#please be normal and reasonable about this also

[asexualbookbird]

Ah, I read some books in 2024, huh? And eight rereads? Who am I. Tried a lot of new things this year which yay! Go me! Branching out! Not all of those were successes, but I did it and therefore no one can criticise me. But we all know what's important here. So here you go, THE BEST AND WORST OF 2024 (in no particular order)!

THE BEST BOOKS OF 2024

The Adventure of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - yes, I am still thinking about this, thank you for asking! A full entire adult of a person, a mother even, going on adventures? Fighting and killing and fucking and living? Hell yeah! More of this, please! I would also love to see a prequel of Amina's adventures before the book timeline. Everything about this was so great, I look forward to rereading it.

The City We Became by NK Jemisin - I was wary about this because it was so polarizing to readers. On one hand, even my least favorite Jemisin was still fun, on the other hand, I know nothing about New York. HOWEVER. The audiobook was FABULOUS. I wholeheartedly believe the audio is why I enjoyed this so much. This was FUN this is what reading should feel like all the time.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb -FRIEND TO MY SOUL. Again, beautiful audio performance. Beautiful story. I need my own copy so I can reread this to my hearts content. It's cute, it deals with heavy topics, it's gay, it's the friend to my soul.

WORST BOOKS OF 2024

The Novice by Taran Matharu - Ugh. Bought when released, knowing nothing, which seems to be a Theme with books sitting on my shelf I end up not enjoying. Learning about the history of this book made me more angry than the book itself. What do you mean his entire series was bought and published without an editor? It shows, but. Come on. Wattpad born and it shows.

Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox- this was only for a summer reading bingo challenge, but come on. There are ways to pull the memory loss, or altered memory plot line and have it work. This did not do that. Wish a library would eat my memories of this book so I never had to think of it again.

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence - Mark Lawrence is one of those authors who writes long books because he thinks it makes him a Good Writer. Mark Lawrence is one of those writers who is afraid to write adult characters because he thinks they won't sell, but continuously puts them in adult situations to show how Hard their lives are and Isn't This Dark And Gritty And Sad without doing the work to actually get there. It toes the line between fantasy in scifi, but not well. It feels more indecisive than anything else.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace -more like fireBROKE MY HEART!!!! It was on my tbr list for years, and I finally found a copy and I'm glad I own it so I can reread it at my leisure. It's what Ready Player One could have been if it was actually good.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner - Okay honestly, this and City were fighting for a spot in the main top three. Either could be there. I do honorable mentions for this very reason. I was surprised to learn this was a tiktok book, because yknow. It's actually Good. Witcher vibes, but with more respect towards women. Why isn't book three in my possession right this second.

Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell - I Am Normal About This Book. It was fun to read and annotate it for a friend. It was fun to be around as two friends read it and I loved seeing their reactions to it. Loved cheering on Shesheshen, still think she deserves to eat more people. Friends and I will still share biting goop memes with the caption "Shex3 posting". It's safe to say this has rewritten my brain.

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward - I was hyped about this book before release. I bought book two before even reading this because I was that sure I'd enjoy it. What a fool. This did NOT have to be 800 pages. It was another example of someone writing many words because they think that's what Good Writers Do, and not stopping to think about what those words even SAY. Which, in this case, was ~Absolutely Nothing~

Ghost Station by SA Barnes - crying sobbing this book was so fucking stupid. Best thing to come out of it was seeing a friend read it and confirming that yes, it was That Fucking Stupid. Learning the author mainly writes YA Paranormal explained why everyone had Too Stupid To Live disease.

I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons by Peter S Beagle - Admittedly only here to make things even and because it's still pretty fresh in my mind. I was soooo excited when this was announced, and now I'm soooo happy I didn't preorder it. More boring than anything else, but I don't wish it was longer because it already felt Too Long.

Once again, ignored rereads because I feel like that's cheating somehow. Let these be for highlighting new and fun books I discovered! I feel like the last few Bricks I've read have been Very Bad so I hope a couple of the bricks I have planned for 2025 are actually good. Considering one of those is Labyrinth's Heart, I think we're okay.

[househrt]

Can I please hear your trans Wilson headcanons

YES literally always (and yes these may contradict each other but there are infinite universes full of an infinite number of trans Wilsons)

he didn't go to med school solely to get a gender neutral title, but it definitely helped him make the decision (because we know this man usually doesn't know what tf he wants in life)

maybe he also wanted to study medicine to stop him from being scared of T injections, because he started out on gel but it got too inconvenient to have to apply every day and he got too paranoid about making sure he didn't touch anyone before 6 hours (yes I'm projecting for the second half of that lol)

I'd need an entire fic to flesh out this idea more but there could be something interesting in Wilson feeling guilty for transitioning after he lost contact with Danny, because now he's worried that Danny might not recognise him if they crossed paths again (this genuinely puts off his medical transition for a While, but he eventually does it anyway)

when he met House, he introduced himself with his surname because he hadn't chosen a new first name yet, and House noticed (because of course he would) but he didn't say anything about it (yet)

he's still in the habit of pitching his voice lower even though he's been on testosterone for ages, which is why he sometimes gets that theatre kid line delivery accent

dysphoria is part of the reason he wears too-big clothes in later seasons, to hide what his brain keeps calling curves but is actually just normal weight gain for a dude his age

I love the messy path of him identifying as a lesbian pre-transition, then as a straight trans man, and then a trans man dealing with so much comphet because he's actually just gay

I like to think he learns about non-binary people in the later seasons and it resonates with him enough to add a they to his pronouns (he/they Wilson I am crushing you up and putting you in a jar to carry around with me)

or, trans Wilson who doesn't realise until he's in his 30s/40s and is disgusted (dysphoric) at the idea of being House's girlfriend, so he's convinced himself he's not into men, but then he transitions and realises being House's boyfriend solves all his problems (except not actually because this man has so many problems)

he feels guilty about transitioning after he becomes the head of oncology because he thinks it makes the hospital look good to have more women department heads (House and Cuddy independently think this is the stupidest thing he's ever said. House's main argument is that trans department heads earn way more diversity points)

he doesn't know if House knows he's trans or not, but he's still keeping it a secret so he can bring it up to win an argument or bet at some point

he used the equivalent of trans tape to bind all the time even though he's mildly allergic to the adhesive and it left him with scars from where it always blistered and tore his skin (no I'm not projecting shhhh)

I always think of @defibrillism when I think about this but transmasc Wilson/transmasc Amber is also very special to me and you should check out his transmasc Amber tag for that very good content if you vibe with it

[occultbooks]

Please tell me all your trans Wilson headcanons OP

oh my goodness is this.... an excuse to talk about trans wilson...? oh my goodness ok let me get my affairs in order, no pun intended. I dont know what you want specifically, but a lot of these are just thoughts about how the idea of wilson being trans ties into canon

I think being trans is where a lot of wilson's comphet comes from. not only will being with a woman make him look "normal," but also like a man, and by extension, he will be viewed as a "normal man"

he absolutely would have done the legit porn part of feral pleasures if he had had the equipment at the time. in fact, there are a lot of things he would have done if he were a cis man. but, c'est la vie

he's stealth, but told cuddy because they're besties and wilson felt like he could actually trust her, despite having known house for longer. house found out accidentally, but doesn't tell anyone because (his words) "I'm not a monster, jimmy"

he went off T in his 30s because he thought it would dampen his sex drive and save his marriage (it only worked for a little while). he didn't get back on T until around 2005, which is why he looks so twinkish and young in the first season.

he was in girl scouts as a kid. yes, this is me projecting.

house did his phalloplasty and wilson still does not know how he let that happen. both of them, however, are happy with the result.

before top surgery, he used to fall asleep with his binder on all the time. its a miracle his ribs are intact.

he gets dysphoric about random shit. his paranoid ass looks in the mirror and goes "do you think my teeth are too feminine?" and it gives house a headache

the mcgill sweater was absolutely his chest dysphoria sweater

he used to go on trans internet forums and soak up all the insane information about "how to pass," like shaving peach fuzz, or not eating chocolate because there's too much estrogen in it, or standing in a superhero pose, and he did it, even though he knew it wasn't scientifically sound. again, I am projecting

taub is the only other person who knows because wilson approached him about facial masculinization surgery. he opted not to get it because the way taub said "no offense, but why do you need that?" made him feel like it probably wasn't necessary

he shaves his face for professionalism reasons, but he's actually a very hairy man. being hairy is important to him, mostly because its another arbitrary thing that makes him a "normal man," but also because he knows that people (women and house) find it attractive.

his family is not super duper understanding, but they try their best. his mom beats herself up because she thinks he didn't have a strong enough female role model in his life. they're trying.

that's all I can think of right now. I hope this is sufficient :3

[yuri-is-online]

The sheer untapped angst of Jamil in the fyuuture au is haunting me so it's your problem now /hj. I'm trying so hard to be normal right now ugh take my thoughts please they need to get out of my skull so that I can articulate to others how much the fate of Jamil in the first timeline just haunts me. It's like a weeping angel I can't take my eyes off of it and the moment I do it just kills me to fathom the possibilities.

