the 2024 formula 1 silly season and drama master post, part 2 (part 1 here)
Hello and welcome to ah fucking fuck auto caps fuck fuck fuck how do i turn off auto caps AHA there we go okay. take 2
hello and welcome to the great and very insane formula 1 2024 season drama post, part 2. if you are new here or are just looking for part one (which contains the previous 16 (?) races, the off season, pre season testing and everything else, that can be found HERE. (a word to the wise: open it in a browser, not the app, and preferably on a computer to avoid crashing. its fucking long).
what the hell is formula 1? car go fast. fastest cars in the world zoom around tracks at top speeds of over 300kph, piloted by the top 20 drivers in the world. it might not sound dramatic, but oh man. you will Not be disappointed. this post focuses on the drama, the insanity, the sheer what the hell how is this a serious sport. no legitimately. we've just about seen it all this year. grindr, dogs, watersports, ice cream brands, its all here.
the point of this post? to educate, to catalog the insane drama, and to just have a good time. people like to gatekeep this sport, there is also a lot happening. i try to make it easy to understand. again, probably best to start at the beginning of the post because it does a pretty good job of explaining things, which i began way back in january, and can be found HERE (again, shes long, be careful)
and, as usual, if you do not want to see this post EVER AGAIN, block the tag #saph explains silly season 2024
and a second caution, i assume this post will be getting long as well. including this one we have minimum 9 updates left!
anyway, those of you who have been following along the whole time, welcome back! i know we got a little delayed. and i know we’re on a new post, so lets just briefly take a second for me to explain what the fuck happened. first i had an anatomy test, second i work 2 jobs with fuck ass hours, third tumblr decided to stop letting me look at any of my drafts, fourth tumblr support ghosted me about the drafts issue and the post was half saving half not so i just decided fuck it, were going with post 2, electric boogaloo, and fifth, i decided to start typing this instead in a google docs so. many changes. if you're new here i am usually more on top of this.
but here we are. were back on street circuits. we’re in baku, azerbaijan, for the start of the last third of the season. 8 races remain, world championship titles are still within grasp of multiple people. the drama is dramaing. and today is september 22, 2024 and lets fucking go.
first and foremost, on account of the fact that this post is late (again, see above), were going to have to do a bit of a speed run. if you're new here, i promise that this is not representative of my normal dedication to the update post. and for those asking, yeah, ill probably compile it somewhere better than a tumblr post after its all said and done, but we don't have time for that now.
what we do have time for is the Off Week (and like some of the media stuff). and it was filled with silliness:
george russell decided to wear what can only be described as slightly ugly yellow short shorts with his taylor swift shirt that he got at the eras tour. this was baffling for several reasons, the main reason being that i don't think the internet knew that he was capable of wearing a graphic t shirt
fernando alonso got his aston martin valkyrie finally. in case you are unfamiliar, a valkyrie i think is the worlds fastest street legal car. he posted tweets about this that made it seem like he wanted to fuck the car. hilariously, the car broke down an hour later.
we also had the very thrilling conclusion to grill the grid. oscar won and he somehow managed to look more pleased about his grill the grid win than his first race victory.
nico rosberg went to the green awards and he wore a fantastically insane teal blue suit. yes i know hes not a current driver. but you all like hearing about him so ask and you shall receive. unfornunately i cant find a picture of it though
and also not a current driver is mick schumacher, but my roommate asked me to include that he was seen on his girlfriends instagram being bad at golf. like. exceptionally bad at golf. like he hit a tree 20 feet in front of him.
also playing golf was lando norris. except he managed to look like try bolton from high school musical 2.
he also talked about the world driver championship with his friend max fewtrell while they were playing golf. unfortunately i lost this link in the sea of technical difficulties, but the gist of it was that he was saying that there is still hope for him to beat max in the championship (hes about 60 points behind right now). lando doesnt usually talk about the championship because he doesnt want news outlets to paint him as “desperate” so this was interesting
charles leclerc had an insane off week. first he rear ended someone in monaco. then he spoke at a yacht conference. he was not scheduled to speak at said yacht conference, he was there doing something else and they were like hey you're cool people know you, heres a microphone. he alsp ended up on a weather channel while promoting a karting event he was doing for the jules bianchi foundation (his god father, the one who died during the f1 race in japan 2014). he also changed his instagram pop and re centered it because some random tiktoker told him it matched his aesthetic better.
oscar piastri posted a photo of himself sitting in the cockpit of a plane and then promptly deleted it. because he posted it on 9/11. for anyone who doesnt know what that is, that was when some terrorists hijacked commercial planes and few them into the world trade centers in nyc and the pentagon in washington dc
max verstappen also posted a plane pic with himself and lando norris, but he did not delete it.
we also had the return of daniel ricciardo’s jpg instagram account, which is kinda like a finsta for photos that hes taken. i think lando started this a few years ago.
heading into the race week we certainly got a weird ass batch of pr. including but not limited to:
lewis hamilton was back on top and slaying in the fit game. as was yuki.
lewis hamilton also exposed george russell as listening to katy perry pre race. katy perry and taylor swift (this was after he claimed that he liked listening to old school rap music.) though, lewis then started singing wrecking ball???? confusing vibes all around
george was not off the hook yet tho because some intern definitely make him say skidibidi toilet or whatever the thing is idk, i might be gen z but im not insufferable, okay? actually george in baku was just all kinds of unhinged
george and alex also got up to something, what it is no one knows but it is clearly something
max pulled up to the paddock de aged about 10 years. picture one is of him in baku in 2015 (i believe he was 17) and picture 2 is this year. no i am not kidding.
and franco walked into the paddock telling everyone about argentinian mate (which is a drink, not a friend)
and max shoved a microphone out of the way so everyone could gossip
then of course, we had some slightly more relevant drama
haas announced that ollie would be replacing kevin at baku. in case you forgot, kevin magnussen received a total of 12 penalty points over the season so far, which means he gets one race ban. how did he get the points? well he was mostly wreaking havoc on everyone else so that his teammate, nico hulkenberg, could drag his car into the points. lets all remember the time in saudi arabia where he managed to get 20 seconds of penalties by basically driving like a mad man just to make sure that nico could keep his position after he pit stopped. anyway, nico was kind of pissed about the race ban situation and said “maybe the guidelines for F1 penalties need to be reviewed as the stewards ‘want to get involved’ no matter the contact.”
in any case though, k mags was out. and ollie was in. we’ve seen ollie before. notably he subbed in for carlos sainz at the saudi arabia gp when carlos had appendicitis. he managed to get points as well. since then, he has been announced as a haas driver for 2025 and is now subbing in for k mags (haas, later in the week called him a super sub. clearly no gen z person read that over.) he can do this because ferrari has a haas engine so they share reserve drivers.
adrian newey finally got employed. i know! i can hardly believe it either! but he did! and youll never guess where!
ferrari? no that would be too obvious.
mercedes? nah
williams? no too much of a shit show
aston martin? ding ding ding! just the right amount of shit show!
that is right. newey is going to aston for 2025.
apparently he was offered a “good package” according to himself, which i assume means pay and also the fact that lawrence stroll made him a shareholder? stakeholder? whatever its called. in the team itself. basically he has a lot of power.
he said that he always wanted to work with fernando and lewis. and he couldn't do both. and aston had a better package than ferrari.
fernando looked positively evil during all the announcement pictures. and called the team "definitely the team of the future" and for those of you who don't know, fernando is positively evil. hes just been stuck in a shit box and we havent seen very much of him, but man does he know how to evilly slut it up. so that will be fun to see.
by contrast, people said that lance was not excited enough. and well. lance 1. has resting bitch face and 2. never really looks excited about anything. also he lives in a world where take your child to work day somehow became his job. (his dad owns the team).
lewis hamilton was asked what he thought about adrian not going to ferrari, and here's what he had to say:
"i feel like, while I have mentioned before that it would be an honor to work with adrian, i have been privileged to work with two championship winning teams that didnt have adrian."
mclaren announced pato o ward would do FP1 in mexico. who is pato o ward? hes one of mclaren’s indycar drivers and one of the f1 reserve drivers. he is incredibly charming and definitely runs his own social media as seen here:
mclaren Also claim they figured out who their number 2 driver is and they claim its oscar. i say they claim because the statements were a lot more complex than that. essentially, according to andrea stella, the priority is to the team first, then lando and then oscar. so they didn't outright say that oscar is the number 2 driver and i am willing to bet real money that this is because mr mark webber, oscars manager, has something in oscars contract that prevents him from being a number 2 driver. this is of course because mark webber was one of the most infamous number 2 drivers in f1 history to none other than menace war criminal sebastian vettel, who in their time as teammates, managed to win 4 back to back world champions. or, top to bottom if you're mrs darbus from high school musical.
lando was asked about this and he said that yes, the team does support him. though he would not expect oscar to give up a win for him and that it is more complex behind the scenes. i suppose we will see if there are any papaya rules coming out this weekend….
and oscar said "i think the main point is its not purely just going to be me pulling over for lando every single race, because thats how none of us, including lando, wont want to go racing, if we feel that someone has done a much better job on a weekend, whichever way it is, we want that person to be rewarded."
max verstappen commented on the mclaren situation as well. which was funny mostly because red bull has one of the most defined number 1 and number 2 drivers of any team. he said "you look at it form oscar's perspective, he is closer to lando than lando to me. they have to deal with that."
and allow me to put on a tin foil hat as we are about to talk about the future of the red bull seat. because all i have to offer here is a baseball hat and a red bull can.
a long time ago we talked about the red bull cans. the ones that red bull makes to promote f1. at the end of last season red bull put max and checo on the red bull can. this season at the start it was just max on the red bull can. well. now checo has reappeared on the cans too. and i will tell you what i think this means. it means that checo is not getting swapped this season, which was a possibility for awhile.
but! there is more!
daniel ricciardo made an instagram post this week. and it was very interesting. but most interestingly he was wearing a red bull hat.
which he does occasionally, no big deal really. he did race for the for several years, he technically does currently. BUT then he showed up TO THE PADDOCK wearing the red bull hat.
which is Big Interesting. usually you show up in a statement outfit or wearing the team kit. and daniel is not a red bull racing driver. he is a visa cashapp racing bulls driver. they might be owned by red bull but they are Not the same team. so why the red bull hat. in the paddock. well, the rumor is that hes taking checos seat for 2025. and the rumor is that this will be announced before mexico. so checo can have a proper send off.
and with that. the baku lore.
theres a lot that has happened at baku. as i said its a street circuit. and i think its the fastest street circuit. but over the years theres been some notable events.
such as the great kimi raikkonen radio for gloves and steering wheel:
they gave mini kimi this week gloves and steering wheel in honor of that
the max and daniel crash in 2018 when they were running p1 and p2 respectfully
and of course. how could we forget. charles’s infamous “i am stupid” radio.
speaking of charles, he crashed again in fp1. not quite in the same spot, but nearly. he took a picture with the marshalls.
then in fp2 he rage quit, basically saying that the car sucks.
but he was back and better than ever in practice three because he managed to top the time charts. welcome back fuck ass ferrari.
some other teams definitely experienced the lows but not really the highs of baku during practice. like lance stroll who came on the radio to say “this is not a car” (good thing they have adrian newey now, right?
franco colapinto also cut his ear before practice on the neck strengthener stretcher thing that they all use and the team wanted to give him stitches but he was like no no no i need to be in the car in about 5 minutes im not doing that. so he jammed on his helmet and jumped in the car. he also crashed and when he went to the medical center he took off his helmet and there was blood everywhere and they were like no no no you cannot race! and he was like no! this is not from the crash! and then explained it and they let him do qualifying.
also im pretty sure? ollie bearman crashed? in practice? but frankly i don't have time to google it so whos to say.
but alas. qualifying.
i know i know this is kind of a shitty update. i promise ill go all out in singapore. i PROMISE.
so as i said. its a street circuit. high speed. 90 degree corners. and also windy as hell. we also had the dynamic duo of karun and harry in the commentary box.
max led the first practice, george led the second and i think charles led the third. or some order like that.
slipstream here is almost essential (slipstream: going behind another car to reduce the wind drag so you can go faster)
charles has the last three pole positions (first in qualifying) here in baku, but he has never won. by comparison, red bull have never had pole here but they have won.
and franco has never been to baku before.
i think that's all the exposition that we need here.
q1 started with max complaining about his car. “the car is jumping around like crazy on the rear axle” he said. despite this he was sitting in p3.
the mid field battle though….the mid field battle was heating the hell up. mostly because none other than franco colapinto, who if you will remember, has never been to baku before, had split the two ferraris. he was in third for the moment, .109 seconds behind carlos sainz and .159 seconds ahead of charles leclerc. we still had a lot of qualifying left to go, so this was probably not going to stay, but it was still insane. he was pushing insanely hard, nearly kissing the walls. clearly he had learned from his crash in practice.
the two mclarens waited until the very end of q1 to do their final flying push lap, and oscar made it through, but tragedy struck for lando.
lando was in the middle of his last flying lap, time was ticking down, and there was a Very Brief yellow flag on the track. now, according to rules, you cannot complete your flying lap if there is a yellow flag. so lando pitted and was stuck down in 17th and out of qualifying. this would be the first time that he was out in q1 since vegas last year (which if i remember correctly was also not his fault)
now though, of course nothing is ever that cut and dry. people thought that there had been a mis showing of a flag. yellow flag means that a car is stopped on track, white flag means that a car is going slowly on the track. and people thought that there had been a yellow flag shown when it was actually supposed to be a white flag (if there had been a white flag then lando would have been able to keep doing his flying lap) lando himself said that he had no idea what people were talking about because there is a light on the steering wheel that lights up when flags are called and he had a big yellow light. so it was clearly a yellow flag.
if you're concerned about lando being able to pull it out of the bag, id like to point you in the direction of the mexican gp last year where lando qualified 17th and finished 5th. on a track that was hard to overtake on. he can be absolutely insane when he wants to be. worry not gentle reader.
in any case. also out in q1 was daniel ricciardo, valtteri bottas, zhou guanyu and esteban ocon.
and notably, williams, who was on fucking fire this weekend as we already saw, finished q1 with alex albon in second (ahead of oscar) and franco colapinto in 8th. pierre gasly had somehow managed to also get into 4th. and nico hulkenberg was in 7th with ollie bearman in 13th. i told you the mid field battle was heating the hell up.
q2. everyone zoomed straight out of the gate. they didn't want to get lando norris’d. but, speaking of that, if lando managed to get no points in the race and charles managed to win, charles would overtake lando in the drivers championship. mark webber himself told this to charles, who was absolutely baffled.
in any case, charles was kinda suffering right now and that was because he was not getting slipstream from carlos to make his lap faster. meanwhile, carlos seemed to be actively trying to give charles the slipstream because he came on radio to say “he keeps missing the tow”
and amazingly, franco colapinto was 4 tenths AHEAD of alex albon. alex albon who had not been unqualified by his teammate once since the start of 2023. ex red bull driver alex albon. that alex albon.
max topped the times in q2, followed immediately by charles. insanely, fernando alonso managed to drag the aston martin to fifth. and franco was right behind him in 6th. by comparison alex albon was in 10th.
and from q2 we lost ollie bearman, yuki tsunoda (who has never qualified lower than 8th in baku), pierre gasly, nico hulkenberg and lance stroll. so yes, ollie bearman managed to outqualify nico hulkenberg. this is ollies second ever f1 race.
steaming on forward to q3.
we had, for review, in q3 the following:
both ferraris, both red bulls, both mercedes, both WILLIAMS (has not happened since vegas 2023), plus fernando alonso and oscar piastri.
right out the gate it was wild.
