noblesandsstories

[noblesandsstories]

Halfway through chapter 3 and I realized I completely forgot to mention anything about the tadpoles.... I knew I was forgetting something. And now I have to find out out to fix it naturally.

[noblesandsstories]

Resources for Writing Sensitive Topics

As always, when writing about sensitive topics/injuries/illnesses, we encourage everyone to research and tag works appropriately. This is to ensure that the whump community can remain a safe space for everyone, as well as assist writers in creating well-informed works that avoid offending people and stereotyping, romanticising, or sensationalising hard topics.

Below are some links to resources we and others found useful - we'd like to thank the wonderful members of our community for helping us with finding great resources.

Blogs/Tumblr Posts:

@cripplecharacters - A whole blog dedicated to helping people write disabled characters.

^ A Guide to Writing Disabled Characters

@writingwithcolor - A whole blog dedicated to writing and resources centered on racial, ethnic and religious diversity.

^ Stereotypes and Tropes Navigation

Resources for Writing Injuries (Tumblr Masterpost)

Resources for Writing Sketchy Topics (Tumblr Masterpost - please note that a couple of links are broken due to the post being 7 years old, but many are still working!)

A guide to designing, drawing or writing characters who use mobility aids (Tumblr post)

Writing A Blind or Visually Impaired Character (Tumblr Post)

Independent Websites

Avoiding Stereotypes in Fiction: Characters with Mental Health Issues (WritersHelpingWriters)

How Do I Depict a Disabled Character Respectfully? (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Respectfully Depicting a Character Adapting to a Disability (Fay Onyx, Mythcreants blog)

Writing Deaf Characters (T. Frohock, author.)

How to Write Deaf or Hard of Hearing Characters (Melanie Ashford, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association)

How to Write a Blind or Vision Impaired Character (AllWriteAlright)

If anyone has any additional sources, feel free to share them in the reblogs/replies!

[noblesandsstories]

This is some shit Fleur would pull, and I love it.

The seminar devolves into Shadowheart and Lae’zel finding acceptable ways to insult each other while Karlach laughs them off and Wyll wonders why we can’t all be nice.

[noblesandsstories]

As always if you see any grammatical errors or tags I might have missed, please let me know.

Pale Pastels: A Crypt to Creep In

Astarion x Original Fem!Tav

->Hijinks ensue, mentions of traps, violence against skeletons, Fleur stabs herself, she's doing her best guys, Astarion's only been here a few minutes and he's fed up, oh hey there's plot guys! (At least in spirit), we're starting the slow burn here, kinda.

Border by: @adornedwithlight

AN: Calliope herself spoke through me, this had around 200 words when I started and this baby is at around 1,600. Hope y'all enjoy, starting to set up pieces of Fleur's stat block and a bit of her and Astarion's dynamic. Oh and I've never really wrote combat before, hope it wasn't too much of a pain to read. Bon appetite.

This temple was a great idea, decent loot, especially looting the bandits camp after Fleur sprinted up to them, frantically going on and on about mindflayers eating people. They didn’t stick around long after that, and it took the trio left hiding in the bushes a lot to not burst out into laughter at her performance of a woman who witnessed untold horrors.

Overall a rather good experience.

The group had found a book that had some kind of magical seal on it. Gale was fascinated with it, trying to break the spell desperately. Astarion only rolled his eyes.

We could be here a while, he thought. He slipped out of the room, hoping to find some kind of loot, or at least something to pick at while he was bored.

What he did find was a room full of tombs, with more traps than he’d seen in a long time.

Must be something very worthwhile here, better get to work. The elf pulled out his tools and carefully stepped over to the closest sarcophagus and began picking at the lock. Just as he opened it he turned his head to check over the room…

Just in time to see Fleur about to step on a pressure plate.

“DON’T.”

She froze, looking at him with wide eyes, foot suspended in the air.

“Can’t you see there’s traps everywhere?” He hissed.

To her credit, she did look like she was carefully observing when she double checked the room, but when she turned back to him, her face held a sheepish smile.

“No,” she said apologetically.

Astarion sighed. “Why are you even in here?”

“Same as you I recon. Watching Gale try to open a book that doesn’t want to be opened is extremely boring. Figured you’d at least be entertaining to stand next to.”

Astarion really didn’t want the company. But he knew he needed to start playing his cards carefully, lest he wanted to end up in dire straits. For now, playing nice with the candied bard would probably be a benefit.

“Fine, but take a step back and let me guide you over. There’s not many floor traps, but I can bet that they’re all synced up to one another.”

She dutifully obeyed, and he made his way over carefully.

“Ok, now watch my feet.” He over dramatized his steps, going slowly, and one by one, but in the interest of not learning what these traps do, he’d greatly look as foolish as he’d need to. Fleur diligently followed his movements, eyes analyzing every slight angle, until he was certain she was far enough from the main plates to do much harm.

“Now, sit tight and don’t do something stupid, darling,” he drawled in his usual flirty tone.

Fleur just gave a bright smile, “I’ll do my best.”

Astarion turned back to the sarcophagus, poking his head in, finally. A few pieces of gold. Not bad. He moved on to the next one. He heard the light footsteps as he knelt for the next one.

They made their way through the room, coffin by coffin, even found a chest with some basic loot, Astarion dutifully working on the locks, Fleur quietly observing. Honestly, Astarion found it rather nice.

Until Gale and Shadowheart walked in.

“We figured the book out!” Gale exclaimed. Astarion thought he looked like a dog trying to impress it’s master, poor bastard.

“Don’t walk in!” Fleur called out. “This place is trapped up.”

Shadowheart just cocked her head. “Yes, it’s very obvious there are traps here. Thanks for the warning.”

Fleur only looked a little bashful when she replied, “We’re almost done here. Go on and we’ll catch up!”

The two moved on and Astarion quickly picked the last lock. He fished out the last of the loot (a few pieces of gold and a healing potion), and stood.

“Now to get you and I out of this room safely, my dear,” he crooned.

“Do you mind if I do something first? Promise won’t be too bad,” she asked.

“Of course, as long as you don’t stab me,” he gave a careless laugh. She didn’t seem like the type to do something, right?

She stepped up and straightened his collar, fidgeting with it for a second, before giving a nod.

“That should work for now. At least you can pretend like it’s a weirdly placed mole.”

If Astarion’s heart could stop, it would have then.

She knew she knew she knew she-

“We do need to find a higher collar if we don’t want someone stabbing before asking,” she looked up to him with a beaming smile. “Now let’s get going. Don’t want them thinking we’re going to elope. You might have to show the way out though. I still don’t see those traps.”

She didn’t care. Or she was behaving like she didn’t care. Astarion couldn’t follow.

