(2022-06-17) Who I Am

Details

Author:	OzmaAsimov
Summary:	Gwen starts a "research journal" and recounts a bit about herself and how she got to where she is.
Rating:	T for Teen

26.06.16 11:17:48 – Entry 001: …-ink I ha-…

26.06.16 12:03:01 – Entry 002: Come on, work you piece of shoe! Oh! I think it’s working n-…gah, Padrick no do-…

26.06.16 12:15:16 – Entry 003: …-id not fix it, you almost broke it! You don’t even have thumbs! Oh, do not give me those big…adorable froggy eyes. Wait, what? Gah, it’s on? I’m not ready! Off off of-…

26.06.16 12:44:57 – Entry 004: Okay, everything should be in order now. Hello, future me! Woo, look at me! Hah, guess the smarty-pants draenei aren’t the only ones who can capture images and sou-…

26.06.17 3:31:22 – Entry 005: After extensive replays and testing, it turns out I have not, in fact, been capturing images, and I was only recording twenty-seven seconds of sound before the crystal matrix overloaded. I’m preeetty sure I’ve solved the sound issues…but the imaging problem remains a pain in my butternut squash. I guess an audial diary is going to have to do for now.

So…hello future me! I think I said that in a previous entry, but here we are again. Wow, I’m speaking to the future. Maybe not even myself, but anyone that might be listening to these recordings. Perhaps my voice has survived hundreds of years after my death. I could be speaking to my own descendents! In that case, hello from Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Granny Gwen!

Where to even start? This is meant more as a research journal than an autobiography, but I guess a few basics about my background could be relevant. I was born in Westfall in the kingdom of Stormwind to Dell and Salinda Whittle. We had a farm there, but things in Westfall got pretty bad, so we moved to Stormwind City when I was ten and Momma and Poppa started a little shipping business. That’s when I was discovered by Archmage Purdwick. He’s a mage of the Sanctum.

To make a long story short, my apprenticeship with Master Purdwick was great at first…but I only got so far with him before he got kinda fed up with me. Eventually I found a new master, the greatest mage in all Azeroth, Jocoza Sparkwire! Yeah, THE Jocoza Sparkwire. I know, right? I’m her apprentice. She unleashed my potential, and now I’m even in the Kirin Tor!

I am not bragging, Padrick. It’s just facts! Okay fine, I’ll tone it down. Stop looking at me like that.

Anyway, because of Jocoza I’m also part of this amazing group of people called Cobalt Company. They say they’re a mercenary company, but it’s really only in the most technical sense. The word brings a bad connotation, so I don’t like to use it. It gives the wrong impression. They’re not mercs…they’re heroes.

Most of all, they’re a family. These are people who really get what it means to be loyal and to love each other, no matter if we make mistakes or have flaws or things that just make us a little weird or different. They welcome everyone that wants to be part of something good and they…we stick by each other. It’s like having a whole, huge clan of Whittles.

I’ve even met someone special in Cobalt. It really caught me by surprise. My head was in my books, like always. But every time he was around I couldn’t help but notice him. He’s so sweet and generous, and he makes me laugh.

I am not talking about you, Padrick! Oh…oh, I’m sorry! Of course you’re sweet! And you make me laugh, too! I just mean someone else!

Well…mustard burps. I’ve upset Padrick. I’m gonna have to make it up to him later. He’s gone off to sulk now.

Anyhow…I can tell some of the others are concerned that Sandy is my guy now. Especially Mr. Fauntleroy. He’s the one who sponsored me into the Kirin Tor. Sandy is a warlock, so…yeah. People can sometimes get fussy about that. But I’m not. He’s the purest soul I’ve ever known.

Having Sandy has made things easier. Oh…sorry, I don’t mean to suddenly get all serious. It’s just…doing the kind of work Cobalt Company does…well, there’s sort of a dark side to it. It’s…violent work. I…I understand why it needs to be. We’re fighting against some really nasty people. The Shadow Council, Kael’thas, and so on. But…I just can’t bring myself to take a sapient life. No matter how evil they are. I don’t think I can do it.

But I’m still fighting alongside people that do. And here’s the thing. I’m using nonlethal magic…pummeling the bad guys or winding them or disrupting their temporospatial resonance…but then Dane or Bennarin or someone else will come and finish them off. I’m not an idiot. I still took part in that person’s death. I may not have delivered the killing blow…but I made it easier for the one that did. What…what does that make me? Who does that make me?

…

I don’t have an answer…and I’m not sure I want to hear it if someone else does.

…

Hmm…I’m supposed to be talking about research stuff. Uh…I did have a lot to do with figuring out how to open portals safely between Outland and Azeroth. So…there’s that. I’ll devote an entry to the details on that later. This entry is getting kinda long. Besides, I need to go apologize to Padrick.

Um…entry over! Bleh…I need a better sign-off.