#this is specifically about Travis and someone saying he can 'get away with all the murders he committed'

[teamhawkeye]

i really do worry for the state of media literacy these days

you go into any tag and see people with their whole ass chest saying wrong and untrue shit, and they wholeheartedly believe they’re correct despite the canon source they’re pulling from saying otherwise

[revvethasmythh]

Do you think if Chetney was younger, the response to Fearniture would be different? I’ve seen some people try to minimize it entirely, even after this episode and the threesome.

This is something I've been thinking about on and off for a lot of the campaign, and I've kind of settled around thinking that the answer is both yes and no. Do I think Chetney being visibly elderly and therefore non-traditionally attractive is definitely a reason for the relative unpopularity of Fearniture? Yes. Do I think it's THE reason? No.

I often think of Chetney's treatment within fandom is kind of reminiscent of the way Sam's PC's get treated. That is, as a joke character, someone who does a bit and doesn't really have much else going on except to cause chaos and be annoying. Like, Chetney is a ridiculous character, purposefully so, but I think the way the fandom engages with that is often in the bad faith assumption that just because a character is ridiculous they can't be meaningful. (Remember how popular was the idea that Chet was just a joke character that Travis would kill off any day now? That there was no point in getting invested because he was "just a joke"?) Which, I, a person who grew up reading series after series of some of the most utterly ridiculous urban fantasy books out there--and loved them, because UF is a fundamentally absurd genre--loudly disagree with. I often think you can find some of the most profound sentiments in the world buried in utter ridiculousness (what did Brennan say? "Profundity and absurdity are deeply in love"? Because THAT).

I just think people often take the face value of something ridiculous or absurd and never bother to sit with anything deeper about it, and I think that's more what's at play here with Chetney than his physical attractiveness, though I do still think that's an aspect of it. If people take Fearne/Chetney seriously (and I don't mean as some sort of intensely romantic, monogamous couple--we all know they're not that) it means acknowledging that Chetney can be treated seriously as a character with depth and worth in exploring a romantic relationship. And it's so much easier to just keep it surface value and think he's just a randy weirdo shooting shots (and, hopefully, getting shot down. Because who wants their favorite to end up in a relationship with someone they think won't add any depth to the dynamic?)

There is also some ship war stuff happening here, especially in regards to why Chetney is erased from the threesome (keeping him away from Fearne) which is conversely why people really seem to like Chetney/Deanna but also don't create much if any fan content for it (still not engaging with Chetney, but also, hey! At least he's away from Fearne). I won't get into the specifics of it all too much because I think ship wars are unbelievably stupid and I hate the idea of accidentally calling that to me, but I feel like it definitely exists as an undercurrent of Chetney-hate and his erasure from the threesome.

[ash-azzzz]

Alastor x [insert character]

heres my problem with this stuff ^^^

!!! ALL OF THIS IS MY OPINION !!!

• Alastor is cannomically aroace. and incase someone doesn't know what that means it means he doesn't as in does not have any kind of physical nor romantic attraction to anyone. [edited this bc someome corrected my definition]

• people shipping him platonically is fantastic! but romantic is just not going to happen.

"Oh but people ship non-cannon ships all the time!" "oh but you ship huskerdust. what if that never happens???" well first of all angel and husk are not canonically aroace. angel is cannonically queer and husk is pan. Alastor however is cannonically aroace. its not that its not going to happen in the show its the fact that aroace people hardly ever get representation in media and the hazbin fandom has been taking the respresentation Al brings away by saying and/or drawing alastor×lucifer (or alastor×vox) fanart ESPESCIALLY NSFW stuff.

Not to mention aroace people get the MOST hate even from other LGBTQIA+ people. people genuinely dont understand how someone could just not have romantic and sexual interest in anyone so people just thing "oh they want to be different." It's just gross to see the fandom taking about a character that is very open about not being sexual so heavily sexualized by a fandom that is supposed to be inclusive. that should count for alastor being aroace.

edit: to be clear im not generalizing. im speaking specifically about al. in the show he is very clearly not interested in anyone romanticall or sexually. im not speaking about aroace people as a whole. ik its a spectrum. im saying specifically alastor is not romantically attracted not sexually attracted to anyone. im saying that its wrong to take away that kind of representation from the people who do feel the same as alastor.

also the only reason i feel like this is an issue is because by sexualizing alastor specifically you are erasing his sexuality (or lack there of) its not that "oh but if Viv says hes aroace he is and we cant change that" its the fact that canon and fanon are different, however fannon can blur the line of what canon and not for newer fans of the show. thats how fandoms work. like people in creepy pasta are always like "omg ticci toby <3 waffles and hes so silly and hot ^_^" but hes actually a traumatized emo kid who brutally offed his dad then lit his neighborhood on fire. or like sally face fans white washing travis. hes native but still a lot of fanart has him pastey asf.

[bloodyshadow1]

The thing Chetney says to laudna about orym suffering more than her is bullshit. Now, before anyone gets pissy, this is by no means an attack on Chetney or Travis. It's just that the sentiment has always bothered me, even when I see it in other media. This is also not me defending laudna. I don't think orym was right, but I feel like he was more right and laudna threw away any leg she had ti stand on when she attacked him. I just want to clear the air because this fandom never hesitates to attack someone for having differing opinions and I want to make my point clear.

The thing with suffering is both orym and laudna have suffered, but I don't think anyone has the right to judge on whose suffering is worse, especially when it's so big like what the two of them are carrying around. Sure, with small examples, x broke a finger while y broke their hand, you can easily tell y suffered more, or in situations with huge discrepancies; x stubbed a toe while y's house burned down, again it's clear that y is suffering more.

But life isn't easy or simple, neither is laudna and orym's conflict. Like what if x lost their husband, y lost their child, and z lost their parents, who do you say suffered more. You're allowed to pick the one you empathize with more, that's what most people do, but people aren't wrong if you pick x and they pick y or z.

The thing with what Chet said, is that it isn't helpful to measure suffering when it gets big. And I am well aware that Chetney probably meant specifically in regards to the sword, but even then I think it's more complicated than people think. You can't just weigh how characters suffered like they're on a scale and whoever is heavier is the one who suffered more and is therefore right. Sure you can say on Orym's side, the blade killed him, his father figure, and his husband while on Laudna's side she was killed by the blade, but that's still 1 person to 3 so Orym suffered more and is right in their conflict.

What if someone says, well I don't care about Will and Derrig, Will was just an npc who died in Orym's backstory that we never met while Derrig was just Liam's character for a one shot, to them it's not actually 3 deaths vs 1 it's the equivalent of 1 vs 1 again or 1.2 vs 1. I don't like this idea but I have seen this, or at least something like it in other arguments when the CR fandom broke so I am bringing it up. The same people might say Orym and Laudna both died to Otahan and that sword, but Orym was dead for less than a minute and brought back. But Laudna was dead for days and trapped in her worst memories by Delilah, she knows that if Delilah is around even death won't be a release from her suffering. Therefore Laudna suffered more and is right.

People can keep going back and forth forever and a day with bringing up examples of why the character they feel has suffered more and are therefore right. It doesn't change that everyone has Biases and will chose the character they can defend more. In truth, both Laudna and Orym suffered at the hands of the sword and it's something they needed to talk about but they both decided they were right and made the choice for everyone else. Because they're both incredibly broken, they've hidden it away from the party so they took the worst way to do things instead of talking. When they spoke they didn't talk to each other, they talked at each other which didn't help.

Chetney was wrong to say that Orym suffered more than Laudna, he was wrong to say that to Laudna of all people. It doesn't make him a bad person by any means, it doesn't mean he's wrong either, just he believes that. But it didn't help, and actually hindered the two of them because they both can only focus on their own pain and even if it's just in their own heads turns it into a suffering dick measuring contest.

All this ranting is a long, round about way to say, suffering is complicated and you can't just measure it empirically because you want to. People are complex and suffering is incredibly complex, you can't just compare and contrast two traumas and act like one is better than the other. I'm just getting this out there because every time there's character conflict the fandom breaks down and picks sides instead of accepting that both characters could be in the wrong. It's interesting in universe as a rp moment and I can't wait to see where it's going personally.

