#vex and percy would be the most into it

[thevalleyisjolly]

Concept: With Jester establishing a reputation as a talented artist specializing in tasteful nudes whom lots of rich people patronize, there’s a non-zero chance that at some point, every single member of Vox Machina apart from Keyleth commissions her for a portrait.

[andi-o-geyser]

despite how you feel about the changes from the stream to the show, if you like or dislike them, i love how inherently hilarious the narrative path tlovm is taking regarding perc’ahlia is because a situationship would literally kill campaign percy and vex like how the internet would kill a small victorian child. they are NOT built for that

[burr-ell]

#i know it's a different thing but i keep thinking about this with the twins too#the way he showed up in the moment vex got trinket#i half remember something similar being about kith and kin#i know two things don't make a trend but

I didn't want to reply to redjennies' post with this so I'll make my own, but @theshadowofsorrow's tags remind me of these posts I wrote regarding this exact issue. It's frustrating that there are now two separate occasions where two different female characters' stories are altered specifically to accommodate Vax when they not only didn't need to, but are made actively less interesting than the original. I don't think there's any kind of insidious agenda behind the scenes or whatever—both Laura and Marisha are clearly okay with these changes, and Liam wants to do right by his friends way more than he wants his own characters to shine. But this still makes for weaker stories that do a disservice to the characters, and that's ignoring that Keyleth herself has been almost completely defanged and her most interesting traits and relationships are either given to other characters or outright ignored. I think TLOVM is otherwise doing an excellent job of adaptation, but this doesn't bode well.

[shorthaltsjester]

taliesin and laura remain truly so fantastic at making characters who… don’t necessarily have something extremely and inherently in common but do have experiences that were caused by similar sources and that lead them to have quite different opinions/ideas about things but in ways that are typically very reconcilable? which is a lot of qualifiers but it’s a through line of vex/percy with nobility, jester & cad with loneliness (and also god stuff but in a different post maybe someday i’ll talk about how actually their god stuff is intensely related to their different experiences of loneliness), and now imogen & ashton with being left behind.

like vex was this character who technically had a claim to nobility due to her blood but at the same time was burdened because of that same claim. and percy who was born into and raised by nobility but that nobility ended up making his family the targets of a massacre. and then vex who lets down her walls and Do I Look Like I Come From Money? and percy giving her the title grand mistress of the grey hunt because it has nothing to do with blood, or his love for her, or anything aside from the fact that it’s something she can prove herself worthy of simply by virtue of who she Is, not who someone makes her. and percy and vex’s conversation about forgiveness and it’s necessity for growth as probably two of the characters most inclined to hold grudges.

and caduceus clay who gets left behind with nothing but his Belief while his family goes off into the world. and jester lavorre who gets shut inside with no company except her Belief as her mother protects her from the world. and they both get the burden of loneliness and the understanding of love’s nonmalicious imperfection. and caduceus having a panic attack on a ship and jester telling him that the world is a lot bigger than his cemetery and that means he has to break out of his comfort zone to find his path. and caduceus telling jester that he doesn’t think she gets as much credit as she ought to and she deserves more pastries. and jester thanking caduceus for showing her how cool it is to actually heal people and caduceus asking if she wants to use his shield while he doesn’t need it.

and ashton who was left broken and dying on the ground and was given inescapable pain as their means of survival. and imogen who was left behind by the only person who could provide true understanding of the pain she’d one day come to feel. and ashton who’s a barbarian, who wields their rage casually and unapologetically and who sees the Shittiness of the world but is unrelenting in his version of optimism. and imogen who is weighed down by pessimism she doesn’t Want to have but hasn’t cracked how to undo and who doesn’t admit her anger until it comes up again and again and again and carries it like a burden or like guilt, who we only see really Grasp and feel Confidence about her anger being something good in front of others when she has those conversations with ashton. and like. ashton who looks at imogen and sees a superhero. imogen venturing through ashton’s mind and holding his bleeding and exhausted head and saying i’m sorry. i’m sorry. and imogen who looks at ashton and sees someone special. and fucking “we got him killed.” and “no, we didn’t. don’t you dare. […] we are not what fucking killed that man. […] we are his eventual victory. we are his fucking revenge.” and “i’ll be his revenge.” and “i have no fucking doubt.”

