#vex calling him to talk just because she wanted to and it escalating to them understanding each other more than themselves could

[nellie-elizabeth]

The Legend of Vox Machina: Whispers at the Ziggurat (1x11)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Cons:

This is a small thing, because once again perfect episode is perfect, but I will say that Scanlan's "realization" at the start didn't quite hit right. They have him do a gasp and a flashback to him looking at the creepy book, and the star chart, and putting together the pieces, but I don't feel that we actually learned anything new here. It was basically: "ohhh that creepy book about a ritual and a Ziggurat means they're going to do a ritual at a Ziggurat?" I don't know, maybe they wanted to make sure the stakes were clear so we wouldn't be confused about the visuals of what Delilah does later, but for me it seemed like they were treating an obvious escalation as if it were brand new information, some sort of plot twist or reveal.

Could have done without the "you're their light now" callback during Keyleth's big moment, simply because it didn't quite hit for me right the first time, I felt the stakes weren't set up for why Keyleth getting that validation from Pike specifically would be important. It was fine, but didn't add to the epic-ness for me much. This is such a small quibble, though. Seriously.

Pros:

Fucking hell, this episode was everything to me. How to even talk about it?

We start off with some sinister setup with our villains as they prepare to do their creepy ritual. Cassandra calling Delilah "mother" really punched me right in the solar plexus, and then Delilah being so worried about Sylas keeping his strength up, offering Cass as a snack to munch on... yeesh. They give me the creeps in the absolute best way.

We then have a brief comedic interlude with Grog raring to fight Vax, and Vex saying no, then raring to fight Cass, and Percy saying no... and then Pike suggesting that perhaps he should have a rematch with Sylas...

We see our good guys approaching the Ziggurat and all the evil that's going to happen there, and then we have Anna running off, and the next ratcheting up of intensity with Percy and... Orthax, I'm just going to say Orthax, I mean, the subtitles do, so I figure that counts as not a spoiler anymore, even though his name is never said aloud on the show. The visuals of this scene, with Percy fighting against Orthax over whether or not to shoot Anna as she runs off... they're trying to sneak up on the Briarwoods, so a gunshot would give them away, but on the other hand Percy and Orthax really want that motherfucking revenge, y'all... god, it's so deliciously intense and this is only the start of the intensity ramping up and up and up.

And then of course Percy calls out: "Sylas! We have debts to settle." And we go into the action sequence, and that's the whole rest of the episode.

This whole thing was just... the action was so fucking stellar, it never stopped, my breath was caught in my throat the whole time, I couldn't look away... it's almost going to be hard to talk about, because my only thought the whole time is like... Keyleth vs. Sylas: amazing! Pike vs. Sylas: amazing! Scanlan running from Delilah: amazing! Pike vs. Delilah, saving Scanlan: amazing! Vex vs. Vax: amazing! Percy vs. Cassandra: amazing! Grog vs. Sylas: amazing! The whole way through, I was just intensely impressed by how dynamic and quick and impactful every bit of the combat felt to me. There are a lot of characters on the board, here. The seven members of Vox Machina, plus the Briarwoods, plus Cass, and yet I never lost track of anyone and who they were fighting, the pacing never faltered, I was gripped and completely anxious every second, even though I know how it all shakes out!

I guess I'll just talk about aspects I liked in no particular order...

First off, I like how overpowered Pike feels, because the literal glowing aura around her is a constant reminder that she's being projected here by her literal goddess. She has this artificial glow-up (sorry) that is so powerful but also so tenuous, as we see at the end of the episode. So we get moments like Pike withstanding Delilah's attack and then the "MY TURN" moment, and it's so fucking good and also doesn't feel like it's breaking the balance in any way, because there's this constant sense that Pike won't be this strong forever, and we don't know how long we'll get to have her with us.

The Pike and Scanlan stuff was particularly excellent. I loved "get away from my gnome!" and then Scanlan's literal heart eyes, and Pike's "probably a good thing I can't hear you right now." In my opinion, their hints of romance have been adapted so well from the stream. It's much better here, when instead of Scanlan just constantly pursuing Pike and her constantly rejecting him, it's just Scanlan simping so hard for this entirely bad-ass woman, and Pike sort of laughingly indulging him without full reciprocation. Maybe a small distinction in the scheme of things, but it's really working for me.

And then there's all the sibling angst! Give it to meeee. Vex and Vax's fight made me wince, every time the blood spray came I was horrified. I loved the "it's me", "I know", exchange because you do get the sense that Vax very much does know it's his sister he's fighting, he just can't cut through the charm to remember that he would never hurt her. And Vex screwing up her face and horrified with herself as she punches him again and again, and Vax waking up and breaking through because of Keyleth's timely Sun Tree intervention... the sob and the hug... I am so happy with how this went. Oof. So freaking intense.

Then Cass and Percy! Percy is literally having to fight off Orthax and his sister at the same time. He doesn't want to give in and hurt her, but she has no such reservations with him, and her name is on the List... god, the horror and tension of this. Again, even knowing how it's all going to turn out, I'm in the most intense suspense watching this stuff, wondering what's going to happen next. Of course there's the moment when Cass briefly flickers out of Sylas's control, and remembers Percy protecting and comforting her during their imprisonment, remembers them playing together as kids... I like the way Cass's betrayal is played because it's clear that it's not just Sylas using his mind tricks on her the way he did on Vax, there's the interplay of years going on here, the supposed abandonment by her brother, the indoctrination and brainwashing by her tormentors. It's not as simple as what's happened to Vax, and you can really see that playing out.

Keyleth gets some cool moments fighting Sylas before Pike takes over that fight; I love seeing her using all the elements like the Avatar she is most certainly based on... but of course she gets her big Sun Tree moment right when everything is at its lowest point, lying there weakened as all her friends are suffering and barely holding on around her... and then there are the tree roots. "I'm Keyleth of the Air Ashari. I know you're there. And holy shit do I need your help." The music. The light. It's so FREAKING COOL that Keyleth gets to have this intense moment, and it only builds from the first moment that the sun breaks Sylas's concentration and allows Cass and Vax to wake up.

But first you've got Grog and Sylas. A bad-ass rematch, but also some moments of levity, too: "No, I know what you're doing. Don't try and seduce me" and Sylas replies: "What? I'm not trying to..." that was so great, and I love that it worked, that Grog got a solid hit on Sylas and then was able to pin him down for Keyleth to take that final shot.

As I'm continually praising, the small moments that help establish character during fights are just everything to me. I love that you've got Grog holding Sylas down, and Keyleth ready with the strength of the Sun Tree behind her, but she stops to say: "Grog, I don't want to hit you..." and Grog tells her to do it anyway. Just such a great moment.

Scanlan gets his revenge on Delilah by silencing her the same way she silenced him earlier in the fight, meaning she's hopeless as she watches Keyleth burn Sylas to death. It's brutal, it's intense, it's everything I wanted it to be. Such an epic villain kill, that good ol' Grog and Keyleth combo, with Delilah screaming in her silenced condition, desperately reaching out for the man she loves. Brutal! Amazing!

Delilah's derangement here is excellent and there's so much setup happening in this scene where she tries to complete the ritual. "Sylas, I broke the world for us!" She said the thing! Ahhh. Honestly at first I was disappointed she didn't scream it like Matt did in the original version, but this worked for me too. Her creepy magic, the way the orb appears, The Whispered One standing there and then flickering away...

Meanwhile you've got the rest of the gang trapped outside of a door. Of course. I love that after Sylas's death, you've got Cassandra immediately snapping out of it, and Percy has this brief moment of relief that his sister is okay, but then it's right back into revenge mode. "That kill was mine!" he says after Sylas dies, and then "Delilah!" as he charges after his remaining foe. At this point not only do we have the creepy orange eyes and the smoke, we have the voice, layering over Percy's. How much of him is Orthax now? It's so fucking good and creepy and delightful, and for those who thought Delilah was the big bad of the season more so than Sylas, it's now becoming increasingly clear that there's an even bigger big bad waiting in the wings, hiding in plain sight.

Okay and let's talk about the cliffhanger now. Vex manages to get a shot off on Delilah, and we get one of my favorite line deliveries in the whole show as Delilah screams: "I'll see you suffer for what you have taken from me!" And then she tries to go for Vex, and...

Keyleth sacrifices herself for Vex. When I tell you I screamed, y'all. Now, I have some stuff to say about this in the next review, because I kind of don't think it works as an episode cliffhanger for various reasons. But honestly, I fucking love this change. Jesus Christ. First off, I have been totally gripped by this show all the way through, but I did in fact already know all the big things that were going to happen. Cass getting slashed in the throat by Anders? Later turning out to be a traitor? I knew it. Percy having a demon inside him? I knew it. Everything that happened, all the big shockers, I knew they were coming. And I was excited to see Vex get super mortally wounded and close to death in this fight, because I knew that was coming too. So when it was Keyleth instead, I was seriously so shook. I didn't expect it at all. And in my opinion, this is a great change.

This is the moment I mentioned before, where some people were having a hard time, and thought this moment stole something from Vex and gave it to Keyleth. But come on, y'all. If you're a fan of campaign one, you know exactly why Vex isn't the one to get a super scary "omg is she dead" moment here. You know. You don't need me to tell you why narratively we don't need Vex going down right here. Come on. And this is still a Vex character beat! This is about a season-long buildup of Vex and Keyleth's friendship, Keyleth willing to throw herself in front of Vex, Vex looking on in shock, asking "why did you do that?" I loved it. I loved it for Keyleth, and for Vex, and for Vax, and it completely threw me for a loop in the best way. I think they knew what they were doing, twisting this dramatic moment in a way older Critters wouldn't expect. As shocked as I was, and as upset as I knew some people were bound to be, I really took this moment as a gift, this rare chance to be as flabbergasted and thrown for a loop as anyone else watching.

And of course the true cliffhanger is Pike vanishing before she can heal Keyleth. This is what I meant when I said it's okay that Pike is the most bad-ass overpowered member of the party in these episodes, because at the drop of a hat she's gone and she can't come back and now Keyleth is dying.

And that's where we leave off episode 11. Fun fact: I hopped on an elliptical machine while watching these episodes and I beat my best ever distance in the same length of time because while watching this episode, I essentially sprinted through the whole twenty-five minutes. I was just so pumped, I couldn't handle the intensity, it was so. fucking. good.

I think I might have to give this one a perfect score, y'all.

10/10

#review #tlovm #tlovm review #the legend of vox machina #critical role

[respectable-username]

Because I'm obsessed with Hivemind Etho, here's another little story with them for the @hermitcraftheadcanons Hermitopia AU. As before, this is just a quick piece that's only been lightly edited because of the time constraints of this community AU.

This is also some setup for a potential future confrontation for somebody else to write.

---

The two Ethos stood at the door to the apartment, waiting for the hour to strike.

It was all they could do to not to brush the hastily cut and dyed hair away from one of their selves' forehead, or fight against the overly tight suit and tie, or scratch at the cheap surgical mask that sat in place of their regular cloth face covering, or the makeup that tried to conceal their prominent eye scar. The other self pulled their jacket closer, trying to extract enough comfort from it for the both of them.

The clock struck 7am. Etho knocked.

A few minutes later, the door was pulled open by a bleary-eyed Mumbo in a dressing gown.

"Hello– oh no what are you doing here please don't hurt me please don't hurt me."

The undisguised Etho pushed through the doorway as Mumbo backed away from the Unrestrained villain, now fully awake.

"Your ID card," said the Etho, entering the room.

"What?" said Mumbo.

"Your ConCorp ID pass," clarified the Etho, holding out their hand. "Give it to us. Now."

"Um, I don't think I'm supposed to do that," said Mumbo, desperately searching for something to grab.

The Etho's eyes bore into Mumbo, cold, unflinching, unwavering. One looked right at him while the other seemed to look right through him.

"Um, right, ok," said Mumbo. "Uh, can you pass me my bag? It's in there."

The disguised Etho entered the apartment and grabbed the briefcase sitting by the door, opening it and grabbing the pass inside, clipping it onto their own trousers. They closed the bag and held it beside them.

"Um, ok," said Mumbo. "I– is that all you wanted?"

"Your phone too," said the undisguised Etho.

"Please no!" Mumbo pleaded. "I can't lose that. What if there's an emergency and I need to call for help but I don't have my phone so the apartment burns down or if somebody gets hurt and I can't call an ambulance or–"

The Etho took a step forward. "Your phone," they repeated.

"Ok ok please don't hurt me," said Mumbo, retrieving his phone from his pocket and holding up both hands.

The Etho grabbed the phone and tossed it over their shoulder at their other self, who caught it flawlessly.

The Etho looked between the cowering Mumbo before them and their other, disguised self. About the same height. Hair roughly similar enough to pass. The ConCorp-issued suit didn't fit quite the same, and the face mask was an obvious difference, but it was close enough if nobody gave them a second glance.

And, having been observing Mumbo for the last few weeks, there didn't seem to be anybody who would give Mumbo a second glance.

The disguised Etho turned silently and left. The other Etho shut the front door and turned the lock, trapping them and Mumbo inside.

***

The disguised Etho walked up to the ConCorp entrance at 8:53am. This seemed to be the average time of Mumbo's arrivals. They walked towards the turnstiles and swiped Mumbo's pass.

"Everything alright?" asked a receptionist behind the main desk, presumably concerned by the face mask.

The Etho coughed. "I'll be fine," they croaked.

"Sweetie, if you're feeling unwell, you should be at home, resting," she said.

"Got stuff to do," croaked Etho, walking forward into the elevator before any further questions could be asked.

"Where's your office?" the Etho at Mumbo's apartment asked, sitting in a corner of Mumbo's couch from which they could see the whole room.

"Um, at ConCorp HQ," said Mumbo, fiddling with a teabag.

Etho sighed. "Precise directions from the elevator please," they said.

"Oh, uh, straight ahead down the corridor, last door on the left," Mumbo said.

The "Mumbo" Etho followed the described path and scanned their pass to enter the room.

The kettle clicked. Mumbo poured the boiling water out into the mug. The Etho in the apartment tensed, ready to spring away at any sign the hot contents would be flung towards them.

"And what's your password?" asked Etho.

"For what?" said Mumbo.

