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skyrimkinkmeme) wrote2011-10-29 12:36 pm
skyrimkinkmeme) wrote2011-10-29 12:36 pm
Meme Announcements!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: UPDATED 12/16/2017
Happy Holidays, fellow Kinkmemers! I have returned and have no reasonable excuse for my absence except LIFE. I will be working on updating the archives. If anyone sees anything amiss, please let me know.
I am also hoping to find another Mod and an Archivist.
The more dedicated people we have in this Meme the less chance of it dying. I admit that being the sole keeper of the Meme is not great for the fandom. If something were to happen to me, for good, this place would go the way of the Fallout Kink Meme. Let's not let that happen! If anyone would be interested in Modding/Archiving, please drop me a line. Thanks! <3
Let Me Explain [2/4]
(Anonymous) 2013-07-25 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)A screen hung with simple hessian had been set up for Saren's customers to disrobe in privacy, and Alemis stepped behind it to undress.
"Ready, miss?" Saren asked, tapping on the screen politely.
"Yes."
"Right-oh. Come on out by the fire."
She stepped out in her underclothes, feeling a little awkward, but Saren went about his business with a detatched professional eye.
Alemis was taller than he was by about a head. It wouldn't have been an unusual height for a Nord woman, but her dark eyes and hair made it impossible to mistake her for Nordic. Her body was conditioned from many long days scouting and fighting in the remote hills and mineshafts of Skyrim. Her arms were thick and hard, her shoulders broad, her thighs musclebound. Saren's eyebrows raised again as his armorer's eyes assessed her.
He took her by her shoulders and gently turned her around, mentally noting the dimensions of her body.
"You're broad enough in the shoulder for something heavier than leather, if you want it," he told her. "You could carry the weight well enough. Ever tried Orichalcum, miss?"
"No."
"Well, miss, I spent a year training in Narzulbur, southeast of here. I'd wager I make the best Orcish gear you'll get outside of the strongholds themselves. And it don't shine like that moonstone rubbish. It's heavier, but you'll stay in the shadows, if that's what you want."
"Heavy armor's not my style," said Alemis.
Saren grunted assent. "Leather it is, then," he said, noting down her measurements on a scrap of paper.
"Maybe you could... you could use Orichalcum, just for the fittings," Alemis said after a while. "And some reinforcement over the chest. Not too much."
"A fine choice, miss. Shall I measure you up for a shield?"
"Never mind that," she told him. "I don't use one."
He nodded. "Aye, then. Boots and helm?"
"Yes."
"Very good, miss. I've got another order to finish. You come back, say, this time the day after tomorrow, and I'll have your gear ready."
She paid a deposit, parting with a thousand worth of hard-won gold. Another thousand and five hundred would be Saren's when her gear was ready. It was a good price, and he hadn't raised it for the orichalcum fittings. She'd probably have paid half as much again in Whiterun.
The thought of Whiterun brought back grim memories. She wasn't welcome there any more, not after the whole incident with the Battle-Borns and Olfina Gray-Mane. One night she'd got roaring drunk in the Bannered Mare and professed her love to Jon Battle-Born. He'd been kind and gentle when he turned her down, but when Idolaf had got wind of it, he'd called her a freak and challenged her to a fist-fight. A fair fight, which Alemis had squarely won.
Still, she'd managed to set the two most powerful families in Whiterun against her. Apparently it was all her fault that Jon was in love with a Gray-Mane. Her ribs still ached some nights from the beating she'd got while weaving her way home later that night. Idolaf and Olfina were happy to work together when it came to driving the freakish man-woman out of town.
The whole mess was best forgotten.
It was getting dark, so Alemis headed to Candlehearth Hall, fighting the sense of dread that always accompanied her when she sought out a place to stay while in unfamiliar ground.
Let Me Explain [3/4]
(Anonymous) 2013-07-25 01:52 pm (UTC)(link)"You ask all travelers that? Do you want my coin, or not? If so, I'll take a room, and a meal. Otherwise I'll be on my way."
"Humph," said Elda. "Thirty septims. Room's down that way."
Alemis was too cold and tired to care about the innkeeper's rudeness, or the fact that she was obviously being overcharged. The boar Elda was serving for the night's meal was still roasting, so Alemis ordered a pail of hot water - which cost her another five septims, though it should have been included with the room - and went to her room to bathe.
She looked herself over in the reflection of a silver bowl on the mantelpiece in her room. After days on the road, she really needed to shave. She got out her dagger, cleaned it in the hot water, and used it with the foam from some crushed mountain flowers to clear the stubble from her cheeks and jawline.
