#fits Fjord n Jester exactly

[demenior]

Physically at work, mentally working on a FjordJester Santa Clarita au

[unicyclehippo]

Here's a prompt: The Cobalt Soul wants Beau, but only Beau, to come and help with something. Jester really doesn't want Beau to leave her. (Also your writing is so lovely, even when it hurts. You're kind of inspiring.)

🤘😘🤘cheers mate , i got this idea Instantly bc of stuff i had been looking at earlier this morning. hope u like it, i always love knowing exactly what im going to write, it’s a good feeling

//

she’s thinking about it, jester realises. very seriously. if she weren’t thinking about it, she would have scoffed, would have rolled her eyes and blown them off with some funny and rude comment. but she isn’t. beau is sitting at the table, thoughtful and still, save for the quick taptaptap of her nail against her mug.

‘how long?’

oh. she’s really thinking about it. about leaving. jester’s stomach gives a sickening lurch and she makes this weird sound, half groan, half hiccup.

‘jessie? something wrong?’

‘bad milk, i think,’ jester whispers, pulling the excuse up carelessly for nott. she doesn’t hear her accomplice’s i’ll go talk to the manager, or see her leave the table—she’s far too focused on beau in the corner booth, and the dossier open on the table, and the blue-clad monk opposite beau. a half-elven woman. young-ish. her hair is shaved really cool too, and she looks exactly like beau’s type, fit and clever and sneaky.

whatever the monk says to beau is lost to jester in the sudden scuffle at the bar behind her. by the time fjord has smoothed it over—with a not inconsiderable amount of gold to help them forget that nott had threatened their actual life with a crossbow—jester looks back to the table and finds beau sitting alone, flipping through the papers. her mug hangs crooked from the first two fingers of her other hand as she thumbs at her lips, pressed into a thoughtful mould.

‘well! i don’t think he’ll be serving anyone sour milk ever again,’ nott tells her, climbing up onto her seat. ‘speaking of sour milk—you alright, jessie?’

‘do you think she’ll take it? the job?’

nott leans bodily over the table so she can see beau. ‘i don’t know. don’t see why not.’

‘what - because we’re a team!’

‘she’s an expositor now. something she actually seems to take seriously.’

‘right.’

‘if they want her to take on some super cool, super secret mission,’ nott shrugs. ‘sure. why wouldn’t she take that?’

why wouldn’t she?

jester tears her eyes away. pulls the back to her own table, hands folded around her milk. she drinks.

nott squawks, knocks the cup out of her hand.

//

‘not crying over spilled milk, are you?’ Beau greets her with a laugh when she makes her way up to the room finally. her grin falls away when she sees jester actually has been crying. ‘oh shit. what’s wrong - are you okay?’

‘are you leaving us?’

beau blinks. frowns. ‘you’re crying because of that?’

‘well - yeah! we’re a team, beau,’

‘yasha used to leave all the time,’ beau points out.

‘but that was yasha! that was what she does! you don’t leave!’

‘it’s - this could be really important, jes.’

‘what is it?’

‘i...can’t tell you.’ beau grimaces. ‘it’s secret.’

‘wow.’

‘jes,’

jester shakes her head. ‘so, you’re leaving and you can’t even tell us why?’

‘i haven’t said yes yet-‘

‘yet.’ beau’s faintly guilty expression says all she needs to know. ‘you’re going to. you want to do this.’

‘i’m - i mean, yeah! I’m an expositor, it’s what i’m trained to do, it’s what i’m supposed to do. weed out corruption ‘n shit.’ beau makes her way slowly across the room toward jester, like she’s giving jester time to tell her no if she wants to. ‘it’ll only be for a week. two weeks tops.’

‘but - you’ll be gone.’

‘yasha will sleep with you,’

‘i’m not upset about losing my roommate,’ jester snaps. her tail lashes angrily behind her and her eyes glint fiercely as she glares at beau. ‘i’m- you’re going to be gone.’

beau drops her head. reaches over to set her warm hand on top of jester’s where she is plucking and digging at the lace hem to her nightgown. ‘i’ll answer your messages when i can,’ she says. ‘i’ll tell you as much as i can, when i can. and everything when i get back—because i will get back,’ she tells jester, voice firm and sure.

jester leans into her, nods.

‘and if you ever get nervous, or if you need to check on me, you can scry, right?’

‘It might not work on you anymore. you’re pretty strong against that stuff.’ jester slips her hand out from under beau’s. lifts it to tap against the glittering tattoo that spans the width of beau’s shoulders.

‘hmm. well—here, how about this.’ beau leans away, reaches up and removes the ribbon from her hair. with no hesitation at all, she pulls her gifted throwing blades from a pocket and sliced her thumb. presses the ribbon to it until a good portion of it is soaked in red. this, she hands to jester. ‘use this. i looked it up—it’s like when we had that piece of vence’s robe. it’ll help you focus and find me.’

beau lets the silken ribbon pool into jester’s cupped hands. the fabric is smooth and cool against her skin and maybe it’s because beau’s hair has fallen down around her shoulders but the room smells strongly of her and the soap she uses to wash. sweat and wood and pine.

‘when do you have to go?’

beau winces. ‘tonight. now. i just...came up to say goodbye to you.’

‘to everyone, you mean.’

‘yeah. but,’ beau’s cheeks darken, almost imperceptibly in the low light of the candles. ‘mostly you. i’d never go without saying goodbye.’ she lifts her eyes to jester’s and the slow, sad beat of her heart kicks into a faster pace, hammering suddenly in the crook of her collar and against the thin skin of her wrists.

‘oh.’

‘you know what i’m saying?’

‘i think so.’

‘okay. that’s -‘ beau runs a hand through her loose hair. seems a little surprised to find it hanging low, because she laughs at herself and bends over to rifle through her pack for another ribbon. she goes to tie it back, stills when jester reaches for her.

jester sets her ribbon carefully on her sketchbook before she shuffles around so she’s sitting behind beau. beau’s dark hair hangs to about between her shoulder blades, a thick curtain that disguises the undercut when it hangs like this. beau sits patiently as jester winds her fingers into it and begins to braid it for her. works to fix the placement of her headband, ever so slightly askew, and coaxes knots smooth. eventually, the job is done and jester sits back onto her heels, hands falling to beau’s shoulders. she holds her still when beau tries to turn to face her.

‘you’ll come back?’

beau reaches up a hand. drags her fingers over jester’s knuckles, up to her wrist, wraps them there in a loose hold. ‘i promise.’

‘...okay. okay,’ jester breathes, even though her stomach hurts, even though the pressure inside of her chest is making her ribs creak and prick uncomfortably.

[sockablock]

(start) - (previous) 

Chapter 10: Familiar

It took them a moment to get their bearings.

It only took a moment. There wasn’t much here.

The Mighty Nein stood—although standing wasn’t exactly it, not really. Whatever floor existed in this new reality was strangely unreal, almost as if its ability to remain solid, or even just exist, depended solely on the whim of the stander.

Now at the center of an empty, white expanse, the Mighty Nein concentrated very hard on standing, indeed.

“It’s…blank,” whispered Beau, and her voice did not echo. Strangely, that was even more upsetting. “Why is it just…blank?”

“Do you see anything?” Veth asked. “Any sign of…anything?”

“I hear something,” Caduceus muttered. “It sounds…like crying.”

The sound crept up along walls of cotton, muted and strangled and barely-audible.

But it was there.

The Mighty Nein exchanged glances. Carefully, they began heading toward the noise.

—

It was both unsettling and rather reassuring to find out that they were not alone. Wherever this was, and whatever they were seeing, they were not the only ones in this reality.

