#she and caleb would make an excellent team
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Stealing @marshalortega‘s Sidestep Noa for some more Sidestep outfit swapping. I love her so much, and also her comfy clothes ❤️
#FHR#Sidestep#Noa she is such a grumpy tank#she and caleb would make an excellent team#She can probably bench press him#my art#Thank you again for letting me borrow her!! She is such a joy to draw
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The Prophetic D&D Game, Part 22
How many concurrent combat sessions can the party handle? Let's find out.
(master post)
“Okay, so everyone in the Englund manor on the material plane is in position. Sadie is taunting Jamie into trying to curse her again?” He looked at Erica with the question. She nodded. “Okay, he takes the bait and torches flicker to show that he’s moving around. He’s headed up to the attic.”
“Gaten and Sadie follow him,” said Dustin. “Once we’re up there, we signal to Caleb to tell the attack team what’s happening.”
Eddie nodded. “The message goes through just fine. Mike, what’s the attack team doing?”
“Sending the signal to the distraction team,” Mike said. “Release the squirrel!”
Everyone giggled, and Eddie rolled some dice. “Gareth, you see the squirrel come back just as you’ve put the last bits on to secure the building around the gate. What are you doing?”
Gareth frowned. “Did we get everything done in time?”
“You think you did.” Eddie grinned at him. “Do you want to take the time to double-check?”
“Damn it, Munson,” Gareth muttered. “There’s no time for that, is there? We have to get the distraction started.”
“Maybe it’ll be fine,” Eddie said, with absolutely no sincerity in his voice. Gareth just glared at him. “Okay, describe your part of the distraction to me.”
Gareth’s character was basically doing a light show, as well as amplifying music that Quinn would play to attract the attention of the demonic bats. He described it well enough that Eddie could practically hear it, and he bopped his head along for emphasis.
“Yeah, good,” Eddie said. “Okay, so that starts up nice and loud, and the demobats all swarm and stuff, flying off towards the noise.”
Mike snorted. “See, now you’re calling them that, too,” he said.
“They’re about to divert and attack your dumb paladin ass if you don’t stop interrupting me, Wheeler,” Eddie snarled at him. Mike ducked his head and mouthed an apology, and he continued. “They fly off into the distance. Gareth, what’s your plan for when they arrive?”
“Oh, I’m keeping watch while Quinn plays his music,” Gareth said. “We’re going to cut and run before they get too close.”
“Smart,” Eddie said. “Meanwhile, Sadie has done her taunting and gone into her trance. Dustin, what are you doing?”
“Signaling out the window to Jeff so he can tell the attack team to go in,” he said. “And then Gaten is going to be ready to play her song.”
“Excellent. Attack team, you’re up.”
“Oh, can I talk now?” Mike asked.
“No, keep shutting up,” said Erica. “It’s better that way.”
“Ouch,” said Mike. But at least he shut up.
Erica laid out the plan for them entering the house, going up the main staircase, and confronting Jamie. Eddie threw some vines in their way, and told them each to roll dexterity to get past everything in order to make it up the stairs. Erica and Grant made it easily, but Mike rolled shit. Eddie took great glee in describing how one of the vines wrapped around Joe’s leg and yanked him off the stairs.
“Not again,” Mike whined.
“More vines come down to pin you to the wall, and another wraps around your throat,” Eddie said. “What do you all do?”
“Go on without me!” Mike said. He pantomimed grasping at the imaginary vine around his throat. Eddie flinched a bit at it, suddenly struck by the image of Mike gasping for breath. “Just kill the bad guy and this will all be over.”
Eddie turned to Erica and Grant. “The vines have come to life, and now that they know Joe is there, they’re looking around for you two. Roll for initiative.” He gestured for Mike to roll as well.
Erica rolled better than Grant did, with Mike somewhere in the middle, and they had a quick debate about what to do. Grant thought that Natalia would be torn between loyalty to her friend and wanting to finish the quest. Erica also hesitated.
“I’m not sure we can kill this guy on our own,” she said.
“But if we delay too much, we’ll run out of time to fight him at all,” said Grant.
Erica pursed her lips in thought. “We brought those alchemical fire bombs, right?” she asked. Grant and Mike both nodded. “If I throw one at the vines, it should make them drop Joe, right?”
“And burn Joe to a crisp,” said Eddie.
“I can heal,” Mike said. “Do it.”
“What the fuck,” Eddie whispered, mostly to himself, as Erica rolled to hit Joe and the vines with one of their fire bombs. She hit, and rolled enough damage that the vines released Joe. Mike went next and healed himself, and then Grant was up. It was a full battle against the vines now, and even though his players had the upper hand due to the fire, Eddie wrote down on the side how many rounds it took.
“We can’t keep wasting time with them,” Mike said. “We have to get up the stairs and into the attic to fight that Jamie guy.”
Eddie twitched a little, wondering if he was making it too easy for them. It had only been a couple of rounds. “You can run if you want,” he said, and he paused for a second. He had the urge to tell them to run away from the fight entirely, but that didn’t make any sense. They were doing well. “There are vines all up and down the stairs now, but you’re near the top. You might make it.”
“Let’s try,” Grant said. “Running through a burning house, avoiding carnivorous vines so that we can kill a creepy psychic guy. What could be better?”
Eddie chuckled and let them roll. He gave them a number to beat, and they all made it, though Grant nearly didn’t. “Not to interrupt your action too much, but let’s get back to Jeff and Dustin and see if our creepy psychic guy is still distracted by poor Sadie, shall we?”
“Oh, that’s ominous,” Dustin said. “What do we have to look forward to?”
Eddie stroked his chin and smirked. “Tell me where each of you are after Caleb gets the message through to the attack team, will you?”
Dustin and Jeff leaned in closer to each other and had a whispered conversation. Erica turned to watch them, and Eddie shuffled some papers while they all waited.
“Okay, so Gaten is right next to Sadie, obviously,” Dustin said. “He’s ready to start playing her song at the first threat of bone-breaking.”
“That happens awful quick, Henderson,” Eddie said. “Are you sure you can pull her out in time?”
Gareth snickered and said, “That’s what she said,” and the rest of the group groaned. Everyone sitting close enough to hit him did so.
Erica furrowed her brow and peered at him and asked, “I don’t understand. What does that mean?” she asked. “Can you explain it to me?”
“Uh...” Gareth got a complete deer-in-headlights look on his face and glanced around the table for help. No one stepped in. His voice squeaked a little as he said, “No. No, I cannot.”
“Well, maybe worry less about what ‘she’ said and more about what I am gonna say if you get my brother’s character killed while joking around,” Erica said. Eddie got the distinct impression that she knew exactly what she was doing when she put on the air of being an innocent young girl. She turned back to Dustin. “Start counting and make sure we get at least fifteen rounds, okay? Sadie has a good idea of how long it takes to get through combat, with a little buffer built in. That should give the strike team to deal with whatever traps come up and let me backstab the heck out of the big bad.”
Eddie cleared his throat. “Well, while Gaten is keeping careful count of his rounds, what is Caleb doing? Staying outside, or going into the mansion?”
Jeff rubbed his chin. “Well, once he’s gotten the signal through to the attack team, there’s not really any reason for him to stay outside, is there? He should probably go inside to help Gaten with Sadie, if he needs to.”
“Is that what you’re doing now?”
Jeff stared at Eddie for a moment, like he was looking for a trick. “Yeah, that’s what I’m doing.”
Eddie smiled. He picked up some dice and rolled them. “All right. Roll me a wisdom check.”
Jeff groaned and grit his teeth. He rolled well, though. “Nice. What do I see?”
“There are some horses riding up the road to the manor,” Eddie said. “You can’t be sure who they are in the dark, but they sound like they’re coming fast.”
“Well, that’s definitely not going to be good. I’ll go inside and race up to warn Dustin.”
“Don’t lead them up here!” Dustin said. “You’re with the town guard. Stand your ground and tell them you’re supposed to be here. Bluff your way through.”
“Oh, yeah!” Jeff said. “I can do that. I’ll do that, instead.”
Eddie raised his eyebrows. “Well, as it turns out, it’s Lord Mason and one of his lieutenants. They don’t look particularly happy to see you, Caleb. Still want to bluff them?”
“Oh, shit,” said Jeff. “Uh, I can try?”
“Yeah, they’re not buying it. Roll for initiative.”
“You didn’t even let me roll to bluff,” Jeff protested. But he rolled his initiative check anyway, and Eddie arranged a second battle sheet next to the one he’d made for the attack team. They went through a couple of rounds of combat. Jeff was trying to fight both of them, and losing.
“Lord Mason shouts something to his lieutenant, telling him to handle you while he searches the rest of the house. Do you try to stop him?”
“I mean, I can try,” Jeff said. “I don’t know how much good it’ll do.” He made another attack roll. It was not a critical, so Eddie ruled that Lieutenant Clayton kept Caleb busy while Lord Mason went up the stairs to explore the rest of the house.
“Hey, Dustin!” Eddie called out cheerfully. “Time for you to roll initiative, too.”
“Shit,” Dustin mumbled. He rolled poorly. “Look, I’m going to try to talk him out of attacking us, okay? I’ve actually got charisma.”
“Great. Good idea,” Eddie said. “Sadie looked possessed and you’re in a creepy attic and the protege of the guy who killed his wife, but I’m sure that’ll work fine.”
Dustin swore under his breath and rubbed his forehead. He rolled against his charisma, and he rolled poorly. “Shit,” he said. Then, he went fully into character. “Lord Mason, I swear I can explain this. We’re trying to fight the thing that’s killing people.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t want to listen to you,” Eddie said. He rolled some dice to figure out what the basically crazy captain of the guard was going to do. “He wants you to prove it by bringing Sadie out of her trance.”
Dustin checked the page he was using to keep track of rounds. “It hasn’t been long enough, has it?” he asked, putting his hand on his head to signify that he was out of character.
“I doubt it,” said Erica.
“Yeah, Sadie isn’t floating yet,” said Eddie. “You’re pretty sure that they need more time.”
“Okay, I’m going to try to calm him down and reason with him,” said Dustin.
Eddie smirked. “He draws his sword instead.”
Dustin whipped his hat off and smacked it against the table. “Son of a bitch,” he said. “All right, I guess I’m fighting him, then.”
“A valiant effort at parley, my friend,” Eddie said. He had to stop and take a drink from his soda to mask the fact that his headache had just transitioned into a stabbing pain behind his eyes. “Before we get too far into that, maybe we should check back with our bat brigade.”
Taglist: @weirdandabsurd42, @10moonymhrivertam, @blueskiesandstarrynight
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My Terrible Love Life
Well, where do I begin? My name is Caleb Shone and this is my story. Yeah a really boring intro I can see but what gives, I’m speaking facts here and sorry to say this but the ladies who’s names will appear are changed for certain reasons, dem fit say na lie I dey talk. I don’t want to bore you guys with the history of my life, where I grew up, what made me into the monster that you might think I am as we continue but, if interested, we can make that work in another work or something. Let’s get straight to the point shall we?
Like most western movies, my love story started in grade five or as we call it over here, primary five. Her name was Gloria (like I said earlier, the names have been changed but if your name is Gloria and you were in the same class with me back then, it’s not you ️️) and she was a real beauty. I have always had an affinity for mathematics and I excelled at it. We were seat mates and at first I didn’t like it because I was changed from the back seat reason being my height. Yes I was the shortest there but that’s not the point. We weren’t talking for like two days or something I think, it’s a little blurry now but a classwork was given in mathematics and I solved it and submitted earlier than anyone. When I got back to my seat, she smiled at me and told me to “explain” it for her. Of course I knew this meant to solve it so she could copy and she didn’t really care about me but there was something about that warm smile, it was too radiant and I found myself helping her and some of her gal pals.
Things went on like this for a while then we both discovered we were of the same tribe but I couldn’t speak my mother tongue so she offered to teach me in exchange for the maths I helped her with and the deal was struck. During the break time we would go out and while playing she would be teaching me and I learned well. As time went on, I got used to being around her. Each time we had eye contact, my heart skipped, when she touched me I felt goosebumps rising. I wanted to tell her how I felt but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, I stayed with this burden for a long time.
Shortly before the end of the academic session, I told her that I had taken an entrance examination to go to a boarding school for my secondary education and I passed. I felt bad that I was leaving her and I could see she felt a little bad too. Then I was young and innocent, but I knew what a crush meant and what love meant. I loved this lady as I did my sister and no before you have any disgusting thoughts, what I mean is I looked after my sister back then, I was short but whenever she was bullied, she walked to my class and I left with the tall guys of the class for a little intimidation because no one would fear a short senior . Anyways, I loved this girl and she was my first female best friend. I never thought of any romantic relationships or something, I just loved spending time with her but it came to an end when I left the school. I carried this love with me till my senior secondary years before I moved on because distance was a real barrier and we had no means of communicating so I gave up my childish love . Wherever she is now, I still love her and wish the best for her.
From the time I left primary school until my second year in my senior year in secondary school which was roughly about three to four years, I was a nerd and kept to myself, never got involved with the female species, probably because I changed schools a lot and never had time to bond, “James Bond” (sorry I couldn’t help myself ) with anyone so I bonded with my books.
I was made the president of the drama club and boy did we pull off the best shows, I had a very hardworking team, our narrator with the best voice, Jane, we did have a love-hate relationship. I crushed on her but it didn’t last long then I got annoyed by her, probably because of the way she carried herself. Mostly because of the way she walked which I described back then as the walk steps of a peacock and boy was she proud and snobbish. She left the school and I continued my work as drama president diligently. Mary brought our works to do and helped design our costumes, because of her we pulled off the best Shakespearean shows and more drama details but then came Julia, a tall, slim dark lady with a beautiful smile. She joined the club but never wanted to act. She was always around me and I tried to move round in a way that I’ll always “suddenly” appear beside her. I seem to have forgotten how we started dating but boy did I spend my allowances buying little snacks for her, I spent all on Valentine’s Day too and I didn’t mind. Suddenly she started losing interest in me and started falling for an “alpha” male that was my junior. This guy wasn’t good looking in any single bit. I know you all are probably thinking this is jealousy but no it’s not. I’m not handsome and all that chisel shaped chin and stuff, but the margin between us in terms of good looks was as wide as the distance from Abuja to Benue state. I was a nerd and he was cool so I couldn’t fight that. She left me for him and later that term I also changed schools yet again , this was a curse that didn’t seem to want to end.
