#oc: petyr wildbrook

[invinciblerodent]

It's really interesting to me how apparently, if you flirt with Halsin at the party and don't then, like... dismiss it the next morning or tell him to forget it (my boy is, uh. not shy. about what he wants), his camp comments seem to change? Like I've asked how he's faring like five times now, in the Underdark and the Mountain Pass, and each time he's just said "With such stimulating company? Never better.", which is... different. I don't remember hearing that quite like that before, and I think I'm missing a line there.

I think usually, he'd have a short comment about how the Grove was too comfortable, how he was feeling a bit distant from nature in such surroundings, and how he likes sleeping under the stars again. I think. But this game, I don't recall hearing anything like that- asking how he's doing outside of the plot conversation, I don't really recall anything other than that easy, flirty compliment and reassurance.

I could be wrong or misremembering previous runs, and this could be because of something else, but I... really kind of enjoy imagining that if he knows you're at least physically attracted to him (like he clearly is to you), even if you're very obviously pursuing- or already have a romantic relationship going on with someone else (and he doesn't yet know if you'd be alright with a more open arrangement), he just... doesn't want to trouble you.

If he can convince himself that there is no future to these budding, one-sided feelings, he can be a bit more open and friendly- but if there's no denying the heat in your eyes and the concern in your voice, he... can't help but want to impress you. If he can't convince himself that there's nothing there to it, he just... can't help puffing out his chest just a tiny bit. Can't help wanting to come off as an approachable, gracious, warm presence, and not share too much about things he might think of as his personal weaknesses and insecurities; his less than perfectly cordial, happy thoughts.

Like he's... denying himself the idea of a relationship with you and feels that he must focus on the Curse, sure, but also can't bring himself not to at least try and present himself in the "best" light he can.

I really like this kind of yearning. Yearning is good. Make that man yearn. Make him earn his PhD in yearnology.

[invinciblerodent]

Arvid:

Iona:

Petyr:

(+Ray:)

Tav Question

What is your Tav’s theme song?

[invinciblerodent]

side note, it makes me feel kind of unreasonably giddy that my four "main" games of bg3, i'm playing:

a man loving a man

a woman loving a man

a man loving a woman (and a man)

and a woman loving a woman

and literally all of the characters involved are bi/pansexual.

diversity win, i'm queer and so is everything and everyone I do and make

[invinciblerodent]

i think in my dragon age excitement, i full-on forgot just how stinking handsome this asshole is

(also, help, i think i accidentally made him cuter than he has any right to be, and not only in the appearance department)

[invinciblerodent]

I know it's probably because the poly options (and Halsin's entire romance in general) were added later, but it's still kind of weird to me how, even if you're actively romancing two people at the same time, the game only lets you do Zethino's test once.

Like, I get that it's probably so that players won't just abuse the system to get +/-6 approval from someone over and over again for 100 gold each, but it just comes off as slightly odd from a story standpoint that they can both be standing there, and you'll just... choose one of them over the other willy-nilly, without anyone saying anything.

Honestly, instead of tweaking Astarion's specific lines and expressions in act 1 for the 13th time (and yet keeping his grammar wonky in act 3?), they could have just made this dialogue repeatable, and made each additional attempt cost an absurd amount of gold or something.

(I did and recorded both, but went with Halsin's for my save- Shadowheart has been on 100 approval since like act 1, whereas for Halsin, this is what finally put him over 80 lol.)

[invinciblerodent]

VERY disappointed that my cringefail son Petyr is accidentally succeeding at everything he does.

