now I need to get out of here and do the things what need doing
I originally wrote a whole lot of self-flagellating apology here, but now I am going to force myself to not justify posting this. Here are some 1sentences about Daliquinn, who you may have seen mentioned on this journal several times already this year. He is a World of Warcraft OC, and comes with warnings for self-harm/suicidal thoughts (though remarkably little here), and lots of sex with an orc. Oops. He is an elf, and he is moody, and now you know Daliquinn.
(I used Beta set, but changed the ordering slightly for my own reasons. I won't be posting this to the comm, because I completely ignored the rules! But that is where the theme set came from.)
#01 - Walking
The very first time he sees snow he can't quite keep himself from gaping at the sight - Daimd laughs, but Daimd always laughs, and Daliquinn can only wonder how these weak worthless legs have managed to carry him so very far.
#02 - Waltz
He isn't truly for the Horde, and he certainly has no place within the treacherous Alliance - most days he hardly feels part of anything, only then some familiar gesture will suddenly draw his attention; draw him back to that private reality of 'Only You and I'.
#03 - Wishes
Daimd won't let him jump, and he's not even sure he wants to, so he braces his feet against the rail, allows that firm familiar grip to set around his wrist, and leans out further and farther than he could have ever managed on his own - the wind threatens to tear him away and he laughs at the feel of it, with eyes wide and free arm outstretched, and the howling void steals away all the adoring exhilarated promises that fall unbidden from his lips.
#04 - Wonder
He's pretending to sleep, savouring the motion of Daimd's knuckles tracing against his bare back, and he's trying to keep the smile from his lips but it's hard when he feels so damn content for once, so utterly unarguably content - he doesn't dare let himself consider what any of it means.
#05 - Worry
There are times he worries he might just lose himself to the intoxicating urgency of battle, lose all sense of his self and his body and fight until he falls among them, bloodied and forgettable - there are times he worries, and times he prays for it.
#06 - Whimsy
'I'll stay awake tonight,' He entertains himself, even as he drifts to sleep against Daimd's chest, 'And I will be the one who watches you...'
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
“But we'll find some strange new land to entice me,” He finishes with idle dismissal, settled back on the deathly ashen grass of these Ghostlands he's come to think of as his own - only, he doesn't want something different to replace that which he first found exotic and new, and when his eyes wander back to Daimd it all-- and oh, of course, and he curls suddenly, flooded with disgust and an obscene need for comfort.
#08 - Whiskey and rum
“You're drunk,” She blurts at him in thick disbelief, and Daliquinn takes that as invitation to come inside - doesn't she usually like him like this?
#09 - War
“You're bleeding, dear,” He says, with the blood still on his lips, and Daimd - his clever hopeless Daimd - doesn't seem surprised.
#10 - Weddings
He knows nothing of orcish ritual, and doesn't care for the habits of his own people - it doesn't matter anyway; Daimd has sworn himself true a thousand times over, and Daliquinn will kill the orc himself before letting anything else sever that bond.
#11 - Birthday
He shrugs off questions of age, and in private moments gives idle wonder - Eversong is doused in eternal spring, and any who might once have been able to tell him have long since disappeared; he's old enough for fucking and fighting, and it seems to him that no other definition can possibly matter.
#12 - Blessing
She traces fingers down his side, and laughingly remarks that at least he'll always be a slim target - he twists away from her touch, hissing displeasure and masking discomfort, and she only laughs the harder for his petulance.
#13 - Bias
“I'm sorry,” He tells his only ally, “But your opinion doesn't count.”
#14 - Burning
'Make me stop,' he silently begs, holding the blade sharply against Daimd's throat; 'Show me your violence, pin me with words, just do something, do something, do something--'
#15 - Breathing
He's never entered Dalaran before but it's familiar in all the ways that hurt him most - he staggers back in raw unguarded surprise, even as his mind fills with unkind oaths and how could you be so stupid? and what else did you expect? and get out of here, get away from this, get out get out get out-- and then it's Daimd he's backed into, Daimd's hands on his shoulders, and he somehow remembers to breathe.
#16 - Bane
“You foul beast,” He hisses, pride and desire weaving through his words; “How incredible you are,” He breathes, and the malice is palpable.
#17 - Belief
He doesn't believe in anything except himself, and even that much only half the time - he trusts even less.