In my final year in secondary school, the class we call SSS3, I met a girl on Facebook, her name, Precious and precious was she. We just started talking and after two days, she told me she was in my school and I was like “Cool, so see you tomorrow?” And she said yeah and we planned to meet the next day being a Friday after club meeting. She didn’t have any picture on her profile so I felt she was just a normal girl in school. Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I donned the cool guy act in this new school and it seemed to be working, I had a lot of friends, all ladies and this was a concern for the school authorities. I knew deep down that I needed to reduce the way I related with them girls but I loved the attention I was getting, this is common for we nerds, we like attention and when we get a taste of it, it’s hard to step down from that height.
Back to the story, we met after the club meeting and damn was I star struck. Standing before me in a yellow t-shirt and black shorts was Precious. She was really beautiful, perfect nose, nice posture, clear skin and nice shape. Yes I could see it through them shorts. The shorts were a bit tight and she had thick laps. She said hi and I said same and we walked for a bit and went our ways. I went back to my class and told my mates that I was in love.
She came to my class most break periods with her assignments and class works for help and I gladly helped her, mostly maths but I also helped with other subjects. I finally found my courage and asked her out and she took two days to give me a reply, those two days were kinda hell for me, I was battling with myself over her reply, could be a yes or a no I didn’t know and it was torture. I still saw her in school and had to act like I was sane waiting for her. She finally told me to meet her in the library which I did and she whispered yes into my ears. I almost jumped in the library but I composed myself and asked her yes to what and she smiled and got up and left.
We found our spot, the library and no one dared sat on my spot. I wasn’t an intimidating senior, the whole school loved me so if I asked them to move, they got up without complaining, asked me a question that disturbed them and I provided answers. Yes the whole school knew me as a nerd and Precious knew too and she said she loved that part about me. I later discovered she was also a nerd in a way but a cool nerd. I really loved her so much and till today I blame my foolishness for making me treat her the way I did. If she’s reading this I’m very sorry, I know you said it’s cool but I wish I could rewind time, I wouldn’t be a jerk.
Things were peachy until my graduation which was when we had our first kiss. I really was in love with this girl, I could do literally anything for her. People who knew about our relationship would say I was a pedophile but that wasn’t the case, I was still a minor and the age gap between us was just two years so being 17 years and dating a 15 year old wasn’t that bad. I held on to this relationship for eight months and we kept calling each other even when I went to the university. Because of this lady I vowed never to date in university, even now that I write this, I still can’t date a girl from my university, I’ve tried but it never worked and that’s just the way it is.
Every good story has its bad sides. I later heard that we got discovered in school. I left the school to university and she was still there. The principal made schooling hell for her back then. She still held on to me but I didn’t want to be a reason for her to have a bad time in school, so I did something I still regret to this moment. I tried telling her that we should end the relationship and continue when she was done with secondary school because the pressure on her in school made her consider changing schools. She didn’t want to hear it so I met a friend close to her online and tried making her like me so I could ask her out (I never liked this girl, just saw her as a means to an end). We got talking and she agreed to date me. Precious got to hear it and it really pained her so she called it off. When I got back home during the COVID-19 pandemic, I went to meet the principal and told him I was the one who forced her into it, I pinned it all on me for deception and that I got carried away. He was angry but as an A-list student (this man only liked intelligent students so I was on his good and bad sides, the bad sides for always being found amongst ladies) he let me off with a warning telling me that I’ll see girls in university who would take my mind off her in a heartbeat and I’m still waiting for such girls .
So that was the end of the tale of Precious. This lasted for eight months and this has been the longest relationship I’ve ever maintained. Most relationships I get into don’t last more than a week or two and it takes serious efforts to make it reach that long .
Well, during the COVID-19 pandemic period plus the strike of almost all public universities which lasted for about eleven months, I met another girl. A beautiful church girl named Divine. Her voice was really beautiful. Well I had been seeing her in church and she always sang on Christmas carol or some other church program. One day I was in church and she walked in and sat beside me. I was happy and a little while later she asked for my Facebook username and I gladly gave it to her. After a few weeks of chatting, she invited me over to her place and I went gladly. I also don’t remember how we started dating but we were and should I say I was blind to a lot of things. She said no kisses as it could lead to iduplorplor and I agreed. Her birthday was coming up, it fell on Christmas Day and I planned to take her out to celebrate it, just to go see a Christmas movie or something at the cinema. I had the tickets with me and went to her house without calling her to surprise her.
On getting there, I met her friend close to her house and we both went in together, she went in before me and as I stepped in, I saw Divine in a wrapper and trying to adjust it and there was a shirtless guy in her living room. She got up and went into her room without even saying hi. I stood there replaying the scene like a Nigerian movie and it was funny. Instead of feeling pained, I laughed and sat down. The guy I saw stretched out his hand for a handshake and I shook it. I waited for like five minutes then I got up and left with my tickets. She came online that evening and asked why I left without saying bye. I kept my cool and told her she didn’t acknowledge my presence when I walked in so I didn’t see any need to tell her I was going. She then asked if it was because of the guy I saw at her place and I said no. She went on to explain that it was her cousin. I told her I didn’t ask for an explanation and I needed to sleep. That was the end of it between us. I took my best friend Angela to see the movie and we enjoyed the movie.
After her, almost all the other ladies I was with were just not it for me, I got bored easily. There was this girl that broke up with her boyfriend who was a friend of mine from church and started getting too close to me and we got dating. Three days later she said she wanted to end it and went back to her ex, the guy rejected her and we had no beef because we both knew what was happening, what we were doing to her. At first I felt bad when we started but I later lost my heart. She came back to me but I told her she should have thought of this moment before walking away the first time. She wrote a letter to me pleading, I almost felt bad but I just didn’t care anymore.
When the new year came, I remained single until the Christmas season when I met this fair lady at a gas station. She was really pretty and had a great smile. One thing lead to another and we got talking. She worked shifts and on the day she was to be on the evening shift, I went to her house in the morning. She was staying alone and her house was close to her school. She was a student of the state university and she was in her fourth year while I was in my second. Yeah she was older than me by two years but it didn’t bother us at all. At her house we were talking about school and other things then suddenly we kissed and she said she didn’t know why it happened but I liked it. We kept meeting at her place and I went always when she was done with her morning shift which ended by 2pm. I went by 3pm and stayed till around 8pm. Each time I left I didn’t want to leave but I was staying at my parents house and I had a curfew for 7pm. I just stretched it out and gave one or two excuses as to why I was late.
We really loved each other but she didn’t want to put a tag on the relationship because of the age difference. I could see that it was bugging her a lot so we both called it off after a month. What helped me get over her was that I went to school and school stress helped me almost forget her completely.
During the Easter break I came home and met a girl, Esther, after just a day that we met, we started dating. I knew from the start that it would end terribly but I was in it for the fun. Things went well and I came back to school, oh I forgot to say this earlier, I school at the Federal University of Technology Minna, Niger state and my home state is Benue state. So we didn’t mind the distance and we continued till a night that my friends won’t ever let me forget, the “7pm heartbreak”. I’m told almost constantly that my heartbreak was priced in the market by 7pm . Well the reason for this was because I tried calling her by 7pm one day and she kept rejecting my calls. I called three times and she rejected all of them. She called me by a little bit after 8pm and told me the reason she couldn’t answer my call was because she was in the market that night. My roommates heard this and started laughing hard and hence the tale of the “7pm heartbreak” was born. We broke up a week later and a new girl came along almost immediately. Lest I forget, I almost dated her friend but I thank God it didn’t work out.
A new girl started chatting with me and before I knew it, almost every night we were on a video call with each other. Mary was her name. The way she spoke was really cool. She pronounced her words too perfectly and had a really nice nose. We spoke for like a month or two then a week before I went home for the two weeks break we were given at school, we started dating online. When I got home, she came over to meet me and the videos and pictures I saw of her did no justice to her beauty. Coming to think of it, omo I don date fine girls for this life oo. Well things went well and I was trying to save up some cash so I could take her out for a proper date and for her birthday coming up in September. I couldn’t save enough as I was also going back to school that September so I needed money for school too so I bought a hoodie for her and ice cream on her birthday and took it to her house. At her house, I met her elder brother and we clicked, he was an otaku like me and we got talking. We had almost the same interests and I was glad. My girlfriend on the other hand left me and was with another guy that came to see her on her birthday. I didn’t blame her, it was her birthday after all but it felt like I wasn’t there at all. But I had her brother and his girlfriend with me and we talked, made jokes and laughed. I had a good time and went home. I think two days later I called her and told her that it’s best we ended it. Well I saw some signs that she was also loosing interest in me so I just decided to pull the cord. Another reason I ended things was because on her birthday I went through her phone and saw some pictures, pictures of my exes . Turns out they all knew each other but didn’t know I dated them all. I felt like a used blunt that was passed around till it was done with.
At that moment, I resigned from dating girls from Makurdi and I went with it for the next few months and life was easy until my birthday the following year. This was on March 26th 2022. I invited almost all my friends to my house for an in house party, the first party I threw ever. Many people turned up and the party was a blast. Prior to this, I knew a girl, Benita for over two years and we had been chatting. The Sunday before the birthday I invited her to my church and she came. After service, I invited her to the party and she said she would come and she did. When she came, she was dressed in baggy jean trousers and a white t-shirt. A black slender beauty walked in and captured my heart. Not just mine but every guy at the party tried to collect her number but the way she politely brushed them off made me smile.
A week later I invited Benita over and we spoke for a while then I told her how I felt about her and told her I wanted to be in a relationship with her, well not these exact words but something close and she said to give her some time. Two weeks later she invited me over to her place and told me she would give it a try. She invited her friend over and introduced me to her as her boyfriend, I felt proud. We made out after her friend left. This isn’t necessary information but make I drop some juicy details small na. Her lips were soft, her kisses gentle and her skin smooth and soft. She had a slim waist and a perfect figure. We went on in love for about three months, made a lot of videos and took some pictures, I was going through my Snapchat memories and came across some of the videos and that’s what prompted me to write this out and tell you guys that I was in love.
The relationships that lasted more than a month was genuine love. I would give anything to go back to those times again but that means I’ll be caught in a dilemma because I don’t know which one to pick over the others and I can’t pick them all .
Well, Benita and I broke up and I won’t give the details for this one, maybe this is the one I hold dearest of them all. But the fact is I know deep down that I won’t go back to any of my previous relationships, I’m just saying I’ll give anything to go back so it would sound you know, romantic or something but, I can’t and I won’t. Relationships are stressful and boring. Or maybe it’s the phase I’m in at the moment, I see no joy in relationships, I just need someone that will be pumping my account with money and all for free .
Okay, so who was next after Benita? Oh yeah I’ve been single since then and this was since September of 2022, I’m trying to see if I can break my record of being single for more than two years . Well that’s not totally true because I met a girl in December of that same year, the girls hands in the picture on the cover, I’m sure you all must have been wondering who’s hand that was. Well her name is Stephanie. I met her a day after Christmas. We both commented on a post online that asked to describe your dream date. I saw hers was a stroll in the park and mine was a walk in the park and a date with books, typical nerd yes but she was cool with it and we chatted and fixed a date on the day after Christmas.
We met at a park and we had the best time together. I was entranced by her and the way she was so free. She was a hardworking woman and really put her priorities in order. We said our goodbyes after the date and we planned another one after new year, a day before I went to school. We met and after going to a series of parks which weren’t open, we went to my house and watched some movies. I still rushed things with her because I was tired of going into series of relationships and I wanted to settle with her, she was the best. She said no for many reasons, the first that she wasn’t ready, wanted to get her walk with God really solid and finally that we can’t work because of my tribe, her mum doesn’t like “Tiv” guys and that really hurt. We aren’t talking anymore but I hope she got her walk with God solid.
Well there have been a dozen others I didn’t mention, the week long dates and whatnot but those aren’t important, heck I can’t even remember their names . My love life is one big ball of messy and well it made quite a story. If there’s a way I could go back and change things, I would but there’s no Time Machine so we move on.
I hope the tale was great enough, until my next entanglement then guys
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I'm curious on how you would rank the CR cast in terms of how well they understand the mechanics of dnd. Because I agree with something you said a while ago, which is that Sam somehow has this rep as being "the mechanics guy", but I feel like that just isn't true honestly. Not that he's terrible, but I think he does tend to like having one "go-to" move like bigbys hand or sneak attack, and seems to be struggling a little now that he has more choice. And perhaps controversially, I think Marisha has come such a long way in terms of mechanics. Like, sure, Keyleth had some bad moments, but Marisha mostly killed it as Beau and she's killing it now as Laudna, yet she gets very little respect for it I feel.
(answering this along with this from earlier today):
So in terms of strongest, Matt. I think DM-ing is the fastest throw-you-into-the-deep-end way to get good at mechanics, and so an experienced DM generally is excellent at mechanics. We can see it from him as a player, as Dariax or in one shots.
In terms of the rest of the cast, it gets a little murky in that I think everyone but Sam and Ashley is very, very strong (and I have my eye on Ashley because she's catching up fast), and the people I perceive as strongest are in part a matter of my personal taste in how to play/their playstyle beyond just mechanics. As a result I explain a lot of things and this is going to get long so I've put it below a cut just to save your dashes.
Unsurprisingly for followers of this blog, I think Travis is among the top players. I remember sitting with my father watching the boys basketball team at my middle school play a match and he pointed at the team's star player, who I should point out had not hit his growth spurt yet and also iirc never broke like, 5'8" as an adult, and said "that kid has incredible court sense" and anyway Travis has court sense. He asks all those questions because he's thinking about the battle map like, well, an athlete. And as someone who in some small part plays casters because my spatial reasoning is adequate at best, this is really impressive to me. Like, there's a reason he's taken the mobile feat twice, and why he's confident in melee, and this is on top of the fact that he managed to build out a utility hexadin with so many short range teleports, swapping out spells thoughtfully and picking highly useful invocations that also tell the character's story, like, part of why I've been so outright derisive towards the people who have insulted his skills is because this guy recognized Vespin Chloras within seconds. This guy is reading the manuals.
Liam is also among the top players. Hilariously, he exclusively has played Core Four in D&D with two exceptions (Vax's multiclasses and the For Legal Reasons This Is Neither HP nor the Breakfast Club one-shot) so he knows what he likes but he is, to be fair, very good at what he likes, and what he likes is utility casting and fighters and that's the most valid. He is perhaps the strongest at the table at integrating mechanics and story, though Travis and Laura are very close, and like Travis he can handle a highly modular build skillfully and thoughtfully as we've seen with both Caleb and Orym.
