#ask kepler

tee hee

doesnt follow canon events so much as it follows my queston of "what if someone walked in on this?". songbird's a reborn, so i imagine she'd notice the similarities between her and astarion IMMEDIATELY and not say anything because she knows what's at risk of being found out . she also "sleeps" (lays there, remembering stuff) as a way to blend in with her groups and feel like a living person.

i imagine she would pretend to sleep when she realized astarion was on the way back from hunting so as not to startle or corner him. once the bite attempt begins, she'd be a well of emotions of "do i wake up now? would it be awkward? if he's gonna bite someone anyway, it's best it's me since it probably won't hurt me, right? wit a second, doesn't he know we're the same? would it be awkward to wake up now--"

and by then, it'd be too late, because delyathrin would already be acting in a way he considers appropriate. in this moment, he sees one of the more vulnerable members of the group in danger against a member he already doesn't like, and has now that member is a vampire. undead. inherently evil. a danger to him. del, at this point, denies nuance in the face of danger because that's what he's had to do to survive.

and it unknowingly costs him the trust of someone he's growing to genuinely care for

isseth doesn't really react much in this, but as someone on the outside dealing with her own battle against everything she once lived by, she'll have her own thoughts on what's going on. namely, she'll be able to provide songbird with someone she can confide in, and she can urge del to break away from his harmful defense mechanisms.

i wanted to put a little bit of emphasis on wyll since i think this situation might be something he'd internalize, or at least think about more as a monster hunter himself. and ESPECIALY as a warlock. "no exceptions" isn't something i think he deals with easily, especially considering his "evil pact" was forged so he could save the people he cares about. he's no stranger to nuance, something his devil-hunting may be trying to strip away from him. something he'll face when he finally finds karlach.

Question 1, for Scarlet & Briar: Do they sleep with a stuffed animal? If they have multiple, who’s the favorite?

CW: Child death :(

Though they don't share a playthrough, I felt my half-elf girlies would have the best answers!

The Scarlet Scourge absolutely sleeps with a stuffed animal. she received a red cardinal stuffy she named Beaky when she was just a little girl. though her late mother's legacy was complicated (instilled a lot of ableism that Scarlet had to work very hard to overcome), she still loved her mother and everything she tried to do for the two of them. scarlet was able to hold onto it as the only possession aside from her tools she kept with her through her life.

Briar, meanwhile, has an aversion to stuffed animals. sure, she had a wolf plush growing up, but her difficult adulthood has changed her reliance on them. i've written about it in my (currently-no-where-near-post-ready) fan fic chronicling her story, but one of Briar's first experiences with her bad luck curse involved the house of a doctor nursing her burning down. Briar very nearly got the doctor's daughter out only for the house to collapse at the last second. Briar was entirely unharmed, but the girl, Mel, died clinging to her teddy bear. Briar has a tough time with reminders of the little girl as a result.

Question 2, for Isseth & Delyathrin: Can they take care of a plant? What about a pet? What about a child?

None of my characters have kids or pets (besides Briar but Bagel barely counts as a pet), but 2 do have plants!

Delyathrin has a shitty little hut he lives in on the outskirts on Luskan. Wild ivy grows around the area so he's started taking care of it as it snakes along his house as a means of camouflauging his home and passing the time. He grows garlic to keep vampires and other similar monsters away. That, and he loves the taste of garlic. The dude LOVES garlic bread and eats so much he doesn't want to have to go into town all the time to get it. Everything else, he forages or hunts. Doesn't really eat mushrooms. Kinda hates them on principle and refuses to admit to himself that he actually likes the taste. They just remind him of the Underdark too much.

Isseth, on the other hand, has 1 little cactus named Porcupine. She got it as a housewarming gift from the woman who she used to live with when she first got stranded on the Material Plane. it's her little comfort cactus. she likes feeling needed by it, even if it's low-maintenance. it reminds her of the first time she felt wanted somewhere, even if she still struggles to feel at home.

both of them realize after day 5 that they're probably not going to be home in time to water their plants. fuck.

Question 13, for Canary & Leryk: Name one thing their parents taught them.

Parentage is a tricky subject for both these characters, but Canary seems to be the only character in my current BG3 roster who 1. knew her parents and 1. still has at least 1 living parent. wow.

Canary was initially raised by her mom in Neverwinter. from her, she learned how to fix shit she broke so nobody would know, how to take care of herself, etc etc. the greatest lesson that was imparted to Canary, however, was how to find joy in not knowing. Canary's mother always encouraged her curiosity, and taught her how to not fear what she doesn't know. Canary took this lesson into every aspect of her life: it made discovering her magic far less scary, it made learning engaging, and it made every day feel like a welcome challenge. this lesson was what gave Canary the strength to travel to Baldur's Gate alone after her mother's untimely death.

Leryk never knew his parents, having been sold off quite young, so he considered his bounty hunting mentor Luger a father of sorts. Luger taught him one important lesson: "If you're learning something in a fight, it's too late". Luger put a lot of emphasis on assessing targets and adversaries so strategies can be implemented in the fight itself. The need to improvise leaves one open. Be prepared. This actually lead to Leryk 1. becoming more strategic and guarded and 2. realizing Luger was going to cut him loose and hand him over to claim his bounty. This ended in Luger's head on the floor and Leryk's darkest moments of his life. These moments lead to Leryk eventually trying to take out Canary's father (Solas Danavaria) for a job, which lead to him being taken in after failing and becoming his most loyal guard. Every other lesson Luger taught Leryk, he's trying to forget or replace with the ones given to him by his new Lord.

Question 28 for Eckhart & Emerleigh: Would they date a fixer-upper?

Seems kinda self-explanatory.

Love this one because what else can I say? Eck & Em are codependent siblings who have been lying, conning and (in Eck's case) killing for YEARS. they're closed-off, unserious, and have only ever had casual flings due to being pretty emotional unavailable.

Em would have more luck with a fixer-upper because she's a lot smarter than Eck when it comes to matters of the heart. Sure, she's had a LOT of one-night-stands and situationships, but she's a romaaaaantic! And she has plenty of experience managing the emotions of both her and her brother. Now, I say "more luck", I did not say "good luck". This is why I've been wondering if Astarion really is the match for this mess. I fear a fixer-upper would become her pet-project, a means to ignore her own emotions by focusing on someone else's. whoops. there would be a lot of toxic sex.

Eck, meanwhile, is a "hit-it-and-quit-it" type of guy with very few exceptions. His type is usually the kinds of people who will be about as attached as he is. That's why Wyll is a much better fit for him, as someone he 1. already admires so is more likely to actually listen to and 2. someone who can actually be a fellow guy while also being a great example of how to be more emotionally vulnerable. if Eck tried to do a relationship with a fixer-upper, he'd quit SOOO fast. there would also be a lot of toxic sex.

Fucking Messing, these two. at least they KNOW that.