#anyway I use this all the time in my JAFF

[bethanydelleman]

This is perhaps a silly question but did couples in Jane Austen's time always refer to each other by Mr./Mrs. Lastname? It's something I noticed with all of them (even Mrs. Elliot who is very liberal in that regard, much to Emma's dismay). And it's not just in company either, Mrs. Bennet does it in front of their daughters and Lady Bertram when she's alone with Sir Thomas. It just seems very cold and distant in modern times.

Yes, it does feel weird to us and yes that appears to be what they do. In addition, many of the children call their parents "sir" and "ma'am". This is a much more formal society. I would feel just as weird calling someone my own age “Miss Lastname”! However, I know a lot of couples who refer to themselves and their spouses as "Mom" and "Dad" instead of their actual names in front of their kids, so it’s not totally divorced from our society now.

Anyway, one of the reasons we don't know a lot of first names of parents is because they only call each other Mr. and Mrs. Lastname. The exceptions are Admiral Croft, who calls his wife Sophy (her name is Sophia) and Mary and Charles Musgrove. John Mullen argued in his book What Matters in Jane Austen that this shows the contempt that M&C have for each other, but they are almost always among family and they are the same generation as Anne, so that might be why they use their first names. Mrs. Croft never calls Admiral Croft his first name back, by the way.

There also may have been a change in manners between the earlier and later novels. We hear women call men “Lastname” in S&S and P&P, but not in the later novels, then only men use that short form. Emma is highly offended that Mrs. Elton would say “Knightley”, though that may have more to do with their recent intimacy than a social rule, and Mrs. Elton does always refer to her husband as “Mr.” even if she shortens his last name into “E.”

What I find very interesting is that if you pay attention to when Mr., Mrs., Miss, and names are used, you can see how one character thinks of another. Fanny Price always thinks of Mr. and Miss Crawford, never Henry and Mary, even when other characters become less formal around them. When Elizabeth talks to Wickham (post-marriage to Lydia), Wickham uses the informal “Darcy” but all Elizabeth’s thoughts use the formal “Mr. Darcy”. Mr. Bingley is just referred to as “Bingley” about 50% of the time, but “Darcy” only about 30%. This probably has to do with the characters disliking him, but also with his station in society. Even the narrator is respectful!

Which is why I actually love the formal names/Christian names dynamic because you can get so much information just by how people refer to each other. Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s friend, calls her “Eliza” and we can understand this as a representation of their intimacy. Yet when Caroline calls Elizabeth, “Miss Eliza”, it is rude, she hasn’t earned the privilege of a nickname. Similarly, Mary Crawford calling Miss Price “Fanny” before she is actually engaged to Henry is too much too soon, especially since Fanny has not extended this right in friendship.

And when Wentworth says, “but if Anne will stay, no one so proper, so capable as Anne.” It’s not just the praise, he says her first name. It is a sign, on second reading, that his feelings for her have returned.

Last note, given how formal Mr. Darcy is and how respectfully Elizabeth refers to him even when they are engaged, they are calling each other Mr. and Mrs. Darcy everywhere except the bedroom! At least that's what I suspect.

[amplexadversary]

Ashton Greymoore: “See, this is what happens when you start externalizing every fucking problem that you have. Easy to take a look at.

There’s a bunch of people who are treating other people like, just like they’re fucking nothing, like they’re fucking pawns. It doesn’t matter what the fuck they want - they are doing it wrong, it is not hard to see.

You’re being fucked with. We’re all being fucked with; whatever the fuck they say they’re doing, that’s where I draw the g-, the line. If they had such a great idea of what the world was supposed to be and what that thing was, they could just tell people.

But instead they’re making everybody miserable. They’re killing people.

Fuck that, fuck them, and I am going to be more than happy to drop a fucking ship on them.

I’m so sick of this shit.”

-Critical Role, Campaign 3, Episode 49 1:43:02

[curiouser--and--curiouser]

Staring into the Flames

Ashton Greymoore x Reader

Summary: Ashton loses his shit when you get injured.

Fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, gender-neutral pronouns, raging Ashton, injured!reader.

Warnings: swearing, violence, descriptions of injuries.

Word Count: 3.8k words

A/N: Time for some Critical Role content, because I'm a raging nerd. And I'm in love with Taliesin Jaffe. God, all his characters give me such gender envy! Also, for context, this is written in the wake of c3e33, so I need comfort from the trauma 😭 Anyway, enjoy my beautiful punk rock babe <3

Watching Ashton Greymoore have emotions was one of your favourite things to do.

Sounds strange, I know – borderline creepy maybe – but you just found him so fascinating. Everything Ashton would ever do was based entirely off impulse. He wanted to steal some random arcane item he knew he would never use? Done. Rile up that complete stranger just because they didn’t like their hat? Did it last Tuesday. Take you off on a completely random unplanned date right to the top of the Lantern spire just because they wanted to? Absolutely.

All these impulse actions were based off impulse thoughts and impulse emotions; emotions that he feels so fucking strongly. I mean, just look at the destructive power his anger and rage can bring upon his foes in a fight (you do look, you look very hard…). Their feelings swirl like the kaleidoscope shining from their head, and you found it simply hypnotising to watch those feelings spread across his body. You could watch the cogs turn in Ashton’s brain for hours, seeing each new emotion spread across his body like lava.

One of your favourites was the slow realisation that you had stolen permanently borrowed something of theirs: a certain red and black jacket, perhaps. They would be rummaging around their room, thinking they’ve gone mad because they could swear they left it right here. Evidently they were too dead asleep that morning to notice you slipping out of the bedroom, the jacket claimed for yourself. Eventually, he would come bounding into the main room of the Crook House, finding Milo tinkering away at their latest project, and you lounging in a chair wearing his most prized item of clothing. It would take a minute for him to even notice what you were wearing. “Y/N, where in the fuck is my j-“. There we go. You got to sit back and enjoy as the realisation of your thievery spread through his body like a wave on the shore, every one of his stance and posture and facial expressions each slowly changing down throughout him. It was captivating. Although not for too long as soon a smirk rose to Ashton’s face before they were barrelling at you, you both tumbling onto the floor in a mock fight to win the grand prize of the jacket, as Milo looked on with a smile and a shake of their head at these idiots in love.

Oh yeah, in love. So in love. Which thankfully was reciprocated on both ends. It had, in fact, been your staring that had helped get you together. Subtly wasn’t your strong suit - sure you could sneak into Ashton’s room silent and assassin-like without him noticing, but you weren’t as skilled at hiding how much you just stared at him, getting lost in every single part of the earth genasi. And… they noticed. Luckily, Ashton had also been pretty enraptured by you over the past couple of weeks, meeting pretty frequently on jobs as both colleagues and rivals. So, Ashton’s impulses being Ashton’s impulses, they walked right up to you after one of said jobs and asked you out right on the spot.

“Angel, I could feel your eyes on me for the last three hours, wanna go get a drink so I can return the favour?”

Of course, you said yes, and from then on you have been pretty much inseparable. You now lived at the Crook House and could now stare all you liked. And so could he. He really did. God he’d do anything for you. You were the best thing to have come into his life and he was not about to let you go any time soon.

Definitely not today.

Today, you two, for once, weren’t together; you had some things to buy in the market and Ashton had to go for one of their many strange meetings with Jiana Hexum. So, you walked through Elder’s Post, pushing through the hordes of tradespeople and customers alike, keeping your coin purse close to your side away from any thieves lurking. You had already picked up some food for the household plus some bits and pieces of metal Milo wanted for Fresh Cut Grass’s repairs, and then you moved onto the trickier task: healing potions. They were pretty essential, especially given how much you two got hurt on jobs, particularly Ashton - gods, he got beaten up a lot - and, sure, you could ask FCG for help, but you didn’t want to overwork them. Sadly, your group weren’t exactly rolling in cash so, shall we say, less reputable vendors of potions had to be your main source.

This included one particularly awful man, Rackoth. He was a leering, lecherous man, spindly and towering over most people. He was also a swindler with prices way too high for substandard potions at best. Both you and Ashton had had run-ins with him in the past and nearly none of them ended well. Unfortunately, all your other sellers were out and you were in a bind - FCG was undergoing some internal repairs with Milo at the moment, and so was largely out of action. Hence, you had to grit your teeth and bare Rackoth and his usual ways. His sunken, hollow eyes bore into your soul as he offered up some wildly off-colour “healing potions” at some astronomical price. Usually, you would try to keep your cool and try in earnest to haggle him down, but after one too many not at all innocent placements of his bony hands on your waist, you had had enough. You smacked his hand out the way hard and snapped back at him, calling him out on his extortionate business (and maybe also insulting his mother in Deep Speech - honestly, you can’t quite remember, it was all a blur). Suddenly, you felt a burn across your cheek as Rackoth punched you with a force you never expected from the scrawny man. You stumbled back in shock, but he launched forward to meet you, gripping you by the neck. You could feel his jagged nails biting at your skin as he roared at you to never return to his shop again, throwing you down onto the ground after he was done. The customers around you all gave strange looks as you picked yourself and your belongings up, no healing potions in hand, and carried your hurt pride home with you to the Crook House.

Mercifully, you found the house to be still and silent when you arrived. You were safe in your own home at last. The adrenaline of the altercation wore off and a few tears fell from your eyes. As you wiped them away, you noticed blood smeared across your fingers, from your injuries presumably, so you trudged your way with a sigh into your and Ashton’s room to clean yourself up. You passed a mirror as you walked down the hall, finally seeing the extent of your injuries with a groan: thick red blood dripped down the side of your face, matting your hair, and purple was starting to bloom around your eye from the punch. You winced as you lifted your chin seeing more purple marks at the top of your neck along with five punctures to your skin from Rackoth’s nails leaking a small trail of blood. With a turn, you saw the muddied and scuffed back of your jacket from your fall and emitted a groan in pain as you turned slightly too far. Your back would be black and blue in the morning thanks to your impact onto the cold stone ground. Honestly, you’ve looked better.

