#specially considering the when of when kael and illidan work together there is no way it wouldn't be problematic

[diguerra-moved]

aen-consilium Callout post for @merchantofthesands for not...

👀 did I just saw dysfuntional and ship in one sentence.

👀👀👀👀👀👀 yes you did

[warwaged-archive]

SHIPPING INFO!

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?:

I’m always so nervous talking about ships I like I’m kajndfkajndfkjndf

I love all the ships I write, or have discussed more than written aksndfkajnd (Alleria/Willa, Kelantir/Halduron, Thalyssra/Nera, Lor’themar/Airlia with @sunrunnerrs​, Tyrande/Sylv, Nathanos/Sylv with @ladywindrunner​ we also begun exploring lor’themar/sylv and I like it :eyes:, Tyrande/Malfurion and Illidan/Kael with @aen-consilium​ and Alex/Kori with @psychcdelica​ and also Tiffin/Varian with @goldwrynn​ and Myrcella/Robb with @wclfcrown​) but I love some I never got to write too. I like Alleria and Turalyon, I just don’t like how canon does it kajndfkandf Tyrande/Ysera is otp, I like Tyrande/Illidan too and Thalyssra/Liadrin. For my DA characters, I have no ships with any of them currently. I like Morrigan/Warden depending on Warden ofc but like, generally speaking? aiushdiafiduhf but also since we’re here and I’ve already listed some ships that I’m always nervous to mention let’s add one more and say I like Morrigan/Alistair too. I like Velanna/Nathaniel tentatively and am mostly team Velanna/anyone who loves her as she deserves. For my Warden and my Hawke and also Nalice I don’t really have any to list that I particularly like I think. Anyways! none of those is set in stone as I just like that or anything like it, it’s just I find them interesting. But when it comes to writing, it really is more about chemistry to me, and I’ve written ships I wouldn’t have initially thought of before and came to love them dearly after writing them so! 

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?:

I love angsty relationships, and I love fluff, and I’m willing to write most things. I’m not interested in anything that’s like, uh, strictly abusive, but toxic/problematic relationships are fair game for me. So pretty much anything? 

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?:

Specially considering average human lifespans do not apply to many of my muses, it is more a matter of everyone involved being consenting adults really, with a similar maturity level.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?:

More or less? There has to be chemistry, both in like, writing and the characters as well as with me getting along with the other mun ooc, even if we don`t talk much. I’ll be down for discussing it if we talk ooc a lot even if we haven`t yet written those particular two characters together, and at the same time I`ll be okay with shipping something that happens from something we`re writing even if we don`t really interact ooc much, but if we haven`t interacted at all I won`t really be interested in shipping until we do. I was less selective in the past, I think, but I’m not really super selective even now aisudhuiah it`s really just a matter of interaction, both in character and out of character.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?:

Anything that`s explicit is considered nsfw but I`ll tag anything that`s even suggestive because I prefer to be safe.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

I like discussing ships, but not necessarily. I’ve had ships that just happened without prior discussion and that I love dearly and I find developing it through writing and letting it happen very satisfying. But I am up for discussing stuff beforehand if I’m familiar with the mun, and even more so if we already have a ship. I’m 100% fine with anyone asking about a ship if we write together and haven`t shipped yet and you see potential, as long as you do so fully aware no is a possible answer skjdnfkandsf I do prefer to talk to people and write with them before shipping, though. 

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

I really love ships tbh! Relationships (and here I’m using the word in the broader sense, not only romantic relationships) are my favorite when it comes to developing characters, and I love writing romantic relationships too. When I get really invested in a ship I can discuss it forever probably kajsndkfjn But I also don’t feel like everything has to be a ship or everyone has to have a romantic relationship to someone else. Some of the best bonds are often platonic, and I get as invested in (or more) platonic ships as I do romantic relationships honestly. I really do like shipping though! I don`t know if I`d say obsessed but I definitely lean more towards that than towards more or less.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?:

Depends on the muse! I default to being multiship, and my ships with @sunrunnerrs​ that are singleship were actually the first time I ever went singleship with anyone, so for that to happen we have to be pretty close ooc. For the most part, I`m multiship but exclusive with one version of a character, so I usually don`t write the same ship with multiple people. Kelantir is singleship with Aera`s Halduron and Thalyssra with Nera, but other than that everyone works like I said before.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

Beyond the already mentioned ships, I think Tyrande/Maiev has a lot of potential in a enemies to lovers sort of way; I love Wranduin (thanks Novi and Flower for blessing my dash with good content always); Stellagosa/Valtrois and Lorna/Tess are neat, and hmmm that’s mostly it for WoW. I used to love Rhonin and Vereesa a whole lot back when I begun reading the WoW books too. For DA, I like Leliana/Josie, Mahariel/Tamlen, Carver/Merrill, Merrill/Isabela, Solavellan, hmm I think there’s more? but I don’t remember now? and all the PC romances from DAO and Hawke/Fenris, Hawke/Anders and Hawke/Isabela; I like Cullen and the Inquisitor too. For ASOIAF I’m just tired and not invested enough in the fandom currently to mention any ships kjndkjnfkandfjn 

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

Step 1: write with me. Step 2: talk to me. Sometimes ships just happen with Step 1. Lots of times, Step 2 is just as important. It really depends, but it really isn’t hard. I love shipping and I’m always open to discuss ships!

TAGGED BY: @ladywindrunner​

[happyorogeny]

The Gossip

(~1,900 words)(Kael’thas Sunstrider, Illidan Stormrage, Lady Vashj)(tw familial death, starvation, disordered eating, mention of sex work, alcohol, insomnia)

"We should tell him."

Oh? Kael'thas felt his ears perk up, metaphorically. It would be most unseemly for a prince to have twitchy ears. Even here in the Den, where he ought to be most relaxed, there were eyes on him. He had standards to uphold.

Besides, he didn't quite want Lady Vashj and Lord Illidan to realise he could understand old tongue. Their conversations were most interesting. 

Illidan looked annoyed. Then again, Kaldorei always looked annoyed. Their ears naturally sat at the angle of those of an enraged Sin'dorei. It could make social interactions tricky.

Did Illidan think of himself as a Kaldorei?

"They live a half life and look back on their sires and dams with much fondness. He doesn't need to know the foolery and frivolity of his ancestors."

Oh?

"It might make him laugh."

"Or he may consider it an insult. Leave the prince be."

Maybe the prince could do with a laugh.

Illidan yawned, half covering his face with one wing. Kael had a hard time believing he had ever being bound to the earth.

He also suspected he wasn't sleeping properly. The would-be Lord of Outland went through cycles where he didn't eat, didn't sleep but spent the night pacing to and fro in his quarters, nine steps each way. Over and back, over and back in complete silence, as if the tongue had been ripped from his head.

Kael’thas had moved his quarters to the floor under Lord Illidan’s so as to keep an ear on him. He had paced every day for the past week. After some consideration he'd alerted Lady Vashj. They had to be careful how they stepped with this. Illidan was like a glass bird, light-boned and sharp-edged and primed to see danger in a shadow, in a breath, in a glance. Any imagined threat and what weak trust existed there would be gone.

Even now, even here in the armoured depths of a great fortress he sat with his legs tucked beneath him that he might launch into flight at any moment. Even here he stretched his hands often so that the black talons might be limber.

Perhaps for someone like Illidan, stone walls did not feel like safety.

Lady Vashj accepted a glass of something masquerading as wine from one of the courtesans. They flitted around her vast length like brightly coloured birds and she concealed a sibilant giggle as one of them winked at her. She at least was enjoying her surroundings, coiled across three couches that the attendants had pushed together for her and now having the length of her scaly body buffed and polished by a number of masseuses.

Kael had to imagine this wasn’t quite their area of expertise, but they reacted with classic Sin’dorei ingenuity and had fetched a number of rough brushes so as to rid her of dry skin. A small woman with pliers carefully realigned any loose scales while a man in a sheer shirt painted them with nail lacquer so as to mimic a waterproof coating.

