#and you gotta take what's wylls and put it for astarion?

[tilthedayidice]

Hey welcome back to my BG3 Hot Takes

While I have your attention, here's a cool site to help Palestine, all you gotta do is click it daily.

This session was inspired by @lipsie, gettin me ttalkin way too much. Yes I am aware that the tadpole changes things, and they have to make it balanced for the game blah blah blah- let a bitch complain.

Screenshots sourced from the Baldur's Gate 3 Wiki

Gale is the only character I feel is spec'd correctly, He's smart but fiuckin stupid, he has autism rizz, mam could not lift any box you asked him to, the only reason his constitution is 13 is because he's been dealing with the Orb and he's used to it by now.

Karlach should start with 20 strength and you CANNOT convince me otherwise, her charisma should be higher also, she's a ball of sunshine and could put the fear of god into anyone, and the line "Gods I wanna ride you til you see stars" will never leave my brain. Give this bitch a 15. She do be a little dumb I'll give you that.

Shadowheart is just funny to me, How can her wisdom be a 17 when she's been cloistered away for so long? Her wisdom is only a 17 in ONE SPECIFIC SUBJECT, a subject where she's forced to give up her memories. Memories are where we get our wisdom. Wisdom is gained through lived experiences, I'd give you the 17 for endgame Shart, but not start of game Shart. I'll take the 8 CHA cause she's a bitch (said with love, me too babe) but she knows enough to get what and where she wants so I think we should nudge it up to like 10.

Lae'zel.... I think it's unfair to put Lae'zel's intelligence at 10. Her wisdom being low, yeah i get that she's been cloistered away in a society that believes its the only way, it's all she knows. But intelligence? No. She might know much about Faeruns culture and people, but she knows EVERYTHING about the stars. And there's far more of that than there will ever be of Faerun. She's the funniest person we know, give her 9 CHA.

Wyll my beloved, do you airbrush those abs on? Do you wake up every morning and contour them? I DON'T BELIEVE YOU DO!!!!!!!!! SO WHO'S THE ASS WHO DECIDED YOUR STRENGHT WAS A FUCKIN 8??????? THE BLADE OF FRONTIERS SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST A 13. He deserve a 15 but I know they won't give it to him. Lipsie and I were talking about him and they're right, WHEN WE DUMP THE BITCH HE SHOULD RESPEC INTO BARD.

Astarion..... oh Astarion.... you're such a disaster. Such a wet cat of a man. Such a pathetic little mew mew. I shit on him a lot, but I do really love his character and development lol. LESS STR MAKE HIM WEAK, he has been starved and living off rats and shame, he can have his measly 8 AFTER he drinks... uh "Thinking" Blood. His CHA being 10 is perfect actually no notes. I personally think his actual INT should be lower, not too much lower, maybe 11/12, I knooooow he was a magistrate, but you can't tell me he's not giving himbo... no what was that word on the meme graph? Himbim? Himbim.

Halsin.......... 10 STR? 10?!?!?!?! You built him LIKE THAT and give him 10 STR?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? What in the nine hells...... Weaker than Karlach of course, but 10????? Give that man 15 at least 8 INT???????????? 8???????? LARIAN WHY DO YOU HATE HIM???? Is it because he isn't Gale? Mans has been studying the mindflayers on his own, he's been studying the shadow curse... on his own. HE'S A MASTER HEALER?!?!?! AN ARCHDRUID?!?!?!?!?!?!? That takes time, study, and dedication. You wanna assign him himbo so bad. He's just a whole well rounded man with autism,. (Not a dig on himbos, quite literally my favorite genre of Man). This is just 'cause he fucks isn't it.

Minthara she's so much smarter than Larian gives her credit for. While I agree with the WIS, that's more a product of being so closed off, Her INT is much higher. I'd give her a 14? She cunning, just because it's used for Evil deeds doesn't mean she hasn't been she hasn't put a lot of thought into her work. She lived in Menzoberranzan for Gods' sake. She had to be smart or be killed?!? She's said so on multiple occasions! Just because she's Evil aligned doesn't mean she not smart. (She's just as smart as our average Bear according to Larian)

Minsc...... First off let me say that I love that they chose this image. A Bad Bitch. Anyways, anyone who doesn't find that dumb happy face charming is either lying or literally has a stick up their ass.... 12 CHA. Also why is he so weak? I know he isn't like actually weak... but mans chunked that mimic? Let him have 14.

Jaheira I'll give you the 10 STR, she's complained about her knees like three times in my most recent session. 8 INT? So what I'm getting here.... is anyone not an origin character is just baseline 8? Lazy. Especially considering she was ALREADY GIVEN STATS IN TWO PREVIOUS GAMES. In both BG1 and BG2 she has an intelligence of 10, and if anything she's only gotten smarter over time. I wasn't gonna do this... but left is 1 right is 2.

15, 14, 17, 10, 14, 15, and 15, 17, 17, 10, 14, 15

Make it make sense. I know she's old at this point, but in my game she killed Sarevok again so idk man.

Rip me apart in the notes ;)

But do it nicely...

[grapecaseschoices]

/venting

[cambion-companion]

BG3 Companions on a Halloween Date

YES I was itching to do something for the BG3 gang for the season. You could say it's been bugging me. Hah. Ok sorry it's the influence of my pfp.

Let's start with

You want a cozy night in under the covers, watching scary movies (or puppet shows or whatever the heck is the equivalent in Faerun) but he's not sold on the idea. "I've seen enough horror to last me several lifetimes, darling."

Instead Astarion would take you out in the crisp Autumn air, under the distant sun, for a walk crunching through the dried leaves of brown and red.

He'd want to go to the pumpkin patch to find the perfect gourd for a Jack-o-Lantern.

When the sun set so very early in the afternoon, you'd retire back to your cozy abode and set to carving faces into your pumpkins.

Astarion of course would make short work of his, dexterous as ever with those knives, and he would do his best to shape the face into what he hopes he looks like.

Either that or, depending on where you're at in his character arc, he'd remake Cazador BEFORE gutting it and making a whole show of utterly eviscerating the poor Halloween decoration. "Astarion, this is supposed to be relaxing." "This IS my ideal downtime."

You want someone who will snuggle under the covers and watch Hocus Pocus with you? Wyll is your man. But sorry I'm trying to keep to a less modern AU.

Wyll seems like the kind of guy who would put on some fitting music as you two cooked together, dancing in the kitchen intermittently and almost forgetting to check on the cookies before they burned.

He's such a sweetheart, checking to make sure you're happy with just spending an evening indoors with him. "We can go out on the town if you desire, sweetheart." "No, Wyll, I've told you this is absolutely perfect."

Depending on the choices you've made with him thus far, Mizora might pop in to dip her finger in the batter and bamf out again, giving ya'll a cheeky wink. "Ta ta, love imps. You make me physically ill."

Sigh, you're back for more bones hm?

Alright I'll entertain you.

You ask Withers to dance to Spooky Scary Skeletons. He looks at you, unimpressed. "Get thee hence." "Wilt thou harass someone else?"

Ideally I would propose and she'd say "yes". Oh what? Sorry, I was miles away.

For a Halloween date. Hm. A corn maze. Definitely.

She'd be all about her tutelage under Shar's freaks followers and want to show off her sneaking skills.

It would turn into a game of hide-and-go-seek and then it'd get a little creepy before she'd inevitably pounce on you and you'd end of in a fit of laughter together.

"I wasn't going to hurt you!" "Well, Shaddy, sometimes I wonder." "Good to keep you on your toes, then." "Careful, I saw a pond on the way in."

Then you two would go and get some candied apples and chat about memories and flowers that bloom in the gloaming.

Oh Gale.

He'd love to read to you out of a classic gothic novel (cough cough Dracula cough cough) while you two cozy up under some blankets.

He'd probably get fresh with you and run a hand up your leg or something, OH SORRY this is post the patch that fixed that? OK. He'd wait an extra hour.

Tara would curl up next to you and listen as he read from the book, the firelight crackling and warming your bodies as the night grows dark outside.

Afterward he would ask if you'd like to be guided into the Astral plane where you can look down on the All Hallow's Eve festivities below.

yeah, gotta give Tiefling daddy some love. Especially since I still feel bad for massacring them all my last playthru.

Zevlor is another who has seen his fair share of horror, and he would opt to do something more lighthearted with you for a Halloween date.

He seems like a family kind of man, so I expect he would invite the whole gang over for a delicious dinner. Mol and her friends, Arabella and her parents. Rolan and Zorru and maybe even Auntie Ethel will sneak in there. Then it really WOULD be a Halloween experience.

After the dinner and the guests are snoozing or already left he'd wrap an arm around you and pull you close. "Would you accompany me outside? I would like to show you the stars and tell their tales. It's been so long since I've gotten to properly admire them. Or you."

Of course I have to include the daddy devil, who do you think I am?

Raphael would take you to a haunted house, of course. OF COURSE.

Hell, what better house that is haunted than the House of Hope?

It would be horrifying for you, since the no touching rules don't apply there, and most amusing for him.

You'd practically climb the cambion in your efforts to avoid the ghosties, especially that one who constantly says "huuuurt meeee, pleeeaaase."

Raphael would enjoy watching you squirm, and remind you such a fate would not be yours only IF you followed his rules.

Oh yeah, and maybe if you're lucky, or perhaps very unlucky, he'll invite you to his Boudoir.

Oak Father frowns on dissecting pumpkins for the sake of creating superfluous lanterns (or something...I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend, ok)

Instead, Halsin would druid craft you vines and harvest fruits in whatever shapes, sizes, and colors you desired.

He'd also want to go trick or treating so BADLY. "But Halsin, you're eight feet tall and built like a linebacker. No one is going to mistake you for a kid." Then he'd cast Disguise Self and you'd be forced to take him out on the town in hunt of candy.

Poor guy didn't have much of a childhood and wants to experience the finer things in life. Get those king sized candy bars...just once.

You are a bit huffy, having expected a more...romantic evening than this. But he'll make it up to you later winkwonk , till you can bearly stand it.

Aw

You guys would get all CUTE and gussied up together.

Go out on the town.

Pick the best looking victim to be a sacrifice to Lolth.

Wait...what?

[alpaca-clouds]

How redeeming Gortash would improve Karlach's story

I will admit, that the title is a bit overstated, because by the time you actually get to interact with Gortash, the plot just does not have enough time left to redeem him. Because other than what some folks in Hollywood think: No, giving a character one last minute "heel-face-turn" with one big symbolic act does not in fact redeem a character. Redemption is a process that takes time.

BG3 actually understands this, because Astarion's arc basically ends with: "You took the first steps towards redemption." Which is really good.

However: You could end the game at least in a way to set Gortash up for a possible redemption arc - and more importantly just... not have him die. Because actually that would improve Karlach's character arc.

I will get one thing out of the way first: The entire "Gortash redemption" idea is always contentious on the fact that he is a really bad guy. Like, he is bad. He brutally killed and tortured, he enslaved people, all of that.

I am an anarchist though. Hence, I do not really believe that punishment is in any way just. And to put it differently: Killing Gortash does not undo any of the harm he has caused. Not a single dead person will live through it, not a single tortured person will become untortured through it, and no slave is freed through it either (you kinda gotta say that as the player in a different mission).

And yes, I will say at this point that in general I was iffed by the fact that in many fights of the game I was not given a choice really. It was "either join the bad guys or kill them", and my "all charisma bard", who does not believe in killing for revenge, was like: "But... But..."

Like, my Tav was on board with killing Cazador (because literally in the situation it is "kill Cazador or have 7000 people die") and killing Ketheric (because he needed to die to end the curse), but he is already iffy on Orin (as she never had a choice but to be a killer) and definitely is not on board with killing Gortash (because there is no good reason to do it).

But let me talk about Karlach. Because the thing is... I have seen a lot of commentary on how Wyll is underwritten. And he is. But not as underwritten as Karlach. Like, her entire companion quest basically goes: "Kill some fake paladins, find Dammon, find two pieces of Infernal Iron, kill Gortash (which you have to do for plot reasons either way)". She doesn't really have a dungeon connected to her quest. Nor really an exclusive boss fight, because again: Gortash you kinda gotta fight for the story either way. Nothing really.

Every other character, too, also has to make one hard decision. Where they want one thing - but what is actually the good thing is something else. I wrote about this before, the "become what you hate" decision, basically.

Karlach doesn't. Sure, you could argue that the "die or go back to Avernus" decision is her big decision. But it feels very different than the decisions of the others.

Which brings me to Gortash and saving him.

Here is the thing: Logically speaking Gortash should probably be able to fix Karlach's engine. He understands infernal engines, as he built the Steel Watch around them. You can easily argue that yeah, he should be able to fix Karlach. And that... would actually make for a great decision for Karlach's story.