Gritting your teeth, you collected your strength and pushed on into your bedroom, but almost screamed as you were met by the sight of your partner sprawled on the bed counting coins from a leather pouch. He wasn’t meant to be back yet.

“Hey, Angel, you’ll never guess the fucking bonus we got from Jiana for that extra information. She was fucking thrilled-“. Ashton stopped as his eyes fell on you.

In any other circumstances, this would’ve been a beautiful show.

The swirling colours in the glass in Ashton’s head seemed to almost speed up and spark out as their mind processed your injured form before them. He blinked slowly as his piercing eyes scanned over you, searching for the answer… there. His beaming smile dropped into one of concern as his eyes widened to the size of saucers. He breathed out a quiet “what the fuck?” in disbelief, before he suddenly took off, scrambling off the bed with zero coordination, but zero care for anything except you. Ashton stood on (and probably broke) most of their belongings as they ran over to you, immediately bringing his firm, calloused hands to your body as he checked you over. His eyes burnt a hole through your clothes with their intensity as he examined every single part of your body for more injuries - worry was the only emotion in him now. Ashton’s searing gaze on your body was usually a very good feeling, but you could see the bubbling anger low in him.

“Hey, Ash, I’m not dying!” You said with a pitiful attempt at a chuckle, trying to laugh off your injuries and put your boyfriend at ease. “I’m okay, really.” He clearly didn’t believe you as his roaming stare continued, logging in his mind everything he saw. His finger and thumb gripped your chin as he brought it up, inspecting the bruising to your neck, breathing out in disbelief. Rising their gaze to your face, Ashton gently prodded the bloody wound on your head with shaking hands. You pulled back slightly with a hiss of pain and that anger in him rose. Someone had hurt you. Red leaked into his eyes like a poison as they narrowed and focused on your own, still brimming with unshed tears. Already impossibly close, he took a step forward, towering over you, noses almost touching and hands coming back to your face. The delicate way he cradled your face in his large hands almost shocked you, the softness of his movements contrasting his hard, rocky palms. One thumb gently brushed away a stray tear on your cheek, both hands trembling as they grasped onto you.

“Who did this to you?” Ashton spoke so softly so that no one but you could here, but with so much menace for whoever the fuck thought they could touch you. Any attempt at him concealing his anger failed as it seeped through every pore in his body, every cell almost vibrating independently, ready for a fight.

“Ashton, really, it’s ok,” you counter again, trying to calm that fury in them that made you love them so much.

“No, it’s fucking not, who was it?”

“Ashton, it’s really not important-“

“Y/N.” He was firm. Final. You sighed before looking down slightly in defeat.

“Rackoth,” you breathed out.

“What. The Fuck. Did he do?” Ashton enunciated every single word, so slowly, so precise.

You stumbled over your words for a minute as you felt his gaze on you. He did deserve to know. That and the tiredness in your soul made all the words come tumbling out.

“I was getting healing potions because you’ve got that big job for Hexum coming up, and Milo is working on FCG and - shit! Letters needs a break sometimes! – but all our usual guys were out so I had to go to Rackoth. But that bastard stuck his prices up again. And they barely looked like healing potions - fuck me, Ashton, our bath water has more healing properties than that shit! And I was just so pissed off and. And... h-h-he had his hand on my waist and I just wanted to rip my skin off so I pushed him off and shouted at him and his potions and maybe his mother in Deep Speech? So he punched me. And grabbed my neck. And through me down. So yeah…” You stood in silence for a few seconds, taking a breath after your outburst, before you raised your head again to watch Ashton…

Now, here came the rage.

Ashton’s back straightened to an even higher height than before; every bone in their body tensed into a sharp point with their fists, now by their side, clenching, nearly popping joints. Their teeth clacked together in a bite, bared and ready to rip the throat out of the culprit of this heinous crime. The mesmerising colours beneath the glass in his skull seemed to swirl faster, getting brighter and brighter, threatening to violently burst free into chaos. The anger was white hot now, bleeding from his eyes and dripping down every tort muscle to a pool at his feet. A deep snarl sounded at the back of their throat, animalistic and ready to hunt.

“That piece of shit,” Ashton yelled out incredulously. “Fuck! That lanky piece of shit! That fucker’s going down!“ They had never sounded so serious in all their life. And so you needed to take action.

“Ashton. Babe! It’s okay, just leave him he’s not worth it.” Yet, it was not okay, and he was not paying attention. Like a flash, Ashton was at the bedroom door and screaming out.

“Oi, Grass! Grass! Where the shit are you?”

“They’re powered down. Ashton, don’t worry-“

“Argh, fuck!” they shouted, now moving at pace throughout your shared room. Trinkets and knickknacks alike were tossed around - no, thrown around - as Ashton scrambled from place to place at lightning speed, searching for something unknown. He grunted as he rummaged even further; you simply stood in the centre of the room, slightly startled by your partner’s sudden burst of movement. Eventually, with a cheer of triumph, from under a pile of multicoloured fabric he pulled out a slightly dusty red vial. Despite the slight discolouration, it was clearly a healing potion long forgotten and Ashton was soon back in front of you, pulling the cork out.

“Wait, no, I don’t need that,” you protested, “Ashton, you need these a lot more than I-“. You were cut off by Ashton shoving the neck of the bottle right into your mouth mid-sentence. The glass clinked against your teeth at the force as Ashton tipped the bottom of the bottle up, pouring the entire potion down your neck. You gagged as the bitter liquid hit the back of your throat. For all the difficulty of drinking the healing potion, it did thankfully begin to help you, like water refreshing you after wandering the dessert for a month. A dull ache passed through each of your injuries as the skin started to knit back together, eventually leaving no trace of ever tarnishing you but the now drying blood. You spent maybe five seconds checking over your body and by the time you looked up again, Ashton already had his trusty glass hammer clutched tightly in his hand. You had one last chance to stop him.

“Ashton, please, just stay here with me. You kill him and you’ll get caught and then gods know what will happen to you!” You pleaded to them, grabbing their arm, not wanting any more trouble for the day.

“Angel, I regret to inform you that I honestly don’t give a fuck,” Ashton growled lowly. “If that bitch thinks he can touch you and get away with it, he’s got another fucking thing coming.” He grasped the side of your head softly again, brushing a lock of hair behind your ear.

“I’ll be back soon,” he whispered and rose to place an uncharacteristically gentle kiss on your forehead, before sprinting out of the room, one mission on his mind.

And there you were left, alone, staring off at the space your sparking barbarian once stood.

Even in times like this, he was beautiful to watch.

A singular tear rose in your eyes and fell as your exhaustion battled with new anxiety for Ashton’s safety. Of course you enjoyed your mountain of a boyfriend sweeping in to beat down those who had wronged you – I mean, who wouldn’t? – but your dear Ashton also had a tendency of not being the subtlest creature in the world. Sure his mystic colourful powers could occasionally let him pass through like a ghost, but not always. Frequently, they could be found in a fight, on the run from a fight, or on their arse thrown out for being in a fight. But they were just silly bar fights; this was personal. You just didn’t want him in trouble and it would bite away at you until he was back in your arms, safe.

However, predictably, exhaustion won out and you soon fought yourself flat out on the bed, still caked in your own blood, but no energy in your waking spirit to clean yourself up.

The next – how long had it been? – was spent in a daze, maybe sleeping, maybe just staring off, disassociating from the stresses of the day. Until Ashton emerged back through your door with a slam, sprayed slightly with blood that did not look like his own. You didn’t raise your head from the pillow, still waking from your haze, but you watched through glassy eyes as Ashton quietly placed down his trusty hammer in the corner of the room, slipped off his boots and padded over to you. He gently perched on the side of the bed and reached a calloused hand down to stroke your hair. His fingers were so tender and threaded through, caressing your scalp, almost sending you back to sleep. Gazing up at them, you saw the same intensity as before flooding their eyes, but this time the rage was gone, now replaced with so much love. Everything Ashton did carried that fire, that passion, but it always moulded itself into new shapes and forms, sometimes surprising even you. That’s probably what drew you too him, that fire, always burning bright out of every pore on his tough skin; no matter what he did or felt, it was always with such ferocious and intensity that you couldn’t look away, only stare further into the flames. But they never burnt you. They caressed you, held you, protected you at all costs. Not always in the safest of ways, but the intention was good and pure.

Ashton softly smiled at you and, without looking, reached back to find a (vaguely) clean cloth and started to dab at the dried blood along the side of your face. You stayed perfectly still, letting him work, enjoying this rarely seen quiet Ashton. They cleaned you up surprisingly well despite this not being their forte, moving from your face down to the marks on your neck, doing their slightly clumsy best, trying to remember the kinds of actions FCG would perform when in cleric-mode.

When all the dark red streaks had gone from upon your skin, Ashton placed down the cloth, but kept their hand cupped around your face. You threaded your own fingers with his and looked up.

“You get him?” you whispered.

“Yeah, I got him,” Ashton replied, just as softly.

A rush of emotions took over you all of a sudden: the relief that that fucking man who touched you so horribly had been dealt with, the pain of your whole bloody ordeal, the adoration you felt for your soft punk rock who cared for you so well, even in the ways he was not as accustomed to. You choked, more hot tears running down your cheeks. Ashton immediately bundled you up into their strong arms and held you in a tight hug against his chest.

“Aww fuck, Angel. Okay, okay, come here,” they cooed into your ear as your cries muffled into the leather of their jacket. “Don’t worry, baby, I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.” And you believed every word of it. You grasped onto them like a lifeline with heavy and shaking breaths as you slowly pulled yourself back from the brink with his help.

“You okay now?” Ashton asked after a while and you nodded looking up through your eyelashes from your place on his lap.

