My finished Veth “The Brave” Brenatto!! I love that my hair is long enough to cosplay her properly! I can’t wait to wear her at Renfaire next year and find other members of the Mighty Nein!!
Mmmmmmm I love art that captures just how sharp-edged and deliberate Caleb’s change of presentation was when they landed in the Dynasty, in the aftermath of offering the beacon in that throne room; the way he was so very deliberate about going clean-shaven and including Kryn elements in his clothing.
Like, how fascinating it was to see Caleb move from one survival instinct to another trained survival instinct–to go from presenting himself in a way that will be deliberately overlooked and underestimated, to presenting himself in a way that shows his power and skills and his determination to court this new alliance and strengthen their connection to the powers of the dynasty. It’s so interesting, because I think before this, the only time we see him pull out this tactic and this way presenting himself is when he was cutting their deal with Ophelia Mardun in the aftermath of episode 25. It speaks of Caleb being so desperate to keep his friends safe in these new precarious circumstances and desperate to help Veth, since they had just found out her entire situation. (I also forget that the table was convinced they had burned every bridge to the empire. I’m still thinking of Travis being like, THIS ENTIRE PART OF THE MAP?? WE CAN NEVER GO BACK HERE. Hilarious.)
And it makes the early shadowgast dynamic still absolutely fascinating to me, because all the careful charm that they aimed at each other was completely underlaid with this wary, sharp-edged maneuvering for position and favors. Especially since it later became apparent that Essek was also frantically trying to collect leverage over the M9 to be able to deal with them as necessary and cover his tracks from the beacon heist. Even after all this time, I feel as though I’m still teasing apart what exactly Essek’s objectives were at this point in time, or at least what he thought his plan was–because it certainly wasn’t to be befriended by this bunch of chucklefucks and turn his back on everything he’s worked for up to this point. Like, why give spells, why teach these bits of highly-classified knowledge, when there were so many other things that he could offer them in terms of connections to the Kryn ruling class, which Caleb was himself trying to forge? (I mean, there’s the Doylist explanation, which is Matt giving Liam cool dunamancy spells to play with, haha. And there’s the explanation that Essek had no fucking clue what he was doing and was just frantically trying to collect favours and see it he could shape it into something to his advantage.)
Like, I love the way the 12-persuasion dunamancy lessons were underlaid with the both of them operating on crisis mode under several layers of masks to appear as impressive as possible and ingratiate themselves to each other, and all the while trying to piece together each other’s motives for doing this. And finding a connection despite and because of that. Fantastic. I love it.
True love is when you uhhh (checks smeared writing on hand) exhaust yourself playing 3D chess with your narrative foil so hard that you both end up bonding over how fucked up you are
Being Marisha Ray’s Younger Sibling | Critical Role cast x child reader
Summary | I was going to write bing adopted by Travis and Laura did this instead.
Genre | platonic, fluff
You are the younger sibling of Marisha Ray, (y/n) Jude Huber, and your big sister absolutely adores you.
Despite the huge age gap and distance between your lives, your big sister is your best friend.
Chances are she’s bragging about you to the rest of the Critical Role cast a lot. (They already consider you an honorary member before they’ve even formally met you.)
There’s no doubt about it, your Matt’s favorite little Critter.
If Marisha doesn’t introduce you to DnD, Matt will, and if she does, Matt will “properly” introduce you.
You can bet each time Matt and Marisha visit, you’re inviting all your little friends for a kid friendly one shot at least once during their stay. (Matt will swear a party of grade schoolers is easier to manage than the Crit team)
You definitely braid Matt’s hair at least once.
You might not be able to watch the live stream because it’s past your bedtime, but Marisha definitely sends you the highlights over the weekend.
You absolutely adore your big sister, nonetheless you also love hoodies. Marisha might be fuck sleeves, but you are fuck tanks.
Your parents and Marisha situate so that during school breaks such as summer or spring break, etc you’re able to stay in California with Matt and your sister.
Which leads to your first in person introduction to the rest of the Critical Role staff.
(You’re five the first time you meet them in person and they’re just starting arc five of campaign one.)
You’re a pretty well-behaved child for your age, because of this, and so that you can spend more time with your sister, you’re allowed to accompany her to work.
The whole Crit role staff would be obsessed with you.
Especially Laura Bailey.
This woman would love you as if you were her own. She’s always the first one to volunteer when Marisha needs someone to look after you.
You were her baby before she had her baby.
If someone finds you with sweets, 99.9% of the time you got them from Laura.
Liam and Sam are like your uncles in a lot of ways.
Both having young children of their own, they have an idea of what sort of things you’re into.
Having said that, you’re not their kid, so they don’t have to follow the same rules. Did someone say bad influences, fun uncles?
With Marisha’s blessing, Sam has had you on for some of his ad reads. According to him, your cuteness is marketable.
There are playdates with Sam and Liam’s children.
You’re heartbroken when you hear that Liam’s character, Vex, has died. There are tears.
