Come And See The Most Adorable Half Drow Babies Cuddling From The Amazing @flappingduster !! 

Look at this !!!! This is amazing !!! Op wrote a great one shot about my silly little post !!

The Terribly Sad and Tragic Affair that Is the Fake Funeral of Shadowhand Essek Thelyss

Apparently, I am not only drawing for the Critical Role fandom, but writing for it, too. After months of nearly no progress I just vomited out 3k words this Tuesday and it only went downhill from there.

This fic is based on this post by @anne-o-nyme, I really hope I managed to capture the energy of it.

Have fun!

Summary: There were eight strangers in the foyer of his dead brother’s towers and Verin Thelyss was slowly losing his patience.

After the sudden “death” of Shadowhand Essek Thelyss, it is his brother Verin’s job to empty out his towers. The Mighty Nein show up to help (and maybe steal a few things).

OR: Verin is grieving, Essek just wants his stuff back, and the Mighty Nein are the Mighty Nein.

Warnings: I didn’t tag this with MCD, because Essek is technically alive and kicking. Since Verin doesn’t know that though, and this fic is written from his POV, this is dealing with grief and includes depictions of depressive thoughts as well as anxiety attacks. For more explicit warnings, please mind the tags on AO3. Take care of yourselves, and let me know if I forgot anything.

Read on AO3

There were eight strangers in the foyer of his dead brother’s towers and Verin Thelyss was slowly losing his patience. “Listen,” he said with what little calm he had left, “I know that by returning one of our beacons you became heroes of the Dynasty and were placed under Es— My bro— his stewardship. But this here—” he gestured vaguely at the interior of Essek’s towers that had always been too cold, too empty, but not like now, never like now— “This is a very difficult situation for me, so if you could please leave, that would be greatly appreciated.”

Afficher davantage

Give me more Shadowgast Baby !

Don’t think about Caleb lecturing a hall of students with a tiny baby strapped to his chest, occasionally pausing to adjust them to a more comfortable position.

Don’t think about all the speculation about which of his revolving door of lovers got knocked up (the prevailing theory is the purple Tiefling who disappeared after only a month; the slightly pointed ears, pale hair and lack of horns do nothing to deter this theory).

Don’t think about Caleb tucking his chin and whispering in Zemnian with a awestruck expression, before returning to the lesson at hand.

Don’t think about soft new parent Caleb.

The poor kid would suffer so much during summer vacations at auntie Jester and uncle Fjord’s house in Nicodranas-

but listen: shadowgast children, with a drow and a ginger for parents, that’s going to require levels of SPF magic the world has not seen before

It’s one of those nights where Essek knows he’s had too much to drink, not enough that he’s well and truly drunk, but enough that the worlds gone a bit soft around the edges and the very quiet part of his brain that tells him when things are a bad idea is silent. It’s one of those nights and Essek is lonely, and sad in a way he’d nearly forgotten he could be.

‘Lux, why, why did you choose me? I don’t, didn’t, even believe you were real. I, I’m nothing special, and there are others who could serve you far better and more willingly than I ever will.’ Essek knows he shouldn’t ask, that you don’t question miracles, but between the wine and the ache in his chest he can’t bring himself to care just now.

“Because you were the only one who questioned. Because you above all others know the pain of not knowing, not understanding. You sit in my light and ask how and why, when others have allowed their devotion to blind them.” Hands softly smooth Essek’s hair from his face, “I love you most dearly because how could I not? How could I not love you as I love myself?”

Lux’s hands tip Essek’s face up so their eyes meet, for a breath, a heartbeat Essek stands outside himself, suspended in the expanse of the Luxon, and sees himself as Lux must. Sharp edges and fractures only better refract the light of a thousand stars dancing just below his skin, and the heavy weight of potentiality that suffuses the air around him.

“You are my most beloved because of how brightly you shine in the dark.”

Lips are pressed to his forehead as Essek’s eyes slip closed, tomorrow he will again question his situation, the how and the why, but for now he will sleep.

I heard Comfy Matt got his nails done

Shadowgast baby headcanons

To anyone who might be concerned, his name is Archibald Widogast. Professor Widogast’s only son, that he’s raising on his own, with the occasional help of his adventurer friends and a revolving door of nannies (it’s Essek. Of course it’s Essek). 

Essek was relieved when he saw how human his son looked. He would have loved him no matter what of course, but being too obviously half-drow would have put a target on his back for the rest of his life. Currently, Archi looks half elven, with his white hair and pointy ears.

As a toddler, Archibald had troubles recognising Essek, since the man was oftenly switching disguises. It led to an equally terrifying and comic event when one day he left kindergarten with the wrong pink skinned tiefling. Essek panicked when he realized his little Starlight wasn’t there and called the entire Mighty Nein Team to retrieve his baby. The pink tiefling, after realizing he wasn’t the kid she was supposed to babysit, bought him ice cream and walked him back to the kindergarden, deeply embarrassed. 

Essek was hurt by the fact that at 3 years old his own son was unable to distinguish him from a stranger. Since then he started wearing a distinctive sign with each of his disguises, so that no more mistakes could happen.

Little Archi has very light and sensitive skin, which means long exposure under direct sun will give him bad sunburns and nausea. His eyes are also sensitive : while he has a pretty decent dark vision, high luminosity is uncomfortable for him. His aunty Veth gifted him a pair of special glasses to handle the sun, especially in summer.

Archibald is quite shy, and since he doesn't like to play outside, he has trouble making friends with other children.

He’s a very smart boy, Caleb used to take him to work when he was a baby, and he has sat through most of his courses since then. At ten, some of Caleb’s students used to sneak him sweets in exchange for a little help on their papers.