If I would get to fix Karlach's companion quest, I would probably do it like this: Put in some sort of dungeon where Dammon sends you in the hope that you can find some plans there, that might give him an understanding on how to fix the engine. Heck, if you do not wanna do a whole new dungeon, you could also just put some plans or whatever into the Steel Foundry.

The point is that it will then turn out that, yeah, even with those plans for some reason Gortash is the only one who could fix it. Putting Karlach into the spot to make this decision: Does she value her life more than her revenge on Gortash?

Because here is the thing: Gortash is supposed to be 1) the intelligent one of the dead three chosen, and 2) also clearly is the one who acts first and foremost in some sense for his own self-preservation. Which made me go like: "Nah, this does not make sense," when he decides to fight against me after his Steel Watch was disabled and I already killed the other two chosen.

So, yeah... You should get at least a chance to persuade him to just give up - or, going back to what I was talking about before - to save Karlach.

And again, I actually think that even for the Gortash part of the story it would make for more interesting storytelling. Killing him is not really that interesting.

Especially as, once again, killing him does not undo any of the harm he has caused. But given that he is this big egghead he could actually do something good if he got to live. And yeah, also there is the fact that... You know... Given what we know about his backstory, his actions are about as understandable as those of some of the companions.

Some of you might already know, I have written some fics dealing with the way how I would imagine something like this to go. Mainly Hurt begets Hurt (which is basically my Tav convincing Gortash to give up), An Impossible Future (Karlach inner turmoil after her engine is fixed) and Cheesy Noodles (Gortash being a big meany towards Tav, who is unphased by this).

I am right now writing a story featuring Astarion dealing with a very, very depressed Gortash.

[consistencynevermether]

Ice cold: Astarion x reader

content: ascended Astarion x gn tav, angst, tav is goin through it in this one yall, i give karlach a more hopeful ending in the background bc i just want her to be happy, karlach and tav besties agenda, sfw, cannon typical violence

summary: after breaking it off with ascended Astarion, you meet again at a winter ball

word count: 6k (apparently i cant shut up about this man)

a/n: man i gotta write more happy Astarion content fr i keep putting this man in situations.

How many years had it been since you’d seen Astarion? 3? 5? Maybe more? You try to remember what your last moments with him were like before you decided to break things off. It was definitely after he ascended, but was it before you had gotten rid of the tadpole, or after? Honestly, after a while things had started to blur together really. After so many years, only the painful parts remained clear in your memory. How you, with tears in your eyes, had told him you couldn’t do this anymore. And the look of condescending and uncaring as he stared back. It had shattered you into a million pieces to end things with Astarion, but it would have hurt even more if you had stayed. Whoever he had become after he ascended, it wasn’t your astarion, not really.

Why were you reminiscing about your lost love? Well because after all these years apart, he was now standing about 5 feet away from you. Gods above how did you get yourself in this situation?

Let’s start a few years back after Astarion had left to be the new lord of Baldur’s Gate and you had stayed, shattered. Having to pick up the broken pieces of what you once were, having to figure out who you would be without him. You probably should have taken some time alone, now that you think about it. Processed your emotions, talked to a professional, properly mourned what you had lost before continuing on.

Of course, you had done the opposite and instead had decided to travel with Karlach and Wyll to Avernus. Going to hell is probably not the best way to cope with a breakup, but that was the only option anyone could think of to try and save Karlach from the fate of the engine in her chest. And after what had happened to Astarion you just-

You just couldn’t 

You couldn’t lose someone else, if you did, you felt like you would have been shattered past the point of repair. You couldn’t take losing one of your only friends right after losing your love. So you gathered up the broken pieces of yourself and headed straight into the hells. 

You were down there for a few years probably. 

Maybe? 

Honestly, you didn’t remember. Time became sluggish and foggy after Astarion had left because it kept marching forward, away from your time together with him.

Yet in the end, Karlach had gotten her engine fixed and all 3 of you had climbed out of hell. A few more burn marks and scars, but nothing more than that had changed. Physically at least.

You had somehow managed to put your broken pieces back together, but you weren’t the same as before. You didn’t feel complete, more like a jumble of razor-sharp shards being forcefully welded together trying to imitate what you once were. But now you were jagged, and cracked, and tired

Gods, you were tired. The dark circles under your eyes never left, no matter how much you slept. Or tried to sleep that is.

Sometimes in the dead of night, you would replay Astarion's ascendance in your mind over and over again, wondering what you could have done differently then. Or even before. Where had you gone wrong? Was there another outcome that you failed to make happen? Was there another reality where the two of you were happy together? Gods how that thought hurt. 

 Sometimes, you thought about the what-ifs. You imagined what would have happened if he hadn’t chosen to ascend. What both of you could have been. What you so desperately wanted but could never reach. Eventually, you stopped that line of thought at night. It was too crushing to imagine how things could have been different. What you could have done differently. 

After emerging from hell, you had on and off traveled with some of your previous party. 

You and Wyll had headed to Waterdeep once to help Gale with a sea monster problem 

In an amusing team-up, you had helped Halsin and Lazel find an enchanted bracelet they were both searching for, though they both argued on how to act upon most things during that entire adventure, so you had felt almost like it was a babysitting gig the entire trip. 

There was also that time you helped Minsc dispose of some bandits robbing people near Baldur's gate, but you had dealt with that sorry lot fairly quickly and got far away from Baldur's Gate even quicker. You didn’t want to accidentally run into a certain lord. 

And now you had an entirely new quest, in the bitter cold land of Sossal. A few weeks ago, you met back up with Karlach who apparently had been looking for you.

It’s not that you disliked seeing Karlach at all, in fact, you were both very close, which was part of the problem really. Part of why it stung a little to see her. 

She saw you. She saw how much you hurt even after all this time. Your other friends seemed to have assumed that you had gotten better. That over time you had healed and it had gotten easier for you to come to terms with leaving Astarion. But Karlach knew the truth, She saw right through you, and it was mortifying. That every day the hole inside your heart had just got wider. She feared it would swallow you up one day, and you didn’t blame her. It didn’t help that being around her just made you feel so

Pathetic. 

She had been to literal Hell and back and could still smile and laugh, while you had only lost one person and had cracked and splintered like glass. It hurt to see the light that shined off her while you could only fall deeper into darkness. 

Of course, you knew none of that was her fault, you only had yourself to blame for who you were, so when she came asking for help, you didn’t hesitate to say yes. 

She was having engine troubles again. It wasn’t as bad as before, thank the gods, but it did have a tendency to overheat ever so slightly whenever she felt a strong emotion, and if you didn’t do something one wrong spook could set her ablaze. Luckily she had gone to Gale first and discovered a gem Called the frostbite tear. He could attune the gem to Karlach and make it so that every time her engine began to overheat, the jewel would immediately cool it down, negating the problem before it became a real issue like when you had first met her. Last anyone had heard of the gem it was with some noble in Sossal. 

So here you were. You, Karlach, Shadowheart, and Gale all together at the midwinters ball held here in the capital. Gale had procured the invites for you all, and every noble in Sossal, plus some from other territories, would be here for this celebration. Gale had even been nice enough to give you a beautiful outfit for the ball, made of silvery-white sparking silk. It reminded you of fresh snowfall on a winter's night. Admittedly it wasn’t very practical, and Gale did make you shower before putting it on. (Rude. You didn’t think you smelled t h a t bad.)

You were so focused on helping find this noble (and robbing him of the frostbite tear) that you hadn’t even considered Astarion might be here. 

Not up until the moment that his vibrant red eyes locked onto yours across the room. 

You couldn’t move. Everything was moving too fast and also in slow motion. Your legs felt like lead and your mouth was bone dry. The numbness that had settled in your chest for years now cracked open with new pain, and you weren’t sure which of the sensations you hated more. 

All all this panic and emotions, and yet in your mind all you could think of was how he looked just the same as the day you left. He hadn’t changed. And that made it all the harder. Because now it was easier to forget all the years between you two. He still looked the same as what you saw when you closed your eyes each night. It was Astarion. But on closer examination, not your Astarion. 

There was a coldness to him now. A certain reservation in his smile that made you feel like you would be a mere annoyance to him if you dared to approach. He seemed sharper somehow as well, like a finely honed blade. And his attire was extravagantly beautiful, the white fur-lined cloak he was wearing was probably more expensive than anything you had ever owned, including your current attire. 

You were so busy taking this all in mentally that when you went to glance at him again he was gone. For a split second, you genuinely wondered if you had finally snapped and just hallucinated all of that when an all too familiar hand took yours. 

You hadn't looked away for more than a second and astarion was right there in front of you, kissing your knuckles. The brush of his lips on your skin was nearly enough to bring you to your knees. All these years, and he still had so much power over you with one little motion.

To any outsider, this looked like quite the cute interaction really. The handsome new lord of Baldur's gate spots an incomparable beauty from across the room and is instantly smitten, so he effortlessly woes them the second he steps into the ballroom. But life is no romantic play. 

“Hello darling, it certainly has been a while. We simply must catch up” 

Before you could even attempt to respond, his hands were around your waist, guiding you to the dancefloor as the orchestra began to play, and other couples began to join the dancefloor as well. 

You’d hoped maybe the dance would save you from the conversation, but it seemed the opposite was what occurred, as Astarion leaned closer to your ear to whisper, “So, 7 years without a trace, and suddenly you show up looking positively exquisite. Do tell me what you’ve been up to.” 

Your mouth opens to respond, but you realize you have no idea what to say. What could you possibly say to him, and why would you even say it? 

Luckily you were spared any more torture when you noticed Astarion staring intently at your neck. The sight reminded you of that night you found out he was a vampire spawn, and you had let him drink from you for the first time. But instead of hunger Astarions brown was furrowed with another emotion. Annoyance? Concern? Worry? You couldn’t tell anymore. It had been years since you could tell what Astarion was thinking

His voice broke the silence once again. 

“Is this new?” His long pale fingers brushed across the burn scar near your collarbone.

Ah. So that’s what he was staring at. 

“Well it’s been there a few years, so I wouldn’t really consider it new but-“ you shrug at the end of your sentence, and you both know what you meant. It was only new to him. He may have stayed unchanged all these years, but you certainly hadn’t. And it seemed Astarion was beginning to notice. 

His eyes raked over you, taking in the changes. You were a bit more muscular now, all that constant fighting no doubt. Your new(er) scars were more visible in this outfit, which admittedly was a little revealing and definitely not meant to withstand the harsh outside winter. And the years now showed in the tired look in your eyes. You imagine that your eyes aged you quite a bit honestly, maybe you should be shocked he even recognized you now. 

“So”, he started, decidedly keeping his hand firmly around your waist so you couldn’t run from the conversation, “when you made my undead heart beat again only to toss it on the ground at my feet again like it was nothing all those years ago, I always imagined how nice it would feel to see you struggle while I thrived as lord of Baldur's Gate.” 

Wow. Impressively bad flirting. Had he gotten worse at this over the years? Or maybe he just detested you so much he didn’t even think there was a point in even pretending to like you anymore. 

“But now that I’m actually here and you look-“

He gestured at you vaguely 

“Well a bit like you’d been the one who got dumped, it doesn’t feel very satisfying.” 

“Mhm,” you responded, in a stroke of pure poetry. 

“Darling, you have to give me more than that. The silent treatment after all this time is just petty, even for me.”

He had a point. And part of you did want to know-

“How have you been, Astarion?” 

His steps faltered a little when you said his name, but he quickly recovered, smoothly continuing the dance 

He smirked, his fangs visible on one side “Well certainly better than you if I had to wager, the stuff under my eyes is eyeliner, not sleep deprivation side effects.”

You close the distance between you two involuntarily to get a closer look at his face. He was wearing some sort of golden liquid as eyeliner on his bottom lids. It was subtle but beautiful, and it shined when the light hit his face just right. On instinct, you began to reach towards his face, but you quickly stopped yourself. You needed to stay focused, damnit. You were here to help Karlach.

Astarion's smooth voice cut in once again. “Still making me do all the talking? Honestly, I don’t ever remember you being this quiet before.” 

You startled and realized you had been staring at his face for a while, and then trying to snap yourself out of it, all while not making a sound

Gods you don’t remember it being this hard to talk to him. But then again, you found it harder to talk to anyone these days. you just-

You just didn’t expect that to also apply to Astarion. Further proof that despite him looking the same, there was distance now. A silent gaping chasm that you had no way to cross. But that is what you wanted, wasn't it? To get away from this Astarion. The one who considered you a pet, or an object to be displayed. Treasured, and loved, but never his equal. Never fully having free will, everything you would have done would have had to be something he approved of. 

