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Tav was always liable to keep everything. Loot, food, money, it all stayed on their person. It was a common complaint the others traveling with them had to make about their de facto leader. ‘Why do they need to carry a greatsword? They aren’t even proficient with it.’ often ran through the heads of those who could wield them. ‘What's with all these scrolls of spells they already know?’ was the particular annoyed sentiment Gale muttered under his breath when he caught a peek into their overstuffed bag. Half of these spells would find greater use in his hands, but after how asking for magical artifacts played out with Tav, Gale feared even standing at least 3 feet near their pack. A funny thought came to his head about them maybe being half-dragon, but it was a joke best saved for when he could talk with anyone else away from Tavs ears.
If any one person in their traveling troupe was more annoyed by Tav’s hoarding than the others, it was certainly Astarion. He’d considered stealing some of the more expensive items from their pack on several occasions; especially when he realized Tav never planned on using most of them. The only thing stopping him at this point was the fact Tav might actually drive a stake through his heart. Still, the thought crossed his mind several times. It wasn’t like he was the only one thinking they were just being a hoarder. Karlach and Lae’zel had complained on myriad occasions about their keeping weapons they couldn’t even use on their person. He didn’t necessarily share that sentiment, but he knew someone he did agree with; Gale.
“Gale, darling, you look vexed.” He smiled easily as he sauntered over to the wizard. Gale tried his best to keep a pleasant expression on his face, but Astarion could see right through it sometimes. He could reign in his face, but not his eyes. “What’s troubling you, my dear wizard?”
Gale pulled his lips into a thin line hearing Astarions words. His eyes quickly scanned just how far in front of them Tav pulled the group along, and calculated the volume at which to use his words.
“Ah, I’m just contemplating how much the Draconic bloodline affects the Sorcerers who wield its benefits. Obviously, it affects their use of the weave to a certain extent, but…” He leaned his head closer to where Astarion was listening, a smirk threatening to break through his calculating facade. “... Our friend here is giving me reason to hypothesize it goes beyond just the magical benefits. There may just be slight effects on the personality of the individual who has the blood of dragons in their veins.”
Astarion raised his eyebrows in a way that expressed confusion. Of course, Gale never had a simple answer to give regarding his thoughts.
Gale repressed an exasperated sigh as he remembered that not everyone was as well-read and knowledgeable as he was. Patience was needed; he wasn’t back at Blackstaff, after all. “Dragons are, historically, known for their hoarding of objects they deem special. Much like how our brave and fearless leader seems to find every object they come across to be important.”
“Ah,” Astarion nodded as his eyes shifted towards said leader for a moment, “well… yes, I suppose they are more dragon-like than we thought. I truly don’t understand why they need to keep everything we come across. Surely they could part with a few things? I know we’re not the only ones to think that, either.”
Gale nodded slowly and leaned back again to give Astarion his space. “The last time I saw their pack open, I counted no less than four scrolls of Sleep. Which, I will remind you, they already know.” They had picked them up with the excuse of ‘I could use them as a free casting’, but then shoved them into the pack alongside the other scrolls they never used. “Absolutely infuriating.”
“I think you may be the only wizard in all of Faerun to find hoarding scrolls to be infuriating.” Astarion snickered and waved his hand playfully at the look he got from his companion.
“ I could not have been the wizard of well-renown I am today if my teachers hoarded all their knowledge to themselves. Magic is to be shared, not hoarded.” Gale spoke in defense of his opinion. Astarion gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Well, if anything, I’m just glad I’m not the only one who has been…bothered by these behaviors of our beloved leader.”
An elvish grin came across his face as he looked at Gale with eyes that suggested a plot was brewing “I have half a mind to do something about it myself”.
Gale quizzically looked back at him. “Speaking from experience, I wouldn't touch that bag with a ten-foot pole if I were you.” He crossed his arms in a defensive manner, preparing himself against whatever Astarion planned to rope him into. Astarion only threw up his hands in innocence.
“Oh, heavens no darling. I don’t have a death wish.” He looked ahead to where Tav was idly chatting to Shadowheart, oblivious to the plot being schemed right behind them. Keeping his tone of feigned innocence, he looked back to Gale. “I was just thinking there must be something that any amount of us could think to do about it. Tav is, after all, just one body, compared to the rest of us.” Astarion gestured around himself to other companions. Ones he knew were also fed up with the behavior. Ones he knew he could have on his side.
