Chapter Text
“The more the merrier!” Jester said to the shy elven girl in front of her. Her name was Phira and Jester loved her already.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude. What would your other friends think?” The girl had soft blonde hair and a short sword at her hip. Jury was still out on if she could use it, but Jester didn’t believe in making friends based on physical merit like some of her friends did. This girl was alone and told Jester that she liked her hair, so she would be an honorary member of the Mighty Nein. It was decided.
Jester had found Phira in the middle of a tavern brawl. She didn’t seem to be included in the fight, it seemed to be more about her. Phira had her sword clutched in her hand at her hip while two burly men yelled and punched and gestured to her more times than comfortable. One quick thaumaturgy and a toll the dead spell shut them up real quick. And after a quick conversation, Jester found out that Phira was a lone adventurer. Jester didn’t believe in lone adventurers. She believed in friends. It had worked out well for her, anyways.
“Oh, do not worry about them, they will love you!” Jester exclaimed, grabbing Phira by the hands and smiling her most convincing smile.
“What are they like? Your friends?” Phira asked, hands going nervously soft in Jester’s.
“ Well,” Jester began, putting a finger to her chin in thought. “They are really fun. Some of them are a little scary but they’re mostly fun.”
“Scary?” Phira asked, gulping.
“Kind of,” Jester said, “Beau is pretty mean but after a while she gets less mean. Yasha looks pretty scary, she’s pretty much an angel of death, but she really likes flowers which means she’s pretty cool. Nott has a lot of teeth but she’s pretty much my best friend in the whole world so that means she’s not scary. Sometimes Fjord doesn’t like new people but that’s fine, I am sure he will love you, you’re so nice after all. And Cadeceus makes tea out of dead people.”
Phira’s face went pale, “Dead people tea?”
“Yes, it’s actually really yummy, I’ll have him make you some.” Phira didn’t look convinced, so Jester moved on before she could ask more questions. “And last is Caleb! Caleb is actually probably the least scary one of us. He’s a little bit stinky because he doesn’t take a lot of baths, but that’s okay he’s getting better. He doesn’t really like talking to people all the time, so it might seem like he doesn’t like you but that’s probably not true. He’s just always thinking. He’s really smart, you know.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He knows basically everything about magic. Nott always says he’s the most powerful wizard ever and I am pretty sure she’s right. One time he made me really big and he’s saved us in battles with lots of fire a whole bunch of times, but don’t talk to him about the fire, he’s really sensitive about it. I am not going to tell you why because I don’t think he wants very many people to know, and I know that if I had a big secret he would keep it for me. He is really nice like that.”
“It seems like you like him a lot.”
“Of course I do! He is my friend. Did you know he has a cat?!” Jester asked excitedly, her brain skipping with thoughts of Caleb.
Phira looked at her confused, “No, no I didn’t.”
“He really loves his cat. Sometimes his cat is an octopus, but I think he gets sad when his cat is an octopus. I wish he could keep his cat a cat all the time. He smiles a lot more when Frumpkin is a cat. He is one of those people who doesn’t really smile a lot, but when he does he’s like a really bright candle. I like trying to make him smile. It doesn’t work all the time, but when he does he feels like a whole new person. Not that normal Caleb is bad, he’s just a little gloomy, like a raincloud! But rainclouds make flowers grow, don’t they?” Jester’s smile grew like a daisy after a storm.
“That is all very nice, but how about I go meet your friends for myself?” Phira asked.
“Of course! Let’s go!”
“And this is Caleb!” Jester finished introducing her friends to Phira. It had gone as she expected. Nott and Caduceus were excited about a new friend, Yasha was indifferent, and Fjord and Beau were skeptical. Caleb was the only wildcard.
“Hello Caleb,” Phira extended her hand to him.
Caleb took it with a glint of Fjord and Beau’s skepticism and shook. “It is nice to meet you,” he said with his trademark robotic voice that came out around new people. Sometimes it came out around Jester when she tried to make a joke and he didn’t get it. But that was okay, she didn’t think his robot voice was weird like other people did. That was just Caleb.
Suddenly Frumpkin came out from behind Caleb’s legs and began sniffing the tip of Phira’s boot. Suddenly, as if on cue, Caleb’s face lit up. His yellow teeth shining brighter than any shade of white, his eyes warm like afternoon sunlight. “And this is my cat. His name is Frumpkin. You may pet him if you like.”
“Hello Frumpkin,” Phira bent down and stroked her hand along Frumpkin’s back as he purred, “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“You have?” Caleb asked her, his eyes darting to Jester. Jester felt a blush blooming on her cheeks, turning her blue skin a faint shade of lilac.
“Jester told me you really like your cat.”
“That I do,” Caleb answered Phira without taking his eyes off of Jester. Jester tried looking everywhere else besides his glowing warm eyes, but she ultimately failed. She couldn’t help but look at them. Besides, when was she going to get another chance? A happy Caleb only came around so often.
“She says you smile a lot more when you are around him,” Phira stated factually. Jester’s cheeks went a deeper shade of purple. “And that she likes it when you smile.”
“Phira, you weren’t supposed to tell him all that stuff. If you’re going to be a part of the Mighty Nein you are going to have to learn how to keep better secrets,” Jester said more aggressively than she intended.
“Why would that need to be a secret?” Caleb asked, once again his eyes only on Jester, not the person speaking to him.
Jester and Phira remained silent for a moment. Embarrassment began filling Jester like an overflowing teapot. Why was she embarrassed anyways? It was so much better when people smiled. Caleb just never smiles so it is especially fun when it happens. It is like a diamond. People like them because they are so rare.
“I don’t know…” Jester said, still avoiding his eyes. “Because you are not supposed to tell people what you really think about them.”
Beau commented to Fjord from the side of the group, “That makes absolutely no sense.”
“You like my smile, Jester?” Caleb asked, his voice quiet.
“I mean,” Jester said, crossing her arms defensively, “ yeah.”
Caleb’s smile, which had diminished almost entirely throughout this conversation, reignited once more. It wasn’t a burst of flame, it was more like the remnants of cozy campfire. It was warm and comforting. The kind where you wake up and the burning cinders leftover from a long night previous hold the memories of midnight conversations not to be spoken of in daylight. The bonds created held dearly and silently, but forever remaining.
“Thank you very much,” Caleb’s robot voice returned, but it was different this time. It wasn’t stilted in a cold way, like he didn’t know what he wanted to say and so therefore didn’t say it. It was like he knew what he wanted to say, what he was feeling, but didn’t quite understand how to put it into words. The warmth was there but the experience wasn’t, leaving an innocence in its wake. “I like your smile as well.”
Jester’s cheeks felt like they had gone indigo with embarrassment. But a smile of her own cut through the splotches of emotion presenting themselves on her face. That same sunlight warmth that came from Caleb’s smile felt like it was building and coalescing in her chest, taking a home next to her heart.
“Thank you, Caleb,” Jester said. And then quietly, filled with a softness that clashed with her usual brash nature, she said, “Look, now we are both smiling.”