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your-turn-to-role · 5 years ago

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said i was gonna write a meta centered on this conversation and this is where my head's at, so i wanna talk about the fact that vax and gilmore do have a lot more in common than most people realise? (at least more than most people talk about)

(as a disclaimer, this is not a ship war post, i love vaxleth just as much as vaxilmore, but also it's easier to see the reasons why vax and keyleth like each other because they're both player characters and we know them very well, gilmore we see a lot less, so a lot of his character and motivations you have to piece together afterwards. but matt still puts a lot of thought into who gilmore is and why he does what he does, a lot more than we ever see, so there's definitely more to it than the "he's pretty" gilmore likes to tell people)

on the surface, they're very different people, sure. vax doesn't understand shit about magic, magic is all gilmore does, vax wears his heart on his sleeve and if he has a problem you're going to find out about it, gilmore is all about emotional masks and a jovial front as a means of protection, even just in appearance and attire, gilmore's very colourful and deliberately so, while vax's main colours are black and more black. but when it comes to where they came from, how they approach problems, what they find fun and interesting, they're extremely in sync

both have a complicated relationship with their (surviving) parents, never really feeling fully loved by them - vax was entirely neglected and shunned by syldor, and when we meet gilmore's parents, though they're nice on the surface, they also don't believe vox machina about gilmore saving a city, gilmore left home and never came back to visit despite being able to literally teleport there at any time, which says a lot about how tense that relationship has been. related to that, both have biological reasons for being an outcast, vax as a half elf, gilmore as a rune child, two things the book itself say are often shunned in most societies, and definitely things they've both faced consequences for being. (we don't know what those consequences were for gilmore, but, there's a reason he hides it)

they're both rebellious, they both still have a bit of something to prove, they both do their best to live in the moment and get past problems by distancing and refocusing, both would do literally anything for the people they love, and neither will ever leave a person in danger. their chief philosophy is "life is short so take what you want, trust those around you, love recklessly. don't waste time on regrets or wishing for things you can't have". they're both fascinated by magic and drawn by things that are fast paced and unknown and exciting, things are always more interesting when they're fun

in a way it's easy to think of vax as the reckless one of the two of them? because gilmore runs a shop and vax is vax, "runs headfirst into danger with no backup at least once a week" vax, "this bird can fly 480ft a round and there's nothing you can do about it" vax

but this is also "ran in to fight thordak with no backup in case vox machina were in danger" gilmore, "spent well over 1000 gold on a heroes feast because vox machina were hungry and didn't feel like going home" gilmore, and, of course, "pushed vax off a cliff with no warning to show him he has wings because despite the fact that we're still in an awkward post break up phase and despite the fact that less than an hour ago someone who looked like me almost killed him, i know he'll still trust me and this'll be the best way to show him" gilmore

and he was right, because they do understand each other on that level no other character quite reaches. and vax knows it too, and knows him

and this exchange, i think, is one of the most telling of that

just vax's slightly mournful "that guy'll be fast" and gilmore's joking-but-serious "he'd better be", like as much as it's a joke it's also them both acknowledging what worked here and what didn't

anyone who knows vax knows speed's his whole thing. his boots of haste are canonically his favourite possession. the first time caleb used expeditious retreat in campaign two everyone joked that vax was back (though he didn't get nearly close to vax's top flying speed of approximately 55mph). vax thinks on his feet, gets bored easily, hates when things are still.

it's not a trait often praised when it comes to romance tropes? speedy characters are also flighty, moving too fast is a sign of not thinking, even when both partners are that way, any romance they end up in will end with them settling (and slowing) down or it'll end in disaster.

and in a way this falls into the same pattern as well, because obviously things didn't work out for them, but the biggest difference here is that that isn't a bad thing. vax isn't wrong for being vax, and gilmore's the same, and wants the same thing, would be happy with the same thing. (really what doomed this relationship as a romantic endeavour was just luck of the draw, liam's said the only reason vax decided to be with keyleth was the fact that he was around her every day, whereas he only saw gilmore every couple months, so what would have been the same feelings towards both of them had the chance to become a lot stronger for kiki, if their places were reversed he would have been just as happy with gilmore, and obviously gilmore would with him)

(which is why even after everything, they remain friends to the end, and we know they talk sometimes for hours about their lives, because even if they can't have that connection as a romantic one, having someone around that gets them like that is a huge help)

people get up in arms easily about defending vax vs defending gilmore, especially when it comes to the breakup and whether vax acted like an asshole or not. and honestly believe what you want about that, i'm not gonna argue it. but this conversation, they're both telling the whole truth. yes, this was sad, and yes, this hurts, but that's life. they've been through far more painful things for less. and yeah gilmore's gonna move on, because that's in both of their nature, but they both know whoever he's gonna end up with is gonna have those same qualities. maybe another adventurer, maybe not, but someone who sees the tragedy in the world and refuses to let it continue, and someone who sees the excitement in the world and refuses to let it pass them by

and they know no matter what there's still love between them. (they both make it clear, constantly, how much of that there is, far more than either really knows what to do with). and while, ultimately, vax was right in this conversation, it wouldn't be long before they faced a battle he wouldn't walk away from, gilmore was right too, in that life is unpredictable, and all you can do is make the most of every moment in front of you. (and no matter what happens to gilmore after the story ends or wherever and whatever vax is now, they're never gonna forget each other)

#do you ever think about matt on talks confirming that post canon gilmore made a vax inspired line of magic items?#bc i do #constantly #surprising absolutely no one i just really love vax and also gilmore and i wanted to get at least one of my feelings about them down here #cr1 #critical role #cr meta #vax'ildan #shaun gilmore #vaxilmore #text #meta #cr thoughts #vax'ilmore

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pikelanette · 5 years ago

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The Wake of Vox Machina (prologue & chapter 1)

It is I again, with a weird fic about Vox Machina who are basically gods now and haven’t seen each other for 500 years and love each other very much. Pretty pairing-focused, if that is your shit. It is definitely mine.

Pairings: pikelan, vaxleth & perc’ahlia Words: 2952 Rated: M Link: ao3

a multi-chapter godlike vox machina reunites AU - prologue & chapter 1

Prologue

Vox Machina wakes.

Percival rises from smoke and ashes in the forge of Whitestone castle, in the dead of night. Through some passing miracle, no one is around to see him form out of thin air, smelling of dynamite and brimstone.

Keyleth's roots pull back into her body. Her bark turns back into skin. Her branches retract. Her face emerges, then dozens of arms, which slowly turn back into two. She stays rooted until the moment her eyes open, when her feet trunk splits into legs again and she can feel the dirt between her toes where she stands a foot-deep in the earth.

Grog digs himself out of the fresh overturned earth of a recent battlefield, the taste of blood and adrenaline in his mouth. He opens his eyes to a dark sky, laying on his back in the carnage, surrounded by discarded weapons and the errant cut off limb of a soldier.

Vax'ildan falls from the sky in a cocoon of feathers. He does not know how long he has been falling for as he wakes - he just knows to spread his wings and catch himself before he hits the ground. As he does, he catches his first glimpse of the endless ocean underneath him. He is drifting between the clouds on his glowing raven wings, disoriented for but a second before he focuses and uses every muscle in his body to move.

Vex'ahlia is pulled together from the roars of a family of bears, twisting into existence as her bones snap into place. Her body regenerates at an immense pace, perfecting her up to the bright blue feathers in her hair. Her longbow is strapped to her back with her quiver of arrows and she breathes in the earthy, fresh scent of the deep forest around her. Around her, the bears roar again - a call into the world that their mistress has returned - and from the woods around her, an immense spectral brown bear emerges, his eyes locked on her.

Scanlan steps out of a bookcase in the romance section of a public library in the middle of Tal'dorei's capital. His skin is paper, first, but strengthens as it turns human once more, and the lines scratched across him disappear. His third eye opens before his regular two do - and with it, he searches for the last one of them.

---

Pike wakes in her crypt, her hand bursting through the stone of her mausoleum and grasping her mace in one smooth destructive movement. She gasps, inhaling the cold air into her lungs with a vengeance. Her eyes burst open and she grips her mace harder, the feeling of it in her hand familiar and comforting, even in the shock of rebirth. Immediately she starts coughing, dust of the stone she destroyed trying to make its way into her lungs. She sits up straight, pushing the material off of her and wiping it from her eyes with the back of the hand holding the mace. Once she feels a little less disoriented, she opens them again and looks around the room.

Her mausoleum looks the same as when she went to sleep. A little older, of course, worn by age. It is cold and dusty and some weeds have managed to worm themselves in through the cracks in the stone floor. She knows immediately that it has been a long time since anyone has set foot into this building. She can feel it everywhere around her - the utter silence. The emptiness.

They would never wake. This had been their promise when they went under; the price they paid for the peace in the world. This should not be happening.

