1 - 20 of 23 Works by Inanerial
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Stoplight at an Empty Crossroads by Inanerial
Fandoms: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series), Critical Role Exandrian Universe
25 Apr 2026
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Summary
Caleb Widogast keeps dying and he keeps coming back. It is unclear if this is something to be grateful for.
(Caleb's life through the window of death, that is, his own narrative of each time he dies--or is unconscious/downed--and returns.)
Series
- Part 7 of Exercises & Drabbles
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At Your Fingertips by Inanerial
Fandoms: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series), Critical Role Exandrian Universe
20 Apr 2026
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Summary
A shaking lavender hand placed two leather mitts on the corner of the table. Their presence had Caleb rapidly reevaluating what he expected of the rest of his afternoon. The mitts were originally designed for boxing and the supple fingerless gloves braced against bulky pads were perfect for absorbing hits. They were also ideal for painlessly immobilizing a mage’s hands. Beau had not asked why he wanted them; she knew he had no interest in boxing.
Normally, Caleb was the one who feared his own power and desired it taken from him, just for a little while. Essek enjoyed control. Rarely, he liked it taken from him and kept safe, until he was ready to reclaim it.
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Puzzle Box by Inanerial
Fandoms: The Mighty Nein (Cartoon), Critical Role Exandrian Universe
05 Mar 2026
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Summary
You like to watch when he leaves. The tightness around his lips, his only anxious tell, is there and gone so quickly, you must look carefully to spot it. He is scared that one day, you will not allow him to return to the Dynasty. You will forbid it, and keep him. It’s not an idle concern. You’ve thought about it, gamed through the logistics. He would rest and work at your command, like Astrid and Eadwulf, like your others. Your progress would be quicker, but there would be complications. He gives Astrid and Eadwulf a wide berth as he moves towards the door, as though he knows you have been contemplating springing the trap shut around him, as though the extra foot of distance might make a difference if you wished to make him stay.
Series
- Part 7 of Fresh Horrors (Eternal Whumptober)
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Summary
They do not talk about the clone buried in the garden. Essek buried the materials and cast the spell when Caleb was out on a particularly dangerous venture with Beau. He did not do much to conceal what he had done, only shifted the picnic table over the disturbed ground. Caleb raised an eyebrow when he returned. They were not so rich that he had not noticed a certain sum of diamonds missing; he could guess what had occurred.
Series
- Part 6 of Exercises & Drabbles
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Moral Injury (No more children on the pyre) by Inanerial
Fandoms: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series)
12 Jan 2026
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Summary
A professor contemplates her legacy and choices. Professor Caleb Widogast makes a new ally.
It felt like she saw him everywhere after that, or perhaps it was just that whenever she saw him, she felt that old ache of guilt and so she noticed their every encounter all the more. They maintained a certain distance—a cordial nod, a brief hello—for most of the semester. Every time, she wondered if he remembered her. Was she supposed to acknowledge it first? Or perhaps he hoped she wouldn’t, and they would simply move on; pretend that she hadn’t seen when Master Ikithon plucked certain students from their classes for special excursions—pretend she didn’t know what they became—what he made them into.
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Summary
Like the first breath of summer or the smell of spring, it faded with time. Isharnai was not accustomed to the warm glow of friendship and so, when Jester’s warmth began to die, she gripped it tight. That might have been the end of it, were Isharnai not fey. But, of course, she was, and so her love for Jester did not die so much as curdle.
Isharnai's POV leading up to the Wedding One-Shot
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Summary
Seth Domade had many good qualities. He was human and, as such, could traverse Rexxentrum with ease. He had some unremarkable magical capabilities, so it was not odd that he might, say, use Comprehend Languages to read a book or cast Prestidigitation to clean the muck from his boots.
Seth Domade, however, was not a powerful wizard. He did not wield spells that could disrupt the gravity of an entire street or send his attackers flying into a wall. Seth Domade was a quiet, unassuming man. He spent most of his days editing volumes in the Cobalt Soul’s library, and he looked the part.
Around the time the silence manacles clapped around his wrists, Essek realized he should have dropped the facade of Seth Domade earlier.Series
- Part 6 of Fresh Horrors (Eternal Whumptober)
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Summary
“I had to take precautions, you see. I lost seven men bringing him in, so best not to take risks,” Sorn said.
“Feeblemind,” Essek whispered through numb lips.A Dynasty mage with a personal vendetta imprisons Caleb to get revenge against Essek. They must escape and then unravel the damage done.
Series
- Part 5 of Fresh Horrors (Eternal Whumptober)
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Summary
Three ex-Volstrucker and one Dynasty fugitive couldn't possibly have normal relationships with each other, so they don't. They have something else entirely.
“You look like a fucking porcupine,” Astrid said. She picked her way across the corpse-studded floor of the gloomy cavern.
Eadwulf glanced back over his shoulder as he parried a blow from an undead warrior. His view was slightly blocked by the volley of arrows encrusting the back of his armor.
“I didn’t call for help,” he grumbled. -
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Summary
Jester enlists Essek's help in preparing for her birthday party. He learns a little something about baking and about life in the process.
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Forgiveness is a service she performs, like leading prayers and counseling the Queen, and so once a month Deirta Thelyss clouds her light with somber clothes and walks to the Dungeons of Penance to hear the last confessions of prisoners. The dark grey cloak always feels heavy, but this week she checks her feet twice to make sure she is not about to step on it as she walks. Her closest servant, a goblin woman who has been with the family for years, trails behind her with a basket of supplies. She walks through the streets as if in a dream. People part before her, bowing their heads. It is more sympathy than awe, today. She was a mother before she became Umavi. It is not a title that can be taken from her.
