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waltwhitmansbeard · 3 months

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chapter three

She throws herself into her work. It’s all she can think to do. It’s a hard pivot from the checked-out mess she’s been these past months, but if waking before the sun and working until she passes out long after it sets is what it takes to not think about what is barreling down the pike at her, then that’s what she’ll do.

And there is work to be done: Pyrah is still more or less in shambles after Thordak’s devastation, and with their neighbors in Vasselheim suffering such public demolition of their own, no one is paying much attention to the tiny druid village in the middle of nowhere. Closer to home, the people of Zephrah are starting to chafe under the pressure of the countless refugees that found their way to the Summit Peaks after that reanimated titan corpse ransacked half of Vasselheim; the druids of the Abundant Terrace sent hundreds of fleeing citizens through tree trunks during the siege, and a good number of them ended up here, far from their homes that have since been destroyed.

Then there’s the matter of the Council. Word spreads quickly that the Voice of the Tempest is no longer catatonic in her bedroom, and it doesn’t take long before communications start coming from Emon requesting her presence. Keyleth knows what they want. She doesn’t want to give to them. So she adds it to the pile of Things She Will Not Acknowledge and pushes on.

Everywhere she goes, ravens follow her. It’d be funny, if humor were a thing she was capable of these days. They circle above as she walks through town and perch outside the nearest window of whatever room she’s in. They’re silent, most of the time, until she’s been up too late or gone too long without eating, at which point she gets a rumbling caw of reproach.

Fuck him. Just absolutely fuck him—ravens? Babysitting her wherever she goes? What the shit is this? Everyone wants her to move on, to heal, to get over it, but she’s carrying a dead man’s baby and being haunted by birds who don’t approve of the way she’s taking care of herself and the fucking Council won’t get off her back—is this healing?

If her neighbors find the sudden influx of black birds in Zephrah unsettling, they don’t say anything about it. Rather, she notices a small uptick in visitors to the little shrine to the Raven Queen constructed less than a year ago, the one Keyleth has yet to go back to. She can’t imagine what they’re doing there—Zephrah isn’t exactly a religious town—but even though absolutely everything grates on her nerves these days, she can’t deny the begrudging appreciation that at least the work he put into making that thing isn’t going to waste.

So she and her ravens go to work, supervising the construction of makeshift housing as the refugees wait for their homes to be repaired in Vasselheim and organizing the collaboration between Zephrah, Vesrah, and Terrah to deliver aid to Pyrah. She goes to meetings and stays perfectly on task, and when she’s done she goes home and accepts whatever work will occupy the biggest possible chunk of her brain. She wears loose clothes, even though she’s only just starting to show, and she figures out a script she can follow to avoid answering questions with any kind of substance. She affixes her face into something neutral, pleasant, even, and at night, she falls asleep in a bed that feels cavernous, suffocating and cold.

She survives. It is what she is so very good at, after all.

continue reading on ao3 please consider donating to my ko-fi

#critical role #critical role fic #cr fic #my fic #vaxleth #vaxleth fic #vox machine #vox machina fic #isar

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artists-guild-of-exandria · 3 months

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It's showcase day! He're's my submission for the

@ExandriaArtists Tourists' Guide to Tal'Dorei project. I got to design cultural outfits for Vesrah's Waveriders.

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From Twitter:

User - @/romeo_fantome Artwork Link - https://twitter.com/romeo_fantome/status/1768706601362329765

#TGTT #Critical Role Fan Art #Tourist's Guide to Tal'Dorei #Showcase Day #Critters #CriticalRoleFanArt #Critical Role #Exandria

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ravendruid · 10 months

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All Healed

This is a very special fic dedicated to @crispysnake. Thank you for being such a great friend <3 May we keep screaming about Keyleth (and occasionally Vax) forevermore. Set in the Exchange AU. | TW: Snakes

Keyleth chews on the tip of her quill, still looking at the book she was reading from but not really paying attention. She has been reading and taking notes on the history and culture of Vesrah, the Water Ashari tribe, all afternoon, trying to prepare herself for the upcoming trip, but something else fills her mind. It had been a few minutes since Vax returned home, but unlike every other day, instead of knocking at her bedroom door to give her a kiss and check on her, Vax went straight to his bedroom. His unusual quietness is starting to concern Keyleth.

