#that would be great reference for vax and vex art

[eyeofthebrainstorm]

There's something very compelling to me about how Vax and Vex are the Apollo/Artemis trope with a twist. Vex is a huntress and she uses bow and arrows, but while Artemis is goddess of the moon and chaste, Vex is very sensual and ends up under the protection of the sun god. Vax is a theater kid and he's charming, with that main character energy and poetic destiny. But unlike Apollo he's dark and connected to shadows and death. He's also very devoted to a woman who will eventually become a tree.

[araminia16]

Slow Growth (C8)

Chapter 7

They arrived in Zephrah a couple weeks after his talk with his sister and her successful Grey Hunt. The people in the village welcomed the Voice of the Tempest with reverence and open arms for which Keyleth was uncomfortable but took in stride with his presence at her back.

They settled into life in the village fairly easily. His wings made him rather popular with a lot of the villagers as he flew overhead alongside a shapeshifted Keyleth for an hour a day. He kept waiting for her to make a move of any kind with him. Instead she remained as affectionate and loving as she had from the start. Her hot and cold mannerisms were dizzying but he shook it off as he made his way through the village most days to talk to the people there and get to know his new neighbors. This would be his home. For as long as Keyleth would have him here.

His heart swelled while he watched her grow into her new role slowly. She still had very little in the way of people skills but she was learning how to improvise. Vax was never far from her side. He even started passing conversations with her father who Vax couldn’t get a good read on as far as his disposition for the rogue/paladin.

It was a cool afternoon when he was in the process of putting away his armor in the box that he had been built with lavender to contain it when he noticed something out of place. A book he had never seen before peeked out of the space next to their bed as if hurriedly hidden on Keyleth’s side. Curiosity prompted him to pick the book up and wrinkle his nose at the cover art. A human male and at least some part elven female were in a passionate embrace with the title ‘Temptation of the Knight’ in curled lettering. A rather quick perusal of the words contained within led him to the conclusion that this was a very poorly written book of smut. There were at least eight different terms for a cock and at least half as many for a cunt. This was not the kind of book his Kiki should be reading. It had little to no reference for a female’s enjoyment of sex. A lot of service for a man, of course, but none for women.

Ah. She must have been reading this book for a while. It would explain her lack of interest in receiving pleasure if this has been her handbook for it. Shameful. The main character didn’t even go down on his love interest. Just jammed it in there with very little foreplay. Vax shivered in horror. Even he knew that must be uncomfortable. His sister complained about men like that enough during their slightly younger years and even Vax had some experience with selfish lovers. Vax replaced the book in it’s exact spot with all the precision his thieving skills gave him and finished dressing in regular clothing before he searched out his Tempest in the village.

That night he took great care in undressing slowly as Keyleth readied herself for bed. He felt her gaze on him while he stretched arms overhead to remove his shirt. It gave ample view of his lean muscles and the play of the light on them. He even stripped down to his skin and watched her gaze simmer in low desire while she stared at his ass. She was interested.

Keyleth desired to reach out and touch the firm flesh so nearby. Her fingers twitched and itched to do so while he bent over to find different pants. She could visualize who it felt so well that when she actually pressed her palm into one muscled cheek she didn’t actually realize she was doing it until a pair of amused eyes locked onto hers from very close by. “What do you have there?” He purred out.

“Sorry. I didn’t--.” She stammered and felt her face heat as she released him and shifted back. Or tried to shift back.

“Why are you sorry? You’ve touched far more than that before.” He turned around to face her.

She didn’t know where to look first as her eyes darted around his frame, including the semi-firm flesh hanging between his legs. “I know. I just didn’t ask.”

“You don’t have to ask to touch me.” He winked as he pulled on pants. “Come here. You look like you need to relax a little. Let me braid your hair.” He sat down on the bed and patted the space open between his legs for her to sit.

Keyleth crept forward sheepishly in her sleeping clothes as he pulled her to him and sat her down. His fingers pressed gently down into her scalp and she leaned into his touch. His hands felt so good. The pull of the brush relaxed her further while her eyes fluttered open and shut in random intervals. So much stress melted away when he started on her temple to part her hair down the middle in order to start a braid down her right side. She didn’t entirely notice when he leaned in to kiss her just under her ear and shivered. His hands came down to rest on her the sides of her arms and he held her there loosely while his mouth lifted from her hairline to press down to her neck and suckle the pulse point there gently. Then again to a space below, careful to leave no mark, and traveled down the exposed flesh of the line where her shoulder began.

Keyleth, still sort of floaty from the tactile massage of his hands, felt his lips at her neck and opened her throat for him with a small exhale of delight. She felt a small bit of heat flare under her skin to warm her while she sank back into him. Vax pulled back and shifted his slackened girlfriend to sit atop his thigh while he attended his hands to the left side of her hair. She came back to herself a little bit then and noticed the way the place between her legs throbbed especially when she shifted and found Vax’s thigh pressed there. Each time she tried to shift off a strange thrill ran through her and so she stopped, unsure of what it meant.