“red bull! theyve re found their mojo! or have they!” karun said. red bull were in 5th and 6th and not entirely sucking for the moment.
everyone did one flyer and then came out at the end for a second flyer.
here were the standings:
charles, carlos, oscar, george, checo, max, lewis, alex, franco, fernando
and everyone was making it to the line and all was going smooth until-
wait a second what is that
could it be! alex albon! with the air box fan still on his car! surely not!!!
oh but it was! and harry and karun were like oh wow so unfortunate for williams tisk tisk
meanwhile ted jumped on the radio to Loudly announce to everyone that this was insane and if i have time here i will put the rant he ranted cause it was Fantastic.
and what do you know i have time
so we had 3 minutes left qualifying and everyone was pulling out of the pits for their last flyer when oscar hopped on the radio to say
"the williams still has the air box fan in"
"oh what an error! disaster for williams!" karun and harry said. they speculated if the marshalls could get it or if the session needed to be red flagged. but alex threw the fan off the car.
and then they asked "ted have you ever seen that before?" and ted did not hold back:
"ITS A MASSIVE YELLOW FAN HOW COULD YOU MISS IT???!!! HOW COULD THE MECHANICS MISS IT???? I CANT BELIVE THEY WOULD MAKE SUCH A MISTAKE DOWN AT WILLIAMS! SUCH AN EXPERIENCED BUNCH OF GUYS AND GIRLS! WHAT IS GOING ON AT WILLIAMS OPERATIONALLY? HOW COULD YOU SEND A CAR OUT LIKE THAT?"
alex, obviously, got fined for an unsafe release 5k euros. he also had to throw the fan off to the side and got slightly covered in dry ice. he did not get to the a second flying lap.
franco did tho!
and here were out qualifying results:
p1: charles
p2: oscar
p3: carlos
p4: checo
p5: george
p6: max
p7: lewis
p8: fernando
p9: franco
p10: alex
p11: ollie
p12: yuki
p13: pierre
p14: nico
p15: lance
p16: daniel
p17: lando
p18: valtteri
p19: zhou
p20: esteban
oh ho ho but we werent done yet. because pierre gasly got disqualified from qualifying. for failing fuel flow regulations. and lewis was going to have to start from the pit lane for changing his power unit.
everyone, and by everyone i mean oscar max and checo, pretty much said that charles was going to get pole no matter what, they knew this coming in and the best they were trying for was second
onto the race.
notably, this is considered a checo track. this was one of the three races that max did not win last year. because checo won it. its a track that he does well on, evidenced by the fact that he qualified above max in qualifying. so people were expecting big things from him.
and so, we head into lap 1.
charles managed to hang onto the lead. checo passed carlos straight out of the gate for third and max managed to pass george to take fifth. lando had managed to get ahead of nico and up into 13th. notably, franco held onto 8th and ollie was able to hold onto tenth.
someone who was not doing well was lance stroll, who came on the radio saying that he had a puncture. this was from contact with yuki. lance had to pit for fresh tires and was pretty immediately thrown to the back of the grid.
by lap 2 lando had managed to get past daniel and was in 12th, he was trying to get past yuki next, which he managed by lap 3. yuki also lost a spot to nico.
also slaying in the mclaren was oscar, who took fastest lap. then charles took fastest lap.
and lewis hamilton, who had started from the pit lane, was up to 16th. already. somehow. though he was displeased with the tires, sayig that “this tire is pretty bad” over the radio.
yuki meanwhile was clearly having a problem because he had started going very very slowly. thought the pit wall said that he had no problems. this would later turn out to be false but we will indulge them for the time being.
franco was STILL ahead of alex albon on lap 6. STILL.
lando on lap 8 managed to push his way into points positions, overtaking ollie bearman for 10th. though this was where things were about to slow down for him because in front of him were alex, franco and fernando, who were all very close together and would be hard to get past.
george was back in bad luck hell as a plastic bag entered his airbox. will he ever catch a break.
on lap 11 nico hulkenberg finally caught up with ollie bearman and passed him for 11th.
and max’s car was not working. to potentially no one’s surprise. “i have zero bite in the car” he said. and this was probably true because checo was a whole 6.5 seconds ahead of him. insane gap.
several pit stops later that i will not detail out because we simply do not have the time, alex albon ended up in 4th and lando ended up in fifth. and oscar was about to get undercut by checo.
“mojo seems to be back for checo perez” harry said, correctly.
mojo was back for him indeed. and now he was right behind lando.
and if you will recall, according to mclaren themselves, priority at mclaren is the team first, then oscar, then lando. but oscar was ahead of lando. so what did mclaren do?
they asked lando do hold up perez, but not compromise his own race.
remever a long time ago when i said mclaren wouldn't have any internal drama this season? man how i was wrong.
lando managed to hold up perez for around a lap or two before he got past. this was crucial because this was during when oscar was in the pits.
thanks to lando and the power of the papaya rules teamwork, oscar ended up coming out in 4th, only .706s ahead of checo.
mclaren are working together everyone! mclaren are working together!
meanwhile, turns out that yuki did indeed have problems because he retired on lap 17 with a hole in his sidepod from the contact with lance on lap 1. this was now two races in a row where he had had to retire for reasons out of his control.
several more people pitted. and eventually charles was back out in front, oscar was in p2. until he wasn't. no, he didn't dnf. he overtook charles! he was in p1! he popped out of nowhere! nowhere being 2 car lengths back and just flooring it to spring around charles like a little silly slinky! karun called it a “good, fair and robust defense,” which sounds like its descibing notes in wine. but this was not wine. this was the baku gp. and we were only half done.
ollie bearman was defending against lewis hamilton, holding on tightly to 14th place.
charles was still behind oscar and he could not get past, despite the fact that he was still very much in spitting distance. “they are pushing like crazy or they have more grip than us” he said.
carlos got past both lando and alex albon and was up into 4th
this brought max up behind lando. max was on 11 lap old tires and lando was on 24 lap old tires. but lando still defended like hell and managed to hold onto sixth. max was 0.632 seconds behind lando on lap 25 when he said that “my brakes are not working.” this was hardly a surprise. max has hated the car since china.
also experiencing technical difficulties was sir lewis hamilton. he was stuck down in 14th and was first told to do “everything you can do to get the surface temp down” of the tires. he said “im trying” then several laps later on lap 29 he came on the radio to say “are you seeing how i have to drive this thing?” “yes,” bono, his engineer said. “quite effective though.”
max was still half a second behind lando. mclaren faked a pit stop call over the radio to get max to pit. he did not.
but, george russell did manage to pass him. which was “not good for max’s world champion aspirations.”
this was also when ted very bafflingly said that “if i had a sofa in the pit lane i would be jumping up and down on it” im not sure what that was in response to.
meanwhile, ollie was still holding off sir lewis hamilton. and charles was trying to get oscar to pit again by lying over the radio. it was not working.
lando did a pit stop finally and came out a whole 15 second behind max. he was hoping to catch max by the end of the race. but it might be tight. lets go last lap lando.
“lando, imagine andrea on your shoulder saying ‘zero wheel spin’ in every exit,” lando’s race engineer said. if you're confused, everyone else was too.
10 laps to go and here were the order of affairs:
oscar
+.449s charles
+1.865s checo
+2.989s carlos
+16.530s george
+1.909s max
+11.535s lando
+9.715s fernando
+2.589s alex
+2.451s nico
+4.667s franco
+1.590s lewis
+1.261s ollie
+1.791s pierre
+9.205s daniel
+23.919s esteban
+.789s lance
+3.862s valtteri
+3.631s guanyu
lando was determined. he took fastest lap on lap 43 and was 8.8s behind max
at this point, the leaders were starting to lap the cars in the back. “the back markers are starting to come up,” checo’s engineer said to him. “its going to get messy.”
“hold onto your hats and if you don't have one go get one and hold onto it” harry said. harry would turn out to be correct.
we had the top 3 all running very close to eachother, that was oscar, charles and checo and “welcome to the party carlos sainz!” who was now 1.2 seconds behind checo in the four way battle for the lead.
definitely not leading was lance stroll, who retired on lap 47 with a brake problem.
oscar managed to pull ahead of charles by 1.5 seconds, finally knocking him out of DRS range. so now it was a three way battle for second. and charles had “no rear tires. no rear tires at all.”
and, just like i said he would, lando managed to pass max on lap 49. he was closing the gap slowly in the championship.
“verstappen’s day goes from bad to worse,” harry said. because lando still had fastest lap, so he would score 3 more points than max. which is important if lando wants to beat max in the championship (though i think hes still like 60 points behind)
meanwhile! franco managed to pass nico hulkenberg for 10th! he was in the points!!!! at his second race!!!
but this was short lived because there was a crash! a big smackeroo! between carlos and checo!! checo was mad, carlos didn't know what happened.
what happened was that carlos was trying to pass checo but checo did not move over. it was deemed an equal fault accident. both of them were utterly confused at what happened and apparently spent 20 minutes in the medical center being utterly lost and aparently saying that sometimes this sport sucks. and! contrary to what several people said! checo did not bang on carlos’s helmet after the crash.
the crash actually caused chef's dad to have a heart attack. he is stable now.
and well. this clip of george from the post qualifying interviews definitely didnt age well:
but! since we were a matter of a few laps from the end, this meant that the rest of the race was finished under a virtual safety car.
which meant
OSCAR PIASTRI WINS THE AZERBAIJAN GP
and george inherited p3!
and on his own merit too! no safety cars, no team orders, no weird shit!
“yes!” he whispered over the radio.
he almost fell getting out of the car, then gave us all the “one moment” hand gesture before properly celebrating.
he also got driver of the day!
(this was marginally better than george russell, who said over the radio “i cant get any rubber (to pick up on his tires) all im getting is leaves”)
gunther steiner also hosted the post race interviews. which was interesting.
george said that the most difficult part of the race was “driving full gas into a wall of carbon fiber on the penultimate lap…the vsc should have come out sooner”
charles bashed ferrari because they didn't do any high fuel runs in practice.
oscar was entirely pleased. “i managed to overtake and hold onto it for the next 35 laps..one of the better races of my career.” and honestly, oscar winning a race straight after mclaren basically announcing that he was their number 2 driver is nothing short of hilarious.
and! mclaren was now leading the constructors championship by 20 points! for the first time in ten years!!!!
the top three had a moment outside of the car that was filled with baffled:
and oscar's engineer tom got to stand on the podium with him. he usually takes a selfie with oscar after each race he podiums at, but he was too excited to so george took this picture for them
(george also aparently demomished oscar in a game of uno on the plane, immediately humbling him)
george also shielded himself from the champagne on the podium
the cooldown room reacted to the crash in a very straight forward manner:
and very quickly cause its midnight and the singapore gp starts in 8 hours, the post race, speed ran:
-mark webber told off laura winter for thinking that oscar didn't have good tire management
-alex albon was “super happy, that's a lot of points for us” (williams finished in 7th and 8th). he cut his own interview short when ollie bearman arrived, saying “I can go, im happy to go” and then waving comically.
-williams was so pleased with this result they blasted everyone with champagne. and they overtook alpine in the constructors championship! this was also their best race finish all season
-(and a quick note, if youre going to really blame logan for being that shit of a driver here, please remember that the car he was driving was several rounds of upgrades behind alex's pretty much the entire time he was driving it)
-ollie became the first driver to ever score points in his first two races for two different constructors because the double dnf pushed him up to 10th place. he said that there was not much difference between the haas and the ferrari, the ferrari was just red
-franco continued to charm everyone and flirt with the reporters.
-they interviewed george and lewis and the camera had to be adjusted for george's height. it was comical and resulted in my favorite edit so far of the season (sound on)
-lando looked pleased and happy for once. he said about holding off checo that “i didn't hold him up i just had to cool my tires a little.” he was delighted to be leading the constructors for the first time in ten years and he defended alex albon saying “i struggled to get past alex for a while, which is common, alex doesnt make mistakes.” he also ratted on max for going to fast during the VSC and said “i didn't complain, facts were stated.” and to sum it all up he said that “im executing things well, i’m very quick…i’m not going to be the happiest guy, but i am never the happiest guy….car is performing well everywhere…some red cars behind us seem to be our biggest competitors right now”
-by comparison george insulted all of pirelli. the tire people. “pretty infuriating that it (the pace) changes this so much….its black magic, people who make the tires don't understand the tires…..for 20 laps we had a car not worthy of points and for 20 laps we had a car fighting for victory and the only difference is the tires.”
-lewis was notably upset after the race and walked through the paddock with his helmet on, not wanting to talk to anyone. but he did talk to franco and ollie and congratulate them on a job well done defending against him and racing against him. franco even fangirled over this on his instagram.
-charles was clearly upset with ferrari. he was so upset he posted a thirst trap.
-and oscar. oscar was very happy this afternoon. and his mom was there! she doesnt usually come cause it scares her, but nicole was there today!
-mclaren celebrated with a hell of a lot of champagne. both oscar’s wina and lando’s insane recovery, and the fact that they were leading the championship. red bull have been dethroned, at least for now.
-there was so much champagne that lando took off his socks to spray it. all seems well at mclaren.
-at least one thing is for sure, oscar had a better time here this weekend than last year when he got food poisoning and only ate four pieces of toast
and with that. we head into singapore. quite literally as it is starting in a few hours. again, i apologixe about this post. its a little sad, but the next one will be better. pinkly promise.
see you all soon!!!
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Cheeks All Flushed (Part 1)
***IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: Unfortunately this chapter was longer than tumblr wanted, so I've split it into two posts. The smut is in the other part if you'd rather skip shenanigans and Get To Business. And that's valid! Part 2 is here and also linked down below. Apologies! It IS all in one place on AO3 if you'd prefer that!
Summary: You looked at him thoughtfully. “Hang on, weren’t you and Karlach trying to get drunk?”
Astarion giggled stupidly. “Yes.”
You snorted. “How’d that go?”
“Fine,” he sighed. “Takes me a lot longer to get drunk. What with the dead liver and all.”
You furrowed your brow. “Wouldn’t lacking a working liver make you drunk immediately?”
Astarion whined, “I don’t know, but Karlach is completely inebriated and I only have a buzz I can already feel fading.
OR
It's time for the Tielfing party! Antics ensue.
Pairing: Astarion x f!reader
Rating: 18+
Word count: 23.1k (This particular part is 18.5k)
CW: smut, reader is new to sex, oral sex (f receiving), mentions of Astarion's past trauma, soft Astarion, porn with feelings, consumption of alcohol, reader is an idiot (and a bard), so is Astarion (not a bard, just an idiot), the other companions are also idiots, reader likes kids, shenanigans amongst friends, general party antics
Spoilers: Spoilers for Act 1 (in-game dialogue, plot points, etc.)
Also posted to: AO3
FAIR WARNING: This is PART 3 in my series, "Beauty and the Bard." Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Find the masterlist here.
a/n: Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who's read the first two parts!! It means so much to me that you guys are enjoying my writing and silliness. This chapter is much more slice-of-life than the last two parts, in that it's mostly fun at the Tiefling party with less smut. It's also the longest part so far! Apologies to those of you here for vampire penis, it'll show up again in the future surely, but tonight is more about tipsy/soft Astarion. I hope you all enjoy :) (Thank you once again to @kermitwazowski for beta reading!)
As a reminder of where Part 2 ended, you and Astarion just entered camp after dallying, even though Shadowheart told you not to. Rest in peace, you will be missed.
