#all I had to do was flip laura and ashley to be in the right relative direction

[ariadne-mouse]

the frames were so perfect the meme makes itself

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 76

Wow ... just wow ...

This is a good one, actually. Love LOTR, so yeah, this is great fun.

Ah yes ... Marisha is clearly NOT in the mood for his shit this week. Oh, the water spray! Yeah ... that's right ... typical Sam ... oof, this is a BAD skit ...

Laura and Ashley failing spectacular to live up to their respective character's classic accents is quite charming actually ... oh wow, has Pate FINALLY got his own t-shirt? Sweet ...

Sam: "I am Gimli, son of ... what was it?" Oh gods ...

New intro? Really? Oh shit ...

Fuck me ... I am SHOOK ... I dunno what I liked more, the lashings of Imodna or the way Fearne has such a cute and innocent smile on her face while wreaking bloody havoc ...

Matt's already having trouble with the beard. Wonderful ... Happy Halloween indeed ... XD

Aaaaaaaaagh no ... NOW he makes them roll ...

Oh, he rolled a 100? Oh ... shit no ... not a 5 ... SAMUEL FUCKING RIEGEL!!!

Ow! OW OW OW OW OW!!!

66? Please ... Taliesin: "Whose foot is coming out of my arm?"

Yeesh ... that was hairy ... but HELLO!!! Hi there, Sun Tree! Nice ...

Ooh, a greeting. Sweet ...

Marisha freaking out about hearing the Chetney voice coming from Travis dressed like Aragorn, son of Arathorn is so on point for how this session is destined to go ...

Oh man ... Laudna having traumatic flashbacks walking through Whitestone ... ouch ...

They're geeking out about being back in familiar surroundings ... ah yes, Percy's workshop. :3 Sweet ...

Tinkering? Oh, okay ... hey! Verna and Joe ... and Dancer! Yay! And Pussy 2 ... XD

Percy! Yay again! And he's just as crotchety as ever ...

Ah, so Percy and Dancer are NOT getting along, apparently ...

Whoa ... you are KIDDING ME ... NO ... NO ... IT IS NOT ... yes, it is, Allura! Sweet! All we need now is Kima showing up too and the full set is COMPLETE ...

So he has MORE of these simulacrum things. Cool ... but also not. Yeah ... crap ...

Allura knows Ludinus? Great ... but yeah, she thinks he's a douche too. Par for the course ...

The Harness is now largely RETROFITTED? Whoa ... sounds quite sleek and sexy, in fact ...

Way to go, Allura ... nice work there, clearly ...

A power still? Interesting ... the Quintessence Array? Even more so ... yeah, I figured this had the potential to be something NASTY ... yeah, good plan ... oh for ... CHETNEY!!!

The main course? Oh ... okay then ...

2 points of Fire damage AGAIN ... and a little inconvenience for Percy, too ... XD

Oh gods ... the hat ...

Children ... they're all still children ... EVERY TIME he mentions Pussy 2 ...

Allura: "This is extremely intense and extremely dangerous." FCG: "Like Chetney?" Travis (flipping his wig): "Oh baby ..."

Ashton (to Percy): "Adults are talking. Shush now." LOL

Oh, so Orym knows Allura already? Well it does make sense, of course ...

Whoa ... that was it? Oh boy ... IT'S ALIVE!!! O.O

SOMEONE ... to try it? Really?

The Vial of Cleansing Flame? Really? You're gonna start with THAT?!!!

Chet has 69 hit points ... OF COURSE he does ...

So we're really doing this ... okay then ...

Percy really is getting the short end of the stick in this at every turn and I love it ... XD

Enchanted Dishwear ... that cleans itself? Wow ... that is spectacularly crap ...

It's actually working ... oh boy ... five temporary hit points? And ... WHAT does it do Travis?

Holy fuck that us pretty choice actually ... also a little scary ...

Sam's flask ... oh my gods ... the ultimate ...

Table of Smart People ... yes, very true, Ashton ... ask the experts ...

Let's NOT Rend Ashton into a thousand pieces ... YES!!! Give it to Fearne!

Are they suggesting that Ashton and Fearne ... mate?

Allura's really gonna try going into Ashton's head? Seriously?

Aaaaaaah ... this is getting trippy ...

Dunamancy? Oh, here we go ...

Oh boy ... more Ashton backstory lore dumping! Yay! I love this stuff ...

The Luxon? Hmmmm ...

Oh shit ... the Malleus Key ... oooooh fuck ... wow, this is some heavy shit ... he DREAMS ABOUT this shit? O.O

:3 Laura mimicking the Merry waddle as she comes back to the table is adorable ...

Oooh ... is that a Mighty Nein namedrop there?

Ashton: "Wanna put a weird fire emperor in you?" Fearne: "Well, I mean it wouldn't be the first time." XD

Marisha: "Shirtcocking through Whitestone ..."

Long suffering Percival De Rolo ... XD

Laudna uses Pate to do some magical eavesdropping ... hmmm ...

A heart-to-heart with Dancer? Oh this'll be interesting, and likely really tough too ...

Wow ... this is really refreshing ... this is GROWTH ... awwwww ... yeah, we really needed this ... FCG definitely needed this ...

Ooh, some fresh info on D? Yeah, that would be helpful ... a mask? Hmmmm ... I wonder what Matt's setting up with THAT little detail ...

A hug? Really? Awwwwww ... awkward, but sweet ... :3

So Pate's listening in on Percy and Allura ... here we go ...

It's true, WE ARE currently being invaded by aliens ...

Crap, he's been discovered! Oh boy ... that is hilariously embarrassing ... he's doing the Worm? Yeah, I can imagine it's a bit disturbing ...

Oh, I love that little undead rat thing ...

Ah, food? Nice ... meanwhile the LOTR quotes continue apace ... XD

Orym is a very pretty bride, apparently ...

Discussing the particulars of the Harness ...

Large antlers? Oh! Hey! It's Keyleth! Yay!

Ah yes! The War Room! It's been a while ...

Paintings? Oh wow ... the adventures of Vox Machina! Sweet ...

Whoa ... Keyleth's MUM?!!! So cool ...

Time for a break, then ... yes, then we can concentrate on the really COOL stuff ...

Okay, here we go ...

Ah, so, the bigger picture is revealed ... hmmmm ...

The Reilora have special and specific powers against Divine magic ... ooooh ... interesting ...

Whoa, so the ongoing thing with Ruidus is making things continuously WORSE for all of magic in Exandria? Shit ... that's even worse ...

Imogen's dreams, yeah ...

Good girl, Imogen, you go ahead and mess with him telepathically ... XD

Yes. She IS very capable ...

Travis actually rolls to see if Chetney just drops dead right now ... apparently it's LOW ... oh boy ... Travis: "I'm flirting with it ..."

They are still kind of the Bumbling Fucks, but now they're becoming more powerful and important Bumbling Fucks ...

Marisha + that wig = Tilda Swinton ... fuck, once you see it, you really can't unsee it, can you?

This is what makes a bunch of heroes, right here ...

Matt: "We are not rolling for pregnancy."

Oh yeah, Caleb and Beau ... what HAS happened to them?

No teleportation to the moon ... yeah, probably not a smart move ...

Keyleth sends her mum to rally the troops and everybody grins as they quietly geek out ...

Insight check on Legendary Weapons? LOL

Oddly specific scrounging for treasure from FCG ... Percy: "Why does that sound so familiar?"

Bells Hells giving Keyleth such adorable nostalgia ...

Matt's beard is becoming comedy gold, it really is ... XD

A moment for Orym and the Voice ... :3

Keyleth advising Orym to keep an eye on Imogen due to her mother ... Keyleth: "Family ties can be ... confusing." Hmmmm ...

Does FCG know about devils? Religion check? Oh boy ...

Going on a tour of Whitestone? Hmmm ... what, go call oh Whitestone Andy? Throw some rocks at him? He was a big douche to her ...

Oh yeah, Vex was pretty fond of them all in the end, wasn't she?

They're being watched? I think I already know who this is ... Orym goes looking ... yeah, it is her, isn't it? Hello there cuteness ...

I love Gwen so much, she's such a sweetheart ...

She thinks Chetney's 4,000 years old? Awwww ... :3

Laudna introduces Gwen to Pate ... oh gods ...

Pate: "I'm very friendly ... in the presence of children." Oh gods indeed ...

Now she's showing her the Hound ... and she loves it ... ye gods even more ...

Fucking hell Ashley, how do you get 32 on an Insight check? Damn right she gets Whispers ...

Oh, she sensed something when she touched Laudna? Hmmmmm ...

Imogen, Laudna and Fearne follow her up into a room ... and now they're playing a game to try and coax her out? A group Persuasion Check? Hmmmm ...

Well this might still work ... just be honest with her ... and Laudna does just that ... then leaves? Oh ... that's really sad ...

A hatred? Oh man ... was that fucking Delilah? Damn it, it was ... bollocks ...

Planning a little Witchy Adventure after dark? Okay then ...

Ashton is wandering about with the other boys ... what, Changebringer's temple? Hmmm ...

Splitting up, now off to the Matron of Ravens' Temple ... nice secluded spot for it, definitely ... here we go ... a graveyard? Interesting ...

Oh, the Dawnfather? Interesting ... more modest and homely, at least ... here we are, Altar of the Raven ...

A statue of Vax? Oh wow ... that is awesome ...

Looking for an entrance ... oh, that was surprisingly easy ... and now it is PITCH BLACK ... hmmmm ... going downwards ...

Scrawny hairless ancient dwarf? How the hell does THAT work?

Othinon? Okay then ...

Five stone sarcophagi ... right ... so they're more symbolic, then?

Oh gods Ashton what are you doing? Dear fucking gods do not open that ... oh, very good joke there, Ashton ... but seriously, what the fuck is he doing?

And now he is SEALED INTO THE SARCOPHAGUS ... now Othinon is directing them to go into the others? Hmmmm ... Chetney and Orym and SHARING one ...

Nothing's happening so far ...

Oh shit, are they starting to trip out? Yeah, here we go ... it's very subtle but it's happening ...

Each having their own separate but similar experience, it would seem ... or ARE THEY sharing communication after all? Seems to be both ...

Oh okay ... hello there, Raven Queen ...

Now they're floating in a black shapeless void ... the Matron looking down upon them ... oh, so Ashton's going to try climbing out using one of the chains ... and it works? Now they're ALL doing it ...

The chains break? Now they're falling and she just explodes into a mass of ravens ...

Wait ... so what, was that actually some kind of blessing? Weird ...

That was quite the trip ... for all of TWO MINUTES ...

Meanwhile FCG has gone to the Horizon Temple ... oh, hello Osli! Nice to see a familiar face ...

Oh fuck ... Letters saying if something IS going to go bad he asks the Changebringer to maybe make it happen just to HIM and not to his friends ... come on, FCG ... don't destroy us emotionally like that ...

FCG really does have a very healthy relationship with his goddess, all things considered ...

So business has been particularly brisk at the temple lately ... par for the course, really ...

Sam: "Thank you, Cat Stevens." Matt: "It's the least I could do, ZZ Top."

Reconvening at the crepe stand ...

Holy shit, the guy there IS Whitestone Andy? Motherfucker ... Laudna is being magnanimous in her anonymity ...

Meanwhile Imogen is just subtly messing with him ...

Fuck, did FCG REALLY just Banish Andy? XD

Oh, NOW he finally remembers ... oh, maybe it's NOT him? Gods, I'm so confused ...

Closure ... nice ...

Back to the castle, time for rest and turning in ... Nice place go finally get some overdue PROPER rest. Reflecting on what's to be done, and what's to come ...

They almost don't let him, but Matt calls it a night after all ...

So that's that for the night ... and Happy Halloween ...

[captainsspnanon]

C3E49 reaction

A very VERY enjoyable episode.  It’s been a while since we’ve had one where there’s so much conversation and RP and it’s a breath of fresh air.

I’m a bit disappointed in Matt for not having the leylines as a projection in the background.  I would have LOVED seeing that get slowly stronger each long rest - or even just only being able to see it once it was ‘full’.   But speaking of leylines, props to Matt for acknowledging the fact that Chetney HAS seen this, two or three times.  I know he didn’t plan for it, his descriptions were very much the ‘this is the most magical thing you will ever see in your life’, but he kept true to the fact that Chet is old as balls.

Good choices all around for the Sendings.  Big fan of Ira being brought back into play, because I feel like he’s definitely going to fuck shit up for the party in one way or another.  He’s powerful, but he’s very much on his own side and I like the dynamic that’s bringing in.

Honestly I am LOVING the dynamic that Laura is playing here with Imogen and her mother.  Imogen knows realistically that her mother is on the wrong side, but there is the emotional desperation to have Mother Know Best and Be Loving and Be Right, so Imogen rationalizes based off of her emotions and craving for connection.  Consistently she has described her mother as needing help the past few episodes, where to the audience it seemed pretty clear that Lilianna was where she wanted to be.  I wouldn’t mind seeing Imogen turn during the battle, not the Dark Imogen like I keep seeing around, but just a daughter desperately wanting to believe in her mother.

I suppose I really should finish EXU Kymal - was this stuff with Opal foreshadowed in it?  I only saw the first half of the first episode and then never got around to actually finishing it.  EXU was not particularly to my tastes (much like how I struggle with some of the one-shots, it was just so CHAOTIC that I couldn’t.  Orym held the only braincell.)

Sam’s faced when FCG flipped the coin for the Changebringer’s alignment!  Laughed so hard I cried and had to go back to actually see the expressions.

I don’t know what I took away from the Ashton and Laudna conversation, except that I’m glad they had it, and I hope they have more.  I don’t think it changed the way I viewed either character, but it has the opening to.

Fearne & Orym!!!!!  Look, I don’t care how small the moments are.  Liam and Ashley have been my desperately wanting scenes of them together, whether Caleb and Yasha, Vax and Pike, or now C3.  I EAT ALL THESE CRUMBS.  BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

Yeah, we all knew D was Devexian XD

Also a fan of the mini shopping session we got.  I enjoy the shopping sessions as long as they don’t take a whole episode, and they definitely got some good loot.  A 19 con necklace??  DAMN good.  Hope the gold gets shuffled ‘round in the party though.   It’s hard for me to compare how dnd-poor they are compared to the Mighty Nein.  I’m sure critrolestats has the actual gold amount.  I just feel like the Nein was more poor, accurate or not XD

As much as a short combat would have been fun, I’m actually quite pleased that we just got a few storms and a very short encounter ending with a goldfish.  I have a sneaking suspicion that Matt’s random encounter chart was kinder than usual, more designed for poor rolls to delay rather than destroy.

I’m....not a fan of the message bloom.  I actually went and rewatched the moment where Orym got the seed, and it was this quiet serious moment and he was told “you are an Ashari, are you not?  Make it grow.”  and then it’s just a longer one way one time sending?  Pretty big of a let down, tbh.  (though I, much like Orym/Liam, completely forgot about it.)

Keyleth coming in.  How do I feel about this.....  it’s really hard to say!  I think I’m more okay with it because they didn’t ask her for it.  They gave her a status update, but also very easily accepted when she said she was busy - and I don’t see the party changing their minds and trying to push harder, in or out of character.  Keyleth coming to join was very much a Matt decision here, which is why even though I’m a bit iffy about it, I’m more willing to accept.  I’m HOPING that it’s more that she’s fighting Just Off Stage Left the entire time, dealing with The Army That The Bells Hells Would Have Snuck Around Anyway, or something like that.  Have a show of power, have it work for the story, but not actually have it change how the narrative would have gone, if that makes sense.

EDIT: how could i have forgotten to mention the Imogen/Laudna scene???  Shockingly, I’m still not shipping it?  Even with the declarations of I love you, it still feels non-romantic to me.  I’ve seen people say ‘who says I love you to friends?’  um, me.  I have told friends that I am not interested in romantically in the slightest that I love them, and they have said it back to me.  ‘who cuddles with their friends?’ early 20s? me again.  also, fearne and orym cuddle every night.  BUT, I will say that if we get more conversations like this, I can see myself getting more comfortable with the ship.

Very happy that the solstice is going to be likely the next episode (maaaybe one or two more if we have heavy combat/sneaking/etc), because I am so ready for what Matt has in store.   ....though if they do stop it, that’s going to be a hell of a lack of payoff.  I have a strong suspicion (as I think basically everyone watching does) that the Keys are going to work no matter what the Hells do.  On to episode 50!!  (omg are we like halfway through the campaign?  it still feels like it might be a shorter one to me, I can see it only lasting 100 episodes)

[9w1ft]

*peers around* everyone back? did everyone take a water break? we all good? okay? okay. whew! i’m back too! come october we got midnights in all its glorious optics.. here is how we rounded off the year!!

OCTOBER

★ kimby started off october by posting in front of infinity mirrors and saying eye spy

★ taylornation posted a photo of taylor doing the hands over her face around her eyes pose, captioned “share your reaction when you discovered Karma is real”

★ taylor posted at the beginning of the consecutive midnights mayhem night with a post using the wink emoji 😜

★ karlie referred to self care in a video moment of her eye 😌

★ karlie had some eye framing gems made for her roblox fashion line

- 😆 i wrote a silly fanfiction around the idea of what if that niceboy ed song was penned by joe in 2018 after he first figured out the eye theory for himself

★ in paris again, karlie hung out with ashley, who sported huge gold eye schiaparelli earrings

★ the midnights visuals video was dropped and we got excited by the little heart gem by taylor’s eye

★ Midnights dropped (wooohooo!!) and i made quick work of pointing out every damn time she uses the word eye on the album (x, x, x, x, x)

★ the mastermind spotify video felt a little sus

☆ we realized that karlie posting something in july 2021 with the caption i spy with my little eye…matched up with the lyrics from sweet nothing!

★ taylor showed off her bedazzled eye in the vigilante shit short clip on tiktok

★★★ the Anti Hero music video dropped, and eye theory truthers around the globe all passed out in the opening seconds of the video when taylor cut into the right side sunny side up egg of her face shaped breakfast!!! sunny side up! come the heck on!!

