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[thirsted]

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ASTARION

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[corporeity]

What? Of course not.

I’d think that presumptive.

[thirsted]

And a line of questioning that would lead to the discussion of one's sleeping arrangements isn't, naturally.

[ Throwing Gale a bone: ]

But, to your point, I find my bed quite satisfactory. And likely more inviting, besides.

[corporeity]

Ah
Well
It arose naturally with Armand
In conversation, that is.
Not in
Any other manner

[ crushed it. ]

As did my thought of you in turn. [ ahem. ] Consider me to relieved to hear you have not been deprived of your preferred sleeping quarters. Perhaps this is one of many differences between your specific strands of vampirism.

[ is he making a list? he’s making a list. ]

[thirsted]

[ but is he checking it twice ]

I suppose you'd have to ask Lestat or Louis for confirmation. Though there is something rather funny in imagining it to be solely Armand's preference rather than a vampiric trait.

What else have you divined, thus far?

[corporeity]

[ yes and

oh my god it could just be armand. ]

I should think I’ve tempted offence from enough of my fanged friends today. Louis was forthcoming about his experiences in the manor, however.

[ a pause, as he both considers what to share and how to say it delicately. ]

As you noted, the hierarchy is less apparent among them, though Armand recently turned Daniel Molloy. He seems to believe control of one’s hunger is achieved with age, but I imagine that’s a constant for us all, not just vampires. I wasn’t exactly dignified, when Tara first provided treatment for my condition.

[thirsted]

"Control" is certainly one word for it.

[ It feels more, to him, like a kind of heartache. A forever pain, something that one doesn’t necessarily get used to so much as accept as a fact of life, a perpetual hunger that other focuses can sometimes supersede but not replace. But does any of that make it onto his phone? Of course not. ]

Armand shared with me that they term new vampires “fledglings” rather than “spawn” — hence the relative lack of hierarchy. To be vampire spawn is to be a servant, but to be a fledgling hardly seems the same thing.

[corporeity]

What word would you use?

[ curious, as ever. ]

No, it feels rather more affectionate. [ He types, I'm sorry, then thinks better of it. ] Yet another reminder of why we must end Cazador's reign.

[ over Astarion and the Gate both. ]

[thirsted]

[ uncanny ......... ]

Acclimatization?

[ Offered without further explanation, for having been wheedled out of him in the first place. ]

I did have the thought that it would have been rather pleasant to have accomplished that before coming here. Then again, perhaps it'd have been worse — to seize my freedom and find myself in another cage.

[corporeity]

Unsparing?

[ his own opinion, even if astarion didn't ask. tit for tat. ]

Something to be said for unfinished business. Best not to grow overly comfortable in a place that would use complacency and temptations as glittering lures.

[thirsted]

Always.

[ There's more that he types out — even after all these years — but he thinks better of it, and it's turned into a sort of one-word game, besides. ]

A blessing and a curse, as most things are. A shame we don't encounter more of the former alone.

[corporeity]

[ so this IS a sex castle. ]

Agreed. My brief visit to the Otherworld has assured me I’m right to avoid it.

1/2

[thirsted]

You visited the club?

[thirsted]

[ Following a longer pause: ]

And found it not to your liking, it seems.

[corporeity]

For curiosity’s sake, and at the request of another, whom I thought should be accompanied on their first journey, even if I didn’t wish to linger.

[ an easy (and true) answer. ]

There are similar places all over Waterdeep, though the majority devote their pleasures to Sune and Shar. One bearing Mystra’s token would certainly draw attention, if they visited, and I’m the courting kind, besides.

So, no, not to my liking, but I wouldn’t judge others for partaking. Something for everyone, isn’t there.

2/2

[corporeity]

[ wait. ]

Is it truly so surprising that I would attend?

1/2

[thirsted]

I'd merely assumed you'd rather keep company with a stack of books, had you the choice. Would you have been happier if I was under the impression you were [ WHY IS HE TYPING THESE WORDS ] insatiable on a carnal level?

[thirsted]

Though perhaps that was the correct assumption — who so kindly requested your presence?

1/2

[corporeity]

[ brain shutdown occurs somewhere around ‘insatiable carnal desires’.

then, typing dots. ]

You’re teasing me. I can tell, even in writing. Anyone would want to see what the fuss is all about.

[ but most people who enjoy the club don’t use phrases like what the fuss is all about. ]

2/2

[corporeity]

[ in a series of separate messages — ]

Ah, well.

Let me clarify that I accompanied her in the interest of ensuring a truce between us all and learning more of Tilanus, in the first instance.

And because she asked nicely, I suppose.

That is to say, Orin.

[ don’t be mad 🥺 ]

1/3

[thirsted]

[ Swiftly replacing a very dubious "would they?" at Gale's first text: ]

Orin.

2/3

[thirsted]

The one who stabbed you, Orin.

[thirsted]

[ say psych right now ]

GALE

[corporeity]

It sounds terrible in that context.

[ and every other context. ]

She promised not to stab me again.

[thirsted]

And if a fox promised not to eat every hen in the coop, would you let it roam freely?

[corporeity]

Am I a hen in this metaphor?

[ not important actually (a little important) ]

There’s no serving Bhaal in this place, with the impermanence of death, so she’ll not kill. She is a Chosen without her god, Astarion.

I’ve never known another.

[ Cast out or taken beyond the gods’ reach, it amounts to the same thing. They’re lost. ]