#tahlran

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

28: Favourite body part on the opposite sex?29: Favourite body part on the same sex? ((Tahlran, Traejan, Arvalin (AU))

Tahlran looked like he gave the questions a good bit of thought. “I enjoy nice legs on a woman. And there’s plenty of ways to show that off, of course. Short skirts or certain kinds of leathers. A good pair of heels. That all works out very nicely..” About the second half of it he looked a little embarrassed. “Well, I don’t like to be crude.. but there are plenty of things men have that women also have that are perfectly attractive, but only one thing that’s completely exclusive..”

Once again, Traejan had zero qualms about a quick answer whatsoever. “In either case, a nice ass.”

“It’s probably weird but.. pretty hands on a lady is very nice. I mean.. not weird in a weird way! Weird in a way like people probably don’t say that. But I think it’s very beautiful..” Arvalin said quietly. “And um.. well.. when a guy does an active sort of job you can really tell. Like.. when they’re muscular but not too muscular. I.. ah.. I like seeing that..”

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

Tahlran - Adjustments

I am doing my best to adjust to a way of being that does not involve all of my days spent doing what I've done for the last several millennia. I'm certain that I need not elaborate on why that is strange and difficult. But I guess I will. A little.

First, I wake in the mornings and it is an unfamiliar ceiling. Not a bad one, just a foreign one. Where I slept in the barracks I knew every centimetre of that space like it was a part of me. It was perfectly cozy even if it was a bit small by most people's standards. It was more than enough for me. It stayed pleasantly warm in the chill of a desert night and delightfully cool in the heat of the day thanks to the fact that all of the living spaces were nothing more than hollowed out compartments in the rock walls of the caverns.

And so every night I went to bed seeing the same patterns in the ancient sandstone and woke to it every morning; the enchantment that made the lighting mimic the patterns of the sun outside eased me into the day. It was not quite the same here at first. At all. The sun had a habit of being more of a sudden, piercing lance of light than the gentle (if technically artificial) brightening I was used to. I have now mitigated this problem through the use of curtains. I never imagined I would ever shop for window dressings. The woman at the shop where I purchased them was very amused at my confusion. Did you know there are all these measurements and other considerations to keep in mind? Patterns? Material? How about simply wanting something to keep the light from searing the eyes out of my skull in the morning? Is that an option? I would not say that I am ever bored here as there is always this and that to do but sometimes I feel very out of sorts. I feel too idle and it makes me restless. I feel like I should be doing something even if there is nothing to be done. I could return and take on more work but that seems very unfair since Rosefica invited me to stay with her. I should at least make some effort to make use of the space and spend time with her. I fear she is distinctly uncomfortable with me after the conversation we had once not too long ago and I am trying to ease that as I can. I have met a lot of people and had a lot of what technically passes for relationships over the years but I would be lying to say that it has made me any sort of expert on how to deal with these things. So I am left with quite a bit of time for myself. And I am not sure what to do with it. I haven't had time to myself since I was a child and childhood back in those days was incredibly brief. I have considered asking Rosefica or Vittani about what to do about that but I imagine I will receive very different answers from the both of them. They are very different women, of course. Vittani made the decision to settle and she seems very happy with her decision but she has always been very good at living quietly and being the kind, attentive mother when she was afforded the opportunities. I considered that lifestyle once but of course.. that was not to be. Rosefica on the other hand has seen little of the world based on what she has told me. Now she also has young children to mind and seems settled in her own way. If she has ever experienced a sense of wanderlust I suppose I've never asked. I'm not judging those who do not or those who choose to stay in one place regardless I just have difficulties wrapping my mind around it personally. And Silvermoon is a vastly different place. Sometimes I don't know if I should be impressed or angry at these people. Many seem to have forgotten their own history or have cast it out as if it is completely irrelevant. Others quite literally romanticize it. I've seen the books. I am fairly certain the keeper of that particular book shop had no real interest in the impossibilities of any of those situations actually occurring in the midst of a war zone. Did you know there are some novels in which people are paired with trolls? TROLLS. They are actually engaging in--*scribbled out thoroughly*.

I will stop writing about that now as I am beginning to feel my dinner starting to sit unpleasantly just at the thought.. I.. am not sure where I am going with this but it seems to help to get the thoughts from my mind and onto paper sometimes. I never had time for that before either. Someone suggested it to me while I was out the other day. Not just writing letters but to write as regularly as possible. I am open-minded and so here I am. But I do feel like someone's grandmother so I do not know how often I will actually engage in it. I think a ride might do better at this point. I've been putting it off since I've wanted to give Kio a break from work. The feed around here is different than what one could buy in Tanaris for a comparable price and it was difficult to keep weight on her at first but I think now she would appreciate a short hack before nightfall. 

