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mareenavee · 6 months

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(Tired) WIP Wednesday

Dragging ourselves through the week through the chaos <3

I've been ill but writing has been a balm! I'm gonna share a few snippets with you.

Was tagged by @thana-topsy (HUGE HUGS! Aiden and Sarel are adorable and you DID IT. You did the thing!) and @kookaburra1701 (I'm still waiting on Book 32 of your fic universe, and will cheer until its ready!)

Tagging especially @changelingsandothernonsense for the Sad Wars which have produced amazing content as of lately from me, for being writing exercises hehe. Not to brag, I'm just really fond of the work! And of course the amazing @paraparadigm, @thequeenofthewinter, @snippetsrus, @wildhexe, @nuwanders, @oblivions-dawn, @miraakulous-cloud-district, @throughtrialbyfire, @expended-sleeper, @inquisition-dragonborn @archangelsunited, @dirty-bosmer, @viss-and-pinegar, @ladytanithia, @polypolymorph, @gilgamish, @tallmatcha, @rainpebble3, @late-nite-scholar, @greyborn2, @saltymaplesyrup, @orfeoarte, and YOU. Because yes. You are tagged. Tag me back if you have stuff to share! I love to see it.

Below I have a few samples from some WIPs! I'll start with World, as I'm restructuring chapter 31 <3

This selection is long, too! 1,050 words, below the cut!

1) The World on Our Shoulders, Chapter 31 Athis's POV as he goes through Northwatch Keep to save Thorald. 219 words.

Still, there was something unsettling about how unnaturally quiet this part of the keep was. The hairs on the back of Athis’s neck stood up, some instinct he couldn’t place screaming of danger. Something was wrong. He’d felt this way once, years ago, before a bear charged out of the woods that time his hip had been shattered. He’d almost died, then, if it hadn’t been for Farkas and that priest out of Falkreath. Odd, that, as it was a priest of Arkay. The irony wasn’t lost on him. Now, however, was not the time to lose focus.

Athis pressed against the wall that lead out of the twisting passageways into a room that looked, from what he could tell, like some kind of torture chamber. Only, the air rippled with some kind of magic that felt like static on his skin the closer he crept. He remembered how it felt when Nyenna used certain spells nearby; this one didn’t feel like anything he could recall, and that didn’t bode well. None of it did, if he was being honest. He got the sudden notion that perhaps it wasn’t worth all the trouble — that Thorald might already be dead. But no. If there was the slightest chance that he was still alive, Athis couldn’t leave him here. He wouldn’t.

2) Storms Like This A secret WIP I'll be editing and finishing soon for a friend. 266 words.

He’d thought back to one of his favorite memories of her, besides their wedding. Before they’d decided to adopt and start a family, they were living comfortably in Proudspire Manor in Solitude. He’d been overwhelmed at first by the city he’d only ever passed through before. Living in it meant becoming entangled in the political nonsense, which Sigyn seemed to take in stride. She’d come home, fancy clothes thoroughly drenched from the rain after being gone a particularly long time on what was supposed to be a local errand, and deposited an old hip bone into a chest by the door. Unnerving, sure, but not too atypical for her.

She took him by the hand and dragged him out into the storm, onto their back porch, all while Jordis silently judged them both from her perch at the kitchen table. Sigyn had said nothing, only smiled as he’d exclaimed from the cold downpour the further she led him outside, but then, even over the thunder, he’d heard it—the Bard’s College, practicing for the Burning of King Olaf, bright and clear, almost enhanced by the storm, music reverberating through the very stones of the building next door. They danced together, on their porch, regardless of the weather. It was if, for a moment, the entire world consisted of only them. She’d laughed even as their sodden hair clung to their faces, and as water ran freely into their eyes. [He] knew then, despite all of her chaos, he would follow her absolutely anywhere for as long as he lived.

Storms like this always reminded him of her.

3) Fragment - part of The Bitter, Bitter End (Unpublished as of yet.) Featuring Nevena Ules as the POV and Orvas Dren. (Yeah. Ew.) 209 words.

Orvas was leaning over the stone parapets, looking down into the courtyard where regular people milled around on business relating to Vedam’s gathering. The moons shone overhead and, besides the noise of the crowds and bards inside, all was silent. She cleared her throat, and Orvas turned to her. He smirked—the same sarcastic look he’d won her heart with when they were younger and under far less pressure—and closed the distance between them.

His eyes, blood red in this light, held storms. She knew what had been worrying him, but she was trying hard to ignore that part, until it was safe to talk about it. Vedam’s overreaching included parlaying with the Empire and solidifying trade between Morrowind and other provinces. Only, there would be an embargo if the Blight situation got worse—which it already was, by the day. And if all of that work was so new, the newfound strength of House Dren would be the first to collapse. Orvas had said as much, and had been bringing it up in their conversations more often as of late, because Vedam wouldn’t see reason. He thought he could see a solution, but even thought of it scared her.

He wanted to ally the Camonna Tong with the Sixth House.

4) Fragment - part of It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn (Unpublished as of yet.) This one is is Danger!Bean Varlais's POV. 353 words.

Varlais never felt like he belonged anywhere in particular, to be fair. His parents had been elevated slightly after a few turns of events when they’d moved with Ondolemar’s family to Skyrim. That was, technically, his doing, all those years ago, but they were still othered by most Altmer of any rank, Thalmor or not. It was complex, of course, and he didn’t have the energy to parse it all. He’d leave that to Ondolemar, who seemed like he could hold every political detail in his head, as if his mind was some kind of tome.

All he knew was it had to do with the Ayleid ancestry that refused to fade into the background for his family, no matter how many generations. Aerissa, at least, never looked down at him for the blue eyes, thank Auri-El, but she was back in Alinor now, doing clerical work for the Thalmor. And, of course, he was stuck here. But at least, if he was here, he could try and save her from them. No matter how badly he missed her, he’d keep fighting. Before she became a thrall, well, she’d always stuck by him. He looked down at his ring, the gold band glimmering with a faint enchantment, the metal worn and scratched. Somehow, likely by Mara’s direct intervention, he’d not lost the thing, nor had it torn through his skin and bone in some horrifying way. He touched the edge of his left ear where he’d lost an earring that way, and was grateful at least in that moment, his magic worked to stanch the bleeding.

As of late, he’d been feeling even more unmoored than usual, despite Ondolemar’s best efforts—the man was seventeen different kinds of distracted, after all. They were and always had been close as brothers, but with so much changing and hanging in the balance, Ondolemar had to focus on the plan. They had a goal, after all, as impossible as it all seemed. The Civil War and the Dragons were mucking up pretty much everything. Varlais also tended to make himself a problem, though never intentionally. Not really.

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mareenavee · 7 months

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WIP Wednesday WHENEVER :>

Hi everyone. I have a busy day today so I'll tag ya'll instead lol <3

Tagging the amazing and wonderful @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @throughtrialbyfire, @wildhexe, @oblivions-dawn, @archangelsunited, @gilgamish, @dirty-bosmer, @kookaburra1701, @inquisition-dragonborn, @snippetsrus, @saltymaplesyrup, @expended-sleeper, @orfeoarte, @elfinismsarts, @ladytanithia, @miraakulous-cloud-district, @polypolymorph, @tallmatcha, @rainpebble3, @rhiannon1199, @viss-and-pinegar, @late-nite-scholar, @greyborn2, and YOU. Yep. If I've forgotten you, then you're tagged. Feel free to tag me back :>

I have two active WIPS today so you'll get a ~400 word fragment of each <3

Below the cut!

1) Light the Way (yet unpublished) Set in the 3rd Era, (and canon to World's fic universe) our Nerevarine Teldryn Sero has somehow convinced Neloth not to blatantly start a war, and to instead try a different approach to achieve his goals.

Sero’s face twisted through several emotions before it settled back into the familiar frustrated scowl he always wore. “The Empire can go f—”

“ —yes, yes, we know your sentiment. Spare me the histrionics, if you don’t mind,” Neloth interrupted with a flap of his hand, “because we do rather have things to accomplish today if we aren’t simply going to wreak havoc on the Mainland as I’d intended.”

“You know, we will have to discuss that topic again later,” Sero drawled, scratching the back of his neck. “As much as I don’t want to. For now, though, you’re right.” He huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Hortator. It’s madness.”