You loved him, more than anything. You still did. Deep down you knew you would die for this twisted version of your love, and if he asked you to rip out your own heart and serve it to him, you would. But you couldn’t be with him. Everything else you would do for him, but that was where you drew the line. It hurt too much, to be reminded every day of what you had lost. Of what you have failed to protect. That sweet high elf with a silver tongue and a heart of gold he let so few see. The one who wished for freedom more than anything, but still stuck by your side. Because at some point, he wanted to be free with you. And that was not this Astarion. 

Despite all that, just for this moment, you wanted to forget it all. To be held in his arms once again. Maybe, if the gods blessed you, see a real smile of his. You just wanted this one moment. Then your greedy heart would be satisfied. You could burn this image of the two of you dancing forever in your mind and have it sustain you. You’d gladly take another trip to the hells if it meant just a moment where you could pretend you were with your astarion. The one that lived on in your memories. Though you didn’t dare hope that he was still in there somewhere, you don’t think your heart could take it. 

You inhale deeply and begin to talk. You tell him about the quests you’ve been on, the adventures you’ve had, what you’ve been up to these past years. Including why you were here, and your quest to help Karlach and find the frostbite tear.

Eventually, you get to the point where you tell him why you're here, and what you're looking for. But as you do you see a scowl twist on his face. 

“Astarion?” You question, “What’s bothering you?”

He huffs in reply, and you can’t help but smirk. 

“I’m sorry but I do remember someone just talking about how petty the silent treatment is.” You prod, and lock eyes, a sign for him to tell you what’s on his mind

He rolls his eyes at your persistence, but nonetheless, he begins to speak. 

“Hm. Just seems like you and Karlach are so very happy together. A bit of a downgrade if you ask me, but that’s certainly no fault of hers. I mean, once you’ve had me, all you can do is go down from there.” 

“Karlach and I aren’t dating.” You deadpan. 

She was more like a sister to you than anything, and besides you’re pretty sure she already has eyes for someone. 

“Oh?” Astarions eyebrow raises. “So who have you been shagging all these years then? Wyll? Shadowheart? Surely not Gale. Oh please tell me it’s not Gale, I think that might actually hurt my feelings a little if we both shared being to your tastes.” 

“Be nice. Gales is a good friend. FRIEND. They all are. And to answer your prying question, I’m not with anyone. Not since you.” 

It was true. You hadn’t loved anyone since astarion. It just didn’t feel right. Even the idea of a casual fling didn’t feel at all satisfying. And there was no way you would actually consider dating someone again. Not when Astarion still held your heart. 

You could see a few emotions go across Astarion’s face, but you couldn’t recognize them. You remember when you used to be able to know what he was thinking, when he was lying or not. But not anymore. Maybe it was because he was always putting on some act now. 

As you stared, his hand wrapped around your waist and for a breathless moment, he effortlessly lifted you up into the air, gently twirling you around him. then he put you down and smoothly continued the dance as if that was always part of the steps. 

Your face flushed at the amount of contact, and the smirk once again graced Astarion’s lips.

“So, nobody since me? Seems like someone’s not quite over the Lord of Baldur’s Gate.” He singsonged, taking great pleasure in how momentarily flustered you were. “It's ok if you're not over me darling, I can’t blame you.” 

Clearly, he meant this as a joke, one you were supposed to roll your eyes at and ignore. But there was no point in lying, so you just nodded and continued the steps of the dance. 

Astarion stopped dead in his tracks. 

“I-

Wait what? You're still-

Ah- 

You're not over me?” 

“Astarion, the song isn’t over.” You tried to nudge him back into the dance, but his feet were planted firmly, and he wasn’t going to budge. 

“Answer me.” 

You sigh. He wasn’t going to move. So now you were just standing here. In the middle of a ballroom. With everyone else dancing around you. Great. This was super inconspicuous and undercover. 

“I will only continue to talk if you move your damn feet Astarion. Hells I’m supposed to be blending in not standing out.” You hiss and kick at the side of his shoes to indicate for him to get moving.

He recognizes the determination in your eyes and you can see him deciding mentally that he’ll probably get his answer sooner if he does as you ask, so he picks up the dance once again. His grip on your waist is now like iron though, not painful in any way, but there’s absolutely no way you could get out of his grasp now. Not even if you put all your efforts into trying. 

His eyes never left yours, his intense stare practically commanding you to talk.

Which you did say you would do. 

“I still love you.” You shrug. “Never stopped loving you.”

“Then why did you leave?” The hurt in his voice is evident, and you immediately feel like someone hurled a spear of ice directly into your chest. 

You can barely raise your voice above a whisper without it cracking. “You know why. I already told you when I left.” 

“Bullshit. Because you loved the person that I was? He was pathetic. Only a fool would want the lesser version.” His voice was like ice, you could feel the hatred he held for himself.

And you instantly felt your anger flare up at his words.

“Don’t you ever talk about-

About him like that”

It felt weird referring to past Astarion as someone else. But it was true. They were two completely different people now. And honestly, you didn’t care about the semantics, your blood was practically boiling. 

“He was the love of my life. He was everything to me. So don’t you dare insult him.” You spat, practically seeing red

Astarion's face twisted in rage. 

“Maybe you liked me pathetic, hm? Maybe the only way you could possibly love me was if I was beneath you. A precious pet spawn, entirely dependent on you, living in your shadow to protect me from the sun that I now bask in.” He sneered, meeting your rage with his own.

And just like that, you had shattered all over again. 

It was your turn to stop dancing now, unmoving in the sea of swaying nobles. 

Astarion's rage seemed to have flickered out seeing the look on your face.

What did your face look like? Were you shocked? Were you crying? Somewhere in the back of your mind, you could register the feeling of hot tears down your cheeks, but you paid it no heed. 

Instead, you wrapped your arms around Astarion, putting your face in the crook of his neck. 

Astarion completely froze at the sudden contact, not even taking a breath. Although he probably didn’t need to actually breathe anyways so maybe that was normal.

“I’m sorry. If-

-If you truly believe that I ever thought that way about you, then I messed up beyond repair. I'm so sorry.” 

You tried to continue, to apologize for all the times you had failed him. For making him feel like that. But you realized you couldn’t speak. Your body was silently heaving with sobs, tears flowing down your face and ruining Astarion's nice clothing.

Great. You couldn’t even cry without screwing him over. And this was definitely not inconspicuous. 

You lifted your head, making a move to step away, but as you did you saw a blue glint on one of the lapels of some well-dressed lord.

Holy shit.

The frostbite tear. You had found it. And all it took was sobbing on your ex to spot the damn thing. That didn’t make you feel pathetic at all. Though admittedly this was the perfect distraction from this soul-crushing conversation. Maybe with any luck you wouldn’t even have to address that embarrassing display that no doubt disgusted astarion, he was probably hoping you’d get the hell off him already.

So you did just that, jerking back from the hug and keeping your eyes glued on the gem. 

“Astarion look. It’s the frostbite tear. On that lord.”

But you could tell Astarion’s eyes were firmly glued to your face. 

You tried to slip away, to follow the frostbite tears owner and relieve him from its ownership, whether that be by swiping it, lying, or just straight up threatening the guy. But Astarion held you firmly in place. 

“What are you doing?” You whispered, to not startle your target. “He’s right there. Let go.”

“You can’t just drop that on me and leave” he whisper-yelled back 

“I’m not leaving, I’m just grabbing something real quick. Now let go, it’ll take 5 minutes tops.”

“What if you decide you don’t wanna talk again and run off?” He countered 

“Then you can corner me because you're the vampire ascendant.” 

“What if he catches you and you get arrested?”

“Then you can visit me in jail because you're the vampire ascendant.” 

“What if-“

Oh for fucks sake. 

“Whatever happens, I assure you, you will be able to say whatever you want to me after because you are the vampire ascendant. You made that fact very clear to me when we were together. Now let go.” You cut him off, and then try once again to move towards the target. But his grip remained firm 

You look up at him, now filled with annoyance and desperation. The noble could escape if you didn’t do something now, and yet Astarion seemed insistent on trapping you. 

“Just one more dance, alright?” He bargained.

Unbelievable. That was his priority? You knew it had been a while but you never expected him to disregard a former ally so blatantly. Karlach needed this. 

But upon closer inspection, he almost looked… a little guilty? Worried maybe? That didn’t seem right. What on earth?

Just then, Astarion pushed your face into his chest, wrapping his arms around you, almost protective. Protective but restrictive. You couldn’t move away no matter how much you pushed on his chest or tried to slip out of his hold. 

“Astarion. Let. Go.” You hissed.

But your attempts at breaking free immediately stopped when you heard an ear-piercing screech and the sound of heavy footsteps. 

On instinct, you reached for where your weapon would normally be, but you had nothing on you. Shadowheart had a few small weapons concealed on her in case things got messy, considering her attire was a bit more conservative than yours, but she wasn’t anywhere near you now. 

Damnit. On instinct, you tried to twist around in Astarion's grasp to a more protective stance. Of course, you knew he didn’t need your protection at all, it was just a base instinct kicking in. Unfortunately, he didn’t allow you to move out of his grasp, so all you could do was squirm. 

“What is wrong with you??” You practically shouted. If there was danger, then just standing here like this would leave you both wide open. Had he lost all common sense? 

Unless- 

At that exact point, a guard of the lord of Sossal burst through the doors, covered in blood. 

“Vampire spawn are attacking the gates!” She exclaimed, cradling her arm, which was profusely bleeding. 

“I didn’t know you would be here.” He murmurs, almost as if he’s telling this to himself more than you. 

He wasn’t trying to keep you here, you realize. He was protecting you. None of the spawn would dare come near you if they saw Astarion holding you like this. 

But at this moment you didn’t care. For years you had mourned over the loss of your Astarion. You had tried so hard, attempting to separate him from this ascended Astarion. But you had never been truly able to get over him, to accept he was gone. Because deep, deep down, no matter what you told yourself, you still believed he was in there somewhere. Behind all the silks and sharp gazes.

And you felt that hope die as you heard the hissing of the dozens of spawn outside, mingled with the screams and cries of the guards. He was gone. And your heart was shattered all over again. 

But it was different this time. Before, you had pulled yourself together again, deformed and jagged, but still together. You couldn’t do that this time. There was no coming back from this. You could feel it. This pain wouldn’t fade. But there was something else there that wasn’t there before. Anger.

Astarion was protecting you, yes, but Gale, Shadowheart, and Karlach were here too. If the spawn got into the ballroom, they would be in danger. Not to mention this made procuring the frostbite tear infinitely more difficult. 

Rage burned in your eyes, and for the first time, you saw the great vampire ascendant stumble over his words a little, as he tried to explain something about how the lord of Sossal had insulted him, but you weren’t listening. 

While Astarion was struggling to explain himself, you realized he wasn’t paying as much attention to you. Good.

In one swift movement, you slipped out of his grasp and frantically looked around, searching for your friends. It was nearly impossible to hear anything over the screaming and panic of the nobles. It also wasn’t helping that Astarion was probably going to be right on your heels the second he recovered. Or maybe he’d just leave you to be eaten by his spawn. You didn’t really care. 

After continuing to weave your way past frantic nobles and shouting their names, you were able to see a red hand waving you down from the far left balcony. It was Karlach, and she was with Gale and Shadowheart. Good. With all 3 of them together any spawn that came after them would be screwed. But you still had a mission to complete.

You looked up at Shadowheart and held your hand out for a weapon. You were going to track down that damn gem if it killed you. That noble was about to have a very bad day. Well. A worse day. 

You were focusing all your hurt onto this, all your rage. But you needed to. You needed it because you had no idea what else you could do now. You needed something to focus on. Something to distract you from your shattered heart. 

Shadowheart saw your determination and tossed a short sword down to you. Not your preferred weapon of choice, but it would do.

You whipped around, hand around the short sword at the ready, but also because it felt grounding, to be fighting once again. Now it was time to hunt down your prey.

You quickly ran in the direction you’d last seen, glancing over every lapel for that glowing blue light. It was hard, many of the nobles were dressed in a winter theme, so shades of white, silver, and blue were all too common in the sea of panic. 

You continued to push past nobles, searching for that faint blue glow. You refused to let this go, you would not let Karlach down. You fought for too many years in hell getting the engine in her repaired to go all the way back to square one again. 

You feel yourself tunnel vision on finding a blue light, your head whipping back and forth on the hunt, it felt good to let everything else fade away into numbness as your only thought is tracking down this gem.

A glimmer out of the corner of your eye. A flash of blue. The shine of fine silk. There he was. In a crowd of panicked nobles trying to run into other parts of the castle and hide from Astarion's horde gathering outside. Honestly, it was a pretty understandable reaction, you didn't blame him for running at all, but you needed that gem. You hope he survived honestly.

Survived.

