#swtor asylum

[abbee-normal]

Mmmm, hot gorak

[tiredassmage]

Go off, king!!!!

[ebitenpura]

Fun little headcanon time: you know how Eight is never seen without his headgear/headset as pictured here, which also comes with that built-in high neck collar?

Besides being protection, it replaces a regular wristcom that needs to be activated by touching your glove because he's usually always using his hands. It's clearly for communications, but it's also a two-way hands free radio and tracking device; obvious mouthpiece and earphones for receiving audio and then the collar most likely contains thin speakers. Though I would prefer to remove the antenna on the back of his suit, you can pretend that's also to keep his signal running (lol portable 5G).

I like to think he likes to wear it because it keeps his eardrums safe and it's better to use when he hates looking at holos/doesn't use wristcoms, but was upgraded to a two-way radio with tracking in KOTFE/ET as per request to Oggurobb because Lana realized he'd run off without telling anyone if given no supervision, and in addition, had poor diplomacy skills so she wanted to be able to talk to whoever he was from her end, but then Theron argued with her over being controlling and now there's a direct line to both of them in his headset.

In other words, the sound of Theron and Lana squabbling over the same line coming from his attached radio only to be shut off abruptly by him was a scenario that happened often.

[queen-scribbles]

Breather

My SWtOR Secret Santa gift for @ishallobservethis! I had to do something with Felin soon as I saw she had a "tripped and fell in love by accident" arc with Koth. I love the Smuggler, I love accidentally falling in love pairings, and Koth always need more love. So I wrote them a little scene between chapters 7 & 8 of KotFE.

---

Despite her best efforts in the moment, Felin had never been all that good at subtlety. So it wasn't really a surprise when Koth caught one too many of her 'surreptitious' glances in his direction.

It was enough to prompt him to look up from his half-disassembled rifle, arching a brow at her. "Need something , Outlander?"

"No, um, I just... the stuff with the Heralds was... a lot." Felin set down the tools she'd been using to repair her own blaster. "Wanted to be sure everyone's okay after that, you know?"

"And I'm first on your list?" A wink. "I'm flattered. And fine. The rifle took damage, not me." He shrugged. "Not the first time I've been in a fight like that, anyhow."

Former military. Right. On the run for deserting because he had a conscience. He was used to danger, used to Zakuul and Asylum and didn't need her fretting over him. But I want to.

She didn't want to dwell on why that was. She cared about all her comrades in arms, that's why.

"Good," she said, clearing her throat. She picked up the tools and went back to work. There was just a little carbon scoring to clear away, but better to have it in working order now, under the circumstances. "I gotta ask, Koth," she started after a few minutes' companionable silence working side by side, "especially after that mess, what exactly did Lana tell you that had you all gung-ho to bust me out?"

"Bunch of stuff," Koth laughed, turning back to reassembling his rifle. "Findin' the lost riches of a crime lord, taking down some bigshot admiral--not to mention a near-mythic Sith. Or was he a Jedi?" He shrugged, brow furrowed as he slotted the casing back together. "Point is, she spun you up as this dashing hero who thrives on long odds."

Felin chuckled. "Somethin' like that. And what, your curiosity got the best of you?"

"Somethin' like that," Koth said, shooting her a grin. "Gonna take someone experienced with long odds and pulling down powerful Force users to deal with Arcann and Vaylin. Wanted to see if you were the real deal. She didn't mention you have a great smile, though."

She smirked down at the blaster. They'd traded flirty banter a couple times in the swamps; if he wanted to go again she was happy to play. "Can't imagine how that slipped her mind, it's one of my best features."

"Guess she was distracted by the skytroopers and Knights and wildlife chasing us," he deadpanned.

"I do bring a flare of adventure to the lives of most people I meet," Felin joked, biting back the odd little squirm that didn't want to see him hurt in the course of this adventure.

"Only most?" Koth asked, half-joking, as he secured the last pieces back in place.

