#still got to work out what my caleb's whole deal is

[ryttu3k-sims]

Yeah this is feeling pretty cool right now.

[itsprjc]

Well, Season 2 of TDI Reloaded (TDI Rematch) has had its first four episodes out for about a week. I figured I’d share my thoughts about what we’ve gotten so far:

-The challenges are a little more fun than in Season 1. They have a good amount of variety and the often led to really fun moments between the characters. From the Skunks clogging the toilet slide, to basically all the Rat Faces being carried by Caleb, and of course the AB questions challenge. My girlfriend and I straight up paused the episode each question to try and guess the answers. (We got over half of them right.) As for my personal ranks on the challenges:

-Taking it to the Rim Reaper (Ep. 2): Memorable concept, without going too overboard with it. Also, I’m a bit of a simpleton sucker for the pratfalls.

-Choosin’ for a Bruisin’ (Ep. 4): Great challenge for both character insights and just playing along with it during a first-time viewing.

-You Poor Saps (Ep. 3): I technically prefer Ep.1’s challenge, but this one led to so many gold character moments.

-The Pink Painter Strikes Again (Ep.1): Solid start. Simple challenge, nothing too crazy.

-Animation is pretty much on the same level as Season 1. The facial expressions are GOLD! I’d argue some parts feel more dynamic than Season 1, like the slide moments in Episode 2, but overall, no complaints.

-The characters feel like they never left:

-Priya: I kinda get why she’d fall hard for Caleb, as keep in mind, she’s been stuck with this training with hardly any friends. This also explaining why she instantly jumped to befriending Millie when it seemed they got along. It’s clear that she does value the friendship as she was the only one to give Millie a chance after Episode 2. She also did work as an effective leader in the same episode, instantly taking advantage of the challenge’s slide order rule. Overall, I’m okay with Priya.

-Bowie: I dig his plot. Bowie made it clear at the end of Season 1 that he’s willing to bend the rules…and it’s clear that he probably cares about Raj more. Since people are more weary of him after the finale, it makes sense to have his conflict be more about whether he’d play dirty again. Also, this joker in Episode 4! As a captain (assuming those roles are official) I feel Priya’s more effective, though.

Millie: It’s clear she had alot more learning to do about being a good friend. (I still say both her and Damien could have taken the two-point slide together if they were both weary on the third.) Though her elimination was pretty anticlimactic, unfortunately. I do prefer her in Season 1, but I’m not against the plot they gave her.

Julia & MK: I’m putting them both together because they’re basically a package deal this time around. Overall, live their dynamic. It was a sudden jump from animosity to friendship, but that’s just because they know game when they see it. They have so much fun just being underhanded together, and it’s honestly a refreshing take on villain alliances. While I’d say MK is the breakout of the two, since she’s the brains of the whole alliance, Julia’s dialogue is so on point that it hurts. My hopes is that MK does succeed in backstabbing Julia, but she doesn’t even get mad. She just respects a player and roots for her to win…underhandedly, of course.

Emma: Compared to Millie…honestly not that mixed. I’m glad she cut the chord with Chase early and she got him booted in a clever way. The one thing that’s kinda backwards is how she ends up being a poor judge of character in Episode 4 when she basically red Chase like a book in Episode 2. But then again, I guess that’s just chalked down to being used to his sorry butt the most?

Chase: Everybody (including me) called that he’d be an early boot…and he was. I’m perfectly content with that, as it’s clear that character development was never the end-goal with Chase. And the moment he left, the Skunk Butts became the de facto best team. Props on his ballsy attempt to outrun the balloons in challenge 1, though.

Zee: All I wanted from Zee in Season 2 is for him to still be Zee…Good news, Zee is still Zee. I honestly got worried the “soda influencer” plot would be a cheap and easy way to make him an early boot…and they make him Papa Zee instead. I love this lanky boy.

Ripper: My one complaint on Ripper is that he feels like he’s really not there that much. In Episode 2, he disappears for a good while until the mid-end. And he doesn’t really get to interact with his new team that much. The only real time he interacts with the other skunks is when he asks about how to approach Axel. Let’s talk about Ripaxel…I honestly really wanna see what they do with it! It is a little sudden how it starts, but in its defense, so was Rajbow. Their interactions in Episode 3 were fun to watch, and that POEM. Hey, fanfic writers…Raj and Ripper having a poetry battle…think about it. Despite him disappearing sometimes, what we do get from him is enjoyable. Here’s to more!

Wayne and Raj: My boys are untouched! The one blessing is that they NEVER went for some stupid jealousy plot! (Wayne cares too much for Raj for petty stuff like that.) And they are arguably goofier than in Season 1. (Shoutouts to them wanting burgers after seeing the slides and the “Cyclone-Spin Cycle”) It is funny how many people (again, including me) wanted to see their mischievous side more, but instead the boys are even bigger boy scouts with their understandable disgust at cheating. While I still think one leaving earlier is more likely, I really, REALLY hope that they stick for a little. Imagine them against Julia and MK for at least an episode or two! And while I still would love a Damien VS. MK finale, Wayne or Raj VS. MK works great! Fair and honest player against a crafty cheater. It would be gold!

Damien: I’m really holding out for him since he’s pretty much jogging in place a bit. Sure, he wants to take more risks, but it’s not to a great extent. Then again, the season’s only gotten started. I just hope his crafty side comes out more later. He’s not too afraid anymore, so now he needs to push his brains to the forefront.

Scary Girl: I dig the “Lauren” design. Unfortunately, the “normal” bit wasn’t really used all that much, as she barely had a presence in Episode 1. She had some small scenes, but nothing outstanding until she got herself eliminated. Though given how she was enjoyable, but pretty one-note last season, I feel she works well as a first-boot. Will she return to stalk everyone? Who knows. Probably.

Nichelle: I dig her more confident attitude. Part of me wishes we saw her gaining that confidence DURING the season, rather than all that development being off-screen, though. It makes sense for her to train beforehand, but I would have just as easily liked her having a bit of fire in her and then training throughout the season. As she is, I like how she’s so done with her old Hollywood life. Hopefully she does interact with Damien more, as they seem to have a friendship growing.

Axel: Besides MK, Axel was the biggest relief of the S1 pre-mergers. She’s still hostile and hardcore, but I find her showings of care towards the team being well-needed additions. Examples being her helping Damien back to camp after the four-point slide, and her warning her team to be cautious about getting stuck with the sap. I already said my piece on Ripaxel, so my personal hope is that there is a survival or stealth challenge where the two have to work together. (Ala Hide and Be Sneaky, Eat, Puke, and be Wary, or Hurl and Go Seek if you wanna count the “zombie” thing.)

Caleb: Caleb was simple, and he still kinda is. I like how paranoid he was in Episode 1, but overall he’s just a more effective Justin. I do prefer him over Justin, as he can be a massive asset to the team, as shown in Episode 3. Like Zee, I’m fine with him as is, and can only wait and see what he does in later episodes. Will his alliance become genuine romance or just a tool for Caleb to outlast Priya? Probably the ladder, as he doesn’t seem to show any romantic interest in her that feels genuine.

And that’s Total Drama Island Rematch so far. Tomorrow should be the debuts of Episodes 5 and 6, so here’s to a great season. I was honestly shocked at how much I loved this cast, and how refreshing it felt seeing the show after a seven (eight if you ignore Ridonculous) year hiatus. I will be making sure to watch the series again when it comes to MAX in seventy years. As for whether or not I wanna see the Gen 4 cast again…I’ll probably be content with them stopping their run after Season 2. Reloaded and Rematch work as just two halves of a nice little package, and I really don’t want them to risk having this lovable cast go through what Gen 1 did. If we do get a new season, I’d be fine with them having a new cast. Fans will probably like them as much as they do with Gen 4.

[revserrayyu]

2.3 Penacony thoughts [part 2]

***SPOILER WARNING*** for the 2.3 story update right before the Charmony Festival cutscenes begin. At this moment in time I’ve already finished the whole story, so be wary that I may reference later scenes as I ramble on.

Ah, what bittersweet feelings this gives me. I would’ve loved to see Aventurine actually work alongside Topaz with how indifferent she feels about him but I’m also glad we got to finally see Jade. I really enjoyed her so far.

I can only assume she’s referring Robin here, correct? I wish I remembered the context for this line, but I’m writing all this out days later.

I honestly thought hearing “miss Samuel” in the 2.3 trailer was an error, but after learning it was a fake name Firefly agreed to use from her conversation with Silver Wolf, I suppose not.

Sweetie, nooo! I want you to live as much as you do, but not for such a price! Although, I’m not even sure you have that much to begin with..? Aside from your huge bounty maybe..

On the lighter side of things, it was hilarious to see the trailblazer be a complete nuisance to our traveling companions. It’s always a joy to hear Rachael and I heard clips of Caleb as well and both did wonderful:

“Which one should I pop? One, two, three, four, five… Dan Heng and Voidranger jive…”

 Nicholas also nailed Dan Heng losing his patience with his “Don’t change the words.”

Just when I thought we couldn’t get anymore silly and stupid, we’re seen at the very end of the ship just moments from potentially falling off, all for the sake of a bird.. Why? I have no clue.

“Chirp, chirp… Origami bird.. Hey, little birdie…”

What’s hilarious about this scene is that Skyler’s first “Come on…” sounds like she’s trying to encourage the birds to come to us too, but her tone changes and we find out she’s actually talking to us: “Come on down already. Everyone’s staring at you!”

Talk about always staying in business. Jade mentions how “when people see other’s desires get fulfilled, they develop their own desires,” so it would truly be an endless cycle of people coming to her for their wishes to be granted.

For some reason, I’m not entirely surprised Jade knew Firefly’s exact SAM number of AR-26710, or whatever that number represented when she was part of Glamoth’s Iron Cavalry, but that the Entropy Loss Syndrome was actually a result of her creation as a soldier instead of a random disease that Firefly alone had to deal with? How cruel. This girl was doomed from the very beginning of her life.

As strongly as Firefly wants to live, I doubt she would turn against the other Stellaron Hunters to achieve such a dream with how oddly close each of them are.

Madam, what do you mean and why must it be in yellow text? I know the color has come up a couple times already during this patch and while it’s not as intimidating as red, it still puts me on edge a little bit.

Firefly looks so darn smug here and confident in Silver Wolf’s abilities that it’s adorable. Our favorite hacker would surely have a blast in trashing the IPC like this if prompted.

I know everyone has gripes about the IPC, but I can’t help but be fascinated by them? A group of strangers just like the Stellaron Hunters or Astral Express, only coming together to get what they want. I’m also nervous for the day whenever the other Stonehearts get revealed. I mean, the three we know of already are downright gorgeous and if everyone in this darn group is just as pretty then I fear my wallet may be in danger.

Speaking of pretty, I’m sad Aventurine can’t actually join the festivities. I know he was teetering on the edge of life and death thanks to Acheron, but he seemed relatively fine in the last cutscene of 2.2. 

We didn’t even get much more information about that Oswaldo guy Boothill was looking for either. To end the last patch with him cornering “this flamboyant fella” to look for the guy, you’d think we would learn the cowboy’s motives a bit more during the actual story. 

Mhhmm, and here’s the little moment I brought up last time about the Stoneheart’s abilities. Topaz claims hers isn’t as “visual” as Aventurine’s so I’m still curious as to what her cornerstone is capable of.

Bronya and Belobog mention, huzzah! 

I dunno what I was expecting as our first interaction with Jade as the trailblazer, but it was very amusing. I don’t remember the other options the game gave us as a wish, but happy I chose this because the conversation is honestly hilarious to me, from us saying “endgame” to assuming that Jade has no sense of humor..

Only to realize that she does indeed have a twisted sense of humor because the lady wanted us to cut off our adorable train conductor’s tail and gift it to her?? Amazing. I’m shocked she could joke about such a thing and that the trailblazer is even impressed by her.

Lastly, I’m once again so annoyed that Argenti didn’t get to speak! The game said they were already aware of the issue last patch but still didn’t get it fixed?? Aaah, it’s such a shame because Adam truly has such a fabulous voice and I haven’t a clue on when Argenti will make another story appearance for us to actually hear him again. 

Alright, that’s enough for here. Big cutscenes next.

[valemya]

🍄🧸 for the asks! :)

thanks for the asks!

🍄 mushroom: tell me about your dr family!

