#thinking about the fact that percy doesn't know that vex said she was giving him her heart and that she kissed him

[vaxxy-after-dark]

Thinking about a world where Vax met the Briarwoods before he met Percy, maybe while on a job for The Clasp, and they had a one night stand with him.

They were surprisingly sweet and gentle, but also clearly supernatural and possessive.

Maybe they even tried to convince Vax to abandon his sister and The Clasp to join them? But Vax refused to.

He enjoyed the night he had spent with them, but he could never betray his sister like that.

And The Clasp would hunt him down if he just vanished, that and their deal with Vax would become void and put Vex in incredible danger. Vax just can't let that happen to her.

So they go their separate ways, but Vax never forgets them.

He often dreams of them, even years later, and he misses the way that they touched him.

The way that they spoke to him, whispering praise into his ear as they pulled moans from his mouth with little effort.

The threat of being bitten, sharp kisses teasing his sensitive skin as he squirmed.

He sometimes hopes to run into them randomly again, to steal another night with them.

.

.

.

Then Percy tells him and the others all about the people who came to visit Whitestone and launched a full-scale uprising.

He recognises the sketches Percy pulls out, the goatee and the fancy necklace and the smiles and the eyes and the poses and the bloody teeth.

He has a panic attack realising who they are, his mind reeling in horror over the thought that he not only slept with these people but had even - for just a second - considered running away with them to absolutely fuck knows where, probably the kingdom they took over.

He's utterly horrified.

When the others finally get Vax to calm down and breathe again, he shakily recalls how it was he had met the couple.

Percy is quiet for a moment, for too long a moment perhaps, before he apologises to Vax.

From then onwards, the two have clear tension between them that will only grow.

.

.

.

When the Briarwoods arrive for dinner in Emon and Vax sneaks off to their room to gather any evidence he can find, luck would have it that they end up leaving dinner early and catch poor Vax red handed in the act.

They immediately recognise him, Vax freezing in fear.

Delilah mourns the now-lost 'innocence' of their past affair, while her husband bemoans killing someone so 'sweet'.

Vax begs for mercy, vowing to betray Percy if they let him live - he would never, they know it as well as he does, but they couple give pause and listen.

"And, pray, why should we trust you, little thief?" Delilah would ask, smirking as she toys with emeralds draped from her neck as she looks Vax up and down.

Sylas would chuckle, "We have no ire against you, but your little friend is a pain in the neck that we must get rid of."

Then, scared and trying to get out of this alive, Vax proposes a redo of their past encounter.

The Briarwoods accept maybe a little too quickly for his liking.

.

.

.

When it's over and Vax leaves, alive and with some evidence, he can't help but hate himself.

He already kind of did before this, but he definitely does now and it burns him deep inside.

How he ever looks Percy in the eye again? He doesn't know.

Though he's pretty sure that Percy knows, if the random glares Percy throws his way for the next few weeks is anything to go by - Vax doesn't blame him one bit, he would do it too.

.

.

.

By the time the Briarwoods are dead, the tension between Vax and Percy is so thick you could cut it with one of Vax's knives.

Vax is, understandably, scared of the gunslinger at this point.

The man had been harbouring a demon inside of him all of this time and had almost killed all of them when said demon was unhappy about Percy failing to be the one to kill the Briarwoods in the end.

The fact that Vax had been momentarily charmed by the Briarwoods and forced to fight his friends hadn't helped things, now Percy can't look at Vax with glaring or growling.

Vax really doesn't blame him, but it makes him feel small.

His sister and Keyleth both try to help them sort out their feelings, but it just leads to Percy exploding in anger.

He accuses Vax of so many things, Vax feels dizzy and has another panic attack in reply.

It ends with Vex slapping Percy as Keyleth sits Vax down and helps him do some breathing exercises to calm down again.

But the damage is done.

After that night, the twins pack their things and leave once everyone else has gone to bed.

Vax never truly heals from his experiences, but Vex is there to look after him from now on.

#cw dub con #cw mind control #briarvax #vaxxy writes... something

[essayofthoughts]

(Same anon again) Why do you think Percy is so besotted by Vex? Do you think it has anything to do with his possible aforementioned ugly duckling syndrome and the fact(?) that no one like that paid him much attention before? Another random thought, do you think if he’d met her as a grumpy teen (with her being older still) he would’ve fallen for her or crushed on her the same way? I kinda headcanon Percy having a thing for slightly older women who’ve been the kissed by the sun lol.

I mean the thing is... I don't think he's besotted with Vex at first. This is gonna take a few left turns to get back on the right track, so:

Percy was raised in an upper class household - nobles, ruling nobles at that - and while I certainly get the impression he wasn't one to socialise, more focussed on study (at least going on what he said about Julius and Vesper handling matters of court while he studied) from what we see on stream he is very aware of social power dynamics. He knows how to wield that power, and he knows who to be on the right side of.

