Self-appointed captain of the Laudmoore ship

✨Another Critical Role Side Blog✨ | I fear neither Gods nor spoilers, but they'll be tagged as -cr spoilers- until the following Thursday | I make shitty half-assed CR memes | undeadknickknack on AO3 | My profile pic is "Half-Elf Warlock with a Chill Touch Scar" by u/pandanart on Reddit | My header photo is "spooky duo" by user gretasartt | Don't get on my ass about it 🐐

[undead-knick-knack]

[ltwilliammowett]

Agate anchor brooch, Scottland, late 19th century

[willowpotatox]

them being separated is actually devastating to me. But i guess we get yearning

@quiddie

[huckleberryhal]

Mary Oliver in “Dog Songs”

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

One thing I've been really enjoying about Campaign 4 is that many of the abuse narratives woven throughout the text are really showing that it can be a lot more complicated than simply hating the people who have hurt you and wanting nothing to do with anything associated with them.

Wick knows his family is doing terrible things and hurting people; he hates his grandmother for doing these things and keeping him in the dark about them while smothering him in conditional affection to keep him compliant, but he still thinks there's good things in his family that are worth preserving. You can see this when he encounters his mother Iris and his brother Lioran again. He clearly loves them both dearly, even though Iris was not only an active participant but the architect of him being kept in the dark about the Creed. Seeing them again was a bright spot in an otherwise extremely tense and fraught homecoming for Wick, because even as he's realizing what harms his family is causing both to the world and to him, he still cares about these people.

Much the same can be said of Occtis. As horribly as he was treated by his entirely family and in spite of the fact that one of his own brothers killed him on his father's orders, he's still holding out hope that if he can talk to one of his siblings he can get them on his side. He read Petra and Ryah's letter and interpreted their reticence to rush ahead with Deva Vindicta ritual as them not wanting him killed. In spite of having just been in a fight where he was trying to kill him Occtis still took a moment to create a memorial for Frons. He repeatedly (though to no avail) asked Julien to spare Koral. When Julien asked as part of that exchange how he can still possibly extend any trust to any member of his family after what they did to him his answer was that they're his family. Despite everything that's enough for him to still have some faith in them.

There's also Vaelus and her complicated relationship with Sylandri. As much as she has stated that she hopes she can maybe bring her back it's clear it's less for the sake of having her goddess back, as she admits to Hannan that she hasn't prayed to her in a long time and quite readily hears him out and agrees with him about Sylandri hating the elves underneath her purported love for them, and more because her life with Sylandri is inexorably tied up in the things she does want back. Her memories of living in service to Sylandri are happy despite the limits and control (as seen in her memory of Sylandri refusing magic to Arthas for swearing) because her family is there. The world without Sylandri is also one in which she found herself utterly alone, in particular it should be noted that the death of Sylandri and the death of her sister Maywyn were near simultaneous. She's never known a world without Sylandri but with her family. She wants the happy life she knew with them back, and as Sylandri is a part of that, she considers bringing her back too. That life wasn't freedom and as she eventually agrees with Hannan about, was in many ways not her own, but it had something she has been grieving for 70 years, so it's little wonder part of her thinks that maybe that was better.

There's also something to be said about the orcs' ultimate decision to bless the Conqueror. He ruled and enslaved them with an iron fist and used them as fodder in his endless wars with his siblings, but when the orcs finally won their rebellion and their freedom and one of Azgra's war priests demanded a farramh for him, it was not only granted but granted easily. Agari Shadow, who lead the rite and was not only an orc but an orcish druid (and thusly a member of a people who were harmed by Azgra across multiple axes) said nothing could be easier than giving a blessing for the Conqueror, and lead a blessing that while it did not forgive him, acknowledged who he was to the orcs and how that effected who they became, and that who they became was ultimately what they are celebrating now.

All these relationships are one in which one party was grievously harmed by another in a sustained and terrible way, but also in which the emotions and choices made are more complicated than a simple hatred and rejection, even where that would be justifiable by what was done. There's more nuance there, and seeing it play out in various ways across various relationships in this campaign has been a delight to see.

[epicsause-official]

just got an idea for a banger couples shirts design

[lunamonchtuna]

— June Gehringer, ‘I get so jealous of euthanized dogs’ (via lunamonchtuna)

[reptile-ruler]

Sometimes a guy in a fanfiction has the ability to read someone's gaze with the same level of detail a wine taster can taste the wine

[reptile-ruler]

"He glared at him with anger in his eyes, but behind that longing and sorrow over things left unsaid, a subtle but desperate yearning for things to be different, and with just a hint of roasted nuts right at the end."

[harpieisthecarpie]

we've all heard about the male gaze in media, but we've yet to explore the equally important sommelier gaze

[reptile-ruler]

the only fun addition to this post

[msmimundo]

Girl that's literally Perry the platypus and Heinz Doofenshmirtz

[probuccalfat]

nobody else doing it like me. particularly because the way i’m doing it is needlessly difficult

[deadgenerations]

I don't think Americans appreciate but to Australians your creatures are just as exotically cute and/or terrifying as ours are to you. every Aussie I've taken to America has been infatuated with squirrels or possoms or armadillos or racoons, and completely terrified of bears.

[littlebosslady7]

Bummer news

Taliesin cannot play in the Berlin [Projekt] Funball live-show due to undisclosed illness.

The cast and crew are hopeful he’ll be able to return for the Edinburgh Darktow show the following week. (src)

In short, our healer needs time to heal.

[queenjulia11]

I feel the need to inform you all that Alex said in the cooldown that all Occtis could think about after watching Hannan die was being a little boy terrified that his angry father was going to kill him next.

I thought Primus was just neglectful but Occtis was regularly made to fear for his life in that house, even if the anger wasn’t directed right at him. I know I shouldn’t really be surprised but like. Holy fuck.

[jesterlesbian]

you have to remember it's always always worse on twitter

[swagophile]

important reminder that most people you follow online are significantly lamer than you think they are including me. and if you feel insecure comparing yourself to someone online: DON'T. theyre probably also lame and weird. most people on the internet are

[most-sane-classicist]

reblog if you're also lame and weird.

[chipthekeeper]

when your STR stat goes from three to NINETEEN in an instant and you can grow to human size to finally hug your friends

bonus Thimble Fan Club President reaction:

[the-littlest-goblin]

HE!! SHOULD! BE!!! AT! THE! CLUB!!!

[ahastycrblog]

It was a small moment, but for all his bluster about how Thimble was making her own choices, and he didn't care, and everything else he said, Julien was the one who kept watch for Thimble by the door the entire time the party was at Hal's waiting for her.