#tbh i just wanted to post my tav forgive me

[starry-crossed]

Gale: I once read a book that explained in some detail the effect a brush with danger has on one's desire for...other forms of stimulation…

the spawn im currently romancing: 👁️👁️

[altacctforastarion]

if you don't mind, how do you think the act 1 romance scene would go down with a reader who isn't really comfortable having sex? definitely not just looking for inspiration for my own asexual tav...

Hi! Thanks for requesting! I don’t know if you saw my post on this/already know but there are mods that make it possible to not sleep with Astarion in order to romance him. I don’t know how they work at all, but I think it would be worth it to check them out if that’s something you’d like!

I’m super unfamiliar with writing an asexual character, so forgive me for any mistakes. I hope you like it, anon!

Warnings: sfw, 18+ mdni only because I don’t want minors interacting with me, my blog, or my fics.

Dunno if I’m back from my break yet tbh.

Taglist: @lotus-ignis @astari0nsju1ceb0x @obsessionprofessional

Dm/leave a message in my inbox or whatever if you’d like to join the list!

“Oh, I’m flattered but no, you’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong, I just…don’t like sex,” You say, smiling at him sympathetically.

“What? Maybe you’ve never had a good partner but I-“

You cut him off, “And I don’t want one. I don’t like having sex. That’s it, that’s just how I am. But, if you’d like we could talk? We can just… get to know eachother?”

You feel hopeful, while you don’t want to have sex, you do care about Astarion, and if he would be ok without a relationship with that form of intimacy, you might like that. He looks at you, baffled, then he looks away and seems to ponder, before offering you his hand. “Yes, yes I suppose we can. I know a place that’ll give us privacy, lest one of our companions decides to join our conversation,”

“Lead the way,” You agree and feel your heart swell, excited for the night ahead.

—

Astarion takes you to the clearing, and get to know eachother more, you tell him about your aversion to sex but your ability to have and enjoy romance, and it just…slips. He tells you he’s not much of a fan at this point either. You want to ask, but he’s sounds so vulnerable, like this is a new revelation, so you don’t push, instead the two of you talk about whatever comes up, whatever your interests are, and eventually his hand slips into yours.

When you’re yawning and your eyes feel heavy, he leads you by that hand to your tent, and pulls the blankets over you before bidding you goodnight and going to his own tent, surprised and happy and oddly enough, wanting more of whatever it was the two of you just had.

—

Astarion confessed his original plans when he tells you that originally he agreed to talk to you for the same purpose: to get you to care about him, to fool you into loving him, so that he would be safe. You’re hurt, understandably so, asking if the times you’ve spent together, all the late night talks, meant anything at all.

“Of course they did! Of course you did. That first night, it’s true I’d only planned on using you, but then we talked for hours and I found myself wanting more. I liked talking, looking at the stars, I liked that you didn’t want me for just my body. Everything changed that night. And then it kept changing and now we’re here and… you deserve better.” He speaks softly by the end, shame coloring his words. He tells you about what he had to do, who he had to be, and you find your anger fading.

“I care about you. This you.” And then you hug him, and he hesitates before holding you tightly against him until you pull away.

—

He doesn’t know what the two of you are, but he knows the gentle kiss you place on his lips sometimes is nice. He knows how great it feels just to talk to you, sharing his talents and passions. He knows that when you smile at him, the only pain is the fear of losing you. It’s nice, whatever the two of you are.

—

Cazador dies and he takes you to his grave, sharing his former misery, and looking to the future, holding your hands and telling you that you’re what he wants, finally telling you how much he loves you. You kiss him after telling him you feel the same, and when the kiss breaks, the two of you go back to camp, curling up in his tent and sleeping peacefully in each others arms.

[wetcatspellcaster]

This will be long, so forgive me. I plea for help/advice - I am in the middle of writing my first fanfic (and very nervous about it) and even though I'm not new to writing (I have written hundreds of pages for RPG sessions, so I'm familiar with character creation, world building, classic tropes, post-modern tropes, etc.), this is a first. I struggle with English a bit, as it is not my first language, but thankfully my Camden Uni educated bf sometimes gets over the cringe of my slow burn fictional character obsessive romance and proof reads it for me, so that's out of the way. My biggest struggle is world building, which is completely unexpected. The universe is ready, it's there made for me (Arcane animation), but I can't get myself to write any expository bits about it. I write it in little scenes and then glue them together when I figure out the order of events that transpire between the characters. There is a luxury in people knowing the fandom, therefore knowing the lore - so I don't have to introduce the world to the readers. But right now I am at the bit where the slow burn finally burns and I want to give my characters some grief (all is lost moment) and I have come to the realization that I have done absolutely no background build-up that would lead to it. Do you have any advice on how to incorporate such depth into the story, so it wouldn't be build only on two people pushing back and forth? I don't want it to be like - by the way, while you two were figuring out your feelings, there was a huge political plotline in the background that will now endanger your relationship. Save me, Ms. WetCat, save me, I simp over you and your writing oh so greatly. (Btw, it's me, hi, I'm the person you've made bi)

hi, person I made bi through the power of fictional wizards :')

I haven't watched the show but I can try to give some advice for threading plot/worldbuilding through a romance story!

I think the easiest thing to do is... make it personal to the characters lmao. BG3 is a good example of this right - people will often not bother to explain what illithids/tadpoles are or what the dark urge is, but they will often talk about how one or both of those things effect their Tav and their Tav's choices. So tailor the worldbuilding to what is relevant about your character - if it's boring to write exposition, write about feelings instead! How does either character feel about [worldbuilding conceit], and how is that relevant to the romance/character interactions they're having? That's one way to nod to the wider world while also keeping it in the periphery, with the main focus still remaining on the characters themselves.

You can also do this with bigger plots that are happening, just by making nods to them before and after your scene. So I often will be like "the characters were walking back from [major plot event]" - that means that everyone who knows the [major plot event] can now place themselves in a canon timeline and know where we are in events that have happened, without having to read through that same thing again. If there's a political plotline (lol, me coasting on my second/third hand knowledge of arcane) you can be like 'they were at x meeting', or 'they walked past x rally on the way to y' and then you have tension brewing in the background even without the focus being on them. do any of these major plot points endanger your character, because then you also have a good vat of angst to draw from as well!

tbh fanfic is definitely a forgiving space because as you say everyone typically knows the source material! so i've found that having a pretty narcissistic lens on your character(s) while just making brief off-hand gestures to wider events is often enough for the world to feel deep and engaging!