Taglist: @a66-1, @khaleesiofthewolves, @khywren, @lollipopsandlandmines,
@minestrones, @mizuki-nautilus
It was Wyll who spotted you first. He’d been wandering close to the treeline, gathering extra kindling for the fire, but something told you he’d also been keeping an eye out for you.
“You two are in heaps of trouble,” he muttered, ushering you behind Karlach’s currently vacant tent. “You’re lucky it was me who saw you first.”
“How is she?” you whispered, looking around to see if you could spot Shadowheart.
“I think seeing you might calm her down,” Wyll said, “but be prepared for an earful.”
“Oh please,” Astarion scoffed. “I’ve dealt with worse than an affronted cleric of Shar-'' He stepped out from behind Karlach’s tent and was met face to face with the cleric in question.
“What was that?” Shadowheart’s hands were on her hips.
Astarion retreated, shielding half of his body behind you. “Hello, Shadowheart,” he waved his fingers delicately and smiled awkwardly.
You leaned over to Wyll. “Save yourself,” you muttered. “We’ll be fine.”
Wyll gave you a sympathetic look and nodded. “Coming, Karlach!” he called, to which Karlach responded, “What?”
Shadowheart stood before you, looking frustrated and tapping her foot. You adjusted the pile of blankets in your arms.
“Got the blankets,” you said sheepishly. Astarion raised his pile up a little higher in agreement.
“What was the one thing I said?” Shadowheart ignored the blankets.
You sighed. “‘Don’t dally.’”
“Mhm. And what did you do?”
“We-”
“Astarion?” Shadowheart turned to the vampire.
He let out a reluctant whining sound. “We dallied.”
Shadowheart looked pleased by his admission. “Whose idea was it?”
You and Astarion shared a look.
“Don’t tell me, I already know it was Astarion’s,” Shadowheart rolled her eyes.
Astarion scoffed. “You don’t know that!”
Shadowheart raised a doubtful eyebrow and looked at you. You avoided her gaze. She looked back at Astarion. “Yes I do.”
“Darling,” Astarion hissed at you.
“I didn’t say anything!” you hissed back.
Suddenly Shadowheart grabbed Astarion’s left ear and your right ear and pulled you both out from behind Karlach’s tent. You and Astarion protested as you went.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!”
“Ah! Watch the hair, you heathen!”
Shadowheart flung her arms forward, releasing both of you and sending you stumbling forward towards the roaring fire. You caught yourselves before crashing into the flames.
“You could have KILLED us just now!” Astarion exclaimed.
Shadowheart ignored him. “Look who’s finally back,” she addressed the rest of camp.
Lae’zel scoffed, pausing the loud sharpening of her greatsword. “I must give you credit, Astarion, you last longer than I would have thought.”
Astarion straightened. “Thank you, I- hey.”
Lae’zel rolled her eyes and returned to her blade.
“Sorry, everyone,” you said, feeling your cheeks heat up. “We lost track of time, that’s all.” You adjusted the blankets still in your arms.
“We have nothing to apologize for,” Astarion said, moving close to you and going to kiss your cheek, but thinking better of it when he saw steam pouring from Shadowheart’s ears. “Sorry,” he said to her softly.
Shadowheart pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head disapprovingly. She clapped her hands together before she spoke. “Okay,” she said and turned to face you, “go wash those blankets and hang them to dry.” You nodded and she turned to Astarion. “Once you help carry those blankets to the lake, you are to help Lae’zel hunt for tonight’s dinner.”
Astarion made to argue. “But-”
“‘But’ nothing. I want the two of you as far away from each other as possible until everything is prepared for tonight’s festivities.”
“Here, here,” Gale agreed from over by the cookware.
“Oof, tough break,” Karlach smirked.
Astarion sniffed. “Just because some of us aren’t getting laid, doesn’t mean all of us should suffer the same fate.”
You hid your face in the laundry you were holding and groaned loudly.
“Watch it, Fangs,” Karlach warned.
Shadowheart took you by the shoulders and turned you towards the lakeshore. “Go,” she said, a bit of a bite to the word.
“Yes ma’am,” you sighed and started making your way to the waters gently lapping the sand by Withers.
“You too, Astarion,” you heard Shadowheart behind you.
“I’m going,” Astarion spat. His footsteps caught up with yours.
You dropped the blankets by the waterline and grabbed the bucket and soap that you kept nearby for laundry duty, one of your commonly assigned chores. Astarion’s pile of blankets joined your own, then his arms came around your waist from behind, and his chin came to rest on your shoulder.
“Sorry, love,” he murmured, kissing your cheek.
“At least we’re not dead,” you leaned into his caress.
“You are so incredibly out in the open it’s unbelievable,” Shadowheart called from a few yards away.
“GIVE US A MOMENT,” Astarion snapped back in her direction. He turned to look at you, his frustration turning into fondness. “I’ll see you soon.” He kissed the crown of your head just as Lae’zel began to complain.
“Let’s go, vampire. Before someone else steals what is rightfully ours.”
“I’m not anyone’s!” you complained to the sky above you.
“Is it truly so hard to believe that she actually likes me?” Astarion asked as he made his way to his tent to prepare for the hunt.
“You are handsome but weak,” Lae’zel informed. “Far from the optimal pleasure partner.”
“I could make you eat those words,” Astarion teased.
“You would not last a single minute with me,” Lae’zel said and then returned to her own tent to prepare.
You sighed, embarrassed but not surprised by the camp’s reaction to your delayed arrival with Astarion. There was no talking your way out of it, especially with Astarion’s line about getting laid. The bastard. He could be so annoying sometimes.
At least you didn’t have to dance around it. Even though less than twenty-four hours ago you would have insisted that there was nothing going on between you and the Astarion, now you smiled to yourself, happy that that was no longer the case.
“Thou hast now a bosom companion-”
“MISTRESS OF REVEL,” you yelped, clutching a hand to your chest to slow the pounding of your heart. You exhaled and turned to see Withers looking more or less unbothered. “You scared me, Withers.”
“Take care that thou are not distracted on thy quest, seeking the comforts of the flesh.”
You stared at him. “Gods, you sleep with a guy ONE time.”
Withers stared back.
“Okay, two times.”
The stare continued.
“Okay, so he made me cum, like, five times total, is that what you want to hear?”
Withers said nothing.
You groaned and picked up a blanket, hiking your pants up your legs. “Whatever, stop looking at me.” You waded out into the water, blanket in one hand, soap and bucket in the other.
“Recall that in time, all becomes dust and bone.”
“All becomes dust and bone,” you mocked quietly. “You’re a pretty morbid guy, you know that?”
You looked over at him and swore you could see a small smile before his expression faded into one of cool indifference as usual.
~~~~~
It had taken nearly all afternoon to finish washing and hanging all the blankets to dry on the makeshift clothesline you’d erected lining the water’s edge, but you’d done it. Shadowheart had been kind enough to cast Lesser Restoration on you to combat the fatigue of blood loss and to help fade the marks still leftover on your neck. As a result, all you’d suffered from washing was some mild back pain from constantly bending to dunk and soap the blankets and standing back up to hang them. Laundry out here wasn’t the easiest task, especially without the proper tools you’d usually find in the city, but you enjoyed the peace that came from the still waters of the lake. Today, you’d been extra thorough in your work and you were pretty sure the blankets were cleaner now than they had been when Astarion had nicked them from your companions in the first place.
Speaking of your companions, Shadowheart was doing her best to keep Astarion away from you for as long as possible. When he’d come back from hunting with Lae’zel, she’d made him help Gale prepare the meat.
“Even though I can’t partake in the meal,” he’d protested, “I have to help prepare it? Really?”
“Ah, relax,” Gale smacked him a little too hard on the back, “you can drain it dry first. Much easier if you go to town on the creature rather than letting me exsanguinate it myself with a blade.”
“I’m not some personal predator,” Astarion crossed his arms. A beat. “But fine, I suppose I can help this one time.”
After he’d drained tonight’s meal, a large wild boar, Shadowheart had sent him and Wyll to scavenge for more wine at the Blighted Village. He’d complained about the long trek and the poor quality of the wine they’d probably find, but Wyll had been able to drag him off after a bit of flattery and the batting of eyes. The man was too easy sometimes.
By then, the sun hung low in the sky and you’d asked Karlach to come stand by the blankets and act as a heater to speed up the drying process.
“Do you miss him already?” she teased.
“Who?” you teased back, adjusting another blanket.
“Do you loooove him?”
You sputtered. “What?! No! I mean- I don’t know! This is new for me, and new for him and we’re figuring things out, we’ve barely talked about it and-”
She laughed at your word vomit. “Was it good?”
You paused. “Was what good?”
Karlach rolled her eyes. “You know what.”
You felt your cheeks heat up and your heart begin to pound. “Can we not talk about this?”
Karlach groaned. “Come on Soldier, I’m so pent up it’s criminal! I know I’d ride him to the Feywild and back if I had the chance.”
“Karlach!” You whisper shouted. Luckily the others were too busy with their assigned preparation tasks to pay attention to the two of you huddled behind the damp blankets.
She didn’t say anything, but raised her eyebrows at you to encourage you to talk.
You sighed and avoided eye contact. “It was really good,” you muttered, hoping she might not hear you.
A smug smile graced her lips. “I knew it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” you waved her off, wringing the water out of one of the blankets on the end of the clothesline.
“He seems like the type who’d know his way around.”
“Yeah, well.”
“And how does he compare? Best you’ve ever had?”
“Um…” You pursed your lips.
“Wait, but you just said it was really good?”
“It was!”
“But-?”
“There is no but! He was really good!”
“You’re hiding something, Soldier, I can tell. He wasn’t the best you’ve ever had?”
“It’s just that… there haven’t been… others… to compare it to.”
Karlach stared at you. “WHAT?!” Her flames erupted to the point where you had to take a few steps back.
“Shh! Quiet!” You listened for your other companions but heard nothing.
“Don’t tell me Astarion was your first?!”
“And so what if he was!”
“The smug bastard,” Karlach muttered. Her face grew serious. “If he so much as looks at you wrong, tell me, and I’ll kill him.”
You laughed. “Shadowheart’s first in line to kill him, but don’t worry, I’ll have you waiting in the wings.”
“I’m serious. I’ll kill the pointy freak before he can hurt you, mark my words.”
You laughed again, moving closer to her now that her flames were calming. “Astarion and I are both adults. I’ll be fine.” Your voice went soft, “And I think he truly cares for me.”
Karlach huffed in disbelief. “Gross little vampire probably smelled your virgin blood and couldn’t keep away.”
You narrowed your eyes at her. “Don’t be ridiculous. He likes me.”
“We all like you,” Karlach sighed. “You’re a lot of fun.”
“Thank you.”
“But none of us would want to see you get hurt by the leech.”
“You know, I think he’s more sensitive than you all realize.”
“Astarion.” It was more of a statement of disbelief than a question. She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Yes.”
“Mr. ‘Tell Me How You’d Like to Die?’ Mr. ‘Describe How I Look in the Mirror and Tell Me I’m Beautiful?’ Mr. ‘I Have A Troubling Relationship with Power Over Others?’” She looked at you pointedly. “Mr.-”
“Alright,” you cut her off.
“No wait, I've got another.” Karlach held up her finger like she was about to say something. “Nope. Lost it. Damn, it felt like a good one, too.”
“We all have our quirks,” you said, steering the conversion back on track. “Astarion, I think, has a few more than one might deem acceptable, but I trust him. He’s been true to his word about everything so far.” Your voice got small, “And I really like him.”
Karlach blew out a breath of resignation. “I know you do, Soldier.” Her hesitance turned into thoughtfulness. “And he did look pretty smitten when I found you both this morning.”
Your face went red at the memory. “Gods, that was so embarrassing. I still can’t believe we fell asleep out there.” Your brain took a second to process what she’d said. You turned to look at her, a small smile forming. “‘Smitten?’ Do you really think so?”
Karlach rolled her eyes affectionately. “Yes, he couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
Your small smile grew into a smirk of satisfaction. You grew giddy. “You should have heard him, Karlach! He was so sweet, and gentle, and he kept checking in with me, and didn’t make me feel awkward or bad, and his body, oh my GODS, his body! When I say he’s unfairly beautiful, it truly is unfair because, how in the Nine Hells do you get abs like that and-”
Karlach was watching you with a fond smile on her face. She grinned and lifted a hand to stop you. “Okay, okay, I believe you. He took care of you.”
You sighed happily. “He did.”
“I’m glad.” After a moment, she sighed dramatically. “Okay, so maybe he didn’t just fuck you in some sort of weird vampire power play because you’re a virgin.”
“Karlach!” You furrowed your brows. “Seriously?”
“Oh, sorry,” she amended, “you were a virgin.”
You scrunched your nose at her. “You’re so lucky you’re a walking inferno, otherwise I’d punch you so hard right now.”
“You don’t have the guts,” she teased. “You’re too soft, Soldier.”
“I am,” you sighed in agreement.
The two of you stood in a pleasant silence while Karlach paced back and forth to dry the blankets evenly.
“I’d hug you if I could, you know,” she said quietly. “I am happy for you. And if anyone is getting laid around here, I’m glad it’s you.”
“Thanks?” you laughed.
“But if he gives you any trouble, you come find Mama K, yeah?”
You saluted her playfully and she mirrored you.
“Your guests dost approach from the east.”
“WITHERS,” you stomped your foot, pretending to be upset, but smiling over at him. “We need to put a bell on you to remind us that you’re still alive.”
“I am not still of this realm of existence,” Withers corrected.
“You know what she means, skelly boy,” Karlach grinned over at him and then at you. “Come on soldier, let’s go greet our adoring fans.”
Karlach led the way to the center of camp where sure enough, Halsin and the tieflings of the Emerald Grove were emerging through the brush. Halsin caught your eye and waved affably. You waved back, happy to see him looking so well after the rescue from the goblin camp.
Behind him, he tugged a cart meant for an ox, filled to the brim with food and booze and the eight troublesome kids who’d been kind enough to show you their hideout hidden beneath the Grove. Mol hopped out first, followed by Arabella and Mattis and the others who looked around briefly before zeroing in on the abandoned little temple past the waterfall in the corner of camp. They made their way over to it and disappeared inside.
Noted. You’d have to check on them later.
Suddenly a flash of blue and pink was launching itself at you and you stumbled backwards as it wrapped you in a tight hug.
“Alfira!” you wheezed, returning her hug.
She pulled away, grinning. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day!” She was positively giddy and her mood was infectious. “I need to get some wine in me first, but we must play something together!”
Your smile faltered a little. “I’d love to, but my lute’s a little worse for wear.” You led her over to your tent and gathered a few pieces of the shattered instrument from your bag.
“Oh, you weren’t kidding.” Alfira took the pieces and examined them closely.
Lakrissa found her way over to you. “Is this one causing trouble?” she asked, playfully slinging an arm around Alfira’s shoulders. “She was buzzing all afternoon about this shindig.”
“Hi Lakrissa,” you greeted happily. “No, I was actually just showing her the state of my lute.” You pulled a loose string out of your bag to emphasize your point.
“I’ve seen this before,” Alfira took the string from you and inspected it along with the few shards of wood you’d already handed her. “The music overtook you during a particularly powerful song and your trusty instrument suffered the consequences. Did you bash it into a rock in a fit of musical liberation? Been there.”
You gritted your teeth sheepishly. “I wish it was in a fit of musical liberation. No, I kind of got backed into a corner protecting Astarion from a bugbear attack.”
“The mouthy one?” Lakrissa asked.
“You’ve met a mouthy bugbear?”
“No, Alfie, I mean their mouthy friend. The one with the hair?” She lifted her hand up to her own head to try and emphasize the height of his hair.
