WIP Wednesday!
Thank you @asofterepilogue for the tag! Wednesday has passed (in my timezone anyway) so I will skip tagging people this time but feel free if you see this.
I have two WIP right now: one COE33 Lunemma and one BG3 Bloodweave. I'll share a bit from the Bloodweave one because I haven't been in the headspace to continue with the Lunemma one lately. So far it's called "Told You So" but I'm not sure if that will stick.
Gale woke with a start, which was not a situation he wanted to find himself in given his condition. He was poised to launch a magic missile at the intruder but squinted at a familiar shape in the darkness of his tent before problem solving by casting dancing lights instead. Astarion’s face quickly assembled itself into his usual smolder upon becoming visible but, for a brief second, Gale could have sworn he looked scared. “Astarion? Is everything alright?” He cringed at how panicked he sounded and took an unsatisfying deep breath before trying again with more control. “Why did you wake me?” “Do you treat everyone who visits your bedchambers this way?” Maintaining that control was already challenging when Astarion had the audacity to look scandalized; as if he was not the one who had intruded into a man’s personal space while he was sleeping. “No, but this tent is far from the state of my bedchamber back home in my tower so I hardly think that’s relevant. Why are you here?” Astarion lightly ran a finger down Gale’s bare shoulder, which was an alarming reminder of how he was nearly completely unclothed. “I didn’t know you slept in such an exposed state.” He pulled the blankets around himself so he was only visible from the waist up. Despite how easily he overheated since he acquired the orb, he always had the decency to be fully clothed at camp until he retired to his tent for the night. At least he had the foresight to leave his underwear on in case of a situation like the one he was currently engaged in. There was no real privacy at camp. Gale suppressed a shudder at how pleasant Astarion’s cool touch felt on his fevered skin. “I overheat easily. Are you going to answer my question or do I need a banishing spell to get some godsforsaken sleep?” “I can’t pay my favourite wizard a visit?” Astarion pouted. “You looked so delicious killing all those goblins earlier. Power is a good look on you." The space between them grew smaller in his already rather cramped tent as Astarion leaned in towards him. “What are you doing?” “What do you want me to do?” Astarion whispered directly into his ear. Gale firmly pushed him away and held out his arm to maintain the distance. “No, seriously. Stop that. Did you wake me solely to make an uncharacteristically poor attempt at flirting or is there a better reason?” Astarion’s expression dropped to something neutral but his eyes were empty. “The goblins seem to have killed or driven away every animal within a reasonable hunting radius of camp.” Gale immediately knew what he wanted but patiently waited for him to admit it. He won his own little unspoken game when Astarion cracked under the silence first. “Fine: I’m hungry. Very hungry,” he hissed. “We exerted a lot of energy fighting today and we’re going to exert a lot of energy tomorrow. I need to eat more to fight my best if we want a shot in Hell at saving the grove you all seem to care so much about. I thought you would be more convinced to let me drink from you if you were having some fun. There.” If this wholly unnecessary encounter was not robbing him of his much-needed sleep, Gale would feel worse about the self-satisfied smile he felt creep onto his face. “I thought so.”
