#and a bigger reason to help tav

[littlegalerion]

My husband just got to the 2nd Phase of Ketheric's fight. I asked him if he had discovered the truth yet, about Ketheric's daughter.

Needless to say, I had to explain the original plot line and how Halsin was involved in it.

His reaction: "That would have made him a way better character!"

My response: "WE KNOW!"

[bitethedevil]

Living with The Devil You Know (Raphael x Tav): Chapter 3

Chapter: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

Read this fic on AO3 (Link)

Fic Summary: Tav broke their agreement by handing the Crown of Karsus to Mystra instead of Raphael. Not only that, but she also robbed his house and killed his incubus. Raphael is patient and he is determined to get his revenge.

…Tav isn't too bothered. She will figure something out eventually. Until then she just has to find a way to live peacefully with a devil.

Chapter Summary: Tav and Raphael are both sexually frustrated. Raphael notices Tav's interest and they find a solution for it together. Tav gets a bit more than she bargained for.

(AN: 'Give the devil your little finger and he'll take your whole arm' is a popular saying in my native language. I've never really heard it in English, so we are just going to act like it's also a saying in Faerûn. It literally just means what it sounds like it means. I believe it's the same as 'Give them an inch and they'll take a mile'. Also: they finally fuck in this chapter. ~Enjoy~)

TW: There is consent but there is depiction of painful or uncomfortable sex. Tav essentially gets hatefucked.

Warning: NSFW

Tav had been staying at the House of Hope for a couple of days. She was slowly but surely going insane. Not from any of the obvious things that one might go insane from when surrounded by the sound of damned souls and tortured debtors walking the halls, oh no: Tav was going insane from boredom and the lack of privacy.

There were plenty of interesting books in Raphael’s collection and normally this would have cured her boredom, but the fact that someone was constantly watching her every move annoyed and distracted her to no end.

Even worse: she could not use her usual cure for boredom due to the same reason. Tav had always had a healthy appetite when it came to sexual pleasures. If she was bored, stressed, sad, angry, or just generally overwhelmed, she masturbated to get that pent-up energy out. It was her beloved coping mechanism for everything life threw at her, and she was currently unable to use it.

It also did not help with her frustration that she had to deal with Raphael’s morning horniness either. She would wake up with his hard cock nestled against her ass every morning. He would press it up against her in his sleep, but he never did anything further as soon as he woke up. He did keep his word that he would not force her to do anything.

Tav would not give in and reciprocate her captor’s advances, even though her body screamed at her to do it. She would not give him the satisfaction. At the same time, she was climbing the walls and wanted nothing more than a moment of peace and privacy to let out that pent-up frustration.

She was simply studying her captor to learn more about him. That is what she told herself, as she looked Raphael up and down from across the room. She was sitting with an open book in her lap that she was not even reading. He was sitting in a blue silk robe as he looked through the newspapers and gazettes from various cities, most likely to gauge the market for desperate souls and potential clients.

Tav had always found him attractive, she was not blind, but her growing sexual frustration made her attraction to him even worse. She was also enjoying now seeing more of his devil form than she had during her adventure.

She was looking at his veiny clawed hands, as they turned the page of the paper he was reading. He had big hands…He was big in general, and it made her breath hitch how much bigger he was than her in that form.

It was almost unfair how good he looked in that robe. A part of his chest was exposed under it. She was looking at his dark chest hair when she noticed him smirking slightly before looking up at her. She had been caught. She cleared her throat and quickly looked down at the book she was "reading".

“Did your parents never teach you that it is impolite to stare?�� he asked with that infuriatingly smooth voice of his.

“Wasn’t staring,” she mumbled. “I was just…pondering about this…enlightening read.”

“Mm,” Raphael hummed. “And what are you reading, dear?”

Her brain actually read the words on the open page of the book she was looking at. She had just taken it off a shelf to make it look like she was doing something productive. She noticed immediately that it was not in written the common tongue. She cursed internally and lifted it up to let him look at the cover. He squinted at it and then chuckled.

“It certainly is an enlightening read…if one speaks High Infernal, that is,” Raphael purred with an amused expression.

“Hm, well, yes…It’s never too late to learn something new, is it?” she said and quickly changed the subject. “Is it Korrilla’s turn to watch me today?”

“No, you will have the pleasure of my company today as I am taking a day away from work,” he said and folded the paper he was reading to put it aside. “Unless something comes up, then yes, it will be Korrilla.”

That no doubt meant that Tav would be glued to his side for the rest of the day. She could not walk around freely as she usually would, because Raphael would not be following her around like his warlocks did.

“What does a devil do on his day off?” Tav asked, hoping the answer would not include killing or torturing.

“Relax,” He answered with a shrug and got up from his chair. “Come.”

He moved towards the boudoir. Tav followed.

When they passed the barrier, Raphael casually untied his robe and threw it over a chair. Tav got a full view of his ass before her brain started working again and made her look away. She turned her back to him, which made Raphael chuckle.

“No need to be such a prude, dear,” he said. She could hear him stepping into the water of the restoration pool.

“You know, I’m pretty sure it’s common decency to warn people before flashing them…” Tav said. “I’m not the one acting odd here.”

“Please turn around,” Raphael said from the pool. She could practically hear the smug grin. “I can’t keep a proper eye on you if your back is turned to me, now can I?”

Her eyes narrowed and she did not move.

“Of course, I can simply make you if you refuse...” Raphael said.

She sighed and turned to him without looking at him.

“That’s better…” Raphael said. “Now please, come and join me.”

She huffed and narrowed her eyes. She knew that he was playing with her and trying to get her even more flustered now that he had seen caught her staring at him. She would not give him the satisfaction. She started removing her clothes.

As she was removing her clothing, the realization hit her that even though they had slept beside each other, they had never really seen each other completely naked. She had felt Raphael’s nakedness every night, but she had never really looked. She herself had been wearing nightclothes each night and Raphael was usually out of the bed and on with his day before she had gotten changed.

She was careful not to look directly at him as she got into the pool, though Raphael did not grant her the same privacy. She could feel his eyes on her, shamelessly devouring every inch of her naked skin.

She sat down in the pool opposite from him. She made a point to only look him in the eyes although what she saw in her peripheral vision was begging her to look other places.

She was resting her elbows on the edge and holding her hands in the air, to keep the Orphic chains around her wrists above the water. Raphael glanced at the weird position of her arms and then at her eyes.

“Are they bothering you?” Raphael asked and gestured to the chains.

“The moisture makes the skin under them itch,” Tav answered. “Other than that, no. I’ve gotten used to them pretty quickly.”

“Hm,” Raphael hummed. “It seems to be a theme with you. You have been infuriatingly calm about this whole matter. I have to say, your spirits still seem remarkably high for a woman who has been given a dead sentence.”

“Would screaming and crying about it fix anything?” Tav asked.

“I suppose not...but it would satisfy your captor greatly to see you at least a little rattled about this whole ordeal,” Raphael said with a sigh. “Although…I’m sure there is time to break you yet.”

“I’ll make sure to cry a little in my sleep tonight, just for you,” she joked.

“It really is the least you could do,” Raphael said with a smile.

“The constant supervision is annoying though,” Tav admitted. “Especially when it’s your new little pet.”

“A cheap price for you to pay when it means that you are able to walk where you please instead of rotting in a cell,” Raphael said. “As for Cassius, yes. That boy has been disappointing. There is not a single independent thought in that pretty little head of his.”

Tav bit her cheek to not smile at Raphael calling him pretty. Her theory was that Raphael only hired him because he was the spitting image of a younger version of himself. Raphael seemed to catch her look of amusement.

“Why did you hire him then?” Tav asked, trying not to smile.

“I would much rather like to hear your theory as to why I hired him,” Raphael challenged with a smile and narrowed eyes.

“Mm, I’d rather not say…” Tav said.

“Come now,” Raphael said. “It’s clear that you have some thoughts on the matter.”

Tav sighed and tried to think of a way to say what she was thinking without being too offensive.

“I think…That you might have been a little lonely after Haarlep died, and that your new warlock, coincidentally of course, looks a bit like you.”

“Clever…” Raphael said. “And is there anything wrong with that?”

“No no,” Tav said with a shrug and treaded carefully with her next comment. “That’s entirely your business. I am simply saying that you might have been blinded by this…pretty face and because of this you might have chosen someone who is less suited for actually becoming a good warlock.”

Raphael chuckled.

“That is rather rich coming from you, no? Let us not forget that you got yourself into this mess because you wanted to sleep with the same man whose face, coincidentally of course, looks a bit like mine…” Raphael said with a dramatic hand-gesture.

Tav stuttered and had a hard time finding an appropriate reply to that for a moment. He did have a point.

“Well, to be fair I was very drunk, and I did not catch the resemblance at that point,” she countered. “But alright, I get what you are saying. Neither of us are above the temptations of the flesh or whatever.”

“Indeed,” Raphael purred and let his gaze fall over her naked body again.

Tav swallowed hard and tried to ignore the feeling of arousal that shot through her stomach. She cleared her throat and immediately tried to break the tension.

“So…do you miss them?”

“Who?” Raphael asked while still admiring her shape.

“Haarlep.”

Raphael’s eyes lingered on her body for a moment longer before returning to her eyes.

“Not in the way that you most likely are suggesting, no,” Raphael answered. “You accidentally did me a favor by killing them. They were spying on me, but because of complicated circumstances, I was unable to rid myself of them. They did however have their uses, despite their clear ulterior motives…That I do ‘miss’…”

Raphael got up from the pool without warning. Tav did not react quickly enough to avert her eyes before her eyes fell on his half-hard member. His length was impressive, but it was nothing compared to the intimidating girth of it. Her eyes quickly shot back up to his face. There was a slight smile on his face as he dried himself off that told her he had caught her little glance.

She awkwardly looked away and got up from the pool to dry herself off.

His little looks and half-suggestive comments throughout the day told her one thing about Raphael: he was just as sexually frustrated as she was. It made perfect sense, in a way. He had been used to having an incubus at his disposal for whenever he pleased and now, he did not.

Now that he had caught that Tav seemed to show a bit of interest, he put on the pressure and Tav was fighting her inner demons. Her body was saying yes, but her mind was warning her not to do anything stupid. Something her mother had always said to her when she was a child echoed in her mind: ‘Give the devil your little finger and he’ll take your whole arm.’

Usually when they got into bed, Raphael would put his arms and legs around her so she could not move around, grumble and tell her to sleep if she said anything or moved, and finally fall asleep himself. This night was different. He was holding her as usual, but his nose was buried in the back of her hair and his hand was lazily caressing her hip.

Tav’s body was on fire from more than his high body temperature. Her mind kept going back to the bath they took together in the morning. It seemed that Raphael was thinking similar thoughts because she could feel that familiar hardness pressing into her backside.

It was a tantalizing thought that all she probably had to do was reciprocate his advances and she could finally release that pent-up sexual frustration that had grown inside her for the last four days.

On the other hand, she had not had sex with anyone since that short fling she had with Astarion at the beginning of their adventure, and that had been so long ago. She was out of practice.

What was she even thinking? She should not even be seriously considering this…And yet her body won over her mind in the end.

She gently pressed her ass up against his already hard cock. She felt him freeze completely for a moment. She did it again, this time with slightly more pressure, which earned her a groan. The hand on her hip that had been caressing her, now firmly held onto her hip and pushed her closer to him. His breathing was getting heavier.

He hiked up her nightgown to snake his arm down between her legs. She was already so aroused that it made sinfully wet noises when he gently put two fingers over her clit and rubbed her in teasingly slow circles. She gasped and moaned softly.

“Such a pretty sound,” Raphael whispered in her ear, followed by a growl.

The thought that there were very sharp claws close to her sensitive bits did pass her mind, but he was being careful and oddly it only made it more arousing. He rubbed her clit a bit faster, making her gasp again and grab onto his arm. He pushed his cock up against her now exposed ass.

“And you are certain that you want this?” he whispered and applied more pressure to her clit as he kept touching her.

Her mother’s words echoed faintly in the back of her mind again: Give the devil your little finger…

At this point he could have both her arms, shoulder, torso, legs….as long as he did not stop what he was doing.

She nodded.

“I do wonder if you are truly aware of what you are agreeing to, little mouse,” Raphael whispered and chuckled in her ear.

In one swift movement she was suddenly on her stomach, pinned to the bed with him on top of her. She felt a claw run down her back and the sound of fabric being ripped. He pulled what was once her nightgown away from under her and leaned down over her back. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

He teased her entrance with the head of his cock, coating it in her wetness.

“This might hurt,” he warned and slowly started sliding his cock into her.

Even though she was soaking wet, she was not ready for it. It was a combination of his girth and the fact that the head of his cock was oddly sharp. He wasn’t even half-way in when she started slightly yelping and grasping the sheets.

“Raphael, please,” she pleaded.

He stopped his movements.

“Please what, dear?”

“I can’t…” she pleaded. There were almost tears in her eyes from the feeling of being too full. He looked down on her and caressed her cheek with his clawed hand.

“Oh, my sweet,” he cooed with feigned concern. “You can, and you will.”

Without warning he kept going until he was fully inside her, she felt his sharp exhale of pleasure on the back of her neck. Tav resorted to biting into the pillow to silence the scream that was threatening to escape her throat.