Neloth glanced over at the distracted Nerevarine, caught in the glare from the soul gem. He’d likely win a prize for brooding if such a contest existed. Nobody seemed quite as capable of being so sullen over something as ridiculous as this. Granted, it was a responsibility that came with expectations even Neloth would be remiss to shrug off in favor of this abolitionist nonsense. But, like anything worth having, he’d eventually have little choice but to take the title. Or—Sero being Sero—convince himself he’d already earned it. The utter chivalry of the entire situation got exhausting after a while. What had happened to the slovenly bandit with a chip on his shoulder?

Though, come to think of it, Sero had never really been the type who allowed himself to be pointed in a direction and told to stab. He’d always been too clever for whatever he’d believed about himself all those years before. Not that he’d be caught dead telling the fool that, though.

Neloth shuddered at the implications of admitting any kind of respect for a non-mage, first of all, and an otherwise nameless urchin besides. Imagine. The Council would be in hysterics, and the ruse would be dropped, and every ounce of power he’d clawed to himself would evaporate in the blink of an eye. No. Securing a seat on the Grand Council was imperative if he wanted to keep his status. One did not simply earn a seat the same as anywhere else. Connections—or honestly, more like assassinations and lies. No. There had to be concrete proof of concept. What, exactly, could one do as a Grand Councilor that would advance the House’s position as a whole?

Destroy another house—especially one intent on encroaching on one’s own—by any means necessary.

2) The World on Our Shoulders, Chapter 31 The Embassy Arc begins and Athis is reeling from his encounter with someone some of you may find a bit...familiar :>

“You have no chance here,” the Altmer said. Athis paused and glanced at the man, eyebrow furrowed. His tone was matter of fact, like this was Gods-given truth. “They will find you and you’ll be no better off than I am.”

“We have a werewolf on our side, actually,” Athis said dryly as he scraped at the lock with his knife. “They’re welcome to try.”

“You are in over your head, Athis,” the Altmer said. Athis froze. For a second, he felt his heart all but stop. He exhaled through his nose. The man had to have heard Avulstein bellowing orders like he was leading the charge. That was the only explanation. The Altmer laughed, a mirthless thing. “Yes, just as I thought. I know who you are. We’ve known for a while now. Tell me, have you any idea where Nyenna ended up?” Athis slowly backed away, dropping the hunter’s knife in favor of his sword. The Altmer grinned crookedly and let out a low chuckle. “Because I do.”

Who was this?

“I’ll leave you here,” Athis warned, anger or bile rising in his throat, “and when Farkas is done here, there’ll be nobody left and you’ll rot alone in the darkness.”

“You wouldn’t, despite wiser advice,” the Altmer said, picking a thread off of his roughspun tunic. “That’s not who you are, from what’s been observed.” His voice had taken on a matter-of-fact tone. He was right, but Athis was still reeling.

“What do you know of Nyenna?” he asked after a moment, voice wavering. He swallowed hard. He had so many other questions, but the mention of her in a place like this… He had to know.

The Altmer seemed to ponder the question for a moment. “She’s on Solstheim. In a bit of a bad way, the last I’d heard, but the Telvanni are working on resolving the problem.”

“You’re lying.” Athis felt a knot form in his gut. A bad way? He knew then that listening to Aela’s advice had been a horrible mistake. That, or he’d fallen into some kind of trap.

“Believe whatever you want,” the Altmer said, gazing at his nails, caked as they were with dirt. He picked at them absently. “Regardless, it's as I said." He paused, listening intently as crashing sounded from somewhere on the upper levels of the keep. “The issue of Nyenna aside, you’ll never understand the gravity of what you’ve done here today. This will follow you. You’ve played right into their hands.”

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mareenavee · 9 months

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WIP Whenever!

Hello! I was tagged by the amazing @elfinismsarts, @archangelsunited and @ladytanithia!! Thank you friends! I am tagging the most esteemed @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @dirty-bosmer, @viss-and-pinegar, @greyborn2, @saltymaplesyrup, @kookaburra1701, @gilgamish, @polypolymorph and @rhiannon1199!! If I didn't tag you, consider yourself tagged and tag me back!

Below the cut for small slices of three projects!

First up, a small piece of my upcoming Ondolemar fic, Recurse.

“S-sorry,” Varlais complained. He was flat on his back, staring up into the ceiling where the lamp, if that’s what it was, flared. He sat up gingerly and leaned heavily on Ondolemar’s shoulder. The bad one, of course. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Why in Aetherius do you insist on touching anything in this Godsforsaken place? Considering everything was looted, you’d think there’d be a reason these things were still here, perfectly organized,” Ondolemar said. He checked the thing one last time. There was still nothing of note, no obvious secret, no etchings or engravings – nothing. Dwemeri magic would remain a mystery, its creators gone on the winds like ash over Morrowind – or worse. “Here. You’ve won a prize for your incompetency.” He handed the cube to Varlais. “We need to keep moving. If anything is sneaking around in here, they’d have heard that absolute racket you had no problem making.” “I said I was sorry.”

Next Up, Untitled Sequel to Little Dragon.

Teldryn looked up from the book he was reading aloud – Kolb & the Dragon – for perhaps the hundredth time this month. It amused Anisa, even though he half-wondered if she couldn’t by now read it herself. In her place where she had been sat the last he checked, muddy footprints trailed out instead. Two sets. Which meant Anisa and her mudcrab were wandering back and forth between the backyard and her room. He sighed and set the book on the arm of his chair. So much for keeping the nonsense to a minimum. “Hl’aka?” Teldryn called. There was a burbling of several languages that echoed across the house in response. Then, of course, the chitinous chittering of Cara, always throwing his two Septims in. He stepped gingerly around the mess they’d created and popped into the little room Nyenna had fashioned for her long ago. This, too, was in shambles. The mudcrab was wearing the blanket Nyenna had quilted herself like an overlarge cape as Anisa tossed her things around the room, searching for something Teldryn couldn’t discern. She muttered to Cara in Bosmeris and wandered past him, the mudcrab clattering by, nearly knocking Teldryn over. He didn’t seem concerned. The blanket, not at all secured, dragged out behind Cara, through the mess, until it fell off, covering the footprints like a poorly placed rug. Teldryn shook his head and sighed again. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. He glanced out of the side door. There was a fenced in yard with a small pond Athis had built once Cara had more than tripled in size and could no longer scuttle about in the fish tank. They were safe, making mud pies and generally being children. He caught himself. Cara was a mudcrab, not a child. Or perhaps Anisa was also a mudcrab. He grinned and started picking up after the two of them, keeping an eye as he moved through the house following the path of destruction.

*Chara is Gaelic Bosmeris for "Friend" and also Anisa's mudcrab's name lol.

And last up, a piece of Chapter 29 of The World on Our Shoulders.

Teldryn nodded. He’d noticed as much. “Watch out for him and send for me if it ends up anything like last time, when Ildari…well, you remember.” “I remember,” Talvas said, voice drifting off as he grimaced. Teldryn took the tea and made to turn around, but Talvas cleared his throat. “Remind me…why do we still put up with all of this?” Teldryn wasn’t sure if he’d said it to himself or if it was a valid question. Or more like a bout of existential dread. “Because we know how bad it can be if we don’t stay.” He didn’t mean to sound ominous, but it was true. Talvas had no idea the depth of exactly what Teldryn was implying. He was barely a decade older than Nyenna. He’d been so young when Ildari had…passed. He’d not seen the worst of that, either. Talvas paused. “It’s not really our responsibility, though, is it?” Teldryn thought back to something Varona had said, right before the heart stone experiment. “That man is going to kill himself one day, and take the rest of us with him.” Even she was too young to know how true the statement was. That pursuit of power untempered by other purpose was perhaps more dangerous than anything else. But he was better than that. Teldryn knew it. He’d seen the difference. “It doesn’t have to be in order for something to be worth doing. Plus, you’re Telvanni. There really isn’t a better teacher if you intend to make a name for yourself,” Teldryn said, partially deflecting. He warmed Neloth’s tea again with a weak Flames spell. Talvas sighed. “If there’s anything left of me to make a name of,” he said, voice wistful.

