#essek pov

[copperhawkthoughts]

POV: your minutes-ago very dead wizard crush is about to attempt to resurrect an old friend into the ruined body of the demigod you just finished killing, because love and family

Caleb is still so pale, his every movement pained. He seems to exist just slightly out of phase with his own skin, so recently bartered back from the Matron. You open your mouth to speak, but no sound emerges. You clear your throat and try again. “Are you sure this is even wise to attempt?”

You’d once thought you hadn’t had a heart to break; you’d lately thought it had done breaking, but it crumbles into diamond dust, evaporates into pearl smoke when he looks down the length of Lucien’s ruined corpse at you and says, quiet and firm, “Once you’re a member of the Mighty Nein, you’re in. You should know that by now.”

You’ve no idea what your face is doing, stripped entirely of the ability to demur or dissemble as something soft and delicate and growing begins to sprout in your chest from seeds carefully sown and haphazardly scattered.

A scarred and calloused hand squeezing your forearm. A glittering voice in your mind at all hours, cheerful and bright. Awkward dinner invitations and hot chocolate and acceptance. Trust.

Veth steps close to your side and squeezes your shoulder, her small hand the faintest pressure through your cloak.

“He’s right, and right now there are only eight of us.”

#critical role #the mighty nein #cr spoilers #critical role c2 #c2 e140 #fic snippet #essek pov #wip snip #wip wednesday #copperhawk writes #cr fanfic

[analisegrey]

Essek snippets pls?

Behind a 'Keep Reading' because of things that some might find distressing. Check the post tags, please, and take care of yourselves.

a snippet of the Essek WIP beyond the cut!

Caduceus steps forward, dropping a small mound of sparkling diamonds in and around the other physical offerings, and closes his eyes, mouth moving near-silent in prayer to his goddess. Essek and the others watch rapt as the diamonds begin to glow, rising up in the air with an unnatural glitter. A breeze kicks up in the confined space of the chapel, ruffling all their hair, and making the flower petals around Caleb flutter. The gathering power swirls around them all, rushing towards some sort of culmination, and the diamonds explode in a small starburst, reminiscent of fireworks.

Essek has the briefest flash of hope, but then his heart drops into his gut, heavy as a stone as the sparkles go gray and ashen, landing in small smudges on the white sheet. Caleb remains as he was, cold and dead.

It didn’t work.

There’s a brief moment of quiet before it’s broken by a sob- Jester, Essek thinks- then a cacophony of sound, Beau and Veth demanding to know what happened, why he didn’t come back; it’s always worked before, why not now? Caduceus is calm as ever, though his features look heavier than they did the day before.

“There’s a lot of things that could get in the way of Caleb returning. I’ll talk to the Wildmother later and see what I can learn. In the meantime, we should do what Caleb’s requested.”

The funeral is a small affair, but it’s far from quiet and serene.

It’s definitely unlike anything Essek’s ever experienced in the Dynasty. In a country where there’s so much rebirth, and especially growing up in the social circles he has, death has always been looked upon as transitional, rather than a termination. Most funerary rites he’s witnessed have been staid, exuding decorum. Lots of talk about the Luxon, the return of the soul; the events themselves were often brief things, more of a tradition and duty than something actually desired by those involved. Almost an afterthought or inconvenience.

Caleb’s funeral is the complete opposite.

The service itself is something of a blur, the words washing over him, a quiet susurrus of sound, like waves on a beach, oddly soothing. He finds he can’t take his eyes off Caleb, now wrapped up completely in the linen shroud, even as he tells himself that it isn’t Caleb anymore, not really. The spark that made Caleb who he was- the vitality, the love of the arcane and love of his friends- is gone now. The body is merely the vessel he occupied while he was here.

What he catches of the service is a little different from the pretty words and sentiments he’s heard for more than a century, the glossing over of death as a mere stop on the journey to becoming more, to becoming a perfect soul.

As far as Essek is concerned, Caleb’s soul was already perfect.

#analise answers #analise fics #Essek POV #Essek-centric #Major Character Death #themes of grief #funerals #death #unlettered-heathen

[the-kaedageist]

It is years before her hard work pays off. The time is worth it.

She’s done her homework well. She figures out the best time to approach, when her son will feel least threatened. Not when he’s alone. Preferably when he’s in a public place, providing as much safety to him as to her. After five years, the last thing she wants to do is spook him badly enough that she has to track him down again.

