Lakefire-Arcana @asharri-lakefire - Tumblr Blog

Updated character reference sheet is completed for my long time played and personally beloved Farstrider Captain OC, Asharri Lakefire. 🏹

#my art #Asharri ♥

"Ash, you don't smile like you used to. Here. Try it. It will act as honey rather than vinegar."

"...fine."

"Uh…. on second thought, scratch that."

#look she been through a lot #smiling aint that easy anymore lol

Warnings and Whiskey

Seated at the bar, Asharri quietly nursed her whiskey. It was a relatively quiet evening in Arum’Thalas - uneventful and well, somewhat boring in truth. Those two things unsettled her in times like these, but it was a quiet moment she needed between matters of homeland security and making sure her estate was being properly cleansed of the murloc problem threatening the inlet to Dawnstide Harbor and her livelihood on the side.

The headaches were becoming increasingly common these days, and having to deal with the Amani on grounds she never quite imagined was exhausting if she was being honest with herself. She hated every minute of it. Traumatic memories haunted her from past bloodshed and they could never be shaken. Biting her tongue and just doing her job was increasingly growing more difficult by the day.

Suddenly, a figure walked into the establishment that had caught her attention. Tall, broad-shouldered, muscular, dark hair, and equipped with a pair of swords sheathed on his back. A familiar face, much to Asharri’s surprise. One she had thought dead in truth.

Then her eyes were drawn to the tentacles hanging from either side of his head and the soft, violet-hued gaze that were drawn towards her as he came her way. Asharri’s brows drew downward in disapproval. Great. Just what she needed, in a moment where she was trying to relax even a little. To deal with one of her void-loving kin and to make it even more uncomfortable, someone who reported to her routinely once upon a time. Perhaps someone she might have considered a friend or close to one in another life now passed.

With a grunt of displeasure, she turned back to her glass and motioned to the attendant for a refill. Maybe if she just ignored the man, he might take the hint and find somewhere else to sit, but much to her displeasure, he took a seat on the stool right next to her after carefully laying his weapons aside. He even turned to peer at her after ordering his own drink, that familiar lopsided grin drawing at the corners of his lips and plainly said, “Captain Lakefire. My, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”

Not answering right away, Asharri slowly turned her head and looked at him directly, “Lieut….” she caught herself. He wasn’t deserving of that ranking any longer. Not only did he resign from duty so suddenly, he had returned as well… this. “Fuck. We are getting more of your lot every day, it seems. What the hells are you doing here, Aelsar? I thought you were dead.”

Aelsar glanced at her like she had just handed him a compliment instead of an insult. That grin of his didn’t fade in the slightest. If anything, it widened a little. Taking a slow sip of his drink, he then set it down, then leaned back on the stool like he had all the time in the world.

“First of all,” he said lightly, “That’s not a very warm welcome for someone you used to boss around.” His eyes flicked to her glass, then back to her face. “Second. ‘My lot’? That’s a bit harsh, Captain.”

Asharri sighed under her breath, taking a rather long sip from her glass - her grip tightening around it some. She didn’t say anything. Knowing him as long as she had, she knew he wasn’t finished answering in the way he did. Long-winded, sometimes full of himself and very much enjoying being annoying at times.

“As for what I’m doing here?” He shrugged a little and gestured around them. “Drinking. Sitting. Breathing. You know, very criminal behavior. Ah, but alas, I have been seeking a way back home for a while now and when the opportunity to aid my homeland fell upon my lap, I had to seize it.”

“You reek of the Void,” she huffed. “I wouldn’t get too comfortable. You will serve your purpose in the aid and be sent back on your way in due time.”

Aelsar didn’t react right away. Instead, he let the silence linger between them for a moment as he drank from his glass. Finally, he exhaled through his nose and a quiet laugh escaped him. It wasn’t one that reached a level of mockery, but it wasn’t entirely innocent either.

“You’re still very direct,” he said. “I used to think that was just battlefield efficiency. Now I’m starting to think it’s just you seeing this from a new angle and all.”