"Your ConCorp laptop," said Etho, the faintest wisps of exasperation creeping into their otherwise carefully controlled voice.

"I am so getting fired for this," sighed Mumbo.

"Better your job than your life," Etho replied flippantly.

"Of course," said Mumbo hurriedly. "It's – oh gosh I can't believe I'm saying this aloud – it's BMX4lyfe95!"

The Etho at the office typed it in. Finally, the internal network was open to them.

They started working to set up a reverse proxy to tunnel out from behind the firewall. Another of their selves at home was already positioned to connect to the network tunnel as soon as it was opened.

Mumbo poured milk into his mug, throwing away the teabag and walking over to the lounge. The Etho already on a couch got ready to jump, but Mumbo just sat down across from them and took a sip.

Mumbo stared down into his mug. "You're a hacker, right?" he asked, his eyes not looking up.

"One of my talents," said Etho cautiously.

"Since they're gonna fire me anyway, can I ask a small favour?" said Mumbo, still acting like his tea was the most fascinating thing in the room.

"Depends," said Etho.

Mumbo drummed his fingers against the mug. "I have this friend, Iskall," Mumbo said. "He's one of the office workers at ConCorp. I made his cybernetics after he got injured. But they keep breaking in weird ways and I don't know why. His explanations don't make sense! The metal I use doesn't melt like that from accidentally touching a stove. They shouldn't buckle like that from tripping into a wall. They shouldn't shatter from falling down a flight of stairs. I'm... I'm just worried for him. Is he in danger? What isn't he telling me?"

The Etho on the couch was quiet for a few seconds. "You only have partial access to the VEX files," they said. "There's a lot I can't find here."

"It's so creepy how you do that," said Mumbo.

Etho ignored him.

The Etho at home let out a quiet cheer as they managed to connect through the tunnel into the ConCorp network. They started browsing, collecting, and saving as much information as possible.

The Etho in the office switched their focus to finding some sort of privilege escalation vulnerability that would let them access the more secure files.

"Erm, I probably should have asked before," said Mumbo. "Would you like some tea? Some breakfast?"

"I'm fine," said the Etho in the apartment.

"So, uh, do you have any hobbies?" asked Mumbo.

"Please don't small talk," said Etho. "I'm busy."

"Oh, ok," said Mumbo. "Can I go grab a book or something then? Since, y'know, I don't have my phone or laptop or anything."

Etho nodded. "But if you call for help," they said, "I will know about it and I will make you regret it."

"Of course," said Mumbo.

The Etho in the office kept prodding at the ConCorp intranet. What they needed were the credentials of a superior, maybe even the Director himself. Hmm, it seemed from this directory structure that the Director was Mumbo's direct supervisor. It would only take a few hours to set up some sort of spear phishing attempt that would let them pivot directly onto the Director's computer. As long as they didn't get caught first, of course.

Etho opened Mumbo's calendar and declined all meetings that day that wouldn't look suspicious to avoid. There weren't many meetings to sort through.

"How often do you get visitors to your office?" Etho asked Mumbo.

"Iskall usually comes for lunch when he's not swamped by a project," said Mumbo. "Otherwise, nobody else just pops 'round usually."

"How about your boss?" asked Etho.

"He's busy," Mumbo said. "I have to go to him if we ever talk."

The Etho in the apartment nodded, settling back to focus on what their other selves were doing.

***

Hi Cub, Etho typed. Can you review this interface I made? It should let us remotely view what's happening with our heroes through their cybernetics. With some extra work, we could get actual video from their perspective to send to the media!

Etho sent the message, then sent the file with their exploit. The exploit was covered by a very quickly and poorly thrown together interface which returned the live location of a GPS receiver they had found in the lab.

They left it a few minutes, stretching back in Mumbo's desk chair as they waited for a reply.

Finally, one came through.

Hey Mumbo. Great prototype! We'll probably need to pass off development to the actual software engineering team, but this is a great initiative. I'm proud to have a thinker like you on our team!

Etho allowed themselves a smile as they checked to see if their exploit had worked. There it was, a tunnel open on the expected port right into the Director's machine. Jackpot.

The Etho at home pivoted through the new tunnel and started scraping as much information as they could.

"Your friend is a mercenary," the Etho in Mumbo's apartment said, making Mumbo jump at the sudden sound.

"Wait what?" said Mumbo.

"Iskall is a mercenary and assassin for ConCorp, working for them in exchange for ConCorp saving his life," clarified Etho.

"Iskall, a mercenary?" Mumbo said. "No no no no no. That can't be!"

"That's what his file says," Etho said with a shrug. "Either way, I've got what I need. I've called you in sick for the next week, and I'm keeping your pass to enforce that. Your phone will be returned, but I've programmed it to inform me if you let any part of today slip. I hope you understand."

"Uh, thank you, I guess," said Mumbo.

"I'll be here with your belongings in half an hour," Etho continued, standing up.

"What do– oh, right," said Mumbo.

"And don't do anything stupid," said Etho, opening the door to leave. "As thanks for your assistance, the nHo will try to keep you safe from any upcoming confrontation. But if you break this trust, that guarantee will not hold."

"I understand," said Mumbo, gulping at the idea of having to further betray his company, his friends.

The Etho left his apartment.

#hermitopia au #ethoslab #etho #mumbo #mumbo jumbo #res writes

[essektheylyss]

wait! be wordy! what's your line of thinking for the assembly coup i'm so curious

okay you sent this a few days ago and I was like, you know what they asked, so here is my entire research project on the subject of why not only is the assembly in a perfect place to stage a coup and take over the empire, but also why ludinus da’leth in particular seems rather motivated to do so:

fjord and caleb discussed this specific topic during their chat on the balleater in 98, and this line just sums it up:

fjord: what are they waiting for? caleb: the moment where they can ascend.

according to the lore we’ve gotten, from canon as well as the egtw, the assembly has existed since a war between mage houses that culminated in an event that nearly destroyed rexxentrum, referred to as the eve of crimson midnight—after which the members of those houses agreed to work for the dwendalian crown (and helped conquer the julous dominion). they occupy a very comfortable place in the empire obviously, but it’s unclear how much allegiance they actually have to the crown, but when caleb talks to the martinet in episode 97 at the party, they have this pointed interaction:

caleb: the empire, we all love the empire. da’leth: to an extent.

this is in part in reference to caleb’s past, but also... is admittedly, a strange thing for someone who’s meant to serve the king to say. much of their conversation at the party reads as da’leth putting the two of them on the same page—rather circumspect in their interests, and outside of the surface level realm of the empire’s interests. it’s worth noting that da’leth is not only the oldest member of the assembly, he has also been there since its inception, and therefore was almost certainly involved in the war that created it.

now, just before this, they have this exchange:

caleb: It will be good to finish this war. da’leth: Indeed it will be. caleb: I commend you on seeing the reason in cooperation and negotiation. da’leth: I believe it is important to stem the tide of lives lost and to instead focus on the livelihood of those within the Empire and for us to pursue more important things than base conflict and disagreements.

now, like essek, da’leth is likely looking forward to the end of the war because it means uninhibited time to spend researching the beacon they do have, but based on much of what essek has said, he is far more in over his head than da’leth is. of course, that’s in part because he’s not backed by a very powerful organization. but this is important, because arguably... da’leth isn’t backed by the assembly. he is the assembly. there has never been a cerberus assembly without him. additionally, his title (“archmage of domestic protections”) literally puts him in charge of all warfare and conflict in the empire and, as mentioned, this means he’s been involved in:

the eve of crimson midnight

the conquest of the julous dominion

the last century of tension with the dynasty (by the end of which, he found a way to escalate that tension and thereby instigate a war—which really makes him either great or shitty at his job, honestly)

the war with the dynasty itself

unlike essek, who has probably had his position for 20-30 years at most, da’leth has witnessed every part of these conflicts from a place of organizing warfare. (yet again it vexes me: we still have no idea what essek does. but he’s not really important here, I’m just using him to juxtapose. but it seems safe to say, based on his reaction, that he did not have any experience with it, and does not seem to be in anyway a military leader.) he knows when to expect war, and he... probably does not care about the human toll of it, based on the ones he’s lived through. so I’m looking more at the phrase “pursue more important things”—which is where we start getting into military coup territory.

and it’s important to point out that the assembly, based on their discussion in the throne room with the king and the examination of the beacon at the sanatorium, is almost certainly keeping both their research into the beacon’s power as well as the fact that they’ve had two beacons for three years secret from the king.

additionally, the assembly’s power seems to be growing at the moment, as evidenced by cobalt soul concerns that it may need to be curbed, while at the same time, the monarch is becoming increasingly paranoid (which translates to, closed off), as well as (and this is crucial) not having an heir. as mentioned in the egtw, his son and daughter in law have not produced a child, and all three of them are seeking different ways to maintain power. king dwendal, supposedly, is currently looking for ways to become immortal. da’leth, who is functionally immortal compared to the king, probably doesn’t love that (and I have no doubt that he knows).

so we have a military leader who has external interests, secret arcane research into an unknown, fairly deadly system of magic that the crown is unaware of (and therefore doesn’t have defenses against), and a rapidly encroaching potential power vacuum. but that’s still not enough, right? to actually take the throne, who has an entire army at its disposal, you’d need some kind of paramilitary force loyal to the assembly, not to the crown.

which brings us to the scourgers.

we know that trent ikithon created and designed the scourger program, also from caleb’s conversation with da’leth, which means it is relatively new (less than 50 years old, but probably less than that—trent is in his 70s, and he would’ve had to work up into his role, so let’s give him a generous estimate of being worthy of assembly membership around 40—which only puts the scourger program at 30 years old). da’leth does have a... really interesting comment about the program:

da’leth: Although the extent of these things were not entirely part of the initial presentation, I understand that sometimes, desperate requirements might call for unsavory methods.

there’s really no explanation of what these ‘desperate requirements’ are that called for, you know, that bullshit, and the program would’ve been implemented sometime within this cold war they’ve got going with the dynasty. while those desperate requirements may have been involved in that (which is likely), it’s also possible that there are other uses for them, especially now that there is some kind of treaty between the empire and dynasty.

of course, the other thing that I looked at is how astrid discusses the empire—she suggests that what the scourgers do, the “hard choices” they make, are so that the rest of the empire can sleep safely at night, which is interesting, considering the general sentiment of the empire’s populace is that the empire has become less safe (a sentiment that is likely even more heightened now with a war on their soil) as well as less prosperous, due to the growing paranoia and neglect of the king. the scourgers are specifically loyal to the empire itself, not the king—if they can be swayed to believe that disposing the king is in the nation’s best interest, it would not be difficult to turn the assembly’s personal assassins toward the crown.

which brings me back to the earlier conversation mentioned at the party, and the phrase “focus on the livelihood of those within the Empire and for us to pursue more important things.” the martinet has been, essentially, waiting in the wings of the empire for several centuries.

within the last, say, fifty years, the following things have happened:

the quality of life within the empire has gone down

its monarch has grown closed off and scared, potentially leaving a power vacuum which will likely throw the assembly’s power into question

the assembly has created its own paramilitary assassin force

the assembly has instigated a war via the theft of foreign arcane objects

the assembly has done fully secret research on the application of that arcane power

the assembly has then ended the war very quickly, retaining control of one of these objects, and sent everyone very speedily on their way.

furthermore, with peace only just brokered, the righteous brand is likely still on the border, and will have to be mobilized over the next month or more to return them to the inner parts of the empire.

this means the assembly is unoccupied by a war, has its own forces, probably has some unheard of weaponized dunamancy, and doesn’t have to contend with the military that is wholly loyal to the king.

time for a coup, y’all.

addendum: this is a theory/analysis, and it’s only one potential thing that might happen in the next few arcs. however, a counterpoint: the assembly has enjoyed unprecedented power, a small amount of responsibility, and very little oversight during its existence. I could see the point that there isn’t much motivation to change that, especially for da’leth—except for the fact that the empire still does not have an heir. the potential of a power vacuum will likely leave the assembly in a tough spot and without a puppet to control, and a coup to take power now may be the answer to that. that really is the key: before dwendal can actually do something nuts, like beat da’leth to creating himself a phylactery lol, they may intend to grab power to maintain control over the situation in the long run.

additional reading: I wrote up this post a few months ago about why, in conjunction with this, the assembly wants to keep their involvement with the beacon theft quiet—any conflict with the king will get started on their own terms. (which is the main point of my thoughts that the assembly will also likely try to have essek killed—while he’s alive, he’s a loose end, and even if it’s his word against theirs, it’s still possible he could sow doubt with the king. luckily for the nein, the assembly doesn’t seem to know that they’re aware of that!)

#critical role #cr spoilers #cr meta #this is..... not even everything this is somehow the succinct version #there's more regarding like; how much da'leth has actually set this up? #what his involvement with essek was? #personally I could make a whole separate argument about that but it wasn't relevant here #also the heroes of wildemount are off sailing around the coast which he knows #so tbh I wouldn't be surprised if the nein came back to something like that #I'm so sorry to whomever reads this it's so long but god bless you #if I don't post this now I'm gonna keep adding to it and no one wants that lmao #god this doesn't even touch on the fact that it's possible that the war itself and the angel of irons cult were both orchestrated by da'let #but that's more of a personal conspiracy theory whereas this is all pretty straightforward #maybe I'll do that one next lmao #also here's hoping tumblr doesn't screw up the ask again #do not wanna have to repost this lmao #astraphone

[evilmortys]

Rick hate blogs for the win tbh. But I was just curious— do you still rp with rick blogs? And do ppl who know rick is toxic and don’t approve of his actions but still like him as a character get on your nerves? I’m just curious! Have a good day!!

hiya  hiya!  you  have  a  lovely  day  too!  i’m  saying  it  before  i  address  the  other  stuff  just  so  i  don’t  forget  to  wish  it  to  you!  <3

yeah  of  course  i  still  rp  with  rick  blogs  (on  my  roleplay  blog)!  my  friend  val  writes  several  ricks  and  c-136  talks  with  a  few  of  them  ‘online’  sporadically  and  thinks  they’re  Neat.  rick  interactions  nourish  me  and  i  am  very  open  to  them  although  people  who  rp  him  are  few  and  far  between  to  my  knowledge.

people  who  know  rick  is  toxic  and  disapprove  of  his  actions  but  still  enjoy  him  as  a  character  are  fine  with  me!  i’m  one  of  them,  to  an  extent?  

