mickume/dnd_drow · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"Gross, zhexezhebyr. You are gross."
"Gross, but not necessarily off the mark."
Riphi threw her hands into the air. "You so are, though! He does not like me, not even platonically."
Karlach sat on the arm of Riphi’s chair, the whole thing creaking dangerously under their combined weight. "I get the vibe that Astarion dislikes most people. But you don’t have to like someone to fuck them, y’know?"
"I am not losing my virginity to an eidz ydbr who treats me like a gnat that keeps flying in his face." Riphi hissed fiercely.
"Well damn, I didn’t know we were talking virginity!"
Gale walked in, caught the tail end of Karlach’s outburst, and walked right back out.
Their initial ransacking of the village only resulted in a couple healing potions and a half dozen bottles of wine, but Riphi was confident that they’d discover far more once they fully rid the area of goblins, and could go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.
The thought of a vampire lurking just beyond the firelight was enough for them to move their camp just outside the Grove, as if a couple extra torches would deter a child of the night.
Riphi was blowing out the last of her candles when Astarion appeared soundlessly at the lip of her tent, all sly looks and playful grins and a "hello, dearest’ that was quickly becoming painfully familiar to her ears.
"Heading out for your watch?" She asked absently, busying her hands and avoiding his eye.
"Indeed. But I wanted to talk to you before I departed."
She sighed, gusty. "What can I do you for, erybbah pil?"
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I’ve been thinking about your little speech last night. About turning a new leaf, the right foot, something something starting over–"
"Okay, asshole–"
"–And I think it is what’s best, as you said. Mutually beneficial. You defend me so fiercely from the others, clearly you have some sort of innate trust in me already. I should build on that. It would be foolish not to."
"You’ll come to trust me as well, I’m assuming?" She said slowly, arms crossed tightly against her chest.
His smile was soft, but something in his eyes closed off completely, going distant and cold. "I’m sure that I will."
Gods, she was so over the Master of Mixed Signals over here. She could only take so much in one day. "Fine. Great. Good night, Astarion. I’ll see you in the morning."
The elf’s eyebrows raised, then lowered. He seemed – not flustered, exactly, but knocked off balance. "This was what you wanted, is it not? I was sure you’d be pleased."
"It is, and I am."
He chuckled, but it rang hollow. "Do you think me a fool? You won’t even smile for me, my dear."
She stepped away from him, dropping any pretense. "Do you think me a fool? Look. You don’t like me, and that’s fine, but I’d prefer if you were up front about it and didn’t try to hide behind-behind flowery prose. I don't know what you actually want from me, and you should think about it some more, because I don’t think you do, either. Pretending we’re friends isn’t what’s best, and you know that. That’s not a solid foundation for trust. It’s not a foundation at all."
His false smile slipped off of his face, replaced by cool indifference. "So what, then? What do you suggest?"
"Well gee, Astarion, I don’t know, how about we actually get to know each other? Would that kill you, or something? I think I could grow to like you quite a bit, but I’m not gonna do... whatever this is with you to get to that point. This song and dance."
Astarion blinked slowly, a million unreadable thoughts dancing in his eyes. "Hm. As you wish. We’ll have tea parties and braid each other’s hair–"
Riphi’s voice rose over his. "Okay, get out, you self-important, insufferable, insincere windbag. I don’t even want to look at you right now. Get out, right now. Go."
He scoffed, sneering, but turned on his heel and walked away fast enough to leave a slight breeze in his wake. Inexplicably, Riphi’s eyes filled with tears.
She sniffled pathetically, and Wyll was at her side in an instant, whispering meaningless little assurances about Astarion being an obtuse asshole and rubbing soothing circles into her back. His tent was across the clearing. How loud must their argument have gotten, for him to have heard?
Shadowheart lingered near the entrance, looking pensive. Riphi pressed her wet cheek to Wyll’s shoulder, taking in deep, shuddering breaths. Wyll was a good man – no, a great man. Why couldn’t this strange, inexplicable attraction of hers be aimed at him? It was just like her to pick the worst apple of the bunch. Even Lae’zel spoke to her with more respect.
