#one of the greatest actors of our time

[crushermyheart]

Sarah Lancashire - Drama Performance - National Television Awards 2023

[stephenlangdaily]

Recently passed 1000 followers so I just wanted to say thank you to every one of you! I’ve run this blog for almost seven years and it’s been amazing seeing how Stephen’s career has grown, especially in recent months 😉 I’ve loved connecting with so many other fans and even interacting with Steve on occasion! Thanks again for following 💕

[zhivchik]

[davy-zeppeli]

bette nesmith graham called herself a feminist but then she left all of her money to a man :/

I was going to hit this with the 'firm agree - liquid paper fail' but then I thought about it and I can't just stand by and not say that Michael Nesmith was the biggest girl and he was ever since that moment in his screen test

[dancingbirdie]

Okay so on Astarion, I was reading this fic about him not knowing Tavs true intentions with him and it bothering Astarion a lot, so what if he goes to some mage or magic user and asks them to show Tavs true intentions to him, when he does the vision he sees is just... being snuggled. It's Tav on top of him and the both of you are falling asleep, his hands are under your shirt softly petting your skin as your sleepy self is contently snuggled up to him. I just start crying about him finding out that Tavs DASTARDLY and EVIL plan with him, their greatest desire from him... is to simply be held. 🥺

Hi @goblin-creatcher! Thank you so much for this BEAUTIFUL prompt. I, uhh, kind of took it and went a million miles an hour with it. This is honestly one of my favorite things I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it as well! xoxoxo

Something Imagined / Something Real

Word Count: 3.9K

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Astarion x f!Tav

Warnings/Tags: Brief but detailed description of rough consensual sex, descriptions and references to Astarion's trauma/trauma responses, minor Act 1 and Act 2 spoilers, FLUFF, angst

Suggested Song Pairing: Slow Dancing in A Burning Room (Stripped) - cover by ST LUNA

Summary: Astarion has been suspicious of Tav’s true intentions toward him. He persuades Gale to cast a spell and reveal her motivations. ANGST and FLUFF ensue. A rewriting of Astarion’s confession scene from Act 2.

The sun had just begun to set on the campsite when Astarion decided to put his plan into action. He had waited until Tav departed with some of the other party members before making his way over to the wizard. Gale was too busy reassembling the bookshelf inside his tent to notice Astarion’s approach. It wasn’t until he gave a polite cough that Gale jumped and whirled to face him. 

“No, no, no,” he began all at once, hands raised in a sort of shooing motion. Astarion stared at him in confusion. “I can respect Tav’s indulging in your need for blood, but as I’ve said before: I taste terrible.” 

Astarion scoffed. “Charming. Actually, wizard, I was coming to request your aid in a different, though somewhat related, matter.”

“Really? Care to elaborate?” Gale responded, still somewhat wary. It wasn’t often he found himself alone with the vampire. 

“Testy, I see,” Astarion crooned teasingly. His knee-jerk response to people treating him like a monster, to behave in the most false saccharine sort of way. 

But he drew up short, censoring himself before saying anything else he might regret. He knew he needed to get on the wizard’s good side if he had any chance of getting the answers he sought. 

“I was hoping you knew a spell to reveal someone’s true intentions. Their… motivations for behaving in a certain way, so to speak,” he finished more seriously. 

Gale pondered the question for a moment before answering. 

“Hmm… yes, there is magic to determine that sort of thing… Although it’s been some time since I practiced it…” He trailed off, rubbing his chin in thought. 

“Why are you asking for such a thing?” he asked suddenly. 

Astarion had been prepared for this question, of course. No one did anything for free, no questions asked. He delivered his explanation perfectly, as he’d been rehearsing in his mind.

“One might say our dear sweet Tav and I have been growing a bit… closer these days, but I can sense a master manipulator when I see one. I just simply want to ensure their intentions toward me - toward the party - are true,” he replied with mock innocence. 

“Ah, yes,” Gale nodded. “I gathered as much when the two of you slipped away from the tiefling’s party a few nights ago.” 

“But,” he continued on,”I needn’t think you should worry when it comes to Tav. She seems about as transparent as they come. I’m sure any intentions she has toward you are true.”

Yes, but the best actors always mask their motivations behind innocence and transparency, Astarion thought to himself. I should know. I’ve been doing it for centuries.

After the party’s unfortunate meeting with that Gur in the Sunlit Wetlands, Astarion realized he would have to take potential threats from Cazador even more seriously. He wasn’t about to lose his freedom, not now that he finally had some small taste of it. 

It didn’t hurt to be more suspicious of everyone he encountered, even the sweetling Tav. Anyone could be an operative sent by Cazador, and the best ones would be as skilled as he was in the art of manipulation. It was well-known at this point that the person he’d grown the closest to on their journey was their brave party leader, Tav. Unlikely as it may be that she was scheming for his master, Astarion’s paranoia wouldn’t let him indulge in interactions with her a second longer unless he knew how she truly felt. 

Given Gale’s hesitation, Astarion knew he would have to kick his acting up a notch. Press on that wizard’s heartstrings. Touch the one nerve he knew he was sensitive to.

“Gale, darling, from one literally damaged soul to another, indulge me just this once,” Astarion beseeched him. 

The wizard glared at him a moment, before finally relenting with a heavy sigh. “Fine. Fine. But I want it known that I don’t agree with this so-called solution one whit,” he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, yes, noted and formally documented, on my word as a former Baldurian magistrate,” Astarion replied cheerily. “So, let’s hop to it then, shall we?”

“What, right now?” Gale asked, shocked. “Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, a little less conspicuous?” 

“What better time than now?” Astarion responded. “Tav’s out gathering firewood with Wyll and Karlach. They won’t be back for some time. As for Lae’zel and Shadowheart, well…” he paused, gesturing over his shoulder. 

Said two were engaged in a heated sparring session on the outskirts of the camp. Snarls and curses could be heard emanating from both warriors as they tried, and failed, to gain the upper hand against their opponent.

“That lovers’ dance could go on until morning,” Astarion finished. 

“Fair point,” Gale admitted begrudgingly, grimacing at the sound of swords clashing violently. “Very well. Let’s get started.” 

Clearing his throat, Gale began to utter a series of phrases completely foreign to Astarion. He watched as the wizard began moving his hands in a wavelike pattern, forming a circle before them. Suddenly, a mist began to form from seemingly thin air, taking shape according to the boundaries Gale’s hands were creating. The mist grew more and more opaque until it appeared before them like a clouded mirror. 

As the fogginess of the ethereal magic began to clear, the “mirror” became a confusing blur of scenes whipping by, too fast for Astarion or Gale to really comprehend. There were flashes of Tav and Astarion, together and separate, but they disappeared too quickly to ascertain their context. It was as though the spell was shuffling through the entirety of Tav’s thoughts, assessing each one at breakneck speed. 

Finally, the spell slowed to a halt, stopping on one scene in particular. Astarion was struck speechless by what began playing out in the foggy portal before them. So distracted, he didn’t even notice Gale’s tight cough, or how the wizard suddenly became intensely interested in a copse of trees nearby, rather than the revelation the spell was revealing.

Not that the scene was especially profound, objectively speaking. In fact, to anyone else, it might be viewed as the least revelatory thing possible that the spell could have shown. Boring. Inconsequential, even. But to Astarion, it was almost earth shattering. 

He saw himself - he could see his face! - with Tav, lying tangled together in some immaculate four-poster bed. 

That was the first shock that coursed through him, nearly causing his knees to buckle. He was seeing himself for the first time in over 200 years. Or at least, he was seeing himself as Tav saw him. And… the person he saw… Well, he was gorgeous. White blonde locks, curled and tousled in a devil-may-care sort of way. A strong, patrician nose that suggested good breeding. High, sharp cheekbones. Full lips, upturned in a thoughtless grin. Red eyes bordered by long, sweeping lashes. Delicately pointed elven ears. Smooth alabaster skin, without blemish or spot. 

Astarion could scarcely believe his own eyes. 

The second shock to his system was the nature of their activities. He would have been less surprised had the vision shown them fucking. Him taking her roughly from behind perhaps. His name a cry of ecstasy from her lips as he pistoned in and out of her with a feral sort of determination. 

Fantasies of lust, of total domination, now those were things he was familiar with inspiring in the minds of the victims he had taken as lovers. It was what he strove for, in all honesty. Desire like that all but ensured he would capture his prey and live to serve another day for his master. 

But nothing of the sort was occurring between vision-Tav and himself. Instead, they were just… embracing? What in sweet hells was this?

She lay halfway on top of him. Her hair was mussed, perhaps from sleep or perhaps from previous lovemaking. One hand was drawing absentminded shapes across his chest, her lips trailing behind, leaving kisses in their wake. He watched as vision-Astarion chuckled softly, as his hands slipped beneath her sleepshirt to caress her waist, as he placed an innocent kiss on the top of Tav’s head. Eventually, she reached for his hand. They both watched their fingers intertwine, blissfully content.

It was the purest, unadulterated expression of affection that Astarion had ever seen. Something in his heart quaked at the sight of it. He wanted that moment. He envied, he hated, vision-Astarion for enjoying such apparent happiness.

So absorbed in the vision and its implications, Astarion failed to notice the soft padding of feet that indicated someone’s re-entry into the camp. 

“If the two of you are quite finished poking around in my head,” an angry voice suddenly spat from behind them, “I’d appreciate you preserving what little privacy I have left and shutting that damn spell off.”

Mortified, Astarion and Gale turned to see Tav, arms crossed and visibly seething with rage. Gale quickly dispelled the magic with a flick of his wrist. A blush was slowly but surely rising up Tav’s neck to reach her cheeks. Whether from rage or embarrassment, Astarion couldn’t be certain. 

“Tav, let us explain-” Astarion started.

“It was his idea-” Gale blurted at the same time, pointing at Astarion. 

Both paused, glaring at one another. But Tav would have none of their feeble attempts at backpedaling. 

“The explanation doesn’t matter. Whose idea it was doesn’t matter. The fact is that both of you violated the privacy of my mind, which I’ll remind you, has ALREADY been violated by having a bloody tadpole forced inside of it!” Tav shouted. At their words, the camp became enveloped in a heavy silence. Even the crickets ceased their chirping.

Astarion cringed inwardly, knowing the other party members could plainly hear this altercation and had likely stopped whatever it was that they had been doing to listen in. He noted the sounds of swords clanging together had ceased. He was certain Lae’zel and Shadowheart at least were aware of what was happening. Nosy bastards, all of them.

But what disturbed him even more was the realization that Tav’s eyes were welling with tears. She was too proud to acknowledge them or wipe them away. Such was her nature. But they were there nonetheless, and the knowledge that Astarion had brought her to the point of tears was enough to spur a rush of utter self-loathing inside him.

Without another word, Tav turned on her heel and marched stiffly out of camp, toward the direction of a nearby creek they’d identified as a water source earlier in the day.

“I can’t believe I let you convince me to perform that spell,” Gale said as she disappeared between the trees. He dragged his hands down his face. 

“How could we have been so doltish, forgetting that all of our privacies have already been violated with this tadpole business?”

