#Sydari Aralen

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Saw a meme, had to draw these idiots as a result.

Feel free to do the same!

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Wip Whenever

Hellooo it's Thursday morning and I should probably consider going to bed. So today we are gonna drop art and a little bit of writing. I'm kinda obsessing over Josh and Sydari stuff atm writing wise so you get some of that. Thank you to @skyrim-forever for tagging me. I started making this post when I got your tag :3 Tagging @viss-and-pinegar @vivifriend @saltymaplesyrup @archangelsunited @nyarevar @thescrolls-haveforetold

No pressure as usual. Just fun stuff for fun.

Now for wips n shit. Starting with arts-

Got more of his armour done and some deets on those blades. Posting a close up of his face because I'm happy with his pouty face. I just posted the chapter this art corresponds with the other day.

And a snippet of writing below the cut.

Today i'm posting a bit from chapter 18 of Serious Mistakes. Josh finally decides to ask for help from people he can trust. Only issue is that in order to ask for it, Josh must sit on ceremony. Part of it involves granting guest right to Sydari so that she can join Josh and Geldis at the Urshilaku camp. The chapter is Sydari's pov and i've chosen a section where Sydari is meeting the Ashkhan for the first time. She has mixed feelings. Josh hasn't been feeling so great over these last few chapters. ----

It wasn’t long before Geldis came back, though it was long enough for the smoking pipe to have done at least one round about the circle, and Sydari was feeling pleasantly buzzed. Geldis sat beside her and sighed as he reached once again for his drink.

“Go on,” Geldis grinned, “I know you want to know what happened.”

“I mean, sure?” Sydari shrugged as she reached for her drink again, “I’m assuming he’s just being stubborn about something?”

Geldis nodded, “Tel doesn’t want to use his stick and can’t get up by himself. Finally admitted that he probably shouldn’t have pushed it.”

She rolled her eyes a little, “Of course it was that.”

“It was a few things, Etana kinda offloaded a lot on him when he arrived,” Geldis sighed as he downed his drink, “Tel’s a bit emotional, to put it simply. He doesn’t like people seeing that.”

“So, what’s happening?” Sydari asked, her gaze still focused on the pipe that was being passed around the other side of the circle.

“Etana and I convinced Tel that no one cares if he’s got to use it,” He shrugged, sighing yet again, “We told him that the issues going on with the Urshilaku can wait until we’ve finished with Sigrun. I think it’s calmed him down a little. Just—”

“He’s a bit…” Sydari shook her head, trying to dislodge the image of Teldryn back in Glowstone Hall, eyes dead and vitriol spewing from his lips. The version of him that would hold a knife to her throat. Did the nomads know about that side of him? Or had he managed to hide it from them? She swallowed, anxiety welling yet again as the image changed and warped from Solstheim to the depths of Snow Veil Sanctum. She touched her hand to her throat before fiddling with the dark soul gem she wore around her neck. The vibration from the soul trapped forever inside brought her back to Nirn just as Geldis started speaking again.

“I don’t think he’s gonna change again if that’s what you’re worried about?” Geldis stated, his voice was quieter, almost soothing, “Ki, the Wise Woman, has a lot of tricks up her sleeve to keep Tel here. The Urshilaku have been helping him control it for a long time, girl. It’ll be okay.”

She nodded, her gaze falling to the woven carpet in front of her. They fell into a strange silence for a few moments, only ending as the murmuring from the crowd started to die down once again as the Wise Woman rose to her feet. She felt Geldis’ hand on her shoulder as he leaned in to whisper to her again.

“I think Tel’s finally ready.”

She looked towards the door just as the Wise Woman disappeared behind it. A part of her wondered if this was yet another problem stalling everything yet again. She noticed that everyone in the circle had stood, and she followed suit, letting out a sigh of relief as the door opened once again and both of the mer from earlier exited the tent and took their places within the circle, standing behind their seating cushions as the rest of the circle did. She listened to the Gulakhan speak, wishing she understood even a word of what he said. She started fiddling with her necklace again, arranging the thin, gold chain so that it wasn’t getting tangled in the decoration of her glass torc. Geldis nudged her a little as the Gulakhan stopped speaking and she snapped her attention back to the door just as it opened once again— a larger figure appearing just behind it.

“There he is,” Geldis whispered in her ear, “Tel’s gonna address everyone before we all sit down again. Just follow my lead.”

She nodded just as the figure stepped out into the light of the lanterns. She didn’t know what to make of what she saw standing before her.