Once she was shaved, washed and dried, and dressed in a clean but creased blue skirt and a pretty, lace-trimmed tunic, she felt more like herself. She smiled at her reflection in the silver bowl. Not bad, she thought, and headed back into the great hall to eat.
She took her meal upstairs with the rest of the evening's patrons, drawn by the sound of music and laughter. Hard lessons in life had made Alemis reserved, but she enjoyed the company of people. Some people, anyway.
She didn't enjoy the company of Rolff Stone-Fist, as she soon discovered.
"What do we have here?" the Nord demanded, wandering drunkenly over upon catching sight of Alemis minding her own business, seated at a table in a corner of the inn's great hall. "Are you confused?"
A few others nearby glanced over, looked at broad-shouldered, dark-haired Alemis in her pretty tunic and laughed, but most were too busy enjoying the music. A Dunmer bard was playing a lively tune on her lute, and the fair-haired Nord serving girl had joined in the dancing, whirling in a circle with an ecstatically happy old sea-captain on her arm.
"Not at all," Alemis replied calmly.
"You look confused," Rolff said. He reached out to tug on the lace trim of her tunic. Confused, or confusing? Alemis thought, sighing to herself. This was going to end in another fight, and once again, it'd all be her fault. "I don't like it," Rolff went on. "Too many strange folk around Windhelm these days."
"Really?" Alemis raised her eyebrows. "Funny how neither of us likes the way the other looks. Maybe we should leave each other alone." She was itching to slam her fist through this idiot's face, but she didn't fancy spending the night on the streets of Windhelm, or worse, in a jail cell.
The bard, perhaps in a fit of daring while the aggressive Rolff was distracted, had switched to playing an old Vvardenfell folk tune. One or two Nords grumbled at this and wandered off, but most either didn't notice, or didn't care, staying to dance with the cheerful serving girl. "As though that sort of thing ain't enough," Rolff went on, nodding his head unsteadily at the bard. He leaned in closer. "I'd like to know, what in Oblivion do you think you are?"
"I'd like to know why in Oblivion you think that's any of your business," Alemis said quietly, setting down her mug.
Let Me Explain [4/4]
(Anonymous) 2013-07-25 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)"It is my business, see," he said, looking around the room for support. A man in threadbare beggar's clothes was watching the interaction with approval. "It is our business, isn't it, Angrenor?" Rolff called to the beggar. "It's our business, because it's our city." He was now speaking loud enough that the crowd of people stopped dancing to listen. The bard had stopped playing, and the Nord serving girl looked worried.
"Rolff," she said, "maybe you've had enough mead for now. Why don't you come downstairs with me, and I'll get you some of Elda's apple pie?"
"You keep out of it, Susanna," Rolff said. He realised that everyone was watching him, and turned back to Alemis. "You a Dunmer-lover like Susanna the Slut? Huh? What about that bard, you like the look of her?" He waved a hand sloppily at the bard, whose instincts had wisely guided her to pack away her instruments for safety's sake. "Or you prefer grayskin cock up your ass? Ever had a big Nord cock, like mine? Huh? Which do you want, Imperial? What do you think you are?"
Alemis stood up, stepping clear of the small table she'd been seated at. "Dragonborn," she replied calmly.
"Huh?"
"I think I'm Dragonborn," she said. "Let me explain it to you in small words. FUS...RO-DAH!"
Rolff Stone-Fist's body slammed into the opposite wall of Candlehearth Hall. Tables and chairs went flying, barrels rolled this way and that, mead mugs tipped over - a great shame, that, Alemis thought - and the fire danced and roared crazily in the wake of her full-forced Shout.
The hall fell completely silent. Alemis started to walk over to Rolff Stone-Fist's limp body. She wasn't sure whether she hoped he was dead or alive. She nudged him with the toe of her boot, saw his chest rise and fall, then looked around.
"Anyone else have something to say?" She asked. Silence.
Then Elda Early-Dawn came running up the stairs, flanked by two guards in Stormcloak armor.
"Talos preserve us!" She cried. "What's going on here? Who was that Shouting? Is the candle still lit?"
Alemis held up her hands, showing that she was unarmed. "Nothing's going on. It's all sorted out," she said. "Rolff had a problem with me, and we... talked about it."
Angrenor, the beggar, had helped Rolff to sit up. Rolff was breathing steadily, but his head lolled.
