#so many fucking nott feelings holy shit

[all-thestories-aretrue]

Beau: Are you afraid that if you get your old body back...

Jester: It means you have to leave us and go back to Yeza and your son?

Beau: Because that's totally a manifested condition you are putting on this situation

----

Caleb: Hard for a son to be away from a mother.

----

Fjord: We certainly need you. We'd be short sighted.

-----

Caleb: We wouldn't judge you if you wanted to stay with us for a while.

Beau: Or if you wanted to go home.

Caleb: Or if you wanted to stay with us for a while.

[asapeveryday]

We Have Now

Pairing: Nika Mühl x Reader

Warnings: lil bit of angst, suggestive content

Summary: The season is over, the seniors have graduated and the summer has begun. The future holds a lot of uncertainty, but your feelings for Nika have never been uncertain. Is it too late for you?

A/n: I just can’t resist summer themed fics. Also I’m ngl this is NOTT my best work so I’m sorry for that… enjoy anyways.

“Holy shit!”

Through the window of your bedroom you can see the sunset has turned outside an entrancing mix of tropical colours. Pink, purple, orange and yellow mix in the clouds and paint the world around you for a moment, and you know you need to see it up close.

You rush down the stairs and past the living room, where the rest of the team is sleeping on the couch with a movie on in the background.

It had been a long day for everyone, the team had planned to spend a couple days of July at an airbnb in Rhode Island back in February, and the plan thankfully took off.

The day had been filled with a long car ride, various TikToks, loud music, unpacking, swimming and barbecuing. Everyone was exhausted.

When you rush out to the deck you’re encapsulated by the scenery. Sunsets were beautiful, but even better by the beach. The white sand and deep ocean water against the rich setting sky was something out of a book.

After taking about a hundred photos and videos, you put your phone away and just stood in astonishment.

Playing basketball with these girls at Uconn was one of the biggest blessings you’d ever received in your life, and you were going to miss them so much. You often found yourself swimming in old memories at night, memories of locker room conversations, late night drives, shared playlists, loud Friday night parties, shared looks, useless yearning and post game tears.

You’d already gone through your sad feelings at graduation though, and the draft had brought some more light to the situation. You had no regrets whatsoever about your college career, except for maybe one thing. And that thing was on the beach right now.

Nika was laying on the sand, just far enough from the ocean to avoid getting hit by the high tide. She didn’t say anything when you laid down beside her, the both of you just stared at the darkening sky as the sound of waves filled the silence.

“Remember how different things were when we first met?” You finally say after some time.

Nika quietly laughs. “How could I forget?”

You roll your eyes playfully. “Gosh, I thought you were so weird.”

“You were weirder.” She grumbles.

“You just thought all Americans were weird.”

“Because you guys are! I never saw so many overly confident basketball players who were so bad till’ I came here.”

The two of you laugh together for a moment, then it’s quiet again.

Your hand is excruciatingly close to hers, but neither of you move closer.

“Everything’s so different now.” Nika mumbles, almost to herself.

You turn your head to face her. Nika’s side profile is strong, prominent nose, perfect lips, sharp eyebrows and expressive eyes. Her cheeks are pink from being out in the sun. You have the urge to make them pinker, but you shake the thought away.

“Yeah. Everything is different…but that’s a good thing”

Nika nods solemnly, but you can tell she’s thinking hard.

“Niks, don’t worry too much okay? Things work out if they’re meant to.”

She brings a hand to her face, covering her eyes and muffling her voice, which slightly wavers when she says. “What if I don’t make it?”

With this you give in and take her hand, squeezing it tight for a moment.

“Baby they’re lucky to have you. One day with you and they’ll know you’re needed on that team. Everyone else knows it for sure.”

“Says who?” Her eyebrows furrow. “I can’t just assume this’ll work out. What if it doesn’t? What the fuck do I do then? All my work will have been for nothing.”

“If Seattle doesn’t see you as an asset to their team, then I assure you there’ll be another team just waiting for you. Everyone here knows how valuable you are as a player, and the internet wouldn’t let anyone forget.”

She isn’t very convinced, but she turns her head to meet your gaze. Her eyes remind you of a puppies eyes. “Thank you.” She says, sincere and slightly embarrassed. Her hand is still in yours and your noses are almost touching. You wonder if she’d ever talk to you again if you kissed her.

At the thought of that, your stomach sinks. You sit up suddenly, hand breaking from hers. You don’t see how her face drops when you do it.

“I-“ you start, but hesitate. You didn’t want to regret anything like this again. You wanted her to know every thought in your head, even if it had a chance of going sour. “I’m really gonna miss you Nika. More than anyone else, I think.” You finally manage to get out.

She sits up now too, her brown hair blowing in the salty wind, her almost hazel eyes glinting from the reflection of the water, or perhaps something else, something like hope.

“More than anyone else?” She questions you.

“Yeah.” You say, turning to meet her stare. “I’ve always liked you more than the others.”

“Hm.” She says, as if she was expecting more.

The silence is eating at you, you just want to scream out how badly you want her. You know it’s too late, when this trip is over everyone splits. You to your hometown, Aaliyah to Washington, Nika to Seattle, Paige and the others to Connecticut. Still, you didn’t want to live with this in you forever.

“I had a massive crush on you during freshman year.” You utter as confidently as possible.

Nika’s lips part in surprise “You- you did?”

“Yeah. Major.” You scoff. Those days were almost pathetic in hindsight, obvious to everyone but Nika and yourself.

You watch as Nika draws swirls in the sand with her finger. You can practically hear the gears turning in her head.

“And…when did this crush fade away?” She finally asks you.

You let a beat pass before sucking it up and saying. “It didn’t.”

Nika’s eyes really widen now. You hold her gaze as best as you can. “I never stopped liking you. It just got stronger overtime, actually.”

You almost recoil when she scowls at you.

“Fuck you.”

“What?”

“Fuck!” She rubs her face, exasperated. “You- urgh, I wish you told me. I wish you told me way, way earlier.”

You don’t say anything.

“I wish I knew. Don’t you get it?” She whines, almost pleadingly. “God, if you’d told me way earlier we could’ve…maybe we would’ve..” she trails off.

Finding out that Nika Mühl, your best friend and longest love, also loved you should’ve been the best moment of your life. Instead it had you thinking of everything that could’ve been.

“I was scared.” You mutter. “I was so, so scared, I don’t know why. I wish I’d just told you, but you know me. I never take chances. I pass the ball, I don’t make the shot. I just…I wouldn’t have been able to take it if you didn’t feel the same. So I never did anything.”

She’s close to you now, hand on your knee, face flushed.

“What are we gonna do?”

You stare at her face, eyes darting from her eyes, then lips, the her eyes again.

Her eyes are beautiful. Honey brown, golden in the sun but piercing now at dusk, eyelashes long and fluttering as she tries to make sense of this situation.

You’ve wanted her more than you’ve wanted that ring at the end of the National Tournament every single year. The thought of you wasting time that could’ve been spent pressed next to her, skin to skin and soul to soul? It was sickening to you.

Still, here she was. Eyes begging you for something you’ve dreamed of. The sky now staining the beach a violent pink.

When your mouth meets hers it’s everything you’ve fantasized about. Her lips are full and soft, fitting perfectly against your own. You can feel her lashes tickle your face as you tilt your head just right, her arms get goosebumps when you fiddle with her hair.

Pulling away from her, you can’t help but melt at the satisfied smile on her face.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” Nika says. “I just wish it could’ve happened earlier.”

“I’m tired of wishing.” You say, putting a hand on her face gently. “We can’t change anything now. It’s over. But we have today.”

She drinks in the feeling of being this close to you. “We have now.” Nika whispers.

Your kisses are sweet and chaste at first, but it’s getting colder out and you need her warmth. She changes the pace, clashing into you with a sense of urgency now. When her mouth slightly opens and you feel her tongue against yours you know it’s over for you. She can have whatever she wants.

Nika finds herself straddling you now, and you’re suddenly hyper aware of everything that’s happening.

After four years of thinking of her before bed, before letting your hands take care of yourself night after night to the thought of her, here she was in all her glory. Body toned and breathing hard, hair sprawled against her tan skin, fingers untying her bikini top.

She leans into you, but instead of kissing you she puts her mouth to your ear. You can feel her smirk against your skin.

“How much of the past four years do you wanna bet I can make up for in one night?

[captainsspnanon]

C2E46 - A Storm of Memories - rewatch reaction

I’m 100% okay with episodes being pre-recorded, it has never bothered me in the slightest and I tend not to feel like it being live actually adds anything to it.  But there is a bit of charm of Laura coming in late, demanding to know if she’s got a doughnut, eating her dinner ‘sneakily’...so I guess I do get it a little bit.  

If I remember correctly, we only get a little bit of sad!Caleb this episode, but I think I need it. I’ve had a rough few days and I need the emotional catharsis of feeling my feels by my heart breaking for my sad boi.   Then I can be cheered up by Hello Bees!

Nott offering to stay, Caduceus giving a book, Fjord asking about paper, they all care about him and he’s starting to see it and it’s making him SO uncomfortable and I love it all so much.

Jester’s insistence that Fjord left them, making it sound more voluntary than it was, it breaking my heart.  It feels very similar to when she feels abandoned by the Traveler, except this time it’s a person she’s traveling with, not a god floating about on their whims.

I cannot tell if Travis is just being a dick with the whole ‘you didn’t immediately come after me?’ schtick, or if Fjord is genuinely feeling a little betrayed and abandoned.  I’m supposing it’s probably a 75/25 split with Travis trolling hard.  Just because it’s trolling doesn’t mean that it might not come from a secret insecurity of Fjord though.  Belonging is always something that’s been hard for him to accept as much as he desperately wants it.  Think of how quickly he was willing to accept that the group would abandon him when he lost his powers (both involuntarily and when he broke the patron bond).  He’d been with the group for months at that point, probably over half a year at least, and still was expecting to be kicked to the curb, though he would never suggest kicking anyone else.  It applies for many of the PCs in C2, but he’s definitely a ‘but not me though’ type person.  “It’s okay for everyone to struggle with this!  ...but not me though.”  “It’s okay for someone to feel overwhelmed at times.  ...but not me though.”  (I personally feel like Caleb, Nott, Beau, and Yasha also fall into this group frequently.  Jester and Cad do at times, but I feel like to a lesser extent, Jester more than Cad though.)

I barely put together the fact that Caleb was feeling really bad ALSO because he was the one who was fiddling with the sphere only a minute or two before he said it himself.

Nott’s gasp as realizing that Felderwin was attacked (and Sam’s wide eyes at realizing that his story’s up next XD)

Didn’t Travis already pay out the 130 to Marius?  And now another 225?  I wouldn’t be so concerned if this were VM, but M9 is poor AF for an adventuring party!  They are so dnd!poor!  130 gold is a LOT!

I didn’t realize this was the first mention of Caduceus’s veganism.  I could have sworn it came up before!  Maybe it had just been Taliesin making a joke about the Conjure Food and Water making tofu-like food in the sense of ‘not very good’ rather than ‘vegan’.  (tofu is fucking amazing by the way.  You don’t need to be a vegan to find that shit absolutely delicious.  Just gotta find a good brand, and unfortunately the grocery store that I go to now has two TERRIBLE brands which taste awful.  I miss my old grocery store)

All the fucking kudos to Ashley, my god.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I really didn’t feel much of Yasha’s character at all until Ashley was back full time, mainly because I wasn’t used to Ashley yet and couldn’t tell the difference between her and Yasha a lot.  But now??  HOLY SHIT, this quiet pain that she’s presenting as Yasha, her desire to just go with the flow and not ask for things of her own, MY HEART.  This is so much more poignant than Jester or Fjord’s feelings of abandonment, as legitimate as they are.  With such a nomadic character too, Yasha leaves people on HER terms.  But this time they left her, and with no notice at all.  Include the fact that Yasha’s not super close to any of them yet (much more due to Blindspot than anything within game itself), this definitely shook her badly.  I’m having so many Yasha feels right now.  (also this is one point where watching C1 first would have had it’s benefits, because Pike is SO different from Yasha, and having had time to see Ashley riff with Sam and Travis would have added a clear distinction between her and Yasha.  I got there eventually.  I’m not sure if it was during the Xhorhas stretch or if it was after Obann that I really began feeling her, but I know that it came.)

Just checked the attendance, this is the last one-off with Ashley! They’ll still be jaegering her for the next chunk of episodes, but then she’s there for 12, is taken by Obann, then back for good! I’m SOOOOOOO fucking ecstatic that we have her for all of C3, unless she ends up picking up another role, which I highly doubt she intends to.

