It's So Strange That Most Reblogs Are Full Of Hate. I Won't Romance Astarion Because He's My Bro, An

It's so strange that most reblogs are full of hate. I won't romance Astarion because he's my bro, an amusing friend for all my Tavs. I do not hate any of the companions.

Just confused about people's reactions to this post.

ok stealing a youtube poll again bc the one i saw A: shook me to my core and B: didn't have enough options. SO:

(im excluding the non-romancable ones bc i feel thats an easy cop-out answer) PLEASE feel free to rb and explain why u chose who u did in tags, i am very curious

Behold ✨Gale Dekarios✨

Gale and Tav sleeping together, not sex but sharing a bedroll. Maybe is happens after they have sex or sometime after when their in Gale’s tent and fall asleep. I imagine is been a while or maybe not ever that Gale’s shared a bed with someone who isn’t Tara.

Ohhhh what a lovely image, dear anon! I imagine you're right--Gale's slept with other people before, but he's never (or very rarely) just slept with them in the non-euphemistic sense of the term. Given that, I hope this serves! (The poem Gale remembers is "Darkness" by Byron.)

Bring the day

Gale x gn!Tav

The Shadow-Cursed lands, Gale decided, sucked all life and joy from the marrow.

In the morning they woke to a darkness that didn't lift, that huddled like a heavy and suffocating weight over their feeble firelight. Gale, eating a breakfast leached of taste, recalled a line from an old poem-- Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day--and wondered halfheartedly if the poet had seen Reithwin for himself.

The curse followed them everywhere, pressing impatiently against the wards set around Last Light, the feebler protections of Shadowheart's mace and their torches. Gale walked silently behind Tav and Wyll, not quite seeing the path under his feet. Moonrise loomed ahead of him. No matter Tav's words, no matter how much of Gale wanted to believe them and take comfort in the night they'd spent together, the tower (his failure, his redemption) pulled at him inexorably. Despite Elminster's charm the Orb still ached, a curse within a curse.

At the end of that dark-muffled day, Gale slunk back to his tent, the thought of eating, or making anything to eat, beyond even his optimism, or Lae'zel's irritated observation that the body needed nourishment as the curse fed on the soul. Gale sank down onto his bedroll, thought about calling up a magelight to try to read, and gave up when the thought of raising his hand and speaking the spell, let alone concentrating on a book, proved too much. Instead, he settled as best he could against his pillow and stared at the dim ceiling of the tent.

He would have stared for hours until sleep claimed him, if not for a rustle at his tent flap, and Tav's unmistakable presence in the entryway. For a moment, the curse lightened fractionally.

"Hey," Tav said, smile bright in the darkness. "I came to see if you wanted something to eat after all."

"It's hard to want things in a place such as this." Tav was the exception--his desire, his appetite, the part of him that burned unceasing, might be banked under his exhaustion but it would never fail. Gale drank in that already-beloved form, thirsty for it.

"That's not what you said the other day," Tav said, almost laughing. Gale snorted and looked back up at the roof of the tent.

When he wasn't looking, Tav (as had happened so many times already) slid into his space, discarding shirt and shimmying awkwardly out of trousers until only a warm body clad in scraps of underthings remained to twine around his own.

"I... you'll have to forgive me, my love," Gale said, swallowing against the warmth of familiar, already much-beloved flesh against his. He wrapped an arm around sturdy shoulders, even if his next words would replace their closeness with distance. "I'm afraid I'm not up to much tonight, certainly not our... recent pyrotechnics."

Tav's breath huffed against his neck, not quite a laugh, not quite a sigh, and burrowed more closely against him. "I didn't come here for sex, Gale."

Gale craned his head, catching the edges of cheekbone, jaw gleaming eyes in the darkness. "You didn't?"

"No." This would be an understandable place for Tav to tease him, but instead Tav merely said, "I knew something was wrong when I didn't see the lights come on. You always read before bed."

"You noticed that?" Gale asked, numb with something like amazement.

Tav hummed. "And that you've managed to hide at least one bottle of good wine from Wyll and Shadowheart. And that you sneak the books you've already read or have copies of into Astarion's tent. And that you talk to yourself while you read, usually arguing with the author."