Tav, in her eagerness, had not considered that this might be a revenge-fuck for robbing his house and killing his incubus, but that was certainly what it felt like it was shaping up to be.

He was only granting her the small mercy of going easy on her for the first couple of thrusts. It quickly turned into a more brutal pace. It hurt like hell and the sounds she was making were something between a moan and a whine. She did find pleasure in it despite also involuntarily tearing up from the pain.

“Are you crying?” Raphael asked with no short amount of amusement in his voice, not slowing his pace in the least. His cock twitched inside her as his thumb went over the tears that were falling down her cheeks.

He yanked her head back by her hair.

“Then again, you did promise me that you would cry tonight, didn’t you? ‘Just for me’,” he growled into her ear, referring back to the joke she had made earlier while they were in the bath.

“How delightful it is to see you honoring your promises for once,” he said and punctuated it with a deep thrust that made her gasp and wince.

Right when she had finally gotten used to the pain and her walls had somewhat adjusted to his size, he came inside her with a low growl. She squirmed under him, thinking it was over. In response, his tail wrapped around her legs to keep her in place. He did not pull out of her. Not long after he was hard again and continued to fuck her. This same process continued for what felt like hours.

At some point she had been flipped to her back and was facing him. Desperate for release, she tried to sneak her hand down to her clit. She could see his glowing orange eyes narrow in the darkness before he caught both her hands and held them above her head.

“Please…” she pleaded between moans.

“You will have to be more specific, my dear. Please what?”

“Please let me come, Raphael” she begged. She sounded pathetic, but she was so over-stimulated.

“Oh, you must be confused,” he cooed in a condescending voice. “This is not about you or what you want. It never was.”

After fucking her over and over again with only the small breaks between him climaxing and getting hard again giving her a chance to breathe, he eventually he did find some small amount of mercy for her. He finally reached down to rub her clit. Tav held onto him and made a prayer to all the gods that would not hear her from the Hells anyway, that this was not some cruel joke.

“Please don’t stop,” she pleaded, almost crying again. She dug her nails into his back, which made him groan and quicken the pace of his thrusts.

“Don’t tempt me,” he growled as he muffled her loud and desperate moans with his free hand.

She was writhing and on the verge of screaming as she finally came. Raphael's climax followed shortly after. He finally pulled out of her and collapsed on the bed beside her. Her legs were shaking from the intensity of it all.

She was completely ruined. Everything hurt, but at the same time her whole body was buzzing with the delicious feeling of finally having found release.

He was lying on his back, catching his breath when he pulled her closer. For a short moment Tav feared that it was not over. To her great surprise he simply gestured for her to lie her head on his chest. It felt like an oddly intimate gesture considering the rough treatment he had just given her.

She hesitated for a moment but laid her head on his chest and got comfortable. Tav was too tired to question any of it and just made peace with the fact that she would never understand the weird nature of this man. She felt his hand brush over her hair right before sleep took her.

[zhemariart]

More Tav for @tav-dex?? More Tav for tav-dex uvu

Cascius is my... experiment child, so to say. The fun about making ocs and playing around with stories for oneself, is being able to change certain aspects of canon if wanting to explore something different C:

Full ramblings and ref under the cut~

Cascius is the older brother of Therai and Alaine, and while all 3 are adopted from different families, then they all came from the same village and share the same history.

Most of his childhood was happy and largely uneventful. Looked up to one of the bigger kids, flipped back and forth between looking after and teasing the smaller kids.

Shit went to hell one night, when he woke up to the village aflame and people getting murdered, including his own parents. He is the one with more vivid memories of that night -screams, flames, smoke... that one kid he looked up to hauling him into a hole for hiding and demanding he stayed hidden, then he never saw that older kid again as he vanished in the flames.

He was adopted and raised by the couple Zailar and Adroushan, alongside Therai and Alaine.

His teen years were full of turmoil as he struggled with finding his path following what had happened, even moreso because there were no answers to who had taken everything away and why. As he grew up and tried to find his path in life, he was this ).( close to take the Oath of Vengeance after all that happened, but having gained a new supporting family that had countless and countless talks to help him find his way and figure out how he wanted his life to be, he instead took the Oath of Devotion.

Random trivia before we challenge canon hours:

Cascius is the calmest among the siblings, and tried to reel in the other two... they just tag-teamed on him instead :B

Rather temperamental during a fight, it's easy to see a lot of his training was done with his Barbarian dad... and if his path had gone just a bit differently, he'd likely have taken the Barbarian path instead.

He ran into Wyll out in the wild shortly after Wyll's banishment from Baldur's Gate. Despite not getting to know the circumstances of why Wyll was banished (due to Wyll not being permitted to say), Cascius was still furious with it as he could feel Wyll was a good kid. He opted to travel with Wyll for some time to make sure Wyll would be good on his own afterwards.

May or may not have silently sworn to be a spiteful thorn in Ulder Ravengard's side if he ever gets the chance. Always gotta follow family tradition of being spiteful to nobles and other title-bearers.

The entire Delmirev family are not religious. All have been through enough shit without ever getting help from the gods, so there's a general "no thanks" attitude among them. Because of this, Cascius has a very complicated relationship with Ilmater, the god that for whatever reason decided to add some extra divine power to Cascius.

Challenge canon hours:

So what if... the Guardian and the Emperor were two separate people?

I never joined Early Access, but I have read a bit about Daisy from it. Read some of people's comments about Daisy compared to the Emperor have forgotten most of it and generally some ideas and wants other people would have liked to see, including some talking about both should have been in the game. Found it intriguing, then I started playing with the idea of "What if the guardian was a separate entity from the Emperor". From there... Cascius story slowly formed.

I will also preface this with I don't see the Emperor as a villain... though I do see them as a dumbass, kthnxbai xD

A series of events tied to that older kid that disappeared in his childhood, resulted in him landing on the nautiloid alongside the others. He does not run into any of them, he is in a different section of it.

During the series of events, he gets a head injury and forgets a chunk of his memories, but far from all.

It's not stated exactly when the Emperor jumps into the prism and opts to stay there. Personally I read it as happening right before/during the crash itself

Prior to the crash, Cascius is among those making it out of his pod. He reaches a point on the nautiloid where he needs to fight mindflayers, does it... the Emperor is the only one where he stops and hesitates, long enough for ~things to happen~. Truce time, the Emperor drags Cascius with him into the prism. An extra hand to fight the honour guard, and a friendly face to talk to the peeps instead of the Emperor needing to conjure something up... can definitely be helpful.

Because of the holes in Cascius' memory, he does recognize his uncle, his siblings, and Wyll, but he don't know why or how exactly he relates to them. Because, funny enough, he don't look like any of them for shit, he does not consider he actually has familial bonds with them. Whenever he appears to the people he knows, he tries to keep the conversations short and not offer them much chance to actually talk.

He agrees the tadpoles need to be wielded, don't agree with consuming more of them

The Emperor has assumed Cascius form in an attempt to encourage the others to consume tadpoles. Cascius has threatened with beating their squishy skull in if they ever do that again.

Xarmir manages to finally confront and reveal their relationship to Cascius when Vlaakith basically gives them the opportunity to enter the prism. This results in Cascius leaving the prism to go help the others outside of it. From here he spends most of his time outside of it, but flipflops a bit back and forth to still help the Emperor inside of it.

After Cascius active exit, the Emperor finds another form to show to the rest of the party, and actively still refuses to admit what they are. Cascius is not amused.

He actively tries to get the Emperor to admit what they are, arguing they would get a lot more trust from the party by telling it on their own, rather than waiting for a moment to get forced to it. He amps up his attempts after the meeting with Omeluum. The Emperor actively refuses. Cascius is still not amused.

Cascius keeps the Emperor's secret because he believes it's for the Emperor to tell, and it'd leave in better standing for the Emperor to tell... of course this then backfires when everything is revealed, and now Cascius also needs to answer for not telling shit. Especially to Lae'zel, because he did well know about Orpheus.

[sorcerous-caress]

Do you have any fluffy headcanons for Wyll with a Tav who is super shy/socially anxious around those they aren't familiar with?

Wyll with a shy Tav

[Fluff, nb!reader]

As someone who had to learn to be a social butterfly and smooth his words for the people around him, he sees his past self when he looks at you.

The young Wyll that used to sneak out of galas to sit alone in the garden.

You struggle under the pressure to perform, worries clouding your mind and making you overthink every situation just like it once did for him.

He takes it slowly, especially when it comes to earning your trust. A very long song and dance that he cautiously and carefully preformed.

Because you were worth the trouble, befriending, and getting to know you was worth being patient and giving you your space.

Your smiles are bigger and more sincere around him, your laughs are louder and your expressions are more animated. He is absolutely smitten in love with how alive you are.

Yet he never takes it for granted, your trust. The speical place he found for himself in your heavily guarded heart.

He is by your side whenever you need him, ready to handle the responsibility of dealing with the outside world while you can relax and lean on him.

He doesn't push you to change really, he doesn't see anything wrong with who you are.

He isn't very honest either though, living in nobility demanded change out of him, demanded that he trims all his hard edges and pour honey over every one of his words.

Yet when he looks at you shying away from the friendly strangers and looking for him as if he was your bacon of safety, he can't help but find it extremely endearing.

Wyll makes the introductions for you, assuring the other person that they're fine, and you don't dislike them.

It is also very adorable when the two of you are on a walk and one of his many acquaintances stops him to say hello, how you immediately stiffen and freeze. Eyes darting between him and the stranger before just holding onto Wyll more.

Maybe it's selfish of him to never want you to change, to let him play the role of your own hero during these short conversations.

Well, until you eventually relax around the new person and consider them your friend, which by then your own charms outweight Wyll's that there is no reason for him to stay nearby.

Yet he still does, and you still hold his hand while talking to your new friend, and it still stirrs his heart like the day you've first held it.

[bg3daydream]

Wine and Blood (Astarion x Tav)

Astarion x named male Tav (half-drow fighter called Ivar) Fanfiction

Summary: One-shot narrating the first night Astarion and Ivar spend together after the tieflings party. Ivar is already crushing on Astarion and I wan to think there're some feelings flourishing in Astarion too.

Notes and tags: +18. There's blood drinking, sex (thigh riding and oral) and mentions of briefly dissociating during it but it's resolved. Also English not being my first language.

Words: 5k

Ivar smiled as he looked around the camp and the people celebrating. The party had been going for hours now and most people were already in different stages of drunkenness. Everyone seemed to be happy for once, having fun, which was good…

Well… Everyone but one, it seemed.

Astarion was standing outside his tent, looking around with a disdain better suited for a spoiled cat, grimacing as he took sips from a bottle of wine.

Ivar rolled his eyes at the sight but couldn't help his smile as he approached Astarion.

“Having fun I see…” He joked and Astarion scoffed.

“Not as much as you seemed to be having with Shadowheart before…”

Ivar should have seen it coming. Astarion was fond of teasing him about what he called his “silly crush on Shadowheart,” and Ivar wondered what would the vampire think if he knew that the silly flutters in his belly when he looked at him were even worse.

He'd tried to ignore it first, then fight it. It made no sense, it was ridiculous. No matter how attractive Astarion could be, he could also be just as mean, Ivar knew those feelings were a bad idea, he knew he shouldn't trust him the way he did.. Yet there he was.

“We were just talking and drinking,” he finally said. “Having fun, like everyone…besides you, it seems.”

“Oh, but I do want to have fun!” Astarion huffed. “But all I got is drunk tieflings and vinegar for wine.”

He gestured around dramatically with the bottle and Ivar reached to take it from his hand, taking a sip of the wine. It was good, Astarion had no reason to complain, although Ivar had a theory that he was not going to share and maybe get a grumpier vampire.

“So, what would you do for fun, then?” Ivar asked. “Drain a couple of tieflings? Kill Gale perhaps?”

“Oh, darling, nothing so dramatic.” Astarion dismissed his words with a theatrical wave of his hand, smirking and looking him up and down. “I just want to have sex.”

Ivar almost choked on the wine. “Oh.”

“With you, I mean,” Astarion elaborated when Ivar didn't say anything. “Hells, you really can be dense.”

“Really?” Ivar gave him a doubtful look… If this was a joke he didn't want to fall for it and make a fool out of himself.

“I'm starting to reconsider, I think I deserve someone with a working brain…”

Ivar huffed. “With you, one never knows when you're serious and when you're laughing at us.”

“Darling, I can do both at the same time.” Astarion chuckled before smirking, giving him a look that made something twirl in Ivar’s belly. “So… Do you want to?”

Did he want it? Yes. Was it a good idea? No. Was he already nodding? Yes.

Astarion’s smirk went bigger, and he seemed so smug and pleased with himself that Ivar was almost tempted to say no. Almost.

“Then I'll see you later, when everyone else is a bit more…mellow. We'll find each other in the woods.”

Astarion waved towards the direction and Ivar nodded, wordlessly, before walking away, wondering if that conversation had really happened.

*

Ivar looked at the blanket he'd spread over the ground, the bottle of wine, and the glasses… he was already regretting it, why had he done that, Astarion was going to laugh at him…

But if he came back carrying everything after Karlach helped him sneak the bottle of wine from Shadowhear’s good stash, after admitting what he wanted it for, she was going to laugh in his face.