He also knows the rules of upper-class socialising. When there aren't rules, then he struggles - loose, casual socialising is not something he's easy with, which is part of why Scanlan's rapidfire quips and jokes often stall him a little: he doesn't know how to respond.

Consequently, when he first meets Vox Machina, I think he's aware of the social power Vex wields in their group as treasurer and because when she gives an opinion she's listened to and after everything he's been through, wants to be on the right side of her - hence his giving her his money.

I don't think he's smitten or besotted at this point - I think he's scared. He doesn't know these people, they're strangers who rescued him from a cell for reasons he's not entirely sure of and quite a few of them are unpredictable - Grog is big and at times aggressive, Tiberius is effusive, Vax can veer between friendly and moody, Scanlan is crass. Keyleth is nice, but a bit nervous and awkward, and Pike is lovely but holy - but Vex is someone he straightforwardly understands.

Something you may notice over the course of the campaign, is that when it comes to company, Percy tends to be more easy and more willing to talk when he's in the company of the women. I suspect he feels more secure with them - he can predict them better than he can the men, and growing up with at times precarious formal social situations and then exacerbated by Ripley and the Briarwoods probably means he prefers that stability to the uncertainty of the men.

So... for a long time I think he liked Vex for being steady and largely predictable, the only other adult in the group, as Taliesin once put it, someone he feels safe with and someone with social power - if he stays on her good side, he's safe within the group.

And then... I think he takes offence at how she's treated in the Value of Valour by that elven shopkeep. That's when he first starts making arrows for her, because he has seen the kind of person she is, that she's clever and good at haggling and keeps them safe and in funds, and Percy is a man who values manners and honour: I think he took offence on her behalf at how she was treated and well, he can't change the shopkeep's behaviour but he can make up the lack of those arrows she was trying to buy by making some for her himself.

So he does. And, surprise of all surprises, she's delighted. She kisses him on the cheek. She uses the arrow and is further delighted. And... well he doesn't dare to expect further signs of approval but he likes to see her happy and, as I said, he knows the value of being on Vex's good side, so... he makes her some more arrows.

And then the Briarwoods happen and he's a bit distracted for a stretch. He's not even sure he's going to live, so he's not really thinking about social dynamics so much- he has other priorities.

But. During the Briarwood Arc, Vex supports him. Doesn't doubt him. Shoves him up against a wall and demands to know how he's doing, but she's the one who yells at him to fight Orthax back.

There's a conversation he has with Vax, before they descend into the Marrowglade Loch, where Percy says he's reordered some of his priorities. That what he's doing, now his home is freed and he's still alive, is recognising what makes him happy and moving towards it.

It's worth noting here that Taliesin has said that Percy didn't realise he was in love with Vex until Syngorn. But I do firmly think that Percy at this point recognised that Vex's was company he enjoyed and that he enjoyed seeing Vex happy.

And then they went down into the Loch and the tomb buried beneath it and we all know how that worked out.

The point I'm making with this rather roundabout approach is that the things that all prompt Percy to fall in love with Vex are the things he has always liked about her. The fact she is consistent, that he understands her, that she keeps them safe and in funds, that she is expressive but rarely in such a way as he's uncomfortable (Percy expresses discomfort at hugs a few times, Vex usually keeps to a hand or a kiss to the cheek). He likes her and respects her and from that he likes to see her happy - do you not like to see your friends and loved ones happy? And the best relationships are those that are founded in friendship.

And so, when Syngorn is bearing down on them, and Percy goes to confess his error regarding Garmelie to her and she turns to him to ask Do I look like I come from money?

This person he trusts, this friend he loves, this woman he respects with his whole heart at this point because she has shown herself to be strong and unafraid even as he was bent on vengeance, who's kept them safe through thick and thin - he knows she is worthy of all that respect and trust and love - how can he respond other than he does? How can some part of his brain not go oh. That's what all this is.

All these things about her that he loves - they are all the things that were there already. They were all reasons he already liked her.

And then, she is vulnerable with him, trusts him with that and how can he not be touched that Vex, as closed off as he can be at times, is trusting him? Is sharing this with him, even if sideways - that she trusts him too, respects his opinion, if she's asking him.

Percy respects her capability from the start, and that respect means that Vex likes him, knows she can trust him - and that allows the vulnerability, that they can trust and respect each other. Because, for all their hurts, they each trust that the other will not hurt them if they show these bleeding wounds to them, and they respect them enough to not lie to them.

That's where it comes from, in the end.

As for your other question, I think we can safely say that Percy's type is dark-haired, smart, and able to step on him. For more, well, that I'll write when I get to my No Briarwoods (Yet) AU.