Gale couldn't quite name what blossomed in his chest, something bright and lovely and unaccountably brilliant in the shrouding night. When he spoke, he had to speak around a fullness that threatened to choke him. "All of that? Is there anything else?"

"So many things," Tav said. A gentle kiss landed at the base of his neck, Tav nuzzling aside his collar. "But as a very wise wizard once said, we'd be here until morning if I tried to list them all. You're an easy person to notice." Before Gale could say anything about not losing his touch, Tav added, "And an easier person to love."

Don't say those things. Gale tried to say that, at least, but the words wouldn't come. He could only lie where he was, Tav enfolding him in warmth and a stubborn tenderness, and swallow a truth he'd started to think wasn't the truth anymore.

"I'd say it'll be better tomorrow," Tav said, "but I think we both know that's a lie." At Gale's quiet laugh, Tav continued, "At least for tonight... let's sleep together. Just sleep."

"Anything you require of me," Gale said as gallantly as he could--not very gallantly, considering how small his voice was, how lost in confusion he felt himself.

"Not a requirement," Tav said with another sigh. Strong hands, careful fingers, gathered him closer, stroking fragments back into place. "At least, not for me. For you."

"I've never just slept with anyone before," Gale admitted. He'd never just slept with Mystra--what use have gods, have Chosen, for sleeping? With other mortals they'd shared space for a night (if Gale slept at all), not this strange, mostly-silent communion.

"Well," Tav said lightly, "there's a first time for everything."

"This is true," Gale said.

The night they'd spent together they'd slept twined around each other, too exhausted and sated to move. This felt different, intentional--and Tav didn't seem to expect anything, only the privilege of being with him. Gale was not used to thinking of that in the context of being taken care of--the privilege of learning from Gale of Waterdeep, yes; the privilege of holding Gale Dekarios while he tried to put himself back together, no.

"C'mon," Tav said, the command punctuated with a yawn and a tightening of arms around him. "Let's sleep."

"I'll see you in your dreams, love," Gale said, which got him a quiet laugh and a kiss on the cheek. "Rest well."

He let the magelights fade, leaving them in the curse-dark night and thesilence of a dead, cold land. And yet, Gale thought, he himself was more alight than before--alive, warm, sliding deeper into Tav's embrace, into sleep, into something close to peace.

Snippet Sunday

Thank you @alpydk for tagging me!

Right now I'm trying to add my favourite Shakespeare's sonnet (what's the text about a bard without the Bard?). But I want to share with you a little fluff from the 4th chapter of "Twin Compasses". Gale and Laerie (Tav) sit by the fire at night.

‘I wish I had a bed in a tavern, a hot bath and a good story to lull me into meditating. But here I cannot even have a nice pillow,’ she stretched her neck and winced from pain. ‘I have to put my head on my backpack.’ ‘I always thought elves meditate like monks, in the sitting position. But I think I can help you a bit.’ Gale looked away and started waving his hands in a somatic component for a spell. ‘Pulvinar,’ he pronounced cleanly and evenly. In an instant a purple pillow with a pink hem appeared on his lap. When he looked up at Laerie, he saw admiration and wonder in her eyes. His heart swelled. ‘A little plush present for our fearless leader,’ he said with a flourish and held it out to the elf. ‘Thank you so much,’ she smiled, taking the present. Laerie hugged the pillow and put her chin on top of it. ‘You should teach me this spell.’

It's the first time I've been tagged, so sorry if I mix up something (or tag someone for the secon time). I'll tag @elspethdekarios and @hotnerdywizard (maybe you have something?).

Would love to participate!

BG3 Wedding Season Tag Game

Inspired by @lewdisescariot's post about Spring/Summer being wedding season, I present to you an unofficial Wedding Season Tag Game!

It's time to create your special day. Your favorite companion or NPC has proposed to your OC, or your OC proposed to them, and now it's time to plan and throw a wedding! The first list is about the details, while the second zeroes in on specific moments!

