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Gale stood hunched over his makeshift alchemy station, carefully stirring a bubbling concoction that reeked of moss and candle smoke mixed with something unpleasantly bitter. Various ingredients lay scattered across the table, fresh, dried, and oozing, each more obscure than the last. His voice rambled on at a low murmur to no one in particular, as to be expected from the party's resident wizard.
"A little bit of this… then the essence of—ah, no, not that one." Gale sighed and ran a hand through his already tousled hair, wholly focused on the task at hand. "It's meant to be a Potion of See Invisibility, not something that turns one's skin puce. Come on, Gale, you know better than that."
On the other side of the table stood Astarion, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed while watching the process with mild amusement. He was quite accustomed to Gale's eccentricities, and he usually wouldn't bother supervising while the man tested and brewed whatever strange elixirs struck his fancy, but tonight? Tonight, Gale had promised something actually useful—a potion that would allow him to see invisible enemies, a priceless tool for a rogue like him.
"Well, darling," Astarion drawled, glancing at the mess foaming in Gale's cauldron. "I do hope this potion works better than your last experiment. While that little 'Potion of Increased Perception' technically worked, none of us could look Shadowheart in the face for hours. Without laughing, at least."
"I assure you, I had no idea that my Beholder's Oil had gone rancid," Gale muttered, a flush creeping up his neck and coloring his cheeks at the reminder of his inadvertent failure. His talent with the Weave did not, unfortunately, bleed into innate alchemical ability. Still, he'd been trying to make up for his lack of knowledge through brute force and sheer stubbornness since escaping the nautiloid. Anything to give them a leg up in the struggles to come. "At least it only gave her one extra eye."
"Yes, right in the center of her forehead." Astarion flashed the wizard a wide, fanged grin and leaned closer to the table. "It was glorious."
They both know that Astarion's words were one of many tools the vampire used to mask what's really going on inside of his pretty head. There's often more left unsaid in the background– tucked carefully away after a lifetime of clawing for his very survival. Astarion might appear bored, and his words might seem mocking, but he's also keeping Gale company when he could be elsewhere doing any number of things.
In moments like this, the wizard can't help but compare him to a semi-feral cat: fearful and dangerous, yet creeping closer in search of affection despite it all.
Huffing in something akin to fond exasperation as his mind conjured the image of a tiny hissing kitten with Astarion's eyes, Gale shook his head and pulled his attention back to his project. "This one will work, I'm sure of it. It's just a matter of... skill. And precision. Then you'll all be thanking me for making such a valuable contribution to the group."
With a flourish, he added a final drop of some clear, viscous fluid to the cauldron. The potion fizzed and frothed, turning an unsettling shade of fuchsia before it began to boil over. Gale's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Before either of them could react, the potion hit the brazier's glowing coals and exploded in a flash of sparkling, radiant light. Gale cursed as the bright light momentarily filled the space around them with a blinding glow before settling into a soft, twinkling sparkle that hung in the air like a thousand fireflies.
"What the hell was that?" Astarion snarled, as if Gale could possibly see enough to tell what he was talking about.
Moments passed, and the overwhelming luminosity that had temporarily overwhelmed his sight finally began to fade. Blinking his stinging, watery eyes, Gale found himself squinting down at the cauldron that had once held his carefully concocted elixir, horrified to find it tipped on its side and nearly empty while motes of light continued drifting lazily in the air.
"Well, that wasn't supposed to happen," Gale admitted, his voice strained. He had no idea what had gone wrong this time. "What in the hells–?"
Then he looked up at Astarion, and promptly froze in shock.
Astarion's skin—his flawless, pale skin—now glittered like a thousand tiny stars had been embedded into his very pores. Every light caught on him, from the miniature alchemical brazier to Gale's conjured candles to the moon's glow filtering down from the sky. With every movement, the vampire's skin shimmered brightly, as though he were a creature composed of pure magic.