“Oh yeah! Hard to keep track of you all,” Alfira shrugged.
You laughed, “Think about how we feel! There’s a billion of you!” You gestured around to the tieflings that were now acclimating to your spruced up camp.
Shadowheart had done a great job of tidying the clearing of fallen branches and mischievous weeds and had gone around making sure that everybody’s tents were in order. With the help of Lae’zel and Karlach, the three had managed to move a large log into the center of camp that was acting as a table that currently housed the booze your party had gathered, along with the food Gale had been preparing all afternoon.
Gale, as soon as he’d declared the meal to be sufficient, had gone around hanging colorful banners throughout the camp with a few magic words and the snap of his fingers. You’d offered to help him in his effort but he politely declined, citing Shadowheart’s wrath.
Now Halsin, Zevlor, and a few of the other adult tieflings were unloading the cattle cart and adding their hoard of food and drink to the table. Shadowheart and Gale were already filling goblets with wine and Lae’zel was chatting with (or maybe threatening) a tiefling that you recognized as one of the guards at the gate to the Grove. Karlach waved over at you from where she was talking with Dammon and you returned it happily.
You turned back to Alfira and Lakrissa. “Sorry Alfira, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to play with you tonight.”
“Nonsense!” She took you by the hand and led you and Lakrissa to the cattle cart. She pulled out two lutes and held one out to you. “One’s my teacher’s. I’ll play hers and you can borrow mine for tonight.”
You took the instrument she offered carefully, testing its weight in your hands. It was lovingly worn and smooth to the touch. You gave an experimental pluck at one of the strings. Perfectly in tune. You strummed a chord and minor illusioned Gale’s robes to go from deep purple to a loud, obnoxious orange.
Gale paused in his pouring of wine as Shadowheart snorted. He looked down at his robes then looked over at you smirking at him. “Hey…” He scolded with no ice behind his words. He addressed Alfira and Lakrissa who were holding back giggles, “You realize you’ve just given her a literal instrument to channel the weave more potently, and now she can make tonight extremely irritating for us all?”
“You missed my illusions,” you teased, strumming again and returning his robes to their royal purple hue.
“On the contrary, we were only gifted about twelve blissful hours without you tormenting us with your tomfoolery.”
You pouted at him teasingly. “How sad.” You poised your hands, ready to strum another chord. “I could make things so much worse,” you threatened, your voice lowered to a stupid octave.
“Behave,” Shadowheart raised her eyebrows at you, but you could see the amusement that played at her features.
“Fine,” you groaned and turned back to Alfira. “Thank you for this, I promise not to attack another bugbear with it for the sake of the mouthy one.”
A voice sounded from behind you. “The mouthy one?”
Astarion came to stand beside you, his hands clasped behind his back and skin speckled with blood spatter. For some reason, he absolutely stank.
“Oh gods,” you said, scrunching your nose and turning away. “Did you and Wyll wander into a stinking cloud or something?”
“Hello, dearest,” he purred, pulling you to him and puckering his lips for a playful kiss, but you pushed his face away, avoiding his mouth at all costs.
“Get away from me, freak,” you laughed as he was able to plant a kiss on your cheek with a loud “MWAH.” He looked very pleased with himself.
Alfira and Lakrissa, meanwhile, watched this display politely with their noses plugged.
Lakrissa gestured between the two of you. “When did this happen?” Her voice was nasally.
“He’s always been a jackass,” you said.
“She means, love, when did you finally pluck up the courage to confess your undying love for me?” The flamboyant lilt in Astarion’s voice made you smile.
“This just happened, actually,” you said, pointing from you to Astarion. “The stink is extra new.”
“Do you like it, darling? A gift from one of the goblins at that Blighted Village. They weren’t pleased we came for their wine, stink bombs were thrown, blood was spilled, a tale as old as time.”
“Did you get to murder a bunch of goblins?” Despite the topic, you spoke to him as if he were a child.
“I did,” he said, his voice gravelly, his face twisted in a wicked smirk.
“Good for you. Now get the hells away from us.” You pointed in the direction of his tent. “I don’t know why you haven’t already scrubbed your skin raw to get rid of that smell. You hate things of a vile nature.” You adjusted your accent to sound like him as you said the last bit. “Though you do love gore.”
“I had to share this delightful experience with you first, my sweet. Obviously.”
“Obviously.” You gave him a teasingly sour expression and pushed him off in the direction of his tent. “Get fresh clothes and go jump in the lake or something! Then burn that armor!”
Astarion grabbed your arm and pulled you closer again, much to your dismay and protest. He brought his mouth to your ear. “Care to join me?”
You met his gaze, which flickered down to your lips for a moment, only for a roguish grin to spread across his face. You grew flustered and looked away.
“Maybe later.”
He chuckled, “Can’t wait.” Then he spun on his heel and headed off to his tent.
“Sorry about that,” you said, turning back to Alfira and Lakrissa, only to discover that they’d already walked away. You spotted them pouring themselves some wine a little ways off and sighed.
“They left ages ago,” Astarion called over his shoulder.
“And you’re still here?” you called back, smiling.
He laughed and you settled Alfira’s lute safely within your tent before you meandered your way over to Rolan and his siblings who were seated not far off. Rolan was bent over, his eyes closed in concentration.
“Evening, folks,” you greeted and were met with joyful hellos from Lia and Cal.
“You’re just in time for Rolan’s extremely cool magic trick.” Lia teased.
“That is, if he’d hurry up and do it already,” Cal added.
“Patience,” Rolan said. “Have you no respect for showmanship?” He cracked his knuckles enthusiastically.
Cal leaned forward and whispered loud enough for all of you to hear, “Having performance issues, Rolan?”
“Hush, you,” Rolan rolled his eyes.
“I, for one, love a good bout of showmanship,” you settled in next to Cal. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Rolan gestured to you, vindicated. “Thank you,” he said through gritted teeth as he looked at his siblings. He took a deep breath. “And…”
A burst of colorful light erupted from his hands as he lifted them into the air.
“...behold!” He exclaimed as the colors faded into tiny bursts of light, dissipating like fireworks.
You clapped excitedly. “Beautiful!”
Rolan looked over at you, clearly pleased. “Adoring applause? You’re too kind.” He bowed dramatically, making a show of his gratitude.
Lia turned to Cal. “Remember when he could barely cast that?”
Cal nodded. “They grow up so fast.”
Something caught your attention from a ways off. Peeking out from behind the large cluster of rocks you found yourself facing was Silfy; the younger sister of Mattis, the tiefling child who tried to sell you a “lucky ring.” Astarion had halted your hand when you went to give him a coin, shaking his head and explaining that you were being scammed.
Now, however, Silfy seemed alone. You remembered how upset she’d been when you caught her trying to rifle through your pockets.
“Never have I met such troglodytes,” you heard Rolan laugh. “Now, pass the wine.”
“I have to take care of something,” you said as you stood up. “I’m sure I’ll see you again before the party’s over,” you smiled and waved, making your way over to Silfy’s hiding spot.
You saw her see you and duck behind the rock.
“Hello,” you coaxed gently, bending on your knee to level your height with hers. Silfy poked her head out but looked nervous. “It’s okay,” you encouraged. “You’re Silfy, right?”
She came out slowly and nodded.
“That was a pretty cool show just now, huh?” You said, referencing Rolan’s trick which she’d no doubt seen.
She nodded again and looked at her feet.
“What are you doing over here all alone?”
She sniffled. “Mattis was mean to me.”
You tilted your head. “What did he say?”
Silfy looked up at you. “He said Mol would never let me in her Guild in the city because I’m no good at pick-pocketing.” Her voice wobbled and you could tell she was trying not to cry.
You hid a smile. The things siblings fought about… And this particular fight was extra unusual. “Should we go talk to him?” you asked.
“Okay,” she said and watched as you stood.
“Come on,” you said and took her hand.
Together, you and Silfy walked around the length of camp, passing people as you went. You tossed out polite greetings and a few kind words, but eventually made it to the waterfall and the slippery log that connected your camp to the little temple where you knew the other kids were hanging out. You held tight to Silfy as you crossed the log.
Mol stood by the entrance. “Silfy!” she exclaimed, clearly happy to see her. “There you are.”
Silfy let go of your hand and approached Mol. “Sorry I’m no good at pick-pocketing,” her voice barely audible above the roar of the waterfall a few feet away.
“Is that what Mattis said that made you run away? Ah, don’t listen to him. You’ll get plenty of practice before we reach the Gate.”
Silfy stood up a little straighter and looked pleased.
Mol cocked her head towards the temple entrance. “Get in there,” she smiled.
Silfy smiled back and ran inside. Mol turned to face you.
“Thanks for that,” she said.
“Happy to help,” you said, attempting to subtly peer into the temple and see what the others were up to.
“You came through for us. That’s a change from most adults I know.”
You shifted a little to try and get a better angle. It was too dark.
“What are you guys doing way over here?” you asked absently.
“Watching a bunch of old folks get dumber by the dram-full. And when they run dry… I’ve got a few bottles tucked away to keep things flowing.” She grinned at her own ingenuity. “For a price, of course,” she added.
“Smart,” you nodded and crossed your arms. An idea had struck you earlier in the evening when you saw the kids slink over here. You readjusted your feet, trying to look like an authority figure but knowing Mol was probably immune to the act. “How would you guys like to get a little practice in, this evening?”
Mol looked at you curiously. “Practice what?”
“Scamming. Scheming. Stealing.”
“I’m listening.”
“One of the men I travel with, the one with the hair-”
“-long or floofy?”
“Floofy, for sure,” you answered almost immediately.
“Right. I know him.”
“Well he considers himself to be an expert at sleight of hand.”
Mol scoffed.
“I know,” you agreed. “I think you should all prove you’re better than him.”
“Easy,” Mol crossed her arms. “How?”
“Here’s my proposal: You each try to take something from his tent or off his person without getting caught. If you get caught, you’re out.”
“And if we don’t get caught?”
“Depending on what it is you took, I might let you keep it.”
Mol scoffed again. “What’s the point of stealing off him if there’s a chance we won’t be able to keep our spoils?”
You pursed your lips in agreement. “Honestly, I really want to prank him and I think it would be hilarious if you guys took his stuff. He loves his stuff.”
“I do love a good con…” Mol pondered for a moment. “Alright, counteroffer.”
“Lay it on me.”
“Since you happened to catch me in a good mood; we do this for you and we have your sworn loyalty once we establish ourselves as the best Guild in the Gate.” She thought for another moment. “Also two hundred gold.”
You sucked in a breath. “You drive a hard bargain, Mol.” You held out your hand for her to shake. “But you’ve got a deal.”
“Hang on, you’re not gonna try to talk us out of it? Not gonna haggle?”
“I already tried to talk you out of it back at the Grove,” you shrugged. “But you’re all way too clever for your own good and I know there’s no changing your minds. Besides, it’ll be nice to have some friends waiting for us in the city.” You smiled at her, your hand still outstretched.
She returned your smile and took your hand, shaking it firmly. “Deal.”
“A pleasure doing business with you,” you bowed dramatically and Mol snickered.
Mol made her way to the open door of the temple. She looked back at you. “I expect to see that two hundred gold before the night is through.”
“I’ll go get it right now,” you said pointing back towards camp.
Mol nodded, satisfied, then entered the temple. You heard her shout as you were leaving: “Alright, listen up! We’ve got a job.”
You smiled to yourself. You didn’t know what had come over you, and you knew that it was dangerous to be negotiating deals with con artists in the making, but you couldn’t help yourself. Especially after Astarion had crowded you in the aftermath of the stink bomb he’d been hit with. You loved watching him squirm and this was a great opportunity to do so. Mol and her gang of tiefling troublemakers were harmless as they were right now. They’d managed to take odds and ends from around the Grove, minus Arabella’s attempt to take the idol from the druids’ ritual. There was nothing currently at camp that couldn’t be replaced on the road. After all, you’d all crashed onto the same beach with nothing but the clothes on your backs. Well, except maybe the artifact Shadowheart concealed on her person, but you had just sicced the kids in the opposite direction towards the vampire.
You made your way back into camp, stopping to chat with Zevlor and Halsin.
“Gentlemen,” you acknowledged, trying not to seem guilty after conspiring with the leader of the child criminals a few yards away. “A pleasure to see you both.” You noticed Zevlor was enjoying a goblet of wine, but Halsin was not. “Not partaking in the revelry, Halsin?”
He chuckled. “I assume you mean my lack of a goblet of wine or a cask of ale?”
You nodded.
“In truth, I rarely imbibe. The stuff goes right to my head. Before you know it, I’d be breaking into song or declaring love to the first person I laid eyes on.”
“Oh, ho, ho.” You and Zevlor made amused eye contact. “You sure you’re not a bard, archdruid?” You elbowed Halsin playfully and he chuckled again.
“You’ve never heard me singing. Which makes you very fortunate.”
Zevlor laughed. “Yes, the singing we could probably do without. It feels so good to see these people smiling, let’s not ruin it. ”
“Then I shall not keep your ear any longer,” Halsin said, holding up his hands in playful surrender. He nodded to you. “There are many grateful people here who want to spend time with you. Go enjoy yourself. Seek out some wine before it runs dry; there are a lot of thirsty people around here.”
Zevlor raised his goblet to you. “Here, here.” You mimed raising your own cup to clink with his. You exchanged goodbyes and the men resumed whatever conversation they’d been having before you walked by.
Your tent wasn’t far off and you knew you had plenty of gold in your bag to spare for your hired thieves. You exchanged a few more hellos before making it over to your tent. You lit a single candle to help you search your bag in the dim light of your tent and tried to not draw attention to yourself. You started digging through your bag for your coin pouch.
Just as you’d counted out the last of the gold, you heard Astarion behind you.
“Here’s my little treat,” he purred.
You stood up quickly, miscalculating where you were located in space and hitting your head against the top of your tent.
“Agh!” you yelped, turning around to face Astarion and ducking to properly exit. You looked away from him, hoping he wouldn’t ask what you were up to.
He looked you up and down. “With their cheeks all flushed.”
“Hi,” you said, not knowing how to respond.
“Hello,” he smiled, drawing closer. “You’ll notice a distinct lack of blood stains and horrid stench to me.” He held out his arms and spun to show off his fresh, clean appearance. “It’s crazy what a little water and perfume can accomplish.”
“Well done,” you teased. “You’ve mastered basic hygiene.”
He moved even closer. “Go on,” he said, leaning towards you, “give me a sniff.”
“And smell more rotten eggs? I’ll pass.”
“Come on,” he said, rolling his eyes.
You looked at him skeptically, then leaned in a little and inhaled.
He smelled just as good as he had this morning, perhaps even better given that he’d just reapplied whatever it was he used to scent himself. You leaned in closer to his throat and inhaled again. It was a clean scent; one that was mature and distinctly male. It was delicious.
“What is that?” you asked, not pulling away.
Astarion chuckled lowly. “You like it?”
You finally pulled back and nodded.
“Just a little scent profile I concocted to mask the unfortunate smell of death that comes from being, well, dead.”
“Do tell,” you probed, just as you noticed Mattis and Silfy sneaking around, a little ways off, clearly on their way to you and Astarion. You did your best to hide your stare, but Astarion noticed when your eyes shifted back a little too quickly and he looked behind himself. Mattis and Silfy quickly ducked behind a nearby tent. He turned back to face you.
“Thought I saw something. It was nothing.” It was a bad excuse, was what it was.
Astarion narrowed his eyes but continued, excited to talk about his scent mixture. “Mind you, my undead smell is very faint, but it’s nothing a little bergamot, rosemary, and a hit of aged brandy can’t hide. It’s the perfect olfactory disguise for a corpse.”