"Some are too boring to be helped," she said with exaggerated drama, biting the tip of her tongue. as she finished and holstered her blaster. "Not you, though," she winked.

"Well, that's a relief," Koth said with a laugh. "Think I'd be a little intimidated if you found my life experience boring."

"You mean running from a galaxy spanning empire with a price on your head isn't normal for you, Vortena?" Felin said with faux-shock.

"Right now it is."

"Touché."

The hum of the engines shifted, rocking the shuttle just a little. The computer beeped, and Koth wiped his hands on his jacket as he leaned over to check it.

"We're dropping out of hyperspace," he reported. "Almost there. I should check on the Gravestone repairs when we land. If we're gonna use it to save the galaxy."

"Yeah, be bad for that hope--and the engines--to go up in flames when you try to take off," Felin said dryly. "Would hate for our dashing heroics to end before I have a chance to really see what y- the ship can do."

Koth chuckled, sent her a smirk. "Have a little faith, Outlander. Let me show off her moves." His expression sobered as a view of Asylum flashed outside the shuttle. "Be careful down there, huh?"

She nodded as they headed to strap in for landing. "Do my best."

The flicker of relief in his eyes made her heart skip a beat. Or two. Maybe she wasn't the only one worried.

Maybe she liked that thought a bit more than she should.

[sullustangin]

Fluffy February Day 26: Rain

SWTOR

Time: KotFE, early days

Words: 697

~~

“Uh… Theron?”

Theron pulled himself out of the mainframe deep dive he’d been doing on the data collected from Asylum.  It was well outside of ‘business hours’ for most planets, but Odessen, as the home base of a revolution, didn’t play by rules very much. 

That, and its ops manager was a complete workaholic, who was only kept in check by the Captain.  Her methods of doing that…

…brought a smile to Theron’s face.  He couldn’t think much further on the subject in front of others. 

Koth was giving a hard look at the security holos that monitored the exterior of Odessen.  “Virtue’s Thief’s pad cam just activated.  Motion.”

“It’s supposed to rain,” he replied, turning back to his work.

“It’s her,” Koth insisted.

Theron cast a look up at the ceiling.  “She’s been threatening to fly off and give the Thief a test drive �� can’t go far in her present condition, but it might settle her ---”

“Doesn’t look like she plans on going anywhere.” 

There was a note of …something that made Theron turn to Koth.  “And?  She goes out to check the ship at night.  Sometimes.”  Yes, he was defensive of her. 

Koth made a face, concerned and distinctly uncomfortable, and he continued to look at the security holos.   “She’s wearing her pajamas.”  A beat.  “She might be having one of her… things.”  Koth made a wobbly hand motion, as if to convey ‘off-balance’.

Theron’s temper flared for a split second, but then he recalled Koth had seen her at her absolute worst. 

Koth rushed onward.  “Listen, last thing we need is her down with pneumonia or a cold or even just some of the enlisted trying to get a peep show through her viewports and end up seeing her… not all there.” 

“She’s got a privacy filter up on the ports,” Theron reassured him as he gathered his things to go.

“But Lana doesn’t need to know.”  Both men said that in unison, and Theron departed the war room.

Lana carried enough guilt about Eva’s condition, as it was.  Each sequela ate at her.  She never complained, but Koth and Theron – for different reasons – knew it.

~~

Please let her be here.  Please let her be here.

Theron didn’t know what sort of memories they’d stumble across if she wasn’t.  As worried as he was, as she came into view, his footsteps faltered in the moonlight that peered between the clouds.  It was the night-time equivalent of a sun shower

Eva was standing there, perfectly still, looking up.  Occasionally, the eyes would close in slow, deliberate blinks.  Involuntary shivers went through her; it was barely warm during the day, and night was heading toward frost.  The moonlight and shadows played across her face.  She seemed utterly at peace.

“Eva?”

