#actors portraying intimacy

[emotionallychargedtowel]

Hoo boy. I'm no acting expert but it seems clear that the degree of immediacy and authenticity that Louis Chiang brings to this scene is really remarkable. Not that it's something he's doing on his own--in addition to Nat Chen's contribution, which is impressive (I'm in awe of anyone who can act drunk in a believable way), there was clearly a lot of effort put into preparing the actors in this series through workshops and rehearsals (which, of course, Taiwanese BLs in general are known for). But the setting just provides an opportunity for an actor to work, and it's up to them whether they make the most of it. Louis Chiang just seems to go into these intense scenes committed to the task and ready to put himself on the line. Pretty remarkable for someone with a rather short resume. But then, he did win a Golden Bell (a Taiwanese Emmy, basically) for his first tv series.

It's impossible to watch this footage and not sympathize with what it must be like for Chiang to get in touch with so much raw emotion. That might sound weird since getting in touch with it was his goal. But even if it's exactly what he wanted to attain in order to fuel his performance, there's no way that work like this doesn't hurt at least a little bit.

I was thinking about this when I noticed an interesting little thing that happens after the director says "cut." I don't even know if I would have picked up on it if I hadn't been thinking, "Gosh, I hope Louis Chiang has the support he needs to put himself back together after a scene like that." As they get up from the bed, Nat Chen helps Louis Chiang up a bit. Nice, but not that remarkable. But then he keeps holding his scene partner up for an extra half-second after it’s strictly necessary, letting him lean on him just one beat longer. Then he does this almost imperceptible back pat. I just thought that was really sweet and illustrative of real rapport between these co-stars.

I keep coming back to why they didn't use some of this audio as diegetic sound. I don't get it. It's really affecting, and it's not like making use of it would have precluded using music as well. Even in a behind-the-scenes context where I'm totally conscious that this is an actor performing, my heart breaks every time I hear Louis Chiang's ragged breathing. It seems like a waste for that not to show up in the episode.

The bts where you can hear Louis crying-kissing 🥺 he was so deep in the role 😭

Video cr.@segasakii on X

[queenshelby]

Daddy Issues (Part One)

Pairing: Dominant!Cillian Murphy & Shy!Reader (& Jamie Dornan)

Warning: Smut, BDSM, Daddy Kink, 4-Somes, 3-Somes, Sugar Baby Arrangements

Summary: Through your best friend, you meet actor Cillian Murphy and come to some kind of arrangement involving intimacy in exchange for being spoiled financially.

Written with: my beautiful wife @darkshelbyfiction

Ever since school, Emma had been your best friend and now that you were both in your early twenties, and studied law at the prestigious Oxford university, nothing really changed. 

Your friendship had grown even stronger despite differences in personalities – you being introverted and reserved, she boldly exploring her newfound independence.

Emma was always full of surprises - from her unexpected move to New York City without telling anyone and then coming back six months later, to now referring to herself as Jamie Dornan's sugar baby when you were on your own while, otherwise, keeping it discreet. 

When alone with you, she would often talk about having "intimate encounters" with him and sometimes even others, keeping you amused while leaving you curious about what exactly happens behind closed doors. You were often thinking about 50 Shades of Gray, spiking your curiosity, although Emma assured you that it was nothing like that.

When talking to Emma and her sugar baby experience, it felt like one day she decided to break all boundaries – whether social or moral – as if embracing freedom beyond comprehension. Despite her brazen behavior, deep down inside, she still cared deeply about your opinion which made things interesting when discussing such topics together over coffee late into the night, sitting among the humming crowd of the cozy London Cafe.

The coffee shop filled up quickly around lunchtime, making it harder for Emma to continue sharing stories confidentially.

You eventually moved outside underneath the shade of a large tree, sipping their drinks while enjoying the cool evening air. Again, your conversation turned towards the subject of sex which was something your life was lacking.

To you only, Emma often opened up about her time spent with Jamie, the man who had become what she calls her "sugar daddy".

Their relationship was nothing serious and it was that, just after his messy and rather public divorce, he sought solace in younger women whom he could provide financial stability for. In return, they agreed upon fulfilling his needs discreetly and you knew that Emma was not the only one. 

As she shared more explicit details of their sessions, which she only did with you, the way she spoke became increasingly sensuous. She had fun, it seemed, and it was just last week that she had engaged in her first ever threesome with Jamie and another man.

"A threesome, with two men?" you asked incredulously, gripped with curiosity as she mentioned it for the first time that day. You only ever had sex with one man, and it was nothing short of boring to say the least.

"Yes. Jamie had a friend over, and it just happened. It wasn't really planned. But we had lots of fun and probably too much to drink as well" she giggled seductively, leaning forward slightly as if divulging a juicy secret. The sunlight reflected off her soft skin causing her silhouette to waver rhythmically against the foliage behind her. 

"Uhm, okay..." you began. "So who was the guy? Was he an actor too?" You queried, genuinely intrigued.

"Yes, he is an actor too, but I really shouldn't talk about this." Her tone implied reluctance to share further details.

Curiosity peaked, you probed, "But come on, tell me! Who is he? You know I won't tell!"

 She hesitated before speaking again, seemingly caught between excitement and fear. "His name is Cillian," she finally revealed, and your chin dropped.

"It's not Cillian Murphy though, is it?" you clarified, thinking of the renowned Irish actor who portrayed one of your favourite TV characters, namely Thomas Shelby. 

"Jepp," she replied simply, confirming your suspicion.

"Oh my god...Cillian Murphy? Is he actually single enough to do that kind of thing? Like wow..." you couldn't help feeling shocked. Even considering you hadn't met him personally, there was undeniable respect and admiration attached to Cillian's image as he tried to stay out of the tabloids as much as possible. 

"Well yeah, apparently he filed for divorce two weeks ago. Weird timing, right?" Emma said, looking almost surprised herself before you took up the courage to probe her with more questions.

"So, you actually had full on sex with them both? At the same time? In the same room?" 

Your head swam with visions of those three intertwined bodies, imagining the erotic chaos taking place beneath the sheets. "Wasn't it weird?" you then asked. You had so many questions.

"Yes, we had sex at the same time and it was crazy," Emma admitted, smiling mischievously. "And no, it didn't feel weird at all. It was exciting, surprisingly so."

Her frankness startled you somewhat, used to living within societal norms, yet also fascinated by how freely Emma discussed these experiences. Perhaps it was because of your conservative background that she never judged your naïveté regarding intimacy.

"I mean, Cillian Murphy is pretty fucking hot, so I do not blame you," you said, catching yourself off guard with your sudden audacity.

Emma laughed lightheartedly. "You want details don't you?" Emma teased, already aware of your insatiable curiosity. Your cheeks flushed crimson in embarrassment, partly due to her keen observation, partly due to the explicit nature of our conversation.

"Yes, of course," you stammered nervously, clearing your throat. You could barely look at Emma straight in the eye anymore, instead fixating on the ground, afraid that your face might betray you completely.

"What do you want to know about?" Emma continued, unperturbed.

"Everything. All the dirty details," you confessed honestly, unable to suppress your voyeurism any longer. "I mean, did they both, you know, at the same time, you know..." you stammered, wondering whether they simply took turns or penetrated her at the same time.

"Put their dicks in me?" Emma laughed, seeing how shy and embarrassed you were, causing you to nod.

She proceeded, "Yes, eventually. They took turns first but then both of them wanted to be with me at once. At first, I thought it was a bit awkward, but after getting comfortable, it became thrilling and liberating." 

You chin dropped, speechless. How could someone like Cillian Murphy be entangled in such debauchery? 

"You look really shocked right now," observed Emma, watching your expression carefully. "Is it because I told you or because of who it was with?" 

Though you were tempted to ask about Jamie, your mind remained fixated on Cillian. As far as you were concerned, he was practically handsome. To think he was capable of participating in these types of wild escapades was surreal. 

"A bit of both," you responded, half questioning and half affirming, hoping she wouldn't sense your growing interest.

"You know, he is single and I could get Jamie to introduce you sometime, maybe. If you want to meet him," she added nonchalantly, as if suggesting dinner plans. 

This left you stunned momentarily. You considered the possibility, envisioning yourself engaging in similar carnal acts.

"I don't think so, no... I mean, I am not like you," you protested timidly, attempting to regain composure. 

"I think you are thinking too much about moral standards which are absurd concepts, developed by society to control people and maintain certain order," Emma chuckled, referring to your prudish nature.

"Cillian is single and he was clearly intrigued by what Jamie and I have going, because it is simple. There is no hassle. No feelings. Only pure physical satisfaction. That's the arrangement between us. No strings attached. And he takes care of me financially which is really helpful seeing that I am, just like you, a student with a huge student debt," Emma went on matter-of-factly.

"That sounds nice," you commented, trying to understand why Emma would agree to being part of such arrangements without seeking a deeper connection. "But, don't you find it degrading sometimes?"

Emma gave you a sidelong glance, understanding perfectly well where your concerns stemmed from. "No, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with having sex for personal gain, especially when consent is given mutually. Despite, I actually really enjoy the sex. It's different than anything else, more intense and raw - and I feel closer to myself afterwards. There's just something powerful about it, you know? Sometimes I wonder how long this will go on, but then I remember that as long as everyone gets what they need, nobody gets hurt. This keeps everything simple and fair game, which suits me fine.”

