#maintagging because I want everyone to see him

[just-placebo-estate-things]

Behold: the perfectest lad. The specialest boy. The positive quirks of all time.

[mephoj]

taco and mephone have fascinating parallels more people could explore if taco haters weren't biased cowards

[byooregard]

iwtv universe dashboard simulator

girlmand reblogged

😶‍🌫️gaysexinthecity Follow

not saying vampires are real but i think Daniel Molloy gets way too much shit . like if i was a pulitzer prize winning journalist in my seventies and some guy called me and was like im a vampire want an interview i wouldn't hesitate either. fuck man sure tell me about being a vampire. i'll believe you

🎆 magical-swiftie

reading Interview with the Vampire rn and Claudia and Madeline are sooo Long Face core

#now that i think of it a lot of tvl's songs fit this book really well #like #'she gave me life I gave her death'??? # that's so them!!!

🏞️ girlblogg1ng

btw if you're still listening to the vampire lestat, unfollow me now. and like, seriously consider why you're giving plays to a guy who appropriates ancient egyptian history for his vampire schtick, it's honestly sickening

#the vampire lestat #tvl #maintagging because people need to see this honestly #.txt

🌄sampire

keep seeing ppl try to cancel tvl for things hes said to his fans or how he talks about ancient egyptian mythology and not that song where he talks about fucking his mother. like im not crazy right he wrote a whole song about how he fucked his mother

💟 stingorarr

"we are your children/but what do you give us/is your silence/a better gift than the truth?" sounds like it should be some ancient Greek poetry but it's literally in a song by the vampire lestat!!!

it just hits so hard... like your parents gave you nothing but maybe the truth would be more unbearable than silence...

#tvl #the vampire lestat #twmbk #those who must be kept

sampire reblogged danielmxllxy

🌫️ beatlesrpf Follow

please tell me you guys arent serious about the vampire lestat. please tell me youre not stanning a man who wrote "im an actor in my makeup, i get fatter when we break up"

#guys please #this is worse than the tortured poets department

🤖 carrieblogging Follow

Based on your likes!

Hey, Tumblr, I need a little help here?

So, my best friend has been acting a little weird lately. Like, his sleep schedule has gotten really strange (stranger than normal 😅), and I haven't seen him without sunglasses on in a week?

His diet has changed, too, like he used to always be snacking whenever I'd call him, but now he doesn't eat anything that I can see.

He even cancelled our tickets to ComicCon!! I've been waiting to meet up with him for years, and now he's just bailed on me?!? I'm mad, but honestly more worried than anything....

#carrie speaks

🌌 marbellina124

guys I think I've found the vampire Armand at the MET 😏😂

#it doesn't match the dates from the book so like #yeah #but imagine.... #parisian mutuals you have a power that can be used

interview-with-the-glampire reblogged wormyworms

🪱 wormyworms Follow

mmm tbh the only reason i *don't* believe vampires are real is because if *i* was interviewing two vampires to write a book about their life? i would not be leaving that house without their fangs in my neck and eternal life. just saying

🌇 interview-with-the-glampire

understandable but have you considered. if I went to interview two vampires and got immortality and vampire sex out of that deal I wouldn't go around letting everyone know :/

danielmxllxy reblogged sampire

🌌 marbellina124

so were all in agreement he fucked that vampire right

#oh I think he fucked AT LEAST two of those vampires #iwtv #rb

[comradeboyhalo]

(not maintagging this because it comes out more aggressive than it means to be. this is just an unserious rant.)

first of all, i do think qsmp as a whole has been kinder to cc!bad. the qsmp’s more dnd-like format is more inclusive in general, there’s net 0 creators who constantly swear at him, and the fandom does treat him better (the bar is low though). i’m more than grateful for that. 

that being said. i dislike how everyone acts like cc!bad was bullied into a corner on the dsmp. yes, a chunk of creators and fans only saw him as a “language” joke, thats an unfortunate fact. but i see a lot of people ignore the fact that cc!bad saw this, and in response created a whole fucking storyline that was designed to allow everyone to join in on it. 

bad, ant, and sam created the egg arc because they disliked the current political storylines and wanted to experiment with scifi-horror. this was after the badlands were formed, and after they realized that they were locked out of a lot of l’manberg conflicts. they didn’t sit around waiting for lore to be handed to them, they created it themselves. to act as though bad didn’t have the chance to create a complex character on the dsmp, or that every cc didnt take him seriously, is devaluing his work. the ccs involved in the egg arc did see c!bad as a threat. they respected his work, they participated in his lore. and there were a lot of them! you just maybe just didn't watch them.

if YOUR streamer only saw bad as a “language” joke, whatever. if YOUR side of the damp fandom never paid attention to egg lore, thats fine. but dont act like every cc did, or that the egg arc didn’t have a following. its true that it was very underrated, but cc!bad is also not this helpless baby who needs his hand held to create an engaging character. he saw he was the largest streamer among the egg arc ccs, and used that platform to bring everyone else up. he put in the fucking work, and it’s not his fault that people still refuse to acknowledge it.  

i see ex-dsmp fans praise the qsmp fandom for respecting bad, and then turn around and beg him to not reference egg lore. the same people who love karmaland, ordem paranormal, and 2b2t references are telling bad that he can’t reference his story, that he put work in. why? for dislike of streamers who weren’t even involved in it? you cant be happy bad is seen as his own person, then turn around and boil his dsmp work down to bigger streamers you dislike.

again, i don’t blame people for not watching the egg arc. i don’t think anyone should be forced to watch every storyline, or keep up with every cc. i don’t know. it’s just frustrating i guess? me and other egg arc fans were creating content, character analyses, and lore masterposts all to hype up c!bad and it’s not our fault yall ignored it and are just now seeing bad’s a good roleplayer! idk! i know everyone’s trying to be nice, i love everyone who’s new to bad’s content, i dont want to gatekeep at all. but your dsmp experiences are not universal. the way your streamers treated bad was not the way everyone treated bad. 

[ourlordapollo]

Uh oh girl my Kristoph Gavin musings are calcifying into unshakable headcanons

Have we already talked about his pathological need for validation. Can we. Can we talk about it again.

Obviously this is all speculation and knowing the writers, the Gavins probably have some fucked up supernatural backstory and dead parents, but the writers aren't here right now. *locks the doors*

Anyway, for the sake of minimizing stupid ppl yelling at me (assuming I'm brave enough to maintag this instead of letting it rot in obscurity, unrebloggable), please mentally insert "IN MY OPINION" before every statement I make

This is a classic case of choosing a conclusion and retrofitting evidence to support said conclusion but. I'm allowed to do that. I'm not turning this into Professor Fandom for a special grade in "FAN 485: Feverishly Justifying Your Own Bullshit."

Anyway.

