#THE INTIMACY OF THE MOMENT OF THE WORDS

[drrav3nb]

COSMO JARVIS as John Blackthorne ANNA SAWAI as Toda Mariko SHŌGUN | Chapter Six: Ladies of the Willow World

People you come to this place have something they wish to forget. Be it boredom, pain, hardship, disappointment. They believe this place is about physical pleasure, which it is, but it can me more. The people I meet wish for a different life or circumstance, they want to be any place other than where they are.

[thepromiscuousfinger]

Me, passionately yelling describing to my coworker about how casual intimacy is a thing and should be celebrated in writing

[shyam-kariya]

Your lips,

My lips,

APOCALYPSE

[howtosingit]

I’m gonna be honest, Carlos gently patting TK’s calf as he stands up from the couch has rendered me completely useless and I will literally never recover from it

AND I MEAN LITERALLY 

[girlboss-sasuke]

More people should talk about the scene in Of an Age (2022) where Kol and Ebony dance to Maneater

[howifeltabouthim]

She remembered vaguely that he had proposed to her while he had been inside of her. She had said, 'Yes, yes, yes!'

Anna Biller, from Bluebeard's Castle

[softquietsteadylove]

Gil braiding Thena’s hair when her mind is going a little funky and just generally being sweet and kind and loving to her when she is feeling low. That’s it, that’s the whole prompt!! Pls feel free to make me sob like a baby over this tyvm, love your works so so much!!! 🥰

Thena hadn't spoken in over three hours. She was always dazed after an episode, and this one had been rough.

Rain didn't happen often in their part of Australia. And when it did, it tended to be the storming variety. Thunder and lightning had come over them, rain washing out the landscape and the skies going dark. Not only had the thunder been so on top of them that it felt like the house was rattling, but lightning had struck around them without so much as a tree to draw it.

Gil had fought her for hours, rain pouring down around them, washing away the evidence of their wounds just as fast as they came. He'd only managed to escape by pulling them to the rain basin and completely submerging them. He had done so a few times before to shock the Mahd Wy'ry out of her. It had worked, but that didn't mean he liked doing it.

He had brought her inside, run a hot bath for her, run his fingers through her hair as he whispered soft nothings to her. And now she was in front of the fire as he brushed her hair out gently.

"Gil?"

"Yeah?" he answered, although nothing came after it. He gave her shoulder a squeeze, "I'm right here."

Thena looked around for another second before looking up at him. Her eyes were still a little foggy, but they were green, and that was all that mattered to him. "Gil?"

"Hey," he whispered with a smile.

Thena tilted her head at him. Her hand raised up, hovering close to him but never actually touching. "Gil."

He nodded, cautiously drifting closer to her touch. "I'm here."

Thena stared at him, letting her fingertips touch first, then pressing her palm to his cheek, "my Gil."

"That's me," he smiled at her with the fire casting shades of red over his skin. He turned his head, kissing the thumb against his cheek. She nodded, not startled, not confused. "C'mere."

Thena let him pick her up off the floor, scooping her up into his arms on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, the sleeves of his shirt slipping up her slim little biceps. "How long?"

"At first, not long," he told her honestly. There was no use lying about it, and she didn't need to be coddled. Taken care of?--certainly. Protected?--he would do absolutely anything. But she didn't need him to lie to her, so he wouldn't. "It's been a few hours since you got back, though."

Thena just set her head against his shoulder, pressing her forehead to his cheek. "I've been thinking."

"Anything to share?" he asked, perfectly ready to accept it if she said no. He adjusted her in his arms, reaching for her hair.

"I love you."

Gil looked at her with just a hint of surprise on his face. He smiled, though, combing his fingers through her hair. "I love you, too. I thought you knew that."

"I think I did," Thena sighed, still weighed down by the day's events. Her eyes drifted down as Gil carefully sectioned out her hair and wove it over her shoulder. "I know I did."

"What made you think about it now?" Gil whispered, braiding her hair gently, moving his fingers over every plait.

"You, here," she murmured vaguely before looking down at her braid again, "this."

You: Gilgamesh, her trusty partner, for thousands of years. A soul so entwined with hers that they shared a singular heartbeat. Here: Australia, where they had made a home, all their own and completely separate from their family, and Arishem, and any greater mission or higher purpose.

This: braiding her hair over her shoulder, like he did any time he felt like it. In soft moments like these, after hot baths, or on cold nights.

Them: here, like this, just being together--together in a way no other Eternals had been or still were. They weren't like Ikaris and Sersi, but they weren't like Druig and Makkari either. They were something completely different in a lot of ways.

