Exploration and Exploitation

[kytenji]

FOR SCIENCE! Wait a minute... Let me see... OH GOD!

[kytenji]

FACE CLAIM: See the quick sketch above. NAME: Azrieln Blacksun AGE: Mid-thirties, Human Years HEIGHT: 6′1″ SPECIES: Sin’dorei GENDER: Male NATIONALITY: Quel’thalas BIRTHDAY: October 23rd SUN SIGN: Cusp; Sometimess Libra, Sometimes Scorpio RESIDENCE: The Home of Chaszmyre Duskwind MARITAL STATUS: Divorced ( @chaszmyre ) ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral DRINK: Cuergo’s Gold FOOD: Latest hunt, fish, rice, bread, roots, berries, insects DAY OR NIGHT: Night SNACKS: Jerky SONGS: “I’m a Wanted Man” - Royal Deluxe PET : Large dark brown wolf named Ayame. SEXUALITY: Heterosexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteroromantic BODY TYPE: Athletic, Well Defined EYE COLOR: Fel Green HAIR COLOR: Black 

[alastren]

I didn’t end up getting that many screenshots of Saturday’s event, but here are some of the ones I managed to get. 

[gabbrialla]

ohhh those spotlight ones are great!!

[chaszmyre]

There we are @kytenji right in front of the girl in the purple/blue dress in the back!

[kytenji]

Reppin that Eversong Lynx! We look good @chaszmyre

[jackarychaoti]

Event Roleplay Etiquette.

Okay, so I’ve been to nearly every Succulent Tart and Tirisfal Theatre Troupe show/gathering to this date, naturally my work schedule doesn’t permit me to be there all the time. Let me first lay it down that these people, through their own time and efforts, put a LOT of thought into their shows. They have to think of the topic, the place, the designs, gather the equipment, the flares, the glitter, fireworks, choreograph, etc. They bust their asses each time for their events.

The rest of us get to sit back and enjoy this hard work and effort that they strive for.

Do you know how rude it is to simply flood out their hard work? I watched a performer tonight barely able to do her part of the show because people continued to /me, /s, /y, everywhere. IT FLOODED OUT HER PERFORMANCE. The chat box scrolled so fast that people barely caught what was happening. All of her time and effort was ruined because people opted to talk over it.

I’m not saying don’t roleplay at public events, that’s the exact opposite of what we’ve all gathered to do but please be courteous to your fellow roleplayer, entertainer and main stage. Take your Roleplays to Party Chat or PM out of respect of the amount of time that’s been put into the works to bring you this show. Between performances? Sure, do whatever you want, but I ask you to PLEASE give courtesy to these people.

They’re doing everything they can to put on a show and make it entertaining for everyone and it’s getting thrown out by normal conversations you’d find anywhere else. There is nothing more irritating than trying to follow along and enjoy the fruit of their labor when it can’t be kept up with.

Respect their art and time, you are a guest at their show.

| - @succulent-tart - @thetirisfaltheatretroupe - |

[chaszmyre]

Seriously. I almost missed a huge chunk because of some asshole’s three post long wall of text plus other chatter. It’s not like it’s hard to use party chat. My partner and I did until the show was over and we had a great time last night. It’s not hard to be respectful.

[kytenji]

Truth. No one cares about your personal rp shit when they're their for someone else's performance. Save it for party or later if you don't have any friends.

[yellowart]

[chaszmyre]

After the bath was done and Fendien returned with the children, I couldn’t stop thinking about the ring Azrieln had given me. I still couldn’t remember what he promised when he made me give up the ring to sell but I remembered everything else.        

                                                   ~

It was a landmark heist for the Blacksun Gang. The ring was worth a great deal of gold to a house that had little influence beyond their coffers. Some might even say they had been down on their luck that year, wanting for allies, having fallen out of favor. But Azrieln didn’t care.

“They’re still nobles, Chasz. They’re getting what they deserve. And so are we.”

Fendien had nodded enthusiastically, always taking his twin’s side, especially if it was against Chaszmyre. But then Az did something none of them expected. He dropped to one knee on the dingy floor of their hideout and roughly grabbed her delicate, pale hand in his calloused ones.

“Speakin’ of things we deserve, baby you should be covered in jewels and silks and just curled up on a big pillow gettin’ plump and even more beautiful. But we ain’t got none of that. Not yet! This is our first big break,” he called those words loud, releasing his grasp with one hand to throw it up in the air to get a cheer from the other Blacksun Gang members that were present.

