The Arcana jumpscare! I'm gonna do this for Cass and Lucio (countromancer)
15- how would you describe the rhythm of their relationship
Imagine a magnet that got too close to another magnet and pulled in, slow and then faster and they collide and the collision separates them but pull together again and there are several of those, clacking together and apart but less far each time. Finally, the first magnet settles into a steady course and the second magnet ends up orbiting around it: in constant free-fall, always falling for its anchor but swinging around and around, never quite hitting it.
Countromancer is that, but both magnets are also really horny.
17- what made them choose each other and what was the decisive factor
hoo boy this is a long one. mainly because of the background lore I'm gonna have to explain first...
Cass: for a good part of their early relationship, Cass was in it entirely out of self-interest. He wanted a political bargaining chip, and then he wanted protection from a forest full of monsters, and then he wanted not to be imprisoned forever in the Devil's realm, so he threw Lucio to the metaphorical wolves and ran for his life.
Then he wandered for... a very long time... lost in the magical Realms. Unclear how long, because time works weird there. But a LONG time. Eventually he realized there wasn't any way to get out unless some entity took pity on him, or he ran into someone who could and would make a portal for him. It was completely out of his hands.
Cass's goals shifted away from escape and towards making life in the Realms bearable, for an indeterminate amount of time. He didn't need food, or water, or anything like that, because ~magic~, but he was very lonely. Of course the original plan had been to ignore that in favor of getting back as soon as possible, but now...
He decided to go try and find Lucio. This took a while, because the Realms had virtually no consistency when it came to geography, and Cass didn't have much to go on. But he did it eventually, and sprung Lucio free, and made a conscious choice to be loyal to him, at least a little bit, because he was sick of being alone.
Lucio: he was naturally pretty pissed at Cass. The last thing that happened between them was Cass letting the Devil took possession of Lucio's soul so that he could save his own hide. Still, Lucio was incredibly wary of trying to traverse the Realms alone, so for the moment he stayed.
I'm not sure I can point to any specific situation that changed Lucio's mind on that, but there were multiple times where Cass risked his own life to help Lucio when he didn't have to. The result was a certain amount of trust that built up on both sides, like a I-help-you and you-help-me kind of vibe. If I had to point to a specific point, I think it would have to be right after they finally made it back to the physical realm, and Cass's father was just. Castigating him, so hard, and Lucio defended him. There's a lot that was going on there that I don't have time to get into here, but yeah. That's like, the place where Lucio consciously chose Cass over other people/his own reputation/whatever.
29- does their dynamic emulate any other dynamic in their lives or within the story
Lucio and Cass's father had an affair a few years before the incident with the Realms. Countromancer has a similar personality dynamic to that relationship, but with a significantly lower power difference.
what's the story with Shae and Aela? why were they separated? how did they feel when they reunited?
Here's one post that's got some good info on that... here's another. there might be others, buried in the archives somewhere? Unclear
both of those touch on their current feelings on the matter, but I'm not sure if I've talked about the backstory yet so here's a summery, and I'll work on writing up the official backstory doc...
They're sisters, five years apart, born on Nar Shaddaa
the sisters were picked up by an orphanage when Aela was five and Shae was two months old
eight years later, the sector they lived in became the battleground for two opposing gangs, and the orphanage was destroyed
the sisters escaped capture by either gang and ended up on the streets -- barely surviving, hiding from both of the gangs for fear of being enslaved (which, as Twi'lek girls, would NOT be good for them)
they managed to find shelter with an older nikto, Lue, who had found shelter near one of the power generators
still not a stable living situation, though -- they had to keep moving to avoid being caught, and Aela frequently had to venture out to find food and supplies (very dangerous)
one time, she gets caught by some of the lackeys and manages to convince them to take her as a minion, rather than a personal companion for their boss... this earns her the privilege of living in an actual shelter without being mugged or killed for not paying the gang's fees. She returns to Shae and Lue and tells them she found a safe place for them to stay. She does not tell them what she did to get that place.
