#& then seeing yasha with one of jester & fjord's babies & going ''okay okay let's try it''

[exostrangers]

Psssst! Half-aasimar babies growing up with puppies.

HHHHH YEAAAAAAAH!!

#ask #anonymous #CR2 #beauyasha babies anon #i just want you to know you've ruined my life #i've been sitting here all day thinking about beau being pretty ''eh i don't know that i want kids'' #& then seeing yasha with one of jester & fjord's babies & going ''okay okay let's try it'' #& then becoming the parent who keeps wanting more kids because she's so protective of them & she loves them so much #& she loves seeing yasha gently teaching them & loving them #yasha being like ''i don't think we need anymore kids beau...'' & beau being like ''🥺''

[professorthaddeus]

soften every edge

Luc doesn’t remember a lot about his early childhood.

He knows it wasn’t exactly the most normal of upbringings. He knows that most kids didn’t grow up with crossbow practice, magic books, and a dog that could blink in and out of existence. He knows he moved around a lot. He knows that Mom is a hero, and that she couldn’t be at home for a while.

He knows that at one point, he died.

Sometimes he’ll get flashes that he’ll try to make sense of. Frantic shouts in the air and splinters of wood at his feet as he runs alone to Old Edith’s. The twittering of a hummingbird on one shoulder and the steady hand of a man with a shock of white hair on the other. People rushing around him to a looming tower in the distance. A heat so intense it fills his lungs and makes his eyes water, a blaze of light, an explosion that turns everything to static and pain. Darkness.

Hands on his chest, gentle, but with a power that sends warmth pulsing from his heart to the tips of his fingers. Uncle Ducey, even paler than usual, his tired smile the first thing Luc sees when his eyes flutter open.

(They’ve always had a connection. It took a while for him to wrap his head around it, but he recognizes now that it was Uncle Ducey who brought him back to the land of the living. And at times it feels like Luc is only truly tethered here when he reaches up to tuck his hand into Uncle Ducey’s, when the two of them sit side by side in a garden, planting seeds in a peaceful silence interspersed by the occasional toot.)

Mom and Dad, hugging him between them, a tangle of arms and legs as they hold him close. Fabric damp from tears, a thick smell of smoke, but the familiar scent of Dad’s chemicals and Mom’s black powder as well.

(People might find it strange that such things are comforting to him, but they’re his reminders that Mom and Dad will always be his protectors. Not that they’d let him forget it anyway—they’ve always been a little overbearing. He gets it, and he can’t blame them when they want to keep an eye on him everywhere he goes or set up traps on all the windows of their home. At least Beau—not Auntie Beau, she always insists, and Luc agrees; Beau’s as much his aunt as anyone, but she’s also TJ’s sister and the label would be so weird—she teaches him how to sneak around the traps and makes him a master at coming up with excuses to get away when he needs it.)

Uncle Caleb’s face appears a lot too, screwed up in a haunted expression Luc doesn’t understand as Frumpkin is sent over to nuzzle in his arms.

(He understands a little, now. Regret, sadness, a weight of guilt that hunches thin shoulders and darkens blue eyes. He still sees it, sometimes, when he asks too many questions about Uncle Caleb’s adventures, about his scars, about how he picked up all the cool spells he’s teaching Luc now. Uncle Caleb always answers with a smile, as patient and warm as his bedtime stories and lessons in magic. But Luc’s learned that some things are difficult to talk about, and he’s learned to be careful not to push too much.)

There’s also Auntie Jester’s voice in his ear, always loud and lively, but occasionally with a wobble that makes him want to go back in time and give her a hug.

(It’s weird to think about Auntie Jester sounding scared. She’s the most badass blue lady in all of Exandria, and whenever she visits, they skip along the beaches of Nicodranas together and play pranks on grumpy shopkeepers. She’s always got a spring in her step and a pastry in hand, and she talks about things like pirates and sea serpents without missing a beat. Luc doesn’t know what could make her afraid. He doesn’t like thinking about it.)

He doesn’t think Uncle Fjord, Auntie Yasha, or Beau were there that night. But he can picture them surrounding him afterwards, a wall between him and any danger that would dare try to take him again.

(And of course, they’ve etched themselves into his history as much as the others since then. Uncle Fjord taught him how to swim, and the two of them have taken countless dives along miles of sparkling coral. Auntie Yasha is lessons in swordfighting and piggyback rides through the sky, and also lazy afternoons in the sun with notes from a harp drifting in the background. Beau’s the one Luc can tell anything without fear of being tattled on, the one who teaches him to use his fists, but only in defense of himself and his friends. Luc just hopes they don’t feel like they have to make up for that one moment they were gone.)

Sometimes it’s all a bit too much. Sometimes he’ll wake up clammy, his pajamas drenched in a cold sweat, with noises crawling into his ears and crowding in his head, and he has to reach for his copper wire and call for Mom or Dad to stay with him until he falls asleep again. He’s probably too old for that now.

They never ever judge him for it, though, or tell him he needs to grow up and face the nightmares alone. Uncle Ducey says it’s okay, too, that Luc’s worries of being annoying or a baby are just lies from his brain that he can recognize and shut down. There’s no shame in getting support from the people who love you. In fact, it’s one of the most precious gifts that nature can offer.

So he doesn’t remember a lot. But he knows he has the coolest parents in the world, even if they can be overprotective. And he knows he has six aunts and uncles who would do absolutely anything for him. It’s something he’s never going to take for granted.

(He’d be lying if he said he never takes advantage of it, though. But hey, he’s totally just using the resources the Wildmother gave him when he asks eight different adults for something until he gets an answer he wants. It would be wasteful not to.)

—————

also on ao3

#critical role #luc brenatto #caduceus clay #mighty nein #veth brenatto #yeza brenatto #caleb widogast #jester lavorre #I actually started writing this before 2x129 and didn't have any plans to finish it right away #but then uhh everything happened and I reworked this to fit the events of the episode #and stayed up the rest of the night to complete it oops #we'll see how I feel about this after getting some sleep lmao #if anything this was kind of therapeutic after the stress of watching that episode live #c2e129 #my writing #cr spoilers #my ramblings #cr fic

[chockfullofsecrets]

Critical Role: Don’t You Know?

(Read on AO3)

Rating: Gen

Summary: Clarabelle just giggles, revealing a little gap between her two front teeth. “What?” she asks. “Don’t you know? Caduceus never starts tickle fights, he knows he’s gonna lose!”

“Belle,” Caduceus says loudly, “maybe you should go check on the tea-”

Beau likes to think she has a good sense for potentially incriminating information, and right now it’s pinging off the fucking walls. “No, no, no, tell me more.”

Wordcount: 3.7k

A/N: fill for this anon prompt! and for a bunch of people who want to see poor Cad get absolutely wrecked, apparently XD 

spoilers for C2E92 and C2E96 - and a little side note that i may have forgotten the timing of certain Greater Restorations while planning this fic, so let's just pretend that the clerics had two more of them to cast that day 🤦

---

Beau doesn’t like feeling jealous. It’s not a frequent feeling, around the Nein, since they’re all pretty much the same level of fucked up, but watching Caduceus and his siblings sit in amiable silence as they work through prepping whatever grows around here that passes for dinner is starting to get to her.

Maybe it’s just too soon, after going back home to Kamordah. She’s fine, or she will be - she loves her friends and they love her and her parents don’t and that’s fine, but -

She grits her teeth. All she has to do is sit here in this corner and wait for Caduceus’ mom to finish making tea in the other room, and then she can take it and run and leave this happy little family tableau to their own devices. She’s got a bottle of wine and access to a trickster cleric, it’s not going to be that hard to have a good evening.

She’s still mulling over what kind of pranks she can play in a petrified temple when the littlest Clay - who’s still a good head taller than her, because fucking firbolgs - finishes scraping the peel off the last unidentified vegetable in her stack and drops her knife with a bright little clank as she turns to her brother. There’s no way Caduceus hasn’t noticed that for every one she’s done herself she’s snuck another into his pile, but Beau’s not going to be the one to rat her out. “Okay, I’m done, lemme look at your hair! I bet I can fix it, I have all my dyeing stuff with me.”

Caduceus eyes his own pile and, very slowly, starts pushing it in his older sister’s direction. Beau chokes back a snort.

Said sister’s eyes narrow. “No!”

The little one pouts at both of them. “But Calliope, look at him, he needs help!”

Big sister - Calliope - takes advantage of the little circle the three of them are sitting in to shove both of their shoulders simultaneously. “No. If you two are taking a break, then so am I!”

Caduceus rumbles out a laugh, already starting to undo his braid. “Sure, but you’re explaining why we’re not done to Mom.”

It’s a low move. Beau approves entirely.

Calliope scoffs and tosses her paring knife in his direction handle-first, laughing herself when he yelps and dodges. “Oh, we’ll see who’s doing the explaining.”

She’s smiling, though, as she gets up and stretches. Beau takes one look at her insanely toned arms and has to swallow convulsively to get her saliva flowing again.

As she wanders off, Caduceus shakes the last of his hair loose and flops the whole pink mass over onto his face. “Don’t pull too hard, Clarabelle, it’s pretty fragile right now.”

“I’m not a baby, Caduceus,” Clarabelle snarks, and promptly climbs halfway into his lap to bury her hands in it and start bemoaning the state of his roots.

The quip slips out of Beau’s mouth reflexively. “You know he’s just luring you in so he can tickle you, right?”

It’s kind of their thing, her and Caduceus, whenever one of their group is standing anywhere in his vicinity and his hands are free. The reactions are great - the warning makes Jester bounce excitedly, Fjord and Caleb go all red and sputtery, Yasha look up in quiet anticipation - fuckin’ adorable, by the way - and Nott threaten to kill them all as she darts away.

And if she’s a little too invested in the way Caduceus huffs and throws her a quiet little smile before reeling his victim in, like they’ve got an inside joke that’s just for the two of them - well, that’s just an unexpected benefit of the chaos.

Today, though, two pink heads snap in her direction. Caduceus makes a panicked little sound, barely audible under all the floof, and isn’t that interesting.

Clarabelle just giggles, revealing a little gap between her two front teeth. “What?” she asks. “Don’t you know? Caduceus never starts tickle fights, he knows he’s gonna lose!”

“Belle,” Caduceus says loudly, “maybe you should go check on the tea-”

Beau likes to think she has a good sense for potentially incriminating information, and right now it’s pinging off the fucking walls. “No, no, no, tell me more.”

Clarabelle beams. “Calliope!” she yells. “C’mere, we have to tickle Caduceus!”

Caduceus’ ears shoot up in obvious alarm. He lunges forward and makes a decent attempt at smothering her through all the hair in his way, but Calliope’s already turning around.

Beau shivers - apparently the smug Caduceus look is genetic. “Did I hear that right, Belle? Caduceus has been going out and starting tickle fights?”

Caduceus lets go of his sister and gets halfway up before Clarabelle tackles him with a war cry. They’re wrestling on the ground, lanky limbs everywhere and absolutely terrible form, by the time Calliope lopes over.

She reaches in with one hand and hauls her seven-foot-tall brother up into a sitting position by the collar of his shirt - fuck, that’s hot. Beau firmly suppresses the urge to fidget as Calliope tugs one of Caduceus’ arms up over his head and yanks his sleeve down to his elbow. “Well, Caduceus? Got anything to say for yourself?”

Caduceus actually whines. It takes serious effort not to gape in shock. “I didn’t do anyth-ING-NO-”

His protests dissolve into near-silent squeaks as Calliope starts to tickle his - hands? Beau watches closely as she drags her fingertips up his forearm, fluttering them lightly in the crease of his elbow, and commits the technique to memory.

Caduceus’ helpless grin is wider than she’s ever seen it. He braces his feet on the floor and tries to twist free, elbows akimbo. “Calliope! Stohop it, I’m - heh - I’m not-”

She snorts. “Not a chance, we’ve got - how many years has it been again?”

“Two hundred!” Belle chirps, and dives in to worry at the backs of Caduceus’ ears with blunt fingernails. The trembling, stuttery sounds he’s making jump an octave as he frantically shakes his head from side to side.

“Ten,” he snickers. “Belle - heeeh, hehe - cut it out, I’m - mmm! - I’m serious, come ohohon-”

Clarabelle turns back to Beau. “See?”

Oh, Beau sees. She’s gonna get so much mileage out of this.

Caduceus looks over at her too, eyebrows furrowing, but Calliope’s already talking over the both of them. “Well, that’s a lot of years to catch up on, I’d better pull out the big guns.”

Caduceus’ eyes widen. Beau decides to help the panic along and mouths big guns? in his direction, slipping her notebook out and opening it to a fresh page.

Caduceus yelps and throws himself forward with alacrity she’s never seen from him, ripping his arm from Calliope’s grip and nearly scrambling past Clarabelle before his big sister takes a step forward and scoops him up under the arms. “Nice try,” she tells him. “Might have worked, if you weren’t so scrawny.”

She drops him on top of Clarabelle. “Hey!”

“Sorry, Belle, you gotta stay out of the way!”

“No, I’m helping!” she insists, and dutifully wrestles her way on top of Caduceus to start tickling his ears again.

Caduceus wheezes and curls into a ball, trying fruitlessly to shove her away. “Belle - Belle!-”

“Let’s see, let’s see…” Calliope muses, crouching down and plucking a booted foot from the pile of limbs. “Legs?”

She grabs Caduceus’ calf and squeezes it like a piece of dead meat. He squeals. “Yep, still ticklish.”

Caduceus kicks her in the knee with his other leg and she staggers back for a moment before surging forward to grab at his hips. “Ow! Oh, now you’re in for it.”

He can’t do anything but flail as she wrestles him onto his back and urges Clarabelle to sit on his belly to keep him pinned. “Nonono! M’sorry - eheheeeeh, Belle, stoppit! - I’m sohohorry! Don’t!”

There’s a pause. Beau leans forward, half excited and half trying to sense genuine distress. She’s never heard Caduceus plead like this - not her fault, the fucker has apparently been hiding his ticklish spots for months, but it’s not like she wouldn’t be willing to jump in and save him.

And maybe she wants to see what Calliope’s arms can do up close. Maybe.

Calliope adjusts her grip on him and smirks. “Heh. No, I think I’m gonna. Belle, you got him?”

“Yep!” she says cheerfully, bare feet planted on each side of his ribcage. Caduceus has managed to press one big palm over her face, keeping her at arm’s length and away from his ears, but she just wriggles her bare toes under him and into the backs of his ribs. “Tickle, tickle, Caduceus!”

Caduceus guffaws and squirms like his life depends on it, but there’s nowhere to go. “Noooo - hahaaaheeh - stop, stop, not my ribs-”

He keeps begging as Calliope levers a hand under his back and starts rooting around for something with a focused expression. She finds it, too - Caduceus screams and arches his back nearly in half as he abandons Clarabelle and grabs desperately for her hands instead. “Pleeeheease! HHAHAH - nonnono - eheaahaaa!”

Beau can’t even see what she’s tickling, but there’s enough potential here to topple a regime. “Fuck,” she whispers. Does this make her the most powerful tickler in the Nein now? Is this what ascending feels like?

She’s surprised that the rest of the Nein haven’t come running yet, with all the noise he’s making. But then again, she and Cad and Caleb are the best at paying attention to their surroundings and Caleb definitely isn’t in a hurry to run towards hysterical laughter.

She doesn’t mean to make any sound herself, but amidst all his struggling Cad’s ears twitch in her direction. “Beau,” he pleads. Shrieks again. “Help mmm-ahahahAA-”

“Hm, who’s that?” Calliope stops tickling, judging from Caduceus’ wheezed relief, and turns to look in her direction. Beau swears that her hair flutter in a nonexistent breeze. “Right, you, the non-important one.”

Beau nearly bites her tongue in despair - why does she have to be such a disaster around every hot woman she meets? “Yep, that’s me.”

Calliope looks at her for a moment, considering. “You look like a fighter. What are you doing all the way over there - you’re not scared of him, are you?”

It’s never been less tempting to confess the time she accidentally hit Cad in the face with some of her weeks-old pocket bacon and he tickled her until she cried. She clears her throat. “Uh, no. No. It looks like you’re doing a pretty good job already, I mean, he’s really-”

Calliope yanks her arm free and uses it to beckon her over. “Eh, come here - Belle, watch it, I’m going to flip him.”

Caduceus squawks in renewed panic as one of his sisters tumbles off him and the other wraps her arms around him and twists him facedown like a wrestling move from the back-alley brawls Beau used to sneak into as a teenager - and, once again, hot.

She swallows again and strolls over as casually as she can while Calliope pins him across the shoulders with her forearm. “Riiight - here.”

She doesn’t even touch, just points to the backs of Caduceus’ thighs, but he obviously knows where she’s leading. “Beau, no,” he yelps.

He tries to pull his legs up beneath him. Beau automatically grabs him just under the knees and drags him out flat. “Hey, hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Calliope raises an approving eyebrow. Beau tries not to blush. “It’s his worst spot - he’s ticklish there if you so much as look at him wrong.”

“We chased him up a tree once,” Clarabelle pipes up. She’s tap-tap-tapping blunt fingernails across Caduceus’ back, sending him shivering. “He stayed up there all night until Dad went to get him.”

“Beau, don’t,” Cad rasps. She’s heard him sound perkier seconds after coming back from the dead. He’s laughing still, quietly, and it sounds somewhere between the lava of the volcano forge they stayed in once and Frumpkin’s rusty purrs.

“Not so fun when you’re the one doing the begging, huh,” Beau tells him. She flicks him, once, in the back of the leg and looks incredulously at his siblings. “So you’re telling me his absolute worst spot… is his fucking butt?”

Calliope shrugs. “He’s so weird, isn’t he?”

