#honestly the acting man the acting

[purrpickle]

Honestly, and I mentioned this in another post, but Tee, Jim, and Kade's plan of making Sam jealous to keep Mon and not fire her, made everything so much worse.

Maybe Sam would have changed her mind on her own, but we can't know that for sure.

Instead, that jealousy fueled reversal is what caused Sam's whiplash and absolute further shutdown when telling Mon she had changed her mind. We see that in Sam's flashback to Tee telling her that she would never let Mon leave her company.

I mean, c'mon, Tee, Kade, and Jim! You know your friend! You think someone who grew up under such trauma and forced repression is going to react well and balanced to having the woman she's obviously fallen for so easily taken away and pursued by someone else? Especially since you already know Sam thinks Tee actually likes her?

Look, I'm not saying Sam's reaction was okay, at all. I've already discussed that in my other post. It was absolutely not okay. But what I am saying is that the outward backlash caused by Sam's internal emotionally and angrily panicked reversal of Mon's firing (because if she went through with it, Tee would swoop in and date her when what Sam wanted was to fire her so she could date her), along with her complete shutdown and inability to open up or realize she should or even could talk to Mon about her reasons or why she so suddenly looked like she was just so easily changing her mind and that the firing didn't matter at all - when it really had! It really, really had! Just for horribly stunted and selfish reasons - was fueled so much more by her friends' actions.

Sam had had her plan: fire Mon so they could date. She'd spent two days pushing everything down to come up with her plan, and had set it into motion, pushing everything else away and shutting down until it came into fruition.

And then, in the span of ten minutes, she'd had her plan, her desire for being with Mon, and Mon herself threatened to be taken away from her, all wrapped all up in an oh so casual insulting insinuation of Sam's ability to run her company being lesser than Tee's if she lets Mon go: "It's my company. I can fire anyone I want," versus "If Mon worked for me, I'd never let her go," and Tee would "...take care of her properly," along with Jim and Kade's absolute fawning over Tee's company as well.

So in one fell swoop, Tee and Jim and Kade threatened Sam's pride, her ability as CEO of Diversity, her decisions on how to somehow get her life in an order so she could live with it in a way that finally let her have something she desired (after running away from a proposal from Kirk, even!), her feelings for Mon, and her hoped for future with Mon.

So now, after having built up her walls for Mon's firing in two days, Sam only had an evening to prepare for her emotionally tailspinning reversed decision, so forcefully shoved at her by her friends.

A decision that meant she couldn't date Mon anymore.

But also meant it would hopefully stop Mon from dating Tee and that she wouldn't be working for her.

That meant Sam would see Mon every day and be unable to do anything about it or explore the relationship she wanted with her now that her feelings were known to her.

But also meant she would still be able to see Mon every day and get to be around her.

That meant Sam's desires would be taken away from her again.

That meant Sam would have to marry Kirk anyway.

That meant all the good things Sam finally let herself feel and pursue and hope for and start to build with Mon didn't matter anymore and would never go anywhere.

Really, that meant that to keep Mon, she was now going to lose Mon.

...

And the worst part is, you see all of that overwhelming conflict on Sam's face in the scene in her office!

You see her spiral of destroyed plans hammered over with quickly thrown up walls as she stays away from looking at Mon and keeps herself moving and looking at anything else so the tears fighting to come out don't and pushes pushes pushes for Mon to drop it and go back to work so Sam doesn't have to show her her own horribly torn apart heart.

I've already covered that it doesn't occur to Sam that she can talk to Mon (or anyone), or that she should talk to Mon (or anyone), which makes her shutdown so much worse. She wants Mon out of there. She can't be around her, so her only way to get through this is to tell Mon she changed her mind and to go back to work.

And it's not like Sam doesn't see the hurt she's doing to Mon, or doesn't care about it. She does! You watch her react, in her expressions and in her eyes and body movements, but Sam honestly cannot do anything, at that moment, about it. Because everything is roiling around in her brain and she's overwhelmed and stressed and does what she's learned to do: become cold, dismissive, and shut down.

So yes. Sam was already mentally exhausted before meeting with her friends, but afterwards, they tore her plan apart and she was left reeling and angry and now had to pivot and treat the serious decision of firing Mon and pushing her away as trivial and without consequence.

Which was wrong. Absolutely wrong. I say Sam had to change her plan, but I do truly mean she ultimately chose to reverse the firing - Sam is still one hundred percent culpable here!

This post isn't about trying to excuse Sam. No, it's about further getting into her actions and how good intentions spiraled into terrible reactions, and how there was more behind Sam's coldness and cruelty than just her ignoring Mon or belittling her or changing her mind 'because she could'. And as I have said before, I hope the show moves forward with letting Sam learn and heal and work through her trauma and issues, and makes her be responsible for her actions.