Aela works as an enforcer for that gang for years. Puts up with a great deal of abuse, for Shae's sake. She tells Shae and Lue that she found a legit job somewhere and she's going to do that. Lue definitely suspects, but Shae only realizes a few years later and there's a whole argument about it... the result being that they make plans to stow away on a cargo ship once they save enough money to start over somewhere else.
Lue refuses to go. She's getting old, and she's worried if she tries to come with, she'll get them all captured. She'll take her chances here, just like she was doing before they found her... and she insists that they go through with the plan, so they can hopefully get to a better place
Trying to stow away goes wrong -- Shae ends up making it onto the ship and Aela is left behind. The ship is then attacked by pirates, who capture Shae and make off with most of the cargo... Aela doesn't realize this, and assumes Shae made it to the ship's destination. When she later tries to find Shae and isn't successful, she assumes the worst.
In reality, Shae managed to get recruited by the pirates. Eventually, after bouncing between a couple employers, she made off with enough credits to stay alive for a few months and went looking for Nok Drayan's treasure...
Meanwhile, Aela was sick of putting up with the gang's abuse, and she no longer had Shae's safety to worry about. She shot the gang leader and escaped, eventually becoming a vigilante of sorts striking against the particularly bad syndicates and mafia bosses and whatever. Ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, messes up Ffeud's Intelligence operation by killing his target... but he's so impressed by her methods that he gives her the option of joining Intelligence rather than simply executing her.
Background: SCORPIO, as thanks to her benefactor and long-time friend for allowing her to gain her freedom, first created Grail in a test tube by mixing Eight and Arcann's genes together with the goal of furthering the agent's legacy as she once promised many, many years ago. Raised by caring but quiet parents who never told him of his bloodline or their sordid pasts, Grail was honed into a fine mercenary and bright individual with an independent streak a mile wide. Now, he seeks further glory out in the wider galaxy and to know of the heritage he was denied.
Fun fact - just tried using epoxy for the first time and didnāt die or stick my hands together. Counting that as a win
Last song on repeat - next semester by 21 pilots (mixed in with migraine, run and go, holding on to youā¦)
Currently watching ā Star Trek the next generation. First time. Very confused why a debate about Star Wars vs Star Trek even exists
Last movie ā Iron Man 3, I think.
Currently reading ā Revankin: Conclave (once I get ye olde spoons back, anyway)
Currently playing ā just finished Hollowknight so Iām kinda in between games :/
Sweet, Spicy, Savory ā I donāt care as long as the actual substance is good quality. Honestly my experience is that stuff (food or otherwise) with an excess of either is usually lacking where it counts.
Current Obsessions: uhhh I plead the fifth
Last Google Search ā āif Iām anxious do I tell my boyfriendā donāt read into that one too much
14, 26, 27, and 29 for galen/arcann (you know what i'm here for š)
I am not, in fact, entirely sure what youāre here for, but I am very excited abt these asks all the same!
Disclaimer: their relationship is best described as either one-sided love or QPR. Not a romantic ship!
14- did they ever have to sacrifice for their relationship and what was their sacrifice
Absolutely, but neither of them regard anything they did as a sacrifice. Of course Galen will deal with the inevitable prejudice against Arcann, even though it almost physically pains him to upset people (people pleaser!!). Of course Arcann will hide that he's in love with Galen for years, so that Galen doesn't blame himself for not reciprocating. They care about each other, it's the only thing that makes sense.
26- what is the definitive moment of their relationship and what's their most romantic moment ever
Hmm. Not to be unoriginal but I've got to say it was the time when Galen brought Arcann back to Alliance HQ and stood up for him against the first community/support network he had ever had. Followed by threatening to use extreme force against any threat to Arcann's safety, including from close friends. Followed by continuing to stick to both of those things for weeks.