He decided to stop being an insecure idiot and go find Astarion. He didn't need to go far to see him, leaning against a tree. He was only wearing his trousers and Ivar tried not to stare at his body.

“There you are…” Astarion smiled as he approached. “I've been waiting… waiting since the moment I set eyes on you. Waiting to have you.”

His speech sounded rehearsed… And odd, considering the first time he saw him, Astarion tried to threaten him with a dagger, without much success. Ivar decided not to comment on that, though, let Astarion have his moment.

“You don't have me,” he said instead, as if that could cover how much he wanted to brush his hands over Astarion’s exposed skin, or the fact that he'd gotten them wine and all.

It didn't seem to sound convincing and Astarion arched an eyebrow, smirking.

“But you're here… And I don't think you want to talk.” Honestly? Ivar didn't think he would mind having a real talk with Astarion, but he kept going before he could say anything. “No. I think that you want to be known. To be tasted…”

The speech was still sounding rehearsed and it was making Ivar feel a bit odd. Besides, he was not the only one there.

“And what do you want?”

Astarion blinked at him, almost as if taken aback, his smile faltering for a second, but then he was smiling again. “Pleasure. Our… collective ecstasy. Isn't that what you want?”

Those words were still so odd and rehearsed, but maybe if he commented on it, Astarion would get upset, so Ivar decided not to say anything about it even if it was making him feel a bit weird.

“I, uh… Yeah but… Just…come here a moment,” he gestured towards where he’d left the blanket and the wine. He'd gone through all the trouble to get it ready and he was going to use it, even if at risk of Astarion laughing at him for that.

Astarion wasn't moving, his smile was gone and he was frowning. “What…where…what are you getting me into now.” He sighed disapprovingly.

“Nothing.” Ivar rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

He began walking and Astarion thankfully seemed to decide to indulge him, following him, and soon the blanket and everything else were on sight.

“Oh… You got us a picnic, how… Sweet.” Astarion’s words were as teasing as his smile.

“Don't you dare to laugh…” Ivar muttered, self-conscious, while he sat down on the blanket.

Astarion laughed anyway, but it didn't sound malicious. “Come on, darling… I think it's cute.”

Ivar scoffed, but he was glad Astarion wasn't openly making fun of the whole thing. As the vampire sat down too, Ivar took the wine and filled a glass, which he passed to Astarion.

Astarion took a sip and grimaced. “And you went to all this trouble to still bring me vinegar. Delightful.”

“This,” Ivar began, taking the glass from Astarion’s hand and sipping the rich wine. “It's probably one of our best bottles. I think it tastes like that for you because you're a vampire. For the blood thing and all that…” He wondered if he was being too blunt. He hoped not.

“Oh…oh…” Astarion scoffed. He seemed upset and Ivar regretted his words already. “Yes, wonderful. Just another thing that was taken away from me.”

“I'm sorry…” Ivar murmured and Astarion just scoffed again, giving him a smile that felt closer to a snarl.

“So, you knew that and still decided to bring me wine I couldn't drink when all I was asking for was sex. You really know how to woo someone.”

“It was just a theory.” Ivar really hoped he hadn't fucked this up already. “And I had something else in mind if it was true.”

He reached for a knife that he'd placed next to the blanket, and Astarion seemed alarmed for a second. Ivar wondered if he thought he might hurt him… The idea tasted bitter in his mouth.

With Astarion watching him carefully, Ivar held the pad of this thumb to the blade, carefully slicing it just enough to draw blood, ignoring the sting.

Astarion seemed confused and surprised, but it was nothing compared to how he looked when Ivar reached to smear the blood from his thumb over the vampire's pretty, plush lips.

In the second that it took for Astarion to react, a million panicking thoughts went through Ivar’s mind. Why had he done that, it was too odd, Astarion was going to think he was a weirdo or worse…

Then Astarion was licking the blood from his thumb before sucking it into his mouth, smiling, and the sight and feeling had warmth pooling in Ivar’s belly.

“Now…that's what I call a nice drink,” Astarion said before giving his thumb another lick, holding Ivar’s hand in place.

He sucked on his thumb again before brushing his lips to Ivar’s forearm. He expected a bite, he'd let Astarion feed from his forearm once after a fight, but instead now Astarion just kissed it, smirking as he looked at Ivar.

Then he let go of his arm and reached to place his hand at the back of Ivar’s neck, pulling him close while leaning to kiss his lips.

Ivar’d be embarrassed to admit that he almost melted at it, hands brushing over Astarion’s cold and soft skin, pulling him closer as they kissed.

Without breaking the kiss, Astarion pushed him to lie on his back, leaning over him, and Ivar felt him smile against his lips at the sound he let out when he pressed his body to his.

Ivar shuddered when he felt Astarion’s cold hand under his shirt, caressing over his stomach and up to his chest, pulling his shirt up as he went.

Ivar broke the kiss just enough to take off his shirt completely, discarding it to the side and letting Astarion push him to the ground again.

He was a bit embarrassed by the sound he let out at the feeling of Astarion’s chest brushing against his own as they kissed, but the thought was soon gone as Astarion moved from his lips to kiss down his throat, his collarbone, his chest…

He almost whined when Astarion stopped, leaning back.

“Let me drink,” he all but purred, eying his neck, his sharp nails caressing it as if there could be any doubt about where he wanted to drink from. “This,” he said as he held his hand, before sucking his thumb. “Was but a tease, darling…”

Ivar considered it… He’d let Astarion drink from him already, even if not from his neck, besides he was the one who had, indeed, teased him by bleeding his thumb, and he was giving him such a look…

It seemed he was thinking it too long for Astarion’s patience, he was already leaning to his neck, and Ivar was about to give him an earful about drinking without waiting for him to say yes, but instead of his fangs, he felt Astarion’s tongue licking a strip up his neck, making him gasp.

“Okay…” He gave in. “But… Ask nicely first.” If Astarion could turn him into a shuddering, embarrassingly needing mess, then at the very least he could try to tease him a bit.

“Oh?” Astarion pulled back to look at him with an arched brow, seeming amused. “And how would that be? Oh, strong warrior, let me drink your delectable blood?”

Astarion really had a gift for making beautiful words sound like he was laughing at you. It was admirable, really.

“I was thinking more about you saying please.” Ivar grinned, enjoying the look of disbelief on Astarion's face, his dignified huff. “Come on…” He stretched his neck, showing off the place where Astarion’s tongue was a minute ago, while his hands caressed his cold chest.

Astarion rolled his eyes with another huff but decided to indulge him. “Please?”

Ivar grinned at the victory, petty or not, choosing to ignore Astarion’s mocking tone. “Go ahead.”

“Cheeky little pup…” Astarion muttered as he buried his face into his neck.

Ivar felt the sharp pain of his fangs, then the blood flowing, but the pain was soon numbed… Yet, he could still feel every lick of Astarion’s tongue, every suck of his lips.

Astarion pressed against him even more as he eagerly drank, letting one of his hands drag down his chest, nails scratching ever so slightly, pressing him to the ground, while his other hand rested on his head, grabbing his hair, holding him in place.

The sounds that Astarion soon began making combined with the feeling of his tongue and lips, his body pressed to him, his hands… It was all going straight to Ivar’s dick and he writhed under Astarion, hips thrusting up helplessly.

When his growing cock brushed against Astarion's leg as he moved, Ivar let out a muffled moan, holding tighter to Astarion.

Astarion noticed and he tore himself from Ivar’s neck to look at him with a smirk. He didn't say anything, though, didn't tease him, instead he shifted to place his thigh between Ivar’s, rubbing it purposely against his groin, his devilish smirk growing at Ivar’s reaction, his moan as he hit back against Astarion’s thigh.

Ivar cursed as Astarion kept the motion of his thigh, tilting his head back, and Astarion took advantage of that to dive back into his neck.

Astarion went back to drinking, but Ivar was sure some of the sucks and licks with which he was lavishing his neck weren't strictly necessary to drink his blood… Not that he'd complain.

Ivar held to Astarion’s shoulder with one hand, the other flying to the back of the vampire's head, burying his fingers in his hair, which earned him an approving sound from Astarion, muffled against his neck.

Ivar didn't care about his own needy noises, grinding against Astarion’s thigh while the vampire responded in kind, rubbing against him.

It was too much, a lick of Astarion’s tongue had him shuddering, just at the same time his thigh pressed and rubbed against his straining dick in a particularly nice way, and before he even knew it, Ivar was coming, fingers digging into Astarion’s shoulder, pulling him even closer, which he let him do, burying his face even more into his bleeding neck.

Ivar panted, torn between enjoying the way he was feeling or trying to regain some semblance of control of himself.

Astarion was still drinking from his neck, but it was slower this time, lazy licks alternated with gentle kisses across his neck, and it felt so good Ivar was tempted to just lie there, eyes closed, and let Astarion do as he wished, but finally, the embarrassment won.

“I, uh…I don't… Don't usually…” He didn't usually what? Come inside his pants? Embarrassingly soon? Let vampires drink from his neck? Come while they drank his blood? Yeah, all of that.

Another lick and then Astarion pulled back from his neck to look at him. His smile was teasing but not mean.

“Darling… I really don't care.”

His lips were covered with Ivar’s blood, dripping down his chin, and it had smeared his cheeks and even nose too from rubbing his face against Ivar’s neck and bleeding wound.

“You're a mess…” Ivar murmured while he reached to train a droplet of blood on Astarion’s cheek. “How do you manage to look good even like this?”

Astarion’s smile grew. “Oh, darling… I always look good,” he purred. “I have to say, blood wasn't looking bad on you either today when you killed those goblins.”

Was Astarion paying him a compliment? Ivar felt like teasing him a bit for it but it wasn't worth the risk of Astarion maybe never doing it again.

He just smiled, cupping Astarion’s cheek, and the vampire leaned down to kiss him.

Ivar didn't care that Astarion’s lips were smeared with his blood. He was a fighter, he didn't mind blood anymore, and he had tasted his own already, from bleeding noses to broken lips. It was much, much better to taste it from Astarion’s lips.

Ivar made himself pull away from the kiss just so he could roll over, carefully dragging Astarion with him so now he was the one on his back with Ivar pressed against him.

Astarion seemed surprised by the sudden movement, his body going rigid, brows furrowing, and so Ivar pulled back to take a good look at him, in case he didn't like the change of position.

“Okay?”

He felt Astarion’s body relaxing under his again and the vampire nodded, sultry smile back on his face.

Before Ivar could ask him if he was sure, Astarion sat up to lick a droplet of blood that had dripped from Ivar’s neck down to his chest, trailing it with his tongue before burying his face in his neck to drink his blood again.

Ivar shuddered with a gasp. This was not what he had in mind, he was supposed to be the one making Astarion moan and feel good, beyond letting him drink his blood.

Ivar pushed Astarion back to the ground, looking at him to try and make sure he was okay with it, and when the vampire looked at him with a smirk and an arched brow, he leaned down, pressing his body to his again.

“Don't get greedy,” he whispered teasingly before kissing Astarion’s lips.

Ivar began sliding down Astarion’s body, hands caressing smooth, cold skin as he went, placing kisses on that chiseled body, over his chest, down his stomach…

“You don't have to…” Astarion murmured.

“I want to,” Ivar replied, looking up at Astarion’s face. “If it's okay. If you want to?” There was a beat before Astarion nodded. “Yeah?” Ivar asked again.

Another nod. “Yeah.”

Ivar went back to placing kisses over Astarion’s stomach, lips brushing down to his belly, kissing until he reached the waistband of his trousers.

“Can I keep going?” He asked, kissing Astarion’s lower belly when he whispered a yes. Another kiss and he pulled back to look at Astarion, hooking his fingers on the waistband of his trousers and underwear. “Can I?”

Astarion nodded, his eyes dark crimson as he looked at Ivar. “Yeah.” He lifted his hips to help Ivar peel both his trousers and underwear off him.

Ivar got situated between Astarion’s legs again. He kissed his thigh, then his hipbone, until he reached his cock, licking the length of it slowly.

Astarion’s shuddered moan as his hips hit up had Ivar smiling. He gripped the base of Astarion’s shaft with one hand, placing the other on his thigh, and he slid his mouth down Astarions cock, which rewarded him with another moan.

He looked up at Astarion’s face as he sucked on his tip and the sight of the vampire, eyes closed, brows furrowed in pleasure, mouth open with another strangled moan, almost made Ivar moan himself.

The noises that Astarion was making as Ivar kept going, mouth sliding up and down his cock, were music to his ears and, in all honesty, to his ego.

One of Astarion’s hands was clawing at the blanket under them and Ivar reached up to hold it, unsure of how Astarion might react and if he might just slap it away.

He didn't, instead, he held it, intertwining their fingers and squeezing his hand.

Suddenly, though, Astarion’s hand went limp on his. The way his hips were moving and even the sounds he was making felt… Different. Ivar couldn't explain why, but something didn't feel right.

He pulled back to look at Astarion, who at first didn't seem to notice but then gave him a sultry smile… It was so different from his face of pleasure before, though…

"Are you okay?" Ivar asked and Astarion frowned.

"Yeah."

"Really?" Ivar didn't want to be pushy or ruin the mood, but still, something didn't feel right.

"Yes… I just got… A bit distracted. Didn't mean to…" Astarion frowned, lips pursed, but soon he was wearing his devilish smile again. "I'm sorry, darling," he purred, sliding down his hand towards Ivar’s groin, but he stopped it.