Astarion didn’t have an answer to that. At least, not one the wizard could possibly understand. 

The thought hadn’t occurred to Astarion, he realized, because violations of privacy had been something so intrinsic to his being for over 200 years. He didn’t even recognize it as something abnormal. Like a fish unaware that the water surrounding it is, in fact, water. 

Violations of privacy were a part of life, at least for him. So much so that his request for Gale to perform that magic hadn’t even occurred to him as an overstepping of boundaries. To Astarion, it had simply been a matter of survival. He had needed to know another potentially manipulative person’s true intentions, and so he had found a means to uncover it and maintain the upper hand. 

Belatedly, he also realized that Gale’s hesitation to cast the spell had had nothing to do with being inconvenienced for the evening, but because the wizard had known that it was improper to do to another person. If he had misread that, Astarion wondered, then what other truly benevolent behaviors had he mistaken as pragmatic manipulation?

“I need to go find her,” Astarion murmured, clenching and unclenching his fists in an uncharacteristic fit of uncertainty. 

“Yes, you do,” Gale asserted. “We both owe her a sincere apology… if she’ll even accept it.”

“I’ll see if I can convince her to come back to camp,” Astarion replied, making to leave in the direction Tav had stormed off. 

“Wait,” Gale said, a hand on his shoulder. Astarion turned to meet his gaze. 

“Look, well, I’m obviously not an expert in healthy demonstrations of affection. But I do think it’s obvious from what you saw in that spell that Tav well and truly cares about you. In perhaps the purest way possible. Treat that carefully.”

Part of Astarion wanted to laugh aloud in utter hopelessness at the wizard’s advice. Someone cared for him? Truly and purely? No hidden games, no strings attached? Oh certainly, that wouldn’t be a problem for Astarion at all. Obviously, his 200-year existence as a master-manipulator-fetch-hound for a power-hungry vampire lord had perfectly prepared him to respond to this situation in a healthy manner. Obviously.

But all that was too much to reveal to someone he barely knew and too heavy to say aloud. Rather than giving some smarmy retort, Astarion opted instead to give a stiff nod and continue walking toward the edge of camp. He had no idea how he could make things right with Tav, but at the very least he could try. 

***

He found Tav sitting on a fallen tree near the edge of the creek bed. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she rested a cheek to her knees. In the waning twilight, she reminded Astarion of some misbegotten gargoyle perched on the roof of a temple, solitary and so very sad. 

Her ears twitched as she noted his arrival. Astarion wasn’t trying to be stealthy. On top of everything else, the last thing he needed to do was scare her. 

“Can I join you?” he asked softly, wincing to himself at the awkwardness of the question. 

The reality was that there was no way to broach this conversation without some stilted beginning, and he hated it. Navigating tricky conversations was normally something he excelled at. But as he was quickly finding, when it related to Tav, nothing in his past life had prepared him to respond to her well. 

“If you’d like,” Tav answered tonelessly. 

Knowing it was probably the best response he was going to get, Astarion swallowed thickly and moved to sit down on the log next to her. 

“I… wanted to… apologize for what you saw, back at camp,” he began.

“Apologize for doing it, or apologize for getting caught?” Tav asked as she turned her head to look at him, resting her other cheek on her knees. 

Astarion balked at the question. Her piercing gaze unnerved him. He hadn’t really thought that far. 

“Both, I suppose?” he answered honestly, although it sounded more like a question to Tav. She huffed a laugh.

“You know, part of me really wants to yell at you. Scream in your face. Tell you off proper,” she mused.

“So why don’t you?” Astarion asked, perplexed. 

Tav didn’t respond at first, just sat there studying him. As if by staring at him long enough, she could project the answer into his mind. 

Astarion didn’t interrupt her, much as he would have liked to. Part of him always bristled when people gazed at him for too long. It was unfair that they could study him, when he hadn’t been able to so much as glance at his reflection in over 200 years. 

Finally, Tav released a heavy sigh, her body curling further in on itself. She closed her eyes as she spoke.

“Because then I would be just like every other bastard in your life who’s mistreated you.”

Astarion flinched in surprise. Those had not been the sort of words he’d been expecting. The truth of them cut deeper than had she raged at him like she wanted to. It left him feeling even more vulnerable, and that in turn made him want to retreat into the comfort of viciousness.

“I don’t need you to pull any punches,” he scoffed, glaring at her. “Go ahead and say what you will.”

She straightened up at his tone, opening her eyes and returning his glare. 

“No. I don’t want to,” she said testily.

“I don’t need your pity,” he hissed. “It’s insulting.”

“Gods damn it all, Astarion!” Tav exclaimed suddenly, causing him to jump in surprise. She threw her hands up in defeat. “I’m not doing anything out of pity! I don’t want to rage at you, because I know that whatever I say right now, I won’t mean it come the morning!”

Astarion blinked. Once again he was left feeling flat footed by the turn of the conversation. Sensing his surprise, Tav continued on with her deluge of words.

“You hurt me tonight, and I’m angry at you - and at Gale, for that matter - for what you did. But you’ve shared enough of your… history… with me, that I realize your behavior is just… just a byproduct of centuries of abuse and manipulation you’ve endured! And I won’t be another abuser in your life. I won’t,” she asserted. 

Astarion continued staring at her, as if she were some otherworldly creature that had just wandered across his path. He watched as Tav inhaled a deep breath, releasing it shakily. She turned away from him to peer out into the forest, uncertain. She opened and closed her mouth several times before actually speaking. As if whatever she was about to say was more intimidating to her than anything else she’d said tonight. 

“I… care deeply for you, Astarion,” she said quietly. “You obviously saw that in the vision. I’m not playing any games. There’s no hidden motive. I’m not trying to manipulate you.”

She turned to look at him again before continuing, her breathing a bit unsteady. 

“I didn’t sleep with you that night of the tiefling party as some sort of maneuver to gain your trust. Although I understand if that was your motivation for doing so.” 

Astarion’s expression morphed into one of guilt. But Tav nodded soberly, as if she had already expected it, before continuing on. 

“It’s okay. I’m not angry. But I’m putting all my cards on the table now, so to speak. Actually, your decision tonight forced my hand, but I had been planning on telling you soon anyway. So, there you have it. The truth of my intentions. What you do with that information is up to you.”

She turned back to gaze out at their surroundings. Like she was giving him the opportunity to bolt away without her watching him. As if she expected him to flee from her confession. 

But Astarion didn’t flee. He remained seated, staring at her in complete wonderment. 

“Why?” he asked quietly.

She looked back at him again, confusion evident on her face. 

“Why what?”

“Why do you care for me? You’re so… well-adjusted. And I’m well… this,” he finished lamely, placing a hand on his chest. 

Tav pursed her lips. “It would be a mistake to misconstrue my empathy for you as me being well-adjusted. Everyone has their own demons, Astarion,” she murmured. “Mine just look different from yours.”

Astarion mulled her words over in his mind, considering them. He leaned forward to brace his forearms on his knees, his head drooping slightly. 

“I…,” he started, unsure. “That vision… what it implied… You deserve something real, Tav. You’re incredible… truly.” 

Tav closed her eyes, bracing for the fallout. Even though she would accept his decision, whatever it was, she didn’t think she could bear to watch him deny her. It would hurt too much. 

“Look. When we met, I had a plan. A nice, simple plan,” he blurted all at once. Rising swiftly to his feet, Tav watched as he began to pace before her, near to bursting with frenetic energy. 

“Seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you’d never turn on me,” he counted off, laughing half-heartedly. “It was… easy - instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. All you had to do was fall for it. And all I had to do… was not fall for you… which is where my nice, simple plan fell apart,” he finished, stopping to stand before her. 

She held his gaze, speechless. 

“I want you,” he whispered fervently. “I want what was in that vision… I want us to be something real.”

Never in a million years had she thought he would respond to her like this. She opened her mouth to speak, but Astarion cut her off with another sudden exclamation. 

“I just don’t know what real is,” he confessed, his tone a touch hysterical. Tav knew from his body language that being this transparent was completely out of Astarion’s comfort zone. 

“Being… close to someone - any kind of intimacy - was something I performed to lure people back. For him. Even though I know things between us are different, being with someone still feels… tainted. Still brings up those feelings of disgust, and loathing. I… I don’t know how else to be with someone. No matter how much I’d like to,” he finished, staring at her with beseeching eyes, willing her to understand.

Tav rose to her feet, coming to stand before him. 

“I don’t want you for your body,” she whispered. “Or to perform any acts of intimacy. We can be together, without sleeping together, for as long as you need.”

“Really,” he asked softly, his voice pitched low, rough with emotion.

“Really,” Tav asserted, giving him a small smile. “Would it be all right if…” she paused, conflicted. He eyed her curiously.

“Could I hug you?” she whispered.

The fact that she asked before doing so caused a well of emotion to spring up inside him. Eyes watering, Astarion nodded. 

Slowly, Tav moved forward to wrap her arms around his waist. Her head nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder. A perfect fit. He felt her exhale a deep sigh.

Tav hugging him was a sensation unlike any he had ever felt. At least, any he could remember feeling. The act of being touched, embraced, without any desire for something more. She just wanted to hold him, feel him close to her. It was incomprehensible to him, but utterly enjoyable, at the same time. 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Astarion raised his arms to return Tav’s embrace. Drawing her even closer, he bowed his head to rest his cheek against her hair. It was soft, like the finest silk. He closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, appreciating her sweet, floral scent.   

She made to pull away after a moment, not wishing to overwhelm him. But Astarion gripped her more firmly, a silent urge for them to stay that way a little longer. 

“This… this is nice,” he whispered. 

He both felt and heard Tav hum contentedly in response. 

It wasn’t identical to the vision from Tav’s mind that he had seen, but Astarion reveled in their embrace nonetheless. It felt like the beginning of something new. And for the first time in his very, very long life, Astarion felt excited at the prospects of what would come next. 

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Yvonne De Carlo (Frontier Gal, The Ten Commandments, Casbah)— Although most famous for playing Lily Munster in The Munsters, Yvonne De Carlo had a successful movie career throughout the 1940s and 1950s, appearing in such films as “The Ten Commandments”, “Sea Devils” and two Munster movies later in life.

Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story, Late Spring, The Idiot)— "'The only time I saw Susan Sontag cry,' a writer once told me, his voice hushed, 'was at a screening of a Setsuko film.' What Setsuko had wasn’t glamour—she was just too sensible for that—it was glow, one that ebbed away and left you concerned, involved. You got the sense that this glow, like that of dawn, couldn’t be bought. But her smiles were human and held minute-long acts, ones with important intermissions. When she looked away, she absented herself; you felt that she’d dimmed a fire and clapped a lid on something about to spill. Over the last decade, whenever anyone brought up her lips—'Setsuko’s eternal smile,' critics said, that day we learned that she’d died—I thought instead of the thing she made us feel when she let it fall." - Moeko Fujii

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Yvonne de Carlo:

The woman who brought Burt Lancaster to his knees.

