#&& mother mine; shiv whelan

[kyberled]

There’s something rotten in the House of Claermoore...

Admiral Eadric A. Claermoore | Karvan Nel | Padawan Braig of the Order | Dr. Shiv K. Welan

[kyberled]

send me  ‘ hc ‘  + a word and i’ll write a headcanon about it regarding my character. || ACCEPTING

Anonymous asked:

Hc + Parents

Braig doesn’t know his biological parents. It’s probably best that he never does. He’s much better off with the Jedi. I’ll talk a bit about his biological father, his biological mother, and then some of his thoughts on the situation.

His biological father, Eadric Alden Claermoore, is a General in the Grand Army of the Republic, a rank he carried over from a lifetime spent in the Republic’s Navy. He made that rank his life after everything else fell away. The Claermoores were a military family. They always were. This goes all the way back to the Ruusan Reformations, but carried on in various ways since then. Government positions, naval positions, and now back in the Grand Army. Yes, it’s the naval branch; no, he’s not Force-sensitive. He is, however, exactly the sort of awful person you’d expect from someone who defines himself by his rank and his wealth and only barely - if ever - acknowledges the nepotism that went into it. 

He never wanted children. He figured he’d have to have one eventually, to carry on the name and all, but he never wanted one. Like most other things, it felt like a duty. An obligation, rather than a privilege. He was that sort of person. He also wasn’t too concerned about it, as his younger sister, Adarine, had children, but first-born this and patriarch-that and blah blah blah. ‘You know how it is’. Most people who know him thinks the war might be the only thing he ever loved, as it reaffirmed his status. That’s not entirely true. He loved his (ex) wife. Shiv brought out the best in him, people would say. Most who knew him had never seen him relax, let alone smile, until she came around. Shiv wanted kids. He agreed on one. He figured that was a good enough compromise. He also figured he wouldn’t necessarily have to be that involved with the more ‘difficult’ parts of parenting. Read: The actual parenting part. He figured he’d pick up extra duties to make up for the ‘loss of income’ (as if he needed it) while Shiv stayed home with their baby. 

It probably could’ve worked out, if their kid wasn't born Force-sensitive. But he was. So, of course, the Jedi took interest. Shiv said no, Eadric said yes. The Jedi figured they’d just keep an eye on them and try to educate the new parents on what the Force meant for their son. Just so they could fully think over their options and decide what was best. Then Shiv went to provide aid to a planet in the Outer Rim. When she didn’t come back, she was declared KIA. Eadric, quite rightly, decided he can’t raise a child by himself. Yes, he could have asked family or friends to help. Yes,he could have left the baby with the nanny droid he owned that was already looking after it. He could have. 

He didn’t. 

In his defense, he was trying to think of the long-term consequences. Nanny droids don’t work forever. And the boy was Force-sensitive; he needed to be trained by people who know what they’re doing. And, logically, he’s right. The Force is too dangerous - and draws too many dangerous people - for a lack of training to be even remotely safe. And - not that Eadric cares anymore - Braig is legitimately happy with the Jedi. So it really is the best choice. Of course, Braig was actually far too young to be given to the Order at the time. From what I can tell, kids are usually passed on to the Jedi at over a year, maybe even three. Braig wasn’t yet a year old. The young knight who’d been sent to do a wellness check/update hadn’t been prepared to take a baby. Eadric, in essence, handed him Braig and then locked the door and went back to work. He considered it like ripping off a bandage. The Jedi saw this as a cause to Not Panic, But Get Very Concerned At A Rather Fast Pace. He eventually just figured he had no choice but to take the baby back to the Temple and ask for advice. 