[dantefreakdaaaa]

Was lurking the tags, and saw that you were writing for Travis... Consider my interest piqued. Maybe Travis with a crush on a girl who has similar interests to him, specifically wrestling? (yes, the feeling's mutual >:3) Can be fluff/spice/nsfw etc., go crazy, knock yourself out

TRAVIS TOUCHDOWN X READER

no pronouns r used but implied fem reader

first time writing him so bear with me

headcanons

fluff

imagined nmh1 Travis but it's up for interpretation here

-Travis isn't used to having someone, at least in real life, be so obsessed with anime and wrestling like he is. Its a little bit of a shock for him at first, but you two end up clicking right away.

-he's constantly trying to impress you, going on and on about every obscure fact that he hopes makes you fall for him.

-typa dude to jump in the air and go hooray if he figures out that you like him too

-he takes you to his motel room and shows you all his cool action figures and posters too, he's flexing them like "yeah, I know, I'm just so cool."

-don't take him to ur house/apartment though he will sniff the sheets /j

-for dates you guys sit and watch anime/wrestling together and each a shit ton of snacks while Travis spits shitty one liners at you.

-

Writers block is hard and life is busy but I will be getting more requests out I SWEAR (I say this everyday and it doesn't happen)

[my-coven-is-claudia]

I definitely want Mystreet to have more complex dynamics but I also really like that Gene and Dante had a good relationship because they never had the moment MCD Gene and Dante did. Before MCD Gene was put in jail, we know he and Dante had a good relationship, Gene only turned on Dante when he told the guards what he was doing. Plus PDH Gene swings wildly from being super intimidating and awful and evil to not even a mild threat, I’d much rather he just be a toxic drama queen like Laurence said instead of making him an even worse person by making him an abusive brother.

What I think would be more compelling would be Dante being in denial that Gene is a bad person to other people because Gene is only good to him and the shadow knights. His big brother who loves him and protects him and takes care of him? There’s no way he’s doing everything people are saying he is. There’s no way Aphmau’s being serious. It must be a different person. Or she has to be exaggerating. Or maybe she’s outright lying. There’s no way Gene would actually do that, it can’t be true.

I don’t like the redemption arc because of how it’s both too harsh and too soft. He doesn’t have to do much to earn their trust, but before that they all believe he’s guilty until proven innocent to the point where Travis says he’s a bad influence on ‘his little Dante’ and Katelyn proceeds to decide she’s going to get his job taken away. Over childish (I’m pretty sure she outright calls it this) vandalism.

Like it’s one thing to hate a guy for being a pos in high school, it is another thing to report him to the city, probably specifically to get him fired because she could’ve just called the cops on him.

yeah i don’t think them having a troubled relationship would fit in the context of mystreet for the reasons you stated. i just wish dante wasn’t so idk in denial about the fact gene can be a dick sometimes,, just feels unrealistic. anyone would want to defend their sibling but I wish we saw them butt heads or bicker more like brothers. although i get why dante being in denial could be compelling,, as someone with an older brother i just can’t understand how dante would develop this picture perfect idea of gene.

i also like gene just being a pos who then eventually grew out of it and matured but can still be dramatic sometimes. he doesn’t need a redemption arc he just is like that lol. i think that’s why people like him. he wouldn’t be funny if he wasn’t a bit of a dick. you could spin it as dante reconciling with the fact that maybe his friends don’t like gene (and won’t ever like him) but he’s still his family and he knows him better than anyone else. that’s all that matters.

[cowboylikedean]

Tayvis stans bother me so much they are totally insane, why does anyone care if she gets engaged or married? Some people don’t ever get married and that’s fine

what bothers me the most about it is that she released an entire double album about how bad wanting marriage at all costs is and how much she has caused herself more pain by living for the promise of it less than six months ago.

whether you believe her and joe were engaged or pre-engaged (i've seen fans believe both of these), the promise of marriage was 100% a part of their relationship and it tore her in knots. she left joe for matty because matty saw it tie her in knots and told her that he wouldn't do that to her. the "that" here was specifically not marry her. like... he told her he wouldn't drag his feet in proposing, which is why she left joe. she told us that in ttpd. she also said that the promise of marriage is why she leaned into jake and believed his nonsense. she has just been BRUTALLY honest with us about what seeking marriage has cost her.

as someone currently going through a broken engagement, basically divorce.............. y'all this fucks you up!!! you don't come out of this without complicated at BEST feelings about marriage. everyone i've ever spoken to who has gotten divorced or had a long term relationship in which the promise of marriage was a big part of it has said the same or similar things about how they never want to get married or it's complicated at best. the most common response is to truly have no idea how you feel about it.

she and travis very well might be living the beginning of their forever partnership, and marriage very well might be a part of that. but it's absolutely inhumane and unreasonable to think that taylor's feelings about marriage are as cut and dry as they once were. if she were ready to get married without hesitation, i'd be worried about her because that would indicate that she hadn't processed and worked through all the shit she tells us about in ttpd.

it's MESSY and feelings about this change rapidly. sweetheart and i were watching tv and he made a throw away comment about how he would want a courthouse thing if he were to get married and that fucking comment had me in panic attacks for WEEKS because i didn't have an answer to the question "do you still want marriage to be a part of your plan" and I didn't want to but I felt like I had to. like i went from "i have no idea" to "omg he wants to marry me!!" to "omg i want to marry him??" to "omg he doesn't want to marry me wtf" to "well i might end this because i want marriage and he doesn't" to "oh my fucking GOD shut up self i don't even know how i feel i haven't processed any of that" and it took over my life.

i can tell that taylor wants to do this relationship different. you look back at your history, at the litany of reasons why you could have played for keeps that time, and you see this person you're with as your forever and you really just wanna do it right this time. which means you don't repeat your unhealthy patterns. which means we need to let taylor have uncomfortably complicated feelings about this and stop trying to make it nice and neat and tidy for OUR sakes. because it's cute.

if travis really is taylor's forever person, then it IS cute.... and it's also not a fucking race. the decisions they make in their relationship are not "what's the cutest choice to make here" it's "what's the most sustainable choice to make here." and that makes the tayvis stans mad but that's what it is

sorry i just went on a long rant i have a lot to say lol

[vvarvvon]

canon divergences.

last update: 09.09.24

the american civil war —

yeah... it having a greek vs roman aspect in hoo is super fucked up & disrespectful to what that war was actually about.

on this blog, the greek/roman aspects of the gods split simply because they are worshipped separately, so they grew apart. the gods are a reflection of how people envision them. much like how pan faded because people didn't know about him.

world war two —

again, giving it a "the big three's kids are fighting" aspect is disrespectful to what that war was actually about. not going to acknowledge it having a demigod aspect, because again, that was fucked up to put into the books.

the pact of the big three did happen around this time, but it's pure coincidence. the great prophecy was delivered at this time & that was the catalyst for the pact.

the gods only exist in "the heart of the west" —

...what?

genuinely, what?

this blog won't be doing that.

the gods exist wherever they are worshipped. their main home is still greece / rome. every other location mentioned in the series is simply a portal back to their actual location (ex: the empire's 600th floor is a portal to mount olympus in greece, doa records is a portal to the greek underworld).

alaska being a dark spot is more because no one lives there (sorry to the 700k alaskans out there), not it being too far away from the gods home base.

technology attracting monsters —

no.

mostly because i can't wrap my head around how a phone / laptop / whatever can amplify a demigod's aura when monsters are specifically said to be able to SMELL demigods.

