#ghorren

(( DWC june 2026, Day 6, Anguish/Heat, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

Many years ago

Ghorren grunted as he deposited the heavy wooden chest inside the door to his family home, the contents inside jingling. A mighty haul indeed, enough gold to have made a trip twice as long worthwhile, and more than enough to buy him some extra time at home with his family. He wiped away the sweat soaking his brow, marveling at how much the temperature had changed as he'd made his way up from the docks into the upper districts. The Zuldazar heat sure hit different.

"Yizbei! Your triumphant husband returns!" he bellowed into the house, closing the door behind him and lifting the chest again, carrying it further in to his workbench so they could sort through it.

"PAPA!" yelled a tiny teal blur that slammed into him, clutching onto his leg in a deathgrip. It was followed by a second assault from behind, latching onto his back and climbing up to wrap arms around his neck with a happy "Father!".

Ghorren wobbled, then fell face first onto the nearby couch, playing up his surprise. "Augh! To get home to my family, only to fall to treachery from within! I am unmade!" he moaned, trying not to smile too big at Anwé's giggling in his ear. "Tell me this at least, where is my beautiful wife?"

"Mama's in the restaurant today, Oma wasn't feeling well. What did you bring me?" Anwé answered, sliding off his back and grinning into his eyes as her little sister climbed up to the small of his back.

"Oof, I brought you all many wonderful things my daughter, but first..." he said, surging up and pulling his youngest into his arms, then lashing out and catching the elder sister with his other hand, hauling them both into a big hug. "First you need a lesson in not dropping your guard!" he declared, before planting big wet kisses on both of them, while they tried in vain to push him away.

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(( DWC February 2024 Day 1, Casualty/Flirt, CW: None, thanks to @heniimagic for the OC loan, @daily-writing-challenge ))

Lorellai's smile fell as the Human turned away from her, her shoulder slumping as she wandered back to the table she was sharing with Henii. "Och, that's three times now I've been turned down. What kind of festival dedicated to love is this that I cannae even get someone to share a drink with me? What should I say, how should I act, what should I do?"

"I think the problem might be in your approach dear… oh, perhaps I can show you. Ghorren!" Henii called out, getting the attention of the big Zandalari at the bar. "Could you come join us, I need your help."

Ghorren shrugged and walked over, taking a seat. "Sounds simple enough. What do you need?"

"Lorellai needs an example of how to flirt," Henii said, adjusting herself in her chair and then looking at Lorellai. "Now, the first words out of your mouth are the most important. You may want to start with something like this." Turning to Ghorren, she leaned in slightly. "You are the most handsome Troll I've ever laid eyes on."

Ghorren glanced at Lorellai out of the side of his eye, then back to Henii, saying nothing.

Henii chuckled. "But that might not work."

Ghorren leaned in. "Oh, yes it would, in fact."

Henii turned her focus back to him. "You don't know how long I've wanted to tell you that."

"But you were afraid," he replied.

"Yes."

"Of me?"

"Of us. Of what we might become. Or that you might think it was just a line."

"Maybe I do think that."

"So you think I'm insincere."

"I didn't say that. There's nothing wrong with a line. It's like a knock at the door."

"Then are you inviting me in?"

"I'm not sending you away."

"That's more than I expected."

"Is it as much as you hoped?"

Henii leaned in closer. "To hope is to recognize the possibility. I had only dreams."

"Dreams can be dangerous," he cautioned, his face cradled in his hands as he held his gaze locked with hers.

"Not these dreams. I dream of a night sky where your eyes are the stars, and all the peoples of Azeroth worship the night."

Ghorren closed the gap between them even more, a laugh in his voice. "Careful, putting me on a pedestal so high, you might not be able to reach me."

"Then I'll learn to fly. You are the heart of my day, and the soul of my night."

Lorellai cleared her throat. "Um, I'm not sure this is really meh style…"

Ghorren broke his gaze with Henii quickly to glare at the girl, snapping at her to "Hush kid," before turning his attentions back to the Draenei across from him. "Tell me more about my eyes."

Lorellai rolled her eyes and walked away from the table, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks and leaving them to whatever that was.