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mareenavee · 9 months

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WIP Whenever~

Good Wednesday, my friends! I had no idea what day it was until Winter posted lol. I love that. <3

I was tagged to do this by the lovely @thequeenofthewinter, @nuwanders and @ladytanithia! I tag the most esteemed @paraparadigm, @polypolymorph, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @elfinismsarts, @gilgamish, @kookaburra1701, @snippetsrus, @saltymaplesyrup, @dirty-bosmer, @orfeoarte, @archangelsunited, @inquisition-dragonborn, @tallmatcha, @rainpebble3 and YOU. Yes. If your tag is invisible, I still did tag you, so feel free to tag me back (: I'd love to see what you come up with!

Below the cut for some UNTITLED WIP stuff! This is a prompt fill for a prompt challenge I've got going with a handful of mutuals. This one will be for Para when I'm done.

More Ondolemar (and Varlais) this time. The story is fic-universe canon and occurs before A Heavy Truth, sometime early on in The World on Our Shoulders.

CW: Implied accident involving the Jarl of Markarth's pets.

Below the cut!

“Don’t touch anything, Varlais,” Ondolemar hissed. The fool had got himself chased into the ruins by the Jarl’s dogs and, of course, he had to be pulled from the rubble, so to speak. There was nothing else for it. Though, of course, Mother would have words about this situation – none of them good. The dogs were, at the moment, nowhere to be found. It was tough to say if Varlais had run through Nimhe’s chamber with them close behind on purpose. He’d come away with only a mild poisoning and a few new scars to add to his immense collection. The dogs… Well, he didn’t have to put two and two together and upset himself again.

Varlais had kept his hand on the Dwemer metal plate anyway and was doubled over between two pipes. The loud exhale of steam from a nearby vent blessedly muted the sound of his illness. Ondolemar didn’t have anything on hand to help with that, so he’d just have to suffer until it passed. He himself had only barely managed to kill the wretched spider, only narrowly escaping a similar fate. It had been hours before he’d been able to discover where Varlais had stashed himself away, and longer still to Heal him. They were thoroughly lost in the depths of Nchuand-Zel, his absolute favorite place on all of Nirn. And the Falmer – everywhere! Like vermin. As if the day couldn’t get any worse.

Varlais was looking sorrier by the second. Had they not both fallen through a rusted grate and between all this metalwork, they’d have a clue of where they’d ended up. Calcemo’s expedition team had mapped this place up through a certain point, before the Falmer attacks, the deaths and then, of course, the resulting need to seal off the inner chambers. Leave it to the nitwit to burst through locked doors. If only his magic worked reliably for other, more important tasks. There was no longer a way to tell how far down they were.

“Ondolemar, I’m going to die here,” Varlais complained. He wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve. True, he was pale, the gilding almost gone from him in his misery. But it was just frostbite spider venom – and only a single bite, now healed. The pain and nausea would be a bit much, come to think of it. It’d been a while since he’d had to deal with the poison. And it had been a much smaller specimen.

“You’ll be fine,” Ondolemar said. He walked over with a Calm spell in hand. “Let go for a second.” Varlais obliged and closed his eyes, breathing as steadily as he could through flared nostrils. Ondolemar rolled his eyes. He sighed and passed the spell over the back of Varlais’s head and down over his shoulders. It wasn’t taking quite as easily, hackles up as they were at the moment. It took some doing – and more Magicka than he’d have otherwise wasted – until the spell settled into the crevices of Varlais’s mind. His shoulders relaxed; his jaw unclenched. He still looked like hell. Ondolemar almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

“We have to find – ” Varlais started, pausing to turn away and retch. He sighed and steadied himself on Ondolemar’s forearm. “We have to find a way out of here.”

“No kidding,” Ondolemar said through gritted teeth, perhaps more icy than he had originally intended. He rolled his sore shoulder where he’d landed hard on the stonework. He’d need a real healer whenever they managed to get out of this place. They both would.

Varlais dragged himself along behind Ondolemar as they moved through the crumbling stonework, littered now and again with sharp fragments from the damaged grates above their heads. Acid from the pollution of the city above had seeped into this ruin through the cracks over untold centuries and ate away at the metalwork. Pipes had broken, machines had seized up. It reflected the state of things topside, really. Apt he was caught in this place like a fly in a web. Every waking hour already felt like that, and this was no better. He frowned in dismay. At least it wasn’t cold down here. Thank Mara for small miracles.

They walked through great gates of jagged filigree, bent and warped with age, hanging precariously off hinges green with patina. The corridor opened into a wide, dimly lit area, the stench of fungus and mold wafting over from somewhere deep in the darkness. Along the way, Ondolemar had taken out a few more Falmer with Shock magic. He was no good with a bow, and Varlais was hardly in any condition to aim, let alone keep from drawing attention to themselves. This place seemed to be far flung even from the hive located in these ruins. The sound of gears echoed through the chamber, which was cut through with flowing water, contaminated by slicks of oil and the putrescent miasma of rot – likely bodies of Falmer or chaurus, or worse. There would be no point in thinking about it. He pulled the edge of his silk undershirt up from under his standard issue robes to settle it over his nose and tried to concentrate on anything else at all.

The lighting was rather odd the further they walked into the dimness. A green-blue glow emanated from what appeared to be rather large mushrooms, which seemed almost purposefully cultivated, towering and casting odd half-lit shadows across mountains of rubble as far as the eye could see. Which, admittedly, was not very far. Ondolemar’s attention shifted as Varlais stumbled behind him leaning into one such pile; the action sent a cascade of ceramic tile and other debris crashing down toward them. Without thinking twice, he yanked his friend out of the way just in time. Varlais coughed as thousands of years worth of dust choked the air.

“Do try to be less of an idiot,” Ondolemar sighed.

#MareenaWrites #WIP Whenever #WIP Wednesday #Untitled Varlais and Ondolemar Nonsense #Varlais #Linare Varlais #Ondolemar #skyrim #skyrim fic #tes #tesblr #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr #The World on Our Shoulders #Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked

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mareenavee · 10 months

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First Lines Tag!

Thank you for the tag, @hannahcbrown!! :D In return, I'll tag back @changelingsandothernonsense, @paraparadigm, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @rhiannon1199, @friend-of-giants, @archangelsunited, @elfinismsarts, @saltymaplesyrup, @inquisition-dragonborn, @gilgamish, @snippetsrus, @rainpebble3, @oblivions-dawn -- and anyone else who sees this -- please feel free to join in!

Rules such as they are: Post the first line/paragraph of your current WIPS

I will share 3 otherwise we'll be here alllllll day lol. Below the cut!

1 -- The World on Our Shoulders:

Would it be easier just to forget it all, and run the other way? It was not the first time Nyenna had thought of this. It was how it had worked in the past. Life got difficult, so without a choice, she’d have to uproot and leave it all behind. All the other times, it was due to an external threat. This time, it was a situation she had purposefully created and made more complicated herself, against wiser advice. She thought maybe it had been inevitable, all the pain she was causing. It did not change the guilt that roiled around inside her like the shifting of fog on the marshes around Morthal.

2 -- Something More

(AU, Edit: Published!)

“I think he’s nice, actually,” said the Bosmeri girl to her companion. Teldryn didn’t miss the quick glance she threw in his direction, or the way her face and ears flushed. She nodded and lifted her mug of Sujamma, just barely, just for him to see. He mimicked the motion. Her smile was pretty, actually. Brought out the odd bright orange of her eyes. He wasn’t usually such an obvious eavesdropper, but she – well, she was attractive, at the very least, and therefore interesting. Raven Rock was devoid of interesting on a good day, anyway. It reflected here in the Retching Netch. It’d been different years ago, but now hardly anyone wandered through. The outlanders across the way stood out among the worn furniture and dusty bookshelves. Their voices carried now that it was close to last call and the locals had all wandered home, or else melted into the background like permanent fixtures.

3 -- It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn

(Fic-universe Canon -- Varlais's POV on events surrounding World's chapters 23 and 25. Title pending, technically, but it is sticking.)

Canis root tea wasn’t the worst thing, despite how annoyingly prevalent it was on this Godsforsaken excuse for an island. Varlais sighed. It was going cold, of course, just like his fingers and toes. Mid watch…now that was the worst. Not only had he been woken up on far too little sleep, but a storm was coming in. He could feel the lightning in the air. Winter thundersnow was also the worst, to make matters even more bleak. His bones tended to ache in weather like this, as often as half of them had been broken at this point.

