#but thats. like.... not a good enough reason to act like they're not on your side or dont deserve to be.

[snekdood]

i feel like so much anti theism is a trauma response from being subjected to oppressive (mostly christian, since thats the pov i hear from the most) religious institutions. it reminds me of when radfems are like “men are bad so we need to kill them/wall them off from us/they serve no purpose and should be ignored/ostracized/exiled, etc.” and we all know they’re only saying that bc of trauma.

[torchstelechos]

Do yall think about the ending of ISAT in any other characters POV? Cause I think about it so much, that must be buck fucking wild. Like, you get to Dormont after MONTHS of traveling with these people, you're feeling strong, you feel like you have a chance, so yall go separate directions to get everything done before the big day tomorrow and your buddy Siffrin goes to take a nap. You're like, ah! Classic Siffrin, so silly and nonchalant about everything, they never once thought we would lose. What a swell fella :). Then not even a full half a day later, more like a few hours later, he appears out of no where with a fucked up face and starts hitting you exactly where it hurts emotionally. No reason! You didn't do a fucking thing! They just fucking went for it! And now you're pissed cause that was a close friend of yours that you considered family, you're sad, you're mad, you dont understand what happened. You meet up with everyone at the clocktower early because apparently he did that to everyone! So good! Good! It's not just a you thing! You all talk it out and you all agree that maybe you should leave them behind tomorrow if they keep acting like this. Except. Except. They never came to the clocktower, they never came to talk to you about what happened and thats. Not acceptable. You need to understand what happened because after sleeping on it, why did he do that? They wouldn't ever do that to all of you, so something must have happened!

And then a Star appears.

And you learn exactly what has been happening behind the scenes but it doesnt make sense. But you know that your buddy just went to solo the house and you know they arent strong enough to do so, you know exactly what their level and strength and weaknesses are and the King is rock type! He's going to kill Siffrin if you dont go save them! So you start running through the house to go save them while the Star guides you, but the doors are all unlocked. There are ghosts everywhere. The hallways dont make sense. Something is broken, failing, and you are running out of time. so you climb up and up and up until finally you get to the final floor and then to the King's room expecting Siffrin to be a splat on the floor but. He's still alive, theres a chance! So you go and protect them from the King but uh, huh. The King is nearly dead? Siffrin almost solo'ed the King? A scissors type versus a rock type nearly won? And it was only a nearly and not a he won because Siffrin was frozen in time? What???? So you freeze the King, you save Siffrin, but they're injured and sick and have a fever so you try to take them to the head housemaiden to get healed but uh. Shes speaking nonsense??? Utter bullshit. Skipping, repeating, saying things out of order, and then she says you all can go home and everything falls apart around you.

Cause Siffrin? Yeah, your buddy who was being a tad bit of an asshole? And they just solo'ed the bad guy without you? Yeah, he's the last boss you need to beat actually. And they're huge! So big! You get ready for them to fight you, except he. Attacks himself. In front of all of you while crying. He's sad. They're hurting themself. You can not do anything but you start to connect the dots and you figure everything out. Then everything becomes normal again and they say what they wished for and hey! You wanted that too! So you hug them as he cries himself out and all of you are tired. That was a lot. They're craft tired and sick but they're okay. So you're happy and relax. They want to go back to Dormont, so you all go. Then THIS LITTLE ASSHOLE WALTZES OFF ONLY TO COME BACK INJURED TO HELL AND BACK???? He said he was going to go say thanks to that Star person, who you still aren't sure is a person but whatever, and then he comes back exhausted and clearly just used craft after being told not to?

And YOU STILL DONT KNOW HOW SIFFRIN BEAT THAT FUCKER AFTER SOLOING THE HOUSE, OR THE DEAL WITH THAT WEIRD SHADE IN THE SKY IN THE SHAPE OF SOME FUCKING WEIRD LEGUME. WHAT. HOW???? WHY??????????

Anyway I think about this a lot, it must have been a long and confusing two days from their POV

[shanastoryteller]

its something they think they grew out of <- This phrase you said about kids being hit but the parent later stops has just been rolling around of my head. Like oh thats truly how a good portion of society (myself included) just accepts happens to themselves and to others and how sometimes in tv parents go “You’re not too grown that I can’t hit you anymore” like why is this normalized

well! the short and sweet answer is that society views children not as their own persons, but as an extension of their parents, to be either coddled or abused as the parent sees fit. since the abuse stops by the time they've achieved their own personhood, it's not seen as relevant

the messier but also true answer is that children experiencing physical abuse tend to find the whole physical part of it that least upsetting bit of it. if the child doesn't care, and the parent doesn't care, then nobody else is going to care either. not to mention that time softens it even further. and by the time you've grown up enough to go "hey what the fuck was that all about" you're also so far removed from it that it feels almost childish to dig into it - because your childhood was smeared with violence, and so violence now feels like a childish thing

excepting extreme cases, the pain of abuse isn't something that lingers. bruises and bloody noses. the marks of a perfectly healthy childhood even, except yours isn't from tumbling from the jungle gym or schoolyard battles, but because an adult decided to put their hands on you, to teach a lesson that if you forgot then your skin would remember

the part that hurts is that they wanted to hurt you. the thing that lingers is the stress of not knowing the next time they'd hurt you. what gnaws at you is that you are so small and your parents are your whole world and all you want is them to love you. so you justify it. you excuse you it, you ignore it, perhaps you even start to act out, so that the next time you're bruised and bloody you at least feel like you earned it (if you earn it then it's not their fault, then it's not because there's something wrong with them - a fact that if true is terrifying because there's nothing you can do about it - but with you, the one person you can control)

the pain isn't actually the problem. often, the pain is a relief

if it's something you can grow out of, that's a good thing. because it means their disdain and lack of care and the thought that you're not being loved right is something you can outgrow, something you can leave behind in childhood, and that's what you want

but the truth of it is that if your parents don't love you properly as a child, they won't love you properly as an adult

the reason people often think of it as something that can be outgrown is that they're desperate for it to be something they can outgrow

the reason parents physically harming their child is so damaging isn't because it causes them pain, although of course that's bad. it's because it breaks their heart

