Gifts for paraparadigm
List of Gifts
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The Descendant by Rhiannon1199 for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
30 Aug 2024
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A young Telvanni apprentice wanders along the shore of northern Solstheim and encounters a ghost with a legendary past, trapped between the worlds of the living and the dead.
And she has a secret to tell.
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Death is My Heir by I_was_here_once for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
24 Dec 2023
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Summary
The children regale you with tales all night. It is only once dawn has come, and there will be no more tasks, no more school to attend to, no more lessons for dancing, that you allow your lovers to take you to bed.
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Tender Unto Righteous Men by polymorphic for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
30 Nov 2023
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Institutions are changing after the Oblivion Crisis, and the Thieves Guild is no exception. After a job gone wrong, Angela finds herself on notice with the Grey Fox. She thought she’d get off easy until she learned just who it was they assigned to babysit her.
A rush of wings stirs the air, and a glossy black feather floats on the wind. Helvius should not be alive, but somehow he is—and he knows who to thank.
Series
- Part 9 of The Errant Souls Archive
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As Long as It Won’t Separate You From Me, I’ll Be Fine by MareenaVee for paraparadigm, SnippetsRUs
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
13 Oct 2023
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Aubrey flinched when Talvas laid a hand on her arm. Her skin had gone cold as she’d absently kept tracing her tattoos, lost in her horror. The dawn was breaking, the sliver of sunlight creeping up over the horizon, an illusion of warmth. Her breath went shallow and she swayed on her feet. Her vision blurred, sky turning to billowing clouds of stardust, like pigment in water, mauve asteroids floating through an endless ocean—the galaxy she’d been pulled through. Would she have to travel back through that? What would be left for her but a room full of corpses?
Talvas caught her as she listed sideways, all while she kept her eyes locked on the stars and navy sky fading into the gold and pink wash of morning.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said, words gentle despite the tightness in his throat. She could hear it. He was terrified. So was she. They both sank to the stone of the rooftop, heedless of the gathering clouds, of the chill. It was cold enough to end them, both of them, right here, if they stayed too still. Aubrey buried her face in her hands. Had she not already made her choice?Series
- Part 1 of Aetherial Fragments
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This Had Once Been Called Peace by MareenaVee for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
11 Oct 2023
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Summary
When Eris was freed from the prison of his blood-starved body, he wandered, the world shifting beneath his feet to become less and less recognizable. It was as if the realm was trying to become that which he would normally be terrified of—but the stasis had pulled fear from him, too. The nightmares had, at first, been of tearing flesh from bone, of skin and veins split wide open, blood running in rivulets, his own hands unrecognizable under vast amounts of viscera. Eris supposed that was the way of things, vampires being what they are, and after a time, even this ceased to affect him. After that, he stood idly by and watched a thousand iterations of Nyenna’s death. Oddly, mostly these ended in dragonfire. He was not sure why, but could not muster the energy to enquire. Nor could he figure out exactly who to ask.
Series
- Part 3 of If Only Time Changed Its Mind
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Nirn’s Misbegotten Things by polymorphic for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
30 Sep 2023
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Summary
That Which Called Itself a Dremora surveyed the night with satisfaction. Poppet always found him the very best snacks.
Series
- Part 6 of The Errant Souls Archive
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Countless Ages Ago by MareenaVee for IndorilJinumon, paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
27 Sep 2023
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All it takes is a quick step and you’ve shifted through mountains, cliff racers circling above, sun stuck behind endless clouds and torrential rain. You grasp a daedric sword in one hand and hear the hiss of an extinguishing lantern held in the other. Ah yes, you remember now. You were headed to face your fate, or so you’d been told. But this is Balmora. And that is a silt strider. They do not travel the path you had just been walking, the one overlooking the end of all things. You glance down at yourself, worn clothing patched over and fraying. The sword has disappeared. Instead, you wield a rusty dagger. Your shoes are full of holes, into which swamp water flows. In your pockets, naught but a stolen ring and a directive. Ah. And a crushed coda flower tucked away for later. The rain chills you, but not enough to sway determination. You keep walking; persistence is the only way forward.
Series
- Part 4 of Constellation
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Summary
The door closed behind them with a strange finality. Ondolemar pushed the nervous thought from his mind and lowered his shirt, tucking it back into place under his robes. The air wasn’t exactly fresh, but it didn’t stink of death, and that was enough. There were overturned chairs pushed about the room as if by some great force. Plates, cups and cutlery littered the ground with cabinets, dressers and end tables torn open. Rotting scraps of fabric hung off of them, ancient table runners all but destroyed by time. Some of the items seemed to have gathered less dust compared to the rest. Had someone been through here before? He could see no footprints, but still. Stranger things had been recorded regarding such ruins.
Series
- Part 4 of Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked
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Jury (nautical term): makeshift, improvised by I_was_here_once for MareenaVee, paraparadigm, elfinisms
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
06 Aug 2023
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Summary
It was, Sero thought, an error, to discount the creativity of immortals, when considering damnation.
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Sea of Storms by MareenaVee for paraparadigm, I_was_here_once, elfinisms, Cethlenn13
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
05 Aug 2023
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Waves crashed against the hull of the Azura’s Revenge, rain battering the crew as they scrambled to account for the tempest that had blown in. Jury was still out if it was real at all, or something conjured. They’d said the Pirate King, if that’s what he really was, could cause madness with the mere presence of his ship. Well, it was madness to be here in the Sea of Ghosts. It was a bit far from the Abecean, where his lot belonged.