Certainly! In terms of biological family... I went the route 99% of shifters go- they're just not around. Being a jedi and all it would be difficult for them to be present in my life anyway, so to make it easier I just don't really know them because I haven't seen them since before I was taken to the order.

There is one exception though and it's a bit of a weird one tied to my other (star wars rebels) DR, which I have had for a looong time. Basically in that DR Ezra Bridger is my (non-biological) brother, yknow grew up together, lived together the whole deal. I faced a great deal of emotional torment when I decided to create my tcw DR, because I felt like I would be "cheating" on rebels by focusing on another DR. A friend of mine helped me realise it was alright to put that DR on the backburner for a little while, and besides I could just script Ezra in my tcw DR with me? So then came the epiphany I literally could just bring Ezra with me to my new DR, and that was genuinely really comforting and made me feel a lot better about my decision to make the tcw DR.

Anyway boring backstory aside, there is one exception and it's Ezra. The only difference is that in my tcw DR he's my second cousin (and my padawan!!) cause I thought it would be reeeally funny if I was just randomly assigned a padawan that coincidentally had the same last name as me, thinking there was no relation, until one day obi wan goes digging in the jedi archives or something and finds out oh shit! you guys are cousins fr!

Someone: *reading off a report* General Bridger and.... Commander... Bridger? Is that like your son or something?

Ezra and I, at the same time: we are NOT related!!!

Obi wan: ...😶

So that covers the biological side... but I know you're really here for the found family bit. I'd say that I consider just about everyone family, especially all the clones, but I'll rattle off a few really significant people quickly.

My old master Depa is for sure the mother figure in my life. And yes she's still keeping me in check even after I've long passed my trials and officially gotten out of her hair in the eyes of the Order. By extension, Caleb (Kanan) is someone I'd consider like a half-brother and don't worry, I make sure he and Ezra get to hang out a lot.

Obviously growing up with Anakin I'd consider him family too, and that means Obi Wan on some level as well. To me Obi Wan is kind of like a wine aunt. Will not be elaborating further. Ahsoka feels like a niece.

Despite legally becoming my brother-in-laws at some point, I do consider a lot of the clones to be either very close friends or some kind of familial figure I can't really place. Naturally some are closer to me than others such as Rex and the 501st or the Bad Batch, but I think I bond with them all pretty well.

Tech of course holds the most special place in my heart as my future husband.

...I think that covers it...

🧸 teddy: do you have a favourite childhood memory from your dr?

This one actually had me stumped for a while. I honestly, genuinely have not thought about my life before the war too much, certainly not as a child really. If I had a favourite memory of anything from my childhood it would be a toss up between:

When I was a brand new admission to the Order and didn't really know anyone or even my place in it all, I would spend most of my time in the temple library/archives. The lovely librarian Jocasta Nu was super kind to me, and I continued to spend time in there over the years and even kind of wanted to work within that area because of her kindness. Turned out not to be as I got assigned to the war instead, but the memory is still pleasant.

OR

The early days when I was chosen as Depa's padawan. Getting to know her and what she stands for and learning from her and meditating together is just such a nice bonding activity. She's super supportive and a very grounded teacher, and I think my eyes would have been sparkling watching her do all these cool things and then receiving her guidance on these same things until I was able to master them myself. Just so cool. I think she's a great jedi and a great teacher too.

And there you have it! my essay responses to your asks! hope you've enjoyed and thanks again for the submission!

[anxiouswritingbitch]

What about writing a The Quarry "police statement" ending with the counselors just like Until Dawn based on your playthrough (who died, important actions, choices etc)

Gods, I had so much fun writing this ! Thank you for this ask ! I watched a lot of let’s plays before having my own run, so basically it was an everybody lives + all evidence found (and Dylan kept his hand !). It was better to have to write all the counselors say something, so it’s cool.

Anyways, here are my version of The Quarry’s ending, because it should have been like this.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄, 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲

NORTHKILL POLICE DEPARTMENT - MORNING OF AUGUST 23

         [START OF THE TRANSCRIPTION]

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 1

[OFFICER] : Young man, we need your help on this. Don't you remember anything?

[N. FURCILLO] : I- I told you. This... animal it- it attacked me and Abi. In the woods. It bit me in the leg-

[OFFICER] : Where, exactly ? You don't have any scratch on you.

[N. FURCILLO] : I can assure you- it- it- it was bleeding so much! I just- I remember feeling weird after. I think I said mean stuff to Abi... I- pushed her? Wait, is she okay?! Where is-

[OFFICER] : Sir, answer our questions. What happened next?

[N. FURCILLO] : As I told you before, I. Don’t. Remember. A. Single. Thing.

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 4

[J. CUSTOS] : Look man... I don’t understand shit to what happened, okay? Whatever you’re searching for, it’s the Hackett’s. They’re fucking crazy! Trapped me in some sicko cage- if it wasn’t for Ryan and that girl freeing me I’d still be down there-

[OFFICER] : So you’re stating that Mr. Erzahler and Miss Kearney were at the Hackett’s house around 1:30AM ?

[J. CUSTOS] : I- yeah I guess, but don’t you hear what I’m saying? I almost got shredded by that creepy ass animal, I’m telling you it’s not human- and it’s not all, those freaks covered me in what I think is blood!

[OFFICER] : Sir, can you describe the animal?

[J. CUSTOS] : Uh... animal isn’t the term man... it had some kind of- of human form? But like... long. Bloody. Just... I just want to forget it.

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 5

[L. KEARNEY] : No, no FUCKING way. I am NOT dealing with bastards cops again! 

[OFFICER] : Lady, I’m gonna need you to calm down. Don’t make me use force. The other counselors said that you weren’t there during the camp. explain me how you disappeared for two whole months.

[L. KEARNEY] : Are you deaf? We were kidnapped by that damn cop because we stumbled into the Hackett’s fucking cursed family issues-

[OFFICER] : Speaking of the Hackett’s. We found the bodies of Constance Hackett and Christopher Hackett shot dead. You have agreed that you were at their house with Mr. Erzahler, what do you have to say about that?

[L. KEARNEY] : Listen. I didn’t do shit. It’s the old hag’s own fault that she got shot. If you had taken one look at her, you’d see she deserved it. As for Chris, he was trying to fucking kill us! Ryan saved everyone in the room by shooting him-

[OFFICER] : So you’re saying Mr. Erzahler murdered Mr. Hackett?

[L. KEARNEY] : I- no- I mean, yes but- don’t twist it like that you!- I... 

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 7

[OFFICER] : So, you found a possible working car at the Hackett scrap yard. Why leave it to go back?

[K. KA] : I told you, we almost got mauled to death! Dylan knocked it out temporarily by dropping the car, we weren’t gonna take our chances with it. We went back to the lodge.

[OFFICER] : The lodge, right. We have found the deceased body of Caleb Hackett there, do you have anything to say about that?

[K. KA] : Wh- who? Wait, you mean Mr. H’s son? What the fuck was he doing th- Oh- oh...

[OFFICER] : He was shot, and you were the one with the shotgun in the morning. Miss, did you shoot Caleb Hackett?

[K. KA] : What?! No! What I shot was a fucking monster who was going to brutally kill Dylan and me! It wasn’t a guy, I’m telling you!

[OFFICER] : You and your coworkers keep talking about creatures and monsters. We have found alcohol bottles around the fire pit. Did you take any other kind of drug before the events of the night?

[K. KA] : Fucking hell, we only drank a beer! We were totally sober, it wasn’t some kind of hallucinations, you- [redacted].

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 2

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : Instead of interrogating me, you should be investing. There is some serious shit going on at Hackett’s Quarry. I bet you don’t believe me. Go see in the treehouse for yourself.

[OFFICER] : We already did. All we found was Mr. Brinly there, not a single “creature”. 

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : Brinly, as in the-counselor-who-didn’t-show-up Max Brinly? The girl, Laura’s boyfriend ? Wait, so that means... Mr. H...

[OFFICER] : Yes, him. What about Mr. Hackett?

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : I- nothing. 

[OFFICER] : Miss, if you’re withholding informations-

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : I am not. Besides, I got proof. If you just give me my damn phone back, I got a picture of it-

[OFFICER] : Your phone will be looked through. Where were you at about 4AM?

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : I had other preoccupation than the damn time- ugh. I think it was when Abi and I were in the basement, or when we climbed into Mr. H’s office. The doors were locked, but you know that. 

[OFFICER] : Right. Why were you hiding?

[E. MOUNTEBANK] : We were’t hiding- I mean, well- we were trying to stay alive. It was the only place the- the... things could not hurt us.

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 8

[OFFICER] : We are being serious here, Mr. Lenivy. As of now, three dead bodies have been found-

[D. LENIVY] : Wait, three-?! Who are they- is it- is Ryan okay? 

[OFFICER] : Mr. Erzahler is alive. It seems he was wounded but he will survive. The bodies all belong to the Hackett family. 

[D. LENIVY] : Ah, great- I mean, no! Not great, definitely, uhm-

[OFFICER] : Sir, do you confirm being in the lodge around around 4AM with Miss Ka?

[D. LENIVY] : Uh, yeah. Not so much “being” as “hiding for my fucking life”.

[OFFICER] : Miss Ka has admitted to have shot Caleb Hackett. Is it true?

[D. LENIVY] : It’s true that she saved my goddamned life, yeah. Wait, rewind a bit- Caleb Hackett? It was him? Never mind, Kaitlyn is a fucking hero and I really don’t like the way you seem to... implicate otherwise- you’re not accusing her are you?

[OFFICER] : Look, we have dead bodies on our hands. They didn’t kill themselves. Now, about Kaylee Hackett, do you-

[D. LENIVY] : Nope. No, no, not telling you anything.

[OFFICER] : Sir, you have to-

[D. LENIVY] : I don’t have to nothing. I have the right to a lawyer, and I want one. You’re not getting anything else from me.

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 3

[OFFICER] : Miss, please. I need you to tell me what happened.

[A. BLYG] : I- it’s just so messy. So confusing... I...

[OFFICER] : How about Mr. Furcillo. He said that you were in the woods before you got attacked. Is that right? 

[A. BLYG] : It is, yeah... just because of that stupid game, God it’s my fault, if I hadn’t run away then-

[OFFICER] : Then what?

[A. BLYG] : He wouldn’t have gotten bit. That’s when it all started to go south. There was so much blood, the wound was so big... I tried to help, I really did, I swear-

[OFFICER] : What happened next, miss?

[A. BLYG] : He wasn’t the same. I spent two months with him, I just know that wasn’t Nick- he became so agressive, I had to! He would have killed me otherwise! It’s my fault he died-

[OFFICER] : Mr. Furcillo isn’t dead. We found him in the forest at dawn. Do you have any idea how he might have got there?

[A. BLYG] : He’s- he’s alive? I- woah- uh-... No sir, so I don’t have any idea. He just- left... after... yeah. 

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 6

[OFFICER] : Mr. Brinly, do you have any recollection of the night?

[M. BRINLY] : Where is Laura?

[OFFICER] : Sir, please answer-

[M. BRINLY] : No. Where is Laura? I’m not telling you anything before you tell me if she’s alright.

[OFFICER] : Laura Kearney is fine and is at the precinct. Now, she claims that you two were held hostage by Travis Hackett, is it true?

[M. BRINLY] : Yeah it is. That asshole kept us locked. 

[OFFICER] : So, after this you escaped and went to Hackett’s Quarry. Why go there and not flee?

[M. BRINLY] : It’s.. complicated to explain. We had business to take care of.

[OFFICER] : What kind of business?

[M. BRINLY] : You wouldn’t understand. Heck, you wouldn’t even believe it.

[OFFICER] : Why don’t you try and give me your version. Your statement of the night.

[M. BRINLY] : ...I’m telling you. It’s messed up... so fucking messed up...

NORTHKILL PRECINCT - ROOM 9

[OFFICER] : Look, sir. We need you to collaborate. We can’t figure it out if you won’t tell us.

[R. ERZAHLER] : (...)

[OFFICER] : You realize that your silence isn’t helping your case.

[R. ERZAHLER] : (...)

[OFFICER] : We have several witnesses placing you at the Hackett’s house at the time of death of Constance and Christopher Hackett.

[R. ERZAHLER] : (...)

[OFFICER] : You are currently the lead suspect for those murders, don’t you have anything to say about that, Mr. Erzahler ?

[R. ERZAHLER] : (...)

[OFFICER] : Okay, we are clearly getting nowhere with this.

