#oc: toth'fero

[tishinada]

Dance in the Shadow of Honor - Chapter 57 - “Hearth Fires”

(lovely art of Ucevi and Quinn by Sleepswithvillains!)

Summary: Ucevi knew exactly who she was and how her life should have gone. Powerful, arrogant, strong in the Force, born to a Pure-blood family whose lineage stretched back past the settlement of Dromund Kaas, past the start of the Great Hyperspace War. True Sith. Then in a moment, everything changed, and she was forced to play a role, blackmailed into becoming the sword in someone else’s battle. She walked a fine line between her duty to the Empire in the shape of her detestable master and the honor of her family and its Shadows…until she could reclaim her name and freedom.

Then she met Quinn who had the same sense of duty to the Empire that she did and a stubborn sense of honor as tenacious as her own. A man with a debt of honor to the very master she had bargained to destroy, who was clearly meant to be a weapon to be used against her, in more ways than one. But caution couldn’t prevent their growing respect, trust, and attraction, leaving each to struggle with the question of whether they could both find a way to fulfill honor and survive.

Notes:    Mostly canon retelling with my own twists. Slow burn. Baras dies, obviously. Probably not that graphic, but cautious. Profanity. May eventually change to explicit rating. Most characters belong to Bioware. Ucevi, Joran, Toth’Anla, Toth’Onira, Tan’Koto, Toth’Jana, the Old Man, Sgt. Fesnil, Zusae, RSD-13, and the Parits are all my OCs.

(Thanks to @cinlat for comments, brainstorming and just for being so supportive!)

Pairings: Quinn x f!sith warrior, f!sith warrior x others

Warnings: possibly graphic violence. Profanity. Some explicit language.

>>>>>>>>>

Chapter 57 - “Hearth Fires”

Quinn struggled to hold perfectly still.

I can do this. I will do this. After all, a decade of answering to Baras should have been excellent practice at controlling myself.

That thought wasn’t as much help as he’d hoped. This was harder in its way. Much harder.

He and Vette had arrived back on Dromund Kaas last night. And he’d taken advantage of the relative solitude---and Lord Ucevi’s absence---to practice the complicated process of making ash tea during the early morning to refresh his memory for this test.

At the moment, Toth’Onira was evaluating his latest attempt, and somehow her opinion  mattered  to him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d struggled so hard not to fidget.

Read more at AO3

[tishinada]

100 Days of Writing - Day 5

Day 5 of #100daysofwriting

Twi'leks in the Empire in my universe are mostly Lethan (red-complexioned) and have a culture that diverged quite a bit from that of the Twi'leks from Ryloth (pretty much all other Twi’leks.) Of the non-human species, their situation (if free and a citizen) is slightly better than most other non-humans, mostly because of their long association with the traditional Sith-bloods in Old Town.

I decided on a naming convention for Imperial Twi'leks of surname-apostrophe-given-name. The apostrophe is used for one or two Twi'leks in Hutt space, I think (in fact Toth comes directly from one of those names), and surname first is fairly common in the real world. So Toth'Onira's daughters are named Toth'Uma and Toth'Anla and her son is named Toth'Fero (of her children who've come into the story.)

And I used the Tythonian Twi'leki example to decide Imperial Twi'leks are mostly matrilineal, if not matriarchal. So Onira's children have her last name. Tan'Koto is her grandson, but not by a daughter, so he has a different surname.

(Day 4 here) (Day 6 here)

[tishinada]

Dance in the Shadow of Honor, Chapter 53 - “Falling Ashes”

(lovely art of Ucevi and Quinn by Sleepwithvillains!)

Summary: Ucevi knew exactly who she was and how her life should have gone. Powerful, arrogant, strong in the Force, born to a Pure-blood family whose lineage stretched back past the settlement of Dromund Kaas, past the start of the Great Hyperspace War. True Sith. Then in a moment, everything changed, and she was forced to play a role, blackmailed into becoming the sword in someone else’s battle. She walked a fine line between her duty to the Empire in the shape of her detestable master and the honor of her family and its Shadows…until she could reclaim her name and freedom.