You listened quietly, struggling to process all the information. It was difficult to imagine Emma – sweet, innocent Emma – as someone who enjoyed these kinds of arrangements. Yet somehow, hearing her describe it made it sound logical, even reasonable.

After all, money was tight for students. If consensual adults found pleasure in such arrangements, why should anyone judge them? You understood why Jamie paid for expenses in return for sexual favors – he wanted to compensate Emma for services rendered, plain and simple. Still, you marveled at how easily she glossed over potential consequences associated with such liaisons.

She always had nice, expensive things nowadays, clothes and shoes alike and she spent most nights with him, having fun and enjoying her life.

Their lifestyle seemed enviably easy and carefree compared to yours, stuck with heavy books and a mountain of debts piled high. Maybe it was worth exploring, you mused fleetingly. Still, you knew deep down inside that this wasn't the path you wanted to take. The idea felt morally corrupt, and it terrified you.

Back in reality, however, the fact still remained that you lacked the confidence needed to approach someone like Cillian Murphy let alone sleep with him. You were too scared of rejection and failure.

It was hard to believe that someone like Cillian Murphy could ever give you the attention you desired. Besides, it wasn’t as if you would suddenly become desirable just because you slept with him. Deep down, you worried that you weren't good enough. Your insecurities consumed you. However, the more you talked to Emma, the more curious you grew. How would it feel to be with such a person? What would happen during the act itself? Would they dominate you entirely? Or perhaps be gentle? So many questions filled your mind as you tried to grasp onto reality.

"Maybe dinner would be alright. I mean, nothing bad can come from meeting new people, right?" You countered cautiously, your heart racing slightly. Meeting someone like Cillian Murphy was indeed exciting, yet nerve-wracking simultaneously.

"Right. I will organise it then!" Emma said excitedly and, to you, agreeing to meet Cillian Murphy felt monumental, almost surreal.

You couldn't help feeling excited, hopeful that he would notice you among others and throughout the night, you couldn't stop reflecting upon the encounter with Emma. Her stories sparked countless fantasies that tormented your imagination, leaving you eager to experience pleasures beyond conventional boundaries. Even though it meant facing risks and challenges outside your comfort zone, the prospect of indulging in passionate encounters captivated you.

After all, hadn't dreaming been harmless until it turned into reality? Confronting your fears allowed you to grow stronger. As you sipped on another cup of coffee, lost in thought, Emma noticed your contemplation.

"So, are you really really sure?" Emma asked, seeing how nervous you were already. 

"Yes. It's just dinner, right?" you said and Emma chuckled and agreed.

"Yes, but these things can lead to more. There is no pressure though," Emma reassured you as a mischievous grin spread across her lips.

"Exactly," you nodded vigorously, although doubts crept into your head when you looked up his soon to be ex-wife and the women he had dated before, all of whom were extremely attractive. 

How could anyone possibly compete against those women? Why would he bother with somebody like me? These negative thoughts flooded your brain but nevertheless, you decided to push through these anxieties. After all, life was full of surprises and opportunities. Who knows, you may end up liking each other!

"Alright, we're doing this, then. Let's see where it leads," you confirmed firmly, looking determined despite your lingering insecurities.

Emma grinned broadly, pleased with your decision as she picked up the phone and called Jamie. 

To be continued....

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[emotionallychargedtowel]

So I'm interested in this both as a perfume nerd and as someone who is curious about the techniques actors use in intimate scenes. At first I reblogged it without commentary, just tags. But then I remembered there's a psychology angle that's interesting enough to be worth mentioning and thought I should add a real comment.

It might be useful for an actor to harness some other repeated sensory detail to get themselves and a scene partner into the right headspace. Listening to certain music, for example. But using a smell--one that is pleasant and complex--seems like it would be particularly effective. I remembered as soon as I saw this that there are olfactory structures close to limbic structures in the brain, but I didn't remember the exact details so I looked them up. This article from the Harvard Gazette is a good resources about this, both accessible and substantive. Here's a good pull quote that gives the additional details I was looking for:

More than any other sense, our sense of smell is closely and integrally connected with our memories. And not just our memories, but the area of the brain where memories connect with emotion, particularly around certain aspects of our lives. Guess what one of those aspects is? Reproduction! Emotions and memories related to sexuality are linked to limbic structures and they are housed right next to the area that processes olfactory stimuli. And location matters when it comes to the ease with which brain structures communicate.

Speaking of stimuli--if a stimulus is repeatedly paired with another, they become linked in a way that is also structural, because thoughts and memories create links between neurons that can last a long time. Anyone who has studied psychology at all will have heard of Pavlov and his dog, who he trained to associate food with the sound of a bell until the sound of the bell alone would make him salivate. If an actor pairs the performance of intimacy with an olfactory stimulus like a fragrance, the smell is going to bring back memories of their other performances that featured that fragrance (in other words, Khaotung will be reminded of every scene he's worn this fragrance in and First will be reminded of his scenes with Khaotung). If you really wanted to maximize the effect of this, it would be best not to use the same fragrance you use in intimate scenes in your daily life, because too much use could habituate you to the scent until you aren't affected by it.

All in all, this seems like a really smart strategy on Khaotung's part.

#a well proven tactic.

[ama0310]

Interruptions

Character: Tom Blyth

Requested: No

Type: Fluff

Summary: Tom Blythe’s girlfriend, Amelia Burkhart joins the cast of The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakes as Sejanus Plinth’s girlfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amelia never thought she would have the pleasure of working with her boyfriend, but after many years in the industry she finally has the chance to say she has. 

Working in a franchise as big as The Hunger Games was such a surreal experience , and the fact that she gets to share it with the person she loves most adds an extra layer of perfection. 

Her connection with Tom, sparked through a mutual friend, has consistently radiated fireworks. Now, after two amazing years together, they find themselves side by side, working on the anticipated Hunger Games prequel. 

The funny thing about that was that she plays Anastasia Clemence, the love interest of Sejanus Plinth, while Tom, cast as Coriolanus Snow, found himself entangled with Lucy Gray, portrayed by Rachel Zegler, who happens to be Josh Rivera’s girlfriend who is playing Sejanus Plinth.

It was like an episode of girlfriend swap everyday on set. A humorous acknowledgment among the actors. 

In a pivotal scene, Josh and Amelia engage in a passionate exchange, transitioning seamlessly from a heated argument to an intense make-out session. And for some reason both Tom and Rachel decided to watch it.

“Are you serious Sej? You’re working with the dam rebels. Do you not even want to go back home?” Amelia slipped into Anastasia's shoes the moment the cameras started filming. Amelia, as Anastasia, confronts Josh’s Sejanus, discovering his involvement with the rebels.

Josh ran a hand through his hair looking at the girl in front of him, “I need to do something with my life Stasia, I need you to understand that.” He responded, expressing Sejanus’ commitment “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. It’s not fair to them.” 

As emotions surged, Amelia, teary-eyed, pleaded with him before pushing at his chest, “It’s not fair to me that you are putting yourself at risk, Sejanus. This isn’t just about you. This is about our future, our life, and you’re throwing it all away and for what? You can get hurt Sej, or worse, you can get killed.” Her eyes glisten with unshed tears grabbing onto his face, “you can’t leave me. You just can’t. I-I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” 

He sighs leaning his forehead against hers,”It’s all going to be okay Stasia, I promise. I need you to trust me. Coryo has a plan. He’ll get us out of here.” He presses his lips to her forehead mumbling, “I won’t ever leave you . I promise.” 

The atmosphere hung in suspense before a sudden surge of passion seized through Amelia. She grabbed the back of his neck, pressing her lips to his, arms immediately wrapping around her waist, with an urgency that transformed them into Anastasia and Sejanus. 

He effortlessly lifts her, her legs wrapping around his waist, and slams her against the wall. Their tongues intertwined, teeth colliding in a chaotic dance that defined their unique connection–a beautiful mess that belonged solely to them. His hands ran through her hair, gently tugging, evoking a soft moan from her.

The scene took an unexpected turn as her boyfriend’s voice disrupted the intimacy.“DO IT AGAIN SHE LIKES IT ROUGH,” he proclaimed, shattering the moment. Amelia couldn’t help but burst into laughter, followed by Josh, who carefully placed her back on the ground.

"Tom, we've been through this before – you can't just shout out like that." The director sighed, chuckling slightly. "You're a bit weird, you know? You might be the first actor I've come across who enjoys watching their girlfriend kiss another actor. Let's take a 5-minute break, and then we'll give it another shot." He gestured toward Tom and Rachel. "…But this time, without either of you here."

Rachel's jaw dropped. "I didn't even do anything; it was all him." She accused Tom, pointing at the man who pretended to be shocked. The director rolled his eyes playfully as he headed out the door. She lightly smacked Tom's arm. "See what you did? You just got us kicked out of the scene."

Amelia and Josh approached the other duo. Amelia gave Tom a light shove. "You knew that was going to be a perfect take. Now we have to do it all over again."

Tom smiled sheepishly. "I couldn't help myself. This..." He motioned to the four of them. "...always makes me laugh."

Josh draped his arm around his girl. "You don't catch either of us making a scene during your performances. We're the epitome of well-behaved." He and Amelia exchanged a high five. 

