Dark Justiciar Shadowheart // Gale the God of Ambition // Vampire Ascendant Astarion

Richard Siken, “War of the Foxes” // Tory Adkisson, “Anecdote of the Pig”

Astarion Headcanons

Fluff dating headcanons

This man deserves it. Astarion x Gn! Reader

(Bg3 Astarion spoilers?) + not proofread

I love the way Larian narrates mental health and healing from trauma.

I used to work in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and I saw a LOT of individuals of all ages come in with absolutely horrible trauma that was so unfathomable it felt surreal even hearing the things they went through. Sometimes people learned how to look at their scars, acknowledge them, and move on with their lives. Other times, they did their best but those scars would always be the first thing they saw in the morning and the last things they saw before bed.

Watching the way Larian narrates trauma, especially the way it was written for Astarion, hits home in a way that is almost indescribable after seeing how it manifests in real life. What I can say is that watching the Epilogue for Spawn Astarion made me misty eyed. Not because he got a "happy ending" or me as the player gets to experience it but because there is a single line he says that just encompasses how beautiful and messy the healing process can be: that the last 6 months together has been more meaningful that the last 200 wretched years of his life.

When he says it and goes into detail, we know he's not completely past the visible and invisible scars that he's been left with but in the last 6 months, he's started his journey of healing finding a new normal. For the rest of his existence he won't always have good days when he's able to smile nor days he won't fall back into old habits but what we can glean from this is the following: he's given value and meaning to this new life he's been given and will eventually be able to live his new normal on his own or with whomever he fell in love with, scars and all.

I used to really love the first romance scene with Astarion (and I still do) but it hits so much harder after you know why he's doing it. That he's purposefully seducing you for protection and blood, that he's forcing himself to sleep with you, and this is a mask he's wearing.

It's a sexy scene and really feeds into the vampy (pun intended) jump-your-bones version of him you get at the start of the game. The whole thing starts out with him being so confident and suave, saying that he's wanted you ever since he set eyes on you and how you want to be known and tasted. It's like everyone's perfect vampire romance novel.

He's laying out the bait that's worked thousands of times over and luring you in. And you can just get right to the kissing if you want.

But, you can also stop and ask him, "And what do you want?"

And for just a moment the mask drops. This is not the same cocky seductive face we've had up until now. This is vulnerability showing. When has anyone asked him what he wants? When has anyone cared? Does he even know the answer to that question?

So he pivots. The mask snaps back into place immediately. He turns back into the master seducer and feeds you a line about shared ecstasy to get you back on track.

And then comes what is, to me, the pivotal moment. He asks you "That's what you want, isn't it? To lose yourself in me?"

「 Garden of Eden : Chapter 2 」

summary: Tav shifts to adjust herself on the polished wood, the stone wall cool on her back even through the fabric of her tunic, a stark contrast to the heat she can feel thrumming through her entire body.

Astarion's gaze is fierce and unbroken as he rakes his eyes across the curves of her body - the hunger for her is evident in more ways than one, and she can feel it almost crackle between them like electricity.

Gods, what has he done to her to render her so senseless?

a/n: chapters will be posted individually. crossposted from AO3. links to other chapters: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

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Here is how to get astarion approval so high he will proposition you before the tieflings party. No evil choices, just some chaos. The score you want is 40.

Not all of these are necessary btw, if you di all of this you'll get over 40. Avoid what sounds too evil and check that you're getting up to 40. Also remember that for the party romance you actually only need 20.

- When Lae'zel is in the cage, talk to her before releasing her and ask her to say "please"

- Attacking the thieves at the ruined temple

- When Shadowheart mention needing a cure (at camp) make sure to choose the option about being cautious

- When you meet with Zevlor, refuse to help saying you have your own problems. (you can help anyway, don't worry)

- When Lae'zel meets the tiefling and ask him to bow, go along with her at least once, then you can stop her and apologise to the poor man

- When you meet Wyll, you can talk with the guy training the children. Tell the children that they will all die

- After saving Arabella, tell the druid woman that you just wanted to see what would happen

- When you meet Auntie Ethel at the refugees' camp, let her fuss over you and then tell her about the tadpoles

