#god i could talk about this for HOURS

[ghostlycleric]

We all know this was Mike admitting that he was paying attention to Will all day. There are barely any frames of Mike looking at Will to prove this, but that’s because they didn’t need them.

Mike was trying so hard to act like a good boyfriend. He got El flowers, kissed her on the forehead, made small talk, held her hand, sat next to her, shared her milkshake. Even with all that, you can feel how awkward and empty the actions are. All three of them are uncomfortable, for different reasons obviously, but Will is literally the only reason Mike has to be uncomfortable. He thinks he’s on good terms with El, and he doesn’t know about Angela.

He reveals in his fight with Will the source of his discomfort was Will “moping and barely talking”. He was paying so much attention to Will, like he always has. When El is clearly uncomfortable about Angela taking her away, Mike is sass-faced and sipping on his milkshake, just like his dad. He doesn’t notice anything until he sees how uncomfortable Will is. He doesn’t stand up until Will does.

He opens up their fight by scolding Will for not telling him El was having problems. This is what he meant: “I know I was paying more attention to you than to El, but if you had talked to me I would’ve know I needed to pay attention to her like I do to you!”

Mike was doing more than just paying attention to Will. He was still operating like they were a team, like they always have been.

No matter what, they’ve always shared the important stuff. Throughout season 3 they kept working together even though they were fighting, but this time Mike thought Will stopped (ontop of the radio silence between s3 and s4). This is the day he felt like he truly lost Will. He felt like they weren’t a team anymore, felt like he was the only one trying to be.

That’s what Mike really meant when he equated worrying too much about El with losing Will. He spent the entire day at RoM worrying about how he was appearing with El, how he was acting as a boyfriend. This was him admitting that he got so caught up in his role playing that it messed with his head and made him try to shift all the blame onto Will. (I’d say it reaches beyond RoM and into their season 3 fighting too).

That’s also why being a team is the first thing he brings up in his ascending list of relationship titles (working together, a team, friends, best friends). In Mike’s mind, being a team with Will is something that comes before basic friendship. With Will, being a team is the lowest they can be “reduced” to during their fights. Mike took some time to think on the extra context from their fight to realize that Will wasn’t actually abandoning him in that regard.

And, during their first heart to heart after the fight, Mike seems so giddy about Will being receptive to his “looks like it’s gonna be up to us again”.

To Mike, that was confirmation that they still were a team. It was confirmation that they were just miscommunicating, and Will still loved the idea of being a team with him. This heart to heart is what gives him the courage to make his apology; it was his proof that he really was just misreading things in RoM.

Mike felt guilty about paying so much attention to Will that El ended up getting hurt. Just like he felt guilty about paying so much attention to El that Will ended up getting hurt (the rain fight).

Mike can’t balance both of them in his life at the same time, and no matter how hard he tries, the balance always ends up tipping towards Will’s side.

[8igiron]

!! House season 4 spoilers !!

Amber's death (and, more specifically, Wilson's reaction to it) absolutely fucking annihilated me. Like, you're telling me that the first person to ever treat him as an equal in a relationship, the first person to not only allow him to put himself first, but to expect and enforce that he do so, died in his arms??? Not only that, but he had to turn off the machines, had to watch, to feel as she let go of her last breath. And then, I am expected to watch as this grieving, wrecked man forces himself to claw away from his borderline abusive best friend who had been the only constant in his life for the last decade and a half?? Because even though he still loves House, he recognizes that House's presence is actively detrimental to his mental health and wellbeing. Because all Wilson has left of Amber is a lipstick stained mug on the counter, memories of a waterbed, and the will she instilled in him, the confidence she gifted him. And House counteracts that. Because House is a vacuum of misery and aggression and expectation, and Wilson could not possibly say no to him. Because Wilson will continue to give himself up for House, and that means he can't keep ahold of what Amber gave him. So Wilson has to walk away,,,

And the worst part? Wilson will come back. Every time he walks away, he comes running back because of MENTAL ILLNESS.THEYRE GAY!!!

In my perfect world, Wilson and Amber ran away together, and House is only allowed supervised weekend visitation rights.