And that maybe Tee, Jim, and Kade stop trying to make her jealous now that she's started dating Mon. I love them, but they absolutely misstepped here.

[carefulzombie]

it’s been said a hundred times but man it must’ve been fucking wild to be a doctor who fan back in the 60s. like what do you mean the doctor’s just a different guy now

[moon-light-bow]

tbh this entire page absolutely destroys me in ways i cannot express through words

but i can't take it too seriously either because this is how i genuinely imagine fiddleford tearing the photo apart and writing the "try to forget" on it

[skyesdaisys]

usopp: crushes are the worst

y/n: right? i tend to act stupid around mine

zoro: you always act stupid

y/n: yeah, don't think too hard about that

[plistommy]

Tommy being the first one to fuck Steve, to know how Steve sounds like when he pushes his dick inside the other’s tight and warm heat. How Steve whines for Tommy’s names and holds his hand when he moves.

Then came Nancy, and after that once they weren’t friends anymore, came Eddie.

Tommy had been jealous about Steve dating Nancy, but oh he was livid when another man had Steve, Eddie Munson specifically.

He wished he would’ve tried harder. Kept Steve as his own, but the boy had gotten out of his grip and turned into a beautiful man, who now had a freak by his side taking the things from him that Tommy wanted to.

Just the idea of Steve moaning Eddie’s name while the older man fucked him made Tommy ill.

[vultures-and-scavengers]

this monologue is so interesting to me and i wish we got more details. like, dude, tell me more about losing your own purpose because you were chained to the order's. tell me more about feeling compelled into serving. like. there's some juicy backstory there, and we're only getting vague allusions.

and-- is he still feeling without a purpose? he says there's templars who have been through worse, so downplaying his own trauma, which was. you know. somewhat intense. and then the two options being die or lose your mind.

in addition, he mentions serving out of fear here, as opposed to the conversation held after he stays off lyrium.

he emphasizes anger in this one. that difference is just crunchy to me. god, i wish we'd gotten a bit more insight into him, but i do not envy his writer.

[s-p-r-i-n-g-t-i-m-e]

mayhaps this is a hot take but I truly dislike “Loid gets murderous and overprotective of Anya dating Damian” content

like. there are sm reasons I dislike it

first off, just fundamentally, I hate that trope. I think parents being protective of children in general is cute, and even maybe protective against their partners to an extent, but it rlly feeds into the Western (esp American) notion of parents owning their children. it gets even grosser when it’s the dad and his daughter, it’s just a branch of ‘women and their purity having to be guarded until they’re properly married’ sexism

secondly, if this is pre-reveal (either Damian comes over/talks to Anya in front of Loid and it’s p obvious he has a crush, so Loid, of course, course notices, OR somehow, post-canon yet not revealed, they get together), Loid would absolutely use that to advance Operation Strix lol

obviously Loid is NOT a bad or uncaring father, he is absolutely not that, BUT he does also very vehemently care about achieving world peace thru his spy work, AND ANYA UNDERSTANDS AND EVEN AGREES WITH THIS (to the highest extent she can as a child, at least). he would never partake in extensive manipulation that’d harm Anya emotionally (or even Damian tbh, his whole goal is to create a world where no children have to cry) but he would DEFINITELY encourage their relationship in order to eventually, somehow get to Desmond the ghoul-eyed freak

thirdly, even if this is POST-reveal, I still don’t think Loid would be unreasonable. sure, he may apprehensive due to Damian’s family and more concrete examples of Anya growing up (MAYBE bc honestly I think Loid would be ecstatic with every milestone in Anya’s life considering how genuinely supportive and proud of her that he is) BUT. but

he, again, not only wants to create a world where no children have to cry, so he clearly values the youth and their quality of life, but ALSO KNOWS abt how shitty Damian’s father is. personally, I think he’d be GLAD that Damian has a safe place to come to, with ppl who’ll support him (unconsciously, bc Loid is very oblivious to his own emotions lmao)

anyways, tldr; the “Loid being super hostile to Damian dating Anya” trope is tired and sucks and we should move onto appreciating a trope that honours the CORE of sxf, more found family, where Damian joins the Forgers, even before he and Anya potentially marry (even before they date if possible tbh)

[personwho1s]

[starry-bi-sky]

Clone^2 Damian

If you really think about, Damian's situation in the clone^2 au is... kinda tragic? Especially in the early months of his arrival. Like,,, think about it. Damian has always known he was a clone of Damian Wayne, that he was a copy of the blood son. There was nothing 'original' about him, not even his name (of which at least Danny has that). He was just... a replacement. A disposable one, to boot.

