mercurial-cool - Tumblr blog

[mercurial-cool]

💜Ambrosia Chapter 9 is out!💜

***At (very, very) long last, just posted Chapter 9 of my Astarion/Gale BG3 fic on AO3!***

~~~

Ambrosia (or: How Gale Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

Pairing: Astarion/Gale (aka Bloodweave)

Word Count: 46k

Content Warnings: Explicit sexual content; dubious consent

Chapter Summary: 

Gale had expected the next morning that Astarion’s anger towards him would noticeably linger – that he might have to endure Astarion shooting unsubtly vicious looks or biting words across the camp at him as they packed up their things, or that he’d offer him an ostentatious cold shoulder as their small contingent set off on their way to Thorm Mausoleum. 

What he was actually faced with, however, was in some ways much more painful: polite, placid indifference.

[mercurial-cool]

Introducing: Mercurial-Vroom 🏎️

Just an FYI that I made a lil' F1 sideblog, if there does happen to be anyone who follows me here who is also a Formula 1 fan or who might be F1-curious... I mostly just wanted to be able to reblog F1-related things without people who followed me for BG3 content wondering why there is suddenly so much Sport on their feed lol.

(But, if you've been considering getting into F1 and haven't yet, I highly recommend it if you are a fan of any of the following: dramatic rivalries, high-adrenaline competition, handsome millionaires being hilariously petty bitches, decade-spanning controversies, world travel, childhood friendships, or beautiful French-speaking Sad Boys who have been cursed by God [see: Charles Leclerc, pictured below]. Some good entry points for new fans are Netflix's Drive to Survive -- it can be overdramatic and biased, but is a lot of people's jumping-off point to the sport -- as well as this person's impressively extensive "comfort f1 videos" youtube playlist to see the drivers' more relaxed/funny sides off-track.)

[mercurial-cool]

💜Ambrosia Progress Update 💜

Hello lovely Bloodweave community! Since my last post was me nearly four months ago saying that a new Ambrosia chapter would likely be coming by the end of the year (lol), I just thought I'd pop back in here to give a quick little "proof of life" post and reassure anyone still wondering that, at least in theory, it still has not been abandoned -- I just took a little time away from working on it for various reasons.

[That's the important part of what I wanted to share, but I'm inserting a cut below for some additional self-indulgent rambling for anyone who wants a bit more context.]

One reason for the hiatus was that my job got crazy towards the end of the year, which both took away from my writing time and also my BG3-playing time, making it harder to jump back in and capture the characters' voices as accurately as I felt I could when I was playing more regularly. And the other, more recent and much sillier reason is that I accidentally and unexpectedly stumbled into an obsession with Formula 1 and had some writing ideas for that fandom that my brain demanded that I act on immediately... so, if you subscribed to me for Ambrosia updates and get a notification soon that I've de-anoned 45k words of (AO3 member-locked) Formula 1 RPF, I am so sorry for the possible bait-and-switch lmao. (But congratulations to the, like, three other people who might exist with me at the center of the Venn diagram of those two fandoms haha... I'd love to know if you're out there!)

I'll admit that I've felt guilty for doing that other writing while Ambrosia was still unfinished. I've never had anything I've written come anywhere close to the level of popularity that Ambrosia has reached, and it was something I've truthfully found a little overwhelming at times. At the very least, it's prompted me to feel quite a bit more anxious and perfectionistic about whether any new chapters I put out "live up to" the bar that's been set by how much people have enjoyed the previous chapters. None of that is to diminish how unbelievably appreciative I am of the people who have taken the time to read and comment on Ambrosia -- I still read and am grateful for every single comment that comes through, even though I've done a shit job of responding to them lately (another source of no small amount of guilt).

But I think I needed to take some time to do some writing that didn't have the self-imposed pressure of quite so many eyes. And now that I've done that, I'm excited to return to Ambrosia refreshed and with a healthier perspective. I know better than to actually try and give a timeline this time around for when the next chapter might be out, but just know that I'm once again actively working on it, and I'm very excited about some of the writing that I've already completed. :)

Thank you (and/or I'm sorry) to anyone who bothered to read this far, and hope you're all doing well. <3

[mercurial-cool]

Hi hi!!!! I hope you don't mind me asking this, and please know that it is out of curiosity and excitement rather than in an attempt to pressure you at all, but how is the next chapter of Ambrosia coming along? I've gone back to re-read what you've written so far so many times now and can't wait to see how it all wraps up! I hope everything is alright <3

I don't at all mind being asked, and I'm so sorry to have gone a bit MIA! I'm still alive, and I promise Ambrosia has not been abandoned.

There are a number of reasons this chapter has been going quite a bit more slowly than the previous ones, with the biggest being that my IRL job is at a time of year where I'm staring at a screen and writing (much less fun) things for very long stretches every day, so my motivation/energy to open up my non-work computer and start typing in my down time has been unfortunately low. I have a very detailed outline of what chapter 9 will include (and a rougher one for the final chapter), but the work of turning it into actual coherent writing has been slow going. Progress is being made, however, and my hope is that I can get the next chapter out before the end of the year.

Thank you to everyone for your patience, and it still means the world to me that people have been reading and enjoying Ambrosia, despite me leaving you all hanging for much longer than I intended to!

[mercurial-cool]

***Just posted Chapter 8 of my Astarion/Gale BG3 fic on AO3!***

~~~

Ambrosia (or: How Gale Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

Pairing: Astarion/Gale (aka Bloodweave)

Word Count: 39k

Content Warnings: Explicit sexual content; dubious consent

Chapter Summary: 

“I would like to…” He paused, licking his lips as he stared intently at Gale. “To show you what it feels like, when I feed on you.”

Gale’s laughter ceased, though his mouth remained slightly open in surprise. 