#18 - Balloon
The first time he sees a Horde zeppelin, Daliquinn wonders if he'll ever grow accustomed to such a crude mode of travel; the first time he rides, some part of him - a part he never even knew to look for - falls quietly, irrefutably in love with the sky.
#19 - Balcony
He leans out to peer across the gleaming arcane city before turning back to Daimd and letting his grin speak louder than any words - Should we give them a show, dear beast?
#20 - Breaking
“What are you--” doing, he starts to ask, but Daimd only clasps him tighter, cutting off his words and his escape - only, where else could he run but here, and what else did he expect but this?
#21 - Quiet
Every spare moment is marked by a most unique form of silence - it's a very different world when Daimd is away.
#22 - Quirks
“You're too rough,” he complains and rolls aside, gleefully aware that making him wait will only make things that much-- oh, but worse hardly seems the right word, does it?
#23 - Question
The orc will give himself away, sooner or later - Daliquinn watches, poised for his chance to name Daimd false, and each passing day brings him closer to giddy heart-clenching madness.
#24 - Quarrel
Daimd removes the arrow with all possible delicacy, but Daliquinn still refuses to talk to him for days afterwards.
#25 - Quitting
The restoration of the Sunwell signifies the end of their days relying on Fel; Daliquinn sits before the mirror, stares at the faint green glow that marks his taint, and wonders.
#26 - Jump
Two days later he sets foot in the Ghostlands for the very first time - perhaps by now, Sarithra is starting to take his words seriously.
#27 - Jester
Daimd's the only one to laugh, which is just as well - if these fools had been able to decipher his meaning, they'd probably be trying to slit his throat right now.
#28 - Jousting
She disarms him even quicker than usual, and launches into yet another frustrated analysis of all his innumerable errors -- Daliquinn growls and nods and silently resolves to never touch a fucking lance again.
#29 - Jewel
It's probably worth something, but the colour doesn't please him, and he can't even remember where he lifted the gaudy thing - he drops it without any further thought, and walks all of two steps before some vulture swoops in to claim the discarded prize.
#30 - Just
It felt like any other punch, only the blood is oozing between his fingers, and he supposes he probably deserved this sooner or later, but he wasn't even trying this time, not really, and how's he supposed to explain this to Daimd, how's he supposed to keep his eyes open when everything-- and then he falls, gasping thickly and curling around the wound, and his thrice damned orc is nowhere to be seen.
#31 - Smirk
“Every single person here can run rings around you, Daliquinn - so why do you keep provoking them?”
#32 - Sorrow
He may be half mad, and a foul bastard besides, but it still breaks her heart to see Daliquinn wasting himself on-- ugh, on that hideous orc he's taken to parading around as his own.
#33 - Stupidity
It has to be stupidity - there's no other way to account for Daimd, no other way to account for the things he says and the way he follows and follows and never learns his lesson; it has to be stupidity, or else Daliquinn has to look to less kind possibilities, and oh, he's tired of mistrust.
#34 - Serenade
He complains about Daimd's noise, says he's too used to it, that he can't sleep without it now and what does Daimd have to say for himself - the damn orc laughs an apology, and agrees that he'll just have to stay close, then, won't he?
#35 - Sarcasm
They spend another day helping the inhabitants of Eversong, and for a while Daliquinn even manages to maintain a veneer of politeness.
#36 - Sordid
“Get in here and fuck me already,” Daliquinn growls, tries to keep it more commanding and less damn needy, and then Daimd looks at him just so, and-- and nothing else matters much after that.
#37 - Soliloquy
Some days later, when the festival has run its course and all the ceremonies of romantic love have fallen away to daily routine, Daliquinn catches himself longing for a missed chance - he apologises that evening, as honest and earnest as he knows how, and lets Daimd wonder what prompted the sudden burst of Thalassian.
#38 - Sojourn
It's only one night, a matter of necessity, and Daliquinn smirks at Daimd's nervous habits when it comes to the Forsaken - when they leave the next day it's Daliquinn who's stumbling and exhausted, nightmares and memories weighing him down.
#39 - Share
It's something they all feel, the one thing he knows he shares with these who would be 'his people' - if this is what they have in common, the Sin'dorei are more disgusting than almost anything else he's ever known.