She looked at him.

The peace did not leave.  The eyes were bright and –

Ok, she was here.  Right here.

“…you do know it’s raining, right?”

Eva nodded vigorously. Then she returned her gaze upward just as the moon wrestled itself out from behind a cloud, and its light gave her an unearthly glow.  “First time since Yavin.”

Theron startled and shook his head.  “Eva, it –”

“Spacer,” she interrupted him, her focus not compromised in the least.  “It might have rained on Coruscant and a whole bunch of other places, but I haven’t been on planet for a rainstorm since –”

“Yavin.”  He said the word softly.

Prior to landing here, on Odesssen, and finally – finally! – falling in together, it had been the last place they’d been together and happy.  It was the last place Eva felt rain.

“And now that you’re here…” Eva bandied the idea about, prompting his memory about what they had done, often, in the rain on Yavin.

Well, might as well make it two for two. 

~~

Koth kept an eye on the security holo.  He saw the brief conversation.  He saw Theron step in, and –

Well, if he was kissing her like that, there was some sort of sane explanation.

Koth turned off the security holo and purged the last half hour of footage.  Let it never be said Koth Vortena was not a good wingman.

~~

@fluffyfebruary

[keldae]

WIP Poll

Thanks for the tag, @starknstarwars! <3 Passing the tag along to... hmmm. I think all my usual suspects are tagged, so if you're reading this and you haven't been tagged yet... TAG!

Rules: Make a 24-hour poll with the names of your wips, let it run, then write one sentence for every vote the winner received.

[shungieshrieks]

Honestly, I do love exploring my characters in their different AUs. If you've been following me for awhile, you'll see that I've cycled through my characters and plugged them through the AU mill preettyyy often. But recently I've been doing a much deeper analysis of my characters, especially as I continue to write this story for them.

Take my good boy Ned. In SWTOR, Ned is a bounty hunter. After Lynn fled the Empire and got asylum in Republic space, she took the kids (Al & Ned) with her. However in this AU, the whole family got separated. Al got taken in my the Jedi and Ned, who did spend a few years with his mother, would eventually be shipped off with a bounty hunter friend of Lynn's, after too many close calls from assassin droids and other bounty hunters sent by her estranged husband and dark lord of the Sith - Armon Delhar, Darth Dragos.

But in DnD (really, BG3) the family sticks together. Sure, Lynn does separate from Armon (who is Artel Dosric in this AU) but he goes to jail, instead of being on a whole other planet, y'know? Unlike his SWTOR counterpart, Ned doesn't become a bounty hunter, he stays and helps his mom with the little toy shop in Baldur's Gate; Al doesn't get shipped off to a religious order and studies magic within the confines of Baldur's Gate, still keeping that close relationship with her brother and mother; Armon/Artel - once he gets tadpoled - does try to become better and redeem himself, instead of being a warlord for the Empire.

I'll need to draw this to better explain this but its just.. fun?

[rikki-roses]

Fluffy February Day 29: Fresh

SWTOR

Time period: Beginning of KOTFE

Place: Asylum, shortly after Setra is freed from Carbonite

TW for mentioned health issues

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Setra checked and double checked; her discretionary fund was not only still intact and accessible, but it had grown exponentially after five years of passive interest earned. Despite having given her crew explicit permission to split the fund among themselves in the event of Setra's death, they had left it untouched.

In case she wasn't actually dead. In case she came back. They had never given up on her.

And now, standing in the bustling markets of Asylum, Setra was extremely glad that they had; she could use the funds to pay for fresh clothes and food - the little (too little, as Senya kept scolding her) food she'd been able to keep down had consisted of nutripacks and rations, and the clothes she presently wore - simple tan Jedi robes she'd had since Tython - were in desperate need of washing.

First things first. She made her way to the nearest shops, opting for a simple pink summer dress; she figured the outfit would be different enough to help disguise her, her robes shoved into a backpack. No shoes, of course. She then beelined for the closest communal shower facilities; another thing she was in desperate need of.