And it quickly left his line of concerns when he noticed Fleur almost step on a trap, again.

“WAIT-”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They met back up and found a more open room, that they began to move through, spreading out slightly. Astarion did his best to follow Fleur’s every move, but not to keep her from setting off traps and getting them all blown to Avernus. But to follow her eyes.

Eyes that couldn’t see a pressure plate that was quite obvious but could catch bite marks on his neck. Eyes that shone a rather beautiful shade of blue. Actually, now that he looked at it, something was off about her eyes. What could be-

“Hey, what do you think this button does?” Fleur asked, turning to Astarion.

“Opening the door next to it, I assume,” he responded.

“Then why the button,” she mused. “Why not just have the door, like everywhere else.” She paused for a moment, then turned back to the other two, “Move closer for a bit. I’m going to push this and I’d rather have heads where I can see them.”

Astarion snickered, “Sounds like you’re talking to children.”

Fleur sent him a weak smile, “I’m more used to that than talking to adults. Brace yourselves.”

She pushed the button, and as he predicted, the door opened.

What he didn’t predict was the skeletons strewn about the room to get up.

“Oh shit,” Fleur whispered.

The battle, if you could even call it that, began. Astarion moved forward, deciding that the bow was the best course of action for now. The skeletons were far, and he highly doubt he’d get too close without something horrible happening. He shot one on the ledge above them dead on, staggering it slightly.

A slew of spells slung their way, a firebolt hitting Shadowheart and a ray of frost, which he managed to only be nicked by. Before much else could progress, Fleur channeled a bit of magic, and without warning…

“Even alive, you must have smelled like something rotten.”

The skeleton above them fell into pieces, a bit of excitement fueling him. They definitely could stomp these things.

Another skeleton ran forwards, getting a good hit on Shadowheart. She hit him back, adding an extra shove with the shield as Gale cast firebolt, sending flames to one of the skeletons further back in the room. The skeleton furthest back began casting before everything went quiet.

Silence, how marvelous. And I’m surrounded by casters.

He ran around the group and the skeleton challenging Shadowheart, aiming at the one holding up the spell, and launched an arrow. The fucker didn’t fall, and the spell stayed strong.

Another lobby of spells came their way from the other two skeletons, hitting Gale and Fleur this time. With the silence up, he wasn’t expecting much. Fleur ran up next to the skeleton in front of them, and raised up a dagger.

And brought it down with the worst form he’d ever seen, not just missing the skeleton by a wide berth, but cutting herself in the process.

Astarion wasn’t even sure he had seen it quite right, until the blood trickled down her arm. If it wasn’t for the silence spell, he’d be yelling so loud, he could probably do damage. How do you fuck up that poorly?

He didn’t miss Shadowheart’s eye roll and she swung again with the mace, this time seeming to do slightly more than the last.

Someone had to, he bitterly thought, as sprinted to move out of the radius of the spell, before casting his own back to the skeleton that was holding up the silence spell. This time the creature fell, and with it the spell. He wasted no time turning around, pulling out his rapier and finishing off the brute.

“Since he’s now dead, let’s try sticking to things that are useful?” he sneered.

If looks could kill, Astarion would be dead again from the glare Fleur sent him, but she said nothing, instead braced herself for the ice spell sent her way. Another spell was slung to him, but he managed to easily dodge it.

Shadowheart sent some kind of holy spell to one of the skeletons, downing it instantly. Gale casted another small flash of fire to the other one, which Astarion finished off with an arrow.

They waited a beat, seeing if anything else would rise from the coffins around them, but once it proved still, they all began put their things away.

Astarion turned over to Fleur. “What’s the point in having a dagger if you don’t know how to use it?”

“Listen, Mr. Snark, not everyone is built for combat,” she huffed. “If anything, I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.”

Astarion had never really noticed the pouch at her hip, and when she opened it, he noticed it was a set of daggers, most of them designed for throwing. They were well polished, and carefully shined. But that wasn’t nearly the detail that caught his eye the most.

What caught his eye was one of the larger daggers was missing.

[noblesandsstories]

Pale Pastels: A Crypt to Creep In

Astarion x Original Fem!Tav

->Hijinks ensue, mentions of traps, violence against skeletons, Fleur stabs herself, she's doing her best guys, Astarion's only been here a few minutes and he's fed up, oh hey there's plot guys! (At least in spirit), we're starting the slow burn here, kinda.

Border by: @adornedwithlight

AN: Calliope herself spoke through me, this had around 200 words when I started and this baby is at around 1,600. Hope y'all enjoy, starting to set up pieces of Fleur's stat block and a bit of her and Astarion's dynamic. Oh and I've never really wrote combat before, hope it wasn't too much of a pain to read. Bon appetite.

This temple was a great idea, decent loot, especially looting the bandits camp after Fleur sprinted up to them, frantically going on and on about mindflayers eating people. They didn’t stick around long after that, and it took the trio left hiding in the bushes a lot to not burst out into laughter at her performance of a woman who witnessed untold horrors.

Overall a rather good experience.

The group had found a book that had some kind of magical seal on it. Gale was fascinated with it, trying to break the spell desperately. Astarion only rolled his eyes.

We could be here a while, he thought. He slipped out of the room, hoping to find some kind of loot, or at least something to pick at while he was bored.

What he did find was a room full of tombs, with more traps than he’d seen in a long time.

Must be something very worthwhile here, better get to work. The elf pulled out his tools and carefully stepped over to the closest sarcophagus and began picking at the lock. Just as he opened it he turned his head to check over the room…

Just in time to see Fleur about to step on a pressure plate.

“DON’T.”

She froze, looking at him with wide eyes, foot suspended in the air.

“Can’t you see there’s traps everywhere?” He hissed.

To her credit, she did look like she was carefully observing when she double checked the room, but when she turned back to him, her face held a sheepish smile.

“No,” she said apologetically.

Astarion sighed. “Why are you even in here?”

“Same as you I recon. Watching Gale try to open a book that doesn’t want to be opened is extremely boring. Figured you’d at least be entertaining to stand next to.”

Astarion really didn’t want the company. But he knew he needed to start playing his cards carefully, lest he wanted to end up in dire straits. For now, playing nice with the candied bard would probably be a benefit.

“Fine, but take a step back and let me guide you over. There’s not many floor traps, but I can bet that they’re all synced up to one another.”

She dutifully obeyed, and he made his way over carefully.

“Ok, now watch my feet.” He over dramatized his steps, going slowly, and one by one, but in the interest of not learning what these traps do, he’d greatly look as foolish as he’d need to. Fleur diligently followed his movements, eyes analyzing every slight angle, until he was certain she was far enough from the main plates to do much harm.

