skyrimkinkmeme (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.3
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)“I don't think they see it that way,” Elisif said quietly. “But thank you.” Didn't assuage the guilt much, but the concern was nice. Delphine didn't show her real feelings often but that didn't mean they weren't there.
“Oh hey, talking of guilt and regrets. Got something I wanted to show you. Bryn found it in the Thalmor Embassy and was all for auctioning it off to the highest bidder, but I talked him out of it. I thought you might find it of interest, here.”
Delphine passed an official-looking dossier over to Elisif, who recognised the Thalmor crest on the front. She recognised the name too.
“Ulfric's got a Thalmor file!” Elisif gasped, stunned. Well, she supposed the Thalmor had files on most of the great and good of Skyrim, probably including her but to actually have one in her hands and on her husband's murderer... Elisif wasn't sure if she wanted to read it or not. A political fire rune, was what this was. She didn't know if it would damn him or humanise him but she had to know. So she opened it and read.
Asset, if an uncooperative one. Captured... made to believe he'd betrayed the Empire, allowed to escape... Markarth Incident being ideal for the Thalmor's purposes... Thalmor interests best served by the war proceeding in an indecisive fashion for as long as possible...
Elisif slammed the dossier shut, stunned.
“Mother of Talos,” Elisif whispered. “What... is this real? Ulfric Stormcloak, secret Thalmor agent?”
“Not an agent,” Delphine said. “But an asset. Even if he's not presently co-operating, he's playing right into their hands. I imagine most of this was written before you turned up – Talos knows what their file on you says. Utter liability, most like.”
Quite probably, and it slowly began to dawn on Elisif just who exactly might have been dripping poison into Erikur's ear, encouraging him to think Solitude needed a new Jarl, a more cynical and worldly Jarl, one who wasn't an unpredictable Dragonborn that half of Skyrim was willing to follow. Sounded exactly like something Elenwen might try, and to think Elisif had felt guilty over robbing that Embassy (or helping anyway).
“The Thalmor are bastards,” Elisif said fervently, starting to feel actually sorry for Ulfric. Maybe he'd killed her husband, but it sounded like he had his own issues. She couldn't let him win, of course. But it was just possible she might be able to eventually forgive him. Sort of. She'd give him a chance to redeem himself anyway. Madanach might not be too pleased at the lost opportunity for blood, but Elisif suspected Ulfric would never back down, not now. All the same – she'd give him the chance to surrender.
“Has Madanach seen this?” Elisif asked, wondering what the King in Rags would make of it all. He'd be unlikely to forgive Ulfric in a hurry, but he'd surely be interested.
“He's seen it,” Delphine confirmed, humourless grin on her face. “He was cackling away right up until he got to the line about the Markarth Incident. Then the ranting started. About how those elven bastards had screwed him over and sold him down the river. Turns out Thalmor agents met with him a couple of years before the war, not long after he'd unified the Forsworn. They told him war was coming and that when it did, the Empire would turn its resources to Cyrodiil and he could have a chance to take the Reach over. They also told him a victorious Dominion would smile on a friendly state that had never fought them and that didn't worship Talos. So Madanach laughed and drank with them and bitched about Talos with them and started preparing for an uprising, and a few years later, when the Imperial City fell and half of Skyrim marched south to retake it, he saw his chance. Way he tells it, he took the Reach, sat back to enjoy a great victory and waited for the fall of the Empire. He didn't expect the Empire to take Cyrodiil back and agree terms. A bit of a shock but he's always been an opportunist. Started making overtures to the Empire to be recognised as a legitimate kingdom, and the Thalmor decided he was a loose end who needed dealing with. Hence the Markarth Incident.”
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.4
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:41 pm (UTC)(link)It really was coming to something when the ones she trusted most were paranoid fugitives from the Thalmor, dangerous heathen warlord battlemages who had Hagravens running their army, lunatic jester assassins, at least one out and out thief, her half-Reachman housecarl, several werewolves and a pair of Dunmer mystics who were mostly normal but occasionally had... lapses.