[genderqueerdykes]

the election results have me feeling really bummed out as a closeted/pre-everything transmasc person. i feel like im grieving a version of myself that will never get to exist because im too scared

hey it's okay to feel this way, i'm sorry you're so scared right now

something i'd like everyone to keep in mind is that it's literally impossible for trump to change everything overnight. i hate our government but it has to fight with itself in order to function. individual states in the country are proposing some very questionable and unsafe bills, but it's not a reason to give up hope. there will always be states in our country like California who have and maintain strong enough trans protection laws that people will still have somewhere to go

change when it comes to government is gradual. it doesn't happen over night. that's how transphobes and republicans want you to feeel. they want you to give up, to become defeated and to never, ever try to transition. youre not wrong for feeling bummed, but do not give up on your transition because of them. that's what they want. fight like hell for your future. fight like hell for your comfort and identity

if anything now is the best time to get started. trump literally cannot do anything until January. and even then that's the motion of attempting to put bills and laws into action. attempting. there's no guarantee anything will be passed. reminder that we lived thru 4 years of trump before and barely anything happened. republicans are not as scary as we think they are. trump is a fascist yes but he can only do so much when it comes to bickering with the rest of the government

government moves slowly. change happens gradually. if you need help relocating to a safer place, feel free to ask. pursue transition now if you have the ability to. don't let some fascists get into your head and make you think it will literally be impossible. i promise it won't. they want you to get scared and feel like they're so powerful you can't do anything. fortunately the're not. you don't have to give up on your future. you don't have to give up on transition

take care of yourself, okay? it's okay to feel bummed but don't let them get too deep into your head. thats exactly what they want. they want all the trannies to detransition, go back into the closet, or never transition. and it's okay if people do this. but this is what they want. im going to continue being shamelessly trans. im going to continue being a tranny who looks acts and sounds queer. i know not every queer can do this. i know not every trans preson has that luxury

if you genuinely can't medically or socially transition it's alright. a lot of people just can't. it genuinely is very unsafe for many people. but i just want to stress that things will not become 1000x worse over night. you still have a chance. and there are people fighting for your right to transition right now. we will continue to fight harder. defeat is not an option- we will not let it be.

good luck, i hope you're able to feel better soon. take care of youreslf, no matter what you choose it's okay. but remember that change happens gradually. we will adapt

[theninth09]

people dont actually believe that theo killed his sister, do they?

like okay. the entire pack and probably theo himself think that hes responsible for her death, but the pack hates him and doesnt trust him for valid reasons and theo is traumatized and holds guilt over her death so hes probably convinced himself that he did kill her. i just dont believe thats true.

in s5b when hes with stiles in the tunnels (i forgot why they're down there but whatever) and stiles tells him "oh yeah, the guy that killed his own sister when he was nine?" and theo argues back "yeah. i was nine. i had no idea what was going on." and that he also still believed santa exists so obviously he believed the dread doctors when they told him she wanted him to have his heart.

first of all: this is s5b. hes long dropped his act and he has no reason to lie in this moment. he knows that stiles wont fall for his lies and hes stopped lying and transitioned into threatening and intimidating anyway. theres no good reason for theo to lie to stiles here: theres no actual benefit that would come from that.

and his behavior points towards him telling the truth. instead of deflecting or making a joke, or any of the stuff he usually does to get his way, he starts explaining and defending himself. he seems almost agitated that stiles claims that he did kill tara and argues why he didnt.

and ofc stiles doesnt believe him and tells him "i think you pushed her. i think you liked it." which is, sorry, utter bullshit. i understand why stiles says this (yk. theo killed his bffie and all that) but i think stiles is purposely turning everything that he knows about theo into something evil. he doesnt want to believe that theo was a victim of his circumstances, because that would make him human, that would explain why he became the person that he is. its easier to fall back onto the "hes just purely evil" argument, because then he can hate theo for what he did.

stiles is smart. thats his whole thing. thats his whole thing with theo, that he was "smart enough not to trust him" as theo says to the sheriff in s6a. stiles knows that theo was a child, that its likely that theo got manipulated and groomed by the dread doctors. but, i think, he decides not to care about that, to ignore that. he hates theo and he wants to hate theo, but if he starts looking at the reasons for why he did what he did, he'll begin to understand him. and while he'll still never forgive theo, that will reduce this fury he has for him because, newsflash, theo was a CHILD.

people argue that tw doesnt show us enough of his back story to back this up and yeah, i kinda agree. we dont get enough of his story because teen wolf ALWAYS does this. with every character. they insinuate something, they start something interesting that could give their characters depth and then they abandon it and its like the characters just forget about it. all this show has is small details for fans to focus on if you want to analyze anything, because this show is objectively not good enough to actually do that.

+ theo is a side character. he wasnt even meant to stay as long as he did and cody did his best to work with the material. if your argument is that theres missing context and only vaguely shown stuff, im sorry but thats so stupid. thats not a good argument for in canon. "oh but we never see theo do this or that" HES A SIDE CHARACTER. he wasnt even supposed to come back! and tw is not a very good show! obviously they added more depth to his character in s6 because cody came back. like yeah theres stuff that doesnt make sense (like the show saying he didnt have a heart condition), because his back story got added as an afterthought in s6. you cant only look at s5 and judge his character based on that. his depth comes from s6 and its not the characters fault that the show has bad writing.

and if you simply dont like theo, cool. i dont like a bunch of characters in tw. but i find this argument that hes actually evil and deserved getting tortured and whatever exhausting and annoying.

if you dont have empathy for his character in s6 bc you just hate him, fine. i dont care. but if you're talking about this in a more analytical way? fuck off. he was a child, the show points towards him getting groomed and abused by the dread doctors and guess what? even during his villain arc, hes still a child. yes he should take responsibility for what he did, im not excusing any of that stuff. but theres reasons for why he did all that.

and again, dumb tv logic reasons, but most of the villains getting away unscathed, fucking peter hale and deucalion being allowed to just kinda wander around while theo is in an eternal time loop of torture? like this technically erases the packs rule of not killing because i dont think its weird for me to argue that getting non-stop tortured without the ability to die is objectively worse than actually dying. and yeah, tv logic, but if you think that (in canon, not just bc you personally dont like theo) he deserved that, idk. weird. very weird.

[poppy-metal]

Toxic!BalletAU!Jordan where your dance studio becomes you two's bubble.

On paper most rooms are free for all at all times but when you need some privacy you need to schedule and Jordan always needs some privacy especially since you two have been paired up for more than one performance together.

you two have been spending all your time together training and with Jordan always scheduling your time together in the evening your training has been long and tiresome often leading to the two of you exhausted on the floor.

With pauses here and there you test the water, sometimes your questions are met with dry, "shut up." Or "that's none of your buisness." But sometimes after a three hour session Jordan is exhausted enough to answer your questions.

It feels a bit like pillow talk, Jordan will be spread on the floor trying to rest for a few minutes while you'll be massaging your ankles and they'll huff before answering your questions.

You touch everything little by little, their power, if they were scared the first time they shifted, how their parents reacted or questions unrelated to that like how they came to want to become a dancer or what music they listen to.

You two feel it. Especially Jordan when the sun sets and it's been down for a few hours, the vibe has changed it's different and it's just the two of you. They'll still be banter and sarcasm but they'll be soft moments too where Jordan would check their notifications and messages before they turn around ready to start again when they see you napping on the floor and 'reluctantly' (that's what they convince themselves) let you sleep for a small 30 minutes before they gently nudge you with their foot to stand back up and go at it again.