“Sounds like you missed your calling as a perfumer,” you said, genuinely interested in what he was saying but noticing Mattis and Silfy out of the corner of your eye.
“I did, didn’t I?”
It was then that Mattis and Silfy approached you both.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Mattis said, the picture of innocence. “Silfy and I just wanted to thank you again for finding her earlier.”
Silfy nodded.
“Oh!” you said, doing your best to sound shocked. You bent to get on eye level with her again. “I’m glad you’re okay, Silfy.”
Silfy sniffled and threw her arms around your neck. “Oh, thank you, Miss Hero!”
“Aw, this is too much,” you said, rubbing her back and making eye contact with Mattis. “I’m always happy to help.”
Mattis came around behind you and hugged you as well.
“Thank you for reuniting me with my baby sister.”
You felt his hand reach for your own and grab the pouch containing the two hundred gold for Mol. He concealed it expertly.
Both he and Silfy pulled away from you at the same time. “Well, guess we better head back to the others. It was so nice meeting you.” Mattis turned to leave but Silfy lingered.
“Come find us in Baldur’s Gate!”
You smiled at her. “We definitely will,” you squeezed her hands before she shuffled off to join Mattis walking back towards the temple.
You stood up, dusting off the front of your pants.
Astarion looked at you with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.
You pointed with your thumb over your shoulder in the direction the kids were headed. “That was weird.”
“Why’d you give them a coin purse?”
You sputtered. “Why did I-? Whaaaaat? I didn’t-”
Astarion placed his hands on his hips.
You sighed and looked at your feet. “Okay, I didn’t want to tell you this, but Silfy was upset because Mattis said she wasn’t good at pick-pocketing, so I went to the kids and said Silfy could practice on me.” You smiled lamely.
“So why did the brother pocket it?” He was onto you.
“I uh… think it was a round one type of thing. So next time it’ll just be Silfy.”
“Uh huh.” Astarion didn’t look convinced. “I’m going to assume you lost some sort of bet with Mol and her fleet of child criminals and that those two are the ones who came to collect.”
“Ah!” you exclaimed. “You caught me! I said I could beat Arabella in a staring contest and lost big time. Like, double or nothing lost.”
Astarion tsked and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around your waist. “You really must stop picking fights with children that you cannot win.”
“I can win,” you got defensive, even though you were lying through your teeth.
Astarion tilted his head in disbelief.
“I can!” You doubled down.
“Mhm.” Astarion leaned forward and kissed you deeply, tilting you back a bit and bringing his hand to your cheek.
He pulled away and you blinked back at him, dazed.
“I missed you,” he murmured, resting his forehead against yours. “You and your weird soft spot for those urchins.” He pretended to gag, as if admitting such things was making him sick.
“Aw, shucks.”
He groaned. “I’m going to have to insist that you remove ‘aw shucks’ from your vocabulary immediately.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Your eyes went to his mouth.
He flashed his fangs. “Don’t tempt me, darling.” He bent forward to kiss your neck and you tilted your head to give him better access.
“Astarion,” you half protested, “people can see us.”
“Let them,” he hummed against your throat. He moved his mouth so it was beside your ear. “Come to my bed tonight.”
A pleasant chill ran through your body. “I’ve seen your bed,” you sighed, thinking of the wooden pallet in his tent that was often covered with jars of half-drunk animal blood. “Come to mine instead.”
Astarion growled from the back of his throat and kissed your neck again.
“Yo, Astarion!” Karlach’s voice called from the food table.
He pulled back slowly and turned to her, his arms still resting around your waist. “I’m a smidge busy here, Karlach.”
Karlach held up her hands innocently. She made eye contact with you and winked. “I just wanted to know if you’d seen all the wine the tieflings brought.”
“Of course I’ve seen the wine, I procured half of- wait, the tieflings brought wine?” He immediately pulled away from you and marched over to the table, examining the copious bottles of liquor. “So I got a stink bomb thrown at me and it was for nothing?!”
Karlach sucked in a breath. “Seems like it. Sorry, mate.”
Astarion turned back to look at you, clearly distraught by this discovery. You withheld a laugh.
He turned back and picked up a bottle and goblet. “Well, we’ll see who’s the better sommelier: me or the half-fiends.”
Karlach turned quickly and whipped him with her tail.
“Hey!” He stumbled a little, but caught himself.
“Whoops! Sorry, you can never trust us half-fiends.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Oh,” Astarion backtracked. “Apologies, Karlach. I didn’t mean that.”
“Mmm,” Karlach crossed her arms. Then she smiled. “Wanna get drunk?”
“Gods, yes,” he sighed and uncorked a bottle, grabbing two goblets. He turned back towards you, still standing at your tent. “Care to partake?”
You smiled and shook your head. “I’m going to continue with my rounds,” you said, pointing vaguely towards the party at large.
Astarion shrugged and turned back to Karlach.
“Your loss, Soldier!”
“Save me a glass of the best stuff,” you called before walking in the direction of Gale’s tent.
“No promises,” Astarion sang as you rounded the corner and found Gale at his tent, a goblet of wine in his hand and a half eaten plate of food set off to the side.
“And how’s my favorite wizard enjoying the evening’s festivities?” you asked upon arrival.
“Ah,” he smiled, “come to turn my robes yellow this time?”
You held up your hands. “No lute. Sorry about earlier.”
“All in good fun,” he reassured. “I did miss your tomfoolery.”
“I knew you did,” you elbowed him playfully and he laughed.
“A beautiful night, don’t you think?” He looked up at the stars.
Your gaze followed his. “That it is.”
“Nothing like a brush with destruction to make one appreciate the majesty of the celestial canvas.”
“Yes, destruction by cleric would have been a tough way to go.”
“Indeed,” he chuckled and looked back up at the stars. “This is a view I once might have shared with my companion. Though definitely unaccompanied by such revelry.” He gestured over to Danis and Bex, drunkenly giggling with each other not far off.
He turned back to you. “She preferred it when we were alone, curled up before a crackling hearth with some ancient, esoteric tome between us, ink glinting by the firelight…”
You smiled at the wistful look on his face. “I hope you’re referring to your cat and not Mystra.”
“By Ahghairon’s lost nose- no!” His voice cracked a little as he exclaimed. “Tara is not any cat. She’s a tressym. And given your confusion, I’m guessing you’ve never met one.”
“Guilty,” you said, smiling sheepishly.
“They’re brilliant creatures; fine company for any self-respecting wizard. She’d be most impressed by our efforts saving these tieflings. Proud, even. And I’ve given her little to be proud of recently.”
“Not true! Gale, you have so much to be proud of.”
“You’re very kind,” he sighed. “She’s the one who discovered that the orb’s fury could be quelled with magically-infused items, you know.”
“You’re kidding! How’d she figure that out?”
“A lot of trial and error,” Gale laughed, holding a hand to his chest where the orb laid quiet for now. “I can still feel the phantom torment of her claws prodding me. Regardless, after so long being cared for by someone else, it feels good to repay the favor. Not directly to Tara, but these poor tieflings. I’m sure she would approve.”
You placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I know she would.”
He smiled at you, then looked away. “So… you and Astarion.”
“Me and Astarion,” you bobbed back and forth on your feet.
“He has a certain charm about him, Astarion,” he nodded. “Then again, so does a tiger when it purrs.” He took a swig of his wine.
“Gale, if I did something that led you to think-”
“Nonsense,” he interrupted before you could finish the thought. “You did nothing of the sort. I think I’m just too deep in my cups.” He looked down into his goblet and sighed before looking back at you. “I’m glad you found each other. And better I have this revelation now than farther into our journey.”
“You’ll always be my favorite wizard,” you said, punching his bicep in playful camaraderie. “I hope this doesn’t change things between us. I value our friendship too much.”
He chuckled softly, his hand ghosting over where yours had just made contact. “This changes nothing.” A reassuring smile graced his features.
Movement to your left on the beach caught your attention.
“Is that Wyll?” you asked.
Gale followed your eyes over to his right. “Ah, yes I believe he’s been pensively staring at the water for a majority of the evening.”
“And you didn’t check on him?”
“I did, but he insisted on being alone. Though I’m sure he would much rather welcome your company than that of a babbling wizard.” He nudged you with his elbow. “But after that, go indulge in the frivolities! They’re good for the heart. And mine will be lighter, to see you enjoying yourself.”
You surged forward and hugged him. He held you tightly while still clutching his goblet. When you pulled away you pointed at him. “You still need to teach me lanceboard.”
“And you need to stop enchanting the pieces to attack each other.”
“I will when it stops making you laugh.” You grinned at him, then waved and headed towards Wyll.
Just as Gale had said, Wyll was standing alone by the water’s edge, past the drying blankets that swayed subtly in the evening air.
“Thought I smelled you over here,” you said, sliding down some rocks and making him noticeably flinch.
“Oh gods, do I still stink?” He raised his arm to his nose and inhaled deeply. “I fear I’ll never be fully rid of it.”
“I was teasing,” you came to stand beside him and looked at the lake. “Though, Astarion seems to have a promising career ahead of himself as a perfumer if you need his help.”
Wyll chuckled. “Good to know that your new beau smells as good as he looks.”
“Indeed he does,” you smiled at him and he smiled back.
After a moment, Wyll sighed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice I was gone.”
“It’s no party without the Blade of Frontiers.”
“Really? I’m honored.” He turned back to face the water. “In truth, I don’t feel in a festive mood. And I didn’t want to cast a grey cloud over the night.”
“What? Why?” It concerned you deeply that one of your beloved companions was feeling down and you hadn’t even noticed. “What brought this on?”
“I’m a devil,” Wyll scowled. “I love the people from the Grove, but I unsettle them deep down. As I seem to unsettle everyone nowadays. You don’t want a devil at your party.”
You were surprised he felt that way. Mizora had so kindly gifted him his devilish features not long after Karlach officially joined your team well over a tenday ago, and the people of the Grove had long since come to terms with the Blade’s new horns. He was still Wyll; kind, fiercely protective, and above all, a good man. Those who couldn’t see that were fools.
“Claws will pop the balloons, you see,” Wyll teased, trying to lift the mood. “And the sweetcakes don’t taste half as good as raw eggs with this blasted forked tongue.”
You smiled sadly. “You don’t unsettle me. Or any of us. You know that.”
Wyll laughed humorlessly. “If only half the world had half the heart you do.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “But off with you. This is your day! Have a dance. Enjoy the music.”
“I suspect you’re the best dancer among us, Mr. Upper City. I’d love to dance with you sometime.”
Wyll laughed. “In truth, I always enjoyed a bit of pomp.”
“You seem like the type,” you laughed.
“I once beat the Baldurian record for the most sarabandes dances in a single evening. Much to the exhaustion of the good ladies and gentlemen of the Gate.”
“I can see it now,” you said wistfully.
“I had years of lessons, but honestly, it’s all about your partner.”
You took a step back and bowed dramatically. “Well I hope one of these evenings I might be a proper partner to stumble along with.”
Wyll smirked and bowed back to you. “One of these evenings,” he agreed. He inhaled deeply and turned back to the lake. “I just need some time alone beneath the stars, and I’ll be back to my old self. Promise.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” you said, walking forward and hugging him. He returned it and you squeezed him tightly.
“Okay,” he jokingly wheezed, “you have my word.”
“Good,” you pulled away. “You know where to find me,” you said, nodding your head in the direction of the party.
“I do,” Wyll nodded, looking at you fondly.
You turned and called down the beach, “Keep an eye on him, Withers!”
Withers simply stared at you from his spot by the boats.
You placed your hands on your hips. “One of these days I will crack him.”
Wyll laughed and waved you off. “Good luck with that.”
As you reemerged into the party, you saw Zaki run past you holding a tin of one of Astarion’s hair products. You snorted and looked around to make sure Astarion hadn’t seen.
No, he and Karlach were still busy downing goblets of wine and comparing them to each other.
“Bitter!” Astarion exclaimed, sticking out his tongue and pulling the goblet away from his mouth as if it had bitten him.
“Ah, you’ve got no taste, Astarion!” Karlach clapped him on the back. “This one’s better than the crap you served three cups ago.”
Astarion scoffed. “That was a classic vintage! Gods, it’s like you know nothing of fine wines.”
Karlach rolled her eyes. “Um, hello? Ten years in Avernus, mate. Didn’t get much drinking in while enslaved. Anything’s better than fire wine.”
“Tragic,” was all he said in response.
Suddenly Alfira was running over to you. “There you are!” The sweet scent of alcohol wafted off of her and she held a goblet in one hand and her teacher’s lute in the other. “Now, this might be the wine talking, but I’m feeling inspired. Thinking of writing my next song… about you.”
“Me?” you asked, placing your hands on your chest and batting your eyes. “I’m flattered.”
Alfira nodded. “But I need an angle. Any ideas?”
You thought for a moment, then made your voice pompous. “Let it be only as truthful as true poetry would permit.”
Alfira grinned and matched your tone, “But of course.” Then she became serious, “You achieved something beyond mere fact by helping all of us. That deserves to be remembered.” She shut her eyes for a moment, regaining her thoughts. “Buuuut, like I said, I need more wine before I truly start waxing poetic. Shall we play a song together now?”
“Great idea,” you grinned and started making your way to your tent to retrieve her lute.
As you passed by Astarion and Karlach, you watched Arabella reach into Astarion’s back pocket and come away with what looked like a few coins. She made eye contact with you and smirked before running off.
Karlach clearly saw this occur and held in a laugh. She looked past Astarion at you and you held a finger up to your mouth, signaling for her not to say anything. She snorted.
“What’s so funny?” Astarion asked.
“Nothing, you just look so stupid when you sniff wine like that.”
“I do not!” he protested. A beat. “Do I?”
You shook your head to yourself as you made it to your tent and grabbed the lute, walking with Alfira to the center of camp by the fire.
“What shall we play?” she asked.
“How about a classic?” you suggested, strumming the opening chords to “Bard Dance.”
Alfira grinned and nodded, immediately picking up the harmonies to the song while you took the melody. A sudden whistling caught your ear and you turned to see Volo performing the song with just as much gusto as the two of you. Had he been here the whole time?
Around you, the tieflings and your companions gathered around to hear you both play. They were stiff at first, merely listening and swaying to the familiar tune they’d no doubt heard many times. It wasn’t long before Danis bowed to Bex, who curtsied back, and the two began dancing merrily around the clearing.
With the ice broken, others coupled off to dance together, and others formed groups of three or four.
Shadowheart clapped along to the beat as Gale approached her and twirled her around happily. Karlach joined the fray, swinging her hips and waving her arms, but was careful not to hit anyone by mistake. Even Halsin joined in on the fun, awkwardly marching back and forth to the beat and encouraging shy tieflings to join him. Lae’zel and Astarion remained on the edge of the crowd, but you could see Lae’zel tapping her foot to the beat despite her best efforts to remain unaffected by the merriment.
As your fingers danced over the strings, you sent off a few minor illusions of fireworks to add some dazzle to the performance. Alfira added her own dancing lights to swirl around the audience.
You made eye contact with Astarion who was smirking at you. He made to raise his goblet to you in a toast, but his hand was empty. He looked around himself to see if he’d misplaced it, but movement farther back in camp let you know that it was Meli who had absconded with the cup. You smiled widely at Astarion and shrugged. He shrugged back, smiling and reaching for a new cup.
As the jovial song came to an end, the audience clapped and a few members approached you and Alfira, thanking you for the music and placing a few coins in your palms.
