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[thirsted]

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ASTARION

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[thirsted]

[ (Shadowheart, typically uninterested in paper goods, seems to pick up on the enchantment, clipping Astarion's fingers a couple of times as she attempts to test the limits of the spell placed upon the letter.)

If you should like to see yourself as you are, rather than through the eyes of another ... the words strike him unexpectedly sharply, the frown that crosses his features not born of annoyance but of the surprise and confusion that most kindness has prompted in him, as though to accept it might be some sort of joke, something meant to prove his gullibility even after two hundred years of servitude.

It occurs to Astarion that he could simply text Gale his response, but— he responds with his own little note, instead, this time sent through their adjoining bathroom, tied to a ribbon around Shadowheart's neck.

She, very politely, does not attempt to peck at Gale. ]

Gale,

Given your study of the network, I suppose it would be useless of me to pretend that such a spell would not intrigue me.

Perhaps a lesson, if you think such an exercise would not strain us both unduly.

Your benevolent creditor,
Astarion

…carrier chicken 🐥

[corporeity]

[ For her good behaviour, Gale offers Shadowheart his nicked fingertip, which she approaches warily. A single nibble, and she rejects his attempted treat with an indignant flutter of her wings. Brutal.

He sends her back with a message, anyway. ]

Astarion,

I find teaching to be an energising exercise, so you needn’t worry about me. No doubt you will say this is because I enjoy listening to myself talk! Perhaps I do. I’m told I even natter in my sleep. Hopefully your elven hearing fails to note my somnambulant babbling in your trance, informative though it may be.

Next week, then, after I’ve settled. The solarium seems a fine place for a lesson.

Your tutor,
Gale

[ This note, he rolls and ties, a sprig of lavender tucked inside it for Astarion’s perfumery. ]