When Shiv showed up, not dead and very mad about why her baby was gone, things went sour fast. To make a long story short, they’re divorced now, and he hasn’t seen her in over a decade. He tried to explain his thought process to her. Tried to make a case for himself, and why this was best. She didn’t agree. It was a nasty argument. Eadric never really got over it. He never really got over her. Over the years, his understanding of the situation shifted from ‘this never would have happened if I’d kept our child from the Jedi’ to ‘this never would have happened if he hadn’t been born Force sensitive’ to ‘this never would have happened if he hadn’t been born’. Eadric lives alone now in the fancy surface-level Coruscant residence that’s run in the family for generations. The sort of place money can technically buy, but you won’t ever have enough money. He exists as living proof to the old adage, ‘wealth cannot buy happiness’. He’s a bitter, angry old man who’s devoted himself to the militaristic ideals that the Claremoores have lived by - regardless of who calls the shots. When the Republic becomes the Empire, he stays as an Imperial officer. He doesn’t see a problem with it. The strong prevail.

End of discussion. 

Then there’s Braig’s mother. Dr. Shiv Kiera Whelan is not a product of money and breeding, like her ex husband was. She’d come from the mid-levels of Coruscant. Not the glitterati, but high enough in the city to see what she might one day be able to achieve. Her family was loving and close, even if they were stretched thin financially. She was a middle child. She had an older brother named Cor, an adopted sibling the same age as her named Shina (shee-nah), and two younger sisters named Reni and Tel. They lived in a somewhat cramped apartment with their parents (Braig’s grandparents), Olan and Ama Whelan. They worked in factories across the street from each other, and met by chance - their love story bloomed over the course of many shared lunch breaks and continued throughout their marriage. Theirs was a hard life, and they did what they could to give their children better, while still making sure they knew the truths of the world. Shiv was the first of her siblings to attend higher education. She decided on medicine when she was young; you see a lot of need for it in the mid to lower levels. It’s what she felt was her calling. So she studied hard, saved up, worked herself to the bone. Loans and scholarships became her best friend (aside from her siblings). 

On a planet of trillions, medical care is always in high demand. Shiv took to it like a duck to water, finding her place among medical droids and scanners and sutures as if she’d always been there. She expanded her horizons by not only taking what her colleagues often deemed ‘charity cases’, but also offering medical aid off-world to military operations. That’s how she met her future (ex) husband, actually. A naval scrape that went badly but could have gone worse. His family opposed the marriage, hers didn’t care as long as they were happy. And, for a while, they were happy. It could have worked out great. They’d discussed kids, come to their agreement, and Shiv was excited to be a mother. She’d always liked kids, and they were well off enough that she could take some time off to be at home with the baby, and have nurse droids to help. It would be simple. 

It should have been simple. 

If it was, we wouldn’t be here. Shiv is like her son in more than looks; his self-sacrificing tendencies are both nature and nurture. People needed help. A skirmish between warring factions in the Outer Rim, it happened all the time. Shiv had plenty of experience doing field work on planets where that was often the best they got, and, much as she loved her baby, she’d gotten a bit stir crazy. It’d be fine, she’d go out for a week or two, give people some help, stretch her legs, and come back before the nurse droids even needed to be recharged. Unfortunately, bad intel comes for us all, eventually. It wasn’t just a skirmish between local factions. It was a fight between spice cartels. Nobody was entirely sure which cartels, once the dust settled. Some said the Black Sun, some said the Pikes. All reports said the medic camp was wiped out. Shiv along with it. 

Now, of course, Shiv wasn’t dead. She was in very bad shape, yes, but not dead. She got lucky. See, when you get a reputation for giving help to those who can’t afford it, they remember. A lot of those people gather at the Outer Rim, and a lot of people talk. A doctor that helps anyone, regardless of credits, is a good thing to have around, so Shiv got rescued by some of the ‘charity cases’ she’d taken over her life. It was a while before she was fully lucid, a while later that she was able to make contact and get back to Coruscant. By the time she got there, her son was gone. 

The real tragedy is that, if given enough time, she probably would have agreed to it, herself. Given time to think it over, given more conversations with the Jedi to learn more about them, about what the Force meant for her son, given the extra years she was supposed to have to come to terms, she probably would’ve agreed that the proper training was necessary for him. She didn’t get any of that. 