Two humanoid shapes faded into view. The first was barely more than a body, curled in on itself, lying on the floor. The second, however, was a little boy. A gangly child, all knees and elbows, with a mop of ginger hair and a worn tunic. Tears streamed down like rivulets on his cheeks, interspersed with ripples of nose-blowing and sobs.

Veth immediately tried to move forward. She was stopped by flash of Beau’s staff.

“But he’s—”

“Are you sure?”

Veth hesitated. Then she stepped back, and Beau lowered her arm.

“You think it’s a trap?” Jester whispered. “Do you think…something bad will happen if we talk to him?”

“How much worse could it get?” Fjord murmured. His tone suggested he was trying for a joke, but the humor died on his tongue.

Caduceus looked between the two figures. Then, slowly, without getting closer, he crouched down until he was at least eye level with the boy.

“Are you…alright?” he asked gently.

The boy’s head instantly jerked up. His face was red from the crying. “I don’t...I don’t…I don’t know what I did wrong,” he wailed. “I thought I was helping, but it kept going wrong. I…snf…why didn’t it work?”

Yasha was the first to react. “Why didn’t what work?”

“The…the…memories. Why didn’t they make him happy?”

They all exchanged glances again.

Jester knelt too.

“You aren’t Caleb, are you?”

“Smf…n-no…”

“Not Bren either, I take it,” said Fjord.

“…no…”

Beauregard had her arms crossed. “Then who are you?” And her voice was dangerously quiet. “What are you doing in our friend’s head?”

“I’m—I’m supposed to make happy!” the child howled. “I’m supposed to grant his wishes. I’m supposed to show him what he wants and make a world where he feels w-w-warm and…loved.”

They watched the boy—the not-boy, whatever it was—kick the ground in frustration. “But I failed. I failed, and now he’s just like this…”

It took a considerable effort to turn their gazes to the second shape in the void. They didn’t want to think it, they wouldn’t have dared suggest it, but…well, it did look like Caleb, didn’t it? Those were his cheekbones, the line of his nose, someone had cut his hair—but the color—and then there were his eyes, the blueness of his eyes, just…half-opened, unseeing, dull…

Caduceus turned back to the child. “Then what are you?”

It blew its nose loudly into its sleeve.

“I’m the dream.”

This time, when Veth stepped forward, no one stopped her. Beauregard’s knuckles did visibly whiten, but she gritted her teeth and did not move.

Veth was just barely taller than the figure. It was the same height as the very first iteration of Caleb that they’d med, and it looked exactly like him.

“What made you?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” the dream said.

“She was an elf-lady,” Jester pressed. “A sorcerer—”

But the dream just shook its head. “I don’t know,” it repeated. “I don’t…it doesn’t work like that. I just exist. I’m made by whoever imagines me, I guess. And I shape the world based on who is doing the imagining.”

Yasha nodded curtly. “Like…a peaceful town.”

“Or having friends at a school,” Fjord added.

“Exactly,” the dream nodded miserably. “Except…it all kept going wrong. You all weren’t supposed to be there, you know. You still aren’t supposed to be here.”

It sounded about as accusatory as it could manage, surrounded by six adventurers and fully tired out. It shied away when Beau’s glare intensified.

“He isn’t supposed to be here either,” she said. “And we wouldn’t have been there if you hadn’t trapped him.”

The dream rubbed its face again. “I don’t know about that either,” it mumbled. “I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do. I’m not even really real, I’m just trying.”

“Well, you…” Not to be outdone, Beau scowled. “You should’ve tried harder.”

“I did,” the dream grumbled. “Why do you think we’re here, after all?”

If there had been any other sound in the vastness of this space, it would have been amplified in the Nein’s silence. Instead, there was only the faint rustle of fabric and the subsiding tears of a dream gone wrong.

“Where…is here, anyway?” Jester asked. “Only…there was so much fire, before. And now…”

The dream gestured to Caleb.

“He took us here,” it said. “He wanted to forget about all the bad stuff happening to him, so…I did that. I took him to the only memory he has where he ever forgot anything. To��here.”

“This is a memory?” Fjord asked incredulously. “But…wait, how could he have a memory of a place he doesn’t remember?”

“I don’t know,” the dream sniffed. “But this is the place where it happened.”

Their eyes scanned the horizon. It was all horizon, sterile and inert.

“He must remember it wrong,” Caduceus said. “This is no place. Not…not really.”

“Maybe this is how the place felt to him,” Yasha said.

They looked at the body on the ground. They couldn’t decide whether or not Caleb was blinking.

“So…how do we get him out?” Beau asked. “Do we have to fight you?”

The dream scrambled back. “I don’t think so, I mean…I’m not keeping him here. He’s the one who’s keeping himself here.”

“And how do we know you’re not lying?” she said. “What if this is a trick?”

The dream looked up at her, eyes swollen and cheeks damp from the crying. “I’m not tricking you. Promise.”

Caduceus placed a fuzzy mitt on Beau’s shoulder.

“I think he’s telling the truth.”

“Well—” Beau scoffed, and she didn’t realize it, but her grip loosed on her staff. “Well, good. He’d better not be.”

“So how do we wake him up?” Veth asked. She didn’t seem to be speaking directly to anyone, gaze affixed to Caleb. “What do we do?”

“Well, um…well, I think first we probably have to fix him,” Fjord managed eventually. “You know, get him…all back to normal. Jog the old…the old memory reserves.”

“How do we know that won’t make everything covered in fire again?” Yasha asked.

“What’s the alternative?” Beau said. “Leave him like this?”

“…right. I vote fire.”

“Me too,” Caduceus said. “But, um…how do we get to the fire?”

“I think we’re getting it twisted,” Fjord said weakly. “Fire is to be avoided, if we can.”

“He doesn’t like fire,” the dream volunteered, and then retreated under the weight of their stares.

“Sorry.”

“It’s been a long day,” Jester said charitably. “I’m sure you’re really nice.”

The dream actually sorted at this. Its voice, all a childish giggle and smile, was achingly, exactly, the way Caleb had sounded.

“I’m sure you’re really nice, too. He does like you all a lot, after all. I could never get him to forget you. Not really.”

“Yeah,” Jester said softly. “That’s ‘cause we’re his best friends.”

“Why did you try that?” Caduceus asked. “Why would you suppress us?”

The dream shrugged. “It made sense at first,” it said. “I was a happy memory of being little. He wouldn’t have known you all, then, and if he remembered you, it would break the illusion. But…you kept sticking around, and by the end I had to find a way to fit you in, somehow.”

“By sending us on a mission to kill people?” Fjord asked.

“You kill bad people all the time,” the dream said defensively. “The way he was, when he was alive back then, he would’ve considered those people bad. I thought it worked.”

Caduceus gave the dream a careful appraisal. “That’s…not really how people think,” he said. “Especially not when they’re confused.”

“You’re telling me?” The child seemed at least a little more open now that the interrogation had largely ended. “He’s a really complicated person. And it’s hard to make him happy. Although…”

“Although?” Veth echoed.

The dream sighed. “Honestly, I think he was pretty happy being in the Mighty Nein, too. I don’t know if I ever could have made something that would ever top that.”

“Damn straight,” Beau muttered, in the background. “We came all this fuckin’ way for him, that had better be the case.”

“Maybe…well, wait a second,” said Jester, glancing back at Fjord. “Maybe…what you said earlier about jogging his memory, maybe that could work!”

“Oh, er…really?”

“Yeah! I mean, maybe,” she said. “Maybe if we get him to remember us, and I mean really us, fully us, that could bring back the real Caleb. You know, the one who’s a grown up and is our friend and remembers everything. That way, maybe, he would realize what’s going on, and then he could wake up!”

