#vchloras

smash or pass?

it would have been comical, downright laughable even, if she wasn't so keenly aware of the feel of blood on her hands still. it was a sensation that hadn't truly left her since the night the bard had died and she had sat at the edge of the nearby waters and tried to scrub herself clean. the blood may have washed away, but it stained her all the same.

she didn't need protection. she was the threat.

but she couldn't very well tell them that now. there were bigger problems along their path, unimaginable beasts and violent enemies, and if nel could keep her bloodthirsty thoughts on those instead of her companions, they might all survive this dark, dank underground hell in one piece. it was all she could hope for when she tossed and turned each night.

❝ do you think the universe conspires to bring people together ? ❞ a question so genuine from @vchloras, nym is hardly able to stand it. she stares out at the fire instead, finds comfort in the dangerous light. there is safety, to fear.

there was never any safety to vulnerability.

𝑸. — send me a ship and i'll give you 3 headcanons

i. i fully incorporated into astarion's canon, from a thread we did a looooong time ago, that he did actually sell his soul to vespin ( and i guess asmodeus lmao ) for some tiny bit of success, likely to dig himself out of a hole of his own making, only to be turned in a vampire some weeks later. i guess his soul will never be claimed!😌 he will be curious to know what happens, if anything. what's the statute of limitations on this thing??

ii. idk if we ever got into it, but the parallels leave much to think on. vespin gets his freedom from the tadpole, as does astarion, and now he can say he has experienced a sliver of what vespin has gone through for his entire existence. it's humbling, and for once, he can't bring himself to be judgmental or critical bc it happened to him. he can look vespin in his eyes and say that he understands, truly. unironically, vespin was a lot like astarion in his youth, arrogantly ambitious, and he paid for it with his freedom. we should do a little something for this.........

ps: regarding his epilogue... while astarion is on the hunt for finding a cure for himself, he'll keep the fiend in the back of his mind for relieving him of asmodeus, no matter how improbable. i hope they keep in touch. :c

Arawn laughed. Actually threw his head back and laughed, because well...Loras telling him he liked interfering was like a plant telling him it liked the sun. Obvious and also rather endearing.

"I know my love," he said, his voice fond and only slightly exasperated. "But I also know that it'd be extremely helpful to my investigations if I didn't have to explain away a thousand year old politician every time he decides to meddle."

Arawn twists, batting Loras's hand away from his nose, only to tangle their fingers together and just hold him for a moment.

" you asked me, some time ago, what happened - and i told you it was a story with a not so happy ending. "

the winter of barovia bites at him with wolf teeth, straight through the heavy cloak he wears around his shoulders (the pelt is wolfskin, a gift from yevgeni an age and more ago.) they shouldn't camp outside, but the idea of setting food in kresk makes his skin crawl.

elrohir is restless and hunting for dinner, leaving the two alone. rixian doesn't pluck his fiddle strings to hear if the brother needs help, but his mind is reeling still.

gale has only been paying half - attention to the singing ( no offence to the lovely bard meant, of course ), more interested in soaking up the reverly and the wine that's on offer aplenty. he thinks he's done an admirable job hiding the heady mixture of fear and despair that cloys his heart, playing the role of gale of waterdeep before these newly acquired companions of his, but it's relief to partake in a different kind of intoxication. the smiles on these tieflings are a most welcome push against the gloom.

he'd voiced the question almost without meaning to, having followed vespin's transfixed gaze to its destination. the answer causes his chest to squeeze, a feeling not unlike the arcane hunger rearing its head, though gale knows it's not that. just the battered heart of a lover scorned. still, he rubs at his sternum as he turns to look at @vchloras .