#also I loved EVERYONE's performances in

[arabella-strange]

there's also this interesting comparison to World Beyond Number recently, where the very aggressive and very defensive wizard Suvi (played by Aabria Iyengar) gets very cold and guarded whenever her long-dead parents are brought up. And Aabria herself said after one ep that this is largely because for Suvi, people invoke the names and lives of her parents -- beloved people who she lost traumatically as a small child, and so did not know -- to corral her, to steer her, to influence her.

Orym recently had a vision from a God who told him a few things:

Fight Predathos -- here's a Vestige 2.0 sword, blessed by me, to fight with.

Predathos is a horror the likes of which will haunt your soul -- here [because you failed your save] is a vision of that howling void, that all-consuming maw of oblivion, just in case you start to forget what's at stake.

My realm is balance, not peace nor passivity, so if you are about balance, we're aligned for now -- Bonus: here's a brief visit from your beloved dead husband, who because of his love of nature and the world and balance ended up in my eternal care. [Cf. Suvi.]

Now, the ep previous, Dorian had pointed out the terror of being without a stable, sufficient moral compass when the stakes are this high. He underscored how scary and desolate and immobilizing it is to not know what will have been the right answer until after it's done.

For me, the meeting with the Arch Heart was -- as Liam said! -- such a gut-punch that fucks Orym over and sets him back so many steps is because of how these threads converge. Suvi, Wildmother, Dorian.

To wit: Orym had one brief glittering moment of feeling empowered to make a right choice, a choice based on a renewed intuitive sense of what "right" means so that the fewest people are hurt and the fewest decisions have to be in their hands (balance). And ~ten seconds~ later, he has to reframe that whole interaction as yet another way that Will's death is a source of ongoing pain and loss. Loss this time not just of Will himself and the love and the life they shared, but loss now also of that same certainty of how to know, deep down, what right even means anymore. On the one side, the howling void of Predathos; on the other, the desolation of separation from love, from certainty, from inner self.

So when Orym said, hollowly, "I don't have a God," I don't think he was lying or rolling back disingenuously. I think he was underscoring why this continues to be so brutally, cruelly painful for him. Because he came into this as an Ashari fighter with a lil touch of druid, not a paladin or a cleric. He didn't start with a God, he didn't become devoted or have a change of heart -- he was looking for the God that spoke to his heart and matched his goals. A God he could -- however briefly! -- trust. And now it seems like that's all gone, all over again.

ORYM IS NOT PRO-GOD.

ORYM IS NOT FIGHTING FOR THE GODS, HE'S FIGHTING FOR THE PEOPLE.

ORYM IS FIGHTING SO THAT THERE CAN A TOMORROW.

ORYM DOES NOT WANT TO FOLLOW THE WILDMOTHER, HE WANTS TO WORK ALONGSIDE HER.

ORYM IS NOT ON A REVENGE QUEST.

ORYM IS FIGHTING TO HONOUR WILL AND DERRIG BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT THEY WOULD BE FIGHTING ALONGSIDE HIM IF THEY WERE ALIVE.

ORYM IS TRYING TO BE A SHIELD FOR EXANDRIA

[ayilings]

good luck babe [wip] ⚔️🌹

[turtleblogatlast]

I think a lot about Leo’s tendency to push his way into the spotlight despite clearly being a natural in the shadows. Hell, you could argue that his worst moments are when he’s forcing himself onstage, and his best are when he does things no one notices until it’s already been done.

[lovestraykings]

221023 case 143 ending fairy // i.n 💖

[herebecritters]

Scrapbooking title cards and intros ~

[aquickstart]

ok sure i'll talk about farleigh start. i'll talk about his tragedy of never being enough as it were and then having to deal with fucking oliver. sure. disclaimer: it's about class (and race) and the horrible reality of the rich. the horrible reality of living as farleigh.

another disclaimer: i'm white! and poc definitely pick up on everything i'm talking about here as it is, and better. i was and am specifically interested in farleigh vs. oliver but it's impossible to examine without considering race. definitely let me know if anything abt this sucks!

farleigh and oliver are similar. it's annoying because every intruder that is not himself is annoying, partly because felix's attention swaying from farleigh is dangerous; there is always a threat of being discarded, even if no precedent existed. the potential is terrifying.

but you'd think he's seen this before, every summer (if venetia is telling the truth) or at least often enough to learn to recognize it fast, so he should know this will pass. part of it is i think still the deep anxiety, and i think he hated every boy that was there before, and it is sort of routine.

