#bat muses

[bhaalsdeepbat]

AU where everything is the same except Gale has to be touching one of these bad boys any time he channels the weave.

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Durge and Astarion having a Lady and the Tramp spaghetti moment as they share a tadpole they both slurp down together.

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Breaks one of Cazador's rules on purpose and then it snowballs into him being loved, totally and completely, being respected, and most importantly, having his autonomy affirmed until he's confident in his own sense of it. Love that for him.

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Astarion's line about not having taken a bath since the abduction has been haunting me today, but I also cannot stop thinking about him and my Durge having the loveliest bath together when they first make it to the Elfsong.

Astarion is fucking f r o t h i n g he has been waiting for this moment since the night Baldur's Gate peeked over the horizon. When he stood beside Mercy at the abandoned post overlooking he city, he just kinda leans against Mercy (who is significantly shorter than him, but he loves to lean on them or drape himself across their shoulders like the little devil in their ear he actually is), and just SO dramatically announces how excited he is to have all the little luxuries they couldn't have on the road.

Like Mercy is standing with their arms cross, all puffed up and squared, they just took down a God and are feeling really fucking powerful. Then this man is just nuzzling his lips against their cheek and they just completely melt while he starts on his little rant like he doesn't know what he's doing.

Literally just sneaking this moment of (private) affection in, kinda puffing up that he can make this Feller of Gods putty beneath him with just a touch, but also he loves every moment of contact...but also the lurking Dread in the back of his mind bc oh Gods this creature he has found him swept up in is precious enough for him to want to protect. He may have helped take down Myrkul, but he's still so consumed by fear and the weight of his entire situation that doesn't see his own strength.

And all of this is going on in the back of his mind, but he brushes it off and is all, "Gods we can't get back to civilization quick enough. I've had enough playing in filth for this century," but there's no real venom to it, he's just being prissy. When he finishes throwing his little fit, Mercy reaches up, scritches his head like a fucking cat, and is just like I was pretty chill with the arrangement now but I'm excited for you.

And this is the moment Astarion it hits him that his darling Durge has no context for how lovely an actual bath is. Like a nice one with good soaps, warm water, and soft cloths. He's just like holy shit I am going to treat you to the best goddamn bath of your entire wretched life and you will finally understand why your current hygiene situation Isn't Doing It for him.

It's his first domestic thought he has (and the only one for a long fucking time), but he's so down bad for this wretched little tiefling, he's like 🥺 I want to wash their hair so good they start wanting to bathe more regularly and then it fucking works

Unfortunately for him, he remains on hair braiding duty for as long Mercy keeps their hair long, and I think he'd like it as it is bc he had to spend some time early on in their adventure begrudgingly braiding it just so they could get a fucking move on

When they finally get that bath, Mercy just soaks in the warm water pressed against Astarion's back and purrs until the water starts to cool and he's the one who insists they get tf out.

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And like re: accidental dhampir bhaalspawn baby with Spawnstarion

If it was a situation where suddenly you had baby in hand, bc sometimes that just...happens. you can't just give it to someone else bc you're giving them a possible ticking time bomb. So literally the step above killing the child is being raised by the worst possible parents in all of Faerun.

That's all I am saying.

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self-indulgent "oops accidental pregnancy. let's drop it off with grandma" au. rambling below the cut CW for accidental pregnancy & discussing forced breeding shit with durge

in my canon my durge is a twin and i'm like,,,,,,the drama of "oops the thing i did to try and make sure i couldn't have kids didn't actually work, now i have twins who might try to slaughter each other like i murdered my sister. i didn't know of bc i was literally created to conquer the world or become breeding stock for those who would, so my body was literally meant to create broods"

so to explain i have this idea that, just in case Durge became a disappointment, Bhaal specifically made them so their body and mind would fulfill one of two purposes for him. Resist durge still has the body he sculpted. i don't really like the idea of "magicking a dick on them" and i like the idea of exploring the dawning horror that your body was made to very easily spawn your replacement in the case of your failure. so, shortened pregnancy, plus super easy to get pregnant.

