#and then when gale said 'i don't think i deserve you at times'

[mumms-the-word]

A Little Boat Voyage

Pairing: Gale x Tav (Dani) Summary: Immediately after defeating Cazador and stopping Astarion from ascending, Gale and Dani need to discuss Gale's own ambitions. She agrees to a little voyage on the Outer Planes to hear what he has to say, preparing to fight him about his plans. ao3 link Tags: Angst, fluff, teeny tiny bit of implied smut, mostly angst A/N: This is a rewrite of the Act 3 romance scene that reworks a lot of the potential dialogue for that scene to fit what I actually think would have happened for Dani and Gale. I combed through the datamined file for all the dialogue that Gale and Tav could say, depending on all the possible situations for this scene, and stitched together a lot of game dialogue with Dani's own convictions about Gale's plans. So in my head, this is canon for them lol

Astarion’s words echoed in Dani’s head as she left his side in the group’s Elfsong Tavern suite. He was sitting by the window, looking out onto the moonlit streets below, contemplating the aftermath of his decision to slay Cazador rather than ascend, trying to process and make sense of it. She had gone over to speak quietly with him, knowing he needed her more than Gale did in this moment, and in the midst of the conversation, he had looked up at her with a kind of uncertain awe mixed with tired gratitude.

“You believed in me,” he’d said. “Believed I was enough just the way I am.”

There was more that was said between them, mentions of newfound freedom, new futures, more words of gratitude. But for some reason, those words stuck with her. Enough, he’d said. As if it were a novel concept to him.

She could relate. There were days when she never felt like she was enough, for some person or some challenge or another.

She paused to lean against one of the columns in the room, her eyes unconsciously searching for Gale. She found him sitting in an armchair by the fire at the center of the suite, staring into the flames. He’d been wanting to speak to her all day, but between all the drama of that morning and the difficulty of getting to Cazador and battling him, she’d almost forgotten about it. Now, she was almost too worn down to approach him. It would be all too easy to just go to bed and tell him that whatever he had to say could wait until morning.

But even she wasn’t that heartless. She sighed to herself and moved around to the lowered center area of the suite, approaching him from behind. He looked up as she  stopped next to his chair.

“Gale,” she said coolly, one hand on her hip.

“Ah.” He gave a kind of grimace, as though he were wincing yet trying to twist it into a sheepish smile at the same time. “You’re still talking to me then?”

Dani pursed her lips and crossed her arms, waiting for him. She had no idea where this conversation was supposed to go, and part of her didn’t want to make this easy for him. He rubbed the back of neck, self-conscious. 

“I suppose you have questions…related to a certain book we read together,” he said. She arched an eyebrow and he winced. “Well. That I read,” he amended. “And I do mean to discuss it but…” 

He trailed off, his eyes wandering over to where Astarion still sat near the window, staring pensively out through the glass. “You’ve given me quite a lot to think about today.”

She sighed softly through her nose. She wanted to be angry. But honestly, she was just tired. 

They’d started the morning off with a visit to Sorcerous Sundries, thinking it would be a relatively innocent visit. But her anger had been tested at the sight of poor Rolan, beaten and bruised by Lorroakan, and her fears kindled by the hunger in Gale’s eyes once they had found the Annals of Karsus. Then Gale had sparked her anger again, boasting to Lorroakan about his plans for the Crown—none of which he had disclosed to Dani at all—so Dani had retaliated by petulantly revealing his plans to Elminster when the old wizard had popped up unexpectedly outside the shop. Then there was her and Gale’s argument in the street, all before it was even noontime. 

That would have been enough for the day, except that they had spent the afternoon and evening infiltrating Cazador’s mansion to stop his ritual. That experience had been draining for everyone and the resulting conclusion of the events was bittersweet at best. Dani had stopped one of her best friends from giving in to his dark ambitions, but she still had her work cut out for her when it came to her own lover’s ambitions. 

She just wished everyone around her would stop being so damned power hungry. Was it so wrong to wish for nothing more than a warm home and for one’s friends and family to be safe and comfortable? She knew she could be greedy too, but her greed didn’t test the limits of reality or threaten thousands of lives all at once. It just emptied a few pockets. Maybe a few bank vaults.

At her silence, Gale shifted uncomfortably in his seat before at last giving a soft sigh of his own. “In truth, I wouldn’t blame you for giving me a wide berth. I thought the orb’s ever-present censure had tamed my wilder ambition, but that wasn’t the case. Obviously, as evidenced by all that I said and did today.” He shook his head. “There isn’t anything I can say that would excuse my reprehensible behavior. I’m sorry.”

She pressed her lips together this time, wavering between wanting to stay irritated and wanting to say that there was nothing to forgive and move on. But there were concerns she still had, questions he had yet to answer. She didn’t know where to start and so, after a moment, she simply pulled another chair over to the fire, near him, and sat down, watching the flames in silence. It took her another moment to finally put to words what she wanted to say.

“I’m not mad anymore about anything that happened today,” she said quietly. “I’m just…scared.”

“Scared?”

“Of losing you. To the orb. To Mystra. To your own ambition…” She shook her head, unable to look at him. She didn’t want to explain all of her fears right now. Some of them felt utterly stupid.

She couldn’t deny that she loved Gale, ambitions and all. What else could it be but love that kept her at his side? She’d abandoned relationships for far less in the past. No, she was certain with her entire being that she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone. But this path of godhood that he kept hinting at…if he was determined to follow it, it was a path she couldn’t take with him. She just wasn’t interested in abandoning this chaotic, colorful world just yet. Not for the Fugue Plane, not for an illithid life, not for godhood, not for anything.

But if she wouldn’t follow him…what then? The thought of leaving him or of him leaving her threatened to break her heart. She felt as though she’d never recover.

But she couldn’t say all that to him now. It felt petty and selfish to admit that the only reason she didn’t want him to become more powerful was because she was scared he’d leave her behind. She was petty and selfish, but Gale inspired goodness in her. It was ironic, truly. The very qualities that had inspired her to become a better person were the same qualities that he would give up if he continued to pursue the path of godhood for the “betterment of all,” as he’d boasted to Lorroakan that morning.

But what did she know, she thought bitterly to herself. She had never intimately known a god nor harbored ambition enough to actively plot to dethrone one.

Still…if she could at all sway him…

“Listen,” she said, eyes still on the fire. “I believe you’re capable of so many great things, Gale. I believe in you. Always have, always will. But when it comes to this plan with the crown…”

“All I am asking is that you consider it,” he said.

She made a helpless gesture with one hand. “I don’t even know how I could. How can I respond to something so…immense? It’s beyond comprehension. I want to understand, but I don’t.”

He was quiet for a moment before chuckling softly and shaking his head. “I don’t think I deserve you at times.”

“Gale,” Dani said softly, his name almost a resigned sigh as she said it. She didn’t want to hear this again. But Gale held up a hand.

“Please. Let me finish.” He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts, before taking a deep breath. “I watched how you handled the events with Cazador and Astarion today. You showed nothing but compassion and courage. Your heart bled for the victims in their cages. You sought a way to save as many people as you could, despite impossible odds. And you didn’t allow Astarion’s desperation or impassioned speeches to sway you or change your mind.”

“I didn’t want to lose one of my best friends,” she said. “If Astarion had ascended…he wouldn’t be Astarion anymore.”

“I know. Yet it could have been so easy to give in. To let him have his way, simply because you are his friend. But you didn’t. You appealed to a nobler part of him, risking your friendship to keep him from changing. From transforming into something more. Something sinister.” Gale paused again, glancing back at Astarion across the room. His expression softened into a thoughtful, yet sorrowful look. “I can’t help but wonder. Do you see the same kind of choice when you look at me?”

She didn’t answer, but her silence was answer enough. She looked back at the flames, watching them crackle and spark, letting them fill the silence. 

“I hope that isn’t your final judgment of me,” he said. “I hope that you can give me another chance to earn your faith. I want you to continue to believe in me. I want to show you the wizard I am capable of being, rather than the poor excuse for a man who’s kept you company thus far.”

“Gale, stop,” she said, finally turning to face him fully, twisting in her chair. “Stop calling yourself a poor excuse for a man. That isn’t what I think of you. I know I get frustrated with you, but it’s because I see so much good in you.” She reached for his hand and enveloped it in both of her own. “I don’t want to lose you to the Crown any more than I wanted to lose Astarion to Cazador’s power. You mean everything to me, Gale. Worth more even than music and magic.”

“You won’t lose me,” Gale said, tightening his hold on her hand. “If anything, you’ll gain so much more for being with me. Please. Let me show you.”

“Gale—”

“Even if a permanent place in the heavens isn’t for us, at least allow me a chance to show you what it would be like. Indulge me. Close your eyes. Allow me to take you on a little boat voyage.”

She frowned, wanting to resist. But she could tell this was important to him. She breathed a small sigh and closed her eyes, keeping one hand in his. 

She heard him murmur a spell and felt the aura of magic shift around her, the warmth of the Elfsong Tavern room giving way to much cooler air. Her skin tingled all over with the touch of magic, while Gale’s hand remained solid and warm in her own.

“Few mortals ever glimpse what you’re about to see. But don’t be alarmed—I’m here with you.” He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Now…open your eyes.”

When she opened her eyes, she found herself seated in a glowing blue boat with Gale sitting across from her. All around them, the sky, the space below, all of it was filled with scattered stars and clouds of purple, pink, and blue stardust. The galaxies and starfields stretched on infinitely around them, swirling peacefully in silence. Their boat drifted easily along a current of shimmering magic and when she lifted her free hand over the edge of the boat, her fingers caused tiny motes of starlight to drift and float through the air.

“Quite the view, isn’t it?” Gale said, looking around them. “The Outer Planes are a place of profound, sometimes overwhelming possibility.”

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She gazed out over the infinite expanse, waiting to feel that reeling, terrifying sensation of being suspended over a void, but it didn’t come. She was safe in Gale’s little boat, his hold on her hand grounding her and keeping her steady. 

“The home of the gods,” he continued. “Where they observe us from afar. Where they make play-things of us. Such power…infinite possibilities…how could I not crave this?”

She fell silent, focusing instead on the specks of starlight that fanned out behind her fingers, watching them dance briefly in the atmosphere and fade. He said it so simply, as though it were natural to crave such wondrous power. And maybe it was. Maybe she was the fool for limiting her desires to the Material Plane.

Not for the first time, she burned with jealousy toward Mystra and hated all that she had gifted Gale. All that she had made Gale capable of. How could a mere bard compare to a goddess who allowed him to tap into the mysteries of magic itself? And even now, with Gale hardly interested in reconciling with the goddess, who was she compared to all the power of the crown? Who was she compared to all this?

Gale could have this again. This and more. And she, with her small dreams and her fragile love, a love that would only last a mortal lifetime…she would fade into obscurity. Even if she managed to secure a legacy for her name, her body would rot in its grave and her soul would wander the Fugue Plane for an eternity until some god took pity on her and accepted her into their domain.

Perhaps if Gale became a god, he would be the one to take pity. She’d dwell forever in his domain of stars as one among a million other souls. One more copper in a vast bank, utterly forgotten by him, yet unable to escape him. The thought churned her gut and threatened to make her sick.

She swallowed, half-preparing herself for the worst outcomes for the rest of this conversation. “Is this really, truly what you want? To ascend? To claim godhood?”

“No, not like that,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I don’t want to join them, I want to better them—with you at my side, willing and wholehearted. Together we could become better than gods. We could have all of a god’s power with a mortal conscience, a mortal heart. I can think of no better candidate for redefining godhood than you.”

“I don’t want godhood,” she said. “I know you think it sounds insane that I don’t, and maybe it is, but…” She shook her head. “I’ve read too many stories, too many tragic ballads about what happens to mortals who ascend to godhood. They change, Gale. And they leave the ones they love behind.”

Gale sat back, a little surprised. “Is that what you think I intend to do to you?”

“Not immediately. But who knows how you would change once all that power was coursing through you. You saw how Cazador was—you saw how hungry Astarion was to claim that power. You know it would have changed him. Think how much more godhood would change you.”

“But it wouldn’t be true godhood,” he said, tightening his hold on her hand. “The power of gods would be at our fingertips, yes, but we could be—we could find a way to—”

“Stop with the bullshit,” Dani snapped, snatching her hand from his. “You can’t even articulate it because there’s nothing else to call it. You want to use the power of the crown to become a god. That kind of power corrupts, Gale. And if that’s what you want then—then—“

Her throat tightened suddenly with the threat of tears and she looked away, struggling to compose herself. She hated crying, especially here, where there was nowhere to hide, but there was no stopping the emotions building up inside her. She hid her face briefly behind her hand, but it was no use. The wide expansive of pink and purple starlight winked back at her and illuminated the flood of tears that welled up in her eyes.

Gale reached for her hands again. “Dani, I—”

She shook off his touch. “Don’t. I can’t—I can’t let you do this,” she said, the tears spilling down her cheeks. “Please. I know what you’d become and it would be nothing like the man you are now. And no matter how you would try to justify things or convince me to join you, I could never bring myself to abandon my family like that. Never. So in the end you would leave me behind, because nothing about me is enough to convince you to stay. So you’d leave, I know you would, because that’s how power works. It corrupts, it—“ She was rambling now, not making sense, her words a tangle on her tongue.

“Dani, please,” he begged, getting on his knees on the floor of the boat, taking both of her hands in his. “None of that is going to happen.”

“Isn’t it?” she asked. “Look me in the eye and swear to me that the moment your humanity is stripped away in your ascension that you won’t forget tiny, insignificant, mortal me, the lover you’re leaving behind, the moment I refused to ascend with you.”

He hesitated for just a fraction of a second, but it was enough to confirm her fears. She snatched her hands from his again and used the heels of her palms to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“Gods, I hate you,” she mumbled, but it was a complete lie. The fact was she loved him too much. Desired him too selfishly to let him reach for godly power. She swallowed and amended her statement. “Not you. This. I hate this. Sorry.”

It was his turn to be silent in the face of her confessions and her tears. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and breathed softly through her nose until at last she felt calm enough to speak. Then she took a shaky breath and reached out to cradle his face in her hands. 

“Please, Gale,” she said quietly. “Don’t do this. I don’t need the stars. I don’t need eternity. I just want you. For all that you are right now. I love you for the man that you are, not the god you’d pretend to be.”

He stared up at her, stricken but amazed, his hands resting on her knees. There was a faint glimmer in his eyes that could either be tears or the reflection of the stars around them, but when he blinked the glimmer was gone.

“You…you would really prefer me as I am?” he asked softly. 

“Yes,” she said. There was no room for doubt in her heart, nor any in her words. “You’re already everything I need you to be and more. Just…please. Let me be enough for you. Let me find a way.”

“Oh Dani,” he breathed. He rose to one knee and slipped one hand behind her head, guiding her down into a deep kiss that stole her breath and made her a little dizzy. She clutched the fabric of his shirt, trying to bring him closer and steady herself at the same time, trying to convey all the desperate longing and fear she couldn’t put into words silently through their kiss.

He pulled away, breathless, cradling her cheek in his palm. “I used to believe Mystra’s forgiveness was worth dying for. Or that the only way forward was to challenge her. But I was wrong. You showed me just how much I have to live for, here, on mortal soil. With you, I forget my goddess. With you, I want to live. With you…I even forget my greater ambitions. You put the very stars to shame, Dani.”

She felt her breath hitch as her eyes widened slightly. Of all the things she was expecting to hear him say, those words were not it. She searched his face for signs that he’d changed his mind, and found him staring back at her earnestly, dark eyes full of love and longing. For the first time that day, she dared herself to hope, just a little.

