in a very oblique example of taking your fandom to work, i have channeled all my dance teacher energy into orgus din. if my kids had the Force you can bet I'd be making the speech below, I already basically make it just about the body so. not sure where this comes except that it's on coruscant, so if you want to read all sith's creature stuff in order it is coming soonish on ao3. otherwise... Ven! learning to be a Jedi
“It will take time to get the intel we need,” Orgus said. “In the meantime, padawan. We train.”
“Seriously?” Ven said. “There’s nothing else we can do that would be more useful?”
“Training you in the ways of the Force is useful,” he said. “You need to know what you can do, and how to do it.”
He was right. Ven didn’t want him to be right.
“Ven,” Orgus said quietly. “Would you hand a blaster to someone who thought all there was to shooting was pointing it and squeezing the trigger? Or would you teach them what it means to hold one, first?”
“Lots of people just point and shoot –“
“Padawan.”
He was getting to know her too well if he was cutting off her nonsense before it started. Ven gritted her teeth. She knew this. She couldn’t put it off forever, especially now that she’d said she’d learn. Using the Force without understanding it was a sure way to do exactly what she feared: trip and fall. And then someone would have to kill her to put the galaxy out of its misery, because Ven knew she was strong in the Force, and then her family would never know what had happened to her and she’d never get to see the Empire she’d fought fall.
“The more I use it, the more I’ll think… that I should use it,” Ven said.
Orgus nodded slowly before gazing around the room as if looking for something.
“Can you do a handstand, padawan?”
Ven thought she was the expert in saying weird things. At least her weird things made sense.
“Uh – maybe? It’s not something I’ve tried recently. Stupid way to fight.”
“Well, let’s find out.”
“What is this? You want me to use the Force to balance or something?” It was weird, trying this knowing that people were watching. Kira, leaning against the wall, grinned at Ven as she planted her hands tentatively on the floor. Ven pulled a face at her between her own legs and tried to jump up. She came crashing back down a few seconds later.
“Do you think you could use the Force for this?” Orgus’ voice was mild. Too mild. He was planning something.
“Seems like cheating,” Ven huffed. Getting her hands in place and jumping for it wasn’t going to work, fine. She needed more momentum, and more commitment. Was that the lesson? She reached overhead and tried to flip herself forward. She kicked too hard; her legs went past her back, her hands slipped out from under her, and she slammed into the floor hard. Ven groaned, staring up at the ceiling. They had little carved panels, circles inside squares. Why did fancy buildings always have fancy ceilings? Who cared enough to look, other than idiot Jedi padawans being forced to do handstands?
“Cheating,” Orgus said mildly. “You think the Force would catch you?”
“That’s what it would be, right? Like if you held me up.” Ven rolled to her feet, trying to think. How did people do handstands? She was good with her body, but she didn’t do crazy feats like this for fun. There had to be a point. “It’s not a handstand if I’m not standing. Holding myself up there with the Force would be like sticking my legs between two walls and pretending I’m up there all by myself.”
“Sink your hands into the floor first,” Orgus said. “One smooth motion. Connect with the ground and use that to kick up. You’ve got a strong core; use it.”
He mimed the motion. Warily, Ven copied him. She tried it small at first, just to feel it. Get low, slide the hands into the floor, and kick. She stood, glancing at Orgus, who nodded. With a groan, Ven tried again, this time aiming to hold.
She squeaked a little, but she knew her body. Squeeze the thighs, squeeze the abs, depress the shoulders. Ven stared fixedly at Kira’s skirt across the way. She really hoped Kira wouldn’t move.
“Nice job!” Kira called. Ven couldn’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.
“Breathe,” Orgus said calmly. Ven watched his legs move past her head, pausing on her other side. He tapped her belly gently. “Draw your muscles in. You’re not frozen here. To balance yourself, you have to move.”
Ven stretched her fingers, pressing into the floor. She knew this one. She’d learned to fight from a lot of different people. More than a few had told her to feel a flow of energy through her body whenever she had to hold a position. Usually in a sniper’s nest, but still. She shook her head, trying to adjust how her tendrils fell to the floor.
“Right,” she said. “Fingers to toes, lots of energy. Why are you making me do this?”
She didn’t mind that it came out belligerent. Her arms were starting to ache.
“What you feel right now, that energy,” Orgus said, squatting down to look her in the eye. “What is it?”
“My muscles,” Ven said. “My breath. I don’t know, me?”