Liam and Travis were also the two players I said who I think could at least take a reasonable stab at the Empathy Domain, in that they are both the pragmatists of the group. I think Ashley may be one as well, hence why she's one to watch, but: they are able to quickly make peace with tough decisions or a bad turn and see it through, which, with the finicky nature of the Transfer Suffering feature and the highly RP dependent Sympathetic Bond, is crucial. When will one of them play a cleric for more than like, a two-shot. Please.
I think Taliesin is extremely good at mechanics broadly and has a lot of DM-ing experience and so he's counted in the "very, very good" section with Laura and Marisha here mostly because I happen to also be more of a brutal pragmatist and so that gets extra points, and Taliesin is one of the more optimistic playstyle cast members. He also tends towards min-maxing (obviously for Percy; Caduceus is min-maxed for healing and perception) and I respect that but I prefer the broader utility that Liam and Travis tend to pursue - although Ashton is, mechanically, super fun and has a more diverse array of skills/abilities than many barbarians (though a lot of credit goes to Matt here for the subclass) and I'm excited to see more.
I do have to disagree with the idea that Marisha "got much better". I mean, she has improved at D&D as has the rest of the cast but she was one of the strongest players from the start and the narrative that she's vastly improved since C1 instead of being consistently excellent is outright incorrect. I think people do not appreciate that she was usually the only prepared caster on screen, she was the only person with crowd control while also trying to be the healer and the tank simultaneoulsly, or that druids in 5e are significantly different than in Pathfinder. Like, literally, the only example of a bad Keyleth moment that comes to mind was the Wind Walk in the purple worm fight, and not to keep dunking on Sam but if Sam got a rep for being the mechanics genius for two great moves 3+ years ago it seems, uh, mad fucked up that Marisha still has a reputation for not being great as Keyleth for one bad spell 6 years ago. (In fact, to stop dunking on Sam: most criticisms of Sam and Marisha from C1 should probably stop. If suddenly you're down a sorcerer and usually down a cleric? You get a GENEROUS leeway.) I also was more impressed by Beau than by Laudna in terms of story incorporation - like, eyes of the runekeeper is great but why does she have that, and also I personally believe no warlock should ever have higher wisdom than intelligence unless they multiclassed. A sorcerer/warlock should not be in the business of having a positive wisdom score. Which isn't a knock on Laudna in general - some of this is personal taste and some will be resolved as we learn more - but I need to say that your Marisha mechanics opinions seem really off to me.
I think Laura is quite good and I think everyone who insults Jester's healing is an idiot who listened to Laura complaining and forgot to keep in mind that Jester actually did a great job healing while complaining, up until Caduceus "the healing guy" Clay showed up at which point she pivoted. This is called "responding to what else is going on" and I highly recommend it because mechanics in a vacuum are mere thought exercises. I think Laura is mechanically good but she also I think knows what she wants to do, which is to hit big and hit hard - I think she's aware that certain aspects of mechanics (support casting, tanking) aren't her interests, so she's not quite as strong all-around, but she's very good at what she's interested in. She's also showing a lot of utility as Imogen. Sorcerer is a really good fit for her and she's killing it.
#long post#critical role#tenser's floating discourse#not really discourse-y honestly imo but like. i'm giving people the chance
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*sing* it's been ~a while~
and i have been watching vm vs the nein a lot so let's talk about it. as always with me, this is a very long word vomit.
i said over on my mechanics post that the vm playbook requires urgency while the nein's playbook requires setup. here's what i mean. if the nein can make it to round 3-4 intact, that is if all of them are up, they are going to win. period. the nein simply have too many ways to steal turns from their enemies or to maximize their own effectiveness for things to go any other way.
if you want to see this in action even with a reduced roster, go watch the fire elemental fight in episode 129 and count the rounds. between caduceus' mass cure wounds and spirit guardians, caleb's slow, veth's sneak attacks, and jester's guiding bolts, the nein were able to scrape out a win thanks more to their bag of tricks than the damage output. veth only got sneak attack because of guiding bolt's secondary effects, slow kept veth safe from an opportunity attack and jester from a multi-attack, mass cure wounds gave caleb that round to cast slow, and the spirit guardians passively whittled down the enemies into KO range. the accumulated secondary effects were too much for the enemies to withstand and they fell hard. notice how everything built on one another here. that's what cockroach parties learn to do well. it was sloppier than a normal nein fight but they did it with a reduced roster AND with nearly all of their high level spell slots spent before the fight. yeah, they're fucking scary.
vm, however, is a whole different kind of scary. this team can put you down before you even know what's happening. it's harder to target the group's biggest damage dealers because you have a hulking barbarian and often an elemental up front locking down combatants. the dagger rogue can teleport and fly. oh, and give himself an extra action each round. the ranger and the gunslinger can stand back and just go to town. the freaking bear can maul you. the bard can make your life a living joke in your final moments. the cleric is a wildcard because the group is built to fight without her; if she's around, good luck because that's another round of attacks you have to take and an extra round vm can take. their DCs are ridiculous, as are their overall ACs.
but the thing to know about vm is that they have to put you down fast. they don't have the hit points for longer fights and they definitely don't have the utility for longer fights. their druid is offensively oriented, their cleric is often absent, and their bard is mostly support. he's often the only one running that bag of tricks. he can and will fuck up an opposing team given the chance and bolster his own, the problem is that he has almost no backup here. it's a giant hole that is begging to be exploited. it's an even bigger hole when that bard can only cast one spell per round.
so, going into the battle royale, the vm side had to down one member of the nein as fast as possible preferably in two rounds or fewer. it almost doesn't matter who, because if you down beau or fjord, that forces jester or fjord to spend their action or spell getting the downed member back up. if jester goes down, fjord has to do something about it. well, i say it almost doesn't matter but beau's deflect missiles makes her the worst target of the trio and yes, i'm including fjord's half-orc bounce back in that calculation. that gives you one round where the person healing isn't fucking up your team. vm's secondary objective was to monitor and control beau. her movement is nothing to compared to a hasted vax but her stunning strike is the most lethal weapon the nein brought into this fight. vm overall is not a melee group to begin with and their con saves are all garbage. vm has to find a way to keep her off their tails if they want a chance. we also know that vm's plan was to try to take out jester first so throw that objective into the mix as well.
all the nein have to do is survive the first couple rounds, monitor scanlan and pike, and get into position. that's basically it. the nein can absolutely withstand vax and percy's damage output for the first two rounds. pike and scanlan's damage output can be scary but pike in particular has to decide whether she wants to hold high level slots for healing. and she would need those higher level slots to get close to percy and vax's damage output. the nein know from experience that the support caster is where the real trouble will begin.
but before we kick things off, remember that matt specifically designed this battlefield to take turns away from the teams. the chests are an action to search and are located far out of the way in the field. the gem requires an action to activate, which basically means sacrificing your action for someone else's, and shifts between six designated points on the field. matt, who has a deep understanding of how both teams operate, decided to play on the nein's insecurities that they were at a severe item disadvantage and see if he could get them to bite. high risk, high reward. granted, this is me speculating but it does look like matt saw the fight very differently from the players and readjusted the field accordingly.
so we kick off and immediately scanlan proves why he is the top priority on the nein's list. he gets the gem, gets fjord prone on the ground, and comes within a hair's breadth of turning the fight into a five on two potential slaughter. travis brilliantly responds to these circumstances in the best of ways. see, fjord isn't the nein's utility magician for this fight; fjord's the bait. travis makes a very big spectacle of himself and fjord's predicament. and vm buys it hook, line, and sinker. ashley tries to continue with the original plan of gunning for jester only to discover that jester is who knows where.
vax, percy and scanlan? immediately take their shots at fjord. but fjord's on the ground which puts percy's awful misfire mechanic into reasonable play. so fjord gets lucky and doesn't take anywhere near the amount of damage he could have from percy. scanlan, after percy is removed from the field, decides he's better off trying to finish fjord but only hits a 3rd level thunder wave instead of a higher level one, which sam was probably saving for some counterspells or such. i don't think a higher level would have made that much of a difference but it is important to note.
more importantly, vax gets greedy. he got two good hits on fjord with his two actions, he could have left and hidden for the next turn. yes, vm has to down fjord as fast as possible. however that haste is going to be more effective over the long term if vax can keep it. but fjord's easy prey and he thinks vm can down him before jester can get over there to do anything about it. so he goes for the bonus action attack. pike eventually joins this mad dash scramble and like scanlan, she absolutely needed to throw something huge at fjord to get past his half-orc racial trait to have a prayer at downing him. but she did not because ashley seems to have been saving all her high levels for healing so fjord survives the round in honestly a very good position. vax can't target him from range with the cloud up, scanlan now has bigger problems than fjord with molly right up on him, and pike ran, taking damage and healing fjord in the process.
meanwhile, the nein's ladies are free to run and play the field as they see fit. jester has a big opening round flame strike. beau decides she can hold off on her round 2 blitz run to vm in favor of bringing molly onto the field. remember kids, never let a monk with 55ft of movement have the run of the place, it's bad for business. jester then makes a great play with her dispel magic at vax's haste. hashtag thanks, fjord. remember, kids, cockroach parties excel at taking turns and actions away from their opponents. in round 2 alone, the nein successfully remove percy from the field and remove vax's extra attack. that's both big damage dealers hobbled in one round. they also gave themselves an extra turn, adding molly onto the field. and oh boy, molly.
here we see the utility martial fighter molly could have been. sam's confused by the low damage that molly's doing his first round but the damage isn't really the point of the attacks. that brand of tethering is far more important, as are taliesin keeping an eye on which reactions will support the nein and molly's second attack wasting scanlan's reaction. counterspell is off the table for the back half of round 2-beginning of round 3, which is important if fjord wants to get the heck out of dodge.
in case it wasn't obvious earlier in the match that the nein are absolutely gunning for scanlan, round 3 begins with beau's blitz against scanlan. fjord's luck against the dominate person balances out with scanlan's save against the stun and beau missing one attack. here, vm starts to get distracted. they chose their focus fire target, fjord, but now do not, arguably cannot, follow through on it. we'll never know what could have happened had vm said to hell with beau and molly in our faces, we have to finish fjord.
vax tries to retaliate against beau but here's where the cockroach starts to come into play. molly blood curses vax, which saves beau a full sneak attack+ worth of damage. it also utterly wastes vax's turn. fjord manages to escape (and damage pike while he's at it) and regroup where it's safe. scanlan tries to dimension door but fails due to the brand. literally any other move scanlan could try on the pair of them had a better chance of success. instead, another vm turn is lost. taliesin recognizes the importance of getting beau advantage and supports her at the cost of two of his attacks missing, but not before scanlan is forced to cutting words one of them. another potential counterspell and cutting words lost. neither jester or pike contribute significantly to this round; the nein have done so much damage to pike in three rounds that she is forced to heal herself while jester chooses to dimension door herself to the gem and only a low damage roll lets it evade her.
beau takes molly's setup and gets the critical scanlan stun. he loses his full round. fjord takes the opportunity molly provided him to polymorph into a t-rex, bringing him fully back into the fight. vm is really going to have a time and a half trying to finish him now unless they can put up a big single damage attack. jester builds on beau's setup by casting flame strike, whose dex save scanlan automatically fails. he goes down. if you're the nein, this is exactly where you want pike focused, on her team and not on yours. she has access to most of the same spells that jester has and the more you pressure her to focus on her team, the better. it's not wasting her turn, precisely, but it is controlling what she can reasonably do with it.
now we come to percy versus beau. i don't want to diminish the insane good luck beau had to take only 26 points of damage from six shots because what matters here is that percy absolutely could not down beau. period. her hit points were too high and after she took almost nothing from the first two shots, it should have been clear that she was going to get her turn and she would absolutely attempt to stun and down pike and scanlan. i'm not going to monday morning quarterback this fight but i will point out that the more rolls travis has to make to maintain concentration, the greater the chance he fails and you get to hit fjord's actual hit point pool and trade fjord for scanlan. and if you can get him before he can get back into the fray, even better.
beau stuns the gnomes and drops scanlan again. her inner cockroach rears its head once more as she negates more than half the damage on vax's critical hit sneak attack. fjord-rex downs scanlan and grapples pike. the stun on pike here really helps negate that high AC of hers. after scanlan's death, it's a long slow death spiral. vax abandons the fight in the next critical round in favor of keeping the gem instead of targeting fjord. percy attacks beau once more instead of fjord due to fjord dangling pike over lava. he starts to focus on fjord only to get distracted by jester. pike goes down but vax gets caught by beau before he can get her back up. and so it goes with vm losing turn after turn after turn until finally the nein poof percy out of existence and bring molly back. a fitting end for the team who started their final boss fight with eight and came out nine.
bottom line here, the vm team played like they had way more time than they actually did. they had to commit to a target and see it dead as fast as possible. they had to control the battlefield quickly and keep it. they didn't so they couldn't. aside from building on damage dealt, they couldn't create advantages or opportunities for each other nearly as effectively as nein did. all of these factors meant that the nein did what they always do: grind their enemies under heel.
#critical role#cr meta#critical role spoilers#vm vs m9#vox machina vs mighty nein#d&d mechanics#vox machina#mighty nein#the mighty nein#cr spoilers#my meta#long post#don't let your opponents run circles around you kids#control the battlefield or the enemy will control you#teamwork makes the dream work
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Magnum PI 4.09 - Better Watch Out review
So where to begin with this! I mean while a good chunk of this episode was Magnum and Lia running about, BUT we got so many small Miggy moments and stuff I don’t even mind!
(In fact Magnum/Lia relationship in this felt more like it was there to give us Miggy moments more than anything. Which is kind of what it is about so yeah... makes sense.)
We also got so much soft Higgy. From her being all ”this was the best way I could think of '' about the Santa/Elf gig (can we talk about character growth? I mean season 1 Higgy would rather get shot before putting an elf costume on!)
(Though Higgy does looks like she be ready to murder someone wishing her a merry Christmas here!)
having the lads as a background on her computer
being there to tease, support Magnum in his relationship and for saying ‘she don’t know what she’s missing’ there at the end. And staying when the crisis is over just because she’d rather be there to support him. All the good stuff.
