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“Are there things you want to forget?”
He shakes his head, his jaw tightening. “Nein, there are things I have to remember.”
“What’s it like?”
“Ah… hard. Very hard.”
Molly nods. He fights the urge to reach out and take the wizard’s hand. “I’m sorry.”
[Mollymauk and Caleb talk about the past, and moving on from it.]
[title from “Normal Song” by Perfume Genius]
Bookmarked by chocoCate
17 Jun 2022
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“I would like you to know me,” Caleb says.
It feels like a secret. Like the darkest part of him cracked open; all his months and years of hiding, of wrapping his arms and scratching the bindings, of not loving, not loving anything but an unkillable cat — it’s unraveling around him. He feels naked. He feels the way he did the first time Pumat Sol spelled him clean.
“I find that — I would like you to know me,” he says, again.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
18 Apr 2022
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The story goes: Caleb, a fresh-faced farm boy from Igrathad, moved to Rosohna ten years previously to achieve his dream of owning a bookstore. With a little family money from his parents’ untimely deaths and the sale of their farm, he rented a storefront and set up shop here in the Gallimaufry district.
Of course, he shouldn’t have let himself get so comfortable.
It’s mid-afternoon on a mild Conthsen and Caleb is reading behind the counter when the bell chimes above the door and an altogether too familiar face walks in: Essek Thelyss.
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As one of the Empire’s deep undercover Volstrucker, Caleb Widogast warms the beds of Taskhands, Lens secretaries, and wives of government officials to get any advantage over the Dynasty he can. But when he needs more information than the scientist informant Essek Thelyss is giving him, he finds his usual charms don’t cut it. A chance meeting in a bookstore offers him a different way in.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
13 Apr 2022
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“My father explained my delusion. ‘This fox is dead’, he told me, ‘it may not seem so, but once the frost melts it will rot like anything else.’ I found this untenable at the time. But now I wonder, if nature is capable of suspending a creature between life and death, how will humans inevitably attempt the same?”
Relentlessly, thinks Caleb. And without any thought for the soul.
“Curious,” murmurs Thelyss. “Have you witnessed any practical experiments upon this theory?”
“No,” he lies.
Caleb hears word of a scholar, one who lives alone. It is unwise to knock on the door of a man known to be a cold host, but Caleb is desperate and has little to lose. He enters thinking there cannot be anything more monstrous inside but himself. However, he soon sees and experiences what he believed was found only on the pages of folktales.Series
- Part 2 of the glory of hell and the virtue of sin
Bookmarked by chocoCate
28 Mar 2022
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Cat's Paw by mllekurtz (TheKnittingJedi)
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
21 May 2022
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For better or worse, Caleb Widogast was a witcher. He didn’t know if his affinity for magic would have made him a sorcerer in another life; he only had this one. His former masters had taught him to channel his gifts towards one thing and one thing only, and he had spent the better part of his life trying to unlearn that lesson, trying to be a protector instead of a murderer—and sometimes being a protector only meant he got to choose who would live and who would die.
Sometimes it was a hard choice. Other times, however, it was very easy.🟍
Or: a Shadowgast Witcher AU in three parts, with art by @Kurocyou.
Series
- Part 1 of shadowgast witcher au
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,628
- Chapters:
- 3/3
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 156
- Kudos:
- 1,019
- Bookmarks:
- 229
- Hits:
- 14,762
Bookmarked by chocoCate
28 Mar 2022
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Caleb watches. Calculates cost, and what can be borne, and what will be left after. Hopes that the Nein will forgive him. Hopes, too, that they arrive soon enough for that to matter.
"You run from it," Trent is saying, gentle, "but there is always a home for you here. Say the word, and it will be yours."
—
Caleb does not make it free at the end of the Vergessen heist. Trent offers him a choice.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
06 Mar 2022
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ADELINA, the gorgeous sign in front of the Rexxentrum National Theater says, with smaller letters beneath spelling out the words Rosohna Ballet Company below in both Common and Elvish. The stairs are covered with red carpet to mark the occasion—the first ever performance staged by the famed Rosohna Ballet outside of Xhorhas. In a show of goodwill, the Rosohna Ballet had asked for one soloist as a guest performer; in return, one of their own soloists would perform with the Rexxentrum Ballet later in the year.
