Perceived Impressions

Perceived Impressions is a Baldur's Gate fanfic written by Acinonyx1 and featuring the pairing Astarion/Halsin. This story is currently complete on AO3. It is one of the most popular fanfics in Baldur's Gate III fandom, and also the most kudo'd and bookmarked. This fic is many fans' introduction to Halstarion, due to a habit of sorting fics by kudos. Fans of the fanfic have also produced accompanying fanart for this work.
Although the work ends in an epilogue that hints at a continuation of the story, the author has stated, at the time of posting the final chapter, that they do not plan on creating a sequel.
==Summary==
==Reactions & Reviews==
The story has been discussed in the OnlyFangsbg3 Reddit:
The story's chapters are regularly commented on by fans, praising the writing style and plot:
==Unauthorized Sequel and Recursive Fanfiction of Perceived Impressions==
On the 30th of September 2023, fanwriter Fridayplease published a story called Crimson Vintage. The story was a 4 chapters long WIP and was presented as "A spin-off of a fic I fell in love with.". This was, as expressed by the author, a reference to the fandom's most popular story, Perceived Impressions.
At the time, Perceived Impressions was not yet finished, and it was during a waiting period, between chapters 3 and 4, that Fridayplease published their own story. Initially fans received Fridayplease's story well, thinking this was an authorized sequel. Unlike regular fan sequels or recursive fanfiction though, Fridayplease had taken the chapters that Acinonyx1 had written so far to be the first chapters to their own story, meaning that fans had to read the first 3 chapters of Perceived Impressions and only then be able to follow Crimson Vintage.
It grew apparent to fans that the author of the fragmented sequel had not spoken to Acinonyx1 about this, nor asked them for permission to use their story. They were advised to write their own first chapters, instead of using someone else's, especially without permission.
Crimson Vintage was deleted, without warning, sometime between the October 1st and October 6th 2023.
On October 6th 2023, Fridayplease then published Shadows of Desire. This story contained the 4 chapters of Crimson Vintage that had been deleted, plus a reimagining of the first 3 Perceived Impression chapters. Fans still expressed issues with this due to the fact that the reuploaded and new chapters still contained much of the original plot from the other story. Comments about fandom etiquette left by fans on Shadows of Desire were and have been continuously deleted by Fridayplease, including a comment from Acinonyx1 expressing worries about the lack of originality and thus their unwillingness to call this an authorised sequel. After receiving these comments Fridayplease has stopped updating the story, but still replies to other comments the story receives. 
==Related & Inspired==
File:Fanart for perceived impressions 1 by Malacandrax.png|A scene from chapter 4 of Perceived Impressions: Astarion sees Halsin in elf form for the first time by Malacandrax
File:Fanart for perceived impressions 2 by Malacandrax.png|A scene from chapter 4 of Perceived Impressions: Halsin helps Astarion up so they can leave the cell by Malacandrax
==References==
Category:Baldur's Gate
Category:Slash Fanfiction
Category:2023 Fanfiction
Category:2024 Fanfiction