#how does he pull it off you ask? the crown of karsus

[maegalkarven]

Big fan of Levi accidentally becoming a paragon of monstrous, lost, forsaken and the dead.

His newly developing compassion doesn't discriminate and it means he can sympathize with all kind of creatures, especially the "inheritly evil" ones.

[brograndpa]

Thinking about ascended Astarion and professor Gale. Thoughts are messy but here's my synopsis of how they get to where they are.

thinking about astarion who has been pulled along into a strange friendship by gale who takes astarion's random stealing of his books to mean that he's reading them. astarion isn't, he's just doing it to piss gale off, but the opposite effect of it has him annoyed instead. nevertheless, he decides to just go ahead and read it, then passes on his own "recommendation" in the form of a spicy novel he picks up while traveling. thus is the start of their book club.

it happens early on enough that astarion decides someone as powerful as gale proves a good ally for his fight against cazador, and he can also tell just how easily manipulated gale can be in the right circumstances. so he interrupts one of their book club sessions with a kiss, and gale freaks out saying he's not so sure this is a good idea given his Orb and all that.

naturally they both go to bed disappointed, but the next day gale is super apologetic saying he's been unable to stop thinking about it, and how he desperately wanted it but also fears putting them both in danger. astarion relents because yeah. that makes sense. and thinks nothing of it other than well we've got something going on here. not sure what it is but he seems to trust me enough without needing sex, so that's weird.

then elminster comes and suddenly astarion is fucking fuming at the revelation that apparently, if the gods ever do answer your prayers, it's just to tell you to die. astarion makes it a point to, with the orb stabilized, have raunchy nasty woods sex with gale all to make himself feel like he has some control over the situation. it's in this sex though that gale finally learns all of astarion's little tricks and comes to realize that he's really only having sex with a dead man who's been trained to use his body this way.

not that gale rejects him for this, but it does make his concern for astarion grow. he realizes first that their relationship isn't properly mutual, but he's weirdly okay with it because he can see that astarion genuinely does care about making gale remember the joys of living, and how ironic it is that it has to come from an undead. it's through this revelation that gale decides he wants to share an escapist illusion with astarion of a world that might have been, and though gale isn't expecting anything in return for it, astarion's undead heart twists somehow. he writes it off as a strange taste of empathy.

it's only when astarion finally ascends that he realizes the depths of his feelings. how utterly insane he is for gale, his heart racing ten million miles an hour as he looks at the man who doesn't know when to stop giving away pieces of himself, and how starved astarion is for every last inch. it's because of these feelings born from his newly living heart that the moment astarion learns of the crown of karsus, he's terrified of gale taking it. he would have been in favor if he were just a spawn who hadn't had his chance at revenge, but now that he's done that and more, he realizes how horrifying a world without gale at his side could truly be.

when gale tries to explain this to him in the boatride, astarion grabs gale's hand and pulls it to his chest, all his rage and fire gone as he expresses genuine vulnerability for vulnerability's sake, begging gale to understand how much astarion loves him without wanting to say the word because it doesn't mean anything on his tongue anymore. gale asks him to say it anyway, because he'll be able to tell. astarion says it, sounding like he's never said it before in his life. gale kisses him, and promises he won't reforge the crown, because astarion is right. it would be terrible to throw away his heart for power when he could give it to astarion instead.

and then gale just falls even deeper as a result because wao...he really has someone he loves that loves him right back, just the way that he is right now..................a bit ironic that he'll end up losing his heart either way, but it's alright. he'll know it's always beating for astarion

idk i just love the idea of astarion realizing the depth of his love only once the hollow space in his chest has been filled by a heart that won't stop pounding everytime he looks at his beloved!! and the true fear that comes at the idea that he might be alone if gale were to cast him aside for godhood...he couldnt take that. his manipulative ass is gonna do everything to keep that wizard as his property

[mslanna]

Imagine telling Raphael that you’re not worried about the final battle because Tav don’t die in real life and all of this is just a video game 🤣

Raphael existential crises

I must preface this: I am horribly bad at keeping the prompts as given. Apologies. (The first try went off completely because I didn't even read the idea right. May do something with that some other day.) Anyway, here goes: unkillable Tav in Raphael's hands...

"How many?" Raphael asks again.

"Thousands." Tav shivers despite the heat of Avernus, the huge fireplace, and the devil at their side. "I remember thousands of deaths. Everything that could have gone wrong. I remember how it did."

"And yet you live."

Tav pulls their feet up to the seat of the chair and puts their head on their knees. Is it really life, when all you remember is death? They remember Lae'zel running them through with her sword. Astarion, overtaken by the euphoria of the moment draining them dead. Gale, friendly fire of one of his potent spells.

"I guess," they finally squeeze out.

"That is quite the advantage, my dear." Raphael leans in and puts an arm around his favourite client. "You are the one that always gets away. The on that lives – wins."

"But I feel myself dying all the time," Tav whimpers and presses their face into the offered shoulder. "I walk into a fight and even as I stand unbroken, I die. Pieces of me shelve off and fall dead. I remember dying by Haarlep's hand several a dozen times. Not all of them fighting."

As much as Raphael wants to prod that specific subject, he lets it go for now. "Are you dying right now?" he asks instead. And breathes a subtle sigh of relief when the human shakes their head against his arm. "Because I will not hurt you, little mouse."

For a moment, Tav relaxes, then their body tenses again, fighting demons Raphael cannot see. He needs to get through to them somehow. A factually immortal Tav will win the Crown of Karsus. It needs to be for him. But a technically immortal Tav has much more potential. A knife to cut through the hells with.

"What is it?" he asks as gentle as he can, wondering if putting a wing around the human would help or hinder. "Are you not safe here?"

"I remember when you killed me," Tav whispers almost inaudibly. "So angry."

"Why would I be angry at you?"

"Took the contract. Took the hammer. Took Mol's contract." Tav hiccups. "Not mad for killing Haarlep. You heartless cunt."

"They are a gift from my father and I cannot touch them." The words come out harder than planned. "But I did not kill you, little mouse. You did not do those things. We are good."

"Could have. Maybe thought about it," Tav admits.

Raphael leans back and forces Tav to look at him by taking their chin in his hand. "Thoughts are not deeds. There is no thought police, no thought crime, and I will never even think about punishing you for a thought. Do we understand each other."

Tav nods. Of course Raphael won't kill them. They're the one that lives. Always. Maybe, if they just antagonise him enough now, Raphael will be the exception. Maybe, this could be the end. They lean against the cambion as soon as he lets go of their head. A part of them didn't and falls into the fire heavily a few heartbeats later.

"You will be alright," Raphael assure them uselessly. But he does wipe at the tears falling from Tav's eyes so that is something. "Take as long as you need and know I am always here for you."

There are appointments in his day, deals to be finalised and clients waiting, But what rests in his arm right now, is worth more than any of those.