I was expecting copious amounts of shameful failure, Benny Hill-esque antics, TPKs left and right, and Shadowheart slowly finding herself falling embarrassingly in love with an utter dweebus of a man because his unearned arrogance contrasted with his inability to successfully do anything (and his very secret soft heart) is endearing in the same manner a mean old streetcat pretending not to want pets is endearing.

turns out, a gloomstalker ranger is kind of OP as hell, i'm tearing through enemies I by all means should not be able to defeat, rolling incredibly well for all manner of checks despite not having the stats to back any of them up (I have not yet successfully failed a roll), and the guy is just. legitimately impressive. even his brusque manner is just a dry wit that makes him look effortlessly cool. him being blunt and still kind to kids is just actually charming, and on top of that, he's also as pretty as he is????

of fucking course she's gonna fall in love with him, he's the kind of asshole who knows exactly how good he looks, and I hate that, and I hate him, and I hate that I love him.

i need his ego knocked down several pegs, post-haste. part of me is tempted to just go tackle the goblin camp now at level 3 so he can fail in a sufficiently spectacular fashion, but chances are, he'll just dominate absolute ass there as well

[invinciblerodent]

guess how many times i had to reload for this boy^ (8 CHA, absolutely no proficiency) to successfully fail a DC 15 persuasion roll

(it was 4. I reloaded 4 times until he finally failed it.)

[invinciblerodent]

So, if Petyr and Marcus had to swap teams, who would they gravitate towards in the new group and how would it go?

oooh, very fun question, thank you for asking! ❤️ thedas is not ready for the bitchiest elf in the world, and the nicest necromancer to have ever lived is not ready for the forgotten realms.

I think Petyr might actually make sense as someone Varric might hire as a guy to help him track down Solas. He's a ranger, a tracker, a hunter, someone who is very good at navigating the woods in particular... he'd most likely be a Dalish rogue from somewhere in Arlathan, and he'd agree to help (for a reasonable amount of coin), but he wouldn't wind up as Varric's mentee, and he would not be Rook. Not only because he doesn't really have the people skills needed to fill the role, but more because he seems at least mildly allergic to not acting at least a little bit out of self-interest, and isn't really in the business of joining causes for the greater good. (like, in VG he'd probably be a Veil Jumper, but only because "off-putting local swamp-hermit" isn't actually a background option.)

So for Petyr at-this-time-Aldwir, I was thinking about who on the Veilguard team might have the closest thing to that Botherable Little Shit energy Shadowheart brings, and... I think it might be Harding? Like, one needs the patience to deal with him, the insight to see through his bitching, and the ability to give as good as one gets, and she's the only one I can see having all three, but she also seems like the kind of earnest, nice person he'd find endlessly fun to try and piss off. (Plus, through traveling with him for like a year prior to the game, she'd have had enough time to move past taking the jabs and barbs personally. One of the things I love about him and Shadowheart is that "you want to kiss me so bad it makes you look silly" dynamic, and I think he and Lace could have something slightly similar going on.)

I also want to say that Davrin could probably suss him out as a phony in an instant and give him some good-natured shit about it (like I hc Wyll did in BG3, though probably a bit less nicely- Davrin has both the wisdom to see that his bark is far worse than his bite, and the balls to tell him that) and establish kind of a friendly sort of dick-measuring rivalry, while he and Taash have sort of a similar bluntness to them, so they might find a common voice that's well-suited to vaguely grunting at each other. (Who, Taash? Yeah, best friend I've ever had, we still sit in the same room and don't talk sometimes.)

He might even end up romancing either Taash or Harding, as long as he can watch his tongue for like, five seconds. (we're ignoring that this man, in true DnD half-elf fashion, looks like 25 but is in his mid-forties, and that it'd be weird as hell for him to romance someone like Taash, who is like. maybe 23.)(I don't really think any of the guys are a suitable fit for him, personality-wise. Like I think at least Emmrich and Bellara would actively dislike him, with Lucanis not far behind. Those three would not have a good time in a party led by Petyr.)

As for Marcus, I've a hunch that he'd have a very difficult time as Tav, and his voice would easily get drowned out by anyone with a more forceful personality than his (so pretty much everyone in the party).

I'm beyond the shadow of a doubt certain that in BG3/DnD, he'd be a wizard, and he'd still be a necromancer like he is in his canon (with some notable differences, Dragon Age necromancy is very different from DnD necromancy), so I'm sure he and Gale would immediately have a lot to talk about- or rather, Gale would have a lot to talk about, and Marcus is an excellent listener, so that works lol.