ALTHOUGH.  uhhhh.  i  suppose  it  depends  on  how  exactly  you  ‘enjoy’  him  as  to  whether  it’d  “get  on  my  nerves.”  but  even  if  it  did,  i  wouldn’t  ever  comment  on  it  or  be  mean  about  it??  sjdfkjsdfkl  idk!  i’d  just...  let  you  do  your  thing  and  continue  doing  mine!  different  strokes  different  folks!

i  think  i’m  a  bad  person  to  look  to  for  much  sympathy  if  you  relate  to  or  connect  with  rick,  because ...  god.  he’s  such  a  bad  person.  he’s  an  awful,  shitty,  destructive,  abusive  person,  and  i  loathe  him  for  it!  and  i’m  right  i  think!

yes,  he’s  capable  of  being  good,  and  caring,  and  has  been  several  times  over  the  course  of  the  show.  i  acknowledge  it  often  and  the  collar  scene  with  morty,  him  shooting  mr.  jellybean  really  resonated  with  me,  for  example.  

but  for  the  most  part,  his  love  is  so  conditional,  and  feels  so  impossibly  out  of  reach  for  the  people  that  adore  him  (his  own  daughter,  summer,  morty  to  an  extent)  because  he  deliberately  makes  it  feel  that  way.  keeps  them  at  arm’s  length  with  beth,  for  example,  or  verbally  puts  them  down  and  degrades  them  instead  of  being  emotionally  vulnerable  and  conducting  himself  in  a  way  that  would  imply  he  gave  a  shit  if  they  died  in  the  case  of  morty.

he  has  zero  issue  with  grievously  traumatizing  his  grandson  and  abandoning  families  he’s  gotten  to  know  for  years,  up  and  leaving  when  the  going  gets  tough  instead  of  sticking  around  to  help  them  or  keep  trying  because  it’s  easier  for  him  not  to  bother  and  just  move  on.

tbh,  just  about  any  post  that  expresses  fondness  for  rick  or  ‘uwu-ifys’  him  with  no  criticism  at  all  makes  me  grimace.  i’m  so  repelled  by  how  he  withholds  love,  treats  everyone  around  him  poorly,  and  is  such  an  inherently  dickheaded  character  that  i  can’t  bring  myself  to  interact  much  with  people  who  are  apologetic  for  him  at  all,  because  he  hasn’t  redeemed  himself  enough  for  me  to  want  to  see  that  very  often?  if  at  all.  

i  just  think  some  people  hold  too  much  forgiveness  for  rick  in  their  hearts.  like,  you  can  demand  redemption  arcs  for  him  all  you  want,  but ...  i  think  the  sheer  volume  of  unforgivable  things  he’s  done  makes  it  so  that  sort  of  thing  will  just  never  sit  well  with  me  regardless.  

rick  hasn’t  done  anything  as  of  right  now  that  makes  him  worth  forgiving,  and  apologizing  for,  and  justifying,  and  babying.  quite  the  opposite,  in  fact.  so  i  find  it  strange  that  people  can  pluck  all  this  adoration  for  a  character  who’s  so  objectively  bad  out  of,  like,  nowhere ---  or  homing  in  on  the  bare  minimum  of  kindness  he  performs  each  season  and  building  him  up  in  their  head  to  be  largely  those  traits.  he  gets  a  mopey  scene  every  season  where  he’s  self  pitying,  and  people  twist  it  to  be  something  that  makes  him  redeemable  instead.

people  will  see  things  like  rick  flinching  away  from  beth  raising  her  fist  and  trip  over  themselves  to  escalate  the  valid  theory  of  ‘oh  my  god!  he’s  a  physical  abuse  survivor!’  to  the  far  more  vexing  ‘HE’S  BABY!  HE’S  DONE  NOTHING  WRONG  EVER  IN  HIS  LIFE!  HOW  DARE  BETH  DO  THAT  TO  HIM!’  

like,  what  the  fuck?  how  dare  beth  raise  a  hand  to  him  and  not  even  act  upon  it?  lmao? 

first  of  all,  he’d  deserve  to  have  been  actually  smacked  the  fuck  out  in  that  moment.  “how  dare  beth  do  that  to  him?”  how  dare  RICK  treat  her  poorly  for  her  entire  childhood,  neglect  her,  do  the  bare  minimum  when  it  came  to  raising  her,  waltz  back  into  her  life,  traumatize  her  son,  destroy  her  marriage,  have  the  gall  to  insult  her  parenting  capability,  manipulate  her  emotionally,  clone  her  instead  of  asking  her  to  stay  and  be  a  part  of  her  life  like  she  so  desperately  needed  to  hear:  the  list  goes  on!  second  of  all,  HE  HIT  MORTY  IN  THE  FACE,  ON  PURPOSE,  SOLELY  TO  BE  CRUEL,  AND  GAVE  HIM  A  BLACK  EYE.  it’s  called  getting  his  just  desserts,  as  far  as  i’m  concerned.

i  kind  of  went  off  a  bit  there,  sorry,  but ---  i’m  just  trying  to  exemplify  /  explain  what  sort  of  behavior  tends  to  rub  me  the  wrong  way  when  it  comes  to  people  who  enjoy  rick’s  character.

i  myself  think  he’s  very  interesting,  and  complex,  and  it’s  enjoyable  to  consume  his  arcs  and  watch  his  character  development  unfold.  he  can  be  fun,  and  it’s  definitely  intriguing  to  see  his  intelligence  at  work.  he’s  even  capable  of  being  sweet  and  wholesome,  having  fun  with  his  grandkids.  but  for  me,  his  negative  traits  are  so  glaring,  so  volatile,  that  the  positives  aren’t  something  i  can  bring  myself  to  be  invested  in  unless  he  starts  trying  to  better  himself  as  a  person.  like,  he’s  just  a  drunken  bag  of  dicks.

idk  this  went  a  little  off  the  rails  and  i’m  sorry!  again,  this  is  just  how  i  feel  about  things.

#alex answers! #i just think he's such a rancid character #that being apologetic for him on such a massive scale is.... :/ #so many people don't love rick. they love this idealized image of him they have in their head #where he's uwu soft (n almost always sexy) grandpa who's going to get better and stop being a shitheel #and it's like... IS he though. #i'll believe it when i see it! #and when i see it i'll eat these words and let people be apologetic for him all they want #but until then it's just.... ugh....... #idk. i'm a morty stan so obviously i'm VERY biased #and highly sensitive/attuned to the feelings of others as a person in general #so me seeing what he puts the family through is always going to skew me to perceive him negatively #and fail to understand why people can pick out what little positive attributes he has and make out like they're his whole thing #JHSDFKJSF I DONT KNOW. SORRY. #Anonymous

[miss-tc-nova]

Priorities - Hermod x Reader

Hey! I finally finished it! I’m kinda iffy but it was fun. I chose Hermod because I’ve had this concept in my head for a while and I didn’t think Bragi, Eraqus, or Xehanort fit the story. 

As for the Christmas zine, It’ll probably be posted well after Christmas and after the Christmas zine when the mods give the green light. But I will probably post a different Christmas related one beforehand. 

