Bright like fire
Hi @jadesabre301!! Merry @widojestsecretsanta and I hope you enjoy! Title is from Feels Like Home by Auliʻi Cravalho. I'll post on ao3 later today but I wanted to start the day with giving your gift.......
In the Blooming Grove, Caleb sneaks away from the group to say goodbye to Frumpkin and dismiss him from being Caleb's familiar. Matt narrates that Frumpkin looks over at Sprinkle on Jester's shoulder, and there's a brief moment of fey connection between them before Frumpkin walks away.
The Fey realm is a dangerous place. Shadows curl and creep without the need of light to pin them down. If there was any constant, it would be the whispers twining around the trees. But even the whispers would rearrange themselves into surprising silences.
It is precisely the place where tricksters can thrive.
Jester felt her necklace begin to warm, and she recalled Arty’s promise to bring her back home. Home, with cinnamon pastries and the paint shop around the corner and no more wobbly time stuff when she messaged her friends. Home safe.
But then was a blur of movement rushing towards her and–
“Lumpy!”
Her favorite cat in the whole wide world had pounced right into her arms. He scrambled down to wind around her ankles, purring the whole time.
“Frumpkin, it is so good to see you. So very very good! But I am about to go and the Traveler has a really powerful spell for me that is about to kick in so you’re going to have to scootch a few feet away so you don’t get swept up because I am just about to leave the Fey Realm.
Jester had spent many hours and miles with Frumpkin nearby. There was something slightly different about him here in the Fey Realm. A slight shift in his posture or size or something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. His head tilt made it clear, as clear as if he had messaged her, that Frumpkin had arrived in the place and time entirely on purpose.
“This will just have to be our little secret for a while, okay. I don’t think Caleb will be angry that you are returning – you know he did agree I could have you for forever – it’s just that he gets scared sometimes. But we won’t let that keep us away, will we?”
&
Caleb heard a chuckle behind his shoulder. “Artagan,” he called out without looking, “what brings you to my humble classroom?”
“She worries about you.”
“Is that your answer?”
“I check in on all my followers from time to time. Gladly, it’s a much more manageable itinerary since our little shindig at the volcano. Even so, I still have my favorites.”
“Is that what I am?”
“As I recall it,” Artagan said before slipping into a cheap Zemnian accent. “We are all low key acolytes of the Traveler.” His voice slid back to the usual grandeur. “Don’t tell me your keen mind has suddenly lapsed?”
“If you were paying attention, you would know the context. I would be her disciple while she is being yours.”
“Oh, you can assume I’ve heard far more than you’d like me to, Caleb Widogast. You... amuse me.”
Caleb finally looked up from his stack of student parchment. The Traveler was twirling a few quills in a serpentine motion and flicking his wrist to aim them at the desk in the corner as if it was a dartboard.
“Sprinkle saw all your unexpressed expressions, little wizard. I certainly know the context.”
“Is that why you are here?”
“Excellent question. Firstly, I am here because I want to be. I am only ever where I am because I want to be.” Artagan flashed a wink and reappeared close at Caleb’s side. “I want to be here because there’s this thread hanging. I simply can’t resist tugging.”
Caleb smirked. “Tug away, Traveler.”
“You have your students, your schnitzel, your small small apartment with the east facing window. But woven into this retirement of yours is this insistence to send away certain companions.”
“I have learned to hold loosely.” He looked down at his weathered hands. “I do not need to grasp and claw any longer. This is my hard fought truth after so many years of desperately grasping for the ones who departed.”
“Ah, but have you learned who wants to be held?”
&
There was just enough of a snowdrift collected on his windowsill for that tender glow of winter to reflect with the candlelight. It was a small apartment, yes, but he had already filled two bookshelves and that was home enough for now.
Caleb knelt by the books now, weighing a few in his hands. Would she like the Port Zoon romance? Had she read it before? Would she want to see the notes for his lectures, the new cantrip he employs?