I'm also fairly sure that he and Wyll would wind up as quite good friends (though honestly, that's not much of a brag- whoever Wyll doesn't like should, imo, be treated as a walking red flag), and he might also have what it takes to get close-ish with Shadowheart (with his open mind and, again, ability to listen), though probably not romantically, and in a way entirely different from Petyr.

I think Lae'zel and Astarion would respectively think him soft and bland as day old oatmeal, Karlach would have to essentially adopt him as her pet introvert for any sort of a friendship to work with them, and finding common ground with Halsin (likely in their scholarly pursuits) would take a minute, but honestly it might just work out well enough. (He's not recruiting Minthara; too strong a survival instinct lol.)(which, man his romantic prospects would be looking bleak in this game. the people he'd be interested in sexually, he's intimidated by, and the people whose company he finds actually enjoyable, he's not interested in. what a miserable time.)

..... Now that I think about it, this kind of helped me break down the main difference between my two pretty-boys-with-long-dark-hair: while they both have walls that are a mile high around them, once you get to Marcus' center you'll find a soft and goopy little soul made of marshmallow fluff and kitten whiskers, while what Petyr is hiding is moreso an angry porcupine that might let you pet its belly, if you win its trust.

I guess Marcus is hard to get to know but easy to love, while Petyr is easy to get to know, but... shall we say, an acquired taste. (By which I mean kind of an asshole, but you get used to it.)

[invinciblerodent]

how does this keep happening

this boy is barely level 5 and he has an INT score of a whopping 8

how

like i dumped both INT and CHA on the party's "face" character (dumb move, I know), and yet... the character i intended to be the cringiest failure loser boy in the realms just... keeps taking ALL the Ws in the world

[invinciblerodent]

an unforeseen side effect of my boy discovering the power of friendship, and the fact that emotions and human connections are good actually, is that it comes with simultaneously discovering that he's at least lowkey attracted to two types of people exactly: those who project confidence on the outside, but are sweet, soft, and in need of comforting on the inside (not entirely unlike a frightened animal), and pretty men with long, brown hair looking at him through lowered lashes with big, dark eyes.

a downside to that is that his newly found friend group is half one, half the other, and Gale kind of sits in the exact middle of the Venn diagram like an appealingly plump toad on a rock.

Look at him. The thought behind this face is very much an ".... oh, I'm not indulging this thought. I'm burying this so quick, and so deep, that it suffocates immediately."

[invinciblerodent]

getting a little bit obsessed with my "cottagecore throuple" here, because the more I think about it, the more disgustingly perfect and idyllic the whole thing is to me.

like... post-game, I like to imagine Shadowheart absolutely thriving. She's a city girl with a deep love for animals, and spotty- to nil memories, most of which are of the worst things to have ever happened in a dank torture-basement: of course a sweet, picturesque forest cottage (so far I like to think that Petyr would call it "The Hovel", even though it's by all means a cozy, nice hunter's lodge) would have her downright giddy, and she deserves every ounce of that happiness ever.

As I imagine it, when not enthusiastically learning all there is to learn about the quasi-self-sustaining life (that she had dropped herself into by shacking up with a literal forest ranger), she spends as much time outside as possible: walks barefoot in the tall grass, stops to smell every flower (and even plants quite a few, just by the vegetables), and lays in the soft underbrush for hours at a time- enjoying the sunlight caressing her face, enjoying a nice novel (and/or a cuddle with Scratch, the cub, or her boyfriend once he sits down for a moment), or just gazing up at the moon and stars in silent worship. She makes friends with every animal that crosses her path, too: SO many potions of animal speaking are consumed, it's absurd. (She's best friends with the chickens. Petyr has to start farming acorn truffles in the basement for her, and that even proves actually very lucrative- in town, that shit sells for like 10-20 gold a pop.)