[Or: Caleb accompanies Yasha to the make-or-break performance of Beau's career, only to find himself captivated by Beau's new partner.]
Series
- Part 1 of clockwork dancers
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 5,091
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 56
- Kudos:
- 404
- Bookmarks:
- 32
- Hits:
- 2,560
Bookmarked by chocoCate
11 Feb 2022
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After the defeat of Gabriel Agreste and the disappearance of the mysterious peacock miraculous user, Marinette is left to try her best as Guardian and pick up the pieces. With the kwamis left in hibernation, no leads on the missing peacock miraculous, and no way to contact her beloved partner, she's left to her wit's end on where to proceed.
That is, until the prime suspect of the peacock wielder coincidentally takes up an apprenticeship at her parents' bakery. Adrien Agreste, son of Hawkmoth, has seemingly planted his roots in her home while Marinette was away for an apprenticeship. This could either be a disaster in the making, or the perfect opportunity to retrieve the missing miraculous... either way, it's war.
At least, it would be, if the gosh darn villain weren't so sweet!
(putting this on ao3, used to be exclusive to my tumblr. read author's note for a more in-depth summary)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 0
- Chapters:
- 27/27
- Collections:
- 12
- Comments:
- 2,127
- Kudos:
- 14,387
- Bookmarks:
- 3,546
- Hits:
- 227,908
Bookmarked by chocoCate
29 Jan 2022
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The chasm of the night and a matter of time by SkyScribbles
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
09 May 2021
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Essek loops the silver cord around his own wrist, like half of a handfast. ‘What I mean to express,’ he says softly, ‘is that this spell requires a degree of trust.’
Ah, Caleb thinks. Yes, that is always the issue, between the two of them.
(In which Lucien takes Caleb's mind, and in the aftermath, two wizards confront questions of trust and time.)
Bookmarked by chocoCate
18 Jan 2022
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“You are going to stay out here for awhile, I think. If you want to eat, you had better be prepared to fight for it.” With that Ikithon opens the latch to the kennel and tosses Bren inside, closing and locking it behind him.
Bren fights for survival, and emerges victorious from a battle that teaches him a lesson...but maybe not quite the one Ikithon intended...
Bookmarked by chocoCate
14 Jan 2022
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Summary
A Shadowgast evil AU (in progress).
- Words:
- 113,476
- Works:
- 6
- Bookmarks:
- 130
Bookmarked by chocoCate
14 Jan 2022
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Widogast's palms come to rest lightly on Essek’s forearms, crossed over his stomach under the cloak. “In that case, what do you wish in exchange for this request I ask of you, Shadowhand? You have only to name it and it shall be yours.”
Series
- Part 2 of whetstone
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 10,812
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 64
- Kudos:
- 253
- Bookmarks:
- 37
- Hits:
- 2,897
Bookmarked by chocoCate
28 Dec 2021
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With one final phrase, the spell is complete,and the twice stolen beacon resting on his desk flares brightly, flooding the room with searing light and an overwhelming rush of energy, an intangible force that nearly knocks Bren off his feet. As the energy recedes, he waits, preparing to be ripped from this moment and thrust into the annals of time, but nothing happens. He frowns. Waits. But still nothing happens, and as he begins double checking his notes, scattered as they are across his work surface, suddenly, he’s struck with an intense arcane force, like a punch to the chest. He recoils, blinks instinctively and once his vision clears, finds himself standing in his bedchambers. As he takes stock of the world around him, his brain recalibrates, and a sense of dread congeals in his stomach. His sense of time has never been wrong before, so it can’t be now.
It’s 6am on the 9th of Quen’Pillar. Again.
“Shit.”
