#I can't wait to meet serana | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

konahrics · 11 months

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I hate how much potential the Dawnguard DLC had and how shallow it ended up being.

TES doesn't usually deal in black & white, good vs evil. Imperials aren't better than Stormcloaks, the Companions aren't inherently good or bad, etc. But then the Volkihar vs Dawnguard conflict happens and it's just... would you like to rid the world of evil vampires?

Normally that's the part where you have to weigh the pros and cons of whichever side you'll take, but are there any pros to the vampires' side? You have to essentially sell your soul to Molag Bal to get a power that's kind of worth it sometimes, to live in a castle that houses actual human cattle and no one likeable except for Serana, who'd still be there if you'd taken the Dawnguard side anyway.

Besides Harkon's (stupid and self-destructive) plan, what objectives do the Volkihar have? Once the main story is over, the game just throws fetch quests at you. They don't actually do anything beyond existing.

And the fact that you fought for these vampires to exist is particularly frustrating because they're shallow and unlikeable. At least some of the Dawnguard members have a backstory: the young man you meet at the entrance to Daybreak Canyon who's scared of Isran, the Orc who wants to avenge his wives, the guy who might speak to Arkay, etc. The vampires get Nothing (except for Serana... who sides with the Dawnguard if you do). There's a former member of House Dres. Vingalmo and Orthjolf bicker. Valerica is admittedly an interesting character, but that's kind of it. Most of the vampires in the castle have almost nothing to say, unlike some of the Dawnguard who you actually go recruit yourself and have their own personality. Which is a shame because i wish that once you've sided with the vamps, you'd actually get incentive to stay. There are many reasons why someone might want to be a vampire (did they get taken in by the Volkihar in an uncharacteristic act of good will, and are now unshakeably loyal? Are they a disgraced noble looking for revenge? Do they think vampires should work with mortals rather than against them? There's potential dammit! Have some diversity!) but the only reason all of the Volkihar vampires have is to sit in the castle, drink blood all night and proclaim their loyalty to whoever's the leader.

Speaking of leaders! Isran is an interesting character who fights for a good cause but sometimes goes to extremes and pushes his own allies away; Harkon is a dumbass who thinks blotting out the Sun would be a good thing and who will 100% backstab you the moment he doesn't need you anymore or you become a threat to him. Actually, you can't trust anyone on the vampire side. Finishing the DLC as the leader of the Volkihar sounds both exhausting and unrewarding, from an in-character POV. Also, why isn't Serana the new leader after she helps you kill her father??

There's so many things that have me believe that DLC is meant to be played on the Dawnguard side, which kinda sucks. It's nice that they offer a way for the player to be evil, but the evil plotline is boring, and good vs evil isn't what TES is good at anyway.

TES could have done what it usually does, and does well, which is a nuanced conflict (while keeping the Volkihar somewhat monstruous, because they are.) A Dawnguard who's trying to destroy vampires but whose methods are extreme (Isran literally has a torture room in the game and makes Serana wait for you there) vs the Volkihar who are torn between obeying Harkon like they have for millenia even though his plan is self-destructive, or overthrowing him and facing the Dawnguard menace weakened. If you side with the Dawnguard, congrats! The Volkihar are no more, but without them around cull their numbers, vampires are popping up left and right. Destroy them and cure their victims before they turn. If you side with the Volkihar, once you've destroyed the Dawnguard, you have to fix the problems Harkon allowed to fester while he was obsessed with the prophecy. Stop other clans from encroaching on Skyrim and refill your depleted ranks, and choose how thralls should be treated.

At this point i'm just rambling but i'm so smad about that DLC. I love vampires but they're so 2-dimensional compared to everything else in the game. I'd happily play through the Soul Cairn every time if the rest of the story was engaging. Ok not happily but i wouldn't complain as much.

#skyrim #skyrim dawnguard #dawnguard #Thoughts(tm) brought to you by: some custom followers react badly to the PC joining the volkihar and i wish being a vamp in skyrim...#...wasn't synonymous with becoming evil #house Ravenwatch probably didn't exist when DG was written but i wish the PC could have the same sort of philosophy #my favorite skyrim oc is a vampire but making it so in-game makes him appear evil by default bc there's no nuance

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andmyvape · 3 years

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"Please tell me you're not wearing that."

Elayn looked down, then back up with a wide grin. She tugged at her bright rainbow suspenders with her thumbs. "What, not tacky enough?"

Serana gave the ensemble another slow scan. "No, it's… definitely tacky. The combat boots with the khaki shorts is a nice touch."