- You know the kid with the magic ring trick? Pocket that ring

- When you meet the two siblings mourning their dying brother, Astarion will approve of you send them to face the owlbear (but I never choose this, because it makes me sad). But I think the big approval comes in the dialogue just next, where you can say that using the tadpole seems like a great idea

- At the blighted village, when the goblin spots you, you will get approval if you attack them back

- Say boooo to Volo

- Open the door where the sexy moans are happening

- At the entrance of the goblin camp, if you can, thow shit at the guard

- There's a goblin that will ask you to kneel and kiss his foot. Uno reverse it, and intimidate him

- Let the cleric at the goblin whip you

- After you free the owlbear, pet them at camp

- Get the necromancy of thay, and the amethyst that fits in it and give it to Astarion

- Recruit Karlach with him in the party

- Killing the monster Hunter will also shoot up your approval of TEN POINTS. I usually never kill him, but if you're close to the party and you really want to get to 40, this is also an option

- When you meet Raphael, agree with Astarion that you should not trust him

- If you decide to do auntie ethel too, make sure to convince her to free Maryna and get the deal at the same time

Now, I think the majority of approval will come with how you talk with him at camp.

- Go along with his dialogue about killing you if there's any tentacle showing. Just play along, don't shut him down

- Go along with the "whose blood would you drink" dialogue. Your answer doesn't really matter as long as you don't shut him down

- When he bites you, of course, offer to give him your blood

- During the mirror dialogue (sometimes it happens pre-sleeping together) you can insult him a bit (you're not aging gracefully), but at the second reply reassure him. The last reply is fine for all the lines and they seem to all get approval, as long as you don't just leave.

In general this is usually all I need to get to 40, which is pretty high. In my last playthrough I managed to also get to 40 without doing many of these.

But as I said, you only need 20. Just remember that he likes being petty and asserting dominance over others, he loves the tadpole, he is cautious, he's a little silly and chaotic, he's selfish, he likes joking and talking so don't shut him down.

Just remember that he's much more explicit about sex being an exchange if you get the proposition before the party, and you end up missing the scene of the party. Up to you! If you see that he's at 40 he will proposition the moment you talk to him, so if you accidentally got his approval too high and want to see both scenes you can technically kill the goblin leaders and free halsin, talk to him, then when you sleep you get directly to the party where you will have the party scene too.

Hold on, there is something I thought about. When Astarion approached Tav with "all his favourite lines" of flattery, leading to fake confessing his love to them, I was genuinely hurt to see that he would play with Tav's feelings like that, just for the sake of entertainment.

But now that their relationship progressed and Astarion actually confessed that he developed feelings for Tav, but still claims to not know how he would define their relationship, I get the feeling that he made the choice to fake confess beforehand for another reason than entertainment or seduction altogether. Hear me out.

Hell Bent quotes that haunt me day and night and make me go batshit insane crawling up the walls

I need that third book so badly.

Ninth House, page 152

Hell Bent, page 462

The Old Guard: Yusuf Al-Kaysani x Niccolò di Genova

If anyone was interested, this is what Five screams to Reginald in episode 4. I haven’t watched the rest so I don’t know if it’s explained later, still, there you go.

Source: five years of studying Ancient Greek (rip me).

(Accents are most likely wrong, for the correct version look up the opening line of the Odyssey.)

EDIT: there is a translation in the next episode, and it’s less literal but more elegant.

After the Rain 🌈

Endverse!Cas, smoking, shaking, trying to numb his pain with drugs and booze.. but it doesn’t work..

—————————-

Repost but this time with a few animations added with the app vimage :’D I’m gonna play with these animation apps for a while now 😅

You didn’t need to rip my heart… But you did… 😊 I’m okay 👻

BEAUTIFUL

What gives you the right…

Reblogging this again to include some snippets from My Favorite part VI just to add to the feels…

The remainder of his grace faded away. He felt the first pangs of hunger and thirst, the pain of strained muscles and aching joints. He had to fight on, but some days he couldn’t handle it. The hollow, empty feeling of a graceless body left him completely hopeless.  The only person he could turn to was Dean, but the apocalypse had made him callous, uncaring. Once, Dean would have taken him out for a drink, or tried to make him laugh with some pop culture reference Cas wouldn’t understand. But when those words came out of Dean’s mouth, that’s when he knew everything had changed: “Nobody cares that you’re broken, Cas.” ————— “Cas is still here, you can still-”

“I don’t even know who that is anymore,” Dean cuts you off, “and it’s my fault.  He spiraled out of control, fell into a fucking k-hole and I wasn’t there to pull him out.  He needed me and I didn’t do a goddamn thing!”