#percy de rolo #vex'ahlia #vox machina #perc'ahlia #anonymous #ask #critrole meta #cr meta #my meta #living up to my username

[nochi-quinn]

legend of vox machina season 2 episode 8: echo tree OR more like incel tree amirite

sam is the "nice melons" npc bc of course he is

imagine the twins using their old tricks to duck the guards and it doesn't work bc that was over a decade ago

hello Elf Guard Matt

"we're his children" (derogatory)

"I've known many people with money and titles. They are definitely not worth you."

VELORA

the twins are not immune to velora and neither am I

"your father will be pleased to see you" I doubt that

"if you'd notified me you'd be gracing us with your presence" has this man never heard of an emergency

"if you've come for my money - or my goats - I don't have any!" wilhand

"real vestments!" I don't know why that's so adorable to me but here we are

"did you forget to eat??" eating is one of the three things grog actually knows how to do

"hi, pop-pop. I fucked up" me every time I call my parents

"what can syngorn do for you?" directed very specifically at percy, fuck everybody else

oh I just realized he's probably shitty about keyleth too, since she's also a half-elf

a second-generation half-elf, at that

my partner: does he not realize vax is wearing deathwalker's ward me: he doesn't care, that's human shit

"do you have any idea the burden your sudden arrival has caused my family?" I regret to inform you that this is in fact also your family

and now we know what role vex played in this emotional abuse hellpit

"you might just wanna avert your eyes" she literally confirmed that grog's dick didn't get acided off for him

if that's how scanlan 'works both ends' I am terribly sorry for any of his partners

it took me three watches to realize he's whistling Pull My Beads Of Love

percy spending that whole meeting trying desperately to figure out which House he could give to Vex without Cass shanking him

"what does 'fuck you' mean?" little pitchers have big ears

(didn't they on-purpose teach her the word 'shit' in the campaign)

if we get byroden flashbacks are they gonna be exu-compliant

"somehow I feel like it hurt me more" relationships! with! abusive! parents! are! complicated!

ew, tree gunk

he finally called her stubby, I can die happy

I knew where they were going as soon as he said "stimulation"

big "not a good enough reason to use the word 'penetrate'" energy

I enjoy Transition Frog

garmelie: don't submit to his voice vex, already extremely emotionally compromised: ✔✔

look, I don't claim to be a perfect parent, but I don't think I could look at something a child made for me with their own two tiny little hands and just casually break it in front of them

not even just my child. any child.

yeah, come to think of it, even vax doesn't Get It, bc he never wanted syldor's approval, or at least got over the want very quickly.

(fun fact, every time I type or say "syldor" I have to force myself not to say "isildur"

look at this. this is insane. I'm obsessed with this shot.

the feywild is using all of percy's black powder, he better hope victor survived.

I'm glad we got the "if I could pull the blood of him from my veins" line but it was so, so good when she was yelling it at her dad

vax now is not the time to ask keyleth to touch your butt

"dear broken vex'ahlia" if the word 'broken' is literally in your proposal there might be something fucked up about it mb

vex: my heart is someone else's percy: oh? do I know them?

incel tree saundor

"how do you fight a tree?" with a druid

I reluctantly admit him making the arrows out of his palm is pretty cool

I also love a good upside-down arrow shot

vex Jungle Sliding for her life

god I love keyleth so much

the way it springs open inside the stab wound is A+

mala: of course it survived, bc percy 100% expected her to stab a man with it

"he is who he's always been" "I know. and so am I." I am foaming at the mouth over this, at vex knowing she needs to work on parts of herself before she can actually confront her dad

there is SO MUCH nuance and middle ground between "still being actively abused" and "full no-contact" but it's more viscerally satisfying to show the Salt The Earth Behind You fight instead of the long, slow, painful work of attempting reconciliation

tl;dr reconciliation is a thing and I wish more stories used it even though it's complicated and subjective

"I usually hate the theater"

"how did that appear? how did tvs just appear? and really old tvs, based on the make and the year?"

this motherfucker

"he killed me with them" grog backstory GROG BACKSTORY

westruun is my favorite arc okay, I apologize for nothing

#crititag #lovmtag #critical role #the legend of vox machina #liveblog #reaction post #spoilers

[waltwhitmansbeard]

go on, claim my heart: chapter seventeen

see my masterpost for what came before this.

Cassandra de Rolo is alive. Keyleth's mind can hardly process the information, so stunning is it. She has known Percy since he was a boy, flinching and haunted, and even though, as they grew together, he would eventually come to tell her tidbits of what he remembered of his lost siblings, it was Cassandra he spoke of the least. Keyleth could tell she in particular was a sore spot for him, and while she used to believe this was due to the fact that she had been the youngest of all the children, she now knows it was Cassandra's dying in his arms that has led him to keep her locked away in his mind all these years.

