#khywren

[xxnashiraxx]

She's been adrift for so long, lost and alone, and Astarion might just be the anchor she needs to survive.

Here is my half of the art trade for @khywren!!! Thank you so so so much for that beautiful BEAUTIFUL render of Astarion and Ofelia!! You are incredible and kicking so much ass in blender and I am in FUCKING AWE 💗💗💗

KHY 💕 You're amazing, kind, encouraging, and you make me feel so loved 🫂 Without you, I truly don't know if I'd be where I am today 🫂 Thank you for being in my life, and for making this fandom a better place 💗 I hope you like this little art 🫂

[nerdallwritey]

AO3 Tag Game!!

Thanks @vividiana (and I think @khywren?? I think you may have tagged me but I couldn't find it in my mentions) for the tag!!

how many works do you have on ao3?

7

what's your total ao3 word count?

104,450

what fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, just BG3!! The first fics I ever wrote, however, were for Miraculous Ladybug and My Hero Academia. Neither of which have ever seen the light of day nor will they. Probably. Right now I'm perfectly happy just writing BG3 stuff, but I'm open to writing for other fandoms in the future!!

top five fics by kudos?

An Evening to Ourselves

Just to Ruin Me

Cheeks All Flushed

Worth the Peril

Perfect Every Time

do you respond to comments?

I sure do!! I try to respond to every single one (unless there's a comment thread happening and I feel like it came to a good stopping point 🥰). It makes me BEYOND happy to see anyone engage with my works. Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment!!

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm. I don't think I've had an angsty ending?? I try to come to satisfying conclusions (with the occasional cliffhanger) that'll make the reader smile. Although I think in my most recent work, About to Strike, Astarion is NOT too pleased about realizing his feelings for reader, lol.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Maybe an Evening to Ourselves?? I didn't expect to make it into a series, so I kind of tried to make it come to a satisfying conclusion that suggested that Astarion and reader were going to stay very happily together. But I also think About to Strike is pretty happy?? Despite me just saying it could be interpreted as angsty too?? Reader has such a wonderful time with Astarion that it makes him realize he's in love!!

do you get hate on fics?

Luckily, not that I've seen! I've gotten a passive aggressive comment on tumblr before, but nothing heartbreaking or bothersome!

do you write smut?

Sure do! I have pieces that include no smut, but I do enjoy writing it if only to spoil the vampire lol. It's a very weird process, for sure, but I think it often turns out okay!

craziest crossover?

I never published it, but before I started posting fics, I wrote a crack fic for BG3 that was essentially this scene from Night at the Museum 2 😂

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of. There's definitely been plenty of common tropes between my friends and I, but it's always been like that meme that goes "Yay! Two cakes!" Lmao. So no, I don't think so.

have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not. I'm only fluent in English, but if anyone ever wanted to translate my works, I'm open to it! The more people who get to partake in my silly fics, the merrier!

have you ever co-written a fic?

No, but I'd love to!! I've co-written stuff for school, and it's always fun to blend styles and ideas together :)

all time favorite ships?

Astarion/Reader/Tav/Durge, and then I also love Crowley/Aziraphale from Good Omens, Marinette/Adrien from Miraculous Ladybug, and a bunch of My Hero Academia characters/reader 😅

what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't really have many wips. I've started writing part 7 of Beauty and the Bard so I guess that counts but I DO plan on finishing that one. I did start writing a fic last year about a bard writing music for everyone in camp and Astarion getting jealous (but obviously Tav DOES write a song for him) but I doubt I'll ever finish/post that one. Mostly because Tav/reader is basically the exact same as reader from Beauty and the Bard. And I tried describing music without lyrics and that shit is HARD. I think it turned out fine, but idk, I'm more interested in writing Beauty and the Bard!

what are your writing strengths?

Definitely my dialogue! It's my favorite thing to write, and I think I've gotten Astarion and the companions' voices down pretty well. I want to be a screenwriter and I think going to school for that really helped me come up with clever/silly lines of dialogue.

what are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like I could do more scene descriptions/character introspection. I don't necessarily think I'm BAD at it, but I prefer writing about the characters interacting than describing, say, a setting, or exactly what a character is feeling. I usually try to get that across with dialogue and rely on reader interpretation, but I'm trying to add more description and introspection where I can/remember to!

thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Love it! I try to incorporate Gith words when I can to Lae'zel's dialogue, but I LOVE when people have Astarion or Shadowheart speak Elvish. I would love to add some of that to my writing moving forward if I can. I don't want it to feel like out of nowhere though, since Astarion doesn't really speak Elvish in game and has become more of a fanon idea. BUT! I love it whenever I see it!

first fandom you ever wrote in?