Anyway, enjoy a little Halloween mayhem with out sweet boy. 

~~~~~

              The grip around my shoulders tightens and his body goes rigid. Slate eyes closely follow the shambler but tension lets up only the slightest when they pass.

              “Hey, you okay?”

              Feeble is the attempted cover-up. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

              Halloween is fast approaching and the citizens of Scala Ad Caelum do what they always do: celebrate. Jack-o-lanterns line the streets, fake spiders and ghosts hang from all heights, and there’s a skeleton on every block. As for the more extreme, there’s a group of people who rent the town hall every year to put on a haunted house. Seeing as this is my favorite time of the year, this annual attraction is always a must-see for me. But this year, I’ve been invited by the keyblade warriors-in-training to tag along with them. There was one person who didn’t seem quite as thrilled though—he’s my boyfriend and he’s not exactly excited to be here.

               “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” I tell him, trying to reaffirm my words by drawing gentle circles against his hip. “We can go home if you want; I don’t mind.” I actually do but forcing him into something that makes him this anxious is borderline bullying.

              There’s a little more sincerity in this smile. “No, it’s alright. Besides, you’ve been looking forward to this for weeks.”

              The corner of my lips pulls back. Oh what this boy wouldn’t do for me.

              This is where Smarmy Fluffcoat makes his entrance. “What are you lovebirds talkin’ about?”

              “Just talking about how amazing that kettle corn smells,” I answer. It’s actually my friendship with the redhead that led me to meeting the rest of the key kids, so I know full well that he’ll never shut up about it if he learns about Hermod’s unease.

              “Uh, right,” Hermod agrees. A peck lands on my temple. “I’ll go get some.”

              “Thank you, sweetheart.” I watch him amble towards the stall with kettle corn, giving a wide berth to the walking dead doing their thing.

              My boy re-joins the line, treat in hand, and the group screws around waiting for our chance to experience the fright. My brain keeps careful track of his behavior while also diverting the attention of our friends away from said behavior. But then the time comes: we’re next to enter the haunted house. At the front waits a woman who greets the visitors and runs through her spiel.

              “And just remember, don’t touch the actors; they won’t touch you.

              “I’m sorry, what?” A trace of fear belies Hermod’s feelings. “There are people in there?”

              I tug on his arm. “It’s okay. They’re not allowed to touch us,” I murmur. “Last chance to back out,” I whisper.

              There’s a nervous gulp but no answer. Pulling back the curtain, the woman coos, “Have fun guys.”

              Without waiting for any of the guys, Urd and Vor charge ahead. Bragi follows with a shrug and I take one last look at Hermod before leading him in, leaving Xehanort and Eraqus to bring up the rear. Only a few steps into the darkness, we hear Urd stumble.

              “Watch your step guys,” she calls back.

              Bragi follows with, “What is this?”

              My foot suddenly sinks, causing me to teeter. Hermod immediately pulls me back, putting a steadying arm around my waist. “Are you okay?!”

              “Yeah,” I laugh. “It’s a mattress.” Hermod wobbles but follows me across.

              Just as he steps off the obstacle, a light flashes on beside us, revealing a rotting face. The zombie screams and my boyfriend leaps back, stumbling into Xehanort who trips back onto the mattress. Eraqus helps his buddy back onto his feet and I manage to pull Hermod away from the terror.

              As we go through halls of dim light, spooky props, and loud noises, actors continue to vex us. Shocks and surprises earn shouts from everyone but most of us laugh it off. Unfortunately, Hermod’s obvious anxiety earns him quite a bit of heckling and it takes stepping between him and the actor or dragging him into the next room to de-escalate the situation. Nevertheless, his stress levels are visibly climbing—each encounter becomes more and more dramatic and I’m not exactly sure what he’s going to do when he hits his breaking point.

              “What’s the hold up?” Bragi asks, addressing our pause.

              “There’s a wall here,” Urd answers.

              Vor adds, “It’s squishy.”

              “Squishy?” Eraqus wonders out loud.

              “Yeah, it—woah!” Suspenseful silence overtakes us while we wait for Vor to explain her exclamation. “Hey, there’s a hole in this wall.”

              “Oh, it’s probably one of those squishy walls you have to push through,” I explain.

              “Oh yeah,” hums Bragi.

              One by one, we squeeze our way through, but the other side isn’t very welcoming to nervous visitors. When I finally escape the squishing trap, I find a very dim light at the far end of the hall. As we go, I can’t help thinking that this hall is suspiciously dark and even more suspiciously empty.

              Hermod’s hand disappears from my grasp and I’m jerked back sharply. Blinding light fills the room along with half a dozen screams but I recognize the back facing me. Worried these fight-or-flight instincts will end badly, I dart around him, throwing my arms around his waist. The erratic movements in his chest cease but I can still feel the chaos in his heart.

              “Keep moving!” Xehanort urges.

              Both his clammy hands remain clasped in mine while we move forward.

              There are only a couple rooms after that yet Hermod keeps his tension under control. Finally, we make it out of the haunted house with little more than a slightly dusty Xehanort and an abashed Hermod.

              The group wanders out of the path of the attraction exit, but I sneak my sweetheart off to the side.

              “Hey, are you okay?”

              Again, with the forced smile. “Yeah. Thank gods it’s over though.” A hand starts in my hair, sliding down to my cheek. Remnant trembling mars his fingers. “Did you have fun?”

              “I did.” Wrapping him in another hug, I nuzzle against his chest. “Thank you.”

              Suddenly, Bragi bursts out in a fit of laughter.

              “What in the world?” I murmur.

              “Not good if Bragi’s laughing,” grumbles Hermod.

              A little stall is stationed, with strings webbed along the top, perfectly displaying newly developed photos. These are images of that suspicious hallway and it clicks: the bright flash was a camera. That’s when I notice the picture all my friends are laughing at. Yes, Urd and Vor are surprised and Bragi is nearly choking Vor while Eraqus and Xehanort at the back look like deer in headlights, but it’s Hermod front and center. He looks ready to fight while I’m barely visible behind his arm.

              “Dude, what the hell were you doing?!” Bragi cackles, pointing at battle-ready Hermod.

              “Looks like he was ready to kick some ass,” snickers Xehanort.

              Glancing to my boyfriend, I see him wear an uncomfortable shade of red across his cheeks.

              Vor turns on him. “You’re a keyblade wielder-in-training. Why are you freaking out?”

              His shame is getting the better of him. “Th-That’s different; these are ghosts and zombies and demons and I’m not allowed to do anything about it!”

              His friends pick and poke at him, only agitating his ego.

              Loudly cutting in, I announce, “Well I’m flattered.” Various eyes watch as I pull the picture from the line and give the vendor a handful of munny.

              Smarmy retorts, “I’m sorry, did you happen to notice your boyfriend is a scaredy cat?”

              “Did you happen to notice, so are you?” I say, pointing at his murder attempt on Vor. “Besides, he acted on instinct to protect me.” Meeting Hermod’s gaze, I can’t help but smile. “That makes me feel pretty special.” His surprise turns to a sheepish smile. The photo whaps Fluffcoat. “At any rate, I’d hate to be your date to a haunted house. I’m surprised Vor’s still breathing to be honest.”

              Urd takes the photo from me and suddenly, everyone is ganging up on the redhead. I take this opportunity to slip away, Hermod in tow. A beautiful autumn tree hides us from bystanders.

              “Did you really mean that?” the boy whispers.

              “Yeah. Did you see the death grip he had on her?”

              He frowns. “No, the part about me…”

              My touch proves much softer and smoother against his calloused fingers. “Of course I did. It’s nice to know that you’re looking out for me.”

              Now that is a real smile. “You’re too important for me to let something happen to you.” Foreheads bump together. “You’ll always be my top priority—even if the others tease me.”

              Around his neck slink my arms. “Even if I do?”

              It’s a sigh, but also a smile. “Even if you do.”

              “My hero.”

              His lips, like his hands, are a bit rougher than mine but Hermod’s kisses are always gentle and sweet. My stomach squirms, leaving me with a happy high.

              Before he kisses me a second time, I tack on, “And I’m not teasing.”

#hermod #kh hermod #khdr hermod #hermod x reader #xeha-non #novas requests #gender neutral reader

[creativerogues]

How I Dealt With: Alignment VS Player Actions

So I’m just going to go into it with a recent example of how the Player’s Actions actively contradicted the Alignment of the Character they’re playing.

Hard Hat, the Tortle Wizard and Necromancer, needed to find 5,000 Gold Pieces in 2 Days to give to another Wizard, so that that Wizard can scribe a Spell Scroll that Hard Hat needs.

So rather than asking the rest of the Party, rather than thinking it through in a way that went with his Character, Hard Hat’s Player chose to act in a way that, while not directly, opposed his Character's Alignment as a Neutral Character.

Hard Hat’s Player chose to go out into the Town of Fostin, the Town the group is currently in, and through a combination of Charm Person, Suggestion and Enthrall, force the rather rich townsfolk of the City to give him their money, like he was some kind of wizardly highwayman...

And while I, as the DM of that Session, did allow him to do this, I told him that Hard Hat’s Alignment as a Character has now shifted, from Neutral, to Neutral Evil...

Now for some of you reading this, however you run your D&D Games, it might sound a bit weird that I, as the DM and someone who is not that in control of the actions of the Players, is allowed to change a Player Character’s Alignment on the spot, but there was a reason as to why I did so...

The reason I’m ruling this as a “temporary” alignment change is because the actual Player’s literal justification for these acts is: “Well the ends justify the means, we’re hurting people to help people.”

And as he was already a Neutral Character, a shift that steps him towards the Evil Side for this Section of the Adventure definitely seemed appropriate after this…

After all, no one who calls themselves a Hero would willingly force an innocent person into giving them money.

But why only Neutral Evil? Well not just because his Character was already Neutral, though that did help a lot, but because this was an action that Hard Hat’s Player thought was the only option, despite it not being the only option.

He had two days of downtime to find 5,000 Gold Pieces, and in the mind of Hard Hat’s Player, he thought the only way to get that 5,000 Gold was through nefarious means...

But if he had just conversed with the group a whole, or simply asked for help from the other Players, they might of discovered a much easier way to get that money on time to the Wizard that asked for it.

Hard Hat had a limited time frame to achieve something that Hard Hat’s Player thought was practically impossible. And while Hard Hat did achieve it in the end, the Player themselves had to justify why this needed to be done.

After all: The ends justify the means, don’t they?

There’s also another example I’d like to give where another player in my most recent session proposed something that I thought would directly oppose his ideals and methods.

Nemorith, who has been delightfully nicknamed Nemo, was returning to the Ship the Party had gained. Nemorith had been away from the Party for over two and half months, on his own adventures with Hard Hat the Necromancer during parts of his leave.

Now, Nemo is a Druid, or as I sometimes call him in my Games: a Wild-Man.

Nemo had lived in the mountains of the Himmelblas Region of my World for over a decade, and had grown up to respect nature, while also remaining neutral, and understanding that violent acts do occur in nature, but only for the needs of food and survival.

This gained him the Alignment of Lawful Neutral. He had a Code, an Oath you might say, and he stuck to it as much of possible, even finding some extremely over complicated ways to deal with issues even though the simplest way to deal with them was: Kill the Bad Guy.

But in this Session, Nemo returned to learn that everything had changed...

Kentucky, the Aarockra Barbarian with a Southern Accent, had become Captain of the Ship during Nemo’s leave, and the Crew took to him well over the 2+ Months in-game that Nemo had been gone.

Foot, the Tabaxi Bard had become quite renowned in the City, performing at taverns and gaining quite the gold pile and renown during Nemo’s leave and levelling up to 5th Level while Nemo was gone, gaining some new Spells and Magics...

Whinny, the Kenku Rogue had learnt to write, and even talk in semi-coherent sentences while Nemo was gone. She had learnt to write Common and can write short sentences now and even speak them while almost making sense.

Everyone was slightly different, while Nemorith remained the same, and he didn’t like it.

And so when the Group threw a Party to celebrate Nemo’s return, he hated it.

He wanted to leave the Party, just get on the ship and sail somewhere else and hopefully go back to normal, but that wasn’t happening.

Instead Foot was performing on-stage to a packed bar, Kentucky was lifting beer barrels that weighted more than most of the Party over his head, and Whinny was writing letters and painting banners to saying “Welcome Home”, writing in Common for the first time Nemorith had seen it.

And he actually grew jealous, everyone was suddenly better than him, they knew more magics, became better at their skills. While he and his Tortle Wizard Friend Hard Hat were just... Surviving...

And this caused a conversation between Hard Hat and Nemorith that I didn’t expect, where Nemorith proposed something to Hard Hat that I thought deserved an Alignment Change.

He proposed that Hard Hat cast Modify Memory on Foot, the Tabaxi Bard, so that Foot would forget all the renown and magic he had gained over the past two and half months.

And when Hard Hat refused to do so, Nemorith attacked Hard Hat.

The rest of the Party, who were still celebrating and partying (just on the ship instead of in the tavern), heard Nemo and Hard Hat shouting at each other, and heard a scuffle.

The situation at that point escalated to the point where Nemorith was locked in one of the bedrooms on the ship until he calmed down.

He was locked in there for almost three days...

So why did I change his alignment?

Well, because of what he said, the way he acted and what he did.

A Character that was Lawful Neutral and had a personal code that stopped him from injuring others, was suddenly attacking his own party members because they didn’t do what he said.

And he broke his own code, he wanted to to destroy a fellow party members process by casting Modify Memory to make that Party Member forget all the new magic and experience they’ve earned, and essentially level them back down to Level 4.

This caused me to change Nemorith’s Alignment to Chaotic Neutral, since he no longer seemed to care about his personal code in that moment, just wanted something, and when he was denied it, he lashed out at the Party in anger.

Now, there is a happy ending, Nemorith apologised to the rest of the Party, and the Group had a pretty deep and emotional talk on why they should stick together and what it means to be good.

But during those three days that Nemo was locked in his room, punching and kicking at the walls in anger, Nemorith’s Alignment, at least in my mind, was Chaotic Neutral...

I hope this Post has been helpful to you. I honestly think the DM having partial control over the PC’s Alignments and the ability to shift and change a Character’s Alignments based on the Player’s Actions is Neat and works if both the DM and Player agree that a Character’s actions in a game are deserving of an Alignment Change.

And if you need even more examples, take Vox Machina from Critical Role.

Vex’s Alignment shifted after she stole a Broom of Flying from a fellow Party Member (SPOILERS?) and Pike’s Alignment shifted after she ruthlessly killed a Creature in a way that her Deity didn’t like....

But anyways I hoped you liked this Post, and if you think I should do more Posts like this or more Posts on the topic of Alignment, let me know!

#alignment #DnD 5e #dnd #dm advice #creativerogues

[vohalika]

hello, this is random but.. could u please tell me some of your fav things about vex? i don't often see people who Really Like Vex and we need more of that

Well, well, well, anon.

I have literally no idea how long it has been since you asked this of me, but rest assured I have not forgotten! Well, okay, I had for a while, then I saw it again and was like “oh, right, huh… And would you look at that, I’m about 100 posts away from 100,000… Wouldn’t that be a good one…”

So. Here we are! An unstructured rambling of all the reasons I really, really love Vex, somewhere between superficial and embarrasingly personal, to celebrate this arbitrary number of things I have spread around on this hell site.

Okay, first of all, the only thing Laura had to say to Kit Buss for the official art was “make her hot”. That is a Statement. And boy did Kit and also everyone deliver on that.

Like seriously. I didn’t use to be a fan of feathers in hair or white armor, but good god does she make it work.

Hey, I said this was going to be extremely superficial

Another thing I really didn’t use to like, twins. Overdone and usually poorly executed. But our girl made a Point out of being as different from her twin as she could be while at the same time being completely believable siblings.