[[Sometimes characters that you write stick with you and continue haunt you, and endverse!cas is one of those characters for me.  I know I didn’t invent him, but I put a lot into his development for this fic so he holds a very special place in my heart.]]

@dammit–cas what gives YOU the right?! 🥺

But it was amazing! 🥺💗💔 The sadness, loneliness and hopelessness.. Exactly what I was going for. Thank you for sharing this! You’re a very talented writer! 💗💗💗🤗

Denial

I feel like Madame Tracy, who shared a body (and thoughts??) with Aziraphale for a hot second, would absolutely have picked up Aziraphale’s very obvious head-over-heels adoration of Crowley. So naturally, here’s my 2,000 word fic about her cluing in an oblivious angel to his own feelings. 

Denial

Inhabiting a new body was usually quite a lengthy process, and that wasn’t even including the paperwork. There was actually a very good reason why celestial beings didn’t just slip into human skins whenever they felt like it - beyond the moral quandary, of course. Much in the same way that no two humans are exactly alike, neither are angels. A human must try on shoes for size, and so must an angel, well - try on bodies, that is.

As the apocalypse was imminent, Aziraphale did not have the luxury of choice.

So Aziraphale had taken what he could find, and what he’d found was Madame Tracy.

If Aziraphale’s old body could be likened to a six thousand year old comfortably broken in, yet remarkably cared for pair of loafers, Madame Tracy’s was a pair of stiletto heels, fresh out of the box and half a size too small.

Not that Aziraphale wasn’t grateful. Really, he considered himself fortunate to have found a body that could accommodate him at all. It just…really wasn’t very comfortable.

It’s not a walk in the park for me either. I appreciate the metaphor though. The heels, I mean. Terribly uncomfortable, breaking in a new pair.

The voice was high and saccharine and seemed to echo around the space of his head. Or rather, he amended, within her head. He was, after all, the intruder here.

I appreciate that acknowledgment, Mr. Aziraphale, Madame Tracy sniffed.

I do apologize, Aziraphale thought, consciously shaping his wandering thoughts into words. I’m afraid sharing a body is very much a new experience for me.

You’re not alone there, love.

No, I suppose not, Aziraphale said. And when he smiled, it was Madame Tracy’s red painted lips which parted.

Now, what exactly is it that we’ve got to do?

First of all, get through that gate, Aziraphale thought, squeezing the brakes as Madame Tracy’s scooter sputtered to a stop.

Before them, the Tadfield Air Base loomed.

The man out front’s got a gun.

So he does.

As Aziraphale struggled to park the scooter - hindered by Madame Tracy’s attempts to commandeer her hands to help - he noticed that it was quite a large gun, at that.

By the time the scooter was settled, the soldier stood before the gate, gun cradled against his front.

Mr. Shadwell marched up, brandishing a grimy finger.

Oh dear, thought Madame Tracy.

“You see this finger Laddie? This finger could send you to your maker.”

Good God, the man is going to get himself shot.

Yes, Madame Tracy agreed. Please do something.

Aziraphale stepped in front of Shadwell, waving Madame Tracy’s purple gloves through the air.

“It really is vitally important that we speak to whoever is in charge-” he started.

From their lips, Madame Tracy’s voice interrupted, “He’s telling the truth, I’d know if he wasn’t.”

Lord, Aziraphale thought, save me from the whims of foolish mortals.

Madame Tracy’s annoyance flared hot and bright in their shared headspace.

Aziraphale flared his own annoyance right back and took control of their mouth.

“-would you please stop interrupting? I’m trying-”

Madame Tracy took it back.

“-yeah I just thought I’d put in a good word for-”

“I understand, but-”

“Will you please be quiet?” The guard ordered, impatient and confused. “Both of you?”

Well now you’ve done it, Madame Tracy tutted.

I’ve done it?!

“I mean, Ma’am,” the soldier continued, licking his lips, “I must respectfully ask you to-”

He was interrupted by blaring music.

A bebop, Aziraphale thought, and twisted round, heart in his throat.

Pardon? A what?

A car roared round the bend.

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