#fun fact bryn and astarion have the same athletics score | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hexblooddruid · 6 months

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Fuck it, WIP Wednesday

Astarion gazes at her while she’s turned away from him, completely focused on tending to his scratches. After he returned from his hunt she immediately hounded him about his injuries (mere scratches, he protested), forcing him to sit so she could clean and dress them. How someone of her stature is able to to speak with such authority is beyond him but he found himself obeying, nonetheless, with only a small amount of complaining. She had spent the last of her magical energy bringing him back up from unconsciousness in the fight against the Gur hunter, so she was tending to his wounds “the old fashioned way”.

He remembers waking up in the swamp, her small hands on either side of his head, her healing magic washing over him. He felt the coolness of the river, the warmth of the sun. Being the sole focus of her care now, the two of them sitting in front of his tent while those same hands tended to his wounds, felt like that as well.

“I wasn’t expecting you to agree to eliminate the Gur. It’s…unlike you.”

“Oh and you know me so well, do you?” She’s still not facing him, completely focused on her task, but he sees the corner of her lips curl into a smirk.

“I have to, don’t I? If we’re going to keep traveling together.” His own lips curl into a self satisfied grin when he sees her smirk grow into a smile at his reminder of the promise she made to him less than a tenday ago. “I’ve seen enough now to know that you don’t like… unnecessary violence.”

“It was necessary,” she interjects in a soft voice, still focusing on his scratches. “He was going to kidnap you. I-we had to protect you.” He sees her tense up. He knows she’s lying. Shadowheart and Karlach wanted nothing to do with that fight. It was her who made that decision.

“You really didn’t.”

“Well, Astarion, I did”, her voice raising as she finally paused from her ministrations to look him straight in the face. The eye contact was brief as she quickly turned to focus on the bruises marking his face.

Why can’t she look at me?

“Why can’t you look into my eyes? Do you find me so enchanting? Are you afraid of being hypnotized?”, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

She chuckles then her face turns contemplative, carefully weighing her words. “I’m sorry, looking into your eyes sometimes it’s…it’s as if I’m looking into an open wound. One far more gruesome than the ones I’m currently tending to. At least these I know how to deal with”, now wiping the blood off the side of his face, her voice softening again.

A cold wave of realization washes over Astarion. Ahh, of course. Predation is a two edged sword*. In his time trying to get what he wants from her (her blood, her protection, her focus) he’s given her the opportunity to see glimpses of him.

“I don’t know what made you want to go after such a dangerous meal after all you went through today, anyway”, her voice barely above a whisper, interrupts his thoughts as she continued to clean the wounds on his face.

“Any meal worth having is dangerous, darling”, he says on edge but trying to cover it up with bravado. “And I know it’s nothing compared to-”his eyes glance over to the two messy marks on her neck,”-to well, other things I could be dining on. But it’s better than the rats and bugs Cazador served me.”

“Gods I’m sorry.” Her eyes turn to him briefly. “Bugs, really?”

“Really! Still that was in the past. I’ll never have to grovel for him again,” this time he was the one to break eye contact, realizing that she’s done it again and got a real answer out of him.

How in the hells does she keep doing this?

“That’s true.” She starts to clean the bruises and wipe the blood from the other side of his face, her fingers gently nudging his jaw so she can get a better angle. He unconsciously acquiesces . “You can start over. Be different, maybe.”

“Exactly! I can be better than him. Stronger. More powerful! More-” Seeing her raised eyebrows, he realizes that this might not be exactly what she meant. “-oh you meant ‘be kinder’? Pet bunnies, that sort of thing?”

“Is petting bunnies so terrible?”

“Ugh, don’t give me those Kitty Bryn eyes. I’ve no objection to being nice, of course. Once I have the power to bend others to my will.”

That’s it. I’m a monster. She simply needs a reminder.

“That sounds like an objection to being nice.” At this, she pulled her hands away from him entirely and let out a frustrated sigh. “You’re free now. That’s all that matters.”

She moves to clean the blood around his mouth and neck but his quick hands grab her wrist before she can get there. He’s reached his limit. Her touching his arms and face, that he could handle. But her touching his neck, along with her words, that he's free, he’s safe, that he could be better. It was all too much.

Here’s my chance.

“No, Bryn,” using his grip to tug her body toward him, forcing her to look at him directly. “I’ll be safe when I’m powerful enough to grind Cazador into the dust. Powerful enough to do whatever the hell I want.”

His grip is tight on her wrist. He's not aiming to hurt her, just to gain control. He wants her hands to stop. He wants her to look at him directly. He watches all the tenderness fall from her face as she goes from concerned to calculating then combative.

“Be careful Astarion,” her voice cold as his skin. “There are heroes about. I’d hate for them to get the right idea about you”, she retorts, not breaking eye contact.

Ahh there it is. Here comes her teeth.

“Let them,” he sneers. “Heroes are half the damn problem. Fools that believe in right and wrong- good and evil,” looking her straight in the face. “Heroes didn’t save me from Cazador, mind flayers did.”

“Well it wasn’t mind flayers that saved you today. I think I’m done here.” She tries to rise but he refuses and tugs her back down, doubling down on his grip on her.

“Bryn, they gave me a gift,” he continues as she squirms in his grasp “the strength to take my own freedom. I’m embracing this power’-his voice and eyes soften, causing her to finally still and face him-"you should too. I know you want to. I’ve seen your teeth.” She says nothing as she finally wrests herself from his grip and walks away, leaving him alone in his tent.

*shamelessly stolen from @thedragonagelesbian's ranger-cyrus notes

#bryn acevedo #when is a monster not a monster #fun fact bryn and astarion have the same athletics score #so i rolled for them to make sure he would actually win this little tug of war #and his six did in fact beat her dirty 0

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