Achai's Vision

[eorzean-capitalist]

Axhale what are you doing?

Axhale, sweetie, I know your twin brother gets more attention and I’m sorry about that.  But this outfit is just…

It’s just…  I think we need to have a serious conversation about how Prince Valiant this is and—

… oh.  Carry on, sir, carry on.

[achaisvision]

[Written in Miralukese, requiring Force sight to even view.]

I arrived on Korriban to scout out the current crop of acolytes and find a potential new apprentice.  Of course the Overseer I assigned this task to attempted to hand me a twi'lek.

A twi'lek.  Who did they think I was, Bi'ev?  Not only was this a twi'lek, it was some female Rutian who batted her lashes at me as if that would get her anywhere.  If I'm going to have any Twi'lek apprentice, they better damn well be as powerful as Ixor or I will do as I did right then, choked her to death in front of that Overseer.

Her weaknesses were glaring, and I will not waste my time on alien filth who aren't fit to be Sith.

However, I did manage to find myself a new apprentice anyway.  Kairien, another Miraluka who was lured away from the Jedi by the temptation of the Dark side's power.  Bi'ev apparently tagged him to serve in the Division, and I assumed he meant to take him as an apprentice.

If so, he waited too long.  Really, Miraluka should be trained by other Miraluka in the ways of the Force.  We have gifts that others simply do not. We can do things from birth that other Force users spend most of their life spans learning.  

There is an eagerness in Kairien that I sense will be fruitful in the future.  He also has an interest in lore and history.  I will be putting this to good use, for certain.  I haven't told Jorsek about him, yet.  He'll find out, in good time.

[achaisvision]

Sound of Winter.

[Written in Miralukese, requiring Force sight to even view.]

Ixor had the most interesting gift during this holiday season.  A gree device that apparently forms a temporary mind link between two consenting individuals.  I say consenting because I can't see this device escaping the inquisitors and Imperial Intelligence if it were possibly useful in extracting information from unwilling participants.

Vith and I used it, of course.  Who else would I want such a bond with?  And the results were... interesting.  While he has been completely loyal to me, there's always been that small voice at the back of my mind reminding me that everyone in my life has betrayed or used me at some point.  

We did not form our relationship on anything but mutual gratification at first.  And then I think I remained with him because it infuriated my master, and I was attempting to wriggle out from under the firm thumb he kept on me.  I'd never dared rebel against him until Vith came along.  

Then suddenly I had someone who seemed to want to be with me, and it was of his own volition.  He was not one of my master's servants or contacts or gifts, not a member of Arannek's powerbase.  Vith was mine and my master had no control over him.  I was drunk on my own rebelliousness, and believed myself in love with him.

Not that I knew the meaning of love, then.  I envied his independence.  I wanted to know what it was like to be free, and tasted it on his mouth.   And all the while he really did fall for me, hard.  I questioned his loyalty, counted down to the second he'd finally draw the knife when my back was turned, and he asked me to marry him.

We fell into that as swiftly as we fell into bed on Hoth.  So many ways it could have ended badly.  My master could have contracted someone to assassinate him. I could have driven him away with my refusal to open up.  I don't give that much of myself easily or swiftly.  Yet I trusted him enough not to try killing me in bed.  It was an odd relationship, a mixture of love and hope and distrust and fear.  On my part.  

It was all me questioning us.  Vith had no idea I was anything less than a loving husband.  He has no intention of ever betraying me, his love for me is genuine.  His devotion to me is genuine.

I have never loved before.  Not in this sense.  Part of me is terrified of it.  But that is good.  Fear I can use.  Fear I can turn to power.  Combined with my passion for him, my love for him.... Maker help anyone who thinks to make him a target to get to me.  

Because they will beg me for death long before I finally destroy them.

[achaisvision]

Life Day Gifts.

For Obisen:  A datacron on the care of sleens and other domesticated lizards of the galaxy.  

I am sure you are already quite capable in the care and feeding of your sleen, but I found this while shopping in Kaas City and immediately thought of you.  -Achai

For Ixor:  A strong synthweave, adjustable harness for use on a lizard-monkey.

I hope the lizard-monkey is learning its place already, but just in case I thought this might come in useful.  They are incredibly intelligent creatures, aren't they? And equally temperamental if not properly trained.  It is not really encouraged for Sith to have friends, persay.  But you and Obisen fit the category anyway. -Achai

[einar-fox]

FINALLY done! This took me, omg, forever. It challenged me in ways that almost made me scream but I’m SO glad I did it.  I had never done clothing or armour this extensive before.  I had never drawn a chair like that, (or any chair for that matter), it was a whole TON of firsts in one piece.