Oh the whiplash from Sam/Nott shouting indignant about not having a funeral when everybody else did to Yasha admitting that she thought that they didn’t want her to be part of the group, and then immediately trying to cover it up.  MY HEAAART

The blacksmith who just wants a hug from Caduceus is ADORABLE.  

I’ve tried honey comb before, but I just prefer honey.  Much easier to deal with.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I haven’t been able to stock up on my good honey supply from a farmers market that I go to during a festival in [location redacted] and [time of year redacted] and [way too much personal information that I shouldn’t put in the internet redacted].  I tried a different vendor a few years ago which was absolutely lovely, bu the honey crystalized pretty quickly, and has been very difficult to fully decrystalize. I’ll get it mostly smooth again, but the bits that remain lead the honey to have a slightly off flavor.  And of course I don’t want to microwave the jar so long that it risks breaking, and having it sit in a pot of hot water works but take aaages, and still has the same issues.  So I just need to wait until [information redacted] to see if we’ll be able to go again in [information redacted].

UGH Caleb feeeeeeels.  Also, the foreshadowing!  Corrupted plant life?  Caduceus!  Debate records for both Xhorhas and Cognouza stuff! And then book number three is Eiselcross.  MATT YOU FRICKEN GENIUS. Seriously!  On a rewatch, you can see things that he is dropping in which become HUGE later on!  And I’m just referring to the ones that he deliberately plans, not the ones which due to the nature of the improv show end up being much more important than expected (nine, anyone?).

Out of the three, the Mistake, the Balleater, and the Nein Heroz, I think I like the Mistake the most.  It feels most appropriate for the Nein.  The Balleater is a dirty joke that a few of the PCs weren’t too fond of, and the Nein Heroz just feels too grand a name for this group XD.  The Mistake is juuuust right.

Dammit now I have Beau feels!  She’s right smack dab in the midst of her character growth, and this episode is hitting so many beats for her.  She’s taking on leadership aspects while still respecting a hierarchy (first mate to captain), she’s caring about people (making sure the crew is okay, checking in with Jester emotionally), she’s opening up instead of bringing up walls (sharing her childhood, expression admiration for Jester, saying ‘love you’), UGH I LOVE BEAU SO MUCH.  There is a REASON that she is only a hair away from being my favorite C2 PC (Caleb then Beau) (then Fjord, Jester, and Caduceus tied.  Then Nott and Yasha tied, and I’m expecting the rewatch to bump Nott and Yasha up to tying with everyone else).  Marisha is just fucking awesome.  Even when I didn’t like Keyleth, I appreciated what Marisha was doing with her, and Beau and C3 PC were just insta-hits with me from the start.

(also Jester feels that are there but hidden by the BEAU FEELS on top of it)

Ashley’s instant recognition of Zuala before her name is even said, with her hand over her mouth and eyes closing.  UGH and the rest of the cast not recognizing how big this moment is!!  Those are some of the best moments to me in a rewatch, seeing a PC react to something huge and no one else seeing it, and then they find out later and it’s the retroactive realization.

WAIT OBANN IS IN THE FLASHBACK AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH (also Orphan Maker name drop) (also also I think this is flashing back to her slaughtering a number of her tribe, at least the leader, which we never really find out even happens until the finale, and even then it’s not super clear.)

Do I go into my Orphan Maker ramble here?  SURE, why not.  I don’t get it.  Like, it’s a fucking badass name, and Yasha is metal as FUCK and Ashley picked Orphan Maker (I’m 99% sure on that, I don’t think it was Matt) buuuuuut.  Why Orphan Maker??  Had Yasha shown herself to be bloodthirsty in any way before?  As per her telling, she enjoyed fighting but she also enjoyed more peaceful aspects.  The level of fighting seemed to just be what was needed in her tribe.  So as much as I love the name Orphan Maker, I am super confused as to why that ended up being her tribe name.  Especially since Zuala is always referred to as Zuala and not any other title.  In fact, we don’t hear any others aside from the Skyspear.  So are they all super hardcore and violent sounding names?  Orphan Maker, Bone Crusher (nope that’s the name of the sword, isn’t it?), Skull Splitter, Torture McKillkill.  I honestly wish we had at least one or two other names for context.  If they were all like that, I think I’d be more comfortable with Yasha getting Orphan Maker, rather than feeling that it’s off in some way.  (I have no clue if other names are covered in the origins comic)  (oh, it isn’t be published for a few months, no wonder I didn’t know! XD  I knew it’s been announced ages ago, hadn’t realized that the pandemic pushed comic released back)

(completely off topic, but I don’t know how canon I consider the comics.  Jester’s had multiple contradictions to her campaign situation, including not having seen the Traveler’s face, having him show up around the same age as her since she was a child and growing up with her, him never having called himself a god but Jester deciding he was one, all things that are different in the comic. *shrugs* I don’t particularly care either way, because I do consider the campaigns to be the main canon regardless, but every once in a while it will bug me.)

The thunder sound effect is cool but distracting, and the lighting effect is barely noticeable.  Though it does make me really excited to see if/how a thunderstorm will be handled in C3.  C2 does a LOT right, but this is one of the instances where it misses more than succeeds.  Maybe if the thunder sound was about half as loud.

I do feel bad for Ashley when she’s only back for one episode and the spotlight AND combat is thrust upon her.  I get it’s to keep her involved in the story, both her and the PC, but OH BOY that instant pressure and stress, when you haven’t been thinking of dnd in AGES.  POP QUIZ remember your combat mechanics when you last played like, three months ago???  At least???  (i’m not bothering to look up the attendance again to count the actual episodes) It’s ROUGH

Narratively, I’m not sure what purpose this fight serves.  The Stormlord was just speaking to her about how the pain from loss can cause her to push people away and she shouldn’t do it, but then the fight is clearly meant to be a one on one, with her getting penalized for it when Jester gets involved.  Sure, she’s a barbarian, and sure, one of the Stormlord’s aspects is about combat and challenging oneself, but I dunno.  Oddly, it never seemed to fit with Yasha.  I don’t think I can consider a different class for her, but she’s not your typical barbarian, and I always felt like her trials by combat just didn’t mesh well.  I think a highlight of that is her purposely losing in the fighting ring, THAT felt so true to Yasha.  A reluctant fighter, in many senses.  I feel like had more of her background with her tribe been explored during the campaign, we may have seen more of this reluctant fighter aspect.

I both appreciate and feel bad about Travis giving her hints for the combat.  Appreciate it because of the reasons given above with JUST GOT BACK, but feel bad because it’s a bit of “let her play!”, a sense of ‘she’s playing wrong so must correct her’.  And OBVIOUSLY we know Travis isn’t thinking the latter and is just trying to assist, but there’s that little feeling there anyway.

I am surprised that she won, because I absolutely remember her losing.  But I think that’s because Ashley had miscounted damage and SHOULD have lost, which doesn’t bother me but I remember reading a bunch of comments about it, and the animated recap shows her losing.  Whether it’s via comment cleanup, or just comments getting up/down voted, the comments don’t even mention it during this viewing.  (similar to how when I watched C1, there was Marisha hate, but it did seem like a lot of the worst of it had gotten cleaned up)

Huh, did we ever find out if Molly knew about Zuala?  Because Ashley and Taliesin knew that they knew parts of each other’s backstories.

Caduceus asking to see Yasha’s sword….was Taliesin originally considering the broken sword to go to her??  Once he gave it to Fjord, it seemed as if it had always been planned that way.  I wonder if this is the sign of a different path.  (Or maybe just Tal forgot that Yasha had picked up her sword again and thought it was still on the deck)

I am having so many Yasha feels right now.  ILU YASHAAAAAAAAA

Ooooo, Yasha saying that there’s months she can’t account for, and she woke up months later, and then during the wrap up we find out it was actually more like 1-2 YEARS and Ashley’s like THAT’S SO MUCH LONGER THAN I THOUGHT

Nott and Fjord bickery is the best bickery.  “this fucker” I LOVE IT SO MUCH

lolling at Sam trying to get spell info from Liam NEVER GONNA HAPPEN but then immediately followed by Caleb saying that because he was getting closer and caring more for the group, he was forgetting him and Nott, and I am genuinely surprised by how much that actually hurt to hear it.  It’s hard to imagine because of how close they are, but it’s true, there’s been less one on one interactions between the two of them.  Not so much that Caleb is forgetting about Nott, but more that Caleb is now caring for the group and counting Nott as part of the group, rather than holding her to a more special standard.  This is also really interesting because (which I could be wrong) I think that Veth ends up being a bit less close with Caleb? More that she considers him the same level of the group, rather than to a higher standard.  I’m looking forwards to seeing if that’s accurate or not, I admit that because it’s been so long I’m influenced by what I see online and read, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s canon.  I do remember Caleb being a bit jealous of Yeza due to him taking Nott’s attention away, but also a lot of Veth specific stuff tends to escape me.  I think of the character as a whole, Nott/Veth, but it’s also easier for me to remember Nott specific things because of the rewatching.  I look forwards to relearning the Veth specific things.

WHAT ARE THESE HORRIBLE ROLLS omg I’m laughing so hard

Oh shit!  Accursed Spector number 2!  (and last, I think)  I forgot about this one!  Doesn’t he use it as like a forward person? MEMORY = shot  *checks stats* Yup, only twice!  Also lol marine layer is only four times???  I feel like it was so much more than that, considering how heavily it was heckled until it was actually badass

@suicidallyreckless

[jonthethinker]

I want to talk about Beau. Because Episode 108 made it very clear to me personally why Marisha is my favorite actor on Critical Role.

One of my favorite things about how Marisha plays is that she is an incredibly selfless role player. She will go out of her way to give other players at the table a chance to unpack and roll out their feelings to both cement in their own heads what those feelings are, and to share those feelings with the other players/actors at the table to give them a better understanding of those characters.

And it’s not just that, but it’s also how she uses these moments, where the focus isn’t even on her, and many times isn’t even split 50/50 between them, to subtlety showcase where Beau’s head is at, and where Beau is comfortable letting others feel her head is at. Because Beau is both full of love and tenderness for the Mighty Nein and also a liar deep in her bones. This is the reason I think even the cast seems to talk about Beau likes she’s still the same shit-kicker we met a 108 episodes ago and not the woman we’ve seen grow and mature over the course of this show; because at the table those moments aren’t about Beau, and so the players don’t focus on her.

To the audience, however, watching intently, the dimensions she adds to those moments are much easier to notice, especially over time. You, the adamant Beau fan, see the patterns where as someone in the moment playing the game couldn’t really pick up on it unless they were looking for it. And as a player, you’re not always going to look for it. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Marisha uses moments almost entirely about other characters to give us the audience a clearer understanding of her own character. Even in the moments where she is vulnerable and reveals something about herself directly, it almost always serves the double-function of both revealing a truth about her and opening up whomever she is speaking to to being vulnerable themselves. The purpose is almost never to solely focus on herself but to crack the other player’s egg. I personally like to think of these moments as Beau going, “What, are you gonna make me be all fucking mushy all by self?”

This attitude of selfless role-play seems to even extend beyond individual scenes into the overall direction of the story and plot itself. Beau and Caleb are the only player characters currently alive not to have some overarching story with them at the center. Jester just had Traveler Con. Fjord had the Pirate Arc and the Star Razor. Caduceus had the healing of the Blooming Grove. Veth/Nott the recovery of her husband and her body. Yasha had Obann. Caleb is looking to start his fight to challenge the Assembly, and even Molly at least currently appears to be linked to the Living City in someway. But Beau is sort of adrift in terms of the plot.

(We did have the trip to Kamordah, but I see this more as a part of the plot to recover Veth’s body; Beau wouldn’t have ever gone there if she didn’t think it would help Nott become a halfling again. I’m specifically talking about moments where the characters themselves center their own narratives in the plot, not just as a function to further someone else’s story.)

But like in her role-playing, Marisha uses these moments to define her character without making it all about her.  For instance, she used Traveler Con to showcase her protectiveness of Jester and her distrust of Artagan. She used her time at sea to throw herself with vigor into being the first mate and developed a love of the sea. She used Veth’s potential return to her body to explore her own feelings about the impermanence of the Mighty Nein and how that scared the holy hell out of her. She tossed and turned listening for storms for Yasha. As Caduceus saves his family, she’s still reeling from the ordeal with the Hag, and is temporarily back to being all sharp edges again. And I’m sure she’ll use Caleb’s arc as an opportunity for more subtle character work as well.

