ladyorpheus reblogged
shadowgast kiss meme: hand kiss ✨
i know y'all said to make it spicy, but something happened along the way, and i didn't. hope you will still enjoy some desperate hand kisses!
ladyorpheus reblogged
Yasha is convinced their cake is a half gooey half burnt mess because Essek was wearing gloves the entire time they were baking (alchemist habits) and due to that none of his love had transferred from his hands to the ingredients. also she wasn't sure what baking powder is
(it was actually Essek fucking up the temperature. they did get all the ingredients right down to the gram though)
shout out to @ionomycin for making me think about Yasha and Essek baking cakes together, and @khalliys for giving me an absolutely hilarious mental image of Yasha making Essek wear her apron
ladyorpheus reblogged
Clerics recommend to schnuggle your wizard first thing in the morning
ladyorpheus reblogged
i think there isn't enough art of Essek dragging Caleb away from danger dramatically and I'm going to fix that
ladyorpheus reblogged
I treated myself to a shadowgast wedding kiss commission from the wonderful @thelonelywhale and now I'm blessing you all with it XD
Go give them all the love!
ladyorpheus reblogged
This one is a special tribute to the fic Lay Your Bones by @ladyorpheus which grabbed me by the scruff and dragged me along on an adventure so enticing I literally couldn’t drop my phone. It started off as a doodle as I pondered just how fucking COOL that fic was, and ended up as… this.
Zoom-ins under the cut for those curious
ladyorpheus reblogged
Chrome’s Shadowgast Fic Rec List, Vol 2
Alright, as threatened, it’s time for another list of fic recs, since you guys keep churning out absolute bangers. If you missed the first list, check it out here.
As before, the rules:
- I’m limiting this list to one fic per author (but may repeat some authors from list #1.) I also link author profiles, so please check out their other fics as well!
- These are MY personal favorites. That means if you reply “you’re wrong because you missed X”, no I’m not.
Without further ado, (More of) My Favorite Shadowgast Fics:
* = fic is rated M or E
Professor Caleb Widogast and Dr. Essek Thelyss’ students just wanted a break from the sheer amount of assigned readings they had. As it turned out, both professors were single.
Events escalated from there.
It’s epistolary! It’s outsider POV! It’s a university AU! It’s literally everything you love! This fic is hilarious, heartwarming, and brilliantly rendered in the form of syllabi, chat messages between Essek and Caleb’s students, emails, and Rate My Professor reviews.
Refuge by kae_hunter
Essek watches Caleb languidly through the lashes of his usable eye. He has unquestionably just endured the worst day of his entire life: his title, his Den, the respect of his Queen, everything he’s worked towards for the past half-century, crumbled to dust in an instant. Adding injury to insult, he barely survived the two separate ambushes set by his former colleagues long enough to deliver himself as a warning to possibly the only people who might avert the impending apocalypse. In the past half hour, he has been repeatedly (and very painfully) jolted to and from the brink of death like a child’s yo-yo. And yet…
And yet, seeing this human’s face—this foreigner, who, not so long ago, he might have imprisoned or killed as “Empire scum” without a second thought—the tender studiousness of Caleb Widogast’s expression, as he gently dabs at Essek’s eyelid with a damp cloth… Essek finds himself strangely at peace with it all.
This is an older one–to the point where it’s not canon compliant anymore–but still 110% worth a read. The author has wonderfully vivid language and a superb blend of emotion and humor (and Yussa’s appearance is a ton of fun).
There’s something in Caleb’s dreams. It wants him to know that he’s not alone. It wants him to know that he’ll never be alone again.
Elves don’t dream, so all Essek can do is watch.
A long canon-divergence fic that assumes Caleb didn’t take Mind Blank has his eighth-level spell and Trent Ikithon played a longer game in trying to take him down. If you’re looking for the emotional equivalent of getting repeatedly knifed in the gut, this fic is for you! Warning for dark themes; please be mindful.
In which the humans do a politics, the Xhorhasians learn about potatos, and everyone decides five hundred years of living in disguise and on the run isn’t actually a great life plan, Essek.
This fic is an absolutely delightful post-canon Shadowgast epic. It has it all: Essek and Caleb slowly inching their way into a relationship Without Talking About It, while all of Xhorhas is talking about their torrid love affair, with incredible dialogue and a beautiful look at the rest of the Mighty Nein on the side. Can’t recommend this one enough for the thoughtful worldbuilding and warm fuzzy feelings. Also, title is from “Rome” by Dessa, which is a banger.