Asharri didn’t say anything. No reaction. Just continuing on with her drink. She could have simply gotten up and left, but she was curious about what had happened to Aelsar all this time and why it had become this. He had shown no inkling of interest in the Void in all the years she knew him.

“You think I don’t know that?” he said quietly, breaking Asharri from brief thought. “About the Void, I mean. I didn’t come here to get comfortable. I mean I have hopes, sure - but contrary to what you believe, I have never stopped caring for the well-being of Quel’Thalas and its citizens.”

He sighed. Since he had returned to Quel’Thalas, he had felt like all he was doing was explaining who he was, the whys, the whens and the whats of all of what made him what he is now. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t let that show. Finally, he looked back to Asharri softer again, as that familiar crooked grin returned like armor sliding back into place that she had momentarily disarmed.

“But ‘sent on my way in due time’?” Aelsar tilted his head at her. “That sounds less like an order and more like wishful thinking, Captain Lakefire. Things are changing and the skills myself and ‘my lot’ can provide are proving very useful. Not that I ever wanted any of this but that is neither here nor there.” He shrugged again. What it was he didn’t want wasn’t verbalized aloud, but he hated that he was who he was now after everything, but there was no going back and no use harping over it.

Asharri finished the last of her whiskey in a slow, deliberate sip and then set the glass down on the bar top along with the coin to pay for her drinks that evening. For a moment, she still didn’t look at Aelsar. In truth, it was kind of painful to see him like this. Then she exhaled through her nose and pushed back from the bar to a stand. Finally, she looked at him and said flatly, “You talk too much.”

“Things have changed, Aelsar,” She glanced briefly toward the rest of the establishment, then back to him as she added in - not in a threatening way but with certainty, “And I am watching closely.”

Then she turned away from the bar, already done with the conversation, and started toward the exit without looking back leaving a very unfazed Aelsar in her wake. Perhaps a part of him had hoped to reconnect with a familiar face that he had once held a friendship with once upon a time, but he was foolish to think that something like that could happen so easily and with someone like Asharri? Like scaling a mountain in the rain with no traction whatsoever. Not impossible. Just difficult as all fuck.

#Asharri Lakefire #Aelsar Sei'thas #writing

simplymarge1974

Strength In Stillness

Asharri was one of the youngest trainees in her group and it was a reminder she never let herself forget and at times, a few others who used it to their advantage, would often remind her of. Long ago, she had decided that if she could not match the others with age and experience, that she would simply outwork them. She’d prove herself no matter the cost. While others rested, she practiced a little longer. When others complained, she pushed on quietly. It was a habit her captain noticed early on, but whether or not she viewed it as a strength or a flaw, Asharri would never really tell.

An endurance trial had begun shortly after sunrise. A test of speed and memory as trainees moved through the forests through narrow paths, traversed rocky hillsides and across some of the wider streams. It was by midday that a dull ache had settled into Asharri’s legs. She caught glimpses ahead of several older trainees moving with ease between the trees and her jaw tightened. They were too far ahead.

Up ahead, a fallen log blocked her path. Narrowing her eyes upon it, she knew what she had to do if she had any hope of catching up with the others. She’d scale it instead of going around. And so, rather than going at it slowly, she took in a deep breath and raced towards it and once she reached it, she vaulted over it but instead, a rocky slope appeared ahead. Branches scraped against her arms as she pushed through the overgrowth and for a time, this seemed to work. That was until her boot got caught on a root and then her world flipped upside down.

Immediately, pain shot through her ankle as it had been twisted awkwardly and it didn’t help that she hit the forest floor as hard as she did, making it all the worse. For a few passing moments, she remained where she had fallen as her teeth clenched against the pain that started to radiate up her leg. And then, she decided to push herself back upright and test her weight - slowly at first. Pain rose immediately, but it wasn’t enough to stop her. Not enough to quit. And so, ignoring the warning from her body, Asharri brushed herself off and continued down the trail. She never quite made it to the finish line for her timing at giving others enough concern to go back in search for her until they found her.