Because Astarion planned to turn this place into a bloodbath. Your Astarion. The one who you had sat under the stars with, and he would teach you all the constellations whose names you didn't know, his silky voice lulling you to sleep when insomnia or worry had hit you. 

You'd rather still be in the hells honestly. 

You took a deep breath, centering yourself back to the present. Get the gem. 

You dashed after the noble, drawing your shortsword and charging at the man. If possible, you'd do this quickly.

Ducking under the other guests, you grab this unfortunate noble by the collar, the moment you do he screeches, clearly fearing the worst. Luckily for him, you were only after his gem, not his blood. With one slice you cut the gem off the cloak, shredding the beautiful white fabric. 

Not even bothering to explain yourself to him, you pocket your prize and turn on your heel, heading back in your friend's direction, when all of a sudden you hear the noble you had just stolen from scream again. But this time it was followed by the screams of a few others 

You look back and that’s when you see her. A vampire spawn. Clearly on her way to the ballroom, but judging by her smile, it was clear she had just found some horderves. 

You could have run. You were the only person with a weapon and the farthest away from her. She definitely wouldn’t pick you as her first target, she’d go for one of the defenseless nobles right next to her. You should have met up with the others and gotten the hells out of this place.

But the noble whose lapel you had just torn apart was so young. They were people. Scared people who got unlucky and were about to die because someone had offended the great vampire ascendant. Maybe you wanted to save them. But more likely, you just wanted something to take your anger out on. Or maybe you were just dumb as a rock.

But regardless you turned around and began to sprint towards the spawn instead of away, angling your weapon so that you would have the perfect angle to go for her collarbone. 

Yet as soon as you locked her on as a target, her eyes went wide with..fear? She was a vampire spawn, surely she’d had a few of her victims fight back yes? Was this her first hunt? 

Soon you realized that wasn’t the case at all as you felt a chill run down your spine. Even now with all his power, it wasn’t hard for you to identify the presence now standing menacingly right behind you. The familiar smell of bergamot filled your senses with the closeness. You could feel his chest pressed against your back. You didn’t know what kind of face Astarion was making right now, but whatever it was, it terrified the vampire spawn, her form now shaking and cowering before her master. 

Funny. Even now after everything, you couldn’t find astarion scary. You probably should, considering how he just appeared behind you. But after everything you still couldn’t. 

There was no point in delaying this any further. You turn around, and as you do his eyes immediately move from the spawn back to you. And his gaze softened. Before this whole ordeal that single action probably would have caused you to melt. But now it was different. You had already resigned yourself to being without him. You couldn’t turn back time. You couldn’t save him. All you could do now was try and find a way forward. And you certainly wouldn’t find that staring into his crimson eyes. 

This felt awful. You felt awful. Walking away from him now didn’t feel like closure, it felt like someone had just stopped writing on the page mid-sentence. But you had to stop. Just stop. You couldn’t spend the rest of your life like this, mourning what you lost. Astarion would have an eternity to forget about you, but you only had this one life. And for the first time in a long time, you finally felt like you wanted to move forward with your life. To start living again. You were still mad. And upset. And it still hurt. But you wanted to get better. 

So you turned around, not looking at Astarion, and left. Walked right past him without saying a word. You didn’t know what he would do. Let you leave and forget you ever existed? Grab your arm and try to talk again? Decide he had had enough and just drain you dry? You honestly had no idea anymore. But you knew one thing.

You wouldn’t be the one to look back.

part 2 here :)

[meanbossart]

Spicy Asks: The Sequel is here. I'm so, so sorry.

Oh he's a very passive guy, he likes being manhandled around and not having to do much of the work (a bit of a pillow princess one might say). As far as fetishes go, he does have fantasies about group sex and of being roughed up, but I think if put in a situation where he could practice it in a controlled environment he'd be like "EHHHH nevermind actually" and go home very quickly LOL

DU drow would have 100% banged Lae'zel if he hadn't killed her. He couldn't stand her personality but they would have gotten on like two peas in a pod in the sack.

He does find Shadowheart very pretty, but they struck up a friendship so quickly that I don't think he could see her in that way 🤷 but that's still a smash, technically speaking.

Jaheira. Ohhhh Jaheira. As far as general dynamics go she would have been the best choice after Astarion, probably - though there is no way in hell or high heavens that she would have ever let him touch her LOL regardless, DU drow finds her looks and personality to be very attractive.

He's pretty much utterly indifferent to anyone else. Wyll is too idealistic, Gale is Gale, Karlach isn't his type, Halsin gets on his nerves - oh, he WOULD have banged Mizora if he hadn't been heads over heels for Astarion by that point.

The man just likes his femmes I guess LOL

HMMMMMMM yes, but since it's not really a porn fic expect any scenes like that to be in line with what we've had so far, where there's more of a focus on developing character dynamics rather than gratuitousness (I hope I've gotten that across, at least LOL).

LOL, It's ok, it's a ridiculous not-name and I'm so sorry for all the people I have made confused and will continue to confuse because of it.

As for your question, definitely not! I personally like big-bottom/smaller-top scenarios so that's why I focus on it, and I do think character-wise those are the roles they fall into most naturally - but they switch around every so often when the mood strikes and it isn't really a big deal.

Oh are you kidding me? The guy LOVES being cared after in an intimate setting. Being doted on, groomed, checked up on, having his hair played with and clothes fixed up - he doesn't express it outwardly much, but these are all things that make his murderous little heart skip a beat. He was the same way pre-tadpole but it was mostly servants and Sceleritas doing it, so he didn't get much out of the exchange; and Orin didn't entertain this at all, or, if she ever did, it was very, very, very rarely and really just a crumb of intimate affection that he most likely misread anyways.

I'm not sure what to say to this one LOL the penis is full of blood already man I don't think a vampire needs to make it any more tempting to themselves to chomp down.

I wrote a thing about that not too long ago :D ! The answer is complicated but, mostly yes.

Alright you joke, but, if you don't think DU drow hasn't spent a little too long lingering over Astarion's feet and ankles then I got amazing news for you.

I touched on what they generally like on the previous edition of Wine Fuelled Spicy Asks, but as for what they like to do as a couple, it's probably a lot of body worship and some playful denial on both ends. Du drow thinks Astarion is the most elegant and limber thing he's ever seen (and he loves how he smells), and Astarion thinks DU drow's body is an expertly put together murder machine. They have a great time being mutually enamored with each other's (and their own) appearances.

I think they also venture into some blood-play and vapid threats of violence in the future, as a treat, but takes a while for them to trust themselves and each other enough to indulge in that kind of thing.

Needs a little direction, plus you gotta learn to enjoy a bit of teeth and a very slobbery time - also I think he distracts easily, It's nice to have a man who's willing to venture the whole perimeter with his mouth but sometimes you do just want him to stay on the prick. But generally speaking - yes, DU drow gives good head. Fun head, even!

What do you people want from me? Do you want schematics? Diagrams? Do you want me to compare their holes to famous people holes? Do you want me to take out my measuring tape and give you numbers, tell you which kind of produce each of them can fit in there???

One is pink, the other one is brown. One of them just looks normal and the other looks and feels a little like it been around the block a few times. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Hey there. Since ace tav is a bard, just wondering if you have thoughts on the camps musical tastes/requests for her to play?

Hmm, I gotta think about this.

To start Ace!Tav loves taking requests. If they're been traveling for a while and somebody requests a song, they're more than happy to oblige. It makes them feel needed. If they can be just a little useful to their new companions they're going to take it.

As for Tav's personal taste in music, it's rather eclectic. All the music they've learned has been from what they've heard on the road from other bards. Probably a lot of folk music, and whatever the Faerun equivalent is to country, rock and roll, and the top 100. And, honestly, throw some jazz, soul and rap in there as well.

I don't think they're particularly judgemental when it comes to music taste. Music is everything to them. It's how they're able to express themselves and convey emotions they can't always articulate. Whatever music speaks to a person is good music.

As for the rest of the companions, here's their music taste based on ✨vibes✨.

Lae'zel: Would probably say she doesn't like/listen to music. However, if you introduce her to heavy metal, she's going to head bang with the best of them.

Karlach: Punk, all the way. Get that woman into a mosh pit.

Shadowheart: Late 90s/early 2000s nu metal and the emo scene in general. Yes, I've heard the jokes and I'm sticking to them.

Gale: Your dad's 1970s playlist. Is genuinely surprised whenever anybody 10 years younger than him had heard of Fleetwood Mac. Definitely loves the Beatles.

Wyll: Honestly the only one who sincerely enjoys classical music. Deceptively a bit of a music snob. Will go on about how some obscure soul album defined a generation. However, still enjoys the radio hits and anything romantic you can dance to.

Astarion: Genuinely hasn't put much thought into music before meeting Tav. Likes what he likes, and has a difficult time articulating exactly what that is. Some classic pieces. That one song he heard in a tavern once a hundred years ago. Some angry rock and roll. Some sad boy playlist. And a good scattering of who ever is Baldur's Gate's equivalent of Megan Thee Stalion or Dua Lipa. Bottom line his playlist is a goddamn mess.

[mslanna]

Raphael and/or Haarlep reacting to seeing Tav in the wavemother robes?

enby, afab Tav with top surgery seduction read on AO3

Wavemother Help Me Now

Well. Tav pulled at the hem of the scaly robe. They lost that bet fair and square. And while the high slit and deep neckline promised forbidden views, they didn't yield any by themselves. With a little tweaking though, Tav could show anything they wanted to.

It would have to do. Hopefully. It wasn't that the price for the lost bet was bad or anything. It made sense and Raphael did take up a lot of their thoughts. So getting hi out of their system by getting him into their pussy was a sound plan.

But how did you even seduce a devil? With cunning ploys? Outright demands? They'd find out. Because, unfortunately, the price wasn't "trying their best and leaving it at that" but honest to goodness seduction.

Gotta bang that devil. Tav scrutinised their looks a last time. At least they knew where he was. And that he had a pool. Between the Wavemother robe and the water, they'd come up with something. Hopefully.

# # #

"What is it with that – getup." Raphael's eyes raked over Tav. The adventurer wore a – revealing robe to put it mildly. And yet, there was no sliver of skin of the enticing kind to be seen. What a tease.

"Oh this?" Tav shrugged and the motion raised the slit of the robe dangerously high. "I lost a bet."

"And now you have to wear – this?"

They shrugged again with similar effect and mumbled under their breath blushing. "Astarion said it'd be less breezy around the – well, around everywhere if I started wearing undies. But that day may never come. Anyway," Tav gathered themself. "It's not all bad. Look."

They stepped over the rose petals into the pool and lifted the robe so it wouldn't get wet. Raphael swallowed hard.

"It heals me when I stand in water. Helpful, yes?" They turned slowly as if that would show the healing properties.

"Yes, very impressive." Raphael said, proud of the flat tone in his voice. "Was there anything else? A contract you reconsidered maybe?"

Tav stilled and dropped the robe. It made a small sound as it dipped right into the water and floated around their legs. The slit turned especially adventurous, if unsuccessful at revealing their private parts.

"I knew I forgot something," Tav sighed. "It's not so easy, you know. Lae'zel will kill me if I don't free her Prince. And Karlach and Wyll will kill me if I deal with a devil. It's kinda a fix."

"And how do you intend to fix that?" Raphael took a goblet with heavy red wine and a step towards the pool. With his hands occupied it felt safe enough.

"I don't know." Tav dropped their hands to their sides, where their fingers played with the high slit of their robe, hiding and revealing skin in an almost hypnotic pattern.

"Protection can be arranged as part of the contract."

"Really?" Tav brightened and raised their hands to their chest. Unfortunately, they tangled in the robe on their way up, revealing almost everything as the fabric bunched momentarily over Tav's crotch. "It's still two against one."

Raphael thrust the wine into their hands. "If you need time to consider, help yourself. I have other matters to attend to."

"Oh." The word dropped from Tav's mouth small and soft. "Of course." They climbed out of the pool and walked to his desk, dripping water all over his floor. Tav put the goblet down with a sigh. "You know, bending me over the desk and fucking me silly would be a strong argument in your favour."

Raphael froze. Had he heard correctly? He went through the conversation again, but yes, it seemed that Tav had not only admitted to not wearing underwear but also asked to be taken from behind over his desk. The image parched Raphael's mouth. He could feel his cock stir and press against the inside of his trousers.

And they had not moved. Stood with their back to him and eyes cast down into the wine. Raphael let his gaze wander over the curve of their back and ass. A clear invitation. One he had not expected.

He stepped behind Tav and his breath on their neck made them shudder. "I don't think that is an argument I want to make."

Each of his words dropped onto Tav's skin and they sighed sweetly under them. He slipped a hand under the robe and over the shivering skin over Tav's stomach. They pressed back against him immediately.