Setsuko Hara:

One of the best Japanese actresses of all time; a symbol of the golden era of Japanese cinema of the 1950s After seeing a Setsuko Hara film, the novelist Shūsaku Endō wrote: "We would sigh or let out a great breath from the depths of our hearts, for what we felt was precisely this: Can it be possible that there is such a woman in this world?"

One of the greatest Japanese actresses of all time!! Best known for acting in many of Yasujiro Ozu's films of the 40s and 50s. Also she has a stunning smile and beautiful charm!

Linked gifset

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She's considered by some to be the greatest Japanese actress of all time! In Kurosawa's The Idiot she haunts the screen, and TOTALLY steals the show from Mifune every time she appears.

"No other actor has ever mastered the art of the smile to the same extent as Setsuko Hara (1920–2015), a celebrated star and highly regarded idol who was one of the outstanding actors of 40s and 50s Japanese cinema. Her radiant smile floods whole scenes and at times cautiously undermines the expectations made of her in coy, ironic fashion. Yet her smile's impressive range also encompasses its darker shades: Hara's delicate, dignified, melancholy smile with which she responds to disappointments, papers over the emotions churning under the surface, and flanks life's sobering realizations. Her smiles don't just function as a condensed version of her ever-precise, expressive, yet understated acting ability, they also allow the very essence of the films they appear in to shine through for a brief moment, often studies of the everyday, post-war dramas which revolve around the break-up of family structures or the failure of marriages. Her performances tread a fine line between social expectation and personal desire in post-war Japan, as Hara attempts to lay claim to the autonomy of the female characters she plays – frequently with a smile." [link]

Leading lady of classic Japanese cinema with a million dollar smile

Maybe the most iconic Japanese actress ever? She rose to fame making films with Yasujiro Ozu, becoming one of the most well-known and beloved actresses in Japan, working from the 30s through the 60s in over 100 hundred. She is still considered one of the greatest Japanese actresses ever, and in my opinion, just one of the greatest actresses of all time. And she was HOT! Satoshi Kon's film Millennium Actress was largely based on her life and her career.

[nudityandnerdery]

[Image Description: A series of sixteen tweets by John Rogers @jonrog1 that say:

1) A moment at the Teamsters/UPS rally this morning clarified our current struggle with the studio CEO's (among other bosses). Teamsters got a lot of wins, but one of the main sticking points is the pay for the 65% of local UPS workers who are part-time …

2) If you read the SAG-AFTRA demands, a truly STUNNING amount of their points involve protecting background actors, and trying to improve conditions for the 87% of their union who makes less than $26,000 a year.

3) As WGA members know, this is not a strike for the showrunners. We're trying to fix the fact the the current younger generation of writers can't even afford housing and their pathway to advancement has been cut off.

4) Like … folks, I'm fine. There are maybe two proposals in there that affect me. I'm walking in 90% weather and losing over 50% of my income for the year because I want the younger writers to get what I got at this stage of their careers.

5) Our unions and the CEO's and various negotiators have a fundamental cognitive disconnect. Because CEO's types only succeed by FUCKING THEIR PEERS.

6) Zaslav, Iger , those types of execs, etc have never gone without so a fellow exec or a junior exec could thrive. A fellow exec failing is the moment to use your own leverage to advance past them, if not destroy them.

7) Part of it is the money but part of this, I think, is a genuine inability to grasp even the concepts of any labor action. Because it is always other-directed.

8) So many people treat capitalism as part of nature red in tooth and claw, but it's not. It's a human construct. There are different rules you can play by -- but not if you want to win.

9) The greatest gift capitalism ever granted was the ability to validate selfish behavior as a virtue because that's "just what's necessary, I don't make the rules!" (Look ma, it's reification!)

10) This is where I usually point out that Adam Smith wrote that you have to overpay workers to keep your labor force up, and you need to take into account the psychic damage of capitalism to the workers, and that admiring the rich is the greatest source of moral corruption …

11) But I'll stave off that diversion to just land with … this is a discontinuity of attitudes which I think was once breached by the fact that management USED to come from people who loved building their company or their trade, even if they eventually did management shit.

12) Now, even that thin thread of SYMPATHY (Adam Smith joke, get it? People?) is gone. The CEO's are working off a different scorecard, practically and morally. We're not just playing by wildly divergent rules, our lives and careers are DEFINED by those wildly divergent rules.

13) To them, we are IN FACT being "unreasonable", as our behavior does not make sense in their moral framework. They don't think they're being evil, they think they're playing by the actual rules, and we're nuts.

14) There's not great conclusion to this, other than to note that the bit about making writers homeless was described as "cruel but necessary" because they genuinely don't understand the meaning of cruel, because they are always on the other side of the power dynamic.

15) And if they're ever NOT on the top of the power dynamic, they're not suffering, they're dead. They are un-people in their own eyes.

16) These men are not irrational, but they are deranged. This isn't about money, it's about identity. And in a fight about identity … they will set billions on fire.

Because they can always get more money. But they'll never shed the stink of losing to their lessers."

end of image description]

[hllywdwhre]

Dress

Pairing: Cillian Murphy x fem!reader

Summary: A year’s worth of random memories between the two of you

Warnings: age gap (Cillian is current age, reader’s age is unspecified but of legal age), mentions of slut shaming, smut, light choking, unsafe sex (wrap it before you tap it)

MDNI

Word Count: 3656

Notes: This is NOT based on real life. This is an AU and we love Yvonne in this household. Also this is my first attempt at writing smut in literal years so I apologize if it’s not the best💀

Based on the song ‘Dress’ by Taylor Swift

Our secret moments in your crowded room

They got no idea about me and you

One hand gently placed on the middle of your back alerted you to his presence.

“You look stunning,” He said, low enough that no one else could overhear.

Luckily, your make-up artist had made sure you wore a full coverage foundation, as the blush tinting your cheeks would’ve been noticeable if not.

“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” you replied, glancing up at him with a small smile on your face.

You had been eyeing him the entire night, his salt-and-pepper hair hung around his face, only making his blue eyes pop due to the sharp contrast of the colors.

To anyone else, it would look like two co-stars speaking at the premiere of their movie. They wouldn’t see the way you two wanted to step closer to each other, to latch to each other’s hand, or share an excited and proud kiss.

There is an indentation in the shape of you

Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo

Cillian had made sure to take things slow with you. You were younger and he was the leading actor in the movie and he wanted to make sure there was no question about power imbalances. He made sure you were comfortable and that you knew he would’ve never used that power over you to force you into something you weren’t comfortable with. It was up to you to make the first moves… from the first kiss to the first of others.

The day after the night all of the clothes the two of you wore had been shed for the first time, you’d found extremely small bruises on your hips from his grip the night before.

“I didn’t realize I had… I’m sorry,” Cillian apologized, kissing your cheek softly as his fingers ghosted over the bruises.

“Don’t apologize. I rather like the marks and the memories they bring back,” you said, turning to him and kissing him.

All of this silence and patience, pining in anticipation

My hands are shaking from holding back from you

All of this silence and patience, pining and desperately waiting

My hands are shaking from all this

Your hands shook as you gave him the documents. Your character was supposed to be nervous, but the shaking of your hands went beyond your character.

You were surrounded by some of the greatest actors, and while you were no new actor yourself, it was still nerve wracking to stand in front of all of them, along with Chris, as they watched you. It was even more nerve wracking to have Cillian’s eyes following you — your character — as you entered the room and handed over the documents.

The shaking in your hands lessened once the scene was finished, but you still saw the way your tea wobbled just slightly when Cillian walked to you.

You wanted nothing more than to pull him close to you, but at this point, the two of you had only just begun talking. The flirty undertones were nothing near enough for you to feel confident enough making a move.

Say my name and everything just stops

I don't want you like a best friend

Only bought this dress so you could take it off

Take it off

Your heart stuttered every time he said your real name and not your character's name. When he called your name this time it was no different.

“How are you?” He asked, joining by your side as you walked away from the restaurant.

Emily had seen some of your works and was a fan of them; she had made sure to include you when inviting other members out to dinners like the one that had just finished. This was one of the few times Cillian had agreed to join and hadn’t had a reason he needed to stay behind.

You weren’t sure if it was your imagination or not, but you thought his eyes lingered on the way the dress hugged your waist for a second longer than what would be seen as just looking you over.

Your pleasant conversation continued until you reached the front door of the guest house you were placed in until your part of the filming was completed.

“Green?” He questioned as his eyes trailed down your figure again and you smirked.

“Green has always been my favorite,” you said, feigning innocence.

“I’m sure it has… it’s starting to become my own,” he told you, one hand settling on your waist to bring you closer to him.

“You said that first bit like you don’t believe me, Murphy,” you teased as your arms came to wrap around his neck.

“Perhaps I don’t,” he replied. His forehead rested against yours, tone still light and teasing despite the tension and proximity.

“Well I can’t possibly reveal the truth,” you teased back.

“And what would that be?”

“That your agreeing with Robert’s comment about us seeming to become very close ‘best friends’ a couple days ago caused me a great deal of jealousy and I’ve noticed the way your eyes seem to linger when the costume department puts me in something green. I could never tell you that or the other truth.”

Carve your name into my bedpost

'Cause I don't want you like a best friend

Only bought this dress so you could take it off

Take it off

“What was the other truth?” He asked, slowing his thrusts to a teasing pace as his hands gripped the frame of the bed.

“What?” You asked, confused on what he meant as your mind was only clouded with the pleasure he made you feel.

“The other truth, from earlier,” he said again, his hips still moving at the agonizingly slow pace.

You blushed as you realized what he meant and at the thought of revealing the little secret, despite the fact you were both naked with him buried inside of you.

At your lack of response, he moved one hand to grip your thigh and push it towards your chest, allowing himself to be buried even deeper inside you. The action caused your eyes to roll back,

“The other truth, doll,” he prompted.

“I wore the dress for more than just the color. I knew you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off me once we’re alone and I wanted you to stop holding back,” you told him.

“You could have just told me, didn’t need to spend an entire night teasing me,” he said and began picking up the pace of his hips again, causing your head to drop back and a moan to leave your lips.

Inescapable, I'm not even gonna try

And if I get burned, at least we were electrified

I'm spilling wine in the bathtub

You kiss my face and we're both drunk

Everyone thinks that they know us

But they know nothing about

Giggles filled the air as your glasses met in the bathtub you shared, the light pink liquid spilling over the sides.

“We have filming tomorrow and we’re both going to be incredibly hungover,” you said with a wide smile on your face.

“One of us will have to pretend to be okay. Most of the crew already has suspicions,” Cillian replied, still smiling.

“And what have they said about it?” You asked as you took another sip of wine, your interest peaked by his comment.

Cillian shook his head, a look of distaste taking over his features as some of the comments replayed in his mind.

“That bad?” You asked as your face fell.

“The comments we expected,” he replied as he took a large drink of wine.

“You’re lucky to be sleeping with a younger woman, but you need to watch out because I’m after fame and your money?” You asked him, your tone revealing that you already knew the answer.

Cillian nodded and your face fell further. You looked away from him and down at the wine in your glass.

“Do you think we’re moving too fast?” You asked.