DEMIGOD DIARIES SPOILERS // i know that monster sense is due to a spell by lamia, but seriously... don't establish that monsters sense demigods by smell & then tack on that technology makes it easier for monsters to find them.

camp counselors —

"chb's counselors are the oldest child of that god that is in camp at the time." this reeks of someone who thinks that the older someone is the better when it comes to leading when we all know that's incorrect.

instead, the counselors are picked by each cabin (ex: cabin five chose sherman specifically after clarisse left for college, he wasn't just given it because he was the oldest).

pretty sure this is actually canon (see: drew vs piper being cabin 10 counselor; travis & connor co-counseling cabin 11)/a retcon added later, but i still wanted to include it because i remember the counselors being the oldest pissing me off as a kid.

hunter's oath —

since it was made canon that artemis doesn't accept any type of romance when it comes to her hunters, i have changed the wording of their oath. all i did was get rid of the "i turn my back on the company of men" line.

it now says "i pledge myself to the goddess artemis, accept eternal maidenhood and join the hunt.”

the twelfth legion fulminata —

i know that hoo is targeted towards children & teens, so having the army be in the age bracket of the audience makes sense... but since new rome is its own society with demigods who managed to LIVE INTO ADULTHOOD, it's super fucked up that the army is children.

i will keep the "demigods must serve ten years starting from when they arrive" aspect, but their service will be more like the training chb demigods receive. children will not be the leaders of either the army or of the city.

the romans have older demigods (20s-40s) who stayed after their ten years mixed into the legion & that's who they consider to be the army. it's those demigods who get sent on missions & do the actual dangerous stuff (as long as a god doesn't specifically ask for a younger demigod by name).

DEATH TW // it was not until the battle of mount othrys & most of these elder demigods were slaughtered fighting the titan army that the 12th legion was forced to pivot to having teenagers be in charge (which is why jason & reyna, aka CHILDREN, are in charge of the legion by the time hoo comes around).

new rome schooling —

along with their service to the legion being closer to "here's how to not die" training, the demigods also attend school.

it's one building, k12, that runs on a year-round calendar. the curriculum is based around what will actually be useful to them (though standard english & math classes must be taken).

it is also assumed that nearly every student will have some form of neurodivergence & quite a few will have dyscalculia. as such, there is help available & the curriculum is designed around these disabilities.

why big three kids are super powerful —

they're said to be the most powerful because they are "children of the eldest gods" as if demeter isn't also from that same generation & has kids?? as if zeus isn't the youngest of the six og olympians??? as if aphrodite is not the first of the gods??

"a child of the eldest gods shall reach sixteen against all odds" could very well refer to a demeter kid!

the reason i will be using for the big three's kids being the most powerful is that their fathers are kings of the three major domains—the sky, the sea, & the underworld. these demigods have the power of whole domains in their blood. that's what makes them the most powerful demigods, not their godly parent's age.

HOWEVER, that being said, i play jakke, luna, & rhis as on the same power level as children of the big three. and i play aeron as less powerful than other big three kids.

> jakke as mystiokinesis is the ability to change reality through spells & all other hecate kids are shown to be super powerful. don't worry, i still honor alabaster being hecate's most powerful son & never want jakke to be over-powered.

> luna as njörðr is king of the vanir & god of the ocean. i feel it would be wrong to not have her be able to compete with percy who is also a son of a king & ocean god. plus, she has the strength of being an einherji on her side.

> rhis as i am leaning into how some myths consider erebus & tartarus one & the same. as well as how erebus is a concept, meaning rhis has the power of the idea of darkness at her fingertips. plus, she has the blessing of artemis, which increases her power, and has been honing her strength over the centuries.

> aeron has far less power than nico (or bianca, though she died before we ever saw the full extent of her powers). aeron's power comes more from hades being the god of wealth than the king of the dead. he's closer to hazel's power level pre-hecate.

god problems —

i can not get behind dionysus hating demigods. i think it's more a general "heroes are uptight" & "i can't stand to see anyone else die on my watch" than an outright disdain. i get that it's because of theseus, but ehhhhhh.

artemis saying she gets hunters who are preteens because that's before they discover boys??? predator behavior. yes, most of the hunters are preteen girls, but that's more because that's just the general age of greek demigods since, you know, we're told they tend to die as teens.

most persephone rpers that i see follow the interpretation that she went willingly / wasn't kidnapped / actually loves hades / ate the pomegranate on purpose. & those w/ pjo verses have her a kind stepmother to hades's kids (whether or not she has her own). as such, i'll also be following this interpretation over the one laid out in the books.

hera's only mean in the myths because married women are one-dimensional thanks to sexism. i don't see her hating demigods unless they're children of zeus (& even then, i think it's more a hatred towards what they represent rather than anything about them specifically). she's actually a nice queen to those who don't do anything to piss her off.

legacies —

in the books legacies are... not well defined. they're the grandchildren & beyond of gods, but how powerful they are is inconsistent. i think this post put it best: riordan wanted to showcase how different the camps are & decided nepotism & discrimination was the best way to go about it?? weird as hell decision!!

on this blog, their power scale would be a diluted version of a demigod, if that makes any sense? example: a great-grandchild of poseidon might have mild hydrokinesis or be able to heal in salt water, while a grandchild of poseidon would have more powerful hydrokinesis and be able to heal in all water, while a child of poseidon is well... we see how powerful percy is in the books.

things like octavian's prophecy & frank's shapeshifting are a blessing from their godly relative (kind of like the blessing of artemis or the blessing of ares). they are something apollo chose to give octavian / something poseidon chose to give frank, not something they are inherently born with.

i just have a lot of thoughts about legacies.

pen pals —

this one is more just for fun, not a nit-pick with the book.

after the second giant war forced the camps to start getting along & jace got his quest from mercury, a pen pal system was established. iris/arcus & her cloud nymphs help expedite the process through iris messages.

i just adore the idea of demigods from the different camps being friends.

other havens —

other safe havens for demigods / other mythos folk exist. it's not just chb, new rome, the house of life, & the waystation. plenty exist in the americas & there are plenty on other continents.

[juno-box]

Hoi! anon again!! so i wanted to ask something abt Dotwd this time. i wanted to ask if you had any "what-ifs" abt twdg & Dotwd. like what if lee & clem went with lilly during episode 3?

Ooooh you don't know WHAT you just asked me o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

[None of this is canon to DoTWD, by the by]

So on a Discord call with my friend, I remember he asked me this SPECIFICALLY. Because we were watching a TWDG "What If" vids on YouTube and one vid was what if Lee went with Lilly. So he asked me, in the context of DoTWD, how would that play out if it were to happen.

Well, not-really-spoilers-anymore but Ben is written to be Rachel's brother. And personally, I can't see Ray leaving Ben permanently in any scenario, that's just not her. Not to mention Lilly doesn't trust Ben at fucking all. So how would that work out?

Lee would have to lie to her. But the minute she realizes, and Clem does, she'd be piiiised. I don't think she'd talk to him for a minute. Hard snub him. Personally, I believe Ray would abuse any opportunity to get back to him.

But the one I wrote for is Lee leaving her with Kenny, Ben, Travis and Chuck. Since Lee isn’t there, neither is Clem. She’d be crushed along with Kenny who’d rightfully feel betrayed. The train would take longer w/o him, meaning they’d put Duck down before leaving, and Katjaa would die just the same as in canon. This also means they missed Christa and Omid.

I think Ben would confide in Travis about what happened, and Travis would be the one to tell him to keep that shit quiet.

They get to Savannah. Molly tolls the bells and they get to the manor. Since there’s only 4 of them, they’d all go together down to River Street and see no boats. They find Molly (after Kenny gets his ass folded) and she helps them get back to the manor with Ray’s convincing. Meaning no Vernon.

So, they’re herd and stuck moping the boat situation. Ray wanders outside to be alone. I should to mention that Ray would be really quiet and reserved since Lee took Clem and left with Lilly. I mean, seeing your father figure literally abandon you and take your surrogate sister with him for someone who tried to kill your brother and killed another member of the group is a lot for a now 9-year-old to fully process. I think like she would feel confused and hurt more than anything. As to how she’d find the boat; she’d probably just open it for no reason, she’s naturally curious. When she finds it, she runs inside and gets the guys (Molly sticks around still).

Kenny inspects it and says all it needs is gas and a battery. Travis suggests Crawford, they go to Crawford. Minus Brie and Vernon, Molly would handle the role of where everything is but it’ll take long due to less people. Ben doesn’t do that dumb thing Telltale made him do for comedic effect but let’s say the walkers banging on the door causes the axe to slip from the handles and it’s go time. Ben, thinking it’s the end of the line, confesses, and Travis has to stop Kenny’s (big) ass from mauling Ben. Kenny says he’s not getting on that boat with them, but Ra says she’s not leaving anywhere without Ben, and Travis is more on the lines of “I know he fucked up royally but we can discuss this when we aren’t about to die”.