Resigning that she won’t get any more studying done for the rest of the afternoon, Keyleth sets her quill down on the cluttered desk between notes and maps of the Lucidian Ocean. Percy and Vex went for a swim early in the morning and haven’t returned yet (Keyleth does not want to think about what they are up to), and Korrin is still at work, which means she and Vax are home alone. Warmth burns in her navel, and Keyleth can’t help but smile at all the plans she and Vax could accomplish in an empty house. Maybe he wants to be alone. Keyleth thinks to herself as she exits her room. It can’t hurt to check on him, though.

Vax and Percy’s bedroom is right next to her and Vex’s, so as soon as she crosses her threshold, she hears Vax’s mumbled voice through the wooden door next to hers. She pauses for a moment, her balled fist just millimeters away from knocking, to try and discern what Vax is saying or who he is talking to. He speaks again, but Keyleth can’t make up any words or a reply, so she knocks softly, not wanting to scare him. She hears movement and a thud, followed by cursing just before the door opens.

“Kiki,” Vax smiles at her with one hand behind his back. He’s wearing a simple white cotton shirt—Keyleth notices a rip at the hem on the left side—and loose trousers, and his hair is in a messy half-up-half-down style. He needs a haircut, Keyleth thinks first and foremost. Only then does her gaze fall on his suspicious smile. If they hadn’t known each other for years, Keyleth would have probably been deceived by it, but as it is, she knows he is hiding something.

“Hi,” She greets him, trying to act normal. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why? Oh,—” Vax lets go of the doorknob and combs his hand through his hair, getting it stuck in some knots. “—Shit. I didn’t know you were home.”

Oh. We’re lying now, are we? Keyleth thinks. She schools her expression to hide the disapproval. Vax has never lied to her, and even if it’s a simple, innocent lie, something bad must have happened for him to do it.

“What happened, Vax?” Keyleth can’t take it anymore. She crosses the entrance to get closer to him, but Vax stumbles back with one hand still hiding behind his back.

“Nothing, I was—”

Vax doesn’t have time to finish because Keyleth reaches around him and pulls his hand from behind his back, which is badly wrapped with a strip of white cloth, clearly the missing rip from his shirt.

“Vax, what happened to your hand?” Keyleth is already unwrapping it as she speaks. Her brow furrows when she sees two tiny pinpricks she recognizes as a snake bite. The wounds don’t look bad and aren’t bleeding any more than if made by needles, but Keyleth still gives Vax a displeased look.

“I’m sorry,” He apologizes, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “I had a run-in with a snake.”

Right on cue, a bundle of clothes that Keyleth recognizes as Vax’s cloak rustles behind him. She frowns again, giving Vax a fierce look that means ‘stay here’ before she drops his hand and steps around him. Vax turns in his spot but doesn’t dare to move further. He knows better than to defy Keyleth.

“I was walking in the forest, and I heard some commotion. A hawk was trying to take it, and I couldn’t just allow—” Vax explained. “I had to save it, Kiki.”

Keyleth squats carefully next to the bundle and pulls one end very slowly. A small orange head peeks through, flicking its tongue at the girl. Keyleth finishes uncovering the snake and smiles at what she sees.

“Hi there, little buddy,” She speaks softly, extending her hand towards it. The snake’s forked tongue flutters in her direction, and Keyleth waits for its next move. From the looks of it, the snake looks young, so she tries to be extra slow in her movements to avoid frightening it further as she tries to gain its trust. That is why Keyleth is shocked—but able to hide a gasp—when the snake starts approaching her hand and climbing around her wrist.

“You are very lucky,” Keyleth says, turning her head back to Vax. “This little guy isn’t dangerous. He was probably scared, and that is why it bit you. You get to keep your hand this time.”

“Do you—” Vax’s eyes widen, and a smile grows larger as Keyleth turns around slowly, showing him the snake coiling around her wrist. “Do you know what type it is?”

