✨ Argentina are through to the World Cup final! ✨

Lionel Messi has refused to let the dream die, propelling Argentina to their seventh World Cup final, the third time the magician will captain his country on the grandest stage. La Albiceleste defeated the Three Lions in what was, astoundingly, Messi’s first ever match against England. With this monumental victory, Argentina sets up a final against Spain.

You only have to look at how many footballers who have rape accusations against them that happily represent their countries in huge tournaments like the World Cup without anyone really giving a shit to see what bollocks that is.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Thomas Partey (Ghana), Gonzalo Montiel (Argentina), Thiago Almada (Argentina), Junya Ito (Japan), Kaishu Sano (Japan), Ryan Mendes (Cabo Verde).

i'm so invested in them 😭💖 the not-couple of all time tbh

based off a screenshot of aabria and liam!

'god damn I totally get why Hal reacted the way he did to Bolaire wearing Misha, considering what he knows of Bolaire; and why he was so unreceptive to all the accusations Bolaire made about Thjazi during the Convergence. His reaction was incredibly understandable from the perspective of a guy who is already fucking REELING from so many revelations about a man he loved'

AND 'I think Hal was horrified that Bolaire insinuated that because of Thjazi, Hal might technically be his owner if Thimble isn't, and given the history of the Orcs under Azgra, no wonder this instigated such a disgusted reaction.'

AND 'that doesn't make any of Hal's words justified. It was, in fact, incredibly fucked up that Hal IMMEDIATELY aggressively pinned Bolaire to a sofa rather than simply asking if Misha was alright; and was ONLY concerned with Thjazi hurting Misha, not Bolaire, when Thjazi swung for him; and was so dismissive of Bolaire when he was trying to talk openly for the first time about how Thjazi mistreated him and reduced him to an owned object, in front of a room of people who predominantly love & glaze Thjazi'

AND 'this clearly negatively impacted his relationship with Bolaire and I think Hal realised that and regretted it, when Bolaire was apologising constantly and promising to leave the life he had built with Hal at its centre, and when he specifically asked Azune to help him rather than Hal'

AND 'I think Hal has so much on his plate with the Creed and the incredible work he did with KoTher'ai, his fears for his family and his complex feelings for Thjazi, that it's completely possible that he won't acknowledge this for a long time'

AND 'I think they both need time apart so Bolaire can figure out who he is without Hal, and Hal can come to his own conclusions about whether their friendship was 'real' or not'

AND 'the revelation of how little Hal cares about Bolaire in comparison to other important people in his life (Thjazi, Misha) is going to be devastating for our fucked-up little mask guy who has codependently entangled their lives'

AND 'this will be very good for Bolaire in the long run if the Seekers become part of his wider friendship/support network, which will in turn be VERY good for Hal because their whole ish wasn't healthy in any way and Hal has enough going on that he genuinely can't give Bolaire the emotional support he needs right now'

AND 'I think this is all far more crunchy and interesting than if they had just spoken about their problems like normal people and hugged it out'

Long transcript upcoming, I just want to put the conversation in full:

Murray: Bolaire, you leaving?

Tal/Bolaire: I’m just staring through Thimble.

Thimble: Well?

Bolaire: Are we to trust Thjazi?

Thimble: I always have.

Bolaire: Very well then. I belong to you. I am your weapon. What would you have me do?

Thimble: Bolaire.

Bolaire: What did he used to say? ‘Thimble, please tell it what to do next.’ What would you have me do? If I don’t belong to you, I belong to his brother.

Thimble: Bolaire.

Bolaire: Yes?

Thimble: You don’t belong to anyone. And you know that.

Bolaire: Are you saying that Thjazi was wrong? Are you saying that his notion of what I am was incorrect? Did you ever tell him that? And I’m very good at telling when someone’s lying.

Hal: At a certain point, you’re going to have to let go of my brother and start dealing with us.

Julien: It’s difficult when he won’t let go of us.

Thaisha: I think you’re the only one with that excuse/Hal: You’re a different story

Julien: Great.

Bolaire: I …

Thimble: I don’t know everything he did to you. All I know is, you only wanted to deal with me.

Bolaire: He wouldn’t look at me.