“But…how could we get through to him when he’s like this?” Veth asked. “He doesn’t look like he’d be all that responsive. He’s hardly breathing, let alone listening.”

“Well...didn’t he wake up from this once before?” Jester tapped her chin. “He…hey, you, little Dream, you said that this is a memory, right? That means that this is something that happened to Caleb in the past, right? Do we know fixed this? What snapped him out of this?”

There was the sound of Beau’s fist hitting her palm. “Shit,” she said, “yeah, I think we do. Didn’t he…Veth, didn’t he say something about a healer, once? Who…who did some sort of spell…”

Veth’s eyes went wide. “You’re right, he…he said…there was a woman, a cleric, who put her hands on his head and then there was a bright light and…and all of a sudden he was back to normal. He…remembered what was real and what wasn’t.”

Everybody immediately looked at Jester and Caduceus.

“Er…do you know what spell?” Jester asked.

“Probably…Greater Restoration,” Caduceus mused. “That seems like the one that’d fix this…”

A slow silence fell over the Mighty Nein. But this was not the barren quiet of desperation, nor the frigid emptiness of lost hope, this was the shock, the hum, the eye-opening, dawning, sudden realization that…yes, there might be a chance—

“I’ll do it,” said Jester, and she reached into in her bag. “I’m a lady and I’m a cleric. It’ll be the most accurate.”

“And what about the rest of us?” Veth asked. “Can we help?”

“Actually, I think you can. And…I’d like to help too.”

This time, the silence did not last as long. Eyebrows rose.

“I think you’ve done enough,” Beau said.

Fjord took pity when the dream flinched. “Why don’t you elaborate?” he said.

“You, um…” The dream twisted its sleeve. “You said…you were going to help him remember. I can…I’m still in his head—I guess all of you are, but…I have a pretty direct line. I can help. Right now, it’s all blank, but…if you all try describing what you mean to him, I can try to project it to him, in his mind, help him form the memories again. I can try to help you break through.”

“Do you mean that?” Yasha asked.

The dream gave her a weak smile.

“I’m supposed to make him happy. He was always happiest when he was with you guys.”

Jester held a vial of diamond dust in her hands.

“Let’s try it,” she said. “It’s worth a shot.”

—

Fjord cleared his throat.

“I, uh…so…I’m going first. Which…I suppose is sort of an honor—oh, come on, Veth, just let me have this! Right. Er…right, I…something meaningful, something meaningful…well, I don’t know. I don’t think it gets any more meaningful than that time I held a sword to your throat, right? Ha-ha...though I suppose that’s sort of a negative memory, isn’t it? We honestly weren’t ever alone that much, aside from that first time, and then that second time when we, er…made a blood pact…”

A pause.

“Boy, we’re fucked up, aren’t we? I mean…I know you’re fucked up, no offense, I’m in your head and…gods, this is difficult to do with everyone staring at me—”

Another pause, and some shuffling, and then a sigh, much quieter:

“Right. Although, now that I think about it, in a way, despite how fucked up we are, we really did make it work. We’ve made it this far, haven’t we? And that time in Uthodurn, while everyone else was running around assassinating guards and being owls and stuff, well…I don’t know. It was nice to have someone standing next to me watching all the chaos unfold and feeling…well, I’d like to think…feeling exactly the same way I did. I guess…in a kind of weird way, after everything we’ve been through and after having so much time to figure it out, I think I do understand you now, Caleb. And I think…I believe, that you understand me as well.”

—

“…oh gods, I am not sure what to say.”

A breath in, a breath out.

“Happy memories…happy memories…well, I think that time I shaved you was not so bad, yes? That was when I was first getting to know you all. And…I don’t know how reassuring this is to hear, but that was one of the first times I think I ever held a sword that close to someone’s face and didn’t kill them. I didn’t kill you many times, actually. Which is…better than the times that I did almost kill the others. Er…that is to say…”

—rustling fabric—

“…thank you. I do not think you ever gave up on me, and even when I was in a…bad place, afterwards, you never gave up on me then, either. We…know what it is like to do things that…haunt you. And we know what it is like to come back from that. Plus, well, I don’t know if this means much to you either, but…you are one of the first people that I spoke in…well, this language with. And that was important to me as well. So…thank you. And I hope you remember me, Caleb. There are many things you have shared with me that are too important to forget.”

—

“Well, Mister Caleb, we’re really in it now, aren’t we? Although I suppose we’ve been in it for…sort of a while, now. I still remember when you and your friends showed up in the Grove, you know. I remember thinking that you all were a bit…well, broken, to be frank, but never unfixable. I think we’re still doing the fixing now, even months later. But…don’t get it mixed up, alright, Mister Caleb? We’re not the only ones doing the fixing. If any of this stuff I’ve seen over the last few…days? Days. If any of that’s proven anything to me, it’s that you’ve been doing some fixing of your own for quite some time now. And I think we’re just here to help.”

A pause.

“What was that?”

And then—

“Oh, right. A memory. Right, hmm…well, how about that time we were on the boat, and you gave me that neat little stone? Yeah. I like that. It had potential, and we helped it find that potential together. It was the first gift you gave me, you know. I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

—

“…how am I supposed to pick just one? I…I guess if it’s supposed to be happy, I should pick from, like, a few months after we met. I don’t know how many of those memories from the early days are actually happy for you. You know���since I was…sort of a dick…”

Some soft swearing. It lacked any bite.

“I don’t know. Fuckin’…I don’t know. How about that first hug, then? I remember looking at Fjord for most of it, but…well, it was sort of nice. Not—ugh, not because I was hugging you, but…well…shit, I guess it was because I was hugging you. That felt like such a milestone. I guess it…well, I guess it was. And…oh, well, that time you were a gorilla was pretty great too. Just…fuck. Come back, already. I want to go home. But…I mostly just want to make sure that you’re gonna be coming with us, you hear? ‘Cause I’m not leaving without you.”

—

Veth leaned forward, and gave him a peck on the forehead.

“I can’t really say anything that you haven’t said before,” she murmured. “Can you remember them for me? I know you can. If anyone could, it would be you. I say that a lot, I think. If anyone can do it, it’s you, Caleb.”

And then she brushed a little more of the hair away from his face.

“Remember what you said? Before I went into the clay? This will be…our best trick yet.”  

—

And then, Jester stepped forward. With the help of everyone else in the Mighty Nein, she steadied Caleb up into a more-or-less sitting position.

She dipped her thumb into the vial of dust and trailed it across his brow.

Then she took his head in her hands. She closed her eyes.

“Time to come back to us,” she whispered. “It’s time for you to remember, and come home.”

And maybe it was just their imagination, a trick of the light, just wishful thinking, but for a second, for a moment, it almost seemed as if Caleb’s face lifted, his eyes began to flutter—

—

—what is a dream if not where they come true—

—

There was a sudden flash of burning, blinding light.

Everyone heard a gasp—

—

And then, a green hill.

Above them was nothing but clear, serene sky. White and gold wildflowers bloomed in the grass as a sparrow chirped a sweet, gentle song. A quiet breeze trailed past their faces, danced through the air and eventually spun out over an enormous patchwork valley, glowing with autumn light.

And right at the center of the fields was a village. They couldn’t make out too much detail up here, but they could spot varied rooftops, some thatch, others clay, a few wisps of smoke curling up from little chimneys...

It was quiet. It was beautiful. This time, it was familiar.

There was also a person sitting at the edge.

It was Caleb.

They managed to skid to a halt just behind him, in the way that six people all hurtling uphill can just manage to slow down before colliding with one another. But their entrance was quite a noisy affair, and Caleb didn’t need to turn around to know they were there.

He did anyway.

“Thank you all, for, ah…coming to get me.”