Let's recontextualize Kristoph's actions using the following framework:

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

1. Phoenix

A lot of people (alright, haters. A lot of haters. You made me talk like Donald Trump. Are you happy now). *ahem*

A lot of haters like to paint this move as stupid like it's some kind of "gotcha".

"What move?"

The dual move of voting in Phoenix's favor and choosing to befriend him.

Here's the thing.

Of course it's fucking stupid. We're not looking at the pinnacle of criminal masterminds here

Why did he do that? The psychosexual need to force Phoenix to submit? (Actually wait keep talking I want to hear this—) Paranoia? By this point in the timeline, he's already shown a willingness to commit murder, so why not just kill Phoenix?

Because (say it with me now):

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

He's not some wannabe criminal mastermind.

He wants to be Phoenix's savior. He wants to be the only thing Phoenix has. He needs to be the sole recipient of Phoenix's gratitude and admiration. Because he's better than Phoenix, dammit! Of course he's better than Phoenix. Law is a meritocracy, he's got money, he's got white loafers for fuck's sake, he wins trials by working really goddamn hard because being a lawyer is hard for everyone, you don't just stumble ass-backwards into the courtroom and win every case by stuttering and sweating and stalling so OBVIOUSLY KRISTOPH GAVIN IS BETTER THAN PHOENIX WRIGHT! SAY IT! SAY IT! Look! Look at them together! Look who's still a lawyer and who's an evidence-forging fraud! Look how nice Kristoph looks next to this sad burnout! Look! LOOK AT HOW MUCH BETTER HE IS!

Do you see what I'm getting at here.

Obviously on some level he knows and fears that Phoenix really is better than him, and that matters, so he he really really needs Phoenix's validation

And lbr, he probably does have a deep psychosexual obsession with the idea of forcing Phoenix to submit to him

2. Forging evidence

I'm not gonna speculate on Kristoph's lawyering skills here. Really, I'm not. However I'd be cautious about making the argument that he forged evidence solely because he thought Zak was guilty and he reeeaally wanted to win. We saw that it was an extremely tricky case and that Zak's innocence would have been very difficult to prove. It's entirely possible Kristoph believed in Zak's innocence but didn't think he'd be able to prove it without cheating.

That being said, I don't think it matters.

It matters that the case was complicated, but it doesn't matter whether Zak was innocent or guilty or a secret third thing, because Kristoph would have cheated regardless becaaauuuuse

Say it with meeee...

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

He was up against a fucking rockstar. A famous, hotshot, cocky, little upstart rockstar. A young prodigy. A fucking teenager. It didn't matter one bit that they just so happened to be related. Or did it.

Of course he needed to win.

(If you want to get really headcanony with it, which I do, I think the Gavin parents definitely raised their kids with an extreme superiority complex, setting them apart from their peers by straight-up telling them "you are better than they are. You are not like them."

Klavier goes on to prove them right by becoming internationally famous and beloved and Kristoph. Well, Kristoph is, uh. Well, he's a pretty good lawyer. Got his own little office and everything. And then Klavier comes into his domain as a cocky lil teenager with a HUGE, high-profile case and here is Kristoph's chance to demonstrate to the world what he already knows: that he's special too. That he's special. Dammit. Why can't anyone else see that.)

And then Zak takes that away from him. And gives it to Phoenix.

Unforgivable.

3. Apollo & Vongole

Sorry for putting Apollo in the same category as a literal dog but. That's kind of point here.

I've seen ppl theorizing that, although Kristoph seems like a stereotypical cat person, he got a dog (specifically a golden retriever) out of a sense of paranoia bc!! That's normal! Normal people have dogs!!! Wealthy people have purebred golden retrievers!!! I am so normal and wealthy, look at my very average typical status symbol dog!

I humbly disagree. Even the Wiki seems to point to paranoia as Kristoph's chief, driving factor, but I.

Well.

I humbly disagree. Let's not circle back around to this; I'm not trying to discount anyone else's headcanons.

Anyway.

Why a dog and not a cat?

Because cats have a reputation for independence, for coming and going as they please, for not needing you. "Dog," meanwhile, persists as a synonym for "loyal." To call someone a dog implies ultimate trust, ultimate submission, to someone higher than them. To their master.

Now.

Why hire Apollo, specifically, an orphan with few friends or connections and a fuckload of trauma?

Why mentor Apollo? Why adopt a dog? (Why befriend Phoenix?)

The answer is the same:

He needs people to depend on him. He needs others to view him as a kind, benevolent benefactor. He needs their praise, their admiration. He needs people to tell him he's special and he needs other people to see those people telling him he's special and also believe he's special and then he needs additional people to talk to those people and hear about how special he is, he needs the whole wide fucking world to say that KRISTOPH GAVIN IS SPECIAL!!!!

(Although. Maybe he just likes dogs. Not everything has to have a shady ulterior motive. People don't fit neatly into your preconceived categories of "good" and "bad." Maybe he's a murderer who loves dogs and genuinely thinks of Vongole as his best friend. Maybe he saw promise in Apollo and genuinely likes the guy. Did you ever think about that.

Or maybe. It's both. Two things can be true simultaneously and people, both fictional and real, contain multitudes and contradictions we could never hope to understand.)

4. Murdering a guy with a wine bottle, Psyche Locks

I'm gonna be so so real with you, I don't think even Kristoph knows why he did that. I think he blacked out. I think he was a lil drunk ("grape juice" my ass), I think paranoia and fury, the fear and resentment of 7 long, long years, collided like atoms in his brain and fucking exploded I think the bottle was cool in his hand I think his arm hurt I think he felt the impact all the way up his elbow I think the cards were red I think the cards were blue I think he saw Phoenix Wright's face dripping blood I think he blinked I think he heard Vera Misham calling him "angel" I think he watched himself do it from behind his own back

Do you understand.

To even begin unpacking why he did that, he'd have to address that nagging fear that maybe he's not special, that maybe he's just some guy, that Phoenix Wright is special and Gramarye was right in choosing him over Kristoph that Gramarye was justified in taking away Kristoph's shot at admiration and acclaim and Kristoph killed him out of revenge because he couldn't handle the truth that he's not special he's not special he's not special. Phoenix Wright is special and Klavier Gavin is special and now even Apollo Justice is turning out to be special and Kristoph Gavin is an okay-ish lawyer who sucks at poker and talks way too fucking much. That he committed so many monstrous acts and ruined his own life out of the perverse desire to be loved by others because he doesn't. love. himself.

(I call these "load-bearing neuroses" because if you knock one pillar down, the whole structure goes down with it.)

5. Vera Misham

So I think Kristoph is good with kids because he was, for the most part, old enough to be a Small Person when Klavier was born and because I don't think he gets off on exercising that brutal, domineering kind of power over the powerless. I don't think outward cruelty appeals to him.

Why?

Well...

Kristoph Gavin is a sad little boy in a man's suit, desperate for the validation of everyone around him to the point that he would do anything to get it.