“So soon, I’ll be able to give ya everythin’ ya want but earnin’ it, our way. Takin’ it from people who got too much!” Another rallying cry from the other scoundrels. “An’ I want you right there next to me the whole time, dalah’surfal, please, won’t ya be my wife?”

He flashed her that smile, the one that won them all over, that soothed all quarrels and could get any girl on the Row to stop dead in her tracks.

That smile, just for her.

And she said yes. It was the ultimate act of defiance against her aunt, not only would she reject every stuff-shirt possible match but she was now taking herself off the market. The Blacksun Gang was on their way up and she was going to ride it all the way to the top!

She threw her arms around the charismatic leader, nodding and giggling and crying all at the same time. “Yes! Yes! Yes, Azrieln! Yes! I love you!”

She snuggled in, kissing at his neck and he pushed the gawdy ring down on her finger and tangled one calloused hand in her unruly curls, gripping tight as he pulled her into a fierce kiss. His grasp on her hair, the way he bit her lip, every show of affection from Azrieln hurt but she didn’t mind, he was just a rough person, she could take it.

Once they’d secured a ransom, Azrieln made Chaszmyre give the ring back. She cried for two days, off and on. She never even liked the ring, but she liked knowing that others knew who she was to Azrieln. That even if she wasn’t the best thief or sneak among them, even if she wasn’t the muscle, she had a place they couldn’t argue with.

When Azrieln made their mender, Astalis handle the paperwork and marry them, Chaszmyre tattooed both of them around their ring fingers.

“We’re going to live happily ever after, aren’t we Az?” She smiled sweetly up at him, hoping the gravity of her question wasn’t clear on her face.

“Course we are, dalah’surfal. Forget ‘until death’, baby, we’re forever,” he said and that smile, burned all her doubts.

[bachelors-art]

[chaszmyre]

He knew where we live. That worgen that had been hunting me, hunting us for years, knows exactly where to find me and my children. He drew us outside with terrible noise and attacked Azrieln. He told us to leave him be, it was a warning to Azrieln more than anything else. To stay away or he would come for Az, his bitch, his shit brother and his brats.

The only blows exchanged were my barreling into him while he held Azrieln down in the mud near the pond, knocking him away. I couldn’t stand watching him, looming over Azrieln like that, pushing him down into the muck, dominating his smaller form with his bestial bulk. He withdrew then, away from both of us and gave a final warning before vanishing.

We were both shaken and hurried back to the house, a silent simultaneous gratefulness that our children were safe in the city for the duration of the encounter. Making it to the house we left our boots outside and I lead Azrieln up to the washroom. There was an anxious current between us, I felt like we had to get cleaned up before Fendien came home with the twins, like we couldn’t let them see we’d been ambushed, that we’d been frightened.

When he was undressed and the water was drawn, Azrieln reached for my belt. “There’s only one thing missing in this fancy bath of yours,” he rumbled softly.

“What’s that?”

“You still have your clothes on.”

Ah yes, the toymaker who is never here.

I slipped out of damp clothes and into the bath with him and we began to talk, quietly and about all the tattoos he didn’t recognize, ‘the grand tour’. I told him then, explaining about the worgen tattoo, that I think ‘Ryth’ has been hunting me longer than we both realized. I told him, about the attack on Hyjal, and spared the details of what exactly happened for those days I was captured by him in Felwood after our scuffle took us down the mountain and me into unconsciousness. “I wish you woulda told me sooner,” he grumbled, tracing a finger around the image.

We talked about his favorite tattoo, my own black sun symbol and we talked about the gang, about old times. We talked about the lavish ring he proposed with, that we had to fence a few days later. 

“Do you remember what I said to you when we sold it, though?” Azrieln asked.

I didn’t at the moment, only that I cried over the gaudy ring for days after, up until I tattooed rings on both of us.

“Well, it’s not important. I made a lot of promises then,” he said when I couldn’t come up with the answer. “I hope maybe this is a chance to fix that.”

“What promises are you going to start keeping now?” I teased him, scrubbing idly at his chest by then.

“No promises. I’m just going to be here for my family. Do right by you.”