All three of them laugh at that, even Caduceus, so Beau figures it’s all right. “Yeah, we’ve noticed. We’re all weird though, it’s kind of our thing.”

“Sure,” Calliope says. “He’s weird and ticklish, though, so if I wanna pin him down and get all his worst spots then he’s just gonna have to deal with it-”

Caduceus peels his face off the ground and gasps out a few strangled syllables that reverberate in the warm air.

Both of his sisters shriek as their eyes fill with black ichor. “Caduceus!” Calliope yells, letting go of him and grabbing for her face with one hand and her holy symbol with the other. “What did you do?”

Caduceus props himself up on his elbows, panting. “Oh, it’s just something I picked up,” he tells her smugly. “Don’t worry, it’ll wear off.”

“After how long,” Calliope growls.

Clarabelle giggles, still draped over Caduceus’ back. “Oh, this feels weird!”

He laughs and starts to crawl out from under them, but Beau’s not done with him yet. Mercifully un-blinded, she snags him around the knees again. “Wow, usually you’re the one telling us not to be mean to people.”

Caduceus rolls onto his side and looks sharply back at her, sighing in relief when she holds her hands up in surrender. “Well, I know these people.” He shoves gently at Clarabelle, wriggles a finger into her side when she doesn’t move. She squeaks. “They deserve it.”

He grins down at her, unrepentant and bratty, and Beau can’t help but grin back.

“So are your thighs really that bad?” she asks. “Or-” she jerks her chin over at Calliope, who’s started praying. “-did you just decide to be a jerk all of a sudden? Also, how the fuck did we not know how ticklish you are? You wreck us all the time!”

Caduceus shrugs. “S’easy to get in your heads,” he says. Beau bristles a little at that, but he’s not wrong - Caduceus has this way of looking at them like he’s going to take them apart one way or another, and the tickling is probably the safer route. Doesn’t hurt that they can always trust him to set them right after, either.

“And they’ll get me eventually, might as well have some fun with it.” He fixes Beau with a stern look. “Now you, on the other hand-”

She interrupts him. “Hey Cad, how long’s that spell supposed to last?”

He blinks. “A minute, why?”

Beau points wordlessly over his shoulder at a clear-eyed Calliope. “Uh.”

Caduceus twists around. “Oh, dear.”

That’s all he has time for before Calliope grabs his shoulders and twists him facefirst back into the ground. “You know,” she tells him, “I was going to go easy on you. Was. You’re lucky I’m not calling Colton in here.”

“That’s ‘cause Colton’s a jerk,” Caduceus says, muffled and remarkably calm.

“So are you, apparently,” Calliope retorts. She forms a vibrating claw with one hand and digs it into his spine, and Caduceus shrieks. “You can’t just blind people!”

“I’m telling Mom and Dad!” Clarabelle agrees, wiping one last black tear from her eye and lunging back in to knead mercilessly at the backs of Caduceus’ ribs.

Caduceus shrieks again, kicking helplessly, and tumbles straight back into hysterical laughter. “Come - hahaAAA - come on!”

Beau’s fairly sure that he’s going to hurt himself if she jumps in, but Calliope looks breathlessly over at her and grins with a bloodthirsty look that Beau recognizes all too well. She usually saves it for enemies, though, or Caleb if he’s being particularly insufferable. “Is that what he does to you guys too? Go on, get some revenge!”

And well, put like that…

It takes a bit of effort to pin one of Caduceus’ flailing legs, especially when he catches wind of what she’s doing and starts kicking even more frantically. “Hold fucking still,” she yells.

Caduceus is losing it, less put together than she’s ever heard him. “I cahahan’t!”

Beau jams the ball of her thumb into the nerve cluster just above his knee until his leg goes dead. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“What was that?” Clarabelle says, sounding delighted. “Can I learn how to do that, Callie?”

Beau ignores her, focusing in on her prey. “Let’s see, how many apologies am I looking for?” She’s pretty sure she deserves every single time that Caduceus has tickled her to pieces, but the opportunity to tease Caduceus the way he does with them is too good to pass up. “I’ve lost count at this point, guess we’ll just start the ball rolling and see what happens.”

She squeezes mercilessly at the back of his thigh, making sure he can feel it through his homespun trousers, and he laughs a bit louder and squirms as best as he can, but it’s not enough-

“Huh,” she says, trying to channel Caduceus, and watches his sisters dig into his back for a moment. Something something destiny, calm, balance-

Oh. She grins and spiders her fingers ever so lightly over the vulnerable spot, and Caduceus howls.

Beau settles in, satisfied, and keeps spidering until he’s thrashing and laughing too hard to get more than a couple broken words out. He’s not anywhere near out of breath, not yet, so she figures they’ve got at least a couple more minutes of squeaking, ticklish Caduceus and she’s going to enjoy every single one of them.

“Oh, dear,” someone says, unexpectedly close. Beau whips around to see Caduceus’ mom, holding a whole tray of mismatched teacups and looking like she’s desperately trying not to laugh.

Caduceus’ ears twitch. “MOM,” he wails. “SAVE ME, I’M GONNA DIE.”

She does laugh then, a little misty-eyed, and juggles the tray so she can prop a hand on her hip. “Calliope, Clarabelle, be nice to your brother,” she chides. “He came a long way to find us.”

“But he blinded us!” Clarabelle tattles, painfully earnest even as she grins from ear to ear. “He hasn’t even said sorry yet!”

“Clarabelle Clay.”

Beau’s spine locks up in instant parental-dissatisfaction panic, but Clarabelle just laughs and echoes back “Mo-oom,” before moving her hands and sprawling forward onto her brother. Calliope stops too, with one last dig into his back that inspires a final agonized wiggle, and sits back on her hands triumphantly as Caduceus wheezes and scrambles up to safety.

Beau rocks to her feet, sticking her hands in her pockets, and takes in the full glory of a seven-foot-tall firbolg doing his level best to hide behind his mother. Clarabelle and Calliope get up too and grab their tea, the former sticking her tongue out as Caduceus peeks at her with narrowed eyes.

“If you two are done,” Caduceus’ mom says firmly, “it looks like there are still vegetables that need attending to.”

“Oh, yeah,” Calliope says, and fixes Clarabelle with a look.

“Yeah!” Clarabelle echoes, looking innocently back.

She yelps as Calliope drags her away. Beau shuffles her feet for a moment as Caduceus’ mom turns to her. “Uh - if some of those are for us, I can take them - I know you guys probably want your time alone-”

Caduceus ducks a little further down, and his mom laughs again. “Oh, dear, you can stay as long as you like, but these will be better hot.”

“Got it.” Beau smirks up at Caduceus. “I have to go talk to Jester, anyway.”

She grabs the tray and speed-walks back across the room, barely hearing Caduceus’ hurried “I’ll go help her” before his heavier footsteps echo behind. If it were Fjord or Caleb she’d channel her ki to beat him handily back to the others, but, well - he doesn’t deserve it, really.

He’s walking fast, anyway - once she slows down, it’s only a couple seconds before she can feel his warm presence at her side.

He holds a hand out for the tray. “Don’t tell them.”

Beau looks at him then, still smug, and grimaces. “Oh, Duceus, you’ve got something on your face.”

He makes a face and wipes at his running nose with his sleeve, still trying to catch his breath. “Don’t tell them,” he says again. “I mean, they’ll find out eventually, and none of you are as mean as Calliope so it’ll be okay, but - please.”

She pretends to think it over. “I don’t know, I think your sister’s kind of great.”

Caduceus sighs heavily. “I’m not surprised.”

“I won’t tell them.” She does reach over to nudge at his spine though, expertly balancing the tray, and laughs as he squirms away from her. “You have to… make tea for me every night though. For a week.”

Caduceus blinked. “I already do that, you asked me to.”

“Which is exactly why I’m not gonna rat you out, Caduceus. You’re just a little bit less of an asshole than the rest of us.”

Caduceus looks - surprisingly pleased, at that. Beau tells herself it’s more about the prospect of not having Jester try to jump him every morning than her approval. “I appreciate it.”

Beau hands the tray over and crosses her arms, looking up at him. “You don’t really mind though, do you? Seems weird that you’d keep getting all of us, if you did.”

He shrugs. “I don’t, it’s just- it’s different around family. They already know everything about me.”

That jealousy sneaks out onto her tongue, quick and bitter, before she realizes it. “Well, I wouldn’t know.”

Beau looks away then, speeding up to get ahead of him. She manages to take a single step before something tickles at the back of her armpit and she nearly drops all of her stuff.

She curses and whirls around. “Caduceus!”

He looks evenly back at her. “Yeah, you would.”

It takes a second to connect the conversational thread, but she can’t help but smile once she does. “Thanks, Caduceus.”

He smiles back. “You’re welcome.”

“Deal’s off though,” she quips, and before he can react she’s sprinting down the hallway as fast as she can.

She’s not going to tell on him, but for tickling her? He’s gonna have to chase her down if he wants to make sure.

#tickling #critical role #caduceus clay #beauregard lionett #clarabelle clay #calliope clay #chocfic

[cadaceus]

C2E141

One last time, y’all. This campaign and these characters have meant so much to me, and this seven hour finale was definitely an emotional rollercoaster. (Yes, I shed actual tears at one point, which rarely happens to me with media. But this is a special occasion.) These liveblogs are nearly as long as the episode itself, so grab a snack! With that being said, here are my very last liveblogs for Campaign 2 of Critical Role. As always, major spoilers below, so beware. 

- Veth taking a level in Wizard, god I am really gonna cry ten minutes into this thing...  😭

- We got our first “stay with us” to Essek, I am emo...

- I was fully not expecting to say goodbye to Frumpkin, but now I’m on the verge of tears... farewell dear fey friend (Marisha saying “that wasn’t supposed to be what broke me” me too me too)

- “You’re a good person.” “I could be.” “You are.”

- “I think you’re a good person” I never thought that I’d hear Beau say that about Essek and this genuinely might be what breaks me... she thinks he’s a good person.... redemption is possible.... maybe love is real....

- If I end up crying over wizards, look away

- Jester lifting up Fjord’s arm to snuggle beneath it made me say “awww” out loud  🥺

- VETH GOING FOR A DIP IN THE POND, I AM GENUINELY SO PROUD OF HER

- “Aahhh!! It’s me! Your wife!” I am going to miss Jester’s sending so much

- Okay that accent bit was so funny, I am going to miss all of them so much

- REAL MOLLY IS BACK REAL MOLLY IS BACK REAL MOLLY IS BACK

- Oh but he doesn’t remember them... and Yasha is trying so hard to help him remember, it’s so so sweet 

- Something about the way he said “Tealeaf’s nice” made me tear up... I was neutral on Mollymauk early campaign because I went into things knowing that he passed away, but this whole conversation with the Mighty Nein is So Much. Also “Kingsley Tealeaf” 

- “Everyone should have a brother” as someone with three of them, I vouch for this  🥺

- a) I love Marion Lavorre (and Jester ofc!) so very much and b) I can’t believe that Jester’s parent trap actually worked??

- “I do not think Exandria is ready for how you’re going to change it” got to me... and it’s also so true. jester has already changed the world just by being kind.

- Good bye Marion... I love and will miss you so much! (And many thanks to Laura and Matt for creating an agoraphic single mother who raised a wonderful child <3)

- Beau and Jester teasing Marion for having a complicated relationship with Babenon reminds me of Caleb saying he has a complicated relationship with Essek...

- LEAVE CALEB ALON E FUOIKJLKGKNL 

- THIS IS ....... SO MUCH WORSE THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

- Caleb’s biggest trauma(s) coming back to haunt him, I am genuinely going to cry I’m not ready for this I’m not okay

- Beau saying to Jester “Thanks, cutie” I love themmmmm

- INITIATIVE AAGJASKHDKJ AAAAAHHHH

- Essek’s Gravity Sinkhole did nothing? uhhhhh Mr Stark...

- EADWULF???? HELLO?????

- Essek using his entire turn to save Caleb last battle 🤝 Caleb using his entire turn to save Essek this battle

- ASTRID???? I TRUSTED YOU??? WE ALL TRUSTED YOU????

- Another Counterspell chain sdfdghjkdl wizards !!!

- “It’s just business” is literally the Neutral Evil line, it always gives me chills when any character says it

- This hurts more after Liam confirming on Twitter that Astrid/Caleb/Eadwulf were all three a romantic item... please stop hurting Caleb, you loved him  😭

- THE FJORD VS EADWULF SWORD FIGHT IS SO CINEMATIC I LOVE IT HERE ACTUALLY

- Essek taking every opportunity to pull Caleb to safety makes me so emotional...  😭

- “You’re not the first student I’ve had to put down” I am burning with my anger for you, old man 

- THE DISPEL WORKED LET’S GO CALEB.....

- Remember when Matt said that Essek doesn’t openly show concern/emotion? And now he’s saying “I’m scared” in front of his closest friends and his worst enemies.... growth my love.....

- BEAU AND VETH LETS GO CHAOS CREW LETS MF GO BABEYYYY!!!

- FJORD COUNTERSPELLING THE DIMENSION DOOR..... and Matt having him describe it.... is this taking the place of a “HDYWTDT” *eyes emoji*

- CALEB GOING DOWN NO, THANK GOD FOR THAT DEATH WARD

- Veth’s illusion of Caleb’s parents flanking Caleb in the flames.... that got me too, Liam

- “Stay down.” yeah, okay, that was sexy

- ASTRID BEING THE ONE TO ACTIVATE THE COLLAR IS LITERALLY POETIC JUSTICE... Trent being beaten by the student who stuck with him longest I love this so much, she deserved that moment honestly

- Break Time, AKA Emma Makes Her Weekly Mug Brownie Interlude

- Sometimes I feel like “death is too good for you” is a copout, but in this case it fits so well, I want this mf’s reputation destroyed and the entire operation exposed and overthrown let’s goooo

- “I loved you both so much”.... Astrid and Eadwulf walking away.... oh, Blumendrei... I know this is not the end of your story. What’s past is prologue, loves

- The Empire Siblings are gonna burn down the whole system because it’s the system that enables individual corruption... I am so fulfilled by this, god i love them

- “I love you too” OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, FJORESTER ARE THE CUTEST FOR REAL

- Jester and Essek’s friendship still means so much to me btw just in case anyone wanted a check-in

- Veth giving the flask to Kingsley!! Good for her, good for her!

- OH Blumenduo are back already! I truly thought that was going to be their last appearance of the Campaign, why is this taking me more by surprise than Trent’s appearance

- “[Caleb] notes how similar Eadwulf and Fjord are” this is Widofjord adjacent... this episode we have gotten Widomauk-adjacent, Widojest-adjacent, and Widofjord-adjacent (and Blumentrio ofc), now come through Shadowgast and we can get a full Bingo on the “Bisexual Maelstrom” card

- Speaking of relationships, I am lowkey into the Fjord/Jester/Kingsley dynamic LOL no one look at me I’m in hiding

- I’M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE TO VETH AND CAD 😭 It makes sense and the fact that they have their families back is beautiful but also consider this: I’m sad and I will miss them 

- The goodbyes to Caduceus..... I am going to cry aren’t I?

- “If he’s anything like his mom, you won’t see him until it’s too late” Okay that made me giggle, I love Veth and I love Luc and I love their little family

- IS ESSEK LEAVING TOO? THAT’S GONNA BE WHAT BREAKS ME ISN’T IT

- If Essek leaves and we never see him again, getting a triple whammy of goodbyes I will be so incredibly sad, I cannot do this  😭

- If anyone is interested, no I am not doing well

- I was lowkey ready to get an Essek’s feelings for Caleb confirmation tonight, I guess it makes sense that we didn’t but I hope that this is not the last time we see Essek... I want to write another emo post about him and about how much he means to me but I will refrain

- CALEB BEING A TEACHER IS THE ENDGAME I WANT FOR HIM PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

- Wow, I really was not ready to see Caduceus and Essek go for some reason... I really wanted this Campaign to end on the image of the Mighty Nein together as all nine of them... I’m feeling so numb right now having to say goodbye  😭

- Oh, we’re in the epilogue now!

- When Fjord said “[the sea] is my favorite place to be” I genuinely felt that on a spiritual level... the ocean is home, it truly is and always will be for me as well

- “I CAST MODIFY MEMORY” FJORD LMAOOOOOOO

- Okay, that Widobrave ending is what made me shed tears for the first time this episode... not to be Personal but my biological brother graduates High School tomorrow, and for some reason this conversation just reminded me so much of me and him and now I’m emotional

- NOT THE SYPHILIS BANDITS DSYUHDFJKLSFJ;DS OKAY I NEEDED THAT LAUGH

- “I’d like to hear about your friend” Kingsley aww

- Beau giving Kingsley her first diary to help him realize who they all are is actually so perfectly fitting, I love that!

- “The other eight and I, yes” Caleb counting all nine of them again  😭

- CALEB BEING OFFERED AN ASSEMBLY SEAT WTF AAAHHH

- Oh shit, Astrid took the Assembly seat... I’m not sure how I feel about this, I feel so bad for her for having to stay in the system that abused her for so long and I would have loved to see her burn the whole thing down, but I hope that she at least has a sense of contentment with this title

- “I go where you go, baby” Beauyasha.... my darling loves....

- Beau’s dad??? But also Beau being the one with power over her father is so Good, I’m glad that she got justice on that front as well!

- This talk with Artagan... “I didn’t want you to be a god. I wanted you to be my friend.” and in the process my love you created divinity... maybe divinity is the friends we made along the way

- OH SHIT WE ARE GETTING ALL THE VANDRAN LORE TONIGHT I’M READY LET’S GO LET’S GO

- VANDRAN AND AVANTIKA WERE AN ITEM???