When his mouth pressed to her neck this time the throb between her legs pulsed and she shifted along his leg. Warmth flared under her skin and she tried to keep still while he kissed her skin. She liked it when he kissed her.

Vax smiled as he pecked gently at her throat again. Slow. Easy. Just enough to interest her but not enough to spook. She was an easily startled creature and he wanted to show her that she didn’t need to be with him. Her slim hips just didn’t quite seem to know what to do but he could taste the heat between her legs under his thigh. That’s it. Just use him a little.

Keyleth moaned softly and ground down on his thigh when he sank his teeth into the meat of her shoulder. Her hands spasmed in the air and the heat under her skin flared brighter.

Vax was unbearably hard now as he watched and felt the timid way she moved against him.

He eyed her left ear with dubious intent. Some elven ancestry could care less about their ears but others could have them paid attention to for hours. His mouth watered to see which Kiki was.

Lips closed around the tip of her pretty little ear and he sucked.

Heat flared and flashed with such intensity within her that she jerked away from him with a startled cry. Vax managed to keep her upright but only just as he pulled his mouth far from her and cursed internally, “Hey. Hey. Keyleth. It’s okay.”

Keyleth tried to keep calm as she looked down at her hands. There was a flash of fire there when he kissed her ear. She was sure of it. “I’m sorry.” She felt her eyes fill with tears while her throat tensed and burned with the effort of not saying any more.

“Hey. Hey. Shhhh. It’s okay. Did I hurt you?” He shifted her off his thigh while he pulled them both back onto the bed and he turned her unresisting form around to face him while he cradled her and looked her over for any injuries.

“No.” She croaked out. “Did I hurt you?” Tears openly spilled from reddened eyes and Vax felt his heart break a little at the sight.

“Never. Why would you think you hurt me?” He stroked her freckled cheek with a thumb.

“Nothing. It’s stupid.” She huffed out.

“Stop that.” Vax chided and looked her in the eye. “Tell me what you mean otherwise I won’t be able to help.”

Keyleth met his gaze, though she didn’t want to and took a deep breath, “I saw Vex and Percy one night in Whitestone a few weeks ago. They left the door open and Vex was...on top of Percy and she was making these noises and i had never seen her so out of control before. Then I picked up a book in the library because I realized I really didn’t know much about sex and so I read things and it talked about a loss of control. Then we shared the night in Vesrah and you were so wild and beautiful and I watched you lose control as well. I don’t want to lose control. If I lose control I might hurt you and I never want to hurt you, Vax. I love you. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.” Once she began she couldn’t stop, as usual and let it all pour out of her in a wave of half gibberish while she hiccuped through her tears.

Vax really couldn’t stop the grin as it began from the seam of his closed lips and ended at his cheeks as he chuckled to himself. He spotted Keyleth’s look of betrayal but before she could do something about it he pulled her in for a kiss. She resisted but he kept her close just pressing his lips to hers and breathing through his nose until he could compose himself. “That’s ridiculous and adorable but you won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that. I’ve thrown people into walls in anger and broken bones and have powers that are in their nature uncontrollable.”

“I do know. No one has ever destroyed the earth with an orgasm before. They do say the earth moves during a honeymoon but I never really thought that was too literal. You will not hurt me.” He stopped and narrowed his eyes at her, “Is that why you’ve not let me touch you?”

“I let you touch me.” She argued. All the time. He touched her all the time.

“Don’t get cute with me. You know what I meant. I’ve wanted to make you feel just as good as you’ve made me feel for ages now. It’s been killing me a little bit that you haven’t wanted to let me.” He smoothed away the remainder of the tear tracks from her sun-kissed cheeks with a few brushes of his thumb.

“Oh. I didn’t know. I really liked making you feel good. It was nice.” It was the most beautiful and powerful thing she had ever beheld.

“Yeah. Nice.” Mind blowing, heart stopping. “I thought you were terrfied of sex because you thought it might hurt or something. Or that you might get pregnant.”

The slow look of dawning horror made Vax realize that she hadn’t thought of these things and now that she had he was going to have to smooth that over. “The first time might be a little uncomfortable if you don’t prepare for it. I’m fully ready to take however long I need to in order to make sure that you are well prepared for it, Kiki. The second thing. There’s potions we can take to prevent the pitter patter of little feet. As for what you are concerned with let me make you a deal. We can try something simple. You don’t even have to get naked for it. We will try that first and if nothing bad happens will that help you feel better about the rest of it?”

Keyleth thought about it before she nodded. She wanted to try. He was so sure she wouldn’t hurt him and she wanted to please Vax and make him as happy as he made her every day.

“Great.” He kissed her forehead then both her cheeks with a wild grin. “Lets get some sleep. Don’t worry about anything tonight. Just sleep and I’ll take care of everything.” Vax pulled her to lie down next to him as they whispered good nights to each other while he stroked her arm and back in a soothing rhythm to help her sleep while he thought about how to best begin with her.

Chapter 9

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Summary (Episode 89)

Denise message: “I emerge from the loam to reclaim what is mine.”

