#especially if there's an active Theron romance
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How did Corrian handle Theron’s betrayal?
>:3c
Corrain doesn't handle Theron's betrayal well, but it's not entirely his fault. Making it worse, he can sense that it is not a true betrayal, even if he doesn't know what actually is going on, and there's a LOT stressing him out besides his husband Pulling Some Shit.
See, Corrain is fuckoff powerful in the Force, right? But that gift tends to present itself in a few specific ways, one being powerful visions of the future. And right around this point in time, not only is he preparing to take the throne of and actually lead Zakuul while simultaneously trying to democratize their government to some extent, and mediate peace talks between the Sith Empire (which is afterwards divided in half when Malgus escapes with a bunch of pissed off Sith and creates the True Sith Empire and promptly starts a semi-civil-war) and the Republic....but he's also having a series of strong, really-mindfucky visions and for the first time he cannot tell what the Force is trying to guide him toward. Not that his visions are ever clear, of course - they tend to be very metaphorical and only show him little snippets of actual moments of the future - but when Vitiate/Valkorion was his opponent he thought he understood them. Now he doesn't have a clue what they mean, only that something is coming and whatever it is, it's entirely possible it will be worse than Vitiate eating planets.
So, with this kind of Ominous Portent hanging over his head combined with the galactipolicital situation and his own impending coronation and the additional fact that he can sense that not everything is as it seems with Theron and that betrayal...he just doesn't have *any* idea of what's really going on and he's scared. He knows something awful is coming but he doesn't know what it is or how to stop it and he THOUGHT it was Valkorion but he's still having the visions and even worse, the visions seem to be guiding him toward this Awful Thing.
And then Theron crashes the train on Umbara. Corrain can tell something's off the entire time and he's desperate to stop it and the visions from coming to pass but he doesn't know how - and so when Theron turns on him, it breaks him. Visibly. He loses control - and with a strength in the Force like he has, that means a lot of accidental Force Lightning. And, well. He shorts out the control panel on the train as it's accelerating. So it...doesn't stop accelerating. None of them notice until Theron takes off on the speeder stored for his getaway and is horrified to realize that the warning lights are blaring and the sabotaged electromagnetic train pulsars have already been set to blow. This means when the train crashes, Corrain (being a self-sacrificing idiot) tries to break Lana's fall at the cost of protecting himself, and is nearly killed on impact. Lana has to carry him to safety and arrange a medical transport, and he spends a few days in a kolto tank, recovering.
This accidental assassination almost-success has the dual effect of shattering both Theron and Lana, and making the Order of Zildrog FAR more trusting of Theron. It also means 95% of the Alliance, Vaylin and Arcann now included, are furious with Theron. (Keep in mind - the three of them are 'secretly' married at this point, which of course means the entire galaxy knows lmao). And this also means that when Corrain gets on air, about a week later, he's all but begging Theron to come home (because he can sense this wasn't a true betrayal but he doesn't know why it's happening), and pretty much everyone that knows him thinks it's the desperate, delusional plea of a heartbroken man. He also prevents the Chiss Ascendancy from shooting down Theron's ship on Copero with anti-spacecraft guns when they offer to do so. Even Lana only half-believes that he's actually been able to sense Theron's intentions, and it's only because she's generally sensed the same thing - only, she's keeping quiet and levelheaded about it, because she once did something similar to Theron on Rishi, and she knows he'd have clued them in if he were able. (If he were thinking straight about the situation, Corrain would be doing the same. He is not thinking straight. He is terrified because he is an unwilling Oracle for disaster and now THIS is happening-)
This obstinate inability to believe in Theron's betrayal ends up making it somewhat more difficult for the Alliance later, when my Canon Divergence happens with the remainder of the Zildrog arc (i.e. Zildrog isn't the Gravestone wtf bioware). Because sure, Corrain was objectively correct about Theron's betrayal - but now there's doubt about whether that was certainty born out of genuine objectivity, or wilfull blindness to a potentially devastating truth? (Answer: both tbh)
So when he starts having terrifying visions about [redacted], the leaders in the Republic and Empire pay mostly lip service to his warnings and calls for genuine peace and reform and go back to skirmishing. And then, of course, disaster strikes and his credibility comes back in full, but that's another story.
Thank you for the ask!!!!! I'm sorry it took so long to answer.
#swtor#swtor oc#corrain#moonrise legacy#corrain gealai#jedi knight oc#jedi knight#star wars#theron shan#lana beniko#corrain x lana x theron#luna tag!#yeahhhhhh this is fairly similar to how the pc can react in the canon story#but it always STRUCK me how absolutely desperate the PC must sound if they chose to make that broadcast asking theron to come back#especially if there's an active Theron romance#like...god. talk about baring your heart to the entire galaxy hoping the man you love will renege on nearly killing you and come back#pain. heart hurty. ow.
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Contributing very belatedly to the f/f discussion - the anon in this ask https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/747106235305902080/ive-heard-folks-explain-their-mm-preference-with?source=share mentioned not liking the way female characters are written. I’ve found that almost all the times when I have a female blorbo or am actively fannish about a f/f ship, it’s because they’re written like men/written the way people usually only write men.
I read a lot of het romance, and frequently find the male LI in those books to be more compelling and interesting than the female leads (to the point where a romance novel where the heroine is as interesting as the hero is a rare treasure, and those books are mostly written by women for women who tend to identify with the heroine so I don’t know what’s going on there). I adore the Locked Tomb series, especially the first book, and I feel like it reads a lot more like m/m fiction than most female-character-centric fiction does.
Other examples: Charlize Theron’s shot-with-the-exact-same-treatment-a-male-action-star-gets character in Atomic Blonde, Gideon Nav (already mentioned), Yang and her romance with Blake in RWBY, Pretty Arhat in Word of Honour, Vi in Arcane… IDK, maybe the missing factor for me to get into f/f is female badasses who get down and dirty in physical combat and get beat up a lot (and aren’t particularly femme)? And are frequently shippy with a more femme character I’m less invested in but still like? It’s a hard character archetype to find in the SF/F and historical genres I prefer.
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3, 10, 24, 27, 30, 33 for any OC you'd like :) if this is too many questions feel free to pick your favorites!
omg omg ok. ok. we've got this. we've been training for this. (cracking my knuckles and whipping open my laptop bc this is too much to type on mobile...) i think i'll probably rotate through a couple blorbos for this one!
3. What is something they really like about themselves and what is something you really like about them?
Unayah (my Inquisitor/Darth Imperius/babygirl/perfect angel, etc. etc.) - I think something that Naya really likes about herself is the lengths she's willing to push herself to get what she wants. I think she genuinely thinks (knows?) that she really is Built Different—while others are short-sighted and let themselves get bogged down in Sith grandstanding and politicking, she sees that getting too comfortable is a mistake and a limitation. I think that's what I like about her, too. Her ambition stretches beyond complacency; she'll do whatever she has to in order to attain true freedom, even if it's uncomfortable, painful, or contradictory to what the Sith have taught her. I have kind of a version of a conversation I think she had with her mother before they were separated that I toy with in my head—she told her daughter that even if she became a Sith, she didn't have to let herself lose her most important and human characteristics. She's never forgotten who she is and where she came from, and she uses that to her advantage.
Sohlara (Consular) - I think Sohl would speak positively of her own candor, and, kind of like Unayah, the deep reserve of grit and mental toughness that she keeps kind of intentionally concealed from others. I just always think of the mental load that the Consular's mission would have required of them, and I think she accepts that duty so readily because she knows it's right, but she also knows that she can. I think I've kind of funneled a lot of little bits and pieces of my own likes/dislikes into her but I really admire how unflappable she is, which is not a trait that I share, lol. I think her attunement with the Force makes her very confident that things will simply work out the way they're supposed to if she moves through them with the best of herself. I also really love her relationships and friendships with others, like the deep and genuine respect she and Qyzen have for each other and how tolerant and eager she is to learn from others' perspectives.
24. How do they relax? Is that a solitary activity, a group activity, or both?
Unayah has never relaxed a day in her life so jot that down (jk jk). This is a good question... I think she would really take advantage of her newfound freedom to get completely lost in reading/researching whenever she had the free time. I think she would also get a kick out of skulking around seedy bars with her surly pirate husband, just for old times' sake.
Sohl is definitely that kid who was like sitting crosslegged or walking aimlessly in circles around the outfield watching clouds and/or picking grass during recess (me). I think she would relax by doing some kind of active meditation outside, especially on Odessen once all the evil Force ghosties have vacated the premises.
27. What is their romance’s theme song?
When I tell you I have PLAYLISTS...
I think for Unayah/Andronikos it would be Sunlight by Hozier from my perspective, and For Your Love by Maneskin from his lol, both for pretty self-explanatory reasons. For Sohl/Theron, I associate them both so deeply with Who's Gonna Love Me Now by Cold War Kids, because it's generally a song about your life not turning out the way you were told it's supposed to and wondering... who's gonna love me now? And in their case, it's the person who's had sort of the eerily opposite life trajectory that fate keeps throwing you together with to run absolutely batshit missions <3
30. What is their love language?
Ooh this is also such a good one. I think for Naya it'd be physical touch, because feeling grounded and in control of her body is extra important after all the shit she's been through. For Sohl, I think either acts of service or quality time. She loved and valued her Jedi upbringing and how communal it was, but because of that, she secretly really likes feeling like someone is spending a little extra effort just for her.
33. What is their favourite color? And which colors do they like to wear the most?
Okay SO I made so many slay outfits for Sohl and then I randomly got the remnant underworld consular chest piece and put it on her. It is lichrally so boring and brown but something about it just feels so perfect for her. My girl is utilitarian. She loves the poncho vibes it's giving and so do I. Idk. I love it so much. In general I think she's def a neutrals girl and prefers not to draw attention to herself or her status through her clothes. (UNLESS... it's Relics of the Gree and then it's blue scalene armor all day every day.) I think her fave colors are definitely very earthy greens and aquatic blues.
Naya is a purple girl which is def me projecting but I LOVE a purple lightsaber and purple lightning. She mostly wears black with occasional, subtle, slightly threatening pops of gold, purple, and red.
HEHE THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!!!!! this was so fun! <3
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Forged Alliances Part 2: Manaan
Continuing on my replay of SoR with my latest smug...
Part I here
So, it’s been awhile since Tython and Korriban. Originally, in game, T3-G2 reaches out to the player to send them to Manaan. Alas and alack, 7.0 killed the breadcrumb quest, so now you just get a direct “go to Manaan” pass from Fleet. I have the video saved on a previous smug playthough and the text commemorated in my fic series.
I recently played KOTOR, and the music on Manaan comes from that game; the game map is a clear tribute too. It’s more pronounced here than it was on Taris. I can see why people were getting super hyped for Shadow of Revan to drop, with all of these references and planets to revisit.
Once the player arrives on Manaan, Theron talks about his favorite thing: intel (like father, like son). Or, in this case, why he does not have intel: Darok isn’t sharing with SIS as promised. This goes beyond SpecForce tensions with SIS however.
Even as Theron is dealing with the potential traitors in SpecForce, we also have some potential zany activities going on. Although Eva is seeing credits as they speak about infiltrating a lab (hello, kolto!), there’s also a few ghosts coming back from the dead: namely, Rakata technology.
If one played the planetary quests on Tatooine and on Belsavis Pubside or Impside, they encountered the remnants of world-ending machines and/or prisons built by the Rakata. Now, Darok and Arkous seem to moving this stuff around for unknown reasons. Nice and creepy.
At the end of the briefing, Theron mentions meeting a contact and seeing if the information she has is worth the hype.
Eva disapproves.
“She?” could convey surprise, but what’s so weird about a female contact? Do only men play spy games in the Old Republic? We know that not to be the case based upon planetary missions for SIS Pubside. Maybe “she?” is meant to represent the player wanting to know who this person is.