- Wait crack theory: Sabian was a half elf right? Could he be the son of Vandren and Avantika? Or is that too much of a stretch? 

- Vandran going with them!!! Also I feel like that moment between Fjord and Vandran was lowkey a tease to a post-campain Uk’otoa one shot and I am ready for it already 

- THIS BEAUYASHA MOMENT... “i’ve never known anyone as deeply as i know you” & “explore every bit of you in multiple ways ;)” & “your past doesn’t scare me, it only makes you beautiful” .... this is so much they are so much i love them so much

- “I will have you and then some” Beauyasha   😭

- I’m torn between “oh my god there’s still half an hour left?” and “how is there only half an hour left??”

- “You will let this Skyspear live at least?” oh my god so Yasha killed the last Skyspear then? Oof...

- YASHA GIVING ZUALA(’S GRAVE) THE BOOK OF FLOWERS, OH DEAR HEART

- And Beau’s talk to Zuala about being the luckiest woman alive and sacrifice.... 😭  

- PLANTING FLOWERS AT ZUALA’S GRAVE... “NO BETTER GRAVE MARKER” THIS IS MAKING ME SO EMOTIONAL, I KNOW I’VE SAID THIS A LOT THIS EPISODE BUT THIS TRULY IS SO BEAUTIFUL

- So... I may or may not be crying again

- Shadowgast with a steel chair??

- Caleb’s plan for saving his parents... it’s clear he has thought of this so much, oh my darling love  😭

- Caleb burning down his chance to change his past is so symbolic and something he really needed to do, it does make me emotional though

- The other book was him writing to his parents?? Oh bby boy  😭  

- While I would have loved for Caleb to open his own magic school (especially with Essek, or the Mighty Nein, or someone else as well), I am so pleased that he stays with Veth and that their friendship continues for the rest of their life because again: they mean so so much to me, and in a way they remind me of me and my biological brother (which I never realized before this episode) and yeah. They just make me Emo

- Also. Caleb being a professor was my Number One Endgame Hope for him and the fact that it came true is just so surreal in the best way possible. I’m so used to being robbed of happy endings. The fact that the Mighty Nein all got theirs makes me incredibly happy. A story does not have to be sad to be impactful. Happy stories and happy endings, especially during a time period of tumultuous real life circumstances, have just as much value and meaning and they always will. Caleb is teaching the next generation magic, and he is teaching them to be Good, and he is nurturing them, and that just means so much

- MATT CRYING IS GONNA GET TO ME

- “Let’s do it again” Please, let’s.

- Okay, everyone. I made it all seven hours in one piece with surprisingly minimal tears (though who knows, this might all sink in tomorrow.) I already wrote my thoughts earlier today about how much the Mighty Nein mean to me and how much this show and these characters have kept me holding on during quarantine and today... I’m still not ready to let them go, but I know that I can always revisit to say hello and to say thank you for changing me. Until then though... I love you all more than you could ever know. And for the last time of Campaign 2... is it Thursday yet?

Good night 💗

#cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #c2e141 #critical role #my liveblogs #cr2 #i genuinely can't believe this is the end y'all... what a journey. what a freaking journey 💗 #to anyone who has ever interacted with even one of my liveblogs: i love you and i think about you every damn day dfghjkflf #it makes me Emo knowing that i'm not just speaking to the void and that there are ppl out there listening etc #also this liveblog was TWO THOUSAND WORDS LONG i checked it in a google doc sgdhjkdl #so if you made it through all that you may be entitled to financial compensation #but in all seriousness: i love you mighty nein. and thank you for everything. #is it thursday yet? #queue #(i always queue these for the mornings dgfhjk!) #and yes i WILL be liveblogging campaign 3 #also mayhaps this hiatus will be time for me to catch up with vox machina?

[peach-the-owl]

Taken

Child of the Nein (Mighty Nein & Child!Reader)

If you take their kid it doesn’t matter if they don’t know who you are. They will look for you, they will find you… and they will kill you

Jester

Jester bursts into the tavern out of breath, eyes darting around quickly until they landed on the rest of the group staring at her from one of the tables, she quickly makes her way over.

"Did any of you see (y/n) walk in here?" She immediately questions when she reaches the table.

"Aren’t they supposed to be with you?" Caleb questions right back.

"Well yes, but I guess we both got distracted and then separated and now I can’t find them." Jester says worried.

"This looks like a job for Nott, the great detective and her assistant Jester." Nott stands up and pumps a fist into the air. "Or you could try scrying on them."

"Good idea! How did I not think of that?" Jester then heads up to her room and gets to work casting the spell, once everything’s ready she feels herself being lifted from her body traveling through the roof of the building and into the clouds, off to your location.

"I don’t like the looks of this." The voice of the Traveler whispers to her and when her vision becomes clearer she understood why he’d said it. You were tied to a wagon, desperately pulling at the restraints to try and free yourself to no avail, an unknown individual steering the wagon away from the city.

"Let me go! Let me go! I want my mama!" You cry out.

"Just shut up already, or else I’ll tear out your tongue and make you shut up!" The driver snaps back at you making you shrink in on yourself. There’s a long pause before they speak again. "You don’t have a mother, I’m the best you got."

"I do so have a mama! She’ll come get me, you’ll see."

"Really, someone actually thinks a brat like you is worth their time? I’ll believe it when I see it." They mock.

"You’re the worst caretaker ever." You mutter.

"Well your making this far more difficult then it’s worth! No matter, everything will be taken care of soon." They say ominously. Before anything else can be said Jester is pulled back from the spell into the little inn room. She immediately gets up and starts heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Nott questions.

"I have to save my baby." She replies dashing out of the inn, the rest of the Nein following after her…

To be continued…

Nott

You were one who could disappear on a common basis so when you didn’t show up right away for lunch no one thought too much on it, no one except for Nott that is. She knew you liked sneaking off from time to time but you’d always tell her about it first, and you certainly weren’t one to skip a meal, something was fishy and Nott didn’t like it one bit.

"You sure you’re not just being paranoid?" Fjord raises an eyebrow at her.

"You wouldn’t get it, you’ve never had children." Nott retaliates.

"I’ll help you look!" Jester excitedly volunteered.

"I’ll come too." Yasha say, already getting up from the table.

"Yeah sure, I’ve got nothing better to do right now." Beau also stands, stretching herself out. The four of them leave the inn to start their search, splitting up with Beau and Yasha in one direction and Nott and Jester in the other in hopes of covering more ground that way. It wasn’t easy to get information seeing as you were a slippery target to track down, and it’s not like they could be very open about asking if anyone’s seen a little goblin running around, that could cause more trouble then help. They all meet up again by the inn, Nott feeling very anxious about finding no sign of you anywhere.

"We got ourselves a lead." Beau says when she’s within ear shot.

"What is it? Where are they? Tell me everything!" Nott blurts out, trying and failing to hide her panic.

"Someone had umm, asked us to join in this sorta pit fighting tournament." Yasha starts.

"We thought about it, I said yes, they gave us this flyer and then they left, but I heard one of them say, and I quote 'I can’t wait to see Dezmo absolutely annihilate that half-baked goblin you found.'" Beau finishes the explanation. This instantly caught Nott's attention.

"They want to annihilate my baby? Not if I have anything to say about it." She hisses lowly letting Beau and Yasha lead the way, looks like they had a tournament to crash…

To be continued…

Caleb

Five minutes, he left you alone for five minutes and in that time you had disappeared, this wasn’t like you, sure you were a curious little kid but you always listened when he told you to do something. It's not like he was gone long and Port Damali isn’t that big so how could you have disappeared so quickly? All sorts of what if's and maybe's came to mind, all of them coming to a worse case scenario which only made Caleb more anxious about the situation. He asked the group if they’d seen you first, they all hadn’t but now they were helping to look for you too.

"Excuse me, have you seen a child? (H/c) hair, (e/c) eyes, always carrying a little bag with them. Anything?" He had been asking people the same questions for a large portion of the day, determined to find you as soon as possible.

"Sorry sir, but I haven’t seen anyone like that." This was the common answer he’d get in return, making it feel like he was running in circles. He just gives a somber nod and the people walk away, continuing on to their own business.

"*Mein kleiner, wo bist du?" Caleb mutters to himself, reverting to his native tongue from all the stress. Where were you, were you okay, were you hurt? Hundreds of questions and more what ifs filled Caleb’s head. On the verge of a meltdown, he clings to the sides of his head and tries to steady his breathing as the world spun around him.

"Hey, Caleb!" Fjord comes running over, taking a short moment to catch his breath. "Someone said they may have seen (y/n)."

"Where?" Caleb quickly refocuses.

"They said that a woman claiming to be the mother was dragging them off somewhere." Fjord explains.

"Where did they go?" Caleb grabs his shoulders a desperate look on his face.

"Headed for the docks last I heard."

"Then what are we doing standing around for, we need to get everyone quick!" The two of them hurry off off towards the docks, Caleb needed to get to you before it was too late, he didn’t have moment to waste…

To be continued…

*translation: "My little one, where are you?"

Caduceus

"Are you sure you don’t want to come to the market with us? I mean, I’m not sure if I’m all too comfortable just leaving you here." Caduceus expresses his concern.

"I’ll be okay, I promise I won’t go far, but I really wanted to practice with some of my new spells." You give him a reassuring smile.

"Alright, I’m trusting you. We shouldn’t be gone too long." He looks over his shoulder at the others joining in for the little outing, Jester giving a large smile and thumbs up. You wave to them before heading off to practice. Shopping was going well, restocking on some potions and food supplies, picking up a few materials needed for spells, the like, however the entire time they were in the market Caduceus couldn’t shake this grim feeling he had, like something bad was going to happen.

"You seem worried." Nott's shrill voice cuts into his thoughts. "If you really like we can head back now and check in on them?"

"I, ummm, maybe?" Caduceus puts a hand under his chin in thought. "No, you continue without me, I’ll go back myself."

"Don’t be ridiculous, I’ll just send (y/n) a message to check how they're doing if you’re so worried." Jester pipes in before she casts Sending. "Hi (y/n), we just wanted to see how you’re doing. Caduceus is being a worry wort so just tell us your fine please… Do bap." She gives a reassuring smile while waiting for a reply… a moment passes… another moment passes. The longer the silence goes on the more her smile drops.

"I don’t like that look on your face." Caduceus points out, Jester just looks at him with worry. Without another word the three of them quickly make their way back to the inn, stopping briefly when they encounter Yasha.

"What’s all the rush?" She asks.

"Have you seen (y/n) recently?" Nott questions back.

"I thought they were with you." Yasha says with a little more concern. They all head inside and check the various rooms they rented for the week, when no sign of you was found Caduceus goes to check outside, remembering you saying you wanted to practice with your magic. He comes across a small field, the inn still in sight but also slightly obscured by trees, it defiantly looked like magic had been used here, but not for practice, some of the ground was uprooted a few scorch marks and definite signs of a struggle. He inspected every inch of the area when his eyes landed on something that nearly made his heart stop, your staff had been discarded off to the side and he could faintly see tracks of something or someone being dragged off.

"Oh no…" This wasn’t good, he had to find you before something terrible could happen but he couldn’t do it alone, he makes his way back into the inn to tell everyone what he’d seen. Caduceus just prayed you were alright and that it wasn’t already too late…

To be continued…

Fjord

More often then not Fjord preferred that you don’t join in on nightly watches seeing as you were young and needed more time to rest them the others, you'd argue that because your half-elf you don’t actually need a lot of sleep to take on the next day. After a lot of talking it over you were allowed to sometimes help take watch with Fjord so he could make sure you didn’t try anything reckless. The night was calm, but even the calm could be a disguise for trouble.

"I think I saw something." You point out, looking down the darkened path. "I’m gonna go investigate." You get up, grabbing your weapon and make your way over.

"Now wait just a second, I’m not just letting you leave the fire where I can’t see you." Fjord interjects.

"I won’t go far, promise." You say while letting out an annoyed sigh. Fjord just gives you a long narrow look but agrees nonetheless.

"Not too far and don’t stray from the path." He instructs. You quickly nod and he watches you make your way down the darkened road, keeping his eyes on you the whole time. Dark shadows suddenly darted across the path instantly making Fjord stand to get a better view of what it was he just saw was real or his eyes playing tricks on him. Looking down the path again showed it was empty, you were no longer in sight, Fjord hurry’s down the path looking left and right for any sign of you. "(Y/n)! If this is one of your little games, now's not the time to play." He calls hoping that this was nothing more then you trying to pull a prank on him.

"So the kid's name is (y/n), good to know." An unfamiliar voice comments making Fjord turn quickly on his heel, summoning Star Razor.

"Who are you and where's my kid?" Fjord asks in a low threatening tone, the man just chuckles and snaps his fingers, about three more thugs step onto the path, one of them holding your squirming form as you try to free yourself. "Release them this instant!" Fjord holds up his weapon, ready to take on all four of these thugs if he had to.

"How about you drop your blade and give us your valuables instead." The first and obvious leader to this group demands, pulling out a curved dagger and place it to your throat, you instantly stop squirming out of fear. "Don’t think I’m against killing a kid." They threaten pressing the blade harder against your throat, beginning to draw blood.

"Alright, alright." Fjord dismisses Star Razor and raises his hands up in surrender. "Just don’t hurt them." The leader gives a side smirk and gets the two others who weren’t holding you hostage to pat down Fjord of his valuables. They step back once they’re done. "You got what you wanted, now release the kid." Fjord says through gritted teeth.

"Thing is…" the leader trails for a second a devious smirk curling across their face. "I said all your valuables, and this kid sure seems valuable to you." Fjord's eyes widen in horrible realization but before he can do anything the two thugs from before tackle him to the ground while the third dashes off with you still firmly in their grip. Desperately trying to free himself of the thugs beating on him, managing halfway before he’s struck in several different spots and harshly shoved against a tree, knocking the air out of him.

"Dad!" He hears your scream for help grow fainter, but one of them must’ve been a monk having known which pressure points to strike as he couldn’t move, letting tears fall down his face knowing he failed you…

To be continued…

Beau

The two of you had an argument, most likely over something stupid seeing as Beau couldn’t remember what you’d argued about anymore, but with both your stubborn attitudes neither one wanted to apologize first. The better part of the day had gone by and Beau was sitting at the bar downing her third mug of whatever alcoholic beverage they served here.

"Sulking I presume?" She whips her head around at Caleb who seats himself next to her.

"No." She starts bluntly. "Shouldn’t you be studying some spells or whatever."

"The commotion upstairs is very distracting, I don’t think (y/n) took whatever you were arguing over well."

"They’ll get over it." Beau brushes him off. It’s then that Caduceus comes over to join the two.

"Do either of you know what all that ruckus was?" He asks taking a seat on the other side of Beau.

"It’s just (y/n), we had a bit of a disagreement and I guess they didn’t take it too well."

"Oh, well everything went pretty quiet when I walked by." The two Empire kids look over at him.

"What do you mean?" Beau asks, a hint of concern to her voice.

"Well there was a lot of clattering and then it just stopped suddenly." Beau just stares for a moment before darting up the stairs, she reaches the door to your room and flings it open. The room was an absolute mess, items haphazardly strewn about, the window wide open and you were nowhere in sight.

"This isn’t like them to completely trash the room and just leave, the kid has some decency." Beau speaks mostly to herself as Caleb and Caduceus join her and have a look around the room themselves.

"I think this might have your explanation." Caduceus says picking up a note that had been slightly hidden amongst the mess. Beau snatches it from him and reads it over, her grip tightening and hands starting to shake as she does. When she finishes reading it, without a word she balls the note up and throws it across the room before heading out.

If these people wanted a fight they were about to get one…

To be continued…

Yasha

Yasha wandered alone terrified for your safety, she'd been tirelessly tracking a rather large and brutish group of bandits to the best of her abilities for almost two days now. The sound of your cry’s and pleas for help haunted her and she refused to sleep until she knew you were found and safe but doing this on her own was hard. She wasn’t the greatest at tracking but it was thankfully enough to keep up the scent. All the while she'd mentally beat herself up, had she been more aware of her surroundings that strike from the warhammer wouldn’t have stunned her as much as it did and she wouldn’t of had to endure the pain of seeing another loved one be taken away from her. She couldn’t lose you too, she wouldn’t, with strong determination she marches forward.

"Yasha!?" A familiar bubbly voice brought both surprise and relief to her. "How have you been? Where’s (y/n)?" Jester skips her way over to the barbarian, the rest of the group not too far behind.

"Oh umm, I could be better. Uhh, w-we got ambushed about a day ago… they took (y/n), I…" Yasha let her voice trail off, trying so hard not to let worse case scenarios dominate her mind. It was odd how foreign it felt now to have been completely by herself, ever since you became a part of her life the "loneliness" didn’t bother her anymore, now that you were gone it all came crashing back.

"They took your kid?" Beau seemed shocked, Yasha just nods. "Then let’s go get them back." Everyone voiced their agreement as well and they all set out to follow the trail, Yasha feeling that sense of relief wash over her again but it wasn’t complete until she had you safe in her arms again…

To be continued…

Molly

It had to be you, of course it did why would it be anyone else? Of course Molly had to act on instinct, of course it ended recklessly and of course you came to his rescue, you always do whenever he got himself in a tight spot. This time however you weren’t there to chew him out when the dust settled or share a fun laugh together because everything was gonna be ok now. No, nothing was ok, you were taken by that asshole and it was all Molly’s fault. You kept him alive, but right now he felt it better if he'd bit the dust, it would've felt less painful then having to watch helplessly as that freak Lorenzo walked off with you squirming in his grip. These feelings were getting way to overwhelming for him as he lets out a scream of frustration and punches a nearby tree, the wood splintering cutting into his hand and making it bleed. He didn’t care, thinking he probably deserved it. Everyone else looked on in concern, they weren’t used to seeing the tiefling who usually brought up the mood acting out like this.

