The Frigid Doom (Critical Role, multiple) (1/3)

[Winged]

Yes, I'm still working on my Percy fic, but in the meantime I'm still continuing to try and catch up on Critical Role, which inspired the following fic.

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 71 BELOW

 

 

Vox Machina has just fought the most recent member of the Chroma Conclave, an ice dragon named Vorugal (nicknamed "The Frigid Doom"). During the battle, both Vax'ildan (half-elven rogue) and Pike (gnome cleric of Sarenrae) fell unconscious and very nearly perished. However, Vex'ahlia slew the beast with a well-timed arrow, and the day was won. However there were many mentions of "you all stand shivering as the blizzard rages around you," which, uh, "inspired" me.

This is part one, likely of three if it plays out the way I believe it will. I just really really love my half-elf twins, okay? Additionally, you can check out the Critical Role thread on the media board if you'd like to hear the actors' sneezes that I'm basing their characters' off of.

Thanks for reading!

--

As the bulk of Vox Machina return from their first run at the dragon’s lair, Vex is the last one through the doors of Scanlan’s Magnificent Mansion. She closes them behind her, a hum of arcane energy vibrating just below her range of hearing, and shivers in spite of herself. It’s already warmer in here than it was out on the battlefield, but her cloak and armor are still encrusted with ice shards, and her skin prickles uncomfortably at the change of temperature.

A familiar cough catches her attention, and she turns back to the entrance hall to see her twin leaning wearily against the wall. Vex feels her heart squeeze in her chest and covers the distance between them quickly to wrap her arms around him. His face fits easily into the dip of her neck, his cold nose against her skin, and she fists her fingers fervently into his long, damp hair.

“Stop doing that, you prick,” she murmurs, the hint of a sob in her voice, and she feels him chuckle against her. “Stop being such a goddamn hero.”

“You’re one to talk,” he says, or she thinks he says, because his voice is rough and weak. He feels far too cold in her arms, and she spends a few extra seconds trying to rub warmth back into his body before releasing him.

“You need to go warm up, you’re going to catch your death,” Vex frets. She runs a thumb over one of his eyebrows, smoothing it down, and he squirms away.

“Pike got it worse than I did anyways,” he says stubbornly, and Vex’s heart drops to her stomach again.

“Where is she?”

Vax points towards one of the Mansion’s many lounges, and Vex peeks around him to see her friend huddling in an armchair by the fireplace. She has stripped out of her armor and looks very small and very fragile, and Vex kneels before her to sweep Pike into her arms.

“How are you feeling, dear?” She asks through the hug, breathing in the comforting scent of her friend. Her white-blonde locks have been mostly pulled up into small buns on the top of her head - probably Vax’s doing - and the holy symbol around her neck is still encrusted with ice.

She feels Pike shrug, then sniffle, and Vex breaks the hug to eye her friend critically in case she has begun to cry. Pike is pale, but her eyes are dry as she gives Vex a weak smile.

“All right. Sore,” she admits.

“Well you did just fight a dragon.”

“Which I heard you killed!” Pike shakes her head in awe. “Vex’ahlia the dragon slayer. My friends are so amazing.”

“What about you though, with the holy fist from above?” Vax has tailed his twin into the lounge, and he mimes Pike’s deity smashing Vorugal into the ground. The chatter morphs naturally into the debrief they always go through after battles - highlights, pitfalls, the moment they knew the dragon was toast - and lots of laughter as the others begin to arrive.

“I’m just happy I didn’t get turned to stone this time,” Kima says dryly from her place by the doorway.

“Or thrown into a crevasse,” Scanlan puts in helpfully, and Kima winces.

“My shoulder’s still a little off from that one,” she admits.

The conversation begins to morph into a contest of old injuries at that point, but when Vax and Pike interrupt the flow of chatter by sneezing simultaneously, Vex gets to her feet.

“All right, I think it’s time these two get to bed. Since you nearly died today and all that,” she adds, shooting a glare at her brother, who just responds with a jaw-creaking yawn. Pike is snuffling into her sleeve, but she flashes Vex a tired smile.

The twins’ rooms are adjacent to each other in the Magnificent Mansion, which Vex is even more grateful for tonight as she has to support about 70% of the drooping weight of Vax. Once she’s kicked open the door, she deposits Vax in front of the dresser.

“Change,” she orders, and promptly turns her back. “You’re covered in goristro goo.”

Vax makes some sort of muttered retort, but she hears him begin to shed his clothing and weapons, dropping dagger after dagger to the floor with haphazard clinks. She counts them out in her head, but after the fourth Vax breaks rhythm and falls into stuttering, hitching breaths.