“Now, sit tight and don’t do something stupid, darling,” he drawled in his usual flirty tone.

Fleur just gave a bright smile, “I’ll do my best.”

Astarion turned back to the sarcophagus, poking his head in, finally. A few pieces of gold. Not bad. He moved on to the next one. He heard the light footsteps as he knelt for the next one.

They made their way through the room, coffin by coffin, even found a chest with some basic loot, Astarion dutifully working on the locks, Fleur quietly observing. Honestly, Astarion found it rather nice.

Until Gale and Shadowheart walked in.

“We figured the book out!” Gale exclaimed. Astarion thought he looked like a dog trying to impress it’s master, poor bastard.

“Don’t walk in!” Fleur called out. “This place is trapped up.”

Shadowheart just cocked her head. “Yes, it’s very obvious there are traps here. Thanks for the warning.”

Fleur only looked a little bashful when she replied, “We’re almost done here. Go on and we’ll catch up!”

The two moved on and Astarion quickly picked the last lock. He fished out the last of the loot (a few pieces of gold and a healing potion), and stood.

“Now to get you and I out of this room safely, my dear,” he crooned.

“Do you mind if I do something first? Promise won’t be too bad,” she asked.

“Of course, as long as you don’t stab me,” he gave a careless laugh. She didn’t seem like the type to do something, right?

She stepped up and straightened his collar, fidgeting with it for a second, before giving a nod.

“That should work for now. At least you can pretend like it’s a weirdly placed mole.”

If Astarion’s heart could stop, it would have then.

She knew she knew she knew she-

“We do need to find a higher collar if we don’t want someone stabbing before asking,” she looked up to him with a beaming smile. “Now let’s get going. Don’t want them thinking we’re going to elope. You might have to show the way out though. I still don’t see those traps.”

She didn’t care. Or she was behaving like she didn’t care. Astarion couldn’t follow.

And it quickly left his line of concerns when he noticed Fleur almost step on a trap, again.

“WAIT-”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They met back up and found a more open room, that they began to move through, spreading out slightly. Astarion did his best to follow Fleur’s every move, but not to keep her from setting off traps and getting them all blown to Avernus. But to follow her eyes.

Eyes that couldn’t see a pressure plate that was quite obvious but could catch bite marks on his neck. Eyes that shone a rather beautiful shade of blue. Actually, now that he looked at it, something was off about her eyes. What could be-

“Hey, what do you think this button does?” Fleur asked, turning to Astarion.

“Opening the door next to it, I assume,” he responded.

“Then why the button,” she mused. “Why not just have the door, like everywhere else.” She paused for a moment, then turned back to the other two, “Move closer for a bit. I’m going to push this and I’d rather have heads where I can see them.”

Astarion snickered, “Sounds like you’re talking to children.”

Fleur sent him a weak smile, “I’m more used to that than talking to adults. Brace yourselves.”

She pushed the button, and as he predicted, the door opened.

What he didn’t predict was the skeletons strewn about the room to get up.

“Oh shit,” Fleur whispered.

The battle, if you could even call it that, began. Astarion moved forward, deciding that the bow was the best course of action for now. The skeletons were far, and he highly doubt he’d get too close without something horrible happening. He shot one on the ledge above them dead on, staggering it slightly.

A slew of spells slung their way, a firebolt hitting Shadowheart and a ray of frost, which he managed to only be nicked by. Before much else could progress, Fleur channeled a bit of magic, and without warning…

“Even alive, you must have smelled like something rotten.”

The skeleton above them fell into pieces, a bit of excitement fueling him. They definitely could stomp these things.

Another skeleton ran forwards, getting a good hit on Shadowheart. She hit him back, adding an extra shove with the shield as Gale cast firebolt, sending flames to one of the skeletons further back in the room. The skeleton furthest back began casting before everything went quiet.

Silence, how marvelous. And I’m surrounded by casters.

He ran around the group and the skeleton challenging Shadowheart, aiming at the one holding up the spell, and launched an arrow. The fucker didn’t fall, and the spell stayed strong.

Another lobby of spells came their way from the other two skeletons, hitting Gale and Fleur this time. With the silence up, he wasn’t expecting much. Fleur ran up next to the skeleton in front of them, and raised up a dagger.

And brought it down with the worst form he’d ever seen, not just missing the skeleton by a wide berth, but cutting herself in the process.

Astarion wasn’t even sure he had seen it quite right, until the blood trickled down her arm. If it wasn’t for the silence spell, he’d be yelling so loud, he could probably do damage. How do you fuck up that poorly?

He didn’t miss Shadowheart’s eye roll and she swung again with the mace, this time seeming to do slightly more than the last.

Someone had to, he bitterly thought, as sprinted to move out of the radius of the spell, before casting his own back to the skeleton that was holding up the silence spell. This time the creature fell, and with it the spell. He wasted no time turning around, pulling out his rapier and finishing off the brute.

“Since he’s now dead, let’s try sticking to things that are useful?” he sneered.

If looks could kill, Astarion would be dead again from the glare Fleur sent him, but she said nothing, instead braced herself for the ice spell sent her way. Another spell was slung to him, but he managed to easily dodge it.

Shadowheart sent some kind of holy spell to one of the skeletons, downing it instantly. Gale casted another small flash of fire to the other one, which Astarion finished off with an arrow.

They waited a beat, seeing if anything else would rise from the coffins around them, but once it proved still, they all began put their things away.

Astarion turned over to Fleur. “What’s the point in having a dagger if you don’t know how to use it?”

“Listen, Mr. Snark, not everyone is built for combat,” she huffed. “If anything, I’m just glad it wasn’t worse.”

Astarion had never really noticed the pouch at her hip, and when she opened it, he noticed it was a set of daggers, most of them designed for throwing. They were well polished, and carefully shined. But that wasn’t nearly the detail that caught his eye the most.

What caught his eye was one of the larger daggers was missing.

[noblesandsstories]

I'VE BEEN SPELLING FLEURS NAME WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME

God's above I want this second chapter out today, even if it's 200 words and a prayer

[noblesandsstories]

God's above I want this second chapter out today, even if it's 200 words and a prayer

[noblesandsstories]

On an unrelated note, I'm so happy to see people like Pale Pastels. I posted that after a shitty day hoping for the best, and I truly received that. Thank you guys so much <3

[noblesandsstories]

LMAO

putting bg3 point and click voicelines together to sound like a conversation has brought me great joy, so. here's gale, karlach, shadowheart, and astarion doing a terrible job of sneaking around

[noblesandsstories]

I did not mean to reblog that twice. I thought my wifi crashed and the first one didn't post.......

