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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
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"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB, 9b/??
(Anonymous) 2014-01-02 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)He entered the cistern and took his time bothering at his desk, picking through papers last-minute, trying to find an excuse to dither. He’d already left detailed instructions for Brynjolf, as he’d been absent when Audric had meant to speak with him, and give him a proper farewell. On his way out, however, Audric heard harsh whispers echoing off the stone walls, and followed them to a pocket room off the cistern. Crouching low in the shadows, he spied.
“How can you, of all people blame me for thinking it?”
“Because you know him better than I do,” Karliah volleyed, calm, “and you know that you’re angry at him, looking for reasons to doubt him, to spare yourself heartache.”
A scoff.
“Brynjolf, no one would hold you in contempt for it, not after what you’ve been through –”
“And who’s saying I’d give a damn if anyone did?” he snapped.
Karliah sighed. “This isn’t how it’s meant to be,” she murmured. “Nightingales, friends, turning on one another, breeding mistrust.”
“Then take it up with our Agent of Stealth.”
There was a brief, somewhat pregnant pause, and Audric suddenly suspected that Karliah knew exactly where he was.
“I suppose I don’t know what you were expecting of him, and neither does he,” she said thoughtfully. “He isn’t Gallus, Brynjolf, and he never will be.”
“Not if he keeps on the path he’s walking, he won’t,” he sneered.
Perhaps if Audric had been a bit older – or at the very least, a bit wiser – he could have walked away, shouldering the insinuation with a grain of salt. But as he was neither old nor wise, he did not walk away. As curiosity had drawn him in, anger now drove him like a moth into fire.
“Karliah,” he nodded politely, rounding the corner. “If I might beg pardon? I don’t have long.”
Karliah’s eyes, soft and dark, searched him carefully, as if looking for broken parts. She seemed on the verge of speaking – a warning, a bit of advice, maybe – but thought better of it.
And once she was gone, Audric tore into Brynjolf like a feral dog into a steak. “How dare you.”
“Oh, how dare I? Excuse me, Guildmaster, for questioning your authority –”
“That’s not what this is about! If you have something to say, say it here, now, to me! Not to our friend!” Audric was fuming, his thoughts falling into a discombobulated jumble as the heat of rage overtook him. “How dare you put her in that position!”
“Me? Put Karliah in what position? As if she would ever allow herself to be shunted into any situation than the exact one she desires.” Brynjolf straightened his back and squared his shoulders, approaching Audric directly. “And how dare you put me in the position of confiding in her? Audric, I should’ve been taking it up with you! I didn’t take that three-day job for kicks! I did it to get away from you!”
Silence clogged the air, suffocating them both. “Twist the knife, why don’t you?”
“No,” Brynjolf growled, “you don’t get to make me out to be the villain in this.”
“I’m not trying to –”
“Well you’re not trying not to, either.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say, Bryn.”
Brynjolf turned his back on Audric and breathed deeply a moment. When he turned around again, his face wasn’t so red, and the fire in his eyes had been tamped, for the moment. “I want you to say that you’re sorry. I want…” his jaw tightened and one hand curled into a fist. “I want you to explain yourself.”
Audric’s face flushed, no longer with anger, but with shame.
“Our ties with the Empire are tight, and you go and sneak Ulfric Stormcloak back onto his throne under their noses?”
“It didn’t happen quite like that.”
“I don’t care how it happened!” he bellowed. “Maven is furious! And now I hear that it’s you, responsible for the slaughter of the Brotherhood?”
“They abducted me in the night!”
“Delvin has been beside himself!”
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB, 9c/??
(Anonymous) 2014-01-02 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)“And you thought it wise to take on Astrid?”
“She was the only guilty one.”
“And as for the Brotherhood?”
Audric could not look him in the face. “I was ordered –”
“You've never followed orders, Audric. You follow your whims. The order was simply convenient for you.” Brynjolf was right, and it stung.
“You were the one who told me not to kill,” he murmured weakly.
“Yes! Don’t kill clients, don’t kill marks–”
“Don't kill innocents.”
“And most of all, do not kill associates!”
The silence of before closed in on them now, and Audric wondered if he might choke on it. Down the hall, he could hear people begin to stir. He had lingered too long already. “Can you look me in the face and tell me,” he breathed, “that you don’t feel a little bit more comfortable, knowing they’re gone?”
Now it was Brynjolf’s turn to look ashamed. “Someday, I really hope you learn that your own interests aren’t necessarily the most important.”
“My interests?” Audric barked. “She would’ve killed me!”
“She would’ve tried, and you could have defended yourself. And you could have left it at that.”