"You will find that my own arguments are a little more convincing." Raphael moved his fingers down, teasing the joint between thigh and body. Tav mewled, their fingers gripping the desk turning white with pressure.

"I am," they drew a sharp breath as his hand descended, "open to suggestions."

"Matters of this importance should not be rushed." The reversal of roles suited Raphael perfectly. He cupped their sex with his hand and slipped his index finger down between Tav's fold. They were invitingly warm and wet for him.

Who knew. Maybe he would just bend them over the desk. A quick solution to the pressing problem building between his own legs. "The question is what I will get out of this."

Whatever Tav's answer was going to be, it was lost when he pushed away the robes and cupped their ass with his free hand. It wasn't the most dignified of intercourses, but if Tav had wanted that they wouldn't have presented a standing invitation. He squeezed.

Tav pressed into his hand, and moments later over his naked cock. Raphael took them in with a low growl, marking Tav's throat with hungry teeth. It was obvious what he'd get out of this and if he had his way, and he planned to, this would not the last time, Tav offered themself on a silver platter. He'd devour that little mouse until they forgot why this was a bad idea.

[animentality]

I just had the most devastating honor mode run end that I have ever had, and I'm not going to lie.

I have never been tilted by Baldur's Gate 3...until today.

And it's honestly more tilted than I've ever been at a video game...and I spent like 3 years playing fucking Overwatch...and Dead by Daylight, where the world's worst people congregate to torture one another.

The last time I was at the gith creche, I got my ass handed to me by That Prick who I am going to call Wargass. He's the bitch who tries to murder you when you don't kill the Emperor.

Last time, I almost lost the run because of his legendary move, which is the most horse shit thing in existence.

Basically, every time you fucking hit him OR AN ALLY...he summons a sword to shove up your ass. And it just fucking appears next to you, and surrounds you, so you can't escape without taking opportunity attacks.

So last time, I escaped by going invisible, and running away so I could come back and kill him by dragging him out to the bridge outside the Vlaakith room.

This time, I thought, well last time I got fucked because I was in the center of the room, and we were just taking hits from everywhere. No cover anywhere. This time, I gotta be able to position, maybe surprise enemies.

So I choose the right dialogue options, to make sure Vlaakith doesn't just nuke us.

But then I see the Astral Portal...and I think...well, what if I position myself now? And we just kill him before going into the Portal...can you do that?

And like a fucking moron...

I say fuck it, let's try it.

And uh. I don't know how many of you have ever tried this, but...when you do that?

Lae'zel immediately leaves your party.

So.

I was fucked instantly. Lae'zel is a fucking fighter, which is the second most demonic class after Paladin. She is fucking stacked and has the best goddamn gear I have, and she immediately kills Karlach using action surge. Gale also dies immediately, because he's squishy and there are a million bitches with psychic rend around him.

The only reason the run didn't end there was because I went invisible and fled.

Now I went and revived everyone in camp, but I thought ok...so I have to go back, with four people, and get my shit back...

I bring in Astarion, because I think, it'll be fine, we just need to drag them out onto that bridge...

Guess what? It wasn't fine. I had to draw Astarion and myself back, because Gale and Karlach die again. See, the fucking problem is, the normal strat of making distance doesn't work here. Normally, you can aoe a ton of enemies or have them run into walls of fire or whatever. But these fucking swords that Wargass summons literally APPEAR NEXT TO YOU. And they all take a swing, and break your concentration. Plus, even if you do manage to break them, and good luck with that, he just makes more, every goddamn turn.

So almost in tears, I swap out Astarion and pull in Wyll.

I need Hunger of Hadar, my cheese spell.

It kind of works, because I put it on the bridge, and all of his dumb bitch guards get stuck in it. But THEN Wargass, being a fucking prick, chases me around and murders me out of pure spite. Then Karlach and Gale almost kill him...but then he does his usual bullshit, of using his swords to kill everyone.

And I just...at this point, I'm just done.

Wyll can't do anything, he's out of spells. He can't even run, because there are swords near him.

I just have him take an opportunity attack, and call the run over.

And it's funny, because I'm doing an honor mode run with my buddy, where we've done basically everything wrong...but we still made it to Act 3 mostly unscathed.

With only one or two close calls.

But this is the second time my run's been fucked by the goddamn creche boss battle.

And you know... I love Bg3...but I have played way too many goddamn hours.

Need to take a break and just write porn about it, like god intended.

[jellymellydraws]

Masterlist ~ <<Previous Chapter ~ Next Chapter >>

Astarion x Dark Urge Chapter 09 Rating: E Tags: Angst, Fluff, hurt/comfort, slow burn, two guarded people fall in love so hard it makes them stupid

Chapter Summary:

Several days of travel with various shenanigans ensue. Sazza offers to lead the team to her camp, they run into their first True Soul, and then a sudden storm forces them to take shelter in a nearby cave.

“Well if it isn’t worgmeat!” Sazza squawked, “you come to finish me off, then? Got your feelings a little hurt yesterday?”

“I thought your tribe was supposed to rescue you come nightfall,” Rose smirked at the goblin, “seeing as they hadn’t, seemed like you needed a hand.”

“Ah, praise the Absolute, she sent me a savior! Good to be free again, gotta say.”

“I hope the Absolute pays. I don’t do this out of charity.”

“No, s’pose ya wouldn’t. C’mon, lemme introduce ya to my tribe, put in a good word for ya. Priestess Gut would getcha branded, and trust me: the kinda power you’ll get from our goddess-- like non ya ever seen!”

Now we were talking. Sazza was playing her part in this plan very well, even if she didn’t realize it. Rose showed her a smirk, as a display of gratitude.

“Alright, lead the way.”

The goblin camp was meant to be a little over a day’s journey, especially with Sazza to vouch for them at the front door. But other than a couple of unexpected delays, the journey was relatively uneventful. Well, uneventful as far as traveling with a bunch of strangers would go.

- - The Boar - -

Not far from the grove, the corpse of a boar caught Rose's attention. It looked like it was sleeping, but she didn’t see its belly rise or fall. Something was off, and she didn’t like the uncertainty stirring in her stomach. She stopped their travel to look over it. 

“The pig’s dead, my friend,” Astarion protested as she squatted beside the body, “there’s no bringing it back.”

“It’s the fact it looks not quite dead that bothers me…”

Honestly, she wasn’t even sure what she was looking for. So far, following her gut feelings (minus the murderous ones) led to some insight into herself. The flesh was cool to the touch, but it didn’t reek of death. No wounds that she could find— 

No, wait, what’s this? Her fingers brushed aside a patch of fur along the beast’s neck, revealing two puncture marks. Astarion continued to bemoan behind her.

“Well? Have you decided it’s dead enough yet?”

“Look here,” she beckoned for him to crouch beside her, “these marks— does anyone recognize them?”

Wyll stepped forward and kneeled beside her, looking over the boar, adjusting its head so he could get a better look at the marks. Astarion continued to watch, standing above them. When she looked over, he averted his gaze. 

“You’ve seen this before?” She eyed him expectantly.

“It’s been drained of blood,” he answered quickly, “and with marks like that in its neck, well…looks like a vampire did this.”

“Astarion’s right,” Wyll confirmed, “it’s bound to still be in the area, probably hiding in a cave or something.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” crimson eyes shifted back to Rose, “They’re ferocious creatures. I’ll keep watch tonight so we won’t have to worry about unwanted nocturnal visitors.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Rose sighed heavily as she stood.

“We done ‘ere?” Sazza’s arms were crossed, foot tapping impatiently on the dirt path, “Let’s go!”

- -True Soul- -

“Press the wound— not like that!”

A small trail shot off from their main path, movement could be seen behind the brush. Sounded like none of their business. She kept walking after their goblin acquaintance.

“You’re a True Soul! You can’t die!”

“Ah shiet,” Sazza stopped suddenly. Rose looked at her with a lifted brow. “I think I know ‘em, c’mon.”

Sazza changed directions and lead the group into the brush, approaching a pair of humans sobbing over a dying man.

“You! Stay back!” The redheaded woman shouted, glaring at the approaching strangers. A strange mark began to glow over one of her eyes.

The wriggling intensified in Rose’s brain. This time felt different than the others, not like connecting to another tadpole, but still yearning to engage…somehow. She took a step closer, intrigued. Bracing for anything, she eyed the crying woman and willed the parasite to connect. Whatever that meant here.

Nothing happened. No memories flooded in, but a connection was made. Well, sort of. The woman stared at her with wide eyes— still alive! At least she could cross off her ‘quirk’ as the cause of this strange sensation.

“True Soul!” The woman fell to her knees, bowing her head as did the man she was with.

“Yous a True Soul?!” Sazza exclaimed, backing away from Rose, “I-I didn’t know ma’am!” While she didn’t fall to her knees, the goblin offered a pitiful bow and meek stance. Not so high and mighty now, it seemed.

The rest of her group were all staring with just as much confusion as she was feeling. But the situation was clear, whatever the hells a ‘True Soul’ was, they had authority over these people. And she just established herself as a form of authority, apparently.

Praise the Absolute, indeed.

“State your names. What’s the situation?” Rose commanded, crossing her arms and eyeing the bowing humans.

“Brynna, ma’am,” the woman answered, “o-our brother, True Soul Edowin, he’s injured! I wasn’t thinking when you approached, forgive my disrespect.”

She eyed the body of the man on the ground, and approached it quietly. He was breathing shallowly, life slowly slipping away. Large claw marks left the padded robe in shreds, his blood staining the fabric. The dying man looked at her, and their tadpoles connected.

The two others were his siblings. He was the lucky one to be chosen by The Absolute, to lead them, in her name. Could she push for more? Learn more? She tried to see further into his mind. Large statues of a beautiful woman. Hanging braziers lighting a grand hall. Goblins everywhere.

“M-mind the True Soul,” his final orders, weakly, left his lips.

His last breath. His last words. How generous, that he handed her the credentials she needed.

The siblings sobbed over his body, Rose stepped back to give them space.

“You aren’t mad about that Worgmeat comment ay, True Soul?” Sazza pathetically asked, “I swears I didn’t know.”

“I know. That’s why you’re still breathing,” Rose maintained her stern face, but internally she was smirking. 

Brynna said a soft prayer over her brother before getting up to her feet.

“True Soul, what are your orders?”

“First, catch me up to speed. What were you doing out here and what happened?”

Brynna explained their original orders were to investigate the nautiloid crash for survivors. Anyone found alive (or half alive) were to be brought back to the goblin camp. What they wanted from the survivors was not information they were privy to. Their brother, Edowin, didn’t stand a chance against an owlbear they crossed paths with. Rose could work with this. She didn’t like the idea that there were tadpoled-people looking for nautiloid survivors.

Taking advantage of this situation, she probed them for as much information they were willing to give. Easily, she took on the role of a True Soul who was sent to assist with…whatever the hell they were doing there. Her superiors gave little details and was told the other True Souls could fill her in, so she asked who those would be. Three, assuming no one else dies. One of them was a Drow, who had been sent to the Goblin Camp to fulfill a some assignment from the superiors that would have sent Rose. On her way to the Goblin Camp, she saw the nautiloid crash and found no survivors.

They bought the whole thing.

Sazza was ordered to escort the grieving siblings back to the tribe, and let the True Souls know to expect another would soon join them. 

- - Much Ado About Tadpoles - -

The parasite squirmed ferociously in her head. The others doubled over at the same time, dealing with the discomfort in their own way.

“Wh-what’s happening?” Alfira looked around nervously. Her stare stopped on Rose as she fell to the ground. Then, her eyes widened in horror, “WHAT THE HELLS IS THAT?!”

Another tadpole squirmed out of Edowin’s ear and towards Rose.

“Shit! Tadpole!” Rose shouted.

A boot appeared in front of her, squishing the damned thing into the dirt. Bells jingled softly, in front of her.

“I got it!” The bard exclaimed, “i-is everyone alright? Was it that thing hurting you?”

Maybe it was time to tell Alfira about their parasite predicament…

- - The Owlbear Cave - -

CRASH

Lightning flashed above the trees, as rain pelted the party running through the woods.

“I see a cave over there!” Alfira cried.

Wet steps hurried to shelter, not caring for the mud that they tracked in.

“Everyone accounted for?” Rose looked back, mentally counting the people behind her.

“Little soggy,” Gale answered from the entrance, “but accounted for!”

“Good eye, Alfira,” Wyll complimented.

The bard, who was panting with exhaustion and supporting herself with hands on her knees, responded with a thumbs up.

Going deeper into the cave, the sound of thunder faded behind them. But a loud thudding began to approach. Massive claws scraped against the stone walls as a heap of feathers turned to face them. Larger than a bear, but snarling all the same. A beak pointed at them, yellow eyes locked onto its prey.