I swear to god I’ll do my absolute best to mention Vax as little as possible. This is not about him.

Third thing I really couldn’t stand! The one, usually female, team member with a pet! Closely related to the one with the nature powers! I don’t know, these just always rubbed me the wrong way in media before, probably because I also never really cared for shows or movies about animals. Fight me.

And yet here she is, and she is not the “won’t somebody think of the children animals!” type of gal and Trinket is amazing and it still ties into her personality on a larger scale without being preachy.

I have a fourth thing. I also really don’t care for elves, ever. Everybody hates them. And then she turns around and makes me cry about the elf thing. Good god.

Yes, watching the first episode way back when was an uphill battle. There’s a reason I started with episode 69 and then watched the rest.

Nice.

Vex has the best worst sense of humor. No, really. I’m not even talking about that time she made a comment about the boy with the shot off fingers not having much of a future as a musician. But I’m also talking about that. And that time Scanlan tried having a meaningful monologue about having a daughter now. “I’ve defined most of my life by the people I slept with, and now…” - “Well, technically, this is still kinda defined by that.”

(Shoutout to Percy “I was just thinking that”)

Also, “We don’t do anything with dignity”, “I only serve gods with big dicks”, “You might live forever, but you will still be fucking ugly”? Girl is iconic, even if her sense if humor is usually pretty inappropriate for the given situation, she just can’t help it. I relate.

On a related note, it is so easy to play a similar archetype and have her just be this always dignified and above the humor kind of stuck-up. It’s basically how most people would have written her (and a certain someone did). But not our girl, oh no.

Also, I recently made a post about this, but we really, really don’t talk enough about how she’s just the leader of the party. She is. No, really, lower your bitch sticks, y’all. She’s the one to talk to the most NPCs, she’s the one to usually say go, and everyone just naturally adheres to her. It’s never forced, it’s never an “I, as the leader” moment, and she doesn’t try to wrestle her way into the role. It’s just what happens naturally.

Which also means she’s good at stepping back and letting other people shine for a bit. But still, Vex is the reason they didn’t just flounder around like a chicken without its head after Scanlan left. Laura was late to two sessions in campaign one; the first one was already in an extended battle scene, and the other was literally spent in a bedroom in hell waitinig for Vex to tell them what to do.

This is why scholars are generally of the opinion that Vex is the only Top in VM. And also what intellectuals refer to as Big Dick Energy.

Let’s talk about what the assholes call Greed. Yes, Vex is, out of all of them, the most pre-occupied with gold and loot. But she NEVER hoards anything for herself, never spends any of her own gold on herself even until the timeskip, leave alone the party funds.

She looks out for the interests of the group, makes sure they get the best possible deals and are paid what they are owed. And she’s the only one to ever worry about money, too, whereas everyone else never bothers to think about it. Hence why her and Vax split the cost of paying their staff after the party spent all the funds early on.

Look, I find her worries very indicative of growing up in poverty with her mom, than surrounded by rich and important people but locked out of the loop, and then poor and on the road again with Vax. I find it very relatable, and everyone who claims that looking out for the financial well-being of the party is “greedy” is lucky enough to never have had to worry about eating next month while also making rent.

There’s Safety In A Fist Full Of Diamonds, okay?

No really I need y’all to read that and send it to the annoying bitches who complain.

Vex is literally never stingy when it comes to helping people with the money she made sure they have. Remember how she didn’t even flinch at spending a five digit number to free angel boy slaves?

WHICH LEADS ME TO ANOTHER POINT. Vex. Vex has a serious hoarding problem. But not when it comes to money of earthly possessions. No. When it comes to PICKING UP STRAYS.

It’s how she got Trinket.

It’s how she got the angel babies.

It’s what she tries to do with the grey render baby.

It’s what she suggested they do with the dragon eggs in the Raishan fight

(LET! VEX! HAVE! PET! DRAGONS!)

IT HOW SHE GOT HER OWN GODDAMN HUSBAND OKAY.

I have no idea how she hasn’t adopted her own zoo by the time VM forms. Though I can totally see her opening orphanages in Whitestone, both for people and animals and creatures of all kinds, really.

Remember when she was the only one to protest the punching of a spectral ghost cow?

The hardships of her youth made her, yes, very afraid of being out of money, but also made her compassionate as fuck. She’s always down with helping people even if there’s little to no coin in it, okay? Stop overlooking that, assholes.

SPEAKING OF COMPASSION. Remember what her original beef with the Vasselheim potion seller was? That he took advantage of Grog being intellectually challenged. Which is what he did! Blatantly so! And he wasn’t the least bit sorry about it!

I mean, I bet he is by now, but, you know. Karma.

When Laura says Vex just wanted justice and then everyone else escalated that scene she is goddamn right, rewatch your own footage Matthew.

Oh god do I have to talk about broomgate now. I don’t want to talk about broomgate.

OKAY

Broomgate is literally the only time in the entire series that Vex ever takes something for herself. Was it the morally right thing to do? Maybe not. Though to keep in mind that a) Hardwick is a piece of shit, b) they literally met Gern when he had the skeletons of Kiki’s dead civilization dancing for him; Vax shanked Nothics for less, c) and this was hot off the heels of fighting a necromancer in the last big arc, too, d) they were on a mission to kill dragons. That fly. With no method of flying for the majority of the party. Vex always intended to use the broom for that purpose, so you could make the legal argument of commandeering it instead of stealing, and, finally, e) SHE HAD JUST FUCKING DIED

Why do we never talk about that

Other characters get cut all the slack for what they do after just dying

Other characters get cut all the slack when they steal from other guests

Other characters get cut all the slack when they withhold loot for the party

Other characters DIDN’T GET AN ALIGNMENT DROP FOR DOING WORSE SHIT THAN THIS

WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT BROOMGATE

WHY WAS BROOMGATE EVER EVEN A THING

okay

okay

MOVING ON

Hey, while we’re at dying. Remember how Vex spent the day after she, literally, died, trying to make sure the person who was to blame for her death was okay? She did that. And Percy was uncomfortable with it, visibly so, but also too guilty to call her out here.

And no one. NO ONE. EVER. Bothered to check in on how she felt after dying.

Vax made it all about the sacrifice he made, Percy felt too guilty, NO ONE ELSE CARED.

And what does she do? Soldier on. Try and cheer Vax up and support him in any way she can.

Honestly, learning the Raven Queen book by heart and then telling him that being the champion of a god is really fucking cool? Relatable. Relatable as fuck. You go girl.

And TO THIS DAY. ACROSS TWO CAMPAIGNS. Vex has been the only one. THE ONLY ONE. To EVER check up on someone after they died. Jester might eventually be the second one, but, you know. I am a big advocate for post-death and just post-big-battle-in-general aftercare cuddle piles or whatever. Someone tell the cast to implement that immediately.

And while we’re at death, let’s talk about THE DARKNESS

There are dark facets to her character. Vex never makes her own issues everyone else’s problem and they go largely unadressed, but they’re there.

Saundor brought up the story about how she got Trinket and had to kill for the first time while doing so.

(Sidenote: Saundor doing more research into her character than an actual writer is extremely telling.)

That was definitely traumatic for a young girl and I don’t mean to dismiss that, but that’s also the part I can understand Vax dismissing when they talk about it later on. They do kill a lot of people after that and this was self-defense, so hey, okay. Fine.

HOWEVER

That short story was indicative of many other things that torment Vex. Mostly her low sense of self-worth.

Like, her entire inner monologue is centered around how stupid she was for getting into this situation in the first place (= for being taken advantage of by criminals at the tender age of probably like 15), and how this would never have happened to Vax, who was away in the city to take care of them.

And we see that low sense of self-worth bleeding into Vex’s character throughout the campaign. That’s part of the reason why she spends the day after her first death making sure everyone else is okay. That’s also part of the reason she blames herself for Scanlan leaving and acts like she’s completely fine when he returns just so he’ll stay.

Honestly that short story is so insightful and explains so much about her, I don’t know how anyone could claim to have any grasp on her character without reading it.

(Also, Laura should write more, she’s talented)

Now a significant part of her self-worth issues obviously also ties back into her time at Syngorn. I can just hear people getting out their tiny violins, oh, waaah, she wasn’t one of the rich, cool kids in elf school, poor her.

But that’s not entirely it?

Like, just that is already plenty to fuck a person up. I’ve been there, too.

But let’s just say the fact that her dad was also cold towards them and acted like they were unworthy is a BIG part of what fucked her up. Call it daddy issues if you feel like being dismissive about a genuinely traumatizing upbringing, but that’s how it is.

And don’t get me wrong, if this were the traumatic childhood olympics, it’s not exactly up there and relatively tame for the background of a character in a fantasy story, but it is very true to life and extremely relatable, and Laura just executes it so well. So, so well.

That’s part of what makes the entire stretch of Feywild episodes so great. From what we see of Vax’s reaction later on, Percy is the only person she ever talked to about this - or at least the only one who ever listened - and he immediately got it. And instead of yelling at her about how amazing she is, he did something to make her feel better about herself. Without making it about himself, by the way.

I enjoy a fake married plotline as much as the next gal, but Percy giving her a title she’d have to earn by her own merits is soooo much more meaningful than just putting a fake ring on her, okay?

Yes, at the end of the day, this is basically a Cinderella fantasy. So what? No, really. One of the best things about Vex and her arc is that it validates feeling upset about not measuring up in superficial, material ways. And it validates getting your come-uppance. These are, as mentioned above, experiences that can really mess with a person, but we’re usually supposed to be above it all because money and titles don’t make you happy.

Also something only people who never struggled financially can say/believe unironically and without specifying.

Hell, that’s about 70% of the reason I’m considering getting a Ph.D. if I happen to get the grades.

I’m also not a big fan of the term daddy issues, but I can’t deny that this is a thing here

not the thing they went into the Feywild for, buuuut

ahem

So. Remember when Laura said during the campaign wrap up that Vex thought of Scanlan as a father figure and everyone was like whaaaaat? And I was like ahahahaha, I knew it.

This is so tragic, really. Because she tried so hard so many times to help Scanlan and be nice to him and he just brushed her off. And then she’s the one who volunteers to spend the night all by herself in some dirty pub far, far away after opening up to his daughter about her own issues to bring him back alive, and then gets yelled at, and never apologized to.

And then he comes back and tries to erase her memory and not only is that never even brought up, she also just doesn’t even think she might be owed an apology because a) she still blames herself for him leaving because, you know, they never really talked out what happened there and b) she’s just too happy for at least that father figure returning to them to make much of a fuss about it, and Percy, bless his heart, TRIES, but it’ll take a few more years of marriage to talk through all of her issues

And like. I am not wild about anything that happens after episode 99. If I’m known for anything in this fandom on this platform it’s probably for that time I was really into the Ioun discourse, which I still stand by, btw. And I personally would have preferred for Vex to maybe get someone like Sehanine as her patron, as fitting as giving her yet another unworthy and disapproving father figure in her life might be

But there is also something somewhat gratifying about everyone talking about how great she is. And she had been sort of working for Pelor before that. Also, the headcanons about her having sun spots or starting to glow when she gets emotional after this are amazing.

So I made my peace with that. She deserves better, but hey, she always does.

She is so smart. So extremely smart. People roll their eyes at her battle plans and say it’s all Travis feeding Laura information, but Travis fed her nothing that time she schmoozed up to the Briarwoods while also making herself appear extremely superficial and unthreatening. Honestly. That dinner scene? Prime Vex. Amazing Vex.

Her battle plans are also so good. Pokeball-ing Grog out of the kill box? Using the Goristro against Vorugal to save the party a trip into the abyss? The only plan of Vox Machina that ever worked out basically perfectly? Amazing. And even IF Travis told Laura these ideas, that means literally nothing in relation to how smart Vex is.

And btw I don’t believe that for a second. People just aren’t good with acknowledging that sometimes, D&D playing women might actually have good ideas.

And she just is so street smart. With her skills, her battle plans, and just her way of handling people. There’s a reason she is the natural leader when it’s not someone’s turn in the spotlight at the time.

Like, the two things holding her back were that her class was extremely underwhelming, so much so that it got completely revamped in the Unearthed Arcana to make up for how bad it was in the PHB, and the fact that she just. Has, what. 1.5 episodes of her own storyline? Even Pike got 2. It’s amazing that I can even say this much about her with how little narrative focus she got throughout the series. And most of what she did was literally due to Percy using his plot clout and putting a foot in the door to force her into the spotlight.

Speaking of which. Percy’s best quality, next to being self-aware of how fucked up he is and actively trying to do better and be kept in check, is how he realizes Vex is the coolest, smartest, most amazing person around and treats her accordingly. The way she deserves to be treated.

Oh hey I mentioned to get this far without even mentioning the romance arc. And oh my god THE ROMANCE ARC. The pining. The slow burn. And the fact that we actually saw them together and later married for like 35 episodes. They were so good for each other.

And yes, PERCY WAS GOOD FOR HER. And Vex was not his therapist and manic pixie dream girl. None of that bullshit here. Percy was already firmly on the path to being better before he even considered that crush he has had on her for forever to turn into something more.

And by he was good for her I mean that he actually UNDERSTOOD her and where she was coming from. Refer again to the titling issue, where Vax is just confused and kind of pissed, Percy got it. And that’s important.

Something I have not made a post about so far, by the way, is also something people have called problematic and co-dependant is how Percy shares his darker impulses with Vex in hopes she’ll talk him out of it. Which she does, and it’s never hard, but that also means so much to her? Because he involves her and tells her exactly what is going on with him and values her opinion? And that is just exactly what she needs? And they’re so good? THEY’RE SO GOOD.

WHEN DOES YOUR OTP EVER

HE COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A BETTER DREAM

This is more on Laura, admittedly, but also, it was just so great to see her unapologetically pursuing this romance? There’s a place at the table for a 72 episode slow burn, and she’s gonna go for it, and there’s nothing any of the dudebros who are just here for the fighting can do about it.

And also Vex is just so unapologetically sexual at the same time. From episode 1 onwards, really, and in general and just limited to Percy. And no one ever treats that as weird or bad or anything. It’s just who she is and that’s great.

And she fought. So hard. For that happy ending of hers. Kicking and screaming, against the world and against Taliesin’s determination that Percy is irredeemable and not capable of getting a happy ending. Defy that auctorial intent, my girl. You deserve it.

Seriously. Seeing her get that happy ending against all odds was unfathomably gratifying and validating and I’ve never connected to any single character or narrative at large for that matter this much and this intimately, and considering how I came across this story at one of the darkest times in my life, I probably never will feel so strongly connected to anything ever again.

Which is probably for the best, but hey. 

Aaaand there you go. An almost unstructured, epically long list of reasons I love Vex. Dammit, I talked about other characters way more than I intended, buuuut hey. That’s how it goes when you’ve got an ensemble piece, they’re all kinda interwoven.

Thank you this wonderful ask, anon, and reason to celebrate my 100,000th post on this site in style.

#critical role #cr #cr1 #vex'ahlia #lady vex'ahlia de rolo #is better than you #deserved better from the narrative #will forever be my favorite character probably #will forever be part of my ultimate OTP #we do not deserve her #we are unworthy #long post #long post for ts

[babybluebanshee]

Another post about stuff I’ve had to deal with as a city librarian

More of this, because humanity continues to vex and confuse me. 