[noblesandsstories]

Ily so much, thank you so much for the kind words. I'm happy that you liked Fluer so much! She means a lot to me and is probably one of the characters I resonate the most with in my arsenal. Mostly cause I made her to help me process certain parts of myself.

Pale Pastels: The Start of a Joke

Astarion x Original Fem!Tav

->Humor, nothing too serious yet, Fluer being her silly little self, mentions of a dagger, mindflayer parasites, canon divergence.

Border by: @adornedwithlight

AN: Holy delays Batman. I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took. I know I did that poll a long time ago and nothing came of it, but I got hit by a lot of stuff at once. Plus the intro of Gale threw me for a loop for a while before I decided what to do with it. This has barely been edited, sorry. Gods willing, I'll be faster with the next one, though I don't have too much of an idea for what to do there. Anyways, enjoy!!

A high elf was hovering over the unconscious woman, trying to figure out what to do next. It had not been long since she herself awoke on the beach, the half-elf being the first living creature she found, even if barely.

She was breathing. That meant she wasn’t dead, yet. But she had yet to wake.

The redhead bent down, reaching out and lightly shaking her shoulder. The unconscious woman’s eyes fluttered open, and looked around as if in a daze, soon focusing on the woman standing over head.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Hope I didn’t ruin any good dreams,” she chirped, a friendly smile on her face.

The woman on the ground blinked for a moment, before replying, “I wasn’t really dreaming anything. Where are we?”

“Haven’t got a single clue. Hopefully we’ll find a settlement or something soon enough,” the high elf offered her hand. “We haven’t met properly. I’m Fleur.”

The half elf took the hand, using the momentum to stand. “Shadowheart.”

“A pleasure, though I wish it were under other circumstances. Don’t forget your little trinket.” 

Shadowheart momentarily gawked as Fleur handed over the artifact. She didn’t remember seeing her reach for it, or even get near it. But she was still coming to her senses, and a tadpole in her head was probably not helping.

“Thank you,” Shadowheart took it, shocked that there were no questions being flung her way.

But Fleur seemed more preoccupied observing their surrounding and what was left of the ship. 

“Hell of a landing. And I’m assuming our Gith friend decided she had better places to be. Wish her all the best, even if she wasn’t the most pleasant at first introductions.”

Shadowheart snorted, “Gith are not exactly known for their friendliness. I’m sure she’s probably forgotten all about us.”

Fluer released a dramatic sigh. “Oh well. We’ll probably want to get moving, if you’re feeling like you can travel right now, of course. There looks to be a lot of rubble around, maybe we can find something to let us know where we are.”

“We?” Shadowheart was already unsure about this. Working with an elf dressed as a bright pink clown felt to be pushing her limits.

“The way I see it, we don’t even know for certain this is Faerun. We could be in the Fey Wilds for all we know. And I don’t think us moving independently is a wise idea if we don’t know where we are,” she reasoned.

She quickly added, “I won’t force you, and the gods know I can’t hold you captive.” She glanced at her mace.

Shadowheart realized she hadn’t seen the elf hold a single weapon outside of a dingy hand crossbow the entirety of knowing her. And she couldn’t even wield that.

“No, you’re right. Especially with this parasite problem. Best to stick together.”

Fluer grimaced, “Fuck, I forgot about that.” 

The dignified air and formal appearance so quickly fell to what can only be described the look of a kicked puppy, Shadowheart couldn’t help but to laugh.

Fluers shoulders relaxed slightly, a small twinkle in her eye.

“My sorrows that funny?” She teased.

“Absolutely hilarious,” she countered. 

“Glad to be of service. Now shall we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The odd pair kept to the outskirts of the crash at first, maneuvering around the brush and debris left behind. And of course, freeing the dead of any thing useful. Survival and all.

“Do you recognize anything?” Shadowheart asked as she gathered a small sample of a plant nearby. According to her, it had some healing properties when prepared right. 

“No, and that’s saying something. I’ve been all across Faerún a few times.” She pocketed some gold from a body and made sure the walking brain corpses were actually dead. 

“Oh? Are you a traveler?” 

“Of sorts. Traveling circus,” she beamed as she said this. 

Shadowheart did not look surprised, it definitely explained Fluer’s odd clothing. And bright colors.

“HELLO?”

The two stopped at the shout of someone’s voice, looking around to see who could be yelling.

“Hello?” Fluer called out, before her eyes caught on a purple rune, glowing with magic. And a hand sticking out.

“Is someone out there?”

Shadowheart and Fluer looked to each other, confusion on their faces, before Fluer advanced towards it, eliciting a hissed “Careful!” from her companion.

“Are you in, uh, this?” Fluer asked, projecting her voice.

“Gods, finally! Yes I’m here. I need a hand,” the voice came.

Fluer paused, her head tilting slightly. She turned to the half elf behind her.

“Do you think you could pull him out if I try to stabilize the rune?”

Shadowheart thought for a moment. It was not a completely unreasonable idea. She had seen twigs that looked stronger than Fluer, but she couldn’t deny she had magic. It seemed like a solid enough plan.

“Tell me when to start pulling,” Shadowheart replied, stepping forward to stand next to the elf.

Fluer reached out, touching the tune with one hand, in the other little lights began to flicker and sway. She hummed very quietly under her breath, the lights beginning to dance around her fingers. 

The crackling of magic began to subside, and Shadowheart took that as her cue grasping the hand and beginning to pull.

In seconds, a man flew from the other side, pushing her backwards. Fluer darted forwards, grabbing at them in a feeble attempt to regain balance. In the end, the trio fell to the ground. 

For a moment, they all just laid there in silence. Before Fluer started hysterically laughing. 

Shadowheart and the man from the rune looked over to her.

She finally wheezed out, “With how our luck is going, we’ll end up back in Avernus, with nothing but a dream!”

And then he started laughing as well. Soon Shadowheart couldn’t help but crack a smile.

After their laughter wore down, Fluer turned to the man. “So who might you be?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astarion heard the group before he saw them. Three voices, two he recognized from the ship, they weren’t even trying to be quiet. He triple checked his dagger was where he needed it to be. He, once again, considered poison, but if he accidentally nicked them before he got information, he’d be stuck with no answers.

The group rounded the corner, their leader being a bit too hard to miss, in a pastel pink outfit with flaming orange hair. The half-elf was with her, but instead of the gith, their third was a human in a bright purple robe. 

“Help! I need help!” He cried, trying to sound as pathetic as possible.

The pink one turned to him, said something to her companions and bounced forward.

“What is it?” She called as she approached.

“Thank the gods,” he sounded weak even to his own ears, “I cornered one of those brain things.”