Beauregard Lionett is a brash, abrasive bruiser; she’s an astute, curious researcher with keen eyes and sharp insight; She knows what it’s like to have no agency, and will passionately make sure other people get to keep theirs; she’s a liar, and terribly insecure about her own worth; she’s been lonely her whole life until the Nein came along, and certain she’ll be alone again any day now; She’s desperate for purpose, and looking hard for where she fits, IF she fits anywhere that is; She’s been in love with two wonderful women in recent times, and her refusal to believe either of them could love her as deeply as she does them will surely break someone’s heart long before any of their hearts get made whole again; She feels she’s on a crashing plane, and she’d rather pilot that plane right into the ground and have some control than risk parachuting out to uncertainty.

And we learned the vast majority of these things because of Marisha’s subtle acting and careful, selfless role-play. From reading the spaces as well as the words, listening to the silences as well as the sounds. It’s not just about crashing waves, but about the water slowly being pushed and pulled by the tides.

And for me, it’s the reason Beauregard Lionett is my favorite character ever.

[delilah-briarwood]

little late but critical role time travel au?

To clarify; I’m not caught up on Critical Role. I’m like seven episodes in but I’m very much trying to binge through it soon. I am definitely taking liberties with ‘time travel’ but I have ideas. I’m going with the Mighty Nein because I haven’t watched Campaign One. I really went off with this but I hope that’s okay!!

Okay, so I’m making it a kinda ‘partial’ time travel AU.

Both Caleb and Veth are from the modern era but they don’t really know each other. Caleb has his regular brand of Trauma as Bren but Veth is pre-Nott.

The day the two meet for the first time is actually Veth bumping into Caleb practicing a new spell. However, her knocking into him caused him to uhhh Fuck Up Badly and the two get yeeted back in time.

However, they get separated and sent back to slightly different points in time when they do. Veth meets Yeza, has her son, and becomes Nott following her canon backstory. Veth is already Nott by the time they get sent back to.

When Caleb meets Nott in prison, he’s actually there after being arrested for being ‘drunk and disorderly’ (aka panicking and talking ‘nonsense’ about the present day because there’s no sensible way to react to being thrown back in time).

Nott doesn’t reveal her backstory to him but the two share a ‘holy shit! You’re from the future too! I’m not just imagining it!’ moment and stick together.

Caleb continues to buy up as many books as he can on the arcane, desperately trying to find a way to recreate the spell and send the two of them back to the present. It’s going...as well as can be expected. But he really is trying!!

Canon meeting with the rest of the Mighty Nein happens. There are Many Moments where Nott does her best to cover for Caleb when he screws up and mentions things that haven’t happened yet or things that don’t exist yet. Half the time the Nein do Not believe them but it’s okay. Caleb and Nott are just Like That.

A lot of canon still goes as planned. Mollymauk does NOT die because I refuse. Caduceus joins the Nein. Nott becomes Veth again etc.

Once she’s Veth again, she’s very...hesitant about going back to the present. She has a new life here. She has friends and family; she feels loved. She doesn’t want to go back. But Caleb is seemingly unconvinced.

This entire time, Molly has been fascinated by Caleb. This strange, reserved man that talks of seemingly prophetic things that haven’t happened yet. He finds the moments where Caleb is just...amazed by the world around them endearing. The two grow a lot closer a lot quicker than they do in canon. Even if Caleb is more than slightly oblivious with Molly’s attempts at flirting.

But Caleb and Veth find a family amongst the Nein. They find a sense of belonging. Even when they open up to the others about being from the future, there’s a lot of confusion but they’re not rejected for it. Caleb is able to sorta deal with his trauma and come to terms with the things he did because we sure do love caharacter Growth in this household.

But then it happens.

Caleb finally reaches his goal and completes the spell. He can go back to the present.

So he gets ready to go but the rest of the Nein are NOT having it. They start pointing out that he doesn’t have anything in the future, and ask what he’s returning for. They remind him that he has a family here; he’s wanted. Beau definitely hits him at least once (probably twice).

As everyone demands he stay, Caleb turns to the one person who’s stayed oddly quiet. Molly. He asks what he thinks. Because I’m deeply into cliches, Mollymauk kisses him in response.

Caleb decides to stay in the past with the family he found rather than go back to the future with the remnants of the one that he lost.

[larsisfrommars]

Campaign 2 Rewatch: Disparate Pieces

Wow the fucking puppet head chaos shit holy shit that was funny and dark! First instance of Matt Being Salty about Keen Mind of the campaign Hooraaaaaaaay.

Molly and Toya making me fucking cryyyyyy againnnn. Poor Toya oh my goddddd wow this is NOT okay, that’s just fuuuuuuucked oh noooooooo.

Molly is like “yes! You SHOULD feel bad” Tal really was like “Mom said it’s MY turn to be the party’s moral compass!” And then he WAS, with BOTH characters! “Yes everyone likes you, it’s very irritating” lol, Molly had crushes on Fjord AND Caleb and you can NOT change my mind.

“We like to be unsung heroes” “underground activists” WHYYYYY how are they right?! How the frick did they set the tone so quickly?! Awwww Nott “I’m very ugly for a halfling” GUYS, Sam played us like a goddamn fiddle what the fuck??? Oof Caleb too… dropping trauma hints allllll over the place.

“Sorry for choking you with my stick” god how far my Beau has come lmaoooooo. Poor Molly already being exhausted by these idiots, love it he’s like “I’m two fockin years old and I’m still wiser than the lot of you!”

Goddd I forgot when Caleb was way too nervous and unhappy to really apply his charisma Stat, that whole “I killed a man no I will not explain why even tho I’m trying to explain why because I have like 0 fuckin confidence” lmao. Level 2! (Oh my god I get why it’s not working! Vax is peeking through Caleb! Caleb is trying to be intimidating the way Vax is and it’s… not working lmao.

WAIT A MINUTE ARCHIVIST ZEENOTH?! HOLD THE FUCK UP!? Did he just not recognize Beau or did he just wanna watch her suffer? My bet was it was the later because he is a ✨prick✨. OH! He does notice her! B i t c h

Oooooh first Felderwin mention, also maaaaaan fuck Goblin racism (which Nott participated in for a long ass time to be fair). I hate Zeenoth but thank god he’s here otherwise these punks would probably still be in jail. OH SHIT DAIRON’S HERE! She didn’t say anything but still!

Yasha’s back! Tell a friend! I still don’t know what Gustav’s shady debt thing was I hope we find out in the campaign wrap up!

Now this is the REAL beginning! Hell yeah! My babies! They have NO idea what’s to come! Also Fjord making Yasha laugh 😊 wowww Molly “the days that you’re gonna have are the days that you’re gonna have.” It’s actually amazing to me how fitting so many of Molly’s lines were in the full context of the show.

Ooooh was that the first, “Sam helps Laura hide that she’s pregnant” move after everyone leaves the table for Beau’s thing?? Weird!

People I am 1000% okay with watching Beau treat like shit: Archivist Zeenoth that bitch. Also immediate crush on Dairon is a MOOD! Also super weird to watch Zeenoth compliment Beau knowing full well what he did to her. “Not everyone does what they do in this world for coin” EXCEPT U DID YOU FUCKING BITACH! HAHA!! Get him Dairon! Fuck Zeenoth! I loooooove you so MUCH Dairon! I love you SO MUCH!! Let’s get MARRIED?! Lmao

It is so WEIRD seeing how distrespectdul Beau was to Dairon initially! Oh shit! I understand why she didn’t trust them at the beginning maaaaan. Dairon is such a cool teacher! Aaand I didn’t realize just how early Beau/Marisha reveals the physical abuse thing! Maaaan this combat is making me FEEL THINGS! Beau baby you’ve come SO far! I love youuuuuu!!

God in hindsight it feels… so fucking GOOD to watch Zeenoth get the shit beaten out of him because he fucking deserves it. Get him! Get him Beau! Get that fuckin extract aspects and stunning strike! The world needs assholes! Fuck yeah!!! “Maybe one day you’ll find the corruption inside our own” and THEN SHE DID! O M F G

Fjord being like a proud older brother when he sees Beau looks beat to shit like “woah dude?! You good!? Bet you did something badass” guys, I love them and I’m going to miss Marisha and Travis sitting next to each other. Molly being wary of the Soul is good and On Brand but also not quite the right call lmao.

Nott and Caleb are always so goddamn precious I love them. God first successful charisma check Caleb makes this whole session is one about books lmao. Time for Caleb to take a baaaath! Huzzah! Oh my god, Nott, I am so glad you never changed but nothing will EVER be as feral as Nott in the bathhouse in this episode “I dump out the cucumber water and eat all the cucumbers” MOOD!

God, healing potions and drugs lmao. Little did they know this shit would help them defeat a baby faced monstrosity 100+ later 😂😂😂 blackmail! Drugs that ultimately only Beau will use! (Unless I think maybeFjord took some at one point I don’t remember?) Hooray!

Aww Nott giving Yasha the flowers befire she even knowing what that means for her and mostly out of fear. Maaaaan this is making me FEEL things aaaaaaagh! The PRESSED FLOWER BOOK! GUYSSSS. Yay mail fraud!

Awww I love that convo to between Caleb and Fjord. Fjord automatically protective of their most skittish party members, strategically to keep them from running off but also cuz he cares. Caleb being cautiously trusting and their low key agreement to herd this group of cats together. I love shit like soooo much!

[mapleandgingeroatmeal]

CR2E76-Refjorged

HOLY SHIT THIS EPISODE HAD EVERYTHING. WHERE DO I EVEN START?? This is gonna be a long one for sure.

The spontaneous Mead Pong game was so fun. I love how they all just went for that, and Caleb getting a perfect shot only when nobody was watching? Priceless.

They haven’t really done a heist w/ Caduceus. have they? Unless you count boarding that one ship, but I don’t think you can since that wasn’t a stealth thing. It’s weird, but that detail felt like almost a mark of how far the Nein have come already

I’m sure people have written a lot about this (I’d love meta recs if anyone has ‘em), but that makes me think about what may have changed about the m9′s path if Molly had stayed alive. Clay has been such a huge force in pushing the nein to do good in the world, and although he has plenty of his own issues, I think the fact that he believes in everyone’s ability to be good people has really had a huge impact. This may be a Hot Take, maybe I’ll regret this cause idk what Molly fans are like, but I really don’t think the group would have made nearly as much moral and emotional progress w out Caduceus. They would probably be at least a lot closer to crossing over that line into Bad People.

THE BREAD. This is another famous joke that I new existed, but had no context or knowledge for. I was so excited when I heard it come up! Caleb and polymorph is such a delightful combo. The dumb brain really lets him escape his misery I think, and he had such a gleeful face and relaxed posture for that whole scene.

“Last time we did this, you put a sword to my throat”. Whatta callback! Despite how much everything has changed, Fjord and Caleb still have this interesting intensity to their relationship. The moment when they start a mysterious blood ritual and Caleb’s accent confrontation come to mind. I hope we get more in the future about how these two interact in a more casual setting, tbh, because at this point I have a hard time pinning down their dynamic. The trust is definitely there now, and all the Nein obviously love each other, but in many ways it feels almost delicate? Like in the scene from this ep, I think both of them probably reflect on that day thinking they were in the right, even if they’ve moved on. Interesting stuff!

The reactions when Nott murdered that guard were so priceless. Little moments like that are kinda sobering reminders of how broken she is. Since probably the moment that Veth killed that Goblin leader with a vile of acid, she’s led a life that seems to have been very much kill-or-be-killed. Empire people aren’t taught to see Goblins as much more than kill-on-sight monsters, and in a self-defense situation Nott is so small that she would really have only one chance before getting overpowered. It’s upsetting and definitely bad, but I think it makes a lot of sense that her first instinct when panicked is to go for the throat.

Caduceus is truly such a dummy and I love him for it. The man knows two things: Death and People. Nothing else. Strategy? Never heard of her. High-stakes stealth mission with an important decision to make? “it’s always nice to see my friends :)”. 

Whats in the book they stole! We didn’t find out for the entire episode if I’m not mistaken! Caleb just gave to Fjord with some cryptic comments! Wtf kind of book isn’t useful/ interesting to Caleb? This is going to drive me insane.

The pack-rat elf lady wearing Reani’s crown finally was v sweet. She was a character that Matt seemed to hint at a lot of depth for. I wonder if we’ll ever get back to Uthadorn? I’d like to see her again

The dusts are also a bunch of npcs that I kinda wish we’d gotten more time with! The way that Matt had the whole family and their personalities mapped out makes me feel like there was a lot that didn’t get explored there. Clay has a tendency to minimize his own priorities and as much as it’s a neat character choice, I wish it didn’t mean that we see less of the neat stuff around his arc!

Fjord’s dream sequence had me tearing up. Matt’s writing is just so emotionally intelligent and deep. The specification that the Wild Mother can ease the pain but the wound will always be there? That hit me so goddamn hard. I love this character. 

