#only pattern i see is lots of swtor lol

[queen-scribbles]

Writing Patterns Tag

tagged by @snowfolly @greyias and @dingoat

Rules: list the first line(s) of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern! Since there's so many of you (lol), I did more than ten.😉

tagging hm, @haledamage @undyingembers @starlightcleric (no pressure, obviously <3)

Long Burning Torch ch 9 (ShoH)

Gutter water seeped into Xaeryn’s shoes as she misstepped, but she hardly noticed.

2. gut feeling (SWtOR)

Jorgan was wrapping up an op when Aygo commed.

3. Brykar prompt fill (SWtOR)

The wind cutting across the ridge made conversation difficult, but Briyoni had never been one easily dissuaded from sharing her opinion.

4. Indi/Vector handholding fill (SWtOR)

Parties like this were dreadfully boring, salvaged only from complete indignity by the company she was allowed to keep

5. OC Kiss: Dare (TOW)

“You ever feel like your life could do with some excitement?’

6. OC Kiss: Reach (PoE)

Kei growled softly as her shoulder pressed the baseboard and the small piece of steel remained just beyond her fingertips.

7. OC Kiss: Darkness (Wayhaven)

The movie ended, the room plunging into darkness when Kira clicked off the rolling credits.

8. OC Kiss: Lost (SWtOR)

He had just sunk into the sack chair, eyes drifting closed and every inch of him sore beyond words, when a quiet, whimpering cry came from across the room.

9. Unmasked (SWtOR)

Endrali was starting to wonder if the galaxy had it out for her.

10. OC Kiss: Sunrise (Dragon Age)

The sky was still dark when Trinne woke

11. Slow Dancing Prompt (Wayhaven)

Janine was singing.

12. OC Kiss: Rain (PF:WotR)

There was nothing to see here.

13. OC Kiss: Almost (PoE)

Tavi groaned and swore as the back of her hand met the table’s weathered surface.

14. It's Cold Outside (PoE)

The snow had reached Brighthollow’s first floor windows and was still coming.

[monocytogenes]

Ammyyyyy from the SWTOR Character Ask Meme, can you tell me about Isra and Pravin's answers for the following questions: 1. What is [character]’s favourite event, & what do they like about it? 9. What do they regard as their culture, & do they distinguish between their culture and heritage? and 13. If there were a Commemorative Statue released of them, what pose would they be in?

I presume this refers to the recurring ingame events, sooo--

I played Pravin on the Bounty Contract event and man, that is his SHIT. Post class-story I imagine him getting by outside the Empire through doing a lot of private security and investigator work, and bounty hunting is really just that plus the "capturing fugitives" bit. He'd always use the drink option and bring them back in carbonite in lieu of killing them, lol.

Realistically I think he'd be wary about doing too much of that sort of work because it's super confrontational and he doesn't want to make enemies, but if the money's right...hey, some of those troublemakers must have long histories of pissing off multiple legal and illegal enterprises, right? And he likes the investigatory part. It's what he enjoyed about working for Intelligence--the relationship-building and social engineering; figuring out how to get people to disclose information or allow him entry to restricted spaces. His talent at it is kind of his superpower, and it really gives him a thrill.

Isra would be into the Rakghoul event. She's a badass sword lady patriot who sees her role as that of a protector and defender, so heading out to put down a bunch of monsters to keep civilians safe is her idea of a good day's work. She'd also definitely be game for helping the scientists get samples and such, and feel pride in the praise she'd receive for that.

9. THIS IS A GREAT QUESTION you know I love this shit and will worldbuild about it forever

I'll start off by saying that I do think there's such as a thing as "Imperial culture", in large part because the Empire is a society with its own distinct values, norms, shared history and myths, as well as mass media. Much of this goes back to the outcome of the Great Hyperspace War--Imperials view their nation as a great power that was subjected to a retaliatory genocidal purge, and this desire to reclaim their place in the galaxy and not be victimized again brought about the militaristic, high-control government they accept as necessary today.

Dromund Kaas and Ziost are the main centers of culture, and that culture evolves in an environment where the only real "outside" influences are those from assimilated member worlds. Travel for ordinary citizens is restricted. There's a China-style Great Firewall which blocks most foreign media. Everyone watches the same holodramas, partakes of the same cuisine, observes the same fashion trends (albeit with some variation depending on what social stratum one's in)--if you reference, say, a joke from a popular novel in front of a large group of Imperials, ninety percent of them will know it. (Coupled with their tendency to couch humor in desert-dry sarcasm, this shared media landscape tends to make Imperial jokes incomprehensible to outsiders. It's like five-levels-deep memes all the time.)

Pravin and Isra both have complicated relationships with Imperial culture.

In Pravin's case, he doesn't like to think of himself as culturally Imperial on account of having left the Empire, but he is. He absolutely is. It's a fundamental piece of his personality, no matter how much time he's spent in Hutt Space, no matter how well he's come to speak other languages, enjoy other foods, incorporate other fashion influences into his daily wardrobe. He still has that kneejerk annoyance response to breaches of etiquette, such as when people aren't punctual or address him informally at a first meeting. He still feels uncomfortable wearing shorts or sleeveless tops in public, even as he's donning loud patterns and leaving his shirts halfway undone. He still cracks up at the humor. But yeah--there's always an unease there when he's made aware of his own attachments, since it forces him to contend with grief he's not altogether ready to process.