She rolled her shoulder. “Alright, alright. Let’s see…”

She creeped forward, her hand dropping to her side with a roll of her shoulder, footsteps hardly making a sound. Just as she went to peek around the brush, a boar sprinted out, making her jump back.

Astarion took this as his chance, grabbed her around the chest, pressing her towards him, and brought his dagger up.

Her hand came up at the same time.

And then he was blind.

“WHAT IN THE HELLS?” He cried, stumbling back as she pressed away. 

He heard a silvery laugh, his guess from the half-elf.

“What is this?!” He demanded as he wiped at his eyes.

“Oh hush,” the pink one chastised, “For a man who was about to take my throat out, you make a fuss when someone gets one up on you.”

“It’s in my damn mouth,” he began to spit trying to get it out. 

The male human joined in on the laughter.

He finally fumbled for his handkerchief and managed to wipe the substance away from his eyes.

He was greeted to the pink one, looking less than amused at him, and his handkerchief stained a vast assortment of colors.

“Is this PAINT?” He shrieked.

The laughter doubled.

“Serves you right,” the pink one scolded. “Here I am, trying to be nice, and you decide to throw it back in face. Should have let the boar handle you.” It sounded like she was lecturing a small child. And he was actually starting to feel bad. Mostly cause he just got duped by paint of all things.

“If this stains my shirt, so help me-“

“Oh for the love of- It comes out with water and scrubbing. Soap makes it faster, but it doesn’t stain. My bigger question is why you felt the need to stick up random strangers. Do we look like we have money? I assure you we don’t.”

Astarion felt like he was going to start screaming. “I was trying to get information, since I saw you two on the ship before it went careening down.”

“I don’t see what information we could offer you that you couldn’t gather for yourself. We’re infected by parasites that will eventually turn us into mindflayers, and we are somehow not dead yet. The better question is do you have any new information that could help us?”

The two bystanders had finally stopped sniggering and both had a focused look on their faces. 

He shook his head. “Of course this would turn me into a monster,” he bitterly laughed and then looked the pink one in the face, finally getting a good look at her.

She was a high elf, like himself, but her cheeks were slightly rounded, giving her a faint heart shape to her face. Her eyes were a bright sapphire blue and had a mischievous glimmer in them. Her hair was indeed bright orange, done in an intricate bun style; however, now he could see the pastel pink stripes, most likely dyed. Her clothes were intricate, but nothing any well reasoned noble would be caught dead wearing. Instead she looked like…

“Are you a bloody clown?”

Her face fell, the most genuinely upset she looked throughout their whole conversation, “I’m not a clown, I’m a jester. There’s a difference, even though most laymen can’t seem to comprehend it.”

It felt like it was supposed to be a jab, but he could really care less about the difference between different circus performers.

“We’re currently on the hunt for a settlement or camp or humanoid that is willing to give us any kind of directions, really. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea where we are?”

“Not a clue,” he says, putting away his handkerchief. He really got himself in a bit of trouble. He snuck another glance at the trio as he bent down to pick up his dagger. The elf in pink had turned back to her companions and was talking to them about where to go next, bringing up a temple they saw not to far down the shore.

The truth of the matter was he was totally screwed on his own. If there were any more mindflayers around or, Gods forbid, Cazador tracked him down before he was ready, he was not going to put up much of a chance. And while this troupe certainly wasn’t looking like they’d be much more help, it was something. 

He could work with that for now.

“Now that I’ve thought about it,” he announces, grabbing their attention,” How about we travel together for now? Safety in numbers and all of that.”

The pink one cocks her head to the side. “What’s your name?”

He gives an overdramatic, scandalized gasp, “How could I have been so rude as to not introduce myself. I am Astarion, at your service.” He gave a half bow for effect.

She thinks for a moment, before giving a bow in return, “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Fluer. Welcome to the adventure. The regal looking young woman is Shadowheart and the handsome fellow is Gale.”

Shadowheart stepped forward, taking Fluer’s arm, “Are you sure we should trust a man who just held a blade to you?”

Fluer beamed back, “For one, I took care of him rather easily. And think of it this way, if he kills us in our sleep, we won’t be mindflayers in the morning!” She clapped her hands once, as if she had made some grand statement.

“Now, to that temple we saw along the shore. Even if we don’t find anyone, maybe there’s some trinkets we could pocket!”

Astarion felt like this was a person he could definitely get to know.

[noblesandsstories]

I'm genuinely processing how much people like this. I also am so happy with how much you like Fluer! She's one of my favorite characters I've ever developed and I can't wait to see your reactions to her as the series goes on!

Thank you for the kind words and support!

Pale Pastels: The Start of a Joke

Astarion x Original Fem!Tav

->Humor, nothing too serious yet, Fluer being her silly little self, mentions of a dagger, mindflayer parasites, canon divergence.

Border by: @adornedwithlight

AN: Holy delays Batman. I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took. I know I did that poll a long time ago and nothing came of it, but I got hit by a lot of stuff at once. Plus the intro of Gale threw me for a loop for a while before I decided what to do with it. This has barely been edited, sorry. Gods willing, I'll be faster with the next one, though I don't have too much of an idea for what to do there. Anyways, enjoy!!

A high elf was hovering over the unconscious woman, trying to figure out what to do next. It had not been long since she herself awoke on the beach, the half-elf being the first living creature she found, even if barely.

She was breathing. That meant she wasn’t dead, yet. But she had yet to wake.

The redhead bent down, reaching out and lightly shaking her shoulder. The unconscious woman’s eyes fluttered open, and looked around as if in a daze, soon focusing on the woman standing over head.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Hope I didn’t ruin any good dreams,” she chirped, a friendly smile on her face.

The woman on the ground blinked for a moment, before replying, “I wasn’t really dreaming anything. Where are we?”

“Haven’t got a single clue. Hopefully we’ll find a settlement or something soon enough,” the high elf offered her hand. “We haven’t met properly. I’m Fleur.”

The half elf took the hand, using the momentum to stand. “Shadowheart.”

“A pleasure, though I wish it were under other circumstances. Don’t forget your little trinket.” 

Shadowheart momentarily gawked as Fleur handed over the artifact. She didn’t remember seeing her reach for it, or even get near it. But she was still coming to her senses, and a tadpole in her head was probably not helping.

“Thank you,” Shadowheart took it, shocked that there were no questions being flung her way.

But Fleur seemed more preoccupied observing their surrounding and what was left of the ship. 

“Hell of a landing. And I’m assuming our Gith friend decided she had better places to be. Wish her all the best, even if she wasn’t the most pleasant at first introductions.”

Shadowheart snorted, “Gith are not exactly known for their friendliness. I’m sure she’s probably forgotten all about us.”