“Shit, I’m sorry did that, Y/N. Fuck, I was just so fucking angry! I don’t care about a lot of things, but, goddamn, I care a lot about you. And I never wanna to see you like that again. I’ll do anything to make sure you don’t.” Ashton poured his heart out to you, his brutal honestly always hitting you right in the heart. You sat up and pressed your lips to his in a passionate kiss. Your eyes fluttered closed as you gripped onto each other like you were the last things left in Exandria. The kiss deepened as your tongues slid across each other, tracing the other’s lips and swallowing their sighs. You pulled away for breath, but remained trapped in Ashton’s warm grasp, as he continued his assault of kisses over your cheeks. They came to rest soon, forehead pressed together with yours, soft eyes staring into yours in peace.

“Fuck, I love you, Angel,” Ashton murmured, his love and devotion towards you on display for all the world to see.

“I love you too, Ash,” you whispered back with a beaming smile. Ashton gave you one more quick peck before he shifted his position, lying down on the bed with you remaining on top of him, still encased in his arms. You both laid there in silence, listening to the other’s heartbeat, until Ashton spoke, brushing the hair out of your eyes.

“What was that you said before about Deep Speech?” they asked and you giggled at his curiosity.

“I may or may not have insulted Rackoth’s mother… in Deep Speech,” you admitted shyly as Ashton’s eyes widened.

“That’s so cool. Wait, how do you know Deep Speech? Who are you?” they marvelled at your admission as you sniggered. “What did you say? Like in Deep Speech.” You repeated the deep grinding growls you had shouted at Rackoth and your partner’s jaw dropped.

“Okay, that’s hot, please talk to me more in Deep Speech,” you laughed out loud at Ashton’s antics (and remembered that information for later…). “I wish I’d brought you with me now. It was fucking great seeing him scared. Shit, I robbed you of your revenge quest, didn’t I?” Ashton carried on rambling, clearly having enjoyed being your knight in shining armour. Note to self: ask them later what they actually did to Rackoth…

“I swear to the gods if you said ‘Smiley fuckin’ day!’ just before knocking him out, I’m breaking up with you,” you joked. Ashton held a hand to his heart in mock hurt and tickled you away from your non-injured body parts as you cackled.

Your old friend exhaustion soon popped back up again as you let out a yawn, burrowing yourself further into Ashton’s body, nuzzling into his neck. His arms hugged you closer.

“Get some rest, love, I’ll be here when you wake up.”

You took their advice, letting your dreams overtake you, staring at the one you loved most until your eyes eventually closed.

Ashton would protect you. They always will. Come what may.

[sankttealeaf]

If you could relive any of your memories, which would it be?

oh of course!!! i answered this before but tumblr decided to not post it so i gotta retype everything out again 😭

anyway - i have a few notable memories i'd love to relive and i cant pick between them!! so you get them all <3

first up: seeing critical role live in october last year! such a fun experience, especially because most of my friends i met through CR and the mighty nein have such a dear place in my heart. it was such a fun experience (despite the... merch issues grrrrr) and i want to be back in that room singing along to 'your turn to roll' with 12,500 other people!!

(little did we know, two days later we would meet taliesin jaffe and get to tell him how amazing the show was!!!!)

second up: sitting in the saloon after our first show at an immersive cowboy/steampunk experience in london with my friends last year, talking about if we should book tickets to come back for the afternoon tomorrow because we spent so much time interacting with the cast we didnt manage to complete many of the trails. it was such a fun and giddy moment i love it! we've gone back (almost) every season (its where we met taliesin) and its so much fun. the cast are recognizing us. its so silly <3

third is graduating from uni in 2021! i didnt think id be able to graduate with my friends because in 2020 i was diagnosed with crohn's disease and it got to the point where i was considering what would happen if i needed to take a break from uni to deal with my health. i didnt want to, and luckily the medication i started later that year worked quickly so i could do my work without being in so much pain. graduated with a 2:1 in animation!!

fourth is watching shooting stars in my friends garden. we laid outside for a while and watched them all and it was so nice!!

fifth and final memory id love to relive is the last night of camping with my friends last year, where we sat around the fire and sung musical theatre songs together and my friend braided my hair and i slept in a warm tent. it was so fun despite how many ups and downs i had over those few days!! (notable runner up for this one is the night before where i did tarot readings for some of them and laughed so hard i started my period)

needless to say i love my friends and any memories i have with them i cherish so dearly!!! if any of them are reading this: im pointing to you! i love you!! youre so cool!!! thank you for being my friend!!!! 💛💛💛💛

shouldve kept this to one but i just. i love my friends and i want to talk about the fun things i get to do with them. i cant wait to make more memories together<3

thank you for the ask!!! this was fun!!

[astriiformes]

Percy’s coat is my goddamn cosplay white whale at this point. It’s like half the reason I wanted to do this costume in the first place (I love the look of it so much! It is an extremely gender article of clothing!) but you just can’t make a coat like that with cheap fabric and have it turn out right -- which I learned the hard way the first time I attempted it four whole years ago, I’m not being picky about materials for no good reason.

I really thought this year I might finally have a shot at it -- my sewing skills have improved to the point that I would have trusted myself with the expensive materials, unlike the first time I made it -- but now, of course, there’s no way I can justify spending the necessary money on costume materials when our finances are uh. What they currently are. I was all excited to try to overhaul it for my sister and I’s sibling cosplay shenanigans next month, but even at the nigh-magical fabric outlet near us the cheapest I can find the kind of coating I need is probably twice what I’d consider appropriate for any kind of hobby spending right now, just because I’d also need so much of it.

Anyways, I am frustrated and disappointed, but it is at least sort of funny. Horrible aristocratic nightmare man. Taliesin Jaffe how could your aesthetic choices specifically do this to me.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: April 2022

April! I suppose this means we’re a third of the way through the year and and that’s wild to me. Anyway here’s how I mostly spent the month.

……….FILM……….

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) It’s been a while since I’ve watched a movie and really felt like I was seeing something new, you know? I was visually exhausted and I can’t recommend it enough. I just want more movies that are both silly and sincere and fun. What an adventure.

Pirate Radio / The Boat that Rocked (2009) This cast is so great. I don’t think I realized it upon my first viewing back when it was released. The cutaways to the listeners are lovely and so varied that it really sells the impact these radio stations had. Big fan.

Empress of Darkness (2020) I don’t remember how I came across Nick DiLiberto (the director and sole animator of this movie) but I bought DVDs of both of his movies and this one is just fantastic. 60 minutes depicting a beautiful, violent, nearly wordless struggle. Check out the trailers online and if you like what you see then the movie delivers that and more.

……….TELEVISION……….

Squid Game (Episode 1.01 to 1.09) Finally got around to checking this out and I’ve never been more consistently stressed watching a season of television, Really really great until the international characters show up and then it’s really really good. Although I will say that final hair choice really deflated the serious tone of those last few scenes. The visuals are clearly iconic and I still don’t understand how anyone walked away from this with any message other than “capitalism is bad.”

Ghosts (Episode 1.01 to 1.06) Charming and maybe a little...wholesome? I don’t quite know how to explain it. I mean you can tell how an episode will play out after the first couple minutes but I just enjoy spending time with these silly characters.

……….READING……….

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Page 192 of 507) I have a hard time explaining just how great these books are (this is the second in the series after the equally fantastic Gideon the Ninth). The writing just feels so effortless and the characters clearly defined from their first introduction. The series has such an interesting structure and this second book’s second-person point-of-view really adds to the character’s paranoia. Oh also this book is about space necromancers training to fight a world beast while also seemingly trying to kill each other? I dunno it’s weird and wonderful and absolutely worth checking out.

Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe (Complete) Outside of the intro and conclusion, each chapter (which breaks down why a different umbrella of industry exploits its labour) can be read or skipped without missing much. I mention this because reading the book cover to cover was exhausting. In a good way. But perhaps now how I’d reread it. Anyway all this is to say I recommend the book.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 10 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) Every volume manages to stick with the premise (eating monsters to survive a dungeon) even when the stakes ramp up towards the looming climax. Funny and deeply character-driven and such beautiful artwork. Really really great and I won’t stop recommending this. Go pick up volume 1.

Young Offenders (1–3) by Mike Becker, Mark Stack, and Jodie Troutman (Complete) I kickstarted this miniseries a while back and it was a really fun read! In three issues you get a good intro to these characters, a sense of the world they’re living in, and solid threat to require a full team of fresh-faced superheros. Totally recommend picking it up and I know you can get it from Becker’s site here.

……….AUDIO……….

Bronco by Orville Peck (2022) If always bugs me when folks say they don’t like a certain genre of music. I just assume they haven’t found the right artist that clicks with them, you know? Orville Peck is a great example of that for me and country music. I don’t click with a lot of artists in the genre but not Peck. His voice, emotion, and theatrics all resonate. This album feels bigger and bolder than his previous and it’s been on heavy rotation this month.

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) My weekly group decided to rob the Ozian mob and it went...fairly well! Will there be any consequences? Who could say. Full campaign diary is here on reddit! Meanwhile the Mof1 crew fell into a trap, were knocked unconscious, and have just avoided being buried alive. Now they have to flee the rest of the thugs who were tasked with filling in the holes.

And that’s it! As always, let me know if you have any recommendations and happy Saturday!

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E96 (February 25, 2020)

Tonight’s guests are Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O’Brien!

Announcements: The Chicago live show and C2E2 are imminent! The live show will be on Thursday night, but an hour earlier than usual, at 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central! Liam will be at the live show, but unfortunately has to leave C2E2 early and won’t be able to make it on Sunday. On Friday, the first behind-the-scenes video for The Legend of Vox Machina animated series was posted on YouTube, introducing the writing team!

Episode 96: Family Shatters

Stats for this week’s episode! Of the 16 times Caleb has cast Teleportation Circle, the M9 have remembered to contact someone prior to their arrival 7 times. Of those 7 times, they were successful at contacting someone at the location only 3. Taliesin: “We’re playing this game like Skyrim, we’re just going through people’s houses breaking pottery.” Caduceus got the straw hat that he gave to Clarabelle in episode 31, about 188 in-game days ago. There were 17 cow-related puns. Dani: “Is that above or below average for a Critical Role episode?”