"What did you do to Rolff?" Elda demanded.
Alemis cursed herself silently. A fistfight would have been better, she thought. She'd still have won, and then, at least, it would've been someone's idea of a fair fight. She had no idea how to answer the question.
"Just a little argument, Elda," Susanna said, stepping in. "Rolff had too much to drink, like usual. I'll clean up here - why don't you go and get these good people some more mead?"
"Well, Elda? What do you want us to do?" asked one of the Stormcloak guards.
Elda looked around at the chaos of the hall, then at Alemis. Alemis knew she was going to get the blame for this, and for once, it probably was her fault. No matter how offensive Rolff was, most ordinary people were as defenceless as a child in the face of the Thu'um. She should have just punched him. Now everyone thought her even more of a freak than they had before.
But the mention of a fresh round of mead had everyone's support, and Elda's innkeeper's instinct told her that more trouble meant less coin. She subsided, and addressed the guards. "There's no need to arrest this... person..." - the innkeeper waved her hand in Alemis' general direction - "unless, er, he won't go quietly. Be careful though. You heard the Thu'um."
"We could hardly miss it," said one of the guards. "Well, sir, you heard the innkeeper. Get your things."
Fuming, Alemis went back to her room, packed her bag and threw a bear-fur cloak over her shoulders. She'd need it, on the streets tonight. She had some potions that would dull the feel of the icy wind, but it would be a harsh night. She felt the prickle of tears begin behind her eyes. Yet another town she was outcast from.
When she turned to leave, Susanna was standing in her doorway.
Let Me Explain [5/4] derp
(Anonymous) 2013-07-25 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)"I'm sorry to hear that." Alemis shrugged, nonplussed. "I didn't mean anybody any harm. I just wanted to drink in peace."
"I know. Listen, you go and find the New Gnisis Cornerclub. Talk to Ambarys Rendar, tell him you're a friend of mine. They call me Susanna the Wicked. I can't say Rendar likes me much - or Luaffyn, for that matter - but we go there a lot. He knows us. Oh, and take this." With a quick look over her shoulder, she offered the coin Alemis had paid to Elda.
"I don't want it," Alemis said at once.
"I didn't think you would," Susanna said, with a small grin. "But I had to offer. I'm sorry to wound your pride. You sound like a Nord, you know. Anyway, Rendar will give you a bed for the night. No-one should have to sleep outside in Windhelm."
"Thank you," Alemis said. She looked at the Nord girl and managed a smile. Susanna seemed like a decent person. Alemis found herself wondering if she really had made a friend, or whether Susanna was just taking pity on her, telling her to mention her name to Ambarys Rendar.
"And listen - you didn't hear it from me," Susanna said, "but you'll get a real drink there. A good strong sujamma beats Elda's watered-down mead any day."
****
OP - I know this isn't exactly what you asked for, but I haven't seen much genderqueer stuff around so I thought I'd post it anyway. <3
A!A says: trigger warning: Transphobic abuse Re: Let Me Explain [5/4] derp
(Anonymous) 2013-07-25 01:58 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Let Me Explain [5/4] derp
(Anonymous) 2013-08-02 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)I particularly like the character of Saren Indaryl, who accepts "Miss" as the correct title for Alemis so easily. It's unfortunate that he got it wrong the first time, but understandable when dealing with a person in armour - I imagine a lot of cis characters could be misgendered if unusually large or small for their gender. The fact that he uses the title without question or mockery says a lot.
Also, Rolff Stone-Fist being the extremely prejudiced one? Of course. Oddly, he likes my Dunmer vampire after he beat the shit out of him - apparently, Nords like you if you best them in a fight. Though he still goes on about the hated "greyskins". My character is going to murder him one day, you'll see.
A!A Re: Let Me Explain [5/4] derp
(Anonymous) 2013-08-03 01:17 am (UTC)(link)The more I think about it, the more I feel like I've made a bit of a stuff-up here so I thought I'd comment.
The story did in fact emerge with Alemis identifying strongly as a woman, when the prompt was for a non-gender binary character.
Apologies, OP and meme peeps - 1. because the story doesn't fit the prompt, and 2. because posting as though it did fit the prompt is kinda insulting and ignores all kinds of different experiences faced by trans* and genderqueer folk.
If there's more fail, feel free to call me on it. And I hope someone fills the prompt :)
To the anon above - thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. Glad you liked the story :) And on an unrelated note, I would LOVE to read about a Dunmer vampire killing Rolf Stone-Fist if you ever decide to write about that XD