“I don’t deserve you,” he said. “And I could never leave you behind. Godly power, I can live without, but you? You’re everything.”

She stared, half-disbelieving, but his gaze was sincere and warm and so full of love she couldn’t help but be convinced. She curled her fingers around his wrist, not sure what to say next, but he merely smiled, grateful and tender, and brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. 

“I love you,” he murmured.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him again.

He guided her off the seat of the boat down onto the floorboards, dismissing the benches with an idle wave of his hand to make room for them to lay down at the bottom of the boat. There he kissed her, breathing her in as naturally as if she were air, and she lost herself in his warm touch. The galaxies above swirled dream-like and slow overhead as their fingers found each others’ buttons and laces, their clothes slipping off with practiced ease, until both lay bare beneath the infinite sky, her pale blue skin tinged a faint shade of lavender by the light of the pink-purple stardust.

She combed her fingers through his hair as he kissed all over her, sighing and arching her back as he worshipped her body more than he’d ever done before, as if he were making up for a litany of mistakes. She could scarcely think straight yet she tried to encourage him with her words, breathing out her love and pleasure in half-lucid lyric fragments and shaky swears alike. He lavished love on her with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue, his hands, until at last he joined their bodies together and she unraveled. Every tangled thought and emotion unwound itself as pleasure coursed through her veins until they were both left spent, lying on the floor of the softly glowing boat, and she was left with nothing but her love for him and a dazed sense of amazement that here, amid the infinite expanse of stars and magic, he had chosen her.

Some time later, as they lay gazing up at the stars, with Gale fingers threading idly through her long, loose hair, he turned and brushed a kiss against her head. “I’m sorry for upsetting you,” he said quietly. “I had no idea you felt so strongly about…well.”

She wrapped her arms more tightly around him. “I love you, Gale. I don’t want to lose you to anything. Not even this. As pretty as it is. You’ll have to forgive me for being so selfish with you.”

He chuckled, kissing her hair again. “There’s nothing at all to forgive, my love. Be selfish with me.”

They contemplated the stars and auroras that surrounded their little boat, words lost between them for a moment, until at last Gale, trailing gentle fingers down her arm, began to speak again softly.

“I conjured this illusion often during my confinement in Waterdeep,” he said. “An escape for the mind, where there was none for the body. It was easier to stare at the celestial abyss than recognize the emptiness within myself. Easier to pretend my destiny lay among such stars, than work to salvage a life on solid ground.” 

He turned his head and she lifted her chin so she could meet his gaze again, her heart aching for him. She could all too easily imagine him locked in his tower, conjuring images of these galaxies and planes, desperate to be outside the walls that enclosed him for a year. Longing to be back among infinite beauty, rather than confined and seemingly trapped in a small set of rooms on the mundane Material Plane. She had thought the illusion he had conjured of his home in Waterdeep was charming and wonderful…but she could see how it must have felt like a prison to him.

“You changed all that,” he murmured, gazing down at her. “You see me as I am, and do not find me wanting.”

He seemed a little awed by that, but not disbelieving. She smiled and sat up, straddling his hips and taking his hands, lifting them up to her lips for a kiss to each one. Her long hair trailed down around her, the ends brushing against her thighs, against his bare chest and stomach. She held his hands, weaving their fingers together, and pushed his arms up so that they stretched over his head, leaning in to kiss him sweetly, her lips lingering on his.

“I will never find you wanting,” she murmured against his lips.

“Nor I, you,” he said. He freed one hand from her grip to move her hair from her face, gathering it all over one shoulder so the light of the galaxies and stars beyond could shine on her face again. “With these stars as my witness, I swear—you will always be enough for me.”

She stilled at those words, letting them wash over her and settle into her skin, into her chest, processing them. His words, the emotion behind them, the loving determination in his eyes, all of his was genuine, heartfelt, and deeply, deeply meant. It threatened to reduce Dani to tears again, but this time she swallowed them back and kissed him again, letting him know with every ounce of her being what that promise meant to her.

She thought she could never love him more than she already did. But hearing that promise from him—that she would always be enough for him—made her heart practically ache with love for him. She smothered his face with kisses until she was breathless, and he in turn tried to catch or return every one until he gave up and allowed himself to be smothered with a chuckle.

“I love you, Gale Dekarios,” she said at last, still hovering over him, her hair a curtain on one side of them both. 

He smiled up at her and reached up to brush her cheek. “And I love you, Meridan Zavrai. I always will.”

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale #gale dekarios #gale x tav #dani #meridan zavrai #my fic #oc #the order of events is actually what happened in my game #from rolan to the annals to lorroakan to cazador #like it was a wild day #and then when gale said 'i don't think i deserve you at times' #i thought ht had like...learned his lesson #nope #so anyway here is a rewrite #no edits we die like men

[im-am-not-a-weenie]

🍓playing with their hair for the first time

Writing bg3 hc Now! Will also still be doing rdr2 a/n at the bottom for more info! spelling errors

Gn Reader

Gale, astarion,halsin,

Establish relationships

🍓Gale

You see Gale sitting all alone enjoying a good book. He always looked cute when he was enjoying what he was reading, he looked so concentrated and expressive

You couldn’t help but walk over to the wizard. “Mind if I join you?”. He smiled and patted the ground beside him “Of course, what’s better than a good book? Good company to share it with”

You sat down and made yourself comfortable ” What are you reading” You looked curiously over at the book in the wizard's hands. “Ah, It’s nothing really, just another tail of dragons and knights. I could read it aloud if you wish?”

He looked a bit nervous “On second thought you’ve probably grown tired of hearing my voice”. You gave his arm a reassuring squeeze “Never”

You laid back, Gale didn’t look very comfortable, being hunched over “Here,” you said sweetly and pulled him down so his head was on your lap “Better?” He looked a little stiff but quickly regained his composure “Yes, yes it’s quite nice”

As He started to read Your hand absentmindedly went to his hair, and your fingers started to card through his brown locks, you felt him tense but then relax back into it

You closed your eyes and leaned your head back listening to him read, but after a long you heard him trail off, opening one of your eyes to peek at him you could see he was starting to doze

With a smile, you gently took the book out of his hands “Huh?” He opened his eyes to look at you. ”you were falling asleep” your hand still in his hair

“Could You…could you maybe keep doing that?” Gale mutters sheepishly. You just laughed softly and smiled

That night Gale fell asleep with a smile on his face and your hands in his hair

🍓astarion

The party decided it would be best to stay at a tavern that night, treating themselves and of course, astarion headed straight towards where the bath was located

It had been an hour and still no sign of him, getting a tad bit worried you decided to go check on him, you knocked on the door softly “Star? Are you alright in there?” You were met with a muffled “Yes darling quite alright”

After a few minutes you hesitantly “Can…can I come in?" he automatically responded with a "Yes darling"

as you opened the door thick clouds of steam poured out. "hurry my love, we wouldn't want it to get cold in here now would we?" astarion was sitting in a bath you could only assume was boiling hot water "Star, how hot is that bath? your skin is red" he waved off your concern

"now what did you need?" his eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I was hoping to join you honestly" his expression dropped as he opened his mouth to speak but then closed it

"You can say no" your voice filled with nothing but love and encouragement. he hesitates for a moment before finally saying "It's just I don't believe the tub would be big enough for us both that's all" he flashed you a charming smile. you knew there was a deeper reason but didn't push

"i was actually thinking of just sitting in here with you. Would that be ok?' he looked taken aback "You just wish to sit here with me that's all?" you gave a nod "Well I mean who wouldn't want to sit here and marvel at my beauty, go ahead"

as he reached for the soap you beat him to it "Here let me." pouring a generous amount of soap into your hands, making your way behind him, first lathering the soap in your hands before sinking them into his hair

"What are you doing?" his body tensed up slightly. "washing your hair what does it look like" teased him with a sweet voice as your fingers gently massaged his head. "I get that darling but why?" his voice sounded unsure, not used to non-sexual intimacy.

"Because I love you, and you deserve to get pampered" his breath caught in his throat and quickly cleared it "Of course I do, I'm glad we're on the same page." you gave him a small laugh as you kept washing his hair, he closed his eyes and lent back into your hands. you swear you could hear him purring

you both sat in comfortable silence until he softly said "I love you too" You could hear the faint smile on his lips without having to see it

🍓Halsin

this morning was a rare morning, not only did you wake up early voluntarily, but you woke before Halsin which never happened. (to be fair he just got back from a long and exhausting journey but still!)

waking up feeling warm. not sure if it was because of how the sun was hitting your face or because of the giant man holding you close to him

your eyes fluttered open and you were met with the sight of a sleeping Halsin. he looked peaceful. the sun made him look radiant, glowing almost, as his chest rose and fell with a steady rhythm. something else caught your eye. he had his hair down

yes his hair was always down but it was always pulled back, but this morning it sprawled messily over his pillow, and a couple stray strands laid on his face. you couldn't help but reach out and brush it away

his eyebrows frowned before he quietly spoke "Your hands are cold" You quickly retracted your hand. "sorry" you whispered back, Halsins eyes opened slolwy. blinking away the sleep, he smiled and grabbed your hand and placed it back on his cheek, and kissed the palm of your hand. "it's ok my heart"

you could feel your face heat up all you could do was smile dumbly "It's down" was all you said and tucked a few more pieces behind his ear. "does it bother you my heart?' you shook your head, all too eager to see the druid with his hair down. "no, I like it"

running your hand through his usually well-kept hair. "how is it so soft" you wondered out loud, Halsin just chuckled and let you have your fun.

he let out a content sigh. "awfully affectionate this morning. not that I mind" his lips pressed against your forehead. "Is something the matter?"

"no, I just missed my bear that's all" You studied his face, taking in every detail. "I think I finally understand the whole "appreciate nature's gift" thing." the druid just laughed warmly and shook his head fondly

the two of you spent all morning like that. his arms wrapped around you and you playing with his hair

🍓A/N

hey guys im back! so much as happened i graduated and im 19 now? life has been crazy!! i know this is different from my usual content but playing baulders gate gave me inspiration to write again. dont worry i will still take requests for RDR2 but i will also be writing for BG3. With that said im cleaning out my inbox so if you see your request finally go through a year later.............🤷‍♀️. i will also be taking BG3 requests. i did astarion, gale, and halsin i think i can write them comfortably. but do not be scared to request other characters if you really wanna see me write for them or have a really specific scenario in mind. i will also try to post every other Wednesday

love yall and thx for the support <3

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion #astarion x reader #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #gale x reader #halsin #halsin x reader

[restlesswritingss]

In which Astarion's confession doesn't go as planned

WARNINGS: Angst, normal warnings for talk of Astarion's backstory ie sexual abuse and talk.

Astarion wanted to be honest with you. You deserved honesty. You were wonderful and you deserved something real. He wanted things between you two to be real. But when he went to tell you all this, he'd cut himself off before he could get to that part. The hurt on your face had made the words die in his throat. Tears welled in your eyes and he could only watch in horrified silence as the realization that he had used you set in.

"I am so sorry," was all he could get out.

You let out a shaky sigh and turned your gaze to your feet, "I'm sorry as well that I made you feel like you had to put yourself through that for my protection. I shouldn't have been so bold in my desires for you. You've always been more than that to me and you owe me nothing."

Astarion wanted to vomit at hearing you blame yourself for his betrayal. Sure, your eyes had practically been hearts upon first glance at him and that had made it easy for him to choose you as his target, but that wasn't your fault. You'd had a crush and he'd used it against you.

"Tav, I," he reached out for you but you flinched away from him.

His hand hung in the air.

"It's ok Astarion. I'll be ok. I just need to be alone right now, if you want to feed from me once I fall asleep feel free. I still just want you to be safe and happy," you still wouldn't meet his eyes and that hurt the most. The fact that you didn't trust him to see your tears anymore.

He tried to speak again but you finally met his gaze and the pain he saw in it knocked the wind out of him.

"Thank you for being honest with me, please don't think this means I want you out of the camp. Please stay with us, I promise to get over myself and not bother you anymore with my feelings," you said.

Your voice was steady and you thanked whatever god you could think of for it. You couldn't let Astarion leave just because you were an idiot who couldn't control their romantic desires for him.

Astarion was in awe of your selflessness. He'd just broken your heart and all you said was that you hoped he stayed with the group. You should have screamed at him, slapped him even, gods knew he deserved it. But this, this kindness, was something he didn't deserve. He didn't deserve you. So he held the words he'd rehearsed over and over back. I want us to be real. You deserved real with someone better. Someone who wouldn't hurt you like this.

You'd turned away then and gone off somewhere in the forest. When Karlach had asked him he'd just said you needed some time alone. You didn't come back all night. Astarion took watch and spent the entire night staring into the fire wanting to burn himself alive. The shame was killing him. This wasn't something he'd done because Cazador had ordered it, he'd manipulated you over and over of his own free will. He'd listened as you opened up to him about your own issues with intimacy and past traumas from awful partners. He'd made you feel safe and loved with him, all just so you'd protect him. You hadn't deserved that. No one truly did.

The next morning you were back at camp cooking breakfast as it was your turn. Ever the dutiful leader. You were much quieter than usual and everyone glared at him for it. You two hadn't been exactly subtle about your budding romance and now you could barely look at him.

After giving everyone their food, you'd excused yourself back to your tent with a mumble about not sleeping well. It was an obvious fact due to the major bags under your eyes.

"What did you do?" Lae'zel spat with her fork pointed menacingly at him.

He tried to avoid everyone's gaze, especially the hope and glee that filled Gale's. It was also no secret the wizard had a crush on you and the idea of him finding pleasure in the demise of your relationship made all the goodwill the two had built up dissipate immediately. The girls were just glaring at him with friendly protectiveness but he still knew any of them would take the opportunity to jump your bones.

He seethed under it all, "We aren't together anymore and that's all the rest of you need to know." Nosy bastards.

"So you broke up with her," Halsin chimed in without taking his eyes off his breakfast like the calm annoying asshole he was, "her eyes were filled with too much passion for you for it have been her to break things off."

That instantly cooled Astarion's anger and want to lash out. Did you really look at him with love so obvious? All your other companions just nodded along to the druid's statement.

I hadn't wanted to break up with her, I'm just not ready for . . . whatever this all is.

Karlach gasped dramatically and he jumped up at the realization that they had all heard his thought.

"Get out of my head you bastards. Who I have in and out of my bed is no one's business but mine. Tav and I had our fun but now its run its course," Astarion spat at them all before stalking off into his tent.

The rest of your companions gave each other a knowing look.

"I just want them both to be happy!" Karlach cried.

Gale shook his head, "Well maybe they will be happier apart."

They all glared at him knowing the ulterior motives he had behind the statement.

You were trying your hardest to just be normal. Everyone had given you sidelong glances as you attempted to just pack up camp and move on with your adventure, but no one pushed you to talk. Astarion hadn't left his tent the whole time which had made it slightly easier to ignore the change in your relationship. But now, he was still inside it while everyone else was basically ready to go.

You stood outside his tent flap regretting becoming the de-facto leader of this group because it meant that it was left to you to get his ass out. Before his prissiness had been annoying but amusing. Now you were just annoyed since it meant you had to face your ex not even a full 24 hours after he'd told you in no uncertain terms that your whole relationship was just a lie.

It wasn't the first time you'd been used and discarded but it'd hurt more. It'd hurt because it wasn't his fault. All Astarion had known for 200 years was torture and manipulation, of course he'd perpetuate that cycle. You should have seen it. Why would Astarion ever want you anyway?

You took a deep breath in an attempt hold back the tears and tried to muster up the courage to knock on his tent post. But he scrambled to the entrance before you got the chance.