Fluer released a dramatic sigh. “Oh well. We’ll probably want to get moving, if you’re feeling like you can travel right now, of course. There looks to be a lot of rubble around, maybe we can find something to let us know where we are.”

“We?” Shadowheart was already unsure about this. Working with an elf dressed as a bright pink clown felt to be pushing her limits.

“The way I see it, we don’t even know for certain this is Faerun. We could be in the Fey Wilds for all we know. And I don’t think us moving independently is a wise idea if we don’t know where we are,” she reasoned.

She quickly added, “I won’t force you, and the gods know I can’t hold you captive.” She glanced at her mace.

Shadowheart realized she hadn’t seen the elf hold a single weapon outside of a dingy hand crossbow the entirety of knowing her. And she couldn’t even wield that.

“No, you’re right. Especially with this parasite problem. Best to stick together.”

Fluer grimaced, “Fuck, I forgot about that.” 

The dignified air and formal appearance so quickly fell to what can only be described the look of a kicked puppy, Shadowheart couldn’t help but to laugh.

Fluers shoulders relaxed slightly, a small twinkle in her eye.

“My sorrows that funny?” She teased.

“Absolutely hilarious,” she countered. 

“Glad to be of service. Now shall we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The odd pair kept to the outskirts of the crash at first, maneuvering around the brush and debris left behind. And of course, freeing the dead of any thing useful. Survival and all.

“Do you recognize anything?” Shadowheart asked as she gathered a small sample of a plant nearby. According to her, it had some healing properties when prepared right. 

“No, and that’s saying something. I’ve been all across Faerún a few times.” She pocketed some gold from a body and made sure the walking brain corpses were actually dead. 

“Oh? Are you a traveler?” 

“Of sorts. Traveling circus,” she beamed as she said this. 

Shadowheart did not look surprised, it definitely explained Fluer’s odd clothing. And bright colors.

“HELLO?”

The two stopped at the shout of someone’s voice, looking around to see who could be yelling.

“Hello?” Fluer called out, before her eyes caught on a purple rune, glowing with magic. And a hand sticking out.

“Is someone out there?”

Shadowheart and Fluer looked to each other, confusion on their faces, before Fluer advanced towards it, eliciting a hissed “Careful!” from her companion.

“Are you in, uh, this?” Fluer asked, projecting her voice.

“Gods, finally! Yes I’m here. I need a hand,” the voice came.

Fluer paused, her head tilting slightly. She turned to the half elf behind her.

“Do you think you could pull him out if I try to stabilize the rune?”

Shadowheart thought for a moment. It was not a completely unreasonable idea. She had seen twigs that looked stronger than Fluer, but she couldn’t deny she had magic. It seemed like a solid enough plan.

“Tell me when to start pulling,” Shadowheart replied, stepping forward to stand next to the elf.

Fluer reached out, touching the tune with one hand, in the other little lights began to flicker and sway. She hummed very quietly under her breath, the lights beginning to dance around her fingers. 

The crackling of magic began to subside, and Shadowheart took that as her cue grasping the hand and beginning to pull.

In seconds, a man flew from the other side, pushing her backwards. Fluer darted forwards, grabbing at them in a feeble attempt to regain balance. In the end, the trio fell to the ground. 

For a moment, they all just laid there in silence. Before Fluer started hysterically laughing. 

Shadowheart and the man from the rune looked over to her.

She finally wheezed out, “With how our luck is going, we’ll end up back in Avernus, with nothing but a dream!”

And then he started laughing as well. Soon Shadowheart couldn’t help but crack a smile.

After their laughter wore down, Fluer turned to the man. “So who might you be?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astarion heard the group before he saw them. Three voices, two he recognized from the ship, they weren’t even trying to be quiet. He triple checked his dagger was where he needed it to be. He, once again, considered poison, but if he accidentally nicked them before he got information, he’d be stuck with no answers.

The group rounded the corner, their leader being a bit too hard to miss, in a pastel pink outfit with flaming orange hair. The half-elf was with her, but instead of the gith, their third was a human in a bright purple robe. 

“Help! I need help!” He cried, trying to sound as pathetic as possible.

The pink one turned to him, said something to her companions and bounced forward.

“What is it?” She called as she approached.

���Thank the gods,” he sounded weak even to his own ears, “I cornered one of those brain things.”

She rolled her shoulder. “Alright, alright. Let’s see…”

She creeped forward, her hand dropping to her side with a roll of her shoulder, footsteps hardly making a sound. Just as she went to peek around the brush, a boar sprinted out, making her jump back.

Astarion took this as his chance, grabbed her around the chest, pressing her towards him, and brought his dagger up.

Her hand came up at the same time.

And then he was blind.

“WHAT IN THE HELLS?” He cried, stumbling back as she pressed away. 

He heard a silvery laugh, his guess from the half-elf.

“What is this?!” He demanded as he wiped at his eyes.

“Oh hush,” the pink one chastised, “For a man who was about to take my throat out, you make a fuss when someone gets one up on you.”

“It’s in my damn mouth,” he began to spit trying to get it out. 

The male human joined in on the laughter.

He finally fumbled for his handkerchief and managed to wipe the substance away from his eyes.

He was greeted to the pink one, looking less than amused at him, and his handkerchief stained a vast assortment of colors.

“Is this PAINT?” He shrieked.

The laughter doubled.

“Serves you right,” the pink one scolded. “Here I am, trying to be nice, and you decide to throw it back in face. Should have let the boar handle you.” It sounded like she was lecturing a small child. And he was actually starting to feel bad. Mostly cause he just got duped by paint of all things.

“If this stains my shirt, so help me-“

“Oh for the love of- It comes out with water and scrubbing. Soap makes it faster, but it doesn’t stain. My bigger question is why you felt the need to stick up random strangers. Do we look like we have money? I assure you we don’t.”

Astarion felt like he was going to start screaming. “I was trying to get information, since I saw you two on the ship before it went careening down.”

“I don’t see what information we could offer you that you couldn’t gather for yourself. We’re infected by parasites that will eventually turn us into mindflayers, and we are somehow not dead yet. The better question is do you have any new information that could help us?”

The two bystanders had finally stopped sniggering and both had a focused look on their faces. 

He shook his head. “Of course this would turn me into a monster,” he bitterly laughed and then looked the pink one in the face, finally getting a good look at her.

She was a high elf, like himself, but her cheeks were slightly rounded, giving her a faint heart shape to her face. Her eyes were a bright sapphire blue and had a mischievous glimmer in them. Her hair was indeed bright orange, done in an intricate bun style; however, now he could see the pastel pink stripes, most likely dyed. Her clothes were intricate, but nothing any well reasoned noble would be caught dead wearing. Instead she looked like…

“Are you a bloody clown?”

