#but I think I’m gonna go back to bg3 and finally finish it too

[etdraconis]

( ok but now that I’ve beaten the game I’m like… almost numb lmao. it’s weird that it’s over somehow?? like I spent almost 70+ hrs on this and it doesn’t feel like enough I want more. Guess it’s time to replay the whole series I suppose 😔 )

[sxddekarios]

a very wholesome magic lesson

i am back with a bg3 rebranding!! this is the first fic i've ever wrote, and it's my take on Gale's act 1 romance scene at the tiefling party. Him and Tav are both oblivious to the others' feelings. read on ao3 or here!

2.2k words (of fluff)

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“I think it’s best in my condition if I don’t get too excited,” Gale reminds himself.

“Well, who said anything about excitement? Surely you’re not *that* keen on a little magic trick. I’ve seen you do plenty of other magic.” Tav responds with her signature furrowed brows.

“It’s not … the magic, per-say. More what comes with it. Though perhaps I’ve had too much wine for this conversation.” Gale attempts to stop him self, as he usually does when he’s bitten off a bit too much to chew in the flirting department.

“For what conversation? I just want to learn some more magic. There’s no way I can go enjoy our celebration, and sleep, after this cliffhanger…” Tav trails off, trying to bait him into explaining without having to fish too directly (or embarrassingly) for it.

Gale raises an eyebrow at Tav, knowing that he’s never been able to turn down an ask of hers before. He got into this mess with the orb by being a pleaser, after all. “Have a glass of wine and I’ll see if I can handle making this much of an ass of myself” Gale sighs.

Tav grabs his glass of wine and takes a tentative sip. She makes a face, disgusted by the tartness. Luckily, she manages to swallow the offending liquid. “This is all you’re getting from me, I’m afraid. Unless you can magic this into something bearable, or you’re hiding some other vices somewhere in that tent of yours, you’re gonna have to deal with talking to a sober person right now.”

Gale looks at her in mock astonishment — “Have you no taste? Have you never drank wine before? This is a *delectable* indulgence that clearly you have not been educated on. Or, perhaps, you lack the sophistication that i’ve grown terribly used to in Waterdeep.”

Tav grimaces while preparing herself for her next attempt to shut Gale up …. at least telling him how he *should* shut up, that is. Letting out a deep breath, she grabs hold of Gale’s glass and chugs it. As much as she can anyways, which still takes an eternity too long to ensure she doesn’t choke. “It’s still horrendous. But we’re even now. Spill, before I do.”

Gale glances at the empty glass in disappointment, but holds onto it. He steels himself for his next words while keeping his eyes downward. “If you must know, I speak of … physical excitement. I can handle magic, but my heart may not be able to handle … more carnal conditions of the flesh. With the orb, I risk exploding with any activity, or *feeling*, that gets my heart beating too fast, my blood pressure too high,” Gale explains.

Tav raises an eyebrow in response. “Like, you’re gonna explode as in ….” she trails off again, hoping he’ll take the hint. She knows he must be referring to the catastrophic Netherese blast they had spoken of before, but she couldn’t help herself from teasing him about the double entendre.

The blush taking over Gale’s face and neck came on far too suddenly for him to blame it on the wine. “No! Gods no, not like that! The magic in the orb will destroy me and everything around me,” Gale exclaims. Much to his avail, Tav still doesn’t stop her line of questioning.

Crossing her arms, Tav decides to enjoy the flustered nature of a blushing, tipsy Gale. “Okay, but you’re still saying you’d explode …. literally …. because you’d explode …. sexually. You said you wanted to show me a *magic* trick, not fuck my brains out.”

She pauses for a second when he lets out an indignant gasp at her directness. “Unless I’m mistaken on what a magic trick is, in which case I think you should’ve lead with that,” Tav finished with a smirk, finally meeting his eyes. She can feel the exasperation exuding from the wizard, and she loves every second of it.

Gale has no choice but to shake his head in lack of a coherent response to Tav’s brazen words. “I suppose you’ve got me there. I can show you some magic, no nefarious subterfuge. And no explosions of any kind, mortal *or* magical,” he emphasized.

Tav worries at her lip for show. “You really won’t blow up, right? Or you’ll at least warn me if you feel too much … *excitement*, stirring? We can’t leave scratch an orphan.” She thinks of mentioning the chaos that Astarion would unleash without them to reel him in, but she didn’t want to darken the mood too much.