I have so many more in store!

oh my god im melted ice cream on the floor

me when I wrote more than i expected to.

they really start showing their love language too ( i think they're heavy on physical touch and acts of service) to the point where they have this since of pride in their chest whenever you look to them expectantly, doe like eyes wide, and they present you with your protein bar. they ignore the warmth in their chest at how it feels to - to take care of you - feed you, watch you get replenished. and you start falling into this sense of comfort around them, even if there's still moments you genuinely don't know if they hate you or not, you couldn't do what you're doing with anyone else. something in you feels safe around them, despite the thorns threatening to prick you at every turn.

but it feels good to learn about them little by little. you try and be a positive person, maybe you try too hard but thats a discussion for another time, but you're suprised at the intensity of the dark emotions that come over you when you learn about their parents, the way they dont accept jordan - how they're basically the whole reason jordan doesn't shift in front of people here. it actually makes jordan laugh one day, a sharp sound - "shit - you look like a pissed off little rabbit. what, you gonna pout my parents to death?"

that leads to you huffing and shoving at their shoulders, and they actually nudge over a little, in their fem!form - and that's how it starts. a tussle, playfighting really - they just suddenly can't stop giggling at your attempts to be intimidating and you start off miffed but end up just doing it to hear them continue to laugh - because its such a beautiful sound. you think you could bottle it up. wear it around your neck forever.

eventually they pin you under them, panting a little, grinning and flushed - their longer hair fluttering in the space between you. and the giggles die down, their eyes go from mirth at your expense to something - something shockingly tender. it traps the air in your chest. you both have a moment of looking at eachothers lips, then your eyes, before they're leaning in, hungry and fast - and this is all so new - you've never been kissed by anyone - let alone a woman - and you find you're not afraid. far from it. your legs seem to spread natrually, wrapping around their slim waist, pulling them into you.

they kiss you so intensely, its ravenous really, a moan clawing its way from deep in their chest as they move to kiss along your neck - reach down and grip your thigh, yanking it higher around their hips so they can - can grind down. and you gasp at the friction of their cunt on yours - the tights you're both wearing thin enough you can feel the pressure as they drive their hips against you - mimicking - mimicking

"this is how i think about fucking you - " they say, biting at your earlobe, "all the damn time."

you whine, hands scrabbling at their back - "jordan." you gasp, "don't stop - please dont stop."

"fuuck." it comes out like a hiss, they're really rutting you into the floor now, you can feel the wetness of your cunt, of theirs, seeping together, mixing in the sheer fabric separating you both - "god, what're you doing to me." a hand sneaks up, wraps around your throat in an almost punishing manner, "haven't cum this way in ages - fuck - this little freshmen cunt -"

they're cut off, groaning, and your thighs squeeze around their hips, rocking your pelvis up to meet theirs and you hit that peak right after they do - eyes rolling back into your skull at how good it is.

they roll off you, staring up at the ceiling. a kind of dazed, content expression on their face.

and then you say, "that's never happened to me before."

its like a shudder comes down - reality crashing back. they suddenly remember you're a fucking - virgin. and they dont get attached. fuck. especially too people they're working closely with. that familiar panic, panic at this becoming - a thing. they sit up.

"yeah, well. now we can put this - whatever the fuck it was - sexual tension, i guess, behind us. no more missteps."

you feel your heart crack a little. "um, jordan?"

they glance at you as they get their things, and its like weeks of progress has melted away. they're already on their phone, fingers flying across the screen. they shift back into their masc!form, running a hand through their hair as they stop beside you.

they look down at you, something like pity in their eyes, and it makes you sick.

"look freshie." they sigh, "dont make it a thing, okay? we got caught up, we fucked around to let off some steam, this kinda shit happens all the time. bright and early tomorrow, I'll see you then. dont be fucking late."

you try not to cry as you pack your things - alone in the studio. funny how you thought just thirty minutes ago - that you felt safe with them. now you'd been pricked by the thornes, and fuck, if the wound didn't hurt.

outside, jordan kicks over a trashcan. probably way too aggressively. they run both hands through their hair, and actually debate going back inside. taking it all back. because that had been something raw, and real, and vulnerable. but they dont. not for the first time, they harden their heart towards you, and vow to not get close enough to the flame to let it burn them again.

[bibibbon]

Hi again! So when it comes to friendships in MHA, I tend to notice that most of Class 1-A antics usually centre around mineta and bakugo's behaviour to the class, (Violence and Seggsual Harassment) like they just react to it, but never bother correcting them (Mineta being an exception, but not enough to completely change him).

Like the whole class as whole feels... Empty and stale when it comes to forming new friendships, since they're already established ones, but we never get to see them hanging out with the others. And some of them have potentials like Momo and Deku due to their self esteem issues or Ojiro and Uraraka training together to perfect each other's martial arts.

There's a scene where Momo agrees to tutor the other failing students thats cute as heck and it showcases Momo's willingness to help them improve to become better heroes, and I want more of that.

But with the series ending, I don't think this is even possible to have more that, and it almost comes off as fake to the audience that these are found family, where in reality we barely see them acting as friends. (Teasing has a limit, and making fun of Kaminari's dumb moments when he overcharges his Quirk doesn't count.)

What do you think? Again I don't watch the series full episodes, but I get these impressions from watching cut out moments.

Welcome back anon! Iam guessing that you're the anon who asked for writing advice and honestly Iam hoping that you found the post and the reblogs with advice useful as well. Good luck on your first project and make sure to have fun and take your time with it!

Now getting on to the ask you're somewhat right. Class 1A doesn't have a strong found family dynamic at all and I chalk this up to two main reasons.

The lack of "filler" academic arcs meaning that we don't get a proper focus on what they do as regular teenagers.

There are too many people within class 1A. 20 characters are a lot of characters to develop and make sure that they're all unique with different dynamics.

Due to these two reasons hori's attempts at making 1A seem like a big found family that would do anything for eachother fails and it's also why the the whole "we are all the greatest hero" thing fails and why the vigilante izuku arc feels so underwhelming.

When it comes to class 1A's dynamic they somehow always try to incorporate bakugo into whatever they're doing and sometimes even make him the center of attention which personally seems very weird to me since if someone is being aggressive and doesn't want to join I (and most people) would probably leave them out and let them be by themselves.

Mineta on the other hand is someone that's behaviour (like bk) continually goes unchecked by both students and teachers until mina tortures him into stopping. I get that this is supposed to be a gag scene but it honestly irks me out and shows 1) how neglectful aizawa is as a teacher to see this and only momentarily stop mineta while not putting a permeant stop to it and 2) how dense and persistent mineta is. Throughout certain arcs like the campfire arc mineta is literally tied up when the boys are sleeping so he doesn't do anything to the girls or we literally have a panel of mina staying close by to shoji's side to avoid mineta and his creepy behaviour.

