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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!

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Confused by the username? Good.

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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.

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[icyspicy]

You were trapped.

[ That look of concern still sits on the warlock's face, but there's something angry that starts to flicker in pale eyes, too. It's only Astarion's use of the past tense that stops it from becoming any more than that. ]

What happened to him?

[ Something awful, he hopes. ]

[astarion]

[He sees it, Winter becoming angry for his sake. And for now, he relishes in it — that, and the inevitable reveal.]

Oh, him? I killed him.

[Something awful, indeed.]

It’s a sordid tale, I warn you. If you want to really hear it.

[icyspicy]

[ Oh, thank the gods. Winter was already imagining having to storm into Baldur's Gate to do something stupid. There's a bit of relief that slips into his expression. ]

I'd like to hear it, if you don't mind telling it.

[astarion]

[It's not easy to retell, but he doesn't mind it. No, he wouldn't have offered otherwise.

Winter's earned this tale by now. And for once, it's a blessing to be a bat -- perhaps some of the harder bits to relay will be spoken more easily knowing that his expressions can't be so straightforwardly read.]

Suppose we should start at the beginning, then. After I was turned, I was practically enslaved. There was no running from him, no escape. A vampire spawn is literally under the thrall of their master. [That was no metaphor.] Anything he willed, I would have no choice but to do. No manner of willpower could break me free, and the punishment for even trying would have been... severe.

[He feels the anger coiling up, the disgust. Even free of that influence, it will have left its mark for many years to come.]

And under his service, I spent two centuries luring back poor, witless souls to his palace. For the sake of his own meals, or so I thought at the time. In the meanwhile, I was only ever permitted to feed on rodents and insects.

[icyspicy]

[ Ah, no. The anger is back, even if the man responsible is dead. Even if Astarion tales only the bare bones of his tale, the list of injustices here is long. Two centuries of being without one's own will, being made to lure others to their deaths, and left to starve for his troubles. ]

Hells, Astarion. How did you get away?

[astarion]

[He really shouldn't feel an almost-glee at seeing someone else angry at his circumstances, but he does. It's vindicating.]

I got away by being kidnapped. [Here, he laughs, and it's truly amused. The irony of how these things work; to be saved from his awful circumstances by finding himself in an equally terrible one.] By that rather pesky Illithid nautiloid. And thus, earning that wiggly little tadpole in my brain.

That was one advantage I didn't mention to you at the time. As well as enduring sunlight, and running water, and being able to enter homes without an invitation... I was free from Cazador's control.

[icyspicy]

[ Winter feels for others, yes, but it's rare that he gets angry. Astarion's circumstances strike at something in him... or perhaps they strike at something in him Because it's Astarion. He's not going to bother to untangle that right now.

It's dreadfully unfair, what his friend went through. ]

Oh. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. [ Fucking Illithids!! ] But it seems you got your chance to put an end to the man who made your life a living hell. I'm glad.

[ A beat. And then, not without a little amusement: ] It sounds to me like he got what he deserved.

[astarion]

[His words, reflected right back at him. Underpinning their similarities yet again, at least at their core. Somehow, that feels even more delightfully bracing, and Astarion lets out another laugh. For how heavy this conversation could be, he finds it easy to speak with Winter on it. That's nice.]

Isn't it nice, to have revenge adequately delivered to the bastards who had it coming?

[There's more he could say, of course. He debates whether or not he should divulge the details; that he had felt anything but "nice" after he had stabbed Cazador ceaselessly, overwhelmed by all manner of emotion, not all of it kind. That the victims he had been luring to his palace were treated like imprisoned cattle, for the sake of sacrificing for a ritual. And the ritual itself...

Most days, he's sure he's made the right choice by denying that power. But sometimes, when he's alone and weighted down by an uncertain future, the what ifs still whisper in his ear, taunting.

...Maybe that's a conversation for some other time.]

Though... don't tell Gale this, but I couldn't have done it alone. It was an awful battle. Yours, I hope, was over much more quickly.

[icyspicy]

[ That laugh untwists some of that unpleasantness coiling in his chest, and Winter casts a smile at the vampire-turned-bat across from him. ]

It really, really is.

[ Winter's own brand of revenge had been brief and emotional, his anger made manifest in the magic that punched its way through his would-be killer's ribs. It wasn't pretty by any means. But it was his. And it was absolute. ]

My lips are sealed. [ He's sure Gale knows as much anyway, sharp fellow that he is. ] For me... it was over and done in moments. He looked at me like he'd seen a ghost, and that was the last thing he ever saw.

