My Astarion Story

My Astarion Story ( OnlyFangsbg3 / webevie ) This is in response to this thread by u/dickinyourcobbsalad, but is so long and I'm being all ego about it, sue me: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnlyFangsbg3/s/poXv0gzJbX Before I put it here, tell me your Astarion story in the comments! I want to know. ======= Astarion Story My first playthrough I had gotten impatient about all the dialog and just skimmed as I spacebarred through Jaheira's during the wine scene. And I misunderstood what "infiltrate Moonrise" meant in the journal (if it spelled it out in the journal, I obvs did not read it). So I never meet Araj. I was just trying to finish the game. I didn't have time for this shit. I'd spent far too long in Faerûn as it was. Weren't most games 30 hours? Where were the microtransactions? Who the fuck is Larian Srudios? How did I get this dog and how does he get shit in pouches without oppposable thumbs? Obviously some magical creature. And I was being all goody-goody, trying to not kill EVERYONE (most of the goblins were still alive at the camp even) and didn't kill Yurgir. Astarion got pissed, but I figured I'd have another way to translate the runes. Surely if we just bothered to ask Karlach, she'd know, right? Plus, I'd accidentally romanced Astarion in the first place. I was trying to romance Gale, but he seemed to be oblivious and still hung up on Mystra. Astarion was just my gay best friend! [Flashback] So I was just chatting with my bestie Astarion at the party. "Sex? Sure!" (I had sex with so many people/things that run.) I don't have to describe the woodland scene, but JFC - a six-pack? Panty-dropping lines? An Adonis ratio back?? (I'm a back woman.) How does some *rogue* have this shit? And then some other time when it was clear he was teasing me with flattery. We both have a laugh when I called him out for "I love you", but he wanted to have sex again (or so thought). Sure. I have needs, too and the first time didn't seem to fuck up our friendship. I should have seen the signs when I FINALLY had sky sex with Gale and they made me choose and I chose Astarion over Gale the next day. "Sorry, when you snooze, you lose!" Anyway... I get to Act 3. And I see **that** line. I didn't even know he HAD been coming to my bed to fuck. I click it. And...I was devastated. I was confused. What does he mean, "correct my mistake?" What mistake? What cost? Confused both that it happened *and that I was so upset about it*. This was just some toon in a game! AND HE WAS USING ME! He NEVER even cared about me! And I didn't even SEE it! Remember, I never got an Act 2 scene (this was the first week - we were still in single-digits Aug) bc I'd let Yurgir live and never met Araj. I Google it. Took me forever to find any kind of reference, and it was a single Reddit thread telling someone else they were screwed, but not why. I tried to finish the run anyway. This was just some fictional character in a game, right? (I also hadn't reached The Palace yet). At some point, I get even MORE mad at Astarion for having nice greetings and then seeing **that line** as a choice (I had hoped he'd be happy I kept letting him feed off me). I spec Wyll to take his place permanently in the party, I stripped him naked to stand around in camp, underwear and all, reading his fucking book. How DARE he be a fuckboi. Enter his siblings at our camp. Even though he wasn't in my party, we still had to fight them. And there Astarion was, casting spells (I'd made him a Padlock bc I wanted to play Gloomsassin) STARK NAKED. Eventually, I couldn't stand Wyll anymore because boring and brought Astarion back because sass, but couldn't take the mixed message dialog and was still uncomfortable being upset about it. I'd found out where I had fucked up by then but the autosaves were long gone (I did not even know about Quicksave and was simply hard saving manually on the same file named "Manual Save" over and over)...so I abandoned the run. I'd already killed Orin even. Over 100 hours I dumped because I'd *apparently* accidentally fallen in love with this little bunch of pixels I barely knew and I did not like it. Fuck him, I was going to make this sassy bastard love me. THAT'LL SHOW HIM. And infiltrated Moonrise when I was supposed to. And got an Act 2 scene. Holy fuck, this kid had been through some SHIT. I had no idea! And was being transparent about it "when it was an objectively stupid thing to do" on *his part*. And killed Yurgir *just in case* when I got to the guantlet. And I hadn't even HEARD the part about how he felt about having sex bc I had gone to Moonrise first. And got called a toxic partner in Main for taking him to the brothel because I wanted him to make his own decisions - because he SAID! Before Cazador he wasn't ready, so we leave, after Cazador he said he wanted to try, so we did. And GODDAMN - the Cazador scene where he SOBBED and I couldn't comfort him. I was in REAL PAIN. My chest HURT. I was wiping the tears with the hem of my shirt! WHAT? [Sidebar] Now, I'd cried over stuff in WoW before, but it's been like 15 years! I've never played Mass Effect, Red Dead Redemption 2, KOTOR, The Last of Us...because Blizzard had owned me body and soul and when I quit WoW - I quit games. I was a single mother and had woken up to how I simply cannot just "play a little" (undiagnosed ADHD - look up hyperfocus). I did play BG1 and the NWN series + expacs. There certainly was no crying involved. [Present Day] If the other companions had any chance for romance prior to that - they melted away in a split second when we defeated Cazador. When *he* defeated Cazador (I'd let him have the final blow). I was now forever lost in those gorgeous silver curls and snarky attitude hiding behind a thick wall matching my own. "I am Astarion." Thanks for reading my TEDTalk. And RIP Yurgir. Thx for respecting me enough to betray Raphael in the House of Hope and being the MVP in the final battle. Peace brother. astarion,story,astarion story