★ the lyric videos had several visual eye moments! in particular, the anti hero lyric video felt like a step by step homage to the eye theory

☆ it was revealed that in the hand-over-eye mahogany edition image, she was wearing a sweater backwards, in sync with the potential idea that the right side eye is a flipped image

★ and taking a look at the CD! the album insert images that do not have her right side eye showing included lyric captions that all felt on theme

★ taylor released midnights merch, which included a hoodie with a graphic of taylor’s right side eye highlighted in gold and it was so similar to a throwback photoshoot post that karlie had recently posted out of the blue

★★★ the bejeweled music video (the love letter to her fans, the one with the ‘psychotic amount of easter eggs’ 😌) was released and i am prepared to freeze on the hill that there are just tons of hidden eyes in this video. bear with me:

in the wood grain at the very beginning of the mv

at the bottoms of the cupid statues

above the penthouse floor of the elevator building

the design of the stained glass above the castle balcony doorway

you can make the word eye twice using the typography of the title side and i love it to pieces

the two olives held by taylor and dita

within the headdresses of taylor and her dancers

other things noticed but i never got around to posting were… the tear to the left in the couch she is sitting on in the opener, as a pattern on one of the fans that the stepsisters hold, a diamondy ring next to the lovers eye ring, she gestures her hand over half her face when singing diamond in my eyes, one martini cup is sun themed and the other is heart frame themed and taylor and dita are mirror images of one another… among other things i probably haven’t noticed 🥴

from amid these treasures two extra significant instances imo were:

★ the custom made bedazzled waist garments of the dancers look like the rep era evil eye ring taylor (and perhaps karlie) own

★ one of the rings worn by laura dern in the opening scene. it’s a lover’s eye ring made by cathy waterman that we SPECIFICALLY discussed in the past when talking about lovers eye jewelry in relation to the eye theory

★ pat mcgrath, who we have mentioned in the past, and who did the makeup for the bejeweled mv, posted to her socials about the makeup looks and the video had a glitchy eye vibe about it

☆ while i kinda consider this beyond the statute of limitations in terms of potential intentionality, i was compelled to inform taylor that the music playing in the background of the clip from the 2013 victoria’s secret fashion show backstage footage of taylor and karlie flirting is the song FU by miley cyrus, which includes the lyric “you’re my right eye” 😆 can you believe??

☆ there was an amazing tiktok catch about how the glitch line “fastening myself to you with a stitch” feels photoshoppy 😆😆

NOVEMBER

★ in taylor’s eras tour announcement she says she’s excited to look everyone in the eye and thank you for everything 🫠

★ taylor held a device over her eye while promoting the # TSAntiHeroChallenge for youtube shorts

☆ after all this time i finally noticed that in the end game mv in the tokyo scenes there are two couches that have fabric with an eyelike patter going on 😭

★ karlie posted a pic of sarah jessica parker captioned with looking the weekend right in the eye when the weekend was kaylor holiday weekend oh and also for some reason presently sjp’s profile pic is a pic of her eye

★ taylornation tweeted that they were looking the sun and the mirror right in the eye 🙈🙈🙈 istg

★ karlie posted wearing the gold evil eye necklace AGAIN! three times!!

- taylor wore a signet ring that was shaped in such a way that if pressed into wax would surely make me yelp

★ we got new photos of karlie blocking an eye for carolina herrera

★ i identified a ring that taylor wore in her spotify wrapped video and this damn ring, from the jeweler’s “heliopolis” (the greek name for the ancient egyptian land of the sun) collection, just kept getting funnier and funnier

DECEMBER

★ …and soon enough karlie was posting in front of ancient egyptian paintings with the eyes chipped off of some of the figures 🥴 . karlie briefly captioned this photo of herself at the met with the caption “eyes on the prize” 🥴

★ karlie remained artsy as she blocked an eye in a bathroom selfie during art basel miami

☆ i was sent a tiktok which i super love that pointed out how the painting on the cover of the great gatsby includes the figure of a woman inside each eye! so so cool!

- there were apparently more than several eye theory tiktoks this year! here is another example. it was pretty wild to watch the eye theory get so many views/likes/comments on the platform (same with twitter actually!!) and honestly it was so humbling and it made me so happy to see and hear from so so many people out there beyond tumblr enjoying themselves. this year honestly get like one big party 🥳

☆ this might be somewhere in the OP but in case it’s not, here’s a post pointing out that there’s something that looks like an eye in taylor’s “is this the end of all the endings” painting

★ karlie wore her gold evil eye necklace again! and again!! aaaand again!!! that makes 6 times!!

★ lily aldridge always the jokester posted a birthday photo of taylor wherein she added in a sticker and placed it over the right side eye of the Cars car they were riding in at disney world 🙈🙈

★ karlie visited kyoto and went to the arashiyama monkey park. the ticket to the park says “do not stare the monkeys in the eye” 🙈🙈🙈

***

so there you have it fam! what did you think?? i’ll tell you what i think… i always get bashful and end up procrastinating putting it together lest it come off as an illegal amount of fawning but by god if i don’t ever finish the thing without feeling like a million bucks.

what an honor. what an honor and a privilege to have been entrusted with this gem of a theory and to have been able to share such a cascade of wonderfully silly feelings with all of you, and to have you all give back to it and grow it together. truly, the gift they keep giving and giving… and giving and giving… like and advent calendar that has your favorite sweets behind it every single time.

the eye theory is the friends we made along the way, but it’s also very literally the gifts that the girls share.. and this year had it all: karlie’s posing and jewelry, taylor’s visuals, new lyrics in canon, but this time felt even the more inspired because of the public interaction… from all of you!! and from renowned publications!! what the heck!!!

thank you all for your continued support of this endeavor, for helping collect and share every last drop of this lovely and abundant fruit, one which i truly believe, hands down, from the references in taylor and karlie’s visual permanent mediums to their social media videos, from the lyrics to the their social media captions. from their jewelry choices to their clothing choices to each and every little thing in between, separate and in aggregate, is the most robust happenstance on the market today ❤︎

🍾 three cheers to another year!!

alright all that’s left now is to hit post and

*record scratch*

oh wait, what? whats that? i can't reblog with more content on the main post? it’s technically too big?!

oh well well well then okay. hey :leans in close: did i… ever crash your app with the op post? i wanted to apologize for that. truly sorry. the truth is, the original post also crashes my app! wild! yes, well, as big of a fan of push media as i am i’m going to have to break away from the original post to get the job done this year but if you’re new here and don’t know about the eye theory please for the love of god click the below link to read through the original. it’s required reading.

(click for the op)

…

…

yes ok. welcome back! did i make you dizzy? jeepers my eyes do hurt, just after putting together this update! but i come bearing gifts…! frankincense, myrrh, gold, and a *plump* 2021 eye theory update for the remaining bakers dozen or so of us left hanging in this manger… because apparently that’s just the way things will be 😘 again, i’m far past proving this thing and more into sharing, yeah, sharing the fun memories over the past year living with this theory so that’s what i’ll do. and this requires more than the ten picture limit so in lieu of that i will be updating only once but with links to each finding. my demarcation is the same as last year:

so without further ado, here comes our…

2021 year in review

JANUARY

★ kimby posting the eye mirror thing at the beginning of the year (which i posted about at the end of the last update)

★karlie liked a tweet (a rarity at the time) from henry hall promoting his new album… that had an eye and the number 13 on the album cover.

-we found another great photo match example

☆ we noticed something up with a new carolina herrera ad that ended up showing up again later in the year

☆ we noticed taylor covering her eye during rep tour while singing even in my worst lies you saw the truth in me

-we noticed an oft forgotten appearance of the evil eye ring in the rep promo material, photos of her on the beach

FEBRUARY

☆ we found a potential easter egg in the end game mv

★ one of the lyric videos for fearless TV had a fun synching moment ..that taylor then put in her instagram stories

★ taylor posted a bleachella era pic of her and the haim sisters that had the sisters covering eyes with their hoodies, and then honest to god this is just one of those thing i can’t quite conscionably explain but there are two boxes of pizzas being held and the cheese only pizza looks like the “blank” of the two pizzas and it’s to the right of the picture

★ kayda and kai did some eye funny business

MARCH

★ the grammys… so, taylor’s performance included choreography that covers her right side eye along with the line “guess i should have known from the look on your face” and i know this is one of the things people particularly do not like but i’m such a sucker for prop comedy: i think the shape of the lean-to cabin itself is the shape of an eye and also the belted waist part of her dress looks like an eye, i said what i said

-and this can’t help but feel like chance, but, we got this red carpet press photo of her grammy covering her eye

-something also feeling serendipitous, karlie got papped by some eye graffiti

APRIL

-The Vault reveal left me wanting to get my eyes checked 😂

☆ we realized one could make the argument that there’s a eye isolated by the mask on her male counterpart in willow, and that the mask has a drooping daisy embroidered on it

-i got the chance to talk a little bit more about my thoughts on the editing that went on with the mert and marcus rep photoshoot photos, and my thoughts on computer graphic manipulation as it relates to other things, in particular lead time

★ taylor seemed to have more fun with synching up the fearless tv clip to music 🙈

★ taylor’s mother’s day merch included a postcard with a daisy and the lyric “i love you for giving me your eyes”

MAY

-not for nothing, austin posted a picture of him at the Oculus building in NYC (oculus being a word that means eye, austin being someone who rarely updates his instagram these days)

★ karlie got back in the saddle with posting an eye out of frame

★ some preview photos of karlie’s green adidas collection were released, and they included this amazing shot

and wouldnt ya know it she made it her profile pic after the collection release

JUNE

★ more kayda funny business (i feel like there were a lot more of these but i wasn’t able to keep track)

★ karlie got papped wearing a prada jacket with a print of a one eyed beach babe

-taylor mixed up her words during a thank you speech while accepting an award and said “she helped me to edit my eyes” which i mean i don’t think it was intentional but it certainly made my year 🙈

★ karlie wore this versace blazer that inexplicably has a hole cut out of it to the right?? which was made even more meaningful given the fact that i had been spiraling over the tie with the hole in it in the lwymmd video a few months prior idk 😆

★ the how long do you think it’s gonna last album was announced with an… eye collage… 🙈🙈 and kept the promo coming into july with eye cutout moments like this

JULY

★ then the Renegade music video was released and it was just chock a block with eye manipulation! singled out eyes, taylor covering her right side eye with her hands, with her hair, the eyes on her face cut out and zoomed in on. like, i’m sorry, it’s 2021 and we are really doing this ladies???

-and i came up with a funny (/emotional)

-karlie met with schiaparelli in paris, who had just come out with a collection full of gilded eyes among other body parts

★ karlie blocked an eye for estée lauder —a true pastime— and thus began the formalization of the tradition of me waking up to karlie having posted something ocular to instagram

AUGUST

☆ adam rippon posted a little ode to karlie’s “looking camp right in the eye 👁 ” moment, which normally id just chalk up to it having become a meme but at the same time, bobby berk liked the post and they were both in the yntcd mv, so it’s sorta amusing

★ karlie posts “filed under baking inspo” moodboard which included a pic of a face made of food with one eye 🥴🥴🥴 like i’m sorry, is this not proof of acknowledgement 😆

★ karlie posts a photoset of her in workout clothes and she’s covering the left side eye in a lot of the pics

★ karlie wore some eye-like rain and sunshine earrings from two jewelers that also make custom lover’s eye jewelry

SEPTEMBER

★ taylor covered an eye on the tiktok

-i noticed that each of karlie’s adidas collections had their own moments

-also like this is simply an act of god but somehow taylor and karlie got a photo taken at the 2014 met gala where karlie is standing to the right next to a woman with an eye purse…?

☆we noticed two things about the UPS commercial she did during rep era

★ karlie hid an eye while getting ready for the met gala which was the start to a crazy crazy day here on kaylor tumblr

☆ someone kindly pointed out to me that birch feat. taylor swift just as names of trees goes is also sus 🥴

-we listed up some of the possibly eye theory -aligned taymoji

★ karlie posted a promo clip of her designing her met dress at carolina herrera and it had an eye moment

-taylor has sort of established winks as a Taylor’s Version easter egg gesture so i don’t really count things like this in the grand scheme of things but i can’t help but feel this wink was exaggerated in post which would mean the eye could have been edited, and for that i’ll mention it

-this is just an it’s a small world moment having to do with researching the band of outsiders brand

★ taylor using an eye covered pic of shania twain on her tiktok

★ karlie blocking eyes again in a photoshoot make that two

OCTOBER

✦★✶ karlie went to mert alas’ gin release party in paris I REPEAT she went to the party being held by the guy who took the rep album photoshoot photos aka the guy who took the actual eye theory photo and not only did she get a pic with him, she drank out of the gin glasses that had an eye like pattern cut into them???

★ karlie woke me up again and chose violence

-i forget how i ran into this but it’s this old photoshoot of karlie in a daisy full body suit with her arms and head in the shape of an eye idk lol

★ karlie posted a photoset with some eye blocking moments going on

NOVEMBER

-in a moment of meta, karlie got the chance to post a pic of bert and ernie to her instagram stories as she was also a part of the WSJ innovators issue

☆ taylor’s grammy dresses went on display and the waist fabric looked even more like an eye so sue me!

★ karlie really made it christmas morning every morning 🥴

★ RED TV lyric videos also got a moment

★ the IBYTAM video had us all reeling for plenty of reasons but i made sure to have my fun …kinda cool how it fits though 😂 this stood out to a lot of us and this too

-it’s the little things

-blame it on the vault crest and red dresses but i allowed myself to lean in to the crazy a bit more than usual and tbh i had the best time with it

☆ i had a thought about So It Goes as it relates to rep tour

-The Missing Eye Puzzle Piece it turned out that the missing capital one red bundle puzzle piece was simply missing, and it has been found, **but** i had an amazing couple of weeks imagining the ARG possibilities. oh and i still love that the right side eye is the 11th puzzle piece across, 8 rows down (karlie numbers)

DECEMBER

★ karlie posted again blockin an eye 😂

★ shes so good at finding an opportunity

★ karlie wearing a sweatshirt with an eye on it because why not i guess 🙈

-surely coincidental but i did laugh at where her music choice in this post led me

★ and it turned out the eye glassware at the mert alas gin release party ended up being used in the promo photos for the stuff

★karlie did a ‘comeback’ -esque spread for WSJ and she delivered

-add this to the list of potential cross-media tie in opportunities that surely weren’t intentional but i would point to in terms of what she could potentially do should she want to bring back this level of easter egging for reputation TV

★ waking up again to some uncanny carolina herrera hijinks

★ karlie blocking an eye again 🙈

-i talked a little bit about the evil eye ring making it’s appearances with the angel wing ring

★ like i said, this karlie post waiting for me when i woke up thing, it became a morning ritual

-there was a red tv album print mishap… istg the way i moved (is this what the kids say)

★ taylor blocked an eye in her new years reel

so there you have it, folks! 2021, a kaylor year that had me throwing my hands up and deciding to bend with the wind and roll with the punches… paid dividends?! i included the ephemera (the winks and out of frames) just because i see them as a sustainable avenue for the dreary new parent, but all these aside it still blows my mind how many distinctly significant things happened in conjunction with the theory this year and i hope very very deeply and earnestly that each and every one of you may have had the chance to crack a smile or two as well 😌

its weird… seeing karlie and mert photographed gave me this lavish sense of… coming full circle! but 🥰 who knows what next year will bring. what can i say, as if it was my greco-roman destiny, i know i will always beat the drum for this theory if they will have me. eye can’t help myself!

have a happy new year🥳

[gogetawaydreamer2]

@writervega taking a moment to post this on here just in case it doesn’t upload to the Second Home. I’ve no idea where the hell I was going with this one but I hope you enjoy it somehow. Or maybe are even able to decipher it? 

In Dreams

The soft pelting of rain as it hit the glass of the cafe window brought her out of her thoughts. She day dreamed in sepia tones as thoughts of honeysuckle and jasmine filled her senses.

“God all it ever does here is rain.”

She muttered to herself as she cleared the second table of the day, brushing crumbs into a pile and sweeping them off with a bleach soaked cloth.

She had left sweet familiar warmth and the sun for sharp clean notes of bleach and salt kissed winds as the bitter sweetness of a dark roast wrapped itself a deep lush note of cherry and apricot. A pounding noise dripping with musky angst and tanging with metal and a primal musk of heavy drum beats and pounding bass lines.

“Are you going back home then? Just to see if it’s changed?”

The concerned voice of her best friend pulled at her heart. Surveying the clothes she had the maid set out of her to pack and heaving a sigh. She had reached a cross roads. Stay and bury her head in the sand until the ancient danger she had left behind was right up to her face or go and confront it once nd for all and kill it at it’s source.

“Yeah, I’m actually packing. I’ll call you when I land.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you go alone! I’m meeting you at the airport.”

“You don’t have to, Hel. Dave’s going to.”

“Three are stronger than one, eh? Love you and see you there.”

That was an hour ago before Colleen found herself sandwiched between a a rapidly panicking Helene as they hit pockets of turbulence and a husband that was determined to dig up any sort of missed clue in how to defeat the ancient evil Colleen thought she had left behind her so many years ago.

“It sounds like this might be what it is. A Dream walker, feeds on your deepest darkest fears and bad memories. Yours must have been fed daily.”

“Thanks Dave. Way to make a girl feel special.”

But it was true. Her monstrous black void in her life had been fed endlessly most days. Then, when Minnie had gotten sick and then Dad and the day her mother died. She had long ago been convinced that the house had been constructed on soured ground. The dreams she remembered being plagued with as a child and feeling the things out in the front yard there was no way something wasn’t attached.

A few years ago she thought that maybe her time in therapy had helped her until she dredged up something from the very depths of her mind. The musky smell of summer’s meadow soap.  It had been incredibly cheap soap but it was on sale and they were stuck grocery shopping. Colleen remembered liking the smell as first until red itchy welts came. It felt like her skin was on fire. Then the bruises and the yelling. There wasn’t anything else to bathe with so she’d just have to make due.

“Hey, Colly. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

In an instant she blinked and she was back on the plane headed towards the childhood home she had left so long ago.

“You were a million miles away, babe. It’s okay.”

Settling into his shoulder and reaching out for her best friend’s hand she sighed. She felt safe. A tiny wave of dread hit her for a moment. What if this was the last time she felt like this?

“Thank you. Thank you both for this, for

always

being here.”

In the time it had taken her to blink once more she had fallen under the calm of sleep once more. Down the rabbit hole Colleen ventured one again.

Somewhere over Chicago the music shifted. Pop had taken over and the waving undercurrent of darkness was lifting. It was easily forgotten in a town flooded with Laura Ashley florals and Jos. A Banks suits and tweed sweater vests. Ivy League fever was at it’s highest point yet. This was where she wanted to get lost. Live the perfect lie. For a moment she caught a glimpse of a wedding to a chiseled jawed bespectacled day trader who was writing a novel. A cute little starter home and then the urge to have a baby.

The quiet bliss of a family of my own.

Raised differently in comfort and love. Then she caught a glimpse of another woman; a blonde she could never  truly compete with. Then she saw his best friend over her,, the man who had lived next door to them for years and whose wife was sleeping with her husband. It had started off innocently one day, he had spotted her in the store picking up the weekly shopping when her little bundle of joy now two months old has screamed her head off. He had seen her struggling and often wondered why Jim hadn’t stepped in to help, it took two after all. Not that he would ever truly know because Evelyn was convinced that their infertility as a couple came from him. It didn’t.  The reason he knew this was because he was staring at the end result of a coupling that had taken place in the throws of summer. The child was happily babbling to herself and playing with the necklace that hung from her moth’s slender tanned neck.

“Looks like you’re out and about today with company.”