The grin got wider as she stuffed her hands into her pockets. "They're going to be throwing candy, and I wasn't anywhere near prepared enough last time."

Serana rolled her eyes, but softened it with a smile. "You're ridiculous."

"Isn't that why we're dating?" her girlfriend asked as they headed out the door.

She took a moment to lock up while Serana laughed. "'Careless Whisper' on a boom box outside my window. I can't believe my dad didn't kill you. I know you stole that, by the way. We both went to see that movie when it came out."

"They marketed it as a romcom!" Elayn protested.

They were in the car now. It would be a trick to find parking, but they were running early thanks to Serana's habit of scheduling everything. Elayn was more the type to go with the flow, but living together had her adapted enough that the flow she went with was largely dictated by Serana's schedule. As a research chemist, she worked interesting hours at times, but Elayn was a good roommate, she cooked and cleaned, mostly because she had the time. Lacrosse wasn't a well paying sport compared to something like soccer, but the off seasons gave her plenty of time to maintain their loft.

"Five dollars an hour?" Elayn griped as the machine printed out their ticket.

"Homophobia strikes again," Serana said with mock solemnity.

She snorted and wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waste. "Which park did you say this thing started in again?"

It was a little place surrounded by tall buildings, but it was a green patch in a city largely made out of grey. It being Pride Month, the grey was broken up by rainbows. The two wandered around as they waited for the parade to start.

Well, at least, they started to wander when Elayn caught sight of a dog and all but dragged her girlfriend over to say hi.

"What's his name?" she asked, so full of enthusiasm she practically floated. "Can I pet him?"

The dog's owner, someone with a short haircut in a crop top that was orange, yellow, and white striped, nodded. "If he lets you. Sometimes he's not so-- oh gosh," they said, eyes wide as they watched Elayn kneel down and offer a hand to sniff that was immediately accepted. "You must have good vibes."

"She's a dog person," Serana said with a laugh as the dog put its front paws on Elayn's shoulders so he could lick her face.

"What's his name?" she asked through slobbery kisses.

The butch grinned. "That's Duke, I'm Cas. It's nice to meet you!"

The two introduced themselves just in time for a volunteer to come up with bottles of water. "Our city got voted best water in the state," she said cheerfully. "Take a few, it's gonna be a hot one."

Before the march, there were speeches. The first was an introduction to the city's first pride parade since the 80s. The second was from a drag queen inviting everyone to the show later that night. Finally, the speeches were closed by an Episcopalian pastor trying to make up for the rest of Christianity's sins.

"It's starting!" Elayn said excitedly when the crowd started to funnel out of the park.

The march went down the sidewalk for a few blocks. Traffic was halted and the waiting cars honked while passengers waved. Elayn waved a lesbian flag, Serana had a bi flag, and the two of them dragged a rainbow striped cooler.

"Mom! Mom!" Elayn heard behind her. "Look, it's two cicadas going at it!"

She glanced behind her. There was a set of twins, about twelve years old, one of them draped in a trans flag and holding the cicadas that were indeed trying to reproduce. Elayn snorted and hit herself in the face trying to keep a laugh contained. "You like bugs, huh?"

The girl in the trans flag beamed. "They're my favorite! Well, except for tarantulas, but Mom won't let me have one."

"The rabbit gets out of its cage enough." The way the girl's mom said it, this was an age old argument. "I don't want to squash it when it ends up in my shoe."

"I had a snake when I was growing up," Serana chimed in. "A corn snake that never got out."

The twins turned out to be part of a family unit. One twin was trans, and their older brother was too, and as Elayn found soon, was very excited to start HRT. "Get a Gc2b binder," she said. "When I'm feeling like a flat day, it works really well."

The boy, a younger fourteen, practically floated with excitement. "I will!"

Serana chatted with the parents while Elayn occupied the kids. "Have you folks been to Pride before?"

Their mom, a woman named Chelsea, shook her head. "Nope, both kids came out last September and they've been talking about the festival ever since."

"You seem like really supportive parents," Serana said. It carried the weight of one speaking who has not had contact with their parents since high school.

Chelsea could tell, and she opened her arms for a hug that Serana was more than happy to accept.

The march was only about a mile long, and it ended in another park. Elayn craned her neck and said, "I think I see the beer line, wait here?"

"We will!" said the girl, who was very proud to be named Luna now.

Serana and Chelsea shared a grin. "I guess we'll wait here," the mom said.

It was a bit of a line, which was probably not a good thing, but apparently people were restricted on how many drinks they could buy, so at least there was that. While Elayn waited, she was joined by two people wearing pronoun pins that said "she/her".