I hope everyone, (ESPECIALLY Sanhin!), enjoys it.  He was a blast to draw and I’m personally very pleased with the results. This is Achai, Sanhin’s Sith Marauder on SWTOR. He is a sexy, sexy beast. Yes, yes he is.

[eorzean-capitalist]

Oh mai.  Hallo thar, Achai.  

[achaisvision]

Reblogging this here for reasons.

[achaisvision]

Reconstruction.

"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." --Anthony Brandt  

My brother was a sick child.  This is something I grew up knowing, it was intrinsic understanding that everyone would come to see him.  That hushed voices in the middle of the night were discussing his illness, and what might be done to save him.  Anything significant I might do was kept quiet, for fear of upsetting Axhale.  When my father came home, it was because of Axhale, not me or our older sister.

You might think I began to resent him at some point, but I did not.  Like everyone else, I loved my brother and I worried for him. At the time, there was always an urgency, as if some morning I might wake up and my twin brother was finally gone.  In a way, I hoped it would happen while he slept, and that his poor tortured body would finally know peace.

Of course, I know now he was never truly sick. That our mother was poisoning him in some deranged bid for attention.  And our father was off across the galaxy with a second, secret family.  

This was my family.  

I have a new family now.  My father is the definition of cruelty, yet he took me in when kindness abandoned me and left me to rot.  My brothers and cousin will scheme to kill me if they can.  But I at least know where they stand.  (Except Setekh, but that's a subject for another entry.)  I am heir to a legacy that gives me pride.  

Now I have a new addition to this family.  Vith'alor is a cunning warrior all his own, and he knows when to use opportunity to his advantage.  It's been a somewhat rocky road for us at times.  No doubt I'm infuriatingly difficult, trust is not something I give easily.  I expect to be betrayed.  But he has chipped away at this day after day, simply by being there.  

He brought me to Alderaan, and asked me there to become his mate.  I've accepted.  He's willing to wait for the actual formality of it.  I just don't see the point in that.  If I were going to change my mind, I'd have done so long before now nor would I have said yes if I only meant yes but in a few months.  Vith'alor is a permanent part of my powerbase.  

I'll inform my master of this change once we return to Dromund Kaas to file whatever documents are necessary.  First, I've changed our ship's coordinates to Hoth for the time being.  It's the closest approximation to Csilla that I can find.  It's also where Vith and I began this journey together.  

After this, there is one last detail to see to.  I've allowed that woman to keep my son from me for long enough.  It's time to bring him into the fold.

[achaisvision]

Strength.

"The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other." -Mario Puzo  

When my master asks to speak to me, and I don't immediately know the reason why, part of me prepares myself for the worst.  

It isn't entirely unwarranted.  Unlike the last few years, there was a time when he intended to beat sense into me and that was when he summoned me.  I wasn't given more freedom right away, he liked to keep me close when I was young.  I had bad habits, I wasn't born into the Empire.  I had much to learn, and he had to break me and and reshape me into a proper Sith.

He was a cruel, terrible man with a violent and swift temper.  And for a long time I felt as though I could do nothing right.  I was a skinny whelp of a boy, I was without form, a graceless sack of limbs.  I was reckless and stupid.  All the things I hear him say about his own sons.  

Something shifted eventually.  I can't really say when, but his insults became less barbed.  (Or did I just get used to hearing it?) And he praised me more often, giving me assignments that took me away from his immediate reach.  Failure was met with less freedom again, he had to keep an eye on me to make sure I wasn't falling back into old habits.  That I wasn't tempted to run from him, make a break for the Republic again.

But success was met with praise and gifts.  I remember the day he finally trusted me enough to give me my own ship.  The one that had belonged to his son, Elkoreth.  I could have used that ship to escape, finally, return to the Republic.

He knew I wouldn't.  He knew at that point my loyalties to the Empire (and more importantly to -him-) were strong enough.

Darth Arannek is more than just the facade he shows in public.  The cruelty, the anger, the hatred people see in his eyes and feel as he passes them are merely one facet of him.  They don't see him in more private settings, after his wife visits or when he's relaxing after a day's work.  

Once he trusted me well enough to see this side him, he had my loyalty.  Eventually he had my admiration.   And I daresay I love him more than I ever did my absent father.  