“Oh. Yes, she’s proving to be lovely company while Jim’s away in…Japan I think?”

“Oh. China maybe.”

He volunteered as she placed her purchases up the belt and reached for her credit card. Alex covered for his two timing friend, the only vaguely asian about his weekend was the apartment he was renting secretly over in china town.

“Could be, he’s been traveling so much I just can’t keep track. I was just making some dinner, would you like to join me? It must get awfully lonely over there all by yourself.”

“It does but you know how it is.”“I do. So join me, I’ve got that wine you like.”

Two bottles of wine and one very rich dinner later and they were sprawled out in front of the fire pit and gazing at the stars. Ashley had been tucked up away in the nursery and was dreaming nothing but sweet dreams.

“You know this is nice. Jim never does this anymore. It’s never just the two of us though.”

It dawned on him that maybe she was as lonely as he was. True, Colleen and Jim were married and they’d had a child but it was always like they were living by some sort of contract. Jim’s book was going nowhere while Alex had found a living breathing muse in his next door neighbor. A well placed kiss and a touch so gentle it left both of them wanting. Neither thought of the repercussions of their actions as they fell back into the expensive bedlinen. Over the course of the next few weeks the evidence of their night together began to make itself known. Their spouses were facing much of the same situation and thus began the great charade. More than a few heated arguments were to be had behind closed doors of course ) about the children’s puaretntiy. Truths were told and it was settled, they would officially switch. It wasn’t unheard of this sort of thing happening especially with early ,machine arranged marriages. And they all lived happily ever after.

“Colleen!”

Another blink and she found herself somewhere else. The high dry heat of California hit her. 

“Oh god, I’m back in high school!”

Judging from the stack of books she was clutching and the oily thick feel of poorly chosen foundation against her skin.

“Are you going to Jason Halliday’s party tonight?”

“Uh…yeah. If my mother found out she’d seriously flip. Maybe I could pay Mikey to watch Rose.”

Phase one had gone off without a hitch as she  had what seemed to be an endless amount of favors from from her older brother. Now she just had to figure out what to wear. A shower and a close examination found the I’d have to wear a pear of jeans and a tank top. Maybe a pair of sandals and a denim jacket. There. Done. And out the window I go.The one nice thing was what their house’s pretty much line up directly behind the housing estate Helene lived in so we would meet up at her house and get ready and take her car out. 

“Are you nervous?”

“What? Why would I be nervous?”

“Oooh…I don’t know maybe because a little birdie told me that Jason’s gonna ask you out.”

”I highly doubt that. Move your bang to the right a little.”

“Thanks and you don’t know.  I think he’s going to .”

“Ten bucks and you’re on.”

The drive up to the Halliday house was a long one clear across town it seemed. Standing there for a moment the burn of pot smoke stinging her eyes.

“Hey, Mark, put that out. Colleen you came.”

“Yeah, Surprise. Thanks for the invite.”

“No problem.”

Then Jim had shown up and ruined his chance with the girl of his dreams. 

“Maybe we could start over, Jason.”

“Sorry. Just taking the paths not yet taken.”

“I hope they’re not better than I am.”

“Nothing could be as good as you are for me.”

“Do you promise me?”

Opening her eyes she felt the movement of air. She was back in the suburban affair with the next door neighbor.  How many dreams am I going to have in one flight? She wondered and then shook off the absurdity of the thought. 

“Cross my heart and hope to die I do.”

What if Jim had never been made partner so quickly or if he had taken the offer his uncle had given him. Their life would have been complete worlds away from where Colleen found herself these days.

“Oh god she’s back on the relaxers.”

“No, I’m not. I’m thinking, something you should try sometimes.”

Ornate decor and no children. Ah, if they had taken Peter’s grandfather’s offer. Living in New York and summering in the Hamptons. 

“You’re looking quite lonely.”

“Perhaps if my the man I married wasn’t off cavorting with the local ladies of the evening I wouldn’t have to look this way.”

He said nothing to her, merely staring her down before looking past her out the window of the tiny seaside town they were now summering in. This had once been her hometown and she often wondered what would have happened if she had stayed.  Pulling up the long expanse of paved driveway she sighed to herself as the car came to a stop. 

“I’ll be by the pool. Off to your travels or wherever it is that you’re going.”

Her reward was a curt nod from the husband she barely knew. He mentioned having to back to New York to finish something and then it was on to Singapore.  She now paid no attention to his trip itinerary, it simply wasn’t worth it. Wandering the large front foyer she greeted a few of the staff with a small smile.

 “Mrs. Ellingham, lovely to see you again.”

“Hello, Winnie. Please, call me Colleen. I think I’ll be staying through the holidays so you and I will be seeing quite a bit of each other.”

A small if be it slightly alarmed smile settled across the maid’s features before she showed the woman paying her wages to the largest bedroom in the house. A room to behold if ever there was one. White marble and ornate silver and green decor could be seen. A lavish sunken tub with more jets than was seemingly possible was at the center of the room situated just below the circular skylight and flanked by rounded marble pillars. The powder room with it’s lush spring green colors was hidden off to the left and to the right there were full length mirrors refracting the view from the back garden and the pool area. The scent of summer roses and jasmine floated in the wind. The currents surrounding the massive bed draped in emerald green bed linen floated on the breeze. A quick change of clothes and Colleen saw herself overseeing the grounds before settling in on a lounger by the pool. Crystal blue water glinted back at her as she basked in the warmth of the sun.

“Maybe this was how it was supposed to be?”

She quieted quietly to herself before the sun was blocked out by the form of a man and the smell of Marlboro smoke.

“Who says it has to be any other way than how you yourself imagine it?”

Opening her eyes she saw the familiar form of a man she had known years ago and smiled. 

“How open minded of you, Mr. Halliday. What are you doing kicking around these parts?”

Given his dressed down state versus how Colleen had seen him a few years ago a brokers luncheon Jason was on vacation.

“Well, just settled into the place down the road from here and came by to see how the new owners of Thorncrest were doing.”

“Owner and you’re speaking to her. Lovely thanks.”

“Ooh, finally took your Ivy Leaguer to the cleaners huh?”

A small smirk played at her lips as she sat up and went about offering a glass of chilled lemonade to her impromptu guest. 

“Well, lets just say that after the summer season’s done you’re going to be seeing quite a bit more of me around here and with quite a bit more money than I care to know what to do with.”

“He just doesn’t know it yet?”

“He will after he’s properly served. So….does the Quincepoint place have a lady of the house or are you still trying girls on for size?”

A quick exhale of smoke through a grinning face answered for him. He always smirked like that when he was nervous.

“Nobody since you.”

“Well, that’s good then because it’ll save your closet space with my things here. If you’re good I may even give you a dresser drawer of your very own.”

“Man a guy can dream can’t he?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve dreamt of seeing you back here in this house for years and now here you are. It’s almost too good to be true, isn’t?”

Another plume of smoke was exhaled and Colleen found herself startled awake once more. Totally unsure of where she was or exactly who she was at the moment she studied her left hand. No large gaudy wedding set dripping in gold and diamonds. Just a simple silver band that was enveloped by a hand that from the looks of it, was used to doing office work. Blonde floppy bangs shielded a bespectacled fair face of the husband she shared a name with. Reaching out to trace the fine features of the Romanesque nose and finely crafted cheekbones a small shuddered passed over her seat mate. The slight stubble of a five o’clock shadow pricked her gentle touches as he moved closer. His eyes would open in a moment but what color would his eyes be? So far she had seen him in every single dream she had had since starting work on that book of hers. Blue. Like the summer sky and kind as she had ever hoped. 

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

A slow soft smile spread across his face as he rose from his slumber. It was always him that she wrote her male leads. He held a spark of something true and endless. Love and devotion were stamped upon him from the moment he had been thought of. Nicholas Shelley truly was the fitting piece to the puzzle that was her life.“Still feeling weird?”

“No, not really. I think I was just over tired…didn’t mean to worry you, Nick.”

“I figured that on my own when I put your carry on in the overhead and you were out like a light. Helene sends her love and says she’ll be meeting us at the lake house when he land. Something with Joey’s touring schedule or manager to work out.”

“Oh, okay then.”Something grabbed at her heart as panic started to rise. “You do know just how much I love you…right?”

Fair brows shot towards his hairline behind the curtain of bangs. “Of course, I do. Do you know how much I love you?”

“Yes. I’m…I’m sorry it’s just the deadlines and the rewrites and god I’m tired. I just didn’t think I was saying it enough or loud enough for you to hear me. I’m sorry I’ve been off in my own little world.”

‘It’s okay, I get the same way. It’s the nice think about being married to another writer, we know each other’s moods better than our own.”

Reaching a hand up he guided her head back towards his shoulder and she settled for a moment. Clean linen and woody sea was the comforting smell she always took from him. It righted her and her heart slowed back into a normal rhythm.  He carded his fingers through her long dark hair once more as he always did when she panicked and they had a moment together. 

“Never doubt my love for you because it is deeper than the ocean, stronger than steel, and even more endless than the night sky.”

She never doubted his words were true because she felt them. There, in her very heart his words and declarations were written and they would forever be safe. 

“I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”

No matter how many dreams she had or books she had written she knew that her true love's kiss would always be the most beautiful of all. His love for her as complete as hers was to him. They were simply crafted for each other.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E56 (March 26, 2019)

Gooooood evening, everyone. @eponymous-rose is taking a well-deserved break, so I’m stepping in to ruin reputations and botch direct quotations all over the place. Here to give us the appropriate gravitas and fear for the evening is the Chamber of Chairs:

Tonight’s guests: Liam O’Brien & Marisha Ray. Dani flips Liam off to start the show and it’s pretty funny. “What did I doooo?”

Tonight’s announcements: Last night was the season finale of Between the Sheets, featuring Ashly Burch, who is shockingly short in person. The VOD’s up for subscribers now, and it’ll be posted on YT tomorrow for everyone else. The Ashley Johnson episode will be up soon! Yay! Remember, no new episode of CR this week, and no new episode of TM next Tuesday as a result. Normal CR broadcasting resumes April 4. The Kickstarter hit $8 million today. Liam: “Oh boy oh boy oh boy it’s fine it’s fine IT’S FINE.” The final goal is $8.8m with 23 days to go, and a behind-the-scenes filming of the theme song was posted today on the KS. The video’s actually pretty cool & features Ashley in a feather boa!

Anyway! Episode 56: The Favor

CR Stats! This was the shortest episode of this campaign at 2h19m15s of gameplay. Only Shopping and Shipping from C1 was shorter. This episode tied for the fewest spells cast in one episode (six) and all were cast by Caleb. Over the 44 episodes & 136 days the M9 had the dodecahedron, they gained 25 fragments of possibility and actually utilized 13. 

Liam and Marisha talk about having a timer in the office: “It has been 27 days since the last Holy Fuck ending.”

None of them thought Matt was going to cut it off at that point, but when he explained he wanted Taliesin there for the next part, it made sense to all of them & they all agreed it was for the best.

Beau has four thousand thoughts racing through her head right now. One of them is excitement about getting to learn the Kryn more, but she’s also terrified. Henry interrupts with the most adorable baying howl and he walks offstage. What a good pupper.

Liam describes the moment as everyone frozen in amber as they wait for the next episode. Beau will figure out something to her advantage between now and then.

Marisha likens this moment to the Emon attack and the Lorenzo fight with Molly in terms of emotional shock. Brian remembers Sam was in a tux that night; Marisha: “I knew it was going to be a funeral tux.”

There’s another question about how Marisha/Beau feels about the dodeca handoff, and both Liam and Marisha start laughing about how this entire TM episode is just going to be about the ramifications of Caleb’s decision. Liam: “No regrets,” but he understands there’s going to be a lot of fallout. They talk about how the ramifications will depend on how public the Krynn make their gift: will it be parades in the streets, a handshake and dismissal from a private room, etc? What if there was a Dairon-type spy in the room who’ll tell people they don’t want to know about their actions? They’re eager and afraid to see the fallout.

Brian points out everyone could see on Travis’s face he would rather have gone to jail, but further discussion is derailed by questions.

The group had discussed the possibility of handing off the dodecahedron in the past, but he hadn’t considered ever handing it off until the last sixty seconds when “everything was going to shit. It was more mathematical than anything. It felt a lot like Avantika. We’ve got a plan, the plan’s broken, but we can get away, no, we can’t get away, now this is changing--I don’t want someone outside our group to control the situation if I can act first, if I can punch first. Everyone’s trying to negotiate and it’s failing, I don’t want to give up this thing either, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, here’s--this.” Caleb wanted to save the group. He wouldn’t have taken the gamble even two minutes earlier. Then, suddenly as it began to work, he & Caleb began realizing that not only did it work, but it worked very well and now his brain had split into two: “oh, thank God, I care about these people, I can save them,” and “how do I use this to my advantage.”

Caleb was quiet through most of this episode because he really wanted to discuss several things in private with other group members--that’s what he was thinking about for most of this.

Dani points out everyone expected physical travel between this fight & the audience with the queen where there would be downtime to discuss things. None of them expected immediate teleportation.

If Beau had been in a position to stop Caleb from giving up the beacon, she would not have stopped him.

Beau was wincing as Nott & Jester asked questions they should have already known the answers to. Liam points out it’s the war room in Dr. Strangelove--only the most powerful people would have been there. Beau dislikes authority but doesn’t think she’s stupid enough to have gotten herself seen as an obvious traitor.

Everyone revels in Matt’s Caduceus impression.

GIF of the Week: Liam pulling the dodeca out of the haversack by Will D. Brian singsongs “Travis is tilted~, Travis is tilted, look at his face~” over the GIF playing. Haaaaaahaha, poor Travis.

Liam: “I think I’m just in the shithouse.” Marisha: “You blew the shit whistle.”

Brief hilarious aside where they discuss Tetanus Terry (ft. on Travis Willingham’s YeeHaw Game Ranch) & Caleb Widogast getting fully replaced by Terry as a backup character if he gets assassinated.

On a scale of 1-10, Beau is following Dairon’s advice to a 7. She’s trying not to get attached, not to die, to listen, to not get impatient, to not be biased. She’s probably going to get closer to people than Dairon would suggest, but thinks she’s trying pretty hard.

It wasn’t cathartic for Caleb to renounce the Empire like this. His parents were very pro-Empire, and now that he’s on this journey to atone for his parents’ deaths, he’s done exactly the last thing his parents ever, ever wanted him to do--walked into the heart of the enemy and gave them everything they wanted. (Brian, Liam, & Dani briefly rag on Tumblr still having faint life somewhere. “Female-presenting nipples” comes up. It’s funny and also very sad.)

Brian discusses how it’s a big moment, but it’s not a victory for the group. Caleb was just shooting for a short-term immediate solution. Marisha: “It feels like a sitcom bait-and-switch. Nah, it’s cool, guys, we’re gonna pretend to be waiters and we’ll sneak into the kitchen,” but then they sneak into the kitchen and the cook laughs that the sous-chef is out today, and “now we’re in over our heads!”

Brian reveals dramatically that last night he came out as a supporter of Liam for President of D&D Beyond. Liam: “Beneath all the chicanery & hair product, there is common sense."

Liam & Marisha talk about the difference between Nott/Caleb’s original first podunk jail and this potential maximum security prison.

Caleb imagined the BDSM straps over his shirt and coat. Apparently most of the fanart generated this week has failed to include them. 

Both Marisha & Liam VEHEMENTLY agree they hated not being able to be main parts of the Brightqueen talks. They also talk about how they both are far better at CHA than Nott & Jester, though they point out in fairness that Matt’s told them he always adjusts the social DCs based on the arguments they make.

As far as the slavery part of the disguise, Marisha: “Marisha has laughed at every piece of fanart. Beau was surprised. Beau’s gonna have a talk.” She (Beau) felt they had discussed the costumes, the pretense--but not the bullying & active degradation her group put her through. It was huge, an eye-opening moment for Beau in a way she (Beau & Marisha) absolutely did not expect. She never thought they would abuse their status over her in that way.

They discuss how on a meta sense, they all knew that the scene was just Travis and Laura trolling them and having fun at their expense, but at the same time it’s still happening in game and will have in-game consequences. Marisha: “It’s like at a party where your good friend starts getting a little too drunk and starts making fun of you a little too much--it’s a little too real.”

That said, one of Marisha’s favorite fanarts from this week was Beau (as a table) swearing under her breath at Jester with her feet up. It’s an interesting juxtaposition.

Fanart of the Week: The Brightqueen by Nikki Dawes.

Beau does not feel she’s betrayed anyone by being present at this event. She knows where her allegiances lie, so just because this happened doesn’t mean it’s changed anything about what she believes. That said, she has no love for the Empire. She’s very personal with whom she cares about. She doesn’t have as much obvious disdain as Caleb does--she’s just more indifferent.

Caleb has a high CHA that he just doesn’t use anymore, because the people he knew with high CHA that used it did so to do bad things. Liam thinks when Caleb was young he was very gifted, charming, and attracted people to him; now it’s all gone. He can hold it together like a sandcastle by the tide for an hour, but in the end it always washes away.

On Nott speaking for the group: Marisha always likes hearing Sam talk. In some ways Marisha felt it was the same thing she used to get for Keyleth-- "why are you talking? You shouldn’t be talking. You shouldn’t be the talker.” Everyone should have their own voice, regardless of the scores on the page. “Your stats are there to influence the effects of what happens; they’re not the Bible. They’re not law.” She reminds us Vex once entered an arm-wrestling contest with a strength of 7.

How does Beau feel now that Caleb’s made another huge decision without consulting the rest of the M9 (i.e. Bowlgate)? It’ll play out in game. It’s a big deal. Liam admits he loves it. “The whole point is conflict resolution, so you need conflict.” He loves things like this, like the Astrid letter, because it opens opportunities to explore characters. In some ways it’s the same thing: they were in an impossible situation and Caleb sees it as protecting his friends, but that’s not how it read to anyone else. Marisha points out that once again he made himself the authority to make this huge decision without discussing it with anyone else in the group.

Marisha and Liam start talking about the decision more, decide it should wait for the game, but then keep talking despite themselves. Marisha points out that on top of his (once-again) unilateral decision, his speech was also framed selfishly (”I did this thing, I brought this back to you,”). To her, it still feels like the same thing with Caleb deciding things with major consequences for the rest of the group without their input, though she admits it’s colored by their (Beau’s & Caleb’s) history. Liam talks about how in the moment he was scared of deception checks, so he just tried to be as truthful as possible--nothing he said was false because he was only speaking for himself. He could not have spoken for the group & still been truthful. It’s a really interesting dichotomous discussion, both of them talking about what they felt in the moment versus how it came across to everyone else.

Liam feels it’s more like seeing someone dying in front of them & wasting time discussing whether they should do CPR or not, rather than him making decisions for the whole group. Marisha’s face obviously disagrees (so do I, ahaha). Liam also thought they were going to continue the episode & talk more, which would have kept it from being as much about him. This is gonna be super interesting when it actually plays out, for sure.