It was nice that we didn’t get an actual hostage crisis at the precinct like the summary said, but a digital one. This made it make sense for Higgy to be left at HPD trying to hack and stuff while Magnum and Lia did the physical detective part. Good reason to put her on the side-line rather than having something stupid like they’ve done before, so Magnum and Lia working together could happen.
I would have, despite not really caring about Lia/Magnum, to have seen some more of the feels going on there. Because when Magnum confines about being upset Lia lied to Higgins, it’s almost surprising. (Loved their talk here and someone remembering - if vaguely - to reference Hannah.)
I mean sure, he is clearly upset but at the same time… not really feeling it. But because she’s more of a “in the background obstacle” to Miggy than anything else, we don’t want or get to see much of their ‘normal dynamic’. So IDK. Maybe having her be like “yeah, I’d love to come to O’hana X-mas” at the start and then at the end realizing he’s hurt and going “Actually I have paperwork.”
Small question about Lia’s dad and Magnum and Higgins’ previous dealings with them - didn’t Higgy push a company assassin out of a window 20 floors up in s. 1 or 2 and he got smashed like a pancake? Or maybe that was some other organization? It’s not gonna happen but it would be excellent fun if Lia’s dad had Magnum followed, one of the followers recolonized Higgy as the person who killed said hit man (who was actually a close friend of Lia’s dad) years ago and we got a big dramatic mess when they tried to get revenge on Juliet... (fic idea ding-ding-ding.)
As for Caleb and the car plot as well as the bail skipper small time crock with a heart of gold was nice.
(I’m really happy that even crocks get to be nice and love their families sometimes. It’s very X-mas appropriate.)
At first I wasn’t sure what was going on with Caleb and wanted him to be more embracing and happy about being part of the O’hana, but when he talked to Rick I kind of felt like it worked. He had a life and family and traditions and while he’s happy it’s different and he’s still not quite feeling like he’s part of the O’hana fully. But him being thankful and doing the little speech at the end was nice. At the same time, I kind of like him better when he’s angry or upset for some reason.
Favorite moments
This expression on Magnum’s face when he realizes he just invited Lia and her mom to Christmas dinner...
Magnum and Higgins talk / heading out together at the end.
I so enjoy the fact that we’re getting Higgy being just as supportive of Magnum’s relationship as he was with her and Ethan. I do hope we get more progress during the remaining half of the season on the Miggy feels though, because we have already done this story-line in a way with it taking forever for Magnum to even be a ‘currently nothing more than friends’ so yeah. Need something else to happen. (But by the sound of 4.10 it does already sound like the writing team knows as much.)
Also wonder if this is what is going to be the begging of the end for the Magnum/Lia thing, or just a bump in the road? Could we get a “Higgy has sexy dream but Magnum and Lia are now closer than ever so…angst?” sort of thing next time.
I honestly would either like some actual feels between Lia/Magnum or for them to amicably break up and she just be Gordon’s partner. I really like her and Gordon’s dynamic and it’s good to have another female character around!
Loved Thomas giving Kumu a little hugg-y cheek kiss. They so adorable!
Higgy making (in)famous Christmas pudding! I mean, licorice and basil? (Actually it doesn't sound too bad, but I am a Swede and thus a licorice fiend… though still not sure about it in pudding form.)
The ‘doesn’t she know what she’s missing’ moment of course even if it was meant to also imply the whole O’hana hang, it felt more like Higgy pointing out how awesome Thomas is. Which we love. Them heading out together… just feels right.
Same with the bringing her a change of clothes.
Them just being adorable and him teasing her about it but having done it. And I just want to point out… this is the top he picked for her…
(Or maybe she had some clothes picked out for him to stick in a bag but still I like my Magnum gives himself a christmas gift - Higgy-cleavage - idea better.)
Magnum (always) having Higgins back being all “She did it for you Gordy, aren’t you tried of us asking for you favors?”
And the end. Let’s not forget about the end( I already posted these pics but can’t have too many pics of our two idiots looking at each other, now can we?)
I really don’t need anything more for Christmas!
(I am working on a X-mas fic though, that’ll be up today or tomorrow! Just in case anyone wants more Christmas fluff feels...)
Overall, I enjoyed the episode a lot. I loved the fact that this is their yearly tradition, imply they’ve been doing this every year even though we haven’t gotten to see it. Extra points for the fact that Higgy makes weird English Christmas pudding they all eat even though they don’t like it. It’s very nice and makes my Christmas-heart feel happy and full.
So yeah, this ep was a winner!
And Merry Christmas everyone!
#Magnum PI#Miggy#Oh the Miggy in this one#Thomas Magnum#Juliet Higgins#found family vibes#So cute#Magnum PI review#Magnum PI 4.09#Better watch out#Christmas Episode#I want gifs of everything
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Plo Koon entered the rooms he knew almost as well as his own and allowed the serene Force presence he’d been projecting hard to fall away, with a sigh he felt down to his very bones.
It was Dhikraa; the Jedi day of mourning. Of course, each departed friend, comrade or sibling received their own funeral, and were mourned and missed dearly by those they left behind. But on this day, one day each year, time was made to acknowledge and remember all those they had lost, to embrace the grief for a short while and to take a moment to be grateful for all they given to their brothers and sisters and to the Galaxy.
It had been a long day. He couldn’t imagine how Mace was feeling. As Master of the order the expectations on a day such as this were high; His presence was expected at every ceremony and gathering, at all the different species-specific rituals and the various meditation sessions.
Plo was sure his friend would much rather have hidden in these very rooms, with a few nice bottles of something expensive and the privacy to let his shields slip, just a little. Force knew that’s all Plo wanted to do.
Sure enough, the Korun Master was sitting quietly in the dimly lit room, on a cushion on the floor. His back resting against the sofa and eyes still closed, despite Plo’s presence.
He knew better than to ask if he was alright. Simply making his way to the kitchen Plo exchanged his mask for one that allowed him to drink and took his time pouring two glasses of their favourite.
Neither said anything as Plo quietly sat down next to his friend and handed over the glass.
“Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la” he said softly after a moment, raising his own drink in a toast. Not gone, merely marching far away. It was something he’d picked up from the clones, that first time around. And whilst those they missed weren’t exactly dead (some hadn’t even been born) they were very, very far away.
“Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la” Mace repeated, his voice a little horse.
Wolffe, Ahsoka, Comet, Sinker, Adi, Nahdar, Qui-Gon…the list of those he missed was almost too long.
In a rare slip of shields from the man next to him, Plo received a vivid image of young Caleb Dume sitting on a familiar kitchen counter, skinny legs swinging in excitement. And then a blink-an-you’ll-miss-it flash of Depa, grinning as she braided the boy’s hair.
Plo put a hand on his friend’s knee, projecting understanding into the Force around them. It wasn’t only those who weren’t with them they missed, it was the people they were by the end. It was almost unspeakably difficult to be around people, yet still miss their older selves. People changed a lot in thirteen years.
Mace signed, visibly pulling himself together.
“Sorry, long day” he explained, taking a long sip of wine.
“I know” Plo shrugged. “Its over now.”
Mace nodded slowly.
“Have you seen the boys?” he asked, with an air of breeziness that didn’t fool Plo one bit. He shook his head.
“Obi-Wan is very private, he may have wanted to stay away from all the activities. And Anakin is very young” he dismissed.
His heart ached for the two. Both had lost so much this year.
Mace shook his head tiredly.
“Maybe we should-“
He froze mid-sentence, frowning in confusion, and Plo did the same.
There were two very familiar presences on the other side of the door.
Mace made a slightly delayed move towards it when it appeared to open of its own accord.
“Anakin you can’t just-!”
“Master Mace? Master Plo? It’s us!”
Both Masters blinked in confusion and stood up as an excitable ten-year-old barged in, swinging a bag of vegetables around as his slightly harried Master followed lugging a huge container that smelt like gravy.
“Apologies Masters, we- we hope you’re not too busy” the twenty-three-year-old Knight Kenobi managed to somehow keep hold of the vat whilst yanking his charge back by the tunics before he had the chance to run any further into the room.
Plo felt himself grinning.
“No of course not, you are both very welcome” he gestured to Anakin, who was let out of his Master’s grip to run in for his customary hug.
Mace hurried to take the large container out of Obi-Wan’s hands
“Obi-Wan Kenobi did you hack my door?” he asked in mock outrage.
The serious young Knight shook his head.
“I did not.”
Mace’s eyebrows rose skeptically.
“I did!” Anakin chirped happily from where he was depositing the vegetables on the kitchen side. Plo could almost feel Obi-Wan’s urge to facepalm and chuckled.
“Really Masters, if you are busy we can come back another time” Obi-Wan looked at them unsurely, a slight hint of trepidation in his face.
Plo opened his mouth to reply when he was beaten to it.
“Of course not Obi-Wan”
Plo struggled to keep the surprise off his face when Mace actually patted the young man on the back as he led them into the kitchen. The container floating cheekily next to them, to Obi-Wan’s clear amusement.
“What have you brought with you?” he asked conversationally. Plo hung back a little, content to watch the all-too-rare appearance of Mace Windu; Grandmaster. Caleb would be a lucky boy indeed in a few years.
Anakin was already laying out the various root veg on the side, carefully getting them in order and looking around at the various tools hanging on the walls of the tiny kitchen. Obi-Wan caught his wrist with lightening quick reflexes as the boy reached for a carving knife.
“We thought you might like some stew” the Knight explained as if nothing had happened. He looked at the huge vat that Mace had placed on the counter (still with a firm hold on the pouting child’s arm) and gave the Masters a wry smile. “Bant was kind enough to make it for us and well…there’s rather a lot.”
Mace smiled, a genuine happy smile Plo saw all too rarely, and he felt a bubble of happiness in his own chest.
“Yeah there’s loads, and todays like, a really…” Anakin paused and glanced at his Master “significant day” he finished, clearly concentrating on his words “and we just thought maybe you miss Master Qui-Gon too. And your own Masters” he added hurriedly “and maybe we could be together and like, help each other miss…him” the boy was flushing a little by the end of his sentence, clearly embarrassed by the halting explanation.
Plo glanced towards Obi-Wan, feeling durasteel shields locking down over a turbulent Force presence as the young man swallowed subtly and looked away, focussing intently on the vegetables.
“That sounds very wise Anakin” Plo commended softly, nodding encouragingly.
“I couldn’t have put it better myself, Padawan” Mace joined in approvingly.
Obi-Wan offered them a rather shaky smile as he felt both of them reach out with fondness in the Force, and to Plo’s immense pleasure, began reaching back ever so carefully.
Finally! He could’ve cheered at the shy but definite response.
Mace clapped his hands together, breaking the moment.
“Well, stew sounds excellent. Anakin why don’t you set the table and then run and fetch Master Plo’s other mask” he instructed “Plo if you could get the pudding out of the freezing unit we’ll start defrosting it, and I will supervise the chef.” He paused. “And get the emergency teams on standby.”
“Yes Master Mace!”
“Hey! I’ll have you know I have prepared many a meal with no injuries or property damage!”
“Fibbing is not the Jedi way, young Kenobi.”
Plo felt as if he’d had a heavy robe removed from his shoulders, a lightness had entered the dark rooms. He stood back and allowed himself to bask in the suddenly gloriously chaotic atmosphere, banishing all other thoughts as he ruffled Anakin’s hair as the child dashed back and forth creating a centrepiece out of all manner of things.
“Master Mace can I put this candle on the table?”
“What are you doing? It’s this in first”
“What? No I’m sure it’s- Master Plo which goes first?”
“Plo would you grab the pudding?”
---
It was, of course, important to keep those who were marching far away in their thoughts. To remember the lessons they left and to look forward to a time when they would meet again. And undeniably, they had all lost a lot. But as he looked around the now crowded, noisy, messy flat, Plo was nothing but infinitely grateful for everything they had right here, in this moment.
#Space Dads Go Time Travelling#plo koon#mace windu#Anakin Skywalker#Obi-Wan Kenobi#Bby anakin#jedi family#fluff#Obi-Wan finally accepting his new Dads
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Okay woohoo some fic recs incoming!!!! These will probably be all over the place, but I’ve just got to scream about them for a second!!! PS gonna try to do these more frequently because this is fun!!!
Click below the cut if you dare!
Declarations by Nny11
Summary: A series exploring Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's relationship as Grandmaster and Grandpadawan.
Okay, so this is one of the first fics I can genuinely remember reading with a heavy emphasis on the relationship between Obi-Wan and Ahsoka where I was like 'hey oh my god I love them?’ It was a monumental moment for me because now I am so obscenely ride or die for them and I truly do think back to this fic often with utter fondness.
A moment I loved:
“From a certain point of view,” he finally conceded, motioning her to start again. “At least I know you’ve learned something from me!”
“Well I couldn’t learn the secrets of your hair routine!”
the flood comes rushing in by @kenobilovebot
Summary: "I have done this for you. I have put you first." Or, Anakin finds out.
A little bit of sith!Obi-Wan? As a treat? Hm, well...all right!!!!! I don’t want to say too much here because I would really prefer you read it than read any more of my mindless babbling but–it’s good.
A moment I loved:
He can hardly think around the smothering darkness that has so wholly encompassed his master, so effectively destroying the light that has always been. He’s always been able to reach for it at the worst of times. Now he can’t feel it at all.
a time to say goodbye by Sokaless
Summary: Ezra isn't the only one facing the temptation of change in the World Between Worlds. Just minutes after facing Vader, Ahsoka falls through a portal seventeen years into the past and must relive her final encounter with Anakin and Obi-Wan without drastically altering the future. But Anakin Skywalker taught her many things. How to push her luck was one of them.
This is a short and sweet time-travel fic that finds Ahsoka back in that moment in the hangar with Anakin right before they unknowingly have their last goodbye. She knows more now than she did before and struggles not to say it all. But the theme of learning from loss is really special and powerful and I feel this sad sort of closure when I finish (I say that actively because I have...read this fic several several times). Painful, poignant–all the best things.
A moment I loved:
One last thing she learned from Anakin- teaching a lesson often requires holding your student to higher standards than you hold yourself.
With the knowledge that she’s holding him to a standard she herself might never reach, Ahsoka tells Ezra, “I’m asking you to let go.”
good morning, sun by @katierosefun
Summary: “You look miserable.” Ahsoka dropped her hand, spun around. Obi-Wan stood behind her, one arm carrying a cloak and the other half-extended to Ahsoka. [or: After she leaves the Order, Ahsoka has one last encounter with Obi-Wan.]