“Bless,” Vex says primly, knowing quite well how he hates it, and she hears him grumble a response before “hh’CHHH’oo!”

Her twin’s sneezes are always telegraphed occasions, and they’re as predictable as rain. First Vax’s long nose will twitch: a tiny movement that means nothing alone, yet when it’s paired with a brief, irritated nose scrunch, Vex knows what will follow.

Vax has always hated sneezing in front of others, and he will frequently try and fight them off. But sooner or later, his careful, even breathing will falter, and he will squint, desperation rushing in like the tides as he struggles to tug his collar or cloak or elbow up to catch the breathy expulsion and final, vocalized syllable.

They know each other better than they know Common, better than she knows the woods, better than he can read the tumblers of a lock. Vex does not doubt that she has her own tells, but out of respect for her brother and the enigmatic facade he so carefully cultivates, she keeps his quiet.

Like the fact that she knows he is catching a cold.

“Shall I send a servant for some tea, then?” She asks as Vax finishes dressing and moves through her periphery to the small wash basin. He sends her a brief, irritated glance, but she can see the way he’s swallowing ever so gingerly, and she knows that in the morning his voice will be all but gone.

“Only if you’ll stay for some,” he says after a moment, flicking water from the porcelain basin at her.

Vex sticks her tongue out at him and goes off to find one of Scanlan’s ephemeral servants. There’s one floating down the hallway just outside, and after requesting some hot tea with honey (and no chicken, thank you), she decides to pop down to check on Pike.

She passes the elaborate entryway to Scanlan’s master bedroom and knocks on the door adjacent. Within several seconds she hears footsteps, then the door opens to reveal a rather bedraggled Pike.

Vex greets her, and as Pike muffles a wide yawn into her palm, she is swamped by a familiar urge to take the small gnome into her arms and protect her from all the evil in the world. It must be something about her large doe-eyes, or the smile she gifts without abandon. “I was just making sure you hadn’t fallen asleep while you were undressing. Vax was about to.”

Pike chuckles softly. “I’m sure we’ll both sleep well tonight. Don’t expect to see me at breakfast.” She tucks her arms tightly around herself, and Vex is concerned to see shivers creeping along her tiny frame.

“Are you cold, darling? I could ask for some more blankets.”

Pike gives a small, disarming shrug. “It’s all right, I just haven’t really been able to get warm since…” She trails off, and Vex’s brows snap together.

“But it’s been hours.”

Another shrug, another consuming desire to find a blanket and cocoon the cleric in its woolen depths. Vex bites her lip.

“Vax and I are having some tea, can I send some over to you?” She tries. Pike’s eyes brighten the smallest bit.

“Tea sounds -- s-hhhounds -- ” her voice wavers, and she snaps suddenly away from Vex to catch a vocal “ehhkEWW!” in hastily cupped hands.

“Bless, darling,” Vex says, and then cracks a tiny smile, because who is she to be blessing one of Sarenrae’s chosen? Pike may have smiled too, but she has already tucked her face behind a handkerchief. Vex can’t read her friend as well as her twin, but they’ve been traveling together for well over a year, and she knows the signs of another budding cold when she sees one. Not surprisingly, considering the hours the group had spent out in a veritable blizzard. And that wasn't even taking Pike’s close brush with death into account, which had to have worn her body down.

She should check on Percy, now that she thinks about it. He still hasn't fully recovered from his resurrection two days prior, and he’s fairly susceptible to illness even on the best of days. But the servant has reappeared with a tray inexplicably balanced on its translucent hand, and Vex leaves some tea with Pike before saying good night and returning to her brother. Vax is curled against the arm of the room’s darkly upholstered sofa, his back to the door, but he cranks his neck around as he hears her footsteps.

“I come bearing gifts,” Vex says, and sets the tea on the coffee table before flopping onto the sofa at her brother’s feet. He automatically lifts his legs and allows her to slide beneath them, sinking into the reassuring contact that they both often seek after battles. Vex takes even greater comfort than usually tonight in the weight of her brother’s legs in her lap, after seeing him prone and still on the battlefield, his blood coloring the snow crimson as it seeped slowly from his wounds --

A whole-body shiver takes her frame, and she bites the corner of her lip until the pain drives the image from her head. Vax makes a soft, soothing sound and finds her fingers with his own.

“Hi,” he says pointedly, squeezing until she meets his gaze, and she huffs out a small laugh, then shakes her head. No, I don’t want to talk about it. He takes another tactic. “Pour me some of that tea, will you?”

