#plus astarion's existence lol

[truetealtears]

‘Why is Gale depicted as the default leader in the animated short?’

Because he cooks

When you’re a rag tag group of people scraping by in the wilderness; you do not fuck with the guy who feeds you (minus Astarion who’s fucking around and finding out who he can/cannot feed on lmao)

Yeah you can tease him and make fun of him and you don’t have to like him (all of which we can see different characters doing) but you don’t make an enemy of the camp cook, not without very good reason (especially if he cooks well - Which he seems to, there’s no complaints. His dialogue tells you it’s clearly a hobby of his, so he knows what he’s doing, plus everyone saying he’s like fantasy Greek - I hear you and you’re right).

And we can see that because no one has major beef w Gale (that I’m aware of lol), some find him at bit insufferable but no one actively hates him (at least initially, idk what some of you are doing in ur playthroughs)

Not to say they’d immediately appoint him as Mr Leader Man after one meal but they’d definitely be more willing to listen to his ideas and consider them. Plus they know Gale is smart (book smart at least), they can all agree that he isn’t stupid and his plans are likely to be plausible/reasonable (for the group ofc, we all know what this man will do to himself if you let him). He gets bonus points for being quite sociable and generally approving of doing The Right Thing, while also having enough of a moral grey area to hear the others out on their more… eccentric ideas (see his dialogue about making use of the Illithid powers and stuff)

So yeah I think all of this would culminate in him being the default leader when there’s no player influence (aka when tav doesn’t exist and ur not controlling someone else)

Funny side note: the initial data larian released kinda backs me up in a roundabout way; with Gale being the most commonly chosen origin lol

To me this means that after Tav, Gale is the most likely candidate for leader. So imagine all the drama that plays out when he’s like ‘hey guys it’s been nice and I’m glad I could help you all with some of ur problems but my ex my goddess is telling me to go kill myself so’

Even when you’re playing as Tav everyone thinks it’s stupid for Gale to go kill himself because Mystra said so. They’re all like ‘that isn’t fair/what a waste’ (further evidence that no one truly hates him thanks). So now when he’s their leader I imagine they’re like ‘NOOOOOO’

[meanbossart]

I appreciate how you write Astarion so, SO much. I feel like way too many fic writers infantilize him to a point where I honestly start wondering if I'm the one who misinterpreted him so badly.

I'd love to know more about what you think of his character and his arc. Personally I saw him and immediately went "oh god this guy is gonna be the irritating tumblr sexyman of the year🙄" and it took me until Araj basically to warm up to him. What were your initial thoughts and did they change much while playing the game?

OH thank you so much!!! That's a shame if it's the case, and a little surprising to me, to be honest! While he's definitely written be an aloof jerk a lot of the time, I always found him to be surprisingly mature and introspective whenever he's not dishing out witty remarks. He comes off to me as the kind of person who learned to benefit from seeming dumber than he actually is, overall.

HAHA I had a VERY similar experience, not just towards Astarion but all the characters, really (I really disliked Shadowheart at the beginning, too). I had only seen pictures of him and pretty much expected a vapid character that was being carried to stardom because of a talented VA - and because people go nuts for anne rice style vampires lol.

While I was definitely enjoying his voice lines from the start (Again kudos to Neil) I definitely wasn't expecting much else. He piqued my interest after so devastatingly turning my character down at the tiefling party without me even having inquired, and that's when I, the gamer, was like "well, alright, I GOTTA fuck this guy now" (this is also where DU drow's personality began to come out as you can probably guess)

Obviously, if you have two neurons to rub together you can gather pretty quickly that he's not trying to woo you because you're so interesting and wonderful, so I started getting curious! With that dynamic being so different from what you usually expect of romances in these types of games, plus the charming way in which he is written, I started being won over.

I think what really did it was how gradually his attitude changed when responding to new, mostly trivial dialogue options and doing his greetings as you earned his trust, and ESPECIALLY with how he responds to your tav when you express any kind of fear or insecurity during his romance - which was with a lot of sincerity and confidence in his resolve to support you, and in you as a person, a complete 180 from his usual front - Which, again, makes me all the more surprised to hear that he's often painted with such an immature brush.

And obviously he has a DEEPLY ugly side to him (if you've read ANE, hopefully it's clear that I know this, and that I like to explore it just as much as anything else lmao) but it's very interesting to me how it seem to always come in the form of outbursts, rather than a constant evil-streak, usually followed by a glimpse of self-awareness. It feels very much in line with someone who's actually making a great deal of effort to manage their RAMPANT emotions and going through a lot of internal conflict in the process.

GAH. Yeah if you can't tell by this friggin' thesis I just wrote, I love the way they wrote this character a lot and I was definitely proven PROFOUNDLY wrong in my first impression of him - which, if that's not irony at it's finest I don't know what is.

