Sometimes I think about Urianger's role in and feelings on the Thancred-Ryne dynamic and I think watching it kills him a bit inside. For several reasons.
Like, to begin with there's the guilt he's been carrying with him since he ushered Minfilia to the first, how he effectively killed the person Thancred cared about the most in the world and who's "death" ended up causing Ryne's entire Situation. He looks at what's happening between them and can only think "I caused this" even though that's not really true. No one person is responsible for this outcome, it's a culmination of several circumstances and the consequences of them. Logically, Urianger knows this. But it doesn't matter, because his guilt is overpowering his logic.
And also, like. What Thancred is doing here, the way he's knowingly letting Ryne be and stay hurt because he literally cannot bring himself to tell her his feelings, is the exact same mistake Urianger made with Moenbryda. Of course, the circumstances are vastly different, and the potential consequences to Thancred telling Ryne the wrong things or her misinterperating it is far greater (being a matter of literal life or death), it's still the same sort of paralysis they are trapped in.
And he knows it. He sees it. But he can't say or do anything about it, he doesn't have the right to. He acknowledges the mistake, but he hasn't really improved upon it yet. He still doesn't voice his thoughts and feelings as he should. He's also non-confrontational by nature, he doesn't argue or try to change peoples minds, he probably doesn't think he has any place to.
So, he tries to help in what little ways he can. Because he doesn't want it to become Monebryda again, he doesn't want to know he stole not one but two people from Thancred. So he does what he can. He tells Ryne little tidbits about Thancred, things that help her understand him but are safe to share. Nothing too deep, nothing too personal. Just small things, things that are purely factual, because he can't afford to give her a false image of who Thancred is. He teacher her fun and interesting things, because Thancred isn't in the mindset to provide her with non-essential skills.
I like to think Urianger has brought it up with Thancred at least once, during one of his stays. But nothing would've come of it. Not really. Unlike Y'shtola, Urianger isn't pushy, he'll bring it up once or twice and when he sees this won't go anywhere, he gives up. He wants to help, but he knows that persistance only does do much, and he is not the person who has the resiliance needed to push and push until Thancred finally budges (because he won't budge, it won't help anything but to sour things further by adding aditional stress to an already strained dynamic).
And like. Urianger gets it. He gets it because he's been the same way- not saying what he should to someone he loves more than anything else because she was meant to figure her life out herself, and 'steering' her in any direction by telling her his feelings (regardless of if the 'steering' is intention or not) will go against that. He gets it. He gets it and it's all the more painful for it. He knows it can't just be fixed by acknowledging it or with encouragement, something needs to happen to break the stasis.
I think this is probably why he stayed behind while they went off to Nabaath Areng. This is the very last chance they have to say what they want to, and he can't afford to be the anchor anymore. This is about them, not him, he can't let their resolution be buffed by his presence, so he stays behind. Which was probably for the best. Ryne got nervous when Urianger said he's staying behind, probably not too excited about being alone with Thancred (well, not alone, but WoL doesn't count) so soon after she had ran away crying. But she needs to be nervous. For anything positive to come out of this Thancred and Ryne both can't afford to be too relaxed. As sad as it is, the stress is necessary for anything to happen. He knows it. Does he like it? Absolutely not, but nor does he like his other plots. At least no one dies this time if it goes right.
Ruin is at his breaking point from the recent stress, and corners Eclipse with an unusual request.
I figured I should actually link this here qwq Just me making Ruin and Eclipse hug because they both desperately need some comfort-- now with additional chapters!
"Aaron, when you almost fell on the ice with the Stanley Cup—"
"Oh, Jesus..."
"It's s—o stupid..."
"—I mean. Yo, and it would've been okay, man! Like, you know what? You'd be like, 'Oh! He's one of us!' you know? Did you catch yourself? Did you feel yourself slipping a little bit? I think it's kind-of heavy, right?"
"My theory is: that I stepped on, like—one of those confettis, maybe? That fall from the sky. That's my theory. 'Cuz it was just a little slide then I turn and I was fine. Did you see Barky almost fell on the TV camera cord as well? Did you see that?"