Astarion opened up his flap the second he realized you were standing outside his tent with a pathetic urgency and hope. He'd been meditating and had been too distracted to be fully aware of his surroundings. His chest squeezed at the knowledge you'd been reluctant to enter his tent. You were still welcome and wanted in his space anytime.

You raised your brows at him clumsily tripping over himself.

"H-hello Tav, what brings you over?" Astarion tried to save his dignity by standing up straight but the stuttering didn't help.

You frowned, face filled with concern at him being so off-kilter, "I just came over to let you know we are ready to head out whenever you are. Let me know if you need anything."

You internally kicked yourself for seeming like such a partner. You should have said any of you would help. No wonder he felt so obligated to play into your affections, you couldn't even turn it off when he'd explicitly told you he didn't want it.

Astarion could see you getting in your head about everything you said. He wanted to reach out and wipe away the crease in your brow and kiss the tip of your nose like he would've done just yesterday. But today it wasn't his place. He'd thrown that away.

Instead he just cleared his throat and said, "Thank you my dear. I'll get my ass in line quickly."

He tried to smile but it didn't reach his eyes. You flinched at the term of endearment, nodding and quickly turning away before you could truly react to it in front of him.

Astarion watched you walk away, only turning to pack up his things once you'd gone out into the forest yet again.

The continuous trek to Baldur's Gate was even worse now that you didn't have a cute rogue in your ear entertaining you. Instead now you had a know-it-all wizard practically breathing down your neck.

You'd known Gale had a crush on you but it'd never felt real. You hadn't even considered him before Astarion joined your group because it felt like you were just a stand in for Mystra. Gale didn't really want you, he wanted a partner and was trying to force you to fit his ideal version of that.

But then again, maybe you weren't the best judge of these things. Everything had felt real with Astarion. Even when he dissociated during intimacy, you'd felt able to pull him out of it and remind him that he could refuse you. He'd made you feel loved and wanted, but now you knew all of it had been a farce.

Gods he was a good actor and you were a fool.

Astarion seethed behind you as Gale pathetically vied for your attention. Gale barely even knew you yet he'd convinced himself he loved you. It made Astarion sick. Astarion had actually taken the time to speak with you, making him feel more justified in his own pining. Guilt stabbed him again as he remembered that he'd taken all the knowledge he'd learned of you to twist the knife further into your back. Even though his intentions had been nefarious, the end result of all his time spent with you left him in the same place as the wizard. Hopelessly in love with you.

At lease his love was based in reality though. That still made him better than Gale.

"Gale, leave our leader be. Her mind is already too clouded with her unrequited feelings for the vampire spawn," Laezel spat at the oaf. It made Astarion like her both more and less at the same time.

Gale turned around to glare at her while you kept your eyes forward to avoid seeing said vampire spawn's reaction.

Your shoulders slumped and you sighed exasperated, "Thank you Laezel for your tact and care when it comes to personal matters."

Everyone was now looking at Astarion, everyone but the one person he desperately wanted to as your head never even turned.

He scoffed and kept moving forward. That was all he could do. Speaking would have betrayed too much.

The rest of your day went by without a hitch or another awkward comment. You came upon an abandoned town with not much left to loot, but with intact houses that would provide protection for a night.

You all agreed to camp out there for the night to recharge before the next inevitable fight you'd encounter. It was your turn to gather firewood, a fact that made Astarion nervous as none of you had fully scoped out the surrounding forests. Everyone else had tasks or their own selfish reason for not volunteering to go with you, so it was left to him. He wanted to feel burdened or annoyed but there was excitement at being alone with you again flowing through him where blood would be.

It'd only been a day since your disastrous conversation and yet he felt the hole your absence left as if it'd been centuries. He was pathetic.

He came up behind you loudly so as not to sneak up on you just as you were about to head out.

"I suppose it goes without saying that you need a companion to explore the woods," He began trying to seem put out but the moment your gaze fixed on him his voice dropped and he finished quietly, "please let me accompany you."

Your brow furrowed again and it drove Astarion crazy. He wanted to comfort you when that look crossed your face, not be the cause of it.

"I appreciate the offer, but please don't feel like you have to," your voice was strained as you tried to give him an out.

"I want to."

You sighed obviously not believing him but not having an argument in you, "Ok."

With that, you turned and headed out without glancing back him. He kept close, closer than necessary but not as close as he wanted to be. It only took him a couple minutes of silence to break. As soon as you were out of ear shot of the group, he grabbed your elbow to get your attention.

You stopped abruptly and spun directly into his chest. His arms came up to catch you as you stumbled, and for a moment you relaxed into his embrace. But then your mind caught up and you pulled away.

"Sorry," You blushed and went to turn back to your task.

"Tav we need to talk," His voice was shakier than he wanted, but he couldn't hold himself back. He was going to be selfish despite his best efforts.

Your gaze snapped to him, panic coloring your features.

"Please don't leave the group, I'm sorry if I've made you uncomfortable," You spat out quickly, desperately.

Astarion hated hearing you beg for him in this way, as if you did anything wrong and didn't deserve his companionship. It was something he could never wrap his head around.

"Tav, no I wanted to talk about our conversation yesterday. I didn't leave it exactly where I wanted. There was more I had to say but I couldn't get it out after hurting you the way I did."

There was that damn crinkle in between your brows again. He was resigning to spend the rest of his life ensuring you never worried again. Granted you would want him around for the rest of his life.

"I also didn't say everything I wanted to," you began with a voice soaked in guilt, "I know I already apologized but I cannot express enough through words or actions how sorry I am I made you force yourself to sleep with me. I'm not an idiot and I knew you wouldn't have looked twice at me unless there was something in it for you. I'm sorry I let my personal feelings cloud my better judgement. It was obvious you were playing me and seducing me not out of want or desire, but I just wanted to believe you returned my feelings."

You took a deep breath after your word vomit, then opened your mouth to continue but he cut you off with a yell.

"I took advantage of your affections, and you beg me for forgiveness? I have to contradict you my love because you are in fact an idiot. You did nothing wrong," he was exasperated with your self-flagellation, "I'm not made of glass! I wanted to fuck you and I enjoyed it too! Which is the entire problem! As I said, I had a nice simple plan but you had to go and fuck it up by not only being a good lay but also the first person I've ever truly cared about! And how could you assume I would never want you! It's absurd! Especially when you are all I have wanted since our first meeting in that damned bush! You don't get to put words in my mouth and assign feelings to me that aren't mine. I didn't manipulate or sleep with you because you eyed me up everyday, I did it because I wanted your protection and I saw an easy way to get it."

He huffed, tired from his emotional outburst but added one last thing, "I'm the villain here. Not you. It was never you."

You were stunned, every word he said floating around in your brain but latching onto one vital thing, "Wait you enjoyed the sex we had?"

Astarion huffed again and threw his arms up, ever the dramatic one, "Of course I enjoyed the sex we had! You're a vision, and you're so much more than that. It was the first time I'd ever truly felt connected with someone."

"I, I just felt so awful thinking that it hadn't been what you wanted but what you'd forced yourself to do," tears were falling at the realization that you hadn't hurt him in that way.

Astarion realized what had really been eating away at you, he hadn't wanted you to ever feel guilty on his behalf. The fact that you did warmed him in an unnamable way.

"Our time together meant everything to me and I just couldn't bear that it had been at the expense of your suffering," you sighed.

Astarion scoffed, "Being with you never caused me suffering. Except, well, the guilt that ate away at me for manipulating your feelings."

You tried to interrupt him but he held up his finger.

"Ah ah ah, love. You don't get to say that I wasn't. I was. I saw your attraction to me and it made you an easy target. I chose to seduce you and manipulate you for my own game. My plan was simple. It was easy, instinctual. 200 years of habit kicked in. So imagine how stupid I felt when I genuinely started to feel something for you."

That seemed to knock some sense into you. Relief overwhelmed you at the knowledge that he returned your feelings.

Seeing the relief and pure love in your eyes for him made Astarion's brain go haywire. He immediately cupped your face in his hands and pulled your mouth to his in a way that was more aggressive than he ever wanted to be with you. He devoured your mouth. He always tried to be delicate with you even when he was still telling himself you were just a means to an end, but in this moment he couldn't hold back his own passion for you. The feeling terrified him but the feel of your body kept him grounded.

Finally you pulled away for air and he cursed your human dependencies. But it gave him a moment to remember what else he had wanted to say.

"You deserve something real, I want us to be real. I just, don't know what that looks like. I've never been with someone who I wasn't going to bring back to my master for their gruesome death and I know things are different with us. I will never let him touch you, but it still all feels tainted," He breathed the words onto you face, not being able to bear another moment without your touch. One day was long enough.

You rubbed soothing circles onto his lower back where your arms had wrapped around him during your embrace.

There was nothing but devotion and pure love in your eyes as you gazed up at him, understanding the part he couldn't voice out loud and never pushing him beyond his limits.

"That's ok, we can take this as slow as you need if you even want to change it all. I meant it when I said that you are so much more to me than sex. I'm content to just be in your company," you breathed back at him still recovering from the kissing.

He loved leaving you breathless.

He then groaned dramatically and buried his face in the crook of your neck as he mumbled, "But I do so want to make Gale listen to me ravish you all night."

You laughed loud and boisterous, Astarion's favorite laugh of yours that was only his to hear unencumbered by your normal reservations to be quieter around others. He kissed under your jaw but wretched himself away.

"I want to work up to us being intimate together again. I want you so desperately it quite literally hurts, but I am just not there yet. Please don't give up on me," His voice faltered at the end as he met your eyes and saw tears once again filling them.

This time though you let him see them and he let you see him in all his damaged glory.

You just kissed him hoping to convey into it all that you felt. You were never giving up on him again.

Author's Note: Alright ladies let's fucking go, new hyper fixation on a white haired man unlocked! I may write more for Astarion (or Gale hehe) if people want. I haven't played the game myself bc my pc sucks and is only built for rune factory and stardew valley so I'm sorry if this isn't fully game accurate I've only seen playthroughs. As for DND lore wise, I am going to be taking liberties bc it's MY maladaptive daydream and I'll do what I want!

#astarion x reader #astarion x tav

[bullieving-in-amour]

Cuddling away the chill (and complaining).

Fandom : Baldur's Gate Rating : Teens and Ups, SFW Pairing : Astarion/Gale/Halsin/Reader Dynamic : Non specified dynamic Tags : Gender Neutral Reader, Polyamory, Fluff, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Sleepy Cuddles, Comfort

Summary :

You'd spent plenty of time trying to warm by the fire, wrapped in a cocoon of blanket - even thick, comfortable clothes... But it seemed the night chill was winning still, as you groaned from your burrito of warmth that wasn't quite enough.

"Can we cuddle ?"

You'd spent plenty of time trying to warm by the fire, wrapped in a cocoon of blanket - even thick, comfortable clothes... But it seemed the night chill was winning still, as you groaned from your burrito of warmth that wasn't quite enough.

In an angry waddle, you went to Astarion, sitting and shuffling close with a grumpy noise.

"What is it, darling ?" He asked without looking up from his book.

"'mcold.'"

"Sounds awful. Perish well."

You whined and gave him kicked puppy eyes, the chill helping to make your eyes look extra watery.

"Darling ! You know this does nothing to me. Frankly, I'm offended you even try." Astarion huffed, giving you an unimpressed look and a little pout.

"But I'm cold ! Astarion, I'm cold !"

"Yes, yes, I gathered. What am I supposed to do about that, mmh ?"

"Can we cuddle ?"

A pause, a quirked eyebrow, and a once-over.

"I'm undead. My skin is not warm." He bluntly said.

"Cuddles have special warm magic, it's fine."

Astarion snorted, unable to help the amused stretch of his lips.

"Mmh, fine, let's say you're speaking the truth. What do I get, for giving you this... magic ?" He drawled.

"...Cuddles ?"

The vampire sighed, rolled his eyes, and opened an arm for you to shuffle near. You did just that, curling up against his chest, nuzzling your face against his shirt. You felt his arm go around you, hold loose, but a hold nonetheless.

Later, long enough for Astarion's body to have warmed up with your own natural body heat, came a miracle in the form of a wizard holding two steaming cups, walking your way. It was the scent of the beverage that'd alerted you, as cozy as you were (chill put aside), not paying attention to your surroundings.

You shifted to sit next to Astarion and out of his arms, letting him receive his own drink as well. Blood freshly gotten, and handled in a way that would get it warm and still tasty. You supposed cooking blood wouldn't be too far off Gale's skills.

Said man sat next to you, his shoulder leaning against yours without thought. You felt another shoulder nudge you, on your other side, and a glance showed you ruby red eyes unsubtly telling you to go to the wizard. Ah. What a good matchmaker.

You definitely deserved this level of non-existing subtlety.

With a soft hum, you changed the way you sat, leaning heavily against Gale's side. He gave a surprised hum, like he never would have expected you to, despite your many shared cuddles and moments together, but a genuinely happy smile appeared. A rather excited one, too, at that, and he didn't wait a second to wrap his arm around your shoulders, bringing you to him. His soft sleeping clothes and his very own softness made his warmth all that more enjoyable. You sighed into your drink, feeling pleased. You sighed again when you felt a pair of cool lips kiss your temple. Astarion smiled, before leaning to Gale to kiss him as well, planting a peck on his eyebrow. He got up and moved to a different spot, where Scratch and Cub were resting, presumably to steal a bit of attention and warmth from them both, while enjoying his drink.

"Do you need another blanket, my love ?" Gale asked, voice soft against your ear, like he was sharing a secret.

"I think I'm okay for now." You hummed after taking a few sips of his gifted miracle.

"Well," he nuzzled behind your ear, cold tip making you scowl, prompting him to kiss the spot instead, "Don't hesitate to let me know."

You nodded, lost in the sauce, nearly at the point of pressing your face to the cup. You leaned into the kisses he continued to press, silently encouraging him to continue doting on you.

Still, far too quickly did the - far too quickly empty - cup lose its warmth, the chill overpowering it. You scowled as you blew air on your now hurting fingers. It wasn't cold enough to be any dangerous unless you were to stay unmoving for hours, but you were sensitive to it and dangit, it sucked.

Burning big hands grabbed yours, gently taking your fingers to be held towards the owner's mouth, as he blew hot air on them with the patience of a saint until you were able to move them without trouble.

Halsin smiled, keeping the extremities safe from the chill within the confine of his cupped hands and the targeting of his warm breath. Gale pressed another kiss on the back of your neck, smiling as he felt you relax again.

"You should move in Gale's tent, my heart." Halsin suggested before pressing a strong kiss on the back of your fingers.

"But I'm comfy here. I like it."

"Your body does not."

"He's right. You've been getting more tense from the cold." Gale murmured, thumb tracing a circle on your shoulder. "And he's one of our healers. His word goes, my love."

Halsin chuckled, low and warm against your skin.

"Is that true ? I recall a certain person present here who would not heed my words and fell sick quicker than I had even anticipated."

"A fluke, nothing else, I assure you- Whoever it is-" Gale sputtered, before hiding away into your neck. Halsin chuckled again, voice full of mirth, leaning in a way that dwarfed the both of you, kissing the crown of Gale's head with a fond noise.

"Still, I cannot help but think everyone would be much better off enjoying the fruits of our wizard's knowledge. A perfectly heated tent for us all to delight in intimate affection sounds more than appealing." The druid spoke, voice becoming lower as he went, want and desire to simply enjoy his loves' presence and warmth more than apparent.

"Naked cuddle ?" Astarion asked from his spot further away, suddenly interested.

"If you wish so." Halsin simply smiled.