"It’ll be okay." Wyll murmured, pressing a handkerchief into her hands. She couldn’t help but notice how similar the fabric was to the lace at Astarion’s collar.
"Should we really be desecrating a grave?" Shadowheart asked, one eyebrow raised.
Astarion scoffed. "Like you cared when it was the Selunite graves a few days ago. Why is this one any different?"
"Peace, you two," Tav said, driving their shovel into the ground again. "I just want to take a look."
"T’chk!" Lae’zel said. "If they wish to get their hands dirty digging up a lone grave, what is it to you?"
"That’s exactly what I’m saying!" Astarion said. "I knew I liked you, Lae’zel."
"And you are a good shield when running into battle before everyone else, Astarion," Lae’zel said. Astarion looked at Shadowheart and rolled his eyes.
"Don’t look at me, you sided with her," Shadowheart said tersely. "If you all get haunted, I’m not casting Remove Curse on you."
"Oh, they’ll haunt you, too, darling," Astarion said. "You’re standing idly by while our dear friend and leader rushes headlong into this wonderfully horrid idea."
"Fine, I’ll leave then," Shadowheart said, sniffing. "Have fun getting cursed."
"Fuck," Tav swore, pushing their shovel into the ground and turning. "If you three can’t get along, all three of you can go back to camp."
"Oh, darling," Astarion said in the tone of voice that he used when he wanted something. "You’re not pulling the old "If you children don’t stop arguing I’m turning this carriage around’ are you?"
The elf deepened his voice in a tone mocking a stereotypical father figure. Tav snorted. "Yes, I am. Shadowheart, if you really are uncomfortable, feel free to go back to camp. I just have a really good feeling about this for some reason."
"The headstone has dates that span twelve years," Lae’zel observed. "So you are either digging up a child or an animal."
"Oh, good," Shadowheart said. "I’ll stay, but if this turns out to be a child, you’re praying with me later, Tav."
"Fine, fine," Tav said dismissively as they turned back to the hole in the ground. They picked up the shovel, but turned around to face Shadowheart again. "Wait, why would Shar care about this?"
Shadowheart opened her mouth to speak, but instead spit out a curse as the wound on her hand flared purple. Tav looked at her sadly and nodded, turning back to shovel more dirt out of the hole.
Mere moments later, the shovel made a distinct clanging noise as Tav hit an object interred in the grave. They discarded the shovel and dropped to their knees, digging through the dirt with their hands until they found their prize. In the dirt sat pieces of what was clearly a large dog skeleton, a large leather collar tangled in the cervical vertebrae and clavicle bones of the long dead animal.
"Who would bury an animal? Would they not have killed it to eat?" Lae’zel asked, a rare look of puzzlement on her face.
"Lae’zel, we literally have a dog," Astarion said, annoyed. "I saw you throwing the ball for Scratch just last tenday."
"Yes, we were training for him retrieving prey or the spoils of battle," Lae’zel shot back. "I do not know why that is so hard to understand, Astarion."
"Oh my gods," the elf said, exasperated. "Suffice it to say that some people bury their dogs when the dog dies. I never understood it, but here we are."
While their companions were bickering, Tav had picked up the collar and was turning it over in their hands, reviewing the arcane runes that were traced into the pendant alongside a name: Myrna. This was clearly a magical item, but Tav had never been very good at diagnosing what kind of magic was attached to an item or if it would kill them or not, so they tucked it into their pack to show Gale later.
Later came sooner than they thought. After Astarion was almost gored and thrown off a cliff by a hook horror, Tav decided that it was high time for everyone to go back to camp and sleep. When the beleaguered band walked into the camp, Karlach and Wyll looked up in horror from where they had been sparring at the bloodsoaked party.
"Oh my gods, what happened to you?" Karlach asked, deftly dodging a blow from Wyll and jogging over to survey everyone. "Come on, everyone come sit down, Mama K’s gonna make you all dinner."
"I’ll take a rain check," Astarion said wryly, which earned him a jab in the ribs from Tav."Oh, my dear, you’ve killed me! After the ordeal we had today, now this! Struck down by my own paramore."
"Knock it off, Astarion," Wyll said, offering a hand to take the elf’s pack. "She’s being nice."
Karlach grinned and leaned in close to Tav, "I’ll use lots of spinach so that you don’t get too woozy from your nightly activities."
Tav rolled their eyes. "Okay, okay, yes, everyone knows I’m sleeping with the vampire. What does spinach have anything to do with it?"