Except Cassandra didn't die in his arms—or did she? They are dealing with a necromancer, after all; Keyleth would be foolish to dismiss the notion that the Briarwoods resurrected the child after slaughtering her in front of her brother. Either way, the Briarwoods have kept her alive for over a decade, but to what end? Why keep one de Rolo child after so cruelly dispatching with the rest? Could she play some part in their larger schemes? And how does Vilya factor into all of this?

She is so lost in her own thoughts that she nearly misses the door to the cellar reopening and Percy and Vex's descent. She searches her oldest friend's face, and all she sees there is stunned despair. She knows the feeling well. As the two rejoin the circle, Keyleth reaches out and grabs Percy's hand. He meets her eyes, his shining and wild, and she says nothing. There are no words to say.

Chancellor Desnay continues their previous conversation. "You've said that you did research before coming here. What have you learned that might be of use to our cause?"

Pike, who is sitting on Grog's shoulders, begins. "I spent most of my time researching necromancy as best I could with the resources available to us in Syngorn. These magics are dark and forbidden, so much of my reading covered the prosecution of such arcane practitioners and the extent of their crimes, and not as much the magics themselves. I know that in addition to the ability to create undead, Lady Briarwood's abilities can bring about death swiftly and effectively." She frowns sorrowfully in Percy's direction. "She is...quite the efficient killer."

"They both are," he replies tonelessly.

"I wanna know more about this vampire," Grog interjects. "As in, how do I go about killin' 'im?"

"I think you're going to be a key part of that strategy, Keyleth," Vex says.

Keyleth starts, surprised. "Me? Why?"

"One of a vampire's greatest weaknesses is sunlight. I can presume that getting him outside of that castle in the middle of the day is unlikely, so we'll need to bring the sunlight to him."

Grog's eyes go wide. "Can you do that?"

Keyleth shrinks in on herself a bit. She has only done what Vex is describing once, when Gaben Finefirn attacked her and Vax in the middle of the night. She was terrified and desperate when she did it, and though she feels much the same way now, she doesn't know if she'll be able to call the sunlight to her hands as she did back then. "I...I don't..."

Vax's arms slide around her chest and hold her tight. "It is an option," he says to the rest of them, his tone making it clear that he will brook no argument. "Let's explore others."

The group goes on to share what they learned in their research in Syngorn, adding to it whatever helpful tidbits Chancellor Desnay can share. Desnay tells them that the remaining population of Whitestone is desperate for change, for relief, and Keyleth, though single-minded in her goal of saving her daughter, is eager to give it to them. No one should have to live under the kinds of oppression that these townsfolk have for over a decade. Her heart breaks for Percy, who has walked through a shadow of his home's former glory, has seen the ghosts of what once was in each cracked brick and dead flower.

She knows she must figure out how to conjure the sunlight that she created all those months ago in her chambers. It is not an option, as Vax suggested, but a necessity, something she must do to aid her compatriots and bring her daughter home. She wishes she were better at this, her magic, more confident in her abilities. She watched Pike charge forth to face down all those mindless undead and wield Sarenrae's power without hesitation, and it was a sight to behold. So far, Keyleth has had little success in using her gifts when not prompted by intense fear or anger, with the exception of some gentle magical encouragement for the plants in her garden back in Zephrah.

Vax has made more of an effort in his studies with Pike. His magic is far closer to hers, also bestowed to him by a goddess, and he has had an easier time of following her direction. Keyleth tries not to feel jealous, but she does wish that she had the guiding hand of a god to direct her talents.

As she listens to her friends and colleagues outline the difficulties they face in their aims, she cannot slow the swirl of despair that chokes her heart. Her baby girl is lost in this storm of death and darkness, and who are they to help her—a sheltered princess, a court jester, a holy woman, a councilmember, and a couple of guards? Who are they in the face of those who would wield the undead, when they have no idea what they want, what they're planning, what they're capable of?

There is a pair of lips at her ear. "Hey." Vax's voice is so low that he doesn't interrupt whatever it is Desnay is saying. She turns her head just enough to indicate she's heard him. "Are you with me?"

He is solid and warm behind her, and for the briefest moment, when she closes her eyes, they could be back in Zephrah, resting against the trunk of her mother's cherry tree. She nods. "Always."

"I cannot do this without you."

Despite her despondency, she smiles. "You'll never have to." She sighs. "I just wish we knew more, more about what they were up to, what they wanted with Vilya. Oh, to be a little thing inside that castle, something they couldn't see, something that could fly up and hear all of their scheming! I'd fly right in and learn all of their plot and then—"

Keyleth's imaginings are cut off not by another speaker, but rather by the fact that she no longer has the ability to speak. Vax's arms are gone around her, and where her own arms used to be, now there are leathery, membranous wings, which are flapping wildly to keep her afloat. She looks to Vax, who is suddenly huge and rather blurry and looking at her with his jaw nearly on the floor, and she tries to speak, but what comes out instead of words is a sharp, high-pitched chirping.

