#instant connect

[bloodyholly]

I fucking love bitching about stuff with strangers dude

[gamorahww]

𝐅𝐈𝐘𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 ━ 𝑑𝑎𝑦 2. 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔

Today I'm holding space for the idea that in the context of the movie, dancing is a coping mechanism for Fiyero. While caring is a cure and a solution and an answer. I mean it is nothing new, but it needs to be said.

There will be a separate post on Dancing Through Life later today, but for now, we're starting from later. At history class, Fiyero voluntarily steps up to help the lion cub, and they make it all the way to the forest. Shortly after they are safe, and start talking, Elphaba says, "I know my life would be much easier if I didn't care, but—" and Fiyero cuts her off at exactly this point in her sentence. And I think that moment is crucial. Up until now, he’s never interrupted her before—but now he does and not because he’s frustrated with how much she talks, but because of what she’s saying. He doesn’t want to hear her talk about caring. That’s a pain point for him.

Because he knows it’s easier not to care. That’s the story he tells himself.

The lyrics in Dancing Through Life go: "Why think too hard when it's so soothing?" Soothing what? You don’t need to soothe something that doesn’t hurt. Soothing is only necessary when there’s an ache. To me this means he has cared before, and he has been hurt by caring before, and now he's coping with that by dancing through life. He is soothing his pain from secretly caring just too much, by dancing. Not because he doesn't care anymore about anything, but because he can't stop doing it, so he has to keep dancing. Dancing is loud, and visible. If he dances, people don't ask questions about his personality about what he thinks or how he feels. Maybe they haven't been doing it anyway, so he distracts them by doing his little dance, and as soon as they get too close, he pushes them away. But what he believes to be true for now is that caring = painful and dancing = a way to cope with that pain

But Elphaba just saw him care—deeply. She knows he’s capable of it. And she knows how unbearably sad it must be to choose to pretend otherwise. At the same time, she also understands how painful caring can be, she just highlighted is. In that moment, they find common ground.

But Fiyero’s façade—his carefree persona—is what he assumes people value in him most. So the second he realizes Elphaba doesn’t see him that way, he panics. He thinks that if she can see through him, it means she doesn’t want him there. No one has ever appreciated him for anything beyond the image he projects. So if that mask is gone… what’s left? Why would she still want him around, if he's not fun and happy and carefree? So he starts to leave.

And then she proves him wrong.

Not only does she say "she does (want his help)," but she physically holds onto him, keeping him there. The shock on his face (second gif from the bottom) says everything—he never expected someone to want him without the act. And later, when she touches his face so gently, you can see him struggling to process it. This is the most vulnerable he’s ever been, and it terrifies him. Not only that, but Elphaba sees a scar on his face, and sees that he has been hurt, without him noticing it. She reaches out and touches him gently, not really wanting anything, and he just can't bear it.

Her caring for him is not painful, it's soothing.

His Freudian slip a few beats later—"I better get to safety."—isn’t just about physical danger. This doesn’t feel safe. Being seen, being wanted for real, is the opposite of what he’s used to. Caring and being cared for are equally scary, but only the latter seems like a completely new experience for him. However, after feeling it, he finds something so real that he just yearns for it from now on. Yearns to be seen and touched and to be needed for something he did instinctively, without a thought, something he did because it felt right.

That’s why the later scene with Glinda is so important. When she holds his hand, the shot mirrors the moment with Elphaba—but with one key difference. Glinda is pulling him away, back into the world of pretense. But he can’t go back, not after this, and you can see him looking back at where he came from, back to the forest, back to Elphaba, back to being seen. For once, caring was not painful, and someone cared for him as well.

[cloudsofteeth]

Cmon man just do me this favor at least ONCE like I Know you do wound exchanges but like just do me this solid

Desperation here man it sUCKS

It also would keep Beelzebub away..

[padfootswhiskers]

listening to the poa audiobook and it’s crazy how harry sees himself in sirius even before he knows who he is 😭😭 he’s got messy hair?? uncle vernon doesn’t like him?? god, me too

[rockingtheorange]

"We could not talk, or talk for hours" -tzp 2024

(From @/deadline on ig)

[moonagedaydreamsofrhiannon]

yeah, diabetes sucks sometimes, but every once in a while I see someone in public with a dexcom or pump, and I point to my own, and despite being total strangers we have this mutual shared understanding that no one else gets, and it feels like a secret club that we’re in that no one else gets to be a part of

[banyanas]

is this not what peachyville horror is

[alaskan-wallflower]

have yall seen kitbull? like that one short with the pit bull in the fighting ring and the little kitten and they become friends but everyone thinks the dog is really mean until they get a deeper look at gina bf see he’s just scared, and the cat never leaves his side no matter what because the cat loves the dog and sees its inner beauty that no one else does?

that’s johnny and dally in my head idk

[lunar-goodness]

A girl makes one (1) X-files post and all of a sudden there’s 50 people in the tags chanting “join us join us join us”

I’m not mad about it though, I am thoroughly enjoying this show. I’m on episode 20 but let me just harp on about the fucking chemistry between these two. I don’t remember what episode it was or what was going on but Scully was turning away from Mulder and he grabbed the chain of her necklace to stop her…… sir, and then the episode where they’re up in Alaska and there’s a parasite that was dug up out of the ice and Scully checks that Mulder isn’t infected and then he checks her and there was no reason for his hand on her neck to be so sexy!! And it’s from the get go, this instant connection. Please tell me they end up together at some point???

[nreads]

[poademeron]

im not even exaggerating when i say i think second to louis and claudia danlou is the most heartwarming relationship on the show

[likea-black-widow-baby]

I wanted to take a moment to respond to a complaint I've seen a lot of people having about AAA.

I've seen a lot of posts, mostly about Agatha or Rio, talking about how they were "done dirty" by not having enough time dedicated to their stories. There were gaps they wanted to see filled in, or explanations for moments we see that we never get the background for. And I 100% sympathize and even agree. But people are blaming Jac and the writers for that and it is just so not their fault.

I would personally blame the prevalence of short-form storytelling that's dominating TV nowadays. I think we've actually forgotten how long seasons of TV used to be. The first six seasons of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had 22 episodes each! And that's why it was so good! We got to spend so much time with the characters, learning their backstories and seeing them learn to care about each other.

If things feel rushed, if storylines feel incomplete, I would blame this shift towards shorter TV seasons. It's not Jac or the writers' faults-- they were given 9 episodes to pack in backstories and relationships for seven characters, set up the Young Avengers, build a satisfying story for a preexisting character (Agatha), answer questions left by MoM and Wandavision, and, you know, be a coherent TV show with a plot that made sense, all with a smaller budget than most other Marvel productions. This has been a problem for ten years-- all that pressure is the reason why Joss Whedon left the MCU. (Not defending Joss, just saying this trend has existed for a while now).

All this to say, if you feel unfulfilled with how AAA handled things, please don't blame the people who worked on it. They did everything they could with the short leash they were given.

[bogkeep]

there's been many times where i've felt like i'm posting into the void, and then years later someone finds the post and Understands The Vision. it's so gratifying

[tamapalace]

lol, brb

[markantonys]

completely random but someone i follow on instagram posted this pic and as soon as i saw it i went "oh my god it's the manor in altara where rand gets his hand blown off". like that's IT. wotshow please hire me as a location scout. no i don't have any clue where this is, but that's not important.