Sweet Surprise
During a trip to Skingrad, Lecrinn and Garrus decide to surprise each other. Early in the timeline, though I'm not actually sure how canon it is.
The lost sweetroll prompt fic. I spent half a month writing this, finished it, and went "meh." By then I'd worked on it to the point of not being able to tell if it was good or not, and I still can't tell.
So I'll just release it into the wild and you can tell me. (I do know some things I do and don't like but I decided to keep them to the tags.) From October 2022 but I'm still accepting concrit on it.
@druidx @babyblueetbaemonster @inkysqueed
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Cradling two sweet rolls in one hand Lecrinn held them close as she pushed the heavy door with the other. She opened it just enough to slip out, leaving the chatter and warmth of the busy inn for the street outside. It was also busy and warm but more tolerably so.
She squinted against the afternoon sun. Now that she had the sweet rolls it was time to find Garrus, after she dragged him all the way from Cheydinhal to Skingrad it was only right he get something out of it.
The roads were narrow between the tall stone buildings that arched above them. She weaved through their hustle and bustle. The street widened out into a fork, forward continued to more buildings and to the left, a statue of a horseman. There gazing up at the statue she found Garrus.
Catching her from the corner of his eye he turned and beamed at her.
She couldn’t help but smile back.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said as she walked up.
“So do I!” She stopped, both their smiles falling at the sweet rolls in the other’s hands. Looking back up at the other’s face they gave laughing smiles.
“I suppose we had the same idea,” he shifted.
She shrugged. “It’s a good idea.” His smile looked forced, he seemed to feel awkward, she didn’t know why and it was making her feel awkward too. “Well… this one’s yours,” she held one out and they swapped, both laughing a little. She noticed he only held one. “Did you already eat yours?”
“I uh,” he glanced down, “I don’t know how much money this trip will end up costing so I only bought one for you.”
“Oh…” she looked to her second one.
“You can keep it.”
“Nah, lets split it later.”
“No, you bought it for yourself, you can have it.”
She walked passed him. “One and a half sweet rolls is still more than I planned on getting.”
He tilted his head, he supposed that was true. Turning he saw her sitting on the round base of the statue. He looked startled. “Are you allowed to sit there?”
“I don’t see anyone guarding it.” Pulling the pack off her shoulders and beside her she rifled through it.
“What if you get in trouble?”
“Then you can just arrest me.”
He looked around before going over to sit beside her.
Finding a small cloth she wrapped up one of the rolls and put it in her pack. She then turned all her attention to the one in her hand, closing her eyes as she took a bite, savoring its sweet spice.
“Mmm!”
She looked to Garrus who was looking at his sweet roll surprised.
“They really are better in Skingrad.”
“Salmo’s sweet rolls are famous for a reason.”
“Perhaps we should get more of these before we leave.”
Her smile widened. “Does Cheydinhal have its own desserts?” She took another bite.
“There’s the thirty layer cake.”
She had to quickly swallow the bite. “Thirty layers?”
“They’re thin.”
“Why would you ever need thirty layers?!”
“No, they’re very thin, it isn’t much taller than a regular cake.”
“Oh… I’m having a hard time picturing it,” she gave a smirk, “I think I’ll have to see it for myself.” The smile turned more genuine. “Is it good?” She took a smaller bite.
“I haven’t got to try one, they’re expensive.”
The smile fell. “Oh.”
“I like the spiced root cake the Dunmer make, and there’s one made from something called marshmerrow, it’s a little too sweet for me but I think you’d like it.”
“I’ll have to try them next time I’m in town.”
“I’m also quite fond of the bread they make out of yams, though,” he lowered his voice, “I’ve been afraid to try it with scrib jelly.”
“What’s that?”
“…Maybe when you’re done with your sweet roll.”
Her brows rose.
As they continued eating she looked around, gaze catching on the red leaves of a nearby tree, its branches bobbing slightly.
He stared out at the street. “I have been trying to learn more about Dunmer culture, and not judge things that are different too quickly.”
She smirked to him. “Except for scrib jelly?”
“Well some things are easier to respect from afar.”
“Ah.”
“It is admirable though, because not much grows in the ashlands they have to find food elsewhere and they managed to get multiple food types out of something others wouldn’t see as such, they’re survivors, no matter the situation you put them in.”
She furrowed her brows. “I really don’t want to know what a scrib is, do I?”
“No.” Tearing a piece off his sweet roll he rolled it between his fingers. “I hope that learning more about them will help me be a better guard to them, like you said, at the very least, perhaps I’ll be a better man.”
Her smile lessened but turned more genuine. “You are a good guard.”
“I hope so, protecting everyone is why I became a guard in the first place.” Eating the bite his eyes lit up. He turned to her. “Does the Merchant Inn still make those blackberry tarts?”
“What?” She blinked, brain taking a second to keep up with the sudden topic change.
“I use to get them sometimes when I was training in the Imperial City.”
