#but as shadowgast 👀

[hello-eeveev]

I have no evidence to support this, but I like to imagine that when Orym randomly pulls out a rock at breakfast and says, “Mr. Widogast?” there’s a least part of Essek that’s like—

“hehe, that’s me :)”

[disasterpurplebois]

All I’m saying is that the grid would be perfectly completed by the addition of 1 more character.

[cakeandchaos]

Some hands i'm very proud of ✨️✨️

[valakiir]

I'm not sure about the one ur describing but if u want rescue mission for essek I do recommend Dappled Shadows by Professor_Rye. The rescue part is relatively close to the beginning iirc. Please don't let the length concern u its really good and can be read in arcs if u can't manage all at once.

Little queers in my phone I beseech thee, do you know this fic or one like it

It’s a shadowgast or at least essek & m9 fic probably at least 10k, where essek is captured by icky and held in like a magic force dome dungeon and all beat up and all, and he has to trust the mighty Nein to come save him before Trent decided he’s outstayed his usefulness. It might be not Trent, maybe it was the Dynasty? I don’t remember vollstreckers being there, I definitely remember a big hole in the ground with a magic circle in the middle of a big open room and anti-magic cuffs. I think there was something with Caleb breaking into specific hidden rooms in a hedge maze?? Idfk I may be blurring different things together

I know this is so so vague but like also. Any damsel-in-distress!Essek having to trust the m9 with his vulnerability and them coming through is also fuckinnnn nnn Right On Babeyyyyyy pls give me

[mouseinthecastle]

Some crops on a shadowgast doodle, full is going up on Twitter 👀

[bloopitynoot]

Shadowgast AUs I would 10000% read (if they exist/ed);

The Devil Wears Prada- you know exactly who Miranda is and exactly who Andy is - but instead of platonic, it's a slow burn, and they definitely get together in the end.

***Greys Anatomy- instead of wizards, they're surgeons in different specialties

Chef au 🙏 Essek is an established and respected chef Caleb is new(ish) to the scene with his restaurant

writer AU where they know of eachothers works but not by their name since they both write under an alias- maybe meet at a writing convention/conference?

Punk band au: There's a spot open in the Mighty Nein and Essek auditions?

Queer bookstore by day- bar by night, of course owned by the mighty nein. Closeted Essek keeps coming back for the literature and definitely not the cute ginger co owner 👀

***EDIT: There is a shadowgast Greys-Au in the works by @godanti it's got a chapter, and it's fantastic so far.

[gilmores-glorious-blog]

‘throwing up the tower’ is sometimes a euphemism, according to caleb 👀 shadowgast authors, write that down

[longlivedelusion]

I peep all your shadowgast content 👀👀👀 fic soon?

Babes. Baaaabes. Shadowgast has the majority of my fixations right now outside Marauders. So like I'm so tempted to, but I'm super nervous to even try that. They feel untouchable to me idk if I'd be able to do them justice Dx might try though, give it a shot??? Idk! I love them so much. They're my babies.

[hello-eeveev]

How to Rest: Chapter 4

Rated T, 3209 words

Summary: Seven weeks ago, Astrid sent word that the Cerberus Assembly had finally caught wind of Essek’s disappearance in the ruins of Aeor and the Dynasty’s public declaration of his death. Caleb was not privy to all the details, but from what he had gathered, Essek feared that if the Assembly—and Ludinus in particular—saw the lie for what it was, they would use the opportunity to tie up loose ends without Dynasty interference. 

Six weeks ago, Essek visited Caleb only to kiss him goodbye and say that he would be out of contact for a short while.

Eighteen hours ago, Caleb awoke to a furious pounding on his front door.

[eledritch]

what if I decided to write more of my toxic shadowgast vampire & scourger AU fics…….they call to me…. 👀

I also have a time travel AU I’ve been sitting on for ages bc it doesn’t feel ready to share yet but perhaps someday hehe

[mllekurtz]

i'd love to hear about the shadowgast modern au romcom 5+1 fic! 👀

Also pinging @kmackatie who asked about this one.

The shadowgast modern au romcom 5+1 fic has existed as an outline on discord since December 2022; the premise is: 5 times Caleb flawlessly executes the steps of Kryn courting and 1 time Essek does. Usually when outlines don't turn into fics for that long I would lovingly send them to the outline farm upstate, but I have the feeling this one might still happen.

