actually guys, i need to be fr. if i can be agents georg, i wanna flip the opportunity for my fellow swtorians to bring me into another class story relationship that usually leaves me scratching my head. so, this one's for my jedi knight people:
what connects your knight (or doesn't) with orgus din?
my one consistent headscratcher with knight is that, clearly, a rapport's meant to be established there because they want to take advantage of doing something to it by alderaan - the execution of which i find bungled and, to be very honest, i... might have thought my character was overreacting the first time i played it. <.>
i know i have knight-having mutuals out there and it's a class i haven't spend time looking deeply into the fandom side for. it brings a lot of interesting elements to the table, absolutely, and i understand some of its appeal. again, i'm in a camp, having played all 8 class stories at least once and often at least multiples times to certain points (some completely, some thru expacs, etc) that none are bad, but... i think there's some connective tissue lacking in execution sometimes. knight struggles to give me the set up that would make me feel its intended payoff is... emotionally earned/established, if that makes sense?
so like. orgus as written leaves me feeling more like he's the guy that's always going for a smoke break after every conversation/the dad that's always leaving to get milk and never coming back. which, if i step back and look at the idea behind the character - a jedi master who doesn't take another padawan for years because his last fell after a deeply traumatizing time for not only that padawan (bengal), but the jedi order as a whole (the sacking of coruscant), that can be a really compelling character. that's an interesting viewpoint to have of the jedi order, and what it means to someone to be a jedi.
i just... don't know if i necessarily understand the writing's intent when it wrote him as the jedi knight's master for tython? because of all the "mentor-"adjacent characters in all class stories, i... never feel like i spend a lot of time with orgus. which... for the kind of payoff they want to slide in on alderaan is... really odd? i find the inquisitor and zash and the warrior and baras to have a more readily established and consistent rapport, and the latter even readily admits he's willing to sacrifice your life for his goals as early as dromund kaas, y'know?
so i wanna give people an open invitation to tell me how their blorbos feel about the relationship and invite me into your interpretation of the dynamic. do you take what's here and run with it? do you headcanon something further that's not "in-text?" did you write something else completely for your knight? if they're close, they're friends, they're not, they couldn't care less - whatever it is, i wanna hear about it from the people who love the knight class story like i love the agent story, lol.
i don't think i'll need to qualify any statements or anything, but just in case: there's no wrong answers to personal enjoyment with your blorbos. i really liked chatting about a chapter two choice in agent the other day, and since i'm in a knight replay and i'm going through some of my feelings with the writing of it again, i figured it'd be cool to see reads put together like that kind of post?
so. tell me about your jedi knights <3 and maybe why it is your favorite class story, if it is.
Is it bad that I giggled that I got one of these? xD Everyone's has been so interesting to read and I have been low-key trying to figure out mine in preparation, lmao. I don't actually know how controversial or hot takes any of my opinions are, but I think these are the ones.
1. While I think Shadow of Revan is probably my favorite expansion, I genuinely enjoy KOTET/KOTFE on the whole. Low-key I joked with myself that half the reason I have so many characters is so that I constantly have one actively somewhere between SOR and KOTFE because it's my favorite stretch of the game.
There's even a sliver of appreciation in my heart for confronting a choice like Torian & Vette one and I'll express why, but I will preface with I understand, too, where people have taken issue with it.
I think my frame of reference on it is based primarily from Jedi Consular being my first class story (and I ran the whole game practically straight through on that character, for the most part, so there's a lot I've learned about making that easier on me since then, lol), and an almost purely LS Consular, at that. Okay, that kind of gets into a second take, I think, so let me stay on topic. Anyway, the TLDR in reference to this specific choice is that it wasn't one I felt like I'd confronted anywhere else at the time I first saw it, so I appreciated it for its difference and having a rather immediate consequence.
2. Preface: Jedi Consular is still one of my favorite class stories. Probably my second favorite? But, the real take that I almost stumbled into in #1 is that there were times where I was really expecting... Okay, idk really how to word this one because I'm kinda like ehhh about my own opinion, but I think the short of it is that it was really easy to be "the good guy." There were proposed potential consequences (say, some 'bad guy' got away, for the moment), but I felt largely like I was able to 'save everyone.' And I don't find this bad, necessarily. It is, I think, ultimately what I wanted from the story. I wanna root for the good guys and have them sometimes miraculously pull off everything, y'know? I don't think it affected my decisions for that character - he was always meant to be an almost entirely LS character, but I do remember a few moments where I sort of teasingly wondered just how good I'd get away with being good.