The fact that Astarion'd gotten distracted while he sucked his cock was a bit discouraging, but Ivar was most worried about how something felt off.

"Don't be, just… We can stop." He wouldn't mind and he hoped Astarion could see it. "It's okay, I don't mind."

Astarion opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it. His sultry smile was gone, frown on his face, and Ivar was about to move back when he spoke.

“No… No, I don't want you to stop.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Keep going.” Astarion’s hand went back to holding Ivar’s and his hips wiggled ever so slightly. “Please.”

“Okay…okay, just…tell me if I do something you don't like…” It was awkward to tell him that, but it was better than the alternative… Better safe than sorry.

“Wasn't you…” Astarion muttered but he didn't elaborate and Ivar decided not to press the matter more for now.

With his mind set on making sure Astarion was enjoying this, Ivar lowered his mouth to his cock again, eyes on Astarion’s face. He was slow at first, a bit tentative even, waiting to notice his reaction to everything.

As Ivar’s lips slid down his cock, Astarion hummed, eyes closed, his hand holding Ivar’s tighter when he dragged his lips back up, sucking, making him moan in a way that, thankfully, sounded good and real again.

Astarion’s free hand moved to Ivar’s head, seemingly of his own accord, but he moved it away when he realized it. Ivar reached for it, though, taking it to place it on his head again.

He was okay with it, let Astarion show him what he wanted from him, and he moaned on his cock when Astarions’ fingers grabbed his hair roughly.

Ivar kept going, letting Astarion guide him and take from him what he pleased, enjoying every sound that the vampire let out, every soft moan, quiet whimper, and grunt, until Astarion reached his climax with a strangled cry.

Astarion’s back arched up, hand holding Ivar’s head in place but he didn't mind, just swallowed his release as he kept licking and sucking until Astarion let go of his head.

Ivar kissed Astarion’s hip, then his thigh before moving back to look at him. He'd covered his eyes with his arm, the corner of his mouth lifting into a small smile, and he looked damn beautiful as always.

Ivar moved from between Astarion’s thighs to lie on his side next to him. He reached out a hand towards the vampire but stopped, even if it felt a bit foolish to be uncertain about touching him after he just sucked his cock.

“Was it… Okay?” Ivar asked even if he felt insecure and kind of stupid doing so. “Did you like it?”

Astarion moved his arm from his face, turning to face Ivar too. “Yeah…yeah, I actually enjoyed that.”

“You sound surprised…were you expecting me to be bad at it?” Ivar didn't know if he found it funny or embarrassing.

Astarion rolled his eyes at him but didn't say anything.

Ivar sat up, reaching to take a bottle of water he'd brought, besides the wine, taking a big gulp of it.

“What? No drink for me?” Astarion purred, looking at his neck.

“Gluttony doesn't look good on you,” Ivar joked and Astarion smirked.

“Darling, I thought we had agreed everything looks good on me.”

Ivar rolled his eyes again but his smile betrayed him. He looked around the blanket until he spotted the cloth he'd also brought and he picked it up, pouring some water from the bottle on it.

“What are you doing?” Astarion asked.

“Cleaning the mess we are.” Ivar reached the cloth towards Astarion’s face but didn't touch him. “If that's okay.”

Astarion nodded and so Ivar carefully dabbed at the dried blood on his face with the wet cloth, dragging it over his lips and chin, washing him clean, and Astarion let him do it with his eyes closed.

He opened them when Ivar stopped to refold the towel and pour water on it again. This time he reached towards Astarion’s groin, again stopping before touching him, waiting until Astarion nodded.

When he did, Ivar gently brushed the wet cloth over Astarion’s hips and thighs, his belly, his cock, cleaning him of cum and also blood that had dripped from Ivar’s neck.

Astarion let him do it in silence, looking at him intently, in a way Ivar couldn't quite place but that felt… Good.

Once he finished with Astarion, Ivar moved back to remove his own pants and take off his underwear, ruined from when he'd come before… He really hoped he could wash them without anybody seeing him.

Pouring more water on the cloth, he hastily washed his own mess. When he reached to press the cloth to the wound on his neck, though, Astarion stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

“I can take care of that, darling…” He moved to bury his face in Ivar’s neck.

“You're getting so greedy…” Ivar tried to sound teasing but the feeling of Astarion’s lips on his neck had him shuddering, eyes closed.

“Oh, but you like it…” Astarion said against his neck, licking over the wound. It had stopped bleeding but Astarion sucked on it as if trying to draw more blood. “I saw it.”

Ivar said nothing, sure that nothing dignified would make it past his lips, and he felt Astarion chuckling.

He looked up from his neck to kiss his lips again. Ivar wasn't expecting it and he hummed into the kiss, pleased, arms reaching to hold Astarion, who pushed him to lie down on his back on the ground again, with him between his open legs.

Another deep kiss, and then Astarion moved back to his neck, making the almost closed wound bleed again, just slightly.

Ivar fell asleep like that, with Astarion lying on top of him, face buried in his neck, lazily tonguing at the reopened wound.

*

The sunrise didn't wake Ivar, who was sure never had slept like that, almost like he was knocked out. It was Astarion’s body moving away from him as the vampire got up that woke him.

His eyelids didn't seem to want to cooperate and he had a bad headache but Ivar finally managed to open his eyes. When he tried to sit up on his forearms though the world spinned before focusing on Astarion.

He was facing the sun, body open to it, eyes closed, face relaxed… Ivar wondered if he'd ever get used to how beautiful he was.

There was a scar on his back, big, intricate, almost like some sort of scar tattoo, and Ivar wondered what the hells could it be. It looked odd on Astarion. He wasn't sure how the vampire might react if he asked him about it, though.

Ivar tried to get up but not only did the world spin again, it felt almost as if his head was going to fall off his shoulders. He felt so lightheaded and weak…

Just how much blood had he let Astarion drink from him? He should be more careful next time, or at least bring some scrolls of healing or restoration, maybe something to eat at the very least…

Would there be a next time, though? Was this just a post-party one-night thing for Astarion? Ivar didn't know… He didn't want it to be just that, but he didn't know what Astarion might think or how to bring it up to him.

He groaned, trying to get up again, giving up and falling back down, covering his face with his arm. Astarion heard him and he turned around to face him, arching an eyebrow.

“I definitely let you drink too much…” Ivar complained.

“Oh, way to be dramatic, dear.” Astarion dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “Is a fighter not used to a bit of blood loss? ”

Astarion reached to take his clothes, picking up Ivar’s trousers too and throwing them to his face

“Come on, it's past time we left.”

Ivar grumbled a complaint but sat up, squeezing his eyes tight and trying to put on his trousers blindly.

Astarion was already done with his own by the time Ivar was finished, and for a second Ivar considered reaching for the vampire's hand as he tried to get up, but decided against it.

He managed to get up, even if a bit wobbling, the world spinning again, head pounding.

His eyes landed on Astarion, standing closer than he'd realized, beautiful even looking like he was about to laugh at him.

“Fuck, I want to kiss you,” Ivar hadn't meant to say it aloud and he felt like face-palming.

“Oh… Do you, now?” Astarion was looking way too pleased with himself and Ivar wanted to kiss that smug look off his face.

“Yeah… Can I?” Ivar wondered if he should be embarrassed at being acting like that… he wasn't.

“Mmh…” Astarion made a show of thinking it over. “I’ll allow it,” he finally said in a way better suited for a spoiled cat allowing pets.

Leaning down, Ivar kissed Astarion’s lips, in a softer kiss than the ones they had shared last night, deepening it when he felt Astarion’s hands on his waist, holding to him. He could get used to this. He didn't want to think this might be the last time he kissed him.

Astarion was the first to pull back but his hands lingered on Ivar’s waist like a soft, cold touch.

“You know…” Astarion began, looking at Ivar in a way he couldn't quite place. “This was… Not what I had in mind last night. But it was nice. Really nice.”

Ivar wondered if he was smiling like a fool and found that he didn't care if he was.

“Now…” Astarion pulled back and waved a hand toward the blanket and everything else. “You better rush to pick all this up or by the time you get to the camp, hungover tieflings will have eaten all breakfast. See you later, darling.”

With that, Astarion began walking towards the camp.

It’d have been nice of him to offer to help him pick up everything and clean up, maybe offer to bring him some breakfast…but Ivar hadn't expected it.

He watched Astarion until he disappeared among the trees before he began picking up the wine and water, blanket, and everything else.

He wondered if and when he'd get to share another night with Astarion… He wondered too just how foolish his smile looked as he thought of it, but found he didn't care.

Now he just needed to find the right moment to ask Astarion.

*

NA:

Excuse Ivar sometimes, he just got charisma 8. But he's a sweetheart.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

If you liked it, please let me know in a comment, and as always, reblogs are more than welcome.

This scene lived in my head and I had to write it, even if I know not many people would be interested in my own tavs. Thanks if you gave it a chance.

If you want to read more about Astarion and Ivar (or any other of my tavs) or have requests for Astarion fanfics, I'm all pointy ears.

Excuse my English, it’s not my first language.

[francis-writes]

Perhaps 👉👈

Some angst or hurt/comfort of Astarion reacting to Durge/Tav’s death in the temple of bhaal

A/N: yay, I play Dark Urge too ^^ also sorry it's so short, i had rough time recently but since tommorow I have a free week, I hope I will get some rest and go back to writing!

Astarion was kneeling in front of your lifeless body. He didn't know what to do or what to feel. Sure, reason suggested that he should be sad but elf was in state of a shock and his mind didn't seem to register what just happened.

Of course, he knew this journey will be dangerous, not easier than his life before. All the members of the party were close to death countless time already. You were waking up, wondering if the next day would be your last. But seeing one of his friends actually die, it was different story. While he was Cazador's slave, Astarion saw many deaths but they didn't impact him much, he had bigger problems. And even if they did, he learned to ignore them. Life was easier this way.

But now, traveling with the group, he started to bond with people again. And you... you started it all. You were the first after long time who treated him with respect and kindness. At first he thought you are naive and stupid; good heart could guarantee only trouble. But finally it made him fall for you. Ironically, despite your dark story and urge for violence, you turned out to be nothing but caring for him.

Now he was looking at your corpse, your skin was as cold as his own. You lost your life for rejecting Bhaal. It was certainly good and noble thing to do but at this moment Astarion would rather see you alive than righteous.

If you only stayed with him, he would gladly watch you maim and kill thousands of innocent. He could join you, and you would kiss looking at the bodies of your defeated enemies. No price was too high for him right now; there was no thing he wouldn't do and no person he wouldn't destroy to avoid eternity of loneliness.

He touched your face. There was no sign of pain now, only peace as if you were sleeping. But this time you weren't going to wake up and kiss him for good morning.

Astarion felt that one of his companions was patting his back in a poor attempt to comfort him. But the elf only shaked off that hand. No amount of patting his back, or weeping, or trying to say something like "at least they didn't suffer much" - none of this would help. Your death made an empty void in his life that only blood and revenge could partially fullfill.

[astarionbraiinrot]

Last Call

Chapter 2: Awareness

Previous Chapter

Read on AO3

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

– Nathaniel Branden

          He can’t breathe. He doesn’t actually need to breathe, strictly speaking, but he’s a little too occupied with panicking right now to remember vampire facts. Jaheira was still talking, her voice muffled and far away, as if she were under water. Or as if he were. Maybe that’s it. He’s somehow fallen into the harbor and he’s drowning and the lack of oxygen has caused him to hallucinate and any moment now he’s going to come to on the docks coughing up seawater to find that the last five minutes was all a dream and they’d all have a good laugh about how ridiculous this is.

          Any minute now.

          Aaaannnnyyyy minute now…

          He feels Tav squeeze his hand, and that’s enough to ground him back in reality, his awareness surfacing from the churning sea of his mind. He’s sat next to Tav, on their bed in the Elfsong Tavern, Jaheira in front of them sitting on a stool she’s pulled from somewhere, both of them looking at him as if he’s the one being weird right now. Tav’s thanking her for her help, saying that they’ll come find her later to talk more once they’ve had a chance to digest the news. Jaheira responds, but he doesn’t hear it, the words sliding over his mind and dripping away like oil. He does note the look of fond exasperation on her face, though, blinking owlishly at her as she pats him on the shoulder before turning and walking away.

          Tav’s still holding his hand. Reminding him that he’s real. Right. And this is real.

          And that entire conversation was real.

          Oh.

          Hells.

Deep breath in. Hold. Exhale. Again. Do not, under any circumstances, pass out. He has enough to deal with right now, and he should probably say something, right? Or at least check if Tav would like to have first turn at freaking out before he gets too deep into it. Courtesy and all that.

          Considering the darkness creeping into his peripheral vision, though, he doesn’t think he’s going to get much of a choice in the matter.

          Another breath in. Hold. Count to four. Exhale. Keep your fucking shit together.

          Focus. Breathe. Count the spaces where his heartbeat should be. Don’t think about the heat crawling up his neck, the ringing in his ears. Ignore the tingling in his face and hands. That could be a symptom of anything. He’s dead, he probably has circulation issues.

          …

          Nope. He’s definitely going down.

          Well fuck.

          He thinks he maybe manages to also express that thought verbally, before the dark water finally closes over his head and he doesn’t think anything else at all.