#MareenaWrites #tag game #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #Varlais #Linare Varlais #LDB/Teldryn Sero #Nerevarine Teldryn Sero #Skyrim #tes #tesblr #elder scrolls #skyrim fic #skyrim fanfiction #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 10 months

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OCs As Song Lyrics!

Hello. I love this. I was tagged by @thequeenofthewinter and @kookaburra1701

Tagging: @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @snippetsrus, @saltymaplesyrup, @orfeoarte, @rhiannon1199, @tallmatcha, @gilgamish, @archangelsunited, @inquisition-dragonborn, @elfinismsarts, @friend-of-giants, @miraakulous-cloud-district and whomsoever sees this that wants to do this game! Tag me, because I have actually tagged you. For reals. I want to see!

Rules, more or less, as I'm twisting them.

For your fic/current WIP, give us some lyrics that fit your OCS and NPCS-become-OCS perfectly. Do this for as many characters as you wish!

So. You want song lyrics for characters? I have them in spades. IN SPADES. I will give songs for just the character, not regarding any of their specific relationships. Below the cut for some beans in the jar that is The World on Our Shoulders!

Nyenna - Destroyer by Phantogram (Shinies for the corvids out there.)

Keep you here a while And if I'm never forgiven You can't say I didn't try I tried, I tried to save so many lives I guess my heart got carried away I guess the dark turned off the light Was there something that you wanted to say?

Teldryn - Easier to Run by Linkin Park (literally emo but can't catch me giving a shit lol)

Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back And never moving forward so there'd never be a past

Athis - Caught by Florence + The Machine (The exception to my statement it's not about relationships because this one was pretty defining in Athis's life in general.)

It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do To try and keep from calling you Well, can my dreams keep coming true? How can they? 'Cause when I sleep I never dream of you As if the dream of you, it sleeps too But it never slips away It just gains its strength and digs its hooks To drag me through the day

Varlais - L.G. FUAD by Motion City Soundtrack (Nope, can't catch me giving a shit about this rec either. It's too perfect lol.)

I'm a mess, I'm a wreck I am perfect, and I have learned to accept all my problems and short comings Because I am so visceral, yet deeply inept I want to thank you for being a part of my forget-me-nots and marigolds And all the things that don't get old Is it legal to do this? I surely don't know It's the only way I have learned to express myself around other peoples' descriptions of life I'm afraid I'm alone and entirely useless

#HELL YES I loved this.#Thank you for the tags #Tag game #MareenaWrites #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #Athis #Varlais #Linare Varlais #tes #tesblr #skyrim #skyrim fic #elder scrolls #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 10 months

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WIP Whenever~

Oh, I managed to remember what day it was today! HEY. (: So I have a bit to share. Excuse the [redacted] as I preserve some semblance of a surprise when you guys get to this part in the story.

I wasn't tagged yet, so I'll start the train with the most esteemed: @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @friend-of-giants, @the-storytellers-seer, @rhiannon1199, @saltymaplesyrup, @tallmatcha, @archangelsunited, @snippetsrus, @oblivions-dawn, @gilgamish -- leaving some of ya'll to tag each other and feel free to tag me anyway so I can see what you're working on!!

Here's the longer collection of snippets from Chapter 26. Not quite the last lines, because spoilery. BUT do enjoy the ~chaos~ lol

More than the fire had, the Shout began to melt its frozen exterior. The place had felt wrong before, but something had warped in the collision. Where the room had been pristine and so carefully constructed, it was now returning to a state of chaos. [Redacted] reeled, seeming to shrink, if that was possible. It was losing grip on its magic. More and more of its lair started to fall away back into the void, or else Oblivion; patches of reality pulled forward, stark against the ruined illusion. Varlais, face set in a severe scowl, took its moment of weakness as a signal and pulled an ebony dagger from somewhere in his coat. He rushed at [Redacted], stabbing into it with all the force he could muster.

As with ice, silence shattered.

Sound rushed back into the room with an explosion, causing Nyenna to cry out. The ringing in her ears made her lurch in confusion as she stumbled forward. She could hear the caustic Shout as if the [Redacted] itself had captured the Word and turned it back on her for her crimes. The Word’s power seemed to have amplified in the quiet, like a delayed assault on her senses. It had been meant to destroy the armor of her enemies — that had been her perception. Instead, it was unwinding her sanity.

The Shout was all she could hear over the chaos. She couldn’t tell what was real. Glimpses of an ancient battlefield blurred over the melting ice of this place. A storm of light and darkness swirling with souls in a place that touched the sky. A Dragon Priest on a platform of pale stone with its arms and staves raised, visage of a dark dragon looming huge behind him, impossible red eyes locked on hers.

“Dovahkiin…”

She gasped, barely grasping consciousness, willing the nightmare to clear from her eyes. [Redacted] had lost its hold on the spell that had, up until then, muffled reality as if they’d all been buried under an avalanche of snow. Slowly the room was warming. She felt the tug of the thing desperately trying to pull Magicka from them in an effort to regain its upper hand. But they had none left. There was nothing to take. It righted itself, still too huge, and with all its strength it launched a blow in her direction. She slumped against the supports that had been crumbling with [Redacted]’s lack of control and slid down to the ground, weak with the echo of the dragon’s Voice still piercing her skull.

She watched as Teldryn adjusted his grip on Chillrend with a flourish, rushing in to defend her. The sound of it reverberated, each clang of the sword a cacophony, each footfall a miniature torture. Her own Voice was still clawing at her mind, the hiss of the dragon tongue mired with Bosmeris and Common. Even covering her ears could not stop the Shout from burning. In the vision, it had looked like acid pouring down — an almost elemental call. It was wrong in every discernible way, but still just one Shout. But this…? It had compounded upon itself somehow, and she knew deep down the sound of it would never leave her. It lived in her soul. She heard the cries of the dragon there, at war with the knowledge she’d so long buried. Tears poured down her face. She felt nothing else but pain. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. Darkness was clawing at the edges of her awareness. Was this death? Was that the cost of this power? She was so tired.

The barrow. No, the burial mound. Kynesgrove. The ground beneath her feet — trees filled with birds chattering only to be so suddenly silenced. And then? The strings of necromantic energy twisting down, down. Sahloknir, stark against the sky as he burst forth from his cairn after centuries untold, sleeping, waiting. She wanted to sleep. Dear Gods, she needed sleep. The racket of tattered wings against greying skies prevented it. She looked down at her hands. Skeletal, and acid-eaten. Then normal, gripping a blade. Dead again, covered in ice, skin flaking away in the wind. The images shifted too fast for her to comprehend. She looked up, eyes locked once again with her enemy, here and not here at the same time. Was she? She shook her head, the ache overwhelming. His bitterness echoed in her empty chest, the sound of it escaping between her ribs.

Her mind searched for the familiar. She looked over at Teldryn as he hacked at [Redacted], its wails dulled to a blunt murmur. The image was weakening, though she wanted nothing more than to hold tight to it. All that remained was the malice of the great dragon, darker than the night closing in around her. She knew the name — felt the shape of it on her tongue. She was remiss to speak. It hurt too much. She had no strength left to bear the agony. Her eyes fluttered closed, and as she faded, his vile words seared themselves into her mind.

“Krii daar joorre.”

#MareenaWrites #WIP Whenever #WIP Wednesdays #WIP #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #Linare Varlais #LDB/Teldryn Sero #Skyrim #Skyrim Fic #ran away with canon though so whatever #tes #tesblr #elder scrolls #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 10 months

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Last Lines Tag!

Hello again <3 The lovely @rainpebble3 tagged me for this! As did @kookaburra1701!!! Hello! :D Thank you!

Tagging: @changelingsandothernonsense, @paraparadigm, @thequeenofthewinter, @thana-topsy, @rhiannon1199, @orfeoarte, @saltymaplesyrup, @snippetsrus, @archangelsunited, @gilgamish, @tallmatcha and @inquisition-dragonborn as well as ANYONE at all who sees this and wants to try. Tag me back, okay? :>

Rules:

Share some of the the last lines you wrote for your current WIPS

I will share 3 like last time or we'll be here all week LOL. Below the cut <3

1 -- The World on Our Shoulders:

When the Nerevarine situation started to unfold at an alarming pace, that’s when the icy old bastard had begun to thaw. While his motives were still questionable at best, Teldryn had slowly been able to convince him to change. It had been right there under the wall he’d built up to get ahead in House politics, though Neloth would never admit it. He didn’t want to be like everyone else, ruthless and heartless. But how does one become anything else, all things considered? It was just a matter of perspective. Teldryn hadn’t been above questionable assignments, really, but it was much more fun to talk Neloth out of doing things as they’d always been done. To show him what else he was capable of. Their friendship was built on unsteady foundations, sure, but it’d had centuries to settle. Maybe he still didn’t quite care about people as would be considered healthy or normal, but each decade it seemed to get better.