This au is just what it says on the tin. I love romcoms because, like anything comedic, they actually require so much effort to get right, and even though I have definitely written things that might qualify as romcoms I have been wanting to try my hand at it purposefully... concoct a deceptively light and fluffy plot, raise the temperature of the stakes so slowly you don't realize you're invested until the very end, plan some engaging character growth.

[rainbowcaleb]

I’m working hard on actually finishing wips (last count in my gdocs….um. 50ish) so which of these almost-very-close-to-done WIPS should I post to ao3 first?

[thesapphiresoul]

what was the shadowgast fic 👀

ok i'm gonna take a moment to gush about this fic just a little bit bc i'm kinda obsessed with it rn

so the fic is a body in absentia by @nonwal

it's rated E (read the tags/warnings), currently sitting at just under 50k words, and is incomplete. and i never read incomplete fics so that should speak to how good it is lol

it's a scourger!caleb (or bren technically) au where he works as a secret message carrier between ludinus and essek. eventually bren decides it would be fun to seduce the ever stoic shadowhand who seems annoyed by bren's very existence. and it works! in a way. they come to a... i was going to say "friends with benefits" arrangement but they are not friends lmao

they get there tho

anyway, the reason it has been taking up so much space in my brain is bc it's such an interesting and respectful and realistic portrayal essek's demisexuality, and as an aspec person it's just *chef's kiss* and not only that!! bc essek sets these hard boundaries and enforces them and prioritize his comfort, bren starts to do the same and like,, navigate through his trauma a bit. maybe not navigate, but recognize? it's so good

it also takes place at the same time as campaign 2, so there will be small references to events that happened and it's so fun to try and figure out what's gonna come up next or how this thing will be incorporated etc

but yeah 10/10 fic

[defilerwyrm]

what's the Arranged Marriage AU 👀

okay okay so

Late last year on my Shadowgast server someone bandied about the idea of an arranged marriage AU, and my mind—which had heretofore wrinkled its figurative nose at that trope, grabbed the idea and fuckin’ ran wild with it.

The setup is this:

As part of their peace talks, the Empire and the Dynasty agree to arrange a diplomatic wedding. The Empire chooses Caleb Widogast, one of the band of mercenaries responsible for the exposure and downfall of Trent Ikithon—honestly a bit of a thorn in their side because he’s a real firebrand and the crown (read: Cerberus Assembly) worry about him & his upsetting the balance of power even further, so they offer him this great opportunity to become a symbol of peace and new beginnings for his country, and he accepts.

The Dynasty chooses their Shadowhand, Essek Thelyss—honestly a bit of a thorn in their side because he has a lot of borderline heretical thoughts and wants to do a lot of borderline heretical research. So they offer him this great opportunity to prove his loyalty to the Dynasty and the Luxon, and he accepts.

The trouble is: Caleb, himself the product of an arranged marriage, is optimistic that love will blossom in their union, but Essek, whose culture views arranged marriage as little more than a strategic political partnership, thinks they should each just keep to themselves.

And the trouble is: they’re both harboring some big damn secrets…and Ikithon is still at large.

I’m currently working on outlining Act 4 of 5 and that document is sitting at 28,820 words so far—and I need to copy some stuff over to it from Discord, where I’ve been workshopping it. Gods only know how long it will be once it’s fully written, but if I’m lucky with convergences of time and spoons, I hope to finish it sometime this year.

[bloopitynoot]

I want to make another Shadowgast Rec List!

List theme suggestions??? 👀

[luddlestons]

shadowgast drafting for wip?? 👀

This ask got me to write more on this one haha it’s just a very short thing right now but basically: Essek doms for once, and does so by drafting spell equations on Caleb’s back while Caleb has to remain extremely still or else

———

Essek was not prone to the desire for domination, but on the occasions it did come around, he put his brilliant mind to it in full.

Crafting elaborate scenarios was his forte, especially once given leeway to surprise Caleb in whatever way he liked, within the parameters of Caleb's hard limits. To some degree, Caleb could tell when he had something interesting waiting for him in the bedroom on any one night or another—Essek got this bright look in his eye, and an uncharacteristic impatience to him. Sometimes, to tease him, Caleb pretended they were going to settle in with a cup of tea after dinner, and found himself dragged quite bodily to the staircase.

It was impossible to predict what would be waiting for him there. Most recently, Essek had toyed with him under the guise of experimenting with sensory deprivation. He had bound and blindfolded Caleb, and then cast Deafness. Only Essek's touch let Caleb know where he was and what he was doing. It was a sort of control over him that would be challenging for Caleb to give up to anybody else.

Tonight, his movement was only restricted by Essek’s firm instruction not to squirm.

(WIP game)