"Um." Keyleth spins in the air to look at Scanlan, who, like the rest of the group, is just as visibly gobsmacked as Vax. "So...the princess is a bat now. She just...is a bat. That is a thing we all saw?"

Keyleth flies forward, ignoring the others' breathless gasps, and stares into the reflective sheen of Grog's battleax. Staring back at her is a bat, about the size of Pike's foot. Keyleth flaps her wings, and the bat's wings move accordingly.

Oh. Well.

"My wife is a bat." Vax sounds on the edge of hysteria. "I...my wife is a bat."

She flies back to Vax, who watches her approach warily, and settles on his knee. She attempts to speak again, but more chirps come out instead. Annoyed and very much not wanting to be a bat anymore, she flaps her wings aggressively, hoping to shake herself out of it, and after a few seconds, the world is shifting rapidly, and she collapses in a heap of arms and legs in Vax's lap. "Oh!"

Vax quickly helps her right herself while everyone starts talking at once.

"How did you do that?"

"Did you know that was something you could do?"

"Can you turn into something that isn't a bat?"

"Hey...where did the bat go?"

Keyleth frowns at Grog and ignores his question, but then says, "I...have no idea what that was. Certainly that was never anything I'd done before...Pike?" She calls for the Mistress of Divinity hopefully.

Pike throws her hands up. "Do not look at me, Your Highness. I have seen much in my time, but that...that was new."

Keyleth looks to Vax, hoping he'll have some kind of insight, but he seems just as lost as she is. "You were a bat," he says unhelpfully.

"Right." There's an air of awkwardness in the room now, as no one knows what to say to the sight of a princess magically transforming into a bat, and frankly, the princess doesn't know what to say to it, either. What she does know, however, is how useful this ability would be for the very thing she'd been speaking about when she transformed. If she were a bat, she could fly into the castle under the cover of darkness and listen for the Briarwoods' schemes—or even better, to find where they are keeping Vilya.

Keyleth smiles slow and wide as the plan coalesces in her mind. She laces her fingers with his and squeezes tight. "What is it?" he asks, confused by what must be quite the manic look on her face.

"I know what we ought to do next," she says, "but you're not going to like it."

.

"I hate this."

No one is listening to Vax as they scurry up the hill leading away from the town of Whitestone and toward the castle. It is dusk, with the proper darkness of night quickly approaching. They move as swiftly and silently as they can; it was easy enough to avoid the army of zombies with Desnay's expertise, and now they are being careful not to draw the attention of the guards posted closer to the castle itself. The grounds are ringed with evergreens, so the group easily finds a place to hide while still keeping the giant stone structure in sight.

"I hate this," Vax hisses, pulling Keyleth to his side. "This is wildly dangerous."

Keyleth presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I'll be fine. In and out."

"You've done this once, and you have no idea how long it lasts. What if you turn back while you're in there?"

"Twenty minutes," she promises, squeezing his hands in hers. "Surely it'll last at least that long. I will go in, learn what I can, and get out."

Vax's heart feels as though a fist the size of Grog's is crushing it. "If something happens to you in there..."

"It won't. It won't." They both know she can't know that, but he lets her say it anyway. She turns to the rest of the group. "You lot should spread out, stick to the shadows. I'll come back soon."

Vax presses a final kiss to her forehead, and then he lets go of her hands. Before she can do anything, Percy is there, pulling her into a hug. Vax can just barely hear him whisper to her, "If...if you see her..."

Keyleth smiles softly. "I'll let you know. I promise." She extracts herself from a hug, shrugs with a small laugh, and then, mystifyingly, his wife is a bat once more. She lets out a few squeaks so high-pitched they rattle his eardrums, flaps around his head—despite the unbearable horror of their situation, she seems to be having fun—and then takes off into the falling night, soon invisible against the blue-black of the sky.

Vax stares at the last place he saw her, not breathing. A hand slides into his and he jumps, glaring at his sister for scaring him. "She'll be alright," Vex assures him, and somehow, he's more inclined to believe the words coming out of her mouth.

"How do you know?"

Vex shrugs a shoulder. "She's a mother. She's not going to stop until her child is safe."

Vax's brow furrows. There's something Vex'ahlia isn't saying, he's sure of it, but one thing he learned ages ago was never push her to say something she was unwilling to divulge. He thinks of their mother, how glad she must have been in her final moments that they were far from Byroden, far from the flames and the screaming and the terror. "That is what worries me."

"It shouldn't. We'll need her, her magic and her strength and her leadership, if we are to bring Vilya home. Brother, she must be able to call the sunlight to her as you described her doing in her chambers that terrible night. We need her to weaken Lord Briarwood so that the rest of us stand a chance of killing him."

Vax sighs. "There is so much of her magic she has yet to understand." He gestures toward the direction she flew off in. "Every day it seems we learn something new."

