#chigba

[sundownsquad]

A collection of sketches, scribbles, and studies from the last couple months! Not much explanation to go along with these except for the last one, which is specifically one of the holos Speedy took himself that's mentioned in this post.

Bonus:

A special guest appearance by Shaw who's about had it with the transferred natborns he's suddenly having to work with. Technically not a Sundown character, but didn't want to leave him out. Lol

[sundownsquad]

Some studies of Chigba and Noodle! When the ottas were babies, Chigba looked after them when the squad was away from the freighter on missions. Originally Chigba was a bit miffed that she was losing even more of her cargo space to make room for the ottas, but she quickly got over that. She ended up growing far more fond of the ottas than she ever anticipated, even if they grew to be twice her height when she specifically told them not to.

[sundownsquad]

Here are some new profile pics for the squad that I'm using in an upcoming piece! I spruced up Kess and Speedy's old ones and made new ones for everyone else. The icons will be kinda small in the final thing so I wanted to post the full-sized ones too. <3

Some little tidbits about these:

Speedy took all of these pictures except his own.

Kess would have kept the default profile pic on his account forever if Speedy hadn't finally made him change it (Kess normally doesn't like having his picture taken, so Speedy went out of his way to get a good candid of him instead).

Drums can also be a little iffy sometimes about having his picture taken, but he liked this one because it was of his left side.

Knox and Speedy had to take, like, 30 separate photos before they got Noodle and Thea to sit long enough to get Knox's pic.

The sign behind Chigba says "Must be this tall to ride". Lol

[sundownsquad]

Ottabura training doodles! Ottas learn fast, but it still takes consistent practice to solidify their training. From top to bottom: teaching the Ottas to steer off of leg cues instead of reins, back up quickly in a straight line, and stand still for extended periods of time.

Bonus:

Knox can get a little ahead of himself sometimes, but a stern eyebrow-raise will usually get him back on the right track. Always wear a helmet when riding giant critters, kids!

[sundownsquad]

So Nitsani has the special box of teas and snacks. whats everyones least favorite type of tea and what’s their favorite? How many types, on average, can you find in her box?

Thank you for asking about the tea box! <3

Nitsani's tea chest has room for eight tea canisters (they're two inches in diameter and two inches deep) and she always has all eight filled. Once each member of the squad figures out what tea they like the best, then she dedicates one canister to each person. The other canisters are then filled with any flavors they're all test driving.

Kess likes good-old-fashioned black tea with some honey/nectar tossed in. He prefers a smoother flavor so he doesn't let it steep too long.

Speedy likes a special kind of tea that's black tea mixed with mild citrus flavors that has a distinct smoky flavor (think bohea tea). The tea has a pretty intense flavor so it can't be steeped too long, but he likes the boldness of it.

Knox likes black tea but prefers it sweeter or with milk. He's not a fan of bitter teas at all, so he'll load it with sugar or honey if it's too bitter. He once tried Speedy's favorite flavor and declared "There's not enough sugar in the galaxy to make that not taste like a campfire".

Drums' favorite is a blend of herbal tea, cinnamon, and vanilla. He loves the flavor but it's also decaf so he can drink it if he's having trouble sleeping.

Nitsani is a fan of Gatalentan Tea for its smooth flavor and calming properties. It's her tea of choice before starting meditation. She also loves green teas.

Chigba loves spicy tea (think masala chai) with full-bodied flavor. The tea has to have distinct flavor otherwise she'll say "it's just hot water".

If you ask any of them what kind of tea is their least favorite, they will all, without hesitation, say "that spice tea we picked up on Taanab." The squad stopped at the spaceport on Taanab to restock on supplies for the ottas and took a spin through a local grocer before heading out. The tea they bought was advertised as being "Rated the #1 tea brand three years running." As it turns out, the tea was rated #1 among Chagrians... a species renowned for their miserable sense of taste. The tea itself smelled amazing but somehow ended up tasting like wilted kale.

[sundownsquad]

The recent ask reminded me how much I'm enjoying Chigba! Is there anything you'd like to talk about with her that wouldn't be too much of a spoiler? (I was going to ask how she and Nitsani work together, but that seems like it's probably too much part of the story lol.) Um...favorite type of planets? Or...condiments? Or what it's like to draw feet for hands and vice versa? I really just think she's super cool and would love to hear anything you might like to talk about about her!

Thank you so much for asking about Chigba, I'd love to talk about her!! She's kinda been in character limbo as I've been figuring stuff out so it's nice to bring her back out for a bit. :'D

I've included some background info on Chigba below, but, as a little bonus, here's some of the first drawings I did of her back in 2020.

Funnily enough, when I started making Star Wars OCs, the first character I made was Nitsani, then Chigba, then the clones. So she's actually been around longer than the guys, believe it or not!

More about who Chigba is and why she's a part of Sundown Squad under the cut!

Chigba is the person who owns and pilots the freighter that Sundown Squad uses as an undercover means to travel through separatist space.

Chigba has been in the freighter business her entire life and has worked for many major shipping companies over the years.

When she was in her mid 20's, the freighter she was working on was attacked by pirates and the crew were taken hostage. She and the others were eventually rescued by Nitsani's former Master, Golana Eeridos. Golana was on a mission to track down some missing persons unrelated to the freighter heist, but ended up finding way more hostages than she was expecting. Long story short, Chigba was able to help Golana rescue the hostages and capture the pirates.