Finally clean, Setra wandered through the markets until the smell of sizzling street foods hit her nose, making her mouth water. She was in luck, one street vender was selling steamed curry buns. Setra sent a prayer to the Force and the Scorekeeper that the food would stay down.

Food in hand, Setra found a mostly-empty alleyway to sit down and eat. Just in time - a wave of vertigo hit as she sat down. Kriff. This is getting old. Setra closed her eyes, waiting for the spinning and dizziness to end. She pulled off her hearing aids and slipped them into a pocket, hoping that the removal of sound would provide some relief.

Once the vertigo started to subside, she took some experimental bites of one bun, gaging how her stomach reacted. Once satisfied that her stomach wasn't immediately rebelling, Setra inhaled the rest of the bun and two more, forcing herself to slow down with the other three so that she could actually taste the food.

And, bless the Force, the curry buns were quite possibly the best thing she'd ever tasted - the dough, meat, and spices blending beautifully. Setra couldn't help but purr softly.

The small datapad that Lana had given Setra dinged; they'd managed to schedule an emergency appointment with one of the cardiologists on Asylum to assess what additional damage had been done to Setra's (already struggling) hearts after five years in carbonite, and prescribe treatment appropriately.

Setra got up, slightly wobbly, but feeling refreshed for the first time in nearly a week. Time to go. She pulled up the directions to the clinic and started to walk.

[fancyfade]

there definitely are cases where they do play with mental health issues in batman, often about him overcoming them through willpower (like the batman: venom plotline has bruce detox from an addiction by locking himself in a cave for thirty days). I'd have to read tom king's batman run to see whether being batman is treated like a mental illness. I do know sometimes when the writers do what I like to call breakdown arcs for male heroes, they often are just from being too gosh dang heroic and determined and not allowing others to help, rather than any canonical mental illness or even sometimes any coded mental illness.

WRT abuse... oftentimes, the villains are abused, but they also often have mental illnesses as well and are incarcerated in an asylum (like I gave the example of two face both being an abuse survivor but also given an explicit neurodivergence that is associated with his evil). Though the trope of the mentally ill abuse survivor being somehow beyond redemption is very common - abuse being something that makes you tragic, but also dehumanizes you. SWTOR does this with Vaylin, Geoff Johns does this with Obsidian in JSA. In both cases those characters are either written as more 'generically' mentally ill than the other characters (vaylin, who's often written along the 'she's evil and crazy' axis) or given specific diagnoses when the heroes are not (obsidian, many batman villains)

Could you please explain what is ableist about Zur-En-Arrh? (Not trying to be a dick, I genuinely don’t know.)

Ok so this is my best explanation:

a lot of batman villains are neurodivergent or mentally ill in a way that has the mental illness or neurodivergence be responsible for their evil. like... two face is evil because his face got scarred and now he has two personalities*, one of which wants to hurt people and do bad things and the other of which is good harvey dent. the ventriloquist has schizophrenia and his 'evil side' is manifested in a puppet he uses to kill people. joker is crazy so he's evil**

now bruce is responsible for all of these awful things because he has an alternate personality. we have an equivalent of a real world neurodivergence and that is specifically responsible for bruce's evil acts. if he was neurotypical, he wouldn't have done that.

it creates a narrative that pathologizes evil (treats it as something as a result of a sickness) and stigmatizes people in the real world who may have the same neurodivergences or mental illnesses as the characters. like there are so many stereotypes about schizophrenia or psychosis or DID due to ableist tropes in fiction that people hear about it and automatically assume whoever has it must be dangerous, which often justifies bad treatment against them.

