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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
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15a/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:36 am (UTC)(link)He trekked across the ocean, terrified with every crack of expanding ice, with every strong gust of wind. He hated open water, and now that his curiosity had been sated, it was increasingly difficult to ignore the chilly depths below. He hopped along the icecaps, a lonely figure in the vast, monotonous emptiness.
Back in town, the weather was milder; there was hardly a breeze, only the gentle fall of snow, quiet and insular. He left a farewell for Enthir at the inn, and took a hot meal before hitting the road. Winter persisted during his journey through the mountains: Septimus had sent him looking for Alftand, a Dwemeri ruin, geographically not so far from Winterhold. But, trying to drive a horse through snow that deep, and dealing with all manner of wildlife along the unpaved, winding paths...it wasn’t worth it. So Audric had resolved to travel around, and to take a mountain pass on the other end of the gorge.
It took him hours, but at last, he reached a fork in the road. From the top of the hill, Windhelm was visible, even through the frosty dusk. Smoke rose up in columns from the city, and the foggy glow of civilization tempted him. But then, it was out of the way.
It was soon dark, and Audric took his rest at the Nightgate Inn. He slept fitfully, dreaming of big hands and a warm bed.
The following morning was the coldest of the year thus far, and Audric couldn’t even bring himself to bathe, for the cold asked too much of him. He wrapped himself in his clothes and his armor, and an elegant black fur he’d liberated from a wardrobe. Even so, the icy sting of winter seeped in.
The sun rose just as he crested the pass. An old, decrepit shrine lay broken in the middle of it, and a few weapons were strewn about, but there was no sign of life. The tundra before him lay barren, and that was the way he liked it. Eventually though, the chipped, tin tops of towers rose from the white hills, the sunrise flashing gold and fiery on the cracked, alabaster stone. He tied the horse in a shed, and stooped to investigate the wreckage; there were corpses strewn about, and Audric kept his his guard up.
There were journals, but none of them helpful; all research, all notation. He flipped through page after page, looted pocket after pocket, and when he found a pittance of coins, he left one a piece to the dead, holding onto the rest.
Following the rickety plank bridges down, he delved deeper into the ruins until he found an entrance. Blood splattered the glacial walls, but he tried not to panic, unsheathing a dagger. The thrum of motors and pistons, the hiss of steam as it slithered out from between coils put his hair on end. He disliked Dwemeri ruins, and if what he knew from his history books was true, he disliked the long-since disappeared Dwemer, as well. Cruel, unrelenting creatures, he thought them, made savage by their implacable pursuit of knowledge.
The automatons were not much of a challenge, but they were terrifying to him in their mystery. He did not understand how they worked, how steam could bring cold metal to life. He picked them for loot, and for curiosity, but he made more gold than he did progress. The catacombs were dim and dank, made humid from the steam, water drip-dropping from the ceilings and pipes. The sounds of metalwork overtook his footsteps, and Audric worried he wouldn’t hear an approaching threat.
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15b/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:37 am (UTC)(link)One of the reasons he so despised these ruins was that he always lost time down there; without the sun and without any measure of passing time besides his own discombobulated hunger and drowsiness, he had no way of knowing when an hour had passed, or several, or an entire day. It was disorienting and it put him on edge. But with patience and stealth, even the ruins of Alftand gave way. An immense stone tower rose above a crumbling staircase, overlooking a quiet, decaying alcove. A handful of Falmer patrolled the ground, but in their beastly stupor, they tread the same paths over and over and over again. Picking his way along a wall, Audric avoided the lookouts. Prideful at his skill, he took a congratulatory moment in the alcove to sneer down at the creatures below him...but the screech of rusted metal awakening spurred him back into motion. A Centurion removed itself from its decorative arches, and began searching for the source of the disturbance, but Audric, heart in his throat, kept to the shadows. Back against the wall, he almost tripped over himself to find shelter.
Another chamber was carved into the stone, and in it were two people. Audric remained unseen and watched, still keeping an ear on the clanking atrocity just outside. The two – an Imperial and a Redguard – were arguing, something about glory and abandonment, and Blackreach. Audric had waited long enough, though, and was getting increasingly worried about the Centurion, so he sprang for the lift behind the arguing couple. They tried to catch him mid-flight, surprised by the small, uninvited Breton.
“I’m very sorry!” he hollered before Shouting them off, knocking them back into the stone. And just as he yanked the lever on the lift, the Centurion came back into view. “I’m so, so sorry,” he said again, a solemn murmur.
