Awkward Stare

i mean they have a lot to bond over!

@happybabysloth yeah but like who's gonna know. who's gonna know he's wearing red. definitely not these guys, he's invited <3

But Kink 202 recognizes that most people often feel as if the actor's sorrow and joy are real, even if we cognitively know we're watching a play. That's why drama and theater remain compelling since the invention of language. So, when you play-pretend the heel or slaughtered lamb or naughty child or whatever, you are borrowing the story's psyche. Not totally, not forever, not because you agree, but because the performance serves us. Often it gets us off, but it also might provide catharsis, validation, closure, etc. In that way it is "real" the way tears and laughter in response to a story are real.

Critical thinking checkpoint: how real do you think "tears and laughter in response to a story" actually are? In your experience, do you get totally absorbed in stories or is that rather difficult for you? How does that compare to your peers? How might the variation in this "realness" inform someone's risks and benefits in partaking in sexual drama?

The Orville is "What if Star Trek didn't take itself so seriously", a statement made with the full understanding that this is the franchise where a trickster god turned the crew into Robin Hood and his Merry Men and once a Leprechaun was loose on DS9.