Then, Audric had a terrible idea. “You’re not upset about the Brotherhood; you’re upset about Maven.”
“Of course I’m upset about Maven! When I heard about your stunt with Stormcloak, I was waiting in horror for your head to arrive on a platter!” He was bristling, no longer even attempting to reign himself in. “And after all our hard work, after all we went through to restore the Guild, that you would be the undoing of it – I’m tempted to garnish you, myself!”
“Maven can’t touch me,” Audric hissed, “and by extension, the Guild.”
“And could you do me the courtesy of explaining the mechanics of that?”
Audric stalled. There were two very different, both very relevant answers. “I told you,” he began, “I did not whisk Ulfric Stormcloak onto his throne in the night, like a stolen gem into a drawer. There was planning, and careful execution involved.”
“Is that what all the fuss up in Solitude was about?” he asked, though somewhat skeptical.
“Mostly,” Audric gulped. “Maven is caught in her own web,” he reassured, “she has aligned herself with the Empire, and the Empire put Ulfric back on his throne.”
“Really? Because to hear Maven tell it, it was you and Tullius, and unless I missed something very important, that hardly makes the Empire.”
He was sorely tempted to ask just how many Emperors it took to change out a lantern, but refrained for fear of knuckles cracking into his jaw.
“I think it’s more than just Tullius’ authority that you’re resting on.” Brynjolf placed both his hands on Audric’s shoulders, gently though. He locked eyes with Audric, as if he might be able to sieve out the truth on his own.
“I…” he faltered. “Solitude wasn’t about Ulfric, entirely.”
“No, I didn’t think so.” Putting some space between them again, Brynjolf sat and awaited Audric’s long-overdue explanation. “Etienne and I had a little chat. He needed someone to confide in after his...detour through the Embassy.”
He must’ve overheard things, Audric thought, must’ve put two and two together, once I showed up. “How long have you known?” he asked.
“A while.”
“You could have said something,” Audric grumbled.
“I could say the same of you. I wanted you to tell me, yourself.”
Chewing on a few curse words, Audric snapped, “When are you going to start trusting me?”
“When you’ve earned it! When you stop keeping things from me!” Getting to his feet, he rose with his voice. “You’ve been lying to me, like Mercer!”
Audric’s blood ignited and his skin prickled and every muscle in his body coiled for a fight. “Don’t you ever, ever, compare me to that scheming son of a –” stopping himself before he could get out of hand – before his words became Words – he closed his eyes, and forced himself into calm submission. Then, a thought came to him. “You’d have forgiven him,” he croaked.
Brynjolf’s face drained of color. “Excuse me?”
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB, 9d/??
(Anonymous) 2014-01-02 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)Rather than scream at him in earnest, as Audric half expected him to, Brynjolf sagged, frowning. “Perhaps I might have, who can say? But he didn’t ask my forgiveness, and he didn’t include me. He lied to me, cheated me and our family, and I can’t forgive that.”
“I have to go,” Audric whispered. “I’m expected in Windhelm, and there is a carriage waiting for me.”
“Your timing is impeccable.”
“Bryn, please, forgive me.” When this did not satisfy, he elaborated. “Forgive me for lying to you, for leaving you out of my plans.”
“And?” he asked expectantly.
“And I’ll never do it again,” he promised.
Brynjolf pulled him into his arms, nearly crushing him. “I don’t give a damn if you’re Dragonborn,” he said, “I wish you hadn’t tried to keep it from me.”
“I thought…” Audric choked.
“It makes no difference. But why would you think you could keep such a secret?”
Audric shrugged ineffectually, shaking.
Brynjolf pulled him closer and said, “Write me from Windhelm.”
This installment alternatively titled "Audric Bellamy Is A Huge Entitled Baby." Thank you again to the anons who took the time to leave me feedback. It's very encouraging, and I really appreciate it!
Re: "Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB, 9d/??
(Anonymous) 2014-01-08 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)Hmm. So it's all getting rather interesting. I'm still not sure what game Audric is playing. I'm not even sure whether Audric knows what game he's playing. I'd forgotten that he was hiding being the Dragonborn. To risk losing Brynjolf...
“Forgive me for lying to you, for leaving you out of my plans.”
You've been doing that a lot, Audric. Compartmentalising your life. It's one thing to keep Ulfric and Ralof's secrets, but another to go antagonising the Empire-supporting jarls.
author!anon here
(Anonymous) 2014-01-10 03:05 am (UTC)(link)Audric does have a habit of making rash decisions and then regretting them (even if he'd never admit it). I'm glad his antics have kept you amused!
Thank you for the comment, and for coming back! It's always nice to know my work has kept someone's interest.