And as an aside! I also very much appreciate that he's a "queer" coded character who's effeminate (in the Old Homo kind of way, but I digress) and flamboyant, but taken Dead Fucking Seriously. With as much progress as we've made in LGBT rep in media, I still often feel like gay men will only get that kind of treatment for as long as they "Aren't That Gay" (I know Astarion doesn't have a set sexuality - But lets not mince words: stereotypes exist, and he fits into most of them) and as a thin-wristed gay guy who's a little too found of linen shirts, I can honestly say that experiencing a character like that helped me with my own confidence.

[silver-horse]

some of you are confused under the post that shows astarion's date of birth and date of "death". so first of all, it's a fact that in dnd 5e elves do grow up the same way humans do. a 39 year old is still that age. he wouldn't look like a child or a teen! "not an adult elf" is not literally true. it's a social thing among elves. think about it... someone who is hundreds of years old would look at a 70 year old human/elf and think... that's a baby. they also view humans that way, but surely we don't think a 39 year old human is not mature. it is just a fantasy thing, it makes sense that if such old people existed they would view younger people this way. so "not an adult by elven standards" is simply because of how old elves view younger people, elves included. let's just clear that up.

Also this made you all wonder how he could have been a magistrate. He is from baldur's gate which is a mixed society, not a society of elves. I highly doubt baldurians have a rule that only hundred year olds are allowed positions of power. then humans could never have positions. in elven society they might not give such a position to a 39 year old because they respect their elders more. but there is no difference between 39 year old elf and 39 year human mentally. ofc he can legally have a position in a place like baldur's gate.

plus during early access, he had the noble background. Why are you so confused that he could be a magistrate at the age of 39? As if rich/noble families don't ever use their connections to help someone in the family get a high paying job. lol He wouldn't need to grind for hundreds of years.

(and one more thing... in the tags under that post I wrote that the rune for 6 and 9 are similar so there is a chance that the date of "death" is 30 years later... which would make him 69. but from what I have seen, others also translated the year as 1268 and not 1298. still, if he was 69 that would mean he was turned nearly 200 years ago, but not quite 200 which is what he says in most dialogues. but it doesn't even matter because 69 is still below 100. so we could have the same conversation... under 100 does not mean not an adult.)

[charmandabear]

17 Shadowheart x Karlach

From @astarionfreak 's smut ask game ~ other entries

17. "I'm not wearing any underwear."

Perhaps a preview of what's to come for the Office Hours side chapter? 👀👀👀 (Notably, this isn't actually the Office Hours universe, despite being a modern au lol)

Shadowheart's dress is based on this art by @metal-junk, and Karlach's is from my own sick twisted imagination. If anyone wants to make art of her outfit, though, I won't complain 😍

Karlach checks her reflection in the mirror. Not too bad, honestly. The sleek high waisted trousers highlight the musculature of her abs, and the open cropped blazer shows off her glowing heart. She's come to appreciate this thing, once a death sentence, but ever since Dammon found the right parts to allow her to exist in the material plane, it's become a symbol of her survival. Plus, it makes her look cool as fuck.

She has some concerns about the jacket flapping open and flashing her boobs to everyone, but Shadowheart insists that the dress tape will keep it firmly in place, even through the natural heat of Karlach's skin.

"Love, are you almost ready to go?" Shadowheart calls from the bathroom. Karlach gives her hair one last adjustment before calling back, "Yup, ready when you are."

Shadowheart emerges from the bathroom and Karlach's heart nearly stops. Her long silver hair is out of its usual braid and flows down her back like a waterfall. Her dress is a stunning black silk that hangs over her curves perfectly. The bodice has straps that frame her breasts and meet up at a collar around her pretty porcelain neck. Delicate silver chains drape across her front and sides, and the ones around her hips gather at two waist-high slits, showing off her thick thighs. Karlach's mouth starts to water, and she can feel the arousal dampening the gusset of her underwear.

"Holy shit." Karlach can't find it in her to be any more eloquent than that. Shadowheart laughs, a light sound like bells, and grabs her clutch and her wrap from the dining room table.

"You look amazing too, sweetheart." She crosses to Karlach and stands on her toes to give her a kiss. Karlach, unsatisfied with a dry little peck, grabs hold of Shadowheart and immediately deepens the kiss, her tongue seeking entry between her lover's lips. Karlach slips her hand underneath that tantilizing slit and up around to her ass, delightfully surprised to find it completely bare. She breaks the kiss, panting, and stares at Shadowheart's cheeky grin.

"Oh, didn't I mention? I'm not wearing any underwear," she says in a husky voice, and Karlach's pussy clenches in a pavlovian response.

"Wha- I- and you tell me this now? Right before we need to leave?" Karlach splutters as Shadowheart giggles devilishly in response. "You expect me to sit through the entire coronation knowing that there's only a thin layer of silk between me and the promise land?"

"Think of it as your treat for doing something nice if murderously boring for a friend," she grins. Then she grabs Karlach's hand and drags her toward the door of their shared apartment. "Now come on, Lae'zel just texted me, they're all downstairs in the limo waiting for us."

