squirrels-are-sleeping

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

I was reminded today of the work Laura did with Vex from roughly episodes 59-72 of C1 and just how much was going on in the background to get from beat to beat, and it really is a showcase of her work at its strongest.

We start with the Feywild conversation in 1x59, where she's fretting so much about going to Syngorn and facing her father again that she's truly vulnerable to someone who isn't her brother for the first time; she is then immediately validated and supported when Percy not only reassures her personally of her worth, but declares it to her father's face and by extension to all of Syngorn. Following that, she's still flirtatious, but she's now more tenderly affectionate and playful with Percy, teasing him about being grumpy in the mornings and having a shooting competition mid-battle. She has a conversation with Vax in 1x63 where he insists that the title was nice but she didn't need it to be worthy, and then immediately following the break, Laura actively has Vex seek out Percy to talk about the title and how much she appreciates it.

Following the battle with Saundor, Laura repeatedly mentions that when Vex goes to sleep, she keeps holding Fenthras and hearing Saundor's words—unwanted daughter, unproven ally, selfish and cruel—over and over in her mind. She takes some extra time with the card-reader in Ank'harel in 1x65 to ask about whether she made the right choice to reject Saundor. After the emotional turmoil of Percy's death and her confession at his resurrection, they still have a "really third-grade" moment in the library in 1x70 where even when the entire rest of the party knows, she can't say it to Percy himself. Instead, in 1x71, she fusses endlessly over making sure Percy's sniper nest is secured before the Vorugal fight.

And then after all of that, we get the culmination of that work: the conversation she has with Percy in 1x72 about forgiveness. She reveals how inspired she was by his choice to forgive his worst enemy, and how she connected it to Saundor being so lost in his betrayal and grudge that he became a corrupted shade of himself. And then she brings it to the Elvish language, how Fenthras in part means growth, how not only do you have to forgive other people to grow you have to forgive yourself, and she reveals that she carved the Elvish word for forgive directly onto Saundor's old bow. It's an incredibly beautiful and romantic conversation, yes, but it's also a major moment of personal triumph for Vex, taking this Vestige that effectively represented bitterness and resentment and not only restoring its original meaning, but adding to it, making it hers, and on top of it all letting go of trauma and abuse at the hands of an elven city. It's stellar character work, mostly in these small details that add up over time, and they culminate in this absolutely incredible moment that just feels so earned.

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

Me, leaning against the wall with a flirty smirk on my face: "hey good looking, what's cooking?"

The steel factory:

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

“nobody is making you do this” i am driven by unnatural forces you will never even begin to comprehend

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

In tears

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

look, it's easy, okay? High Fantasy has An Hero whose Destiny is Sword, and Low Fantasy has Some Schmoe whose Job is Sword.

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

CRYING 💀

(credit: my sister 😂)

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

please look at this beautiful mouse

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

you know its bad for you when you start coming up with aus for your own ocs

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

Do you think I meant to write "stoopid" google docs. Do you think I meant to describe a character as "stoopid." Do you think that is what I meant to do

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

two sheep. standing still

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

ahh fuck, made a whole fuckin universe to justify my fetish doodles again

[squirrels-are-sleeping]

girl unhinge ur jaw