Fear and deference are not validation. People talk badly about you and think badly about you when you're a bully. He charmed Vera instead of threatening her because he needed her to like him. He needed Drew to like him. Good god, he needs everyone to like him so much. Talk about him when he's not in the room and tell him what you said. Write him a letter of recommendation and let him read the contents. Sing his praises at your local bar, then send him a recording.

6. "Keep the riff-raff out!"

Ohhh, buddyyyy :( You said the quiet part out loud

Because law is a meritocracy. Because Kristoph Gavin is kind of a big deal. People know him. He's very important. He has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells of rich mahogany.

Only special people are able to become lawyers. And Kristoph is such a special, special boy. He's so special that he got Phoenix disbarred. He's so special that he helped Klavier attain acclaim as a prosecutor. He's so so so special.

But when a group of select people are special, it means that there's another group. The un-special group. The group that Kristoph is so afraid that he's a part of.

By admitting that they exist, that he believes that other people are beneath him, he's asserting his belief in his own inherent superiority one final, desperate time. He's clinging to it so hard his fingertips are cracking the marble. He's starting to bleed. It's starting to hurt.

Before Phoenix, Klavier, and Apollo fucking spin-kick the pillars propping up his self-identity, toppling them and sending the foundation of Kristoph Gavin collapsing into jagged pieces on the floor of his psyche.

—

Personal note but everyone seems to be in agreement that Kristoph's Psyche Locks fuckin. shattered into little bitty pieces during that scene. Don't you think that hurt? Don't you think that hurt like fucking hell? When you break [REDACTED]'s Black Psyche locks in DD, they cry out in pain several times and imply that their head hurts. And that was Phoenix doing it right that time! So I say again:

Don't you think that hurt?

[ruthlesslistener]

It's literally a fucking fictional character who doesn't even do anything in the game. Nothing more than a bunch of pixels on a screen. Stop being such a righteous little prick.

I dont go here but I think it's kinda funny how uncomfortable you are about ppl thinking a video game character is cute lol

.

I'm not being a righteous little prick, I've stated before that I'm uncomfortable with people coming into the inbox treating this character like a small animal before. I'm not making an overarching statement about how EVERYONE should characterize or view him, but when my entire blog is dedicated to showing off how much of a tragic and terrible character he is, then I think it's safe to say that you should expect me to not really be super into things that makes him conventionally appealing. It takes all the fun out of it for me. And since I repeatedly said that the reason why I like him so much is because I relate to him and his problems, and that I write him as an autistic, depressed man struggling with a sense of self-worth who then abuses his children and the people around him unwillingly because of it, then you can see why I might not enjoy this sort of interaction as much.

I'm also not bothered by people thinking that he's cute or that his design is cute, I'm uncomfortable with people treating a character that's basically a human being in terms of story like some sort of pet animal. I write and view the Pale King as a human-analogous character, one with cognition and boundaries that are similar to people. If you think that his personality is cute the same way that a person is, or find his design adorable, that doesn't bother me in the slightest. I consider snakes and crocodiles cute as well. But you don't treat those animals like cats or dogs, because they aren't, and when you slap human level cognition and behaviors onto one, then treating them like a domestic animal becomes even more weird. It's like looking at a 50 year old human man and asking him if he wants belly rubs or chin scratches or something. It's uncomfortable for me, and I have already gently stated previously that I do not enjoy such content. Fuck dude, I consider Lurien cute, but you don't see me going to the inboxes of people who like him and say that I want to give him butt scritches or scoop him up into a jar. I don't know how they view him, I wouldn't do that unless it was clear that they understood the joke and thought it was funny.

Me expressing my boundaries isn't being a 'righteous little prick'. This is my fucking blog. If I was bothered by a depiction of PK that was being posted in the main tag, then I wouldn't say anything and would move past it because it wouldn't be any of my fucking business. But if you come into my house and demand that I interact with you in the way that you want, then yes, I am going to get uncomfortable. I didn't even state my discomfort in an explicitly rude manner, or claim that EVERYONE in the fandom must depict him in a certain way. I just asked that people stop coming to me about it, because if it's a joke then it's something that I don't get, and it ruins the fun of the character for me, and it's something that makes me deeply uncomfortable. I maintagged the post specifically with the hope that it would reach whoever was sending me those asks, not to police how people treat the character- because again, I don't care as long as it's not in my inbox. But it is.

You're right. He's a fictional fucking character. He's just pixels. But I'm not, and I have the right to put an end to a topic when I find that I don't like or understand it.

[sparky-is-spiders]

Elias for the ask game?

How I feel about this character

Fond of him! Jon is still my fave (ofc) but he's probably in my top five characters from the podcast. I strongly relate to his enjoyment of spreadsheets (I am literally pursuing accounting because I found filling them out for my accounting class to be kinda soothing), his desire to be perceived as boring, his desire to know things, and his desire to put Jon through the horrors and then watch him go. Also I just think he's funny.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Jon lmaoooooo

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Probably also Jon lol. In an au where they're all eyevatars I think he and Sasha could have a fun weirdplatonic Thing. Passive-aggressive to each other constantly but will show up for each other when the chips are down (that they both also have some sort of thing with Jon is also a given I think).

My unpopular opinion about this character

Probably just that I don't hate him lol.

Ok so I think it would be: he's evil but he's not exceptionally evil in any way in the universe of T//MA (censoring just to avoid maintagging this). Like we spend the entire podcast hearing about people who do similarly evil things or have similar goals. Literally every avatar who wanted to do a ritual was trying to cause incalculable amounts of suffering for personal gain and the only difference is that he succeeded. Hell, the main characters make the same exact bargain to save their own skin at the expense of the multiverse. Like he's not a good person don't get me wrong but I feel like he gets this treatment of being The Worst Guy Ever from the broader fandom when he's constantly surrounded by equally good contenders for The Worst Guy.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Needed more S5 screentime.

Ok no but actually we need Jonah backstory. Like where. Where is it. Why is he Like That. I need to know.

Wait no hold on changing my answer:

Do More With The Parallels Between Him and Everyone Else: have Jon bring it up in the finale discussion, have Elias give Jon a "we're not so different speech." More little comparisons like Melanie assuming (correctly) that they take their coffee the same honestly I would love that shit. Idk just drawing more connections between him and the others, forcing both the characters and the fans to see the similarities and stuff. Does that make sense?