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah, there's so much stuff on the ice..."
"It was right after he took it from Gary [Bettman] and he put it up and he—Well, I mean he didn't fall. He didn't come anywhere close to falling 'cuz he's Jesus on the ice... on those edges he's incredible..."
The Cam & Strick Podcast | 7.30.24 (x)
nothing delights me more than ekky getting ribbed for being clumsy and instead of just taking it he has to drag sasha down with him XD like oh? i almost fell WELL DID YOU SEE BARKY—girl PIPE DOWN THIS IS ABOUT YOU BABY. BARKY AINT GOT NOTHIN TO DO WITH THIS.
every angle (x)(x) of the almost ekky spill is so funny man and i love to embarrass this man SO FOR THE FOLKS AT HOME ROLL THE CLIP
i think its soooo funny when he says my theory is the confetti sabotaged me 🤓👌 because if you look at the footage
GIRL WHERE. just admit your ankle got weirdly bendy and screeched in after a hard game it happens to the best of us man
also him throwing sasha under the bus especially because i was like huh? sasha almost tripped over a cord? i definitely wouldve noticed that TRUST ME so i looked at the footage to see what he was talking about....
"did you see barky almost fell on the tv camera cord?" (x)
"did you see that?" yeah. did you. did you see the way he didnt not even move at all when he went past it yeah YEAH (x)
me when i lie and want an excuse to not be the only guy thrown under the bus so i bring up a completely nonconsequential annecdote so i can change the narrative of being the only clumsy guy on the ice despite the fact i very much am, and other such things
"hes jesus on the ice" and other normal things to say about your captain while you smile sweetly and reminisce upon him and his amazing skating abilities
okeydoke as I have not had much energy for working on stuff lately (but lots of motivation) I'm not gonna do proper NaNo with a wordcount or anything, BUT I am gonna make it a goal to get some amount of work done on a writing project every day (at least until I go away on the 24th). Main priority blaseball projects are, in no particular order:
Fic about the ending
Abner fic
Simon's Quest
secret fic(s) :)
get the Talkers exchange set up
Aside from that, I've been poking at more non-blaseball stuff, which is a good excuse for me to plug my writing blog @cyndakip! All my fics get posted there, so if you're interested in my writing beyond just blaseball (especially if you like pokemon), I recommend following me there, since I don't post non-blaseball fics here.
now that i think about it, i think it’s super funny how everyone has collectively wordlessly agreed to call harunya “harunyan”~~~~~ give her her ending consonant back, hw~~ the extra “n” at the end has a better ring to it anyway~
im really sad about how wyll’s whole story is going in act 3 bc it feels like, compared to the other characters, he hasnt gotten any huge scenes where he’s actually making decisions for himself. like for the scene where mizora forces him to choose between breaking his contract or saving his father, you choose for him and he agrees to whatever you tell him to do instantly like. why. there also just hasnt really been any scenes outside of camp that wyll really gets to shine in even tho theres been plenty of opportunities for them
Obviously do what’s gonna make you comfortable (ie: blocking children)
and don’t do things that risk another persons legal standing (ie: being a child)
but let’s just love each other please
let’s not send actual threats over dumb shit
it’s not cute and there’s enough hate in this world
i just wanna go back in time three months with this fandom 😭😭
Also yes what occurred is bad and it’s good it was brought to light but lowkey it’s just as weird to go stalk someone’s instagram for what would’ve been no reason had she not turned out to be under 18 🫶🫶
kicking my feet giggling at the winter performance rehearsal dynamics of neji antagonizing the class for their own good, ignoring his own issues; kisa being the concerned angel who flocks to the people who need help in response, ignoring her own issues; and mitsuki flailing at trying to be a good senpai and using his kisa and neji radars as a crutch to figure out what obstacles to remove so the class can finally give him and kisa space to work out their problems (of course, this does not happen. so he's forced to improv onstage as rukiora. oh the irony of mitsu being a very private person, forced to resolve his personal relationship issues in front of an audience)