This brings up the question of why does no one complain? It's at this point become a problem for both the boys and girls who have to deal with mineta. The boys are continually on his side, basically man handling him to stop him from doing stupid disgusting stuff to the girls and the girls are in constant fear/irritation around mineta. Do they not trust UA? Do they not trust aizawa or any teacher to properly deal with the issue?

We have established friendships in 1A but the lack of content of them hanging out and enjoying eachother company. Now you can find this in side mangas or light novels but not many read that and it's better to have it in main manga in the first place. Usually the opening or endings of MHA show us some scenes of the kids hanging out together but it's not much at all.

I remember reading a post that horikoshi wanted to include a karaoke scene with 1A after they finished their final exam but that sadly didn't make it into the final cut and Iam so disappointed because things like that could of helped us see the cute class bond they had and the found family thing that horikoshi tries to use later on.

Honestly momo and izuku interacting and becoming besties is a need and I know that @sapphic-agent has tried to prioritise that in her rewrite which is why in the battle trials it's Izuku and momo together instead of izuku and ochako.

The kaminari teasing is something that's a bit meh to me. I wish we could maybe see a duality in it that yes his friends would tease him but they would also worry and care for him. We could of seen this with ojirou who lets denki play with his tail whenever but that's only small little moments.

Horikoshi please make class 1A interact more in the main manga although it's now too late to ask for such things 😭

[chaifootsteps]

idk i just feel like there's something particularly cruel about having a solid episode concept like "verosika hosts a fuck you party for blitz and everyone else he's fucked over," because its a great way to show a pattern of behavior in blitz and the effect he has on others he's been with and hurt!

then.. they put stolas there. stolas, "you have sex with me every month or your I.M.P is going under without my book you need, no exceptions until i legally gave you an asmodean crystal a year later, for your work", goetia, or whatever the fuck his last name is.

this episode is trying so hard to make stolas on equal levels to verosika and the other imps dumped by blitz, but if any of these hellborn actually knew how he got into a "relationship" with blitz to begin with, and how blitz never even had a choice in whether or not he wants to be with stolas, (even when they were kids!) i really doubt theyd want anything to do with him. stolas never explains that their relationship wasnt a relationship, just a transactional monthly hookup to literally keep blitz's business afloat. he doesn't, because he STILL doesn't fully understand what he did wrong, but understands it enough to know he had to be the one to break off the deal he made. i doubt he'll ever actually explain what the deal was to any outsiders who ask, because then stolas would be forced to actually be held accountable for his own actions, and we cant possibly have that! /sar

i think one of the worst lines from stolas in this episode, aside from most of them because i think hes annoying, was when blitz expressed he didnt know why anyone would care about him, stolas responds that this party, dedicated to blitz, because they hate him so much, shows how much they ""care."" and that might have some kind of point coming out of verosikas mouth- implying that these people genuinely cared for him at one point and he pushed them away- but absolutely not stolas's. so its no wonder that blitz responds by self deprecating himself, saying, "i dont even know why youd want to be with me." followed by stolas admitting that what he really wants is someone to care about him.

and honestly, thats another thing too. i cant believe that after everything, after everything stolas has claimed about wanting blitz because he loves and respects him, when blitz then asks WHY stolas wants him, stolas responds, "you know what i want? i want to know what its like to not be alone. i want to be someone's someone. i want someone to care about me." because it shouldve been his moment to explain to blitz what he sees in him, and why he fell in love with him to begin with the more they slept together. but it wasnt.

not only is it unbelievably selfish of stolas to make blitz go through all of this for almost a year, to not only have NO reason as to why he has/had feelings for blitz, (basically confirming to me that stolas never really cared about blitz or his feelings, still doesn't, and just needed to have an adult relationship someone who didn't outwardly hate his guts like stella did, because were 2 and a half fucking seasons into this show and still dont know why the love interest romantically wants the main character, and die hard viv stans still think the stoliz insta posts count as canon because they're on copium,) but to ignore the one good thing in his life that he insists that he genuinely loves, octavia, in favor of him acting as if he'll die alone completely if he doesn't have a partner..

y'know that one scene in adventure time where jake is like, "dude.. let's kill the horse."? thats how i feel towards stolas right now.

Let's kill the owl.

I'm so tired, Anon.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

HELLO!!! i have a request for a platonic Crowley and Aziraphale x fem!reader with she/they pronouns 😄 if you know Nimona, then thats what i want the reader to be like. theyre a spunky, immortal, young teenager anarchist who can shapeshift and has unnaturally coloured eyes and hair. one day they find the two (husbands), and kinda just stays, so Crowley and Aziraphale accept their fate!! i dont mind if you decide to include a smudge of angst (or a shit ton whatever you prefer, but im impartial to both, so do with that what you will,) because after the newest season, i cant get enough of it.

many thanks!!

Oh! I haven't seen the movie but I know about Nimona!

......

You met Aziraphale and Crowley in 537 AD, encountering them by pure chance.

At first you intimidate them as a dragon, thinking they were two hapless knights who lost their way back to their kingdom..

Until you saw Crowley's snake eyes, and you realize he's not human at all.

"You there...I like your eyes.....are you another shapeshifter?"

"...um..nope." The demon in black armor looks incredibly confused, especially at this dragon talking to him. "Don't know what gave you that idea.."

"Well technically he is." The white knight adds on, smiling nervously. "You see, my erm..."rival" here is something of a serpent who was sent to-"

"Shut it, Angel. This beast doesn't need our lifestory! Now if you could kindly excuse us, o' great dragon, we have to discuss-"

"Hate to break it to you, but....I'm not actually a dragon."

"Then what are you exactly? You...said something about "shapeshifting" before, didn't you?"

To answer Crowley's question, you transform into a young human clad in knight armor, taking off your helmet to reveal your unnaturally-colored eyes and hair, smiling. "Bingo."

The pair are quite impressed, so they have no reason to hide the fact they were an angel and demon.

You explained how you've had these shapeshifting powers for a long time, being on the run since everyone thinks you're a "cursed child" or some monster that was once banished, wanting nothing more than to drive a sword through your heart.

When it's clear that neither Aziraphale nor Crowley have any intentions of hurting you....that's when you decided to stick with them.

It took them 20 years to realize you never aged, learning you're an immortal being in a teenager's body.

Your powers allow you to keep up with the times, disguising yourself as animals, people...or even angels and demons if your heart so desired.

Sometimes you'll turn into a snake much like Crowley's own snake form (although your scales have the color of your hair, ofc, so you're not 100% identical).