Veth was the first to clear the distance, then Jester, then Beau knocked them over, and then Fjord and then Yasha, Caduceus rounding off the hug—

“You asshole, did you know how worried—”

“Sorry, B—”

“Shut up—"

They broke away after just long enough for Jester to cry a puddle into his shoulder. There was definitely some snot across his chest too, though he wasn’t quite exactly sure whose it was.

He found—as the rest of the group settled in, forming an unbroken circle atop the hill, all sitting shoulder-to-shoulder—he didn’t much care.

Caleb rubbed his neck. And…yes, it was Caleb, now.

“So…I assume you have questions.”

“What about you?” Fjord waved him off. “I mean…do you…do you know what happened?”

“Er…sort of,” he managed. “It’s…the memories are returning in waves, but some things are still hazy. There was…I think…didn’t we feed chickens together?”

“We did!” Jester wiped at her eyes. “It was really cute.”

“Ah, er…thank you. I think. And…oh. Oh, no, Veth, did you pretend to be—”

“Yep.”

“Götter.”

“It was weird,” she said quickly. “I don’t want to do that again.”

Caleb snorted. He well and truly snorted, and the sound of it surprised himself more than anyone else.

“I think there were many things that…probably should not be repeated,” he said. “Twice already might be more than enough.”

“That’s why we should be the ones apologizing,” Beau huffed. Her nose was red, and she was still rubbing it. “I mean…we really tried, we really tried, to keep you away from the…the bad shit. But gods, we still ended up driving you there. We couldn’t stop it.”

“It is an event that would be difficult to prevent, I think,” Caleb said.

“It’s…if anything, a bit of a privacy violation,” Fjord said. “We didn’t, er, want to poke around as much as we ended up doing.”

“You’re really cute as a kid,” Jester said.

“Very talkative,” Yasha volunteered.

Caleb’s cheeks flushed. “I, er, danke.” Then he turned back to Beauregard and put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

“You should not blame yourself,” he said softly. “I get the sense that you all were just as lost as I was. But I am grateful that you wanted to avoid…the harder things to swallow. For my sake as well as yours. It is…perhaps just a year ago, if you all had seen what I did, I…am not sure if I would have been able to face you. Especially…well, I nearly killed you all.”

“We could’ve escaped if we had to,” Caduceus said.

“We didn’t want to,” Veth said.

And it was there that a faint smile graced his face.

“That is why I am thanking you,” Caleb nodded. “In a…rather a sick way, perhaps, it is that final memory you saw, the…fiery one, that ultimately made me into me. It is what eventually created the person you see before you now. It forced me to break the…ah, conditioning of my past. It is still an atrocious thing,” he sighed. “It is a horrible, vile, and despicable act. But…I am here now. I have made it this long, and I will not let that be a waste.”

“And you’re different now,” Veth said ferociously. “You’ve changed. You’re a good person, Caleb.”

He bowed his head. “I hope s—ow—”

Beau pulled her arm back. “That punch was nothing. Suck it up.”

He pushed his hair back and gave a weak grin, and a few of the teary faces around him started to laugh. It was the sound of days and days of tension—fear, worry, sorrow—being released and fading on the wind.

They all sat back for a little while and stared out over the fields of Blumenthal.

“It is a very beautiful village,” Yasha said.

“I agree. I had a very happy childhood.”

“The wheat is pretty,” Veth said. “Reminds me of Felderwin.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

“Will you be…able to leave?” Jester said. “Is it…will you be okay when we go?”

Caleb’s eyes found the horizon.

“I believe I will,” he said. And when this was not enough, he turned back and added, “I promise.”

“Your body is probably wrecked,” Fjord said. “We’ve been in here for…what? Days? Years?”

“I think just minutes,” Beau said. “Probably? I mean…you aren’t dead, are you?”

Caleb raised an eyebrow. “If I am still dreaming, that means I am alive, yes?”

“I have diamonds,” Caduceus said. “Just in case.”

“You’re an expensive boy,” Veth said. “We keep spending gem dust on you.”

“Er…sorry.”

She nudged his shoulder, “Don’t apologize.”

And then Jester produced her holy symbol, hanging off a leather cord on her belt. “O-kay, here we go. When it’s time, I’ll cast the spell. And you’ll be right behind us, Caleb.”

It wasn’t a question. He smiled again. “Of course.”

He watched his friends stand up in the grass and carefully form a circle at the edge of the hill. Another breeze curled through their hair, rustled their robes, made wind chimes of their armor.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“See you soon, Caleb.”

The murmuring started out faint. Then it grew, swelled and crescendoed and then a flash—

They were gone.

Caleb turned back and gazed out over the hill. He breathed in, breathing in the flowers of Blumenthal, the smoke across the chimneys, the memories of long ago.

“Thank you too,” he said, to whatever was listening. “And you were right. It is when I am with them.”

And this time, when he breathed out, he was home.

—

“Took you long enough. How do you feel?”

“Gods, like…I have been hit by an elephant. Does anyone…ow…does anyone have any water?”

“Shit, uh, drink this—”

“You look really awful.”

“…thank you, Beauregard.”

—

And here, finally, was happiness.

—

✨ Ko-fi in bio✨ | 💜 Writing Tag 💜 | Thank you for reading :3

[conceptstage]

Caleb looked up when he heard Beau’s footsteps coming rhythmically down the stairs. She gave him a tired nod and snatched an apple off his plate. He frowned. “The kitchen is open for breakfast if you want to eat,” he said pointedly.

Beau shrugged and took a bite out of his apple. “Can’t. Heading to the Reserve for training before we leave town tomorrow. Where’s everyone else?”

“Jester and Nott left about an hour ago, I didn’t ask why, I thought I might be concerned by the answer they would have given me. As far as I know, Fjord is still sleeping. Caduceus came down to get some water from the kitchen and then back up to their room, so he’s probably in the middle of making tea.”

Beau nodded and finished off her apple, sitting the leftover core on the table. “Sweet. Let them know I’ll be back around dinner.” She started towards the door, then paused and walked back to pluck a piece of bacon from Caleb’s plate. He frowned but let her. “See ya. Hey Jes, hey Nott. Just heading out,” she said as she passed her two friends on her way outside.

Caleb heard Jester squeak. “Beau! What are you doing here?” His eyebrow furrowed curiously and he tried to lean over to see if he could see Jester’s face. It sounded like she was hiding something.

Beau seemed to think so too because he raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “I really don’t have time for all the questions I have right now. I’ll ask later. See ya.”

When she was gone, Jester and Nott hurried in through the front door, whispering to each other conspiratorially. “Caleb!” Nott exclaimed when she caught his eyes. “We have an idea!”

Yeah, this was a bad sign. “What idea?” They both took seats across the table from him.

“So, you know how Beau is a boring, no-magic human?” Nott asked.

“Weeeelllll,” Jester started, looking unsure. “I don’t know if I’d go that far, it sounds mean. But, yeah, basically. You know how she can’t do a disguise spell and gets all moody about it?”

“Are you here just to roast her behind her back?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and pushing his cold egg around the plate with his fork.

“No, no, no. We may have found a way to fix it. A ring like Dairon’s.”

“Really? Where?”

“It’s for sale in a store in the Pentamarket. There’s only one problem. It’s stupid expensive. It’s even more expensive than it should be because apparently the ring is an antique or whatever. They want 30,000 gold for it.”

“Ah,” he said. “That’s too bad. Oh well.”

“No,” Nott started, standing up in her chair to lean over and whisper to him. “We have a plan.”

“To….?”

“To steal it for her.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we were staking it out for a while and we checked over the store and we think we’ve figured it out. We need the whole group to pull it off. Except Ducie, because I don’t think he’d appreciate something like this.”