She has lived over a millennium. That doesn’t stop her from pausing outside the crowded tavern in Ank’harel, shrouded in the image of a high elf, her heart echoing in her ears. A millennium of life has been nothing without taking risks – but it has been centuries since she’s risked her heart.

She takes a final breath and ducks inside.

The tavern is loud. A band in the corner plays a Taldorian jig, which she recognizes from her three months spent negotiating a trade agreement in Whitestone. Raucous chanting rings from the opposite corner, where a halfling woman and a purple-skinned tiefling are chugging from enormous mugs. She’s so appalled by the drinking competition that it takes her several seconds to turn her attention back in that direction, realizing that they’re exactly the group she’s looking for.

“HA!” shouts the halfling, audible even over the band as she slams down the ceramic drinking mug; it’s a miracle it doesn’t shatter on impact. “Suck it, Kingsley!”

The tiefling lowers his mug half a second later, groaning. “You’re cheating.”

She takes a moment to survey the rest of the group. There are nine of them in total, gathered around a long rectangular table running along the length of the side wall.

Next to the tiefling, a dark-skinned human woman in blue waves a similar mug, shouting, “it’s my turn next! Bring it on!” A larger woman with striking hair is staring at this next challenger with clear fondness as she sips from a clear glass. On the other side of the table, a tall pink firbolg and half-orc are deep in conversation, ignoring their companions. A blue-skinned tiefling woman braids the firbolg’s hair and cheers at the drinkers.

On the halfling’s other side, a redheaded human man is tapping his fingertips to the music. He leans against the man she seeks.

She takes a moment to study her son. He’s completely undisguised, his hair a tad longer but just as carefully styled as she remembers, his ears dangling with silver jewelry. From her surveillance, she knows he ordinarily operates in disguise; he clearly has decided to forgo caution here, on another continent surrounded by his friends.

She expects him to look uncomfortable or displeased at the antics of the group – but he is laughing, leaning his forehead into the redheaded human’s shoulder, a flash of fang revealed in his open joy.

In over one hundred and twenty years, she’s never seen him smile like that. It is startling, unbalancing; had she ever truly known him?

Read the rest on AO3 (4,793 words)

#critical role #essek thelyss #deirta thelyss #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #mighty nein #shadowgast #campaign 2 #cr fic #critrole #critical role fanfiction #outsider pov #my fics #this has been sitting on my computer since NOVEMBER #please enjoy

[earltea-art]

Trying to teach myself 2D animation, decided to do a little Essek doodle (it is a WIP)

#critical role #essek thelyss #critical role campaign 2 #earlarts #pov: you are the m9 calling for his attention

[flashhwing]

Fortune's Favor hath updated!

the next chapter in the tale of Essek and Artagan's Time Shenanigans!

Yasha exists! there's a porn shop! shit hits the fan!

#essek thelyss #artagan #yasha #jester lavorre #mollymauk tealeaf #tagging my pov characters it doesn't mean nobody else appears in the chapter #essek and artagan time shenanigans #man it's been so long tumblr didn't even suggest that tag when i started typing it #lame #critical role #cr fic #this has been a post #shadowgast

[spottedenchants]

fellas is it gay for your dear friend to lean over you entirely and for you to stare up to him and his starlit backdrop as he traces his eyes over your own and your mouth and your throat and your chest while you register every twitch as proof that he is alive and with you in this brief moment of peace before the world continues spinning, with not a thought in your head but one, the dread you are leaving soon and- no, two, the hope that you'll see him again, happy and safe, and also three, how easy it could be to cup his nape at this distance and coax him down like gravity for a farewell kiss

every day ts!caleb wakes up

#the fic i'm poking at is from essek's pov but let it be known #on some level caleb is trying to convince himself he didn't stumble into a romance novel #and in somewhat unconscious disbelief so much as deliberate cheek pulls a slight 'caramelldansen in an imagined horror scenario' #this ain't the romance yet boy! #chanse chatters #chanse wip #for you i'd bleed myself dry

[grayintogreen]

I think there’s a very good chance I’ll finish the next chapter of OWDLIF tomorrow if work doesn’t kill me today being my first day back in a week and also a major holiday weekend.

Which means yaaay birthday update!!