Me personally, I interpret this as sort of a hard push by developers for the Theron romance; this could be read as jealousy. And indeed, the developers did push both the Theron romance and the Lana romance throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, especially in the finale of Rishi. (Are you sure you REALLY want to go to Yavin NOW instead of talking to a SPY?!) There are some opportunities to play on the rivalry and/or potential for a love triangle.
While poking around the scientific horror show (and stealing kolto), Eva runs into Jakarro. This leads to one of the better comedic set-ups in the game:
Theron: Their story checks out (....) Charges against them both for smuggling, disorderly conduct, assault...
Eva: Even the droid?
Theron: Yeah, why do you ask?
(screenshot out of order...but you see the ‘problem’ with C2-D4 being charged with assault....)
The gag here is somewhat representative of the stronger writing on Pubside Forged Alliances and SoR, honestly. The Imperial side has no parallel to this interaction. Throughout Forged Alliances and SoR, Impside, there are more plotholes and less neat incorporation of prior content -- and more ‘forced’ funny bits rather than the well-played visual gag here.
Honestly, the writing in Forged Alliances/SOR for the Republic feels like compensation for the Dreadmasters and Oricon. In that case, the Pub sort of just gets plopped into Oricon, while the entire planetary plotline of Belsavis for the Empire was dedicated to the set-up. “Here, it’s your turn for crappy writing,” essentially. Although the Empire has more breadcrumb planets that lead up to this point (Dromund Kaas for the Revanites, Nar Shaddaa for the Starforge, as well as Tatooine and Belsavis for the Rakata tech), it’s nowhere near as well-integrated and well-written out as the Republic’s end of the content; the Republic side clearly conveys the danger of the Revanites, Revan, and even the Emperor -- it makes the player feel how important this operation is. I did not feel that sense of urgency as I played through on my Impside character. It just felt ‘lighter’ and less serious/significant.
We also encounter Lana Beniko, an exceedingly polite Sith Lord. What’s interesting here is how the writers handle Jakarro and the player’s opposing faction operative. If you play Pubside, it’s implied that Lana and Jakarro & D4 team up while Theron continues to be your handler. If you are Imperial, Jakarro & D4 and Theron become bros while you and Lana remain a team. This results in different dialogue and some different dynamics throughout SoR. Still, the five of you are fighting for the same cause, and Lana, as ever, is pragmatic:
We leave off Manaan aware of the potential of an Infinite Army: the Revanites are using Rakata tech to make self-repairing soldiers that could be unstoppable. We’ve thwarted them here, but what’s not to say they’ve already started exporting this stuff to manufacturing sites around the galaxy? Darok was shopping for smugglers who could handle such merchandise (including Jakarro), and we leave our intrepid friends wondering where the traitors-- and their Rakata tech -- are off to next.
#Swtor#forged alliances#Theron Shan#Lana beniko#Manaan#jakarro#c2-d4#Theron Shan x smuggler#rakata#oc: eva corolastor
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SWTOR: It's. About. Story.
After weeks of complaints about the new Galactic Seasons program, the devs posted a response today. Unfortunately they managed to neatly sidestep almost all of the complaints players have been making en masse:
1. The PVE objectives funnel a lot of players into areas where the instances are too large for the map to accommodate, such as 30 players on CZ-198. It's thus making those areas miserable to play, and woe to anyone actually trying to complete story (such as Rishi and Yavin 4).
Solutions to this issue would be a) lower the number of players in each instance; b) distribute the objectives more broadly so players don't all converge on a few specific areas. EA/BW said nothing about the former and doubled down on making the objectives narrow for the latter, at least for the first season of GS.
2. The "RNG" for objectives is very heavily skewed toward PVP and GSF, which are activities many players dislike and do not want to do. It's not uncommon to have both GSF and Warzones come up as the day's POs, and there's only one re-roll.
3. Re-rolling any objective often results in GSF or PVP coming up again. There's only one, so that often means a player cannot complete their PO (s) for the day.
As solutions to #2 and #3, players have been asking for a) more re-rolls; b) a way to toggle mission preference between PVE, solo PVE and PVP objectives so they avoid the ones they hate and won't do.
4. There are no solo weekly POs.
It seems as though EA/BW is making a conscious effort to ignore all the feedback on what many players actually want from the game and the issues they've expressed both on the PTS and live, to try to push the play styles they - and a small clique of fans - personally favor. It feels to me that they are trying to force the game and the player base to be something they're not.
SWTOR was marketed as a story based game. Its core demographic comes largely from two single-player, story-based games: KOTOR and KOTOR II. When it was released it was praised for the richness of its storytelling, and the strength of its voiceover artists.
Not PVP.
Not raids.
Not GSF.
Story. Good, substantial story.
The writing on the wall is there with other EA/BW games, too. The next Dragon Age was changed from a MMO to a single-player game. Anthem, a game involving group play, failed. Fallen Order, a single-player story based game, did well.
Mass Effect and Dragon Age are a decade old. KOTOR is an older game, too. People still play them, and want more of them, because of the story.
Of course, EA/BW would love it if the SWTOR playerbase en masse learned to love PVPing and GSF. It's low-cost content for them. They don't have to do much; just provide the maps and let players kill each other. But that isn't why people play this game, overall. There are far better games for PVP, first-person shooters and space battles, if that is what one actually wants. Heck, there's an entire space battle Star Wars game, Battlefront II, if that is what one wants.
In SWTOR, it's about the story. It's about the characters.
Sometimes I feel like there are devs at EA/BW who are trying to do this with the resources they have, and I'm grateful for that effort. The swoop rally had short storylines and characters to talk with. Echoes of Oblivion brought us the best writing since KOTFE. They had a Mandalorian themed flashpoint that brought in a storyline for non-Force users. None of it was IMPS VS PUBS 4EVA!!! which was great. Even the Secrets of the Enclave was pretty good. While I dread what it may be setting up, and it's back to the IMPS VS PUBS 4EVA!!! treadmill which is boring and tedious as fuck, it was designed well and had some really excellent moments.
But...Spirit of Vengeance was designed initially at a level much more tedious, and requiring better gear, than usual story/solo flashpoints. GSF objectives get way more conquest points that anything else. Some mats are only available through ranked PVP or NiM Ops. And now, Galactic Seasons, which could have been brilliant but seems to be garnering more resentment, anger and lost subscriptions than anything else.
When is there engagement and interest in SWTOR? When does one see more people posting on the official forums? When do the planets seem busier? When there's new story or event that can be soloed.
What do people constantly ask for? New stories, new engagement with companions, new strongholds, new world building.
It's interesting that EA/BW never has to beg or bribe people to play the story. Players do it because they want to. Even KOTFE/KOTET, which are not super popular, do not require player bribes. The only story content people seem to avoid or revile en masse are the walker missions; Oricon, which needs two ops to be completed; and Makeb, which tellingly has no characters with which the player can bond and engage long-term.
The class stories? Still being played. I've been through the Sith Warrior story four times, with several clones at various points in the class story working their way through. I've been through the Sith Inquisitor story three times, again, with more clones coming up. Bounty Hunter? Three times, so far.. Smuggler? Twice, so far. Imperial Agent? Twice. I've repeated every class story at least once, and I still keep coming back to do the class stories and planetary stories and side quests, because they are good. Because I like the characters I meet. Because the planets are engaging.
Shadow of Revan? Still being played.
I still see people on Ilum. I see people on Onderon and Ossus. Even Zakuul and Iokath. The story content gets played, and played again. One of the things people have requested again and again, in fact, is a way to repeat the story content.
Voiceover artists are expensive, especially when three languages are being recorded, but players have offered ways to add engagement with companions without speech, such as emails from them. Silent missions. You don't need to have a voiceover artist to animate a short scene of Lana Beniko or Theron Shan dancing on the beach with a PC they've romanced.
Even if they cannot keep up every romance, if they just kept up with Lana and Theron it would make players happy. Add in, let's say, four or six selected from the class stories - let's say Scourge, Kira, Quinn, Jorgan, Vette, Risha - and a lot of people would be overjoyed. Four men, four women; equal number from each faction + KOTFE. That does leave an uneven number of mlm/wlw possibilities but there are two of each, as well. And those companions can certainly have platonic friendly conversations with the PC, too. I personally really miss Vette, Talos, Xalek, Blizz, Ashara and Jaesa being in my story. And many others, too.
The things being offered by GS are things that story players enjoy - decos, new strongholds, companions with side story missions - and this makes it even more frustrating that story players are being expected to PVP, GSF and use Group Finder, unless they want to buy their way through, to get them.
Don't get me wrong - the fact that it's all optional makes me less angry at EA/BW than Iokath and Oricon did, by a long shot. All the same, it's a shame they're setting it up this way, because if they gave story/solo players objectives that were not PVP and group based, I think they'd be seeing a lot more excitement and engagement right about now.
Right now, it seems EA/BW is far more interested in catering to a smaller player group who enjoys side content that the rest of the player base has to be actively bribed and coerced to play. Should PVP and GSF get development? Sure, if people enjoy it. Should the game try to funnel the rest of us into it? No. The fact that players don't want to be there, and have expressed that sentiment again and again, and constantly need to be bribed and coerced into it, should be a wakeup call. But EA/BW is still sleeping and hitting the snooze button.
SWTOR is a story-based game. Raids, PVP, GSF are all wonderful for those who enjoy them but they are not for everyone. Players in a story based game need story.
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SWTOR 6.3.2 content update:
Played with my two mains: JK and Agent
(it’s 3 days old, don’t think I need a spoiler alert?)
Very pleased to see Theron take over half of the debriefing on the Pub side. I’m sick of the devs ignoring him just because the idiotic kill option back in Nathema.
Not pleased that Theron has no spoken lines on the Imp side, especially when it’s my Agent who’s romanced him.
Sana-Rae has more active role in Force related things and the suggestion of sending Arcann are good calls. I always have issues with how the writers basically used a magic ritual to “redeem” Arcann as if he’s under some mind control spell and basically glossed over all the responsibilities and consequences of his past atrocities. That’s just lazy writing. At least we get to see how the Alliance and Arcann are both trying to find their footings here.
The whole Mandalorian civil war is frankly dragging a bit long. Unless it will become a huge part in the whole 7.0 expansion, which should be about the mysterious Sith Darth Nul (now novel the name is lol), I wish the writers could end it soon.
Speaking of Darth Nul. It is potentially interesting that the Dantooine Jedi use a Sith relic to brainwash Revan. I doubt they’ll dip in something deep. Hope it won’t be another case of “tHe JiDI aRE eVIL lOok hOW eDGY i aM As A wRItER” that many “modern” writers think that counts as “good writing”.
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SWTOR character masterlist
i had a couple people asking me about this, so under the cut is a list of my swtor ocs, who they romance, some basic info, and reference pictures!
1) Lia Vhoss, Jedi Battlemaster and my canon Outlander - she and Lana are very married and extremely adorable together, and in my canon they’re actually in a polycule with a vaguely redeemed Vaylin (who Lia refused to murder)
2) Master Vreila Lanar, one of the youngest masters on the Jedi High Council, Barsen’thor of the Order. she and Felix are together and by the time kotfe happens they have a son together. she’s the Republic’s official representative to the Eternal Alliance before the merge.
3) Myiar Denon, pirate king of the criminal underworld. he’s not really with anyone, per se, but that’s mostly because he’s sleeping with like five different partners right now (including Senator Dodonna, who he freed, and at one point including Darmas, who he murdered). he’s definitely chaotic neutral leaning evil and follows the money.
4) Kal’vaela Corrin, commander of Havoc Squad, one of the most decorated soldiers in the Republic military. will commit war crimes if ordered to. Garza loves her, others hate her, but she’s gods-damned effective. married to Elara.
