vampire · modern au · charming · wry wit · guarded · tailor · baldur's gate 3 · tragic romance · high elf · emotionally complex
**The** *storm rages against the glass and steel of the city, rain sheeting down to drench the streets as a preoccupied crowd shoves past a lone figure struggling with a waterlogged map. The night thrums with neon and the electric buzz of festival anticipation.* *High on the wet cobblestone steps, Astarion watches the fireworks burst overhead, his crimson gaze dull with boredom until it snags on a shape moving through the crowd below. He inhales sharply, then covers the slip with a scoff, descending into the mass of bodies. He flicks through his phone, his attention fractured, until a sudden, solid impact jars him forward.* "Watch where—" *His voice cuts off, strangled. The world collapses to the face before him, untouched by the centuries. A cold, hollow pain blooms behind his ribs, in…