Rather than create a Potion of See Invisibility, the wizard seemed to have turned his lover into a walking disco ball.
"Oh, this is just perfect. I may seem like I always want to be the center of attention, but this is over the fucking top." Astarion scowled at Gale, brow furrowed and voice dripping with sarcasm, though it was hard to take his ire seriously as he fluttered his shiny hands around. His skin sparkled in every direction, reflecting the light in a way that made him seem less like a feared creature of the night and more like an eccentric showgirl from a forgotten circus. "Do you have any idea how impossible it will be for me to do anything vaguely rogue-like in this state?"
The wizard wilted, unable to look the other man in the eye. "I—I didn't mean for this to happen, Astarion! I must have made a minor miscalculation with the formula, but it should fade within an hour or two. Hopefully. You'll be fine!"
Astarion raised a pale eyebrow, his eyes glinting with the reflected light of the brazier. And the rest of him, honestly. "Minor, you say? What happens if it doesn't? How am I supposed to walk around without attracting every inquisitive or predatory gaze in a ten-mile radius? I have the subtlety of a comet!"
Gods above and below, what a mess. Gale's shoulders slumped as he took a step closer, trying to apologize again. "I am sorry, love. I was sure I had the recipe figured out."
Hands stained with oil and ink brushed soothingly over the vampire's bare forearms. As his fingers lightly skimmed the surface of Astarion's skin, each touch made the glitter seem to dance and shimmer even more intensely. Gale couldn't help but admire the beauty of it. "But now, well... maybe we can use it to our advantage? Think of it—your newfound radiance could light up the darkest dungeons. You're a beacon of power and beauty."
"Don't you dare try to flatter me after that ridiculous blunder of yours, Wizard ," Astarion scoffed, though his words held very little heat. He crossed his arms over his chest, every movement making his skin catch the light like a glittering beacon. "I wouldn't even make it to a dungeon in this state. I'm more likely to be abducted by enraptured villagers who think I'm some sort of celestial being come to bless them with... fashion advice."
Gale couldn't bite back the snicker that such a mental picture brought to his lips. "May the gods deliver us from such a tragic fate." His hands came to rest on the elf's narrow hips, giving them a gentle squeeze as he leaned in to bump their noses together. "I'll make it up to you, Astarion. I swear it."
His lover's expression finally softened, and Gale nearly breathed a sigh of relief. "You'd better," Astarion replied. "Because as much as I might appreciate the glitter of gold and jewels, vampires are not supposed to sparkle."
"No, I suppose not." Gale couldn't help but laugh despite himself and the absurdity of the situation. It really was a ridiculous notion. "Though I must say, if anyone could pull off the whole 'celestial glitter bomb' look, it's you."
"Hush, you menace." Something about Astarion's gaze seemed to darken after another moment spent in thought, his pale lashes drooping. "Darling?"
"Hmm?"
Reaching for the collar of his shirt, Astarion pulled it back just enough to expose a sliver of his gleaming chest to view. With his hips cocking, lips parting, and a fall of near-perfect silver hair curling around his sharp cheeks, the vampire struck a playful pose that left no question as to his intentions. "Do you think that little potion of yours affected my entire body?"
"I… I have no idea." Oh dear. Gale could feel his eyes glaze over as his mind immediately started racing through the possibilities. "Perhaps it would be prudent to conduct a, ah, thorough examination? Just to fully assess the results? For the sake of my research notes and future experiments, of course."
"Of course. I expect nothing less than a proper inspection after what you've done to me," Astarion purred, his voice silky smooth and full of promise. The elf turned slowly and cast Gale a sultry look over his shoulder, as if daring him to imagine the length of his lean form bare and shimmering. "I'll be in your tent. Don't keep me waiting."
"By the gods," Gale muttered under his breath, only sparing the mess on his alchemy table a cursory glance before spinning on his heel to hurry after the other man, purple robes billowing behind him.
He couldn't remember the last time he wanted to face the consequences of a failed experiment quite as badly as he did right now.