Isra defines herself largely by two identities: as a Sith Lord, and as a zabrak. The former gives her a role and a place in Imperial society--that of a powerful defender of her country and its people, ordained through superior genetics and years of training--and the latter defines her as both the inheritor of Iridonian warrior traditions and an oppressed person. She's simultaneously privileged and discriminated against, lauded and looked down upon, an insider and outsider to the culture she was brought up in. Much of her teenage desire to connect with Iridonian diaspora culture--despite not having been raised in that community--was a means of contending with how much of Imperial culture is not for her, both in a practical sense (e.g. not being able to eat some of the foods since she's a carnivore) and through all manner of subtle exclusion (e.g. lack of representation of people who look like her in most major media roles.) She claims Imperial culture as hers, she has to, but always in a way that incorporates her racial heritage. She needs feet in both in order to feel whole.

13. Pravin would be doing a James Bond pose because I'm a basic bitch. Like, probably this one but instead of a gun he's holding a vibroknife.

Isra would have her knees bent, ignited lightsaber in her right hand at a low guard position and her left hand raised up near her head, fingers splayed to use the Force. Basically the longsword plow stance but one-handed.

[rainofaugustsith]

SWTOR critical: On Quinn and forgiveness

(spoilers for Sith Warrior story, KOTET, Nathema, Iokath and Ossus) I've been thinking about objections to different characters and I've realized something: my big objection to Quinn in SWTOR is not what he does, but how it is handled.

Disclaimer, of course: I don't like Quinn in any way - not his voice, not his looks, not the way he treats others, not his personality. That's my personal opinion and in no way, shape or form has anything to do with how another person sees or SHOULD see Quinn. This will not be a Quinn hatefest post.

Quinn follows a pattern in SWTOR that forgiveness AND befriending/being forced to work closely with past enemies or betrayers are expected as the "light side" options. It's like Arcann. I do not like Arcann and in fact find him very triggery, but do not have an issue with the game giving Arcann a chance to change his ways. I do have a problem that the only way to do that is to take Arcann and his mom into the Alliance and let them replace your trusted advisors and friends in the final chapters of KOTET. Also that Vaylin didn't get the same shot, but that's an argument for another day.

Quinn's betrayal really should not be a surprise. It's set up from Korriban. We learn very early on that Darth Baras has eyes and ears everywhere. He has covert agents all across the galaxy and they've infiltrated a lot of very powerful places. Tremel is supposed to be keeping the Sith Warrior a secret, but when the Beast of Marka Ragnos goes down, Baras not only knows just where to look, but he knows everything you've been up to. As you go through the game you meet lots of other Baras operatives.

Quinn is introduced to you as a Baras operative/contact, in fact. You're told that he owes a debt to the Darth (oh no, that could be a song title. "Debt to the Darth." LOL). He actually excuses himself to speak privately with Baras via holo. There's no reason to believe that he's not still allied with Baras after he begins working for you.

You're also shown, early on, that Baras has no reservations about terminating his agents when they cease to be useful or become too much of a threat. You know this because you're tasked with taking some of those agents and operatives out. It's how it works with Baras: he uses people as long as he can, he gets rid of them when he's done, and he doesn't seem to care much about whether the agent who is sent to dispose of the unwanted person dies along with them.

Nothing you can do in the Sith Warrior story stops Quinn from rising against you. You can get "Quinn approves" points in every conversation from the end of Balmorra to Corellia or romance him, and he'll still try to kill you. There's no great moral outrage on his part. He got an order from Baras and he's doing his job. The author left it very open to interpretation on Quinn's feelings about that job, but he still does it. So it's not a shock. It's the standard cycle we see with Baras's agents. In the Sith Warrior story you can also show regret about killing off an agent you’ve been sent to terminate, but it’s still done. 

What is frustrating is that after the Quinncident, there's only one way for a Sith Warrior to handle it, in the end: you let him return to your crew.  There are a lot of ways to headcanon the Sith Warrior's response. Maybe she truly forgives him. Maybe she is pragmatic and realizes that Quinn's skills and knowledge are useful to her at that time. But it's also reasonable to believe that after Quinn has orchestrated an assassination attempt complete with custom programmed battle droids, the Warrior might not want him back on the ship.

I'm told that in the beta game, there was a kill option after the Quinncident. It was removed because at that time, the companions had static combat roles and Quinn was the Warrior's only healer. I'm not sure why they could not have assigned the healer role to another companion, such as Jaesa, to avoid the conflict.

I'm also not sure why the story could not have accommodated it. We all know that in recent years, kill options for companions have meant that they are functionally dead for everyone. They're usually not seen again in the main story. If they're lucky they get a tiny cut scene every now and then, but not usually. In the class stories, however, the writers did successfully juggle a lot of different branches to the story. The Imperial Agent story has so many possible permutations that I've lost count. LS and DS Jaesa have entirely different conversation and personal story arcs, as well as different approve/disapprove parameters. In the Jedi Knight story, several different things can happen with Lord Praven and Bengel Morr that do affect the story. And after the Quinncident, there's very little of the class story left and Quinn has, I believe, two sentences in one cut scene, so it's especially confusing to me that they didn't accommodate this possibility.

They didn't learn when they brought him back on Iokath, either. There's no way to calmly tell Quinn "I don't want to work with you again." The only way to avoid working with him and welcoming him to your Alliance, provided you have remained Imperial, is to stab him in a totally unnecessary and gruesome scene. It’s one extreme or the other: you either take him back or you kill him.

Maybe Bioware has learned from this. I'd like to hope so. In the traitor arc, you can tell Theron Shan to leave the Alliance without coming across as a monster. The choice to leave him on Nathema is DS, as it should be, but once you are back on Odessen, it's a neutral decision to allow him to stay or not. The same is true with LS Jaesa, Doc and Nadia on Ossus; you can refuse to let them join the Alliance without killing them or being monstrous.

Forgiveness should not be mandatory; refusing to work in close contact with someone who has violated your trust should not be dark sided, and that's what frustrates me about Quinn in the class story.