Shadowheart walked up and smiled brightly at Karlach before turning to Tav, her armor somehow already cast aside. It took Tav an entire hour just to undo one wrist wrap. Shadowheart said, "Spinach has a lot of iron. It’s good for blood replenishment. Is that how that works for tieflings, Karlach?"
"I "unno," Karlach said, her arms already full of vegetables and cuts of meat. "I bleed red like the rest of you. So do they."
The other tiefling shrugged and tossed their pack on the ground as Karlach and Shadowheart wandered over to the fire to make dinner. It bounced once, spilling the top layer of contents onto the ground. Amongst the books, scrolls, knives, and candles, the dog collar from earlier spilled out onto the ground. Tav picked it up and looked at it, walking over to the mirror and holding it up to their neck.
"Hmm," they said aloud to no one in particular. "It matches my eye makeup."
"Do not tell me that you’re going to put that thing around your neck without at least letting me have a look at it first," Gale’s voice called out from across camp.
"Are you going to eat it?" Tav shouted back.
"Very funny, but you and I both know that my condition could rear its ugly head again at any moment! Best not to joke about these things, lest you invite them in," the wizard responded with his usual verbosity. There was a rustle and some footsteps before Gale slid into view in the mirror beside Tav. "Besides, won’t take but a moment!"
Tav handed the collar over, watching as Gale’s eyes flared white as he read the history of the item with his magic. He smiled, his eyes fading as he handed the item back.
"It’s not cursed," he said. "Though I couldn’t say for sure what it does. It’s enchanted to conjure something upon activation, but the locus of activation seems to be external."
"Sooooooo," Tav said slowly, "You don’t know what it does or what activates it? But you know it’s not cursed?"
"Precisely!" Gale said cheerily. "Well, now that that’s settled, back to my book. The king of the necromancers has just killed a herd of rothe to create a shield to keep out an encroaching army. Did you know that rothe watch sunsets?"
"I," Tav started, looking at Gale strangely. "No, Gale, no I did not."
"Well, if I learn any more rothe facts, I’ll be sure to let you know," he said, smiling and dipping his head before wandering back over to his tent.
"What the fuck," Tav said under their breath as they walked back to the campfire to join the others, slipping the collar into their belt pouch. Karlach was pacing around the stew pot impatiently as Wyll and Shadowheart played a game of dice. As usual, Astarion was lounging in his tent, Gale had gone back to reading, and Lae’zel was sharpening her sword. Tav wandered over to Astarion’s tent and sat down next to the elf, raising their eyebrows at him.
"Yes, darling?" he asked, big red eyes looking up at them and causing Tav's heart to skip a beat. "What can I do for you?"
"Just wanted to be near you," they said, starting to pick at one of their wrist wraps. "Karlach says I need more iron in my blood. In your professional opinion, what do you think?"
"Hmm," Astarion hummed, drawing out the sound longer than it needed to be. "Well, you know, I don’t quite remember... If I had-"
"Yes, yes, you can have a taste now," Tav said, rolling their eyes and holding their partially unwrapped wrist out to the vampire. He smiled and looked at them through hooded lashes before pricking their wrist with the merest brush of his fangs. He let the blood pool and run down their wrist a ways before he slowly ran his tongue over the trail, bright red against dusty blue skin.
"Mmmm," he moaned ostentatiously, clearly putting on a show for Tav. They rolled their eyes, but still found themselves shuddering and pressing their legs together to try to do something to relieve the heat that was starting to build in their belly. "You’re just as delicious as ever, darling."
"Okay, well, tell me in the morning if I taste better than usual," Tav said, pulling the wrap back over the new wound. They could take off their wrist bindings after dinner.
Dinner came and went, delicious as usual when it was Karlach cooking. Somehow she always seemed to turn their meager ingredients into something absolutely decadent that Tav thought they couldn’t have even gotten at the Elfsong back home in Baldur’s Gate. In another life, Karlach could have been a professional chef.