Honestly, I think Phineas and Ferb? I tried writing my own episode for it when I was in middle school or high school, but stopped because I thought it might be bad to write an episode of a show that already exists. It's not! That's called a "spec script" and can be used to demonstrate that you can write in the voices and style of other shows. I didn't know those existed at the time though, and stopped writing. I'd give anything to see what I'd written before I stopped! It's lost on some computer in my childhood home somewhere.

favorite fics you wrote?

Definitely Worth the Peril! It was SO MUCH FUN writing a feral Astarion, along with the companions basically telling him that the reason he was acting that way was because he's in love. I also really like An Evening to Ourselves for kicking everything off, and Just to Ruin Me for how sweet and soft and funny everyone is.

Sorry this took me so long to do, but it was really fun to think about!!

No pressure tagging: @arzen9, @astarioffsimpmain, @decadentpaperduck, and anyone else who wants to participate!!!

[nerdalmighty]

BG3 Tag Game!

I was tagged by @khywren!!! Thank you!!!!!!

I'm going to tag @vanilkaplays @okthisway @maladaptive-menace @riddlerosehearts @starkspi and anyone else who wants to play along!

Favorite romance: It will surprise no one to know that it's Astarion. I find his backstory so incredibly interesting and I love his dumbass personality. At the end of the day, he just wants to do whatever is the most hilarious and I adore that. I especially love how soft he gets when you get together in Act 2. I could go on and on but I'll never be able to fully articulate my love for him.

Favorite class to play: Bard! I love that they're really the jack of all trades and are pretty good at everything, including spells and sword fighting. Persuasion and deception are SO helpful in this game, plus playing music to distract crowds and cause shenanigans in Baldur's Gate is wonderful.

Favorite NPC: I think Raphael. While yeah he absolutely SUCKS, I'm obsessed with his obsession with his own voice. He's a thespian, he's a freak, he's an idiot. I love it. But yes, I did kill his ass.

Favorite song off the soundtrack: Probably the Harpy Song. I listen to it a lot in my spare time, especially when I'm working on a specific fic I'm attempting to write. I'm a big fan of haunting melodies and, unsurprisingly, the concept of hypnotizing music.

Tell us a little about your Tav: I wrote a pretty long post about her here, but my Tav is named Birdie and she's a bard who was born and raised at the Water Queen's House. Previous iterations of her had her as a siren (hence the deep love of the Harpy Song), but I'm still not 100% sure if this version of her is. Basically, she's a mermaid ass goof whose main gang of idiots include Astarion, Gale, and Shadowheart. Chaos often ensues.

Something you wish was in the game: I know this game is huge. I know there's probably stuff people haven't even discovered yet. But god would I love some more camp animations. More interactions between the companions AT camp. Cut scenes where there should probably be cut scenes (The second time Astarion drinks your blood, Wyll celebrating the defeat of Ansur, etc). I really really love this game, but I'd love to hang out with my friends EVEN MORE.

Do you create fanworks? Share something with us: Oh boy I'm TRYING. I've never really written fanfiction before but the stupid vampire has inspired me to do so. I'm in the process of writing two different fics (one multi-chapter, one one-shot on the longer side) and am having a blast but I'm not sure if/when I'll post them. I've noticed my writing style is very similar to the way I write scripts, which is what I went to college for, so they're full of dialogue and quick, dumb banter. It might not be for everyone, but I'm having The Most Fun! Let me know if you'd maybe want to see more? Here's a silly excerpt from the one-shot (she may or may not get smutty later on 👀):

There was no sign of the vampire, save for an open hatch beneath the stone of the tower leading into what you presumed was a cellar of sorts. Off to the side was a discarded set of Thieves’ Tools. Yup, that’ll be him.

Rolling your eyes affectionately, you began to descend into the basement below. 

Before you could even make it to the bottom, however, you heard Astarion’s voice tinged with annoyance. “Don’t bother, darling. I was just coming back up.”

You paused on the ladder and looked down at him. “That bad?”

“Eh, a few coins, some food. Nothing worth risking one’s life over. Foolish gnome.”

“Shame,” you pouted down at him, not an ounce of real sympathy behind the word.

He smirked as he met your eye. “Go,” he said, indicating you should climb back up the ladder. “There was a rather large amount of smoke powder though. That could be fun.”

When you emerged back into the early evening air, you turned to help Astarion out. “Maybe you can blow up a quaint little gnomish village.”

Astarion’s eyes glittered with delight. “Oh, do you think there’s one around here? That would be- Oh. You’re joking.”

You nodded.

“Gods, you’re no fun.” He sighed dramatically and then started back towards the Blighted Village proper. 

You scoffed in mock offense. “I’m a lot of fun!”

Astarion tsked. “If you have to say you’re a lot of fun, odds are, you’re lying to yourself.” He shot a challenging half smile at you from over his shoulder.

