Adalynn

Jun-Bo had become a good companion to speak with when she sat in The Tipsy Tiger, nursing her cider between filthy hands. He was a massive Pandaren with a cheerful outlook on life. His entire frame was like stone to the touch, regardless of his soft appearance, the cinnamon patches along his creme colored fur added to his warm demeanor. Ada stirred her now cold cider, burdened gaze drifting to her companion. His worried expression tugged at her heart and forced her from her solitude.

“What is it now, Jun-Bo?”

Finally.

      An evening to relax; although the foreign land was different, the drinks were strong. The crowded bar was nestled in the delicate slopes of Kun-Lai Summit. Fresh snow had just fallen and it crunched beneath the three women’s boots as they ascended the three stair entrance into what was known as “The Tipsy Tiger”. Clouds of warm breath were visible in the air as they exhaled in unison, relieved. Pushing open the door that was keeping the cold out, they entered the small tavern; the music and conversations were loud, but the atmosphere was cozy and the trio soon found a small circular table closer to a corner of the crowded room.

Each took a stool, straddling it quickly, rubbing their hands along their arms to urge warmth back into their limbs. Kethry took a little more time, the stool testing her balance, as she was quite pregnant. The mother-to-be chose a seat in close proximity to the wall, so that with her back guarded due to the solid wood, she could relax and observe her two friends with a more attentive mind. The smell of sweat and leather mixed with spiced Ales and fried tavern foods, wafted around them with familiarity. Both seemed to turn her stomach so she leaned upon the table, her belly nestled below it safely, and grinned warmly at the other two women who looked around the tavern casually. She laughed at their suspicious natures; eager to help them forget work, woes, and war - she reached over and grasped Ada’s hand gently.

     “So how are you liking your time with us so far, Adalynn?”

 Let us start off with a reminder that sometimes being one with the earth shouldn't be taken literally.

Into her dreams, the Sha melded.

In her slumber they invoked Fear, Anger... skin prickling, wicked Violence.

     Everything up to this point had been expected. People recognized her, they called out to her as she walked the streets. They interrupted her while she was speaking with someone else in small music clubs. They even poured their hearts out or warned her against bad habits she had no idea she had.

You may not want to drink... you had a problem with that.

I almost killed myself, but you beat my ass into trying to live again.

We were lovers. You’d be moanin’ my name-

     Yeah... Some were lies, obviously. She was able to tell by the way something deep inside her reacted that some were honest, others jested, and then... there was the fact that apparently she was an alcoholic gadjet wiz, heartbreaker with a violent dendancy and a meaner temper. Fantastic.

A girls night out that seemed like a brilliant idea. She smirked as she over heard Ada trying to be heard over the bustle of the busy bar. 'Ey! Yeah. A cranberry juice- no, no liquor. Just a cran- YES. Just a cranberry juice.' She looked around amused. When some guy approached. Darkly handsome features long blond hair and an attitude that was as thick as his cologne. She tried to be patient really she did... she even gave him a chance to walk away several in fact. When his friends walked over she knew this was about to head south. He introduced himself as Zorian and he grabbed her by the elbow. And then... he yanked on her arm, so she obliged him by standing, and delivering a right hook to his jaw.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” -- Neals Donald Walsch     

     It’s safe to say that the Skyfall’s had a lovely story prepared for Ada when she all but wailed from her place in bed within her room on the second story of their home. Calming her with gentle words and assurances, they started to fill in her ‘blanks’ although not all of it the real truth as we know it.

Everything was... fuzzy.

Nothing seemed real when her lashes fluttered open and quickly squeezed shut at the bright unapologetic sunlight that bore down on her from the large floor to ceiling window across from her bed. With a soft groan, the woman twisted beneath the sheets that were keeping her warm to find a more comfortable position along the cooler side of her mattress.

 The enveloping forest conceals me from view as I watch Adalynn by the shore. There is something sad about her solitary figure that stares forward, while her golden limbs lean backwards. It made her appear to be at cross purposes with herself. It looked honest. She is contemplative and her long ears push backwards as she scowls at the dirt. Her anger makes me smile. It made all the strong lines of her face animate. I had seen quite a few remarkable looking elven women in my time.

However most of them while lovely, paled to the delicate rage that I saw in Adalynn’s deceptively casual repose on the sand. I could not resist her anymore then tide could fail to roll forward and kiss at the shore. As I settle on the other end of the bank she moves. Her ear flick backwards, her nostrils flare and suddenly she knew I was there. She doesn't look at me.

Rameikos looked at Tylel, unsure of himself.

“They’re coming for my host, for my actual physical form.”

Tylel gazed back at him. “How do you know that?”