***

Everyone, of course, looks absolutely stunning. Astarion and Tav look like gods damned super models in matching brocades, whereas Gale is wearing an understated but elegant deep violet suit. Lae'zel looks extremely uncomfortable in her silver blazer and leather body suit, the straps of her bra poking out beneath the lapel.

But Karlach only has eyes for Shadowheart. She chats amicably with everyone, and every time she laughs the silvery chain catches the light, bringing Karlach's attention directly back to her stunning cleavage. Karlach hides behind her champagne glass, worried that if she opens her mouth to say something, it'll be to tell the driver to pull over so she can immediately eat Shadowheart out on the side of the road.

But she manages to maintain her composure, even all the way through Wyll's coronation, despite the growing ache between her thighs every time Shadowheart uncrossed and recrossed her legs. When they finally make it to dinner, and after Wyll has made his appearance by their table to receive his obligatory congratulations, only then does Karlach dare to slip a hand onto Shadowheart's thigh beneath the table. She hears the other woman's breath catch in her throat, and the look Shadowheart flashes her is smoldering.

"Pardon, everyone, I need to use the restroom. Shadowheart, will you accompany me?" Karlach finally says in a stiff voice. Lae'zel makes a disapproving grunt.

"I do not understand your custom of women using the bathroom in flocks. Must I attend as well?" she glowers, and Astarion lets out one of his high-pitched giggles.

"Lae'zel, I don't believe they require your assistance for this one," he says, flashing a salacious smile at Tav who flushes a violent purple. Karlach doesn't even register Lae'zel's response because she and Shadowheart are already out of earshot of the group, making a beeline for the closest bathroom.

They barely manage to close the door to the single stall bathroom before Shadowheart has Karlach pressed up against the door, ravaging her face with kisses. She slips her hand beneath the hem of the blazer and runs it across the planes of bumps and scars along Karlach's ribcage.

Between breathless kisses, Shadowheart laughs, "They all know exactly what we're doing in here." Karlach runs her fingers through Shadowheart's silvery locks and gives them a firm tug right at the scalp, causing Shadowheart to quietly moan with pleasure.

"Frankly, I don't give a fuck. They all see what you look like, I don't think any of them will blame me," Karlach murmurs against Shadowheart's lips, punctuating her statement with a nip to her lower lip.

"Well, they're not blind, they can see you too," Shadowheart pants, moving her lips down Karlach's neck and to her clavicle. "I could not stop staring at your tits, love, they look amazing." She wrestles with the lapel of the blazer momentarily, before finally ripping the tape off and eliciting a strangled groan of both pain and pleasure from Karlach. Shadowheart immediately soothes the tender skin with her tongue. She cups one breast in her hand while she takes the other into her mouth, swirling her tongue around Karlach's nipple. Karlach drops her head back against the door, trying to keep her whimpering moans under control.

Shadowheart slides her hand down Karlach's abs and quickly unbuckles her belt, unzipping her pants just enough to slip her hand beneath Karlach's lace panties. She lets two fingers slide between her folds, and she chuckles when they immediately get covered in slick.

"Oh my, someone's been thinking about this," she coos, giving Karlach's nipple one last flick with her tongue before snaking up to her neck, nuzzling in the heat radiating off of her skin.

"Are you fucking with me? I'm pretty sure that coronation lasted six hours and I spent the entire time thinking about my head between your legs- ah-" Karlach grunts as Shadowheart slips her fingers into her cunt, curling them upwards slightly. Her knees buckle as she presses herself harder against the door, her hips bucking into her lover's hand. Shadowheart straddles Karlach's thigh, grinding against her while slowly pumping her fingers in and out.

"Gods, Karlach," she moans breathlessly, speeding her fingers up as her own need grows. Karlach hisses and roughly grabs Shadowheart's hair, pulling her face closer so that their lips are less than an inch apart.

"Fuck, kiss me while you make me come," Karlach pleads, and Shadowheart eagerly complies. She moves her lips against Karlach's, thrusting her fingers into her in time with her hips. Karlach loses her faculties as Shadowheart brings her closer to climax, clinging onto her long hair for stability more than as a tool of control. She wraps her tail around Shadowheart's calf to ground herself even more, worried that if she doesn't, she'll simply collapse. The two pound against the door rhythmically, certainly making a racket in the hallway outside but neither of them can be pressed to care. All that matters is bringing Karlach to orgasm, and when she can feel Shadowheart's arousal seep through her pants and dampen her thigh, she comes with an explosive wave of pleasure that reverberates through them both. Shadowheart continues to ravage Karlach's lips as she rides through the aftershocks of her climax, steadying Karlach's rutting hips with her hand.

Shadowheart breaks the kiss, breathing heavily. She doesn't have much time to recover, because within seconds Karlach has her spun around with her back to the door.