Teldryn slowly made his way towards the circle, his long, thin fingers grasping the handle of an ornately carved walking stick that she didn’t recall him packing that morning. His skin— what was visible at the very least— was covered in a thin layer of what she assumed to be ash. The layers cracking around his joints a little. He wore a long, thick silk robe that was as red as his eyes and trimmed with gold thread. The sleeves looked as if they could skim the floor if the mer hadn’t rolled them up somewhat. He seemed to be wearing some sort of armour underneath the robe, dark like he usually wore though the material seemed different. Almost like the bonemold that the Redoran Guard typically wore. The darks and reds were accented by gold— the trim of his robe weaved into a set of brilliant, gold pauldrons that extended from his shoulders almost like a set of wings and she noticed he had to turn himself slightly as he made his way through the door.

She noticed that he had tied his usually messy, uneven hair into a smooth topknot, fastened with an equally brilliant golden headdress in the shape of a star. He paused for a moment once he reached the circle before taking a deep breath and stepping carefully over the large orange cushion, his knuckles flexing around the handle of his stick. His eyes locked with hers for a moment and she noticed that the skin around his sockets seemed a little puffy, with some of the paint on his face having been washed away a little, mixing with the dark kohl that she noticed he usually favoured whenever he left the Netch. The dark stains on his cheeks mixed with the bone grey of the ash reminded her of a spectre of some sort. Haunting and a little ethereal— he looked beautiful and a huge part of her hated to admit it.

Teldryn smiled at her for a brief moment before he addressed the group, using that same language that she didn’t understand save for her name. He nodded towards her before she noticed the Gulakhan and Wise Woman move to his side, grabbing his arms as they helped him sit down, slowly lowering him onto the cushion that the Gulakhan had placed down earlier. She followed everyone’s lead, sitting down silently as the group waited for their head to get himself comfortable. She watched the Wise Woman take Teldryn’s stick and rested it against the door behind them.

Teldryn cleared his throat, sitting as straight as he could. He spoke again in Ashland, his voice sounding confident with less pauses in his speech than when she had been speaking with him earlier. Almost as if he’d rehearsed this particular speech a hundred times. Though it could have entirely been because Sydari didn’t understand the language he was speaking. It was an interesting development nonetheless; she hadn’t quite expected any of this when he had first introduced himself at the Netch.

Teldryn Sero was a hard mer to figure out.

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Donut and champagne for both Josh/Erra and Josh/Sydari

Hellooo!!! This should be fun :3 🍩 | their favourite snack to eat together *An aside- after corprus Josh loses his sense of taste and doesn't receive hunger signals properly. He often forgets to eat and doesn't snack as a result. Josh x Erra The two travel a lot and Josh has a lot of food intolerances. Anything with Kwama or Dairy is out. This includes Nix-hound meat. Thankfully, the Ashlanders don't make a lot of use out of either (scrib jelly is used in alchemy but it's expensive). As a result, the main source of protein amongst the Urshilaku is farmed Guar or the odd hunted Alit. Fish can be affected by the ash from Red Mountain, so it doesn't appear in many Urshilaku dishes. Saltrice and whickwheat make up staple grains in the north. There's a dish the Ashlanders eat on special occasions that's similar in nature to Pilaf made with saltrice, guar meat and spices. It's meant for communal eating with a whickwheat based flatbread that's sometimes stuffed with the same spice mix. Josh eats like a bird, so getting him to sit and share a meal is a rarity. He will sit down for this. Erra takes charge of making most of their food. He likes a style of sweet fried dumpling coated in a marshmerrow syrup. He appreciates it when Josh shares some with him. Josh x Sydari Skyrim presents a lot of challenges food wise for Josh. Most meals involve cheese or milk as an ingredient and thats...not the best combination. Sydari usually takes charge when it comes to ordering food for the two of them. She usually orders Josh some sort of roasted meat or stew. Her favourite snacks are taffy treats but Josh can't really taste them. Sometimes when the two are having a rest day she'll pull together an assortment of cured meats, cheeses (on her board only) fruits and nuts for the two to snack on (usually whilst making use of the large baths that Sydari has in a few of her properties). It's best to get Geldis to cook. He's known Joshi's palette for 200 years. Joshi's comfort food is saltrice congee with guar floss and a liberal pouring of chilli oil. 🥂 | what would happen if they got drunk together

Josh x Erra Answered here but in short- boast battles until it turns into a sparing match which then turns into something else... Josh x Sydari

Josh is a functional alcoholic at this point and it's generally best to not encourage his addiction. However Sydari wasn't aware of this when she first met him. She likes to play drinking games and Josh likes to get into drunken brawls. The two don't mix well... especially when the two are trying to maintain the facade of "just friends".

