#especially since...caleb calling molly 'circus man' is what first completely broke through lucien's control and really shook something

[dent-de-leon]

mm....something about how Kingsley tries to hold the Nein at a bit of a distance at first while he's still figuring things out, still trying to confront all those fragments of shattered memories and lovely dreams, still trying to piece together who he wants to be.

But he still falls head over heels for Caleb immediately. And he feels comfortable acting on those feelings, fond and playful and teasing. He insists he isn't the same--not Molly, not Lucien; no clearcut, easy answer. But he doesn't at all object to Caleb still calling him his Circus Man, echoing the endearment with one of his own.

Just...all the little things about Tealeaf that stay the same when it comes to his Magician. All those feelings that never changed--