“You think of the Force as external,” Orgus said. “A force, acting upon you. That you control it, or you’re swept away. That feeling in your belly – your abdominals contracting, the blood and breath moving through you, the conviction necessary to keep yourself up – that’s the Force. Not separate from you. Not a foreign body inside yours. It is you, padawan. Our greatest injuries occur when we treat our body as an enemy or a tool. Know yourself, and you will know how to avoid those injuries.”
Ven’s throat was too tight for the breath she needed.
“Can I come down now?” she said, adjusting her hands as her legs wavered. Orgus nodded, stepping back, and Ven swung her feet to the floor. She took her time standing, letting the blood leave her head, and pulled her tendrils back over her shoulders when she was up. Kira was still watching, but she didn’t look amused now, just thoughtful. Like maybe what Orgus had said rang a chord in her mind, too.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“A little dizzy,” Ven said, so she wouldn’t have to admit anything else. Orgus smiled, like he knew what else was on her mind anyway. He was a Jedi. It was possible.
“That, my padawan, was meditation,” he said. “You’re welcome.”
The Sith's Creature (9457 words) by SquirrelNo2
Chapters: 2/?
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Male Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine (Star Wars), Original Sith Character(s), Darth Jadus, Female Jedi Knight | Hero of Tython (Star Wars), Orgus Din, Keeper (Star Wars: The Old Republic)
Additional Tags: Mind Manipulation, Memory Loss, Medical Procedures, Siblings, Time Travel, (somewhat background - no time travel occurs over the course of the fic), References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Series: Part 7 of Sometimes a Family Is expanded lore
Summary:
He does not know his name. He knows a lot - how to heal, how to steal, how to kill - but not how he knows those things. All he can remember is that Darth Jadus made him, and that he is meant to be an agent of the Empire. Everything he is sits wrongly inside him, but at least he can put his skills to use helping Jadus' young, sick apprentice.
He may have been made for a purpose, but at least he can bend that purpose to what little will he has.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy, a girl wants to go home to her family. She knows a lot more about herself than he does, and more about him, but it doesn't matter so long as she doesn't know to look.
the agent!nalyan au is growing legs and running away from me. this is a very in media res bit set in ??? i still have to decide, but uhhhh i love pain and suffering. so i had to write it. everyone say hi to knight!ven angst while we're at it
"I understand you want your brother back," he snapped. "You can't understand what it means to be made a tool of someone else. Someone you would hate in your right mind. It's bad enough knowing there was a past to forget, Ven! I can't - There's no -"
He pressed his hands to his head, expecting pain. There was none, of course. Lana did not forbid this. Jadus was gone.
"So long as I believed I was not real," he said evenly, lowering his hands. "Then no one was truly being hurt, every time I did something I did not want to do. If I was someone before this, though, then I've killed him."
He shook his head. His movements had loosed his hair from the carefully gelled shell Intelligence had trained him to keep it in. Strands fell across his eyes, and he did not have the strength to push them aside. From beneath the curtain of stiff brown strands, he watched Ven. Perhaps she would finally give up on him, and dedicate her time to caring for people who were not broken beyond repair.
"You're wrong," she said at last.
"Everything you've told me about your brother suggests he would want to die before becoming what I am," he said coldly.
"No, it doesn't," Ven said. "I think that's just something you know. And it doesn't matter right now, because that's not what you're wrong about. I have been a tool. I was used against my own cause. I was a puppet, too."
"Pessimistic way to view the Jedi," he muttered.
"Get your head out of your ass and listen to the words I'm saying instead of the things that make you feel better about your self-pity," she snapped. "You must be my brother, because this is exactly the shit Nalyan always pulls. Congratulations."
He lifted his eyes, staring at her expression. Her deep black eyes were watering. For the thousandth time since she'd first threatened Lana's life, he wanted to reach out and comfort her. She reminded him of Rhea - terrifying and yet so small and scared.
No. Rhea had reminded him of Ven.
"Tell me," he said. "Ven. Tell me what they did to you."
She twitched once, curving around her middle for just a second before pulling upright.
"I fell," she said. "The Emperor got me to fall."
"Is that really what happened?" he asked quietly. "Or is it like - like the idea that I was some invention? Is it what you say, so the hurt isn't worse?"
She stared at him, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.
"I can't go back to the brother you knew," he said. "I fear remembering would only shatter me further."
"I can't go back, either," she said. "I just don't want to move on alone."