"Done," Gil smiled, tying off the end of the braid and moving the ends of her blonde curls between his fingers. He looked at her, "how do you feel?"

"You're here?"

"I'm here," he promised, leaning his head against hers with only the fire and their heartbeats to fill the silence. He let her lean in, just touching her lips to his before settling against his chest: the safest place in the galaxy for her to find rest.

"Then I'll be fine."

[chelleisamazing]

"I can't believe how wrong I was about you 😞"

"Most people are 🥺"

Not me full-on crying watching a sex scene I've already seen like 128 times..

[michiganmerchant]

something 2 be said about romances in the public eye ... Wahh

[nerdynikki94]

So, I finished it. I'm done with Hannibal...but to be honest, guys, I don't think it's done with me. I sincerely feel changed after binging that show. Like, I don't even know if I want to talk or rant about it, but I feel like I have to ruminate on it. I mean, fuck. I've never been so torn while watching a show. Even knowing the end, when I started, I wanted to see it make sense, and very early on, it did.

Hannibal & Will are like any leads of tragic romances of literature, though crueler and more unforgivable than most pairings. They're marked from their introduction, sworn to another within a moment. There is no end while they both live, yet the end would be false and unsatisfying if one survived the other. It's impossible to fathom that frayed thread of fate snapping with finality through one lonely death. They had to go out together.

Will knew it from the moment he proposed they fake Hannibal's escape; it was going to end with the two of them, and he was willing, ready, even eager to surrender himself to dying with Hannibal.

I think the only thing that terrified Will more than Hannibal getting away to haunt his mind, was the fear of what it would feel like to kill Hannibal and have to continue being haunted by him still. The loneliness of it would break his mind. Hannibal had been in there too long; he always knew the best times to move and work around Will, and the perfect moments to hook his claws in whenever Will wanted to shake him loose.

Hannibal showed it clear as day when he surrendered after Will said goodbye. 'I won't let you let me go.'

Hannibal carved out his own wing in Will's memory palace. By the time of the events of Red Dragon, Will's realized that he'll never escape Hannibal, and by the finale, he accepts that he won't survive him either.

[tutuandscoot]

Let’s real talk about these moments coz no. They aren’t just feeling each other up for the fun of it

This is all part of their character development and acting process. It’s important for them to not just snap out of their characters straight away. Because really, while they are telling a story to the audience through music and choreography, they are the type of artists that really allow themselves to exist within their characters minds, while maintaining all the technical precision in the world. They often ‘break’ at this moment in practice and I think specifically here because (reading T’s Insta post with her MR notes) it’s at this moment (the way I read it) that her character switches from being Scott’s puppet to the more womanly embodiment of Roxanne, with a bit more agency and sexually but still very much under the control of her aggressor.

Stopping at this moment allows them to transition out of both the choreography and their characters gradually. As they have said, they are such detail orientated people and would write pages and pages of character notes, so we know or can at least believe how deeply invested they are artistically.

In all of these moments- every time they break at this particular moment, it is some version of him egging her on to give him more, to get closer, dare to challenge him, say what she really wants to say, do what she really wants to do. Sometimes it’s more physical than others.

There is similar tension in all of these but they’re all slightly different. For the purpose of this post though, I’m going to focus in on the second gif from SCI.

It starts with him pulling her towards him and it’s T that does more of the work in this one. He forces his forehead into hears and is maybe gripping her right arm (I can’t really see). Then it’s like he’s waiting for her to make a move. Just saying (non verbally) “Come on. Come on. Come on”. As he grips his fist with sexual tension, trying to resist making the move for her. She either gives up or decides she’s done, she’s had evough, she’s not gonna give him anymore. The stomp as she moves her head away from him and releases the pressure of her hand on his body, at the same time he releases the tension in his fist. That graze of her thigh he does after, physically I think is half in/half out of character. It’s kind of a way of saying ‘yes, good girl’ (more in character) or ‘good job kiddo’ (out of character) while I think they still at least somewhat remain in character as they stroke around till the next section they practice. He does and “says” this because they are always encouraging each other. So he is both encouraging her character and Tessa. It’s not about her “feeling him up” and him being proud of her or saying ‘thank you’ for doing that. It’s about them delving deeper into their characters and exploring new facets of them. He gives her some encouragement at the end, a) coz it’s him, but b) maybe he felt they were really in their characters at that moment and from an acting/world building perspective, he really felt what she was giving him.