But god imagine being Jamil and you have someone who for the first time is solely on your side, no other reason than that they chose you because they like you and want to stand by your side. I imagine Jamil must have had reservations about potentially dragging yuu into the job of servitude but like hell that was gonna stop them. And then he's happy because he has an actual life outside of Kalim, they've matured over the years and Jamil has more freedom from him than he ever had. He once couldn't fathom condemning a child to share his last name but he is going to be a father and he's so excited.

Then it's just gone. Yuu isn't next to him when he wakes up one morning and the front door of the house is still open. It's a surprise he didn't wake up from the smell of the food burning in the kitchen but he can't think straight because something is so clearly horribly wrong. All of their things are where they left them, their phone is still on the kitchen counter and they didn't take their keys. Neither of them were working in the months leading up to the birth of the child, a gift from Kalim he hadn't refused. He's panicking and in his panic he does something he never would have fathomed himself doing, he reaches out to Kalim for a help.

By the time he gets a response it kills him. He will never know what happened to his spouse or child, Kalim will never get his message, the next time Kalim sees Jamil after the latter's baby shower and paternity leave, will be when his corpse is being dragged along by the sorcerer of the sands. It will ironically be, the last thing he sees.

There is a lot of tragedy in this ayuu, but with Jamil specifically it verges into horror in a way I didn't fully appreciate when I drafted it.

Jamil is essentially a feudal vassal who wishes for the freedom to be a normal member of society. He also, and this is so important to his character even though it often gets overlooked, wants his family to be respected. His parents, his sister, his first memory is them kneeling to a different set of parents and that kills him inside.

For you to come from a world where his situation is somewhat of a foreign concept and still choose him, choose to throw your support behind him because he is worth reforming the world for- it is everything to him. He got his happy ending through hard work and he deserves it, so why is it being taken from him? Why is Kalim's mess of a family taking from him again?

I don't think Jamil ever realizes it has nothing to do with him; the idea that he was collateral damage isn't really something that computes with how his life has been up until that point. The behavior of his phantom certainly doesn't help anyone realize that either, the way it hunts down the Al Asims and controls the people of his home you would assume that was all the corpse that birthed it wanted. That it would have been better off for everyone if there had been no baby shower planned, no paternity leave, no child to begin with. But that's not true. It was never about Jamil, he was just there and it was convenient to blame him for it.

Something that child will realize he has been doing too when he's forced to see just how happy his father really was, once upon a dream.

[littlefankingdom]

Kind of frustrating how many posts there are criticizing Bruce's parenting in Batgirl (2000), while Barbara is getting barely a slap on the wrist for her parenting.

The thing about Barbara and Bruce in Batgirl (2000) is that they both do something bad that is projecting yourself on your kid (no, Bruce doesn't see Cassandra as a weapon, stop saying that shit), however only Bruce is getting call out for this by y'all, and I think there's two reasons why:

Bruce is so easy to criticize. Everything he had ever done has been criticized to hell and back. Damn, he is criticized if he dares parent his kids and tells them no or something (literally read a fic where he was painted as the bad guy by the batfam, the writer and the reader for... saying no to another dog Damian decided to adopt without telling him) Somehow, he is always in the wrong with y'all. Even when he is nice or right it's "well, actually..."

The way Barbara is doing it is very normalized in western societies. Bruce isn't projecting something we are used to, he is projecting his crusade and how he dealt with his pain by kicking criminals' asses. Barbara is projecting ideas about womanhood and life that a lot of mothers do, but that doesn't mean it's not wrong.

"What is Barbara projecting on Cassandra?" Her sexuality and her interests. She wants Cassandra to go flirt and date boys, to dress more sexy, to love reading, even tho Cass doesn't want to. She forces Cassandra into situation she is very uncomfortable in (being viewed by men as sexy) because she enjoys it herself and misses it. There is NOTHING wrong with that last bit, but projecting it on Cass and ignoring it until Cass has a breakdown, that's not okay. (Cass keeps communicating she isn't comfortable in the bikini, and it's only when Cass runs away from the situation that Barbara accepts that Cass is uncomfortable) Cass tries to force herself to be more like Barbara to please Barbara, she puts on her suit and goes out, but she is so uncomfortable. Tim's comment about her body, and the heels, she can't. And then, there is the library scene, where Barbara yells and insults Cass for not knowing how to read. It is more difficult, as older as you get, to learn a new language. It is easier if you already speak multiple, but if you have never spoken ANY language before, and you just learned to understand one NOT EVEN A YEAR AGO, learning how to read is going to be hard. It is so ableist and unacceptable for Barbara to call Cass "stupid" for not knowing how to read. It doesn't matter if Cass hasn't been training enough, she literally should have helped and not let her do it alone (in the cases of children who, like Cass, didn't learn a language as a child because of their environment, they only improve with love and care in their teaching. If you give them a book and tell them to learn on their own, they will not succeed. Reading is a concept taught to you, not in you, and they need to learn it from another human.) And the reasons why Barbara gets so frustrated are just that, reasons, not excuses.

I'm going to be sincere, the reason why I'm criticizing Barbara is because I had a mother like this. I'm asexual and afab, and I was forced into uncomfortable situation because "girls are supposed to like flirting with boys". My mother got really frustrated after a couple of years because I never had a boyfriend, and that wasn't "normal". She would force me to see myself in a sexual way, to attract boys, because that's what "a normal teenage girl wants". And that was nightmarish for me. But also, my mother is a big reader, and I'm not for multiple reasons. My mother would often diminish my intellect because I don't read novels, and especially not as much, like her. Reading a lot was associated with intellect in our home, and it was extremely harmful to my self-esteem. They are different kind of intelligence, people aren't stupid if they don't read a lot. That's the classicism talking, because it was literally badly seen for working class folks to read not so long ago and so, only the rich did so only the rich were smart. And having an education, which I have, is not the same as being a reader.

This is also probably why I have seen queer afab folks identify with Cassandra, because we experienced the "you should be flirting with boys" pressure when you don't want to.

The other thing is that, not only is Barbara projecting herself on Cassandra, she is also living through her, which is bad. That's something you can hear a lot about for children stars, where their career and success is for mommy, who cannot be a star anymore. Barbara wants Cassandra to date boys and "have fun" because she thinks she can anymore because she's disabled.

And I'm sure a lot of y'all don't understand what is wrong with what Barbara is doing. But it is forcing amatonormativity and her sexuality on Cassandra, it is ableist, it is forcing Cassandra into uncomfortable situation because she would have enjoyed them. Cassandra doesn't want to wear a bikini, it's not ok for Barbara to force Cassandra to wear a bikini because SHE enjoys it.

In no way I'm trying to say that Barbara is a bad parent. What I'm saying is more that y'all are very hard on Bruce when both him and Barbara are doing the same thing. They both fuck up and learn to do better, because they love Cassandra. They are both wrong about Cassandra, but also right sometimes (example: Bruce is right about letting Cassandra fights because that's what she wants to do. Barbara is against it and she is shown she is wrong multiple times) Y'all are calling Bruce a bad parent to Cassandra in Batgirl (2000) and not Barbara because he's forcing on her his bad copying mechanism of sacrifcing your life to save others, and she is forcing on her amatonormative sexist and ableist norms of our western societies.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why do people struggle so much with understanding pacing?

Okay, let me talk about my pet peeve when it comes to writing in any medium. Pacing.

People, who know me for long, will know that this has been the thing I have been complaining about since I was like 12. And there is a good reason for it.