Once again, no new CR this Thursday or TM next Tuesday. Most of the rest of the programming will stay the same. This Tuesday’s Mame Drop will feature Max James of CR production fame.

We end on this eldritch horror:

"Weuuuh, Caleb knows best! Caleb will make the decisions for all of us in this D&D game!”

Aaand we’re out. Stay turnt.

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E1 (Jan 16, 2018)

Tonight’s guests are Liam O’Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, and Laura Bailey!

There will be a new-season makeover for the Talks Machina intro video, coming soon (also illustrated by @wendydoodles).

Announcements: issue 4 of the comic to be released Jan 24, teaser poster for sale, definitely not changing the name of the show.

Full character artwork by @ornerine released! Everyone agrees that she was a great pick for the official artwork.

When asked for notes, Travis was really specific about Fjord’s bracers and dinged-up armor. He’s near 30 but “has lived a hard-earned 30 years”. “That red rope? I took it off of some curtains.”

Mollymauk’s official pronouns are he/him but Taliesin figures he would be chill with anything. His note? “I would like to cause cosplayers to have a nervous breakdown.” The pendant is very specific, as are a lot of the symbols. The robe is embroidered silk.

Travis did not realize Nott’s face was a mask at first. Liam requested that Nott’s ears be hidden away for Silhouette Watch, just to keep fans guessing.

Laura on Beau: “You can see how drunk she is based on those half-lidded eyes.” Brian: “I think people will finally understand that there’s a difference between Marisha and Keyleth this time around.”

Laura on Caleb: “Liam, look at that. He looks like he rolled in shit.” Liam had to request a messier look for the art three separate times. Frumpkin looks clean because he hangs out in a pocket dimension.

Laura points out the jewelry on Jester’s tail. Laura and Taliesin realize they both did the horn-to-ear decorative chain thing. Laura originally wanted bells on her horns and tail, but realized it would be a stealth concern. The freckles were Laura’s idea---originally the art was very elegant, and Laura requested more “cute and awkward”.

Travis on Yasha: “That is a bottle of trouble right there.” Brian is a little smug about knowing her backstory and hints that a lot of stuff on Yasha’s person has specific significance.

Travis rolled a natural 20 as the last roll of the last campaign... and the first roll of the new campaign. He also rolls a nat20 as the first die roll in the intro! (Everyone jokes that Taliesin had to roll it for him.)

@critrolestats is back! 215 gold spent in C1E1. Coin spent in C2E1? 4 silver.

Total damage to defeat Vecna: 1,890 damage. Total damage to defeat this week’s undead creature: 74 damage.

Last time Sam sang “I Will Always Love You” was in episode 55.

Laura edits all the thumbnails for the episodes. “The amount of Sam crotch happening in those group shots is so offensive.”

The shot in the opening credits that took the longest was the wind blowing. Brian: “Can we talk about Taliesin casting an actual spell in that opening?” Taliesin: “No, we can’t.”

Everyone likes the seating arrangement, but everyone was also so disoriented during the game that it was hard to even process the change.

Liam and Laura went for lunch together and tried only talking in their new accents. Everyone expects to take a few episodes to settle into the new accents.

Generally, everyone was trying to sit with new people, allowing for some seating based on the episode-zero interactions.

Mollymauk has barely changed from the version of the character Taliesin came up with as a backup for Percy after episode 68. “Percy is one aspect of my personality [...] I would love to play with this part of my reality a bit.” He originally wanted Molly to do a show about the Terrible Tinker of Tal’Dorei.

Laura brought Jester back from the one-shot she played with Kinda Funny because even back then she had a lot of ideas for the character.

Travis decided against a werewolf character because so many people were pushing for it that he felt like there wouldn’t be a surprise. He really wanted to cast a spell after five years without casting. He looked at eldritch knight and paladin, but liked the imagery associated with warlocks, and the Hexblade’s sentient weapon won him over.

Travis played his session zero intending to do a normal voice and he didn’t enjoy the experience at all, especially when Laura and Marisha had such distinctive voices. He did a recording session 48 hours before the game where he had to do a Texan accent and just decided to go for it.

Liam started thinking about Caleb’s accent a few months earlier when Matt talked a bit about the inspirations behind Wildemount.

Taliesin and Laura both wanted to play a lavender tiefling with a sickle sword and an eastern European accent, so they split it up. Taliesin felt like he couldn’t fast-talk as well until he got the Irish accent going. Laura picked the accent because she was especially comfortable with doing it naturally, which helps a lot with improv.

Liam points out that it’s going to take a few episodes for everyone to settle into character choices and stay consistent; things will probably shift for a while. Travis accidentally called Taliesin “Percy” (not in a character sense) right before the show started. It’s going to take a bit to get used to the change.

Travis really wants to dress up as Fjord and was thinking about that cosplay when he picked the race (but hints that there’s more info coming). He was looking at tabaxis and was like, “Do I really want to put a cat nose on?”

Liam knew he wanted to be a wizard for a while but hadn’t picked a race yet until he realized everyone else was going really outside-the-box, so he opted to go human.

Session zero game details: Jester was one failed saving throw away from death and Fjord saved her by giving up his healing potion. Caleb also almost died. More details will be forthcoming in-game, probably. (The sessions were not recorded.)

Sam and Liam decided to team up for their session zero a few months ago. Taliesin had the circus and invited anyone to join that session; Marisha considered but wound up switching. Travis and Laura already knew each other’s character backstories, so they found a way for them to intersect, and it made sense in-context for Marisha to join in.

Jester and Fjord have known each other about a week longer than they’ve known Beau, but they’re all pretty fresh acquaintances; not even close to a year.

Caleb and Nott have known each other for longer than the trio have: for months. Liam describes their relationship as “a very new friendship”.

The carnival troupe members were mainly Matt’s creation but there was a bit of back-and-forth with Taliesin in developing their relationships (and many were based on people they knew).

Fanart of the week!

Travis wants Fjord to talk to Nott and Caleb more. (”Can’t say why.”) Molly already doesn’t like Beau, but the tieflings want to chat with each other a lot more (Jester also wants to talk more with Nott). Liam points out that despite being the quietest, Caleb and Fjord have the highest charisma, so they might end up acting as the negotiators. Laura points out, in Jester’s voice, that some people might blunder in without realizing they have low charisma.

Laura likes organizing and keeping track of things, which is the main reason it bugs her to no longer be treasurer; she has no problem making bad decisions with money in the game, but not getting to write it down bothers him.

Mollymauk’s deck is an original creation of Taliesin’s, still in progress. He worked with his brothers (one makes games and one DMs) to start putting it together.

Laura got Taliesin an experimental fortune-telling deck for Christmas.

Liam and Sam were brainstorming, and Liam brought up goblin rogue as an idea alongside a bunch of other ideas, and Sam shrugged it off, then decided on it after all and proclaimed that Liam chose his character.

Travis is having some trouble removing the Grog-filter of what he wasn’t able to do at INT 6. Everyone’s still developing the way their characters work.

Both tieflings have humanoid legs rather than goat legs to make it easier on cosplayers. Laura points out that Jester is already pretty far over on the humanoid scale.

Everyone was most surprised by Sam’s accent. Travis was surprised at Taliesin’s shit-stirring right out of the gate, while Liam and Laura expected it. Liam wasn’t expecting Ashley to be so intense and creepy. Brian: “That’s a lot closer to how she is in real life. You cut her off on the 405...”

Travis picked the falchion just because he saw the picture while flipping through the PHB and it really spoke to him. He looked up a lot of pictures and found a stout and straight one with a curved, sharp tip, and really liked the look of it.

Jester’s deity hasn’t changed from the Kinda Funny one-shot.

“How does it feel to be starting in prison again?” Taliesin: “Feels like coming home.” Molly really doesn’t like cops. “He’s never going to keep his mouth shut.”

Frumpkin was the name of Liam’s cat when he was four. Travis is horribly allergic to cats in real life. Just at the thought of a cat, his nose started to tickle, and it was inevitable that Fjord would be allergic. He did have a cat growing up: “Once she slept on my face. I went to the hospital.”

The different accents and seating make it easier for Liam and Laura to keep from slipping into being twinnies. Liam points out that they’ll always be twinnies, and everyone immediately notices that they’re sitting exactly the same way.

Laura is offended by Sam’s lack of dice, especially with sneak attack damage. She’s told him he’s not allowed to touch any of the dice she’s already sorted. Liam promises to buy him a box of d6s.

Is Laura worried about being the only one with healing right now? “I’m not worried about it at all. I’m very good at healing. We’re safe. ...no, we’re fucked. I only have three spell slots.”

Liam won’t talk about why he picked transmutation, but he’s really excited to get into a support/tactician role as a spellcaster.

Talks Machina Becomes The Darkness on Alpha:

The group hasn’t really figured out battle tactics yet (apart from Laura knowing she should hang back after almost dying). Everyone’s really feeling the lack of a bard... and the lack of magic earrings.

The main reason Taliesin keeps going for Matt’s homebrew classes is because he played a lot of D&D as a kid and wants to do something new.

Everything stops when Laura points out that she and Liam are sitting the same way again.

Travis refuses again to answer why Fjord doesn’t have the half-orc tusks.

Liam is tasking himself to be a more responsible thinker at the table, less impulsive, because it suits Caleb’s character more. Travis feels like Fjord’s tactical potential is currently hampered by not really knowing the rest of the team yet. Liam: “I do promise to make real bad decisions, just in a different way.” Taliesin high-fives him for that one.

The minis were designed before the character art came out. Liam’s favorite mini of the new bunch is Nott.

Gilmore wasn’t a source of inspiration for Molly, but they have a lot in common. “They’re both characters who have spent time externalizing a lot of internal stuff.” The name came from the movie Lord Love a Duck, which Taliesin’s grandfather directed.

Everyone had to really strongly justify their character-building choices related to their backstory to Matt. Taliesin wanted a tenuous connection to the last campaign, but Matt nixed it. Liam feels like he got to do exactly what he wanted to do.

Everyone feels like Laura and Liam were the most prepared. Liam says he was scared to death, but he thought Laura was right in the groove from the start. Each of them had a moment where the shock wore off enough to feel like they had a glimpse of what the rest of the campaign was going to be.

125,000 viewers on the new episode (on all platforms), which is way higher than it’s ever been. They’re very nervous knowing the numbers.

[jaceyneedsabetterusername]

All I Need~ Part 3

Pairings: Josh Dun x Pregnant!Reader

Overview: You move to Columbus, Ohio to live with your brother after your ex-boyfriend becomes abusive after telling him of a surprise pregnancy. You become involved in the church and unknowingly befriend the Dun family. After finally meeting Josh, there’s a connection between the two of you that lands you in some complicated situations.

Warnings: None for this chapter.

Y/N = Your Name

Y/B/N = Your Brother’s Name

A/N: I am so sorry this update took so long! My plan when I started writing this was to update weekly but school has gotten CRAZY. I’m just going to write and post when I find time. Sorry for the inconsistency.

A/N 2: The story is going to pick up soon! This is a slow half-pointless chapter but I feel like it’s a little necessary to establish a friendship.

“Oh my… mother flipping… gosh dang it! Agh!” You groaned as you jumped in your skinny jeans, struggling to get them to button over your ever growing belly. It was just a small bump but it was actually noticeable at this point. “Ugh!” You moaned, lowering yourself to lay down on your back, sucking everything in as a last attempt to get these jeans on. Miraculously, it worked.

You hobbled into the living room, adjusting your pants as you went, and plopped onto the couch next to your laptop, “I am definitely going to invest in some more leggings.” You said to your brother who was in the kitchen. You opened your laptop and began doing another endless bout of pregnancy research. “Look at this. I feel like I’m too big to be nine weeks.” You looked closer at the screen filled with nine week pregnancy bellies.

Y/B/N sat next to you and inspected the pictures, pointing at one, “Look at that one. She’s just as big as you. It’s probably a person-by-person kinda thing. Don’t worry about it.” He tried comforting you but your nearly bursting jeans told you otherwise.

Suddenly, your phone went off next to you.

Unknown: Hey! It’s Josh. My mom wanted to know if you could stop by the house but her phone died.

“Who is it?” Your brother asked, seeing your face as you read the message.

“It’s Josh.” You answered in disbelief. He actually texted you, “Laura Lee wants me to come over today for something.”

“OOOOOH! Or Josh wants you to come over for something.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

You shoved his shoulder, “Gosh, how old are you? 13?”

You: What for? And what time?

Almost immediately you got a response.

Josh: Whenever you can. It’s for the church bake sale.

Internally, you groaned. How did you forget about that? There was a little community street fair and the church was baking goods to sell to raise money for the youth group. Glancing at the clock, you saw it was only 9:14 in the morning.

You: I have to run an errand but I can be there around 11:30?

Josh: Awesome :) Thanks!

Y/B/N leaned in until his face was only centimeters from your cheek, “So…?” He cooed in your ear.

Rolling your shoulders to push his face away, you stood up, “I’m gonna go help Laura Lee bake some stuff for the youth group fundraiser.” You walked into the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar that you ate while putting on your converse and shouldering your purse.

“They should start paying you.” He joked when you opened the door.

You rolled your eyes, “Tell me about it. Keys?” You asked and he threw the keys to his car to you. Then it occurred to you, “Oh wait, you don’t need to go anywhere today, right?”

He shook his head, “Nah. I have a crap ton of work to do for school.”

“Alrighty then. See ya!” You closed the door behind you and drove off to buy some leggings. You weren’t ready to give in and buy maternity pants yet. Even though you were well aware that you obviously got bigger when you were pregnant, you refused that you were big enough to need maternity pants.

An hour and two leggings later, you left the store with a bag in hand. You sat in the driver’s seat and glanced at the clock. 10:45. Maybe your errands wouldn’t take as long as you expected.

You: Hey Josh. Errands went faster than expected. Might be there a little early. Is that OK? Do you need me to bring anything?

Josh: Yeah she’s been baking since 8 so it’s no problem. And we have everything, thanks though.

You: Cool be there soon :)

~

You knocked on the door and Bill opened the door, “Hi Y/N! Come on in!”

“Hey Bill! How’re you doing today?” You asked, walking into the house and towards the kitchen.

He chuckled a little, “I’m doing pretty good. I tried helping Laura Lee but I put the sugar in the wrong bowl and almost got hit with a rolling pin so I’m just trying to stay out the their way.”

You laughed, “It was a valiant effort.” When you got into the kitchen, you were attacked by hugs from Laura Lee.

“Aw thank you for coming over! Oh my, you guys are growing more and more every time I see you!” Her hands found your belly that was much more prominent in your tighter tank top now than it was a week ago at the barbeque.

You leaned back, looking at your belly with a warm smile, “Yeah, it’s getting more and more real every day.” You laughed.

“Hey Y/N!” Ashley and Josh greeted from various spots of the kitchen.

You waved, “Hi guys! So what can I help with?”

She walked around the kitchen, pointing things out as she went, “So we have chocolate chip cookies currently baking right now but we have to bake at least three more batches. Josh is working on snickerdoodles. Ashley is doing peanut butter cookies. I’m doing sugar cookies. You can work on oatmeal raisin.” As she pulled out everything you would need, your heart dropped a little bit. All of these delicious cookies and you get stuck with oatmeal raisin.

“Alright.” You said to yourself as you tied your hair up in a messy bun and washed your hands before reading the recipe. Six cups of flour, two cups of sugar, etc… Geez, how many cookies did you guys need to make? You looked around for the flour and couldn’t see it anywhere. “Does anyone have the flour?” You asked.

“I got it right here.” Josh said, carrying the large bag over to you. When he set it on the counter, you couldn’t help but laugh as a large cloud of flour covered his face in a light mask of white.

“Thanks.” You giggled, handing him the nearest washcloth you could find. “You get a little too into your work.” You teased.

He wiped his face clean, “You gotta give 100% or nothing at all.” He smiled back. Josh glanced around for a moment before handing you the measuring cups and returning to his small baking station.

Twenty minutes later, you leaned against the flour dusted counter, hands resting on your belly as you recovered from the extensive amount of abnormally large cookie batter mixing you had just done. “Are you alright over there?” Laura Lee asked, taking cookie pans out of the oven and replacing them with unbaked ones.

You gave her a reassuring smile, “Yeah, I’m fine! Still just getting used to getting tired so easily.”

“Well if you’re done with the batter why don’t you get a glass of water and sit down for a few. There’s not much we can do right now anyways. The line of cookie dough to be baked is backed up for at least the next few hours so we have some time to kill.” She was laughing a little bit at you out of sympathy as she grabbed a cup from the cupboard, handing it to you.

You muttered a thank you as you filled the glass and sat down at the kitchen table with a sigh of relief. Josh came by and sat next to you, “Thanks for the free slave labor.”

“You mean I’m not getting paid?!” You exclaimed with sarcasm.

He sucked in a breath, “Wow… this is awkward.” You both laughed a little bit.

“Hey, how long are you in Columbus for? Like don’t you have band-stuff to do?” You asked, sipping your water.

He shrugged, “I have two more weeks of play. Tyler and I are both up here visiting family before we start getting ready for a big tour.”

“Does that ever suck? Touring that much? It must get exhausting.” You pried.

“Ehh, I mean Tyler is like a girlfriend so it doesn’t get lonely-”

You laughed, “Oh gosh, you guys are like this in real life too?”

Josh put his hand on his heart, “Tyler is the love of my life!” He joked.

You rolled your eyes, “Don’t tell Jenna that.”

“She already knows!” Laura Lee yelled from the kitchen and you couldn’t help but giggle.

Josh stopped laughing with a grin, “But I mean, it does get tiring but walking on stage every night with all those people there because your music means something to them… it’s surreal. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

You almost got lost in what he was saying, “That sounds amazing.”

“It really is.” He smiled warmly, “But enough about me, how are you guys doing?” He nodded to you and your belly, “If anything is amazing and surreal it’s having an alien growing inside you.”

“It is, isn’t it?” You couldn’t help the warm feeling in your chest when he said that. It wasn’t until now that you really thought about how cool it was that you were growing a human being inside of you. Up until now it had been financial concerns, wondering how you could take care of a baby, and trying not to burden your family. “But we’re doing pretty good. The little guy or girl has officially upgraded from embryo to fetus, too.”

Josh had a strange look on his face, “That’s cool.” He said trying to understand why that was important.

“It means they’re finally baby-ifying.” You giggled.

His eyes lit up, “Ohhhhh! Okay, yeah that’s good. Do you have any ideas for names?”

You sighed, “Not yet. I probably should start thinking soon though. Naming a human is kind of a big deal. I don’t want to give the kid a name they’re going to hate and resent me for.”

“As long as you don’t name them some weird celebrity name you should be fine.” He pointed out.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Wouldn’t want to name them some celebrity name like Josh or something. How embarrassing.” You stuck your tongue out before sipping your water again.

