#roxlyn

Wow, it's been six years since Archibald's Next Big Thing premiered on Netflix? Well, this is a redraw of a pic I made in 2020 of Archibald and his pen pal Roxyln!

(Continued from here)

Rin smirked as her question led Lark exactly where she hoped. With the chill of the outdoors fading away, Rin was reveling in the warmth of her girlfriend. She had a growing need, and she was clearly not alone.

Life was wonderful. She was happy. And she could, in large part, thank the gorgeous elf happily finding a place between her legs.

Even after taking a portal to Northrend at Roxlyn's request, Rin and Lark still needed to catch a ship that would be docking at the small independent island the witch lived on. Rin had a coat and a scarf, knowing it would be cold up north at this time of year.

While she had been wanting to visit her old teacher for some time, it was surprising that Roxie would ask her to visit barely a month after their last meeting. She asked her to bring Lark, who thankfully had no problem with impromptu travel.

The girls made it down a path covered in crunchy snow to a cozy cabin at the edge of the town. A blood elf woman was outside playing fetch with a dog almost her size. When she spotted them approaching, she smiled. "Roxie, I think you've got company!"

It only took half a minute for the void elf dressed in thick, fur-lined robes to poke her head out of the door. "Nice to see you two made it in safe."

"Yep! Though I didn' realize it'd already be snowin' up here!"

"Well, get in here then. We have the hearth going and soup ready."

Rin squeezed Lark's hand. "How are ye feeling?" The boat trip had made both of them a bit queasy. Really, Rin's stomach had been annoying her for days now, and she wondered if she was coming down with something.

“An island? So she just claimed a whole island?”

Roxlyn sat on Renciel’s plush couch, absentmindedly petting Felicity and Apple, the two fel kittens basking in her attention on her lap. She visited Mount Hyjal to catch Renciel up on the recent events in her life, including the Ashen Hunt’s new home.

“Leora didn’t ‘claim’ the island. She liberated it,” Roxlyn clarified. “When you take an island from cultists experimenting on slaves, it’s called liberation.”

Renciel finished pouring freshly-made tea, grinning as she returned to the couch. “Of all your conquests, Leora sounds the most ambitious,” she teased.

Roxlyn rolled her eyes, her cheeks dusted violet at the comment. “Not my conquest. My friend.” It was not always common for those two things to overlap, but Leora was definitely a friend first and a former sexual partner second. “But yes, she has ambition and the desire to bring something good into the world. She turned an island of freed slaves into a neutral territory.”

Sitting beside Roxlyn, Renciel sipped her tea. “It sounds lovely, honestly. Idealistic, but that’s not a bad thing.”

“It could be naïve,” Roxlyn admitted, “but the Alliance and the Horde don’t need to have the whole world. There have to be little idyllic corners for the rest of us.”

It was a nice idea. Mount Hyjal was left mostly untouched by the current conflict, as druids focused on more important matters like healing the planet. The druids were united by a common goal; could an island of ex-slaves do the same? “So are you leaving Boralus, then?”

Roxlyn smiled softly. “Yes. I’ll keep the shop there; it makes business sense. I can manage it while starting a new shop on Leora’s island. I’m going to build a home there.” She hesitated. “Renciel… I wanted to ask you something.”

Renciel rested a reassuring hand on Roxlyn’s knee, seeing uncharacteristic nervousness. “Ask away.”

“Come to the island?”

“To visit you?”

“To live with me.” It slipped past Roxlyn’s lips quickly, before she could overthink it.

There were a lot of emotions to process. Present emotions; the excitement of sharing a new place with Roxlyn, who she had enjoyed reconnecting with in the past months. Past emotions; the memories of fighting as they grew more divided toward the end of their last relationship, ending in Renciel leaving in the night. And so many potential future emotions. “My animals. I would not want to leave them.” It was the first thought she had that was not attached to baggage. She had so many animals she tended to, most living with her permanently.

“That would be fine,” Roxlyn assured her, doing what she could not to sound insistent. “The spot I picked is at the edge of town, near the woods. With space for a garden.”

Renciel turned to meet Roxlyn’s eyes, reading her like only she could. “Did you pick that spot out knowing you would ask me to move in with you?”

Roxlyn blushed, rubbing the back of her neck. “The thought may have crossed my mind.”

That earned a smile, but Renciel was still cautious. She rested her head on Roxlyn’s shoulder. “That’s a big step, isn’t it? After what happened last time?”

“It is,” Roxlyn admitted. “But this isn’t Eversong. I’m older. And we won’t have an archaic governing body deciding that one of us can’t be where the other is.” Roxlyn deserved a lot of blame for how things went sour, but she still harbored resentment toward the Magisters.

Renciel looked at the scarred, burnt flesh of her hand. “But what if I do… something? Lose control and get exiled and we’re back to square one?” Being with the druids had helped ease Renciel’s destructive tendencies, but she worried leaving the Mountain would lead to their inevitable return.

“There are still druids on the island. But more importantly,” Roxlyn held Renciel’s scarred hand, squeezing it, “I will be there for you. I want your struggles to be my struggles again. I can do it right this time.”

The warm feeling in Renciel’s chest grew more comforting. “So… if I move with you… are we really trying this again?” They had been reconnecting, but both women had danced around what that might mean or what they were working to with all their flirting and talking and affection.