“You mean, with…?” He brought a finger up to tap lightly at Astarion’s temple, indicating where he knew the tadpole to be nestled. Astarion nodded, his eyes round and open. 

“Yes. I would like you to – well, to actually get to experience the effect you have on me. I think it would be… exciting. For both of us.”

[mercurial-cool]

Art by : NyeIgneous https://twitter.com/nye_igneous

[mercurial-cool]

from that day on I was his

[mercurial-cool]

When your rizz is so bad you make the sexy vampire crack up

[mercurial-cool]

In response to someone's question on TikTok about books with Gale-like characters, Tim Downie (who everyone should go follow -- his recent videos talking about folklore and literature have been delightful!) recommended Yates and Auden... so now I am thinking of Auden's 'The More Loving One' in the context of Gale's relationship to Mystra and Feeling Things.

"If equal affection cannot be, / let the more loving one be me" feels very Gale-coded to me, and I think the final two stanzas could really align with his slow realization over the course of the game and his romance that he doesn't actually need Mystra in the way he thought he did -- that his life and self can still hold meaning outside of his devotion to her.

[mercurial-cool]

AHHH THIS IS EVERYTHING!!!! I am smiling like a loon. I already said this on AO3, but this is exactly how I pictured the scene in my head as I was writing it -- Gale's expression in particular (the blush!!) is just delightful.

I've never had anyone create actual, wonderful art out of my silly little words before... to say I am honored would be an absolute understatement. <3 <3 <3

Couldn't resist and went ahead and drew fanart for Chapter 7 of Ambrosia (or: How Gale Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) because it was AMAZING.

Speedpaint:

Extras under the readmore

Transparent PNG for the Meme potential: What did Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Wyll walk in on?

Bloodweave by itself

No speechbubble version:

[mercurial-cool]

baldur's gate 3 is just. break the abuse and trauma cycle. being forced to believe a certain way is wrong. there is more outside of the small window that i perceived the world to be. i will create my own identity. maybe the people i thought loved me did not, in fact, have my best interests at heart. i need to find the clown's body parts so the drag queen can resurrect him. my destiny is not written in stone.

[mercurial-cool]

anyway. really really funny to me that astarion and lae’zel neither approve nor disapprove of you playing hide and seek with oliver but if you lose they both disapprove. yes you can humor this child a little but if you lose this fucking competition so help me i will hate you

[mercurial-cool]

ambrosia is i think the first BW fic i actually read? or at least one them. it's such a gift and i'm always excited for that email update. thank u for my life

Thank YOU!!! To ramble for a moment, I feel kind of fortunate that I happened to be an "early adopter" of sorts to BW... I believe there were only about 30-something Astarion/Gale fics when I posted my first chapter (including some really stellar ones! En Prise beat me to the punch, for instance, and is obviously fantastic + really sparked my own interest in the pairing). I was certain at that point that I was just shouting self-indulgently into a rarepair void, so imagine my surprise when Bloodweave suddenly took off the way they did!

I'm just so grateful and overwhelmed by everyone who has been reading and enjoying Ambrosia -- what a lovely and supportive community this has turned out to be, and I feel very lucky to be a part of it. <3

[mercurial-cool]

JUST FINISHED READING THE CHAPTER and!!! I love it so much. Love the end part too, it was so much fun 🥺 And the way Gale is being protective, the way Gale is being "I belong to him, actually" got me feeling a lot of things 🥺

TMI but it was only yesterday when I tweeted how I wished your fanfic will be updates since I just did a pretty big thing — and the fact that it's updated today makes me really happy!!! Thank you so much AGAIN!!!

Ahh thank you!!! I love writing protective!Gale... and I feel like part of what makes him a compelling character is that he's so much more interested in and natural at protecting others than he is at protecting himself, which is something I'll definitely be exploring a bit more deeply in the chapters to come. :)

I'm so happy the chapter came at the right time for you, and I really appreciate you sharing this!

[mercurial-cool]

I haven’t read the update yet but THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! 🥺❤️

Gah thank YOU! I hope you enjoy it when you do get around to it -- it was one of the chapters I've had the most fun writing! (Mostly because I allowed myself to indulge in a whole lot of silliness towards the end, haha)

[mercurial-cool]

RUFF RYFYFURUFF RUYUFF ARFARAFARAFARARF ARAFARAFAFAARAFRDF AWOOOO WOOOOOA RAAAAAGHHHH RAAAHHHH YOUR WRITING IS FUCKING DELICIOUS

Lmaooo this is precisely the reaction I'm always hoping to inspire!! So glad you're enjoying! xD

[mercurial-cool]

***Just posted Chapter 7 of my Astarion/Gale BG3 fic on AO3!***

~~~

Ambrosia (or: How Gale Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

Pairing: Astarion/Gale (aka Bloodweave)

Word Count: 33k

Content Warnings: Explicit sexual content; dubious consent

Chapter Summary: 

“Perhaps there’s one more thing we could discuss: your friend.” It was not a surprise when the drow’s attention eventually turned more directly to Astarion, though it raised Gale’s hackles nonetheless. “He’s a vampire, no? Or one of their spawn, at least.”

Gale felt Astarion stiffen slightly beside him, though his voice was all performative cheer when he responded.

“Oh, don’t worry! We’re all friends under the Absolute. I won’t bite.”

“Oh, I’d prefer if you did. I assume he belongs to you?” She turned to Gale, who felt deeply caught out all of the sudden by her gaze, though he did not move to create any distance between Astarion and himself. 'I belong to him, actually' was the first thought that flitted, unbidden, across his mind – though he pressed it down quickly, leaning instead into the increasingly familiar anger her question provoked.

“He belongs to no one other than himself, actually,” he responded, his voice a hard edge.