#YCDHN is also three scenes from completion #but one of those scenes is a viciously complex boss battle #and another is an Essek POV scene of something that happened in canon that doesn’t change all that much #which we all know are two things I struggle writing #my writing #red roses and dead things

[vethbrenatto]

i am not kidding i have very much imprinted on dancer. i can't let her go. make her a dmpc i dont care just dont let her leeeeeave

#like im almost never an npc > pc person #but if she was around (and i know she wont be i am very much aware of that) maybe i could finally understand the pov of an essek stan

[quinn-of-aebradore]

WIP Wednesday

Hi hello, somehow it is Wednesday and also the last day of May. As a treat, have a snippet from a Mermssek fic I was hoping to finish for MerMay but alas was unable to. Time is a weird soup, y’all 💜

Though he yearns for company, he savors the next solitary minutes, letting the sea’s call sweep through him. The brush of water against his ankles, the salt trailing across his face, the sun beating down. A wonderful way to spend the day and it will only improve from here.

Then, a faint splash.

Caleb’s eyes snap open, scanning for any trace of disturbance. For many moments, he spots nothing. Then, ah, a flicker of silver. An iridescent glint. A flash of amethyst.

His heart races, delight and joy bubbling in a potent cocktail within his chest, his veins.

The water at his feet shifts and blurs, and finally, breaks.

“I’ve been waiting,” Essek says, smiling coyly and brushing a soaked white lock from his face. “You’re late, my dear.”

Caleb finds himself lacking a reply, voice caught in his throat by adoration’s vice grip.

Essek is stunning, water beading on his lilac skin and catching the sunlight in a dazzling array. Strands of pearls lay draped across his chest, hanging as if water caught in a web. His snow white hair is sodden as ever, not yet dried with a wisp of arcana. In the water below him, his tail flicks, a blur of shining silver. And, framed by alabaster lashes, his violet eyes shine with mischief as he fixes Caleb with a stare.

“Well?”

#been a Minute since ive written a Caleb POV fic #tis fun tis fun #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #quinn writes things #forget which i use for wip weds

[mieletthe]

efflorescence {12 (fin) ❀ venturing}

Miles beneath Eiselcross, amid ice and darkness and ruin, something blooms. A mildly interconnected ficlet collection.

Rating: G Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast Words: 2802 Summary: Caleb thinks to the future.

He doesn’t necessarily expect Essek to take him up on the offer. Essek holds things close to the chest, and Caleb cannot fault him for that. The reflections across the walls are not his only mirrors here. But after the empathetic ear and quiet understanding Essek has provided him, it is only fair he offers the same.

Read on AO3

#critical role #critical role fanfic #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #shadowgast #fic: efflorescence #mieletthe writes #and with that it is done #ending with a surprise caleb POV! #the last two chapters were really smushing together three separate things while lifting the parts I'd already taken for a future thing #hence they're longer than the rest #it was torturous to try to edit around so ahh idk I hope it works

[copperhawkthoughts]

Happy Wednesday! Have an Essek-POV Aeor WIP snip ft. self-indulgent obsession with what spells look like

Jester moves a little way further up the tunnel to a stretch where the floor appears to be smooth stone. From her garish pink haversack she produces a bolt of green fabric and a squat, ugly little cup thoroughly encrusted with sparkling stones.

She unspools the fabric and shakes it out, coaxing it to settle neatly into a long rectangle. She seats herself at one short end, placing the cup in front of her, and begins to chant.

You observe her closely, intrigued. You hadn’t seen her cast this spell the last time, too caught up in exploring Caleb’s magnificent tower, and the feel of Jester’s magic fascinates you, the strong conjuration energy laced heavily with something odd and crackling that must be her patron’s divinity, and her own sugar-spice signature.

As she brings the ritual to a close, you feel an upwelling of power centred on the gaudy cup. A swirling golden-green shimmer begins to fill the bowl, bulging above the rim for a brief moment before the surface tension breaks and it spills over like fog, like mist, dissipating into a shower of sparks before reaching the green cloth.

The others join you, arranging themselves around the edges of the makeshift tablecloth. Jester twirls a hand over the chalice and it boils over, covering the ground between you with a thick layer of glittering cloud.

The cloud slowly dissipates and as it does it leaves behind, in gleaming array, all the trappings of a courtly dinner, incongruously laid out on a rough cloth on the floor of a dream-flesh tunnel beneath an impossible city in the Astral Sea.

