#also. could you imagine caleb mentioning the 'stray' he took in to someone one day

[dent-de-leon]

Do you ever think about how Tealeaf is just like a cat? Like I feel like if any of the Nein were to ever go “pspspsps”, they would immediately react to it like a cat.

yES!!! honestly like...wizards will just take one look at any incarnation of Mollymauk and immediately identify him as a big tiefling cat, and they aren't wrong--

And Molly is just so very cuddly and affectionate, I could see him just sprawling across one of the Nein and taking a nice long nap. And oh I love the thought of Jester and Caleb trying to do the "pspsps" thing to Tealeaf--or even Jester polymorphing him into a cat again whenever they want to go on a little adventure in the tower--

Also, something about how Vess looks down on Lucien as some sort of content housecat, wheres to Caleb King is a little stray that he got attached to and couldn't help taking in...Vess always dismissing Lucien and trying to manipulate him, and this is just another aspect of that. But for Caleb, he's using the term stray as an endearment for Tealeaf, and you can tell there's just so much warmth and affection there. The fact that Caleb will always be there to welcome his Circus Man home, that he can't bear the thought of letting him go--

[arcane-cosmetics]

Rating: T (liable to change)

Fandom: Critical Role (Campaign 2)

Relationship: Nott | Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast

Additional Tags: Mutual Pining, Minor Yeza Brenatto/Nott | Veth Brenatto, Luc Brenatto mentions, chapter 1 Veth character study, character death mention, spoilers for Nott backstory, Canon Divergent, spoilers up to 2x97

Summary:

Caleb had imagined every way this interaction could logically go, calculated every move and every word in the overly practiced speech he had prepared, planned for any and every reaction Veth could have. Now, finally standing here with her, as Veth stared up at him—his mind drew a blank.

Read it on AO3

“Oh.” Caleb’s voice hung suspended in air for a moment. Time seemed to stop. He felt as if all the breath in his lungs had been punched out of him when the door swung open—the door he had been standing in front of for exactly 1 hour 28 minutes and 42 seconds.

Caleb rubbed his forearms and ran his hands through his hair, stalling, before finally breaking the awkward silence that would understandably follow finding a man standing outside a woman’s room unwarranted at 3:14 in the morning.

“Ah, Veth, I am—I am sorry to disturb you. May—may I come in?”

“Oh! Oh, of course! I’m sorry, please come in!” Veth’s eyes were wide and ringed in dark circles, making the yellow of her irises all the more stark. She stood unmoving a second longer before suddenly realizing her inactivity and quickly opening the door wider to allow her visitor access.

Caleb nodded solemnly before briskly stepping into the room, eyes forward as if walking into battle. The door made a soft click behind him and the barely audible sound of small feet padded up beside him. Caleb had imagined every way this interaction could logically go, calculated every move and every word in the overly practiced speech he had prepared, planned for any and every reaction Veth could have. Now, finally standing here with her, as Veth stared up at him with concern and confusion written across her brow, clad in a delicate nightgown he had never seen her in and—scheisse, the room even smelled like her—his mind drew a blank.

Veth’s raspy voice broke through the white noise that had overtaken his brain. “Caleb? Is something wrong? You don’t look so good. Do you need some water? Do you need to lay down?”

She reached for a pitcher of water and a glass from her bedside table. Caleb interrupted, much louder and harsher than he meant to.

“Nein. Nein, I am okay. I just—” He took a deep breath. “Never mind that. I came to speak with you, Veth.”

Every muscle in his body was tense in expectation of her telling him to go, saying how inappropriate it was to be in her room so late at night, especially with her husband right down the hall. Caleb could not look at her. His eyes were instead fixed on the nightstand at her side. He was afraid if he saw her he would lose his nerve, that all of this would become real, that—that tonight was the last night he would see his best friend, that when morning came he would never be able to call her name again. That tomorrow he would finally reunite her with her family, and for the second time in his life, destroy his own.