Pike coughs again and gets up out of her stone coffin. Her armour is spotless and heavy on her body. She clenches and unclenches her fists for a moment, enjoying the sound of the metal as it creaks. She looks around the room for a moment and then leans back against the edge of the coffin.

This should not be happening. This was not what was supposed to happen.

Her thoughts reach for her family and she feels her heart lurch. If she was awake, they would be too - and they could be together again. She could see them.

Immediately, she is overcome by yearning, and part of her mind begins to think of ways to reach them. She is not entirely sure where all of them were buried, but she would find them. Scanlan would know.

Scanlan.

He would come for her as soon as he could. She knew it. He would be here any second now, probably.

But fear creeps up on her again, and she feels a shiver run down her spine as she remembers, in full force, that no matter how happy it makes her, this should not be happening.

They would never wake...

Unless the peace they fought for had been destroyed. Unless the gods had found this plane again.

Chapter 1

Pike hated waiting.

She was a little embarrassed that even now, when she was practically a god, she couldn’t bring up the patience to sit quietly for a little while. But, in her defence, she was waiting for someone who she hadn’t seen in over five hundred years. And waiting… it reminded it of when she was little.

Littler, of course. Grog would say tiny. The smallest of gnomes. Back when her parents locked her up in a tavern room and told her to wait for them to return (bloody and bruised and possibly intoxicated) ten hours later. Waiting made her feel small.

It wasn’t so bad if she had something to do, but having just waken up from a five hundred year long nap in a stone mausoleum, there really wasn’t much to busy herself with. She scraped up some of the stone dust that she left behind when she broke free from her slumber, but other than that she was stuck just… looking around.

And overthinking.

She felt like her frown might be etched into her forehead for another half a millennium by the time that something in the air seemed to shift.

She was leaned back against her tomb again, holding up her mace and wondering whether there was anything she could do for it without any resources. It looked sharp enough, but it was covered in dust, and perhaps if she took off some of her armour she could bunch up her tunic and start cleaning with it.

But before she even remembered she might not want to greet her friends half-naked, the air around her mace seemed to crackle.

Her eyes widened. This mace wasn’t like some of the vestiges her friends used, a weapon that evolved and changed over time. It was as awake as it would ever be. So the arcane runes that started hovering in the air around it, growing bigger every millisecond, couldn’t have come from there.

Her subconscious caught up before her active thought process did and she felt excitement bubble up in her chest as she watched the arcane runes settle on the stone floor in the shape of a large circle. They were golden, and gorgeous, and they sparked with purple like a small fire being fed dry wood.

A flash of light overtook the room and then her vision of the runes was obscured by the person in front of her. He was gripping her mace with the same familiarity that she was, his hand just above hers, their fingers almost touching but not quite. A vibrant eye made of purple light was staring at her from his forehead, but he had his eyes closed in concentration, a small frown between his bushy eyebrows. Her lips parted as she quietly looked over his face – the big nose, the long eyelashes she had always been jealous of, the pronounced cheekbones, the pouty bottom lip that had tempted her a million times over. She brought her gaze back up to his eyes just in time to watch them open.

The moment Pike locked eyes with Scanlan Shorthalt once again, her throat expelled a strange, pained groan that sounded suspiciously like a choked-back sob. She could see a strange fire light inside his soul when he registered her standing before him, the power of his affection flowing from his gaze as he, too, looked at her. The glow of his third eye slowly disappeared until he was all skin and bones again.

The shock of seeing him shut down her brain temporarily. She was incapable of coherent thought, even as he looked her over and slowly slid down his hand on her mace until it covered her own. At that, another one of those sob-like sounds, this time louder, echoed through the cold stone room.

She could not explain how overwhelming it was to have someone touch her. Although the last five hundred years were a blur, her body seemed well-aware that it had been ages since she had felt that connection. Emotion welled up in her unbidden, and she swallowed back her tears until she saw that he had not deemed such a thing necessary.

Scanlan was crying. Full, hot tears were rolling down his cheeks as he stared at her, his own jaw slightly slack as well.

“Pike,” he croaked out, and she wondered what would happen if she tried to speak.

Pike brought her free hand up to where he had laid one of his own over hers and put it on top of them, trapping his hand between both of hers. Her voice quivered. “Hi Scanlan.”

Scanlan cleared his throat and her favourite lop-sided smile appeared on his lips. “You have aged exceptionally well, miss Trickfoot.”

She let out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah, well. Petrification does wonders for your skin, apparently.”

He reached out his hand and, feather-light, traced his fingers down her cheek. “You don’t say…”

There was so much tenderness in her voice, and the space between them seemed static with emotion. Pike let out a full sob now, pushing closer to him and pressing her forehead against his with a clumsy bump. Scanlan let out a shuddering breath at the contact and she wanted nothing more than to see those dark brown eyes again, but her own eyes had closed somewhere in that motion and she was far too overwhelmed to open them.

For some reason, she felt incredibly heavy. She felt exhausted. Absolutely tapped. Inside of her, her emotions were roaring through her body like a thunderstorm.

She felt Scanlan’s hand grab her by the waist, and then he was wrapping his full arm around her, burying his face into the crook of her neck. She could feel his tears against her skin. Her mace and their hands were trapped between their chests now. She could feel them move as they breathed in tandem. She had never been this happy to be alive before.

Soon, he lifted his head slightly to nuzzle her cheek with his nose. “Pike, you’re freezing,” he told her, sounding a little bit worried.

He did feel very hot against her. Like he was running a fever. But maybe it was her.

“Must be the stone,” she answered hoarsely.

Scanlan let go of her to wrap his second hand around their already intertwined them, making it a pile of four, like they were playing the game they used to play when they had a boring watch together. He was like a charming little hand warmer.

He was frowning again, though, going over something in his head. “I don’t think I have anything to help with.”

“I’ll warm up naturally. It’s okay.”

He looked her in the eye again, searching for something. He looked so damn hopeful that it was almost heart-breaking.

“This isn’t a dream, right? We’re really awake?”

“I think so… Unless I’m dreaming.”

He couldn’t help but smirk at that, it seemed. “Do I show up in your dreams regularly?”

She smiled back. “You’re like herpes. Just can’t get rid of you.”

He pulled a face and she laughed – her first laughter in five hundred years. It felt absolutely perfect.

“Cruel, cruel mistress,” he told her playfully, and bumped their foreheads together again.

“I’m so happy to see you,” she whispered back. Watching him cry set her off as well and she could feel the tears start rolling down her face. He couldn’t resist letting go of her hands so he could wipe them away.

“Not as happy as I am, Pike. I don’t know what to say.”

“Me neither.”

They smiled at each other in silence for another little while.

Then, reality seemed to set in.

Their smiles dropped almost simultaneously, and she would have felt weird about how in sync they were, as she always did, if it weren’t for the million other thoughts that were clamouring for her attention.

“Are the others up too?” she asked.

Scanlan brought his hand to his mouth and gently bit down on his thumb. “I haven’t checked yet.”

She flushed a little at that admission, at the implication of it considering that he was standing right in front of her, but refused to acknowledge that response. “Could you do it now?”

He nodded. “I think so. The eye, it…” On his forehead, the purple light appeared again and his third eye dashed open. “It doesn’t really need to recharge anymore. Or maybe I’m just using some energy stored up over the past few centuries. Who knows. Give me a second.”

Scanlan focused, his eyes glazing over, and Pike wondered how he had known that it had been centuries since they went to sleep. She wondered how she had known. Because she did know – she knew full well that it had been five hundred and thirty two years since they had laid down their futures for the rest of Exandria. She couldn’t have said how many months it had been on top of that, but she knew the amount of years perfectly. It was strange.

Then again, she supposed waking up from a never-ending sleep spell was strange on its own. It was bound to have some side effects.

Scanlan hummed, still looking like he was seeing an entirely different scene than she was.

“What is it?”

Maybe he couldn’t even hear her. It wouldn’t surprise her.

But, no, Scanlan held up a finger to tell her to wait another second – irritation spiked, of course. She wasn’t a patient woman.

“Everyone’s up,” he then said.

Relief washed over her. Part of her had still been afraid that one or more of them hadn’t risen from their slumber. She wasn’t sure she could do this without all of them here.

“Where are they?”

“Percy’s in a cellar somewhere. I think Whitestone, looking at how fancy the place is dressed up. Might even be his own workshop. Keyleth… Keyleth’s in Zephrah. As for the other three, I can’t really pinpoint it.” He frowned. “There’s no real landmarks. Vax is somewhere over an ocean. Vex is in a forest. Grog… On a recent battlefield? In a carnage somewhere, at least. Lots of blood. Lots of gore. Kind of nauseating, to be honest.”

“Focus.” Pike put both of her hands on his shoulders, staring into his unseeing eyes. “Can you figure out where he is? Grog?”

