#serazhen

August 23 - Day 7 Serene/Weapon

Of all the things Serazhen had tried as a distraction in his life, there was something about jewelcrafting that brought him the most peace. Most of the time. It was always better when he was doing his own work, melting down metal for designs he'd wrought from his own mind and faceting the stones to socket decoratively in.

This was chaos.

He'd hit up every thrift store in Silvermoon, Booty Bay, Ratchet and Orgrimmar every week for a month to get enough necklace and bracelet chains to see if he could pull a particular vision together for the Tarts' anniversary party. He'd been a bartender with them for a few years, up until he decided he wanted to chase the jewelry job formally enough to see if he could do something with it.

At this point he was sick of soldering, but he had a functional wrap-skirt sort of situation that glittered and gleamed in the sunlight that poured into his bedroom slash studio, as well as a piece that draped over his shoulders and dripped down his chest. It was very avant-garde, and extremely heavy. If he turned too fast some of the 'fringe' chains could potentially be a weapon. Or if the spotlights hit him at the right angle, he'd be sending beams of sparkling light into peoples eyes like a deadly disco ball.

What a way to go.

He laughed to himself at the thought and attached the final length of rhinestone studded chain to the mantle-harness-thing before sitting back and streeeetching. He'd been cooped up a little too long, the zen of his place was too tremendously quiet, and he could feel the restlessness starting to take hold. It was a good thing the party was tonight.

It was going to be a blast!

Day 7: Lover, Aftermath

(NSFW below the cut: strong sexual themes)

(Difficult to discern text is clarified in the * footnotes.)

Lynesse Gloamingdawn ( @gloamingdawn )

Since her establishment as an aspirant of Eyir and one of Eyir’s chosen champions on the plane of the living a little over four years ago, she has spent times of peace focusing more on healing and surgery to honor Eyir’s beginnings as a healer pre-ascension and helping ferry souls of the restless dead across the veil. Post-Shadowlands opening, she has spent a significant amount of time as part of Talonoa Dal’shula’s mercenary group, as well as doing what she can where she can with the Kyrian to help stabilize their realm due to the affinity she feels toward them.

Throughout all this she has spent time worrying about the souls she sent on prior to knowing about the shattering of the mechanisms that saw souls to their proper afterlives; Last fall she learned that not to be true, her connection to Eyir has instead seen souls to a temporary rest in the Halls of Valor — notably that of her late husband as well as her father — and she has somewhat settled and become much more at peace with her own personal (if still extremely unusual) role in the grand cycle.

Since the last DWC she has been trying to privately come to terms with her life, unlife, and everything in between while waiting for the next call to come and do her part to fix what she can where she can in the Shadowlands. Her over-awareness of how she can, and has, upset far too many people she’s considered friends in the past has led to her mostly walling herself off, save for a few contacts, to prevent personal conflict to the best of her ability. She hasn’t been up to too much, but she has taken on a new client, the Lady Fiorenze Tel’vaiel, and is currently the on-call doctor for emergencies on the Meadowrun Estate.

Lady Fiorenze Tel’vaiel ( @fio-renze )

The Shadowlands can change a person! Lady Tel’vaiel’s outlook on life — and death — have shifted significantly since she spent the better part of a year in Maldraxxus after hunting down Xylaes, which you can read about here! She has remained committed to her idea of grafting the magic of a Kyrian soul mirror with the magic of a Highborne soul mirror in an effort to attempt to reclaim the immortality of her ancestors. Many of her lonely nights have been spent building spell theory and structure in the privacy of her personal sanctum, a leftover relic of her days practicing fel magic now repurposed for the arcane once again.

It’s hard for her to see a future with Xylaes; based on his past confession that he has no interest in her lifestyle, her experiences with Callia and recognizing the stark differences between herself and Xylaes’ late wife, as well as assuming that he, in all likelihood, would much rather be with Callia after his own death have all been factors that really solidified her decision to move forward with her choice to chase something that’s always seemed impossible. After all, an immortal noble is one that needs no heir or partner, and she can always trust that she herself has the Meadowrun Estate’s best interests in mind.

Fiorenze feels like she’s getting close to the end of her official research phase for this project and feels comfortable with the mending job she worked on the shattered mirror glass from Bastion. The next phase is seating the glass into the Highborne frame and starting to do the actual physical working of the enchantments into both pieces.