and in general rp wise they both tend to make some of my favourite characters (also typically the ones i find most frustrating) because they both tend to make flaws that are easy to hate and they make those flaws very central to their characters but i think that’s also what makes their character interactions so deeply compelling because so frequently it’s like. yes yes these two characters have like. a helix of things they have in common but also things they deeply disagree on but they’re going to spider-man point at the things that are the same and they’re going to honour their differences while doing so. and it’s just. i always enjoy it so much and i was psyched when i heard about an imogen and ashton side pit stop in last nights episode and i was not let down when i watched the episode today.

[awaytobeunshaken]

I really appreciate how they've been handling death and resurrection in LOVM. Especially coming to most of campaign 1 after campaign 2, the frequency of successful resurrection rituals felt a bit hard to swallow. (In campaign 2 every resurrection apart from the last one was via revivify, which just hits different somehow. Like an 'only mostly dead' kind of situation.)

Now I understand the meta reasons for this (they didn't have a cleric on-site in most of those cases), and it was at one point at least addressed in the fiction, but it still pulls me out of the story a bit. Ultimately, resurrection felt cheap.

There's a clear effort to undo that with the show. Vex is brought back specifically due to Vax's offer to the Raven Queen. Grog doesn't die to Craven Edge, he loses his strength. Scanlan's in a coma right now, but he wasn't killed. And Percy is dead, and treated as such, with no talk of potentially bringing him back.

Because how at odds would that be with scenes of laying the dragon attack's victims to rest in Whitestone, with seeing all the lives that were lost in the assault on Emon. Especially when Percy would rather they save any one of those souls over his.

Now I'm sure we're going to see Percy again; I doubt they would make that big a departure from the story. I suspect it's going to be tied to the fact that Ripley, and more importantly Orthax, are still at large. But it's not going to be cheap, and it's not going to be easy, and while emotionally I miss the terrible tinkerer of Tal'Dorei and wish he was in these last couple episodes, this is absolutely the right decision.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Can I request headcanons for Vox Machina reacting to gn crush telling him/her that they had been told by their crushes that they're not good-looking and interesting please?

Vax thinks that’s an utter bollocks statement to make, especially since it was coming from someone you had feelings towards.

This absolute sweetheart would sit by you under a blanket of stars and keep you company until he thought you were ready to get back on your feet and show the fucker what they were missing out on.

‘They speak the universal language of bullshit.’ He’d say, which made you laugh in how he worded it. ‘I’m being serious! They don’t fucking know what they’ve missed out on, so don’t be too sad because they knew you were out of their reach and didn’t want to admit it out of their own pride.’ He adds as he allowed you to toy with his dagger

‘Still hurts though.’ You murmured as you tossed the dagger into the air and catching it by the handle as it comes down again. Vax frowns before nudging you in the side playfully.

‘Hey, it may suck now but sooner or later we’re going to look back on this and laugh at how much of a loser they were and how much better off you were without them to tie you down.’ He says and you look at him deeply before smiling. ‘Yeah they were a bit bland featured to be honest.’ You shyly admitted as vax laughed.

‘They’re bland as fuck and you are not, they’re a cunt and your far better then to let that twat have any ounce of power over you in any aspect, oh we can go see if I can pickpocket the bastard for everything their worth? Would that cheer you up?’ Vax asked as you mulled over the idea in your head, but it didn’t take long for you to want to see chaos ensue and you were quick to agree.

You and vax then ran off into the night like two giggling idiots, feeling a thousand times better then you were before.

Vex

‘Oh sweetheart that isn’t true, far from it.’ She’d say as she holds your face, wiping away your tears from your cheeks.

‘Then why would they say it.’ You said as you looked to her for answers within her eyes and Vex couldn’t help but feel her heart crack for you.

‘They’re not worth your tears, none at all if this is how they’re going to make you feel all the time.’ Vex told you as her bear companion huffed and cuddled into your side, sensing your sadness and distress and you were quick to run your hand through their fur in silent thanks.

