Jacob Seed (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
weaponwithoutpurpose) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
openmisc2025-10-29 08:14 pm
weaponwithoutpurpose) wrote in openmisc2025-10-29 08:14 pm
Jacob/Astarion/Rosita
It takes him about two minutes to both scout the place and find a river to sit beside, just like he said he would. He doesn't get out the fishing pole or anything too quick, but he does put Mae on alert, just in case.
He's going to give them a few minutes. Just like he said. Just like they talked about. He's not going to worry until that time has passed because they said they would come and he trusts them more than he trusts any other person.
Right now, he's wants to sit in the wind, the actual wind, and listen to the water, the real fucking water, babble by. He wants to bask in the outdoors and let Mae take over just a little bit of the guarding.
He's going to give them a few minutes. Just like he said. Just like they talked about. He's not going to worry until that time has passed because they said they would come and he trusts them more than he trusts any other person.
Right now, he's wants to sit in the wind, the actual wind, and listen to the water, the real fucking water, babble by. He wants to bask in the outdoors and let Mae take over just a little bit of the guarding.
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"We promised him a soft place to land," she reminds him, takes another moment longer and another, slower kiss before she considers starting to climb down.
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He lets her go carefully, gently bringing her into one last kiss.
"Seems there's a settlement down the river. We're on the outskirts now. No one has come by and no one is close enough for Mae to alert," he explains to her, still marveling at the fact that she is here, with him, close enough to touch.
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The 'five minutes' - more like half an hour, the Admiral can't do any fucking thing right - is a briefer span from Astarion's perspective than he'd planned for. He'd committed himself to spending as long as it took for Gale to graduate or be snatched from the ship, be that weeks or months or (gods preserve him) even longer, and he's done neither. Instead he's run, like a coward, and no number of justifications are going to help.
He graduated, he reminds himself. He didn't become a good person, just less...actively harmful to those around him.
He isn't exactly encumbered. Most of what's precious to him is almost weightless - not least the magic jewellery he's picked up along the way, including the new ring that's allowing him to walk in the sunlight. The stuff of legend, and Florian had just pawned it off on him like some random trinket he'd found between the cushions. Incredible. Everything else is in a pack slung over his shoulders, or - like his bow, quiver and knives - strapped to him within easy reach.
The only thing loose is Aylin, who is thankfully not as keen on exploring the wilderness as she is on staying close. When she darts off along the riverbank, then, Astarion yelps in unpleasant surprise - he's got no way of knowing it's because she's caught a familiar scent.
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"Let's stay away from them, for now," she decides. "At least until Astarion is here to explain anything we fuck up without knowing." It won't take long, she adapts quickly, but even she needs a warm up period.
She keeps the dagger he gave her, the one that cancels magic, close to hand though as they scout for a good place to make camp. When she hears the yelp, she hesitates, automatically easing closer to a tree she can use for cover while she scans for the source.
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He doesn't yet recall Mae, even as something approaches in the bushes. Something small, though that doesn't mean he lets his guard down any.
But when Aylin pops through the brush, he nearly drops the bow. "Astarion," he tells Rosita and whistles sharply for Mae.
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Astarion himself doesn't quite come crashing through the brush himself, but instead Misty Steps past it to appear out in the open. He sees Aylin, a white blur ambling up without a care to say hello to-
Jacob. And Rosita.
Now, if he were suspended over a tank of holy water, he might admit their presence was something he had hoped for rather than expected. When Rosita had chosen to leave with Jacob - or as good as with him - he'd assumed it was because they'd both come to their senses and realised what they were signing up for. He'd imagined they would have found a less apocalyptic version of Earth to retire to and just...done that.
He didn't really deserve any better, did he? He certainly doesn't now. Yet that isn't what's happened, and sheer relief makes his knees buckle for a moment.
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None of that matters when Jacob says his name, though, when she recognizes Aylin, when she sees him. Her hand drops away from her knife and she bolts out to meet him without hesitation.
She'll feel ridiculous later. Right now, she just gives in to the feeling that if she doesn't get to him fast, he'll disappear, and they really won't see him again; right now, she just closes the distance.
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He felt it in his chest and stomach, like he had swallowed a rock. Like he would never recover because he would never feel right again.
He's a second behind Rosita, his arms around them both and then, only then, does he feel right again.
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Astarion wheezes out an unnecessary breath and closes his eyes, letting them surround him. Listening to their hearts beating. Hoping that if this is some illusion, it might persist long enough for him to carve them a little deeper into his memory.
"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long," he says, with a brittle little giggle.