          [END OF THE TRANSCRIPTION]

[legolasghosty]

I want to know about Willex Ikea meet cute please I am so intrigued. also any of the trans ones if you’re feeling up to it no pressure!

Hello Anon, yes of course!

Lol, the people have spoken, I guess the IKEA fic is the next one I need to finish. Basically, the premise is that Alex and Willie are both in an IKEA shopping for new bedframes(Alex cause Luke and Reggie broke his and Willie because racecar bed therapy assignment) and run into each other(literally). And then they hit it off and end up bed shopping together! SNIPPET TIME!

"How goes the search?" Alex asks.

"Not good," Willie sighs, leaning back against the fake wall. "I know they have them here cause I looked online, but I haven't found any yet and I've been here for an hour."

Alex winces sympathetically. "When did you get here?"

"Like… 11:30?" Willie answers.

Alex glances down at his watch, then back at Willie, then back at the watch. "Ummm, you've only been here for like 20 minutes then," he informs them.

Willie stares at him for a solid minute, then drops his head back against the wall and groans again. "I'm doomed."

Alex resists the urge to chuckle at the drama. "I promise you're not doomed," he replies. Then he glanced around. There are a lot of beds around… and he needs to look through them too for himself… "Wanna look around together?" he offers hesitantly.

And then let's see... I have a few trans ones... let's go with the Willex t4t high school one! That one is less of a single fic and more of an ongoing set of one shots. The original I ended up posting and you can find it here! But from there, it has expanded into a few other shots of Willex being cute in this universe!

The current one that is half done is good dad!Caleb giving Alex the whole 'you hurt my kid you die' talk. I just love the dynamic of them both loving Willie so frigging much and being like, "Okay we both love him. And would kill anyone who hurt him. We good? Good!"

SNIPPET!

“Ah, Alex, got a minute?”

Alex stops short at the voice of Willie’s dad coming from behind him. He turns around slowly, setting the two newly filled water bottles he’d been holding on the counter. Willie is still upstairs in their bedroom, working on some math homework. Alex had been trying to write a paper for English when they both realized they were almost out of water. So Alex had volunteered to come downstairs and get them both refills. 

The whole thing should take five minutes, tops. But Alex knows this trip suddenly got a bit longer. He can hear it in Mr. Covington’s light but loaded tone.

“Sure, what’s up?” Alex says, forcing a smile.

“Lovely,” Caleb responds, resting a hand on the kitchen island and giving Alex a grin that seems tinged with danger. “I just wanted to have a quick chat. Please, sit.” 

He gestures at a stool nearby, then turns and heads for a cabinet. Alex settles on the stool, twisting a silver ring around his left pointer finger to keep himself from freaking out. This is fine. Just a casual talk with his partner’s dad. Who could probably get away with all sorts of illegal activities on charisma alone. No big deal.

Thanks for the ask Anon! This was fun!

(Look through my list of WIPs and ask me whatever you want about them!)

[cagedchoices]

Your Caleb and Francis meta and then the other post about that part in season 4 reminded me of something so I have a question to ask now. What would have happened if Caleb couldn't fight Halores's control and killed Maeve like she intended?

Ooh! Anon you have no idea how anxious and filled with dread I was mentally going 'oh god an anon in my inbox' to how excited I got when I saw it was an honest question to think on!!

Okay so my first thought is if everything was exactly the same up to the point where Caleb got infected, it actually doesn't change all that much as far as canon events go. Like I think it still would play out like Maeve is dead, Caleb gets killed shortly after that because part of Hale's plan has pretty much always been to kill him.

Hale does have a line about making him her pet after he's infected with the parasite and says she has "better plans for you and your kind" but that still isn't a whole guarantee that she wouldn't kill him at some point later on. If he couldn't resist the effects of the parasite, she wouldn't have any point in killing him to bring him back as a host either, although it could be that she might do it anyway, just to try and understand "how the fuck did it work on you, but not these OTHER outliers?" Or if there just wasn't any form of resistance with the parasite whatsoever, maybe she would just keep him around as a trophy the same way she does with William.

Under control, Caleb wouldn't be able to remember that he killed Maeve. In examples of other infected humans, they typically don't remember what they were doing when they were following a direct command. A woman who Caleb and Maeve found killing and dismembering her own horses while under Hale's control doesn't seem to know that she was the one who killed them after she is released from that command. Hale orders a street full of pedestrians to start waltzing together and orders them to dance faster and faster until they can't keep up, then start to fall and get injured. When she releases them from dancing, a few are on the ground clutching their hurt ankles and looking like they don't know how they fell down in the first place.

So it's safe to assume that as long as humans are under Hale's control, they don't remember what they are told to do. Just like the hosts when they were under human control in the parks and routinely had their memories deleted.

If Caleb were to break free from Hale's control at any point after being made to kill Maeve, then he would be able to remember that he did it, and it would horrify him. It'd be like learning he killed Francis all over again and you could expect about the same reaction, maybe a little more brokenness and a sort of "I can't fucking believe I let this happen again" mentality from Caleb. And if he were to see Maeve again at some point afterwards, he'd immediately apologize for killing her and I think it'd be a bigger deal to him than it is to her.

Maybe Maeve might feel disappointed that it turned out she actually couldn't trust him not to kill her after all? but I don't see it as being something she'd hold against him as a judge of character. She'd be disappointed in herself for underestimating Hale and letting her get ahold of Caleb more than she'd ever be like "Caleb betrayed my trust, so he's just as bad as almost every other human I know."

[steamberrystudio]

Listennn.. I too went into GS a little wary of Caleb. When contrasted against everyone else you can meet in the opening (stoic but gentle Ari, funny and flirty Jack, closed off but caring Caissa, clumsy and cryptic Magnus...) Caleb absolutely brushed me up the wrong way. Dude can be an asshole.

But then I did Ari's route first.

Let me tell you.. it took me only up until Ari and Caleb sparring and Caleb loosening up a little to realise I was in big trouble. Dude is hot as hell. And funny. And a bit of a rebel against the status quo, while still toeing the line, which I wasn't expecting. And I thoroughly enjoyed his route when I got round to it. You did an incredible job creating his personality - and I actually now love the fact he has such a wide ranging personality and isn't always gently gently with the MC.

Not that the others are like that but you get the idea - I appreciate being able to see an "ugly" side to them all instead of Mr perfect gentleman all the time. I think you did a great job of that with all the characters in different ways.

I'm still replaying all the routes. You created something special :)

Well ultimately, the prologue portion of the game was designed to set up character conflict and foundation for character growth in the routes. You're supposed to develop a first impression of the character specifically so the route can subvert the expectation and/or explain the behaviour.

So it's totally fine to like that character or be wary of another. There's nothing wrong with that. OWO

I feel like people assume I'm judging you for judging Caleb and that's not it *at all*. 😂 The whole point is to make people go 😡 at him so that when you get into his route, I can turn the tables and show you that he's actually a good guy who is struggling with some things but has a good heart.

I have people in my life who have the whole anxiety-as-anger thing going on, and I love them even though it's a super frustrating quality that they have to actively work on - and don't always succeed at not giving into it. It was a trait I really wanted to explore in a character because I deal with it a lot.

As you said, I don't want the characters to have to be perfect - Caleb can be an angry, anxious brat, Magnus has severe trust issues that he struggles with, Caissa is chained down by a lot of personal issues, etc, etc.

I'm not opposed to people having first impressions of the characters and withholding judgement until they see more.

Some of the struggles with Caleb in particular came about because of the combination of putting out a demo which allows people to see a very small slice of the game (about 20% of the total story if you count the 4 chapters of common route and 14 of each route) and a public development process which makes me very accessible for feedback.

It can be tempting to draw conclusions and give critique based on 20% of the content. But unfortunately it can sometimes not be helpful. Imagine trying to critique a drawing when you can only see 20% of it. How can you give a proper critique when you're missing 80% of the picture? That aspect of development can be a little difficult because you have feedback flying in from all directions on a thing you're still actively creating.

And that kind of led to some friction with Caleb a while back, which is why it's still kind of this big topic of discussion.

But it's not that it's not okay to have a first impression that is less than positive. That's absolutely okay! It's the point! It's what I wanted.

Like I said, the Caleb issues stemmed from a much earlier place in the development process when there were maybe some conclusions being drawn before everyone had the complete picture. Which, as I said, is very tempting and I get it. Sometimes there ARE characters that rub you the wrong way at the start and you don't want to give them a chance and that's also totally fine! I've had one character like that in all my game-playing endeavours, and I still haven't played his route. 🤣🤣

So to anyone who is/was wary of Caleb. It's fine. It's totally fine. The game is done now so you have the option of getting the full picture if you want it (or ignoring his route if you don't).

That was just something not available to people this time last year.

So all of that to say, I get it. And I appreciate that you gave Caleb a chance and have come to understand him better. And appreciate his flaws and attempts to overcome them (even if he doesn't always succeed). 💞💓💖

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E129 (March 16, 2021)

Tonight’s guests are Matt Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe!

Matt, on DMing Luc’s Revivify: “That was weird. It’s one thing when it happens because of player action and circumstances and the choices they make. When it’s entirely on me, unintentional, and just realizing different chess pieces you’ve set up, that’s rough.” It was especially rough since this was a child NPC related to a PC. “I was hoping somebody had a spell slot left.” He kept in mind that there are two clerics in the room and that they could resurrect the next day even if the Revivify went poorly. “A good chance, since it’s his first time. Okay, okay, okay, okay, I think we’ll be okay, we’ll see how this goes. It was really stressful in the moment! I did not set out to have that happen, but when I realized what was going to happen, I tried to see it through.” He wouldn’t have prevented a chance to bring him back. “There may have been an offshoot short-run series of games to find a way to bring him back. I would have found some way to correct the circumstance so the players could feel good about moving forward with the story and there was no undue punishment beyond their control.”

Taliesin on Cad’s response: “This is a big thing if you’re a cleric. It was very much coming in like an EMT. Everything should be fine... hopefully. Just focused in and got it done. The minute things started to go south it was like, okay, that’s the next problem.”

On Yeza’s feelings: “It is a very complicated situation. I think he, much like how Veth is trying to figure out what it is that she wants, I think he’s trying to help her find that while also figuring it out for himself. I think Yeza’s also noticing that because Veth’s the more active of the two of them she also takes the weight of the responsibility and the blame for things when they go wrong, unnecessarily. Especially when he himself acknowledges that he’s partially at fault for even dragging everyone in with the Conclave. As much as he’s appreciative for them coming back for him, there’s a lot of back and forth. He’s filled with a lot of regret, too, but he’s very much trying to convince Veth that it’s a burden that she doesn’t have to keep to herself, that they can share it and work through it together.” Matt mentions that, as an actor, he really loves exploring interactions between characters first and foremost. “Especially when you don’t know where it’s going to go.” He also praises Sam as a scene partner - “I really cherish that.”

How does Caduceus feel about Revivify and Speak with Dead? “Speak with Dead is an interesting middle ground, because he knows that it’s not actually speaking with the dead. It’s really just-- it’s almost medical, really. This is just reactivating a brain at a certain point. It’s practically just a muscle twitch at this point. That doesn’t really prod him in that direction. Revivify is interesting, because it had never really come up. At first I thought of it as bending the rules, but it’s not bending the rules. You knock over a plant, you replant it, you don’t stare at it and go ‘Well, that’s over.’ This is just doing the work. No, we can bring this thing back to health. This is all part of the circle of life, that sometimes we can save something. Especially given the stress that he’s put himself through over the past year of being with these people. He’s started to think of himself a bit as a battlefield medic, and triage is just part of the deal, and it’s completely acceptable.”

Did Trent really just want to talk? “Yeah, that circumstance, as it came together, Trent would never have arrived if there wasn’t an indication that there was some kind of infiltration or attack. Even beyond that, it was Jester breaking the concentration on her charm on that one guard when she created her duplicate.” The guards’ job is to inform a member of the Cerberus Assembly, and Trent lived the closest. “He didn’t know who it was, didn’t have any expectation necessarily. The minute he saw the illusion, he knew a powerful magic user was involved.” Seeing Caleb was an unexpected surprise. “I don’t think he wanted to throw down necessarily. He was more interested in figuring out exactly what the nature of this was.” Matt had multiple battlemaps that didn’t get used. “They managed to cleverly out-maneuver him in his surprise of seeing them.” The Nein rocketed up his priority list after that very quickly. Taliesin: “We’re so fucked.”