They get through to the armory and Kenny gets that shotgun and covers them from behind. The get to the window leading out. Molly, Chuck, Kenny go first.

***

That bell goes off next to Ben and he gets snatched by Oberson like in canon. Travis would be the one to grab him, but he’s struggling. Ben tells him to let go, but Travis won’t hear it. Ray calls for Kenny to help them. Kenny comes back, but the look he gives Ben, it’s full of contempt, malice and disregard as he looks away and descends the ladder.

Travis isn’t strong enough to hold onto him alone. And Ben eventually slips from his grasp, and lands on the bottom of the bell tower. Crack.

Travis just stares until he hears Chuck hurry them from the ladder. Having to drown out Rachel’s gut turning screaming, he grabs her and escapes the tower.

The way home was awful. The time there was worse. Travis could get the girl to calm down even for a second. Throwing every object she could pick up at the fisherman, screaming any insult she could conjure at him until Molly told Travis all the noise was going to draw attention. Travis had to drag the poor child upstairs and lock her in the office until she just stopped. She did, after and hour. When she ran out of projectiles to throw at him, and energy to throw them. After a while, she just wanted to hide, and wanted Travis to go away.

Travis obliges, and he leaves her. He sits at the top of the stairs and just… thinks. He can still feel Ben’s grip around his hand.

He keeps replaying it, over and over. The sound of him screaming as he plummeted to his death, the sickening crack as his body collided with the wood, Rachel’s mortified screeching, and Kenny. Watching. Ignoring. Complicit.

Travis sees Kenny come near the stairs.

T: “Don’t. Don’t you fucking come near us.”

The older man doesn’t argue, and returns to the bottom of the stairs.

Eventually, it was time to leave. The boat was repaired. The choice of who was coming was to be made there and now. Kenny didn’t want to in Savannah any longer.

Molly opted to go on her own. She was always better on her own anyways.

Chuck was still displeased with what happened at the bell tower, but seeing as he had no other plans. He chose to go.

Travis, on the other hand, didn’t know what the fuck to do. It hasn’t been three hours and he’s being forced to chose between staying behind in a dead city or going with the asshole who was complicit in his best friend’s death. At that point, he retreated back into the office with Ray, who’d bawled herself into a restless sleep. He had to think of them; himself and Ray. She’d have another meltdown if he chose to tag along with Kenny in that stupid, fucking boat. Hell, he’d have to make sure she didn’t murder the man or toss him overboard in his sleep. On the other hand, staying in Savannah with no chance to make it out alone was a death sentence.

Travis shook the girl awake. Tiredly, she looked at him, silent.

T: “… he fixed the boat.” R: “…” T: “He said—” R: “I don’t care.” T: “…” R: “…” T: “We can just get on. Ride until we dock somewhere, and go our own way. How’s that sound?” R: “…on our own?” T: “On out own. Anywhere you want.” R: “Anywhere?” T: “Mhm.” R: “… we can’t stay?”

Travis shook his head.

T: “This city’s tapped dry. And it’s full of walkers. I’m not gonna promise anywhere else is safer, but Savannah’s dead. I’m sorry.” R: “… Then mama’s dead, too, isn’t she?” T: “…” Rachel sat up, slumped. R: “…I don’t really care… I’ll wherever you go… just don’t leave me too, okay?”

Travis realized, he hadn't even fully processed that they'd both been abandoned at the same time. Just, discarded. Not even an after thought.

T: “Promise.”

[clonehub]

Rewatching tbb wish me luck.

S1E1

First thing I've noticed is that the way tbb fights is really inefficent. It looks cool until you realize they're taking out droids one by one and techs droid poppers are only good for one use each. A normal droid popper would take out maybe like 6 droids at once if they're close enough. Tech used three and got three but we saw the whole sequence of it ig bc it's mean to be cool?

And again like I'm confused bc how much of this is their own skill and how much is access to weapons that regular clones don't have.

Like why does tech insist on getting as close as possible to stick these grenades and droid poppers on droids when the more efficient thing is to throw it from a distance?

"if you're done hiding down there" shut UPPPP oh my god

You know how like. Ppl say the Travis books are mean spirited and the jkr books are mean spirited. This feels mean. Like these are clones who were about to be overrun, who needed help, who relied on you to save them and you're immediately berating them for what?? Needing reinforcements? Waiting for YOU to do YOUR job?

No bc like just how like in s7 tbb gets away with breaking chain of command they do it here too. The captains right to berate them for insubordination like huh.

Caleb's voice has me in tears 😭

Geez the way they converse is so annoying. Wrecker is so annoying. I don't like characters that yell a lot sorry.

Kinda crazy that it took tbb that long to run back.

"talk to the reg captain" he has a name

Again the way they say regs just sounds like a slur.

Also like I feel like episode one is just the beginning of everyone else being rewritten in order to prop up tbb like kanans fans were PISSED his entire story about O66 was rewritten to give something to them.

Ah yes the first instance of Wrecker and tech being the dumb/genius trope.

Now that I think about it it actually feels kinda disrespectful to have like. The goofier/funnier moments of like the food fight and all that in an episode where a genocides just been committed???

And like wrecker isn't funny they don't actually know how to write funny. When that one critic said their personalities had been turned up to an almost caricaturish degree they were right.

And tech here asking that one clone what division he's from and naturally being brushed aside and then using that as evidence that they're still the same. Like huh. You see kaminos lockdown you see the Jedi have all been executed you see ppl got shit to do and you step directly in front of someone to ask them a stupid question like that 😭 like what was even the point of that scene they just screen wiped immediately after 😭

Good lord they're so ugly.

"they manipulated preexisting aberrations in our DNA--" ok so like. An aberration implies something bad. Defect implies something bad. But it's clear these aberrations were good differences taken to their extremes. Because in what world is looking at someone's DNA and seeing there actually a genius (barring that this isn't how this works) like actually a defect. "Oh this guy's strong and this one seems to have stronger senses" that's. They started out good and then were taken further??? Like??? And it was done on purpose too, not like the the Batch were unplanned, the Kaminoans specifically made them this way which is a luxury and privilege like no other clones can have.

Which is what annoys me so much about tbb being bullied by regs for being ~different~ bc that's such a shallow read on what differences exatly would make the regs hate tbb so much. Like no kdy gets bullied for being smart or strong they get bullied for being annoying as hell and being arrogant and derisive to ppl they think are "beneath" them. So the bad batch were bullied for their appearance then and the privilege they have over other clones in clone society. So like. These white boys that were made to be better than everyone else and get rewarded for it all the time look down on the """regs""" why am I meant to side w tbb lbr. Like it looks like hyped up white kids getting bullied by jealous brown kids. Huh. Bffr.

