Meme Announcements!
Oct. 29th, 2011 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyrimkinkmemeANNOUNCEMENTS: 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
Nightshade and Juniper 3.1
Date: 2013-04-08 08:22 pm (UTC)Relationship: het
Summary: Madanach unveils the first part of his plans to take back the Reach to Liriel, and while she does believe him, it's always wise to get outside verification of these things. That's if she can actually trust the outside verification, of course.
A/N: Part continuation of the last chapter... and part lead in to the action. :)
Druadach Redoubt turned out to be a huge cavern built into the mountain, holes in the roof letting the light in, moonlight pouring in and pooling on to the ground. The ground itself rose up towards the back of the cavern, with three levels, each one with Forsworn tents pitched and stockades at the base of each tier, even trees growing there, and a small pool of water at the foot of the cave. There was even a small crop farm and grain mill, and a goat running up to her, butting against her and bleating.
“She likes you,” Madanach laughed as Liriel scritched it behind the ears.
“She's lovely!” Liriel smiled. “I never had you lot down as the pet owner types.”
“We're not, she's a working goat and valuable member of the camp,” said Madanach, rubbing the goat's back briefly before moving on. “Blame my daughter for the ridiculously sentimental name.”
Liriel rubbed the animal's back, idly wondering which daughter. Kaie? Or Eithne while she'd lived here? She didn't think the same goat would have survived two decades, but she was beginning to realise the King in Rags had a very long memory.
She followed him up towards the back of the cave, nodding in acknowledgement to the Forsworn she knew, those that were still up, and exchanging nervous glances with the ones she didn't. Still, no one reached for a weapon – it seemed Madanach's approval was sufficient to get her a free pass.
Madanach's tent was of course on the top tier, also home to a forge, a huge cage and the campfire and kitchen. Two tents, one big one with what looked like an elk's skull and ribcage mounted on top, presumably Madanach's, and a smaller one, but one still bigger than the others she'd seen around the place. Kaie was sitting inside it, presumably preparing for bed. She glanced knowingly up at Liriel and grinned.
“Sleeping up here tonight, are we? Thought you might. Just keep the noise down, OK? Some of us are trying to sleep over here.”
“I'll... try,” said Liriel, feeling a little uncertain as to just what Kaie meant by that, but if she wanted to sleep, Liriel could certainly make sure she wasn't disturbed.
Madanach growled in his daughter's direction. “Don't you have any work to be getting on with?”
“It's midnight, nearly,” Kaie shot back. “You know, the time normal people are meant to go to bed?”
“I don't care, something important's come up,” said Madanach, casting a magelight over a nearby table with a map on it and indicating for Liriel to take the sole chair. “And no it can't wait until morning,” he added, retrieving another from his tent and bringing it up to the table.
Kaie just rolled her eyes and reached for the flaps on her tent. “And he complains about his sleep cycles,” she muttered, tersely closing the entrance and retreating to bed.
“I hadn't realised it was that late,” said Liriel guiltily. “Are you sure this can't wait until morning? I don't want to keep you up.”
“Sithis, don't you start, I have enough to put up with what with Kaie nagging me. I swear she's turning into her mother more and more every day.” Madanach indicated the map in front of her, a map of what was clearly the Reach, and several locations dotted around it.
“Rather you didn't share this with anyone else,” said Madanach gruffly. “This is all our camps in the Reach. They operate mostly independently under their camp commander's control, and aside from this one and a few of the smaller ones nearby, they're all under the command of a Matriarch or a Briar Heart controlled by one.”
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.2
Date: 2013-04-08 08:23 pm (UTC)“Is that... important?” she asked. Well of course it was or he wouldn't be telling her, but what she didn't know was why.
“Ever read the Legend of Red Eagle?” said Madanach, not looking at her. “It tells of our greatest ever leader, a fierce warrior who fought off the Empire, Faolan the Red Eagle, first Lord of the Reach, the first to unite us. Before that, we were always fighting amongst ourselves, easy prey. He was a great leader, a mighty warrior but he made one mistake. He made a deal with the Hagravens, took great power, but at a terrible cost. He let them take his heart and replace it with one of Briar, and from that day until the day he died, he was never his own man again. He was the first, but many have made that same deal since, or had their bodies resurrected with Briar Hearts. They are fierce warriors, very powerful mages, but they answer to the Matriarch that made them. We respect the Hags' power, of course we do. But to surrender entirely to one? No. I will never be making that particular bargain, and so you have Druadach Redoubt as one of the few places not led by either a Matriarch or her servant. That in a nutshell is my problem.”