(Yo send me a Guy)

[mauveberries]

I'm so sorry you are going through all these shit. I just wanted to ask you a genuine question because I saw your post on my feed how you find ARTHUR annoying in a Lucius ship. I found that so weird. Then I see your account is just talking badly about Harry being weak and etc etc hey, JKR technically says Voldemort can't feel love in the books idc what she says irl but you see, if you go with the canon, then we can't have a lot of things? Bellamort as much as I like the concept, canon made me hate their dynamic. I don't care about tomarrymort. I like Voldemort as a character. I like the idea of him but I don't like the execution in the book (that's why I called him one dimensional), that is why I read about him in fics. As for Harry, I feel you are very mean to him most of the times. He has a LOT of potential and that is what people like to play with, and that what JKR didn't play with and that is what made me ask you Harry who is shown to actually fight and be equal to actual death eaters (not talking about Voldemort) and won many times without any help: it's canon, just read deathly hollows : you somehow call him weak? I feel like he will wipe the floor with baby death eaters. So that was my problem with your account anyway but when I come back here to check if you have replied to me. All I see is hate comments which is horrible and horrifying. I didn't want to be mean to you anyways. And I hate that you are going through this. YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS. No one does and everyone should fuck off. It's your blog, your fucking wish. If they can't be not horrible, then they shouldn't speak. I'm so sorry, hope you have a great day and please ignore them.

it's alright, i think the sudden influx of hate was because i answered an ask about why i dislike tomarry and they reblogged it onto their account, but it doesn't bother me much.

i don't know how you found my lucius/arthur post? 😭😭 i didnt even maintag it whattt thats so funny lol. but yeah, personally, i find arthur annoying. he's so embarrassing... i just get the ick from him, it's nothing serious.

i LOVE lucius he's so cunty frr. not saying he was morally superior to arthur or anything but.. luci's my third favourite war criminal 🥰🥰

i never said harry was weak, i just said that he's not like, super powerful or anything. i don't understand why you zoomed in on me 'hating' harry, when so many other people love and cherish him. i can have a different opinion. i can find him annoying and distasteful at times, it's not a crime. yeah, sure harry could beat baby death eaters but i don't think he could beat some of the pureblood families simply because they are not afraid to use dark magic. they are ancient families. they have their roots and their traditions harry has probably never heard of. just because we see him overpowering DEs in deathly hallows doesn't mean he is super skilled in duelling. the DEs were instructed not to kill him. he is literally just fighting to survive. yes, he can be creative, yes he is smart, doesn't mean he will win every single duel.

if voldemort had allowed it, bellatrix would have slit his throat twice in deathly hallows and boom, series over, close the gates.

i'm not sure which ask you sent me and i don't remember if i thought you were being mean to me, but it's alright, it doesn't matter.

hope you have a great day <3

[mc-slowwalker]

*gets mad about dsmp chatacter morality discourse even though everyone’s moved on*

[eeriefeelingsat3amuwu]

Okay, so I just do not involve myself in discourse. It’s not worth my time. The Block button exists for a reason and I intend to use it as frequently as I need to to make my Tumblr (and any other social media) experience better for myself.

Not everyone shares my view on this and that’s obviously fine. If you like arguing with people on the internet about your very important opinions, go for it.

But maybe. Maybe you could not post this bulshit in the main tags for things. I opened up the mcc tag on here bc I wanted to see some cool fanart and learn what I missed from other streams, since I always only watch one pov and maybe switch for dodgebolt.

Instead, I found a shitton of people hating on Dream. This was not the first time. This is not Twitter and even if it was, maybe don’t take out your incredible rage on someone on social media. If you Gotta, go complain to your friends in a gc (assuming you have some) or die mad about it. Punch a Wall, kick a pillow, but don’t fill maintag with discourse about players.

Not everyone is as interested in seeing your hot takes as you are.

Also, I was watching Dream the entire time. How much of his pov did you watch before writing out that essay about him babyraging and being rude in chat? The dude was salty, obviously. He got first and then had to redo it, tried to cheese it and got fucked by his own hubris.

He was salty and kinda pissed afterwards, but he specificaly said that he does NOT want people to hate on noxcrew and that obviously, technical issues happen, but that it could've been handle differently.

Him being 'toxic' in the chat a bit after ace race and during hole in the Wall? If you watched his pov, you'd know he was making a joke of it and trying to get his head back in the game.

He himself said multiple times that he was just babyraging and that he was upset at loosing a first place, esp in a game that was played as late as ace race was and a game that has that big of a bonus for winning. It did cost him the first individual and it did cost his team first place points wise. He was not incorrect there, from what I saw.

Anyways, it was super entertaining to watch yellow and they absolutely deserved that win. Dream is not a seven times winner (5 canon wins let's gooo) just because of luck. It was great watching them pull back from fourth to second in SoT, wich is litteraly my favourite game and I was really glad it got picked. And that dodgebolt- lmaoooo, it was the most hillarious thing I've seen in a while.

All in all, this mcc was super scuffed, really fucking fun to watch and I can't wait to watch more vods tomorow, seems like it was a wild ride from every pov (specifically excited for Wilbur ace race and Tommy...just Tommy in general). Excited for the next one!

And stop spouting discourse in the main tags. <3

[balillee]

Hey i saw a post of yours about Niki and i was wondering what's your opinions on the characters in the syndicate

i'm just really interested in different peoples opinions about these things sorry

that's fine, don't worry lol,

(all below is /rp unless stated otherwise)

the syndicate as a whole i think is very ironically oppressive - the four richest individuals on the server, who command power through wealth and fear rather than respect, teaching people that they should live in a system that they believe is free, in which the members of the syndicate would sit at the top of the natural food chain, and the people they're talking to about their ideas of freedom would not thrive (due to a lack of skill, respect, resources etc).

individual members:

techno is very complex, because i'm conflicted as to whether or not i think he's fully aware that he'd sit at the top of the food chain in an anarchist society and knows he'd thrive over others (because of the dog eat dog comment he made to the badlands boys) or if he genuinely believes that anarchy will free everyone. i think overall his perspective as a character is very sheltered, and i don't think he understands the perspectives of others who may want order and believe that institutions, nations and government could be beneficial to their lives. i think he also misses a lot of context, such as how the original l'manberg was a truly special place - not perfect - but it wasn't oppressive (because it wasn't scared of losing it's power), it didn't force anyone to do anything, and it was built on a foundation of trust that only began to fall apart when eret betrayed them (aka when someone intervened.)

phil's another complex one, because his radicalisation is based a lot on grief and past experiences, but again it is still radicalisation, and a lot of it again seems sheltered. once again i think his character could benefit from the context of how l'manberg was before the elections and how beneficial it was for it's members. i also think he'd be the one to benefit the most from knowing how snowchester properly operates and how tubbo is technically it's leader. i think communication between phil and tubbo specifically could really be an eye opener for his character as to how anarchy isn't beneficial for everyone, and how government/nations aren't inherently oppressive. i see phil as a little more empathetic than techno, especially concerning the difference between phil and ranboo's dynamic vs techno and ranboo's dynamic (in which ranboo is still somewhat fearful of techno - still waiting on ranboo's reaction to learning about techno taking tubbo's second life), and so i hope if that conversation ever comes about, phil can be somewhat understanding that tubbo thrives best in nations because people like him and jack are fearful of powerful individuals because all they've done is cause them grief and take from them, and that doomsday taught them not about anarchy, but about how they should fear the powerful.