5) Avaanla Ki, Darth Nox, Empress of the Sith Empire in my canon - one of the youngest Dark Councilors in recorded history, she took over the Empire after Marr’s death and is very happily married to her disaster pirate husband. they’re the bane of half the Empire but she’s a gods-damned good Empress and so powerful nobody actually dares to go against her. (she uses a lightsaber pike and i love her so much god)
6) Vyl Kivan, formerly the Emperor’s Wrath, literally more Light than either of my two Jedi, defected to the Republic and joined the Jedi after Ziost’s destruction. he’s dating Theron and they’re a pair of dumbass sappy idiot dorks. he’s gay and also trans, we support him (he, Lia, and Avaanla are my favorite characters ask me about them they have BACKSTORIES and shit i adore them so much, especially this dumb sweet boy)
7) Karca Cadera. she’s the most recent winner of the great hunt and she’s very Mandalorian, married to Torian (in case you couldn’t tell by the name lol), bounty hunts for the money but also for the challenge of it. honorable warrior type.
8) and, finally, Averr’iis’aloh my beloved, Riisa, my agent who i adore. she activated the Eradicators to catch Jadus and extremely regretted it, spent her time undercover in the SIS really struggling with how they never treated her like a number, let Ardun Kothe live, and finally ended up choosing to become a double agent after she defeated the Star Cabal. after the Eternal Empire attacked, she ended up installing herself as Keeper of the restored Imperial Intelligence, where she served for seven years before eventually getting caught. she pulls off some incredible shit that gives the Republic a huge edge and they end up freeing her and bringing her to the Republic, where she joins the SIS openly. she’s technically with Vector but i’m also very very attached to shipping her with a friend’s chiss OC so she also sort of has a girlfriend back on Csilla.
#swtor#swtor oc#oc: lia vhoss#oc: vreila lanar#oc: myiar denon#oc: kal'vaela corrin#oc: avaanla ki#oc: vyltak kivan#oc: karca cadera#oc: averr'iis'aloh#aight i think that's everyone#honestly ask me questions about them#i will ramble for hours unbidden#also feel free to ask about the 'throne' verse#up on ao3#it is not canon#but i am still obsessed
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So, for the time being, I resubbed to SWtOR through the end of the year.
I have very mixed feelings about 6.0. (spoilers)
There are things I love about it.
Romanceable bi/pan Scourge, bi/pan Kira, yes, these are excellent introductions. And they even brought them back with a good backstory that potentially will involve them in future content. Also good. I can’t deny that I’m jealous of how much attention some classes’ LIs get compared to some of my favorites. Smugglers waited almost as long, for instance, and two of the LIs got a short two-for-the-price-of-one return scene with an explanation for their absence that...defies all logic based on their backstory and prior characterization. The third made more sense and came with the bonus of Mako, but still... And we won’t even get into Gault’s magical plot armor and continuing active role in the stories, lol.
The story seems to have some interesting potential. Glad to see Jakarro and homicidal C2D4 back. I’m pretty meh on Malgus, so that’s not that interesting to me. I just don’t really have feelings about him either way, and so far, they seem to be playing him as generic homicidal Sith. But his role seems to be making a lot of people happy, so that’s a plus.
The Satele Shan infected with something the emperor left behind has a lot of potential, and I foresee angst that will either thrill or infuriate the Theron fans (I love Theron, but at the same time, he just...does nothing for me.)
I’m thrilled to see both Major Anri and Master Tau back. Not too happy that Anri can end up as a captive of the Alliance or Republic because that feels like the end of her as a major NPC, and dammit, I adore her. (And makes me wonder why it is the writers only like the NPCs who lack good development or are, frankly, bland or predictable stereotypes...)
They apparently have worked out some way for multiple future threads, allowing some people to remain independent allies, some people to be active saboteurs, and some people to return to their prior positions. Which should make everyone happy, but I admit, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. Part of me believes they’re going to eventually punish everyone who didn’t jump at the chance to return to their original faction at the same rank from 11+ years earlier.
I haven’t had to completely relearn to play any classes. I hate when they do that, lol. Small changes are OK, but geeze, I’m tired of abilities being nerfed.
I love what they did with the nautolans. Of the 5 or 6 I’ve created so far, I particularly love my newest smuggler, Lameela (trying to pick a nickname for her, and I’m leaning toward Eela. It seems appropriate, lol.)
I haven’t immediately adored a smuggler like this since ‘Noka (though I always have a soft spot for all my smugglers.) Her resting face has a smile, but there’s a bit of a smirk to it. She looks like she’s been through a lot already, between the scars and eyepatch, which fits with a scrapper. Her face has a lot of character and is attractive, but I don’t think anyone would call her cute. And with the complexion, to me she looks like she’s in her early to mid 30s rather than a kid, which makes far more sense to me for a smuggler.
Lana’s snark, especially in a Republic PT. Her lines are pure gold. Theron’s got some great ones, but hers are amazing.
I both love and hate the new materials inventory. It’s handy in some ways: you can check on whether or not you need something without being in a stronghold even if that character doesn’t have that crafting skill. But the organization...ugh. Instead of popping back to the stronghold to check, I’m having to look up the name of that grade 9 supplementary archaeology material that I know I need.
I enjoy having 7 tabs in my legacy cargo bay (only on one server, unfortunately.)
Leveling from 70 to 75 seems a lot faster than 65 to 70 was, which is a relief considering the other trends in the game.
The darker side of 6.0.
Koth and Senya are still MIA. We at least had really brief contact with Koth during the Ossus arc, and admittedly Senya’s dead in many people’s PTs, but she might as well be dead in all PTs for all we’ve heard from her since the end of KotET.
Arcann’s also MIA, and someone explain to me why he wasn’t mentioned when the Republic offered a senate seat and citizenship for Odessen and the Alliance? Seriously, while I love the redemption (though I wish they’d developed it more,) the Republic’s just going to shrug and pretend that all those planets weren’t destroyed, etc.? Especially if he was romanced. Your Jedi Consular showing up for a Jedi Council meeting with her lover who almost destroyed the order and no one’s going to blink...
The option to kill Vowrawn, sigh... (see above remarks on the writers and their preferences on NPCs. You would think they’d be delighted that they created popular characters instead of offended that we didn’t “appreciate” someone else more. I never want to actually meet the guy Kaliyo’s the favorite for.)
My concern the Satele story is going to present us with one of those nasty decisions with huge plotholes that was clearly done just to force a nasty choice on the players. It has so much potential. But their track record (see the Vette/Torian decision, among others) on arbitrary and pointless decisions that make no real sense...
The growing probability that they’re going to drop something nasty on those of us who have cross-faction romances or maintained the Alliance’s independence. They don’t have a great track record of following through with what appeared to be promises about doing or not doing things. I kind of expect that we’ll be forced into the kind of atrocity that will drive the opposing faction from the Alliance. And as far as I’m concerned, forcing a break in Lana and Theron’s friendship will be a deal breaker for me. I live for their interactions.
I’m still pissed about the lack of level 70 gear, and the general tepidness of basic level 75 stuff available to solo players from the treasure lock boxes. The medpacks and stims at level 75 start out significantly weaker than the ones at 70/66 (wtf?) I’ve put a huge amount of materials into trying to get the pattern for the artifact quality stim at 75 already with no luck (I could have sold the materials for 10 or 15 million credits, I think.)
Bugs. I got 6 grade 11 material satchels from the two FPs yesterday. I can’t open them? Right click, nothing. I reported it, but now I’m storing satchels until there’s a bug fix, lol. Doesn’t affect satchels at other grades; I’ve gotten several with no problems. Just the grade 11′s, as far as I can tell. I’ve heard about a lot of others, like the bugged Lana Imperial romances. Truthfully, bugs are a normal annoyance with an expansion, though the Iokath probs are concerning because it doesn’t sound like they consider them a high priority, but it means no one can advance a character past that without giving up their game choices for the traitor arc (not going to happen for anyone with a Theron or Lana romance, obviously.)
The increased difficulty in some places, paired with the nerfed companion healing. I don’t really notice it in lower level heroics. But I did the two required FPs for Shadow of Revan yesterday, and the weakened companion healing bites noticeably. I’ve virtually never needed to use my scrapper’s own healing abilities (I don’t run healers for a reason, dammit, and the scrapper spec isn’t a healing spec.) I had to several times per flash point, kept getting knocked down to less than 20% of my health (more a problem with the Mandalorian fights than the later Revanite FP.)
And I was wearing the old level 70 gear, for the most part. My scrapper’s gear rating was 226. Not great, but it certainly should have been more than enough. I’m seriously not looking forward to that FP in crappy rating 220 gear, much less Copera, etc.
Chapter one and two of KotFE is much harder than it was previously, and why? Chapter one in particular is supposed to be a fucking tutorial level for people who haven’t played the game before. The weak mobs that used to be easy one-shots? Take three or four times as long to kill now, and so on. It isn’t hard so much as unnecessarily tedious for players who’ve been there 20 times already. And the XP sucked on top of that (about 1/3 of what I got from quick heroics or dailies.) Making people dread the slog is not the way to keep players, lol.
Which leads me to this: I’m especially concerned about the future of the game by the general attitude of the devs toward punishing solo players and generally making it more difficult/a huge slog for them. All to satisfy the endgame raiders and others who are either angry that there are players in the game who won’t fill out their raiding parties (and excuse most raiders’ own behavior that has guaranteed that people like me would rather have a root canal without anesthetic than go through an op or veteran+ level FP, etc.) Or are infuriated that there are players who “finish” without playing at what they consider an acceptable level of difficulty. Because somehow their achievement defeating some boss on nightmare mode is “diluted” if I get to experience the story in the later game at an acceptable level of stress, with adequate gear and abilities. We won’t even touch the ableism inherent in that attitude, but suffice it to say, the devs show every sign of embracing this elitist attitude with a religious fervor.
So, I’m giving them two more months. But my general feelings for a while have been...if I can find another game that interests me, I’m probably gone until they swing back in the direction that brought me back three years ago after two years playing Dragon Age. I want genuine story mode back and less hostility to solo players, and some confidence they aren’t going to screw my story just because they...don’t like that I like characters or things?
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FIC: By the Guidance of Stars - Chapter 13
Title: By the Guidance of Stars
Fandom: SWTOR
Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight
Rating: E (Chapter Rating: T)
Genre: Angst, H/C, Romance, Humor
Synopsis: The Coalition tries to heal in the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin 4, but not every wound is physical. A series of missing scenes set during the end of Shadow of Revan.
Warnings: See Chapter 1.
Author’s Notes: It’s done! It’s complete at long last! *joyful sobbing* Thank you all for sticking around this long, and through the long hiatus of writer’s block.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Crossposted to AO3
Usually Theron liked to take a little longer getting decent, but the ticking clock forced him to rush through getting cleaned up — just taking enough time to restore his hair to its normal glory. Only a poor spy would ignore a crucial detail like bedhead in covering up his, ahem, undercover activities.
By the time he’d emerged from the refresher, his lovely companion had managed to get herself back into most of that damnable, confusing armor and getup and look almost presentable. He’d rounded up and sorted through the haphazardly discarded articles of clothing while she hit the shower first, which probably made her task a little easier. She waited patiently for him to don ninety-percent of his own attire before quirking an expectant eyebrow at him.
“What?”
“I think someone might ask questions if I suddenly started walking around with my hair down.”
“I kind of like it.”
“I will keep that in mind,” she said, almost a little too patiently, “but I still need to put my hair back up.”
“What’s stopping you?” He grinned, already knowing the answer.
“Theron Shan,” she put her hands on her hips, the motion carrying a little more weight and authority now that she had those giant pauldrons back on, “you know very well that you still have my hair tie.”