Last night he wanted to speak to me, and to bring Vith'alor with me.  But not to punish me for my transgressions this time.  He looked so... aged.  It pains me to know that I will soon have to kill him.  Before Setekh can finally manage it himself. Especially when he hears what our Master has decided to do.

He's formally adopting me, and making me the heir to his legacy.  Me.  An alien without a drop of Sith blood in me.  

Setekh, who will soon be my cousin whether he likes it or not, will be furious.  

[achaisvision]

Acceptence.

SWTORWrites: Prompt #10, family.

You were always so far away I know that pain And I won't run away Like I used to do 'Brother' - Alice in Chains 

Nar Shaddaa.  It was always on Nar Shaddaa that the two of them inadvertently ran into each other.  

Axhale felt his brother's presence long before Achai joined him at the railing overlooking the lower promenade.  They leaned against it together, mirroring each other in posture.  Axhale noted the differences between them, now.  As children one could barely tell them apart.  Their mother liked dressing them alike back then, keeping their hair with the same cut and length.

Now the effects of the dark side riddled Achai's countenance, ashen veins and pallid complexion compared to the healthier, light tan on his twin brother.  Axhale bore the scar over the right side of his face, crossing over the vestigial eye socket.  No matter how their mother might dress them or cut their hair now, they'd never mirror one another as they had back then.  

"You let both of us go, brother. Vith told me what you did."

Axhale shrugged his shoulders, "I had my reasons."

"They were going to send me to Belsavis, weren't they."

Axhale stood in silence, a glove creaked as he clenched his hand, then flexed his fingers.  That was all Achai needed to know the truth.  He nodded solemnly.  

"Thank you for that, brother."  

Oddly, he sounded sincere.   Axhale turned his head toward him.  "This makes us even, Achai.  From now on, neither of us owes the other."

The Sith smirked, hands gripping the rail a little more tightly as his anger abruptly rose and coiled around him.  "So it does, Ax, so it does.  Yet I cannot help but think there is something you are about to ask me.  I can sense it on the tip of your tongue.  You're just trying to figure out how to ask it."

"Malkirth was my former padawan, Chai."

"Lord Aegnas killed him. On orders from my master, Darth Arannek."

Some things never changed.  Such as the ability to finish sentences, or simply know what the other was about to ask and answer before they could.  Axhale nodded.  He didn't have to say why he wanted the names.  Achai already knew he wanted to bring both of them to justice.  Even if Achai felt it was more motivated by the desire for revenge.

"There is darkness in you, Ax. I can sense it.  You can't bring me to the Light. But you could join me here. I have a new family, one that would adopt you.  My master respects the power of the Miraluk--"

Axhale shook his head, chuckling as if Achai were joking.  It took everything not to lash out there, to remember that nearby at least two Hutt enforcers watched them carefully.  Because trouble always erupted when a Sith and a Jedi were in such close proximity.  

"Chai, I've already accepted that you will be forever lost to me.  It's time you accepted that you can't bring me over, too."

Achai let go of his anger then, exhaling softly as he sank against the railing.  "Damn your Jedi ideals, Ax. We belong together."

"Seems fate has decided it's not meant to be," Axhale replied.  

And with that, he pushed away from the railing and walked away, leaving his twin brother to stand there for awhile longer and absorb the meaning of their conversation.

[achaisvision]

Behind the Scenes.

Prompt 7: Holiday/Vacation/Downtime

Arannek wasn't very well known for having a calm temperament, even among Division members.   But most of them would be surprised to see him then, sitting on the couch with his feet up on a cushion.  It was the medication, they might think, or his still aching injuries.  He wasn't in his right mind to be dressed in the fuzzy red robe with matching slippers.

Achai sat on the floor, beside him, stripped of his fashionably black Sith attire for the time being.  He wore simple pants and a baggy synthweave shirt.  He knew better than to complain he couldn't actually see the holovids.  He could hear them and that was enough. Especially with the officer standing behind all of them to give his precise commentary on the realistic probabilities of any action scenes.

Vith sat beside him quietly, sneaking a hand over to lace his fingers with Achai's.  The Miraluka smiled faintly at the surreptitious act, but Vith glanced over his shoulder a few times to see if Arannek disapproved, or even noticed.  

If he did, he said nothing about it.   Nor did he seem to mind the commentary.  Or the twi'lek slave bouncing into the room with a bowl of snacks and a cheerful hello.  

They all knew the risks in pushing things, however.  While they were fine talking about the holovid, laughing, and munching on crunchy snacks everyone knew the one rule not to be broken.