See, when I learned to write, there was this guy who I greatly admired as an author. And after bugging him for a while (look folks, the internet was a very different place from what it is now) he did give me some recommendations on books on writing. And a lot of them went deeply into his pet peeve, which - you guessed it - was pacing as well.

And thus, I learned early on about story structure, and pacing, and how to pace out a story in a way grips the audience. This material I read went onto different techniques for different mediums, into how different cultures had a different ways of dealing with this, and so on, and so forth.

Some of my main take aways were, that a lot of very long stories struggled massively with pacing, and that a ton of people also very miscalculated their ability to handle characters in terms of pacing - because characters and pacing are two things that are very, very heavily connected.

I also learned something else, though: That a lot of western writing advice did not understand anything about pacing outside of the idea that stories were supposed to have three acts - or maybe five - and ideally from a certain fateful day in the early 2000s on, would follow the "save the cat" formular. (Mind you, I do not hate "Save the Cat", however, this formular has been created for movies. It works at times somewhat well for books, too. But it definitely does not for for pretty much anything serialized, because that is not what it was developed for.)

And I also learned another thing: Most people do not understand pacing either, because pacing is not a thing that is ever taught in normal school (like most things that are about creative writing are not). So, while some people might have a gut feeling that the pacing of something might be off, they rarely can actually say why. And this is only worsened by the fact that today's tiktok addicted society is so used to consuming ultra condensed media, that they will perceive anything less condenses than 1 minute tiktok videos as "too slow and boring".

So, please allow me - the guy who kinda hyperfixated on this specific writing skill - to talk about pacing. And this will be in the following points:

What is pacing actually?

How do characters relate to pacing?

Pacing, Streaming and the supposed "filler episode".

Pacing and Fantasy

Pacing in Action vs anything else

Pacing in books vs visual media

What Is Pacing actually?

Okay, I think one of the main issues when it comes to understanding pacing is, that a lot of people see pacing on a on a spectrum that goes from "I am bored" to "I can't follow the plot anymore". But that actually does not always have to do with the pacing - obviously.

Technically pacing is the speed in which the plot moves. Or, to make it more quantifiable: "How many plot points (beats) are covered per either time (in any timed medium) or per page (in anything you read)". Which makes sense at the first glance - but does actually often not line up with the subjective perception of this. Becau se here is the thing: No, fight scenes are not automatically fast paces. A lot of modern action movies have super slow paced - in terms of story pacing - action scenes. Because yes, during those action sequences a lot of STUFF happens, but nothing of it actually is in any way related to the plot.

Look, I freaking adore the Fast & Furious movies. But you could literally edit those movies down to like 45 minutes each and not lose a single plot beat. But of course, nobody would watch those movies - because yes, me and everyone else who adored those movies, is there to watch them lunch cars into space and see stuff blow up. I don't much care about the characters or the plot.

This is by the way also the kinda point that me and other people talk about, when we are unimpressed by "oh, but sex scenes don't add anything to the plot", while the same people would often not make the same argument about action scenes - even though there is a ton of movies and shows where the action scenes really do not add anything to the plot. A lot of people just do not perceive action sequences as slow pacing, because even if nothing that happens on the screen actually adds anything to the plot or moves it forward, it is undeniable, that STUFF is happening. So basically monkey brain will go: "Hehe, things go boom!"

Don't get me wrong: there absolutely are stories in which the action is moving the plot. Mad Max Fury Road is a great example. The movie is also about 60% action - but the action scenes actually add to the plot.

Meanwhile nothing tells you as much about how unimportant some of the MCU action scenes are, than the fact, that they are often done by a completely different team and will be done apart from the rest of the movie.

But yes, traditionally the idea was, that towards the "finale" of a piece of media, a lot more plot beats would happen over a shorter amount of time. You will see that also in a lot of beat sheets. There are more beats that need to happen in the third act of a story - if we go by three act structure. And often there is actually even more plot developments, as usually in a finale all the "plotlines" will kinda finish up in the end. So even plotlines where not a lot has happened to this point - this shows especially in serialized works both in TV shows and stuff like manga or comics - the important plot points will then often happen close to the finale, because it feels more "right".

In older serialized media - especially TV shows prior to streaming - you also had the same thing hold true towards the finale of a "story arc". In a lot of older shows, you would usually see a structure that looked like this.

The "rise" here technically has less to do with more stuff happening in later arcs or seasons - and more with the threat-level rising, and the convulutedness of a story. lol

But yeah, the take-away from this part should be: No, action does not equal fast pacing. There can be action-heavy shows with super slow narrative pacing - but it will to many not feel this way, because at least action is interesting to watch. Which also might be an explanation to why people are a lot worse in seeing the issue with action-scenes that are not adding anything in visual media, but might actually notice it in written stories. Because in books action scenes do not feel "fast paced" in the same way they feel in movies, where the often faster editing and the amount of motion on screen will create this effect.

Oh, and on the other side: Of course there can be slow paced plots that will leave you having problems following. At times, because they are badly written (aka: the media does not give you all the information you need) - and at times, because a piece of media might expect you to know a certain bit of information that you do not know. I can definitely think of a variety of scifi media, that just expects you to know stuff about computer stuff or space, and will not explain it to you. Which might make you need longer time to take plot developments in, and then leaves you reeling.

Another thing however that is also important is: If the pacing stays actually the same throughout a piece of media - rather than accelarating towards the finale (or finales if there are multiple) - it actually will feel wrong in some way. Often people (even I, who hyperfixates on this specific thing) struggle to point at it at first. But yes, this very much is an issue that also can happen. You want the pacing to accelerate towards certain points in the plot - and then slow down. If you had an important point, you want a few slower scenes/episodes/chapters afterwards, to allow the audience to somewhat absorb all the new things you presented them with.

How do characters relate to pacing?

Alright, now we come to the dicey part - specifically, because a lot of people (which includes narratologists, creative writing professors, and people professionally writing) actually kinda do not fully agree on this. So, fair warning: This is how I think.

A character arc in many cases absolutely is a part of the plot. Most media we consume these days are character driven, so the characters are absolutely centrally connected to the plot and the plot mainly exists to have the character move from point A to point B. Or, to make it more basic: To have a character realize that their WANT is not their NEED.

Sure, those characters will usually also accomplish something plot-related. But them accomplishing them is more often than not heavily connected to them fulfilling their character arc. (Please note: characters having a want but having to realize a need is something that is core of western storytelling. However, given that it makes for interesting character arcs, a lot of Asian media these days also will use this as a central driver for character development.)

In some pieces of media, the character arcs are way more heavily tied into the beats of the main plot, than in other. In adventure, action, and related a lot of fantasy and scifi, there is most of the time a character arc happening parallel to the main plot beats. Meanwhile often enough in more down to earth drama and romance, plot beats and character development beats are heavily interwoven. This is not a hard and fast rule - there absolutely is fantasy where the character arc is the plot arc, just as there is romance where the development does not play as heavily into the main plot - but you can generally observe it.

However, no matter how strongly the character development beats line up with plot beats, you cannot deny one thing: character beats are beats that also add to the pacing - even if they technically do not move the main plot forward. So, for example, if you have an episode in a show or a chapter in a book, where important beats happens in terms of a characters development (for example: they realize something important about themselves), this does not necessarily slow the pacing down - even if no actual plot beats happen.

What the fuck is a plot beat? What is a character beat?

This part of the essay was originally not included, but the people reading over it said I should include this.

If we say, that Pacing is basically the description of "Plot Beats per Time" or rather "Plot Beats and/or Character Beats per Time", then we also need to say, what exactly a Plot Beat is. I will fully admit, that this is one of those things in which I forget that this is not a thing taught in school.

I mentioned "Save the Cat" before. "Save the Cat" is a book about writing movies and specifically about pacing out a movie in a way that it is captivating. It mainly focuses on action, but you can absolutely use it for most other genres. And this comes with a so called "beat sheet", a collection of the main story beats that happen, showing when they are going to happen. It looks like this:

Basically a Beat is a scene, in which the plot (or a character arc) is moved forward by a bit. Basically anything that reveals something to the main characters, anything where the basic assumptions about the plot change, anything like that.