She just came home and he was gone. 

As you can imagine, this led to a terrible argument between herself and her husband. Eadric tried to justify his decision by saying he thought she was dead, and, either way, he’d been looking out for their son’s best interest. He was where he should be. Shiv, who was already dealing with one major trauma and frankly didn’t have time for another, was furious that he’d given her baby to ‘a cult’ (despite the Jedi not being anything of the sort). 

If you were to talk to Shiv now, she’d tell you she was divorced, though there was never any formal proceedings; Eadric just doesn’t talk about his personal life. Whereas Eadric will tell you he never had any children if you ask, Shiv will talk about who she hoped her son would be, and the injustices that face him now in the life he must live. Their opinions have grown to differ so much that they’re on different sides of the war, as well. Eadric stayed loyal to the Republic, and continues to serve the Grand Army. Shiv felt as though the loss of her son opened her eyes to the Republic’s corruption, and as such, she’s since offered her allegiance and her medical prowess to the Separatists. She hasn’t been to Coruscant in years, and the two of them - Eadric and Shiv - haven’t had any contact with each other in even longer. 

It should go without saying that Braig doesn’t know his biological parents. He doesn’t particularly want to, either. He knows, from records, where he’s from, and he also knows he came to the Temple far younger than he should have. As far as he’s concerned, there are a few potential reasons for this:

The first is that his parents were unable to care for a child. Given that he knows they were from the upper levels, and ergo well-off, he finds this unlikely. The second is that something happened to them, they had no relatives able to seize custody, and the Jedi took him in rather than having him float around the system for a few years. This is unlikely, as the Jedi keep tabs on prospective families, but it’s possible, and, if it is the case, it’s not worth looking into. And the last option he could think of is that they just didn’t want a kid, and again, that doesn’t merit looking into. He knows who his family is - who raised him, who cared for him, who taught him, who stood by and continues to stand by him every day of his life. That matters much more to him than blood.

[kyberled]

@wildpawed​ asked:

What social class is your character born into?

His birth family was quite wealthy, actually. His mother, Shiv, is a doctor, and his father, Eadric, is a general in the Republic’s Navy. Between the two of them, they were affluent enough to afford life on Coruscant’s surface level. For Shiv, it took a lot of work, since she hadn’t been born there. Eadric, on the other hand, came from old money - and old military - and didn’t have to struggle his way to the top. That’s not to say that he didn’t earn his rank; He did, and was proud of it. The pay was only part of the charm. 

Of course, his parents are divorced now, and while Eadric remains in the luxurious Claermoore apartments, Shiv has defected to the other side and eaks out a living as a combat medic for the few sentient troops the Separatist deploy (as well as a general doctor, but healing victims of the war seems to be her calling). It’s enough to keep her comfortable, and that’s all she cares about.

Braig has no idea who either of them are, so this doesn’t really impact him.

[kyberled]

SEND  💑 TO TALK TO THE PARENTS! || ACCEPTING

Anonymous asked:

💑Do you even like each other? 

“Of course we do.” Eadric says, at the same time as Shiv scoffs and looks away. 

“We did.” She’s got her arms crossed tight over her chest, and one knee crossed over the other. She intends to make her displeasure as known as possible. Eadric sighs  heavily through his nose and runs a hand through his hair. 

“You can’t possibly still be mad--” He begins, only to find himself promptly cut off.

“Mad?!” She snaps, pushing out of her chair. “You think I’m just MAD?” Yes, she’s still mad. In fact, she’s still furious. Shoulders back, brow furrowed, eyes blazing. She’s near ready to rip the head off a rancor. Eadric is used to threats. He is used to violence. He is used to aggression. And yet Shiv’s fury nearly makes him balk. He does lean back, gripping his own armrests to retain his balance. 

“You gave my baby away!” She snaps. Eadric sets his jaw with the stubbornness they both share (that they both passed on to their son) and furrows his brow. 