"Then let tomorrow be this," Vex insists. "I know how much you wish to protect her, but you cannot protect her so much she is afraid of her own abilities. She needs your support, Vax, and so does your daughter."

There are few things in the world Vax hates more than when his sister is right. He squeezes her hand. "Alright, Stubby. Presuming she makes it back here alive, I'll...talk to her."

Vex checks her hip into his with a smile and then melts back into the forest, leaving him to return his gaze to the darkened sky where his wife disappeared.

#critcal role #critical role fic #cr fic #vaxleth #vaxleth fic #vaxleth au #vox machina #vox machina fic #vox machina au #tlovm #tlovm fic #my fair lady #go on claim my heart #my fic

[done-dm]

Talks Machina Summary: Episodes 76, 77, and Dalen's Closet

In lieu of the usual pre-show entertainment, we were graced with lovely imagery and music from Sounds of the Wildmother Vol. 1.

Announcements

The next episode of Between the Sheets is Monday, September 26 with Felisha Day. The VOD is available the following Wednesday.

There is NO episode of Critical Role this week. There will also be no episode of Talks Machina the following week (because no episode), but the Tavern Keeper Builder livestream will take up that timeslot.

Critrole Stats

Bread was mentioned 52 times in episode 76.

Jester's 100th message spell was cast during episode 77.

Ten days passed between Caleb's first and last conversation with the scourger.

Episode 76 and 77 tie for most dm face palms with 14 each.

Questions

Laura took the longest to come up with Jester's new character art. She drew out the outfit (somewhat poorly) and the artist took it from there. Laura wanted her to look more and more like the Traveler and dress a little more like an adult

Liam wanted Caleb to look less frazzled and more grim/determined in his new character art.

Jester is not aware that sharing your problems is not something to be ashamed of despite helping the other members of the M9 do exactly that. She doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that she has problems in the first place.

Caleb isn't sure that Essek trusts him, and he doesn't really trust Essek either. He thinks Essek has his own reasons for helping Caleb. Essek could be trying to stack up favors, get him under his thumb, acting as a mole, etc.

Jester's perspective on the Traveler has not changed despite her hearing the Traveler's following referred to as a cult.

Caleb feels like the group is clever enough to meet the needs of everyone that they're dealing with (despite the fact that they've been calling in several favors, particularly from Essek). It's a longshot, but he's trying to broker some kind of peace and needs to stay in everyone's good graces in order to do so.

Essek hurt Jester's feelings when he said he had nothing to learn from her. She tried to hide it from the others. Jester doesn't know who she is right now and that's starting to register with her for the first time.

Caleb has been thinking about the Scourgers for years. He wondered what state somebody would be in after years as a Scourger since he escaped that life early. He also wanted to know if anyone who had gone through that was a lost cause (Astrid and Eowulf in particular). There's still a lot of self-loathing, but Caleb understands that he was manipulated. The Scourger he interrogated was younger than him, so if he was any hope for himself he had to offer that to her as well. He also thinks about Yasha and would be quicker to make excuses for her than he would for himself.

Jester fully believes the Gentleman is her father. She thinks he doesn't care about her, but thinks she can convince him that he is her father eventually. She has no plans to tell the others about his refusal to acknowledge her.

Liam mimes using a shake weight. I expect the gifs to be entertaining.

Caleb has a newfound confidence in facing his past now that he has powerful friends, lots of assets, are in the pocket of a queen, etc. Liam wasn't sure where Caleb would be at this point in the campaign. The group is too persuasive as a family for him to walk away and cause Caleb to go down the other paths Liam thought were a possibility.

Jester thinks it's weird that no one else can see the Traveler, but she chalks it up to him being awesome and powerful.

Caleb made himself look like Trent to avoid looking at him and because Trent is enemy #1, so it made sense to Caleb to put that on hinself.

Jester's main example of people helping others is her mom, so she tries to emulate that: hence the motherly behavior towards her friends in the more recent episodes.

There was a question about Caleb's use of the transmuter's stone that I totally missed, whoops!

Jester expects the Traveler Con to be a really awesome celebration where she will be asked to host a few panels. Although, she obviously doesn't know all the details yet.

Liam pulled that line about the porcelain cats out of his ass. Now it's cannon that Caleb has 9 of them.

Jester finds it hard to be the messenger that everyone relies on. Scrying on Yasha was particularly difficult for her (considering the recent... incident). Laura is thankful Matt will repeat information instead of only relying solely on Jester's ability to convey it.

Caleb wants dunamancy knowledge for the sake of knowledge and also because he wants to manipulate time.

Jester feels like she's doing a pretty lousy job of getting more followers for the Traveler, especially since Fjord was actively looking for a god to follow.

Dalen's Closet Stats/Questions

Vex is the only member of vox machina to get hdywtdt on both Sylas an Delilah Briarwood.

Grog called Derrig four names other than his actual name during the course of the episode.