Liriel recalled his words of earlier and realised that perhaps the King in Rags wasn't anything like as powerful as his title suggested.
“The Hags won't listen to you?” Liriel asked, beginning to realise why he could only guarantee her safety at his own camp.
“The Hags serve the old gods, they're not going to pay attention to a mere mortal,” said Madanach, looking at her shrewdly, beginning to smile. “But the Shrouded Lady, the Hag of Hags, they'd have to pay attention to her. More precisely, to her followers.”
“You want me to negotiate with the Hagravens. But Madanach, they'd kill me on sight!” Liriel cried.
“Not negotiate,” said Madanach, face shadowed in the magelight. “I want my people back, Liriel, and for that, someone is going to have to die.”
A contract then. Liriel went very still, the sound of her heart thudding in her chest almost impossibly loud in the silence.
“All of them?” she whispered. Madanach just laughed.
“No, just one or two will be enough. Just enough to set an example to the others, I imagine the rest will fall into line after that. Here, let me talk you through the various camps and factions, it'll help you understand. There's four factions, other than me. There's the North faction, headed by Matriarch Keirine, based up at Deepwood Redoubt. The fort itself is run by Keirine's Briar Heart, but Keirine has a coven at Hag's End, deep within the fortress, where she does magical research and trains the next generation of mages and Matriarchs. She also oversaw the smaller camps at Bruca's Leap and Dragon Bridge Overlook, and this place until I got here, but never used Briar Hearts to run them.”
“Keirine,” Liriel whispered, remembering the name. “She's the one who told you to break out now or you never would, that the stars were right.”
“She did,” Madanach replied, nodding in approval. “She must have known the Night Mother had called a new Listener, and foreseen that Listener ending up in Cidhna Mine. She's a smart one, Keirine.”
“She's not who you want me to kill, is she?” Liriel asked nervously. Madanach looked up at that, appalled at the very idea.
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.3
Date: 2013-04-08 08:24 pm (UTC)So not Keirine then. Noted. Liriel looked at the map, beginning to understand some of the lines and symbols now. A wavy line separated the northern camps from the others, running from Dragon Bridge Overlook down the Karth then striking west and running just south of Markarth. By Druadach Redoubt was a crudely drawn crown. Home of the Reach-King that was and will be again.
“All this is territory nominally loyal to you,” she breathed, beginning to get it. Madanach nodded.
“Correct. There's Kolskeggr Mine here, biggest gold mine in the Reach. Was the Silver-Bloods', now it's mine. We've got to fund all this somehow, and now skimming silver ore from Cidhna Mine and smuggling it out is no longer an option, we needed an alternative. So Nepos and I decided to overrun Kolskeggr before the breakout happened.”
“Nepos the Nose,” Liriel said, remembering that note she'd found on Weylin. She'd been meaning to call on him after her ill-fated visit to Thonar Silver-Blood, but after finding out from Thonar that Madanach was behind all the murders, she'd run straight back to the Shrine of Talos to tell Eltrys – and run straight into the guards standing over his body. “He's your man in Markarth.”
“Yes, he and I go way back,” said Madanach fondly. “We've got agents all over the city and luckily for us, Briar Hearts and Matriarchs tend to attract the wrong sort of attention there. So Nepos runs the show in Markarth, and effectively that city is mine. With a bit of time to put the arrangements in place, I could depose the Jarl and take it over whenever I liked.”
“So why haven't you?” Liriel countered.
“Because I'd never get to keep it,” Madanach sighed. “Learnt that the first time around. We could have held that city against all comers, but the Empire was determined, the Jarl was determined, and the Silver-Bloods betrayed us as soon as the Great War ended. We still might have held – if the Hags of the south hadn't decided it was a lost cause and ordered their camps to stay put.”