This is so bad. IM ONLY 18 MINUTES IN WHAT--

"you're more machine than man percentage wise" die

[nochi-quinn]

campaign 3 episode 68: I'm not making the 'nice' joke about next episode bc last time I did that someone died

okay let's see if I can get through this one without having a panic attack ten minutes in

(that's why there wasn't a liveblog last week)

I was making a sandwich during sam's ad and came back to Suddenly Bear

and then I saw "Baldur's Gate 3" in the subs and it all made sense

"that is your wife" which wife, laura, marisha or liam?

a teensy weensy little demon pact

oh, we have that autobots shirt sam's wearing

kiddo wears it to school for jersey days :D

Graz'tchar

NO

throw it in the hole

talking weapons: not even once

ashley what

swordmance

per spoilers in the group chat, Sword Bad

that thing is twice his size isn't it

ashton has the brain cell

"I don't care about you" letters

King of Fuckingwhere

A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON

travis' face

but who's on the council

ashton: please hold

grizzly man

ashton is the best narrator in this moment

yeah yeah hell yeah

fcg in his mind palace

matt doing the mass effect codex voice

prince fruitoftheloom

s a m u e l

STOP GIVING TRAVIS CURSED SWORDS

travis

sam

both of you

fresh cut "I can fix him" grass

fcg: the vibes are rancid

nigerian demon prince

"you can eat my ass, this is my card right now"

king butterknife

oh hell

hate THAT

NICE

"he barely listens to us"

liam :(

how fuckin old is ludinis

kiki :(

kiki!

keyleth pace urself

I love that cloak so fucking much

the Hand of the Tempest does sound really fucking cool

liam you can't make me cry that's illegal

everybody hates the raven queen but keyleth especially hates the raven queen

(okay they don't all HATE the raven queen, I'm just saying)

liam: that winged man, that beautiful angel, that absolute specimen of masculinity -

matthew so help me god not the tr - I HATE YOU

"those who call themselves gods" dang

it must be nice, it must be nice, to have asmodeus on your side

but no dogs. no dogs on the moon.

they just run right off the damn thing

just do dark moon magic in the room of the head of state who just recovered from an assassination attempt, nbd

until her what now

travis and marisha

"I've got wind chimes where my name should be"

"fuck off, ghost!"

oh y'all were gonna get blood fountain'd

vox machina road trip

"there was an accident and here I am"

ashton lore ashtON LORE

TITAN BLOOD

travis: that was me! :D

oh we got chair perch

"vast and frightening"

the key is to stop trying to apply logic to your friends

I'm assuming this is the blight tree from - IT IS THE BLIGHT TREE

"the enemy of my enemy is a dick"

marisha: you KNOW what I'm saying, just TELL ME

"all our allies are dead or doin' stuff"

what IS dorian doing. give me my boy back.

liam and his tea

keyleth's BEEN elementals. several of them!

"how are we gonna make fun of that name, it's too hard to pronounce"

oh kiki :(

stop saying entities

quick go find milo

cut ludinis off at the root

highlander the bitch

vecNA

"I READ BOOKS >:("

"you battled an earth titan" "I mean TECHNICALLY"

delilah alarm weewooweewoo

fearne would be a choice chaos deity

milo-joe dream team

"don't tell him I said that"

"he is a brilliant mind with specific limitations"

"I can feel my heart rate rising!" and then he went into cardiac arrest

I fully recognize ashton's tone re: fcg trying to contact dancer, that is a parent's "redirecting a child away from an inappropriate choice" tone

I feel like it's dancer tbh

it's time to d-d-d-d-duel

"oh changebringer, what the FUCK does that mean"

it IS dancer

"the changebringer…..sucks"

matTHEW

listen, I remember some of those vm planning sessions, this is high strategery

marisha: leave me aLONE

you're gonna carry that weight

oh no I'm gonna cry again

SAVIOR BLADE

oh shut the fuck up

just put me in the fucking ground

can laudna get a tattoo? would the skin just kind of. fall off?

[captainsspnanon]

C2E71 - Family Gathering - rewatch

Ah no, now Laura and Travis are remote! I remember them saying after that the connection wasn’t great, and Travis specifically talking about how it was hard for him to handle it remote, especially with the ADD (I’m pretty sure they said that, at least) (if I recall, it was the reason he gave for not connecting Caduceus’s story to Fjord’s last name)

Okay, is it just me, or are Dairon and Essek’s accents basically identical? Like, I’ve thought this from the start, even from my original watch through. It’s just hard because I don’t really have any good side by sides to compare it to, and also theoretically they should have very DIFFERENT accents because Empire and Xhorhas. I wonder if this is why I always kept forgetting Essek’s accent and thinking he had a different one (even with this watch through, I expect him to sound different somehow).

I mean, all respect to Matt for having a jillion different voices he can do, but because of that, when he ends up duplicating a prominent character’s voice, it gets very weird. I know this has happened before, but I honestly can’t remember who with. Just that he did a voice and it was very ‘but what that’s [x] other NPC’s voice!’

oh beau!!! My heart breaks a little bit at this scene, with Beau immediately being confrontational with Dairon, misunderstanding confusion as aggression. “but don’t – are you gonna get mad at me? Are you gonna get mad at me?” just the defensiveness falling into the insecurity, for me this very small bit right here is a FANTASTIC depiction of Beau. She’s aggressive to authority, but not because of the assumed ‘automatic disrespect to power discrepancy’, but due to her fear that no matter what she does, it’s not good enough. No matter how well she does, someone that she looks up to will deride her for it, or express displeasure in her doing it. Here it is so clearly seen how her father has impacted her. She just wants to do things RIGHT and have people SEE that she does. SEE how hard she tries. SEE that she cares, and honestly? PRAISE her for doing what she’s done. True, non-condescending praise. And not from someone like Jester who will praise her no matter what, not from someone like Fjord who will offer praise but also ask for help, but from someone who is on a demarcated level ABOVE her, who there is no doubt is higher ranking, who does not need a give and take on equal level. The difference between a sibling saying you did well, a classmate saying you did well, and a teacher saying you did well.

Dairon will eventually be on a level where she believes that she and Beau are equals, but I suspect that Beau will always consider her to be a form of authority, just a very positive authority who you almost want to remain in that position, so that any praise has that different feel than praise from a peer.

Huh, first watch through I completely missed Jester frantically waiving Beau off, trying not to have her tell Dairon about returning the beacon. That’s weird! Why would she be opposed?? She’s typically the MOST open of the Nein!

It is SOOO rewarding to watch this bit knowing about Essek being the traitor. They’re discussing giving away the beacons to start a war, to get lots of money, to get favors. None of those end up being true! He just wanted more knowledge that he wasn’t able to get on his own. I know there’s a lot of fanbase drama around Essek being a ‘war criminal’ and such, but what I put in his favor is that 1) EVERYONE says that the war was going to eventually happen and was getting closer and closer to a boiling point, and 2) he did this without the intention of causing harm. (I shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m going to anyway IT IS DIFFERENT BECAUSE HE IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER. NO ONE ACTUALLY DIED, THERE WAS NO ACTUAL WAR. As such, I can think of things from a character perspective, a narrative perspective, and gain a very VERY different viewpoint. If this was the real world, Essek was a real person, actually did these things for real, real people died, it should be damn OBVIOUS that the viewpoint would be different and there would be no ‘narrative’ or ‘character’ consideration.)

(also, I’ve read a few fantastic meta posts about how Essek was in the exact right position to be groomed by the Empire into becoming the traitor, which, while I adore them and will sometimes treat them as headcanon, I don’t consider to be actual canon. Just as Bren made the decision to kill his parents, Essek made the decision to hand over the beacons. In my opinion, Essek’s decision was actually more under his own control and more selfish than Bren. And this is why, as much as I enjoy a variety of Shadowgast fanfic, ones which turn Essek into pure woobie really don’t sit well with me. This is a man who caused harm, who did something selfishly and recognized that it likely WOULD cause harm, and as far as I can tell, did not begin to regret his actions until the Nein started to break down walls he had put up. As much as I will read fics that come up with reasons why Adeen Tasithar was evil and deserved what he got, as far as we know in canon, Adeen was kinda a jerk, and that was all. And Essek, as far as we see, has no regret for condemning him to imprisonment, likely torture, likely death.) (wow I jumped ahead there, oops) (I have Essek Opinions, and can get irritated at fan portrayal of him that flattens him out to ‘poor little meow meow’ and ‘the girl in the relationship’. Seriously, I think a lot of fan fic authors needs to learn that in a queer relationship, one of the people involved does not need to be the feminine one, the girly one, the one who hits all the ‘stay at home waiting for her man, decked out in jewelry’ tropes. I have a LOT of trouble with feminized Essek art because of this, ESPECIALLY because all official Essek art depicts him as very masculine, to the point where people scream that he looks ugly and out of character) (okay I’ll stop ranting now I promise) (at least about this topic)

A lot of wonderful conversation between Beau and Dairon, and I’m getting distracting by Laura and Travis getting distracted XD

I wonder if Matt was nudging towards them giving Essek’s name as a contact to Dairon, with the thought of Dairon eventually being the one to expose him, at least to the group. Again, one of the things that I wonder how far ahead he plans things, and how much he tries subtle nudging during play. Was he trying to get this step? Or was it just that Dairon needed help and it ended up coming to this during the RP?