Roxlyn smiled and took Renciel’s chin with her hand, tilting her toward a tender kiss. “Renciel, be mine, and let me be yours. Please?”

The nerves were still there, but it was harder to care as excitement and maybe even the rekindling of old love filled her. “Well, when you say it like that.” She grinned, kissing Roxlyn again. “Yes. I’ll need to plan the details, but I will move to this idyllic island of yours. And yes… I am yours and you are mine. I love you, Roxie.”

It was familiar, both for Renciel to say and for Roxlyn to hear, but it had been so long, both their hearts skipped when it was said. Smiling, Roxlyn nuzzled up close to her girlfriend, past, present, and hopefully future. “I love you, too, Ren.” They would plan for the house and the garden later, since Roxlyn knew Ren would have plenty of ideas for both, but for now, they would just enjoy the feeling of finally mending something important.

“I don’t know why they couldn’t all come with us.”

Renciel was pouting, but Roxlyn stood her ground. They walked the cobblestone streets of Boralus with four animals close at their heels. Roxlyn’s familiar was never far, but Renciel had brought her fel kitten, her Alterac pup, and an attentive owl kitten. Naturally, she was still annoyed she could not bring the rest of the menagerie from her house.

“Because then we’d be a zoo parade walking through town, Ren. We’re trying not to draw attention, remember?” Roxlyn checked on Renciel to ensure the glamour keeping her high elf appearance was holding up. If caught, she would not have a good excuse for bringing a blood elf into the city, regardless of her exile status from Silvermoon.

“You’re so cruel.”

“Oh, hush.” They entered the shop and Roxlyn led the way to her flat up the stairs. “They’ll all be happy to see you when you get back. For now, let’s have a nice first visit that doesn’t get either of us executed.”

Renciel sighed. “Fiiiine.” She was prepared to make another comment, but she looked around the kitchen area, which was filled with clear evidence of a recent baking fervor. “Keeping things busy, Roxie?”

Realizing what she was talking about, Roxlyn’s cheeks blushed violet with uncharacteristic bashfulness. “Oh, right. Well, it’s nothing. I just thought, what with Love in the Air having recently passed, I’d make something to celebrate.”

Curiously, Renciel searched around until she spotted a tray of truffles and her eyes lit up. “You didn’t.”

“Like I said, it’s nothing.”

Renciel took a bite of one of the treats, humming in satisfaction, followed by a carefree squee of delight. “It’s not nothing! It’s chocolate raspberry truffles.”

Roxlyn failed to stifle her proud smile. “Well, they were your favorite.”

Even through the glamour that made her complexion fairer, Renciel’s cheeks were clearly deep red. “Are my favorite. Ever since…” She stumbled and lost her words, flustered, remembering that these truffles were the same treat Roxlyn made for their first Love in the Air together.

“I just wanted to do something special. I care, you know?”

After finishing her first delicious truffle, Renciel smiled and wrapped up the shorter elf in a tight hug. “I do know.”

It was not always something Roxlyn was good at. Near the end of their relationship, Roxlyn made choices that forced Renciel to wonder if she still felt as strongly for her as she once did. That doubt hurt and worsened the rift between them. At their best, Roxlyn was always able to make small, meaningful gestures to remind Renciel that she was important and loved.

This small, nostalgic gesture reminded Renciel of Roxlyn at her best.

They shared dreamy smiles until Roxlyn noticed Renciel’s lip and laughed. She brushed the corner of Renciel’s lip with her thumb. She licked the smudge of chocolate from her fingertip and smirked. “Mm, they did come out well.”

Roxlyn was stopped by soft lips on hers and the taste of chocolate. It was a quick kiss, but when Renciel pulled away, they were both blushing deeply. “They did,” Renciel assured her, beaming. “Thank you, Roxie.”

It had been ages since Roxlyn visited Mount Hyjal. It was a lovely place with strong magical connections, but it was a place of life and druidic magics, which were never her specialty. Amidst the emergence of the Firelands, Roxlyn was there not to fight off the Elemental Lord’s minions, but to research the elemental plane itself. How often would she get to learn about such a primal, fundamental power of the universe.

Given Renciel’s… affinity for fire, Roxlyn expected that to be part of what drew her to her new home, but when she emerged from the portal, it was clear she was wrong. The land was recovering from Ragnaros’s assault, and the druids had renewed the land. Things were green again, barring the damage done in the last Legion invasion. The land was truly resilient, striving for life despite attack after attack. Maybe Renciel was drawn to that resiliency.

There were druids in the village she arrived in, and when they saw Roxlyn, she could sense their unease. Despite the void elves’ place with the Alliance, many still feared or despised the void and struggled to make peace with the Ren’dorei and their relationship to the darkness.

“I was wondering when you’d get here!”

The familiar voice made Roxlyn forget about judgmental eyes. Renciel took long, quick strides until she had Roxlyn wrapped up in a hug. Her hugs were always warmer than she expected; it was always comforting. “Am I late?”

“Not as late as I expect with you,” Renciel teased.

“Hey, I’ve been getting better.”

“Whatever you say. Come on, I’m outside the village!” Renciel grabbed Roxlyn’s hand and led her down the path. Roxlyn had to take faster steps to keep up with Renciel’s long strides.

Alexa: “It totally is.”

Roxie: