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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
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.5
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)“Hail Sithis,” he whispered, getting up and going in search of a bed. Soon, soon, the Forsworn would be his again. And if in the process he found himself also in possession of a beautiful Altmer in his bed and not expecting him to sleep anywhere but by her side, that would be a very happy bonus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was mid-afternoon by the time Liriel left the Redoubt the next day, declining Madanach's offer of another night there. It was clear to all he'd not slept well the night before, and Liriel had had to have a quiet word with Kaie as to if there was any reason they couldn't find a proper bed for him. Kaie had agreed he needed one, it was just getting the stubborn old fool to admit it. Well, at least he'd said he'd think about it. Liriel was coming to realise that was the nearest she was going to get to an admission she might be right.
Then had come the instruction on how to enter a Forsworn camp without the entire population descending on her, which had proven as simple as clenching one's fists and holding them to her shoulders. Something which when she realised most Forsworn associated an open palm with the casting of Destruction magic made perfect sense. There was also a ritual invocation but Madanach had also said that the words could be tweaked if necessary, so not critical to memorise it all.
Finally, once he was convinced she had it down, he let her go, walking her to the outside and seeing her off. To her surprise, he actually hugged her, before dropping arms to his sides and standing back, waiting while she mounted her horse.
“Fight well,” he called to her.
“If you taught me well, I'm hoping I won't have to,” she shouted back. He'd smiled at that.
“Kill well, then. Come back here when you're done, I'll have some coin for your trouble.”
He didn't need to pay her, she'd have helped him anyway. But the coin was nice and maybe it was for the best they kept this somewhat professional. Besides, she wasn't sure yet if this was going to work. True, Madanach had given her details of a small camp called Blind Cliff Cave, independent from any of the main Forsworn factions and run by two feuding Hagraven sisters called Melka and Petra, supposedly easy to escape from if it all went south. A little test run as it were. All the same, before she walked into a Forsworn camp and announced her arrival, Liriel wanted some outside confirmation that all was as Madanach had told her. Not that she didn't trust him, but she'd be a fool not to look into things first. So she needed assistance. Specifically, she needed a young Reach native with clear skills in both magic and the blade, one not linked to Madanach but who might well have got her training with the Forsworn. She knew the perfect person.
The Shrine of Namira wasn't any less dank and gloomy, but at least they'd cleared up the blood since her last visit. Eola was there, sitting at the head of the table, looking like a queen on her throne despite being a full five inches shorter than Liriel. Mercifully she wasn't eating, just reading and drinking some sort of red liquid from a wineglass. Liriel hoped it was only wine, although with Eola one could never tell.
Despite Liriel's boots not making a sound on the stone floor, Eola looked up, smiling as she saw Liriel there.
“Why hello there, Keeper of the Ring. It's been a while, how've you been?” She took one look at the Shrouded Armour Liriel was wearing and raised an eyebrow. “You're in the Dark Brotherhood now? My my, you are going up in the world! How... delicious.”
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.6
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)“I wasn't when we last met,” said Liriel, focusing on a bloodstain on the table. “Don't get too excited about it, I'm not exactly high-ranked.” But you should be, Listener, a little voice whispered in the back of her head. You should be giving orders to them all.
“Even so, that you took the Shrouds at all...” Eola breathed. “All the blood, all the death! Why, I tried to join myself a few years ago, you know. Did the Sacrament and everything, waited for someone to show... and waited... and waited. No one ever turned up. Of course, perhaps the fact I nibbled on the man's liver beforehand had something to do with it. What do you think, Liriel?”
“Honestly, I think they missed out,” said Liriel, having to admit that Eola was as fierce and predatory as they came. “You'd have made an excellent assassin.”
Eola grinned, looking very pleased with herself. She put her book, a copy of the Book of Daedra, to one side and turned to Liriel.
“So, Champion of Namira. What brings you here? Did you want another taste? You are looking a little pale, I can tell it's been a while since you last had a decent meal.”
“I'm fine,” said Liriel, hastily shutting that line of conversation right down. “It was actually information I wanted.”
“Information, eh?” Eola purred. “Well, I have to confess, I'm not one to keep up with all the gossip. But if you tell me what you want to know, I'll see if I can help.”