‘I guess I shouldn’t have expected so much from them to begin with. After all nothing is set in stone.’ You murmured under your breath. ‘But it still hurts regardless.’

‘And it will my dear, it will hurt but sometimes it can motivate us into going the path we were meant to all along.’ Vex replied as watched you and trinket interact with hope in her heart that you’ll be okay, that you’ll be alright in due time.

‘Thanks vex, I really needed to hear that today.’ You tell her, only for trinket to huff as you laugh and ruffle their fur, ‘and yes thank you too trinket, thank you for the emotional support.’

Trinket huffed again but this time in triumph.

Percy wouldn’t know how to comfort you at first but would find it easier to just let you air out your grievances instead.

‘They said I’m bland and unappealing! Only to then call me childish when I showed that I wasn’t happy being called such, claiming I can’t handle the truth.’ You groaned as you fell in to the empty chair that awaited you. ‘What a fucking joke.’ You murmured.

‘What they said is uncalled for and rude on all accounts,’ Percy said calmly, ‘they claim it’s true but from the stories you’ve told me about them, they’re the most boring and unpleasant person to ever engage in a conversation with without feeling the need to bring up your topic of the weather.’ He adds and you snorted at his sarcastic tone.

‘Yeah, they do tend to find the most boring things and talk about them for hours, how I thought that was attractive I’ll never know, blinded I guess.’ You shrugged as you both began to shit talk about your former crush and nitpick at their every aspect with scrutinising detail.

‘They cannot tie a cravat properly to save his life.’ Percy quipped.

‘They avoid taverns because they don’t like the liveliness of them, nor the rowdiness.’ You add.

Percy scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Pretentious prick.’

You jolted forward in your seat towards him as though you were going to tell him a secret. ‘He’s not even from a well known enough family for that Percy’s they just wanna act like they are.’ You swore you saw Percy smile before he hid it behind his hand.

‘How embarrassing.’ He mumbles.

‘I know right?!’ You exclaimed as throughout the night you and Percy spend most of it together and shit talking the rejection away.

Keyleth would immediately try to disprove this by taking you out to her garden and showing you all the flowers.

‘Why am I here keyleth? To show how unappealing I am in comparison to pretty flowers?’ You asked.

‘No! I brought you here to show that every flower within my garden is no less loved than the other, all of them are watered and properly cared for regardless of how they look or what they smell like.’ Keyleth replied as she made you look at the daises, lavenders, chrysanthemums, water lilies, thistle, roses, Lilly of the valley and many more as thought they were a kaleidoscope of beauty in all its forms.

‘They are indeed all beautiful in their own unique way.’ You mumbled as you brushed one of the petals of a rose. Keyleth smiled as she put her hands on your shoulders and giving them a squeeze.

‘All flowers are loved by someone and you will find someone who will love you just as much as a Gardner loves their flowers.’ She reassured you in a sweet yet calming voice. ‘For you are worthy of love just like these flowers and you’ll find them, it just takes a little time and patience to happen. So hold on tight because someone is out there looking for the prettiest flower; you.’ She finished and you smiled back at her, resting your hands on top of hers, feeling reassured.

‘Thanks keyleth, I really needed it.’ You replied.

Grog

‘Well they’re stupid.’ He’d say in response.

‘but what if they’re right?’ You asked, defeated. ‘What if I am boring and unappealing?’

Grog huffs. ‘Bullshit. You’re far from either boring or unappealing, they’re just weak shit and cowardly because they know they can’t handle someone like you.’

You’d lean into his side and smiling softly. ‘Thanks for cheering me up Grog, I really needed it.’

‘No problem buddy.’ He smiles as he pats your head as a moment of silence passed between you two. ‘So…do you wanna fuck up some bad guys to relive the stress?’ He then asks and you smiled at him.

‘You don’t even have to ask.’ You tell him as you both set off to kick some ass.

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

The Hypocrisy of Vex'ahlia

Before you all come for me, I am a Vex stan and I will defend her until I die - she is my favorite Critical Role character and I'm so glad we're getting a deeper dive into her psyche.

The complexities of her character cannot be overstated. She has a lot going on under the surface, and the breadcrumbs of her deep-seated insecurities have been there the whole time.