I kissed him then, I made the move. It wasn’t impulsive, it was natural and we lingered there, lips pressed together, parted slightly. I could feel his breath on my skin and soon his hands were moving over it as well. The bath went quickly then from getting clean to getting dirty and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

[chaszmyre]

When I got downstairs, breakfast was already under way. I saw Azrieln first, his back to the hall into the kitchen. One hand was flipping an egg very carefully while the other gestured wildly. Then I saw the children, Seinne perched on the counter and Jespere sitting backwards in one of the tall counter chairs, both at rapt attention. He must have been telling a story, though I couldn’t hear from the hall.

I leaned against the wall, watching Azrieln cook. It was surreal, seeing him in my own home, with our children, making breakfast as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

_________________________________________________

Across the sparse grass, Azrieln sat with Jespere, letting the boy tell him stories out of a picture book. He lounged there, simple and relaxed, listening to the boy’s simple stories. Seinne followed my lead a few yards away, taking each pose in stride and meditating on it almost as seriously as the monks I’d seen in Pandaria. She truly was a studious girl, if only in the more physical arts and I admired her will. 

But not as much as I couldn’t help admiring this man from a distance, watching his fit figure, the unfamiliar long hair fall into his face only to be swept away- not letting it disrupt his focus on the small boy in front of him. He was so attentive and so handsome while doing it, the claw-mark scars didn’t detract from it at all, only made him more rugged.

__________________________________________________

I was shunted out of the kitchen once more, the children rushing past, shouting out sandwich toppings before I could even get into the house, let alone to the kitchen. Azrieln was already slicing bread when I caught up to the three of them and I was lucky to be allowed to cut tomatoes even. Jespere reassured his father that I wasn’t exactly dangerous in the kitchen, only accident-prone. 

I don’t think I’ve felt my face get that hot in quite some time. Azrieln however, simply laughed, bright and happy at our son’s remark. “That’s alright, for now, I’ll take care of this so we don’t risk any accidents, if that’s ok with you.” He smiled down at Jespere, again perched in one of the chairs and facing the kitchen counter.

“Yes! Your breakfast was good. Mommy doesn’t ever make eggs like that!” Jespere announced, tipping his chair to help lay out the sliced bread for individual sandwiches.

Azrieln just smiled, watching me finally catch up with them in the kitchen. “That’s ok, she’ll be in charge of dinner later while we rebuild my fort for bedtime, yeah?”

His eyes met mine and it was comforting, warm, a perfect moment. I couldn’t hear Jespere’s response over the beat of my heart, standing in that warm stare. I couldn’t catch my breath, drinking in that steady gaze like I was trying to drown in it. I couldn’t look away.

[dreamingofmermaids-blog]

[chaszmyre]

I woke up and stretched, patting across the bed.

Empty.

There was a slight panic, a sense of something gone wrong before I remembered. 

He isn’t up here. He doesn’t belong up here. You didn’t invite him.

It was a hard realization and I questioned it a dozen times before even sitting up. Why didn’t I invite him up? Why was he camping down in a blanket fort in our children’s room when there is this half-empty bed that I’m dying to have full?

Keleros.

That was the answer to why I’d held back, why I tried, anyway. But it didn’t matter.

“Because we’ve been in love with each other our whole lives and we deserve to be happy.”

I didn’t agree with what Azrieln had said in the fort, before we destroyed it. I don’t deserve to be happy. That isn’t something I expect out of life. Not to have happiness or if I find it, not for it to last. I’m not meant for a happily ever after.

“Because we’ve been in love with each other our whole lives and we deserve to be happy.”

I tried to push it all out of mind and head downstairs. There were after all, children to feed.

[chaszmyre]

It was fortunate that Jespere is so loud, it gave us a chance to collect ourselves before emerging from the ruins of Azrieln’s blanket fort. The twins were delighted to see him but Fendien hung back, saying something about the lounge and heading out. I worried about him but there were more important things at hand.

Jespere immediately took charge of the rebuilding efforts and insisted that his and Seinne’s beds be also encompassed by the fort, making a veritable tent inside their small bedroom. But no one minded in the least and with our combined efforts it was even grander than before, lit with small twinkling lights Keleros had made for Seinne. 

The four of us settled down on the floor in Azrieln’s little nest and Jespere demanded a story about Roux, or about when we were little too. Azrieln was all too happy to oblige and launched into another fun tale of the playful fox he’d lost in Pandaria. Jespere was quick to inform his father that he liked the stories about Roux but that the best sidekick ever was Seinne and he didn’t need anyone else. Our little girl flushed a bit and punched her brother’s arm, probably a little hard for his liking but he didn’t complain.

