Relationship between Jester and Fjord

Relationship
Jester and Fjord are close friends. They often reach out to the other to ask how they're doing, and have supported each other through their personal journey.

The two of them grew up on the Menagerie Coast, and both have strong ties to the theme of water, as Jester's father is a Water Genasi, and Fjord used to have a sea leviathan for a patron before he became a paladin of Melora, goddess of the sea. Apart from this, however, they are very different. Jester is a very exhuberant, playful and friendly person, while Fjord is much more reserved and serious. However, as time went by and the Mighty Nein became used to each other, their personalities evolved to align more.

Jester has had a crush on Fjord since early on, although at first it seemed very superficial. Fjord acted oblivious to her flirting for quite some time. However, after spending a lot of time travelling together, Fjord began to admit that he may reciprocate her feelings. Jester, on her end, has reflected a lot on her feelings for Fjord, wondering if they were real, and if she still feels the same way.

History
First Meeting Jester and Fjord met near Port Damali a few weeks (between three or four, according to how much time they've spent traveling by foot) before they encountered Beauregard and, a day later, the rest of the Mighty Nein.

Nott believed that Fjord and Jester were romantically involved, but Jester asserted that their relationship was platonic. She has since expressed her crush on Fjord - something that is sometimes played for comedy. Jester bought the erotic novel Tusk Love after realizing its hero, Oskar, is a half-orc like Fjord, and after reading it teasingly called Fjord 'Oskar' on several occasions. Jester seems jealous of Fjord's interactions with other women. During "Dangerous Liaisons", she drew pictures of Captain Avantika being stabbed with daggers following a flirtatious exchange between the two sailors. She also compliments him frequently, especially on him being 'handsome' and 'powerful'. Jester claimed that she was skilled in bed and offered to help Fjord improve his skills.

Jester was also thoroughly impressed with Fjord's ability to change his voice and accent. She pulled him aside while Beau was buying some wine to tell him that she liked all of his many voices, including his original one. Up until Clay and Dust she was the only person who knew that he used the voice of Vandran, his former mentor.

Jester once claimed that Fjord had slept with her mother in an attempt to bail him out of an awkward situation with Ireena Clawmop, who had the impression that he wanted to sleep with her. Jester and Fjord both later admitted that this claim was, in fact, really creepy.

While escaping the Temple of The Cloaked Serpent on Urukayxl, Jester ran out of air and began to drown. Fjord kissed her and gave her his own air supply, putting himself in danger of drowning to save her. Fjord is not aware that this was Jester's first kiss.

Although Jester has not discussed the kiss with Fjord, she has since asked for advice about men from both The Traveler and Nott. When asked by Caleb if she had feelings for Fjord, Jester said she doesn't know. Jester expressed that she is uncomfortable with the blood pact Fjord and Caleb made in Dashilla the Dreadful's lair.

Nott has on occasion tried to encourage Fjord to return Jester's flirtation, which Jester has typically been embarrassed and flustered by. After the first fight with the Incubus and Succubus in Asarius, Nott asked if Fjord and Jester wanted to room together (following Fjord enquiring after Jester's well-being), and Jester, who had already expressed irritation and anxiety at Fjord and Nott both putting themselves in further danger when the party was injured and Jester was out of spells and could not do anything to help them, reacted with uncharacteristic annoyance. Although she did seem pleasantly surprised by the kiss on the cheek he gave her during their battle with The Lost of the Sorrowsworn in the Barbed Fields.

While in the Xhorhaus, Jester noted that this was Fjord's first official home. She pointed out that their rooms were right next to each other, and offered to magically draw a hole on the wall between the bedrooms, which Fjord asked her not to do due to Beau's snoring. Jester also noticed that Fjord seemed to be uncomfortable around water lately, which he quickly denied.

While on their quest to reforge Dwueth'var, Fjord approached Jester and asked her to cast Sending to contact Vandran. He also confided on Jester about his fears regarding Uk'otoa and him taking away Fjord's powers back in Xhorhas. He asked for her opinion of The Wildmother and Jester offered to help him find a new deity, vowing to "do anything to get [him] away from Uk'otoa," which she declared would be their new mission. Later that day, when Fjord came clean to the party about his real accent, Jester tried to warn him about the change (thinking that he'd forgotten about it). Fjord apologized to Jester for making her keep the secret.

Jester showed growing worry about Fjord's power-less status after he renounced his deal with Uk'otoa. When he got his powers back and became a Paladin of the Wildmother, Jester excitedly declared she was proud of him.

Although Jester's flirting with Fjord has seemingly subsided, compared to their earlier days, she has consistently pointed out how handsome he is and complimented his growing tusks. She also stared at him with "heart-eyes" while he got oiled up by Maruo as they both tried to keep her distracted. After Fjord made a pact with the Wildmother in Refjorged, Nott suggested that Jester take off Fjord's shirt, which she did after some reluctance. When Fjord asked for his shirt back, Jester sheepishly returned it, trying to come up with an excuse. Nott pointed out that they might have needed to resuscitate Fjord, to which he replied: "I feel well looked after."

Fjord noticed Jester's worry about the passage of time within the Heirloom Sphere as they were searching for Yussa and she was worried that she could miss out on TravelerCon. As they left through the blue dragon's lair, he approached Jester and said that he realized the last time they were in there she'd been "in quite a pinch", he also called her using Revivify on Nott remarkable, and said that he was "glad [Jester's] here." She returned the sentiment and opened up about her not wanting to go back to "all the bad stuff" in the outside world.

Fjord became increasingly worried and expressed his concerns to Jester about TravelerCon and the Traveler, saying that he was afraid that something might go awry and that Jester could be hurt. Fjord admitted to Beau that he wanted Jester to be happy. He felt strongly for her, but understood that her early feelings for him might have been whimsy. He wanted to explore the world, see lands he hadn't seen, and find the things that people were scared of and solve them. He hoped she was a part of that. While Jester was holding onto the Traveler as he was being carried away in chains, Fjord used Hex and Relentless Hex to grab onto her. He called out to her, asking her to let go of Artagan. Artagan eventually shoved them both off of him, sending them falling. Caleb caught them with Feather Fall, and Yasha and Beau kept them from landing in the lava.

While the party was briefly in Rexxentrum before heading north, Fjord gave Jester a tiny unicorn figurine he had bought earlier, which thrilled her and she kissed his cheek. She excitedly told Beau about it and they both giggled about Fjord and Yasha.

Trivia

 * Travis has stated that he doesn't like to roleplay D&D romance. Laura, his wife, who plays Jester, joked that she would flirt with him during the second campaign just to mess with him, saying he could never turn his own wife down.