- My coworker Julie noticed that one of our meeting rooms was unlocked (it’d been so busy at the desk that day, no one had been able to go back and check on it), and when she went in, the place was a complete disaster. Chairs were overturned, all the drawers were open, slurs were written on the window in sharpie, and, the crowner, a giant dick was drawn on the whiteboard. It took us an hour to get everything back the way it should have been. We were eternally grateful that no other groups had used the room after that first one, because it had been that way for hours before we noticed. 

- We found a tiny hammer by a computer. It was probably about the size of my pinky. No one ever came in to claim it. As far as I know, it’s still in our lost and found.

- I was checking the phone messages one morning, and we had one from an incredibly irate woman, yelling about how she tried calling us four times that day, and no one ever picked up, we should be ashamed of the way we treat people, we were a disgrace, etc. I listened to it again, to see when she’d called, and realized she’d called on the fourth of July. As in, a day we were closed. When no one was in the building to pick up the phone. I had to put the phone down and laugh.

- A boy of about thirteen years old came in to return some DVDs, which he upfront told me were overdue. Patrons can check out our DVDs for one week (as opposed to the three weeks we let them have books), and if they’re overdue, they’re a dollar a day as opposed to fifteen cents (DVDs are expensive and way more likely to get stolen). The kid had managed to wrack up about sixteen dollars in fines, and when I told him how much he owed, he flipped out. He was swearing and slamming his hands on the desk, saying we’d told him that they weren’t due for three weeks and now he was going to have to pay for them from his allowance, but it was our fault because we told him the wrong day. And then when I told him that he had to get his fines below fifteen dollars in order to check out more stuff, he yelled how that was stupid and stomped out. I vaguely remember wondering throughout the entire ordeal where his parents were. And yes, I was slightly worried for my safety, because he was an angry teenage white boy being told he couldn’t have something. I think we all are familiar with what that can lead too...

- A lady went into one of our study rooms with a tote bag, and proceeded to pull out a bucket of chicken, a thing of mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and biscuits. My coworker Karen went over and asked what she was doing, and she said, her mouth full of chicken, “Oh, I thought we could have food in here.” 

- Julie found a literal pile of shit in the kids’ area. We have no idea how that happened, but we all hope it was just a kid having an accident. It’s best for all our sanity.

- A woman came in and was behaving very oddly. Her speech was slurred, she stumbled like she was drunk, her face was slack, and when Bonnie went over to talk to her, she couldn’t remember the date or why she was at the library. We tried to convince her to let us call her an ambulance, and she said no, she didn’t need one. She stumbled back out before we could ask the director what to do. We were pretty sure she was having a stroke. 

- We found a needle in the YA area. Not for drugs or anything, but rather one people use to give each other tattoos in prison. It was homemade too. You could even tell where the needle had been glued to the handle. 

- Do you guys remember that lady I mentioned in the very first post that smells awful? Well, things have been escalating with her, to the point where my boss is actually looking to institute a new policy about offensive smells. It is just that bad. The smell has been lingering on everything she’s checked out, even after weeks of us deep cleaning it. There’s been dirt and squashed gnats and, recently, a live spider in her stuff for well over two months now. We’ve had to damage out about $150 worth of books because of her. 

- There are a staggering number of people who believe that we should catalog our books by genre, as opposed to by fiction and non-fiction. Like in a bookstore. Or by subject, which always tickles me because that IS how non-fiction is cataloged in the Dewey decimal system, but our patrons won’t go to the OPAC and figure out the call number. One woman (incidentally, the smelly lady) went on a rant about how Melville Dewey didn’t know what he was doing, that cataloging books was “women’s work” (???) he had no business trying to do, and that it’d be easier if we did it exactly the way she thought we should. When the shelver was going to put back some knitting books the lady didn’t want, she snidely said, “Good luck figuring out where they go.” I wanted to tell her it wasn’t hard for us because we could, ya know, actually look at the spine and figure it out. The was, like, part of our jobs and stuff.

- A man of about thirty came in with his elderly parents and basically acted like a giant manchild the entire time. He bossed his parents around like a toddler - ordering mom out to the car to get his ID, berating her when she said it wasn’t there because she was supposed to have grabbed it for him, yelling at his dad because he forgot to the son’s phone charger. The topper was when he basically bullied his mom into getting a card so he could get on the internet for free (his card was expired and his dad’s had too many fines), all the while saying it was “her fault” for not remembering his stuff for him and calling her all sorts of names. When I finished making the mom’s card, he didn’t even let her take it from me. He snatched it from my hand and stomped over to the computer. Reminder, this guys was at least thirty years old. I wanted to wring his entitled little neck. 

#daily life with blue #woe to the librarian #rant #words

[firethatgrewsolow]

Swiss Time - Chapter Sixteen

**The adventure continues (and this time it didn’t take ten years between chapters lol). Side note - it’s come to my attention that the little separator lines don’t work on mobile, so if the transitions in the chapter seem abrupt, that’s why. Apologies! Thanks for reading, and I hope you like it! <3**

Natalie jumped at the sharp crunch behind her, dropping the phone into its cradle. She spun around to find her aunt gnawing on a piece of celery, a devilish grin firmly planted on her face.

“How’s David? Enjoying the land of the rising sun?”

Nat’s mouth fell open. “Were you … eavesdropping on my conversation?”

“Of course.” Another crunch rang the room. “Would you expect anything less?”

Natalie snatched the stalk away, tossing it onto the bar. “Has anyone told you how obnoxious you are?”

“I do my best.” Sue gingerly reclined onto the sofa, nursing her bloody mary. “So, what did you talk about?”

“Why don’t you tell me? Since you were listening to the whole damn thing.”

“I just caught the last part. Unfortunately,” Susan added with a wink. “I suppose you didn’t mention where you spent last night, huh? And that you barely made it here in time for the call?”

Natalie sank into the chaise next to the window. “No. I didn’t.”

“Speaking of last night, care to fill me in on the details?”

“Not really.”

Susan cocked her head. “You are on the pill, right?”

“Aunt Sue!”

“Just making sure you’re safe. After all, you’re quite the juggler. Last night with Robert and then our trip down under next week?” Sue’s lips curved approvingly. “My, my, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Maybe I don’t. Natalie’s eyes glided to the sheet of glass beside her. The sun was beginning its descent, casting shimmering shapes across the expanse of Lake Geneva. She watched the elegant crafts threading through them, her mind wandering. She hadn’t meant for things to escalate so quickly with either of them. Truth be told, the connection with David had been somewhat of a surprise. As was how precious he’d been to her. Promising to call and actually doing it. He always keeps his promises. Unlike someone else she knew. There was another truth, though, a painfully obvious one. And that was that it just didn’t matter. Robert could do or not do whatever he pleased, and she’d still be lost. The draw she had to him trumped everything. What am I getting into? What am I already in?

“Out of your head, Nattie. You’re not answering the question.”

Natalie met her aunt’s vexed gaze. “I’m sorry. What was it?”

“Do they know about each other?”

Nat hesitated, rolling her lips. “Kind of.”

Sue’s brow lifted. “That’s a no if I’ve ever heard one.”

“Not true. Robert knows that I … spend time with David.”

“Darling, you may spend time with David, but you spent the night with Robert.”

Nat shook her head. “But we didn’t do anything … much. Just watched a movie and hung out.”

“Hung out,” Susan repeated, barking a laugh. “I like it. Nice euphemism. I wonder exactly what was hanging out.” She grinned as her niece cut her eyes at her. “You do realize what you’re doing here, right? A game of cat and mouse with some pretty big egos.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sighing, Sue propped her feet up on the coffee table. “You know these aren’t boys from school, Nat. They’re grown men, and they’re not typically fond of sharing.”

Natalie shrugged. “There’s nothing to share.”

“You spent the night in Robert Plant’s hotel suite, honey. If that’s nothing then it’s a whole lotta nothing.”

“Bullshit is what it is. They have girls in every city. Probably more than one.” Nat crossed her arms. “Hypocrites, the lot of them.”

“Hypocrisy is the principle they live by. And you’re well aware of it. Look, all I’m trying to say is that you’re getting in a little deep. And that’s something, coming from me.” Susan rose, padding toward the bar. “You’re playing with fire, love. And somebody’s going to get burned.”

Nat’s attention returned to the glittering lake. Maybe Sue was right. It was a lot to handle. And she’d promised herself she’d not get involved. It was a load of trouble, but more importantly, a potential career killer, and she was just starting to gain real traction. The rattle of glass against crystal filled the air, and Natalie glanced at her aunt. “Isn’t it a bit late in the day for bloody marys?”

“My day just started, sweet. This is breakfast.” Susan tipped the vodka, pouring liberally. “Would you like one? I hate to drink alone, and seeing as how Christian’s stuck at the casino with your boyfriend-”

“My boyfriend? Really?”

“Well, one of them,” Sue drawled, capping the bottle.

“What’s he doing down there?”

Susan rifled through the swizzle sticks, finally opting for her discarded stalk of celery. “Why, it’s the soundcheck, darling. Don’t you remember?”

Oh, shit. Natalie stole a peek at the clock on the bookcase. “Sue, will you call a car? I’m late.”

* * *

“So, you shag her yet?”

Robert rolled his eyes. “It’s none of your business, Bon-”

“That’s a no.” Bonzo cackled, his gaze for an instant darting lower. “You must be in a bloody bad way then, yeah?”

The singer expelled a tense breath, partly in frustration at the lack of filter on his friend but mostly because he was spot on. The night had been magical … sweet, loving, and far from chaste, but not quite the scenario that he’d hoped for. Robert clenched his jaw as Bonzo droned on.

“Well, never mind that. We’ll be in the States before long. Plenty of birds there.”

The drummer spoke the truth, but somehow the words were far from consoling. Robert needed Natalie, not some random girl from the third row. He’d resigned himself to the fact that it was probably going to take time, and he wasn’t going to pressure her or speed things along. He wanted her to want him so badly she couldn’t wait another minute. He knew it would be worth it in the end, but, fuck, he wished the clock would tick just a tiny bit faster. Still, it had been a joy simply being with her, their playful kisses and quiet whispers as they explored each other. Christ, he’d never seen somebody get so wet. It drove him completely mad. She knew it, too, flashing him the wicked little smile usually reserved for when she got her way, which was most of the time. And how she would secretly study him when she didn’t think he could tell what she was doing. Absolutely adorable. Ahh, and her eyes, so big and dark, one second wide and nervous, the next sly, devious. And sexy. Fucking hell, so sexy. He’d watched them close as she’d fallen asleep in his arms, the moonlight finally melding into morning. She’d woken up in them, too, a tangly-haired, sleepy-eyed mess. His tangly-haired, sleepy-eyed mess. He clenched his jaw again, tamping his body’s response.

“Bloody fuckin’ hell, mate. You’re a fuckin’ lost cause.”

Robert blinked, finding Bonzo through the film of the reverie. “What?”

“Get out of your head. And I’m not talkin’ about the one on your shoulders.” The drummer lit a cigarette, blowing out a thin stream of smoke. “I was saying you’re a lost cause. And that your girl’s even later that you thought she’d be.”

Robert canvassed the clock hanging haphazardly above the catering table. Bonzo was right. She was going to miss the soundcheck. Damn it. For a moment, he considered ringing her, as he’d done earlier. Meh, it’ll probably still be busy. They must have it off the hook. He snagged a Chimay from the small aluminum tub they’d set up as a makeshift cooler. What was she doing? She’d been gone for over three hours. It didn’t take that long to shower and fetch fresh clothes. Odd, very odd. His stomach rumbled as the aroma of newly delivered short ribs wafted through the room, and with a sigh, he pushed the thought away.

Nat sprang out of the taxi, hustling across the street before the light changed. She rounded the corner, bound for the casino, stopping in her tracks at what awaited her. A throng of people encompassed it, packed shoulder to shoulder along the sidewalks. She scanned the smoky crowd, lingering on a trio of girls that were casing those around them apprehensively. They know they aren’t getting in. In truth, most weren’t. There were simply too many of them. Some were seemingly stoned enough not to care, but that wouldn’t be the case with everyone. Summoning her reserve, she dove into the thick of it, worming her way through with resolute determination. Weathering a few scowls and cross words, she finally reached the tall double doors that marked the entrance to the concert hall. She rapped on the glass, waving to Tom, who was in conversation with a security guard she didn’t recognize. She slipped through the crack he made for her, leaning back against the doors as they shut.

“You should have come around the other way.”

Her eyes flickered to his. “Appreciate the advice, Captain Hindsight. I thought this way would be quicker. I had no idea there would be so many people.”

“You missed the soundcheck.”

Nat waved her hand dismissively. “Couldn’t be helped.”

“Robert didn’t look too happy.”

She ignored the ribbing and the goofy smile on his face. “Are you going to get to film? I did my best.”

“Looks like it. But that Grant guy ... he’s, um-”

“Formidable. I know. Just don’t fuck it up, and you’ll be fine.” She smirked, brushing past him as he turned a shade paler.

She located the boys in the private anteroom adjacent to the hall. Robert and Bonzo were in the corner, hovering over one of the catering tables while Peter and Christian reclined on the sofa, discussing McCartney’s new band, Wings. John Paul and Jimmy were in opposite folding chairs, quietly tuning their guitars and sipping Heineken. Such a contrast to the wild sea of fans just meters away.

“You’re late. You missed the sound check.”

Natalie glanced toward the source of the grumpy proclamation, squelching her amusement. Robert was posing, hands on hips, pouting like an overgrown toddler. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me for having a life. I had to go back home at some point.”

The singer grumbled. “There was a song I wanted to do for you.”

“Sneak it into Whole Lotta Love. You put everything else in there.” She blew him a kiss, falling into the sofa next to Peter, who patted the top of her leg with a beefy hand.

“What’s it like out there, love?”

“It’s a madhouse. I mean, everyone’s being cool, but I bet there are four or five thousand people. And this place only holds two.” She caught Jimmy appraising her out of the corner of her eye. “Have you thought of maybe piping the sound outside?”

“Bloody hell, no!” Peter scoffed, crushing his cigarette. “We do that and there’ll be twenty fuckin’ boots on the shelves before it’s even bloody over.”

Natalie dropped her bag on the end table. “So what? Christian’s filming the damn thing.”

“Yeah, but he’s not trying to sell it.”

“Well, I think you’re making a mistake. These people came from miles away, and some of them are going to be pretty pissed off when they realize they can’t get in. You should give them something.”

“Peter, I agree with Natalie. They deserve it for travelling from so far away.”

She pursed her lips to quell her smile. The band leader had spoken, and that sealed the deal. With a grunt, Peter stood, gesturing to Christian, and the two men disappeared into the hall. Nat kicked off her sandals, curling her legs underneath her.  “If it’s any consolation, I believe you’re doing the right thing.”

“T’was a good idea.” Jimmy angled his guitar against the sofa. “Peter’s a bit too protective at times.”

“It means quite a lot that you’re allowing Christian to film the concert.”

Jimmy rose, taking the manager’s former seat. “He’s promised us discretion and full authority to destroy it if we deem that necessary.”

“I see.” The cagey nature of the group was no secret. They ran a tight ship and a closed shop, the collaboration with Sandy Denny being one of the rare exceptions. If something didn’t show Zeppelin in the best possible light, it didn’t get shown. Or it disappeared. Nat had heard rumblings about an episode in Bath the previous year. The boys meant business. “Do you ever think you might regret being so heavy-handed about things like bootlegs? Maybe one day you might wish there were more.”

Jimmy met her gaze. “Regret isn’t in my nature. It’s wasteful. And I tend to believe that events transpire as they’re meant to.”

Nat had forgotten what a curious color his eyes were. Not quite green, but not quite hazel. There wasn’t really a name for it. “Like destiny, you mean?” She watched them narrow for a fraction of a second, his response lost to the raucous shouts behind her.

“Bonzo, you fucking git! You’ve ruined it!”

“I told you not to touch my food, mate.”

Nat twisted around to find an extremely furious Robert holding up his black bolero, which was slathered in a reddish-brown sauce. As Bonzo dissolved into a fit of boisterous laughter, she did the same, her hand sailing to her mouth.

“Fuck you, mate.” The singer shoved him mightily, stumbling backwards as his friend returned the favor.