"Hey, you uhhh… you doin' ok there Molly?" Beau asks, being the first to break the tense silence between everyone.

"Just fine." He practically growls back.

"What’s your deal with the kid anyways, I know you two are good friends or whatever but you said yourself you don’t usually care for getting too close to people." He snaps his attention towards everyone at that, holding nothing but a furious look in his eyes.

"I also mentioned there being one exception to that, need I say more." This display of rage was a little unsettling, like something deep within him had started to awaken and was out for blood.

"Whoa! Hey just calm down."

"Calm down!? I just watched my kid get taken from me, possibly to their death, and could do nothing about it and you want me to calm down!" He quickly snaps, fighting back the hot tears that tried to prick at the edge of his vision. This all felt so foreign to him, first Yasha now you, he didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. You were there since day one to help guide him along, now he just felt lost.

"We'll get them back. All of them." Monotone in speech as it was, Caleb’s odd words of encouragement slightly eased some of the tension.

"One problem, that kid was our only source of healing magic and with them kinda gone…" Keg trails off a bit not sure how to finish the sentence without souring the situation anymore then it already was.

"Then we find ourselves a healer who's willing to help us. There’s a town not too far off, I say we rest up and recollect ourselves before doing anything else that could be too rash." Caleb suggests, having to act as the voice of reason. Everyone gives a nod in agreement, except Molly who stares off into space a bit. "Mollymauk." He looks over at the sound of his name and gives a slow nod before they all round up their things and make their way forward, him trailing at the back of the group.

If he wasn’t determined in saving everyone before, Molly sure was now. He was going to make sure those Iron Shepherds paid for what they thought they could get away with and he was going to take great pleasure in watching them all crumble down to the dust, especially Lorenzo. He was going to make sure they knew they messed with the wrong tiefling. So focused on this goal, Molly made his way forward unaware of the dull glow emitting off of the nine eye tattoos…

To be continued…

Don't freak out too much, I’m working on a part two for this as we speak, justice shall be served and it will be glorious

#critical role #critical role & reader #mighty nein #the mighty nein #mighty nein & reader #jester lavorre #jester & reader #nott the brave #nott & reader #caleb widogast #caleb & reader #caduceus clay #caduceus & reader #fjord #fjord stone #fjord & reader #beauregard lionett #beauregard & reader #yasha nydoorin #yasha & reader #mollymauk tealeaf #mollymauk & reader #nothing romantic here

[violet-t-9]

Check in on my (not very realistic) wish list for episode 135

1. The M9 eventually find a way to catch up with Lucien and Cree before they are able to go to the astral sea and at least start the combat (Bonus: Cree gets a wild magic effect that gives M9 some advantage or laughs).

Doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. Well, I’m still personally REALLY happy that they all decided to explore a little bit much and ended up with combat lol. I love the heavy lore dump, reveals, map and the Aeorian nullifier/others combat, all part of the D&D fun.

2. Caleb and Beau somehow don’t get any extra eyes from their dreams (look, let me have some hope alright, last episode was kinda open-ended).

Noooo not on the clavicle and the palm... These stupid eyes are the reason why the empire siblings rolled bad rolls first thing in the morning, I’m telling you.

3. People on watch in the dome have some one-on-one conversations (Yasha and Fjord are doing the first watch, looking forward to it, also hoping for whoever on the second watch to talk).

Nope :( I’m a bit sad that they just kind of time skipped to the morning but it’s understandable.

4. If the empire siblings do get eyes can we at least have a morning eye check routine and Essek’s reaction to it? (Bonus: Essek examines the eye and offers help in some way)

I mean, we got part of a nice conversation about the eye so that counts as a reaction right. Essek is very wary about it, understandably. Don’t worry Essek, Fjord will take care of it if the eyes turn them evil. 

5. More wild magic effects from casting in Aeor! Jester, Essek, Caleb, Caduceus, Veth and Fjord I’m looking at y’all. (Bonus: the effects are harmless and fun ones, like Bjald)

OH NO CALEB not first thing in the morning... wow never mind it’s a nice nostalgic smell! Apple tart, how awesome. I mean a lot of people used higher level magic and didn’t roll yet (or maybe they did we just don’t know)? This particular effect was harmless and fun tho. 

6. They explore the Aeorian ruins even more along the way and discover cool relics/labs/history and lore (Bonus: clues related to the Eyes of Nine).

Ayyy genesis ward looks like a fun place, thanks to their high investigation rolls we found so much sweet lore. They also went into underground city ruins and basically wizard paradise lol. AND A BOOK ON THE SOMNOVEM! This is the first clue we have found so far. Also, Factorum Mollis project/Creator Hammer? Athodan’s rejuvenation/dunamancy? The plot thickens. THEY FOUND WHERE THEY NEED TO GO! B9!

7. Beau and Yasha have fun with some shameless PDA OR alternatively they get some super private time (bonus: cuddles in the dome).

I love their morning flirting. “That was amazing babe”, “Jump I’ll catch you!”, “Come here baby”, that’s some shameless PDA right there we love to see it. ALSO, Marisha said “we are doing PDA it’s a thing” and I feel so validated right now.

8. Jester and Fjord heal each other at least one time OR have a deep conversation (bonus: Jester complimenting Bjald).

They didn’t heal each other/converse BUT they had some nice moments! Fjord holds Jester’s ankles and waist at her request, how cute!

9. Continuing to hope for Essek’s fancy dunamantic spells OR magical items (I just love his style and flair okay).

OG Fortune’s Favour!! Thanks Essek. Identifying the keycard was also helpful. Essek giving Veth a pearl and telling her to aim it was so funny lol. LEVEL 4 LIGHTNING BOLT? What spell/item is that? Wow Essk is well-equipped.

10. They talk seriously OR laugh together about Bjald/smooth Fjord (Bonus: Veth disses Bjald just because) but Fjord eventually gets his hair back.

Wow straight out of the gate lol, Veth doesn’t wait (they are seriously expending spell slots for this). Also Veth cannot stop trying to grab his illusory hair. She also tells Devexian that Fjord is not a robot despite him not having hair I can’t even- Also, rejuvenation tube gave Bjald hair back and a long rest, great! 

11. Continuing to hope for Caleb to polymorph into anything really, or using polymorph on any party member (polymorph! Caleb interactions my beloved).

Sparrow! Caleb my beloved! “I’m adorable” indeed, he totally is adorable. Landing on Jester, Fjord and Charlie must have been fun.

12. More moments of Essek’s trust issue (OR changes in his opinion) with Charlie and more moments of Charlie being helpful to the party.

Charlie was a very competent translator! Also, Essek does continue to have a lot of trust issues. 

13. Jester and Charlie cute interactions OR Veth and Charlie interactions (Bonus: They reach the genesis ward to fix Charlie).

Charlie stopped listening when Jester asked him to, how cute! Veth also advocated for Charlie’s repair because she is already 100% attached - and they did fix Charlie I MEAN DEVEXIAN. Veth’s flirting with Devexian is... kinda cute? I guess?? Not sure how Devexian feels about it lol.

14. Cad attempting to speak with the dead on the remaining TT members (there is still Otis and Zoran right) and learning some useful information.

Well, speak with the dead was cast on the dead Aeorian warrior and some useful information was learned about the rejuvenation chamber I’d say. It was not cast on the TT members though. 

15. Caleb casting fire spell challenge! I miss his signature fire magic that we have not seen in a long time, actually (Bonus: Essek is impressed).

Well fire bolt is a fire spell and actually does decent damage for a fire bolt.

16. Cad has a particularly badass moment in or out of combat (bonus: divine intervention success).

HOLY THAT BANISHMENT WAS SO BADASS, also that canceled nat 20 on Yasha. Wow Cad continues to be cool in battles, he is such a MVP!!

17. Veth has a particularly badass moment in or out of combat (bonus: HDYWTDT).

I mean all Veth’s sneak attacks are badass in my book.

18. The wizards nerd out about/investigate Aeorian magic together OR have another conversation (look, I love how they talk to each other okay).

WOW both happened! Essek stayed behind with Caleb in the record room and had a conversation to keep him on track. Right after, Caleb also reminded Essek of the same thing. Once again, I love how they talk to each other. Their dynamic is so fascinating. They also nerd out about/found dunamis (and a literal beacon piece) together in that chamber! That would make sense, time magic = rejuvenation and all that.

19. I know this is highly unlikely but I still kinda want to see the tower again with Essek getting a full tour! I want to see his room decor.

Nope, as expected lol. I don’t think we will see the tower until they deal with Lucien? We will see though, you never know.

20. We find out what exactly Capeleb/Caleb saw when Jester was casting commune/scry (it’s totally something Artagan-related, but what though?).

Nope, but it’s fine. It’s probably not urgent, otherwise Caleb would mention it.

21. Yasha pushes another red button and Beau enabling her out of love.

Yasha went “do it” as Fjord went in the tube lol so she was more of an enabler.

22. You know the drill by now - everyone remains relatively happy and alive by the end of the episode except Lucien and Cree (they can perish), and the episode ends on a terrifying cliffhanger as always.

Wow that episode was PACKED with so much information, I can’t even digest it all. Anyways, the score this time is  14/22, which is not bad at all. 

Bonus: 

Caleb shared half of his pearls with Essek! Also, wow that IS a beacon that they just found. The 3 magic users showboating each other at the end I can’t lmao I love them.

I just love all the noises of the Aeorian Nullifier, thank you Matt.

Jester, for that wand of smiles move, I love you even more (also she was the only one who actually tried to keep the party on task lol).

This episode will certainly need some re-watching to process all the information... but wow what an experience! Loving everything, as always. I cannot wait for next Thursday!

#cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #c2e135 #live blog #cr live blog #manifest list #the mighty nein #campaign 2 #critical role

[sociallyawkwardfoxwriter]

Mighty Nein: I just want everyone giving Caleb forehead kisses. He needs love and affection. We all klnow Fjord and Veth would give him forehead kisses as often as they could. I'd just like to see the times each of the other ones do.

Give Caleb love and affection.

Enjoy!

Beau

"Beauregard!" While he tried not to knock too loud, a combination of excitement and adrenaline pumping through him might have caused it to be considered banging. "Beauregard! Beauregard!"

A hand caught his out of the air before he accidentally popped her in the frustrated face. "What are you doing? We're trying to sleep."

"He proposed."

"No shit?"

"Ja, shit." She dropped one hand to grab the other and look at the engagement ring on his finger. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yeah, it is. He has good taste."

"He does."

Beau stepped forward to pull him into a tight hug for a few long moments, then pulled back to press a kiss to his forehead. "Congrats. I'm happy for you both."

"Thank you, Beauregard."

"You're welcome. Now, go bother your fiancé or something. We're trying to sleep."

*****

Caduceus

"Rough day?" When the question was met with silence, Caduceus grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch to drape around him. "I brought you some tea. Fjord is conducting some business with Beau, but he promised he would be back soon."

He accepted the tea held out to him without a word, then clutched it closely to his chest to soak in the warmth. While he expected Caduceus to leave, the other took his time picking up the room and straightening everything up. Once he was satisfied with the cleanliness of the room, Caduceus stooped down to press a kiss to his forehead.

"I'll be back later for the cup. I will be in the kitchen if you need me."

*****

Fjord

"Hello there, handsome." Before he could lift his head, a pair of lips pressed against his forehead, then dipped further down to steal a kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Thank you."

"We were going to grab lunch. Did you want to stay here or do you think you can handle the walk?"

"I just got comfortable."

A chuckle rumbled through Fjord's chest as he dropped another kiss to his forehead. "What would you like me to get you?"

"Whatever you get is fine."

"Okay. I'll be back soon."

"Thank you, liebling."

"You're welcome."

*****

Jester

"Caleb!" The slam of another body into his nearly caused him to lose his balance, but Jester simply lifted him off his feet to save him. "It's so good to see you again. You look good. I thought you have like super heavy bags under your eyes. Is Fjord taking care of the baby at night so you can sleep?"

"Do you think you can convince him to stop?"

Jester placed a kiss on his forehead with a laugh, then set him back on his feet. "He's not my husband."

"It was worth a try."

"Let Fjord take care of you, Caleb. It makes him happy."

"I know, but he still needs sleep."

"Don't worry! Auntie Jester and Beau and Yasha are here. He'll get plenty of sleep and whatever else you need to do."

*****

Veth

"How are you feeling?"

"Better." While it was true, the dryness of his throat from days of illness caused him to dissolve into a coughing fit. "I could do without that."

"Fjord should be back with soup soon. It'll help."

"I know."

"Don't sound so miserable. At least you haven't been stuck in the bathroom like Beau."

He let out a low chuckle that caused his chest to constrict painfully. "Is she doing any better?"

"She's still alive."

"How comforting."

"She'll be fine." When the door squeaked open, Veth rose to place a kiss on his forehead, then hopped off the bed. "Keep getting plenty of rest."

"I will, liebling."

*****

Yasha

"They're very cute."

"Too cute for their own good." A war cry from Fjord was met with two attempts to do the same as their children launched themselves at him. "Be careful. We don't want any concussions this time."

When only screams met his words, he turned to give Yasha an exasperated sigh. "They will be fine."

"Tell that to Fjord's black eye last week when he got toppled onto the corner of the table."

"That's very impressive. He's much bigger than they are."

"Please don't encourage them. Cali is already too much like her Aunt Beau for me to keep up with her."

"You are doing a good job." Yasha gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, then dipped down to drop a kiss on his forehead. "And I'm sure Beau would be happy to train her."

"I'm sure she would."

#masked-prompter #critical role #widofjord #empire siblings #quiet kids #caleb widogast #beauregard lionett #caduceus clay #fjord #jester lavorre #veth brenatto #yasha nydoorin #fluff #prompt fill #fanfic

[lexa-lives-in-us]

This could be a flashback, but Dairon watching Beau get attached to Yasha and having some painful memories about what happened when they got too close to someone. Trying to stop Beau from looking for Yasha after she disappears for months/years...

Part 12 of ???

Read 1 - 2 - 3 - 4  - 5 - 6  - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11

Marion leaves after a few minutes to go help Veth and a now free Caduceus with lunch prep, and Dairon leans back on the couch, observing the scene in front of her.

As Jester, Fjord and Caleb run over a few details on the screens in front of them, Dairon watches as Yasha and Beau circle around each other, studying the other’s moves on the training mats, and finally stepping forward and backwards in a dance of studied movements.

Dairon watches them spar, hiding a smile when Beau sweeps Yasha’s legs and sends her ass to the floor; Yasha makes a grabby hand gesture towards her wife, and when Beau goes to help her up, Yasha drags her on the floor with her.

Beau shrieks, a shriek that becomes a howl of laughter when Yasha starts tickling her, and Dairon can’t help but think how fucking wrong they’d all been.

They remember clearly telling Beau how she couldn’t throw her life away for just a woman. They remember the way young Beauregard had scoffed, so very little scars on her face and her soul, and what she’d responded.

“You don’t know her, Dairon.” she’d said with a determination that Dairon knew would have brought her to her ruin. “Yasha is not and will never be just a woman. You can’t understand.”

But Dairon could. They could understand way too well, unfortunately.

It’s Dairon’s second week at basic training.

The CIA wants to screen them, massacre them with their inspections, figure out who has the tools to survive that life and who doesn’t, and Dairon is more than happy to prove all the negative expectations wrong.

Because it’s the 90s, and not only the CIA likes to divide their squadrons in male agents and female agents, but is also incredibly sexist in what they expect from one rather than the other.

Dairon announces clearly their gender identity right off the bat, but no one really cares.

There’s five girls left with them at the end of the second week, and two of them have already made clear that they don’t like them. Dairon hasn’t spent enough time with the other three to figure them out.

They’ve been too busy trying to avoid the nine male agents who are constantly trying to get them to snap.

It’s the end of the day, and it’s an easy sparring session. Dairon wants to get it done and over with, but of course one of the guys pushes them while they walk past them, and Dairon has had enough.

They don’t care that it’s not their turn: they flip around and grab the agent by the arm, yanking them towards the mat.

“Fucking do that again, I dare you.” they growl.

He starts laughing, just like the rest of the guys.

“Right. I’m not going to raise hands on a chick.”

There’s another laugh, but it comes from behind Dairon, and it’s an angry one.

“How dense do you have to be?! You know Dairon isn’t a chick. They’ve told you so already.”

Dairon whips their head around, and there she is, this gorgeous small woman, who couldn’t be taller than 5′2″, fists clenched at her sides and an angry expression on her round features. Her pale skin is reddened by the frustration she is showing.

Dairon is in love in an instant.

Slowly, they turn to look at the guy who’s pushed them.

He raises an eyebrow, throwing a punch at Dairon’s face, a strike they easily avoid.

“Come on!” one of the other guys yells, “Kick her ass!”

Dairon hears a commotion behind them, followed by a grunt and the sound of a body hitting the floor, and when they turn, successfully avoiding a second strike, they see the guy who’s talked rolling on the ground and holding his nose, and the girl grinning and shaking her hand from the numbness of the hit.

“Well, then.” Dairon says with a grin.

***

They end up in the infirmary together, while five of the guys get transported to the other wing to treat more serious injuries.

Dairon and the girl exchange a smile from above the nurses’ shoulders, and leave the place together.

***

It’s quick and it’s easy, the way they fall for each other. For the whole duration of training, they stick together, sneaking around at night to go see each other in their rooms.

The world sees them as two girls, and no one ever suspects anything.

After training, after screening, and after the first basic assignments, they manipulate their S.O.s and end up in the same division, in the same teams.

Life is easy.

Life is wonderful.

Life is smiling upon Dairon, and they end up moving in together pretty quickly. Agents and special ops by day, lovers by night.

