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[icyspicy]

𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗 🐙✨

summer

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ABOUT ME

Hello! This is very delightful, though I have no idea what I'm doing!

NOTE

Confused by the username? Good.

Message @summer

code | art

BIRTHDAY DIRECTORY QR CODE

NAME: Winter BIRTHDAY: December 21st FAV CAKE FLAVOR: Black Forest WHAT THEY WANT MOST FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY: To have a good time.

Comments

[astarion]

[Wow how noble of him—

He doesn’t know what to do other than to sit here, really. It’ll have to do for now, and in the meantime, he flicks an ear and says a bit teasingly-]

Using all your precious spells on little old me?

[icyspicy]

Why not? I used plenty on our little heist before. Trying to get you back to normal seems more worthwhile.

[astarion]

[Hm.]

Well, I won’t stop you if you’d like to try, but you had better toss my clothes back in my direction if it does work.

[icyspicy]

Of course. I'd hate for you to cause a scene.

[ Even if there aren't really other people around. Presumably someone works at this cafe?

In any case, Winter leans back to utter the incantation for Dispel Magic first, hands working to form the shape of the spell. There's a burst of power between them, but ultimately there's no effect. ]

[astarion]

[Don’t worry, they’ll definitely be jumpscared by the waitstaff soon.

But for now, Astarion braces himself again as the spell is cast and… sighs as nothing happens.]

I’m starting to think you needn’t waste your magic, Winter. You’ll just have to deal with spending your time with a very handsome bat today.

[icyspicy]

It was worth a try. A pity it didn't work, but I suppose I can content myself with your cute, fuzzy face instead.

[astarion]

Come now, you’ll make me blush.

[Places a little paw on his “chest”.]

But do go on.

[Ha. He supposes he might as well force some good humor into this whole situation if he must be stuck as a bat for gods knows how long. And he gives a little chuckle, when-

Good day! What can I get for you? comes the sudden announcement of one of the waitstaff. The man’s dressed in a Hawaiian tshirt, and just also happens to be a shark.

He slaps two menus down with his flippers. Somehow. Astarion starts.]

Oh, hells- Why can’t anything be normal around here!

[icyspicy]

[ It's so funny to watch a bat emote like Astarion. His poor friend might be stuck, but Winter is finding himself utterly charmed.

The moment is very ruined, though, by the appearance of the waiter. Who happens to be a shark.

This might as well happen. To Astarion: ]

That's rich, coming from you, you realize.

[astarion]

What, because I’m a vampire or a bat? I’ll have you know I had a choice in neither of these things.

[I didn’t have a choice in being a shark either! The shark waiter laughs.

Anywho, their order will be taken without issue — Astarion, of course, orders a glass of their finest blood on tap. The waiter nods approvingly as he jots it down.]

[icyspicy]

[ Winter orders some red wine (solidarity?) and an appetizer of some sort, just something to munch on while they’re hanging out. Once the shark has taken his leave, menus tucked back under his fin, Winter turns to Astarion again. ]

Well, even if this day hasn’t quite gone to plan, I still appreciate you thinking of me. It’s been delightful so far.

[astarion]

[Solidarity!

Astarion blinks at Winter, once again finding himself given a compliment, though this one is harder to know what to do with, given that it centers around pleasant company rather than beauty or handsomeness.]

Oh. Well. I am glad for that, for what it's worth. I know I said it before, but I truly am grateful that you're not... vexed about me not telling you the whole truth of what I am. We've had fun, and I'd hate to lose that.

[icyspicy]

I can't be angry at you for keeping a secret for the sake of your own survival. I'd do the same. I have done the same.

[ As Astarion well knows by now. ]

[astarion]

Ah... Yes, I suppose you have.

[He wonders at something, and wonders even more if he should even ask. But ultimately, he does, with only a mote of hesitation.]

Your parents, were you close with them?

[icyspicy]

[ The only reason Winter is surprised by the question at all is because he didn't think Astarion the type to want to talk about personal matters. Well, maybe things are different now that certain things are out in the open. ]

No, I hardly remember them at all. I grew up an orphan on the streets of Waterdeep, until I got caught with my grubby little hand in the pocket of my future boss.

[astarion]

[He isn't the type to pry into personal matters at all; only recently has he taken up the habit with his traveling companions, who have forcibly elbowed their way into the "friendship" category.