The water sloshed around you as Cillian scooted himself closer to you, his finger coming underneath your chin and lifting your face to look him in the eyes.

“Everyone is going to have something to say. Even if we were sharing equally large roles and the exact same age.” He said in a firm voice.

You nodded in response as you knew he was right.

“They know nothing,” he said as he leaned in, kissing you softly.

Flashback when you met me

Your buzzcut and my hair bleached

You hadn’t stepped foot onto the set of “Oppenheimer” until a couple months after filming had begun, due to the nature of your smaller part. You played a wife to one of the scientists involved in the making of the atomic bomb and only had a couple lines, but you had captured Cillian’s eye on the first day.

After his divorce two years prior, he hadn’t tried looking for anyone else. He had focused on his kids and his career. You coming along and capturing his attention had been unexpected and he had tried to ignore the attraction he felt at first, only to fall victim to your charm during a break in filming on your first day on set.

A week later you two exchanged phone numbers. A month later and you two were sneaking around on set like you were children all over again. One of you would somehow sneak to the other after filming was complete for the day.

The first time he had fallen asleep at your place, the overnight stay being completely unplanned and you had awoken to hear him let out a surprised “fuck!” before he gathered up his things and left in a rush.

You still had another hour before you had to be on set and laid back down in bed, scrolling through your phone. Rolling over, you noticed the spot he had left was still warm and filled with his scent.

��I hate this haircut so much. Way too short.’ He texted.

‘I hate this hair color. Way too blonde.’ You replied.

Even in my worst times

You could see the best of me

“It’s one simple fucking scene and I can’t get it right!” He shouted in frustration.

Cillian had shown up an hour prior, saying he needed your help running lines. He was supposed to film the scene where Oppenheimer brings the calculations to Einstein tomorrow and had been pressuring himself over it the entire week.

“It’s not simple though, Cill. You’ve been working nonstop and your character is facing a huge moral conflict in this scene that you have to manage to portray in a subtle way. You’re not just doing your best, you’re doing amazing,” you tell him, standing up and walking over to him.

You gently take the script from his hands and set it down then take his hand in yours to bring it to your lips, placing a soft kiss on his palm.

“I’m sorry for snapping,” he said, pulling you into a hug and kissing the top of your head.

“Don’t be. You’re allowed to be frustrated,” you replied as you wrapped your arms around him.

Flashback to my mistakes

My rebounds, my earthquakes

“I didn’t say I was proud of it,” Cillian said with a laugh.

“Two weeks?” You questioned and your own laughter followed, showing you weren’t holding it against him.

“I haven’t been single since I was 27, I went a little crazy,” he explained as if trying to defend himself.

“I’m not passing judgment, Cill… as long as you didn’t catch anything,” you teased, causing both of you to burst into a fit of giggles.

Even in my worst lies

You saw the truth in me

“A home wrecking whore,” you said through tears, slapping the magazine down in front of him, “we didn’t even know each other two years ago and somehow I’m the reason your marriage ended.”

Yours and Cillian’s relationship hadn’t even been confirmed and already the cruel rumors had started. It was one photo of the two of you leaving a cast dinner, cropped around to look like it was just the two of you and conveniently not showing the other actors that were trailing right behind you.

Cillian was standing with his arms around you in seconds while he placed kisses on the top of your head then on both of your cheeks.

“You know better than to listen to that… that… shit,” he said, words failing what he really wanted to call that article, “you’re the woman who came around at the exact moment you were supposed to.”

And I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

Light flickered into the room, Cillian’s arms were wrapped around your waist, and, for once, the sound of an alarm wasn’t what woke you up. You rolled over in his arms, facing his chest. Even at the small size he had to be for his role, you could still bury your head in his chest and curl into him.

He remained asleep as you situated yourself against him. You weren’t able to fall asleep again, but you didn’t mind. The peace that morning brought made all the sneaking around and rumors seem trivial.

My one and only, my lifeline

I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My hands shake, I can't explain this

Filming had wrapped a month ago and you and Cillian had both gone to your own separate homes. He had spent months with only phone calls to his kids to stay in contact with them and your own family had missed you. The two of you had made sure to stay in contact, phone calls made to each other when he was able to sneak away from his kids for a moment and once night had fallen.

This pattern lasted for only a couple weeks longer before you were planning a trip to Ireland and waking up back in his arms.

It wasn’t the sun that woke you up this time, though. It was the feeling of Cillian’s lips trailing down your neck and across your collarbone.

“Cill,” you hummed with a smile coming across your face.

“Missed that sound,” he said, moving to hover over you as his kisses and nips at your skin trailed down your chest.

“Thought you heard it enough last night,” you joked. Your hands trailed to his hair as his lips attached to your nipple, causing a rush of pleasure to wash over you.

“Never getting enough of that,” he replied and his mouth attached to the other as soon as the words left his mouth.

Another moan left your mouth and your hips pushed against his, causing him to chuckle.

“Seems like you’re not getting enough either.” His lips began trailing down your stomach, one of his hands running up and down your thigh as he moved lower.

“Seems like you should do something about that,” you teased.

He offered no verbal response and instead continued his trail down your stomach and hips. Your legs spread apart as he positioned himself in between them and added new love bites to the ones from the night before.

“Cillian, please,” you moaned out, your hands still in his hair and pushing your hips towards him.

“Say it again, love,” he commanded. Both of his hands wrapped around each of your thighs and he looked up towards you. His usual bright blue eyes were dark with lust and the look of hunger he held was enough to make your body shiver in anticipation.

“Please, Cillian, I need it,” you begged.

Your head dropped back as his tongue ran across your folds and offered you some amount of relief. You were convinced his favorite place in the world was with his head buried between your legs. The way his tongue danced between your lips, taking in all of your taste and moaning at your unique flavor. The grip you had on his hair tightened when his tongue pushed into you and began exploring every centimeter of you before curling up to nudge against the spot inside you that made your legs shake.

Your legs tried to close around his head, but the grip his hands held on your thighs kept you from doing so. One of his arms wrapped around your thigh and his finger traced circles over your clit. Jolts of pleasure rushed through you and your moans grew louder. They were a constant praise of his name that only seemed to egg him on in his actions.

You felt your high rapidly approaching and you let out a needy whine,

“Cill, please, don’t stop,” you mewled, your hips jerking against his face. There had been plenty of times where he would sense your climax approaching and would pull away in order to tease you until you were begging, but luckily for you he skipped the teasing and continued on.

He pushed his face impossibly closer to you, his tongue still working inside of you and pushing upwards to cause your eyes to roll back in your head while his finger continued rubbing circles on your clit.

When your climax washed over you, his head stayed buried between your legs and drank up everything you gave him. It wasn’t until your moans had turned to overstimulated whimpering that he pulled away from you and rose up to capture your lips in a kiss.

You could still taste yourself on him when his tongue slid into your mouth. Both of your bodies were pressed against each other, his chest pushing against yours and his hips grinding against yours. His cock was pressing against you, teasing both you and him as you felt the head of it sliding between your folds.

“You’re teasing yourself as much as you’re teasing me,” you mumbled into the kiss, causing him to chuckle.

“You’re right, but I love hearing your little moans when you beg for it,” he replied, pulling away and making eye contact with you with an expectant look on his face.

“But don’t my moans sound better when you’re actually inside of me?” You questioned.

He seemed to agree with you since he didn’t offer any verbal response and instead moved away from you, grabbed your hips, and quickly flipped you over.

In the couple weeks since Oppenheimer had finished filming, he had started to put back on weight… and apparently muscle as the movement seemed to be easy for him.

You rose to your knees and kept your chest pressed to the bed, arching your back and pushing back towards him,

“Please, Cill, need you,” you moaned out in that pathetic tone you knew he loved.

“I know you do, kitten, just came and you’re already soaked again,” he taunted, lining his cock up with your entrance and pushing inside of you, “feel so fucking good wrapped around me.”

“Feel so full with you inside me,” you moaned out and tangled your hands into the sheets.

Cillian’s hands came to rest on your hips, giving you brief flashbacks of the first time you had slept together and he had left bruises on your hips, though the thought quickly left your mind when he began moving his hips. He gave you only a moment before his grip tightened, his hips picked up pace, and he was bringing your hips back to meet his thrusts.

He had been able to read your body in ways no one else could since the very first time the two of you had been together. After the first couple thrusts he had changed the angle of his hips to hit your g-spot and cause your moans to heighten in volume.

“That’s right, kitten, let it out. No more sneaking around and having to keep your voice down. Let me hear those pretty little moans,” he coaxed, keeping a steady rhythm with his thrusts and making sure to repeatedly push against that spot inside of you.

A mixture of his name and swear words fell from your lips like a prayer. You could feel your second orgasm of the morning already approaching and you clenched around him, trying to give him some kind of warning as the only thing you seemed to be capable of thinking of was his name.

One of Cillian’s hands moved from your hip to around your throat, pulling you up so your back was pressed against his chest. His other hand wrapped around your hips, his fingers circling your clit to edge you on while he continued his thrusts into you,

“Cum for me. Wanna hear you moan my name as you cum wrapped around my cock,” he commanded.

Your head dropped back onto his shoulder as you came, your moans and his mixing together as your orgasm only spurred him on to reach his. After a couple more thrusts his grip on you loosened and he slowed his movements down as the two of you rode out your highs.

There is an indentation in the shape of you

…

Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo

Both of you laid back down on the bed, breathing heavily as you caught your breath. His arm wrapped around you and pulled you to him, kissing you softly for a moment before pulling away.

“You’ve made quite the mark on me, love” Cillian said, looking at you with a small smile.

A smile of your own crossed your face and a blush spread across your cheeks,

“I thought you left the marks on me,” you replied in a teasing tone, causing a small bit of laughter to leave his lips.

“Had to make sure it was mutual,” he replied in the same tone, leaning in to kiss you again.

“It definitely is,” you said with a smile against his lips.

[bewbin]

if you told me the guy who sang bet on on a country club golf course would become one of the greatest actors of our time i would beleive you cause he told me to BET ON HIM BRO

[paulrobinsonshotel]

Am I the only one who's feeling really... disillusioned with Doctor Who at the moment? It's been my favourite show since I was seven years old. Through the RTD1, Moffat and Chibnall eras, I never missed a trailer, a promo pic, a bit of news, anything. When a new trailer came out I'd drop everything to watch it, whether I was at school, at work, at the gym, with friends, whatever. I'd keep the TV on BBC1 just in case a small flash of Doctor Who was seen between shows.

Now, it took me a good week or so to get round to watching the new trailer, and I can't say I felt much from it. I haven't rewatched the Christmas Special since it aired and can barely remember the plot of it.

Ncuti and Millie are wonderful actors and people who need and deserve our support, but ever since RTD made the 60th a celebration of himself and Tennant, and vindicated the most toxic people in the fandom by refusing to have Tennant regenerate at all, it just feels like all my enthusiasm for the show has disappeared.

Even with a new Doctor with potential to be one of the greatest at the helm, it just feels like Doctor Who is being made for (and by) the people who spent the entirety of the past 12 years demanding Tennant back and shitting on everything that came after (especially Jodie Whittaker, but also Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Segun Akinola)

I still love the show, and Big Finish takes up a lot of my time, but I'm fairly sure this era isn't for me.