“I maintain a link with that form. It feeds much of my power. I am a mere echo of the actual Rameikos. But now, he’s surrounded. So many familiar faces. Synnaquin is there.”
Tylel grinned. “I knew it! She found a way to get you out of me!”

The entity chuckled. “He’s making one called Lilliana his slave.”

“That would not be advisable. Her Grace is quite powerful, she won’t let herself be taken so easily.”

Rameikos shuggred. “Well, it’s done. Now he sent worshippers to kill another one called Adalynn.”

Tylel raised a brow. “There’s no point to this, they might help.”

“Help?”

((Written to this amazing piece as done by Daniel Cripps. In a way, to accompany Synn's blog here and Castien's blog here. Their replies to Tali's Death.))

Two days.

It's been two days since she'd heard word of her best friend's death. Nothing really touched her other than that. The usual smell of oil and smoke within her small home garage didn't cheer her up as it would any other day. The sweet sound of the birds that took refuge from the oncoming storm within the trees around their home, no... that no longer brought a smile to her face at this moment. The sorrow was consuming, threatening, unlike anything she'd felt before.

But then again, Adalynn had never been in love.

     The insistent vibrations of the device at her waist was an indicator that her alarm system had been triggered at her Gun Shop in Ogrimmar. The device gave off an irritable buzzing sound as it continued to inform her of yet another break in. The Mechanic seemed to pay it no mind... for the first three minutes. That's when the buzzing became more urgent, yelling at her in it's bzzt bzzt way. Ada was well aware that someone was breaking into her shop. For all she went through to set up the intricate security system for her own place of work, it was repetitively disarmed by none other than Asarel. That was in the old days anyway. He found it good sport, he'd relay to her with a smirk and a roll of a shoulder. Insufferable nuissance. She'd shoot him again if she ever saw the elf, but these days he appeared, destroyed, vanished. She smiled fondly at how many upgrade he had forced her to think through however... because with all his destruction there came the ability to rebuild and improve her creations. Engineering gave her mind something to race over, her hands to seek peace within the rods and gears laced with oil and grime.

Yet, here she was on a lovely afternoon... Smashing this device that fit in the palm of her hand, against the steps in the Bazaar in front of Kharris Dawndancer's estate.

   There used to be a bookshop off the coast of Ratchet. The salty smell of the ocean would lure you to daydream, the warm heat of the sun would lick at your skin, and one could get lost in all the interesting and intricate things that were kept in precious care by Iantoh Stardust.

     Adalynn Foxtrot did.

     Somewhere in Silvermoon is a flat that belongs to one Adalynn Foxtrot. Silvermoon. The city of rumors and gossip and... bullshit.

((Part Three of The Dive; One & The Dive; Two.))

Recruit Adeleine Skyfall (Who most of us know as Adalynn Foxtrot) shifted from the branch, landing on the forest floor with as little sound as she could manage. Darkness had fallen again, thus it was safe to move. Her canteen was strung loosely around her waist upon it's strap, amongst the other myriad of items she'd gathered while passing through the instant battleground the two forces had created upon the ambush. A short dagger, twine, a holster for two pistols which were not her own-- she missed her personal firearms dearly every-time her hands rested on the gunmetal of the weapons she'd taken. Yellow flecked hazel eyes flicked upwards towards the canopy of the forest, ears pricked to listen. Nothing but the norm in Eversong played to her senses, permitting her to relax, the coast was clear. She made her way through the woods, due north, towards Silvermoon.