2 -- Something More

(AU, done and EDIT: Published.)

He pulled her note out of his pocket. Unfolded it. Smoothed the creases against the lacquered tabletop. Read through it a few more times, just to be sure he wasn’t dreaming. Find me out there when this is over. The candles in the lanterns hanging from the ceiling flickered, casting strange orange-tinged shadows over the page. The unnatural silence of the dining room stretched for what seemed like miles. He was alone with his thoughts in a makeshift oasis, all reality drowned out and melted away. There was nothing else for it but to try and catch up with her. Whatever this was, it didn’t have to be over. He read the letter one last time. Stay alive, she’d said. He could do that. I’ll try and do the same.

3 -- It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn

(Fic-universe Canon -- Varlais's POV on events surrounding World's chapters 23 and 25.)

He landed hard in the gravel and crouched down, shooting two more arrows before the beast had a moment to comprehend what was going on. The other eye, uninjured, pinned down to a straight line as horrible gurgling noises echoed from deep within its throat. Could dragons cough? Did it matter? Varlais jumped back as it expelled a stream of bile and blood. Ancarion had resummoned his Atronach, which crashed into the side of the dragon’s head with the full force and weight of its whole body. There was a sickening snap, likely somewhere in the beast’s neck. It was just a beast, after all. It had to be. Its bones still broke the same as everything else’s.

#MareenaWrites #Last Lines tag #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #LDB/Teldryn Sero #Varlais #Linare Varlais #tes #tesblr #skyrim #skyrim fic #skyrim fanfiction #elder scrolls #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 10 months

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WIP Whenever~

OH yes I'm tagging a bunch of the the mutuals again for we have suffered greatly in tossing words at the documents. Proof below the cut.

Tagged by the most esteemed @thequeenofthewinter <3

Tagging: @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @friend-of-giants, @thana-topsy, @rhiannon1199, @snippetsrus, @tallmatcha, @gilgamish, @archangelsunited, @rainpebble3, @oblivions-dawn, @saltymaplesyrup, @the-storytellers-seer, @airiat, @elfinismsarts, @inquisition-dragonborn, and any others who have not been tagged :> Consider yourselves tagged. TAG ME. And always remember to re-tag mutuals even if they've been tagged, and especially if they've posted. Pile 'em on so we can outrun the notification problems on here and always be aware of each others' work LOL Below the cut we have NEW OC nonsense in a piece of an upcoming chapter 25 of The World on Our Shoulders!

“You have to help me,” the Thalmor said. “I cannot best her. And she will not let me close to my superior without leverage. If you recall, I shot you.”

Teldryn glared at the man, though he’d not be able to see through the chitin. He thought about it for a second. What manner of bullshit was this, anyway? He didn’t refer to himself as Thalmor before, despite the outfit. Despite the battalion and superior nonsense. Something was amiss.

“Yeah, that’s even less reason for me to help you,” Teldryn said, rubbing the inside of his elbow joint in distaste.

“See reason! All of that was for appearances. And, to be honest, my own safety. I saw how you cut down my associates,” the elf said.

“Appearances to who? The dead Thalmor? Sure,” Teldryn snorted. “Fuck you. Go figure it out on your own.” If he annoyed the elf just enough, his story would fall right out. That, or the details about Nyenna.

“Excuse me?” the elf asked, aghast. “And what, pray tell, do you intend to do instead?” His face and neck were slowly going crimson. Teldryn noticed his fists were clenched at his side. He smirked behind his scarf. Perfect.

“Sail this stupid fucking bucket back to Raven Rock. I don’t need a patron who summons dragons and demons,” Teldryn lied and let out an exaggerated sigh. “Not worth the coin. I’ll cut my losses.”

“Mercenaries,” the Thalmor hissed, the word sounding more like a curse than anything Teldryn had managed so far. Of course he wasn’t going to leave Nyenna stranded here. But the elf didn’t need to know that. The Thalmor huffed, drawing attention back to himself. “Fine. Fine, what is your fee? I’ll hire you instead. You speak in coin, right?” He fished around desperately in his robes and produced a coin purse. “They’re at a standstill. They’ve been since before we were sent to retrieve that Skaal bastard. And if my superior doesn’t die, not one of us is going to get out of this alive, even if the consequences take some time to catch up to us.”

So there it was. The superior was evenly matched with Nyenna, or at least held some kind of advantage she couldn’t overcome on her own. But what did he mean about the consequences? And why was he including himself in this problem? Not that Teldryn would normally argue about offing some Thalmor leader, but all of it was bordering on insane. Figures Nyenna would have gotten stuck in the middle of it. He eyed the Thalmor as he sat down across from him and placed the coin purse on the bench.

“Before I take this job, sera, you’ll need to tell me what you mean by consequences,” Teldryn drawled, “as I don’t see how this affects me at the moment.” He didn’t move. The Thalmor sighed and ran his free hand down his face. He swore in Altmeris, but relented, finally. Teldryn smirked behind his scarf. The s’wit didn’t think through much, it seemed.

“Fine. Here’s this, then, if it will sweeten the deal, speaking of fetchers,” the Thalmor said bitterly. “I am and am not Thalmor. I steal secrets from them and pass the information back to a friend. I have a part to play. Only, a scout returning on my own without my contingent will indicate failure. Failure will mean being sent back to Alinor for retraining. And who will keep the information about the Dragonborn out of their hands then, hm?” He interwove his own fingers in a nervous fidget. “I can only survive retraining unchanged so many times.” His voice trailed off as he scrubbed at some of the scars on his head.

“So you’re a double agent?” Teldryn asked, dropping just a fraction of his attitude. He tucked away the man’s apprehension in the back of his mind for later. “Why? Why not just escape?”

The elf was taken aback by the question, blinking as if the sentiment hadn’t occurred to him before. He sighed and twisted his fingers together for a moment before finding the answer.

“It’s not as simple as one would think to get out from under their control,” he said. “So I threw my lot in with — well, that part doesn’t matter. Suffice to say, our goals probably align closer than you’d think.”

“But you shot me,” Teldryn pointed out, “and poisoned me, no less. Then, you sit there and have the gall to ask for my help.”

“It was risk management and nothing more,” the Thalmor quipped. “Do not take it personally.”

“Then why did you not poison the Dragonborn?” Teldryn ventured. He’d already taken the coin purse from the bench next to the Thalmor without being noticed. He grinned as the man’s face twisted through several different emotions until he buried his face in his hands.

“Oh, please. At this point, you must know I never did claim to be a good double agent,” the Thalmor lamented. Teldryn let out a loud cackle.

“You can say that again,” he laughed and stood up with a stretch. The Thalmor peered up at him. “Let’s just go get my friend out of trouble.” He offered his hand. “Teldryn Sero, best swordsman in all of Morrowind.”

“Varlais,” the elf said miserably. He shook Teldryn’s hand. All in all, this one looked tougher than he was. He’d been a decent actor at first until the confidence melted away. There was an explosion from not far off, tearing Teldryn from his thoughts. He spun around in surprise looking for the source. Varlais sighed heavily next to him. “Yes, that’ll be the Dragonborn.”

#MareenaWrites #WIP Wednesday #WIP Whenever #WIP #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #Varlais #Linare Varlais #LDB/Teldryn Sero #skyrim #tes #tesblr #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr #skyrim fic

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mareenavee · 9 months

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Last Lines Tag

Hi! I was tagged by @greyborn2 and @archangelsunited to share the last lines of a few WIPS. I do have some of those!

tagging the amazing and wonderful @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @tallmatcha, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @dirty-bosmer, @gilgamish, @snippetsrus, @elfinismsarts, @rainpebble3, @rhiannon1199 and an honorary tag to @kookaburra1701 in case another WIP snuck up on you while you weren't looking (:

Without further ado, small tiny snippets below the cut! 5 active, 1 inactive, with two more collabs in planning stages and too many more of my own with plans but no words yet.