Her face fell, the most genuinely upset she looked throughout their whole conversation, “I’m not a clown, I’m a jester. There’s a difference, even though most laymen can’t seem to comprehend it.”

It felt like it was supposed to be a jab, but he could really care less about the difference between different circus performers.

“We’re currently on the hunt for a settlement or camp or humanoid that is willing to give us any kind of directions, really. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea where we are?”

“Not a clue,” he says, putting away his handkerchief. He really got himself in a bit of trouble. He snuck another glance at the trio as he bent down to pick up his dagger. The elf in pink had turned back to her companions and was talking to them about where to go next, bringing up a temple they saw not to far down the shore.

The truth of the matter was he was totally screwed on his own. If there were any more mindflayers around or, Gods forbid, Cazador tracked him down before he was ready, he was not going to put up much of a chance. And while this troupe certainly wasn’t looking like they’d be much more help, it was something. 

He could work with that for now.

“Now that I’ve thought about it,” he announces, grabbing their attention,” How about we travel together for now? Safety in numbers and all of that.”

The pink one cocks her head to the side. “What’s your name?”

He gives an overdramatic, scandalized gasp, “How could I have been so rude as to not introduce myself. I am Astarion, at your service.” He gave a half bow for effect.

She thinks for a moment, before giving a bow in return, “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Fluer. Welcome to the adventure. The regal looking young woman is Shadowheart and the handsome fellow is Gale.”

Shadowheart stepped forward, taking Fluer’s arm, “Are you sure we should trust a man who just held a blade to you?”

Fluer beamed back, “For one, I took care of him rather easily. And think of it this way, if he kills us in our sleep, we won’t be mindflayers in the morning!” She clapped her hands once, as if she had made some grand statement.

“Now, to that temple we saw along the shore. Even if we don’t find anyone, maybe there’s some trinkets we could pocket!”

Astarion felt like this was a person he could definitely get to know.

[noblesandsstories]

Pale Pastels: The Start of a Joke

Astarion x Original Fem!Tav

->Humor, nothing too serious yet, Fleur being her silly little self, mentions of a dagger, mindflayer parasites, canon divergence.

Border by: @adornedwithlight

AN: Holy delays Batman. I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took. I know I did that poll a long time ago and nothing came of it, but I got hit by a lot of stuff at once. Plus the intro of Gale threw me for a loop for a while before I decided what to do with it. This has barely been edited, sorry. Gods willing, I'll be faster with the next one, though I don't have too much of an idea for what to do there. Anyways, enjoy!!

A high elf was hovering over the unconscious woman, trying to figure out what to do next. It had not been long since she herself awoke on the beach, the half-elf being the first living creature she found, even if barely.

She was breathing. That meant she wasn’t dead, yet. But she had yet to wake.

The redhead bent down, reaching out and lightly shaking her shoulder. The unconscious woman’s eyes fluttered open, and looked around as if in a daze, soon focusing on the woman standing over head.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Hope I didn’t ruin any good dreams,” she chirped, a friendly smile on her face.

The woman on the ground blinked for a moment, before replying, “I wasn’t really dreaming anything. Where are we?”

“Haven’t got a single clue. Hopefully we’ll find a settlement or something soon enough,” the high elf offered her hand. “We haven’t met properly. I’m Fleur.”

The half elf took the hand, using the momentum to stand. “Shadowheart.”

“A pleasure, though I wish it were under other circumstances. Don’t forget your little trinket.” 

Shadowheart momentarily gawked as Fleur handed over the artifact. She didn’t remember seeing her reach for it, or even get near it. But she was still coming to her senses, and a tadpole in her head was probably not helping.

“Thank you,” Shadowheart took it, shocked that there were no questions being flung her way.

But Fleur seemed more preoccupied observing their surrounding and what was left of the ship. 

“Hell of a landing. And I’m assuming our Gith friend decided she had better places to be. Wish her all the best, even if she wasn’t the most pleasant at first introductions.”

Shadowheart snorted, “Gith are not exactly known for their friendliness. I’m sure she’s probably forgotten all about us.”

Fleur released a dramatic sigh. “Oh well. We’ll probably want to get moving, if you’re feeling like you can travel right now, of course. There looks to be a lot of rubble around, maybe we can find something to let us know where we are.”

“We?” Shadowheart was already unsure about this. Working with an elf dressed as a bright pink clown felt to be pushing her limits.

“The way I see it, we don’t even know for certain this is Faerun. We could be in the Fey Wilds for all we know. And I don’t think us moving independently is a wise idea if we don’t know where we are,” she reasoned.

She quickly added, “I won’t force you, and the gods know I can’t hold you captive.” She glanced at her mace.

Shadowheart realized she hadn’t seen the elf hold a single weapon outside of a dingy hand crossbow the entirety of knowing her. And she couldn’t even wield that.

“No, you’re right. Especially with this parasite problem. Best to stick together.”

Fleur grimaced, “Fuck, I forgot about that.” 

The dignified air and formal appearance so quickly fell to what can only be described the look of a kicked puppy, Shadowheart couldn’t help but to laugh.

Fleur's shoulders relaxed slightly, a small twinkle in her eye.

“My sorrows that funny?” She teased.

“Absolutely hilarious,” she countered. 

“Glad to be of service. Now shall we?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The odd pair kept to the outskirts of the crash at first, maneuvering around the brush and debris left behind. And of course, freeing the dead of any thing useful. Survival and all.

“Do you recognize anything?” Shadowheart asked as she gathered a small sample of a plant nearby. According to her, it had some healing properties when prepared right. 

“No, and that’s saying something. I’ve been all across Faerún a few times.” She pocketed some gold from a body and made sure the walking brain corpses were actually dead. 

“Oh? Are you a traveler?” 

“Of sorts. Traveling circus,” she beamed as she said this. 

Shadowheart did not look surprised, it definitely explained Fleur’s odd clothing. And bright colors.

“HELLO?”

The two stopped at the shout of someone’s voice, looking around to see who could be yelling.

“Hello?” Fleur called out, before her eyes caught on a purple rune, glowing with magic. And a hand sticking out.

“Is someone out there?”

Shadowheart and Fleur looked to each other, confusion on their faces, before Fleur advanced towards it, eliciting a hissed “Careful!” from her companion.

“Are you in, uh, this?” Fleur asked, projecting her voice.

“Gods, finally! Yes I’m here. I need a hand,” the voice came.

Fleur paused, her head tilting slightly. She turned to the half elf behind her.

“Do you think you could pull him out if I try to stabilize the rune?”

Shadowheart thought for a moment. It was not a completely unreasonable idea. She had seen twigs that looked stronger than Fleur, but she couldn’t deny she had magic. It seemed like a solid enough plan.