“Yes.” Keyleth nods. The snake slithers up her arm, resting its little head on her elbow. Its beady eyes move in the direction of her voice, flickering its tongue at her again.

“Don’t worry, it’s not venomous,” Keyleth adds with a smile. “I think it might be very young if the size is any indication.” She cocks her head, observing it intensively. The snake is small enough that it only wraps one loop around her arm. “Although I can’t tell for sure how old it is.”

Vax looks at her with the astonished expression he always has when Keyleth goes on a tangent about plants and animals. He has told her multiple times that he loves hearing her talk about her likes and all she learned in her studies, even if he doesn’t understand most of it, but Keyleth is always concerned she’s boring him. She apologizes time and time again, and every time, Vax reassures her it’s okay. It always warms her heart to have someone like him listen to her rant over the things she’s so passionate about. That is one of her favorite characteristics about Vax and probably one of the biggest things that made her fall in love with him.

“I still want to take a better look at your bite,” She smiles, ignoring the warmth in her cheeks. She places the snake back in the bundled cloak, gets up, and leaves the room. Keyleth returns with a dark bottle and a couple of bandages to see Vax still standing in the same spot she had told him to stay in.

“Come here,” She nods at his bed, sitting down and patting the mattress next to her. He obeys and sits by her side, immediately extending his hand to her. They have done this dance a few times before. She will clean his wounds, apply the ointment and wrap him up, and when it’s his turn to care for her, he does it too, with the softest of movements, always so worried about hurting her. Vax is not as practiced in healing as Keyleth is, but he has always shown a passion for learning about it, so she has taught him some of the most basic techniques, just enough so he can feel useful.

Once Keyleth finishes wrapping his hand, she brings it up to her lips and presses a soft kiss. Looking Vax in the eyes, she says softly, “All healed,” and warm energy flows from her lips to his hand. Vax visibility melts at that. He closes his eyes and leans his forehead against her, wrapping his fingers in hers.

“I was planning to release it somewhere safe. Can you help me?” He whispers.

Keyleth pulls away with a smile and nods. “I know the right place.” She says as she pulls him back up.

They bring the cloak to the backyard, and Keyleth lowers enough to help the snake slither out of it and into the little nest in the roots of the big oak tree that provides shade to most of the yard.

“You’ll be safe here, little buddy. And you’ve got plenty of mice to eat if you need.” She speaks to it. The snake’s beady eyes follow her movement as Keyleth backs up slowly and stands next to Vax, who looks completely enamored of her. He wraps a hand around Keyleth’s waist and pulls her into a hug.

“I thought about giving him a name,” Vax mumbles into her neck.

“Really?” She asks, pulling away. His eyes shine with the sunlight, and Keyleth can’t help but think about their first kiss and how Vax’s eyes shone just the same.

“Yeah, I was thinking about naming it Simon.”

“Simon is a good name for him,” Keyleth smiles affectionately, willing her brain to stop thinking about the softness of Vax’s lips on hers, how he always tastes like honey, how warm his skin is, and how her heart echoes the racing beats in his chest.

“Yeah?” Vax leans in, making Keyleth’s heart stop. She wants to kiss him so badly but is so scared he will back away or reject her. Why would he reject you, silly?

As if he read her thoughts, Vax cups her cheek with one hand and rubs his thumb on her lower lip, leaning in further. His lips are dangerously close to her, and both their eyes are closing in anticipation, but the sound of something hissing at their feet brings their attention down. They see the orange snake, now baptized as Simon, trying to wrap itself around Vax’s leg, climbing slowly with a flickering tongue.

“It looks like Simon doesn’t want to leave,” Vax says as he bends down to allow Simon to curl around his arm.

“I guess so,” Keyleth chuckles.

“He reminds me of you.”

“Is it because he’s orange?” Keyleth jokes.

“Among other things,” Vax replies, bringing their new friend closer so Keyleth can pet his little head.

