#cr3e2

[cassafrasscr]

FCG: *heals Dorian*

Ashton: *points at Orym* "We're gonna need you for this one in a minute!"

[janedoe297-art]

[revvethasmythh]

Caleb and Nott get a bad rap for being very deeply and unhealthily codependent which, for the most part, is a decent observation of their early game dynamic. But, in revisiting the early game, I do wonder at the fact that this label is almost universally applied to them but rarely comes up in conversation with Imogen and Laudna, in my experience. There are contrasting interactions that happen in early c2 and early c3 that I think are a really interesting look into the reality of these dynamics.

In c2e2, Caleb and Nott have this interaction:

Nott: Well it's just that-- listen, there's no offense, I enjoy our talks and your schooling and everything, but I haven't talked this openly and freely with other people in months. It's amazing.

Caleb: It really is pretty nice, isn't it?

Nott: Yes!

And in c3e2, there is this interaction about Imogen and Laudna's relationship:

Laudna: Imogen and I don't talk to anyone. (laughs)

Imogen: No, not really.

Ashton: You guys seem like you have a really good deal going on. Should keep that up, it seems nice.

I just think there's something interesting here that may show an inconsistency in the way fandom remembers certain things vs the way that they actually were. Nott and Caleb were certainly codependent, but they were also actively hoping to fall in with a group for protection and, well, because they (primarily Nott, but I’ll use a general they) wanted to expand their social circles. Laudna and Imogen, frankly, might have just stayed the two of them if they didn't happen upon the rest of the Hells and honestly didn't seem outwardly bothered by that at all. Imogen never seems to have wanted to expand her social circle for fear of what her own powers would make her hear and feel, and Laudna, though a lover of people, seems like she would have been content to follow Imogen into whatever isolation worked best for her.

I just find this a very interesting contrast to Caleb and Nott's fumbling, often poorly received attempts to reach outside of their friendship toward others, the intentionality of which I feel is rarely emphasized. Their distrustful natures (and the traumas they had suffered) made them skittish and likely to flee. But they did want more than what their relationship could sustain and subsequently sought it out.

[bees-for-the-wildmother]

Laudna is exposure therapy for Travis.

[justalittlebluetiefling]

So I’ve been told.

[yashagothbarbarian]

Critical Role C3E2 - How to traumatize a halfling that is alone in the dark.

[rokiie]

I see Talesin borrowed a different body for the season

[unsmudgethevoid]

Opal, when she finds out her toddler is all alone in a dark warehouse.