"Oh no, you don't get to give me a mind blowing orgasm and think I'm not going to return the favor," she hisses, pinning Shadowheart's wrists together above her head. She becomes putty in Karlach's hands, letting her lover mould her into any shape she wants. Karlach quickly drops to her knees, eagerly pushing aside the panel skirt separating her from Shadowheart's dripping cunt. She laps her tongue along her slit, relishing in the debaucherous sound that escapes Shadowheart's mouth.

"Oh you might want to hold on, Fringe," Karlach smirks devilishly. "Maybe grab hold with one hand and cover your mouth with the other, else we'll give anyone walking by outside a free x-rated show." The tip of her tail skates up the inside of Shadowheart's thigh, and Shadowheart catches the loud moan with her hand just before it tumbles out of her. Taking Karlach's advice, she grabs hold of the tiefling's one good horn and braces herself against the door as Karlach's tongue pushes its way past her folds. Karlach slips her hand under Shadowheart's thigh and drapes it over her right shoulder. Her tail teases her entrance while Karlach closes her lips around Shadowheart's swollen clit, sucking lightly. Shadowheart digs her nails into her cheek, trying to keep her noises under control, but she's finding it harder and harder as Karlach slides her tail into her cunt, the cartilage point dragging against her walls deliciously.

Karlach presses her long claws into the supple flesh of Shadowheart's ass, leaving evenly spaced pink puncture marks. Shadowheart cants her hips wildly, overwhelmed by the sensation of being fucked slowly by Karlach's tail and her skilled mouth moving around her clit. She bites down on the skin of her palm to try to keep quiet, but the shrieks tear through her nonetheless. She tightens her grip around Karlach's horn, feeling the pressure build as Karlach's tongue laps up the slick juices flowing freely from her.

"Fuck, Karlach, faster, please." Her words are muffled by her hand, but Karlach hears the plea loud and clear. She increases the pace of her tail pumping in and out of Shadowheart while she alternates light flicks and slow stripes on her clit. Shadowheart's legs begin to shake violently and she squeezes her knee around Karlach's shoulder as her orgasm wracks through her, the white hot lightning vibrating through her core and crackling out into her fingers and toes. Karlach dutifully drinks in Shadowheart's spend like it's the sweetest wine.

Shadowheart finally collapses against the door, fully boneless and unable to hold herself up. Karlach stands, wiping her face crassly on her sleeve before capturing Shadowheart's comparatively cool lips in a tender kiss. She presses her forehead against her love's and hums contentedly.

"Next time, tell me you're not wearing underwear after the event, please."

[eff-plays]

astarion is hilarious because he does not seem to recognize that tav's "sure, i'll save you from being kidnapped and controlled by this creepy magic user with a personal obsession with you! <3" attitude is also... directly correlated with how likely they are to help him with cazador. he's even like this in act 3, i had to reload and make him take a little walk while i was talking to an npc so that he wouldn't disapprove (i had just barely gotten him to good approval and i did not want to knock it back down lmao)

Yeah that's the thing! His plans always stop at "DO THING AND THEN uuuuh ... idk figure it out".

"Let's take over the cult! How? Um. Idk lol."

"Let's seduce Tav! Oh shit wait I caught feelings ... Wtf now."

"Ugh Tav is helping some idiots again! I would NEVER do that. Why would anyone ever help anyone without expecting payment? Anyway Tav can you please help me? I have nothing to offer 🥺"

I imagine Hiraeth being like "I say this not as a threat, and I mean it as neutrally as possible, but if I acted like you want me to act, you'd be dead by that nautiloid."

He needs to realize that Tav's kindness goes both ways: if it exists, it must extend to others. If it exists, it will also extend to him. And ya know, I think that's a nice thing for him to realize, eventually. It's really good and realistic positive character development without taking away the fact he's a glorious cunt or filing away his edges. It makes perfect sense why he wouldn't get it, and I think he probably will have a difficult time understanding it emotionally at first, but logically? I think you defo get him there, particularly if romanced. He basically tells you in his spawn ending that without your kindness and patience, he'd be fucked.

Anyway, good luck getting his approval! People say he mellows out in Act 3, but always only give Yenna as an example, so I honestly wouldn't believe them too much, but there are a lot of normal or nice things he approves of throughout the game. I'm thinking of making a little list of good/normal/not reprehensible things he likes, but it would be a pretty big undertaking and also be biased toward Hiraeth's/my Tav's personality, so idk how useful it'd be. Plus there's a bajillion guides out there already so. We'll see!

[wickedwitchofthewilds]

Prompt: Hot Chocolate Rating: Mature Pairing(s): Raphael/Rhea, Haarlep/Rhea, Astarion/Rhea (if you squint) Tags: fluff (ish, it's Raphael lol), almost smut, memory loss, flashbacks, past relationships

Read on AO3

Decadent Memories

“Try this,” Haarlep purred, setting the steaming mug on the counter beside her.

Rhea stared down at the dark brown drink. Small pillowy marshmallows floated on top. “What is it again?” she asked, fingers curling around the handle of the deep red mug.