So not quite as unhinged a deal with the Daedric Prince of Unfinished WIPs as KB has going(💖), but a deal nevertheless.

(The thing about that Daedric Prince is She always wants more words, but never grants more time, sigh.)

From Chapter 29 of The World on Our Shoulders:

Teldryn carefully placed everything he carried on their desk, content to be ignored and eavesdrop. Neloth was explaining something he’d been able to puzzle out — he pointed at a rough diagram depicting a cross section of a skull and brain. Unnerving, but nothing anyone who’d studied Restoration wouldn’t have seen before. Nyenna reached out and touched his wrist without looking up from Neloth’s notes. It was a silent thanks, or perhaps a reassurance. He could see the set of her shoulders; the conversation was stressing her out in equal measure to how much it calmed Neloth.

From an Untitled (so far) Sequel to Little Dragon:

Teldryn heard the crackling of Magicka being pulled over the sound of the Familiar – soft, like embers on a log. He turned, and watched as Anisa, cheek still pressed to the bench where she sprawled, curly hair cascading down, untucked her arm from underneath herself and lazily cast Magelight with a small grumble. Shalnouada reached up and scooped the ball of light into its mouth in smooth, practiced movements. The Magelight passed through it, causing its body to glow a myriad colors, throwing glittering light across the walls and ceiling. The happy chittering of mudcrabs filled the room. Teldryn blinked in shock, then ran his palm over his face. He cast another instance of Magelight and pushed it toward the spectral crab. Its eyestalks rotated, locking onto its food source. Again, faster than anything, it scooped the magic up into its mouth, then made a contented sound as the glittering erupted and faded, just like before.

*Shalnouada = Dunmeris for River Spirit (Shaln (Spirit) + Ouada (River))

From Darkest Before the Dawn (A Varlais extra chapter):

Varlais jumped back as it expelled a stream of bile and blood. Ancarion had resummoned his Atronach, which crashed into the side of the dragon’s head with the full force and weight of its whole body. There was a sickening snap, likely somewhere in the beast’s neck. It was just a beast, after all. It had to be. Its bones still broke the same as everything else’s.

From Recurse, an upcoming Ondolemar fic for a prompt challenge:

He thought back to the revelations the odd Dwemer machine had given him. Each moment was recursive, trying to tell him something, puzzle pieces clicking into place. Things he’d forgotten, or not seen in the right frame of mind. It could have been a blessing, had things not already been so complicated.

Untitled Sideways Sequel to World, featuring Athis:

"Think of it like this," Farkas started. He paused and tapped the edge of his fist against his forehead. Athis snorted. Farkas grinned, but squeezed his eyes closed. "We'll be founding members of a new guild, kinda, right? And I know how much you hate vampires. It'll be fun to bring a bunch of 'em down. You won't have to think about, well, all of this. We'll be too busy." Optimistic, really. Athis did appreciate it, though. He looked over at his friend and managed a half-smile. "That's the idea, Farkas," he said. Farkas nodded and grinned widely and returned to his task. "I miss Nyenna, too, though," Farkas said after a moment. "A lot, actually." He pulled a long piece of grass taught and carefully braided together another ridiculously tiny row. "I'm sorry it all fell apart like this. It wasn't fair. But I'm with you, whatever you want to do." Athis looked at his friend who pointedly did not look back up from his work. This time it was the right thing to say. He felt marginally better. Maybe just halfway not as alone as before. He sighed again. "No turning back now, I suppose," he said with a shrug. "We'll be at the fort in no time at all."

and BONUS! The last lines of my writing from a secret, untitled prompt fill collab I'm writing with @changelingsandothernonsense.

You cannot stop it no matter how you rail. No matter how hard you pull back against destiny. You scream, and once again, the sound is lost to the Heart. And then – She is there, her golden skin a balm in this place of terror. She approaches, gilded form languid and graceful. Unbothered by the mountain. Untempted by the heart. She is real, and she is not. You are not. And still she approaches.

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mareenavee · 9 months

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Okay, I want you to gimme some Varlais answers~ Because I love a disaster Thalmor

Which areas of Skyrim do they find most beautiful and most dangerous?

Do they regret journeying to Skyrim?

Who is their mentor? Who do they go to most for lessons?

What is their stance on taking a life? Do they kill without a second thought, in the name of a god or daedra, or do they adhere to pacifism?

Hehehe. Okay, alright. I'm inspired. Let's go. I'll let Linare Varlais answer these things himself. :> (From this ask game here.)

Which areas of Skyrim do they find most beautiful and most dangerous?

Hm. Skyrim. I'd say, especially now with the dragons flying about like vermin, it's likely dangerous everywhere. There is a kind of beauty though, if you ignore the danger. I'd say the most beautiful place is likely Solitude, or the surrounding mountains overlooking the ocean. It's cold, but it reminds me as much as is possible of Alinor, regardless of the snow and ice. It's still the sea and it's close enough. That said, it's still one of the most dangerous places here. There, Solstheim, Winterhold, Markarth...anywhere there is a strong Thalmor presence, honestly. You make one mistake and you're -- well. No need to worry about that. As I said, everywhere's dangerous these days.

Do they regret journeying to Skyrim?

Well, to be perfectly honest with you I never did have any choice in the matter. I've lived here most of my life. My father was a guard for -- oh. Yeah, no Ondolemar just said I shouldn't bring him up, so I won't. After a few interesting events, he was promoted to Lady Elenwen's personal guard and that opened up a lot of doors for me when I got older. The only time I get to leave this frozen boulder of a province is when I mess something up and am sent back to Alinor for retraining. After that, though...ugh. They always ship me back to Northwatch as if that'll make the difference. I do regret the mistakes, even when I can't help but make them, because I absolutely hate that fort. If I never see the inside of it again, I'll die happy.

Who is their mentor? Who do they go to most for lessons?

I think this is a complex question, and Ondolemar will kill me if I divulge too many details, maybe. But I can say this. My mother and my sister taught me everything I know about archery. My sister's skills probably outpaced Mother's, and I'm sure she could've outshone me, too, if she had survived her retraining. ... ...Yes, sorry, I was just... I was just thinking. Forgive me. Anyway. Yes, it's not possible to go to Alinor on my own right now with my current posting to train with my parents. Instead, I put all my focus behind the plan Ondolemar is working on. I look to him for guidance whenever things get a bit iffy. For me, to be honest, they usually do.

What is their stance on taking a life? Do they kill without a second thought, in the name of a god or daedra, or do they adhere to pacifism?

I am not a pacifist. Oh, but Gods would I have preferred that. No, early on I learned how it really is in this world. My parents are both veterans of the Great War, and their philosophy on the matter -- regardless of if they'd be able to form other opinions -- is that if one does not strike first, then in most cases, it gives the other person the opening they need to eliminate you. And I've seen it plenty all across Skyrim, a thousand different times. After a while, you don't think. You just aim and shoot an arrow and hope it's enough to get you out of danger. I can't say it doesn't affect me, because I do hate it. Very much. But I can't fix anything if I don't try. That said, I don't fight for a god and certainly certainly not a Daedra. I fight to remain part of the insurgence, more or less, so that I might right the wrongs done to my family first, and to my people as an extension of that.

#AskMareena #AskVarlais actually #MareenaWrites #Skyrim OC asks #Varlais #Linare Varlais #skyrim #skyrim fic #The World on Our Shoulders #elder scrolls #tes #tesblr #Thalmor #Elenwen #Ondolemar #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 10 months

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WIP Whenever~

Hello <3 I was tagged by the most esteemed @thequeenofthewinter and, though I have shared some of this already, I am about to share more of chapter 27!

Tagging the lovely: @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @snippetsrus, @rhiannon1199, @rainpebble3, @elfinismsarts, @friend-of-giants, @archangelsunited, @inquisition-dragonborn -- and anyone else who wants to share what they're up to this week! Tag me back so I can see!

Below the cut, 1100 words re: Varlais, since I know you guys seem to love the poor bean.

Teldryn was interrupted from his thoughts by Varlais, who had wandered up from the other part of the settlement. He was currently complaining once again over the Levitation Rune. To be perfectly honest, he was lucky Neloth hadn’t cut the rune the second he stepped through the door.