“Clay was kind of built relatively quickly. I didn’t give Matt a ton to play with. I gave him the order in which they left, I gave him Clay’s attitude and his impression of his family members, which was usually just one sentence, and some basic idea of what their power set might be if they had one. I always thought of him as, from a family perspective, of what would have happened to Percy if nothing went wrong.” He was happy to be the one to run the family business and just hang around at home and run the shrine. “I think the rest of the kids’ wanderlust probably put them at odds quite a bit.” He liked being able to play that conflict and show what Caduceus was like when he was annoyed. Cad took after his father, the girls generally wanted to leave, and Colton is “just sort of a doofus.”

Caleb was an only child, so seeing this many kids was a lot. “They clearly had their grudges and their different dynamics with each other, but that’s normal, for sure. Caleb’s very unfamiliar with it.” He also keeps looking at Nott and thinking about how everything he’s doing is about wanting to rebuild his family, whereas Nott is so conflicted about going back to hers. “He doesn’t understand it, but he doesn’t want to push it” or judge her for it. “I thought I had a really defined direction at the start of the campaign, but my seven best friends have knocked it silly.”

What’s keeping Cad with the Nein? “Caduceus is not ready to go home at all. He’s not done with his walkabout. He feels like he wants to see a bit more. He feels he has an intense debt to pay. He feels he has a mission to see everybody else through, at the very least. Or at least he’s telling himself that. So he’s saved his home, or at least he thinks he’s saved his home, and his family’s all right, so now it’s debts that must be paid. He’s not somebody who thinks you can just get off the bus.”

“Caleb was going to ask [the hag] about the ability to travel backward through time, not really believing that she could do that, but was still like, show me what you’ve got.” Even if she’d said it, he would have thought she was a liar. “Probably would’ve offered to kill the M9″ in exchange, then would’ve turned around to hit her with a surprise Disintegrate. Liam notes repeatedly that nothing could possibly have been as cool as what Laura wound up doing.

On the Nein not worrying about places Cad considered sacred ground, Caduceus “is fine with conflict. He doesn’t even really have to have conflict, he could assert himself if he were so inclined. It’s that he’s aware that there are limits to what these people can do. It’s very much the philosophy of ‘children and drunks can do no wrong’.” He’s picking his battles.

Was there a defining moment where Caleb started seeing the Nein as family? No single moment. “It’s like love by a thousand cuts.” Liam notes that he’s still not sure how Caleb would react if he suddenly had the means to carry out his plans. “He’s got the recovering-addict mentality.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Pumat! (CriticalHitical, photo by Minniemooncos on Twitter)

Taliesin notes that Caduceus is definitely feeling more connected to the group. “If anything, Caduceus is really embracing his role as the spiritual guide to the group. He feels like he really has a lot to offer from that perspective of being the roving therapist. Or at least, he thinks he’s a roving therapist.” Liam notes that Cad is the most mysterious of the group to Caleb. “He’s the most religious character I’ve ever played, too. He’s fun! He really came together very nicely.”

On Caleb being more lighthearted on occasion: “He’s been out of practice being a human being for a long time.” The Nein’s brand of ridiculousness is rubbing off on him.

Why hasn’t Cad been pranking the Nein? “They don’t treat him poorly in that way yet. Siblings, man. I have quite a few siblings, and there is an energy. It’s the same way like when you’re around your parents, you revert to a 15-year-old.” Same with siblings. “There’s just something-- just the urge to torture them is so overpowering.” The moment he got the whistle, he knew exactly what he was going to do with it. Liam was reminded of Taliesin’s real-life siblings while watching these interactions in the game.

On Caleb’s laying on compliments for the Traveler: “The thing about time travel is it’s so implausible. It’s so implausible that I could see us finishing this campaign and Caleb will still have it in the back of his head for the rest of his life. But maybe Artagan could help with that. He certainly sees the potential in Artagan, and it was a balance between wanting to support everything Jester has devoted her life to, so it just felt like everyone was ready to write it off. Life is often like this, life isn’t what you thought it would be, it is what it is. Let’s not damn this yet, let’s feel it out. And if I can use this situation to possibly eradicate ultimate evil, that’s a win.”

Cad found it tough to have family and friends in the same room and play both roles. “I don’t know how much it came across that he was trying to keep them, not necessarily separated, but ‘family, guys, guys, family, ANYWAY.’” He did want to get his family on their way as quickly as possible. Cad is the equivalent of his early 20s, so something like 85-120 years old for a firbolg. 

Liam is asked about the conversation between Caleb and Yasha on watch several episodes ago. "You know what one of the best parts of that scene that played out was, is about 20 minutes or 30 minutes before that happened, I texted Ashley at the table and said, ‘Want to take watch? I have nothing planned, it could be fun.’” He wasn’t expecting it to go that far. “I think he had such an extreme reaction because he felt that he had done a good job of hiding things, and he was suddenly worried that he was transparent, that everyone had been able to read him this whole time when he’d thought that he was-- well, he’s a little in love with Jester Lavorre, and has been for a while, uselessly in love with her. The waltz was probably a little pebble. And in that moment-- this doesn’t play out verbally too much in the show, but he just was worried that this thing that he’s never going to admit to because it’s useless, she’s finding herself, and has her whole life ahead of her, and has other people around her who care about her and are a whole lot better for her than he is. And he’s aware of the way those two [Fjord and Beau] feel as well. It’s just there in the background fucking up his shit. It’s really just a problem. Big fucking problem.” 

Fan art of the week: a gorgeous Clay family portrait! (by Teaweltzer on Twitter)

On Clay being absent for the renewal of his home: “I don’t think his arc’s ending off-screen. I think his arc ends when he comes home to see what’s become of it.”

Is Caleb worried about Beau since the confrontation with her father? “Of course he is. She’s ignoring all the advice that she gave him. He doesn’t like to see her that hard on herself when she’s so competent and probably the backbone of the group. It’s the most judgey Caleb’s been of anybody, really, but he’s very aware of the pain of family and personal stuff. She knows her, and even though he broke his shit in half, he could still see the dynamic in the room when we visited his family, so he feels for her. We need you and we love you and we will miss you, you don’t fucking get to go.”

Each of the temples has a secondary god; what was the Blooming Grove’s other god? “The Blooming Grove is for the Archeart because it is a gift of beauty. It’s the Allhammer, the Changebringer, and the Archeart. It’s kind of a powerplay from the Wildmother, in my opinion. They’re all three based off of very specific types of funereal practices that are common throughout the world.”

Caleb saw giving over the transformation spell to Essek as a returning of one of his many favors. “Caleb likes Essek a lot. They’re like two highly gifted kids at school together. And, you know, he’s quirkily charming and handsome. There’s just no reason not to, in his mind. Outside of the M9, he’s probably the only person that Caleb would see as a friend that he’s made. Everyone else is just sort of scenery around the M9.”

What’s next for Cad? “It’s a little bit of finding himself, or at least finishing himself would be the way to put it.” (cue snickering from off-camera) “He’s also vaguely aware of some of the things that are going to possibly emotionally damage the party on the horizon, and he wants to be ready to deal with, in vague order, whatever’s going to happen to Jester, and then whatever’s going to happen to Fjord, and then whatever’s going to happen to Nott, and Yasha, and Caleb. He doesn’t know how to deal with what Beau’s going through. It’s the one thing he has no experience of, because he has no experience with that family dynamic. When he met people with that family dynamic, it was always at the end of it.”

Some fans sent in death whistles. Brian encourages Taliesin to play one on the plane.

The hat for Calliope was a last-minute thought. The flute could also have gone for Colton, depending on “who I could sneak up on”.

Caleb took a symbol of the Archeart from the Labenda Swamp. “I think it was familiar to me. I think I might have either correctly or mistakenly thought it reminded me of the woman who helped Caleb in the Sanatorium.”

[minstrel-mouse]

" You can't prove it. Even if i did steal your coin purse, you wouldn't even know about it ... anyways, here. " fatale casually tosses the mentioned coin purse at tilo's feet, pretending she wasn't caught and was just /totally/ willing to give it back. the grumpy look on her face proved otherwise.

❝ Fatale... ❞ Yeah... sure he can't prove it. Just like Brin’s Lutka right? —anyways. ❝ I think it’s high time we put everything at Duinlan Heights Keep & Castle Red Paw behind us. Don’t you think? ❞ Said Tilo, too disappointed in her to talk to the child in an appropriate manner..... It also slightly sounded like Tilo was referring to more than he meant by that, but he really only meant Fatale stealing Brin’s Lutka and Tilo deceiving her & Gusto into thinking he was Tulong. ( which he was still pretty sure she hadn’t figured out  ). 

As Fatale knew, Tilo could no longer join her & Gusto on their way to the city of Pesa. The minstrel was sure there were many worth wild sights in such a place of renown, many places to make honest (and dishonest) florins too, but how could Tilo possibly go there? When Merra was at Periclave. He really hoped Big Jaff wasn’t still expecting 3 hooded mice on the road to Pesa. Two children, one adult minstrel. 

Besides... he was no criminal, no offense to Fatale of course. 

❝ Even if it’s not personal, I should be the last mouse you take from. ❞ Tilo picked up his coin purse and attached it back to his rope belt.  ❝ I need every florin I can get my paws on if I’m gonna find Merra. ❞ Traveling couldn’t stay cheap forever from mouseland to mouseland all across Muridea.

❝ What about Big Jaff? Is he still waiting for you at Pirrum’s Landing? ❞ Tilo asked, as he was curious.