Gale smiles at her words and lets out a little laugh as he promises that they’ll be safe. He holds out his hand, palm up, for her to take. Tav takes a hard look at his fingers for a moment, trying to commit their beauty to memory, before gently laying her hand atop his and intertwining their fingers to be led farther out of the camp. Once they reach a more quiet spot a few minutes later, Gale stops, forfeiting her warm hand to turn to her.

“This will do. Now, I want to show you the true embrace of the Weave. It’s a full-body experience to wield the Weave and feel its support of your magic,” Gale says with a smile on his face and wonder in his eyes. Tav categorizes this as his professor face, imagining him introducing lessons to his students with this pure enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, she’s more comfortable bickering with Gale than sharing that heart-warming thought with him. “You know i’m a sorcerer, right? I’ve been using the Weave my whole life. Unlike *some* people,” she pointedly includes to rile up the wizard.

“Of course. You’ve received the gift through your ancestor’s carnal relations with some dragon, while ‘some’ of us have *worked* for it,” Gale smiled, letting her know that he was joining her sarcasm in jest. “Nonetheless, there’s a very different feeling to using the Weave that comes with the years of study a wizard has. *That* is what I wanted to show you. I know you can call on the Weave as second nature, and you do a wonderful job with it, but I want you to experience the pleasure of embracing the environment, carefully going over the incantation and hand gestures, and using this to manipulate the Weave to bring your spell into reality.”

Tav felt her heart rate sky rocket with Gale’s praise for her sorcery. She wondered if the feeling he spoke of was really common to all wizards, or if he had a deeper connection as Mystra’s former lover … or victim, if you ask her. Still, she tried to focus on the positive.

“Ah, so you took me here to teach me slow careful pleasure,” Tav teased. “Get on with it then,” she encouraged with a wave of her hand.

Gale laughed in response, a deep sound that flooded Tav’s head with a light feeling, and took over her lips with a full grin.

“As you wish,” Gale bowed his head towards Tav, and proceeded with his magic lesson.

—

After an hour of teaching Tav how to connect with the Weave in this almost spiritual manner, Gale smiled at her once again. “I know you’re genuinely a natural at magic, but you did a wonderful job with this. It’s hard for someone to harness this connection without the education of a wizard.”

Tav smiles back at Gale and considers herself. “Or, maybe you’re just a good teacher.” As sure of herself as she was in magic, she was more sure of Gale’s ability to educate others. From his admirable desire to help others to his enthusiasm for knowledge … to the voice, face, and *hands* that made it impossible to zone out on him. He didn’t need to know that last part, though.

Gale chuckles at her praise, a light blush spreading across his face. “That too. How are you feeling now?” He asks, hoping his little magic lesson has been half as joyful for her as it has been for him. He felt relaxed, renewed, grounded, and more connected to her than he had ever felt. Although, that last part may be because he’s still standing so close to her, holding her hand as he needed to guide her through the more intricate parts of spell casting.

Tav allows herself to stare into Gale’s glimmering brown eyes, feeling a psychic connection between them where her thoughts could become his without the need to be verbalized.

After a lifetime of men being upset at her, accusing her of expecting them to read her mind, here is a man who can simply do so. Of *course* it’s Gale. Tav feels her eyes well up as she revels in the intense hope, adoration, and yearning she feels for him. Gazing into Gale’s eyes, their hands still intertwined, she imagines what it would be like to press onto her tiptoes and softly kiss him.

Gale’s eyes widen with shock as the thought dances into his mind. “I - I didn’t think -” he stutters, “I wasn’t … expecting that. Not that it’s unwelcome — it was a most pleasant thought,” Gale adds in hopes that Tav doesn’t take his surprise as disinterest, or even disgust. “It just took me by surprise,” he reiterates.

Tav takes a moment to compose herself before exhaling a shaky “okay.” Then, she whips her head around as she smells bergamot wafting in from the distance. Gale follows her gaze until they both see Astarion stumbling into the clearing … closely connected to Shadowheart.

“Well, looks like we’ve got company,” Gale tries (and fails) to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “We might want to get back to camp before we have to witness whatever is going to happen here.”

Tav slowly turns back to gale, smiling as she notices his stony stare at the oblivious couple. “As long as we’re not able to hear them from camp…”

“Oh gods, I don’t even want to think of that,” Gale grimaced. “Why don’t we head back, and if we hear anything, you could come sleep in my tent?” He quickly adds,” I have a silencing ward. I’d cast one on them before we leave, but I’m afraid my concentration won’t last once I fall asleep, and I know how fitful your rest is.”

