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Astarion’s simple plan

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A kitten at heart

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In fairness to the candidates for Bhaal's Chosen in the campaign/adventure/whathaveyou, including Ulder, Bhaal is influencing them - he can impart the urge to slay upon mortals, as he does to his children (but with them it's 24/7)

Though on the other hand, Bhaal can only tap into the hatred and impulses that already exist in a person and went out of his way to pick the three most compatible pawns in the city. As his description goes, "Ravengard is not a zealot or a fascist - not yet, anyway."

I assume in the BG3 version of events he didn't get too bad (as he wasn't Chosen)

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Too caught up to find the wits to bail

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My submission for the 🩸🪄 Bloodweave Spring Fling Artfic Swap

Prompt: "...in-game camp activities, and practical getting on with day-to-day stuff together."

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Fourth, thou shalt know that thou art mine

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The fourth in my series of stories about Astarion and my golden boy, Talven Vrinn. Still in early Act 1, before the tiefling party, so I think this now qualifies as slow burn. Also tagged: m/m and disabled character. Surely you can imagine Astarion's reaction to that.

“I’m sorry,” Astarion says, wiping his eyes. “It must be terrible—” he bursts in laughter again, but it’s tinged with hysteria and sounds on the edge of turning to sobs. He covers his face, drawing a deep breath. “Ugh. I need a moment.” Having given him the most truthful account of himself so far, Tav feels both giddy and exposed. Astarion’s laughter doesn’t bother him. It seems born of surprise and the absurdity of the situation, not mockery. But Tav is altogether too deeply invested in the hope that Astarion will agree to his ridiculous, haphazard proposal, to join in the cheer. Because, of course it was an excuse, even if he’d had no inkling that he’d use it, or that he needed one. The truth is, if he could, he’d spend every moment of his time trailing Astarion like a shadow.

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion/tav #astarion #fanfcition #talven vrinn #amwriting

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Mandatory annual blossom photos 2015-2023.

For the last nine years I greatly enjoyed making blossom photos in Spring. Standing on a small ladder between the branches, leaves and flowers of the tree behind my house, looking for what became the above was very zen.

The city apparently felt it necessary to cut her down last week, some two, three weeks before her blossom would appear again. What a waste.

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another stroll (they met a cute cat this time)

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“Toothy Beast Movement Study”, 2007

 By: EVA FUNDERBURGH….

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The answer is however many show up outside the window he tosses food scraps of. I'm sure Astarion comes up with beautiful names for each of them but they're just called "cat" 85% of the time.

Bed time would be a real unbalanced situation during winter.

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Venting-

When I hear people give the advice that writing is never a waste of time if you’re having fun or you should never feel like a story was a waste of time, you should enjoy the process. This advice I believe is real and true and works for some writers. But at the same time, there are writers who are very stressed when writing and feel better about their work when it’s finished. Not the “I enjoy having written.” But the “I have crippling anxiety and can only tell if my time, effort, and semi-breakdowns were worth something if I complete what I set out to do.”

Not to diminish anyone who agrees or resonates with the first statement, I admire those people a lot and wish I was calm enough to feel the same.

in my years of teaching and coaching, i've noticed there are two kinds of writers: "process" writers and "product" writers. rather, there exists a spectrum from one to the other.

on the process side, you have writers who reach a flow state fairly easily, who can become immersed in a world or idea of their own invention, and they write in large part to seek that immersive state. the end of a project seems more like a tragedy than an achievement because it marks the loss of the immersive state, and it will take energy and discipline and happenstance to find the next. i've also noticed that it becomes harder rather than easier to find that state over time; the more projects you finish, the fewer ideas appeal to you in the same way.

conversely, product writers get to feel that sense of achievement upon completing a project that process writers may lack, and that pleasure is worth the pain and turmoil of the act of creating something. product writing takes a lot of strength, patience, and discipline i think, to do something hard for the reward of having done it. it's the difference between an athlete and a surgeon. a person becomes an athlete for love of the sport, the act of playing. winning is important, but they wouldn't be able to win without first finding joy in the game. a surgeon, on the other hand, probably doesn't get into the job for the fun of operating. the fulfillment is in the operation's success; it's hard work with high risk. but the reward of saving or improving lives is worth it.

admittedly as a process writer it's always been hard for me to wrap my head around product writers. not only do i not have the patience to seek a sense of achievement, i think i'm mostly incapable of relishing any reward at all unless the reward is in the pursuit itself. looking back, i can't think of any single moment i've ever felt a sense of success. but also i've always struggled with concepts like ambition and competition. i've never had any drive to win anything, but also i've never felt much when i lose or fail. sometimes i wish those things mattered more to me, because then i would be a more driven and decisive person, and i'd be more successful in my career.

i know i'm on the extreme end of the process-product divide, and that colors a lot of my perspective of teaching and mentoring. but i think writers can shift on the spectrum depending on where they're at in their writing life or even with whatever project they're working on. i've been trying to have a more product-based mentality recently to at least develop the skill of shifting to the other side when i need to, so that i can get the patience and focus to write a novel that is not just me plopping my heart onto the page and hoping somebody out there cares. product writers have an easier time convincing other people of the value of their story, because the value of the story is a big reason why they write it. a purely product writer, like the surgeon, writes something because they feel that thing needs to exist in the world. meanwhile the only way for a purely process writer to be professionally successful is to happen by sheer coincidence to find an immersive state that also crosses with the interests of the current market. like the athlete, success involves training, hard work, and being at the right place at the right time. sure, churning out 100k words in a couple months and having a blast while doing it is great, but it comes from this wild inner place that can't really be controlled; meanwhile product writers can take that wildness and intentionally shape it into something. when you're feeling jealous of the other side, though, it's important to remember that both the meadow and the garden are equally beautiful.

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RE8 X BG3 🦇Karlach Dimitrescu & 🐴Astarion Heisenberg

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BG3 X RE8

treasure item: crystal Astarion

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i am a wyllstarion truther now

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"I can't go yet, don't let me die, I want to live"

(Borislav Slavov - I want to live)

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Fyrna's faith