Shit.

Alfira showed potential against the owlbear. Even with a massive wound from its claws, she continued to play her lute and cast whatever magic she knew. Rose, Astarion, and Gale maintained a distance from the monstrosity, giving Wyll and Lae’zel more room to redirect its focus towards them. Shadowheart patched everyone up once the creature had been slain.

Between the injuries from facing the owlbear and the storm outside, they decided to make camp in the cave.

The rest of the cave was cleared, with the exception of an owlbear cub who now remained motherless. They left it alone with its mother’s carcass, seeing as it posed no threat to them, at least not yet. The cub wandered into their camp, chittering with a red face.

“What a delectable little pet,” Astarion grinned, putting aside the book he was reading.

Rose was setting up her tent when she saw the cub. Her eyes widened with delight that it wandered in. Shadowheart saw the joy on her face and shook her head with smile.

“You aren’t thinking about feeding it are— annnnd there she goes,” the cleric watched with amusement.

Yes, Rose was thinking about feeding it. She grabbed food from her pack and took long strides towards the cub. It hopped back, startled by her sudden movements.

“No no, it’s okay,” she cooed, slowly crouching down with the food in her hands.

The cub didn’t move, but its eyes were locked on the food. She tossed the food towards the cub. If it wasn’t going to get close, she still wanted it to know that it would get fed by her. It hesitantly approached the food, chittering as it nibbled at it. The smile on her face grew.

“The hand that feeds is the hand that’s loved,” Gale commented, walking over with a few others to watch the precious little bundle of feathers.

“Bah! We’ll never be rid of the beast!” Lae’zel shouted, startling the cub.

As it ran off, Rose’s smile fell to a pouty frown.

“I’d be careful. It was adorable, but still a monster.” Wyll warned.

“It’ll be back, mark my words” Lae’zel hissed.

“Gods I hope so,” Rose prayed.

“HA!” Astarion cackled loudly, “you actually want to keep it as a pet?!” he continued to laugh, loud enough that it was the only sound bouncing against the walls, “oh darling you are adorable .”

- - Cats - -

“Dammon thinks he could make due at a smith’s, so at least he has plans once we get to Baldur’s Gate. I’m not really sure what I’ll do, probably play in some taverns and hope to make it work,” Alfira was sharing what new lives the tieflings wanted to have once they arrived to the city, lightly strumming her lute to accompany her, “oh but Bex won’t stop talking about getting a cat!”

“I heard about this creature, this cat ,” Lae’zel said, “what is this thing?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t know what a cat is, that makes sense, ummm” Alfira strummed through her thinking.

“Sophisticated, graceful, mind their own business,” Astarion listed off some traits, but that wouldn’t be very helpful.

“So they are intelligent beings?”

“No, some are very stupid,” Shadowheart added, smirking behind her glass.

“Must be a problem with their trainer, if that’s the case.”

“No— Shadowheart you’re just confusing her,” Gale interjected, seeing that the gith was getting further frustrated as she tried to understand, “Lae’zel, a cat— as we call it— is a domesticated feline that humanoids can keep as pets. Although, some scholars theorize that cats saw a benefit in a symbiotic relationship to humanoids so they could have domesticated us— but that is a different lecture. They’re small, usually furry, and they are predators to small birds and rodents.”

“Hmm…” Lae’zel took in the information, similarly to how Alfira took in learning about their tadpoles. A little confused, but seeming to understand a little of the explanation— just enough to keep asking questions, “is there a reason one would keep them in their home, if not as a guard?”

“Well, companionship is typically a reason someone would keep a pet.”

“And…they are cute but also ferocious?”

“Ah, that’s…I can see why that would be confusing. Oh, let me try this!”

Gale waved his fingers towards Lae’zel, who eyed him cautiously. Rose, Shadowheart, and Astarion sat closer together, waiting for some kind of show. Gale mentioned how he was a strong wizard back in Waterdeep, she was hoping that the gith was going to be transformed into a cat for fun!

In the space before Lae’zel, a small bundle of fur was brought into existence. A short haired orange tabby cat, meowing up at the more confused warrior.

“It’s alright,” Gale promised, “they aren’t going to hurt you.”

The cat hopped into Lae’zel’s lap, leaning up to sniff her face. She sat there, frozen. Uncertain.

“That’s it,” Gale smiled at her encouragingly and nodded, as if her response was correct, “now you put your head on its head and give it a little scratch behind their ears— gently.”

The conjured cat mewed softly, curling in her lap contently and stayed still. A yellow hand slowly hovered over its furry head, before she gently drew her nail behind its ear. A soft purr rumbled from the fur bundle. Immediately, Lae’zel growled back.

“No no, that’s not aggression. That’s called purring. A sound of affection.”

“Affection?” She glanced at Gale, but stopped growling at the adorable little pet. She continued to pet the cat, watching as it purred and relaxed in her lap, “This….hmm…I will allow this.”

The conjured cat never left Lae’zel’s lap. She fell asleep sitting up, with her hand resting on the cat’s back. The next morning she awoke with a blanket draped around her shoulders, but no one admitted to the gesture.

- - What did you do? - -

“You’re not allowed to guess, you know too much,” Rose pointed at Astarion, sitting across from him around their campfire.

“Oh you’re no fun,” Astarion pouted.

“I’m sticking to my original guess, hunter,” Shadowheart mused.

Rose knew it was only a matter of time before the whole camp realized they knew little to nothing about their leader. With Alfira joining their ranks, they made a game of having her guess each of their lives before they were captured. When it came to guess what Rose was, everyone else wanted to play. The assassin smirked and crossed her arms, as they all volunteered their guesses, some at the same time as others.

“Natural leader, prowess in battle, and well observed,” Lae’zel listed, “perhaps a guard of sorts.”

“Mmmm not quite guard,” Wyll pondered, “but you’re right about leading a group…”

“Sellsword then, or maybe just an adventurer!” Gale guessed.

“Oh shoot, I was going to guess that!” Alfira laughed, “ummm okay okay okay teacher!”

“Teacher?!” Rose laughed. Alfira shrugged with a big smile.

“I don’t know! All the good ones were taken!”

 “You know what, I think I’m going to let Alfira win this one.”

Fruit pits and scraps were thrown at her with a resounding ‘booooo’ from the others.

“Does that mean I win?” Astarion smirked, “Because I’m pretty sure you’re a—”

“No— ow— Shadowheart stop it!”

An apple core hit her shoulder, Shadowheart grinning smugly at her last attack.

“Okay fine, I’ll tell you.” Rose tossed the thrown applecore into the fire, “I’m….going to bed,” she hopped up and escaped to her tent laughing as the troupe yelled after her. Astarion’s laughter sounded the loudest, and was immediately interrogated by the sore losers.

He refused to tell them. It was more fun that way.

- - As promised, we meet again - -

Aggressive lute strumming and shouted incantations awoke the entire camp. Wyll and Alfira had no time to alert anyone, only to act as a skeletal figure wandered into view. Rose launched herself from her tent, dagger ready. 

Wyll’s blade was striking true, but the skeleton did not falter. Not even flinch. Not for a damned second.

“Nothing’s working!” Alfire cried, casting another spell from her instrument.

“But thou strikes do find purchase,” a tired old voice answered.

Gods damn it!

“ Withers!” Rose shouted above the combat, stopping everything in its tracks.

By the firelight, she could see the outline of the danger they faced. The skeleton with golden adornments on his face. She should’ve stabbed his perfectly targeted forehead when she had the chance. Wyll and Alfira looked between their unbothered enemy and exasperated leader.

“Thou hath acquired more to their party,” Withers noted, monotonously, “good.”

“Alfira, Wyll, meet Withers,” Rose introduced, massaging her temples to quiet the oncoming headache, “Withers, meet Wyll and Alfira. Sorry, I forgot you said you would find our camp when you were ready.”

“The memory issues aren’t so adorable when it’s interrupting my beauty rest,” Astarion had wandered out of his tent, along with literally everyone else that thought they were under attack.

“What is-- can anyone else explain what this-- what he is?” Wyll began stowing his rapier, but looked to the rest of the camp for answers.

“He floated out of a crypt we raided,” Lae’zel answered. Of the whole bunch, she looked most awake and alert, “Very durable for a bunch of bones.”

“He’s friendly-- well,” Shadowheart tilted her head with a shrug, “neutral, more like. At any rate, he doesn’t seem interested in giving us trouble.”

“As promised, we meet again.” Withers approached Rose with a closed fist, holding it out to her. When she extended her palm, a necklace fell into it. Silver with small skulls bundled together as a pendant.

“What’s this?” She asked, examining the jewelry. She felt the soft buzz of magic from it.

“It matters not,” was all he said before finding an empty corner of camp and planting himself there.

Gale eyed the necklace in her hand but did not approach. She saw him turn away when she glanced in his direction.

“So...” Alfira began to speak to Wyll as she sat herself down by the campfire “goblins, and skeletons, and owlbears?”

“Oh my...”

- - Vampire Lord - -

“Wyll, have you heard of a vampire lord by the name Cazador Szarr?” Astarion asked after a training session with Alfira.

“Can’t say I have,” Wyll wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Pity.” His face soured.

Rose glanced up from her journal. It was rare for Astarion to ask anything from anyone. Especially Wyll, who he preferred to tease and taunt.

“Patriar of the Szarr family,” Gale piped in, “Nasty fellow if the histories are accurate.”

“I imagine they are,” Astarion commented bitterly, “nevermind, I was just curious.”

“Do you have some connection to him?” The Blade pressed, “Can't imagine a Vampire Lord would be much trouble for a Magistrate of the gate such as yourself.”

Astarion didn't answer, he hid behind a sip of wine he was now sharing with Shadowheart.

“I presume your pockets are probably being lined by the Lord to keep him in power,” the cleric commented, as if it was a common occurrence.

“A vampire doesn't need to line his pockets for power,” the elf spat, “he just takes it...”

“Is that why you want to hire a Monster Hunter? To take it from him?”

Astarion glared at her, but had no response. Not one he wanted to give from what Rose could tell. This felt somewhat off-brand for him.

“If everyone’s done lounging, let's pack up camp and start moving,” Rose ordered, pulling their attention away from the subject.

She didn't expect him to realize her motives. But she smiled softly when he looked her way. If anyone could understand the need for secrets, it was her.

- - Calm Camp Days - -

During their travel, various friendships and groups were beginning to form among the companions. Some closer than others.

Gale and Lae’zel spend hours talking about life in Faerun and in Lae’zel’s creche. Usually the conversation was quiet and academic. Sometimes Gale had an excited outburst. At first, there was concern he was in danger, but later it became apparent that this was his reaction to finally understanding a subject he was struggling with, or an academic discovery. Sometimes, Lae’zel would ask Gale questions about the reagents Rose foraged for. Even if she knew their leader was capable of explaining them, she preferred the wizard’s by-the-book responses. As this foreign place became more familiar to the gith, she seemed to be more calm.

Their quips and tongue lashings were a source of concern at first, but it was just Shadowheart and Astarion being friendly with each other. Poor Alfira had been at the tail end of their teasing, until she learned to turn her songwriting talents into a weapon. The way she viciously mocked the elven menaces turned the camp into an uproar of laughter and applause. The three spent more time together, making a game of who could have the better quip when they were bored. All in good fun.

With his back against the cave wall, Astarion held the white ruffle shirt in his hand, and a threaded needle in the other. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he stitched the fabric together. The empty space beside him began to fill with clothes. Each companion asking if he could repair their favorite camp clothes. He rejected the role, at first. But between laundry, hunting, or sitting comfortably with a sewing kit, being the camp’s tailor wasn’t such a bad deal. Armor repairs had to go to Lae’zel though, he was adamant about that. Oh, and he wasn’t going to do any medical-grade stitching either.

Alfira spent her morning training with Wyll. While swordsmanship was not quite her forte, the lessons helped build her confidence in her other skills. He offered her suggestions on how to use her magic to assist the other fighters in the group. Even a well-timed distraction could be the difference between life or death. Shadowheart watched these lessons with awe. Lae’zel sometimes joined Shadowheart as an audience member, commenting on how Wyll’s teachings were not the same as her own. The cleric opened up similarly, admitting that her teachings were not very soft or gentle in any sense of the word. Wyll’s way of training was…refreshing.

- - Back on Track - -

Despite the setbacks that slowed their travels, the party was back on track towards the goblin camp. Connections were emboldened between the whole party, and Rose felt confident about their odds. Alfira had proved to be a quick learner under Wyll’s guidance. Astarion and Shadowheart looked to be friends (even if they didn’t want to be called that). Lae’zel had more tolerance for the rest of the group.

What a difference those few days made. Those goblins won’t know what hit them.

