right like!! the take that astarion doesn't really care until act 3 or even straight up post-cazador is a little confusing and a really pessimistic read on him tbh. like, what part of "you deserve something real. i want us to be something real," says that he doesn't have feelings for them. it's right there, he's trying to tell them as openly as he can!! dude's been lying nonstop for two centuries and he's struggling so so hard until cazador is dead, but that doesn't mean his feelings are any less real just because he's Going Through It and doesn't have the emotional space left to put it to words.

he's gotta have something going on early act 2 at least, i agree lol. the dialogues you get when choosing between him and another romance before he confesses are marked as "disappointed, trying to hide it" in devnotes even. he's not ready to tell them, but it's still there!

i always saw "i didn't care for you when we first met" as referring to like. early early act 1 lmao. it changes pretty fast just being decent toward him, given how vulnerable he gets about how he's perceived a little while after the vampirism reveal no way mister show no weakness is showing a weakness that quick to someone he doesn't care for a little bit.

idk. sorry for rambling back at you!! thanks for hearing me out afehiebdi i support your agenda fully and i'm looking forward to the comp video!

this is such a good ask smooching u on the forehead

pessimistic is a great way of putting it !!!

AND PLEASE RAMBLE ALL U WANT I LOVE READING ABT HIM AND LEARNING WHAT PPL THINK ESP WHEN IT LINES UP WITH WHAT I FEEL BUT HAVE A HARD TIME ARTICULATING LIKE !!!

its just like. this man has never known tenderness in the past two centuries and even before then he doesnt remember fuck all because of the trauma and torture hed been inflicted so its like

he is truly flying blind here and does not understand intimacy and even just non sexual intimacy and FRIENDSHIP without any sort of. ulterior motives. he is in survival mode from the get go. he is the least trust worthy and least trusting. and STILL. STILL. STILLLLL he falls hard and fast for the player. finds himself having genuine Fun and Joy in conversations with them. is able to joke about being undead/wanting blood/BEING HIMSELF around people who arent even like him but LIKE HIM and will listen to him and have a sort of rapport he has NOT had in centuries. bc cazador and dev notes and the spawn all say that no one likes listening to him when he talks, and now hes surrounded by people that Will Listen to him??? and not for the sake of pleasantries and niceties but ??? because they enjoy him ??

oh he never stood a CHANCE