But lesson learned: Zhevras are not easy keepers in Quel'Thalas.

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

Jaded: Traejan, Arvalin, Tahlran.

Traejan: “I didn’t used to. I always thought that was a silly notion and something reserved for fictional romances. But of course in those days I wasn’t looking for anything to last forever either. It was lucky if it would last the week. Even when things became more long term I never had any intentions of marrying or really talking in terms of forever, whatever forever constitutes. But things changed and If there was ever a time to believe that it would be right now.”

Arvalin: “I like to think that’s possible if you meet the right person. And by that I don’t mean that like there’s only one right person for any of us. That’s a lovely idea if you’re actually with someone and everything feels perfect but if you’re on your own there is really no idea more depressing than that. One person? It’s like being asked to find a needle in a stack of needles. But I think if you meet one of several people that would be right to spend your life with you could definitely live happily ever after, sure.”

Tahlran: “No, I don’t really believe in any of that at all. Maybe, maybe the shorter lived races could manage it but what happens if you’re a century or two into something and you’ve officially run out of new things to do or learn about that person?  You’re going to get bored and feel tied down and start resenting them. Then you’re going to feel even worse because it’s destroying a century or two of decent memories. I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want to get bored of someone. So I don’t let it last longer than a decade. Maybe I arrived at this because of the way I live my life where ”forever” is a bit of an uncertain figure for me, but that’s just how it is.”

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

'Lived Long Enough to Become the Villain' - Tahlran

Millennia of service to the Bronzeflight meant Tahlran had spent several mortal lifetimes traveling through time though removed from it himself as he never aged. He was blessed by the power of the Timeless One but he possessed the form and mind of a mortal man and eventually it began to wear on him.

He’d started to forget first, unable to recall his days before the Bronze, losing important things once dear to him. One day he found he could no longer remember the faces and names of his old friends and parents. On the next he forgot he cared.

Tahlran eventually disappeared into the timeways and for a while no one was certain where or when he’d gone until the discovery of several temporal anomalies. He was constantly on the move, infecting time through the dark powers of the Infinite and their masters.

None the Bronzeflight had sent in after him had come back. Their mangled, twisted corpses were strewn through time wherever they’d fallen, littered with arrows. He was dressed in black, clawed hands nocking another arrow as he sensed yet another portal opening. His skin was split in places, particularly around his eyes, leaking bright blue energy. Inky black scales were crawling up along his arms and his teeth were sharpened to menacing points; the beginnings of horns sprouting above his ears hinted further at his metamorphosis into something somewhere between Quel’dorei and corrupted dragonkin. Tahlran could feel and hear the voices, praising him as he drew the string back and aimed. 

They would never let him forget.

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

␛, ♆, ϡ for tahlran

ANGER: His anger is rare but when it happens it burns hot and violently. Once he’s gotten to that place he’s unlikely to leave it again without some sense of satisfaction and it is extremely difficult to talk him down from it.

BODY: He is very satisfied with his body and while he’s by no means short he often wishes he was just a little taller.

MENTAL STATE: Tahlran’s life has been entirely consumed by his duty as a servant to the Bronzeflight. He loves change and satisfies that by the fact that his work has never been predictable but at the same time he strongly values security and something constant, considering he’s done the same thing for a very, very long time. He’s lucky in that regard to have found both all in one. Most recently some uncertainty has crept in with all the things that have happened involving the dragonflights. He fears the possibility of losing everything he’s ever known and also what’s going to happen to him (the fear of suddenly dissolving into a pile of dust is a very real thing).

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

:) for Tahlran!

Tahlran actually used to be very bored and disappointed with the world, considering what his work has been for so many years. But he’s started getting to know people and is slowly starting to have more positive thoughts about the potential for life beyond duty.

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

headcanon: tahlran is fond of anise flavored things

Agreed.

Just because for some reason that strikes me as old-fashioned somehow and no one’s more comically old-fashioned about things sometimes than him for obvious reasons.

[lifeamongthedistantstars]

dream for tahlran: at first he's simply immersed in childhood memories, but as the dream progresses he realizes that no one can see him, they're distressed and searching for him, and something that only he can see is hunting them from the shadows

Tahlran sat up at once with yell, one hand reaching out toward those memories of people long dead while he felt the reassuring weight of the dagger he always kept under his pillow in the other. There hadn’t been a night since he’d left the war of his youth that he’d gone to sleep without one within reach. 

The nightmare faded after a few moments and he lowered his hands, which still shook. He slipped the blade back into its place and got out of bed. Whatever had been hunting them was a fabrication of his mind, of course, but in many cases had tread far too close to the truth of things. Now after the stir of those memories he thought long buried he was unlikely to find any more restful sleep this night.