“I would definitely not want that name.” He joked. Next to you, your phone buzzed.

Y/B/N: I need the car. R u done soon

You sighed. You really didn’t want to leave yet.

You: Ugh whyyyyyyy

“Who is it?” Josh inquired.

You shrugged, “My brother. He wants the car back.” Again, the phone buzzed.

Y/B/N: Left something at school I need to study.

Rolling your eyes, you stood up, “I’m sorry. I have to go.” You said sadly.

Josh stood up next to you, “Awe man! Can’t he walk?”

“His legs might fall off.” You said sarcastically, walking to the living room to say your goodbyes to the rest of the family.

Josh walked you to your car outside. You turned and leaned against it, facing him with a smile, “Well thank you for a wonderful day of baking.”

He stretched his back, “Thanks for helping out!”

“I’ll see you later, I guess.” You said, giggling a little.

“Yeah I’ll see you soon.” He replied, leaning in and pulling you into a hug. You were taken back for a second by the hug, not entirely expecting it but not rejecting it by any means. Josh must not have realized how hard he pulled you in because the second your slightly swollen belly touched his own stomach, his grip immediately lightened. “I’m sorry!” He said worried he hurt you or the baby.

You put your hand on your belly, “It’s all good! Don’t sweat it! We’re good.” You laughed, “I’ll see you later.” You climbed in your car and began pulling away into the street, seeing Josh waving at you from your mirrors.

Now that you were alone, you fully embraced the crimson that stained your cheeks. Your skin still tingled from where Josh touched you when hugging you. You found yourself biting your lip in fantasy before shutting down your hopes.

“No, Y/N. He is a famous gorgeous drummer who could have any girl he wants. He probably doesn’t like you like that but even if he did you would not burden him with a baby and make him feel obligated to love you.” You scolded yourself.

But then his face popped into your mind: his pink hair sticking out from under a black baseball cap, beautifully colored arms sticking out of a white muscle tee, his gorgeous smile that could make you feel so comfortable and yet so inferior, the adorable way his eyes squinted when he laughed. His strong hand slipping into your own. Okay, maybe you knew you couldn’t actually have him but that didn’t mean you couldn’t dream, right?

[alicornalice-blog]

Guardians in the Dark

Guardians in the Dark, prologue! Yes, I’m reposting it, cause why not? Please, don’t repost. Unless you’re me, then it’s fine. Reblogs are more than welcome!

Guardians in the Dark

Ashley Bossen-AlicornAlice

Prologue: Once Upon a Light

     Her red converse squeaked against the polished ceramic tiles, muffled by the overwhelming sound of chatter in the crowded hallway. Colorful posters made by students promoting the homecoming dance, and other various school events were taped onto the white walls. Her long, black hair swayed with every step. Her emerald colored eyes observed the judging, or even pitiful glances of her peers. Occasionally, she could hear her peers talk about her, shameless to the fact that she would be standing a few feet away.

    “Isn’t that the downer girl from your chem class?” the blonde one muttered to her red haired friend.

    “Yeah, that’s Kana. She always works by herself, even when people offer to work with her. It’s really depressing” two girls said to each other.

    “I heard that she used to actually be friendly.”

    “Josh says he’s known her since elementary school, and that she used to have a sister.” Kana sent a scowl toward the two girls as she walked past. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her red jacket while she continued on her way to the last class in her schedule.

    “It’s been ten years, why are people still talking about it?” Kana thought spitefully. With her gaze cast downward, she bumped into someone with long, wavy brown hair.

    “Excuse me.” Kana mumbled anxiously, and tried to step around the girl. The brunette spun on her heel with her arm extended, pushing Kana back.

    “What do you think you’re doing?” the girl’s brown eyes narrowed at Kana. She placed her hand on her hip. The skirt of her green, orange, and white cheerleader uniform swayed with her every move.

    “I think I’m on my way to algebra.”

    “Really, now? That’s hilarious, because I think you’re on your way to getting on my last nerve.” sarcastic venom dripped from her voice. Kana shrugged her shoulders, and said,

    “Not that you really have much tolerance for anything, anyway.”

    “You’ve always been a brat.” the brunette scoffed.

    “You’ve always been a spoiled one.” Kana retorted with a glare.

    “At least my parents don’t resent me.” she said with a wicked smirk “Don’t forget that I am the most popular girl in this school, and you’re no one special. ” Once she saw that Kana was not going to respond, and clearly irritated, she walked off pretentiously with her heels clicking on the tile. Her bouncy hair whipped around, nearly smacking Kana on the face. Once Kana noticed that everyone was staring in her direction, she decided to escape to her classroom.

    Class went on without any further drama. Kana had tried her best to focus, but ultimately submitted to daydreams. She had just left the school, and was walking home. Normally, Kana would ride the bus to the outskirts of the town; however, this day was special, and she wanted to stay away from home as long as possible. After sending a short text to her parents, writing that she would be home later than usual, she put in her earbuds. Kana paid no mind to the sight of multi-story buildings.

    She had made a few stops along the way. First was the public library, which was mostly empty aside from a few stray folk on the computers, and others getting lost in the pages of fiction. The first section Kana pondered through was the history aisle to find a novel for her book report. On her way out, the fantasy section had caught her eye. Kana ending up leaving  with two books to read through that day.

    Her second stop was an in-the-wall coffee shop. The wallpaper was black, but had a lovely touch of white detail. White furniture and splashes of soft violet decor helped brighten the cafe enough to make it comfortable. After ordering a small chai tea and a bagel, she sat down at one of the empty tables along the wall. Kana reached into her grey backpack, and pulled out the fantasy book. The hard cover was a deep  purple color, with white lines spiraling from a silhouette of a dragon  in the center. A white mist-like design covered its edges. The title, ‘Light of a Dragon’ was displayed along the bottom.

    “I’ll just read the first chapter, then go home.” Kana told herself, before flipping the short novel to the first page. As she read, Kana would take note on lines or settings that stood out to her in a paperback journal she kept with her. The journal held every creative idea she’s had from the past year. If anything gave the girl inspiration, it was writing. She’d write down every idea she had in hopes of being able to write her own book one day.

    Three chapters later, and then Kana decided she needed to leave once it was beginning to get dark outside. She tossed the books into her backpack, and ran out of the cafe. Not long after, she brought herself to a brisk pace.

    Twenty minutes had passed before she returned to her neighborhood. It looked like an outdated version of the heart of town. Most of the houses were single-story, and built in the 1960’s. The sidewalk was old with occasional weeds growing between the cracks. A small forest had made itself everyone’s backyard. Kana sprinted up the white painted steps to the porch. While fumbling to dig her keys out of her bag, the door swung open, and revealed a very unhappy father.

    “Get inside, now.” he demanded sternly, glowering down at his daughter as Kana scurried inside. On a usual day, when she rode the school bus, Kana would beat her father home. While he was out, she would watch TV game shows with her mom, Laura, while they tried to toss popcorn into their mouths. More often than not, Laura would end up with popcorn tangled in her wavy auburn hair. She genuinely enjoyed spending time with her mother; although, once the sound of a car door slamming shut reached their ears, Kana escaped to her bedroom, and pretended to study while her mother prepped dinner. Her father slammed the front door shut, causing Kana to break out of her memory and flinch in surprise.

    “H-Hey, Dad.” Kana turned to face him, and froze as her eyes met his furious brown ones.

    “Where have you been? Do you not realize what time it is?” he asked, first running his hand down his chin before gesturing angrily toward the wall clock. When Kana didn’t say anything right away, he shouted, “it’s past seven-thirty, Kana! Did you not notice it was dark outside?”

    “I went to the library, an-”

    “You spent four hours at the library?” he interrupted, adjusting his glasses in a frustrated manner. His tone implied he did not believe the girl.

    “I-I also went to a cafe for a little while.” Kana admitted, gripping the strap of her backpack nervously.

    “Yeah, and why didn't you bother to let us know? It’s not hard to send a text!” he shouted. Kana gave him a look of bewilderment before pulling her cell phone from her pocket.

    “I-I did text you. I know I did.” she claimed, and cursed at her device upon seeing the ‘failed to send’ message along with many texts and attempted phone calls from her parents.

    “Are you calling me a liar?” he scowled.

    “No, I’m not. Look-” she tried to show her phone’s screen to her father, but he ignored anything she tried to explain.

    “I don’t want to hear your excuses, Kana. Your grades have dropped, all you do is sit on your ass in your room when you’re home. ” Kana felt her blood boiling at her father’s constant interruptions. She clenched her teeth.

    “Would it kill you to listen to me for once in your life?” Kana yelled, and immediately felt a stinging sensation on her cheek as she fell to the floor. In that instant it had felt like time slowed. Kana was on the floor, trying to process the fact that her father had just slapped her across the face. Her mother gasped, and ran over to them.

    “What are you doing?” her mother questioned. astonished as much as Kana was.

    “Teaching her to not talk back to her father! Hana wouldn’t be acting this way.” her father returned his attention to Kana, who was in the process of standing up. “Start getting your crap together, unless you want to be a disappointing burden for the rest of your life.” Kana muttered three short, harming words before bolting out the door.

    “Kana, wait!” she heard her mother call.

    “Don’t waste your breath, she only cares about herself!” her father shouted before slamming the door shut. Tears began to well up in Kana’s emerald eyes as she escaped into the backyard woods.

    With the moon out and shining, Kana was forced to use her phone’s flashlight feature to find her way around. She had never ventured so deep into the woods before; therefore, never realized how thick the forest really was. Leaves of warm colors began to scatter over the ground. The air was chilly, as a breeze cut through her lightweight hoodie. Kana pulled the zipper all the way up, and tucked her hands into the soft pockets.

    “What have I done?” she thought sadly “I have nowhere to go.” it was then that a droplet of water struck her on the nose, then the cheek, and so forth. Soon the rain began to fall. Mud stuck itself onto her legs and shoes as she ran through the forest in search of shelter. Her hair and clothes quickly got soaked before she found refuge inside of a damp, mossy cave.

    “Of course it started raining.” she complained aloud. Kana sat along the stone cave wall, bringing her knees to her chest. The girl sulked for a few minutes, debating what to do now that she had nowhere to go. The only sound aside from her sniffling was the current rainstorm. Another chilling gust blew by, causing her to shiver. Kana began digging through her backpack for a red lighter she kept on hand. There was no hope for firewood that late into the rainstorm, so she also pulled out some of her notebooks, and placed them on a dry piece of ground. After struggling to get the lighter to ignite, she set fire to them. The tiny flame flickered for only a few minutes, filling Kana with a tiny bit of pride before dying out. This left the girl with a very small disappointing pile of ashes.

    “Damn it!” she cursed, throwing her head back as she groaned in frustration. Kana rested her back against the wall once again, and closed her eyes. She had tried taking deep breaths,, but nothing was relieving her of her stress. She was carrying no more than thirty dollars in her wallet. She couldn’t go anywhere, afford much, and had no one to go to. Then her phone vibrated in her hand. Kana only glanced at the screen long enough to see it was her mother that had sent her a text. She was asking for Kana to come home, asking where she was. The girl looked at the screen sadly before tucking it away into the abyss of her backpack. Kana’s let her head fall in her hands.

    “I should have been the one.” she thought pessimistically “Hana could have been so much more than I can ever be.” it was then that a light began to glow deep within the cave. It caught Kana’s attention enough to bring her to her feet. She was like a moth being guided toward a flame. Whatever was waiting at the end of the tunnel could have been one of two things: something that might help, or something that would ultimately solve her problems permanently.

    At the very end of the cave lied something Kana was not expecting. A pair of katanas within black wooden sheaths rested on the ground, glowing softly in the darkness of the mossy cave. Along the side of the scabbards, painted in white was Japanese kanji.

    “How typical.” Kana commented. She knelt beside the glowing swords to observe them more closely, and had tried to read what was written, and was able to make out the words ‘light’ and ‘dark’. Curiosity had gotten to her, so she reached for one of the swords. The moment her hand came into contact with the scabbard, Kana was surrounded by a golden light, and an indescribable feeling took over her. The girl couldn’t help but scream in terror. It was a painful experience, yet it filled her with a strange warm feeling. Kana believed that this experience may be her last, so she submitted to the fierce light, and let her vision fade to darkness.

[lynchgirl90]

@Variety COVER STORY: Inside the roller-coaster journey to get @DAVID_LYNCH's #TwinPeaks back on TV

A  red room. A dream version of Laura Palmer. An older Special Agent Dale Cooper, silent and pensive. The Man From Another Place, speaking cryptically: “That gum you like is going to come back in style.” It was early 1989, and Lynch was hard at work on “Twin Peaks.” He and co-creator Mark Frost were trying to meet the deadlines of ABC, the network that had commissioned a drama about love, pie and murder in a Pacific Northwest town. Lynch was under pressure to create scenes that would allow the pilot to be released as a TV movie in case it didn’t get picked up to series. But the filmmaker didn’t have any ideas for footage that could wrap up the story neatly enough to please a movie audience. Then he walked outside during an early-evening break from editing and folded his arms on the roof of a car. “The roof was so warm, but not too warm,” Lynch says. “It was just a really good feeling — and into my head came the red room in Cooper’s dream. That opened up a portal in the world of ‘Twin Peaks.’” That vision ended up in the third episode — but more importantly, it would lay the groundwork for the highly anticipated revival of the series, which returns May 21 on Showtime. It’s an older Cooper that anchors the series. While countless reboots of numerous series have crashed and burned, it’s safe to say few have been as intensely followed by fans as this one. As Showtime CEO David Nevins put it, “‘Twin Peaks’ as a place is a proper noun, but it’s almost become an adjective.” Since the show’s debut in April 1990, many dramas have tried to create the kind of evocative, twisted atmosphere “Twin Peaks” exuded from the first twanging notes of Angelo Badalamenti’s yearning score. And though intense dramas about murders that reverberate through tight-knit communities are now easy to find on TV, no show has come close to achieving the mix of humor, soapy drama, sincerity and corrupted purity found within the strange confines of “Twin Peaks.”

That’s because much of what’s distinctive about the drama emerges from the most unpredictable corners of Lynch’s mind — like that red room epiphany. “It comes in a burst,” Lynch explains. “An idea comes in, and if you stop and think about it, it has sound, it has image, it has a mood, and it even has an indication of wardrobe, and knowing a character, or the way they speak, the words they say. A whole bunch of things can come in an instant.” Frost describes a case in point: “I remember him calling me to say, ‘Mark, there’s a giant in Cooper’s room,’” he says. “I learned early on that it was always best to be very receptive to whatever might bubble up from David’s subconscious.” The first iteration of “Twin Peaks” lasted only two seasons — 30 episodes in all — but the show left a legacy that would help define auteur TV. “I don’t think anyone who ever saw ‘Twin Peaks’ will ever have it not ingrained in their memory and imagination for the rest of their lives,” says Laura Dern, a frequent Lynch collaborator who plays a mysterious role in the new season. Yet getting the series back on-screen was no easy feat. At one point, the revival almost fell apart before production began. It would take delicate negotiations by all parties to rescue the project. “I was an actual, genuine lover of ‘Twin Peaks’ and the world that [Lynch] created, and I knew his filmography really well,” Nevins notes. “[We said] we would take the ride with him, and that we would treat it well and treat it with the respect that it deserved. I think we did. We bobbed and weaved with him; we were patient when we had to be patient.”

Lynch and Frost began talking about returning to “Twin Peaks” in August 2012, in part because the show’s baked-in time jump was approaching — in that pivotal red room scene, Agent Cooper is 25 years older. The two men shared ideas over meals at Musso & Frank, and after the writing process had begun in earnest, they started to shop the revival around. They settled on Showtime fairly quickly, given their history with the executives. Gary S. Levine, Showtime’s president of programming, has known Frost and Lynch since his days at ABC. Almost three decades ago, he was one of the execs who heard their pitch for the TV show they initially called “Northwest Passage.” (Levine still has the memo that notes the date of the first concept meeting for the pilot — Aug. 25, 1988.) But as with everything Lynch, the agreement for the redux came down to instinct: A final piece of the puzzle, say the execs, was a painting in Nevins’ office of a little girl next to a bookcase that looks like it may fall on her. “I was making the pitch about why he should come here and why we would treat his property right, and he mostly stood there and stared at the painting,” Nevins recalls. (For his part, Lynch says the painting wasn’t the deciding factor, but he smiles at the memory of seeing it.) The deal closed in the fall of 2014, with an order of nine episodes; the following January, Lynch hand-delivered a 400-page document. “It was like the Manhattan phone book,” Frost says. Their plan was to shoot the entire thing — with Lynch at the helm of every episode —and then edit the resulting footage into individual episodes. It’s hard to imagine wrestling that 400-page behemoth into a briefcase, let alone giving notes on it. When talks broke down, however, the conflict wasn’t about the script but rather the project’s budget. In April 2015, the director went public with his growing displeasure, tweeting that “after 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done.”

Lynch’s threatened departure generated a flurry of commentary, most of which said that a version of the TV show without him would be worse than no “Twin Peaks” at all. “I didn’t want ‘Twin Peaks’ without Lynch either,” Nevins says drily. The Showtime chief says he was out of the country when negotiations hit that difficult patch. Lynch wanted the flexibility to expand the length of the season, but he didn’t know exactly how many episodes he’d end up with. He hoped it would be possible to go longer than the 9 or 13 installments that had been discussed, but he ran into resistance from the network’s business affairs department. “It didn’t fit into the box of how people are used to negotiating these kinds of deals,” Nevins says. “Once I understood what the issues were from the point of view of the filmmaker, I was like, ‘OK, we can figure that out.’ And we did — it turned out not to be very complicated to [resolve].” Nevins and Levine went over to the director’s house. “Gary brought cookies,” Lynch recalls. And over baked goods and coffee, the three men hashed everything out. Lynch, says Nevins, has a history of being responsible. “He said, ‘Give me the money; I will figure out how to apportion it properly.’ And he did,” Nevins says. (Levine says the cost of “Twin Peaks” is comparable to that of Showtime’s other high-end dramas.) Asked for his side of the story, Lynch asks, “What did Showtime say?” Told their version, he signs off: “Basically, that’s it.” He says his relationship with the network ever since the cookie summit has been “solid gold.” (Treats never hurt: When he delivered cuts of the new season, he sent along doughnuts.)