All of these moments are different and it’s because they were all at different stages of the program’s development as well as each time for them practicing this (in or out of competition) the emotions were different- varying slightly depending on how they specifically wanted to play that moment .In the first and fourth gif (ACI and Olys IE) he takes her hand and squeezes it afterwards. Once again I have no way to know for certain but I like to think that is a little moment of him saying ‘you’re ok’. It is well known how much they love their micro communications like winks and hand squeezes. Those things can communicate anything I assume but there have been other moments (in a variety of instances) where I think the same as I do here- just a little reminder for each other of ‘it’s ok, I’m here for you’. I say this because MR is a very dark program where they have to do and portray some pretty uncomfortable (psychologically) things, so after that little moment of conflict it’s like a little reminder of even in their characters it’s still them. In their real lives, just as Tessa and Scott they would never hurt each other or treat each other like their characters in Roxanne do, so that little hand squeeze to me is just a little reassurance, for both her and him, a little grounding moment.

This isn’t always required however as in the SCI one where they don’t hold hands as they stroke around to fill in the music till they’re are ready to practice the next part. And in the Olys one, kinda in theme of this whole practice where they were just so happy, they have a very intense moment then turn to hold hands and slip out of it pretty easily with big cheeky smiles. So it varies every time but each one serving a purpose.

They are dancers- they are telling a story physically. If they were actors they would being saying everything I’ve said, but as dancers they do it through their bodies. It has nothing to do with real sexual tension between T&S.

While I appreciate everyone’s ovaries are feeling like they have taken a hit at this point (if there’s any guys here I apologise) I would like to say, as I do in every post like this, coz I can’t stress the point enough. To appreciate this as what it is: two dancers deeply invested and immersed in their characters and the story they are telling. If they are making you or a description of what they are doing makes you feel something, any emotion, good. That’s the point. That’s what the best artists are striving to achieve. If they are feeling something from it too.. good for them. It means they have allowed themselves to go that far.

I understand it is difficult for those not from the performing arts world to understand that as weird and unnatural as it seems, this kind of stuff is normal for dancers to have to do sometimes. If a choreographer comes in and wants you to do something, you either find the courage and get yourself to a place you need to be emotionally to do it. Communicate with your partner/other dancers about what you and they need from each other to feel safe. If not, they cast someone else. Simple as that. Even though with TS it is just them and they decide what they do and it’s all their choice. The same thing applies. Even though at this point they had been together for 20 years and know each other’s bodies as well as their own, and probably have a mutual agreement/understanding/natural fluidity that in terms of their partnering, each other’s bodies kind of belong to each other -there’s a sense of “property” (not the word I want to use it it will do) over each other to be able to choreograph and create movement together and there isn’t really anything off limits. I imagine at this stage there is little questioning if the other has permission to hold or touch or move them in a certain way, but at the same time it is believable they may still have discussions- especially with the subject matter and content of MR, not necessarily from a physical aspect but an emotional one, about how they feel and what they need from each other to feel safe- especially for T because her character really does go through a lot and if she is fully taking herself there, and/or allowing Scott to take her there, it can be very emotionally draining, along with of course physically.

I’m mean think about what happens just in this SCI version: He’s violent with her; he throws her out of a lift, he chokes her, he s**ually a**aults her, and that’s just in the first half, all while she’s questioning what is happening to her and why it’s happening and if she’ll even survive, and at the same time, slowly Scott peels of his character’s aggressive layers, and they go into CWM trying to understand what the purpose of all this is, is their love enough to erase all the hurt, and just as they do she loses all her will and strength and she dies.

They don’t check in with each other for those moments because they feel unsure-of course they would feel safe. But out of absolute care and their protective tendencies towards each other, I would imagine there would just be some quite little ‘you ok?’ and ‘you’re ok, I’ve got you’ from both of them, when they maybe do their off ice run throughs, or even on ice. From both of them- coming from him, telling her she’s ok, and from her, say it’s ok for him to be aggressive with her, she doesn’t want him to hold anything back. I imagine when they practice the part where he chokes her that he puts his hand around her neck, he gets very close to her face and while with all the physical strength and intention in world that that is actually happening, he would whisper to her “it’s alright T”-

Just to ensure that even as deep as they go in their characters, it’s still them and they are safe with each other. They might not even be moments of obvious physicality that spark their instinct for this. Again they were telling and living so so much more that what came across in the program, so there might even be very small nuances and movements that actually mean a lot more and have a really complex thought process behind it that we just don’t see, things that psychologically are much darker- things they are thinking to lead into other moments, not necessarily the most obvious movements. As mentioned above they can also silently communicate these reassurances through their eyes and hand squeezes.

