[ It's like watching a mage cast a fireball at an unsuspecting room of goblins. He wants to look away, he wants to stop himself--and yet, it's also so horribly interesting. And he knows he won't stop, even against his better judgment.

Xenk takes his hand and speaks such pretty words and Astarion smiles softly, listening as he talks. When he finishes speaking, Astarion laughs light and gentle. Not at Xenk like he so often does, but fond. ]

I don't think feelings work like that. They cannot be extinguished as a flame. But even if they could, how could I think ill of you for something I am offering?

[ It is unfair, perhaps. What Astarion is offering is sex. What Xenk is speaking of is something much bigger, much more important. Xenk worries only about how death might affect him, but he doesn't think about the other kinds of heartbreak that even immortals can cause one another.

And yet, Astarion does it anyway. Even though he knows he will hurt Xenk. Even though he can never be the person Xenk thinks he is or wants him to be. He offers because it is what he knows best. Part of him, perhaps, still thinking that it will solidify their bond and cause Xenk to be devoted in every sense of his oath to him. But for once, that isn't even his main goal.

Astarion does it simply because he can. ]