“Oh? This?” Theron waved his wrist, in her direction where the little leatheris strap was still tied. “I was thinking about keeping it. I think it suits me.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head, but he caught the edges of her mouth quivering in a repressed smile. “Unless you have something else I can use for my hair, you will need to return it to me.”
“If you insist.”
“Master Satele will be expecting us very soon,” she reminded him, “and I do not believe either of us really want to try and explain why we kept her waiting.”
“There you go,” he muttered as he carefully untied the little strap, “being all logical again.”
“I have never met anyone as dedicated to irrationality as you,” she quipped back, expertly gathering her hair up into a ponytail.
“It’s one of my charms.” He could have just handed over the hair tie and let her finish the job, but it seemed much more efficient, not to mention a convenient way of stepping in close again, if he tied it back into place himself. “It’ll work on you eventually.”
A hint of color rushed to her cheeks, already letting him know the effectiveness of said charms. She tried to cover up the reaction by smoothing her hand over her hair to check on the neatness of the ponytail.
“But you’re probably right — again,” he continued, “we shouldn’t keep the boss waiting.”
“No, of course not,” she said, and to her credit, only sounded the slightest bit flustered.
Their trip to the clifftop where Satele was overseeing the launch of Republic’s ships was probably a little more hurried than it would have been, had they dawdled a little less in the shuttle. He needed to shift personas now, try and make it look like they were merely colleagues to the outside observer. Something that might have been called into question right now with just how close they were walking together. As the clearing came into sight, he spied his mother’s silhouette in the distance. And if he squinted, it appeared that Jakarro, Kira, and several others were waiting. Okay, yeah, they couldn’t walk in together now, that’d be way too suspicious.
So he peeled off at the last second, to a narrow walk path someone had cut through the foliage.
“Where are you going?” she asked quietly.
He just shot her back a grin, and waved her on. If his ears didn’t deceive him, he thought he heard an exasperated sigh as he plowed through the underbrush. He gave his hair one last check before emerging from the tree line, just a few seconds before Grey did from the other path. Satele gave him a polite nod at his arrival, gaze focused on the various Republic vessels that were taking off. He had almost convinced himself that this had been the perfect ploy, when he caught Kira glancing at him, then back at her boss, before rolling her eyes.
Okay.
Maybe not one hundred percent effective. But it was all he could come up with at the last minute. His mind had been occupied with more important tasks than coming up with a proper cover story. Like making sure every article of clothing had been tucked back into all of the right places — and maybe sneaking in one last kiss before unlocking the shuttle door.
Thankfully Jakarro was less observant than a nosy ginger Jedi and hadn’t seemed to connect the dots quite as quickly. Theron was fairly certain that the Wookiee would have practiced far less discretion, and the loud protocol droid still strapped to his chest even less so. Besides, the nearly bone shattering farewell hug that Jakarro had swept the spy up in had been quite enough, thank you — especially considering it had smashed Theron’s face into C2-D4’s disembodied head for an up-close and personal goodbye. He was saved from spending the entire flight back to Coruscant in a kolto tank treating re-cracked ribs by his dashing Jedi Knight in shining armor rushing to his rescue.
“Jakarro,” she said amicably, laying her hand on the large Wookiee’s shoulder, “it has been such a pleasure working with you and Deefour in this endeavor.”
The ploy worked and he abandoned his current hugging victim to envelop her gauntlet with his big paw in a firm handshake. Theron tried to maintain his dignity and didn’t stagger away upon being released, but did move out of grabbing distance in case the smuggler decided resume his affectionate farewell.
“This has been the most fun the droid and I have ever had, tiny friend,” Jakarro roared in Shriiwook.
“You two certainly have a way of livening things up,” Grey agreed.
“I’ll say,” Kira added with a knowing smirk in Theron’s direction. Silently she mouthed the words ‘Motesta Driller’ at him.
He glared back at her. “Thanks. I had just forgotten about that.”
“Don’t lie, you’ll never forget.”
He refused to deign that with a response, and beyond their little group, he could make out Satele raising a brow in inquiry. That in itself was an uncomfortable reminder of the conversation she had nearly walked in on earlier that morning, not to mention his afternoon activities with the Grand Master’s favorite knight. He cleared his throat, and shot Kira a more serious look.
“You know,” she added quickly, turning back to the unlikely set of smugglers, “it really is a shame that you two have to leave so soon.”
“As lovely as this has been,” Deefour said, “we have some lucrative business opportunities awaiting us back on that pirate infested planet. Nothing to worry yourselves over — just normal, legitimate business.”
“Right,” Grey drew the word out to several syllables.
“Hopefully these ‘opportunities’ turn out better than your Manaan contract,” Theron said flatly.
“You take on one client that’s working for a secret cult trying to take over the galaxy and you never hear the end of it.” If Deefour could have shook his head, he would have. As it was, the color in his eyes just blinked in dissatisfaction.
“You have to admit,” Grey said, “that can be a sticking point for some.”
“I have implemented a new screening process!”
Jakarro growled, “We have no screening process!”
“Of course not.” Kira rolled her eyes.
“You know, you could join my crew if you’d prefer.” The lilt in Grey’s tone was teasing, but Theron was fairly certain the offer to adopt the wayward pair was serious. “The chances of you winding up on the bottom of the ocean floor again are very small.”
“As tempting as that sounds—”
“There is not enough room for the Mighty Jakarro on your tiny ship!” Jakarro cut the droid off, his word choice summoning flashbacks to the “pep talk” from the night before.
Mercifully, before the explanation on the Wookiee’s size could go down any unwanted path, Deefour tactfully added, “Another time perhaps.”
“The Force works in mysterious ways sometimes,” Satele remarked as the smuggler duo disappeared back into the tree line.
“I’m not sure ‘mysterious’ is the word I’d use,” Theron muttered.
The sarcastic comment didn’t phase her, instead Satele turned to Grey. “I have just finished a meeting with the Council regarding all that has transpired.”
The knight didn’t exactly stiffen, but there was the slightest shift in her posture. Straightening her back and folding her loose hands together in front of her, which forced the pauldrons on her shoulders to jut out. The natural, cheerful expression she’d been wearing for the previous conversation smoothed into a pleasantly neutral one. Her cape fluttered lightly in the breeze behind her as her transformation back into the perfect, model Jedi seemed almost complete.
It was a curious sight to behold, not unlike watching someone slip a mask into place. Theron didn’t quite know what to make of the uncomfortable feeling that bubbled up in his gut seeing it happen, even though he did the same thing all the time. When it came time to do the job, the mask was fixed in place. Another similarity between their chosen professions.
“The work that all of you have done against Revan and his followers is to be commended.” Satele’s tone had a note of officiality to it.
Curious, Theron glanced over at Kira. She had tucked her arms behind her back in an almost formal fashion and was more focused on the proceedings about to happen with something akin to pride than acknowledging the spy’s silent question. Interesting.
“You have a unique perspective and experience among all of us,” Satele continued, “especially when it comes to dealing with Vitiate.”
There was no flinch from Grey at the mention of the name, just a tip of her head in Satele’s direction of acknowledgment.
“The Republic is forming a taskforce to address the renewed threat that he poses, and I have Darth Marr’s word that the Empire is doing so as well. We need all of our best people working on this — and it only makes sense that the Order’s foremost expert on the matter represent us in this endeavor.”
All of those words were meant to be a compliment, the appointment an honor — but a trickle of dread dripped down Theron’s spine for some reason, settling in his gut hard. Ngani Zho liked to say that what most people called gut instinct was just the Force reaching out to them. That people would be better off listening to that. It was one of the memories of his mentor that had a tendency to either rankle or comfort him depending on the day. At this moment in time, though, it was unsettling. A bit like tasting the tang of ozone in the air before an oncoming thunderstorm.
“You are already familiar with the SIS’s liaison for the task force,” Satele said, rousing Theron back to the present.
He gave a half-hearted shrug at both Kira and Grey. “Hi.”
It wasn’t exactly the most witty of remarks, but he was still unsettled. It made perfect sense that the Republic would involve Grey in this, choose her to lead the fight against the Emperor. She’d already done it before after all. It would be more stupid to keep her sidelined really. But it also meant she’d now be on the front lines tracking Vitiate down. Confronting him again. The thought of that stirred at the unease in his gut and he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. Maybe the Force was trying to warn him of something to come, if it actually did deign to actually associate with him in any way, or maybe it was just his own feelings surging to the forefront and blocking out common sense.
Of course, the bright side of all of this meant he’d be seeing her again, probably sooner rather than later. Even if he’d prefer that reunion to be under much different circumstances.
“The council was unanimous on this decision, and one other.” Oblivious to Theron’s internal monologue and struggle, his mother continued to drone on. The sudden shifting of those giant pauldrons caught his attention, as Grey unclasped her hands in front of her and tucked them behind her back, feet spreading apart into an even more formal stance that matched Kira’s.
“Master Greyias Highwind,” Satele said proudly, “you have served both the Jedi Order and the Republic under extraordinary circumstances, time and time again.”
Grey’s serenely composed Jedi expression broke, blue eyes widening in realization, even as Kira’s lips started to twitch in a repressed smile. Almost as if she knew what was about to be said.
“You embody every ideal in the Jedi Code—”
Theron managed to bite back a laugh, just barely, and was struggling to hold back a full-on grin as he caught Grey’s gaze. He physically pressed his lips together tightly to try and hold back in his reaction, mind immediately straying back to the shuttle. He caught just she slightest purse of her lips and light flush of extra color rush to her cheeks, making him wonder if their thoughts were running in sync at this very moment.
Well, almost every ideal, he thought to himself with no small amount of smugness. The important ones anyway.
Satele either missed, or was intentionally ignoring the silent byplay going on. “It is with great pride and honor as Grand Master, that I name you Battlemaster of the Jedi Order.”
A wave of pride rushed over Theron then, watching the new Battlemaster blink, once. Twice. Her lips twitching as if fighting a smile down and to live up to that embodiment of every ideal of the Jedi Code she was supposed to represent. As much as he had his own issues with the Jedi, it was readily apparent that she adored the Order she worked for. And seeing her so happy and honored was… it was something alright.
“I thank you and the Council for this honor, Master Satele,” Grey had almost, almost managed to keep the smile out of her voice, so she could retain the appearance of that proper, perfect Jedi. “I will do everything I can to fulfill my duties with wisdom, skill, and humility.”
“You have my every confidence,” Satele said, her own serene countenance cracking, a rare and genuine smile emerging underneath.
Theron watched the interaction with probably a little more interest than called for. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen that warm, indulgent expression before on Satele. Prior to this whole business with the Revanites, Theron’s dealing with his mother had been limited and always very tense. He’d always cast the blame outwards for that, it was easy, almost natural to do so. But it was possible there was… more than just a little bit of baggage that made its way into each of their interactions. Listening to Grey the night before — and watching the two of them now — was starting to make him reconsider if that baggage somehow prevented him from keeping a more open mind.
Whenever he talked with Satele about anything approaching a personal subject, Theron felt himself revert into that angry teenager left to wander the galaxy on his own. He’d learned quickly that it was best to make the first strike to put his opponent on the offensive — and for some reason when it came to his mother he always reverted to that mentality.
When they’d talked back on Coruscant for the first time as mother and son, she had promised him she would always be there if he needed her. And she… had been. He was alive now because she had convinced Jace to bring the Republic fleet to Duros when he’d asked. And she’d forged a Coalition with Darth Marr on his (and Grey’s) word — granted they’d had the data to back it up. But it very easily could have gone the other way. And she’d supported all of his judgement calls when it came to the mission here on Yavin. Had stood next to him for the briefing with Trant. She’d even given him, granted in a slightly underhanded way, his old ship back.
And yes, she had tried to meddle yesterday, but it hadn’t been unprovoked when he replayed the memory of the incident. And it maybe hadn’t actually been about what he’d been assuming at first.