She squirmed happily deeper into the cushions.

"He needs to know about his great aunt Deh’lia."

"He absolutely doesn't." Illidan shook his head as one of the attendants tried to tempt him with wine. Kael’thas withheld a wince. It was polite to accept the hospitality of the den, particularly here where they had so little to offer. But Illidan had often tracked dust in here and sought him out to speak of logistics and strategy. He didn’t seem to understand the den was a place of peace, of respite.

Kael’thas had never seen him drink, now that he thought of it. Did night elves drink? Perhaps he couldn’t even digest alcohol. How miserable.  

"Not even a bowl of warm soup would have been safe from that woman's advances." Lady Vashj folded two sets of arms. 

“It was all play. She panicked if you returned said overtures.” Illidan was watching someone through the walls, gaze travelling from left to right. 

Vashj looked like she wanted to fold her last pair of arms, but she held them extended for the two courtesans working on her nails. One of them had quietly slipped down to the stables and fetched some blacksmiths tools in order to actually sharpen her talons.

Kael’thas reached for the tea so as to hide his expression. Father always had been reluctant to speak about great aunt Deh’lia, who had left their fledgling kingdom to become an adventurer.  

He braced himself for the wave of grief that rolled over him. His people needed to see him strong. Even in his sorrow, even here, especially here, he couldn't crumble as he wanted to. 

Perhaps he ought to join Lord Illidan in his nightly pacing.

"I'm going to tell him about Elis'ain."

"Do not."

"He takes after him. Same hair. Lighter than Dath’Remar’s."

Illidan stirred as the same courtesan from earlier returned to him with a purple juice squeezed from local berries. They had painted swirling arcane designs onto an ordinary glass so that he might see it, but done so carefully enough that it merely seemed decorative. Illidan took it carefully in his claws, holding it between thumb and middle finger as had been the old fashion in court. Kael’thas caught the attendant’s eye and nodded very slightly in approval. She looked down to hide a grin.

“Elis’an once sent me a very artistic picture of himself." Illidan shifted and leaned back upon the low-slung couch, tucking one leg beneath him in an experimental fashion. A fresh tear in the outer membranes of his wing caught Kael’s eye. When had that happened?

"Was it the one with the artful draping of silk? He sent that to everyone." 

Everyone? Sparks, had his ancestors had no sense of decorum?

"Alas, I thought I was special." Illidan eyed the courtesan filing Vashj’s nails, her eyebrows set in determination. "Why the knife?"

She blinked up at him, startled. 

"We are all armed. If someone comes to attack our guests we are the last line of defence."

He seemed pleased by that. Lord Illidan had initially been quite opposed to the idea of the Den, until Kael had pulled him aside to elaborate that such arts held no shame in their society, that no one was forced to do anything they didn't want to. After that he'd largely lost interest. Even now he seemed indifferent to the courtesans, if not the platters some of them had brought up from the kitchen. 

Kael'thas subtly signaled for more food and hoped that Rommath came through on time with supplies next week. Not that he was counting down the days till he saw his companion again. It was merely appropriate for a leader to keep track of all appointments. 

Illidan stretched his claws.

“If you must tell him anything tell him that he sounds just like Dath’Remar when he laughs."

"I've never heard him laugh." Vashj couldn’t quite stop herself from glancing at him. 

"It's rare of late."

Kael supposed it was, at that. He smiled often. A smiling leader was a relaxed, confident one. Laughter, now, that had escaped him. He would have to work on laughing more often. 

Mei'le, who was fond of him and an absolute sweetheart, chose that moment to appear draped in yellow silks and holding aloft with two platters of chocolate covered strawberries. 

Where in Alar’s name? He sat up despite himself, bracing his heels for purchase on the couch. How? They'd lost so much in the Scourge attack, including many of their food crops. Chocolate? Strawberries? Those were luxuries and he had ordered the horticulturists to concentrate on wheat, maize, grapes. 

