January Q&A (Answers)

General

Anonymous asked: Q&A Patreon: since youre a critrole fan, what would the ROs' (whichever ROs from any of the RO sets you want/would find most interesting) internal reaction to being in a yasha @caleb "Do you love her/him/them?"/"Who?"/"I don't need to tell you who" scene (and who would be their "yasha" confronting them?). who is internally screaming, who is going to act on their feelings in the morning now, who is going to avoid MC now, who is firmly in denial, etc, etc, whatever kind of reaction they could be having-- what kinda reaction are they having at that kinda quiet, private confrontation??

(don’t worry, my dear, it wasn’t a spoiler, I’m fully caught up on CR and watch it live every week ;) )

In this house, we love and respect Liam O’Brien and his ability to Pine Hopelessly, so I did… everybody lol

Speaker ROs aka Azalea Sees Everything:

• Azalea would probably be confronted by Kana or Seer. She would ask them for advice on how to tell Speaker how she feels, since that would be the only barrier holding her back.
• Rory would be confronted by Azalea. They might actually respond “no really, who?” because they are not subtle about their feelings at all. If someone’s asking “do you love them?” Rory would assume it wouldn’t be about Speaker because obviously they love Speaker, everyone knows that.
• Liam/Lily would probably be confronted by Sebastian (though he’d be a lot more blunt than Yasha was) or Azalea. Their reaction would be exactly the same as Caleb’s was. “It’s too late” because they are an idiot. Full on denial inside and out.
• Kana is confronted by Azalea. Full on internal screaming. They thought they hid it so well. They avoid Speaker for a few days, trying to convince themself that Az is just really observant. They’re very careful to keep their feelings better hidden from then on.
• Sebastian would be confronted by Li or Azalea. He, unsurprisingly, doesn’t express much externally. He might say something like “it sounds to me like you think you already know the answer”. He would go see Speaker the next day and might try to attempt confessing his feelings, or might just look at them pointedly and hope they get the hint.
• Li/Sebastian poly would be Li confronting Sebastian (or Azalea again confronting both of them, but that’s less dramatic). “I don’t need to tell you who,” Li says, trying to hide their own feelings on the matter. “I do,” says Sebastian, “and we both know I’m not the only one.” He turns the question back around on them and then leaves them to stew on it. This might lead to more denials from Li but might also be the kick in the ass they need to actually confess.

Idle Hands ROs aka Anya Meddles in Everyone’s Relationships:

• Malcolm/Mallory is confronted by Ana or Anya. They try to wave it off. “You worry too much, cher. Me, I can look to my own affairs.” They avoid Witness for a few days, but are maybe a little flirtier than usual next time they see them.
• Anastasia is confronted by Mal or Anya. She’s very calm on the surface, tells them I’m waiting for the right moment. Internally, she’s freaking out. She’s tried to tell Witness her feelings before but she always gets tongue-tied (so to speak). After this chat, she might actually write them a letter to try and get the words out.
• Casey is confronted by Mal or Anya. They admit readily enough how they feel about Witness, but they don’t think it matters. It’s not like Witness would ever feel the same, after all, and they wouldn’t want to make things awkward by putting them on the spot like that.
• Gavin is confronted by Ana or Anya. Full-on pointless denial is apparently a Cowles family trait, because he’s reacting the same way his younger sibling would. Probably says something like “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

At the Threshold ROs aka Gwyn Is In Charge Of The Shared Braincell:

• Silas/Silvia is confronted by Gwyn. S is internally screaming. Not because of their feelings but because of the confrontation itself. They are not used to having people butt into their personal business. They’d been considering talking to Guardian about it, but they delay it a little longer because they don’t want Gwyn to think it was their idea.
• Asher would be confronted by Gwyn. They’d ask “do you love them?” and she would say “how the fuck should I know?” It’s gonna take her a while to figure out that what she feels about the Guardian isn’t only sexual attraction, but romantic attraction as well. Once she figures that out, she doesn’t deny it though.
• Luke is confronted by Gwyn. Cowles family patented denial technique strikes once more, someone please teach these people how to express their feelings. He just scoffs. “It doesn’t matter, does it? They’re leaving after this is over.” (Gwyn has to resist the urge to shake him until he stops being stupid)
• Gwyn… honestly, I feel like they confront themself, in a way. They’re the only one of this group with their emotional shit together. They wake up one morning and just decide to confess, and then they do. What, like it’s hard?

Anonymous asked: Q and a: what is your favorite part/thing of each of the ros romances?