Liam did know that Sam intended to make Vax the wedding gift. Sam texted Matt and Liam to be sure they were okay with it first. Liam felt like he was playing Vax as an NPC at this point. Matt has told him a little bit about where Vax is at, but it was up to Liam to decide exactly what Vax was at this point.

Laura says it feels "fucking awesome" to be responsible for the deaths of both Briarwoods. Laura thinks of Vex/Percy and Delilah/Sylas as two side of the same coin since she would "pull a Delilah" if something happened to Percy.

The bone on Vax's shoulder was a physical manifestation of his tattoo of Keyleth's antlers. It was the one part of his humanity the Raven Queen couldn't control.

Liam was inspired by the short story "The Jaunt" when deciding how Vax was going to appear at the wedding. Vax has been gone for a year, but that doesn't mean he's experiencing time the same way as the rest of Vox Machina.

Laura fully thought Vax would come back exactly the same as he was when he died. Liam thought that all of Vax's decisions needed to have consequences.

Laura and Liam both feel like this one shot was the end of Vox Machina's story.

It felt good for Laura and Liam to be "twinsies" again.

Vex would have reacted differently if Vesper was at the wedding instead of alseep. She didn't bring it up to avoid giving Sylas another weakness to exploit.

Liam could accept every other member of Vox Machina dying except for Vex because "he made a deal."

Names of Derrig's family members (please note that I totally guessed on spelling): his wife is Nell; his three girls are Baroni(?), Litan, and Maeve; and his son is named Will.

Sam and Marisha both thought they were Taliesin's/Percy's best man. They told Sam he was next to Vex and he had to rewrite his speech (he had one prepared Percy). Laura didn't write down the wedding vows ahead of time, but did prepare them beforehand .

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critrole #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #caleb widogast #cr caleb #cr jester #jester lavorre #cr vex #cr vax #vexahlia #vaxildan

[essayofthoughts]

For Ghost!Cass: what does she think of many of the fan favorite NPCs - Kima, Allura, Gilmore, Victor, their sort [my interrogation mark key is glITCHING with the askbox I am sorry pretend there's one right here]

It's okay!

So they meet Allura first and Cass loves her. Cass thinks she's kind and patient and clever and it reminds her a bit of Vesper and certain of the aunts she was closest too - Cass wants to tell Allura the truth of her existence from very early on and does at the first opportunity because Allura is someone she likes and thinks is trustworthy and feels is safe to tell. If ever Cass gets re-embodied she wants to have so many cups of tea and nice conversation with Allura.

She's delighted by Gilmore, because who isn't? I don't know that she's ever terribly close to him, but I think she enjoys his company and if, perhaps, he turns up at those hypothetical future tea parties with Allura, Cass would be very happy.

Cass quite likes Kima. She has a lot of respect for her, and she has her own reasons to be doubtful of Clarota, even as she'd like to trust him, so when Kima's unhappy about his presence Cass... doesn't really disagree. She does think Kima's a bit gung-ho at times, and kind of things Kima might need a restraining influence at times, rather as she tries to be for Percy. Remembering that Kima and Allura are friends very much makes Cass think that they probably work well together, Kima encouraging Allura to be more willing to take a risk while Allura probably keeps Kima from going off the rails. When she finds out they've got a History she feels deeply vindicated.

She's delighted by Victor in very specifically the vicarious joy of a younger sibling watching an older sibling be baffled and a little embarassed and/or self-concious. She feels a bit bad for him and worries about him aside from that, but mostly she really likes the sheer reaction he gets out of Percy.

As a bonus - she also quite likes Vanessa Cyndrial though she's also intimidated by her and feels that if she revealed her presence things would go... badly. After all, Vanessa heads a monster-hunting organisation and Cass is a ghost - arguably, a kind of monster.

She's iffy on Kynan. She feels bad for him for being put down like that by Vax (and she gives out to Vax for that, because she thinks it's hypocritical and unfair to nix the dream of a kid like that when said kid is, really, arguably older than Cass is given she died age thirteen, and Cass gets to join them yes because she's with Percy but they've also never tried to stop her) but she also very much comes to resent the fact that uh. He helped to kill her brother! She doesn't particularly like him after that, until Percy realises and makes it clear that he's not holding it against Kynan and that he'd appreciate it if she could find it in herself to forgive him. But she remains iffy about Kynan for a while.

She has Opinions about Desmond. Namely, that Percy owes that poor boy an apology and a half, and if he won't, she is going to make sure Desmond gets whatever he needs to help right the wrongs Percy committed.

She likes Assum. She likes the confidence he gives Vex by teaching her further, and when she finds out about Raishan she is pissed. Also, Assum teaching Vex to be sneakier absolutely prompts her plan to ask Vax to teach her to be sneakier if/when she gets re-embodied, because hell, it's a useful thing! (And maybe... if she'd been sneakier... she wouldn't have died. Yes she absolutely guilts Vax into teaching her.)

#ghost cass #allura vysoren #shaun gilmore #kima of vord #blorbologist #kynan leore #desmond otham #seeker assum #ask

[essayofthoughts]

keyleth for the hcs thing?👀👀👀

Sexuality HC: Asexual. Specifically sex neutral ace. We're told that she's pretty much ace, and I think it's likely she doesn't really think of it as one thing or another. I... honestly feel that if she's generally fine with sex, but it's not really on her radar, she doesn't have much sex drive and she decides to try it with Vax because she trusts him and loves him (and her reaction is something which makes Vax laugh, I think) but that generally she doesn't have much inclination for it but also no real dislike for it.

Favorite ship(s): Keyleth and Vax is very cute, but I don't really ship it, I guess. But then I don't really ship anything aside from goddamn Perc'ahlia. I do think Keyleth and Vax are cute in a not dissimilar way to how I enjoy Wanda and Vision, I suppose, which I guess means that if I write some long slowburn of how they get together suddenly I'll find myself crying over them so no one ask me to do that okay?

Brotp: Keyleth and Vex's friendship (aside from when Vex is full of animosity) is really good. I adore Vex's sudden "He kissed me!" to Keyleth about Percy because it's fucking cute and honestly the VM group girl's nights are fucking adorable. So I guess the BroTP is actually Keyleth & Vex & Pike.

Notp: Percy and Keyleth. I'm sorry, but these guys are pseudo-siblings. They see each other as foster siblings. At least as I write him, Percy mentally links Keyleth to his sister Whitney and I really do think Keyleth sees him as a brother, contentions and all - the thing is they see each other as siblings and they choose, despite all of their disagreements, to keep seeing each other as siblings and I don't think that's ever really remarked on by the fandom? So Imma do that now.

But. Percy and Keyleth disagree on things. Kind of a lot. And in a found family that might mean a split, might mean they go their own ways but - they don't. They never do. Marisha said Keyleth might've done that in the Briarwood Arc if Percy had got worse, but in what we see Percy and Keyleth, despite their disagreements, continue to respect each other, continue to trust each other and...

and it's like... it's as though, because they see each other as siblings, they choose to consider their relationship like that. As inescapable as a sibling bond, as something they have to live with. They choose to work through their difficulties, to understand each other even when they disagree (and I know that some of this is because it's a game and they have to but also and I fucking love that some of this comes from the fact that apparently Taliesin and Marisha were playing against their own personalities, that Keyleth is apparently closer to Taliesin's view on things while Marisha is closer to Percy's perspective - they found greater understanding of each other in playing these characters, god fuck but that gives me emotions ANYWAY).

They choose to understand each other through their difficulties and disagreements. They choose that their siblinglike bond matters more than that. And. It's so good. Because in doing that they make it even more siblinglike. They don't break from each other. They don't leave. They take each difference as a challenge to work through and the end result is they are as siblinglike as any siblings and that is why I cannot ship them together ever.

Happy HC: Keyleth likes to druidcraft flowers for her friends. When she doesn't have words, she always has flowers to show how much they mean to her.

Angsty HC: There are days when she hates the ravens. It would be so much easier to grieve and let go and move on if the ravens didn't visit.

It's weirdly, fucked-uped-ly comforting that the ravens keep visiting anyway because it implies either that a goddess is sorry for keeping to her deal or that...

Or that Vax can't move on either, even as he's the eternal Champion of the Raven Queen, even as he's locked away further and further from Vax'ildan - there's some part of him, hidden in the ravens, that is always hers.

And if he's as unable to move on as she is, she can't be angry about it, in the end.

Random HC: Keyleth has a graze on her knees from when she was learning to use a Skysail. She fucked up pretty badly and ended up wrecking herself against a canyon wall. She was phenomenally lucky and didn't break anything, but the injury was bad enough she ripped right through the skin and down to the silver between the muscle - the scars on her knees are pretty ugly.

General opinion: God just. I know people think of Pike as the sunshine of the group but everyone is wrong because it's Keyleth. Pike is moral because of Sarenrae at times, but Keyleth is moral because she believes it is right. Keyleth is the epitome of that... I think it was a question asked of a rabbi, what is the point of atheists, if everything is God's plan?

To show us what it is to be good, without any belief in law or reward. We ought to be like the atheist, who is good because they believe it is the right thing to do.

That's Keyleth. She doesn't believe in gods. She doesn't believe in religious law. She believes in being good to people because we should be good to people and I fucking love that so much.

I would like to have tea with Keyleth.

#keyleth #vox machina #ask game #anonymous #ask #i may be a little pished #also there's gonna be a break because im gonna get takway but i have another ask to answer #so send in more! #next one is percy tho so ask someone elsethat's getting an essay