“Hot chocolate, my dear,” they said, reaching to push a stray strand of hair behind her ear, grinning as their nails gently scratched her ear lobe and heat crept up her neck. “I’m surprised you’ve never tried it before.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get much in the way of indulgences,” she muttered.

Rhea raised the mug to her nose. The rich scent of chocolate held an undercurrent of spice. A marshmallow tickled her nose and she leaned back. Haarlep chuckled, fingers pushing the lace-edged silk nightie up her thigh and leaning down to kiss the long thin scar Raphael’s claw had left. A simple mark to note she was his. Not to be touched by others. A rule Haarlep didn’t bother following most of the time.

“You are the very definition of an indulgence,” they murmured against her skin.

She hid a grin against the warm lip of the mug. “Won’t Raphael know if we do this again?”

“Naturally.”

“Ah. So you are trying to get us both in trouble.”

“Not trying my dear.” They lifted her leg and kissed the inside of her knee. “Doing.”

She scoffed. “We’ll be punished.”

“That is half the fun.”

Rhea rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at her lips. Raphael’s punishments were half the fun. They probably shouldn’t be but Rhea considered herself a glutton for pain and Raphael provided pain in spades. Plus she liked seeing that vein in his forehead twitch and the anger simmering behind his eyes. Though she had noticed less and less of anger when he dealt with her. He wasn’t going soft on her was he? No, he wouldn’t. Far too much of a devil for that. Perhaps he was getting better at hiding his volatile temper.

Haarlep’s teeth skimmed her inner thigh and she sucked in a breath, heat rushing to her core and her hips canting toward them. Rhea moved to set down the forgotten drink but they clicked their tongue against their teeth.

“Not even going to try it after the trouble I went through to make it,” they teased, warm lips latching to her thigh and sucking blood to the surface, leaving behind a mottled bruise.

Rhea panted. “Really? That’s what you’re worried about?”

“Do you want to hurt my feelings?”

“Fine,” she huffed and raised the mug back to her lips.

Decadent creamy chocolate spiced with cinnamon and chili danced on her tongue and she moaned. She never would have had something like this growing up. Far too rich and sinful. Would have been too much of a pleasure but something she would have tried to sneak had she known something so delicious existed. The House of Hope and given her many new experiences, and this was another to add to the growing list.

“I knew you would like it,” Haarlep murmured, resting their cheek against her thigh.

“It’s incredible,” she sighed, downing nearly half the drink in an effort to consume it all but slowing down because she didn’t want to finish it too quickly. “Is there more?”

“For you? Of course.” They nuzzled her thigh. “But first, I’ll need you to moan for me again.”

Rhea set down the nearly empty mug and gently brushed her fingers over the base of Haarlep’s horns until they shuddered. “Make me.”

Her elbows barely caught her from falling back onto the counter as Haarlep pulled her thighs over their shoulders. Rhea tilted her head back, caught in the burning gaze of Raphael as he filled the entryway. Disapproval evident in the thin press of his lips. The corner twitched every other second. Rhea wiggled her fingers in greeting as Haarlep coaxed moans from her mouth. The middle of Raphael’s forehead wrinkled. A wrinkle she had soothed with her thumbs and her lips many times. Warning him that it would become permanent one day while he scoffed in annoyance. Raphael’s glare promised quite the punishment and she could already feel the lashings against her skin.

Worth it for another cup of decadence.

The Rhea that sat across from him now was not the same one that had terrorized his bed and walked through his house like she owned it. She was quiet. Tired. Anger lived in the tight lines around her eyes and mouth. This Rhea disliked him. Considered him a fiend. Nothing more than a devil wanting to trick her into a deal. Not entirely wrong, but he wished she remembered everything else. But if she remembered, then she might succumb to her own darkness.

He shouldn’t care. He never should have cared. Their deal had ended. A bargain fulfilled. A completed contract sealed away. But he had made many mistakes with Rhea. He let her close. Kept something that belonged to them both. He could never truly walk away from her even though she didn’t remember him.

“Is there a reason you invited me here?” she asked, staring down at the chessboard, contemplating her next move.

“Can I not invite a dear friend for a game?” Raphael leaned back in the chair, his hands moving of their own accord as he spoke.

She raised an eyebrow. “Since when are we dear friends?”

He pressed his hand to his heart as if she had shoved her blade through his sternum. “My dear little mouse, I am hurt. I have been nothing but a friend to you and your ragtag group.”

Rhea snorted. “I think we have different definitions of friendship, Raphael.” She leaned forward and took one of his knights. “And I’m not a little mouse.”

No, she wasn’t. Rhea was nothing like a mouse. She was hellcat. Fire in her claws and blood in her teeth. Raphael had tried to tame her once but she had tucked him under her thumb before he realized. How infuriating for him when he realized she hadn’t even done it on purpose.