You haven't mastered turning just your head into a snake, however.

In the modern era, you enjoy being a nightingale after learning they were both fond of those birds, often singing in the bookshop out of boredom.

Although Crowley's fully aware you're not a demon, you got a spunky and rebellious personality and love getting up to mischief.

And he 100% encourages this (while poor Aziraphale's practically begging you to stay out of trouble).

But you're definitely on the angel's side anytime he compliments Crowley, who just snarls and denies ever doing something "nice" or "good".

You don't believe he's all that evil for even a moment.

While you're aware that they have to act like they despise each other bc they're on opposite sides...in your eyes, they behave so much like an old married human couple.

Aziraphale emphasizing "our car" when talking about the Bentley made you roll your eyes and joke about when the wedding's gonna start.

When Aziraphale returns to Heaven without Crowley, you realize that maybe your "marriage jokes" went a bit too far...even though neither of them blame you for their falling out.

Still, you feel bad bc you can tell Crowley was genuinely in love with him.

You overheard everything, and after his "no nightingales" remark, you're reluctant to shapeshift into one again out of fear of upsetting him.

Yet he asks you, too, as he couldn't bear the silence in the bookshop anymore...and listening to any of Aziraphale's music records would've been too painful for him.

You obliged, staying perched on his shoulder as he stared out the window for hours...hoping that his angel would come back to him.

You hoped so, too, waiting everyday by his side...until the end of time if you had to.

[uluvjay]

from last 2 prompt 33 and 69 with mark estapa where him and reader have been arguing back and forth so it’s angsty with tensionnn

Mark Estapa x fem reader!

warnings?; Cursing, light arguing, small fist fight, party scene, underage drinking, frat house, yelling

i figured this meant list 2 so thats what i went with! hope you enjoyed anon

33. "your not going out dressed like that"

69. "if you interrupt me one more time-so help me god"

You and Mark had been arguing all day and it had been over the smallest things but it was enough to have both of you in pissy moods hours later. Everyone was currently getting ready to go to some frat party, Mark had been downstairs with the guys for a little now while you finished getting ready.

as you made it down the stairs mark turned around and the content look on his face was immediately replaced by a pissed off one.

"you're not going out like that" he told you while looking you up and down.

"um yes i am" you laughed at him, you knew your corset top would piss him off and that was your reason you decided to wear it but you had to act annoyed.

"No your not, your not wearing something that your tits ar-" he started but got cut off by Ethan

"Guys! we are going to be late so you can either stand here and yell at one another again, like you have been all day or get your asses out the door" he told both of you, giving you both a dad look.

"Dude! her boobs are almost out, I'm not trying to have some dude be weird towards her" Mark tried but all of the guys were over both of you at this point.

"You have ninety penalty minuets i think you can handle someone if they're weird to her, now get the fuck out of the house" Ethan said and you could hear the annoyance in his voice so you decided to be the bigger person and walk past Mark and out the front door.

-

Unlike himself to usually do Mark had left you early into the party and because of it you were throwing shot after shot back in the kitchen with some random girl. You felt like shit that your boyfriend was so upset with you that he wouldn't stay and party with you like he usually did, so you used vodka shots to cover the guilt.

"What's your reasoning for getting wasted?" she asked after you both finished your third shot.

"My boyfriend's mad at me and won't even hang out with me" you told her with a pitiful shrug.

"is that his jersey number?" she asked pointing to your neck where you had a '94' pendant necklace that mark had gotten you for your one year.

"yeah he plays hockey" you told her with a smile, you loved talking about Mark especially when drunk.

"ohh a hockey player, good luck with that" she laughed before telling you bye and leaving the kitchen.

you couldn't help but stand there in your thoughts for a moment, you knew Mark would never, he loved you and he showed you on a daily basis how much he loved you. He actually walked around with a shirt that said "i love my girlfriend" that he'd bought for himself and was extremely happy to show you when it came in the mail, but your alcohol influenced made you think he hated you in the moment

You looked all over the first floor of the house and didn't see him and right as you began to panic you saw a concerned Dylan walking towards you. "Y/n! you need to come outside right now" he told you grabbing your arm and pulling you with him. You had to have asked him a million questions but he ignored them all just pulling you to a growing crowd outside.

As you got to the front you seen Nolan, Jay, and Ethan all pulling Mark away from some dude that was holding a bleeding nose. "What the fuck happened Dylan!?" you asked the boy next to you.

"we were playing pong when that guy and his friend asked for a round against us and then the one that's bleeding asked mark that if they won could he get a night with you and told Mark how good he thought you look in that top and Mark just went crazy" he explained causing you to shake your head and make your way over to where the guys were calming Mark down.

Hearing footsteps approaching Mackie turned around and his face immediately dropped before he made his way to you, "No I'm sorry, i love you Y/n but i don't want him lashing out on you, he needs to calm down" he told you, not letting you any closer.

"Is that Y/n?" you heard your boyfriend ask and watched Mackie take a frustrated deep breath before telling him yes.

"Let her over here I'm fine and we need a second alone" you watched as all the boys looked at each other before Nolan gave the nod okay and everyone started walking away from Mark.

You made your way to him but he stopped you before you could throw your arms around him and ask if he was okay, "I'm upset with you right now" he told you.

"I know and I-" you started but he cut you off

"No let me talk and if you interrupt me one more time i-" but before he could finish you did interrupt him

"Mark just listen for one second"

"So help me god! Y/n I am trying to talk so just shut the fuck up for a damn minuet and let me get my words out" he exclaimed and for once you did listen.

He was waiting for a braty reply but didn't get one and as he looked down at you to begin talking he noticed the new look in your eyes and how you were rubbing your thighs together.

"Are you turned on right now?" he asked with a smirk on his face

you looked down at your feet before answering him, "A little, I'm drunk and then duker said you stood up for me and then putting me in my place kinda got me going" you shrugged.

He didn't reply you just felt him pull on your wrist and looked up to see that you were heading towards the back gate to get out of the yard.