Thimble: Maybe he was scared of you, Bolaire.

Bolaire: Mm.

Thimble: Maybe he just didn’t like your ugly mug.

Bolaire: I was definitely scared of him. He told me everything he was going to do to me, and funny enough, he did it. My life is over.

Thimble: I just …

Bolaire: I lost everything.

Thimble: Bolaire, then come with us, and you can tell me all about how terrible he was.

I … I am not sure why everyone is apparently freaking out about this conversation? Every time I’ve gone in the cr4 tag the last week it’s been a lot of discussion. Mostly, that I can see, about whether Bolaire is telling the truth, and how damaging it would be to the story and to the other characters (and the other players) if he is telling the truth, and …

Honestly I’m a little baffled by this?

We have seen very little indication that he’s not telling the truth. And plenty that he is. If the argument is that we haven’t seen proof that Thjazi could treat someone like that …

Mara the Wing, about half an hour ago, straight up and in earnest: “All right. Thjazi was a bastard and a thief. He used and abused people.” Julien, not believing that his shadow might be Thjazi: “I’m very confused as to whether or not this is friend or foe, both, neither?”, to which Thaisha responded: “That sounds like Thjazi!” Like. Everyone around him, friend or foe, acknowledges that Thjazi sometimes went through people for shortcuts, even though (almost) all of them also acknowledge that he did so in a good cause. Usually. Often. Like, none of the characters are under any illusions. Bolaire …

Bolaire thinks they are. And he’s right to an extent, they tend to think of Thjazi’s crimes as … sort of happening to other people? People they’re often justified against. Even with Vaelus, because it came right in the end, and this was Mara’s direct argument, because it came right in the end, the injury he did in the doing of it was justified. Which … uh. Ends justify the means, might be a bit of a dangerous argument, but still. Bolaire has a point. Most of the people here love Thjazi, and are willing to forgive him things that Bolaire can’t.

But even with that said …

The person in this room that loved Thjazi the most, that forgave him everything, that would do anything for him, is Thimble. And Thimble is the one Bolaire directed this towards. And Thimble …

Took the hit. She acknowledged it. She acknowledged him. Yeah, she’s still … She’s trying to explain it, to him and to herself, trying to make it make sense, to say that Thjazi might have been like that because he was scared of Bolaire (which is honestly quite probable, even if it doesn’t help much), but she still …

“I don’t know everything he did to you.”

To you. She acknowledged that directly.

“Bolaire, then come with us, and you can tell me all about how terrible he was.”

Like. She didn’t flinch from the implication. She didn’t deny Bolaire. She didn’t say it wasn’t true. She said she didn’t know, that she didn’t see a lot of it, that she only saw the effect on Bolaire himself, but she still acknowledged that effect. And she was willing to let him tell her. She was willing to hear it.

Thimble loves Thjazi. With all her heart. She has always trusted him. But she won’t treat Bolaire like a thing, she won’t treat him like she owns him, and when he says that his experience was different than hers, she offers to listen. She doesn’t tell him to shut up so she can preserve her image of Thjazi, she tells him to come with her and tell her. Now, maybe he can’t trust yet that she will actually listen, but at the very least she made the offer. She didn’t deny what was done, and she offered to hear it out in full.

And the others …

Look. Hal, I think, has basically said every wrong thing possible since they all stumbled back into his house. Every time Hal opened his mouth towards Bolaire in this conversation, I was flinching and telling him to shut up, please, you’re not helping. He started out freaking out about Bolaire wearing Misha. Which was justified! So justified! But also does not make a great first impression in this conversation. Then followed up with apparently only worrying about a Thjazi-possessed-Julien trying to hit Bolaire because it would also hit Misha. And then here.

“At a certain point, you’re going to have to let go of my brother and start dealing with us.”

Hal. Hal. Please shut up.

And it’s Julien who points out the extremely elephant-like problem with that. That Thjazi won’t let go of them. And, like, Hal and Thaisha both dismiss this immediately, and they’re both so wrong to do so. Because I’m pretty sure, on top of everything that’s just happened with Termina, that it is the entire reason for Bolaire’s breakdown.

