This is for fellow older fans, but I miss that one artist that drew Caleb and Nott (or widobrave) with their vibrant watercolour style.
They even uploaded a three or four hour long video of the duo, and it fed me GOOD. I downloaded it even before I realized the artist deleted their video and their socials.
I kept it for a bit before deciding to delete it for space and respect for a person who clearly wanted to their own peace.
All that aside, I think of Caleb and Nott's relationship often, even to this day. I adored how complex it is. It toes the line of wanting and projecting family onto each other and something more than friends or lovers. I've seen two sides of widobrave fans where they're strictly familial or romantic.
I'm probably in the minority where I don't want a label for their relationship. I love how fluid it is with their dynamics, where it's grasping what they need from each other. Or again, projecting.
It's obvious from Nott's side that she wants to explore romance and sexuality outside of her relationship with Yeza. She grew up in a small town where people were awful to her, and she fell into the role of being a housewife and an assistant because that's where she was placed into. She didn't have the confidence like she grew to have further on, so she's taking those chances now. I think that's beautiful. Her love and attraction to Caleb have always fascinated me as something fluctuating and fluid? If that makes sense.
Caleb's love for Nott makes him feel stable and comforted. "An unexpected, undeserved kindness the world gave him" is how he probably viewed it. She's family, she's a friend, she's everything, she's a life partner. I've always wondered if he, alongside the platonic, briefly thought of loving her romantically, too. I'm sort of biased to say no because of my own preferences for an unexplained close relationship that goes beyond romantic and platonic love, maybe even queerplatonic. Which is why I love their relationship so much, but I'd be amiss to ignore Nott's romantic attraction for Caleb. It adds to the layer of complexities of their relationship.
Caleb's love for Nott is everything and vague at the same time. He loves openly, he always has. She's precious to him. He isn't sure what to call themselves. They rest together, sharing the same space. He felt left behind when Nott easily let go of his hand when the boys and girls had to separate for the hot baths (vague memory, but you get it).
And, well, I don't know. I have more to say, but that requires a different post that dives into comparisons between the animated show and the campaign. To be honest, this post is really about how much I wish I didn't delete that video so I can re-watch it. ,:^] There's not a lot of widobrave/Caleb and Nott compilations out there anymore.