After eating and finally shedding their vestments, Tav padded over to Astarion’s tent with their bed roll, quietly laying out the padded blanket and grabbing a pillow from Astarion’s things that wasn’t covered in owlbear fluff. They laid down, minding their horns on the pillow and turned, looking over at their beautiful... well they couldn’t call him their partner, not yet. He was clearly still playing them, but every now and again, Tav saw him looking at them a little longer than he had before or watched him jog to keep in step with their fast pace while traveling. They were content to wait and enjoy the attention. It might end up getting their heart broken, but if they were going to turn into a gross brain squid in a few days, who cared about that?
Astarion looked up when he felt someone watching him, his red eyes almost glowing in the candle light. He smiled coyly and put his book aside, crawling over to lay next to Tav on his own bedroll.
"Is there something you want, my dear?" he asked sweetly.
"Can you drink from me while I’m awake?" they asked. He grinned even bigger, the candle light flickering in his glistening canines.
"It would be my pleasure, pet," he said. "Are you ready now?"
"Yeah," Tav said, tilting their head and baring their neck to Astarion. "Remember, you have to tell me if I taste different."
"Stop ruining the moment," the elf said playfully. He gave their neck a few quick kisses before biting down.
Tav was used to the sudden pain at this point. This had been a nightly occurrence for the last several tendays, coupled with the walk of shame to Shadowheart in the morning to beg her to cast Lesser Restoration on them. What Tav was not used to was how every time Astarion fed on them, the heat of arousal hit them like a Thunderwave. Mere seconds after the vampire had sunk his teeth into their carotid artery, Tav felt the dampness between their thighs, the gooseflesh on their spine, and the urge to beg Astarion to shove his knee between their legs as he had done one night early on. But they held their tongue and didn’t even cross their legs. Thank the gods for their monastic training or they would fall apart any time Astarion even gave them a passing glance.
As quick as he started, Astarion was finished, wiping his mouth on his hand. Tav didn’t know the exact mechanics of why they didn’t bleed out after Astarion was done drinking, but they weren’t about to question why they were still alive. They hummed contentedly and rolled over, intending on drifting off to sleep when Astarion asked, "Were you thinking about putting that collar on earlier?"
"Mmmm, what?" they said sleepily, the blood loss making them sluggish.
"The dog collar that you got from that grave," Astarion clarified. "Were you thinking about wearing it like a neckpiece?"
Tav rolled over and looked at him with heavy lids. "Yeah," they said, smiling dopily. "Thought it matched my eyes."
Astarion seemed to sit up a little straighter, his throat working as he swallowed several times in quick succession.
"Well," he said, drawing the word out to avoid having silence as he searched for other words. "If you were still considering it, I would not be opposed to, let’s say, take a tumble."
"Why are you being so coy," Tav asked, pretty sure the words weren’t too slurred to be understood. Their eyes were heavy, the words they wanted to impart to the man across from them floating around in a cloud of endorphins from whatever weird vampire biology caused them to get this sleepy after Astarion fed on them. "Would love to - yawn - have you leash me..."
Astarion said something that Tav didn’t catch, their tired body finally succumbing to the sleep it so desperately needed. They felt Astarion stroke their hair as they drifted off, muttering to themselves about how Astarion could do whatever he liked to them.
When they awoke, Tav's head throbbed in the way that reminded them that their bedfellow was a vampire. They rubbed their hand over the various puncture marks that were just starting to fade on their neck and contemplated going and begging Shadowheart for a Lesser Restoration to make the wooziness go away. She would tease them, but eventually relent. Tav decided to have coffee and whatever Gale was making for breakfast before they subjected themselves to even good natured ridicule. They sat up and looked around. Astarion was usually outside, basking in the sunlight while he had the opportunity, but today he was reading quietly next to them while he waited for them to wake up.
"Hey, you," they said quietly, gently putting a hand on his knee. He looked up from his book and smiled at them. Whenever that smile was turned on them, whether it was sarcastic or even the manipulative smirks he gave out so readily at the beginning of their dalliance, they couldn’t help but flush, their cheeks coloring purple.
"Good morning, beautiful," he said, reaching out to take a lock of Tav's hair in his fingers. "Did you sleep well?"
"Mmhmm," they said in affirmation. "How was your trance?"