[thetruthwilloutsworld]

If anyone knows a thing or two about sex scenes, it’s Sam Heughan. Over the past decade, the 43-year-old Scottish star of Outlander, the cult-hit historical drama, has filmed hours of notoriously raunchy footage in his role as Jamie Fraser, the dashing 18th-­century Highland rebel, with his wife, Claire – a time-traveller from the 20th century, played by ­Caitríona Balfe.

Yet two years ago, Heughan, as one of the executive producers (with Balfe), introduced an intimacy co-ordinator to choreograph such scenes, which had been criticised by many as excessively violent.

“The industry’s completely changed since Outlander started,” Heughan says, sitting in a Soho bar on a visit to London from his home outside Glasgow. “Not just our show but also shows like Game of Thrones were very graphic, with no room for the imagination, in a way that’s quite jarring now. As young, keen actors, we were just expected to get naked and go at it. Caitríona and I formed a bond and trusted each other, but there were times when we were pushed too far.” He was especially troubled by a scene involving full-frontal nudity in ­season one, when Jamie was tortured and raped by his rival, Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies). “That really didn’t sit well.”

Everything changed following the MeToo scandal, leading ­Heughan to employ Vanessa Coffey to choreograph the sex scenes. “So now everyone knows what the boundaries are, like in a football or rugby match. It’s been so helpful and freeing, and it was because I didn’t want younger actors to go through what we’d gone through. Now, the scenes are sexually charged, but not gratuitous.”

Despite his heartthrob status, Heughan – who’s 6ft 2in, with the strapping physique his role necess­i­tates – is modest and thoughtful company. He also had Coffey enlisted to co-ordinate his latest pro­ject, Channel 4’s erotic thriller The Couple Next Door, filmed during the short break between Outlander’s seasons nine and 10, in which he plays Danny, a policeman living in a Leeds suburb in an open marriage with Becka (Jessica De Gouw).

“We didn’t want to make a salacious or seedy show about swingers,” Heughan says. “It’s about the psychology behind it – what is it to be in an open relationship where two characters love each other so much that they can invite people into that relationship? I think it’s possibly the greatest form of romance to allow your partner this, if it’s the itch they need to scratch. My character struggles with it.

The couple’s (initially) strait-laced neighbours are played by Alfred Enoch and Eleanor Tom­linson, who in 2019 finished five seasons as Demelza in Poldark. With Outlander about to start ­filming its final season, she and Heughan compared notes on moving on from a huge, long-running costume drama.

“It’s emotional. For me, the prospect’s hugely bittersweet. It feels like getting out of an institution. Outlander’s like a family, it literally defines who I am.” After all, Heughan has created an empire of Outlander spin-offs, including books, television travelogues and his spirits brand, The Sassenach – named after Jamie’s nickname for the English Claire – not to mention his charity, My Peak Challenge, which has raised nearly £5 million to fund a variety of causes, including ­hunger relief and blood-cancer research. “I’m ready for new challenges, but also nervous about what it’s like in the real world,” he says.

Still, he felt now was the right time to wrap. “Outlander could have finished after the ninth season, but, personally, I felt we hadn’t quite got there. So now we have the problem of pushing the writers to do something that’s hopefully satisfying for the audience, but also exciting.” So Heughan doesn’t yet know how Outlander ends? “No idea, and it’s really tough because Diana [Gabaldon, the author on whose novels the series is based] has written so many books.”

The show has a vast international fanbase; VisitScotland has cited a 67 per cent rise in visits to the show’s locations, such as Culloden and Inverness. “I do feel like I’m an unofficial ambassador for Scotland, and sometimes I don’t think the show is given enough credit for what it’s done for Scottish tourism,” Heughan says. “I think the numbers are even bigger than they say, because reams of Americans are just making their own itineraries. Doune Castle’s numbers are up 800 per cent, it’s been completely renovated as a result.”

The show has also transformed the local film industry. “For 10 years, we’ve been employing ­people at over 200 Scottish locations, we’ve started an intern scheme, we’ve built a studio with five sound stages where there was nothing before. So it’s going to leave a legacy.”

The son of an artist single mother (his father walked out when he was a baby), Heughan spent his early childhood in the Borders, his teens in Edinburgh, before studying at Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where his mentor was third-year student James McAvoy.

Having worked in London and Los Angeles, Heughan fell back in love with Scotland when he was cast in Outlander. Initially against independence, filming the first ­season in the run-up to the 2016 ­referendum transformed him into a vocal advocate. “Scottish politics right now is a bit of a mess, which is a shame, but maybe they’ll find a new rallying cry. We’re a great wee country with amazing resources, most of which are controlled by the British. Similar small European countries have great identities.”

Initially, Heughan is hesitant to discuss the issue, aware taking either side will provoke a social-media backlash, but then he decides: “Why can’t actors have opi­n­ions? The problem is you have to come down on one side, there is no room for deb­ate. Everything has be­come so aggressive and then social-media algo­rithms mean you only get to see one side of the argument.”

He had his fingers burnt when last month he signed an open letter from Artists for Palestine UK, alongside the likes of Tilda Swinton and Steve Coogan, which accused the Government of “aiding and abetting” Israeli war crimes, but failed to condemn Hamas’s terrorism. The following day, Heughan rescinded, saying he hadn’t “fully understood” what he was signing.

“I was maybe naively calling for peace, which is what we all want, but, unfortunately, that situation is so complex, I can’t understand it all,” he says now. “As an actor, you have a platform, but if you put your thoughts out there, you upset ­people, but you’re also damned if you don’t say anything.”

Heughan’s taking time to navigate a potential post-Outlander career path. “I’m a workaholic, but I have to be discerning. Whatever I do next, I have to feel really passionate about.” Possible plans include directing and exploring a different side to Scotland than misty heather and bagpipes. “I think that underbelly you see in [Ian Rankin’s] Rebus and Irvine Welsh is very interesting, there are still pockets that are very hard and gritty.”

Back in 2005, he auditioned for James Bond in Casino Royale – the role that eventually went to Daniel Craig. Now, there’s a new vacancy. “I’ll throw my hat in the ring,” he says, grinning. “I’d be a brilliant Bond, I’m good at action and I’d bring a lot of ­emotional intelligence.”

There might even be space for a personal life. Heughan’s mystified by “facts” he reads about his private life online. “There’s so much ­nonsense that’s completely false – apparently, I have a daughter. News to me!” he says, flushing. The truth, he says, is that Outlander leaves no time for relationships.

“It’s insane hours and takes over everything. Caitríona’s carved out a beautiful family for herself that she protects very well, but I’ve seen how hard it is for her to do that. I want a cat, but I’m too scared even for that, how would I look after it? One day, maybe,” Heughan says, dreamily.

Posting again as some people had difficulty opening the previous link.

[yuri-is-online]

Tokyo Debunker Intro Text/Notes

When the world is collapsing around you... Whose hand will you take?

It appears that whoever is asking this question is lighting a mesmer match, and blows it out just before we transition to the character select screen. The voice actor feels to me like the MC's, implying she could be asking this question of and using the match on herself.

Since Ancient times, humans have gathered around fires, fearing the fall of an eternal night. Yet they cannot help but peer into the shadows that hide in old places and pool in empty streets. Foolishly they yearn for it-- For the unknown that lies beyond the edge of darkness.

As this text plays the MC is running through a burning building that seems like it is the school's main hallway.

The following text does not change no matter what dialogue option you pick:

Frostheim

Luca

"I'm sorry... Yet again I have failed to protect the people most important to me... Please don't make that face. This is the only path left."

Jin

"We were just playing out a fixed match. And I was nothing but a figurehead all along... There's no time left. Get out of here. That's my final order to you."

Tohma

"Just look at the state of your hair. You really ought to go get tidied up. You simply cannot help but stick your nose in everywhere, can you?* I'm counting on you to handle the fallout."

*this is said fondly, he's not actually upset

Kaito

"I really was weak and useless all the way to the bitter end, huh? I'm sorry. I'm probably just delaying the inevitable, but... this is all a guy like me can do, you know?"

Vagastrom

Sho

"What're you doing here? Geez... What am I supposed to do, huh? I'm the only guy for the job. Pfft... what's with that face? At least send me off with a smile. Well... it's been a fun ride. Thanks for everything.*"

*Sho refers to the MC as senpai when addressing them

Alan

"Don't come any closer. I don't want to hurt you any more... Time's up. Sorry..."

Leo

"Life sucks and then you die, right? I just want to make the assholes responsible regret it. Gross, don't make that face at me. You think I'm suddenly pathetic enough to be moved by your ugly crying?"

Jabberwock

Towa

"Heh heh... ♪"*

Haru

"Gahaha! Why the long face? Head on back now. Everything's gonna be just fine.* I just couldn't do it in the end. Couldn't protect my home, or you guys, or anything at all..."

*this first part is said very upbeat before transitioning into a very defeated sounding, quieter tone. almost like he is talking to himself while still addressing mc

Ren

"This is exactly why I didn't want to do this! I knew this was how it was gonna end! What am I even doing here? This is all your fault..."

Sinostra

Ritsu

"I see you've guessed my intention. It's of little consequence. I suggest you get as far from here as you can. Father... I was unworthy to be your son. I hope you can forgive me."

Taiga

"Gyahaha! Time to cash in your chips! Guess this while thing was just a busted flush*, huh? Tell me something, would you? What could I have done different to change this outcome?"

*poker term, also slang for "a promising person or thing that turns out to be unsuccessful"

Romeo

"Tch. What do you want? Coming up here now... you're just getting in my way! I've got one last job for you. Tell everyone I looked flawless in my final moments."

Hotarubi

Haku

"Sorry. Guess I couldn't be the guy you wanted me to be. Ha. Ha... Don't look at me like that. Never lost faith in me, did you?*"

*it's brief, but I think I caught him thanking the MC. Also he's got some serious crazy eyes as he falls...

Subaru

"This is all my fault. I don't expect you to forgive me, but this is the least I can do... Please take this as my final act of good faith."

Zenji

"Ha ha... All the greatest literary masters departed this world before their time. I won't be leaving a masterpiece behind... but if I can save you, and our friends, I could ask for nothing more."

Obscuary

*this dorm is missing two students at the time of writing

Rui

"Ha ha... You found me! Geez, are you in love with me or something? Hey now. Don't think about trying to grab my hand. Just be happy enough for the both of us, ok?"

Mortranken

Yuri

"It's all going up in flames... all of my research... the fruit of my blood, sweat, and tears! Ha... HA HA! AH HA HA! AH HA HA HA!! Goodbye Mama..."

Jiro

"There's no coming back from this. I will struggle until it's over though. Dying always looks like it hurts. I hope I can save you at least, but don't get your hopes up. Bye."

at this point, the character will jump off the balcony the were standing on, some will reach out to the MC (Towa really looks like he is) other just kind of let the arm hang (Zenji committing to the noble sacrifice and Leo you fucking bitch-) The screen will then go black...