"What name did your family call you?" Our family, he doubted he'd ever be able to say. It didn't matter, in the end. She smiled anyway.
"Shiny."
He nodded slowly, hoping he was not about to hurt her again. He was not Nalyan yet, and he might not be ever again, but Ven was still someone worth protecting.
featuring Ven bonding with Kira and "Reeto" arriving at Grathan's estate... and of course the promise of worse things coming. as always in this fic.
Ven made a quick stop back to the senator and her Gree droids. The hydrosupply repair was working as intended and, of course, they had another urgent infrastructure problem. Ven was of half a mind to ask why they hadn’t gotten a Jedi in on this before now – like a real one, with diplomatic experience who’d actually been knighted – but the senator did still seem at her wit’s end. Maybe she was just so exhausted it genuinely hadn’t occurred to her until she’d seen Ven walk past. Embarrassing, but Ven was starting to think that was the kind of thing people could get away with when they lived in comfort. Considering Ven thought everyone deserved to live like that, she figured she’d better not begrudge the woman a little absent-mindedness when she was genuinely trying to make things better for everyone.
And honestly? She felt sick enough about Tarnis she didn’t think she had room in her for more anger or frustration. Not even with the droids who couldn’t give her a quick order.
this is... so far in the future for sith's creature it might actually be a second fic. but i was thinking about knight!ven and arcann. so if you like reading things where you have actual context for what the FUCK they're talking about (or you just. don't want to know what direction the kotxx stuff will go) hold off but if you're here for vibes and shenanigans read on
They locked Arcann in his new room, but it was distinctly not a prison cell, and he remained alive. It was far more than he had expected from the Commander.
More surprising still was her visit, two hours after the lock clicked. He stood hastily as the door opened, ready to offer his help to whoever it was, only to falter as the Commander herself slipped inside. She locked the door behind her and tucked her hands behind her back, studying him silently. He watched her in return. She did not look so different from when they'd last been in the same room without trying to kill each other. The same grey-blue tendrils hanging loose down her back, the same massive black eyes that made it impossible for Arcann to see where exactly she was looking. She wasn't dressed like a Jedi now. The Commander had replaced her long brown robes with thick black pants and armoured boots, leaving her broad shoulders on full display with her sleeveless white undershirt. The fabric was thin, and Arcann's eyes lingered on a shadow at her midsection. He had stabbed her there.
"So were you trying to make sure we matched, or was that a happy accident?"
He looked up into her eyes, startled.
"What?"
She shrugged.
"I impale you. You impale me?"
It would be foolish to deny it. Still, he did not like to think of it.
"That was my intent," he admitted. It was not much of an admission when they both already knew, but it still tasted strange. Adjacent to an apology. He would need to make many of those, and they would do nothing, and the idea was still foreign to him. He'd hoped to have more than two hours to prepare before those apologies began in earnest.
"Well, at least we're even," Ven said. "Here. Alliance regs."
She took one hand from behind her back and handed him a datapad. He took it solemnly, wondering what kind of regulations could apply to him. She had Zakuulan defectors here, but none who had previously been the villain in her myth.
"Thank you," he said. Her face tensed, a little flicker of a frown that she erased as soon as it happened.
"That's it?" she said. "A thank you."
"I don't understand -"
"You lied to me for a year," she hissed. "Made me complicit in tyranny. I tried to kill you. You tried to kill me. I walk in here and hand you rules and regulations like you're just some soldier and all you're going to say is 'thank you'?"
"Ven -" He could not call her that. "Commander, I have much to atone for -"
"Obviously!" she snapped. "Arcann, you wouldn't be here if I didn't believe you wanted to do it. If I got a whiff of insincerity you would be dead. But you pulled off lying to me before, so pardon me for not believing that you slept through one fancy Voss ritual and now you're cured of your anger. You seriously expect me to believe you don't still hate me? Hate my friends, your mother, someone?"
"I don't," he insisted.
"Well, you can't surgically remove a feeling, so it had to go somewhere!"
She strode forward, forcing Arcann to step back until the back of his legs met his cot and he dropped, staring up at her as she braced herself against the wall to loom over him.
"I want to give you a chance," she said, voice tight. "I want to see you change. You can't do that if you pretend you're not feeling what you feel. There's no shortcut to being better. Nobody is going to save you from the dark."