With the hand still wrapped around Keyleth’s waist, Vax pulls her closer to him again and gives her a longing kiss. Throwing all caution to the wind, Keyleth supports herself on his chest with one hand and brings the other behind Vax’s head, deepening the kiss to allow their tongues to intertwine. He almost forgets about Simon wrapped in his arm as he instinctively tries to wrap it around Keyleth’s waist, but the hissing sound makes Vax break the kiss and chuckle.

“We need to find somewhere safe for him,” Vax says, ignoring Keyleth’s begging look and pouting at the broken kiss.

Keyleth finds an unused box in the pantry that they can repurpose for the time being. She pokes small holes in it and brings it to Vax’s bedroom, where he places Simon. It’s temporary housing until they find a terrarium, which Keyleth claims to know where to get.

“Do you think Korrin will be okay with me having a pet snake?”

“I’m sure he will be fine with it, considering your sister has a pet bear.” Keyleth laughs, remembering Vax’s face when they returned from Pyrah to see a bear cub hiding behind Vex’s legs. Keyleth moves to the front door, but before her hand can reach the doorknob, Vax’s hands are on her waist again, pulling and turning her to face him. Without warning, he kisses her fiercely while giving her room to melt into his touch. Keyleth replies with equal desire, hungry for the contact and the taste. They have been dating in secret for a week and haven’t had many opportunities to kiss since then, so they obviously want to enjoy the moment as much as possible.

“Vax, we need to go get the stuff for Simon—” Keyleth breaks the kiss, panting. “—before Percy and Vex come home and see him and try to kill him. Or worse, Trinket does.” Vax grunts, annoyed but nods in agreement. He kisses Keyleth softly one last time, lingering his lips close to her just enough that she can feel him whisper I love you before he pulls away and drags her out the door.

#critical role #cr fic #vox machina #vaxleth #exchange au #tw: snakes #I don't know much about snakes other than what crispysnake has told me and the research I did #so I hope this is accurate enough :')#I hope you like it :D

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exandriacityshowdown · 10 months

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Round 1 Stage 4 Poll 5

Vesrah, Ozmit Sea: Vesrah is a remote island settlement in the Ozmit sea. Its location is not well-known. It is home to the Water Ashari. Vox Machina accompanied Keyleth there in 811 to complete the final portion of her Aramenté, and there they learned about the fate of Keyleth’s mother Vilya.

image uses the official map by andy law and ashari crest by conceptopolis. apologies about the aspect ratio >_<

Druvenlode, Wildemount: Druvenlode is a city in the centre of the Dwendalian Empire, known for its mines. It has only been mentioned in passing onstream.

#exandria #vesrah #druvenlode #ozmit sea #wildemount #ashari #critical role #poll post #notpollprop #exandria city showdown #round 1 #1.4.5

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ozbian · 2 years

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It's going to be pretty funny if Ashton's body is made of lodestone, and Orym of the Air Ashari and Delilah Briarwood have been cluelessly hanging around with a person made from the same green/jade-coloured rock that was used to open rifts at Pyrah and Vesrah, and formed the ziggurat under Whitestone, who can literally make rifts appear and uses them to hit things with their fucking hammer

#ashton greymoore #critical role #is it thursday yet

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essayofthoughts · 1 year

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If Percy spent one year on a fishing boat, what do you think he did for the other four prior to being sprung from jail? How long do you think he spent in certain areas for odd jobs; how long do you think it took him to construct the pepperbox? How long do you think it took him to track down Ripley?

I also forgot to add to the previous ask that I am trying to work out a timeline in my head, as the art book states that almost nothing is known to the public about those five years of Percy’s life.

I already semi-answered this in the first Arc of Ghost Cass, for which I cross-referenced as many canon sources as I could. There's a lot of snippets given throughout the Campaign - hells, we get some specifics in Percy's recounting of events to VM at the start of the Briarwood Arc, and from Taliesin in the Campaign Wrap-Up Talks Machina, and even in a few Q&A's! I know not everyone is as insane as I am about hunting down canon details and cross referencing it all but...