Then she met Quinn who had the same sense of duty to the Empire that she did and a stubborn sense of honor as tenacious as her own. A man with a debt of honor to the very master she had bargained to destroy, who was clearly meant to be a weapon to be used against her, in more ways than one. But caution couldn’t prevent their growing respect, trust, and attraction, leaving each to struggle with the question of whether they could both find a way to fulfill honor and survive.

Notes:    Mostly canon retelling with my own twists. Slow burn. Baras dies, obviously. Probably not that graphic, but cautious. Profanity. May eventually change to explicit rating. Most characters belong to Bioware. Ucevi, Joran, Toth’Anla, Toth’Onira, Tan’Koto, the Old Man, Sgt. Fesnil, Zusae, RSD-13, and the Parits are all my OCs.

Surprise! Not quite 8 days between updates!

This chapter co-written with @cinlat, which has been SO much fun! After all, who else can bring a Mandalorian cantina and bar brawl to life so well? Also much thanks for the loan of one of her Mandalorians from Meet me on the Battlefield...

(Also, lots of thanks to @cinlat and @sleepswithvillains for comments, brainstorming and just for being so supportive!)

Pairings: Quinn x f!sith warrior, f!sith warrior x others

Warnings: possibly graphic violence. Profanity. Some explicit language.

>>>>>>>>>

Chapter 53 - “Falling Ashes”

Quinn hesitated, staring at the door to Trovas Chwûk for a long moment before steeling himself and pushing it open.

At least this early, there are unlikely to be many Sith-blood customers being served. I think I might lose my nerve if I had to ask within their hearing.

Just inside, a young Twi’leki woman was inspecting the gleaming wood of a table in the empty dining room while a pair of droids were cleaning and polishing other tables. She glanced up in surprise at the sound of the door, eyes widening. Odd. I noticed before that some of their staff seemed uneasy with me.

“Excuse me, but I wondered if I might speak to one of the owners or managers with a request? Or rather, a question?”

The woman hesitated, then nodded silently, tapping something into an odd wrist unit. She pointed at a carved bench near the door, indicating that he could wait there. How odd. She hasn’t spoken a single word. Like our server the other night.

The young woman vanished through one of the doorways as he settled on the bench, feeling rather like a cadet called to the commandant’s office for unknown reasons. In fact, he had to stop himself from checking his uniform nervously or sitting at attention. Or bolting. 

I...this was impulsive. But I want...I need to do something for Ucevi for Lifeday, to thank her for that lovely evening at the opera. I know she would enjoy this, and I can’t think of anything else. She and Apprentice Zas have plans for most of the day, so this is the perfect opportunity.

Read more at AO3

[tishinada]

WIP Wednesday

I’ve been tagged probably a dozen times in the past week or so for different things, and I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t kept up with all of them. But @sleepswithvillains​ and @starknstarwars​ and (I think) @kunstpause​ have tagged me most recently. I apologize to anyone else who tagged me that I’m overlooking.

No pressure tags (especially if you’ve already done this:) @cinlat​ @rainofaugustsith​ @kunstpause​​ @starknstarwars​​ @swtorpadawan​​ @semper-draca​​

From the next chapter of Dance in the Shadow of Honor (very rough draft but moving into the editing phase, yay!):

>>>>>>>

Fero helped himself to a couple of the cookies, then leaned back to pull something out from behind his cushion. “So, Captain, I’m sure as a graduate of an Academy, you’ve played strategy games like holochess. Are you familiar with Tave Kojasi?”

Quinn frowned, rummaging through his memories quickly, then shook his head. “No, I don’t believe I am.”

The other man set a board on the table between them and touched the control that turned it on, grinning. “It’s a traditional Sith-blooded game. If you go through the dining rooms between the lunch rush and the dinner crowd, you’d find most of the tables occupied by older Sith-bloods playing this and drinking ash tea. Not just here, either. Look around some of the outdoor cafes.” He chuckled wryly. “When it isn’t pouring rain, at least.”

Quinn studied the controls and realized that they were very similar to those for holochess, and the board itself was laid out in a grid, though larger than a holodchess grid. Three grids, actually, stacked vertically, like an abbreviated version of 3D holochess. But there were spaces he couldn’t see at all due to a smoky screen and other spaces glowed from his side. Interesting. If I’m reading this right, the glowing spaces appear with a smoky screen from his side. So...we have to remember pieces that were moved into hiding. 