          How embarrassing.

── ･✩*₊˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖₊*✩･ ──

          It wasn’t as if all the signs weren’t there. In hindsight, it was… glaringly obvious. But really, who jumps straight to “We’ve achieved the impossible and we didn’t even try” instead of any of the other perfectly reasonable explanations available?

          It had started with Tav’s blood tasting different. Not bad, just… different. He’d mentioned the change to her offhand, but they’d brushed it off as an environmental effect of journeying through the Shadow-Cursed Lands and put it out of their minds because they had bigger things to worry about.

          Then Tav had been a little more fatigued, moving just a little slower than normal. But a month of fighting wraiths and monsters and Shar’s darkness had had them all in a state of perpetual exhaustion. No one was sleeping well, the cold settling into their bones a little deeper each day, and the shrieks of passing horrors interrupting what little rest they did get. Everyone was constantly hungry. Even Halsin had started to look a little gaunt. The curse had rotted most of their provisions within the first few days of entering the shadows, leaving the mortals in their group subsisting on smaller and smaller portions of whatever dried rations could be muddled together into an ever-thinner soup, and him with only an occasional swallow of blood whenever Tav (and some of the others once things got desperate enough) could spare it.

          He'd stopped drinking from Tav entirely when she’d started suffering occasional bouts of illness. She’d insisted she was fine, and that he needed to eat, had blamed the nausea and intermittent vomiting on the stress and environmentally-enforced starvation diet. But he’d put his foot down after the first night he’d been able to count her ribs from across the tent as she changed out of her day clothes. The discussion had gotten a little heated for a bit, but everyone had been short-tempered lately, all of them tired and irritable after weeks in the darkness. Tav had even snapped quite viciously at poor Wyll the day prior over an ill-timed joke, surprising them all with such an out of character outburst. Though, she’d also immediately apologized, then teared up when Wyll had good-naturedly offered a hand in forgiveness, which was much more typical for her.

          They had eventually stumbled onto Last Light Inn, but it hadn’t really improved the situation all that much. Between the Harpers, the Fists, the refugees, and now their own party, there were still just too many mouths to feed for anyone to end the day with a full stomach. And Tav, bleeding heart that she was, was giving half her rations to the Tiefling kids whenever he wasn’t looking. On top of that, a constantly growing list of mysteries to solve, quests to complete, and people to kill, plus Tav’s continuing struggle with her own mysterious darkness, meant they were all still passing on sleep more often than not, stretching themselves as thin as possible and pushing themselves to the breaking point in order to be everywhere at once.

          Suffice to say, no one was looking or feeling their best when it came time to face Myrkul’s Chosen in the Mindflayer colony.

          Tav had noted a missed monthly during their time traipsing through the shadows, and then a second while they were on the road between Reithwin and Baldur’s Gate, but she’d explained it away as a common occurrence, her body likely not being able to spare the resources after nearly six months of constantly battling rough terrain, extreme weather, monsters, cultists, food rationing, stress, and, oh yes, brain worms. And while he was, as a rule, ready and willing to be argumentative about anything at any time, he was also smart enough to recognize that this was one topic where he should probably keep his opinions to himself if he didn’t want to spend the night bunking with Gale.

          The nausea and fatigue had continued though, along with a few random bouts of dizziness, despite everyone starting to fill out and look a little more lively again with the resumption of regular meals and full nights of rest. But then they’d finally made it to the outskirts of Rivington, and Githyanki were flooding their camp, and their Dream Guardian was a damned Mindflayer who was keeping a lost Gith prince captive, and things got very busy very quickly.

          The next couple weeks went by in a blur, mission after quest after life-altering-event piling up faster than he could blink. Exploding toys. The circus. The Gur. His siblings at Fraygo’s. Gortash’s coronation. Permanently breaking Wyll’s pact. Rescuing Florrick. Finding Minsc. His siblings’ kidnapping attempt. Killing Lorroakan. Stealing the Crown of Karsus. Killing Cazador. Releasing the other spawn. Celebrating his newfound freedom on his grave. Orin kidnapping Yenna. Infiltrating Bhaal’s temple. Confronting Orin. Tav and Orin in single combat. Tav winning. Tav denying Bhaal. Tav floating in the air as Bhaal reclaimed his blood.

          Tav’s limp body hitting the floor with a sickening wet thump.

          Tav’s body so still, too still, sightless eyes staring up at nothing, devoid of light.

          Silence where her heartbeat should be.

          His world coming to a grinding halt.

          A heartrending scream that he will only later realize came from him. Running to her. His legs giving out. The force of his knees hitting the stone floor next to her. Tears streaming, hands holding her face, begging her to look at him, Please, Darling, just look at me, don’t do this, not now, you’re okay, don’t do this! Holding her as he screamed, cried, demanded, begged, prayed for someone, anyone, to bring her back. Because this couldn’t be happening. Because they had fought gods to get here. Because they were both free now and they were supposed to have an entire life together. Because just three days ago they’d stood on his grave and he’d finally been able to tell her he loved her and he’d meant it and it wasn’t fair it wasn’t fucking fair!

          A gentle hand on his shoulder (Wyll?) trying to pull him away. A gruff voice and strong arms (Lae’zel) wrestling him kicking and screaming away from the only person he’d ever truly cared for. A sturdy, warm body (Karlach) wrapping around him and holding him still, choking out soothing noises through her own tears as she forcefully turns him to face the center of the dais where Tav’s corpse oh gods her corpse lay in a pool of her own rapidly-cooling blood.

          He freezes as his eyes land on Withers, slowly circling Tav’s body. Seethes as he labels her godless, faithless, doomed to an eternity lost in the Fugue Plain. Despairs when he states that this is the will of the divine cosmology.

          But then Withers declares he will not permit it, and the tiniest flame of hope flickers to life in his chest as Withers commands her to rise, as a rush of power sucks the air from the temple, like an inhale shaking dust from ancient bones. And then a release, an exhale, and he almost doesn’t dare to believe his ears when he hears Tav’s heart restart with a stutter and an echo as she rolls on her side, coughing and gasping as air once again fills her lungs. He watches as she pulls herself to her knees, as Withers confirms she is forever free of Bhaal’s influence, as he talks of new life created because she had remade herself into something Bhaal couldn’t recognize, as she accepts his charge to finish their mission. And then she turns her head to look at their group, her eyes meeting his, and without a thought he’s slipping free of Karlach’s hold and running to her, stumbling, all but tackling her in his haste to confirm for himself that she’s here and real and alive.

          Tired, bloody, and beat to hell, their party had exited the sewers after leaving Bhaal’s temple and slowly made their way back to the Elfsong, Halsin carrying an exhausted and still-sniffling Yenna and Astarion supporting Tav. They’d all but collapsed into their bed that night, wrapped up tightly in each other, and he’d drifted off to the comforting sound of Tav’s heart beating loudly in his ear with that faint little echo that had been present since she’d been revived.

          The next day, the party had left to venture beneath Wyrm’s Rock in search of Ansur, leaving himself, Tav, and Jaheira behind after Shadowheart had threatened to tie Tav to the bed if she didn’t take a day off to recover. A wise move, as Tav had then spent the better part of the day white-knuckling her way through bouts of vertigo every time she stood up. She’d finally relented to his perfectly valid concerns (“fussing,” she’d called it) when he’d mentioned that persistent echo to her heartbeat, and had gone to Jaheira for more healing.

          Jaheira had had him help Tav to bed, performing a few diagnostic spells before informing them that Tav was a little dehydrated and undernourished, low on calcium, and mildly anemic. All things that were easily treatable with some dietary changes and a few potions, and perfectly normal for someone who was roughly three months pregnant with a Dhampir.

          Which was right around when his lungs stopped working.

── ･✩*₊˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖₊*✩･ ──

          The first thing he’d registered upon his return to consciousness was Tav calling his name. The second thing was her hands, warm, one on his chest and the other gently tapping his cheek. The third thing was the heat in his ears as all the blood in his body from his last meal rushed to, presumably, turn them bright red.

          Because he’d fucking fainted like some delicate, swooning, Upper City damsel.

          Oh, he was never going to live this down.

          After insisting to Tav that, yes, he was fine, and then confirming that Tav was also fine and was already feeling a little better after consuming some sort of herbal tea Jaheira had made, he steeled himself for what was possibly going to be the most difficult task they’d ever faced:

          A truly honest and in-depth conversation about their feelings and what the hells they were supposed to do now.

          It was… not an easy conversation, and certainly wasn’t helped by the fact that neither of them had ever needed to cultivate long-term planning as a skill. You don’t exactly need to have a five-year plan in mind when your future is effectively limited to “continue being a slave” and “keep doing murder,” respectively. They’d eventually resorted to making a pros and cons list, but they’d managed to at least come to a consensus on what seemed to be the most pressing issues.

Did they want to have a baby?  Uncertain – As far as either of them had known, it wasn’t an option, and therefore they’d never thought about it.

Did they want to have this baby?  After a lot more discussion… yes. They may not have planned on it, but now that the opportunity was on the table – their only opportunity – neither of them wanted to pass it up.

Could they actually raise a child?  Probably. Assuming they survived the whole Mindflayer Invasion thing, that is. Which felt like it was really the best answer anyone in their position could give. Even after divvying up the group’s total wealth, their share would be more than enough money for a home and whatever supplies a baby needed. They’d very likely never need to work again if they didn’t want to, which was great considering that “Magistrate 200 years out of practice” and “former serial killer” didn’t make for the most competitive resumes. Plus, they’d have help from their friends, all of whom were terminally nosey and just shy of unhealthily enmeshed in each other’s lives, which was basically what a family was, right?

          Decision made, they then had to ask themselves the next most important question: Should they tell the rest of the team? After a long back and forth, they decided it was best kept a secret until after they’d dealt with the brain. Like it or not, they needed everyone fighting if there was going to be any chance of success, so there was no way Tav could sit out. Everyone else knowing would just distract them, so for the safety of the mission and everyone involved, they’d need to keep it to themselves for now, with the exception of Jaheira, who already knew, and Halsin, who Astarion insisted on since it would mean an extra healer available to assist if something went wrong, and Halsin wasn’t prone to gossip.

          That done, they’d filled Jaheira in on the plan, and she’d walked them through what she knew of the differences between regular and Dhampiric pregnancies, which was unfortunately rather limited information considering the rarity, but she’d promised to help them as much as she could.

          With everything as settled as it could be for the moment, Tav had returned to bed for more rest. He’d intended to go with her, but she’d pushed him right back out of the bed, insisting he go for a hunt and “run off the nerves before he tied himself in a knot” He decided to let her win this one, so with a kiss to her cheek, he made his way to the forest just outside of Rivington, where he spent the next several hours indulging his baser instincts and enacting a bit of violent population reduction on the local wildlife.

          When he returned to their suite later that evening, a little less unhinged and a lot more blood-drunk, he’d crawled into bed and settled himself with his ear just over Tav’s lower abdomen. He’d soaked in the sound of that persistent little echo – his child’s heartbeat – gently tapping out the rhythm on Tav’s hip until he joined her in Reverie.

[forcedhesitation]

the end of wyll's quest is....interesting. it was VERY cool. I thought having the archetypal fairy tale prince go "slay the dragon" was a fitting ending, I just feel like it was....a little underwhelming in some ways.

more under cut

first and foremost- I wish that it was not possible for your tav/durge to converse with ansur. I wish that it automatically selected wyll, because I simply do not think that this entire scene has as much impact if it is not wyll at the forefront of everything. which is why I also have to complain about the emperor here.

the reveal that he is balduran is.... well. I knew about this already, through accidental spoilers. Initially, I thought it was a stupid reveal. but reframing the reveal in the context of a fairy tale...well it makes perfect sense. it just FEELS a bit underwhelming and strange, because your player character is not wyll. this entire area feels like it was written with an avatar wyll in mind. and I wish that there were changes made to the companion wyll version of the game that made up for this. wyll is a character who is hugely tied to the main plot by virtue of being the duke's son. he spends the game searching for his father, while trying to deal with both mizora and the absolute. mizora is the one he sold his soul to to save the city before, the reason he was cast out. the absolute wants to destroy and steal his city. and ansur, a legendary dragon, might be his way of saving the city and getting his father's approval back. ansur had wanted to kill balduran because balduran had been infected with a mindflayer parasite, but had embraced his illithid nature rather than rejected it. I feel like there's some parallel that can be made to wyll there. in that he was othered, like balduran was, because he accepted mizora's help. ansur condemned balduran because ansur is a bronze dragon and therefore lawful good. wyll's father exiles wyll because wyll was "at best a fool, at worst a traitor," in his father's eyes and his father tolerated neither. wyll & balduran are both victims of the inflexible nature those of lawful good alignments have. they are both seen as monsters for what happened to their bodies. I wish that was emphasised a little more. like autoselecting wyll for the ansur dialogue & giving him dialogue with the emperor would have made this ending feel a little more complete, in my opinion. and it would have better demonstrated the point of having the emperor even be balduran. because that's such a fairy tale thing, the stuff of real legend! for the hero's mysterious guide to actually be some great old hero thought to be long dead. and I do think it works. it just doesn't feel as impactful if wyll is not your avatar.