“What was I supposed to do?” He demanded. Shiv snorted as she recoiled. 

“I don’t know, take care of him? Wait for me?” She threw her arms out in wild exasperation. 

“I thought you were dead!” He’s standing now, too. This is going well. 

“He was our son!” Shiv snaps. 

“And you think my position allowed me to raise a child on my own, let alone a child like THAT-?” 

“Oh, it’s always about your position-!”

… This is going to go on for a while. 

It truly is shocking that this marriage didn’t last.

[kyberled]

tag drop pt. 12

[kyberled]

💪: Are there any physical characteristics that run in your muse's family?

Family Meme || It’s somewhere around here

Thick, dark hair is prevalent in both sides of his family, though on the Ellery (paternal) side, having wavy hair is pretty common, where on the Whelan (Maternal) side, they tend to have straighter hair. Braig’s somewhere in the middle - just a gentle wave, not really noticeable until he grows it out. 

The Ellery family is known for being very tall - Eadric’s a little over 6′2, and that’s pretty average for men of his side (In fact, Eadric’s shorter than a good number of his cousins and relatives, including his own father. Not by much, but he’s shorter). The Whelan family is a lot smaller - Shiv’s only 5′4, and that’s, again, pretty average for the women of her family. Braig definitely got his height from his mother’s side, much to his everlasting chagrin. 

The Whelan family tends to have softer features, where the Ellery family is a lot– Sharper? For lack of a better word. And as a final note, the Whelans usually have darker eyes (brown or black, most commonly), whereas Ellery-eyes are typically blue or grey. 

If you couldn’t guess, Braig looks like his mum.

[kyberled]

👩‍👦 braig's momma, are you proud of him? ;o;

Send 👩‍👦to hear what my muse’s mother thinks about them || Accepting

“This is a question that I can’t answer easily. I want to say that, yes, of course I am, he’s done a lot of good in the galaxy, but I have to wonder why he’s done them. It’s not his fault, at all, but I can’t say advancing the goals of the Senate is always a good thing. But that, like I said, isn’t Braig’s fault. He didn’t ask to be brainwashed.”

“I’m proud of how many people Braig has helped. I’m proud of how strong he is, how he’s been able to carry his head high in spite of what he’s been put through, and how he’s been able to survive and even prosper in the circumstances he’s been placed in. I’m very proud of my little boy, and all that he’s accomplished.”

…

“I just wish he didn’t have to be a Jedi to do it.”

[kyberled]

👩 "you know you gotta good kid, right?" aaa

Send me a 👩 for my muses mother to answer any question || Accepting

Alternatively send me 👨 for the father to answer any question || Accepting

“Correction- I had a good kid.” The bitterness in her tone rings clear, but she sighs as she lets her gaze wander.

“… You’ve met him, have you? … Would you care to talk about him over caf? My treat.”

[kyberled]

++!!

Send me ++ to be introduced to a member of my muse’s family || Accepting

This is a strange thing to stumble across. In fact, it’s quite scary. She’s never seen anything like it before, and is almost grateful for that, though there’s a note of curiosity about her, as well. She can’t say that this is the strangest thing the galaxy at large had to offer, and, hell, she’d grown up on Coruscant, she knew very well how diverse things could get. Still, just because it wasn’t that weird didn’t mean it wasn’t that safe. She blinks, glances around to assess the best route out of here, fingers the small blaster tucked into her jacket, and chews the inside of her cheek. 

Whatever it was, it didn’t seem aggressive, just- curious? It was really hard to tell, with… Whatever this thing was. She’d had to learn the aggression signs of countless species over the years - people got pretty snappish when they’re in pain - but, again, she’d never seen anything like it, so she really had no idea. All she had to go off of was the fact that it hadn’t hurt her, yet. 

The good doctor took a few steps to the side, then paused. 

All it was doing was wiggling. That didn’t seem- too threatening…

She’s going to give its head (?) an awkward pat… And lean away.

