#constance clay

When you’re in a safe enough space to panic and fumble with yourself

[Image description: Eight pages from the comic Mighty Nein Origins: Caduceus Clay. The first six pages feature a young Caduceus and his mother, Constance, while the last two pages show an older Caduceus, as well as his father, Cornelius, and sister, Clarabelle.

Page 1: A wide shot of the Blooming Grove, with a beautiful stone and wood temple sat at the center of a verdant cemetery. From afar, Constance calls outs "Caduceus!"

Page 2: Constance is stood behind her son, with his head only partially in frame. The first panel shows her saying, "There you are, didn't you hear me calling?" In the second panel, she is leaning down to her son, a concerned look on her face as she says "Oh."

Page 3: A smaller panel shows Caduceus cupping a dead bird in his hands, holding it tenderly. The wider panel then shows his mother sitting down beside him, the pair sat next to a head stone. He leans his head into her shoulder as she asks, "Would you like some help?" The pair then proceed ro bury the bird.

Page 4: Constance and Caduceus are kneeling in the dirt, over the bird's burial spot. Constance asks, "Ready?, with Caduceus responding "Mh-hmm." The pair touch the ground where the bird was buried, and soon a bright orange flower magically blooms from the spot, causing Caduceus to startle.

Page 5: Constance sits beside her son, her hand gentle touching his face as she says, "Death and decay are a part of a circle, a wheel turning without a beginning or end. Death is how we nurture life, Caduceus." He looks down at the flower as he asks, "Then how comes it hurts?" Caduceus lays down in his mother's arms as she explains, "Because you loved them." A smaller panel shows a closer shot of their faces as she asks, "Do you regret that love?"

Page 6: A small panel shows a closeup shot of Caduceus, looking sad as he replies "No." Another wide shot of the Grove is shown, with the pair sat at the center, Constance continuing, "Part of love is knowing they will go, and cherishing them with your whole heart in the face of that hurt." Another small panel shows a closeup of the newly bloomed flower, with some of its loose petal blowing into the wind.

Page 7: An interior shot, a number of years in the future, showing an adult Caduceus asleep in his flower filled bedroom. He wakes upon hearing the voices of his father and sister, who are in another room, getting up to go investigate. His sister says "I just don't think it's fair that --", Cornelius interjects, "Clarabelle, please keep your voice down."

Page 8: Caduceus comes down the stairs tiredly rubbing his eyes while his father and sister continue to argue. Clarabelle says, "I will not until you--", cutting herself off as she sees her brother appear. Cornelius moves to ready some gear as Caduceus asks "You're leaving?" He responds "The corruption isn't going away on its own. Maybe... maybe your mother found something out there. I'll find her and your aunt, and find a cure." Clarabelle steps forward, declaring "It should be my turn! I'm old enough and faster than you, anyway!" To which Cornelius responds, as he begins to depart, "Clarabelle Clay, mind yourself. Stay home with your brother." End description.]

Sneak preview of Caduceus's origin comic from Polygon!

chapter 2 - critical role, rated t, 15.3k

He walks over as if his body is controlled by someone else, looking over the little basket of mushrooms in hazy confusion. How has it never occurred to him that mushrooms might come in from the wild with mud on them?

Constance offers him a clean rag, but he attempts a prestidigitation on the first mushroom and it cleans instantly. He offers her a shy attempt at a smile and she shrugs, smiling back but leaving the rag within arms’ reach.

Hearing Calliope scrubbing away behind him, he can’t help but feel as though he is cheating. As he prestidigitates a second mushroom, he wonders whether any of them possess cleaning magic, whether they would use it if they did.

Don’t they see this as a simple act of making the process easier, more efficient? Now they have a clean rag for another purpose, should they need it.

Or do they see him avoid the manual labour they have no option but to subject themselves to, and imagine he sees himself above it?

read on ao3

To go along with From My Rotting Body, Flowers Shall Grow, here's everybody's flowers in the Blooming Grove and what they mean in the language of flowers!

Vox Machina:

Vex'ahlia - Chicory (frugality)

Percy - Clematis (artifice and ingenuity)

Pike - White Heliotrope (devotion and faithfulness)

Grog - Black Tulips (strength and passion)

Tary - Alstroemeria (wealth, prosperity, and devotion)

Vax'ildan - Snowdrops (hope)

Tiberius - Tiger Lily (wealth and pride)

Scanlan - Naked Man Orchid (love, beauty, luxury, and sexuality) (and yes, these are in fact, a real flower)

Keyleth (not shown in the fic) - Cherry Blossom bonsai (endurance, hope for spring)

The Mighty Nein:

Caduceus - Sweet Peas (blissful pleasure, goodbye, departure)

Mollymauk - Snapdragons (presumption, deception, royalty, and passion) (as decided by Taliesin during Talks Machina after Molly died!)

Yasha - Star of Bethlehem (atonement, reconciliation)

Beau – Columbine (resolved to win)

Fjord – Gladiolus (strength of character and generosity)

Jester – Lupine (imagination) (bonus points for looking decidedly phallic)

Veth – Cowslip (rusticity, winning grace, healing, youth, and pensiveness)

Caleb – Marigold (grief, despair, and affection)

Essek (not in the fic) - Moonflower (beauty out of darkness, mysticism)

The Clay Family:

Cornelius - Allium (unity, humility, peace)

Constance – Iris (faith, valour, wisdom, and friendship)

Corrin – Cactus (endurance)

Colton – Hydrangea (boastfulness, thank you for understanding)

Nila - Moss (maternal love, charity) (half for the meaning, half because Nila tended the mosses in the Guiatao clan)

*Calanthe (minor OC, first ever Clay in the Blooming Grove) - Rhododendron (danger, I am dangerous, beware) (fully inspired by this post)

She cooked for him a lot after being taken out of the stone. She made new things, old things, anything to put a smile on his face but more than they could ever finish eating as a family.

Cornelius asked her about it and she teared up quickly, eyes casting to where their boy who’d been so alone for too long before settling back on her husband and muttering “he’s just so skinny.”

She never told Caduceus about this. It was just the worry of a mother, frozen for many years.

But he knew.

And he was grateful.