Some doodles. I keep thinking about Gale's quarantined life and how he has a habit of talking to himself, seeking self-comfort when he's feeling unwell...😢😭
Like when the orb is clawing him:
Or before he make the final grand sacrifice...
Oh, but it couldn't be all dark days. I think there were also moments like:
And
Tara would never let him have the look, but since she was away... xD
A note hopefully to balance the hurt. I found some dnd style swear words and here's a picture of a dretch from wiki. I imagine its balls would fit for a proper swear word xDD.
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marauders halloween headcannon (but its happy, i promise)
okay okay okay but imagine
regulus outright refuses to do a couples costume with james because he likes the side of halloween where you watch horror movies and eat copious amounts of sugar... whilst popular james loves the parties
james begs him to go to the party with him and reg refuses so many times but then james hits him with the fucking puppy eyes and he has to say yes, he's only a man. a weak man at that.
but he's adament he won't do a couple's costume, he's going as a cat because its basic (...and no other reason at allll) and he knows there's not really any way james can copy that
he doesnt know what james is going as until the party when he walks out in just jeans (they almost dont make it to the party) with scratches across his chest and back which he had marlene's help putting on because he'll be dammed if they don't match
everyone asks james if he was "attacked by a werewolf" and he just smiles and corrects them "a cat actually" and points to reg
bonus: reg at some point makes james speechless (not too hard honestly) and just teasingly says "cat got your tongue?"
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Let's talk about Gale's sex scenes
I love the astral sex scene and it means so much to me, and I have some problems with the way I've seen it talked about.
I should start by saying this post is not intended to critique anybody's personal preferences. The license to do Whatever The Fuck in an rpg is sacrosanct and there are no wrong choices. But I’ve also seen people imply that the astral scene is not “real” sex, or that Gale romancers “deserved more.” I hope I do not have to explain why that's kinda fucked.
Additionally, I think it is a saddening misread to call the astral scene “performative” in contrast to the bed scene (which gets correspondingly framed as “showing Gale that you want the real him.”) But doing a grandiose magical gesture IS the real him!
I know I'm not alone in viewing Gale as autistic; for me the astral sex scene is a big contributor to that. For one thing, it resonates with the concept of having unusual sensory wants. For another, it reads to me as Gale opening up and showing his passion for magic to the PC in a way he’s never been able to with another mortal before. What neurodivergent person has not had someone view their passion as too weird or too over the top? Have you ever been at a level of enthusiasm that wraps back around into seeming “performative” to others? Ever wanted to show a loved one something that matters to you, but worried they’d never understand—or, worse, they’d actively cringe?
In the astral sex scene, Gale shows the PC how much he loves the Weave (which is not the same as loving Mystra), and the PC does not cringe.
If all the glowing merging translucent bodies, the nebulae, the multiplying limbs, the spinning, the trippiness, the celestial music—if all these trappings made you, the player, cringe: there is nothing wrong with that. But I do think it is a misread to say that the bed version constitutes “helping him heal from his trauma.”
Maybe I have a hair-trigger for anything that implies “becoming more sexually normative = character growth.” Or “vanilla sex = a more intimate connection.” But they are just such tiresome concepts.
I understand that some of the dialogue in the game also suggests that idea, but all that dialogue is coming from the PC. What Gale says is that having bodily sex is “a small gesture toward your comfort.” This has been widely glossed over, imo.
Ultimately the two versions of this scene fulfill two different narrative functions: the bed version is to show the player that Gale will set these wants aside for you should you ask him to. But the astral version is there to show the player who HE is and what HE wants. And I think it is sad to write off this beautiful, lovingly crafted, unique and creative approach to a sex scene as merely something “performative” that he only does because Mystra made him think he had to.
“Stay with me now. There are endless worlds out there. Countless ways to declare love. Infinite ways to express it. Too much for one night... but we shall try.” I've admittedly got a ways to go in the game, but so far this is my single favorite line of dialogue. I genuinely don't understand how people can hear this line, the way it’s acted, and think it's just for show. He knows he's about to get weird but he longingly, vulnerably asks you to stay there in his weirdness with him.
Many writers, when they are writing something kinda out there, have doubts of the form Who is this even for? If the astral scene just isn’t for you I don't have beef with that. But the people who saw the astral sex scene and went "Oh, my god, now THIS is FOR ME"—are perhaps people who only very rarely get to watch a sex scene and have that reaction.
I'm glad Baldur's Gate brought something this beautiful to this particular table and I think it deserves consideration as a serious element of Gale’s characterization.
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