Chigba and Golana stayed in touch after the rescue and ended up becoming close friends. Golana continued her training as a Jedi and Chigba eventually climbed the ladder and was able to purchase her own freighter.

Chigba was introduced to Nitsani during her padawanship with Master Eeridos, and they ended up becoming friends as well. Around that same time, Chigba got a major upgrade to her freighter. She came across an old, high-end super yacht that was rusting out in a ship scrap yard. When that model of yacht was originally built, they were incredibly expensive and made almost entirely of custom parts. Because of this, when that line of yachts fell out of fashion, no one wanted to spend the money to repair the custom parts and many of them ended up in the scrap heap. Chigba saw the opportunity, and bought it for a rock bottom price. She then restored it, retrofitted it, gutted most of it to create more room for cargo and ended up with a fully unique, fast-as-hell (albeit a little rusty looking) freighter that shaved days off of delivery times. Suffice to say, she looped the efficiency of other privately owned freighters and started making absolute bank. This ship was the reason Chigba was contacted to participate in the Shadow Trooper program.

The fledgling Shadow Trooper program was working on ways to get in and out of separatist territory unnoticed. By that point, Nitsani had already been chosen to lead a squad so Golana was working closely with her on the project. Golana thought of Chigba and asked if she'd be willing to lend her ship to transport the squad. Because of Chigba's long standing trade relationships with many territories now under Separatist control, she already had clearance to do business within the CIS. This would be a huge advantage and would greatly increase the squad's chance of going unnoticed since her activity would be seen as "business as usual". Seeing how much the Republic was willing to pay her to essentially go about her usual business, she readily agreed (plus she would never want to pass up an opportunity to help Golana and Nitsani, but she wasn't as forth coming about that motive).

So the ship was retrofitted (again) and Chigba got further upgrades without having to spend a credit.

So that's a little back story on Chigba! <3 Now to answer your other questions:

Her favorite type of planet is any planet with a decent space port. She's tired of having to dock at back-water ports that put no importance on upgrading their infrastructure. If she's especially unhappy with the state of the port, she'll go and tear the port authorities a new one for their negligence and disregard for, as she'd put it, "basic karking regulations". The thing she complained about is usually fixed by the next time she visits. Lol

She loves spicy food, so she'd favor any condiments that have a kick to them. The squad learned early on to never try a bite of her food if it's offered without first checking what she put on it. Otherwise you might not be able to taste anything else for the next hour.

Drawing dug anatomy is a challenge but I really like it. It's fun getting to mess around with how she interacts with the world and how using her leg hands (still not sure how to refer to these lol) works in practice.

[sundownsquad]

I had a loooooong week, so I decided to de-stress by drawing what Sundown Squad does to feel better after they have a rough day/week.

Fun fact: the blankets Nitsani and Drums are using were made by Nitsani's former master, Golana Eeridos. Golana is a master Jedi artisan who uses the force to imbue the objects she creates with emotions or feelings. So those blankets are literally weaved together with Good Vibes™.

[sundownsquad]

Tag game! Share five random facts about your ocs that you haven’t shared yet, then send this to five others :)

Thanks for tagging me! Here's five more facts about the squad! :D

Kess was very uncertain about the Ottaburas when they first arrived. The whole scenario was completely out of his comfort zone and he often wondered why he agreed to let them stay in the first place. He'd go down to the cargo bay to see them only when the others were down there, but he really didn't engage much. It wasn't until Noodle singled him out and started greeting him the moment he entered the cargo bay that he began to really take notice. It went from him hesitantly patting her on the head to him sitting on the floor and happily giving her belly rubs. Noodle became a source of emotional support he never knew he needed and their bond made them an incredibly effective team down the road.

Speedy got into watching Holo Dramas/Holo Novellas with Chigba during downtime. Chigba watches them religiously, and Speedy sat down to watch with her one night when she was in the rec room. Originally Speedy was like "Are these considered to be good holo shows?" And Chigba reassured him that "Absolutely not, they're god-awful. You watch them exclusively to see how ridiculous the plot lines can get." So Speedy stuck around and ended up getting invested in the shows. Now every Benduday at 19:00 hours you'll find Speedy and Chigba throwing popcorn at the holo-projector and shouting "Oh, come ON! Why would she go for that guy of all people? He's a son-of-a-bantha and she knows it!"

Knox is highly social and does not like to be alone for more than a few minutes. He'll always look for someone to hang out with even if it ends up just being him messing around on his data pad while the other works. The level of interaction doesn't matter so much as the general proximity. The other members of the squad actually find his consistent presence quite comforting, especially when they're feeling under the weather. Knox will stick to someone like glue if he thinks they're having a rough time, and he'll often show up ready to help them feel better before they've even said a word to him.

Drums got his name from his habit of "drumming out beats" while thinking or focusing. He's frequently seen tapping stylus pens on tables, tapping his fingers, or tapping a foot on the floor. While other people might tap a pen on a table using a singular, consistent pattern, the "drumming" Drums does always has more variety and rhythm. Initially Drums didn't even notice he had this habit, but once his brothers started commenting on it the name quickly followed.

Nitsani has a special "Tea Chest" that Master Eeridos gave to her as a gift in celebration of her knighting. It's a hand-crafted wooden chest/case that has special compartments that hold a tea set, tea leaf containers, sugar and spice containers, a special thermos that heats water, plus additional space for storing snacks and utensils. The chest is small enough to be portable and has a strap attached that makes it easy to carry. The tea chest ends up becoming a regular part of the squad's routine once they begin to make time to come together for morning and evening tea/coffee.