Examples for Plot Beats would be:

Character learns about something going on

Characters find out something important about the plot

Someone (either protagonist or antagonist) gets killed or injured

Characters get a new power or item that is important to the plot

Romance goes forward or a reason for the romance to happen is found

Characters find a hint for something they want to reach

And examples of Character Beats would be:

Character learns something about themselves

Character makes a decision for themselves

Characters realizes feelings about something or someone

Character overcomes trauma

And mind you, because I cannot fit this anywhere else: If you read these you might realize, why Musicals are basically a cheat for very fast pacing. Because you can put an entire character arc into a 4 minute song. This is why musical animated shows like Steven Universe or My Little Pony managed to pull some insanely paced episodes, like the Empire City episodes for SU, and the episode in which the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their Cutie Marks. Musicals are insane when it comes to this.

And something that you have to realize: While for movies and books certain Beat Sheets (Save the Cat is not the only one) work rather well, those Beat Sheets usually do not work well for Shows. And currently we are living in a time, where this becomes very noticable - because a lot of modern shows are written and aired as basically 4-8 hour movies, using often just the "Save the Cat" beat sheet (if you have read Save the Cat, you will see it EVERYWHERE, because it is so frequently used in western media), but... obviously, Save the Cat is made for something that has 2 hours, and as such a lot of modern media feels strangely slow and stretched out.

Pacing, Streaming, and the supposed "filler episode"

(Yes, this needed to be the gif for this. Because no filler episode has lodged itself quite as strong into my brain as this one.)

So, let me talk about the issue in modern media. Because oh boy.

As I said: I hyperfixated on this specific writing skill forever - and as such I was annoyed by "filler episodes" in TV shows. To explain for the youngest people (not that I am assuming a lot of those are on this hellsite lol): "Filler" was the name given to material that did not move the plot forward at all. So a "filler episode" was an episode, that was just there to fill the episode slot for the week, while no plot was happening. I am not fully sure whether the term originated with anime - but at least back in the early 2000s, before Shonen-Anime were done as 12-26 seasons that then allowed the manga to get ahead in between, "filler" was also the name used for those story arcs that the anime people made up for shows like Naruto, One Piece or Dragonball, that were not in the manga - and hence obviously also never added to any overarching narrative.

And what can I say: We did not appreciate the filler episode enough. Because this related very much to the last part: While filler episodes did indeed not add to the plot and usually by definition did not the character development, they actually still added something often enough.

They allowed the audience to get to know the characters a bit better and get a better feeling for the character relationships - and those episodes take out a bit of speed, which is actually important.

As said before: The pacing should not be even throughout an entire piece of media. In a TV series after an episode that was especially tense and pushed the plot or characters forward a lot, there should be ideally at least one or two episodes that move forward slower or even not at all. This allows the viewer to sit with the new developments for a bit - and of course the characters to have a moment to breathe and process whatever happened to them.

There is also the fact that those episodes usually give the audience a better understanding for the characters - and if you have an audience who at this point ideally care about some the characters, this will even be more successful.

And as I said. Back in ye olden days, a lot of people - me included - complained so much about Filler. But we were wrong. Fillers are amazing, as long as they do not overtake the whole show.

Pacing and Fantasy

Okay, let's talk about a thing, that is somewhat funny. A lot of fantasy - specifically written fantasy media - often has a pacing problem. And this problem comes from the Worldbuilding. Others forms of fantasy media (other than games - though pacing in games is whole different matter) have this too at times, but it tends to be worst in books.

Basically, when you are a fantasy worldbuilder, you have this whole world. And this leaves you with two problems.

a) You are afraid that people will not be able to follow the plot if you not give them a lot of information about this world and how it differs from ours.

b) Well, you build this entire world. And the people should KNOW.

So, a lot of fantasy media basically regularly will stop to explain to the reader or audience, whatever is happening right now. Some writers manage somewhat naturally put this in. Maybe they have a character that does not know a lot about for example magic or dragons, and they can ask questions and act as an audience stand-in. But even in cases, where the worldbuilding is somewhat brought in naturally (which by far is not all of them - because people usually do not naturally talk about stuff they both know, or think a lot about something they find naturally) those "explanation" pieces will make the plot come to a screeching halt.

So, the more worldbuilding you explain, the slower your pacing is.

And of course, pacing is not a reliable thing to keep people reading, and pacing will not always turn people off. But you know how people complain about how slow Lord of the Rings is? This is because of course, every time that Tolkien describes a piece of landscape over multiple pages, there is no plot happening on those pages. And while I personally think some of those descriptions are darn stunning, it is one of those things many people will not like.

However, this makes it a bit complicated. Because yes, worldbuilding explanations will slow down the pacing to a degree that can be problematic. But if you explain too little worldbuilding, people might struggle to follow the story. Which again is the most common problem if the pacing is "too fast" as well. Basically, people do not properly follow the plot and will struggle to understand what is happening and why.

But the opposite is true as well. I have read way too many fantasy books, where after the first 100 pages, I know a lot about the city the plot is set in, or about the magic system, but sadly have so far not been privy to any information what the plot is about, what the characters try to archive, or even who actually the characters are. And that, yeah... Is probably the most common reason why I put aside a variety of fantasy books in the past.

Pacing in Action-media vs anything else

Okay, let me talk about one other thing. See, the word "pacing" is at times used in some other context: In visual media, pacing will be used for the editing of what we see. Basically the amount of cuts that happen within a scene. Or, in a comic, the distribution of panels is also seen as a pacing element.

And anyone who heard people complain about how at times confusing the editing in action movies is, you know that this at times can get too much.

Still, in visual media action scenes feel usually fast - because the characters are moving around rather fast. In a visual piece of media, action scenes are often thrilling, because the characters are in constant danger of dying, and because a lot of stuff is happening. This often works better in visual media, than in written pieces. While it absolutely is possible to write thrilling action scenes, a lot of writers struggle with this, because they tend to overdescribe and that takes the speed out of the prose. But generally speaking, a couple of punches thrown - something that in a movie takes about 10 seconds - will in book easily end up in 200-500 words, which you will not read quite as fast. A bit more about that later.

And then there is the issue with the action scenes, that even is true for visual medial, is that they often really do not have any important plotbeats. Sure, if the characters have their final battle, that is a plot point. But in a lot of action media - especially TV shows - there are a lot of scenes included that really do not add anything, but just are there because folks love watching action scenes.

This goes so far, that people will think a show or movie with a lot of action scene will just be seen as "good fast pacing", even though if the actual pacing in terms of plot beats being spaced out is rather bad. As a good example I will once more nod at the Fast & Furious and the Mission Impossible movies, that often have horrid pacing and very confusing plots - but they do not feel really like it, because the movies are like 60% action scenes, and hence they do not feel like it when you watch them.

It can work at times. I spoke about my love of the F&F movies. Can I tell you a lot of the characters? Nope, but the action scenes are fun to watch!

But this also tends to mean, that in a badly paced movie or show, that is badly paced because the action scenes not adding any plot beats, everything tends to fall apart when the action scenes do not work. And often enough action scenes will still be prioritized over everything else in many of those pieces of media, making things fall apart easily.

Pacing in books vs visual media

I have hinted at this now multiple times: Written media is generally a bit harder to pace than visual media, because of the things you can and cannot control. While a writer in a book has full control over the scenario, a director of a show or movie had actually influence the timeflow of the things happening on screen. As a writer meanwhile you absolutely have no influence on the speed in which your reader will read.

Sure, you can somewhat influence it. Shorter sentences are easier read. An general lower reading level will allow people to read quicker. So simpler words, shorter words, shorter sentences will make parts appear quicker. You can use this for example in action scenes to have a bit more of this breathless feeling that an action scene on screen might have. Use short sentences. Do not link sentences up. Quick hits. Quick impressions. It can work - but it needs some training. Not to say it is fucking hard.

Generally speaking to my experience when you write a single novel, the "Save the Cat" Beat Sheet actually works rather well, if you are the kind of writer who is fairly good at planning things out. If I actually try, I will usually manage to plan out a story and predict fairly well how many words a chapter will have. So yes, for books I can very much use "Save the Cat" and it will work.

However, some things simply work a lot better when you have visual parts going on - but there are other things you can do better when you do not have the visual stuff. For example: A writer can do much more when it comes to motivation and introspection of characters. Yes, this slows down the pacing - but it is something that writing has basically over any form of media that is not a musical. (In a Musical you can characters do introspection through songs. Musicals are the ultimate way of cheating. I love them!)

Something I feel so many writers struggle with in terms of books is actually putting in a clear goal for the character from the beginning. Again: I have put too many books aside where I reached page 100 and did not yet have any goal for the main character.