On Cad being “Uncle Caduceus” to Luc: “It’s the thing he misses most about home, is being a juvenile shit. It’s nice to be able to express that part of him again, as opposed to the serious, life-threatening, constant intensity. I’m very at home just being a little difficult.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Beau! (_rumor_king, photography by kourtyardproductions on Instagram)

On Marion: “Like a lot of people in this whole narrative from the beginning, getting swept up in things larger than her and trying to adapt. This is a circumstance she’s avoided for a long time. She’s having a rough time in some ways, but simultaneously, she’s enduring. Like a mother would. She’s adapting, she’s making it work. Without much of a choice, you just kind of do the best you can and lean on the people around you to help you where they can. Luckily she has a daughter there. She’s probably surprising herself at how well she’s doing given the circumstances.” Matt talks about how weird it is to feel proud of character he’s created. “Of the many things Marion is incredible at, she’s a studier of the human condition. She’s seen and heard the stories of so many. That gives her a very special perspective. She can see elements of that fractured individual within Caleb, and knowing the good that he’s brought to his friends, and knowing he’s possibly saved her life from bad circumstances, she couldn’t not speak up. She very easily falls into that role of maternal comforter, because it’s one of the many things she’s really good at, she enjoys it, and she can see well when people need it.” He’s been enjoying having Marion along for this (despite the difficult circumstances) because he was always a little sad that they only got to see her for short periods of time.

On the Blooming Grove’s safety: “He’s afraid that it’s a premonition. He’s not pinned it down, but he’s happy to let his imagination wander. He at the very least feels like there’s a reason he’s having these thoughts, and that there’s a reason to go there. He’s a big believer that these things don’t just happen. He’s more likely to think that there’s a good reason to go versus a danger to go. He’s had a couple of ominous warnings lately, and he’s not used to them and not a fan. He’s more likely to read something like that as, there is something there waiting for you that you have to discover. There is something that is going to be helpful to you, even if it hurts.”

On Astrid: “While maybe not as readable in overall personality as Trent is, I still want to be careful to not discuss things that are still being discussed within the game and tossed around as possibilities. Astrid is another complicated character, as anyone would be who’s been through the life she has. I can’t say too much. I can say she’s definitely legitimately happy to see Bren/Caleb after all this time.” His reemergence definitely caught her off guard. “We’ll have to see where it goes from there.”

On Cad’s successful Divine Intervention: “He’s definitely hit the ‘on a mission from god’ stage. He’s been that way for the entire campaign of, this, this is what I’ve been waiting for. Even when it sucks a lot, it’s been nice that those things have popped up to remind him, no, no, you’re doing it right, everything’s good. Probably not going to survive the next week, but you’re doing good! Not quite 1 in a 100 chance, but I forget so often to make that roll, and it’s such a great roleplaying roll. I don’t know how at level 20 you could deal with the fact that you can do that every day.” 

On Zeenoth getting his comeuppance: the kidnapping was a concept Marisha brought up for Beau’s backstory, and Matt went with it even though it was opposed to the Cobalt Soul’s philosophy because he knew rooting it out would make for an interesting story. “I felt it was an important beat to bring to her, because it was something that she was wronged by. And to show that there are still some good people out there who are trying to make things right.” After the tentative peace, dealing with this became Dairon’s next focus. “I was glad we finally got to it. So many people don’t have the opportunity in their lives to get that sort of justice and vindication, so if I can bring elements of that justice into our world, even for our own hope, I’m going to do that. Especially for my wife’s character, especially for a character that deserves that.” Taliesin points out that if it had come too early, Beau wouldn’t have believed it.

Cad’s thoughts on the Tomb Taker betrayal? “He knew it was gonna come at some point. There was no way that was gonna last. He was hoping it was gonna last a little longer. He was really hoping they had a vested interest in getting them all the way to the end. Nope, this is apparently as far as we go, and he was not prepared for that.” He was expecting the potential for de-escalation. “Caduceus is the only character in there that doesn’t have a history with Lucien. I think he sees him a little more clearly than everybody else does. They’re all looking for this person that Clay, at least, is of the opinion that he’s just not there. This is a very manipulative, very dangerous infernal human. Just smarter than all of them. Really aware that there is no calculating what the hell is going to happen. Conversation is the only way you can deal with someone like that.”

Fan Art of the Week: An amazing Caleb closeup! (rynn_birb on Twitter)

Taliesin on Lucien: “I’m excited he’s the one that’s going to kill us all. Poetic that this is how the game ends.” Matt was delighted when Taliesin handed him carte blanche to do what he wanted with Molly’s past. “I was like ‘shit... oh, wait!’ The character of Lucien was always intended to be an antagonist so that it would have been Molly being chased by the person who wanted their body back. But then it happened that he got his body back.” Taliesin: “He’s so much worse than I ever hoped.”

Matt, on the Holy Avenger: “I hadn’t thought to initially even give that sword.” The good roll was the only reason Kima handed that over. “Well, sure, you get the sword. It was very reactionary, it wasn’t my intent originally. I was like, well, I mean, there’s two avenues she can take with this.” Multiclass into Paladin, or lean into the fact that her subclass is essentially a barbarian paladin. “This really works out in a uniquely beautiful way. Let me see if I can lay out a path for her to earn it.”

On Cad’s attempt at lying blowing up in his face: “He was like that kid that had a really bad day in high school and was like, you know what? I’m going to let loose. This is it. I’m gonna dye a streak in my hair. And then tries to give himself a haircut and ends up with half bangs. Well, okay, obviously I’m not that person. I was feeling a little distraught and I didn’t handle it well. Maybe I’m going dark... no, I’m not going dark. Nope.” Matt mentions how much he relates to Caduceus.

Matt, on the Eyes: “What can I tell you? I’m enjoying the hell out of it. The moment they began to really push to read that book, I was like, okay, this is on you. I’m excited for the point in the narrative where the march continues back to Eiselcross. I am almost impatient - not really - because we’re on the cusp of getting to more of the meat. There’s so much to learn, so much to see, so much to explore. I love instilling my players with absolute terror.”

Thoughts on Jester’s Tarot reading? Taliesin cackles. “Molly made the cards, so. Did it to himself, he did, he did.” Matt: “Once again, another example of things working out unexpectedly and too perfectly for an improvised moment. Fuck.” Taliesin: “Bless the wisdom of chaos.” Matt: “I love that even at this point in the campaign, Molly continues to fuck with people. I’m just so proud. That deeply shook Lucien, for reasons.” Taliesin: “It’s the everlasting gobstopper smoke bomb.”

[nightowlwriting]

summary: a tavern owner gets mouthy. you get mad. molly finds out you love him. (part 6/13 of the kindness series, a thematically connected series of c2/exu imagines)

word count: ≈700

warnings: derogatory comments made toward molly & jester being tieflings

masterlist - request - support my work? - ao3

To be fair, you do have a hairpin trigger. The tavern owner didn’t know that when he said what he said. When the tavern owner sneered at Molly and Jester, when he opened his mouth - When he said we don’t serve your kind here you couldn’t control yourself. It had already been a bad day and you were really looking forward to a good night in, but then he’d said that and it was the last straw.

Fjord and Caleb had tried to catch you by the arms when you launched yourself to the front of the group but they failed. Molly and Jester caught you, though, when you tried to push between them, and held you there. “Fuck you,” You seeth, ignoring the way that Molly is rubbing soothing circles on your back and Jester is telling you to calm down. “Oh, you’re such a piece of shit, a real piece of work.” You’re sneering too, jerking to get away from Molly and Jester, to just get close to the tavern owner - who now looks rather surprised and scared. “I ought to beat the shit out of you.”

The owner gasps and takes a step back when you break free from Jester’s grip, throwing yourself forward. Molly compensates and wraps his arms around your biceps, hiking your arms back and up so that your shoulders are painfully high and back, legs barely scraping the ground as you struggle to get toward the man to maim him.

“Darling,” Molly coos softly in your ear, “It’s fine, we’re used to it. Let us fight our battles.” His words make you sag in his arms, tears cresting in your eyes as the anger prods at all of your emotional reactions. Despite what he’s saying, Molly walks you several steps closer to the tavern owner. “Sometimes,” He raises his voice, “Fighting my battle with you would be to let go.” The threat hangs heavy in the air as your heart thrums heavily in your chest. You can almost hear the smirk in Molly’s voice when the tavern owner pales once more.

“I-I’m sorry,” He stutters, “I didn’t mean-”

“You never do,” Jester chimes in, voice dark, “People like you never mean it when someone confronts you. You only mean it when we lay down and take it.” When Jester approaches, magic at her fingertips, Molly tugs you back and away. When he feels satisfied with the distance he turns you in his arms. You’re still shaking, angrier than you’ve ever been, but the smug look on Molly’s face calms you. It should make you angrier, the way his tail is swishing behind him like the cat that got the cream, but it calms you down.

“You don’t have to defend us, you know. Defend me. I was a carnie at one point and have surely heard worse.”

“I know I should let you deal with it unless you ask,” You speak slowly, still trying to think around the anger bouncing around in your head and the fact that you’re in Molly’s arms, “I know that. But I can’t… When people say that about you two, especially you Molly, I can’t think straight. I can’t stand it.”

“Oh, so I’m special.” He says, coyly. You look away, trying to convince yourself that the blush crawling up your chest and onto your cheeks is from the anger you’re feeling from still being able to hear Jester give the tavern owner a proper dressing down behind you. “I didn’t realize you thought so highly of me.”

You’re caught off guard when he caresses your cheek and maybe that’s why you say what you say. “I love you, Molly. I’d give my life if it meant you’d be happy.”

“Well, you love me very loudly then, don’t you? I think the whole town heard you defending Jester and me.” He’s beaming despite his teasing and you resist the urge to stomp your foot like a child. You just confessed your love for him, and he’s teasing you? But then Molly’s face softened and he pressed his lips against your cheek and let his tail wrap around your thigh. “I suppose I will just have to let them know that I love you just as loudly.”

[pocketgalaxies]

Oh right… that one anon was talking about the fucking BOWLGATE episode where she was considering by all those people to be a bully who had no qualms about ratting Caleb out and revealing his secrets to get the upper hand on him…

ALL OF WHICH WAS UNTRUE.

Hell, her reaction had nothing to do with the bowl at all. It had to do with her FUCKING TRAUMA!

Not that anyone had really known that at the time. But still… I bet that when a lot of those haters capable of rational thought when they TRY were finally made aware of Beau’s backstory AND saw the effect that her past still had on her, they were left stunned and horrified. Because one you have proper context, specific past events and discourse quickly ends up having horrifically different meanings, leading to revelations that are just as impactful.

And then the hamster wheels spin anew.

One example was her in-character/out-of-character comment about “Jails not being Beau’s favorite terrain.” At first glance, it’s thought to be a joke, a return to the running gag of her characters seemingly always getting arrested (which didn’t happen THAT often in C1, mind.) and thus they must have thought it’d be more of the same.

And then you have her talking about Tori. And how she was left in a cell to rot. And suddenly, the joke’s not so funny anymore. Even more so once her backstory was explored further, especially with the premeditated kidnapping arrangement.

…

Oh, and by the way… regarding the kraken incident, Marisha even got fucking DEATH THREATS for what happened. She even went on record in a Reddit AMA about how she felt the night they streamed “Tangled Depths”:

“Full disclosure: I burst into tears the second I left the sound stage after the Kraken fight. The day leading up to it hadn't been great. After a long fight, I definitely started feeling overwhelmed and pretty panicky. When I couldn't remember the actions I had just did, I realized the anxiety was hitting me pretty hard. After that, I have made steps towards trying not to overload myself before going into a potentially 5 and a half hour game. Life is life, though, and the whole cast tends to work full work days before each show. Luckily, we're gathering to play D&D each week with some of my favorite people in the world, and that always makes any shitty day better!”

Marisha Ray is a self-made Gritty Survivor, and it shows. She worries about others’ feelings before worrying about her own, she has such a kind heart and a resolve that holds firm even on the shittiest days. A lesser person would’ve most likely broke after being faced by half the crap she had to deal with.

Okay, I think I’ve ranted enough lol have a good night!

!!!! thank you for additional info and context!!!

ok i'm trying to avoid C2 spoilers so...i am not gonna read the first half of this message, BUT in regards to the second half you're right!!!! she is every kind of incredible and she had a hard day and she deserves SO much better than misogynist dickheads who think they have ownership over other people's lives and characters and stories and decisions and feelings

[slashingdisneypasta]

Horror Villains And: Period Sex

oh that is the perfect gif I totally forgot all about it but oh boy. thanks billy for your service to this blog.