Tom glanced at Amelia, the girl nestled in his arms, and grinned. "Alright, I'll behave next time. And you," he pointed at Josh, "better keep that tongue of yours in check."

Amelia's eyes widened in horror at Tom's comment, while Rachel and Josh erupted in laughter before making their way towards the snacks. 

Amelia wrapped her arms around Tom's neck, shaking her head. "You're terrible. But Tim's right; I never thought you'd be up for watching me kiss another guy in real life. On screen, it's different, but showing up to these shoots is just crazy."

Tom gave her a light kiss. "It's Josh. We both swap kisses with each other's girlfriends." He shrugged playfully. "I trust you. I know the role you're playing, and I know you'll give it your all." Leaning in, he hovered over her lips. "Plus, after his untimely death, Anastasia has no other choice but to run into the arms of his best friend." He kissed her slowly, making her melt. "And then it'll be you and me in these scenes. No interruptions."

[nalyra-dreaming]

I know Jacob and Assad said Loumand's sex scenes were 'protected' bc of Armand's past etc, and that may well be a factor, but I think there's more to it. The way some fans react to the ep6 not-quite sex scene (i.e. focusing on how 'hot and sexy' it supposedly is instead of what we're actually being told) made me realize that once you depict sex onscreen it eclipses everything else in a lot of viewers' minds.

I could be way off here, but imho the show dwelt more on Loustat's physical intimacy bc there's real passion between them & it's vital to the story. Whereas Loumand...I'm not saying there's zero lust but it isn't the main basis for their relationship. It's somewhat transactional and performative, even early on. And I wonder if by not showing the sex they were trying to draw a contrast with Loustat and force the audience to see that Loumand are together for different reasons & their sex is more of a power-play than an expression of raw desire?

I'm not exactly justifying this choice (not really criticizing it either, idek how I feel about it) but I do think they successfully distinguished Loumand from Loustat & established why the latter is more authentic & passionate, for what it's worth!

Maybe.

It was certainly intentional, and Jacob also commented on it that they didn't want to try to echo Loustat after all.

For what it's worth, these actors (and the cast/crew etc) know what they're doing.

As such, and with the (few) comments we got here, and the set design... the picture is quite clear - if one wants to look, I guess.

Given that Louis also had Daniel as a "lifeline"... (and the whole running away regularly comments in and outside the show) as well as the more than... dead passion shown in their bed, especially in contrast to what Louis told of his sex with Lestat, I think it's safe to say that this wasn't really Louis' thing.

Which likely contributed to the relationship going down (on top of everything else...), because you have to match your others "freak in the sheets" to an extent at least for it to be satisfying in the long run. For most people sex is a very important part of their lives, and these vampires were shown to engage in it, too, after all. (This is not to say there are no asexual etc vampires, but the main cast ones we were shown so far all had sex at least).

It will be very interesting to see what they choose for the upcoming pairings... if I were to guess I think we will get a drunken sex scene with Nicki, and a bordering-on-uncomfortable with Gabrielle after her turning in s3.

But they definitely chose to include the sex and how they portray it to tell their stories, and of the relationships themselves.

In the upcoming seasons, that will include (more) sexual violence, too,... they very carefully laid out the groundwork there as well. -.-

[wordsaresimple-imnot]

Truth or dare - Joe Toye x F!Reader

Summary: Could taking Toye's cigarette from his mouth on a dare be the push Reader and him need to cut the recent tension in their friendship?

Warnings: Cursing, heavy make-up, suggestive ending. 1st person POV (female, no use of y/n).

A/N: I have the biggest respect for the real life heroes of WWII (and all other wars, past & current), this work & all other works is based on the actor(s) and character(s) portrayed in the Band of Brothers series.

A/N pt 2: This is the second fic I've posted today and I'm really hoping it's good. The ending leaves room for a possible smut part 2 if anyone is interesting. Comments, likes, reblogs mean everything to me. Thank you & enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's so funny?" I ask as I sit down at the nurses table in the mess hall. I got there just in time to grab the last bits of lunch options before my shift starts.

"We are playing 'truth or dare' and Emily just had to answer who she'd rather kiss: Tab or Luz." Betty told me between giggles.

"Well? Who'd you pick?" I shoot Emily a smirk, already knowing her answer as we've been the only ones in our group that came from Toccoa and therefore the closest.

"Tab." Her face gets redder, as if that was possible, then she gets a mischievous look in her eye. "Your turn. Truth or dare?"

"Dare." I know she knows too much dirt on me to let her ask a question. But judging by the smile spreading on her face, I'm not sure I chose correctly.

"Go get that cigarette Toye is smoking." Her smile widens as the girls within earshot say 'oh' and some whistle.

Joe Toye is not someone that most of the nurses like dealing with. Not that he's rude or inappropriate, he just intimidates them. Not as bad as Spiers, but they put him right up there. From an outsiders point of view I can understand, he's not overly friendly like most of the guys in Easy you have to work a little to weasel past the hard exterior.

For myself, all I had to do was shoot Tab down for the billionth time back in Georgia as I was wrapping up his ankle that he twisted on yet another Currahee run. Don't get me wrong, I like Tab but not in that way and the quicker I could make him understand that the sooner we could just enjoy being friends.

Right when I was finishing up with his wrap, he started to say another pick-up line and being at my wits end I snapped a little. Grabbing his ankle I put enough pressure on it that made him stop talking and sit up straighter.

"Tab, if you come onto me one more time I will break your ankle. Do you understand me?" I kept my voice low and hard, maintaining direct eye contact so he knew I wasn't playing. With a small gulp, he nodded his head and I put on my most charming smile. "Wonderful, now take it easy with that ankle. If Sobel gives you a hard time about it, let me know and I'll put in a word with my supervisor to find a reason to annoy him."

With a final nod, I got him off the bed and started to help him to the door when a hand pushed me to the side and took my spot next to Tab. My protest died on my lips as I came face to face with Toye.

"I can take him from here, ma'am, thanks." He threw Tab's arm over his shoulder and started moving to the door. Two steps later he looked over his shoulder back at me with a small smirk on his face and said, "Remind me to not piss you off when you're fixing me up." Without waiting for a reply, he turned back around and kept himself and Tab moving.

From that day forward a friendship of sorts grew and since landing in Europe and dealing with the horrors of the war in our faces everyday, we'd grown even closer. The past few weeks things are taken a turn to being more flirty with beginning stages of intimacy. Jokes whispered in each others ears just so we can be closer than normal, fingers touching when handing each other items, lingering hugs, forehead and cheek kisses. It was all adding up and creating a tension neither of us seemed ready yet to break but didn't want to dispel either.

Emily's foot nudging mine under the table breaks me from my memories and makes me send her a glare. She's fully aware of the gray area Toye and I are in at the moment and seems to be all too happy to add fuel to that fire. I give a loud sigh and look around till I find him sitting a few rows to our left, sitting with Guarnere and Buck. Inwardly I groan, those two are never going to let me live this down.

With a final glare in her direction, I stand up and make my way over towards the guys. I can feel all of the girls eyes on my back which does nothing in helping me stay calm.

All three of them see me at the same time and smile in greeting.

"Hey doll, how's it going?" Buck asks as I sit across from him, next to Toye.

"About to go on shift, thought I'd say a quick hi and get a smoke." I shrug, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Here ya go." Bill tosses his pack my way from next to Buck.

"Thanks, but uh, I think I'll take this one." Before I can over think it, I pluck the cigarette resting between Toye's lips and take a long drag. I blow the smoke right in his face, hoping it'll hide how red my face is and stand up quickly. "Always a pleasure."

I practically jog to the nurses table, ignoring the laughs and 'good jobs' as I grab Emily by the arm and force her to leave the mess hall with me. I don't let go of her until we are nearly at the medic station. With a final puff I toss my stolen cigarette into the road and turn to face my friend that hasn't stopped beaming at me since I grabbed her.

"What?!" I sound almost frantic.

"Oh calm down, it's not the end of the world. It was just a cigarette."

"How do I even begin to explain what that was?" I put my hands on my hips.

Emily shrugs and flicks some invisible dust off her shoulder, "Just tell him that it was dare. But honestly, I don't think he really cares why you did it. The way he was looking at you as we left was more than mild interest. You're welcome." She pats my cheek and goes into the medic station, leaving me with no choice but to groan and follow her.

It doesn't take long for me to push the earlier experience from my mind and become overwhelmed with current and new patients in need of varying medical attention. Most are stable and just need an easy wrapping or cleaning up. There's a few that have been with us for a little while that still need monitoring but they're in relatively good spirits so it helps make the shift not too depression.

It's fully dark outside when I finally am able to step away and take a breather. With a signal to Emily letting her know I'll be around back, I slip out quietly and lean against the backwall of the building. I can't be alone more than a few minutes when I hear footsteps heading my way. I just want to be alone. But my annoyance goes away when I see who it is.

Neither of us speaks as he stops right in front of me and tucks a lose piece of hair behind my ear.

"You okay?" His words are soft and light, barely above a whisper as if he's afraid anything louder would break the small bit of peace we've managed to get in this hidden area. All I do is nod, not wanting to elaborate on the different faces and wounds I've been dealing with the past hours. His response is to pull me in his arms and spin us around so that his back is against the wall and I'm leaning against him.