Sorry...Josh is horny on main all the time.

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Designing 4E 227 costumes is fun and didn't take 8 hours.

...or Joshi is struggling with it being 200 years since the Nerevarine thing and sending his kid to college.

also Azura is annoying him…a lot

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1, 2, & 4 for josh, erra, and sy!

Hello!!! Thanks for the asks! I'll have to answer this in multiple posts since Tumblr has taken issue with the post itself.

1. What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/restaurant) Josh: If it's available, he'll order matze infused with jasmine. If not whatever gets him blind drunk the quickest. He dislikes mead and Nordic style beers, though. Considers them to be little better that piss water. Erra: Erra tends to go for sujamma, it's closes to a similar brew that his Tribe makes and it reminds him of home. Sydari: She has a taste for expensive Cyrodiilic wines. She ended up accidentally facilitating the complete take-over of Skyrim's alcoholic market by Maven Blackbriar. This makes mead super cheep and means that her beloved imports are buried in tariffs. She regrets it, though she can pay for the imports, she, like most elves just don't like Maven's product.

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Thought I'd draw the Nerevarine and the Last Dragonborn again. :D

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✨ for sydari

✂️ for josh

❤️ for erra

Hellooo!

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Sydari was the first OC in the "Joshverse" and pre-dates him by about 5 years. At the time, I wanted to play a Dunmeri assassin LDB and she went through a few iterations before I switched her to the Thieves Guild. This was when I decided on her name. I used the rules listed on the Dunmer names page on the UESPwiki. I took her first name from a few of the entries and kinda squished them together. Her last name, Aralen, I took from looking at names with Ancestral Tombs. It links into the fics a bit, but I needed a name loosely associated with House Telvanni.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Josh has a lot of worst memories. He struggles to really pick just one. He's been through more than his fair share of guarshit and the trauma started when he was very young.

He could point to a few. Some he rarely ever details given the nature of the incidents. Others are far less complicated to mention. Anything about Orvas Dren is particularly traumatic, and he rarely speaks about his time in the Camonna Tong. At best he will tell you how he got the circular scar around his wrist. Or maybe you'll get a story about how he got his eyebrow scar. He will, however, dance around the why in his recollection.

Josh also counts the Corprus cure amongst his worst memories. He wasn’t quite conscious for most of it, but what he does remember involved a lot of burning and cutting without any ability to move. He was stuck inside a dream that threatened to turn him into an Ash Ghoul. He's pretty sure he is in some capacity. He has the same scarab brandings on his palms, just as any other Ascended has.

He would count the day he was told Erra had died or when he watched Jiub get slaughtered before his eyes as pretty far up there. These are less complicated to talk about. Though it's still a fight to get it out of him. Mostly because it still hurts to lose either of them. Communing with Erra’s ancestor ghost isn't the same as having him with him and he can't even contact Jiub's since he doesn't know where he is. (He does find out eventually but it's complicated).

He needs a stiff drink and a bonfire worth of tobacco to sort his head out...unless you got some of that sap laying around?

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Erra would pick his wedding day. It took forever to get it done and there were still a lot of people who chose not to acknowledge it was happening but they finally managed to link ghosts. Essentially this means that if one of them dies, the other could easily call upon them from across the Mortal Coil. It was an insurance policy...or that’s what Teldryn tried to make it sound like to Erra’s aunt, the Urshilaku wise woman. Though she wasn’t who they needed to convince.

Erra knew that part of this was to do with Joshi's fear of his ghost being used for nefarious purposes. Erra had mentioned the marriage ceremony linked spouses in this way and Josh had fixated on it. He was often melancholic over the path he was walking and he often confided in Erra that he feared what would happen to him when he died. The two decided to bind each other's souls to the other so that no one could interfere.

The only issue was that this practice was meant to be a legacy thing. Offspring have access to both parents' ghosts for ritual purposes. They ended up doing the ceremony without the Ashkhan's blessing. Erra had his aunt's and his brother's, he was fine with his uncle's snub (through Sul-Matuul did change his mind after the ceremony).

Preparing Josh's gift was his favourite part. It was customary to commission a set of silk robes for your betrothed and Erra wanted it to be special. He knew Josh preferred silk and tended to relax in a dark semitransparent lounge robe. He hand-picked the dye and gold threads. Once, before Josh was named Nerevarine and Great Khan of the Ashlanders, he had held audience in a borrowed set of Ashkhan Ceremonial Robes. Erra thought he looked spectacular in crimson and gold. He thought it brought out his eyes.

