OOC Rant Regarding Asshole Characters

I have no issues with asshole characters. A lot of us have characters who can be considered assholes or bitches or downright unpleasant and/or evil. I RP with a few characters who fit this description without incident. However, here's some food for thought...

When you play a character like this, your ooc communication and your IC/OOC separation must be that much more clear to distinguish yourself as a competent RP'er and not an utter jackass yourself.

Using "Well, my character is an asshole" as an excuse to be offensive in OOC communications, to refuse to negotiate an OOC method of resolution to adjudicate an IC altercation - especially with players who have no experience RP'ing with you personally, to justify auto-hits...this makes you someone no one wants to RP with. Using "Welcome to RP'ing with people from my guild" will tell other RP'ers to avoid you and your guildies at all costs.

This is a sure fire drama-maker people, and it will not be accepted anywhere near me. Further, I encourage my fellow RP'ers to make this distinction as well to send a clear message that this kind of OOC behavior is unacceptable in this or any RP community.

Thank you for your time.

Dels'taron (Background, part 2)

As Dels'taron's speeder approached the Arren Estate, her thoughts turned to the man who waited inside for her. Kaldaras would likely greet her with a warm smile, apologizing for having been called away, and ask if she'd enjoyed the rest of the ball. Though his reputation as a Darth was as formidable as one might expect of the patriarch of a Sith house, he had been charming and affectionate from the moment they'd met. For every misery she'd suffered at Kothe's hand, Kaldaras had shown her only kindness. 

On the night they'd first met, she was playing the role of dutiful wife, arm candy to the esteemed General Kothe at a grand affair of state. While her husband spoke to a small group of party-goers who were as eager to be seen with the right people as he was, Dels'taron's ruby gaze had drifted across the dining hall to a pair of silly socialites whispering to each other and casting not-so-well-hidden glances toward a large muscular human in Sith armor near the entrance.  He stood well over six feet and carried himself confidently as he walked toward a servant carrying a tray full of drinks, and though his dark brown gaze swept briefly in the women's direction, it continued by as though noticing nothing of consequence until it reached the Chiss. 

At first, she had averted her gaze as she'd been taught was appropriate in the etiquette training Kothe had sent her to upon her arrival to Kaas. She tried to follow the conversation her husband was having with the others around them, but to no avail. She had no use for social politics or the latest gossip among the social elite on Kaas. 

Dels'taron was certain the entire room must have been able to see the way the towering Sith continued to stare at her as though she was the only other person in the room, and finally, she felt she had no choice but to look back. In that moment, a silent gauntlet was thrown, and she knew that she could either risk waiting for him to cross the room to her (and be noticed by the general – something she would most definitely pay for later in private) or she could excuse herself and find a safer place to be approached. 

She chose the latter, explaining that she needed some fresh air and slipping away to a quiet balcony that was partially obscured from the view of the party-goers by a heavy brocade tapestry. Barely a moment had passed before Kaldaras was beside her, introducing himself, vowing to steal her away from her prison of a marriage to be his personal attache. Not once during that first meeting did she dare to hope those moonlit promises were more than the fleeting interest in a pretty alien girl, of course, but she indulged the fantasy anyway, enjoying the handsome man's attentions.

She was a widow within a month, and now, she belonged to Darth Kaldaras Arren. She was even engaged again, despite the protests raised by everyone around him (including herself) about protecting his bloodline and his duty to produce Sith heirs. She cared about him deeply, of course. He was her savior and protector, and she would readily serve him until the day he died, but the likelihood that she could give him a force sensitive child was remote. He refused to listen, stubbornly digging in his heels, naming his nephew his heir instead to end the argument.

However, she would never really belong to House Arren quite the way it felt for that fleeting moment during the celebration she'd just left. In that setting, Dels'taron hadn't been the alien or the outsider, and she marveled at the way that sense of belonging had beckoned to her. 

Drawing Lines

When Kol stepped into his quarters, he found Aittera pacing impatiently with an air of worry about her. “What happened?”

She halted mid-step and turned to face him. "I just ran into Thalkyr."

Kol crossed his arms. "What did that child do?"