"I will... Keep my clothes, but I do not stop you three if you wish to... Disrobe." Gale murmured, before clearing his throat.

You made a little grumpy sniff, before kissing Gale's cheek.

"Fine, let's cuddle in your tent."

Halsin chuckled in amusement, Astarion stretched up with a mumbled 'finally', and Gale lit up, helping you to stand. There was worse out there, you supposed, and maybe you could at least follow for a good time, even if it wasn't for your current stubborn mood.

So that was where you were, not long after, tangled among warm and warming bodies, everyone following their comfort with the level of dressing of their person.

Often, Halsin would find himself to be the one targeted to cuddle around, with his hot, comfortable, and larger frame, which delighted him more than anything, no matter if he were giving or receiving attention.

Tonight however, it seemed you were the landmark for the others to circle, leaving you melting under many little, and big, attentions and touches.

You were very much not cold anymore, and hopefully, that wouldn't change anytime soon.

#my writing #baldur's gate 3 x reader #bg3 x reader #astarion x reader #gale x reader #halsin x reader #astarion x gale #gale dekarios x reader #astarion x halsin #gale x halsin #gale x astarion #halsin x astarion #halsin x gale #fluff #slice of life #cuddles #kisses #non specified dynamic #gender neutral reader #polyamory

[fatale-distraction]

Kar’niss x Tav... Tav helps Kar'niss clean himself up after taking him in?