He knew he had chosen correctly when he saw Josh wearing it as they held hands by a rare grove in the ashlands, Red Mountain shadowed behind them.

They chose to hold the ceremony at sunset. Firstly, for the atmosphere and secondly because his fiance can not reliably wake up before noon. It was a day Erra hadn’t dreamed he'd ever have, and he still can't believe it was real.

Joshi's mother had somehow managed to find jasmine flowers for the ceremony and he'd noticed Josh had a few in his hair. He likes to remember that particular moment when things get hard. He loves Josh with all his heart, but sometimes he makes him sick with worry. The Nerevarine Prophecies take their toll on Josh, and it breaks Erra’s heart every time.

The second best memory was their honeymoon. He hopes they can move to Lake Amaya someday. Erra wants to retire early and maybe find out if he could buy a sheep.

(This was meant to be their wedding portrait. Jasmine flowers are missing lol).

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What attracts Josh to Erra and later, Sydari? What about him interests them?

Josh likes redheads first and foremost, coppery hair will always catch his eye but what keeps him looking are unique features. He finds things like scars and tattoos to be very visually appealing.

What keeps him around is a partner's willingness to give him time. Josh comes off as abrasive at best when he first meets people so when people try to meet him on his level it catches his attention. This usually involves that person calling out his behaviour. He likes honesty above all else but not in a way that belittles him. He wants to feel like he's being taken care of, but not babied. Erra was the first person he felt like he could connect to on a meaningful level and even that started with a lot of misunderstandings and fights. He loves Erra's soft side about as much as he adores the fierce General he becomes. He copes a lot of Erra's mannerisms once he passes. It's why he takes up mercenary work and sometimes uses his last name. Sydari was different, they started on opposing sides of a fight with Josh very much treating her with a high degree of suspicion. He gets stuck on her primarily because she reminds him of a guy he once had a thing with (Josh and the Hero of Kvatch had a toxic thing going on). That's initially why he doesn't incinerate her on sight. What makes him fall for her is when she takes the time to travel to Skyrim and essentially clear his conscience. The way she wraps people around her finger makes him melt. It also causes a lot of conflict. He seems to pair himself with archers. Erra started falling for Josh after he stays with him when he's suffering through a migraine attack. He just sat there and worked on some sort of writing chart. It was the outpouring of interest in Dwemer that made Erra see a new side of him. He's not that interested in them himself but there's something about how excited he seems when talking about it that makes him melt. He lights up in a way that Erra rarely sees otherwise and he strives to crack through Josh's exterior. Not many people get to see Josh truly vulnerable but he is with Erra and he savours that. He also likes the size of his di-

Sydari actually despises him up until Geldis convinces her to go investigate the Free-Winter massacre. It's when she speaks to Josh's estranged son about it that she discovers that he was trying to disrupt Camonna Tong smuggling rings along the border. She has a bit of a romanticised idea of him until Nerevar appears and ruins things. She ends up falling for Josh's softer side, the side that stands up for people who can't do it themselves. She's drawn to that but it's locked under layers of maladaptive behaviours and substance abuse issues. The two are on and off again until Sydari discovers his identity and all of a sudden everything makes sense.

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Songs be giving me JoshxSydari feels. Writing a chapter from her pov as she's starting to fall for Josh. Ah it starts so lovely. And then Josh fucks up.... boi can't do communication.

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Love for Sydari has always been preformative. She enters relationships feeling at the most a brief sexual attraction before the boredom kicks in and she's searching for some new novelty.

She seeks out partners who seem to have their shit together. Merchants usually but she will date the odd scholar/mage if he strikes her fancy. Mostly she's working off the script that she's always worked from. Her partners must be able to provide shelter, food, and an income because when she was growing up she rarely had those things.

Her main goal has always been stability. She thought if she could just have stable ground below her feet then she'd be happy. Compatibility didn’t matter when surviving the next day was her only goal.