“Marvelous!”
“Such fun!”
“Alfira, you simply must play for us on our journey to the Gate!”
“No praise for the wizard, Volo?” Volo complained to an unhearing crowd. He humphed and returned to scribbling in a notebook closeby.
You and Alfira thanked everyone before you handed Alfira her lute back.
“Thank you for this,” you said. “I’d love to play again with you some time.”
Alfira took the instrument from you and nodded. “Oh, yes please!” She looked at her lute for a moment, then held it back out to you. “You should keep this one.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t,” you shook your head. “You’ve clearly had it for a long time. It must hold sentimental value to you. I don’t want you to part with it, I’ll have a new lute in no time.”
“Please,” Alfira insisted, still holding it out. “You play so beautifully.”
“Don’t go inflating her ego now,” Astarion said as he approached carrying two goblets of wine. “She’s annoying enough as it is.”
Behind him you saw Mirkon run by with a set of thieves' tools.
Astarion handed you one of the goblets of wine and smiled at you. “Hello, my sweet.”
“Hi,” you said shyly, still not used to his full attention but enjoying it nonetheless.
“Oh, stop teasing her,” Alfira said, rolling her eyes. “Tell her how well she did and make her take my lute.” She held it out again.
“While yes, she did play wonderfully-”
You looked at Astarion, a little shocked. You weren’t sure he’d ever complimented your music before.
“-she won’t be needing the lute.”
“See,” you said to Alfira before pausing for a moment and turning back to Astarion. “I won’t?”
He shook his head at you. “It’s taken care of already,” he said to Alfira.
She understood what he was saying and nodded. “How very kind of you,” she said, smiling. She reached forward and squeezed your hand. “I’ll make sure to see you again before we leave.”
You nodded and smiled as she left to rejoin Lakrissa at the wine table.
You turned to Astarion who looked smug. He turned to face you and grinned.
“What was that?” you asked.
“What was what, darling?”
“With Alfira. ‘It’s taken care of already.’ Did you steal me a lute or something?”
Astarion brought his goblet to his lips, ignoring you.
You gasped, your mouth open in faux horror. “You did not.”
“And if I did?”
“Where?”
He groaned. “Enough questions. Come enjoy a drink with me.”
He took your hand and led you over to his tent. When you arrived, he dropped your hand and held up his cup for you to clink with his. He took a sip.
“You know, I never pictured myself as a hero.”
You snorted. “Bold of you to assume that’s what you are.”
He rolled his eyes and continued. “Never thought I’d be the one they toast for saving so many lives. And now that I’m here…”
He held you in suspense as he took another drink of his wine.
When he pulled the cup away, he scowled. “I hate it. This is awful.”
“Aw,” you said, walking forward and wrapping your arms around his neck before pulling back a little. “Is this okay?” you asked softly.
He nodded.
You continued. “It’s not that bad. Think of all the goblins you killed.”
“True,” he agreed. “That was fun. Still, I would have liked more than a pat on the head and vinegar for wine.”
You raised your eyebrows. “I’m sorry, weren’t you the one who curated the wine?”
“Yes, but it’s not like I had much variety to choose from. Plus the tieflings didn’t bring anything to write home about.” He cocked his hip to the side, then nodded to you. “Go ahead, give it a taste.”
You stepped back and swirled the wine in the goblet that Astarion had provided for you. You took a tentative sip of the heavy, rich red. It was dry and sharp. To be honest, it tasted like most other reds you’d had before.
Astarion leaned forward a bit to gauge your reaction. “See what I mean? Awful.”
You rolled your eyes fondly. “Why didn’t you pick a better one, then?”
“Darling, this is the best they had.”
“How sad,” you sighed, clearly not as upset as he hoped you’d be.
He held up a hand and turned away from you. “None of you have any taste.”
“I’m sorry, my love,” you brushed some hair out of his face. “You’ll have to share once you find something you actually like. That way I’ll know what to look for.”
He sighed heavily. “What would be the point? You probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”
“Rude,” you scoffed, “but fair.” You looked at him thoughtfully. “Hang on, weren’t you and Karlach trying to get drunk?”
Astarion giggled stupidly. “Yes.”
You snorted. “How’d that go?”
“Fine,” he sighed. “Takes me a lot longer to get drunk. What with the dead liver and all.”
You furrowed your brow. “Wouldn’t lacking a working liver make you drunk immediately?”
Astarion whined, “I don’t know, but Karlach is completely inebriated and I only have a buzz I can already feel fading.”
You looked over to Karlach who was still dancing despite the fact that you and Alfira had finished your performance several minutes ago. She was trying to get Dammon and Zevlor to join her but both looked like they were searching for escape routes.
You laughed. “Shame there’s no music to accompany her,” you said, half joking.
“An excellent point, my dear.” He turned to bend down, wobbling, but catching himself. He started rifling through his possessions. “Odd,” he mumbled, “I swore it was here.”
“What are you looking for?” you asked.
“Hmm?” He was clearly lost in thought. “Oh nothing, darling. But, um, do me a favor and go somewhere else for a minute.” He waved you away without looking at you.
You smirked. “Okay,” you said, pretty sure he was looking for the lute he’d snatched for you. As you were about to step away, you paused, remembering the gang of young thieves actively stealing from Astarion. “I-” you shook your head. “Nevermind, keep looking.”
“I will, now go away.” He got up to look behind his tent.
You held in a laugh and made your way over to Shadowheart, who you just witnessed pour herself a fresh glass of wine.
“Hello,” you said, joining her at the refreshments table and popping a grape into your mouth. The crisp snap of the grape reminded you how hungry you were and you began to fill a plate with food.
“Hungry?” Shadowheart laughed.
“I haven’t eaten all day,” you said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. “I missed bread and cheese this afternoon.”
“Uh huh,” Shadowheart rolled her eyes. “And whose fault was that?”
You slowed your chewing and slouched. “Mine.”
“Uh huh,” she took a swig of wine and smiled at you. “I think it’s safe to say you learned your lesson.”
You nodded as you took a large bite off a bread roll.
Shadowheart took a step back to rest against the table. She surveyed the party at large.
“Everyone seems to be in high spirits.”
You swallowed heavily and willed yourself not to choke, clearing your throat instead. “You put together a great party, Shadowheart.”
“I know,” she smiled. She shimmied closer to you and nodded over to Astarion’s tent where the man was still searching around, looking deeply confused. “I saw you and Astarion have been reunited.”
You lifted your gaze to Astarion’s tent, your expression melting into one of pure adoration. He was such an idiot. Even though you knew you were the cause of his ignorance. You shook your head, snapping out of it.
“Sorry again.”
Shadowheart blew out a puff of air. “Far be it from me to keep you two apart any longer. Besides,” she nudged you playfully, “blood must still be running hot. After everything.”
This time you did choke. Shadowheart’s eyes widened and she smacked you on the back.
“I’m fine!” you insisted. You cleared your throat and took a sip of wine.
Shadowheart laughed. “It’s fun getting you flustered.”
“I’m sure Astarion would say the same,” you agreed.
She sighed happily next to you and returned to looking into the party.
“You know who I never thought I’d find myself caring for?”
You stuffed your mouth with a hunk of cheese on a cracker to the point where you could barely get out the word, “Me?”
Shadowheart looked at you and laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I mean, desperate people… like these refugees. Never gave them much of a thought. Certainly not this bunch from the Grove. Yet we came through for them. We saved their lives. Odd.”
You nudged her with your shoulder. “I hate to say it Shadowheart, but you’re a good person. Though given your sentimentality, it sounds like the wine is talking,” you teased.
“It’s not talking enough for my liking.” She turned and grabbed the bottle you’d seen her pouring from moments ago. “Share a bottle with me?”
You looked at her skeptically. “Just a bottle? You’re not trying to poison me for disobeying you earlier, are you?”
She rolled her eyes. “Just a bottle of poison free wine. You’ve suffered enough. Besides, I think you have other plans afterwards. Wouldn’t want to keep you.” She kicked her foot out towards Astarion’s tent which was now vacant, minus Doni slinking away with a hairbrush.
Before you could give her an answer, she was filling your goblet to the brim, despite the fact that you hadn’t finished the wine that was already there. She poured the rest into her own goblet, shaking the bottle to get out the last few drops.
“There,” she said. “Liquid courage.”
She tapped the brim of her goblet against yours and took a long sip. You joined her. Mixing the two wines hadn’t been a bad idea after all. There was a pleasant fruity aftertaste that you enjoyed. You went back in for another sip.
She watched you as you drank. “Do try to get some rest tonight if you can. Tomorrow’s another day.”
“Yes, mom.”
She smacked your arm. “How dare you! I’m nobody’s mother.” She took another swig of her wine just as Lae’zel approached with her greatsword.
“Are you aware that the child thieves are taking our belongings from camp?”
Shadowheart choked a little. “Excuse me?” She patted herself down and was relieved when her hand made contact with the artifact still on her person. She didn’t dare pull it out in front of everyone and instead looked at you.
“Oh, that,” you said smiling. “I told them they could.”
“And why would you tell them that?” Lae’zel narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t worry,” you sat up straighter. “I told them they could only take from Astarion.”
Shadowheart snorted. “What?”
“Yeah, I thought it would be funny if the rogue got robbed by a bunch of kids.”
“Chk,” Lae’zel scoffed. “He is failing miserably at what he claims to be very good at.” She eased her stance and loosened her grip on her greatsword.
You laughed. “I think it’s partially Karlach’s fault. She suggested they both get drunk.”
“That’ll do it,” Shadowheart nodded, taking another sip of wine.
“Hang on, Lae’zel, were you planning on attacking the kids?” You pointed at her sword.
Lae’zel eyed the weapon, then looked at you. “All children should know how to defend themselves from enemy attacks. I had already killed two of my cousins by the time I was their age.”
You nodded slowly. “Killing isn’t as much of a priority when you’re a kid here.”
“You make that blatantly obvious everyday with your oafish battle stance and shoddy swordsmanship.”
You scoffed and Shadowheart laughed. “I’m a lot better at fighting now, thanks,” you smiled at her, not actually offended. You knew she’d been raised on an entirely different plane, and who were you to judge their customs? At this point in your adventure, you knew not to take her harsh words personally. Even though she was usually right.
Lae’zel looked you up and down. “Perhaps so. I have seen the kith’raki tear a screaming neogi’s legs from its belly to fashion into blades.”
“Ew,” Shadowheart scowled.
Lae’zel kept her eyes trained on you. “Yet, they could not match your nerve at the goblin camp. It was enough to drive me to madness.”
“Oh,” you said, a bit taken aback. “Thanks?”
“I smell their blood on you still. I smell your sweat.”
Your eyes widened. “Oh gods, I thought I washed that all off-”
Shadowheart set a hand on your shoulder and shook her head. You turned your focus back on Lae’zel.
“I meant to taste that sweat. Pity for us you’ve already promised your body to Astarion.” She crossed her arms, annoyed.
“Ah,” you nodded, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Lae’zel, I didn’t know you felt that way about me.”
“Chk,” Laezel rolled her eyes. “It is your loss. Come morning you will wonder. You will wonder how my lips might have tasted. How my fingers on your skin might have felt.”
You looked down at the ground, feeling guilty for not picking up on her intentions sooner. Shadowheart laid a comforting hand on your back.
“Enough, Lae’zel,” she said. “She was bound to make a choice sooner or later. Let’s respect her decision.”
“And what a foolish decision it was. Astarion can’t even handle a few children. I would skewer them the moment they touched one of my belongings.” She thrusted her greatsword forward as if to demonstrate.
You swallowed. “Then let’s be glad they aren’t after your belongings.”
Lae’zel looked down her nose at you. “Let us hope that continues.”
“Hope what continues?” Astarion approached the three of you and grabbed another bottle of wine, not bothering to pour it into his goblet and instead opting to drink directly from the source.
You shook your head, feigning annoyance. “Are you following me?”
“Darling,” he purred, sidling up next to you, “didn’t I tell you last night that I wasn’t going to leave you alone anymore, especially after we-”
Lae’zel groaned loudly. “I’m going to keep a vigilant watch for any of those whelps stepping out of line.” She turned on her heel and headed back to her tent, but not before intimidating a few unfortunate tieflings milling about nearby.
Astarion took another swig from his bottle and winced, not enjoying the taste. “What’s with her? Apart from her usual Lae’zel…ness?”
“Don’t worry about it,” you said, sipping your own wine and feeling warmth spread through your chest.
Shadowheart leaned over to look at the vampire. “Enjoying yourself, Astarion?”
Astarion did a double take, apparently having not noticed her when he first walked up. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around you protectively.
“Ooohh no,” he said, “you’re not sending me out on another long errand to keep me away from her.” He sounded whiney, likely from the buzz he was still nursing with the wine.
You and Shadowheart laughed.
“It’s okay, dearest,” you teased, poking his nose. “We’ve made peace with Shadowheart.”
Astarion looked from you to Shadowheart skeptically. “No more errands?”
Shadowheart smirked. “Don’t dally again and we won’t have to find out, will we?”
That answer seemed to satisfy Astarion, who pulled away from you and continued to drink from his bottle. “I suppose that’s fair. But to answer your question, yes, surprisingly I’m having a delightful time.”
You scrunched your nose. “What happened to hating all the attention and the bad wine?”
Astarion rolled his eyes. “Must you always question the details, darling?”
You laughed. “Yes, evidently I must.”
Astarion waved his hand in the air, ignoring your answer and continuing to address Shadowheart. “It’s been centuries since I’ve been able to really let loose at a soiree such as this without being told what to do or hunting for something.” He wrapped you in his arms again. “Not when I already have my prey for the evening right here.”
Your eyes widened at Shadowheart and you avoided eye contact with her, flustered.
“Astarion,” you muttered as he kissed your shoulder from behind.
Surprisingly, when you looked back at her, Shadowheart had a small smile on her face.
She addressed you when she spoke. “Seems like you’ve really captured this one under your spell.” She nodded her head towards Astarion who had his nose pressed against your neck.
He pulled back and looked shocked. “Is that what this is? Have you cursed me? Vile witch!” He smiled at you like a dope. He snapped his fingers at Shadowheart. “Remove this curse, cleric!”
Shadowheart grabbed his hand and set it back at his side. “What you’re not going to do is snap at me as if I were a dog.” She looked at you. “Who knew liquor would make him even more insufferable?”
“We should have accounted for this,” you agreed.
“I am right here,” Astarion pouted.
You reached for one of his hands wrapped around you and squeezed it. “We know, dummy.”
His slightly unfocused eyes went gooey. He looked at Shadowheart. “You know, Shadowheart, we were each others’ firsts.”
You went rigid under his touch and Shadowheart inhaled her wine by accident, coughing briefly.
“That can’t be true,” she said looking between the two of you.
“Astarion,” you elbowed him.
Astarion scowled. “Oh, perish the thought, she was the first thinking creature I ever drank from.”
Shadowheart nodded slowly. “Congratulations?” She looked at you. “You didn’t drink… his blood too, did you?”
You shook your head and Astarion laughed.
“No dear, I took her virginity.”
You elbowed Astarion with a good amount of force.
“I will kill you,” you muttered exasperatedly.
“You will not,” he wheezed.
“I will not,” you sighed, looking up at Shadowheart, whose eyes had gone wide.
Her expression morphed from one of shock to one of anger. She stood and walked over to Astarion. Her hand glowed with the makings of a guiding bolt. You stood quickly and stepped in front of Astarion, shielding him.
“Shadowheart!” you exclaimed. “It’s alright!”