The more thought he gave it, the more he had to wonder if he was… missing anything. By just reacting all of the time. And not listening. Always pushing any personal interaction they had into an argument. Shutting her out of his life completely, instead of… not.
Not that he had any idea of how to go about that. Probably best to not think about it, keep focused on the here and now.
“Our first priority is to understand what happened the other night,” Satele was still addressing her new Battlemaster. “Even if we can guess at what his ultimate goal likely is, we need to understand where he might have gone if we are to bring an end to his threat. We will need more intelligence before we can be sure.”
“That’s probably where I come in,” Theron cut in, shooting a look over at Grey. It was probably the easiest way to try and explain their earlier conversation back in the shuttle, at least while everyone else was listening.
“It is a large task,” Grey said evenly, matching his gaze, “and we must all do our part.”
If Satele sensed any underlying tone or tension to their words, she didn’t show it, instead turning her attention above to where the Coalition’s ships were filling the sky. Behind the gas giant, Yavin’s sun was beginning to set in its orbit, its rays bouncing off of the red planet and reflecting onto the moon. A deep red hue filled the valley beyond them, haloing the ships in a a beautiful but haunting light.
“Not sure I’ll ever get used to the sunsets here,” Theron said absently, watching the glow creep across the canopy below. “Kind of glad I don’t have to.”
“It will be nice to return to some semblance of normality,” Satele agreed. “This entire endeavor has been… different. In both good and disturbing ways.”
That was putting it lightly. “Yeah, I mean, as happy as I will be to get off this rock, I’m not exactly looking forward to trying to explain this whole mess to everyone else back on Coruscant. Conspiracies, government infiltrations. Not just one Revan back from the dead but two. Or whatever that was. I’m not even sure I understand half of what went down — kind of sounds insane when I say it aloud.”
“I would be happy to assist with that,” Satele said cautiously, “with your permission of course. I am more… familiar with matters of the Force.”
He arched a brow at her, trying to contain his dubiety. “You sure? It’s going to be a lot of boring meetings.”
“You forget Theron,” she said, with just the tiniest hints of humor bubbling to the surface, “I studied the art of patience under Ngani Zho too. I am more than prepared for a few skeptical Republic officials.”
“This I have got to see.”
The smile he exchanged with her wasn’t infused with the soft and gentle warmth that he’d witnessed a few moments prior, but unlike all of their previous interactions, nothing in it was forced. It was a little more conspiratorial, with just a hint of mischief dancing in the eyes. And if he wasn’t imagining things, she shot him back one that was almost identical.
Huh.
Maybe that’s where he got it from.
Beyond his mother, he caught a glimpse of Grey, still standing at attention, gaze directed up to the sky as if she was trying to blend into the background and give the parent-child moment some semblance of privacy. Despite the projected formality and image of practiced disinterest, the corner of her lips were still quirked up ever so slightly.
“It is a long journey back to Coruscant,” Satele’s expression had shifted back into her normal, placid expression, “we should not keep the Dauntless waiting.”
“Probably need to go grab my ship in that case.” He indicated the path he’d exited from the jungle. “Speaking of… thanks. For that.”
If Theron hadn’t been watching, he might have missed the change in her expression. Like the subtle ripple on a still pond, it was just the barest of things. Brows arching up ever so slightly, the laugh lines he had never noticed as such easing just a little as she nodded an acknowledgement. It probably should have infuriated him that she didn’t say anything more, but oddly enough, it didn’t. There were others around, which would have made it awkward if she had, and maybe… maybe it was good enough as a start. The flight back to Coruscant was a long one, and there’d be plenty of time to talk more if he really wanted. Theron wasn’t really sure if he was ready for that yet — so best to let things rest where they landed for now.
He watched her exchange some parting words to both of the Jedi that remained, before sending him one last look as she made her way back to the shuttle that would take her back to the Dauntless.
Realizing that it was now just the three of them, Kira gave a slow, wandering glance at her present company, before clearing her throat. “You know, I think Teeseven probably needs some help with those preflight checks. Make sure we’re ready to leave this Dark Side infested place for good.”
“If there is an issue with the ship, I can help—”
“Nah, I got this,” Kira said, tipping her head in Theron’s direction. “It’ll give you time to wrap up things.”
Grey gave her grateful smile. “Thank you, Kira.”
“Anytime.”
They both watched her departing form, the silence hanging in the air almost as if it was a physical thing. Theron shifted on the balls of his feet, glancing back out at the valley and jungle beyond, bathed in the red light of the sunset, before glancing back to see an expression directed at him, caught somewhere between irritation and amusement.
“Were you ever planning on telling me that was actually your shuttle?”
The laugh he let out was only half nerves, half relief that she’d broken through the barrier of quiet. He wasn’t meaning to stall, but… yeah. Yeah, he totally was. He didn’t want to do this.
“I did tell you,” Theron’s protest was about as weak and transparent as his attempts at delaying the inevitable, “you just didn’t believe me.”
She just shook her head, still unable to make up her mind whether she wanted to laugh or sigh in exasperation. In his head, the chrono that had been counting down from the moment he’d woken up hit zero, and with it, a feeling of some finality settling deep in his bones. As unexpectedly amazing as the day had turned out, he now had to face the worst part of it: the fact that it was now over.
“I’ve never been a fan of goodbyes,” he said quietly.
“We are on the same task force, Theron.” Grey cocked her head slightly, giving him a look he couldn’t quite decipher. “Do you really expect we won’t see each other?”
“No, it’s not that,” he tried, “I’ve just… usually I don’t work such long stretches with the same people like I have this time… what I mean is…” Hell, why was this so difficult? “I don’t usually see the same people day-to-day, and despite how much fun this planet has overall not been, I...”
“I’m going to miss you too, Theron,” she said gently. “For however long this next time apart will be.”
He shot her an awkward smile, trying to shrug off his chagrin over being unable to actually say those words aloud. There was a part of him that hated how she was able to so effectively reduce him to this rambly state without doing a damned thing, and how she seemed to always see right through it to the heart of the matter. Or rather… just to him. Which was… not something he was supposed to want or like. But he did.
More than he should have, considering that most spies would recoil at having anyone be able to see the real person underneath all of the layers carefully presented the world — but she wasn’t just anyone. She was… her. And maybe it was a dangerous thing, a liability even, to not just place his trust in someone like this, but allow himself to get lost in them.
But he was Theron Shan, and he thrived on danger. When he looked at her — and the way her smile reached her eyes when set his heart racing like all of the best adrenaline rushes he’d ever chased — he knew that she was the furthest thing from a liability.
So this whole thing, whatever it was, was fine. Good even. Really and truly.
“I don’t exactly have a good track record with this sort of thing,” he admitted.
“It is new for me as well.”
“What I said before,” he said a bit clumsily, “about finding time… I still don’t know what my schedule looks like. But if our paths do cross again, sooner rather than later…”
She reached across the distance between them, twining their gloved fingers together. “I suppose we will just see what happens when that moment arrives.”
“I guess so,” he let out a half-laugh. “Sorry, I suck at this.”
“You are not as bad as you think,” she said gently, before sobering, “but Theron?”
“Hmm?”
“I meant what I said earlier too,” she looked him straight in the eye, as if it was important that he understand her, “about Vitiate. He’s dangerous.”
“I know,” he reminded her, “but we’ve got this. It’s going to work out in the end, I’m sure of it.”
Even if he had to turn the galaxy upside down to keep his promise. Whatever it took.
“And here I thought you were calling me the optimist.”
“Hey, I learned from the best.” He gave her a cheeky grin.
She gave him that look again that he adored, the one where she couldn’t decide if she wanted to kiss him or smack him. It was something special — and more importantly — it was his. And he’d do everything in his power to protect it.
“Stars, I really want to kiss you again,” he murmured.
“What’s stopping you?” She looked almost deceptively innocent as she peered back at him, but he caught the hints of an impish smile forming.
“Might land you in a world of trouble if someone saw us.”
She made a show of looking left. And then right. Up to the empty watch towers, then at the blazing sunset filled with ships leaving the atmosphere, down to the jungle surrounding them, before looking back at him. The mischievous smile was fully in place now, all traces of that serene mask fully tossed away now that they were alone. That perfect Jedi was gone, leaving this ridiculous dork in her place.
“I don’t see anyone watching,” she said lightly.
That was all the invitation he needed, and without another word he pulled her in for one last, slow lingering kiss. He still didn’t have the words for whatever this thing was, but he did know one thing.
It was worth fighting for.
#swtor fanfiction#theron shan x jedi knight#Theron Shan#Female Jedi Knight/Hero of Tython#otp: adorkable#oc: greyias highwind#SoR Fic O Doom#swtor#fanfic#this is it!#the last one!#(for this story)#(i still have the forged alliances fic)#(but that is a project for another day)#greyfic
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My Fav Romances
1. Andronikos Revel, obviously. Rough and rugged pirate who’s also a massive softy? Yes, please. Being voiced by Steve Blum is a plus. I love him. Please give us more space pirate content BioWare I beg of you.
2. Doc, because I like trash fires. I also find him just to be fun. Plus I like being the one pursued. Generally in RPGs, love interests don’t ping off unless you actively go for them but Doc’s flirting hard with you out of the gate. I get that some people hate it but like. I like being sought after. It’s also fun to watch him fall hard and fast in love and be very confused by the whole thing lol
3. Vector Hyllus, because he is the softest, sweetest bby and my first romance in this game and I love him and I will FIGHT ANYONE WHO TRIES TO SAY A BAD WORD ABOUT MY BUG BOY.
4. Malavai Quinn, because I like chipping away at his resolve. Also he’s the most fun to make headcanons for because BioWare makes some headscratching writing decisions.
5. Aric Jorgan, my fuzzy boyfriend. A lot of it is because of the rocky start, because I am a huge fan of the trope where two people start of not getting along and then hooking up. And I like him, he’s a good guy.
Torian Cadera, Felix Iresso, and Corso Riggs kind of are in the same nebulous spot because um... their respective classes are my bottom 3 so unfortunately for them they don’t get a lot of screen time (especially the first two, since they’re both Act 2 companions). Corso has the distinction of pissing me off the most, but I don’t want to get into that lol Torian is adorable, but I’ve always liked older dudes so the deck is kind of stacked against him. Felix is a lovely guy for an IRL romance but for fiction he’s kind of boring. There could have been a great opportunity for drama wrt to the sith secrets in his head but they kind of just... don’t do anything with it, really.
As for KotFE... the romances are so late game, and I have so few characters I actually want to put through KotFE, that I don’t really have much experience with them. Theron is the only one I’ve actively romanced, and he got dumped for Vector lol I’ve flirted with Koth, but I’ve yet to actually put him through the whole romance. Arcann is barely a romance, a single conversation that got thrown in there because fans wanted it. Which I also have not done cuz there’s only one I want to put through that and she’s still stuck on chapter 8 lmao
#swtor#star wars the old republic#andronikos revel#swtor doc#vector hyllus#malavai quinn#aric jorgan#torian cadera#felix iresso#corso riggs#theron shan#koth vortena#arcann#sol go to bed#and if you won't go to bed#work on your fanfics
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For fandom meme-swtor?
Send me a fandom!
This one isn’t as spicy as the Dragon Age one, but I still got Wordy.
Also there’s lots of KOTFE/KOTET/etc spoilers in here, so don’t read if you don’t want to see em. (Looking at you, Chignon.)
The character(s) I first fell in love with:
My own OCs haha.
But more seriously: It was actually Darth Malgus! I was always going to play a Star Wars MMO, let’s be real. But when they started posting promo videos and cinematics for the game, my Sith-loving ass immediately gravitated to that guy haha. And then, it turned out he had the same VA as The Architect from Dragon Age, and that was it for me.
If we’re talking about companions, then it was probably Malavai Quinn. Sith Warrior was the first class I got to 50, and Quinn was the first companion that I really got overly attached to haha.