and mercy knew when they were bhaal's chosen that they were expected to have more bhaalspawn, and early on they did smth to try and prevent that (think stupid, dumb child who sees logic but not thinking my father is a god who can just magic this back to normal)

and then having the twins and having horror flashbacks to baby's first duel and just the FEAR that history is doomed to repeat itself.

and like the birth would be so fucking easy like it would be comedically so. just like "wow i do not feel good today and--oops here is a baby" and the babies are dhampyrs so it took a long time bc of mr. undead not Mercy

and mercy and astarion should NOT be raising kids. they both know that. and mercy has a thought that they're ashamed of bc it's soooo old durge, but they're like "mercy killing them might be better" but they're also just like.....i can't actually kill these babies i'm no longer that monster

bc y'know, still having intrusive thoughts, it's just their CHOICE whether they listen, and there's no physical illness or other repercussions if they choose to ignore them thoughts.

and their options for what the fuck to do are actually very limited because family ??? DURGE ????? and like Astarion has his siblings in the underdark and on Mercy's side, they're officially adopted by Jaheira. That's their mom, now, and they know she's not the best mom to her actual kids she's raised, but like.

again. if the option is to be raised by Jaheiranor to be raised by Astarion "trudging through filth is for Pigs and Children" Ancunin and Mercy "I only have solid memories from the last several years and everything else is just death, destruction, and darkness" The Dark Urge, leaving them with the most qualified people to handle potential ticking time bombs of a blood thirsty nature, it's Jaheira.

also with sceleritas being there since Durge was an adolescent, I decided Mercy was pretty useless beyond basic survival skills because they aways had him to take care of them. They had to learn a lot in the months, even years following waking up on the nautiloid.

And they're both panicking bc what the fuck do you do. They don't even name the kids. Like they just pack their shit and head out without warning bc they will not take a "no it's urs"

Jaheira gets the twins at first while they're too young to try and kill each other. astarion and Mercy visit frequently with how easy it is to move around with magic, they just.

1. Gotta make that $$ to support them brats and adventuring makes that gold bc those two aren't going to get jobs are you fucking kidding me. They're gonna do heroic shit, get rewards, and rob horrible people blind. They would be doing most of this during infancy / toddler years to set up a nest egg and then decide they need to pitch in more and be more available so that they're always with one twin or the other when they anticipate they need to listen for the blood whispers.

2. With kids, there's a pressing need for Mercy to travel and learn everything they can about their heritage. So good intention, bad idea, motivated by fear. Just anything about the other bhaalspawn who resisted and how they manifest in ones not literally made from him

3. On a real note with Astarion I think he genuinely wouldn't have wanted kids, but with the circumstances (can't just drop two dhampyre bhaalspawn at at orphanage) are such he would step up when it was time. He would eventually become #1 girl dad to them both. Like he does NOT want anymore, but handling this will be barely a blip in their eternal lives they can go back to adventuring full time later.

I think at a certain point the one with the bhaalspawn blood inheritance would depart to start traveling with them bc I think that they would be solid with a ten year old. Like they wouldn't be best role models at times. And the curse still lingering in the tainted gore mercy was sculpted from was passed to one of the twins and their blood curse stirred. That one, they can't, in good conscience leave in case Bhaal has a stronger hold or not. Like Mercy would have to take on more responsibility there.

And Astarion just. Didn't want kids, but also this is one of those "this is a consequence of one of my free choices" thing. He wouldn't be HAPPY about it, and would complain when he was left alone with them, but be very, very good at handling them. He would become #1 girl dad (regardless of their gender) and he'd grow to love his wretched little brats.

And the one that stays with Jaheira needs astarion for counsel because dhampyr bloodlust. They don't have Bhaal's curse, but their sanguine hunger is far stronger, awakening early and becoming a hurdle that required assistance from the Gur to help keep it medicated enough to make this baby so feral bc that isn't who they are.

But that one has a really solid support system bc Astarion would take them to the underdark frequently and they would befriend one of the Gur children.

