My Drabbles
A series of drabbles inspired by swooping_is_bad
Some of this is probably NSFW - consider yourself forewarned.
Drabble #1
Harvey Danger, “Flagpole Sitta”
It was late at night at camp, and Alistair leaned back on his bedroll and grimaced as he tried to stifle his baser urges.
He couldn’t forget the curves of Elissa’s body, that inscrutable place where his hands had rested only a few hours before. She had been so warm, so… different. As they had kissed, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the soft flesh under his fingertips.
Even now, his fingers burned with the memory of it.
And although he hated it, a spike of fear ran through him. According to all of the things he had been taught as a child, he had just set himself on a path away from the Maker‘s grace.
And so it was that he lay awake in his tent, fingertips burning and stomach knotting with anxiety.
Drabble #2
Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams”
Zevran sat back in his chair in the tavern and watched Elissa with half-lidded eyes as she and Leliana talked about something. Something silly, no doubt.
He watched, and he plotted.
He knew she would be his someday… someday soon.
The seeds of it were already there, in the flush that came to her cheeks when she caught his gaze, in the way gooseflesh appeared across her skin from the simplest of touches.
He smiled like a cat stalking its prey.
He’d been all over the world. He’d known a hundred women like Elissa, and bedded most of them.
And someday soon she would be another.
Drabble #3
Haddaway, “What is Love”
Elissa sat back on her haunches and glared at the golden-haired man across the camp from her.
He was just so… irritating!
Every time she felt like she was getting somewhere, his stupid jokes would come up like an impenetrable shield. She was about ready to tie him up and gag him so that he couldn’t use that awful wit to keep her away.
Even now, he kept stealing looks at her as he cleaned his armor. He blushed every time.
Then why wouldn’t he do anything about it?
Silently, she prayed to the Maker that he would sort his feelings out. The constant almost something that they had long since moved from sweet awkwardness to outright pain.
Drabble #4
The Cure, “Friday I’m in Love”
Alistair couldn’t help it. Arl Eamon was trying to have a serious conversation, but he just couldn’t pay attention like he should, and they both knew it. It was something about being King, and Alistair knew it was important - oh, how he knew it was important! - but he just couldn’t stop thinking about how everything would end with her.
The last time they had talked, she had told him that no matter what happened, they would face it together.
Eventually, Arl Eamon gave up. He threw his hands in the air and let out an exasperated sigh. “Go, Alistair! You’re certainly not taking in a bit of this anyway!”
Alistair needed no further encouragement. With a childlike grin, he bounded out of his chair and upstairs to where she waited for him.
Drabble #5
The Killers, “Mr. Brightside”
Without meaning to, Alistair’s face twisted into a rictus as he watched Elissa and Zevran. It was a crisp fall evening, and the two sat together - close together - on a log in front of the camp fire.
He knew he would never please her as the Antivan could. It was a battle that had been lost before it was even begun, really.
He and Elissa had kissed, once, before that fateful first meeting with the Antivan assassin.
Needless to say, they hadn’t kissed since, although he knew that Elissa was getting plenty of other kisses.
He had to look away as jealousy twisted up from his stomach and into his throat.
He watched as Elissa and Zevran entered her tent that night.
And despite himself, he couldn’t help but imagine everything that was happening inside the tent. The way the assassin would touch her hair, her face… the way her armor would look as it came off, the way her skin would gleam in the dark.
With a choking sound, Alistair went into his own tent, and fell into a fitful sleep on his cold and lonely bedroll.
Drabble #6
John Mayer - “Free Fallin’”
As he walked away from Elissa, who - if he was not mistaken from the sounds behind him - had slumped to her knees, Zevran could not help but smirk and think about where he would go next.
Now that he was free.
Elissa had been an amusing diversion, it was true, during the long months when he had felt compelled to stay by her side in order to avoid the wrath of the Crows.