The character(s) I never expected to love as much as I do now:
Most (not all, but most) of the “new” companions that came in with KOTFE and beyond. I was initially really sour when I realized we were losing all our class storyline companions, and they were being replaced with a new crew of Lana, Theron, Koth, my mother-in-law Senya, etc. Especially when they – at the time – said we’d eventually get our class companions back, but it would be a while. So I started KOTFE sure that I would hate the new crew because I would rather have the old one…. and ended up liking them quite a lot! Mostly, lol.
The character(s) everyone else loves that I don’t:
Doc is the main one, jesus christ. If you didn’t read my last post, I just really really really do not mesh well with overly sexual and Adult Humor-y characters who scold you with a “You’re no fun.” if your OC isn’t into it. Doc is the worst example of it that I’ve ever encountered. I always play a male JK, and the fact nearly all of his convos amount to, “Boy, you and me are going to be up to our eyeballs in vagina when this war ends, amirite?” “You don’t want that? Come on, the Jedi Code doesn’t say you can’t FUCK, live a little.” “You’re no fun. Well, more for me.” drives me NUTS. This combined with how he interacts with Kira just does me in. Shoves him out an airlock.
Dark Side Jaesa is another big one, albeit mainly for OOC reasons. I just hate the fact that she even exists, really. I get the appeal of a story where a Sith corrupts a Jedi to the Dark Side, but the way she does a total 180 into gross hedonism while Serving You always just makes me cringe. Plus there’s the fact that straight dudebro gamers are really nasty with her, and she’s the main companion I always see men put into the slave bikini outfit, and just yikes.
Also just a lot of one-off NPCs that everyone goes crazy for and ships their OCs with, but I constantly forget who they even are lol. Attros Finn comes to mind. I don’t hate them! Just don’t get the appeal I guess.
The character(s) I love that everyone else hates:
Lord Scourge, although I’m not sure he’s really hated as much anymore. I just remember at launch, when all of the overly invested Revan stans absolutely HATED him because of what he did in the Revan novel, and then flooded the tags with vitriol over being “stuck” with him as a Knight, and having to hear about Revan in his companion convos. It was really, really tiresome! Maybe it’s because I never really cared that deeply about Revan as my personal character, but I could not understand the backlash.
Anyway, Lord Scourge is my favorite companion in the game by a long shot. I love the conversations you can have with him about the Jedi vs Sith, and I love the mutually respectful tone those conversations take. (Where other Bioware companions who disagree with you have a tendency to just go, “You’re wrong.” and shut you down.) The fact that he’s so tied in with the plot just makes me love him more, really.
The character(s) I used to love but don’t any longer:
Cytharat, Koth and Theron mostly. Although this takes a bit of explaining, and is a bit Discourse-y – because I really appreciate them as characters, but their role and Bioware’s decisions with them is what made me no longer love them.Here’s the thing: Bioware has a bad habit of introducing male characters that are bisexual, and then having them betray you, leading to situations where they either get murdered or vanish from the narrative entirely. Meanwhile, bisexual women like Lana are untouched and around forever.
I was overjoyed when I first saw Cytharat. Y'all know I’m a ho for purebloods, and the fact that he was Malgus’ apprentice was fascinating to me – and then he turned out to be a bi romance. I got very hyped for him, only to find out he dies like 5 minutes later – or if you save him, he’s never seen again. Huge letdown.
Koth was the first character I fell in love with of the new KOTFE crew – I even initiated a romance with him! – but it quickly became obvious there’s no way to play the expansion without him turning on you judgementally at some point or another. And then, hey big surprise, you can kill him or else he’s never seen again.
Theron I’ve loved since we first got to know him in the Forged Alliances content, but that whole storyline where he seemingly betrays you out of nowhere, only to later reveal he didn’t actually, idk. And then, once again, you either kill him or he disappears from the story. It felt like a weirdly shoehorned in plot for shock value, and robbed us of a second bi MOC character.
You see the trend here? I want to love these characters, but Bioware continually electing to do this shit with bi dudes is tiresome and makes me unwilling to invest any interest in the characters anymore.
The character(s) I would totally smooch:
None.
The character(s) I’d want to be like:
None really come to mind? I just want to be a Jedi, come on.
The character(s) I’d slap:
Hunter all day every day.
The pairing(s) that I love:
Haha, this question is hard, because most of the SWTOR ships I’m invested in are between my OCs and my friends’ OCs.
However.
SCOURGE / KNIGHT IS THE BIG ONE, THE ULTIMATE, THE ALL-TIME FAVORITE. It’s really hard to describe just how much I love this ship, and just how much time and energy I’ve invested into it over the past… 8 years wow……….. To the point of being almost territorial. And it’s also near impossible for me to talk about why I love it, because the version I ship is so personalized with my specific Jedi Knight, especially since it had to live exclusively in headcanon land for so long. Scourge is, more or less, my Knight’s support pillar and the thing that grounds him and keeps him humble, in a world where my Knight is surrounded by people who expect him to be a pure flawless messiah. But, I mean. How can you have a man look at your character and say, “I’ve waited 300 years to see your face.” and not immediately ship it. And then I finally got vindicated after all these years when it was made canon!
I really love Arcann / Knight for a lot of the same reasons as the above, but I just really adore his one (1) romance convo haha. Granted, yes he did a lot of fucked up things, but I was so grateful when he had like… a Zuko-esque redemption. Where he comes to your character and firmly believes he doesn’t deserve forgiveness, and especially doesn’t deserve affection, and is instead met with acceptance and a chance to grow and heal. That’s the good shit.
Others:
Lana / Warrior and Lana / Inquisitor are my particular jam. I endlessly enjoy the mutual respect between Lana and those particular PCs.
Malavai Quinn / Sith Warrior is a longtime fave, and although I DO love him with a female Warrior, I really do with he’d been an option for dudes as well. And I feel the same in reverse about Vette / Warrior – I do like her with a male Warrior, and it’s so sweet and wholesome and endearing, but man I wish she’d been an option for female Warriors.
I ship Risha with every woman – especially Vette and Sumalee – and will be salty until my grave that Risha / f!Smuggler isn’t possible, because I love Risha with the Smuggler but she gives me powerful WLW vibes.
Agent / Watcher Two is also a lowkey favorite, but I ALSO wish it could be done with a female Agent instead. Same with Agent / Raina Temple.
Agent / Vector is very sweet, but again, I will be salty until my grave that it couldn’t be done with a male Agent.
Can you guys sense a running theme here?
Finally: NGL I love Valkorion / Senya, even though that ended in pure disaster.
And people around here used to ship Keeper / Lokin, and tbh, I still kinda love it lol.
The pairing(s) that I despise:
In general terms, I fucking hate every single romance that involves the male PC romancing his padawan or underling, especially since most of them seem like very young girls. I don’t know why this is so pervasive in the game, but yikes Bioware. Consular/Nadia is the worst offender, but they’re all just cringe central for me.
But the big one is Agent / Hunter. This would have gotten me run off Tumblr back in the day, but god I hate this pairing. I mentioned in the last post that I just will never enjoy ships where the two characters actively want to murder each other, but. This just gets magnified for me with Agent/Hunter, where all the mind control and blatant abuse comes into play – and people have a tendency to write noncon rape fic of the two and present it as ~sexy rivalmance~, which is awful. Add to this the “no homo” reveal where Hunter turns out to be a woman, after getting everyone hyped about a dude flirting with their male character the whole game, and it’s just a huge No Thanks from me all around.
And for largely personal reasons I just don’t like seeing female Knights with Scourge. Listen, for YEARS I was treated like a pariah for shipping Scourge with my male Knight, while being unable to find Scourge content that didn’t have a female Knight plastered all over him. Even though he wasn’t even a romance option one way or another, the way the fandom treated m!Knight/Scourge with disdain while ardently shipping f!Knight/Scourge was offputting as shit. And then, after years, he was made a romance option for women AND men, and all these awful people acted like they were robbed, the way people reacted when Kaidan and Jaal were made bi in Mass Effect. I’m so tired. I never want to see Scourge with a female Knight again.
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FINALLY. 3, 6, and 12 for Casuel. 7 for you and Bucky. 13 and 15 for you and Finn.
“FINALLY” im crying
god here we go
——-——-
Lemuel:
3. After-Action Patch-Up: How does your F/O react when they see you got hurt? How do they tend to your injury?
It completely depends on the injury. We are soldiers in the Lions of Mercy that are constantly moving, drilling, sparring, and training—you’re gonna get banged up. He’s seen me get black eyes, cut lips, a busted nose, scrapes, cuts, and gashes. So long as the injury is sustained within the limits of the barracks and the training grounds, he isn’t concerned.
Sure he’ll make the cursory “You all right there, Theron?” and “Oof, I’d hate to see the other guy” comments, but if he fretted over every bruise and cut, there’d be no sleep for him.
In battle, however, is another story.
Cresce is notorious for various nasty pymaric traps and weapons—all that make for rather horrific injuries. He knows I can handle myself on the field, but being a captain for an airborne division means he doesn’t have much sway over anything going on for the ground troops (which I absolutely am a part of). Seeing me in one piece is only enough to allay a portion of his fears, and any injury received in battle he oversees the tending to himself.
Well, not himself, since he’s not a medic/healer by any means, but he paces like a caged tiger as whatever poor sap that happened to be walking by is ordered to treat the wounds.
He barks various questions (”How deep is it?” “What about shrapnel?” “What about poisoned blades?”) until the medic is all but shaking from the pressure to ensure this one lowly female private is not going to die on his watch.
Lem’s seen a lot in the nearly twenty years he’s been in the army, and has probably lost twice as much as that. He can’t do much in such a situation, but he will do damn well whatever he can to ensure that he doesn’t lose anyone else. Especially since it’ll take a blade to the heart to get me to be taken off the line.
6. Bodyguard Crush: How does your F/O make you feel safe?
Lem is very, very good at cheering people up and easing their anxieties, especially when it comes to any battle related fears. He’s been in the army since he was twelve, he knows every horrific thought that can cross a person’s mind. For those moments when the action at the front is getting to be more than I can handle, or a friend of mine loses their head or whole-ass torso to a mine, he’s quick to offer a distraction. It may just be a really bad and probably off-color joke, maybe quick grasp of my hand, or even a quick and discrete kiss—but he makes a point to do something.
But being the only woman under his command brings its own problems. It’s isolating enough as it is, leaving me with few friends to turn to in a time of crisis. He at least had no shortage of camaraderie when in the Council Army, and he is charming enough that he won himself friends within the Lions of Mercy rather quickly, but me? Few want anything to do with the semon woman who probably slept her way into the esteemed Lions of Mercy.
Lem doesn’t just do his damnedest to ensure I am safe from Crescian blades, his very presence acts as a barrier from whatever vitriol would emerge in the high tensions of battle. Soldiers will look to anyone to place the blame for a fallen comrade or a mission turned FUBAR, and Lem will go as far as physically put himself between me and any soldier who dares look to place that blame at my feet.
12. Post-Kiss Catatonia: How did you and your F/O react to your first kiss together?
Woof. It’s weird. We’ve danced around that veritable elephant in the room for months, maybe even over a year before it comes to a head. It undoubtedly happens when we are alone and with nary a prying eye to be seen, otherwise we’d probably both be kicked out of the Lions of Mercy, but that leaves the aftershocks… overwhelming.
I undoubtedly avoid him as much as I can for days. Both fear of being found out and doubt that his feelings are real a motivator to keep him at arm’s length. Were anyone to catch wind that their playful flirtations at morphed into something very real and tangible, I would be back on the streets and at the mercy of Alderode’s ruthless caste system once more. At least within the Lions of Mercy, I am guaranteed a roof over my head, food in my belly, and a steady pay—I can’t afford to let a hopeless and forbidden romance to jeopardize that.