“Um…” she glanced off, thinking, before turning back to him. “I don’t know, I’ll check. If they do I’ll bring you some, unless they wouldn’t stay good… Maybe I’ll just have to bring you there,” she smirked.
“Hopefully that can be soon,” he turned back to his sweet roll.
She looked surprised. Did he mean he wanted the tarts soon or did he like her dragging him places? She looked away as she couldn’t contain the grin spreading across her face.
Turning back to him she saw he was staring at his dessert, the same awkward look as when she gave it to him. Seemed whatever had been bothering him never really went away. “What’s wrong?”
“I am grateful, truly, but since I wanted to surprise you didn’t know what I was doing and bought some too.”
“So now we have three sweet rolls,” she was confused as to how this was a problem.
“I just feel bad you had to pay for two.”
“Oh…” she glanced off with a smirk, “don’t worry about that.”
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G'morning 💟💟💟
This is a ramble about a post about the Harry Potter books (wishing they were not written)...
I Really Enjoyed the Geodyssey series by Piers Anthony (Isle of Woman, Shame of Man, Hope of Earth, Muse of Art... I never read the last book... Climate of Change)
I read the first 4 books many years ago, and I Really Enjoyed reading these books and the style of writing that spanned across many generations and time periods. I re-read this series many times over the years, and each time I enjoyed the stories and the characters.
Piers Anthony is a prolific author that has written a plethora of books. I have only read the Geodyssey series, and not any of his other works.
And then something happened and the reputation of Piers Anthony changed from 'respected prolific sci-fi and fantasy author' to 'creepy creep'... He was writing too much about panties and female bodies and teenage sexuality and he is no longer popular or respected 😶
These things are confusing and sad.
Many times I have experienced emotional cruelty from others in the form of 'You like/enjoy (random media)? Then you must be the kind of awful/evil/wrong person who supports (inappropriate behaviors of the creator of that media)!'
These things are confusing and sad.
I imagine that about 98% of Creatives are Normal Humans that will be sometimes good and sometimes bad, but always Humans that are Going Through It, making mistakes and learning, and never perfect... And only about 1% of Creatives are perfectly evil rotten humans, and only about 1% of Creatives are perfectly good kind humans. The individual that consumes media is not responsible for the actions of the media creator. I guarantee that all humans have enjoyed a work of art/music/literature that was created by someone that they would be repulsed by, if they were to know the creative personally. Should this diminish the experience of enjoyment that the individual feels upon consuming the media?
For example... Michaelangelo was secretly queer but openly hatefully homophobic. In person he was bitter, condescending, sadistic, and rude. He did not bathe, and upon his death he had had the same pair of stockings on for So Many Years that it was necessary to scrape them off of his skin with a spatula. Meeting him in person would not be a pleasant experience for most humans... But he gave us David and La Pieta and the Sistine Chapel and So Much More! Should the Beauty of those works be diminished because they were created by an asshole?
And Jared Leto is a bad person and a bad actor, but Mr. Nobody is still an emotionally beautiful and thought provoking film.
There were too many examples, across all media, and through out all time. Should you choose to only consume media that was created by perfect humans, it would be necessary to live bereft of Art.
I perceive Art like this... There is a Collective Consciousness of humanity's ideas and imagination (the noosphere) and Creations are conducted into this realm of reality (born) through the Creatives (conduits). Consider the Michael Sheen quote/acting advice about the characters they portray not being able to exist unless they open themself and channel that out into the world (paraphrasing)... Consider a child being born... Is that child an extension of the parent? Responsible for the behaviors of the parent? Or is it its own entity that should be perceived by its own merits? Creations of Art are the manifestations of ideas and imagination that have been born through the conduit of Creatives... Creations of Art are the Children of Creatives. Should you be repulsed by a beautiful child because its parent is ugly or vulgar?
Have been thinking on this for a day or so... And just wanted to submit these thoughts for your consideration.
(I agree 100% that JK Rowling is a jerk and this ramble is Not About That)
💟💟💟
Good morning!
It's definitely a. Complicated subject? I agree that people shouldn't be harassed for what they enjoy in media, though. Someone who harasses or belittles others for what they enjoy in media will always be 100x worse than the person that's enjoying the "bad/problematic" media.
I personally could never read the Harry Potter books after what happened with JKR, but I do understand that there's a good amount of people who read the stories *before* the transphobia stuff came out, and to a lot of those people the series means something to them. There is some degree of separating the art from the artist, although it's impossible to do that entirely.
I think it's mostly fine as long as one acknowledges the problems that a work does have, things in the work that are. Prejudiced, for example. Although I do also understand that there's a lot of people that would rather not be. Reminded about Harry Potter, or talked to about it, or it upsets them when there's references to it.
Both of those people—people that are attached to Harry Potter and keep talking about it and making fanwork for it, and people that don't want to talk about it and having it referenced makes them uncomfortable— are valid. As long as nobody's harassing or belittling anyone else. Although, I will note that, while I can't control what anyone decides to do with their money bc it's their money, even the people who are still fans shouldn't buy things that are going to give money to JKR.
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