And like this one I think would feel like other sibling is favored, but it would be one of those things that just they realize baby thinks that and have to correct the mistake. Bc they'll be deeply imperfect but at least *try* with what little they can do to help.

And eventually they both do love the kids. And as adults the kids sometimes travel with them, but are supported in whatever endeavors they choose to embark on by the extended family that helped raise them to adulthood.

And then from kid perspective

I'm torn between either having them raised together OR separating them. Bc having a twin you can never meet (one could go to Leon and I have thoughts if I did that) for the foreseeable future

or

You were raised with your twin and love them so much but suddenly have to be ripped apart bc one keeps trying to kill the other (even tho the other doesn't have the curse, Bhaal just wants them to suffer).

also back to leon

i can see that going one of two ways. like that was the initial plan for one, but then him and the other vamp spawn sibs are like "you're just running away from shit again" but like make it dramatic bc i don't think they'd get along entirely right away. like they all have shit they did to each other bc they have resentments they gotta work through. i think there are siblings he'd get along with better than others, but the two i just cannot see him ever quite getting along with are Petras and Violet. Yousen would ONLy depend on if Yousen could forgive how awful and racist Astarion is lol

and like if Leon DID take the baby, I could see the bond he has with dhampyr baby as like. part of his healing journey. in NO way a replacement for victoria, he misses her every fucking day with everything he is, but raising this baby reminds him of the ONLY happy memories he has and he would kinda like to bask in them and it helps him separate those happy memories from the bad ones he suffered bc they all happened together

idk I JUST NEED TO TALK IDEAS OUT IG. if you read this i would love to hear your thoughts lmao

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Astarion and Karlach are perfect foils showing how trauma from having autonomy ripped from you, your body forcibly changed, and then used as a pawn serving a master can present wildly different, but still with that same under layer of RAGE.

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Doodling my little Dhampir Bhaalspawn hellions bc drawing them out helps me develop my OCs for writing purposes.

This is just a first draft of the two. I wanted to just figure out which features I wanted for each.

Wren is the one who goes to Jaheira. They have Mercy's eyes, face shape, expressive & sharp teeths, and freckles & Astarion's nose, ears, and strong brows.

I want to play with the horn shape, but I think they will either just be born with one or break the left one when they're older and have to bash their head against something to keep some Urges back. I gotta think on this some.

Vera is taken in by Leon and is the one who just takes after Astarion. Like his genes were STRONG in this one. She's a bit of a princess and will really lean into the parts of her identity that allows her to connect with the spawn she was raised near. She looks like an elf at first glance since she mostly keeps covered, but she does have the tiefling

Wren is generally quiet. They like to observe rather than participate when they do socialize. They learned to wildshape into a wolf as a child and decided that they would be that wolf girl personified.

Anyways, they hate the city, but love Jaheira and their sibling-aunts/uncle. They get their first Urge when they're just a babe (Bhaal testing how much control he has on offspring of his own flesh + he would be hellbent on making resist!Durge suffer for defying him in any way possible) and it's strong enough they require a little more of Mercy's attention at first. Like Mercy is having to navigate mentoring this fucking child and they just. Don't know how to interact with a kid.

She would be more ambitious than her sibling. I think as a child, she would so badly want to be in the city because she wants to be mingling with nobles. However, she bonds strongly to the spawn and as she gets older, her ambitious side makes her want to help build their settlement into a thriving city. She has a little more of the vampiric hunger for power.

She gets hints of the urges, but they're weaker than her bloodlust. Vera would have a really fucking hard time controlling it as a youngin and feel awful about it because she doesn't even need it like the others do.

Anyways. Vera wants to go to school in the city. She dreams of experiencing high society out there and Wren doesn't particularly want to even be in the city anymore. So, at an age Wren is old enough to not die if in Mercy & Astarion's care, Wren goes with them so Vera can stay in the city while she studies out there.

The other three would visit her frequently and Vera would spend her school holidays back with Leon.

Like it isn't a perfect situation and the kids will have their issues but it's one of those "we are doing our best with the circumstances as they are" and I am never coming out of this hole