I also wish this area was overall bigger & more developed. I know they redid wyll's character from EA. I know they had less time. I just. I wish that this area was as detailed as the sharran temple in act 2. it feels like SUCH a big deal, it feels like it should be bigger. especially since at lvl 12, you're just. unkillable.

but the dialogue afterwards, where he says he's in the mood for celebration and wants to make a celebratory dinner? SO CUTE!!! that man's joy is contagious!!! I could practically feel him holding back how much he just wanted to jump around with joy. and the sweet little "let's hope gale won't be too upset that I'm cooking for once and not him." I love you. you are too fucking sweet wyll. this fucking city does not deserve you. this playerbase does not deserve you. you are a true gem and I wish people saw you are just as beautiful and interesting as astarion and gale.

a cool possible scene they could add, to given wyll's questline more material IS that dinner he talks about. or preparation for it! something where he asks tav/durge to taste the food beforehand? or where your avatar can ask him about where he learned to cook, prompting him to talk about his time as the blade of frontiers? out in the sword coast on his own? this scene could easily be platonic or romantic, but be given extra options for a romantic relationship. but something like this could truly be added at an earlier point in the game too, it doesn't have to be tied to this particular moment.

but overall really cool area of the game. very cool bossfight. and a rather clever ending to wyll's quest, contrary to what his haters say. I love the commitment to the fairy tale theme. it just needs a bit more. maybe it feels more satisfying if you've romanced him. although I've heard his act 3 romance scene is currently bugged? his unromanced questline is slightly bugged (doesn't rob you of any material, though, it just replayed some dialogue for me). either way, I hope that gets fixed asap. I so badly need to experience this romanced version in my other campaign.

[neontokyoo]

*Slides in* so. You asked for something. (I have a female reader in mind, feel free to do write however you want.)

Imagine for whatever reason, Tav/Durge/reader is turned tiny- a chibi version of her, if you will.

How would the party carry you around? What would she wear? What if they engage in a fight? What if we include Gortash in this

I suppose Gale would put her inside a floating resilience sphere (with Boo for her protection, of course.)

Imagine trying to wrap a piece of cloth around yourself for cover; huffing and puffing due to all the effort it takes and suddenly someone Astarion pinches pinches those smol, mochi buttcheeks.

Or pushing ink, paper, books and other things around on the desk as Enver writes down his plans for leading the world to a catastrophe.

Shadowheart is not above forcing her to do a fashion show with whatever she uses as dress and clothing on her.

I'm sorry this is basically brain vomit. Doesn't stop me from sending other shit in the future tho

Sorry for the wait, I’ve been really busy this week because my husband and I are expecting to have twins really soon so I haven’t really been writing a whole lot and most of my asks are either queued or in my drafts. This was made like last minute so I hope it’s alright lol

Pairing: Fem!Durge!Tav x party (with Astarion as a love interest, I’m assuming?) ft. Gortash Genre: fluff Summary: ⬆️ Warnings: sexual themes/references to sex.

Basic Headcanons:

If Tav was tiny, I would believe that everyone has a different way to carry her.

Gale would keep her in the pocket of his robes.

Karlach and Wyll would probably carry her on their heads and just let her hold on to their horns if she needs to.

Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Minthara, Jaheira and Astarion would probably just carry her on their shoulders.

The animals, such as the owlbear cub, Scratch, and maybe even Halsin would just let her ride of either their backs or their heads.

Assuming that she’s no smaller than a hamster, Minsc and Boo would probably just let her chill in Boo’s little hamster ball until she’s needed in combat.

If we include Gortash in this, I feel like he’d just be fighting everyone over Tav all the time considering their past relationship. I mean, he’d probably love to have a pocket-sized ex, honestly. He’d just carry her around everywhere and never have to worry about anyone taking her because she’s buried and well-hidden in his pocket.

But assuming that her love interest is Astarion, it’s always an ongoing battle between her current lover and her ex-lover. She’s always being passed around between the two and fought over.

Gale likes to put her and boo inside of a floating resilience sphere and just carry her around like that.

Despite being small, she’s still pretty powerful in combat. Especially being the Dark Urge. Don’t let her looks fool you, because she’s equally as aggressive as she used to be when she was bigger.

An actual story now

Being small wasn’t the easiest. It was fun sometimes, but never easy. Especially when it comes to clothing and getting certain people’s attention.

Usually Tav’s party is able to loot the armor and clothing from their enemies after a battle, which Astarion and Shadowheart cut up and use to make armor and clothing that are small enough fit her. But there are some days where she has to figure it out herself and wrap scraps of fur, wool, or fabric around herself. But that doesn’t ever work because every time she tries to cover herself up, Astarion always ends up ripping it off, being the mildly perverted lover he is.

Of course, they can’t have sex anymore because of how small she is now, but that doesn’t mean he can’t admire her tiny little body. Right?

It was very rare for her to make DIY clothing, however, because Shadowheart was always coming up with something to dress her up in, with the help of Astarion. She’d often make Tav do little fashion shows for the clothing she and astarion made for Tav.

But when Tav isn’t with her friends, she’s usually off trying to annoy her ex-boyfriend or feeding her urges. Which is almost equally as frustrating as trying to cover herself up without having Astarion destroy everything.

She usually finds a way to climb on top of Enver’s desk. But it doesn’t usually do anything because he’s always hyper focused on terrorizing the world. She usually has to shove everything off of his desk for him to notice she’s there. But when he does notice her, she’s never able to annoy him like she wanted to. Instead he ends up being the annoying one.

[sweeter-innocence-fics]

You Brought Your Worst and I’m Right Here - Epilogue

Pairing: Gale of Waterdeep x female Tav

Work Summary:

After an explosive falling out between Gale and his academic adviser, Mystra, Tav is left to pick up the pieces.

Modern/College AU.

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Epilogue

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 1039

Read on AO3.

Masterlists.

Taglist: @mrs-kai-anderson @ang3l1te @missryerye

Taglist info

Previous Chapter

One Year Later

When Gale awoke, he was sandwiched between his two favourite girls. Tav’s face was pressed into his chest, and she was snoring softly. If he mentioned that to her, he knew that she’d blush and deny that she snored, but he had the evidence of his own eyes and ears.

Personally, he didn’t see why it bothered her. She was still beautiful even when her lips were chapped, her mouth hanging open, drooling slightly into his pyjama shirt. He hoped that he never had to wake up without her again.

On his other side, Tara was snuggled into the crook of his arm, a gentle purring rumbling in her chest. He was loath to disrupt this blissful little moment, but he needed to pee. He knew as soon as he got up, Tara would start begging for her breakfast, and that, in turn, would wake Tav.

Tav deserved a lie-in. She’d had a busy week. As carefully as he could, he detangled himself from his girlfriend, planting a kiss on her forehead, and then scooped Tara up into his arms and got out of bed.

Tara trilled sleepily, looking around in confusion, but Gale had carried her out of the bedroom and shut the door before she had the chance to start causing a ruckus.

“Sorry, Tara,” he murmured, setting her down on the kitchen floor, scritching her under the chin for good measure. “I’ll make it up to you.”

She meowed at him, so he got to work pouring the little meat sachet into her bowl. She wove between his legs, purring loudly the entire time he did so. He was practised at the art of not tripping over her while she did so. Tara had managed to trip Tav up a few times, though thankfully without injury for either of them.

Tav had adored Tara immediately, but Tara had been a little slow to warm up to an unfamiliar human. Tav would bribe the cat with fishy treats, which had certainly helped.

The flat they lived in now was nowhere near as big as the house they’d shared with Wyll, Astarion and Shadowheart. It had an open-plan kitchen/living room, a tiny patch of grass out the back that could generously be called a garden, and one bedroom. It was small but it was theirs.

They could’ve afforded a bigger place, but they were saving up for Gale’s PhD. For now, they were both working, but Tav had agreed to contribute more to rent and bills if his PhD application got accepted, so that he could focus on his studies. He had tried to protest, but Tav had remained firm.

“You can pay me back when you’re Dr Dekarios,” she had cooed into his ear, and it had been hard to say no to that. Dating a reasonably well-paid chemical engineer had its perks.

His mother had been dubious about how quickly Tav had become entwined with every part of Gale’s life. He knew that it wasn’t necessarily sensible, since they’d only been dating a year, but it came so naturally to him. Tav was his future.

Luckily, Morena liked Tav well enough. He was sure she never would’ve approved of Mystra, had she met her. In fact, Tav was the first girlfriend Gale had had that Morena actually liked, which was a testament to Tav’s character. It felt like every weekend his mother would call him and ask him when he and Tav were next going to visit her.

Once he’d gone to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, he opened up his laptop to check his emails, and was stopped short by a notification from his university application portal.

He stared at it, heart thrumming in his chest. It was a response to his PhD application. He was one click away from finding out the trajectory of his future. He moused over the link, and then away from it again, gripped by anxiety.

“Good morning,” said Tav sleepily.

Gale hadn’t heard her come in, and was so high-strung that he almost knocked his laptop off the table. She filled the kettle, oblivious to way his life hung in the balance. She was dressed in a dressing gown, her feet bare on the tiles.

His eyes homed in on her feet. They must’ve been cold. He should get her some slippers.

“Gale?”

He looked up to see her looking at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to answer a question. “Er, pardon?”

“I asked if you wanted tea?”

“Oh. Yes please.”

“Are you alright? You look like you’re about to vibrate out of your seat.”

“I got an email about my PhD application.”

Tav set the kettle down and crossed the room to him. “What did it say?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t opened it.”

“Oh…” Her hands came up to cup his face. His eyes fell closed as she stroked his cheek. “Do you want me to open it for you?”

“Please?”

“Okay.”

He turned back to his laptop and she leaned over him, resting her chin on his shoulder. Her hand covered his on the mouse.

“Ready?” she asked.

“No.”

“I’m going to do it anyway.”

“Okay.”

He closed his eyes, feeling her moving both his hand and mouse. She clicked once, and then again, and then moved the mouse a little more before clicking for a final time. A warm, bubbly laugh fell from her lips.

“Gale, open your eyes,” she said, gently headbutting the side of his head.

He opened his eyes. For a moment, the words on the screen were fuzzy, but they came into focus. His jaw dropped.

“You’ve been accepted,” she said, kissing her cheek. “Didn’t I tell you that you would be?”

“You did,” he admitted.

“And I am always right.”

“You are,” he agreed, feeling slightly shell-shocked.

“This calls for a celebration. I could make pancakes? Or a full English? Or we could order burritos from- Oof.”

He had shut his laptop, pushed it away from him and pulled her into his lap. “I love you,” he said, tugging at the cords of her dressing gown.

She cupped his face in her hands, a fond expression on her face. “I love you too, Gale.”

---

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed <3

[honest-moth-of-silver-grove]

Hi!!! It has been a while since I've seen anyone doing matchups, and I think you're the first one I've seen doing them for BG3!! I'm really excited hehe. Could I request a match up, pleade?

My character is someone who, first and foremost, admires the beautiful things in life. She's adventurous, fiercely loyal, immensely kind and has an unbreakable will. She loves to sing, dance, and play music, and it's very adept at it, so much so that her style of combat involves sword-dancing and casting magic through music. It's her goal to see her actions make the world a better place.

On the downside, she is also very innocent, sometimes foolishly so. She doesn't really think someone might be playing a bigger game and always tries to see the good side even in the most nefarious entities. She can also be inexperienced in socially dealing with others or certain situations, for she has lived a somewhat cloistered life away from others and this makes her somewhat of a slow-learner. However, people around her tend to find themselves at ease due to her warm and inviting aura.

On more technical aspects, she's a female Selandrine Drow of short stature, athletic body and has light golden eyes and highlights contrasting her long, curly white hair. She is straight and for that reason male matches are preferred! She also doesn't have virtually any experience in the dating scene, and for that reason she is willing to at least try both mono and poly relationships, but as of right now has no preference in either.

Thank you so so much!! Hope this was acceptable ✨️

A/N: This was great! Thank you for the details! Okay, for my Selandrine Drow Anon, I think your best matchup would be with… Asatrion! 

⭐ Astarion would be a good match for your Selandrine Drow Tav. They’re both lovers of the beautiful things in life, Astarion because he’s rather indulgent and after years of torment needs things to live for, and your Tav because she’s looking for beauty to make the world a better place. So even though Astarion’s fascination with beauty is more materialistic, he also looks for beauty as a sign the world is worth fighting for. He’s been through quite a lot of abuse and torment. And I’m sure your Tav has seen her fair share of that as well being a drow and all. They’re both looking for reasons to keep on fighting the good fight, and for them, I’d think they’d find that in each other.  

Astarion isn’t exceedingly kind, but he is loyal. Once he decides someone is a worthy ally, or a trustworthy friend, he’s rather dependent on them, even if he wishes he wasn’t. He’s extremely willful but also very needy, and this can make him bitter at times. However, I think your Tav’s kindness and innocence would help Astarion let his guard down a bit. There’s a sort of comfort in knowing you have the upper hand when it comes to all the horrible things people could be planning to do to you. Astarion feels safe, because he knows she isn’t playing a bigger game as you say. He definitely feels a sense of protection over your Tav because of this naivety. He’s very smooth and charismatic socially, so he’ll take the lead in those situations, to ensure no one gets hurt. 

He loves how your Tav sings and dances and plays music. It’s such a joyful thing. And he really loves how dramatic she is, incorporating it into her fighting style. It’s so theatrical and witty- he’s drawn to her especially because of that. 