That goal you give them does not necessarily need to be their final goal. Again: A lot of western storytelling deals with the incongruent nature of a characters "needs" (aka something that would actually help them) with the character's "wants" (aka what they think they would need). But at the very least the plot needs something that it can head towards from the very beginning - a hook to capture the reader.

There might be readers that are absolutely fine with just reading an exercise in worldbuilding - but you cannot expect them to be.

[bogor-o]

Please share the rambles about how Lana eventually kills Ovidia? Pretty please?

ORGEHRTGRT i love that pretty please oerghag u got it lemme gather my garbled thoughts,,,

im super wishy-washy on whether i want that to commit to that being the end, but it certain is an end. Because theres a build up that leads into lana being ovidias end that i feel needs to be mentioned first

as i think more on ovidia as a person and their history, a lot of it shapes their perception on a perfect life including a "perfect" family and i think they end up subconsciously projecting a lot of it onto Lana and she does try to mold herself into this image of a perfect child for her Baba

but because ovidia isnt being truthful about even to themself about why they do what they "have to" whether its leading their followers the way they with a lot of manipulation and making them believe in this image of a perfect Mother and family that they've carefully curated, or even how they specifically talk to and treat their children and why there is almost a clear sense of favoritism that is kind of always there

this denial is also the reason their ascension is slow and unpleasant, because a process that would not normally take more than maybe a century or two to even begin is being stretched out because theyre actively fighting the crown against it. it isnt apart of their plan, of ovidias plan. so any changes that come from ascending are painful and slow and its entirely because ovidia is so deep in denial of their true self

they dont want to think theyre playing favorites, and its not obvious to anyone but Narinder at first that they view the kids very differently from each other and while hes tries to talk about it ovidia just has a way of icing him out because they just flat out will not admit it.

and this is the point i realized that there are two diverging paths for them, and if they accept and realize where it comes from and why theyre doing this they have the capacity to at least start to mend the damage theyve made which at that point wouldnt be until Lana is already an older child (like 10-12)

or they never address it and never change, they stagnate in their ability to ascend and unbeknownst to them, the crown had always taken a liking to Lana and her innate interest in death and murder, and naturally has been putting thoughts into that childs head for longer than ovidia would have guessed

(wip of something i might finish eventually but u kno, just 2 emphasize that lana adores the crown)

and it wouldnt be until lana is older, and is acknowledged by her baba to be a grown and capable person that its basically the final nail in the coffin. Lanas mental check list is finished for the developmental part of her own life, now all thats left is to become an usurper, just like their idol!

because shes always wanted to be just like Mother.

the method of murder would involve the years of honing in all the inherited abilities that come with being the kid of a god, but them still being a god it'd be hard wouldnt it? not if the crown is so willing to betray its master, and when its got a guaranteed new head to sit on its not that hard to imagine itd turn coat and reveal the secret to killing a god huh

[jazeswhbhaven]

Hey, I hope you don't mind if I ask for a headcanon? Could you do something for the kings (+Andraelphus [God, I hope I spelt that right] plus anyone else of your choosing if you want) where the MC finds a random angel child/baby left in hell to die or something (idk) and they are stubbornly saying that they need to keep it. Please and thank you!

Thank you for waiting anon! This would be interesting for MC to find a random angel baby because how were they even born? Is this...a possible trap? Well...let's see what everyone decides in the end.

Andrealphus: He was highly against it when he first saw MC with a child in their arms. He could tell right away this child was an angel, left for dead but he also didn't know what the purpose of this could be. Angels would in deed just leave their own behind, but to have a child in the first place? Where did they come from? MC then convinces Dre that this angel could be raised differently so that they don't grow up to be like the others up in Heaven. It does take Dre a lot of thinking, and he decides to come to compromise. He won't deal with the child until it starts to look like they may be dangerous to Hell.

Satan: As far as he was concerned, any angel left behind alive was meant to be dealt with. But at the same time, this angel is a child after all, and a very young one at that to where it's wings haven't even matured yet. He agrees to have MC keep them, as long as they are aware of the consequences and risks. This decision looks bad amongst a few nobles, Sitri being one of them...but Satan's word is final. He does help MC watch over the child, and with time everyone determines that with enough time in Hell, they were swayed over.

Mammon: Everything in Hell belongs to him, even angel infants that are abandoned and left behind. Normally though, what he would do is much more cruel than what MC had in mind. This time, MC convinces Mammon to keep the angel infant, but they are to stay in their own closed off area away from the majority of the palace being heavily monitored by the various smart ai bots built. MC does help the best they can, but it's hard work with the amount of clearances and precautions they have to make.

Beelzebub: It was horrifying trying to get him to not harm the angel. He literally had the poor thing dangled above his jaws about to swallow them whole. MC even tries to get the help of Bael to try and convince him not to follow through, and it deems tough. Eventually MC gives Beel an ultimatum, and it forces him to comply. So in the end, MC is now the caretaker of the child and Beel side eyes the child at every turn. He isn't afraid to come in and handle things if it goes south, and ultimately he forgets anyway and now it's Bael that has to make sure things don't go belly up. MC has it under control though.

Leviathan: His first words? Absolutely fucking not. He even cursed too. There was no way that he was going to save an angel that was left behind for any reason. Not after what he and others went through and the angel could potentially be an issue for Hell later. But at the same time, MC brings up that with Levi's guidance he could have the angel grow up to be an asset instead of an issue. He takes this into consideration and deems that the angel's training will be twice as difficult to really test their loyalty, but only when the angel is old enough. For now they are under MC's care.

Lucifer: He quietly takes in the child without MC having to say much of anything. Though, Paradise Lost doesn't seem to be the place for the infant. He instead entrusts the fallen angels of the Middle Realm to look over the infant. MC is able to visit them from time to time with permission to make sure the angel is doing okay. And so far, it seems everything is going well and there are no issues.

Belphegor: When asked, he didn't want to deal with it so rolled the dice to decide the angel child's fate. Despite of what MC was protesting and wanting from Belphie, the dice was the deciding factor. The angel child was going to stay in Nifelheim, but MC and Beleth were going to be the ones to look after them. MC agrees immediately and Beleth feels a certain way about it, but with time and dedication both determine that the angel child is not an immediate threat. Especially for Beleth who used to be a former angel. Again, Belphie can't be bothered with them because he simply chooses not to. Everything is up to MC at this point.

Asmodeus: An angel baby left behind from Heaven? How interesting. Well, since he and MC can't have children...he just sees this as he and MC adopting a child together no matter where they came from. He wants to see what happens when an angel gets raised from birth by a devil and a human...maybe they can change their mind so they aren't against devils when they're older. Or it could be a complete disaster and go wrong in every sense of the word. But he's just so curious, and he gets to play 'house' with MC. So far, everything is steady and smooth sailing. And may it stay that way....for MC's sake because otherwise Asmodeus has no problem getting rid of the child in any way he deems fit.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Major Blog Update: Inbox Cleared, Life Updates, a big thank you and More!

First of all the big one:

The deed is done...The Inbox is dead.

Long live the inbox.

To get a fresh start, I've deleted the current inbox of all my asks.

The inbox memes, the nightmares...they're finally over...

ANYWAYS, feel free to send in any request you may have as per usual, just figured I clear that damn thing finally out considering I've had asks that are three years old in there.

Right now I'm really getting into Honkai: Star Rail since Natlan kinda killed my enjoyment of Genshin, but those gals I will still love and write for (I mean, I'm sure as heck not changing the blog url) so don't feel discouraged if you came to this blog because of my Genshin content. And of course my other fandoms are still good to rock and roll!

One last thing before the cut:

I want to thank EVERY ONE of you for following this blog and sticking around with my goofy ah for so long.

I genuinely get excited to read any message or request you put under my posts or inbox, whether it be feedback or joking around! And I know we have the memes going on about me being drowned, please know I do genuinely take the time to look at every single one that comes in everyday, even if I didn't say anything or respond. And it means the world to me that ya'll like my writing enough to continue asking of me.

You all are the reason I even put the effort I do in this blog for so many years, from my newer followers to those who have followed me since my first blog. I could not ask for a better group than ya'll.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks, and let's have a great year together!

ANYWHO: For those who care enough, this is what's been going on with me for the last few months.

