Faves vs Popular tag game!
Thanks for the tag @talesofsymphoniac :D
Rules: Share your top 3 fics by either hits or kudos, followed by top 3 fics by personal favorite (and share where they do or donât line up!)
Of Course It Would Work AKA the wizards sleep and talk after T-Dock and Essek learns more about Calebâs past
This one's consistently been my most kudosed fic since I posted it! I'm near the end of my c2 relisten and the nostalgia of writing this one in particular has been kicking in.
I Lean In and Kiss Him [Right Here] AKA five times Caleb kisses Essek and one time Essek kisses him back
Caleb POV! While not my first attempt at writing from Caleb's POV for TS, this was my most ambitious at the time: tracking his mindset through several days rather than for a single scene.
Something Old, Something New AKA the wizards play a game, test out a new 8th-level spell, and have a nice chat
My first Big fic in terms of both word count and concept. At the time of writing, it felt like I had opened a door I didn't even know existed and I'm glad to have finished and shared it!
I sorted these by kudos and, unsurprisingly, all my most popular fics are focused on shadowgast xD They're also all on the longer side of my usual works (>5k) and are all multichaps. In terms of content, all three of these include a scene of one wizard comforting the other in a moment of distress (and its immediate aftermath) and they all (mostly) take place in the tower. Thematically, all three revolve around Caleb and Essek having their own wizardly versions of define-the-relationship conversations (an ongoing process for the entirety of TS, really xD).
Eyes So Blue and Hair So Grown AKA the Xhorhas kids talk about talking about love
I've been revisiting this one a lot as of late for my Undercommon project. Though they didn't have much direct interaction during the campaign, the moments Yasha and Essek do share live in my heart and I love imagining how their friendship may grow after the campaign. Yasha and Essek can both be so awkward independently and it's so fun to play with how that awkwardness could become earnestness when they're together.
For You, I'd Bleed Myself Dry AKA the wizards spend a moment together on one Nicodranas night and neither quite says goodbye
I am so so incredibly fond of this one :D Between the heavy-handed scene setting and Essek's attempts to lift Caleb's mood at the start to Essek's clumsy sincerity and shift of footing later, this snapshot of Caleb and Essek's early dynamic in TS is always a fun reread :3
The Bluebottle Thrower AKA Essek and Jester hang out at the seaside and play a little game while they're there
I love Jester and TS!Essek loves her too. He hasn't seen her development over the course of the campaign in detail and I find it compelling to imagine the ways he may idealize her on his way to actually understanding her as a person.
My favorites shift around frequently, so these three are the first to come to mind. These ones have some of my absolute favorite lines and I just love writing TS!Essek's tentative tension around touch (say that 5 times fast xD). All of these involve the characters playing in one regard or another as well as featuring TS!Essek realizing a thing or two about himself along the way :3
Tags: @vagabondfirelily @quinn-of-aebradore @marymauk @rainbowcaleb @hello-eeveev @atlasarcana