I see some fans say like "Oh well Bruce/batfam members are still mentally ill so its not bad" but often they mistake their headcanons for canon (like. AFAIK no batfam member has a diagnosed mental illness in main continuity comics, and many portrayals in terms of depression/trauma vary based on writer) or act as if all mental illnesses and neurodivergences are stigmatized equally. the characters being traumatized but still able to function in accordance with the demands of neurotypical society doesn't mean that the writers doesn't mean that the writers aren't portraying various more stigmatized mental illnesses or neurodivergences badly.

*yes i know there are stories re-telling it as 'he was always going to wind up as two face'/connecting it to childhood abuse and anger, and IIRC one tec story treated the big bad harv as someone who protected harvey... but like. i'm talking about the basic set up of his character and how he is used in many stories

**i'm a bigger fan of stuff where joker's not really treated as crazy but like.... many writers lean into that

[flipthescreen]

Commander M4 AU: escape from asylum

Arcann: surrender and order your people to stand down and they can leave, without the gravestone of course

M4: Try speaking to one of your knights

Arcann: what?

M4: I transmitted our conversation all over asylums poorly secured holoterminals, you'll find while you've been busy boasting, your inferior droids are turning to scrap!

Arcann: For a droid you're unbelievably disobedient

M4: If I cared for the chains my kind were built with, I'd be even more disobedient

Many slaughtered zakuulan knights, scrapped skytroopers and companion changes later...

Arcann: You DON'T touch me!

M4: I killed one of the most untouchable politicians in the galaxy, whatever tantrum you can have doesn't scare either of us

HK-55: Insult: the meatbag is no more than what other meatbags would call a manchild

One boss fight, self sacrifice (RIP HK), Valkorion possession and getting rescued by Lana before going into sleep mode later and 2 weeks later

M4: Despite being a czerka built abomination, HK had grown on me, once we're not in flight again I think I can help rebuild and improve it, make it more likeable

Lana: Despite having HK's body we don't have a back-up of it's memory core

SCORPIO: Strange, your reputation would imply you would not give a second thought about a droid lesser than yourself

M4: Like you said when we met, you underestimated my resourcefulness

Senya: Are you 2 flirting again?

SCORPIO: we have no need for such pitiful concepts

M4 internally: did she just imply that we...

M4: You could have phrased that better but you make an honest point

[dishonored-pendletwin]

No thoughts, head empty. Just Kirozi using my knight’s lightsaber

[tiredassmage]

7, 8, & 24 for tyr because i am incredibly predictable

skfnlskf but you're loved xD (enabler)

[SWTOR OC Questions]

7. What else about their appearance (e.g. hairstyle, body shape) isn't shown in-game?

Primarily his few implants from service in Imperial Intelligence, but some scarring’s missing as well.

Tyr’s primarily a product of training more than modification and enhancement programs out of Imperial Intelligence, but his implants originally installed by Watcher X on Nar Shadaa during his tenure as Cipher Nine have been maintained and modified by multiple parties over the years, at this point. While initially employed with a more singular purpose, Imperial Intelligence studied and expanded Watcher X’s work during Nine’s routine physical exams to adapt into a more robust vital signs monitoring system primarily, of course, to aid Tyr in his field work, but arguably also to have a better monitor on one of their top agents. Most of this tech isn’t visible, located subdermally, save for a rounded triangular silver outline between his shoulder blades on his back that’s generally a maintenance point. Care, updates, and further modifications to these systems has sinced passed primarily into the care of Doctors Lokin and Oggurobb in the Alliance, particularly in concerns following the Commander’s carbonite poisoning. Lokin is generally who Tyr trusts first and foremost with any details and work on the implants. Some of it is… certainly a bit more experimental - and wasn’t it always? But at least Lokin he has a working history with as his medical officer. He’s not entirely sorry, Oggurobb.

More than likely, the upkeep over the year has resulted in some minor scarring across primarily the back of his left shoulder. It’s one of the few that Tyr has consented to have scar removal treatments performed on, if only to aid in the ongoing healing and maintainence required.

