#i'm going insane chewing on this like a stick i found in the yard

[tiredassmage]

🖊 for Tyr 👀👀 maybe early Intelligence days thoughts?

Experienced a Thought I've been delaying acknowledging for like a month now??? Probably??? Aaauhhhh that spawned a potential emotion-busting revelation, so I MEANT to talk about this in like, a constructed manner, but then I busted out a fic musing about the latest ping pong ball of a thought to go flying across the room like that scene from the first Men In Black, so uhhhh Merry Crisis with me?!

I'm still rotating this in my head wondering if I really need to add another layer of complexity to Tyr's already botched life, but also: it's real damn good and it hurts me, so, naturally, I'm going to release that upon the world now, too. xD

Anyway. Vague context if you want it: I posted this trying not to chew on this like a stick and go absolutely insane about it, bUT it only encouraged me, so now we have this instead.

x-x-x-x-x-

DECKARD, TYR V.

Keeper stilled as his eyes landed at the top of the next file, the steady hum of air circulators and databanks blending into a yet more quiet background noise. Carding through potential recruits was a lengthy process, even with the rigid requirements of the Intelligence Academy.

Perhaps his wife was right, he considered idly. The long days and dwindling nights had long characterized his career with Intelligence. Surely it was, on some level, partially responsible for a few of the permanent lines dug in across his features and the graying, receding hair. He still hadn’t pinned whether work at the head of Operations division outpaced the weight of being in the field.

Such idle musings would do little to cull the ever-growing list of his responsibilities.

He turned away from the face of the chrono again with a sniff. Briefly, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed aching eyes. He’d call it soon, but he’d opened this last report, so there was little sense it putting it off further. Academy leadership had urged him to take particular interest in this potential officer.

A frown set a bit further across thinned lips as he read over the name again.

Deckard.

High marks in weapons proficiency, infiltration, negotiation… High marks relatively across the board. Impressive. Very impressive for such a young recruit.

For the moment, he skipped the file attachments. Data first. Early twenties. Successful shadow and support on a wet-foot operation local on Dromund Kaas. Adaptable in the field. Good at taking orders.

Limited connections with family - that would make operations easier long-term.

Deckard. Fairly ranked officer in the Imperial Navy. Marriage to a testy, if moderatly influential Sith Lord some three decades back or so. He remembered the one rather well, had exchanged some mild pleasantries over the engagement… Hot headed, their daughter. She'd be about the age to send to Korriban now, he reckoned, if she hadn't been already.

The son, it seemed, had managed to dodge that ill temperament thus far.

Deckard, Tyr V. Reportedly orphaned by fleet action and charitably raised by the then-Commander Deckard - the officer had been related to the boy’s parents and had taken him rather than pass him off to an impassionate system.

That same piece of action had earned the patriarch a promotion to Captain following, if memory served him correctly.

Keeper drew a hand across his chin. The boy’s discipline and piloting training would have made him a just fit for the Navy to keep, but Academy recruitment had singled him out during early martial skills training.

His fingers hovered - hesitated - over the attached shots from Academy entrance.

Outplayed, or simply mocked by whatever forces were or were not at work in this wretched galaxy, Keeper mused with a scowl threatening his lips. A Watcher or three were always fond of telling him it’d make those lines around his eyes more permanent - a sentiment the wife often echoed.

That was the bloody thing about Ciphers - they were damn difficult to truly eliminate. Silent fingerprints left across the galaxy despite retirement or reassignment or even gross and utter failure.

Keeper closed the file and dimmed the lights in his office before he leaned back in his chair and released a long, bone-deep sigh slowly, hands steepling to touch fingertips to his forehead.

He was all but the top of his class - strong potential to be an absolute asset to Operations. An opportunity that couldn’t be passed up in a right mind.

Particularly with whispers that the military was still probing for weaknesses along Republic lines, they could ill-afford to be short-staffed. The… competitive nature of their Empire always bred opportunity. The grass was tall and there were vipers aplenty.

Duty seemed to remove the choice in the matter.

