audience: astarion

[mygod]

Comments

[mygod]

So your bite is as bad as your bark then.

[haematocritical]

[ sweetly: ]

I stabbed the last person who tried to sacrifice me for their own gain until they stopped moving. Permanently.

[ it’s said layered in that very false sweetness but there’s a real blink-and-you-miss-it mess of emotions that flicker through his eyes. anger, hate, and a very empty fear and loss, like someone who cut something out of their lives for the better and cannot stand that they just feel empty and lost after everything they went through to do it.

and then it’s gone and he just looks pissy again. wow. ]

[mygod]

[ ooooo, emotion. the real ones. hmmmmmmmm. ]

It sounds like there was some history there for you to go at it so voraciously.

[haematocritical]

Yes. There was.

[mygod]

Well, I apologize for your current predicament which was always out of my hands for you specifically. However, we are at least attempting to rectify the situation for you all.

[haematocritical]

[ gazes at the sky for a moment. maybe there's a voice in his head that sounds like karlach being very sad that he puffed up like an angry cat with the npcs. ]

And what does that entail? Other than playing the watching and waiting game.

[mygod]

[ they wait on him to gaze at the sky and figure out whether he wants to feel an iota of shame for being mad with the npcs. ]

It is a watching and waiting game, I'm afraid. Do you have the patience?

[haematocritical]

[ oh. he's not going to do that no. but he does seem to have unclenched a little bit. ]

...

I suppose we'll find out. It's not as though I can leave if I decide I don't.

[mygod]

[ astarion is unclenching...? wow. ]

That is true, but neither can we. There are things in place forbidding us from leaving. So it is better if the whole of us move forward rather than drag our feet.

With hopefully a little less blood for you than the last time.

[haematocritical]

[ we love a canon point that lets me be nicer sometimes. … sometimes….. ]

But you do have more freedoms than we do, no? Presumably something that lets you move beyond all this fog.

[ hmmm. ]

I don’t know, I rather enjoyed it in a way. It was more than deserved. [ he’ll stab the head of this cult too, he’ll do it. ]

[mygod]

[ is it weird to tell a vampire to be less bloodthirsty??? ]

We have the freedom of an inn and a garden, if you consider those freedoms. And the area for cultist gatherings.

[haematocritical]

[ no. but also it was extraordinarily well deserved. ]

… Depends on the sort of inn. How many others are there, barring the four of you? Are we talking the first aspirations of a cult or something deeply entrenched and well established?

[mygod]

It is a very clean, comfortable inn with a housekeeper. No one is there except the four of us and him.

[ :)? ]

This has not been done before, so it is the first breaths of a new cult.

[haematocritical]

I do hope you're not telling me the cult is the four of you, just after I composed myself.

And stop rubbing your accommodations in.

[ boo. ]

[mygod]

Hm, no. All of us here are out-numbered by the whole cult, but we are here with you as your keepers, so there is only four of us at the inn. And the housekeeper.

[ ... ]

You could always ask.

[haematocritical]

... To move into the inn?

[ just. the dream. beautiful. it's not a coffin. ]

[mygod]

You cannot live there, no. However, you may have very periodic access to our bathroom when escorted and accompanied by one of us, so long as you don't abuse the privilege, or destroy our utilities.

You cannot tell anyone else this has been given to you.

[haematocritical]

[ .... give him a moment.



he just got (somewhat) nicer bathroom privileges?

hell yes. ]

Consider my mouth firmly sealed, then.

[mygod]

[ not this change for the bathroom. ]

Very well. This way.

[ they motion toward the southwest, but turn to take the lead.




across their back shoulders is a single inky word: TRAITOR. ]

[haematocritical]

[ listen.



the best way to a prissy vampire's heart.

he will follow! and also keep an eye on the route they're taking. and-- well. ]

I see you aren't free of these strange tattoo markings either. [ there's one on his collarbone, but it's new enough that it hasn't started bullying its way into being visible for at least this tag. ]

[mygod]

[ they hum in acknowledgment, so apparently they are aware of the annoying words that keep appearing even if they may or may not know what theirs says right this moment.

if they're bothered, they don't seem it. they continue toward the southwest where the fog begins to slowly part in front of them as they make their way. ]

We aren't, unfortunately.

[haematocritical]

[ maybe not so oddly, but this might be the biggest thing to get him to stop doubting them. just a tiny bit.

that and the bathroom. ]

And what’s the point of it? Just the whims of the place? Uncontrolled magic?

[mygod]

The byproduct of the magic of this area.

[ the sweet lil garden comes into view again. nothing appears to have been messed up, and it's tended too very nicely. there is a man standing in it actually, pruning. they wave cheerfully, but war only nods and keeps going. ]

That is Will, the housekeeper.

[ they keep walking through the parting fog! it splits open to reveal a little, well taken care of inn. war will take astarion inside.... but no peeking. there is a front room, but they turn to lead him to the bathroom. it is a quite modern looking bathroom full of nice amenities, enjoy. ]

Here. Don't take forever. This the only place you may go.

[haematocritical]

[ he's becoming less and less of a fan of the magic in this area, honestly. he's not about to discuss what he can see because it opens him up for the same kind of probing, and he is deeply, distinctly, not interested in having that sort of discussion with anyone.

but-- oh. yeah, that sure is a housekeeper. unfair. ]

Hmm.

[ ... well. he's not going to push his luck when there's a bathroom right there. ]

I shall endeavour to freshen up in haste then. [ although is there a proper bath because he's getting in that bath if there is one. sorry war, he doesn't make the bath rules. ]

[mygod]

[ please learn to open up and discuss things (hypocrite). ]

Very well. Everything is inside. Will cleans up after you, but don't make it harder for him, please.

[ there is a bath!! lucky astarion. it is a really nice, big bathroom with even little things like bath oils and bubble bath and such. and hair products... ]