Get you a man who would still love you as a sheep.
I had once seen this post (no idea where now) that described what the "would you still love me as a worm" question means metaphorically and it was so beautiful. Considering Gale will love Tav with the same devotion and enthusiasm if they turn into a mindflayer, I think it's safe to say he'd love Tav if they were a worm.. or a sheep.
(I spent like 20 hours on this shit post)
Gale is a wizard and Vaxx is a wild mage, and they don't always agree on how to magic.
Where Gale taps into the harmony of the weave to channel his like a musician, Vaxx channels the elemental planes of chaos like a lightening rod trying to connect the sky to the ground.
Where Gale feels magic is to be conquered, Vaxx feels it is to be respected in its most raw and natural form.
Where Gale has a prodigal talent to control it, Vaxx has the innate ability to cast it.
Where Gale needs discipline to learn his spells, Vaxx needs discipline to direct it.
They are polar opposites in several ways, and I love them, Your Honor.
This picture lives in my head rent free so I had to write a short snippet of my Dragonborn Wild Mage Tav, Vaccistar, sparring with Gale for the first time. I referenced this video for the fight. Anyways enjoy! [I've never posted fic to tumblr so idk if I'm doing this right? feel free to leave me tips]
Wordcount: 3,152
There was a hollow clunk as the plain wooden quarterstaff hit the ground next to Gale. He lazily glanced over from his book and considered it before looking up to see who had tossed the weapon in his direction.
Vaccistar stood in front of him, her own quarterstaff swung across her neck and her large dragonborn arms hanging off of it. The late afternoon sun gave her bronze and sepia toned scales a warm glow, which were bare for the world in her camp clothes of an intricate, scaled bralette and brown leather pants. She leaned forward, her sharp bright blue eyes glowing slightly in the shade of Gale's tent.
“Fancy a spar, wizard?” a small toothy and mischievous smile growing. It had only been close to a tenday since she had pulled Gale out from his unstable portal, but from the moment they first spoke, a ‘friendly’ rivalry had blossomed between the two of them. A rivalry borne of conjecture and dissension on principles and applicability of magic. A rivalry between a wizard and a wild mage.
Gale slowly placed the division ribbon in between the pages he was on before closing it.
“I suppose I could indulge you. Though I warn, it has been sometime since I’ve sparred with someone. I may not be up to scratch,” he picked up the quarterstaff and used it to help him up off the ground.
“Only if your knees will allow you,” Vaccistar teased. He narrowed his eyes at her. She had been relentless since she discovered he was ten years her elder. He supposed it was technically more, as Vaccistar was 21 summers old, but as Dragonborns aged faster than humans, she was closer to 25 physically and mentally.
“Sparring will be easier on my knees than sneaking around goblins,” he gave her a tight smile. Vaccistar shrugged with a smug look on her face. She turned playfully on her heel swinging her foot out and led them to the open spot near the center of camp. Their companions took notice immediately.
“Are you guys going to fight!?” Karlach said excitedly.
“We are going to spar,” Gale corrected. The others came around to form a half circle around them.
“Good!” Lae’zel crossed her arms. “It’s about time our mages practice some practical combat,”
Vaccistar rolled her eyes as she swung her quarterstaff from her shoulders. She spun it in her hand but nearly dropped it as Gale grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head.
She recovered her staff awkwardly and held it with both hands in front of her as if it could hide her bashfulness. She felt a heat deep in her core sending a tingling up her spine, across her shoulders and wrapping around her cheeks as she watched Gale.
He rolled his thick shoulders back, stretching his neck, clearly unaware, or atleast unphased by everyone gawking at his physique. His chest was robust with muscle and lightly covered with dark hair that trailed down his sculpted stomach to the waistband of his pants. The muscles of his brawny arms shifted like waves on still water under his tan skin. As he spun the quarterstaff in his hand and around his body, Vaccistar could see large veins trailing down his forearms to his large hands that expertly handled the wooden weapon with ease.
“Why is Gale so ripped?” Astarion said in a hushed tone. Vaccistar startled slightly, his voice pulling her out of her lewd daydreams.
“I could probably do my laundry on his abs…” Karach said matching Astarion’s volume. Shadowheart nodded silently, her brows furrowed with concern.
“It is a pleasant surprise that the wizard seems to be far more built for combat than I had originally thought,” Lae’zel said unimpressed and not bothering with lowering her voice. Gale gave them all a slight side eye and small smile. He continued to practice his stances while pretending he couldn’t hear them.
