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whispers-of-masser · 1 year

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Dragon's Tongue

✧ Nebarra x human!LDB, ft. Xelzaz & Khash ✧ Fluff, minor angst; 1300+ words ♫ "You And I (Stripped)" - PVRIS ✒ Something short n sweet today, I'm feeling soft

Nebarra was loath to admit it to himself, and he'd die before ever saying it aloud, but the Rift really was beautiful. Nothing compared to Alinor, to be sure, but... all the gold reminded him of home. And when he passed by a small, isolated farm, he could almost see himself on its porch, see his brother leaning against the door.

The illusions were younger, happier versions of themselves. So much more innocent, faces bright with naivety, eyes shining with plans for the future.

And then he'd gone to war.

He'd lost... so much of himself, in the deserts of Hammerfell. They had scorched and burned him inside and out, slowly bleeding him dry with every comrade he saw fall. And all that, for what? For all the Altmer's supposed superiority, the campaign had failed on all fronts – Hammerfell's walls and people defied them, and Cyrodiil remained in power, weakened but still unbroken.

How could the Thalmor still strut about, arrogant to Aetherius and back, when they had failed so miserably? How could they look at the faces of the families whose children and lovers they'd sent to die and only tell them they'd "served their purpose"?

Nebarra couldn't.

He couldn't face them at all. Not even through pen and paper, leagues away from ever having to look them in the eyes, ever having to see the pain and loss in their gaze.

Where the Thalmor were heartless, he was a coward.

And he didn't know which was worse.

~~~

Night fell, and you called the group to halt, to make camp until dawn. Nebarra set up the tent as you argued with Xelzaz, trying to convince him that no, he shouldn't summon a flame atronach and then kill it for its fire salts, no matter how good it would make dinner taste. Khash merely looked on, muching on some clover she'd picked up somewhere.

At last though, you got Xelzaz to relent, though he asked you to gather some herbs in exchange, listing off the plants he wanted you to find.

"Ah... and take Nebarra with you."

The elf froze. Turned slowly towards the lizard. Demanded, "What? Why?"

"Two eyes are better than one," he shrugged, "and that much safer, as well. We don't know what's out there, and I'm pretty sure we passed a necromantic altar on our way here."

At that, you groaned, head rolling back like a teenager who'd just been told to do their chores. "Gods, not another one. Why do we always seem to run into those?"

"Luck of the Dragonborn? Anyway, off with you now – I have to get set up. Let's see, in whose pack did I leave my cooking pot...? Khash! Come help me with this!"

And just like that he walked off, leaving you and Nebarra alone by the campfire. A chuckle escaped you, and he glanced over to see you shaking your head. "I'm surprised he didn't tell us to hold hands, too, so we don't lose each other in the dark."

"Yeah, I'm not holding your hand," Nebarra snarked. And it was true. Absolutely true. Totally, one-hundred percent true.

"Oh wow, Nebs, that one almost hurt." Your soft laugh seemed to echo in his ears, his mind. "Come on, let's go – I don't suppose you heard any of the plants he wants?"

Blue and yellow mountain flowers, to restore and fortify. Purple for rejuvenation, and to give to Khash. Scaly pholiota for fiber and strengthening. Wild gourds and dragon's togue for flavour.

He snorted from behind his helm. "That would require paying attention to him."

"Should have known," you sighed. "Alright, listen up before I forget: blue, yellow, and purple mountain flowers, scaly pholiota, and dragon's tongue. And be careful with the purple mountain flowers, they're gifts for Khash. Oh, he also wants some wild gourds. Got it?"

"...Yeah, yeah. Let's just get going."

He definitely hadn't feigned ignorance just to hear your voice some more. Definitely not.

~~~

"Ah, back at last! Perfect," Xelzaz said, stirring something in a pot over the fire. "Now I can get the real meal started."

"Then what's this?" Nebarra demanded as Xelzaz handed him a bowl, in exchange for the plants the Altmer carried. Even through his gauntlets he could feel its warmth, and a rich, savory scent drifted up through the slits of his helmet.

"Something amazing, from the smell," you sighed, and Nebarra didn't have to look to know you were drooling.

"Just a little sometime to hold you over," the Argonian demurred, handing you a bowl as well. "Thought I'd experiment with some of the flora I've gathered thus far."

That gave Nebarra pause. "Wait – experiment? That's settled, I'm not eating this."

"If you don't want it–"

Your words were drowned out by Khash's eager shout of, "I'll eat it! I'll take your bowl!" She rushed over to him, red eyes trained on the food.

"Khash, you had your share," Xelzaz chided. "Any more and you won't have room for the rest of dinner."

"Yes, I will! I have room for anything you make."

"She's got a point," you laughed, and Nebarra slowly, wordlessly handed her the bowl.

"I'll go keep watch," he grumbled, turning away.

