Easter update
I used to make pictures/pinups for Easter/spring, but I have to admit my creative juices are mostly focused on something else at the moment. I might post some of my fun with IT alter this month and there's a least a couple of RPG blogs I want to write and post on my website, but drawing is a bit of a chore lately. And by lately I mean pretty pretty much since 2018, looking back at my gallery.
But anyway, as far as updates are concerned, since I finally have at least a bit of free time, I decided to format and reinstall my main pc in hopes to fix a couple of really annoying issues I've been having, which most likely are related to a metric crap ton of conflicting settings, drivers and a bunch of Windows updates piled up dangerously high. If that doesn't help.... well... I was told the new AMD processor lineup is pretty good, so it might be time for an upgrade?
What does that have to do with Easter? Absolutely nothing. Why do I post about it? Because I can. Happy Easter or have a nice Sunday, go eat some eggs and stuff, I have things to reinstall =P
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Because I'm going to be thinking about this forever, I do want to talk about how Caleb speaks, because I think there's something to be said for how his protectiveness (in general) actually presents itself.
Caleb uses epithets and allusions a lot. He refers to Nott as "my goblin friend," to Jester as "my blue friend," to Yasha as "my barbarian friend." Yussa is at one point "our wizard friend," and Essek is "my Kryn friend," in the two-shot.
He is also, notably, paranoid about being surveiled. He wears the amulet of nondetection for most of the campaign, and it's not unwarranted, given that Trent locates him and nearly burns down the Blooming Grove the moment he's able to get a lock on them. Trent in fact has been shown to use any and all information he can get ahold of about or from Caleb against him, to a truly extreme level. His seemingly single-minded goal is expressed to be to ensure that not a single aspect of Caleb's life and loved ones is safe at any moment, to perpetuate the threat of harm from any direction in order to essentially control and monopolize Caleb's every thought.
In Echoes of the Solstice, Caleb does suggest that he is not concerned with Trent being able to surveil him any longer, but Trent is not the only threat, and, timey-wimey plot nonsense aside, the Hells' inability to scry on him since then suggests that he is likely wearing an amulet at least by that point in the timeline.
The extent of Trent's focus on him and his ensuing paranoia is extreme, and even beyond when he may no longer feel that Trent is a threat to him, he seems unwilling to allow him to pose a threat to others, and people he cares about in particular.
Within that context, it's not difficult to read his use of epithets, particularly in referring to people who are not currently present (rather than using their name aloud), as a form of protection. Some of his manner of speaking implicitly or explicitly presumes that he is being surveiled, even outside of the context of protectiveness; after Vess Derogna's death, he frequently refers to Lucian only by epithets, most often, "our old friend," and at one point establishes "Lady D," (to Jester's glee) as a code name for Vess Derogna for the specific purposes of countersurveilance.
This method of protection, I would imagine, goes double for Essek; not only does Caleb have the habit of worrying over those who would use his loved ones against him, which is of course borne out in Echoes of the Solstice, but he also must consider that Essek has his own enemies, and a stray mention of his name in the wrong company or setting could get his partner killed. It seems even in that gifset, when Caleb says, "I am worried for Essek," after the encounter with Trent at Vergessen, that he first considers obfuscating, stumbling over allusory phrasing before acknowledging that Trent already has the information he needs, and at that point Trent is their only real concern about who might care, given Lucien is far too focused on reaching the Astral Sea to worry about hostages.
When Caleb answers Jester's, "And he's going to hurt Essek," with a silence and an oblique reply, it feels most to me like a further measure of protection, knowing that knowledge is power that can be used against him and his loved ones, and silence is the weapon he has against it.
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When I first met him... he was the most gallant of lovers. He knew so many things.
He delighted in sharing his knowledge. He had a castle full of treasures, and he took such pleasure in showing them, giving them to me.
He was so gentle, and his skin felt like white silk against my skin.
And I gave what I could give to one such as he. When we made love, it was like a flame: I felt utterly engulfed, utterly loved. Treasured.
I have been with many poets, many dreamers... but his love alone was ice and fire. His eyes were stars.
Calliope, in The Sandman #71, by Neil Gaiman
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