ranboo as a character, and this might in part be due to how young he is and his memory issues, is extremely naive. his solutions to problems read about as well as 'i think the thing that would help the most is world peace'. he's very well known for his ideas of not picking sides, and cc!ranboo is very open and admits that his character is a hypocrite in the sense that he may not know at some points that he's choosing a side that can hurt his friends. i think he's definitely naive for believing that the syndicate is capable of stopping conflicts, and i want to see if at some point he's thrown between two sides and his ideas of not picking a side and picking the obvious right side (either ideologically, or it's the one that protects his friends/innocent people) conflict. i also would like to see him build trust with other characters, especially with tommy, because i think the two could benefit from helping each other out with their dream trauma specifically, and because i think tommy's the person who best fits the criteria to help ranboo with the fourth book (not exactly the most morally pure but getting better/still somewhat a good person who stands up to bullshit, unaffiliated with any groups, can keep secrets).

niki i've been very openly critical about as a character, mainly because in stories i operate under the idea that if a character can be omitted from a retelling of the overall story, it shouldn't be there, but this is a roleplay series so that fallacy doesn't really work. she doesn't add much to the syndicate other than my annoyance of it to be honest. her views towards new l'manberg are hypocritical and somewhat aggravating, especially since she left it fairly quickly for someone who fought to get it back in pogtopia - she technically left on two occasions when she made her secret city during tubbo's presidency, and when she left with fundy to found drywaters. she had no reason to be mad at l'manberg as she had no affiliations with it. i also don't really like her 'healing arc', because her version of healing is also 'villain niki', which i fucking despise, because it reads as if her version of healing is turning on her friends and dictating how they should live as if she's not entitled and as if she knows better. genuinely, and i know this may sound overly negative, i don't find any redeeming qualities in her character, and cc!niki needs to either decide whether or not her character is angry and vengeful against people who never wronged her, or soft and kind and healing, because to me those two archetypes conflict a lot. she's the one type of traitor that the fandom subconsciously doesn't even recognise as a traitor, and has decided she doesn't need to redeem herself for how she treated tommy and how she treated her friends in l'manberg.

i see the syndicate overall as a villainous group, which, you can argue all day about how 'there are no good or evil people in the dream smp they're all morally grey' all day, but there are, and even the creators acknowledge it. pretty much all cc's acknowledge the alignment charts, people refer to their character's arcs as villain arcs or hero arcs etc. this doesn't mean that i hate the syndicate, it just means that i see them as morally and functionally in the wrong in comparison to groups like snowchester (and honestly, i think rooting for the heroes has become kind of underrated at this point. i'm a sucker for happy worlds that are good; built on compromise and understanding, what can i say?)

sorry if i seem overly critical about them, i don't mean to (so i won't maintag it), but i hope this explains my perspective a little!

[thesunshinydays]

alright i promised a rant and im gonna deliver:

its genshin vision analysis applied to blaseball time i hope youre all ready

(under the cut because im a merciful poster haha no im not im maintagging this)

SO in genshin impact the only people who can naturally wield elemental magic are people called vision holders. a vision is a small gem that serves as a focus for elemental power, but more than that its a literal manifestation of a persons goals, ambitions, determination, etc and if someones vision is taken away it actually also causes significant damage to them mentally because a lot of their motivation and even sometimes their memories go with it. it is quite literally their vision for themselves. 

each vision holder controls only one element and there are enough characters that have been released now to notice trends among what types of people can control which element. in genshin there are seven: anemo (wind), geo (earth), electro (lightning), hydro (water), pyro (fire), cryo (ice), and dendro (plants, though i wont be talking about dendro bc we dont have any dendro characters yet)

so here are what i think a vision holders element says about them as people:

(note if you dont play genshin you can skip the parentheticals its genshin character talk)

anemo: cannot be stopped in pursuit of their ambitions, even by themselves (see: jean insisting on going into a domain even though shes so sick that she passed out, sucrose being so possessed by curiosity that she cant stop investigating until she answers her questions, sayu’s endless game of cat and mouse w the shrine maiden, xiao being the last yaksha to hold out against the karmic debt)

geo: incredibly dependable and/or known to keep their word (see: noelle’s constant help to everyone around her, albedo taking care of klee while remaining dedicated to his research, ningguang sacrificing the jade chamber)

electro: girlbosses and their adopted teenage sons (kidding). people who are integral to the functioning of a community (see: lisa as a force of nature in her care for her library and its patrons, sara as a general, razor and the wolves, yae as head priestess, keqing as the yuheng of the qixing, fischl as the princess of her (imaginary) kingdom)

hydro: they know how to put on one hell of a show, some aspect of their identity is based around performance or facade. (see: barbara aka mondstadts idol, mona’s whole enlightened astrologist demeanor even though shes very broke, xingqius idolization and imitation of martial art book protagonists, sangonomiya having to put on a brave face for her troops, childes gladiatorial love of combat but also lying about it to his younger siblings)

pyro: they press on or even thrive in the face of adversity and/or social stigma (see: xinyan using rock n roll to fight prejudice, xianglings insistence on culinary experimentation even when others think its a bad idea, ambers pride in being the last outrider and also getting her gliding license revoked like once a month for sick tricks, benny’s luck, dilucs vigilanteism, klee being a 5yo w explosives, i could go on theres so many pyro holders)

cryo: their job/sense of purpose is tied very tightly to their identity, often antagonistically (see: every single rosaria voiceline, chongyuns ability to exorcise ghosts just by being to close to them, dionas job as a bartender and her hatred of alcohol, the interactions between eulas lineage and her job as a knight, literally everything about ganyu, etc)

so anyway now im going to assign visions to some blaseball players for fun

mike townsend (has a pyro vision): weve all heard the disappointment song this guy just kept pitching in spite of all the people who wanted him dead good for him

jaylen hotdogfingers, cryo vision: this woman is the face of the discipline era, she was tied so tightly to the game that she was the first to kill for it. 

tillman henderson, hydro vision: points to the original “im the guy who sucks” tshirt fanart (hi marn). he took being awful at the game and turned it into performance art

wyatt mason/NaN, electro vision: all of the tacos were him for a while and also he facilitated the god killing with the mic and also there were like ten of him and there are still like two more and NaNs been on like every team and and and anyway name a character more integral to the blaseball community you cant

esme ramsey, anemo vision: if i think too hard about esme ramsey never missing a game ill start to lose my mind the woman is unstoppable. maybe this should actually count as geo i dont know. but she deserves a vision

edric tosser, pyro or geo vision: really stuck on this one tbh. pyro for thematic consistency and the being from an arson team but having been put on the firefighting team or geo for being the person who burns things for the guys in the trench. both iconoclastic and dependable we are all love edric tosser

chorby soul cryo vision: [insert jaws theme] the ritual scape goat can have a little ice magic, as a treat

declan suzanne geo vision: you can always depend on declan suzanne to be a great fire fighter and a terrible blaseball player, tumblr user socksmaybe has convinced me of this

jessica telephone, hydro vision: you dont get that popular without an inherent charisma and sense of performance, regardless of which version of jt you subscribe to

tiana takahashi electro or cryo vision: sometimes you make an incredibly popular trading card game out of cards for a blood splort and gain a fan following on the internet then start playing that splort irl and thats valid

bonus round: i think albedo would start on the hellmouth sunbeams and get feedbacked to the philly pies as a part of the always sunny friendship trades

[grayintogreen]

Rewatching The Travelercon arc and First of all Love Artagan so fucking much, but one subtle thing I love is the relationship between Caleb and Artagan.