"Oh, don't be like that! Nebarra!" When he didn't respond, you sighed, calling after him, "Alright, go sulk! I'll make sure Xelzaz doesn't poison your share, though you kind of deserve it!"

His back still towards you, Nebarra raised his hand in a rude gesture, and your laughter rang through the night.

Some thirty minutes later, he heard footsteps approaching; he didn't need to turn to know it was you. Your tread was distinct from the others, weighted with determination and confidence, whereas Xelzaz's was soft and steady, and Khash's light and hesitant.

"Here. Eat." Despite the short words, your tone was gentle, and Nebarra looked over to see you holding a plate out towards him, laden with a slab of meat and wild berries to the side. "It's delicious, and unpoisoned."

"How would you know?" he sniffed, catching a whiff of the food in the process. It... did smell amazing. "Did you try it?"

"I did, actually. Stole some of your steak when Xelzaz wasn't looking. And since I'm still standing here pestering you, I guess that means it's clean."

Nebarra paused, eyes training on your face. Half of it was wreathed in shadow, only the gleam of your eyes visible; the other half was illuminated by the campfire, revealing the soft smile you wore.

You... had a nice smile.

And before he could stop himself, he mumbled, "You're not... pestering me."

Surprise flickered in your gaze – surprise, and something else. Something he told himself he didn't recognise, refused to recognise.

After a moment, you said softly, "That's... good to hear, then. Because I have something else for you, too." Reaching down with your free hand, you pulled something from your belt and held it out before him. "I saved one, 'cause it reminded me of you."

Nebarra stared. There, held gently between your fingers, was a dragon's tongue flower, petals open wide and colours vibrant in full bloom. "This... reminded you of me?"

"It's gold. Just like you."

"...You really do have trouble with your eyesight, don't you? These are orange."

"Eh, close enough." You shrugged, the smile never leaving your face.

Slowly, Nebarra reached out and, ignoring the plate of food, took the flower carefully, delicately from your grasp, cradling it in his palm. "...Am I supposed to say thank you?"

"You just did." As he raised a brow from the shadows of his helm, you set the plate on a nearby rock and tapped the gauntlet that held the flower. "You accepted it."

He couldn't deny it. "Think you got me all figured out then, huh?"

Something in your smile shifted, your gaze flickering. "No. Not yet, anyways. But... I think I'd like to." And with that, you turned on your heel and walked away, leaving him alone in the dark, stunned.

And that night, as he sat in the shadows of the campfire, he stared at the flower for a long, long time.

#nebarra #nebarra skyrim #skyrim nebarra #skyrim #tes 5 #whisper writes #finally wrote that thing from my tags ages ago #and by ages i mean like a week lmaoo #also i now officially have the headcanon now that khash likes to munch on clovers and i don't know what to do with this thought #anyway in other news im so tired?? like for some reason writing Just Tonight REALLY drained me #i dont know how to describe it other than the fact that writing it felt like.... it took something from me?#idk man maybe i just burnt myself out a little; i haven't written so much and been so intent about it in actual years #tragically im not even happy about how it turned out but tbfh when is an artists ever satisfied with their own work??? neverrrr #im so tired man lol #i wanna keep working on the second part of just tonight and I have ideas for it but i just.... cannot right now lol #anyway off to play more skyrim and hopefully recharge #starting an altmer mage/college of winterhold playthough with only altmer followers #so that means im grabbing nebs; caryalind; taliesin; rumarin; idrinth; and eventually Telmiltarion since I downloaded summerset isle too #he has a standalone verison that doesnt require the full mod but #figured i'd play through the whole thing at least once since it ties into the cow story anyways #help why does “college of winterhold” abbreviate to fuckin COW I just noticed😭#anywho... ive never actually played with tel or idrinth before so im actually a little nervous; i hope i like them lol #wanted to try daegon too but then i saw she was pulled for updates and was like nuuuuu #might see about posting a screenie once i've got the whole crew together #anyway im off to go play for reals this time lol bye

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nvoc · 9 months

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How do you take such gorgeous Skyrim screenshots? Also updated mod list for lighting and texture and such? Or a very basic one at least? Not sure if it’s still in your bio

Hallooo and thank youuu :3

lighting & basic photography skills ofc apply to gaming photography, so fiddle around with the weather & lighting/time with a mod like KreatE or Photo Mode. you can also use the freefly cam SKSE plugin instead of Photo Mode if you wish (you can use both at once, check the Photo mode description about the compatibility tho).

(btw if you use the freeze time for everywhere (or somethin like that) setting in KreatE, you will get an infinite loading screen if you try to travel somewhere else, so make sure you disable that before doing so!)