Caleb looked concerned. “I don’t know… This is one of the few cities we’re not barred from entering, I’d like to return here at some point.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’s a fool-proof plan.”

“We are a group of fools, so I should hope so, ja?”

“Caleb,” Nott started, reaching over to put her hand on top of his. “You are not a fool, you are perfect. But yeah, the rest of them are pretty bad.”

Caleb sighed but didn’t bothering trying to argue with her about his status as a fool, he knew from experience that it was a useless fight. “Very well. What’s the plan?”

Fjord cleared his throat as he stepped into the front show area of the jewelry shop. He gave the woman at the counter a charming smile and the young half-elf blushed, smiling sweetly back at him.

“Hello,” she said. “May I help you?”

“I’m looking for a present for my mother, I’m not sure what to get her.”

The woman walked around the counter to stand in front of him. “I can certainly help with that, what budget are we looking at?”

As this was happening, Nott was scaling the side of the building while Jester kept watch at the end of the alley with Caleb kneeling at her side, searching the building in front of them for magic. “There’s a spell on the second floor, probably that cabinet you told me about. I’ll keep watch, you go ahead.”

Jester nodded and followed Nott up the side of the building, reaching the window just as Nott finished unlocking it. She pushed it open and looked around, finding a few patrons wandering around looking at things, but no one seemed to notice her. She quickly cast invisibility and started skittering down the stairs to the main floor, deftly dodging an older woman as she marched up the stairs.

Jester pulled herself in as well, quickly casting a disguise spell to make herself look like a half elf in the same uniform as the woman running the counter down stairs. She couched and tried to subtly shut the window, smiling when someone looked up at her. The woman’s eyes widened and started walking towards her and Jester froze in fear. Had she been made?

“There you are! Finally, someone who works here. I need help.”

Jester cleared her throat. “Certainly. What can I do to help you?”

“I like these earrings but do you have them in another color?”

“They are… antiques,” she tried. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if they were.

“Yes, I realize that, but do you have this same pair in blue?”

“N-No, I don’t think so.”

“Could you look?”

Jester just nodded. “Sure, sure, I’ll look in the back.” She wasn't going to look in the back. She walked into a the room where she’d seen the magic ring, locked in a case with a few other magic pieces of jewelry. She looked around to make sure that she wasn’t being watched and cast a quick dispel magic spell over the case.

Nott reached the bottom of the stairs and scurried behind the counter while Fjord talked up the counter woman.

“How does your mother feel about bees?” the woman was asking.

“Loves them.”

“Well, we have a bee broach over here, nearly a hundred years old and one of a kind.”

Nott rolled her eyes but started looking furiously around for a key. She cursed under her breath when she couldn’t find one. She climbed up onto the counter, still invisible and started looking around for somewhere else it could be hidden. She spotted a ring of keys hanging from the wall. If she were standing on the floor, the keys would be a few feet above her head. She sighed and looked around to make sure that the woman was well distracted. The woman giggled flirtatiously at something Fjord was saying and decided that that was good enough. With a huff, she leapt off the counter and snatched the keys from the wall, landing with a heavy thump at the base of the stairs.

The woman Fjord was talking to frowned and looked away from him. “Did you hear that?”

“I think it came from outside,” Fjord said. “What were you saying about your friend?”

She hesitated and looked around the store, but didn’t seem to notice anything amiss and turned back to him, continuing her story. Nott hurried up the stairs, passed Jester’s feet while an older woman was yelling at her about her customer service. She came around to the cabinet and climbed up on the table next to it. She held onto the side of the cabinet to balance herself and reached over, struggling to unlock it without falling to the floor. It took a few tries and a few different keys, but she finally found the right one and grinned at the click when it finally unlocked. The cabinet door swung open as she swiftly snatched the ring out of it. She stuffed the ring down into her boot and then quickly snatched a few more necklaces and bracelets because they were shiny. She shut and locked the cabinet and then ran back through the store to the stairs. Jester was gone now and the window was hanging open and Nott felt better knowing that she was out.

She walked down the stairs and sat the ring of keys on the floor beneath the hook to make it seem like they’d just fallen off. Fjord noticed the movement of the keys being sat down. And tried to end the conversation. “Thank you, so much for your help. I’m going to take your suggestions to my sister and get her opinion and we should be back in later today or tomorrow to pick something.”

She blushed and smiled softly. “Come again. I get off at five.”

He smiled smoothly. “I’ll keep that in mind.” As he left the store he felt a small, invisible figure squeezing out the door beside him. He spotted Caleb in the alley and walked over to meet him, just as Jester wandered up, her disguise falling away. Nott was still invisible, but he could see her slip her hand into Caleb’s. “Mission success?”

“Yep!” Jester said, grinning. “Let’s go.”

-

Beau groaned and shifted as her body vibrated with pain. Her arm was still a little numb from that last stunning strike, and everytime she took a step she was reminded that two of her ribs were broken. She pushed open the door to the inn and the soft sounds of her friends talking and eating instantly made her feel better.

Caleb looked up first and waved her over. “Hey,” he called. “We ordered you dinner.”

Jester looked up next and grinned. “Beau! Come sit by me! I’ll heal you up.”

Beau smiled even though it pulled on her bleeding lip and limped over to sit in her usual chair next to Jester. She sighed as Jester started running her hands over Beau’s shoulders and side to heal her bruises and broken bones. “Thanks, Jes.”

“We got you something,” Fjord said.

Caduceus suddenly frowned. “Not me. I didn’t approve. I hope you enjoy it, regardless.”

Beau raised an eyebrow. “I’m confused, what exactly did you all get up to today while I was gone?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Jester said, deflecting the question. “Caleb, give it to her.”

Caleb fished around in his pocket and pulled out a pretty silver ring. Beau frowned curiously and brought it up to her face to look over the magic runes that were carved into it. She slipped it onto her right ring finger and it magically changed size to fit her. “Thanks, you guys. What’s it do?”

“It’s like Dairon’s ring,” Caleb said. “Twist it and picture what you want to look like and it works as a disguise self spell.”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. “Are you shitting me?” She twisted it and in one second, transformed into the red tiefling dude that she had been in Xorhass. “No, fucking way! You guys are the best! Where did you get this?”

“They stole it,” Caduceus said, sneering slightly and taking a sip of tea with a judgemental side eye.

“We did,” Jester said, though she seemed excited about it. “We stole it for you.”

Beau twisted the ring again and turned back into herself. She cleared her throat and got back to her feet. “I’ll… uh… I’ll be right back.” She started walking towards the stairs hurriedly.

“Beau? Do you not like it?”

“I do like it, I just need to do something upstairs.”

Caleb frowned and leaned down to see if he could see her face while she hurried away. “Are you crying?”

“Go fuck yourself!” she called as she disappeared to the second floor.

Caleb looked back at the others to find them all smiling proudly. “I think she likes it.”

[princessamericachavez]

Fjorester — episode 51

Okay so for a Valentine’s episode we didn’t get quite as much romance as I was hoping but in retrospect, we had a ton of cute little moments???

Like this ship is nothing if not constant in its delivery of wonderful little bits of growth and development and this week was no exception

So here are some of the gems we got this week:

Cad: How’s everyone else doing?

Jester: How are you, Fjord? You got hit too, didn’t you?

Fjord: Yeah, I thought I got bit by a cow, actually.

Jester: Oh, that’s right.

Fjord: I could use a little lovin’

(I SEE YOU TRAVIS)

Followed by Jester quickly searching her spells

And then Cad —bless him— cockblocks Fjord with his player of healing

And Jester is all “oh yeah great :)”

But Fjord looks clearly annoyed and grumbles about how she did spend a spell on Nott

Listen this boy is trying and she’s not making it any easier for him after the whole pirate thing and I am hERE for it

Fjord and Jester’s banter regarding the sending spell.

