#elf hoard

[snapdragonshoard]

I think my favorite thing to do as durge is to use my slayer form to chase people out of their houses and then send astarion in to rob them while they’re running around screaming

Obviously it doesn’t work on actual guards/flaming fist as they just stand there and tell you to “stop that” and only ACTUALLY intervene when they catch astarion trying to steal rotten apples out of someone’s barrel

[quinnthebard]

typical pre-vampire reveal Astarion and Sarynna interaction tbh

“You bit me!” Astarion shook his hand as if that would rid him of the wound. “Hells, if you’re into that kind of thing, you only had to tell me.” Licking his lips, he smiled devilishly as if he savored her savagery. His eyes were sharp as they peered down at her, all sharp angles and blood red. Her heart pounded. “Trust me, I’m not. Not unless I’m the one biting.” “Oh, don’t knock it ‘til you try it, darling.”

[miodiodavinci]

also this is going to be Purely incomprehensible but i'd like to also share with you the running ms paint doodle i had going during our final battle with the kraken at the end of the treasure hunt campaign w

[armenelols]

For after the Last Battle and the overthrow of Morgoth, when the Valar gave Elros and Elrond a choice to belong either to the kin of the Eldar or to the king of Men, it was Elros who voyaged over sea to Númenor following the star of Eärendil; whereas Elrond remained among the Elves and carried on the lineage of King Elwë.

Note 19 - And also that of Turgon; though he preferred that of Elwë, who was not under the ban that was laid on the Exiles.

- Problem of Ros, HoME XII

Every once in a while I remember this passage and am sent spiralling into the orbit.

Elrond saw the disaster that were the Noldor and went 'nope, I am staying out of that drama. Sindar, here I come' and he's so valid for it. Living up to the as wise as a wizard. He looks at the elven side of his family tree, goes 'do you think I am stupid' and chooses the least problematic branch.

[dark-elf-writes]

You know if Orochimaru stuck to the whole “collecting orphans” without the everything else he could have been quite wholesome.

[rohirric-hunter]

So here are more of my thoughts on Barad-dur and how I think it should have been handled. (Full disclosure, I have not done Mordath so this is all based off of the assumption that it's probably good, but not like, groundbreaking.)

To be entirely fair, LotRO usually excels at handling things in an unexpected way, so not taking the obvious route isn't a crime in and of itself; it's just a gamble that in this case didn't pay off IMO.

Barad-dur is so hyped up in LotR, in the books and the films and by extension in LotRO. They can't avoid it. They don't get to opt out. It comes with the territory. So it should have been endgame Mordor content. The player should not have been sauntering in the front door five minutes after getting into Mordor proper. (Udun doesn't count; that was just a tutorial for the new mechanics, of which there are many.) And not just, like, able to go there. There are quests sending you there five minutes after you get into Mordor, like it's no big deal. Broken or no, Barad-dur is still the place where Sauron lived. There should be so much residual evil hanging around there that it should be hard to even get close. I think you get, like, an extra +20 Shadow of Mordor there? Only if you're close to Mordath, though, like it's the only evil place in there. I took a level 106 alt there just to see how much of my experience was influenced by being overlevel and -- bearing in mind this character is a storage alt and has exactly zero Light of Earendil buffs -- Meh. It's whatever.

Honestly, in my opinion not having a hard mechanic preventing you from getting anywhere near it before finishing the appropriate story beats a la the Rammas Deluon was an extremely bold choice.

Also isn't Dulgabeth supposed to be holed up in here? Why does he let you just walk in? It makes no sense. Not to mention the Order of the Eye who, while they aren't really particularly intimidating on their own, ought to have mustered a bit more to protect Sauron's home and possessions from invaders.

