Quipxotic

Leaving aside the fact that Capt. Azune ‘Fuck the Sundered Houses and Fuck You Too’ Scheming Schemer Nayar wouldn’t do shit for them, I had to hit the mental brakes on a rewatch to realize

Azune got promoted this morning. Literally during the same audience at the Stahlkeep where he presented the evidence against House Tachonis. This same day.

Now, being reasonable, maybe the Candescent Creed clerks knew his title by just waltzing up and asking for Azune himself prior to entering the Hallowed Round (a scene we did not see) and maybe that’s how they learned about the new station. Maybe one of the Arcane Marshals brought it up (again, unseen)? Could be! Except.

Why would these jerks even namedrop him at all? Why not just say they’d tell on Hal to the guardsmen in general? Why, unless Filoneus Halovar has been putting Azune Nayar’s name in the Creed’s ears? Again, including the promotion to captain he got this same day.

Azune has had a grand total of 1.5 conversations with this man. The full conversation was some lighthearted (Light-hearted) chatter to distract from hunting Hal outside his house. The half-conversation was a few seconds’ worth of guard talk per the assassination attempt at the gala. That’s it. The sum total of their interaction, period.

And yet, Filoneus is actively chiming in to land Azune on the major Palazzo Davinos case. He’s zeroing on him like an Azune ‘GOOD MAN!’ Nayar-seeking missile at the gala. He is dishing his name around the Creed and likely the Villa Aurora as his guy in the Arcane Marshals. And now his guy is Captain as of this exact morning! A very normal thing for someone definitely not keeping close tabs on a specific guardsman to know! If you need anything at the Hallowed Round, go to him, guys!  

like

Sure, it’s great foundation for future mole work on Azune’s part. But also, it took working in close proximity, multiple Oscar performances, psychological tripwires, and a mountain of tangible results of his own labor to win Harondus Einfasen over, likewise for the impressive display for Otto Einfasen and his people, to the point that he’s being eyed as a possible lost Einfasen himself. It took a lot to land that sweet spot with House Einfasen!

With Filoneus, Azune has exchanged maybe two paragraphs’ worth of words with the man, and yet the lord knight is mentally slapping a BFF of the Creed <3 bracelet on him. Even if it gets chalked up to enthusiasm over having any devout soul planted within the Arcane Marshals, this goes beyond enthusiastic and veers into truly wild levels of assumption regarding how close Azune and the Creed’s motives are. Hell, Filoneus hasn’t even gotten anything from Azune yet in the way the Einfasens have received a treasure trove of results within a week. So where is this tidal wave of ‘Good man! I like his style! He should get special attention from the Lords Advisory and also namedropped to the Candescent clergy about that! :)’ energy coming from?

everything is birds

everyone is 5’11

only teor is teor

[ID: A digital drawing of Teor Pridesire and Kattigan Vale from Critical Role. They're standing together holding beer cans, Kattigan with his chin resting on Teor's shoulder and a hand on Teor's waist. They're both looking off to the right with unimpressed expressions as Kattigan asks "Do you know what the fuck they're all talking about?" and Teor responds "No." End description.]

Aranessa is a woman who is acutely aware of her responsibilities as the scion of a noble house. Aranessa would have expected- and, probably hoped - for her life to look a certain way, when she married, and that would have included children.

Aranessa was probably picturing a bunch of little half-orc kids with her eyes and Thjazi’s smile, running around the Golden Orchard and growing up under her loving eye and the protection of Faerie. Probably with Thimble as a kind of fairy godmother- Thimble, who was expected to remain forever appearing about 8 years old, but who is a warrior - who would have made the most wonderful playmate and protector.

And then Thjazi goes off to right wrongs and be the hero the common people deserve, and she knows she’s never going to get that with him. But she loves him too much to divorce him, so even though they are estranged indefinitely, she’s never going to have that with anyone else, either.

And her brother-in-law has children and even though he and Thaisha never married, Thaisha still calls Aranessa “sister,” so she was clearly a part of their life, right? She got to be an aunt, at least, to Alogar and Shadia? And then Hal has a daughter with a human woman, and you know Hero must look very much like what Aranessa would have dreamed a daughter of her own might be. And Aranessa has to hold her niece and know this is the closest she will ever get to seeing that, now.

And then there’s Occtis, who is such a good kid, such a sweet boy, who bonds with Thimble and right away becomes a dear friend to her. Whose family doesn’t pay him any attention, but who Thjazi has, for some reason, sort of taken under his wing. Who Aranessa has to look at and know that if things had gone the way she dreamed, would have been right around the age of her own children. If only, if only.

And now Thjazi is gone, and she hears that Occtis, who she must know was hoping to help him, is being sought by his family. And she knows if they found any hint that he was trying to help Thjazi, he will be in danger. So she invites him into her dearest friend’s home to try to offer him safety and protection, because she is confident that this place, here in the middle of the city and filled with the loyal bannermen of her house, will be a safe place for him.

And then not only is the Palazzo Davinos attacked, not only are all of her people slaughtered, and all of Julien’s people slaughtered, but this kid is brutally murdered by his own family, in the same room as her. She is right there, helpless to stop it, forced to watch him die- just as she watched Thjazi die just one day before.

ALL THE WORST PEOPLE IN A MANSION TOGETHER GRRR

~Tip Jar~

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