"Gross, zhexezhebyr. You are gross."

"Gross, but not necessarily off the mark."

Riphi threw her hands into the air. "You so are, though! He does not like me, not even platonically."

Karlach sat on the arm of Riphi’s chair, the whole thing creaking dangerously under their combined weight. "I get the vibe that Astarion dislikes most people. But you don’t have to like someone to fuck them, y’know?"

"I am not losing my virginity to an eidz ydbr who treats me like a gnat that keeps flying in his face." Riphi hissed fiercely.

"Well damn, I didn’t know we were talking virginity!"

Gale walked in, caught the tail end of Karlach’s outburst, and walked right back out.

Their initial ransacking of the village only resulted in a couple healing potions and a half dozen bottles of wine, but Riphi was confident that they’d discover far more once they fully rid the area of goblins, and could go over everything with a fine-toothed comb.

The thought of a vampire lurking just beyond the firelight was enough for them to move their camp just outside the Grove, as if a couple extra torches would deter a child of the night.

Riphi was blowing out the last of her candles when Astarion appeared soundlessly at the lip of her tent, all sly looks and playful grins and a "hello, dearest’ that was quickly becoming painfully familiar to her ears.

"Heading out for your watch?" She asked absently, busying her hands and avoiding his eye.

"Indeed. But I wanted to talk to you before I departed."

She sighed, gusty. "What can I do you for, erybbah pil?"

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I’ve been thinking about your little speech last night. About turning a new leaf, the right foot, something something starting over–"

"Okay, asshole–"

"–And I think it is what’s best, as you said. Mutually beneficial. You defend me so fiercely from the others, clearly you have some sort of innate trust in me already. I should build on that. It would be foolish not to."

"You’ll come to trust me as well, I’m assuming?" She said slowly, arms crossed tightly against her chest.

His smile was soft, but something in his eyes closed off completely, going distant and cold. "I’m sure that I will."

Gods, she was so over the Master of Mixed Signals over here. She could only take so much in one day. "Fine. Great. Good night, Astarion. I’ll see you in the morning."

The elf’s eyebrows raised, then lowered. He seemed – not flustered, exactly, but knocked off balance. "This was what you wanted, is it not? I was sure you’d be pleased."

"It is, and I am."

He chuckled, but it rang hollow. "Do you think me a fool? You won’t even smile for me, my dear."

She stepped away from him, dropping any pretense. "Do you think me a fool? Look. You don’t like me, and that’s fine, but I’d prefer if you were up front about it and didn’t try to hide behind-behind flowery prose. I don't know what you actually want from me, and you should think about it some more, because I don’t think you do, either. Pretending we’re friends isn’t what’s best, and you know that. That’s not a solid foundation for trust. It’s not a foundation at all."

His false smile slipped off of his face, replaced by cool indifference. "So what, then? What do you suggest?"

"Well gee, Astarion, I don’t know, how about we actually get to know each other? Would that kill you, or something? I think I could grow to like you quite a bit, but I’m not gonna do... whatever this is with you to get to that point. This song and dance."

Astarion blinked slowly, a million unreadable thoughts dancing in his eyes. "Hm. As you wish. We’ll have tea parties and braid each other’s hair–"

Riphi’s voice rose over his. "Okay, get out, you self-important, insufferable, insincere windbag. I don’t even want to look at you right now. Get out, right now. Go."

He scoffed, sneering, but turned on his heel and walked away fast enough to leave a slight breeze in his wake. Inexplicably, Riphi’s eyes filled with tears.

She sniffled pathetically, and Wyll was at her side in an instant, whispering meaningless little assurances about Astarion being an obtuse asshole and rubbing soothing circles into her back. His tent was across the clearing. How loud must their argument have gotten, for him to have heard?

Shadowheart lingered near the entrance, looking pensive. Riphi pressed her wet cheek to Wyll’s shoulder, taking in deep, shuddering breaths. Wyll was a good man – no, a great man. Why couldn’t this strange, inexplicable attraction of hers be aimed at him? It was just like her to pick the worst apple of the bunch. Even Lae’zel spoke to her with more respect.