Brian gives Laura and Liam roses a la Bachelor. Travis doesn’t get one and is v. sad.

Critrolestats: The last episode crushed the record for most DM facepalms.

Laura and Vex both thought they wouldn’t be able to get through to Vax and would thus have to deal directly with the Raven Queen

Laura asked Matt for a bunch of information about the Raven Queen after buying the book.

Grog was hesitant to get involved in Vax’s resurrection after his contribution wasn’t heard in Scanlan’s, but Travis couldn’t resist the callback to what happened in the workshop. In the past, he would’ve shaved Vax’s head or something, but the prank-war stuff seemed less appropriate now.

Travis after a discussion of which tooth Vax lost: “We haven’t yet addressed dental work in this land of Exandria.”

Laura mentions that it was really intimidating to have Liam on-set for the ritual. Brian proposes a Waiting-on-Resurrection cam, and Laura tests some lighting for it. Travis is terrified.

Laura didn’t realize Orcus is, you know, a god. She got a lot of tweets along the lines of “you done fucked up”. Travis recounts the story of the time Matt showed him a picture of Orcus and how terrifying he is. They all point out that Matt could very well deviate from the D&D canon in his interpretations of these characters, so they’re trying not to make too many assumptions.

Brian: “I went reddit-free like Travis, and I lost 15 lbs of emotional regret.”

Grog has been paying attention to all the good things Vax has done for the rest of the party and beyond, and so he’s been moving away from seeing him as just a target for pranks. Both Grog as a character and Travis as a player were really moved by Vax’s words in the workshop, to the point where he couldn’t come up with a response and chose to just leave it at that.

Laura is still appalled that Travis tried to steal her donuts.

Laura doesn’t think Vex would’ve become the champion if Vax hadn’t made it, and she wouldn’t have put on the armor. She didn’t make that pledge to the Raven Queen, but she wouldn’t have blamed her for what happened. If Matt hadn’t ended the last episode where he did, Vex would’ve blamed Keyleth--unreasonably, Laura hastens to add, but she would’ve lashed out irrationally. There wasn’t really any place to add that in, but she had a callback to that emotion in the apology to Keyleth later in the episode.

Everyone discusses how Keyleth made the right call in jumping out with the twins when she did.

Liam is choosing to interpret everyone’s successes in their various resurrection rituals from an in-game perspective as Vax deciding that this is a sign that they’re all being pushed along a certain path, and that they all have a purpose together in the Raven Queen’s eyes--he’s Fate-Touched, but they’re all tangled up with him.

Grog essentially assumes that the resurrection ritual is gonna work every time, because that’s what’s happened so far. He’d react pretty strongly if one of them permadied, because he’s not used to dealing with the death of people he actually gives a shit about.

Grog is mostly just relieved that Scanlan’s alive. He doesn’t have a very nuanced impression of why Scanlan left, but he assumes he’s gonna be back.

The twins bicker over whether Vex might technically be older than Vax now since he was dead longer.

Travis talks about developing a character with a weakness and playing to that weakness. Makes it much easier to improv a character if RP is an important part of the game.

Liam: The point of the game for this group is to make each other laugh and surprise each other.

For playing characters that are family in D&D, Liam and Laura recommend sitting down to hash out backstory together, so you can throw in references throughout to tie it together. It also helps that they already kinda treated each other like siblings to begin with.

Laura has really been noticing what a great job Marisha’s been doing of building Keyleth’s character, and Vex has been noticing it, too. “Keyleth’s been getting so freakin’ cool because Marisha’s so freakin’ cool,” and she can finally let that start to bleed through.

Grog didn’t entirely get what Percy did in terms of the Friends spell, but if he’d asked Grog to do something he didn’t want to do, things might have been different, but he didn’t give a shit either way.

Laura doesn’t think Keyleth’s mom is dead.

Someone points out that Vex is the only one who hasn’t called VM their family. Laura is startled and says she absolutely considers them her family, it just hasn’t come up explicitly.

Liam points out that Vax doesn’t know shit about being a paladin of the Raven Queen. Laura points out that Vex arguably knows more about the RQ than Vax.

Laura starts going through all the flavors of donut she had. Brian cuts the show there.

After Dark:

Vex would give up the broom to save Trinket, would not give up Trinket to save Grog, but would give up the broom to save Grog... and would probably not give up Trinket to save Grog.

When asked if Vax had any criteria that his friends could’ve failed the resurrection with, Liam refused to answer.

Laura ran into a Critical Role fan at Target once.

Ashley got recognized a lot in New York by Critical Role fans.

A fan asks Vax what it’s like to be controlled by a voice actor named Liam O’Brien. Liam, in-character: “Well, he’s a bit of a dad, isn’t he? He’s a doofus.”

Everyone is asked which item they’d want to have in real life. Travis: Whisper. Laura: Raven’s Slumber on the long-term, the broom on the short-term. Liam: Deathwalker’s Ward.

Laura saw fanart of Vax giving Vex the feathers when they were kids, and she loved the idea. Originally they were just part of Kit’s concept art.