[Astarion is slow again. Pen to paper. Pen off paper— touched, and yet incapable of showing it given the medium itself. Wanting to regardless, and yet not foolish enough to go interrupting the whole of their communication just to call or go rushing home as done in the past.
He loves him.
That's enough.]
Not forced, per se. [Though much like any choice along those lines, perhaps free will is....] I was good at playing the part, and I enjoyed the idea of
[what]
usefulness, I suppose? I was a stupidly naive thing back then.
[Another way to prove his worth in a world where he had nothing. No one.]
But my fangs and eyes were boon enough, I suspect. Aside from the connections to my Altus, simply loitering nearby seemed to make for a pleasant show of prestige. Nothing like Rialto. Yet I saw him often, and of course made a habit of fawning over his every business venture, mostly to note what product he was moving and when. Occasionally attempting to convince him to show favor to certain political parties, whilst keeping Venatori aligned agents at bay.
I won't say I was always successful, but courting thorns to keep them from Corypheus' rot no doubt had its impact on the war at large.
Costing only the lives and sanity of those he tortured and sold off at leisure, naturally. Nothing of value lost.
[He wonders how that's going. Probably not well, given the infighting. The mismanagement. The state of Thedas as a whole.
no subject
He loves him.
That's enough.]
Not forced, per se. [Though much like any choice along those lines, perhaps free will is....] I was good at playing the part, and I enjoyed the idea of
[what]
usefulness, I suppose? I was a stupidly naive thing back then.
[Another way to prove his worth in a world where he had nothing. No one.]
But my fangs and eyes were boon enough, I suspect. Aside from the connections to my Altus, simply loitering nearby seemed to make for a pleasant show of prestige. Nothing like Rialto. Yet I saw him often, and of course made a habit of fawning over his every business venture, mostly to note what product he was moving and when. Occasionally attempting to convince him to show favor to certain political parties, whilst keeping Venatori aligned agents at bay.
I won't say I was always successful, but courting thorns to keep them from Corypheus' rot no doubt had its impact on the war at large.
Costing only the lives and sanity of those he tortured and sold off at leisure, naturally. Nothing of value lost.
[He wonders how that's going. Probably not well, given the infighting. The mismanagement. The state of Thedas as a whole.
But really, who can say?]