#alastren

[neophaim]

some recent-ish sketches of Alastren that I've been playing with; trying to loosen up and sketch quicker again

[gloamingdawn]

TMIT: What are three habits you wish you'd give up? When was the last time you were in a physical fight?

“Smoking’s the main one, I tried to quit over Winter’s Veil but then shit got real fucked and I picked it back up again. It’s one of those things I know I shouldn’t do, and it’s a nasty habit, but here we are. 

Falling in love with people who can’t love me back the way I want them to. Self-explanatory. 

Trying to be what I’m not. That one’s also pretty self-explanatory. 

As far as physical fights go... Depends on what you consider a physical fight, I guess. I spar every time I’m in Skold-Ashil because I’m constantly having to prove my worth. I ran off and fought in the Vale back in March after I’d gotten particularly upset about something. 

I miss brawling. It’s been years since I’ve done that. Might be time to take it up again, get back to my roots.” 

( Thanks @alastren! )

[noonmutter]

TMIT: What form of being sick would bother them the least if they had to choose?

Leon: “Throwin’ up, I think. Th’ worst part is th’ leadup, yeah? Feels awful, an’ ominous, like yer bein’ warned or y’kin see th’ stampede comin’ t’ward y’, hey? But then y’ ‘ave a few seconds--minutes, if it’s really bad--o’ nightmares an’ suddenly yer a lot emptier an’ a lot better pretty much immediately. Not necessarily good, mind, but better.”

Terry: “If I ‘ave t’pick one? Iunno. Maybe a cold ‘r somethin’. Just gen’ral crappiness, nothin’ serious, some sniffles n’stuff. Sounds pathetic an’ whiny, but it doesn’t really do much, y’ken? I kin deal with feelin’ crummy as long as I kin still get thin’s done as need doin’.”

[darbiebot]

📅 speak of a past experience 🐱 talk about their favorite animal/pet

📅 speak of a past experience : There have been many, as Dar’s life as been nothing if not eventful. I think something that really shines in her memory is the wedding of her bestie Lirriel to Drauglos. They were a lovely couple who had recently almost lost each other, Drauglos having been hellbent on revenge for the sake of his family, and she ultimately had helped talk him down from throwing his life away in pursuit of this revenge. They both survived the war in Icecrown, and officiating the wedding, which was a wild story in itself, seeing them grow as a family and being a part of her life over the years, when it could all have gone so wrong, has been an absolute joy for her.

🐱 talk about their favorite animal/pet

Balinore is technically her husband’s Bear, but he is such an important part of her life, that she almost considers him to be a brother of sorts. There have been many moment in her life that have left her weeping into a fuzzy side of a big, sleepy bear, and he’s been so wonderful with the kids over the years. Also super great at hugs. @lynmarswarcraft @balinore for the mentions!

[trisandrah]

❣!

Send me a ❣ and I’ll gauge my character’s attraction to yours at this point in time

✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ | Sexual Attraction✦✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Romantic Attraction✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧✧ | Crushing✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧✧ | Squishing✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧✧✧ | Sensual Attraction✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✧✧ | Aesthetic Attraction

Tris knows Alast through the Tarts but hasn’t spent much time with him.  He went along with one of her little schemes once and for that, she was quite grateful. His performances are amazing and she’s always excited to watch him. He’s sexy, strong, and talented. 

Thanks! @alastren

[gloamingdawn]

Send “💓” and I’ll tell you how I think a romantic relationship between our muses would go!

I think they’d be very pretty together, that’s for sure. 

They’re both a bit of a mess though, as much of an understatement as that might be, and I’m not sure they’d be good for each other romantically -- but boy howdy would they give it a good effort! 

Lyn and Alastren are both very active people, even if in extremely different ways. Contortionist business, sword swallowing and aerials are so far outside of Lyn’s usual run-of-the-mill work that she’d be extremely interested in watching him practice and learn some of the more academic aspects of being bendy and actually, you know, deep throating a sharp object. I feel like Lyn just being Very Strong and Very Concerned would be hilarious to Alast in general -- not only can she help spot him at times, but the idle concern of “oh no, no wait, don’t” would be of immense amusement to him.

I’m honestly not at all sure how their dating life would be. They have the potential to get up to quite a few shenanigans, but they also have the potential to get into some trouble -- not legal, but interpersonal conflict wise. I’m not sure Lyn would be able to be as Youthful as Alastren needs her to be, and she is still very much A Paladin. 

