Coughs I think if they were in a band Gale would play the Cello and Astarion would play violin I’m just saying
I like your style of thinking but Gale definitely strikes me as a woodwind kinda guy (practiced tongue!) In my head he gets promoted to first clarinet way before any of the more experienced players and they all hate him for it. Poor Gale. At least he nails the solos.
Wait sorry me again. This is mostly a ramble for myself.
Gale admires Astarion from afar - he is a virtuoso violinist in his own right, and after a particularly moving performance, Gale can't help but compliment him on all the intricate details he noticed, while Astarion is kind of stuck between a rock (all the elitist violinists around him who are trying to sleep with him [depending on age of orchestra in question?]) and a hard place (Cazador being the awful abusive perfectionist instructor and/or parental figure). Astarion is honestly moved by Gale's words and they strike up an unlikely friendship that has to be kept mostly private for the sake of Astarion's social standing within the catty violin section (sorry if you're a violinist, I've known many lovely violinists but as a group they've always been like the mean popular kids of orchestra lmao) and pressures from Cazador not to form attachments when he should be focusing on his career.
Lots of awful behind the scenes. Astarion playing until his fingers bleed and being punished for messing up even a little bit anyway. Gale finally twigging that he was groomed by the head of the conservatory (Mystra when I catch you) and trying to cope with all the fallout that entails.
Honestly I love these two no matter what setting (my current favourite fic is a dancing on ice AU) but this is a setting I'm at least somewhat familiar with and think I could do some level of justice?
Now I just need to work out how to exit Final Fantasy XIV help
