The Ramblings of Seren

I thought I was being paranoid the first time. But in retrospect? Guy was like, "Ooooooh shit, these bitches are going to die."

Namaygoosisagagun First Nation/Collins has burned to the ground. The entire community is nothing but ashes after being quickly consumed by wildfires. They did not have any support from emergency services, and no one offered aid. The community saved themselves by escaping into boats because no one came.

Mishkeegogamang and Cat Lake have lost power. Families are ending up in shelters with nothing. Armstrong, Lac La Croix, Whitesand, Gull Bay, Lac des Mille Lacs are currently in the fires path and all members are being evacuated.

All this loss, all this devastation, and it was entirely preventable.

After steadily underfunding wildland firefighting and purposefully excluding Indigenous wildland firefighters and Indigenous wildfire organizations from wildfire operations, firefighter training, decisionmaking, and resource exchanges, in 2025, Doug Ford slashed the forest firefighting budget.

It's hard to ignore his decision to cut funding and leave us out of adequate fire training (even though we've lived with forest fires for thousands of years—far longer than settlers have been in Canada—and made sure fires like the ones we're all seeing today were prevented through kinisitotēn) when, despite making up less than 5% of the population, we account for 42% percent of all wildfire evacuations in Canada.

And when we are successfully evacuated, we face discrimination and racism—like Kashechewan—because it's always been easier to blame us than it is to blame the true culprit: denialism, corportate greed, and colonization.

The people of Collins and every other impacted community deserve better.

Right now, the AFN is currently accepting donations to help Collins First Nation. If you're able to, please consider donating.

ONWA (Ontario Native Women's Association) is another great place to donate to. They have outreach vans going to motels and inns and offering food, water, resources, and cultural support to those impacted by the wildfires.

Other places to consider donating to are Mikinakoos Emergency Fund, Red Cross, True North Aid, Indigenous Climate Action. You can also send donations directly to Whitesand First Nation via e-transfer ([email protected]) and they request that you add your full name in the e-transfer comment section to receive a tax receipt.

*Before sending money, verify that the appeal appears on an official First Nation, Tribal Council or registered charity channel.

If you can't offer financial support, please consider donating items of need. Moontime Connections is currently accepting drop-off donations. If you live in the Thunder Bay area, Namaygoosisagagun Health Office is also taking in donations! They can also bemailed to Superior Inn Hotel & Conference Centre at 555 West Arthur Street, Thunder Bay, ON, P7E 5P8.

items needed are: food, diapers, medical masks, men’s and women’s joggers (all sizes), children’s clothing (newborn to size 14), children’s shoes, summer clothing, men’s clothing, toiletries (lotion, Vaseline, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, etc.), strollers, adult depends-all sizes, dog & cat food

okay since you can't play a baseball game with a 4-5 person team i'm gonna swerve on this, so walk with me

one full team with all the PCs as players or supporting staff -- but as i've done previously with Andor characters, it's gonna be slowpitch softball. because frankly there's not enough Real Athletes on this team for me to take them seriously in a baseball game. here's the lineup:

Pitcher: Hal -- i don't know why but i can't imagine a slowpitch pitcher who isn't a dad so that really narrows down the options. hal doesn't have the other usual pitcher traits (crazy, no self preservation), but i think he's willing to put his face on the line for this crew so it's okay

Catcher: Wicander -- most unnecessary position on the slowpitch field is the perfect spot for the guy who rides side-saddle and wore his loafers on the adventure

First base: Teor -- gotta have size at first base and i feel confident in his ability to catch. unfortunately he will require a mid-season replacement :/

Second base: Azune -- steady and reliable. good hands. this guy can TURN a double play

Third base: Vaelus -- incredibly athletic and capable and for some reason i just have the sense that she's got a cannon for an arm

Shortstop: Julien -- always where the cockiest motherfucker plays and unfortunately they often have the skills to back it up. so, naturally. this is julien

Left field: Kattigan -- gotta put a ranger in the outfield and i think kat would absolutely thrive here. lots of action and ground for him to cover. i think he'd be an anchor out there

Left centerfield: Thaisha -- i was tempted to put her at first base but i felt bad about not having the druid in the grass. i think once Teor um...exits...she can take over that spot and hold them down on the infield. if she casts some shit to make the basepaths have difficult terrain that's just how it goes sometimes

Right Centerfield: Thimble (big) -- another one that just belongs in the grass and will cover a lot of ground. still getting used to being big though so i don't want to put her in left where it's busier (plus the guy in right needs support)

Right field: Occtis -- definitely not much of a natural athlete so right field for our boy, naturally. he gets the job done, but only thanks to lots of encouragement from Thimble, who occasionally does have to throw the ball in for him after he runs it down in the gap

Utility player: Tyranny -- she can fill in anywhere when someone's gone (and even look like them so no one even notices until they start doing very out of character body rolls). takes over in left center when thaisha has to move to first

player-manager: Murray -- Murray's the first off the bench to come in and pitch in relief but her main focus is managing and setting the lineup based on how portentous the day is

non-player manager: Bolaire -- thinks he's calling the shots but everyone knows better. he does most of his best work away from the field, securing sponsorships and beer

batboy: Wulferic -- goodest boy

mascot: Pincushion -- adorable

It clicked for me last time you reblogged gifs of thimble patting his cheek (hes not touching her in return!!!) And just been trying to formulate how to say it sinse then.

yes yes, very good!!! now keep this in mind for my upcoming fic (hopefully this weekend)

Like, the fandom tends to treat dnd like an optimization problem where there is an objectively Perfect decision you can make and every time the players/characters don't metagame hard enough to get it, it's a failure.

The thing is, this creates two issues. The first is that playing under such a hypercitical microscope is actually not fun and *will* cause the kinds of circular arguments that typically pop up at the Critical Role table because obviously there must be a perfect decision so we need to stall until we find it.

The second is that this clashes with Brennan's style. Brennan loves players who take big swings, make big choices, and commit to them, and if you don't believe me, check out every time Lou Wilson flubs a speech because it's what his character would do, because it's often.

CRITICAL ROLE Imodna + "capable"

bonus gif: