Talks Machina 91: A Hole In a Plan

is the ninety-first episode of Talks Machina. Laura Bailey and Marisha Ray discuss with host Brian Wayne Foster.

Synopsis

 * @CarnotLesbian: Brian: Do you feel the pressure to up your hosting game after Dani's excellent performance last week?
 * @Arby_Rockey: Marisha: Beau seems like a person who naturally believes people should control their own lives. So how does she view the Plank King and Darktow? Is it a free society? Or just a "monarch" who just shrugs their responsibilities?
 * @MsGiniInABottle: Laura: Jester's crush on Fjord has been pretty consistent for the better part of thirty episodes, but this week found Jester second guessing her feelings. What spurred this on, and why did she seek the advice of Caleb?
 * Chris Gatlin: Marisha: Beau has said she will keep Fjord in check, but has kept quiet as he got sexually involved with a zealot cult leader, and partially embarked on a journey to release their serpent Demi-God. What exactly is the red flag for Beau? Did she simply trust that Fjord was aware and would do the right thing?
 * Jeli15: Laura: Liam has talked about Caleb's feelings towards Jester a couple of times. What does Jester think about him? Has she picked up on some of his back story?
 * Crowfooted Creations: Marisha: Jester mentioned that she was first seeking out Beau for advice about Fjord and the kiss. If that had happened what advice would she have given?

GIF of the Week

 * RopeADoper's "Reduce."


 * @Lesbrenian: to Laura: what does jester think of the Traveler's romantic advice? does she doubt him now that he's suggested she force fjord to like her? or does she think he wasn't being entirely serious enough to question him?
 * @FeyLesbian: Marisha: Beau's reactions during the hair compliment confusion seemed more vulnerable than usual. Is that a result of her closeness/friendship with the M9? How Beau's relationship with emotional vulnerability changed over the campaign (if at all)?
 * @C10yson: Laura: Does Jester really like Beau's hair?
 * Seedy88: Marisha: what was Beau hoping to get out of the back alley meeting with Allison? Why do you think her invitation was rejected?
 * @ArtistSomeday: Laura: Do you find it interesting that the Traveller didn't have anything to say about finding and releasing Fjord's patron?
 * VardysWeapon: Both: Jester's infiltrations with Nott are pure entertainment gold. What goes through your heads as players when these episodes unfold?
 * TieflingRanger: Marisha: Beau has often taken pride in her criminal past and mentioned that breaking into the Captains quarters would be "her specialty." Was she disappointed and/or upset when the team decided that they would send Jester and Nott instead of her to the ship?
 * TheChrisDV: Laura: In recent episodes we have seen Jester flustered after Fjord kissed her to keep her from drowning, seeing it as her actual first kiss. However she was rather cavalier about the idea of Fjord having sex with Avantica. Is this a reflection of her upbringing, that she sees sex more as a means to an end & kissing as much more intimate?

Fan Art of the Week

 * Jason deBit aka @JDIllustrates' drawing of Caduceus with glowing mushrooms.


 * @knuckleofvecna: Marisha: With what little we know about Beau's backstory, can you tell us how significant it is that she knows Deep Speech, or the reason behind *why* she learned Deep Speech, which is a fairly exotic language in most D&D worlds?
 * @EvaKuchen: Laura: How did Jester really feel about the plan of Fjord "distracting" Avantica? Did it make her jealous, or did she just see it as him taking one for the team because he had to?
 * Tmande2nd: To Marisha: Is Beau feeling that the Mighty Nine is shooting her ideas down to much? It seemed that this episode had most of her ideas/plans nixed before they got going?
 * @Xeronium_: Both: Why did Jester choose to disguise as Molly and what went through Beau's head when she saw him before realizing it was Jester?
 * @DonaldCheeto: For Marisha: What was going through Beau's mind as she was getting detained?
 * Boffleslop: Laura: Jester seemed reassured after her conversation with Caleb regarding the ethics of killing. Would her opinion on the subject be different if she knew Caleb considers himself a murderer?
 * Plushpython: To both: what went through your minds after Liam pulled Wall of Fire out on Avantika?
 * @careybearygamer: Laura: How hard was it to ignore your inner Vex when Jester had to toss the jewels off the dock?

Quotations

 * Marisha: "I think Gil's die is cursed."
 * Marisha: " I think she sees it as like a super abusive socialist society? Yeah. Which does not sit well with Beau...Man, I don't want to get political...but yeah, definitely like an abusive...Yeah. No. Bad...just fuck you. It's just a silk trap is what Beau feels like."
 * Laura: "Jester hasn't had a lot of experience with romance outside of what she's seen of her mom, and that's a very different view of romance."
 * Marisha: "Thank god weed's legal."
 * Marisha: "Pursuing power to endless depths and fucking hot pirates—that's totally fine for Beau. She just doesn't want to kill children."
 * Laura: "She can tell he's tortured. And one of the things that she wants more than anything is to not have people be sad around her, right?" Brian: "Because it makes her sad or because she wants them to be happy?" Laura: "She just wants them to be happy. So I think more than anything she wants that for him."
 * Laura: "This is the first time that he's suggested something that she wasn't immediately like 'yes, let's do that'."
 * Laura: "I don't want him to like me just because I made him like me, I want him to like me because he wants to like me, but how do I make him want to like me."
 * Marisha: "A lot of Beau is a wall."
 * Dani: "That doesn't mean you have gills!"
 * Brian: "I fucking love Quebec so much."
 * Marisha: "Instead I just shat in an alleyway with Nott."
 * Laura: "The beautiful thing about playing somebody like Grog or like Jester is the first thing that pops into your head you can do it. You don't have to have a filter. Usually the first thing that pops into your head is the dumbest fucking shit you could possibly do so you just go for it." Marisha: "All the-The tattoo stuff with Orly, I think one of my favorite moments in D&D history is going to be you talking about seeing a bug carry a piece of bread four times its size. I don't know, that's inspired right there..." Jester: "I love it cause I don't know what Sam's gonna do and then it's so much fun to just play off of it...It ends up ok (usually) it ends up ok but it just keeps getting worse. Like, every decision makes something worse. Until, yeah." Marisha: "Until it's magically all ok? It feels like it gets super bad and then it's like, erased."
 * Marisha "I felt like I was there in spirit because my advice was heeded."
 * Marisha: "It was like walking towards Beau, just a wall of regret for her bad decisions."
 * Laura : "It was honestly because she was like 'Molly is the coolest', but yeah it was a split second decision that probably could have been thought out...If anyone was gonna appreciate the fucking shit we were doing that night it would have been Molly."
 * Marisha: "This is the used car salesman power vagina."
 * Laura: "What I love is knowing that Liam doesn't want Jester to know what Caleb has done, you know?" Marisha: "Yeah, it's deeply interesting." Laura: "Because of what he thinks her reaction would be. But I don't think it would be what he thinks."
 * Dani: "Oh, the Mighty Nein, y'all are so stupid!"
 * Brian: "Dani stop reading your fanfiction." Dani: "It's beautiful ok?"
 * Brian: "Quebec is for lovers."