And he knew that, to an extent, by the time he was six years old. he might not have been actively acknowledging it -- he's six years old -- but deep down he knew. And like, he's six years old. Every small child craves the love and affection of an adult, especially their parents, and even though he knew he was clone, I imagine he still considered - and still does consider, somewhat - Talia and Bruce as his mother and father. And I really doubt he was... getting it?

Now, I know Talia loves Damian, her son. At least in some interpretations she does, and in this au she does. But... a clone of her son? I'm not so certain if she would have the same affection for baby Dames as she would for Damian. I don't think she would treat him badly, but I don't think Talia would treat him warmly either. Kinda just, distant. Colder than she would have been with OG Damian.

And, I know I've mentioned Damian's arrival from Danny's point of view, and its kind of comical kind of insane from his perspective -- a little boy clone of Damian Wayne falls through a portal and immediately attacks him. That sounds like a bad joke.

But, if you think of this from Damian's point of view? It's like he just got dropped into a scary movie. Like, think about it. You're six years old, and suddenly a portal, as green and as swirling as your grandfather's pools, opens up beneath your feet and sucks you through.

After an intense bout of vertigo, you end up in a massive, urban city -- completely different from the rural mountain palace that you lived in for the last six years of your life, and in this city, you don't know any of the language. You don't know what anyone is saying, you can't read any of the signs - you are completely stranded, away from home.

And then, to make things worse, you're facing a figure with a terrifying mask and eyes as burning green as the portal you fell through. Of course Damian's first instinct, six years old, is to attack. He's terrified.

And this figure, he's not a good fighter, but he's fast, and he dodges you quickly. He grabs your sword with his hands, and tries to restrain you, saying something in a language you don't know. Naturally, Damian is just scared. He's six! He'd just be learning how to read if he was normal child going to school.

This figure halfway through the fight yanks off his mask -- he realizes you're scared -- and looking at you now, is a youthful version of your father. This is a clone of your dad, someone you have never met but, six years old, still wants to. Damian gets defensive. This is an imposter.

But this imposter eventually gets you home with him - and he's using his little box, his phone, to communicate with you through a mechanical voice speaking in arabic. and it's frustrating. The boy, the imposter, can say whatever to you just fine, but trying to talk back is a hassle and a half. He's six, he doesn't have that much patience.

He wants to go home.

And so he keeps trying to run away. He keeps trying to find out of this hellish concrete jungle, and he keeps getting lost. It's loud, and busy, and there are people talking to you and you don't understand them, and there are rules and signs you don't understand - Damian tries to cross the street and nearly gets hit by a car. He doesn't know how the road signs work, he was never taught. They didn't get to that.

And he gets lost. And it gets dark, and Damian is brave, but he is six, and this is the worst stress he's been under in all his six years of life. He wants, desperately more than anything, to go home. Why wouldn't he? The only stable... semi-stable environment he was in just got ripped out from under his feet, literally! He wants his mother.

And it's not happening.

But there's something good to be said, at least. The imposter that looks like his father always comes and finds him, no matter what. He could have left that morning, and he will find Damian at midnight, frazzled and worried, and carrying an extra jacket with him because it is cold in Amity Park and Damian is six years old.

And sometimes Damian attacks him - he's scared and stressed and he doesn't want to be here. And every time he catches the sword. Even though Damian can see it cut into his hand and pearls of blood well up and stains his fingers. Even though Damian can see him wince in pain and bite his lip, he still catches it.

But with that little box, he coaxes Damian to come back with him. It's cold, it's dark, Amity Park is unsafe at night. They can figure something out tomorrow, please. And every time, he agrees, reluctantly. And the imposter takes the extra jacket he brought with -- a flannel, a hoodie, a jacket -- and he wraps it around him. It's warm, Damian's clothes are not that thick, and even though he thinks he might hate this imposter, he still sticks close to his legs as he leads him down the street.

And sometimes the imposter carries him, because Damian's shoes are not that thick, and he cuts his foot on broken glass while they're walking home. The imposter sits in the bathroom with him and carefully cleans the cut out, and makes sure it doesn't get infected.

There's hope you know, he still has it. His mother will be looking for him. She'll be worried. He's important to them. Damian may not be the original, but he is still a blood son. He is still her son. She will come find him. This nightmare will end soon. He can go home.

And then weeks pass, and nothing. Then months, and nothing. His family is not coming for him, and it hurts. Hurts more than anything. And yet while that happens, the boy he's attacked, and hurt, teaches himself arabic in order to speak to him. He takes Damian out of the house one afternoon and buys him new clothes, or tries to. And then he keeps buying him new clothes. He gives him blankets and gives up his bed to him until they can get him one himself, and steadily he teaches Damian english.

This boy is kind. Kinder than Damian's ever experienced, and he doesn't know what to do with it. He's devastated by the fact that he is not as important to his family as his family is to him. What do you do when you're six years old and you learn something like that? When a random stranger who looks like your father is kinder to you, and cares more about you than your family did?