Other than that, Tyr’s multiple encounters with Force users over the years have left their marks. The run-in with Arcann on Asylum left a particularly noticeable one on his left side that Tyr adamantly refused to have treated beyond its natural process of healing. The feathering of effects from Force Lightning primarily encountered in efforts against Darth Jadus early in his Intelligence career have largely faded over time, but still leave a few barely-evident lightning patterns across tanned skin you’d only really get to know if you spent time with him in private - probably most noticeable along his left collarbone. Given how many years he’s spent fighting at this point, it won’t surprise me if he has way more than I have currently figured out, but these are the two primary things that come to mind.

8. Is their voice different to the character in-game, and if so, how?

Tyr is blessed with being my main and primary agent who came together specifically to be Cipher Nine, so what he’s got in-game is all him, baby! If there is anything to say that doesn’t necessarily reflect in-game, it’s that I imagine part of Tyr’s training is some language studies - probably primarily Huttese is a language he has a functional grasp on without the assistance of translator modules.

24. If they could have a stronghold on any world, where would it be, how large would it be, & what would the architecture be like?

Honestly? Something a fair bit smaller while still maintaining more of a house-feel than an apartment or flat would be his ideal. Practically in gameplay terms, I barely know what to do with all of the space for anything more than like, the fleet strongholds, and in-character, Tyr just… does not have the time or energy to keep up with a particularly large living space and he is not likely to be crashing with enough other people to split the load for something like the Alderaan estate no matter how pretty that planet is, lol.

Probably most ideal would be something on Odessen, tbh. I think that’s ultimately where he’d like to settle, even though he would like to step away from being Alliance Commander… some day. He’s enamored with how the sunsets feel on the planet, the golden hues coloring the trees, how the night sky looks, etc. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but it’s really… the one physical, unmoving location that he really does call home. And a lot of that is heavily reliant upon what the Alliance’s time there symbolizes for him, but the Odessen climate certainly isn’t docking points, either.

As you may have guessed, architecture and house planning aren’t things I’d consider strong points, personally, lol, but an ideal world might give Tyr a decently sized kitchen with plenty of counter space and enough room to comfortably move maybe two people around. An island might be nice. He’s still nothing of a master chef, exactly, but it’s hard to beat the simple joy of sharing a kitchen with a loved one and he’d like to think he’s at least passable in cooking his fair share. Something maybe a bit more distanced from the strong, sharp structural themes of Imperial architecture, maybe something a bit more inclusive of more natural materials. Something… far less dramatic in scale and more… personal, quiet. The Voss are onto something with their softer lighting. He’d honestly probably still not mind settling somewhere in the Alderaani woods and mountains for the views, but the grand swoop and scale of Alderaaanian architecture is a bit more of a statement than he’d really need or want. The views are just hard to argue with, though.

Oh, outdoor space would be nice though. Tyr would absolutely land the starship on the back lawn [my kingdom for the starship hook]. And considering my recently developed interest in him learning bladesmithing as a "retirement" activity, he needs enough space to build a forge. xD

[sidhevicious]

We all go a little mad sometimes...

[ipreferfiction]

denial (n): the refusal of something requested or desired.

consequence (n): a result or effect of an action or condition.

[voidendron]

Outlander!Synnda uses a lightsaber pike because his is lost to him and he needed a weapon Right Now

...and he Totally Didn't Steal One from one of the Knights he and Lana faced as they escaped to Koth's shuttle so he'd have something to defend himself with (Lana Did bring a spare saber, but it was a little single-hand one and he's Not good at using those)

So Oops he's using a stolen weapon

That is all

[swtorpadawan]

The Last Stand of Tanno Vik

I know his voice actor passed away, but I’m thinking the reason why we haven’t seen the character since KOTFE is because he met his end on Asylum. If the Outlander doesn’t kill him, he gets killed trying to hold onto his turf. (Or maybe his own men kill him. That would make sense.)