Astartion put his hand on Vaccistar’s shoulder, a mischievous glint in his red eyes. “Listen, darling, you can’t let his sculpted body distract you. And you must, under no circumstances, look at how tight his pants are,”
As if on cue, the dragonborn’s eye’s dropped down to his pants. One probably wouldn’t have noticed it if attention wasn’t brought to it; but now that Vaccistar’s attention had been directed to it she wasn’t able to unsee the unmistakable silhouette of his length against the brown leather that lined the inside of his casual purple pants. She quickly turned her head away and scrunched up her snout at Astarion disapprovingly. Astartion merely shrugged, seeming quite pleased with himself.
“I did say, ‘Don’t look,’”
“Wyll!” Gale called out to the warlock who was quietly contemplating Gale’s body alongside everyone else. “Would you be so kind as to officiate our match?”
“With pleasure!” Wyll responded enthusiastically and moved to take a spot where he could easily see the two of them.
“My money’s on Gale!” Shadowheart declared.
“Agreed,” Lae’zel nodded and the two moved to stand towards his side.
“What?” Vaccistar turned to them in mock offense. “Are you taking his side because I turned you both down?”
“No…?” Shadowheart averted her gaze with a slight blush on her face.
“Yes,” Lae,zel stated bluntly, a defiant look in her eyes.
Karlach slapped her hand onto Vaccistar’s shoulder, nearly throwing her off balance. “Not to worry, soldier! Astarion and I will be rooting for ya!”
“Don’t involve me,” Astarion narrowed his eyes at them.
“Are we ready to begin, then? First to three points wins,” Wyll said, taking his position between the two of them.
“I am, but I don’t know if Vaccistar is done with her chinwag just yet,” Gale said with a knowing look and a taunting eye.
Vaccistar frowned, her blush deepening the color of her scales. With a determined huff she swung her quarterstaff and took a stance.
“I’m ready,” she said, as Gale matched her starting stance.
“Very well then,” Wyll placed a hand between them. “BEGIN!” he called out, quickly dropping his hand.
No sooner had the words left his lips, Vaccistar twirled and swung her staff out low. With a resounding CLACK Gale blocked the blow and swept her staff up and above him, directing it to the ground on the other side of him. She rebounded and moved her staff back up which Gale blocked with quick and loud wooden CLACKS. He knocked her staff to the side and went to swing the back end at her. She lowered herself dodging the blow, as the staff wooshed above her head, nearly hitting her arcuate crown of horns. She took the opening to thrust her staff forward, which he dodged by stepping to the side. A line of sweat formed at his forehead realizing the height of her aim was just below his waist.
Vaccistar thrusted her staff forward again, which Gale tapped off to the side and then thrust his own staff down at her legs. She moved her staff back to block him and swept his weapon up and around her moving forward to push him back. Gale stepped with the motion, his staff freeing up as she spun and swung her weapon around to hit him. He spun in the opposite direction and ducking the blow using the opportunity to swing his staff down to the back of her legs. Vaccistar froze as she felt him tap her legs gently.
“POINT TO GALE!” Wyll cried out to Shadowheart’s clapping and cheering.
“Don’t give up, soldier!” Karlach called out to Vaccistar. She exhaled, flaring her nostrils in embarrassment.
‘I can’t lose to a damns wizard!’ she thought to herself and she retook her position at the other end of their mini battlefield. Gale smirked, tapping his staff on the ground as he took his position.
“Impressive, but far too offensive. Remember, our quarterstaffs are meant to defend us in a bind. Our spells are our offense,” he said.
“Very well, you take the offensive this time,” Vaccistar scoffed.
“Ready?” Wyll called out as they got into their starting stances. “BEGIN!”
Gale arced his staff above his head as he moved forward then down where Vaccistar’s staff met his. CLACK. With a quick movement he swung it back around to hit the otherside, where she once again blocked. CLACK. She flipped his staff up and then moved forward with a thrust which Gale dodge with a large step back. She swung it up where he met her staff again, stepping farther back and encouraging her to chase him. She pushed his staff aside and went for another thrust which Gale dodge with another side step. As she recovered he took the bottom of his staff and went to thrust forward which Vaccistar barely dodged by dipping her head down. The both of them recovered and in a movement that could have been choreographed as they both spun around and their staffs met in midair with a hollow CLACK that reverberated off the rocks around them. The crowd gave a quiet ‘Oooo.’