Carefully, Arcann pushed himself back to his feet. Ven lowered her arms but didn't step back. Their chests were almost touching - the matching lightsabre scars on their midsections were inches apart. She was breathing hard, each breath in bringing her closer to him before she swayed back again. Arcann did not know all of what she'd been through, but he had taken the time to study her. He knew enough.
"I can feel it still," he said.
"I don't believe you."
"But you don't believe my anger is gone?"
She stepped back at last, tearing her eyes from his.
"Ven," he said carefully. He remained where he was. He knew from experience how she reacted when she felt cornered. "I am not the one whose feelings you don't trust."
"Not the only one," she said tightly. "Just - you can't heal what you don't diagnose. And I know you now. I'll know what you want."
That would make one of them. Arcann dipped his head. Things truly were different, if they were both about to walk away from this with no new scars.
"I hope your brother -"
"Don't," she said sharply. She turned her back on him and reached for the door. "You stay away from him."
Given he did not want to spend time around the man housing his father's ghost, Arcann had no qualms nodding his head again.
everyone is on the road and no one is having a good time. have a snippet:
“You can’t go this way. It’s crawling with droids and cthon,” insisted the soldier who’d darted out to hold her hand in front of Ven’s chest. Normally, Ven would admire her. Right now, this was a big damn problem.
“There isn’t time,” Ven snapped.
“You may be Jedi, but you don’t get to throw your weight around and skip the process!”
The soldiers scrambled behind their barricades, the one who’d stopped Ven dragging her by the wrist into cover as well. Kira followed, looking at Ven with an obvious ‘what do I do’ in her eyes. Ven didn’t have an answer.
“They have ranged weapons,” the soldier snapped irritably.
“You don’t know a lot of Jedi, do you?” Kira said, visibly trying not to laugh.
“Kira,” Ven said. She did appreciate it, distantly. “Look, we can handle it, and take these droids out for you. Thanks for the cover, but we need to get past, and we’ll be fine.”
This was an experienced squad leader, and a woman who’d lost people to recklessness before. Ven wondered if she’d been posted down here long. She looked not too much older than Ven and Kira – mid-twenties? Old enough to have echoes of horror in her mind as she considered what Ven and Kira were asking. Young enough not to know exactly what a Jedi could do.
“You still ought to have the right clearance,” the soldier muttered. “But we’ll give you cover.” She gestured to one of her fellow soldiers; together they popped up, firing at the droids. Ven wasted no time vaulting over the barricade, slamming her shoulder into the closest droid as she ignited her lightsabre and swung it into a second one. Kira was at her side with a low sweep of her own blade, and the droids were down in seconds. Ven tossed her tendrils back, catching the eye of the soldier who’d been so worried. She was staring, wide-eyed, at what Ven and Kira had done. Ven knew the feeling – this had been the work of moments, with no injuries, and if the squad behind the barricade had tried it they could easily have lost people. Certainly, they wouldn’t walk out unscathed.
For an absurd moment, Ven wanted to tell her that it was all right – Ven and Kira would be coming up against an enemy that could hurt them, soon. Then again, she doubted that would be a comfort at all.
Chapters: 14/?
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Male Imperial Agent | Cipher Nine (Star Wars), Original Sith Character(s), Darth Jadus, Female Jedi Knight | Hero of Tython (Star Wars), Orgus Din, Keeper (Star Wars: The Old Republic), Kaliyo Djannis, T7-01 | Teeseven
Additional Tags: Mind Manipulation, Memory Loss, Medical Procedures, Siblings, Time Travel, (somewhat background - no time travel occurs over the course of the fic), References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
Series: Part 7 of Sometimes a Family Is expanded lore
Summary:
Darth Jadus needed an agent, and took no chances - so a man with no name was created, without a past or the ability to disobey the Sith. He is not satisfied with silent obedience, however. Rather than accept his role as a weapon, all he wants is to find a way to heal people.
Elsewhere there is Ven, who only hangs out around the Jedi in the hopes of finding a way home to the time she comes from and the family she loves. She's not the best at sticking to selfish goals, however, and soon finds herself drawn into helping the people around her.
But neither one is about to lead a life that will let them be anything other than a weapon for their respective factions, and neither knows that as they are drawn into the fight between Republic and Empire they are being pitted against the person they care for most.
New chapter, new angst! Chapter 14 is up, featuring “Reeto” confronting the image of Revan and the question of where his loyalties are allowed to lie, and Ven wondering just how different she’s become from a soldier of the Republic.