My bio/about page has the info you need but i'm due to make an update post anyways since im bored as shit :^D

My modwatch list has the mods i currently have in-game & i pretty much try to get it up to date. The Modlist tab on that site is meant to be read from bottom to top, idk why the site does that - probably to show what overrides what. BTW tick the Inactive Mods box under the modlist tab, then CTRL+F for "separator" & you'll find some organized stuff thru that. just be sure to read above the separator.

^ i'll probably make a google doc/spreadsheet later to make it easier to read since some of the mods are all over the place in my list cause of wanting to override certain things. plus that modwatch list is so overwhelming especially since i have like 1400+ active mods wtf 💀

this ask/reply i made about my modlist is somewhat outdated, but i still use some of the retextures and most of the mods listed there.

this ask too (base textures are very outdated, everything else i may or may not still have).

anywayzz under the cut has a general list of updated/new retextures & replacers i currently* use in my skyrim se game, or missed in my first modlist long-post. i'll probably go more in-depth with the mods in the spreadsheet when i get around to making it.

*as of 6 september 2023. again, see my modwatch list for the up-to-date list yepyep

no links to everything because i will probably hit the character limit & the new post editor messes things up whenever i try to edit.

[ texture 1 <- texture 2 ]

^^^this indicates texture 2 is overriding the base, texture 1 etc. got it?👍

also im using Mod Organizer 2. idk how vortex works or if it allows to do these kind of things yahhh

ENB:

- Using NAT.ENB III & its own weather mod. - Sometimes i'll switch to using Cabbage ENB if i want something cooler-toned (discord exclusive tho..lol....)

Lighting mods are still the same; EVLaS & Lux, etc, plus Twilight Sky overhaul/textures are still the same i think

Architecture:

Noble Skyrim <- Skyland AIO <- whatever town/building-specific retextures e.g WiZkiD Riften and Ratway, Spice of Life, Rudy HQ - Nordic Ruins, etc <- misc exterior retextures <- interior retextures <- mesh replacers e.g Nordic Stonewalls, SD's Farmhouse Fences

Landscape:

Skyland AIO <- Grass mods <- MystiriousDawn's terrains + Atlantean Landscapes + Vivid Landscapes Parallax Occlusion Snow. many things to mix & match and play with here so do what u wish as there are many on the nexus.

Water is still Water for ENB (Shades of Skyrim option)

Mountainzzzz & rawkz:

Skyland AIO <- Enhanced Rocks and Mountains (for the fixes) <- Rapid Rocks, Skyrim 3D Rocks, slightly Better Rock Cairns you can also use Majestic Mountains if you prefer the textures but idk, i had issues so i switched to using ERM and Skyland's mountain textures

if you just want to use one singular retexture mod, Skyland AIO or Skyrim 202X are your best bets since they cover almost everything, it also depends on what style you want. yah!

Treeeeees:

Nature of the Wild Lands <- Traverse the Ulvenwald you can use one of either the two tree mods but i use both to make my computer suffer because i couldn't decide on the two. plus makes very dense forests with the additional trees the two mods adds but there will be bugs in-game such as floating trees (rarely), two trees in one spot. the latter can be fixed with bashed patches, if you're familiar with those. also using Cathedral Assets Optimizer to downscale the tree models & textures to 1k/2k can alleviate frame drops & ur computer crying (unless youre in like falkreath)if u dont want either of those, there's performance friendly trees such as fabled forests, happy little trees, aspens ablaze, or blubbo's trees etc

Grass:

QW's Grass Patch 2 + Origins of Forest - 3D Grass Reduced (loaded after the grass patch in the plugins section) <- ENB Complex Grass patches

Plants & flowers:

Plant-specific retextures e.g Mari's flora, Cathedral <- Blubbo's Shrub Replacer <- Less Ugly Tundra Grass <- TB's 3D Nettles, TB's Better Ferns (i didnt realize these models were everywhere until i used this LMAO), etc.

there are also the dumb niche things i download that override these textures like chains (or bloody rags. fucking. bloody. rags. or fuckin garlic.).

again, go thru my modwatch list if you want to snoop around. ctrl+f the term "-Misc Retextures & Replacers_separator"

or u can check the old modlist post for the links to some :d

enjoy & happy modding🫡

#enjoy the wall of text again. tried my best to format it in a way that's readable 👍#nvm i saw my old textpost and this format is horrendous.#this shit is fun to type up. im sry if i got carried away anon LMFAKAMLKSDFMDFLMKSDFL #basically repeating what i typed up previously but updated yep ypenypemtpmyrptymhrkgmlbsmklvdzf #i cant update that old ask bc too many characters for the post to save i think lol. or maybe it's just the new post editor that's fucked #skyrim mods #modlist #masterpost #wahoo #ask #anon #.ctxt #longpost #skyrim #can u believe its been a year + a few months since i restarted my modlist #crazy #i think i restarted in like april of 2022 bc i upgraded my pc a few months prior to that

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