#pr@ncing

[brograndpa]

Looking at some party banter and losing my mind at the bloodweave ones in particular

Gale caught yapping again and only catches himself when Astarion makes that pained look of "I wasn't making a joke"

And now here Astarion is actually making a joke just to call Gale out on being a nerd that's oh so easy to shove inside a locker.

The nosy wizard is going to get us killed!! (The more delusional take is that he's worried instead akdhfkdjd)

I wouldn't describe Kethric's throne as comfortable...

Aaaaaand there it is. Love that they have the conversation continue.

I like this one. It feels like Gale's silly and overly eager nerdiness actually serves as a grounding point for Astarion. Unnerved? Just wait for the wizard to say some nonsense trivia for a soft reset of one's mind.

I like to imagine Astarion throwing his arm over Gale's shoulder as he says this. They've grown attached to each other's company, and just as Gale's given Astarion a taste for books, Astarion has given Gale a zest for life he might have lost entirely if not for the concern of the orb going off.

I think it's really something that this is a conversation with Gale. If not for Gale's relationship with Mystra, I feel like he'd have the same atheistic approach towards them as Astarion. After all, Gale only saw Mystra's protection of herself as hiding away secrets from mortals.

Just why is he so concerned with Gale's love life?!?!? I get that Astarion's a gossip, but I always found his interest here so strange.

Interesting how he holds off on asking this until Act 3, and it's only if you're romancing Gale. Like is he trying to divide the two of you further by making Gale speak positively of Mystra? Why? Mission accomplished in its own way, but still, very strange.

I'm assuming this is Gale showing concern for the player character but also a bit of a reveal from Gale himself that he prefers his romances slow and paasionate. I like to think he's hoping things go well anyway, in spite of his preferences.

...And here's the proof for that hc, right here. He really does wish the best for Astarion, because if anyone's known heartbreak, it's Gale. Crazy how Astarion, so used to just using Gale as an emotional reset button by constantly ribbing him, instead returns the sincerity in kind. I think it speaks so much to their relationship with each other that, in spite of their early animosity, both of them recognize how much friendlier the atmosphere between them has grown. Add to this the shrinking amount of distance between their tents, and you can really see the point at which they stop being frenemies and instead consider each other true friends. A rarity for them both.

Gale is being 100% genuine here btw. I don't think he forgot about the orb, I think he's just delusionally of the belief that he can change how it tastes if he gives it willingly.

My headcanon is that orb-free Gale in postgame keeps the offer on deck anyway. He just wants to help! And yet, if it does happen, it will never not feel like the two of them are cheating on Tav together 💔

Lol. Just wait until you're in those shackles, Gale...

[brograndpa]

I get why it's uncomfortable to see it, but Gale really is the only companion who could be made to get on his knees in front of Astarion. The man who would sacrifice himself for his goddess's forgiveness and then stop those plans for his true love who makes him forget her, he'd do anything. Even if it makes him uncomfortable. Even if it terrifies him or risks his own life.

And tbh you shouldn't be ascending Astarion if you're not prepared to treat him like a god. Gale can tease a little, but he'll always worship his partner and no one else would do it better than Gale.

[brograndpa]

Tbh the more I think on it the more I fully believe Gale is the one who falls first, and then they both fall hard for each other the deeper into the relationship they go. Ascended Astarion becomes totally obsessive over his darling wizard, while God Gale becomes grossly fixated on seeing his lovely vampire spawn made perfect.

In an ending where they both choose to remain in the dark of life's mysteries and the sun, they both cling to each other as the last bastion of light left in their lives. The singular person they can rely upon to understand what they sacrificed in order to retain their humanity. And who knows—maybe they can make themselves better than the gods, so long as they're together.

But as for who fell first, there's no doubt in my mind. It was Gale who couldn't stop his gaze from finding Astarion in the field. Astarion took advantage of those feelings to further his own goals, but he could never predict the lengths Gale would want to go through in order to protect the one he worships.

[brograndpa]

Y'know I couldn't be sure if it was just an oversight that Astarion makes no mention of Gale's toxic blood when he bites him in cutscenes, but after that ascendant kiss post and taking into consideration his reaction to Karlach's fire, he's just 100% a masochist poison enjoyer.

Larian has had their chances to go back and change it, and today's post is a doubling down instead. Astarion fucking loves that Mountain Dew blood, it gives him an energy rush.

