#lee!phoebe

Phoebe Lumos- 'Lee Headcanons

Background

It starts with just trying to get her to smile. Phoebe usually dons this pensive, frightened expression and moves as if she’s walking on egg shells, with the only exceptions being when she is preparing food, providing medical aid, or crocheting. 

So unbeknownst to her, a bet is made amongst Astarion, Shadowheart, Gale, and Karlach as to who can get the dour doctor to smile. Just because they were on the road to ruin, Astarion argued, doesn’t mean that they had to be miserable about it. Why not have a little fun?

100 gold is on the line, doubled if they can get her to laugh. 

Astarion has an infinite array of flirtatious remarks and compliments in his repertoire, but none of them provoke the reaction he’s looking for from her. Shadowheart’s dry, sarcastic humor goes nowhere and accidentally offends her. And Phoebe, having the biggest crush on Karlach, avoids her at every opportunity, giving the impression that she’s afraid of the lovable barbarian. 

That leaves Gale, archwizard and the former chosen of Mystra, to work his magic towards what seems like an impossible feat. 

The two of them were making soup for the party, and all he said was that they made a superb (soup-erb) team. Phoebe snorted before she could catch herself and burst out giggling.

It only happened one time (not including the other pun Gale said later- “they’ll be stewing over this for days) and Gale never told the others what he did or said to make her laugh. He chalked it up to magic that only a wizard of his caliber is able to do. 

Poor Phoebe could not get it together even after dinner was over, so Gale made the innocent suggestion to tickle her to release those remaining giggles. 

Phoebe was initially hesitant; not because she didn’t trust him, but because she expended all of her energy into keeping herself under control so that she didn’t hurt anyone. If she didn’t trust anyone, it was herself. Gale didn’t push her to make a decision, but assured her that he wasn’t worried about her hurting him should she agree. 

That trust, plus the sound proofing of the tent, made Phoebe comfortable enough to try.

As a ‘lee

If Phoebe was ever shy before, she is even shyer as a ‘lee.

On a scale of 1-10, she’d be a 12. But at first, she doesn't realize how ticklish she really is.

When Gale initially tickled her, careful hands tracing over her tunic but not fully touching, she was so jumpy. She covered her face with her hands and quietly snickered into her palms. 

Phoebe is 100% the kind of lee who will start giggling without her ‘ler needing to do much of anything. Maybe it’s the anticipation of it. Maybe it’s her nerves going haywire and needing an escape. 

Her face flushes deep red and she quietly pleads “wahahit, wait” to her ‘ler before they even do anything. 

The more she laughs, the wheezier and breathless it sounds. It’s an infectious laugh but one that she is highly embarrassed about. If the ‘ler does not move her hands, they stay covering her face and muffling most of the sound of her laughter. 

It’s discovered that her most ticklish spots are her underarms, back, and her stomach. Later on, it’s also discovered that she cannot handle massages because they tickle too much. 

There’s fight, flight, and freeze. Phoebe does the last one; while keeping her face hidden, she’ll curl inwards on herself, wheezing either “oh gohohods” or “plehease it tihihickles”. She won’t really push her ler’s hands away or try to escape but she will kind of windmill her legs if she’s really overcome with laughter. 

When she’s more comfortable with the party, and it’s known how ticklish she is, Phoebe has to test her negotiation skills by trying to deter incoming tickles by offering to bake something. It’s a good idea to name something ridiculous so she has to scramble to pretend she knows before the inevitable tickles descend on her. 

Another thing Phoebe will do when negotiations don’t work  is back herself into a corner or a space with only one exit, holding her hands up in front of her and nervously giggling/pleading for her ‘ler to leave her alone.