ziathal



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    A year ago, the world didn't end. Now it's summer and the cicadas are buzzing, and something is changing. Something is going to give.

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    01 Jul 2025

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    Cas looks even more tired than Dean feels. His eyes are red and the bags under them are more prominent than ever. His hair is a hot mess, reminding Dean of the time when Cas was still able to take off any second with just a flick of his wings. The cut on his neck is covered with a white bandage now and he wears different clothes, a gray sweatpants and a black shirt with a hole on the collar, that Dean recognizes as one of his. It makes him look different. It makes him look soft.

    Dean likes it a lot.

    ---

    Cas is back and that is great. Except that it worries Dean how much Cas struggles to adjust to humanity, haunted by nightmares and memories every night. So it's just a gesture of their friendship, despite Castiel's feelings for him, when Dean offers Cas to stay with him at night.

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    04 Jul 2025

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    Astarion is near the docks when he feels Cazador's compulsion on him snap. He doesn't think twice. He just takes the next available ship out of Baldur's Gate. Its destination: The City of Splendors. Waterdeep.

    *

    Gale takes back the glass, now empty, and then seems to fidget a little. “There is something I wanted to get your opinion on- but it can wait until you’ve recovered. You don’t look well at all- no offense meant, of course.”

    “None taken,” Astarion says sweetly. “Please go on. Tell me exactly what it is about my appearance that you find lacking.”

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    12 May 2026

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    "First," said Gale. "Do not kill any thinking creatures in Waterdeep unless you must to protect yourself or you have my express permission."

    As Gale spoke, he could feel the weight of his words sinking into the person sitting across from him. It was like casting a spell, but took no effort. Astarion had been staring hollowly into his goblet of blood, but at this he made a faintly interested noise. As if the rule were novel and he was considering the shape of it.

    "Second, you will obey me in all things," said Gale. There didn't feel like there was any honest way of softening that. Astarion didn't make any sound at all.

    "Third, do not leave the tower without permission." Astarion made another speculative noise, considering this one too. But then his shoulders hunched and his eyes skittered down, as if he didn't want to look at what was about to happen.

    "Fourth," Gale said, and paused. He started with some context: "There is a tressym upstairs."

    Astarion's head twitched. He looked up at Gale, blinking, startled. He had the air of someone who had been bracing for a blow and instead had just been handed a balloon animal.

    "A what?" he asked.

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    12 May 2026

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    A remix of Act 2 in which Gale gets more of a character arc resolution.

    “Gods damn it Gale!”
    Astarion leaps over him. The guard, poised to land an entirely excessive final blow to Gale’s skull, topples backwards with a knife in his gut. The second pierces his neck, sending him crashing to the ground. Astarion yanks his blades back, and drops to his knees beside Gale.
    “Oh no no no, you are not dying on me now.”
    Gale attempts to express something, but it comes out as a gurgle of bloody bubbles. The world swings to the side, black and spinning.
    “I swear, if it turns out I did just watch you spend the last of your magic sending your cat back to safety instead of saving your own damn skin-”
    The threat remains unfinished. A healing potion trickles between Gale’s lips.
    “Tressym,” Gale says, when he can finally trust his voice.
    Astarion is still crouched over him, cheeks flushed, sweat running down his brow and someone else’s blood smeared across his cheek. Gale has the sudden urge to kiss him.
    “What?”
    “She’s a tressym. Not a cat.”
    Astarion makes a noise of such furious, pained exasperation that Gale half expects the dagger to end up in his neck next.

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    12 May 2026

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