The mystery of the first season of “Twin Peaks” was, famously, “Who killed Laura Palmer?” The mystery of the reboot is, well — nearly everything. None of the 18 episodes will be released in advance to critics, and very few details have leaked out. Though cast members such as Kyle MacLachlan (Agent Cooper), Madchen Amick (Shelly Johnson), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne) and Ray Wise (Leland Palmer) are returning, others, including Joan Chen, Michael Ontkean and Lara Flynn Boyle, won’t be back. No one will say what characters are being played by new recruits Dern, Ashley Judd, Tim Roth, Naomi Watts and Robert Forster — there’s a roster of more than 200 characters in the new season. Frost’s father, Warren; Catherine Coulson, the Log Lady; and Miguel Ferrer, who played the irascible Albert Rosenfield, all filmed scenes before they died. Nevins lets it slip that Lynch’s character, the hearing-impaired FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, is “pretty prominent” in the new season. “I probably said too much,” he adds. MacLachlan says that Lynch enjoys the world of “Twin Peaks” so much that he couldn’t resist putting himself back in it. But he admits that, for his part, he finds it hard to stay in character when he’s doing scenes with his director. “Unless we’re really both firmly rooted in what we’re doing, we tend to start laughing and messing up,” the actor says. Stopping for a moment, the actor reconsiders: “David, when he works, he’s very committed to Gordon. So when I’m in there with him, he’s able to really hold it. He holds it better than I do, to be honest.” For those expecting a similar structure to the original, which revolved around Laura’s death, Frost issues a warning: “It’s going to be very different this time around.” The scope of the reboot is greater, says Nevins, adding that the new installments of the drama reflect Lynch’s advancement as an artist.

“I think he’s evolved to an even more extreme version of himself, but all of the [Lynch] themes are visible,” Nevins says. “He has certain ideas about the ideal of America. Not to relate it too much to the present, but he has certain ideas about Midwestern American wholesomeness. But I think he’s also incredibly aware of the flip side of it. I think David Lynch is a really relevant voice: What does it mean when we say, ‘Make America great again?’” Given the wider scope, it’s not surprising to hear that, though “Twin Peaks” returned to Snoqualmie, Wash., for some filming, certain storylines in the new season take place outside the Pacific Northwest, and the bulk of the new season was shot in Southern California. “There are different threads in different parts of the U.S.” that eventually converge, Nevins says. “It does not go outside the U.S., but it is in multiple locations in the U.S.” One last clue from Lynch: The film “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me,” he says, is very important to understanding what’s coming May 21.

Even if “Twin Peaks” travels outside its forested Pacific Northwest setting, it’s safe to assume there’s still cherry pie on the menu at the Double R Diner. Lynch and Frost’s collaborative process is also still intact; 25 years later, the two men picked up where they left off. Lynch lives in Los Angeles and Frost resides more than an hour away, so the two men often worked together via Skype. Frost typically writes down what they come up with, and then the two trade notes and talk further to refine the story. “Getting it the way you want it to be, that’s a beautiful high and it’s a high for everybody,” says Lynch of directing. “It’s difficult to go home and go right to sleep. And it’s murder to get up in the morning.” Lynch directed every episode of the drama, which wrapped production a year ago. In a perfect world, he says he would have helmed every installment of the original series. “Not that other directors didn’t do a fine job,” he says. “But when it’s passing through different people, it’s just natural that they would end up with [something] different than what I would do.” The freedom of airing on a premium channel didn’t change his approach, Lynch says. There’s not much in the way of nudity or extreme violence in the finished product. “You don’t think, ‘Oh, I can do this now,’” he says. “The story tells you what’s going to happen.” In fact, despite the show’s reputation for being unsettling, most of what’s dark and dangerous about “Twin Peaks” comes from its mood and soundscape, not necessarily from what’s depicted on-screen. Decades ago, ABC executives were excited about Lynch and Frost’s pitch in part because it was, in many ways, relatively conventional. It fit easily into a number of existing TV categories: the classic nighttime soap, the murder mystery, the high school drama and the small-town saga.

“There certainly weren’t Standards & Practices issues at the time,” Levine says. “[Lynch’s] imagination took you to new places, not to prurient places. That was a good thing in broadcast TV.” But the otherworldly elements that Lynch layered in — an indefinable air of mystery, a surreal quality that evoked swooning, bittersweet loss — were among the factors that made the original “Twin Peaks” a ratings and pop-culture sensation. And despite that the second season was more uneven than the first, the show often effectively blended slapstick humor with dream logic, bittersweet romance, heightened melodrama and hints of violence and degradation. “He’s got both really good craft and storytelling skills, and he also creates his own reality without it violating the reality you’re in,” Levine says. “I think that was one of the great things about the original — it was a really compelling plot, but it also was this acid trip. Somehow those two things coexist beautifully in David Lynch’s world.” Lynch doesn’t question where inspirations like the red room scene come from; he simply wants to capture them with his cameras. And lest anyone think he’s overly precious about his process, Lynch doesn’t consider himself the creator of these visions. “It's like that idea existed before you caught it, so in some strange way, we human beings, we don't really do anything,” he says. “The ideas come along and you just translate them.” What might Lynch’s response be if an actor said, about a line, "That doesn't feel right to me”? “I don't know if I've ever said that to him, actually,” says MacLachlan, stumped by the question. “I mean, I would never change it. It is there for a reason.” In fact, to hear him tell it, the fact that Cooper is an iconic TV character is in many ways a tribute to the writing for the character, especially in Cooper’s debut scene. “I brought my stuff, yeah,” MacLachlan says. “But that’s one of the greatest introductions into a story of any that I've ever had — driving up the mountain, talking into a tape recorder about some of the mundane things in life, just kind of cataloguing it. Immediately, you wonder, ‘Who is this guy and what is he about?’” “When I first started with David in ‘Dune,’ I was full of questions. I would bother him non-stop,” MacLachlan says. “He always had a great deal of patience with me. On ‘Blue Velvet,’ I still [had questions], but less, and then with ‘Twin Peaks,’ even less. I've stopped having to know everything. I’ve just said, ‘OK, I see where we're going.’” “For Kyle and I, we've spoken about this incredible gift that we know what [Lynch] means” when he discusses his vision for a scene or a project, Dern says. “We have gone on this journey with him, so we know his language, or what he's inventing. We don't necessarily need to understand it or need it to be logical, but we see where his brain is taking him and we can follow.”

Dern and MacLachlan both say they relish the opportunity to work with Lynch because his vision is so specific that it gives them a detailed road map to follow — and it makes the set an efficient place. “There’s no wasted time or wasted emotions, tangents, whatever,” MacLachlan notes. “He’s very precise when we talk through the scene, and he tells me what’s going to happen. He has already thought it through, and he sees it.” Dern marvels at the rigor and enigma of Lynch’s process. “David creates these worlds, sometimes all too real and sometimes incredibly absurd, but either way, he places humanity inside them, and his dialogue is so precise, mysterious, unusual and beautiful that you want to dive into that dialogue and hopefully make it soar,” she says. Given Lynch’s penchant for secrecy, just about all Dern can say about her character is that she talks about birds, at least once. “Kyle and I had several scenes, particularly in the car, when we're talking about the robins,” Dern says. “There’s this very beautiful, hopeful poetry amidst this hellish world they've entered.” Rewatching “Twin Peaks” recently, MacLachlan was struck by how the editing of the show helps it create a series of moods, from comedic to tautly suspenseful, from romantic to terrifying. “His timing, his rhythms,” MacLachlansays. “That's what I find so interesting about David Lynch — the way he stretches things or condenses things, or manipulates time to make something either seem more humorous or less.”

 Now all that remains to be seen is how the public responds to the new adventures of Agent Cooper, that avatar of square-jawed all-American perseverance. “I believe in intuition,” Lynch says. “I believe in optimism, and energy, and a kind of a Boy Scout attitude, and Cooper’s got all those things.” The most important parallel between Lynch and Cooper is that their belief in their own intuition is matched by a purposeful, almost single-minded intent. What allows Lynch to put deeply felt images from his subconscious on the screen is a tenacious focus — one that’s cloaked in the kind of smiling, friendly optimism that Cooper typically exudes. “His vision is genuine,” Dern says. “He’s not interested in creating something so others will be impacted by it. He just sees a world and has to follow it.” Despite the passionate responses his works have created, Lynch doesn’t necessarily set out to delve into the hearts and minds of his viewers. He’s just an interpreter of something primal — a messenger for the visions that find him. “I guess, like Mel Brooks said, ‘If you don’t laugh while you’re writing the thing, the audience isn’t going to laugh,’” Lynch explains. “If you don’t cry or feel it while you’re doing it, it’s probably not going to translate.” Almost 30 years ago, TV viewers followed Lynch through that portal to the red room. Despite the crowded TV landscape “Twin Peaks” helped create, Nevins thinks audiences will take the journey again. “I think he does have enormous self-confidence as an artist — that what resonates with him won’t resonate with everybody but will resonate with enough people that it’s going to make noise in the world,” Nevins says. And if there is silence, that’s fine too. “If nothing happens, it’s still OK,” Lynch says with a smile. “This whole trip has been enjoyable.” 

Link (TP)

[consequentson]

Did Dylan ever have any really good friends or really impactful people in his life? Even any that weren’t necessarily ever featured or mentioned in canon but any that you just have headcanons about?

A few of them, actually -- all of which are linked on my nav page.  I have a page where I list all my tags so I can easily copy and paste them (and never lose them or however that works when people complain about tumblr losing tags) so I’ll just copy / paste stuff under a read more although this was sent 7 months ago.  I’m only answering old things in the inbox now (not answered seven months ago because these questions are things that were already answered / written about on the blog) since I have nothing else to do at the moment and hate that my activity’s been so shitty because I can’t seem to get any new interactions or memes or anything sent in to save my life.

ORIGINAL CHARACTER TAGS

ʟᴀᴜʀᴀ ʀɪᴠᴇʀs 📷ʟᴀᴜʀᴀ ʀɪᴠᴇʀs 💭Laura was Dylan’s girlfriend for a short period of time while he was working just outside of Aberdeen in South Dakota. He was the only girl he ever had a very genuine crush on before moving to White Pine Bay, although his relationship with her was the shortest. She was only there visiting during the summer, and did not reciprocate his feelings or want to deal with a long distance relationship, so she broke things off with him when she left.

ʙᴇᴛʜᴀɴʏ sᴛᴇᴡᴀʀᴛ 📷ʙᴇᴛʜᴀɴʏ sᴛᴇᴡᴀʀᴛ 💭Beth was one of Dylan’s on and off again girlfriends when he was in high school. She was as much of a problem child as himself, if not worse, involved in all kinds of drugs that went beyond what Dylan was willing to try. Her crowd became dangerous and one day Dylan found her with another guy; that was when they finally broke things off for good.

ᴊᴇɴɴɪꜰᴇʀ sᴀᴜɴᴅᴇʀs 📷ᴊᴇɴɴɪꜰᴇʀ sᴀᴜɴᴅᴇʀs 💭Jenny was Dylan’s first girlfriend – and first person he had sex with. She’d found his cocky attitude charming, but saw right through his facade and decided to teach him a thing or two. She was a few years older than him, and took advantage of his relative innocence, having a sort of kink for virgin men and teaching them all about the ins and outs. Dylan’s novelty eventually wore off, but not before Jenny left him dangling with a certain reputation.

ᴅᴏɴɴʏ ᴄᴀʀsᴏɴ 📷ᴅᴏɴɴʏ ᴄᴀʀsᴏɴ 💭Donny was Dylan’s first real friend. He was one of the only people who tried to help Dylan even when it wasn’t his responsibility, even in the young years of elementary school. Dylan, however, unfortunately saw this as Donny ‘ratting him out’ and trying to get him into trouble, so he stopped talking to him and the two drifted apart before middle school. Donny liked dinosaurs.

ʙʀᴇɴᴛ ʜᴏɢᴀɴ 📷ʙʀᴇɴᴛ ʜᴏɢᴀɴ 💭Brent was one of Dylan’s friends in high school. He had an older brother working on a fracking crew in South Dakota, and it was through him that Dylan managed to get a job straight out of high school and away from Norma and Sam.

ᴀsʜʟᴇʏ ᴄᴀʀʟᴛᴏɴ 📷ᴀsʜʟᴇʏ ᴄᴀʀʟᴛᴏɴ 💭Ashley Carlton was Dylan’s first kiss; they were in grade three, at eight or nine years old. She had a crush on him, but after she saw Dylan push Donny away and make him cry, she didn’t like him anymore.

ᴊᴀʏᴅᴇɴ ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴡs 📷ᴊᴀʏᴅᴇɴ ᴍᴀᴛᴛʜᴇᴡs 💭Laura’s future husband, and an ex-colleague of Dylan’s from the drug trade, and used the money he made from working for the Morgan family to open up a pottery store in the village. His specialty is making pieces containing sea glass collected from White Pine Bay’s beaches.

ᴊᴏɴᴀʜ ǫᴜᴇɴᴛɪɴ 📷ᴊᴏɴᴀʜ ǫᴜᴇɴᴛɪɴ 💭A guidance counselor from Coronado High School that tried and failed to work with Dylan. He was mostly affectionately known as Mr. Q by the student body and well liked. After Dylan punched another student in class during a presentation, he was sent to Quentin’s office, but ended up flipping the counselor’s desk and pinning the man against the wall before literally escaping through the office’s first story window. Quentin didn’t press charges but he did back off after the incident and gave up on trying to make any progress with him, choosing instead to focus on other students who were more accepting of his help.

[kacydeneen]

Women's March: Record Number of Women Win in Midterms

The elections that saw a surge of women running, especially Democratic women pushed forward by antipathy toward President Donald Trump, got off to a promising start for breaking barriers with the first result to be recorded: the territory of Guam chose Democrat Lou Leon Guerrero as its first female governor.

By early Wednesday morning, the results for the U.S. House were historic: at least 89 women had won seats, beating the record of 84 in the current session. Like Guerrero, women also won victories in governor's and U.S. Senate races.

Pelosi's House: What to Watch For When Dems Take Control

When the first flip of a House seat of the night came, from Republican to Democrat, it was in a Virginia race where state Sen. Jennifer Wexton defeated the two-term GOP incumbent, Barbara Comstock. The second Democratic gain went to a woman too: Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, beat Republican Maria Elvira Salazar to replace Republican Rep. Ileana Pos-Lehtinen.

By the end of the night, Democrats had taken control of the House.

Florida Amendments: Voters Approve Restoring Voting Rights

Other firsts among Democratic women: Sharice Davids became the first gay, Native-American congresswoman in Kansas while in New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman elected to Congress at 29. The first Muslim-American women were elected, Rashida Tlaib in Michigan and Ilhan Omar in Minnesota. Pennsylvania went from having no women in its delegation to having four. A surprise win came in in Oklahoma where Kendra Horn won what was thought a safe House seat for Republicans.

In the governor's races, Laura Kelly beat Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach in Kansas and Gretchen Whitmer won in Michigan. In New Mexico,  Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham was projected to become the first Democratic Hispanic woman to be elected governor.

Democrats Take Control of House, GOP Keeps Senate

Among Republicans, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, was elected Tennessee’s first woman U.S. senator. In the gubernatorial races, Republican Kay Ivey retained her seat in Alabama.

"We’re seeing this pretty important shift in the makeup, especially on the Democratic side, in terms of the leadership and who are going to be the rising stars in that party," said Eric Schickler, the Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. "I do think that is one of the noteworthy shifts. Whenever there’s an open seat or a potential vulnerable Republican, female candidates did really well, probably mobilized in part by anger over Trump. And I expect to see that continue."

But some incumbents suffered losses. Senators Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota and Claire McCaskill in Missouri, Democrats serving in red states, came up short.

Challenger Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, lost in Kentucky.

A record number of women ran for office this year: 237 women for the House, up from 167 four years ago, and 23 women for the Senate, beating 2012’s record of 18, according to The Center for American Women and Politics, a division of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. Sixteen women ran for governor.

Democrats led in nominations: 77 percent of women in the House, Senate and governor’s races.

Among progressive Democratic women, the 2016 presidential election appeared to have been a catalyst, said Kelly Dittmar, the center’s Gender Watch 2018 project director.

“Even if they were already engaged in politics in other ways, their sense of urgency for making their voice heard in politics was even greater after the 2016 election,” she said. “Because — not just Donald Trump specifically, I think he’s often given credit in this — but more generally that it was going to be a Republican controlled government.”

They competed to preserve health care, preserve environmental regulations and push back against other parts of the Republican agenda, she said. Many were first time candidates who worried less than women before them about having all of the right experience and credentials. Trump’s success, against Hillary Clinton, a candidate with more government qualifications, may have convinced them to dive in, Dittmar said.

Early results from the NBC News Exit Poll showed a divide between the parties on the importance of electing more women to public office. Some 46 percent of voters said it was very important for more women to be elected; among them a large majority of Democrats, but just 18 percent of Republicans and 41 percent of independents.

Another window into voters’ positions was their view of the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, accused on sexual misconduct, to the U.S. Supreme Court. Voters were more likely to oppose than support his appointment, 48 percent to 43 percent, and women even more so, 53 percent to 37 percent in support. Men on the other hand supported it 50 percent to 44 percent against.

Sierra Jackson contributed to this story.

Photo Credit: Rick Loomis/Getty Images This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. Women's March: Record Number of Women Win in Midterms published first on Miami News

[thesassybooskter]

THAT KILLER SMILE by Juliet Lyons: Excerpt & Giveaway

NOW AVAILABLE/SOURCEBOOKS CASABLANCA

THERE WILL BE HEAT…

Vampire Catherine Adair gave up trying to find her perfect match ages ago. But that didn’t stop her from founding London’s super successful vampire dating site. When a smoldering vampire overlord from her past launches an interspecies speed-dating service, Catherine vows to crush the competition….

 WHEN THESE TWO COMPETE

Ronin’s new venture is purely about getting Catherine’s attention. He hasn’t stopped thinking about her ever since the night she gave him the cold shoulder. Nobody gets away from Ronin McDermott that easily…

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  Excerpt

Cat

My first thought when I see the smashed lock is, How on earth did a burglar make it past Mrs. Colangelo?

I shove the door open and step inside. There, sitting—no lounging—in my Laura Ashley recliner and stroking Wentworth, is Ronin fuck weasel McDermott.

My eyes bulge as I absorb the preposterous scene of him sitting with my pet in his lap. He looks like an infuriatingly hot James Bond villain.

“Evening, Catherine,” he says with a nod of his head.

I glare into his intense blue eyes, fists clenching. “What the actual fuck are you doing in my apartment?”

He cocks a brow before rising from the chair, taking Wentworth with him. The latter stays snuggled under his arm, as docile as a newborn lamb.

Pointing at Wentworth, I hiss, “Did you glamour my cat?”

A cloud of confusion passes across his handsome features. “Why on God’s earth would I glamour a cat?”

Without missing a beat, I snap, “That’s what you do to get people to like you.”

He feigns an injured look before setting Wentworth down on the carpet. Then he reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a tiny object. It twinkles beneath the light. “You dropped this earring in my office. It must have fallen out when you kissed me.”

I snort in derision. “Ha! Yeah, I kissed you. Good one. And you came all the way here, broke in to my apartment just to return it to me?”

“I’ll get the lock fixed,” he says, placing the earring on the coffee table. “And I didn’t break in as such. One of your neighbors let me up.”

