essea: (42.)
ɪᴏʀᴠᴇᴛʜ. ([personal profile] essea) wrote2022-09-07 10:10 am
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nibbling: (pic#17263713)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-02 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nature is gross, but Iorveth isn't, and Astarion would very much like to see the glow of sunlight on his body. He remembers, briefly, that they'd bought a tattoo ink that sparkles in the sunlight, and he's suddenly filled with renewed interest in the idea now that he'll actually get to see it glitter.

—But then Damris rears his (unfortunately not actually) ugly head. Astarion would have been embarrassed at being caught quite literally sitting in Iorveth's lap once upon a time, but no longer. If anyone has an issue with their very enthusiastic displays of affection, it's only because they're jealous of the depth of love they share. Most people will never experience such a thing! How sad for them.

He probably shouldn't antagonize Damris when he's wearing a cloak that Damris would have every reason to want to steal, but:
]

Ugh, you're like a bad copper.

[ Always turning up. ]

Can't you see I'm busy basking in the sun? The stench of your jealousy is wafting over here and ruining the atmosphere.
nibbling: (pic#17335616)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-02 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Damris is acting exactly how Astarion would—better, probably—so, obviously, Astarion thinks he's a rotten little brat. Getting a taste of his own personality in Damris has been truly intolerable. At least he'll have to deal with Petras for eternity, which is at least equivalent to infinite torture in the hells, if not worse. ]

I'll bathe in it if I must.

[ Astarion doesn't plan to take off this cloak ever, actually. It's the ugliest thing he's ever seen, and despite all of his vanity, he'll wear it forever. Or at least until there's a better alternative. ]

...But I wouldn't be terribly heartbroken if Gale could turn it into something a little less, mm, obtrusive.

[ And hideous. ]
nibbling: (pic#17335624)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-03 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'll kill you.

[ Swift and horrified. He is not a sandal-wearer! But he slings an arm around Iorveth's shoulders the next, unabashedly affectionate, so clearly the idea doesn't upset him that much. ]

And then I'll track down Reginald and make him bring you back.

[ Iorveth isn't getting out of this relationship that easy. He can die all he wants, and Astarion will just drag his corpse around until he finds someone to bully into bringing Iorveth back to life. (Whatever happened to Withers, he wonders. That old coot was annoyingly cryptic, but Astarion wouldn't mind keeping him around for emergencies.) ]

An amulet, maybe. Or a ring.
nibbling: (pic#16872719)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-03 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ 'Cute aggression', he calls it. 'Aggression I find cute', he should probably say.

Astarion pulls on Iorveth's precious little wood elf ear.
] Frumpy!

[ He recalls saying the cloak was frumpy, yes, but not himself. ...He does look frumpy, but that's none of Iorveth's business. Astarion probably looks near to the worst he's ever looked: in his pajamas with an ugly maroon cloak atop, with a messed up hand and an even more fucked up leg. But Iorveth had called him beautiful, and Astarion likes that he'd been seemingly deluded by love. ]

Ugh. You only get away with saying such things because I'm in no position to bend you over my knee.

[ Untrue. Astarion would and has let Iorveth get away with murder. ]
nibbling: (pic#17335021)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-03 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion adores when Iorveth is a freak, actually. It's funny, because he's historically hated listening to deranged fantasies, but Iorveth's all feel terribly nonthreatening. Eccentric, really.

He presses his mouth against Iorveth's cheek.
]

I love you more, of course. [ As always. ] And now that we've gotten this pesky sun issue taken care of, we can start looking into your immortality.

[ Just in case Iorveth somehow had the deluded idea that it's just something they'd maybe address at some point in the distant future. No better time than the present to start obsessing over a new goal that will definitely fix his entire life this time. ]
nibbling: (pic#17263774)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-03 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Slow-burn?? Character building??? Delayed gratification???? He fucking hates those things. After everything they've been through in the past few days, he's hesitant to ruin this moment of happiness, so Astarion tries very hard to remain pleasant and not immediately start accusing Iorveth of backing out on what he very much promised Astarion back in their Athkatlan inn.

Even though he is.
]

I'm sure you aren't trying to suggest that I'll find another someone like you.

[ He pets Iorveth's hair affectionately, eyebrow twitching just slightly as his body rejects 'being normal' and 'not blowing up the moment something doesn't go his way'. ]

You're one of a kind, my sweet.
nibbling: (pic#16896177)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-04 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion leans his temple against Iorveth's, a desire to be as close to Iorveth's perplexing mind as he can possibly be. Sometimes, he feels as if he understands Iorveth wholly and totally, and other times it's as if he might as well be speaking a different language. It's like suggesting that someone wait a few centuries to decide if they'd like one million gold in their pockets or if they'd like to be kicked in the head instead — a preposterous choice. ]

Yes, I'm practically robbing the cradle, aren't I?

[ Affectionate, even when Iorveth is irritating him a little with this idea of waiting and thinking things through. Iorveth is still closer in age to him than nearly anyone else they'd travelled with. Gods, Lae'zel had been a baby. ]

But, my love, I don't need a few centuries to confirm what I already know. Immortality would be torment without you by my side.

[ He supposes he could just walk cloakless into the sun after Iorveth dies, but. He has a feeling that idea might not go over too well. Astarion draws back, then, so that he can study Iorveth's face. ]

Darling, you would tell me if you didn't want this, wouldn't you?
nibbling: (pic#17263714)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-04 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ This suddenly feels like maybe it's too deep a conversation to have while practically in Iorveth's lap, so Astarion very carefully and very gingerly move his legs into a normal sitting position, like a normal person who isn't positively crawling all over his favorite person at all times. His leg is still sore, and he makes a face during the process but otherwise is so brave about it. ]

Sweetheart.

[ He tilts his head, actually looking quite concerned: his brow is furrowed, a little frown on his lips. ]

I wasn't only being adorable when I said that I loved you more.

[ Although it is pretty adorable, he thinks. Still, he's pretty sure he loves Iorveth more than anyone in existence has ever loved anyone; Iorveth took his shriveled black heart and made it grow three sizes, and it still seems to grow more and more with every passing day. ]

Eternity is far too short of a time to spend with you.
nibbling: (pic#17335625)

[personal profile] nibbling 2025-07-04 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ If Iorveth feels guilty about putting a damper on the happiest moment of Astarion's (un)life, he can also feel good about giving Astarion a new happiest moment of his (un)life. If forever is with you, I want it, he says, and Astarion breaks out beaming, the sort of genuine, unabashed joy he used to be too afraid to show. Happiness only ever made him a target, delight just something to lose. In the presence of Iorveth, though, he feels safe to smile.

He kisses Iorveth's cheek several times in quick succession, then his mouth.
]

You ridiculous fool of a man. That halfling is as wise as he is tall.

[ Which is to say, not at all. (In Astarion's very biased opinion.) ]

—The finer details can wait until we've fully recovered, of course. [ As if there's any part of him that's capable of focusing on the 'finer details' of anything. ] That lovely head of yours is undoubtedly still recuperating from being whacked like an unruly mole.