(( DWC February 2026, Day 5, Depth/Shimmer, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

Ghorren rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking closely at the image before him. Then he took a step back. Then he leaned in close. He "hmmm"ed thoughtfully. He noted the way the light danced across the pigments, the way the colours flowed in bold shapes.

"Sweetie, it looks amazing. I do not understand what it means." he declared, turning his gaze back to his youngest daughter.

Qirra's jaw set in frustration, mimicking her mother's mannerisms, as she clucked her tongue. "It's -supposed- to invoke meaning in the viewer, and my teachers said it did a very good job of that! I got a special commendation from the academy for this abstract piece! You have plundered so much art, how can you not understand it, Father?!"

Ghorren could only shrug. "Oh, if I saw this in a treasure horde, I'd be sure to snap it right up. I can tell it's valuable. But if you want to know what meaning it stirs in me? It's colours and shapes, and I don't know why people pay so much for them." Ghorren raised his hand to cut off his daughter's likely rightful tirade. "But I am a man who understands his shortcomings, and when I heard from your teachers that you had been commended, the first thing I did was get you a gift to celebrate!" he declared, pulling out his secret weapon, a set of fine paintbrushes he'd acquired in Suramar's artisan district.

Qirra took the brushes, and huffed as she opened the box to examine them. Her face was still angry, but her eyes glittered with joy. "You're so stupid, papa."

(( DWC August 2025, Day 1, Ethereal/Calculate, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

The bright flash of the dimensional gate faded from Lorellai's eyes as she and her team entered the city of Taza'vesh, close on Alleria and Locus Walker's trail. She stopped to gape at the wondrous city she'd heard of in Dolraan's stories about their adventures in the Shadowlands. The brokers and ethereals and their incredible technology surrounded her, drawing her attention every which way.

The same was true for her companions. Spiru eyed the nearby brokers with interest, Ghorren was taking a moment to orient himself, and Janosis was so distracted by everything that he stumbled into a large, four-legged Broker, having to awkwardly apologize to the expressionless mask of the enigmatic being.

"Oh I hope we get time to properly explore this place, it's incredible!" Lorellai said with stars in her eyes.

"Easy enough, just destroy the void god threatening the cosmos with destruction quickly enough and I'm sure they'll give you a whole week pass," Ghorren quipped. "On more serious matters, has anyone else noticed that Alleria has reached an entirely new level of On Edge?"

Spiru nodded, doing her best to keep up with Ghorren's stride. "She is indeed on high alert. She has likely calculated, as we have, that the Harbinger will be involved with this situation somehow."

"And she almost certainly will be, we're not lucky enough to only have to worry about Dimensius and the Shadowguard." Janosis sighed, rubbing his face where he'd smacked into the Broker's leg as the quartet caught up with Alleria and Locus Walker at the check-in station.

It was not long before they were drawn into conflict as the Shadowguard raided the city, each of them feeling eyes on them the entire time.

(( DWC August 2025, Day 3, Twitterpated/Primal, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

The sound of cracking carapace and bone filled the sands outside the eco-dome as Ghorren aided in the breaking down of devourer corpses, harvesting valuable eldritch body parts and every last hint of anima that could be repurposed to the broker's needs. It was messy work, but it made Ghorren nostalgic for early days as a mercenary, checking over various monster corpses for any valuable loot they may have had.

Plus, it meant he didn't have to listen to the love-struck young dwarves on the communicator a scant twenty paces away, as Lorellai brought Dagran up to speed on their mission.

"The Broker technology sounds even more impressive up close than in the stories I've heard fr- the advent-s who braved the shadowlands! I don't suppose you - find a way to bring a piece or -home for study?" Dagran's voice crackled over the communicator that Lorellai had deployed, the signal filled with static as it tried to send and receive through the portals of Taza'vesh.

"I mean, they're a mercantile people, that's probably just a matter of negotiating a price! I'll make sure to see if I can bring something back when we're done the mission, and then we can take it apart together!" Lorellai answered, feeling her cheeks warm and secretly pleased that the video transmitter wasn't functioning at all through the interference.

"Assuming I he- -u correctly, it's a date! Oh, have to go, the ar- -tor needs tending. Stay safe out there!"

