"The key thing was of course, the fact that Rick has PTSD and that's very much what's driving a lot of his behavior and being in a place of that level of vulnerability, back with the love of his life in that way.

It's also the thing he fears, the loss of her. It manifests itself in a way that is visceral and leads to the lovemaking not just being about love, but the revealing of pain and trauma and fear. That informs Michonne, that she can't just blast him into making sense. There's something deeper going on here that he can't verbalize. She has to help him get through in a different way. So she gets to see him, as well, as he reveals what's really in there, the wound. That's going to happen most likely in that most vulnerable space." — Danai Gurira

"Yeah, I think it is about pain. As Danai just said, it's about him wanting her and then fearing what he's about to unlock again. He gets to sort of articulate it in the scene further in the episode, when he gets to say that, 'I can't do this again. I haven't got the capacity to do this again. I've worked out how to die and live again.' So it is an absolutely necessary scene that allows Michonne to realize that there's something really broken here, more broken than she's ever anticipated. [...]

So the scene was about a real intimacy, a sort of frightening intimacy. This is a part of his personality he has shut down. It's almost like he's trying to stop himself from feeling this love again. She sees that and she just says, 'Just trust. We're back. We're the same...' I find it very moving. I think it's a very, very moving scene, because it's about them connecting in a way that he's had to deny for seven years. He's denied that connection for the sake of living on in this half life for the CRM" — Andrew Lincoln

Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira Discuss Episode 4 of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

percy immediately apologizing to luke after he hurts him even though he is literally being betrayed because his fatal flaw is loyalty and he cannot fathom hurting the people he cares about… meanwhile luke turning around and hitting percy back without hesitation… i feel sick

multiple reputable news sources are retracting their statements on supposed rapes and beheadings happening bc of lack of evidence along with literal civilians coming forward and saying it didn’t happen, keep in mind the palestinians have no allies rn, no control in the media, and almost no support from major countries so this isn’t them “sneaking” in propaganda, ur being lied to about people in a literal concentration camp who now have their access to water electricity and food shut off, don’t fall for it

you were raised in comparison.

it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.

you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.

you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.

what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.

it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.

you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.

you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?

a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.

you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.

it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.

something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.

lowkey i could write pages about the way troy says “i love you” to abed in epidemiology. the shift in his tone. the pause before he says it. the way his eyes fucking soften. like omg this gay ass bitch was being serious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think the first time you really realize alhaitham’s in love with you is when you see how he inconveniences himself just for your sake. it’s subtle, you don’t even notice it until one day it all hits you at once.

“you…got these on your way home?” you ask, taking the bag he holds out. you didn’t even think he was listening last night when you said you’d like to try that new bakery off handedly. evidently he was.

and he stares at you with that aggravatingly blank face of his. “yes.” it’s all he says, all he chooses to offer even when you leave all the unsaid questions in the air.

“but that’s not on the way home,” you say confused.

“it is, if you take a different route.”

“and you took a different route?”

“yes.”

“you took what would be a slightly longer route?” you raise a brow.

“yes.” and then he walks off to change, dropping the discussion all together.

you stare at the bag in your hands, at the small token of proof that he listens, that he cares. and then it hits you, all at once it hits you. those extra pillows he spends time rearranging when he makes the bed because you insist they’re nice and you need them. the papers he gives you at the akademiya already sifted through and sorted in order for you to sign. the late lunch he takes just to have yours with you. those fifteen minutes of sleep he sacrifices to shower first so you can stay in bed a bit longer. that table he hates and always bumps his hips into that you love in the living room.

and that longer route he takes on his way home to get you something you like.

it’s all so inconvenient. it’s a lot more trouble than he likes. it’s inefficient and over complicated and probably is an obstacle to his usually simple life.

“i didn’t know you were listening,” you mumble, “i thought you were asleep.”

“well, it’s difficult to sleep with all your tossing and turning,” he says simply, making your lips quirk into an easy grin as you roll your eyes.

he turns to walk to your bedroom, and you grab his hand and keep him in place. and then you smile that little smile of yours. lean in and press your lips to his. mumble a quiet thank you, haitham against them before kissing them again. and again. and again, for longer this time.

he loves you. it’s the easiest thing he does.

We've been through a lot together, you and I.

tourists coming to maui when people are still finding bodies and trying to grieve their loved ones. shame on you. go back to where you came from. the community doesn't need your tourism right now. the place and people you treat as a novelty have just lost everything. they need time to recover and heal.

modern au mike wheeler, fan of one direction, after classes are done, on his car, remembering how will smiled at other guys during the day: IS YOUR HEART TAKEN? I-IS THERE SOMEBODY ELSE ON YOUR MIND? *twists volume almost all the way up* I'M SO SORRY I'M SO CONFUSED JUST TELL ME- *sobs and bites fist* AM I OUT OF TIME?!

lucas, on the passenger seat: there, there, buddy. let it all out *hands him handkerchief*

he should've, he should've, oh, he should've kissed him~

OH YEAH fhose ghouls for my art project

What is this love triangle 😵‍💫😵‍💫

There's just something so fucking great about the concept of characters like Zeke Banks and Peter Strahm having this complicated relationship to serial killers while having such a strong urge for justice and finding the truth???