But the lift took him up, not down, and he found himself above ground, outside an empty camp. The sun was midway through the sky, and as he realized how much time had gone by, exhaustion overtook him, and he crawled under some furs in a weatherworn tent, and curled into sleep.
When he woke, he could not guess the time, for it was dark, and the sky was obscured by clouds. With no way of telling where he was, he was resigned to getting back into the lift, and
dealing with whatever waited for him at the bottom. He rummaged through the abandoned packs and found some bread. His stomach growled angrily but he ignored it to the best of his abilities.
The descent down felt quicker than when he’d come up.
The chamber was devoid of life, now. The body of the Imperial lay strewn, broken and bloody on the floor; the Redguard woman was nowhere to be seen, and Audric hoped she had escaped. Beyond, he could still hear the heavy footsteps of the enormous automaton, but only occasionally. Slumping against the wall, he gazed around, tired and frustrated. There was no other lift, and this one only went up.
There was, though, something glimmering in the dark that caught his attention: at the center of the room, nestled into the stone, there was a decidedly sphere-shaped hollow. Moving through the dark, careful as could be, Audric approached, drawing the tuning sphere from a pocket. The small thing fit like a key inside of a lock, and quite suddenly, the floor gave way to a spiraling set of stairs, and Audric descended.
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15c/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:40 am (UTC)(link)At the top of the tower, Audric found himself in a sepulchral chamber: it was humid and refuse littered the place: books in various states of ruin, gears and levers, bits and pieces of machinery long since defeated. Audric plundered a rucksack nearby and found a journal that, in coarse terms, described the plight of a man who had come before him.
Finding the Oculory, Audric stared in awe at the complexity of lenses and arms above. He wandered up and found the table that operated the machine, just as Septimus had described to him. He pressed and prodded at the mechanism, but nothing happened until he fixed the lexicon into its receptacle. Then, the thing came to life, pulsating with a soft glow. Audric fussed and fidgeted with it for a while until he worked out a pattern to it: to the left, twice, then to the left again, once, and so on… Patiently, he played with the lenses for some time, arranging them until he finally coaxed the machine into submission.
Encased in crystal trapping, the Elder Scroll was his.
His heart thudded hard in his chest and his veins filled with adrenaline; he was almost dizzy with the unexpected thrill of beholding it. He wasn’t sure what had come over him: up to this point, it had been just another artifact, another cobble in the road he was forging. But the nearer he came to it, the more frenzied he felt.
Picking it up, he turned it over. It was light, and the parchment felt almost soft, like tenuous leather – not quite there. He didn’t dare open it, not after what Urag had said about it. Instead, he tucked it into a hide tube, and hid it in his bag. The humor of toting an Elder Scroll amongst his regular belongings did not escape him, and he chuckled to himself on his way out to the lift.
He’d almost gone alone, but now that he was lying on his back in the snow, bleeding out from his arm, he was very glad he hadn’t. He could hear Enthir’s voice, though the words didn’t make sense for him. All the same, it was a comfort to have the sound of a friend, especially while that same friend mended him up. Healing magic was always nasty: the process of bone and sinew regrowing was never as painless as people often imagined.
As Audric fell back into consciousness, he heard Alduin’s distant roar.
“Come on,” Enthir linked his arm with Audric’s uninjured one and pulled him into a sitting position. “Come on, you’re alright.”
“Like hell,” Audric rasped. He could still smell smoke and his eyes watered, the condensation freezing on his lashes. He felt Enthir’s grip on him tighten and winced; then, he felt the sweep of dragon wings, and the shudder of stone.
“By the Eight,” Enthir murmured.
“You truly have the voice of a Dovah.” Paarthurnax crowed proudly. “Alduin’s allies will think twice after this victory.”
Choking on the cold, Audric snarled. “It wasn’t much of a victory, since he, you know, escaped.” He glared, but his bitterness was wasted on the endless patience of the ancient dragon. “I need to know where he went!”
Calmly, Paarthurnax nodded, considering. “One of his allies could tell us. Motmahus...it won’t be easy to convince one of them to betray him…” The three of them held still in the frigid evening, puzzling over what to do. “Perhaps the Hofkahsejun,” Paarthurnax suggested.
“The what now?” Audric asked impudently.