We stay like that for a bit, listening to the noises on the street and each other breathing. It's nearly enough to make me fall asleep when I feel his chest rumble and the question I've been dreading is asked.

"So what was that at lunch?" I groan into his chest before pushing back far enough to look at his face. Fuck Joe Toye for being beautiful and sexy at the same time when he allows himself to give a full smile, not just a smirk.

"The girls were playing truth or dare and that was my dare. Sorry." I shoot him a small smile and pray he just drops it. He gives a small hum as he takes in my words.

"Well then, truth or dare?" He leans more against the wall, waiting for my answer. I gape at him.

"You can't be serious." The intimidating Joe Toye is trying to play 'truth or dare' with me? What the fuck.

"I'm always seriously," Joe winks, "so, truth or dare?" The glint in his eyes tells me there is no safe choice.

"Dare." I'd rather do something stupid than be asked something I'd rather not answer right now.

The silence stretches between us almost to an unbearable point, making me start to fidget in his arms.

"Close your eyes." His words make me freeze and my face scrunches up in confusion.

"That's my dare?" I'm trying to figure out what the catch is, but I can't find one.

"Close. Your. Eyes." His voice leaves no room for argument and since it's not anything crazy all I can do is comply.

With my eyes closed I try to use my others senses to figure out what his next step is. At first all he does is stand up straighter, move one hand up my back and gently cups my cheek. Joe pulls me a little closer to him and then I can feel his breathe on my lips.

"I'm going to do something now and I only want you to respond if it's something you really want. If you don't, just push me away." I barely finish processing his words when his lips brush against mine softly, teasingly.

When I don't make a move to push him away, he gently pecks my lips still in a teasing manner. The next time his lips touch mine I grab onto his jacket to hold him there and kiss him back. At the feel of his tongue tracing my lips I open my mouth and let him have complete control.

We lose track of time staying wrapped up in each others arms, making out like teenagers. We break apart at the same time when we finally need air. I'm not sure what comes over me but I kiss along his cheek, making my way to his neck and begin nipping at his exposed flesh. The hand that had been on my check moves to my the back of my head, fisting my hair but not moving me away. His breathing is becoming more ragged and when a groan escapes his lips from a particular bite I leave I feel like I've died and gone to heaven. As my tongue works to sooth the sting, the hand that was on my back drops down and grabs my ass, pushing my hips against his, letting me feel his erection.

"Joe." His name comes out as a whimper mixed with a moan and that makes him grind against me again.

Just as we are about to kiss again, someone clears their throat and we freeze.

"Very sorry to interrupt, and believe me I am sorry, but I need help checking wounds and restocking the stations." Emily's voice is both amused and apologetic.

"Yeah, I'll be right there, Em." My voice comes out much too ragged but it's not like she doesn't know the reason at this point. I wait till her footsteps grow faint, before beginning to pull away from Joe. He's slow to let me go and only manages to move his hands back to my waist.

"I should be off in a few more hours...can I come find you after?"

"No need, I'll be waiting outside for you. I believe we have some things to finish." He pulls me flush against him, making his point perfectly clear. Before I can think of a cheeky response, he gives me a final, firm kiss and spins me around towards to way back inside the building.

I walk a few steps, then turn around and shoot him an innocent smile, "No touching before you find me, Toye. I have a few ideas on how to spice up 'truth or dare'." I laugh lightly to myself when all I can hear as I round the corner to the building entrance is Joe cursing.

[endiness]

Debunking misinformation about Netflix's The Witcher (Part 7)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6]

"The writers were mad that Henry Cavill wouldn't do any shirtless scenes or sex scenes."

So. The origin of this is based off of an episode of the Deuxmoi podcast that alleges that Henry Cavill was ultimately fired for sexist behavior that caused production delays — which has obviously never been officially confirmed. However, just to entertain the idea for a second to debunk why exactly Henry Cavill not wanting to do any sex scenes and/or nudity might've been a problem as I've seen people bring this up against the show a lot…

Obviously actors shouldn't have to do any nudity or sex scenes if they don't want to.

She told us: ‘I had a body double for the sex scenes, and she was always there. Flora. But I didn’t, I only used her for the first sex scene because I realised very quickly in that first sex scene that actually, I didn’t feel comfortable anyone else portraying Yennefer, because it’s still acting isn’t it?’

And they don't have to. Anya herself, at least initially, used a body double for her first sex scene on the show.

"The first thing that happens is we sit with the actor, and we have a conversation [about the scene]. If the actor is not comfortable, that scene is rewritten. There is absolutely no way that we proceed forward unless everyone is comfortable. Of course, if at any time someone does feel uncomfortable, not even just the actors themselves, but anyone else on the set, we stop immediately and reassess."

That's Lauren's stance on the filming of nudity and sex scenes on the show.

Lastly, we have a rather curious addition to the crew. Lizzy Talbot has been tapped as the intimacy coordinator for the show. For those of you who don’t know, an intimacy coordinator is a rather recently invented position for film and TV and their duties involve ensuring the well-being and consent of actors performing in intimate scenes as well as making sure the intimate scenes are filmed according to a previously agreed choreography. What this informs us about the story is that yes, there will be intimate scenes in Season 2.

The show also hired an intimacy coordinator from season 2 onwards and they were also used for Blood Origin.

“Lizzy Talbot was our intimacy coordinator and she was just brilliant. She made it like a stunt, really,” O’Fuarain said of the intimate scenes.

So if this was a problem for production (which, again, we have no official confirmation of), it likely would've been because Henry Cavill was very controlling when it came to Geralt's physical depiction and didn't want to use any body doubles or stunt doubles and insisted that only he ever physically portray Geralt on screen:

"From the very beginning, he said he wanted to be involved in the actual stunts. He didn’t want to use movie magic or camera tricks to pretend it was him. Anytime Geralt is on the screen, even if it’s just his hand reaching for something or his hair flipping through the frame, it’s always him."

Which means that if he did shut down any nudity and sex scenes, he essentially would've been shutting down the idea of Geralt as a character (as opposed to Henry the actor) ever engaging in any of those scenes. (Which, if you know anything about the books, would've actually caused significant problems with the story later on.)

"The show made Henry Cavill go on a dehydration diet for shirtless scenes."

Henry Cavill talked about the dehydration diet on Graham Norton's show and at no point in time was there ever any indication of the role that production played in that decision. Now, is it likely production was involved in at least some way? Yeah, probably. But afaik there is still no indication either way of just how much it was their decision, his decision, both, or what.

However, I do have to note that given that Henry Cavill almost nearly blinded himself because he blew off the advice of his doctor who told him that he could not wear his Geralt contacts for an extended period of time without risking damage to his eyes:

"I was only allowed to keep them in for three hours at a time, well I supposed to only keep them in three hours at a time. […] My eye-technician was always pushing me to say like, “No, I don’t care. I don’t care what you need to shoot, take, take the bloody contacts out, because you will start to go blind after a while”. I was sure she was probably selling a slightly more dramatic version of the truth, because I do tend to be a bit stubborn like that. And I’ll say, no, it’s alright we can shoot couple more hours will be fine. And she said, we won’t be fine. You’ve got to take them out now. There’s lot of volcanic rock in the Canary Island, and when it picks up a lot and it’s all this stuff, which becomes very, very light and dusty. It got in behind the contacts, so my eyes ended up being scratched. I didn’t realise it was scratching so we went back to Budapest after our trip to Canary Islands. But it got to the point where I couldn’t really keep my eyes open, my eyes were watering, had to try and wash everything out. Very, very stingy, very painful, but I just thought it’s just because I’m tired and not getting much sleep and I just need to muscle through it. It got to the point where my technician found me hiding in the shadows of my eyes closed because it was was very bright. She said take them out. And I said, No, No, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine. Just give me some things to dab my eyes before a scene will be good. She put her foot down and said, “No, I’m stopping shooting until you take them out”."

And how he'd wear his armor practically 24/7 in order to break it in because he wanted it to look realistically worn down (and nevermind it's literally canon in the books that Geralt buys himself new clothes anyway 🙃):

"He wanted, for instance, for the armour to look like it had been worn for years and years. So he made breakfast in it and he would sleep in it. We were like ‘you don’t have to do that by the way’, but he’s that invested in embodying his character."

And how he insisted that only he ever physically portray Geralt on screen, including for things minute as closeups of his hand or shots where Geralt's just a blip on screen because the shot is from so far away:

"So for the action, if I’m going to take on a physical role, which has a lot of athleticism to it or whatever it may be, I’m going to bring myself up to that level so I can perform that role to the fullest. It’s important to me that the audience knows this and they see the character at all times. They see all the work that I put into designing this character in every single move, look, glance, shrug, walk, step. For the long shots, they were saying, we’re gonna save time because we don’t need you in the shot because it’s just so far away and I said well, has the person who you’re going to have double me studied the way I move as Geralt? And they were like, he’s your double, and this is so far away, it doesn’t matter, and I say, it does matter because that informs the audience about this character. What we, as human beings do, is we study people’s movement without even knowing it. We’re watching how humans interact with the world, how they interact with other people. We then make a decision upon them, whether it be minor or major decisions, it doesn’t matter. So watching Geralt, even from a distance, was very, very important to me and so with the action, it’s even more important."