Nothing couldn’t be more perfect. They cover each other’s backs on assignments, and Dairon is good. Dairon is fucking majestic in everything they do. Their partner isn’t as good, but she’s certainly one of the best CIA agents there is.

There are occasions where the assignments don’t line up, and Dairon is away for weeks at a time, and sometimes it’s the opposite. Dairon is okay with it. They like having a relationship, but they also enjoy the solitude of certain missions.

Everything is perfect.

***

Until it isn’t.

***

The CIA gets infiltrated. A number of files goes missing, and people start whispering, they start looking at each other wrong. People start dying.

Mysteriously, without leaving a single hint of what or who might be behind it.

It is clear that it’s an inside job. And not just one person, but several.

Dairon is one of the few who is entrusted with investigating.

It’s out of pure professionalism that they don’t mention it to their girlfriend.

For the better or for the worse, Dairon still wonders about it after years.

They try to believe there’s an explanation, when they see a figure moving in one of the security footages they recover from an agent’s house.

The figure is hooded, and masked, but Dairon could recognize that right hook anywhere.

Dairon’s heart starts freezing.

They set up traps, and every conversation with their girlfriends starts to become a masked interrogation. She doesn’t suspect a thing, because Dairon is just that good.

But piece by piece, word by word, Dairon’s heart freezes over, until one day, when their girlfriend’s gun is aimed at them and Dairon’s gun is aimed at her, they don’t feel anything.

“Come with me.” she says to them.

“Have you ever really loved me?” Dairon asks, with fractures all over their frozen, painfully broken heart.

“Oh, baby...” she says, and her tone doesn’t give anything away.

They both pull the trigger at the same time.

***

Dairon wakes up in the hospital with tubes coming out of their body, and one of their students looks up from where they’re sitting.

“They told me you went down on a mission.” they say, excitedly. 

Dairon wants to groan. Why is this kid even here?!

“They took out a bullet from one of your lungs, you weren’t even supposed to survive. That’s so fucking cool.”

The kid gets up and stands next to the bed. Their face is out of focus, but it’s a clean, smiling face.

“Yeah. Fun.” Dairon croaks. “You know what happened to... To the other guy?”

The rookie shrugs.

“Down in a second. Your shot went right through his head, apparently. Everyone at the base is talking about how you probably dismantled whatever infiltration was going on at the Agency.”

Dairon nods, trying to hide the pain. The pain that isn’t at all physical and all emotional. The pain of a shattered, frozen heart.

Then, a thought hits them.

If they really have taken down the mole, and if the information is now of public knowledge, it means that whatever hospital they’re in, it’s probably on a cloaked location. So why the fuck is this kid-

“How did you find me?” Dairon demands.

The kid smiles, a shit eating grin that Dairon will learn to love and care for deeply.

“I have my ways. Can I stay?”

Dairon sighs. Against all odds, they nod.

“Sure. Just shut that mouth, Beauregard, and let me rest.”

Dairon blinks out of their reverie, when a loud scream comes once again from the mats. Somehow, Beauregard has managed to get herself into a pickle with Yasha, Jester and Veth, and the three of them are now all trying to pin her down as Jester shoves whipped cream all over her face.

Beauregard laughs, screams again, and kicks.

“DAIROOOOOOOOOON!” she howls. “HELLPPPPP!”

Dairon scoffs.

“Get fucked, Lionett.”

#undercover au #spy au #dairon #marion lavorre #beauyasha #flashback #my work #critical role

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

cad meta is what i do and i’m having a bad day and need a distraction so here’s some thoughts on all his weird shit last night. in three parts.

part i: “i regret my weakness” is such a line. let’s talk priorities. let’s talk about sureness. let’s talk about people as projects. let’s talk about that fucking commune.

as soon as shit started getting connected, he zoned the fuck out and was like, “yes, i have a way to solve this and help get these connections made.” i’ve missed commune, it’s a good spell, and i like the way melora’s answers are treated. he asked about nott, and then beau (or maybe the other way around?), and then about his family, for the first time.

(maybe it’s because beau pointed out that his lack of attempts seemed odd? maybe it’s because he’s slowly started to realize that he’s a person who can go after his own wants?)

i am... concerned about the vagueness of the answer he received re: his family, but it at least confirms that some of the clays are probably alive and definitely in the menagerie. but it’s the response to that that gets me. it’s how he reacts to that news of, well, everything you’re looking for--or at least most things--are in one place, and your friends are willing to go, even amidst their own issues. 

he starts out by calling himself weak, and then refusing to explain that insult to the others. he then begins a repression-disguised-as-selflessness off with beau and nott--two strong competitors in the field. somehow, he wins.

but he was excited the night before. he was ready. he admitted that his path was kind of urgent, but he turned back on that, once he learned that the others were already there. i’ll talk more on this later, but... it doesn’t paint a happy picture of his feelings about his family. the word “abandoned” came up on talks the other week, and i’m standing by that i think that’s the main emotion, here. again, i’ll talk more on that later. fjord called him selfless, in the hot tub talk. caduceus corrected him, and said he was afraid. i don’t think he’s just afraid of them being dead, is the thing. i am still wearing my “Cad Is Sick/Cursed/Withering” hat though, for personal reasons and also because of course that would make the reunions tense. of course.

the fact that he thinks going to the menagerie is “inevitable” and he wants to “spend the time before that doing as much as we can for everybody” lends some weight to this theory--the too-pale, very eccentric, too-thin, always-tired, liar, baby of the family (it happens, so everybody cares and wears the sheep’s clothes while they chaperone) doesn’t want to be taken home. doesn’t want to be breakable and useless. he has people to help, now.

but let’s talk about the other backstory-dodge attemptees, for a second. 

cad admires beau. this is canon, i don’t shut up about this. cad genuinely thinks that beau is the coolest person he has ever met, and he’s right. he wants to help her, but he didn’t really know she needed to be helped, but this--well. forest witches and family issues, that’s his fucking wheelhouse. his desire to help her isn’t like his usual help-quests--he’s very much handling this like he handled the trent situation, it seems, where he’s like, “oh, these people hurt you? i hate them and will kill them. i have never had friends before and this is how friendship works.” which is so valid.

nott, meanwhile, we know he has (entirely reasonable imo) beef with. he brought up a part of that beef last week--please just apologize and have a conversation about dying, god. but he wants to help, because he knows nothing if not fixing things, people. he hates it when he doesn’t know how to fix things, people--let’s recall one of his first-ever communes, the too big to fix one. and it’s a character flaw, this, we know. he has a poorly shaped understanding of how non-familial, non-divine, non-transactional relationships work. he deals exclusively in the one-on-one, unless he’s fucking with people or communicating with melora. (”his protector” was a fun new label, matthew.)

so again. witches, curses, feeling weird about going back to the way things were before the nein? kind of his fucking wheelhouse. nott hasn’t been helpable, until now, in his eyes, because she didn’t want to be fixed. but now she does, so--well. now he can try. and it’s fucked up, and it’s shitty, but it’s certainly interesting, too.

part ii: this episode was very centric on family shit in general so as a nice change of pace in between two family drama parts we’re gonna talk about drinking, drugs, and a potential crush on a certain warlock/paladin

we’ve known since the island with the bees that it’s not that he doesn’t like drinking, it’s that he doesn’t like the taste of alcohol, but episode 92 kind of. hit that harder than before. he’ll take whiskey, mixed with juice, and if it’s still nasty, he’ll add hallucinogenic fruit that he’s only ever used before (unless tal’s goof about microdosing the crew was not a goof, which. it was a goof.) to ask melora about vandran. and he’ll enjoy himself! Caduceus Does Drugs was, again, canon, but we’ve never experienced high cad before.

and high cad? rather--crossed cad, because he was drunk, too. crossed cad is a flirt. after being made uncomfortable at the idea of him being related to fjord--who is so handsome, with a nice-looking nose and cool hair--he spends the night just. “fjord you’re so cool. fjord your accent is so hard how do you do accents, fjord. fjord your magic which used to scare me is so cool. fjord your joke was funny.” he gets embarrassed. he facepalms on the bar. as a fellow socially awkward gay, yasha pats him on the back. and then, he continues. just talking to fjord.

he wakes up hungover. he quietly dislikes it. beau quietly notices. nobody else comments.

when they get to kamordah, he drinks again. if i saw things right, for the first time, we see caduceus not wince at the taste of a (non-mead) alcohol. it might have just been a tal-wasn’t-in-character, but iirc, every other time cad’s drank? there’s been some faces made.

something’s up. again, we’ve known for a good amount of time that Caduceus Is Not Okay, and i am the first to advocate for Caduceus Has A Crush, but this episode managed to solidify both of those things very clearly. he doesn’t know what he wants anymore, is the thing. and he’s so lonely.

part iii: back to family drama! fragility, bad dads, and the fact that the nein are more similar than anyone wants to admit

his attempt at using objective language when talking about seeing one’s parents again is sort of what set me off last night. last night was all about shitty parents, and uhhhh well we certainly got some fuel to the “cad’s a little bit angry at his parents” fire last night.

we were talking in the fc server on how a few of us (self-included) are under the impression that cad’s dad is one of the family members already “under the ground,” which reminded me of a terribly long, purple-prosey character analysis thing i wrote in like. june. wherein i posited that caduceus was probably rather young when people started leaving. the maturity line kind of... hinted at that, i think. he’s done a lot of thinking, in the time he’s been alone; it’s kind of implied that he did a lot of his growing up in his time alone. 

he didn’t care if thoureau was being genuine or not. he cared to know if thoureau took actual steps for protecting his family, or if he was just paranoid and performative. caduceus clay is a charismatic forest-dwelling witch, raised by forest-dwelling witches, and he knows the types of wards and guards and protections they suggest. he knows the lies they tell those they perceive to be naïve.

did abandonment help beau? is fjord really on some grand destined quest tied all because of a family name? did jester’s loneliness make her the beacon of joy that she appears to be? is caleb forever bound to fix who he was before all of this? is yasha allowed to embrace that she is loved, now? if nott’s problem is solved, will she leave the nein without complaint?

makes you think. or whatever.

#original #text #cr #caduceus clay #long post! #cr spoilers #caduceus #boylore

[mollymauk-teafleak]

Help Wanted (final chapter)

Thank you so much to everyone whose enjoyed this fic! Writing it has been a real joy and a relief right now, especial thanks to @minky-for-short​ and @spiky-lesbian​ my lovely beta readers!

Please consider leaving a comment on Ao3 if you’ve enjoyed this fic!

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

----

Fjord and Caduceus get the happy ending they deserve

WARNING: This chapter deals with physical domestic violence, it doesn't happen on page but the results are seen. Also, conversations around internalised homophobia

----

“Are you really going to let him leave without saying goodbye?”

It was all Yasha had said to her that evening, since she’d come storming in after her disastrous ‘conversation’ with Fjord. Not at first, of course, both of her girlfriends knew better tha to approach her when she was in a mood like that, giving her space to burn her anger away. Jester, of course, had immediately crept onto the sofa as soon as the coast was clear, wrapping her soft arms around her and not asking for an explanation, just holding.

Yasha didn’t speak her love through touch as much as Jester, instead there was a cup of warm tea in front of her all of a sudden and the strong, sure presence behind her he knew so well, a hand on her shoulder.

And those words, in her quiet, level voice.

Jester looked like she wanted to say more, that expression on her face like she was just full of words and was about to burst, until Yasha laid a gentle hand on top of her head and suggested that maybe she could go and help her make dinner. The tiefling bit her lip and flared her nostrils but eventually nodded and hopped over the back of the sofa, Yasha turning after her and leaving Beau with those words.

“Are you really going to let him leave without saying goodbye?”

Not admonishing or judging, there was none of that in her tone, as steady and sure as the sight of home from a long distance. It was just another moment where Beau felt her girlfriends knew her better than she knew herself, like they saw what was under the anger at the surface, the anger that many would assume was all there was to her. So many that sometimes Beau would believe it.

Because of course she wasn’t going to let her best friend go for gods knew how long without a goodbye. She couldn’t have their last interaction be them screaming at each other on a street corner, throwing words like weapons. No matter how she felt about his choices, he was still her friend. They’d been through far too much to leave it like that.

It had just taken her up until now to realise it.

Sighing, Beau unfolded herself and stood up, heading for the door, “I’m going to go to Fjord’s.”

Relief flooded Jester’s expression and Yasha gave a small nod, “We’ll have dinner ready for when you come back.”

Beau gave them both a rueful smile, taking a moment to admire the simple domesticity of them with Jester chopping carrots and Yasha stirring a pot on the stove. She couldn’t believe this was her life now, after so much time believing she was undeserving of anything half as lovely. A square window of warm yellow light on a dark street, always there for her.

And she would repay them by continuing to get better.

Beau shouldered on her jacket and slipped her feet into her comfy walking trainers, already planning out what she was going to say, how she was going to rescue the clusterfuck that had been their last interaction. At least it wasn’t the first time they’d had to do this, they were practically experts at navigating their way back to friendship after both letting their anger do the speaking for them.

She was a second from putting her hand on the door when someone knocked on it.

Frowning, Beau opened the door and sucked in a sharp breath.

Fjord stood on their doormat, panting heavily like he’d run there. A gym bag sat at his feet, haphazardly stuffed and hastily zipped. He was shivering in just a t-shirt and jeans, the cold night air turning his joints a harsh, dark green, arms wrapped around himself protectively and his eyes red and raw.

And an angry swelling around one streaming eye.

“I…” his voice was raspy, like he was struggling to get the words out, “Um, I broke up with Avantika. Can I sleep on your couch tonight?”

Fury flooded Beau within an instant, her jaw clenching hard and her hands turning into white knuckled fists. Adrenaline snapped hard in her chest, making her voice a low growl, “I’m going to kill her. I’m going to fucking kill her.”

Fjord closed his eyes, shrinking down, looking so completely defeated, like a man with water up to his jawline and rising, “Beau...please, I...I just need a friend right now. Please?”

Beau found it hard to control her emotions, as a rule, particularly negative ones. They seemed to take root in her, in her muscles and chest and nerves, and take over until it was so hard to care about anything else.

But the one thing Beau did care about more than anything was the people she loved.

So she inhaled deeply, feeling it fill her up, as the monks had taught her. And as she exhaled, her jaw unclenched, her fingers spread and palms opened.

“Of course,” she reached out and put her hand on Fjord’s arm, gently bringing him inside, “Jester can have a look at that eye and we’ll make a bed up for you. Stay as long as you like, man, seriously.”

Fjord’s lower lip trembled and he bit down on it, hard, just nodding.

“Hey,” Beau murmured quietly, dropping her voice before folding him into the attentions of her family, the wide eyes and gasps and immediate action, the realities of his healing, “You’re safe here. Okay?”

Fjord gave a shuddery gasp and in it Beau could hear every time he’d let something slip as a teenager about the realities of the Asylum, every disastrous break up with women he couldn’t force himself to love, every impossible rule he’d been given to live by, every nightmare and flinch away from a raised voice, every scar he’d been given by so many people. She heard a lifetime of hurt start to shift like an earthquake starting to stir.

“Okay,” Fjord breathed, tears starting to fall.

Caduceus stayed in bed far past his alarm, lying on his side and listening to it’s dull buzz in the predawn gloom. He’d been awake long before it sounded but now it had, he couldn’t bring himself to move.

All he could do was replay the kiss over and over in his mind, the last moments he would ever spend with Fjord. He frantically searched for something, anything he could have done to change the outcome, changing his words and actions over in his mind like puzzle pieces he couldn’t make fit. Was there any way he could have kept Fjord close to him, taken the fear out of his eyes, any way he could have turned him around in the darkness?

He knew it would do no good but he couldn’t stop his mind chewing it over, punishing himself for every choice and everything he could have done differently.

It was as if the clocks had turned back on him and he was the firbolg he’d been two years and change ago. The one with weights on his wrists and ankles keeping him pinned to his too small bed, lost and depressed and scared to go out into the loud, foreign city he didn’t know, endlessly punishing himself for leaving too soon, for leaving too late, for leaving full stop. Falling before he’d even taken his first step, building walls around himself when he’d worked so hard to be free.

He couldn’t bear that again. So Caduceus did what he had done two years ago and touched the earring that looped through his right ear. He’d always played with his ears as a child, running his fingers over their soft edges to calm himself whenever he was anxious. Apparently he’d done it as a baby too, when he’d been born with the largest set of ears any of his family had ever seen on a newborn, so the story went. So when he’d been thinking where to set his mark of the Wildmother, the choice had seemed obvious.

He ran his thumb over the carved, polished oak, following the whorl of the wood and took a deep breath.

“Please give me strength,” he murmured, “I’m going to need you to get through today. And...wherever he is, please protect him. Please make sure he’s okay.”

And then he got up, far from ready to face the space in the cafe beside him that would always feel empty, but at least able to try.

He tried to focus on simple things, once the door to the cafe had closed behind him, letting out it’s usual cheery ring.

Take off your coat. Hang it up. Take out your apron. Put it on, double knotted at the front. Take the first chair down. Then the next. Then the next.

Simple instructions for an exhausted brain and an aching heart. And it worked, for a time. It stopped him thinking about how Fjord would be coming up the street right now, how the bell would seem extra bright when he pushed it back. How he would call out a friendly hello and probably use some slang term Caduceus wouldn’t understand but he would put together from context. How he’d be wearing shorts, even in the cold and Cad would tease him for it and Fjord would jokingly call him his grandmother in return. How he’d help him take the chairs down, going twice as fast as he did, asking when Cad would be putting the croissants in the oven because it just so happened he’d missed breakfast that morning, just a coincidence. How he’d call him Caddy and be the only person who ever had.

Maybe it wasn’t working as well as he’d thought.