Astonishment, anger, and amusement fight for dominance over Tav. She conveys a mix of them with her slack-jawed expression. “You had a *silencing ward* on your tent this whole time? And you didn’t *tell me*?” She kept her outrage playful, although she was disappointed that he hadn’t shared this with her earlier.

“I’m sorry,” gale said in earnest as he took her hand and started leading her back towards camp. They left a wide berth for Astarion and Shadowheart to continue ripping each other’s clothes off.

“I started working on a ranged ward for your tent after I earned of your insomnia, but I never quite got it to stick. I didn’t want you to think I was coming onto you by offering a place in my tent to get some good rest. I don’t expect anything, and I could even sleep outside of it if you’re more comfortable with that.” He felt a bit less forward with the offer now that he knew she thought of kissing him — at least in that moment. Still, he never wanted her to feel pressure.

She gazed up at Gale as they reached their camp. “Really?” she asked, unsure if someone could genuinely be so kind. Last time she had an offer like that …. well, they lied about expecting nothing.

Gale squeezed Tav’s hand in reassurance as he took in the concern in her voice. “Of course. I’m sure our adventure would benefit from a well-rested leader… do you want my tent alone, or …” he trailed off, his bashfulness returning.

“No!” tav exclaimed. “I’m not taking your tent from you! We can share it, if you’re okay with that?” She hurries along in an attempt to be thoughtful and nonchalant at the same time, “whatever you want. Sleeping on opposite sides, together … I’m fine with either. Well, by together I mean … you know what I mean,” she shook her head as she tried to explain herself.

Then she remembered their little joke and smirked, “no undue *excitement* is what I mean.”

Gale returned her smirk with a laugh, “Right, always looking out for me. It’s lady’s choice though, and i’m happy with either as well. But I will say, I know you run warm. I also know that I can use a frost enchantment to keep you cool so long as we’re touching.” This was his masterful attempt at sweetening the deal without pressuring her by saying how much he longed to hold her in his arms … and damn him if it wasn’t going to work.

“Gods, you’ve really been holding out on me, haven’t you?” Tav admonished. “I’ll just, get some of my stuff, and then I’ll join you. I’ll bring my blanket so I hopefully won’t steal yours, but I make no promises.”

He smiled as he met her serious gaze at the threat of stealing his blanket. “Two is always better. I’ll see you when you’re ready,” Gale said softly, watching her head back to her tent. He silently thanked her for wanting another blanket, giving him a moment alone to bask in the excitement of a night with her. And calm down this excitement before she returns so he doesn’t scare her off.

[bareee]

I want to ask every question about Mark but for now we'll go with 8: Who are they suspicious of? 14: What hobbies does your Tav have? 18: What would your Tav be doing if they weren't kidnapped on the Nautiloid?

Finally time to get to do this, ho boy ya makin me work already geessss

Bein a paranoid person in this game was a fun Time s all imma say bout this one…

I had to go back to his Dnd sheet to make sure I remembered right, but yea, hes got a few and all are way more delicate then you’d think. His carvin and herbs came from family and the glass blowin came when one of the kids from the previous team wanted to make a potion shop and asked Mark to help, Mark makes the bottles for it. Don’t know if they’d all count as ‘Hobbies’ but it’s what I remembered.

Mark was a part of the only campaign I was a player in that was actually set in Faerun, So I knew exactly where he was actually cause it was also the only Module game I’ve played too where it was The Mad Mage he was dragged into. It has a canon time with bg3 that also has canon time so he finished the Mage tower close to 2 years before bg3 starts meanin a lvl 20 champion tryin to retire pretty much with a buncha kids that refused to let him die when he felt he wasn’t needed. S probably a lot the brats would have tried draggin him through to fix some things he has goin on after the mage thing, but I aint gonna speak for em so I’m leavin it where they just lived more calmly with what they already had after they were done. And yes, the kids are freakin da fuck out with Dad bein yoinked. He’s a dad to many…

THERE, HA done. *goes and dies in pillow fort now*

[thecloudstan]

I know you said you're gonna get through Baldur's Gate first before going back to Rebirth, I'm definitely itching to see you get back to it and hear your thoughts once you get into it, especially since you were so close to the part with Dyne, if I recall? Anyway, good luck with everything, and I hope this week won't drive you insane. Fingers crossed!

Yes, I left off in Corel Prison!

I’m anxious to get back to it, too, not that I haven’t been enjoying BG3 and all its intricacies. That said, I’ve still got quite a few things I want to accomplish in Act 3 before I hit the final battle and call it a day. I do think I’ll be going back to Rebirth pretty much right away, like I don’t plan to immediately start up another campaign (I will eventually but it won’t eat me alive like this one has).