[orbiting-star]

god can people please stop taking pictures with wildlife please for the love of god just fucking stop taking pictures with wild animals i am going to scream

all those people (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions) with "rescues" in the US on tiktok are fucking awful people and they're directly contributing to the exotic pet trade

[youcouldstartacult]

niall’s confidence this era>>>> i’m living for it!!

no it’s INSANE! like 2020 niall versus today :’)))

it warms my heart i’m so happy for him

[trashnotfound]

I’d love independent Nancy

-

-

-

But…..

She can be independent Nancy with… Jonathan! He already follows her everywhere like a golden retriever. She can go be her big girl boss journalist and Jonathan will happily be her stay at home husband 🤭

Delulu is the solulu because if jancy isn’t endgame it’s over for me! I will be taking my last dying breath right then and there

yesss strong independent woman nancy wheeler endgame

if jancy isn't endgame im going to kill myself

[claybooots]

I saw the face of God and He was smiling real big!!!

[weirdglassthing]

Huey and Gosalyn have some summer camp fun!!

This may have something to do with a comic idea I had

Ironically this is my last post before I go to summer camp (I kind of hope there are no glowing eyes in the woods but c’est la vie)

I will be back in a week hopefully with more ducktales art!!

Bonus:

(No, no he should not be)

[dykecadence]

odalia blight's last appearance being her getting ignored by her daughter and never seen again is the funniest shit on earth to me DESERVED

[helenofsparta2]

Can we talk about how interesting Percy’s dynamics with the Olympians actually is? Like, both on an individual and on a general level?

He and Ares have a rivalry. A genuine rivalry, based on mutual dislike. Frank described them in Son of Neptune as “two old war buddies talking trash” and Phobos described Percy in “Stolen Chariot” as a “sworn enemy” of Ares. That’s actually insane if you think about it. Those are the immortal god of war, and a sixteen-year-old teenager. Ares would have been fine with Percy becoming a god, because he looked forward to just fight with him or beat him up for eternity.

Percy is the only known male demigod Artemis respects, who won the friendship of not one but two of her lieutenants.

He is the demigod, who challenged Dionysus views on heroes as a whole, and that, as a son of Poseidon, half-brother to Theseus, the hero who betrayed and left Dionysus wife. The hero, who ignited Dionysus hatred of half-bloods in the first place. Still, Dionysus placed his trust in Percy to save both Olympus and Pollux in the Last Olympian.

He and Nico are the only two demigods to ever canonically acknowledge Hestia. Percy even sacrificed hope to her, which was probably the biggest sacrifice and the biggest sign of respect she ever received from a demigod.

Aphrodite takes a special interest in his love life.

Hermes and him are on pretty friendly terms. So far, that Percy even refers to him as a “friend” in the Staff of Hermes. He is also the only demigod to ever completely openly criticize him on how he handled Luke’s situation and doesn’t back down from a rather intense argument. At the end of the last Olympian, Hermes gives Percy a list of his children outside of Camp half-blood and asks him to personally escort them to safety.  

Despite Hades trying to imprison him and threatening him with death, Percy is, together with Nico, the reason why Hades and his children are accepted at Camp Half-Blood.

While Hera dislikes him, she still acknowledges Percy’s importance for her plans and describes him for one as “constant as a compass needle” when it comes to his friends, and also as someone who inspires loyalty in “Son of Neptune.”

Poseidon, centuries-old god of the ocean, who probably had thousands of children in his life called Percy his favourite son in Battle of the labyrinth. After a conversation about Antaeus, who, for over three thousand years has sacrificed people and monsters in honor of Poseidon. Still, it is Percy, who is his favourite son.

He is the only modern demigod to get offered godhood but chose instead to use their favor to create a better world for all demigods and to request forgiveness for the gods who fought on Kronos’ side, which changes some of the quintessential rules of their world.

Percy is blunt and not afraid to openly challenge them on their views and actions, but because he is probably the most powerful and accomplished hero to ever live, and because he has saved them and the world on numerous occasions, they can’t just ignore him or kill him off, and even have to listen to him on some rare occasions.

None of the other demigods really have that, at least to this scale.

It’s so interesting to me, how Percy’s relationship to the Olympians, both negative and positive, echoes more the relationship they would have to another god, than to a half-blood. 