Their sex life would probably be spectacular. I don’t think Alastren would blush at all if Lyn asked for some of her more unusual kinks that she’s really unable to get anywhere else, and that would bring her a lot of joy, but I’m also not sure Alastren would be entirely comfortable being exclusive and that would pose some potential rocky problems. 

Not to mention Lyn’s at a point in her life where she’s looking toward longevity and family, and I’m not entirely sure Alastren’s ready for that level of commitment. 

All in all, they’d likely be in a burn-at-both-ends candle situation romantically -- hot and fast, but not long lasting without some major philosophical shifts. 

Thanks @alastren!!!    

[alastren]

It’s been a while, partly because I forgot tumblr existed again? Huge shocker for folks who’ve been following this blog for a while, I’m sure. 

I stopped playing WoW not long after Shadowlands dropped, but I figured it’d be good to give a quick update on Alastren and what I had been intended to do with him during Shadowlands.

After stepping away from his previous employment, he threw himself even more vigorously into his training, sleeping even less than he had been. Everything in his life became training, trying to find a purpose for himself that he just could not reach.

Performing was his life, even if his internalizing audience reactions led him to treating himself like an object for consumption rather than a person. He did not have a healthy concept of self before having something resembling fame, and it got in his head badly to the point where he viewed his worth as being solely in what he was to others, namely entertainment or a sex object. He did not talk to people about it at all, but instead bottled it up and kept raising his expectations of himself.

These heightened expectations fed into his workaholicism, hence the lack of proper sleep or diet, detachment from friendships/relationships, and the attempts at increasingly dangerous stunts.

Do you see where this is going yet? 

In a bit of a manic state, he decided to properly attempt a trick he’d been practicing in separate parts for months - an aerial drop while holding a sword in his throat. He was not well rested. He fell, alone in his apartment - but while he was crumpled and bleeding out, something odd happened.

Do you remember the story of how he found his good luck charm? He’d walked into a faerie circle when he was a child, which formed a thin bond. When he bled on it in his circus days while pleading for life, he essentially plucked on that bond like the string of a harp and formed a pact. From that point on, whether he fully comprehended it or not, his life was not his own, but rather promised to the fae. Life for life - they saved him once, now his is theirs.

As the veil between worlds grew thin, he also began to have increasingly vivid dreams that left him feeling particularly out of sorts whenever he woke. Here’s one of those dreams!

After his accident, he vanished, leaving behind only a pool of blood and a handful of softly glowing blue leaves, no body and no signs of struggle.

Needless to say, I had some concepts I wanted to play with for Alastren after his death-but-not-death, namely his debt to the Night Fae! Specifics were going to be worked out once I played through Ardenweald and got the Official Lore™ but I never got there! I didn’t make it all the way through Maldraxxus before I got a bit distracted. 

Regardless, he’s somewhere in Ardenweald now, he’s fine, but he’s very foggy and can’t quite recall how he got there. His memories of his past are increasingly vague, but his sense of self is repairing itself as he works alongside the Fae. He’s more of a solid person, even if he’s not all there? 

Fae magic has thoroughly seeped into him, so his eyes have shifted to a glowing blue to match. A silvery line of magic is visible along his throat from certain angles, mimicking where the sword stuck out of him when he fell and impaled himself. He remembers it vaguely.

[alastren]

Dreams

A drabble from February 2020 that I forgot to post here.

When he wakes, he’s alone, though it somehow doesn’t feel like it.

He’s completely nude and sprawled, for some reason, across dark soil, surrounded by massive, twisting roots, the only thing in his possession the worn hag stone clutched in his hand. The night sky isn’t visible through the thick layers of deep blue and purple foliage above him, but it’s by no means dark - motes of cool, blue light bob in place, pulsing like tiny heartbeats. Sitting up, he looks around.

One by one, tiny blue mushrooms grow up from the soil around him until they form a perfect circle and then, as the glow swells to blinding, everything freezes.

The faint breeze vanishes, the dancing lights still, and then she speaks. 

Her voice is deep and clear, somehow strangely familiar though he could swear he’d never heard it before in his life. Calm and authoritative, her words reverberate through his bones and through the trees as a thin line of blue light traces down from the apple of his throat to his clavicle.

Come home. Come home. Come home. Come-

And then he wakes up.

As it does every morning, the sun filters in through his open window, warming his weary body where it had collapsed in a graceless heap the night before.

A thin line of light traces down from the apple of his throat to his clavicle.

He feels hollow.