Next Chapter >>

[random-introverted-blog]

Read your answer the second you posted it basically! I meant to answer but mulled over nicknames. Used a thing to make your account name  Anagrams. It’s in the end.  This has been living in my head rent free. 

Shadowheart def deserved more cute assist lines. Yeah, they all deserve causal flirting. Wyll and Karlach are the cutest! 

Post game definitely works for them. Slowwwwburrrrrrrrn. A lot of stuff goes ‘lemme go back to a previous save real quick, bae.’ XD

Bending things for canon is really so entertaining. 

AA would really be an ass bout it but would take you back. He does say he misses Tav in epilogue. He is still pretty obsessed. Also there was another thing that says he thinks about Tav a lot but is too prideful to seek them out: 

Asty and SH having Tav as a shared ex would be so crazy. Them being like ‘We’re so happy without Tav’ (at first. Pettiness) . Then them being ‘surprise pikachu face’ when they actually do get over Tav and fall for each other.

I have so many work in progress fics. SH deserves more fics l! 

I just adore chatting with you! You’re so fun and sweet. Might actually just dm you one day but let’s see!

Get you a couple that can do all three! I love the random funny bits that can ensue. They think they’re all that but would do cringey and funny stuff too.

The ‘I mentally plotted and planned a lot but didn’t see this coming at all’ is so funny to think about. 

Asty would be like why did this happen again (his track record of accidentally falling for Tav before). He’d be extremely possessive and extra. Definitely would be like ‘You won’t be getting rid of me ever, Jen.’.

Both are will try and avoid making the same mistakes.

Batstarion shenanigans and him just being even more chaotic and silly and just trying to accompany her ‘undercover’ though it’s like it’s a dead giveaway and everyone’s ‘that’s your vampire boo isn’t it?’. 

Also the trying to be suave and being silly and caught off. 

Astarion would have a rivalry with Shar in a way ngl. He’s like that’s my girl just so we’re clear. Vampire Bride! Dark Justiciar! SH would be soooo extra. SH would find a way to keep power over him too somehow. A and SH would have a super back and forth, push and pull dynamic. They’d really have a long game. Super powerful both of them. Accidental equals and evil power couple.

The possibilities are truly endless. It’s great to speculate and indulge in what ifs! You’re very inspiring.

A song that suits both of em is ‘Can’t fight the moonlight’ by LeAnn Rimes. 

‘Can’t remember to forget you’ by Shakira suits em too (plus the players who can’t get over em. It’s like let’s do a new route! Gravitates towards Asty and SH still. Shame you can’t poly with them together. But I get it would be a lot of work and that’s why). 

That’s so nice of you. To be like ‘the stories I want aren’t out there’s gotta make them and cater to other fans too’. Your ideas are so fun and smart. Your writing style is so engaging. The angst and  potential and exploring stuff is everything.

Congrats on the followers and you deserve even more! It’s so cool to think bout! 30 people is a lot! 

For the nickname, I settled on Wenona!

I hope you don’t mind it? Hawthorne, Arya, Honey, Heather, Wendy, Dorothy, Howard, Shanon, Anthony, Reyna, Thea, Ashton, Rosanna, Rowena, Sandra, Sherwood were the other options. All of them are so posh! 

- bloodmoon anon

Always a pleasure to hear from you, bloodmoon!

I'm flattered you put so much effort into coming up with a name! I'm used to the only flattery coming from my partner, but they're biased. I could write the equivalent of Mirkons story when you save him and they'd still say "that's beautiful, my love" yes I'm calling you out, babe, I know you're reading this.

THAT SAID.

The lack of cute/sassy assist lines is part of why I wrote Deny Me Not Your Heart. The other part is I see all this hurt/comfort/injury stuff and no one is writing these for Shadowheart SHES THE HEALER GUYS, THINK ABOUT IT.

I think a post-game slow burn is the only solid way for an Ast and SH fic, at least for me. I'm sure you or others are more creative in that regard than me.

You don't want to know how many saves I have stacked up on my PS5 only to do it all over again to my Xbox now lmao.

Bending canon is what makes us fanfiction writers, and never let anyone tell you otherwise. It's an art of balancing canon and the characters to what your vision is. A well done fanfiction is one that is almost indistinguishable from the actual story. That blurs the lines between canon and fan content. I wrote a whole speech that I had to cut to keep this from getting too long but short version, yes it is very fun bending canon!

I heard about the too prideful thing but I believe that was a cut epilogue card so whether it's canon is up for debate. But yes, he is pretty obsessed and I'm here for it.

A story with Tav as a shared ex would be very interesting! That's sort of the concept behind my longfic but instead of falling in love with each other, Ascended and Dark Justiciar end up having a Yandere 1v1 over their ex. But for the sake of discussion, let's say Astarion and Shadowheart end up fake dating to spite Tav but end up falling in love together instead. Sounds like an interesting prompt!

I'm more of a Tav shipper myself, if my content is anything to go by. But I agree, Shadowheart deserves more content!

Aw, I enjoy chatting with you too! My DM's are open if you or anyone feels like hitting me up and discussing fanfic, if you'd rather not send it as an ask that gets posted to over 30 followers. I'm getting busier lately, so my responses may be slower but I'm always trying to respond to things asap! So if you or anyone else wants a more private conversation to discuss bg3 ideas or some such, don't hesitate! I'll bounce ideas back as best I can. I will say my ideas/concepts are primarily Astarion and Shadowheart though.

Ascended and Dark Justiciar accidentally falling in love due to not planning for the outcome is hilarious and, for Astarion, very much in character! It's established several times that intelligent as he is, he's not the greatest at planning ahead so him catching feelings for Sharran Shadowheart after manipulating her into a tactical alliance (spongebob fish anchor voice: when will he learn?) rings of...

And after losing Tav, he definitely would be way worse in the possessive department of Shadowheart.

"Is that your vampire fiancee, Mother Superior? He's quite adorable!"

Angry chirping translation: ADORABLE? NO, I AM VENGENCE! I AM DOMINATION INCARNATE! I COMMAND THE NIGHT!

Shadowheart: he is, isn't he? And he's all mine.

More angry chirping: YOURE MINE! MINE, I SAID! MINE!

So with Shadowheart having access to memory magic, she would need to subdue him, tie him up and laser guide amnesia his ass. You can even manipulate or modify his existing memories, if you go by Shadowheart initially believing the Sharrans saved her from that wolf and didn't abduct her from her loving parents.

Aww, I'm so glad I'm inspiring you guys! This is the reason I started this little blog and to see it helping people in any way is what keeps me going! Thank you so much for your support, I really am beyond words for how grateful I am for you and the others!

I discovered many years ago that if there's a story you want to see, sometimes you have to create it yourself! And if you want it, other people do too! So you sort of bring together your own little club of likeminded people! Case and point, us and this blog! It's always reassuring to hear my writing is engaging, I'm one of countless writers who always feels inadequate and insufficient, especially after I read other people's work.

You can call me whatever you want within reason, of course. So long as it's nothing malicious, harassing or bullying. My partner may have some choice words about people calling me honey though 🤔 Wenona and Hawthorne are nice too! But really, it's whatever you want. My blog is to serve. Not the other way around.

And if I take a little while replying to your asks please don't think I'm ignoring you. I try to set aside enough time to fully read and respond whatever I see posted/replied somewhere when it feels appropriate!

Think I replied to everything in your ask... Sorry if I missed something!

-newly named Wenona/Hawthorne/Whatever else you wanna call me! ❤️

[lanaevyssmoved]

hi fray bg3 you are one of the only people i trust with bg3. do you have any headcanon ages or heights for the main camp group (+ any extras u are particularly fond of). thank u hugs and kisses

im the worst person because im a day late to this. but yes. i will provide.. the headcanons

now these arent all like solid. im chill. these are liquidy headcanons that may change and be influenced. i would love to hear counter arguments in the replies also hehe

im doing lads first and then lasses for no reason other than im gale insane

gale

age - 45-55, i can entertain 30s if i have to but it's mostly just me being polite. i can also take him older because i fully believe he was chosen of mystra long enough for it to effect his aging. i like to think morena his mother is older than most people put her at (i think of her around her 80s - i love the idea of tara being a 'grandma' figure to gale and she's having her old lady parties with his mum). and that gives me playing room for age to be older, but not necessarily look as old as i put him at. but also i don't think gale's physical appearance is even that help, my ex who was 32 looked older than gale, my ex who was 55 looked younger than gale. my mother looks younger at gale at 59. so !!! i just like to play with middle aged hence the 10 year gap in my headcanon. i also think gale would lie about his age. ALSO!! he's a fucking wizard if you're not fucking about with a wizards age (and gender and sexuality) what are you doing. but also yes if you tell me you think gale is 37 or 38 i will nod and say that's ok. i can roll with that

height - i can put him anywhere from like 5'7" to 5'9"... i can't see him being taller. i just can't. afhiri is also 5'0" so like i gotta be realistic i don't want him to be a fucking tree she needs to climb. he still kind of is like this like i'm being KIND to the man i'm adding inches out of PITY. nah ok so i use the shorter height mod to make afhiri's model 5'0" under the assumption it's 5'7" by default, so when putting afhiri and gale next to each other with the mod enabled, he's roughly around 5'7" and 5'9", give or take because flat services are deceiving in this here video game....... 5'7" feels good though. feels organic.

wyll

age - bro confirms it i don't really have to say anything here. he's 24

height - i wanna give him a respectable 5'10" honestly. no real movement needed it just feels right. he's defo taller than gale for sure but more just feels uncomfortable to me.... but he definitely feels Taller....

astarion

age - 263.. this is just his age in idle champions. i dont fucking know

height - i think hes the smallest of the LadsTM i'm putting him around 5'5" - 5'6". barely anyone, if anyone, will agree with me on this. it's okay if you don't. if you think he's taller, i'll take his knees so i'm validated

halsin

age - once again canon aged at 350

height - well. i'm saying 6'4" - 6'5" i don't have much more to say on this. just feels correct. esp with new wood elf edition lore where "max height" for one is about 6'0" so he has to be big to 6'0". but i don't see it being more than this

minsc

age - well minsc age is weird but i assume he was like 40ish when he was frozen. or late 30s. i reallyyy enjoy the idea of him being so stupid but being at the age where society expects you to be smart. its beautiful to me. like poetry

height - bro is an easy 6'0"-6'1". this is absolutely not for lusty galexminsc reasons. it might be. ok it is. but also its right yknow? its right. im right. moving on

lae'zel

age - she's 22 in idle champs and i also enjoy the idea of her being the youngest in the group but also if she is 22. that means afhiri is older than lae. and i think that could be the cause of some friction... so yeah i can accept 22.

height - ok so. gith are typically very tall. you're gonna see the majority of gith around 6'0" to 7'0". sometimes they can be shorter than 6'0" but that's like rare. ur like insulted for being that small. you the RUNT egg. but i don't see lae'zel being so tall. i can see her being runty. i also talked this over with a friend and she agreed on runty egg. 5'9"-5'10" not entirely runty egg but.. still needs to over compensate for not being usual gith sized.

YEAH BABY GIVE THAT GITHYANKI A COMPLEX OR TWO!!!!!!!!! sorry lae ur dealing with ur young age AND ur small height

shadowheart

age - ive always seen shadowheart as young. she gives such intense teenage girl vibes sometimes like i just. shes not emotionally matured man. shes such a high school bitch when she wants to be. HOWEVER... she is canonically older than 40 because there are 40 years of documents on her life from when she was already giving up memories to shar. however it could just be all her life documented from the second she was taken by sharrans when she was a child. so shadowheart anywhere from like 50-60 years old. ish

height - hmmm around 5'4" - 5'5" ... average shart. :) feels organic. i once again have little to say

karlach

age - soo i've been thinking of this more recently and i change my mind on my original hc for her height. so now i think she was likely about 18 or 19 when she was sold to zariel and spent 10 years there so i'm thinking she's like 28 or 29 ^_^

height - 6'2". i feel pretty solid on this!! mostly because i'm 5'2" and i dated someone who was 6'2" and that height difference just feels Right for how much taller i think karlach would be to me

minthara

age - ouughgh we know she's over 200 years old but i think close to 200 is just too young for how she is. so i'm gonna say 300-400 but i'm more inclined to say she's closer to 400 than not. i think she's "middle-aged" ish for a drow and this is the best i got. drow experts feel free to chime in as long as u don't try to make her young. if u do that i'll eat u

height - well this made me find out that drow are a short race. 4'7" to 5'5" in height. so minthara simply has to be short. i assume she wears heels and stands on boxes to be taller because she likes to feel tall. but she's uh. she's small. i'm gonna say like 5'3" to 5'4". this is So funny to me

jaheira

age - about 150, but could be older! i don't see it being younger. bless someone on reddit writing this for me so i can just copy and paste but..... she says she's a 'small child' during the year of the bright blade so:

1347 DR = Year of the Bright Blade 1368 DR = BG1 1492 DR = BG3 124 years passed between the first and third games. 145 years passed since Year of the Bright Blade. A small child should be about 5 years +/- few years. Therefore, her age should be about 150 years.

thank you random reddit user!

height - 5'5" or 5'6" mostly going by my minsc headcanon and how their height difference looks to me in their cutscene together hehe.........

oh you said any extras i'm fond of.... i do not have the energy to even ATTEMPT to illithid right now so i'm gonna do it for barcus for fun . <3

barcus

age - i'm gonna say my boy is like. in his 60s-70s. :)

height - about 3'4" ish. averageyish gnome height. :)

i like barcus he's so divorced. he and gale are the most divorced men in baldurs gate 3. and theyre going to kiss. anyway

[wyrmskulls]

I havnt recovered from the Caz fight yet. BUT

here are some genuine thoughts on Astarion from my- knew nothing of baldurs gate before playing run: (from me the Ace with no sense of self preservation)

"Oh great a sexy vamp man- bet friend XYX is all over that, they are romanceable, right? like dragon age?"🧛‍♂️

".... that 'don't touch me' sounded too real.... hope im wrong"

" I mean if we are cool with Shar worshippers and devil pacts why not a vamp, join the club buddy."