Warnings: Obviously, menstruation, blood, and smut. I’m dealing with a particularly uncomfortable period (for me at least) and just want some e m p a t h y about it.

~~~

Who LOVES it:

Freddy Krueger: ABSO-MOTHER FUCKING-LUTELY. It’s a struggle to keep his hands off you (on a normal day) during your period. He can smell it.

Kieran Wilcox: yes please mommy, he’s waiting.

Luda Mae Hewitt: This is her secret kink.

Michael Myers: B l o o d  p l a y? Any kind of bloodplay, Michael is into it. If you weren’t already bleeding, he would probably make you bleed, with his (Actual) knife.

Mickey Altieri: Bring it. Jesus christ, Mickey thinks its so hot. Getting his cock or his fingers coated in your slick and your blood (Seeing the string consistency between his fingers), seeing you in a total mess from your period and being fucked to oblivion? Oh yes.

Midnight Man: He just likes it. I dunno. I don’t have a logical reason, extension or explanation of my vibes here but I am getting them from him.

Patrick Bateman: Oh my god it is his favourite kind of sex. Yes yes yes. Please please please. He marks your cycle in his calendar, with special notes about flow and mood. Soon enough he’s figured out your whole period every week and knows exactly when the iron is hot enough to strike. Any w h e r e, any t i m e .

Both Pennywise’: Ooooh, watch their eyes glow and their hair get more luscious when you tell them. Their teeth get sharper and the whites of their eyes get whiter- they’re horny as fuck now. Be a good sport and give them a lil taste, won’t you? A smell at least? That, or have them trailing you like lost puppies for the rest of the week, and curling up to/around you as tightly as possible when you’re sleeping.

The Clown / Jeffrey Hawk / Kenneth Chase: Where else could he possibly go on this post, honestly.

The Man (Hush): Yep.  He’s favourite time of month.

Who is like ‘a b s o l u t e l y  n o t’:

Jerry Dandridge: Do I really need to comment? I mean, he can control himself being around you on your period, but you cannot let that blood smell hit the open air. Your controlled, classy vampire bf will disappear in an instant and will be replaced with… well, Evil.

Yeah no thanks:

Debbie Loomis: She’s not vehemently against it, but still… nah? Thanks for the offer tho. And it won’t happen when she’s on her period either, c e r t a I n l y not. Don’t even touch her when she’s on her period, jesus christ.

Jennifer Check: Yeah she just got a new manicure. Over her dead body will you stain her new French tips with your coochie blood. And if she puts her mouth down there, it might excited t o o much if you get what I mean and you will become a real snack.  

Is indifferent towards it:

Bo Sinclair: You’re sure into him durin’ this time o’ month, aren’t you? Eh… whatever. Hop on. He’s happy to help his partner, especially if its in such a gratifying way! I mean he won’t buy you any fucking pads but he will do this and there’s Bo as a boyfriend for you.

Chucky / Charles Lee Ray: I mean sure? Blood doesn’t scare him and it is, in fact, a turn on for him of course so sure. Plus, you’re less likely to get pregnant at this time, which is great! Doesn’t see what the big deal is, here. (Although, weirdly, I see past Chucky from Curse to be very much in the next category)

Inkubus: It’s not even a big d e a l, man, its cool. He likes all kinds of sex. Go wild.

Jason Voorhees: Jason is basically ace in the way he conducts himself on a general basis but if it tuned out that he was interested in sex and/or was willing to do it with you, then some blood leaking out of your private parts because of some natural causes is not going to change his mind. Is this not normal??

Jedidiah Sawyer: ???Alright??? He wears a mask made of skin, your natural bodily functions are not going to scare him away. Besides, the knowledge that it could lessen menstrual pain for you is a nice bonus. He’s gotta take care of his family.

Roman Bridger: It’s really not a big deal to him. We’ll just put down a darker sheet, or some plastic. You both need this sometimes (Him for emotional support when he’s stressed, and you of course cuz you’re on your damn period) and a bit of blood is certainly not a deal breaker. Besides, he finds the easy thrusting to be nice and comfortable. Preferred sometimes, actually. Just some nice, lazy, relieving sex with your director boyfriend.

Sheriff Hoyt / Charlie Hewitt: A little bit a’ blood aint gonna turn me off, sugar. Don’t you worry bout that.

The Djinn: See Inkubus. Except, our dear Wishmaster is so much more of a tease about this.

Is enthusiastic when they learn that orgasms lessen period pain:

Bubba Sawyer: He doesn’t care about exposure to blood, obviously, and he doesn’t see it as gross at all but he was still concerned about whether that was safe during your… monthly thing… but once he found out that it could help you with cramps he got on board immediately! ^^

Lester Sinclair: Oh boy, well okay then, let’s give this a go then!!

Mayor Buckman: He knows the drill; Boone gets terrible cramps. Don’t worry, he’s got you.

Pamela Voorhees: Oh of course she’ll help you out when you’re hurting ^^

Stuart Lloyd: Well… don’t get him wrong, for sure there is the part where it helps you in a seriously uncomfortable time… but then there is also the fact that he is a lil bit of a secret freak and menstrual care is a good excuse for him. (So he also belongs in the first category ^^)

The Deathslinger / Caleb Quinn: Blood doesn’t bother him, and if it’ll give you a hand with yer monthly problem then you just need to ask him. You’ll be on the bench in the saloon with your thighs spread without a second thought, like asking for a glass of water. (Except of course Caleb’s a lot more hands on about the whole thing of course (; ) He’s happy to help.

The Huntress / Anna: Oh!! Really?? It’ll help? Okay, then, sunflower. Remove your pants. Let’s go !!

Vincent Sinclair: He’s just very supportive and helpful through all areas of your period. He doesn’t understand, but he can still be sympathetic and help the way you say would be good ^^

Is curious and will try:

Billy Loomis: Is really curious and excited to try it. I mean, he likes blood? He likes sex? And this is both those things?? Fun lubricant, yay.

Chop Top Sawyer: And when I say that he’ll try and I REALLY MEAN IT, MAN. Like, go big or go home. He’s going to eat you out at this time and he’ll end up really enjoying it. Buckle up babes, you’ve awoken something buried pretty damn s h a l l o w l y inside him.

Granny Boone: Similar to Chop Top except with him, you had to tell him you were on your period and all so it would be different and all, while with Boone she was the one sniffing it out and *cough* hunting you approaching you about trying it.

Jill Roberts: For the same reasons as Billy. Plus, she wants to be able to say ‘well I did it for you- you have to do it for me.’

Leslie Vernon: I mean, he’ll give anything a shot once. What’s the harm?

Piper Shaw: Same as Jill.

Stu Macher: Super enthusiastic to try!! XDD Just, like, dyed lube- right?

Is c a u t i o u s:

Carrie White: … periods have always been difficult for her… But she’s willing to give it a try as long as you’re willing to return the favour! ^^

Thomas Hewitt: Tell him, if whatever he does hurts you. He is very serious about this. He wants you to feel better, but he doesn’t really know this works and does not want you hurting in his vein attempt at making you feel better. So, please. Tell him how you’re feeling. He’ll get really good at making your cramps and discomfort go away.

They may take some convincing:

Drayton Sawyer: I mean, he’s of course not afraid of some blood but… uh… Well, I mean, he doesn’t really have a big, or even moderate sex drive in the first place so any sex of any kind takes some warming up to. Maybe if the stars aline and you catch him on a good day. Otherwise, he tells you to just suck it up.

[crybabyddl]

I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO REITERATE SOMETHING

Yes, let’s circle back to the beautiful performance of Edge of Great. More specifically the BODY LANGUAGE, particularly Julie and Luke’s, which I will be analyzing with gifs.

Exhibit A

Jealous Luke looks over at Julie and Reggie vibing

Julie is aware that she’s avoiding Luke, which she is doing so bc she realized her feelings for him thanks to Flynn earlier in the episode.

Since Julie has put the task of ignoring Luke upon herself even though she has no obligation to, she ends up failing her own mission. She sees Luke’s reaction to the lack of her attention.

She literally FREEZES. She’s emotionally worried to confront what she’s feeling and it’s beginning to manifest physically.

Exhibit B

It gets better y’all. After Luke finally has even a crumb of Julie’s attention, he beckons her over with his signature head tilt. This is important bc he did this with his longtime bandmate during the soundcheck of what would’ve been their biggest performance. If he feels comfortable enough using that body language with a girl he’s only known for, what, a week and a half(?) then you know this puppy boy’s got it BAD.

Julie is well aware that Luke is getting jealous. But in classic Julie fashion, she will try to tune it out instead of addressing it. Our wicked beauty doesn’t like confrontation and would rather just deny and avoid than potentially make things awkward, especially when she knows Luke would ask her about it at a later time.

The look on Julie’s face. Her eyes widen and the classic tight-lipped awkward smile is present. She’s literally saying “ok enough of that let’s get back to work doo doo doo” with her face. The way her body SWINGS back into performance mode as she faces the audience again. It may have been a split second, but when you’re deliberately trying to avoid looking into the dreamy (dead) eyes of someone you shouldn’t be crushing on, any amount of time feels too long. Plus, she knows Flynn is watching and doesn’t want her to lecture her (but she does anyway bc Flynn is observant and knows her bestie too well to let any action slip past her).

Exhibit C

Keep in mind; NONE OF THE GUYS KNOW WHY JULIE IS AVOIDING LUKE. Flynn, Alex, and Reggie have noticed the Juke chemistry, but it’s still too soon for them to get past the “we like each other but we’re too clueless to notice that we reciprocate” phase, so even though their respective besties know, they are still denying. Besides, Reg, Alex, and Flynn know better than to keep pestering if they want to keep their kneecaps. In reality they’re both smart enough to tell by this point, but for the sake of the plot and to make everything more adorably frustrating, Flynn has the collective brain cell under lock and key, leaving Juke to be like *dog tilting its head and making that “a-roo?” noise*

Anyway, Reggie notices Luke being snubbed after realizing that his extra dose of Julie time was slightly out of the ordinary. Luke is clearly concerned (look at his eyebrows and how his eyes travel from Reggie, to Julie, then to the audience to trying and get his mind off it and bring his focus back to the main goal; the performance.) If he can’t have the moment of connection with Julie that he so desperately craves, he’s gonna fill that void as best he can by connecting with the audience. >:’)

But Reggie’s trying to help Luke brush it off by conveying his reaction as ‘look at julie coming into her own! i told you she was a star! and you thought you were the lead singer? think again buddy this girl’s got you beat!’

But since Reggie isnt a master at hiding his feelings yet, especially around Luke, —who was able to get under his skin earlier (“girls, am i right?”)—Luke was easily able to see through that and interpreted what Reggie was saying as “look at julie go, she all in the zone. you’re literally making heart eyes at her get a grip you’re slacking lmao” (hence luke’s right eyebrow quirking at reggie like ‘dude seriously gimme a break u know i need attention like tinkerbell’) even though Reggie’s true message was a bit less harsh and more lovingly teasing, but it’s Luke, he sees things through his eyes and at his intensity, regardless of who it’s coming from. (This is one of the reasons why Luke comes off as selfish at times.)

Exhibit D

Poor Lukey boi can’t seem to catch a break today! Not only does Julie ignore him, then has a cute lil (platonic but it’s luke so it still makes him jealous >:P) moment, but now she has the AUDACITY to interact with Alex? The guy who was out learning Ghost 101 with this Willie guy instead of rehearsing with the band? What gives?! What’s he got that your moody ghost bf doesn’t? >:’(

He literally just watches, and even glances back in a way that, to me, screams ‘did i see that right? did i just see what i just saw with my own dreamy (but dead) eyes? say sike rn.’ \_(*_*)_/

Meanwhile, Alex pays no mind. I like to think that Alex is fully aware that Luke is an angry boy rn, but has learned to ignore it, especially this bc literally NOTHING happened. Either that or Alex has no clue and just truly thinks nothing of it and is having too much fun to think about Luke’s moody and childish behavior. Either way, Alex is just straight chilling and we love to see it *^_^*

Notice how Reggie is right there vibing with Julie and Alex. Luke feels a bit betrayed like ‘not you too! i know you were the first to turn on me but i figured since you’re such a golden retriever you’d be loyal and come back to my side!😠🥲’

Also; Luke approaches the rest of the group, wanting to be included in at least SOME of the vibing, but when Julie starts dancing and smiling with her buddy Alex, he backs up like

“you know what? nope. nevermind. not doin’ it.”

and the group’s like “i mean hey it’s your loss, but luke we want you to-”

“no, bc you chose to piss me off right in front of my face so no luke time for any of you! no cuddles, no hugs, no nothing! you made your bed, now lie in it and perish.”

Exhibit E & F: This is where it gets a bit interesting and theorized hehe...

Now we all know that this moment is just fucking ICONIC

WEOWH NEOW NEOW!!! WEOW NEHR NEHR NER-NER-NER NEHR NEHR NEOWHR!!! (wer nehr-nehr-ner-ner-nehr-nehr!!) WUEHNER-NEUHNER-NEHR-NEEOW-NEOWH! DLOOLOODDUH-DOODLAH-HOOBLUEH-NEOWHR-NEUEHR-NEEEEEEUOWRH!!!!

