One of Caleb's favorite things about Caduceus, he thought, was the little movements his ears made. Especially when he was happy. He loved the soft twitches and turns or the way they perked up when he was excited about something. Even if Caleb couldn't read his emotions all over his face, he could tell by those little shifts. He was already captivated, but the way Caduceus' ears perked when he offered his name - his real name, the one only Veth had known until so recently - made him feel so incredibly light. Any worry he might have had was gone instantly. He didn't see himself changing his mind... ever.
The constant praise that Caduceus heaped on him was just so wonderful, too. He wasn't used to it, but he was trying to get there. There was an elation mixed with a hint of shame that he honestly did not mind at all. He may not have believed he deserved all of that adoration, but he would soak it all up all the same. Every word. Every touch. Everything. There was a voice, too, in the back of his mind. It was the one that usually reminded him that he was not worthy of love, that he had done too much bad and there was too much blood on his hands to ever be worthy of it. It changed when he was with Caduceus. Now it whispered to him: he was wrong. Trent had not plucked the heart from his chest and made him incapable of ever loving. He may have broken it, yes. But shattered as it was, Caduceus was a gardener and he had simply grown Caleb a new one to take its place.
"Bitte," Caleb murmured and his gaze as Caduceus leaned in to kiss him. His lips were a bit sticky, and he was sure he tasted like apples, but no one seemed to mind. He took the second bite just as eagerly as the first, and the third after it, all the while feeling that warm and decidedly pleasant knot of tension coil and tighten inside him. It was still an easy, warm feeling. It hadn't quite gotten to the point where he felt like he needed something to relieve the tension within him. Though if Caduceus kept up those startlingly sweet words, he might.
"Maybe she did?" Caleb offered, settling back again as he swallowed the last bit of pie and swiped his tongue across his lips. "The Academy isn't like the Cobalt Soul, it doesn't hold with any particular gods. Most of them are present in the Empire, somewhere. But I never believed. Not truly. Seeing all of you interact with yours makes me want to, though. They get along, don't they? The Raven Queen sent her champions to the other gods to build the Grove and the Menagerie and the Forge. So surely they do. Even if the Wildmother whispered in some other god's ear and asked them for the favor... maybe I was created for you." Caleb had always been drawn to Ioun a bit. Knowing Beau had begun to solidify that, but she didn't seem as interactive as the other gods. Then again, Caleb didn't think he needed that. But it was a thought he found himself strangely comfortable with.