Only this mindset stops serving her when she ends up being the creator of her own domestic stability. She has a house, she has her own money, she has a life that these merchants don't fit into. She craves excitement and adrenalin and she ignores it to try to stuff herself into an old ideal that no longer fits. She thinks its what she wants and then struggles when she finds that maybe she never wanted it in the first place. She thinks it's something she should want. The husband, the house, the kids but she can never hold onto the husband. Not unless she lies about herself. She can't have the kids because she can't stay away from danger for long enough to carry to term. Hell she's not even sure if she can after Mercer stabbed her abdomen and she lost her son as a result. She runs instead, first burying herself in work as she pushes her husband's distress from her mind. Then she falls in with Enthir again and that sealed that whole chapter of her life. Part of the reason she's so confused about Josh is because she hasn't felt attraction to guys like him as a matter of principle. Because he is the sort of person she wants. He's just buried under a tonne of bad decisions and self-destructive habits. He's no different to her and that terrifies her. It doesn't fit into the "quiet" life she had planned..or thought she planned. Josh can't move without attracting 50 separate problems all at once and she hates how much that excites her. She can't make up her mind with him and that leads to Josh giving her an ultimatum after they sleep with each other again and he just can't keep doing it when he has feelings. There's a whole dossier that she finds that gives her that answer and when she does tell him to leave he goes without protest. And that's when she realises she can't live without him. He's imperfect. He's complicated and he is entirely too much at times and yet being with him feels natural and effortless. and that's exactly what she wants.

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The birds pre Diplomatic Immunity. Putting Teldryn in netch leather because I just have to have him running around in it across games. Featuring the pretty circlet gift I referenced in an ask recently :)

Sydari is going to a really boring party and isn't impressed with the outfit Delphine picked out (too stuffy) so she's running around Proudspire Manor in her flimsy green robe thing.

Just wanted to draw these two together, it's going into that "To be rendered" list.

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oc asks: not-so-nice edition

Discord answers for Erra, Sydari, Teldryn and Vynna.

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

Sydari has been betrayed on a number of occasions, however, the one that affected her the most was when the Guild Master tried to kill her out in Snowveil Sanctum and frame her for the Thieves Guild's woes. She had thought he was taking her under his wing with these jobs, that she was getting somewhere within the Guild. She had started feeling safe and then he slit her throat and left her to die in that cold, dark tomb.

It's made her distance herself from the guild, even if she's been accepted back in and now runs shit…she just remembers there was a time when everyone she thought cared for her cast her out. She can forgive, but she can not forget.

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

Teldryn tends to break down after sudden changes and he's had a lot of those. His first was when he was nineteen and he sort of just went numb. Almost as if everything he was had left and he was a ghost going through the motions. He thinks that's how he survived both his time in the Camonna Tong and his prison sentence. He started snapping out of it as he reached his late thirties and started trying to break out. He slipped back into it when he was thrown into solitary in the Bastion, snapping out of it when he found out he was being transferred again.

His second was during his recovery from Corprus, the fact that he was now missing part of his foot and a large chunk from his chest that caused a weakness on his right side. That he now had almost no sense of taste and no ability to tell what his needs were until things became dire and the fact that he now needed crutches to walk sent him into a deep depression. It took him months just to leave his mother's apartments and wander the rest of the estate let alone leaving to go into town. It takes a new sense of purpose (an offer to work with the Twin Lamps) that gets him back on his feet. Starting with his prosthesis that he made to help him balance and walk a little easier.

His third was after the Battle of Red Mountain Round 2: Electric Boogaloo. This was marred by grief, first at losing Erra and at the possibility that the injuries he'd sustained to his pelvis after the battle may have crippled him for life. He didn't leave that yurt for a long time and when he finally did, it was with a lower half that felt like it was being held together by string. He technically should be using a stick to help him walk but he's been too stubborn to use it. So he suffers from the joints freezing if he overworks himself or tries to swing his legs outwards. This is when his drinking problem becomes severe and leads to all the shit he gets up to during the Oblivion Crisis.

He's been in a deep, highly avoidant depression for a few centuries now and the spiral takes a turn when he thinks he's killed a kid, finds out he didn't kill a kid then gets his identity blown out of the water. He's fucked out on Sleeping Tree Sap during the Dragon Crisis, the dependence getting worse when Sydari disappears when fighting Alduin. He only snaps out of this haze when Sydari finally comes back and tells him he's going to be a dad.

Unfortunately, he fucked up the island and got mauled by a dragon in that time she was gone. So now they gotta sort out that shit.

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility?

Erra, unfortunately, met with this future. His life being cut short by the thing he spent his whole life trying to fight. He never got to see that success, never got to see the Blight leave their lands.

He was meant to be Ashkhan, he was meant to start his life with his husband. He was meant to travel outside of Vvardenfell and breathe air that wasn't choked with ash. He was going to see sheep and snow and everything in between just as he and Teldryn talked about.

Instead, he dies trying to protect the Nerevarine from the influence of one of Dagoth Ur's Generals. He maintains that he would do it again but he's still upset over the loss of what could have been. His existence as an ancestor ghost is limited and time passes strangely. He's watching the love of his life break and shatter into tiny pieces and each time Teldryn summons him things are worse. He can't hold him and tell him it's okay unless there's a lot of magicka feeding his summoning.