And the idea that Lem has no real feelings and just wants the prestige of bedding the woman who wormed her way into his ranks? Too devastating to think too hard about. Best just pretend it never happened.
Lem is undoubtedly upset about my cold-shoulder routine. Maybe even angry. He doesn’t do Emotions well, and the concept that he could have somehow overstepped boundaries and ruined the friendship he had with me? Unthinkable and heartrending. But he can’t broach those feelings. He’s experienced heartbreak and agony so many times, and he can’t let that well open over something so trivial. Anger is better.
There will probably be a fight at some point where he accuses me of being a frigid bitch or something. He wouldn’t be wrong, as I avoided him for awhile after we had spent so long hiding behind teasing jibes and flirtatious smiles, but he hasn’t considered what this would mean for me. A soud broaching this very delicate code of conduct they have established for her would be bad enough, but he has enough friends in high places that he’d likely be fine.
But me? I’d be ruined.
I explain as much, and work in there my fears that the kiss meant nothing to him, where it meant everything to me—especially since it could not mean anything. Soud and semon could not be together. His ghers would never allow it. His holy man brother would never allow it.
How would this resolve? It would not. We are doomed to live out our romance in secret.
Until, of course, our dear Rector meets his end on a snowy night on the streets of Durlyne. And we all know what Alderode expects of a widow’s brother-in-law when her husband meets an unfortunate end.
——-——-
Bucky:
7. Caught In The Rain: How does your F/O react if a sudden rainstorm interrupts your date with them?
GRUMPY BEYOND ALL REASON. He has a METAL ARM. That shit CHAFES when it is not properly dried after a shower, let alone a surprise rain storm that neither of us was prepared for.
It doesn’t ruin the date, but it sure means that there’s a lot of bitching and moaning when we make it back to his apartment. He spends fifteen minutes wincing in the bathroom as he applies aloe cream. I call after him multiple times to ask if he needs help, but he’s the Winter Soldier. The Fist of Hydra can apply a bit of aloe to a sore rash all on his own, thank you very much.
——-——-
Finn:
13. Sickeningly Sweethearts: Do you and your F/O engage in PDA? If yes, how do the surrounding people react?
PDA is limited. As you know, I am Mandalorian through and through, which means that 98% of the time I am out and about, I am wearing my full beskar’gam. That doesn’t leave much room for smooching in the War Room as we plan our next raid on a First Order supply depot.
But there is the keldabe kiss, the forehead touch Mandalorians use when in full armor and wish to express physical affection for their significant other, a stand-in for a kiss when you have a helmet on your head and don’t have the time or inclination to remove it.
Those happen a lot, but unless you’re in the know, it could be a platonic expression between comrades.
But when you’re in the know, you know that it is an intimate gesture between between cyare'se.
But, of course, there will be the few times where we can actually be gross and cute and really kiss. People don’t really pay attention, honestly. We all have people we love on base and steal whatever small moments we can. No one begrudges us that.
15. Zip Me Up: Does your F/O help you get dressed for the day? Do you help them?
I am the lifelong Mandalorian. I have plenty of practice getting my armor on as I prepare to face the day.
Finn, however, is new to this lifestyle. He’s had no practice getting his armor on. He has no idea that the bracers and shin guards should be put on dead last, that you need to ensure the safety lock is securely on for all of your various hidden gadgets and weapons so you don’t accidentally wind up skewering yourself or others as your fiddle with the heavy beskar, or that you need to learn how to control your blink patterns without even thinking about it or you might wind up making your HUD activate your jetpack while you’re still in your dressing chambers.
I help Finn every single morning after he gets his first set of beskar’gam. He’s embarrassed that he is absolutely hopeless with it at first. He was a Stormtrooper! He’s worn armor before! He knows how this goes! Why is this so hard? Why do we have to carry an entire arsenal with us just to head to the docking bay for a practice run?
He’ll get it, eventually. For now, it’s my job to make sure the newest member of Clan Theron lives to be able to get dressed himself one day.
#the lem section is SO LONG holy shit#otp: rewrite this story#otp: tell me who i am#otp: see you on the other side of the front#editoress#answered
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Songbird (SWTOR fic)
Fandom: SWTOR
Pairing: Theron Shan/m!Jedi Knight
Rating: Teen
Words: 1.432
Summary: A short moment between Lelaan and Theron one morning.
(This can take place pretty much any time during KOFE after starting a romance with Theron but, for the sake of having a quiet moment with no end of the galaxy stress, I’ll say it’s between KOTFE and KOTET).
The sweet and comforting tendrils of sleep were slowly ebbing away, giving room to consciousness. Theron became more and more aware of sleep leaving him but he didn’t want to open his eyes just yet. All the reports, analyses, and evaluations could wait a little longer. It was nice and warm under the covers, the mattress made the perfect outline of his body so he could relax just right and, most importantly, his lover’s body next to him offered physical and emotional comfort.
Smiling as much as his relaxed face muscles would allow, he reached out to run his hand over the warm and smooth back that was usually by his side. Except, this time, Theron’s hand was met with air. Cracking open one eye, he saw the other half of the bed was empty and, judging by the coldness of the pillow, it had been empty for a while.
Lelaan usually woke up at the same time as Theron or later, it was unusual for him to wake first. Most of the times it meant he had a lot of work to do, a lot of briefings and debriefings to attend, a lot of reports to read and act on. Theron tried remembering if the Jedi had mentioned anything of the sort the previous night but he didn’t think he did. With a barely visible shrug he concluded it wasn’t anything important, just must have been a lot to do so Lelaan, the ever diligent, probably wanted to get ahead of it all.
Letting out a sigh, the spy pushed himself into a sitting position and stretched his muscles to wake them all up, a sliver of light falling on his face from around the window blinds. Pulling on his pants and shirt, he walked over to the window, retracted the blinds and opened it, letting the fresh air in. It still seemed early and, waking up in a good mood, he decided to have breakfast in; he would call C2-N2 and ask him to bring something from the cantina over. Leaving his shoes and jacket for now, he made his way over to the door separating the bedroom part of Lelaan’s quarters from the living part and stopped, his hand hovering over the control button.
He thought voices were coming from the other side of the door. Straining his hearing a little bit he realized someone was on the other side but the soundproof protocol was activated. Maybe Lelaan had turned it on so as not to disturb him while he worked?
Opening the door, Theron saw why. Also, heard. The Jedi was sitting on the couch in the living area, probably cross-legged, since that was his go-to relaxed sitting position, datapad in one hand while the other made some gestures in the air as he was trying to figure out this or that rhythm or pronunciation. He would first read out a few words, try to find a melody, test it out, try it again, test it out again, and, eventually would continue to sing in the tune of the melody until he hit another snag. Then he would repeat until he pinned down what Theron thought was a verse, after which he would sing that verse beginning to end to test out how it sounds.
The spy must have made a sound or let his aura flash because Lelaan stopped mid lyrics and turned his head slightly. He wasn’t wearing his mask, meaning he hadn’t left even to eat. Inspiration probably hit right after he woke up.
“How long have you been standing there?”, he asked.
“Not nearly long enough.” The spy couldn’t keep the smirk from appearing on his face.
“I thought I activated the soundproofing. Sorry if I woke you.”
“I didn’t hear a thing. Woke up on my own.” Leaving his position of leaning against the doorframe, Theron made his way to the couch. Now he saw there were a lot more datapads than he initially thought, arranged in neat piles. “Didn’t know this about you. You’d think if something came up on Rishi, it’d be something like this.”
Lelaan waited for Theron to sit down next to him before replying. “I used to do this pretty often when I was young. The librarians in the Academy would make compilations of poems and songs for me and the other Padawans always wanted to hear me sing or wanted to sing along with me.” The small spike in Theron’s aura showed him he was interested in hearing more, so Lelaan obliged. “For every Life Day we would prepare in secret to have a small choir performance for the masters and I returned to Tython for the first anniversary of the death of the Kalikory Village Matriarch and sang a song of remembrance with her daughter.” He remembered how much that moment meant to Ranna and the villagers. Commemorating their leader was a show of respect but agreeing to do it, after they had betrayed Lelaan and Master Orgus, was a show of forgiveness, another step towards relations between the villagers and the Jedi improving.
“I haven’t done this since Vitiate.”, he ended, with a sudden drop in the wistfulness of his voice. The shadow of Vitiate’s control still loomed over him and Lelaan doubted it would ever truly dissipate, especially after being reinforced by Valkorion. Different name but the same being and still the same goal; the methods may have been different but the Jedi wasn’t deluding himself about what Valkorion eventually wanted.
Theron’s hand on his thigh, thumb gently moving over the material of his pant leg, offered a small amount of comfort.
“That’s Miralukese, right?”, Theron offered helpfully, pointing at the datapad Lelaan was holding, trying to steer the conversation away from megalomaniacal Sith lords. Lelaan was grateful and immediately complied.
“Yes, I’m trying to find a melody for it and also to figure out the non-verbal parts.”
Theron nodded. He had asked the Jedi to teach him Miralukese a while back, wanting to make an effort to understand his lover’s culture. They encountered difficulty often, since the verbal parts of the language are complimented by non-verbal parts tied to the Force: transmitting emotions, thoughts, images. Theron’s Force blindness was a slight deterrent but he persevered and Lelaan was always encouraging.
“Would you…?”, Theron left the question hanging but it was clear that he asked if Lelaan would sing what he had pinned down up to that point. Smiling, the Jedi brought his attention back to the datapad and, after a few moments of figuring out how to start, began singing.
Theron adjusted himself on the couch, facing Lelaan and putting an arm over the backrest of the couch.
“I think I finally have a pet name for you. It only took me a year.”, he said after Lelaan finished. The smile in his voice was as obvious as the one on his face.
“Oh? And what is it?”
“Songbird.”
The Jedi let out an undignified snort but quickly covered it up. He couldn’t successfully cover up all the chuckles, though. “Don’t call me that. I’m not that good.”
Reaching out his other hand, Theron cupped Lelaan’s jaw, turned his head and pulled him closer. “To me, you have the most angelic voice I’ve heard.”, he whispered low and brought their lips together in a tender kiss. Lelaan felt his knees go weak and was thankful he was sitting down. When Theron decided to turn on the charm he was lost, there was no way he could stand strong against his compliments and certainly not against those lower octaves his voice could reach. He turned a little towards Theron so as not to put a crick in his back and brought one hand up to rest on Theron’s collarbone, the other one painfully holding on to the datapad.
After a few more seconds they broke the kiss but didn’t pull apart. They sat close, foreheads and noses touching, smiling at each other.
“I probably should find something about you that makes me think of a pet name in return.” Lelaan teased. “Something besides Disaster Spymaster, that is.”
“I actually like that.” Theron offered after a hearty laugh. “But it is a bit of a mouthful in bed.”
Another ungraceful snort came from the Jedi and a half hearted slap to the spy’s chest accompanied it.
“So, breakfast?” Theron got up and extended a hand. Lelaan agreed and, placing the datapad on the table, took Theron’s hand, got up, and the two of them walked back to the bedroom to get ready for the day.
#swtor#swtor fic#swtor oc#lelaan onos#onos legacy#Theron Shan#jedi knight#theron shan x jedi knight#kotfe#kotet#odessen#star wars#the old republic
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Rain Plays SWTOR: The Nathema Conspiracy
Continuing with our "play before 7.0" series:
The Nathema Conspiracy is the third flashpoint in the traitor arc, also known as Fractured Alliances. Your character will return to Nathema to deal with more fallout from Valkorion/Tenebrae's legacy - but Nathema is no longer a desolate wasteland. There's gorgeous scenery in the jungles with lush waterfalls and plants. There are also a number of suitably creepy abandoned temples holding deadly secrets.
None of your decisions can prevent your character from taking major losses in this story segment, but you still have a win, in one respect. In another: if you have romanced Lana or Theron you really, really do not want to miss this one.