Gale narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to be uncharitable, but he had a feeling he knew where Astarion was going with this. “I hope you aren’t suggesting we kill Tav to end this hoarding problem, because if you are there will be an entirely new one to replace it.”
“Why would you think that?” Astarion rolled his eyes. It hadn’t been out of the question, of course, but he knew Gale wouldn’t agree to it unless he worked his way through other options first. “No, I wouldn’t go there immediately.”
“So where are you going with this, then?” Gale sighed. “Are you suggesting we rally the others to us and confront them as a group?” It wasn’t the worst idea… and with all six of them, it might just work. Still, Tav was… domineering. It was risky to even attempt.
“Why shouldn’t we?” Astarion spread his arms wide and looked around them at the rest of their troupe. “Just because Tav is our leader by default doesn’t mean they’re a god , Gale. At worst, we risk them leaving our little party and dying on their own in the wild.”
“No,” Gale corrected, “at worst , we risk them siding with The Absolute and becoming an even worse thorn in our side. That’s not to say I’m against confronting them as a group, but we would have to convince the others of it.”
Astarion grinned again. “Say no more, darling. Excepting perhaps Lae’zel, I can convince almost anyone to do anything.”
It was Gale's turn to have a cheeky look cross his face. “Almost anyone? Should I hold you to that notion? Would keep me out of a generous credit in this plot if it fails anyway.” If there was anything he knew both he and Astarion cherished the most, it was one’s own pride. Astarion only scoffed at Gales bluff “I’m not falling for that, you know. If we do want to make this a game however, then perhaps a race would fit nicely.” He returned the mischievous look he put on before, sizing up against Gale.
“And I would presume that this ‘race’ would be an evenly split rush to see who manages to convince their targets first, hmm?” Gale repaid the sass back to Astarion.
“Precisely, darling. Given your own boasts of verbal skill, ‘twould be no challenge for you I would assume. Or have I misjudged…?”
Astarion spotted a twitch to Gales' steely gaze upon him. It was too easy.
“I believe we have ourselves an agreement, Astarion. Besides, It would give this old mage an opportunity to ‘brush up’ on his persuasion proficiencies.” Gale feigned nonchalance, inspecting the sculpt of his own hands. “I do believe however that we should take into consideration whom we already hold a friendly bias with.”
Astarion was right on the exception with Lae’zel after all. As far as Gale knew, He and Tav were the only ones who knew how to keep a conversation with her, minus the long winded arguments with Shadowheart.
“Of course, darling.” Astarion waved his hand dismissively. “So why don’t you handle Wyll and Lae’zel, and I’ll convince our wonderful tiefling and cleric?” It was easier for him to talk to Shadowheart, anyway. They agreed on a surprising amount of things.
Gale nodded and glanced over to where Wyll was listening to Karlach regale him with a story he’d probably heard a few times. “Very well. I say we wait until we make camp for the night before trying to broach the subject. It wouldn’t be fair of me to get a head start because Shadowheart is currently engaged in conversation with Tav, after all.”
“How generous of you,” Astarion snorted, “not to take the advantage you’ve been given. I would not have done the same thing.”
“Of course you wouldn’t!” Gale played up an exasperated groan, but his tone was playful. “You like to take advantage of any leg up you can get. But since this is an agreement, and I am part of it, I want to level the playing field. You may still end up losing, but at least this way it won’t be unfair.”
“Ugh, you really are no fun.” Astarion sighed dramatically. Still, it was kind of nice to know Gale wanted to make sure they had equal footing. It was a small gesture, but it meant something. “Very well, we will wait until Tav deigns to let us rest for the evening. Don’t disappoint me, darling; especially after talking such a big game!”
Gale’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he grinned over to him. “I should say the same thing to you. Once we make camp, let the game begin.”
Astarion could only give a hearty “Ha!” in response. In reality, he should have thanked Gale for making their playing field level. Once he achieves his victory against the self-applauding man, It will make said victory all the sweeter.
~ —--------- ~
Astarion could not help but seethe quietly as he eyed Gale contentedly walking back to his tent after a successful conversation with Wyll. Here he was, stuck in a loop with Karlach about the consideration of how Tav would feel threatened to have 6 of them come onto them suddenly. He thought he could emphasize how peer pressure was often a very successful strategy in convincing someone to do something that they were very unlikely to consider in the first place, but that seemed to only further push her away. He should have understood, of course, that Karlach was a woman who put heavy attention into tight bonds and honest feelings. Peer pressure was not something she would easily be amiable to.