“He��s a vampiric freak,” she said loudly, drawing the attention of a few party goers. “He’s using you for your blood and your innocence!”
Astarion scoffed and stood, stepping to the side, rendering your body shield useless.
“How dare you,” he said, stomping his foot. “While, yes, that does sound like me, and was my intention originally,” Shadowheart raised her glowing hand and you held up your arms to stop her, “I did not make passionate love to her for no reason!”
You brought your hands to your face and ran them down your features slowly. This was mortifying.
“Can we keep it down?” you asked quietly.
Shadowheart rolled her eyes and dropped the prepped guiding bolt. She crossed her arms and looked at Astarion expectantly. “And what was the reason?”
He groaned dramatically. “Gods, I only brought it up as a joke for a laugh, do we have to keep it up?”
“Astarion,” both you and Shadowheart warned.
“Fine,” he avoided looking at you. “I like her, alright? More than like her, she’s- well, I don’t know what she is.” He took your hand in both of his own. “But isn’t it nice not to know?”
You looked at each other for a moment, his face soft, but a little concerned. You smiled and brought the back of his hand to your mouth for a kiss.
“So you didn’t bed her for the sake of gaining power from her virginity or something?”
That snapped Astarion out of his focus on you. “What? No, of course not! I’m a spawn anyway, so even if I wanted to I couldn’t.” He smiled at you. “But I didn’t want to!” He added quickly.
“Nice save,” you teased, ruffling his hair, then thinking better of it and moving it back into place. “Let’s keep our sex lives to ourselves from now on, okay?”
“Gods below, if I’d known she’d react like that-” Astarion looked up at Shadowheart who was crossing her arms and looking at him as if daring him to finish the sentence. He cleared his throat. “Noted.”
Shadowheart shook her head and rolled her eyes before perching on the refreshments table once again.
“If he hurts you, I’m going to kill him and not revive him. And I’ll pay Withers for him to stay dead.”
You patted her shoulder. “I know. Thank you.”
Astarion leaned over to look at her. “To be clear, I don’t plan on hurting her.”
Shadowheart changed the subject. “What were you looking for over there?” She nodded her head towards Astarion’s tent.
“Hmm?” he looked confused as to what she was referring to, then caught on and perched on the refreshment table again beside you. “Oh, just a little something for our beautiful bard here.” He started playing with the ends of your hair.
Shadowheart returned to her wine. “Couldn’t find it?”
“You know, it’s the strangest thing, I’ve been misplacing things all evening. Must be because of this delicious buzz I’ve got.” Astarion remembered the bottle he’d set down mere moments ago and returned to it.
Shadowheart lifted her eyebrows at you over her goblet. “Strange,” she said with an air of “We know exactly what’s happening and Astarion doesn't.”
You sighed, thinking he’d suffered enough at the hands of the kids. You took his free hand and hauled him up from the table.
He eyed you curiously but made sure to take the wine bottle up with him. “What is it, darling?”
“Come on,” you started leading him towards the temple.
“Oh ho,” he chuckled, stumbling a bit behind you, “wanted to get me alone, did you?” He sped up a little and gently bit the tip of your ear.
You gasped at the sensation and he pulled back to smirk at you. You blinked and shook your head. “Trust me, you’re not going to want to ravish me in there,” you nodded ahead to the temple.
Astarion caught you by the waist and lifted you a little, forcing you to stop moving. You yelped and he pulled you back so that he could whisper in your ear. “I can take you wherever I damn well please,” he growled.
You shivered as he set you back down. “As sexy as you are, my love, you’ll see what I mean momentarily.”
You grabbed his hand again and led him across the log bridge and into the temple.
Only to find it empty.
Your stomach dropped. Uh oh.
Astarion sighed. “I don’t see what the problem is, dear.”
He took advantage of his grip on your hand and pulled you back to him, then spun you around so that your back was against the damp stone wall of the now truly abandoned temple.
His knee came between your legs and he pinned your hands above your head.
You were too shocked to say anything.
He grinned, and leaned into your ear again. “I could take you right here and right now,” he bent to kiss your throat and moved his thigh to rub deliciously against you. When you let out a small noise of satisfaction, he pulled back to look at you, his voice low, “If that’s what you want.”
“Astarion,” you whined, closing your eyes and rolling your hips.
“Yes, sweet girl?” he smirked at the pathetic look on your face.
“Kids, Astarion,” you exhaled shakily as he adjusted his thigh to give you a better angle.
He paused. “Kids?” Then he chuckled. “I don’t think you need to worry about that, darling.”
You opened your eyes and gave him a confused look.
He gave you an equally confused look. “I’m dead,” he said slowly, “I don’t think it’s possible?” He raked his eyes over your body and rested on your stomach. “Is it?”
You gently whacked the side of his head. “No, idiot, I’m talking about the tiefling kids.”
“Oh!” Astarion let out a relieved laugh. “What about them? You didn’t lose our entire camp over a game of hopscotch, did you?”
You rolled your eyes and pushed off the wall, looking around for any sign of the kids. It was dark and you couldn’t make out a thing. You groaned loudly up at the ceiling and ran your hands down your face.
“I shouldn’t have trusted them…” you muttered.
“What did you do?” Astarion asked, sounding prematurely annoyed.
You ignored him and opted to march out of the temple and up the log back into camp.
A small laugh rang out from behind Gale’s vacant tent a ways off.
It sounded distinctly childish.
You huffed some hair out of your face and marched up to Volo who was near Wyll’s tent, still writing in his journal.
He lit up as you approached. “Aha! There you are! Come now, settle in. I do hope you have partaken in something bracing? This may well take up all night.”
You grabbed him by the arm. “No time.”
He protested as you dragged him towards the edge of camp. “I say! Unhand me! I’d hate to see your name slandered in an upcoming tale of your heroic escapades!”
You ignored him and spun him to face you. “How loud can you whistle?”
Volo puffed his chest proudly. “I’m surprised you have to ask, given my accompaniment to your performance earlier this evening.” He cleared his throat and stood up straighter. “As loud and as lively as necessary.”
“Great. I’m going to need one sharp, loud whistle on my say so.”
He leaned in conspiratorially. “Ah, drawing attention, are we? Giving a rousing speech? Toasting to your fine accomplishments?”
“Neither.” You cupped your hands up to your mouth. “MOL AND COMPANY.”
The party grew silent.
Volo tilted his head. “Oh. Interesting choice of audience. But, children are the future-”
You elbowed him. “Do it now.”
“Right.” As instructed, Volo lifted his fingers to his mouth and blew harshly, emitting a loud, high pitched whistle.
You saw heads turn to you, as well as the figures of the kids clamoring to look at you from behind Gale’s tent.
“TO ME,” you called firmly, making eye contact with Mol and motioning for her and the others to come to you.
As the children filed towards you, Volo shrunk back. “Do you need-”
“You can go.”
“Thank heavens. Good evening.” He tipped his hat to you, then scurried off back to his post by Wyll’s tent.
Mol came to a stop in front of you, crossing her arms and scowling at you. “What do you want now?”
You looked down at all eight of the hired thieves. Most avoided eye contact but Mol and Arabella, who smiled at you. You crossed your arms.
“It’s time to go over your spoils.”
“What, in front of him?” Meli asked, pointing behind you at Astarion, who lingered behind you looking rather in awe of what was occuring.
“It’s been long enough,” you confirmed. “You all did very well and I’m very pleased with your efforts.”
You watched as the kids grew smug and shared excited looks with each other.
Mattis spoke up. “What do we get in return for doing so good?”
“So well,” Astarion corrected.
“Didn’t ask you, did I mate?” Mattis snarled.
Astarion flashed his fangs in retaliation and Mattis shut his mouth.
You placed your hands on your hips. “Well let’s see what you gathered, huh? Then we can determine.”
Mol clicked her tongue. “I already told ya’s, we have her support when we get to the Gate.”
“Lame!” Zaki exclaimed. “We should get some kind of physical prize or something.”
Doni made a noise of agreement.
Mirkon shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s nice that we have the support of the hero of the Grove to help us.”
Arabella smirked. “I kind of want to see what else she has to offer.”
You did your best to stay stoic in front of them all, but you were too endeared by their curiosity and felt a smile tugging at your lips.
“Alright cretins,” you teased loudly, “show me where you buried the loot.”
Silfy giggled. “We didn’t bury it, silly!”
“Silfy,” Mattis hissed.
She grew quiet. “Sorry.”
“Be nice,” you warned, resting your hands on your hips. You took a deep breath, thinking about how to proceed. “Alright, first one to show me where you hid the loot gets their prize first.”
“Prize?!” Zaki gasped and Meli was already running across camp.
The other seven raced off after him.
You sighed fondly, choosing to walk after them at a leisurely pace.
Astarion caught up and strolled beside you. “Am I to understand that you had the urchins steal my belongings this evening?”
You clasped your hands behind your back and looked straight ahead. “Perhaps.”
Astarion chuckled. “I’d kill you if I didn’t desperately want to kiss you right now. Seeing your command over those children was really something.”
You cleared your throat. “Later. We need to get your stuff back first.”
He nodded, his brows furrowing. “You seem to like kids. Not just those brats.”
“I do,” you smiled. “They can be the best audience. Plus they’re hilarious in their own ways without even trying most of the time.”
Astarion nodded. “A collective of child criminals is rather funny from an objective point of view.”
“They’re pretty good, too,” you bumped his hip. “Got past our master rogue all evening.”
Astarion tsked. “I blame the wine, darling.”
“I think you’re getting sloppy.”
“Would you STOP FLIRTING and GET OVER HERE?” Mattis yelled from the boats near Withers.
Arabella leaned against the boat closest to the living corpse. “Bone Man here said we could hide our stuff in the boats.”
“Withers!” you exclaimed with no actual anger in the cry.
“I did no such thing,” he denied, as stoic as ever.
“Uh huh,” you said, then leaned in conspiratorially to the kids. “He hides our stuff all the time.”
The kids snickered, looking from you to Withers.
“I do not,” he said, his tone holding the same inflection as always. “I hast no need of thine earthly possessions.”
You clicked your tongue. “And yet you require compensation from us whenever we need something from you. Where’s the money going, Withers?”
Silfy giggled.
Withers didn’t budge.
You turned back to the kids. “He absolutely hides our stuff.”
They snickered again.
You moved closer to the boat to peer inside. Doni stepped in front of you, blocking your view.
“Alright, alright,” you laughed, taking a step back, “who wants to show me what they took first.”
“So you really are going to reward them for this behavior?” Astarion crossed his arms and you ignored him.
“I got here first,” Meli said, stepping forward with his hands behind his back, “just so we’re clear.”
“You did not,” Zaki protested, “Doni got here before any of us.”
“Doni doesn’t count! He’s the best sneak of all of us!”
“He does count and that’s why he won!”
“Quiet, you two,” Mol said with a bit of an edge to her tone. “Doni did win fair and square.”
“Told you!” Zaki stuck out his tongue.
Meli rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He stepped forward and addressed you. “May I present…” he pulled his hands out from behind his back, revealing Astarion’s wine goblet from earlier.
“You little whelp,” Astarion hissed but you held up a hand to silence him.
Meli smirked at the vampire. “You’ll notice,” he tipped the goblet forward so you could look inside, “not a drop wasted.”
Sure enough, the goblet still contained a hefty portion of deep red liquid.
You applauded his effort and a few of the other kids joined in. “Well done, Meli. But, uh, you didn’t drink any, did you?”
Meli scowled. “Yuck, no thanks. I don’t know why adults like this stuff.”
Astarion bent forward. “I’ll be taking that,” he swiped the goblet back, “thank you.” He took a long, deep sip, then wiped a drop that rolled down the side of his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Who’s next?” you asked.
Silfy reached into the boat and pulled out a small brooch, covered in rubies and emeralds. “I got this from his tent.”
You got down on your knees in front of her again. “Oh Silfy!” you said, in awe of the craftsmanship. “This is lovely! Good job.” You turned to show Astarion.
He looked uninterested. “That was my mother’s.”
You stiffened briefly, then relaxed. “No, it wasn’t.”
He snorted. “Of course it wasn’t. I swiped it off some dead-” You made a face at him and nodded towards the kids, reminding him that young ears were listening, “-teddy… bear?”
“People die,” Mattis said flatly. “We’re not idiots.”
“I’m missing a gods damn eye,” Mol pointed to the bandage around her head.
You sighed. “I don’t know why I’m even trying, you guys are way too smart.” You turned and handed the brooch back to Astarion who pocketed it without question.
“The smartest,” Mol grinned, looking around at the other seven.
Mirkon stepped forward. “Me next!” he reached into the boat and pulled something out, concealing it behind his back. He looked very pleased with himself when he revealed a set of thieves' tools.
Astarion laughed once, humorlessly. “I have a million of those.”
Mirkon smirked. “Yes, but only one on your person.”
Astarion’s face fell and he patted himself down. His mouth raised into the smallest smile. “Not bad.”
Mirkon tried to look cool, but he burst into a grin and stepped back to rejoin the others. You handed the tools to Astarion who hid them on his person once again and took another sip of his wine.
Zaki reached into the boat. “Here’s what I got.” He held out an unmarked tin but one that you recognized as one of Astarion’s beloved hair products.
Astarion spat a bit of his wine. “Give that here,” he held out his hand and Zaki clutched the tin closer to his chest.
“Why should I?”
“Um, Zaki?” You made eye contact with him and shook your head.
Zaki sighed and handed it over to Astarion reluctantly. “Tasted terrible anyway.”
You laughed and Astarion sputtered. “This is NOT to be ingested, you twerp.”
“Weirdo man!” Zaki exclaimed in response.
“Oof,” you turned to Astarion, “that’s gotta hurt.”
The kids laughed. Astarion narrowed his eyes.
He examined the contents of the tin to see how much was left. When he saw that not much had been sacrificed, he sighed in relief. “This is a fine hair product from a particular salon in the Upper City that I was able to snatch while on the road. I only have the one container, if you must know.”
You turned back to Zaki. “Well done,” you clapped for him. “It’s like you stole his baby.”
Zaki blushed and smiled before Doni stepped forward.
He made a small noise and held out a hairbrush.
Astarion gasped and snatched it from Doni quickly. “This was actually on my person during the Nautiloid crash.” He held it close to his chest. “I had it hidden away, how’d you find it?”
Doni responded with another unintelligible noise.
Astarion looked at the other kids.
Arabella shrugged. “We try not to question his methods.”
You patted Doni’s arm. “Great job, Doni.”
He smiled and Arabella took his place.
She held out a small coin purse. “Tah dah!”
Astarion bent forward to examine it closer. “Sorry darling, that’s not mine.”
Arabella smiled. “I know.” She loosened the string to the purse and emptied the contents into her hand. A substantial amount of coins fell into her palm. “But these are.”
Astarion gasped and felt around his person again. You and Mol laughed at the look on his face. “Har har, I’d like those back now, please.”
Arabella handed the coins back a little too eagerly.
Astarion rolled his eyes. “All of it.”
Arabella’s shoulders slumped and she reached into the pocket of her skirt, handing him another handful of gold.
“Work on your poker face, darling.”
Arabella pursed her lips but nodded.
“Mattis,” Mol said, motioning for him to step forward.
Mattis nodded and looked between you and Astarion with a smirk.
He extended his arms, revealing a dagger in each hand.
“Whoa,” you said cautiously, motioning for the other kids to step away.
Astarion laughed. “Be careful with those, kid.” He knelt next to you, looking Mattis in the eye. He elbowed the tiefling gently in the ribs, but it was enough to shock him into loosening his grip. Astarion caught one of the daggers and expertly grabbed the other one by the hilt and yanked it from Mattis’ hand.