Please someone tell me... Where did we go wrong?

[demonbarbers]

so high rn so sorry if this doesn’t make any sense i’m just so emotional about josh and annaleigh and this production so i’m gonna ramble a bit about what i love about it and them. ok. enjoy.

the thing about sweeney todd is that it’s mean. it’s a mean show. it ends on the cruel irony of 2 officers bursting in on toby slitting sweeney’s throat, surrounded by 2 other bodies and one in the oven; on johanna watching her father die holding her mother and not even knowing it. everyone is an abuser or abused, and there is no hope or redemption to be found. and it fucking rules! it just rules. it’s so fun to indulge in our basest pleasures for nearly 3 hours, delicately served to us by one of the greatest composers who’s ever lived.

and every major production takes the bile and cruelty inherent to the material and runs away with it. like- just look at this swedish production from 2006, directed by vernon mound. or the last time it was on broadway, directed by john doyle:

productions tend go smaller and nastier, more intimate, in keeping with the spirit of how sondheim originally conceived the piece. (side note: i LOVE when they do that. my ideal sweeney has buckets of blood and visera right in your face)

the original production of sweeney was MASSIVE, but that came from hal prince. hal couldn’t really get an emotional foothold on the material until he found within sweeney an extended metaphor for capitalism and the industrial revolution; people literally eating people and the machine of capitalism grinding everyone up. revivals also tend to seize on the brechtian class elements, like this absolutely gorgeous korean production from 2019 directed by eric schaeffer:

sondheim, meanwhile, always objected to readings of sweeney as brechtian- it was all a farce to him, just a good, nasty time at the theatre. he approached it as a horror fan who wanted to write some fucked up stuff, which is maybe now some of the best art is created. but hal made it into epic theatre.

(if u don’t know what epic theatre is or what brechtian means google will explain it better to u than my ridiculously stoned ass can rn but im just focusing on one aspect of it rn: the distancing effect. basically, emotionally distancing the audience from the characters and the material so that everyone is engaging with the work on an intellectual level as opposed to an emotional one)

obc sweeney is an alienating show. it’s so fun and brutal and deeply felt, but these characters are grotesque. they’re cartoonish in their cruelty. just look at their makeup! john doyle also embraces the distancing effect; his revival is actor-muso, so we’re pretty aware at all times we’re watching a show. it’s all so cold, and the only warmth to be found is in the humor. and it rules. it’s nasty. i love it. this is the show i fell in love with.

all these things have become inherent to sweeney over time, all teased out of the greatest broadway show to ever exist; visceral horror, cruelty, coldness, and class commentary.

but this revival is just.. it’s warm! it’s lush! it’s romantic! and i don’t mean that in the sense of lovett and sweeney (tho this is the warmest they’ve ever been towards each other in any major production i’ve seen). i mean that it gestures at and plays with romanticism.

my biggest critique of this production is, in doing away with the brechtian elements (sondheim just cheered), it also does away with overt class commentary. it’s all still there in the text- turpin is a corrupt judge, beadle is effectively a sheriff, sweeney and lovett are working class, the beggar woman is homeless- but as a director tommy kail seems… uninterested in any biting political commentary, to put it generously lmfao. and i hate so much how little of it there is to be found in this revival, bc you can still Do It without invoking brecht. but i’ve long made my peace with that. i wanna talk about what i love.

and what i really love and what kept me returning to it (beyond the fact that it’s sondheim, and it’s sweeney, and josh groban is so stupid fucking hot) is how human everyone is. the entire production, from the ground up, is built around taking these characters and their pain seriously.

the ensemble all have incredibly period accurate costumes, unique to each character they’ve crafted (fun fact even the swings have their own unique costume that’s only seen when they perform). gone is toby as a mentally disabled man child with an oedipal fixation on lovett. in gaten’s hands he’s a young teenager, aging out of being a cute urchin and just looking for a mother. in daniel’s hands he’s beaten down young man with a limp and a genuine love for lovett.

ruthie’s beggar woman has developed DID after a brutal rape and the trauma of institutionalization and homelessness. she’s not played for laughs, even if sometimes the audience chuckles, and she makes u feel guilty if you ever did laugh at her situation. daniel yearwood leans so far into anthony as a sweet guy completely unaware of the story he’s actually in to the point of comedy. maria is just a revelation as johanna, all nerve and tension and bloody nails from years of self-harm. it’s easy to lean into johanna as a princess track, but ~crazy~. and maria plays jo as mentally ill and traumatized from years of incesteous abuse, but it’s not a pastiche or a praody of it. jo feels human in a way i’ve never seen her depicted before. i love it. maria bilbao u have my heart forever for this.

and then josh and annaleigh…. ugh!!! annaleigh really captures the avarice at the heart of lovett, but still brings in enough genuine moments of humanity and compassion that you find yourself (like sweeney and toby) endeared to her. lovett is always cruel and can only love through manipulation, but annaleigh’s lovett is a woman who makes small concessions. bit by bit, piece by piece, she erodes whatever goodness she had inside her until nothing but her desire for sweeney is left. she’s a woman who’s used seduction to get her way, and it’s easy to envision that when lucy returned from turpin’s, she shamed her for “giving it away” without getting benjamin back. she’s a monster! and yet, when she dreams of a better life, you feel it. when she holds toby in her arms and cried at her perfect little life unraveling, you feel it. annaleigh makes you laugh so hard she gets under your skin and stays there, exactly how lovett seduces sweeney in ALP. and there it is- identification! the complete opposite of alienation. we’re in it with them.

and then there’s josh and his sweeney… i really feel like his sweeney is undervalued. annaleigh steals the show. she won the drama desk for a reason. it’s a legendary performance. but josh…. man. i just. i keep returning to josh’s open wound of a sweeney over and over again. i think he’s probably had this take bouncing around in his head for years. they smartly leaned away from sweeney as this embodiment of rage and physical menace, which surprised a lot of people. but instead leaned into sweeney’s grief in a way i haven’t seen any major production do. josh’s sweeney feels like a man who was put on this earth to be a father and a husband. there’s a buried sweetness to him and you can still see benjamin barker in him until the very end. i keep calling him “kendall roy sweeney” bc it’s the closest way i can covey to other ppl what josh is doing here. he’s all big sad eyes and suicidal ideation, tragedy and twitchy hands. he’s so deeply pathetic he just endears himself to you. i want sweeney to succeed more than ever before. even though he spends all of act 2 killing people and being a shit father and thus killing benjamin barker, i still find myself wanting him and lovett to get away with it. and when the reveal comes, and even worse the betrayal hits- that this woman who he let into his life and body and who, in some odd way, became a friend, lied to him this entire time- it hits like never before for me.

i just love it all so much. i’m so happy it exists, so happy this revival does something so new! sondheim has said sweeney todd is a show about obsession, and it is. this revival supposes: what is the difference between love and obsession? what if the two look the same?

i think often of this quote from luca guadagnino’s suspiria (a masterpiece btw): “Love and manipulation, they share houses very often. They are frequent bedfellows.”

to me, that’s this revival in a nutshell- the thin line between love and obsession, and all the blood spilled in between.

[antidisneyinc]

three years later I can't believe that lupita nyong'o one of the greatest actors of our time received such little attention for the greatest (dual!) horror role of the century. she was two whole different people. her peers can't even play different people movie to movie

[mrsstarkey1]

sweet nothing - drew starkey

SUMMARY: loosely based on the song sweet nothing by taylor swift. you’re a famous singer and drew is obviously a famous actor, and long story short - you both just want sweet nothing from each other

WORD COUNT: 4.5k

WARNINGS: couple curse words

you took a deep breath as you examined yourself in the mirror in front of you. you brought your hands to the front of your dress, smoothing out the lacy fabric. a smile played at your lips as you mentally thanked yourself for picking this wedding dress, it was truly beautiful.

you were minutes away from walking down the isle and finally marrying the love of your life. you had expected yourself to be nervous, but you felt more at ease than you had ever felt in your entire life. all day, your most beloved moments with drew played over and over in your head. your ‘greatest hits’ as drew liked to call them.

“here looks good, yeah?” drew’s eyes lifted up from the spot in the secluded park he’d stopped at, right next to a tall tree so the area was shaded. 

“looks perfect,” you smiled, laying the blanket down on the ground, bending down to straighten it out, while drew set up the food he’d made for your picnic. 

you sat down on the blanket once your one simple task was done, and tilted your head up to watch your boyfriend finish setting up. you couldn’t stop the smile from playing on your lips as you watched him, focused on placing the different foods in just the right spot. 

“drew,” you said in a playful tone, waiting for him to look over at you.

“hmm?” he hummed softly, looking down to meet your eyes.

you reached out your hand for him to take, “sit down,” you commanded with a smile.

drew let himself smile, and nodded a little in defeat, grabbing your hand and lying down on his side next to you.

“this really is perfect, drew,” you said sincerely, after taking a bite of one of the mini sandwiches drew had made, “thank you.”

drew’s eyes lit up at the mere sight of you, like they always did. “least i could do for our one month,” he said with a smile, taking a sandwich for himself.

you rested your chin on your hand, gazing up at him as you fell into comfortable conversation. only one month with drew and you’d felt more alive and happy than you ever had in your entire life. you were reminded of your feelings every time you looked in his eyes.

“y/n?” you heard drew say in a slightly louder voice, and you realized you’d zoned out staring at him.

you let out a soft laugh, “sorry. yeah?”

drew chuckled, shaking his head a little. “nothing,” he said softly, reaching his hand out to your face to brush a strand of hair behind your ear.

“can i tell you something?” he muttered after a couple moments of silence.

you nodded your head, “you can tell me anything starkey.”

he took a deep breath, and let a smile creep onto his lips. “i love you,” he said, a twinkle apparent in his eyes as he finally said the words.

you were a firm believer in only saying ‘i love you’ when you truly meant it. which is the reason why you didn’t hesitate to close the gap between the two of you, only pulling back to mutter, “i love you too,” against his lips.

drew smiled into the kiss, bringing hand to the back of your head, pulling you in closer to him. “you love me?” he asked, a smirk on his lips. he knew damn well…

“mhm, believe it or not,” you joked, pressing your lips back to his for a small peck.

you spent the rest of the afternoon in the park on the beautiful july day. only leaving when you’d run out of food and you were in desperate need of coffee.

you and drew walked to the car that was parked on the gravel road only a few steps away from your picnic spot. drew knelt down before getting into the car, and you gave him a funny look when he stood back up with a small pebble in his hands. he held it up to you, the pebble between his thumb and index finger, “a souvenir,” he said with a smile. “to remember our first ‘i love you’ by,” he said sweetly, before shoving the pebble deep in his jean pocket.

you smiled uncontrollably at the memory. you’d never forget that picnic, nor the uncountable memories that came after that day.

you awoke as you usually did, to the smell of fresh pancakes and sunlight gleaming through your windows. your hand reached out to the other side of the bed hopefully, but it was only met by the cold covers, not the warm body you’d fallen asleep against.

you pushed yourself off the bed with your tired arms, and threw on a t-shirt of drew’s. you rubbed your eyes, trying to get rid of the exhaustion as you walked down the hall toward the kitchen. the smell of pancakes became more intoxicating with every step, and the sound of drew’s soft humming rang through you ears when you neared the kitchen.

you smiled at the sight, drew stood by the stove, spatula in hand, and dressed in your favorite outfit of his; sweatpants and no shirt. you walked as quietly as you could, stopping behind him to listen to his angelic hum for a couple more moments.

after a couple seconds you couldn’t resist wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your chin on his shoulder.

