sky-scribbles

[sky-scribbles]

Im thinking about the M9 and languages. like languages and what is spoken and how it can add so many little extra layers to the story, and how they can be used to show insights into the characters. Cause like

Molly Viciously Mocking someone sounding like hacking up a demonic hairball, undermined by Jester always giggling in the background. Then suddenly Molly is gone and Jester is hugging her mother who is kissing her forehead and switching out from infernal to common every other sentence and the nein realizing that Molly was just telling dick jokes and playground insults in the scariest voice he could manage. Jester canonically writing her journal in infernal (which I hope to see in the series because fiendish hell runes written in a kawaii style compete with hot pink glitter gel is something I think everyone needs).

Nott telling a Halfling in Halfling that she ‘had an accident’, and it seems more likely to be a translation error on her end than the truth. Nott shouting at goblins that ambush the Nein in simple, halting Goblin, especially compared to the sentences they fire back at her. Nott knocking on Edith’s door, suddenly speaking Halfling fluently as she hugs a little boy no one had known about.

Beauregard’s high school level, clumsy Halfling and Dwarvish morphing into her reading undercommon, her understanding Zemnian, her studying books written in several different languages as the series goes on.

Fjord being able to read some orcish phrases but consistently messing up the pronunciation, because he basically taught himself, afraid of getting caught learning it but more scared of getting caught not knowing it.

Caleb’s whole interrogation with the scourger, his conversation with Astrid and the political side conversations, juxtaposed with the soft demeanor when he speaks to himself about his parents and the past in his tower. Him canonically dropping his heavier accent whenever he speaks Zemnian.

Yasha, never speaking Abyssal, only reading and translating it, as opposed to having little conversations in celestial when prompted by Caleb, who wants to brush up on his knowledge.

Caduceus speaking in what sounds like normal ass common to plants and animals. Him chatting amicably with giants, stopping every once in a while to ask if he’s pronouncing a word right.

Essek muttering to himself in undercommon as he studies, teaching everyone a few words to be polite. Getting bullied into sharing more by Beau, who had to learn it somewhere, and he acts like it’s a great inconvenience for about three minutes before getting swept up in the joy of sharing knowledge, of teaching and learning, taking concepts and thoughts and ordering them into something neat, precise, definable.

#!!! #critical role

[sky-scribbles]

#IM CRYINGGG #critical role #cr3 spoilers

[sky-scribbles]

essek time

#critical role #essek thelyss #cr2 #my beloved!!!

[sky-scribbles]

in these trying times on Exandria and Ruidus, as the Vanguard and the Weave Mind chip away at Predathos's prison, as the gods desperately and fearfully search for what defenses they can, as even those not beholden to the divine rally their forces and resources, one does ask: where is Gelidon

#and what's more. where is larkin??? #critical role #cr3 spoilers

[sky-scribbles]

Think about Harrow's AU Bubbles

Thinking about Harrow's AU bubbles, not as fanfic references, but as expressions of her subconscious fears and desires, is so fascinating.

The Harrow Nova one is pretty obvious. Harrow's parents were obsessed with her being a necromancer, were willing to kill for it. It's only natural she'd wonder, "What if I hadn't been?"

And the answer Harrow gives herself is: Your parents and everyone would reject you (except, wildly, for Crux). Also they'd be alive cuz you'd never opened the tomb, and you'd be an unpopular orphan they'd abuse (Just Like Gideon). And you'd still be just as devoted to serving the Ninth with a blade. There's a lot there. But the other really telling bit is her relationship with Gideon. Harrow Nova professes to hate the reverend daughter even as she seeks to (re) create the necro-cav bond with her. But that hatred doesn't seem to be mutual. And the bit about the daughter intervening when Harrow was whipped…

That's Harrow's subconscious saying if their roles had been reversed, "Gideon would have treated me better than I treated her. Gideon would have protected me."

The Ball AU also seems like a reasonable extension of Gideon's childhood query: "What if my other parent is the most important guy in the universe?" Answer: Emperor Dad would throw a big party.