Actually, the couple months of distance from Rebirth has made me forget a lot of the details that I spoiled by watching my husband play through it first, so I’m kinda happy to go back to it with gaps in my memory of the story. I think what’s enraptured me about BG3 is the 100% newness for me, I’ve never played any BG prior and I don’t play DnD (more my husband’s jam than mine), so it was a completely new experience from the bottom up.

Of course I love FF7 and the Remake universe, it’s just quite familiar so it didn’t smack me in the face the same way BG3 (cough**Astarion**cough) did!

I will slather your dash with my Rebirth thots when I return, nonnie, rest assured. I had to slow down a bit on gaming after the entire month of August disappeared into Faerun…but I’m hoping to finish by October because that is going to be an extremely busy month, personally. Weddings, baby showers, travel…a lot.

Please hang in there!! I’m sorry 😭

[hismercytomyjustice]

Y'all, I am about to throw hands with Volo.

I spent...way too much time googling locations in Waterdeep and finally broke down and bought Volo's Waterdeep Enchiridion for the sake of my sanity.

Surely the "Visitor's Guide to the City of Splendors" would include helpful info like a list of taverns.

Surely.

NOPE. IT MOST CERTAINLY DOES NOT.

Yeah, it hints at a few and don't get me wrong, I'm hype to see the other info about Waterdeep because of two future chapters I wanna write that are gonna be set there.

BUT. I am sorely tempted to stop writing and go kick his ass in BG3 out of spite.

Alas, I must exercise self-control, BUT HE'S IN MY CAMP IN GAME AND HE BETTER HOPE I FORGIVE HIM BEFORE I LOG BACK IN.

Sidenote, I'm on my actual laptop instead of doing EVERYTHING ON MY PHONE LIKE A PSYCHOPATH and god it's so much easier and faster. I wrote that whole ass 8k Hazbin fic on my phone. I've written and edited a significant portion of THIS fic on my phone. All because it creates less hurdles for my executive function and helps trick my brain into accepting my writing doesn't have to be perfect (*gasp*) because phone writing is fake writing (don't tell my brain otherwise).

The most consistently I ever wrote in my life was when I worked as a bank teller and had a little notebook I'd whip out between customers. Having Google Docs on my phone is pretty damn close to that. I can be in the doc and typing happily away before my brain derails me with OCD spirals like "this is terrible, you should give up" or "why do you think anyone would ever want to read something like this" or "you're never going to finish this."

I spent literal YEARS convinced I was never going to write again because of said OCD spirals (definitely didn't realize that recently *borderline hysterical laughter*) and executive dysfunction. I cannot tell you how fucking nice it is to finally be writing regularly again and to have been at it for months now. I didn't think this would ever happen again. It makes me a little emotional.

But yeah, Volo your days are fucking numbered you Shakespeare-lookin'-ass-bitch.

(No ill will intended to the folks who actually wrote the book. I’m just being a deranged silly goose.)

[sol-consort]

God that vibration in a Turians voice is what made me realize that “oh Garrus IS hot” in Mass Effect 2 because I liked him in 1 but didn’t think he was hot yet. I must’ve been too focused on trying not to romance someone in 1 which I almost failed at. Also I know that people have already said this out of the blue but I do hope you’re okay, you’re a cool dude who makes dope stuff even if I don’t comment which I should and pretty much the reason I’m still somewhat active on tumblr now

I feel out of the loop because I am desperately trying to find ME2 Garrus hot but something about how dismissive and distant he is puts me off. No like I tottally get it you've been through a lot BUT I WAS DEAD.

I LITERALLY WAS DEAD FOR 2 YEARS AND ALL HE HAS TO SAY "oh Shepard it's you." FUCK YOU MAN I WAS GOING IN FOR A HUG.

I haven't done his loyalty mission yet so maybe he will warm up on me eventually. Idk no strong opinions on romance so far except for the theif girl but she already has someone so I am fucked.

I was fully planning on cheating on Kaidan here.

I imported my ME1 save and the game currently has me flagged in Kaidan's romance because his picture is in my bedroom. It's supposed to turn down when I cheat on him and he will confront me about it in ME3

But now. I can't find anyone fuckable. Even Garrus who I was down bad for because of the stars in his eyes literally became batman 2.0 and is blasting my chemical romance from the back of the ship but no one wants to confront him about it and instead hope the phase ends soon.