"I will, see you soon!" Lorellai answered. She spent a moment listening to the static before deactivating and beginning to fold up the device for transport. A shadow fell over her as she finished, and she turned to see Ghorren looming over her, wiping a towel across his arms to wipe away the strange blue blood of the devourers. "All finished here, mister Ghorren?"

"I already told you that you don't need to call me mister, kid. And yeah, got some decent gold for helping up. You?"

"Communicator basically works, though there's a lot of interference, go figure. Dagran's doing well, and nothing terrifying is happening to Khaz Algar at the moment, so that's good to know."

"Yes, I'm sure that Khaz Algar is why you were so frantically setting up that communicator, and not the cute boy you spend all your time with." Ghorren grinned, reaching down to ruffle Lorellai's hair.

"Ghorren!" Lorellai hissed, batting away his hand in embarrassment.

"Aha, see! You can drop the mister, I knew you had it in you, kid."

"You are as bad as my da', I swear," she pouted.

(( DWC November 2025, Day 3, Crush/Serious, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

Ghorren sat on a large stone, and drew forth the mail he'd picked up from town.

"Hi dad," he started, reading aloud, "things are going well at the Suramar Academy of Fine Arts! The faculty has been very welcoming, and there's lots of other students from all over the world! I'm learning a lot about mastering perspective and incorporating magical inks, and there's even a whole class about drawing and painting hands!"

Ghorren shifted on the stone, hearing it grind gently as he chuckled. "She always did complain about hands. Now, where was I.... oh yes."

"I've made some new friends as well! I'm hoping you can find time to visit during the mid-semester break so I can introduce you! You just have to promise to be nice to them, I don't want you scaring them off like you did Anwé's first crush!"

"Bah, he was too much a coward, I did her a favour. Any lad his age should have known to stand his ground even if his knees were knocking to earn my respect. That's the problem with kids, they don't learn the right lessons!"

He shifted in his seat again, and grunted. "You know, if you're going to complain this much, all you have to do is surrender properly," he said, setting the letter aside and looking down to the nerubian smuggler he'd caught outside a delve. He'd put up a fight, and now he was beneath a big rock with a big troll sitting on it.

"... f-fine! You win, you rotten troll! The goods are buried just outside the cave, behind the rock surrounded by red vines!" the spider hissed, "Now stop crushing me!"

(( DWC November 2025, Day 4, Ribbon/Misery, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none ))

Many Years ago....

Yizbei's feet and back ached as she snuffed the lights and turned the sign, finally ending one of the busiest days of the season. The Festival of Gold was in full swing, and that meant full seats in every eatery in the city from sun up to sun down. She, her sister, and her mother had been cooking and serving all day, and Yizbei thanked Gonk that her husband was home for the holy days this year, as the girls were of an age where they could only help a little but hinder ever so much.

As she climbed the steps that separated the business from the home above, she heard muffled giggling, and scoffed. The girls should have been in bed by now. Her Ghorren had clearly let them con him into staying up late again. She loved him dearly, but for all his strength he had to be the softest troll in Zandalar. She set her expression, ready to be the stern mother, and opened the door, only to immediately drop her plans.

Ghorren stood in the center of the main room, arms out to his sides, Anwe hanging from one, Qirra from the other. "Hi mama!" Anwe said cheerfully, as Qirra grinned and swung back and forth. Ghorren's long braid was a mess of ribbons, string, and glitter, and he was covered in wildly covered paints. He blinked as she walked in, and silently mouthed "Help me" to her.

(( DWC August 2025, Day 6, Celebrate/Reactionary, @daily-writing-challenge CW: none))

They had taken the dock that led into Manaforge Omega successfully, but the celebration was muted indeed. The surprise return of King Salhadaar had broken their alliance with the Oracles, and weakened their numbers substantially.

Still, any moment to rest and reload was a welcome one in battle, and the next step would likely be much more difficult; there was no doubt the Shadowguard kept their most capable within the manaforge itself. Lorellai checked her stores of explosives and ammunition, then when satisfied turned her attention to sharpening the blade of her spear. Her brow furrowed as she drew the whetstone across the blade, considering the situation. Not far away, Spiru was standing with her arms outstretched as Janosis performed an arcane ritual on her, reading her energies. They were very concerned about Xal'atath's "gift".