“Maybe I should go and talk to him,” Elisif whispered. “I don't know if he'll want to talk about it, but he might.”
“He might,” Delphine said quietly. “He brooded for hours after reading it. It was a bit worrying, really. I only gave it to him because I thought he might appreciate the irony. Didn't think that one line would get to him quite so much, although it certainly cemented his loyalty so that's something. Your charms are considerable but they won't hold him forever.”
Nice of Delphine to say so – wait. Hold who forever? Madanach?? He might well think her pretty but that wasn't why he was doing all this. Was it?
“Madanach doesn't fancy me,” Elisif said, trying her best to laugh it off. “I mean, he's probably noticed I'm pretty but there's no way he'd seriously want a Nord in his bed... Delphine, stop looking at me like that, he really doesn't... I mean, he can't... He just wants his land back and thinks I can get it!”
“Of course he does, you're his prized asset, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want you,” Delphine said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, you must have noticed how often he seeks your company out, not to mention the gifts. Four Words of Power and a housecarl? Those aren't gifts you send someone on a whim – Elisif?”
Elisif barely heard her, heart beating faster as her skin went cold, mind going blank as she slotted the pieces together. Letters complimenting her and drawing her in as a confidant, even flirting a little in that last one – offering to whisk her off to a Forsworn camp for unimaginable torments? Good gods, that interpretation hadn't even occurred to her. All the gifts, sending Argis to look after her, Argis calling her Brenhina – Queen. Not High Queen of Skyrim or even Dragon-Queen, but Queen of the Reach, Madanach's consort. The barely-controlled rage at the idea of her sacrificing herself – of course Madanach hid terror behind anger.
Madanach wanted her and he struck Elisif as the persistent type. He'd keep on trying until he felt ready to make his move, and it could be soon. Elisif had no idea how to react – Madanach, seriously?? The King of the Forsworn wanting her – he was old enough to be her father, fifty-nine, wasn't he? His youngest daughter older than her. There was no way she could say yes, she was still grieving Torygg, she had a husband in Sovngarde waiting for her! How was she supposed to face him again having had someone like Madanach touch her?
“I need to talk to him,” Elisif gasped, getting up and running back to camp. She had to say something, stop this insanity before it got out of hand.
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.5
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)“Look, I'll follow you to the Void and back, you know that, but you don't get to tell me what to do! Not in this!”
“The Void I don't, this is my camp, let me remind you! And if your duty to the Reach needs you to pledge a tie to someone else, you might have to!”
Madanach was standing there in his Forsworn gear, arms folded as he stared Argis down. Argis was pacing, clearly annoyed.
“I'm hardly bound to him! I just like him, that's all. It's simple. Uncomplicated. Enjoyable. We tell stories of our warrior pasts, get wasted together and then we...”
“Spare me the details!” Madanach snapped, looking faintly nauseated. “I don't need to know what you and him get up to in that tent of yours. Bad enough neither of you are skilled enough at magic to hide the sounds.”
“I can't help that!” Argis cried. “Honestly, I didn't think... does it bother you that much, seeing me with a...?”
“With a Nord? Yes, it does!” Madanach seethed. “You're one of us, Argis! Couldn't you have found a nice Reach girl? Or boy, I suppose...”
“Oh that's rich, coming from you. You fancy a Nord and I end up as the bloody courtship gift but when I see one I like, I'm a traitor to my blood?”
Madanach had gone very still and Elisif almost felt her heart stop. Madanach just wasn't a man you talked back to like that, and that he and Argis had let things get that far, that personal, in the first place, was a bit of a shock. Argis seemed to realise it too, because he was turning back to Madanach, starting to apologise, and Madanach was just shaking his head, expression unreadable... until he saw her standing there. Then silver eyes widened and for a split second, Elisif wondered if he'd been afraid.
He would be when she was done. Argis had just confirmed all her fears.