Let’s see how many of Caroline’s fics I can get away with posting before someone reports me. This one-shot is full of all the good post-wrong jedi stuff. Soka and Obi have a conversation at Dex’s that hurts a lot but also feels real and I will never not respect Caroline for understanding the nuances of the disaster trios intricate and intimate relationships with each other and how they shift and mold around different circumstances. This feels so authentically them that it hurts.
A moment I loved:
What came out instead was a small, half-choked sound.
When Obi-Wan opened his arms, Ahsoka fell right into them. “It hurts,” Ahsoka said, her voice cracking. “A lot.”
“I know,” Obi-Wan replied thickly. “We’ll take care of it.”
You Haunt All My What-Ifs by @kckenobi
Summary: But then she saw the way Obi-Wan’s lip was quivering, and his eyes were shining, and she realized—
He hadn’t called because he needed to tell her. He’d called because he needed her.
“Obi-Wan,” she breathed. “Oh, Obi-Wan…”
And she wanted to reach out, to hold him. To be his refuge, his shelter, his home. Instead she just watched as he shook his head, palmed at his eyes, apologized. She reached out. Touched the hologram.
It flickered.
—
[Satine and Obi-Wan—then, now, and every echo of what if between them.]
One of the first fics that got me on my Obitine grind!! Just the right mix of angst and angst to create the perfect recipe of absolute sorrow. These characters feel so real I could reach out and hug them–and oh, how I want to after this incredible little fic.
A moment I loved:
And then suddenly she was thinking of every little what if—the other paths they could’ve taken, the millions of ways they could’ve ended up here. She imagined a future where he’d stayed. She saw white weddings, crying infants, painting nursery rhymes on a pale bedroom wall. She saw herself rolling over in the middle of the night, bumping shoulders, feeling his warm breath on her face. She saw family dinners, rushed breakfasts as they hurried the kids off to school. She saw laughter. She saw a lifetime. And at the end, she saw herself old and gray, holding his hand, his eyes the last thing she’d ever see.They had arrived at the end now. But she was not old and gray.
Dying Words by @cloudyskywars
Summary: Anakin is trapped beneath a collapsed building, and has one final conversation with Obi-Wan.
One of my favourite febuwhump contributions from within the mountain of wonderful fics that the second month of the year created!! Some good ol classic Obi & Ani pain. Hint of a deathfic...but mostly just the moments leading up to it. And they...hurt. Also!!! Melanie took the care to make Anakin’s final words be about Obi-Wan, which is very special to me for the reason she includes in her author’s note.
A moment I loved:
“And,” he said, “if you ever see Ahsoka again, tell her she was the best padawan I could have asked for.” His breaths were coming in rapid pants, now, and the room was spinning out of focus. “Obi-Wan?” he asked, voice barely audible. “Yes, Padawan mine?” he responded, his own voice shaky as well. “Thank you for being my Master,” Anakin said.
i’m only me when i’m with you idiots by @renegadeontherunn
Summary: who let Obi-Wan pick the holo? and where's the remote?
they might need a bigger blanket.
[or, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan have leave on Coruscant and holo night is the perfect excuse to all squeeze onto a couch together, bicker, and be, well, a family]
Fluff, fluff, fluff! Yes, please! My dear Fiona does a wonderful job wrapping these three up in a blanket and plopping them in front of a holo for a night of witty banter and so-cute-I-could-melt platonic cuddles. I love these three, I love this fic!
A moment I loved:
“You met a civilized Padawan? Couldn’t have been ours.”
get home by @curse-of-men
Summary: After a mission goes wrong and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker goes missing, it is up to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano to bring him home.
[or: a Grandmaster and a Grandpadawan go on a road trip to rescue chaos personified]
What? Me? Rec’ing another Obi-Wan and Ahsoka centric fic? HUH? Hehe, I love that Lou says this is the missing Obi & Soka arc in their author’s note because um, did they look into my heart and know that’s what I most desire? Anyway, this three-parter is incredible from start to finish and I demand you all go read it immediately. :-)
A moment I loved:
Making their way to the cockpit, Ahsoka tilts her head into Obi-Wan’s general direction and says: “You know, Master, Anakin would probably think things so far have gone excellently.”
Obi-Wan returns her look and sighs.
“Now you surely must get why I am so worried about this.”
Ahsoka grins and gestures back and forth in the empty space between them with one hand.
“For what it’s worth, I think we make a good enough team.”
we stand here, together by @nightdotlight
Summary: Master Depa Billaba and Padawan Caleb Dume.
Windu worries for them, out in the wider galaxy. Waging war, while he and Anakin sit here, waiting.
But he trained Billaba, and Billaba is training Dume. Anakin once took lessons from her, when he himself was a Padawan, and he knows she is skilled enough by far, to ensure that both she and her student make it back to Coruscant safely.
It’s ironic, that when cut off from the Force he can understand other people better than he has in years.
ZOWEE!!!! This fic made me ugly cry on my conference period at school!! Ha! Another fic that culminates in, er...death. But!!!! The lead-up! Ooh, baby! The writing style of this one is also very fresh and unique which I appreciate as someone who essentially reads the same thing eight million ways (by choice, mind you!!!! and loves it every time!!!!). This is just an absolute gem of a fic. Queue: your best crying playlist.
A moment I loved:
Depa, her Padawan braid hanging from her shoulder, hugs him around his middle and drags him to the training salles. The whole way, her laughter follows them– warm, like summer rain. Like the smallest, most ephemeral moments of happiness.
Her smile feels like a sunset on his back, and Mace smiles back even as they spar, as green and purple clash over and over again in a dance unique to teacher and student.
He does not need to reach out to know the galaxy is at peace. When they take a break from their own spar, Mace feels a light tap on his presence in the Force; when he turns, Ahsoka Tano stands there in training robes, her own Master a few paces behind– and beside him, Obi-Wan Kenobi, face lighter than it has been in years.
Her Padawan beads hang from her headdress; when she smiles at the banter behind her, turning to retort, they catch the light, and the half-formed impression of those beads torn asunder and held in gloved hand is dissipated by the glare.
Only Hope by @tessiete
Summary: The infamous "Year on the Run".In the wake of her father's death, Satine is assigned two Jedi to escort her safely back to Mandalore, but in the chaotic aftermath of a civil war, there is more at stake than one person's survival. Together, they work to unite Mandalore, overcome ancient grudges, and bring peace to a world ravaged by bloodshed.
Man, oh man, do I love a good year on the run fic! And man oh man am I loving the heck out of this one. It’s in progress so go ahead give it a bookmark and a subscription while you’re at it!!!! But the banter! The sass! The (I assume soon to come) pining! The Qui-Gon third wheeling! READ IT! Cannot recommend highly enough.
A moment I loved:
“...and you’re bound to be hungry.”
“I assure you, I’m not.”
“Well, Obi-Wan is,” Jinn asserts. His back is to his apprentice and so he cannot see the mutinous glance which darts his way. “And as you’ve seen, he’s trouble when he isn’t fed. You have five minutes.”
Goes to Ground by jerseydevious
Summary: Obi-Wan has a question for Anakin following his experiences on Zygerria.
Silly Jedi boys trying and failing to communicate, gosh dang it!!! They get there, eventually, though. :’) Some post Zygerria angst and some tough discussions. HERE. FOR. IT.
A moment I loved:
“You are a bad influence, padawan mine,” Obi-Wan said. He gave Anakin that smile, the one that made Anakin feel like he shared a secret with his Master, something only for them.
In Sacrifice, Peace by @ilonga
Summary: “Shh. . .” Anakin says, gathering the younglings around him, reminding Obi-wan of all those whispered arguments where he had insisted to Anakin that yes, he was good with children, he’d be just fine teaching Ahsoka. He can almost feel the terror rising off Anakin from the hologram; Anakin doesn’t know what’s happening either. But he isn’t letting the younglings feel it. “You need to listen to me very carefully, okay? This--” his voice breaks, “--this is going to be scary. But you have to be calm, and strong. Just like Master Yoda taught you.” [Or, the ROTS au where Obi-wan finds a very different type of pain while looking through the Temple's recordings of Order 66.]
PAIN AWAITS YOU HERE! But that is exactly why you should click, kudos, comment, bookmark, and let this fic live in your head rent free like it’s living in mine. Truly couldn’t get it out of there if I wanted to! AND I DO NOT! Yet another deathfic and angst with The Team (TM). Read it, peeps.
A moment I loved:
“And then?”Obi-wan closes his eyes, pretends he can’t feel the weight of the body in his arms, pretends it’s really Anakin he’s talking to and not some worrying coping mechanism. “And then we fight.” he says.
to hold by @katierosefun
Summary: “What—” Ahsoka looked up and, where she had expected to find a mumbling drunk, she found instead—
“Master Kenobi?” Ahsoka asked, stunned. She straightened, already swinging her backpack around herself again.
“Ahsoka,” Obi-Wan managed. He was breathing hard, just barely bent over because he was supporting, Ahsoka realized dumbly, Anakin.
Anakin, whose head was lolling against Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Whose face was two shades too pale and eyes fluttering and lips parted in a soundless groan that brought Ahsoka right back to battlefields and med bays and other places that she hadn’t been in a long, long while. [or: after leaving the Order, Ahsoka runs into some familiar faces.]
Caroline at it again with the post-wrong-jedi disaster trio angst comin’ in hot! Some platonic bed-sharing, some confused Anakin, some conflicted Ahsoka, some pained Obi-Wan. Well–strike that. They’re all in pain. But what do we expect, honestly? What do we want, honestly? Pain. We want pain.
A moment I loved:
“Only another dream,” Obi-Wan said. He looked at Ahsoka, his face just barely shadowed. “Seems that it’s passed.”
Another.
Ahsoka’s stomach twisted. She looked at the hand she was holding. It was strange—she couldn’t remember if she had ever actually held onto Anakin’s hand this tightly before, but now she could feel the familiar callouses, make out just the faintest of old scars. Ahsoka squeezed it once.
Not near as many as I planned to do or have saved and ready to rec, but...this already got, er...quite lengthy. So! Same time, next week! I’ll have some more! (Well, probably not same time and maybe not even next week...but soon.)
#fic rec#how is this only thirteen fics hahahahahaha#I literally just cannot shut up#go kudos and comment and reblog their stuff PLS I beg you!
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 5 Retrospective
Finished season 5 rewatch a few days ago. Season 5 was an eventful year for the show, on and off the screen. Off screen the show got cancelled on Fox, had a huge public outcry over the cancellation which included several celebrities, and then got picked up by NBC all in 48 hours. It was an exhilarating time as a B99 fan. Lot of stuff happened on screen as well, Jake and Rosa were in prison, team got them out, Jake and Amy got engaged, Rosa came out as bisexual to the precinct and her parents, Holt was in the running to be NYPD Commissioner, Amy became a Sergeant, and then Jake and Amy got married. Eventful season to say the least. Its also my favorite season of the show.
Honestly, this season is about as close to perfection I felt with a season. In other seasons there are at least an episode or two which I felt were meh or problematic. Season 5 is near flawless. I think Return to Skyfire is the weakest of the episodes but its still pretty fun. There are several episodes of season 5 that all rank in the top 10 B99 episodes in my opinion. The show also takes some risks with a couple of experimental episodes. There are episodes with a lot of heart, there are episodes that absolutely hilarious, there are ensemble episodes, there are two hander episode. some excellent new guest stars, and many great recurring stars.
I think the two prison episodes are pretty interesting. Tim Meadows as Caleb is absolutely amazing. He is so likable and low key hilarious that the fact that he's a cannibal who eats children always feels like a dark surprise. He and Andy Samberg make for a fun duo. The first of the two episodes is particularly fun. The show doesn't hesitate to show the danger of Jake being in the prison, especially the situation he finds himself by the end of the premiere. The show does connect one story to the next pretty seamlessly with the end of the Melanie Hawkins story connecting the the Seamus Murphy story which then connected to the Holt commissioner story. There are also a couple of really good experiments in experiments and story with The Box and Show Me Going. The Box is B99 at its most confident. Apart from Gina very briefly at the beginning and Boyle very briefly at the end, the entire episode really hinges on only three characters. Jake, Holt, and Sterling K. Brown's Dr. Davidson. Its a brilliant showcase for all three actors and all three characters. I believe Brown got a Guest Actor Emmy nomination for his performance and he's brilliant as the smarmy Dentist who really is in control for majority of the episode. Braugher and Samberg were old pros with their dynamic at this point and this is fantastic Jake and Holt episode because you completely get why Jake wants so badly to prove that he's right in front of Holt why being cast as the screw up and the idiot in the interrogation frustrates him so much because we know how much Holt's approval means to him. We also see why Terry call Jake his best detective back in season 1 because of how he riles up Davidson to get the confession at the end and getting the approval of Holt that he wanted. Its an incredibly satisfying episode and one of the show's best imo. Then there is also 'Show me Going' which is a surprisingly tense episode in which nothing tense actually happens on screen. The episode does a great job working with the fact that the only knowledge the squad has is that Rosa is on the scene of an active shooter situation. Basically we are in the same situation as the characters. Since all the characters are on edge, so are we. The show does a nice job balancing humor and recognize the danger of the situation.
The season has probably my favorite B99 episode and definitely by fav B99 Halloween episode with HalloVeen. Whereas the last three Halloween episodes were predictable or spoiled from the promos, this one actually threw a genuine surprise. I knew Jake and Amy would get engaged some point in the season, but I expected it to be on the much hyped 99th episode. Instead it can much earlier with HallowVeen and its a delight from start to finish. Its great to rewatch the episode because you pick up little signs that Jake was a bit more desperate to win than usual. First when he says that planning for the heist is what got him through prison time, and then when he says to Boyle that he has to win this time and this heist is way too important. On first watch, these details just slip by as regular overzealous Jake but they have additional poignancy on repeat. The actual proposal moment is handled beautifully in a very peraltiago way where it is both funny and romantic, with Charles' reaction being the cherry on top. There are quite a few strong related episodes that follow. The Venue being a fun return with the Vulture, Two Turkeys being a TWW reunion with Smits and Whitford returning as Amy and Jake's fathers. Its a better Thanksgiving episode than the previous season Smits appearance. Bachelor/ette party is another glorious episode with wild, fun shenanigans with Reginald VelJohnson appearing as himself. Jake & Amy is a very typical wedding episode where everything goes wrong but its perfect in all the right ways. Its heartwarming and sweet. You get more examples of how Jake and Amy are perfect for each other with Jake knowing the inside and outs of how Amy stresses out, and then ending on a wonderful B99 wedding with Fred Armisen returning to make a cameo appearance as Mlep(clay)nos. The episode was designed to work as a series finale since the potential for cancellation was there and while it leaves the season on a cliffhanger about Holt's job, its the sort of cliffhanger that we could have interpreted positively if the show hadn't gotten picked up by NBC.