With quick succession Vaccistar swung her staff on either side of Gale, and with quicker movements he blocked her staff with his. He swept up her staff and pushed it to the side and went in with his own blows swinging at her midsection with both ends of his staff. She blocked his blow, and his second at her legs, and then a third above her head. She pushed his staff down to the ground. For a heartbeat Vaccistar’s eyes burned with the assurance of victory as their eyes met, then a spark of mischief went off in Gale’s eyes. He went to swing under her staff which made Vaccistar step back to dodge. She watched as he retracted his staff far too soon and realized he had faked her out by the time the back end of his staff tapped her tail gently (which blocked her backside from being the victim of his swing).
“ANOTHER POINT TO GALE,”
“My apologies, I was aiming for your lower back,” Gale said awkwardly as he stepped back, his cheeks reddening slightly.
“No need to apologize, Gale, darling! It’s a large target,” Astarion quipped from the sidelines, Vaccistar’s annoyed glare fueling his mirth.
Gale and Vaccistar retook their positions as Wyll lifted his hand. “BEGIN!” he shouted. Vaccistar went in as if she was going to swing up on Gale, but as he prepared to block she kept the swing low and went for his side. Gale quickly caught the pole in his arm and used his as leverage to push her staff out of her hands. Vaccistar’s eyes widened in surprise as he stepped back twirling both staffs at the same time, wearing a smug face that she desperately wanted to wipe off… or kiss. She pushed the thoughts aside.
“POI-” Wyll began but Gale held up one hand.
“Now hold on, I won’t let it count against her. If she can retrieve her staff from me,” He tossed hers behind him and took up a stance.
“Very well, then,” Wyll said and stepped back to let them continue.
She held up her hands ready to catch his staff as she took a few steps forward. Once she was close enough he swung low to trip her, but Vaccistar leapt up and dodged it. He quickly recovered with a twirl of his staff and went to bring it down on her. Vaccistar side stepped and twirled low around swinging her tail and catching the back of Gale's knees. He fell forward, recovering himself, and turned around to find Vaccistar’s staff coming down on him. Gale took a step back and tapped her staff back. He continued to retreat backwards as she swung her staff furiously, meeting him at every hit. He blocked one of her high hits, pushing her staff down and spinning around to hit her in the back. She stepped back to bring her staff down and blocked his hit. She swept it up and went in with a thrust which he tapped back as he took a step back. He returned in kind, taking a step forward thrusting his staff towards her. She mimicked his dodge with effectiveness. She took a large step forward with another thrust of her staff which he sidestepped. This time however, Vaccistar was too slow to recover from her last attack, and far too close to Gale to dodge anything. With a quick movement his staff met her midsection and pushed her back, knocking the wind out of her.
Vaccistar fell to the ground landing on her back, stunned.
“Vaccistar!” Gale called out as she fell. He came down to her side in a hurry. “Are you okay?” his eyes were wide and wet with worry.
“I’m fine,” She managed to respond after catching her breath.
“I misjudged how close you were going to get to me. Before I knew it, I had made contact. I am so sorry,” He helped her up as he explained. She waved her hand to dismiss it.
“It’s fine. It’s not a true sparring session unless someone gets hurt, anyways,” Vaccistar rubbed where his staff had shoved into. “Besides, what use are these scales, if they don’t protect me?” She half lied. Truthfully, as far as scute’s went, they were weak and were as flimsy as fingernails. But they certainly made it look like she was far tougher. Reality was it would probably bruise and the entire scale would turn dark.
Gale’s eyebrows knitted in continuous worry as their companions came around them.
“What a fight!” Karlach exclaimed. “You really held your own, Vaxx!”
“Well, it’s very clear that Gale has a great many years on me in experience,” Vaccistar said with a smile. Her joke did well to ease his worry that was creasing his forehead.
“He certainly does know his way around a wood staff,” Astarion mused watching the two of them catch his innuendo in embarrassed glances, averting the other’s gaze.
As the group dispersed and went back to their activities before the sparring had begun, Vaccistar picked up her quarterstaff and went straight into practicing again. Gale watched for a moment before he finally commented.
“You aren’t going to take a rest?” He crossed his arms, his biceps bulging slightly from the pose. Vaccistar looked out of the corner of her eye before doing a double take and dropping her staff. With a frustrated huff she picked it up, the tip of her tail swishing in annoyance.