Vex obeys, then helps herself to a cup. It tastes like the most soothing, expensive green tea blend from her father’s estate in Syngorn, and she closes her eyes for a moment to savor this small stretch of peace and tranquility. Vax too gives an exhale that seems to leach the tension from his shoulders, and he lets his head flop sideways onto the back of the couch.

The twins sit in silence for a few moments, sipping tea and inhaling the warm vapors. Vex feels herself beginning to drift off to sleep when she feels her brother’s breath stutter, then swell until it caps off in a half-stifled “hmmp’CHHuh!”

“Bless you,” she murmurs sleepily, and cracks one eye open. Vax is wiping his nose on his shirtsleeve like a child, and she fishes a handkerchief from her pocket, then tosses it into his lap. “Blow your nose.”

He makes a face at her but complies. He looks exhausted. She lets her hand rest on his ankle. “Why don’t you go to bed?”

Vax coughs, but he swings his legs from her lap - slowly, like every movement aches - and gets to his feet. He stretches, long arms arching high above his dark head, and then looks back at her.

“Are you going to sleep on my couch, then?”

She sticks her tongue out at him, but she gets up. “I’m right next door if you need me,” she says, forcing a light tone. There are times, when one of them becomes swamped by night terrors, that they will crawl into the same sleeping roll and hold each other close like they had when they were young and had no home but the other. She doesn’t know how Vax will be affected by their battle with Vorugal today, and she wants him to know that she will leave her door unlocked.

He holds her gaze for a long, sincere moment before nodding. “All right. Get to bed, Stubby.” He makes a half-hearted kick at her shin, and with an eyeroll she lets herself out.

[MeForever]

I already love this! Exited for the next part.

[MaiMai]

Aww man, I've only just got into Critical Role (because of the media topic ), and I'm not that far in. I got super excited when I saw this, but thought I should wait until I get to episode 71 because spoilers, but I've accidentally read it twice already. I really, really love Vex and Vax also, so the interactions between them were just for me. Particularly Vex'ahlia knowing him well enough to instantly know that he's getting sick, and blessing him before the sneeze... I adored the affection between Vex and Pike too, eep. <3 I especially love how you based the spellings on the actor's actual sneezes, that's such a nice touch.

This is amazing and if you feel like writing more of it, I will be super excited to read it!

[MIN]

On 7/17/2017 at 10:27 PM, Winged said:

Yes, I'm still working on my Percy fic, but in the meantime I'm still continuing to try and catch up on Critical Role, which inspired the following fic.

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 71 BELOW

 

 

Vox Machina has just fought the most recent member of the Chroma Conclave, an ice dragon named Vorugal (nicknamed "The Frigid Doom"). During the battle, both Vax'ildan (half-elven rogue) and Pike (gnome cleric of Sarenrae) fell unconscious and very nearly perished. However, Vex'ahlia slew the beast with a well-timed arrow, and the day was won. However there were many mentions of "you all stand shivering as the blizzard rages around you," which, uh, "inspired" me.

This is part one, likely of three if it plays out the way I believe it will. I just really really love my half-elf twins, okay? Additionally, you can check out the Critical Role thread on the media board if you'd like to hear the actors' sneezes that I'm basing their characters' off of.

Thanks for reading!

--

As the bulk of Vox Machina return from their first run at the dragon’s lair, Vex is the last one through the doors of Scanlan’s Magnificent Mansion. She closes them behind her, a hum of arcane energy vibrating just below her range of hearing, and shivers in spite of herself. It’s already warmer in here than it was out on the battlefield, but her cloak and armor are still encrusted with ice shards, and her skin prickles uncomfortably at the change of temperature.

A familiar cough catches her attention, and she turns back to the entrance hall to see her twin leaning wearily against the wall. Vex feels her heart squeeze in her chest and covers the distance between them quickly to wrap her arms around him. His face fits easily into the dip of her neck, his cold nose against her skin, and she fists her fingers fervently into his long, damp hair.

“Stop doing that, you prick,” she murmurs, the hint of a sob in her voice, and she feels him chuckle against her. “Stop being such a goddamn hero.”

“You’re one to talk,” he says, or she thinks he says, because his voice is rough and weak. He feels far too cold in her arms, and she spends a few extra seconds trying to rub warmth back into his body before releasing him.

“You need to go warm up, you’re going to catch your death,” Vex frets. She runs a thumb over one of his eyebrows, smoothing it down, and he squirms away.