Work:

As for why I've been absent for a while: simply put because I work a retail job. Thankfully nothing too bad, it's just normal scheduling and it IS work I very much enjoy and get paid relatively well. My love for writing is still very strong as is my simping, so no worries, I don't plan on going anywhere.

I DO greatly apologize for making everyone wait for literally ANYTHING, doubly so if you had an ask I didn't get to yet. I wanted to honestly save everything into my drafts, but alas I could only choose some select ones.

You're more than welcome to send it back in, and since things have calmed down I SHOULD be getting to them a lot faster.

Genshin:

In regards to what I said earlier about Genshin: Natlan kind of killed any enjoyment I had playing, characters were REALLY unappealing to me, it made my friends stop playing so therefore I stopped as well as that was the major reason I still had it installed. I don't really plan on adding anyone from Natlan or anyone else from that game in the future, so apologies if you were looking forward to that from me specifically.

Star Rail has been filling the hole in my heart and honestly? I have a lot more writing freedom writing the gals from there, but again, don't feel afraid to send me any genshin request! I still simp for my Mondstadt women after all.

Other things I've been doing/Ideas for the blog:

I've also been playing games (and getting distracted) with my irl friends and trying to catch up on my hobbies to prevent myself from burning out, Minecraft has been a big thing lately for me again: specifically Pixelmon LMAO.

For 2025 though, I plan to at least post an imagine once a week starting next week since things are still settling down and I have to get my work schedule.

I might also start posting (Eventually) my personal writing projects here to get feedback and possibly go to AO3 to post my crossover series since Tumblr isn't really the place to be doing so (Chief among them my FE3H AU: House Isekai), or if demand is high enough I'll post it here.

Oh, and with this major update I have once again updated my banner, not that it's really important, just that I put a good amount of effort in it, more than you'd think for how simple it is. I also want to see if anyone even gets my reference LMAO

Once this post goes live, I plan to add a few new characters, starting with the Commander from Girls' Frontline but we'll see how it goes.

I think that's all I got for right now, so see ya soon guys!

- Chris

[sschizoid]

was wonderiiiiiiiing if you'd be up for any jimcurly hcs if they were in an au? I had so many idea and now that Im here Im blanking lmao- something fluffy please! Im dehydrated over here (there's so much toxic yaoi,- and don't get me wrong, im obsessed, but also- I want them to have some genuine moments yk TT_TT)

ohhh have I got LOTS of thoughts for you anon. wall of text inbound!

--

curly

curly has a naturally gentle, soft and nurturing personality. he's known jimmy for years, and despite his temperamental moments, he still welcomed him with open arms, even trusting him to live under his roof when he was down on his luck. simply put, curly loves jimmy, he always has. he just doesn't know where the line is drawn between them. but he's content with just being in the same room as him

curly's love language is acts of service, and preparing home-cooked meals is his favorite way to display that. he'll invite jimmy to a plate he's prepared, who he knows will most likely reject the offer, even though he's probably hungry, but he'll eventually cave in. he always does

they'll eat on the couch, their shoulders close together and knees idly knocking. curly will happily yap and get lost in a multitude of side tangents, while jimmy just listens, rarely chiming in. it used to drive curly crazy when he'd refuse to speak; he wanted to know what was going on in the other's mind so badly. but he's since accepted that that's just how he was. ever the observer, hardly the engager. and that was okay. he had enough thoughts to talk for the both of them

he often thinks about how jimmy was before everything, back when they were younger, before the world was big, and before his brain practically consumed him. it saddens him in the moment, but its fine, he doesn't dwell for too long. all jimmy needs is encouragement and love, and curly is happy to provide that. he would do anything for jimmy. and he wouldn't have it any other way

jimmy

jimmy wholeheartedly believes that he is incapable of loving or even caring about another human being, yet feels strange when in curly's company. he's always psyching himself out regarding this— his thoughts and senses aren't often reliable, his mind is always playing tricks on him, and he fucking hates labels. but curly? that motherfucker was an enigma

he'll never outright say it, but he enjoys when curly touches his hair or places a hand on his shoulder and gives it a quick squeeze. small notions that aren't overbearing, but still communicate "I'm in your corner". it's comforting, those touches that, if placed by anybody else, would probably irritate the fuck out of him. but coming from curly, they were bearable. more than that, they were welcome

one of the traits he likes about curly is that he doesn't helicopter. he knows how to speak jimmy's language, or at least, does his best, and jimmy likes that. but at the same time, curly doesn't enable. doesn't let him do stupid shit if he knows it'll be harmful or make him upset. and god fucking damn does it piss jimmy off in the moment, because who is he to criticize how he lives his life? but the morning after, he's more often than not begrudgingly appreciative that curly is stern enough to reel him in and keep him grounded. its a careful balance, one they've mastered well over the years

sometimes, and only sometimes, does jimmy think about holding him. when his brain is just a little bit calmer, often after a really good talk or meal. he usually lets those thoughts perish, but sometimes, he starts to fantasize. not even about sex, just about having a normal fucking domestic life. being in love, being loved, being intimate. he'll catch himself looking into curly's eyes and try to imagine some sort of future, one where he gets his shit together and learns to tolerate being alive. one where curly can say he's proud of him and have a reason to actually mean it. a nice house, a different city, maybe they'd even get a dog. the idea always feels like a far away pipe dream, but fuck if it isn't nice to think about, at least for a little while

--

WHEW sorry i got kinda carried away with this one, i just have so many feelings about them. also this is probably more of an, uh... melancholic fluff lol but I hope you like it anyway! ( ; w ; )

[danganronpa-obsession-hell]

The double standard of Sayaka Maizono

Hi! It's been a long while since I've posted here, but I spent Christmas writing this 4 page tangent on this whole ass feeling I have about a Danganronpa character.

Please enjoy.

WARNING FOR MAJOR DRV3 SPOILERS NEAR THE END USED AS A COMPARISON, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PARTS OF THH AND MENTION OF SUICIDE

Why is Sayaka dictated to be a lying, cheating snake to most of the western Danganronpa audience?

You could say that this is because her plan was to frame Makoto for the murder of Leon, in which yes this is true, and yes, she deserves some criticism for that. BUT, there’s a few points here I’d like to argue in defense of Sayaka.

I’d like to state that Sayaka isn’t even one of my favorites. I like her, but she’s not one of my all-time favs. I have little bias for her. So, this isn’t some kind of hate speech about one of my favorites getting mischaracterized, I just think people should remember these things about Sayaka and a few other characters.

First of all, what was Sayaka’s plan?

Well, she traded rooms with Makoto in secret to the other students in order to murder Leon in Makoto’s room, framing him in order to graduate and leave the killing game. Well, this might be slightly untrue.

Indeed, she did make this plan, but we are forgetting the fact that the presence of the class trial is something that was only announced after Sayaka’s murder, which means she could’ve thought of this situation entirely differently. In her mind, most likely she’d murder Leon, everyone would think Makoto did it, and then she’d be free to go back to her idol group. To her, there would be no lying during a trial and having to face those she lied to and betrayed, they’d be a distant thought left behind as she goes back to her normal life.

Of course, things didn’t go this way, but I’d like to give Sayaka the benefit of the doubt as Makoto does for several other characters.

There’s also the debate of what Kyoko said during the final bits of chapter 1, about Sayaka leaving Leon’s name on the wall in order to ensure Makoto would live. There’s the debate of if she left it so Makoto could save himself, or if this was simply to get back at Leon for, yknow, murdering her. And yes, this could go either way, it’s left up to what the player thinks, but what I do know is that Sayaka seems to care for Makoto a great deal. Remembering him from middle school, the interactions they had in the Danganronpa 3 anime Despair Arc, hell, Sayaka’s free time events make it so obvious she cares for him in a lot of ways.

It’s all up to the player to decide if Sayaka is innocent or not, but saying she never cared for Makoto is what is hard to believe to me.

What is the double standard against Sayaka?

I have reason to believe the fandom is unjustly biased against Sayaka for a few others of its characters, specifically Aoi and Kyoko. Let’s go chronologically, and begin with Aoi

Aoi’s betrayal

In chapter 4, Sakura, Aoi’s best friend in the killing game, commits suicide in order to sacrifice herself and make up to the other students for being the traitor. Because of false evidence planted by Monokuma, Aoi believes Sakura killed herself because the others hated her as a consequence for her betrayal.