But hear me out– HEAR ME OUT!

What if... now don’t shoot the messenger who just so happens to also be the theorist... but what if...

WHAT IF!!! Luke didn’t!! plan this?!!!

Listen i know you’re probably thinking:

“Well uh Nicole, isn’t that kinda the whole point? It literally wasn’t planned until Charlie realized Madi was gonna be standing on the piano so he suggested the idea for the guitar solo to Kenny.”

And you’re right! But here’s the kicker:

What if Luke THE CHARACTER, just decided to do this as an “Alright that’s it! You wanna be like that? Well what if I just hit you with my super awesome radical totally cool wowza guitar skills & make a moment between us? Huh? What do you think about that? Hmm? HMMM???!!!”

He licks his lips & that to me read** like he was nervous (**read rhyming with bed just to clarify) so that means it could’ve been a spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment thing.

In the second gif, you can see that Julie’s head is tilted, as if she’s a bit confused, but she’s also delightfully surprised.

Julie is quick to smile and scrunch her nose at Luke, something she does often. It tells Luke his impulsive action garnered a positive response from his favorite girl. Julie also starts to shake her head, but doesn’t go through the motion in full, which means she’s still a bit nervous to let her guard down. This is probably because she doesn’t know what he’s thinking or what he will do next. The lopsided smile mixed with the suave, gliding steps towards her probably brought her back to her daydream lol.

Luke’s happy bc Julie’s no longer ignoring him. He smiles like a GOOBER bc this chump is simping HARD for our Julie. So cute! :’)

Exhibit G

And hear me when I offer this:

What if Luke poofed the guys out???

I know, I know. It’s a bold claim to make. But the boys are special, considering they are a threat to Caleb (3 gay-variant himbos vs. a gay magician that could’ve been on broadway but decided to make some sort of deal with a devil so he just entertains capitalists who most likely sold their souls to get into the hgc which i will probably elaborate on in a future theory so dont do that bc im gonna lmao idc we all have big brains) So it’s not too crazy to think that they could share some ghost powers.

We know Caleb transported the guys during You Got Nothing to Lose. And the guys have left a place at the exact same time on more than one occasion.

And you may be thinking “well what if the guys poofed out to give juke a moment alone together?” And to that I say...

Look at Reggie. He isn’t looking back at Alex like “dude let’s give them some space.”

The timing of him turning around, at least to me, makes me think Reggie was surprised by Luke approaching the piano. (But also he lowkey was waiting for Luke to prove him wrong by doing something to get Julie’s attention so Reggie isn’t mad. Neither is Alex but he doesn’t like being told how or WHEN to ghost) Luke doesn’t even give his bandmates a warning eyebrow quirk, a hand signal, nothing. Reggie turns to Alex like ‘dude what is he DOING?’ And before he can even really convey that, they go *POOF*

This man had a plan and he was gonna do it, so he did. Whether it’s the power of love, they stopped performing, or Reggie and Alex actually poofed out, the odds worked in Luke’s favor so he and Julie could have a super special moment, a moment special enough to make an actual living person (Nick) wonder if a “hologram” has a better chance at connecting with Julie than he does.

Again, regardless of who made them poof or how they poofed, they mf poofed so Luke’s a happy hamster. (Idk it just sounded fitting instead of happy camper lol wait what if someone had 3 pet hamsters and named them alex reggie and luke🥺 someone buy some hamsters and let me be their godmother or their aunt and i’ll love them from afar.) Anyway, Luke’s thriving, flourishing, his crops are going to grow in time for the harvest.

You can see Julie lean back as she turns to see Luke. It’s... almost as if... She. Wasn’t. Expecting. Him. To. Be. There..??

Honey badger Luke bc he DGAF <|:) Bitch, it’s Luke mf Patterson and he’s gonna,, GET! IN! YOUR! FAAAACE!!!

You CANNOT tell me he’s not doing the absolute MOST to try and seduce Miss Juliana Mariposa Rose Molina.

Yes I’m making a headcanon that Julie has TWO middle names and that one of them is the spanish word for butterfly and that the other is her mother’s name. Also yes, I believe (i believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re– oh, that’s not what we’re doing? okay, sorry!) that Juliana is Julie’s full name.

In this house we love and respect Juliana Mariposa (Dahlia)** Rose Molina

**I’m just putting Dahlia there for fun bc I can. :) Whether I’d consider it a possible middle name of hers depends. Anyway I just thought it was a cute thing to add bc it goes along with the other middle names I gave her *^_^* Also, I feel like I made a post giving a bunch of the characters middle names lemme see if I can find it later)

Ok i’m done this took me basically all day from like 10am until 4:08. I obviously took breaks in between, but not long ones...😶

[vanillann]

you’re joking, right? (luke patterson x reader)

thank you for the request my love!!

word count: 1.8k

warning: minor angst but nothing major 

“As soon as Flynn gets here the meeting will start.”

I nodded to Julie’s words, falling back onto the couch with one leg in the air as I fell back.

“I can’t wait to see if she can see us now!” Reggie bounced on his heels, the whole incident after the Orpheum changing things like how often I could see the boys and even changing the fact Julie and I could now touch them.

“I have to say, it’ll be interesting to see,” Alex nodded, taking the seat close to me and nudging my foot. I looked up from my phone, turning to my side to see Luke looking down at me.

“Wanna make room?”

“Why would I do that?” I looked up at him, smiling when he sighed, looking back to my hand.

“I’ll lay on you,” Luke spoke, trying his best to sound serious.

“He’ll only saying that to be close to you,” Julie spoke up from the piano, which earned very agreeing words from the other two ghosts in the room.

“And so what?” Luke responded, giving up by picking my feet up and making his own space. He placed my feet in his lap, holding them down so there wasn’t a chance I would move.

“I already told you, Luke, you’re a ghost,” I muttered, doing my best to not give away the little pang in my chest at the fact.

“Oh don’t worry,” Luke looked over to me, winking while looking back in front of him.

“I’ll win you over, eventually.”

I rolled my eyes, pulling my feet from his grip and sitting up properly. Not a single word was spoken, each person trying to brush off the weird tension the room had grown.

“Morning!”

Flynn's voice sounded from the driveway, all thoughts of Luke’s comment gone as we waited for the truth about the boys visibly.

⁂

“I can’t believe I can see them now!”

Flynn was practically bubbling at the fact she could see the boys, almost running into someone as she walked backward throughout the mall.

“I don’t know how, but I’m glad something good came from this Caleb thing.”

Julie nodded, grabbing Flynn's shoulders and moving her before she rammed into someone. Flynn didn’t pay any mind to it, still going on and on about how she could see them.

“Now I can finally see what Julie talks about with Luke pinning glares to you,” Flynn wiggled her eyebrows, spotting the H&M in the corner of her eye and doing a 360.

“It’s just a joke.”

Julie let out a sarcastic laugh, looking at the side of my face with an offended glare.

“A joke? You can’t be that oblivious,” Julie spoke, following Flynn into the store while holding the door open for me.

“You know Luke, he’d cocky and thinks it funny,” I tried my best to not let the little joke get to me but it wasn’t exactly easy. I mean, hot ghost boys were complicated enough but liking one added more than just a cherry on top.

It added syrup, sprinkles, and whipped cream.

“You heard him in the studio-” Julie coughed, jokily buffing out her shoulders and dropping her voice down.

“I’ll win you over, eventually,” she did the best Luke impression she could muster, causing a laugh to boil out my mouth.

“It’s Luke, he likes things he can’t have.”

Julie let her shoulders drop, giving a sympathetic smile as she grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to her.

“He likes you, I know that much.”

I let the comment roll over my shoulder, doing my best to not think about the ghost in question but it wasn’t easy. He was making this so complicated without knowing.

Why couldn’t he like another ghost, like Alex?

“Glitter!”

I laughed as Flynn almost knocked a whole display over as she saw the glittery shoes that were on the back wall of the store.

⁂

“Ah!”

Julie’s yelp made my body jump, looking over my shoulder at Alex who gave his best sympathies for the jump scare.

“I expect it from Luke, but you Alex?”

He shrugged, standing in-between Julie and me as we both turned to each other to make it seem less weird if we were talking to nobody.

“Why can’t anyone see us?”

“It might only be people that know about you,” I shrugged, it wasn’t the craziest idea and it wouldn’t shock me if that was the thing blocking the afterlife and current life.

Alex nodded, looking between Julie and me while we waited for him to tell us whatever he felt the need to scare us for.

“Need something?” Julie looked up at Alex, shaking her head we waited.

“Oh, well I remembered you had a study hall and I had to get away from Luke.”

I nodded, Julie, waiting still for Alex to continue.

“Luke will not shut up about (Y/N),” he whipped his head around, looking at me with raised eyebrows and a thin lip nod.

“Ah, makes sense,” Julie, nodded at me. I rolled my eyes at the two, turning back to my locker to pull out my English textbook and a few pencils.

“I’m serious, he wanted me to ask you if he knew his middle name! Why do I have to do that?”

I rolled my eyes, doing my best to conceal the smile that was threatening to break across my face at the thought of a confused Luke begging Alex to ask me.

“Well (Y/N) refused to acknowledge Luke likes ‘em,” Julie muttered, I could feel her eyes on my back. I didn’t dare turn around, the bell about to ring as we made our way to the courtyard to get some studying done and fewer eyes to watch us talking to the air.

“You can’t be serious!”

Alex was a calm person, probably the calmest out of the three, but when he got worked up his voice jumped octaves and he’d fling his hands around. I was scared now, to say the least, because we could touch, which meant he could smack me with his wild hand gestures.

“He has like a million songs about, he only writes songs for people he cares about,” Alex tried to block me from walking but I easily ducked under his arm.

“Is that why he wrote “My name is Luke”?”

Julie let out a loud laugh, luckily nobody was around to question the action. Alex didn’t say anything as we continue down the hall, just little broken phrases. As I was about to open the door to the courtyard, my hand landed on something solid.

I let out a scream, backing away as Reggie fell into the door with flushed cheeks.

“Sorry (Y/N)!”

“It’s fine Reg,” I did my best to calm my racing heart, just happy I didn’t have to deal with a stranger or worse Luke.

“Sorry I had to get away from Luke, he was talking about which beanie you smiled at him in,” Reggie nodded, looking between the three of us with an awkward smile.

“Was it the orange once?” Reggie nodded, understanding my words easily. I could feel Alex pointing rapidly at the back of my head.

“What? It’s a nice color,” I shrugged, moving around Reggie to our normal seat outside.

⁂

“Please (Y/N),” Luke gave his best puppy dog eyes as I sat in one of the chairs around the studio, waiting for everyone else to come back from the snack to hang out around the room with some music involved.

“Luke,” my tone warning, finally growing tired at this game. 

I couldn’t take it much longer, this stupid crush was growing more and more every time Luke said something flirty or even touched me.

“(Y/N),” he spoke my name in a sing-songy voice, giving a little smile as he mistook my anger for something else.

“Stop! I can’t take this anymore, stop it!”

I snapped, my voice bouncing off the beams of the studio roughly.

“Wow,” Luke held his hands up, backing away from me slightly. He looked hurt, but I couldn’t let that get to me if I wanted to make my point.

“Stop chasing me, it hurts Luke.”

He slowly let his hands fall to his side, studying my face as I waited for a witty comment that I would yell about and ruin everything.

“Hurt? I didn’t mean to hurt you,” his voice was soft, apologetic as his hand went to reach for mine before I pulled it back.

“Yes Luke, hurt. I can’t even look at another guy because your little joke went too far.”

I pulled my arm back as he tried to reach for it, looking to the floor of the studio. Where were the rest of the group? I needed an out of this conversation.

“Joke?”

“Yes, this little “I like you” joke,” I could feel my eyes grow heavy as I waited for his apology, that he didn’t mean for this to go so far.

“Look, I know I’m funny but this wasn’t a joke.”

I wanted to laugh my head off, we were arguing and he still found a way to compliment himself.

“You can drop it, Luke, it’s fine but-”

“I can’t just drop my feelings!”

Luke was yelling down, the fire I once had was now fulling inside of Luke as his eyes searched my face.

“Luke,” as soon as I said his name he took off to the other side of the studio, picking up his songbook and flipping throughout pages.

“Skin against skin, mind against mind, I can’t believe I fell this time.”

I rolled my eyes at his antics, him flipping to a different page letting his finger run down the page.

“Give me your heart, it’ll be safe in my hands,” I slowly started walking to Luke shaking my head. I reached out to grab the book but he moved away, jumping on the couch and finding another page.

“If only you knew the warmth you bought to my broken soul.”

“Luke!”

“(Y/N)!”

I could feel hot tears streaming down my face, looking up at him with a pout on my lips.