He stacks both books in the ‘bring’ pile. Because after all, isn’t the point of his trip to set everything before Jester and let her decide what she wants to keep? He is resolved to tell her.
He is also resolved to bring pastries, so he really should go across the street to place an order at the bakery to pick up tomorrow. At this precise time in the evening, Greta should still be rolling out the twists to set overnight.
When he opens the front door, his breath freezes.
“Can I stay here?”
Jester is at his doorstep with snowflakes settled in her dear blue hair. She looks warm with that purple flush in her cheeks. She has more freckles than the last time Caleb saw her, he is sure.
“Well, I guess my real question is can we stay here?” She gestures behind him, to the cat already curled up on his window seat.
“Jester, ah, it is good to see…It is very good to see you, but what is Frumpkin? How…?” His voice falters in awe.
She beams up at him. Oh. She beams and she walks right into his home and she is here.
“Well Caleb, you remember I wanted to visit the Fey Realm with Arty, and I finally got to see it and there was lots of really weird shit but also beautiful sunsets but not quite sun setting because it’s so different there.” Jester had her full ensemble on with mittens and hat and scarf and fur lined cloak and she chattered through commentary while taking off each item and setting them down on his shelf, his table, his desk.
“I remember, Jester.”
“So I was just about to return back and I had this whole signal set up with the Traveler so none of the timing would get fucked up. And then, out of nowhere, Frumpkin appeared with me! He really missed you, he told me.”
She ended up sitting criss-crossed on the floor right next to his pile of books. Her hands dance through the air as she talks, fidgeting.
“Because even though you don’t need him anymore, he still wants to be where you are. He understands you let him go because you are stronger and kinder and ready to be okay with change.” Jester holds his gaze. “But he knows he gets to choose too and he would like to choose to stay, with you. He would like a nice quiet life with lots of animals.”
For all of the times that Caleb looked away, held his tongue, flinched from getting nearer. This time Jester is keeping her blue eyes steady with his. Her voice is warm and sure. She sits with her head high and a new ribbon wrapped on her left horn and with all of the courage in the world.
“Of course, Liebling, but not so quiet we don’t see adventures.” His hand shakes, just a little, as he raises his it to her cheek, so it is good Jester brings her hand up to match his. It’s a sharp thrill of heat.
“I am so glad you understand what Frumpkin is telling you, Caleb.” There’s the twinkle, the mischief in her eyes. “Because on the way over, he was a little worried you might be stupid about this. And then he would have to go on and on and on about how much cooler everything will be once you team up together. Instead, we can skip right to our happy ending.”
She winds her hands through his mess of reddish-brown hair and finally, they kiss.
&
Artagan checks in on all his followers from time to time.
Over in Rexxutrum, there is a small small apartment with a large window seat and many bookshelves. A cacophony of rugs overlap on the floor with zig zagging patterns and paint splotches. The window is often open so the colored glass hanging above can twirl and refract and birds with orange and blue feathers can find a soft place to land. There are a great many other animals who wander in and out and there is the constant of one cat who is not a cat and one weasel who is not a weasel.
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widojest week 2022 dates and prompts
Hello! We're excited to announce the dates and prompts for widojest week 2022!
This year widojest week will be taking place July 10th to July 16th. The prompts for each day will be as follows:
Sunday (July 10th): Sketching /Journaling
Monday (July 11th): “If You Survive and I Don’t” / Sacrifice
Tuesday (July 12th): First Dance / Last Dance
Wednesday (July 13th): Post-Canon AU or Free Choice
Thursday (July 14th): Fake Dating/Fake Parents or Lifting Each Other Up (Emotionally or Physically)
Friday (July 15th): What Happens in the Magnificent Mansion Stays There
Saturday (July 16th): Wedding
While each day has more than one prompt, feel free to pick only one or incorporate both if you'd like! All type of media (ex. fan art, fanfic, music, cosplay, etc.) is welcome.
Please be sure to tag your content #widojestweek2022 on tumblr and twitter to make it easier to find and share.
We look forward to seeing what you all create!
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