“I don’t have to know where he is to bamf us to him.” Scanlan reached up and scrambled for her hands, pulling them from his shoulders and holding them loosely in his own. “I just need to…”

“To what?”

Scanlan blinked, and when he looked at her again she knew that he was back. She suddenly noticed their faces were pretty darn close together at this point.

If she blushed a little at that realisation, she would never be the one to point it out.

Scanlan seemed to notice, though, because he also flushed – he always did when he saw her blushing. It was a strange comfort. True gnome solidarity right there – at least she never looked like a fool on her own.

It was a little intimate, though.

“To zone in,” Scanlan said. He nodded towards her mace, which was now resting on the floor between the two of them. “Like I did with your toy, there.”

“Don’t call it a toy.” She pulled a hand free and knocked him on the shoulder.

“Ow.” He reached for the place where she’d touched him and looked at her like she had offended him in his soul. “Be careful there, hon’, I’m still as weak as a dish rag.”

“I think you lost the right to say that the first time you took the full force of a fireball and managed to just brush it off.”

He pursed his lips. “Party pooper.”

“You did it to yourself, friend.”

Pike could imagine Vex in the back of her head. You hear that, Scanlan? Friend, she said. She thought Scanlan must have heard it too, because he got the same hurried look on his face.

“We’ll pick up Grog first.”

“Yes, please.” She was itching to get to her brother.

She could feel the magic in the room rising and – okay, looked like they were going right this instant, apparently.

“Maybe we can catch him before he kills someone,” Scanlan added as he started concentrating. The next words from his mouth were undeniably arcane, a language that she could follow but never truly speak. He was moving his hands frantically in the somatic components of the spell.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said.

Scanlan sent her a look that she took to mean fair enough, and then the world disappeared in a flash of bright purple light.

#critical role #pikelan #vaxleth #perc'ahlia #cr fanfic #vox machina #the wake of vox machina #original

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nicolewrites · 5 years ago

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heartstrings - ii

hey it’s been less than 48 hours, but this keeps getting longer and longer. originally should have been a one-shot is likely going to be ~4 parts now. Just a slight warning, some mentions of alcohol abuse and past abusive relationships. Anyways,

part i

Rating: T Genre: Romance Characters: [Vax’ildan and Keyleth] [Percival de Rolo and Vex’ahlia] Words: 6258

Kiki @keylethashari has tagged you in a tweet: New Q&A up and we’re talking music! creds to @vexmachina @vaxmachina @burtreynoldsesq @thelumineers and others!! // CR1 Vaxleth+Perc’ahlia YouTuber/Musician/Celebrity AU

AO3

“So, one more time, if we sign this, then we get complete creative control over our album plus we can keep releasing videos and stay active on YouTube?” Vex asked as she flipped to the second page of the heavy contract before her.

Cassandra nodded. “It’s definitely important that you guys get to keep your brand which is two siblings making videos and singing together. We just want to help you be able to distribute your music. We can hook you up with collaborators or producers or even just get you better equipment.”

Vax exhaled and fiddled with the corner of the contract. “And there’s no rush, right? No pressure on us to have an album out in the next month or anything?”

Cassandra smiled. “Well I figured your first step could be to record some of your more popular covers and release a cover album. It will be a good way to both introduce you to the studio and better quality recording equipment as well as reintroduce the world to the Vox Machina they already love.

Vex and Vax made eye contact. Everything that was being proposed seemed in their favour and Cassandra and Whitestone had definitely been the most respectful of the fact that they had shot to fame so suddenly that they were still adjusting. In all honesty, Vax could have been ready to sign with the label from the first meeting they had, but they did need time to consider all of their options.

Conclave Recording Studios had offered them a much larger signing bonus, but that contract had been riddled with little hooks that robbed them of certain royalties, their creative freedom, and even control over their YouTube channel. That had been an easy deal to turn down, even if the money was a little tempting.

Still, Cassandra had come back with a counteroffer once she learned that the twins were considering other avenues and had presented them with total control, no restrictions on their channel, and a bonus bigger than Whitestone’s original offer, though not quite at the same size as what Conclave was willing to give.

Vex smiled at Cassandra and picked up the pen. “Well, this all sounds perfect to me.”

“I can agree with that,” Vax added as he flipped to the final page.

They both signed their names on each copy of the contract and Cassandra scrawled her name in beside theirs. The beautiful woman who had been lurking in the back of the office stepped forwards and signed as the witness before she clasped her hands and gave both twins a radiant smile.

“I look forward to working with both of you!”

Vax raised an eyebrow and glanced at Cassandra. The record owner smiled and patted the beautiful woman on the back. “Vex’ahlia, Vax’ildan, this is Zahra, the publicist I previously mentioned. She’s in charge of my most important clients and I know you’ll love her.”

Zahra grinned widely. “I can already see that the two of you will sell as you’ve managed to prove that yourself with your channel.”

Vex stood up and held her hand out for Zahra to shake. “Well, darling, I’m sure it will be a pleasure to work with you as well.”

Zahra winked at Vex. “Aren’t you charming! I can see what Percy likes in this one for sure.” Vax rose to his feet and gave Cassandra another curious look. He glanced back at Zahra who was leaning against Cassandra’s desk, still smiling. “You know Percy?”

Zahra waved her hand. “Entirely too well. He used to be my client before I passed him off to the very capable hands of my friend Vanessa. Plus, I’ve been working with Cassandra for a while and you don’t work with one de Rolo without seeing the other at every turn.”

Cassandra shrugged. “Well, I can’t deny that, I am having lunch with Percy today. You are welcome to join us if you’d like, Vex, Vax.”

Vex smiled. “I’d love to, but don’t tell him I’m coming, I’d like to see the look on his face when I just appear.” Vax shook his head. Typical Vex’ahlia. He slid his phone out of his pocket and smiled faintly, an idea flitting across his mind. “I have to pass, but this has been a pleasure.”

The three women in the room shrugged and returned back to easy conversation as Vax opened a new message.

[Vax] so i know this is probably a little last minute, but how’s today for that raincheck from Scanlan’s.

The reply was almost instant.

[Keyleth] oh you are alive aha. today is actually perfect for me. what did u have in mind??

Vax had seen enough of Keyleth’s videos to know that she absolutely adored the vegan lunch place on 6th Street. When he had suggested it, she had sent him four texts of incomprehensible gibberish to show her excitement. Vax had simply smiled and excused himself from Cassandra’s office, calling an Uber as he went.

When he arrived at the restaurant he decided that this place was exactly the type of place he would expect Keyleth to frequent. It was decorated with dozens of plants and succulents as well as some casual bohemian decorations. It almost reminded him of the room she often filmed her videos in, so it made sense. He had managed to beat her there, so he stood on the curb, hands in his pockets as he waited.

He waited for seven minutes before a car pulled up and she flew out of the backseat, smiling like crazy. Her red hair was tugged into a ponytail and she was wearing denim overalls with a floral blouse. Her eyes twinkled as she caught sight of him and she pulled him into a tight hug. Vax hugged her back and caught a strong floral whiff that was probably perfume, but he liked to think that Keyleth, the radiant ball of sunshine, just naturally smelled like flowers.

“It only took us two months to reschedule this thing,” Keyleth laughed as she pulled back, leaving her hands resting on his shoulders.

Vax shrugged. “Self-employment is incredibly difficult,” he said teasingly.

Keyleth retracted her arms and smiled at him. “Very funny.” She looked up at the restaurant and smiled. “Have you been here before?”

“Melora’s Garden? No, I haven’t. I actually stole the idea from one of your videos.”

Keyleth laughed and Vax immediately wanted her to do it again. “So you do watch my videos.” Vax smirked. “I’ll admit to that when you admit to watching ours.” “Vox Machina? Only one of my favourite channels lately.”

“Come on, let’s eat. I have news.”

Keyleth linked their arms and pulled him through the front door. “News?”

She turned away briefly to motion to the hostess that they needed a table for two, but she quickly turned her bright, curious green eyes back to him. Vax led her, following the hostess, and kept his mouth shut. As they sat down across from each other, Keyleth linked her fingers and rested her chin atop them, leaning forward.

“Come on, don’t keep me in suspense!”

“Well, I’ve been so busy lately because Vex and I signed with Whitestone this morning,” he revealed.

Keyleth’s beautiful smile spread from ear to ear. She reached out and squeezed one of his hands. “Vax! Congratulations! You guys definitely deserve this. Does this mean I’ll finally be able to buy one of your albums and do an entire video dedicated to why it’s one of the best of all time?”

He squeezed her fingers back in return. “Well, Cassandra wants us to release kind of a ‘Greatest Hits’ of the channel album first before we release any original stuff. She said it would be the world’s reintroduction to us as a real music group.”