F: “Jester, remember, you can cut it short, you don’t have to say all 25 words.”

J: “I think you have to use all the word otherwise the spell doesn’t work.”

N: “She is a magic user.”

J: “Yes, I know these things.”

F: “Not the only one, I’m talking-”

J: “Do you cast sending? Did you want to send a message to Yezza?”

F: “Yeah, I’ll do it.”

J: “Can you do it?!”

F: “Yeah, you want me to do it?”

J: “Yeah, do it.”

F: “Okay. Yezza, cough for the number of people that are around you, you can reply to this message... Nobody’s there.”

J: “...”

J: “You’re a dick.”

F: “What?”

J: “I don’t believe him. I’m gonna cast sending.”

Now listen I love this for a number of reasons that I need to yell about for a quick second okay?

Firstly? I’m gonna be distracted for a second to reiterate that Fjord refusing to call Jester by any kinda nickname other than her full name still kills me to this day

Secondly? He’s goofing around with her. They are both in on the joke. Laura’s said before that Jester knows full well when she’s fucking with people and when people are fucking with her, but that she loves the game of just saying yes and going along.

Thirdly? Look at his face, the goofiness, and her smile while he’s doing it... Fjord’s noticed Jester being more quiet than usual (as pointed out by Travis during Talks) and here he’s making an effort to make her laugh.

Fourth and foremost tho? This kinda fucking with each other is the kind that only happens when you’re comfortable with people, where you’ve got a level of trust where you can be a little abrasive in your humor without fear of being judged wrongly for it. Like, that’s a huge deal with someone like Fjord who’s spent most of his life trying to fit in, to be the perfectly nice and charming gentleman that no one will believe is evil because of his blood, he works so hard to maintain that image of perfection, that for him to be able to joke around and Jester calls him a dick and he knows she doesn’t mean it, it’s wonderful and I love it okay?

Okay okay okay I’m moving on

Fjord: "right so we just go into the darkness, rid them of, you know, that spell and we'll be lickity split out of there no problem

Jester: but we are not going to the Garrison, we are going to rescue Yezza

Fjord: i’m... being sarcastic, Jester

Followed by the cutest face journeys ever

It should be illegal to be this cute

I know Fjord technically wasn’t around when Jester went down but the terror on Travis’s face was enough to feed my angst-loving heart for months

Also, since we kinda skipped the whole thing with Cad healing her, we are all free to fill that in with all our angst versions of the scene

It’s free real state.jpg

When they are talking about trying to control the Roc

F: Yeah, but if I fail I get ripped into pieces

J: We would definitely protect you, Fjord.

F: uh?

J: We would protect you.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s fine. I’m not emotional. I’m totally not crying over this being a cute little callback to her promise to heal him if he starts to hurt. Nope.

Jester immediately reassuring Fjord about how cool and special his power is when Nott starts poking fun of him because she knows he’s a little insecure about it and wants to lift him up.

EVERYTHING ABOUT THE TATTOO BIT

Listen

Jester brings it up and it’s something that could entirely be played for laughs, the rest of the party quickly moves on to another topic regarding their next steps of the plan but then, unpromptedly, Fjord brings it up again.

F: Jester, what do you need to complete this tattoo?

LOOK AT THIS MF TRYING TO PLAY IT COOL AND DISINTERESTED

N: what are you gonna do?

J: Captain Tusktooth

F:

J: I gotta make a trail, wherever we go

AND THEN, OF COURSE, THE TUSKS BIT TO WRAP IT UP WITH A NICE LITTLE BOW

J: Fjord, can I look at your tusks

F: What?

J: Can I look at your mouth?

F: what are you-? N-no...

J: I pull his lip down.

F:

J: Are they pointy or are they still filed?

F: They are doing their thing...

Matt: They are starting to grow.

J: I’m gonna do one of them a normal tusk and then the other tusk is like a little-pointed tusk on this guy.

F: ...thanks.

J: Yeah.

LOOK AT THIS

THAT’S THE FACE OF A WOMAN WHO KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT SHE’S DOING

AND THE FACE OF A MAN WHO KNOWS HE’S ALREADY LOST THE WAR

I looooove this interaction okay??

Firstly, Fjord’s panic is always wonderful. He’s clearly so awkward about having her so close, touching his mouth, looking attentively... it’s such a nice thing and even if he’s clearly self-conscious about it, it says a lot that he doesn’t push back

Secondly, it’s a nice excuse for Jester to check on his tusks progression since she promised to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t nervously chip at them anymore

Thirdly, we know that Fjord’s tusks and overall orcish blood have always been a source of insecurity for him, something he considers monstrous and ugly, so for someone to react positively to them, to celebrate that side of him, must be such a wild experience to him.

Fourth and foremost, though, I love how this connected to the tattoo. Because Jester didn’t have to keep the Tusktooth mark as a brand. It’s a dumb name he picked in a moment of panic, something that belongs to their time at sea, to a life of pirates and ships and dark magic... and yet, she keeps it and brings it along with her to the mainland. Jester could be spreading the name of the Traveler, as she’s supposed to, or of the Mighty Nein, to further their fame... but instead she’s picking him. And by checking his tusks and adapting the design to fit their growth, she’s showing that the tattoo is about him, rather than an inside joke. That it’s supposed to reflect him, specifically. Idk why but that really touched me. That was saying, this isn’t some silly name or a mask, it’s about you and how powerful and cool and famous I know you will be someday, and I’ll be here to support you for it.

Actually, thinking about it, I think it mirrors Jester’s form of worship for the Traveler in a lot of ways: spreading their name, leaving their mark, telling people how cool they are... it’s interesting and I wonder if it will ever create any friction between him and her deity when the time comes for them to meet or for Jester to make a hard choice between them.

Anyway, I got a little side-tracked, but that’s all we got. 

Did I miss anything?

[critical-ramblings]

Mind’s Eye (3/n)

(Also on AO3!) 

(Catch up on chapters 1 and 2)

Beau paced out around the edges of the mostly empty warehouse, listening intently for armored footsteps, for muttered spells or explosions. But all was silent through the wooden walls, dark at the cracks she could peek through. She hated feeling this useless.

When she came back to the group, she tapped her staff a few times against the ground. Out of nerves, maybe, or just so nobody (Nott) got twitchy fingers. Caduceus had conjured a little light into his staff’s crystal, making a tiny radius of yellow in the black of the building.

“I have an idea,” Beau said abruptly, standing just inside that radius. “It’s probably not a good idea, but...I figure it’s the only one we’ve got.” She waited a moment for someone to contradict her, to jump in with an actual plan. When no one did, she took a deep breath and went on, “We could make it to the Cobalt Soul. There’s got to be one in the city, and I’m still part of the order. Technically. I’m pretty sure we could ask for sanctuary. The monks are surprisingly sneaky sons of bitches, they’ll be able to stop us being scryed on. I think.”

“You think?” Fjord gritted his teeth. “Shit.”

“I know, I know. But what do you want from me, man? Either they’re going to find us through magic or the old-fashioned way. We’re not exactly stealthy.”

“I think we stealthed pretty good getting here.” Jester sounded a little affronted. “Can’t we just cast disguise on ourselves and hide Caleb in a bag or something?”

“Remember how we put the dodeca in the haversack to keep people from scrying on it?” Nott piped, but when Jester perked up she continued, “We should absolutely not do that with Caleb.” “Why not?” Jester asked, peering into the depths of her violently pink bag.

“For one thing, we put dead things and severed heads and shit in there,” Nott looked in with her, poking dubiously at the contents. “For another, I don’t think he would fit.”

