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The Vibes

This is unapologetically a dark romance with a somewhat naive heroine. At the beginning. But the story is deeper than that. There's lore. There's the fun of a modern AU. Astarion plays DnD. Astarion harasses his very posh British lawyer. But the darkness is never far. A!A here is softened by centuries of loss and weakened powers on a low-magic world, but he still craves violence and control.

And Octavia has to decide if she can accept that.

Their love isn't a given, but something that builds, a connection reformed and rechosen.

Tavriel of Rivington - Fresh from the stage to a Nautiloid to a sunny cliff.

Short Snippet

An Excerpt from Chapter 1

He was already standing this time, having just finished winding the clock he kept in here. It would have been better had he been sitting when he saw her.  “Oh, hello, Mr. Ancunin. I’m Octavia Martin.” The first thing he saw was her eyes. That peculiar shade of blue that was all over this room, all over his life. In the shades of the rug. In the paintings of storms upon oceans. In the shirt that covered him. A blue-gray that was slightly more blue than gray, but steely nonetheless. Then the face that held those eyes appeared and blurred out his mind entirely. He was standing in the bright light of day, befuddled that he was alive, at the top of an escarpment, desperate and distrusting. There she walked up, side by side with that bitch Shadowheart. Of course, he hadn’t hated the cleric then. She smiled at him, offering to help in that same sweet voice.  He’d pointed, “Over there. One of those brain things. Can you kill it?” He’d said. She’d smiled again, telling him he’d be safe. Ha! He didn’t even know what the word meant then. As she strutted past, he’d grabbed her, pulled a knife up to her neck.  Gods, he missed her. His chest began to ache with a longing he’d forgotten he was capable of. “Mr. Ancunin?” That sweet voice pulled him back to the present. “Ah, yes. My apologies, Ms. Martin. I suffer from these episodes from time to time.” “Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Do you need to sit down? Should I go get your assistant?” Her words tumbled out of her. She was adorably flustered. His heart felt like it was trying to beat out of his chest. What was happening to him?!

What other media inspired this fic?

I've long been fascinated with the concept of Elven reincarnation within DnD and how it would work. What would stay the same, what would change, is this person really the same person?

This is the fic where I really dig in and explore those concepts.

Octavia (Tav) Martin / Tavriel of Rivington Inspiration

The character of Octavia was actually formed from Gortash.

Yes. Enver Gortash.

Because like Gortash, Tavriel, the little bard that ended up on the nautiloid and Astarion fell in love with, was the price of her mother's failure to deliver on a contract with Raphael.

But unlike Gortash, who was "raised" by Raphael, Tav ends up raised by Haarlep. It's at first a punishment Raphael gives the incubus, raising this irritating, tiny elfling. But Haarlep takes advantage of the situation to create a ally for themself within the House of Hope, teaching her everything they know about the Hells, about spycraft and infernal law.

Tav's Childhood in the House of Hope

First and foremost, I owe a ton of her backstory inspiration to @tavyliasin's Scent of Cinnamon series, especially Haarlep and Raphael's relationship and how things work in the House of Hope. I am actually writing a fic about her childhood in the Hells called Verum Nomen.

A tiny snip of Verum Nomen (WIP, not on AO3)

A burst of laughter, gleeful, rippling, and genuine, tore out of the incubus. In all of their long years in the House of Hope, they'd never seen an occupant so thoroughly defy Raphael and shut him up. Themself excepted. Searching for words was not the wont of Raphael, and yet here he was. Wordless. Speechless. Gestureless. His rage waffled between the source of his humiliation in front of him and the Harlot who kept on laughing. Only the laws of Dis kept him from introducing the tiny spawn to hellfire. The contract stipulated that he could not harm her. A thoughtful mother, Avariel was. Not that thoughtful, though, he smirked, his rage already simmering down. He would not be pushed by a child into breaking the contract on the very first day. The woman had stipulated that the child could not be harmed by him. It said absolutely nothing about his slaves or agents. "You find her so amusing, Harlot? She's your responsibility, then. Do keep her alive. I am contractually obligated to return her in excellent condition, should her mother ever get around to fulfilling her obligations." Raphael dropped his spells, grabbing the girl by the arm and half-tossing her at the incubus, who had taken on a shocked expression. What were they, of all people, supposed to do with such a task? The girl's spells dispelled with the toss, putting her back in her body as she sprawled out on the floor before them. They stared at her. A plain-looking girl. Brown hair, big eyes more gray than blue. A smattering of freckles on skin much too pale for such dark hair. Too thin and gangly by far. Cute only due to how tiny she was. Avernus was going to chew her up and spit her out unless someone did something. Haarlep contemplated something they'd never considered before. Plenty of others had come through here. Smarter. Stronger. Prettier. But no one had ever shut Raphael up. With training… what an asset this little fox might make. And she'd be their asset. An asset Raphael wouldn't question them spending time with. Working with. Planning with. "And where am I to keep it, Master?" They asked, sneering at the child.

The Tropes: Reincarnation, Dark Romance, Historical

My major inspiration for the reincarnation trope and how that plays out is the (in my opinion) highly underrated film Cloud Atlas.

My inspiration for the dark romance aspect of the story is heavily inspired by Twisted Pride by Cora Reilly

And when it comes to the historical aspect of the backstory of Astarion's time on Earth? A backstory that launched it's own separate series involving his brief and wild affair with Lord Byron?

Well, that was inspired by these shows you may have heard of.

What character trait did you amplify or minimise to make your version of a character work for your story?

The most altered character in this story is Ascended Astarion.

I do not wish to rehash the spawn vs ascended debates because it's been overdone, and because I GENUINELY LOVE BOTH ENDINGS.