Specifically, I love to think about how in the middle of their games of cat and mouse, or at those moments they inevitably share as they sharpen their knowledge on each other and get close enough to bump, when their intentions get a lot more nuanced as they insist on combing through them later again and again... that connection and obsession shoves everything else to second place. Seeing one another tunnels their vision, and their actions will follow rules made on the spot.

But then the world keeps on turning around them when they leave the crime scene with blood on their shirts and a gun that may or may not have been pointed but never used, piles of mangled bodies from 'collaborative traps' and distorted audios calling the remains of another horror story a chance for 'redemption' never stop being found; survivors slam doors in their faces when they come for statements and sob their hearts out at their closed off support meetings— suddenly, it's their place to show remorse, perform the respect and compassion that's lacking in their lovers... and how it impacts them to carry that burden they, against their own better judgement and all good reasoning, carry because they only give this much of a tangible fuck when they're put face to face with that damage.

It's just breathtaking, to wonder how ignorance is bliss and they cover themselves in it for the sake of something they want so badly. The guilt that comes when the blanket slips right off, yanked back by their lovers. Maybe even by themselves, punishment for their own broken vows. Weakness.

some loving loving guys...

when you whenen when you think about how lorelai has the ability to understand jess in a way nobody else really can and has moments of extreme compassion and empathy for him that leak through her general lens of viewing jess as a lost cause/troublemaker/devil incarnate which is borne out of her insecurity around her most valued relationships and the way jess both in-universe and from a meta standpoint exists to not only have incredibly important relationships with rory and luke both but also to cause conflict between lorelai and luke/lorelai and rory because of it. but in these moments she has to instead confront the fact that he is just a kid and he’s having a hard time. he can’t talk because its hard for him to talk bc its hard for HER to talk (i don’t know how to tell you things, mom) he knows bc SHE would have known (i don’t know, kid, but this whole thing reeks of emily). and well, she is very petty and would never say this/defend him to his face bc when she tried to oprah him he immediately lashed out and read her so well that she is never letting that grudge go ever until they actually talk about it and theyre never going to unless you held them at gunpoint and even then they both would probably prefer to die than actually talk about their feelings and why they reacted the way they did. also it is just a natural reaction i think to be faced w your younger self and immediately try to strangle them. like lorelai is not doing that treat yourself w the kindness that u would to ur own child thing no she is biting and scratching and killing immediately. she would SAY she’d love to treat her younger self w the kindness she was never given but honestly after Teen Lorelai gives her one single bitchy knowing comment she would be a hater forever and that is real as hell to me..

Bones... help me. I just read a fanfic where the author said that they find it very weird that so many people villainize Clear Sky. They deadass said "sure he's done a lot of bad things but he's always had good intentions,"

...

I don't think I need to explain why this frustrates me so much.

I could just say, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" but that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how fucked up Clear Sky is. He really doesn't even have those lmao

In spite of how you can make a DOTC drinking game out of him bellowing "Im Just Trying To (insert relevant good thing here)," he only ever does this when someone is challenging him or offending him in some way. He's not doing anything out of benevolence, this character is obsessed with controlling other people.

Remove Gray Wing sniffing his armpit for the entire arc and you can see Clear Sky's "good intentions" for what they are; manipulation tactics. He only says "Im Just Trying" when he's defending his evil, fucked up choices to someone trying to challenge him.

"You exiled your disabled brother, you're a piece of shit!" "I'm just trying to be fair uwu"

"You slaughtered a random woman and want to kill her babies too?!" "I'm just trying to spare them from suffering"

"YOU BEAT A SECOND RANDOM WOMAN TO DEATH?!" "I was just trying to give her a warning, not my fault she was too weak to stay conscious"

"There's big piles of rotting meat in camp and we have a hostage who you promised to treat well" "I'm just trying to not let these dumb moor cats think that they can have more than they deserve"

It wasn't ever "good intentions." He's NOT afraid of anyone starving. It's a justification that he tells to his cats to justify his cruelty, weaponizing his sad backstory. He has an entire inner monologue in Book 3 about how they can always hunt more food, so it's fine they're killing more than they can eat, and that it takes people "months to starve" anyway because he saw it in the mountains.

Can't stand that line. "Sure he's done bad things BUT." The bad things were really fucking bad, and no, they didn't effectively write a character who legitimately tried to do the right thing. Everything he does just ends up being related to a grab at power or control.

They just wrote a child abuser who likes to hit women and start wars and decided Tall Shadow is also at fault here, somehow. lmao.

there was a tag on that previous post talking abt "racist scandals" and that just..the issue is that that's all some of u see racism as, scandalous and not like genuinely traumatic. idk fandom racism always gets to me bcs so many of yall love to use the excuse that we shouldn't take anything serious here bcs it's all for escapism when that literally cannot be the case for us. I wish I could participate in fandom solely as escapism but anytime my favorite character is black it's just impossible. yknow why? bcs in the way yall treat them I'm constantly reminded that some of you don't see black people as people