#fwends

A) Klavier calls Apollo "Herr Forehead" and never anything else,

B) Apollo answers to "Herr Forehead" without comment, and

BOOTHILL IS SO SWEET ABOUT HER, LOOK AT THE WAY HE CHEERS HER ON

Thank you SO much for the tags, @njuta and @loserscardigan ! This was a lot of fun to sit down and think through. I'm sending lots of love to you both🖤

The fic

Can I Be Good?

Rating

Explicit

Pairing

Astarion x F!OC

Completion status

Ongoing. I have 2 or 3 chapters left until this fic will be complete!

Plot Summary

Mysterious owner of the most popular nightclub of Baldur's Gate needs an assistant to help him organize a winter masquerade no one will ever be able to forget.

Astarion Ancunín is the most powerful vampire to have ever existed. Lark Promise awakens in him what he sought to get rid of: his hunger.

They could bring each other ruin, but maybe, just maybe- they could save each other.

The ✨viibees✨

Very romantic, very passionate, quite magical- and sexy!

Short snippet

From chapter 13 of Can I Be Good?:

“All I mean to say is— I think we’re all hungry for something.” He narrows his eyes at her, cat-like. “I’m not trying to be poetic. I just… I think in all of us, there is a hole that we try to fill, as long as we live. I think you’re hungry for more than just blood.”

“What am I hungry for, then, according to your astute observations?”

She smiles wide. “I don’t know. But I think your hunger and mine might be more similar than you think.” After a pause, she goes on, “Would you like to find out together?”

“Are you asking me out?”

“Would you like me to?”

What other media inspired this fic?

Honestly, anything that glorifies nightclubs lol. And music. A LOT of music. Here's a playlist of every single song that made this fic happen.

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

I love writing Astarion, all versions of him; but I'd be lying if the version of Ascended Astarion I write is the one we see in the game. I guess my aim in this fic is to write an Astarion that is very much the combination of his two possible endings. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily amplifying or minimizing any one of his specific traits- just exploring what he might have been like if he went through with the Ascension ritual but came to regret it later.

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

Writing Astarion has definitely made me fall deeper in love with him, lol. I always say that writing him and Lark is extremely precious to me; as if in the moments that I'm writing them, they're real; and I get to spend time with them.

Writing Lark, on the other hand, has been a healing journey for me- for those of you that don't know, Lark is largely a self insert. Writing about her traumas, her experiences and her desires have been very helpful to me as not just a writer but as a person.

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

Lines that I take from the game and place in my fic are definitely self-indulgent. I would say though that even just writing Lark was a self-indulgent choice for me. I wanted a story that would make me happy.

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

Definitely timeline and POV. Modern AU's are some of my favorites, and even before I had any ideas about what this fic would be, I knew I wanted it to be a modern AU. As for the POV- it alternates between Lark and Astarion, and that wasn't originally what I was going to do with this fic, but I really wanted to write Astarion's POV and I think it has worked quite well.

What was the biggest risk you took with this fic?

I think writing this version of Astarion has been a risk. I haven't had any awful feedback or anything but it's always my fear that I tick people off by writing him the way I write him.

Also she did great in the hotel

But also what is this thing (perfect and I love her)

Bhai maine toh duniya hi chhod di 💀

Anyways, if I ever vanish mysteriously, just know I love you all.