“But we do have that bag of holding.” Jester sat up and made a grabbing motion at Fjord. “He would fit in there.” Fjord took a reluctant half step towards her, saying, “Jester, I don’t think you’re supposed to put living things in there...”

“Lets. Not test it now,” Beau said, though Jester sat back with a disappointed sigh. “What about the Cobalt Soul thing? For, against?”

“Well, we know that they don’t like the wizard-people,” Jester said slowly, looking around at the others.

“I think we can get there,” Yasha said. She was watching Beau the whole time, something uncomfortably like faith in her shadowed eyes.

“You know where it is?” Fjord asked, and Beau made a face.

“I’ve never been to Rexxentrum before. The only one who has is...” she trailed off, and everyone turned to look at Caleb. “But it’ll be in the temple district.” Beau continued, rallying. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

Fjord muttered a few curse words, but didn’t say anything constructive. Jester tapped her feet together nervously, watching him. Nott, still with her crossbow out, bared her teeth and said, “I don’t really care where we go, back to the inn or to the library, but let’s get moving. I don’t like being in one place.”

“Me neither.” Yasha stood and, moving Nott gently aside, hoisted Caleb over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. She turned to look at Beau again and gestured towards the door. “Lead the way, I guess.”

With that extremely dubious endorsement, Beau slung her staff over her shoulder and crept out into the unfamiliar night. The rest of the Nein followed behind her, except for Nott, who moved to flank around their right.

Mostly the city was quiet, which was both good and bad. It meant the Crownsguard and the Righteous Brand weren’t after them in full force. Good thing. It also meant that the Scourgers–and by extension, the Assembly–were still operating under the assumption that they could kill the Mighty Nein quickly and sweep everything under the rug. Bad thing. Very bad thing.

The closest call they had was when a cloaked figure swooped overhead and hovered above the crossroads for a moment. Beau and the others ducked down into the nearest alley, but if they’d been spotted...

The figure turned a few times in the air, long enough that Fjord started to edge up to offer a distraction. Just as they flitted away. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and they went on.

They were on the streets a lot longer than Beau would have liked, more than an hour. But eventually they coasted up to the side entrance of the large, stocky building with two great banners of the Cobalt Soul at the front. The temple/library/archive/hopeful safehouse was blocky, just a big square of wood and stone amidst the splendor of the other temples. Even at night Bahamut’s sanctuary gave off a mirrored sheen in the light of the fires outside the Allhammer’s. During the day the streets would be thronged with faithful, priests, and Crownsguard. Now everything was eerily empty, and the knock Beau gave the door seemed to echo impossibly loud. For a long moment, no one answered, and then just as she was bracing herself to knock again, the door opened a crack.

A sleepy eye peered out at her, the shaved head of an acolyte maybe ten years younger than she was. “Can. Can I help you?” the girl said, stifling a yawn in the middle.

“Hey, hi,” Beau shifted, working hard not to lean on the door or get uncomfortably close to the door guard. “What’s your name?”

“Cleo.” The little monk wannabe was starting to perk up and look around at the motley crew gathered behind Beau, who smiled tightly.

“Cleo? That’s a nice name. I’m Beau, I work here. Well, not here here, but I’m part of the Cobalt Soul, and–”

“You don’t look like one of the Cobalt Soul,” Cleo said, and Beau paused. Looked down at the loose, comfortable clothes she’d bought in Rosohna.

“Uhh. Right. I’m...listen, kid, I’m an Expositor, I have some really important information about the war. The whole she-bang. So if you could just–” There was a rushing sound from overhead, and Beau broke off to look for wizard assassins. Everyone in the party ducked instinctively, making themselves smaller against the unforgiving wall of the library. When Beau looked back, Cleo was watching them with both eyes narrowed. This one might be too smart for her own good.

“I don’t know if I believe you,” Cleo said, but before Beau could answer she continued, “But I can get someone who’ll know for sure. Stay here.” And she slammed the door shut. Locked it, too.

“Shit.” Beau pulled out her staff and put her back up against the wood, one eye still on the sky. “We don’t exactly have time to wait around,” Fjord started, and then there was another rush of air and they all fell silent. She hadn’t spotted anything about them, but the temples were tall. It was possible the Scourgers had landed elsewhere and were headed here now. Hells, they might be invisible for all she knew.

“Maybe if we just hide inside...” she said, and suddenly Nott was at her elbow, lock picks at the ready. The goblin girl grinned up at her before focusing in on the door itself.

“Got it!” she said after just a second, and the heavy wooden door swung open soundlessly. Inside was a small foyer, empty except for a stool next to the door and a pile of books. There were three hallways that led deeper into the library, but Beau wasn’t anxious to push their welcome more than they already had, and she stayed put. The Nein did take up most of the little room, though, especially after Yasha’d set Caleb out on the ground so she could put both hands on her greatsword.

Not long after they’d closed and locked the door behind them, Beau picked up the pitter patter of anxious feet from the hallway to their left. Cleo emerged with an older monk, a light-skinned human with piercing brown eyes and a few wrinkles around her face, exaggerated by her scowl. “What is this, who are you?” the monk demanded, standing in the archway with one hand on Cleo’s shoulder. “How dare you break into the Reserve!”

“It wasn’t really breaking and entering–” Beau started.

Fjord broke in to add, “I apologize, ma’am, no harm was intended. We are simply facing pursuit of a very disruptive nature, and wished to avoid unnecessary damages.”

“Pursuit?” the matron looked like she was about to have a heart attack. But only if she could kick them out first. “Do you know Dairon?” Beau asked, a little desperately. “Elf lady, bald, about yea tall?”

The monk caught her breath for the first time since she’d appeared–stopped to think. “I know Dairon,” she said at last. “What about her?”

“She sent us. Me. Sort of–it’s a long story. But I’m training under her to be an Expositor, and we really need a place to stay.” Out of the corner of her eye, Beau saw Fjord give her a thumbs up.

“If you are truly what you say, you know that I have ways of verifying your story.”

“I do.”

“And you would submit to such questioning, given where your story stands?”

“I would.”

The monk looked faintly surprised, by Beau’s quick answer, or her agreement, or maybe both. But she took up a fighting stance after a moment, quirked her fingers in a ‘come hither’ gesture.

Beau took a deep breath as she stepped forward, bracing herself against a flinch. This was going to hurt.

The old lady hit her in the throat and the gut, one-two, and Beau felt the wash of unfamiliar qi sink into her body. It stayed heavy in her throat, like a wash of mint and ice. She had to fight for a moment to get her breath back, to work through the freezing sensation in her lungs. Only when she was sure she could talk without her voice cracking did she look back at the monk and nod.

The lady nodded back, slowly. Behind her, Cleo was staring at all of them with wide, fascinated eyes. “What is your name?”

“Beauregard Lionett.” Beau tilted her chin up to say it, a defensive tic she couldn’t quite swallow down here. “Although you might as well leave that last name out of it.”

“What is your purpose here, Beauregard?”

“We’re here seeking shelter, that’s all. From an enemy this group has in common with the Cobalt Soul–the Cerberus Assembly.”

The monk raised one pale eyebrow, like she doubted that last point, but Beau could still feel the freezing taste of truth on her breath. She wasn’t lying, though it was technically possible that the Assembly was more of a Dairon/Expositor problem than a widely known Cobalt Soul one.

“Very well. Are you, Beauregard, a member of the Cobalt Soul?”

“Yes.” This, at least, she could answer with confidence. “Like I told the kid, I’m an...Expositor.” That one took a little effort to get out, her throat trying to close up solid with ice. She hadn’t ever officially ‘graduated’ from being Dairon’s apprentice, but what the hell. If the last few months didn’t qualify her to be a full-blown Expositor, then nothing did.