“Courtship gift?” she said softly. “You mean the letters, the words of power, sending Argis... you're trying to get me in bed??”
“It's not like that,” Madanach said quickly, faint blush staining his cheeks.
“Could have fooled me,” Argis muttered. Madanach glared at him, narrowing his eyes – he might be afraid of her, but clearly didn't fear Argis.
“No?” Elisif shouted. “What is it like, Madanach?? Delphine seems to think you'd like to be all over me and Argis just said you're trying to court me! Is that why you're doing all this, you're hoping I'll be so grateful I'll let you do what you like with me?”
“I want my kingdom back!” Madanach snapped, all attention on her now, and if he was nervous, he wasn't showing it. “But after that, I'm going to need to run it in peace and it'd be nice to have friendly relations with the kingdom next door, not to mention someone to share it with! I was going to ask you to marry me after all this is settled!”
“I've already got a husband!” Elisif cried, hazy memory of Torygg's face in her mind as she felt tears come to her eyes. “He's waiting for me in Sovngarde!”
“Your husband's dead, Elisif!” Madanach shouted back, finally losing his temper. “And you are not, you're not going to Sovngarde permanently for decades, gods willing, you're a queen, you'll need heirs, you'll need another husband!”
“I don't want another husband, I want Torygg back!” Elisif howled, even as she struggled to recall the details of his face, and her own body, her fierce dragon blood, whispered how long it had been since anyone had touched her, why not someone else who understood the power of fire and frost?
Because Torygg would never forgive me if I took Madanach to my bed.
She looked up at Madanach, seeing guilt and sorrow and sympathy there, and she could feel her heart breaking again. All she wanted, all she'd ever wanted, was someone to take care of her and love her and raise children with her. Instead she'd ended up with this.
Turning and running, she fled the tent, not able to cope with this any more, not Madanach, not the war, any of it.
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.6
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:44 pm (UTC)(link)“Are you all right?” Argis said quietly, coming to stand at his shoulder, one hand rubbing his back, quarrel forgotten.
“I will be,” Madanach said quietly. “I'm worried about her though. I didn't want her to know until after all this, when she'd had more time to grieve. You don't get over something like that happening to you, not so soon.”
“No, you never do,” Argis said quietly, probably remembering seeing his mother die. “I'm sorry.”
“Don't be,” Madanach said, one bright side occurring to him. “She said she wanted Torygg back, that she was still grieving, which is certainly true... but she said nothing about not wanting me. I don't think I'll give up hope just yet.”
“That sounds more like you,” Argis said, grinning and heading out. “Should I go after her, do you think?”
“Yes – no, actually. Find Erandur, send him after her. Man gives sensible advice and is a good listener. Or Aranea, she's got her head screwed on the right way. And if you see Keirine or Kaie, tell them to come find me. Oh, and Argis.”
“Yeah?” Argis asked, something in Madanach's tone sounding a little less commanding than usual.
“About Farkas,” Madanach said hesitantly.
“What about him?” Argis said, slight note of danger coming back into his voice, and for all his usual impassive and quiet demeanour, there was a hidden wildness to Argis that not many people ever really saw – unless he killed them, of course.
“If he makes you happy, go be with him. I suppose he's not so bad for a Nord. Knows when to shut up, doesn't care about politics, better than the halfwit Eola landed me with. Just make sure he knows that if he breaks your heart, I break his neck.”
That did make Argis laugh. “Sure thing. Thanks, I'll be sure to tell him.”
Madanach smiled wistfully as he watched Argis go, feeling rather proud of the warrior he'd raised. Nord blood notwithstanding, Argis was one of the best he had. When it had occurred to him Elisif could do with a new housecarl after losing her first one, Argis had been the first and only choice to look after her for him.
Sadly for him, replacing the husband wasn't going to be quite so easy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elisif didn't know how long she'd been in her tent, lying down on the straw pile and quietly wishing it would all go away. Honestly, here she was, capable of taking on dragons and facing down Alduin himself and one off-hand remark, one realisation, had just thrown her completely.