I'm really excited we get to explore those in season 3 through her relationship with Percy, in a way different than what we've seen in the actual play streams. I want to commend the writers for being able to convey so much in so little time.

We are introduced to Vex as a sexy, confident woman who uses her looks and charisma to her advantage. She takes charge most of the time, being the unofficial "leader" of Vox Machina. She presents herself as someone who doesn't really need anyone else and does not care about anyone outside of her brother. Keyleth even comments on this in the first episode, "Vex and Vax only care about themselves".

This, of course, is a complete fabrication, a mask she wears to hide her insecurities. A mask, she wants no one to see through. The irony here is that she can so easily see behind Percy's mask - "Darling, take off the mask". It takes one to know one, after all.

She so badly wants to get underneath Percy's mask, for him to show himself to her fully. There's something inside of her that sees the guilt and shame inside of him and that resonates with her belief that she is deeply broken. Vex truly believes that something must truly be wrong with her. And why wouldn't she? Saundor, who said he knew everything about her, saw this, too, after all.

Saundor says plainly, "you will never be enough."

So it must be true, right?

Why wouldn't something be so wrong with her? It would make sense. Her father carries no love for her, her mother died, and Vax had to sacrifice his life for hers. She knows Vax loves her, and she believes he is the only one who does. Even Kamaljiori, an ancient and all-knowing Sphinx, fed into this during their test when Vax fell: "you have no family left who cares for you".

Her hypocrisy lies in the facade she built as a woman who does not need anyone or anything. She presents herself as someone who does not need the love of others, when in reality, she desperately wants to be loved.

Saundor saw this as well.

Vex longs to love and be loved. And yet, she cannot allow herself to give up her facade and let Percy love her and admit her love for him.

The last person to see through her walls was Saundor, and we know how that went.

What he said really cut her deep, as we see after the Kevdak fight when she brushes off Pike's inquiries about her experience in the fey realm.

As we see her relationship with Percy move from harmless flirting to physical intimacy at the beginning of season 3, we see her embrace the physical closeness to Percy but starts to block him out the moment he wants to cement their relationship. But she can't let herself tell him how she feels because that would mean admitting her heart is his - and that would be doomed to end in tragedy, as Vex admits later in the cave.

Putting up this emotional wall between her and Percy will not give Vex what she wants: love.

Love is that emotional intimacy. Vex loves to point out the importance of love between other people- in season 2, pushing Keyleth to tell Vax how she feels ("it always matters"), assuring Allura that Kima's love for her will help her endure after Vorugal's attack, and putting faith in the rest of Vox Machina.

Vex understands what makes love so special, and how important truth and intimacy are to real, lasting love.

And while she comforts others and pushes them to be vulnerable and embrace love, her own fears prevent her from fully doing the same. It's ironic and sad, how one of the only people who can see through her mask is the one she's pushing away.

Trauma makes hypocrites of us all.

Image credits @blorbologist @aq2003

[mayapapaya33]

I had sort of hoped Keyleth would have matured and grown past her anger at the Matron over the past 33 years but I suppose it's in character that she hasn't fully dealt with her grief yet. And the Vorb probably isn't helping her issues either. It just sucks because I think a lot of the fandom take Vox Machina's grief fueled blame and fully accept it as fact when the reality is that Vax's situation is almost entirely his own responsibility. The only other person with any remote culpability is Percy. And even Percy is only really to blame for accidentally Killing Vex, not for Vax's choices. But even if you want to hold Percy accountable for Vax's choice in the tomb as well, that still doesn't make him responsible for Vax's death. Vax could have lived a long full life as the Matron's Champion, as shown by the Delightful Purvan Suul and his companion Galdric.

Vax was a borderline suicidal, self-sacrificing character from day one. He always threw himself into danger headfirst regardless of the cost to himself. Between Percy accidentally setting off the trap creating the circumstances for Vax trading himself to the matron during Vex's resurrection, all the way up to Vax CHOSING to come back as a revenant after being disintegrated in order to help defeat Vecna, the choices have always been his. Especially him, fate touched as he is. Ultimately, Vecna killed Vax and Vax killed Vax. I think it's easier to blame the Matron than to be angry with Vax for being who he was.