[darksaiyangoku]

DarkSaiyan and OddNub’s YuGiOh Reboot

Back in February, my buddy @oddnub and I were talking about how we would reboot the YuGiOh anime, and we decided to follow in the footsteps of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and pitch a more faithful adaptation of the YuGiOh manga:

Now don’t get me wrong, the anime back in the 2000’s definitely had a big impact and, despite my hate for 4Kids, I do have fond memories of it. However, it’s such a shame that a lot of fans have overlooked such a great manga. What makes YuGiOh stand out from other Shonen titles is the fact that despite not being very action heavy, it’s still an engaging read and a battle of brains can be just as compelling as a battle with fists, maybe even more so.

Anime Studios

Some of you are probably wondering what would this new adaptation might look like and I have three main studios in mind for this:

A-1 Pictures

A-1 Pictures are my go to studio for this project. They have a knack for making good fantasy anime, such as Fairy Tail and Seven Deadly Sins, and using animators from those teams can really bring the battles to life in new and epic ways!

Not only that, but A-1 are also the studio responsible for producing Your Lie in April, Anthem of the Heart and the legendary Anohana. All of these are very emotional and hard-hitting stories and can carry over to the heavier moments adapted from the original manga, showing the audiences that this is going to be much different than what they’re used to.

OLM. Inc

While it would be great to have a more serious look at the story, let’s be honest with ourselves; there’s gonna be a huge demand for new merchandise. Known for also producing the Pokemon anime, OLM Inc seem like the perfect studio and can really capture a nostalgic “Saturday Morning Cartoon” vibe the original had.

Madhouse

Ah, Madhouse. One of the most popular studios among anime fans today. They would be a great studio to handle the YuGiOh reboot. Why? Simple.... horror. Madhouse is no stranger to horror anime, mainly thanks to their sleeper hit of 2014; Parasyte. Not only that, but they’ve also had some solid action series too such as 2011’s Hunter x Hunter and One-Punch Man. If they can combine that horror and hard hitting action, we could be in for a really good time!

Seasons

Keeping things simple, New YuGiOh would be divided into 7 seasons, each one being 24-25 episodes. The main story arcs are as follows:

School/Death-T Arc

School/Monster World Arc

Duelist Kingdom Arc

Battle City Arc

Tournament Finals Arc

King’s Memories

Ceremonial Battle Arc

Cast

Okay, I know that this is gonna sound controversial, but I wouldn’t have Dan Green or Eric Stuart return as either Yugi or Kaiba respectively. Before any of you jump at me, I have a reason. Mainly because I want this reboot to go in a new direction, which is being a more faithful adaptation of the original manga. As such, I don’t want any ties to 4kids being in this show. I want this to be fresh and exciting not just for newcomers but for older fans too.

Dan and Eric are the iconic voice actors for Yugi and Kaiba, I know that. But they shouldn’t be the only ones to voice the characters. Batman has had multiple voices, I think Yugi and Kaiba can have them too.

Anyway, me and Odd had a pretty cool idea where characters with a Yami form would have their voices be completely different, emphasising that there are two separate people inhabiting one body. The voice actors I had in mind are as follows:

Yugi Mutou/Yami Yugi- Colleen Clinkbeard/Bryce Papenbrook

Anzu Mazaki- Cherami Leigh

Jonouchi “Joey” Katsuya- Benjamin Diskin

Hiroto Honda- Kyle McCarley

Sugoroku Mutou- David Lodge

Setō Kaiba- Johnny Yong Bosch

Mokuba Kaiba- Alexis Tipton

Ryuji Otogi- Todd Haberkorn

Mai Kujaku- Erica Lindbeck

Dinosaur Ryuzaki- Newton Pittman

Insector Haga- Robbie Daymond

Bandit Keith Howard- Kyle Hebert

Para Meikyu- Lex Lang

Dox Meikyu- Talesin Jaffe

Maximilion J. Pegasus- Kaiji Tang

Ryo Bakura/Yami Bakura- Josh Keaton/Clancy Brown

Marik Ishtar/Yami Marik- Matthew Mercer/Mark Hamill

Shadi- Todd Haberkorn

Thief King Bakura/Zorc- Ray Chase

Music

There’s only one choice; Yuki Kajiura. I mean, she composed the music for Ufotable’s Fate!!!! What more could you ask for?

And that’s the pitch for our potential YuGiOh reboot. Even though it’s highly unlikely that this would all happen, it was still a fun thought to have. One day, I’m sure we’ll see another YuGiOh series that does adapt the manga more faithfully. Until then, we still have the manga with us right now. Seriously if you haven’t read it yet, do it!

Special thanks to @oddnub for helping me with this. Go check him out, he does some fun, cute artwork as well as some good stories. 👍

[valeriec80]

It’s Friday, time for a blog!

The problem is that I have no idea what to blog about. I go through these phases where I don’t really feel like reading very much, and during these times, I’ll end up rereading stuff I wrote myself (yeah, I know, it’s pathetic, but it’s kind of one of my favorite things to do) or watching a lot of TV, or rereading something by someone else that I already read.

So, recently, for some reason I decided I was going to reread the Hush, Hush saga by Becca Fitzpatrick. Oh, actually, I do remember why. I was doing this because for the seventh time I had seen someone say it was “problematic” and it had been a hot minute since I even read them, but I couldn’t remember anything problematic, and that sounded... good. I mean, this is the reaction most people have to problematic content right? Take my money? I thought so.

Anyway, it was BORING.

Not because I already read it, because I didn’t remember anything about it, but because it’s from that time period where everything is a Twilight knockoff and all the plot choices are just a riff on Twilight in some way. It’s like everyone was just rewriting Twilight (including yours truly. It’s called Breathless. It’s free on every platform including my own website. It’s under my Jove Chambers name. Go find it if you want it.)

Anyway, I gave up around book three... because it was getting really plot heavy, and I just wanted to read for the romance. 

It was not problematic.

Like not even a little?

Like... so disappointing.

So, then, I knew that the author of To Bleed a Crystal Bloom had a pen name in which she wrote RH, so I thought I’d check that out. It was too much sex/romance and not enough plot.

What? There’s a balance. A delicately struck balance, and also, I want different things at different times. I am a complex woman, okay?

So, then... I just gave up on life and started watching HGTV shows where they build stuff over the course of a half hour and all the tension just comes from the inevitable reveal? I was sitting around thinking how you could just boil the shows down to two different pics--before and after--and it would be just as satisfying.

And then I was like, “No, because it’s cool when you get to see how to do things. And it gives you ideas for decorating your own space. And you start to become fond of the people who are doing the designing every episode.”

So... yeah.

I am reading nothing. I have nothing to watch. I have nothing to blog about. As for what I’m writing, it’s a JAFF about a mature Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. I thought it would be fun to write about Elizabeth being my age, so that’s happening, but I write JAFF really fast and it occupies much less creative space in my brain while I’m writing, possibly because I already know the characters so well, so it’s just kind of second nature to me? Anyway, I don’t like to talk too much about the thing I’m writing out of a superstition that if I talk about it too much I’ll lose interest in writing it (which used to happen, a long time ago, but I don’t think would happen anymore, but I’m superstitious, so whatever.)

Anyway, sorry. 

Maybe next week I’ll have more to say! We can only hope. :)

[stoppit-keepout]

tell us about QUIDDITCH BOD!

(For the WIP Grab Bag meme)

GLADLY :D @queercatlady and i started this, oh... a while ago, haha. we haven’t really talked about it recently, but it’s still a fic i wanna see through someday! It’s a Drarry fic that we mayyy have been a little over-ambitious in designing, the gist of which is:

- Harry tried being an Auror for a bit but didn’t actually like it that much

- the Ministry is still pretty prejudiced against Muggleborn; Hermione wasn’t being promoted at the rate that she deserved, and Harry was catapulted into more responsibility that he could handle WAY TOO SOON; so when some recruiters for the Tornado came around to his intramural office pick-up Quidditch game (a thing which he wasn’t suspicious about when it happened but in hindsight.... the boy got scooped), he happily jumped ship

- Hermione (and Ron) are struggling with the long haul of Ministerial reform; Ginny’s also working for the Ministry, but she’s not getting the sort of nightly suppertable conversation about the various ways the institution is broken, so she’s a bit of a foil there. Hermione’s working for the (canonical) Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and aiming to ban slavery in the year 2002, dear god.

- anyway now at 22, Harry’s a professional Quidditch player (with the titular jacked QUIDDITCH BOD) and like... way happier in some ways, but still at a loss in others. He still has this influence and power that he never really asked for, and he doesn’t know how to/really want to wield it.

- MEANWHILE out in the not-our-POV side of the tracks, Malfoy’s political and financial star has fallen and is looking for a sugar daddy (kidding but just barely); he happens to have spent a large chunk of his life being indoctrinated into how to wield power (for evil, but still, the skills might be transferrable) and he’s got a weakness for strapping Seekers who might be able to keep him in the manner to which he had become accustomed

- it starts out as an arrangement of convenience but then POLITICS and FEELINGS and SPORTS and--

Here’s an excerpt:

Harry usually just Apparates home after games, primarily out of dislike of Flooing, but when he gets to the autograph area he realises that really, his habit was grounded in strong self-preservation instincts. He’s a bit surprised to find he does have them after all, reckless dives and Malfoy searching be damned.

Five minutes later, Harry's facing down a small cluster of devoted followers draped in damp, dark cloaks and waving quills and parchment at him.

Not five minutes after that, he really feels that he’d prefer dark-cloaked figures waving wands his way. At least he'd known how to deal with Death Eaters. Right now, he feels mostly at a loss, and his face hurts from smiling. He’s vaguely amazed that the witches and wizards in front of him haven’t run away from the madman baring his teeth at them. Instead, they all seem thrilled -- even grateful -- to see him, just to have a moment of his time. It’s as uncomfortable now as it was when he was a teenager, this uncertain sense of a responsibility he’s done nothing to earn.

The crowd shows no signs of dying down, though Harry's not totally sure if the increase in volume and fan mass is real, or just a sign that he's had more than he can handle.

