#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!

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. >>

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.

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.

"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/

Honestly, having the DWC around to flesh Sera out a little more was great. His lore has been swirling around in my head for a while and some of the prompts let me dig into it all a little more where I probably otherwise wouldn't have outside of RP.

The Fio stuff is just ... we all know it's going to trainwreck somewhere, somehow. The Shadowlands, and to a lesser degree everything with Xylaes and Callia, really got under her skin in a way most things in her life haven't. There's a fine line between wanting to take one's time so nothing fucks up and the quiet, persistent anxiety that you don't have that kind of time to waste. Anyway, it's almost her birthday again which mean's it's almost the scourge re-invading anniversary. I'm sure that won't cause any ill-advised introspection at all.

“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?”