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15d/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:41 am (UTC)(link)“Dragonsreach?” he said. His head was pounding, and he was sore all over but at least his arm wasn’t broken anymore. “Why would –”
“It was originally built to house a captive Dovah. A fine place to trap one of Alduin’s allies, hm?”
Audric pondered this for a few moments, rubbing his hands to keep warm. He couldn’t begin to imagine what he would say to Balgruuf, how he could ask for such a favor, particularly during a time where the only thing that was certain was turmoil. Eventually, he concluded, “The Jarl of Whiterun might not think so.”
Enthir intervened then, having finally found his words again. “Audric, you’re one of the most persuasive men I know. If anyone can convince a Jarl to abide such a request, I’m sure it’s you.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Enthir,” Audric spat grumpily.
“Your Thu’um is strong,” Paarthurnax argued. “I do not doubt that you can convince him of the need.”
Exhaustion washing over him, Audric collapsed backward, but Enthir caught him before he hit the snow. All the same, a part of him wished to lie in the cold until it overtook him, and then he wouldn’t have to convince anybody of anything. He pushed Enthir away when his fussing became too much, insisting that he was fine. In spite of every nerve in his body still tingling with fear, in spite of the pain that stretched into every corner of his body, he was fine.
“We can stay with the Greybeards tonight,” he said at last. “They will have food for us, and beds to rest in.”
“So long as we get off of this awful mountain and out of the gale.” Enthir pulled Audric to his feet and wrapped an arm around him, guiding him.
Audric glanced over his shoulder and watched Paarthurnax’s expression, unable to read him as he might with a person. Instead, the dragon’s old eyes bore into him until he lost his resolve and turned away.
The next morning, the pair of them descended into Ivarstead together, and Audric took Enthir so far as the road into Eastmarch. The elf dismounted and Audric sent him off with a few provisions, and they parted ways with little travail. Once Enthir disappeared around a corner, Audric took off at a gallop for Whiterun.
The planes came into view as evening set in, a rosy glow settling over the dead grass and illuminating the spaces between crumbling stone where mortar had rotted away.
Dragonsreach was warm and welcoming after riding through the hard chill that had settled over the land: the lower parts of the country had yet to see snow, but frost crept along the valleys and the wind had grown brisk. Farmers were long past harvest, and now smoke billowed up from the settlements where meat was being smoked, vegetables pickled, and grain stored.
Balgruuf received Audric warmly as always, and insisted that they sit down to dinner together.
Audric ate the delicious food and sat in the comfortable hall and enjoyed the amenities with some guilt, knowing he was really calling for business – and not good business, at that. He listened to Balgruuf fume for a while: about the Thalmor, about Ulfric, and about the dragons.
“I hear you and Tullius are planning some kind of confrontation with the Embassy soon,” he mentioned sometime during the second course.
Audric nodded. “It’s the better of two bad choices,” he confided. “Naturally it’s better: it was my idea.” He smiled and stirred his soup around.
“Probably. Though I believe I’ve heard that putting Ulfric back on the throne in Windhelm was your idea, too.”
“For one, it was Ulfric’s idea; I just agreed to help things along.”
“And I imagine the pay was good?”
The accusation stung, all the more so because it was true. “Yes, excessively. But the money was hardly the most compelling part of the deal.” He sipped some broth before adding, “Ulfric’s friendship and influence could mean everything, in a time of need.”
Balgruuf nodded sympathetically, though his gaze remained dry. “I don’t approve, but I understand.”
“What is this rivalry between the two of you?” Audric asked. “You share many opinions and attitudes.” The jarl scoffed but he went on. “I think if it weren’t for this loathsome axe between you, you might be excellent allies, if not good friends.”
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15e/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:42 am (UTC)(link)“What do you think I came here for?”
The jarl chuckled; the sound bounced heartily around, dissipating high up in the rafters. But as it settled, so did his expression, and it was sad. “I thought you would know by now that you needn’t hide your intentions from me,” he said. “You’ve never sent word ahead of yourself. Why should that change now? You must want something from me, hm?”
Of course Audric’s attempt at manners would be his undoing.
Putting on his most charming smile, Audric looked on sweetly and said, “Well you know, there are a great many things I want from you –” but he was not allowed to conclude his charade.
“Don’t play games, friend. Get to the point of the matter.” Balgruuf wasn’t unkind, but his patience for Audric’s tricks was at its frayed end.