“Pike got it worse than I did anyways,” he says stubbornly, and Vex’s heart drops to her stomach again.

“Where is she?”

Vax points towards one of the Mansion’s many lounges, and Vex peeks around him to see her friend huddling in an armchair by the fireplace. She has stripped out of her armor and looks very small and very fragile, and Vex kneels before her to sweep Pike into her arms.

“How are you feeling, dear?” She asks through the hug, breathing in the comforting scent of her friend. Her white-blonde locks have been mostly pulled up into small buns on the top of her head - probably Vax’s doing - and the holy symbol around her neck is still encrusted with ice.

She feels Pike shrug, then sniffle, and Vex breaks the hug to eye her friend critically in case she has begun to cry. Pike is pale, but her eyes are dry as she gives Vex a weak smile.

“All right. Sore,” she admits.

“Well you did just fight a dragon.”

“Which I heard you killed!” Pike shakes her head in awe. “Vex’ahlia the dragon slayer. My friends are so amazing.”

“What about you though, with the holy fist from above?” Vax has tailed his twin into the lounge, and he mimes Pike’s deity smashing Vorugal into the ground. The chatter morphs naturally into the debrief they always go through after battles - highlights, pitfalls, the moment they knew the dragon was toast - and lots of laughter as the others begin to arrive.

“I’m just happy I didn’t get turned to stone this time,” Kima says dryly from her place by the doorway.

“Or thrown into a crevasse,” Scanlan puts in helpfully, and Kima winces.

“My shoulder’s still a little off from that one,” she admits.

The conversation begins to morph into a contest of old injuries at that point, but when Vax and Pike interrupt the flow of chatter by sneezing simultaneously, Vex gets to her feet.

“All right, I think it’s time these two get to bed. Since you nearly died today and all that,” she adds, shooting a glare at her brother, who just responds with a jaw-creaking yawn. Pike is snuffling into her sleeve, but she flashes Vex a tired smile.

The twins’ rooms are adjacent to each other in the Magnificent Mansion, which Vex is even more grateful for tonight as she has to support about 70% of the drooping weight of Vax. Once she’s kicked open the door, she deposits Vax in front of the dresser.

“Change,” she orders, and promptly turns her back. “You’re covered in goristro goo.”

Vax makes some sort of muttered retort, but she hears him begin to shed his clothing and weapons, dropping dagger after dagger to the floor with haphazard clinks. She counts them out in her head, but after the fourth Vax breaks rhythm and falls into stuttering, hitching breaths.

“Bless,” Vex says primly, knowing quite well how he hates it, and she hears him grumble a response before “hh’CHHH’oo!”

Her twin’s sneezes are always telegraphed occasions, and they’re as predictable as rain. First Vax’s long nose will twitch: a tiny movement that means nothing alone, yet when it’s paired with a brief, irritated nose scrunch, Vex knows what will follow.

Vax has always hated sneezing in front of others, and he will frequently try and fight them off. But sooner or later, his careful, even breathing will falter, and he will squint, desperation rushing in like the tides as he struggles to tug his collar or cloak or elbow up to catch the breathy expulsion and final, vocalized syllable.

They know each other better than they know Common, better than she knows the woods, better than he can read the tumblers of a lock. Vex does not doubt that she has her own tells, but out of respect for her brother and the enigmatic facade he so carefully cultivates, she keeps his quiet.

Like the fact that she knows he is catching a cold.

“Shall I send a servant for some tea, then?” She asks as Vax finishes dressing and moves through her periphery to the small wash basin. He sends her a brief, irritated glance, but she can see the way he’s swallowing ever so gingerly, and she knows that in the morning his voice will be all but gone.

“Only if you’ll stay for some,” he says after a moment, flicking water from the porcelain basin at her.

Vex sticks her tongue out at him and goes off to find one of Scanlan’s ephemeral servants. There’s one floating down the hallway just outside, and after requesting some hot tea with honey (and no chicken, thank you), she decides to pop down to check on Pike.

She passes the elaborate entryway to Scanlan’s master bedroom and knocks on the door adjacent. Within several seconds she hears footsteps, then the door opens to reveal a rather bedraggled Pike.

Vex greets her, and as Pike muffles a wide yawn into her palm, she is swamped by a familiar urge to take the small gnome into her arms and protect her from all the evil in the world. It must be something about her large doe-eyes, or the smile she gifts without abandon. “I was just making sure you hadn’t fallen asleep while you were undressing. Vax was about to.”