Part of the reason I want to replay this class is to sort of re-gauge my feelings on this to see if I still feel that way or if my memory is just kind of suffering from not quite understanding the media the way I do now with more characters/experience. SW in general is something I've enjoyed casually before, but never as in-depth as I have now that I've fallen head over heels for this pixel dress up simulator, I mean Star Wars game. Bonus(?) from that I guess is that SWTOR has probably been my favorite engagement with SW, lol. It shows off other aspects of the universe in a way the movies didn't/couldn't because that wasn't their purpose, but it is SWTOR's in the class stories (and that's hella neat of it, imo).
3. Jedi Knight is not nearly as good as I've seen it described sometimes. I'd personally probably put it in my bottom four rather than my top four. That said, on a second pass through it with another character where I gave myself more time, I did enjoy it more and I appreciate it equally with the other class stories. It's still not my least favorite (though that sort of unfairly implies I find one significantly subpar and now that I almost have BH finished which was my last one, I don't think there's one that's wildly removed, but I still have preferences), but I still find it a bit try-hard on the LS/DS front. It very clearly wants that to be a problem and the elements to build it into one are present, I think (I'm satisfied with how it played out with my 2nd character, for example), but it could be more organic. It could be more.
Sub-opinion of this is that I'm actually not as sold on Orgus as I am Yuon Par, I'm so sorry, old man. I'd die for Yuon Par, no questions. But I haven't yet connected with Orgus the same way I have with a lot of other characters - generally at least one or two from each class story, I think. Which is fine, too, I think because you're just naturally not going to be best buddies with everyone, but I always felt like there was still a certain distance between him and the JK in my experience that kept me from being fully invested in the dynamic. Neither of my Knights will talk bad about him, but I think both would say they wish they knew him better and I always have hesitated to have them state that he was their best teacher. He's a good teacher, a good character, I did decide I was too hard on him on my first playthrough, but eh. As a player, I can play favorites like that. xD
@winterrhayle THIS IS SO LATE I’M SORRY ELLIE ILY <3 for the smgh gift exchange!
word count: 2137
cress asks her (very cute) apartment neighbor to help her catch a spider, while struggling with infatuation.
- <3 -
“Um… hello?”
The confused face of Cress’ next apartment neighbor searched her own, and Cress wondered if it was too late to back out. They’d made eye contact exactly once before, when they’d gotten in the elevator together. The girl had returned her smile, so Cress figured she was nice enough.
A singular smile was probably not the best basis for asking a favor of someone at 7am. Especially this kind of favor. And talking to strangers was very high up on the list of “things Cress hates.”
It was definitely too early for this.
Then the sight of the spider that had crawled across her keyboard filled her mind and she shuddered in her slippers.
“Erm… hi.” Cress wound her hand in her hair, very aware that it was early and she’d probably just woken this girl up. However, as she looked her neighbor up and down, Cress realized that she looked very much awake- with a smudge of grease over her eye and hands covered in work gloves.
She also realized that grease, googles, and all, her neighbor was pretty.
Talking to strangers was one, very stressful, thing, but pretty strangers she was attracted to? Abort, abort.
“Come in?” Cress was grateful as the stranger pushed the door open, despite the fact that she hadn’t managed to come up with anything to say. Cress shuffled in, her overlong t-shirt she’d slept in brushing her knees. Despite the grease stained work tank top her neighbor was wearing, she still had sleep shorts on, which made Cress feel a little better about being in her pjs.
Cress cleared her throat awkwardly, her hands straying to braid her hair subconsciously. “I’m Cress, and I live next door?”
Great initiative! You sounded like you were asking her a question!
“Cinder.” The girl- Cinder- introduced herself hesitantly. “Nice to meet you?”
“Can you help me get rid of a spider?” Cress blurted, hands in her hair coming to a standstill.
Cinder looked slightly taken aback, but bemused. “Sure?”
Cress breathed an internal sigh of relief. Thank God. She isn’t even looking at me like I’m weird.
“I was finishing an assignment when a huge one went across my keyboard, and it was, like, three inches long. Well maybe not that big, but you get the point. I hate spiders… ” She realized she was starting to ramble and flushed, strangling her hands in her hair. “I’m sorry to bother you, especially in the morning.” She emphasised.
Cinder shrugged. “It’s no problem, I was up early working on an assignment anyways.”