#40 - Solitary
Even in his earliest memories he wants to be left alone - perhaps he's always been broken, and it was only a matter of time before something scattered all his worthless pieces and showed everyone else the damning truth of it.
#41 - Nowhere
“I don't care where we go,” Daliquinn replies, and it's very almost true - as long as they keep moving, and no one place can claim him as its own, he really doesn't care where they end up.
#42 - Neutral
He'll leave one day, and if Daimd's soft proclamations and midnight promises are to be believed, it will be a death sentence for the orc - he'll leave one day just to prove he can, and Daimd's life or death will be no fool concern of his.
#43 - Nuance
He tells Daimd the next day, speaking in hollow undecided tones, and he has no idea whether the orc can possibly have any notion of what he means - only Daimd always understands something, seems to know just when and how to reach for him, and this time is no exception.
#44 - Near
Daliquinn gasps terrified thanks and follows the magister, closing himself to the carnage that surrounds - I can fight too, he tries to offer, but the words jam in his ragged throat, somewhere beneath the ash and blood and too many cloying decaying scents crawling under his skin.
#45 - Natural
The sneers, the disgust, the jibes and confusion and outrage - Daliquinn savours it all, and knows that nothing in his life has ever worked the way this does.
#46 - Horizon
He has Daimd kneel, and then kneels before him, brings one hand forward to touch that perfect face - he moves slowly, deliberately, and the alarming calm that's stolen over him doesn't reflect his heart at all; “Keep your eyes to the horizon, orc,” He says, shifting his fingers to Daimd's lips, “And know I will return to you.”
#47 - Valiant
“Just try and keep up,” He snaps before stalking on, leaving Daimd to the thankless unacknowledged task of guarding his back.
#48 - Virtuous
Daliquinn is objective enough to know he's attractive, even scabbed and bruised and always forever too thin - but Daimd's had him countless times now, and still he's hanging on, and Daliquinn just can't figure out what else there could possibly be.
#49 - Defeat
They're such simple words - he hears them every damning day - and yet, no matter how he tries...
#50 - Victory
He's assured - strangely calmly absolutely assured - that the wound won't kill him, so when he all but falls into Daimd's clutching grasp there's no reason to keep that one turn of phrase from passing his lips; “You're mine,” he tells his unharmed orc, and nothing so meaningless as pain will keep him from grinning in triumph.
(I used Beta set, but changed the ordering slightly for my own reasons. I won't be posting this to the comm, because I completely ignored the rules! But that is where the theme set came from.)
#01 - Walking
The very first time he sees snow he can't quite keep himself from gaping at the sight - Daimd laughs, but Daimd always laughs, and Daliquinn can only wonder how these weak worthless legs have managed to carry him so very far.
#02 - Waltz
He isn't truly for the Horde, and he certainly has no place within the treacherous Alliance - most days he hardly feels part of anything, only then some familiar gesture will suddenly draw his attention; draw him back to that private reality of 'Only You and I'.
#03 - Wishes
Daimd won't let him jump, and he's not even sure he wants to, so he braces his feet against the rail, allows that firm familiar grip to set around his wrist, and leans out further and farther than he could have ever managed on his own - the wind threatens to tear him away and he laughs at the feel of it, with eyes wide and free arm outstretched, and the howling void steals away all the adoring exhilarated promises that fall unbidden from his lips.
#04 - Wonder
He's pretending to sleep, savouring the motion of Daimd's knuckles tracing against his bare back, and he's trying to keep the smile from his lips but it's hard when he feels so damn content for once, so utterly unarguably content - he doesn't dare let himself consider what any of it means.
#05 - Worry
There are times he worries he might just lose himself to the intoxicating urgency of battle, lose all sense of his self and his body and fight until he falls among them, bloodied and forgettable - there are times he worries, and times he prays for it.
#06 - Whimsy
'I'll stay awake tonight,' He entertains himself, even as he drifts to sleep against Daimd's chest, 'And I will be the one who watches you...'
#07 - Waste/Wasteland
“But we'll find some strange new land to entice me,” He finishes with idle dismissal, settled back on the deathly ashen grass of these Ghostlands he's come to think of as his own - only, he doesn't want something different to replace that which he first found exotic and new, and when his eyes wander back to Daimd it all-- and oh, of course, and he curls suddenly, flooded with disgust and an obscene need for comfort.