While not pouring herself into her personal work, she’s been at many society events over the holidays. Both within the official Court of Silvermoon Nobles and abroad. Being officially promoted by the Grand Magister into the position of his Seneschal has kept her busy, and she secretly remains his Shadowhand and spy in the Court to keep an eye out for dissent and potential threats against the Regency.

Pyraelia Sunmote ( @pyraelia )

Pyraelia’s life has been fairly quiet in the wake of abdicating from her family titles in favor of a common position in society. Her relationship with her sister Fiorenze has mended after Pyraelia was able to confirm with their deceased mother in Revendreth that her sister’s accounting of their parents’ untimely deaths were correct, and that neither had been killed by her out of malice.

After quitting the Magistry’s research department because it wasn’t really fulfilling to her, she’s trying to find what she does want to do. All she’s really settled on is work that helps people and makes them happy, but that’s so vague and broad. For now she’s trying to be content with having no expectations placed on her at all and spend more time with her close friends whenever she can.

Serazhen Silvercloud ( @serazhen )

Sera remains a workaholic; He helps cater noble parties as an easy gig job, he works at a couple bars in Dalaran splitting his schedule between the two, and still makes time to help at Tart performances and booths when they’re on the calendar.

It’s a lot, and it does grind him down at every edge. He’s starting to think that might not be the best lifestyle to upkeep, and it keeps him from really spending time with the first group of friends he’s wanted to be with in a while. Over the holidays he’s decided to start looking into learning the basics of jewelcrafting because it seems lucrative and a little less demanding.

He recognizes that if he wants those friends, mostly Ryland and Vixannya, to stick around that he has to open up a bit more, something that’s been hard for him to do since being exiled from the cult he grew up in, so it’s something he’s actively going to try to work on being better at this year even though the concept is a little scary.

***

"I do not know him well but he seems sugar-sweet if you're worthy and full of sass which I can appreciate, I also get the vibe that he could kick my ass then help me choose art for my home." Valanthriell gestured as if she were weighing the logic in her mind and felt it was sound. "Plus he makes the most delicious drinks and he is a better dancer than he wants to believe."

@https://serazhen.tumblr.com/

“I closed out the place with Ry and Sera and then we rock, paper, scissored on where we were going. We chose Sera’s place to go play Twister and Yahtzee. Why, who did you go home with?”

August 13 - Day 3 Fatality/Journey

Annya was the most haunting woman he knew. The highest compliment he could give, one he knew she’d like if he ever said it out loud. But who wouldn’t want to be haunted by her? She was hot as fuck. Not literally, obviously, he didn’t want her to be dead. 

Serazhen ashed his cigarette into the little fountain in the Royal Exchange and idly rolled his shoulders. Silvermoon was haunted, too. 

Literally. 

In the bad way. 

Which made sense, really, considering the zombie apocalypse it had survived.

Moving back really hadn’t been high up on his priority list at all, but the painting Annya had showcased at her most recent gallery of a dead man crushed under the weight of Dalaran’s floating hubris had been on his mind since he’d seen it. Lingering at the back of his thoughts, popping up in the occasional dream. 

Sexy of her, really, to make work so thought provoking — like a sticker burr that clung to your sock that poked and jabbed when you least expected it. 

It hadn’t been hard to find an inn at one of the local jewelry shops in the Court. He’d been making his own custom pieces for a few years now — only ever one of each, never duplicating. Each one marked with a little cloud stamp. He’d sold to socialites and nobility, nouveau riche merchants and folks who scrapped and saved up.

His portfolio was weird, but that’s how you made a lasting impression in the industry. Embrace it and thrive. 

Ryland understood that, too. Excel, obviously. But be new and interesting enough to catch attention and differentiate. He’d turned dancing into an exquisite, colorful art. Wonderful to watch, incredible to be part of whenever his friend decided to drag him along. 

Truthfully, he hadn’t expected to get a job that fast, really. Right place, right time. Like always. How many times had he heard that it was ‘his lucky day’ in his life? Too many to count.

But there it was — same with his new little shoebox apartment. Someone had just moved out, could he move in next week? The rent was way cheaper than Dalaran. He had just enough on hand to pay the deposit right then. 