Fortunately, the ringing of the bell above the door gave him something else to think about.

“I’m sorry, we’re not quite open yet,” Cad straightened up, “But if you’d like to take a seat, I can get the kettle on…”

“I think I’d like that,” Fjord answered, his voice small and hopeful, “If you had the time.”

Caduceus froze, eyes widening, wondering if he was still back in his bed, listening to the alarm and had finally drifted to sleep. But he never would have imagined Fjord like this, looking so tired and hollowed out, with a fading, sickly yellow shadow over one eye and a fresh scab on his lip.

The marks were all he could see, hand lifting to touch them, heal them without question but he forced himself to stop, “Who…”

Shame darkened Fjord’s expression and he hunched his shoulders, “Um...Avantika…”

Cad’s jaw dropped and he felt a pit of disbelief open up inside him, quickly filled by an anger he’d only felt rarely but when he did, it was like a forest bursting into flames, “What?”

Fjord winced, “Don’t worry, I’m done with her. I mean it, for good. She’s leaving anyway and...and I just want to let it go, okay?”

Cad quelled his anger, tucking it away to examine later, “So...she’s going and you’re…”

Fjord smiled then, even as it clearly tugged painfully on his lip, “I’m staying.”

Cad blinked, shaking his head slowly, wanting to believe it so desperately but terrified of being hurt again, pulled in two directions at once, “You’re staying? For good?”

Fjord nodded, “With Beau and Jester and Yasha until I can sort something more permanent than their couch. I mean, I still need to get stuff from...from her place and...I-I’ve never really put down roots anywhere so…”

He even sounded different. His accent had shifted slightly, like a layer of it had been pulled away. A lot of him seemed to have been pulled away, actually, pared back and stripped down and he was trying to figure out what was left.

“I’d like to work here again, if you’d have me,” Fjord asked shyly, “I mean, I’d completely understand if you weren’t comfortable with that. After...after everything.”

Yes, Cad wanted to answer wholeheartedly but he made himself stop.

“After what, Fjord?” he said instead, “I think we need to talk about it. It doesn’t have to be right now but we need to.”

Fjord shook his head, “No. I mean, thank you but no. You’re right, we need to talk about it and we need to talk about it now. I’ve waited far too long already.”

Cad nodded and gestured to the table he stood by. None of the tables or chairs in the cafe matched, as he’d sourced them from half a hundred different thrift stores and flea markets and scrap yards. This one was black wrought iron with a mosaiced top, flowers done in squares of leaded glass. It was a table made for partners, for third or fourth dates, only big enough for two people to sit close with not an inch of spare space.

Fjord sat across from him willingly. He’d looked like he’d slept in the clothes he was wearing and judging by the room, they were probably Yasha’s. Cad wondered if the ladies even knew he was here, as early as it was.

“I, um…” Fjord cleared his throat, “I want to apologise for the kiss last night. Not that I did it, just the way I reacted. Well...maybe how I did it too. That wasn’t how I’d want our first kiss to go. What I mean is, I want to kiss you, Caduceus. I...I like you. In that way.”

Cad felt something come to life in his chest, a fluttering that settled in his throat as his heart began to pound, “I like you in that way too, Fjord. I have for a while.”

Fjord’s golden eyes widened, “Really? I...I hoped, I thought I saw it sometimes but I didn’t know if I was seeing what I wanted to see.”

“Neither did I,” Cad smiled kindly.

That made him smile again, that shy hesitant smile. He took a deep breath, fixing his gaze on the table top while he marshalled his thoughts, like he was having to rearrange everything with this new information.

“Um...it might seem stupid but knowing I...I can feel this way, I’ve kind of only known it since yesterday. Well, not really, it’s always kind of been there but up until now I tried to hide it, even from myself. It just wasn’t something I could be, it wasn’t allowed in the world I lived in until I met you,” Fjord swallowed hard, “In the orphanage, I would have been beaten up for it. In high school I would have been even more rejected than I already was, on Vandran’s ship, I...I would have lost the only man who I could call a father. But I didn’t realise how much it was hurting me, how...how it was like an infection? The more I tried to hide this part of me, the sicker I got, the more twisted, the more sad.”

Cad only nodded and gazed at him, trying to be a constant, sure presence.

“But...I’m done feeling sick,” Fjord took a shaky breath, “I’m done hiding it. I’m...I’m gay,” his voice broke almost immediatley and his face crumbled, tears flooding into his eyes, “Gods, I’m sorry…”

Cad leaned forward, voice soft, “Oh, Fjord, it’s okay. I promise it’s okay...can I touch you?”

Fjord nodded wordlessly as his shoulders shook, gripping back just as tight when Cad wound their fingers together and held fast.

“It’s okay,” Cad stroked his thumb across his knuckles, feeling the scars and callus there, “Fjord, it’s okay to feel grief, it’s okay to feel lost and confused and happy, all of these things come with realisations like this. But I need you to understand you’ve just done a wonderful, brave, beautiful thing and I am so very proud of you.”

Fjord didn’t fight his tears, they fell on their joined hands as he gasped out, “But...I don’t know when I’ll feel comfortable kissing you, I don’t know when I’ll be able to say ‘I love you’, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have sex with you...Cad, I can’t ask you to take all this on.”

“Yes, you can,” Caduceus said, firmly, “You can, Fjord, because you are worthy of love. You are worthy of patience and care and kindness. You can always ask. And I am saying yes.”

Fjord gave a sodden, shaky gasp and collapsed fully into his tears, pitching forward, stumbling until Caduceus caught him. He caught him and he held on tight, as strong as any anchor had ever held a ship, folding him into his arms and letting him sob into his chest. With the scent of fresh breeze and dew heavy flowers around them, Caduceus held the man he loved and who loved him back and let him cry. As he would through so many hard days and difficult times.

Eventually, Fjord’s tears ran out. In Cad’s arms he felt so small, like he’d shrunk down without the weight of the poison he’d purged. He let him pull away for air, holding his face in his hands and stroking his damp cheeks so gently.

He wasn’t looking at the mask of a man who had believed all the lies he’d been given and swallowed the hate he’d been shown for long, long years. But nor was he looking at the man who’d made him laugh so much, who’d been occupying his cafe for the last months, the one who had reached out to the Wildmother and Caduceus with hope and desperation in his eyes.

Caduceus was looking at someone new, someone halfway between those two and someone entirely himself. He was looking at Fjord at the very start of a long and difficult journey. He was looking at the man he now realised the Wildmother had put him on this earth to love.

They kissed, a soft and gentle kiss, shy and sweet as honey. And this time, Fjord smiled from ear to ear.

It would be hard for both of them at times. They would both struggle and cry and need different things at different times. But it would always wash up better than when they started, they would grow together stronger.

And both of them knew the light would always be left on.

A year was a long damn time to keep a secret. Beau was pretty pleased with herself for managing it.

She would hide her knowing grins behind her coffee cup as they’d all sit together in the Blooming Grove and someone would bring up how strange it was that Caduceus hadn’t found someone for all the time he’d been in the city. She’d feel a burst of pride when one of them would comment on how much happier Fjord was looking, how his tusks were coming in, how therapy seemed to be doing him a world of good, if they really were just going to ignore the fact that his accent had totally changed. She’d snort down laughter whenever Caleb would cluelessly comment that Fjord and Caduceus had been in the back room an awful long time for guys who were just supposed to be getting sugar and why did that take two people in the first place anyway?

Because she’d spent nearly her whole life looking out for her best friend, ever since they were in high school. There was no way she was going to miss how Fjord would put his hand in places it had no rightful reason to be during work hours, when he thought the counter was hiding them better than it was and Cad happened to be passing by. She wasn’t going to miss how, whenever busy days or stormy weather would have Fjord paled and shaking, Caduceus would be the person he’d turn to. She wasn’t going to miss the extra long lunch breaks in the back room or how late Fjord would come home some nights, after cleaning up apparently took hours longer than expected.

But she said nothing, shrugging innocently whenever asked, all while watching through the corner of her eye as Fjord stole a kiss to the back of Cad’s hand behind the coffee machine.

There were no secrets with family after all.

#critical role #cr fic #teahaw #fjorclay #fjord #caduceus clay #beau #beau/jester/yasha #internalised homophobia #domestic violence #modern au #coffee shop au

[readbythestarlight]

c2e93

Oooookay the ad is freakishly normal so far

Nott: I stole this statue because fuck your dad

Fjord harassing the man just sitting listlessly in the bar

This poor old guy xD

I like how Fjord is like “it’s time to find out all about Beau’s wild days”

[[MORE]]

Cary: “you good with a shovel?”

Cad: “I am actually.”

“They are... disappointing.”

Jester is so grossed out by these rooms poor thing

Okay what’s the joke with Sam’s flask this week

HOLY SHIT THEY ALL GET TO SEE THE TRAVELER FOR THE FIRST TIME

Oh fuck what does that mean

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

So that means he’s.... not a god right

I’ve heard the theory he’s an archfey who Jester is helping to ascend to godgood because of her belief in him?

lol the Nott and Fjord banter is the BEST

He was?? A kid?? When she met him?? I do not remember this!!

The disappointment over that Nat20 cause they wanted to fight xD

Oh boy it’s been a while since they faced a harpy

The whole jar, Caleb?? Come on that was fun boba

Now you’ve lost the boba AND you have to fight

Nott’s drinking has gotten bad again

Have we seen Cad’s spirit guardians? I can’t remember. It’s probably bugs.

Called it

Cad coming in clutch with the dispell to save the wizard

Oh boy double crits

Ha nice tho! Fjord fjucking it up with the armor!

And the second one too DAYUM that armor is good

Oh frick it’s acid

OH NO

THE HORSES

Sending the horses back alone is a dumb idea they’re def gonna die

Good trying to deceive his way across the swamp xD

Poison fog?

Ghost fog

This which really does not want visitors

People skin leathers

I half hope it’s NOT the witch’s hut just because it would be funny

They just come across some really really weird hermit’s hut

SHIT there she is hiding on the roof

SHE SCARY

Thanks Matt I hate it

Wtf is she

I haaaaaate her

Also they’re gonna be fucked with a point of exhaustion

Hate the voice god dammit Matt

Like y’all I’m not easily freaked but she is definitely freaking me out

NOPE

NOPE

DONT LIKE HER

I’m with Travis this one time

“One at a time” hahaha hell no

Fjord really stepping up here I’m proud of him but also FUCK DON’T GO IN ALONE

Fjord don’t go promising favors to a witch

Thank god for that low roll

Fjord you little shit xD

Oh no Beau

Beau don’t do it

Nott wouldn’t want you to do it

MARISH RAY

NOOO THE STREAM IS DYING

Beau Beau Beau don’t

God I hate this no no no no no no no no no

I won’t allow this

MARISHA

GODDAMN

RAY

DONT YOU DARE

BEAU DONT

NO

Please Beau don’t

Please Beau

Please

They wouldn’t want this you’ll be hurting them too

BEAU

Oh thank god she left

Beau please don’t

Beau

ASK HER WHAT SHE MEANS BY NOT YET

What if she agrees to change Nott because she senses that Nott’s misery of being away from the M9 would be enough new misery to make it worth it

NOTT

NOTT YOU BAD

DONT DO THAT

Jfc Nott DONT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

ALL THOSE LIVES??

Jfc this is THE MOST SELFISH I am appalled

That puts your own family in danger!

Beau was going to sacrifice all her happiness for you and you’re going to fuck over two nations?!

Nott

Don’t you dare

Girl

If this pushes Beau to make the sacrifice instead I will rage

Has Nott been really off lately or is that just me

“Things that don’t really affect us though” Nott you lying selfish

I am so disappointed in you

Oh Beau’s gonna be MAD

Nott you LIAR

Beau tell them

Tell them the truth

Beau

Please tell them

So they can tell you how miserable they’ll be without you

BEAU DO NOT

MARISHA PLEASE DONT DO THIS

SOMEONE STOP HER

STOP

HER

PLEASE

hug her!! And hold her!! And walk away from the goddamn witch!!

PLEASE DONT LET HER

Jester hug her

Group hug her

Don’t let her

Yasha

oh god

Not gonna let Beau do this

I’m crying so hard please just kill this witch please don’t give her anything

Jester Yasha somebody grab Beau and just hold her and tell her you can’t lose her

All of you do that

And Yasha please don’t listen to the witch

She feeds on your misery, she would bring your wife back as a husk

DAMN RIGHT GIRL

What’s she gonna give her

Oh no the flowers I’m

I’m crying really hard right now

Please roll well

“Oh I just meant I would kill you”

YAAAAS YASHA

Just do it please

Jester no

Can we not

Let’s just fight her let’s just KILL HER

I want Jester to kill her with sunshine

Oh no her artistic expression

Oh that would be so sad

Just KILL HER

JESTER NO

JESTER

JESTER NO

OH MY GOD

I’m gonna throw up

N: “let her do her thing” FUCK YOU NOTT

Oh damn, was that clever of her?

Oh. Oh my god.

She’s using modify memory

BABY GIRL

that’s THE SPELL

ITS NOT GONNA WORK BUT IM PROUD SHES TRYING

HOLY SHIT

SHE SUCCEEDED

I can’t breathe

That persuasion dice roll for the fucking cupcake

LAURA GODDAMN BAILEY EVERYONE

I literally can’t breathe

Taliesin is all

Of us

Marisha is the only one keeping in character

Oh my god oh my god oh my god

I can’t believe it was all that darkness and all that emotion and then Jester saved it with a moldy cupcake

Anyone feel like Jester did that as much to keep Beau with them as for Nott?

I’m shaking man what a ride

#im still screaming guys #critical role #cr spoilers #Jester Lavore MVP

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E1-46 (Jan 8, 2019)

Happy New Year! Welcome to Talks for tonight, a looooong time coming. @eponymous-rose is off doing very cool science, so I’m stepping in tonight. Also Brian’s wearing a guitar-string bracelet that was once upon a time played by Meatloaf.

Announcements: Tuesday, Jan 15 at 4pm PST is the debut of Mame Drop, their new show ft. the Mame Cabinet. Wednesday, Jan 23 at 5pm PST, they’ll be doing Pub Drop, ft. art lessons with Babb Star; the next season of Between the Sheets airs Jan 28 at 7pm PST. Ashley will definitely be in Season 2.

CR Stats: “9,″ or “nein,“ has been said at least 733 times so far. Matt has facepalmed 80 times in 46 episodes. By this point in C1, he’d facepalmed 77 times. Beau has cast the highest level spell so far (conjuring the elemental). Caduceus has prevented 38 damage from critical hits with Sentinel at Death’s Door. Caleb’s smell has been commented on 49 times. Fjord -- and BWF segues to discuss Travis in Liam’s oneshot, which was a whooooole ‘nother thing, and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it yet! We never come back to his fact, sadly. Jester has performed 35 pranks so far. Molly has been gone for 85 days in game. “Long may he reign,” says the cast, and they all toast him. Nott has cast Message 50 times. Sam: “Wow, I got a lot to say!”

The biggest challenge for them so far in terms of the culture shift between C1 and C2 has been the war. They do think about it a lot while they’re “chasing magic ocean orbs,” but they know the clock is still running while they’re doing other things. Nott would care if her homeland was gone, but she wouldn’t mind overmuch if the goblins were killed but the land was okay.

Jester is perfectly content with Nott’s motherly advice, even though it’s vastly different from what her mother suggested. Laura: “It’s weird that I can look at Matt and go, ‘Mom,’ and it feels...” Matt: “It’s okay, don’t worry,” but in the Ruby’s voice, and we’re all delighted.

Matt has had to reconsider some aspects of his preparation now that he has two PCs that can see everything and/or remember everything. He doesn’t believe in artificially upping the difficulty of his worldbuilding/checks just because people took certain feats, he just has to be prepared to answer their questions more than before.

Sam feels the alcoholism has added a bit of randomness to Nott’s character. It’s actually weirdly led Nott to be able to do more, since Sam had envisioned her as a very skittish, nervous character, but the alcoholism allows her to be brave in a way she is not otherwise.

Travis wanted to explore Fjord’s origins, but didn’t have any specific plans. “Growth? Yes. I think he’s taken a dive into a lot of things that he’d never experienced before, and had outcomes that he didn’t anticipate. I also think that he’s reeling from all these choices--it’s just one coin flip after the next, and that’s put him where he is now.” Both BWF and Matt express interest in the twists neither of them anticipated. Marisha, plaintively: “Please don’t kill us all.”

Caleb doesn’t think there was a specific turning point that made him trust the Nein as well as Nott; it was a series of small steps. The first time he shared his backstory with Beau was a screw loose. Liam enjoys the conflict between the group goals and Caleb’s goals.

Everyone has missed being their characters over the break.

Travis agrees with Liam that there’s a new possible viewpoint every 30 minutes--he has no ulterior motives, just is always trying to do what feels right in the moment. He’s seen some things online suggesting he has a bigger plan, but he doesn’t think that far ahead.

Beau was the first one to say “I love you” out of the M9. Marisha was most surprised by Beau’s opening up. Beau was a “deliberate asshole” to Molly, Fjord, and Caleb at certain points because she knew they’d leave her eventually; this way, she controlled the relationship and was the one doing the pushing away.

Taliesin had no plan for Cad’s future during the breakdown on the boat. He was dealing with the realities of Cad’s creation and trying to find an anchor for his “track,” and the two conversations with Nott and Jester were crucial for helping him find his path, and Tal’s plan for his future arcs.

Did Molly’s death affect how the cast relate to their characters? Sam: “I’ve been thinking of backup characters way more than last campaign.” It doesn’t affect how he plays Nott, though. Travis feels very guilty that we’re spending so much time in his backstory and still know hardly anything about so many others--he’d feel terrible if someone else died and we still knew nothing about them. Laura feels like if she makes a backup character it’s bad luck. Liam has a vague idea, but he’d rather use it for a future campaign. Laura and Travis have no backups planned.