Still, he grinned, the flash of his fangs briefly drawing her attention until she shifted in her seat. The body remembered what the mind didn’t and he saw her skin darken around her collar. It pleased him to know he still had an effect on her even though she didn’t know what they had been.

“Should I call you kitten then?” he teased, swiftly taking her bishop.

She scoffed. “I should think not.”

But the twitch of her lips as she fought her smile nearly brought one to his own lips. Raphael snapped his fingers and two steaming mugs appeared beside the chessboard. The same ones her lips had graced all those years ago.

“What’s this?” she asked, leaning to stare at the drink.

“A treat,” he said. “A favorite drink of mine.”

A lie. He vastly preferred smooth liquor and mulled wine to hot chocolate, but he remembered how much she liked it. Would she still like it now?

Her fingers curled around the handle but she hesitated. Perhaps wondering if he had slipped something inside. That wasn’t the way he did things. He wanted people to crawl to him willingly. It was much more satisfying that way. She held his gaze as she sipped the rich drink.

“Oh,” she murmured, her eyes brightening for a brief moment. “That’s good.”

“I am glad you like it.”

An understatement to the way his traitorous heart quivered in her chest as her eyes flitted to him. Part of him willed her to remember but her eyes slid back to the board and he held back a sigh. Hope. Such a venomous little thing. Striking her way into his mind. As if Rhea wouldn’t hate him the moment she regained her memories.

She hummed, setting down the nearly empty mug and leaning forward. He watched with rapturous attention as her tongue darted from between her lips and licked chocolate from the corner of her mouth. So much so that he didn’t notice she had made her next move until she leaned back and smirked.

“Checkmate.”

His eyes finally moved back to the board. He had been so focused on the moves her more powerful pieces had made that he hadn’t noticed her last pawn still on the board and its slow journey to the king. His fingers tightened around the arms of his chair. Lack of attention was dangerous but Rhea always sucked up all the air in the room. Raphael couldn’t help but focus on her when she graced him with her presence.

“You’re getting complacent, Raphael,” she teased. “If you keep playing as if you’ve already won, you will lose eventually.”

“Perhaps I am luring you into complacency,” he shot back.

Rhea tilted her head back and laughed and he wanted to sink his teeth into the column of her throat. The scars of her vampire lover’s recent feedings stared him in the face. Mocking him. Reminding him what he had lost. What he couldn’t have again.

“As surprisingly nice this has been,” —she stood from the table—“I have to go.”

“Do you?”

“The sands of the hourglass move even if I don’t.” She paused and tilted her head. “But perhaps I’ll return for another game when I have a moment. Especially if you give me more of this.” She tapped the mug.

Raphael inclined his head, hating how his heart hammered in his chest. “Until next time then.”

She graced him with a small smile that he could trick himself into believing was genuine. “Don’t miss me too much, Raphael. Wouldn’t want to tarnish your reputation.”

He caught his chuckle. “I will try, little mouse.”

“Not. A. Mouse.” Her fingers tapped the table with each word.

“Perhaps I need reminding,” he challenged. “You are certainly skittering away like a mouse.”

Her fingers curled under his chin and her eyes flashed. Very few would dare to touch but Rhea dared often and without fear. One of the things he adored about her.

“Careful, Raphael,” she murmured. “Wouldn’t want to end up with your blood in my teeth.”

Oh my dear, it already has.

[wyllzel]

bzz it's bee hello i'm literally talking to fern about this while we speak but isn't it insane how much fantasy is reliant upon like. defunct race science?????????? and how much work one has to do as a writer or creator or like. passive consumer of color to try and untie what is just. utter pseudoscience that has been at the mast of white supremacy for CENTURIES from what is admittedly a fun and cool premise that has existed for... forever (namely worldbuilding around folklore and fairy tales and the such)

it's extra annoying being a displaced and colonized person with less physical interaction with the sort of . motherland of your culture. imma do it it's just gonna make my head hurt i deserve to have fun with swords too

thank u for coming to my ted talk

@sohcean HI BEE!! 💞🐝 (and fern, hello!!!)

yeah... from what i understand, modern high fantasy (and all of its tropes) largely originates in jrr tolkien's LOTR system - wherein you can find a lot of biases if you're looking for them. as a young asian american woman, the most obvious to me is the notion that the "good" humans live in the west, and the "evil" humans lives in the east (literally called 'easterlings' and described as having 'slant-eyes').

these ideas seep through the modern high fantasy tradition, and that's how you end up with a conflict between characters who look like this:

where one has the potential for good and change, and the other is irredeemably, cartoonishly evil...

one of my least favorite lines in the game is when astarion calls kozakuran (cazador's home language, and analogous to japanese) a "chicken-scratch language." just feels deeply unnecessary and hits a little too close to home for comfort.

but yeah 😞 like you said, these ideas have been instilled in western cultural values for like forever, lol, so it's really not much of a surprise. i can only speak to orientalism since that's what i understand the best, but on the topic of race science and all that, gary gygax certainly had ideas 🤮 it still baffles me that dnd was going off race-based morality (ie. all drow used to be chaotic evil, all githyanki were lawful evil, etc.) and race-based classes for so long 😬 i was looking through my dad's ancient copy of DND 1e and it was so baffling i could barely skim it, lol

plus - "i deserve to have fun with swords too" is so true!! ;; it saddens me that even an immersive, 'forget your irl troubles' game like bg3 still reflects... a lot of those irl problems, haha, but game devs and creatives are human, too, and sometimes we're not always conscious of the biases we carry...

anyway :') thanks for dropping by + sharing, i always love to hear your thoughts! hope you've been doing well!

