Recent content by Calixtus

Calixtus entered without hesitation, though his eyes swept the room with the sharp, cataloguing attention of someone accustomed to reading spaces as easily as faces. The neatness seemed to surprise him; he had expected clutter, books stacked in unstable towers, half-finished notes, perhaps a...

Calixtus watched her flustered retreat with a composure that grew thinner the more she spoke. By the time she revealed the true spine of the tome beneath its rosy disguise, he let out a quiet sigh that sounded perilously close to a laugh. "Yes," he murmured dryly, "I had gathered you were not...

Calixtus had been performing admirably, even by his own standards. He spoke with the kind of articulate confidence that librarians, professors and busybodies adored. He span an utterly believable academic curiosity out of what was, in truth, a glorified smokescreen. He even feigned interest...

Calixtus walked in silence for several steps. When he finally looked at her, it was with a glimmer of something sharp and amused beneath the strain. "And what makes you think that I can lie? Actually don't answer that. My family sits on the merchant Council." He didn't want her to steal such...

He had braced himself for the sting of steel, prepared his hand to be taken. He had not expected her to take the burden of sealing magic onto herself. He watched the smear of her blood vanish into the brass keyhole and watched the quiet ripple of protection spread invisibly across the doorframe...

"Of course I can provide blood," Calixtus said. He straightened slightly, gathering himself again, though the edges of his composure were frayed. "Tell me what book you need. I'll fetch it with you. And the knife and parchment." A beat, softer. "Just... tell me what to do." He drew in a...

Calixtus watched her work in absolute silence. With each new arc of dust illuminated, each line of suspended shimmer showing angles of impact and intent, his stomach tightened further. He had always known Bliss was thorough, but seeing her unravel spellwork as if it were a tapestry thread by...

For a moment, Calixtus simply stared at the suspended dust, the way it hung in the air as if caught on invisible threads. He could feel the magic at work, even if he didn't understand it. He stepped toward her with slow, cautious movements, as if afraid a single stray exhale might break...

Calixtus blinked, taken aback by the sudden appearance of the wooden box and the quiet authority with which Bliss commanded the space. Her focus drew his eyes, the precision in her movements holding a kind of discipline that reminded him of his brother’s demonstrations. The true surprise was...

Calixtus stiffened as her arms came around him. The embrace caught him off guard, and for a moment he stood perfectly still, unsure what to do with the warmth pressed against his shoulder. It was easier to face spellcraft and study than this quiet, human sort of comfort. Yet, slowly, his hands...

Calixtus drew a slow breath, his gaze moving over the chamber as though expecting his brother to step out from behind one of the shelves at any moment. "Three days ago," he began, voice subdued but clipped, each word carefully chosen. "He was meant to deliver his lecture on transpositional ley...

Calixtus stilled beneath her touch. For a moment, he did not speak, only stared at the half-emptied shelves and the faint layer of dust that dulled their familiar gleam. “It isn’t like him,” he said at last, his voice low and flat. The words slipped out before he could restrain them. “Emrys...

Calixtus’s jaw tightened at her jest, though the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested it might have struck closer to the truth than he’d have liked to admit. He inclined his head slightly, a gesture that might have been acknowledgment or dismissal. “Humbled is hardly the word,”...

The corridors of the College were quiet at this hour - too quiet for his liking. Calixtus’s boots clicked against the flagstones as he moved, the sound crisp and deliberate, as though it might keep his thoughts from circling back to the one truth he couldn’t ignore. Emrys was gone. No...

"Yes to say we were missing you might be a little strong, but it does seem you are the last of our group," Calixtus said. He spoke to Shiloh but his gaze was set upon the tip of Bliss' thumb. The irritation in her tone was like a warm blanket for him. A cozy companion. Slowly his gaze turned...