"Where are we going?" you asked

"Home so i can fuck you and then when we wake up tomorrow we can talk about what happened today"

-

[syn4k]

I would like one of your finest themes and tropes please

okay we don't really have a favorite theme but there's a few of them that show up incredibly often in our writing. heres the ones that i can remember off of the top of my head:

people are not inherently cruel and unkind. at the core of humanity is the simple desire to know and be known, and it shines through in even the most twisted and fucked up of actions if you inspect it closely enough

no person is ever so "far gone" that they're undeserving of love. yes, even That person. this doesn't mean that you have to be the one to love them, however.

no love, however brief, is ever in vain unless you keep it hidden within yourself

those in power always have ulterior motives behind keeping and sharing it

love comes in all shapes, sizes, and expressions! it is not exclusive to romance!

rest is sacred

the act of creation is also sacred

the world is full of beauty and wonder at all times, you just have to know where to look for it

true strength lies in gentleness and there is gentleness in pure strength. its not all physical.

as for specific tropes, here's some that i go batshit insane for every time and wildly overuse in my own works (see if you spot any you recognize!)

a physically strong character who is pretty familiar with committing acts of violence being gentle in quieter moments, especially if that gentleness is physically expressed

relating to above, its really good when a character casually does some feat of strength without a second thought in defense of or with support for another character they're close with. i like it when that happens

when a character is likened to an animal or described as having animalistic traits, ESPECIALLY if that animal is a dog and ESPECIALLY if there's religious overtones or undertones mixed in. i will swallow that shit whole.

someone sustains a Very Worrying Injury and shrugs it off until the last minute because theyre used to being in pain and everyone else is like "dude what the fuck". not to out myself by going "mood" but mood

when a relationship between two people who were previously very close goes south for whatever reason and they try their best to be cold to each other but they still retain habits of taking care of each other. bonus points if their hearts arent really in it and the coldness is only circumstantial (i'm sure this one won't become relevant anytime soon. Coughs into elbow.)

when the one guy who usually keeps their chill amazingly well finally gets properly angry for whatever reason and its like, oh SHIT!!!! OH FUCK!!!! its like that one post about characters whose anger is quiet and cold and precise. its absolutely riveting. thats the good shit right there

character that has glasses slowly takes them off. not for dramatic effect but as a silent statement that they've seen enough

this isnt really a thing but it should be and im probably gonna include it sometime: character who has glasses recognizes that a fight is about to go down and quietly excuses themself to put contacts in so that they dont break their frames because that shit's prescription and it's EXPENSIVE. they don't normally wear contacts for [reason(s)] but some things are more important than personal comfort in the middle of a potentially disastrous fight. signed, a lifelong glasses wearer who cannot stand contacts for sensory reasons.

[thewertsearch]

That damn puppet is worth at least three giant spiders on the Homestuck Childhood Trauma scale.

The little coolkid is making a mess of his lovely new horseleather bib. It is about as adorable as it gets.

Guess Maplehoof really didn't go to waste. I wonder what sort of weird timeloop the bib will get caught in?

This race appears to be quite martially adept, even from early childhood. They must have proven to be very powerful Sgrub players. No wonder they managed to make so much money. You suddenly understand everything.

I'm loving Terezi's thought process, as she attempts to extrapolate from the crumbs of information she's getting. Her deductions are reasonable, considering how little she knows - but they're hilariously wrong.

I can relate, is what I'm saying.

"Soon."

Haven't seen those shades in a while. I'm pretty sure we're seeing their final moments, since that's John's package from Act 3.

GC: H3Y 34RTH BOY GC: W41T… GC: 1 JUST 4SSUM3D YOU W3R3 4 BOY GC: M4YB3 YOUR3 4 G1RL? [...] TG: yes im a girl

Take the bit far enough, and you never know what might happen.

GC: WH4T 1S YOUR SP3C13S C4LL3D TG: north american hollering phallus baboon [...] TG: when our territory is threatened thats when the indiscriminate fucking begins [...] TG: the glittering civilization before you was built on angry apefuck power alone

Well, not apefuck power alone, but you're honestly not too far off!

GC: H4H4H4 OK TH1S 1S NONS3NS3, YOU 4R3 4 JOK3R GC: L1K3 M3 >:]

You do happen to be talking to your kindred spirit among the humans. This is one of the rare time loops that works out well for every Player involved.

GC: TH1S F1RST 3NCOUNT3R 1S NOT GO1NG 4S W3LL 4S 1 HOP3D TG: oh man another failed trolling attempt TG: i had such high hopes trapezi it started out brilliantly

Trapezi, oh my god - that's almost as good as cruxploder. Dave clearly has a talent for this sort of thing.

GC: 4ND 1 4M NOT TROLL1NG YOU, 1 4M JUST TRY1NG TO G3T TO KNOW 4 L1TTL3 4BOUT YOU 4ND YOUR SP3C13S GC: 1 JUST D1SCOV3R3D 1T 4ND 1 4M CUR1OUS TG: excuse me but it says right in the header of this conversation that youre trolling me TG: persterchum always knows

Pesterchum can recognize a Trollian connection. It's likely the trolls are being pestered by the kids - although I'll hold onto the faint hope that they're being humaned.

[fictionfixations]

birthday bloom kalim

notice how much more azul speaks then kalim, cause azul's all flatter-y and like. the type to ig do ill deeds by walking circles around his prey and striking when they dont expect it (as in slipping in little things here and there that could make it harder to notice for example)

but kalims all honest and more to the point, so he doesnt need as many words to get there

oof

💀 kailm. sweetie...

admittedly i feel like his upbringing of basically being spoiled and kept as happy as can be from any stresses (as in yknow always being first in stuff and doing what he wants- remember that mention of kalim finding jamil during his break cause he asked the security guys to like idfk see th camera footage? or like. to find jamil. like. i mean. he was a kid but also that kind of screams of abuse of authority, but to be fair kalim was under the impression that jamil was his friend and would have no reason to think that jamil wouldnt want to play with him as much as kalim does. you see? because he's been able to see the world through sunshine and rainbows [in comparison to jamil being faced with the harsh reality and meant to be 'mature' enough to know what hes meant to do] it means he misses these cues, that he can be so oblivious to harmful intent. or like. being so positive that it could almost blind him? like

he wants to do his best to stay alive because. remember he mentioned that one time how 'what if [his poisoner i think] had a change of heart? it wouldnt mean anything if he was dead by then'. but thats under the assumption that theres. well. to put it bluntly, good in them and that they would act on it. i really dont know how to word it in a better way.

and. its not that its bad to view things in a hopeful way, its just that too much of it can be harmful.) only does him more harm

cause like. hows he gonna survive on his own? and i mean there might not be a situation like that. but like. by them raising him like that, it means that he doesn't know how to take care of himself.

and while he has servants and everything... im of the opinion that it would've been better to raise him self-sufficient. i mean spoil him as a kid ofc precious bby but also make it clear that he should also kinda be able to depend on himself too? like. like listen

make it clear that while he can trust other people, that they can also betray him. and i get that that creates trust issues, and also idk he probably already knows this in canon (its just that he wants to believe that they can change. and also because it just never occurred to him that jamil could turn on him since hes always been there)

cause. we know his other asim relatives have tried to hurt him. or well. maybe it was only mentioned in kalims' labwear vignette? i thinki it was that one.

so like. understanding that, and then giving him the skills to be able to manage on his own when needed to. not having to rely on other people all the time. cause i mean. well. this isn't the greatest lesson to teach but its like. the only one you can fully trust is yourself??