Because of this, Aoi plans to frame herself as the killer of Sakura to get herself and the rest of the students killed by way of a wrong guess and execution.

You can already see similarities here, but instead Aoi is aiming to kill everyone including herself on purpose as a way to “die for their sins.” And obviously, she has her reasons to believe this. She’s a very “grab a bull by the horns,” kind of person. She was also very emotional as of just losing her best friend right in front of her.

My argument is, why does Sayaka not get this kind of sympathy?

In Sayaka’s free time events, she mentioned she had to do a lot of unpleasant things to get where she is as an idol, and although we do not hear of these things, it’s left to the imagination, especially because an idol career in Japan is notably hard on younger girls in showbiz.

Both cases, emotions were running high. Sayaka losing everything she worked for in an instant if she doesn't kill someone, and Aoi just losing her best friend right in front of her eyes. So why is Aoi forgiven, and Sayaka not?

In fact I never hear anyone bring up Aoi’s attempted betrayal in chapter 4, almost as if it never happened. Yet Sayaka is treated so much differently when these betrayals are incredibly similar. Hell, you could even claim Sayaka didn’t know anyone but Leon would die for her crime. (In danganronpa the stage play Leon was also acting real creepy towards her so, can you blame a girl for going after the easiest dude like Leon or Hifumi) But Aoi was prepared to let everyone die for a lie, albeit she did not know it was a lie, but the problem still is evident. She was forgiven a lot easier than Sayaka when she had the experience of 4 class trials at this point, fully knowing the consequences of her actions.

All of this could be forgiven, because both are technically Monokuma's fault. And I would forgive it if it was only Sayaka and Aoi. But it’s not.

Kyoko’s betrayal

In chapter 5, Kyoko is framed by the mastermind for a false murder in order to stop her from coming too close to the truth and destroying the killing game. Kyoko claims herself that if she dies, the mystery of the school would never be solved. And yeah, that’s a pretty good reason for not wanting to die. Until Makoto gets framed instead.

The entire ladder half of the trial, Kyoko is actively framing Makoto because there is no other option. Sacrificing him, to keep herself alive. Sound familiar?

You could say a lot more is at stake this time, and also Makoto did end up getting out alive, but Kyoko had absolutely no idea that Alter Ego would save Makoto when he did. Kyoko was fully willing to let Makoto die a bullshit death so she could solve the mystery of Hope’s Peak and the killing game.

Obviously, I do think she feels guilt for this, but again it’s almost as if it never even happened in terms of how often it’s talked about.

There’s also the question of if Makoto did end up dead, where would Kyoko go from there? He was the only one she trusted and told everything she knew to, and if things went wrong that would be it. Byakuya and her butt heads in every trial, Hiro and Toko are both idiots, Hina is entirely too gullible and trusting. There’s no one left to put her trust into as fully as she did to Makoto.

Again, framing someone in order for a selfish goal and not seeing the consequences, these three instances share that one linking factoid.

But while Sayaka is demonized and called a lying snake, Kyoko and Aoi are fan favorites who get a lot of love from fans.

Why are they different?

V3 SPOILERS AHEAD FOR COMPARISON

I think it’s all about screen time. Sayaka was the first murder of the entire series, obviously she’s nowhere near developed as someone like Kyoko, Toko or even Rantaro from V3 as he becomes plot relevant later in the game after his murder. Sayaka does have somewhat the same effect on Makoto that Kaede does on Shuichi, a lingering first death that dwells on the male protagonist as they potentially loved this girl.

There’s also the fact that not everyone in the first Danganronpa game was created equal, as Sayaka and Leon do not have the full 6 part free time events later characters get in subsequent games. (Leon gets 3, Sayaka gets 2, other characters suffer from this such as Mukuro, Taka, and Mondo) This leaves a lot of Sayaka blank, to fill in if you will, and why I think she’s overlooked in general.

There’s one last thing I’d like to say in defense of Sayaka and even Aoi and Kyoko. They’re teenagers.

The class Makoto is in, is first years, they’re basically teenagers still with these incredibly gifted talents being forced to murder each other for their freedom, dumb decisions are evident in this situation. The pressure, the stress, the fear, all of it twisted up can cause anyone to make decisions they normally wouldn’t. And I think that goes a long way for someone like Sayaka. Who worked for her talent endlessly and it obviously means the world to her if she’s willing to murder a stranger/friend to continue it.

In the end, Sayaka made mistakes, she should be held accountable, but she’s not an evil snake who used Makoto as she saw fit. Everyone in Danganronpa should be held accountable accordingly for their crimes, but obviously Sayaka is not as evil as say Celeste, Korekiyo, Mikan, or hell even Junko. Honestly, she was just a teenager in a desperate situation, it’s like cornering a rat, something is bound to happen.

Thank you for coming to my stupidly long ted talk.

[reidsbabyhoney]

the move in | hozier

roommates (i)

the one where you’re meeting you’re new roommate for the first time

pairing: hozier x fem!reader category: fluff cw: this is not my best work, please forgive me the original was so much better. promise, promise the next chapters will make up for this!! wc: 1.7k a/n: this is much shorter than planned. mainly just an introduction to the story and a bit of background. future chapters will be longer and add more to the plot. also this entire story is basically a self-insert oc, if that makes any sense. it is not very vague when it comes to backstory or personality, but really what fun would reading fanfiction be if you couldn't pretend to be someone else?

series masterlist hozier masterlist

There was a common theme with the thoughts currently rushing through your mind: dread. And it's been all you’ve felt for the past week.

Though you were already in your third year of university, the unease of this year's living situation began creeping up.

For the first two years of university your roommate, Sienna, was one of your closest friends. But at the end of last semester, she decided that university was no longer for her and she would drop out. Though you would remain friends, not having her as your anchor who was literally only a shout away created an unwanted storm in your mind.

Obviously, you were supportive of her decision. You had no reason not to be when she wanted to create her own business and was more than prepared for every possible thing the world could throw at her. Sienna was also very impatient, so she decided she didn’t need the final two years of, “Unnecessary professors telling me things I already know,” as she liked to remind you.

Since she had dropped out, you didn't have anyone to room with this year. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. Most students would just decide to get an apartment off campus and commute to class when necessary. But the scholarship you were on required you to have on-campus housing, how great.

Not wanting to go through the trouble of finding a new roommate, you signed up for the school's anonymous roommate program and hoped for the best.

Though it's not exactly the school that pairs you, more so a random website that seems more like a dating app than anything. After fifteen minutes of answering an intruding questionnaire to match you with the absolute best option for a roommate, you were paired with someone named Andy.

When you received the email about who the website paired you with, you nearly stopped breathing. Andy was short for Andrew apparently. For the entirety of your third year in university, you would be living with a man.

According to his profile, his hobbies were literature and music. He also happened to be very, very cute.

Out of pure anxiety, you haven’t opened the message he sent you once you two were paired together. You assumed it was him attempting to get to know you better before you were due to move in, and that message was sent a week ago.

You knew yourself well enough to know that you were a hopeless romantic at heart. You were practically raised on romance, both in movies and in literature. You knew if you answered his message your mind would run wild with scenarios between you and him, even though you had yet to interact. That’s just how you worked. So you refrained from talking to him until you could do it in person and find one of his flaws to turn you off from him if that was even possible.

The only good thing that’s come out of this entire thing so far is that instead of sharing a small room with your new roommate, the school assigned you to one of the student flats. This means you had an entire house to yourself. Well yourself and Andrew.

After a week of anxiety being the only emotion you knew, today was the day you were set to move in. Being an international student you didn’t have any family to help you, so you’ve dragged Sienna back to school for a day to help you get settled.

“I didn’t think someone could hide this many pots and pans under their bed for an entire year at uni,” Sienna says with a huff as she breaks down the final box that contained your kitchen supplies.

You chuckle at her words and playfully roll your eyes as you reach up to place a cup into the cupboard.

“Don’t be so dramatic, I barely went shopping for most of this stuff in February, most of them lived at your family’s house. I only had a few in our old flat anyway.”

“Why do you need so many kitchen supplies anyway, trying to get into this man’s pants by cooking or something?” she asks with a raise of her brows, already knowing you found your new roommate to be “blessed by the gods” as you’ve mentioned.

Your eyes widen as the words leave her mouth, moving to smack her arm with the kitchen towel you had in your hand.

“You can’t say stuff like that. What if he just walks in and hears you say I’m trying to sleep with him by cooking for him?”