#08 - Whiskey and rum
“You're drunk,” She blurts at him in thick disbelief, and Daliquinn takes that as invitation to come inside - doesn't she usually like him like this?
#09 - War
“You're bleeding, dear,” He says, with the blood still on his lips, and Daimd - his clever hopeless Daimd - doesn't seem surprised.
#10 - Weddings
He knows nothing of orcish ritual, and doesn't care for the habits of his own people - it doesn't matter anyway; Daimd has sworn himself true a thousand times over, and Daliquinn will kill the orc himself before letting anything else sever that bond.
#11 - Birthday
He shrugs off questions of age, and in private moments gives idle wonder - Eversong is doused in eternal spring, and any who might once have been able to tell him have long since disappeared; he's old enough for fucking and fighting, and it seems to him that no other definition can possibly matter.
#12 - Blessing
She traces fingers down his side, and laughingly remarks that at least he'll always be a slim target - he twists away from her touch, hissing displeasure and masking discomfort, and she only laughs the harder for his petulance.
#13 - Bias
“I'm sorry,” He tells his only ally, “But your opinion doesn't count.”
#14 - Burning
'Make me stop,' he silently begs, holding the blade sharply against Daimd's throat; 'Show me your violence, pin me with words, just do something, do something, do something--'
#15 - Breathing
He's never entered Dalaran before but it's familiar in all the ways that hurt him most - he staggers back in raw unguarded surprise, even as his mind fills with unkind oaths and how could you be so stupid? and what else did you expect? and get out of here, get away from this, get out get out get out-- and then it's Daimd he's backed into, Daimd's hands on his shoulders, and he somehow remembers to breathe.
#16 - Bane
“You foul beast,” He hisses, pride and desire weaving through his words; “How incredible you are,” He breathes, and the malice is palpable.
#17 - Belief
He doesn't believe in anything except himself, and even that much only half the time - he trusts even less.
#18 - Balloon
The first time he sees a Horde zeppelin, Daliquinn wonders if he'll ever grow accustomed to such a crude mode of travel; the first time he rides, some part of him - a part he never even knew to look for - falls quietly, irrefutably in love with the sky.
#19 - Balcony
He leans out to peer across the gleaming arcane city before turning back to Daimd and letting his grin speak louder than any words - Should we give them a show, dear beast?
#20 - Breaking
“What are you--” doing, he starts to ask, but Daimd only clasps him tighter, cutting off his words and his escape - only, where else could he run but here, and what else did he expect but this?
#21 - Quiet
Every spare moment is marked by a most unique form of silence - it's a very different world when Daimd is away.
#22 - Quirks
“You're too rough,” he complains and rolls aside, gleefully aware that making him wait will only make things that much-- oh, but worse hardly seems the right word, does it?
#23 - Question
The orc will give himself away, sooner or later - Daliquinn watches, poised for his chance to name Daimd false, and each passing day brings him closer to giddy heart-clenching madness.
#24 - Quarrel
Daimd removes the arrow with all possible delicacy, but Daliquinn still refuses to talk to him for days afterwards.
#25 - Quitting
The restoration of the Sunwell signifies the end of their days relying on Fel; Daliquinn sits before the mirror, stares at the faint green glow that marks his taint, and wonders.
#26 - Jump
Two days later he sets foot in the Ghostlands for the very first time - perhaps by now, Sarithra is starting to take his words seriously.
#27 - Jester
Daimd's the only one to laugh, which is just as well - if these fools had been able to decipher his meaning, they'd probably be trying to slit his throat right now.
#28 - Jousting
She disarms him even quicker than usual, and launches into yet another frustrated analysis of all his innumerable errors -- Daliquinn growls and nods and silently resolves to never touch a fucking lance again.
#29 - Jewel
It's probably worth something, but the colour doesn't please him, and he can't even remember where he lifted the gaudy thing - he drops it without any further thought, and walks all of two steps before some vulture swoops in to claim the discarded prize.
#30 - Just
It felt like any other punch, only the blood is oozing between his fingers, and he supposes he probably deserved this sooner or later, but he wasn't even trying this time, not really, and how's he supposed to explain this to Daimd, how's he supposed to keep his eyes open when everything-- and then he falls, gasping thickly and curling around the wound, and his thrice damned orc is nowhere to be seen.
#31 - Smirk
“Every single person here can run rings around you, Daliquinn - so why do you keep provoking them?”
#32 - Sorrow
He may be half mad, and a foul bastard besides, but it still breaks her heart to see Daliquinn wasting himself on-- ugh, on that hideous orc he's taken to parading around as his own.
#33 - Stupidity
It has to be stupidity - there's no other way to account for Daimd, no other way to account for the things he says and the way he follows and follows and never learns his lesson; it has to be stupidity, or else Daliquinn has to look to less kind possibilities, and oh, he's tired of mistrust.
#34 - Serenade
He complains about Daimd's noise, says he's too used to it, that he can't sleep without it now and what does Daimd have to say for himself - the damn orc laughs an apology, and agrees that he'll just have to stay close, then, won't he?
#35 - Sarcasm
They spend another day helping the inhabitants of Eversong, and for a while Daliquinn even manages to maintain a veneer of politeness.
#36 - Sordid
“Get in here and fuck me already,” Daliquinn growls, tries to keep it more commanding and less damn needy, and then Daimd looks at him just so, and-- and nothing else matters much after that.
#37 - Soliloquy
Some days later, when the festival has run its course and all the ceremonies of romantic love have fallen away to daily routine, Daliquinn catches himself longing for a missed chance - he apologises that evening, as honest and earnest as he knows how, and lets Daimd wonder what prompted the sudden burst of Thalassian.
#38 - Sojourn
It's only one night, a matter of necessity, and Daliquinn smirks at Daimd's nervous habits when it comes to the Forsaken - when they leave the next day it's Daliquinn who's stumbling and exhausted, nightmares and memories weighing him down.
#39 - Share
It's something they all feel, the one thing he knows he shares with these who would be 'his people' - if this is what they have in common, the Sin'dorei are more disgusting than almost anything else he's ever known.
#40 - Solitary
Even in his earliest memories he wants to be left alone - perhaps he's always been broken, and it was only a matter of time before something scattered all his worthless pieces and showed everyone else the damning truth of it.
#41 - Nowhere
“I don't care where we go,” Daliquinn replies, and it's very almost true - as long as they keep moving, and no one place can claim him as its own, he really doesn't care where they end up.
#42 - Neutral
He'll leave one day, and if Daimd's soft proclamations and midnight promises are to be believed, it will be a death sentence for the orc - he'll leave one day just to prove he can, and Daimd's life or death will be no fool concern of his.
#43 - Nuance
He tells Daimd the next day, speaking in hollow undecided tones, and he has no idea whether the orc can possibly have any notion of what he means - only Daimd always understands something, seems to know just when and how to reach for him, and this time is no exception.
#44 - Near
Daliquinn gasps terrified thanks and follows the magister, closing himself to the carnage that surrounds - I can fight too, he tries to offer, but the words jam in his ragged throat, somewhere beneath the ash and blood and too many cloying decaying scents crawling under his skin.
#45 - Natural
The sneers, the disgust, the jibes and confusion and outrage - Daliquinn savours it all, and knows that nothing in his life has ever worked the way this does.
#46 - Horizon
He has Daimd kneel, and then kneels before him, brings one hand forward to touch that perfect face - he moves slowly, deliberately, and the alarming calm that's stolen over him doesn't reflect his heart at all; “Keep your eyes to the horizon, orc,” He says, shifting his fingers to Daimd's lips, “And know I will return to you.”
#47 - Valiant
“Just try and keep up,” He snaps before stalking on, leaving Daimd to the thankless unacknowledged task of guarding his back.
#48 - Virtuous
Daliquinn is objective enough to know he's attractive, even scabbed and bruised and always forever too thin - but Daimd's had him countless times now, and still he's hanging on, and Daliquinn just can't figure out what else there could possibly be.
#49 - Defeat
They're such simple words - he hears them every damning day - and yet, no matter how he tries...
#50 - Victory
He's assured - strangely calmly absolutely assured - that the wound won't kill him, so when he all but falls into Daimd's clutching grasp there's no reason to keep that one turn of phrase from passing his lips; “You're mine,” he tells his unharmed orc, and nothing so meaningless as pain will keep him from grinning in triumph.