#m. caleb

[voiceofduality]

@ambitiousillusions​ from X

SOFTER PROMPTS

        Yes. NO. Maybe. I don't know.

  There were a bunch of different replies to that question, and each brought their own trouble with it. Rejecting him when he was reaching out was the last thing Astrid wanted, and yet she KNEW that everything they said could, and would, be used against them in the end.

      It would have been better to not see him again AT ALL. And yet...

  "There's just been a lot going on." She eventually replied, eyes meeting his for a brief moment. It wasn't a lie, really, but then again there was always a lot going on, some THINGS just didn't concern her as much as others did.

  "Don't you think your friends will be looking for YOU?"

“I think they can handle themselves for a while,” he replies softly, although the harshness in Astrid’s gaze makes him swallow hard.

Their relationship would never be the same again, would it? No, that just isn’t possible. Too many things had changed, they had changed, and it was better that way. But every now and then, he still finds himself missing the times when it was just Astrid, Wulf and him — just the three of them against the world. Before everything became complicated, and eventually went to hell.

“If I can’t help you, let me try, at least.“

[voiceofduality]

@proelio-procusi liked ❤️ (accepting)

Professor Widogast would often walk around the halls alone, carrying more books he seems to have the physical strength for and reading through student's assignments even before he's had the time to reach his office. He has a reputation of being a workaholic, aloof and quiet around the rest of the staff and extraordinary kind to students.

It's one of those days when he's returning to his office at a decent hour, meaning he'll probably go home soon, if no students decide to show up at his door with questions he'd gladly answer for hours. That's when he spots a familiar face, and stops dead in his tracks.

"...Wulf?"

[voiceofduality]

@starclub​ from ♥ (accepting)

“I—”

There’s a hint of anxiety in his voice. His hands keep fidgeting nervously with anything near them, he combs his hair back and lets out a deep sigh, trying to find the words to explain himself.

Meanwhile, a puppy dashes around, ungracefully tripping over her own paws with what seems to be a half-torn page between her teeth. The remaining pieces are all over the floor.

“I couldn’t find the mother anywhere. Couldn’t leave it to die, either... So I took it home with me. But I don’t know how to take care of it.”

[voiceofduality]

@exandriians​: deception - from Fjord for Caleb!

🎲 : 3 + 7

"It’s nothing.” The wizard manages to keep a straight face, fumbling with the book to try and hide it from the half-orc’s sight. He was so absorbed in its pages that he didn’t notice his approach until he heard his voice, and got startled in the unmistakable way of someone who’s in the middle of something either suspicious or embarrassing.

The latter, in this case.

“Just a tome I found by chance. They sold it cheap, so I had to take it with me.”

[voiceofduality]

@stormlit​ liked ♥

“He always was, well, quieter than me. Or than... Astrid, for that matter. Hard to believe, I know.” The wizard chuckles, as a hint of bitter self-deprecation accidentally permeates his words. Bren was different, brighter, better in so many ways. Caleb, on the other hand, was... drunk, currently, and probably oversharing.

The tiefling has always had a knack for asking the right questions. She was equal parts exciting and calming, and her presence too comfortable not to confide in her.

“We three, we— we loved each other.”

[voiceofduality]

❛Can’t you summon something to help us?❜ for caleb

"That is not... how it works." He could, for instance, turn into a giant ape, but right now he needs his brains, while Laera provides the brawn.

He can buy some time for them, however. A pinch of phosphorus gets rubbed between his fingers, and fire emerges instantly from the line he draws in the air. A fiery wall now separates them from the incoming beasts, leaving them with just a handful of enemies to deal with before continuing towards the cave exit.

[voiceofduality]

@chaosfleur​: ' You’re lonely too. ' ( for Caleb ! )

The wizard sighs and hugs his legs a little tighter, face buried against his knees. It’s not the sort of vulnerability he likes to show anyone. But who cares, at this point. Not him. Certainly not the Archfey, either.

“You say that like it’s news,” he mumbles under his breath. Lazily, he turns his head to look at the... man. Hearing his voice from the tiny body of a weasel is unnerving. “Do you really need to use that form?”

[voiceofduality]

@tidesbreath​: ❛You know I can’t predict those sorts of things.❜ - caleb

Caleb sighs.

He’s not exactly happy with the idea of sharing his personal space, not when they had individual rooms for a change, but he can—gods, that’s uncomfortable—hear Mollymauk and his nighttime companions from the hallway. No wonder why Fjord would abandon the adjacent room.

“Okay. Come in.” What now. “I can... throw some of the blankets on the floor and sleep there, if you don’t... you know.” He doesn’t really know how close you need to be to someone to sleep in the same bed and not make it awkward.