this was originally gonna be multiple parts, but i kind of just like it short & sweet….
* * *
Veth notices first, because of course she does. It’s summer, their annual weekend get-together in Nicodranas when life allows, and Caleb and Essek are the first to arrive, teleporting into the basement laden with overnight bags and gifts for Luc. Essek is soon swept into a conversation with Yeza, and Caleb slips onto the balcony to read his book, knowing he’ll have little time in the next few days to himself. Veth follows him quietly, watching fondly as he mutters and reads.
But there’s something different about the way he props his chin on his hands, about the way he moves his fingers idly. And then she notices it: a small, delicate silver ring on his fourth left-hand finger that Caleb rotates idly as he thinks.
Veth puts together the pieces quickly, caught between surprise and annoyance. She finally stands just behind Caleb’s shoulder, arms folded.
“Caleb Widogast,” she says, tone not quite accusing but still firm.
Caleb doesn’t look up from his book. “Veth Brenatto,” he replies, echoing her tone.
“How long?” She asks, and Caleb’s fingers still as he realises what she’s noticed.
“Four months. Almost five; tomorrow, actually, is five,” he says matter-of-factly, still not looking at Veth.
“Four– FIVE MONTHS?? Caleb–!” She huffs, but there’s a poorly-hidden joy in her outrage. Five months! FIVE MONTHS!
“Why didn’t you tell me??” Veth demands, plopping herself down to sit next to Caleb. He closes his book, sighing.
“We didn’t really plan it, Veth,” he admits, giving her a sideways glance. “I’d been working on the rings for almost a year, wondering idly if we’d ever have to opportunity to use them, and then one morning when I didn’t have school we were out in the garden, and he asked.”
“He asked you?” Veth says, eyebrows comically raised. Then she mutters “I should give him a gift or something, well done…”
“We realised there was no point in putting it off, so I put the finishing touches on the rings and we went and did it right that afternoon,” Caleb shrugs.
“Holy shit…” Veth looks almost impressed now, and Caleb’s having a very hard time reading her. Then she grins, and it sets him at ease. “Look at us, Caleb! Two married friends…”
“Perhaps we should find the lawmaster of that town and thank her,” Caleb jokes, smiling to himself as he looks out over the city, the Lucidian Ocean sparkling on the horizon. “She could not have known she was an agent of fate when she threw a goblin and a very dirty asshole into a cell together, could she?”
Veth looks out at the city too, chuckling. “Oh, definitely not.”
A Percy Jackson Mighty Nein AU with the Exandrian pantheon where Essek shows up at Camp Half Blood mildly skeptical of even being included in the whole thing, but is quickly forcibly befriended by Jester, the only claimed Child of the Traveler, and introduced to her friends from across the camp spectrum:
Fjord and Caduceus, the wildly different Children of the Wildmother
Yasha, one of a very small handful of Children of Kord (and it makes COMPLETE sense)
Veth, an unclaimed half-blood who is at home in the Traveler Cabin bc that’s where the unclaimed go (but everyone figures it’s where she belongs anyway)
And the motley duo of Ioun’s Children, Beauregard and Caleb, the latter of whom Essek bonds with and spends a lot of time with.
Everyone figures Essek’s a Child of Ioun, anyway. It makes the most sense, and if that’s where he ends up belonging that’s fine. The Knowing Mistress and her Children are happy to welcome the unclaimed, anyway.
Until one night–in front of everyone!–after Essek has decided he’s happy where he is, with these friends, with Caleb …
There’s a deep purple, swirling energy that surrounds Essek before it slowly drifts over his head to form a dodecahedron, the symbol of the Luxon.
The only claimed Child of the Luxon in history.
Essek can’t help the deep sigh that follows the rush of whispers and gossip that rush through the main pavilion.
modern au Caleb Widogast would download Neko Atsume and have all the cats collected in under a week and then hack the game to give himself more.
Caleb: see Pickles has been tricky to catch because of her low power level but i think switching the food around should help, and I found an article on how changing the date and time can bring them out more so I’m thinking I might be able to catch more rare cats that way. A lot of people discount Tubbs but he almost always leaves more fish than the food costs so it’s actually an investment if you replace the food quickly enough. And I also found a way to change the source code so you can take more pictures of them than the album typically allows, which is certainly helpful.