[emotionalwhump]

James Fox and Dirk Bogarde on The Servant (1963) Dir. Joseph Losey (P. 1/3)

- "You won't get many better than me, you know. What do you want? An old hag running around the house, getting you up in the morning at the crack of dawn, telling you what to do? My only ambition is to serve you. You know that, don't you?" -

[hijinxinprogress]

Billy definitely thinks about random things during fights and decides the internet needs to know immediately

[localwhiskeyuncle]

I see a lot of posts about how Hannibal is religious, and he is, in a way - he loves his religious metaphors but he doesn't believe in God, he despises God. In Hannibal Rising when he is finally able to give Mischa a funeral, he says "Mischa, we take comfort in knowing there is no God. That you are not enslaved in Heaven, made to kiss God's ass forever. What you have is better than Paradise. You have blessed oblivion." and he doesn't lose that viewpoint through all of the events of the novels.

In both the book and the show we get the scene where Hannibal is talking about collecting church collapses and this highlights it well I think. What he loves isn't God, what he loves is the loss of faith. For Will (or Clarice depending on if you're talking about Book or TV Hannibal) his institution isn't that of the church, it's the FBI, which is one of the reasons he's so eager to see him quit, and not just quit but realize the injustices he's been put through, he wants to watch him realize he has been used.

He doesn't revel in faith, he revels in the loss of it.

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

real quick. to the the anon in my inbox a few weeks back asking about how free use medic came to be the agreed-upon method of stress relief for the whole of 141: i love you, you're perfect, i'm not ignoring you; i am drafting in direct response. several things.

at the anon who sent me the ask minutes ago about a particular au with Soap: good god. good god. i have 8 solid hours of meetings tomorrow and that's all i'm gonna be thinking about. thank you for the brain rot. rip.

[made-my-peace-with-all-the-bad]

No one and I mean NO ONE understands how much I think about this photo

[limeekak]

I love this scene and I rewatch it several times not because it's just Soren and Corvus, but because they find each other here.

Corvus shows that he appreciates Soren in a way that he thought was cool (word hands), and this makes him feel loved and valued. He realizes that Corvus was there for him and this touches him

But Corvus is surprised by the hug, he didn't expect it. Then he realizes that he actually liked it, and feels affection for Soren's gesture

And it's adorable how they both have practically the same reaction when they are surprised by each other's care

Corvus has been showing that he notices and appreciates Soren's kindness from the beginning, and this is no surprise. He does this for the first time when Soren decides to free him to save people, an act of kindness

He tells Soren "Don't get yourself killed" showing that he cares

In my opinion, Corvus realized from the beginning that he did some things on impulse, perhaps in an attempt to meet his own and his father's expectations and make himself feel better. I think that's why he tries so hard to convince Soren not to provoke Pyrrah in this episode

But to Corvus, Soren never had to prove anything. He already knew that Soren was a good person, but that he was being influenced by a bad person

In the end, he allows himself to enjoy Soren's embrace. They allow themselves to love and be vulnerable with each other because they know they can trust each other

He always hugs Soren like this, tightly, really holding him tight in the embrace

And while Soren is talking in this scene, Corvus just closes his eyes, relieved to have him safe in his arms. He feels safe when he is wrapped around him.

He, who probably thought he didn't need it, finally allows himself to enjoy this feeling. He decides to embrace it without fear, because he knows that Soren loves him just as much, and that makes him feel safe, especially because Soren has always been a person who likes to express his love, and Corvus finds that endearing, he always has.

[fatalism-and-villainy]

Another part of untangling the Garashir knot i.e. trying to make their relationship make sense for fic-writing purposes is the question of Bashir’s ability to trust and be vulnerable around Garak.

I got to thinking about that because of this 10-year-old post (yay old meta dives!) that points out that Bashir is just as emotionally closed off as Garak in The Wire, and it’s really true - he never explicitly tells Garak he that he cares about him, but instead frames his care for him through their doctor-patient relationship, or through his higher ethical convictions (that is, when Garak says “Have you considered I might be getting exactly what I deserve?” and Bashir says “No one deserves this”). And given that part of the conflict of that episode is Bashir’s uncertainty as to whether Garak actually considers him a friend or cares for him on the same level as Bashir cares for Garak - as indicated in Bashir’s conversation with Dax - I think it speaks to a level of emotional self-protection on Bashir’s part that’s pretty often at play in his relationship with Garak.