I shake my head. “Let me guess, an Italian lady in a robe?”

He smiles and I try not to notice how it softens the hard lines of his strong features, how his cool-blue eyes are suffused with warmth.

“There’s a chance she believes lover boy next door is bisexual.”

“What the hell did you tell her?” I ask, folding arms across my chest. The mention of Peter comes as a shock. Being in the same room as Ronin McDermott, I’ve already forgotten he exists.

“Nothing she didn’t secretly long to hear. So who is this guy anyway? Should I be jealous?”

My stomach flips, my mind skipping back to that moment in his office when I left him with a hard-on in the presence of Playboy bunnies. “Jealous?” I try to inject venom into my voice, but my heart isn’t in it. “Tell me, did you enjoy yourself with those girls the other afternoon?”

His brows knit. He looks genuinely flummoxed. “What girls?”

I toss my bag onto the sofa. “Meant that much to you, did they?”

He stays frozen to the spot, brows drawn. “Do you really think I care about other girls?”

His voice is low, as cracked as splintered glass. Suddenly, it seems as if all the oxygen has been sucked from the room. As I meet his burning gaze, it’s like the last couple of days—work, my date with Peter—never happened. I’m back in his office right before his lips landed on mine.

Except this time neither of us budge.

“You’re a sickness,” he says at last in that same fractured tone. “Don’t you see? A sickness in my veins.”

My brain sifts through responses at a hundred miles per hour, but my vocal chords remain frozen in my throat. I watch him like he’s a tiger, waiting for him to strike.

But he doesn’t pounce. He sighs instead, his jaw tightly clenched. “I’ve never wanted to upset you, Catherine. I’m sorry for what I did that night—biting you and giving you my venom. I shouldn’t have lost control like that.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” I snap.

“I’ll be honest,” he continues. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t start the speed-dating nights to get your attention. But I had no intention of ruining your business. In a way, it’s a compliment.”

My jaw drops in disbelief. “A compliment? Are you completely unhinged? Do you really have your head shoved so far up your ass that you don’t get why I can’t stand you?”

He shakes his head, holding out his hands, palms up. There’s desperation in his voice I’ve never heard from him before. “I’ve never once tried to play the ancient card with you. I never will, no matter how badly you piss me off.”

I stare at him, half believing he doesn’t have a clue, half-angry this is just another of his manipulative games.

“This isn’t about details. It’s about the bigger picture. One you’ve never bothered to try and get your arrogant head around. Who am I, Ronin?” The happiness the evening brought is leaking out of me faster than air from a burst balloon. To my horror, a sob escapes my throat. “What am I?”

“Is this one of those bizarre feminist questions?”

“For fucks sake, what am I? Answer me.”

His eyes flash in anger, but he doesn’t flinch. “A woman. A vampire. A neurotic shrew half the time.”

“A vampire,” I repeat, ignoring the last bit.

He looks utterly and completely blank.

“You have no idea. Do you?”

When he doesn’t answer, I open the busted door as wide as it will go and wave an arm toward it. “Goodbye, Ronin.”

If he wasn’t such a misogynistic playboy, I might experience a pang of guilt as I watch him skulk past me, defeated.

Outside he pauses, spinning around to face me. “I rang you,” he says. “Every day for a month after we slept together.”

“I know,” I whisper, staring at my Dolce & Gabbana boots. “I changed my telephone number on day three.”

He emits a short, hollow laugh, and when I look up, the hallway is completely empty. I hear the slam of a door as he exits the building onto the street.

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About Juliet Lyons

JULIET LYONS is a paranormal romance author from the UK. She holds a degree in Spanish and Latin American studies and works part-time in a local primary school where she spends far too much time discussing Harry Potter. Since joining global storytelling site Wattpad in 2014, her work has received millions of hits online and gained a legion of fans from all over the world. When she is not writing, Juliet enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

THAT KILLER SMILE by Juliet Lyons: Excerpt & Giveaway was originally published on The Sassy Bookster

[gossipnetwork-blog]

'The Bachelor Winter Games' Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Let the Games Begin

New Post has been published on http://gossip.network/the-bachelor-winter-games-season-1-episode-1-recap-let-the-games-begin/

'The Bachelor Winter Games' Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Let the Games Begin

This week I was presented with a tough decision: Should I keep up with the 2018 Winter Olympics or spend my time watching the 2018 Bachelor Winter Games? And no, it can’t be both—I need some semblance of a life, people. While the Olympics provides sexy skate tangos, Adam Rippon butt theories, and Chloe Kim’s hangry tweets—all delightful, to be sure—Bachelor Winter Games promises “The Canadian Ben Higgins” and Ashley Iaconetti’s mascara-stained tears. Guess which one I went with. Spoilers ahead, obviously.

The show’s intro tells us this will be “a global celebration of unity and love” but something tells me “a Vermont-based gathering of drama and lust” would be more accurate. I didn’t know what to expect going into this, but the teaser of what’s to come is certainly intriguing: There’s shots of Ashley weeping, of course, but also Luke Pell in low-cut spandex and some guy named Kevin who is being called “The Canadian Ben Higgins” even though the real Ben Higgins is also there. Will there be a fight to see who can stay? There can only be one!

If it comes to that, Canadian Ben Higgins might win because Real Ben Higgins seems very sad. He’s drinking cups of hot chocolate and wandering around alone in the snow. After his breakup with Lauren, his heart has frozen over because metaphors.

Bibiana (from Arie’s season) is also here, and she’s skating around in a one-piece with a cozy sweater and living her best life.

“I wasn’t crazy all the time. I just had one moment.” – Bibiana

Dean (from Rachel’s season and Bachelor in Paradise) gets an intro that feels very “boy band member audition tape.” We’re reminded that he was shady on BiP, but he promises he’s really a “good guy” who just made “questionable decisions.” That’s what they ALL say, Dean. He frets over whether he should make ramen or spaghetti, but eventually chooses spaghetti with great gravitas—signaling that he’s ready to make mature decisions now, I guess. Or maybe he just prefers spaghetti, who knows.

Now we catch up with Clare. You’ll remember her from that one time she told Juan Pablo off (“I would never want my children having a father like you!”) and the many many times she cried during Bachelor in Paradise. After those bad experiences, she swore she was retiring from the show…only to magically discover the Winter Games Loophole. Apparently, this is an alternate dimension where the choices you make after one too many margaritas don’t count.

Next up is Josiah, the lawyer from Rachel’s season of The Bachelorette. He swears he won’t be a jerk this time, foreshadowing an edit of all the times he behaves like a jerk this time.

Lesley from Sean Lowe’s Bachelor season is here too, but I have to admit: I watched that rotation and don’t remember her. Maybe one of the many Laurens took her spot in my memory bank? In her intro, Lesley reveals she tested positive for the BRCA2 gene, so she got a double mastectomy eight months ago. She hasn’t been with anybody since, but her new boobs “look great” and she’s ready for love. I genuinely hope she finds it!

“Heyyyyyy, I’m Ashley I.,” I hear, both from the TV and in my nightmares. “I have a big reputation for being dramatic”—an understatement—”[Also] being heartbroken. Crying. I’m going to be the opposite,” she promises. I’ve always appreciated Ashley’s self-awareness, so her claims that she’s ready to change rub me the wrong way. Just embrace yourself! You are a person who FEELS EVERYTHING SO MUCH. It’s who you are. Anyway, a psychic told Ashley she’s going to meet her husband on an international journey and this McMansion in Vermont filled with Canadians still applies. We then get a hilarious montage of Ashley trying to ski in the dirt of Los Angeles, and I’m reminded how funny this show can be. (Just don’t tell Chris Harrison or we’ll get 1,000 more scenes like that until the joke is dug into the ground.)

“Later: Winter tears are coming.” – OK, that’s pretty good.

Now that we’ve been re-introduced to some of the U.S. contestants, Chris Harrison reveals he has a co-announcer named, I am not joking, Hannah Storm. Is she a plucky Disney Channel character? Oh, she’s an actual legit sports television journalist and, as Harrison says, “legend?” My apologies! I don’t watch sports—unless it involves desperate Bachelor contestants of course—so this explains (but does not excuse) why I thought she was a fake. They also got reporter Ashley Brewer for this and I gotta say, I wouldn’t mind adding these women to the regular Bachelor franchise. Imagine a reporter live on the scene during a group date hot tub outing. So good, right?

Back to Winter Games: There’s a parade, and they’ve carted in tens of extras, a bored-looking marching band, a moose mascot, and an old-timey fire engine that says “Dial 9-1-1” on the side, probably because if you have a fire emergency you should call 9-1-1 and not rely on this clunker. It’s quite the scene.

“Luke, obviously some people thought he was going to be The Bachelor and it didn’t work out,” – Chris Harrison is secretly shady.

Now it’s time to introduce the international teams. This shouldn’t be problematic at all….oh look, there’s Japan being represented by a man in a Ninja costume. We’re introduced to Yuki, who was in the top five of Bachelor Japan. She watched the American Bachelor on YouTube, so these are the English words she knows: “Thank you,” “OK,” “Hello,” Goodbye,” “I love you,” and “Will you marry me?” Honestly, with some of these dudes that’s enough to communicate.

Moving on: Here comes two Canadian guys, represented by that moose mascot. Kevin, a.k.a. Canadian Ben Higgins, got engaged six months ago on The Bachelor Canada. We don’t get to know the other guy, but Google tells me his name is Benoit. Ooh la la, French Canadian?

Zoe from China is led by a group of white people in a Chinese dragon costume, so there’s that. We learn that on Bachelor China there was only ONE kiss the entire season. Can you imagine what life would be like if Arie spared us from his kissing bandit shenanigans? What luxury.

Laura from Bachelor United Kingdom is here, and Chris Harrison describes her as “very quirky” because she flipped the Bachelor off when she was eliminated. Love that. She’s already my favorite. “I don’t know why more people don’t do that,” Chris wonders. Yeah! Why don’t they?!

From Australia, we meet Tiffany and Courtney. Tiffany is the one who made a love connection with one of the other female contestants during her season and again I ask: Why hasn’t this happened before? Courtney, meanwhile, was on The Bachelorette and made it all the way to the final four before being sent home…to…the…outback? Sorry, had to.

Now we meet team Sweden, which is led by, what else, a viking in a bad Anne of Green Gables wig. Rebecca and Nastassia (Stassi) are blonde and beautiful, and the guys basically do that cartoon BOING-ING-ING-ING when they see them.

When we return from the commercial break, Chris Harrison informs us it’s no longer Bachelor Nation, it’s Bachelor World. So progressive.

Team Finland is represented by a reindeer, elves, and Santa because sure. Jenny says she wants a “Ryan Reynolds lookalike.” Don’t we all, Jenny, don’t we all.

Next up, New Zealand: Lily is here to “stir things up” because she “curses a lot.” Ally has a sloth tattooed on her behind, which is awesome.

Germany and Switzerland are represented by Christian, who was on both shows. Wait, so you can just change countries now?

Now that everyone’s arrived, Fionnuala Cree (what a name) sings the “Bachelor Winter Anthem.” “We want to see this through” is the main lyric, which just feels very anti-climatic. Like, that’s all you aspire to? Not even one rose pun? And, of course, Trista and Ryan are here. I’m pretty sure they have a Bachelor bat signal that alerts them whenever Chris Harrison whispers “rose ceremony.” “No other couple really embodies what this is all about,” Harrison says. I suppose that’s true considering they’re one of like three successful couples from this franchise. Christian, however, doesn’t know who they are, which is a fun little moment the editors kept in.

Somebody named Ruthie Collins performs, and then it’s time for everyone to head to their new digs. After picking their beds, they gather to have a drink and eye the competition. Benoit gives a toast in French, and all the women do that cartoon BOING-ING-ING thing. Then Chris Harrison sneaks in to explain the rules: The men will compete against the men, the women will compete against the women. Whoever wins each challenge gets a date card to take whoever they want out. There will be rose ceremonies, and some people will be leaving. At the end, they’ll crown two champions to be the first couple of Bachelor World.

Once Harrison leaves, everyone starts sizing each other up and pairing off. Lesley is into Dean. Bibiana is into Kevin. But of course Ashley is also into Kevin. Ally and Josiah start flirting and almost instantly start kissing. She describes it as “a real cheeky little snog,” which is one way you could describe that. The German guy just watches them from the other room. Not creepy at all…

The next day it’s time for the first game. The challenge: cross-country skiing, shooting at rose targets, and racing over a finish line. Ashley’s concerned that Kevin is spending more time with Bibiana because her skin is so dehydrated from the cold. My heart shivers.

PHOTO: Lorenzo Bevilaqua

Josiah’s hoping to score a date with Ally, but she falls on her “ass bone” right away, eliminating her from the competition. At least it gives Josiah a chance to swoop in with hugs and a kiss to cheer her up.

The guys are up first, and Benoit does a little trash talking. That seems fair—he is Canadian, so I assume he’s more skilled at winter sports what with all that Canadian snow available to him. Compare that to Josiah, who admits this is only the second time he’s seen it. Re: the competition, not that much happens so just know that Ben, Luke, and Benoit are moving on to the finals. In the second qualifier, Dean won.

As for the women, Stassi wins the first qualifier and Rebecca wins the second. Yuki thinks she won, though, and I vote they just give it to her. In the women’s finals, it’s Lily, Jenny, Rebecca, Lesley, and Bibiana all up for the date card. A screen of Bibi’s stats come up to tell us she’s “Livin La Vida Loca.” They describe Lesley as “Blonde Ambition.” We don’t see Rebecca’s stats but she wins by a landslide.

On to the men’s final: It’s Kevin, Luke, Christian, Benoit, Ben, and Dean. Dean’s stat says, simply, “undecided.” Poetic? Better than Kevin’s, which informs us he’s “Seen Nickleback 27 times.” And this is the man we’re all fighting over? Despite his taste in music, he wins the date card and almost immediately Ashley’s eyes light up. She’s fully aware that he has a connection with Bibi, but she’s not giving up just yet. Ashely, do you know he’s seen Nickelback 27 times? That might ease the pain when he inevitably chooses Bibi for the date.

Back at the manse, Bibi gushes about how hot Kevin is. I mean, if you’re trapped on a mountain with no other options, sure. Apparently earlier that morning she creeped on him when he was walking through the house without a shirt on. “I never have felt that in my life,” she says. What, a lady boner?

During his conversation with Bibiana, Kevin reveals he used to be a ski instructor. HOLD UP. This game is rigged! How does anyone else stand a chance at a competition based on winter sports against a ski instructor? Also, why is the Nickelback fact in his stats instead of this hyper-relevant information?

Finally, we are treated to a scene in which Ashley and Kevin finally have a face-to-face human interaction. We learn they had a great talk the night before, so, OK, I will give Ashley more credit that this isn’t entirely in her head. She flirts by telling him he looks like Tom Brady meets James Marsden. “I’m not very good at throwing a football,” he replies.

“If you know me, I zone in on one person.” – Ashley. Oh, we know you.

Ultimately, Kevin asks Bibiana out. They barely have time to celebrate their love before we cut to Ashley crying in a confessional. She recognizes this “pattern” of being friend-zoned, and I implore her to find a way to break out of that. Maybe don’t go on this show anymore? Just a suggestion. She bravely hides her tears from Kevin and Bibiana, who are happily leaving in their best date sweaters.

Meanwhile, apparently Rebecca invited Luke out. Their date involves sitting cozy by a fire, then sitting freezing under blankets while they watch fireworks. They make out. Bibi and Kevin also make out on their date.

Meanwhile at the house, Lesley and Dean talk about boobs and Benoit cooks dinner. Clare looks at him, not the food, like a tasty snack. Same! “Oregano, garlic powder,” he purrs. She’s overly impressed that he’s able to remove a yolk from an egg. But then! We see him in a scene with his glasses on and hellooooooo. Why are we all sweating over Kevin? There is a hot ass French Canadian wearing glasses and cooking eggs. Ashley, use your eyes!

“Ah-ha-ha-ha!” – Clare, fake giggling and touching her hair while Benoit cooks.

Benoit’s into Clare, too, but then she makes a joke that she’s not drinking because she’s pregnant and uses this as an excuse to lift her shirt up a little bit. Oh no. Is this how people look when they’re flirting? My God. It works, though, because suddenly they’re making out in the kitchen while people scream in the background. They move to the fireside to talk about the kiss, which seems strange at first until I remember that producers are likely involved. Clare tells Benoit to wear his glasses more often, and I appreciate her looking out for us with this suggestion. He’s what I’d like to call poutine, a Canadian-but-French-sounding snack.

PHOTO: Lorenzo Bevilaqua

He pulls her closer, and I find myself saying, “Oooh!” like a mom watching Fifty Shades Freed. They kiss again. I’m jealous and so is Christian, who watches them, creepily, from the other room. He’s worried about his status because Lesley and Dean are making out, Ally and Josiah are making out, and Courtney and Lily are making out. Who will make out with Christian?

“I’m really, uh, sad for this one.” – Christian

The next day, everyone’s putting on their best duds for the rose ceremony and wondering who will pick them. Yuki straight-up asks Dean to give her a rose, and it’s very charming. Do it Dean!

But then Chris Harrison stalks in to drop some news: Tonight three women and two men will be voted off, Survivor style. Luckily, they have a cocktail party that’ll give them one last chance to plead their case to the others. Everyone panics. Josiah seems to be in danger—for some reason, even though he’s super into Ally, people are questioning his intentions. Ashley’s nervous because she hasn’t talked to other guys much because she’s been so laser focus on Kevin. Clare confronts Christian because she heard he was going to vote her off—but, no, he actually thinks she’s the most beautiful woman here. You instantly see the light switch go off for her, and she moves straight into flirt mode. And so a love triangle is born.

Once everyone’s voted, the rose ceremony begins. I appreciate Chris Harrison asking Rebecca and Kevin to hand out the roses rather than doing it awkwardly himself. At one point, they give a rose to some man named Michael. Who is Michael? Where has he been all episode? Did he just crawl out from under a faux fur blanket? He’s here to stay, I guess, because the final roses are handed out and Jamey, Eric, Zoe, Lauren, and Laura say their goodbyes.

See you Thursday for more drama!

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[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E1-46 (Jan 8, 2019)

Happy New Year! Welcome to Talks for tonight, a looooong time coming. @eponymous-rose is off doing very cool science, so I’m stepping in tonight. Also Brian’s wearing a guitar-string bracelet that was once upon a time played by Meatloaf.

Announcements: Tuesday, Jan 15 at 4pm PST is the debut of Mame Drop, their new show ft. the Mame Cabinet. Wednesday, Jan 23 at 5pm PST, they’ll be doing Pub Drop, ft. art lessons with Babb Star; the next season of Between the Sheets airs Jan 28 at 7pm PST. Ashley will definitely be in Season 2.