but definitely a huge factor in farleigh's annoyance is the fact that he's a biracial (black for cattons, that's all they see) man in a white rich household. he's alert and exhausted all the time. of course he's angry at oliver, regardless of whether he's the first to crash at saltburn for the summer or the fifty-first.

but the important thing is this.

farleigh is very jealous of and angry and pissed at oliver because farleigh sees all the similarities between them. outsider, in financial trouble, whatever it is, in need of cattons; and yet oliver is preferred. and farleigh seems to be the only one to really consider it. felix does not pick up on the hint when farleigh brings up the birthday party vs. his mother. felix's clumsy "different or... anything like that" is as much about race as it is about class, of course. the "we've done all that we can" bit is felix absolving himself of guilt because surely they had, surely the mysterious collective cattons that he's not really part of had tried all they could do. to him, farleigh is different from oliver, because farleigh has been helped. felix is rich and white and twofold uncomfortable with farleigh, even if he's nice about it, even if he genuinely enjoys his company; he doesn't look too close at farleigh because he feels too guilty to come too close. and farleigh can't do anything about it. he can't nice himself into it. the fucking tragedy of him is that he's never enough in the world of the ultra-rich white, even if (especially because!) he's born into it.

farleigh is very pissed at oliver because farleigh also sees all the differences between them. you know who can be nice poor white enough to fit in? fucking oliver. felix says "just be yourself, they'll love you" when oliver first moves in. farleigh was also probably told the same thing, and felix also probably believed that farleigh could just be himself, but even if the cattons were magically not racist at all (impossible), it wouldn't make a difference to farleigh. he would still self-censor, keep in check, be in dangerous waters (because racism is not just about the individual, but about the system). we see that he'd won himself leeway by years of trial and error by the way he speaks to the family, but it's still within the boundaries of acceptable, built by the cattons. he's part of them because they allow it, and farleigh is very, very aware.

the annoying thing is oliver can be himself. like, truly, genuinely, he can just be. and farleigh can't help but envy that.

as a side note, oliver is obviously jealous of farleigh in the beginning as well, because regardless of the reality of farleigh's situation, he was born into it, and hence, at least in oliver's mind, has his position solidified. oliver's whole thing is unquenchable thirst and hunger for whatever and everything the cattons have (including themselves!). he wishes to have been a catton from birth. to oliver, at first, there's nothing farleigh can really do to lose it. and until he figures out the cattons completely, he can't help but envy that.

but i think farleigh senses something different about oliver early on. at least on the level of the text, we have "you're almost passing [for] a real, human boy", which is so important because farleigh is the first to point out oliver's weirdness. the next to do so is venetia in the bath scene calling him a freak, but it's too late. farleigh is too early.

and i like to think he clocks oliver too early because he sees the jagged edges that he recognizes in himself. i think that one other thing that farleigh envies is oliver's freedom to let go. freedom to let go is very similar to freedom to be, but not quite the same.

to be is about perception: farleigh knows he cannot fall out of line, but would like to, and oliver does not have to worry about it at all (i mean, he does, because oliver also performs for felix, but farleigh doesn't know that).

to let go is about the self: farleigh is too scared to even want what oliver eventually does, to even consider the possibility. oliver can let himself want. oliver can let himself act. oliver just can do things and want things. i'm not sure farleigh can.

and so in this scene, when oliver's wants and actions have landed him nowhere with farleigh, felix, venetia, the cattons, of course farleigh gloats. he can let himself do that, because if the cattons are slowly discarding him, farleigh can allow himself this one small victory. he's relieved because despite the dangerous similarities, oliver is, thankfully, not really the same as farleigh, right?

but like. this movie is a love letter to all things gothic. oliver is a white man. he prevails. the brief performance that oliver put on did eventually end up more effective than farleigh's lifetime of constraint. my heart fucking breaks for him to be honest.

the issue that remains is the fact of farleigh's survival. i like to think that oliver came to respect him. oliver is smart, but farleigh is clever. he picks up on everything oliver does (to refer back to the karaoke scene, farleigh immediately retaliates in the cleverest way, in the moment), and he's the only one to do so consistently (venetia, again, for example, comes close, but too late; oliver doesn't like that, there's nothing to work with). hence, stay with me for a little longer, the paradox: farleigh survives because he was never enough for the cattons, but he is very worthy of oliver's attention. in his own freaky way, oliver wants him. look at that.

so. farleigh. farleigh might come back. he always comes back. and i think oliver wants to try harder next time.

