Xevsiar: Chapter One, Tatooine
Timeline Placement: Takes place immediately upon getting to your ship after completing Tatooine.
A/N: These are snippets of life we see during the storylines. Some will be directly taken from the game and fluffed out, others are completely new.
**Spoilers**
Not many in this one. Some references to Xevsiar’s past.
**End Spoilers**
Synopsis: Andronikos learns some things about the Sith he chose to follow off Tatooine.
Warnings: Some mentions of past abuse, and hinted at some dark things.
Word Count: 885
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Andronikos had just climbed on board the Fury class ship, but Xevsiar hesitated on the ramp. Under her bone helm, the bandages chaffed from sweat, and she desperately wanted to be rid of the mask, and be in the cool air of the ship. There was just a single problem with that, though.
Khem, of course, knew she was neither Human or Red Sith. But Andronikos didn’t. Stars, he probably didn’t even know her name. No one on the hell-baked planet said it, simply called her My Lord.
Fearing any more hesitation on her end would seem like a weakness, she makes her way onto the ship. ‘Besides,’ she thinks to herself, ‘it’s best he knows before we get into space. Just in case.’
“Wondered if you were ever coming on board, Sith.” The pirate’s gravelly voice echoed in the entrance corridor, and cut through her internal musings in an instant.
The ramp thudded shut behind her. The hair on the back of Xevsiar’s neck rose the instant she realized the position she found herself in. She felt trapped; penned in, with Andronikos blocking the only door by leaning on its frame. Memories tickled the back of her mind, and she rapidly blocked them out. Sparks wanted to dance across her fingers in response to her fear, but she swallowed down the sudden bile that was rising in her throat, and kept the electricity tamped down.
“Just saying a not-fond farewell to this dust ball.” Her mouth was dry and she felt the phantom feeling of a hand on her throat and electricity crackling over her face. Panic surged through her as she brushed past the pirate as she made a b-line to the large and open space of the common area. The terror died down a manageable level. Andronikos laughed at her quip and followed her. She barely caught her flinch as he passed her and flopped onto the couch.
Khem entered the room quickly, likely sensing her abrupt fear. He let out a wordless, rumbling growl, but Xevsiar waved at him to be at ease and to stand down. His beady eyes narrowed, but he complied. He placed himself at the edge of the door leading to the crew quarters, standing as her ever-present bulwark, with his arms crossed.
Her unused hand flitted to the mask she wore, but didn’t touch it. She was worried, and it was stupid. She hated that she felt like this. Andronikos made a questioning sound, and she realized she looked like she had no control over herself. With a small shake of her head, and with a slightly shaking hand, she snapped the release clasp open. The skull that served as the mask fell forward, and she caught it with practiced ease. The silence was all consuming when it revealed her entire face was wrapped, eyes and all. She slowly began to partially unwind the black-gray cloth, leaving it bunched at her neck.
Through her force sight, she saw the pirate’s shock at realizing she was Miralukan. She kept the worn, soft bandages she almost always wore on. She did not want to feel his disgust and revulsion at the vestigial eye sockets her kind had.
A few minutes passed as she stood before him, face bared. “Gotta say, Sith, I didn’t expect this.” Andronikos leaned back farther on the couch, kicking his feet out, and laying his arms across the back. The perfect picture of someone who was not going anywhere. She appreciated the visual gesture, despite the spiking nerves and surprise she could feel.
“No.” Good, her voice was steady. “I didn’t expect you would have.” Her voice sounded bland and almost wry outside the voice modulator. She jutted her chin out in a small show of defiance. “Will that be a problem?”
He let out a brief pfft noise. “ ‘course not Sith. Just surprised.”
“Good.” her aura winced, while her face stayed expressionless, at her own clipped tone. Scrambling to fix the blunder, she blurts out “Make yourself at home.” Then she spun, not willing to let her embarrassment show. Either way, she could feel the pirate’s amusement.
“Got a name, Sith?”
Her mouth pursed at the question, thinking. She wanted to tell him Kallig. But, if he said it around Zash, it would cause too many problems. She must have been lost in thought again for too long, as she suddenly felt his frustration build. “Xevsiar.” She almost regretted it as the name left her mouth. She hadn’t used that name for herself in a very long time.
Andronikos made a sound of agreement, and let the matter drop.
//I can still eat him, Master.// Khem’s rumbling in Dashadi cut through the tense silence.
It catches her off guard. So much so that it startles a small laugh out of her.
“No Khem. I don’t think that is needed just yet.” A quick smirk flits across her face before it falls into the mostly neutral façade she has. “I will let you know if that changes.”
//As you say.// Khem shifts his stance, clearly agitated. Likely due to her whiplashing emotions.
Andronikos practically oozed confusion. “Sith? What did he say?”
Khem chuffed out what passed for his laugh.
Xevsiar chuckled and turned to the holotable to call Zash. “Nothing to worry about, Pirate.”
