[ Astarion laughs--giggles, really, let's be honest--when Gale mentions that the person they're discussing is Xenk. And maybe that says something too, that it could've been multiple strangers that Gale had met, that Astarion has friends in the plural.
But oh, Xenk. Sweet beautiful dumb Xenk. ]
He's fun, isn't he?
[ he says this like he means to imply that he and Xenk are fucking, which is not true in most ways but is also a little bit true in others. What he and Xenk have is certainly special, and at times wildly intimate. But he wants it to sound superficial at best. Like he is simply looking to corrupt his holiness, a pleasant and daring conquest.
At the mention of their circumstance, though, his good cheer falls away and sobers. After all, he and Gale had many more problems beyond the elder brain and the tadpoles. Gale with his orb, and Astarion with Cazador. If Astarion doesn't solve his problems before they deal with the tadpoles it'll all be for nothing. His window of freedom is thus fleeting at best, save for his circumstance here. ]
No, it does not. [ a seriousness he rarely displays to anyone but Tav but Tav isn't here right now, Gale is, so Gale gets to be on the receiving end. ] I'd rather not look a gift horse in the mouth. There are those intent on finding a way back home via this artifact, or wherever it is that's allegedly controlling the rifts, but I...
[ he trails off here. It was easier to claim he wanted to stay here when he wasn't staring one of his companions in the face. But he finds himself at a bit of a loss and it strikes him that he does miss Tav, and that he does miss his other companions. What a strange concept. For a long moment he simply says nothing. He had thought his only desire to return was to kill Cazador, especially given that he knows their friendship is finite.
And yet.
And yet.
When he speaks again the seriousness is replaced by his light, complaining tone as if none of it matter. ]
Ugh, I don't know. I like my freedom here. But it's hardly earned, is it? It could be taken at a moments notice by the rifts.
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But oh, Xenk. Sweet beautiful dumb Xenk. ]
He's fun, isn't he?
[ he says this like he means to imply that he and Xenk are fucking, which is not true in most ways but is also a little bit true in others. What he and Xenk have is certainly special, and at times wildly intimate. But he wants it to sound superficial at best. Like he is simply looking to corrupt his holiness, a pleasant and daring conquest.
At the mention of their circumstance, though, his good cheer falls away and sobers. After all, he and Gale had many more problems beyond the elder brain and the tadpoles. Gale with his orb, and Astarion with Cazador. If Astarion doesn't solve his problems before they deal with the tadpoles it'll all be for nothing. His window of freedom is thus fleeting at best, save for his circumstance here. ]
No, it does not. [ a seriousness he rarely displays to anyone but Tav but Tav isn't here right now, Gale is, so Gale gets to be on the receiving end. ] I'd rather not look a gift horse in the mouth. There are those intent on finding a way back home via this artifact, or wherever it is that's allegedly controlling the rifts, but I...
[ he trails off here. It was easier to claim he wanted to stay here when he wasn't staring one of his companions in the face. But he finds himself at a bit of a loss and it strikes him that he does miss Tav, and that he does miss his other companions. What a strange concept. For a long moment he simply says nothing. He had thought his only desire to return was to kill Cazador, especially given that he knows their friendship is finite.
And yet.
And yet.
When he speaks again the seriousness is replaced by his light, complaining tone as if none of it matter. ]
Ugh, I don't know. I like my freedom here. But it's hardly earned, is it? It could be taken at a moments notice by the rifts.