She'd of course bring home everything that'll let her. Little wildflower bouquets and stuff at first, but also every critter: from juvenile racoons just weaned from their mothers (they look almost like kittens! how cute!), to elderly foxes that just want to curl up in front of the fire and warm their bones somewhere safe for a moment. She's having the time of her goddamn life, she's learning a shitton of life skills she was never taught (finally learning things not meant to make her better at hurting people!), and generally enjoying a life that, while still plagued by remnants of the past (night terrors, perpetrator trauma, loss, grief, pains both suffered and inflicted, all that great stuff), has her feeling actually content with her lot in it.

And with all this, Petyr is... very business as usual, or at least he's trying to pretend that he is. Having someone in what was his space for like 20 years is strange initially, but if there's one thing he's used to, it's adapting. Making things work. (Plus, he's like, happy, or whatever. In love. You know, that sort of rot.)

Then again, he's also used to only having to feed himself with the very little he has, not another (especially another who is inexperienced at this type of thing, and a second another who just... drops by sometimes, always unannounced and unexpected, but never unwelcome), which deep down does have him a bit (a lot) more antsy about not just being the self-appointed guardian of her happiness, but also just... their general survival.

He's keenly aware that winters in the wild are never especially easy, not when you're so far removed from the safety of a community- especially not the way he's used to being alone, without even magic to keep you warm and safe. Usually, he spends most of the year primarily occupied by preparing for winter, and even like that, there have been lean years: years when he got snowed in for tendays, when he did something stupid and all the careful prep went down the shitter, years he had to go hungry and learn to make do with next to nothing.

So he compensates for- (and distracts himself from-) that anxiety by making extra sure that the pantry is stocked to bursting with all the goods there can be, and they often head out into the woods to hunt and forage together- although he's not a great (or even a good) teacher, Shadowheart (usually Shadow, often Heart, lately Jen or Jenny in affection) does make what he used to do out of sheer need, into something also done for fun.

Hunting and foraging are fun now, and soon, the cabinets are overflowing with jars and jars of dry mushrooms, so much homemade deer jerky, jams and jellies and pickles galore... there's mead fermenting, and homemade soap curing before it can be used, firewood stacked to the height of a person... herb bundles, garlic braids, grain corn, and drying peppers are strung up on the rafters like fragrant fairy lights.

Meanwhile, I imagine that Halsin comes and goes as he pleases- not entirely unlike a beloved stray cat. He just shows up one evening as if he had left not tendays, but only a few hours ago, kicks the duff or mud or snow off his boots, and leans his staff into its habitual nook by the door. He sets whatever it is that he brought this time in its appropriate place (be it otherwise unobtainable goods from town, or just a little gift, a treat to enjoy together), and he sinks into the worn-out armchair by the fireplace that was declared his the first time he stayed.

One of the others almost always then strolls by to settle wordlessly on his lap (if not both of them- that poor chair can barely take the combined weight), and just relax as his big, warm fingers slowly work through the knots and ties keeping their hair out of their faces, and, voice rumbling deep in his chest, he tells them all that has happened in Reithwin the past while.

The many smells of dinner and the comforting scent of pipe tobacco mingle with the fragrant herbs and the crackling fire then, and creates something that can only be described as the scent of home.

.............. and then all three just fuck absolute NASTY every day, in every configuration, and on every surface available for the next, oh, month or so.

[invinciblerodent]

and now that I'm back to tinkering around with Petyr, I kinda love how researching survival/ranger things for him, and reading up on stuff, has made youtube decide to pretty much only recommend me bushcraft/primitive tech/etc. type videos, because I kind of just LOVE imagining my boy doing all those things and explaining them very matter-of-factly, like

"Ever heard that you can eat any berry that the birds can? Yeah, stupid misconception. That kind of bullshit advice is how you wind up shitting your guts out, on top of starving to death."

"Alright, if you've no magic, lighting a fire is actually not as hard as you think. All you need is (rattles off like 47 different ways to do it). .... Or, you know, travel with a magic user. Either works."

"This mushroom? Kills you. This other one? Also kills you. This one, that looks exactly like that other one? Tastes like chicken when roasted. Don't make mistakes."

"And this, is how you make a simple snare trap for small game. ... Yeah, I know the rabbits are cute. They're also delicious in a stew, and their hides make great gloves. Don't look at me like that; if it's between you or the cute fuzzy animal, choose you."