“Oh.”

Caleb’s vision shot to Nott—Veth’s—face. He had barely heard her speak, her voice was so quiet, with a softness tempered only by her surprise.

“Well, alright Caleb. What’s up?”

She sat on the edge of the bed, her gentle surprise hardened once again into concern. Something else, a different emotion, played along the edges of her mouth which pressed into a thin line. Was it fear Caleb saw there? Was she scared of him? Of being alone with him? He should not have looked at her so directly. His thoughts were swirling—an unfathomable cacophony of self-doubt and loathing.

Again, Veth’s voice is able to cut through the tumult of his mind.

“Caleb, are you sure you’re alright? Why don’t you come sit down?”

Caleb took a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. He marched over to the bed, a foot or so away from where Veth sat. His posture was rigid as he sank into the soft down mattress. He was starting to get a headache.

“I—I have been meaning to have this conversation with you for a long time now. The timing never seemed right; there were always more pressing business to attend to, it seemed. Or so I told myself. Now, though,” He gave a half hearted chuckle. “it is the eleventh hour, so to speak.”

Veth’s eyes fervently searched his face. Caleb had been looking at his hands while he spoke, clamping them together so as not to pick at his scars. He didn’t need to look up, though, to feel her penetrating gaze burning into his skin.

“I have been scared of this conversation, of even acknowledging the need for it.” Caleb was well aware he had not stated what this conversation was about yet. He wasn’t purposefully trying to stall, but the words stuck in his throat, on the verge of choking him. “I was afraid if—if I told you my feelings, everything would change and it did not seem fair of me to push my feelings onto you. It would seem that change is coming whether I like it or not. And I do not want to have been dishonest with my very best friend.” Caleb takes one of her hands in both of his own. His long, pale hands were such a contrast to her small green claws. Veth’s hands had a comforting warmth against his cold palms.

“Everyday since I have met you has been better for it. More full of joy and laughter and—and life than I ever thought would be possible for someone like me.”

Veth opened her mouth to protest what he had just said, probably to say he deserved all those things or that he should not be so self-deprecating. But he could not stop, it was all spilling forth now, like a dam had broken inside him and he could not halt the rushing of the oncoming tide, even if he tried.

“Please, Veth, I—I need to get this out before I no longer can. Please. I cannot imagine who I would be without you. You have very literally kept me sane. You have encouraged me and believed in me when I was a broken shell of a man who did not have a penny to his name. Who was so racked with trauma he could barely speak. I could not have made a good traveling companion and yet—you stayed. We slept on the side of the road huddled together for warmth, and then slowly that convenience changed to comfort and routine. You showed an interest in what little magic I could do, and it lit something in me that had been dormant for so long. A passion and an excitement. To me it was obvious how smart you were, even then. How capable and how much potential you had. Your hunger for knowledge was something I could relate to.

“So much has happened since those days. When I saw you die while we were in The Folding Halls of Halas, my world shattered. I held your lifeless body in my arms. A million thoughts ran through my mind in that instant of how I could get you out of there, how I could bring you back to me. I could not do anything to save you! If Jester had not been able to bring you back, I—ah scheisse—”

Caleb took in a shuddering breath to calm himself. He could feel Veth rubbing comforting circles into the back of his hand.

“I would have been completely lost. I am a selfish man, Veth. I have no right to say any of this to you. You have a husband and a son that love you very much. Who I will return you to no matter what the personal cost. I will not ask you to feel as I do, but please know, I would not be Caleb Widowgast without you. You have stoked the fire inside me that I had long thought burnt to ash and blown away in the wind. I am forever grateful to you. Everyday we are together I am closer to the man I want to be. For myself and—and also for you.”

Caleb’s eyes connected with Veth. Electricity instantly flowed between them. The room felt as if a single stray spark would set everything ablaze sending the Chateau burning down around them.

“I love you, Veth the Brave.”