Keyleth nodded. “I guess that makes sense, but in my opinion, you guys were a real music group the minute you decided to release your first video. Besides, I happen to think the couple of originals you guys have done have been your best work.”

Vax chuckled. “Thank you, but I don’t think we quite have the mindset to record an entire album of originals at this point. Songs like Phoenix never would have even been finished without your help, you know.”

Keyleth cocked her head. “Vax, I gave you like 7 words of feedback total. The rest was all you: the music, the lyrics, everything. You guys made that happen, not me.” She smiled at him again, but it was more tentative, like the shyer Keyleth he’d met at Scanlan’s party.

Before he could reply again, a waitress was filling both of their glasses with water and smiling down at them. “Are we ready to order?”

Vax’s brain stalled. He had been so caught up that he hadn’t even glanced at the menu in front of him. Keyleth seemed to notice his deer-in-headlights expression, and she smiled politely at the waitress.

“I think we need a few more minutes.”

The waitress nodded and bustled off to help someone else.

Keyleth nudged the menu towards him, smiling. “Better take a look before she comes back and we’re still sitting here stupidly.”

Vax chuckled and picked it up. He flipped the menu up and skimmed his eyes over the selection of Buddha bowls. He paused when he realized that Keyleth was just watching him and hadn’t even looked at her own menu.

“Kiki, are you going to order?”

She waved him off. “I’m getting Bowl 7, I already knew that.”

Vax put the menu down and grinned at her crookedly. “I think I’ll get the same.”

Her eyes twinkled as she slipped the menu out of his hands. “Well that’s easy for the waitress, isn’t it?”

Lunch was great. The food was different, but tasted delicious and Keyleth and him were able to keep a steady flow of easy, fun conversation. She talked about her father and her home and how she decided to move to L.A. Vax, in turn, told her the simplified version of why he and Vex left London and how important it was for them to have a fresh start.

Keyleth listened with rapt attention and made insightful and supportive comments whenever Vax struggled to put something into words. Talking to her felt like one of the easiest things he’d ever done, even when he was recounting the worst times of his life. Even though she hadn’t known the struggles he had, she was patient with him and she didn’t assume anything about him or his sister.

He gladly would have sat and talked with her in the restaurant for longer, but as they were finishing their meals, Keyleth’s phone started vibrating with repeated notifications. She frowned and unlocked it. It immediately took her to the Twitter app and Vax watched her face pale as she looked around nervously.

“Keyleth?” he asked cautiously.

She sighed and turned the screen towards him. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

Ashari Army @keylethsashariarmy • 7 minutes ago

GUUUUUUUYS. @keylethashari is having lunch with someone?? They’re at Melora’s and it LOOKS like a date?? Can we get our best investigators on this ASAP.

Vax blinked as he scanned the tweet. It had a hundred retweets and three hundred likes. People were replying, eagerly urging the original account to post a photo. Keyleth pulled her phone away and dropped it into her purse.

She stood up and held out her hand for him to take. He hesitated before he accepted it and let her pull him towards the back of the restaurant. The staff members there looked up as they approached and exchanged looks between them.

Keyleth smiled politely. “Hi, I’m Keyleth Ashari, is the manager here?”

There was a brief scuffle as two waiters slipped into the back and reappeared with an old woman who brightened when she saw Keyleth.

“Oh! Keyleth, dear, what can I do for you?”

Keyleth brushed some hair away from her face and dropped Vax’s hand abruptly. “Uvenda, I think there’s someone here trying to take a photo so I was wondering if you would be able to charge my card for the meals and let us leave out the back?”

Uvenda nodded immediately. “Of course. Just come with me this way, alright?” For the first time, the old woman turned her eyes to Vax and the soft, affectionate look she carried for Keyleth vanished in favour of a much more suspicious, guarded look. “And you are?”

Keyleth’s hand slid into his again. “Uvenda, this is Vax.”

The old woman raised an eyebrow and smirked a little. “Of course. Anyways, right this way dears.”

They were escorted out the rear of the restaurant and Keyleth laughed as they walked through the back parking lot to the next road. She glanced back at the restaurant and giggled.

“That’ll teach them to ruin my dates.”

Warmth spread through Vax’s stomach. “A date?” Surprise shuttered her features and he laughed. He stepped up, draping an arm over her shoulder. “Don’t worry Kiki, I’m not some internet fan reading too much into things. This was two friends out for lunch.”

She beamed radiantly at him. She ducked out from under his arm and danced away from him, twirling as she laughed. “God do I ever miss freedom and anonymity though,” she said, glancing back at him.

Vax slid his hands into his pockets and watched her. She was as radiant and as beautiful as the sun, even if she could be awkward and goofy and shy. She was alarmingly human and charming and he knew exactly where her popularity stemmed from. And he understood her. Her charms and her stumbles and her desire to have one uninterrupted afternoon.

She paused in her step and glanced down at the pavement, where her shadow was cast across the pavement. A sly smile slid over her face. “Hey, Vax, come here for a minute.”

He stepped up next to her so their silhouettes were aligned. She slid her arm around his waist and gave him a side hug. She paused and snapped a photo of their entwined shadows before she stepped back. She tapped something out on her phone before she slid it back into her pocket, beaming.

He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t I get to see?”

“You’re following me, aren’t you?”

He shook his head, but he couldn’t help but smile as he pulled out his own phone to check Keyleth’s Twitter account.

Kiki @keylethashari • Just Now

Sunny days are the best days!! #shadowart | at Melora’s Garden

The tweet was accompanied with the picture she’d just taken of them. Fans were already filling up her replies, demanding to know who she was posing with. Vax smiled at her over his phone and she gave him a gentler, bashful smile.

“It’s okay, right?”

He nodded. “I’d like it, but that might give people the wrong impression.”

Before he could say anything else, his phone vibrated with a text.

[Vex] Percival and I are going for drinks on Friday.

[Vex] Get on my level, darling

Vax smirked as he typed out his reply.

[Vax] Check Twitter, Stubby.

There was a long moment before Vex replied.

[Vex] OH SHIT so thaaaat’s why you bailed on lunch. Well.

Keyleth cocked her head at him. “Vax?”

He pocketed his phone. “I believe I was promised a full day of adventures, no? Lunch is one thing, but you must have other favourite parts of the city to show me.”

Vax was on the couch watching a fail compilation that Keyleth had sent to him, when his twin senses started tingling. Obviously, there was no way that it was actually a thing, but Vex and Vax had both always been very reactive to the approach of each other, so one night Kima had called it twin senses, and the name had stuck.

He looked up just as the door opened and Vex walked in. She was wearing an emerald green blouse and black skirt and her lipstick and dark hair were just the tiniest bit mussed, but it was enough to know that her date with Percy had to have gone at least mostly well. To his surprise, Vex didn’t even glance his way as she headed straight for the kitchen.

He rose carefully and followed her, stepping over the heels that she kicked off on her way there. He walked into the kitchen and found her measuring a generous amount of gin into a glass before topping it off with club soda. She sipped it with what could almost be described as anger, and Vax furrowed his brow.

“Stubby?”

She spun so fast that she almost dropped her drink. “Jesus, Vax, you scared the shit out of me.”

“You walked right past me. I was in the living room,” he said. Despite his initial impression that her date went well, wariness crept along his mind. “Weren’t you just at a bar?” he asked, gesturing to the heavy drink she was holding like a lifeline.

Vex pursed her lips. “Can’t exactly get drunk on a first date, no matter how charming the movie star is.” She gulped down more of the drink, furrowing her brow at the bitter alcohol taste.

Vax stepped past her and poured himself a drink, sipping it slowly. Vex drained her drink quickly and snatched the gin from him as she poured another, not even bothering with the soda this time.

“Vex?” he asked carefully. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine, darling, just some paparazzi that interrupted a moment I would have rather been private, but I suppose that’s what I get for liking the charming movie star.”

Vax took another slow sip of his drink. “Oh.”

She waved a hand at him. “Since you’re hanging around Keyleth a lot, you must notice that her fans are absolutely rabid. Percy’s like that, except they’re all major magazine headlines.”

“And you told him you were uncomfortable?”

She laughed. “He was more uncomfortable than me. We’re having dinner at his place on Wednesday as so to avoid such things next time.”

He nodded. “Well, I’m glad you had a good time.”

Vex glanced between her empty glass and the bottle once more before she smiled tentatively at Vax. “I like him, Vax, I really, really do.”

Vax tucked his arm around her and hugged her. “I’m glad.” He paused, not wanting to overstep. “For the record, I like him much better than-”

“That’s not hard,” she said sharply, cutting him off. Drunk, honest Vex’ahlia was gone and she had been replaced with the guarded, colder version of his sister that came out anytime she spoke of their last year in London.

Vax frowned, but he let it slide. He managed to wrangle the bottle away from Vex and get her in bed, but as he stared at their liquor cabinet, he couldn’t help but feel it would be better entirely empty permanently.