How dare he want her. How dare he find her attractive? How dare he tell her he was thinking of proposing? She was already married! Even if Torygg was dead...
You're Queen. You'll need heirs, need a husband, you want children anyway, don't you?
Well, yes, but she wasn't even Queen yet and she could wait a few years before getting married again. To someone she barely knew, for political reasons, with no love involved, just loveless, meaningless sex until she got pregnant and then they could lead separate lives. He could have mistresses if he wanted, she wouldn't care.
She had a feeling Madanach wasn't the separate lives and mistresses type. She also had a feeling he wouldn't forgive her if that was how they ended up. Worst of all, he'd been sending gifts, flirting with her, building her up to his people as a hero out of legend who'd save them so that they'd overlook her Nord blood when he made her his queen, not just High Queen. Despite feeling quite free to disapprove of Argis taking a Nord into his bed, and that really rankled. Bloody hypocritical bastard. He had absolutely no right, none at all.
“Elisif?”
Soft Dunmer tones of Karliah, who Elisif had been introduced to only the other day. Strange eyes for a Dunmer, but really pretty and seemingly a very sweet and gentle person. A former colleague of Brynjolf's, so a thief then, but Elisif found it hard to hold it against her. Ria had spoken very highly of her for rescuing her from Windhelm, Argis claimed she'd saved his life twenty years ago in Markarth, and everyone seemed to like her. Even Delphine had seemed to approve.
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.7
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:46 pm (UTC)(link)“How are you doing?” Karliah asked, sitting cross-legged on the ground, looking sympathetic. “Argis told me what happened. Bit of a shock, eh?”
“A bit,” Elisif said, sitting up, feeling exhausted. “I mean, looking back I'm not actually surprised... but I don't need this right now, you know? I have to face Ulfric tomorrow. I don't need to worry about Madanach having a crush on me!”
“You don't feel the same, I take it,” Erandur said, completely unsurprised and by Kynareth did everyone in this camp but her know??
“You knew as well,” Elisif said, mortified. Erandur nodded sympathetically.
“Afraid so, although in my case, I did get a personal confession off the man. He heard I was a priest of Mara and sought my advice.”
“But half the camp does know as well, Kaie's been going on about it non-stop to anyone who'll listen,” Karliah said sheepishly.
“Let me guess, she hates me for being a stepmother I don't even want to be?” Elisif sighed.
“Not exactly, she just thinks her father's making a fool of himself and is having a, what did she call it, gearcheim y canolan. A crisis brought on by realising you are no longer young, I think it means,” Karliah said.
“Don't worry about her, she's just looking out for her kin. More annoyed with him than you, I think,” said Erandur, looking far calmer than the situation really merited in Elisif's view. “No one's actually expecting you to reciprocate, don't worry. No one other than him and even he's not exactly expecting it, just hoping.”
“You don't reciprocate, do you?” Karliah said shrewdly, and it occurred to Elisif a master thief like Karliah hadn't got where she was by not being able to read people.
“I don't... I can't!” Elisif cried. “I'm still in love with Torygg! I always will be. Part of me is always going to love him and miss him and I can't... look, I know I need heirs, I know I need to marry again eventually after all this, I know. But I was hoping for just some arranged political match, where we don't love each other and just come together to have kids and just lead separate lives once it's done. Then I can just love my children and mourn Torygg in peace, and he'll forgive me for being unfaithful because he knew I had to do right by Skyrim. And Madanach will never be content to settle for that, he'd be there, all the time, or insisting I come to Markarth. He'd be trying to seduce me, trying to get under my skin, trying to make me love him back...” Elisif had her hands over her face, fingers twining into her hair. No, absolutely not, it would be an unmitigated disaster for them both.
A moment's silence from them both then Erandur spoke.
“That sounds awfully lonely, Elisif.”
“What would you know, you're celibate!” Elisif snapped, tetchy all of a sudden. “And making a complete hash of the whole Aranea business, I might add. And weren't you the one who said falling in love was a mistake?”