“I’m not joking, every word I’ve said is true,” he slowly stepped off the couch, looking into my eyes with sincerity. I could feel my arms slowly uncrossing as I watched him closely.

Luke wouldn’t have let a joke go on if he knew it was hurting me.

He meant it.

“Swear on a street dog?”

“I swear on every street dog,” he reached out, grabbing my arm gently to wrap his hand in mine.

“Okay, you won.”

“I won?”

“You said you’d win my over eventually, well you won,” I spoke gently still looking deep into his eyes. A puppy dog smile graced his lips, pulling me slightly closer to him.

“That’s going to make an excellent song.”

I let myself laugh, smiling down at my feet. I could hear the door to the studio open, ignoring the stares on my back as I let myself bask in the joy I felt.

“Great! He’s going to talk about em more,” Alex let out an exhausted breathe. I turned around, dropping Luke’s hand as I faced their smiling face.

“So maybe it wasn’t a joke.”

[salamoonder]

Alright, so here’s the thing. At this point, I actually don’t care what Artagan has or hasn’t done and, morally, what that means. It’s irrelevant. Interesting, but irrelevant. What I want to talk about is what the Nein, excluding Jester, know about him, and what they do with this information, and how they cast judgment.

Here are things that the nein have actually seen: fleeting glimpses of a figure in a green cloak. one conversation with a giant archfey who has recruited jester’s help in planning a convention. further, fleeting glimpses. very very brief phrases.

Here are things that the nein have heard about him from jester: he’s pretty cool, you guys :) . he’s got a chaotic streak, like her. he helps her pull off pranks. he’s always shown up for her. he’s handsome. he taught her magic. he kept her company when her mom was busy. he is her first friend. he is her best friend. he is her oldest friend. she really loves him.

and yes, they know he misrepresented himself to jester for years. they know he sent them to an island where you lose your memory every night. they know that he is sketchy as fuck and they do not know if he means what he says. and that is reasonable and understandable and fair.

here is something that i don’t know if you guys know about abusers, regardless of if artagan is one or not. (and he’s not. i’m not even going to say i don’t think he is, he literally is not abusive. words mean something; stop throwing them around because you personally don’t like someone.) you cannot tell their victims that they are abusive or awful or manipulative or horrible, and expect that to help. that makes it worse. the same is true of cults. you cannot, and i mean CANNOT, make yourself hostile, because then the outside world is hostile, and the abuser is safe. the outside world is hostile, and the cult is safe. furthermore you’re reinforcing what every abuser and what every cult plants in their victim’s heads--i’m the only one who would put up with you. i’m the only one who really loves you. everyone else will be cruel to me, but i’m the only thing you have. even if the nein had reason to suspect that the traveler was straight up abusing jester instead of just weird and shady, that is not a good response.

no matter how bad artagan is or isn’t, fjord, caduceus, and beau are still being condescending. they are still failing to trust that jester knows what she’s talking about. they are still trying to coddle her, they are still treating her like a child, and i want to talk about that. i want y’all to see that they’re still treating her like she’s emotionally fragile. like individually, i want to talk about that, and also the fact that everyone seems to want to lump caleb into this. (and yasha?? yasha has barely said anything about him, y’all.)

i’m going to skim over caduceus a bit because i don’t think his is a jester-centric problem. he tends to just trust that he either has the correct answers to a situation, or that even if he doesn’t know what’s correct, he knows what isn’t. this arc has been very interesting, because it’s been a lot of “i’ll play along with this because it sounds intriguing, but i’m going to be very self righteous about it the whole time.” like. the “we’re good” when jester brought up transferring followers to melora is haunting me. why “we’re good”? i get cad’s philosophy that not everyone is going to flock to one god--that’s fine, that makes sense. but the implication of “we’re good” really makes it sound like “mmm no thanks, none of these people would end up in my cool and correct religion anyway.” because he doesn’t know! he doesn’t know if any of these people would actually be happier and better off with melora. or. maybe he does know, or has decided, that they wouldn’t be, because these are not the kind of people that he could see himself falling under the same moral umbrella as. (lmao love how i said i was going to skim. anyway. again, less a jester thing, more a “cad is smug about everything” thing tbh.)

let’s move to fjord. he is quite honestly making me almost more uncomfortable than beau, because he’s making statements that i don’t really actually believe. “we just don’t want you to get hurt” is all very well and good. coupling that with agreeing with beau that they shouldn’t leave jester alone with artagan? without telling jester? does not jive. (i’m still not over the ridiculous of that, by the way. yeah this dude--no, this ARCHFEY, who could snap you in half in a moment--has been alone with her regularly for the first 20ish years of her life but now, now he’s going to try and kill her, and you’re going to be the one to stop that.) fjord keeps saying things like this--that he trusts her--but he doesn’t actually act like it. at one point he even says “if jester has faith in the traveler, that’s good enough for me, i suppose.” but it’s not, and he doesn’t act like it is. you know who actually acts like that? caleb. caleb’s getting his own paragraph though this is getting long as fuck. but if fjord actually meant that? he would’ve told beau “listen i know this situation is sketchy and i don’t like him anymore than you do but because i trust jester i also trust that she knows what she’s doing here, and i’ll be there to back her up with whatever she needs/wants me to do”. but he did not say that or anything like that. instead he agreed with beau to essentially be bodyguarding jester--without consulting jester about it at all. he wouldn’t have told jester “he’s generally full of shit, right?” about the traveler. jester is continually telling the group over and over again that she knows what he’s like. she knows Exactly how he can be. and the sad thing is, if fjord actually believed that she knew what she was talking about when she said that and if he believed that he could actually talk to her frankly and not that her feelings had to be protected at all costs (my skin is still crawling at “we don’t wanna ruin jester’s special day”. it’s not a five year old’s birthday party), then he would have straight up told her. he would have said “hey we’re concerned enough that he’s going to hurt you that we don’t think you should be alone with him. can we help guard against that?”

and i’ll be honest, i’ve kind of been squicked out by all the romantic posts about fjord and jester because he’s spent the last few episodes genuinely treating her like a wonderful but vulnerable child who needs to be protected from the world. when he told beau "I'm probably the least clued in as to how jester feels” i was like YEAH NO SHIT. and i know he meant it in a romantic sense but i feel that it’s true in general. like i get that he’s scared to talk to her. that’s fine. he doesn’t have to talk to her about her feelings, romantic or otherwise. but if he’s acknowledging that he does not at all know how she feels then he has no right to behave as if he does know. and again i don’t mean this in a romantic sense. i mean it in a, he is making the assumption that she can’t handle reasoned criticism of the traveler to her face, kind of sense. he and beau both are opting for “random insults, threats, and judgments they have decided apply” over “genuinely this is why we are concerned”. there has been a lot of “you don’t need him” and “you are better off without him” and “you’re better than him” and “you have us why do you need that” and those are judgement statements that are essentially meaningless. all they do is further demonstrate to jester that they don’t actually understand why she’s upset or what she actually wants.

i think caleb, mr i-eat-encyclopedias-for-breakfast, likely just has a better intellectual understanding of the fae and that may be why he’s not as outwardly concerned as the rest, but he’s also actually decided to trust jester that she knows what she’s dealing with. she has demonstrated both verbally and with her actions that even if she may not have known about artagan initially, She Knows How This Works. and he trusts that. caleb truly went “alright, i trust that you know what you’re doing, where do you need me” and that was IT. i’m not saying that he’s not allowed to be suspicious or concerned or wary of the traveler: i just don’t think he is. and i hate that people keep lumping him in with the rest of the nein “treating jester like a child” because they think he’s predatory or something--especially as caleb and fjord are pretty much the same age--when he is literally the only FUCKING person consistently asking jester how she feels and then actually acting accordingly.

and the thing is, you don’t have to be caleb and largely unconcerned, it is actually possible for you to show concern and alarm and wariness for your friend’s best friend without condescending to them and veth has been doing that this whole damn time. we know how she feels about him; she decidedly does not like him. but she set that aside to really fully listen to jester and then tried to be helpful to her in deciding what to do next, without inserting her own opinion. veth is the only one acknowledging that, sure, this looks really bad and i don’t like that guy, but you know him best, jester, and you know yourself best and so it should be your choice what to do in this situation. she reminds jester--if he is really a friend to you, and he is doing things you don’t like, then you can talk to him about that and he should listen. i want to talk about how when jester suggested that artagan join the mighty nein, there were exactly three reactions. extremely lame excuses from everyone but caleb and veth, “maybe, like, an annex--” from caleb, because he knows what everyone else is gonna say, and “we don’t like your friend” from veth, literally the only person who has apparently decided that jester can hear that without dissolving into a puddle or something.

and i want to make it clear--i don’t hate the actors. and stories are supposed to make you upset and uncomfortable, to an extent. they’re supposed to make you think. you’re not supposed to be happy when darth vader blows up alderaan. you’re not supposed to be happy when edmund betrays his siblings to the white witch. these are all excellent, excellent character choices and i applaud the cast for making them. and i don’t hate fjorester. and like yeah there have been a lot of cute moments in the last few eps. and they are cute and their story is compelling and it’s interesting. but i wish people would stop acting like fjord’s attitude towards her is perfect and lovely and that he trusts her sooo much when he is going behind her back like this. i am...the biggest widomauk shipper. and i have to admit my heart does the swoopy thing every time i rewatch the forehead kiss. but that wasn’t great. it was overall really not a good read or handle of the situation. it was, there was an attempt. and i do think fjord is trying. and i think beau is trying too. and i think all of their attitudes however terrible just come from a place of loving her and wanting to protect her. but--and here i must point frantically back at artagan--loving someone does not mean that you’re not hurting them.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E111 (Sept. 29, 2020)

@eponymous-rose‘s internet is out tonight, so I’m here late and without coffee! Let’s see how many typos we can fit into an hour and a half episode.

Tonight’s guests: Ashley Williams JOHNSON, oops!! & Liam O’Brien!

We open with Brian in light-up vented sunglasses and Henry at his side, as always. Dani is very excited to be back and has fun-buns in her hair tonight. So cute! Everyone talks about how much they’re Zooming these days for work, and Liam mentions he and Matt & Marisha did a digital cocktail night. He and Dani arrange on camera to have a distanced, masked meetup in the park so Dani can see Liam’s dog again.

No announcements! Tonight, we’re discussin’ episodes 110 and 111.

Starting with the end, Brian jumps right to it by asking how they feel that Molly is alive. Liam 100% thought we’d be back to him, but still wasn’t ready when it happened. Caleb doubted he was alive. Both Liam & Ashley marvel at the numerology that keeps cropping up throughout the show. Brian hates not being able to see it at the same time the show happens live; Ashley was biting her tongue not telling him spoilers. (He doesn’t want to hear spoilers unless Yasha dies so he can be there for Ashley if needed.) Brian says he has a little reality trauma from the night Pike died in the pre-stream game; it was the first time he’d realized how much it affected the players.

Ashley’s realized how much she misses unpacking the game with Brian when they get home. She just has to sit with it until everyone else gets to see it. Brian: “Instead she comes home and I have to fill her in on the Real Housewives of Amarillo, Texas.”

Reunion dinner with Trent! Liam talks about how the way things unfolded with Trent is not at all how he imagined it in his pre-game creation; he’d expected more of a fracas, more of an unexpected clash. “Caleb might have been a different person if he’d run into these people earlier in the story. The M9 changed him before [Trent & co] came back and got to him.” He’d imagined Astrid & Eodwulf to be complicated encounters, but says what Matt’s designed has been even harder than that. A fight on a mountain is one thing, but walking into a room with “what Trent dropped, is impossible to cope with.” It also means that if what Trent said is true, anything Caleb does now is effectively of Trent’s design, even killing him.