“Tell me when to start pulling,” Shadowheart replied, stepping forward to stand next to the elf.

Fleur reached out, touching the tune with one hand, in the other little lights began to flicker and sway. She hummed very quietly under her breath, the lights beginning to dance around her fingers. 

The crackling of magic began to subside, and Shadowheart took that as her cue grasping the hand and beginning to pull.

In seconds, a man flew from the other side, pushing her backwards. Fleur darted forwards, grabbing at them in a feeble attempt to regain balance. In the end, the trio fell to the ground. 

For a moment, they all just laid there in silence. Before Fleur started hysterically laughing. 

Shadowheart and the man from the rune looked over to her.

She finally wheezed out, “With how our luck is going, we’ll end up back in Avernus, with nothing but a dream!”

And then he started laughing as well. Soon Shadowheart couldn’t help but crack a smile.

After their laughter wore down, Fleur turned to the man. “So who might you be?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astarion heard the group before he saw them. Three voices, two he recognized from the ship, they weren’t even trying to be quiet. He triple checked his dagger was where he needed it to be. He, once again, considered poison, but if he accidentally nicked them before he got information, he’d be stuck with no answers.

The group rounded the corner, their leader being a bit too hard to miss, in a pastel pink outfit with flaming orange hair. The half-elf was with her, but instead of the gith, their third was a human in a bright purple robe. 

“Help! I need help!” He cried, trying to sound as pathetic as possible.

The pink one turned to him, said something to her companions and bounced forward.

“What is it?” She called as she approached.

“Thank the gods,” he sounded weak even to his own ears, “I cornered one of those brain things.”

She rolled her shoulder. “Alright, alright. Let’s see…”

She creeped forward, her hand dropping to her side with a roll of her shoulder, footsteps hardly making a sound. Just as she went to peek around the brush, a boar sprinted out, making her jump back.

Astarion took this as his chance, grabbed her around the chest, pressing her towards him, and brought his dagger up.

Her hand came up at the same time.

And then he was blind.

“WHAT IN THE HELLS?” He cried, stumbling back as she pressed away. 

He heard a silvery laugh, his guess from the half-elf.

“What is this?!” He demanded as he wiped at his eyes.

“Oh hush,” the pink one chastised, “For a man who was about to take my throat out, you make a fuss when someone gets one up on you.”

“It’s in my damn mouth,” he began to spit trying to get it out. 

The male human joined in on the laughter.

He finally fumbled for his handkerchief and managed to wipe the substance away from his eyes.

He was greeted to the pink one, looking less than amused at him, and his handkerchief stained a vast assortment of colors.

“Is this PAINT?” He shrieked.

The laughter doubled.

“Serves you right,” the pink one scolded. “Here I am, trying to be nice, and you decide to throw it back in face. Should have let the boar handle you.” It sounded like she was lecturing a small child. And he was actually starting to feel bad. Mostly cause he just got duped by paint of all things.

“If this stains my shirt, so help me-“

“Oh for the love of- It comes out with water and scrubbing. Soap makes it faster, but it doesn’t stain. My bigger question is why you felt the need to stick up random strangers. Do we look like we have money? I assure you we don’t.”

Astarion felt like he was going to start screaming. “I was trying to get information, since I saw you two on the ship before it went careening down.”

“I don’t see what information we could offer you that you couldn’t gather for yourself. We’re infected by parasites that will eventually turn us into mindflayers, and we are somehow not dead yet. The better question is do you have any new information that could help us?”

The two bystanders had finally stopped sniggering and both had a focused look on their faces. 

He shook his head. “Of course this would turn me into a monster,” he bitterly laughed and then looked the pink one in the face, finally getting a good look at her.

She was a high elf, like himself, but her cheeks were slightly rounded, giving her a faint heart shape to her face. Her eyes were a bright sapphire blue and had a mischievous glimmer in them. Her hair was indeed bright orange, done in an intricate bun style; however, now he could see the pastel pink stripes, most likely dyed. Her clothes were intricate, but nothing any well reasoned noble would be caught dead wearing. Instead she looked like…

“Are you a bloody clown?”

Her face fell, the most genuinely upset she looked throughout their whole conversation, “I’m not a clown, I’m a jester. There’s a difference, even though most laymen can’t seem to comprehend it.”

It felt like it was supposed to be a jab, but he could really care less about the difference between different circus performers.

“We’re currently on the hunt for a settlement or camp or humanoid that is willing to give us any kind of directions, really. You wouldn’t happen to have any idea where we are?”

“Not a clue,” he says, putting away his handkerchief. He really got himself in a bit of trouble. He snuck another glance at the trio as he bent down to pick up his dagger. The elf in pink had turned back to her companions and was talking to them about where to go next, bringing up a temple they saw not to far down the shore.

The truth of the matter was he was totally screwed on his own. If there were any more mindflayers around or, Gods forbid, Cazador tracked him down before he was ready, he was not going to put up much of a chance. And while this troupe certainly wasn’t looking like they’d be much more help, it was something. 

He could work with that for now.

“Now that I’ve thought about it,” he announces, grabbing their attention,” How about we travel together for now? Safety in numbers and all of that.”

The pink one cocks her head to the side. “What’s your name?”

He gives an overdramatic, scandalized gasp, “How could I have been so rude as to not introduce myself. I am Astarion, at your service.” He gave a half bow for effect.

She thinks for a moment, before giving a bow in return, “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Fleur. Welcome to the adventure. The regal looking young woman is Shadowheart and the handsome fellow is Gale.”

Shadowheart stepped forward, taking Fleur's arm, “Are you sure we should trust a man who just held a blade to you?”

Fleur beamed back, “For one, I took care of him rather easily. And think of it this way, if he kills us in our sleep, we won’t be mindflayers in the morning!” She clapped her hands once, as if she had made some grand statement.

“Now, to that temple we saw along the shore. Even if we don’t find anyone, maybe there’s some trinkets we could pocket!”

Astarion felt like this was a person he could definitely get to know.

[noblesandsstories]

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[noblesandsstories]

Neutrals: Lace

Please like, reblog and credit when you use my dividers!

[noblesandsstories]

I HAVEN"T ABANDONED THIS I SWEAR. There is one goddamn scene that is completely tripping me up. Honestly these first few chapters are going to be very tricky for me.

Hey, I can't choose which fic series I want to work on to be my first running series.

[noblesandsstories]

The people have spoken!! I'm working on finishing the first chapter of the Astarion x OC fic. So far I feel pretty confident about how its going, but I know myself not to promise an exact day.

Hey, I can't choose which fic series I want to work on to be my first running series.