He may have had some initial reservations about befriending a drow, even a Selandrine one. Then again, once he meets your Tav and sees how kind and trusting she is, he lets those biases go. Afterall, she remained his friend after he revealed his true vampiric nature, so who is he to judge? Plus as a Selandrine, she doesn’t follow the same strict rules as a more Lolth-sworn drow, which Astarion appreciates. He may not believe in any gods himself, but he admires someone who is willing to stand out against the crowd, in order to pursue what they believe, regardless of how different it is. 

And he adores the fact that their hair matches. She’d have to tell him of course, because he can’t see his reflection. But he thinks it’s sort of ironically adorable how profusely similar they look as a couple. Astarion himself may have many years experience in the bedroom, but virtually none in the dating scene. So he’s very happy to take things slow within their relationship. 

If he remains a vampire spawn, and doesn’t ascend, he’s glad your Tav is as willing to spend time in the dark or shade as he is. I mean, he’ll gladly watch from safely inside the house as she frolics around outside, singing in the sun. But he’s happiest when the two of them are under the stars together, while she plays a sweet melody just for him.

[something-pithy]

Notes and an Update: This Heckin' Chonker

pictured above: Astarion's rich inner world

PLZ! SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR CONTENT WARNINGS <3

A couple of posts ago, I talked about some of my Opinions on Writing Trauma. 

I’m not going to rehash all that, but what I do need to say about this chapter and the ones coming up is they're going to dig into some ugly shit within and between Tav and Astarion as they exist in an echo, a stain. 

SOOO - INTERLUDE FOR CONTEXT

Basically right after I posted Chapter 12, which felt super feckin long to me at like, idk, 5K+ words?, I went on a writing binge and ended up with in excess of twenty-motherfucking-four THOUSAND (2MF4K+) words.

Its initial title was "this fucking monster doesn't have a name." 

Subsequent monikers included: 

"Heckin' Chonker" 

"Chonkerville" 

"Oh My Fucking God What Have I Done" 

"There's No Way Out, This Is a Cursed Chapter"

"Sweet Lordt Baby Jesus in Whose Divinity I Don't Actually Believe, Please Help Me Anyway" and 

"Komo Is More Than I Will Ever Deserve as a Thought Partner, Collaborator, Co-Gremlin, and Beta" 

You may have noticed I've ended up in a posting rhythm of, typically, two chapters a week. (WARNING this will change if this long COVID ever ends.) 

You may also have noticed that last week, there was just one.

This is because over the past week, we figured out (kinda) what this chapter would look like. There are still probably 20K+ words of story that need carving and shaping. 

This, in turn, is because there are a lot of elements of Tav and Astarion’s past and current relationship surfacing, and I think I’m being kind of fussy about getting them right. And yes, trauma is one of them, but that’s just a part of the bigger picture – an important part, but no more or less important than the many other reasons why these two people affect each other so deeply or whether the jokes land.  

I can’t promise you I got it right. What I can promise you is that I tried my level best, and both Komo and I put a lot into the attempt.

CONTENT WARNINGS: 

Canon-typical violence manifests in this one as traumatic memory. 

One of the conversations includes straight up emotional abuse. As I said in the Author’s Note on Ao3, if you disagree, that’s totally OK, but I’m not really here to debate it. 

On the other hand, if you have questions, feel some (any) type of way, or just want to unpack / talk about some of the stuff that Chapter 13 surfaces with kindness and empathy, please, by all means, hit me up in the PM or with a Ask Me Question Thing. 

All messages and questions will receive responses in kind. 

OK that’s all I’ve got for now; I’m exhaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuusted. 

Coming up very, very soon: those goddamn Alignment Notes. Looooooooool  

Live in jooooy!

OH! P.S.: There's a soundtrack. This is the link. :)

[bunbunbon02]

"...When Does A Man become a Monster."

Hello! I've been bitten the the writer's bug and decided to write about a friend and I's tav from Baulder's Gate 3! This is just something I wanted to do for fun and I hope you enjoy. There may be a continuation of this story as time goes on, but for now enjoy this little bit. Stay spookie, xoxo

WC: 1,037

“…When does a man become a monster?”

It has been months since his disappearance. The plan to take over the Swordcoast has already been in motion, and he wasn't here to see it. Wendigo spent hours to days trying to ignore where her brother went off to, so she would make excuses that he was just off doing whatever he pleased, but Orin kept feeding her ideas.

“He could be dead, or better yet, something could’ve feasted on his flesh... How exciting to know your biggest threat is finally gone, bloodkin.”

Wendigo just rolled her eyes. She has always been unamused by Orin’s…personality. She was reckless. There was no elegance to her methods. She was always sloppy whenever she was involved in any plan Kethric, Gortash, and Wendigo would come up with, but she would be lying to herself if she wasn’t worried about her brother. She wasn’t supposed to have these feelings. She was trained not to have these thoughts, but she would always care about her brother.

“Instead of reminding me he's gone, how about you go choke on a dagger?"

The hideous laughter that came from Orin just made Wendigo glad they weren’t actually related. Wendigo and her brother were not born Bhaalspawns, but Orin was born into this cult. Wendigo had long forgotten the reason why Bhaal decided to take her and her brother. They weren’t anything special; at least Wendigo didn’t feel like she was special. She had to spend years learning and training to become a powerful wizard, but she was never considered powerful in the eyes of Bhaal. If she was told to fight Orin, she could win, but if she had to be put in a fight against her brother, she would lose. He was more powerful because he was born with magic coursing through his veins. It was natural for him. Maybe that’s why she didn’t feel special and always wanted to be better. Be stronger than him, but those thoughts were put to rest when she remembered what happened when he decided to get power hungry. He started craving the freedom to kill however he wanted. He didn’t want to follow Bhaal’s rules. He didn’t want to become like Orin, but that was his downfall before he disappeared. Wendigo remembers how, after her brother killed some unknowing soul, Orin tackled him to the ground, and before Wendigo could come to his defense, two other cultists held her back. She could still hear the screams coming from her brother as Orin carved into his skin. The smell of copper became stronger the more Orin was carved into his skin. She remembers how she tried to break free of the two men holding her back. The screams and tears streamed down her face. She felt helpless that day… Even though her brother was fully capable of protecting himself, she couldn’t help him when he needed someone by his side. That day, she vowed to become stronger. She promised to be a perfect solider so she could know everyone within those temple’s walls next move. She didn’t want another surprise attack from anyone, but shortly after that incident, her brother disappeared.

Now here she was gathering supplies to meet up with Kethric Thorm in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. She was tasked with finding a way to kill Kethric. Find his weakness and take his netherstone. He had become weak over the past few months. Bhaal and Gortash have taken notes on how weak Kethric has become, but who was she to judge? She knew what it was like to want to have someone you loved and cared for by your side, but his emotions were getting in the way of the bigger picture of what was going on. The world will soon be in the palm of her hands. She just wished her brother was by her side. She shook her head to try to keep herself focused. She has one mission: to kill Kethric, grab his netherstone, and report back to Baulder’s Gate. Plain and simple. Nothing difficult, and nothing she can’t handle…

The journey to the gate that sat between Baulder’s Gate and the Shadow Curse Lands wasn’t difficult. She was able to stay hidden from most of the citizens of Baulder’s Gate by taking a route through the sewers. The sewers smelled better than the stench of blood and guts that stained the walls of the Temple of Bhaal. Wendigo questions why she couldn't just run away when given the chance, but when she thinks about how Bhaal found out about her brother’s situation, what would happen if she did decide to run away? Would they come after her and kill her for being a heratic ? Would they hurt her brother to get her to run back to them? She had to be careful. Every single detail mattered. Every single order that was given to her, she had to carry out. She had to do this to protect the one person she cared about—the one person who could truly understand the hell she continues to crawl through.

Soon, she made it to the gate that separated the two lands. The shadows that shroud the land felt familiar. It felt cold and harsh, with no hint of warmth. It’s a shame that she welcomed such a familiar feeling, but she looked down and saw how her arms wrapped around her in a hug. Was she nervous about what waited for her in the shadows? Would her brother show up while she was staying here? Her hands started gripping the flesh under them as she could feel the anger and frustration coming back.

“How could he be so fucking stupid? He couldn’t handle the pressure of Bhaal and left it up to me.”

She thought to herself. Then she started laughing hysterically while resting her head in her hands. She could feel the urges resurfacing that she had tried to suppress over the past few months. The insanity of craving nothing but carnage for any living creature in her sight. She looked up at the sky as her hands fell to her sides. If anyone could see her face, they would see her twisted smile. A smile from one who finally gave up hope that she would ever see the only person she cared about.

The smile of a monster.

[cannibalisticskittles]

General 2-4; Story 5, 10, 11, 14, and 17; Romance 1, 3, and 9; and 12 free space: a field banter with a character of your choice (hard(?) mode: not Astarion) for Amity!! (You can...pick and choose from these if that's too many, lmao)

under a cut because long

General 2. Do the other companions have special comments or reactions upon recruiting your Tav? i imagine she's recruited doing something silly/is at least somewhat in peril – stuck on the edges of the swamp behind some traps that seem to keep popping back up whenever she turns around (the redcaps are fucking with her), or caught in a web under the goblin village bc her pod crashed nearby and in her haste to not be seen, she fell thru the rotting floorboards and now she's stuck and she could burn the webs away but honestly it's a miracle that the bigger spiders haven't been drawn to her yet and that seems like a recipe for disaster, so uh, help please?

so i think more practically-minded companions – lae'zel for sure, astarion, maybe shadowheart – wonder aloud about how useful she could be, given how they've found her; the first two maybe remark that it would've been better to leave her there to figure it out for herself, lmao.  

wyll, karlach, and gale are a bit more sympathetic, and karlach just wants to pick her up and squeeze her like a lil teddy bear.

3. Does your Tav have any comments or advice when you recruit other companions? if you recruit her before astarion, she is livid on your behalf if you fail the perception roll and end up with a knife at your neck. she has incineration on her mind, like gale; unlike gale, she's too mad to be articulate: "if they don't walk away from this, neither will you."

she loves karlach right away. tiefling solidary is strong, and she knows devils well, and this is definitely a (pretty) tiefling and not a devil. she strongly advises hearing karlach out and helping her; she's extremely sad if you choose to fight and kill karlach instead. big disapproval hit there. don't fuck with tieflings. 

if she's in your party when you recruit gale, she doesn't say anything, but you quietly get a few points of approval if you slap his hand before rescuing him

actually wait there would be one reaction. if your party is full when you reboot Gail and he says he'll go back to camp and get started on stew, amity goes "fuck yeah, stew!!!"

4. What sort of general actions raise or lower their approval?

goody-two-shoes choices tend to net approval with her, no surprise there. tho honestly i think with amity, you'd be getting little 'amity approves!' notifications all the time, but then find out that they're mostly just +1s so even tho they can trigger often, it's hard to build high approval just with that. you get bigger approval for harder choices, naturally, and she does favor being good and kind, but it happens a bit less often. 

you can talk her into giving approval even if you decline the Extra Good and Generous option, as long as you present some logical/practical reason for it – sorry amity, helping tieflings is nice, but think about how many of them will die if we're too slow to remove our tadpoles and we all transform into mindflayers; greater good and all that, right?

…and you get approval when you do dumb, chaotic, fun things. like. you jump down the pit in the spider cavern without feather fall, and after withers revives you, amity says "that was very ill-advised, but in the moments before you splattered on the ground, it looked like a lot of fun!" and you get +10 approval.

you also get approval points when you're rude to/make fun of raphael or mizora, lmao. amity blatantly disrespects any devil lower than, like, a kyton in the hierarchy of devils. 

for specific actions, you get +10 approval for killing aunty ethel, even if you fuck up saving mayrina. fuck hags, all amity's homies hate hags. and also i think every single companion disapproves if you smear shit on your face when trying to get into the goblin camp, but y'know what? amity thinks that's very practical. fuck dignity, it avoided a fight, and she respects that. now hold still, she'll prestidigitate that off of you as soon as you turn the corner.

Story 5. How do they react to the Player Character taking their first tadpole power? she's a little horrified, but primarily at the idea that you willingly put that in your eye?? ouch?? and are you sure there's enough room in your cranium for another one of those suckers?? she does, however, ask that if you plan to do it again – not that she advises that, mind you! – that you let her watch and take notes. she promises to do her very best to suppress her gag reflex if you do. 

10. How do they react if the PC licks the dead spider in the Gauntlet of Shar? "oh! wow! that's – um. was that… good?" devnote: no part of her believes that could've been good. 

in response to a second lick: "oh, wow. are you okay? blink twice if you're ensorcelled and need help. no? it couldn't have been good enough to be worth it. …could it?" devnote: said in a tone which indicates almost enough curiosity to try it for herself. 

11. What do they say if the PC tries to force them to go up on stage with Dribbles the Clown? honestly, she's fucking delighted, she loves circuses and clowns. 

"really? me? are you sure you don't want to go up there instead? dribbles really knows his stuff, you'll be missing out! but okay, if you're sure!"

she's so excited that she's wiggling the whole time she's on stage. +5 approval at least. 