The gilt-edged porcelain service - dinner plate, salad plate, soup bowl; bread plate; cup and saucer - features a wide border of vivid cerulean overlaid with a gilded wreath of kelp and banyan leaves, framing an ornately calligraphed golden ‘LC’.

The teardrop handles of the abundant silverware - salad fork, fish fork, dinner fork; dinner knife, teaspoon, soup spoon, seafood fork; cake fork, dessert spoon; butter knife - are likewise engraved with the same monogram, nestled in a frame of curled leaves and seashells.

The crisp white napkins are monogrammed too. As best as you can tell at a glance, the sparkling crystal stemware - water goblet, red wine, white wine - is not.

Between one astonished blink and the next, the glasses fill.

You are certain that this spell was nothing like so elaborate last time; you can’t for the life of you recall the details of the place settings when you partook on the floor of Caleb’s tower, but you are certain you’ll remember this. A glance around at your friends’ faces - variously delighted, startled, nonplussed - proves your hypothesis; this is something special.

A little overwhelmed, you reach reflexively for the tall-stemmed white wine glass and nearly sputter at the unexpected sweetness of unfermented juice.

“Jess,” Beauregard begins, all the edges buffed out of her voice, “what is all this?”

“Oh, this is how they set the tables at the Chateau when my mama gives parties, you know. I just thought,”-her lower lip wobbles alarmingly for a moment-“it would be nice. I thought it would be nice.”

Fjord takes her hand in his large green one. “It’s great, Jessie.”

You mutter formless agreement along with the rest, unable to look at their faces, abruptly more aware than before that this might be a last meal for any one of you.

The silence hangs thick and weighted for a moment before Veth breaks it with an only slightly too-loud request for chicken satay.

#love is stored in the Jester #cr fanfic #the mighty nein #wip snip #wip wednesday #critical role fanfic #critical role #copperhawk writes #essek pov

[my-spiritualweapon-is-a-lollipop]

I am practicing portraits so my favourite morally grey wizard had to make an appearance.

#POV: you're kryn colleague is very tired after a day traversing ancient ruins together and needs a snuggle #essek thelyss #critical role #essek #cr2 #critical role art #crit role #critter art

[eldritchmochi]

Mochi I GOBBLED up chap 31c and it had everything I wanted!!! The way they both continue to love, accept and incorporate disability aids into their relationship is everything 😭 I definitely caught Caleb mentioning that he has/wears braces too and I'm so curious, will this be discussed more in future chapters? I LOVE the inclusion and it's a great counterpoint to Essek's previous observations/thoughts about how Caleb's body just moves effortlessly when his doesn't and more spotlight on invisible disability, it's so good and I give you all the biggest double, triple, quadruple kudos!!!

there isssss a lil bit with it in 31d, tho essek doesnt like, *ask* about it because theyre both very bad about it. there will probably be details down the line but its nothing all that fancy, just he fell really hard on that knee at one point and didnt get adequate care for it and its been fuckey ever since, ESPECIALLY since hes no spring chicken anymore lmao

but ye, i really want to foreshadow a conversation that happens in 200k in four chapters and part of that is bringing into esseks awareness *why* caleb is not only unbothered by esseks health but wholley embraces (ha) it as a feature, not a bug. like, essek isnt going to necessarily clock that caleb has a bum knee, and has for a while, but itll click eventually and be very satisfying when it does >:3c

#mochi rambles #mochi asks #mochi presents coping skills #but no essek is absolutely wrong in thinking hes the only disabled person in this relationship #the bulk of calebs disabilities are def related to trauma and mental health #but hes lived a hard life too and so theres def some physical stuff going on #whiiiiiiich will come up more in the sequel when theres significantly more caleb pov lmao

[wizardnuke]

what's funnier for a meet-ugly fic. if it's a meet-ugly from the start ("we first met each other in a holding cell") or if it starts cute ("my grocery bag tore open on the street and they helped me pick everything up, also I got their number") and then gets ugly ("I didn't call them because I was busy and five days later we met again, in a holding cell")