Not sure if this turned out how you were expecting, dearest Anon, but here’s a thing!

~~~

"Hold still, now," Qilue murmured, dabbing carefully at the drider's temple with a damp cloth. Kar'niss had settled himself near the fire pit, legs folded beneath him obediently while his newest mistress scrubbed at his face with a gentility he had become so unaccustomed to, his shattered mind couldn't recall the last time someone had treated him with such tender care. He had thought The Absolute had been good to him, rewarded his devotion with such generosity. It was nothing compared to this new mistress, her touch feather light and full of love. Even as the drider peered with mixed suspicion and curiousity around the camp, a purr began to rumble in his chest, accompanied by the occasional anxious chitter over his new surroundings. Water sloshed in the bucket at Qilue's side as she rinsed the rag and squeezed it out. Kar'niss winced away when she swept it around his primary eyes and moved on to the secondary ones dotting the left side of his face. Her touch remained gentle while she murmured comforting words in a low voice and continued scrubbing the filth from his mottled skin. She moved to the jagged scarring that split his face, blood boiling as she tried not to remember the circumstances behind it, the vicious snake-headed whip that had flayed skin and muscle to the bone.

"How long do you think it's going to take you with that little scrap?"

"Shut up, Astarion."

"Excuse me, I am asking a genuine question," the vampire scoffed. "Wouldn't it be easier to just have Gale soak him?"

Gale glanced up from his book. "I'm sorry," he quipped. "You may be curious about what an angry, soaking wet, mentally unstable drider tearing through our camp would look like, but I am not."

Kar'niss hissed and both men snapped their mouths shut. Qilue barely restrained a smirk as she washed behind his ears. "Behave yourself, my love," she instructed fondly.

The drider shrank. "Forgive us, mistress," he babbled. "We are loyal, and she is kind, we will behave."

The drow woman pet his lank white hair and whispered to him in a soothing tone. "Ssh, Kar'niss. I'm not your mistress," she reminded him. "Don't be afraid, you won't be punished. Just be nice."

His trembling eased as he stared with trepidation at the curious woman. "No punishment?"

"No punishment," she assured him, wiping down his neck. Dirt and grime flaked away from the chitin, and it began to take on a dull shine as she scrubbed. Kar'niss let his eyes drift shut. It felt so good; the abrasive cloth and her gentle touch cleaning away months of misery and leaving behind raw skin and gleaming carapace. The purr returned and tentatively he bowed his forehead to hers.

"Thank you, mistress," he said in an awed whisper. "We do not deserve your kindness, your mercy."

"I'm not your mistress," Qilue reminded him again, smiling as she attempted to continue her scrubbing with his forehead pressed to hers. "And kindness is always deserved. It is not something that needs to be earned."

"Yes, my queen."

"No."

"Savior?”

"Try again."

His eyes flickered open and considered her with confusion. "But then, what shall we call you, my lady?"

"My name," she insisted. "Qilue."

A shudder ran through his body. Moonlight. Yes. It had frightened him at first, that bright orb floating in the sky, surrounded by knife-points of glittering stars, but he had quickly grown to love it. The moon was good to him, it was kind. It lit the way in the dark and scattered the shadows. "My light," he gasped in a hoarse, pained whine.

The rag dropped from Qilue's fingers to land on the ground with a wet slap. Hope shone in her eyes and she clutched his clawed hands to her chest.

"Yes!" she cried, tears stinging her eyes. "Yes, Kar'niss, that's what you used to call me! Do you remember?"

"No!" he wailed, clutching his head with sharp claws and staggering back, his body quaking. "No, there was no one. NO ONE. There was only the Absolute, only the Spider Bitch before her. No one else. No light, no light..."

The companions' hands went to their weapons, but they held their positions at a panicked signal from their leader.

"Ssh, darling, it's alright," she murmured, approaching the shaking drider with a soft step. "Come back to me. You're safe."

"We are NEVER safe," he snarled, lips peeling back to reveal his glinting fangs. "The things in the darkness are always there, watching, waiting, HUNGERING."

A pale, bluish light flickered to life in Qilue's palm. The bard murmured a simple, soothing song for his ears alone. The tune was one she had written for him, long ago, to fit the words of his favorite poem. The effect was startingly instantaneous. His breathing slowed, all of his eyes swivelling toward her with an intent, watery gaze. He lowered his hands from his face, pin-pricks of blood left behind from his claws. The companions relaxed slightly as he quieted, lowering his body back toward the ground, entranced by the song and the light.

"Moonlight," he murmured again, broken voice choked with tears. "That was her name, Moonlight...she was my light--MY light, and she was good and she was kind...and they took her away and they broke her and they HURT her--"

Qilue shushed him again, gently gathering him into her arms. "She's okay, Kar'niss. She's alright now. Try to remember her face," she urged, taking his face in her hands and focusing his frantically wandering attention on her face. "Remember my face, my love."

It took several minutes of coaxing to calm the drider enough to resume his bath, her attempts to trigger his memories of her fruitless. Qilue's companions awkwardly relaxed their grips on their weapons and resumed their rest, each trying to pretend they hadn't heard Kar'niss' words. Astarion stormed away from the camp after a few moments, snatching up the moon lantern and muttering in a dark rage that he needed to feed. If anyone heard an agonized scream in the dark, cut off with a sudden, wet squelch, they pretended not to hear that as well. Qilue continued her work, intentionally oblivious, humming her little song every time Kar'niss began to tremble and fret again.

~

Before long, Minthara emerged from the tent she had kicked Halsin out of, bleary-eyed from a deep trance and crunching on a burnt meat-kabob of uncertain origin. She came to an abrupt halt as she came upon the drider-bath-time, eyes shot wide open, half-eaten kabob partially raised to her mouth. She swallowed and lowered the meat.

"There is a drider in our camp,” she rasped.

"Yes," confirmed Qilue, not looking up from her intent polishing of a chitinous shoulder-plate.

"Why is there a drider in our camp."

"His name is Kar'niss."

"WHY is there a DRIDER in our CAMP," enunciated Minthara raggedly.

"He's Qilue's ex-boyfriend," Astarion snapped, stepping back into camp, dragging a badly mangled body behind him and wiping his bloodied mouth with the back of his hand. He dropped the blood in front of Kar'niss. "For you, darling. If I'm not allowed to snack on our friends in the middle of the night, neither are you."

All seven of Kar'niss' eyes widened hungrily at the sight and smell of the half-drained corpse, breath quickening. Qilue put her hands on her hips. "I JUST finished washing his face, Astarion!" she complained. "He's going to get blood everywhere all over again!"

"Let the drider eat!" several strangled voices chorused. The young drow sighed and dropped her rag in the bucket.

"Very well. Try not to make a mess, my love..."

Licking his lips, Kar'niss pounced on the body, sinking his teeth in and gulping down the cooling blood with a moan of ecstasy, babbling his gracious thanks until Qilue scolded him for eating with his mouth full. Her friends averted their eyes and tried not to feel sick as he tore into his meal, with the exception of Lae'zel and Minthara who looked on with interest, and Astarion, who remained disinterested.

"I am going to need a better explanation than that," Minthara said at last, turning back to her fellow countrywoman. "How in the hells did you end up with a drider for a mate?"

"He's not my ex-boyfriend," sighed Qilue, massaging her temple and flopping down in front of the fire. "Or my mate. He's...I don't know what we were. But he wasn't a drider then."

Minthara's eyebrows lifted, a nearly sympathetic expression that fit strangely on her face. "I...see. My condolences. That is not a fate I would wish on my second-worst enemy, but any who would willingly take on a trial of Lolth--"

"It was not willingly," bit out Qilue, holding back tears. The warden's eyebrows climbed higher. "It was a punishment. The Matron Bitch offered him choice between life or death, and he chose ME."

"You surname," the Nightwarden suddenly demanded. "You hail from Menzoberanzan, do you not? What house are you from?"

"Valtaya," Qilue spat.

"House Valtaya..." Minthara mused. "Yes, I recall. Your mother was an idiot."

"I know."

The pair were silent for a moment as Qilue continued to stare into the flames.

"Would it comfort you to know that your eldest sister now leads your house?"

"Oh?" hummed Qilue lightly, eyes unfocused. Kar'niss had slowed his feasting and listened intently, his attention fixed on the drow women as blood dripped down his chin.

Minthara nodded. "The rumor was that she grew tired of your Matron's wasteful, fruitless ambitions and stabbed her ninety-five times in her sleep. The deed was praised quite highly by those who dared mention it.”

Qilue laughed under her breath. "It was ninety-seven. And my sister didn't do it. I did."

"I see." The warden didn't seem surprised. "Why ninety-seven?"

"One for every year of my life," she replied too easily. "And the poison coating the blade was for Kar'niss."

"The stories didn't mention the poison. What kind?"

"Drider vemon, ironically. I didn't even know of his fate then. They told me he was dead."

Minthara hummed. "It would have been better if he was."

"I know."

"And what of the Patron?" asked Qilue after a moment, dragging the water bucket closer, giving it a casual inspection. The water needed changing, murky and black with dirt, dried blood, and gods knew what else. "Did the rumors mention his fate?"

"He is no longer the Patron, but from my understanding still leads your family's guard."

Qilue scowled. "He was supposed to kill himself. I even gave him a clean knife, which was more than he deserved. Fucker."

A snort burst from the other drow. "If you trusted a male to do the proper thing unsupervised, you're a fool."

"Apparently." Qilue tipped the bucket, spilling water downhill. Gale, listening and watching the exchange with interest, refilled it with a wave of his hand.

"How's that for supervision?" he muttered, mocking the warden's distainful tone.

"Your males are useful," Minthara, having overheard his disrespectful grumbling, pitched her voice to carry. "But poorly trained."

Qilue stifled a laugh as Gale bristled and opened his mouth to retort just as Kar'niss licked the blood from his chin with a tongue much longer than it should have been, half of his eyes squinting in concentration. Gale gagged instead, Astarion chortling as he examined his nails and leaned back against a pillow in front of his tent, one leg propped up on the other.

"I can't speak for Gale, but I'll have you know," the vampire drawled. "That I am in fact MOSTLY house-trained, thank you very much."

"Shut up, Astarion," the drow women and Gale ordered in unison.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur’s gate fanfiction #bg3 fanfiction #Qilue Valtaya #minthara #nightwarden minthara #kar’niss #drider #astarion #astarion ancunin #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #kar’niss x tav #drow culture #tw: violence #tw: abuse #Astarion shared his juice box with Kar’Niss 🥺 #sorry if Minthy is ooc I’m still getting familiar with her #shut up astarion #bath time for the spidey #writing down fatalities

[animentality]

It's tough because I hate the Astarion haters on Reddit, who are just misogynistic and homophobic and dismissive of the character because they hate how gay he acts and also how many women love him.

but I also hate BookTok Astarion fangirls who feel the need to assert how superior Astarion is on every fucking Gale, Wyll, Halsin, Shadowheart, Minthara, Lae'zel, Karlach or pretty much any BG3 video at all. Like we get it. He's white.

And then I'm ambivalent on the Tumblr Astarion fans because there are the people who simply like him and make fun art and fun meta analysis about him, and then there are the people in my inbox currently telling me that Astarion's Ascended ending is morally correct and it's not a bad ending for the character, and if I disagree, then I hate women.

You're correct that I hate women, but it has nothing to do with Astarion.

Also, I once again point out, that your own husbando literally tells you outright in both endings that being Ascended ruins/ruined who he used to be and also your love for one another.

Your man literally says that your love would have been corrupted by becoming his spawn, and you still cling to the idea that your character is living happily ever after.

He's not making you a vampire queen, he's making you a vampire pet. And it's fine to like that ending. I don't care if you LIKE bad, unhappy endings. That is your prerogative. But you are simply incorrect if you say that it's the "happy" ending for the character, when it clearly is not.

No one ever said you had to use your skull for anything other than cold cut storage, I just don't see why it's even necessary to argue your point to me.

Stay in your Astarion echo chamber, and block me. I don't have time or energy to block all of you.

Anyway.

It sucks because I really like Astarion, he's my favorite love interest.

I really enjoy his storyline and his growth as a person and how sweet he is. He's also very funny. All the companions have great voice acting behind them, but Neil really knocked it out of the park, and I honestly think the character would be far less popular if they'd picked any other actor.

But the fandom around him is just...awful.

It's a mixed bag of normal, unnormal in a fun way, and unnormal in a "you need to fucking step off in this Walmart bitch" way.

It's why I'd rather interact with Dark Urge and Gortash fans.

Much smaller subset of the fandom, so I don't have to deal with the generic crazies, and we're all such freaks that we don't feel the need to go around acting like Gortash is a good person.

I also only ever see people saying these two are fucking disgusting and horrible and I'd murder them in real life and honestly, true and based.

No happy endings for those two, and that's fine for me. In fact, it's great.

See, Astarion girlies, this is called...knowing your ship doesn't deserve a happy ending after all they have done, and knowing it wouldn't be a happy ending if they got together, but being able to acknowledge that and not get bent out of shape trying to justify it.

Stop tying your irl morality to your tastes in fiction.

I never said that liking the ascended ending made you a bad person in real life.

I just said that pretending it's good and happy and great and not continuing the cycle of abuse, is factually incorrect.

And it is.

Every single bad ending for all the love interests is literally continuing the cycle of abuse. Why would Astarion's be any different?

But maybe I'm being bold in assuming you even know the other love interests exist or have stories. Maybe you don't even know the general story of baldur's gate 3, because it is, as you say, the vampire dating sim, and it's definitely not about anything other than banging the sexy vampire.

Media literacy weeps.

Anyway.

Not ruining my enjoyment of the game.

Just my general tolerance for the fandom that is not Durge and Gortash obsessed.

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #dark urge #enver gortash

[kirain]

your gale takes actually got me to look deeper into forgotten realms lore (esp where it pertains to the afterlife) and long story short i’m at least a little bit fixated on it now and also will go to bat for that wizard basically at any point. also wild magic. i’ve been reading so much about wild magic, it’s so so interesting. esp wild magic sourced from the far realm and the implications that could have for a wild magic mage in esp the bg3 setting

Thank you, I'm so glad to hear that! I'm still learning about the lore myself (there's so much), and we should all be thanking Larian for introducing so many new people to D&D!

Wild magic is insane, and I had a great time using it with my sorcerer. The magic system in general is truly fascinating, as is its history in context of the game. It's just too bad it's linked to a god. I think I've said this before, but an irksome detail about Mystra is that she technically isn't a "bad" god, but she should definitely keep her fingers to herself. Every iteration has done objectively horrible things to mortals, but because she's written by a man who clearly favours her (in my humble opinion) nothing she does is presented as wrong. 😒

These asks actually reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine. He basically said, "Elminster is on Mystra's side and he cares about Gale, so obviously Mystra is right." But here's the thing:

Not only is Eliminster a really annoying self-insert made by Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms (and I mean that literally, he's admitted he's a self-insert), but Eliminster has also had ... "relations" with his surrogate daughter. He's betrayed his friends for Mystra. He's killed arguably innocent people. So you'll have to forgive me if I don't look to him for moral guidance. He also slept with the previous iterations of Mystra and blindly follows her commands, so he might just be a teensy bit biased. In fact, if you look at various forums, you'll see a lot of players complaining about the character's irritating Gary Stu status, and that Dungeon Masters hate putting him in their campaigns.

Elminster will never question Mystra, because in his mind she's a perfect being who deserves everything, including people's lives; ignoring the fact that pretty much every god in D&D is canonically flawed. He's the type of person who would tell a grieving parent that God took their recently deceased child for "reasons we cannot comprehend".

He says he took no pleasure in burdening Gale with her ultimatum, but let's be real—he wasn't that hurt by it. In fact, the Elminster we meet in game isn't even real. It's a snow clone. He couldn't be bothered to visit Gale, who he apparently respects and cares about, in person. The only time he shows any genuine emotion towards Gale is in the ascended epilogue, when he writes him a disappointed letter. And I wouldn't be surprised if that disappointment is more about him challenging Mystra than actually achieving godhood.

Though it should be said that Elminster is also a victim of Mystra. The iteration before Midnight (current Mystra) groomed and abused him for a millenia, yet for some reason we, the audience, are supposed to pretend there's nothing wrong with that. If anything, we're supposed to view it as "sexy". As if Gale and Elminster are "lucky" to have caught her attention.

Reading up on the lore surrounding these two is truly horrifying. Elminster is old enough now that his actions are informed and unforgivable. He helps Mystra groom boys to exploit and never questions her. He's not merely complacent, he's active in her ploys. Despite his numerous heroic feats, I personally can't overlook it, especially when he could have been Gale's biggest defender.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #larian studios #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #bg3 mystra #elminster #lore

[moonffe]

my lips might've slipped

ethan landry pt3

pt1 pt2 warnings: same as previous part, mentions of daddy kink, smooching mwah mwah, ARGUING (that's literally what the book is about)

a/n: please ignore how the writing style changes like three times throughout the chapter. also my cat scratched me yesterday and i was in pain while proofreading this

Wayne called your name, your eyes immediately narrowing. The hospital lights were too bright— you couldn't see properly. You tried to sit up, but a twinge of pain in the middle of your forehead made you squeak and fall back onto the pillows supporting your back.

“Easy, don't hurt yourself.” Ethan's father reached out to support your elbow. You blinked until your eyes adapted to the lighting, giving Wayne a nod to signal it was okay to let go. “Are you feeling alright? You got stitches. Doctor said no organs were damaged.”

You wanted to say "thank God", or at least say that to yourself, but you wouldn't exactly be angry at life or God himself if you died. You deserved it. You deserved every thing that was going wrong in your life, and yet you were crying like a school girl and begging for mercy. You almost snuffled at his words, though the situation wasn't exactly amusing. “Yeah, I wonder why.”

“You just need to get high and patched up so the wound doesn't open.” His eyes briefly focused on your stomach, then back at your face. “You think you can do it, or should I call Quinn?”

Your eyes widened in disagreement. “She has stuff to take care of. I'll do it.” You surveyed the room, curious. Did anyone even come to visit you? You didn't notice when you passed out. You couldn't remember the exact moment. You felt weak, though. It could be because you had just woken up or because you lost a lot of blood. “How do I get out of here?” You asked, the man in front of you seemingly thoughtful for a moment.

“I'm sure I can make up an excuse.”

The door to your room opening made you flinch. Ethan's tall form walking through made your pulse quicken. He was holding a dead woman by the wrist. “Here's your excuse.” He breathed out.

“Fuck— ing Christ, Ethan.” You winced, but his face looked innocent when the two of you made eye contact. “How the fuck did you get that in here?”

“We're the only ones on this floor thanks to Dad.” He sighed, edging your bed to put the woman down.

“That doesn't really tell me why.” You raised your eyebrows, stretching your sore torso to get a better look at her face. You noticed the finger marks on her neck. He choked her. “Ew.” Your eyes met his. “Who is she?”

“Don't know. Some random nurse.”

“We'll just put her under the covers and make sure no one tries to come in. You're recovering, no doctor is coming to check on you.” Wayne told you, nudging her hand with his boot as he still sat on the edge of your bed.

You playfully rolled your eyes before responding. "Well, that's comforting.”

“It'll be fine. You have enough time to go to Gale’s and back here.” Ethan's dad got up, making a disgusted face when he had to avoid the corpse on the floor. “We'll think of something if it takes you longer than expected.”

“Okay…” You stared at the woman for a little too long, snapping out of it with twisted lips. “Do you guys have my—”

“Here.” Ethan knew what you wanted before you said it out loud, as usual. He approached to give you your phone. “Picked it up on my way out.”

You were just interested in answering your best friend’s text. Your fingers brushed when you took it, and you wished you could feel that warmth for a little longer. Maybe he thought the same, because his features soured further when he backed away. “Thanks, Ethan.”

“Any time.”

“She's calling you by your name now.” Wayne interrupted the moment. The two of you glared at him. “What happened to ‘asshole’?” He looked at you, eyebrows raising. “Or ‘fuckhead’?”

“Dad.” Ethan grumbled.

Well, that was mean. You felt a little bad for his dad. “We're not on bad terms anymore.” You tried to be a little nicer.

“Took a while.” He said, and you immediately regretted how compassionate you were. “Pitty, really. You're going to be around the group while he and Quinn do all the dirty job.”

You raised an eyebrow, but you didn't feel offended. This was usual Wayne Kirsh behavior. “Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“Would you be mad if it was?”

"Dad." Ethan seethed, his tone more intense than before.

You shot the brunet with a “I know” look, but he didn't give a shit. He was still pacing and clenching his jaw. “Will you calm down?” You asked, and he shook his head.

“No, I'm not letting him—”

“Is there a way to change that?” You blurted out. Ethan took offense in your words, stepping back and snuffling. God.

“You're supposed to be at the theater.” Wayne just sided-eyed his son, not caring. “We can't show three Ghostfaces, Y/N. You'll have to stick with the targets.”

“Fuck.”

“Good luck, alright? Don't get hurt.”

“Thank you, Wayne.” You faked a smile, and he returned it. He turned around to leave, stopping short before crossing the door.

“Are you coming with me?”

His son looked him up and down, shaking his head grimly. “I need to speak to her.”

You rubbed your temples as Wayne peeked his head in to analyze the room. He looked at you, then at Ethan, eyebrows raised. “I'll lock the door.”

Ethan's arms were crossed over his stomach as he waited for his dad to leave. You looked at his face, but he was focused on the floor. You finally heard the elevator, and you sighed.

“How are you feeling?” He started walking towards your bed, sitting where Wayne was sitting just a minute ago. His hand went to your thigh, squeezing it over the blanket affectionately. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“Not more than usual.” You said. You wished you didn't, but you always leaned into his touch. Ethan's eyes softened, his lower lip catching between his teeth.