Eventually, he gave up on starting with Karlach entirely. Clearly he would need to rethink his strategy with her, thoroughly, even as it put more stress of time wasted into his head.
Instead he took the opportunity to bow out of the conversation with Karlach when he could, promising that he would “get back to her” once he figured out something better.
Shadowheart on the other hand, she was bound to find some value in peer pressure, right? She was devout to a god who was all about deceit and betrayal after all. He almost cursed himself for having wasted time with the harder target first.
He cursed The lady of Luck even more when the conversation was taking turns he was not liking, or expecting, at all. Damn it, out of all the companions he chose to convince, he had to take the one who had fostered the closest feelings for Tav.
Shadowheart only argued back that this could be a conversation only she could possibly take on with Tav at first, repeating Karlach’s tired argument of the dangers of suddenly cornering someone. Astarion felt like pulling his hair out.
Gale, on the other hand, had had quite the pleasant conversation with Wyll. He approached it with the knowledge that Wyll had a strict code of ethics he adhered to and used that to his advantage. Of course, it was helpful that Wyll could be quite agreeable when approached properly, and Gale knew exactly how frustrated the Blade of Frontiers was by Tav’s behavior.
He’d made a quick return to his tent after that to drop off the bottle of wine he’d taken with him before going to speak with Lae’zel. He could feel Astarion’s frustrated glare on his back as he entered the tent and offered a sympathetic smile on his way out of it. He almost felt bad for having such an easy time with Wyll while Astarion struggled with Karlach, but a game was a game, and he had to play by the rules.
Lae’zel was, all things considered, surprisingly easy to convince. Once Gale mentioned the topic at hand, she had practically jumped at the opportunity to finally voice her opinion on exactly what Tav was doing. It was like she had been waiting for this opportunity to come to her, and just wanted to have more people on her side before bringing it up for once.
His mission now complete, Gale set about preparing the food for the morning’s meal and salting the meat Lae’zel had hunted after dinner. Astarion was taking a lot longer than he’d expected, but he knew better than to offer to help him lest he bruise the vampire’s pride. They were just starting to get closer, too. He didn’t want to risk it.
Finally, finally, Astarion managed to pull enough out of his ass that Shadowheart reluctantly agreed. He found himself so focused at his task at hand that he forgot about whatever progress his opponent may have made at that time. He scanned his eyes over camp to see Gale, humming to himself as he was preparing the meals for tomorrow.
Astarion let out an almost amused-sigh at the sight. Now? Now was the time Gale decided to do his little chores? Astarion wanted to read it as Gale being careless and having himself as the far-superior one who took this seriously, but another ugly idea reared to the front of his head that almost made him gasp out loud at the audacity.
A taunt perhaps? Showing off how he could take time to focus on other things and still come out a winner? Astarion only chuckled darkly to himself. “When I win”, he thought to himself, “I’m going to make that man humiliate himself in ways that would make even the paragon of tyranny himself blush”.
Such brief anger sparked something. Astarion had a faint memory return to him of just how hot Karlach burned next to him when Tav came across a lovely, rather powerful looking axe, and hadn’t even given a thought to handing it over to her. If there was one part of Karlach he knew universally appealed to her, it was anger.
Steeled with new resolve, he sauntered back to Karlachs side for the second round. Suddenly, the barrier that was there before him disappeared as he played up the emotions of anger and betrayal to Karlach, and immediately, he could see those fires steadily start to engulf her frame again. Sure, he himself held more of a general annoyance to the situation instead of anger, but putting on fake displays of emotion came to him like flying came to a bird. The agreement came to an end quicker than he had anticipated, and boy, was it delicious to be reminded of that hold he could have on other people's emotions.
Astarion sauntered over to where Gale was still preparing the meals for tomorrow, a proud grin on his face. Surely Gale would still be working to convince their other two companions, right? There was no way he’d already completed that task…
“Are you taking a break from your attempts to convince Lae’zel of our little plot there, darling?” He purred as he took a seat across from Gale and crossed his legs. “I thought you would put more effort into this.”