The ringing of his phone woke him up the next morning. He rolled sideways, grabbing it and staring at the screen. He raised an eyebrow, but answered it quickly.

“Shaun?”

“I’m assuming she hasn’t seen it yet, has she?”

“Seen what?” he asked. He sat up and rolled his shoulders. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted the phone at his ear.

“I’ll send you the link, just give me a moment.”

His phone buzzed with a text and Vax switched to speakerphone so he could open it and stay on the call. Gilmore had texted him a link to a tweet by the Hollywood Reporter.

Hollywood Reporter @THR • 9 hours ago

‘Light of the Night’ actor Percival de Rolo caught locking lips with one half of YouTube pop-folk duo Vox Machina.

The tweet was accompanied by two photos. The first was Vex and Percy looking cozy and happy at some bar and the second was Percy planting one on Vex as her arms locked around his neck. Vax cursed.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’, then,” Gilmore replied carefully.

Vax sighed. “I should go make sure she doesn’t lose her shit. Thanks for the call, Shaun.”

“Of course.”

Vax hung up the phone and bolted out of his room. To his surprise, Vex was already awake, pacing around the living room in an oversized sweater as she spoke urgently on the phone in low tones. She looked a little surprised when she saw Vax, but she just gestured to her phone helplessly and he nodded.

Vax headed instead for the kitchen and started a cup of coffee. The pot was almost completely done brewing by the time Vex strolled in after him, looking more exhausted than she’d been in a long time. Vax didn’t say anything, he just held his arms open and let her walk into them, resting her head against his chest tiredly.

“Zahra and Vanessa are working on spinning those photos. I’m honestly not that bothered, but Percy isn’t happy.” She paused looking up at him, a small smile on her face. “He wanted to keep this between us for a while.”

“He seems serious about you,” Vax commented, still carefully watching Vex’s face.

She shrugged and withdrew from him. “I guess so,” she replied noncommittally.

Vax held in a sigh. The tinge of vulnerability and emotion Vex had shown was back behind layers of practiced smiles and charm. Something was wrong, and he didn’t know how to get her to admit it. He wasn’t sure where this was stemming from as all the time they’d spent in L.A., he had yet to see her looking like this.

He poured her a cup of coffee instead and tugged on the end of her loose braid. She grumbled and swatted at him, but at least he got a genuine smile out of her for it.

Vax was feeling oddly nervous as he walked across the lobby of the apartment complex. He’d been here a few times before, but this felt different. He made eye contact with the security guard who waved him towards the elevators with hardly a second look. Vax stepped into the clean elevator and punched the button for the 14th floor. He slid his hands into his pockets and rocked onto his toes as the elevator ascended.

The doors opened and he let his feet guide him to apartment 1417. He knocked on the door and waited for a long moment before the door swung inwards. Instead of the freckled face and green eyes of Keyleth like he’d been expecting, Vax was met with a man he didn’t recognize at all.

The guy had sharp features and brown hair that hung just lower than his ears. The stranger raised an eyebrow at Vax and shifted his weight before he stepped back from the door and motioned for Vax to enter. Vax stepped in cautiously, still eyeing the man with mild confusion.

“Kash, who was at the door?” Keyleth called from further in the apartment.

Vax walked through into her living room, accompanied by the man apparently named ‘Kash’. Keyleth looked up from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She beamed when she saw Vax.

“You’re a little early aren’t you?”

Vax shrugged. “Like five minutes.”

Keyleth giggled and stood up. She crossed the room and wrapped him in a hug. She smelt like flowers again. She stepped back and looked from Vax to the other man. She straightened suddenly and laughed.

“Wow I forgot you two haven’t met yet. Vax, this is Kashaw, my publicist. Kash, this is Vax’ildan, he’s one of Zahra’s clients.”

Vax glanced at the other man who had visibly relaxed as he nodded. “You’re part of Vox Machina, right?” Kashaw inquired, crossing his arms.

Vax nodded. “Yeah, that would be my sister and I.”

“Zahra thinks you guys have got the stuff to make it big,” Kash said.

Vax raised an eyebrow and glanced at Keyleth. She rolled her eyes. “As you can tell, Kash is definitely a ball of sunshine who is brilliant with people. But, as you probably couldn’t tell, he’s engaged to Zahra and they both work together at the agency.”

Vax glanced at Kashaw again. His brain really couldn’t seem to process the fact that this guy was engaged to the bubbly, enthusiastic manager/publicist Cassandra had introduced Vex and Vax to. It seemed almost comical to align the two in his brain.

“But, we’re not here to talk about Kash and his terrible people skills. We’re here to make a video!” Keyleth said excitedly.

Kashaw nodded. “Well that’s my cue to leave. Remember what I said, right Keyleth?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I’ll be mindful of what we share. It’s not a live stream so we can always edit out anything that doesn’t fit.”

With that, Keyleth’s publicist vanished and Vax heard the apartment door shut behind him. Keyleth immediately grabbed Vax’s arm and pulled him to her couch where they sat side by side. She stared at him.

“You’re sure you want to do this, right?”

Vax smiled. “Kiki, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to.”

She nodded. “Well, I know, but usually you and Vex are a packaged deal, so I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable with singing on your own and stuff.” Vax laughed. “If you were anyone else, I would say no, but it’s all good.”

She smiled. “Well then, let’s start, shall we!”

She stood from the couch and moved into the armchair across from him. She fiddled with something on her camera before motioning for him to move over so he was out of frame temporarily. She hit the record button and moved into position on the couch.

“Hello everyone! Welcome back to Variety Thursdays where I make whatever kind of video feels right!” She smiled charmingly. “I know people have been begging for another collaboration video and for another one about music, so I have decided to deliver on both of those fronts.”

She pointed at the camera. “Now, last time I made a music video, I talked about my favourite groups including one that I’d just discovered through my good friend Scanlan Shorthalt. I’m happy to say this video has changed a lot of things for me, including the fact that I’m not just raving about the incredibly talented Vox Machina to a camera since,” she paused, reaching over to grab Vax’s arm so she could yank him into view, “I’m actually sitting here with half of Vox Machina as we speak!”

Vax smiled for the camera and looked back at Keyleth. “Your video opened a lot of doors for us, so really, I think I should be thanking you for everything.”

She bumped their shoulders together. “Nonsense. You and Vex are crazy talented so I’m definitely a big fan of yours.” She grabbed the stack of papers from the coffee table. “Let’s get to the whole point of this video! The people want to know you! Of course they know me, but let’s talk about the mysterious YouTube Twins who just popped out of nowhere with crazy vocals.”

Vax shrugged. “Vex is the singer. I play guitar mostly. But, if you’re asking, we moved here from London about 5 years ago for a couple of different reasons. The channel is actually due to pressure by a close friend of ours, Shaun Gilmore, who thought we were talented enough to get somewhere.” He looked more closely at the camera. “So Gilmore, I guess we owe you a bigger thanks than previously given.”

Keyleth beamed at him. “And you and I started chatting after I talked about you from Star Search, and we’ve become friends since then.” Vax smiled. “Honestly Keyleth, I really think we ought to credit Scanlan and Pike a bit more. They’re the whole reason I didn’t chicken out of talking to you since they invited Vex and I to that party where I literally crashed into you.”

“Yes, of course, we cannot forget the contributions from the others that actually taught me how much of a dork you are in real life.”

“Hey, you’re the one who snuck us out the rear of that restaurant.”

Keyleth smiled at him and for a moment Vax forgot the cameras were rolling because she was all he could focus on. She was an absolute natural and she made him feel at ease even though he could still get nervous in front of the cameras for his own videos.

“So can we talk music then? Because you guys just announced that you’re signing with Whitestone Records, right?”

Vax nodded. “Yeah, Cassandra has been great to work with and Vex and I are really excited. We decided to produce some of our best covers first and do kind of a ‘best of the already released gems’ for our first outing, but we’re definitely not a one-trick pony. The channel isn’t going anywhere and you can definitely expect more original content in the future.”

“Oh my gosh, please let’s talk originals because Phoenix is amazing and so is Victory Lap. We know that you wrote most of Phoenix and Vex is the genius behind Victory Lap, so is there anything you can tell me for a hint?” She cast the camera a sly glance. “Well, I guess me and the people who’ll be watching this video.”

Vax looked around jokingly like he was looking for an eavesdropper. “Well, I guess, since I already cleared this with Vex, we can talk about something I’ve been cooking up.” He cleared his throat and Keyleth beamed.

“A pretty girl picks up the pieces that the world said would never be masterpieces,” he sang gently. “She spins gold from the rubble, breaks away from all of her troubles. And she climbs, and she climbs, and she reaches for mountains of glory. She is glory. She is beauty. She is powerful, wonderful, swinging for the fences because she’s not going down without a fight. Step back stranger and watch out, she shines bright.”