Also, as far as design goes, it's just extremely small. These are the dungeons of Sauron? Really? Did he ration the number of prisoners he wanted to keep around at a time or something? There aren't even that many places where other locations could have been but are blocked off by the collapse; with the exception of the path to the right immediately after you enter, everything else is pretty much complete, indicating that this was the basic intended design and layout for the place. Sort of paints Sauron as a very non-ambitious individual when it comes to dungeon designs, which is obviously wrong. And to have one of the select few prisoners that Sauron decided to keep close by (because he only built himself like 15 cells) be Some Dwarf -- no shade to Vaskmun and the Stout-axes, but there's no way Sauron thought they were that interesting or important.

Also it should have been involved in the main quest beyond the one instance.

All of these problems are solved by just making Barad-dur bigger, with multiple interiors. There's no way the dungeons of Barad-dur didn't extend for miles under the plains of Gorgoroth, cut into twisting tunnels in the volcanic rock and holding hundreds upon hundreds of poor prisoners of all sorts. And I would say that sounds far too deeply unpleasant to actually build into a video game except clearly it doesn't to them, because they built Naerband, and the dungeons of Dol Guldur. So have the fall of the tower have damaged these tunnels, but not destroyed all of them, and the section of the prisons that Vaskmun was held in had been cut off, and was accessible from the surface through some collapsed passageways. The plot of the Stout-axe questline remains pretty much unchanged. There could also be a handful of other sections of prisons available as public dungeons.

The first time the player accesses Barad-dur proper ought to be sneaking in through the Mordath-pit with Gimli, and after facing the glamour you retreat exactly the way you came in. The way things are written, with the player having been frequenting Barad-dur for funsies for days, Gimli feels a bit fainthearted at his quick retreat, and that of course is a bad portrayal.

Another issue with the Mordor main plot that this would solve is the startling absence of Gothmog. If he's referenced in sidequests I'm not sure, but in the main questline Gothmog beats a hasty retreat off the Pelennor and then is referenced extremely vaguely once by Lhaereth (if I didn't already know things about Minas Morgul I wouldn't even have known who she was talking about) and doesn't come up again until Gandalf finds references to Earnur in the Black Book. That's not really a great Presence for someone who is, arguably, the whole subject of the titular Black Book, and it's not a plausible amount for the PC to be thinking about him.

So just before leaving Mordor, the PC is sent to Barad-dur, perhaps having to find a way to get inside first. Maybe Ugrukhor took over Dol Guldur after Dulgabeth's betrayal and you're sent there to find information about his hunt for Karazgar. And while you're there, you find Gothmog, who was not so lucky as to make it scott free back to Minas Morgul, but was imprisoned by Sauron to be punished for turning tail and running. The punishment, however, was never meted out, given Sauron's quick defeat afterward, and the PC's actions in Barad-dur inadvertently free him, and he flees back to Minas Morgul, where he still has some measure of power. This would satisfy the Barad-dur hype problem, by making it proper endgame content like it should be, the Gothmog problem, by having him be briefly involved earlier than in canon for thematic reasons and to remind the player that he exists, and the dungeon problem, by putting a more important prisoner in the cells closest to Sauron's inner sanctum. (Once again, no shade to the Stout-axes but I don't really feel like 'the dude Saruon took it out on when his dragon thing failed eighty years ago' should be one of like three prisoners in his inner sanctum, especially since he had other dragon projects in the works. It's not like Smaug was his only shot at that.)

Anyway. That's the way I would have written it.

[moonage-dancer]

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

[six-of-ravens]

as usual after a bad week my brain is like "you need to reinvent yourself!" so it keeps throwing ideas at me like "you should change your wardrobe, you'll be more human if you dress better!" and "also have you considered one of these 500 new hobbies" and "maybe you should dye your hair!"

anyway if I post something insanely stupid that I shouldn't have spent money on, the fake self-care demons got to me.

[aura-dragonfly]

So close to being full. Gotta wait until tomorrow night. A bit too chilly to be out there though.

[awthredestim]

Commission for Hazel Hooves. · - · -  · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · Oh boy, does this one have a bit of a story.