And then Damian tells him he's a clone. He's Damian Wayne's clone, and he tells him his purpose - that their grandfather made him to kill him. And the boy, the imposter, Damian thinks he probably already knows that he's a clone. But he doesn't say that. He just nods, and asks him if he wants to tell his original about him.

Damian says no. He doesn't want to. He's tired of living in the shadow of his original. He wants to keep this to himself. This is his. For once, all of this is his.

And to his surprise, the imposter doesn't try and convince him otherwise. He just nods, and says okay. And when Damian asks why, the imposter - his brother - looks at him and says.

"I don't care about Damian Wayne. I care about you." And in Damian's gobsmacked silence, his brother continues. He tells him that if Damian doesn't want to tell his original that he exists, then they don't need to. They don't need to worry about the LoA going after him, because clearly if his 'grandfather' needs to make a clone of Damian in order to take him out, then whatever it was that Damian Wayne was doing to keep himself safe, was working.

"Wayne already has people in his corner, he's got Gotham's army of vigilantes to keep himself safe." his brother says with his eyes as blue as moonlight. "You, however. Do not." And he continues, and says that if Damian Wayne has the same training as Damian does, then he will be fine. He doesn't need to be aware of his clone. Because if DW doesn't know about Damian, then the LoA doesn't either.

And here's the thing. Damian would not have survived in the LoA for long. Not as a clone. No matter what, he was going to die no matter what he did, and sooner rather than later. The sword of Damocles was always hanging above his head in the League of Assassins.

That portal, and meeting Danny, saved his life. There's no way around it. And to an extent Damian knows this even at six years old. He may not be aware that he would've died, but he knows that meeting Danny was the best thing to happen to him.

It's no wonder after that, that Damian is as clingy to Danny as he is. Danny is the first person he's met to offer him unconditional love, with no strings attached, only pure affection.

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[german-garbage]

Nothing more cringe than killing off tony stark just to bring his actor back as another character.

[benoits-neckerchieves]

Literally everything Daniel Craig does is like 1000% commitment… even being a squirrel

[vaguely-concerned]

increasingly intrigued by the idea of creating a vashoth crow!rook to make part of the reason viago's so pissed at them be that they could have been a perfect undercover/double agent against the antaam if they would just THINK before acting for ONCE in their fucking lives for fuck's SAKE rook

[hercarisntyours]

i just know elita dies in the next film and if by some miracle she doesn't it's going to be bee's cannon event.

[diseaseriddencube]

normal people: alastor is aggressive with lucifer because he's actually under the control of lilith and needs to keep him away/help charlie or sth

me: alastor is aggressive with lucifer because he saw someone with two ounces more power than him, someone who could help charlie more than he has and show him up as worthless, and he Is Not Having Any Of That anyways do you wanna hear my npd headcanons and why he is actually me and

[iridescentpull]

Okay so I managed to find Fit's vod from when Pac got the pills, and holy shit the lines that were dropped made me combust and cry. Have some of their lines that made me go insane: (pac) (fit) (tubbo)

"Do you even remember why you took the pills in the first place?"

"Because it was my only choice."

---

"I know youre still in there. I need you to remember."

"I don't want to."

---

"Everything passes Fit, everything passes."

"But Pac, sometimes a start and a finish is not our choice to make. Sometimes fate brings us in different directions."

---

"If you cant help yourself, how am i supposed to help you? This isnt you."

"But i am the new and improved Pac."

"I want the old Pac."

---

"I have to wait for Forever to wake up so I can see Richas."

"But you are equal parts his father no? You should be allowed to visit Richas whenever you want."

"I cant. *I cant*. I have to do what Forever and Cucurucho told me."

---

"Im learning- Im learning."

"What are you learning Pac?"

"Im learning that happiness has a price, and its kind of worth it."

---

"Remember Pac. Antidote. You want to make an antidote for forever."

"I cant Fit! I cant! Its not up to me!"

---

"Did you even try?"

"I- I did for a little while, but i couldnt find it. I couldn't- maybe I dont deserve it. Theres no way- i dont know how to undo the antidote."

---

"Sorry Tubbo- im not a scientist like you or Mike. Im just pretending."

---

"I cant do it, I dont want to be kidnapped again, I dont want to go to prison."

"Thats not gonna happen Pac, trust me."

"But its gonna happen! It happened with my friends, with my sons, why wouldnt it happen to me? Im the weakest of them all."

---

"I dont want to be that guy. I dont want to be that guy from yesterday."

"Whats wrong with that guy? He was the best guy."

"Maybe that guy looked good, but only on the outside. Inside I wasn't. I was trying to go with the flow, but i was losing it. I was losing my mind."