Death sucks

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

Erra retreats into himself when he's alone, and he's felt alone quite a lot throughout his life. He's always been an outsider for one reason or another so when he keeps being met with rejection he just switches off.

Instead, he seeks acceptance through deeds, finding that he's started garnering some healthy respect from the Redoran that inhabit Maar Gan. He's okay with that but he still gets that hollow feeling that he's always had in the pit of his stomach.

It's a cycle, he thinks. He makes a stand against something that makes him uncomfortable, he gets kicked out, he wanders and finds something else only to have that crumble underneath him. So when Josh meets him, he's a little distant.

hunt: Who or what is your OC hunted by? A person, a feeling, a past mistake? Is your OC able to let their guard down, or are they constantly alert?

I've talked a lot about Joshi's demons so I'm going to write something a little fun.

Vynna finds herself bored with studying at the College of Winterhold after that crap with the Eye of Magnus goes down. She leaves the college and starts working as a freelance battlemage. Eventually, she ends up joining the Dawnguard because hey, hunting vampires sounds like fun and if her alma and ata could bring down legends then she could handle a few vampires…right?

Dimhollow Crypt was not what she expected, none of the following events were what she expected. She finds herself running from the Dawnguard and seeking the help of her aunt in the ratway. Karliah calls her mother in and Sydari tries her best to get Vynna through this.

The only problem is that neither of them wants Teldryn to know about this. Knowing his daughter is undead would kill him so Sydari says she's leaving to handle guild business and that Joshi should go on that research expedition he wanted to go on. Joshi's a bit suspicious since usually he goes with her and just hangs out at Sydari's estate (she's gifted Goldenglow thanks to her alliance with Maven). Things aren't sounding right and he hasn't had contact from Vynna in a few months. He travels to Skyrim and visits both the Collage of Winterhold and the Thieves Guild and figures out something's gone wrong. All he knows is that his wife and daughter have been taken by vampires and he's got to fix it.

Joshi joins the Dawnguard and is hot on his family's trail. So Sydari, Vynna and Serana are running across the province avoiding both the Dawnguard and more importantly, Josh. When he finds them it's in the world's most disorientating place with the help of someone he thought he'd never see again.

Running from the one that loves you the most.

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

Joshi doesn't feel like his skin fits him, and at the same time feeling like this is exactly what he is deep down. He dreams of himself before Corprus took his beauty (according to him) and when he looks down at his old self, he feels like he's wearing a costume, that his skin doesn't fit.

When he looks at himself after his infection, all he sees is a twisted husk. Half his flesh is dead under the skin and the affected tissue twists all over his body. His mind is screaming with the sounds of the other ascended and he will always be prone to losing himself to their calls. Though as those calls slowly die the silence is increasingly invaded by Nerevar's taunts.

Sometimes he doesn't get to control his body, though he's gotten better at it over the years. Now he's dealing with the damage done to his body through the various, ill-healing injuries he's sustained during his life and just age in general. Sure, Joshi looks to be in his 50s (25-30 ish) but he's 300 years old under that skin. He's got arthritis!

wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?

This is leads on from the previous question so i'll be covering Joshi again.

Josh does not handle being injured well. He's painfully energetic and impatient. If he can move it then he's fine (he's not). Pair that with the fact that his body takes longer to heal and he'd a mess who's constantly reinjuring himself because he hates the feeling of laying in bed and twiddling his thumbs.

He's had four stints where he couldn't just power through it and those would all qualify as "worst ever".

Corprus- Josh had tumours growing from about 40% of his body, mostly on his right side (despite the entry point being his left arm). Part of the attempts at curing him involved cutting and cauterizing the tumours as they grew for testing. When he finally awoke he was missing his first and second toe and part of the ball of his right foot as well as finding that half his pectoral had to be removed. He's weak on his right side because of this but since he's left-handed for swordplay he manages to adapt well enough. He had to learn how to balance and control his magicka again as well which took a considerable time. Joining the Morag Tong actually helped him gain some confidence again in that respect.

Having a metal god land on him- Joshi gets trapped under the hand of Akulakhan, crushing his pelvis and femurs. It's eventually repaired through a very experimental procedure that involved cutting him open on either side and healing the bones themselves with magic. It worked well enough and Joshi can do most of the things that he used to… to an extent. He can't swing his legs outwards and had had to rely on magic more because of that. If he puts his feet wrong he could find himself having to use his crutches again and he hates that.

So you had a burning beam from a ship fall on your leg- As he's escaping the Sea Tiger he gets trapped under a heavy burning beam, breaking his right leg at the shin. The bone is crushed and he almost lost the limb entirely. He just happened to be lucky that the same three mages who performed that first procedure on his hips were in Raven Rock at the time. The leg was saved but he still experiences a lot of pain from it and doesn't give it enough time to heal before he starts moving around on it. He needs his crutches more frequently after this and ends up with a cane and a staff too…he's tied a knife to the latter.

Joshi picks a fight with a dragon whilst fucked out of his mind on wine and tree sap- He kills the beast but is ripped from head to toe in the fight. The worst of the scaring was on his face and he has some nerve damage from it. He's missing an ear and has a bit of paralysis in his face. He's mostly concerned about the cosmetic changes and starts wearing his mask again in public.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wip Whenever

Another week and some more art and writing. Tagged by @mareenavee <3 Tagging @orfeoarte, @thequeenofthewinter, @paraparadigm, @polypolymorph, @snippetsrus, @thana-topsy, @saltymaplesyrup, @tallmatcha, @kookaburra1701, @rosette-dragonborn Yea i have exactly 2 spoons and I'm using one to interact with others. 0 pressure of course but I wrestle with my desire to tag and my anxiety with annoying people :P lol Anyway! First I have some painting! More of that tarty Josh tarting about before kicking Dagoth ass. Playing with embroidery, accessories etc.

It's getting there! :) Writing under the cut.

A snippet from chapter 6 of Serious Mistakes (the Skyrim timeline)...or Josh is relying a little too much on potions to get him from point A to plan E.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Teldryn’s attention snapped back to the guard captain’s sudden change in tone. He watched as the outlander flashed the guard captain another overly sweet smile before dropping down into the tunnels, a larger cloud of ash arising from the impact of her landing.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! No! Teldryn chewed on his lip. A light metallic taste filled his mouth, mixing with the familiar, disappointing bitterness of ash. He grimaced, he’d never gotten used to that side effect. He wondered if he ever would.

“Get back up here!” Veleth was crouching over the grate, his voice panicked at the sudden deviation from regulation, “I… I can’t fit down there!” Teldryn waited for a moment, watching as the guard captain floundered, a small voice arose from below, though he couldn’t quite catch what was said. Too far away, too much echo. Teldryn moved himself back into the small alcove beside the cell, a small wooden table and a bookshelf sat by the sloping wall, obscured ever so slightly by the darkness. He leaned against the table and waited as Veleth muttered something under his breath, too low for Teldryn to hear but the tone was clear.

He hadn’t expected this either.

He watched as the guard captain stalked out of the cell, right past Teldryn and back towards the door. Conveniently leaving the cell door wide open. Perfect, that saves him fiddling around with the lock. He waited a few extra moments after he heard the door close. What he needed to do now would blow his cover and remove the effects of the invisibility potion he’d just downed. He needed to be absolutely sure he was alone.

He counted to three and exhaled slowly, taking off his helm and placing it on the table beside him. A cold sensation overcame him as the cloaking effects of the invisibility potion nullified. A stupid side effect really. Teldryn thought for a moment. He had one shot at this and he couldn’t afford to mess this up. He ran his modified plan over in his head one last time, staring at a small, dusty vial sitting on the shelf before him. Hang on! Teldryn reached for the vial and rubbed off some of the dust, revealing the pale, blue liquid that the vial contained.

Maybe he should start praying to Lady Luck instead. She seemed to be the only one listening. An interesting turn of events but Teldryn decided he’d embrace it. How often do you find magicka potions lying around Raven Rock after all? By the gods! Did he need this small win! He downed the entire vial; the bitter taste of ash coated his tongue as the pain in his head subsided slightly. It was weak but better than what he’d been working with earlier. Which was absolutely nothing. He summoned a small flame for a moment, felt the energy whirl around his fingertips as he allowed the magicka fuelling the tiny inferno to dissipate. It was more than he felt right asking for. He wouldn’t waste it.

It was time to finish this!

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wips for the sake of wips

Erra render!

A meme

and the lineart

and I've been writing these two all day so may as well draw them XD

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Speaking of art influenced by scenes in fic, or planned scenes. This one occurs about two-thirds of the way through. Was a great opportunity to draw some colder-weather armour too.

Or Josh questions a jerk and then kills them because he doesn't like their answer. And Sydari is classically exasperated.

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Wip whenever

Tagged by @mareenavee, @gilgamish, @kookaburra1701, @rainpebble3. I'll get to reading all of your posts shortly <3 This week I finished a render which is here. I also started two more renders and started some more writing.

Art.

First we have Dwifi, which I started a while ago and have more progress.

I still love that his hair is up...idk XD Secondly, I wanted to start painting a 4th Era Josh...and this one I quite liked.

I can't wait to get to the scarification, it's an important edition between how he appears in 4E199 vs the above image (and pretty much all his renders since March) which is 3E 427. Writing under the cut-

Writing Oh look it corresponds directly with this snippet... I plan on this being a 4 chapter mini fic that covers Unearthered. Yes, I wish to write a zombie horror fic for spooky season, go me.

Sydari rested her chin in her hand and grinned. She’d only known the merc for a short time and she was starting to get used to his tells. He was nervous about asking her something like this. Teldryn Sero was no expert thief. Though he’d mentioned that he had dabbled in smuggling from time to time back on the mainland. He hadn’t detailed much. Teldryn never did, but she knew he was at least familiar with how this sort of thing worked. Yet he fiddled with the scarf that he wore around his neck as if he’d never so much as considered such a thing. It was sweet in a way. She decided she’d entertain his idea tonight. It might be fun.

“Teldryn Sero, are you suggesting we undercut this guy and smuggle artifacts through my networks?” She crossed her legs and leaned back in her seat. Sydari tilted her head, resting it in her hand again.

Teldryn nodded. His expression turning slightly grim, “Something like that.”

Sydari frowned, sitting up a little straighter in her seat. Something was wrong, “Teldryn what’s this about?”

Teldryn drummed his pigment-stained fingers on the table, “It’s-” He paused, Sydari could see that he was chewing on his lip again, considering his next words carefully, “It’s this place,” Teldryn gestured lightly around the dimly lit room, “We’re operating at such a loss that,” He paused again, sinking even further into his seat. If that was possible.

Teldryn lowered his voice, “I’m worried that if things keep going like this,” He paused again and started fiddling with the ring on his left index finger. Something he always did when he was overthinking something. He winced, having probably upset his barely healed fingers. He’d told her he’d shattered them in a door the day their paths crossed for a second time. Teldryn opened and closed his hand several times before he spoke again.

“I haven’t had to worry about this sort of thing,” he rubbed the back of his neck, pulling some of the hair that trailed down his neck over his shoulder, “It’s been a while since I’ve had to think about this kind of thing. But,” He shook his head, “I’m worried Miluth.”

Sydari reached across the table for his hand and squeezed it slightly. The sharp edges of the ring he always wore dug into the skin of her palm. Teldryn’s expression softened as he looked back at her, exhaling slowly.

“I wish you’d let me help, or at least pay for my room,” Sydari offered.

“I told you already. I can’t ask you to do that,” Teldryn removed his hand from hers, “I can’t ask that of you.”

Sydari sat back in her seat again. Stubborn fool that he was. Deep down she knew this was his way of asking her for help. He was saving face, trying to frame the question in a way that she’d benefit. As if helping him wasn’t something she’d been doing since she first landed on this barren, frozen ash rock. Or maybe it was because of that.

Teldryn was right. Sydari had maintained to her colleagues in Riften that her extended stay in Raven Rock was due to her trying to extend the guild’s reach throughout their former range. Fix Mercer’s mistakes. It wasn’t. Not really.  Things had gotten far more complicated than that. Though she wasn’t ready to acknowledge it herself yet. She couldn’t define what any of this was. Still…regardless of the reasons why she had chosen to stay put, Sydari figured she better start having something to show for her so-called efforts. And besides, Glover had been pestering her to send old Delvin an update so that he’d stop bugging him. She figured she could at least see what this “investment opportunity” was all about.

It would make Teldryn feel better at least.

Sydari sighed, “I guess it couldn’t hurt to go ask this guy about it, see what it’s all about.”

Teldryn looked up at her and grinned, his past distress slipping away as quickly as it had appeared.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that, what were we doing?” He raised his hand to his left earlobe and pulled on in. Sydari shook her head, she knew where this was going.

“Teldryn!” She giggled, “Teldryn I know you heard what I said.”

He shook his head, “No I missed it, please, I’m all ear,” he laughed at his own joke. It was contagious, setting Sydari into a fit of laughter herself. Though one day she’d have to tell him. His joke wasn’t really that funny.

“We’ll talk to the fetcher in the morning. Yeah?” He sat back in his seat and tilted his head to the side again, awaiting her reply. She copied his motion, the movement unintentional.

“Fine Sero, you win. We’ll see this Dunmer in the morning.”