Elayn's jaw dropped at the sight of one of the girls' dress, which was a flowing, fae like ensemble. "Holy shit!" she said. "You look amazing!"

She blushed and ducked her head as she smiled. "Thank you, I got it from Amazon."

"It's her first Pride," her friend added.

That just amazed Elayn more. "With the sparkles and the green eyeshadow, I wouldn't have guessed. Everything you've got going on is just amazing."

"Thank you!" she squeaked.

Elayn wasn't alone in thinking the dress was gorgeous. Another person came up to compliment it, and they had such dope tattoos that Elayn could not help but comment.

"The guy that did them is great," they gushed. "He does blacklight work too!"

So she got a website saved on her phone for the next time she really wanted to get a tattoo on top of the three she already had; scrollwork on her bicep, a wolf on her shoulder blade, and a small date on her wrist that was the day she met Serana.

When she got back to her girlfriend and the others, an IPA in hand that was frankly piss, she told them about the girl in the fae dress.

"I saw her!" Serana exclaimed.

"Amazon."

"No way."

Next was food, especially if she was going to drink a beer. Assuming she actually drank it. "There's some food trucks," she pointed out. "I could go for a corndog."

"I'm going to get some mac and cheese," Serana said.

"Mom! Mom!" Luna's twin brother, Ian, tugged at his mom's sleeve. "Can we get pretzels?"

Chelsea sighed good-naturedly. "I suppose. Do you two want to meet up after?"

"Over by the stage?" Elayn suggested.

The group separated. She found the line for corndogs and funnel cake. While she was waiting, the woman ahead of her glanced her way, so Elayn said, "Howdy!"

"Hey there, hun!" She clapped her on the shoulder. "Having a good time?"

"I am," she said with a grin. "Everyone here is so nice. There were some moms back there handing out hugs!"

"Well, I'm a mom, would you like a hug?"

"I would love that."

It was a lovely hug, the woman was warm and smelled floral. When they separated, she said, "I'm Elayn! It's good to meet you. Can I get you a corndog?"

As she pulled out her wallet, the woman waved her money away. "It's Nessa, and actually, I'd like to buy you a corndog."

"You don't have to--"

Nessa laughed. "I miss my daughters, you'd be doing me a favor."

They chatted while the line went down, about lacrosse and about university. It turned out Nessa's two daughters went off to college in other cities, so it had been a while since she saw either. "I had a son," she said. "But now I have a very happy daughter, and I'm so proud of her."

"I wish I had a mom like you," Elayn said, thinking about growing up foster care.

Nessa grabbed her in another hug. "Now you do!"

When she got back to Serana and the others, they were listening to the music booming from the speakers. She had to yell to tell the group about her new mom.

Chelsea looked a little sad, because she could connect the dots, but Luna and Ian were too busy freaking out over the cotton candy Nessa had bought her too.

Not long after, the stage was occupied. Elayn was chatting with Luna with her back turned, so she missed it until Serana tapped her shoulder and turned her around.

"Holy shit!" She hollered and clapped at the sight of a gorgeous, sequin clad drag queen in four inch heels doing a backflip off the stage and onto grass. "Holy shit!"

As it turned out, the drag queens took tips, and it was at that point that Elayn knew she was about to spend a lot of money. Each queen that performed, and there were many, got a five in exchange for the sheer joy Elayn got when the queen before her touched her hand.

When there was a break in the performances, she went back to Serana, who had a smirk on her face. "Should I be jealous?"

Elayn cupped her face, and in a fit of sheer enthusiasm, kissed her girlfriend soundly, to the delight of the twins who hooted. "Don't worry, babe," she teased. "You're the only queen for me."

"Flatterer." Serana swatted at her chest, but the smile on her face was pleased regardless.

It was all a blur from there. Fair food, loud music-- and Elayn found beer that wasn't piss! She taught the twins a new vocabulary of cuss words the moment she found out their mom was fine with foul language. They parted around five in the afternoon, when a voice through a megaphone warned attendants that the festival was about to start catering to adults. There was a concert with more drag queens, this time in much more risqué outfits that Elayn would have given a kidney to see on Serana.

When she said something, her girlfriend got a light in her eye. "Really now?" she purred. "Maybe for your birthday."

By 11pm, Elayn was high on the party atmosphere and a few beers. The festival was over, and the walk back to their car would be a trick. "Did you have fun?" she asked Serana as they walked hand in hand.

She got a kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad I have you. When are we getting married?"

"When I figure out how to surprise you with a ring."

#skyrim fanfiction #Modern AU #pride 2021 #Femslash #dragonborn #serana #Whoever gets the reference gets a cookie and to feel superior

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