The Matron maintains the balance of life and death. She accepted Vax's offers both times, do you think she should have refused? The first refusal would have meant Vex's death, and the second refusal would have meant Vax possibly just staying dead after being disintegrated, and not being there to fight against Vecna, which was truly an all hands on deck situation. There was no time to fuck around with a resurrection ritual that might not even work, the whole world was in danger. One life, a life that was already lost, is a small price to pay to save the world. I'm pretty sure Vax would agree with me!

Frankly, Vox Machina were super lucky and privileged to have so many successful resurrections between them. I think they got a little spoilt and entitled about it honestly. Most people have never even met someone who's been resurrected before, they did it like 20 times! Vax was disintegrated, he chose to come back as a revenant to fight Vecna, protect the world, and help his family. An opportunity he was only given due to his allegiance to the Matron. She gave Vox Machina and Vax extra time together and a chance to help save the world.

For those of you shouting "what about true resurrection!?! I hear you, and Matt said it's complicated and didn't elaborate lol. Personally, I think the Matron has quite the special a barrier of entry to true resurrection, if the spell even works at all in Exandria. I think they touched on it briefly in Calamity but I've forgotten. I can only imagine what insane ritual Matt concocted years ago that he's had plenty of time to work on since. Part of the Matron's whole thing is that everyone must eventually go into death, sure they can avoid it for a while, so some resurrection is fine (the DC gets higher every time), but eventually enough is enough and it's time to go. Hence why necromancers and liches are her enemies.

At any rate, I'm really proud of Keyleth for going to therapy and I hope she goes back when all of this moon business is over because she still needs it and that turtle lady in the frog seemed great lol.

[your-turn-to-role]

like okay on one hand i would have loved to have seen vex get really bitchy about vax moving in with keyleth like she did in the campaign because the fact that she is the most resistant to change of this whole group is a character trait of hers i love (and have written plenty on)

but if they had to keep one line i am so glad it's the extremely hypocritical just don't run off and get married

because a) the hypocrisy is amazing (and equally as angsty as funny because keyleth and vax never got the chance to get married and that was half the reason they were so upset about percy and vex so there's lots to dig into there from every angle!)

but also back when talks machina still existed, this is something liam brought up when they found out about vex and percy's secret wedding

and laura had straight up forgotten she'd ever said that and was like oh shit. uh. sorryyyyyyy?

which is probably also accurate to vex

[wen-kexing-apologist]

God I am genuinely so impressed with how they managed to adapt the Chroma Conclave Arc into a single season of animated television. While there is so much of the Chroma Conclave arc that I love that they cut (I am actually very disappointed to not have gotten "call me child one more goddamn time" cause that is my favorite moment of the whole campaign) the way they ended up splitting the party to handle all the different moving pieces: Vorugal, Dis, Glintshore, Thordak, Raishan makes a ton of sense.

gif by @strolling-through-emon

Having the trip to Hell and trip to Draconia coincide, I was honestly initially a little confused as to why they needed to split the party there. But I ended up screaming at my TV about how brilliantly they handled getting the extremely iconic Yenk v. Vorugal fight on my screen. Oh it was so much fun to watch.

gif by @strolling-through-emon

While it does cut the drama a bit to lose the team how do you want to do this? during Glintshore, Vex's "i want an arrow through her heart and one through her mouth as she screams" is by far the most memorable part of Ripley's death (imo) and Vax plays a (haha) critical role in getting Percy back as the patron to the Raven Queen in the animated series, as a way to set up Vax's situation during the Vecna arc. So sending Vex and Vax to do the Ripley fight without the rest of the team was a smart play. And the whole team gets to be there for the resurrection, so you still get the beautiful moment of care, of everyone being there for Percy in death even if it's not on the shores of Glintshore.