“You mean half the Forsworn didn't even fight?” Liriel gasped, horrified. Madanach inclined his head in confirmation.
“Correct. It's almost as if the Hags don't want us to have a kingdom of our own, isn't it? But I'm sure that can't be right, and I'm very sure that actually having to be answerable to the law as citizens instead of doing whatever they feel like in their own little fiefdoms is a price they'd be happy to pay. Of course.”
“Of course,” Liriel echoed, beginning to see why the comparison with Astrid had been such an apt one. “Never mind the Nords, you've got to deal with your own people first.”
“You see what I mean about it taking years to organise the Forsworn into a united faction again,” Madanach sighed. “Took long enough the first time. I don't have those years, Liriel, I've got a decade left in me and maybe a few years more, but no longer than that.” He looked up at her, beginning to smile again, a crafty, devious smile that unnerved Liriel as much as it delighted her. “At least, I didn't until you turned up, Queen of Dragons.”
Liriel wasn't sure she liked the sound of that.
“I hope to Sithis you're going to pay me for all this,” said Liriel tersely. “And while I'm willing to off Hagravens for you, there's an awful lot of Forsworn around them willing to die to protect them. That's my problem, Madanach! I'd like to help, but do you really want me cutting a bloody hole into your own people just to eliminate your enemies?”
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.4
Date: 2013-04-08 08:25 pm (UTC)Now this was safer. Step back from that intensity of before and retreat into banal chit-chat about his family.
“She just wants you to be healthy and happy,” Liriel told him. “She's worried about you.”
Madanach just grunted, scowling. He waved towards the big tent with the elk mounted on it. “Go on, get to bed. And before you ask why the elk skeleton, it's a tribute to worthy prey. Killed it myself many many years ago. Didn't even use magic. Part of my initiation into adulthood – could have just made an animal sacrifice like everyone else, but why take the easy route, hmm?”
Liriel could quite believe that Madanach had been the sort of young man to despise something on principle precisely because everyone else was doing it. She crawled into the tent and was surprised to just see a pile of straw there with fur pelts flung over it. She'd expected a proper bed at least.
“That's what you sleep on?” she asked, surprised. She couldn't see Madanach from inside the tent but could almost sense him rolling his eyes.
“I'm very sorry if the Queen of Dragons doesn't find my accommodations entirely to her liking and would prefer a solid gold bed lined with hawk feathers and Khajiit fur instead, but believe it or not, I do have a war to fight and rather more pressing concerns?” he growled.
“It's not that!” Liriel cried. “It's just you had a nicer bed than this in Cidhna Mine...”
Silence. For a second, Liriel wondered if she should have mentioned Cidhna Mine at all. Maybe it had brought back memories he'd rather forget. Then he finally spoke.
“It's just somewhere to rest my head, Liriel, it's not like I'm entertaining a different woman every night.”
Liriel stretched out on the straw pile, feeling sorry for him. All this responsibility couldn't be easy for him, and though he seemed a lot happier than he had in prison, he still seemed lonely. His wife dead from the sounds of it, celibate all that time in prison (she presumed), and not exactly in any position to have a new lover here. There were some young women in the camp, but all around Kaie's age or younger and Liriel guessed even Madanach wasn't going to start ordering women that young to his bed. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if she should go and comfort him, but then she remembered him touching her face and leaning closer with that hungry smile, and that brought up all sorts of fears she'd rather not deal with.
“Maybe if you got a decent bed, that might change,” she called out, deliberately keeping her tone light and easy. That did get a laugh from him.
“I think the effort might kill me,” Madanach laughed. “I don't need a harem, Liriel, just one would do.”
“Bet she'd still appreciate a decent bed,” Liriel called, snuggling in amongst the furs. Truth be told it was already quite comfy. Not luxurious, but comfy. It would however only really sleep one. If Madanach ever did find a lover, he'd not be able to sleep next to her in this. It occurred to Liriel maybe he'd never expected or intended to find one ever again, and for some reason that saddened her. Everyone should have a shot at happiness, and Madanach didn't have the hundreds of years that she did to find it.
Lady Mara, if he can't have his kingdom, at least find him someone to love. If he has to live in exile, at least find him someone to share it with.