For the next several weeks, while on the mend from a broken ankle, her captain confined her to light duty. Asharri immediately took it as a punishment far worse than the injury itself. Each morning, the young Asharri watched the others depart for training drills and endurance exercises while she remained behind; feeling like she was falling behind and would never catch up.

Captain Silverthrum assigned her tasks that, at the time, Asharri had considered dull at the time. During this time, instead of being out with the others, she spent time copying maps, studying scouting reports, marking patrol routes, and learning to read the subtle language of the wilds themself. At first, Asharri approached these duties with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner serving their sentence.

One afternoon her captain spread several patrol reports across a table and asked where she believed an Amani hunting party would strike next. Much to her own surprise, Asharri found that the answer had actually come with remarkable ease. Everything before her fit together like pieces of a puzzle she was carefully putting together and for the first time, she saw the battlefield not as a ranger standing within it, but as a strategist viewing the whole of it. This unlocked a new side of things for her - and in the next century that would pass, this ‘light-duty’ she viewed as a prison sentence would develop into the effective strategist she is today.

Looking back, Asharri would realize she had made a mistake common among young Farstriders. She believed training only happened when a bow was in her hand and her feet were on the ground. She did not yet understand that healing was its own discipline. That patience could be learned. That strength sometimes grew in stillness as surely as it did in motion.

To this day, the late Captain Silverthrum’s words are never far from her mind even if sometimes Asharri had a habit of reverting back to the unhealthy stubbornness she couldn’t help but be known for at times. In the darkest of times, it seemed to help reel her back in nonetheless.

"Healing is not the absence of training. It is part of it."

#asharri lakefire #writing #the past #early days of training as a farstrider #wanted to write something that also reflects the lessons I am learning in my battle with my health and healing

haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted

Eversong Woods by Forange

nubeculaetme

Краски летнего утра | Александр Гоголин

An Illusion of Rest

A soft twang reverberated from Firesong as another shot fired true. Through the early morning mist, a repeated thunk could be heard deep in Falconwing Square of Silvermoon near the Farstrider headquarters. Soon enough, trainees would have the training grounds for their daily routine, yet time had long since slipped Asharri’s awareness. She had lost track of how long she had been out here; unable to sleep even after meetings and paperwork had tired her out. Everything after had faded into repetition.

Regardless of the arrows hitting their mark each time without fail, she repeated the ritual. Fire. Retrieve. Repeat. Over and over for hours without change. Lining up another shot, Asharri lowered her bow slightly this time, her fel-green hues narrowing at nothing in particular. It had been dark when she arrived on the training grounds as the first glimpse of the rising sun peeking between spires caught her attention, but it had only been the start of what pulled her from this trance-like state she had fallen into, for a familiar voice came not too far away.

“Should I come back later, or are you planning on marrying the target?” Magister Sylr’varis asked, his hands tucked neatly behind his back as he observed from the outer perimeter. His light-teasing also carried an undertone of mild concern. He hadn’t been here too long to know this wasn’t simply morning exercise, just long enough to see an almost robotic-like repetition.

“I’m refining a skill,” she replied calmly, replacing the arrow she had drawn back to her quiver. “Not starting a relationship with inanimate objects.” She lowered Firesong to her side completely and finally turned her head slightly, “You know, Magister, it’s rather unsettling to watch someone from the shadows.”

Aerythil’s expression softened slightly, his humor fading just a little as he simply replied and finally stepped forward, “I was not lurking. I simply interrupted your forgetting to stop. There’s a difference and I think you know that.”

“I was not unaware of stopping,” she said carefully, even though that was such a lie. Breathing out through her nose, she added in, “I was simply delaying it. There is a difference.”

He glanced towards the range then back to her, a faint exhale that was more gentle rather than sharp or laced with humor, “That is one of the most disciplined ways I’ve ever heard someone describe ignoring their own limits.” Asharri didn’t respond right away. In fact, she probably huffed quietly under her breath - something that did not go unnoticed to Aerythil. He resisted the urge to smirk and simply settled with a sigh, “Captain Lakefire, you’re maintaining a standard that doesn’t allow for stopping. That stops being perfectionism at some point and becomes neglect.”