They both love Jester in their own ways, but unlike some of the Mighty Nein they don't see her as Naive or treat her likea child. They trust her, and her ability to make decisions for herself, and they don't just perceive her choosing to see good in the world as being ignorant to the bad.

Like they way Caleb was more open and less hostile, while still being wary of Artagan because he trusts Jester and her ability not only to choose "good" people, but also how she can take a not so great person and make them better.

And how both of them make all sorts of beautiful Magic for her.

I don't know I just like two Chaotic Gingers who love a blue Tiefling.

Disclaimer for me (not you anon, you're valid and very polite and share my exact feelings), but I value every relationship Jester has with the M9 and Artagan and some tertiary non-Nein members and think they all offer different things for her and could easily be romantic or platonic, so I just wanna get that out of the way, because not liking how everyone handled the Artagan situation does not mean I don't value Jester's relationships with those characters. This shouldn't need to be said and I don't maintag my asks anyway and I'd like to think my blog is a safe space for complex opinions, but, unfortunately, nuance is dead.

Also I don't wanna say one thing and then get a bunch of people either going BUT YOU WRITE FJORESTER!! OR LET ME DISS THIS ENTIRE SHIP/CHARACTER IN YOUR ASKS. Or HOLY SHIT YOU'RE A WIDOJES??? Because we don't do that here. I am a multishipper and a supporter of all characters. I just have favorites.

OKAY WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY... Boy, TravelerCon was a giant who's who of which party members believe Jester isn't a good read on people (some were projecting way too hard though), and that's all I'm gonna say about that, because even though I damn well knew that Artagan choked a guy to death for fun in Campaign One, I fully trusted his relationship with Jester from the first time he revealed himself. I trusted him more when I knew he was Artagan then I did when I just assumed he was, because, like... For a chaotic being, Artagan is predictable. What could he be using Jester for? He doesn't even like being a god. So I kinda spent that whole arc being OH MY GOD, GET OFF JESTER'S ASS ALREADY? ARTAGAN'S GREAT.

BUT I love how Caleb handled it and I love the very likely WHY he handled it very well. First of all, Caleb has always been a big believer in fairy tales. He cherishes this one story from his childhood where fey are nice and kind and don't steal children from their mothers and showed it to Jester BECAUSE it mirrored her own life (and because he's a victim of the other side of it- Trent isn't fey, but you could rewrite the entire Blumendrei story as a Changeling Tale and barely change a thing). He knows what the VERY thing that everyone else is suspicious of Artagan of looks like and what Artagan is doing is Not That.

Also Caleb recognizes that Jester was a lonely girl who made a fey friend. Isn't that what he did with Frumpkin when he was scared and alone in the world? He sees so many facets of that relationship and that puts him in a unique position to trust Jester AND Artagan.

She loved him when she knew the worst of him, even though he was terrified she wouldn't, and that helped him want to be better, and if she could do that to HIM, who thought he was too far gone, then why couldn't she do it to someone like Artagan?

[lilakennedy]

you know what i’ll never understand? 

how people get “oh you just hate Sean, you just wanna stir up drama, you don’t care. just leave!” out of people genuienly being heartbroken over what happened.

people are opening up about not feeling comfortable anymore, sharing their thoughts, sharing a piece of personal infortmation in hopes of people understanding them - but all they get is people telling them to shut up and leave.

some people speak so genuienly about these things, whether it’s in private or in their posts, it’s fucking heartbreaking. 

but people see these things and immediately say it’s just “tea blogs” and “discourse”. 

Sean himself even dropped the: “Just leave if you don’t like the content.” line.

which, yea i understand it - but if half of your community is crying over missing a person they trusted that doesn’t seem to listen to anything anymore, that’s not really the best choice.

i’d understand this defensive reaction if it was really just a few people being assholes, but lovely people that used to be passionate and trust Sean are opening up about their feelings and leaving. 

the community has significantly shrunken in size, and that also makes the actual bad apples way more obvious. 

the community didn’t become “less wholesome”, the community didn’t “turn into something bad.”

no, it got smaller because most of the amazing fucking people left with a broken heart and lost passions, so the real dickheads get the spotlight now.

everyone talks about “if you don’t like Sean, just leave!!” but it’s not like we all do this for fun, we don’t want to leave the community or stop supporting Sean. 

we didn’t wake up one day and decided to dislike what Sean does. 

this isn't a situation of: "oh, my interests are changing!! awh well!!", 

this is: " a person i trusted and felt comfortable with is turning into the exact opposite and doesn’t listen to us no matter what we try." - it is a brutal way of losing your interest, because it wasn’t even by our own choice.

and if a person that feels so fucking sad and disappointed about this turn of events only gets a slap in the face as reply from you? you don’t deserve to cry about the community being “less kind”. 

creators we’ve looked up to and admired, people that were always part of this community and people that brought genuine fun into these tags - all gone. but you all still just see this as people attacking Sean.

everyone really fucking loves to use the: “He’s just human!!” line, but don’t realize that “being a human” doesn’t mean you’re automatically allowed to make mistakes with no consequences.

Sean is human, yes. that means no one should rip him to shreds for mistakes, but we still need to talk to him. point them out. hold him accountable. 

people say we “attack Sean for every small mistake he makes” - and yea, we do point them out. but this is hardly an attack. Sean has been doing uncomfortable, weird shit left &right recently, so of course we speak up about it. 

from unneeded comments that were supposed to be jokes, to content that is uncomfortable to watch, jokes relying purely on NSFW stuff, Sean keeping some of his mods even after people pointed out shady shit they did, the whole editor fiasco he brushed under the rug for a while.

- people that loved Sean for years don’t trust him anymore. 

this isn’t people attacking Sean with malicious intent. this is people having hope that speaking up and getting through to Sean will change things again.

this is people with broken hearts struggling to talk to anyone without getting rough and disrespectful replies.

there are many people that still love Sean, so i’d really like them to imagine being in our position. having that person you love feel like a complete stranger, not being able to trust him anymore, not being able to sit through his content without feeling uncomfortable.

wouldn’t it make you feel the same? wanting to reach out to him and have your concerns heard?

you may not be affected by the things that upset many others, but you probably have things that would upset you instead. 

just because this doesn’t hurt you, doesn’t mean it’s not allowed to hurt others.

i see many people post in the main tags about how disappointed and angry they are at the “discourse” this community is causing, but their complaints in the maintags get comfort and love - while we get blocked and “called out”.

we’re doing the exact same thing, we share was hurts and upsets us. 