The assurance gave Cress barely any relief. “I can offer you food?” She added, hoping to smooth over the fact that she existed.
Cinder laughed, and the slight tension in the room was released. “In that case, I’m sold.”
Cress peered over Cinder's shoulder, and caught sight of a workbench pushed against the corner of the room. Perched on the edge was what looked like…
“A bot?” Cress loved coding AI tech, and was actually majoring in computer science.
“Yeah, I’m a mechanic, well technically an engineer, but I do some other personal projects on the side.”
“That’s so cool!” Cress felt her grip loosen from it’s anxious hold. “I’m a coder, and AI tech is some of my favorite.”
“Really? I have a bot named Iko, and she’s been mentioning something about color changing eyes? While she loves my physical additions and such, I’m sure she’d appreciate some technological improvements.”
Cress beamed. “Wow, a personal bot? I’d love to check her out sometime!”
“That would be great.” Cinder held her gaze for half a second, before they both looked away. It might’ve been Cress’ ever overactive imagination, but she could’ve sworn she felt sparks. Then again, that happened every time her useless lesbian self made eye contact with a pretty girl, but still.
What is this, a rom-com?
Cinder cleared her throat, before leading them to the door. “Show the way?”
Cress leapt at the opportunity immediately, leading them to her apartment. Cress pushed open the door, forcing herself not to jump away as soon as it opened a crack.
“I’ll go first.” Cinder must’ve noticed her anxiety, and she gave her a comforting smile that both soothed Cress’ heart and made it beat more erratically.
Taking a steadying breath, Cress followed Cinder in, leaving the door open in case she needed to make a quick exit.
Cinder grabbed a glass from the counter, which also made Cress feel lighter. Setting spiders free was better than killing them, even if they were spiders the size of her thumb.
“By your laptop right?” Cinder gestured to the work table, and Cress nodded with a nervous gulp.
A leg crawled up and over the desk and Cress jumped, clinging to Cinder. The tan girl sagged under the sudden weight, one arm coming up to support her from underneath.
The sudden touch made Cress freeze. She realized her arms were wrapped around Cinder’s neck, and she was clinging rather tightly. I just quite literally jumped into a super cute stranger’s arms. Stars help me.
Cress considered hopping down, when the spider ran across the floor by Cinder’s feet. She squeaked, and clung tighter. She vaguely thought of how awkward this must be to Cinder, but there no fucking way she was touching the same ground the spider was on.
Also, Cinder was remarkably buff and did not seem to be struggling at all.
Must be all the mechanic work? Cress thought with a slight flush.
Stop thinking about a girl’s muscles! We’re in the middle of a crisis here!
Cinder scuffed her foot, and the spider raced back up to the table. Cress winced, and watched through partially closed eyes in awe as with her free hand, Cinder dropped the cup upturned on the spider.
“I got it!” Cinder’s voice was right besides her ear, and Cress widened her eyes. The spider was indeed secure in the glass, and Cinder’s hair was in her eye.
With a blush, she fully realized her position once more. Her heart sped even faster than before, which she didn’t know was possible. Cinder smelled of car grase and faintly cinnamon. A combination that was shockingly attractive. The thought made her flush even deeper, as was the fact that her bare legs were gripping a small strip of the neighbor’s midsection where her shirt had ridden up.
“Ahaha,” Cress laughed awkwardly, doing a weird shoulder pat thingy. “Thank you.” Is this flirting?
Cinder tilted her head to look at Cress, and from their position, the movement made their faces remarkably close. With yet another squeak, Cress dropped to the ground so fast she stumbled.
“You’re welcome.” Cinder’s voice was bemused as she bit her lip in an attempt not to smile. It was distracting, but soon Cress was giggling. Cinder joined her, and all her anxiety melted.
“Alright, there’s still Part 2.” Cinder cautioned, gesturing to the spider. Cress considered it.
“We can drop it in the flowersill.” Cress suggested, gesturing to the window.
“Flowersill?” Cinder repeated.
“Oh.” Cress flushed a tiny bit in embarrassment again. “I don’t exactly know the word for it but like, those cute little flower beds that attach to windows?”
Cinder shrugged with a smile. “Works for me.”
After poking around a bit, Cress came back with a piece of paper. Cinder bit back a smile again, and Cress found her gaze pulled to her lips. “This part might get a little scary, if you need to hop in my arms again.” She said it wryly, teasingly, but Cress suppressed the urge to bury her head in her hands and disappear forever.