[brograndpa]

Spawn!Astarion being forbidden entry to his own house by Gale when he's splitting. No getting in until he's talked out of a dissasociative episode where he thinks he's better off dead and meanwhile Astarion can only communicate by either shouting up the tower or climbing its edges to get closer to the window. If he tries to stick his hand inside, a force repels him back so hard that he risks falling into a fathomless ravine, so he sticks to shouting til his throat grows hoarse.

[brograndpa]

Sometimes, a trolley is just a trolley. It's in its nature to advance, but what road it takes is never in its hands.

In other words, the difference between me and my wife's origin playthroughs (mine was Lae'zel).

[brograndpa]

Celebrating Bloodweave kiss patch tonight

[brograndpa]

Thinking about ascended Astarion and professor Gale. Thoughts are messy but here's my synopsis of how they get to where they are.

thinking about astarion who has been pulled along into a strange friendship by gale who takes astarion's random stealing of his books to mean that he's reading them. astarion isn't, he's just doing it to piss gale off, but the opposite effect of it has him annoyed instead. nevertheless, he decides to just go ahead and read it, then passes on his own "recommendation" in the form of a spicy novel he picks up while traveling. thus is the start of their book club.

it happens early on enough that astarion decides someone as powerful as gale proves a good ally for his fight against cazador, and he can also tell just how easily manipulated gale can be in the right circumstances. so he interrupts one of their book club sessions with a kiss, and gale freaks out saying he's not so sure this is a good idea given his Orb and all that.

naturally they both go to bed disappointed, but the next day gale is super apologetic saying he's been unable to stop thinking about it, and how he desperately wanted it but also fears putting them both in danger. astarion relents because yeah. that makes sense. and thinks nothing of it other than well we've got something going on here. not sure what it is but he seems to trust me enough without needing sex, so that's weird.

then elminster comes and suddenly astarion is fucking fuming at the revelation that apparently, if the gods ever do answer your prayers, it's just to tell you to die. astarion makes it a point to, with the orb stabilized, have raunchy nasty woods sex with gale all to make himself feel like he has some control over the situation. it's in this sex though that gale finally learns all of astarion's little tricks and comes to realize that he's really only having sex with a dead man who's been trained to use his body this way.

not that gale rejects him for this, but it does make his concern for astarion grow. he realizes first that their relationship isn't properly mutual, but he's weirdly okay with it because he can see that astarion genuinely does care about making gale remember the joys of living, and how ironic it is that it has to come from an undead. it's through this revelation that gale decides he wants to share an escapist illusion with astarion of a world that might have been, and though gale isn't expecting anything in return for it, astarion's undead heart twists somehow. he writes it off as a strange taste of empathy.

it's only when astarion finally ascends that he realizes the depths of his feelings. how utterly insane he is for gale, his heart racing ten million miles an hour as he looks at the man who doesn't know when to stop giving away pieces of himself, and how starved astarion is for every last inch. it's because of these feelings born from his newly living heart that the moment astarion learns of the crown of karsus, he's terrified of gale taking it. he would have been in favor if he were just a spawn who hadn't had his chance at revenge, but now that he's done that and more, he realizes how horrifying a world without gale at his side could truly be.

when gale tries to explain this to him in the boatride, astarion grabs gale's hand and pulls it to his chest, all his rage and fire gone as he expresses genuine vulnerability for vulnerability's sake, begging gale to understand how much astarion loves him without wanting to say the word because it doesn't mean anything on his tongue anymore. gale asks him to say it anyway, because he'll be able to tell. astarion says it, sounding like he's never said it before in his life. gale kisses him, and promises he won't reforge the crown, because astarion is right. it would be terrible to throw away his heart for power when he could give it to astarion instead.

and then gale just falls even deeper as a result because wao...he really has someone he loves that loves him right back, just the way that he is right now..................a bit ironic that he'll end up losing his heart either way, but it's alright. he'll know it's always beating for astarion

idk i just love the idea of astarion realizing the depth of his love only once the hollow space in his chest has been filled by a heart that won't stop pounding everytime he looks at his beloved!! and the true fear that comes at the idea that he might be alone if gale were to cast him aside for godhood...he couldnt take that. his manipulative ass is gonna do everything to keep that wizard as his property