Sienna's eyes only widened at your response, looking past you as if something had caught her eye.

But it couldn’t be what you thought, right? There’s no way you were that unlucky. There's no way the first introduction to your new roommate was you saying you had ulterior motives and wanted to get into his bed. Right?

As someone clears their throat in the hall next to the kitchen, you knew you were wrong. So utterly and embarrassingly incorrect.

“Well at least he’ll have someone cooking for him, better than what I did for him.”

It’s the voice of a man that breaks the tension in the room. As you turn around you’re met with someone that is not Andrew. And you accidently voice that.

“Disappointed?”

My cheeks heat at the playful jab, “I-sorry that was rude. I’m Y/N and this is Sienna, my best friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Alex. Here to help Andy move in.” He says, offering you a hand to shake.

You take his hands and are about to open your mouth when the door swings open and you see the man who has been occupying your thoughts for the past week.

See, haven’t even met him yet and you’re already creating stories in your head.

“Alex, what’re you doing? You’re meant to be helping me, not flirting.”

His voice meets your ears like honey dripping on toast, smooth, sweet, and completely addictive.

Once you look to Alex’s left you’re met with possibly the most beautiful man you’ve seen in your life.

He was wearing a loose fitting pair of jeans and a white button up that strained against his arms with the box that he held in them.

If you weren’t already completely embarrassed, you’re sure you would be drooling at how good this man looked.

Once again it’s Alex that breaks you out of your thoughts, “Not sure I was the one doing the flirting,” he says, giving you a look with raised eyebrows.

Great, this isn’t going to be forgotten about any time soon like you might’ve hoped.

Before Andrew can ask any questions you quickly speak up.

“I’m Y/N and this is Sienna, it’s really great to meet you. We’ve just finished unpacking my stuff in here so we’ll be in my room if you need anything!”

With that you grab Sienna and practically drag her to your room and slam your door shut.

Once you're in the comfort of your room, she can’t help but let out a loud laugh. Basically folding in on herself as she cackles at your embarrassment.

“Oh, I had no idea you could embarrass yourself that bad when meeting a cute guy, babe.”

“Please don’t make it worse. I don’t know how I'm meant to live with him,” You say with a huff.

Walking to your bed, you throw yourself down face first. Allowing yourself to wallow in self pity for a few minutes before Sienna inevitably drags you back out to the living room to get to know your beautiful new roommate.

“You sure you don’t want to re-enroll so we can live together again,” your words come out a bit muffled but Sienna can understand you enough. Enough for her to throw a pillow at your head and force you to sit up.

“Okay stop. You will be fine, there’s no need to be dramatic. You didn’t embarrass yourself to the point of death, now go out there and get to know him before I start sharing stories about you myself.”

As she speaks, she drags you out of bed and into the hall that leads to the living room. Surprisingly, the guys seemed to have unpacked fairly quickly and were sitting on the couch finding something to watch.

Alex is the first to see the two of you walk out of the hall and he gets up. Patting his legs, he stands up and stretches.

“Okay well, time for me to go. Don’t have too much fun without me.”

Alex waves bye to the three of you and quickly leaves, signifying his absence with the harsh shut of the front door.

“So, Alex told me all about this villainous plan of yours,” Andrew breaks the silence between the three of you and you’re reminded of why you didn’t want to be out here in the first place.

“I-See I didn’t mean it in the way he probably heard. I have no intention of cooking for you to get into your bed,” you say quickly walking closer to the couch as the words frantically leave your mouth.

“Well, I can’t say I would be opposed to the idea.”

Before he even finished his sentence your eyes are widening and you’re turning to look back at Sienna who’s giving you the same expression.

Did he really just say that?

“Wait, I-No. I didn’t mean I want you to sleep with me. I meant, no that sounds wrong. You’re beautiful really, but I don’t expect-”

His words are cut off by sharp laughter that leaves the two of you at his rambling.

Looking up at his face, you see the deep red that coats his cheeks and runs down his neck.

Rubbing the nape of his neck, he clears his throat before speaking, “What I meant is, I wouldn’t mind you cooking, if you ever wanted to of course. I wouldn’t force you to do any of that. I mean we’ve barely met.”

Looking up he sees the small smile you have on your face and covers his with his hands, “I’m truly sorry.”

“No,” you let out another small laugh at that, “we can call it even now.”

You were truly fucked, and once you met Sienna’s eyes your thoughts were solidified. There was no way you were going to survive this year without falling in love with your new roommate.

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[the-anon-scp-confessions]

Dr Glass represents the Death card on the Major Arcana Deck and I will be elaborating further.

(Note this started as a joke about how he dies in practically every story he features but evolved into something serious)

Warning: I’m not a tarot expert this is my interpretation of the death card please correct me if I’m wrong. Also big rant incoming.

Basically the death card represents change. A positive one when upright, and when reversed it’s still a positive change it’s just one you’ve been resisting.

For the most part Dr Glass is a force of positive change for the people and environment around him. He actively advocates for the people and anomaly’s he works with.

Also the death card is a change not even royalties can stop. If we depict the higher ups and o5 as the royalty than he is a force that the o5 can’t stop which provides a damn good in universe reason for the o5 being afraid of him other than “he has ties to the hand and insurgency”, and “we don’t need more softness in the foundation”.

This also ties into he’s second biggest personality trait. Determination and persistence. This is a man who can’t be stopped especially when it comes to helping others(like his patients). But also when it comes to his own gain. He is very very persistent about asking out Agent Diogenes lol.

These also the thing about how “the younger generations are going to fix the older generation’s mistakes”. And he’s like depicted at the mid 20’s range usually.

This also ties into the rise of “Luciferian Dr Glass” where instead of a normal angel Dr Glass is specifically depicted as Luciferian; usually before the fall.

If you’ve read this far have a good day/night!

.

[muffin-man-marq-lynch]

Happy New Year, Non-Wrestling and Non-AEW wrestling friends!

My wrestling blorbos are finally live on HBO MAX tonight if you want to check them out!

It's going to be a great introductory episode to jump into blind if you'd like but here's the fast and easy rundown for what we're hoping for:

Fight for the Fallen is an annual special episode of Dynamite and this year it's being hosted by tag team FTR as a benefit for their hometown of Asheville which was hit hard by the hurricane last year.

FTR has teamed up with the Rated R Superstar Adam Copeland, to form Rated FTR, and they're determined to take down the Death Riders, who are currently holding an iron grip on AEW as baddies. Copeland's return last month also signals the return of Old Man Yaoi for 2025 as he is very divorced and his ex-husband Christian Cage is already Sweating as this ruins his plans.

We've also been waiting for a gay breakup with The Acclaimed (Bowens can do so much better) and The Hurt Syndicate are the new powerhouse faction in AEW that might just be able to break the camel's back tonight. Please.

Julia Hart, our Goth Queen has finally returned from injury and we're delighted to see her and her faction back in action. The House of Black always delivers (and always wins)

And in the realm of 'I am too close to this to have normal opinions about it' Hangman Adam Page, the beloved anxious millennial cowboy of AEW is currently in his 'Utterly Unhinged and Making Great Life Choices' Black Hat Era because of... Reasons, and Orange Cassidy, ultra laid back and chill guy you cannot piss off has finally had Enough.

It's going to be fun, and makes AEW a lot more available to a lot more people who don't want to bother with cable television, VPNs, or additional obscured streaming add-ons.

The first year of AEW's PPVs and Dynamite (2019) has also been added to MAX on demand, and they've promised to update it on a rolling basis to let people catch up along with two months backlog of the most recent shows (in 2025 that will be Wednesday Night Dynamite and Saturday Night Collision).

So if you're curious about the promotion that has consumed so many people over the last several years by making the alternative more mainstream, and tv wrestling a gayer, kinkier, bloodier, and all around weirder, now's your chance!

Or hey, if you're seeing this post later? HBO MAX is still there.

[armoricaroyalty]

I haven't said so in a while, but if you're a new storytelling simblr, please tag me in a story post so I can reblog it!

A huge percentage of my followers on here found me because more-established simblrs shared my work, and now that I have a following of my own, I want to leverage it to help newcomers find readers (and help readers find new stories).

[kaiserouo]

i really need them two together

also don't look at sevagoth's reference too much because you'd see there's something else in the way

no rhino was harmed during the pec rubbing he took that away beforehand