If I think too much about what this sword-collecting arc means for Fjord I’m gonna start crying again. Here’s a guy that grew up unloved, with nobody that ever cared enough to give him anything. He was so recently convinced that the Nein only cared about him while he was useful. And what happens once he looses all utility to the group? They give him magic weapons, and circle around to protect him, and face down a fucking ancient white dragon, all just to get him a gift from the Wild Mother. What does that feel like to a man who’s never ever had a family before? Can he even really recognize the kind of devotion the m9 just displayed? I hope once he has a quiet moment he can do some reflection and appreciate how much he is just unconditionally supported now. I want him to understand that he is loved.

Beau and Reani! I did remember right! They are adorable and everyone’s reaction at the table was priceless. That moment had a neat meta-level feel to it w/ the addition of Mica as a guest character. I could tell she was feeling out if this was a role-play boundary or not, just like Reani was feeling out if Beau was interested. Beau going in for the kiss out of nowhere was also Marisha signaling “yes please bang my hot gay monk”. A perfect ending for a wonderful character!

Jester and Caduceus almost judgy convo was actually fascinating to me, because it kinda highlighted one of my favorite things about Beau in that she breaks the norms arounf sexualy agency that you usually see with female charecters. She’s an action movie protag, casually banging hot ladies and hiring sex workers, and she’s celebrated for it like you would celebrate that behavior in james bond! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a female character that does that before.

I could talk about Caleb and Nott’s conversation here for fucking hours, and I think I’m gonna actually do a whole separate post about it so this doesn’t get too long. Why is every interaction they have just the most poignant beautiful incredible moment ever committed to film?  What did the world do to deserve this? Nothing. We do not deserve them. 

Fjord getting his powers back and celebrating and the callback to Nott turning into a tiny Fjord and Eldritch Blaaaaaaayyyst returning and being wrapped up in seaweed and awkwardly objectified by Jester and Caduceus big goofy grin and all of it was such a joyful, hopeful note to end on! More than ever the Nein are feeling like a family, with all the wonderful messy things that entails, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I’m going to go watch Nott and Caleb and cry again.

[sparxwrites]

(a little more of the Nott a Coffee Shop au for @hoodienanami​, as a treat :3c)

cw for recreational drug use

[ao3]

“Hey. Molly,” says Beau, slumped at one end of Molly’s ratty brocade couch. His living room’s lightly wreathed in smoke, and the half-open window is doing little other than make his gauzy curtains flutter in the breeze. A second-hand TV in the corner is playing some old anime on mute, adding to the disorienting flicker of half a dozen lit candles and a handful of colourful, silk-draped lamps that cover most available surfaces.

The kitchen table, though, is left untouched by their ravages. Primarily because it’s half-covered in small packets of pills and other assorted goodies, a well-worn kitchen scale nestled among them. The other half is covered in an eclectic mix of bottles, cheap wine and cheap spirits, all opened and most half-drunk.

Business as usual, then, thinks Beau, in the maximalist, hedonistic Dyonisian shrine that is Molly’s studio apartment.

“Yeah?” asks Molly, languidly, sprawled at the other end of the couch. His voice rasps a little in his throat. He’s dressed as he always is, psychedelic tie-dye and cheap jewellery and faded purple in his wavy hair. A joint smoulders between the knuckles of his middle and index fingers, the tip of it glowing a dull cherry red.

Beau snags it, ignoring his yelp of protest, and brings it to her lips. The weed’s decent quality, and not cut with tobacco like she’s used to. It’s why she smokes with Molly, even though he’s a dick. He’s always got the good shit. “Can I, like, give you some advice?”

Molly snorts, rolling his head against the back of the couch to look at her with bloodshot eyes. “I’m not gonna listen to it, but yeah. Feel free to say it, if it’ll make you feel better.”

There’s two glasses on the floor by his foot, one filled with spent cigarettes and joints, the other half-full of cheap amber whiskey. He grabs the wrong one at first, nearly takes a sip from it, and Beau smirks as he sputters on an accidental inhale of ash.

“Stop going to Nott’s, dipshit.”

Wiping his lips, Molly grabs the correct cup this time, takes a long gulp of the whiskey, and pulls a face at the burn and acrid aftertaste. Still takes another gulp, though, despite his lightly watering eyes. “And whyever would I do that, Miss Beauregard?” he asks, smirking. “They’ve got the best coffee in town. Or so I hear. Never had a chance to sample it myself, what with the overenthusiastic asshole of a proprietor and her military-grade crossbow.”

“Because she fucking shot you, dude!” says Beau, incredulously. Her eyebrows are practically in her hair. “With a fucking crossbow! And then you went back, and she nearly fucking shot you again! Holy shit.”

“Yeah, because you told that cute little barista that I was dealing in the parking lot,” says Molly, stealing the joint back from her and taking a hit. “You bitch,” he adds, fondly, with a blown kiss that’s mostly smoke.

He does, Beau has to reluctantly admit, have a point.

“Yeah, whatever,” she snaps, taking a sip of her own whiskey. It tastes like ass. She’s had a lot of cheap drinks in her time, but Molly’s liquor stash is always outstanding in that regard. For someone with a lot of good weed, he has a remarkable amount of shitty alcohol. It’s one of the many enduring mysteries about him but, for some reason, it’s the one that bothers Beau the most. “But still. The first time she shot you, I wasn’t even in the same zip code, so you don’t have an excuse for that one.”

“Sure I do,” says Molly, cheekily. “I didn’t know she was going to shoot me, first time, did I?”

“Molly, her husband is the biggest supplier in the city.” Beau rolls her eyes. “The fuck did you think she was gonna do? Roll out the red carpet for some small-timer selling another guy’s supply on her property?”

“I don’t know,” says Molly, with a languid shrug. His words are beginning to slow a little, to thicken. “She might have.”

Beau sighs, and her breath stirs the haze of smoke hanging in the air. It eddies in interesting patterns, the low light from the side table lamps and scattered candles catching on each individual particle of dust, of ash. “That’s your problem, y’know,” she says. “You don’t know shit. Because you never fucking think.”

“Well.” Molly blows out another lungful of smoke, tongue pressed thoughtfully behind his teeth. “I think his wife might have been less of a grumpy asshole if his supply was anything like as good as mine. I got some excellent LSD in yesterday. Maybe I should pay Nott’s another a visit and offer them all some.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you,” asks Beauregard, more weary than annoyed. If Molly wants to try dodging crossbow bolts on his own time, that’s his problem, she guesses. It’s not like she’s ever managed to stop him from doing stupid shit before. She’d miss the weed, though. “Like. Seriously. What is wrong with you?”

She makes a grabby hand in his general direction, too stoned to do anything more proactive, and hopes he gets the message.

Molly raps his knuckles lightly against the top of his head, and hands the joint over with a surprising lack of protest. “Traumatic brain injury,” he says, glibly. “And an insufferable personality. Or so I’ve been told.”

Beau groans, tipping her head back against the couch and taking another drag of the steadily-dwindling joint. “Yeah,” she says, on an exhale, coughing a little as the smoke leaves her lungs. “That’d fucking do it, I guess.”

“Hmm,” hums Molly, though whether it’s in agreement or just acknowledgement is anyone’s guess. He thinks for a moment, the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth. His half-drunk glass of whiskey hangs precariously in the loose grip his fingers. “And also my dick is just too big. And I’m way too hot, and too good at sex, and–”

“If you don’t shut up,” Beau interrupts, “I’m gonna smoke the rest of this joint just to spite you.”

Molly takes a deep drink of whiskey, and mimes zipping his lips shut – before rather ruining the effect by coughing. “My lips,” he manages, once he’s recovered, “are sealed about my greatness. For the rest of the evening, at least. Now.” He rattles his glass, half-melted ice cubes clinking against the sides, and holds out a hand. “Gimme.”

[sapphicquill]

ALRIGHT GANG I’ve listened to the first two episodes of CR Campaign 2 and I have so many feelings ALREADY!! Warning, obvs, for Critical Role Season 2 spoilers beneath the cut:

So I’m only 2 episodes in, but I adore all of these characters so much you wouldn’t even BELIEVE. I think part of it for sure comes from the amazing fic I’ve ravenously consumed from the wonderful members of the Critickle Role community (you know who you are!) but also I just love the table dynamic of the Critical Role group! It’s so much like how my party plays together that it’s just heart warming to me. I know that the first few episodes are really about establishing the new characters and setting and such, but the table talk and just, general camaraderie of everyone is fantastic, 10/10 love it

(Also just general overall shoutout to Matt Mercer, fucking fantastic DM and wordsmith he is)

SO CHARACTERS

Starting out our journey with Caleb and Nott, absolutely love the dynamic between them from the get go! I was VERY ready for sad wizard boi and I’m LIVING for this man and his cat (Frumpkin has my whole heart, thanks for asking). Everything that comes out of Nott’s mouth is gold, the continuous cover of “just a little girl from the village/town over” is hysterical and perfect. The moment with the two of them just, taking a time out and Caleb saying “these fuckin idiots are dumb as hell, we gotta get out of here” is precious. 

Jester Lavorre, be still my heart. Laura Bailey is just incredible, so of course I love the overactive, mischievous blue tiefling more than life itself. Her genuine mix of confidence and childlike wonder is just so fucking cute. Her rearranging the entire bookstore while Caleb was talking to the shopkeeper was hysterical and entirely fits what I know about her thus far. 

Fjord’s accent made me LOSE MY SHIT when I first heard it and I’m for sure going to be reading @ticklishnonsense ‘s “honey tongued” as soon as I post this bc holy SHIT. Very much looking forward to more interactions between him and Jester--it is UNBELIEVABLY adorable that Laura Bailey can’t NOT get her husband to fall in love with her in every setting possible. 

BEAU AND YASHA, MY LOVES--look folks, as a lesbian who has always been so starved of content, I am *so* excited to watch these ladies go heart-eyes for each other. Also just like, being canonically sapphic is great and I need more sapphic characters in the media I consume! Woman!! Ahh!! (Legit though, both of them are so precious and Beau constantly makes me crack up--her getting instantly carted off to jail and just being like “helphelphelphelp” had me dying). 

And Mollymauk. Oh boy. I’m gonna cry over him, huh? The best character establishing moment for me so far was when the Nein (yet unnamed in canon but I know where this shit goes) go to do some sneaky investigation at the carnival grounds, and he just gives the twin(?) halfling girls quick head kisses as he passes by? Like, god, LOVE me some constantly-physically-affectionate characters!! 

ANYWAY. Plot is already very very intriguing--the initial “thing that brings the party together” moments are always my favorite, even though they can be just a lil slow sometimes, but knowing just how committed these characters become in the long run to one another makes me so excited for all this content I’m going to be consuming. 

I won’t be doing reaction posts too often (I’ll keep my header updated with what episode I’m on for those who are curious) but I want to try and organize my thoughts for y’all who want to hear my reactions! I’m for SURE going to be cataloging my Poly-Nein thoughts for @poesparakeet-fics so stay on the lookout for those. 

(also everyone please write more Critickle Role fic I beg of you)

[readbythestarlight]

c2e105

Nord by Nordwest huh

The fact that Taliesin can keep a straight face during all this, while Liam and Travis and Matt are losing it

"Cyber abacus"

ASHLEY NOT YOU TOO xD

I love how they play the "Taliesin is an ancient Fae being" even when he’s being a super hacker

I need some of Ashley’s colorful jackets

[[MORE]]

Oooo can she poof them to Vokodo’s lair?

Oh maybe not no

C: "I would love to see a door open into a tree"

Cad: "well most doors used to be trees"

Oh my god Jester wants to put the dragon turtle against Vokodo alskslskak

God I love her

Listen listen what if y’all polymorph the dragon turtle into something small, get him inside, and have him fight Vokodo

Y’all are coming up with so many crazy clever plans

Did y’all forget about the spell booby trap bombs tho those were cool too

I was gonna say, they might not all want to leave at all

And some might want their ships so that’s true

I feel like if they’re not careful Vilya is going to be fairly unimpressed with them and their disregard for people’s possible livelihoods, especially after the situation against the ghost guys

Like, brining the Dragonturtle in to fight Vokodo is cool, bringing him in to destroy ships to (hopefully) lure Vokodo out is bad, especially because there’s no guarantee it’ll even work

Idk I just feel like this is a fun but irresponsible plan

Suddenly the Dragonturtle sounds like Orli xD

See the only problem with half the M9 being in love with Jester is that they indulge her ideas sometimes even when they’re not the best

B: "does Vokodo even care about the ships?" THANK you Beau why didn’t you ask that before Jester told the turtle where they are

I don’t think Vokodo cares so much about sentimental value. If that were the case Nott’s flask, Cad’s shield would have been worth more to him. And he would have insisted on Beau’s bracers.

