shipping picture promts

[sarabi]

shipping picture prompts

o1. comment with your character and prefs in a top level. o2. reply to others, complete with pictures and gifs! o3. cook up something shippy from those inspirational ingredients.

link 'em: <a href=IMAGEURL>TEXT</a> embed 'em: <img src=IMAGEURL> shrink 'em: <img src=IMAGEURL width=500> OR <img src=IMAGEURL height=INSERT>

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[illithidnapped]

He doesn't shy from that touch as it settles; he knows Raine well enough by now that their presence doesn't serve as an intrusion, even in moments like this one—

Where what Astarion had expected only brings him immeasurable dissatisfaction.

He'd wanted— he doesn't know what he'd wanted. To look in the mirror and find something recognizable? Something beyond his own changed features, as though all the memories he'd lost might somehow be waiting for him? That isn't how it works, and he should've known that long before he held the glass up to peer so deeply into it.

But even so, this was a gift.

More than what he'd ever thought he'd know in the eternity left to him by Cazador. That long-cast shadow, eclipsing everything else.

"It's..." His start is slow, expression indecipherable as he tips his chin lower— then to one side— as though trying to process what's there before him.

In the end, he only offers the truth.

"Not what I expected."

[catarmy]

Raine's expression sobers slightly, the truth of the moment settling in for them as well - after ages of not being able to see something, surely that does make the memory of that shape wane.

It is, however, an absolutely intimate moment that Astarion is letting them see, and they can appreciate the trust that allows them to linger in such a moment as this. It may also be more than this - Raine isn't in Astarion's boots, after all.

...Maybe it's not entirely comparable, to briefly think of how Astarion so openly accepted their own... different looks, and how-- well, it's not acceptance on another he's looking for. But clearly they both had some sort of romanticized hope that he'd see himself and recognize something. Instead, he looks at himself, not as someone who preens and knows their own face, but that of seeing himself for the first time, in a way.

Raine takes a moment to respond, to try to think of better words. Smarter ones. Ones that don't instill a sense of baseless, sentimental hope, but something real that he can hold onto.

Their voice quiets, uncertain.

"For what it's worth, it's the charming face I saw and thought might be a good time. Lovely red eyes that I thought I might just tip and fall into, the cheek I couldn't resist touching when I flirted with you. The smile I was drawn to, and.. wanted to kiss."

Their cheeks burn a little, and they need a moment to look away, for just a few seconds, to not feel as if their own loud mouth is going to plunge them into some suddenly icy water. It doesn't feel like the wrong thing to say, exactly, but the worry is there. Like they're walking along a very narrow plank while uncertain if they're returning to their own ship or boarding a foe's.

Raine's voice is still softened, hesitant, not wanting to push or pull any particular reaction, but.. offering a vulnerability for a vulnerability. They're not sure how else to offer any sort of reassurance that they actually want to.

Because they're not sure how else to respond to this, and oh do they wish they knew.

"Curled, moonlit hair I wanted to rake my fingers through, to see if it was as soft as I imagined it to be. Elegant ears I wanted to tease and whisper filth into. However much or little you'd permit me.

"You've had me quite ensnared the moment we met. With those looks of yours. That I knew I couldn't -- no, I didn't desire to refuse you in the slightest.

"For what it's worth, you're dashingly handsome, and I don't get tired of looking at you."

[illithidnapped]

“Hm.” It’s a soft sigh, a patient sigh, exhaled as he fixates on the sight of his own stare and tries— within the span of their words— to divorce its crimson cast from the memory of its maker. The barest difference of degrees when his lips curl ever so slightly upwards.

“Go on.”

And one hand slips around to catch Raine’s roaming fingertips, pulling them higher until they rest just across his own shoulder, making it easy to tip his head down and kiss their clawed ends without having to pull his attention away. Absent fondness. Simple trade.

Affection for affection.

“Tell me what else you see.”

What else he says, avaricious thing that he is— as though he hasn’t already been fed.

[catarmy]

Avaricious, perhaps, but not to an unpleasant degree. Astarion has gone so long without seeing his own face until now; it only makes sense to offer a little more to help wick away anything negative lingering behind.

Lord knows Raine would crave it, too.

"Goodness, 'what else'?" Their tone is mild, gaze crinkling in gentle mirth; approving. "I'm more pirate than poet, but I will try my best to continue to find the proper words form my perspective." Slightly buying time, really, to jog for anything they've overlooked about him.

"I see someone akin to a kindred soul. More than just a pretty face, or a smirk as thrilling, dangerous, and beautiful as an electric charge."

Their gaze softens.

"I see someone who made me fall for him so urgently that it leaves me breathless inside, just to look at him.

"And he has such lovely physical traits, that even he can see that. Strong shoulders..."

Their gaze glints teasingly, but warmly, as they move a bit, standing on shadows to bridge the height gap as they smooth their touch over his shoulder.

"A lovely neck and chest.... An adorable waist."

Their touch flutters down, sliding their touch along his side as they purr while speaking.

"The elegant line of your back, even when you're walking away from me..."

Their purring gets a little louder as they peer at him, affectionate, but also with unabashed want.

[illithidnapped]

It's difficult. Facing the past he lost in the mirror. Reclamation— after all— means acknowledging that something had been lost to begin with, and without the memory of his eyecolor or what his own pallor might've been before the fall (without anything, in fact, of the life before his masters shadow) Astarion tightens his grip around Raine's fingers...

Drawing them closer, inch by inch. Away from the space at his back, and nearer to his side, affording them the chance to nestle in against the crook of his arm instead.

Touch is better. Distraction is better.

The sound of their voice is better.

"I never leave you for long, at least." He murmurs, satisfied by such pretty persuasion. By simple truths, and the voice behind them.

"Though I suppose now that we're inhabiting space inside your home, I'll be walking away from you even less often, in fact."

[catarmy]

"Oh my~"

Tickled by the words, Raine smiles at him with a warmth in their gaze to match. They do, indeed, nestle in where they're welcomed, invited, and gently bunting into him as if they were in feline form, weaving against his ankles in happiness. Their ears are at rest, tail possessively curled high on the back of one of his thighs, but innocently enough away from his ass in a gesture of respect.

Astarion isn't the only avaricious one; Raine still wants even though their body has very little left to give in terms of carnal pleasures.

"You're going to spoil me."

It's not a chide by any measure.

"You are quick to return, before I can miss you too much. You're smart to leave when I'm asleep most of the time."

Their gaze is gentle and playful as they look at him.

"You're free to roam wherever you'd like here. My home is your home. For however you want it to be. Your personal signature has been registered in these wards. You can come and go as you please."

Their gaze softens.

"I should give you a tour of the town when you're ready, if you'd like. And the nearest tavern isn't far. However, after all of that affection between us, my dear, I think I want to lie down sooner than later. Preferably with you."

They'll need to hunt after. Fortunately, this part of the world has some nearby forests that are prime for that.... But right now, they just want to cuddle with their chosen person.