He opened his eyes and leaned forward. They had a number of sensitive operations that would need delicate, well-trained hands coming up. He’d examine this latest grouping of operatives personally, he decided.

That would show him painfully well just how much a son would manage to follow a father. Even as well-removed from a Cipher’s imprint as had been affordable by the circumstances.

He picked up the datapad once more, finished off the approval for the select few that would be moving forward to finalize their training and transition into active service. Then he stood and prepared to head home, but not before lingering a few moments longer over that last file.

He should have sent the boy much farther than Dromund Kaas.

A moot point and an ill-advised longing now, he reasoned as a finger brushed the edges of the screen. Whether or not it would’ve saved the boy from Intelligence, they’d never know now.

At the absolute least, he’d avoid mentioning this to the wife. For now. Their illustrious Emperor, even in sleep, knew she worried plenty enough as it was.

[supercorpandbeyond]

Here's a post to Florence. 1 year!!!

It's been about a year since you were found wandering around in some parking lot all hungry. You're quite the feirce one now.

You have revealed yourself to be such a patient and curious creature. You are so playful and polite, you've never had the habit of chewing cords or anything like that but instead you preferred actual prey like mice. And birds. And the occasional toy

Over this year, I have also found you taking after me.

I didn't intend it to happen, I still socialize you when i can and when you are held in my arms you are polite towards people, but you have seen what being a woman on the road can be like. Especially where we are.

But it ended up being such a skill. When we go on our night walks, you quite literally hone in on people in the dark, yards and yards away, and let me know. Tonight, even, we were on our walk and you signaled and I barely caught two figures having stopped seen us and turned around.

Another thing I noticed that in some cases at night when this happens, instead of turning away, you stalk towards them. Today, I decided to just mimic you, and whoever they were ran off into the trees.

But it would be ten minutes later where, 15 minutes SHORT of your hour walk (usually it is me politely asking if we can head back to hte car and eventually just having you go in ur crate and I carry you back) you abruptly turned tail and headed straight shot back towards the car with some casualness but with clear directive. I followed. I trust you. Just how you trusted me to run w me when you signaled for the weird gaited guy who picked up speed when he noticed we saw him

Of course the signal works both ways. It had started off innocently of course.

But you signal for whatever you see that is different. It could be people. It could be for a skunk hobbling parallel across the road. It could be a wheelbarrow thats tucked between the trees in a spot nothing was there yesterday. But we have each others backs. And im so glad to have gotten your trust

I learned earlier this month you're not as big of a fan of air conditioning as I thought.

You have an insane vocabularly:

Walk/harness/leash - its walk time and you won't shut up until we have been outside. These are the tools we need

Far enough - climbing trees you are only allowed to go as far up until the first branch. You understand this. Even if you go further I just call out and you listen)

Go on up - encouragement/permission to go up the tree.

Across - going across streets, you know to pick up speed

Street - where cars are

Grass - if there is no sidewalk.

Sidewalks - where cats should be. It is safer

Car (out of context and specificially understanding 'going back to the car' means our car)

Left - self explanatory. Makes walking and direction with you easier. You're stubbron to listening to left or right though)

Right (see above)

Around - i started this one to not get the leash tangled up when walking. Instead of potentially getting it caught in the table you go around to avoid it. You listen to this direction fairly well but you get confused occasionally

All the way to the back - of the car where your food and one of your water bowls is.

Cleaning - I have to rearrange stuff so please pick somewhere to lay for the time being

Play - (and your favorite, play string or play stick) you undertand that youre about to have some fun.

Easy - slow down im running out of leash

Are you excited/having fun? - you usually almost trip me trying to brush up against me to reassure me you are having a blast on the walk

Did you get it/get it - get rid of the bug please.

Alright, let's go/Keep on walking/move along - self explanatory.

Move - get out of the way i know the car is a small space

I'm sorry - yes she understands apologies

Thank you/I appreciate it - I noticed on our walks when i started doing this that she responded better as time went on, so it became a habit

Florence. Here's to many more years with you.