27- what is the most extreme thing they have done in the name of love
Voluntary manslaughter, I suppose. But self-sacrifice is absolutely on the table and hanging over both of them at all times.
29- does their dynamic emulate any other dynamic in their lives or within the story
It's a pretty unique dynamic. I can't think of anything that would be remotely similar, but I also don't watch a lot of media, so it could be that there is something and I just don't know about it. Open to suggestions!
For the freebie question, tell me more about Galen's morality š at first glance he seems like a cutie patootie but I've seen you describe him as someone who can be dangerous and angry. Why is that? Does he feel regrets when doing bad things? What was his point of no return?
Okay I guess... couple of things.
First of all, a lot of the "angry" bits happened in his early apprentice era, and I've explained much more of that in his backstory doc, but to summarize he had this natural battlerage ability that allowed him to basically go "berserk" -- his conscious mind took a backseat and he gets completely taken over by the Darkside. Murderous rage, basically (kinda like a D&D barbarian's rage ability).
Yes, Galen felt a LOT of regrets. Hated himself, a lot. But he also wanted approval from Baras and to be useful and wanted to avoid failure more than anything and at the time it seems like being a living weapon of sorts was the only way to do that. In fact, once he "woke up" seeing the absolute carnage that he'd wreaked on the enemy made him feel sick, so ever since the first time he always made sure to exit the battlefield as soon as possible.
He never got to a point of no return, but he got close. He became so out-of-sorts that he did something that Vette wasn't willing to forgive. After that, she was very nearly frightened of him for weeks, and then she left for good, and that was kind of the wake-up call for him, and he started trying to turn things around.
As for being dangerous---Galen is very mentally strong and he hates harming anyone else, so usually if he's having a terrible time he does everything he can to contain it to his own mind. Valkorian, for example. When Valkorian tried to do the lightning thing on Asylum, Galen couldn't stop him but he could direct all the lightning into himself, rather than killing everyone in the vicinity. Nearly killed him, but it didn't kill anyone else...
The ONE time he completely lost control was on Ziost (spoilers), and that was what I was referring to when I made this chart. Galen is an empath, which means he soaks up everyone else's emotions like a sponge, and all of his emotions also seep out into the vicinity if he doesn't intentionally control that (which he almost always does). But on Ziost, he was getting the immense shock of feeling millions of people dying and also the Force getting thrown way out of wack, and it was too much, and he lost control of his mental shields, which means that every single person in his ship and also all the surrounding ships was suddenly getting hit by all the emotions of an extremely Force sensitive person feeling millions of people die, and they had never dealt with that before, so most of them passed out and the others had panic attacks.
Which is a problem when there are ships that need to be piloted and suddenly all of their crew is out of commission. A number of people died from the sheer mental trauma. Others ended up with chronic mental health conditions that persisted for the rest of their life...
do you have any ideas about how Mennaās encounter with Vitiate will affect her (in terms of long-term side effects)?
Menna is my Jedi Knight for the first chapter of the story only. She fights to destroy or recapture the superweapons, and defeats Darth Angral ā all that jazz. She does not, however, do anything past that, and sheās not involved in the redemption mission (or any of the aftermath) at all.
I am undecided about who actually DOES do that missionāpartly because the JK has a very direct connection to the Sith Emperor, and Iāve already got a lot of stuff headcanons about him and Galen and all that stuff. Not sure that I want to add another significant character to the mix.
Most likely, though? It was Ffeudās father who went. Ffeud thought he disappeared and ran off. His grandmother thought he had been killed by the secret policeā¦ in fact, he actually escaped the secret police and fled to Corellia, where he joined the Green Jedi. At some point, Tol Braga recruited him and he joined, despite having great deal of reservations.
By pure chance, he survived the mission because he wasnāt in the throne room when the Emperor defeated the others. Naturally there was a lot ofā¦ survivors guilt, I guess? Quite a lot of that. And regret, for believing it could work at all. But he wasnāt corrupted, so physically and mentally there werenāt any real side effects from that.