Essek: darling, it is 3:30am.
it’s alright, he already memorized the textbook at the start of the semester
essek theylss: reluctant & begrudging champion of the luxon, aka the funniest irony ever
OR
essek makes a breakthrough in his begrudging journey
* * *
“Just try it one more time, please?” Jester pleads. Essek sighs, re-rolling his shirtsleeves. They’ve been at it all day; Caduceus gave up hours ago, but Jester’s stubbornly refused to abandon the project.
A project: that’s all this is to her, he thinks petulantly. Not that it’s much more to him, but it still stings. What, exactly, are they trying to accomplish?
He glances at Caleb, who’s perched on one of the long tables in the library with a book open on each knee. He and Beauregard spent the morning at the Archive, digging up what little they could about the Luxon. Apparently most of the Nein are so in need of adventure that they’ve latched onto Essek’s little project with obsession he hasn’t seen since their time in Xhorhas. He, for one, is not exactly thrilled.
“Fine, one more time,” he concedes, resetting his feet. “Though I doubt it will be any different than the last hundred times,” he mutters as an afterthought. Jester, luckily, doesn’t hear.
“Okay! Guiding Bolt, try one million!” Jester declares, stepping out of the potential range of the spell. “This one’s for all the marbles!”
“Oh, joy,” Essek deadpans under his breath, holding his hands aloft in their usual casting position.
“Think of what you’ve seen in your visions,” Jester coaches from the side. “Think of everything you know about the beacons, and everything you want to know. Channel all of your anger and ignorance, and call upon the power of the Luxon to absolutely destroy this chair!” She points dramatically to the seemingly ordinary wooden chair sitting about a hundred paces away. “Kill it! Kill it with fire!”
“Here goes…” Essek mutters, loosening his neck and rolling his shoulders, focusing as hard as he can on the chair.
Nothing happens, as usual.
Essek huffs, wringing out his wrists. “I’m done with this nonsense!” He stalks out of the room, lifting off the floor instinctually as he goes.
Jester slumps, seemingly finally discouraged. “Well, we tried…” She hops up onto the table next to Caleb, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I really thought it would work, Caleb. Maybe Essek just doesn’t want it enough or something…”
POV: you try to rob a random mom at a nicodranas market and accidentally rob legendary crossbow-wielding, dragon-defying, flesh city-fighting rogue veth brenatto, who has robbed more people than you ever will in your entire lifetime
I know we as a fandom have gushed a lot, and wonderfully, over Essek in 57 not knowing that he’s going to fall head over heels in friendship with the Nein, not knowing he’s going to love the scrawny human who just held up the beacon. But something I’m equally emotional about isEssek not knowing that the Nein, and Caleb, are going to fall in love with him.
Because why would he? He’s resigned to living in a cold, self-centred world where no one gives a damn about him except his baby brother and Uraya. Essek sees himself as selfish and aloof and arrogant, and he’s right. He’s caused unfathomable harm. He’s used to not fitting in, and he holds himself at arm’s length from everyone, never showing his real self. He doesn’t even really know how to do caring relationships. Why would anyone ever care back?
But these people right here - they’re going to relate to his brokenness and his loneliness. They’re going to find it cool that he floats, and think his awkwardness charming, and ask him what his favourite food is.
And Essek doesn’t know that in a few months, that little blue tiefling is going to be so happy to see him that she runs to hug him on sight. He doesn’t know that one day, the pink firbolg’s going to pick him up and carry him to safety, refusing to leave Essek behind even when it puts his own life at risk. He doesn’t know that soon, the charming half-orc’s going to notice him in distress and come to check on him and reassure him rather than leaving him to process his grief alone.
He doesn’t know that the messy ginger human is going to love him because of his sharp edges and shadows, not despite them. He doesn’t know that he and Caleb are going to fit together so neatly, listening to each other, understanding each other, Essek’s own tunnel-vision focus balancing perfectly with Caleb’s cluttered, easily-distracted mind. He doesn’t know that he’s the one who’ll help show Caleb that people like them can grow, and change, and be good for each other. He doesn’t know he’s going to be the final, longest love of a man who’s been burned so badly.
Essek looks at these seven idiots and thinks that one day, they will see him as their enemy and despise him - but no, they’re going to think he’s super cool and that they love him a whole lot. Imagine that.
SIMPLY the way that caleb and veth look at each other in their last scene together I have decided to lose my mind.
[ID: three screenshots of Liam and one of Sam from critical role c2e141. They show Liam (as Caleb) looking at Veth with an adoring smile: he turns towards her, eyebrows raised and tilts his head to the side. In the last, Sam smiles back warmly with a slight blush. End ID]