“In the face of defeat, I find solace in practicing,”
“Rest and motion, unrelieved and unchecked, are equally destructive,” Gale said as he approached her. “However, if you are so adamant, then you should at least practice the right technique. If you would allow me, I could show you a thing or two,”
Vaccistar smirked. “Do my ears deceive me? The wizard wants to teach the sorcerer something? And here I thought I was incapable of such a feat,”
“Noone is incapable of learning. There were a number of Sorcerer’s at Blackstaff Academy. But magic inclination aside, there are a number of practical things I could show you, if you would indulge an old man and let him impart his wisdom,” Gale had a twinkle in his eye that tugged at the sides of Vaccistar’s lips. She pursed them to keep them from betraying her.
“I suppose I could, this once,” She teased.
“May I ask where you learned your skills from?” Gale asked her as he came to stand just behind her and to the side. A light tingling sensation crossed her skin as she felt him close.
“My mother first, then I took lessons from the guards at the local keep. And anyone who came through carrying a staff,” She said. Gale nodded in thought.
“That certainly explains your excessive offensive stance. May I?” He asked his hand just hovering over her arm. Vaccistar nodded, a warmth crossing her cheeks. He gently took her arms and with a gentle but firm touch he directed them in where he wanted them. “I also noticed that your center of gravity was a bit off. I’d say, with your tail, you could stand with your feet apart a bit… more,” he pushed his foot against her pushing them apart a bit. “And lower your center just… a tad,” his fingers graced just above her hips and gently settled her in a slight squat. “How does that feel?”
Vaccistar took a moment to come back to the conversation at hand, every where he had touched tingled oh so lightly, but felt empty at the same time. “Uhm, better actually,” she shifted her weight slightly and felt more balanced and sturdy than she had before.
“Excellent!” Gale exclaimed and began to direct her arms in various stances and blocks. He talked close to her ear as he explained every move in depth; the where, the how, the why. He was an excellent teacher, but Vaccistar found a part of her drifting off. It focused on his touches, on the way his breath felt against her skin, the way he spoke.
‘Gods, how can he be so appealing? Wizards are supposed to be power hungry arses, but why is he different? He better not awaken something in me…’ she thought as he stepped aside and encouraged her to imitate the motions he had just shown her. With a great ease she worked through the movements slowly at first, getting a feel of them. Then by the third try she was moving at full speed with great precision.
“Very good,” Gale praised her. Something about the way he said it stirred something deep in her core.
“I think that’s enough practice for today!” She said so abruptly that it made Gale raise his eyebrows in surprise. “Thank you, for the spar and the lessons,” she gave him a stiff and shallow bow. He dipped his head and torso in a graceful bow of his own.
“But of course. Sharing knowledge with one another benefits us all. If you ever need any lessons, you are welcome to find me. We can make them a bit more private, if that suits you,”
Vaccistar swore his voice took on a darker tone as he looked at her through his brows.
Vaccistar’s soul threatened to leave her body, and she knew without a doubt, the scales around her cheeks were now a darker hue with all the warmth they radiated.
“Splendid,” her voice cracked and she turned on her heel marching straight to her tarp covered sticks she called a tent.
She threw down the side of the tarp to cover the open end, ensuring no one could perceive her and plopped into her bed roll face down. With a flick of her wrist she cast silence and began screaming into her pillow.
I made my cat, Ira in a tressym, because my Princess would make an excellent one.
Ignore the bg I'm lazy
Ira Tressym headcanons below the cut
Ira belongs to my Tav's (Vaccistar) mother. She isn't a familiar, just a pet. She resides with her in a cabin in the High Forest.
They rescued her as a kitten from a exotic pets dealer who was passing through Olostin's Hold. She is barely 10 years old as of BG3
If you use "Speak to Animals" and talk to her, she will inform you that she is the Queen of this kingdom known as Ca' Bin. It goes as far as she can see from the rooftop and everyone who resides here is her royal subject.
Loravyre (Mom) is her personal assistant, chef, jester, and many more. Vaccistar (Tav) is her gallant knight off on a crusade in her name. And the chickens are all the peasants she rules over.
She knocks things off the shelves when she is not fed on time.
Her favorite place to sleep is on someone's side/stomach/back. If you move she will move with you.
[I might add more as Vaccistar's story develops]
[[Will answer asks about Ira or any of my characters btw!]]