Jacob is. Jacob lacks rizz. Jacob makes me feel like I'm sexually harrassing him because of how uncomfortable he seems whenever I pick a romance option. I actually had to google if he was romance-able just to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.

Who's left huh????? Who's dick I supposed to suck in order to get my shepard a malewife??

There is Liara. Liara is always fucking there standing in the corner. Ruining my Kaidan romance and tricking me into her romance like some kind of fae.

I hope the Garrus fever infects me soon too because it looks like I will end up staying loyal to Kaidan against my will. That man probably spent the two years after Shepard's death to make sure all men in the galaxy are unfuckable and all hot women are straight, just on the off chance Shepard comes back to life and tries to get some.

I mean he isn't wrong, Shepard flirted with him while on the job and while being his captain, he knows his commander will flirt with their co-works without any shame so why even take the risk?

God I miss Ashley.

On other news, I keep meeting Turians I want to fuck. Who are not an option to fuck. It's a twisted irony of fate because I keep refusing Garrus.

Also I'm starting to regret the fact I made Anderson the council. He seems really sad, but man it felt great watching Udina get told to fuck off.

Is he happier if he doesn't become the council? What choice did you make? Does he become something else then or do we even get to meet him?

And it is funny how all of this is your fault. I wouldn't have installed Mass effect or gave it a chance wasn't it for you ask a long while back. I would've let it rot in my library for a year then finally gave it a chance.

You stole my bg3 obsession and replaced it with mass effect! How dare you! I am very thankful you introduced me to this because I never realised how fun fps can be. I even bought another fps on sale today, called hellsinger.

But it is really freaky how much such a small thing like sending an ask detoured my life so much and changed my interests. It's a whole new side I wasn't even aware of its existence.

Thank you, genuinely. But I have learned my lesson and won't fall to your tricks twice. I'm not even gonna search up that other game you recommend until after I finish mass effect. Just in case it turns out to be jaw dropping too.

But the director ME2 took in gameplay isn't my favourite. I'm too squishy and the enemies are too squishy now. I can't be a cool sniper jumping from place to place and headshoting enemies. Now I have to hide behind fucked up barriers and wait for the enemy to reload or use my invisibility then I go in for the snipe.

The weapon feels more limited too, I get that they made them more unique but I prefer having the stats menu more. I only have two snipers so far and I hate both of them but I'm forced to use one because there are so little options.

It feels more resident evil-ish? Or maybe because I'm on veteran difficulty? I tried lowering it but it doesn't fix the issue.

My problem isn't that the enemies are dying too fast my problem is that I am dying too fast. I hate the new points system and level up too, I miss the more detailed one in ME1. I also loath the hacking minigames in here.

The dialogue and animations improved a lot tho, the missions diversity too! The heist one was such a blast I felt like I was in a movie. It was so cheesy and cliche in a very endearing way oh my god.

I like my Shepard but I miss their face scar. Why did they remove that option? I had it in like a cool reminder of the blitz or something.

Also if you pick earthborn you get these two wholesome newsrports

And this one for War hero

They made me smile. But also wtf people are having WEDDINGS on MY memorial??? GET OFF MY STATUE.

I also wished that people would've had a bigger reaction to us showing up alive, yk? Not even a hug so far. Even Anderson :(

But yeah that's all for now.

And I appreciate it dude, checking up on me. You're cool too. And about the comments, I can't exactly force you to do it, I can't force anyone, it's just a choice they make everyday.

But I am curious because I never thought you were one of my readers. You don't leave likes on my writing posts, and you have only sent one or two requests so long ago. You do like my writing advice and opinions sometimes. Is that why you follow me? Because I'm funny ofc.

But nah don't tell me. I don't wanna know, it will ruin the mystery. I pay attention to the posts each person who frequents here likes, and I get a general idea of their preference. Sometimes, I can predict which posts will be liked by who and which will be ignored by others. It's a fun minigame. Humans love patterns.

But yeah. I don't want random comments on stories or fics you haven't read or finished. I want them from the people who read and liked the story. I want to hear their opinion I want to know what they thought. But if you are dinning and dashing then...again I can't force to do anything. It just makes me sad really.

I like talking, but not about myself or feelings. I am the way I am, flaws and all and I don't have to explain it. This cycle will repeat, I might give up tomorrow, I might not, I can't predict the future. One day my thread will eventually snap.

But not today, I'm still working on fics, I am still posting. I'm not giving up yet.