So get this, this one was originally started in 2015. Original idea and payment was booked in mid-2015, with a lot of good references and details given. However, I kept putting it back for a bunch of reasons, chief among them the fact that I had no real schedule or discipline in terms of doing commissions. Back then I had no queue order, just a "I'll do the next one I feel like" kind of attitude towards my work, which didn't translate positively. Also I was dealing with increasing expenses, at some points having to cover mortgage payments for my parents, which kept putting me back and needing more commission work.

Fast forward to 2018, and I finally sat down to complete the whole thing, a month before moving out of my parents' house. If there are parts of this drawing that look rushed, and parts that look like I took the time on them, is because they are.

And now, seven years after it was pitched, I'm posting it here. It sure doesn't look like a drawing that took seven years to be seen, eh? But it looks like a drawing that was worked on around 1 minute a day during seven years, so it's far from my best picture. This is why nowadays I try not to take that long with both drawing and posting. Some pictures only take two years to see the light of day so, I say that's an improvement! Please, let me know what you think of it in the comments. I appreciate every single one I receive. You can check the WiPs for this one over on my art blog. Thank you!

[honeyboyfelix]

i am having,,, many dnd thoughts tonight

[nalityart]

well, it's time to get to know a whole bunch of my DnD OCs. there're a lot of them lol

so let's start with my fav mean rich elf Daelleth! she's a celestial warlock and her patron is her ex-husband who she's shamed into giving her powers because of the divorce... yep, she's A LOT

[possible-cryptid]

A1#

AHSJSKKA EVERYTHING IVE EVER WANTED TO BE

[boy-gender]

Thank you xenogender people. Thank you neopronoun people. Thank you nounself pronoun people. Thank you it/its pronoun people. Thank you people who want boobs and a dick, or a dick and a pussy, and elf pointed ears and a thousand piercings. Thank you stargender puppyself deep/sea pronoun flag collecting gender hoarding carrd people. Thank you for showing us all the things gender can be, and all the places gender can go, and all the ways we can understand gender as human and more than human. Thank you for opening up all these places to play in and ideas to toy with, all these things about ourselves we can put on and try and take off and discard. Thank you for being brave, thank you for exploring, thank you for paving all these ways. Thank you from the bottom of my heart 🖤

[littlejuicebox]

Hi! I'm not sure if you take requests so if you don't, please ignore this and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

I just read your Astarion X Tav fanfic where Astarion proposes. It is said that the ring he got glows whenever Astarion thinks of Tav. I was just wondering if you could write a slice of life about the ring glowing at the most random times. Maybe during a stealth mission where Tav has to stay hidden or when he is smiling in his sleep and the ring glows. I just thought it would be cute and fun to write about. You can get creative with it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, whether you end up doing this request or not. I hope you had an amazing Christmas and I hope you will have an amazing New Year's!

Hi Anon! I don’t think this is quite what you were asking for but… this is what came out! 🤷‍♀️ The smut gods blessed me and I cannot deny their gifts. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Smut below the cut.

If you haven’t read my other work and would like context, Anon is referencing a two part mini story I wrote. Click here for part 1, and click here for part 2.

Warnings/Tags: 18+ only please, smut, masturbation, sex pollen, swearing/cursing, game spoilers

Word Count: 1.5K

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“I think we’re just… a bit out of practice, darling. It has been nearly a year since we were down here last, you know.” Astarion whispers, crouched next to you behind a Funguswood tree. He’s wiping bits of dirt, twigs, and mushroom pollen off himself with a handkerchief.

“Admit it, Astarion. You just weren’t fast enough.” You respond with a small, teasing poke of your tongue as you rearrange your weaponry and count your arrows.

The pale elf finishes wiping off the debris, and you return your attentions to the mission. You’d been contracted to scout out the vampire stronghold in the Underdark and report your findings back to Wyll and the Flaming Fists. Rumor was that the vampire hoard had wreaked absolute havoc on the Underdark; the city feared the creatures would soon return to the surface if they could not find sustenance here.