CR Stats: “9,″ or “nein,“ has been said at least 733 times so far. Matt has facepalmed 80 times in 46 episodes. By this point in C1, he’d facepalmed 77 times. Beau has cast the highest level spell so far (conjuring the elemental). Caduceus has prevented 38 damage from critical hits with Sentinel at Death’s Door. Caleb’s smell has been commented on 49 times. Fjord -- and BWF segues to discuss Travis in Liam’s oneshot, which was a whooooole ‘nother thing, and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it yet! We never come back to his fact, sadly. Jester has performed 35 pranks so far. Molly has been gone for 85 days in game. “Long may he reign,” says the cast, and they all toast him. Nott has cast Message 50 times. Sam: “Wow, I got a lot to say!”

The biggest challenge for them so far in terms of the culture shift between C1 and C2 has been the war. They do think about it a lot while they’re “chasing magic ocean orbs,” but they know the clock is still running while they’re doing other things. Nott would care if her homeland was gone, but she wouldn’t mind overmuch if the goblins were killed but the land was okay.

Jester is perfectly content with Nott’s motherly advice, even though it’s vastly different from what her mother suggested. Laura: “It’s weird that I can look at Matt and go, ‘Mom,’ and it feels...” Matt: “It’s okay, don’t worry,” but in the Ruby’s voice, and we’re all delighted.

Matt has had to reconsider some aspects of his preparation now that he has two PCs that can see everything and/or remember everything. He doesn’t believe in artificially upping the difficulty of his worldbuilding/checks just because people took certain feats, he just has to be prepared to answer their questions more than before.

Sam feels the alcoholism has added a bit of randomness to Nott’s character. It’s actually weirdly led Nott to be able to do more, since Sam had envisioned her as a very skittish, nervous character, but the alcoholism allows her to be brave in a way she is not otherwise.

Travis wanted to explore Fjord’s origins, but didn’t have any specific plans. “Growth? Yes. I think he’s taken a dive into a lot of things that he’d never experienced before, and had outcomes that he didn’t anticipate. I also think that he’s reeling from all these choices--it’s just one coin flip after the next, and that’s put him where he is now.” Both BWF and Matt express interest in the twists neither of them anticipated. Marisha, plaintively: “Please don’t kill us all.”

Caleb doesn’t think there was a specific turning point that made him trust the Nein as well as Nott; it was a series of small steps. The first time he shared his backstory with Beau was a screw loose. Liam enjoys the conflict between the group goals and Caleb’s goals.

Everyone has missed being their characters over the break.

Travis agrees with Liam that there’s a new possible viewpoint every 30 minutes--he has no ulterior motives, just is always trying to do what feels right in the moment. He’s seen some things online suggesting he has a bigger plan, but he doesn’t think that far ahead.

Beau was the first one to say “I love you” out of the M9. Marisha was most surprised by Beau’s opening up. Beau was a “deliberate asshole” to Molly, Fjord, and Caleb at certain points because she knew they’d leave her eventually; this way, she controlled the relationship and was the one doing the pushing away.

Taliesin had no plan for Cad’s future during the breakdown on the boat. He was dealing with the realities of Cad’s creation and trying to find an anchor for his “track,” and the two conversations with Nott and Jester were crucial for helping him find his path, and Tal’s plan for his future arcs.

Did Molly’s death affect how the cast relate to their characters? Sam: “I’ve been thinking of backup characters way more than last campaign.” It doesn’t affect how he plays Nott, though. Travis feels very guilty that we’re spending so much time in his backstory and still know hardly anything about so many others--he’d feel terrible if someone else died and we still knew nothing about them. Laura feels like if she makes a backup character it’s bad luck. Liam has a vague idea, but he’d rather use it for a future campaign. Laura and Travis have no backups planned.

Caleb has no regrets avoiding the legionnaire contracts back in Zadash. Molly (says Tal) would have also been happy they avoided it.

The Fjord/Nott prickliness started off as a goof, but Sam thinks it might be a touch of a real thing. Travis is all, “naaaaaaah, not a thing.” Fjord likes poking her. Fjord actually loves Nott--he’s messing with Sam more than anything, especially with the buttons, but everything has a shelf life. Sam suggests Fjord fundamentally does not understand Nott’s nature--is she a person? A thing? It has a touch of genuine suggestion by Sam, but Travis waves it away. He truly does love Nott, he says.

Fanart of the Week: @quortknee with a stunning portrait of Yasha surrounded by flowers.

Dani mentions to Matt that Jamedi was the first NPC in either campaign that was a critical part of a path--journeying through the woods as a guide--but did not participate in combat at all. Matt says he’s essentially a scout, amazing at tracking, but would never jump into combat with a hydra. Matt created the character’s personality first, then explored that in his actions later.

Tal’s super interested in more about Jamedi. Laura loves how cool he was. 

Travis compares Fjord’s journey to a kid getting dropped into a high school party: “There’s going to be beer and alcohol and you’re going to be tempted--no I’m not! I love Dr Pepper!” Travis laughs: “Fjord is the kid at the high school party” who suddenly succumbs to every temptation despite being sure he’d resist wholesale.

Laura teases Caleb for being a Debbie Downer. Liam, deadpan: “Life expectancy in Wildemount is not that great.”

Matt and Laura both are super excited to see how the relationship with the Traveler develops. Laura initially envisioned a very much big-brother relationship, but she’s found that she genuinely is struck with awe and a bit of fear every time the Traveler shows up. “I thought they were going to be way more familiar!”

Liam talks about how the idea of meeting Astrid and the rest makes his palms sweat every time.

Caleb was originally an Evocation Wizard--still level 2 or 3--in his backstory, but all the years of doing nothing meant he had to start over later.

Beau has latched onto the first mate position because she’s always wanted to prove herself, both to her parents and herself. BWF: “Flex. I gotchu.”

Nott does consider herself the mother of the group. She’s not great at it, but she does view herself as surrounded by a bunch of people who aren’t fully mature in any way, and she’s trying to “get ‘em to college.”

Everyone agrees Beau has changed the most out of everyone throughout the campaign. Caleb has begin to make small different choices in his behavior. Laura: “Fjord has changed a lot. Now he’s going to kill us all.” Matt’s enjoyed his shift from “I don’t know what’s happening” to “I want to know what’s happening.” Everyone comments on Fjord’s wild-westiness over the last few episodes.

Everyone misses Ashley and talks about her bravery in exposing Yasha’s heart in the last episode. Matt points out Ashley always reviews the VODs for this campaign and explores Yasha’s emotional journey offscreen, so that this episode was basically her check-in, showing how Yasha’s journeyed and grown over the last dozens of episodes.

BWF struggles mightily parsing “palenewmoon” as a username, and it’s hilarious.

Caduceus is not scared of his current situation; it’s a thing that happens and it’s gone, his moment of fear now behind him. He does feel far from home--not a wanderer. “A bit of a hobbit vibe.” Fjord doesn’t scare him at all. Travis: “He shouldn’t.” Travis says Cad is the one he’s the most interested in exploring right now.

Matt found Laura & Travis’s baby arrival one of the most unexpected events in terms of having to scramble for a plan. The docks of Nicodranas are a close second, especially since he was dangling all these other hints about the Menagerie Coast and the war only for the M9 to completely ignore them. Liam: “War sounds hard.”

The Darktow escapades also surprised him, since he’d imagined it would be more of a race with Avantika to the next orb. “You stayed one night and got kicked the fuck out. I had planned the next few days; there was a whole thing with Allison that could have gone on... All the pirates are distinctly like, ‘Don’t do shit to other pirates or we’ll kill you,’ and you were like, ‘Hey guys, let’s do shit to other pirates!’” Sam: “We’re terrible at this game!”

Travis didn’t anticipate the visions, especially the dream of water that destroyed the fleet of ships. Fjord wants to get as close to the goal line of releasing Uk’otoa without crossing the line. That sounds dangerous, kiddo.

Caleb thinks Nott is a much better being than he is since she has a good heart. He also feels like he’s letting his guard down around the Nein and allowing himself to have a circle of friends. However, the last couple of episodes have made him want to withdraw back to the Nott-and-Caleb against the world vibe. Sam thinks they’ve drawn closer together--they know they have each other’s backs, so now they can explore other relationships.

Most impactful moments so far: Molly for everyone, for sure. Fjord: hooking up with Avantica. Cad: staying on the boat. (Matt likes that this showed good commitment to both story and each other’s characters to have Jester check in on him.) Caleb: telling Beau and Nott everything, like letting off a steam valve. Beau: the plan with the Plank King, validating her strengths. (Everyone oohs and aahs over the “I...wait.” moment again.) Jester: the dragon fight, staring down death and wondering if Mom had been right after all.

Talks Machina: After Dog

In discussion of chicken noises made to amuse Ronin, Tal reveals he keeps feral chickens. Somehow I’m not surprised. 

Favorite activities over the break: Matt slept. BWF suggests karaoke, and Laura realizes everyone went to kigerumi karaoke without them because they had family in town. Laura & Travis and BWF (and Ashley?) went to Sam’s Christmas party.

Tal thinks the Gentleman will be dead by the time they all get back to him. Matt reminds them of the sequence that led to Port Dimali--just the name of a contact. Nicodranas is the only hanging thread at the moment, suggests Matt.

Funniest thing so far? BWF suggests Ashly Burch’s face while Molly was dying, because of the terror that was originally character terror becoming meta terror. Ashly told BWF later that she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Tal: “I’ve never felt so alive.” Other contenders: fluffernutter failing, the bug carrying the piece of bread. Laura says she had nothing in her brain at the moment and that was the first thing that came out. Sam loved seeing Travis being asked a simple boat question and realizing that his whole backstory was predicated on knowledge that he does not have. “I don’t know the answer to this test. I didn’t study!” Liam loved Travis’s face journey during the live show when Matt started his backstory. Somehow, the transcription of Liam’s statement got picked up by Travis’s Apple watch and sent to Postmates. It’s totally hilarious.

M9 character you’d never want to play as? Travis: Caleb, because he’s a wizard and squishy. BWF: Jester, because of the accent. Tal: Nott, because he’s not funny enough to pull her off. “You have a portal in your heart and I don’t know where it goes.” Sam: Orly, because of the accent.

BWF feels this campaign will go to 169 episodes. If he’s right, Sam offers to 69 him. “Denim on face.”

Everyone comments on Matt’s li’l scruffy beard. Liam’s the only beardless one now. Matt laments the next time they want facial capture they’ll make him shave his beard; Laura insists technology has advanced beyond it. Oh, voice actors.

BWF doesn’t know if he’ll be married by 2020. “It depends on if coughcancelBlindspotcough happens.” Sam looks forward to all the cool new shows on the Critical Role channel. Marisha’s excited to learn how to draw. Taliesin’s excited about things he can’t talk about. Liam’s excited for the live show and art gallery next week. Some of the fanartists will even be able to make it.

Travis very convincingly knows who he will be playing in the oneshot next week. Laura, in stark realization: “Oh, no.” Marisha points out that this oneshot will take place 24 hours after Vax’s death, and everyone’s a little nervous. Tal suggests scrapping the whole thing and having a shopping episode.

And that’s all for the night. We fade out on Laura being indignant about karaoke, which is probably the best way to start the year. Is it Thursday yet?

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights: Critical Role Episode 111

Guests are Liam O’Brien and Matt Mercer. Full video on Project Alpha!

Brian: “Hello, welcome to Talks Machina. I am... dressed for success.” Liam: “You are very cute today.” Matt: “I call this look Saturday Darin De Paul.”

Matt is doing much better than he was on Thursday.

Digital copy of the Critical Role comic is out!

There’s now a Talks Machina shirt in the store.

Episode 111 is tied for the most natural ones in an episode.

The show has now surpassed 10,000 d20 rolls. Brian suggests buying @critrolestats​ a yacht for keeping track of all this.

The comic takes place before the game. At the first session, because it was meant to be a one-shot, Matt just had everyone assume they all knew each other and were used to working together as a party. The comic explores how they actually met and started working together as an adventuring party.

Moments they’d like to see from the pre-stream game if the comic continues: meeting Gilmore, finding Percy in Jorenn Village, going after Grog’s dad, the birth of Burt Reynolds, early interactions with the Clasp, the one time Pike and Vax had a solo adventure together. Brian: “Do you think we would have to get rights from Burt Reynolds’ estate to... oh, wait, he’s still alive.”

The pacing of this arc was always going to be different, since it’s epic-level stuff and many of the character-centric arcs have been closed; it’s a lot harder to draw in character backstory the way the previous arcs could. The time-crunch aspect of this particular plot (the villain is actively moving through his to-do list whether or not Vox Machina intervenes) is a careful balance to make sure the players don’t feel too rushed but can still maintain that sense of urgency. Liam: “I am consistently surprised and shocked by everything that’s happened, so no complaints from me.”

If it were just Liam’s decision, he’d want everyone to take a long rest before facing Vecna. He thinks losing Vasselheim might be the cost of actually having a slim chance of defeating Vecna.

Matt’s been slowly been building this last dungeon over the last six months. It’s right up there with Opash’s necromantic lair as his favorite dungeon he’s made. Liam wants to see the dungeon mapped out and described in PDF format at some point, and Matt mentions that, depending on what state it’s in at the end of this campaign, it might be a location in a future Issylra campaign guide.

Matt and Liam talk about how early adventuring in D&D is generally a selfish endeavor, and then later on there are considerably higher stakes. Matt mentions that even in high-level D&D, you want to include obstacles in a dungeon that characters can bypass easily as a reward for quick thinking or just being awesome at high levels. The dungeon is also fundamentally a power-sink where you have to prioritize where you put your resources before the final battle you know is coming.

GIF of the week. Matt: “It’s funny the effect painkillers have on running a D&D game...”

Once the oven had closed, once a round, everyone in the room would’ve taken 1d6 fire damage, then 2d6, then 3d6, and so on. Solving it was meant to be a little more high-stakes, but the party avoided getting trapped in the room themselves.

Matt had half a page of information, a voice, and a name prepared for the nothic that Vax just annihilated. Could’ve ended up being a small encounter or a temporary alliance with a Gollum-type character or an uneasy alliance that could’ve gone wrong. Matt: “What you did was quintessential D&D, and I loved it.”

Liam recently ran a D&D game for his whole family in which his son rolled a d20 on opening a door he wasn’t supposed to go through, forcing him to improvise.

Matt’s been working with Travis to build his next character, and he keeps having to remind him that most characters only have a movement speed of 25 or 30 feet.

Brian: “Like Matt and I, you too can be not in terrible debt and situationally famous without going to college!” Matt: “I cannot support any of these statements at all.”

Vax would be willing to sacrifice even Emon or Whitestone if it meant stopping Vecna, because the alternative is Vecna reigning supreme over the Material Plane... or the Divine Gate coming down and armageddon ensuing.

Fanart of the week.

In-universe flashbulb memory of the campaign: Chroma Conclave attack. Liam: “The goldfish dive will be remembered for millennia.” Matt: “Young druids will be taught from a very young age...”

Matt gave the party the ring to give them a level of comfort in a near-impossible situation, but the risk of fucking it up is what makes it fun.

Liam: “Matthew Mercer is one of the sweetest men I’ve met in my life, but I know within the boundaries of this game that you have this really devilish streak, like an inclination to fuck with us... fucking rakshasa.”

Vax has made peace with everything, but he thinks about the Tomb all the time, especially since the Raven Queen is the goddess of fate. Liam: “As Liam, I loved every dumbfuck thing that I chose to do in this game, ‘cause I’m sitting with my best friends making each other laugh every week, we love each other, we get a fucking kick out of each other every week, and the mistakes are some of the greatest memories of all time.”

Liam’s top priority even way back in the home game has always been that Vax will do whatever it takes to keep Vex alive; Vax still thinks that the Raven Queen will only keep her side of the deal if he does as well. It’s made things extremely complicated, but that’s the fundamental backbone of his character and he isn’t going to mess with that.

Matt has never had players embrace the sibling aspect of their characters to the extent that Laura and Liam have. Matt: “It’s been a gift from a storyteller’s standpoint to play in that space.”

Matt thinks Sam did a fantastic job on his one-shot, and encourages other new DMs to just commit and jump in and see how well it turns out. Liam: “It’s not a religion and it’s not appellate court, it’s just the world’s best game. Just fuckin’ have fun with it.”

Matt was expecting the undead titan reveal to happen in early or mid-July, but it just worked out to happen at Gen Con. Stressful as it was, Matt was excited that he could have such a big reveal at the live show.

Liam wasn’t worried about Simon because he knew it would take more than fire to destroy a magical item.

If the game had continued as a home game, Matt probably would’ve truncated elements of the narrative because they got to play so seldom. Both he and Liam agree that getting to play weekly was the best part of starting to stream the game.

Vax’s "this could be the last time” moments this week had less to do with his imminent death and more to do with Liam processing that in the next few weeks they’re going to be ending this game that they’ve been playing together for four years.

Brian is very sad about the end of the game as a fan of the show; he remembers Ashley coming home after the home game and giving him multi-hour summaries of everything that had happened. The game started around the same time as he and Ashley started their relationship, and he’s really delighted by how close they’ve all gotten since then. Brian: “I mean, we’re practically... I plan on sleeping with both of you on After Dark.” Liam: “I’m open to it.”

Talks Machina After Dark: Liam hosts for the first time!

Liam: “The only reason I agreed to do this Dungeons and Dragons show is so I could sit here, now, and I have you both right where I want you. Undress.”

If Matt could forget everything he knew and join VM as one of his NPCs for the final fight, from a personality standpoint, he’d want to play as Allura or Gilmore, but from a functionally helpful standpoint, probably Kima.

Matt once LARPed World of Darkness and had a very stressful experience where he was thrown into the midst of an extremely political game with no knowledge of what was going on.

Matt’s never had to ban particular items or spells, but there are aspects of the game that require discussion. In a primarily good/neutral campaign, he won’t ban evil characters per se, but he’ll require a discussion to figure out how not to ruin the experience for the rest of the characters. Liam points out that Jayne (an evil character) could easily have killed Clothesline in Sam’s oneshot, but he decided against it because it’d make Ashly’s game less fun and would mess with Sam’s having established that they all survived. It turned out to be more fun having to come up with a reason for that.

Worst possible person for Vax to face as part of Vecna’s undead army: his mother. Liam: “That would fuck his shit up.” Or Vex, if she were killed and then immediately brought back by Vecna.

On the theoretical possibility of a new campaign starting in a post-apocalyptic Tal’Dorei if Vecna wins, Brian: “It would be hard to Transport via Plants.” Matt thinks it’s an exciting prospect, and he has things in his mind if it goes that direction, but he thinks it would be really sad to culminate a five-year campaign with a loss, although planting seeds for the next story could make it retroactively pretty hopeful. 

Liam: “Story-wise, I know that everything’s gonna hurt and everything’s gonna be amazing, and I also trust you to flip my expectations somehow. We just love discovering the story together.”