#AU where Athis is in a polycule

[mareenavee]

Swift in Anger, Quick to Laugh

For @rainpebble3! Happy Birthday!!!! 🫂✨

Shoutout to @paraparadigm for the phenomenal beta work <3

Huge thanks to @changelingsandothernonsense, @thequeenofthewinter, @archangelsunited, @polypolymorph, and @thana-topsy for your endless support of Athis-related nonsense <3

Without further ado~

Swift in Anger, Quick to Laugh

LOST?

It was a matching set of keys for a reason. They weren’t exactly the same common-looking brass keys everyone on Nirn seemed to carry. These were odd-shaped and specific. And the major reason Athis had left them in the care of Brynjolf and Delvin to begin with was because—of all the idiots in the Guild—those two seemed to be the most responsible. How wrong he’d been.

“When was the last time you saw your key, Delvin?” Athis asked. He grimaced, sighed through his teeth and scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. The courier had woken the entire house in the middle of the night, and with a newborn, none of them had been sleeping much to begin with. He’d left the house as fast as anything, his armor barely secured, Odahviing all riled up from the sudden summoning. He was rather remorseful for leaving Teldryn and Nyenna to deal with the wake of that chaos by themselves, but there was nothing else for it.

He’d tried to give the title of Guild Master away. He’d tried. Even without the formality, the sheer amount of work that came with it never seemed to leave him. Hadn’t they done just fine before he’d helped them with the Mercer issue? No? He sighed. Gods, but his bones ached and he just needed a nap. But first, nonsense. Because that, too, was never ending.

“I had it with me while I was in the Flagon. I was having a drink with Endell here and Bryn. It was still on its chain; I remember because I tucked it into my shirt so it wouldn’t tip into the mugs,” Delvin said, sounding as miserable as he looked. He held his bald head in his hands and leaned his elbows on the desk. Endell snorted and patted Delvin on the back. Athis rolled his eyes.

“You’re always in the Flagon, Delvin,” he said flatly. Endell at least had the courtesy to laugh before he left the man to his suffering. Athis pinched the bridge of his nose. His head ached and the wobegon Breton was grating on the last of his nerves. “Can you retrace your steps after that?”

“I—uh, no,” Delvin said, voice muffled in his arms as he rested on the huge ledger which sat on the desk. Behind him, different artifacts of varying value glittered in the light of the lanterns and torches. The water of the Cistern sloshed as it flowed through the cobblestone channels, and never had the place felt more like a filthy bandit cave than it did right now. He wished, not for the last time, that he was home and warm in his bed with the people he loved. But no. Riften, instead. Because of course.

“Think harder,” Athis growled.

“I was drunk,” Delvin complained.

“Delvin—!” Athis protested in frustration, but held back further curses. He was out of the habit of that kind of language lately. He threw his hands up in exasperation. “Azura strike me down, already!” 

He walked behind the desk to search through whatever might have been moved. There were various bins which held such things as lock picks, quills, inks, charcoal, wax for impressioning, or sealing letters, and brass stamps. All of which were dusty and unorganized. Athis wasn’t surprised; this was the reality here in the Guild. Common sense was not their forte. It was little wonder things had gone to Oblivion while he was gone. Or before even that. Grousing wouldn’t solve the issue, however, so he kept looking. How hard could a key be to find, after all? -> Read the rest on AO3

#MareenaWrites #Athis #Teldryn #Nyenna #LDB Athis #Teldryn Sero #AU where Athis is in a polycule #Take My Hand Erase the Past Forever #Nerevarine Teldryn Sero #Skyrim #Skyrim fic #tes #tesblr #elder scrolls #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr #Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked #AU

[mareenavee]

Fic Authors Self Rec!