“Would you have preferred I let that wild Rothé ram you into those mushrooms in my stead?!” Astarion hisses in return while rubbing his hand over his arm, which now felt unbelievably tingly and was starting to radiate significant warmth, “Hells, what mushrooms were those, anyway?!”

You stifle a chuckle, knowing your fiancé is already past his limits of patience. You two need to get to the scouting point, set up camp, and hunker down for a few days… all while avoiding detection from the vampires or any other nefarious creatures in the Underdark. Best to do it without an ornery Astarion by your side.

“I don’t know what mushrooms those were. I’ve never seen them before.” You admit with a small shrug, “Come on my love, not much further now and then we can get you properly cleaned up.”

Astarion follows behind you in silence, apart from the occasional cursing and swiping at his skin. Gods, the heat had spread up his entire arm now. The scratching seemed to make it worse, but by the hells, he couldn’t stop no matter how much he wanted to. The two of you finally got to the cragged rock that led to a small cave where you would make camp, and he never felt more relieved in his life. He couldn’t wait to clean himself properly and be done with this burning sensation.

You glance at him briefly and then begin climbing the rock. Astarion remains below to keep you covered in case anything decides to attack while you’re left defenseless. He looks up to watch your progress and cannot help but to notice the overwhelmingly attractive curve of your bottom. It was always attractive, of course, but something about it in this moment was entirely… irresistible. Had you been working out recently in preparation for the wedding?

You’re halfway through climbing the rock when your engagement ring bursts into a spray of light. It often glows significantly at the surface, but in the blackness of the Underdark, you’re practically a beacon. Your stomach drops. Gods, how had you forgotten to take it off?

“Astarion!” You hiss in a panicked whisper, “Cut it out! Every being in all of the Underdark will know our position.”

Astarion had realized the issue as soon as the light had flared, of course. He was trying desperately to avoid thinking of you and all the delicious things he wanted to do when you two made camp, but gods he couldn’t control it. What in the hells was wrong with him? He wanted to stop, to ensure your safety, but your plump, perfect ass was practically calling his name, begging for his attention, and he wanted nothing more than to bend you over and—

He shakes his head, trying to rattle the lewd fantasies from his psyche, “I’m trying, my love! I don’t know what’s come over me I just—“

Hags. Hideous shoes. Ghouls. Manual labor. Gale.

The pale elf tries to think of all the most grotesque, unsexy things he can and push you entirely from his mind. You continue to climb, hoping to quickly reach the top and take off your ring as soon as possible. The ring is still glowing like a single star in the blackest night.

Ogres. The smell of Araj’s blood. Rats. Gale.

Gods, it was useless.

Finally, you reach the top. You rip the ring off your finger and shove it in your pack as soon as your limbs land on the surface of the cave. Astarion quickly scales the rock behind you, and when he reaches the top, you’re positively glaring at him.

“Darling, I’m sorry! I really tried. It’s just— gods damn these mushrooms!” The vampire is ripping off his shirt and scratching at his skin as the two of you walk into the little cave. Before long he’s down to his knickers and cursing as he rubs desperately at his flesh.

You’re trying to ignore your fiancé and quickly pitch the tent so you can handle whatever the hells is going on with him. A sideways glance to your pack reveals that the ring is still glowing quite intensely… perhaps more than it ever has before. Was that even possible? At any rate, you can’t get closer to the stronghold with it glowing like that.

“Astarion, I don’t know what—“ You spin around, and you’re surprised to see the elf fully nude on his blanket, doing perhaps the most provocative thing you’ve ever witnessed.

Astarion is beaded in sweat by now, and his hands are wandering over himself, chasing the burning tingle as it travels through his body. Gods, the feeling was becoming absolutely unbearable. He kept seeing visions of you and him in the throes of passion in his mind.

He couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. Did he want to stop? He couldn’t decide. All he knew was the intense tingling and burning coursing through his veins and the wonderful fantasies filling his brain. He needed release from this torture; his limbs were on fire and the sensation was spreading to his groin.

The elf knows by the throbbing pulse in his cock that his erection is at full capacity, and he feels the dribbles of precum slowly sliding from the head, down the shaft. Astarion is, admittedly embarrassed knowing you are mere feet away and witnessing such an erratic show, but he grabs his own cock regardless— gods, it felt like being possessed. He needed release and he needed it now.

As his fingers wrap around his shaft, a burst of relief travels through his body. The tingling ceases for a moment. But then, it flares again and he’s consumed by the burning feeling and vulgar thoughts of the two of you once more. He pumps his hand a few times, bucking into the sensation, and once again the torturous tingle halts.

What in the hells?

Astarion is now rolling his hips towards his own hand, groaning in pure ecstasy at the relief from the burn as well as the delicious sensation of his hands stroking his uncharacteristically sensitive member. His eyes are clasped closed, and his other hand is still wandering over his torso, chasing that burning itch.

Through panting, shaking breaths he murmurs, “Darling, is it— oh gods, is possible that those— fuck — mushrooms contained sex pollen? I’ve never— mmh, fuck.”

You’d been so enraptured by the vision of your lover touching himself in such an uninhibited display of lust that you almost didn’t hear what Astarion asked. The slickness of your arousal was starting to become apparent as you instinctively squeezed your thighs together.

“I’m… I’m not sure, my love. I’ve read of such things but I’ve never come across it… until, perhaps, now I suppose.”

Astarion isn’t really listening. Instead, he’s bucking wildly into his own hand, chasing his own release. He falls apart in front of you, with his limbs tensed and mouth agape in pure, unadulterated pleasure, clasping tightly onto his own length. The gasping, strangled moan of relief that escapes him as he reaches his climax and shoots sticky streams of hot white seed onto his abdomen ignites a fire in your groin. He’s shuddering with the rippling aftershocks of his orgasm and you feel yourself dripping with arousal as you rub your thighs together once more. This display was entirely feral.

For a few moments the vampire is breathing contentedly, eyes still shut. He’s still holding his cock, which continues to twitch insistently despite its significant spend. Your lover brings his unoccupied hand to his hair and rakes it through his disheveled, sweaty curls.

You flick your gaze to your pack and notice that it’s no longer emitting that ethereal glow. But then Astarion groans in dismay and you see light flare from your bag again. When your attention returns back to your fiancé, he’s already grasping wantonly at a second rapidly growing erection.

“Darling, I can smell you,” He hisses desperately, now slathering his own milky juices around the swollen, reddened tip of his thick cock. The veins in his arm and on his shaft are pulsing as he begins to stroke himself again, “Don’t be coy just— come over here and help me with this. Please.”

And by the gods, he asked so nicely, how could you say no?

[mooshywrites]

Something Borrowed, Something New

Astarion x Reader, Astarion x Female!tav

Masterlist

Art commissions

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─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

A/N - i just finished my play through of my astarion run and to say i feel hollow about the ending is SUCH an understatement. So since the game doesn’t have the storage space to give me a slice of life simulator with my favorite vampire, then ive decided to make one myself ~

Word count - 1.6K

Warnings - N/A ~ sickly sweet fluff, minor spoilers, baby’s first blurb

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

“My darling, if you keep your nose buried in those books, your life is going to pass before your eyes.”

The gentle tease brought your wandering tiefling mind hurtling back to earth. In truth, you hadn’t even been reading, the words in front of you becoming a mess of blurry text and complicated theories. You lifted your gaze to meet the source of the tease, the entire reason behind your recent studies.