Liriel nodded and clenched her fists, raising them to her shoulders in the Forsworn gesture of non-hostility.
“What does this gesture mean to you?” she asked. Eola's eyes widened and Liriel knew right then she'd guessed correctly about Eola's background.
“I'd say it means you've been running with the Forsworn,” said Eola, fascinated, her curiosity caught. “Now that's interesting, that they taught an outsider that. Oh, but I don't suppose you're really an outsider, are you? Not now you joined up with the other Sithis worshipping murdering fanatics.”
“I knew it,” Liriel breathed. “You're a Forsworn! Or, well, you used to be.”
“Once,” Eola agreed. “A long time ago. I grew up near here on Karthspire Camp. That'd be the one you and your friends tore through the other week. Oh don't worry,” she said, laughing at Liriel's guilty expression. “I picked through the bodies afterwards – only person I might have cried over wasn't there. The Forsworn mortality rate is quite high, I think most of the people I knew died some time ago. I just have one question. Was it you who killed their Matriarch?”
Liriel sighed and confessed. If Eola wanted revenge, she'd likely have taken it by now.
“Yes. It was me. Fireball duel then I finished her off with a lightning bolt.”
Of all the reactions she'd thought she might get, she'd not expected Eola to clap her hands, squeal in delight, get up and run round the table to give Liriel a hug.
“Oh you marvellous, brutal, murdering fiend, you!” Eola laughed. “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for killing the controlling bitch. She's the reason I left. Hit my sixteenth birthday, decided I'd had enough of the lectures on how I was insufficiently committed to the cause, and ran away. Got myself initiated into adulthood on my own terms and never looked back.”
Eola perched herself on the bench next to Liriel, looking very pleased with herself. Liriel began to wonder if she'd been the best choice for assistance, but at least Eola wasn't likely to tell anyone else. Eola, by her own admission and for blatantly obvious reasons, preferred to keep a low profile and pass through life unremembered later.
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.7
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)Sadness crept into Eola's eyes, sadness and a fair hint of bitterness, and that was most unlike her. Eola very rarely had regrets about anything.
“My oldest sister died when I was five – the Nords killed her,” said Eola quietly. “They got my Da at the same time, my strong, proud, brave warrior of a father. I don't remember a lot about him, but I know he loved me dearly. Then he was gone. A few years after that, my next oldest sister died – I'd wandered off and got lost, she'd come out to find me and that's when the mercenaries attacked. She told me to run and fought them off, and she was good, but she was outnumbered and only fifteen. They hacked her to death and I couldn't do a damn thing. I was there for hours, clutching her body, cold, alone, afraid, hungry, crying my eyes out. In the end, I was so hungry I took a bite.”
So Eola's seduction speech had been at least partly autobiographical. Liriel suspected as much.
“They found me eventually, and I told them it had been a fox taking bites out of her, but I'm not sure Ma believed me. She was never the same again. When I approached sixteen, Ma was very clear that I had a choice – either join the fight like my third sister, or get married to continue the line. Needless to say, I said no to both and left. Liriel, don't get me wrong,” Eola sighed. “It's not that I don't agree and it's not even that I don't care. I'd love an independent Reach again. But it's never going to happen in my lifetime and I'm not throwing my life away in a pointless struggle that's never really stopped since Tiber Septim's day.”
“It's not pointless,” said Liriel, fighting the anger that was rising at Eola's dismissive words. “It's only pointless if we give up. I refuse to believe the Forsworn cause is doomed.”
“We?” said Eola, staring right into her eyes. “It's 'we', is it now? Sweet Namira, Liriel, what in Oblivion have you got yourself mixed up in now? I know you're Brotherhood but the Auld Alliance hasn't functioned in over a hundred years. And even when it did, please don't think it was more than a mutually beneficial trade and training agreement. The Dark Brotherhood were never ideologically committed to freedom for the Reach, any more than the Forsworn were prepared to kill just anyone unless it fitted with their own plans. Look, if you've been seconded out to the Forsworn, or even if they've just hired you for a contract, don't make it more than it is. Just do the job, get paid, get out, that's my advice.”
“You cynical bitch,” Liriel said softly, thinking of Madanach's delight as she'd told him she was Listener, and the barely concealed glee in his eyes ever since. Something about seeing him so happy had made her happy too, and for Eola to just dismiss everything Madanach believed in, just like that, felt like a slap in the face.