You can do your own research Nonny. Just because "the art book states that almost nothing is known to the public" doesn't mean there's nothing to go on - it means that in the world of Exandria people have little to go on. We have quite a bit!

General thoughts on timeline below the cut.

The Briarwoods attacked five years before the Briarwood Arc. Roughly one year before that, Vox Machina formed, and at some point within the first few months after forming, they found and rescued Percy from a cell. So we have four years to work with, roughly.

From Percy recounting his story to VM in the Briarwood Arc it seems he spent the first two years in a dissociated state because, y'know trauma and grief and shock, and didn't emerge from it until he had the dream of Orthax, at which point he was inspired to make the Pepperbox. It is recounted... somewhere on tumblr, I do not have the link handy right now - that Percy spent some time, as well as on a fishing boat, working as a saddler, which makes sense given he made a leather plague doctor mask, which would require leatherworking skill.

So that fills two years of time, plus however long it took him to accumulate the funds for and properly make the Pepperbox. We know how easy it is for Percy's inventions to go awry and the kind of tinkering checks Matt has Taliesin make, so it may well have taken him six months to a year to draw up plans, get the materials to make it, get the enchantments on the metal, rent time at a forge, make it correctly without fucking up any part of the mechanism, and obtain or make the black powder required, and make the shot himself. He apparently worked on it in kind of a fugue state, so lets go with about three years in before he gets all that done.

I personally think he stalled a bit there, given if I recall correctly, he was hoping to find people associated with the Briarwoods but, notably, was too afraid to go back to Whitestone himself. I imagine him running across Ripley as he did was pure chance. Consequently, I imagine that while he searched and kept an eye and ear out for information, he spent most of a year keeping himself occupied - he needs to pay for food and board after all - until he encountered Ripley again, at which point he went after her.

He tried to attack her, had no luck, didn't even see her face, and was hauled off to Jorenn jail where he was left to rot and die. Given the response of Vex specifically to seeing the prisoner on the pirate boat on the way to Vesrah, comparing him to how they found Percy this causes me to utterly dismiss the comics' version of events here - Vex was there for finding Percy, and Percy was in an extremely bad state by the time they found him. Taliesin himself has said that Percy was near death and thought Vox Machina was a near-death induced fever dream. Given that, he may well have been starving for some time and on minimal water rations.

These are the few anchor points we have. You can work around this to plot events as plausibly as you see fit. Because of the vagueness there's a lot of space to fudge specific dates and that is great for fic - see also me writing Ghost Cass of which a good chunk of the first Arc is all about Percy's time on his own!

#percy de rolo #vox machina #ask #anonymous

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twinklestarss · 1 year

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Campaign 1 Episode 87: Onward to Vesrah

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missizzy · 8 months

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Perc'ahlia Week Day 6 Fic

(Note for those who have only see The Legend of Vox Machina: this starts with a moment from the show, but continues with events from the stream, so general spoilers.)

Of course, the first time I wore something of yours wasn't much like the later, more fun times. It was still romantic, I suppose, you offering your coat to me like that. But honestly, it felt much less so with the guilt you had about you at the time. It sometimes felt a little strange, that whole thing, where you couldn't forget about your part in what had happened, when I wasn't thinking much at all about who might have done what wrong. I had so much else to think about related to the whole thing, I suppose.

But I do remember feeling very warm indeed, as I pulled your coat tight around me. Very, very warm.

It took a while, perhaps, before I got to wear something of yours again. But there was definitely a feeling that came from it happening in the treasury.

Honestly, I didn't even do it on purpose. It was just our clothes really did get tossed everywhere, and I was thinking about how we ought to get back upstairs. Even when I first realized the shirt I was pulling on was too big on me, my first thought was a perfectly mundane hope I could just keep it on, you could pull your coat over, and we could just get to the upper floors like that. Only for a moment, of course; I knew you'd never agree to that, even if noone was likely to get a close look at us on the way up.

And there you were, just looking wide-eyed at me like that. For a second, I thought we might end up being down there a good deal longer. But more than lust, I saw awe, and approval, even delight.