You didn’t specify if this was just for the Speaker ROs, but they’re the only ones I’ve fully mapped out the romances for so I’ll just answer with them for now.

Rory: I really love how open they are. All the other ROs have all these romantic hangups (some bigger than others), but Rory never holds back. They are, I think, the only RO that can potentially ask the Speaker out by the end of book 1.

Kana: My favorite part of Kana’s romance is the vulnerability of it. If Rory wears their heart on their sleeve, then Kana has hidden theirs away, wrapped it in barbed wire, and then covered it with a cheerful blanket that they hope no one will look underneath. The process of peeling back the layers and trusting Speaker to be gentle with what they uncover is the keystone of their arc, and it feels very personal to me in a way I can’t quite articulate.

Azalea: My favorite Az moments are the ones where she comes out of her shell. She’s always very chill and shy, but she also gets to have some big, bold declaration moments. Her first kiss scene in particular is one I’m really looking forward to.

Sebastian: I love the dichotomy of Sebastian. He’s this kind of cold, stoic person but he’s also the most intense and passionate. He also has arguably the strongest connection to the Speaker out of all of them, and the scene where he first talks about it in Chapter 3 might be one of the scenes I’m most excited for in the whole book.

Liam/Lily: I love Li’s devotion. It’s such a big part of who they are, and it’s evident even in a completely platonic relationship (“what can I do” and “ten years or ten thousand” and “you’re family”), but it will be especially apparent on their route. When they love, they love with everything they are.

For the patreon q&a: 1. Do the romance routes lock in on book one (like a Wayhaven scenario where even if nothing much happens, you can basically choose who to pursue)? 2. Will there be a bad ending / can we die? 3. What would the familias be for other LIs of they were to have one?

1. Yes, that’s exactly how it’s going to happen! There will be a moment about 2/3rds of the way through the first book where the Speaker will have a “I can’t stop thinking about…” choice where you choose your route, and that’ll be the route you follow through the rest of the series. I’m going to try and make it as obvious as possible when we get there. The first book is really about establishing the world and the characters, and the second one is where you’ll get to really start pursuing relationships.

2. There will be different endings (though not so much for the first book, I don’t think, it’ll be fairly linear in that sense), but none of them will be a definitive bad ending. No, you can’t die in this series. There will be a lot of bad things that happen, but nothing that leads to a “game over”.

3. hmm... I think Azalea would have a squirrel, or maybe a sparrow. Something that would live in her tree. Kana would have a cat, one of those sleek and fancy ones. Rory would have a ferret, something small that they can take with them on the road, and ferrets have a similar playful quality to Rory. Sebastian I think is a dog person. A husky or German shepherd, one of those really regal looking dogs that is secretly a total sweetheart.

For the patreon q&a, part 2: 4. If our speaker chooses not to ultimately be fwb with Li, will that have any negative impact? As in, will they be hurt at the rejection or anything if speaker wants more? 5. In the very distant future, would m!Li and Seb in a poly relationship with f!speaker both be interested in potentially fathering kids? If so, how would they decide who went first and all that logistical stuff, I'm so curious! I love the idea of there eventually being minis of them both around!

4. It won’t have a negative impact, no, it’ll just change the way things develop. All the routes will have a few different ways they can develop, based on your choices, but none of them are better or worse than the others, just different.

5. They definitely would be! Though this obviously wouldn’t be limited to just Liam/Sebastian/cisfemale!Speaker, since there are a lot of combinations therein that could bear children if they wanted to, but in this specific combination with Liam, Sebastian, and a Speaker that can get pregnant… I think they’d want the paternity of the first kid to be a surprise, if that makes sense. For lack of a better way to phrase it, they’d *ahem* take turns, and see which of them the child favors when they’re born :)

*~___________________________________~*

Spoilers

Just one spoiler question this month (well, two, but they're the same question 😉), but I was very much expecting this one. Stop reading here if you don't want to be spoiled!

.

Anonymous asked: Q&A Patreon: c... can we ask what species Sebastian is?? cuz if thats off the table then thats fine, i know youve been enjoying teasing about it ♡ but i was curious enough to want to ask lmao

overthinkingfeathers asked: I assume you're going to get multiples of this question, but for the #q&a, what is Sebastian?

Sebastian is half-human and half-archon. Archons are celestial beings similar to angels (without the religious connotations) and are among the most powerful and least common type of supernatural. He has a pair of glorious hawk wings that he keeps hidden through a combination of glamor magic and absolute self-control. I am really looking forward to the scene when the Speaker first gets to see them :)