Nat jumped up as they repeated the action, warily circling each other. “Cut it out, you guys.” She yanked the blouse from Robert’s grasp, surveying the damage. “Don’t be such a baby. This will come out with a wash. It’ll be as good as new by tomorrow.”

“Well, what am I going to wear tonight, then?”

“Who gives a fuck, Percy. Just prance around like you always do.”

Robert flew at him, but Bonzo was ready. With surprising agility, he skipped to the side, sending the singer straight into Natalie. She hit the ground with a resounding thud. “Goddamnit! What are you doing?”

“Christ, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Robert held out his hand, but Nat smacked it, grabbing Bonzo’s instead. “You’re like a bull in a china shop. Too rowdy.” She dusted the dirt from the back of her dress, freezing as she spied a newly formed rip in the sleeve of her cardigan. “Damn it! Look what you did.”

Robert picked up the discarded bolero, draping it on the arm of the sofa as he peered over her shoulder. “Did I do that? It’s not so bad.” He grinned as she glared at him.

“I just bought it.” Sliding off the sweater, Natalie inspected the tear. “And now I’ll have to get it mended.”

Robert tugged the cardigan away, his mouth curving as he admired the white and yellow daisies along the placket and collar. “This is rather nice. Blue, too, my favorite color.” He nibbled his lip. “I don’t suppose you’d consider letting me-”

“I want it back. Fixed.”

“You’re on, lads!” Peter’s voice rumbled through the room. It was time.

#robert plant fanfiction #robert plant fan fiction #robert plant fanfic #led zeppelin fanfiction #led zeppelin fan fiction #led zeppelin fanfic #swiss time

[mdelpin]

To Kill A Dragon - Chapter 2

Previously: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Next: Ch 3

Chapter 2: The Goddess Revealed

The restless deity looked around at her surroundings with contempt. To think this is what she'd been reduced to, a small room inside some sort of magic nullifying device. The mere perception of being held prisoner rankled her.

That they believed she could be bound amused her, but she'd been careful to do nothing to dispel them of the notion. Time was something she had a lot of at the moment, and she had every intention of using her so-called imprisonment to her advantage.

It was unfortunate that she'd been summoned without her dragon magic. A downright nuisance that dragons were extinct in this time. She'd been aware their numbers had been dwindling during the war, but she could never have foreseen they would die out completely.

It was a stroke of good fortune that traces of their magic still existed in the world. Found inside those dragon slayers and in rare cases inside something called lacrimas, but it was nothing compared to the might of an actual dragon. Had she needed more than a jumpstart to awaken her own dormant magics she would have found herself in a much different position.

She wondered if the white dragon slayer had realized what had happened yet. He seemed a bit simple, and she assumed he wouldn't see the real Minerva soon. While it had been enough for her needs, she'd been surprised at how weak his power had been when compared to a real white dragon, especially considering what she'd recognized inside him. If the remaining dragon slayers were of the same caliber, they shouldn't be able to put up much of a fight.

Those bumbling insects that had summoned her into this world had been busy gathering information on her playthings for weeks now. She would continue to cooperate with their plans until she got more of her magic back. After all, they were doing all the work for her and so far it had proved quite pleasurable.

When she felt strong enough, however, she'd make them all pay for their insolence, and then nothing would be able to stop her. Not even that black dragon they wanted her to kill, Acnologia.

And why should she kill him? Dragons were delightful creatures, and she enjoyed their company. No chromatic dragon had ever refused the chance to please their Queen. Except for that one haughty red dragon who'd dared call himself, King.

Igneel.

The humiliation of that moment still vexed her, and she wished he were still around so she could exact vengeance on him for daring to refuse her.

Although she hadn't expected to find a way out of Avernus this soon, she wouldn't waste this opportunity to remake this world into whatever she desired. She sat in her room and schemed.

xxx

A cloaked man returned to the Penta Dragon headquarters in Margaret Town. He looked frustrated as he entered the nondescript building located by the river. He wasn't looking forward to his report.

He was responsible for the surveillance of Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer, Natsu Dragneel. There were several problems with this duty. Natsu was invariably surrounded by his teammates, other members of Fairy Tail or that stupid flying cat. He was always away on missions, seemed to have no love interest, at least not one the man could make out. His main rivals were the ice mage and the Iron Dragon Slayer in that order.

Natsu also had the best senses out of all of the dragon slayers and could always seem to detect when he was being observed. If the man didn't have teleportation magic, he would've been caught countless times already.

All he'd been able to glean from his surveillance was that the dragon slayer was loud, powerful, excessively destructive, enjoyed fighting and liked to eat everything in sight, the spicier, the better. Natsu was able to eat fire as long as it was not produced from his own flames.

In short, he'd not been able to find out anything that you couldn't get out of an issue of Sorcerer's Weekly. He might as well report that Dragneel had been voted one of the most eligible mages in Fiore. He sighed. His Master wasn't going to be happy with him. At all.

He made his way to his Master's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

"Master," the man said, respectfully bowing his head.

"What are you doing back here? You're supposed to be keeping an eye on the Fire Dragon Slayer."

"He detected me again. I had to teleport away before he found me."

"Again? Are you growing sloppy or is he really that good?" the Master asked.

"He's that good. I've masked my scent differently each time, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. He always knows when I'm there. Perhaps you should send someone else," the man said hopefully.

"Nonsense, you're the best we have. If the dragon slayer found you out, we'll just have to change tactics. We'll have to create a situation where he's alone."

"Perhaps a mission request, that worked to help separate the Black Dragon from the White Dragon," the man suggested.

"I'll consider it. Now tell me what you have learned."

The man groaned inwardly but shared all the information he'd learned. As expected the master looked at him with dissatisfaction.

"That's it?" The Master frowned at him, "Fine, forget the Red Dragon and go keep an eye on the Black Dragon, I don't think you'll be of any further use in Magnolia."

The man bowed and accepted his new assignment. He headed out towards Sabertooth.

The Master sat in his office weighing his options. They'd chosen to go after the White Dragon Slayer first because his dragon was the weakest. Sting Eucliffe was also the most predictable. As a Guild Master, he had to attend the Magic Council's meetings in Era. They'd ensured he attended alone by distracting the Black Dragon.

The Red Dragon, however, was the most powerful of the chromatic dragons and his involvement was crucial to their plans for restoring Tiamat's magic. So far they'd not been able to find a poison dragon slayer for the Green Dragon.

There was a rumor of one being imprisoned by the Magic Council, but he was loath to come under their scrutiny this early. Even though he didn't trust her, he'd have to let Tiamat become more involved in the planning for this one. She was known for her cunning, and he'd made sure she was bound to the Penta Dragons. His decision made he began to pore over the books and parchments on his desk.

xxx

The following day a man and a beautiful woman sat amongst other travelers waiting for their trains at Magnolia station. They watched with interest as a group of teens approached the station.

The group was led by an imposing red-headed girl clad in armor. She was pulling an impossibly large cart filled with luggage behind her as she chatted with a pretty blonde girl who was dressed in skimpy clothes with a whip attached to her waist. Behind the girls was a rather attractive dark-haired boy who was discarding his clothes as he walked. He was arguing with a handsome pink haired boy while a talking cat flew around them.

This was definitely the group they were interested in. The man got up and walked to the ticket counter wanting to overhear the group's destination. The woman continued to observe them. As soon as the group moved away, the man purchased two tickets to the same location and returned to his seat.

The dark haired and pink haired boy continued their argument stopped only when the redhead turned to glare at them. As the discussion continued to escalate the redhead knocked their heads together violently.

The boys looked at her fearfully, putting their arms around each other and pretending to be friends. The other members of the group looked at them in amusement. They continued to glower at each other the second the redhead looked away.

Their train arrived at the station, and they all prepared to board. The man and woman made sure to board behind the group, taking seats that would allow them to continue their observation. They saw the redhead punch the pink haired boy unconscious before the train left the station. The woman was very interested in the redhead. When the train arrived at their destination, she made a point of bumping into her on the way off the train.

They'd overhead the name of the inn the group would be staying at, so they went on ahead and got a room.

"Are you sure it's the woman?" asked the man.

"He's a red dragon," Tiamat shrugged disinterestedly, "He wouldn't be able to resist going after the most powerful one in the group to assert his dominance. Lesser creatures would be beneath him. I think we can safely ignore the others."

They continued to watch and look for an opportunity to put the woman's plan into action.

A/N: Next chapter will have Team Natsu in it :)

#fairy tail #gratsu #ftlgbtales #update #fanfiction #tiamat #penta dragons #team natsu #dragon slayers #post gmg #tkad

[im-the-king-of-the-ocean]

6, 7, 8 for Aja/Jim please?😙

6. What is their favorite feature of their partner’s?

Aja likes Jim’s hair (both in human and troll forms), because it’s so silky in comparison to Akiridion hair.  She likes running hands through it because she likes the texture so much.

Jim likes the way Aja laughs and how her blushes are purplish.  He thinks she looks really cute and then tries to make her laugh again just to hear the sound.

.

7. What’s the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

Jim goes from being able to acting normally around Aja to super awkward and nervous.  He tries to get Vex or Krel to teach him Akiridion so he can impress her, but Vex only teaches him battle phrases and Krel teaches him Akiridion curse words that he says are normal words.  He and Aja eventually talk things out and he starts acting normally again soon.

Aja decides she must spy on Jim because he’s less social than the other teens at school and she needs to figure out how to court him (since the few normal human tactics she knows will likely not work on him, or so she thinks).  Krel teases her about this, Vex overhears (and misunderstands) and decides to turn things into an opportunity for Aja to learn reconnaissance, and all three somehow end up on a ‘spying on Jim’ mission.  This leads to further shenanigans as during the mission, they trail Jim back to his house and Vex gets distracted because Aja’s human boy lives across the street from the silver-haired temptress!  Long story short, Vex blows their cover, but Krel come up with a story about wanting to go around to all their classmates homes and officially meet them or something (mostly to embarrass Aja, who’s already very embarrassed).  Nana decides this is sweet and invites them all (including Barbara and Jim, who intervene at some point) to dinner at her place, which turns into dinner at the Lake house, because Jim is better at cooking for large groups than Nana.  Anyway, this dinner is characterized by Nana constantly flirting with Vex and Vex flirting back (more or less).  Krel making all sorts of embarrassing comments about Aja to Jim.  Aja trying to just get one word, Krel, one word!  in with Jim.  The eventual escalation into a sibling fight over who gets to talk to Jim.  Jim escaping into the kitchen and Barbara just sitting there like what the actual fuck?

Anyway, it all ends when the Akiridions realize they’ve been out too late and their disguises wear off.

um yeah

.

8. Nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

Jaybird - Aja hears Mary use Jimmy-Jam once for Jim and decides to adopt it, but then she decides she doesn’t like that someone else came up with it, so she switches to calling him Jay-Jay, which becomes Jaybird because she likes bluejays.

Omelette - Once they meet each other again, Aja mistakes Jim’s amulet for an omelette again, so he uses the word once as a nickname for her and it sticks (though no one else is allowed to call Aja, omelette).

#trollhunters #3below #tales of arcadia #jim lake jr #aja tarron #ajim #ajim asks and aus #inna-thetempestuousstream

[pinkbubbles-and-bigtroubles]

Jealous (Girls Talk boys part 6)

I don't like the way he’s looking at you I'm starting to think you want him too

Warnings:  18+++ drinking, smoking, drug use and cursing. Usual stuff but also sexual scenes and references from the outset and throughout SMUT

This gets off the main story line for a bit because I wanted to explore the Cody/Nick relationship a  bit rather than just have him as the girl’s sidekick.

Previous Chapter

Apparently Camille wasn't the only one with an eventful weekend. After Saturday's date with Quentin the following Sunday was crazy busy with Q&As, mock drafts and going live to give fantasy advice. With opening day less than a month away this was Camille's most hectic time at work. Her boss Stephen only let her off the hook for missing work because she had been out with Quentin, who had already texted her twice to set up Thursday.

However lunch today was reserved for Cody who had declared a Category 4 shitstorm emergency. Cody and Nick were great together but they both were huge flirts and they both had jealous streaks. This causes issues between them from time to time. Camille finished preparing the platter of chicken salad sliders and dumped some chips in a bowl. Pouring herself a glass of wine she responded to some of her subscribers questions while she waited. Cody was in a mood when he showed up.

He and Nick were good now but this past weekend had been a roller coaster. Friday night they had gone to a party. Nick had taken a few shots and Cody knew when Nick got tipsy he got handsy. Sure enough Nick had been grinding on some random on the dance floor. Cody tried to ignore it and began flirting with Evan, a mutual friend Nick was always accusing him of having a thing for. Mid conversation Evan grabs Cody’s arm to emphasize a point.

“Oh this is gonna get messy” Camille leans in trying not to laugh.

“Right you already know” Cody sighs.

“But I thought Nick doesn't get jealous” Camille poked him

.“Exactly he doesn't get jealous it's always me” Cody was outraged.

When Cody made eye contact with Nick he knew there was gonna be an argument tonight. He turned to grab another beer and when he turned back around Nick was now surrounded by two dudes and a girl. Then he took his shirt off. Cody gated that he couldn't help but appreciate his boyfriend's body every time he undressed. Nick spent hours at the gym maintaining his rock hard yet not ridiculously pumped physique. As much as it turned Cody on to admire his man dancing and grinding while everyone watched and admired him it also pissed him off to no end when Nick pulled these stunts.  He would act like a brat in public to embarrass Cody. If Cody got angry Nick would usually claim he was overreacting. Occasionally it would escalate into something else.

Cody refused to speak to or even look at Nick when he finally made his way over. Shirtless and sweaty Nick stood in front of Cody using his t-shirt to towel off.  “I don't know why you always get so jealous. It's just dancing. You'd know if you danced instead of being such a white boy.” Cody glared at him then resumed ignoring him as Nick kept talking. “You act like I'm plotting against you. You get insecure and take it out on me” Nick knew he'd hit a nerve now. “You're always so immature, and then you have the nerve to call me a brat.” Nick whined making Cody finally snap.

“You are a fucking brat. You act like a child demanding attention. Someone should show you how to behave” Cody slammed his drink and wiped his mouth. He ordered an uber just to get out of his party and away from Nick.  “I dare you to” Nick’s reply was heavy and low in a tone Cody had never heard before. “Don't say another word till we get home.” Cody snapped.

Walking into the house there was a dangerous tension between them. Cody went into the kitchen to pour a drink. Nick trailed behind him before leaning against the counter. “So what are you gonna do now big man?” Nick taunted walking over till they were chest to chest looking up at Cody. Nick slid his hand down the front of Cody's pants cupping him and smirking as he felt him stiffen up.  Cody snatched Nick’s hand away and backed him up against the counter. “You talk to much. Shut the fuck up” “Or what?” Nick challenged. “You're about to find out” Cody hissed in Nick’s ear while he slid his thigh in between Nick's legs. Cody felt him shudder and heard him moan. Having this kind of power over Nick was intoxicating. “Get undressed, go take a shower, get ready for your punishment” Cody kept his voice stern as he backed away.

Nick began to walk out of the room before stopping in the doorway. He turned to meet Cody's eyes and smirked again before slowly pulling his shirt over his head. Unbuttoning his jeans his slid those down his hips before kicking them to the side. Reaching for his boxer briefs he turned his back to Cody until he was fully bare. Turning to face Cody he began to slide his hands to his cock. “No” Cody ordered him “you're not allowed to touch yourself. Go do what I told you to” Nick pouted but did as he was told. Cody changed his clothes and went onto their screened in patio.

Taking a seat and lighting a smoke he waited for Nick. Nick came out in just a towel wrapped around his hips. Cody was tempted to drop to his knees and suck him off right then and there. The challenge in Nick's eyes could not go unforgiven. “Why are you always such a brat? Do you want me to be angry?” Cody asked as Nick stood in front of him head down, eyes on the floor with his hands behind his back. “I'm not a brat. You just got jealous that's…” before Nick could finish Cody was on his feet. “You dare to talk back to me?” Cody grabbed the back of his neck. Cody almost stopped not sure where the lines were drawn. Nick looked up at him with his eyes full of lust “I'm sorry sir, please teach me a lesson.” Cody felt his knees quiver and he sat back down. “On your knees then show me how sorry you are” he whispered. Just as he felt Nick's lips wrap around his cock  his phone buzzed

unknown number If you two are going to do this outside I'm going to watch

Cody knew he should move this inside or at least tell Nick they had an audience. Right then Nick went all the way down gagging slightly as he pulled back up. His left hand wrapped around the shaft twisting and pulling in sync with his head bobbing up and down. Cody felt his eyes roll back as he tried to keep his eyes on Nick but it felt so fucking good. “Shit, fuck babe show me you're sorry” Cody could feel his orgasm start to build.

Unknown number This is hot

Cody looked down and saw that Nick was stroking himself. “Stop that.I didn't say you could touch yourself” Cody pushed down on Nick's head. Nick raised his eyes with that same challenging look as before. He released Cody’s cock and smiled up at him. “Why don't you make me?”

“The fuck did you just say to me” Cody snapped back. “Nothing sir, I'm sorry” Nick let a smile slip past.

“You've still got an attitude? Stand up. Now.” Cody barked. Nick jumped up. “Turn around” Cody ordered “sit down” “But sir, it's too big” Nick protested. Cody was worried he might hurt him but as Nick lowered himself onto him Cody could tell Nick had gotten himself ready for this. He eased into Nick who took a minute getting adjusted. Nick dug his fingers into Cody's skin and threw his head back. “Oh GOD, I've wanted this all night” he whined.

Unknown number Ok that's it I'm having a wank

Cody thrust himself upwards as Nick grunted and pleaded for more. He bit down on his neck and whispered in his ear “play with yourself, cum with me.” Nick just nodded and began to stroke his cock. As Nick got closer he began to buck his hips sending Cody to the edge. Feeling Cody go as deep and hard as he could sent Nick into his own climax. Afterwards the two spent a moment trying to catch their breath. Nick eased himself up and reaching for his discarded towel began to clean them both off. Cody caught Nick in a kiss as he leaned over him “Why do we fight like that?” “Because I love the way you fuck me when you’re jealous” Nick replied “I'm going to bed.” Cody lit a cigarette and checked his phone again.

Unknown number That's a massive cock you've got there Lemme know if you need any help with it XoxoHarryxoXo

“Shut the fuck up” Camille’s jaw was on the floor. “Is it weird that I kind of want to masturbate after that story?”

“So should I say something to Harry? Should I tell Nick?” Cody didn't want to mess things up with Nick but he was genuinely intrigued by Harry.

“No and not if you haven't already” Camille responded. “Nick will think you feel guilty, and Harry looks like fun but loads of trouble.”

“I suppose” Cody pouted, “now what about you Miss popularity? Tom comes over all the time, Calum and you have become such good ‘friends' and now a real live celebrity NFL player? Please tell you are planning to smash this one.”

Camille clicked her tongue at him “I'm gonna I'm just a little afraid of his monster cock. He's such a big dude.”

Cody just laughed “I'm not afraid. Send that big boy my way.”

“Easy to say when you're a top” Camille snorted.

“Fine I'll handle the the giant dick but he better not expect me to know football” Cher quipped strolling into the kitchen. Grabbing a sandwich and a glass of wine she sat down. “So he told you about his little exhibitionist escapade?” Cher asked, Camille nodded.

“Wish I'd seen it” Cher teased “sounds kinda hot.”

“Piss off, what did your agent say?” Cody grabbed another bottle of wine refilling their glasses.“So basically, they're going to put Lucinius into a Vexxed special edition to build some buzz.”

Cher had recently created a new character. Vexxed and most of the creatures in his world were demonic. However humanoid creatures and mutant humans would pop up especially for cross promotion. Her newest creation Lucinius was an energy vampire who fed on sexual energy. Blonde curls, piercing blue eyes, otherworldly beauty, it was pretty obvious where she'd drawn inspiration from. “Shit I almost forgot I ran into Ashton, and he's a nosy little fucker.” Cher turned to Camille

“He asked what was up with you and Calum and me and Luke.”

“There’s nothing going on with Calum” Camille rolled her eyes.

“Bitch why are you lying? There may not be something but it's not nothing. You still don't have your favorite pen back just so y'all can play this little game. “ Cher was having none of it.

“Wait till he meets Quentin” Cody chimed in.

“Not gonna happen” Camille snapped. “what am I gonna do invite him and his girlfriend out for a double date?”

“It will if we have a party and invite them” Cher told her.

“I hate you guys” Camille had to laugh.

Camille took a wine nap before having to do a Skype interview that evening. Cher had a convention appearance this coming weekend. She wanted to leave Thursday night to give Camille the house to herself after her date.

 “ABSOLUTE FUCKING PRICK” Camille was in a rage.Cher popped off her headphones. “Politics, sports or personal” she called upstairs.

“That condescending bastard Aiden Pruitt” Camille came down the stairs.

Cher just sighed “something specific or just his usual bullshit?”

Pruitt was a co-host of Sports Wire and he had a antagonistic relationship with Camille. It made for fantastic tv and had greatly enhanced Camille’s career.

“It's hot as balls up in that studio” Camille complained peeling off her PFS jersey leaving her still with full hair and makeup but with just a sports bra and fuzzy pajama shorts. Camille came into the living room a minute later still sweating with a glass of iced tea.

“So this fuckwit starts in on me about quarterbacks” Camille picks right back up where she left off. Cher switched to half listening mode letting Camille just talk it out. “It's not what he says it's how he” She was interrupted by a  huge cracking sound followed by a distant but still very loud booming explosion. Then the lights went out.

Next Chapter Back To Black

#5sos #calum 5sos #luke 5sos #ashton 5sos #calum hood #calum 5 seconds of summer #calum hood imagine #5sos imagine #5sos fanfiction #5sos fanfic #harry styles #luke hemmings #luke hemming imagines #luke 5 seconds of summer #ashton irwin #ashton imagine

[multipleservicelisting]

‘Hell, Yes,’ Republicans Are Headed for a Bitter Internal Showdown

As President Trump prepares to leave office with his party in disarray, Republican leaders including Senator Mitch McConnell are maneuvering to thwart his grip on the G.O.P. in future elections, while forces aligned with Mr. Trump are looking to punish Republican lawmakers and governors who have broken with him.

The bitter infighting underscores the deep divisions Mr. Trump has created in the G.O.P. and all but ensures that the next campaign will represent a pivotal test of the party’s direction, with a series of clashes looming in the months ahead.

The friction is already escalating in several key swing states in the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s incitement of the mob that attacked the Capitol last week. They include Arizona, where Trump-aligned activists are seeking to censure the Republican governor they deem insufficiently loyal to the president, and Georgia, where a hard-right faction wants to defeat the current governor in a primary election.

In Washington, Republicans are particularly concerned about a handful of extreme-right House members who could run for Senate in swing states, potentially tarnishing the party in some of the most politically important areas of the country. Mr. McConnell’s political lieutenants envision a large-scale campaign to block such candidates from winning primaries in crucial states.

But Mr. Trump’s political cohort appears no less determined, and his allies in the states have been laying the groundwork to take on Republican officials who voted to impeach Mr. Trump — or who merely acknowledged the plain reality that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won the presidential race.

Republicans on both sides of the conflict are acknowledging openly that they are headed for a showdown.

“Hell yes we are,” said Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Mr. Trump.

Mr. Kinzinger was equally blunt when asked how he and other anti-Trump Republicans could dilute the president’s clout in primaries: “We beat him,” he said.

The highest-profile tests of Mr. Trump’s clout may come in two sparsely populated Western states, South Dakota and Wyoming, where the president has targeted a pair of G.O.P. leaders: John Thune, the second-ranking Senate Republican, and Liz Cheney, the third-ranking House Republican.

“I suspect we will see a lot of that activity in the next couple of years out there for some of our members, myself included,” said Mr. Thune, adding that he and others would have to “play the hand you’re dealt.”

He may face less political peril than Ms. Cheney, who in voting to impeach Mr. Trump said that “there has never been a greater betrayal by a president.” The Wyoming Republican Party said it had been inundated with calls and messages from voters fuming about her decision.

Mr. Trump has talked to advisers about his contempt for Ms. Cheney in the days since the vote and expressed his glee about the backlash she is enduring in her home state.

Privately, Republican officials concerned about possible campaigns for higher office by some of the high-profile backbenchers in the House who have railed against the election results and propagated fringe conspiracy theories. Among those figures are Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Andy Biggs of Arizona. All three states have Senate seats and governorships up for election in 2022.

Just as striking, a number of mainline conservatives in the House are speaking openly about how much Mr. Trump damaged himself in the aftermath of the election, culminating with his role in inspiring the riots.

“The day after the election, that question of leadership was unquestionably in one person’s hands, and each week that has gone past, he has limited himself, sadly, based off his own actions,” said Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who predicted that rank-and-file voters would come to share his unease after they fully absorbed the Capitol riot.

Still, Mr. Trump has vowed a campaign of political retribution against lawmakers who have crossed him — a number that has grown with the impeachment vote. The president remains hugely popular with the party’s grass roots and is most likely capable of raising enough money to be a disruptive force in 2022.

Scott Reed, the former chief political strategist for the Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobby, said that Republicans should prepare for a ferocious internecine battle. Mr. Reed, who as an ally of Mr. McConnell’s helped crush right-wing populists in past elections, said the party establishment would have to exploit divisions within Mr. Trump’s faction to guide its favored candidates into power.

“In 2022, we’ll be faced with the Trump pitchfork crowd, and there will need to be an effort to beat them back,” Mr. Reed said. “Hopefully they’ll create multicandidate races where their influence will be diluted.”

An early test for the party is expected in the coming days, with Trump loyalists attempting to strip Ms. Cheney of her House leadership role. Should that effort prove successful, it could further indicate to voters and donors that the party’s militant wing is in control — a potentially alarming signal to more traditional Republicans in the business community.

Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, has acknowledged to political donors in recent days that the departing president and some members of his faction have seriously damaged the party’s relationship with big business, people familiar with his conversations said.

If Ms. Cheney is deposed, it could encourage primary challenges against other Republicans who supported impeachment or censure, including more moderate lawmakers like Representatives Peter Meijer and Fred Upton of Michigan and John Katko of New York, whose districts could slip away from Republicans if they nominated hard-line Trump loyalists. But in a sign that Mr. Trump can’t expect to fully dictate party affairs, Mr. McCarthy has indicated that he opposes calls to remove her from leadership.

William E. Oberndorf, an influential Republican donor who gave $2.5 million to Mr. McConnell’s super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, in the 2020 election, said that donors should be closely watching the impeachment votes as they formulate their plans for giving. A longtime critic of Mr. Trump, Mr. Oberndorf said it had been a mistake for the party not to oust Mr. Trump during his first impeachment trial last year.

“They now have a chance to address this egregious mistake and make sure Donald Trump will never be able to run for public office again,” Mr. Oberndorf said. “Republican donors should be paying attention to how our elected officials vote on this matter.”

It is not yet clear how widely the party leadership might embrace a no-new-Trumps strategy, and there are strong indications that the Republican base might react with fury to any explicit effort to relegate the former president to the political dustbin. In a vexing complication for Senate leaders, the chairman of their campaign committee, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, has spoken critically of impeachment and opposed certifying Pennsylvania’s election results — a vote that could undermine his ability to raise funds from big donors.

A number of state parties are already controlled by Trump allies, some of whom said Republican traditionalists would have to come to terms with their new coalition.

“What President Trump has done has realigned the political parties, and either the establishment of the Republican Party recognizes that or we don’t — and I believe that we will,” said Representative Ken Buck, who is also the Colorado G.O.P. chairman. He suggested that the party should be attentive to Mr. Trump’s working-class support and avoid being “hyperfocused on the suburban vote.”

In some respects, the party may still face the same irreconcilable pressures that have hobbled it for the past four years: on the one hand, Mr. Trump’s powerful cult of personality on the right; on the other, his deep personal unpopularity with the majority of American voters. As appalled as party leaders may be by the president’s conduct, they cannot win general elections if his die-hard supporters stay home or cast protest votes.

On paper, the G.O.P. should stand a good chance of recapturing one or both chambers of Congress in the next campaign, since the Democratic majorities are small and the party that holds the White House usually loses ground in midterm elections.

But Republicans are in a state of extreme disarray in the Sun Belt states that slipped into Mr. Biden’s column, and in several large Northern battlegrounds like Wisconsin and Michigan, they are confronting the likelihood of unruly Senate or gubernatorial primaries. The last time Democrats controlled the presidency, the House and the Senate, in 2010, Republicans won the House but failed to claim the Senate because some of their nominees were out of the mainstream.

The divisions may be playing out most acutely right now in the two historically red states that flipped into Mr. Biden’s column and elected three Democratic senators this cycle: Georgia and Arizona. Local G.O.P. establishments are reeling from those defeats, and Mr. Trump has battered local leaders with vehement — and false — claims of political perfidy.

Both states have elections for Senate and governor in 2022, offering hard-line Trump supporters a number of inviting targets.

In Arizona, state party officials who supported Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory there have initiated an effort to censure Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, over his public-health policies, as well as Cindy McCain and former Senator Jeff Flake, a pair of Republicans who backed Mr. Biden. Mr. Ducey may be the party’s strongest recruit for a Senate race next year.

Jonathan Lines, a former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party who is supportive of Mr. Trump, said he feared that an insular faction would cripple the G.O.P. at a moment when it needed to be rebuilding.

“It’s just destroying the party to go out and try to censure people,” Mr. Lines said. “It doesn’t show that they’re trying to attract new people to the party.”

And in Georgia, Mr. Trump has vowed to take down his former ally, Gov. Brian Kemp, for refusing to sabotage the election outcome in his state. This week, the state’s second-ranking Republican, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who rebuked Mr. Trump for his interference, demoted three state legislators who had sought to help Mr. Trump void the state’s election results.

Several Republicans said they hoped Democrats would overreach with their newly acquired power in ways that would unite the G.O.P. “Nothing unites a party like a common threat,” said Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio.

Yet Mr. Stivers, who ran the House campaign committee in 2018 and saw how Mr. Trump hurt the party, said he hoped the president would “step aside” in the fashion of his predecessors who have “had their time in the sun.”

And what if he doesn’t, and demands payback against the likes of Mr. Upton, a much-liked House veteran who backed impeachment?

“Then I max out to Fred Upton,” Mr. Stivers said.

    Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

www.MultipleServiceListing.com 

The post ‘Hell, Yes,’ Republicans Are Headed for a Bitter Internal Showdown appeared first on Multiple Service Listing.

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/2Natq0J

#multiple #service #listing #news #local #business #ads #near #me