"This is my baby!" screams a very short, passionate wizard. "We named him Harry, after you!" He waves a baby in Harry's direction.

"Oh!" says Harry, alarmed beyond power of speech. "He's very," Harry begins unwisely, and his mind races to eventually come up with, "cute!"

The baby is wearing a wooly hat that covers most of its head, and a scarf that covers the rest of it. The wooly hat has a bobble; the bobble joggles to and fro as the baby's father, who looks to be near tears, holds his child higher above the crowd.

"Thank you!" Harry says, hoping that is the correct response. He tries to sign his name on a miniature Tornados-branded Quaffle someone has thrust in his face, but the curve of the ball destroys any legibility his signature normally has.

"I'm just going to--" he tries, and then there are two women on either side of him, and a camera in front of him, and he shows his teeth to this camera, too. "I think I'd better…" But there are more things to sign, and more people to handle, and no break in the chaos.

"I say, save some love for me!" Jaffe's voice carries loudly down the corridor, and then he's happily elbowing fans aside, wading through the cheering masses to Harry's side. His massive Beater's build allows him to ignore the tide of humanity around them both. Harry is extremely jealous.

In as much of an undertone as he can achieve, Jaffe whispers to Harry, "Right, off you go."

"Thank you," Harry breathes, heartfelt.

Harry darts down a hallway at random, unwilling to let this group of strangers hear his Floo address, however unbearably loud the chamber is.

[ask-prospector-v]

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ uwu

Ah 8 (there 15 @ but bruh I have another that has 4. So let me take a smal short cut. K? Glad we are on the same page) lucky fellows who I look up/love are here but also I left a lovely message I try my best with all of them :0

@flowwerpot / @asktheidvembalmer / @asktheidvgravekeeper / @asktheidvdoctor / @asktheidvflorist / @ask-mini-photographer

Yes I tag all your blogs. Yes I don’t care that I did. Anyways! This flowweer or if they mind me saying marvel because I’m use to it. Anyways I love this person like a parent and sibling! Once we started chatting on discord we became closer and I don’t regret replying to you back in January! I’m glad to love you and look up to you. Plus give you trouble some time :3c

@askdoodleseer / @ask-idv-chemist

ERROR! Your art is adorable, your sweet person who I want to talk to more. I’m glad that I got to meet you and play with you!

@ask-emily-dyer-idv

Kit...kit I got a lot to say, you are like a parent I never had and I want that parent now :0. I know you still want to childproof my house which you have to come here to do it. If you do, can you like adopt and take me as well as childproof my heath :3 Anyways I love you and I do look up to you nwn.

@ask-magnetboi-nortnort

Meme...MEME! MEME! Sorry fun to type :0 anyways I look up to you because you always out there to help and you can easily goof off with other which I can’t plus your amazing role model I got to look up.

@seer-is-here

Jaff! Oh jaff, NYAIB! :3 anyways your fun person to talk and play with a lot. God I know I shouldn’t be saying this but I am in debt for inviting me to the discord group. I say if I never meet you back when my blog was starting up, I wouldn’t be here having a fun time with old strangers that became friends and family to me. Thank you jaff, thank you Gaylord

@identityvarchives / @seer-at-sunrise / @idv-ask-butler

sister! sister! I love you dearly. You have my back and I have yours! Hee hee. Anyways I know I can be an issue sometimes but somehow you can handle me when we can talk. Your lovely and sweet person that deserves a lot of stuff!

@ask-victor-grantzcampbell

Brother kuro! Your amazing brother! I know I can do some stupid stuff which you supported me in. I do wish we were actually siblings so I could give you hug a lot for your amazing art and for fun :3

@ask-idv-waiter / @http-idv

Now I don’t know your nickname you go by a lot but from your blogs you seem like a cool person and I want to talk and get to know you! nwn

@theunconcernedembalmer

Toko! Oh toko get your ass here XD I may hardly talk and play with but your amazing person and I do want to talk more

@ask-lucky

My sibling YUUKI! You are so much fun! I was gonna start chatting you this morning with good morning but I forgot to lol. you have so much amazing idea which I could have but I wish I could have

I suck at these message. So take them as they are :0

[sportsintersections]

16 Awesome Queer Sports Books: Books with LGBTQIA+ Athlete Representation

Image: Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images.

In some ways, the last few years has been a golden time for LGBTQIA+ athletes. The 2019 Women’s World Cup was a record tournament for LGBTQ+ visibility, with at least five players on the U.S. women’s national soccer team being openly queer (Ali Krieger and her now-wife Ashlyn Harris, Megan Rapinoe, A.D. Franch, and Tierna Davidson), as well as coach Jill Ellis, and another player coming out in the moment captured in the photo above, kissing her girlfriend in celebration. Rapinoe’s girlfriend, Sue Bird, another out lesbian athlete who plays in the WNBA, wrote an open letter to the President of the United States. A blockbuster movie told the story of iconic out lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King. Jason Paul Collins came out in 2013 (but retired the following year). Michael Sam was the first openly gay man to be drafted into the NFL in 2014 (but he has since retired).

But, according to the Human Rights Campaign, 70% of LGBTQIA+ people don’t come out to their teammates while still playing a sport, and 82% of athletes have witnessed homophobic and/or transphobic language in their sport. It is still more common, especially for male athletes, to come out after they have already left their sport (TW for homophobic slurs/statements and suicidal ideation), and many athletes who are still playing face backlash (TW for misgendering & general transphobia).

These books, from memoirs by professional queer athletes to YA romances with LGBTQIA+ athlete protagonists, explore these issues and more. 

Books are YA fiction unless otherwise noted.

Spinning, by Tillie Walden (graphic memoir)

This beautiful graphic novel memoir captures Tillie’s experience with figure skating and why she eventually decided to give it up. Full review here.

Girl Crushed, by Katie Heaney

Quinn thought her senior year would be perfect: college scouts recruiting her to her dream school for D1 soccer and her best-friend-turned-girlfriend at her side. But then Jamie dumps her, a month before the school year begins, and it’s getting a little late to have heard back from schools, if she’s going to end up on one of the top teams. Over the course of the school year, Quinn learns that her binary black-and-white, gay-and-straight, success-and-failure ways of seeing her world could stand to be a little more complicated. This book is about identity, self-esteem, friendship, crushes, and soccer. There are also many fun USWNT references! TW for some (challenged) bisexual erasure.

The Reappearing Act: Coming Out on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians, by Kate Fagan (adult memoir)

Kate was thrilled to be playing basketball for a nationally-ranked school and to have a close-knit group of teammates. Her best friends were part of Colorado’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and she tried to join them and learn about their church, but she started to realize that she might be one of those people whose “sinful lifestyles” they talked about. She had to figure out how to come out without losing her friends, and her team.

Check, Please! Volume 1, by Ngozi Ukazu (graphic novel)

This adorable graphic novel (which was originally published as a popular webcomic) follows Bitty, a former junior figure skating champion and enthusiastic baker, who somehow ended up on the Samwell University hockey team. He’s terrified of checking (what if he gets hurt??), trying to figure out if he can win over the guys with pies, and also feeling some kind of way about the hot but grumpy captain.

Keeper of the Dawn, by Dianna Gunn

Lai wants to become a priestess, like her mother and grandmother were before her, but first she must prove herself in the trials she’s been training for her whole life. Nothing goes according to plan, but she can still depend on herself and her skill as a fighter and a horseback rider and take matters into her own hands. This fantasy novel features an asexual protagonist and a f/f romance.

The Passing Playbook, by Isaac Fitzsimmons (2020/2021 release)

This book hasn’t been released yet, but there are so few (if any) own voices YA sports books with trans characters that I decided to include it anyway. A queer, biracial, trans soccer player is benched, and has to decide whether to fight the ruling, even though that would mean coming out to everyone…including the Christian teammate he’s falling for.

Running with Lions, by Julian Winters

This coming-of-age novel follows Sebastian, a bisexual rising senior who’s excited for his last summer at soccer camp, where his teammates are great and the coach doesn’t expect anyone to stay in the closet. But then Emir Shah, a Muslim British-Pakistani new recruit, shows up. He also happens to be Sebastian’s former best friend, and they left things on pretty bad terms. So why is he finding himself attracted to Emir all of the sudden?

None of the Above, by I.W. Gregorio

I am hesitant to recommend this non-ownvoices intersex representation, but it’s the only book I know of about an intersex teen athlete, and, while it is imperfect and seems geared towards a non-intersex audience, there are certainly some good things to be said about it. It is informative, well-researched, and moving. Kristin, a homecoming queen and champion hurdler with a cute boyfriend, seems to be having a great high school experience. But a doctor’s visit reveals that she’s intersex, and, while she’s still coming to terms with what that might mean for her and her identity, her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school. TW for transphobic/anti-intersex slurs and bullying.

Forward: My Story, Young Readers’ Edition, by Abby Wambach (memoir)

U.S. Women’s National Team soccer star Abby Wambach tells her story with honesty and vulnerability, sharing how she came to lead her team to a World Cup win in 2015. She is open about her sexuality and romantic life (including a named mention of a certain pink-haired teammate, who also happens to be her ex-girlfriend) and how it affected her career.

We Ride Upon Sticks, by Quan Barry (adult fiction, with teen protagonists)

The 1989 Danvers high field hockey team finds themselves winning…a lot. Is it because they all wrote their names in a mysterious notebook with Emilio Estevez on the cover, and pledged themselves to dark forces so they could make the state championships? This darkly funny story explores friendship, sportsmanship, and what means to find power and sense of self as a teen girl.

Beautiful on the Outside, by Adam Rippon (adult non-fiction)

In his comedic memoir, Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon shares his journey from poverty and uncertainty to success and becoming a self-professed American sweetheart. He opens up about anxiety attacks, coming to terms with his sexuality and coming out, and some enjoyable behind-the-scenes gossip. He also narrates the audiobook.