Because the thing is, Thjazi came back. He’s right there. He’s right there, acting, present. Trying to hit Bolaire. Which, yes. Also justified, as Bolaire just poked Thjazi’s soul with a soul-destroying weapon, so Thjazi rather understandably tried to knock him back in self-defence. The point here is not that Thjazi tried to punch him. It’s that Thjazi was present enough to do that.

Bolaire can’t let go of Thjazi, because Thjazi is right fucking here.

And if Thjazi is here … Then it could all happen again. He could wind up right back there again.

That’s why he went for Thimble the way he did. Why he challenged her that way.

“Very well then. I belong to you. I am your weapon. What would you have me do?”

“What did he used to say? ‘Thimble, please tell it what to do next.’ What would you have me do? If I don’t belong to you, I belong to his brother.”

The point is not to challenge her on what she let happen. Or, well. Not just to challenge her on what she let happen. The point is to see if she’ll let it happen again.

Because Thjazi’s back. He’s here. And this is how he acted before, and this is how he’ll act again, and are they going to let him? Or even … even help him?

Because Thjazi is so persuasive. Again, Julien says that too. “You all have been tricked by a person with endless charisma and cult-like personality!” And yes, both Julien and Bolaire don’t like Thjazi, in fact hate him, but … It says something that even Thjazi’s enemies find him persuasive. Let alone … Let alone people who love him.

Bolaire is frightening. He’s monstrous. He’s alone. How hard would it be for Thjazi to persuade them how he should be treated? If he’s back? If he’s here? If they’re all already fawning over him? I’m not saying that’s what would happen, but it’s what Bolaire is afraid of. And it’s why he came out swinging that way. To see … how much Thimble knew. How much she approved of. How much she might let happen again.

Because the thing is, they’re all going to work to get Thjazi back. They’re not going to leave him as Julien’s shadow. Which, honestly. Good. He shouldn’t be Julien’s shadow. But. These people love Thjazi. They’re going to rescue him. Which means he’s going to come back, to an extent already is, and that means Bolaire has to plan for Thjazi coming back. Being able to … to hurt him.

It is interesting to me … Thjazi possessing Julien. If Bolaire’s nature is what horrified and repulsed Thjazi, and, again, not without reason! But. Thjazi … Thjazi’s kind of doing the same to Julien. Right now. I wonder what he thinks about that. And Thjazi-the-Shadow is …

It’s lending credence to his ruthlessness with people he doesn’t care about as well. Because Thjazi nearly got Julien killed tonight. And Occtis, and Mara, and Alba, though I’m not sure if he knew about the latter two. Like. Just comparing him to Occtis. Occtis was also going to go back inside, but he didn’t demand that Julien come with him. He was going to let Julien go, help his own family, while Occtis went back in for Thimble. But Thjazi full-on didn’t give Julien a choice. He dragged him bodily back into the kill zone. And if Occtis hadn’t dispelled him with the firebolt, if Thjazi had succeeded in dragging Julien further into the Manor, upstairs, in the open, while an enraged Primus fucking Tachonis and his entire family landed downstairs …

Thimble herself wanted them to run. Because she’s smaller, stealthier, because she had the best chance. She wanted them to run. But Thjazi didn’t give a shit, so long as Thimble was safe.

Thjazi …

I get the impression, so far that we’ve seen him, that Thjazi Fang … He was a rebel. A young, idealistic man, a man trying to fight for his people’s freedom. A man who fought hopeless cause after hopeless cause. A man who watched his causes fail. A man who grew increasingly paranoid, increasingly desperate. Increasingly ruthless. But still a man trying to do good.

Everything we saw at the Hallowed Round tonight. Like Mara said. Everything we saw at the Hallowed Round. Thjazi made that possible. That … That dazzling wonder. The saving of so many souls. That wasn’t … It wasn’t how Thjazi himself was going to do it. He didn’t have …

He was going to do it smaller. Sneakier. More paranoid. More utilitarian. And that, I think, was the perfect … the perfect illustration of what Thjazi has become under the pressures of the life he lived and the enemies he faced. He became smaller. Sneakier. More paranoid. Trying for tiny victories because he had … he had, I think, started despairing of the bigger ones. He was still trying for them. Oh, he was still trying. The Cloak. He picked the most long shot cause he could find. On a scale … He was trying. He was trying so hard. But the life he led to accomplish it …

He's gotten ruthless. He’s gotten paranoid. He’s gotten cruel. Because he’s seen so much cruelty. The Falconer’s Rebellion failed. The Sundered Houses bloat themselves on the people beneath them. The world is so dark. And he was going to fight, never fear, he was always going to fight, but in the process he became …

Smaller. And darker. And meaner.