Again with the doubtful eyebrow raise. The monk went on with her questions as if the title meant nothing to her. “And what is your relationship with Dairon?”

“Uh. Complicated?” That clearly wasn’t going to fly. Beau gritted her teeth and went on, choosing her words very carefully. “I was Dairon’s apprentice in Zadash, briefly. Until she got sent away to Bladegarden. She and I worked...in Xhorhas to gather information about the Krynn.” Beau tried to say that they’d worked together in Xhorhas, but the ice closed up and wouldn’t allow it. She and Dairon hadn’t–quite–been working at cross-purposes in the East, but they sure has hell hadn’t been working together on anything. Not until much later.

“You’ve been to Xhorhas?” Cleo butted in, and Beau grinned at her before the matron could push her back.

“Yeah, to Roshona itself. Pretty cool town, I thought.”

“Enough of this. I want you to swear that you will bring no harm to this library, or it’s keepers. That whatever your mission in Rexxentrum, you will keep the reputation of the Cobalt Soul clean.”

Beau had to glance back at the others before she answered that one. They’d already been hugely compromised by the Scourgers, and obviously everything else had to wait until after Caleb woke up. After that happened, they wouldn’t need to hide here anymore. They’d just have to keep a low profile while they were here. Lower than usual, anyway.

“I swear,” she said, looking back at the monk, who nodded again. A few seconds later the icy feeling faded from Beau’s throat and lungs, and she allowed herself a few gasps of warm air.

“Very well.” The matron was still frowning, but she didn’t seem like she was going to keel over or kick them out any second. “We have a few rooms available–”

“Is there someplace hidden?” Caduceus asked suddenly, from the back. He’d been leaning against the door a little, but at his height he was still easily visible. “Someplace that can’t be looked into from a distance, say?”

The monk’s scowl deepened, but she did nod after a moment. “We have a room like that. Follow me. Cleo, get a lantern and some food for our. Guests.” She led them down the central hallway, through a darkened corner and into the main library.

Even without the lights, the space was beautiful. Dark wood shelves stood in ten feet high rows along the floor, and two floors of open balconies above them were also backed with shelves. Smaller study rooms and nooks branched out from both the ground floor and the balconies, and the ceiling was covered in stars. Beau found herself craning her neck, trying to decide if the stars were actually glowing or if they were just that brightly painted. She stopped after she almost ran into one of the bookcases, and followed the monk to a small, inconspicious door under a staircase.

“This is meant to house the more dangerous tomes in our collection,” the old lady said, unlocking the door with a key from her ring. “Until such books make their way into our possession, or we deem it necessary for any of our current charges, it is empty. You’ll be hidden here, both magically and from more mundane searches.”

“Thank you,” Beau said, reaching out to grab the monk’s wrist as she stepped away from the door. “Thank you.”

The monk shook her off, but her frown had mostly gone, and she inclined her head in a very small bow. “It is my duty to help members of our order however I can,” she said, then added, “But if you have brought the Assembly down on us I will throw you to the wolves.”

“Better hope you keep us hidden then,” Beau said, her mouth dry. The lady smiled crookedly and gave the key to her.

“I will send Cleo with meals for you tomorrow as well. Open the door only for her, and you should be fine.”

“Will do.”

[thefangirlshadow]

Critical Role Camp 2 Thoughts

I am making this because I remember somebody making a post about a theory based on the worms Yasha saw in her dream, but now I cannot find it. While I am at it, I am compiling other thoughts I had.

First: Hunger. This theory isn’t entirely my own (thanks TVTropes WMG Page), but there has been a lot of either hungry creatures, or just in general feeding things as part of the story. For what the party has faced being hungry, we have: The Giant Eel thing that Beau, Fjord, and Jester faced. We have the Devil Toad. Then there was the Gnolls and the Manticore family. There was the spider underneath Zadash. and most recently we have the Crocodiles in the swamp. For backstory things and hunger, we have: Fjord and his patron saying “Consume” (we joke about Fjord Vjoring the Sjord NOW, but ...) Nott and Goblins eating babies, and a poisoned dinner was mentioned in Caleb’s story. For smaller off the side actions that feature hunger, we have: Jester and Pastries, the talk about eating the skeleton under The Leaky Tap (Was that it’s name?), eating the rats won at the festival, and feeding Kiri those seeds ‘n’ things. This is making me think that either there is some sort of hungry force out there that the Nein will have to go against. (Let me know if I missed anything you can think of that might also be related to hunger.)

Second: Worms. They were mentioned in Yasha’s Dream/Memory thing as covering the entire land or something like that. While I cannot seems to find the post, it mentioned there being a devouring - worm like entity. I did a little googling, and came up with “Yhidothrus, the Ravager Worm” from it, who ties neatly enough into the first point with the whole hunger thing. Now, granted, I am not an expert in D&D Monster Lore, or if this is better tied to something from the Exandria book, or if it is part of something CR’s Lovely DM Homebrewed, but that strikes me as something to look out for, and makes me wonder if there are also instances of worm like or wormy descriptions anywhere in the story so far other then the dream. The only thing coming to my head right now though is the eel from the lake. (If anyone can think of anything, let me know on this too.)

Last thing for this post, and mostly unrelated to the first two: Multiclassing. I didn’t watch the first campaign, so I don’t know exactly how they went down with this, but I have seen enough spoilers to know that it happened. While we are barely to Level 5 with everybody, and any instances of it are probably far away right now, I can’t help but wonder about it. For Caleb: While having it would be detrimental to his ability to get any of the high level spell slots, he has a lot of affinity for fire, and was noted to have “Great Magical Potential” in his youth. It makes me wonder if he could potentially be a little bit either Pheonix Sorcerer or Pyrotechnic Sorcerer. More likely Pheonix since the Pyro one came out more recently (or I was blind and never saw it.). Not to mention he is a natural ginger, which speaks to me of traces of something firey, perhaps deliberately so? He says he wants to bend reality to his will, and themes of coming back to life would be fitting, if bringing his parents back is the reason behind it.  For Jester: Well, she calls herself “Jester”, which is also the name of the Bards of Satire. And she would no doubt be a good fit for the role too, as everyone loves her, she is the heart of the group, has a great sense of humor, and seems to be bad at lying (Jesters are about telling the truth and true stories, which, while Tusk Love probably isn’t true, she does tell that story to Kiri.). She mentions Jesters when trying to help that one member (Forget his name, but was the same one who did the suicide bombing thing.) of the Knight’s of Requital get back into the Tri-Spires, so she is aware of them. Probably also chose the name because of that.  For Fjord: I can’t think of much else for the rest of the M9, but I wonder how much Fjord remembers/knows about his patron. Will he find something out that makes him not want to be a warlock anymore? What will he chose if so? Fighter? For Mollymauk: Considering he has already shown a desire to be nothing liek Lucien, I wouldn’t be surprised that if we learn anything more about Lucien, Milly will try to learn tricks that are different from what his former life did. I am not sure what, but depending on what “Nonagon” did, Molly will probably pick something different. For Nott: There actually hasn’t been much that can be determined at this time, but she does play with that chemistry set, so something in Artificier? Granted, that’s still in Unearthed Arcana, but if they can use it, that would be interesting. For Beau: Can’t think of anything, as the only thing I can think of is something acquiring knowledge related, but she hasn’t shown outright signs of being interested in Caleb’s magic stuff, so that narrows it down a lot. Will have to wait some more. For Yasha: She is perhaps the most Mysterious fo the group, and no doubt is a Zealot Barbarian because of what she is thankful for the Stormlord doing for her, so no signs of leanings towards anything have made themselves known thus far. Of course, I would like to hear other thoughts/opinions on all of these things.