After the confrontation with Taliesin and the other Crows, though, he knew they would never again follow him. Thus, there was no need for him to continue to follow the naïve noble girl.
It was unfortunate for her that she had fallen in love with him.
Once outside the city, Zevran looked to the sky and thought, for a moment, that he saw her face there in the clouds. Shaking his head, he made a note to find the nearest whorehouse once he got to Antiva.
He needed to erase the last six months the only way he knew how.
Drabble #7
The Eagles - “Heartache Tonight”
Leliana watched her friends carousing at the little tavern they had stopped at and made a conscious effort to stop wringing her hands in her lap.
This is not going to end well.
Elissa and Alistair were both more than a little drunk, and Zevran had the strongest predatory look on his face that Leliana had ever seen on -- well, anything.
Maker, please keep them from hurting each other.
As Elissa swayed in the middle of the common room to a tune only she could hear, both Zevran and Alistair watched her hungrily.
Later, as she watched Alistair and Zevran throw punches at each other while Elissa cried drunkenly next to her, Leliana could only shake her head.
Her prayers had gone unanswered.
Drabble #8
Massive Attack - “Teardrop”
In the dim light inside the tent, Alistair fought for control as he watched Elissa’s body move underneath his, with his.
With every breath, he felt remade in the fire of her love.
Unbidden, the thrusts of his hips quickened. He dragged his lips over hers, down her neck. Her skin was honey-sweet and hot as the embers from a fire.
He felt her breath quicken and feather against him as she cried his name.
Unable to hold back any longer, he released himself.
In that single, pure instant he knew the love of the Maker, the love of the mother he had never known, the love of everyone who had ever touched his life, and knew his own love for the woman below him and every other perfect part of the Maker’s creations.
He was suspended somewhere between this world and the next, and he remembered something that Wynne had said to him when he and Elissa first started pursuing this mad relationship.
“Just remember, Alistair, that ‘love’ is a doing word - not a thinking one.”
He hadn’t understood it then, but watching Elissa sigh and smile beneath him, he finally understood what she had been trying to tell him.
He leaned down and kissed her.
“Maker knows, I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything. Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
Drabble #9
Barenaked Ladies - “Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank”
Leliana checked for the hundredth time to make sure that the dagger she was holding up her sleeve couldn’t be seen.
Tonight was the night.
The night she would make her pay.
The night she would become free.
For months, she had labored under the scraps of affection that Elissa handed out to her.
She was done starving.
She knocked on the door, and Elissa answered after a long minute.
Although Elissa didn’t hold the door open very far, Leliana could see Alistair on the bed behind her, looking aggravated.
Tonight was the night.
She sank the dagger deep into Elissa’s throat and knew it was the right thing to do.
The only thing to do.
Drabble #10
Coldplay - “Everything’s Not Lost”
Elissa fell to the cold ground. She knew she’d have bruises on her knees, but she didn’t care.
She held her hands over her face and sobbed.
For once, she didn’t worry about being strong. She’d told her friends that she was going to bathe; no one would dare come and bother her.
Yesterday, they had buried Pepper, her faithful Mabari hound.
She had maintained her composure, even as she shoveled dirt over his body.
Tonight was different.
Maker, it seems as though you’re determined to take everything from me.
She was so lost to her demons that she didn’t know anyone was with her until her hands were pulled away from her face and she was enveloped in a warm embrace.
Alistair just held her, occasionally rubbing a hand down her back soothingly.
As her sobs slowly trailed into sniffles, he pulled back a little.
He looked nervous as he spoke haltingly. “I’m probably, um, probably going to say this all wrong. But -- and, you can just tell me to go away. But. I know, I know how hard this has all been. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
She found that her sniffles were disappearing as he spoke to her.
“But for what it’s worth, I’m here for you. Forever. Everything’s not lost - not as long as the Maker still allows me to draw a breath.”
In response she threw her arms around his neck and held on as though the world would end if she didn’t.
“Thank you,” was all she could manage to whisper in response."