However, Ascended Astarion in the game isn't a character I could ever see the character of Octavia as I had developed would ever fall for.

But... my Ascended Astarion in this story went through a very different character development than the canon version. And so, I considered what those differences would have resulted in. This Astarion is PROFOUNDLY affected by Tav's death. 1. Tav dies in Act 2 the same day as Astarion's confession. She's hurt and they argue. She avoids talking to him by heading off to help Shadowheart, and ends up dead. 2. They never discuss the ascension ritual 3. He never gets to tell her he wants something real with her. 4. He blames himself for her death. When he decides to ascend, his primary motivation is not about revenge, or the sun, or anger. He is focused on survival. The group, consisting only of himself, Wyll, and Gale, have no realistic chance of defeating the brain. They have few allies: Tav was the one who had rallied others. The tieflings die at Moonrise. As do the Ironhands. The Harpers are decimated and Jaheira is dead.

If Tav is to have not died in vain, he has to Ascend. To take the power so he can save the city. Or, at least, he believes this.

Now, in lore, when a vampire becomes a vampire Lord, the curse takes the thing they wanted most and twists it to become their evil motivation. I don't love the idea of all vampires being inherently evil, but I do love the idea of the urges of vampires pushing them into a slow slide away from goodness.

This Astarion goes into that ritual intending to make the world right according to Tav's beliefs. For good or for ill, that becomes his obsession, the thing he's willing to great evil to accomplish.

And then he's booted to Earth.

Where he barely has any of the powers. No summons. No powers over darkness. He can make thralls and spawn, can turn into a bat and mist, can charm and compel people, but all of those things need magic. And magic on Earth is incredibly rare. Bound up in the blood of people and only people.

And he also needs that magic for the curse to keep him "alive."

Back to being essentially a slightly more powerful spawn with sunwalking, in a world he doesn't know, he's forced at the very moment of that triumph of power to work for everything he has. Learn the language. Learn to adapt and overcome.

And he does. Brilliantly. But it changes his entire trajectory.

Art by Vancuninart - find them on Instagram

How did your understanding of the characters change while writing this?

Octavia originally to me was this incredibly lonely, naive girl at the beginning. And that stayed true, but she was so much layered than I imagined. Honest to god, she opened up to me like an onion as I wrote her.

And writing the sequel now I am still discovering more of her, her inner strengths, her wicked sense of humor, the ways in which she had always been these things quietly in the background.

Octavia Martin vs Tavriel of Rivington - The same and yet different.

What’s one thing you put in—trope, character beat, scene—that was just extra shamelessly self-indulgent?

Astarion's Jacobean Country Manor, Arkhenmyr, is a purely self-indulgent exercise. I wanted to give him a chance to have his palace. And I was really feeling Bridgerton at that point.

That self-indulgence directly created the entire Astarion/Lord Byron backstory lol.

I will never be sad for that.

What’s the structural choice you made on purpose—POV, timeline, chaptering—that most shaped the story?

Oh. It was definitely setting it in the pandemic. That shifted all my possibilities. Where they could go, what they could do. It gave limits to a billionaire fantasy trope that otherwise wouldn't exist and made it way more fun.

Have you ever tried working face masks into a romance?

It's all the drama of the restraint required in Regency fiction, honestly.

Which theme emerged accidentally, and which one did you pursue deliberately?

Definitely the theme of choice versus destiny was deliberate.

A snippet from Chapter 22 - The Choices We Made

Hands released hers, pulling her around to face him. Lips were on hers before she could breathe or take in what was happening, a gentle yet crushing kiss. Astarion groaned into her mouth before he pulled back, looking in her eyes with a wild sort of wonder. "Do you know what that means, then? Truly?" She reached up and held his chin, giving him a single, gentle kiss first. "That I choose you, Astarion. That you are the only person I will allow to hold that part of me." He gazed at her with a wide-eyed look that told her it was the answer he'd not let himself hope for. He mouthed a word she recognizes, thiramen. Soulmate. The entire thought turned her tongue sour, and she placed a finger over his lips, shaking her head. "No!" It came out sharper than intended with the force of her own anger and Tavriel's combined, and he looked slightly hurt. She moved her hands into his hair, holding his head between them like the precious thing it was. "The fucking gods don't get to take credit for what we have. Not after all we've suffered at their hands. And if fate chose anything for the two of us, well, we were made to be consumed, weren't we? Both of us to be fed to the Hells for our masters' delight. And yet here we are, the arbiters of our own destiny. This is our victory, and I won't let you give it to anyone else."

Whereas the accidental theme of this work had to with power. Octavia is naturally a bit of a submissive to Astarion's dominance. This isn't a bdsm fic, and while they toy with practices it doesn't delve deep. But it's definitely a theme that wasn't planned. It's a BIG part of the sequel, though....

What was the biggest risk you took with this fic?

I think for certain, it was choosing to make the Ascension powers a kind of possession by a spirit that Astarion refers to as The Ascendant.

It really works in the story, but I'm sure that there are people who hate it.

In a hypothetical scenario where you are forced to rewrite the whole story from scratch, what would you do differently?

My writing has improved during the last year. I would use fewer adverbs. Change up some of the sentence structure, too. But overall, I'm incredibly proud of how A Striking Resemblance came out and love it enough that the sequel is over 50% complete and currently being beta-read.

Some tags.

The lovely Art Deco-inspired dividers are from @seradika-graphics Tagging a few lovely people who supported, read, commented on, or inspired A Striking Resemblance. If you left a comment and you aren't here, it's because I don't have your AO3 name tied to your Tumblr.