Before Mattis could even register what happened, Astarion was back on his feet, sheathing the daggers through his belt.
You looked at him with a shocked expression. He raised an eyebrow.
“What? Oh please, I didn’t hurt the child, and now he’s no longer armed. You’re welcome.”
You turned to Mattis. “You okay, Mattis?”
Mattis rubbed his chest and nodded. He looked up at Astarion in awe. “You have got to teach me that.”
The other kids agreed and crowded the vampire.
He laughed uncomfortably. “There are… so many of you.” He looked to you for help.
“Alright guys, let’s give floofy hair some space.”
“Floofy?” Astarion brought a hand up to his hair as the kids dispersed.
Mol stretched her arms over her head. “Best for last, I suppose.”
She went to reach into the boat for what you had to assume was the lute Astarion had hidden away for you. What she pulled out made you audibly gasp.
You’d expected something tattered, nothing special. Something plucked from the road by someone who didn’t understand the intricacies and nuances of musical instruments, but you knew you’d be content to make due with it because someone you deeply cared for had taken the time to pick it up and take it home to you.
Instead Mol presented you with a lute that looked like it hadn’t even been played yet. It was crafted from rosewood, giving it a pinkish hue and its surface shined as if it were just polished. Delicate roses were carved into the face and the strings were coiled tightly along the neck.
“Oh,” you breathed out.
Mol raised an eyebrow. “Okay there, hero?”
You shook your head to break the spell. “I- yes.”
Mol turned to Astarion. “And what does this one mean to you? You had it stowed away so carefully with all those pillows and rags. Must be pretty special.”
Astarion cleared his throat. “It’s um… a gift.”
Mirkon giggled. “For who?”
Arabella crossed her arms. “It’s a lute. Clearly it’s for the bard.” She gestured to you with a nod of her head.
Mattis blew out an unimpressed breath. “I saw her already carrying one around the Grove. Some gift.”
“So what?” Mirkon argued. “I think it’s nice.”
“So do I,” you confirmed, looking at Astarion, who caught your eye then turned away sheepishly. You turned back to the kids. “Want to know something funny?”
The kids looked intrigued and nodded, a few of them giving “yeah’s.”
You leaned in to whisper loudly and placed a hand next to your mouth as if telling a secret. “He broke my other lute,” you pointed your thumb over your shoulder at Astarion.
He scoffed. “I did not!”
You tilted your head at him disapprovingly. “It’s your fault it broke.”
“I-” he tried to dispute you, but came up short and shut his mouth.
Mol laughed. “No wonder she wanted us to swipe your stuff. Although, seems kinda pointless now.” She handed you the lute.
It was a comfortable weight in your hands and you tested the sound. It would need a bit of tuning, but it was good enough for you to cast a minor illusion of fireworks around the kids, who all looked up in awe. You flipped the face of it up towards you and ran your fingers over one of the rose etchings.
You turned to Astarion who was avoiding eye contact by drawing shapes in the dirt with the tip of his shoe. “Where did you find this?”
He looked at you and perked up, gaining an air of confidence that you usually saw when he was showing off in battle. “Found it on the Risen Road. Some poor soul perished with it hidden away in their belongings under a bunch of useless junk.” He examined his nails, feigning disinterest. “It was from the same horde where I found my hair product. I suspect some Upper City patriar accidentally stumbled into a pack of hungry gnolls on their way back to Baldur’s Gate. One can only imagine why they were all the way out here. But their loss was our gain.” He laughed airily.
You stood and held your breath. “You’ve held onto this for that long?”
Astarion deflated a little, caught. “I… may have been saving it for a special occasion.” He saw you move towards him. “Don’t be weird about this,” he warned, holding up a finger. “If you really annoyed me I was planning to give it to you and then destroy it. The look on your face would have been priceless.” He laughed again.
You ignored his deflection and took one of his hands in your own. “You’ve had this since before we-” you paused. “Since before last night.”
Astarion smiled softly. “I told you I liked you.” He looked away again when he asked, “But you like it?”
You bent forward to kiss his cheek. “It’s gorgeous. I love it. Thank you.”
“Gross,” Mattis moaned. “Can we just get our prizes now?”
You turned away from Astarion to face the kids again. “Right.” You clapped your hands together. “GALE!” You shouted, not bothering to turn your body in his direction, knowing he’d hear you anyway.
Not even a second later, he misty stepped beside you. “Yes?” he asked. “How can I help?”
“Gale,” you said, your tone implying that you needed him to play along, “the kids did a great job of stealing from Astarion tonight.”
Gale furrowed his brow in confusion, but sensed the kind of answer you wanted. “Oh, that is most excellent news.”
You nodded and placed your hands on your hips. “I think we need to discuss their reward.”
“Absolutely,” Gale agreed. He motioned over to a patch of grass a little ways away, “Shall we?”
“Be right back,” you said.
As you and Gale walked, you heard the kids talking to Astarion.
“So why do you have fangs? You some kind of demon?”
“My father was a bat.”
“Cool, can you fly?”
“No.”
Gale spun on his heel to face you. “So,” he started, “what’s going on?”
“Fair question. I wanted the kids to rob Astarion.”
“Sure,” Gale nodded. “Why?”
You shrugged. “Thought it would be funny. Didn’t think that far ahead.”
Gale nodded again. “Let me guess, you didn’t want them to actually keep the loot and now you need to satiate their desire for spoils of some kind.”
“You got it,” you confirmed.
He held a finger to his chin, lost in thought for a moment. “Alright. Play along.”
“Can do,” you said and followed after Gale back towards the kids.
“Why would I need echolocation if I’m not blind?” Astarion asked, exasperated.
“I don’t know!” Zaki shouted in the same tone. “You’re the one who’s half bat!”
“Tell me you can screech at least?” Meli asked.
Gale cleared his throat and the kids turned to face you.
“I don’t see no prizes,” Mol said, crossing her arms.
“An astute observation, Mol,” Gale agreed. “That’s because I’m going to summon your prizes from the Astral Plane.” Gale raised his eyebrows at you, talking out of his ass.
“Ooohhh,” you gushed, making what he said seem really impressive.
“You’ve been to the Astral Plane?” Mirkon asked excitedly.
“Of course,” Gale lied.
Arabella cut in. “How do we know you’ve actually been?”
Gale chuckled. “How do you think we met our Githyanki friend?” He pointed to Lae’zel over his shoulder who was in the process of skewering watermelons with her greatsword as a few others watched.
The kids looked back at Gale, seeming to accept his reasoning.
Astarion rolled his eyes.
Gale rubbed his hands together, his fingers sparking with the purple glow of the weave. Something you suspected he was doing to try to further impress and convince the children.
“Who’s first?” he asked.
Meli was about to step forward, but Arabella stopped him.
“Doni got here first, he gets his prize first.”
Meli groaned. “I’m next, then.”
Gale smiled at the boy before him. “Well Doni, it’s Githyanki tradition that their most skilled warriors receive Crowns of Valor.”
You placed a hand on your heart, further playing along. “Gale! You can’t mean-”
“Oh, that’s right,” Gale nodded. “These young, intrepid adventurers deserve the highest of honors.”
You looked at the kids and raised your eyebrows. “That’s amazing!”
The kids shared excited glances and giggles as Astarion leaned in to you.
“To be clear,” he whispered, “Crowns of Valor don’t exist, right?”
“Correct,” you said through an unmoving smile.
“And I knew that,” Astarion said unconvincingly.
Gale spun his hands through the air, the purple glow of the weave glowing brighter and brighter until a small, Doni sized crown appeared in Gale’s hands. It was of simple construction, made of tin with pointed peaks at the top, like the paper crowns you would make as a child. Then, Gale moved his hands some more and the crown molded itself into something similar to Lae’zel’s armor that you’d first met her in; polished silver with delicately raised patterns throughout, adorned with shining red jewels.
“Whoa,” you said, genuinely impressed.
Gale smirked and lifted the crown above Doni’s head. “I now bestow unto you the Githyanki Crown of Valor. Well done, lad.” He placed the crown on Doni’s head, who smiled widely and stepped back for the other kids to observe.
They ooh’d and ah’d, a few even reaching to touch it, but Doni brought his hands up to the crown to keep it on his head.
Meli excitedly jumped forward. “Me next!”
One by one, the kids stepped up to receive their incredibly real and not conjured on the spot Crowns of Valor from Gale.
“Thank you for the lute,” you said quietly to Astarion as the two of you watched the parade of children marching up to the wizard.
Astarion clicked his tongue. “I’m not sure you even deserve to keep it, given that you hired a bunch of children to steal it for you.”
You sighed loudly. “Just admit you were bested tonight and move on. I won’t think any less of you for it.”
He hummed in acknowledgement. “Don’t use this one as a club.”
“No promises,” you lifted the lute to mime hitting another imaginary bugbear.
When Mol received her crown, the last of the kids to do so, Gale stood.
“Oof, the knees,” he muttered before rubbing his hands together to convey that his work here was finished. “Well then! I believe everyone has been thoroughly rewarded for their hard work.” He looked at you and winked. You mouthed a thank you.
Mol took off her crown and inspected it. “Hypothetically, how much could a Githyanki Crown of Valor sell for?”
You and Gale gasped dramatically.
“Why would you want to do that?” you asked, scandalized.
Mol rolled her eyes. “Oh please. Just tell us how much coin we’d get.”
Gale thought for a moment. “Hypothetically, if it were to be appraised, maybe about-” You elbowed him. “-a lot. Despite the absolutely priceless nature of the objects, you’d probably get a lot of coin.” He sounded pained to be saying such things.
“Excellent.” Mol said, examining her crown and then placing it back on her head. “Now,” she said, placing a hand on her hip, “do you need anything else from us? Or can we go? There are drunk adults to swindle.”
“Charming,” Astarion said flatly.
You straightened. “Yes, you’ve all done an excellent job tonight and are free to go.”
As the kids were about to leave, you stepped in front of them, blocking their path.
“No more stealing tonight-” you said and a few of them groaned, “-but it’s fair game again when we see you next. Which will be in Baldur’s Gate when you’re members of a highly respected new guild.” You smiled at Mol who looked at you smugly and nodded.
“Damn right!” she said proudly.
The others buzzed with agreement and started dispersing after saying their goodbyes. You hugged Silfy, Arabella, and Mirkon, and waved to the others who promised they’d be careful on their journey to the city.
You stood back and watched them go, flanked on either side by Astarion and Gale.
Astarion examined his nails. “Those weren’t worth anything, were they?”
Gale shook his head. “Not unless transmuted tin suddenly gains a lot of value amongst merchants and traders. I’ve been gathering different alchemical items and ingredients all throughout our journey, and that tin that I used was actually from-”
“Ugh, stop talking,” Astarion interrupted. “I merely asked if they were worth anything in case I needed to nick one of them off one of the little roaches before they leave and we never see them again.”
“Astarion,” you whacked his arm lightly. “They’re just kids. And I’m sure we’ll see them again.”
“Whatever you say, darling,” he sighed.
“You could also just ask Gale to make you one if you want.”
“I’d be happy to-”
Astarion held up a hand. “And ruin this hair? I don’t think so.”
You looped your arm through his and watched as a few of the kids retreated into their makeshift headquarters for the evening, while a few others made a point of walking by Lae’zel’s tent first. It was clear they were trying to show off in front of her, but Lae’zel paid them no mind and focused instead on cleaning her greatsword of watermelon chunks. After a moment of them pacing back and forth in front of her, she leered at them and the kids quickly ran back to the temple, terrified she might stab them. Scratch and the owlbear cub chased after them.
You turned to Gale. “Thank you for coming to the rescue. I owe you one.”
Gale smirked. “Is it really a party if one isn’t rescuing their friend from the clutches of their own antics?”
Astarion snorted. “What kind of parties have you attended?”
“Well, I thank you for your quick thinking and skill with the weave.”
Gale puffed his chest. “I am rather excellent at magic, as I’ve said many times over. Though I fear what will happen once those miscreants try to pawn off those fraudulent crowns.”
You shrugged. “That’s a problem for future us.”
Astarion tsked. “Assuming they can catch us.”
You and Gale laughed.
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” Gale agreed. “I’ll leave you two to your evening. Let me know if you find yourself in any more trouble.” He nodded his head to you. “Good night.”
“Good night Gale,” you smiled as he walked back towards the excitement of the party where Karlach and Rolan were partaking in a loud drinking contest.
Astarion pulled you closer to him and squeezed your hip. “I still can’t believe you did that. After everything I’ve done for you.”
You smiled at him. “Ah yes, thank you for deciding not to kill me every day since you’ve met me.”
He pulled you into a kiss. “You’re welcome,” he said, muffled against your mouth. Unsurprisingly, he tasted of wine.
You pulled away and inclined your head towards Withers, still standing stoically nearby.
Astarion rolled his eyes. “I’m not even entirely sure he’s paying attention half the time, what with his distant stare and lack of meaningful conversation.”
“He called you my ‘bosom companion’ earlier.”
“He did what?” Astarion looked past you at the skeleton who made no move to acknowledge either of you. “I’ve barely had any time with her bosom yet, thank you.”
When Withers didn’t respond, you laughed and bent down to get a better grasp on your new lute. Astarion joined you, picking up his recently returned items and turning to face you.
“Care to join me on a walk?” he asked.
You smirked. “This isn’t part of another plan to bed me, is it?”
Astarion laughed. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” He made his voice low and gravelly.
Your face went red. “Aren’t you drunk?” you asked, deflecting his advances as the two of you started making your way towards Astarion’s tent.
“Ah, ah,” Astarion tutted, “I was only ever tipsy. And to be honest, I believe the last of it burned off when the one person I stupidly trust most for some reason, betrayed my trust and stole my things.”
“We got them back!” you argued.
“Hmm,” Astarion hummed. “Perhaps we should break up.”
You gasped loudly. “How dare you!”
He smirked. “I suppose you’ll have to make it up to me.”
“Am I going to regret asking what you have in mind?”
“I can think of a few options,” he said as you reached his tent and he knelt to return his items to their proper places.
You yawned. “Oh yeah?”
Astarion rose back up and looked at you softly. “Tired, darling?”
You mentally surveyed how you were feeling. “I suppose I am.”
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your waist. “A side effect of playing hero for dozens of tieflings. Told you it wasn’t worth it.”
You rested your arms over his shoulders. “And it surely has nothing to do with my lack of sleep last night, does it?”
“I don’t know what you’re implying,” Astarion teased, kissing your forehead. “Go say your good nights.” He nodded towards the heart of the party where Karlach and Rolan were drunkenly singing an old dwarven drinking song.
You looked at him curiously. “What about you?”
“Trust me, my sweet, none of them are here to see me.” He tucked some hair behind your ear. “Even though I’m world-endingly beautiful.”
“I think you’ve mentioned that,” you teased.
“They should count themselves lucky they even caught a glimpse.”
“Alright.”
“I mean, look at me.”
“I got it,” you laughed and pulled away from him, lifting your new lute one last time. “Will I see you later?”
Astarion furrowed his brow. “Do you truly think so little of me?”
You smiled shyly. “I don’t know, I’m still new at all of this.”
His expression grew soft. “As am I. We’ll get the hang of it.” His voice became flamboyant again when he said, “We are the most impressive pair in Faerûn after all.” Then he laughed brightly.
You laughed and turned to make your way to your tent to drop off your lute. “I’ll see you soon.”
“I await on baited breath, my love.”
~~~~~
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Unfortunately tumblr thought this piece was too long (fair) so I had to split it into two parts. The second part can be found here.
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