Everything seemed so very simple in our little fort, the linens and coverlets protecting us from all the uncertainty and confusion of the world around us. In the little fort, we were a family, we were close and everything was perfect.

[kytenji]

Azrieln and @chaszmyre

[kytenji]

Captain of the Crimson Dawn, Katanay Silversea!

[chaszmyre]

Azrieln.

Few people I associate with now even know who he is. I barely know who he is now. He’s my children’s father- even if there’d been a question at the time, Jespere is a perfect image of his father and uncle.

He was my childhood, youth, adult love. Love of a lifetime, even if we parted ways more than once. We were married for decades upon decades after I left him and later, Quel’thalas entirely. I only dissolved the union formally a few short years ago with some paper-pushing help from Lord Valadil.

The reason I was always in trouble with my aunt, the reason Alissyn and I fractured, the reason behind so many threads of my life, joy and disgrace alike. It was associating with the Blacksun Gang that got me arrested the first time and it was at that arrest, that my aunt pulled strings to get me into academy to be a shade.

The life I built that their one big heist destroyed. Being married in secret didn’t stay secret long enough to spare me the disgrace of not protecting my house. It was clearly an inside job, they said. I never knew it was the house I was sworn to protect that was their next target but it didn’t matter, what I said then.

We came together and came apart more times than I could count and I thought it was over when he disappeared and left Fendien and I alone with the gang and the usurper. I thought I was done when I had our children alone, and everything we went through without him

But here I lay awake and alone wondering what it means that he’s returned. Marveling at how the children took to him, Jespere prepared entirely for meeting his father and even Seinne gave him a  hug before I sent him away for the night. It means so much to see them happy, if a little wary, like I feel.

He’ll be back before long and we can only move forward and see what this coming together brings.

[chaszmyre]

All I needed was a set of empty ink vials. 

I unlocked the lounge and made my way up to the spare room above the kitchen. When I started rooting around, I realized someone was in the bed up there and without thinking I greeted Fendien and apologized for interrupting his nap. It looked like him, long black hair, wiry frame curled up there and I kept hunting.

Fendien is with the twins.

I assumed it was some lover of his, we spoke briefly casually, yes, he knew Fendien rather intimately. Something wasn’t right. Why did I know his voice but couldn’t place it? Something wasn’t right. Why was he taking care to keep his face hidden?

The stranger asked about his wolf, the one I’d passed outside and not thought twice about. When I let her in, I think he tried to make a break for it, tried to climb off the bed and escape but only fell, weakened by his injuries I was only then beginning to see the extent of.

He was no stranger. That’s when I saw it, the Blacksun tattoo and I knew then how I knew that voice.

Azrieln.

Fendien had him here, hidden from me. He thought I wouldn’t find out that his brother was alive, was among us. I seethed with rage at him for his deception, at both of them for trying to hide this from me but I couldn’t let Azrieln sit before me, obviously in pain. 

I reached out, touched his arm. It hurt, to feel his skin under my fingers. It sent a jolt through me, I knew this body, this arm, this man like the back of my own hand. I could trace every bit of him like one of my own tattoos. I drew on the moisture in the air around us and breathed deeply, soothing him with the light mist, letting it seep into his wounds and ease his pain. I couldn’t leave him, barely able to sit up.

And we began to speak. He wanted to know about our children, about my home, about me. Even weakened as he was, there was energy to ask every question he had. And I could not deny him answers, seeing the emotion wrought on his face, the tears welling in his eyes. We talked and talked and before long we were taking the ride south, home.

[gabbrialla]

The Succulent Tart Presents:  Wild Things

When:  Saturday, July 9th - 7pm WrA server time Where:  Bambala, Northern Stranglethorn Vale - See map/screen shots for location.  Snake temple is located within eyeshot of Bambala. Who:  Horde only, Wyrmrest Accord, other realms welcome! What:  In honor of the steamy midsummer season, we’re hosting a show out in the Vale!  Come get wild with us and be sure to wear something cool as it’s bound to get HOT!

*For a calendar invite please reblog this with your name or ask any of the Tarts in-game for one!* **Any questions/concerns please contact me here (@felonous) or in-game!**

COME ON, COME ALL! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

@succulent-tart