gif by @strolling-through-emon

Grog and Pike hanging back to deal with Scanlan makes sense as the people that are the closest to Scanlan in the party. Pike going to find Kaley is the only choice in Scanlan's absence because in the original campaign Scanlan entrusts Pike with looking after Kaley should something happen to him. We got Grog's fix him moment, and we were able to get the Kaley and Scanlan reunion without having to dedicate time to the desecration and disrespect of Scanlan's body via the prank. I will miss the gut punch of "what's my mother's name?" because goddamn that was A Moment in the campaign, but also it was kind of a sticky situation in the actual game because Scanlan never talked about himself even when people did ask. We didn't need to navigate that piece of the puzzle in order to get the outcome of parting ways during the time skip between Chroma Conclave and Vecna. That said, I do think we miss out on seeing Scanlan without his performer's mask on as a result of skipping A Bard's Lament.

gif by @epicnessunfolds

Keyleth going off on her own was a great way to handle her overcoming her mounting insecurity, she needs to learn how to be a leader, she needs to recognize her own strength. We got "I have passed through fire" as a nod to Patrick Rothfuss/Kerrick since he was cut from the show. It makes sense to have kept Percy dead throughout the Ripley and Raishan fight because Percy was very dead during both of those fights. And while Feeblemind (another favorite moment of mine) definitely did not make sense as a spell in this dragon fight, Keyleth got her feeblemind moment with the spreading of the disease at the end of the Raishan fight, and it's interesting because the way they animated the disease mimicked how Matt described the Feeblemind taking root in Raishan during that fight in the og campaign.

gif by @fairymonk

I'm so curious how I would feel about the changes they made to this show if I didn't know the creators of the original materials were the ones in control of the animated series. Like I sleep a lot more soundly with the death of Kash during the Thordak fight knowing that it is highly likely that Will gave his permission for that, seeing as he was the voice actor for Kash, that Mary is the voice director for the show, etc. I think I would have been a lot more upset at Pike being the one to take out Thordak's gem instead of Vex if I wasn't absolutely certain that there was a discussion about giving Pike that moment to shine. We lost Pike's divine intervention punching Vorugal out of the sky, so it feels like a fair trade to give Pike the Thordak moment. Especially because Vax still gets to be the one to ultimately kill Thordak to avenge his mother's death and Vex gets to be the one to ultimately kill Ripley to avenge Percy's death.

gif by @hotcupofdragons

As always this is a show full of eye candy. The animation is gorgeous and I am so impressed with how vibrant and magical they are able to make the world, the fights, everything. I love finding easter eggs (I see you katzenprinz) and I like that this show manages to strike a balance between honoring the source material and being its own story. Here's to sobbing my way through the Vecna arc in Season 4!

[utilitycaster]

Talking as players outside the game is an incredibly important part of having good PC/PC D&D relationships, and obviously the characters involved in the relationship talking to each other in meaningful ways is crucial, but I think the importance of talking in-game in depth to other people is really underrated, in that it not only tells the other player what your character is feeling without having to reveal it in-game to them, but also serves to engage other characters in the story and deepen those platonic bonds to the point where they might even serve as confidants or wingmen. To give a bunch of examples and what they achieved:

Vax telling Gilmore he didn't want to string him along made it clear out of game that his feelings towards Keyleth were his priority, even though it happened where the other characters were not able to hear.

Similarly, Vex giving her blessing eventually after her initial resistance signaled to Liam that this would not be a major break between the twins.

Vax asking Vex what she intended to do about her feelings for Percy served not only as an opportunity for her to voice them to someone; it also serves as a big green light for Taliesin as Percy to kiss Vex later that episode (which he had already from Vex's resurrection ritual, but it underscores it).

Pike talking about Scanlan with Keyleth and Vex allows her to make it clear that she does ultimately like a lot of things about him despite sometimes being annoyed, and her talking to him through her earring while Scanlan is very much not there but Sam is at the table also serves as this kind of green light.

Jester asking Veth about kissing in relationship to Fjord lets Travis know where Jester is at and invests Veth in-game in the relationship.

Caleb asking Jester if she's "sweet on [Fjord]" lets her openly reassess her feelings after an intense arc and also indicates in-game that Caleb has noticed.

Beau waiting to hear the sound of thunder signals to Ashley (who was not at the table but who was presumably staying updated on events) that Beau has feelings for Yasha; it also allows those playing Yasha (often Matt for pure RP and Travis in combat) to return that flirting, since the baseline was already established.