The 99th and 100th episode of the show were also memorable. The creators chose to acknowledge the 99th episode in a way that most shows acknowledge the 100th episode, in true 99 style. Its a full ensemble episode barring the absence of Chelsea who would return on the 100th episode. Its a typical road trip episode which kickstarts the Holt commissioner storyline. It also is the episode where Rosa comes out as Bi to Charles. This was obviously a big story for Stephanie since she is bi as well and she championed this story. It gets explored in further depth next episode, but Stephanie Beatriz gets to do some of her best work in these two episodes, showing her vulnerability without losing her toughness. Game Night honestly feels very true to not just coming out as Bi to your parents but true to any child who has to confess something that would be against their conservatives parents' values. I think Game Night is a fantastically bittersweet episode and Danny Trejo is brilliantly cast as Rosa's father. The episode positions him as the parent whose reaction Rosa is most worried about and I love how they show that while its difficult for him to grasp the concept bisexuality, he comes around to accepting it and accepting Rosa. But the episode is still bittersweet with Rosa's mom not having come to terms with it. Its also an excellent Rosa and Jake episode where we see Jake endure incredibly uncomfortable situations to help Rosa. Its a characteristic that helps make Jake so endearing that he's willing to cross all limits for his friends.
There are lots of fun and hilarious episodes in between. Craig Robinson shows up as Doug Judy in The Negotiations which is another fun ep. Kevin and Jake get a great episode dealing with their dynamic in Safe House. Rosa and Amy have some fun in White Whale as the Sleuth Sisters. Pimento returns in Gray Star Mutual for some more crazy shenanigans. Gray Star Mutual also has my favorite cold open of all time with Jake leading a suspect lineup in a rendition of 'I got it that way', totally forgetting the crime that he's got the lineup for. Its pitch perfect and I've lost count of how many times I've seen that cold open on youtube. It basically has its own fanbase and introduced so many people to B99. We also get to see Naseem Pedrad as Jake's sister Katie and the end up having a cute dynamic. David Fumero shows up in The Puzzle Master. There are also pretty funny episodes dealing with some serious subject matter such Jake dealing with his own doubts in his ability to do his job after Prison in Kicks and Holt dealing with gambling addiction in Bad Beat. All handled very sensitively.
All in all, this was a fantastic season for the show. I had a blast rewatching it and it ended the Fox era in spectacular note. A 9.5/10. Now on to season 6.
'
#b99#brooklyn nine nine#brooklyn 99#raymond holt#jake peralta#terry jeffords#amy santiago#rosa diaz#charles boyle#gina linetti#andre braugher#andy samberg#melissa fumero#terry crews#stephanie beatriz#joe lo truglio#chelsea peretti#peraltiago#sterling k brown
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ok but nothing will ever convince me that mace windu isn't just the jedi version of captain holt from brooklyn 99. anything he does i can see mace doing.
captain holt seems so bland/unfeeling but acually cares so deeply and is no nonsense but about 90% troll by volume. that scene where captain holt tells jake that he injured himself hoola hooping but deleting the evidence? inspired by the 10000 times mace has done that same thing to every councilmember, master, knight (anakin specifically), padawan, initiate, clone trooper, politican, random coruscanti citizen etc. imagine the council bickering and he's like i'm not getting involved and then turns his back to them but they won't stop and it's the "look what you did, you made me turn my chair" scene.
fox and ponds fighting over blockade and ponds tried to bribe with more massifs and mace get called down there and does the "you've disappointed all three of us" thing.
captain holt's relationship with his dog-child pepper is how mace is with depa/caleb change my mind. these two will never do anything wrong ever and one would never believe mace could go full stage mom until you see them together
ponds is his gina linetti and they've got that sort of rapport going that you only get between the most outgoing, fashionable, charismatic and confident younger and the reserved, elegant, wait is he actully a droid and stone faced elder. they are thick as thieves, and can and will troll anyone that crosses their path, but are both so competent and are the best team ever no one would ever believe.
just imagine ponds ranting about all the space-reality shows and space-telenovelas and mace knowing all of them and their drama by heart and shocking everyone with his knowledge of them and his theories. after oya vode keeping up with all of them to talk with ponds about the latest socialite to marry some guy who's way too old for her. ponds knows everything about mace and can predict his actions better than anyone else and all of his littles get grumpy, old master windu as a grandfather who plays dress up and tea with them and listens too all their sibling bickering and mediates, but no-one ever believes them because he looks way too serious.
just... captain holt is one of my favourites and this thought burrowed itself deep in my mind and won't get out and soft wars mace kind of fits this sooo hope you've actually seen the show or else this won't make any sense hha but idk watch highlights on yt if you want to see what i'm talking about if you haven't 😅
So I have to admit I only know B99 from memes and cold open videos, so I don’t know many of their names. Except Captain Holt, him I do know. And I absolutely 200% agree that Mace has that exact blank-faced-trolledness going for him. I mean look at the guy. Look at that scowly face perfect for disguising shenanigans. Look at that poise, that decorum that says ‘no you can’t possibly suspect THIS man of shenaniganry!’ No, this man is a consummate professional troll and Depa grew up to be the exact same way. Which is extra excellent because Mace 200% covers for her until she’s good enough to not get caught. Unfortunately Caleb growing up as he did among Vode means he absolutely was infected by their version of subtlety, which is often rather lacking. Depa is trying desperately to fix that. It would be easier if Grey wasn’t constantly laughing at the attempts and fiendishly indulging Caleb. And Ponds too, since Caleb is basically his grandpadawan and he hasn’t been able to talk Mace into another Padawan.
I love this lineage a lot ok. Let them troll!
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can you match your mutuals and which idol they will be best friends with and why
ok anon I know this took me a while to answer but I am not very good at these ahdkajds I will only do a few mutuals. I have sooo many lovely moots so pls don't feel bad if you're not here. I combined it with the recent ask I received as they are similar! without further ado ~
@jaehyukkies with Taehyun (TXT) - I always say this but because I really think they fit together!! both very logical, like to clown a bit and very cute! their love languages are clowning <3 and they would be very good at being the rational mind of all friendships.
@fightorescapes with Soobin (TXT) - again another one I tend to pair I think but because to me Vivi is the leader of moablr so it makes a lot of sense in my mind!! also Soobin is full of love and is such a softie therefore these two would be so good together! (They're both so lovely)
@drunkdazed with Bic (MCND) - Bic is positive, energetic and a great encouragement to the team which is how I feel about Julia! They would get along really well with their fun energy <3 their happy energy is what keeps us going!
@polargyu with Jay (ENHYPEN) - Jay is hilarious and a bit of a clown, but also so damn loveable. Such a sweetheart and takes great care of everyone, especially the maknaes. Sam has the same energy, she is so good at looking our for people and giving advice so her and Jay would be a perfect fit!
@cherriki with Sunghoon (ENHYPEN) - I went for a different choice with Lulu this time and my reasoning is their wit and ideas. They both have a lot to give and also Sunghoon has a sense of humour that reminds me of Lulu in many ways ajdlsjdk they would be great together.
@heeseunq with Jake (ENHYPEN) - again a different choice but I have been thinking on it and came up with Jake because Riri is like the informative and very helpful with translations and such and Jake is often the main one for this too! They're also both very friendly and genuinely so sweet they really suit each other!!
@honeyseungz with Yeonjun (TXT) - I feel like this wouldn't even need an explanation like could you imagine these two together ahdksjdk chaos. Artzyy is always coming up with some quips and chaos as Yeonjun does hehe these two would have so much fun together!!
@hyukaheart with Huening Kai (TXT) - not just bc of the bias but they are both SWEET ANGELS!! Hyuka is a real boost for the team and Hope is on here! They are easygoing and approachable and they would be so lovely together!
@mowah with Beomgyu (TXT) - Caleb gives me Gyu energy, they would make excellent besties. They are affectionate but also teasing. They are both very likeable and people are naturally drawn to them!
@soppa with Doyoung (Treasure) - Sofi and Dobby make a great pair as they are both caring and open minded and willing to help anyone. Also give off cute energy. Their conversation would go really well together and I think they would get along so well!!
@yeonjuins with Hyunsuk (Treasure) - ok these two would fit so well together omg both very fun and expressive and look out for each other!! Their personalities are fun and infectious so they would be a great fit!
@leeheeseungs with Jungwon (ENHYPEN) - another great combination. Both very cute and easygoing and would be willing to look out for others and guide them!! Joy is a huge name in engeneblr so I think they both give off huge leader energy~
#moot game#mail#anon tag#i had this in my drafts for sooo long i am Sorry#it was in here for so long i had lots of old URLs written down LOL
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Oooooo how about #13 for a platonic Team Cleric? I believe in you, beat that writer's block! 💪✒️
& marginaliana said: Writing prompt! Caduceus & Jester, 13 kissing someone’s forehead
You both gave me the same exact prompt, haha, so tagging you both here! This was so great and I had a LOT of fun writing in Jester’s voice. ✨
Clerical Work (912 words, gen)
Caduceus wasn’t sleeping.
No one quite realized how much Jester noticed, but she’d been keeping track for awhile. The last three nights they’d spent in the dome, Caduceus had volunteered to take a watch – less unusual on its own – and also spent significant time just lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling with empty-looking eyes. She’d also stumbled across him in the tower kitchen in the wee hours of the morning on a different night, when she’d snuck down to try to get some cookies from one of the cats in a fit of her own restlessness.
As they all bedded down for another evening in the dome (Caleb having used his seventh level spell slot again), Jester waited until Caduceus volunteered to take a watch and chirped out, “I’ll take watch too!” She didn’t look at Fjord, knowing he would be a bit taken aback that she wouldn’t be joining his watch that night, but some things were more important than romance. Fjord would understand. Caduceus was his friend, too.
They were to take third watch, so Jester curled up for bed and made sure to get some excellent sleep first, just to make sure she got all of her spell slots back. They’d had quite a battle that day, and her magic was pretty low. She slept pleasantly until Beau shook her awake for watch. She was completely unsurprised to discover that Caduceus was already awake, seated cross-legged by the edge of the dome away from the sleeping forms of their friends. Jester yawned and rubbed her eyes, stretching a bit before she made her way over to join him.
They sat in silence for a bit as Jester listened attentively to make sure Beau went back to sleep and that none of the others were awake and listening. Caduceus held so much inside himself, it was unlikely that he would feel comfortable talking about whatever was bothering him if the others were listening. Jester had never met such a private person before – Caduceus was so open and friendly, but he also shared less about himself than even Caleb! Jester knew what it was like to share only the soft edges of oneself with the world, keeping the cracked pieces deep inside, but Caduceus seemed to hide both his soft edges and his cracked pieces, almost as though he was afraid that if he had a genuine emotion or opinion, the rest of them would leave.
Oh, Jester realized. Leave him like his family. Oh, that was bad. She would have to be careful with this line of questioning!
“Caduceus,” she began, her voice low so as not to wake the others. He glanced over at her, puzzled. “Why haven’t you been sleeping? Sleep is important for getting all your spells back!”
Caduceus blinked at her slowly. “Oh,” he said after a moment. “You noticed that?” He seemed surprised. He was so silly – he wasn’t the only one who noticed things about people.
“Of course I noticed that,” Jester told him, giving him a soft smile. She leveled her most earnest look at him. “You’ve been so upset by that city and what the Tomb Takers are trying to do, and that forest upset you a lot.”
Caduceus glanced to the side, not making eye contact. “Yeah,” he said, agreeing vaguely in a way that didn’t give Jester any information at all.
“You shouldn’t take this all on yourself!” Jester said. She scooted closer, moving to sit cross-legged right in front of him in a shorter mirror of his own pose. “You’ve helped all of us so much. Why don’t you think you’re worth letting us help you?” She reached over and took one of his furred hands in her own, not looking away from his face.
Caduceus finally met her gaze, and he looked like someone had torn his heart out. Jester wanted to cry in sympathy when she saw how much pain he’d been carrying, how much he’d been hiding from all of them. “I don’t think I’m not worth being helped,” he said slowly. “It crawls beneath my skin. It knows me, it calls to me. I dream about it. The Wildmother doesn’t know what it is or what it wants from me.” He closed his eyes for the long moment between a breath. “If I talk about it, I have to think about it.”
Jester’s heart ached for him. “I understand,” she said. She leaned over and rose to her knees in order to press a kiss between his brow, gentle but firm.
Caduceus blinked in dazed surprise, unused to physical affection from his teammates, and she gave him a soft, sympathetic smile in response.
“We are here for you, Caduceus,” she said, trying very hard to make sure her voice sounded serious. “Please talk to us. At least to me?”
He still looked lost and sad, but he reached over and captured her other hand in his own as well. “Thank you, Jester.”
She beamed at him. “You’re welcome. Next time you can’t sleep, come find me; we can get midnight snacks together! Oooh, Caduceus, you know how to BAKE…that will be so great—” She let her mindless chatter move the conversation onward, sensing Caduceus had already hit his limit for the evening.
It was okay. She would wear him down. Slowly but surely, she would help him learn to open up to them. Maybe then he would even get some sleep.
#jester lavorre#caduceus clay#team cleric#critical role#cr fanfic#my fics#me#asks#highintlowwis#marginaliana#I guess every single one of these is going to have a goofy title#enjoy!!!!#this was so much fun to write#I might write a sequel where they midnight bake together
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Okay quick pre-work, post-coffee, typical lack of sleep Friday rundown of the fatal flaws speedrun remark:
Pretty much all of this could have been avoidable with care, and also it’s absolutely valid that it wasn’t and the DM-ing choices were in line with the fact that this was avoidable.
This is not a slam on the players, because like 90% of D&D complications are avoidable with care, and that would also make for a very boring game. The RP these past three episodes has been excellent, the choices are all understandable and fully in character, and as mentioned before, I kind of want to record an ‘everyone makes optimal choices’ D&D session to show people how preposterous that would be. There was an excellent, in-character, in-session discussion on blame so like, rewatch that if you start to blame specific people. Also idk about you but I don’t want actual play to watch people not get brutally and unexpectedly attacked by fire monsters.