And I hope this inspires you in any way since you're back to writing, I hope that you don't give up too no matter how scary quiet it gets. I hope you're more resilient than me. I hope you love what you write because it is very deserving of love.

[motheatenscarf]

Apparently sometime between when I last played after they released like... patch 3 I think, like almost 2 years ago, and this most recent patch 8, they released a whole new area, the Grymforge, which I hadn’t played through before! I’ll post my thoughts on that another time, this is an overview tho, because now that I’ve gotten past Grymforge, I’ve apparently completed early access again. For the ... 3rd time.

Oof. 

BG3. Love this game. Would love to finish it some day.

BUT UNTIL THEN!

The good news is, it’s looking a LOT more polished now! And my god EVERYTHING is so beautiful. There’s honestly too many things to count and be thorough about but I’ve liked almost every change. Could do without the weird bugs regarding camping in different locations, but apparently those were new with this patch, so they’ll probably fix those soon.

They’ve also added in a lot of new cutscenes or added them where the narrator would just describe visions (now they actually SHOW you those visions!) and have changed a lot of character models around and my GOD! All the changes are so good! Gale looks less boring and generic now, my fluffy boy Scratch is a beautiful long haired pup instead of the short hair lab-lookin dog he was (labs are good, and short hair dogs are perfect, i just personally have always loved long haired dogs and cats even if they’re a nightmare to keep groomed), Karlach looks AMAZING, holy shit, and my god the MYCONIDS! I took TOO many screenshots of everything, but god, the Myconid Sovereign is too beautiful not to show you;

Like, look, I don’t really think “pretty privilege” is a thing (and I say that as someone NOT pretty, like, i’ve seen beauty paint a target on too many people to call it fucking “privilege” like do you people know how bitter and weird you sound when you call it that, you sound like those incel creeps who say women “have it easier” because they get free drinks, ignoring the fact that it’s fucking rape culture that incentivizes bars to do this, GOD, sorry, i made myself angry) but the actual thought that popped through my head when the option to betray the sovereign so another asshole could take over was, “UH, no thank you, you’re way less interesting to look at,” so I guess even mushrooms aren’t exempt from it.

The cutscenes are still kinda janky in a couple places but not many, it’s looking more and more ready. Granted, that’s just what we already have, and it’s been... almost 2 years, lol, but I’m still optimistic about it. Mostly because I’m deliberately not replaying it a lot. Much as I want to provide feedback for them to help make the game better, I don’t want to get burnt out on this game before the final release.

I know I could just make different choices, but like, the problem with games like this is there are really 2 paths you can walk. You can be good or you can be evil. That’s just a staple of the genre without much nuance going into the nature of good and evil in fantasy genres like this. DND is pretty much black and white. For all that they have their “neutral” perspective in the alignment categories, neutral rarely pops up in conflicts. And I’m never going to be able to make an evil playthrough, I’m just gonna be different flavors of “good-ish” characters. Aashi is about as morally gray or neutral as I’m ever gonna go and she still does good she just wants to get paid for her efforts and doesn’t volunteer until shit gets too messy to ignore.

So yeah. I really enjoyed patch 8! I miiiiight make another playthrough as Aashi again just to check out the new content I missed before, but man, I gotta be honest, I REALLY love bard in this game. I love my dumb ranger, but Goblin Squad is pseudo-back for now, so I’m getting my Aashi time out of my system in the way she was intended. Rose is the character I’m missing the most now, so I think she’s the new protagonist for me for now. I’m sad because god, Aashi was a fucking disaster, it was amazing, everything is too EASY on Rose, that high charisma takes her far and makes her TOO POWERFUL, she avoided almost every fight and talked people into and out of crazy shit.

[coldshrugs]

20 First Lines Meme!

No one tagged me but I saw @cassandra-pentughasst and @red-hot-chili-tiefling do this and it looked fun so I’m pretending I was tagged.

The challenge is to list the first lines of your 20 latest fanfics.

Since I mostly write short fic, my first lines work overtime in establishing setting or mood, imo.

I’ll tag @apostatetabris @lavampira @impossible-rat-babies if y’all feel like it 💗

Untitled UB Goes Camping Fic that I just started today

"Did we bring a map?" "Yep." "Compass?" "It's with the map." "Tents? Sleeping bags?" "Yes." "What about swimsuits?"

WIP that I may never finish of Mason doing some roof pining

Mason tried not to smoke this week. He really did.

Prompt fill: Alone, Finally

The walk from the station to Alma's apartment is an unusually talkative one considering her partner in conversation is Mason, and there's a rush to their steps that she's not sure which of them initiated. It doesn't really matter.

