterns, and other extended trivia. the whole time she is thinking to herself "he must be falling in love with me right about now. this is an irresistible date." "

"Literally infodumps to the boy shes on a date with for like 3 straight pages and then goes "i'm so alluring. he definetely wants me now" "

"from the scene that was all over tumblr where she infodumps about starfish on an aquarium date and considers this her Ultimate Seduction Technique. a guy on reddit literally got diagnosed because he could relate to her. it's awesome"

"Tried to impress a guy on a date by monologuing starfish facts about him, was genuinely astonished that that didn't drive him wild with desire. Also she's sharing her body with a horsewoman of the apocalypse but that's unrelated."

"If her long-winded rant about sea creatures as an attempt to seduce someone wasn't enough, then a lot of her trauma is based around being ostracized for being weird and quiet. She doesn't understand people but wants companionship anyways, even if shes also afraid of it."

"She feels disconnected to her peers. She literally infodumps while on a date for thirty minutes about starfish. She doesn't see this as a social faux pas, but rather something any sane person would do. (Basically, doesn't realize this is abnormal.) She misses social cues frequently. She feels below average empathy, I'd say. Asa also said she wanted to die after embarrassing herself in public. That doesn't mean she's autistic or anything, but I'm autistic and I do it a lot. Also, I'm autistic and I relate to her, so she kind of has a peer reviewed diagnosis by me lol."

"Socially awkward and prone to info dumping."

"shes cringe fail and has no idea what shes doing ever i love her so much (shes just like me fr"

"I’m sure you’ve seen her failgirl cringe aquarium infordump that she’s sure will charm any boy (note: fails to charm the world’s loosest teenage boy.) She sucks at a lot of social stuff but also doesn’t get why and just thinks she’s wrong or cursed or smth. Likes animals over people. Doesn’t have a single friend until another loner who happens to be more extroverted basically adopts her as her friend."

"1) thought lecturing her date about sea creatures for like 30 minutes each would impress him and make him like her and was confused when he wasn’t into it (I would be into it tho it’s ok bby he just has adhd). 2) had the date planned out to the MINUTE and told the poor guy to shut up when he wanted to do something different. Literally a formula for how to have fun and she thought it was foolproof. 3) encyclopedic knowledge of sea creatures either points to a special interest and/or she just decided to research all that shit the night before for the date (she did say she went to the library in preparation), either way. tism I love her I’m rotating her in my brain" End ID.]

[fayesdiary]

001: for your ship of ships, Yunaka x Alear, and 002: for Timerra

Alear/Yunaka

when I started shipping it if I did:

I started genuinely shipping them when I played Engage for myself, because that's when I realized that oh. Oh this works so well.

my thoughts:

OHHHH THEY'RE SO GOOD. The parallels are immaculate, their dynamic is super silly in lighthearted moments and so heavy during more serious ones, they give hopelessly in love vibes and, you know. I adore them platonically too, obviously.

What makes me happy about them:

Yunaka finding love and support from her god of all people, someone who she always thought would judge her to be irredemable and instead adores her, and Alear trusting Yunaka despite her being expicitly sketchy being the first step in their self-forgiveness. When you think about it, Yunaka's background is basically an abridged version of Alear's.

Just, idk. They make me so happy!

What makes me sad about them:

Oh boy. Their pasts and their trauma. Yunaka's constant self-loathing and fear of her past coming to the surface and impostor syndrome and thinking Alear's too good for her. Alear's discomfort at being treated like a god and feeling alienated because of it. Past Alear. Just... Past Alear.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I don't think I've found anything that actually annoys me, to be honest. Which is good.

things I look for in fanfic:

Both the fluff with them being silly together (pre and post relationship) but also the angst of them dealing and opening up about their trauma.

That good hurt/comfort stuff 🥲

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

For Yunaka I'd say Citrinne, since you know. "Enemies" to lovers is always fun

For Alear I don't have any other strong ships, so I'd say I'm fine with almost everyone. Except the kids and the rest of their family, obviously. And Lindon.

My happily ever after for them:

Them being happily married and obnoxiously in love while they watch over Elyos together 💕

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

They switch! I think they're very into cuddles, generally :3

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Yunaka infodumping about weapons with the detail of an MGS codec call while Alear listens to her with heart eyes ❤️

Timerra

How I feel about this character: 

Love her! She's such a good mix of silly and serious, she can be really goofy but also she's one of the smartest people of the cast and will not fuck around with people she deems a threat, but she's super chill with anyone else!