Tagged by the indominable @kookaburra1701! Rules:

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

I love this. OKAY LET'S GO. Tell me about how proud you are of your work, friends. You've come so far <3

Tagging: @paraparadigm, @polypolymorph, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @dirty-bosmer, @thequeenofthewinter, @gilgamish, @archangelsunited, @throughtrialbyfire, @expended-sleeper, @ladytanithia and YOU yes if you see this, talk kindly about your writing journey and TAG ME BACK <3

Below the cut because I do be ramblin' (: They're not really in any particular order, I just love them all for different reasons.

1) If We Knew Anything At All

This one was a hell ship prompted by a list that Topsy shared with a bunch of us and I had a brainwyrm, then ended up crying while I wrote the end of it. Quite possibly one of my favorite ever pieces. This one is both the inevitable end to my fic universe and something completely outside time. How did I manage this? Via Sheogorath's voicing. I don't think it gets more unreliable than that.

2) Metempsychosis

A very dear friend and fantastic teammate I met through Skywind sent me this prompt and it gave me such an excellent challenge not only to flex on weird god voice stuff again, but also to bust out some spoken word poetry tricks. I did end up recording myself reading this one too and it felt like old times. I loved all the layers of references I shoved into 1,000 words. It is also my first Morrowfic. And also one that reminded me what I am capable of even more strongly than some of my other projects did. 🥰

3) Serpens Caput

This one is newer, yes BUT OH MY GODS what a flex it was. ANOTHER Morrowfic but it's set in Ceth's fic universe featuring not only major character death but the mindset of a villain in his final moments. And we get to see Danger!Josh through his eyes. It was WEIRD. WEIRD WEIRD but so much fun. I don't think I've yelled so much about a fic whilst writing before. Ceth threw me this prompt, but I don't think was expecting this to end up...being this way (: Borrowed the description of Teldryn and Nerevar from her universe and just RAN WITH IT.

4) Little Dragon

This was written as part of my cute, happy LDB!Athis polycule AU where nothing is quite as horrifically messy as my main fic universe. It is a different kind of catharsis to write, often fun and humorous and a flex in that direction, since I didn't know what i was capable of—I always write pining and heartbreak lol. This came about as part of a fic writer's duel with AU (judged by Poly) which was honestly one of the coolest fandom experiences I've ever been in. It has become its own thing now with multiple other stories and I've been in yet another fandom duel since then. So it's all cute fuzzy feelings and happy memories and I love it to bits.

and last but certainly not least:

5) The World on Our Shoulders

My longfic which throws characters into extremely tough situations, handles horribly difficult themes and topics, shows people being messy and still finds ways to show it all with grace. It's what got me out of my multi-year writing slump and truly, truly brought me back to myself. So yes maybe some of the characters have some of my irl nonsense. Some scenes are far too relatable and it's a little scary sometimes how horrible that is, but it's a different kind of Catharsis. I love also the support its gotten so far for its specific type of storytelling structure as well as all the weird details that sprawl into other stories (Like my honorable mention written for Para, Recurse) and sequels and spin offs. It's been a great joy to be writing this and it's continued to inspire me. From draft one, which I wrote in challenge mode, posting every day this last February to now, where I am mid-ground-up-edit, I love this project to bits and will do all I can to see it through to the end. I see how much I can accomplish in this project. I see what can be done with common tropes and themes and even Fic in general. It's unalienated labor that I do for the sheer hell of it because I can and it's mine and I don't have to follow The Rules. There's something beautiful about that. It's one reason I get up at the crack of dawn every day -- to write for the sake of writing. Out of spite sometimes for all the ways the world tries to crush this kind of self expression out of us. This is my gem of a project. And I am proud of it and how far I've come since I started it. (:

So now it's your turn, if you got this far. Why do you write? How have your favorite fics you've written changed your perspective on the craft so far?