Possibly the most obvious example, but Beau and Fjord's conversation on Rumblecusp not only clarifies to the whole table where everyone is (opening the door, for example, for the scenes in the beer garden a few episodes later of Caleb having Fjord and Jester dance together and Caduceus encouraging Yasha to pursue Beau) but very much serves as a green light to Ashley and Laura respectively. This is then mirrored by them talking after Beau has asked Yasha on a date and Fjord and Jester have kissed, and everyone involved can "debrief" with their partners not present in-game.

As mentioned, this is mostly about PC/PC relationships because PC/NPC is an inherently different dynamic mechanically though still should be a conversation, but Veth describing Yeza and Jester asking Caleb about his feelings about Essek both give Matt clues for playing these NPCs and how things might be received.

FRIDA mentioning their crush on FCG to Deanna means it's not a complete surprise to Sam, since it is a very sudden relationship, and lets him prepare and decide how FCG would feel in the moment, and also establishes how Deanna will feel about it.

Similarly in the C3 Uthodurn arc, Fearne going to Chetney about Deanna is an incredibly good move from Ashley (to the point that talking about this is what led me to write this whole post). It lets Travis play out where Chetney is. It lets Aabria therefore hear not only where Chetney is, but also know that Fearne is potentially interested. It establishes a ton of the dynamics for a relationship that out of game everyone knows will not have a full campaign to play out since one of the characters involved is a guest. And finally, it signals to Christian as FRIDA what the situation is in case Deanna confides in them.

[demigoddessqueens]

Ok I keep re-reading your yandere Vox Machina stuff and I need more. Would it be ok to ask for a platonic yandere ask? Like what would they be like to a young witch who uses a bunch of wild magic?(going owl house theme) Even having an owl palimen.

Oooh I love this for two reasons!

I’ve always been curious how things would be with a mage in the main party line-up

Even platonic makes my head go “brrrr!!”

Masterlist 11

Vex’ahlia

There’s a fascination with the free range nature of how your magic works, the intensity of it all resonating with Vex, even when she strings her new bow 🏹. Both as a joke and for more personal reasons, she insists you stay by her at all times while riding the broom

Pike

It’s not something she’s used to at first but she can’t help but become fond of your abilities, hoping to convince you enough to be a follower of her patroness

Keyleth

Together, you two have the potential to be the most powerful duo on the battlefield, the tattoos she gives you a personal reminder that she’s found an equal

Vax’ildan

He’s still figuring out how to be better at his abilities and you are a deliverance he never expected but fiercely adores. Mutual respect and a one-sided infatuation can go a long way

Grog

Your magic is different than Pike’s but it takes too much of an effort from you than he likes. One too many times someone tried to attack you mid-spell, leading to them meeting a fatal end at the edge of his sword and axe

Scanlan

At first it was him vs your palisman because they constantly want to take up your attention, but the bard purposely lets his stuff get stolen by your familiar as long as it means he gets to spend more time with you

Percy

Your magic is equally entrancing as it is unnerving to him, but there’s a man odd comfort to it. He had more than enough strife with Orthax but you are a comfort to the fears he’s had before in his line work

[percildanz]

anyways, to reference current meme culture:

truly CritRole is full of overconfident fools or truly confident winners. dont think any of the ones who'd fail the jump would go for the chicken

Vax - Literally has wings so goes for the beef and makes it Vex - More cautious, but still nimble and smart on her feet. Goes for the chicken most of the time and makes it every time Percy - Saw Vex and Vax do the jumps with ease and ended up slipping because misfortune follows him everywhere Keyleth - Scared so goes for the chicken and makes it because she's 6'1 and doesn't even have to jump Grog - Goes for the beef and also doesn't have to jump because hes really tall so just walks over there Pike - Impressive feat of athleticism and makes it to the beef Scanlan - Tries to impress pike by going for the beef and fails so horribly Allura - She never fails and always goes for the beef Kima - Less nimble than Allie, but still athletic as fuck and also makes it to the beef Cassandra - Refuses to risk her life for the beef, goes for the chicken Shaun - Goes for the chicken mostly and has the magical prowess/strength to make it every time Anna - Sees most of VM make it so goes for the beef but she's so mad that she doesn't even get close