When he finished the verse, Keyleth was staring at him in awe. Vax instantly felt subconscious. He wasn’t used to being so free with his voice, especially without his trusted guitar, but he really liked where Bright was going. It had a similar message to Phoenix, but it came from the heart and that made it true. He had written that part, obviously about Vex, while she had written the next lyrics about a boy who wore the shadows as a cloak until he finally chose the spotlight.

“Vax, that was beautiful! I cannot wait for it to be done, and I absolutely must be the first person you send it to, okay? And that’s definitely not a request, it’s a demand. Everything you and Vex write is so powerful and deep. It’s beautiful.”

He gave her a small half-smile. “Thanks Keyleth, you’ll be the first on my list to know.”

She knocked their shoulders together and smiled brilliantly. “Good. Now let’s get to this game I made because you’re either going to love it or hate it and I can’t wait to see which one.”

A week later, and it was finally time for Keyleth’s video to release. Vax was hanging out at her apartment again as Keyleth finished lining it up in her queue. She clicked one more thing on her computer and looked up at him.

“It’s ready!”

Vax sat up from where he was sprawled on his couch. “Twitter time?” She nodded, snatching her phone and typing away. After a moment, Vax’s phone buzzed with the notification. He opened it so that he could retweet it and craft his own message.

Kiki @keylethashari • Just Now

It’s Variety Thursday again and I finally decided to talk music again and this time I brought on my friend @vaxmachina! Check it out and give Vox Machina’s channel a sub when you’re done! youtube.com/watch?v=huYiNbw

He retweeted Keyleth’s message and wrote up his own tweet.

Vax @vaxmachina • Just Now

Made a video with @keylethashari the other day. There’s singing, some laughter, and some other good stuff. Check it out -> youtube.com/watch?v=huYiNbw

Keyleth laughed and looked at him. “Eloquent, aren’t you?”

“Vex is the social media wizard, not me. Besides, it gets the meaning across, doesn’t it?” “Hm, I guess it does.” Keyleth paused heavily and held eye contact with him.

After several seconds of fighting off a smile, he cracked and they both burst into laughter.

Vax got home much later that night than he’d intended. He had ended up helping Keyleth cook dinner as they goofed off and had a good time. He figured that Vex was either asleep or out with Percy so she wouldn’t mind him being out so he even let Keyleth talk him into watching the Little Mermaid with her before he finally headed home.

He unlocked the door quietly and stepped into the apartment. “Vex’ahlia?” he called cautiously.

There was no immediate response so he assumed that she was out somewhere. His assumption was almost immediately proven wrong as he stepped into the living room and saw her. She was sitting on the floor in front of the couch with a half-empty bottle of whiskey in her lap as she stared blankly at the wall.

Vax cursed under his breath and hurried to her side, kneeling next to her. He grabbed the bottle from her and planted a hand on her shoulder. “Vex’ahlia, what are you doing?”

She snapped her head to him and tried to snag the bottle back, but he lifted it out of her reach. “Give it back, Vax,” she said sharply.

He sank to the ground next to her. “Vex, talk to me, please,” he begged. “Something is going on, I know, but I can’t help unless you talk to me.”

“I don’t need your help. Just give me the damn bottle.”

“No. And I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me, so you can tell me or we’ll just sit here until we’re old and ugly.”

Vex was silent next to him. Vax didn’t say anything as he waited for her to speak. Something was definitely wrong and he needed her to open up to him so that he could help her. When she still said nothing, he exhaled slowly.

“Vex’ahlia, you’re my twin sister. I love you and I want to be there for you. When you’re hurting, I’m hurting too, so please, just talk to me.”

She exhaled shakily and looked at him. Her eyes were wet and full of shame. “Everything is going great, I’m just being stupid.”

He guided her face up so that she would look him in the eye. “Nothing you ever do is stupid, okay? Just talk to me.”

“It started on Instagram. We were just gaining momentum after Keyleth’s first video and I was feeling better than I had in a long time. This random account followed me and kept leaving these horrible comments and direct messaging me all of these hurtful things. It started out as just general insults, but they started hitting closer and closer to home until I realized the truth,” she broke off, her shoulders trembling.

Vax hugged her tightly and she took a deep, calming breath. “The things that this account was saying were things they never should have known. Personal, dark things that I left behind in London.”

Vax knew what she was going to say next before she said it. “Saundor,” he breathed. “He’s been harassing you this whole time?”

She nodded mutely. “And I just couldn’t block him, couldn’t get him to stop, because every time I tried I would be back to that scared, horrible girl in London who couldn’t get out of a bad place until my entire world was turned upside down.”

“Vex’ahlia, look at me.” She did. “He is scum. Nothing he says carries value because you are radiant and beautiful and stronger than everything he could ever throw at you. He is the biggest blemish you’ll ever have on your life and it’s okay for that to still hurt. Your vulnerability is your strength because it makes you passionate and strong in the face of everything you’ve survived. We left him behind in London, and let me reaffirm for you, he is going to stay there.” She was trembling next to him, so he pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his head atop hers. “I love you so much, Stubby, and nothing he says will ever be true or make me think any less of you. I’m going to block him for you and if you want, I think we should go to the police to make sure he can’t get in contact with you again. But, if you aren’t ready, that can wait, and we can just focus on getting you sober and back to the radiant, wonderful woman that I know. The one we all know.” He kissed her hair. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she replied weakly. “I love you, Vax,” she murmured softly.

“I love you too, Vex, so, so much. Don’t ever forget that.”

He pushed the whiskey bottle to the side and ignored his phone as it vibrated with new messages on Twitter from his and Keyleth’s video. He hugged his sister tighter and murmured words of comfort until she felt safe enough to drift off. He would be there for her to make her feel safe and loved until she could step out of the dark, horrible shadow that Saundor had left on her life.

8 notes · View notes

sockablock · 6 years ago

Text

“Can you do 35 (bathtub fic) and 95 (sleep intimacy) for vaxleth? also its no rush or anything, I cant imagine the number of requests youve gotten.”

@bkfstprincess IM SORRY I DIDN’T FORGET ABOUT YOU I JUST SUCK SOMETIMES AND I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE THIS WORK I HOPE ITS OK

• • • • •

“Oh no, Vax’ildan,” Keyleth laughed, throwing a towel at his head from where she sat on the sheets, “you’re not getting into bed until you’ve dried your hair. Hurry up, or I’ll fall asleep without you.”

Vax lifted the cloth away from his face and pouted. “Aw, Kiki, come on! You’re the Voice of the Tempest! Just today you fought a kraken hundreds of feet deep in the ocean. A little water isn’t going to hurt you.”

Keyleth rolled her eyes. “It’s not official yet, you know. And maybe it won’t hurt, but it’ll definitely annoy me enough to keep me up all night.”

“Oh?” Vax grinned. “And what if that’s exactly what I want to do?”

She immediately shook her head. “No way, not tonight.”

"Shit,” he said immediately, “sorry, I should have—”

She balked and looked away. “No, no, it’s not that, it’s just, well...Vax, you shouldn’t be straining yourself.”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” he grinned, and cheekily tried to meet her gaze. “I mean, I certainly would like to.”

“No, no, you need to rest.”

“I’ve just gotten all the rest I need, though.”

“Oh, gods, Vax! Don’t joke like that.”

“Why not, Kiki?” he laughed. “What’s the harm in—”

Her head whipped up towards him, and he froze. His heart sank as suddenly saw her eyes, wide and heavy with grief.

“Shit,” he said again, softer this time. He dropped the towel and took a step closer. “Shit, I’m, um, I’m sorry, Keyleth.”

She shook her head again and sighed. “No, no, it’s alright,” she said, wiping the tears away. “I just...I don’t know why I feel like this. You’re right, we should be celebrating, I should be happy that you’re here.”

“Aw, jeez, no, Keyleth, you have every right to be upset. I mean...I was dead��a few hours ago. And, and you had to deal with that.”

She snorted. “You had to deal with it more than I, Vax. You’re the one who...well...” Her shoulders slumped. “On my watch, too. I was supposed to be the leader. To keep us all safe. But then everything went so wrong and I had to leave our friends behind and they barely made it out, and, and...”

He joined her on the bed and she buried her face into his chest.

“I failed,” she murmured. “You died.”

“I’m not dead anymore,” he said softly, and rubbed a hand against her back. “You didn’t fail. And maybe the mission didn’t go as well as you’d have liked, but you learned from it, yes? You’ve grown, yes? And we’re all still here, yes?”

She nodded.

“Alright then,” he whispered. “Then it’s okay. In the end, that’s all we can hope for, yeah? And really, it’s all that matters.”

She slowly pulled away, wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. “The Raven Queen has seriously rubbed off on you,” she said.