She hasn’t had enough caf for this. 

[kyberled]

++

Send me ++ to be introduced to a member of my muse’s family || Accepting

She hated the Jedi.

She had always disliked them, but the hatred had been something newer, even though it had become coated with the dust of a decade and a half. She owed them nothing, perhaps less than, after all they’d taken from her. That which could never be replaced. That which she could never get back.

That which she missed more and more each day.

The woman regarded the stranger coldly, quite sure that her contempt would be obvious in their precious Force, if not every fibre of her being. She had half a mind to slam the door in the Jedi’s face, but… Her eyes wandered to the clone trooper all but hanging off of her shoulder… She’d heard about them. Just children, really, pulled into a war they hadn’t started, simply because of the circumstances of their birth…

Yes, that hit close to home.

She sighed, bowing her head and closing her eyes for just a moment, then stepped aside, pushing the clinic door open as she did.

“Fine, bring him in. But you stay out of my way. Don’t touch anything, don’t say anything, and I want you gone by sunrise. Is that understood?” She pauses in clearing off a cot to fix the Jedi with a cold stare.

“Have I made myself clear?” 

[kyberled]

“People ask me why I consider the Jedi my real family. The answer is that my father’s horrible my mother’s a Separatist and the one time I met my brother he tried to sell me for drug money. Granted, neither of us had any idea we were related, but the point stands. But I just tell them it’s because of the Code.”

[kyberled]

Send “Mother” + a question for my muse’s mother to answer || ACCEPTING

Anonymous asked:

Mother + what is one thing you want your son to know about you, your culture, or your time together before he was taken in by the Jedi? 

“I’d prefer if he was never taken to begin with.” Terse and bitter, mixed with a thin-lipped grimace; the sort of tone that prompts a ‘tell us how you really feel’ from a sarcastic listener. She sighs. Closes her eyes for a bit, squeezes her hands tightly. “He wasn’t supposed to be. And if I’d stayed, he wouldn’t have been.” It’s an old wound, but one that was never allowed to properly scar. Picked at again and again over the years, festering and putrefying and always on the edge of her mind - especially now, with the war raging around them and the Jedi at its forefront. With her son at its forefront. 

“One thing.” That’s so hard to hear. To choose. “Just one?” Her fists clench a bit tighter, her voice is a bit quieter. How does she pick? She chews at her lower lip. The way the skin has chapped suggests this is a recurring habit. 

“I guess- It’s cliche, but I guess I’d just want him to know that I love him.” She stands, dusts off her trousers, and folds her hands neatly behind her back.

“And that he’ll always have a home here with the Separatists.”

[kyberled]

🛣

🛣 : Where does your muse’s family originate from. Do they come from another state or another country? Are there any customs, relevant to their original home, present in the family today?

Braig’s biological father, Eadric, is 100% Coruscanti, or at the very least, Core worlder. Very posh, very upper-class, and military as far back as anyone can remember. Soldiers, or, more accurately, officers, are the Ellery family’s main export, if you’ll use the term.

Braig’s mother, Siobhan, is basically a melting pot. She’s got some Alderaan in her, some Coruscanti, some undisclosed Outer Rim planets, and a bunch of things in-between. Distantly - very distantly - she probably has some near-human blood mixed in, though I’m not sure what the exact species would be. Her family’s been a lot less concerned with image and more concerned with a happy marriage (if we’re being honest, Eadric’s parents were opposed to the marriage, but he went through with it, anyway).

If we’re talking real-world faceclaims, Eadric’s is Richard Armitage, who I feel is far too nice of a man to play Eadric, but he makes the most intense facial expressions and I adore his work, so. As far as I’m aware, Richard’s British, with no mixed heritage; Siobhan’s faceclaim, Emeraude Toubia, is a Canadian-born American actress of Mexican and Lebanese descent. Braig’s real-life faceclaim, Booboo Stewart, is an American actor of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Scottish, and Blackfeet descent. So, it’s all over the place.