[shorthaltsjester]

listen. unless a character explicitly states that a difference in lifespan between them and someone they care about is a concern of their’s, lifespan angst is the most boring and meaningless trope you can add to a fic/fan work. like, yes it is sad to lose someone but that is not because of a difference in lifespan. an elf with 1000+ year life expectancy might die tomorrow, a goliath might live longer than expected. it feels extremely reductive to look at characters with different fantasy races and decide that the biggest concern is that one will outlive the other when those characters have expressed no concern about either outliving or leaving their loved ones behind. like, i get the fear of death and trying to understand that through fictional characters but just do it with the ones who have expressed an actual concern with it, not with characters who seem delighted to get to love someone at all, even if it is brief and mortal. we don’t love people because we think it will be forever, and it hurts when the impermanence of the people we love becomes clear. but if i spent as much time factoring together matters of health and life expectancy for the people i love to try to predict when they’ll die so that i’ll be ready to lose them, i would have a lot less time to love them and it will still hurt just as much when they are no longer around.

[blorbologist]

“i love you” + vex

“I love you.”

“Rhhhah.”

“No - I love you.”

“Rrroak.”

“I. Love. You.”

“Roak-ak-ak-ak.”

Vex’ahlia sighs in exasperation and expunges what air’s left in her lungs by slumping against Trinket. The raven flutters back a few paces at the movement, watching her with its head cocked. She can’t stand looking at it anymore, so instead tips her head skyward. Everything’s greys up there: silver if she’s feeling fanciful, smokey if she’s not. Which she isn’t, anymore. 

It’s not that fucking hard to say. 

She’s heard cats and dogs grumble it, as close as they could get. Trinket has, too - a low grumbling Ruy ruh r’ou’ that the twins have been absolutely determined to get him to repeat. And the colorful birds of Marquet which can say all that and more. That one week they spent at Dalen’s Closet, Keyleth had shrieked in surprise when one chirped canItouchyourbutt - oh, and Vax had made it his goal to teach it how to say fuck, and - 

Well. Now she’s here. 

All those birds are probably dead. Or maybe they aren’t - she doesn’t know how long they live. But she’s surrounded by the same ravens that flocked to Whitestone after Vax - after, and she’s really, really tired of them only repeating the stupidest shit.

Percy didn’t teach Leona to say fuck. Neither did Cassandra, or Kynan, or any of the childrens’ favorite guards, and Vesper would never. Grog and Scanlan know better, now that Pike’s on their asses for Juniper proudly declaring things shit. 

She’s very sure it’s the ravens. They do say fuck, and hello, oy you, and pretty birdie, and - well. Shitballs is probably her fault. Indirectly. So is motherfucker. 

(Look: they always pester her when she and Trinket hunt something down, even after they’ve been given the offal, and she really, really is bereft of opportunities to swear with all the kids running around the mansion, alright? It’s cathartic.)

Yes, very cathartic. But now the ravens taught her toddler to say fuck, and she really should do something about it. 

Vex’ahlia rolls her gaze back to ground level. The solitary raven is watching her still, throat feathers fluffing with its breaths. 

She’s pretty familiar with most of them now; this one has a bad habit of trying to steal her knives when she’s cleaning a kill. He’s very glossy, with a notch in his tail fan. It. It feels like a he. 

Trinket’s breath is a reassuring backdrop, his fur too-warm behind her in his humidity. She feels out a little scrap of meat, getting both the bear and bird’s attention. 

“Let’s try it again, darling. Come on,” she prompts. “I love you.”

The raven opens his mouth, feathers ruffled as though he’s about to squall - but he shuts it with a clack, considering her. 

Again: “I love you.”

“Rah-ah-ah-ah-ah.” Like it’s laughing.

… This will take a while.

(If pressed, Vex would say she wasn’t sure why she started with I love you. Maybe because she loves Whitestone, and wants to tell it that without being weird. Because it’s something sweet that could make people smile. Or because Percy will certainly jump if he hears her voice somewhere he doesn’t expect it.)

(Maybe because her voice, echoed within a hard beak, might just sound deeper, and more like Vax’s. And it would do her well to hear him say it again, and hope that he hears her too.)