During this time, the hall had conveniently emptied, save for the necessary guards and ever-present, ever-determined Irileth. All this time and she still watched him like a hawk, which was tiresome, as Audric had a habit of liberating small trinkets and occasional books from the palace.
“I’d rather not say, in present company.” Warily, Audric eyed those who remained. He couldn’t anticipate Balgruuf’s reaction, and he didn’t want to cause alarm before he managed to do anything at all.
Balgruuf was a fair man, in spite of his temper. “I’ll allow it,” he said. “Come, we’ll go upstairs to my study, where the walls don’t have ears.”
Audric nodded and followed.
He'd twisted his words over and over in his head, had composed speech after speech on the way here, but now none of it seemed good enough. It was all disingenuous, evasive nonsense, and it made bile rise in his throat. He would just have to come out with it, then. Once the doors were shut and they were alone, Audric perched on Balgruuf’s desk. “I need something from you.”
“And I am entirely in your debt,” Balgruuf said, smiling, as if Audric was being melodramatic and all could be forgiven.
The silence seemed to pile up and up, crushing Audric with the weight of anticipation. He had to open his mouth and say something but he couldn’t think of anything better than, “I need to trap a dragon in your palace.” The silence bore down on him even harder, and he was the first to look away. “You know I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important. Alduin needs to be stopped and I –”
“There must be another way,” Balgruuf shook his head. “The risk is too great. And how can we expect to fight the World-Eater? His return beckons the end times.”
Audric had a few choices here. And he remembered the question Paarthurnax had put to him, upon their meeting. “I don’t care if it is the end times,” Audric murmured, staring at his boots. “It’s only hopeless if we give up. But I am Dovahkiin,” he growled, “it’s my destiny to stop him.” If he had looked at his own reflection at that moment, he wouldn’t have known him: this was a very different man from the boy who was dumped before the chopping block in Helgen, those many months ago. “I was told Dragonsreach was meant to house a dragon; now if I can trap one of Alduin’s allies, I can interrogate him, and maybe I can figure out how to save this world that you and I both love. How about it?”
Balgruuf was nodding, now, moved by his lecture. “That does make a good bit of sense, and I want to help you, Audric, I do. But…”
“Oh, there’s always something,” Audric hopped down from the desk.
“I understand that you have some unfinished business with the Thalmor Embassy, and now Tullius has put out a call for arms to support his cause. I’m not in a position to refuse him, but then how can I put my city in danger of a dragon with so little manpower left over? Go see to this outrageous errand with Tullius and Ulfric, and if you survive, then we can worry about the dragons.”
"Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15f/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-03 03:46 am (UTC)(link)“That’s fair,” he conceded. “I wouldn’t risk the lives of the people of Whiterun. I’ve come to love this place dearly.”
“And do you always take as you please from the ones you love?” Balgruuf challenged with a smile.
Audric’s eyes widened. “You’ve known this whole time and you haven’t imprisoned me?”
Balgruuf laughed. “I’d be a fool to jail Man’s greatest hope, wouldn’t I? I don’t think Shor would be pleased with me were I to throw his champion behind bars. But that aside, once this catastrophe is over, you’d better watch yourself. You can only be tolerated for as long as you’re essential.”
“And here I thought I had friends in high places. Very well. I’ll come back after the Thalmor have been dealt with. But you’re promising me, yes?” He offered his hand.
Balgruuf eyed it warily. “A king’s word is his bond,” he said. “But what good is the word of a thief?”
Audric didn’t allow his hand to falter. “I don’t know. But my word must be good enough for your gods, mustn't it?” he threw the implications back in Balgruuf’s face. He disliked being joined to any of the Divines, no matter how loosely.
The jarl took his hand and gave it a firm, binding shake. “I have very little reason not to trust you,” he agreed. “But do not test the boundaries of that trust. Now, stay the night in a warm bed and wake up to a warmer meal. The road can wait another day, surely.”
“That it can,” he agreed, and followed his friend into bed.
Hello all! In case anyone at all is interested in learning more about Audric, there's a few places you can check out: crow-featers . tumblr . com / tagged / monsieur bellamy; and also baiseman . tumblr . com. without the spaces, obviously (except between "monsieur" and "bellamy" that space stays). Hope you're still enjoying the fic!
Re: "Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15f/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-11 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)Re: "Divide and Conquer" Ulfric Stormcloak/M!DB 15f/??
(Anonymous) 2014-11-14 12:23 am (UTC)(link)