Of course, none of this matters to Braig, who has no idea who his parents are and was raised with Jedi culture. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kyberled]

also ☁ grandparents on his mother's side?

Send a symbol to meet someone in Braig’s life! || Accepting

Siobhan’s parents didn’t play a big role in her life, not because they didn’t care, but because they cared a lot. Shiv was the eldest of a gaggle of kids, and her family had never been well off. So, in order to keep themselves afloat, everyone who was old enough had to work. They only lived a few levels down from the surface of Coruscant, so, while they weren’t living in the slums, they weren’t in the shining cities of the Senatorial District, either. Shiv’s parents were both factory workers, so they would’ve been busy even if they only worked ‘normal’ shifts. Her mother, Ama, worked in a durasteel mill, and her father, Olan, worked in the droid factory across the walkway. They actually met when they were on their lunch break, since there was only one food cart nearby (the others were a few streets away, due to what was essentially a turf war), and everyone wanted to save themselves the walk (especially the walk past the darker alleys), so there was usually a pretty long line. On his way to get lunch, Olan accidentally bumped into Ama, spilling her lunch. He instantly apologised and bought her a new one - which, unfortunately, left him with no lunch of his own. Ama felt pretty bad about it. After all, he’d been way nicer about the whole thing than most people would. So, she offered to share with him. They got to talking, and turns out they got along pretty well.

While their lunch breaks didn’t always coincide, they did meet when they could, and became good friends. At one point, he challenged her to an arm-wrestling contest (she won), then she to see who could name the most planets in alphabetical order (he won, but there was a friendly debate about spelling, and whether or not the alphabets being used were Basic or the respective planet’s native language, since that would change things). They grew to become very close, and he eventually told her he’d had enough of lunch, and asked her to dinner. A few years later, they got married (without a ceremony, as they were dirt poor), and moved into an apartment together a month later. They would eventually have a ‘proper’ ceremony when they had more money stashed away, and Shiv and her younger brother, Corr, were participants in it, as much as a six-year-old and a three-(and a half)-year-old can participate in anything. Aside from those two, Ama and Olan had three kids: Talia, who was five years younger than Siobhan; Lorne, who was eight years younger; and, lastly, Merrit, who was a full thirteen and a quarter years younger than Siobhan, and had been a surprise for the whole family. With their total of five kids, the family was short on money, but they did their best, and they were happy.

As the kids got older, they all got jobs to help out, and the eldest would often act as babysitters for their younger siblings. Ama and Olan weren’t around a lot, as I said, cause they were too busy trying to provide for their kids. When they were around, they did their best as parents, telling the kids they were proud of them, making sure there was always food on the shelves and the kids could go to school, and joking about how, someday, they’d take them all to live up on the surface levels. The joke was that they knew they’d never be able to afford it, but it costs nothing to dream.

And then, of course, Siobhan announced that she wanted to be a doctor, and everyone knew that was ridiculous. Medical school was just out of the question for them. But, she wouldn’t be discouraged; She wanted to be a doctor, so she was going to be a doctor. Once they realised she wasn’t budging, Ama and Olan shrugged and said, ‘well, okay’. They put a bit of money aside for her, but she was mostly on her own, financially.

When she does eventually graduate and becomes a doctor, she moves to the surface. She invites her family to come with her, but they elected to stay. Her parents thought themselves too old to be able to make the move up, and her siblings were already set with jobs, and, in some cases, families, of their own, so they, too, stayed behind.

Braig never really met his grandparents, because of this. They did get to see him, though, after he was born - Shiv invited them up, and put them up in the nicest hotel she could afford, and they cooed and fussed like good grandparents, and it was generally an all-around good time. Braig’s uncle Corr came up for a few days, too, and they all left happy. Shiv thought it was a nice meeting, and was quite pleased that they approved of her baby.

A few months later, Shiv was comatose and Braig was with the Order, so they never saw him again.