He tried for a small smile. “Is that good?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. “I’m not completely sure yet, to be honest. I think so.”

“If it helps, there’s only one all-powerful force of nature, wrapped up into a beautiful goddess, in my heart.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes,” he grinned, and took her hands in his. “Her name is Keyleth of the Air Ashari, and she just finished her Aramente.”

A small spark glimmered in Keyleth’s eyes. “I did, didn’t I?” she said. “I did just finish my Aramente.”

He nodded, his smile grew wider. “You did, Kiki. You did.”

She giggled. “And you were right there with me, the whole way. Everyone was. We finished my Aramente, together.”

“Does this mean I get to be Voice of the Tempest too?”

She laughed this time, a loud and bright sound. “Maybe you should start small,” she said. “You can be the Voice’s right hand.”

He chuckled. “I think I could handle being the Voice’s shadow. Yeah, actually, that sounds pretty nice.”

“Really? That’s all you want?”

Vax leaned in, put his forehead against hers, spoke softly. “If it means I get to follow you for all eternity, and never leave your side? Then yes. It is all I want.”

She stroked his cheek. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he whispered. “You put up with my sister, that’s a big one. And you’ve healed me more times than I can count, and you’ve always been patient with me, and there was that one time we both tied bows into Trinket’s fur—”

She pulled back, laughing again. “I see,” she said. “Well, you certainly know the way to a woman’s heart, huh?”

“And a man’s,” Vax quipped. “But at the moment, I think, those skills won’t be too necessary.”

Keyleth smiled, but then the expression faded just slightly. “I really do think we should try to easy tonight, though, just in case. Is...is that alright?”

Vax nodded immediately. “Of course,” he said. “You’re usually right about these things anyhow.”

“And it might be nice to just...be still, for a while.”

“Right.”

“Although,” she said, “although there is one thing I need you to do for me.”

“Anything, Kiki.”

She nodded. “Wonderful. Go dry your hair.”

There was a moment’s pause.

“After everything I just said? All those beautiful words and praises just for you, Keyleth? After all of my undying love and adoration? You’re really going to make me get up and get that towel off the floor and spend the next half an hour drying my hair when I could be deep in your beautiful arms?”

“Yes, yes, hurry up, now. I’m tired, and this lovely bed is getting cold.

He gave her a long, offended stare. Then he stood up and theatrically skulked across the room.

And then, after a good forty-five minutes, he climbed back into bed, let Keyleth drape herself around him, curled up into the warmth between her arms, and soon, they both fell asleep.

And then after that, after they had both woken up a few hours later and decided together that perhaps, perhaps maybe sleep wasn’t the best way to celebrate the night after all, perhaps they should allow a little strain and a little excitement instead, well then, in that case, perhaps maybe they pushed the covers down and perhaps maybe they welcomed a bit of fun into the evening.

And then after that, perhaps it is true that a large metal construct carefully opened their door, scared the ever-loving shit out of the both of them, cheerfully scribbled down a series of incredibly detailed brushstrokes, and swiftly bolted, shutting the door gently behind it.

And then, and then, more-or-less, after the bewildered exclamations and the exhausted sighs, the confused ranting and the resigned laughter, finally, after that, then finally, the night was theirs and theirs alone, again.

• • • • •

aaaaand, that’s a wrap on the 1k follwers fic requests! Thank you guys so so much for sending them in! I had a ton of fun with each one, and it was an amazing amazing challenge to do. I might open up the ol’ inbox again for the next milestone (i already know what I want to do) and I really hope you guys enjoyed reading these! All in all, I wrote 30 over the last month, most in the first two weeks and then i waited forever to finish this last one (sorry again!) Mostly campaign 2, with a few 1′s thrown in for color. You guys knocked it out of the park, and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful followers!

If you’d like to read them all, click here! If you feel like funding my writerly activities, please consider a coffee right here! Thanks again and <333 y’all

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punkrockgenasiashton · 3 years ago

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A few other things I personally would like to see: - less focus on shipping from the cast. If that's the game they wanna play, like I've said a bajillion times, it's their game and they can do what they want but man...like...yeah, campaign 1 they all ended up in relationships with each other but...it felt less...idk forced? Besides Vaxleth in campaign 1, which, admittedly, Liam *worked* for to be end game, Percy/Vex and Scanlan/Pike both felt far more natural than Forjester or Beauyasha, which both felt like something (while good) they started to work towards way too early in the campaign. - Starting with a group that already knows each other or comes together quicker *or* that has characters that openly dislike each other. - This circles back into OP's but characters who don't run away from the plot a lot of the time, and a willingness by the players to occasionally act OOC a little to allow that to happen. Now, there was a lot of things that campaign 2 did that was good. I did enjoy a lot of the characters early on, and Matt's settings were second probably only to Brendan Lee Mulligan's Dimension 20 universes (specifically Fantasy High, A Crown of Candy, and Sleeping City)...but the characters' disinterest in getting involved in the political or war campaigns that matt was angling for left a lot of "wandering around the world poking stuff and seeing what happens then running away from the consequences" which...imo got tiresome. Also, while avoiding Real Discourse, I was *not* a fan of some character decisions and some npc's...or the fandom's obsession with a certain character. But, like I said earlier, their game, they can do what they want...I'm just excited for a fresh slate because Campaign 1 literally saved my life and I love these people very much.

if I think about some of the stuff I’d Hoped Would Happen in c2 when the show started I’ll go insane SO let’s just hope c3 starts real soon LOL

#critical role #cr discourse

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captainkappa · 8 years ago

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Fanfic:: Of Fairy Rings and Other Things

Summary: Vax was just supposed to take Trinket out on a walk. Then Trinket got loose, a ring of mushrooms made Vax’s feet stop working, and who is this gorgeous lady in front of him?? A Vaxleth Modern/Fae AU

Pairing: Vax/Keyleth (though can be read as vax&keyleth)

Word Count: 2400

AO3

The usually empty plot of asphalt was absolutely teeming with life as cars came rolling in and people opening the trunks to start selling their wares. It was a weekly tradition for the city of Emon, what had started as separate farmer’s markets and flea markets eventually merged into one gigantic market that lasted as long as cars were in the lot.

And Vex loved it, which meant she usually dragged Vax along to help.

He parked beside a red truck, got out along with his sister, and popped open the trunk to let Trinket out, tongue lolling out.

Vax knelt down beside Trinket, leash in hand. “C’mon boy, you’re hanging out with uncle today.”

Trinket dutifully walked forward, allowing for Vax to clip the leash to the harness and for Vex to unload their wares without a big happy dog getting in the way.

“You’ve got everything handled?” Vax asked, looking up to Vex who was unpacking boxes. Normally, Vex only came to the market to haggle the shit out of the people selling food, but sometimes they did come into possession of things to sell.

“As soon as you give me the keys I will.”

He tossed them to her as soon as she glanced the other way. She caught them without looking.

“Really, brother?”

He grinned, standing up “Well then, we won't be back until you've made at least one grown man cry with your bartering skills.”

“I take offense to that. It'll be at least three.”

“I'll hold you to it, stubby.”

She stuck her tongue out as Vax and Trinket made their way out of the isles of cars and people. After spending many a Sunday here Trinket automatically started leading him across the asphalt, away from the people to the edge. Two of the sides of the parking lot lead for more asphalt, but the other two had a dusty, grassy path that led to a forest. There was a small, worn down path that lead in, before the trees and bushes got too thick.

Trinket was well trained enough he knew to be careful around the dusty, grassy part, as there were sometimes broken bottles scattered around. They carefully walked on the edge between the lot and the grassy bit.

The leash was held loosely around Vax’s hand, who’s attention was half on Trinket and half casually watching the market grow. A sharp tug on the leash made Vax’s head whip around and he saw Trinket on two legs out of excitement, looking intently in the direction of the forest.

He tightened his grip on the leash. “Woah, boy, what do you see?”

Trinket woofed in response, pulling harder, forcing him to take a couple of steps so the leash wouldn’t break.

“No, Trinket, not that way.”

Trinket woofed louder.

“We don’t go in there, remember?”

But Trinket was fixated on the forest, and with one sudden burst of energy, Trinket leaped, forcing Vax to let go of the leash, and went sprinting in the forest.

“No, no, no! Trinket!” Without thinking, Vax sprinting after the dog.

As he crossed into the forest, it suddenly felt less like noon and more like twilight as the leaves blocked out most of the sunlight. Vax tried his best keep his eyes trained on Trinket, who was a ways ahead, but was forced to look at the ground as well as he nearly tripped several times.

Just as he looked up again, he saw Trinket suddenly make a sharp right. Vax’s legs burned by this point, but he pushed himself to follow because he knew Vex would never forgive him if he went back to the flea market without Trinket.