and i mean yeah he cares for himself (because so many bad things could happen if he died. or others could get hurt/punished because he died.) but it genuinely feels like hes only doing it for others and not for himself

maybe im puliing all of this out of my ass

but im STILL not over kalim talking about how frustrating/annoying it was to know that kalim only won because of jamil. that it was because jamil held back (also in relation to the truth of him always being chosen being broken, because it wasnt true at all. which i mean, if theres something that gets established in your head as what the truth is, finding that it isnt true at all is.. a lot. like. idk. that parents arent invincible, that they're human too.)

and then grim shoots him down with 'i didnt even get picked [to peform]! how do you think I feel?'

and kalim immediately apologizes. like

i swear this is like one of the only times i feel like kalims ever been outside of his happy 'im here for you if you need me' thing

or like one of the only times hes expressed his feelings (and probably knowing he's privileged, so not wanting to express his issues because he knows so many people have it worse than him ?)

and in all honesty. if he ever gets feelings talk about himself in book 4. i forgot a lot of it. and i think it mightve been partially because i knew the twist in advance so it just hurt me going through it knowing that they were wrong of who they suspected so. yeah.

uhmm. as you can see. i have a lot of thoughts about kalim. haha oops

[naisaspalace]

TAROT READING WHATS COMING NEW AFTER THE NEW MOON?

pick the pile that have your moon sign OR the pile the you felt attracted to

< take only what resonate > :)

1 - or water signs ( scorpio , cancer and pisces )

alright this will be i guess hard for me to say because i dont really think i will be able to give you good news but i will give the message that has shown up. you finally started to work but the money kept going away kept getting less and less for some reason and you end up having a bad judgment and decided to get involved with a man and that really destroyed you because you had imagined this dream where both of you could be enjoin a good life with comfort but he left you and that was the beginning of your downfall. right now i see that this situation impacted your work life and even tho you know what do to (like you know with what you can work to get you money) you're feeling sad and feeling suspicious of people around you and dont want to find the same type of man you also feel kinda scared of getting hurt by men again.i see that you will have to go thru other transformations until your mental health gets in a better place again and you will also eventually enjoy something even if you see such comforts as not what you desired on the first place i advice you to take care of your mental health and to be grateful and to not loose hope and to stay away from trying to have a relationship until your heart feels better again. good luck water signs.

2 - or earth signs (capricorn , taurus and virgo)

earth signs i see that you're trying to be alone and really enjoy yourself and start this new path but theres a problem you're not actually being "alone" or at least not working towards what you had plan you might think you're but is not the truth and i see that you're not looking after wealth in fact you have enough the problem is that you're looking to someone to enjoy such wealth and thats the damn problem i know that you're feeling very lonely right now and that youre feeling tempted to invite people to your new path or at least share with others but you're doing totally wrong because it need to be a secret and something that you are going to commit alone … the gold will keep coming regardless but you are actually bring misfortune by inviting people in. i see two paths either you actually commits and stay alone and achieve your spiritual goals or you go after people only to end up with more delay because you know that your heart is not ready yet your heart is right now with too much pain and trauma. good luck earth signs.

3 - or air signs ( libra, aquarius and gemini )

hi air signs i see that a lot of stuff is going on your life! lets unpack here i see that you were walking a business path alone and suddenly you met a person this person seemed to be a good person the perfect partner to your eyes but this person betrayed you or at least you interpret what this person did as a betrayal but both of you went on separated paths each with their part of the deal feeling like they're are now alone. currently you are desiring to be a king or at least enjoy a good amount of wealth but its not feeling like working at all or at least having motivation or courage to work you're dreaming about the riches of the world while having to feel betrayed and right now you're emotions are not well they're are very awful. i see that on the future you will encounter a few opportunities that will end up being good but you will feel tempted to choose a path where you will not work as hard and will end up loosing everything and the other path is where you first start to feel grateful for your current situation and then go to work even if youre not feeling like it and this path will reward your gold. good luck air signs :)

4 - or fire signs ( leo , aries and Sagittarius )

hii fire signs i see that something really bad happened to you recently that changed your life and made you loose your hope on your dreams luck feels like its acting against you and because of this now you're feeling without strength and has lost faith on justice i mean you feel like the justice did not helped you are all and you're wandering wheres justice now that i need it? well fire sign i have to tell you something you are the one whos going to have to do your own justice you're going to work extra hard to help the needy to help those who cannot afford nothing this is how you're going to balance your own luck and actually bring justice by helping others grow and build youre going to build your own fortune and luck and will be blessed and i know youre feeling too much emotional pain right now but right now is the perfect time to work again and win and to help those who cannot win alone win as well. good luck fire signs

for contact information click here. thank you.

i am also at twitter.

[hertwood]

"I do find it interesting that ppl will ignore the many many times Taylor Swift has publicly supported democrats just because she was friendly to her boyfriend's coworker's wife"

the "many many times" in question being an entirely self-serving activism kick in 2019 and 2020... she hasn't even spoken up about this year's (arguably more consequential) election Imao if normal ass people can cut off their own relatives for being bigoted then white woman of the year can certainly avoid snuggling with a loud and proud racist. i'll also remind you that the "political arguments" in question that occur between trumpies and normal people directly affect the lives and safety of millions of people both in the States and abroad but okay! sure! not everyone has enough empathy to care about that! whatever!

if you want to believe taylor swift is a bad person, or not progressive enough, or a performative activist thats fine!! you don't have to like her and you also don't need to justify it with any "good enough" reason!!! you can just hate the bitch you're allowed!!!

the point i was trying to make is it is weird as hell to be making polls and speculating if she's a republican when she's endorsed joe biden in 2020 and many other democrats since 2018, it really seems like a bad faith fucking conversation to me 🤷 i think the people who are having these discussions have already decided that she's a bad person and are discounting very significant data points to present their opinions like they're reality. if you think it was self-serving activism, that is actually just your opinion :) that you are allowed to have but that does not change the objective truth that she has never been vocally anything other but liberal in her political views.

i also think its fucking weird that people who hate her so much won't shut the fuck up about her TBH!!!!!!!

also acting like i, a disabled nonbinary dyke don't know how politics affect real people?????? bitch i'm one of them. and you're right, not everyone has enough empathy to care about everything wrong with the world all the time. not everyone has the capacity to argue with every bigot they meet 100% of the time without getting burnt the fuck out. it is not sustainable and also not very effective to do! most of these crazy assholes are not gonna have their minds changed with an argument. caring for vulnerable members of our communities is a far more valuable way to spend your energy. getting young leftist people registered to vote is gonna be a much more viable strategy for change than arguing with trumpies.

i have also, for the record, been kind to bigots. so fucking cancel me too i guess. i've said hey i'm not gonna start an argument bc my siblings deserve a christmas without all that. i've heard coworkers say bigoted things and said hey i'm exhausted from the work day i dont have a capacity to deal with this right now. and if you think i'm a bad person for that? dont worry you can unfollow me i will still sleep easy at night :)

i also think it's worth mentioning that taylor swift recently had to cancel a show bc of a real terrorist threat. i personally think it's very likely she's being advised not to say anything in order to not increase risk of another tragedy like the manchester ariana grande attack. if this is true and you still think that taylor swift prioritizing the safety of herself and her fans dying over speaking up politically, thats your right to think so!! but i don't expect my faves to be activists 24/7 personally, for any reason. i dont think thats fair to expect of people who aren't politicians.

but that's just me!!!