Pike chuckles softly. “I’m sure we’ll both sleep well tonight. Don’t expect to see me at breakfast.” She tucks her arms tightly around herself, and Vex is concerned to see shivers creeping along her tiny frame.

“Are you cold, darling? I could ask for some more blankets.”

Pike gives a small, disarming shrug. “It’s all right, I just haven’t really been able to get warm since…” She trails off, and Vex’s brows snap together.

“But it’s been hours.”

Another shrug, another consuming desire to find a blanket and cocoon the cleric in its woolen depths. Vex bites her lip.

“Vax and I are having some tea, can I send some over to you?” She tries. Pike’s eyes brighten the smallest bit.

“Tea sounds -- s-hhhounds -- ” her voice wavers, and she snaps suddenly away from Vex to catch a vocal “ehhkEWW!” in hastily cupped hands.

“Bless, darling,” Vex says, and then cracks a tiny smile, because who is she to be blessing one of Sarenrae’s chosen? Pike may have smiled too, but she has already tucked her face behind a handkerchief. Vex can’t read her friend as well as her twin, but they’ve been traveling together for well over a year, and she knows the signs of another budding cold when she sees one. Not surprisingly, considering the hours the group had spent out in a veritable blizzard. And that wasn't even taking Pike’s close brush with death into account, which had to have worn her body down.

She should check on Percy, now that she thinks about it. He still hasn't fully recovered from his resurrection two days prior, and he’s fairly susceptible to illness even on the best of days. But the servant has reappeared with a tray inexplicably balanced on its translucent hand, and Vex leaves some tea with Pike before saying good night and returning to her brother. Vax is curled against the arm of the room’s darkly upholstered sofa, his back to the door, but he cranks his neck around as he hears her footsteps.

“I come bearing gifts,” Vex says, and sets the tea on the coffee table before flopping onto the sofa at her brother’s feet. He automatically lifts his legs and allows her to slide beneath them, sinking into the reassuring contact that they both often seek after battles. Vex takes even greater comfort than usually tonight in the weight of her brother’s legs in her lap, after seeing him prone and still on the battlefield, his blood coloring the snow crimson as it seeped slowly from his wounds --

A whole-body shiver takes her frame, and she bites the corner of her lip until the pain drives the image from her head. Vax makes a soft, soothing sound and finds her fingers with his own.

“Hi,” he says pointedly, squeezing until she meets his gaze, and she huffs out a small laugh, then shakes her head. No, I don’t want to talk about it. He takes another tactic. “Pour me some of that tea, will you?”

Vex obeys, then helps herself to a cup. It tastes like the most soothing, expensive green tea blend from her father’s estate in Syngorn, and she closes her eyes for a moment to savor this small stretch of peace and tranquility. Vax too gives an exhale that seems to leach the tension from his shoulders, and he lets his head flop sideways onto the back of the couch.

The twins sit in silence for a few moments, sipping tea and inhaling the warm vapors. Vex feels herself beginning to drift off to sleep when she feels her brother’s breath stutter, then swell until it caps off in a half-stifled “hmmp’CHHuh!”

“Bless you,” she murmurs sleepily, and cracks one eye open. Vax is wiping his nose on his shirtsleeve like a child, and she fishes a handkerchief from her pocket, then tosses it into his lap. “Blow your nose.”

He makes a face at her but complies. He looks exhausted. She lets her hand rest on his ankle. “Why don’t you go to bed?”

Vax coughs, but he swings his legs from her lap - slowly, like every movement aches - and gets to his feet. He stretches, long arms arching high above his dark head, and then looks back at her.

“Are you going to sleep on my couch, then?”

She sticks her tongue out at him, but she gets up. “I’m right next door if you need me,” she says, forcing a light tone. There are times, when one of them becomes swamped by night terrors, that they will crawl into the same sleeping roll and hold each other close like they had when they were young and had no home but the other. She doesn’t know how Vax will be affected by their battle with Vorugal today, and she wants him to know that she will leave her door unlocked.

He holds her gaze for a long, sincere moment before nodding. “All right. Get to bed, Stubby.” He makes a half-hearted kick at her shin, and with an eyeroll she lets herself out.

Okay it has been a hot minute, but if you, or anyone, wants to continue with this I would be over the bloody moon! I'm only in the early 20s of campaign one myself, but this is beyond beautifully written! And I've not been able to find any Pike/Vex anywhere, let alone in this capacity! Actually, now that I think about it, I've not found anything in regards to ANY of Ashley's characters. If anyone fancies changing this I will certainly not say no! 😃