#dingoat

Thirteen and Ahuska

Strength

Even though we must be apart, we will still be together.

Commission for the fabulous @dingoat! <3

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Art Fight attack #6 - Cipher Thirteen and Ahuska for @dingoat !💖

Got inspired by a certain person doing monochrome stuff recently. The drawing ended up a little off from how Ahuska looks character-wise, but it’s close enough and I like how this turned out. I guess that counts, no?

Fun fact: I’m a choir teacher. Which means at any given moment I have my student’s music running through my head on a never ending loop. Most days it’s our choir music. Other days, it’s the club’s hottest jam: Hot Cross Buns 🔥. It’s fun…

What are your character's opinion on scars?

Thirteen has his own fair share of scars, though they're all (usually? maybe not) covered by his shirt, namely the ones he received from The Flagpole Incident. He's probably been swayed enough by Five that any other scars that might have marred his face are removed. Generally speaking, he doesn't mind them and has no real opinion of them. They're simply a natural consequence of injuries.

Has your character gone through major stylistic or physical changes?

Thirteen normally wears hugely bright-colored clothing and obnoxious patterns and pairings (though he can also definitely pull off extremely hot suits and other dressy fashion, and it's probably a real toss up which he wears more). But he did have a solid black and white phase, which was just for the shock value. The initial expression on his Watcher's face when he came back, not in angry yellows and greens with patterns in violent disagreement, but in monochrome, was everything he could have hoped for. Also, he just looks hot in black and white.

Prior to all of that (becoming a Cipher), he stuck to the typical grays and blacks of the standard Imperial agent uniform, or whatever made sense for undercover agent work.

Then there was that time he cut all his lovely long hair off and went short - for mourning his home planet Ziost and his family.

What is something your character is proud to own?

Thirteen doesn't own much, because he hasn't really had to. Of his most prized possessions is an extremely rare, extremely ancient hardbound book of real paper, with real hand-inked text and illustrations - The Hydian Odyssey, currently in ludicrous demand by both the Kaas Museum of Ancient History and the Sith Purity Council, who are each offering true fortunes for Five to part with it. Five did part with it, but he gave it to Thirteen.

There's also a certain ball gown he was given by a certain Bothan, during a certain vacation to a certain planet. Also a certain wrist chrono, though for Thirteen it's more of temporary custodianship rather than true ownership.

Does your character prefer restaurant food or home cooked food?

Since Thirteen's Watcher is nothing less than a 5-star chef in his own right (and Crow has a talent with the BBQ), he massively prefers home cooked food. But of course, he has nothing against restaurant life either, from the greasiest flying disks to the most upscale 12-course cuisine.

Is there a natural phenomenon that scares your character?

WOW. Yes. How dare.

Lightning and the associated thunder. He's been struck by lighting once (thanks, Ahuska) and broiled by hardcore Sith lightning once (thanks, Ulfran). Both events stopped his heart and nearly killed him! The first gave him an enormously healthy dose of PTSD, and the second one definitely didn't help it, even though no one's yet told him he died about it.

He does not like thinking about it. He's not even acknowledging it, in fact. It never happened. What?

Is there a creature that scares your character?

Nnnnnooooooo. No, I don't think there is. Well, other than maybe the monoliths on Ziost. Thirteen spent some time stranded as the only survivor of the Emperor's destruction, and he encountered a few of the beasts. Wisely, he stayed away, but they left their mark on him.

Who would your character first seek if they needed medical help?

I guess it DEPENDS on the context, but generally Thirteen goes right straight back to his Watcher, which is something he's conditioned to do, and he simply trusts his Watcher with all of his needs. Except, of course, whenever he's trying to hide anything, and then he picks whatever medical professional is available. In Kotfe times, he goes to Ahuska first. They're busting Star Fortresses together anyway, and that way Five never has to know.

Up until he learns that it takes Ahuska's life force, and then he just doesn't bother with anybody. <_<

Who is your character most honest with?