He doesn’t think Caleb would have gone anywhere near Trent & co without the M9. “The Mighty Nein--it took a long time--but they cracked Caleb open like a walnut.”

He thinks what Matt has done is much more murky than the simplicity of murder, such as the Briarwood arc. He can’t just exact his revenge now.

Liam says that the tempation to tinker with time is no longer as all-consuming as it was. He might still be tempted if Matt dangles a bunch of carrots in front of him, but he thinks that now it might be better to make sure that that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore for anyone else (!!!). “It’s still a nugget in his brain and it’s still possible he could be tempted by the drug, but what he wanted in the beginning was entirely selfish, but now that the M9 are involved he owes it to them, to the people of the country, even on the Dynasty side--is so complex that if Caleb were to get that carrot and chase it, he would be risking everything.”

Ashley agrees that most of their choices are no longer black and white. Many of the situations feel more like real life. Liam agrees and says he’ll sometimes make decisions that he’s both really happy with and regrets at the same time. They both look forward to what Matt will reveal in Act 3.

Brian feels it’s tough to gauge how deep they are into what Matt’s planned for the campaign. Liam says that thanks to Matt’s skill, he really doesn’t know what Caleb wants right now.

Ashley agrees, and talks about how she created Yasha to have more to overcome than Pike. She loves what Matt’s doing in terms of allowing each of them to overcome more emotional hurdles than physical ones in this campaign.

Going back to Molly’s grave was very exciting for Ashley since she wasn’t able to be there when he died in the game & wanted to do what she could to honor him. Yasha, however, was very hesitant but knew what needed to be done. She’s not very open with her emotions, but both she & Ashley were stressed. They all could feel the energy in the studio & knew Matt was about to do something mind-blowing. Liam: “You could feel all the dust in the air coalescing around Taliesin.”

Brian trips over Eodwulf. Liam tries to help him find some pronunciation shortcuts. Ashley: “You say it so beautifully.” Brian: “Thank you.” Ashley: “Not you.”

Caleb knows how wickedly intelligent & ambitious Astrid is, and was heartened by the wavering he saw in her at the dinner. However, he can’t trust her until he knows why she’s where she is.

He really feels that if they’d had this dinner 60 episodes ago, Caleb might have tilted back along the evil axis and he would have had to retire the character. He had a playlist entirely for if Caleb turned evil and left the party.

The vision of Zuala was a huge deal for Yasha, even along every other instance she’s had of being mind-controlled, etc. “That’s guilt I think she will always carry with her, but at least she’s starting to forgive herself.” Losing the chains, sprouting wings again--Ashley reiterates that she didn’t know that was even a possibility, she just picked the skeletal wings because they were dope--were huge moments in the character development. Ashley’s glad Beau was there at the moment of the first flight; Ashley thinks of the quotation “Happiness is only beautiful when it’s shared,” and because Yasha tends to keep things very much to herself, having someone there to share it made it more impactful. “That was a cool moment. There’s been a lot of healing for Yasha these last episodes.”d

Ashley also says sometimes in that moment, when all eyes are on you in a one-on-one with Matt, everything goes muffled like Saving Private Ryan. “Wub wub wub.”

Dani feels that the only way she could even have the conversation with Zuala was to let her go in the first place.

Liam thinks one of the things that Yasha & Cad share is that still waters run deep. He loves how much Yasha hangs back sometimes, only to then reveal some new moment like the fighting pit. Apparently Ashley also has a knife collection, and uses that metal side of herself when she wants to let that new side of Yasha show.

Cosplay of the Week: Crystal Armstead (@riyuski on twitter) in a Reani cosplay. Beautiful!

How does Liam feel about the return to Rexxentrum? Very, very complicated. Caleb loves magic and lights up when he sees it, which is wrapped in the Soltryce Academy; he brought folks to the dance hall for the same reason, which was wanting the M9 to see the things that he loved about the city.

Yasha felt the same way about visiting the Chantry of the Dawn. It was a memory of a very traumatic moment (almost killing Beau), but given everything that’s happened between then and now it was cathartic to see again. There’s been a lot of healing in the past few weeks. It also felt like a physical representation of Yasha’s growth, the last time she was controlled against her will like that (or at least, until she was mind-controlled by Vokodo. Ashley sighs, aggrieved.)

Brian: “The tower really feels like a love letter from Caleb to his friends.” Liam: “It is, and a love letter from Liam to his friends.” When he looked at Caleb’s spell list, he remembered how amazing the mansion was in Campaign One and how many role-playing moments it led to and knew he wanted to incorporate it. However, he knew it could never be the same as Scanlan’s mansion because Caleb doesn’t have the same improvisational genius as Scanlan does. Liam has been “tinkering with this machine” for over a year, waiting for the moment to reveal it. He loves that he got a chance to see Jester’s room in time to have her tower room reflect reality. He’d discussed the tower extensively with Dani & Matt. Brian: “Hey! What am I, chopped--what’s the saying?” Ashley: “Chopped cabbage?”

Ashley marvels at the design of the dome. Liam talks about how Caleb knowing Caleb has been abused has been slowly getting better, but he also loves now being able to juxtapose that healing with his innate love of magic and how beautiful he finds it, how he loves to use magic as his artistry. The Soltryce Academy wasn’t “Welcome to DEATH SCHOOL,” it was the Sorbonne. It was amazing, everything he wanted. It was only one bad apple within that recruited him and turned it all bad.

Liam also points out how much it means in real life to be able to express his love and care for his friends in person too.

Ashley talks about how much she loves Yasha’s armor in a meta sense because it’s so cool and useful, and great for her armor class, but struggles with what it represents in game. She might not be able to let it go due to its sheer utility, and she may have to find an in-game reason to justify keeping it.

Ashley segues a moment into talking about her velvet top which apparently has a matching velvet scrunchie. She’s asked to demonstrate the scrunchie and ties her hair up in a way that I have never in my life seen someone do with a scrunchie before, and my hair’s been waist-length most of my life. I watch it again in slow motion. How did she DO that??

Caleb’s been looking for the right time to tell Jester about his past for a long time. She’s a good person and makes him feel like he might be capable of becoming a good person at the end, because that’s how she saw him. Liam knew from Laura that Jester wouldn’t condemn him, but Caleb put it off as long as possible. He also wanted to take the time to make sure Caduceus & Yasha knew the whole story too before they went to dinner with Trent.

Liam was also relieved to get it out, because he could never remember who knew and who didn’t, and now he doesn’t have to track it anymore. “Now we can move forward. Now we can heal wounds, maybe.”

Ashley feels Cad picks up a lot, more than most people realize. Yasha was really affected by Cad’s line: “Patience can be good, but it can lead to apathy.” She really feels it opened her eyes, and she appreciated the simplicity of him pointing out her hair’s growing back white again. Having a friend notice “hey, you’re changing for the better” really means a lot. She’s interested in seeing how this means things might change with Beau.

Dani points out that it also reinforced for Yasha that she can want things too--she can be patient and just continue to be with the group, as she’s wanted, but it’s okay to want more than that too. Ashley remembers Veth asking her what her purpose is. There’s a part of her that knows Yasha is still figuring that out, and she’s interested to see how Yasha will continue to change. She’s always spent her life serving somebody--the Sky Spear, Obann--and then even after she joined the M9, it was very centered on “what do you need, what does the group need, how can I help with our next job?” She’s going to have to take some time to figure out what she wants.

Fanart of the Week! Lovely Yasha & Beau flight art by @JMNP7888. The wings look amazing!

Brian: “One of the things we want to talk to you about, Liam, is about the Vokodo fight and the FUCKING disintegrate spell.”

Liam: “That was one of the most insane 60-90 seconds of gameplay that ever existed for the table, and definitely for me, in the entire history of the show. A lot of people think I just went, oh man, just bet it all on black. But what if I told you that...I Larkin’d the first 20 seconds of that fight and then at a quarter to midnight, I forgot that the reflection was a thing? I just forgot it was a thing! I spent that whole battle thinking I’m just here to banish things. I might buff my friends a little bit, maybe I’ll counterspell, but I’m just here to banish. And it didn’t work and it didn’t work and then it did! Finally it did and Jester made it work and then he was GONE. And then everyone got greedy and it was done but we brought him BACK. And it was a quarter to midnight and I’m not an animatronic D&D lesson machine, I’m just a guy playing D&D at 11:45 at night, and he came back and everyone started Goodfellas circling him and kicking him, and Beau & Yasha are gonna kill him, and then it’s my turn? Disintegrate! And then the room was quiet, and then time passed, and Matt asked, you really cast Disintegrate? And I said yes, of course, and Matt started rolling dice, and in the back of my head I started wondering why he asked if I was rolling Disintegrate. Oh no. In the back of my brain, I was like, well, just tell him that’s not what you did. Tell him you didn’t remember the reflection thing. But he’s already rolling dice! You can’t take it back now. Hold on a second. I’m going to take you on the journey I went through. I was thinking: you have a spell save of 17. This thing wasn’t that fast. +1, +2, maybe? Anything under 14 is okay. That’s 70%. 70%. That’s okay, right? And still no one said anything to tip me off that I was in ELDRITCH MADNESS at that point, no one said anything about the reflection! And then I realize it can reflect back on us, and I realize this is...disintegrate. And then I started becoming morbidly, macabre-ly fascinated at the puppet dance of death I had created. Well, this is a mess. I have made a mess. Let’s just sit in it. And somehow, nonsensically, spectacularly, it worked out in my favor. I went home that night and I got in bed next to my wife, who was fast asleep, and I stared at the ceiling going, dude. Duuuuuuuude. Duuuuuuuuuude.”

He apparently also told his therapist about this and how terrible it was and how close he “danced myself to the precipice like a crazy person!” Marisha (as told by Liam): “Epic roll, though.”

Matt told Liam that night that if it had been reflected, it would have gone back on him. “If a player throws an M80 in the middle of a room, it would reflect on that player who threw it.”

Ashley talks about how interesting that Yasha is not performative, and yet has been doing these public performances with the harp. It’s a great experiment for Ashley--Yasha doesn’t like the attention, but feels like she is making something beautiful for the world.” She’s trying to change something about how she views herself & her place in the world. She was raised to be a weapon for the Sky Spear, but she’s also extremely gentle and loves flowers & beautiful music, and the further away she’s gotten from the tribe, she’s falling in love with gentle, beautiful things. 

Liam also points out it easy (real, but simplistic) to make an entire character centered around a single personality trait: “I’m angry all the time. I’m sad all the time.” He thinks it’s more realistic to see nuance in personality.

Liam can see some paths for Caleb to find peace & do good. He doesn’t know if Caleb is conscious of those. He thinks it’s a huge step forward to admit he was molded in this direction at all and that it wasn’t all his choice, but doesn’t know if this is the same possibility as redemption.

He also mentions Essek in this answer: there was/is attraction there, both intellectual and physical--the forehead kiss was a big marker of that--and he’s interested in seeing where that goes because he’s invested in Essek’s redemption arc on its own, but Essek is not as high on the list as other things Caleb/the M9 need to work on. He loved the “high spy times” of the Essek arc and the tangled-up-ness of feelings getting involved at the same time as intense commitment to duty.

Liam always felt Matt would bring Molly back in some aspect, even though Caleb always demurred because he doesn’t believe in fate. Dani and Brian agree that this is the start of a new act.

Ashley cried at the Vilya reunion. She thought that was an incredible moment and was so glad to see Keyleth. Liam: “Keyleth as part of our story is everything to me. That story is really important to me, so getting just a glimpse of her again was so important to me.” They could all see how that affected Marisha & how special it was to her. Liam: “It was such a great note in her song or color in her painting. She achieved magnificent things and was powerful and great, but had a very heartbreaking and sad ending, so to have this sliver of joy go back in is so complex and beautiful and masterfully done.”

Aaaaaaand that’s all for tonight! Remember, no Critical Role this week. Talks will be back in two weeks. As always, don’t forget to love each other. <3