[invinciblerodent]

I both welcome the Iona posting, love your consistent pro bisexual stance and get that sometimes you just gotta seek out the worst take of your life, because brains are weird. Have a great day

Aww, thank you, that's so sweet! ❤️❤️ I'm glad you enjoy both those things- I can say with certainty that it will all continue, lol.

I mean, how could it not. Have you seen this woman?

Have you beheld her little face? Witnessed her (bisexual) swag and cute new outfit? Caressed her sweet cheeks (and i'm talking about both face-cheeks and butt-cheeks) with a tender, loving touch? No?

Well, you should. So hop on that.

..... but jokes aside, honestly, while it is sometimes just very simply funny (or even somewhat cathartic in a way) to read the completely off the wall, buck wild takes that some people may post, I do find it to be semi-important (at least to me personally), to have at least a cursory awareness of as many possible reads of a piece of media as it's.... I guess feasible to be aware of. Mostly as a way to try and step outside of the paradigm in which I know I normally exist, but sometimes also just as a way to sort of check myself, and confirm that at least I don't seem to have X bias, or haven't misread something by that much, lol.

Like, I was still taught (rigorously, over and over again, in every single class I have ever taken that had anything to do with literary-/media-analysis) that as long as you can find confirmation of your interpretation within the base text and aren't explicitly contradicted by other parts of it, any subjective interpretation can be just as valid as another. So it always fascinates me a bit when I see someone ignore this very basic tenet, and kind of pick and choose which bits of the base text (whatever that "text" may be) they want to take into account, and which parts they want to ignore for no reason other than that it doesn't fit their view.

How unwilling certain people are to change their minds if the text happens to contradict their initial assumptions, that's just so wild to me.

I'm obviously not saying that any base text would be prefect and without flaws or potential contradictions, but so often, the fervor with which people can cling to certain interpretations (even if they're contradicted consistently at every turn, are called out for bigotry in it, and their theories fall apart at the first deeper glance) is just so interesting.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm really going with this, it's quite late and I'm a bit loopy- I'm kind of just rambling a little bit at you and can't think of a way to end this, so look at my pretty, shrewd, slimy vixen of a woman instead.

I bet Astarion even calls her a vixen sometimes. Like I may see her as more similar to a weasel if we're going for animal symbolism (small. semi-feral. cute little face. will absolutely fuck you up.), but a fox is undoubtedly a more flattering comparison. Plus, "oh, you vixen❤️" is definitely a far sexier thing to purr into one's lover's ear than "my darling little weasel❤️".

[eeriesynth]

Get to know me

Tysm for the tag @frek <3!!

i tag: @atroposzombie @eslebt @silver-horse (only if you want to!!)

last song: 39 by Design - Drab Majesty

fave color: purple, black, and teal

currently watching: i'm a sucker for trash tv so currently the new season of love is blind. but most recently silo.

currently reading: fourth wing by rebecca yarros

sweet/savory/spicy: this is tough because i love all of them, but probably spicy.

relationship status: emotionally taken but not yet officially? if you that makes sense lol

current obsession: anything baldur's gate related. and more specifically, astarion/neil newbon, obvi lmao

last google: "selunite moon puzzle" LMFAOOO the bane of my existence in act 1

currently working on: working through some bg3 runs with friends on ps5! the graphics are great on ps5 but i much prefer the pc ui :( (plus mods heheh)

[mumms-the-word]

Hey! What are you writing at the moment? Also, will you announce the AITA blog on this one when you start it? :3

Thanks for the ask!!

Fic-wise? I'm working on another poetic Gale x you/reader oneshot (literally woke up at 5am and was hashing out lines while trying to get back to sleep) but I'll have to finish that this week not today

Here's a snippet:

He is a man for whom grand gestures are as easy as breathing. ... You love to watch him when he isn't looking, when he is wholly himself without the pressure to perform confidence for you. To study him the way he studies the pages of an arcane tome, seeking the secrets between lines.

Otherwise, still working on A Macabre Masquerade (chapter 7 will be a doozy, Dani, Gale, and Astarion just witnessed some wild shenanigans in the mirrors in ch. 6), plus a couple of Halsin fics...I have a bad habit of starting something, hitting a wall, and putting it down to work on some other shiny new idea for a bit lol

As for the bg3-AITA blog, it's all set up and ready to go!! I want to write and queue up 2-3 AITA posts so people get a sense of what kind of blog it is, but the FAQ page and pinned post are all written, the blog itself is made, and it just needs to get launched into the world.