You were helping Richie make a movie a few years ago, and let's say the main actress wasn't exactly weak. You took the damage.

“I still feel bad about that.” He focused on his hand on your thigh, leaning down to plant a kiss there. “Left a scar.”

He was going to kill you every time he did shit like that. You glanced at your heart monitor, but he didn't even notice your labored breathing with what you were about to say. “Told Sam my ex boyfriend was abusive.”

The look he gave you was feral, demanding. “Did you strip in front of her or something?”

“Jesus. I was wearing shorts, Ethan.”

He didn't look convinced at all when he stared at you that way, but he ended up blinking, looking down at his hand. “Had my right to ask.”

You hated when he was that way. You fucking hated it. “You didn't, actually. You don't need to know every person I hook up with.”

You knew he felt his blood burn at your words, and you enjoyed it. “Y/N.” He called you out, shoulders visibly tense. He hated what you were doing.

“What?”

“Don't say that.” He failed to keep the possessive growl out of his voice. “I want you so bad it might actually kill me. Please don't say that.”

“Funny words coming from a murderer. Am I supposed to be flattered or running away from you?” You rasped, glaring.

Ethan looked away to recompose himself, raising his eyebrows with fake surprise. “Whatever turns you on.”

You paused. This time, he noticed your heart monitor. He smiled, tongue between his teeth as he looked at you, waiting for your explanation.

“What? Am I wrong for getting scared at how unhinged you are?” You lied, Ethan's eyelashes fluttered as he held back a chuckle. You were trying hard not to, but you also let out a laugh. “That's actually disgusting. What you said.”

“You think so?” He flopped on his side, biting his lip as he fidgeted with the blanket covering your knee. “Because there's more from where that came from.” The realization that he was being playful but serious with his words made you swallow. Hard.

“What are we doing, Ethan?” You asked. He focused on the sight of your knee, still playing a little with the blanket, and shrugged.

He could be the antagonist of the story and whatever people wanted to call him, but he wasn't a psychopath. He could feel. He showed emotion. And you were beginning to think he was the most vulnerable when he was around you.

“We can't just get back together for the fuck of it. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I do.” He sounded like he was clenching his jaw when he raised his head. “But would it be so bad? I mean— my dad wouldn't give a shit, and neither would Quinn. So why worry?”

“Because we hurt people.” Your guts tightened at your own words. “We're even more dangerous when we're together.”

“Do you still think about it?” He questioned, his eyebrows furrowing. “About him?”

God. “Please don't bring that up right now. I don't care about him, I care about what we could do to the people we love.”

“You love me. Think about what you're doing to me.” He looked dire as his doe eyes pierced into yours, he clenched his jaw. “I can't keep it out of my head, Y/N.”

You let out a sigh. The conversation was starting to annoy you. “Keep what out of your head?”

“You.” He confessed. You were holding back so many words as his face slowly transitioned from crazed, to sad. “Did you think about it? About getting back together?”

“Do you really not give a shit about anything?”

“I give a shit about you. About us. And that's all I'm focusing on.”

You closed your eyes. God, was that man persistent. He pulled you into a hug without waiting for a response, his strong arms wrapping around you protectively. His lips pressed against the top of your head, whispering reassurances into your hair that fell short to everything you were feeling. You never got your happy ending. You wondered if you ever would. First, it was because of fear. And now, it was because you tried, and it didn't end well. But you never stopped loving him.

His cologne went straight into your nostrils as you surrendered into the embrace, a muffled sound of pleasure escaping your lips when his fingers started running through your hair carefully. You were trying hard not to bawl your eyes out. “History won't repeat itself, sweetheart.” He whispered against your hair. “We're going through some messed up shit, and I don't want you to deal with all that on your own.” You pulled away slightly, just enough to look into his eyes. “Let me love you, Y/N.”

“And if I say no?” You asked, just out of pure curiosity. You had tried to imagine a life without him these past months, but nothing made sense in your mind. You genuinely considered suicide after getting revenge for Richie.

You couldn't like without him. You couldn't live without him always touching your thigh or holding your hand under the table when you were in public, without him constantly bringing you coffee and buying you dinner because your parents were never home, and never cared enough like he did.

Without him waiting for your classes to be over, and seeing that sweet smile of his when he spotted you between the crowd. You couldn't live seeing him waiting outside another girl's classroom and have her seeking his approval so much she dressed as Spider-Gwen for him. You couldn't.

He took a deep breath, sounding pained. He was avoiding your eyes as he kept stroking and playing with your hair. “I'll leave after we get the job done.”

“To a different city?”

He nodded, your left ear suddenly becoming the most interesting thing in the world. “Maybe finish my major.”

“You don't have a major, Ethan.” You felt a knot forming in your stomach, but the brunet still looked nonchalant as if he wasn't telling you about how you weren't gonna see him anymore.

“I'll think of something.”

“I don't want you to.” You immediately retorted.

“Then take me back.” Ethan looked at you, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Yours drifted downwards, caught between his puppy eyes and pink lips before sighing. “Fuck it.” You muttered, pulling him on top of you. The slow kiss deepened as you held the back of his neck, his hands lightly resting on your waist, fingers tracing circles over the material of your hospital gown. Ethan's elbows framed your head, and he chuckled into your mouth, your heart monitor was going insane. “I'm gonna kill you.”

“Then get off me.” you teased, a smile playing on your lips. Ethan pressed one last kiss onto your mouth just as the door swung open. Wayne didn't seem surprised.

“Interrupting something?”

Ethan asked for your opinion with only a look, his forearm pressed above your head, shooting an angry look at his dad. "I thought you said you'd lock the door.”

“Forgot.” He shrugged. Your boyfriend rolled his eyes and began to sit up, making sure not to hurt you with his body weight. “You need to leave, Y/N. We don't have that much time.”

You never exactly hated Wayne, but you never got along with him either. Between his dad and his mom… you preferred his dad.

“I know.” You said, half-lidded eyes searching for Ethan. He slowly exhaled, walking over to your hospital bed and holding your hands as he helped you up.

"I'll walk you out.” Ethan offered in a low tone.

You got high on painkillers. Like— severely high. Fully conscious and with your 5 senses intact, but hyperactive. Like you owned a bag of fucking amphetamines. It helped you stab Gale In the stomach with a piece of broken glass after you landed on her coffee table and broke it, It also helped you run after Sam shot you on the arm.

You stumbled into the first apartment that caught your eye, knowing it was empty by the looks of it. Your hands were bloody, so were your legs. You were sliding and constantly tripping on the wooden floor before you finally reached the couch.

You pressed your back against the arm rest, face scrunched up in pain. You were seeing a lot of blood, you were scared to let go of your shoulder and bleed out. What kind of pathetic death would that be? You looked around, mostly to calm yourself down. Your pulse was over the sky, and you had the impression that was making you bleed even more.

Where was Ethan? He was hidden at Gale's apartment because he refused to let you do the job on your own. Well, you succeeded without his help, like you always did. And now he was nowhere to be seen just because he woke up feeling protective of you. What if he tried looking for you, and someone saw him? What if he got hurt? You cursed the boy you loved under your breath. You had to get up. Now.

You rolled onto your stomach, on your hands and knees, trying to stand up when the sound of the front door creaking open almost made you shit yourself. You immediately grasped the knife next to you. Ethan had a horrified look on his face that only worsened when he noticed the blood on the floor. You lowered your knife. Thank God it was him.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit. Y/N.” He exclaimed, rushing towards you. "Tell me where it hurts." His eyes scanned your bloody form, focusing on your bicep. "Here?” His erratic gaze met yours. At your nod, he wrapped an arm under your shoulders to help you up. The pain making you yelp. “We're gonna fix you up. Brand new, baby. Keep your eyes open for me.”

“How the fuck are we supposed to leave?” You hugged back, groaning. Maybe it wasn't just your shoulder. What if your stitches opened? “The police already got here, E, Sam's in the building—”

“Can you walk?” He asked, dismissing everything you just said. What the fuck? He gave you a once-over with wrinkles on his forehead. “Good. Lean on me.”

“Ethan.” You scowled. “Answer me.”

A groan erupted from his throat. He pressed you up against him and held the back of your head so you wouldn’t hit yourself against the wall. He was walking towards the door. “We're gonna make a run for it.”

“Anyone could see us if we walk through that door.” You growled. “And if Sam’s still looking for me after I ran off, we’re gonna bump into her. Who the fuck told you I could run?”

He looked down at you. “Do we have another option?”

No, you didn't. “If I die, it's your fault.” You warned.

“If you die, I'll kill myself.” He assured you.

Ethan opened the door and peeked his head out to look in both directions, he pulled you out with him. You ended up on the street, walking through crowds of nosey people like you couldn't feel your blood slowly stop pumping to your brain.

Ethan's hand was pressed on your arm, he ripped the sleeve of his polo shirt to wrap it around your bicep and stop the bleeding, but you weren't sure it was helping. Ethan kept whispering concerned sweet nothings into your ear, but you couldn't take it anymore. You were giving up.

You wearily pushed Ethan away, who just stared at you as you walked on your own and stumbled up the stoop. You sprawled out, fingers grazing the gateway to the lobby. Now you were just being dramatic.

“Need me to carry you?” Ethan knelt down, distress written all over his face. “I can't treat that here, Y/N. Someone might see us.” He glanced around, but the streets were dark except for the lights from some windows and light posts, and you didn't have that much time to get to the theater.

“What if they don't? If someone walks by, they'll probably think we're making out.” You fluttered your eyelashes, trying to convince him. He went silent and sighed in a fatherly way.

“Does it hurt a lot?” He placed a hand on your waist, the contact making you flinch. “Easy, easy… it's just me.” He unwrapped the cloth from your arm carefully, the chilly night air hitting your wound and making you shiver. Ethan tried to calm you down, moving his hand to your face to caress your cheek. He stared at your wound, and his eyebrows drew together in pondering. “The bullet just grazed you.” He said softly. “You need antibiotics and some stitches.”

“Uh-huh.” You nodded. You were losing strength, and with just a second of looking at your face, he became aware.

“You're gonna be okay.” He pressed a gentle kiss on your forehead. “I'll do this fast. I don't want you to be in pain, it hurts me too.”

“Boyfriend of the year.” You joked, but he didn't seem amused.

“I try.” And he kissed you again.

Ethan had to do some research before moving to Manhattan. The four of you did, actually. Like how to treat a wound. Quinn was fast. Really fast. Wayne could get away with a lot of shit because he worked for the NYPD. You, a good actress, could be around the group all day and have some good alibis.

Ethan was the most skilled with his hands, so he was the one designated to deal with situations like this. But there was a flaw attached to them. They trembled. Frequently.

They said it could be some kind of PTSD, and it only started happening after Richie's death. But it always hurt your heart seeing this big, serious, aggressive guy show his soft side when his bony fingers started trembling. You grabbed his hand softly, Ethan looked at you, puzzled by your actions before you brought his wrist to your mouth and kissed it.

You gave his hand a last squeeze before letting go. You felt his eyes on you while you took enough painkillers to last through Act III. More like… sedate you, through Act III. “You alright?” He asked, and you nodded.

“High as fuck, but I feel better.” You glanced at the bloody cloths around you, knowing you had to get rid of them. Where the fuck did he leave his backpack? “Thank you, Eth.”

“C'mere.” He opened his arms wide in response, a sound of pleasure escaping his lips after you curled up into a ball in his arms. He kissed your cheek, chin moving to rest on top of your head. “You hadn't called me that in so long.”

“What? Eth?” He hummed, kissing your hair. “You didn't exactly give me reasons to, so…”

Ethan showed you a sweet smile, his eyes on your lips like he was fighting the urge to kiss you. “I don't wanna leave…” He mumbled, rubbing his nose against your hair.

You looked at your cloak next to you, grabbing it to get your phone. Ethan's hand held the back of your neck as you pressed your cheek hardly against his chest. 9:30 PM. “We could stay here a little longer.”

“Good.” Gently craning your head with the hold he had on you, your eyelashes made contact with your skin, his breath warm against your bare neck. He started kissing it, a popping sound ringing in your ears with every kiss. His grip around your waist tightened.

He pulled away from your mouth after a few minutes of making out, panting softly, and he asked. “Why did you do it?” His Adam's apple moved as he swallowed, damp lips parted. “If you don't mind me asking. It was so sudden, I just—”

“What?”

“You know what I mean.” He told you with a raspy voice. You could try to explain, but you didn't have the mind for it at the moment. He probably didn't, either. The last ounce of energy the two of you had wasted it on all the kisses you missed in a year.

Ethan whimpered as you hid a sweaty curl behind his ear. “Would we be on bad terms if I said I don't want to talk about it?”

He looked into your eyes silently, but shook his head right after. “I can't afford losing you.” He kissed your forehead, and then pushed you onto his chest again. “Not for the second time.”

“I regret it,” You gave his exposed, glistening neck a light kiss. He was kinda sweaty, but you didn't mind. You wiped some of the sweat with your wrist, biting your lip. “Killing them.”

“You did it for a good cause.” He reminded you, but he didn't get it.

“I can't stop thinking about it.”

“You don't need them, baby.” He purred, his fingers tracing figures on your waist. “You have me.”

His comforting eyes haltered at the almost mocking look you held. “You're not my dad.”

“I could be. From now on.”

“Ew.” You laughed, but kissed his chin to not make him feel like you were making fun of him. “I'm older than you.”

He hated when you brought up his age, looking like an angry toddler. "It's only two years.”

“Remember how much the girls from your grade would bully you because you liked someone older?” Ethan's eyebrows rose in disbelief.

“Older and my sister's best friend.” He held your wrists, rubbing his thumb over the weak veins. “It was a hard year.”

“Every year is hard.”

He shook his head, raising his eyes to yours. “They weren't when you were in them.”

You had to pause at his angel eyes. You didn't deserve him. “I'm sorry it ended like that.”

“I'm grateful it started like this.” He nodded, cupping your jaw with a hand as he leaned in and kissed your lips again. You moaned into his mouth, his fingers tangling between locks of your messy hair and tugging at it to kiss you deeper. His tongue felt almost apologetic as his eyebrows furrowed.

You and Ethan had gone through hell, and maybe the way to get over everything is if you were together. Really together. Not stealing glances from each corner of crowded rooms and walking away as if the other wasn't on your mind before falling asleep or while kissing someone else.

“Jeez.” Your best friend's voice made you pull away instantly and wipe the wetness of your lips. Ethan's eyes were wide, and there was that sparkle in them that only appeared when you kissed him. “You're supposed to buy her dinner before you shove your tongue down her throat, pig.” She slapped Ethan's shoulder.

“Quinn—” He was about to speak, but you cut him off, shaking your head.

“She knows.”

“That's not what I was going to ask.” He glanced at you, then back at his sister. “Do we have to leave?”

Quinn nodded. “Dad’s on his way.” He wasn't surprised? At all? Quinn narrowed her eyes at the two of you. “Go on, talk.”

“About what?” You frowned.

“Are you back together?”

“We were never together.”

She crossed her arms, acting like the good cop in questioning. “I saw the van moving that night in the woods—” Oh my God.

“Jesus, Quinn!”

She looked genuinely confused. “I'm being honest here.”

“So you just decided to keep quiet until one of us told you?” Ethan raised an eyebrow as he stared at his sister, placing a comforting hand on the small of your back and pinching your skin to remind you everything was alright.

You tried to push his hand away, but he didn't care and just kept rubbing your back. You sighed and surrendered. Ethan pinched you again when you rested your head on his shoulder.

“It would've been disrespectful. I didn't want to make you guys uncomfortable.” Your best friend admitted. “I wasn't spying on you, but it was kinda obvious. Paul got scared.”

You winced at the name of one of her boyfriends. “I don't wanna know about that fucker.”

“He was a good kisser.”

“What did I just say?”

“Sorry.” She pursed her lips. “You're never kissing me again, though. You have E’s saliva now.” Quinn nudged her brother's shoulder with her phone. Your boyfriend glared at her.

“You've been with I don't know how many abusive guys and I'm the man that disgusts you?” He asked, his features softening shortly after when you placed your hand over his on the cold concrete, kissing his cheek.

“What makes you think I didn't have it before?” Quinn paused, putting her hands up.

“I'm not sleeping tonight.” The way she shook her head made you laugh.

“He's your brother. It's like sharing a glass of water.” Your eyes asked the brunet for his opinion, but he had no idea what you were talking about as his got smaller. “You've never done that before?” You scowled.

“I only did that with mom.” Quinn confessed, earning a dirty look from her brother.

“What kind of incestuous shit is that? I've never done that.”

You slapped his arm. Hard. And he chuckled. “Don't look at me like I'm the freak here. The two of you have killed more people than I have.”

Chad's scream echoed through the lobby. Your eyes widened as Quinn thrust the knife into him right before you, Tara, and Sam.

Tara attempted to run towards Chad, but you held her back, Sam following suit, gripping her arm. The three of you were practically wheezing for all the running, but the only thing you were concerned about was if Ethan got hurt after Chad threw that camera at him. Well, the fuck was getting what he deserved.

They continued stabbing Chad, back and forth. You and Sam exchanged a look as you held Tara. Bad thing was, you didn't know what, but there was something wrong with that look. Something that prepared you for the moment she released her sister to grab you instead.

She caught you off guard. You went face first into her neck, hollering when she drove Billy's knife into your stomach. The siblings immediately halted their assault on Chad. You tried to move, but she had a tight hold on you.

“What are you doing!?” Tara cried, and Sam twisted the knife inside you, prompting another scream. She pulled it out, shoving you towards the two Ghostfaces. You landed on Ethan's body, and he instantly hugged you, his chest against your back as you clutched your stomach.

“She's one of them,” Sam stated, tucking away the knife in her belt. “And that one?” She pointed at the arms around you, smiling. “That's Ethan.”

Tara's eyes betrayed her as she looked at you for longer than needed, but you weren't showing any emotion that wasn't rage. “How do you—”

Wayne burst through the door behind the two sisters. You all looked up, and Ethan's father just huffed. “Fuck, so soon?”

You glanced up as Ethan removed his mask, revealing his teeth as he panted. He hugged you tighter, pressing his body against yours protectively. “She knows." You nodded your head at Wayne, and he shrugged.

“In that case…” He drew his gun, making all of you jump when he shot Chad. Wasn't he already dead? He stumbled to the floor, and Tara started crying even harder. Quinn took off her mask as well.

“How did you find out?” Ethan's father asked, the affable tone in his voice immediately ruining as he pointed his gun at the sisters. “Don't move.” He commanded, Sam pulled Tara behind her in response.

“Tate.” She croaked, her eyes shifting to you in a mocking way. “Your boyfriend should be more careful, Y/N.”

“Shut the fuck up.” You hissed, Ethan giving you a small squeeze to apologize. You looked up at him. “I told you…” You murmured, low enough for just the two of you to hear. His eyebrows twitched.

The Kirshes did all the explaining. Ethan held you close to him, stepping back whenever Sam shot a glare your way. How did Sam find out? She found it odd how much Ethan was talking about you with Chad when he barely knew you, so she went after Tate.

She refused to tell her anything about Ethan at first, but she eventually agreed. It wasn't just her betraying him, since Sam made it a deal after paying her to talk. No wonder she wasn't worried about her fucking wallet.

Tate followed Ethan. She somehow snatched his phone when he was distracted and shared his live location with herself. She saw him leaving with you from an emergency exit at the hospital— then she texted Sam. Telling her that he didn't go all the way up to “talk to you and make things right” like he told Chad.

Something about hating someone until, well— they ended up like Mindy and there was no turning back.

Wayne explained the rules. Exactly what would happen before the police arrived, then it all happened too fast. Wayne tried to grab Tara from Sam to continue with the plan and kill her, but Sam managed to get his gun and shoot him. In the forehead. The three of you froze before Quinn screamed and lunged at Sam, the two began wrestling on the floor while you ran after Tara.

You took her down and wrapped your hands around her neck, but she started scratching you and trying to choke you as well. You were unaware that she was reaching for a knife next to her on the floor until Ethan grabbed and tossed you aside before she could stab you. He took the knife from her hand, Sam's screech hurting your ears. You couldn't blame her; your boyfriend just slit her sister's throat.

Sam desperately stabbed Quinn in the stomach, pushing her away and crawling towards Tara. Quinn grabbed her ankle, pressing her dad's gun against her temple. Sam didn't even put up a fight anymore, she was crying. Your eyes widened as Tara grabbed you by the wrist and started tugging at you. How…? You heard the gunshot at the same time Ethan's curls swayed in the corner of your eye. He whisked Tara away from you again.

You and Quinn exchanged a glance, but there was no time for words or processing. Your priority was to get up and leave everything ready. The police were on their way. Quinn supported you, her grip firm on your shoulder to help you stand straight.

Ethan was straddling Tara, stabbing her back and forth, grunting with each thrust. You were breathing heavily, too focused on Wayne's form to form any proper thought. There was no humanly way that he was alive. No, no, no, no, no, Quinn— You saw the ginger quail in pain at the sight of her dad. You grabbed her wrist to offer comfort, but she didn't even glance at you.

“Ethan, stop.” She entreated, her hands shaking. Ethan remained undeterred, Quinn started panicking further. “Ethan, stop!” She begged.

Her brother raised his head to look at the two of you, exhaling with exhaustion. He got up. “She tried,” he said, taking a deep breath as he redirected his knife from Tara to you. “To hurt her.”

“And she got what she deserved.” You gulped, yanking the knife away from his grasp. “But it was enough.”

“Was it, now?” Ethan rasped, his pallid face smeared by blood contorting to show fake confusion. He took his knife back from your hand, kissing your knuckles.

“Don't do this.” You called him out, memories flooding back into your head and making you shiver. “I'm here. Nothing happened to me.”