Ana on the Edge, by A.J. Sass (middle-grade, fall 2020 release)

Twelve-year-old Ana-Marie is the reigning U.S. Juvenile figure skating champion, but that doesn’t mean everything feels easy or figured out. When Ana meets Hayden, a transgender boy, at the rink, Hayden mistakes Ana for a boy…and Ana doesn’t bother to correct him. In fact, it feels good to be seen as a boy. Now Ana must decide which identity feels the most right, in time for a big competition coming up. This book isn’t out yet, but it’s due to be released in fall 2020, and it is written by a non-binary (and autistic) author, who is also a figure skater.

Heartstopper, Volume 1, by Alice Oseman (graphic novel)

Charlie is neurotic and openly gay (after he was outed last year and bullied for months), and hoping that Year 10 at the British all-boys grammar school will be better. He meets Nick, an upbeat, sweet rugby player, and they become friends. Soon he finds himself hoping that their friendship turns into something more.

Fearless: Portraits of LGBT Student Athletes, by Jeff Sheng (non-fiction)

This is a memoir of an American artist who uses his story as a closeted high school athlete in the 1990s as a jumping-off-point to depict hundreds of photos of other LGBTQ+ high school and college athletes in the U.S. and Canada between 2003 and 2015.

Amateur, by Thomas McBee (adult memoir/non-fiction)

In this memoir, Thomas McBee describes grappling with the meaning of masculinity, violence, and sports. As a trans man, he has noticed since his transition that the world treats him completely differently and expects different things from him. But what does he want, and how does he want to define masculinity and strength for himself? He decides to train for a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden as a way to find out.

Dryland, by Sara Jaffe

Julie is a cynical teen in Portland at the height of the grunge movement, struggling to define herself and her sexuality. No one in her family is willing to talk about her older brother, who at one point seemed destined for the Olympics but then fell off the map. Julie has never considered swimming herself, but then the swim team captain convinces her to join. Is this what she’s been looking for -- a way to get closer to her brother and maybe herself?

[All book covers belong to their respective publishers].

[princessamericachavez]

Fjorester in Episode 43

I watched this ep live which means it was 4-7am to me and I might have missed stuff, but here’s what I remember

When Jester wants to start a bar fight and Fjord knows she’s going for it, so his first comment about it, before she even says she wants to fight is “No killing, Jester.”

And then the others keep trying to talk her out of it but the only opinion she asks is Fjord’s saying “Tusktooth?”

But, like, Fjord (as I’ve yelled about so many times before) enjoys Jester’s shenanigans even when he pretends to be frustrated by them, so instead of talking her out of it, he pretends to be chugging on his ale, which Jester correctly takes as a “go ahead”.

heart eyeeeees

“One gold on the blue one!” Awesome callback to their fight in the Gentleman’s speakeasy, further proof that Fjord is just a chaotic prankster at heart and a reminder that he’s constantly in awe by how badass Jester is.

Fjord’s soft-ass smile after the fight when Jester excitedly declares “Hey, I made a friend!” “Yeah, you kept all your teeth!”

When they are talking about the Divers Grave and they are discussing what kind of monster might be in there and then Jester says “It’s an underwater banshee, for sure.” 

“Is that a thing?” 

“Yeah.”

*knowing full well he’s being fucked with* “Hmmmm.”

I don’t know why that exchange feels so flirty to me, and like the fact that they keep zeroing in on each other during group conversations like they live in their own little bubble, kills me.

The Caleb and Jester talk!!!!!!!!

(I will make a whole separate post dissecting this conversation later)

“Really, none of us like it here but Fjord” “I don’t even know if he likes it a lot” 

Yes! Give me Jester picking up on Fjord’s general discomfort with the situation and how stressed and uneasy he is with how everything’s gone down!

For real though, if I have to see one more post talking about how Jester doesn’t actually care about the real Fjord or how he feels about this whole situation, this talk is one of the very many scenes imma shove on their faces passive-aggressively. 

“Well, there’s parts of it that he likes.” “Like Avantika” “I don’t know”

Rip my heart out, Laura Bailey, why don’t you!

“You’re sweet on him, ja?” “I don’t know...” “Yeah.” “It feels funny.” “How do you mean?”

THIS WHOLE THING WAS SUCH CALL BACK TO VEX AND VAX TALKING ABOUT PERCY THO

“Well, you know when you really like somebody but then you start to know them and you go ‘do I like them, or do I like what I thought they were’? And you don’t know.”

Mfking laura bailey giving us that character growth arc with sheltered naive Jester who believes in love at first sight and the romance all her books talked about and is now beginning to realize that real deep feelings are much stronger and complicated than all of that.

Like the way she says it “feels funny” really says so much.

And I know some people might take this as “oh so she never liked him for real” but I think that would mean taking this conversation entirely out of context. 

This whole arc, Fjord and Jester have had some very big moments together, and I think Jester’s confusion does not stem from being disillusioned with Fjord...

I think the fact is that she’s feeling more than she expected, she’s discovering she likes Fjord in a way she has no words for, in a way that makes her hurt when he talks to Avantika, that makes her confused about their interactions, second guessing his intentions and whether he’s fliriting back with her or not, overanalyzing what his gestures mean, like the kiss...

Jester is in Love with capital L and none of her mother’s teachings and experience have prepared her to handle it.

What I want to talk about here, though, is not about Jester’s confusion per se but how Travis and Matt react to this. Since if anyone is aware of what Fjord feels about this it would be the two of them.

“Do I like them or do I like what I thought they were?”

This is the face of a man who just realized his wife is taking her funny character’s crush and turning it into real feelings and he’s going to be fucked.

WHAT IS THAT LOOK YOU TWO. I CAN SEE YOU. WHAT DO YOU KNOW.

That is the face of a DM who is ready to take the most advantage of this situation in the future.

Bonus: Taliesin “I’ve been in the receiving end of this” Jaffe is enjoying this too much. He is just shaming Travis/Fjord for his bad choices.

“And then you think they are flirting with you but then you find out they probably weren’t, you know?”

Travis’s blush just tells me that there was flirting (which was pretty obvious, and Laura knows it)

“And you feel kinda sad about it and maybe a little stupid?”

LOOK AT THOSE FACES

Travis after that talk contemplating his life choices.

But for real, what kills me about that talk is how familiar it feels, and how confused Jester seems by Fjord’s hot and cold attitude, but she’s not ever blaming him for not liking her, or not living up to her fantasy standards, not even for leading her on,  instead, she’s blaming herself and feeling stupid for not comprehending right away all of these complicated emotions.

Caleb: “Tomorrow we get sorted out, we help Fjord figure out his shit.”

Jester: “Yeah, that’s important to him.”

TELL ME SHE DOESN’T CARE YOU DEMONS I’M WAITING

Also, thank god that Jester talked to Caleb about this because he’s the one person who gave her some sensible advice: let’s focus on surviving and once back on main land you can take your time to figure your feelings out.

He also brings up that this is important for Fjord, which she agrees on. So no matter what, feelings or not, they will support him through this as best as they can.

Which brings us to Caduceus’s an and Fjord’s talk.

I love this conversation in light of what Tal’s said about Caduceus’ point of view during last weeks Talks: he’s aware of how Fjord’s decision to sleep will Avantika will create friction within the group, especially with Jester.

C: “I think this place is dangerous. She is dangerous.” F: “That she is.” 

And Fjord tries to avoid the subject, but now that they are there, you can see Caduceus scrunch his face and take a stab at the subject:

C: “Fjord, you know why everybody is doing this, why we’re all here, right?”

And Fjord sighs heavily because, to a degree, I don’t think he understand the answer is “because we care about you and want to help you”. To Fjord, the answer is: “this is your fault, your responsibility”

F: “Yeah. I mean, I think.” C: “I think you know. I just wanna point it out ‘cause that woman, she doesn’t care what any of us want. I’m sure she’d be interested, but it’s way low in her priorities and I don’t trust anybody who keeps other people’s needs that low in the list. You should keep in mind all that, while you’re getting in bed with her, so to speak.”

Fjord: *panics*

Fjord: *desperately tries to convince Caduceus to keep this knowledge to himself*

And I think, Caduceus with his high AF perception, can tell why Fjord cares so much that this is kept from the others. It’s not like it’s something bad, it’s actually beneficial for their group as a whole (as iffy as that makes me because of the unequal power dynamic), and it has been suggested multiple times.... so what reason does Fjord have to keep it so fiercely in the down-low? 

Friction. 

“I think I get it. I’m not gonna talk out of term. I trust your intentions, so...”

And here’s a good part:

C: “You’re asking if I can tell that you’re conflicted?”

F: “No, I think that’s pretty clear.”

C: “You would be amazed, but alright.”

Because Caduceus knows that not everyone in the M9 —cough, Jester, cough— is convinced that this is all just a play on his part. 

Fjord goes on to reaffirm that he’s trying to keep Avantika close for the party’s good. 

okokokokok

MOVING ON

LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA’S TALK GO JESTER

LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA AFTER KNOWING THEM FOR LIKE 2 WEEKS SINGLING OUT JESTER AS THE PERSON WHO LOOKS AFTER FJORD

LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA TELLING JESTER TO LOOK AFTER FJORD BECAUSE AVANTIKA WILL HURT HIM

“He would not be the first she’s left in ruin. He would not be the last. I would take care of him, if he cannot.”

i am so frustrated that Laura/Jester seemed to misinterpret Vera’s warning help me god someone please bring it up on Talks or something because it will bother me forever

When they are planning: 

Caleb: What if Fjord keeps Avantika busy... 

Beau: Do we need to have him distract Avantika? Can’t we just go now?

...

Beau: And we can have [Caleb] make sure that [Fjord and Avantika] are busy. If you [Fjord] are comfortable with that. You don’t have a lot of a choice. 