“How dare you,” you laughed.

“Such a pity, too,” he went on. “Aren’t bards supposed to be entertaining?”

You made a sound of agony, which had Astarion fully turning back to look at you. You threw a hand to your heart and staggered towards him. “You wound me, Astarion. Look upon me with pity and remember me fondly!” You set an arm on his shoulder and let your body weight go, as if collapsing from a killing blow. 

Astarion was quick to catch you under your arms. He made a show of groaning about how heavy you were now that your body had gone completely limp. After you’d hung loosely from his grip for a few seconds, he finally yielded. “Alright, enough.” 

You resumed control of your body and stood up straight, a smug look on your face. “I’m fun.”

“Dramatic.”

“Theatrical.”

“Annoying.”

“Endearing.”

“Loud.”

“Enthusiastic-”

Just then, a loud howl came from a barn a little ways off. 

You and Astarion eyed each other.

“Was that you?” Astarion asked.

“‘Was that me?!’ I’m not THAT loud.”

“Could have fooled me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on.” You started in a light jog towards the barn.

Astarion groaned. “You can’t be serious.” He caught up with you easily. “Haven’t we done enough heroing for today?”

You looked at him thoughtfully. “One more act of heroism probably won’t kill you.”

“It might!”

“Oh, now who’s being dramatic?” You came to a stop at the double doors.

“I-” Astarion floundered, then pursed his lips and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.”

[doodlerh]

super lazy rushed designs of my nanowrimo mcs

[nerdallwritey]

for the fic asks!

✅🔚🤔😊

✅ list one or two favorite lines you’ve written and explain why they’re your favorite

HMM. Good question. There are certain lines that I write where I'm like "Oh this. This is beautiful," but of course none of them are coming to me now. I'll list a few sequences I love rereading though! (Sorry for the yappage, but are we surprised?)

An Evening to Ourselves

“Rather aerodynamic, isn’t he?” Gale remarked. - Making fun of Astarion's predator run

When you're overthinking in your tent and Astarion's like "I can hear you thinking from across camp" lol

The moment where Astarion's mask goes up and it scares you enough that it snaps him out of it

General Astarion softness with your firsts

Just to Ruin Me

The whole waking up sequence where Astarion smacks you and you hit him with a pillow

"I did have a knife."

The companions finding you snoozing together

Astarion tackling you to the ground and forgetting you need to breathe

Cheeks All Flushed

Shadowheart's wrath

Astarion attempting and failing to get drunk

Gale asking minimal questions about pranking Astarion

Withers

Perfect Every Time

Astarion snoozing on your chest

“Oh I didn’t, but I wanted you to think your little thought experiment had actually evoked some sort of… thought… in me.” He made a face. “Want to try and rephrase that?” “Not particularly.”

Splash fight

Fish love

Worth the Peril

Comparing Astarion to a Barbarian

Feral/protective Astarion right after the injury

"You're allowed to love her"

Reading sequence

About to Strike

Astarion not knowing who Jaheira is

Stretching to prove you feel fine and failing miserably

The entire Jaheira poisoning you sequence

Finding the ring then pampering the elf

Okay CLEARLY I found a few good quotes while skimming through 😅

🔚 have you ever completely changed the direction a piece was going?

I'm sure I have. I usually go into writing with an idea of what I want to say/big plot points and then the bits in between kind of just weave everything together. I know that "Perfect Every Time" was supposed to be part of "Worth the Peril," but it got too long and I made it its own part! I also have the memory of a goldfish and will have ideas while I'm not in front of my computer and then forget it and have to come up with something else.

🤔 why do you write fic?

Honestly? I think I was putting off finishing my first play through of bg3. I didn't want my time with the companions to end so I kind of decided not to let it and tried to bring them to life through more storytelling. I also really wanted to write about Astarion being thrown off by a Tav. I've said it before, but the idea for "An Evening to Ourselves" came to me while I was trying to sleep one night and I made myself laugh when thinking about how if Astarion propositioned me, I'd be like "Wait, me? Why?" lol. I was also in a really unmotivated/somewhat depressed state back in the spring (when I started writing this series) and I really needed a way to be creative and have some fun. I regret nothing! I'm having a blast with you guys and am glad you enjoy the dorks I write about!

😊 say something nice about your writing

I do love my dialogue. It comes very easily to me, whereas prose and description can be a little more difficult. I guess my brain is just wired to think of quick snappy dialogue as opposed to waxing poetic about the vampire's beauty. But I make myself laugh a lot with the dumb things I make the characters say, and I know if EYE am laughing, that you guys probably will too :)

[nerdallwritey]

i may have dropped off the face of the earth for a hot minute, so hopefully you haven't been asked these ones yet!