*snerk* I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matt so snarky that he has the NPC call out the cast for not paying attention during a scene. I love that Sam catches it first and goes ‘i’m distracting your wife’ and Matt’s just like yuuuuup.

*grimaces* I hate when I notice my own personal biases, especially when they’re stupid. I am NOT a fan of Taliesin rolling a die in his hand and directly asking Matt “how high do I have to roll to tell that someone was in the house”, because it doesn’t give an opportunity for Matt to really say no. Now he HAS to allow for Tal to make the check, even if it’s something where he didn’t want Tal to at all. BUT! BUT! I also know that this is me being more sensitive to Taliesin when he does things like this, as I’m 95% sure that Liam has done something similar in C3 and I wasn’t bothered by it. Maybe not as directly, but he’s 100% rolled dice in his hands sort of non-verbally asking to be permitted a perception check – I guess I’m more okay with it because a lot of times Matt DOESN’T ask for one, and Liam just puts the dice down without making a big deal about it, whereas this is straight up “let me do the thing”. Now I know that Matt technically could have made it an impossible DC, or set it at like 28+ or something. It’s just something that rubs me the wrong way.

(I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I definitely do adore Taliesin and all the PCs he’s created minus Molly/Kingsley, but he’s also the player that I tend to have the most issues with. I think our styles of play are just clashing. It’s very very rare that he does something WRONG, but it’s not super uncommon that he does something that I don’t like.)

….and immediately after THAT – Jester rolls at nat 20 to see Dairon, but Caduceus is the one saying that he saw her “wow all the way up there”. NO TALIESIN. LAURA GOT THE SUCCESS, NOT YOU. *huffs* And then calling her down. Matt specifically had confirmed that Caduceus didn’t find her. THIS is something that Taliesin does occasionally that I do feel is WRONG and not just a thing I don’t like. We didn’t like it when Orion would take away spotlight from another player, well I don’t like it when Taliesin does it either.

(also in fairness this is definitely a clashing play style that I KNOW I have issues with. In my campaign, my druid had turned into a water bug so that she could skim across a bog, the DM gave me a bunch of information, and then a player whose PC was all the way back across the entire bog started talking and RPing and using the information. Which meant that without my decision, my PC had returned to the group AND dropped her wildshape to share the information. Meaning that any other shit I wanted to do? Couldn’t. Because the other player had a cool thing she wanted to do with the info, so she did it, without considering that her PC wouldn’t have known the info. Tal wanted to do his funny RP without him considering that Caduceus was confirmed by Matt to not have seen Dairon, but because Jester did, even though Jester didn’t TELL, Caduceus got to do his funny bit, overriding any RP decisions that Laura may have wanted to make.)

Oh joy, I get to be a negative nancy, because we immediately then go into SAM and one of my peeves with HIM. Nott clarifying that Dairon would possibly be a maid? Completely in character. Knowing that Jester had people tend the house and asking about it? Still in character. Dismissively saying that sure you can learn a servants name? NOT in character, just 100% a Sam joke. He even confirms it when Marisha cracks ‘your Scanlan is showing’ and he corrects ‘my Sam Riegel is showing’. Look, it’s a very funny joke, especially with the context of Dairon ready to pulverize for the joke, but it makes no sense at all for Nott to say it. It’s no wonder that it’s harder for me to get a good sense of Sam’s characters, when he In Character makes jokes that are clearly Out Of Character, but now his PC has made the joke and is being reacted to as such, even when it makes no sense for his PC to act that way.

There’s an aspect of Caleb that the campaign never really went in depth on, which is touched on here. Caleb is very certain that he’s still being hunted for, if not already found. The team are indicating that with the war going on, looking for one guy isn’t really that big of a deal, bad use of resources. Caleb is very disbelieving and in fact flinches during the conversation. We know from later that Trent wanted Caleb to take over for his own position. With all the vollstrecker, I really wonder how high up in the chain Caleb was, to know that he would very actively be hunted, to have Trent personally try to groom him for the position. Especially because Caleb/Liam have downplayed Caleb’s abilities, see Liam mentioning how he was only maybe level 2 before he broke, and that he never ‘graduated’, didn’t complete his learnings. Is it just the PC center, like how the players will always be the center? Or is there more that we never really had a chance to learn?

...document last saved 8/16. ...in fairness to me, I had a really rough end of August?

Wait is this the first instance of them teleporting to Yussa’s and just completely failing to let him know ahead of time??? XDDDD I love running gags that start AND continue just by sheer accident.

Did I only watch a few minutes and then leave for nearly a month? Yes again.

I’m so used to the meme-ing of Yussa being a complete reckless dumbass that it’s almost jarring to actually watch again and see him all intellectual and collected. Granted, he hasn’t trapped himself yet (the first time), so we’ll get there.

Ugh I can’t WAIT for more happy fun ball time! Not for a while yet though, I don’t think. Do they only go in shortly before Ashley returns? I know they have to go kill the heart, meet Allura, find out that the Angel of Irons is actually Tharizdun…. Either way, a good chunk off. Maybe it happens in the 80s.

LOL Sam and Marisha’s grimaces of ‘this fucking guy’ when Yussa is claiming that the dragon they killed could be considered a rare powerful endangered being by some, all while he’s just claiming the treasure as his.

Good on Tal for recognizing that they’re all still clothed in Kryn attire! 100% something that I forgot the first time I watched and also now. It’s the tricky part of dnd being imagination based, there are things that would be super obvious to PCs (what they are wearing) that players won’t think about at all.

Poor Travis, you can really tell how much he’s struggling with the virtual connection. I’m not surprised, it’s hell for adhd. I can’t tell you how glad I was that I was not in school when covid hit, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to keep my education up virtually. I had to take a single virtual course in college and it was HELL. Thank god we were only graded on the tests.

It’s really hard for me to say who my favorite NPC in all of C2 is, especially ‘cause I’m a huge fan of Shadowgast, but honestly I think it’s Yeza. Just the way Matt portrays him, the VOICE, the mannerisms! Every time I hear him speak it’s an instant emotional surge of ‘PROTECT THIS MAN AT ALL COSTS’. I know there’s a lot that can be discussed about his and Veth’s relationship dynamics and whether or not it’s healthy, but I do love this little guy so much. To use internet-speak, the BEST cinnamon roll, too good too pure for this world!

If they do C4, I wonder if Liam will make a PC with low wisdom/perception. Vax, Caleb, and Orym all have good perception skills. For all that Caduceus is the ‘perceptive’ one of the bunch, I think he and Caleb actually have tied perception (+10 with 19 passive), whereas Vax actually beats it due to high level privilege (+14 with 20 passive at level 20, but +10 with 19 passive at level 10/11, which I think is where the Nein is at?). (Vex was at 30 passive by level 20 thanks to Observant.) I’m presuming that it’s due to Liam’s enjoyment of the perception skill what with Vax doing his rogue-y investigating all the time and Caleb always looking through Frumpkin for an edge. It’s be a bit fun to see him do a PC with wisdom as a dump stat. (then again, considering I want to see him play a cleric…. *looks at all the dnd classes* Honestly, it’s hard to try and predict anything for a potential C4 for ANYONE because of what they’ve played. He probably wouldn’t do paladin because of the C1 multiclass, I don’t know if he’d go for sorcerer or artificer after playing wizard, he has mentioned before his lack of desire to play bard, even with Matt’s special college of tragedy. Hmmm. I can see him doing ranger or monk – though once again those are high wisdom. Same with cleric or druid. I struggle seeing him play barbarian [plus I really really want to see Laura play a barb], maybe a warlock? Then again, warlock with wisdom as the dump stat is just Fjord XD)

(just came up with a hypothetical C4 that I think would be fun for me to watch. Ashley – monk. Laura – barbarian. Liam – cleric. Marisha – paladin. Travis – wizard. Taliesin – druid. Sam – sorcerer. Sam and Taliesin were the hardest for me to think of classes for, especially because Taliesin has had flavor dips [warlock and artificer for C1, even though not the mechanics]. I could also see Sam as warlock)

Sometimes when Liam is emoting, it’s very hard for me to tell if it’s him or Caleb. Him watching the reunion of Luc with Veth and Yeza could honestly be either, because Liam gets very Feels with family and kid stuff (I remember him being uncomfortable when Matt was describing Nila’s son being imprisoned), but it ALSO is 100% in character for it to be Caleb feeling emotional because one- family whole and reunited for his best friend, two – that he can never have again for himself, and three – which may lead to Veth leaving.

