Of COURSE Orym doesn't feel like he can talk to the Hells about what he's feeling. Set aside the sense that he's been told over and over that he's the "normal one" the "good one" the "strong one" by the group, but he's also obviously so angry, and he doesn't trust them right now. Every single one of them has repeatedly shown, over and over, that they aren't safe for him to express his feelings to ABOUT THE TOPIC OF THE RUBY VANGAURD. Imogen is obvious, it's her mother, her connection to Ruidus and everything happening is clear, and actually I think Imogen is the one that's been closest to breaking through to him. Fearne is learning about her biological father, leaning into her power, and is also highly connected to Ruidus and the Vanguard. Sure she's his closest longest friend in the Hells but she's also not safe to truly be vulnerable to right now, about this topic (side tangent, I also think Ferne is the person Orym feels the most need to protect and be strong for, but that's not even the topic of this post). Laudnia is obviously to close to Imogen, and has sort of chosen a side of "I don't care what harm the vanguard does, if Imogen wants to support them I will support them" and isn't willing to listen to anything outside of that paradigm. Ashton is hurting so much, and filled with so much of his own pain and feelings that life isn't fair and Orym has seen his reaction to this type of pain is to be destructive and mistrustful and self-destructive, he's not a strong shoulder to lean on right now. I do think that if FCG hadn't just died Orym might be more willing to trust Ashton, but Ashton is also the one who always says that Orym is the strong good one, and even though he's always followed that up with "but you don't need to be alone in that" I don't think Orym trusts that. Chet is the obvious hole in my logic of "Orym doesn't actually trust the Hells right now" logic, since there's no clear ties to the vanguard or being "on the opposite side" as it were, except that Chet has never shut down the "maybe the vanguard has a point" conversation either.

It's FASCINATING that people just want Orym to talk to the others, but are also mad every time Orym brings up his dead family to the others. Now, I don't think that these are often the same people saying these things, but like, it is interesting that those are the two main gripes about Orym right now.

Orym doesn't actually trust the Hells with his emotions because he's spent the last few months LISTENING TO THEM ARGUE ABOUT THE MORAL VIABILITY OF A CULT THAT MURDERED HIS LOVED ONES. He straight up doesn't trust them with his emotional vulnerability and I think that's a BEUATIFUL character choice from Liam. Like, the tension of loving the Hells and wanting to support them and for them to be happy, but also understanding that he might end up on the other side of this conflict from them is so JUICY! Like, YES! Liam! You didn't get your villain arc in C2, set yourself up for the possibility of sitting across from your whole party again, but this time because you have a clear moral line you aren't willing to cross, and be intractable about it. Explore the grey area between trust and love, and what happens when those two concepts don't line up! How beautiful is this little halfling filled with love that he wants to support his friends EVEN WHEN HE CAN'T TRUST THEM!! It's chilling and sweet and painful, and god I love that little guy with all of my heart.

Also props to Liam for always being willing to lean into conflict, and bring the audience along! I think that's why he's often such a flash point for fandom bullshit, because he's so willing to lean into conflict within the table, and so willing to be the one showing the impact of conflict and emotion. He's always willing to go there and I LOVE IT.

Sam Reich is like the reverse Sam Riegel to me in that every time I see him he's way shorter than I expect him to be

the "you should be wary, because only one side of this table is underestimating the other" -> "i wish for you in the future to find someone who will mourn you when you are gone" -> "do you think that'll break through, or do you think you'll be surprised?" pipeline <3

You know, I think there's something so, so insidious to the idea that Orym's perspective of the Vanguard is "flawed/human" or that him repeatedly reminding his friends what the Vanguard does (kill innocents to achieve their means) "blocks nuance" in the conversation, etc, because it implies that, in this mythical "objective" perspective that apparently exists, the Vanguard aren't so bad. If only Orym could put aside his petty grievances and let people be nuanced about this situation, he'd see there's two sides to this story. And why discount the Vanguard's perspective just because *checks notes* they're a massive, manipulative cult that preys on vulnerable people to join their ranks and turns them to violence, or that they work with a centuries-old fascist eugenicist literally mind-controlling psychic government with the goal of freeing a creature that could very well destroy the world as we know it and even if it doesn't, will leave an enormous power vacuum for that fascist government to potentially occupy when they invade Exandria?

I think there's some misconception people have that they think war shouldn't ever be personal and if it does become personal for someone then their logic is too clouded by their feelings to see the situation clearly, just automatically. And perhaps sometimes, in some contexts, this can be true! But not here. It's actually quite cut and dried that Orym's "flawed, human" perspective is the one reminding everyone of the human cost to Ludinus' grand plans, all in the name of so called "progress"

I feel like a dorym sleeper agent that's always activated when Liam pulls out the sending stone

best first half ever

I am always a lover and supporter of PvP but also there is something to be said for the strange energy of aabria being like "hehehe characters will die by your hand!! This is so fun!!" when we haven't even had a chance to recover from a beloved character very dramatically dying last week

Pausing in my cr watch to say it's obviously understandable but this watcher move is incredibly disappointing to me, a person who absolutely does not have it in them to pay for another goddamn subscription service 😩

We just moved past Orym's message without Dorian giving him a response huh

God this has to be the worst scheduling situation of all time though. You think your story's reaching a natural break point with the party returning from the moon so you can smoothly switch gears to another party and instead you have a character permadeath but you can't just easily reschedule the several busy actors you have on standby so the party gets 0.2 seconds to react to everything that happened and then whoops here comes a different thing, surprise!

*is immediately reminded I did not in fact finish watching EXU Kymal*

On the one hand, I love the crown keepers and potential for Orym to finally get a reply from Dorian is great news for me. On the other hand, so (almost) no time spent dealing with FCG's death?

Uhhhhh crown keepers??? Mayhaps???

HUH???

Boy this is not the most effective person to have gone to Orym right now

Oh shit, so if ruidian glass is a piece of Predathos, then Chetney fulfilled his bargain with Morri!