Series
- Part 5 of Exercises & Drabbles
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Temporal Shunt (The Art of Vanishing in Place) by Inanerial
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
15 May 2025
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Summary
Essek's stomach whined at him like it too had been cast back into the memories where a grumble would have been too forward. The aching hollowness felt somehow reassuring, even though it was unpleasant. It was a little bit of home—and what has home been for him in recent years but a dull ache?
Essek tries to undo the tangled web of ambition, guilt, and alienation that brought him to steal the beacons. He is, after all, his own punishment.
(Detailed ED warnings in the notes of the first chapter)
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Summary
There are freckles on Caleb’s back. Essek traces his finger from point to point, like he is trying to find the most efficient way to gather them, collect them on the tip of his finger and steal them for his own. When he reaches the last, he starts over. It is good to try multiple paths. Pathfinding is, after all, an algorithmic challenge. Essek’s canvas twitches, a flex of muscle along the ridge line of a shoulder blade.
“That tickles a bit.” Caleb’s voice is muffled by the pillow.
“I am way-finding,” Essek says, finger looping back to his starting point again.
Series
- Part 4 of Exercises & Drabbles
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Summary
Essek is trying to figure out how to atone for what he has done and forgets to take care of himself. Beau was intending to give a shovel talk, but ends up intervening.
“Well, we could use your help when you’re available. Ideally soon. Caleb said you were coming to visit anyway and you’re welcome to stay with him.”
He twitched, a little ear flick. It just confirmed my suspicions.
His voice was apologetic, but firm: “Could I have a few days? I have another commitment imminently, but then I am happy to help.”
More secrets. Great. I leaned forward, making a show of my scrutiny. “What kind of commitment are we talking?”
His ears flicked down. I was frustrating him. “If you must know, I agreed to help a family with their taxes.”
That was not anywhere on the list of things I expected him to say. “I’m sorry, what?”
Series
- Part 3 of Exercises & Drabbles
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Summary
Professor Widogast has had a very long day. His partner helps him unwind and realize how loved he is.
Caleb hums in agreement, then settles his cheek against Essek’s thigh. He focuses, situates his mouth and jaw, then relaxes. His eyes fall closed. This is his favorite part, the sinking into simple servitude. All his material components are in his coat, discarded on its hook. His mouth is delightfully, achingly, beautifully full. There is a ring on one of his fingers that could be used as a focus, but he reaches his arms up and grasps Essek’s thighs. Material, verbal, and at last, somatic. An offering: I am now useless in all but this way. Use me.
Series
- Part 2 of Filthy One-Shots
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Summary
Essek, Caleb, and Astrid have an unconventional arrangement where everyone gets what they need.
There is a new book on the table. New to Essek, at least. Its leather cover is scuffed, but the gilt embossed border speaks to a certain level of expense. More than that, it’s the discolored edges of the parchment that catch his eye. They’re uneven, aged.
He hangs up his light outer robe, stacks his shoes by the door, and dispels his disguise. It is a relief to see his own hands again. He is walking, but his footsteps hardly make a sound. He approaches the table, runs a finger across the beautiful cover. There is a harsh crack that echoes from upstairs, but he does not flinch. -
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Summary
Caleb is late coming home from Soltryce and Essek is worried. He is right to be.
Caleb had approximately four different paths he regularly took from Soltryce to his home. Given that it was a Wednesday, Astrid was on business in Nicodranas, and their usual butcher had a family emergency in the countryside, there were really only two routes he was likely to take. Factoring in Caleb’s distaste for the cacophony of Wednesday’s market in the square at the midway point and that it was sweet corn season, Essek assumed he would take the more winding of the routes to pass by the quieter vegetable stand and the baker.
It was not a overly long walk, but as Essek marched through the street, he bitterly thought that it was long enough to take time he worried he did not have.
Series
- Part 1 of Fresh Horrors (Eternal Whumptober)
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Summary
The Uthodurn scene with the shopkeeper and residuum got me thinking, what if Caleb thought the residuum might still be there? How would he deal with that knowledge? (Not well)
There’s gold in his arms. Well, not exactly gold, but maybe better (maybe worse, definitely worse). He heard it from the nice lady at the store, residuum is better than gold — worth more — it’s right there in the price, several gold for just a bit and he knows his exchange rates, that means it’s better than gold. Simple math. His skin itches and well, it’s itched since he got out, that’s not new. It itched before too, but in an excited, young way, a magic-waiting-to-get-out way, not a get-it-out-please-take-it-out way. What itches must out, is that a thing people say? He doesn’t know; words rotted in his mouth when he was locked up and now they skitter away from him like roaches. That’s what happens when you lose a decade.
Series
- Part 1 of Exercises & Drabbles
- Part 4 of Fresh Horrors (Eternal Whumptober)
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Summary
Caleb is an anxious vampire and Essek just wants to help his partner not starve. And if vampire venom makes you incredibly horny, well, that's just a lovely side-effect isn't it?
Retrospectively, Essek did not approach the matter in the most trauma-sensitive manner. What happened was this: Caleb pulled a bottle of blood from the shelf, neatly labeled and stasis-charmed, took a sip, and full-body flinched. He poured it down the sink, the coppery scent floating into the air. Then, grumbling to himself, he cracked open another of the labeled bottles.
Essek sighed theatrically and Caleb glanced at him.
“This is ridiculous,” Essek huffed. He unbuttoned the dark shirt down to his mid-chest and slid it from his shoulders.Series
- Part 3 of Filthy One-Shots
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Summary
Common had always sloshed about in Caleb’s mouth like dirty water, or perhaps like a bad beer, all fizz and fuzz with no depth. Speaking it was a journey — one had to sit about and construct feelings and sensations, when in Zemnian he would have plucked the perfect word straight from the air.
A brief meditation on language, love, and the dialect of home.
Series
- Part 2 of Exercises & Drabbles