"he is a cagey little fuck I think I'll go after him this play through love his little faces"

"I'm not into pain, thinking this was a bad choice" chains and whips to not excite Tav XD

"I mean maybe it's the years of slavery and not sexual trauma???" 🙏

"noooo, I mean of course the sexy vamp wants to fuck, I probly have to- to get more of his story...." proceed to worry stupidly about unskippable sex scenes and noises for no reason (you can press x any time to get to the next thing / dialog)

get propositioned again at party.... "maybe this relationship won't work out, he's way to thirsty least there wasn't another sex scene lol dun worry buddy, I'll help you murder that guy that hurt you, just can't keep up with the horny XD"

"so I just feed him bad guys and tell him he is pretty? yup that checks out"

act 2

Start working on wyll, he seems like a cool guy... "whoa bud, is this you first romance scene.... by saying yes to a dance... feels icky cause I know sex happens at some point, like some entitled jerk at a bar, least astarion was real upfront about it" ( in hind sight this was unfair to wyll, but everyone was being so horny and the only scene I had was astarions so I drew some incorrect conclusions with wyll being a 'good guy' asshole)

"I mean we has evidence that deals with devils are bad.... or is it demons... anyways I support you in a friend way, getting raphel to Facebook stalk your abuser to make sure he not still pineing after you is OK with me."

Got his Act 2 scene "OHNooooooo I was right it was a sexual trauma 'don't touch me....' ohhhh noooooo. he didn't wanna fuck either????? baby boy, you never gotta sex again if you dun wanna, we can hug forever!" cried a while ngl

"look here blood witch- no means no, if your house wasn't destroyed, I'd destroy it myself."😈

"i mean he said he kills kids, so it's ok to kill him, then raphy boy will tell us if you back is bad news or really bad news <3"

"It's really bad news..... so no big astarion lover of cuddles l, will help you kill the guy who ruined your life. that's what romantic partners do. we kiss and nothing else and I will murder people to keep doing that <3" pondering an evil play through honesly

"he was so upset when Tav died in battle.... like doesn't he know rez scrolls are a thing? it's ok Tavs gonna live forever.... not sure how we will figuer that out" researches dnd lore to find several solutions XD

"Gale bud. friend. pal. I care about you and your life. your ex is shitty for asking you to do this, but also if you do blow up you'll take us all with you.... and even if you don't, #1 priority over there will be back under vamp thrall so this is a no go, put your shirt back on."🙃

act 3

found a cliff in the camp before act 3 with a song that made me cry again it is for sure astarions "wtf dude I was emotionally stable now what have you done"

"circus lady, here are all my loves deepest secrets- oh no she's a shapeshifter???? oops, it's ok love we will kill her too why not" No one can know how hurt you are but meeeeeee 😋

"a statue of my boyfriend in camp don't mind if I do~☆ aww now he has a halo so everyone can see he is a good boy who totally doesn't cause me to murder people and would never murder anyone himself" 😇

"Astarion NO, we are not gonna kill a bunch of other spawn just cause you are scared. I get it, and you don't have time for therapy but trust me that not gonna feel great in a few hundred years"

"ooooo blood bitch is back and you fucked up. look at this boy standing up for himself - yes that's right take us to your private house so we can kill you at our leisure.... man oh man I used to have morals now I got Astarion."

*****

and now I'm tired XD

[argetcross]

BG3 Ending Spoilers

I don't know who's made it to the end, so putting all my thoughts and feelings under a cut to be safe:

So guess who was a noble idiot, sacrificed themselves to become a mindflayer, and then subsequently got left behind by half of their friends???

THIS BITCHHHHHHH

It's like, when the Emperor is telling you to ascend and pushing you to do so, Keres was like no no, hell no, I'm keeping my autonomy.

But the moment you fail to dominate the Elder Brain, completely and utterly, and then be told you have to betray Lae'zel and the Githyanki by letting the Emperor consume Orpheus? I feel like the bad decision spiral just went deeper at that point. Saying no to the Emperor and then being called out by Orpheus (for not letting myself be killed by his honor guard) made me desperate to prove I wasn't doing the wrong thing......

Which led to taking on the mindflayer transformation.

Which fucking sucked. Orpheus was fully my friend at that point, but everyone else was confused and put-off. The allies gathered to fight and make the last stand didn't know what to make of me. Astarion was immediately pretty taken aback (which hurt quite a bit, considering the "forced to become a monster" parallels are quite something).

There's also the element of watching all the red dragons descend on the capitol that feels... really bitter sweet, playing as a Red Draconic Sorcerer. Seeing what you once were a part of, a descendant of the creatures, fighting and protecting the city against an enemy you now look like.

So that was all pretty shitty.

But I committed. It was the noble thing to do, to take on the burdens of everyone and not make anyone do what I wouldn't, and we defeated the Netherbrain.

And then the ending.

There's a choice of what to do, now that you're a mindflayer. And you want to live. (But I gotta say, choosing to die felt somewhat cathartic, especially after what happens next. At least it feels like a noble heroic sacrifice instead of being left alone. Shame only Gale tries to stop you from killing yourself. Not a single other word, guys??)

But obviously I wanted to see how things played out so I kept going.

I don't know what I was expecting with Lae'zel, but it was gut-wrenching to watch her go. Even asking her to stay, she's like, I can't. You are ghaik now no matter how noble you are. And there was a look she gave when climbing up a dragon, where, just for a moment, it felt like we were remembering the journey and battles we fought together, but that connection cooled and fizzled away.

Okay, so we lost one of our friends, but that's okay, I hope? Wait no, Karlach is burning up now, shit.

All her lines, her holding onto this friend who is now this sad little squid, made me cry real tears. So Wyll jumping in and volunteering to go to Avernus, Wyll who just escaped Mizora's influence and who has no more powers as a Warlock and my heart just gave up.

In that moment, I saw the option to go to Avernus with her and I picked it without hesitation.

And that was actually a kind of good ending! Better to be an illithid in hell with your friends than an illithid in Baldur's Gate without friends and generally being disliked. Also I bet imps have brains. Shouldn't be too hard to stay fed.

So it was all good until, I was like wait. Shit. I forgot my boyfriend. Going to hell with Karlach and Wyll means leaving Astarion behind. There was no ending card, I have no idea what happened to him, that's no good. So I had to reload. Was there an option to bring him along? I doubted it (nor do I think he'd want to), but I wanted to know what happened to him considering the last scene I got with him was him running sad from the sun.

...And then it bugged out on me.

which is. Fine. Hearing his voice in a darkened room as he gently let me down was Fine. I wasn't thinking wistfully back to being in hell with my friends, nope, siree.

Like I get it. It's mature of him to not rush into a romance with a mind flayer when he's clearly uncomfortable. And it's very very sweet the friendship lines. I feel like the entire playthrough, we were just edging our way between sexless romance and QueerPlatonic Partners. So in some ways, it's fucking hilarious. In the last possible moment, friendship proves it is indeed, magic.

BUT MAN OH MAN DID IT KIND OF STING. I think moreso because everyone was gone. Karlach and Wyll were in the Hells. Lae'zel has gone to the Astral Plane. Shadowheart is probably off with her parents. Gale is. Not around. Probably off to talk to Mystra.

And poor squiddy Keres who sacrificed her body and all chances of a normal life is stuck in hiding in Baldur's Gate. At least she and Astarion are hiding in the sewers together I GUESS. Like it just seems kind of lonely. Maybe they'll become the best of buds again, but honestly Astarion probably will want to stretch his wings and do other things.

So, the ending choices for becoming a squidkid is really:

a) Go to Superhell with your best buds and leave your boyfriend alone in Baldur's Gate with no friends.

b) Stay with your boyfriend who dumps you because he's not into tentacle porn, he becomes your immortal friend for life, and you both run a very successful mortuary/Guild business.

Oh, the choices in an RPG. 😔

(Larian, please fix the epilogue, I want to replay the endgame so badly. Free me from squidkid super hell.)

[ask-karlachbear]

(Psstt it's Rebby!)

Anyways, hi! So uhhh I'm 29, an INFP(The Mediator) personality type. They/Them

Some strengths that I agree with:

Loyal and devoted

Sensitive to feelings

Caring and interested in others

Works well alone

Value close relationships

Good at seeing "the big picture"

Some weaknesses:

Can be overly idealistic

Tends to take everything personally(I am a very sensitive person and cry really easily, I hate confrontation)

Difficult to get to know(I bottle things up in fear of being a burden)

Sometimes loses sight of the little things(I tend to get into my head, worrying about all the stresses in my life and forgetting that I shouldn't stress over things I can't control)

Overlooks details

Other details:

I have a somewhat similar past to Astarion, though it affected me differently than Astarion. Instead, my trauma causes me to fawn(people please), freeze, and run away when I get overwhelmed. I have yet to ever fight back. Because I know what that feels like to be yelled at, and well other things that I won't go into detail about.

I'm creative by nature. I love to write, read, listen to music, and sing(I would be a bard if I was in DnD world setting, lol). I also love thunderstorms and cuddling my cats. My love language is words of affirmation, physical touch, and gift giving. My sun sign is a Capricorn, moon is Scorpio, and rising is Cancer :)

-@astariondisapproves

you and wyll.

Wyll is literally sunshine wrote by a woman.

First of all you both share the same ideals, he's a very grounded man that cares for the other, that tries his best to live with kindness, and that doesn't stand back from what he believes.

His patience is key here cause he would allow you to bloom like a flower, he wouldn't push you to speak of something you are not ready for, but he will remind you that you can talk and vent with him whenever you want cause he WANTS to know when you are not ok, or when something went awry and you gotta find a solution. He will just give you daily reminders that he's a safe space for you.

He's also a very grounded man, when you start spiraling or panicking, he will help you find your way back in your steps to calm down. He has been on his own for so long that he had to learn those coping mechanisms that would put him back up right away, and he's gonna share those tools with you, he's gonna sit there and try everything to help you out as much as possible.

When you open up about your past, he's understanding. He will literally go above and beyond to make sure you will be comfortable around him. He'd actually suggest you have a chat with Astarion about it, as much as the vampire is wary about sharing his struggles with others, he would understand you and that enough sometimes is enough.. Astarion might not be the best influence, but he's surely gonna make you laugh with his self deprecating jokes, and Wyll loves when you laugh.

As i already saidm he will make sure he knows about your boundaries, he gets to know those signs that you are about to get overwhelmed and he will literally drop whatever he is doing to help you. You are having dinner with duke ravengard? He's gonna drop his fork and help you out, it's in his nature. He WILL put you first no matter how much you might tell him he doesn't need to worry, that you are gonna be ok. He's not gonna give a flying fuck.

Creative, you said? HE'S GONNA BE SO SUPPORTIVE. He would beta read whatever you are working on, asking you questions on your progress, on what you like about your projects. You are reading a book? He will literally lay next to you, and whenever you gasp at a line, he'd jump up and ask you what happened.

He'd ask you, no he'd beg you, to sing for him, he'd spend days just listening to your music. Sometimes he'd pull you for a dance, even if no music is playing, and he'd sway around with you.. and if you start humming while you are dancing with him? He's gonna be gone.. and i mean GONE.

He'd dedicate his time to praise you, care for you, and lavish you in love. His hands would be respectfully always on you one way or another, and he's gonna pull the moon off the sky for you if he needs to.