14. How does Tav react to the PC becoming a mind flayer?  Can they offer to become one themselves?  Does their reaction change if they’re romanced? the theological implications of the soul being destroyed in the process of becoming a mind flayer are… concerning – if the soul is gone, how can one ever be sure that the person isn't gone, and that the tadpole isn't just assuming the memories and characteristics of its former host?

but. the player character is her friend! (and maybe her partner, but either way – her friend!) and friendship is sacred! she's not going to let some tentacles get in the way of that!!! she's just sorry that you had to go through this, but you're so brave and kind for doing it – you've done the hard part, leave it to her to support you through this!

(a later bit of dialogue you might get is "hey, we match now – we're both purple! c:" )

as for herself – she'd want to take some time to think about it bc it is Not a decision that she'd be excited to make, but… honestly, what's lil' ol' her worth when compared to the entirety of the sword coast? so yeah, she'd volunteer herself, if need be. 

hey, don't feel too bad – she was only gonna make it maybe 40 if she's lucky, the way she keeps throwing herself into danger. hell, she's technically already died once already! and her soul was likely bound for the wall of the faithless when she died, so what's it matter if this destroys her soul now, right?

(this is not going to help her self-esteem issues AT ALL – people might distrust tieflings, but they REALLY distrust mindflayers – but She Will Do It)

((if you're romancing her and ask her to become a mindflayer and break up with her, she isn't even mad. she gets it. if you still want to be with her, she full on cries. says you don't have to do that, there's a better path for you out there; it's a whole thing.))

17. If romanced, how do they react to the Dark Urge trying to kill them in Act 2? i will be fully honest here: despite only doing like 10 minutes of a dark urge run so far, i get the impression that most companions… do not take the dark urge particularly seriously. even if the dark urge is upfront about everything and full on confesses "hey, i crave murder, i'm pretty sure i've done lots of murder before, and i want to do more murder."

amity would. she'd be tossing out suggestions on what to do and trying to get everyone on board – and if she couldn't sway anyone pre-alfira, she gets very serious about it post-alfira. everyone takes turns being on watch? they set up the alarm spell around the dark urge? …little bells on their ankles?

so i think in a sense she'd be prepared. she'd have to believe that the dark urge isn't in control of themselves in order to keep going after alfira, so therefore, she believes that whatever urge is driving them is both very powerful and likely to crop up again.

…unfortunately, amity Needs Sleep. she functions poorly on less than optimal sleep, and once she IS asleep, it's very difficult to wake her up and she gets combative if you try. if the dark urge tries to wake her up to warn her, they need to make a dex save to avoid either a fire bolt or a stray fist thrown their way. (it's okay if they fail tho, her aim isn't great when she's sleepy and she only has 9 strength.) 

dark urge has gotta get thru her grumpy-at-being-woken up phase before she's even close to coherent enough to understand what's going on, but when they do – she's ready. as ready as you can be for something like that, anyway. 

"you – now? shit. okay, we can handle this, we can – hand me my bag, i've got materials for a warding spell in there. you good long enough to find somewhere private, or does it need to be now-now? –shit, clearly it's now-now, okay–"

dark urge wakes up and she's all smiles. "hello, dear heart! you went down pretty quick, had me worried! slipped a pillow under your head, but your noggin might still be sore in the morning sorry. oh, not up for a chat? that's alright! i'm here anyway! :)"

i think some of her encouragement would be drawing on gleeful spite –like "hey, think about how pissed off this urge is gonna be that you've managed to fight it so far – i bet it's livid, haha. and look at you, you're managing it anyway! i knew you could do it; you're doing so well!"

and then she sits at the ready, telling silly stories of ways she's fucked up on adventures or of neat things she's seen until the dark urge is able to sleep

she's lightly dozing when they wake up but she's mostly sitting up – it's clear she's tried to stay up and keep watch all night. 

as she dismisses the wards, she throws some suggestions at them – consistent alarm spells around their cot at night? her knot-tying is pretty good, they could rely on that each night if spells don't seem like enough? well – no, that's not how she meant if, but if that's how you take it, she's not necessarily opposed to… wait, we're discussing important business here, save that for later!

and she passes them something from her bag and it's a sending stone. "annnnnd if you feel like there's something you need to tell me but you can't say it out loud for whatever reason, or if I'm not there, though honestly how often does that happen – well! this'll give you a direct line to me, even without the tadpoles :)"

sending stones as a gesture of love yet again (also she never travels anywhere without at least one set of sending stones on her. she has learned how valuable they can be)

Romance 1. Is your Tav a romanceable character?  Are there any specific requirements to romancing them? i think she would be, but it would be sloooooow going. so slow that players aren't always certain that they're correctly triggering it at all, damn it, where'd that guide go?

you've got to get her to be genuinely vulnerable with you, which is. difficult! she has self-esteem issues. and self-image issues. and she has issues with touch – simultaneously touch-starved and touch-repulsed (thanks a lot, hag curse, for fucking up the progress she'd made on that). she wants to be with someone, but oh, gods, is that frightening.

you have to tread carefully with her. lay it on too thick, and she thinks you're fucking with her (or just being nice, but either way, she believes 0% of it). gotta build a LOT of trust first. honestly, her friendship path and her romance path would be absolutely identical for at least the first act. sleeping with someone at the party wouldn't lock you out of that – you go have your fun! she's going to creep away soon for some air. it's lovely that everyone is having fun, but it is a bit overwhelming. but no, don't worry about her! …no really, don't worry about her, haha, she's definitely not going to slip away while you're not looking because she's having another bout of insecurity. 

you just have to talk to her a lot, and not be too mean – it doesn't even put an end to things if you're a little mean, bc hey, that can be kind of funny. but, y'know. don't shut her down. she warms up to you fast on a surface level, but you have to give her time to actually open up and not be so skittish. 

3. Are they a polyamorous or a monogamous option? she'd happily agree to either, honestly! she has Experienced Love for more than one person at once, before, but she feels no pressing need to seek that out for herself; as for the player character, i think she'd want a bit of reassurance that anything else they seek isn't bc of dissatisfaction with her, but then she's open to it, whether or not she herself is involved!

bonus; a field banter with a character of your choice  post-waukeen's rest – 

amity: wyll! wyll ravengard! wyll: that is what I've been called a time or two, yes. why? amity: i can't believe i didn't recognize you before! you've changed some, sure, but even still! wyll: had we met before? i'm sure i would have remembered you. amity: not exactly! more like… occupied the same circles? i was too shy to go to all those fancy parties as myself; once we'd made it past the entryways, i usually hid away, or disguised myself with a spell, if i couldn't find anywhere secluded. wyll: ah, a shame – i think we would've gotten along famously, you and i. amity: i'd like to think so! anyway, i got myself… banned from all of those events after some particularly unwelcome hijinks, so it only lasted a little while.  wyll: banned? there was a time when little wyll would have been dying to know how to do the same; i never could manage it. always dragged along to every meeting and soiree father had to attend. what exactly did you do? amity: ah – a lady doesn't kiss and tell! they may consider me too uncouth and unkempt to be much of a lady, but even i know that! wyll: now i must know.

and later – 

wyll: potions of fire breath in lady edmonton’s mead.  amity: uh-uh. wyll: frogs in the central fountain.   amity: not me.  wyll: otto's irresistible dance on the younger lord laurier? amity: gods, i wish, he was always such a prick – but no.  wyll: it was quite funny to see him flop about. let's see… replacing lady belmont's prized panther with a displacer beast? amity: did someone do that? really? i missed that one. and i'm pleased you think i would have been able to manage that.  wyll: stealing the left shoes of all attendees while they say for a feast? amity: no – well. i don't think so, anyway? sounds like something i would've done. so maybe. possibly. probably? but that's not what did me in.  wyll: hmm… [snaps fingers] the chandelier! amity: yes, you've got it! wyll: ha, i knew i would, eventually. amity: ...i do feel bad about that one, honestly, i really thought it was going to hold up against a few swings.  wyll: from what i'd heard, it did not.  amity: it did not.

[bosspigeon]

How is your Tav and Durges' relationship to the other companions? Are they close with any of them, other than their LIs? What is their dynamic like?

Bonus: Do they have any notable relationships among the other non-companion characters?

HELLO I AM FINALLY GONNA TRY AND ANSWER SOME OF THESE YEEHAW

As I love literally all the companions, bc they are all so messy and beloved to me, most of my characters tend to have that disastrous found family dynamic that I adore <3 but ye I think they've all got their own relationships with each other them

I think Pyre gets along really well with Karlach? Which I imagine surprises the others, somewhat. But they're both soldiers, at the end of the day, and there's a comfortable familiarity in that dynamic for both of them. Karlach, of course, is somewhat irreverent when she responds "Sir yes sir" to Pyre giving her an order, but he finds her energy and zest for life really refreshing? They both know what it's like to be a prisoner, after all, and to cherish the freedom they have, knowing what it's like to claw your way out of hell.

He gets along with Lae'zel for similar reasons in one direction, and Wyll in another. He and Lae'zel talk shop and strategy a lot, and she respects his shrewdness and forceful decisiveness, and he her focus, determination, and discipline.

With Wyll, once things come out about Mizora, there is definitely an uncomfortable familiarity for him, and it makes him determined to help Wyll escape the contract however he can.

I feel that Pyre feels much older than the rest of the party, save Astarion and Halsin, and it's sort of given him a reluctant dad vibe 😩 Well, he acts gruff and reluctant, but I think deep down he enjoys having this sort of close bond with them all. He's been alone for so long...

As for non-party members? He and Zevlor get along fairly well, even though I feel like it doesn't seem that way to most who see it. I can definitely see some history between the two of them, and I think they interact exactly how you'd expect two gruff old men to interact.

NOW FOR MOSS

With Moss, I think the rest of the party wind up very protective of him. He's so open and earnest, and also just... doesn't understand a lot of the intricacies of the world around him. He's very clearly completely lost, with no memories to speak of, not even a name at first. Still, he's determined to survive same as they are, and he becomes... terrifyingly loyal to them, very quickly.

They have to help him a lot with just becoming a functional person? And tbh I feel like some of them take that duty VERY seriously. Gale for sure. Especially bc Moss will happily listen to him explain magic things for hours on end just staring at him like 🥺. He and Shadowheart bond over that shared amnesiac trauma, and also later on the fun Abusive Parent situations. Lae'zel admires his power and brutality when it's necessary, and his struggle to resist that brutality when it isn't. Wyll just admires how honest he is about what he is and what he's feeling, and how empathetic he is when he has absolutely no reason to be.

Karlach has decided she's his big sister, even if he is A Good Bit Bigger Than Her. She cannot wait until it is safe to put him in an affectionate headlock and give him a noogie 😩

Halsin takes on a mentor role as a fellow druid because there's a lot about being one that Moss, oddly enough, doesn't really understand? Moss respects him enormously.

At the end of the day, Moss would tear out the entrails of any who dared hurt any of his friends and eat them bloody (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

[darkfeanix]

For Erino: 3. Did your Tav receive any formal or informal education? If yes, how well did they learn? If no, why not? And 20. What is your Tav’s greatest regret? AND, this is technically not on the list, but I'm curious - what did Erino encourage Shadowheart to choose when faced with her freedom or her parent's freedom?

3. Did your Tav receive any formal or informal education? If yes, how well did they learn? If no, why not?

Erino's education was very informal; the big stuff like maths and his letters, he learned from his father. The bigger stuff, like being a ranger, he learned out in wilderness through trial and error with his good friend, Klarrvox (linking to a reddit post because apparently he is not a big enough character to warrant a wiki page).

20. What is your Tav’s greatest regret?

Thinking on this, I'm not sure Erino has any major regrets in his life. If we're going for a very broad definition of "regret", then I would say he regrets never having the chance to get to know his birth parents. He idolises the memory of his mother, and a part of him resents his father for prioritising his missing mother over him. In both cases, I'd say his feelings are tangled up in some regret.

Bonus: What did Erino encourage Shadowheart to choose when faced with her freedom or her parent's freedom?

After tracking down and watching a clip of that scene, I believe the dialogue option I chose was: "Talk to your mother and father. See what they wish."

To provide some context, though, his priority in that moment was very much Shadowheart's wellbeing. If her parents had been begging for her to save their lives, at the cost of her suffering Shar's "parting gift" for the rest of her life, then he would have had a much harder time offering any helpful advice. He'll be looking back on his choice of words and overanalysing them a lot over the next few months, wondering if he was encouraging her to make that choice to help her, or for more selfish reasons.

Generally speaking, Erino tries to let his friends and allies make their own choices, or at least to encourage them to make not-bad choices (friends don't let friends sacrifice 7000 souls in a profane diabolic ritual), but with Shadowheart he very quickly develops a bit of a blind spot. He actively talked her down from killing the Nightsong (*coughs*after the player savescummed a couple of times*coughs), even though he had been largely indifferent to her worship of Shar before that moment, because the Nightsong's words struck a chord and he worried that Shadowheart was going to cross a line she couldn't come back from. And then when it came to the choice between her freedom, or her parents being free while she suffered, well, from his perspective it wasn't even a choice. Of course, he wasn't going to straight up say that to Shadowheart, but yeah.

It's so easy to forget but they've actually only known each other for a about a month at that point. They fell fast and hard for each other, and never really took the time to develop the most healthy emotional boundaries. That's something that I'd very much like to explore more with them in a post-Absolute Crisis story, at some point in the future.