But also… it's a bride-finding ball! That's so very telling. It could have been anything, but Harrow invents another scenario where she's fighting, competing to get to Gideon, to be awarded the role of her sworn partner (first cav, now bride), while outwardly claiming not to want it.

Now The BARI Star AU often gets described as a "coffee shop" one, but it's actually set in a cohort cafeteria. And normally I wouldn't split hairs over that, but I think the cohort setting is actually really significant. The Cohort was Gideon's dream, and also Harrow's rival for Gideon's attention. It's what she kept trying to leave Harrow for.

So now Harrow dreams that she's left Drearburh to join the cohort and will meet Gideon there. Not fight or compete for a role where they're bound to each other, but just meet her there. That feels like yielding. Like compromise. It makes me think Harrow's subconscious has matured past trying to keep Gideon with her always and is instead looking for ways that SHE can be with Gideon. Meet Gideon where she is.

(Also this may be a stretch, but I always find it low-key funny that Harrow imagines Gideon in the cafeteria… I like to think her brain is skimming lists of hypothetical military jobs like... what sees the least action... ah, coffee-adept, she'll be perfectly safe there...)

#the locked tomb

[sky-scribbles]

Legend of Vox Machina Season 3 moments I am so very excited to see:

'I thought he'd never leave!'

The Vorugal vs Yenk kaiju battle

'We still don't know where the fuck Raishan is -'

The dawn of 'd'you spice?'

Getting to see Ank'harel!!!!

'No! Fix him. Fix him!'

Keyleth Feebleminding Raishan

'I should have told you... it's yours.'

Keyleth turning into an earth elemental and fucking obliteraring Ripley's ship

'What's my mother's name?'

'I still hear the voice of my mother in the mornings. Fuck you.'

Senokir.

#thinking about the m9 series reminding me that tlovm season 3 will also be a thing #the delay is understandable considering they're now working on two series at once #but i hope there's some news soon! because I would like to see it!! #tlovm #tlovm spoilers #(I guess??) #cr1 spoilers

[sky-scribbles]

Do you have any cool bird facts

female raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, etc) are larger than male raptors in pretty much all species. this happens even in groups not closely related to each other (ex: hawks and falcons), so its beneficial enough in their niche that its evolved independently a few times, though its unsure exactly what that benefit is atm (bc unlike males being larger in a lot of mammals, female raptors dont make a habit of fighting each other or using size to attract mates as far as we know). ex: heres a male and female Cooper's Hawk

somewhat mentioned above but falcons are more closely related to parrots than they are to hawks

Gray Catbirds and American Robins have been witnessed raising young in the same nest at the same time. In one instance (reported by Mulvihill and Murray), they were recorded caring for the young of both species in the nest, and when the Catbird young fledged, the adult Catbirds continued to provide food for the not-yet-fledged Robins. heres a pic of the nest from the report

the worlds oldest known bird as of 2024 is a wild Laysan Albatross named Wisdom who's 72-73 years old (at minimum, we dont actually know her birth date, just that she was at least 5 years old when she was banded in the 50s) and still raising chicks. here's her with one of her chicks

also Albatrosses have wingspans of up to 3.5m/11.5ft and have been recorded flying 49,700 miles without touching land (they do land in the water to eat tho)

this is from personal experience but if you walk around in a north american grassland for long enough, you Will get jumpscared by a Mourning Dove bc they make their nests on the ground in the grass and like to hang out on the ground in the grass and they also like to wait until youre right overtop of them to freak out and fly away from you

Bald Eagles don't get their fully white heads and tails until theyre about 5 years old

A lot of birds have been observed incorporating cigarette butts into their nests, and a study in Mexico on House Finches found that this actually results in drastic decreases in parasites affecting young compared to nests without them

Cedar Waxwings (and Waxwings in general) just look so smooth. they look like someone airbrushed them. look at this shit

in Jacanas, females lay eggs in multiple males' nests, and then the males raise the young by themself. Also they carry their babies under their wings like this

Horned Guan. Theyre endangered and live in a small area of central america. both the males and females have the little horn fez, the males just have taller ones

#birds!!!