Rather than jumping into Cinder’s arms again, she settled for hopping on the counter and keeping all parts of her body away from the table and floor. From her new perch, Cress watched as Cinder slid the paper under and brought the spider to the window to release it.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Cress gave Cinder a wide smile when she turned back to her. Cinder smiled back, and her eyes crinkled. Cress’ heart fluttered again.
“So… grease huh?” Cress realized what a weird conversation starter that was and blushed as Cinder raised an eyebrow.
“Huh?”
“Well- you smelled like it and there was some above your eyes and well-” Cress stuttered to a rambling stop because she really didn’t know how to explain why she said that. She didn’t know why she said that.
“Oh.” It was Cinder’s turn to blush as she scrubbed at her eye. The grease stubbornly remained, and Cinder’s nose was wrinkling with concentration through the effort. Cress tried to repress a smile, but it was impossible.
“Here, let me help.” Reaching to the side, she picked up a cloth off the counter. Running it under water until it was damp, Cress gestured Cinder forward. Hesitantly, her neighbor stepped towards her, and Cress lifted the cloth. Carefully, she brushed away a few strands of hair, and Cinder’s breath hitched a bit. Cress thought hers did too. She gently rubbed at the grease, and with the soap on the cloth, it came off of Cinder’s reddening face with little effort.
“Maybe we should try a collab sometime?” Cinder seemed to almost blurt it, catching Cress by such surprise she almost dropped the cloth. The moment had felt like a pause, and the disruption startled her. The girl had seemed so calm and collected, but the chink in the armor was just as nervous as Cress.
Despite her initial surprise, she glowed at the suggestion to spend more time getting to know her cute next door neighbor, and resisted jumping off the counter and spinning.
“That would be amazing.” Cress hopped a bit in excitement, and Cinder gave her a fond smile.
“Do you want to stay for breakfast?” Cress wasn’t sure what compelled her to ask, and she buried her hands back in her brown tangle of hair.
“Oh!” Cinder seemed pleasantly surprised, and Cress beamed. “That would be great!”
“How do pancakes sound?” Cress crossed to the fridge, practically buzzing with excitement as Cinder followed right behind her.
“Amazing. And can I help?” Cinder was right at her shoulder and Cress nodded, uncertain if she could find coherent words as she got out the supplies for pancakes.
Cinder grabbed a bowl that was, unbeknownst to her, filled with pancake powder. Her face lifted in shock as it poofed out of the bowl, covering her features in a layer of powder. Their laughs mingled as they poured water into the mix, and Cress felt lighter than she had in weeks. Cinder took to sitting while Cress heated the stove and got the eggs going. Occasionally, she would sneak a look over at powder-covered Cinder and grin to herself. One time she almost burnt the eggs as she got distracted.
"Here." Taking a dishrag from the stove handle, Cress swiped it quickly around Cinder's face - considering - a little too late that she just should've just given the rag to her. Two times in one day!
Cinder coughed a bit, her hands going to fiddle with the ends of her sleeves as she leaned back on her heels, pink in the cheeks.
"Thanks." She managed. Cress smiled, plating the eggs and getting ready to start cooking the pancakes.
After a few minutes, they had settled into a steady conversation about their studies and work. Cress filled with excitement as they discussed plans to build a robot that could make them ice cream. It had started as a joke, but the more they talked about it, the more realistic the idea became.
"I would make sure it has strawberry for myself." Cress was saying. "What about you."
"Butter pecan." Cinder responded immediately.
"Oooh, good choice. French vanilla would be my second."
"Me too!" Cinder replied. "Nothing wrong with a classic."
"Agreed!"
The more they conversed, the more Cress was enamored with Cinder's wit and sharp mind. She'd always been a romantic, falling in love quickly. But she'd learned her lesson in the past, and was happy to bide her time and truly get to know Cinder.
A timer on her phone rang, and Cress jumped.
"My first class is in 15 minutes."
"Oh!" Cinder stood up as well. "Yeah.. here's my number." She scribbled it on a napkin. Cress grinned as she wrote hers on another napkin.
Handing it off to Cinder, their fingers brushed. It was far from the first contact they’d had this morning, but it filled Cress with a feeling of hope nonetheless.
Cinder tipped her head, giving Cress a simultaneously sweet and wry smile. “Call me if you see any more spiders.”
Cress laughed, waving at Cinder on her way out. “Will do.”
She knew that spiders weren’t the only thing she’d be calling about.