Athis clasped his hands behind his back, water flooding over his tricorne hat and running under the salt-soaked collar of his heavy captain’s jacket. Miserable. But they wouldn’t lose. He’d sailed these waters for twenty years now, evaded every iceberg, sank every East Empire Galleon he chose to target. Dremora or not, Velehk Sain wouldn’t stand a chance. Perhaps especially not now that he was allied to the damnable Blood Horkers out of Japhet’s Folly.
Series
- Part 1 of Azura's Revenge
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Love and Its Decisive Pain by MareenaVee for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
22 Jul 2023
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Athis tries to understand what it’s like to be the Dragonborn, and how very much everything has already changed.
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He would have taken it all.
Each dragon he’d have brought down, he’d keep their scales until, at the end of everything, she’d have a collection to prove how he’d done it all for her. He’d have saved the world because she was in it. Not because that had been any kind of expectation. If he’d have been chosen, she’d have been his true north, really. Nothing else for it.
Series
- Part 3 of Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked
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A Heavy Truth by MareenaVee for paraparadigm, Cethlenn13
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
21 Jul 2023
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When Argis finally spoke, it was with a gentleness not typical of the people Ondolemar had been dealing with. At first, it was just small corrections from observations he’d been privy to as the help. Slowly, he realized the housecarl had been useful the entire time, and fully loyal – not the Jarl’s spy – which he’d of course assumed, much to his chagrin. Trust came easily after that.
And then, of course, the plan was laid bare on the stone slab they called a table here after a few months. How fiercely the Nord – of all people – believed in the cause. The empathy he’d shown for the plight of his fellow Altmer under the crushing fist of the Dominion was astounding. How quickly he stood up for those who had no voice of their own. How empathetic he was when he himself had been shown no such grace. Argis was all kindness hidden behind heavy steel armor.
So, yes. He’d thawed a bit. It couldn’t be helped. The man was just so endearing. And it all went downhill from there.
And now he could barely function on his own anymore. Ah, the waning of strength, if he ever had any at all.
Series
- Part 6 of Dragonborn and Far-Star Marked
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Something More by MareenaVee for paraparadigm, Cethlenn13
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
12 Jul 2023
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Summary
“Thank you for the drink.” She took a seat at the bar next to him. “Nyenna, by the way. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name before.”
“Teldryn Sero, best swordsman in all of Morrowind,” he said. He shook her hand, which seemed maybe overly warm, and buzzed a bit, like Shock magic, but different. Odd. He felt it run through his whole arm, practically. “Good to meet you.” His voice trailed off, puzzled. He cleared his throat.
“Best swordsman? In all of Morrowind?” she asked after a moment. He shifted a bit on his seat. She sipped her drink and looked up at him from under her eyelashes. “That can’t possibly be true.” He let out a bark of a laugh and she grinned.
“Well, someone has to have the title,” he answered smoothly.
Series
- Part 1 of If Only Time Changed Its Mind
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Here Do We Toil by MareenaVee for The_Storytellers_Seer, Cethlenn13, Rhiannon1199, paraparadigm
Fandoms: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Elder Scrolls
09 Jul 2023
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A researcher wakes up in an ancient temple, plagued by nightmares of boneless limbs and of drowning in ink-black seas. A god-priest with a mask of gleaming gold pulls them from the roiling waves, and their mind is changed forever. How, then, does one enthralled by Miraak's mantra reconcile with their destiny? How, then, can the Last Dragonborn recover from a betrayal they did not know was possible?
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I have seen Lord Miraak and He has granted me His favor. He stood among the hunched forms of Seekers, their ragged robes and tentacles blowing in a breeze that smelled of rot and ancient parchment. Whirlwinds of books flapped and paper scattered and all I could see after a time was the gleam of His mask as I had seen in my dreams since the drowning.I bowed before Him under the same storms from before, the ink black sea always roiling beneath me, almost beckoning. I will never forget the cold fury, always present. Prying orbs, always gazing. I am watched, and yet I am not. In a moment, I could drown again. I could wake up below those waves, and not, in fact, in an ancient temple chamber, book in hand, at the elbow of my mercenary. But Lord Miraak prevents it even now as I write.
Series
- Part 1 of Constellation
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Orders of Rectitude by polymorphic for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Video Game)
27 Aug 2022
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Duplication without duplicity. Devotion and duty. Agony, relief. Sorrow and adulation, peace within rage. Ordering the chaos. They blur together in the end, but he holds her eyes through it all, peer and witness, carrot and flail. Always an ally, never a friend. Exactly what she needs, avoiding what she wants. By his hands their paths were chained: she to blaze ahead, he to drive behind. So be it. She’ll drag him through the planes. She’ll raise his blade and aim. She’ll see his arm shattered absorbing the blow.
A tool. That’s what their love is, and it is glorious.
— The final moments of the Knight Commander of the Fifth Crusade, and the beginning of a few new ones.
Series
- Part 3 of Orders of Uncertainty
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Orders of Exactitude by polymorphic for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (Video Game)
26 Aug 2022
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Regill lived and died by the sword, so the undisciplined get a chance not to.
— An end of life romance told from the perspective of a rigid old Hellknight, contemplating the character's unwavering adamance in the face of encroaching chaos, and the destruction it brings.
Series
- Part 4 of Orders of Uncertainty
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October 18: “You should have seen it.” by Qophia for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
19 Oct 2018
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“You should have seen it, Bull,” Cadash sighed.
Series
- Part 18 of Qoph's Fictober 2018
- Part 4 of Edric Cadash's Fictober Shenanigans
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October 9: "You shouldn't have come here." by Qophia for paraparadigm
Fandoms: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
10 Oct 2018
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Summary
Halward Pavus climbed the stairs in the Gull and Lantern with a leaden tread. If his son was coming, it would not be tonight.
Series
- Part 9 of Qoph's Fictober 2018
- Part 7 of Edric Cadash's Fictober Shenanigans