For the ask game:
All the boys in the mighty nein... are doing what? 👀👀
They are being ace-spec! Caduceus and Essek are canonically on the asexual spectrum, and I have loooong since headcanoned Fjord as demisexual and Caleb as grey ace! (Like, since the pirate arc for Fjord, Caleb since… idk forever I guess. He just gave me vibes periodically throughout the whole campaign.)
“All the boys in the mighty nein are aspec” is a little song I sing to myself sometimes (to the tune of “camptown races”) so that’s where the “title” comes from!
This what written around the same time as On the Nature of Attraction and tbh there hasn’t been much thought put into this idea outside of there being a discussion about asexuality and this little exchange:
“So we know that Caduceus isn’t interested at all and Fjord needs to feel comfortable with someone first, and now you two…” Jester looked between Caleb and Essek.
“Ah, no thank you,” Essek said.
Caleb shrugged. “Largely neutral.”
She gasped. “So that means all the boys in the—wait!” She turned to Kingsley, who was relaxing near the hot spring some fifty feet away. “Kingsley! How boy are you feeling today?”
Kingsley looked to Jester, then off to the side as they considered it. “Eh?” they called back, hand wobbling back and forth in a so-so gesture.
Jester slammed her hands on the ground and leaned close into Caleb and Essek’s personal space. “All the boys in the Mighty Nein are aspec*! That’s so cool!”
“Is it?” Essek asked.
“Of course! Especially because in all my books, all of the guys are so horny. Like, all the time. It’s cool to know that that’s not always true!”
*figuring out the language to use here is difficult because the word ‘aspec’ feels so out of place with the language typically used in critical role? What do???
So yeah. Just boys being ace-spec :) just guys being pals on the ace spectrum :)