- but because it’s not sunshine and rainbows we get forced to shut up.

and i know people will try to tell me that “oh you’re allowed to complain!! just don’t hate for no reason!!” - i’m glad you think so!! that’s good!! 

but then fucking act accordingly.

[thevalleyisjolly]

cumulous for the character asks? 💛

I want you to know how much I love you right here and right now <3

favorite thing about them

*cracks knuckles* Get ready for the Cumulous Appreciation Manifesto!  I have so much love for this funky little pastel death monk, and here it is:

He’s such a subtle and complex character!  There are so many elements to Cumulous that seem contradictory at first: he’s very practical and actionable (meta perspective: Zac’s respect for the game) but also deliberately makes time for those character moments of connection (see: spending hours crying on the ship with Theo over Lazuli, having that talk with Ruby after Jet’s funeral).  On many levels, he’s a typical tough war guy (the whole bit with Joren and the crossbow bolt and “That is absolutely badass”), but it’s not central to who he is, it’s not an identity that he struggles with like Amethar or Liam.  When the war is over, he can put it down and be gentle and value softness, and it’s like Liam recognizing that a war guy is something you do, not something you are.  Then there’s the whole Order of the Spinning Star, which I wish we’d gotten to learn more about, because they are all about protecting Candia’s magic and where does that drive come from?  What motivated him to join the Order, why is he so dedicated to this cause and to Lazuli?  And then how he's so intense and focused on his goals, but also so supportive of the other characters at the same time.  Deliberately making the time to talk with Ruby about Jet, not talking about guilt or vengeance or hollow comfort, but about Ruby’s life and reaffirming her agency at a time when she felt despair and only saw one way forward; pledging loyalty to Saccharina with full enthusiasm when everyone else was still hesitant and following through on that by being willing to die (and very nearly dying) for her; going to support Amethar when he went to take on Calroy- this funky little pastel monk just wants to support his party and he will go at it with 110%.

least favorite thing about them

A meta complaint, and understandable considering that he came into the game later, but how much of his character and character arc had to be pushed to the background (curse you LA fire inspector and your perfectly reasonable if character-frustrating requirements for fire safety!)

favorite line

His entire conversation with Ruby on the ship, but especially:

“I know that I’ve seen the insides of all these bodies with the wet sacks and the weird bones that they have inside of them, but I know that there is something in there that is not there.”

and

“You say that you’re dead, but I think you should also consider staying here with the living.  ‘Cause we will all die, but you don’t have to do it just yet.”

brOTP

I am here for the Cumulous and Liam dynamic, and the complexities of being seed guys and war guys

OTP

Ardent Cumulous/Theo shipper, ever since Episode 8 in the middle of the battle when Theo gets into the rowboat, Cumulous says “I like your sword,” Theo responds “I like your whole vibe,” and then Cumulous pauses and gives the softest, most amazed “Wow” with a disbelieving smile on his face, and that’s all I needed, thank you very much

nOTP

I don’t think I’ve seen a single Cumulous ship in the whole time I’ve been here, so rarely enough, no nOTPs yet!

random headcanon

Lighthearted headcanon, since I just wrote the Cumulous Manifesto above: He’s great with animals, and especially dragons.  He would love to have a full time dragon living at the monastery in the new Candia, and only the fact that even the nicest dragons are not tame dragons is stopping him from extending an invitation.  In lieu of dragons, he keeps a coop of chickens, who might not be as big or as dangerous as dragons, but who have much the same chaotic temperament.

unpopular opinion

Being a secondary character does not make him any less of a character.  Just because he’s not Lapin 2.0 doesn’t mean he’s not as developed as a character.  Just because he comes in after Lapin dies does not mean he should die so that Lapin can come back (a frequent take that particularly irks me: people don’t have to like Cumulous or want him around, but they can respect that some fans do and not maintag posts where they wish he dies so that Lapin can return). 

song i associate with them

The Call, by Regina Spektor, although I remain endlessly fascinated by how quickly and confidently Zac answered “Shallow” when asked about a song he associated with Cumulous

favorite picture of them

I love this fanart by @criticalrolo so much, it is my phone wallpaper and sometimes I turn on my phone just to look at it for a while because it is so beautiful.

[ethereousdelirious]

Yada yada yada I'm on mobile and can't do a read more and I'm not going to butcher this fic by censoring all the names so vanillas please don't be weird or abusive to me on this post. It's not maintagged, so the only reason you're seeing it is because of Tumblr fucking idiotic decision to show posts that haven't been tagged

Anyway. Here's that request for sick!Yasha~ Let's hope the formatting doesn't get all fucked up

For Yasha, waking up in pain was not a novelty or even an unwelcome surprise. Pain was merely the byproduct of work and would fade, as all things did, in time.

Today, however, was unusual. Yesterday had been easy. Like the others, she spent part of the day walking and part of the day riding in the cart. They hadn't fought. They'd even made camp early and she'd spent some time sitting in the grass talking with Caleb.

Why then, did her joints ache like she had spent the day hauling cargo for the circus? Why was her head pounding in time with the drumbeat of her pulse?

"Up and at 'em, Yasha!" Beau gave her arm a light kick.

Yasha sat up slowly. "Morning."

"'Deuces is already done with breakfast. You'd better hurry before Nott eats it all."

"I wouldn't let her," Caduceus said from over by the fire.

Nott glared at him, her eyes shiny. "Like you could stop me."

Yasha laughed lightly and got to her feet. "I didn't mean to sleep in so late." She shuffled over to the fire and sat down beside Fjord. Beau followed her and squeezed in beside Jester.

"You didn't even move when Fjord tried to wake you up," Jester said. "You just kind of--" She threw her head back and opened her mouth, a caricature of Yasha asleep on her back with her mouth open.

"Oh." Yasha looked at what everyone was eating, some sort of oatmeal with berries, and decided she didn't want any. "Was I snoring?"

"Only a little bit," Beau said. "It was kinda cute actually."

"Like purring," Caleb agreed. He snapped a Frumpkin appeared in Yasha's lap.

Yasha buried her fingers in the soft fur, still feeling strangely hungover and overworked. "Caduceus?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have any," she hesitated, still not quite used to just asking for things from this strange new family, "mint tea?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I have something like that." Caduceus sat back and began to pull things from his bag. "Anyone else?"

The group murmured their mixed assents and declinations. Caduceus prepared some water to boil.

"We should probably get a move on sooner rather than later," Fjord spoke up.

"We will," Caduceus said, unconcerned. "This won't take long."

Fjord looked like he wanted to argue, but fell silent.