WHAT IS THIS. YEZA is convincing Veth to show Luc her crossbow. VETH is telling Luc it’s too dangerous he can’t play with it he can’t touch it. How how the turns tabled.

(fun fact, never watched the office! I think I’ve seen one or two episodes ever? I can’t handle cringe humor, it just makes me uncomfortable)

LOL it didn’t take too long for that to switch

Matt’s faces as Luc are too precious.

Is there anything more Beau than Marion saying that the relationship was like ‘friendship’ and Beau says that she was going to say ‘unhealthy’. Beau is a very very good friend at this point, but she definitely still has a hard time comprehending it, especially when reciprocal to her.

First of all, lovely Caleb and Nott conversation about staying and going, but more importantly, LAURA’S FACES. She is soooo ticked that Sam is even considering have a PC leave mid-campaign again!

Oh man, I checked the transcript to see how quiet Travis was this episode, because he’s CLEARLY out of it. 60 sentences, most of them four words or less.

OMG WAIT WAIT WAIT IS THIS CALIANNA’S PACKAGE!!!!! DOES CALEB GET THE WAND FOR THE TOWER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

(backtracking slightly, I’m a little disappointed that Matt took the lead in the conversation between Marion and Jester. Laura very much initiated the idea for the talk, and I wonder if she was able to share what she wanted to. It was clear from the start that it was a very introspective and sad Jester, but then Matt pretty quickly led the conversation away from that. Granted I’m sure the main part was informing Marion of Astrid, but I really wonder what else Jester could have said)

...Marisha looks pretty cute with the bow on actually. ….is Fjord’s stuff actually potpourri?? LOL NOPE HOMEOPATHIC FUR ALLERGY TREATMENT.

I don’t think when I watched the first time that I actually realized that Mark was a DM. I think it was mentioned, but not really processed. However, looking at these items and hearing Caleb read the letter, it’s VERY clear that it was gifted by a very talented DM. Also Caleb’s letter gave me all the feels.

I honestly really like the fact that Veth is kind of a bad parent? Like, she deliberately spoils Luc and tries to get Yeza to spoil him constantly too. But at the same time, she’s a good parent. Makes him try bites of his food, wants to ensure his care. But I appreciate how Sam is always willing to lean HARD into the flaws of his PCs. I also like that Matt/Yeza had to be the one to tell Veth to go with the Nein. Granted, I can’t imagine a circumstance where Matt would tell a PC to leave the party, but still XD.

(...I JUST realized I’ve been typing for YEARS with the zoom set at 80%. omg the text is so much bigger now!)

I want to know how long Liam was planning to use the teleportation circle as a method to talk to and reassure Luc. It is so beautifully done, and once again I have a little difficulty telling who’s emoting, because it 100% could have been Veth and 100% could have been Sam. I’m actually slightly leaning more towards it actually being Sam, as I think that there’s a level of emoting around the eyes that he tends NOT to do in play (this moment here, the level 9 counterspell).

I wonder if Laura and Travis are in a different time zone. He is OUT of it. Well, I suppose humor is more contagious in person, I know I’m more likely to laugh in a room of people then just hearing those people talk online.

I like that Essek’s first teleportation actually starts with a mishap. I tend to forget about it, but it humanizes him a bit in these ‘early’ episodes.

UTHODERN!!!!

[jennawynn]

Enterprise Season 3 Ep 7-12

Episode 7

It's so weird... like they want to make Archer hard and give him the illusion of being capable of Tough Decisions and Torture and Do Anything It Takes but Bakula can't do it and then they undermine the whole thing anyway by having him 'revert' back to his compassionate humanity. It just feels forced. Hard!Archer isn't believable. It also leads to a lot of lines delivered with a rough and loud cadence while others are speaking normally (or in one case, Reed is practically whispering because they're in hiding). His character and delivery end up being inconsistent as a result.

Episode 8

Meanwhile, Trip's descent into darkness is far more believable. "Put them in the airlock." That's believable. That's delivered with the kind of bitter anger that carries that dialogue... and it's more consistently applied. He doesn't waffle about what he wants to do with the Xindi. Probably because he doesn't have the authority to act on it. That could have made a better dynamic- Archer's compassion overriding Trip and even Reed's desire for revenge. Let them act as foils for each other instead of making Archer inconsistent.

This episode is... I don't like it much. The jump to the future, the way they tell the story in flashbacks. Like obviously it's not going to be permanent. I'd almost rather watch all of this happen over a season and then have whatever time fuckery happens happen. Instead we're going to get 'here's what happens if Archer's not around- oh the whole human race dies' but also we're going to keep sending Archer on dangerous away missions where he gets attacked and abducted every third episode.

Reed's goatee is ridiculous. Travis is the only crewmember who isn't still there 12 years later? lol milliCochranes. lol harder. Trip being the captain for 9 years is also kind of hilarious. I guess don't let your low cast count stop you from telling the story you want to tell.

What a weird love triangle thing like they can't decide if they want to make T'Pol be with Archer or Trip. Is it just to create ship drama?

Time fuckery... so they didn't have to kill the parasites specifically. They just needed to kill Archer. That's even dumber.

Episode 9

When one race enslaves another and then the enslaved race gains their freedom, obviously the only answer is to create a reversed power structure that is almost as bad! This is like all the strawman arguments that Black people or women don't want equality, we want superiority.

Making these humans white, though... it allows a character to say "we have long memories" when told that slavery happened a long time ago and maybe, just maybe, someone will listen instead of saying 'why don't Black people just get over it?'

Why is human western culture the dominant culture here, though? None of them would have grown up in the Old West. Shouldn't it be skagarin in design? But then where would the rootin' shootin' episode of this series come in, I guess.

lmao Reed's seen Speed. Shoot the hostage.

Episode 10

It'd be kinda funny if the only main cast to die is the only one who can actually carry the kind of anger that they need for this vengeance plotline, but I have a damn hard time believing they actually killed Trip :joy:

Gonna do some shady ethical shit because "Earth needs Enterprise, Enterprise needs Trip" when maybe you shouldn't be so reliant on seven damn people, like I've been saying. He should have a lieutenant who knows damn near everything he does who can step into his shoes in an emergency. Then you don't need to grow a clone to harvest his brain to save Trip. How NOBODY could fix the engines but Trip is ridiculous.

Episode 11

It bothered me before, but even moreso now. They have referenced the Xindi as 'terrorists' before this episode. In 2004 it makes sense for the guy in Detroit to be worried about terrorists, but not to the Enterprise crew. The goal of the Xindi (as far as they or the audience know at this point) isn't to cause terror. It's to eradicate the humans before the humans eradicate them. They are not terrorists.

Episode 12

Abortion? Spicy.

Holy shit they actually killed someone.

Archer selecting himself for death... it must be a trick. Yeah. Clever trick, but predictable with what we know about the show. Plot Armor for everyone!

And amazingly... it was all for nothing because the war had nearly wiped out both sides long before they even came in contact with Enterprise! Status quo! No real changes! One fewer rando crewman. I'm sure the sphere data that was deleted was also just one copy of many because my god if we still haven't learned to make backups of data in the 22nd century I might scream.

[bisluthq]

I think for a spell there he was def tired because also it was logistically complicated because they basically hid her at a lot of his events and like sneak around and shit and at first that must’ve been really fun but towards the end it was probably like “shit man do you really have to come??”

I do can see this happening. I'm not sure he would outright tell her don't come so there won't be a commotion but I think she would definately realize that her being there caused commotion and that type of commotion was hard for him to deal with. And maybe the fact that he felt like that but kept it to himself, because any decent person wouldn't want their gf feeling guilty about it, grew that ressentment. It's like you don't want to say anything as to not make them feel bad, but at the same time you want them to pick up on the fact that you kind of really hate.