"It’ll be okay." Wyll murmured, pressing a handkerchief into her hands. She couldn’t help but notice how similar the fabric was to the lace at Astarion’s collar.

"Should we really be desecrating a grave?" Shadowheart asked, one eyebrow raised.

Astarion scoffed. "Like you cared when it was the Selunite graves a few days ago. Why is this one any different?"

"Peace, you two," Tav said, driving their shovel into the ground again. "I just want to take a look."

"T’chk!" Lae’zel said. "If they wish to get their hands dirty digging up a lone grave, what is it to you?"

"That’s exactly what I’m saying!" Astarion said. "I knew I liked you, Lae’zel."

"And you are a good shield when running into battle before everyone else, Astarion," Lae’zel said. Astarion looked at Shadowheart and rolled his eyes.

"Don’t look at me, you sided with her," Shadowheart said tersely. "If you all get haunted, I’m not casting Remove Curse on you."

"Oh, they’ll haunt you, too, darling," Astarion said. "You’re standing idly by while our dear friend and leader rushes headlong into this wonderfully horrid idea."

"Fine, I’ll leave then," Shadowheart said, sniffing. "Have fun getting cursed."

"Fuck," Tav swore, pushing their shovel into the ground and turning. "If you three can’t get along, all three of you can go back to camp."

"Oh, darling," Astarion said in the tone of voice that he used when he wanted something. "You’re not pulling the old "If you children don’t stop arguing I’m turning this carriage around’ are you?"

The elf deepened his voice in a tone mocking a stereotypical father figure. Tav snorted. "Yes, I am. Shadowheart, if you really are uncomfortable, feel free to go back to camp. I just have a really good feeling about this for some reason."

"The headstone has dates that span twelve years," Lae’zel observed. "So you are either digging up a child or an animal."

"Oh, good," Shadowheart said. "I’ll stay, but if this turns out to be a child, you’re praying with me later, Tav."

"Fine, fine," Tav said dismissively as they turned back to the hole in the ground. They picked up the shovel, but turned around to face Shadowheart again. "Wait, why would Shar care about this?"

Shadowheart opened her mouth to speak, but instead spit out a curse as the wound on her hand flared purple. Tav looked at her sadly and nodded, turning back to shovel more dirt out of the hole.

Mere moments later, the shovel made a distinct clanging noise as Tav hit an object interred in the grave. They discarded the shovel and dropped to their knees, digging through the dirt with their hands until they found their prize. In the dirt sat pieces of what was clearly a large dog skeleton, a large leather collar tangled in the cervical vertebrae and clavicle bones of the long dead animal.

"Who would bury an animal? Would they not have killed it to eat?" Lae’zel asked, a rare look of puzzlement on her face.

"Lae’zel, we literally have a dog," Astarion said, annoyed. "I saw you throwing the ball for Scratch just last tenday."

"Yes, we were training for him retrieving prey or the spoils of battle," Lae’zel shot back. "I do not know why that is so hard to understand, Astarion."

"Oh my gods," the elf said, exasperated. "Suffice it to say that some people bury their dogs when the dog dies. I never understood it, but here we are."

While their companions were bickering, Tav had picked up the collar and was turning it over in their hands, reviewing the arcane runes that were traced into the pendant alongside a name: Myrna. This was clearly a magical item, but Tav had never been very good at diagnosing what kind of magic was attached to an item or if it would kill them or not, so they tucked it into their pack to show Gale later.

Later came sooner than they thought. After Astarion was almost gored and thrown off a cliff by a hook horror, Tav decided that it was high time for everyone to go back to camp and sleep. When the beleaguered band walked into the camp, Karlach and Wyll looked up in horror from where they had been sparring at the bloodsoaked party.

"Oh my gods, what happened to you?" Karlach asked, deftly dodging a blow from Wyll and jogging over to survey everyone. "Come on, everyone come sit down, Mama K’s gonna make you all dinner."

"I’ll take a rain check," Astarion said wryly, which earned him a jab in the ribs from Tav."Oh, my dear, you’ve killed me! After the ordeal we had today, now this! Struck down by my own paramore."

"Knock it off, Astarion," Wyll said, offering a hand to take the elf’s pack. "She’s being nice."