“You're still bleeding, Y/N.” He harshly reminded you, getting on his knees to look at your wound. Ethan blenched. “Shit, it's deep.” He traced a finger next to the wound. “We need to do this fast. Billy's mask is somewhere near the stage.”

Quinn sniffed, causing you and Ethan to turn and look at her. She was beside Wayne's body, crying. “I'll get it.” She offered, letting go of her father's hand and rushing to the door before you could say anything.

She was struck in the head the moment she left the room. Ethan instinctively pulled you behind him as the sight of your best friend falling to the floor made your heart skip a beat. Danny. Holding the same fucking camera that hit Ethan on the head.

Ethan glanced back at you as you yanked Wayne's gun from the floor and shot Sam's boyfriend. You saw him fall to the floor next to Quinn, and you immediately ran. “Quinn!” You dropped to your knees, desperate to ensure she was still breathing. You pressed two fingers against her throat, sighing. “You okay?”

She nodded, eyes closing with tiredness as her head laid on your lap. Ethan walked behind you and knelt down. He placed his chin on your shoulder as you stroked Quinn's hair affectionately. You gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “Get Billy's mask.”

Ethan rose from his chair at the dining table the moment he saw you crossing the door. His watery, wide eyes stirred a pang of sadness in your heart that made you run towards him and almost knock him over. “Ethan, I'm so sorry…”

He gripped your sweatshirt, holding you close to him. Quinn joined, wrapping her arms around both of you from behind. Their scents mixed together as the three of you stayed there for a moment.

You could feel both of their chests move, and you didn't want to let go. Seeing the siblings with puffy eyes and colored cheeks was making your throat tighten—you couldn't take it. You pulled away slowly, Quinn's head moving to rest on your shoulder while Ethan stood beside you in silence. Their parents looked at you, and it was obvious they had been crying too.

“What happened?” You choked out. Fucking Richie—what went wrong? You didn't say goodbye to him, and it was killing you. It was killing all of you. “Do they know who did it?”

“Not yet,” Wayne cleared his throat. “There's not much information—They found him lying next to his girlfriend.”

“Amber?” You frowned, and he nodded. Shit. “I'm so sorry.”

He quietly thanked you, but Nicole, Ethan's mother, rudely looked away from you the second you tried to give your condolences. You didn't take offense at the gesture. She hated seeing you and Ethan together—That was one of the main reasons you couldn't allow yourself to be with him. One of your major concerns. A concern you felt slip from your fingers when his son held your hand, giving it a soft squeeze that meant the world to you.

You looked up at his eyes, and he gave you a small nod, sniffing. “We'll find out what happened.” you promised, hoping to comfort him.

“I don't think that'll make anything better.” he admitted. You tried not to let out a strangled cry and hugged his waist again. You didn't even care about his mom right now, and neither did he as he rubbed your back.

You started distancing yourself from Ethan. But not because you didn't love him anymore—it was exactly the contrary. He wasn't okay. He couldn't sleep at night. He had night terrors— he didn't even attend his prom. Nothing was okay.

You tried to be as helpful as you could, always kissing all over his face and letting him lay on your chest while you played with his fluffy hair. You played your role as the girlfriend anyone wanted. You watched all the Star Wars movies with him, literally everything related to Marvel and DC.

You pretended not to notice the side eyes he gave you to make sure you were paying attention to the movie. Just when everything seemed right, you would find him crying, to the point he was choking on his own tears. You couldn't save him. Couldn't fix him.

Nothing was helping.

You thought maybe he needed some time. Some time to recollect his thoughts. Realize Richie was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. You got the impression you became a burden—interfering with his life path.

It was one rainy afternoon when the two of you were running back home that you planted an apologetic kiss on his quivering lips. Ethan asked for your motive, smart enough to know something was off. Why did it feel like you were apologizing about something that hadn't happened yet, but you didn't say a word.

You stopped seeing Ethan so oftenly. You would say no when he asked you out, look away when your eyes met and make up an excuse of why you had to stop every time he kissed you for too long.

You believed it was four months before he asked you to meet up with him at the porch of your house, giving you a red rose before confessing he was dumping you. He looked aggrieved, but you could literally see the redness of his eyes and hear his trembling voice before he walked away.

So you moved on. Tried to. Visiting Quinn at home became uncomfortable. The piercing stares Ethan would give you every time he came downstairs to get something from the kitchen or pick up the mail.

He confronted you. Out of nowhere. When no one was home and your best friend asked you to get her laptop from her room. He was raising his voice, and you were too. But it was agonizing to yell at the person you loved and pretend like you weren't suppressing the urge to kiss him right there and tell him everything would be okay, as long as he let you protect him.

It shouldn't have surprised you. You didn't know why your heart was aching so badly. Your hands shook, the blood on your palms slowly leaking down to the dead body in front of you. It was taking every fiber in your being to not cry and maintain your strong appearance. But maybe it was too late for that. Your knees had already faltered and made you fall next to Johnny, your now deceased ex-boyfriend.

'What the fuck were you thinking!?” You turned to look at an angry looking Ethan standing behind you. He wheezed as you hit his chest with the sides of your fists over and over again. You started sobbing, staining his white hoodie with blood. “He didn't have anything to do with us! Why did you do that to him!?'”

You were dragging him backwards, but he wasn't saying a word. He was letting you vent—you weren't even hitting him that hard. You wish you weren't such a fucking softie to actually beat the shit out of him. "I'm sorry I have feelings, Y/N." He grumbled. "I'm sorry I had to look for a way to feel better."

"By killing him!?" You cried out, pushing him onto the wall behind him with all your strength. Ethan placed his arm over his stomach, choking out a breath. That did hurt him.

"He was getting in my way." He muttered.

"And!? You're the one who broke up with me! You! It was you!"

"And you're the one who stopped having feelings for me!" He raised his wavering voice, looking down at you with hatred. "So I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I felt like ripping my fucking heart out when I saw you with him. You weren't supposed to find out, okay? I wouldn't do that to you. I had no idea you were going to show up right now."

You stared at him in disbelief, feeling your heart break. You had an extra pair of keys to Johnny's house. You were looking for him for the party he was taking you to when you found… this. A gasping Ethan gripping one of Richie's knives. You took a step back, leaving him against the wall. He didn't move from that spot, breathing in and out almost violently. "We weren't dating, you know? He became my friend after we broke up two years ago, and I only started coming to his house because I wasn't feeling alright and needed someone to talk to. I can't even talk to Quinn anymore because you're up my ass all day."

Ethan snuffled, throwing his hoodie aside after he took it off. "What am I supposed to do with that?"

"Realize you were fucking wrong.” You spat. "And this?" You pointed at Johnny, swallowing the knot in your throat. "This little fucking stunt you tried to pull? Just gives me a reason to leave our relationship the way it is right now."

"And that's it?" He inquired, a sarcastic smile dancing across his mouth. "You're never giving me a second chance because I killed your little friend?”

"Friend, Ethan. Friend. That's the key word of that sentence." A frown formed as you scrutinized him, eventually shaking your head in disdain. "Go fuck yourself, will you?”

Seconds. Seconds before he regretted it and you heard him call your name in a softer voice. You kept walking.

this might be a stupid thing to clarify, BUT— in case someone's curious about the timeline....

they mention in the movie that scream 5 took place one year ago, but they moved to new york six months ago. everything that happens after the kitchen scene is those six months BEFORE new york. ill give more details in the next chapter though.

#ethan landry #ethan landry x reader #ethan landry x fem!reader #ghostface #jack champion #scream vi #ethan landry angst

[i-professional-procrastinator]

It's really funny how Gale clearly has more haters than Snow.

It's strange how Snow has sympathizers even. Don't get me wrong, I love him, he's so well written and I thank Suzanne Collins' pen everyday but being a great character doesn't make him a good character...? Tom blyth did an excellent job and I have nothing but love for him. But people act like his Snow and Donald Sutherland's Snow are two different people. I personally don't think Snow had an ounce of goodness in him, or anything to question his fucked morals. That man made deliberate choices. He took the wrong actions on purpose. He chose himself over doing the right thing each time. Sure he was shaken up by Sejanus' death or killing for the first time in the arena (remember though, that made him feel powerful, that says a lot), but that didn't stop him from choosing to do that again. He got worse with time. He was always evil just not accustomed to the consequences I guess? There's not a lot of gray area when it comes to Coriolanus Snow. The sympathizers (there are SO MANY on twitter) often forget that Tigris went through the same things and still chose to be better. Snow was always a terrible person. I can't think of a suitable way to add his inner monologue to the movie but honestly that would have helped immensely because HIS THOUGHTS ARE ALWAYS INSANE and give so much insight into his growth...from a bad person to a far worse person.

Gale on the other hand is a product of war. War has no winners and Gale is the prime example of that. Sure he fought for the "right side", he fought for his people, he fought to save lives but that's didn't protect him from getting innocent blood on his hands. Gale also took the "wrong" actions I guess but unlike Snow, I don't think he had a choice. As Katniss said he's fire, like her. He fought because there was no other option, and he went in with all his heat. He got burned too. He lost a lot, putting aside Katniss, the PTSD and the trauma. He deserves to get shit for killing civilians but there was a lot behind that awful step than just "Gale evil, Gale wanted people (read Prim, most of the fandom would not have cared if it wasn't Prim but that's a topic for another day) dead."

Gale is a far more complex person than Snow (I didn't say character because I'm not talking about writing, ofc the villain is better written than a supporting character ) and he deserves respect for that. I think the early/mid 2010s shipping wars did a lot of damage to his rep. And all this is coming from an everlark shipper so just think about it for a second.

Ignore typos it's 3:31 AM. Thank you for coming to my Ted-Talk. I do not respond well to constructive criticism.

#tldr #snow always sucked #don't sympathize with him #give gale a little bit of sympathy tho please #thg series #thg #the hunger games #thg movies #hunger games #he sucked in the love triangle tho that's true #gale hawthorne #peeta mellark #katniss everdeen #katniss and gale #katniss and peeta #everlark #coryo snow #coriolanus snow #president snow #dont try to convince me that coryo and coriolanus are different im not dealing w that bs #also he killed finnick #finnick odair #johanna mason #haymitch abernathy #effie trinket #beetee latier #tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #lucy gray baird #don't get me started on how lucy gray was a possession to own for him

[theonethatslowlyfade]

Tav headbutting her way to Astarion's heart

Have your daily source of amusement with me :3

"Well, I don't think I'll be having any flings here on the road, but I suppose when we finally get to Baldur's Gate..." Astarion trails off, before returning to the previous topic of conversation. "Do you like anyone, in the party? A friend I should watch out for, maybe?"

"Gods..." He's an idiot you think, your hand on your forehead covering your disappointed eyes. A friend he can watch out for. Really? You're naked in a river in front of him without a flinch and he's asking in who you're interested? "Sure. Someone with red eyes, pale skin, a little dramatic and flamboyant at times - maybe you know who it is? You've seen him around, somewhere?" you mock him openly. But after a moment you almost feel like you can see the idea going in one ear and out the other. He just doesn't seem to get it. "Ah, right. You mean Gale? Yeah, I know him - I mean, I know who you're talking about, anyway. You two seem close." He looks away again, and you wonder if he realizes that you're practically dropping hints all over his lap. He's really an idiot. you think again, harder, not even knowing if laugh or cry or leaving the water to headbutt him directly. Maybe the latter. "Gale is human with brown hair and eyes... maybe you should wear a pair of lens, dear. Try again."

"Right... right... you said red eyes, pale skin, dramatic and flamboyant... that's Lae'Zel." ...He still doesn't get it, and it's almost amusing to watch him try to figure this out - just how dense can he be?

Now he just want to be beaten badly. A hint of desperation shows in your eyes. You head near him, exiting the river, and without concern for your body being covered by nothing you close distance with him, grab his chemise on the chest, and headbutt him for real. Not in an hurting manner. "The dots! You have to connect the dots! It's you, idiot!"

Astarion blinks as you pull back. "Me? You're interested in me?" The words just come out of his mouth. It took all that, a whole headbutt after he'd made himself look like a fool for a good few minutes before he put two and together, and he's still not even sure he's reading you right. "I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to that... but aren't you interested in Gale? It definitely seems like the two of you are close..."

"Oh Gods." Your eyes are twiching slightly, you can't believe what you're hearing. You give him another hell of a bonk, always an headbutt, always without hurting for real - but he deserved it *so much*.

"Talk again about Gale and I'll headbutt you again, and I swear my forehead is quite solid."

He rubs the spot you headbutted, and his eyes narrow at you. "Fine, fine, I get it! You're flirting with me. And here I was, thinking you were flirting with Gale this whole time! But... what exactly makes you interested in me..? Am I just a consolation prize because Gale isn't available?"

"Ah, no no no, you said Gale again! Two times." You bonk him again, but this time less harder. "Im interested in whatever Im interested. Why do you care? Consolation prize, Tsk." You're the one blushing till the tip of your ears.

He gives you a look as he rubs his forehead again, though he at least lets out the first bit of genuine laughter he's had in weeks. "Ouch! Damnit, that was the first time I didn't mess up a name..." He sighs, then pauses, taking a moment before he continues. He looks down, and when he looks back at you there's a hint of softness to his expression - even something almost reminiscent of vulnerability. "I've spent my entire life wondering if I'm nothing but a cheap and easy substitute... I guess it's just an habit of mine..."

#astarion #astarion x tav #astarion x reader #astarion x you #astarion ancunin #baldur's gate 3 #fanfic

[galedekarios]

also, regarding gale’s “best ending” can we get into how after elminster’s visit, every character, including astarion, says how awful it would be for gale to sacrifice himself?? it’s just like there’s no argument that makes sense for why someone ending their own life would ever be the right choice.

“hm yes i am very smart gale’s best ending is the one that every single character does not like”

it just makes no sense at all. YOU MADE HIM!!! you made him so why don’t you like your son!!!? it’s so odd to me why gale is the odd one out when he’s no more harmful or annoying than any other character!!

and just. so much of this fandom’s discourse is about what the “right” ending is. there is no “right” ending. we know this. you can have favorites, and some are more satisfying or well written than others, but in the end the joy of the game is that there is a whole world of decisions to make.

maybe MAYBE if he had said, “I personally like Gale’s sacrifice ending” and actually went into it with care and any semblance of media literacy FOR YOUR OWN GAME, it would have been so so much better than. THAT. because the scene and tim’s performance is fantastic and heartbreaking, and the epilogue is tragic and beautifully angsty. but any time anyone says “this is the right and best and only choice” with their whole chest maybe a little dogpiling is deserved.

i think that's very much the heart of the matter with the criticism that many people, myself included have.

it wouldn't have been a problem to voice a preference for how the story ends. that's normal, everyone has that in some way or another.

what they should have never said is that there is a "right" ending "in many ways" for gale - and then framing the ending where you let him sacrifice himself for no conceivable at this point in the narrative while contextualising it as gale giving "himself for the world at the end" because he's "the guy who starts off annoying everyone", "constantly asking you to give him your most priced possessions to eat", and how he "had the chance once before but wasn't ready for it".

not only are these statements factually wrong, but they send an extremely disgusting message to the people who see their own struggles in gale's.

also is someone saying this is dogpiling? i don't know if i would agree with that. if you say these things on a massive platform to a massive audience, people have a right to disagree and criticise.

#ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #text: asks #bg3 critical #larian critical

[jakes3resin]

gosh!! magic au!! theseus! chaos of having at the base and it’s like two bucky. gale would definitely be shocked!

That au really hit me like a fever dream, my dear anon. I was thinking about the Twin Cleven AU and the Blond Bucky bit I added when I remembered I tacked on a tiny Theseus Easter egg. 30 minutes later I had Magic AU in my drafts with no memory of writing it.

But I've sketched out some thoughts for you and for those who are interested (please keep in mind the last time I watched Fantastic Beasts was a few years ago so I don't remember much):

Bucky's a Scamander by his father (Theseus and Newt's uncle) but goes by his mother's maiden name as he was taken in by her brother and his wife.

Both his parents were magic, but they died near the end of the First World War. Bucky stayed with the Scamanders for a little while before eventually going to America before he turned 4. Theseus was very close with him, and they were occasionally mistaken as father and son due to the age difference (Theseus was a war hero during the First World War if I remember correctly?) (Also that could be an AU now that I think about it but not rn)

He has a bit of a British accent, comes out more when he's using magic. Or when he's around his cousins. First time Buck hears it, he just about faints.

Went to Hogwarts solely because his parents went there, and he wanted to feel close to them. Not sure what House but leaning Hufflepuff. He seems like he'd be happy there.

Enjoyed the school somewhat, but he dealt with some bullying due to his American upbringing as well as some of the students still remembered Newt and bullied him for that connection.

His favorite animal is still the unicorn. It's just not extinct like he said to Buck. What can I say? Every Scamander is good with magical animals.

Had an accidental falling out with the Scamander family who wanted him to move permanently to England and stay with them during his schooling, but he prefered spending his summers in America and winter holidays in the castle.

Came home before he turned 18 (I guess started Hogwarts young for his grade? Idk.) And decided to blend in to Muggle/No-Maj society by going to college and later joining the Air Force.

After Bucky's revelation to the RAF pilots, one of them writes home saying he met Theseus Scamander's cousin! This gets passed through Wizarding society until it lands in the ears of Theseus who didn't have a clue his cousin was in England, let alone serving in a Muggle unit. And after hearing about the death toll, he gets scared.

Theseus resolves to pop down there and check in on his cousin. And unknowingly reeks havoc upon Thorpes Abbotts.

Looks like this:

(This is in a nebulous point before Curtis' death because he deserves to be alive my baby boy)

Literally everyone that sees him is flabbergasted because 1) Major Egan is handsome but he never dresses like That and 2) Major Egan is supposed to be flying back from a mission right now. Word travels through base, and it's alight with rumors.

Theseus gets dragged to Kidd's office because literally everyone is freaking out, and he's quite confused why everyone keeps calling him Bucky. He tries to explain that he's Theseus and that he's here to see his cousin John, but every time he speaks the people around him all jump (its cause his accent spooks them. That accent should not be coming from someone who looks so much like Bucky in their mind. Boy are they in for a rude awakening.)

Bucky flies back in, and after interrogation, he doesn't even get a chance to change clothes before he's being dragged to Kidd's office. Buck and a few of the boys follow utterly confused. If Bucky's in trouble, Buck's not just gonna stand by.

Theseus happily greets Bucky when he walks into the office, and the pair have an okay reunion before Theseus states that he's here to check on his younger cousin, heavily implying that he's here to transfer Bucky to a British outfit as he's a British citizen and their family connections want to keep him safe (really a Wizard one but among Muggles he's better at speaking around the issue)

Thus an argument breaks out. Bucky's accent also comes out, and nearly everyone around him loses their minds.

Buck really, really does not want to talk about what that accent does to him. It's confusing and concerning. (Clegan are together, but when your partner busts out the London Accent, well that's a gamechanger)

Anyways idk where it goes after that, but now everyone has to deal with the fallout that Bucky is British and has a nearly identical cousin who pops in to check on him.

#asks #magic au #that was fun thanks anon #tho now i've really got to go back to a/b/o fic and write #clegan #mota #masters of the air #bucky egan #john egan #john bucky egan #theseus scamander

[chaos-grimlin]

Intro:No one truly knows what happened that night in Woodsboro, California. All the public knows was that two teenage boys, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, went crazy. That the boys killed with no motive, that it was a case of crazy and peer pressure. Sidney Prescott, the "girlfriend" of Billy Loomis,Y/n L/n, the girl both boys were deeply obsessed with, and Gale weathers, a news reporter, where 3 of 5 witnesses that were willing to talk and tell their sides of the story to the public while Dewy Riley, the deputy sheriff of woodsboro, and tennager Randy Meeks refused to talk to law enforcements at the time. All the stories told to law enforcement seem to differ from person to person, but...in this tale, we will focus on Y/n, the obsessions, side of the story...

Marked (Poly Billy Loomis and Stu Macher x Reader)

Word count:935

Chapter 21- please come get me

~~A flash back~~~

"She's going to ruin our plan Stu" Billy said harshly as he grabbed at his brown hair.

Stu sat on the couch, one that sat in front of the TV in his huge house. He seemed to be thinking.

"But she is cute" Stu said with a giggle. "Shs going to fuck it all up!" He huffed out grabbing onto the back of the couch tightly. Billy's jaw tightened and his teeth grinded together. "I don't care if she's cute or not!" Billy said louder, almost screaming.

Stu leaned his head back. "I careeee" he whined. Billy hit stu in the back of the head, making him groan out in pain. "I'm not letting some bitch fuck up my plan to get my revenge" Billy said.

Stu rubbed the back of his head and pouted. "Dosnt mean we have to kill her" he muttered.

Billy raised his eyebrows and looked at Stu. "Then what else can we do?" He asked. "Break her so she can't" he said and with that, a smirk played its way onto Billy's lips.

It wasn't a sassy smirk, but a smirk that was devilish and unnatural on his normally monotone face...