With that said:
Caleb has been (again, and I can’t stress this enough, understandably) simultaneously experiencing hubris of the wizard variety and shame spiraling, which has in turn led to some very showy magic that was one of the many factors in them getting caught in Vergessen, and in him having so little magic later on that he couldn’t (for example) cast the dome within a minute instead of ten.
For Jester it was her tendency, as other people have noted, for her to see people on a very individualized level without always considering context, and often to see the best in people, which is often a wonderful trait but also leads to, for example, telling a guard where your famous mother lives and leaving him alive. Jester loves people - and it’s great, until that happens or she gets into a loud conversation with Veth about future career plans in unknown territory while mostly out of spells.
For Veth, it’s the sticky fingers and impatience, whether it’s stealing the extra crystals or not waiting ten more minutes for the dome to be up before sneaking out to check on their surroundings.
Team HFB and Caduceus took a much more background role in the events of this day (and have a little more emotional distance than those three as it’s not their trauma, nor their families involved, plus they were away from the main action for much of the initial heist) but overall the entire team chose to go into Vergessen with minimal planning (not a bad minimal plan, but there were definitely a lot of things that could have been improved by perhaps running some errands in Zadash or Nicodranas first and coming back the next day with more spell prep, for example), which led to such things as Fjord’s dragon illusion which probably wouldn’t have happened if they’d spent a few more hours hashing things out.
Essentially there were a huge number of points where things could have gone much better based on choices (vs. things that happened due to poor rolls)
- holding off on the heist for a day, or even deciding it wasn’t worth it
- focusing more on stealth and speed during the heist and quietly killing all guards, or at least not revealing information
- planning a more careful distraction and escape plan
- better spell conservation
- casting the tiny hut immediately before exploring the fire plane
(I am not personally entertaining the idea of bargaining with Trent; had Word of Recall failed the second time I wouldn’t blame them for doing so but I wouldn’t expect Caleb to willingly make that choice if other options existed in the same way that the above choices could have been played in-character).
And again: this seems like deliberate choices and I think they were excellent ones to make if your goal is to tell a story about these people. I think they did tell a great story about these people! I also think that DM-ing such that all of these choices had escalating and serious consequences is similarly in-character for all the NPCs and true to the situations involved. A good DM, who is playing with people they trust and who’s gone through what exactly is on the table (pun sort of intended) in gameplay should not put players in a situation where things just happen and you can’t do anything, but the thing about agency is that people can use it to make choices that might lead to negative consequences just as easily as good ones.
#critical role#critical role spoilers#still kind of laughing at how jester made up a fake name and then told him about her real famous mother
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Critical Role Episode 103: Are the Mighty Nein Gutless Cowards? The differences between them and the more Brash Vox Machina.
So we have just came off another episode where the mighty nein spent a lot of time deliberating and possibly trying to delay their fight with Vokodo. Trying to stack the deck as much as possible and get 3 tribal guardians, a few werebears and even a lesser diety to fight alongside them while also finding out if there was any weaknesses or exploitable backsides to this supposed god.
And of course this leads to the same recurring topics being brought up again.
“The mighty nein are cowards.”
“ They try to run away from fights whenever possible.”
“They underestimate the hell out of themselves.”
“They draw out conflicts as long as possible going over several plans instead of making decisive moves and sticking towards them.”
And the common reasoning for their super cautious play-style is the death of Mollymauk Tealeaf. After Fjord, Jester and Yasha got captured by the Iron Shepards, the rest of the Mighty Nein set out to ambush the party and this ended in disaster. Matt gave them several hints that this battle would be a lot tougher than they first thought but everyone was 100% in on ambush and combined with some less than stellar tactical decisions and bad rolls, we had our first campaign death 26 Chapters into the campaign.
And then again in Episode 69 we had the Mighty Nein defeat Obann but after he died, the laughing hand did a number on everybody and fjord almost died after being grabbed by the laughing hand and everyone was beat to complete crap.
Now these factors absolutely play a part on team morale and it informs their decisions to be more careful but I’d argue the real difference between the campaign so far is stakes. More specifically the consequences of running and hiding vs standing and fighting.
THE STAKES
In comparison to Vox Machina, the mighty nein are less traditional heroes. Since the start of the campaign they balanced a decent relationship with the Authorities and Power structures with being involved in illegal practices such as helping the knights of requital to elevate one of their leaders to public office, working for a crime boss, providing Vigilante Justice and later stealing a boat and becoming pirates. Then after starting their quest to save Nott’s Husband they switched that balancing act to a more traditional play both sides mentality. The only difference of course being that there endgame was altruistic. They wanted to stop a war and they had to convince each side that they wanted something mutually beneficial while not appearing too friendly to the other side.
Compare this to Vox Machina’s Four Major Arcs
K’varn
Threat: The influence of an ancient artifact is starting to get closer to reaching the surface and if unchecked could lead to major problems for the city.
Personal: Beloved NPC Allura Vysoren’s friend (at the time) has basically been taken captive and they need to save her before she dies and she won’t go back until her dream quest journey is complete.
Briarwoods
Threat: The Briarwoods sent gaseous assassins to kill their hostage chauffeur revealing that their influence could still reach the M9. King Uriel had placed them under house arrest / city arrest while under investigation and their freedom was curtailed until they remove the charm on him by presumably killing the briarwoods.
Personal: The villains killed Percy’s family and took control of is city and home. Percy’s family is hinted to be alive in some manner and the reputation of the team is tarnished.
Chroma Conclave
Threat: Four Ancient Dragons controlling the continent of Tal’dorei and crushing anyone who would dare to threaten their newly seized dominion. Their current home is in the backyard of the leader of this conclave and their friend’s newly liberated hometown is also under threat.
Personal: The head of the villains killed Vax and Vex’s parents. Tiberious was later killed by the threat and the instrumental figure in crafting the alliance betrayed and caused the death of many of the Fire Ashari.
Vecna
Threat: An old mage from the days of the age of Arcanum is planning to complete a seeding ritual to make himself a god and take over the world.
Personal: Scanlan implores them that this is a very important quest and essentially returns for this reason. Lady Briarwood is serving the Whispered one which puts all of VM at unease. Vecna personally disintegrates one of Vox Machina.
These arcs, along with Keyleth’s overall quest being something that she had to face despite her constant self doubts and idealism anxiety, were stuff that Vox Machina couldn’t run from. They couldn’t ignore the issues because the threats were present, personal and there were negative consequences to ignoring the call to action.
Now compare that to the Mighty Nein who exist in a grayer campaign where the right path isn’t always easily identifiable and every action might have negative and positive consequences.
And paralleling their journey it’s easy to see the differences.
Episodes 1-33
Episode 1-4 had them as complete strangers mainly fighting Kyrie, the devil toad to prove their innocence after the circus gets blamed for the results of the show. Then they take a job to rescue missing townsfolk from gnollish marauders. Once they arrive in Zadash, they sympathize with the Knights of Requital who desperately wants to replace High-Richter Prucine with their leader Dolan and they offer to help for some coin but the entire plan was supposed to be a series of heists, only turning violent when said the High-Richter returned and Ulog in a moment of rage killed himself and her in one go.
They then end up whilst trying to get heat off themselves for the murder working for the gentleman who gives them tasks which he promises a healthy amount of coin for that mainly involve getting rid of monsters that are getting in the way of his business and also removing a gang / providing safe passage for one of his associates. Then unexpectedly Molly dies, and the group mentions running would be the smart thing to do but because Fjord, Jester and Yasha are still enslaved the group presses on with a strong resolve to save their missing comrades and avenge molly.
Episodes 34-49
After this they take a trip to Jester’s hometown and they help her mom out by attacking and mutilating a customer of hers who is acting abusive and controlling in regards to his companionship with her. They end up stealing a boat because they’re not sure how to explain what happened to the guards because they essentially got into a fight for no reason.
They sail around on fjord’s quest with Avantika for a while despite being quite unnerved by her fanaticism and her end goal to free Uka’Toa. They try to get dirt on her in which to frame her and succeed but her companion has locate object and just before the mighty nein are exposed Caleb recognizes this is a crucial moment and launches the first attack.
They do run against a young blue dragon but it’s a situation where they all don’t have any need to beat the blue dragon and are just trying to get out. But regardless this is the first winnable encounter they actually end up running from.
Now it’s not unusual up until this point but so far most of their encounters have been quests, stuff that they are paid to get rid of, they’re told about this thing and they kill it for the most part. They’ve felt pretty generally confident about whatever springs up
Episodes 50-87
Now once we get into the Angel’s Irons section things start to change. They go into Xhorhas close up the portal and retrieve evidence to earn a favor from the bright queen before that turns into them being closely watched heroes. They smartly negotiate a truce with the giants instead of wiping them out as they were originally paid to do and free their home of the demonic incursions. They fight Obann the first time and chase after him as they try to get to the bottom of this portals business and eventually things end in heartbreaking failure.
This kicks off to the Ancient White Dragon Iceflex heist. In this situation them not running would be catastrophic and it’s completely understandable that they ran. However this episode did get some criticism because they had a long repeating running gag with Yeti’s undercover business that led to about an hour of planning and really slowed down the pace.
Then a few episodes later they scry on yasha and receive knowledge that she is going to the Lotusden Greenwood to find the heart of the inevitable end. After a stroke of luck with charm person where they take the hand out of the situation they sneak up on Obann and fail at stopping him with Nott’s mage hand. This reluctance to fight here seemed a bit off to people because they already killed Obann but it’s understandable if they didnt want to engage directly though this could be classified as a winnable fight if they played their cards right. There was a hostile tree but incite greed kind of removed it from the fight vs Obann.
We then go to the Happy Fun Ball where a Golem like entity essentially hunts them through many rooms until they get to a point where they can no longer run from it and use machinery in the workshop to help destroy the thing. They probably could have kept running but the continuance of this threat eventually got them so annoyed that they chose to fight it then and there.
Then we get the whole round 3 vs Obann where to save Yasha, there is no way that they can run away from this fight. When the fight in the cathedral ended, even if the MIX felt fine leaving him alone, Nott got charmed into following them beneath to act as a vessel to break the seal. That and obviously they wanted to give this creep who messed with Yasha what was coming to him and prevent his shenanigans from returning to cause them trouble.
Episodes 88+
The cupcake moment was brilliant and an excellent subversion of a Hag Fight. Jester bet on herself and for the time being it worked out masterfully giving Veth a free out of her curse.
Similiarly with Caduceus’ Family they couldn’t just leave the gorgon roam free and not revive his family when they had the chance so they stood their ground and fought it.
Contrast this with the Dragon Turtle encounter where it’s a threat to them sure but they’re under no obligation to defeat it. Why fight for no good reason and risk death when you can just turn it into a sea slug and bounce?
Why fight Vokodo now when they can greater restoration each other and bring more allies and possibly even the traveler himself to their side?
The main reason why the Mighty Nein have constantly ran from encounters is that there hasn’t been enough reason for them to stay and fight. When there is a reason they are pretty cautious to not go in under-prepared and thus have moments where they over plan.
A possible problem that can come from this risk averse approach though just made itself clear in this last episode though. There ship was destroyed because they didn’t defeat the turtle or keep the ship hidden away or sailing where the turtle couldn’t reach it.
Because they didn’t go straight at Vokodo, either the first time or at a later day from the jump where they had a solid plan they are gonna be down spell slots if they do indeed end up not reaching caduceus in time. If they do end up reaching him in time that might mean they have to burn even more spells and will have to try again some other time. Despite there existing some benefits to playing it safe, there are also negatives and I feel like Matt has been stressing that more and more lately
Vox Machina couldn’t afford to rest when it came to the Briarwoods or the Chroma Conclave and I think if the MIX were in a similiar situation they would also step u to the plate it’s just so far they’ve been generally fine with avoiding dangerous situations when possible but it looks like things may be changing in the future. And when people they care about or places they care about are threatened by such outside sources I think we’ll see a lot of the same gumption from the MIX as we did with Vox Machina. It’s just based on there start as a secret grungy kind of illegal group that preferred to stay out of the limelight and experiences with rushing into trouble that it’s taken them longer then Vox Machina to get to this place.
TLDR; I wouldnt say they are cowards but their experiences when combined with lower stakes if they bail out of fights means that unless they feel like they cannot run away due to personal connections or a sense of duty, they probably will run if the threat looks somewhat fierce. That has helped them some risks but it also can possibly lead to more in the future. But I do feel that the story is moving towards a place where they are gonna have reasons to stand firm and fight and become heroes in their own special way.
#this is the longest post ive ever done#dont let it flop#critical role#critical role spoilers#Vox Machina#the mighty nein#caleb widowgast#jester lavorre#beauregard lionet#fjord stone#CADUCEUS CLAY#yasha nyoordin#veth brenatto#c2e103#cr c2e103#percy de rolo#vexhalia#grog strongjaw#scanlan shorthalt#Keyleth#vaxildan#pike#taryon darrington#cr meta#cr analysis
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critical role thoughts time again! damn this arc just keeps on giving us episodes like this huh. spoilers for c2e129 under the cut.
first off AAAAAAAAAHHHHH
shout out to liam for accurately summarising how I felt at the end of the episode: I went in thinking "thank fuck, they got away, they just gotta lie low and get some sleep it'll all be FINE" oops nope never mind
before I get into the actual story and my overload of screaming and emotions about it, more to remind myself than anything else: this stuff is all what *makes* good stories. not-the-most-clever character decisions. fraught moments. having to choose between two really shitty options. tension in extremely unsafe places (and lbr, both the happy fun ball and the fucking plane of fire are objectively v unsafe places! the tension and the fact that neither of those places were safe makes sense!). conflict and guilt and character death. all good story material. soooo yeah these have been very intense episodes, but fuck, these make for some good stories!
first off: the happy fun ball! I always forget how much I loved the episodes we spent in there, it's such an interesting (& terrifying & promising) place
I absolutely LOVED the fact that Yasha could break the door down but it resulted in untethering the rooms from each other. what a brilliant way to keep them moving but also having there be consequences.
the entire imagery of the void and the hallway falling away was so good
... the mighty nein's motto really could be "curiosity before caution", couldn't it. these fuckers, I love them for it
can't believe I was so stressed about the golem I was not prepared for what came next!
team fireplane time!