#AskMareena #Fic Authors Self Rec #The World on Our Shoulders #Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked #skyrim #skyrim fic #Nyenna #LDB/Athis #LDB/Teldryn #LDB/Teldryn Sero #Nerevarine Teldryn Sero #Nerevarine Teldryn #Nerevarine #elder scrolls #tes #tesblr #fanficblr

[mareenavee]

From thr Asks to Spread Love game, choose 3 that you havent already been asked 🙂

Hi BRI :D Thank you for two of these open ended ones! I will most certainly oblige.

Fandom Positivity asks from this game here.

2. Tell us why you love one of your OCs or an obscure canon character (link to any fics/art you have featuring them!) 

I'm just going to go on and on about

⚔️Athis ⚔️

if you'll let me.

He's not really -obscure- per se but he is relatively ignored so let me just give him some love!

So I appear to be writing the majority of Athis things at the moment. Obviously my main fic features him as a POV character. I also have a couple that I'm quite proud of actually AH.

First is Sea of Storms from a duel. A Pirate AU.

Next is Little Dragon which part of the polycule AU with Tel/Nyenna/Athis actually being happy.

Love and its Decisive Pain is an extra chapter more or less for World, featuring Athis musing and worrying over Nyenna.

Next isn't one of mine but is by @archangelsunited! Originally a tumblr post but is now on AO3. Reader/Athis!

Next one is more pirates! by @paraparadigm. Athis is a Navigator <3 So smart, so handsome, so brave. Ah.

More from @archangelsunited -- this one is a bit on the tragic side but the voicing is phenomenal.

This one is also a bit on the tragic side, by TheBrandenRose.

And artwork?

AH this piece was fanart of To Hold On to You by @changelingsandothernonsense

And this post contains, like, perhaps the most handsome Athis fanart I've ever seen by @thana-topsy.

3. One of the best takes you’ve ever seen

The-Dragonborn-Is-Dead trope but done in the phenomenal way that BetterBeMeta wrote in Foe-Tongue: A Historical Fiction.

Here's a piece of the writing that I love. It doesn't mean anything out of context but OH MY GOD DOES IT ACTUALLY MEAN EVERYING.

“Valamand,” [Wyrenna] whispered, “do you have a comb?” He said, “Yes, of course,” and gave it to her. She used it to tidy up where she still was bed-frazzled, tied her hair neatly as she walked up the stairs.

I fucking love this fic. It's my favorite in any fandom, ever in existence. @paraparadigm rec'd it to me earlier on. (: I wanna write like them when I grow up.

13. Recommend a fic (can be your own!) that features something you wish was written about more.

Okay so in this case I am just over the moon about all of the overarching pulling of lore into a fanfic that KB has achieved in such a phenomenal way. I'm talking about @kookaburra1701's fic Aristeia and ALL THE ORC CULTURE. ALL OF IT. I'm HERE FOR IT. More Orcs please, OCs, NPCs, NPCs-Become-OCs. HELL. Yes.

Here's a quote I love particularly from chapter 1 regarding some cultural things that I've been -really fast eyes- over:

“Olur tells me you bloodied your sword today.” Bagrak’s voice was even, as if she was remarking on the weather. Borgakh paused in spooning stew into the bowl before straightening up and presenting it to her mother. Bagrak did not take it. “I bloodied it for Mor Khazgur, mother,” Borgakh said, throwing her shoulders back and looking Bagrak in the eyes. “One of the Reachwomen and a briarheart tried to steal the deer I shot. Olur and I extracted our Blood Price.” “I am not sure one deer is important enough to be covered by the Code,” said Bagrak. “When their clan discovers them killed with orc weapons it will cause more trouble than one deer is worth. Now you will have another enemy to watch for when you are outside the walls.” Borgakh clenched her jaw in frustration, but kept her tone respectful. “They would have never been happy with one deer, and then they would have known Mor Khazgur was weak. What if they had wanted Kharag too? Is a good horse not covered by the Code?”

More. Orcs. Please and thank you. (:

#AskMareena #positivity asks #skyrim #skyrim fic #Aristeia #Athis #borgakh #borgakh the steel heart #tes #tesblr #fanficblr