Gale chuckled softly and cast Prestidigitation to clean his hands of the sinew and blood from the boar meat he’d been preparing. “Oh, no, I was waiting for you to complete your tasks. Lae’zel was surprisingly easy to convince; though perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. She has been voicing her frustrations for at least the past three nights.”
Astarion’s eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment he forgot to control his facial expression. So Gale had finished before him, and was completing his chores for the evening because he was waiting? Not only that, but he was so casual about it, too.
“What, you’re not going to tell me you told me so?” He recovered less than smoothly and leaned forward with a practiced smile on his face as a mask to hide the immense amount of frustration he was feeling at being beaten so thoroughly. “You talked yourself up quite a bit before we set off on our little game, and now you’re telling me you’re surprised you had such an easy time?”
Gale finally looked up to him, those big brown eyes locking onto his own and his mouth curling up into a small smile. “I am surprised! Lae’zel can be quite difficult to convince to do things she would not normally think to do. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure I could convince Wyll, either; but I think his sense of justice won out against his willingness to let things stand.”
Astarion opened his mouth to retort, but the words caught in his throat and he closed it again. For having such an ego about everything, Gale was being very humble. Maybe it was a facade to make Astarion trust him more, but that didn’t seem like it was the case. Gale was a genuine person, even when it was to his detriment.
He cringed internally as his mind made one last ditch effort to distrust, to prove a point.
“You had already finished before I had even one success. Surely that must be …” His voice fell to a hushed whisper and he bore his eyes to the dirt at his feet as he mumbled those words, as even he could not trust his own intuition at this point. Gale only chuckled softly, and Astarion brought his eyes back up to Gales in a confused stare.
“Twas only a friendly game Astarion, a rousing exercise in the sport of companionship. You have your skills, and I have mine. Think nothing of it.”
Gale's voice was inordinately warm. Like a sip of hot chocolate, excessively sweet on the tongue. Astarion almost thought Karlach had slipped up behind him from just how much the warmth had seeped into his long-dead and cold heart.
And if said heart was still beating with life, he knew he would be blushing like a fool right now.
He cleared his throat to snap himself out the trance Gale had held him in. “Well, When you put it like that…. I guess that makes the loss a little less unbearable right now” He returned to a more genuine teasing tone. Maybe if Gale had been prideful, he would have feigned indifference to it, but since Gale was being sincere, a little vulnerability wouldn't hurt to give in return. Gale took that fragile piece, and caressed it soothingly in his hands.
“If I may, I did manage to overhear your recent conversation with Karlach, and I was quite impressed at that display of deception you pulled off”
Astarion felt that pride return to him a bit as he gave a giggle.
Gale was glad for the fact he was sat next to a fire that was warming his face as his cheeks heated up a bit watching Astarion preen under the praise.
“I pride myself on being an excellent liar.” Astarion smiled devilishly. “It’s a very useful skill to get what you want from others, you know.”
“I’m sure it is; though I have never been very good at lying myself.” Gale laughed and shook his head as he put the freshly salted meat into the crate beside him. “It’s impressive. And now that we have all of our companions on our side, we can confront Tav whenever we want.”
Astarion nodded and looked over to where Tav was preparing for bed. Gale continued speaking; “When we do decide to confront them, I think it would be prudent for only one of us to speak at a time; like a champion of sorts.” Maybe that way Tav wouldn’t be so angry? He could hope, at least. “I would do it myself, but I think they are still rather cross with me for requesting a few of the magical artifacts we’ve picked up.”
Astarion hummed at the reminder of Gale's odd condition. “Well, you were asking much from them with little explanation as to why. This is where a lie would have come in handy. If you were good at that of course” Astarion playfully rolled the backhanded remark off his tongue, and Gale only rolled his eyes with a dopey smile plastered across his face. “You are right, I should have consulted you for guidance before, how very ignorant of me.” He ribbed back, sarcasm bleeding into his tone. The two men fell right back into their comfortable space of light jabs and insulting jokes at each other, but there was no mean-spiritedness that usually accompanied it.
It was like bantering with an old friend.
When Gale later retired to his tent for the night, Astarion stayed out near the fire they had been sitting together with for hours.
The warmth of that fire felt familiar in Astarions chest. He found it hard letting go of it.
When the sun’s rays peaked into the next morning, Gale pulled himself out of bed and rubbed his eyes as he pushed aside the exit flap to his tent. When he opened his eyes, the fire was still lit, and Astarion had not moved an inch from it.