Nobody. When Thirteen keeps secrets, he keeps them from everybody, if only because he's been bestowed with a Watcher who knows him like the back of his hand and is also extraordinarily good at what he does, which is tending to his Cipher. I suppose that means that Five is generally the person Thirteen is most honest with, especially in his early Cipher life when Five helped him to navigate through all the werebeast changes. But things have gotten complicated lately, and Thirteen is less and less able to be forthcoming about a great many things.

What scents does your character find comforting?

Five's cologne and Crow's cologne and also their unique scents. Probably expected, since scent is such a big part of his werebeast life.

Ahuska and Ulfran are maybe sort of also moving up the scale. <_<

Is your character good at practicing self-care?

In terms of daily hygiene? Yes. In terms of personal entertainment and avoiding responsibilities? Yes. In terms of maintaining the health of his werebeast forms? He relies on Five for that. In no way has he ever mastered "preening" his own feathers or oiling his reptavian skin. Ridiculous.

(This may or may not show up in a future chapter in some form- this version is emphatically a draft and I’m still working out the dynamic between these two, so we’ll call this a character study.)

SWTOR. Nine and Satele.)

*

“-because of a lie?” Satele raises an eyebrow over the rim of her cup. “Forgive me, but I’d have thought Theron would be used to that.”

“Because you know him so well?” Void, she’s got to get out of here. When she tries to sit up, though, her head throbs ominously where it had slammed against the canyon wall and her nerves hum electric and she sighs, settling back onto the pillow. She could use another kolto syringe or even a few tablets of painkiller but she owes her too much already so she turns to her side instead, face toward the cabin wall. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she mutters, “particularly not with you. Look, I appreciate that you rescued me, but-”

If that registered there’s no sign of it in Satele’s voice, as even and unperturbed as ever. “You would have died there otherwise. The shade stalkers were already swarming when I found you.”

Nine sighs. “Or you’d have killed me. You told me that already.”

“Not once I was reasonably certain you were still you.”

“You ought to have left me.” With her eyes closed the pain quiets. “It would have been better if I’d died. At least with him inside my head he couldn’t hurt anyone else, or if I’d died here alone maybe I’d have dragged him down with me to the hells. Now he’s loose again and-” oh, stars- “we’ve got to warn them. If he tries here what he did on Ziost-” The cup clinks gently against the floor grate, the little crate scraping backward as the Jedi rises to press her hand against her forehead. It was meant to calm her, she thinks, but it reminds her for a moment of the restraining strap in the chair at the Intelligence Tower and she twists away abruptly- or tries to, her body hopelessly tangled in the thin blanket. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, Ciph-” Satele catches herself neatly; she barely heard the correction- “Commander, and he’s not going to hurt Odessen. Be calm.”

When she rolls onto her back she’s looking down at her and the color’s wrong but oh, her eyes look so much like Theron’s. “You can’t know that.”

“I do. He’s still tethered to you-” (but he said- she interrupts, and Satele raises a hand to quiet her)- “and he will be until he is destroyed or you die. If he wanted to leave you to claim another host or draw more power he’d have done so at the first possible opportunity, which would suggest that he’s incapable of it. So either he truly believes you’re the best option he has, which seems unlikely, or you’re the only option he has. Why did he hurt you?”

“Now you’ve hurt my feelings.”

Force, even her eyeroll’s just like his. “I only meant that you aren’t Force sensitive- or weren’t, though it’s difficult to separate you from how he’s changed you. It breaks a pattern he began a thousand years ago, that he deliberately bred into his heirs, and I cannot imagine it was intentional.” Satele shrugs, settling back down onto the crate. “I suspect he thought he could simply shunt you aside and assume control.”

She carefully unwinds the blanket from around her legs. “More fool he, then.” No one controls her. Never. Never again. “And to answer your question, he thinks that if he keeps hurting me that eventually I’ll give in and let him help. I said no.” Her belly twinges. “Again.”

“And yet you’re still alive. Still you.”

“Yes,” she says quietly. The light’s hurting her head again; she closes her eyes tight against it.  “For what little that’s worth.”