[coldresolve]

hi, anon who asked about your writing process here 👋

i have returned from the trenches (university tests) to ask some specific(ish) questions.

1. how do you choreograph fights? they're quite easy to follow along, exciting/unique, and still maintain a sense of realism, all of which i tend to struggle with.

2. how do you write renee's internal monologue, especially when it comes to his little panicked moments and varying pacing?

3. how do you build and release tension so effectively in the story itself? obsessed with the "Renee stops running" part

4. how do you switch perspectives fluidly?

ik it's a lot of questions, but this is the condensed version so i count it as a win (?)

my favourite way to procrastinate recently has been annotating mm and i just. need to understand how your writing brain works a little. thanks :)

obligatory 'writing is subjective so take what you find useful and discard the stuff doesnt apply to you' and 'im not an expert in anything, this is just the shit i try to keep in mind' and 'i may sound disjointed as hell cause its 4am 5am and i cant sleep' etc

under a cut for mercy reasons

writing fight scenes

things you need to set up for your readers: character drives and aim with the fight itself, the stakes of losing, and how it all ties in with your wider story

things for you to keep in mind: how much fighting experience your character have, how your character's state of mind affects their behavior, their relationship to violence and/or how far they're willing to go

subverting expectations will keep people on their toes. this can be as simple as changing the stakes of the fight midway through, or having a character do something that isn't typical for them (which you should set up before so it doesnt feel too out of place)

make each (or most) impact/s mean something. getting kicked in the side of the mid-thigh will make a character limp for a bit; a hard enough hit to the liver will make anyone crumple; etc. dont make your characters, no matter how badass theyre supposed to be, immune to this, since that would erase the stakes entirely

fights are usually chaotic and short-lived. depends on what genre you're writing, though

give your characters (short) moments to react to what their opponent is doing/trying to do. dialogue is cool, but keep it sparse. people generally don't prioritize clever quips when theyre beating the shit out of each other. sometimes a simple "motherfucker" is enough

im bad at this one but characters using their environment during fights is fucken nice and helps with immersion

fights are more or less just a string of reaction-action over and over, and it can get sort of repetitive going back and forth to describe every punch, since it removes your reader's ability to imagine or read between the lines. meanwhile, if you never go deeper than 'they exchanged blows', you lose all sense of atmosphere - it's not supposed to feel like a detached news report, you want your readers to be there. so writing fight scenes is basically a balancing act in detail - how much to show, how much to suggest. whats the right answer? there is none, sorry. no two authors will have the same approach, but both can pump out riveting shit with wildly different approaches. its something you learn over time. im personally in the lots-of-detail camp

people will tell you that sentence length matters, but thats bullshit imo, it's just about using flow effectively. a good example of what i mean: short sentences make the pace seem quicker, but run-on sentences in particular have this neat thing where they can make your readers almost out of breath by the end of it, which is also pretty useful when you're writing something high-tension.

there's tons more shit than this but my brain is a puddle of goo, so

renee's internal monologue

ayyy! internal monologue is your opportunity to shovel around the grey matter of your characters, its the Good Stuff imo. in the case of mm, the plot is largely driven by character development, so its been hella important to me to express why each character (except davin) does what they do, what thought process lead them to change their minds, and in renee's case - the flaws in his reasoning, the lies he tells himself, and how he reacts when those things no longer help him cope with what he's done

pacing is sth im insanely mindful of but unable to effectively put into words lmfao. if you mean renee's entire internal arc, it follows the narrative tension in the story; renee is the protagonist, he's the one driving the plot forward. as for pacing out any internal monologue itself, i try to have it follow somewhat of a 3 beat structure with setup/elaboration/conclusion (most of what i write happens in 3s), but some monologues have veered off if i felt like it was called for (it's a vibes thing). flow is important: one thought has to lead to the next, and it has to reach a "logical" conclusion (whatever the character decides is logical at that point of their arc). it has to be relevant to the plot obv, and the atmosphere also has to compliment the scene/chapter it exists in. otherwise, yeah, like. theres not much of a difference between pacing a normal scene and pacing an internal monologue

building and releasing tension

idk if you saw it but i made a whole post squeezing mm into a model for narrative tension here

so ok, listen. this is all wishy washy and means nothing, except it means everything. its the entire structure of your story which is pretty important, but like also its just a vibe thing. the reason you've heard about setup/payoff in writing advice circles is because of the build and release of tension. it's a pacing thing. if you set something up without having a payoff down the line, unless you're writing a mystery and your setup is a red herring, your readers are gonna come away disappointed. it's about what rhythm you've established and how an average person might expect it to continue. we're making music here. if you payoff something (payoff is a verb now) without having set it up previously, you've essentially just smashed all the piano keys in the middle of claire de lune with no warning. and you can do that, but you have to know that that's what you're doing, otherwise its gonna sound like you smashed all the keys solely to keep your audience on edge, even though it adds nothing to the song itself. this is all pacing. everything is pacing, including tension

building and releasing tension is about making music. you typically start out low and then you gradually turn it up. and you might have a moment where it gets a little low again but now the audience knows its been up there before so there's more intrigue, you've set an expectation. and then you build it and you take it a little further than the last time. you add harmonics maybe, if harmonics are your thing. you keep teasing the climax. that sounds like sex and to be fair music is kinda like sex. so is narrative tension. you add a funky little kazoo in there an the crowd definitely did not expect that, but if you've got a vision, you might just pull it off. it's about atmosphere. you're not just setting up for the grand finale, you're setting up a hundred tiny peaks along the way, meeting each as you go. it's like you're walking toward the harvest while hauling the plow behind you. (that made no sense. kinda like sex.*) (*= i'm ace). and then eventually, bam, cymbals and headbanging and shit. if you've done your due diligence in the gradual buildup, that release feels earned

switching perspective

i may be stupid and/or just kinda tired but i dont understand this question rn lmfao. ig i just treat it like i would going from any one scene to another

in conclusion

thank u for the questions. apologies for making it weird. in my defense, it is very difficult to explain pacing, and also its 5am now