"Sorry," Yasha said, suddenly hyper aware of how the group might perceive her. "I didn't mean-- I don't want to hold us up."

"It's fine, Fjord is just antsy," Jester reassured her. "You know he can't sit still."

"I have the cure for that," Beau stood up and grabbed Fjord by the collar. "C'mon. Let's go do some push-ups since you're so energetic."

"Save me," Fjord whispered as he was dragged away, and then he was gone.

Yasha chuckled. Sitting like this was nice. Her joints didn't feel quite so sore and her head only hurt when moved too quickly. 

When Caduceus handed her a steaming mug of mint tea, she drank it down quickly so as not to hold anyone up more than she already had.

At first it was pleasant, warming her body against the chill of the morning air.

But the heat didn't fade. By the time they packed the wagon and started down the path, she was sweating. Each step felt like it took twice the effort that it normally would.

She went silent as she walked, trying to figure out what could be wrong. Had she been poisoned? She knew Fjord and Nott were mistrustful of her now, but they wouldn't-- Would they?

No. Yasha shook her head to clear it. They wouldn't. Maybe… It was a slim possibility, but it was the only one that made logical sense. Maybe she was sick.

Yasha was rarely ill, especially not like this. The last time she'd been sick, she had caught a head cold off Molly, and continued to work while he draped himself all over her and complained that he was dying.

She smiled at the memory and let it fade before the pain of his loss could come sneaking in. So she was sick. She could handle it.

Jester stood at the front of the wagon and watched the ground move as she prepared to do something phenomenally stupid. Swallowing her fear, she jumped over the side of the wagon. She managed to land on her feet, but the momentum caused her to stumble and fall.

"Aw, man," she complained loudly, mostly so the others would know she wasn't badly hurt.

"Please don't do that again!" Fjord said from his spot at the front of the wagon. "At least, not without warning me first."

"Sorry!" Jester looked at the dust on her palms. Satisfied that she wasn't bleeding, she wiped them off on her dress.

"Here." Yasha's imposing silhouette blocked out the sun. She extended a hand to Jester and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks, Yasha!" Jester fell into step beside her. "I don't know what I thought was going to happen, but I was hoping it would be cooler than that."

Yasha laughed, but her gaze seemed far away. "Maybe Beau can teach you some tricks."

"Sounds fun!" Beau shouted from the far side of the wagon.

Jester shouted back and soon she and Beau were having a loud conversation about the proper form and practical applications of a forward roll.

She got so wrapped up in it that she didn't even notice when Yasha disappeared from her periphery. It was only when Caleb politely asked them to stop shouting (followed by a less polite request from Nott) that Jester looked around and realized that Yasha had fallen behind.

She was trailing several feet behind the wagon, her feet dragging in the dust and her head lowered.

Jester jogged back to her. "Hey, Yasha! Are you okay?"

Yasha's eyes were hazy, unfocused. She looked at Jester helplessly. "I'll be okay."

"What's wrong?" The wagon was pulling farther away from them but Jester paid it no mind. "Your face is all red. Are you sick?" She stood on her tiptoes and cupped a hand to Yasha's forehead. "Yasha!" she gasped, half-scandalized. "Did you know you have a fever?"

"I do?" Yasha slumped forward suddenly, like the realization had taken her strength away. "I don't get sick."

"Everybody gets sick," Jester said. She smoothed a few errant locks of hair out of Yasha's face. "Oh, poor Yasha."

"I really don't," Yasha said, her brow knit in confusion. "Not like this."

"You've really never had a fever before?"

Yasha shook her head.

"That's okay, I'll look after you!" Jester said. Then her head snapped up. "Oh. Shit." She screwed up her face in concentration. "Hey, Fjord! Stop the wagon for a second! Me and Yasha got behind. We're fine though, don't worry. We'll be right there. How many words was that?"

"I wasn't counting."

"Yeah, me either." Jester shrugged. "Well, they stopped. Can you walk? 'Cause I bet I can totally carry you."

"I can walk."

The others were waiting for them expectantly, varying degrees of concern on their faces.

"We're fine!" Jester said, making shooing gestures. "We're just going to ride in the back for a bit. Okay?" This last word was directed at Caleb and Nott, who had been riding nestled amongst their supplies.

"Ja, that's fine." Caleb shrugged and invited Nott to scurry up onto his shoulders.

"Okay, come on, Yasha." Jester helped her climb into the back. The she popped her head out from behind the cover. "Okay, stop staring already! We're fine. Let's go."

"O-kay?" Fjord started to walk back around to the front. "Beau, want to ride with me for a bit?"

"Sure." Beau kept casting curious looks at Jester, but she went with Fjord. The wagon started to move again and Jester turned back to face Yasha.

"Okay, I'll get you all taken care of, I promise."

"Thanks," Yasha said, looking a touch awkward. "I'm not really sure what to do."

"Well for starters," Jester dug through their supplies and pulled out her bedroll, then Yasha's. "I'm going to make you the comfiest little nest ever." She arranged the blankets and pillows to her liking and motioned for Yasha to lie down. "Umm, let's see. Are you hot? Your face is really red."

"Yes," Yasha said immediately. Her skin felt overheated and irritated. Even the texture of the blankets was almost painful on her bare arms.

"Okay, hang on." Jester started to go through her pockets, eventually producing a small scrap of cloth.

Yasha watched as Jester carefully poured some water over it. "What's that for?"

"It's going to go on your forehead," Jester explained. "Like this." She leaned over and carefully draped the wet cloth over Yasha's brow. "Lie back or it will fall off."

"Oh," Yasha said as immediate, blissful relief washed over her.

"I wish I had another one for the back of your neck," Jester said thoughtfully. "Maybe Caleb has a handkerchief in one of his 600 pockets."

"Jester," Yasha took her hand. "This is. Wonderful. Thank you." No one, not even Molly, not even Zuala, had taken care of her like this. It was almost overwhelming. "Really, thank you."

"It's nothing," Jester said, not looking Yasha in the eye. A deep purple brush was beginning to creep up her neck. "Um, anyway, do you want to sleep now?"

"I don't know." Yasha stretched as much as she could in the confines of the cart. "I'm tired, but not that kind of tired."

"How about I tell you a story? I can tell you all about Princess Fancybottom, the most beautiful, well-endowed princess in the whole world."

Yasha smiled. "That would be nice, Jester. You can-- You can lie down next to me if you want."

"Okay." Jester nodded, satisfied. "Close your eyes so you can really picture the story, okay?"

"That's a good idea, actually. I'm probably way colder than you are." Jester scooted in next to Yasha, settling in so their arms touched. "Ooh, you are warm. Let me know if you start to feel worse, okay?"

"I will."

Yasha closed her eyes. Jester began her tale of Princess Fancybottom as the cart rolled along the simple dirt path.

Yasha knew that the world was full of dangers and discomforts that she would eventually have to face, but in this moment, all she felt was safe.