“It’s an important book, Astarion. The shopkeep said this book has anything and everything anyone knows about vampires.” Your lips took on a slight smile as the exasperation in your voice lifted, “Or do you want to spend the rest of your life trying to remember what the sun feels like.”

Astarion rolled his eyes, leaning back against the plush chair and crossing his arms, “That shopkeep of yours is a con-man. If there was a cure to being what I am, it wouldn’t be in some silly book.”

The elf softened his tone as he saw the way his lover’s shoulders dropped, knowing it wasn’t fair to discredit any of her attempts at curing his… affliction. “You’re going to make yourself sick if you don’t at least attempt to sleep, darling.”

You allowed yourself a dramatic sigh as the book slipped out of your hands, being gently taken by the white-haired thief. You knew he was right, knew that there was no more information to glean from this book, especially not while your eyes drooped and your mind grew foggy. As much as you hated giving Astarion the pleasure of being right, and you did hate it, you were exhausted. Exhausted and feeling utterly hopeless at your task

”You may be right.” You said in a small voice, “It would be much to easy to open a book and find a spell to let a vampire spawn walk in the sunlight”

The cushion you sat upon dipped slightly, gentle arms pulling you into a comforting embrace.

“You know how uncomfortable seeing you in pain makes me, pet” Astarion murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to your temple.

”I just want to find a cure already” You protested, “A spell, a potion, a demon contract I can sign to get you under that god-forsaken ball of fire again. You would think that taking down a hoard of ilithid would make any challenge look like a stroll through the woods.” Your words were tense and harsh, a tone you immediately regretted as you felt the pale elf beside you stiffen against it.

“You must have patience, my darling. It’s only been a couple of years since we’ve began this journey.” His fingers poked into your side teasingly, earning a small laugh. “We do have forever, you know.

“Mmhm, forever with a dramatic vampire who wants to go adventuring for a cure but hates being away from his precious comforts.” You teased, looking back up at him.

”Oh, please.” Astarion tutted disapprovingly. “You’d think after a couple centuries of servitude and then saving the world would earn a man the rights to a comfort or two.”

Your sleepy head found a comfortable place in the crook of the vampires neck, the rest of you leaning into his cool touch. “Well if you’re so attached to them, maybe we should just stay here and find a way to enjoy your ‘comfort or two.”

Silence fell over the small room in the even tinier inn. You were uncomfortably aware of the lack of snide remark back from your partner. With Astarion, silence was always an abnormality.

”Or somewhere bigger.” You added jokingly, your voice coming out as an unsure whisper.

You weren’t sure about how Astarion felt about settling down. In truth, it hadn’t come up in the time you’d been together so far. Most of your talks were about next steps, new theories, different wizards to contact with questions about Astarion’s condition. Neither of you had been brave enough to talk about the life you might both lead if Astarion was able to live normally again. Neither brave enough to face the disappointment of that future being possibly impossible. But the more you adventured, the more days spent sleeping in one Inn after another, you felt the longing to put down roots more and more every day.

You bit your lip, hands nervously picking at nails already picked to the short. Wouldn’t Astarion find that kind of thinking entirely selfish? How could you ask him to sacrifice further potential freedom?

You were brought back to your thoughts again as Astarion’s slender hand tilted your chin towards his gaze. The relief that filled you as you saw his knowing smile was probably laughable, the crinkles next to his eyes as he grinned dissipating what was left of your anxiety. What did it matter where you were and what you were doing or where your head lay when daylight started to seem into the sky? It’s the person you awoke beside that’s important.

”What thoughts fill those pretty head of yours?” Astarion teased. Peering at your forehead as he were trying to see the physical thoughts.

”Oh, just thinking of what a nightmare you will be when we have a place of our own after this mess.” You retorted, smiling, pulling your best impersonation of the man next to you “Oh, not there, darling. Those drapes simply must be a hair to the left. And who on earth did this border? Aht, no one in this town can embroider properly.” You flourished your hands dramatically, putting on a rather good play of the vampire.