Maybe it says something about his friendship with Winter, truly growing into something more sincere, that he bothers to ask.]

Ha, I see. [And his fortunes looked up from there on out, did it? Well. He's glad for that.] And then you were taken in, I assume.

[icyspicy]

I was. And many years and one warlock pact later, I enjoy my place as the guild's second in command.

[ The story of his patron is one he still has to tell. Perhaps now is as good a time as any. ]

[astarion]

Well, we share one thing in common, at least.

[Not the bit about the patron, of course. Or even being in a guild, or being second command of anything. The fact that one's past is blurry at the edges, barely remembered.

But he's curious, now that he's broached the subject yet again.]

Though... I do think you owe me the tale of your patron, if you'd care to share it still.

[icyspicy]

I don't mind.

[ There's a bit of a pause as their waiter breezes by (swims by? how does this work) with their orders, dropping them off and taking his leave again. ]

The guild's previous second in command got it in his head that I was a threat to his position, and took it upon himself to remove me from the picture. He took me to an old ruin under the pretense of a job, buried his knife in my back, and left me.

Little did he know he'd left me in the prison of the being that would become my patron. We struck a deal, my survival for their freedom.

[astarion]

[The waiter waddles by on its tail fins. Don't ask how!]

He... did what?

[Now, such a thing isn't unheard of--the despicable nature of betrayal--especially when one runs in criminal, shady circles like Astarion once did, before all the tadpole nonsense. But it still surprises him, perhaps because imagining something happening to Winter, a friend of his, really does twist uncomfortably in his chest.]

Gods. What a cad. [He'd almost be impressed, if it had happened to someone else.] And this deal, was it... palatable?

[The warlock he knew before Winter did not, ah. Exactly get along with his patron.]

[icyspicy]

[ Teal Looney Toons energy in this place. ]

One of the archfiends themselves could have offered me a deal in that moment and I would have taken it.

[ Which, while not a pleasant "what if" to explore, is quite true. Winter had been desperate, dying and hurt and angry. Anything that gave him the opportunity to continue to draw breath would have been enough, even if it had ultimately cost him his soul. ]

But, thankfully, my patron is not so ambitious. I'm left largely to my own devices, and the most they ever ask me for, after having freed them of course, is knowledge. It's part of why I'm here. To learn new things to share with them.

[astarion]

[Their waiter had been thoughtful enough to provide Astarion with a long but tiny straw, and he grasps at it with his little digits while he listens to Winter. His expression is the closest it can be to a frown.]

Knowledge... That's not so bad, I suppose. Especially in a place like this, where there's so much to learn, and everyone has a story to tell. No, your patron must be very happy, indeed.

[A pause, though.]

That's two things we share in common, then. [He doesn't mean about the patron, obviously.]

[icyspicy]

[ Winter's brow creases as he tries to work through what Astarion could possibly mean. The adorableness of the little bat with a little straw is shoved aside for now. ]

Now, I know you're not a warlock who's been holding out on me. So, what, then?

[astarion]

[He doesn't drink just yet, but holds the straw in place with one "paw", his other wing drooping at his side.]

That you would have taken any opportunity presented to survive. That you didn't want death to sweep you away. That's how I ended up as a vampire, you know. Attacked in the night, left to bleed out... and my future "master" offering me eternal life to "save" me.

[At the expense of so, so much.]

Between the two of us, however, you ended up with a much better bargain.

[icyspicy]

[ Winter wouldn't... well, no, he might wish what he went through on his worst enemy, less the life-saving warlock pact at the end of the road. But a friend? Especially one he considers dear, he wouldn't want them to go through any part of what he went through.

Knowing Astarion knows quite intimately what it's like to be left for dead makes something in his chest twist, and he frowns. ]

Hells, Astarion. I'm so sorry.

[astarion]

[It's hard to know what to do with empathy, other than allowing it to turn over in his head, wonder at the nature of him earning it, and letting it settle quietly inside of him. His tone edges wry.]

Yes, well. I am, too. Sorry that it happened to both of us. But glad, as well, that someone else... knows what it's like.

[Though he'd not ever wish it on a friend, either. An enemy though? Happily.]

It's terrifying.

[To him it was.]