And if you have been reading the constant press releases and the POTY interview you'll notice there's a constant jab about her loving that Travis suports her specifically in public. And the whole being there in events in public.

I have also wondered if her going to his movie sets was a compromise as in she could support him, but there wasn't nearly as much commotion. You all talked about the jealousy, but I actually thought in 2021 and 2022 this could have been like a last compromise. They were able to hang out in between, she could work while he was working and it was less chaotic. As we know he couldn't be there for Red and NYU thing because of work, but he was around after for Midnights just on the background. I wonder if he was around for tour rehersals too. Also the Grammys and they were already pretty much dead by then

Well she had to go to his sets - specifically CWF - because that was for months. Yes like Eddie Redmayne’s wife stays home when he travels because she has a real normie grownup job but why would someone who can wfh stay away? All the other partners went with. Jack spent longer in Panama than Tay because she was working past when he was but they both went there and both went to NOLA and that was a fun coincidence because they managed to get work done but they would’ve gone anyway because it’s… somewhat expected?? And yeah idk I mean obviously it was ending for a long time but imo for a long while she enjoyed cosplaying as a normal girl and THEN eventually the cosplay started to feel like a prison idk if that makes sense.

[a-tad-bit-obsessed]

I fully realise this is mainly for my own reference on Friday, but now, 2.05

How long do we think it’s been then since Tai and Van have seen each other?

And Van’s morning routine has another dimension now we know

How young does someone need to be to not know what VHS is?

Still, Tai in her letterman’s jacket saying ‘happy wife, happy life’ is the greatest thing ever

Van in Lottie’s sessions says about the cold, how it makes her feel alive, is this in contrast to nearly dying in a fire (several times)

Akilah’s little shrug at Tai of I have no clue

Dead dickish cop, just because you haven’t kissed her, doesn’t make any of this even vaguely right

Now I know the end of her story, I see Crystal’s character very differently (you know, now I’m not expecting her to kill Ben for Misty or something like that). It’s just all so tragic

WHAT QUESTIONS SHOULD WE BE ASKING ABOUT THE MOON LANDING, MISTY?

The dripping is in the background of the scenes when Van is watching someone’s home tapes (and a few other times in the modern day timeline)

Akilah’s explanations on superstitions and faiths, that if it felt good, if it helped them feel better, then why not do it

Just Akilah and Tai’s friendship this episode, all of it

Wait, I’ve just realised, we might never know if the reason why Javi isn’t speaking is because he saw Snackie

Is Nat just annoyed at Misty because she thinks Misty will ruin her plans to sneak into Lottie’s place?

Okay so there’s clearly rocks just above Crystal’s body, I want to now see how visible they are when Misty comes back

When do we think Van told Taissa about her mother, in the wilderness? When they were rescued?

Also Van’s ‘people reassess their choices when they know they’re about to die’, that’s May reference quite a bit (Van currently, Nat in the past when being hunted etc)

The fact that Taissa went to Van for help with sleepwalking and Van seemed to understand why Van went to her specifically

Travis may not have died in the snow but he did get fridges for Natalie and Lottie’s character development

And like is Javi’s ‘friend’ Other Taissa on times she’s got away from Van? Javi seemed to be near the tree with the symbol and Other Taissa did find several of those

Yeah the dripping is in the background for several Van scenes (and there was that one with past Van a few eps ago of it dripping in time with Van blinking)

And look, Other Taissa missed her girlfriend (and Van doesn’t seem to be that scared of her, not like Taissa is)

If Nat stayed as a non-believer whilst out there, then I can imagine her admitting there was something out there it’s be terrifying to Lottie

[itchose]

he looks back at her,  nodding his head slowly because he understands what that kind of pressure was like —  he just ever any good at accepting that challenge himself.  ❝  guess so,  ❞    he mumbles,   his father included,  though he was grateful not to hear any grumbling about her specifically when his father was complaining to him.   not that he would have known how to defend her—  yet he was still on guard,  like he was waiting for it anyway.

he’s not sure what to expect from her.  he’s not even sure she’s willing to go on more than she already has.   and,  mostly,  he still doesn’t understand why he’s the one she’s chosen to tell at all—  because surely,  their one whole conversation in their life didn’t turn them into the best of friends,  even if travis himself feels like something came from it,  anyway.   he turns away when she says it was good,  because he’s not sure how he’s supposed to respond,  and he’s able to purse his lips tightly together before something stupid spills out instead.   ❝  so,  you—  you two don’t hate each other  .  .  .  ?  ❞      he asks,  his words trailing off,   because he’s gathering that he’s still missing so much, even if she’s just looking for someone to talk to,  not with.  

his shoulders slump as she explains what the problem is.  he knew that,  too,  but it’s not his place to say anything,  and he doesn’t care,  mostly because he’s not used to getting involved in anyone’s personal life.  but as she goes on,  his stomach sinks,   and one quick glance over to her,   seeing the hand hovering over her scar,   he knows enough,  even if he doesn’t have the details.  ❝  shit,  ❞   he mumbles,  suddenly feeling entirely frozen,  because clearly,  she chose him to talk about this with for a reason,  and now the pressure’s on for him to not make this any worse for her than it clearly already is.   ❝  i won’t,  ❞   he mumbles quickly,  shaking his head.   ❝  i wouldn’t,  ❞   he clarifies more clearly,  because not only does he not have anyone to tell at all,  he wouldn’t want to—  his father might not be as bad as hers seems to be,  but he knows enough that there are things in his life he is constantly over-critiquing,  and he knows what it feels like to wait for him to lose it.  that,  and it’s not his place to tell anyone,  anyway.  

❝  i mean it,  ❞   he clarifies again,  taking a deep breath before he lightly turns his body towards hers.   ❝  but—  can i ask  .  .  .     ❞    he pauses,  brows furrowed and his cheeks warming,  because surely,  she’s not looking for advice.    ❝  why aren’t you talking about this with her?  ❞   he asks quietly,  hoping she doesn’t think he’s ungrateful for her presence,   because he’s glad for it,  he just doesn’t understand way it seems like she’s running  (  even if he’d likely do the same thing,  too.  )  

is it good? now that she thinks about it, cheerleading and soccer are the only things she's ever been good at, even if she could never be good enough at the latter for her father— but nothing, except for violence, something she's not entirely proud of, has come naturally to her the way athletics has, so now that it's all over for her, she's forced to find something else. the thought's overwhelming, but she ignores it, shrugging instead. “ yeah, i fucking hated soccer. ” she lets out a soft snort, glancing over at him with obvious disagreement. “ i would've just pissed more people off if i did that. ” tai specifically, and while she's spent all of high school aiming to do exactly that, this is the one time she didn't want to disappoint her— but she even failed at that.

everything feels heavy while she waits for his response, panic threatening to take over, because why the fuck did she say anything? to someone she barely knows, no less, someone she never would have paid attention to before nationals. she sighs with relief when he doesn't seem disgusted with her, doesn't react the way she knows her father would. she doesn't know how to explain herself, because it's just so much to tell him— and she doesn't think he actually cares about all the history between herself and tai.

his last question causes her to glance quickly over at him, something between disbelief and amusement written across her features. “ no, it was fucking— ” mikayla cuts herself off, both because she doubts he actually wants to know how good it was and because she's incapable of even putting it into words, even if she wanted to. “ it was good, ” she says instead, face warm, looking away from him once more to pinch at the bridge of her nose, eyes closing for a moment. “ it's just— a long story. ” years of pretending she didn't want her, years of being horrible to her instead, only to ruin all of that work in one single night, leaving her to question where they're supposed to go from here. “ but mostly— she's a girl, so i'm not allowed to— ” like her, be with her, anything. automatically, her hand moves to hover over the scar on her eyebrow, her constant reminder of what would happen if her dad found out. “ you can't tell anyone, ” she says quickly, panic setting in again when she realizes it's not just her secret to tell. “ please. he'll kill me. ”