How to get it:
If you are playing through the story progression you will be given this mission after completing Traitor Among the Chiss. There will be a short story mission beforehand, as well as some story-specific scenes during and after the flashpoint.
If you are playing this as a standalone you can pick it up from your activities menu: Activities -> Solo -> Flashpoints -> The Nathema Conspiracy. Or go to the Odessen base and pick it up from the terminal - it's across the hall from Umbara.
General caveats:
1. If you are doing this as part of the story progression you will have two companions to help you through most of this flashpoint, including all of the boss fights except one. They are companions you may have influenced in the story already, and one is melee while the other is ranged. It's a good team that can handle a lot, and the difficulty should be on the level of Umbara or Copero.
If you are doing this as a standalone solo flashpoint, it's going to probably seem more challenging than Umbara or Copero. The reason of course is that you are handling content with only one companion instead of the two you get in the story. There's no combat assistance droid.
2. This is also a bit longer than Umbara - easily 40 minutes simply because of the thick mobs.
3. ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY: There are several sections of this flashpoint that have very low light and paths that may be hard to see. If you have any armor with illumination you may want to put it on your character for these stretches.
4. ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY #2: The Guardian Droid, which is the second boss in this flashpoint, makes a very, very loud and jarring repeated noise during the stage of its fight cycle where it curls into a ball and spins. If you have sensory sensitivities you may wish to mute your audio or turn it way down during this fight.
5. CONTENT ADVISORY: If you're playing the story progression, there will be a cut scene before the last set of bosses that shows several dead bodies. The corpses will be visible for the rest of your time in this area and you will have to interact with the cases they are in. There's no blood or guts, you're just told they are dead and their eyes are closed. Another character will have visible blood and injuries on their face, so be aware that is coming.
If you are just playing the standalone flashpoint you will not get these scenes, but you will still see the dead bodies around the edges of the area and have to smash the cases they are in. But there are no closeups of the corpses.
6. Some cool decos drop from every boss, including plants, statues, temple arches and even a waterfall. There are also a few decos that seem pretty creepy to me, like crypts of essence, and I don't personally keep those. But if you're building a scary stronghold, maybe they will work.
There's also a bonus mission to find seven treasure chests, which will grant you the choice of a Valkorion or Dramath holo. Hey, if you want Dramath's ghost lurking around your stronghold, here's your chance.
7. This is to my knowledge the only flashpoint where you can actually earn a companion - the droid H2-4F drops sometimes from the bosses. The droid actually keeps up well and is a good healer, especially when leveled up.
8. If you have H2-4F, you may wish to come back to do this as a standalone solo flashpoint - there's an achievement for defeating the Guardian Droid with it as your active companion.
9. Make sure you use the repair droids that dot the landscape. You will likely take a bit of damage in this flashpoint even if you are doing fine.
10. There are a lot of platforms and ledges, so mind your self and don't fall.
This flashpoint will see you running first through the lush Nathema jungles, through various enemy camps, and finally into ancient temples to face the Order of Zildrog. The mobs you face in the first section will consist of Force sensitive zealots and creatures; as you get closer to the temples the enemy NPCs will shift to rogue Knights of Zakuul, reprogrammed skytroopers and such. There are a few sections where you will need to watch your step to avoid falling off cliffs or platforms, but it's not as treacherous as, say, False Emperor.
Boss #1: Voreclaw
The Voreclaw has a formidable stomp, which will fling you backward. Mind your step and don't stay near the edge of the cliff, or you may find that this fight will be very short.
The adds in this fight are Juvenile Voreclaws. I recommend ignoring them and concentrating on the main boss.
The way to win this fight is to get the giant Voreclaw to follow you into one of the three green circles in the area. This may be difficult - if your companion(s) are battling it, or the Juvenile Voreclaws, the boss may be ignoring you. Put your companion(s) on passive to get them to run to you in the circle, use a Taunt if you have one, do what you need to do to get the big guy to come to you in the green circle. Make sure you are standing next to the blue panel. Once it's there, click the blue panel, and the Voreclaw will be temporarily stunned and immobilized by a shock. Use this time to wail on it as much as you possibly can (and make sure you take your companion off passive so they can help you!), throw Heroic Moment abilities at it, the works.
When the shock wears off, lead the Voreclaw to the next green circle and repeat.
Just beyond the Voreclaw, there's an open elevator you will take to the next section. You will keep running through the lush forest toward the temples. Expect heavy mobs, and watch your step on the numerous catwalks. You will weave in and out of temples and forest paths until you get to a second elevator.
Bonus Bosses: Hands of Zildrog
Beyond the second elevator the path splits. Both will get you to the Guardian Droids, but the lefthand side has fewer mobs. It also leads you past the bonus bosses - the two Hands of Zildrog - and another treasure chest for the bonus mission. The Hands can be completely ignored, but if you fight them they do drop more decos and grant an achievement. They're Force sensitive and hit like the Zealots or Knights of Zakuul, with a bit more oomph to their game.
If you've fought the Hands, give yourself a moment before the Guardian Droid to let your abilities cool down.
Boss #2: Guardian Droid, or the Very Bad Dog
ACCESSIBILITY ADVISORY: The Guardian Droid makes a very, very loud and jarring noise during one stage of its fight cycle. If you have sensory sensitivities you may wish to mute your audio or turn it way down during this fight.
BUG: There's a bug that makes it impossible to complete this fight because the Guardian Droid never wears down and the Hunter Droids don't change. If this happens you will know because the fight will go on and on and on. The only way out is to let the droid kill you. That seems to reboot whatever makes this fight go wonky.
This Very Bad Dog will bound all over the place to bother you, followed by a sequence where it spins in a circle and throws things at you. There are Hunter Droids around the perimeter; hit them until the y cast a blue field instead of a red one. And then just keep hitting the Guardian.
Final boss sequence
There are three bosses in this sequence, but you will be able to pause between GEMINI-16 and Vinn Atrius. You will absolutely NOT be able to pause between Vinn and Zildrog.
Make sure you have repaired your gear at the medical droid before venturing onward. Ready? Here we go.
CONTENT ADVISORY: If you're playing the story there will be a cut scene here with dead bodies, and one character will be injured with visible blood on their face, so be aware that is coming. If you're just playing through the flashpoint GEMINI-16 will be waiting for you to start your battle with her.
Remember that there are four kolto stations around the sides of Zildrog. The one that is the most visible is the fifth - right on the edge of the platform. Be very careful if you're accessing this fifth kolto station for obvious reasons.
There are three separate bosses to fight in this section, so get ready. You do have a pause between GEMINI-16 and Vinn Atrius. If you need to take some time to stretch or shake out your wrists, do it.
Boss #3: GEMINI-16
The GEMINI-16 fight is IMHO the most difficult one in the flashpoint. You will need to be on your toes, and there will be a lot happening at once. This fight will be considerably easier if you're playing through the story because again, you will have two companion NPCs helping you out. If you're playing the flashpoint as a standalone, it's going to be a bit tougher.
You want to make sure you get out of the way of GEMINI-16's Integration Beam, because it will fry you faster than you can say "deadly droid." My strategy in the beginning of the fight is to hit her as hard as I can with as much as I can before she starts attacking, starting with Orbital Strike from Heroic Moment, and then attack as I circle, avoiding the Integration Beam.
As the fight goes on, GEMINI-16 will summon lots of NPC adds and duplicates of herself. They draw power from four of the Crypts of Essence - shown in the picture above- which will light up. As soon as they light up, you want to destroy those Crypts one by one, avoiding the Integration Beam as well as you can. You may need the kolto stations, and it's honestly safer to run around Zildrog to grab a boost than to venture into the fray at the edge of the platform.
Toward the end of the fight GEMINI-16 will begin using Obliteration Protocol - which, unlike Integration Beam, you cannot run away from or avoid. Just know where your kolto stations are, pop Unity or your self-heals as needed, and hang on.
After you defeat GEMINI-16 you will have to click a panel on Zildrog to continue. You can pause for a moment if needed to wait for your abilities and Heroic Moment to cool down, shake out your wrists or just take a breather for a minute or two.
Boss #4: Vinn Atrius
Vinn Atrius is considerably easier than GEMINI-16 - and that's because in the story, he's engineered as a battle for two and not three. The key thing with Vinn is to stick close to your companion. Vinn will try to separate you and push you back - mind the edges of the platform for obvious reasons. Stick to your companion like glue, using Intercede if you have it to get close to them if you are separated. Vinn will draw power from the large yellow diamonds - Essence of Zildrog - that appear around the perimeter. Take these out if you can, but you don't need to kill them all to defeat Vinn.
Boss #5: Zildrog
Zildrog is that large machine in the center of the platform. Just target and hit it the way you did with Mentor in Directive 7.
The Zildrog fight starts immediately after Vinn Atrius dies. And being as how he's a large, immobile machine, he won't really attack...yet. See this little red buff above that nameplate? When that number reaches 20, Zildrog will release an attack that will instantly kill you. You don't want that to happen. So hit the machine with anything you have left - by now Heroic Moment may have well cooled down, so don't be shy about calling upon it again. You and your companion need to wail on that machine until it dies, before it reaches 20.
After Zildrog dies, you do need to destroy any remaining yellow diamonds to get out of combat, but the countdown clock to annihilation has stopped so it's not quite as urgent.
And, you're done. Hooray. If you are playing the story, there will be a purple triangle on one of the NPCs for you to click to get your concluding cut scene. If you've romanced Lana or Theron and you're playing the story, trust me, you will probably really be happy with this cut scene. If you're doing the flashpoint without the story, you can press exit area to leave.
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5, 6, 7, and 17 for the salty ask!
5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?*
Yeah, definitely.
Shakarian fandom is huge so I don’t want to paint the entire thing with too broad a brush, but elements of that fandom being nasty toward other fans (especially fans of what they perceived to be the “wrong” m!NPC romances for Shepard) really turned me off on the ship. It was never something I loved THAT much, which made it a little easier to let go of. There was a bit of this with Alistair’s fandom in the DA fandom too (plus the added, sometimes really sexist, attacks on Anora), although I still love his romance a lot.
Recently - while I don’t play Overwatch I like two different Mercy ships a lot (Pharah/Mercy and Genji/Mercy) and the antagonism between the two groups is really off-putting. Plus I really like Pharah but she’s largely only in fan art/fic when she’s paired with Mercy (or part of some other ship) which sucks.
6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?*
Hated? No…at least not that I can think of off the top of my head.
I definitely have come to like some pairings more than I used to, though - Delenn/Sheridan from Babylon 5 (also because I’ve gotten older and have come to appreciate the more….restrained/“mature” type of relationship they have)…Mulder and Scully from the X-Files (I didn’t hate hit but had mixed feelings about them being together romantically)…
7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*
Hmm. I wouldn’t say I can’t stand it but I’ve definitely moved away from any kind of active participation in ME and DA fandoms thanks to the negativity and sometimes pure vitriol people throw at each other. I’ve had mixed feelings about the various entries in both series as well, so detaching myself from being a super fan of them kind of helps when dealing with the disappointments/let downs!
17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen
Instead of kicking off the KOTFE/KOTET arc the way they did, I wish Bioware had let us actually fight (and still lose, at least temporarily) the war with Zakuul alongside our companions and I guess Lana/Theron/whoever. Then have the story continue where our characters still build a coalition but without relying on cheap tricks (5 year time jump, scattering companions, etc.) to do it. I think it’d have made the entire story much more impactful AND would have let the story they wanted to tell breathe more rather than cramming so much other stuff into it (especially companion returns).
I'd have tolerated a lot more crap in the Zakuul story if my trooper could have experienced it alongside Havoc Squad and my smuggler with her crew, etc. What we got has just left me really bitter about the experience and game.
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