And no one dared to try taking the remote from Arannek for that reason.

[rashkah]

Every responsible Sith should keep their people-aggressive alien apprentices on a leash!

[eorzean-capitalist]

Yes.  Yes they should.

[achaisvision]

Reblogging this here, because it belongs here.

[achaisvision]

Setekh.

[Recorded in Miralukese, requiring Force Sight to read any of it.]

My master did not have other apprentices when he chose me.   In fact, I was told that he was extremely selective and disliked apprentices so much that if I didn't mind myself I'd be dead within a year.  If that.  I got used to being an only child, as it were, even though he had three sons.  He loathed them.  My own family was close and loving (other than an absent father).  Hearing him disparage his sons was surreal. 

Setekh is his nephew.  He only took this one on as his apprentice when it suited him to destroy a rival.  And I was so used to being my master's only apprentice that we should have instantly disliked each other.  We didn't.  Curious, maybe, but there was no instant hatred and rivalry.   Which was fine with our master, he warned both of us the consequences of fighting with each other in public.  And he pointed to Darth Bi'ev's feuding apprentices as an example.

We are Sith, however, and such is not meant to be forever.  My master decided to test me.  He sent Setekh to set a trap for me.  If I failed, then I would die and he would forget me.  He had me dead to rights, even if I survived the blast.  If we'd fought, I'm not entirely sure I would have survived as injured as I was.   

Instead, Setekh decided to enlist my aid in taking on our master.  I agreed, mostly because I'd never even considered it before.  Arannek had such control over me then.  I hated him so much, and yet I had never made any real plans to kill him other than the imagination of an abused young man.  

The idea failed to even get off the ground.  I don't even know if my master ever knew we were considering it.  Setekh did something to piss him off and ended up in a kolto tank for awhile because of it.

I think he did know, or suspected.  Because after that he began exalting me, spending a lot more time with me, preparing me for claiming my title.  And of course this drove a wedge between Setekh and I.  He was so jealous he couldn't even look at me without glaring.  And our master only encouraged this, calling him weak and stupid while praising me constantly.

Setekh is up to something.  I'm not entirely sure what, but he's a sneaky bastard.  He's already furious with our master for treating me different.  And he wants to prove himself badly.  

When it happens, all I can say is it probably serves our master right.  

[achaisvision]

#1.

[Recorded in Miralukese, requiring Force Sight to read any of it.]

Vith'alor and I have landed on Tatooine, which is an interesting coincidence.  A timely arrival to meet with Lord Ixor'semo in the cantina.  Unplanned, but not unwelcome.  I assume most Sith I come in contact with have their own agendas, and are always entertaining how best to use me to further their own schemes.  But Ixor is simply different in this regard.

Not that I think him incapable of planting a lightsaber in my back if I were to turn it to him.  Simply disinterested in doing so.  

He's also much more perceptive than people give him credit for.  Either that or Vith and I are terrible about hiding what's between us.  I'm not used to hiding my dalliances, as most of the time people know whoever shares my bed is a temporary and disposable distraction. 

Vith is not a distraction this time.  I am reluctant to say anything poetic about him, I'm not Voss and also not given to unrealistic ideals of love and romance.  Both of us have our own agendas, he's already stated exactly what he wants.  And he's aware of the risks, even without my crew's Imperial officer informing me of the odds (down to the percentage point) of a non Sith surviving as the partner of a Sith Lord.  

Ixor is likely right, I'm terrible about hiding such things when I need to.  Perhaps we should take another look at this.  Maybe I shouldn't even bother hiding it, pretending instead that Vith is just another toy as so many others have been in the past.  There are risks involved, but somehow I think being open about my involvement with him is less risky than trying to hide it.

Besides, Vith'alor is no wilting flower.  Anyone trying to harm him to get to me will find him a formidable opponent.  Which is why he is neither temporary nor disposable.  

Of course, this will not make my master happy.  Anything I do reflects on him, or so he believes and he suffers no weaknesses in his apprentices.  But, that's a storm I will weather.  He will eventually understand that I am not the sixteen year old he picked from Korriban.  And that continuing to try controlling me will be met with more and more resistance.  He is powerful, and I will not forget that he taught me what it means to be Sith.  But his day is fading toward twilight and my sun is not yet peaked.  

Eventually, he will be gone. By my hand, perhaps. By Setekh's, perhaps.  Or both of us if we could put aside our mutual distrust and dislike of one another long enough.   

Setekh is another story all together, and deserving of an entry all his own.