Jester: makes a cake feast

Me, immediately: "I want a feast

I want a bean feast

Cream buns and doughnuts

And fruitcake with no nuts

So good you could go nuts"

Jester is much nicer than Veruka but that verse fits so well

Pancakes hell yeah

"It’s been so long since I had a pancake"

Vilya is a woman after my own heart

I scanned Sam’s QR code he’s such a nerd

Aw Jester sweetie

J, crying: "I am not sad"

Baby girl

"What if it were just you and him? Like the old days?"

"I don’t think that’s a bad thing."

Jester, honey </3

Someone hug her!!

I’m glad she’s telling them the truth about the Traveler knowing about Vokodo

Listening to her make excuses for him is hard

I can’t believe Jester’s story is almost actually about her literally getting out of a cult

TravelerCon

Traveler.... Con...

"Also if he hurts you I’ll kill him" Beau xD

It’s "everybody loves Jester" hour

Y: "I’ve never had pancakes before this is amazing this is like my new favorite thing"

F: "you haven’t touched your bugs much"

Y: "that’s because I’m eating all the pancakes"

Beau didn’t Dairon kick your ass last time y’all squared off?

Wait

WHY

The everloving fuck

Didn’t they have Vilya tree-door them off the island for the night so they’d be safe and then just tree-door them back in the morning??

Oh?

Yasha dream?

Gasp!

Feather!

AYO STORMLORD WASSUP ITS BEEN A WHILE MY DUDE

Come on Yasha come on Yasha you can do it you can do it!!

"Do not run for yourself. Overcome what falters. And rise stronger."

REACH IT BABY GIRL YES

oh frick

"I will look up at it and I will just say... ‘I do not want this fear anymore’, and I will stand there and sit for it to hit me"

Baby giiiiiiirl

"Of broken chain link, tethered and tangled beneath you"

I! AM! CRYING!

"Show me you can be reborn"

"....Okay."

Wings wings wings?

"Like flowers blossoming" oh my god I’m weeping

YASHAAAAA

Full, angelic <3

No

Don’t go back, baby girl.

Fuck I was afraid he was going to say it was Zuala

My heart

"I crouch down, and I put my hand out—"

"I have to go."

And she leaps UP

oh god I’m cry

"I’m proud of you"

"Don’t let me be a shackle"

*sobbbbbbb*

I’m an emotional wreck rn

Have them a false sense of security there for a sec Matt Lol

Oh, it’s Caleb’s turn...

Instead of wasting the spell tight away they should have tried to explain it to him and see if that helped first

Okay but they were all tied together so like how did they take it away and hide it

I hope they get a LOT of treasure to make up for all this lost diamond/residuum dust

Stop wasting messages! Just leave him alone!

I’m glad tbh I just don’t think this was a good idea

Please just go fight him y’all are just making it more complicated at this point

I really hope they didn’t just destroy someone’s only way to get out

Like obviously it’s important to save everyone first but I hope they find ways to make sure they don’t just send someone home with no way to support themselves

Also I cannot believe this works

Like why would he care about the ships??

Y’all are gonna have blown up ships and gotten the town destroyed probably

Here we go

See IF they successfully drew him up they’d have missed this map

And now really all they’ve done is pissed him off in advance

Poor Yasha. Somebody get her something to boost her wisdom

Wisdom saves galore

Wait why did polymorph bounce off??

Also where did the plan of “bombard him with banishment” go

Ooo clever Veth!

Ooooo nice! ASTRAL DREADNAUGHT WOOOOOO

Lightning in water, would that be bad?

Oh my god did they banish her???

Wtf

So Vokodo must have some feat that allows him to deflect spells when he makes the save

This feat is the WORST

Yayyyy Yasha!

Okay so banishment is NOT working

Everyone like “Liam are you gonna bring Beau back??”

Wait

He’s gone

But he’s got their stuff??

Caleb’s necklace of protection?? Veth’s flask? Yasha’s other sword?

Being!

Him!

Back!

Okay wait this is gonna be bad isn’t it

WHAT

OMG

THE BEST NAT1

Holy SHIT?!

Daaaaaamn GO CALEB

that’s amazing holy shit

Now get that treasure!

Damn that was intense

I’m so glad they brought Vokodo back to just destroy him

L: “Ooo like the ring girl?”

T: “SHUT! UP! There is no association to that!”

I hope they can at least find Caleb’s ring

Will the island be back to normal-ish?

Probably not?

Anyway I’m glad they just went down and fought him because that was amazing

Oh fuck y’all so listen he was being persued by a city? And the tower was probably part of the city. And Matt said that tower looked similar to the ruins outside Roshanna (Gordranus?)

You know, the one destroyed during the calamity?

What if

What iiiiiif

I mean it’s just a theory but what if

[the-big-nope]

Been rewatching Vox Machina in fits and spurts over the last few months (currently on The Kill Box), and recent meta has me comparing how it might have gone if it was the Mighty Nein in this Kevdak fight (or something very similar). 

Bless that person that said Vox Machina fights like individual heroes vs. Mighty Nein who fights more as a unit, because it feels damn accurate in the Kevdak fight. As a whole, VM is FAR more DPS focused than the M9. You’ve got Grog, Vax, and Percy, who are pure damage dealers. You’ve got Vex, who’s got access to spells but mainly uses them to boost her damage/number of attacks. Even Pike and Keyleth, who are what most people consider more support-based classes, tend to lean toward attacking more than anything else (Pike favors guiding bolt, spiritual weapon, and healing when needed, while Keyleth tends to spend large chunks of battle in beast shape or otherwise using big damage spells like call lightning, sunbeam, and blight. Keyleth’s broad utility tends to shine outside of battle, but she’s definitely a fighter druid once they do get into scraps). The only dedicated supporter VM really had was Scanlan, and that tended to be single-target focus: hold person, modify memory, counterspell, and bardic features that aided one person at a time. VM was a crowd of hard-hitting badasses whose fights were epic as hell when it came to straight up slug-fests that they could bash their way through, but who could fast get into trouble if the odds outweighed their DPS output or there’s some magical trick to them. 

Compare to the Mighty Nein, aka Team Debuffs McGee. I’m not CritRoleStats, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the impression that VM were probably putting out better damage at this level, given their sheer focus on it. However, it feels like Matt gets more frustrated by the M9 steamrolling through his encounters this campaign because the M9 are such a tough nut to crack when they’re all together. They have Jester and Caduceus stacking buffs and debuffs (power combo Bless and Bane, Incite Greed, and single target stuff like Command and Polymorph) like crazy, with the workload split allowing Jester to focus on damage and Cad on support. They have Caleb also on support and control, with some big broad damage spells that can wipe adds damn quick if Episode 86 was anything to go by. Nott’s mainly DPS with some of that Scanlan-reminiscent single-target control like Phantasmal Force and Hideous Laughter. Fjord’s just unpredictable as fuck: he can deal damage, move players around the battlefield, drop a demon on a boss’s head, and now with Paladin spellcasting he could even get in on the buff/debuff action. Even Yasha and Beau, the primary tanks and DPS, have some control and support abilities: Sentinel’s been crazy useful at times, Yasha can buff her entire team for a round, Beau can stun AND find out vulnerabilities to exploit in an enemy. They’re a VERY well-balanced team with some pretty solid strategies they tend to lean on. All together, the M9 are near iron-clad, but take away a member or two, or turn them on each other, and they’re much more vulnerable. 

So in looping back to my original thought about the Kevdak fight and how it would look with the M9 in place of VM. Put them at an equal level (12), accounting that VM knew what they were getting into and had time to prepare their spells, and ignoring variables like how the dice rolls are going, I feel like this is the type of fight the M9 would be kinda killer at. 

There are very few magic factors in play, mostly just melee fighters and archers. Good news for all the M9 magic users, since their enemies’ mental stats probably aren’t going to be stellar, making it easier to get save spells through. There are one or two druids that mostly served as healers, but with multiple M9 members able to counterspell, not as big a threat. The druids would probably see more combat use in this scenario, but then that splits into two alternatives: they stay in normal form, but they’re not the tankiest and don’t halve damage, so a few bolt shots from a hidden Nott would probably be enough to take them out; or they go into beast shape, making them able to take more damage but eliminating their spellcasting element. Since the fight ended when Kevdak died anyway, their staying power doesn’t matter as much. 

There are a lot of adds in play, but the M9 have a wizard available with AOE/multi-target damage spells on hand specifically made for clearing crowds. Granted, those adds are tougher than the average minions (mostly barbs), so them getting up in a party member’s face beforehand isn’t good, but the M9 all tend to have countermeasures for that (Cad can go invisible and run, Fjord and Jester can teleport, Beau and Nott can disengage, and Caleb can turn into a giant fucking ape). Of course, if Jester can get off an Incite Greed in the middle of a crowd, that takes care of a good portion of them for a while. 

Position Cad in the right place and he is set to ruin Kevdak’s day. Crit cancels, can inflict vulnerability so his barbarian resistance is null, Ray of Enfeeblement, Bane. Just make sure he doesn’t get swarmed and Caduceus is a serious drain on a boss’s effectiveness. 

Grog was VM’s only real front-liner (Vax was more of a hit-and-run artist and Keyleth wasn’t always available). The M9 has at least two in Yasha and Beau who would likely be on Kevdak. Not nearly as tanky as Grog, but action economy’s in their favor to take the heat off each other a bit. Beau has stun, and while it’s not likely to succeed, it’s always a possibility, and she is great to stack attack buffs on: haste, holy weapon, enlarge, etc. Additionally, they don’t have to stay alone if the situation calls for it: Fjord can also be a front-liner, Jester’s duplicate can cast touch spells, and if Caleb gets freed up then he can serve as Ape Tank. 

Nott/Veth just does a shit ton of damage, and it’s much easier for her to hide and get sneak attack now that she’s a halfling again. It would probably be easy to pick off the mooks, and if she combos with Cad’s path to the grave, Kevdak takes full sneak attack too. Her spells are also great for distraction, and again, a crowd of mostly barbarians probably chose to dump the mental stats. 

And those are just their typical strategies! There’s so many individual spells or tricks available to them that they’ve used before to great effect: Banishment, Antilife Shell, Cat’s Ire for grappling purposes, Slow, Summon Greater Demon, and the ever chaotic Polymorph. You never know what the M9 is going to pull out of the bag.

The Kill Box was a hell of a fight for Vox Machina, in large part because of the sheer amount of enemies, since Kevdak was paralyzed for a good chunk of the fight. If it had been just them up against Kevdak, they probably would have whittled him down super quick, but without any way to manage the large amount of minions aside from pure damage, things got tight with the action economy stacked against them. It probably would have been even MORE gnarly, if not unwinnable, without Scanlan and the essential control elements he provided. If it had been the Mighty Nein, it probably still would have been a challenge, but I don’t think nearly as much. Their plethora of options for controlling the battlefield, pulling themselves out of sticky spots, boosting their team’s abilities while reducing their enemies’, and without many opposing spellcasters to counter them, the Mighty Nein would probably be in their element in this fight.

[minervahopebeyond]

Blood Petals.

Hi!! Here is the new one! I hope you like it✨✨

Ps. I’ve checked but sorry if you find any errors on this one.

Chapter 24: Cunning.

Draco woke up on Sunday with his head resting on Theodore’s naked chest. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. He felt a little sore bat nothing that he couldn’t handle, the Hanahaki normally hurt worse than this.

“Good morning.” He heard Theo whisper to him. He looked up and sa the boy smiling softly. “How are you feeling?”

Draco knew that he was asking about the stupid flowers.The question actually was: ‘Did we just made you more sick with this?’Draco just smiled at him.

“I’m fine. Really, Theo.” And he started to lean to give him a kiss, to calm him, but then he stoped half-way through... What if it was just about last night? Draco didn’t want to be those pathetic guys that assumed that they were kind of ‘a thing’ just because they slept together.

The brunette must had seen the doubt on his face because he closed the distance that was left between them and kissed him softly.

Draco felt his brain shut down. It was like last night: the boy got close to him, and the only thing in his body that was still working properly was the fucking daffodils. ‘IT’S NOT HIM! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?’ Draco ignored them as he returned the kiss. Whatever, it’s not like Potter is going to care, he already had the she-weasel.

They were still naked. The night before Theodore sealed the curtains and casted the silencing charm around them... The kissed deepened, the blond boy let out a soft moan as a petal escape from his mouth. Theo swallowed it just like last night, and bit Draco’s bottom lip, before putting some distance between them.

“Draco, I need you to think for the two of us right now.” He whispered with his eyes close. “If we keep doing this... Are you going to get worst?”