“Guilty as charged,” said Eola cheerfully. “What? Don't look at me like that, you know what I'm like by now. All I care about is my next meal.”
“There's more to life than the hunt!” Liriel cried, throwing her hands up in frustration.
“Is there?” Eola asked, eyebrow raised. Liriel fought back the urge to slap her.
“Look, do you want in on this job or not?” she hissed. Eola grinned at that, crossing her legs and settling in to listen.
“So there is a job then. Let me guess, the Forsworn have hired you to kill someone they can't get to themselves. Who is it?”
“Let's just say there are a few internal dissensions within the Forsworn with regards to policy,” Liriel said delicately. “And that a certain high-ranking member of the Forsworn is rapidly losing patience with this state of affairs and has retained me to deal with some of said dissenters, namely other high-ranking members of the Forsworn. Apparently if my client does it directly, all Oblivion will break loose, but if the Brotherhood do it, with no link back to said client, my client can then move in and clean up the mess, take their camps over and with any luck the rest will fall into line.”
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-08 08:29 pm (UTC)(link)“No,” said Liriel pointedly. “Honestly Eola, I'm a professional.”
“Pity,” said Eola, shrugging. “I'm just wondering who is high-ranked enough to want to do all this, but not high-ranked enough to take on a Hag and survive politically. Can't be a Briar Heart, they don't have the imagination.” She smiled sweetly, resting an elbow on the table and propping her head up. “Never mind. I'm sure you'll tell me in good time. I'm allowed to know the target at least, hmm?”
“A Hagraven called Petra at Blind Cliff Cave,” Liriel told her. “She's imprisoned her sister Melka, and M- my client thinks that if we pay Melka a visit and offer to deal with her sister, she might be persuaded to back our client in return.”
“Hags. I knew it,” said Eola, grinning. “Count me in on this one, Liriel. I just have one question. You said this might not be the only job, and honestly, if I was in charge of a number of Forsworn camps and was looking to consolidate my hold on the rest, Blind Cliff Cave would barely figure in my plans.”
“That's not a question,” said Liriel, wondering what on earth was going on in the girl's head.
“No, it's not. My question is – these targets. Would the King in Rags be among them? Madanach?”
Liriel's breath caught in her throat, heart pounding, world going into slow motion at the mere thought of Madanach dying. Never, no never, he's my friend, he's one of us, I'd take my own life before I'd take his.
“No,” Liriel rasped, her throat going dry. “No, we're not going after him.”
Eola closed her eyes, smiling as if at some secret only she knew. Opening them, she sat up, shook herself down and got to her feet.
“Then I'm in.” She held out a hand to Liriel, smiling at her. “Shall we?”
Liriel nodded mutely, not at all sure what had just happened there, but something had shifted in the wind and she had the uncanny feeling Eola had guessed who the client was.
“Let's get going,” Liriel said hastily. “We've got some Hagravens to sort out.”
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-09 01:20 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-13 11:02 am (UTC)(link)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-10 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-10 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)Glad you like it so far!
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-10 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)I like your range of characters, too. I didn't expect Eola, or an interesting backstory! And this line, "...killing him and eating his still-warm corpse. She'd carved off a slice and cooked it with a Flames spell first of course, she wasn't a savage or anything." I laughed so much! :p
I am seriously loving this fill: the juxtaposition of the haughty Altmer, Madanach, his daughter, and the really intriguing hierarchy of hags and briar-hearts. And when they drank together; how they chilled their drinks. And how closely the DB are linked to the Forsworn! All the lore bits felt very genuine, as well.
...and the goats! And the "coming-of-age" idea!
Agh! A!A I find all of it amazing! Effortlessly written and brilliantly creative, can't wait for more.
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
(Anonymous) 2013-04-13 11:10 am (UTC)(link)Eola wasn't supposed to be here so early but Liriel needed a Reach-based follower and doesn't have Argis yet. So Eola (whose skill set and ethnic background just scream ex-Forsworn to me) it was.
The Forsworn coming-of-age initiation process will be elaborated on later as it ends up being significant - it is a two-part process and killing something is only half of it.