[steviesbicrisis]

OKAY HERE I AM WITH STEDDIE/EUROVISION BRAINROT

Somehow Corroded Coffin is asked to represent Australia and they are like "European gay extravaganza for a whole week? Sign me the fuck up". And Eddie is in love at first sight with Stefano, the Italian representative for their year, but he doesn't know how to approach him since he only speaks Italian.

Cue to two weeks of rehearsal where Eddie sends him flowers/other gifts to his changing room with poorly-google-translated Italian messages and downloads Duolingo in hopes he turns out to be a linguistic prodigy.

It's only during the Carpet that he realizes, by listening to Stefano talk with the press, that not only he speaks perfect English, but he also has double Italian/American citizenship and his actual name is Steve.

"So Steve, do you have any Eurovision crushes?" is the last question.

"Oh, I have my eyes on Australia, I'll leave it up to you to guess which one of them is it" he winks at the camera and goes away.

More brainrot here

[lone-sk]

guess who just watched jeffy's parents and is feeling so normal about it

[nozomijoestar]

i really like the dichotomy of everyone respecting Nana as their friend off stage (and the darker feeling she has that they All take from her in one way or another except Karen) but inside the stage duels as performers with her as their ultimate test, they're all still prideful enough to treat it as every man's glory for themselves, making it so they can't hold a grudge against Nana outside the Revues because to everyone the Revues are Just Business and a space for words that don't belong outside it- which plays into the repression that's hurting all their relationships, they really thought of everything making this series

[secondstar-acorn]

can’t think of anything to say other than it was everything I could have ever expected and wanted and hoped for. seeing them perform truly is an electric experience and I am so, so grateful I got to be there. I’ve never felt such overflowing joy and love in one room before and that truly is down to what a one-of-a-kind group Starkid is. I’m so happy and a little emotional that it’s over but like it’s sung in days of summer, “don’t wanna see you go but it’s not forever, not forever” ⭐️💜

[kurashikimisaki]

riley is a wallflower 🤭

[herearedragons]

tag the oc that's most likely to get stuck in a time loop and what kind of time loop it would be

[lynxfrost13]

Hey do you guys ever think about HOPR’s gestalt and how she was probably a very lonely person for most of her life before volunteering to be a neural template donor

[bumblingbabooshka]

Voyager plotline in which The Doctor, Seven, Tuvok, and Neelix have to become a barbershop quartet in order to save the crew. With the little outfits and everything. (Harry's providing the music)

[the-eyes-of-andyserkis]

[ Part One ] - [ Part Two ] - [ Part Three ] - [ Part Four ] [ Part Five ] - [ Part Six ] - [ Part Seven ] - [ Part Eight ]

[hoperaypegasus]

Cool Jobs I Made Up But Still Wish We Saw in Beyblade

Bey Designers

People who design the ideas of beys and how they look and make them. There are really popular ones who make tons of beys and others who make specialized or more unique and custom ones. They typically are either loved or hated by mechanics due to their designs.

Performers

I’ve talked about these before but these bladers work with their beys to create a visual performance like performers do in Pokémon and unlike regular bladers, would be judged by the audience to see who wins. I do think this would be pretty popular too since we see bladers who already are combining performing with battling.

Blader Consultants

Ok ok, so Chao-Xin says that one of the reasons he likes beyblade is that the outfits are cool… have there be people who help bladers come up with their initial costume and style that makes them stand out as a blader. That would just kinda be cool though I do think mainly rich or very famous bladers would use them regularly.

Beyblade Trainers

We kind of see this in Coach Steel (ok, he kinda also does bey design to from what we see him do to modify Striker), but he runs a gym. I was mainly thinking that besides beyblade gym trainers, successful bladers might take on the jobs of basically being personal trainers/tutors to newer or less experienced bladers. Basically the beyblade equivalent of personal trainers.

Blader Fashion Designers

I’m just saying that there’s no way they’re wearing regular street clothes if it survives everything they go through in the show. Like seriously, what jacket can survive being surrounded by tornadoes constantly or what gloves can withstand catching a quickly moving (and therefore very hot) metal object without any damage and still look decent? There’s fashion made specially for bladers and therefore there must be blader fashion designers.