He’s also very quiet, loves to read, and is often found napping on a library bench, surrounded by books of various subjects.

If at first Essek wanted to only talk in common and zemnian around Archi, fearing that speaking undercommon would mark him as suspicious, he gradually regretted not teaching him more of his mother tongue when he was a baby. Once Archibald got old enough, Essek started introducing undercommon at home. As an adult, Archibald speaks both zemnian and undercommon, but with a thick accent in the later. 

Astrid and Eadwulf know about little Archi, they even met him a couple of times, usually when Caleb took him to his lectures. Once Eawulf gave him a candy, which put every adult in the room on high alert : nothing happened, it was just regular candy.

Archibald knows he has an uncle called Verin living far away, from whom he receives toys from time to time. Usually picture books about astronomy, and cool rocks he lines up on his window frame.

During Bring Your Champion to Work Day

Pelor: This is Vex’ahlia. She and her friends came to my domain looking for my blessing to aid in the defeat of Vecna. I put her through trial to prove she was worthy, which she did.

Raven Queen: This is Vax’ildan. He offered his life for his sister’s during her resurrection in the tomb of my previous champion, and I agreed.

Luxon: A set!   :D 

Pelor: Yes. And, uh…yours?

Luxon: Oh. this is Essek!

Essek: *desperately trying to claw his way out of the Luxon’s grasp like a kitten that DOES NOT want to be picked up*

Luxon: I just thought he was neat.  :)

Caleb and Essek discuss children, of all things.

--

"Aren't you worried?" Caleb asks softly, his voice full of concern as he holds Essek's hand in his own. "About outliving them?"

It wasn't a topic either of them had brought up: instead, Beau and Yasha has approached them about it, offering to be surrogates should they desire a child of their own. A very sweet offering, but one that prompted a discussion.

Outliving your child was among the worst things most parents could think of.

And yet.

"It is a concern, yes," Essek confesses, giving Caleb's hand a gentle squeeze. "I will not pretend it is not. But...I am a drow. I will likely live for centuries more, unless my own foolishness catches up to me. And you won't be there, because you are human, and if we were to have a child, they would also be a human, or perhaps a half-elf," he presses the gentlest of kisses against Caleb's temple. "And I would outlive them as well, and it would be hard. I'm not pretending it wouldn't be."

He pauses for a moment, taking the time to brush a stray ginger lock back behind Caleb's ear before he resumes speaking. "But if I am lucky, I will live to see our child marry, and have children of their own. And their children will perhaps have children. And five or six centuries from now, we may have great-great-great grandchildren, and one might have your hair, or your eyes, or your nose," he kisses the nose in question. "And it would remind me of you, long after you are gone. I could think of no greater gift you could leave to me than that."

There are tears welling up in Caleb's eyes, but neither of them acknowledge it. "Ja, okay," Caleb nods, and kissed his husband. "Let's have a baby. Let's leave a legacy."

So I’ve just seen Goncharov

And it was amazing, a true masterpiece. I’ve been looking at all the lovely meta people have posted on tumblr, and while some people have noted the fish metaphors, I’ve yet to find any detailed explanations for these. 

Here I come, folks.

Across the movie we can select 3 important moments where fishes have a specific meaning, and all of them are associated with Katya : 

the anchovies scene

that moment when Katya feed the goldfishes in Goncharov’s study

the scene when Goncharov is looking for his watch in the study, and where the fishbowl is pushed around

But what do they mean ?? Well, let me reframe the question : what kind of fishes are we really looking at ? 

In the anchovies’ case, it’s all about food, how you consume it, and with whom. Anchovies were at first, like many overhyped delicacies, poor people’s food. Too small to be of use for noble families, and filled up with tiny bones (truly a pain in the ass to remove) : only the common people used to catch and eat them (mostly fermented, to add some proteins to simple meals). 

Now, what does it tell us about our main characters ? Well, in that scene, Gonchariv and Katya (as mentioned by him) are pro anchovies. They are, like these small fishes, low born people full of sharp edges, and now seen as symbols of a new luxurious life-style. 

In the fishbowl’s case, you’ll surely tell me “you dumbass it’s the goldfish scene, she’s feeding goldfishes ! Who cares ?” well my friend, it is you who’s a dumb of ass. If you had looked at them closely, you would have realized 2 things : 

1. there are indeed two goldfishes in the first scene ;

2. the fishes in the second one have actually been replaced by Siamese fighting fish ;

For those who don’t know much about fishes, let me tell you a couple of things : goldfishes are not supposed to be kept in a small bowl, it’s very detrimental for their health to be kept in such a dire environment ! Wild goldfishes are actually quite big and have a lifespan averaging about 10-15 years !! Some can reach 30 years !! 

What does it tell us about Katya ? Simple : like the fish, she’s kept in a toxic environment designed to utterly destroy her, and where she’s expected to be a pretty commodity to look at.

“Wait ! What about the fighting fish ?” you’ll undoubtedly recall. Indeed my friend, indeed…these fishes are very well named, since it’s quite common to witness siamese fish fighting each other.  Actually, if you ever want to keep a couple of these beauties at home, it’s advised to keep them in separate tanks, to avoid any fights.

What’s told to us here, with this simple fish swapping, is that Katya went from being a cute dying goldfish, kept small by the world around her, to a feisty and dangerous warrior, ready to take down her own mate to control the pond.

Caleb accidentally adopting/kidnapping a Tabaxi child because he thought they were a cat and is now too embarrassed to take them back to where he found them.