How fortunate. 

He’d expected it to be more of a journey, mentally and physically. Quel’thalas really wasn’t his favorite place, but here he was again. Blending in like he hadn’t been raised in a cult that was entirely antithetical to the kingdom’s existence. How clandestine that he’d gotten away before things got really bad. 

Sera sighed and watched an enchanted broom fail and slap against a wall over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Stuck in a loop. He lifted up his comm and took a short video, puffs of dust and arcane sparkle erupting from the bristles with each impact. It was funny in its own way for a city that prided itself on order. 

He shot it off to the group message to his two best friends << Want to hang out? Dinner and drinks on me. >>

May 26 - Day 6 Gleaming

Gallery week was always a whirlwind for his best friends. 

Annya, even at her busiest, made sure to set him up with a suit to match her and Ryland, and a wonderful pre-show evening of pampering. Not that it really mattered that it was that kind of week in particular — anytime either of them texted, he’d join them individually, or together, for moral support, oral support, or all the other types in between.

He had a great time reinforcing how good Annya and Ryland looked on the red carpet, but it really was an absolute delight to see them both in their element at The Elements. 

His element was later, at the afterparty. Gone was the suit to better fit in with the Air themed room, swapped in favor of elegant, breezier pants, no shirt and fractal swirls of pearlescent body paint up one of his arms and across his back in a pattern recognizable to those familiar with lightning scars. A little touch of magic made them gleam slightly to correspond with some of the scene changes within the room. 

He’d spent some extra time at his day job casting a pair of asymmetrical silver ear cuffs that curled up the long lengths of his elvish ears and matched a couple sets of unassuming rings that adorned his fingers. It was subtle jewelry, but it certainly tied the whole look together, and it pleased him to blend in with the theme of the room. 

It was a delight to serve, mixing up whatever drinks the attendees wanted and talking to them about their time so far. He knew all the best details about where to go from here, what to do, who to see (or do, too), or just be a companionable source of casual, safe conversation for some of the wallflowers who found their way to his bar. 

In the scant spare moments where he was left to his own devices without an order to fill, he was perfectly oriented to watch Ryland work. That was something that was already one of his favorite pastimes, but this was special. 

And extremely sexy. 

Sure, throughout his life he had been oddly Lucky — blessedly so, almost — but it seemed on another level with the knowledge that at the end of the night he’d get to reconvene with the pair he’d walked in with and get to work off the hours long build up to that delightful release and relaxation. 

Especially so with what they had planned for Annya. She’d done months of work, had to spend the majority of the night hosting and entertaining. But once everything had been sold and the party had shifted to a more self-sufficient state, he’d be there to serve her, too, with Ryland, to reap all the benefits of what she had spent so long sowing.

August 2023 - Day 5 Wanderlust/Violation

This was what had gotten him exiled in the first place. 

Sera smiled as he leaned forward and looked over the edge of the tall, towerlike perch that rose high above the civilian center of Valdrakken. 

There was something about exploring — seeing new places, meeting new people, eating strange foods — that tugged at him the longer he stayed in one place. 

The elders had frowned on it. Going beyond their small village’s borders was a high crime. After all, seeing new places, meeting new people, and eating strange things proved them to all be liars. His wanderings as a teenager had been a violation of his town and family’s trust. 

Outside their small, strange little cult the world was pretty wonderful. Well. Aside from all the wars. He could definitely do without all the wars. He’d been lucky enough to avoid fighting and trouble. Even in hardship, he’d always found enough coin on the ground, fallen out of wallets and pockets, to get him a meal or room for the night. 

The wind whistled in his ears and ruffled his hair as a dragon grazed the edge of the platform, just missing him by a few scant inches. Stuff like that didn’t frighten him as much as it used to. After all, he was always lucky. Uncannily so, in all things. He’d stopped questioning it pretty quickly. Something about gift hawkstrider mouths and teeth, which was probably a really badly translated saying. 

His comm occasionally lit up in his lap, the little group text he had with Annya and Ryland sparking as they flirted. He’d found them through his wanderings, too. Both bright and wonderful in their own ways. 

Maybe they’d come wander a bit with him, too. Not tonight — this was a good recharging night — but soon.