#durge x ascended astarion

[spookieloop]

Fighting for my LIFE to not write a fic where Durge and Ascended Astarion approach Enver Gortash to join their world domination polycule.

[molgars]

Snippet Sun Mon Tuesday

tagged by @lyzelky and showing up a day late and a buck short :)

here's a sneak peak of a duergar durge/ascended astarion i am working on, tentatively titled "burn the earth & salt the ashes" <3

Were she only thinking about herself, she knows there would be no point in her staying with him. There is nothing left to do here, no more work that can possibly be done. All that remains for Mint and Astarion is to consecrate the ashes of what might’ve been, had she encouraged him to make a different choice.  However, he may not be the man she used to love anymore, but he is still the man that she loves. And that means something to her, even now. So Mint stays. Technically, she supposes she doesn’t have a choice in the matter; he has taken her as a prisoner, locked her in one of the countless holding cells beneath what used to be Szarr Palace. She says ‘technically’ because she thinks she could probably still leave if she wanted to, that he wouldn’t be able to stop her if it truly came down to it. But that is less a commentary on him and more one on her: Mint might have renounced Bhaal and forfeited her birthright, but a killer’s hand made delicate is still a killer’s hand. Godsblood is much thicker than water, as it turns out; even stripped of her title as Bhaal’s Chosen, she can nevertheless feel the remnants of his favor. The aftershocks of an exorcism, perhaps, or a letter penned by a former lover tucked close against her breast. Because while Astarion might have chosen to dress up as a monster these days, death is the skin that Mint has lived in her whole life. She has begun trying to shed it, but after wearing it for so long the creature underneath still bears the old, familiar shape of a nightmare. Astarion is aware of this too, Mint knows, just as he is aware of her efforts to overcome her hideous fate. She is pretty sure he thinks that she only stays here out of some misguided hope of saving what’s left of him, too. That she is trying to leverage her captivity to seduce him back to the light, so that they might live together as a pair of grotesqueries redeemed. If that is his assumption, though, he could not be more wrong. She has no desire to tear down what they’ve built for him, no desire to wrench it from his grasp when so much was sacrificed in its obtaining. Moreover, she has no delusions that doing so is even something within her power. No, she stays because she understands the way he looks at her when he thinks she isn’t paying attention: like she’s the last beautiful thing in Faerûn that he hasn’t corrupted with his touch. Like snuffing out the tiny glimmer of flickering goodness that persists in the hollowed-out shell of her body will someday be his magnum opus. Mint can’t fault him for it. To do so would be hypocritical—she remembers when she used to look at him like that, too. Although she has no intentions of caving to his cruel whims, she knows it’s important that she be there to resist them. Because without her languishing in his dungeon and fulfilling the role of the pretty, perfect thing for him to ruin, there would be no worlds left for him to conquer.  And for his sake as well as everyone else’s, that is an eventuality Mint would prefer to avoid.

many of the writers i know have already been tagged but i am going to tag @again-please, @aevallare, @shewhowas39 @capriclonus @kittenintheden (should y'all want to) and anybody else who would like to participate <3

[luteboydurge]

Elliott fucked up.

He just wanted to give him the world. Everything good in his broken brain screamed at him to not go through with it, but how could he say no to Astarion when this meant so much to him? What if he didn’t want to be with him anymore? What would even be the point of going on? Astarion trusted him. How could he not do whatever he needed, no matter the cost? So he helped him. He watched and smiled as Astarion carved the Infernal into his old master’s back, the pathetic gutteral cries more beautiful than any ballad. He put the other victims from his mind. He couldn’t let himself think of them.

He’ll never forget what he did to them. Things would never be the same, and he didn’t even deserve them to be. He probably knew right away that Astarion would never look at him the same way again, but he couldn’t let himself believe it. He would just have to try harder and be more obedient. He’d let Astarion make him his spawn, and help him take over the world. He’d do whatever Astarion wanted. Anything to see that easy smile again, the one reserved special for him.

[synapticjive]

Truly, all I can think about is how Ascended Astarion would react to Durge being on a hunt during a Crimson Palace party. Like, she has to excuse herself to feed, and he’s more than peeved because she’s not on his arm or making witty quips in conversation alongside him. He needs his Bhaal-babe to make him look good, obviously.

Imagine if he just goes out back and sees her elbow deep in the guts of someone who just so happened to look at her the wrong way the other day?

Durge: *looks up sheepishly* Sorry. I- I had to.

Astarion: What in the Hells-

Durge: He looked at me wrong!

Astarion: There’s a time and place for acts of terror, and now is certainly not the time.

Durge: … *pouts and licks her bloody fingers, picking herself up*

Astarion: *sighs, eyes traveling from the bloody body to Durge’s pouting face* Don’t look so sullen. *walks over to lightly trace her cheek, wiping off a blood stain with his thumb and quickly bringing it to his mouth* You look too adorable when you’re upset, and I can’t afford any other distractions tonight when we need to secure this alliance with the Archduke of…

Durge: Yes, yes, *hand waves* I’m aware.

Astarion: Then let’s go. We’ll enjoy this little meal later. *smacks Durge’s bottom as she walks past him and back into the palace*

Astarion: And wear something that shows you off, don’t wash completely. I love the smell of a hunt on you.

Then they banter about how the bastard looked at her wrong and how she killed him as they make their way in.

Gah, they’re too good. Just too good.