Shadowhand Essek Thelyss of the Kryn Dynasty has been selected to spend the year at the Soltryce Academy, teaching the basics of an esoteric school of magic known as dunamancy. While the goal is to build better relations between the Dwendalian Empire and the Dynasty, it’s also the best way to prove to his mother he is committed to furthering the reputation of their well-regarded Den.
Renowned former adventurer Caleb Widogast has recently been appointed the Archmage of Civil Influence. Beloved by the common folk, Caleb finds himself frustrated with cutthroat peers and a morally lackadaisical aristocracy. Being able to attend every dunamancy lecture, plus new students and old friends, should keep his troubled mind away from unfinished business.
Though Essek and Caleb met three years ago, a misunderstanding put them at odds. The more they talk, the quicker Essek falls into his first romance…which unknowingly leads them both into a web of underhanded machinations.
Oh, man, I can’t say enough good things about this epic-length (seriously, long as hell, and if you’re anything like me you won’t want to stop reading) fic. It’s a gorgeous alternate universe, blending elements of canon with a university AU. The development of Caleb and Essek’s relationship is thoughtful, the dialogue is excellent, and the author even got me to enjoy things that usually aren’t to my personal taste.
Footsteps pad down the hall and past the stairs. Actual footsteps. Verin can’t remember the last time he saw Essek walk on his own two feet. He feels a twisted knot form beneath his sternum; something isn’t right.
Thinking only of justice and restoring his family’s honor after Essek’s betrayal, Verin Thelyss finds something he never expected, an Essek he never expected. A mission for justice turns into a race against time and a family finds their world upended.
A really powerful blend of kidfic and one of my personal favorite genres, ‘Essek gets arrested by the Dynasty and the M9 save him’. The use of POV is excellent and the characters are written thoughtfully and realistically.
Essek shows up on Caleb’s doorstep in the bitter cold of winter.
It is still early in the day, barely three-sixteen, but the sun is already disappearing between the city houses, leaving only blue light in the streets. The temperature is falling with the sun and the moons are high in the sky, white and pink shadows against the blue. Essek is dark and indistinct in the doorway, the shape of him muffled by a heavy cloak, and they have need of each other’s complicated company.
As with all of renquise’s fics, this is a beautiful and delicately written fic about intimacy. The dialogue is exquisite, the language and POV is impeccable.
Caleb knows what it is to be hunted. He sees it in Essek’s careful placement of his minimal luggage, how he has not unpacked anything more than what is needed at the moment, the modest respectability of his nightclothes, how he sets his boots by the bedroom door instead of on the tray in the foyer.
The Dynasty’s memory is longer than lifetimes, and Kryn lives are already long. Ludinous Daleth keeps fat ledgers. Their quarry will go to ground tonight with his head on Caleb’s pillow.“
Another post-canon fic about Essek on the run, and Caleb, and Essek and Caleb together. If you enjoy being punched in the gut by your own emotions, this fic is for you! This fic is so well constructed, and it manages to hurt a lot and be warm and hopeful at the same time.
“Okay, you definitely have something new,” Beau said when he stalled for too long. “Spill.”
Essek continued to chew his thumbnail. “Tour group on the lava field. There was a sudden breakout from a soft spot.”
“…And?”
He took a breath, then shrugged. “It looked like hands?”
(Aka, the spooky volcanology AU that absolutely no one asked for.)
The concept of this fic is fucking bonkers but the emotions it will cause you to have are worse! I feel especially compelled to recommend it because It’s Really That Good, No Really, I Swear. Funny and heartwrenching in equal measure.
The Climb by Chekhov | @thechekhov
It’s… the stupidest thing. Essek grits his teeth. It’s a trained habit - a way to redirect some of the pain without showing any symptoms. A Shadowhand never shows his hand, and it is this he excels at - a poker face, a well-concealed illusion of poise and grandeur and tolerance. But today, he is unlucky. Because there is little that escapes the keen mind of Widogast - and here he has quite the disadvantage. It is, quite literally, his least favored terrain. Stairs. —
When keeping mages in an enclosed terrarium, please keep in mind the following: They need lots of places to hide and explore. Provide enrichment opportunities for them to keep them from getting bored - plenty of books, hidden treasures, and secret chambers. And if you’re feeling bold, think about including an Anti-Magic staircase just to challenge them. See what they do with it.
A light-hearted one to end the rec list with; while of course I love Essek and Caleb at their most tortured, have a delightfully funny one with great, snappy dialogue where they’re only at the mercy of their own pride, stupidity, and each other.