Because for all that he wants Garak to open up to him in those early episodes - it comes up in a more playful mode in the way they banter with each other, but The Wire shows more legitimate frustration from Bashir at the possibility that Garak might not trust him - Bashir never actually leads by example there. When does he ever share anything about his personal history with Garak? When does he ever confide in him about his hopes and fears and insecurities? Pretty much never! And he’s not at all averse to sharing things about himself, whether it’s to get laid (like the adapted story about his medical exams) or to make a friend (like him telling Miles about Palis in Armageddon Game, or telling that pregnant woman about Kukalaka in The Quickening). He gave Jadzia his medical school journals (to get laid… and make a friend?). And there are plenty of instances of him confiding in his friends - Miles, Jadzia, Ezri - about his insecurity, fear of failure, feeling like he’s a monster because of his genetic engineering, etc.

But not with Garak. The closest he gets to sharing anything significant about himself is his grumpiness about turning thirty in Distant Voices, which isn’t even close. And you could argue that that’s a contrivance of the writing, a consequence of their relationship not being allowed to be developed more. But I actually think it makes a lot of sense from a character angle. Because for all that he seemingly can’t stop talking about himself, Bashir is a lot more selective about what parts of himself that he shares than it initially seems, as is most obviously demonstrated by the fact that he hid his being genetically engineered from everyone for years. So I do take him at his word when he tells Jadzia in The Wire that he doesn’t exactly trust Garak either, and I think that’s modeled in his (possibly subconscious) reluctance to truly open up to him. I mean, in Distant Voices he casts the guy telepathically attacking his brain as Garak! Which he and Garak laugh off in an extremely charming scene at the end of the episode, but it really does say something about how he sees Garak on a subconscious level.

So it’s honestly much easier for me to imagine fic scenes and whatnot in which Garak opens up to Bashir, because there is plenty of precedent for that in canon - largely in The Wire, but also when he vents to Bashir about his frustration with Tain and desire for Tain’s forgiveness in In Purgatory’s Shadow. And there’s a real sense that he really does want to unburden himself to Bashir, even if primarily in his own evasive, circumlocutionary way. But it’s so, so hard for me to get Bashir to a place where he’d do something similar with Garak, because given his characterization wrt their dynamic, I just feel like there’d need to be so much more work done in their relationship to get him to feel that kind of trust towards Garak.

(This dovetails with my headcanon that they weren’t that close in the later seasons, because the events later in the show would honesty make that even more difficult. After being interrogated by an intelligence organization, I imagine Bashir would be even warier of Garak!)

There’s also the fact that the most intense intimacy between the two of them always comes up in situations where Bashir is the stronger one, and Garak is the one who needs to be cared for, who’s being pushed into being vulnerable. And that again is a contrivance of the writing, but it is something that I think is compelling to contemplate when it comes to their relationship dynamic - specifically, how it might affect a long-term relationship dynamic in a post-canon setting. Because Bashir can be something of a fixer-upper when it comes to his romantic relationships, and I do see him as drawn to dynamics where he’s the stronger one who’s positioned to care for and guide the other person. And so, while I don’t think Bashir would be the sole cause of any difficulties that might arise in their relationship - trying to get open and honest communication from Elim Garak really would be like pulling teeth - I can really see him falling into a pattern of thinking with Garak wherein Garak is the one who needs to be cared for, the one who needs to communicate with him, etc etc, but being very very bad at being open and communicative with Garak in turn. Even if their relationship does develop sufficiently for him to feel more comfortable sharing himself with Garak - and I really think that it could - I still imagine his first impulse when he’s Going Through It would be to close himself off from Garak. And that does cause problems.

A broader angle that canon does not really bring out is the potential for Bashir’s dynamic with Garak to draw out some of Bashir’s hypocrisies, or aspects of his ideology that are incomplete or contradictory. Bashir on Cardassia post-canon has a lot of potential to do this - not that I’d want him to let go of Federation ideals, but the reality of living somewhere else would necessitate those ideals being qualified, or him becoming more flexible. And with the shift in their dynamic, in which Garak is in his natural habitat (even if it’s drastically changed from the Cardassia he remembers) and Bashir is the outsider, Garak could potentially be put in the role of having to guide or protect Bashir. And given the nature of Cardassian politics, the actual methods he might take in order to do so would imo not necessarily be within Bashir’s comfort zone. And I like the idea of that conflict, and that kind of testing of Bashir’s values and expectations and perceptions, coming through on a smaller scale just within their relationship, wherein Bashir really wants Garak to communicate with him but finds it (not even consciously!) very difficult to reciprocate that.