Like, js, but I don't exactly think it's out of the realm of possibility that he had more of a hand in that than anyone and anything else given how weirdly obsessive he was when it came to the physicality of the role. (There's also Freya and Anya referring to the dehydration as "his" diet in this video, btw.)

[sleepynegress]

Meta About How Fandom Dishonestly Talks About Wanting "Queer (It Only Counts When it's White Male!) Rep"....

Fandom always looks like fandom...

The above tweet is dishonest. They are only talking about the characters they want to see be gay or queer in media, coincidentally white men. Mind you, Loki said he was into men and women in his show, they had bisexual lighting, and classic queerbait w/ Morbius and (sorry shippers but I gotta be honest about just my opinion, continue to ship away tho) ZERO chemistry with Sylvie. ...A lot of fandom ate that bait up back in the day, because that's as far as the media for these fandoms would go, back then. Given that Wiccan literally only just appeared with zero indication of his sexuality in MCU, beyond the character himself being portrayed by a gay actor (which I've written can be limiting as an assumption for gay actors, shout out to J Bailey playing love well, regardless), and having in-community affect (if there is a more appropriate term, let me know). Loki, if we're judging them by the same rules... And really, Loki is ahead since he outright said he likes both... The big difference I see is Loki gave classic queer (Disney) villain "coding" which is based in times when queerness wasn't allowed to be played outright as much, while Wiccan is simply giving gay teen existing. So, about that queer rep in the MCU... You mean Phastos and his whole husband and kids in The Eternals?

or Ayo literally being kissed by her partner in Black Panther 2 but we know it only counts to fandom if it's a white male... *sideeye* There's Val and her big gay energy... Hell, Taika went as far as cutting out some tongue action with Thor, which kept her bi much less obvious, and pushed the sapphic energy much more forward:

*the difference between coding and bait is these two confident acts, the second while winkingly gazing at the audience for a beat vs. Carol and Maria's "gal-pal" montage...it don't always have to be intimacy with the same sex* All this to say, you cannot claim to honestly want queer rep while ignoring explicit queer rep that ain't white male... because then it's obvious that you just want to see white gays in a hot make-out session... Which IMO is just the fandom version of straight dudes watching two girls kiss, and that ain't about rep, especially when deeper rep already exists and you ignored it. As for Loki, to me he always came off sort of vaguely slutty/flirty when bound, hit, or challenged in some way.

His energy has always been that, but I will give you, that the only person Loki actually *penetrated* onscreen was a man... not Mobius, but Agent Coulson... Once again, it's coding.

As for Wiccan, I think it's too early to say what the MCU will do rep-wise. YES Agatha All Along is giving EXPLICITLY gay energy. And yeah he's a gay character played by a gay actor, but will he get to be explicitly and honestly be attracted to another boy onscreen? I hope so for him, it would be qt and I would be chin-hands all the way for it.

...But again (same show!), I feel the same about Agatha and *spoiler*I know who Aubrey Plaza is playing but I'll be quiet *spoiler*

[sendmepicturesofthemoon]

heartstopper tv is very good at showing physical intimacy

and i’m not just talking about the sex

i can’t watch kissing scenes in movies. i hate them, they make me feel awkward and make me want to turn away from the screen. but i have watched every single kiss (at least between nick&charlie) at least ten times. why is that?

i think what it comes down to really is the lack of unnecessary sexualisation. like. when you look at kisses in a lot of other romantic media, even involving teenagers, they feel quite… intense? but even when they really get into it, nick and charlie’s kisses all manage to feel gentle, soft, tender and completely non-sexual, until they do in s3. but even then it doesn’t make me feel awkward because:

a) i’m already emotionally invested in these characters and used to them

b) the kisses still don’t look uncomfortable

i don’t know exactly what it is: the work of the director(s), the acting skills and really understanding the assignment, the chemistry between the actors, alice’s vision — i reckon it’s the combination of all these things, actually, but i find it uniquely lovely how this show manages to visually portray physical intimacy in such an appealing way

[emotionallychargedtowel]

nominating a runner for 25 ji

So, @my-rose-tinted-glasses and @lurkingshan have been talking about which lead character in 25 ji Akasaka de should, or is more likely to, do the traditional climactic run toward the beloved that we expect from a lot of Japanese BLs. Of course, even if there isn't a literal running scene, it seems certain that someone will have to take decisive action in an equivalent way in order for the story to reach a resolution. Well, given how obsessed I am with this show, it's not surprising that I have thoughts.

The answer might be a bit different depending on which we're talking about--who should, or who's the most likely. But I'll set that aside for the moment.

I don't think this necessarily tells us who ought to be the runner, but it's worth noting that the person who has initiated the vast majority of any closeness or intimacy in this relationship has been Hayama.

He starts right away, initiating a conversation with Shirasaki at the table read, touching his hair, and saying he's looking forward to playing his lover. At the bar, he puts himself forward as a potential sex partner, grabs Shirasaki's arm to stop him from leaving, kisses him, and basically makes a sex appointment with him for the following afternoon. Did he ever intend to act on that plan? It's hard to say. But either because he sees how petrified Shirasaki is when he meets him at his place, or for other reasons, he says or pretends that he only made the offer at the bar in order to keep Shirasaki from hooking up with a stranger. Then he suggests that they “date” each other instead and comes up with the idea of making a list of things their characters do in the drama and treating it like a to-do list.

And he keeps on initiating. He plans their aquarium date along with all of its couple-y activities; shows up at Shirasaki's apartment unannounced to watch the first episode of their show when it airs, invites himself to spend the night, and spoons Shirasaki in bed; invites Shirasaki to his place to make gnocchi and gives him a dough-kneading lesson that leads to suggestive hand doings, and so on, culminating in initiating their kiss scene rehearsal, which is at least as much an excuse for them to make out as it is actual scene preparation.

But how is all of this framed for Shirasaki, and what does it mean to Hayama?

Of course, the fact that they both portray their relationship as acting preparation and nothing more changes the meaning of all these actions and the wherewithal it takes to initiate them.

I do think it matters that Shirasaki was the one who brought up the idea that he needed to have firsthand experience with love and sexuality in order to relate to his character and took decisive--one might say, impulsive--action to make it happen. Hayama took his cues from that.

But it's hard to pin any blame on either of them for the miscommunication they got entangled in. Shirasaki didn't propose a pretend relationship to Hayama. His plan was to pick up a random dude at the bar. Hayama did propose the pretend relationship, but it was in response to Shirasaki's insistence that he needed to have this type of experience to prepare for his role. At first, he just took the place of some stranger as Shirasaki's hookup; when he changed the plan to the pretend dating thing, it was a step back from something that seemed to scare Shirasaki and toward a set of activities that would actually prepare him for the part in a way that picking up some rando wouldn't have done. Of course, it didn't hurt that Hayama also really wanted to do those things with Shirasaki.

We know why Shirasaki thinks it's plausible that Hayama is only doing the fake dating thing to help him with his performance.

For one thing, that's how it all started. He said he needed this experience and Hayama said he'd take on the boyfriend role. But it's also because of Shirasaki's insecurities about his overall self-worth, his legitimacy as an actor, and the difference in status between him and Hayama. In the first episode, Shirasaki thinks about costarring in a drama with Hayama and says to himself, “that person above the clouds is now next to me." That's how huge the distance between them seems to him.

Shirasaki has idealized Hayama ever since college. And then there’s this narrative he has in his mind about the difference between being scouted and having to petition to be allowed into the acting profession. It’s almost funny, actually. When Hayama was scouted as a model, Shirasaki spouted off about how it was a shame because he should continue acting. This affected Hayama deeply. But Shirasaki not only forgot about that comment, now that Hayama has managed to transition into acting, he has since rewritten history so that Hayama being scouted was an honor.

The narrative that Hayama was scouted and that means he’s special while Shirasaki had to beg to be allowed in because he’s less worthy is a really tempting one. Insecurities can be very persuasive under the best of circumstances, and Shirasaki’s circumstances aren’t the best. He has tried for years to break into the business with little success. So he had lots of time to ruminate on this narrative of the chosen and the not-chosen.

So for Shirasaki, it’s fairly simple. He always looked up to Hayama and thought he was special in a way he didn’t see in himself. Then he spent years watching his success from afar and idealizing him even further. Of course it’s hard for him to believe that he could really be with Hayama.

That part of the story uses one of the most common tropes in BL: the "someone as great as this person could never like me back" thing. It's a tried-and-true story element for a reason. It's something that happens a lot in real life (well, it has happened to me quite a few times, at least), so it's very relatable. And in my experience, it's particularly prone to happening to queer folks for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it gets stretched to ridiculous extremes in BL, and it gets annoying. But it's developed with care in this series and feels realistic and earned.

The portrayal of this dynamic also has some nuance and balance because despite all this, Shirasaki actually does come close to realizing Hayama likes him back.

He shows real insight when he notices signs of this, and he shows tenacity when he persists in having hope even after he hears the rumor about Hayama having an old flame he was still hung up on. It's only after overhearing Hayama himself say explicitly that he still has feelings for that person that he gives up hope, not realizing the person Hayama is talking about is himself. This misunderstanding isn't a cheap ploy, as @ginnymoonbeam has pointed out. Enough care has been taken with the story to make it really make sense.