And if you’re still on the hunt for more Shadowgast fic, there is my own ouevre, but I will rec my most popular one:
Essek clung to her; his fingers gripped the front of her coat. He looked small in a way he never had before, frightened in a way that Caleb hadn’t fully processed he could be. It wasn’t Essek’s nervousness, the anxiety of a brilliant man who could see danger all around him, who could see the falling dominoes and the way the web he had woven had entangled him. It was the fear of a small child, or indeed, a stray cat—the fear of a creature trapped in a terrifying world it did not understand.
Essek, brilliant Essek, Essek who believed he could find the answers to everything, unable to understand a thing—the thought of it stabbed at Caleb’s heart.
—
In a world where Trent makes it back to Eiselcross before the Nein do, Essek spends a night under the effects of the Feeblemind spell. Caleb undertakes a duty of care, and the Nein learn how Essek feels about them beneath everything.
ladyorpheus reblogged
For the baby fic x execution angst shadowgast duality we have now, can I recommend Lay your Bones by @ladyorpheus? Because it’s a really good fic and it will rip your heart out.
ladyorpheus reblogged
let’s dance like it’s not complicated~
ladyorpheus reblogged
sometimes i remember that essek said “lol too bad you don’t have any friends, goodbye and good riddance” to ludinus daleth, to his face
and then had the gall to call himself a coward!!
ladyorpheus reblogged
You know, I kind of love that Essek kept floating around the Nein, even after knowing that he didn’t need to. ‘You don’t have to float around us, man,’ Beau told Essek. Which meant that Essek could float just because he wanted to.
Essek seems to enjoy floating! (‘You can attempt to climb,’ he says, cheerfully smug. ‘I’ll be fine.’) And why wouldn’t he enjoy it? It’s a cool, clever, unique and enjoyable bit of magic… but one that’s likely gained a lot of bitter edges for him. It became something he had to do to keep up the Shadowhand mystique. It’s one more thing that’s expected of him on top of all the other expectations. And once he starts to regret his actions, he perhaps starts to associate it with all the other things he’s done out of arrogance.
Walking around the Nein is a big moment of growth and vulnerability for him. It’s hard, and huge, and wonderful. But once he confesses his reasons for floating… well, it loses its mystique to the Nein entirely. The Nein are never going to see Essek as the Aloof Floating Shadowhand anymore, and they’re never going to expect him to float again.
But the thing is: the Nein love that Essek floats! They don’t think it’s a sign of him being the Shadowhand who’s above it all, they just think it’s cool and fun. Jester with her singsong ‘You float really good!’, Jester saying they’re choosing Essek over Trent because ‘That guy? He can’t float.’ Beau scattering ball-bearings under his feet and being absolutely delighted when they get pushed out around him. Caleb watching Essek float down a cliff and saying ‘Not going to lie, that is pretty cool.’
Suddenly Essek’s floating is just a cool Essek quirk, like dead people tea is a Caduceus quirk and having pink sparkly unicorn-themed magic is a Jester quirk. It loses the bitter connotations, and becomes something that his friends enjoy. Which means Essek can enjoy it again for what it is: an ingenious, original bit of magic that he absolutely has a right to be proud of and have fun with.
Essek can walk around his friends now. He can put his feet firm on the ground to pull Caleb to safety and kneel in the soil of a garden, and it’s a sign of how far he’s come.
But Essek floating just because it’s fun, not out of arrogance or because he has an image to maintain, people to impress, expectations to meet? Essek being able to take simple joy in his creativity and cleverness? I think that’s growth too.
ladyorpheus reblogged
I just realized that the way Matt describes it, post-canon Essek is just… early campaign Yasha, but happier.
Xhorhas kids only know vanish for stretches of time, fall in love with Empire nerds, hold immense guilt, be goth, and lie
ladyorpheus reblogged
i am once again missing essek thelyss
Centuries after the adventures of the Mighty Nein a pair of old friends meet, remember, and contemplate.
Essek’s eyes flash in recognition. “Caleb, no!”
But it is too late. The platinum cord vanishes in a flash of grey light. The two wizards are bathed in it’s glow long after the binding has disappeared. The thrum of connection hums between them. Two souls vibrating at the same frequency. Together. Essek’s mouth is open in stunned silence and Caleb squeezes his hand. “If you go I go.”
Inspired by the Tethered Essence spell from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount because it’s SUPER extra.