”I don’t sound a thing like that, love.” He replied, feigning offense. “Besides, I would be right to say that. Not a soul knows the right way to handle a needle and thread. I suppose I’ll have to take up the position, myself.”

“You? Start a shop and make honest money?” You scoffed, fighting the urge to roll your eyes.

“Well why couldn’t I?” The familiar whiny tone you knew and loved began creeping back into his voice. “How much could a shop possibly cost? I would create marvels of woven artistry and you could do… well… everything else.” He finished certainly.

”That seems much too boring for someone like you, Astarion.” He couldn’t possibly be serious about this. Astarion? A shopkeep? He was rather skilled with fabrics, but would he be satisfied with such a simple life?

”Boring sounds… nice.” Astarion replied simply, his words becoming soft and serious. “Maybe sunlight isn’t worth watching the years roll by before me.”

Your breath stilled as you faced him.

“You… You want to settle down?” You asked.

Astarion scoffed, the humor settling back into his tone. “Settle down? I simply offered staying in one place for more than a few nights. You excite to easily, my darling.”

You laughed, a little breathlessly, thankful for the end of the serious moment. Even now, you couldn’t always wrap your mind around Astarion’s. Whether he was joking or now, what he really wanted in the end. It somehow always seemed a mystery right outside of your grasp.

”What would you say to that, however?” Astarion prodded. “If I told you that I wanted to… well, uhm… settle down?”

You paused for a moment, eyes narrowing as you searched his red irises.

“I would wonder if you’ve been replaced by a doppelgänger.” You replied accusingly.

“Well” he sighed, exasperated. “ Then write me down as a doppelgänger, I’d like to live in a little house with a shop downstairs filled with my own creations. To be horribly and utterly… domestic.”

You couldn’t help the wide smile that crawled across your face. The hope and excitement that filled your face.

”Oh don’t look at me like that!” Astarion complained, giving you a look of mock horror. “You look as if I just told you that I’ve given up a life of debauchery.”

You shrugged, grinning wickedly, “Is that not what you’re saying, Astarion?”

”No, of course not, darling.” He replied defiantly. “I’m just saying that I’m going to find a way to buy the next empty building we see and see how many people can be manipulated into buying my creations.”

”Lucky for you, Baldur’s Gate is within a day's travel. You may have to put your coin where your sinful mouth is.” You said with finality, truly thinking you were calling his bluff.”

“It’s settled then.” He smirked, leaning in to place a searing kiss against your unexpecting lips. You felt his arms snake further around you and… past you?

With difficulty, you willed yourself to pull away from the kiss, looking behind yourself questioningly. ”What are you-“ You paused, seeing the gold rimmed vase Astarion now had in his grasp.”

”It’s our something borrowed.” He shrugged. “For our new shop.”

You couldn’t hold back the almost overly dramatic eye roll. “First, love, that’s not borrowing, that’s stealing and two…” You felt your cheeks heat. “The phrase ‘something borrowed, something new’ is for wedding’s. Not for new shops and homes.”

”Oh, well… we should probably do that too.” Astarion said plainly, scooping you up to carry you to the bed not a stone’s toss away.

You gasped, hitting his chest gentle and putting on your best glare. “That is not how you propose to a woman you cur.”

Astarion chuckled as he placed you on the bed, climbing under the blankets with you. “You can lecture me about that tomorrow, darling. For now-“ He brushed his lips against yours, a sweet and loving kiss, “You simply must get some sleep. How else will we go shopping for your ‘something new’ tomorrow?”

You smiled as you leaned into his touch, snuggling against his chest. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a response, he’d probably hear your excitement for the future through your words and not believe your chiding anyways. you were thankful for the ability to hide your face against him, your fingers tracing lazy circles along his chest,

If it weren’t for the gentle pale reds and purples that began to chase away the deep blue night, you could’ve stayed awake grinning like that forever.