Turning right, the trees grew denser, forcing Vax to slow down, then broke into a clearing. He was momentarily blinded by the sudden appearance of the sun. He looked around, but Trinket was nowhere to be found.

“Fuck, Vex is going to kill me.”

He walked forward, hoping if he called out enough, Trinket would grow bored of whatever it was he’d seen before and come back.

Partway through yelling Trinket’s name and walking through the clearing, his feet stopped moving. He looked down, his feet not physically trapped by anything. The only thing close by were small, red mushrooms in a large circle surrounding him.

“What the-”

Before he had time to think, before him appeared a gorgeous woman. Vax blinked once, twice, and still, the woman stayed where she was, having appeared out of nowhere. She wore a golden circlet with gems imbedded and decorations resembling leaves by her pointed ears. Antlers came from… somewhere behind her ears. She wore a dark green dress, with looping, abstract designs embroidered in a lighter green. She had red hair that trailed past her shoulders. She was absolutely stunning.

Her presence only added to his confusion.

“Who- What- What is going on?” Vax finally managed to get out.

The woman’s eyes widened a touch before she smiled gleefully. “I finally caught a human! Like properly caught one!”

“Um, what?”

The woman clapped and continued smiling. “I can’t believe it!”

“What the fuck is going on? Is this a prank?”

That made the woman stop her… celebrating? “I’m... I’m not sure what that is.”

Vax fruitlessly tried jumping again, but his feet remained firmly attached to the ground.

“What the fuck is going on? Why can’t I move?”

“That’s because you’ve fallen into my trap!” She paused before saying. “You don’t mind, do you?”

He gaped at her. “I… I can’t move.”

“Yes, that’s the point of a trap,” she said slowly. She suddenly looked concerned. “You’re not hurt in anyway? Didn’t hurt your head before?”

“No, I… Please just explain what’s going on.”

She tilted her head to the side, which seemed like a hassle with antlers attached to her. “I’ve heard humans call this a fairy ring.”

“A what?”

“A fairy ring,” she said matter-of-factly. She gestured with her hand and an ornate, wooden staff appeared in her hand. With the bottom, she traced the mushroom circle. “That’s what this is.”

Vax’s brows furrowed. “That’s… That’s just a ring of mushrooms. That shouldn’t be able to do this.” He tried jumping, but remained stuck to the ground.

“Well, clearly is able, because it’s magic.”

“There’s no such thing as magic,” Vax said automatically.

She smiled. “Well, I don’t know how much you can question that, now that, you know.” She gestured with her staff that had magically appeared out of nowhere to his feet that would not lift up no matter how hard he tried and dear gods what was going on?

“Then what are you, that you can do this?”

The lady thought for a moment. “I believe your people call us fairies. Or fae, it really depends on the people. I’ve heard plenty of tales-”

Vax’s mind went blank for a moment as she rambled on.

Fairies…

There was a fairy standing right in front of him, who had trapped him because he had walked into a ring of mushrooms.

He had just been walking Trinket, and now there was a fairy in front of him.

The woman stared at him curiously as he had a quarter-life crisis over the existence of fairies.

"Wait,” he said, when his brain wasn’t just screaming about the existence of fairies. “I’ve watched Peter Pan and Tinkerbell countless times with my sister, aren’t fairies supposed to be small? And have wings? And not exist?”

The woman giggled and then shrugged. "Well, to answer those questions in order, we generally take the form of our prey, my people don’t have wings but we can fly, and I thought we covered the existence part?”

He tried not to think too hard on the connotation of prey and him in the circle. “Can you blame me? You could be a projection for all I know.”

“What’s a projection?”

“I… It’s something that looks like an object is there, but it’s really not. It’s just made out of light.”

“Oh, well I can prove I’m real!”

“How- oh.”

Faster than Vax could realize what she was doing, the woman entered the circle with him. She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. Vax’s eyes widened when, sure enough, she was solid and warm and very much not a projection.

“So, uh, does that prove it?”

The two looked at each other for what was probably an uncomfortable amount of time, but Vax really couldn’t do much unless he wanted to fall over and possibly sprain something. When the silence prevailed for too long, he nodded and she took a step back, hand lingering for another second before falling to her side.

“How do I know you’re not just a human?” Vax’s brain supplied him with the answer of did you not just see her do magic? but he was grasping at straws for some sense of reality.

“Well, um… oh!” She backed up so she was now outside the circle, and... just kind of, stood there, eyes closed, mouth moving slightly. Before he was able to comment, a sudden gust of wind blew his long, dark hair into his mouth. He spat it back out before another section got caught as the sudden wind grew, but his attention was no longer on his hair as he saw the woman start to hover above the ground. She looked ethereal in how she was effortlessly floating on the wind, hair blowing just right to frame her face.

Had his attentions not been fixated on her, he would’ve seen that the wind was only by the fairy ring; none of the trees were being blown in the wind. But Vax’s brain was really at capacity of “what the fuck?” and “holy shit this is real” so maybe it was for the best.

The winds died down and the woman landed back on her feet with only a slight stumble.

“So, uh, what do you think?”

A thousand more questions formed in his brain. "So, what are you normally like?"

"Ummm, ok, so you know how human hunters put traps down in long grass for small animals?"

Vax nodded.

"Well, imagine this is our grass," she gestured to the trees surrounding them.

Vax mouth dropped, usually good at maintaining surprise, but to his credit he just found out fairies exist and consider trees to be the size of grass. At this point, it was the magic of the circle that was keeping him upright and that was a sentence he never thought he’d say to himself. Ever.

“Okay… okay… what is going to happen to me?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but paused, looking like her mental train of thought had screeched to a halt. “I’ll be honest I don’t know. I’ve never actually caught a human.”

Well that was a vote of confidence. “Well, um, congrats on your first? I still want to know what’s going to happen.”

The lady’s answer was interrupted by the sound of distant woofing.

She turned quickly. “Who goes there?”

Vax sighed happily. “That sounds like my sister’s dog.”

“Oh… is he friendly?”

“Yes, but he’s very loud and very big and could probably knock you over.”

“Shit, shit, shit… um, fuck, what do I do?”

Vax couldn’t help but laugh at an elegant fairy cussing like a sailor.

“You could let me go? Hunt something that isn’t me?”

She pouted. “I suppose…”

"Who knows, maybe I'll let you catch me a couple more times."

“I… really?”

“Not exactly, but I think I need a couple more lessons in fairy things.” Oh, he could hear Vex’s voice in the back of his head, asking him why on earth are you flirting with a fairy?

"Ok.” She smiled. “And you could explain more human things.”

“Okay, we could do that.” Vax found himself smiling. “Now, if you could, please?” He gestured to his feet.

“Oh, of course.” She waved her hand once, and the mushrooms all slowly shrunk into the ground. Vax tentatively tried to lift his foot, and let out a relieved sigh as his foot lighted with ease.

That moment, Trinket came bursting in and pounced on Vax, knocking him to the ground. Trinket eagerly licked Vax’s face.

“Yes, yes, it’s me, you big oaf.” Vax scratched behind Trinket’s ears, and wasn’t all that surprised to find the dog completely filthy. “You are going to need a bath, when we get home.”

That got Trinket off of him, and he back off with his tail between his legs, toward the lady.

“You can’t blame me, boy! You’re the one who went off running and rolling around in dirt!”

The woman giggled and at that, Trinket suddenly forgot about being worried about baths and happily bounded around her. She knelt to the ground and began petting him.

“I think that’s the quickest he’s made friends with somebody, even when my sister found him,” Vax commented, as he stood himself up. His legs still ached, but after everything he learned, it was a non-issue.

“He certainly is playful, but I should let you two get going.” She stood up.

Vax leaned over to grab Trinket’s leash, which was as dirty as him. He wrapped it several times around his wrist.

“You know, I just realized I never got your name.”

The lady froze. “I, um… I mean, I-” She took a breath. “It’s complicated.”

“Really?”

“I… we’re not supposed to tell humans this,” her voice got lower, “but names have significant power among my people. It’d be like giving a prized possession away and letting that person do whatever they want with it.”

“Oh. Well, what about nicknames?” He quickly added before she asked. “They’re a shortened form of your name. Would that be okay?”

She considered it for a moment. “I think so. In that case my name is… Key?”

“Can I call you Kiki?”

“I… yes, I like that.” She smiled.

He smiled back. “Okay, Kiki. My name is Vax, and as… interesting as it was to be captured by you, my sister is probably wondering where we’ve been.”

“Well, I’ll see you next time you’re around!”

He nodded and waved as Trinket started pulling him back home.

“Trinket,” he whispered, “You may be getting a bath, but you’re also gonna get the best treats we can afford once we get back.”

Trinket’s tail wagged happily.

#critfic #vaxleth #vax'ildan #keyleth #critical role #first crit role fic hell yeah #kappa writes #my fanfic #vox machina

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