Teldryn sighed and looked over at him. Varlais’s Thalmor regalia had been shredded by the Stalhrim just as badly as his own armor had been, yet the man still wore the coat over a plain linen shirt Talvas had been forced to give up. Old habits, maybe, or something more disconcerting.

“I’m leaving. I don’t have much choice in the matter,” Varlais said, sullen as per usual. He had dark circles under his eyes, like he’d barely slept. “I don’t know why, but I wanted to tell you.” He scrubbed the straw blonde stubble that was growing in on his chin. “I’m likely going to be sent back to Alinor for this whole situation. But… I’ll do all I can to get back after that, if it’s at all possible.”

“For Nyenna?” Teldryn asked. Varlais’s eyes went navy, darkening with some kind of swirling discomfort.

“Partially,” he said. He sighed and crossed his arms. His coat tugged and ripped at the seams a bit more. “I might not be the best at what I do, but I have made a difference now and again. It’s too much to explain now, and my colleagues wouldn’t approve.” He ran a hand over the scars on the side of his head. There was stubble growing around those, too. “All I do is for the good of my people, ultimately, though at the moment we’re focused on keeping Nyenna out of the Dominion’s hands.”

Teldryn’s stomach flipped and he frowned. He stood up carefully — not that Nyenna would be disturbed at this point, but still — and led Varlais away from her room. She wouldn’t hear in her condition, but…it seemed somehow rude to talk about her past without her while she was within earshot.

“Do you have any idea why they are after her? She doesn’t know.”

Varlais swallowed hard and, almost as if it was a nervous tick, ran his hand over the scars on his head again. Each time he did this, his youth faded away under layers of stress that weighed heavily over his brow.

“I don’t have all the information,” he drawled, “because as you can imagine, I can sometimes be a bit of a liability.” Teldryn snorted and, despite his nervousness, Varlais managed a half grin, which fell again just as quickly. “Her family was a target. They’d been one of the prominent families purged in Valenwood, and apparently she and her step-brother escaped. Officially, they think she died in Helgen, technically.” He paused and looked up at the ceiling. “Some agents have postulated that the Dragonborn in the songs is Nyenna, and if it gets back to certain people who were part of the purges, the hunt for her could absolutely resume. Right now, they haven’t connected the two halves.”

Teldryn wasn’t exactly shocked. Nyenna has theorized something similar during one of their conversations. She was always hesitant to speak on the topic; the Thalmor had already sent her running from her destiny and the subject was like acid for her, always eating away at her resolve. They were, after all, relentless. If he hadn’t disappeared, he’d have been hunted to the ends of Nirn as well for all he’d done on Vvardenfell back then. The thought occurred to him on a semi-regular basis, when he allowed his mind to wander. It wouldn’t do to let it now. He looked back over his shoulder. She was still sound asleep.

“Who else is working with you to protect her?” Teldryn asked. Varlais made a conflicted noise, as if he almost spoke automatically.

“I, er, shouldn’t say exactly. Just…another friend. He’ll look like an enemy, like me. But he means well. He’s rescued me a thousand times already, and we’re not even from the same — no. Never mind that,” Varlais said. He shook his head. “Look. Just. Not everything is going to be exactly as it seems on the surface. She has some of us in her corner.”

“I don’t understand why, though! And how are we supposed to tell?” Teldryn asked, unable to hide his frustration.

Varlais shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He reached into his pocket and grabbed a leather strip and tied his hair back away from his face, stretching the silence on into something less than comfortable.

“She is important. Obviously. But there’s so many facets to that fact alone, and it means something different to every one of us,” Varlais said with a shrug. Teldryn wasn’t exactly sure he wanted to be included in a group of Thalmor double agents, even if the sentiment was true.

“And what about you? Why do you stay mired in all this nonsense? You could disappear. They’d come to check on the little outpost, see the damage, and assume you’d all perished. You could be free. Why stay?”

Varlais went totally still and silent for a moment before he crossed his arms over his chest in a way that looked more like he was holding his ribs together, trying to keep something from escaping.

“It’s not that simple, I’m afraid. Not with everything that’s at stake. I couldn’t abandon the cause. Not with what it has cost me so far.” He let out a shuttering breath, looking rather crestfallen. “It would be impossible to be part of the cause in any significant way if I ran away. So I’ll suffer. There are people I love that I need to free from their claws.” Another pause. He let go of his ribs long enough to scrub at his scars again. It seemed like the next words were stuck in his throat behind an old terror. “I cannot abandon them. I won’t. Not with how far we’ve come.”

Teldryn had suspected that the spy situation Varlais had told him about before had some dire consequences underpinning all his decisions, but he hadn’t revealed just how close to his heart this work was. To be fair, he hadn’t thought much of Varlais. But the man was determined, even in the face of so much danger. Or chaos, caused or caught up in. He could give him that point in his favor, at least.

“Then you had best get back to it, however you can. Is there…is there someone we can get a message to?” Teldryn asked, though he wasn’t sure what use he’d be at trying to identify friendly Thalmor while still at Nyenna’s side.

#MareenaWrites #The World on Our Shoulders #Nyenna #Teldryn Sero #Varlais #Linare Varlais #tes #tesblr #skyrim #elder scrolls #skyrim fic #WIP Whenever #WIP wednesday #WIP #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 9 months

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Recurse

For @paraparadigm -- the bestie. The MVP. (Everyone go caw at her, she just wrote like 6-8k words between utter chaos.) Thank you for the prompt and, like, for everything else too. You are a gem!

Thank you to @thana-topsy for fricken phenomenal beta work <3

A shoutout to @changelingsandothernonsense for a few details that make the ruins seem more ruin-like and fantastic and for general support, nerdery and awesomeness <3

Prompt: A character notices they've walked into a memory of the past.

PLEASE MIND THE CWs for later on in this story! These are listed on the fic and in the card and do not apply to the sample before the link at the end.

Contains major worldbuilding spoilers for the main fic, The World on Our Shoulders.

Recurse

Ondolemar hated Dwarven Ruins on a good day, and this was, by far, the worst day he’d had in a while. He looked up as a Healing spell chimed in his hand. He couldn’t see the floor they’d been on before the accident. Not that he expected to, but a part of his mind still wanted some kind of confirmation or reassurance that they’d be able to get back out again. He could gather no such information, not from all the way down here.

They’d fallen far. A rusted mess of metalwork had disintegrated as they’d walked through a small passage back toward the keep. Varlais had clung to his sleeves, pulling them both down into the darkness with a high-pitched yell. If not for pipes and layers of grates to break their fall, things would have been much worse. As it was, they’d both suffered injury – but Ondolemar could handle the sprains and bruises, even the cracked rib or two. He wasn’t terrible with Restoration, but he was no healer. That was becoming more obvious by the second as the soreness of their various injuries set in.

He paused, shaking his head to dispel the fresh memory creeping up behind his eyes. The sheer terror was hard to let go of – that visceral fear of solid ground collapsing like a snowbank still felt possible, somehow, even here, as if it could happen again at any point. As they fell, he’d screamed – a ghost of himself haunting the ruins, lungs filled with the acrid, metallic tang of stale air. The sound still echoed in his ears. Death had, for a moment, seemed like a guarantee. It reminded him of when he was a child – helpless as he’d slipped into water below ice. How quickly surety was torn from you when the world was no longer as solid underfoot as it should be.

As before, somehow, he survived the liquid state of the ruins, pulled back to consciousness by something other. Another way Mara kept him whole while the rest of his people vanished into themselves. Her hands could only hold so much. It was why he’d have to do the rest – provided She could guide them out of this depressing place. -> read the rest on AO3

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mareenavee · 10 months

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Talk to me about plot bunnies! Since I know you're largely a planner/outliner, I have a question about what you do with the sorts of lightning bolt, "I wasn't planning on this" story ideas we all I think have to contend with at one point or another. How do you discipline plot bunnies in your writing - do you let them hop around, do you shuffle them into side projects, do they multiply unnoticed? What is the strangest/weirdest plot bunny you've hatched since you started The World on Our Shoulders that you've decided to not pursue after all? Alternatively, was there a plot idea that wasn't planned, but that since then happily made it in and hopped across the page? Bonus: with your editorial hat on, what advice would you give writers who suffer from plot bunny population booms?

