alwayskayaking | Duplicity Inbox

"It's a matter of self-defence, I believe. I haven't asked for the entirety of the tragic backstory for this request because I don't particularly care."

Astarion sips his wine.

"So what do you do for work here?"

"Well, maybe don't stab him then. It wouldn't be very good self defense classes if he ends up dead by the end of it."

As much as he wouldn't admit to it, he doesn't really want to see Jon come to harm. "Just some office job. It's not very exciting." He waves it off. It really is honestly a dull job. "So, do you teach self defense for a living?"

"No, actually - I run a shop in the Up, 'Rags to Riches'. I restore clothes in poor condition for resale, and make one-off pieces on commission. Much of the fashion here leans towards what I assume are Earth's cultural norms."

"Oh! I've seen that place, but hadn't gone in just yet. I suppose now I have more of a reason to stop in."

"I've been known to give discounts to friends," Astarion says smoothly. "I also have an - apprentice, of sorts. Odd situation. He knows me from home, but I don't know him. Some sort of...alternate timeline business."

"Oh? Something similar has happened between myself and Jon. He's from further along than me in our world. But you're saying from an alternative timeline rather than just further along?"

"Precisely. We had some...markedly similar experiences, but he simply wasn't present during mine. Odd. He assumed at first that I was just lying to torment him, which is something I'd do, to be fair."

"Interesting, but if you two has similar experience, but you were missing - how would you know those lies to tell?"

"I wasn't missing, that's the thing," Astarion chirps. "We both went on the same misadventure. My group of heroes and ne'er-do-wells simply had one fewer member than his. I can very easily guess the events he survived in the company of my...other self."

"I don't know. Sounds pretty confusing to me. Dare I ask what your other self might have been like?"

Astarion shrugs.

"He would have lived the same hell I did, and he wasn't annoying enough for his companions to kick him out of their party or hand him over a monster hunter, so - I can't imagine he'd have been dissimilar."

"Enough, huh? So, do you have experience being annoying? Because I'm not finding you annoying at all just yet."

He smiles lopsidedly over the rim of his wine glass.

"I've been here for over a year, and - frankly, I've had more autonomy and peace here than the two hundred years prior. I daresay some of the rough edges have been worn off."

"Really? You've found more autonomy here in this city than back home? I find that most don't think that even if they are a dominant."

"Mm, well. I'm not sure what your prior experience of vampires has been, darling, but where I'm from? There are two...ranks, shall we say. Fully-fledged vampires can sire vampire spawn, who are simply slaves to their creator. In normal circumstances, spawn - like myself - cannot resist their master's commands, no matter how torturous or vile they happen to be."

"Ah." He pauses, considering what sort of life that must be. "Then, I can see why being here would feel liberating. Away from your creator."

"He's dead now, actually. Those circumstances briefly changed, I had an opportunity..."

He shrugs.

"But I arrived here very shortly after killing the bastard. So this is where I've grown accustomed to living my own life."

"The fairy tales back home often said that if an original vampire was killed that all the other vampires they made also died. Hopefully that wasn't true for you?"

"It wasn't," Astarion says, lifting an eyebrow. He knows vampires are the stuff of fiction for some of his fellow LIERs, but it's his first time hearing this particular detail. "Much of the rest you've likely heard still applies, though I've found a magical solution to deal with sunlight."

"Oh, so sunlight is usually a problem for you. Interesting what some stories get right and what others get wrong." He's starting to relax a little now as he takes a sip of his drink. "But I suppose you didn't come out here to spend all night talking about what you are. You wanted some fun sex stories, didn't you?"

Astarion chuckles, his smile turning sly.

"I came here with an open mind, darling, but if you're offering..."

"Oh? Were you expecting more of a reaction to you being a vampire? I would think most people in this city would hardly give it a second thought. Or was there something else you were keeping an open mind about?"

He shrugs and sips his wine.

"I only mean that I didn't come here expecting anything, truthfully. You just struck me as interesting."

"Did I?" Tim grins with a bit of pride. "I admit, I decided to invite you out because you also seemed interesting. After going through what you have? And then answering a silly message such as mine? I said; that seems to me like a man who would have some interesting stories to share."

"I'm afraid that two centuries of torture and sexual slavery get a bit dull in the retelling," Astarion says, bone-dryly. "Though I'll grant there was a bit of adventure between that and - this."

He makes a gesture intended to take in all of Duplicity.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours, so to speak."

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