11, 30, 46, 52, 60, 71, 68, 86, 98, 99

EEEE thanks Khy! Questions found here.

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Shoes that I wear REGULARLY?? I think maybe four pairs? Sneakers I've had since 2018, two pairs of Toms, and my rain boots. OH! And slippers I wear when I go downstairs to do laundry. So five. I have more in my closet, but those are for special occasions (fancy boots, shoes i've worn at weddings, etc). I don't really care much about shoes, I'd rather be comfortable more than anything!

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

I have multiple pillows, but I typically only sleep with one! I love firm pillows and I only have one (I inherited my other pillows from my previous roommates who had a ton and said I could take them, but they're too soft for my so I have a bunch of stuffed animals sitting on them instead lol). If I have a cold or something though, I'll sleep with at least two!

46. What is your personality type?

ISFJ I believe. I haven't taken that quiz in a while so I should probably see if it updated but I can be pretty shy and sensitive until I feel comfortable around others! Here's what the 16 Personalities website says:

ISFJ (Defender) is a personality type with the Introverted, Observant, Feeling, and Judging traits. These people tend to be warm and unassuming in their own steady way. They’re efficient and responsible, giving careful attention to practical details in their daily lives.

I think that's pretty accurate I guess? Now I'm interested to take it again!

52. Favorite food?

I answered that here with french fries, but I also LOVE ice cream. My fave flavors are usually anything with chocolate chips in it, mint chocolate chip being my all time fave!! I also love chocolatey or peanut butter cup flavors. IT'S ALL SO GOOD!!!

60. Do you talk to yourself?

Also answered here but yes, all the time! I'm always talking to myself and addressing invisible people in my apartment as if I'm on camera. What better way to stave off the horrors than pretending you're putting on a comedy routine of some kind? 😅

68. Favorite school subject?

Rather than say English (because duh, I love reading and writing), I'll say my fave class I ever took in high school was photography class! My teacher was simply the most fun and laid back teacher I ever had, and he was so incredibly encouraging and helpful about all things, not just photography based! I loved being able to listen to music in the dark room and did projects I actually cared about and enjoyed and had a few pieces displayed around school! My dad still has a few of them hanging up in his office back home :)

71. What makes you nervous?

Dare I say most things? Lol, on account of I have generalized anxiety. The thing that's making me nervous RECENTLY is that my job comes to an end in a month and job hunting is STRESSFUL. Especially when I live in such an expensive city! I reached out to the creator of the show I work on yesterday to ask him advice about writing for television, and while I know THAT itself was brave, I'm nervous for his response lol. I have an appointment today which always makes me nervous, I'm worried I'm not DOING enough, failing, all that good stuff. YAY! Aren't you glad you asked 😂

86. What are you allergic to?

There's one specific medicine that made me break out in hives as a kid (am I even still allergic? who knows!), but more noticeably and mysteriously, there's a certain fiber in fabric material that makes my hands itch and swell. I used to think it was tulle, but it seems to happen randomly after I touch certain fabrics. I have to run my hands under cold water and constantly flex them to try and get the swelling to go down. That also happens when the weather outside is way too hot! What is the exact fiber? No clue, it usually happens pretty randomly when I'm out and about lol. Luckily it's nothing life threatening, just annoying!

98. Do you have any scars?

I do! I was bitten by a dog that I lived with in 2021 (I no longer live with her and am in a much better place now), but for a long long time I had a very noticeable bite on my left thigh. THAT SHIT SUCKED! It's mostly faded by now but the trauma remains 😅 I've had other injuries that scarred for a while and eventually faded away, but that one will definitely stay with me.

99. Color of your bedspread?

Navy blue! I know people always say when men have navy blue sheets it's a red flag (idk why, it's just what I've heard - don't have to clean them as much maybe? who knows!), but I got mine in that color because it matches my comforter, which is white with navy flowers on it! I promise it's cute and NOT a red flag! They're also really high quality with a nice thread count. I love them!

[nerdallwritey]

for the wip ask game: how about "smirk"?

Ooohhhh this is a GOOD ONE, THANK YOU!!! (Prompt from this post)

“You gonna pay for that?” Zaki asked with a huff. “Quiet, child whose name I’ve never cared to learn.” You crossed your arms and gave Astarion a look before he rolled his eyes and extended his neck towards you. “She’ll cover it.” You rolled your eyes in return and reached into your pocket to hand the tiefling a gold piece.  “I knew I liked you,” Zaki smirked before running off to show the other kids his loot.  Astarion raised an eyebrow. “Gold, darling? Really?” “I think we’ll survive." 

[nerdallwritey]

✒️!

Send me ✒️ and I’ll write your URL in my handwriting along with a little note about what I think of you!