“Tave Kojasi just means “The Hunt,” by the way.” Three figures flickered into view on Quinn’s side of the board: a tiny Sith-blood, a sleen, and an odd creature he realized must be a tu’kata. “There are different levels of difficulty, so we’ll start at the lowest level. I’ll play the hunted,” a single Sith-blood figure lit up on his side of the board, “and you can be the hunter. My goal is to reach your edge of the board. Your goal is to catch me first.” Fero winked. “Hunter is easier than hunted, so I’ll let you play hunter until the first time you catch me.”

[tishinada]

Dance in the Shadow of Honor, Chapter 54 - “Drifting Smoke”

(lovely art of Ucevi and Quinn by Sleepwithvillains!)

Summary: Ucevi knew exactly who she was and how her life should have gone. Powerful, arrogant, strong in the Force, born to a Pure-blood family whose lineage stretched back past the settlement of Dromund Kaas, past the start of the Great Hyperspace War. True Sith. Then in a moment, everything changed, and she was forced to play a role, blackmailed into becoming the sword in someone else’s battle. She walked a fine line between her duty to the Empire in the shape of her detestable master and the honor of her family and its Shadows…until she could reclaim her name and freedom.

Then she met Quinn who had the same sense of duty to the Empire that she did and a stubborn sense of honor as tenacious as her own. A man with a debt of honor to the very master she had bargained to destroy, who was clearly meant to be a weapon to be used against her, in more ways than one. But caution couldn’t prevent their growing respect, trust, and attraction, leaving each to struggle with the question of whether they could both find a way to fulfill honor and survive.

Notes:    Mostly canon retelling with my own twists. Slow burn. Baras dies, obviously. Probably not that graphic, but cautious. Profanity. May eventually change to explicit rating. Most characters belong to Bioware. Ucevi, Joran, Toth’Anla, Toth’Onira, Tan’Koto, the Old Man, Sgt. Fesnil, Zusae, RSD-13, and the Parits are all my OCs.

This chapter was also co-written with @cinlat, which has been SO much fun! With Verin, one of her Mandalorians from Meet me on the Battlefield, reappearing!

(Also, lots of thanks to @cinlat and @sleepswithvillains for comments, brainstorming and just for being so supportive!)

Pairings: Quinn x f!sith warrior, f!sith warrior x others

Warnings: possibly graphic violence. Profanity. Some explicit language.

>>>>>>>>>

Chapter 54 - “Drifting Smoke”

Onira’s son tossed wry comments over his shoulder from time to time as Onira continued to chat amiably with Quinn about tea, drawing him out. Each time he briskly emptied an urn and moved to another, someone would silently enter and remove the empty urn. Moments later, they’d return with a fresh one. At the same time, Twi’leks in a variety of elegant traditional Sith-blooded clothing flowed in and out, removing fragrantly steaming tea pots.

It all flows like a well-oiled machine, not a movement wasted, but timed so no one is rushed,  he realized. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given how respected this tea house is, and the atmosphere seems to be as much part of the service as anything else. He finished his second cup of ash tea---from Onira’s pot, not his own---and set it down, inhaling the faint hint of smoke and spices that were beginning to feel familiar. This is...surprisingly comfortable. If I arrived to take up a new assignment on a ship or space station with an atmosphere of such calm, confident efficiency, I’d conclude I was remarkably lucky.

“Now, you can go down a level to Scarlet Importers and pick up the supplies to practice making ash tea. They’re our major supplier since we can’t go to Korriban ourselves to negotiate with growers.” Onira finished her own cup with a sigh.

“You are very welcome to come back here in the mornings whenever you can, Captain. We’ll show you the service entrance so you can avoid the dining rooms, and someone will bring you to me. If you can arrive earlier, we can both assess how your skills are progressing,” she grinned at her son, “if  he’ll deign to get up before lunch” He snorted, but didn’t defend himself from her fond jibe, though Quinn noticed one of his lek made an odd motion that clearly amused Onira.

Read more at AO3