I'm going to launch it and share it sometime this week! I'll be sure to reblog the first post or two so people know it exists :)

[invinciblerodent]

1, 4 and 35 for the baldurs gate ask game if you want

Of course! :)

@ Tell us about your Tav! Name, class and subclass, race, pronouns. Do you have a headcanon for where they're from? Their family? Are they a Dark Urge? Or did you choose an Origin Character? Was it an easy decision? (1)

- Arvid Trygg, he/him, dwarven Cleric of Tempus, War domain. I headcanon that he was originally raised in a small village monastery (he was technically born- and immediately abandoned there, but isn't too broken up about it), but was later sent to the city to "fill in" after the death of their previous healer, with the hopes of eventually becoming a high priest himself. This was about maybe a year or two ago. Even though he's a skilled combatant (all followers of Tempus are, he IS the god of warfare), healing and taking care of people is something he likes to do and is good at, so it was a fairly perfect fit- though we know it kinda didn't end up working out lol.

He considers the warrior-monks who raised him to be his only family- which stands to reason, after all his biological father doesn't know he exists, and his mother was like 16-17 when she had him and went back to her life afterwards. There were always a few other children around (not many, but a few), most doing seminary school, and the priests and monks were strict but fair, so he actually had a fairly pleasant childhood. He didn't get quite enough affection to know how to handle it as an adult, but he's... definitely functional at least.

I also headcanon that even though there is a strict hierarchy in the church of Tempus and there are specific terms to call people [Arvid is technically a Direhar I think, a guardian priest], among themselves they occasionally use "shield-brother" and "shield-sister" as a term of affection. In my mind that's not quite a comrade and not exactly family, but someone to whom you'd entrust your life, and for whose life you'd give yours. A person with whom you'd share a shield. (I'm hoping to whip it out in opportune moments! It's kind of excellent to use with a love interest early on because it sounds innocent and friendly, and they have no clue it actually means "I would die for you".)

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@ Do you remember in which order you recruited your companions? Which companion introduction would have felt the most familiar / like home to your Tav / Character? (4)

- I think the order went Shadowheart->Astarion->Gale->Lae'zel, and Lae'zel I only managed to get after I was already done with that first dungeon (I just went the wrong way lol). Then of course Wyll->Karlach.

I think as a fellow cleric and the circumstances under which they met (he freed her from the pod), he felt an immediate closeness with Shadowheart - despite them worshipping different gods, there is a mutual respect and understanding there that exists from the first moment. She's actually kind of his best friend right now, and definitely someone in whom he confides. There is nothing romantic there, just a deep friendship. He appreciated her trust in sharing her worship, and as a person whose deity is decidedly neutral, he respects how genuine her belief is. (As far as he's concerned, honest belief and a willingness to fight for it are always honorable.)

As someone who's only ever really thought of as personal friends were other clerics, priests, and religious folks, her presence is definitely something of a comfort, especially considering all the new things he's experiencing and feeling in general.

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@ Has your Character done anything that they regret in Act 1? (35)

Oh, definitely the Auntie Ethel stuff. He feels just rotten about the whole thing. When he met her at the druid grove she was like the FIRST person to fuss over him and his wellbeing like that (plus he never HAD a grandmother, he was VULNERABLE), so of course he threw himself into combat to defend her when they encountered her on the road. Of course then the swamp was revealed to be what it is, they found the poisoned apples along the way, and encountered her again, so now he... really regrets the way he didn't much try to hear those boys out and didn't believe them. They didn't have to die, they were just scared and trying to help their sister.

Also Mayrina... I think he regrets giving her the wand. I think he just keeps thinking about how he never should have even told her that he found it, much less used it. He wishes he could comfort her, and regrets not having gone there sooner to maybe have a shot at actually resurrecting Connor. It's silly of course, but he's a very lawful good cleric boy, and that cursed half-life is no life any would want to live.

Oh, he also feels pretty bad about the whole "cultists of the Absolute" business- he has respect for them because, well, their beliefs are genuine and they do fight to the death for them (and who is he to tell a person which god is right and which is wrong), but he really can't NOT fight against them. So the "is it een right for me to fight at all" is a bit of a dilemma that occasionally keeps him up at night.

.... He also kinda regrets not taking Lae'zel's offer of just pounding it out early on, but, yeah, he's never had a relationship and was pretty damn terrified of her. He also rejected Astarion and Wyll by this point, so there's a lot of "did I do the right thing, am I feeling the right things, am I doing something wrong and giving people unintended ideas, does my wanting to be close to Gale even MEAN anything, do I like him or just respect him (and think he's kind and handsome and cool and charming and etc), what's wrong with me" type of thinking going on. He's figuring out a lot of things many do at 16 now at 35.