“morning, baby,” drew’s raspy voice made you smile against his bare skin.

“goodmorning. pancakes smell good,” you said, breathing in the wonderful scent.

drew scooped the final pancake off the pan and onto a plate, turning off the burner and turning his body around to face you with a smile on his face.

“did you sleep well?” he asked you, slipping his hands under your big t-shirt to rest on your hips.

“mhm,” you hummed softly with a nod, smiling at the feeling of his hands on your skin. “you?”

“the best,” he said, dipping down slightly to press a kiss to your lips.

you spent the morning together as you always did, eating breakfast at the table together while engaging in casual conversation.

that morning was one of your favorites. you didn’t really have a specific reason why, but you just felt so comfortable that morning. and you couldn’t help but smile every time you thought about it.

you heard the door open, and an excited voice squeal out, “how you feeling?”

you turned to look at madelyn, one of your closest friends because of drew. you met on the set of outer banks one of the many times you went to visit.

you smiled, “so excited.”

maddie smiled uncontrollably, looking you up and down and making you spin, “you look so beautiful. drew is a lucky man.”

“i’m the lucky one,” you said with a smile, letting another memory enter your mind.

you sighed deeply, picking up the phone for what felt like the billionth time today. “hello?”

“y/n, you were supposed to be at the shoot like 20 minutes ago, what’s going on?”

your eyebrows furrowed together in pure confusion, “what shoot?”

you could feel your manager’s frustration through the cellphone, “remember, I told Eli that you would step in for that model that canceled. it’s really good publicity, how could you just forget?”

you stood up from your place on your couch, starting to pace around the room. “I remember telling you that I’d think about it. I knew i’d already have so much going on today so I didn’t want to say yes.”

your manager sighed on the other end of the phone, “well, i told them you’d be fine with doing it.”

you physically couldn’t stop the scoff from escaping your lips, “what makes you think you can do that, melonie?” you didn’t even wait for a reply, “it doesn’t even matter. i guess i can make it there in about a half hour.”

“perfect, i’ll let them know.”

you rolled your eyes, throwing your phone down on the couch and pinching the bridge of your nose. going to a photo shoot was the last thing that you wanted to do today, after dealing with a million video calls and catching up on the legal stuff involving your new album. you knew it was your job, of course, but you were always getting roped into things that you really didn’t want to do.

you spent the rest of that day at the photo shoot, and by the end of it all you wanted to do was go home and sleep for 2 weeks in drew’s arms. your car was only a block away from your shared apartment with drew when your phone rang. you prayed to god that it was drew, and were disappointed when you looked at your phone.

‘incoming call : aunt mindy’

your eyes narrowed, and you picked up the phone.

“y/n!! thank goodness you picked up. how are you sweetie?” you smiled a little, but still were quite confused by the unexpected phone call.

“i’m doing great,” you lied through your teeth. “what’s going on?”

“well, your cousins birthday party is tomorrow afternoon, and we were hoping you could come and perform a couple songs,” she said enthusiastically.

“tomorrow?” you asked, hoping you’d misheard. your family lived in boston, a 7 hour flight from LA. you’d literally have to leave at 6 in the morning.

“yes. little emma just told us yesterday that she’d love to hear you sing for her birthday. I know it’s short notice, but we’re your family, dear.”

you shook your head a little at her words, more than annoyed. you hadn’t spoken to aunt mindy in years, not because you didn’t want to, but because you were never close with that side of the family. but you knew that you couldn’t say no. the whole family would probably be angry with you, and you didn’t want that. “okay, i’ll get a flight out in the morning,” you said as nicely as you could.

“oh that’s great sweetie, thank you!”

you leaned your head against the headrest, forcefully shutting your eyes to try and stop the headache creeping into your forehead.

it’s not that you didn’t want to see your family, you loved visiting them. but you had to make an appearance on jimmy fallon on Sunday, meaning you’d have to fly in and fly out from boston on the same day.

when you walked into your apartment, drew was lying on the couch under his favorite blanket, watching friends. his head turned around at the sound of the door, immediately smiling at the sight of you. you kicked off your shoes and walked over to the couch, sitting down close to him.

he gave you a sad smile after examining you, and reached out to wrap his arms around your waist and pulling you in for a much needed hug. “how was the shoot?” he asked reluctantly, already knowing the answer.

he felt you shrug in his arms, “not bad,” you said in your most convincing tone. he frowned, pulling back a little to look at you, not loosening his grip on you at all.

“you look exhausted, baby,” he said softly, moving his hands from your hips to your face, rubbing his thumbs across your jawline.

you leaned your head forward to rest your forehead on his, muttering a tired, “i am.”

drew frowned, he hated seeing you like this. “let’s go to bed, baby.”

you sighed, “i can’t. i have to shower and pack,” you scoffed just thinking about the phone call from the car.

“hm? pack for what?”

you pulled back, running your hands over your face, “my aunt called me on my way here. she wants me to come home tomorrow to sing for my cousin emma’s birthday party,” you explained, and drew’s eyes widened.

“to boston?” he asked you, utterly baffled and you nodded. “you’re kidding. you said yes?”

you nodded weakly, “i didn’t want anyone to be mad at me for saying no.”

drew shook his head and put his hands on your shoulders, “they shouldn’t expect you to drop everything and fly 7 hours with no notice. you have so much going on already. and you have fallon on sunday, don’t you?”

you nodded, and drew shook his head again, clearly frustrated with your family. “that’s not fair on you at all. what can i do?” he asked thoughtfully, running his fingers through your hair that rested past your shoulder.

you gave him a small smile, and shrugged a little. your throat closed up every time you tried to say something. you were so incredibly exhausted, and now emotional thinking about all the stress you’d been under with everything.

drew’s heart broke at the sight of you holding in tears. “hey, hey,” he said softly, pulling you back in for a hug. you finally let the tears fall down your face and onto his shoulder, and held onto him tightly.

“m’sorry,” you mumbled quietly into his shoulder.

“hey, no, no. don’t ever apologize for being upset, okay? you have a right to feel stressed,” he said into your hair, kissing the side of your head.

you nodded a little, and you let yourself sob into his shoulder. after a couple minutes, you gained control of yourself and took a deep breath. “thank you,” you said softly.

drew gave you a warming smile, and pressed his lips to your forehead, and the feeling made you visibly relax. you exhaled, and put your head in your hands for a moment, “you okay?” drew asked, resting a hand on your thigh.

you nodded, “yeah, i think so,” you rested your hand on his. “i just- im so tired, you know?” he nodded, sympathetically. “and it’s just this week has been a lot. with the album coming out and a million calls to take and emails to return. and melonie, god, that woman is so annoying. i mean, why in the hell would she just sign me up for a 5 hour long photo shoot without me saying yes to it? and now my aunt, it’s just-” you took a deep breath, tears forming in your eyes again. drew’s hand tightened around yours for comfort, and his eyes urged you to go on. “i just feel like everyone always wants something from me,” you said with a sigh, relieved to finally say it out loud.

drew’s heart clenched at your words. if anyone understood how you were feeling, it was him. he felt so awful that you had to go through that. he just wanted to take it all away. “you know what i want from you?” he asked you softly, placing his hand back on your cheek.

“what?” a smile played at your lips, waiting for whatever sweet, drew like thing he was going to say.

“absolutely nothing,” he said sincerely, leaning forward to press his lips to yours, pouring every ounce of love he had for you into the kiss.

you let the first genuine smile you’d smiled in days creep onto your lips once he pulled away. “except,” he added, and your eyebrow raised. “i would like you to get some rest,” he said hopefully, rubbing his thumb across your cheek slowly. “go take a shower, and i’ll pack a bag for you, yeah?”

you nodded, leaning in for one more kiss. you loved him more than you could ever possibly imagine.

“you’re both lucky to have a love like you do,” maddie said sincerely. “most people only dream of having what you have. present company included,” she pointed at herself, and you let out a laugh.

“aww, maddie stop it,” you hit her shoulder lightly, “there’s no doubt in my mind that you’re gonna find a great guy. a hot one too,” you added with a smile.

maddie smiled, before clearing her throat, “okay enough about me. wedding starts in like 10 minutes,” she said excitedly, grabbing your hands. “i’m so happy for you,” she said sweetly.

you smiled uncontrollably, wrapping your arms around her in a tight hug. “i’m so happy too,” you let out a happy sigh. “have you seen drew?”

maddie nodded, “yeah i was just with him and austin.”

“does he seem nervous?” you asked with a smile, and maddie nodded dramatically.

“um, extremely. he has practically sweat through his jacket,” she said with a laugh. “then again, he gets nervous just being around you on a normal day,” she said jokingly.

you stifled a laugh. she had a good point, drew’s heart still skipped a beat every time he so much as caught a glimpse of you and he wasn’t very good at hiding it.

maddie exited the room when there was just a couple minutes until it was time to walk down the isle, to make sure everything was in order. just typical maid of honor duties.

you looked in the mirror one more time, and you traced your finger over the tattoo on your wrist with a smile. getting that tattoo might be your greatest memory of all with drew.

“happy birthday, angel,” drew muttered against your lips, the second that the last one of your guests exited the apartment.

you smiled into the kiss, pulling him down by his neck to deepen it. you let out a giggle when your back hit the door, and drew connected his lips with your neck. drew looked up at you at the sound of the stifled laugh, giving you a quizzing look. “not exactly the reaction i hope for,” he said jokingly, making you laugh even more.

you shook your head, putting your hands on his face, “i’m sorry. i’m a teeny bit drunk,” you said, putting your thumb and index finger up to show the ‘teeny bit.’

drew let himself laugh, “i see that,” he said, leaning his forehead against yours. “did you have a good birthday?”

you hesitated for a second, before simply humming in response. this caused him to pull himself back, “what is it? you didn’t have a good time?” he asked, concern laced in his voice.

you shook your head quickly, “no no. i had a great time, seriously. you planned a great party, starkey. i loved seeing everyone, it’s just…”

“tell me, baby,” he said seriously.

“well, i’m 25 now. and i always told myself that i’d do something, i don’t know, crazy and spontaneous on my 25th birthday. because on my 21st birthday i didn’t even go out to celebrate. it’s stupid really,” you said, looking down at the floor.

drew frowned, “why didn’t you tell me? we could have done something crazy,” he said, tilting your chin up to look at him.

you smiled, “it’s okay, drew. i don’t even know what i wanted to do, i never really came up with anything.”

drew’s eyes widened with an idea, and he took your hand in his, guiding you out the door. “what’re you doing?” you asked him, confusion and excitement laced in your voice.