“It got my lover killed because we were both too distracted to notice Mercer,” Karliah said, sounding a little tetchy herself. “Which you don't have to worry about because you know who your enemies are.”
Tell that to Erikur. “Not the point,” Elisif sighed. “Oh hang it all, it just wouldn't work. I'm too young for him and damaged goods besides. He can do better than me – what??”
Erandur was shaking his head with a grin and Karliah was actually giggling.
“Don't tell him that when you turn him down,” Karliah laughed. “He'll just give you a list of all the reasons he is also damaged goods and completely unsuitable for anyone then declare that's why you're made for each other.”
“Don't, he'd do exactly that,” Elisif moaned, seeing it all too clearly. “Damn it, why can't things just be simple?? And why are we all so terrible at handling our lives?”
“Well, if we were all good at love all the time, we wouldn't need Lady Mara to guide us, would we,” Erandur said knowingly, deliberately ignoring the eye-rolling from Karliah. Change of subject needed.
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.8
(Anonymous) 2014-04-26 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)Karliah hesitated, looking a bit guilty over something, and when she did speak, it was rather slowly, as if she were choosing her words very carefully.
“That one is complicated and always going to be,” Karliah said softly. “But last I saw they were sorting it out. I can't say Madanach approves, but he told Argis he wasn't going to object so long as Farkas didn't break his heart. I don't think you need worry.”
All the same, Elisif did. Who else did Argis have? No siblings she knew of, his mother dead, just a Forsworn father who presumably must be on this camp somewhere for the blood charm to have worked. Elisif wondered if Argis had even seen the man – he'd not gone far from the command area, Madanach's central compound. Was he one of the High Command perhaps? A Cidhna Mine inmate – yes, that would make sense if Argis had been a guard acting as secret Forsworn liaison, but which one? Not Odvan or Duach, both younger than Argis. Uraccen maybe, but he didn't really look anything like Argis and was a little too young – forty-nine compared to Argis's thirty-five. Braig – he'd talked about his daughter but never mentioned a son, right sort of age though so maybe. The only other option was Madanach himself but surely not, he'd never fancy a Nord... oh. Oh!
Oh sweet gods. Madanach hadn't just sent any old half-Nord Forsworn agent to guard her. He'd sent his own son, a son presumably no one knew about for obvious reasons. Hadn't Argis said his father occasionally gave speeches? Hadn't she thought Argis looked familiar, sensed hidden depths of cunning to the man, hadn't he reminded her of Madanach on occasion? Keirine had told him to use her first name – she must have known he was her nephew. And of course, hadn't he said his blood would be where the King was? Because Madanach was his bloody father.
No wonder that argument had got so personal. That hadn't been a king arguing with a subordinate, that had been a father arguing with his son. No one else would have spoken to Madanach like that, and he'd have killed anyone not his close kin who'd tried.
Complicated indeed. She'd have to talk to Argis about it. Maybe in the morning.
“What time is it?” she asked. The light seemed to be fading so must be sunset or near enough.
“Twilight,” Erandur answered. “Aranea's probably doing her Evening Invocation to Azura right now.”
For someone who claimed he was called to celibacy, he was doing a terrible job of not noticing Aranea's daily routine.
“We should go,” Elisif sighed. “I suppose I have to talk to Madanach and see if we still have an alliance.”
“You still do,” Karliah soothed as she helped Elisif up. “You are allowed to say no, he'll understand. He's not completely unreasonable.”
“Just mostly then,” Elisif said, holding the tent flap open for the two Dunmer as they all emerged into the early evening. Time to face down the Reach-King. Again. She really wasn't looking forward to this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes on the Rhanic :
Rhanteg - Reachfolk
Tegmai - my people
Gearcheim y canolan - midlife crisis
Re: The Wolf Queen Awakens 28.8
(Anonymous) 2014-05-01 01:18 am (UTC)(link)