HIII So sorry it's taken me a mortal age to get to this one LOL you know perhaps better than most that my writing has had me in a hyper focus for a WHILE. But I'm glad for it. This is fun because in the time since you asked this ONE plot bunny was allowed to escape LOL. I'll get to him in a second. You know the one.

But first, I do generally stick to the plan to get from point A to point B but I allow some creative freedom with the prose. Sometimes cool scenes crop up -- usually character building things. I have to keep an eye on my plot threads but there's still wiggle room. I like to cause problems on purpose. And sometimes if I write a scene and it doesn't quite fit, I move it into a fragment file and return to it later. And if I'm really feeling like the scene might fit sooner rather than later or be more fun to work with, I absolutely will shift cards around so to speak. A whole mini arc got added into the Raven Rock arc (second arc of the fic) because I was just feeling like shaking the jar of beans. Rude of me, I realize. I also dragged part of that encounter down to arc 1 to begin with, toward the end when I decided I was going to make trouble. This usually all stems from my practice of just writing ideas down when they come to me, after having a really long stretch of time where I wasn't really feeling very creative as the world was...well...you know. A few spinoff fics have been created from this. One is my Ondolemar project I'd hinted at here. Well... you did actually LOL. It had previously been unannounced. And I have another one where I'll redo the college of Winterhold later. I'm also really loving some of the prompts we've been coming up with here and there, especially the cursed kiss prompts (Ya'll can thank @thana-topsy's reply to this post for a few of ours at this point.) So at least one of those has become sort of more than expected; a plausible if not tragic end to my fic series.

Considering I'm not really opposed to the challenge of weird, as we've seen lately lol I've definitely decided that if an idea fits, there's a way to make it work within the fic universe or an alternate universe, really. But there was a point where I was deciding who would be a POV character and who wouldn't for World and, before Athis was a POV character (and he was very, very needed for the story) someone else had been. I have a fragment from something very early here in another ask. He'll be returning for the sideways sequel, so it's not that I just decided it was too weird, per se, more that the voice was better for a different idea.

Now on to my favorite plot bunny! VARLAIS. My new OC. My idiot (endearing.) He just...exists now. He was not in draft one. He was not in the first published version of World. But he just happened to be perfect for what I needed when I was, as mentioned, causing problems on purpose for the mini arc I'm currently working on in the WIP. And now everyone is in love with the boy, even though he'd probably break his leg trying to tie his shoes. (You can meet him in this post. ) He is a Thalmor, technically, and a spy. A double agent if you will. But we're not really sure if he's a good one? Somehow he's been surviving. He is being shuffled into the Ondolemar fic I've mentioned above, but for now he's finishing up the Raven Rock arc of the fic with Nyenna and Teldryn. Does his surname sound familiar? It's Ayleidoon for "Stars." It does mean something. Para, I know you've seen this. But, for those of you new to the chaos of a new OC just kind of willing themselves into existence, here's a snippet of the very first instance of Teldryn encountering the boy. This, by the way, was a very stupid mistake on both their parts. (:

From Chapter 25:

He didn’t get far. As he was adjusting the sail and knocking off as much ice as he could from the canvas, he heard the crunch of snow and wood from the abandoned, half-collapsed shack, which he’d completely forgotten to check. He’d barely spotted the Thalmor archer perched on the avalanche before the arrow caught him in the elbow. Pain exploded from the wound as he let out a strangled cry of surprise. His Candlelight spell ended abruptly. Something was wrong. The agony wasn’t isolated to the injury — it was radiating everywhere. The attacker ran to the shore in seconds and tossed a ball of Magelight in Teldryn’s direction. He made a show of jumping into the boat with unnatural grace. The Thalmor threw back his hood, scarred, gilded face grinning maliciously. Pin-straight, straw-colored hair fell forward, left half missing or trimmed away, revealing more angry scars on his skull and a network of burns on his neck that disappeared into his collar. “Goodnight,” he said. That was all. He waited. Bold of him, really. The two of them stared at each other for a moment — the Thalmor smug, Teldryn perplexed. He looked like the kind of person who would deserve to be stabbed in the neck with the same arrow he’d just shot someone in the elbow with. If only Teldryn could reach the damned thing. This was normally not a difficult or slow process. What the hell? Teldryn’s fingers were numb to the bone, more than they should’ve been in his gauntlets. He didn’t feel cold. In fact, all he felt was pain. He found no matter how hard he willed it, he couldn’t get his other arm to reach the arrow protruding out of the joint. The muscles were locking up. It struck him then exactly what this was. Fucking Paralysis poison. He tried to shout, to curse, to cast a spell — anything. But it was too late. He felt himself collapsing woodenly into the hull of the boat. His head struck one of the benches on the way down and his vision swam. He could not yell. Could not struggle. Could not even blink. The Thalmor archer walked toward the back of the boat around his limbs and kicked him out of the way with a derisive snort. His eyes, blue and full of hate in the Magelight, were the last things Teldryn saw before darkness closed around him.

#AskMareena #MareenaWrites #The World on Our Shoulders #Varlais #Linare Varlais #Teldryn Sero #Skyrim #tes #tesblr #skyrim fic #fanficblr #writblr #writeblr

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mareenavee · 7 months

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Bold the Facts | OC Tag Game

Hi there, I can do a tumblr post once in a while maybe LOL I was tagged to do this one by @throughtrialbyfire!! I'm tagging: @paraparadigm, @changelingsandothernonsense, @thana-topsy, @thequeenofthewinter, @dirty-bosmer, @miraakulous-cloud-district, @wildhexe, @expended-sleeper, @gilgamish, @tallmatcha, @rainpebble3, @oblivions-dawn, @kookaburra1701, @saltymaplesyrup, @snippetsrus, @elfinismsarts, @orfeoarte, @polypolymorph, @inquisition-dragonborn -- and you! YES if you'd like to do this tag game, go ahead and tag me back :> I'm gonna fill this one out for Nyenna, Teldryn, Athis and Varlais. (NPCs-Become-OCs are totally fine.) More below the cut coz this is actually quite a long one.

Nyenna

✧˖°. PERSONAL

$ Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty ✚ Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non-applicable ✪Class/Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other ✔ Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other ✖ Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

✧˖°. FAMILY

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / found family / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

✧˖°. TRAITS + TENDENCIES

♦ extroverted / introverted / in-between ♦ disorganized / organized / in-between ♦ close-minded / open-minded / in-between ♦ calm / anxious / in-between / highly contextual ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in-between ♦ cautious / reckless / in-between / highly contextual ♦ patient / impatient / in-between ♦ outspoken / reserved / in-between / highly contextual ♦ leader / follower / in-between ♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in-between / highly contextual ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in-between ♦ traditional / modern / in-between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in-between ♦ cultured / uncultured / in-between / unknown ♦ loyal / disloyal / unknown / highly contextual ♦ faithful / unfaithful / unknown / highly contextual

✧˖°. BELIEFS

★ Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic ☆ Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don't know / don’t care / in a matter of speaking ✮ Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking ✯ Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care / in a manner of speaking ❃ Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don't care ✧ Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious ❀ Philosophical: yes / no / highly contextual

✧˖°. SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

❤ Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual ❥ Sex: sex-repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless ♥ Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious ❣ Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious ⚧ Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all ⚧ Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

✧˖°. ABILITIES

☠ Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ≡ Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✍ Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none ✂ Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✧˖°. HABITS

☕ Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic / former borderline alcoholic turned sober ☁ Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker ✿ Recreational Drugs: tried some / never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict ✌ Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess ☻ Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater $ Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic ♣ Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gamble

Teldryn

✧˖°. PERSONAL

✧˖°. FAMILY

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children / never thought about having a family ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / found family / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

✧˖°. TRAITS + TENDENCIES

✧˖°. BELIEFS

✧˖°. SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✧˖°. ABILITIES

✧˖°. HABITS

Athis

✧˖°. PERSONAL

✧˖°. FAMILY

✧˖°. TRAITS + TENDENCIES

✧˖°. BELIEFS

✧˖°. SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✧˖°. ABILITIES

✧˖°. HABITS

Varlais

✧˖°. PERSONAL

✧˖°. FAMILY

◒ Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children / never thought about starting a family ◑ Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ◔ Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / found family / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

✧˖°. TRAITS + TENDENCIES

✧˖°. BELIEFS

✧˖°. SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✧˖°. ABILITIES

✧˖°. HABITS

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