[astarion]

[He loves to hear it. Even if it was brief, the tale appeals to him, and how could it not? Revenge is so keenly entwined with violence that he can't help but to play the scene out in his head and be satisfied by the results. maybe one day a memshare for this in Caelum-verse, too]

Gods, I imagine that was quite the fright for him. You must have been livid. And I bet that was a very [hot] handsome look on you, though of course I'd not wish betrayal again on you just to see it.

[icyspicy]

I don't know that I've ever been that angry before or since.

[ Which means that Astarion isn't likely to get a look at it, unless they do go sharing memories. ]

I'm not keen to feel that way again, so you'll just have to let your imagination do the work on that one.

[astarion]

Hm, well. Maybe it’s just the idea of you in a proper fight I wouldn’t mind seeing sometime.

[Astarion stop letting your imagination go wild. Well, it’s fine — he likes his smile just as much.

Another sippy of his drink!!]

And so you’ve gone nothing but flourish since then, I assume. You do seem rather happy with the state of things, if you don’t mind me saying so.

[He’d be jealous of such contentedness, and maybe he is just a little. But once again, he just finds himself mostly glad for it; Winter’s found a very rare thing that many others struggle to capture.]

[icyspicy]

I'm sure we could find a floor on the hotel to facilitate that if you really wanted. I've not needed to sling many spells around since those... ninjas invaded some months ago.

[ Mariah Scarey doesn't count since she used reflect and he decided to get the hell out of Dodge. ]

You're not wrong. I realize I'm one of the lucky ones. I made my pact a decade ago, and I've been fine ever since. Would that we could all find such stability.

[astarion]

I’d drink to that. To stability!

[Toast or not, he will, in fact, drink to it. This glass of blood will be drained empty by this tiny bat yet!]

Ah, actually, if you’re ever in the mood to spill actual blood, there’s a floor just for that. A fight club floor, I think. Though I’m not entirely sure why there’s so much soap.

[icyspicy]

[ Winter laughs, and does indeed bring his glass over to tink lightly against Astarion’s. ]

To stability.

[ Followed by a long drink from his glass. He motions to the waiter, wherever he’s swum off to, for a refill. ]

Is that that that floor is for? Reiju and I found it but we were lost as to the purpose. No one tried to fight either of us while we were there.

[astarion]

Oh, you found it. Yes, that's very much what that floor is for. But they're very strict about their rules.

[Waves a wing, all fiddly-like.]

Did you take your shoes off? Remove your shirt? No fighting for you if you can't be bothered.

[icyspicy]

[ It's clear that Astarion has had a much different experience on that floor than Winter did. ]

No one was there to explain the rules, so no, I didn't. We just sort of wandered around for a bit and left.

[astarion]

[Boy, he sure did. Thanks, Amelia.]

Hm. Once my body's back to how it should be, let's go sometime. You and I. We can make a few poor souls bleed for fun.

[astarion please]

[icyspicy]

[ Winter lifts a shoulder, as if to say "sure, why not?" though he does have to ask, ]

That can't entirely be your idea of fun, can it?

[astarion]

[What, violence? ....Y...es.

Well, maybe not entirely. But his idea of fun always reflects what he's been deprived of, or his past circumstances of lingering in the shadows, and thus among the company of those who did the same.]

I suppose I do like a fair amount of debauchery when I can get it. Why, do you have a better suggestion?

[icyspicy]

I'm just curious what a man like yourself likes to get up to. I'm a fan of debauchery, myself.

[ Not many others in the hotel apparently are, though. A shame. It makes him miss his favorite bard something awful. ]

[astarion]

[The way he feels weirdly unequipped to answer this question. He rattles things off in the same manner as reading from a shopping list.]

Ah... Er. Drinking. Gambling. Stealing. [very charlatan vibes here] Reading.

[Uhhh.]

Needlework, sometimes.

[icyspicy]

Yes, it wasn't lost on me that you likely embroidered all that nonsense on your underthings yourself.

[ Which is just. Really funny. But also not a hobby he'd expect for someone like Astarion. Then again, what else is one to do in centuries long captivity. He tilts his head a little. ]

You've not had much of a chance to discover other things to enjoy for yourself, have you?

[astarion]

[Astarion huffs. It's not nonsense if it's true!

But he tends to the question, instead, his little bat-face sobering, ears... not drooping, but lowering slightly.]

No. I never had the chance, darling. Never had... the will to, either, I think. [Some days, he was simply given to accepting his circumstances. For long stretches of time, he was driven only by apathy.] But now I'm free. And I hope to explore that freedom to its fullest.

[icyspicy]

Oh, Astarion...

[ He feels a bit bad for bringing down the mood, and he reaches across the table to offer Astarion a little scritch under his chin with a finger. It just seems like the thing to do when there's a bat looking at him so sadly. ]

If there's anything I can do to help to realize that goal, you need only say the word.