Prompt fill: Sea Change

Alma sits alone on the dock of the lake, and for once- for just a moment- she’s well and truly alone.

Prompt fill: Harsh Whisper

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Aeran asks from Ephyra’s side, the words coming out so quietly she almost thinks she imagined them and starts to get annoyed with herself over them. “There’s an exit on the west side of the building if you can’t get back through this way and I’ll be-”

Negative Phototaxis | Alma Greene/Mason | 625 words

He wouldn’t even look at me. Alma sighs under the weight of her conflicted heart and grabs the fresh pot of coffee to refill her cup.

Prompt fill: Something About [Her]

Ephyra’s heard the story so many times she’s bored with it: during her first week of life, her mother attempted to soothe her crying with a hand gently warmed by magic and the spell broke upon her skin.

Prompt fill

Life at sea isn’t so bad, Effie thinks as she leans against the railing of the main deck, relishing the fine, salty mist in her face. As long as she doesn’t have to walk too far, and when she’s not receiving glares from the crew for stumbling into their work formations. ...And now that her wounds are healed enough for the bumps into the walls and rails to only kind of, sort of sting.

Prompt fill: How Dare You?

“Are you gonna finish that?” Aeran eyes Effie’s last roll. They’re tucked into one of the quieter corners of the Spire’s dining hall, having lunch before they split for training.

Prompt fill

The rural farming community of Gralle is a fucking mess. The formerly well-worn dirt paths are ripped up as if some wayward farmer started sleepwalking while tilling the fields; milk jugs are overturned, leaving rancid clots in the door of one of the barns; a brood of hens and their chicks lay dead outside their hutch, bodies a little mangled but uneaten.

WIP of the BG3 crew

“If I never see a goblin again, it’ll be too fucking soon.” Ulysse groaned as they made for the ruin’s exit on weary legs.

Blood, entrails, and pungent homebrew squelched underfoot, already taking on the stench of rot in the hot afternoon sun. The party couldn’t bother with being disgusted - they were already covered in the stuff. 

Prompt fill: A Kiss on the Temple

Julian Devorak is going to die.

Cleo knows this.

Boats and Birds | Cleo Espree/Julian Devorak | 1.7k words

Cleo's eyes blink open to a thick canopy of tropical-looking leaves, shimmering pink-gold light winking through here and there. The air is thick with magic, but there's no real hostility here.

Prompt fill: Drastic/How Dare You?

Cleo came to the market for vegetables, milk, and, if she's lucky, that delicious spice mix from Firent that elevated her stews from "pretty good" to "Cleo, what is this recipe?" She did not come to the market to run into Julian Devorak yet again, but that seems to be a hobby for her lately.

Prompt fill: Crave

Pixies make for decent company, to be sure, but like the rest of the fae folk, they adhere to stiff archetypes. Conversation, though entertaining at times, is predictable but it's all Urianger manages these days since his friends are busy or... reasonably displeased with him.

Prompt fill: Sunbathing

Astarion smiles more in the daylight, Ulysse notices, marble-white skin creasing into lines around his mouth.

Starving | Ulysse/Astarion | 800 words

“You didn’t do it,” Ulysse whispered, fingers combing through recently-mussed curls. Astarion lay on her chest, a novel experience but not an unwelcome one.

Saccharine | Ulysse/Astarion | 250 words

“If you promise not to kill me,” she pulled back with a smirk, hips pressing into his, “you may drink from my neck. I know you want to.”

If his heart still beat, it would’ve skipped at the invitation.

Wayfarer WIP that’s not been entirely posted to tumblr

The tavern is crowded for such a small town, as if every person in a ten-mile radius of this backwater decided they craved cheap ale and the sound of the off-key bard in the corner.

WIP in which Julian moves in with Cleo

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can-" Julian pauses to reposition the precarious stack of boxes in his grip, "I can make other arrangements. Mazelinka really doesn't mind having me around, no matter what she says. Or I'm sure Pasha could make space. And I do have my own place back in South End, you know!"

"Mm, is that so? The landlord just let you skip out on rent for three years?"

[hismercytomyjustice]

Jesus Christ writing dance scenes is fucking HARD. I’m pretty happy with how they’re turning out but SWEET WOUNDED JESUS I am not a dancer and I know fuck all about it.

…god the amount of fucking research I have yet again done for a crack fic…

I say this like I should even be remotely surprised at this point. That train left the fucking station so fast it’s like it was never even in it.