Karlach grinned and leaned in close to Tav, "I’ll use lots of spinach so that you don’t get too woozy from your nightly activities."

Tav rolled their eyes. "Okay, okay, yes, everyone knows I’m sleeping with the vampire. What does spinach have anything to do with it?"

Shadowheart walked up and smiled brightly at Karlach before turning to Tav, her armor somehow already cast aside. It took Tav an entire hour just to undo one wrist wrap. Shadowheart said, "Spinach has a lot of iron. It’s good for blood replenishment. Is that how that works for tieflings, Karlach?"

"I "unno," Karlach said, her arms already full of vegetables and cuts of meat. "I bleed red like the rest of you. So do they."

The other tiefling shrugged and tossed their pack on the ground as Karlach and Shadowheart wandered over to the fire to make dinner. It bounced once, spilling the top layer of contents onto the ground. Amongst the books, scrolls, knives, and candles, the dog collar from earlier spilled out onto the ground. Tav picked it up and looked at it, walking over to the mirror and holding it up to their neck.

"Hmm," they said aloud to no one in particular. "It matches my eye makeup."

"Do not tell me that you’re going to put that thing around your neck without at least letting me have a look at it first," Gale’s voice called out from across camp.

"Are you going to eat it?" Tav shouted back.

"Very funny, but you and I both know that my condition could rear its ugly head again at any moment! Best not to joke about these things, lest you invite them in," the wizard responded with his usual verbosity. There was a rustle and some footsteps before Gale slid into view in the mirror beside Tav. "Besides, won’t take but a moment!"

Tav handed the collar over, watching as Gale’s eyes flared white as he read the history of the item with his magic. He smiled, his eyes fading as he handed the item back.

"It’s not cursed," he said. "Though I couldn’t say for sure what it does. It’s enchanted to conjure something upon activation, but the locus of activation seems to be external."

"Sooooooo," Tav said slowly, "You don’t know what it does or what activates it? But you know it’s not cursed?"

"Precisely!" Gale said cheerily. "Well, now that that’s settled, back to my book. The king of the necromancers has just killed a herd of rothe to create a shield to keep out an encroaching army. Did you know that rothe watch sunsets?"

"I," Tav started, looking at Gale strangely. "No, Gale, no I did not."

"Well, if I learn any more rothe facts, I’ll be sure to let you know," he said, smiling and dipping his head before wandering back over to his tent.

"What the fuck," Tav said under their breath as they walked back to the campfire to join the others, slipping the collar into their belt pouch. Karlach was pacing around the stew pot impatiently as Wyll and Shadowheart played a game of dice. As usual, Astarion was lounging in his tent, Gale had gone back to reading, and Lae’zel was sharpening her sword. Tav wandered over to Astarion’s tent and sat down next to the elf, raising their eyebrows at him.

"Yes, darling?" he asked, big red eyes looking up at them and causing Tav's heart to skip a beat. "What can I do for you?"

"Just wanted to be near you," they said, starting to pick at one of their wrist wraps. "Karlach says I need more iron in my blood. In your professional opinion, what do you think?"

"Hmm," Astarion hummed, drawing out the sound longer than it needed to be. "Well, you know, I don’t quite remember... If I had-"

"Yes, yes, you can have a taste now," Tav said, rolling their eyes and holding their partially unwrapped wrist out to the vampire. He smiled and looked at them through hooded lashes before pricking their wrist with the merest brush of his fangs. He let the blood pool and run down their wrist a ways before he slowly ran his tongue over the trail, bright red against dusty blue skin.

"Mmmm," he moaned ostentatiously, clearly putting on a show for Tav. They rolled their eyes, but still found themselves shuddering and pressing their legs together to try to do something to relieve the heat that was starting to build in their belly. "You’re just as delicious as ever, darling."

"Okay, well, tell me in the morning if I taste better than usual," Tav said, pulling the wrap back over the new wound. They could take off their wrist bindings after dinner.

Dinner came and went, delicious as usual when it was Karlach cooking. Somehow she always seemed to turn their meager ingredients into something absolutely decadent that Tav thought they couldn’t have even gotten at the Elfsong back home in Baldur’s Gate. In another life, Karlach could have been a professional chef.

