Henri The Swords Bard - Tumblr Posts
WIP Whenever
Thanks for tagging me, @xxnashiraxx! This is from the same fic that I shared from earlier this week, a flashback to pre-BG3 events to not spoil too much of the plot. Post-coronation angst for ya:
Henri was shaking, one of her hands anxiously swirling a glass of wine that had yet to touch her lips, the other anxiously tapping away at her kneecap. Astarion covered her frantic tapping hand with both of his own, picking it up and cradling it much like he had the night he confessed he had feelings for her. “Sensed my dislike of this Gortash figure, did you?” Astarion softly teased, slowly rubbing her hand between his two, trying to summon warmth from his dead flesh to gift to her living that desperately needed it in the chilled evening air. “For all his talk about missing you he certainly didn’t look for you all that hard.” “I was down the hallway being sliced apart and put back together by that necromancer. Whatever it was that Gortash and I had...it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t...” Henri didn’t finish the sentence, her gaze intensely focused on the deep purple of her drink spiraling inside her glass as Astaron wrapped an arm around her, drawing her in closer, “With hair like that, Gortash did not strike me as a man who makes wise decisions.” That earned him a small snort of laughter from her. “Did you see his shoes?” “Good gods, those shoes. I suppose the circus he got them from is close by.”
No pressure tags: @tealfling, @roguishcat, @inkymoonbunny, @bardic-inspo, @bhaalsdeepbat
WIP Wednesday
Was tagged throughout the past few weeks by @inkymoonbunny, @xxnashiraxx, @preciouslittlebhaalbae, and @verbenaa, so here's a hefty piece of lonely reflective Ascended Astarion angst since I didn't post anything last week.
Just for context, this is a Bad Ending AU set years after the brain where my Durge, Henri left A!A before being turned into a spawn, going off by herself to become a famous bard and has only just now returned to perform at Astarion's engagement party to an important elven figure as part of his political strategy. So this is him reflecting back on their relationship before talking to her for the first time in a long time.
When was the last time he had bedded her? They had been taking a break from the activity because his former self couldn’t handle it, the weakling. Astarion couldn’t help but wonder if that was a reason she ended up leaving after all. Even with his power he couldn’t fix himself fast enough. If she had let him bed her the night after he ascended, surely he could have gotten her to stay. Fix the times before that where he’d been out to use her and she had seen right through it. “It wasn’t difficult, you know, to see that whatever it was that you wanted out of this, it wasn’t me. Well, more than what I could provide. And you were clear that these nights together were just us having fun, nothing serious. I liked you beyond that but I didn’t know how quickly these urges were going to escalate. So why not go along with it and pretend? I get to experience a bit of life I’m not going to get to otherwise. And you’d move on to some pretty elf after we get to Baldur’s Gate where you have more options. I wouldn’t be leaving someone behind hurting after I needed to be...put down.” “Well, you’re not getting put down like some sick dog, for one, so let’s agree on that first,” Astarion snapped, feeling like he was going to vomit, “We are killing whatever this is and freeing you just like we’re killing Cazador. Alright?” She smiled softly, her eyes glassy, “Alright.” “Second, some pretty elf? Really? I’m already a pretty elf, my dear, why introduce competition? Where the hells did that come from anyway? Don’t tell me you think you’re unattractive in any sense of the word.” “Oh, I know I’m attractive just...you don’t seem to care for tieflings in general and between that and me looking like I walked off an autopsy table I thought I was more of a novelty item than anything else.” “Well, you’re not. So, there.” Gods he’d made a mess. “And as soon as I figure all this nonsense out, we’re redoing all your firsts with me. Properly this time. Real. Because I never want to make you feel like that again.” But Astarion never had the chance to fulfill his promise. And now he’d gotten himself a pretty elf and Henri was stuck with those memories of him using her.
No pressure tags: @elinorbard, @batbuska, @ladyduellist, @roguishcat, @tealfling
(If you already wrote something, feel free to just tag me in it!)