Fucking hours and hours and hours of research.

And the worst part? I HAVE LOVED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT.

One of the things I love most about researching (aside from having an excuse to seek out and hoard absolutely fucking pointless information) is that it always gives me so many fucking ideas that I then get to try to weave in.

I will be SO SAD when the research for this fic comes to an end. It has been SUCH A JOY.

That is until I fucking start on the even crack-ier part three.

Because I’ve already decided I’m writing more shit that is WILDLY self-indulgent and ~nobody~ can fucking stop me!!!! Write the stupid crack you wanna see in the world amirite?

Fuck I have the absolute STUPIDEST idea for a plot and scene for part three and that alone is driving me to keep going. I just need to finish part two so I can be FREE. I am SO CLOSE to being finished. I really hope I finally finish it tomorrow.

Honestly idk what people are gonna think of it. It’s my first attempt at writing from Alastor’s POV and I’m also doing some shit I’ve never done before that idk how people will respond to it. BUT NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED. And I’m so proud of it and tbh that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

…I still also gotta finish writing my BG3 fic to…BUT I have a few weeks of buffer on that so…. I’m feeling the urge to throw some more words down on it too, so hopefully I’ll be able to wrap it up soon. It is so fucking close to being done. Maybe another 15k-20k words. I can knock that out pretty quick if I get in the zone. And I already have it planned out. Jesus Christ is it gonna wind up being 100k??? SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM MYSELF.

Fucking hell it has hit 90 subs tho and that is such a wild fucking number and it just blows me the fuck away. Like 90 people like this fic enough to want updates as it comes out?! FUCKING FOR REAL?! There are N I N E T Y people out there who were like “ooh yeah I wanna keep reading this” and it’s something I wrote (?!) and if I think about it too much I get a little panicky but I am also so fucking grateful and humbled that my silly story has pulled in so many people and I feel so fucking #blessed about it all.

(ಥ﹏ಥ) I keep half expecting to check my stats and see everyone has come to their senses and unsubscribed, but it hasn’t happened yet and the number keeps going up and omg omg omg!!! It is UNREAL and SO FUCKING AMAZING!

God I still cannot believe how much fucking fun I’m having writing again after becoming pretty much convinced I might never be able to feel that way again. I was so scared that spark in me had finally fucking died or something and I was so depressed about it. BUT IT DIDN’T! It feels like a fucking dream. I love it so much. I have wanted to feel this way again about writing for so fucking long and it’s finally back and I’m terrified I’ll lose the excitement again but I’m really hoping I can stave off my OCD and keep going. I really don’t want to lose it again. I just want to keep writing and enjoying it whether it’s fanfic or original stuff or otherwise.

GOD I FUCKING MISSED WRITING SO FUCKING MUCH.

I know I am being WILDLY fucking obnoxious and annoying about it and my OCD keeps telling me to SHUT THE FUCK UP about it because I am probably driving people nuts, making everyone on the face of the planet hate me, etc etc etc. But that’s why I gush so much on here about it because I figure no one has to fucking read this shit unless they for some unknown reason actually would want to and people can mute and unfollow and block me if they are at their wits end but I hope putting most of my unhinged ramblings under cuts makes it so I’m only like 50% ridiculously obnoxious instead of 100% but who fucking knows. I would not blame a soul for getting sick of seeing my username popping up on their dash when I am in a hardcore rambling or reblogging mood.

I am just so fucking incandescently happy about it all and I am trying SO HARD not to drive the people in my life insane by talking about how excited I am to be writing again nonstop so I’m just talking to myself nonstop on here instead and just letting myself fucking enjoy the process and the excitement I have around it all. And god I KNOW I AM BEING SO FUCKING OBNOXIOUS despite everything but my therapist has also been encouraging me to just feel my feelings without judgment so… FEELINGS. They are being felt! Hopefully only 50% obnoxiously for any innocent bystanders.

Idk why it is so much easier to journal regularly on tumblr than on Penzu or elsewhere but it is and it’s working for me and if it makes everyone on the face of the planet block my annoying ass, so be it. I already spend too much of my fucking life second guessing every single thing I say or do and I’m gonna take my cringe wins where I fucking can. And I feel less self-conscious and annoying yelling into the void of tumblr, SO HERE WE ARE.

Fffffuck you OCD! (ง •̀_•́)ง I will also take my little mental illness wins where I fucking can, goddammit!!! And idk why venting about it on tumblr helps so much but it fucking does so. VENT I SHALL.