This is where it’s also worth noting that while episode 7 was focused on showing us another side of Hayama, it also gave us some new insights into Shirasaki’s character. It didn’t tell us anything completely novel, but it made a point of explicitly mentioning and more thoroughly illustrating Shirasaki’s uncompromising, frank side. We’d already seen it in action. For example, take his rather abrupt (but salient) comment to Sakama back in the first episode about how “creating is always difficult" for actors, no matter what the details are of a given production or role. Or his stubborn insistence on repetitively calling Yamase “Yamase-kun” and not “Kazuma” (his given name) as he requested. But personally, this aspect of him only partially registered for me until episode 7 highlighted it from Hayama’s perspective. And I think it’s a part of his personality that matters here.

Shirasaki is very insecure, and he gets down on himself easily. But in some ways, he’s also very confident. There’s a kind of confidence in being opinionated, a belief that you’re competent enough to trust your own perceptions and judgment and stand by them. It's similar to the tenacity he shows when he continues to believe Hayama may return his feelings (at least, at first).

Basically, Shirasaki’s insecurities are hampering him, but he seems to have more of the kind of mental resources that would help someone speak up and take action in a situation like this.

What about Hayama? What’s been holding him back?

At first glance, it seems like he simply doesn’t think Shirasaki likes him back, thinks this is all just about acting for Shirasaki, and assumes it has to be temporary. And that’s not wrong. He thinks all these things. But there’s an additional layer here that was revealed in episode 7, Hayama's big flashback episode.

Hayama learned from his mother as a child that he would only be valued by the people he loves 1) for his appearance and 2) if he doesn’t inconvenience them with his emotions, which are by definition unwanted. According to the schemas he formed during his childhood, even expressions of love and happiness are unwelcome, as illustrated by his destroying the box of little gifts for his mom and her reminder not to show his teeth when he smiles.

It’s no wonder that the idea that Shirasaki only wants to be close to him for the purpose of acting makes sense to Hayama. To put it simply, he expects people to be interested in his outsides, but not his insides. He expects his love to be rejected but his calm, cool, seemingly self-possessed prettiness to be valued. He learned from his mother that letting on that he wants things from another person not only won’t get his needs met, but will inevitably lead to rejection. Even wanting to express his love for another person is unthinkable. In the system of thinking his mother taught him, his love may be a gift, but it's a very burdensome one. Like the box of paper trinkets he made for his mother as a child, it’s better to take that love, scrunch it down, and hide it away.

Because of his family-of-origin baggage, acting is a double-edged sword for Hayama. As I talked about in my last post about 25 ji, acting provides him a with the opportunity to express emotions that he was forbidden to express in his family growing up, emotions he has largely lost the ability to express at all. (Often, he can’t even consciously feel those feelings anymore). Acting not only provides an outlet for emotional expression, it even provides him with a script to follow so that he isn't hampered by his inability to get in touch with his own feelings. In this way, acting is a precious opportunity to get in touch with parts of himself that had almost been completely lost to him. It’s a way of making up for what his mother took away from him.

But there’s another side to Hayama's acting career and the validation he's received for it: it actually reinforces a lot of that family-of-origin stuff. When he receives praise for his acting, he’s being praised for something external. No matter how well he does his job, no matter how expressive he is or how authentic his emotions appear in a performance, at the end of the day he’s pretending, because that’s the nature of acting. He’s being validated for his surface again. For his shell, not what’s under it.

For Hayama, the idea that Shirasaki only wants him for a pretend relationship makes perfect sense. People he loves don’t want him to express that to them. They’ll find it burdensome, repulsive, or at best, irrelevant. They want him to perform and be pretty. They want the pretend version of him at all times.

I think it’s also notable that Hayama tells the story of their fake relationship and his growing feelings as if he was barely in control of his actions. “The next thing I knew, I was running. The next thing I knew, I was kissing you.” He’s too spun around by everything to be calculating or even rational. He is taking action, sometimes before he’s even really aware of it. His impassive exterior makes it seem as if he must have some kind of purpose behind his actions, but that's just the mask he wears because of his family-of-origin stuff. There's no master plan, just someone so out of touch with their emotions that they can't predict their own impulses.

So who should run?

This could be a question of who deserves to run--who hasn't, in a sense, pulled their weight so far in this quasi-relationship, or who has done the most damage (that would arguably be Shirasaki, who ended their fake relationship, but of course, he had no idea this would hurt Hayama and actually thought he was sparing him a lot of inconvenience).

My philosophy when it comes to this is pretty well summed up by that famous Karl Marx quote: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." If one or both of these characters has the ability to close the gap between them, wholly or partially, it would behoove them to do it whether or not the other one has done enough by whatever standard we might apply. In other words, the "who should run" question is (in my view) best framed as a question of who is best equipped to do something to fix things.

Each of the lead characters has something potentially useful that has come more naturally to them so far. Hayama is better at making things happen. This is largely due to the impulsiveness I was just describing. So far, he has only acted in this way when he has some kind of cover story he can hide behind to explain what he's doing. But I wonder if that will continue to be the case for long. Shirasaki, on the other hand, is better at believing in himself and the possibility that the person he fell for might feel the same way. This hasn’t translated to actually taking action much so far. But again, it’s about time for that to change. If they can only get activated somehow, his determination and conviction could be exactly what they need to bridge the gap between them. I’m hopeful they'll both manage to make use of these advantages before it's too late.

I’ll tell you one thing I know for sure. It’s not a coincidence that there’s a shot in the preview that echoes the episode 6 breakup scene, in which a glass door closed between Shirasaki and Hayama.

Of course, that scene was shown again from a different angle in episode 7 and that time, viewers could see Hayama’s devastated expression for the first time. This shot in the preview is from a similar angle, showing both Shirasaki’s and Hayama’s faces. But this time, Hayama is right behind Shirasaki and he grabs the handle of the door to stop him from leaving. (Sorry for all the type and stuff on the image here, it's a screenshot from the show's IG.)

I ended up having a lot of thoughts that came up around this question, but I don't really have an answer. It'll depend on the circumstances, I think. It would be best if they both made an effort to meet in the middle. And really, isn't that what usually happens when there's a classic JBL run? In the cases I've seen, there was always a confession by one character that went wrong in some way, then after some time, the other person reciprocated by running to them. Neither one of these characters has directly said that they have feelings for the other person beyond their acting roles. So maybe what we're in for, what's needed to resolve this story, is a two-step process. Whoever manages to make the first step, the other will need to make the second. If the glass door image is what it looks like, maybe Hayama will make the first step in the next episode.

[rewatching-sam-and-dean]

My Commentary on Rob and Rich Reviewing (4x14) Sex and Violence

I was listening to the latest Supernatural Then and Now Podcast (The Siren Episode) and I had to stop it after the Rob and Rich review to write down my thoughts because it annoyed me so much.

The guys both thought the episode was okay, but a bunch of things “bumped” for them. This is fine, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion about an episode, but some of the things that “bumped” for them “bump” for me.

My thoughts under the cut …

Bump # 1 - The Siren turning out to be a man

So, both Rs had an issue with the siren being a man since the lore showed them as women, and I think, because in real mythology they are women. Though they conceded that the a male siren could be a thing too, it seemed to really bother them that the siren ended up not being about a sexual connection with the brothers (though Rich saw the flask sharing scene as flirtatious … because no guys have ever shared a flask, including, Dean and Bobby).

I’m sorry, but the siren targeting the brothers, and using a version of an ideal brother to get to Dean isn’t a plot hole or a “stretch” or something, it’s an interesting choice and it’s exactly the point of the episode. While many men are vulnerable to a pretty woman who is into them, Dean just wants Sam. He wants his relationship with Sam to be better. In particular, he’s so worried about Sam and insecure in their bond that he wants a Sam who likes what he likes but, more importantly, one who listens to him and doesn’t hide things from him. And I know I’ve written about this before on a previous post, but Dean doesn’t NEED the siren to be a hot girl; he can find one of those easily. He needs a Sam he can trust. That’s the whole point. The show is drawing the comparison between sexual intimacy/romantic companionship (usually one of the most desired things in literature/media) to the brothers relationship to show how much brotherhood matters to Dean in particular (in this case).

The way the male siren actor portrays its interest in the brothers, to me, is very much like it’s intrigued and excited that it found a high even better than the sexual desire that it usually feeds off of. When the siren feels how desperate Dean is for the bond with Sam to be fixed, it finds him more interesting than it’s usual target. Dean’s longing for Sam (not sexual) is even stronger than the sexual desire or romantic companionship that the siren usually feeds off of, so much so that the siren changes its entire MO to go after the brothers.

Bump # 2 - The Doctor sleeping with Sam (when she isn’t the siren) is weird

So, the Rs disagreed on the “bumpiness” of this one. Rob thought it was weird that the doctor would just decide to sleep with Sam (at work), while it didn’t bother Rich because … Jared Padalecki. Sound argument (in this case), Rich.

Still, the doctor is a little unusual, and her behaviour is clearly intended to be a misdirect, but the show does a good enough job of suggesting she had a bad breakup (or worse) and is now just sort of living in the moment, so her behaviour doesn’t bother me. Also, Sam is hot.