#warning. long tags that got wildly off topic real fast. there's caleb meta in here #I think it's the difference between them being like 'huh. who's this guy' and the spiderman pointing meme #fic im writing doesn't have this thru a ship lens but it has a similar thing except like. it's a meet ugly where they don't exactly meet #but they see each other #smash cut four years later spiderman pointing meme in a holding cell YOU. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE #pov you're trying to convince everyone you're interacting with (while in the holding cell) (well. a dungeon) that you're an assassin from #another country but your mother in law is in the next cell over and she CLEARLY recognizes you and does NOT believe the show you're #putting on because context from the prev time you were around each other states you are not loyal to that country and that you are also a #lying liar who lies shamelessly at the first chance you get if you think it'll get you what you want. and it's making shit complicated #because she visibly wants to ask questions about why the hell you're here but you're under surveillance so she's just staring holes into #ur skull and she doesn't know she's your mother in law. this is the funniest thing I've ever written #it's a HARROWING experience for caleb in the fic. he is terrified out of his mind. but also. it's so so funny. my guy why did u do that #'caleb is a master manipulator' common misconception! he is a conman and scammer! he wishes he could operate on pure unfeeling logic and #intellect but sometimes and even oftentimes he is made of 80% panic minimum and then he commits to the bit #it's a very nuanced complicated situation etc etc but honestly a large part of it is also deirta being like what the fuck is this guy's #plan. why the fuck is he even here. and caleb's internal monologue is 'do NOT accidentally call her mother. do not do fucking not' which #is if anything making it more difficult to not call her mother. big fan of the way he refers to elders with titles I 100% think he would #call her that if he and essek were officially together. 'caleb has good social skills and awareness' common fucking misconception he is a #conman and scammer and knows vaguely what to say to get what he wants or more often how to direct attention away from what he's doing but #when he's just Being Caleb he gets to the fuckin point and that lady is his mother in law and he would refer to her as such even if #that's. a fascinating choice to make given everything about essek and also the lingering political situation between the empire and dynasty #I love caleb sooooo much I think he makes a good few snap decisions that are objectively DEEPLY unhinged and I think abt that a lot #calebs not a stable guy! I think it's rlly interesting how not stable he is even when he's doing well he has a few screws loose up there! #this is coming from someone who can relate to the irrational thinking that mental illness does I think he just sees point A to point B and #Does Shit. that's why he fireballs people when he knows it's going to trigger him. it's why he told essek to get it together instead of #killing him- he saw an ally. his morality and his decision making skills are removed from normal logic bc fuck normal logic he's caleb #widogast (sometimes- he goes by a fake name and considers himself entirely seperate from bren while he also holds himself accountable for #the crimes that bren was manipulated into committing) and its why he's Like That and I think he's neat. #I'm done now. what is this.

[tiny-huts]

Critical Role fandom challenge: try not to say something stupid about the Kryn Dynasty for two days

#critical role #the kryn dynasty #negative #they cant #they cant do it #i love u essek but I wish they had made other kryn friends #hes such a biased pov character #no its not a cult #no theyre not particularly violent #no theres no slavery #its so clearly informed by like #white Christian sentiment #racism #and some nice #peoplr blaminf the forgotten realms #while never actually knowing the forgotten realms lore

[flashhwing]

My only filtering issue (unrelated to wanting tags *excluded*) is when I search *for* a character or pairing tag, but a million fics pop up in which that character is there for 5 seconds or barely does anything in the plot. And the [X]-centric tag isn’t used a whole lot in general, so often I’m combing through fics only to find the character doesn’t do much in the story or are just plot device for other characters. This is more of a problem in fandoms with a huge cast of characters. For cases like that, I wish authors would be a bit more mindful of what character and pairing tags they choose to include because the filter function can’t do anything for that. Obviously I know tags also help readers *exclude* characters or pairings they don’t want to see, but in my opinion, if a character/pairing is barely there, it’s worth it to not tag them at all. Unless the character is one of those “[Name] is their own warning” characters 🤔

see this is one where i wish ao3 would actually change how they do things instead of authors coz like. if u got a character that does feature in a fic and therefore should be tagged for accuracy's sake, what you end up with is this -- where someone searching for a character will find so so so many fics where that character is not the focus.

genuinely i think ao3 should introduce like. main characters/side characters as a separate category. i think that would streamline things

#i'm thinking about fortune's favor where like #okay it's a little bit of an ensemble piece but the main focus characters are #essek artagan molly and caleb #so by conventional wisdon i should only tag those four #but what about the deep conversations he has with jester? #what about the chapters with beau or fjord pov? #what about the entire cree subplot? #they're not the main focus they're not what people would be clicking on the fic for #but it feels disingenuous to not tag them #y'know? #asks #anon #this has been a post #lowkey it's been so long i don't even know what i did tag fortune's favor with