It drove home to me for the first time that you truly had given me Whitestone, along with yourself. Power and responsibility settled down on me, as I sat in the garb of a de Rolo and looked around that treasury, and since that day, I have never forgotten that I now hold both, in a way I never even thought I'd want, let alone get.

You were still going to insist on getting all your own clothes fully back on before we emerged, so it was still only a few moments of my wearing your shirt. That time.

There was more time on a morning when we were en route to Vesrah. When I woke up just a little bit before you, and your shirt was right there. I remember the linen settling against my skin, a little damp but I didn't mind, and the smell of you was so strong in the warm air-objectively, it wasn't even all that pleasant, but I very much liked it. It made me feel giddy, beset with a level of happiness beyond what I'd been used to for most of my life.

And that was all before you woke up, once again laid your eyes on me, and well, the awe and all those wonderful things were still there, but this time, it was the clearly the lust that rose to the surface. For both of us.

I suppose it was a little surprising how long the shirt stayed on. Since I hadn't buttoned it up, it wasn't like it was all that much in the way, though.

So that's been a thing since then. Though the shirt's more of one for warmer days; I still can't imagine going about our bedchamber-either in the castle, or my own house-in only a shirt, even one your size, during a winter morning. That's what your coat is for, obviously.

That was why I went for it, that first morning. Plucked it from where you'd hung it and wrapped it over a thick nightgown, and I even pulled stockings on. That left me warm enough to sit with Trinket and just take a few minutes together.

When you woke up, and laid eyes on me, I did see the certain spark in them. Just a spark that morning, not inclined to ignite just then. When you remarked that you liked how I looked in your coat, I was able to appreciate that comment while knowing it wasn't leading to anything, unless you counted my keeping the coat on my when I came back to the bed to take a few minutes with you next, and I might have done that anyway.

I would remember it. First, I would remember it a little on those couple of late evenings when you again draped your coat over me, though that usually mattered less then. I think the majority of the time I'm wearing one of your coats, it really is there to keep me warm, and it usually does.

But even if, usually, wearing your coat is just about warmth, there are still those times where it's instead about heat.

I don't think either of us will ever forget that first night I got back to to bedchamber before you, and had time to get myself into your coat-and only your coat. I considered adding one of your shirts to the mix, but decided to keep it simple, at least that first time. Sometimes since, it's been a good thing to put on both when I'm pulling this on colder nights, but this night wasn't quite that cold.

Besides, when you walked in, and saw me sitting there, it was absolutely delicious to feel nothing but that coat on my skin while the heat pulsed through me. Also, it allowed me to keep it on and wrap it around us both, at least as long as I could hold it in place. And once I got on top, well, it was certainly staying on then.

We even stayed tangled up with it for a minute or so after we were done, although it was too soaked in sweat to stretch that out. Long enough for me to playfully ask if I looked more powerful in the coat, to which you replied that I always looked powerful to you-and I couldn't really object to that answer, could I? But yes, you like me like this, and so for the rest of our lives, I think, I'll be borrowing a shirt or a coat occasionally.

I'm rather sorry most of my own clothes are too small for you. Most of them were very much never be your style, either, but now that I can spend a little more money on things like my hunting jackets, I do think some of them would looked splendid on you, except I doubt you could get your arms into them. Occasionally you've worn a scarf of mine, but that's not really the same thing.

But there is one other exception: my cloaks. Maybe not an article of clothing you'd be that inclined to borrow when your own is a Vestige. But you don't bother with that every time we go out into the woods together. And so came the evening you, me, and Trinket stayed out past our bedtimes and your coat got wet and had to be removed, and so as we sat beside the fire and you pressed nervously against Trinket's fur, it was I, instead, removing my outermost layer and draping it around you. You turned so pink, then, but your smile was so bright, and as the evening went on, you pulled it tighter around yourself, until you were nearly burrowed into it.

And this time, when I playfully asked how you liked the little role reversal, you just said, "I like it a very great deal, my dear. It makes me feel like I'm yours."

#critical role #the legend of vox machina #perc'ahlia #perc'ahlia week #percy x vex #vex'ahlia #percy de rolo

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