Caleb has no regrets avoiding the legionnaire contracts back in Zadash. Molly (says Tal) would have also been happy they avoided it.

The Fjord/Nott prickliness started off as a goof, but Sam thinks it might be a touch of a real thing. Travis is all, “naaaaaaah, not a thing.” Fjord likes poking her. Fjord actually loves Nott--he’s messing with Sam more than anything, especially with the buttons, but everything has a shelf life. Sam suggests Fjord fundamentally does not understand Nott’s nature--is she a person? A thing? It has a touch of genuine suggestion by Sam, but Travis waves it away. He truly does love Nott, he says.

Fanart of the Week: @quortknee with a stunning portrait of Yasha surrounded by flowers.

Dani mentions to Matt that Jamedi was the first NPC in either campaign that was a critical part of a path--journeying through the woods as a guide--but did not participate in combat at all. Matt says he’s essentially a scout, amazing at tracking, but would never jump into combat with a hydra. Matt created the character’s personality first, then explored that in his actions later.

Tal’s super interested in more about Jamedi. Laura loves how cool he was. 

Travis compares Fjord’s journey to a kid getting dropped into a high school party: “There’s going to be beer and alcohol and you’re going to be tempted--no I’m not! I love Dr Pepper!” Travis laughs: “Fjord is the kid at the high school party” who suddenly succumbs to every temptation despite being sure he’d resist wholesale.

Laura teases Caleb for being a Debbie Downer. Liam, deadpan: “Life expectancy in Wildemount is not that great.”

Matt and Laura both are super excited to see how the relationship with the Traveler develops. Laura initially envisioned a very much big-brother relationship, but she’s found that she genuinely is struck with awe and a bit of fear every time the Traveler shows up. “I thought they were going to be way more familiar!”

Liam talks about how the idea of meeting Astrid and the rest makes his palms sweat every time.

Caleb was originally an Evocation Wizard--still level 2 or 3--in his backstory, but all the years of doing nothing meant he had to start over later.

Beau has latched onto the first mate position because she’s always wanted to prove herself, both to her parents and herself. BWF: “Flex. I gotchu.”

Nott does consider herself the mother of the group. She’s not great at it, but she does view herself as surrounded by a bunch of people who aren’t fully mature in any way, and she’s trying to “get ‘em to college.”

Everyone agrees Beau has changed the most out of everyone throughout the campaign. Caleb has begin to make small different choices in his behavior. Laura: “Fjord has changed a lot. Now he’s going to kill us all.” Matt’s enjoyed his shift from “I don’t know what’s happening” to “I want to know what’s happening.” Everyone comments on Fjord’s wild-westiness over the last few episodes.

Everyone misses Ashley and talks about her bravery in exposing Yasha’s heart in the last episode. Matt points out Ashley always reviews the VODs for this campaign and explores Yasha’s emotional journey offscreen, so that this episode was basically her check-in, showing how Yasha’s journeyed and grown over the last dozens of episodes.

BWF struggles mightily parsing “palenewmoon” as a username, and it’s hilarious.

Caduceus is not scared of his current situation; it’s a thing that happens and it’s gone, his moment of fear now behind him. He does feel far from home--not a wanderer. “A bit of a hobbit vibe.” Fjord doesn’t scare him at all. Travis: “He shouldn’t.” Travis says Cad is the one he’s the most interested in exploring right now.

Matt found Laura & Travis’s baby arrival one of the most unexpected events in terms of having to scramble for a plan. The docks of Nicodranas are a close second, especially since he was dangling all these other hints about the Menagerie Coast and the war only for the M9 to completely ignore them. Liam: “War sounds hard.”

The Darktow escapades also surprised him, since he’d imagined it would be more of a race with Avantika to the next orb. “You stayed one night and got kicked the fuck out. I had planned the next few days; there was a whole thing with Allison that could have gone on... All the pirates are distinctly like, ‘Don’t do shit to other pirates or we’ll kill you,’ and you were like, ‘Hey guys, let’s do shit to other pirates!’” Sam: “We’re terrible at this game!”

Travis didn’t anticipate the visions, especially the dream of water that destroyed the fleet of ships. Fjord wants to get as close to the goal line of releasing Uk’otoa without crossing the line. That sounds dangerous, kiddo.

Caleb thinks Nott is a much better being than he is since she has a good heart. He also feels like he’s letting his guard down around the Nein and allowing himself to have a circle of friends. However, the last couple of episodes have made him want to withdraw back to the Nott-and-Caleb against the world vibe. Sam thinks they’ve drawn closer together--they know they have each other’s backs, so now they can explore other relationships.

Most impactful moments so far: Molly for everyone, for sure. Fjord: hooking up with Avantica. Cad: staying on the boat. (Matt likes that this showed good commitment to both story and each other’s characters to have Jester check in on him.) Caleb: telling Beau and Nott everything, like letting off a steam valve. Beau: the plan with the Plank King, validating her strengths. (Everyone oohs and aahs over the “I...wait.” moment again.) Jester: the dragon fight, staring down death and wondering if Mom had been right after all.

Talks Machina: After Dog

In discussion of chicken noises made to amuse Ronin, Tal reveals he keeps feral chickens. Somehow I’m not surprised. 

Favorite activities over the break: Matt slept. BWF suggests karaoke, and Laura realizes everyone went to kigerumi karaoke without them because they had family in town. Laura & Travis and BWF (and Ashley?) went to Sam’s Christmas party.

Tal thinks the Gentleman will be dead by the time they all get back to him. Matt reminds them of the sequence that led to Port Dimali--just the name of a contact. Nicodranas is the only hanging thread at the moment, suggests Matt.

Funniest thing so far? BWF suggests Ashly Burch’s face while Molly was dying, because of the terror that was originally character terror becoming meta terror. Ashly told BWF later that she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Tal: “I’ve never felt so alive.” Other contenders: fluffernutter failing, the bug carrying the piece of bread. Laura says she had nothing in her brain at the moment and that was the first thing that came out. Sam loved seeing Travis being asked a simple boat question and realizing that his whole backstory was predicated on knowledge that he does not have. “I don’t know the answer to this test. I didn’t study!” Liam loved Travis’s face journey during the live show when Matt started his backstory. Somehow, the transcription of Liam’s statement got picked up by Travis’s Apple watch and sent to Postmates. It’s totally hilarious.

M9 character you’d never want to play as? Travis: Caleb, because he’s a wizard and squishy. BWF: Jester, because of the accent. Tal: Nott, because he’s not funny enough to pull her off. “You have a portal in your heart and I don’t know where it goes.” Sam: Orly, because of the accent.

BWF feels this campaign will go to 169 episodes. If he’s right, Sam offers to 69 him. “Denim on face.”

Everyone comments on Matt’s li’l scruffy beard. Liam’s the only beardless one now. Matt laments the next time they want facial capture they’ll make him shave his beard; Laura insists technology has advanced beyond it. Oh, voice actors.

BWF doesn’t know if he’ll be married by 2020. “It depends on if coughcancelBlindspotcough happens.” Sam looks forward to all the cool new shows on the Critical Role channel. Marisha’s excited to learn how to draw. Taliesin’s excited about things he can’t talk about. Liam’s excited for the live show and art gallery next week. Some of the fanartists will even be able to make it.

Travis very convincingly knows who he will be playing in the oneshot next week. Laura, in stark realization: “Oh, no.” Marisha points out that this oneshot will take place 24 hours after Vax’s death, and everyone’s a little nervous. Tal suggests scrapping the whole thing and having a shopping episode.

And that’s all for the night. We fade out on Laura being indignant about karaoke, which is probably the best way to start the year. Is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #critical role spoilers #long post for ts

[georgecostanzaatemysoup]

I just had to combine these two; I loved them so much. Thank you so much for the prompts :)

Send me more if you’d like

It takes a lot of effort, and they nearly lose half the party, but they eventually manage to rescue Yeza.

Nott is nervous when she sees him, but also relieved. He’s alive and real; after a year and a half she finally gets to see him again. Gods, she missed him so much. She stumbles over her feet, moving towards him, slowly kneeling down in front of him.

“Who? Who are you?” he asks in a whisper, eyeing her warily.

“Yeza, it’s me,” Nott says quietly, her gaze meeting his bright, blue eyes, hoping he sees who she is in her eyes.

“Me? What do you mean-?” he trails off, his eyes widening. “Veth,” he breathes and reaches out, touching her cheek. “Vethy, what happened to you?”

“I’m, I’m trying to become me again,” Nott whispers, letting her tears fall freely, skirting around his question. “Gods, I am trying so hard.”

“Is Luke okay?” Yeza asks, letting his initial question go for now.

“He’s fine. I sent him and Edith to Alfield.”

“I didn’t know if he’d...” he covers his mouth with his hand, his eyes sad. “They grabbed me and then...” he trails off, his gaze looking past Nott to the rest of The Mighty Nein standing behind her. “Who are they?”

Nott turns, looking back at her friends. Fjord is being propped up by Caduceus, his eyes half closed, one arm wrapped around his side. Jester is standing next to them, Beau sitting on the floor, leaning against her legs, pressing a cloth to her freely bleeding shoulder. Yasha kneels next to Caleb, helping him sit up, the right side of his head covered in blood. They’re a little worse for wear, but they all survived. Somehow.

“Yeza, these are my friends.” She gestures to them, giving them a brilliant smile. “They helped me find you.”

“Hello,” Yeza says, waving at them.

“Hello,” Jester says brightly, waving back.

“Can we get the fuck out of here?” Beau asks bluntly and the others nod. Jester helps her up, letting her lean against her, while Yasha hovers behind Caleb making sure he doesn’t fall. Nott pushes herself to her feet, offering Yeza a hand, fearing he wouldn’t accept her help. She lets out a sigh of relief when he takes her hand and helps him stand up.

They don’t talk much until they bunk down in a small inn. Caduceus heals everyone as best as he can, but both Fjord and Caleb are going to have to sleep off the majority of their injuries.

Nott rents a room for her, Yeza, and Caleb. When Yeza gives her a curious look, she says, “He’s... he’s special.”

Once they’ve all split off for the night, Nott helps Caleb to the room, Yeza trailing behind her. She lowers Caleb onto the closest bed to the door, asking if he’s okay, and he nods. She pats the side of his head, helping him lay down, and covers him with a blanket.

“Tell-” Caleb trails off, clearing his throat. “Tell Yeza I am sorry.”

“He knows,” Nott says softly, kissing his forehead, watching him go to sleep.

“You look at Luke the same way,” Yeza comments when Caleb’s breath evens out, his eyes kind as he studies the slumbering wizard.

“He’s my boy,” Nott responds with a fond smile. “I didn’t think-” she swallows heavily, blinking away tears. “I didn’t think I’d ever see Luke again. I might have been projecting how much I missed him onto Caleb.”

“You love him.”

“I do.”

“He doesn’t have family, does he?” There’d been a time, before Luke, when Nott would bring strays home. Cats, dogs, a baby raccoon; she’d tell Yeza they didn’t have a family and they needed her. And every time, every single time, Yeza would smile and accept them into their home. “If you love them then I love them.”

“Of course he does,” Nott answers looking down at Caleb, brushing his hair off his forehead. “He has me. He has the Nein.”

“He has you?” When Nott nods, Yeza smiles. “Then he has me, too.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Nott scoots off Caleb’s bed, slowly crossing the room. She stops in front of Yeza, waiting for him to back away in fear, but he looks back at her, reaching out to stroke her cheek again.

“I missed you,” he says quietly, his eyes brimming with unshed tears, and he pulls her into a hug.

She returns the hug, burying her face in his chest. “I missed you, too.” For the first time in over a year, she finally feels like she’s home.

#critical role #nott x yeza #nott the brave #yeza brenatto #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #my stuff #i hope they get to yeza in time #i will riot if he dies #thank you so much for the prompts you guys #earako

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E30 (August 14, 2018)

Note: Storms in my area tonight were messing with my internet, so I had a few brief outages to contend with!

Tonight’s guests are Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham AND THE TEENY BABY. Everyone is understandably distracted. Brian: “Let’s just show the baby for an hour.”

Announcements: Electric Beargaloo is up on CR’s YouTube, and a limited-run Honey Heist t-shirt is available on the store!

@critrolestats for this episode: 

Fjord, Jester, and Yasha were missing for 6 days in-game (Laura and Travis were gone for 6 weeks out-of-game).

Jester’s cast Cure Wounds 38 times and Healing Word 6 times. Cure Wounds is her most-cast spell. Laura: “I am so happy about Taliesin making another healer. Me, personally. Inflict Wounds! Inflict Wounds! Inflict Wounds! Spiritual Weapon! Toll the Dead!” Travis: “That’s the mother of our child.”

Travis was definitely intending to distance himself from Grog with Fjord’s more sensitive character. A lot of Fjord’s backstory is based on things that happened in Travis’s own childhood, and while he’d normally want to keep those things protected, he was curious to see what it would feel like to share those with a character, and he’s already feeling a stronger sense of investment in that sense. Laura asks if he likes Fjord more than Grog. Travis: “I can’t really love anyone more than Grog right now, because Grog is bae.” Maybe in fifteen levels... He talks about how expectations shifted toward him in real life after he went through a growth spurt and came back to school as one of the tallest kids in his class: as a parallel to that, Fjord is being perceived as so handsome and charming and a leader after having had exactly the opposite experience through most of his life.

Jester does feel a bit abandoned by the Traveler. “This terrible thing happened, and nothing helped her in those dark moments when she was asking for him.” Laura doesn’t want to get into it too much, since it’ll come into play in the game. Is this the worst thing Jester’s ever experienced? Laura: “Well, yeah. Jester hasn’t done hardly anything.”

Jester doesn’t feel especially guilty, but “she wants everybody to be happy and wants to make other people happy, so in this situation where she’s the least happy she’s ever been, there’s an extreme desire to fix it.”

Emotional healing is much more important to Jester than physical healing.

Fjord didn’t really know how much he might’ve been worth to the rest of the Nein. He thought they might’ve come for Jester or Yasha, but not him. Travis: “Maybe not that far. Just from what he’d seen so far, he thought, ‘Nah, we’re lost, they’re not going to come for us. There’s so much they have to do.’”

Laura wanted to cast Sending (even if it was totally unhelpful), but Matt told her it wasn’t possible in her current situation: they knew how to deal with casters, and she wasn’t able to talk.

Gif of the Week: Jester dancing.

Laura was really bummed not to get to say goodbye to Kiri. They both wished they could’ve made it to the live show. They’re also super disappointed they didn’t get to play with Sumalee and Ashly.

Fjord’s “going to endeavor to keep trying to look out for everybody. He’s just hard on himself for a momentary lapse of perception. He’s going to be more motivated to take care of some shit.”

Laura and Travis realize that Fjord and Jester can both disguise themselves. Travis: “We could bone with anyone and anyone else! We can take suggestions.” Brian: “I’m thinking of some merch ideas.”

Taliesin sent Laura and Travis Caduceus’ art before anyone else. He checked in with Laura to make sure she was okay with another cleric, and she was really happy. Laura: “His domain is totally different from mine. A lot of times with Jester, I couldn’t do a lot of spells in the RP aspect of the game, because I had to save them for in case there was a battle we were playing. There are so many fun just-fuck-with-people spells she has.”

First impressions of Clay? Laura: “I love his hair.” Travis: “The dude abides. I didn’t even feel like an insight check was necessary. He just seemed so positive and nonplussed and go-with-the-flow. I think a little chillness was needed. If he freaks out and goes all rage monster, I will love him even more. He’s gonna eat people.”

Travis and Laura didn’t have any plans going in regarding their reactions to Molly. Laura: “I didn’t expect to get so emotional over it.” They were jumping in and out of watching episode 26, since they had a one-week-old baby at the time. Later in the night, they pulled the episode up and realized Taliesin wasn’t there... and found out from the chat what had happened. “We fucking go have one baby...” Laura: “Molly would still be alive if we were there. I feel like we would’ve told them to run.” Travis: “It was still a good plan, though, honestly. The dice just screwed them.”

Absorbing Summer’s Dance was “most definitely” Fjord’s tribute to Molly and wanting to get him vengeance. It was especially hard because they were roommates the entire time. “Fjord has never really had friends or companions, much less somebody you had to talk to every night before you crashed out. As crazy and different as Molly was from Fjord, he never judged Fjord.” Fjord’s last conversation with Molly was about how the ship exploded and what happened, and it was “the first time Fjord started to trust somebody with that shit, and he got fucking killed.”

Jester’s taking being a cleric much more seriously because she doesn’t want more friends to die, and she’s starting to understand the stakes of what she does. The cleric-related jealousy of Caduceus was a bit of bleed-through. Laura: “I need to remember that I’m the one that’s competitive and Jester is not. Because that definitely is my go-to.” Brian: “Yeah, you in real life are much closer to Vex than to Jester.”

Fanart of the Week: a great combat group-shot!

Both Jester and Fjord’s primary motivations have changed. Travis: “A little less seeking outside answers and knowledge to things that aren’t really going to help.” Laura: “Jester’s primary motivation of just wanting to bring joy has maybe increased even more. We’ll see how far that goes.” Travis really wants Jester to go dark. “See, now I’m sad that I made Jester happy. But I do think as we level up, Jester’s Spiritual Weapon should get more and more badass. A lollipop with spiky sugar on it or something. Rock candy mace.”

Fjord saw the Cloven Crystal reveal as just another sign of the universe telling him, “Fucking get after it, son.”

Matt gave them a five-minute summary of what went down right before the game, and then left it up to them to work out how they’d play it in-game.