~~~present day~~~

^^^3rd person P.O.V^^^

When Y/n jumped up and ran, she ran to the office. Hot tears stung her eyes as she did. She felt all eyes on her as she ran. She wished everyone would go away and leave her on this world alone.

Soon, she busted through the doors of the office and looked at the lady behind the front desk. "Can I use the phone?" She asks as she uses the sleeves of her t-shirt to wipe the salty tears off of her face. The lady looked at her, she knew what had happened.. and nodded

Y/n snatched up the phone and with a shake hand she pulled out the crumbled slip of paper with Dewys number scribbled on it.

Slowly she punched in the numbers and pressed the hard plastic phone to her ear and heard it ring.

1 ring....

2 ring......

3 ring...

"Hello this is Dewy" his voice rang out as he picked up.

"Dewy.." y/n choked out as she gripped the phone with both hands.

She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was sobs.

"Y/n? Oh god what's wrong?" He says, his voice gental and soft.

"Please..please come get me" she says, her voice cracking.

"I'm on my way"

With that he hung up on her.

"Hey sweetie if you want to stay here till who ever you called comes you can" the front desk lady said.

Y/n nodded before sitting in one of the seats. She shifted and shifted, feeling uncomfortable in her own skin the longer she sat there.

Y/n dug ger nails into the soft wood of the chair, more tears filling her e/c eyes.

Her face was red, her eyes were puffy and she looked like a mess, everyone around her couldn't help but feel bad for her, no body deserves that...no body.

The lady behind the desk looked at y/n and felt pain in her heart just looking at her. She didn't know what to do as she watched the little girl cry.. so, she picked up a small candy dish and held it out to her "get you some candy baby" the lady said ( lol this has actually happened, I Stan most front desk ladies)

Y/n looked at the lady and wiped her eyes before taking a f/c (favorite candy) "thank you" y/n said. The lady nodded as Y/n ate the candy and wait on whoever she called.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After less then 7 minutes the sherif rushed into the office, worry painted his features but they softend once they landed on Y/n.

"Y/n" Dewy muttered before crouching down in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders "What happened?" He asked, his voice soft.

Y/n looked at him, her eyes glossy and her bottom lip quivering. "People" she whispered, her voice sounding dry.

"What did they do please talk to me" Dewy said as he used his thumb to wipe away stray tears that ran down her face. "They dressed like them.... and... attacked me" she said, struggling the force the words out of her throat.

Dewy nodded before standing up and helping Y/n up to. "Ma'am make sure who ever did that gets punished. It's not funny to torment a victim of something as bad as this" Dewy said before walking out eith Y/n by his side.

Y/n stayed closed to him, scared, terrified, shaking, thinking the killer would get her

.. that they'd hang her from a tree or slice her stomach wide open for the world to see what the inside of her torso looked like.

She didn't want her body to be mutilated or tortured, she just wanted to rewind time, redo it all...

Dewy walked Y/n to the police cruiser and helped her get in before shutting the door and walking to the driver's side.

"Do you know who did it?" Dewy asked as he buckled up. "Alex Johns" she says quickly. "I know his father. He'll be getting a call from me later on" Dewy said as he put the keys in and turned them, allowing the engine to roar to life and soon they started to dive away from her own personal hell on earth..

(Sorry if I'm not active)

#billy loomis #stu macher #stu macher x reader #randy meeks x reader #billy loomis x reader #billy loomis and stu macher x reader #casey becker #randy meeks #ghostface #scream

[johnslittlespoon]

John pushing Curt and Gale’s buttons all DAY and so they smack him around a bit and spank him before making him sit on his knees with his hands behind his back and watch while they get each other off, tending to him after he starts letting out a ramble of apologies and pleas and promises. The two of them telling him how good he was for them and how proud they are of him for listening to their directions, having him ride Gale (we are ignoring average refractory periods 🫡) with his back pressed to Gale’s chest as Curt sucks him off and John is just GONEEE

- @mangokittokatsu

another curtgalejohn WE'RE LIVE LAUGHING LOVING TODAY.

i feel like curt and gale would both have pretty high tolerances for john's fuckery (they'd have to or he'd drive them up the wall lol), especially curt because he enjoys partaking in said fuckery most of the time, they're double trouble, gale needs two leashes for them, etc

but sometimes he goes a little too far and curt and gale spend the day trying to shoulder him off onto each other so they don't snap at him. john knows just what buttons to push though when he wants something specific from them, and it works, both of them dragging him back to their barrack at the first moment they can slip away from everyone that night

gale sitting down on the edge of the bed and beckoning john over and tell him to get on his knees, and john does, all cheeky grin and self–satisfaction, thinking he's gonna get to blow him, but curt comes up behind him, gets a fistful of his hair in his hand, tilts his head back so he's looking up at gale, and then gale open hands him across the cheek and john groans because it's just the kind of sharp bite he's been itching for all day

both of them roughing him up and spanking him and shoving him around like a plaything until john's all whiny and flustered and his head's gone all foggy for them, asking him "what's wrong? isn't this what you wanted?"

"have you been good today?" john shaking his head no. "then i don't think you deserve to touch us. but since we're feeling nice, you can watch." and john getting more and more worked up and teary and restless as he watches them, and of course curt and gale know they'll let up soon, but john doesn't, so he has to watch them finish each other off and cries thinking they're done for the night

but then curt crawls to the end of the bed where they've made john sit, pulls him into a kiss, grabs him by his tie and pulls him up the bed and guides him into gale's lap so they can both tell him how well he did and make him feel good and make him beg and promise he won't do it again (he will) <3

#sweet sweet silly boys <3 #curtgalejohn #johnslittlespoon brainrot #johnslittlespoon asks #johnslittlespoon spicy #curtbuckbucky

[optiwashere]

Is there any part of baldur's gate 3 that you dislike? I know you enjoy the game, but most fans of the old games I see are very critical and you're one of the few that I've seen that seems to love it.

First of all, this is a very fun question, anon! Thanks 💜

Secondly, you're experiencing illusory correlation when you connect "previous BG fans" to "those that dislike BG3." It's further compounded by the fact that most people only get really loud when they're disappointed/upset, and the people that are happy tend not to post as virulently or constantly about said topic. Millions of people have played BG1/2 and then a good chunk of those folks went on to play BG3, so think about all the people you aren't seeing when you see a post like that.

Anyways, there are things I'm either bleh on, annoyed with, or dislike about BG3. I'm too old to expect perfection.

Some of the things I don't like:

Callbacks to BG1/2 like Sarevok and Viconia, though that is more WotC's fault than Larian's, and this goes double for Abdel Adrian being referenced at all in the game. Those books should have been memory holed.

The uneven nature of all the companions' stories. Some have tons of dialogue, reactivity, and the ability to let the player choose to give the companion the choice of how they handle things, with the player's own choices affecting the companion's decision. Others are in a semi-broken state (Minthara) or feel lacking despite being great characters (Wyll) that deserve those choices.

5E D&D is a bad system down to its bones. Its flaws are openly on display in the game; the only reason that the tactical gameplay feels any good is because Larian is very skilled at crafting memorable, enjoyable encounters and they hacked in a dozen different homebrews and house rules to make the damn thing feel any good. BTW, 2E AD&D was a mess for wildly different reasons and the old real-time w/ pause system is conducive to spamming filler encounters, so it's not as easy as saying "old game better" for me.

The lack of companion banter in Act 3 when compared to the previous acts. Hell, even Act 2 has a fair bit less than Act 1.

The way that some companions feel kinda hollow when you're not actively engaged in their romance. More platonic connection! One of my favorite scenes in the game is the platonic stargazing with Gale. Let me dance with Wyll without it being romantic, let me go on a friendly night on the town with Karlach, let me experience some of these scenes through the lens of friendship. I know that this is probably one of the more time-consuming tasks for the team at large, but it's one that I would love to see some day.

The character creator is lacking in body types, facial structure for various ethnicities, and a truly broad scope of what trans/non-binary bodies can look like. However, I'm incredibly grateful for what we did get and I will take one small step if that means it becomes more and more common in RPGs. I'll fight for more, but I will be happy with what we have in this game.

Is BG3 the bestest, most greatest CRPG of all time? No. Do I love BG3? Yes. Is it my favorite BG game? Ask me that question in ten years.

#hey you can ask me things! #believe it or not I don't think it's the Perfect Game #and tbh most of that platonic stuff is ripe for fanfiction #so even if it doesn't happen we can just... y'know... write it

[voidofgrace]

So, I've done a couple play-throughs of Baldur’s Gate 3 now, and I have some thoughts regarding companion romances; namely, Astarion and Gale. Warning, this will contain spoilers.

In my first game, I romanced Astarion (because obviously), and I loved the way they handled his traumas, his growth, and the nuances of his character. I could pen an essay, but I doubt there is anything I could say that hasn't been said already.

My second game, I decided to romance Gale. I won't lie, I mostly did it because thanks to the weird way he was bugged, I got a flag for his act 2 romance cut scene in my other game. Out of curiosity, I went through it, and it was honestly so sweet, and kind of sad. After that, I wanted to see how the rest of his romance played out.

And folks, I hate to say it (no I don't), I loved his romance more than Astarion’s. By the end of Astarion’s story, while wonderful, I didn't want to be with him, but just like, protect him and help him live his life and just learn how to be free. The revelation of his headstone, and his age of death. He was so young when he was murdered and turned, and it's so heartbreaking.

Also, the man literally says he really didn't like you at all at first. I mean, fair, but was that really the time to say "I thought you were a total loser, but ily now ❤." Kinda rude, Astarion.

And then there's Gale. The man who loved his Goddess so much, he tried to return a piece of magic to her he thought she had lost. Now don't get me wrong, he did it as much out of hubris as he did love, but in doing so, he wanted to earn a fraction of the love he felt for her in return.

This is a man who was sentenced to death by the woman he loved, as a means to an end that she and the other gods could achieve.

And what does this man do, when thinking about how he was close to the end?

He creates a sky full of stars, a pocket of something beautiful in a place that's cursed. And he tells you he loves you, laments about how he wishes he could do it properly. He gives you a glimpse of his life in Waterdeep, the place where he is happiest, because he wants to share that with you.

It is so wonderfully sweet, but it's also soured by the fact that he believes he has no choice but to carry out Mystra’s will. He believes he needs to be forgiven for his transgression against her, and that forgiveness will only be granted with his death.

Then we get the the start of act 3, and the circus. When you take Gale through the Dryad's test, the questions felt very shallow, especially when compared to the ones given with Astarion. What kind of food is Gale? Really? At least, until the very last question: what is Gale’s greatest flaw. One of the answers you can choose is "He thinks that he, and the world, might be better off if he were dead."

His response? He agrees... As someone who has struggled with mental health and similar thoughts, that one hit home. But then, in the next sentence, he shows that he has hope. Maybe it's not true. Maybe fate can be defied.

Moving on to later in act 3, there was the revelation of the Crown of Karsus, a relic from Karsus' attempt at achieving Godhood that survived. And Gale sees the possibilities that crown opens up. A chance to do what the other gods refused to do - what Mystra refused to do. He saw the chance to save Faerûn, to save his friends, and to save the person he loves (which again, Mystra refused to do, in his eyes), Ao be damned.

But, he also sees it as a way to finally be worthy. Worthy of the love he had been denied by Mystra, deserving of the love you have given him. After all, in the past, it was only ever because of his power that he was ever deemed worthy for anything, and what greater power is there than that of a god?

And that is HEARTBREAKING. The man only thought he was worth anything because of his power, because that had been the only thing people had really cared for about him. And when you tell this man you love him just for him, not because he's powerful or because he could he a god, but because he's a sweet man who loves books, who sometimes writes poetry, who loves curling up by the fire with his cat, a book and a glass of wine, he turns down that power. Show him care and love for who he is, and the man shines.

How could anyone NOT love Gale?

But yeah, Gale is 10/10. And Mystra sucks.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 spoilers #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios