Edit: omg ToP, haven't had that in a while. Lessee....

Fereldan Transportation by Fleinne on deviantArt XD
Modifié par jenovan, 06 mai 2011 - 12:53 .

Modifié par jenovan, 06 mai 2011 - 12:53 .
jenovan wrote...
Prompt: A Secret
Zevran knows a secret of the Warden's. How did he find out? What does he think about it? Does he keep it, or not? Any angle is fair game
Time Limit: 3 hours
Deadline: Friday 11:59 PM (EST) May 6th
Prize: I'll do my best to write a story of your choice :3
jenovan wrote...
Prompt: A Secret
Zevran knows a secret of the Warden's. How did he find out? What does he think about it? Does he keep it, or not? Any angle is fair game
Time Limit: 3 hours
Deadline: Friday 11:59 PM (EST) May 6th
Prize: I'll do my best to write a story of your choice :3
Modifié par Hilde, 07 mai 2011 - 08:32 .

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 11 mai 2011 - 12:25 .

Corker wrote...
Keeping Secrets
Time: 40 min
Prompts: 3
It was an almost trivial job, in many respects. He knew the palace inside and out, where the shadows fell this time of the year, the rotation of the guards. The target was elderly, a woman and no warrior. A pillow over the face, and then back under the head, and in the morning it would be natural causes, so sad. But it was just her time.
Actually, it is past her time, he mused, easing the window open. And therein lies the real risk here. Death must not be cheated again, or it would be the end of them both. He could handle a sudden abomination - just let her rampage out into the hall, wait for the commotion, appear from the shadows. No one would question. But a witness? That was deadly.
He silently pulled himself over the ledge, taking care not to disturb the bench just below it, nor the pile of books and yarn to his left. A cushion on the right he had selected earlier in the day as suitable for the task, and picked it up.
Then, perhaps foolishly, he crossed the room to the writing desk. This was not a Crow job, after all, but a personal one; he was not being paid to not ask questions. If he wanted assurance that the mark needed to die, that was his risk to take. The last time he had been too hasty... well. He found the false bottom of the drawer easily enough, lifted out the papers there. A quick glance confirmed it. She was amassing evidence to betray them. Circumstantial, mostly: unexplained injuries, late-night sojourns into the city, suspicious messengers. She clearly suspected and would, given time, find enough proof to take to Knight Commander Tavish.
Regret evaporated. He placed the papers on the desk, to be retrieved after. Then he padded to the side of the bed and dropped, pressing the pillow to the familiar face with his hands and using his body to pin hers. He was smaller, but stronger by far.
She woke suddenly, struggling, muffled noises coming from under the pillow. His name? He could not tell, but who else would she suspect in this? He waited. White light flared, and he waited. All went still, and he waited.
Finally, he got up, checked for pulse and breathing. None. He replaced the cushion, smoothed the face, arranged the body, and neatly tucked her in. Gone, peacefully in her sleep, as far as anyone would be able to prove.
The Chancellor's secret was safe.
Halae Dral wrote...
Time: 48 minutes
Prompts: 1
I've been really busy this week and almost didn't manage to do anything, but then I had trouble sleeping tonight so I figured I might as well do something. Different Warden for once.
- - -
"All right, everyone - we're going to go in there, and we're going to take what we want! No mercy!"
Zevran listened to the Warden's speech with some bemusement. He had been going on like this at length - striking a dramatic pose while standing atop a rock, gesturing wildly with a sword that he had very little notion how to use - but finally seemed to be finishing up now. He had been detailing a plan to descend upon the village of Haven, take all of their goods and weapons, and burn the town after they left.
At first Zevran had thought he was joking; Senravin Mahariel was a somewhat strange man, but there had been no previous indication that he possessed a burning desire for banditry. However, it had quickly become evident that the Warden's heart was set on sacking the village, and so he had agreed to go along. Perhaps there was some greater goal to it after all, or perhaps the stress had finally got to Senravin and he had gone somewhat mad. Well, more than he had already been. The Warden had been a bit touched ever since Zevran could recall. Either way, Zevran did not think that letting the Warden run off to torch the town on his own would help matters.
"Are you all with me?" Senravin looked out towards his audience, which consisted only of Zevran, Morrigan, Sten, and a completely oblivious bird sitting in the trees.
Morrigan shrugged. She appeared to have been quite bored by the speech. Sten made no answer save a rather non-committal nod. Zevran realised that now was his only chance to dissuade Senravin from this foolishness, but he didn't quite have the heart - or the patience for the arguement that an attempt to stop the stubborn elf would invariably cause. "I am your man," he assured the Warden, while privately hoping that the archer would forget about this by the time they reached the village. This was worse than Senravin's proposed strategy for dealing with the Orzammar situation, and it was a lucky thing they hadn't attempted that particular plan.
"Good." Senravin hopped off the rock, looked at the sword in his hand as though he was not quite sure why he was carrying it, and promptly tossed aside the offending object. "Let's head off, then. To victory!"
Exchanging uncertain looks, the others picked up their gear and followed their leader up the mountain.
It was a rather lengthy climb, during which there was very little conversation. Zevran tried to strike up a conversation with Senravin, but the Warden had sunk into one of his surly moods and responded only in grunts - or, if he was feeling particularly eloquent, one or two words. Sten was little better, but that was to be expected, and Morrigan seemed preoccupied by the cold - although of course she would not admit it.
Zevran was rather relieved, therefore, when they finally saw the village. They were met by the same rather dissipated looking gate guard they had been greeted by on their previous forray to the town - an expedition Senravin had been referring to as 'scouting out our prospects' - but he made no challenge this time, and simply let them past.
"Do you truly mean to go through with this?" Morrigan inquired, looking rather impatient about something.
"Yes." Senravin turned and looked them all in the eye, one by one. He was not a very intimidating looking man, but he did look determined.
Zevran sighed. "Well, let us get this slaughter over with then, shall we?"
Just then, they happened to notice a few stray villagers wandering about in the area. One of them walked up to the group of travelers. She was a nervous looking woman, but then everyone they had seen in Haven was nervous looking.
"Are you going to kill us all?" she asked.
Senravin had been about to reach for his bow, but his hand stopped. A look of consternation crossed his features. "No," he told her. "We're not."
"But I thought...?" Zevran began, trailing off as the Warden held up a hand and began backing away.
"What's come over me?!" Senravin cried, putting a hand to his head. "We can't do this! Away! We've gotta leave!"
Before any of them could do anything, the elf had turned and was running back the way they had just came. Sten did not move, and Morrigan appeared to be trying to pretend that she had nothing whatsoever to do with the mad elf, but Zevran ran after him.
When he caught up, he reached out and grabbed the Warden by the arm. Senravin whirled around to face him, staring at him with a horrified look.
"Zev," he hissed, gripping the assassin by the shoulders. "Don't tell anyone about this! They must never know!"
"Your secret is safe with me, my Warden," Zevran replied in as reassuring a tone as he could muster, though he was still feeling rather mystified by the whole affair. He had come to expect occasional bouts of strangeness from Senravin, but never quite this bad.
"Good. Glad to hear it." Senravin relaxed, though his eyes were still darting all around. "D'you think anyone saw?"
"Besides half the village? No, I do not believe so."
"That's all right then." Senravin laughed. "C'mon, my good assassin! Let's go see if we can find that urn, if it even exists. Someone around here'll know something!"
"I am sure the villagers will be simply thrilled to speak with us now," Zevran muttered, shaking his head as he followed Senravin back to the town square.
Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...
(Hooray for extension XD)
Time: 1.5 hours
Prompts: 2
Safe With Me
Blue skies, hills of golden grass, a fresh wind behind him and a strong horse between his knees.
Zevran leaned back in his saddle and breathed deeply, his eyes watching the lazy spiral of a solitary bird of prey and his thoughts distant.
After a minute, a second rider joined him on his left and said, “Sorry about that. I’m ready now.”
“It is no trouble, my good friend Alistair. Let us begin slow, hm? We will work our way up to a gallop in time.”
“No hurry,” Alistair agreed, mimicking Zevran’s actions to move his steed forward. “I still have to figure out what I’m going to say to her, I guess.”
Zevran stifled a small groan. “Ma feca, not this again. Between you and Asleena I will have spent the entirety of my time in the Free Marches listening to Grey Wardens fret about their shortcomings. It is truly a marvel none of my hairs have turned grey.”
“She worried about that?”
“Oh, almost constantly.” Zevran made a small motion with one hand. “Fortunately, most of the time I was able to distract her to more interesting topics of conversation. Sex, for instance. That has always proved a very good distraction.”
“Riiight.” Alistair fiddled with his reins. “So…you two, travelling pretty much alone together for these past weeks, and you bringing up sex all the time?”
“How is that any different from the Blight, my friend?”
“The ‘pretty much alone’ part. Did you ever…?”
Zevran’s golden brows lifted. “Ever what?”
“Approach her. Make advances. You know what I mean.”
The former Crow grinned broadly. “Oh yes. Plenty of times. No less than I behave towards anyone else, yes?”
“Did you ever touch her?”
Zevran’s smile faded at the look of suspicion and concern in Alistair’s face, and shook his head. “Ah, you want to have this interrogation out of the way now, hm? As you wish. The answer is yes, but she bade me stop and so I did. As I am still in one piece you can rest assured I didn’t get far.”
“And that only happened once?”
“It is as you say, my friend.”
“And she never approached you?”
“Well now…” Zevran hummed thoughtfully. “There was a Desire Demon, but that hardly counts—”
“Tell me,” the former Templar said grimly.
Zevran shrugged. “A demon managed to trick our Grey Warden into thinking it was you. It promised her everything she wished of the real you—forgiveness, a desire to return to Ferelden with her, a happy ending.”
There was an awkward silence from Alistair. “What’s that got to do with you?”
“When I interrupted the demon,” Zevran said, “it tried to tempt me with Asleena and manipulated her into approaching me. Being the ridiculously awesome man that I am, I saw through the creature’s game and broke the spell before anything happened.”
He was still speaking in that same musing tone of reflection—quite deliberately. He didn’t want to dwell on that night too closely, nor recall the desire in Asleena’s green eyes, the feel of her fingers on his tattoos or the curve of his ears, the hush of lust in her voice…it had all been an illusion designed to ensnare him, but the memory of the lie could still stir his blood.
Although not as much as what had happened in Starkhaven: Asleena pinned to the door, he with his lips at her soft throat, she with the fingers of one hand tangled in his hair and the nails of her other digging into his hip…the way she had looked at him later and spoken his name with that little intake of breath, so ready in that moment to fall and be his…
“You resisted a Desire Demon?” Alistair’s voice interrupted his thoughts. The ex-Templar looked surprised. “And you saved her from it? Wow. I…I’m actually impressed, Zev. Then…huh. I guess I’m being a bit of an ass with all these questions.”
“You shouldn’t doubt her, my friend,” Zevran advised, shifting in his saddle. “That demon aside—and I daresay the demon only confirmed it, you were the only one she was ever interested in. I had no chance, much to my dismay.”
There. The lie spoken and received. Her secret safe, for as long as she wished it so.
Alistair was looking a little ashamed of himself. “Right,” he mumbled.
“Ah, do not look so grim, Warden. Perhaps she will ask similar questions of you when we return to Ferelden.”
“What—questions? You’re kidding, right? Questions about you and me?”
“And why not? Two handsome men travelling alone together for weeks on end, one a muscular Grey Warden, the other a very flexible assassin—we could get up to all sorts of things, no?”
“No!” Alistair exclaimed, almost startling his horse. “Nononono…I don’t think so.”
Zevran laughed at him. “Fear not, my friend. Your secrets will be safe with me.”
Hilde wrote...
I will second the Hooray for extension!
The Hiding Place
Time: 2hrs 15min
Prompts 2
Modifié par jenovan, 12 mai 2011 - 07:42 .

Halae Dral wrote...
Prompt: Vengeance
Anything from Zevran getting back at somebody for a bad joke to him trying to take down some shadowy villain who somehow managed to kill all the other companions and the Warden (and, of course, anything in between). Or, alternately, the vengeance being exacted on him. Go wild!
Halae Dral wrote...
Prompt: Vengeance
Anything from Zevran getting back at somebody for a bad joke to him trying to take down some shadowy villain who somehow managed to kill all the other companions and the Warden (and, of course, anything in between). Or, alternately, the vengeance being exacted on him. Go wild!
Modifié par elenilote, 20 mai 2011 - 07:55 .