Caleb and Essek get stuck in a time loop, and have to work together to get out of it.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
23 Dec 2021
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The Terribly Sad and Tragic Affair that Is the Fake Funeral of Shadowhand Essek Thelyss by dhwty_writes for Anne_O_Nyme_913
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
03 Oct 2021
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There were eight strangers in the foyer of his dead brother's towers and Verin Thelyss was slowly losing his patience.
After the sudden "death" of Shadowhand Essek Thelyss, it is his brother Verin's job to empty out his towers. The Mighty Nein show up to help (and maybe steal a few things).
OR: Verin is grieving, Essek just wants his stuff back, and the Mighty Nein are the Mighty Nein.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
04 Dec 2021
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There is a gravity that has pulled them together many times. It pulled Caleb’s lips to Essek’s forehead, and Essek’s hands to Caleb’s arms when a tower collapsed upon him. It pulled Caleb to Eiselcross, now, to be at Essek’s side as his life as the Shadowhand dies.
Now, it could pull them together into Aeor.
(Two wizards venture into Aeor - and find that something has woken in the dead city's depths. Something dangerous. Something that will force them to decide what their pasts mean to them, and what they mean to each other.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 163,598
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 751
- Kudos:
- 1,604
- Bookmarks:
- 420
- Hits:
- 46,772
Bookmarked by chocoCate
09 Sep 2021
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He is sure he is the lost son of Laguna Loire, President of Esthar, the silly and goofy soldier who populated his weird dreams and made him feel like a moron.
He's not sure how he feels about that. [For The Successor Challenge]Series
- Part 1 of Latch / Unraveled / The Wolves
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 28,120
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 28
- Kudos:
- 68
- Bookmarks:
- 15
- Hits:
- 1,454
Bookmarked by chocoCate
24 Aug 2021
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i cannot shake the taste of blood in my mouth by Princex_N
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
13 Aug 2021
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He should be better than this, so that others do not, cannot, continue to do this to him.
You are more than this, something inside him whispers, but is he? Decades an object, an animal, a tool, a weapon. What is he worth now? Truly?
Even furniture is granted more dignity than this.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
13 Aug 2021
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these violent delights by wytch-lyghts (flight_on_broken_wings)
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
10 Aug 2021
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He had planned meticulously every detail of the theft of the beacons. He had arranged so carefully his exchange with the Assembly, their resources and the research he could not perform for his access. But the Scourger they sent to keep him in line, making subtle demands and subtler promises, he was not part of Essek's plan. He threatened to drag him in deeper than Essek had ever intended to go. He just has yet to decide whether he'll regret it.
Series
- Part 1 of ties that bind
Bookmarked by chocoCate
13 Aug 2021
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Summary
Carefully, Caleb undoes the buttons of Essek’s cuff, settling Essek’s hand against his knee so he can fold the sleeve up, baring Essek’s arm to the elbow. Caleb is briefly grateful that it is too dark for him to see much of anything.
He takes a breath. “Tell me if there is any pain or discomfort, please.”
[Or: Caleb does his best to ease Essek's pain.]
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 2,481
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 71
- Kudos:
- 946
- Bookmarks:
- 116
- Hits:
- 5,713
Bookmarked by chocoCate
08 Aug 2021
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Research Log: Aeor, 837 P.D. by wytch-lyghts (flight_on_broken_wings)
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
03 Aug 2021
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Summary
“You and I may both be adrift in that account, mein Freund,” Caleb admitted quietly, pushing himself upright again with a sigh. “Perhaps neither of us are prepared to answer questions quite so new. With time, though,” he allowed. “With time.”
It sounded shallow even in his own ears. Time alone could hardly decide for them, ‘What next?’ ‘What now?’ ‘What about you and I?’ A few such questions came to mind.
“No,” Essek agreed, the corner of his lips twitching at a wry smile. He turned to look at Caleb properly, in a way that was beginning to grow familiar. “It’s just the millennium-old questions you’re interested in answering,” he chuckled, closer to admiration than a critique.
“If we’re able,” Caleb agreed readily. “If you’d help me. Yes.”
* * *
A series of shadowgast (not-) dates in Aeor, to feature a great many firsts.
Bookmarked by chocoCate
04 Aug 2021