Which absolutely breaks the cast because they hate to see you sad.
You’re upset with Matt and snuggly with Liam for a while.
While Liam and Sam are the fun uncles, Ashley is the fun aunt.
You two have matching super cool sunglasses.
She always makes it believable that she didn’t let you win Just Dance.
You and Ash will be belting out songs in the car when you’re in her care, she even lets you say the bad words.
Travis calls you lil” K or Little Kentucky. Which you have led you to calling him big Tex’.
You, much like your sister, have a relationship only comparable to that of a brother and sister with Travis.
If you’re in a particularly sour mood, Travis’s Texan accent is usually enough to turn you into a barrel full of laughs.
You enjoy saying, “yeehaw,” or “ride ‘Em cowboy whenever Travis enters the room. (Sam definitely supports this).
He’s made it his mission to turn you into a Cowboys fan, much to your dad’s chagrin.
Taliesin, this guy might just be your favorite outside of Matt and your sister. They’re just so weird.
You start a childish investigation to find out if they’re a real life vampire.
When you get too close, Taliesin makes you his minion, tasking you to spread mischief wherever you deem fit.
For the first week after you’d met them in person, only five, you were convinced their name was Talespin.
Which led to a running joke amongst the others, singing bits of the theme song now and then when you’d get the name wrong.
You beg to dye your hair the same way they do so you can be matching. To pacify you, Marisha agrees to the temporary hair chalk.
When you’re a bit older, you do get to dye the ends electronic blue.
Always messing around behind camera with Brian, or Max, who are usually assigned babysitting duty.
Henry is your bestest California friend in the whole wide world.
There’s always a week at the end of the summer where they tone down the inappropriateness so they aren’t sending you, the angel, back to your parents completely fallen from grace.
As for the Critters.
There was a definite period where there were rumors circulating you were one of the cast members’ kids. (Popular theory being you belong to Laura and Travis).
Often showing up in the background, passing through sets, or just a small voice off screen, the critters were curious.
The cast, especially your sister, was careful to keep your face out of social media posts. When you were pictured, your face would be covered by an emoji or shrouded from view.
Then you landed your first voice acting role as a recurring character on Disney channel’s Sofia the First. You were to voice the youngest royal sibling, Ethan/Anna (sshhh, just pretend they’re a character.)
Omg Travis voices King Roland. I didn’t even realize til I wrote this.
Your sister just had to brag, which lead to your formal introduction to the Critter community, “Our favorite little Critter just landed their fist role!”
Suffice to say, the Critter community, for better or worse, lost their minds. Many praised your accomplishment and voiced their opinion on how adorable you were. Others complain and criticize, probably out of jealousy for your close relationship with their favs.
The negative comments were largely drowned out by the positive ones and those that managed to draw attention were hidden from you, as your sister was in charge of your new media presence.
If someone ever does step to you while you’re staying with your sister, they’ve just placed an invisible target on themselves that all the Crit role staff would love to aim for.
The Critters beg for you to make a guest appearance just once in their campaign.
They decide to make that one of their stretch goal rewards for their Vox Machina Kickstarter.
A goal the Critter’s quickly surpassed.
This you make your DnD Critical Role debut during the second campaign.
You sat right next to your sister between her and Travis, which allowed them to help with the math.
You’re obsessed with Laura and Travis’s baby.
Almost seven(?} at the time, you played a child changeling/warlock who was on the run because of their unruly magical abilities.
You were so believably awkward, and apologetic, and humor was soon to follow whenever your character’s magic would have a mind of its own.
Your character’s relationship with Liam’s Caleb quickly became favored by the Critters.
Your little annoyingly curious warlock and his rough around the edges wizard.
You made it to the end of the episode but not without having to roll some death saving throws after a misfire on Liam’s account.
Luckily, Taliesin and Laura refused to let you die. Marisha definitely gave Liam a few good slaps for nearly killing your character.
Nonetheless, your character survived to part ways, but left the possibility open for returning and maybe even studying under Caleb one day.
A cute moment the chat loses their minds over.
There’s plenty of art of your character apprenticing under Caleb.
The Critters immediately begin to campaign your character’s glorious return.
You are an amazingly kind and talented child.
As you get older, you take more of an interest in voice acting resulting in you moving out to California full time (you, of course, still love and visit your parents).
You’re a DnD master in the making.
You’re an endlessly positive and humorous child to be around and work with.
Marisha lucked out in the sibling department.
All the Crit cast loves you
And to you, they’re your other family.
There’s nothing they won’t do to ensure you have a happy and full childhood.
Because as far as they’re concerned, you’re their kid.
Occasion: That chair’s suspicious. Somebody definitely got interrogated here. Or there’s an invisible person tied to it. Or somebody was tied to it. Or-
Critical Role has kept me sane as I lost my job this year. When people ask me why I love watching a bunch of people play, I can’t even begin to muster all the words and feelings I’m swarmed with. <3