The grey-eyed boy kissed his neck softly, slowly and between the kisses he spoke.

“I... Frankly... don’t... give... a fuck.”

Theo let out a soft groan and mumbled ‘Fuck it’ before he rolled Draco as he put himself on top of the blond.

“I still think this is a bad idea.” Whispered the hazel-eyed.

“Yes, Theodore. But bad ideas are our speciality.” He responded with a smirk.

———————

He was alone in his bed now. Apparently being someone’s first (and second) time couldn’t cancel the Dark Lord’s mission. Draco felt so impotent. ’I don’t know what else to do so he would stop this.’

“Dragon...? The Golden Trio is outside, asking for you. It’s past noon.” Blaise said with a soft voice.

Draco sat on the bed and opened up the curtains.

“I know what time it is.” He said with a tired voice.

“Okay... you should eat something. You missed breakfast and lunch, we were worried.”

The blond boy started to get of the bed and grabbed his night robe to put something over his pajamas. He started to go to the dungeons entrance, trying to avoid looking at Blaise.

“Dragon! You’ve got-“ But his voice was cut out by the door of the room getting closed.

When he got outside, the three Gryffindors were waiting for him. The daffodils had mixed feeling about seeing the green-eyed boy. They were thrilled that he was worried, standing in front of him, but they also remembered his kiss with the redhead. He resisted the urge to cough.

“Ferret! Where have you been?” Ron said with a worried tone. Draco controlled himself ,so he would not rant about how he was hiding from the prat that was right next to him.

“I was feeling kind of sick last night so I came back. Didn’t want to interrupt your fun.” He said with a calm voice. Granger spoke then.

“Don’t you want to go to the infirmary...? You’ve missed two meals-“ The blond boy just shook his head.

“No, thank you, Hermione. I took some pepper-up potion. I was just resting.”

Potter walked to where he was, frown in place. He didn’t give two shits about being in Draco’s personal space. He tried to remain calm but he could almost feel his breathing if he focused enough... He looked down and saw those very green eyes, very quite angry.

“Did someone hurt you?” The prat who lived asked as he looked at Draco’s neck.

‘Dragon! You’ve got-‘

Shit.

He took a step back, fighting the blush and the urge to cover the hickey with his hand. It would be more obvious if he did so.

The flowers were frantic. ‘HE IS MAD. WE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. MAKE HIM HAPPY. MAKE HIM HAPPY. MAKE HIM HAPPY.’ Salazar, it was like they didn’t even have self-respect.

Suddenly, Hermione widened his eyes and the weasel smiled brightly. He felt Ron grab his arm to whisper in excitement.

“Ferret, is that a hickey??” He asked. “DID YOU DISAPPEAR LAST NIGHT TO GET LA-“ Draco interrupted him; hissing.

“Say ir a little louder, why don’t you?”

Potter eyes were hurt, it was clear as a day. What Draco couldn’t understand was why.Then he heard the boy ask with a soft voice:

“Are you cured now?”

Draco wanted to kill him. How does he even know if it was Theodore?But now Weasley was smiling even brighter and Hermione was looking at him, expectant.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He decided to play dumb. Maybe he could get around this.

No such luck, though. Potter looked around him to check if somebody was looking and casted a muffliato around them. He took out a folded piece of parchment and pointed to it with his wand.

“I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good.”

The blanc parchment started to reveal it self to them.

‘<cite>Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

are proud to present

THE MARAUDER'S MAP</cite>’

Draco blinked. Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs... Holy shit. This was the marauder’s legacy. A heirloom, just like the cloak.

Then, Potter opened the map and Tthe only thing he could do was gasp. The entire castle was there and it showed everyone who was in it, and where. He glared at Potter then.

“Did you spied on me again?” The dark-haired boy just rolled his eyes.

“Ron said that you disappeared. I used the map to find you, but then I saw you with Nott. I thought you wouldn’t want me to interrupt. Now answer: Are you cured now?”

The flowers were slamming themselves against his lungs, begging for him to do something. He tried to hold down the coughs but he couldn’t, Potter’s eyes were too pained and he couldn’t handle it.

Petals escaped out of his mouth, Weasley’s face fell and Potter groaned.

“How is this even possible?” And Draco lost his cool at that. Thank Merlin for the muffliato.

“Well; the cure is someone’s heart, not someone’s prick.”

Draco realized that he made a mistake really quickly. The expressions on Potter’s face started to mix with anger.

“You slept with him? When he doesn’t even love you back?”

He hated him so much. He hated that after all this years he still saw the world so black and white. There was no greys, no ‘in betweens’. He coughed again at the memory of the victory party.

“Sorry, Potter. But you don’t get to slut-shame me, when you snogged your Weasley princess in front of the whole fucking common room. At least I did it privately.”

“Yes, but I didn’t sleep with her.” And Draco was glad he didn’t because the idea only made him cough again.

“And how is it my problem if Ginevra doesn’t put out? I’m sorry? I don’t know what you expect me to say.” He asked arching an eyebrow. He wanted to seem aloof. He couldn’t let Potter know that he cared about this.

“Nothing. Do whatever you like." Potter answered with a harsh voice and started to walk away.

The daffodils were hurting him. He didn't want to cough again, this was too much for him right now. He tried to breathe slowly, to calm down the flowers.

The other two thirds of golden trio were staring at the boy with astounded faces.

"What the bloody hell was that?" The weasel asked with a shocked voice.

Granger sighed before responding.

"I think I have some vague idea of what it was."

Her tone sounded defeated, then, she turned to look at the blond boy.

"We are sorry for the incredible invasion of your privacy that we have allowed. You don't have to explain yourself to anyone, Draco."

He nodded and mumbled a 'thank you'. The Gryffindor girl asked Ron to go see Harry, because she might just slap him if she did. The redhead nodded and left to find the boy. Then, Hermione turned to him.

"Why don't you get changed and we can go outside for a while? I needed to talk to you about something."

Draco looked at her confused, but he went to his room to grab some clothes. He told Pansy and Blaise that he was going to spend some time with Granger, that he would see them at dinner.

The day was nice. At least as nice as it could be. The air was warm and the sound of the wind against the cup of the trees was really soothing.

He walked with the Gryffindor girl until they found a nice quiet place under some trees. The blond boy sat on the grass and she sat beside him.

Draco was kind of nervous. Hermione had an oddly calm look on her face. Then, she spoke with a soft voice.

"Please, don't freak out." She said as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. The boy took a deep breath. "I know it's not Theodore."

Her soft voice sounded like a scream to his ears. He turned to look at her, panicked expression on his face. Shit. Of course this wouldn't last.

"Since when?" He asked with a low voice. The girl looked at him with kind eyes.

"Since you 'confirmed' that it was Nott, I started to pay attention to when you coughed. How, when, how many times. It always happened around Harry, talking about Harry... Then, you started to not talk to us and you looked sicker and sicker as the days passed." He sighed in exhaustion. "I asked Blaise and Pansy if they thought that it was Theodore and the answer was no. Pansy also told me that I could not ask them who, something about a ridiculous code." The blond boy chuckled a little. "I definitely knew that I was right, when I saw your face yesterday. Tried to ran after you but I didn't want to attract more attention to you."

Draco felt his eyes start to fill with tears, remembering that fucking kiss. And of course his best friends would know. Right now he couldn't even imagine why he thought that they were unaware of the situation. They just loved him too much to bring it up... He pulled his knees to his chest and looked away.

"Please...Don't tell him. Every book I've read says that the rejection just speeds up everything. I know that my case is different but I can't be bed bound. I need to fight this war."  The girl just nodded.

"I know. I Read everything I could too."

They didn't talk for a while, the sound of the wind filling the silence around them. Then, Granger spoke without looking at him.

"I've been covering for you since my suspicions started. Not because I think that you don't stand a chance, but because I don't believe that Harry is ready to hear it." He said calmly.

Draco turned to look at her, eyes wide as ever. The daffodils started to move, frantic, happy. His chest filled with this tickling sensation... Hope. He waited for her to go on.

"Don't look so surprise. He always thought you were something of his, one way or another." And you know... What the fuck? The blond boy just blinked. "I have another reason not to say anything but it's kind of selfish."

"What is it?" Granger took a deep breath before talking.

"I want you with us next year. We need you. I'm out-numbered by their stupidity sometimes, I swear." Draco couldn't help to laugh at that. "You can't come back if this gets worst, your family is going to drag you back to the manor, and I saw what you did at the ministry. I'm sure that you know more than that. We need you out there with us."

Draco frowned.

"I don't understand what that has to do with telling Potter."

"If he knows he will feel with the right to decide if you come or not. I'm not going to let that happen."

The blond boy had so many questions in his mind. The flowers wouldn't stop moving... Granger was talking about the top secret Golden Trio mission. She trusted him and she wanted for him to join them that she was lying to Potter about his situation. Draco thought that he was dreaming, everything felt so surreal.

"What is it? Your secret mission or whatever."

Granger had casted a muffliato as soon as they sat on that place, but the blond boy saw her took out her wand to renew the charms just in case. Then she looked at him, tired expression on her face.

"I shouldn't be saying this to you. To be frank, I can't find any more information than what Dumbledore told Harry... Maybe you know about this." She said with hesitation in her tone."Apparently, He made horrocruxes, seven of them. We need to find them and destroy them."

Draco busted into laughter. This year was the most ridiculous year of his short life.

"What is so funny??" The girl said with and annoyed tone. The blond boy answered between the laughs.

"That.. That is the <cite>most difficult</cite>... way of protecting one's soul. And protecting is a strong word because you lose your humanity each time." He snorted. "Fucking hard to destroy too. You need dark magic: Fiendfyre. And he made seven of them" Draco said, shocked. "No wonder he is so ugly."

Granger hug him then. The boy widened his eyes, as she began to talk with excitement.

"I was right! I've been trying to get Harry to tell you so you could help this whole time! Please say that you will help us.." She said with pleading eyes."Help me keep Harry alive. Please, Draco."

And the blond boy knew that he didn't have a choice. If Potter was going on a suicidal mission to hunt Horrocruxes, then he would make sure that the green-eyed boy would return from it. Draco sighed.

"We are not disappearing on Sirius and Mr. Potter. It would make them reckless and they would look for us anyway; Harry is the only thing they have." He took a deep breath. "If we do this, we do it with a safe house and we use it if nessesary. Whatever nomad life you are picturing is our very last resort." And the girl nodded enthusiastically. "And we train. The four of us. You and I are not going to be pulling their fucking weight on the battle field because Potter seems to only be able to cast an Expelliarmus."

"Couldn't agree more." Granger said with a smile.

Draco smirked at her and closed his eyes, listening to the cups of the trees moving... They kept in silence for a while and then he decided to speak.

"Very Slytherin of you." He said, smirk still in place. "To lie to your own friends when they are worried and shit, just because you feel that you have a better chance at surviving if you do, of protecting the ones you care about. Cunning as hell, Granger."

The girl smiled brightly at him.

"Always thought that I would do well in your house. I have so many big dreams... half of my house mates just wish to be Aurors or something predictable like that. When this is over, I'm going into politics. You will not recognize the ministry when I'm done with it... Sadly, I knew it was not an option for me since I read about Salazar Slytherin before coming to Hogwarts." Draco looked at her, his smirk fading away. "It's okay. Gryffindor is a good house, Ravenclaw would have been too. It doesn't really matter, in the end the ones who want it enough are the ones who make it far, the houses are irrelevant."  He nodded at that.

"You are right, It's irrelevant... but just so you know, you really would have done well in Slytherin." Draco said with a determined voice and she smiled again.

[averydistinctivestyle]

So, I've been thinking about the peace talks.

Specifically my thought is this: if the Mighty Nein don't convince someone in the Assembly that handing over the Dynasty's missing Beacon is in their best interests, in three and a half weeks the war is going to reignite in a very bad way. Bear with me for a second here.

The Dynasty claims ownership over all Beacons, that's true, just like many state-sponsored institutions have claimed things that rightfully have no owner, if they even existed (holy relics, the idea that the "Holy Land" of Israel belonged to Christendom, not the Islamic rulers of that age, that sparked off several religious wars). If the Dynasty learns that the Empire has a new Beacon, they will no doubt want to claim both it and the stolen Beacon as their rightful property as followers of the Luxon. This is true whether they discover the Beacon's existence at the peace talks or later, and there's nothing the Nein can do to change that.