FJORD

JESTER

*Nott keeps planning*

JESTER

J: Well, Caduceus is very perceptive. 

F *having flashbacks of Jester going down in the jungle*: THE TWO CLERICS ARE NOT GOING ON THE MISSION TOGETHER.

J: So we all wait until Fjord starts boning....

Fjord’s face journey tho

he is so confused help him

when your crush who was jealous is suddenly ok with u sleeping with someone else

wait i thought she liked me

Fjord’s worried overprotective mode ON as soon as Caduceus casually mentions that two guards stabbed each other and probably everything is pandemonium 

Jester saying they should frame Vera was clearly rooted on her misunderstanding Vera’s warning, but I really like that as soon as she thought someone was a direct threat to Fjord she was like “nope gotta get rid of them”.

Avantika’s notes talk about her having dreams about people who were close to her “chaining her back” and how she had to get rid of them...

...and we’ve seen hints of that with Vandrin and Sabien in Fjord’s dream the other time....

...but I’m calling it that we’ll eventually see Uk’otoa try to pit him against the M9 and the one he’s closest to is Jester by far and I’m sure we’re gonna get some dramatic moment out of it I can’t waiiiit

*After reading the journal*

J: Fjord, as you as crazy as she is? Because holy shit.

Fjord:

I LOVE THEM GOOFING AROUND PLS MAKE EACH OTHER SMILE IN THIS TRYING TIMES

and likek

thanks i love them

anyway

in two weeks

if they don’t die

tune in to see me keep screaming about this two, and cross your fingers for a one on one talk if they manage to get a breather away from Avantika

[childeapologist]

Ahh I’ve wanted to post about this for days but I’ve been so busy and haven’t had the energy. 

Soo I went to Pop Culture con in Denver this weekend and had like the best time of my life. I bought so many art prints idk where I am going to hang them all. 

The highlight of it all was after the con on Saturday sitting at a bar with my date and his friends and basically the whole cast of Critical Role was at a table next to us.  I found the opportunity to speak with Liam and Matt and they were both so kind. I caught Matt pretty open to talk to at a point and told him what a wonderful DM he is and how much I love his stories and how they inspire me. And he shook my hand, then took my hand in both of his and said thank you so much and asked for my name. And I was just over the moon happy. My date helped me work up the courage to say hi to Liam too. I had a photo taken with Liam earlier that day so I got to meet him twice. And we chatted a bit about how the con was going for each of us. It was just aahhhh I couldn’t believe it. 

I’ll leave more details about this encounter in a read more for anyone who cares 

So we are just having some overpriced cocktails in a bar on one of the upper floors of the hotel and at first I spot someone I think looks like Matt Mercer. And I knew it was possible because the CR cast were all there, I had just met Liam earlier that day at the con. But I was like but really, at the same bar at the table next to you? That’s too good to be true. Then more people role in and I look at the table again and I see Laura Bailey, Sam Riegel. Really like the whole cast is there winding down over some drinks before bed. I go to text my friends and realize I left my phone in my room and I see Taliesin Jaffe on the elevator. He was talking to a friend and I didnt want to be a rude fan and interrupt, plus I was in liike shock so I just stood there looking stupid lolll. 

Then like when I get back at first Im just mentally preparing myself to figure out how Im going to make the best of this opportunity without being obnoxious while excitedly texting my friend who introduced me to CR. Then my date and his friends are like go on you have to go over there. And I’m like I need to prepare myself. And just start sucking down half my cocktail at absurd speed. After another minute or so of me procrastinating my date just like drags me over there up to Liam o’Brien and acts as a social buffer like “She’s exceptionally excited to see you here but also very shy and nervous.” He’s so cute, honestly, I really like this boy. Anyway Liam asked me how the weekend was going and I’m like omg its been so great, and asked him how they’re doing. He talked about how they were pooped from the day. And I was like I’m sorry for being that person to walk up to you in your free time but I was so excited when I saw you guys at the table next to us. And he was like its fine. Then I just said thank you for talking and sat back down. And then about 20 minutes later I had my amazing exchange with Matt. And the rest of the night I smiled more than i probably have in years. 

I have such a hard time getting out and participating in the world. I was nervous about this con and being in crowds of people and socializing throughout a whole weekend. And this whole weekend really taught me what great things can come from it and why i need to find more balance. After that whole experience we bar hopped a bit more and I got just the right amount of drunk to enjoy the night. We got some drunken friends safely back in bed, and headed back to the place we were staying and I got to crawl into bed with a boy I really like and everything was perfect. I’m not the type of person who can go out and have nights like that all the time but every once and a while I really enjoy it.  Days like that are always worth living for no matter how rough it gets.

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E87 (Dec. 10, 2019)

Tonight’s guests are Marisha Ray and Taliesin Jaffe!

Announcements: CR is heading back to Chicago for C2E2 2020! More information on the site!

Episode 87: Big Boyses Punishment and Politics

Stats for this week’s episode! Beau has been an Expositor for 49 days. Caduceus has healed 222 HP from unconsciousness, and is the only member of the group not to have asked yet who’s on the Tal’Dorei Council (he has a joke he’s been saving). The players asked Matt to get a HDYWTDT three times before he actually got the 153rd one (across both campaigns).

First question of the night (16 minutes in): how worried were they about a TPK during the fight? They were both pretty stressed. Marisha: “I didn’t think it was going to be a TPK, but I was definitely starting to emotionally prepare myself for Beau being dead, like dead-dead. It was grim there for a second.” Taliesin: “We still had ways to pop a couple people back if we had to, but it was looking...”

Are they hopeful about turning the Inevitable End into the Inevitable Friend? “I feel like if I could’ve gotten that hug, maybe...” If anything, Taliesin’s worried that she’ll come back to be a problem later. “At some point, someone’s going to pay the Inevitable End to Inevitably End us.”

It’s pointed out that a lot of Beau’s previous successful diplomacy attempts were isolated from the party, but this time Beau actually got to do it in front of the group. “It was impressive, it was fun to watch.” “Yeah, that feels good.”

Caduceus genuinely did think Dwendal was complimenting him, but mostly because he was having a panic attack at the time. “I think he probably put it together later.”

“Beau’s not stupid. Beau will only challenge authority when she feels like it’s a challenge that she can make with limited repercussions, hopefully, one that she can successfully win, or at least get out of, if challenged. She likes picking fights, but she knows the time and the place.”

Cosplay of the Week: Nott! (SparkleanCos on Twitter, photography by Alexandra Lee Studios)

Taliesin's Percy instincts pushed him forward in the throne room, but it didn’t exactly come out the same way in Caduceus’ words. “I was so panicked. It fell apart so quickly. This character has no business being in this conversation. He just opened his mouth and nothing is coming out.”

Now that she’s an Expositor, Beau has started feeling more connection to the Soul as a whole rather than just to individual people.

On Caleb’s backstory, Caduceus only knows about the letter argument and “remembers it very very clearly”. It’s all wrapped up in his concern over Nott and Caleb, and only really understands that Caleb feels threatened in that situation. “He doesn’t really understand the particulars, other than that there are dangerous people here who want to hurt us. Who are apparently very clever.”

Marisha on Caleb’s backstory: “It’s kind of been like, yeah, dude, I know it’s a lot, but get your shit together for a second while we handle this. She cares, but also there’s a big part of me objectively that thinks that Beau might be a terrible person to be the one to try and talk Caleb out of shit at this moment.”

Taliesin and Marisha both note that it’s suspicious how quickly Dwendal was willing to give up the Beacon. Marisha: “There’s no doubt that there’s something happening, more, it’s just a matter of how much King Dwendal knows.” Taliesin: “I don’t know how in-control he is in all this.”

Taliesin thinks the truth-telling in the throne room was a dangerous call. Marisha: “I don’t think we told them anything we didn’t know, though. It’s about honesty, but also lying through omission.”

Fanart of the Week: Caleb! (Azraillu on Twitter)

Caduceus: Hufflepuff.

Caduceus kept thinking “I don’t even go to this school!” when Dwendal was going on about being on the edge of treason. Dani points out that only 3 of the Nein are from the Empire.

Beau keeps becoming the face of the group, even though her charisma is lower. “It’s less that I was assigned designated driver, and more like everyone else is just a little too drunk. They just fell in my lap, the keys, nobody really entrusted me with that. I’m wearing the uniform. I look the most respectable, and my word will probably be taken with a little more weight. It’s situational face.”

Who does Caduceus lean on, with everyone leaning on him? “Jester’s been there for him a couple of times, which has been interesting. He lived with his family for his entire fucking life, he has lived at home with parents, siblings, and his aunt. There’s a built-in support structure to that. He’s kind of been pretending that he’s been at work. And yeah, he’s had a couple nervous breakdowns. And usually, weirdly, it’s Jester who shows up as his rock, a few times. He’s got a very different relationship with everyone else. Beau and Caleb he considers on his level, so to speak, and Yasha and Fjord are kind of projects.”

Beau was pretty much exclusively leaning on her Expositor authority in the conversation with the king. “She [as a character concept] really started clicking with the Plank King. That was the first time it was like, this is how this character’s meant to work.”

Caduceus was definitely telling the truth when he told the Gentleman he was lonely. “His family left him in kind of a shitty way, if you think about it. People just kept not coming back until he was sitting alone in a forest by himself.” Marisha: “Why haven’t you ever tried to scry on any of them?” Taliesin: “There’s the answer he would give, and then there’s the truth.” Marisha: “You just said Caduceus is all about the truth.” Taliesin: “Yes, but you just found the hole.” Marisha: “FUCKIN EXPOSITOR YEAHHHH”

Now that they’ve met both monarchies, have their opinions changed? Caduceus: “It’s confirmed everything I thought, anyway.” Marisha: “It seems like both sides just went to fight each other without any real excuse.” Taliesin keeps alluding to a “really dumb idea” he wants to put across on Thursday. They were genuinely annoyed at Dwendal.