The other courtesans and guests were similarly delighted as she set them down on the central table. Mei'le looked mightily pleased with herself as she curled into the divan next to him. 

“How is my second-favourite prince?”

It was been too long since someone teased him. He pretended at affront. Mei’le had gotten plump again, he was pleased to see. For a long time she’d relied on an excess of fabric to pretend at health. He still did much the same, wrapping himself in his single remaining court-cloak to hide the fact his ribs stuck out.

She was wearing rose perfume. Sunset rose perfume, specifically, that rare strand with golden petals that ended in brilliant orange. 

They had all burned in the scourging of Silvermoon. How?

“Where’d you source the perfume?”

“A lady never tells.”

But ah, that was part of the game. He leaned back on his elbows.

"I do think you are trying to entice me in with your mysteries."

She fluttered her eyelashes.

"Enticing? Me?"

He poked her in the ribs and she squawked. 

"Very dignified."

Mei’le made a great show of sulking behind her embroidered fan, but he could tell she was grinning.

"I'll show you if you promise not to tell."

“I never kiss and tell.”

Being an absolute performance artist, she insisted he close his eyes as she led him towards the inner rooms of the Den. It was noticeably warmer here. Sweat prickled along his arms and he debated leaving his cloak behind. He only had one cloak now, two sets of day-clothes and a night gown. Everything else had been sold so as to feed and clothe the others.

Mei'le kissed his cheek before letting him open his eyes and he immediately made use of their privacy so as to pout. 

"Taking advantage of a young man."

But it seemed as if Mei’le had been busy indeed. This room was curved and tall like a tower, now hollowed out. An immense golden poplar reached towards a domed glass ceiling overhead, exactly the same as the trees that had lined Silvermoon’s avenues. Up on its highest boughs he saw cacao pods, surrounded by vivid blue and indigo butterflies.

His magic told him it was much warmer up there, with temperatures dropping off in the lower parts of the room. A classic rose maze sprawled before him, lined with Royal dark reds, Noble pinks, even the golden Sunset rose. Nestled in at their roots he saw the runners of wild strawberries. 

Mei'le smiled at his obvious joy.

“How?”

"Everyone grabbed what they could when we left. I found some seeds sewn into my gran’s handkerchief. Others we found in jewelry boxes, in the pockets of old coats.”

“All this from mere fragments?” But then, hadn’t Dath’Remar created a kingdom from the scraps of the Highbourne?  

It was nice to kiss and be kissed again, but something was amiss these days. He couldn't relax.

"You are lovely as ever, but I must attend..." He gestured.

"Of course you must. But linger just a moment and let me fix your concealer."

He smiled and practiced a laugh. It sounded real, but weary. That wouldn't do. Mei'le broke out a small brush and smoothed creamy paint under his eyes, lips pursed. 

"You've lost weight, sweet Prince."

"Why, it will save me having to contour." 

She scoffed at him, but squeezed his hand as he left. 

"Eat. None of our people go hungry anymore. Why should you?"

The platters made it easier, for he could see everyone eating around him. He could almost pretend it was Silvermoon again, a party in a guesthouse, a celebration. He could almost pretend all was well, that Rommath would soon appear to scold him, insist he go home, and then immediately get dragged into a conversation about inter-magical politics with one of the courtesans.

Vashj seemed to have very much enjoyed the wine for she had dozed off in a contented coil amidst the cushions, forked tongue flickering as she dozed.

Surprisingly Illidan had remained, sitting where he could perceive the entire room and carefully licking chocolate off his claws. A dozen strawberry stalks sat in the empty glass next to him. He froze as if caught in a trap when Kael’thas plopped onto the couch.

“What was Dath’Remar like?” He wasn’t drunk, but it could be useful to pretend he was, and Illidan didn’t know enough of Sin’dorei etiquette to disapprove of him.

For a split second Kael could have sworn he saw the ghost of a smile there.

“He was a lot like you.”

Chapter 2!

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