[sky-scribbles]

#it's lae'zel. the judge is dead. the jury are crying. the lawyers are cowering #i am packing my things and preparing for a life on the run

[sky-scribbles]

As it is Passover again, it is time for the annual debate as to whether the frog plague, which thanks to a quirk in the Hebrew, is written as a plague of frog, singular, rather than the plural, plague of frogs, was in fact, as generally imagined, a plague of many frogs, or instead a singular giant Kaiju frog. This is an ancient and venerable argument that actually goes back to the Talmud because this is what the Jewish people are. If we can't argue for fun about this sort of thing, what are we even doing.

In that spirit, I would like to submit a third possibility, which is that in fact it was one perfectly normal sized frog, who was absolutely acing Untitled Frog Game: Ancient Egypt Edition. One particularly obnoxious frog, who through sheer hard work, managed to plague all of Egypt.

[sky-scribbles]

Reblog to curse your followers and mutuals.

#downloading my ghost friend immediately

[sky-scribbles]

[sky-scribbles]

I don't know if this is at all likely to happen, but can you imagine if Sam's new character is a Reilora? Or any Ruidian humanoid?

There's so much potential! They could be a repentant member of the Imperium! A Volition member! A downtrodden citizen desperate to escape the hellscape of the moon and go to the Blue Promise! A player character who's a fish out of water on Exandria! And don't even get me started on the amount of Ruidus lore we could get from them! Sam Riegel can you hear my telepathic plea?? Do you see my vision? Do you see it??????

#disclaimer that sam can and should do whatever he likes #i just think this would be fun #critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #cr3 #cr3 spoilers #c3 spoilers #all the spoiler tags

[sky-scribbles]

OK, but I love that Essek might be appearing in the Mighty Nein series before he meets the Nein! It's not just me wanting More Essek (though I do) or wanting to see more of what was going on with his dealings with the Assembly (which I also do). I think this could be super fucking interesting from a narrative construction standpoint.

Because I cannot see how you can include Essek from early in the series and not make it clear to the audience that he's the Dynasty traitor loooong before the Nein find out. Essek having stolen the beacons will not be a surprise. It looks to me like the cast are swapping out surprise for a fuckton of suspense. (Suspense vs surprise was explained to me when I was studying narrative structure as 'surprise is when a bomb goes off that the audience didn't know was there. Suspense is when they see the bomb being placed and have to sit there begging the characters to realise it's there.' In this analogy, Essek is the bomb.)

When we watched C2, the question was is Essek the traitor? In the M9 show, the question for new watchers will be when will the Nein realise that Essek is the traitor? When Essek meets the Nein, the countdown starts ticking; people will know that he is a danger. He is manipulating them. He is going to hurt them. Will the Nein realise before it's too late? But then Essek starts really befriending them, showing more of his loneliness and vulnerability, and... I think the mood will shift. Oh, shit, he really cares about them, doesn't he? What will the Nein do if they find out? Do I even want them to find out? What if they reject him and it makes him worse? He can't keep this up much longer, this is unbearable, they're going to find out - OH FUCK THEY'RE FINDING OUT -

It's such a fascinating choice and I think it goes to show that adaptation is an art form in itself! The actual events in the world will be the same, or at least very similar, but a new format means you can show those events in a totally new way and create a completely different tone! Narrative structure is the fucking coolest! I'm so excited for this show!

#critical role #cr2 spoilers #mighty nein show #essek thelyss #sorry the narratology nerd in me is jumping out #my cr meta #(him being introduced early is by no means certain but it might be the case! so forgive me I must gush)

[sky-scribbles]

Has your #1 comfort character committed a crime?

#he did eventually come to regret the war crimes!!!

[sky-scribbles]

First in my heart

#themmmm #bg3 #gale dekarios #lae'zel #karlach

[sky-scribbles]

#what a good doggo #birds!!!

[sky-scribbles]

Falmer mother and child

#oh... #elder scrolls