What is stranger than the doctor’s behaviour, for the audience who knows him, is Sam having sex with her I that moment. Not only that, but Sam is very chill when she’s hitting on him, where in the past, Sam has often been a little shy or awkward with women that he’s been attracted to or interested in. So no, this is not Sam’s usual MO to sleep with the doctor, especially when we know he and Ruby are or were also sleeping together. Sam is not acting entirely like his usual self. And he hasn’t been acting entirely like himself for a while now.

Bump # 3 - The Siren telling the boys to fight each other and saying the winner can “be with” him

I don’t know why they had an issue with this. The siren literally explains that it loves the rush of having people willing to do anything for it, even kill people they love. What the siren tells the brothers doesn’t matter because it’s not like it’s really planning to have a relationship with the brother who wins the fight. And the boys are already infected at this point, so it’s just giving them incentive to fight. It’s not sticky about the sexual-ness of people’s need for the siren, it’s about the desperation they have to be with it (in whatever way).

Bump #4 - Sam dismissing the Doctor after sleeping with her.

The guys were both bothered by Sam not bothering to say goodbye to the doctor, and they mentioned that it seemed sort of old-school (womanizing?). Rob said that Sam dismissing her was more like something Dean would do than Sam. I know that I already said this, but this is the whole point. Sam hasn’t been acting like his old self. This isn’t an accidental writing mistake, where the writer accidentally wrote Sam more like Dean. Sam is different now.

It also isn’t like Sam to call Dean weak, or ridicule him for being messed up from his experience in hell. Season 2 Sam would never, and Season 3 Sam wouldn’t either. Season 4 Sam has changed from the trauma of losing Dean, drinking demon blood, and having Ruby in his ear.

Also, to play devils advocate on myself, Sam has actually left towns before without saying goodbye to the girl he had a connection with, maybe not after sleeping with her, but it’s not wholly out of character for him to leave without saying goodbye (I’m not criticizing him for this). Also, I really don’t think that doctor was looking for anything more from Sam beyond hooking up in her office, so this doesn’t bother me much.

Final thoughts

Anyway, I’m not arguing that everyone has to love every episode, or even like all the ones that I do. I’m not even arguing that people need to like Sex and Violence because it really can be a little uncomfortable, and there is a bit of a sexual undercurrent to it all, even though that’s not the sirens intention with the brother. That’s also not exactly new on Supernatural. However, it’s weird to me that so many of the things that “bumped” for Rob and Rich seem to me like very deliberate choices by the writers, not careless mistakes or pointlessly out of character. This episode reveals a lot about where Sam and Dean are at this point in the season, both individually and in their relationship.

Granted, I have the benefit of watching the episode and knowing where it’s all leading, but this is what sort of bothers me about hearing people discuss the show who are doing it for a purpose and are probably only half-invested in the story. They miss things that seem like they should be really clear. Also, it’s funny when they find things uncomfortably sexual in relation to Sam and Dean (they didn’t outright say that, but I think it was implied in what they said) and act like it’s a surprise or out of place. Again, this isn’t new. They obviously listened to too many hellers if they didn’t realize that Sam and Dean are weirdly close at times or that the show makes some pretty blatant parallels between them and couples or makes quasi-incestuous connections between Sam and Dean.

I have nothing else to add here. This was mostly just a rant, but feel free to add your two cents if you made it this far.

[eddy25960]

"The love relationship of Salvador Dali and Garcia Lorca / 1920/30s.

The Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), known for portraying dreams and fantasies on his canvases, in addition to keeping his exotic extremely thin and pointed mustache and his controversial paintings, Dalí's biography hides the love affair between him and the poet, also surrealist, Federico Garcia Lorca.

In 2013, the researcher Vitor Fernández released in Spain the book "Dear Salvador, dear Lorquito", where the love letters between the painter and the poet were gathered during the period 1923 to 1936, when they had an affair and worked in artistic partnerships.

Some excerpts were published in El País newspaper. "You're a Christian storm in need of my paganism. I'll give you the cure for the sea. It will be winter and we will light the fire," says a passage written by Dalí.

"You will remember that you are an inventor of wonderful things, and we will live together with a machine to create," Lorca replies.

In 1926 Lorca published, in the Occidente Magazine, "Ode to Salvador Dalí", recognized by critics, the most beautiful hymn to friendship ever written in Spanish. Reading the poem it is possible to perceive the praise for Dalí's painting and tears praises to the realism and objectivity of Dalí's work of this period, in addition to the evocation of the artist's Reason.

Dalí also paid homage to Lorca in the painting "Honey is sweeter than blood", painted in 1927, and was exhibited the same year at the Autumn Salon in Barcelona.

The screen came to belong to the stylist Coco Channel, a friend of Dalí, and is currently lost. You can only have a photographic reproduction in white and black In the picture, you can observe various elements of life, love and friendship between the two.

Salvador Dalí also made several engravings and drawings; many of them, illustrations for books such as "Alice in Wonderland", "Fausto", "Dom Quixote" and "The Old Man and the Sea"; 15 photos, 40 documents and 4 films, among them the famous "The Andalusian Dog", directed by Luis Buñuel, probably the third element what caused Dali and Lorca to split.

The film contains various literary references of the time. The title, for example, "An Andalusian Dog", is an irony against Garcia Lorca, who understood the hint and from then on never talked to the two again because of the movie.

Buñuel is an essential piece in Garcia and Salvador's story. The story of the relationship between the two can be seen in the 2008 film "Little Ashes", starring Robert Pattinson long before he became the vampire Edward in the "Twilight" trilogy. And the hot scenes with the actor.

Dalí met Garcia Lorca at the age of 19, at the University Residence in Madrid, during the first months of 1923. The painter was admitted to the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in 1922.

And he was already an extravagant character, being accepted into the student group in which Luís Buñuel and Lorca were part of, proving to be modern and talented. In the movie Little Cinzas you can notice Lorca's intimacy with Salvador and jealousy for the painter's approach with Buñuel. "

Credit - original owner ( respect 🫡)

(American Philosophy publication)

[caustinen]

hollywood au - how does Gale feel about Bucky doing intimate scenes in movies? is there any project that Bucky rejects because Gale doesn’t want him to do it?

another lovely question!! everytime i think i don’t have anything more to offer to this au these kinds of questions appear and i find myself writing another essay 😂

hollywood au! sexy scenes in bucky’s movies 🫨

gale has seen approximately million sex scenes in his life (we have to remember that before he was a john simp he was already a film bro) so he’s used to seeing them with or without john and he doesn’t really care most times, even if they’re not his favorites he can rationalize it well.

however. HOWEVER. he and john have been together for a long time, and it’s impossible to completely separate the images he sees on screen from memories of sensation — the rational part of your brain can only do so much. and because john happens to be a very good actor and is often cast in heart throb roles, he’s also a pro at doing a sex scenes, and the way he portrays want and enjoyment can sometimes be very close to the real thing, leaving gale hot and bothered in the theatre. he might even squeeze bucky’s hand in his by accident or, also completely accidentally of course, drop his hand to the thigh closest to him in the dark audience.

but really, sex scenes don’t make him jealous, because they are so strictly choreographed and staged. kissing scenes, on the other hand…

it’s the same thing with kissing as with sex, he’s a grown man who’s seen hundreds of films, he knows it’s acting and doesn’t mean anything. he knows bucky is crazy about him. but maybe that’s exactly why he lets that feeling sometimes grow in his chest when he watches his boyfriend kissing someone else; jealousy is a nasty feeling, but there’s also something exciting about it when it can be explored in this safe environment, it’s almost more like a roleplay to let himself feel jealous every once in a while.

(mostly he just feels melancholy sometimes when bucky’s been away for a long time filming far away and he tells him they’re doing the intimate scenes that day, then he feels jealous he can’t be there to do that stuff for real with bucky but it’s directed at the universe more than the actor playing against him)

in conclusion, maybe sometimes gale gets a bit more worked up after they’ve seen a film where bucky is intimate with someone else. maybe his fingers wander a bit more, maybe he’s draped a bit closer as they chat with others after the screening; maybe he’s staring into his boyfriend’s eyes everytime he puts something in his mouth and keeps saying innuendos or loaded inside jokes until john get’s the message and they can go home so gale can have a replay of those sounds and expressions of pleasure, just for him

i think i hc’s somewhere before he’d also be easily inspired by some of bucky’s roles/costumes/films, i might need to revisit an idea about gale getting some nsfw propositions that include john in a pilot uniform 🤭

as for what kind of films he’d ask john to reject… this is super interesting because my initial idea would’ve been nothing, like gale’s personality and love for art would overcome any personal preference. but that also means that he has high standards for films he likes and since bucky trusts his judgment over anything and they discuss the scripts together, i’d think gale’s personal preferences would sometimes shine through a bit. i don’t think he’d tell bucky not to audition for a role just because it includes a lot of intimate/sex scenes, but like i mentioned before i hc this gale loving text over everything so he’d be looking for the reason for all of the intimacy — are the sex scenes there just to sell to certain audiences or aesthetically show beautiful people (which is also fine and has a time and place) or does it move the plot or characters along — how does it function with the text overall? he’s not a prude and he’s never gonna say ”oh don’t do that” for a shallow reason but these would be the things he’d probably notice in a script 🤔

maybe the only time he (and bucky for that matter) was really disturbed by a script was when it was clear it was basically their story reimagined with LOTS of unnecessary sex scenes in it, like super inappropriate project overall and the development team had the nerve to ask real john to star with some random person portraying Gale; he didn’t have to tell john not to do that film that time 😅

hope these were okay!! have a lovely day 💘

(more of hollywood au)

[angelfirstclass]

Rogue above all else.