Laura thinks the Gentleman’s bad news. Travis: “Oh, you think? He took fuckin’ samples of our blood.” Laura’s pretty sure he’s tied in with the slavers in some way, but Jester hasn’t got enough information to get suspicious in-game.

Fjord was genuinely impressed with Jester’s ability to---to him---sound upbeat even in captivity.

Fjord was starting to become comfortable that maybe the Nein looked to him for some sort of leadership, which he’d only had some brief experience with during his days on ships, but that took a pretty hard hit. Travis: “He’s encouraged to see Caleb as a team player and looking out for others, and that the first thing he tried to do was make us feel better. He expected a fair amount of, ‘You fucked up.’” Laura: “He was really, really nice.”

Laura reveals that Jester’s actually a cannibal serial killer. You... heard it here... first?

Fjord was surprised to see how much growth there was for Beau in the six days they were gone. “She seems mature, responsible. She didn’t punch any kids. It’s awesome.”

Jester thinks Yasha’s wings "look really badass”. She also doesn’t think anyone has as close a tie with their deity as she has with the Traveler (at least, before this recent uncertainty).

It’s tough for Fjord (but not so much Jester) knowing they can’t achieve revenge against Lorenzo, but they’re still hopeful for closure. Fjord would consider a good kill with Molly’s sword to be closure. Travis: “It’ll be taking care of the group, making sure something like that doesn’t happen again.” Jester: “I don’t know what will get it for Jester, honestly.”

Talks Machina: Are We Out Of Time Yet?

Ronin’s class? He’s very loud, so maybe a bard, but he has monk-like kicks. They think he might’ve been learning from Laura’s battle-heavy VO sessions in the womb.

Laura loved the “case closed” moment, even though when she first heard about it, her initial thought was “Nott closed a case without me!?!”

Travis was surprised that nobody else perked up at the description of the Cloven Crystal. Laura: “Nobody cares about your backstory but you.” Dani: “I care!” Travis: “THANK you, Dani!”

It was really hard for them to miss the first episode in the new studio, since it was such a milestone. They also hate that they missed the first PC death.

Sumalee got booked on a new TV show, and mentioned on Twitter that the first thing she got asked was what it was like to be on Critical Role.

They reminisce about Liam’s evil one-shot they played with Ashly and talk about how vicious Travis gets when he’s not on your side. Endgame for Fjord? Chaotic evil, clearly.

At Ren Faire a few years ago, Travis went missing from the group after some drinking. They eventually found him at a rare coin stand, and he showed off an old coin he’d just bought. Brian: “I’m like, ‘How much did it cost?’ And he just looked down.” Travis: “DON’T SAY THE NUMBER.” Brian: “The shame immediately kicked in.” Laura also dropped a dagger in a porta-potty. Brian: “The Ren Faire takes a toll.”

We fade out on Brian walking away while Laura and Travis sing ‘You’ll Be in My Heart’. As you do.

#long text post #critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers

[howlingheartdemigod]

beaujester soulmate au shenanigans for the request? love your writing!!!!

this is the shit man. loved writing this prompt. I’m gonna pass out from the nyquil now so thank you anon, sorry it took a few days.

hardest hue to hold

It wasn’t immediately clear to Jester what had happened. After all, her mark was a little hard to see, in her defense. It wasn’t like she routinely twisted her whole body around to check the swirl of black waves on her hip, traveling towards her back, had turned gold. It wasn’t like it was something she worried about anymore. She didn't care. Soulmates were a childish thing to care about.

Except, like, she cared a little. She couldn’t help it, really. She wanted to know. She wanted to know if she’d ever meet her perfect other half. The person who’d spark joy in her life and send energy through her, turning her mark gold. It was just… a nice thought. It was a nice idea. And she’d been lucky enough to be born with a mark, which, as her mom explained to her, not everyone was lucky enough to have. It meant that her perfect half was already out there. That she wouldn’t have to spend time worrying, wondering if her mark was going to appear, or if she’d been born at the wrong time for it. She remembered watching her mom run her fingers over the twisting, bracelet like mark that had appeared and turned gold instantly upon her own birth. Marion had gotten a small tattoo of a blue gem over it. Jester didn’t even mind when she put a tight bangle over it to hide it from her clients, because she knew that she was right below it, the Ruby’s little Sapphire, her true soulmate.

She asked her mom a lot of questions about soulmarks, soulmates, souls. She asked if her mama’s clients had marks or not. She asked if her mark was a pretty one or not. She asked when she’d meet her soulmate. She asked that often.

Marion always knew the perfect thing to say. Tucking Jester into bed, with a ‘You’ll find them when the time is right.’ Painting alongside her and telling her ‘You’ll know when you find them.’ Holding her tight and promising ‘Exactly when you need them most.’

Jester wanted to ask even more questions. She wanted to ask if her Mama was sad that she’d had a baby for a soulmate, not a love. She wanted to ask if she wished Jester hadn’t come along, seeing as it made her job harder. She wanted to ask if she’d wished that her dad had been her soulmate instead. She never did ask, but she wanted to.

She missed asking her mother those questions when she left. Missed the hesitationless reassurance. But it was okay. She’d be okay.

But things got so exciting so fast. She’d forgotten to even look at her mark for days. She’d been so caught up with her new friends, and how much she loved them all and how quickly. She didn’t even think to look at it until they were resting, gold in their pockets from all the gnolls they’d killed for Bryce. Even when she thought about it, she didn’t check. She was already in bed, Beau snoring across the room, and she felt content. So she didn’t let it worry her. She didn’t get up. She didn’t check.

When she noticed the next day, though, she nearly screamed. She let out a little manic laugh, twisting her head around, an arm wrapping around her body to trace her fingers over it.

“Ho-ly Shit!” she muttered, a smile coming to her lips. “Mama is going to lose it!”

“Jester!?” she heard Nott call from the door. “I heard a yelp! Are you okay?”

Jester bounded to the door, pulling her top back into place for decency’s sake. She pulled it open, smiling. “Nott!” she said pulling her inside, ignoring the loaded crossbow in Nott’s hand. “Do you have a soulmark?” She asked, eyes alight with energy. “Is it gold? Did it turn gold in the last few days?”

Nott’s eyes were wide, staring at Jester, she lowered her bow. “No.” she shook her head. “No, I… No to all.” there was a tinge of a lie to her voice, that Jester just barely noticed.

“Nott.” she said, head tilting. “Don’t lie to me, this is important.

“I don’t have one anymore.” Nott said, eyes falling.

Jesters heart stopped a moment.

Soulmarks were a funny thing. They appeared on your skin, black as ink, as soon as you and your soulmate were both alive. They turned gold if you met. But if your soulmate died, they turned the pinkish color of a scar, and slowly faded.

Jester pulled Nott into a hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s okay, Jester.” She Nott said, a small hand patting Jester’s head. “I’m okay. I’m just curious about you?” Nott pulled back, holding Jester at arms length by the arms, which, considering Nott was a goblin, wasn’t very far. “Tell me why you asked.”

Jester smiled, bouncing a little on her toes. “Okay, okay.” she turned around, and dropped her shirt to her waist, showing the gold waves crashing away from her spine to her side. “I don’t know when it happened!” she said over her shoulder. She watched Nott smiled wide, a finger reaching to trace the mark. “I haven’t looked at it in a few days! And I’ve met so many people since then!”

Nott smiled up at her. “Well, you’ve got the perfect person to help you figure out who it was!” She said. “We are expert investigators, after all.”

Jester smiled, pulling her shirt back up and whipping back around. “On the case!” she said, giving a sharp nod. “but, Nott, we can’t just ask people. That’s rude! What if they don’t have one, or what if it’s gone. I was just so rude to you, I don’t want to be rude again.”

Nott tapped her chin, “We’ll just have to use our expert interrogation techniques.”

Jester nodded in agreement, and they sat down on the bed, and hatched a plan.

They went after Fjord first. He was the first one she met, but he also had the distinct advantage of still being the first person they found downstaris. He was sitting at a table, glaring at one of Caleb’s books like it had called him a name. Nott slid up next to him, Jester across the room, trying her hardest to hear what they were saying, but only Nott was talking loud enough.

“So, Fjord! You ever, you know, been in love?!” Nott said, half shouting. Jester couldn’t quite hear Fjord’s response. “No special someone. Someone who’s like treasure to you?” Again, she strained her ears trying to hear Fjord to no avail. “No one in your life who’s like gold to you?!” Nott stressed. Jester leaned towards them, failing to be subtle at all. “No one who turned all the darkness in your life to light!?”

Jester looked over to see Fjord slide uncomfortably out of his seat. He said something quiet, but a little stern, to Nott, then headed off. Jester let out a sigh, heading over to sit with Nott. “Well, that was a bust.”

“No kidding. He’s such a negative Nancy.” Nott replied. “And I didn’t even get to see if he had a mark!”

“He does.” Molly’s voice made them both jump, Nott’s hands flying up to guard her face like Beau had shown them. Molly was sitting, legs up on a chair, a table over. He was wearing what she could only assume was something Yahsa had lent him, with how oversized and plain colored it was.

“how long have you been there!” Jester asked, squinting. “and where’s your coat?”

Molly laughed a little. “This whole time, and drying on the line.”

Nott squinted. “How do you know if he has a mark?” She asked, leaning on the back of her chair towards him.

“We’ve been roommates, Bello.” He replied, smiling at her like a minx. “A man can only avoid changing for so long. And I couldn’t help but peek.” Molly shrugged. “He has one. It’s on his leg, looks like tentacles, solid black.”

Jester let out a little sigh, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed. “Okay, one down.” she smiled at Molly, “Since we’re talking about it-”

“Oh, love, as much as I wish I did, I don’t have a mark at all.” He said, head shaking. “But, am I to assume you do, and a gold one to boot?”

“It just changed, but she doesn’t know when or by who.” Nott said, nodding. “You want to help us find out who it was?”

Molly pressed his lips, thinking. “I can at least knock a someone off your list. It isn’t Yasha.”

Jester watched Molly’s eyes drop, something sad there. “How do you know? Does she not have one?”

Molly shook his head. “It’s not my story to tell, love.” He looked back to them, smiling. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.”

Jester sighed, a little annoyed, as Molly headed out the door, but figured he had his reasons. “Well, at least the list is shorter now.” She said, shrugging.

“Not short enough.” Nott replied. “We’ve talked to so many people since you last checked it!” She looked over. “How about this, divide and conquer. I’ll go ask Caleb, we can both look for Bryce-”

“I really don’t think It’s Bryce. They’re cute, but they also are all about rules and stuff, and I don’t think that fits. The Traveler wants me to cause mischief, I don’t think that would work.” Jester replied, head shaking.

“Well, if I run into them, I’ll ask anyway.” Nott said waving a hand. “You talk to Beau, and Bryce if you see them first. Then we can make a list and work our way backwards.”

Jester bit her lip, looking over at Nott. “What if… Nott, I was my mom’s soulmate but she wasn’t mine. What if I never know because I’m theirs but they aren’t mine?”

Nott’s head tilted. “Then we deal with that then. For now, we find our friends and find out if they have marks.”

Jester nodded, and scrubbed at her eye for a second. “Okay, okay.” she said, a hand moving to settle on the bit of the mark she could reach easily. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Meet me here in an hour.” Nott said, before she scrambled off.

Jester took a breath, her heart in her throat, then headed off to find Beau.

Beau was training. She had found some open space, a little green patch, surrounded by vines and flowers, and was moving through controlled forms, eyes shut, back to Jester. Jester didn’t totally understand all the Monk shit. She knew that it was meant to teach discipline, and patience, that moving deliberately from one form to the next was supposed to mean something. But she wasn’t sure what Beau got from it. Beau, who was so full of life, who radiated energy. Watching her do all these slow steady calming movements, it was a paradox. A beautiful one, though. Jester would be happy if Beau was hers. She would only hope to be so lucky to have such a beautiful soulmate.

She was standing quiet, trying to think of something to say, when Beau spoke up. “You can join me if you want, Jes. But or don’t, I just don’t like being stared at.” Beau let her hands fall to her sides, dropping the foot that had been balancing at her knee drop. She looked over her shoulder, and smiled.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, Beau.” Jester said, voice soft. “You looked peaceful.”

Beau laughed a little. “Well, I guess it’s working then.” She moved to pick up her staff, “It’s supposed to be relaxing, help you focus the mind. I dunno if it works, but I think I look cool doing it.”

“You look cool doing anything.” Jester replied, folding her hands behind her back and pushing up on her toes.

Beau laughed a bit, “thanks Jes.” She said, stepping towards her. “We headed out, or something? that why you came and found me?”

Jester wanted to say something cool, something clever. She wanted to be subtle, and not rude, just in case. She took a breath, hoping to say anything that fit the bill, but instead she blurted out. “Do you have a soulmate, Beau?”

Beau blinked in surprise, then, slowly, nodded. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, since I was about two years old I’ve had my mark.”

Jester nodded. “Is it gold?” She shook her head. “I mean, I just… I wanted to know because I wanted to know who else in the group did, and I wanted…”

“It’s chill, Jester.” Beau started unwrapping the binds on her right wrist. “It’s black.” she said. “But it’s pretty. This little chain of blue bells. I’ve always thought it would be cool to get them filled-” Beau’s voice caught, staring at the once black mark on her wrist, now a bright shining gold. She let her fingers brush over it, a smile on her lips. “Holy shit.” She said.

“that’s what I said.” Jester replied, feeling giddy. “I think… I realized this morning mine had turned gold, and… I think you might be my soulmate Beau.”

Beau lifted her eyes, smiling at Jester. “Yeah?” she said.

Jester lifted her hand, and took Beau’s wrist in her hand. At Jester’s touch, a warm ray of magic energy pulsed through them both, filling them with comfort and peace. Jester nodded, looking back up to Beau. “Yeah.” she promised.

Nott found them in that garden, twenty minutes later, curled under the big tree. With the way Beau’s arm snaked around Jester’s waist, the gold of Beau’s mark hidden again by her arm bands, was laying against Jester’s, hidden by her dress.

Jester’s mom was right, she realized, Beau had come exactly when Jester needed her.

#I have so many thoughts about nott and Marion in this verse #critical role #critrole #beaujester #my writing #mine #Anonymous

[cadaceus]

c2e30

I finished watching Critical Role, Campaign 2, Episode 30: “The Journey Home.” It had some really touching character moments that made me sad, but it also had some of the classic humor that comes with this wonderful party!

- Jester: “Where’s Molly? Is he waiting upstairs?” / Beau, gently: “He... didn’t make it.” / Jester: “To this dungeon? Because he’s waiting upstairs?” Can everyone please stop breaking my heart, it’s still shattered enough as is 

- Sam, reading the letter (from Lorenzo? to Lorenzo?): “Queen-pillar? Quen’pilar? Is that a month?” / Matt: “It’s a month.” / Laura/Jester: “Yeah, we know that month!” Why was that whole exchange so relatable sdfghjk

- Laura accidentally hitting the envelope and making it fly towards Taliesin, who examines it carefully and curiously while in character as Clay, is such a good character detail and I love it

- Fjord: “I want to keep Molly with us, though. With me.” Oof, so it’s missing Molly hours already

- Who am I kidding, it’s always missing Molly hours

- Everyone glancing at the letter Keg wrote Beau the morning after and immediately bursting into peals of laughter is honestly a sequence of art sdfghjkl

- The portrait of Mollymauk at 1:47:07 was beautiful, all the fanart is, but that one really stood out to me this time around!

- I attached a screenshot below of where I apparently paused last night before going to bed and ???? asdfghjk is everyone okay over there

- Fjord digging himself into an even deeper hole while trying to convince the guards to let them bring the cart in.... good luck sir

- Jester: “Shady deals happening over here!” / Caduceus: “Is that what it is? Ah, I’ve never seen one before :D” I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Protect Him!’

- Oh no it’s Molly’s grave...oh no :((( 

- Jester my baby girl.... getting down on her knees, her little goodbye to Molly, her fond yet sad smile when Beau says that she still has Molly’s deck of cards (and Matt letting Taliesin choose what card she pulled!) this is all so much and I am so very sad

- OH NO YASHA’S AWAKE OH NO

- That was even more painful than I anticipated, I knew that Yasha would be so mournful over the death of her friend but her turning and leaving into the storm... darling please return

- Sometimes Taliesin comes up with such beautiful and/or deep quotes and sentiments, and casting Decompose on Molly’s body before saying: “I made the earth remember him” is one of those times

- Caleb putting his hand on Beau’s shoulder like he does when he needs the physical support but this time it’s because he needs the emotional support as Molly’s grave fades into the distance...…………….. :(((((

- Matt quietly saying “I should be better about being a human being” is way too relatable for me

- Caduceus happily saying in the Gentleman “I have no idea what’s going on right now” pls I love him

- Caleb saying to Fjord: “You cannot blame yourself when you are taken advantage of.” and the ramifications that has based on his backstory and his difficulty accepting that within himself... please let this be a bit of a recovery story for Caleb, please let him heal from the trauma just a little, please keep him safe...

- Liam: “I’d like to keep talking to Travis about swallowing whole, long swords...” / Travis: “Well I didn’t really swallow the last one, it just kind of absorbed--” / Liam: “Yeah, keep telling yourself that, big guy.” How is Laura not dying at this innuendo

- This was a really character-driven/character-based episode which was nice because we got to see a lot of the dynamics there--exploring new ones, exploring old ones, and reestablishing the wonderful chaos that is the Mighty Nein <3

#critical role #c2 #my liveblogs #mollymauk I miss you #this whole episode was missing molly hours for me #but also yay for jester and fjord being back !!! #I feel like I am missing one of my personal organizational tags but apparently it was not too important if I am lol :D