Dawnherald and Windwhisper had found Recruit Ambershade and herself the night before. Recruit Dawnherald remained unscathed and Windwhisper required some attention to her left leg, but other than that, the two comrades were better off than Alric and Ada. Alric's entire right side had sustained heavy fire... Adalynn had been forced to re-set his leg to the knee with his direction, a grisly task that gave her pause now as she thought about it. Dammit Alric...

~~~X~~~

     "I'm fucking naked! Where the fuck! Ambershade I swear to--" The would be Ranger was flinging curses that seemed to be streaming from her mouth to deaf ears as Recruit Alric Ambershade dragged her by the wrist at full speed.

The old orange tabby cat had a dozen names but no owner. She spent most of her afternoons wandering from door to stoop trading a minute's affection for a treat here and a belly-rub there. Here at the modest chapel of Priest Avis Blithe, she was called 'Maven'.

Maven made her entrance as she always had, with a fake aire of trepidation. Her soft and seemingly unsure steps always earned her pity from the priest as well as a little lap time and a few morsels of his lunch. Today however, the good priest was not alone. The gruff looking elf with Avis Blithe was called Ivor Overholdt. Like any other name, it was lost on the animal but she knew him well. He had loud footfalls and a funny sounding voice. Maven also remembered when a kitten of hers had been killed by that cruel child. This was the strange elf that took the poor thing to the wood's edge and buried him.

Nothing was more pleasing than the intimate breeze that whisked about my kitchen through an open window. The outside air invited me to leave my tower and relish the warm sunshine mixed with autumn air. Ah, the smell of hot tea, buttered fresh biscuits with cranberry and orange jam. I'd risen early this morning to finish some chores, my usual routine, and then still had time for some baking before I did need to head towards the village for a few ingredients and materials for a potion I'd been commissioned to craft here and there.

It had been a long time.

The fire crackled nearby.  Blood was everywhere.  This camp was going to be a mess to clean up in the morning, but I wasn’t worried about it at the moment.  Right now, my knife slid repeatedly along flesh and skin and bone, skinning and bleeding creature after creature we had slain in a haze of bloodrage.  I was armored rather simply in snug-fitting dark leathers and my midnight-green scouting cloak.  I pushed a lock of hair, matted with sweat, from my face to glance at my companion.  The General whuffed a long exhale beside me, sated as he was on his share of our kill. 

His blood-stained muzzle was a testament to his prowess and ferocity, which I had been warned of time and again by Ari, but never witnessed until this night.  We had moved in concert as consummate killers, cutting a swath through the forest, harrowing our prey to the ground without mercy, side by side, tooth and knife, again and again. 

     It had been three days since she could remember the taste of real food, any sort of distinguishable flavor was lost to her, and what she placed now in her mouth tasted like nothing more than brittle tree bark...but she didn't mind it. The slender form of a female Sin'dorei remained curled within the treetops of what she was forced to call home for the past few months of training. Dirty and bloodied, nimble fingers made quick work of the topper of her water skin and she swallowed greedily, gasping at the end as she forced herself to yank away her last reserves.

They'd been split up.

It hadn't been the plan, but as Recruit Skyfall was quickly learning... nothing ever seemed to work out as planned, unless it was something she crafted with her own two hands--following her own schematics.

The Mechanic wasn't much but a girl, a recruit, a Sin'dorei... sure.

She wasn't much.

The room was dark and she was seated upon the floor,

legs curled beneath her as she leaned forward on her palms

to eye the small carrot cupcake she'd attempted to bake.

Fingers delicately gripped a decoratively carved wax stick

as she pressed it slowly into the top of the lopsided creation.

     It was almost as if the days that past, empty and without much comfort, were all but tick marks against a prison wall for her. For Adalynn. It was difficult to say, but although she was building new skills and working on a social circle--something she never really needed, but at the time seemed necessary--Ada's mind reeled. Usually distant, usually dirty, usually secluded in her shop for days on end... the woman was spending day after day within Farstrider Square after the Unit's usual training. Determined and competitive, the still Mechanic and Ranged-Weaponsmith, grinded out hours of firing arrow after arrow at her targets.

When her quiver was bare, her fingers calloused, her arms pulsing with spent energy... she'd amble over to the targets, retrieve her arrows, and start again.

"Her legs thrashed against him in protest finding his body to be solid, immovable and not to be denied. A rough hand clasped her heat. Her flower, flush and moist, gave away her true intentions as she quieted. Pulling her hair taut, the Baron swooped upon her for a kiss..."

Ivor bit his lip, growing red with embarassment as he paused from reading the old musty novel aloud. He looked over to see if she was following along.

Adalynn glanced up at Ivor, waiting for him to continue, with genuine interest in the story. She'd been peering over his shoulder. "What happens next!?!"

Ivor scanned ahead, flipping the page. "Well clearly the Baron has his way with her."

Adalynn frowned admonishingly. "Ivor!"

He flipped a few more pages. "In... a lot of different ways it seems." He exlaimed, almost impressed.

Adalynn knit her brow, annoyed.

She was gone.

I had to deal with that, even if I didn't want to. The house was vacant; the ricochet of our voices would no longer bounce around its cozy walls.

Now when I came home, it no longer felt like home.

I miss you, Tal.

I'd need to be honest, which meant filling that blank with the right information.

She wasn't ready.

I opened my eyes, instantly awake, and took stock of my surroundings without moving.  All was quiet in Tirisfal.  The campfire had burned down to embers, and the large, unusually bright moon had moved on across the sky, swathing the campsite in shadows.

It dawned on me that I should have been a bit colder than I was.  I shifted my weight, preparing to stoke the fire and...paused.

Ah.  Perhaps this odd warmth was due to the lithe, lovely figure curled up tightly against my back.

Exhaling, I couldn't help but smirk. I can honestly say I hadn't expected this. 

Now.  One might think that a man tracking down a woman in the middle of the night, following her hints about her 'secret location' like winking comets across the sky; speaking for a time under the full and heavy moon, pregnant with promise; and taking their mutual rest by the same campfire, should have warranted a coupling as the obvious conclusion.