However, the rules of negotiation, in war, require good faith on the part of both sides. This is why, once negotiations were set, the temporary truce became much less tenuous and much more stable. Historically, you did not want to be the bastard that broke a truce. Not only was it seen as dishonest and dangerous (peace talks are a necessary part of wars, of all wars, if you want them to ever end; a people who know there is no option for peace start doing the really ruthless shit only desperate people do, and the law of reprisal means that if it got that bad for one side, the other would be forced to respond in kind, which ends in extermination), but especially in our world, oathbreaking had a decidedly religious undertone to it (see Dante's Inferno, in which oathbreakers are relegated to the deepest circle of hell, considered worse than a lot of horrifying people). There was also the Greek concept of hospitality, in which host and guest were bound to a sacred pact of non-aggression that Zeus supposedly would randomly test out and curse or bless people as appropriate, that shows how long the idea that treachery is very bad has been around.

No surprise, then, that in our world peace talks were massively important. There is little evidence of any such divine prerogative in Exandria, but that evidence might well only be missing because the first exposure we've had to peace talks hasn't happened yet. The one thing that we do know is that envoys do travel even between kingdoms, and they are able to offer the possibility of negotiations even during open war. As a semi-aside - for these envoys to exist and survive, the system of peace negotiations has to be well-established. Messengers, good ones, are valuable, and without a system in place to protect them, very vulnerable. They got killed sometimes ("don't shoot the messenger"). Potentially they could be accused as spies, as the Mighty Nein were, and imprisoned and executed as unlawful combatants.

But these envoys from Rosohna are confident enough to speak with their counterparts on the other side without fearing death, because the system in place protects them from the violence they could otherwise face (because, again, no war could ever end in anything less than total annihilation without some sort of negotiation system in place - see why they're valuable?). Therefore, some form of formalized protection exists for them, and this means that, very likely, formalized parlay procedures also exist, with the same sort of restraints that existed in our world during the past.

This gets to my point: lying during peace talks, especially the way the Empire is about to try to lie, is a very bad idea. It’s an indication of bad faith on the part of the liars, and with that excuse for the delegates from Xhorhas, the parlay can easily break down and even reignite the very war that it is meant to stop. If the Empire claims to offer a stolen beacon at one point, one which is already some sort of anchor for souls in Xhorhas, and they then produce another Beacon, one without the same sort of significance that an in-use Beacon has culturally, which the Dynasty still feels is their rightful property, and they also claim to have never had that missing Beacon at all, the best-case scenario is that the negotiations get really tense and the delegates from Rosohna leave them unresolved to inform the Bright Queen of this new information. The worst-case scenario, the delegates from Rosohna declare that the Empire has broken faith during peace talks, thus enabling the Dynasty to attack then and there without themselves being considered bastard oath-breakers, all hell breaks loose, and the Mighty Nein are forced to pick a side in this horribly gray conflict.

I want to say that Matt wouldn’t go worst-case scenario with the Kryn representatives. I want to. However, the Kryn have shown themselves to operate on the laws of war almost to a fault. Their treatment of unlawful combatants such as the Scourger and the Taskhand (though in a semi-unrelated conflict, an unlawful combatant himself) indicates some very brutal policy choices predicated on the laws of war. Add to that the Bright Queen’s insistence that the cycle of violence can only be broken permanently by literally breaking the enemy, indicating a terribly strict adherence to the law of reprisal, and the knowledge that Trent Ikithon will most certainly be present at the talks, leads me to believe that if the talks don’t devolve into utter violence and chaos, it will only be by some form of divine intervention. 

Because Essek was right; if the Kryn know that the Empire has two Beacons, the war cannot stop. The Kryn can and might view the Empire’s deceit as a bad-faith interference in their most holy of commands, as well as an attempt to deceive and formulate a peace treaty on fraudulent grounds. So the Mighty Nein, having received that warning from a very highly-ranked NPC, but not having the realization that, oh, fuck, we have to go to Rexxentrum right now and persuade Oremid Hass that the Assembly’s best interests are to turn over the stolen beacon, are absolutely fucked right now. Even if the peace talks don’t go ass over teakettle as I think they will, the Kryn delegates are going to report back to the Bright Queen, and the fact that the Beacon isn’t already in-use is going to come out, and the Mighty Nein are the people who told her that the Empire was willing to trade the in-use Beacon back to the Dynasty. The Nein are in a much more precarious position than they realize right now by having not spoken to any Assembly members since the peace talks were organized, and the worst thing is, I think they think the problem is solved. Which is going to be a damn horrible realization when it does come out that, oh fuck, we forgot the most important detail you could possibly ever forget.

Like, I hope that the live show features a conversation where one of them points out that the Empire is lying and should at least lie better, and that the reason Nott’s offer to Isharnai was so potent is because, right now, she wouldn’t have to do a damn thing to fulfill her side of the bargain other than spike a drink and watch. 

Oh, and when the war sparks back up, the Nein are, literally best-case-scenario, gonna be on an island in the middle of nowhere, with no news, possibly with no idea that it’s happened until they return from that clusterfuck of possibly an accidental ascension-worthy miracle to utter chaos. 

[captainsspnanon]

C2E51 - Xhorhaus - rewatch reaction

Watched an episode of Leverage earlier for the fun mindless feels, time to jump into CR and actually process shit!  XD  Which I can, because I’m no longer sick, and so thinking is able to be done again!

(I do want to take a second to say that I really do love the tunnel episode, even though I barely frickin said anything.  It’s a good fun episode, and I LIKE the fact that it is so repetitive at times, because it emphasizes the state that the party is in, but it doesn’t get bogged down by it to the point that the players get bored.  Matt apologizes for it at one point, but he shouldn’t have because he did it perfectly right!  I also like that they only skimmed the Underdark, the monotony interspersed with bits of action honestly felt more intimidating IC than just heading into the Underdark for a dungeon crawl.  YMMV)

I FORGOT THIS WAS THE V-DAY EPISODE!!!!   Let’s just say that I’m thirsting after everyone and it remains that way all episode and leave it at that XD

I LOVE it when Sam’s ads are goofy as fuck but also REALLY REALLY GOOD at the same time.  This poem was soooo good!  The incorporation of dnd terms and dirty talk worked PERFECTLY.

Introduction of the potions!!  I forgot that he made them himself, didn’t buy them or get them from a fan.  NGL, they are really really freaking awesome and super beneficial.  If I ever DM a game in person, it’s one thing that I would genuinely considering making or getting.  Moreso than a lot of other things, personally.

Liam getting rid of his level four spells because of the error he had made the previous game.  I hope that this is something that he wanted to do on his own, but I feel like it might have been because of backlash that he’d gotten after the episode. :(  Just knowing some of the nastier parts of the fanbase, I feel like there were probably accusations of cheating rather than just a mistake.  So I like this bit, but it also makes me very sad.  ….it also makes a good fic! https://archiveofourown.org/works/17843060 Still on my feet somehow, by ArbuscularMycorrhizal. Recommend for a nice little hurt/comfort Caleb action.

BEAU ASKING CALEB FOR ARM WRAPS I totally forgot about this moment and it is SO sweet, even though it’s not played out that way.  First of all, huge props to Marisha for taking the moment of rescuing Nott and deciding that it would burn her arm wraps, completely sensible but something that would so easily be overlooked in many campaigns.  Secondly, the fact that she’s comfortable asking Caleb for it and he’s completely willing to share?  SIBLINGS.  Thirdly, Laura/Jester ragging on Liam/Caleb regarding the smell will never not be funny.  Especially because I can see myself on both sides of it, either playfully bringing up something over and over, or mildly exasperated at the fact that IT’S DONE and doesn’t apply anymore!

Oh god Fjord pretending he has Sending and teasing Jester!!!

Awwww, Jester apologizing to Caleb, Caleb being cool with it, and then getting rid of the wraps entirely.  AWWWWWWWWWWWW

also I want to know what the fuck that beast thing was because holy shit that sounds terrifying.  But this is another aspect of this journey which I really adore the choices that Matt’s making.  This is twice now in the trip that they’ve had some sort of creature go past them without noticing, and it adds a level of depth and fright to their journey.  It’s the tension of it, the suspense, rather than the stressful combat type tension, and I think it works SO well. Difference between a thriller and an action movie, essentially.

Ah, I misunderstood how Liam was resolving the spell issue, and now that they did the long rest, him not wiping out his THIRD levels, but just knocking off a fourth level, it works.  Also confirms that the internet yelled at him, though he seems very blasé about it.  Still. (to be fair, I don’t mind people mentioning when others make mistakes, but I feel like it doesn’t need to be told TO them. Going ‘oh hey, Liam used an extra fourth level! Wish he hadn’t done that’ versus ‘LIAM YOU CHEATED YOU USED AN EXTRA SPELL’. I’m perfectly willing to talk here about how I’m not a fan of Molly, but I would NEVER say that to Taliesin.)

The athletics checks when climbing up the incline really leaned into telling the story.  Granted, obviously the individual PC bonuses made a difference, but Caleb CONSISTENTLY failing, Fjord and Caduceus failing once, it just fits so well!

Here’s some thoughts that are probably way off base, because I don’t remember the details of the war.  One thing that Matt always emphasized (or seemed to) was how it was pretty equally awful.  Both sides had been in tensions for years, decades, and how the provocation flamed both sides into action.  However, right now, the Muck Men leader is talking about how Xhorhas captured the Ashguard Garrison, but then just held it for a month without really doing anything.  We know that the Kryn sent a troop to Felderwin – as much as it’s speculated that it was to hit a farming town, it does seem like it was targeted to where they maybe thought the Luxon was (the experiments perhaps inducing a Luxon like effect that they tracked).  It’s going to be fun going back through this war and looking at all the aspects of it.  Yes, Essek triggered it by giving away the beacons, but I had thought that it was closer to flames. Here, however, it’s presented as less aggressive by the Dynasty, as stated by an Empire human no less.  I’ll have to keep my eyes open, see how that changes throughout the campaign.

I like how Matt made this guy super nice, knowing that he was going to get taken down very quickly.  Provides a bunch of information, is surprisingly respectful to the Kryn, offers supplies for no cost or trade, BOOM DEAD.

(technically he’s not dead, but whatever)

Also, as soon as I say all that stuff before?  Matt immediately puts them in a situation where the Kryn seem like obvious bad guys – they just come out and murder everyone.  I really appreciate how he never gives a clear cut ‘these guys are good, these guys are bad’. (though also to be fair, pretty sure the general opinion is that the dynasty is better than the empire, among fans and cast)

Hmmm...is the two shadow figures attacking with the main fighter while the echo is out something available as an echo knight as it is now?  I’m looking at the features and it doesn’t seem to apply. May have been a concept that was found to be too powerful to include with the class, or an NPC only ability.  Probably just early tinkering and concepts.

LOL Extract Aspects fiddling.  First you have to use a ki point, then you have to hit and you get one thing each hit, then you have to hit but you just get told certain info.  They get there eventually.

Cloudkill, so they are at least level 9.  Party is level 8 right now, so it’s tough but not insurmountable.

I do feel like it’s kind of a dick move for Sam to be telling Laura that she needs to roll con saves for Nugget and Sprinkle, when they are non-combat. It’s legit, but it’s still a dick move.  I like the way that Matt treats them essentially as objects UNLESS they are actively part of the combat.  “I’ll say for the purposes of FUN--” THANK you Matt.

You guys…..this episode is taking me SO LONG to get through!!!  I don’t know if it’s just the combat I’m struggling with or what.  OVER TWO WEEKS at this point (as of May 12).  I started watching this right after I posted my episode 50 reaction.

Fuuuck, I forgot just how hard they got rocked in this fight!  They’re just getting put to pieces!  Unfortunately, Marisha is having very crappy luck with her attacks at advantage, if she’d been able to hit and re-stun him, the battle could have swung in a very different way.

Oh shit, just looked on the wiki for mage dude.  First of all, he’s named: Lythir VaSuun, which makes sense ‘cause I do remember that he’s the Bright Queen’s dude.  But also!  He’s level 11 or more.  So I take back what I said (nearly THREE weeks ago at this point) about it being tough but not insurmountable.  I don’t think this was a battle that they were supposed to be able to win.

For all that Fjord’s big moment is Aeor was so shocking, I’m seeing more moments of it during the campaign itself.  When the roc is flying down and attacking the group of bugbears and the Nein decide to lie in the grass to try to hide, Fjord uses Major Image to create a mastodon running in the direction of the bugbears.  Sure, they’re ‘monsters’ rather than ‘people’ at the moment, but there’s still that aspect of Fjord that carries through of making far more ruthless decisions when he needs to benefit his team.  It’s very beneficial to pick up on this during the rewatch because it makes the Aeor decision less shocking, less out of the norm.

(also you can tell I’m not talking much.  I have NO CLUE why, but this episode is just so hard for me to get through!  Maybe it’s because I’m really impatient for them to get to Rosohna, and I know that it’s still a few episodes away?)