“we’re gonna go do something crazy,” he said with a proud smirk as he opened your car door.

after about 20 minutes in the car, drew made you close your eyes until you arrived at your destination. and you had absolutely no idea where you were going; it was so exciting.

drew opened your door, and helped you out of the car, your eyes still closed. you walked on the sidewalk just a few steps, then drew gave you permission to open your eyes.

you were met with multiple neon led signs on a small building, the one in the center reading, ‘timeless tattoo parlor.’

your eyes widened, and you turned to look at drew with a shocked smile, “oh my god,” was all you could get out.

drew smiled once he saw your reaction, “well, what do you say, matching tattoos?”

you wrapped your arms around his neck loosely and let out a laugh, “absolutely.”

you winced as the tattooed man pressed the tattoo gun against your skin on your wrist, and drew held your other hand tightly. you focused your attention on drew as the man finished up your tattoo.

“all done,” the man said, clapping his hands together. you lifted your arm up quickly to look at the work of art. a smile crept on your lips as you looked at the ink.

“i love it,” you said softly, looking up at drew.

“yeah?” he asked hopefully, holding up his own wrist next to yours.

you nodded, moving your hand to his skin, tracing the small heart with your initial in between the lines. you tilted your head to meet his eyes, “i love you,” you said with a smile.

drew leaned forward, barely touching his lips to yours, “i love you too.”

on the drive home, you couldn’t stop smiling as you moved your thumb over the new tattoo. you loved it more than you could say, because it represented all of your love for drew. and God knows that your love drew was so massive it could never be put into words. you wanted to so badly though, in a song. new inspiration struck with your new tattoo, and you pulled out your phone, typing in your notes.

you were almost home when you finished the first couple verses, and you smiled as you read it over. “drew,” you said with a smile, and grabbed his hand that was rested on your thigh, getting his attention.

“yes?” he said sweetly, glancing over at you before putting his eyes back on the road.

“i wrote you something,” you said, a hint of nervousness in your voice.

“just now?” he asked, the smile apparent on his lips, even in the dark.

“mhm,” you hummed quietly, “do you want to hear it?”

drew nodded eagerly, “course I do,” he said contently, turning the radio down.

you cleared your throat a little, and you sang the lyrics you had written in a soft voice, glancing up at him every couple seconds.

you looked up once you finished serenading him, and were met with his eyes twinkling with admiration, “what a mind you have, y/n y/l/n,” he spoke quietly, almost just to himself.

you smiled, a red tint growing on your cheeks at his praise. no matter how much he complimented you - which was a lot - his words always gave you butterflies.

“ready?” your father asked you, as you neared the aisle way.

you nodded with a smile, “so ready,” you said, liking your arm with his.

you took graceful steps down the aisle, eyes fixed on the very handsome man standing at your destination. your face physically hurt from smiling so wide, but you didn’t even care.

once you reached the end, you stopped for a moment to give your father a kiss on the cheek, releasing him to go to his seat. you took your position, standing across from the love of your life.

you looked in his eyes that you just realized were beautifully glossy. you resisted the incredible urge to jump in his arms and kiss him before the designated time.

“thank you for being here today as drew and y/n enter into a lifelong civil union. today we celebrate the separate journeys that brought them together, and we usher them toward the new journey they will embark upon as partners,” the official started. “as I guide you in exchanging your vows, you, drew, and you, y/n, will declare your intentions for a lasting partnership in love and marriage. are you prepared to do this?” the official looked between the two of you.

“yes,” you said proudly, with a smile.

“yes,” drew said, in the same tone.

“y/n and drew have written their own vows today, and will exchange them now. drew, we will start with you.”

drew took a deep, shaky breath, and you reached out, taking one of his hands in yours. he used his free hand to take a piece of paper out of his jacket, and start to read from it.

“y/n, it goes without saying, at least to everyone here, that you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. but i will say it, over and over again. I really cannot imagine my life without you, and I certainly don’t want to. you are, by far, the most amazing and inspiring person i’ve ever met. you never, ever, cease to amaze me, in every aspect. you are so strong, so talented, and so so beautiful. you take my breath away every time i look at you, and you always will, until death do us part.”

you took a deep breath, and tried to blink away the happy tears that had formed in your eyes.

“y/n will read her written vows now,” the official said, seeming moved by drew’s words himself.

you turned around to maddie so she could give you your vows, and you thanked her silently. you cleared your throat, trying not to let your emotion show so soon.

“drew, you are the love of my life; the reason that i wake up in the morning; the light that drowns out any darkness. every time that i had a bad day, every time that i felt sick, every time that i just wasn’t one hundred percent myself, you were always there. you are and will always be the constant in my life; the one thing that i can always count on. you know, better than anyone, that i have some issues when it comes to trusting people. which is something that comes naturally with the business we’re in,” you said with a small laugh, “but with you, i never even doubted for a second that i could trust you with my life. all of us here witness so much hate, so many scandals, so much backstabbing. sometimes it seems like everyone’s up to something, everyone’s pushing and shoving day-in and day-out. but everyday, i come home to you, and all of that just washes away. you never wanted anything from me except, me. and i cant imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else, and i am so glad that i’ll never have to. i love you, drew starkey.”

by the end of your vows, you had let the tears run down your face, and drew couldn’t hold his in either.

“by the power vested in me by the state of california before your witnesses, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you spiritually and lawfully united. you may now kiss,” the official said, stepping back to give you the best moment of your life.

drew stepped forward, arms wrapping around your waist, dipping you down to press your lips together in what can only be described as a magical kiss.

you pulled away after a couple moments, and listened to the cheering of your family and friends. resting your head against his, you looked into his eyes, and saw just one thing. your future.

-------

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♥️ Ranking Richonne

#30: This Is It (S7E12)

Their smiles in this 7.12 scene will forever warm my heart. 🥹 And after seeing the palpable yearning Rick and Michonne have for each other in each of these TOWL trailers, you just know that it’s moments like the one on this rooftop that they both long to return to. (Side note: when they said TOWL would be an epic love story they were not playing around 🔥 every teaser and trailer is showing why this is the most epic husband and wife and this is some crazy love for real. 😍)

Now y'all know Richonne's honeymoon episode 'Say Yes' is gonna make multiple appearances on this Top 30 list. Starting with this lovely moment right here where our power couple is so visibly enamored with each other...

(And y’all, at first I really thought I was gonna make these posts a lil paragraph each, but then I saw a post that said, “I’m my target audience on Tumblr,” and I was like - you know what that person is right lol. And I love me some detailed Richonne insights, both to nestle in and read and to write, so instead of short and sweet, these posts are about to be my signature-length and sweet. Cuz truly I can’t help but go all out when it comes to reveling in Richonne)

Lemme start by saying we are so fortunate to have Andy and Danai as the captains of this ship and that this extraordinary TV relationship is in the hands of two extraordinary actors. The way they give their all to these characters and always speak so beautifully about Rick and Michonne’s relationship is just a blessing. 🙌🏾

I remember Andy saying that he likes to think “I love you” is communicated every time Rick looks at Michonne, and it really really is. And this moment in 'Say Yes' is a prime example. The way they look at each other throughout this scene was a loud and clear “I love you” from them both, and I absolutely love to see it. 

Ok so refresher - because the universe was like Richonne deserves to keep winning on this honeymoon, they climb on that roof and find a boatload of guns at a carnival. And I love that they let Rick and Michonne’s run take place at such a date-like environment.

And I am smiling uncontrollably seeing the two of them smile when they realize this is it. They’re so beautiful and their joy brings me joy. It’s great seeing that they’re in such a good mood after being so down in 7A, and I adore every glance and synchronized smile they share. 

I love Rick saying, “I think this is it” and Michonne smiling as she agrees. This line is pretty accurate to their relationship too. This relationship is it. This is the one for them. I mean, Andy said it himself - Rick found the greatest love story of his life in finding Michonne.

Rick asks, “Think we can?” which is also cute cuz he def knows they can. As was shown in the 7.10 ep 'New Best Friends,' Rick thoroughly enjoys the fact that he and his woman are such a power couple and there’s nothing they can’t do. (and the CRM finna learn there's nothing this husband and wife can't do together real soon 💁🏽‍♀️)

When Rick asks if she thinks they can, Michonne is like let me find the coolest way possible to say 'yes we can' when she gets a determined look on her face and shoots those cans from a far distance. It’s nice cuz when she went out practicing her shot in 7.04 it was a very frustrating experience for her, but now with her man by her side and fighting the fight with him, she’s having a far more fun and successful time. And this would be how two of the baddest in the land have a carnival date. 😋

I love how happy Rick seems to be here to see Michonne in her element. He knew she had been practicing out there alone, and now he gets to see that of course his boss of a wife has got good at it. And their smiles and laughs. Food for the soul.  

You can just feel Rick taking in every moment he has with her and cherishing it. His adoration for this woman is so visible. And as we know, at this point, Rick had come to terms with the fact that he may not make it out of this Saviors war and that they’d lose people. So seeing him be so present in this moment with Michonne like they were the only two in the world, is all the more heartfelt cuz he’s trying to enjoy this moment like it’s his last. Cuz realistically, it could be.

And if his days really are numbered, then spending quality time enwrapped in Michonne's love and smiles is a major part of how Rick wants to enjoy what valuable life he has left.

Michonne is so glowy and happy in this scene too. 🥰  This is the face of a woman whose heart is being cared for by a good man who will be by her side through anything. Her adoration and fulfillment with her man are so fully on display, and she's so deserving of this kind of love and happiness. Also it’s sweet how Rick has this impressed look at her as she knocks down those cans.

And truly what makes this a top 30 scene for me is their reactions after she says that. Because Michonne gives Rick the most sincere sweet smile that is just so clear she loves him. And then the lingering way Rick looks at her 😍…based on that look it just feels like my man Rick was a bit overcome with his love for her. 🥹

It was most definitely a moment of Rick thinking, 'How’d I get so lucky finding you?' And I love that Rick can never hide his feelings for her. This is a man who is so deeply in love with his wife. And how he quietly soaks up this happy moment with her melts my entire heart. You can genuinely see that this moment in time with his true love is one Rick treasures and wants to hold onto for as long as he can.

And I just so respect that with his character so aware that life can be cut short, he’s really presently basking in each moment with her. Time with Michonne and their family is what Rick most wants. And it's refreshing to see them both be so fully present in their Richonne bubble and enjoying what they've always wanted in this scene.

The scene ends with them falling through the roof, but then after a moment of silence, you hear them laughing yet again. I love it. Nothing was bursting that Richonne bubble.

Andy and Danai understand the assignment every time when it comes to depicting Richonne’s relationship. And I love that they knew in an ep where they get to just have all this alone time, they would be so smiley and on cloud nine. And this was one of the moments that beautifully portrayed that. 

Joy wasn't often depicted on this show, but whenever Rick and Michonne got alone time together it was joy’s time to shine. They know they can get through anything together so they’re able to just take a moment and enjoy each other and laugh and smile and that is a rare and wonderful thing only the two of them could give each other in this way.

So if you were to ask me what true love is, I’d show you Richonne scenes like these and just have three words - This. Is. It. 😌