Thimble is right, I think. Thjazi, much like Bolaire himself, was afraid. So afraid, all time. And it didn’t help that …

Whatever happened with the Cloak and door to Faerie. Whatever Mara’s skipping past in her mind, whatever Thimble heard them arguing about in that flashback. I think, I really do think, that the Cloak and Thjazi were involved in the door closing, maybe even responsible. And I think that Thjazi has been living with that guilt ever since.

Especially when it came to Thimble, and especially when it came to Aranessa. Which … Which I think explains a lot about Shadow!Thjazi’s actions towards Julien, too. He punished Julien for leaving them in danger. That’s what the two direct attacks were. Punishing Julien for leaving them. And I don’t think all of that is pointed at Julien. I strongly suspect that a lot of it is Thjazi’s own guilt. Desperate for Julien not to fail them as he did, forcing Julien to protect them at all costs.

Because if he was involved in the loss of Faerie? Then Thjazi Fang did more direct damage to the two people he loves most than anyone short of Primus Tachonis himself. Thimble became mortal because of his actions. She can feel herself dying. And Aranessa …

One of the justifications Primus used for ‘culling’ House Royce was the loss of their magic. One of the reasons the other Houses went along with it, at least to appearances, was because of agreement with that.

Thjazi, his relationship with her, has damaged Aranessa’s standing from the moment it became known. He’s always known that. And now his actions may have destroyed her entire House.

Thjazi … It all snowballed, I think. He started out trying to do good, and the consequences kept spiralling around him, and the mistakes started piling up, and he had to pull himself apart from those he loved, for their own sake and for ‘security’ reasons, security cells, operational security, he had to isolate himself more and more, and I suspect …

I suspect over time he just got a little ruthless, and a little cruel, and that certain people, like Bolaire, were unfortunately placed to take the brunt of it.

But Bolaire, for all his fears right now, is not alone. Because everyone … Hal did it badly, yes. Maybe nobody said quite the right things. But Thimble took the hit on the chin, offered to listen. Thaisha thought to show him Little Bolaire. Azune tried so hard to show him that he is real, that he is a person, that he is seen as a person, that he will not be treated as an object or a slave.

None of them flinched from what Thjazi might have done. None of them denied it. Thimble and Thaisha and Azune and Occtis and Hal all reached out, all tried, if clumsily, to reassure him that he is a person to them, and that no one, Thjazi or otherwise, will treat him like that again.

Which is why, too, I don’t think any of the players are upset or unprepared for the direction Taliesin is taking with Bolaire. Laura as Thimble took that one on the chin. There’s been seeds planted from the moment both Bolaire and Julien were introduced as characters. Nobody was surprised. The hints about the door to Faerie, the way all of them have wondered about Thjazi’s actions and alliances, the damage that Luis has been portraying in Azune and Liam has been portraying in Hal as a result of Thjazi’s life and actions, the way Thimble’s whole arc has been about reconciling with the way different people have hated Thjazi …

This isn’t new. This has been built in from the start. Thjazi was always going to be a complicated figure. He was designed specifically to haunt the goddamn narrative in every conceivable way. Now literally. He was designed as a storytelling device to twist and shape the characters around him, to be the thing they were shaped by and reacting to and developing past. This series started at his funeral. He is the inciting factor of this whole story. He is a martyr and a mystery and a ghost, he’s haunting all of them, the fallout of his actions has shaped everything so far. He’s neither purely good nor purely evil, because everyone shows different faces to different people, and also because either way would be boring. All of this, all this speculation, all the doubt and wondering he causes, in the audience and the characters, is the point of his character and his role in the story. He is the seed of conflict for the world and the characters. It’s what he’s for, in storytelling terms.