No response but there never was. She'd leave it in Mara's hands. She didn't know if the Forsworn believed in Mara, but even they fell in love.
“I will think about it,” Madanach called back. “Now Dragon-Queen, if you are quite done complaining and prying into my personal life, are you going to go to sleep?”
Liriel closed her eyes, pulling furs over her head. “Goodnight, Madanach,” she said, feeling sleep overcome her. She'd dozed off in seconds, never hearing the reply.
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.5
Date: 2013-04-08 08:26 pm (UTC)“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
Date: 2013-04-08 08:28 pm (UTC)“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
Date: 2013-04-08 08:28 pm (UTC)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
Date: 2013-04-08 08:29 pm (UTC)“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
Date: 2013-04-09 01:20 pm (UTC)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
Date: 2013-04-13 11:02 am (UTC)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
Date: 2013-04-10 04:18 pm (UTC)Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
Date: 2013-04-10 06:06 pm (UTC)Glad you like it so far!
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.8
Date: 2013-04-10 07:36 pm (UTC)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
Date: 2013-04-13 11:10 am (UTC)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.
Re: Nightshade and Juniper 3.3a
Date: 2013-04-10 06:05 pm (UTC)“Still not helping!” Liriel sighed, rubbing her forehead and craving sleep. “I'm not a Hagraven.”
“No. Not you yourself. But your leader is, in a way.” Madanach was staring at her, willing her to understand, and she was trying, she really was, but she had normal sleep cycles still and her brain was tired! Astrid, did he mean? No, not Astrid. The Night Mother. The Hag of Hags, Matriarch of Matriarchs, feared by all the Hagravens and revered by the Forsworn too as the conduit to Sithis, the promise the Dread Father had not abandoned them and that his aid could be sought.
“You're saying if I walk up there and announce myself as Listener, the Forsworn will just let me in,” she said. “They'll let me walk right up to their Matriarch and kill her?”
“Essentially, yes,” said Madanach, looking positively delighted at the idea.
“But I walked past Broken Tower Redoubt in my Shrouded Armour and they attacked me on sight!” said Liriel, remembering having to deal with all sorts of resistance when she and Jenassa had gone to rescue Fjotra the Sybil from there.
“Yes, because you didn't give the right call-signs,” said Madanach. “Anyone can kill a Dark Brother and steal their armour, Liriel. There's a ritual to it, a call and response so they know you're genuinely the Night Mother's and not an impostor. Surprised your Sanctuary never taught you, but if what you've told me is true, it's quite possible the knowledge was lost years ago.”
“So tell me,” Liriel sighed, weary and tired of all the secrets. “You tell me how to announce myself as the true Listener, if you know all this.”
“I will,” Madanach promised, leaning closer, grey eyes staring intently in to hers. “I will teach you everything your brothers and sisters have forgotten.” He was smiling, a hungry, predatory smile as he reached out a hand to her face, fingers gently skimming her cheek as they ran through her hair, and Liriel seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. All she knew was that she was shaking all over, afraid, very afraid but not wanting it to stop either.
“Madanach,” she whispered, suddenly very very nervous.
“Dragon-Queen?” he murmured, sly grin not letting up for a second.
“Can we do this in the morning?” she asked, backing away from him. “I – I think I need to sleep first. I can't take any more in right now. I'm sorry.”
Madanach's smile vanished as he narrowed his eyes, looking carefully at her. Then he nodded and let her go, backing off. Liriel sighed with relief, finally able to breathe properly again. She didn't consider herself a weakling in any sense but around Madanach, she always felt off-balance somehow. Constantly wrong-footed. She was a pure-bred Altmer of impeccable family while he was some scruffy barbarian human barely half her age, and yet around him she always felt like the powerless one. She should turn and run, get out of here, go back to running side contracts for Nazir and dealing with the war and trying to sort out the dragons, and never come near this place again. She was already feeling in way over her head, and what if he was playing her somehow? Using her for some nefarious purpose of his own? It was all too likely with this man.
“I've kept you up long enough, haven't I?” he said, leaning back and looking almost kind. “Go on, take my tent.”
“Where will you sleep?” Liriel asked, getting up. “You can't stay up all night.”