Beaujester

Beaujester is the femslash ship between Beauregard and Jester Lavorre from the Critical Role fandom.

Curious Beginnings
Jester, Fjord and Beau are sitting at the inn when a man comes up to them and thanks them for the day before. He pays them for their services and Jester tells Beau to split up the coins as she becomes distracted by Nott and Caleb. When she's done talking to them, she turns back to Beau and asks how much silver she got. It was seven.

As Yasha leaves, Jester comments on some of her looks, and Beau suggests that she could do the same thing. Jester says that she can't do it that night, since Yasha would know that she copied her, and Beau agrees. Fjord interrupts them and asks if Molly was using magic with his cards, but Jester doesn't know. Beau asks Jester is she's superstitious. She's not and asks why Beau wants to know. Beau says that he seemed like a suspicious guy.

A Show of Scrutiny
Jester and Fjord enter the stockade again, and a guard allows them in. They reach the cells and Fjord and Jester ask why Beau doesn't get a seat with the Lawmaster. The guard says that it was because she was uncooperative, leaving Jester confused. Beau says that it was a twitch from an old injury, Jester asking if they were making fun of her spasm. Fjord asks if they can see the lawmaster now, and the guard leaves to get her. The lawmaster arrives, and Fjord quickly apologizes and lies that Beau's sister had been in a similar situation as Toya. Jester adds on, saying that it was her adoptive sister, and Beau says that she had practically raised her. Beau says that she'd be willing to cooperate with the investigation, and indicates her bruise for a place to look for samples. Jester asks if she needs to heal it, but Beau clenches her teeth and says no. The lawmaster agrees to let Beau go free, but says that they are not allowed to leave the inn till the investigation is done, and they're escorted back.

After meeting up with the others, Beau requests that Jester use her healing spells, since she's pretty sure she broke her rib, but Jester says that she's tapped. Beau decides to sleep if off, but Jester quickly tries cure wounds, getting nothing. She gets a closer look at the bruise and starts to think it might be infected. She takes a fork and Beau tells her not to poker her with it, but Jester says that she's using the the blunt end and to stop being a baby. Ultimately it's fine but Jester still needs to sleep. Jester then heads up to bed, Beau following her and sleeping on the floor of the same room. As Jester draws to The Traveler, she wakes up Beau by giggling. She apologizes, which Beau accepts, before falling asleep again.

Curious Beginnings

 * Beau says that Jester told her that Jester believes Fjord is handsome.
 * Jester heard Beau say her name and assumes she was calling for her.
 * Beau realizes that she's never seen Jester eat anything other than pastries and becomes concerned (but not that much).
 * Jester and Beau warns Yasha to stay away from Baumbauch.
 * Beau and Jester suggest that Caleb and Nott join their group.
 * Beau cheers on Jester's magic.
 * Jester and Fjord question how it's possible for Fjord to be allergic to Frumpkin.
 * Beau gives Jester reminders on how to bluff.
 * Jester and Beau talk about whether it's a good idea to take people's money from a training game.
 * Jester asks Beau if they should kill the rats.
 * Beau and Jester try and convince Yasha to let them keep their weapons.
 * Beau overhears Yasha talk about Jester, and says that she could try for a relationship with her.
 * Jester heals Beau after the fight against the zombie.
 * Beau tells Jester to stop joking or the Crown's Guard might end up killing her.

A Show of Scrutiny

 * Jester can tell that Beau's not a fan of jails.
 * Jester jokes about Beau not liking jails as she's pulled into the stockade.
 * Jester and Fjord say that's it's weird that Beau didn't keep a low profile.
 * Jester says that she's never seen Beau angry.
 * When Jester suggests the Beau should have twitched to make the spasm realistic, Beau becomes mad that she didn't.
 * Jester asks Beau why she would save Toya since she turned all the people into zombies, but Beau's not entirely sure that's true.
 * Beau makes sure that there isn't anything suspicious and Nott pickpockets Jester.
 * Jester mistakenly believes that Beau's home is near Trostenwald.
 * Jester tells Nott and Molly that she was checking that Beau wasn't a zombie.
 * Beau accuses Jester and Fjord of skipping town without her.
 * Jester helps Beau put on make up to disguise her as a man.
 * Beau, Jester and Fjord bring up the water snake they fought.
 * Beau and Jester joke about telling the guards to leave town.

Fanon
An average pairing for the Mighty Nein fandom, but the ship has a good following. The ship was initially more friendship based, focusing on Beau and Jester's status as roommates, but as the Campaign went on fans started to see the two as a potential romance. It steadily grew a fanbase as the series continued, particularly growing in popularity after "The Boat Talk," a conversation between the two on The Mighty Nein's ship in episode 46, during which Beau comforts Jester after a near-death experience and the two profess their love for each other.

Fics will often explore how the two start out as friends and eventually get together. Or Beau helping Jester figure out her sexuality, and realizing that they have feeling for each other. Some fans will also explore how their background parallel each other, and how they could bond over them.

Like all Critical Role ships, fans often will have to redraw the described scenes to show them visually. Some fans who do generic M9 re-creations will also occasionally push their pairing in their own works, including Beaujester. Artists are particularly fond of Beau wearing one of Jester's dresses in episode 72 and drawing the two together as roommates. Since getting tattoo's that's become a fan favorite as well.

Fans of the pairing rarely questioned if they were being queerbaited, but did often question if they were reading too much into it, given history with similar best friend femslash ships. In episode 84, when Beau checked out Jester's arms, many felt elated, but put their feelings on hold, given that Beau often made comments on women being attractive or muscular, without intention of having any kind of relationship with them. The following episode gave Jester fans and Beaujester fans a lot to chear about, as Beau confessed to Nott that she had a crush on Jester. Many queer fans were extremely happy, given history of similar pairings, that their suspicions had been confirmed. Fans were also happy with the way that Marisha portrayed the confession, given that it seemed realistic to the way real queer women feel when they have a crush on their best friends or straight women.

On AO3, Beaujester is the most written relationship for both Beau and Jester. It is the second most written ship for The Mighty Nein and the third most written ship in the Critical Role tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

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Trivia

 * Beaujester week takes place between July 25th - 31st.
 * Beaujester is the first Critical Role ship to appear on the Fandometrics shipping list.

Variations

 * Bashter refers to the ship between Beauregard, Jester and Yasha Nydoorin