If I had to describe her in a word, it would be "Fun".

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

Ivy's a fun one (thanks Koto), but her, Merrin and Panette are so polycule shaped. Oh, and Nel too!

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

Veyle! The fact she goes from being among the most skeptical about her to one of the most supportive once she actually joins for good is so interesting, and also the contrast between someone so carefree (on the surface at least) and someone who feels ashamed to even be alive. Just, idk. I really like them.

I think she'd be besties with Alfred too, wish they had supports together.

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

She's smarter than she looks, her voice is great and she's a lot more interesting than people give her credit for.

Also the fact the Solm siblings are the most overlooked ones of the cast is... sus, to say the least. This fandom is not escaping the racism allegations.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I wish she was more involved in the story. Compared to the other roylas she and Fogado don't go through much that directly involves them, you know?

Oh also while I'm not sure I would actually want it in canon, recruitable Fell Timerra would've been cool.

my OTP:

See above. I don't feel particularly strongly about any of them to declare them my OTP, so...

my cross over ship:

If FEH counts as a crossover, she and Sharena would hit it off really well. Azura too would be fun! OH, and Rinea too. Just thought of it👀

As for other stuff, hm...

BOTW Zelda would be interesting, she and Daisy would be cute and, hm. Her and Aqua would be the crackiest of crack pairs but, you know. It could work!

I dunno, I'm just throwing stuff around at this point.

a headcanon fact:

She absolutely brings Fauxgado with her during battles and on official business. Nobody's going to stop her from bringing her poorly done youngest brother along!

[the-kuzusouda-hideyhole]

Who Would Confess First? – a very long and rambly infodump

So. Love confessions. They're one of my favourite things to think, read and write about when it comes to my ships, and Kuzusouda is no exception. Lately I've been thinking about who'd be more likely to make the first move, and I've come to the conclusion that it'd probably depend on which point of the canon we're at. I feel like pre-despair (or non-despair if we're going the AU route; this includes things like Danganronpa S and the Talent Development Plan), mid-killing game and post-canon are all very different points in time, thus all the SDR2 characters would have noticeably different worldviews, experiences and priorities in each time period. And this can even inform things like confessing your feelings to your crush.

Let's go into that in more detail.

Pre-Despair/Non-Despair

I think Fuyuhiko would confess first.

Now hear me out – I know there's that whole thing with the yakuza and him needing to continue the bloodline and all that. I do think that he'd sit on his feelings for a good while before making any moves, both to see if they'd go away on their own and because he just doesn't like having to talk about his feelings if he can help it. That being said, if his feelings persist long enough and/or grow too intense, he'd rather just get them out there before they eat him out from the inside or ruin his friendship with Kazuichi. Assuming that he and Kazuichi have grown close enough to be able to talk about anything with each other – which they likely would've for Fuyuhiko to catch feelings for him in the first place – I figure that Fuyuhiko would feel pretty awful about hiding something like this from him. He'd confess not because he wants or expects Kazuichi to feel the same way or begin a relationship with him, but rather to get it out there so that he can begin to move on and really focus on what matters most to him. This confession could also double as a queer coming-out, and to Fuyuhiko, that could be the real test on whether Kazuichi is really a friend worth keeping around.

Now, it's not impossible for Kazuichi to be the one confessing in this time period, but I do find it unlikely because of his past experiences with losing friends. Kazuichi would probably be kinda clingy with Fuyuhiko, and very, very careful not to do anything that could damage their friendship. Kazuichi doesn't know how Fuyuhiko might respond to a love confession from him, and he likely doesn't even know how Fuyuhiko feels about LGBT+ people. To him, the best way to deal with his crush is to fake it until he makes it, basically. This might include playing up his infatuation with Sonia long after those feelings for her have vanished – if they'd ever existed in the first place.

During the Killing Game

Compared to a pre-despair or non-despair setting, the dynamics between Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi are a little different. They have good reason to distrust each other now, especially early on, and the progression of their friendship would be faster (keep in mind that the KG lasts a couple of weeks in-universe) but a little rockier. Keep in mind that they don't remember anything about their time at Hope's Peak, so whatever might've happened back then doesn't really matter for the most part.