I was paying lots of attention to Liam's descriptions of Caleb and how he's behaving this episode and look ok he's very good at playing the aftermath of all that traumatic shit with Trent and Vergesson &... my heart ok.
side note: this is more re last episode, but it means a lot to me that Caleb was able to... like, stand his ground and tell Trent to fuck off repeatedly when Trent kept insisting he "just wants to talk", and that the M9 refused to let him go back to Trent, like, that is one abusive and manipulative and extremely honey-tongued man and I did see stuff in twitch chat being like "oh if Caleb had just spoken to Trent this wouldn't have happened" which... nope, it means so much to me that they have settled on "nope fuck this asshole"
Veth's high rolls are so wild I love them, rogues y'all
Matt honestly fucking KILLED it this episode, this really felt like the episode for the families to shine, and Marion, Yeza and Luc all have such strong characters and Matt plays them SO well! I loved every second of it. also I will never not be impressed at Matt managing social situations with multiple npcs.
Luc and Caduceus talking about farts is the adorablest thing, new favourite dynamic
oh boy that combat huh. wow. wtf.
love that Luc tried to shoot the elemental this kid
we're just not gonna talk about everyone's faces when Matt rolled damage for the explosion thing that hit the families, bc I cannot Handle that. it's fine it's all fine
okay but fate just DOES NOT work normally around this game, how tf do you explain those two successive nat 20s from Veth, that was incredible and just. narratively perfect. I loved it I was full on crying at this point.
Cad's hdywtdt was very good
speaking of Cad! this is the first time in a while we've had a revivify! Cad's whole prayer was lovely, and I do like the detail of bugs and moss covering Luc. but mostly I loved the detail of Yeza going up to him and thanking him
the quiet, calm, determination of Yeza Brenatto saying make them pay will stick in my head for a long long time
the sigh of relief I let out when the dome finally went up. my god.
hey hey caleb asked Jester to help him with the collar and it fucking worked, finally, after all these attempts on like the longest of long days when they're all fucking tapped. I was not expecting that! a win!! and he explicitly told her it was for Trent!
look it just. watching Caleb's reaction to Trent coming close to his new family makes me feel things, okay, and the poetic justice of Trent whose manipulative words are as much of a weapon as his magic getting a silencing collar is. pretty fucking delicious.
a lot of the fanfic on the last week has had bits of interaction between Marion and Caleb and I am delighted to see that in canon too!!!
Marion: "if there's one thing I've come to know, it's that the good people are easy to be mislead to think they're at fault for the things the bad people use to victimise them... if they convince us that they're responsible for everything that comes upon us, then they're absolved." man, matt is NOT fucking around
I think these conversations (both Yeza and Marion's) are so important bc after an encounter that harrowing the like... reminder of what you're doing it for, both for the characters AND for the players as like an "it's ok" from the DM is reassuring and needed yknow?
anyway I love Marion so much, her character is just. so excellent, and I love how both her sex work and her agoraphobia are respectfully handled and it's never implied that she's less of a mother for them; and getting a reminder of hey this is a wise and caring and insightful woman who's seen a lot of stuff and hearing her words was just really nice! would like a calm episode where we just get to spend time with her soon pls
loved Liam explicitly saying that Caleb bites his tongue and tries to listen, look how far my boy has come
and Yeza!!! Yeza!!! I cannot have many coherent thoughts about that conversation but I loved how he went full on, this is the firmest I remember him being, saying, "you cannot shoulder the blame for this on your own"
ugh look I love Veth and Yeza's relationship, I love that there is this conflict in their story that doesn't have anything to do with how much or whether they love each other, and I absolutely loved the reminder that Yeza – for all that he is a gentle stay-at-home dad – did get himself mixed up in the assembly business and that Veth dove into the Dynasty to come looking for him. and yeah the image of them cuddling in the dome and talking about the uncertainty of the future and about guilt and blame and the potential end of the world, and still ending with "I love you" is gonna stick in my heart for a while
to zadash!!!
hey at least Jester remembered to send a message. it is entirely ridiculous and kinda adorable that the Gentleman is cleaning up the place for Marion.
okay I think that's all I got, I feel like this is even more rambly than usual. looking forward to some calm?? quiet?? no using up all our spell slots? next episode! also the parent trap
I'm going to sleep now. man this show.
#critical role#cr spoilers#c2e129#text post#this is just an incoherent jumble ok#but CAN YOU BLAME ME#critical role spoilers
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Logan Anker: Duties
Logan Chapter 1: an end and a beginning
Logan settles into his new house, his new neighborhood and comes to terms with his new responsibilities.
The house was probably far nicer than someone who’d caused as much damage as he had deserved. But Logan was not about to argue with Thomas on any of those things.
Thomas was Manifestor. He still had to get used to that revelation. Thomas has sworn that he only found out when he looked up the address he was supposed to meet him at to escort him to his new home. And Logan believed him.
“If you want, I can come shopping with you for some new things for him,” his old friend and new boss offered as he put down one of the boxes they had packed from Helena’s place.
“Thank you. I will first unpack and then make a list of necessities,” Logan assured him as he gently lowered the child to the couch. “Thanks again for finalizing the adoption so fast…”
“Well it wasn’t all me and it wasn't that hard. You are his blood. And you are actually her sole benefactor other than the little guy and she willed you to be his guardian unless you’d refuse so she made it really easy.”
Logan nodded, feeling guilty as he thought of how much trust she’d had in him.
“Call me if you need help unpacking. Or do you need me to watch him for a bit while you get everything ready?”
Logan shook his head. He was not ready to let the boy too far from his sight yet.
“That won’t be necessary. I will be in touch,” he stated as he took in a deep breath to force his emotions in line. He would manage.
Thomas sighed and handed him a card. “He’s a friend of mine and a good doctor. If you need to talk,” was all he said before leaving.
Logan looked at the card and then put it in his wallet. He’d call once he was properly settled in. It was only logical to make an inventory of his current mental state considering that the physical side of his power… It was in everyone’s best interest if he had his mental and emotional state under control.
He started to sort through Helena’s things. The house was already mostly furnished for him, considering he’d only had the barest necessities while hiding from the law the past few years. And most of Helena’s furniture was due for replacement. The nicest things she owned belonged to the child. And even those weren't new.
Thomas was too kind. He might have a generous reformation budget, but all this was still much more effort than Logan deserved.
He picked up a framed photograph of Helena and her late husband. The boy’s father.
They would’ve been amazing parents. Logan had fond memories of Caleb…
The boy on the couch stirred and sat up rubbing tiredly at his eyes.
“Momma?” he muttered confused and disoriented. That was the hardest. How to make it clear to a 2 year old that his mother was gone and that this was his home now?
Logan walked over to the couch and sat down next to the boy who looked up to him with a confused frown.
“It’s okay. You are safe. Do you want something to eat?” Logan asked. He didn’t have the strength to try to explain what happened again.
The boy nodded. “Yes please,” he said softly, a little sad. Maybe he did remember being told that his mother was never going to come back. It was possible that he simply had been dreaming and was disoriented by reality. It happened sometimes. Logan would most likely forget she was gone on occasion too. Grief played cruel tricks on your mind like that.
“Very well.”
After their meal Logan sat the child down with a Disney movie and continued unpacking.
Then the doorbell rang. Was Thomas checking up on him already?
Logan looked over at the boy to make sure he was okay before leaving the room. He opened the door to find a young couple with a toddler greeting him.
“Hi!” The woman smiled with a wave. “My name is Celine, this is my husband David and our son Janus,” she introduced herself and her family. Janus was hiding half his face in his mother’s skirt.
“We are your next door neighbors and we thought we’d come and say hi and welcome to the neighborhood.”
Logan nodded. “I see. Thank you very much. I am doctor Logan Anker. I will be teaching biochemistry at the university starting this fall,” he explained as he shook the adults’ hands. He knelt down and addressed Janus. “It is a pleasure to meet you too Janus,” he informed the small boy who just hid away more. He rose again to address the adults, accepting that Janus simply was not comfortable around a stranger and then he felt a figure behind him. He stepped to the side and looked down to find the boy. He was looking at the strangers with curious but wary eyes.
“Oh, and what is your name?” Celine asked kindly bowing down a little.
“Vigi Aner, ma” he mumbled.
“Oh, your son is so polite,” she complemented.
“Nephew actually,” Logan corrected.
“Oh… oh,” Celine looked to her husband, unsure what to do.
“Our apologies, we didn’t mean to assume,” he offered calmly.
“It is quite alright. Your assumption was not without reason. We recently lost his mother.”
Murderer… No those thoughts were not helpful or correct. Yes I am to blame, but there was no ill intent.
“I am his legal guardian.”
The couple nodded. “Well if you ever need a babysit. I design websites and work from home mostly, so I’m always available,” David explained.
“And of course he is always welcome for a playdate,” Celine added. “Right Janus?” she asked as she looked down.
The child didn’t move for a moment but then stepped forward revealing his face. Logan didn’t miss the tensing of the parents shoulders. He could understand why. The left half of the boy’s face and neck were covered in birthmarks. He could imagine this got him a lot of stares in public.
His nephew stepped forward too and when Logan looked down he saw him smile and point at the freckles underneath his eyes. “Sun kisses,” he said and the parents relaxed. Janus smiled too and then was pulled inside. “Stitch,” was the only explanation.
Logan could only assume that he wanted to continue his movie and had decided that the other boy might as well join.
The Bullards turned out to be extremely helpful. They made sure he knew to find his way around the neighborhood and Janus and Virgil kept each other entertained.
So after a month, he trusted them enough to leave him with them for a few hours.
“I will be back soon. I promise,” he told the child who nodded and held onto his blankie and stitch plushie. Gifts from Logan in hopes that they would help soothe the stress of all these unexpected changes. The boy had nightmares and seemed easily spooked. Logan did his best to make him feel safe and cared for. He felt terribly unqualified for the job, but he tried to understand and provide in his needs.
Then the door opened and the nervous boy was pulled inside by an excited Janus. Their youngest neighbor had certainly opened up more during the month they’d been here.
His nephew looked back and waved him goodbye. Logan tried to smile encouragingly and waved back before handing the bag with necessities over to David. “Once more, my gratitude,” he offered.
“I should thank you actually. Janus… It’s terrible but he already knows he is different from other kids. Your boy has come as a blessing, truly.”
Logan felt something tug inside him in a way that felt both pleasant and painful. A bittersweet feeling. He’s Helena’s son alright. “Well, in that case, call us even,” he offered before bidding his goodbyes, ensuring David had his number down and leaving. He had an appointment with the therapist Thomas recommended.
“Why do you think you don’t use his name?”
Logan’s head snapped up. What?
The end of his first session was nearing and he’d had half a mind to call Thomas and ask him what made him think this would be a funny joke.
Picani was eccentric to say the least. All cartoon references and terrible jokes.
And now…
“Virgil. You haven’t called him by his name, though we’ve talked about him more than anything else. Even when talking about your sister, your stated reason to come here, you talk about him. Yet somehow you avoid saying his name. If not for your paper work I would have no clue. Why?”
Logan was about to object, but then he realized that he was right. Ever since first meeting him he hadn’t referred to him by name once, not even in his head. Even now the name…
“I… Don’t know,” he muttered astonished.
“I wouldn’t want to draw conclusions based on this one conversation of course, but is it alright if I suggest some possible explanations?” Logan nodded intrigued. Maybe Thomas hadn’t been playing a prank after all…
“It could be out of fear to grow attached to him. Or maybe you don’t think you deserve to be close to him. Does that sound like I’m in the right direction?”
Logan went over that in his head. It… wasn’t rational. But the feeling of guilt he felt every time he found himself enjoying the boy’s presence in his life even a little… That wasn’t rational either.
Just the night before he’d given him a bath and when he splashed at the water squealing with laughter he had found himself chuckling as well only to have the wind knocked out of him when he realized that Helena would never get to see this again.
“I guess… It’s just… Helena should be doing these things with him. Not me. I’m not fit…”
“Now I hate to interrupt you, but I have to disagree. You have everything you need to be a good father. You are responsible, attentive and have even indicated yourself that Virgil’s needs take priority. That is an excellent foundation to build from.”
Logan nodded. Rationally the doctor made sense.
“That is our time I’m afraid. But I think we can work with this. I’d like you to reflect on your relationship and interactions with Virgil over the coming week, even if you don’t plan on coming back. You’ll be starting at the university tomorrow, right?”
Logan nodded. “First as the new professor, and in the evening I’ll meet the team I’ll be working alongside with as Brainstorm.” It had seemed pointless to hide that part of his situation. And as it turned out, Picani knew of Thomas' secret too. Which was probably why Thomas recommended him. And Logan had to admit, despite his odd behavior the ,man was clever and observant.
“And… I’ll let you know how things go next week,” he assured the doctor who smiled relieved.
“They wore themselves out in the garden,” Celine explained with a fond whisper as she led Logan to the living room where David was sitting on the couch next to the boys who were holding onto each other in their sleep. Logan felt his heart swell with emotion and this time, as an experiment, he didn’t try to push it down. He let himself feel how the little boy on that couch had quickly claimed a place in his heart and was making it his home.
“Hi…” David greeted before gently nudging his nephew awake.
“Look who’s here buddy?” he asked.
The boy… Virgil, blinked blearily before focusing on Logan who’d accepted the supply bag from Celine. Virgil reached for him, grabbing with his arms, clearly asking to be picked up.
Logan chuckled and lifted him up in his arms, allowing himself to feel how glad he was to have him there, safe and sound.
“Hi papa.” That made Logan freeze. Virgil never called him… He called him Lo… Not…
“He heard Janus call me daddy and papa and today he asked what it was. I said it was like a mom but a boy. I guess he decided that means you for him,” David explains as he lifted his own son up in his arms.
“Ah…”
Logan didn’t say anything more after that. He went home and put Virgil in his bed so he could finish his nap there. He watched over him and stroked at his hair.
Funny, what seemed like a monumental task only minutes ago, was now accomplished for him it seemed. Virgil had decided that Logan was a parental figure. He had compared him to Helena and decided he measured up. Logan could not argue with that.
Logan sighed and went downstairs to dig through the last box that was still not unpacked.
It was filled with pictures and memento’s of Helena and Caleb. He looked at a picture of the last birthday Logan had spent with both of them. “I’ll look after him Helena. I’ll be the best father I possibly can be.”
“Papa?” Logan put the picture away and walked up the stairs to see to his son.
@moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @alias290 @meowthefluffy @frida0043
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