This is fan post declaring my love for Rogue and that I love her more than I am attached to a particular ship. For all I know, Rogue can be with whoever she wants to be with and I'm sticking by her. I am an equal opportunity Rogue shipper and have liked and enjoyed Rogueneto and Romy fanfics and art and etc. I don't believe in ship wars and just want to promote my girl.

I love Rogue. I think she is the most beautiful animated character and she is such a complex, interesting character from the comics to cartoons to the movies. Her powers are super interesting with or without Carole Danvers' superpowers and make her an empathetic person.

Firstly, I love that Rogue is the daughter of Mystique and Destiny. What a crazy upbringing that must have been and so unique. I love that she was born and raised in Mississippi and still keeps her roots, but then became the adopted daughter of two smart, ambitious, and strong lesbian women. The backstory of them raising her is super interesting because there is such a conflict of interests for Destiny and Mystique from knowing Rogue was going to be a powerful mutant, using and training her to be part of the Brotherhood, introducing her to people like Magneto, and also loving her like a daughter.

Mystique is such a unique character and such a powerful woman that it makes sense why Rogue is as powerful and strong willed as she is. In my headcanon X-men First Class stuff still applies so Raven is still Charles' adopted little sister and so Rogue is like Charles Xavier's distant niece which makes things interesting. Raven and Destiny hid Anna Marie away while she was growing up, but came to Xavier to help her after her run in with Carole Danvers. They had to reluctantly give Rogue up to the X-men in order to save her, but it was a bittersweet moment that Irene and Raven both regret.

Secondly, I love Rogue's vulnerability and empathy. Her absorbing powers are so unique and bring up a lot of questions about what makes a person. She can absorb powers, memories, and feelings and can even hold on too long and absorb entire psyches and life forces. In the beginning of her story way back in Avengers Annual 10, she is bad and unafraid to use her powers. She not only uses her powers indiscriminately, but she also isn't afraid to kiss people to absorb them.

The Rogue we see in X-men 97 is far more tempered and though has a past, has learned to use her powers sparingly and not want to hurt people. She uses her super strength and flying powers, but rarely uses her absorption power because it is a double edged sword. She may gain powers and drain energy from people, but gets their memories, traumas, fears, etc. which may not be a pleasant experience.

Thirdly, I like pretty much all forms of Rogue. I love X-men Evo Rogue for her gothic personality. I think a teen Rogue would be introverted and different to most girls her age. I like Wolverine and the X-men Rogue for being independent and Wolverine's best friend. I like their dynamic and I like when she is Wolverine's partner and team mate and platonically just gets him because she has absorbed him and they're so much alike. The most vulnerable of all Rogues is Movie Rogue which is a controversial portrayal of Rogue. I personally think Anna Paquin is gorgeous and good actor who portrayed the sweet, vulnerable Rogue to a tee.

This Rogue wasn't raised by Mystique and she didn't absorb Carole Danvers' powers yet. She was a scared teen girl who couldn't touch people and whose storyline revolved around her feelings about her powers and wanting to have physical intimacy. It's not my favorite version of her, but it did beautifully show Rogue's inner angst.

My favorite version of her is X-men TAS or 97 Rogue who I think is Rogue Prime. She is the daughter of Destiny and Mystique, has absorbed Carole Danvers' powers, is the ex of Erik Lensherr, in an on off relationship with Remy Le Beau, sister of Kurt Wagner, great friend and dedicated X-man, and all around bad ass chick.

She has the Brotherhood/Magneto's ex/Mystique's daughter thing as her background which makes her a complicated character with a dark past which makes for juicy storylines, but she is mature enough to be fully reformed and a good person. Her duality and grey toned sense of the world makes her so well suited to complex men like Erik Lensherr and Remy LeBeau who are not traditional good guys with squeaky clean pasts and morals.

I love X-men 97 Rogue. I love Lenore Zann. I love the sass, the Southern charm and cute accent, I love her no bs attitude, her compassionate heart, and her empathy. Rogue is my Queen and I stan.

[nalyra-dreaming]

To add on the age debate again.

Tbh I think that being uncomfortable with actors ages is pointless because if they are over 18 and doing more adult scenes they can do what they want. I haven’t seen the casting for Nikki but I assume he’s over 18. The problem is when shows like Skins hire 16-17 year olds to do more explicit scenes and make the actors uncomfortable and to the extreme of the 1994 movie with Kristen Dunst at 10 kissing a 30 year old Brad Pitt. Also you didn’t make me feel belittled it’s mainly when other people brush off concerns because ‘it’s in the book’ argument. I would not care if they changed Armand to 19-20 because yes he’s young but legally an adult! Sometimes it’s hard to portray these relationships on screen.

I’m very excited for devil’s minion and it’s probably my favourite pairing in the books. I think that the main concern started for me when I saw a post about Old Man Daniel’s sex life and emphasising Armand being frozen at 17 physically and those comments do feel maybe unsettling? I’m fine with age gap relationships we know that Armand is mentally mature from living over 500 years.

I also think this stems from a tiktok I saw discussing the obsession of young/old porn in Japan and the danger of those barely legal videos. Obviously Anne Rice wasn’t writing the books because she’s some huge creep… She wanted complex characters and relationships but the vampires don’t really have sex in the books the blood stuff is intimacy and companionship. The show is its own entity and having the vampires have sex it kind of changes things and I think that it’s a better idea to age them up slightly just so there’s no real underage problem like you said.

Aging Daniel up was a show thing though, and I personally like it a lot.

But yes, Anne did not write the books to emphasize this... though often a lot of her stance on "underage" bleeds through. Anne Rice wasn't exactly the most unproblematic author, there is a lot that can be said here.

However, the way the show has done it feels very fitting to me. None of them are too young to touch these subjects, and yes... Joseph Potter is older than 18 :)))

I think he will be a great Nicki.

As per Devil's Minion, I for one cannot wait to see it on screen, and to get a version that literally spans decades?! That's amazing, imho. There is so much "food" coming up *laughs*

[jbaileyfansite]

Interview with People (2023)

Jonathan Bailey could have gone in any direction after his runaway success as the male romantic lead in Bridgerton'ssecond season.

But choosing to play a gay man opposite Matt Bomer in Showtime's Fellow Travelers, another romantic period drama — this one spanning the 1950s Joseph McCarthy communist trials to the 1980s AIDS crisis — was a "no-brainer" for the British actor.

"I had looked for these gay stories, a sweeping gay love story, and I hadn't really seen them," Bailey, 35, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "This ticked every single box, and it's something I know I'll be proud of for the rest of my career."

Bailey first grabbed the attention of TV viewers with his breakthrough performance as Anthony Bridgerton, the proud, surly viscount on Shonda Rhimes's sudsy Regency-era drama Bridgerton.

Starring in one of Netflix's most popular shows has been transformative for Bailey, who previously had mostly divided his time between British TV and theater roles.

"Having always waited for auditions and projects to come, I just have that footing now to have choices, which is incredible and so special, because it's not a very common thing," he says. "I have a responsibility therefore not to waste that."

Raised in Benson, England by his father Stuart, a managing director at a honey supplier, and his mother Carole, who worked several jobs to help make ends meet and pay for dance and music lessons for her son and his three older sisters, Bailey found school intimidating.

The actor was 11 when he realized he might be gay, and he sought refuge in his family, the theater and his best friend.

"It's a pretty common story that school is terrifying, especially in a world where people don't understand or the teachers and children don't understand LGBTQ+ identities and experiences," he shares. "But the superpower of being on the outside looking in means that when you're older, you are drawn to storytelling and creatives who are singular and exciting. And I think queer people have a real strength to them, which could be celebrated."

Fellow Travelers certainly celebrates the LGBTQ+ community through its ambitious, decades-long narrative and queer stars. The biggest, most exciting draw for Bailey was his character Tim Laughlin's "expansive arc," evolving from a closeted political staffer in the 1950s to an out-and-proud activist in the 1980s.

"It's explored more, his journey and the expanse of it, more than any other character," Bailey says. "But I think, with Tim, he's constantly searching within himself. He's constantly torn between his identity, the truth about his identity and the stories that he's been told, whether it be by religion, by the government, by his parents or society. So it's thrilling to be able to constantly be torn between two places."

Working alongside Bomer, 46, helped Bailey bring Fellow Travelers to life.

Bomer, who also served as an executive producer on Fellow Travelers, was "a total joy" to work with, recalls Bailey, who meshed well with the White Collar actor right from the start — from their Zoom screen test to their "pregame coffee" five days before they began shooting.

"We both had quite a lot of experience in our careers of intimacy and portraying intimacy, but there's also just so much we've experienced as gay men, as well. So naturally, we had a lot to explore," he says, adding, "To honor the canon of gay storytelling is totally what I set out to do. So if it [Fellow Travelers] is 'up there,' then I'm really happy."

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