(paused to do my language lessons for the day [yes in my early thirties I’m trying to pick up another language because I’ve forgotten pretty much all that I ever learned], going back into it.  WHAT is with this episode and me just NOT focusing???)

Yanno, with the tensions being high with the war and everything, I’m surprised that Beau (A HUMAN) asking to RIDE ON A BUGBEAR LIKE A RAFT INSTEAD OF SWIMMING didn’t incite further anger or violence.  Like, the fucking arrogance of a HUMAN to treat another being like an OBJECT!! Matt didn’t lean into this, but I kinda wonder what it would have been like if he did.  Maybe he was just holding off on the revelation of how humans are treated until they actually got to Asarius?  (omg I almost typed Bassuras.  If you know, you know)

Baron Visco.  I’m like, 99.9% sure that they never see this dude or look for him and he becomes one of Matt’s forgotten little plot threads.  Though I suppose if they didn’t short-cut into the Bright Queen’s Favor (ehhh? Eeeehhhh??  see what I did there????...okay I hate myself for that one XD), maybe he would have been a thread for them to go to in order to work on gaining trust.

Nott and Fjord fucking with each other.  THERE IS NOTHING BETTER.

I’m still not sure if I would call this quiiiite consensual tattooing.  She’s bribing him for a tattoo essentially.  Yes, he’s free to say no, but it’s not like she just offered without anything and he said yes.

Ah, the introduction of the Luxon, and Jester doesn’t even share with the group yet XD

@suicidallyreckless

[cadaceus]

C2E70

Honestly, this episode took me so many different places. Considering the circumstances with the previous episode, Episode 70 is definitely the first page on a new chapter. And damn did it have some good quotes. (”Some of us grow tired of macabre fairytales...”) Further thoughts and notes below! 

(Special shoutout to Jannik, Yarnball, and Clarabelle who I am 90% sure just got left behind in Bazzoxan forever?? So rip to the moorbounders fam.)

- This McGinty bit SAM PLS 

- “I feel like a feeling is a very specific reason” I love Caduceus logic so much. It’s wonderful. 

- Yay! Frumpkin is a cat again at last! 

- “I think maybe honesty is the smartest play.” “It’s the only moment that honesty’s worth anything.” Caleb and Caduceus’s viewpoints toward honesty are so telling and lowkey terrifying when you think about the implications of those sentences in relation to Caleb’s backstory with political scheming and how little we know about Cad, respectively 

- Caduceus saying “I don’t mean to raise my voice” at 40:56 is so funny ahsldkjfk  

- “And you are?” “Nancy McFancypants” LMAO RUH ROH 

- Beau and Jesters conversation… “You know you don’t need Fjords approval to be amazing right?” “Yeah but it’s like if I did a good job punching someone I would look at you. I mean you’re good at a bunch of other things too, Beau…” folks help I’m starting to ship it   

- “Caduceus is the only one good at being good” tbh I would argue with that but I still love that Beau said it :((?

- Beau: “Um yeah. The wind is—“ Jester: “Windy” HELP 

- Beau watching the weather for the Stormlord… my Beauyasha loving heart…

- This bugbear guy that Fjord talked to this was not a successful whisper campaign looool

- Whenever Caleb calls her “Nott the Brave” 😭🌸💞💐

- Shakäste! I miss him!

- This conversation has taken me on a one minute long rollercoaster ride, time for me to get off now bye bye 

- “But there is beauty in sadness, too” at 1:59:06 ish… oof

- The Traveller saying “Have faith. After all, without faith, what am I?” Uhhh I don’t know chief you tell me 👀 

- Beau: “I toss and turn, hoping to hear thunder again.” MY BEAUYASHA HEART YOU CANT DO THIS TO ME 😭💔

- Oh wait yeah their moorbounders! Uh oh!

- Nott: “Sure. [The Scourger you caught was] a human woman?” I saw that Caleb noticed what Nott was implying at the same time that I did… I don’t think it is Astrid but it would be interesting and sad if it was 

- Caleb’s Zemnian accent dropping to a common accent when he speaks in Zemnian is such a cool and interesting acting choice 

- Caleb’s conversation with the Scourger ending with “We’ll see if you live long enough to tell me.” Uhhhhh holy shit 

- “Some of us grow tired of macabre fairy tales. So I hope you enjoy your mouthful of lies when they choke it out of you.” UHHHHH HOLY SHIT??????? 

- That is like one of the hardest lines in the entire series so far what the FUCK  

- Yeza!!! I love him!!! 

- I got to see 2 of my favorite NPCs this episode (Essek and Yeza) so I am happy camper 

- Yeza asking “Where’s Yasha?” Has the same energy as when Jester asked “Where’s Molly?” And it makes me Sad™️

- Kiln lore Kiln lore Kiln lore 

- This whole Clay/Stone/Dust story is so epic, it sounds like a fairytale of some sort

- Matt: “Yeza’s off to the side with a platter of shitty cakes that he’s made” / Taliesin, indignant: “They’re great cakes!” agskdkldld Tal is a mood

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E61 (May 7, 2019)

Hi, everyone! @eponymous-rose​ is out from a pain in the butt situation, so I’m stepping in to bring that average quality down a solid five or six points. Tonight’s preroll: guess who! No, literally, Guess Who:

Tonight’s guests: Travis Willingham & Marisha Ray.

Tonight’s announcements: earlier today, Ashley joined Taliesin for a Gail Force 5-themed action game episode of Mame Drop. VOD available now! On Saturday, May 18, Marisha will be DMing a live event for D&D Live’s Stream of Descent. Cool!

And now, Episode 61: Agreements

CR Stats! It’s been one week since Beau saw Dairon. Only one week, huh. Uk’otoa has threatened Fjord twice in the last week. It’s been 35 days since Fjord broke the second seal. Everyone marvels it’s been simultaneously that long & that little time, and Marisha & Travis both have a loooong drink. Brian has an electronic mug that keeps his drink warm. It has an app. It tells him when it’s at its desired temperature. Travis calls him Douche McClure, but holy smokes I want one. 

Brian tells a story about how he thought Travis was falling asleep one episode, but he was pondering the mysteries of the universe “a la Liam O’Brien.” Marisha empathizes with the trap of being told by the internet to READ YOUR SPELLS, only to try to do that & miss the last round of combat, then to be told PAY ATTENTION.

There’s no difference between Fjord & Travis’s reaction to his depowerment (sheer terror). Marisha talks about how he missed a solid twenty minutes of gameplay afterwards from being so distracted. Travis says he was “movie breathing” too, so hard it was audible on the mics. (Laura has to tell him to stop breathing so loud in movies a lot.) Brian, who’s been with Travis in haunted houses & knows when he’s genuinely scared, realized how terrified he was in the moment even through the laptop screen. 

Dani: “Uk’otoa is exactly the IRS.” Brian: “How about the IRIS?” Ugh.

Everyone points out Travis is cosplaying Steve Jobs tonight. It’s uncanny.

On Beau’s relationship with deities: she’s the only non-magic person in the party, and a lot of the other party members get their magic from very powerful beings telling them they’re special. Even Caleb was pulled to a school as a labeled prodigy. Now Beau is questioning why she’s “the average person in a group of extraordinary people.” Brian wonders if part of it might be her feeling like she gets her own strength without the need of powers granted by gods. Marisha’s exploring the powers Beau now has (that people saw in her earlier as a flaw, especially given her criminal past), possibly as something she might be remarkable for after all. She wonders if she should be talking to Ioun the way everyone else is talking to their gods.

Fjord fears his powers’ loss because of both his inability to hold his own with his friends and as his last tangible bond with Vandren. He desperately wants to reconnect with him (”You’re okay? Are you okay? I’m okay, if you’re...wondering...”). He also recognizes he’s a half-orc with a strength of 11 if he doesn’t have any powers. Brian: “Do you regret picking your class?” Travis: “I REGRET ALL OF IT!” Marisha: “I felt really bad, because as soon as the cameras went off I could see Travis was freaking out, and the first thing I said was, ‘This is why I never fuck with warlocks!’“ Travis: “I can do what you do! Stunning strike! Pap-pap! I got no nothin’!” He imagines his sword just flopping out at his feet in the middle of a tense ambush and having to wish everyone else well.

How does the Krynn dynasty recognition, the house, & the growing acclaim of the M9 affect the relationship Beau has with Dairon? She has no idea. It depends on how well Beau explains her perspective of it all being all knowledge. Marisha tells us that when Nott first exclaimed that blue cloth they found was Dairon’s, she secretly 100% thought it was as well, even when she verbally denied it.

Travis remembers none of this under the loud heartbeat in his ears at the time.

Travis, as a fan, loves the “Thunderlord’s” style of worship. Marisha likes the seamless relationship Caduceus has with the Wildmother. Brian has a hard pass on both “Travis’s thing” & the Traveler “obviously evil,” but also likes the Wildmother. Marisha wonders if Travis will lose his powers if they free & then kill Uk’otoa. Travis, almost crying: “I don’t know!!”

Holy smokes, guys, there are so many quick references and jokes in this one I can’t get them all. Seriously, this is so entertaining! Catch a VOD if you can.

Travis actually had no intention of talking to Wursh in the last episode. He only went there because Yasha came after him. He would have just wandered around if she hadn’t forced the issue. Marisha: “That’s a healthy way of coping.” Travis: “You’re saying that to Fjord, right? Travis is a very responsible person and a good friend.” He and Marisha are being SO SILLY TONIGHT, g’dang.

Reminder, GIF of the Week has been suspended; the replacement will be announced next week.

Beau’s generally forgotten about the precarious nature of their humanity in the Dynasty until Waccoh’s reminder. She’s generally headstrong, and it was a good hint she might need to rein it in a bit.

Fanart of the Week: @thealeksdemon with a gorgeous portrait of Fjord that is apparently nowhere else on the internet. 

They’re doing another Space Jam??????? Whattttt??????

Beau thought the super-fried talking goblin corpse was a bit weird. It was also a little odd he carried the goblin for several hours on his back.

Marisha & Travis both miss a question because they were posing artfully. These two are so goofy. 

Fjord keeps himself close to himself; he’s not comfortable with the recent leadership, as well as all the new powers. Beau is still thinking about Dairon’s instructions to avoid getting close to people.

Travis confirms Fjord shouts “Eldritch Blast” out loud every time. He’s dead certain the group will think less of him if he can’t pull his own weight. “They’d hold auditions! For the Mighty Eight!” He also mentions that he can’t take care of anyone without his powers. Marisha says they’d have offered to help him quest to get his powers back: you know, toss him in some salt water, let him get a little briny, leave him in there “not beyond the threshold of a revivify...” Travis: “Oh, wow, you’re trying to reset the hard drive!” Marisha: “Fuck, you guys, he’s BSODed.” She admits the plan might need a little R&D.

Is it worse when the check engine light turns on or off?

Beau is conflicted about participating in the military industrial complex. She’s aware it’s going to be used to kill families.

There’s an extended, hilarious aside where Beau tries to say the M9 have become the bad guys, but basically implies that Beau alone is just straight-up evil. It’s tear-jerkingly hilarious.

Fjord’s hesitant to tell everyone because he’s fallen in love a bit with his new self. He has no idea what his agreement (if there even was one) with Uk’otoa was/is. For Fjord, going back to being “normal” would be awful. “He still has work to do, too.”

Beau likes tweaking the noses of powerful people, she’s just trying to be more judicious about it.

Travis straight up quotes Jurassic Park over Liam guest-star-cuddling Henry. This episode is seriously amazing.

Travis says he “doesn’t know anything about an accent drop” as far as the breakdown last episode. Unclear if serious! He’s fascinated by the connection to Vandren as a past Chosen of Uk’otoa.

Yasha’s past reveal was an “oh shit” moment for Beau. When asked if this changes how Beau feels about Yasha, Marisha delicately says, “I don’t want people to overestimate Beau’s intentions towards Yasha,” but that she also doesn’t want to hurt people’s internal canons. Travis very directly tells her that she’s played it how’s she’s played it, and what people infer from that is on them. Marisha nods and decides she doesn’t want to add anything else.

Fjord doesn’t care that Beau’s wearing Avantika’s coat.

Being denied access to the library makes it 100% more enticing for Beau.

Fjord feels....goooood about having a new house/family as long as things stay the way they are (in re: his warlock abilities). Marisha recalls Fjord telling Beau to take care of her family because it was the only one she had...but now she has this new family that she likes as well. Only a few people know about her little brother, so it’s a weird family dynamic. Travis: “There’s the family you have and the family you choose.”

This is Fjord’s third family, since his first found family (Vandren) got ripped away.

We out! Is it Thursday yet?