"The thing about nature is that she's not a kind, caring mother who'll take care of you. No- she's a cruel, vindictive bitch who doesn't play favorites, and doesn't miss twice. You'd do best to keep that in mind."

[invinciblerodent]

hold on are you telling me that if you play a dark urge, Shadowheart basically confirms that you sleep together at least semi-regularly by the end of act 2

I must have many thoughts about this immediately

(I did always think that there's no reason for the party not to spend at least one night in real beds at Last Light before they'd start heading towards Moonrise...)

[invinciblerodent]

ffff I woke up thinking very hard about how heartbreaking it'll be when I get Halsin kidnapped by Orin on my romance playthrough with him

and as I dally on with Iona and fuck around before I'd go rescue Lae'zel, I just... keep thinking about how at this point in his playthrough, Petyr is going to be just single-mindedly focused on murdering Orin.

like I know that immediately, as soon as he realizes what had happened, what was taken from him, he'll throw himself into the investigation.

not eating. not sleeping. Shadowheart has to pretty much force-feed him a potion of angelic slumber, and it's still Jaheira threatening to knock him out manually that manages to convince him that running himself ragged isn't going to help anyone.

the whole investigation, and the murder tribunal thing, and finding the temple takes no more than, say, four days tops. in that time, he probably sleeps all of two hours, and not even consecutively.

and he of course looks awful for it. eyes sunken in and rimmed in red, cheeks sallow, hair all weird and loose and falling into his face... the tremor in his hands is the most worrying part, being a marksman, but his aim inexplicably holds true. advantage is granted on intimidation checks just by the fact that he looks like he's all of one second away from putting an arrow through anyone's throat, and won't even need to use a bow to do it.

he holds it together when Halsin finally comes to on that cold stone slab, whole, alive, and pretty much unharmed by the looks of it. even though he feels like his guts are all squirming like a bagful of snakes, he keeps his wits about him as they reach the Elfsong and get themselves cleaned up. he even keeps a stiff upper lip and a straight spine all throughout dinner- maybe he's a bit more quiet than usual, but overall he seems fine, or at least more fine than he's been until then, if a touch... colder, more distant than anyone had expected.

really, with how visibly upset and scary determined he was, all expected a more... affectionate reaction, or at least more obvious relief. even Halsin himself is probably a bit... not disappointed, that's not the right word, more like somberly resigned about it. Accepts that maybe this time apart was a time of reflection, and a different conclusion was reached than what was expected. Maybe there was some disillusionment (the Big Strong Archdruid letting himself be tricked and whisked away by a jumped-up Bhaalspawn with just... so much wrong with her, that's kind of embarrassing in retrospect), maybe he just needs some time to process. Who knows. Maybe the ardor had simply petered out, as it were.

so they all retire for the night. and in less than an hour, once breaths quiet and movement stills in the room, Halsin feels an awkward body just... wordlessly crawl into his bed and tuck itself up against him.

He feels his ranger's pointed nose smush in the middle of his chest, feels him taking long, shaking breaths of his scent (no longer that putrid stench of sewer-filth and rotting meat, but the usual pleasantly herbal, earthy scent), and feels it all too acutely as the young man just.... starts to quietly weep. With completely silent, but desperate, full-body sobs, clinging to Halsin with what feels like more limbs than he has. He's weeping tears of exhaustion, and stress, and worry, and a loss mourned before its time, and all the druid can do is run soft fingers through his hair, let him cry it out, and whisper "I'm here" over and over again in a tone that means more than either says right now.

like the hold this has on my brain this morning?? unreal

(thank u Larian for the poly option so I can have a playthrough with not just one, but two opportunities for my utter bitch of a PC to dramatically not-confess-but-confess his love to his LI)

[invinciblerodent]

that sure is an array of reactions to have, folks

those sure are faces that convey a certain set of emotions.

i don't know what those emotions are supposed to be, but. they are definitely being expressed.

[invinciblerodent]

boy, now you put those damn eyes of yours away, or so help me the gods