After eating and finally shedding their vestments, Tav padded over to Astarion’s tent with their bed roll, quietly laying out the padded blanket and grabbing a pillow from Astarion’s things that wasn’t covered in owlbear fluff. They laid down, minding their horns on the pillow and turned, looking over at their beautiful... well they couldn’t call him their partner, not yet. He was clearly still playing them, but every now and again, Tav saw him looking at them a little longer than he had before or watched him jog to keep in step with their fast pace while traveling. They were content to wait and enjoy the attention. It might end up getting their heart broken, but if they were going to turn into a gross brain squid in a few days, who cared about that?

Astarion looked up when he felt someone watching him, his red eyes almost glowing in the candle light. He smiled coyly and put his book aside, crawling over to lay next to Tav on his own bedroll.

"Is there something you want, my dear?" he asked sweetly.

"Can you drink from me while I’m awake?" they asked. He grinned even bigger, the candle light flickering in his glistening canines.

"It would be my pleasure, pet," he said. "Are you ready now?"

"Yeah," Tav said, tilting their head and baring their neck to Astarion. "Remember, you have to tell me if I taste different."

"Stop ruining the moment," the elf said playfully. He gave their neck a few quick kisses before biting down.

Tav was used to the sudden pain at this point. This had been a nightly occurrence for the last several tendays, coupled with the walk of shame to Shadowheart in the morning to beg her to cast Lesser Restoration on them. What Tav was not used to was how every time Astarion fed on them, the heat of arousal hit them like a Thunderwave. Mere seconds after the vampire had sunk his teeth into their carotid artery, Tav felt the dampness between their thighs, the gooseflesh on their spine, and the urge to beg Astarion to shove his knee between their legs as he had done one night early on. But they held their tongue and didn’t even cross their legs. Thank the gods for their monastic training or they would fall apart any time Astarion even gave them a passing glance.

As quick as he started, Astarion was finished, wiping his mouth on his hand. Tav didn’t know the exact mechanics of why they didn’t bleed out after Astarion was done drinking, but they weren’t about to question why they were still alive. They hummed contentedly and rolled over, intending on drifting off to sleep when Astarion asked, "Were you thinking about putting that collar on earlier?"

"Mmmm, what?" they said sleepily, the blood loss making them sluggish.

"The dog collar that you got from that grave," Astarion clarified. "Were you thinking about wearing it like a neckpiece?"

Tav rolled over and looked at him with heavy lids. "Yeah," they said, smiling dopily. "Thought it matched my eyes."

Astarion seemed to sit up a little straighter, his throat working as he swallowed several times in quick succession.

"Well," he said, drawing the word out to avoid having silence as he searched for other words. "If you were still considering it, I would not be opposed to, let’s say, take a tumble."

"Why are you being so coy," Tav asked, pretty sure the words weren’t too slurred to be understood. Their eyes were heavy, the words they wanted to impart to the man across from them floating around in a cloud of endorphins from whatever weird vampire biology caused them to get this sleepy after Astarion fed on them. "Would love to - yawn - have you leash me..."

Astarion said something that Tav didn’t catch, their tired body finally succumbing to the sleep it so desperately needed. They felt Astarion stroke their hair as they drifted off, muttering to themselves about how Astarion could do whatever he liked to them.

When they awoke, Tav's head throbbed in the way that reminded them that their bedfellow was a vampire. They rubbed their hand over the various puncture marks that were just starting to fade on their neck and contemplated going and begging Shadowheart for a Lesser Restoration to make the wooziness go away. She would tease them, but eventually relent. Tav decided to have coffee and whatever Gale was making for breakfast before they subjected themselves to even good natured ridicule. They sat up and looked around. Astarion was usually outside, basking in the sunlight while he had the opportunity, but today he was reading quietly next to them while he waited for them to wake up.

"Hey, you," they said quietly, gently putting a hand on his knee. He looked up from his book and smiled at them. Whenever that smile was turned on them, whether it was sarcastic or even the manipulative smirks he gave out so readily at the beginning of their dalliance, they couldn’t help but flush, their cheeks coloring purple.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said, reaching out to take a lock of Tav's hair in his fingers. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mmhmm," they said in affirmation. "How was your trance?"