[the-blue-wraith]

Voila here's my Durge x Ascended Astarion playlist

[ducancela-a]

bringing this meme back, just for ascended astarion

[hell-alka]

Intimidating Vampire Lord🦇

[oonalovesastarionssimpleplan]

So. Enough sexy vampire fanart with blood on his mouth. Give me more Astarion plays piano, Astarion mixes perfumes, Astarion had a hangover, Astarion annoyed next to a horse, Astarion complains about neighbors, Astarion with sunburn, Astarion trys McDonalds, Astarion with face mask and curlers, cazador's palace in flames, cazador's palace renovated, adventurer and hero, lord of the underdark, magistrate, bounty hunter, chaotic plans maker, secretly plants flowers and plays with scratch, Batstarion, Catstarion, Goosetarion, Rockstarion, Professorstarion, Dadstarion, Tinystarion, a wild sorcerer accidentally turned him into a crabstarion.

Let's celebrate this character and not just consume him.

[bloodsuckingfiends]

Astarion who hugs you close to him, cheek resting on the top of your head, when he’s feeling particularly anxious or dissociative. Holding YOU, rather than the other way around comforts him for the fact that he’s not the one being restricted or held down, which sends his mind back to pre-tadpole times. Holding you to him is grounding, holds him in the present where he is safe, and loved, and cared for beyond his own belief.

[leilah-durge]

u/lio-ns on Reddit

[je11ybe4r]

extra's that didn't quite make the tiktok cut :3

[panksage]

Page 2/? of my Sun King AU that I explore bc it’s camp and l thought… "why only one bitter ex if Durge can have two". It kinda makes me appreciate their happy ending and that it was kinda special, because both Ebony and Astarion have capacity for evil and I think that’s beautiful

Page 1

[astarionformayor]

Astarion headcanon that is racking my brain:

Guys WHAT IF Astarion used to play piano? Like he used to be HELLA good at playing piano but then he never was able to after Cazador so he forgets that he even ever used to play, but then one day the team is strolling around, looting, maybe even in Cazador's palace, and he sits down at the piano and it all comes back to him. He can play like really fucking good, like muscle memory... and then he just starts SOBBING hysterically. Like he just can't help but let the mask fall off completely because he is enraptured. It's just a beautiful moment in my head

Edit: ok who is writing this in their fic? Because i am not a writer but this needs to be written, or drawn, or both. PLEASE. ALL HANDS ON DECK.

[lesfir]

[alijuan]

Ascended Astarion is true unlike Spawn Astarion who pretends to be good for Tav

If i see that opinion again i will explode🫠

It's funny because Astarion will only approves if you persuade him not to perform the ritual.

A lot of people don't understand the concept of grey morality and it shows. Many people justify him but this type of AA fan thinks worse of him than he really is. He needs the ritual not because he's a power-hungry villain, but because he needs safety for himself and his lover. Depending on Tav/Durge's actions, he either stays with the feeling of fear (AA is still afraid deep inside, the game files confirm this) or he fights against it and becomes truly free of Cazador and fear (spawn ending). The dialogue with Durge about not being afraid is wonderful and shows difference between SA and AA.

Astarion: This little adventure of ours has taught me that we can't let our lives be ruled by fear. Or else we never really live. Astarion: I'm not afraid. Not of you, not of your darkness, and not of our future.

The point of the spawn ending is that Tav/Durge saw him as more than just an outward image of a power-hungry killer incapable of becoming a better person. But if you can't see beyond that image, he will think that he has no choice but to continue living in the world that Cazador has built for him. If you think that AA is his best ending because he is evil then you have failed to understand his whole personality.

I feel safe with you. Seen.

Despite of his love of killing (he is a vampire after all), he repeatedly showed compassion and guilt for luring people. Before the ritual, he literally convinced himself that he should kill spawn for power. Astarion rationalises this to protect his psyche, because he’s clearly not the type of guy who can sacrifice thousands of people to the devil and not feel anything about it.

Durge/Tav: This isn’t you, Astarion. Not really. Astarion: It should be.

I really like that the player technically makes the insight check and that there’s an advantage when they're romancing Astarion. Tav/Durge could see through the image Astarion was trying to create. They saw an elf whose fear prevented him from seeing all the possibilities.

Astarion: When I look at my future, anything and everything feels possible now.

Just as Astarion saw Durge not just as serial killer, but as someone who could defeat Urge and become a better person.

Durge: I am myself at last. You don't need to fear anything from me ever again. Astarion: I knew you had that sweat heart all along. I was alarmed by you sometimes, scandalised even, but somehow by your side, I still only ever saw you.

AA fans also often ignore the fact that the game has good and bad endings in the companion stories. And it's not about morality. All companion quests are literally about how the desired and obvious path leads to a bad ending. And Astarion is no exception. In a good ending, he gets the chance to heal and finally acceptes himself and his vampire nature, in a bad ending, he gives up and regresses as a person.

Spawn Astarion knows what he wants and says it. SA is ready for a relationship and sex. Ascended Astarion can’t answer the question of what he wants, so he acts as a vampire lord should. AA is literally back to the state of the first act and has started manipulating Tav/Durge through sex again (even repeating the same phrases). This is why he doesn’t really want sex (he approves if you choose the no sex option and he definitely dissociated during the sex scene) unlike Spawn Astarion who initiated it.

Spawn Astarion is the same Astarion who enjoys “murder and terror” and you can see that clearly in his “hero” ending (more like “antihero”). And this is the ending without romance, he chose it himself. And the whole idea of him pretending to be good for Tav is actually meaningless without romance.

Ascended Astarion is the same Astarion, but stuck in a black and white world of fear and domination.

SA scene ends with hope music (instrumental version of I want to live) AA scene ends with chains.

And there’s so much more. Larian specifically showed the difference between good and bad endings in the dialogues, scenes after ritual, recent updates and even the interview so people would definitely understand, but they didn't🙃 Some AA fans (especially on youtube and larian forum) are on a new level of delusion.

[lusciouswhiteflame]

Ascendants