Tag a friend and challenge them to answer some (or all) of the prompts on this list. There are 31 prompts, so you can also use the prompts as a daily headcanon/art/fic challenge. Use the prompts however you like! If you want to share your stuff with a shared tag, you can use the tag #bg3weddingseason

✨Details✨

Wedding, or something else? - What do the characters think about weddings or marriages? If not a wedding, would they acknowledge their relationship in a different kind of ceremony?

Proposal - Who proposed to whom? Were there rings or other gifts involved?

Bachlor/Bachelorette parties? - Do the characters get a bachelor(ette) party before the big day? Does anything crazy happen?

Pre-Ceremony Events - Are there any special events, ceremonies, rituals, or preparations the couple must do before the wedding day? Ritual cleansing, asking a parent for the character's hand, mehndi/henna painting, little pre-ceremony games or challenges, etc?

Formal or informal affair? - Is the wedding elaborate and grand, or simple and sweet? Is it a tenday-long series of parties or is it a quick vow exchange in front of Withers?

Venue - Where is the ceremony and/or reception? Inside? Outside?

Timing - What time of year are they getting married? What time of day?

Traditions - What traditions are involved in the ceremony/reception? Is there a mix of traditions from either partner?

Decor - What kind of notable decor is there at the venue? Do they have something like an arch, a carpet aisle, fairy lights in the trees, or other elaborate decorations? Did they choose to decorate at all?

Flowers - What flowers or other natural elements do they have as part of their decoration, if any? Are these flowers significant?

Bouquet or no bouquet? - Does someone carry a bouquet, or do they choose to carry something else? Or do they walk down the aisle with nothing at all?

Music - Is there music at the ceremony or the reception? What kind of music? Do they hire an orchestra, band, or half-decent bard to serenade them?

Outfits - What is the married couple going to wear? Is there special significance in the outfit choices, colors, jewelry, etc?

Rings - What do their rings look like, if they choose to exchange any?

Vows and Unity Ceremonies - Does the couple exchange vows? Do they complete any kind of "unity" ceremony, like handfasting, planting a tree together, etc?

Wedding Party - Are there bridesmaids, groomsmen, attendants, special witnesses? Are they dressed a certain way or positioned in a special spot?

Going Down the Aisle - Does anyone escort the character walking down the aisle? Do they go alone?

I Now Pronounce You... - Do your characters change their last names, keep their last names, arrange for a specific kind of name? For example, "Mr. and Mr. Dekarios" or "Lord and Lady Ravengard-Cliffgate"?

Guests - Who else is there? Are there any special details about how the guests are arranged, what they are wearing, or what they are doing?

Food - What kind of food and drink is being served at the reception? Is there a lush feast or simple fare? Is there a wedding cake or some other kind of traditional wedding food?

Dancing - Is there any dancing? Elegant waltzes or all-out party-hard tavern music dance parties?

Ending the Night - How does the reception end? Is there a big send-off, or does everyone quietly fade out as the night turns into dawn?

Honeymoon - Does the couple take a honeymoon anywhere?

✨Specific Moments✨

The Night Before - Write about the night before the wedding. Are your characters nervous? Excited? Do they see their partner or keep away?

Getting Ready - Who helps your characters get ready? Are there any sweet, funny, bittersweet, or adorable moments that happen?

The First Look - Write about the moment when your married couple sees each other in their wedding outfits for the first time.

Ceremony - Write the scene where they exchange vows, complete a unity ceremony, exchange rings, or etc.

First Dance - Does your couple have a first dance? What is that like for them?

Private Moments - Every couple needs a private moment away from the big day. When does your couple escape the festivities, before, during, or after the ceremony/reception, to have a private, quiet (or perhaps not so quiet) moment?

Reception - Does anything specific happen at the reception? Drama, a sweet moment with a parent or other companions, cake-smashing, games, a surprise?

First Night, Morning After - Write a specific moment or detail about their first night together as a wedded couple, and/or what it is like for them to wake up the next morning as a wedded couple.

Different cultures around the world have different wedding expectations, ceremonies, events, and so forth, so if you find that this list doesn't let you explore those ideas, feel free to adjust the prompts to suit you and your characters more!

Enjoy and have fun!

My new graphics card has been delivered today! I will finally have access to most of my screenshots of Laerie (and Gale) and to game saves with her. I plan to record kisses <3