I know after reading this some of you are probably thinking, well if they have to check in with each other to make sure the other’s ok, if it’s going to be upsetting and difficult for them emotionally, then why would they do it? Well, that’s exactly why they did do it. And for me, having been in this position a few times myself, finding out later their motives and origin story behind this program, it made me appreciate and see them artistically on even more of a pedestal within their field then I think FS insiders and judges would even comprehend. This stuff, this darker stuff is the most fun. Because it’s the most removed from your real life. It’s easy to just put on a petty piece of music and skate around with a pained expression on your face. But this, what VM chose to do- in more than one of their programs for the record, that takes such guts and artistic intuition. Not only to want to do something like this, but then be able to do it as well as they did. And although not a lot of people - probably no one but them, will understand the depths of it, committing to it 110% because deep down, they wanted to challenge themselves as artists and go somewhere they had never been before. It’s easy to view them as these top level athletes who are very well known in their country and in the media- are sometimes the faces of the nation, and because of the unique nature of their sport, spark more interest for superficial reasons. But when you strip it all back. Take something like this- not in complete privacy but also not competing in costumes with a full audience, and they take a moment in their rehearsal to reach deeper into the depths of their characters physically and emotionally, that’s the mark of true artists.

[cattatoir]

Idk I’m still annoyed how people say it’s Crowley’s fault Aziraphale doesn’t know Gabriel tried to kill him and Heaven wants to end the world when he does know both of those things since the last season and Crowley did remind him of them in their first and last fights, respectively

Like I don’t think the details were something he’d feel the need to share like what, to quash Aziraphale’s belief in good (which is what we all love?) or to try and convince him when he’s already made up his mind?

Like the actual compromise they could have met is just. Not realistic for their characters right now. Aziraphale is, consciously or not, determined not to fully acknowledge how bad Heaven is and Crowley isn’t willing to fight for Heaven’s soul bc he’s not convinced it’s winnable. He barely seems to think fighting for Earth outright is doable he’s not gonna do it without Aziraphale, yet. Aziraphale’s also not willing to do the relationship Crowley wants, yet.

[sunshinereddie]

(:K)

[ihatebnha]

Do you think bakugo would be down for face slapping if it got brought up 😶

During smex???

Hmmm… I don’t want to immediately say that he wouldn’t be down, but… I think it would both take some convincing and a lot of time to get him into the idea, and he probably wouldn’t be into slapping you.

That being said, if the buildup was slow and steady… I can see him having an appreciation for it during nights when he has a lot of pent up frustrations or is feeling kinda… desperate and/or subby. Definitely has to be in the mood for it, but he can be pretty intense, sooo🤷🏼‍♀️

Deku however, I do want to mention, would be into it immediately🫶🏻

[loumauve]

.

[crossbackpoke-check]

wait you got me so invested in the stammer & heddy tailor au....

this is my standard disclaimer that i have never posted a fic on ao3* and for however much i say “au” i truly mean that it’s a universe that lives in my head & i am absolutely delighted to tell you all about, all the time <3 if it helps i ALSO got me so invested in the heddy & stammer tailor au

ok now that the author’s note is out of the way here’s some notes about the not!fic heddy & stammer tailor au:

stammer as the tailor from gent’s playbook, very reserved, quiet, with an excellent eye for details (honestly the evidence i have for his style sense is just that he’s best friends with pk subban so it has to be there somewhere if only by proxy irl) is hired by victor hedman, star of the tampa bay lightning who is every other tailor’s nightmare to dress (huge, opinionated, fashionable)

heddy is decently well-known throughout the league for being very well-dressed & becomes quietly well known for also being one of his new tailor’s favorite loyal customers [heddy has the nicest fabrics. he has his suits the first day a new collection drops & e v e r y o n e is jealous]

stammer’s business booms after heddy takes a chance on him as his first big client & promotes him, heddy sees him grow in popularity & get more clients

heddy also moonlights as a model for stammer’s suits on instagram, initially to help him grow his business because then he won’t have to pay for a model and then because he’s over there all the time anyway because they’re dating (that’s why the model’s face is never in the pictures)

there’s not really a plot to this besides the vague idea of a plot where stammer makes heddy his lucky suit that he wins the cup in & sews a special little tag into the lining of his jacket that says i love you

because love sometimes is picking out the perfect right color pocket square to match your husband’s beautiful suit that you fitted like a kiss to the curves of his huge body

& also sometimes love is making your beautiful husband who makes you beautiful clothing enjoy nice things for himself once in a while, like the fancy watch you bought him or the nice suit you custom-ordered for him (from him) just so you could take it off of him