With this change in dynamics and circumstances in mind, I actually think Kazuichi would be more likely to break the ice.

A major part of Kazuichi's character in SDR2 is his crush on Sonia. Indeed, being trapped in a killing game and fearing for his life every single day doesn't stop him from not only getting attached to Sonia, but being very open about his crush to the point of making her uncomfortable. While this crush was very much present pre-despair as well, you could argue that here, it is, in part, a coping mechanism and an attempt to distract himself from the reality of his and his classmates' situation.

If Kazuichi were to then develop feelings for Fuyuhiko – genuine feelings for someone he actually knows beyond a surface level – then he might eventually confess to Fuyuhiko in the hopes that they can get into a relationship and he can have something to distract himself from all the death and despair. It's not a good or healthy reason to ask someone out, but 1. Kazuichi is a hormonal teenage boy, 2. he's literally stuck in a life or death situation and 3. he's already not one to think things through very well and the killing game is likely making that worse. I figure that he'd still be kind of clingy to Fuyuhiko and anxious about how his crush would affect their friendship, but since their friendship here wouldn't have been as much of a "slow burn" as it was pre-despair, and there's a very real chance Fuyuhiko will die anyway... well, it's not really as much of an issue here.

Fuyuhiko would be the opposite. I think he'd swallow down his feelings no matter what because he's in a killing game and he knows that his #1 priority is to get out of there before anyone else dies. I feel like he'd find it pretty silly to focus so much on high school romance drama in such a dire situation. Besides, the dude's just lost two of the most important people in his life. He's gonna be sore about that for awhile no matter how much he tries to move on and be strong for them.

Post-Canon

I always like to say that a post-canon setting is actually the best place for Kuzusouda to succeed long-term, because by that point they've known each other for a good while, they've been through a lot together, and, provided that a lot of time has passed and they're both in a healthier headspace, there's nothing stopping them from being together. It's for this reason that I believe that, in this setting, both are equally likely to make the first move.

Inevitably, the former Remnants of Despair will have to start thinking about romantic relationships at some point. Problem is, given that they're to be isolated from the outside world for the rest of their lives, their dating pool is... not very big, to say the least. On the flip side, Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi are now in a position where, if they were to ask the other out, they wouldn't have anything to lose.

Possibly the biggest hindrance to Kuzusouda succeeding in a non-despair setting is the Kuzuryuu Clan. Fuyuhiko needs to continue the bloodline as the up-and-coming heir, and he can't do that when he's with a man. He's spent his entire life working up to this point, too; he's not gonna throw all that away for Kazuichi so easily. Here, the Kuzuryuu Clan is long gone, and Fuyuhiko's future is nothing like how he'd envisioned it. His entire life has changed in a very drastic way, and, again, he needs a lot of time to come to terms with that, just like everyone else. Once he does, however, he'd realise that now, he has the freedom to love whomever his heart desires. In time, he'd come to accept a relationship with Kazuichi as part of his happy future on Jabberwock Island.

As for Kazuichi, I figure he'd go through a lot more character development here than he ever really did in the game proper. If he sought comfort and escape during the killing game, then this is the point where he'd have no choice but to face reality. Nothing about his life is normal anymore, and he has an immense amount of trauma to work through. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and although Kazuichi would probably have a harder time overcoming his hardships than most of his companions, he'd likely come out of the other side as a much more mature person. He'd confess to Fuyuhiko if Fuyuhiko doesn't confess to him first, not to distract himself or satisfy his hormones, but out of genuine love and care for Fuyuhiko, because he wants a future where Fuyuhiko will always be at his side.

What About Island Mode?

Island Mode is more of a canon divergence than a full-fledged non-despair AU, given that the only thing that's really changed is that there's no killing game. We, the audience, know full well that these characters are the Remnants of Despair and that they're in a simulation designed to rehabilitate them, but as far as the characters are concerned, they're meeting each other for the first time on a fun school trip. The Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko we see here are pretty much the same Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko we see pre-despair or in a proper non-despair AU, so my headcanons for those settings would apply here as well.

That's All, Folks!

Thank you for reading this long-ass infodump, I hope you enjoyed it 🩷💛