“… I’m fine,” she said, a bit more carefully this time but the words seemed to require more effort than usual.

“Eat breakfast,” He simply said. Not pushy in the slightest as he simply walked up beside her and motioned towards the open streets. “I needed to speak with you anyway. This is the perfect opportunity for you to remember you are not an inanimate object yourself.”

Asharri’s feet didn’t move just yet. She stared at Magister Sylr’varis for a moment. He saw right through her and she hated it. He knew she hated it. Maybe there was some sick pleasure in that she had resigned herself to believe. As he turned to lead the way, Asharri exhaled quietly and relaxed her bow to her side, following him with a simple, “With all due respect, Magister, you are a business partner. Not my therapist.”

#writing #Asharri Lakefire #Aerythil Sylr'varis

bronzedragonflight

never miss an opportunity to take a picture of sunfury spire

igrraine

#ash vibes #reminds me of #also cool art

musingzero

Made a quick new sticker of Ash for me to use in discord. Very fitting for her! XD

Return to Dawnstide: Job Fulfillment and Pest Control

Since the threats to Quel’Thalas had surfaced, Asharri found herself with little time to return to her actual estate and take any sort of break. It had been quite awhile since she slept in her own bed. Bathed in her own tub. Drank her prized liquor from their shelves. So, returning home, even for a brief pause in time, should have been the break she needed but it came down to business. Duty that she could scarcely say no to and certainly not in a time like this. And of course, there was another matter to contend with per her ground staff and those who still maintained smaller shipments from the private port in her absence… invasive murlocs who somehow slipped through weakened defenses in light of failing runework and began to fester like cockroaches near the western inlet.

“We will need to reinforce the warding,” Asharri said sternly, her gaze overlooking the grounds of her estate where the manor house sat on the hill overlooking the private harbor, its docks and storehouses below. Tapping her fingers against her belt as she stood with her hands on her hips, she gave a short huff through her nostrils and added in, “Murlocs are pests, but they are clever pests, so we are going to need to look for skilled hands and minds to help us clear them out.”

She turned to the brunette blood elf woman holding the clipboard in hand, jotting everything Asharri said down and continued, “I want Bloodburst and Morrowfall to venture to Fairbreeze and recruit those looking for work. We will pay those hired to clear out our pest problem well so long as they complete the task and under -no- circumstances do I want any Alliance stepping foot on these grounds and soiling the sanctity of my home, Erile. The moment we get that desperate, I will just handle the problem myself so keep me informed.”

“Of course, Captain,” she nodded swiftly. “Right away. Anything else?”

Presenting the other woman with a piece of parchment, Asharri motioned with her head down towards the storehouses, “I need you to take this down to Quartermaster Wildburn and have him see to it that we can spare extra equipment and weaponry to the Order of Eversong. Aurum’thas isn’t very far so the shipment will travel by land.”

“Got it!” Erile gave a chipper confirmation and saluted with her clipboard, softly bonking herself in the forehead with it on accident. With a blush, hoping Asharri had not seen that, she asked, “And what of the warding issue? We are likely going to need continued maintenance given the circumstances.”

“Leave that to me. If Magister Sylr’varis is still preoccupied, I am forging new bonds that I can likely check into for assistance or some direction at the very least,” Asharri answered simply. "With the state of the runework across Quel'Thalas and resources likely stretched thin, we may need to send word to Ratchet. I am not above utilizing one of Tovs' crude contraptions if need be."

----

A few days later, a carriage had come to Aurum’thas drawn by two fiery colored hawkstriders with its rider in the seat who had a letter in hand to present to any guards upon approach. Behind him, the cart was loaded with several crates of various sizes stamped with the blood-red emblem of flames that also bore the word ‘Dawnstide.’ beneath it.

Quartermaster Dawnstorm,

Please accept this delivery of sparring equipment from Dawnstide Harbor Exchange. May it help the Order with its continued needs.

Signed, Captain Lakefire

#Asharri #writing #Order of Eversong job board writing