She waved a dismissive hand with a shake of her head. "I can handle him. It's Kiabe I'm worried about. He says she knows about us."

That seemed to have the same effect on him that it had on her when she'd found out, and his arms fell to his sides as his shoulders slumped. "I guess I knew she would find out. Even with ordering the ship not to contact anyone during the shakedown, it wasn't like we were being sneaky on Nar Shaddaa or anything. Nor did we have reason to."

Aittera nodded as she sank onto the couch. "I'm not a ch--well, I guess now I am a cheater."

Kol moved to sit beside her on the couch, sliding an arm around her. "No, it's not cheating if there is an understanding, and that has always been something Kiabe and I have,” he said, trying to reassure her. "Yes, this time it's...different. The feelings are different, and much more intense."

She let him draw her close, leaning against his side as she noted to herself that they were back to having 'feelings' in spite of the declarations of love they had been prone to before they'd left Nar Shaddaa. "Do you think she knows that? Because, I'm betting that makes your little agreement less...well, agreeable."

"When it comes to my wife, I always assume she knows everything."

"So, what's she going to do?"

"I don't know, this is completely new territory. You're not someone she can manipulate or intimidate. I..." Kol trailed off as he let his mind work through the possibilities. His expression spoke volumes for him though. He couldn't think of any real kind of solution, and as she was about to voice her lack of confidence, he grasped for a far flung straw. "You know what? I think I know how to completely throw her."

Aittera waited for him to elaborate.

"Befriend her." A grin slowly grew on his lips. “Befriend my wife. She'll never see it coming."

Aittera gave him a look of utter disbelief. "Are you out of your mind? You want your - well, for lack of a better term - mistress to befriend your wife?"

“It's not uncommon among Sith. And she's pragmatic enough to know that having you as an friend - even a begrudging one - is better than having you as an enemy."

"You're insane,” she scoffed. “I don't want to be her friend. I don't want her in your life, period."

"She's my wife, Aittera. I don't know what else I can do."

"You can choo--" she bites off the rest of that word and gets up to walk across to the liquor cabinet. "Yeah, I know. She was here first."

"It's not that. It was never that. Just because I love you, doesn't mean I stop loving her."

"One of the very good reasons I had not to do this with you to begin with."

She didn't have to turn around to hear the impact her biting comment had. She heard it in his voice. “Aittera...you have to admit this has been good, for both of us."

She poured a glassful of Vosh from his thankfully well-stocked liquor cabinet. "Yeah, and I admit it. I have been happy - really and truly - for the first time in..." She stopped to take a drink from the glass and hissed through her teeth as the burn followed the alcohol down her throat. "But I'm not Kiabe. I don't share, and I'm not built to be the 'other woman'. I tried to tell you that."

"I can't just stop loving my wife, or you. I admit, there are times when I could see myself just staying with you, but there is always a part of me saying that it wouldn't last, that I couldn't just commit myself to one person forever. It's not in me."

"Right. That takes trust."

"What about you? Have you ever even seriously considered staying here with me?"

Aittera took another drink before answering, keeping her back turned to him. She knew that admitting the thoughts she'd had on the subject would make her feel more vulnerable if she voiced them, and now, she realized just how much of her belonged to him no matter what was going to come next. Too late to hold back now, right?

"I keep trying not to. I'm so stupid! I have these fantasies about us...that somehow, I'm the wife that everyone's terrified of, except I'm next to you, on the bridge of the Avenger...on Kaas...in my apartment." She hung her head with a bitter chuckle at how she sounded to herself.

"Then why can't that be the reality? You can be all those things."

"How?" she sighed with another shake of her head. "I mean...do you even hear yourself? Go make friends with Kiabe. 'Yes, Kiabe, I think you're a lovely woman. Please divorce Kol so I can have him. Still friends? Great!' Why don't I see it as that simple?"

He rubbed at his forehead. "Yeah, I know, it was a stupid suggestion. It's..." His turn to sigh. "If you could just...if you could just accept that I love you, and that just because I love someone else doesn't diminish that. If you could accept that part of me, and be with me, why does any of the rest have to matter? I can handle Kiabe. Suggesting the two of you be friends was stupid of me. But if you are serious, if you actually do desire what you just shared, Aittera, we can make it work."

"It's not about accepting that you love me. I accept that just fine. But it isn't enough to just love me, Kol. That's not---" She broke off to turn and look at him. "If we were together like this, there wouldn't be room for anyone else. At all. It's not about loving or not loving someone else. It's about being so consumed with love for one person that you don't have time or interest in doing anything about loving those other people."

"Then marry me. Show me."

The sound of shattering glass filling the room told her that her drink had slipped from her grasp. A heartbeat. She countered. "Divorce her."

His turn. "Renounce the Republic for all times, and captain this ship."

"Swear to me that I'll be the only woman in your bed!"

"I can't swear to that, because I never want to be dishonest with you! I'd never ask you to make that promise. All I can swear is to love you."

There it was. "And all I can swear to you is to be who I am and love you. Don't ask me to be something I'm not, and I won't ask it of you."

"Then we stay what we are, and both be happy with that?"

Aittera blinked, not even really sure if this had been a fight or just the moment they had each drawn their respective line in the sand. It wasn't as though they didn't know any of this about each other already, and they had each agreed not to try to force the other to change. "Right."

Kol offered her a smile as he stood to walk to her, his boots crunching glass, and took her hands into his. "I do love you, I hope I never give you reason to question that much at least."

"I wasn't questioning that." She didn't quite smile back, but her hands slid easily into his when he took them, setting off the pang in her heart that reminded her how right that simple gesture felt.

He brought her fingers to his lips to kiss them. "I meant, in the future."

Aittera's eyes slipped closed as she leaned toward him, letting him wrap his arms around her. "I doubt that will be what ends this, Kol."

He hugged her against his chest. "If I get my way, and you know I usually do, this will never end."

She chuckled darkly, the sound of it so alien in her ears, she could almost believe it must be coming from someone else. “If I get my way, you might want it to."


(( I especially want to thank the player of Ragious/Kol for this scene. It had this surprisingly crisp, clear shorthand that fit the characters so well, and I enjoyed writing my side of it! ))

Thalkyr

Aittera turned into a corridor on her way to meet Ragious in his quarters and caught sight of his younger son, Thalkyr, speaking in hushed tones with one of the bridge officers. It appeared they'd just finished sparring; his force pike was held across his back by a simple leather strap draped over his shoulder, his hand was clasped with the pretty blonde's, and they were both in loose workout clothing. The woman leaned up to kiss the Pureblood with a finger on his chest and turned to leave, nodding politely to Aittera as she passed her.

Aittera had been keeping to herself for the most part on the rare occasions like now that she was not at Kol's side - if only to minimize the chance that she might cause unneeded issues between him and his subordinates - and now, she intended to continue on her way with a simple nod of acknowledgment should Thalkyr even look in her direction at all. As she reached him, however, it became quickly apparent that he was not about to allow the opportunity to speak with her alone pass so easily. He slipped the force pike from his shoulder and held it across her path to block her progress.

"Why are you here?"

An amused smile crossed the spacer's lips before she could stop it as the gesture reminded her of the proverbial bully trying to intimidate the new kid. Aittera looked at him with sharp blue eyes that readily met his yellow gaze with confidence and challenge. "Hello, Thalkyr. How nice to run into you again."

"I wasn't sure it would happen with how you and my father can't seem to leave each others presence for more than a moment or two at a time."

"You couldn't just join us for lunch some time?"

"To do so would validate your presence here. Don't misunderstand - I am sure you are a lovely person, and that my father is interested in more than your ample breasts and large hips, but your very presence is an insult to my family."

Ah, so that was it. She took a step to turn to face him more fully in what she hoped was a show of respect, resisting the urge to look down at her hips and make a joke. This was obviously the time for diplomacy. "I was hoping you might view it as a sign of good faith. I made a deal with your brother to end hostilities between myself and your family. I'm here at your father's invitation."

"My brother is a soft idiot, and my father treating you the way he does is a betrayal of my mother. So I ask again, why are you here, Aittera? Do you think you and my father have some future?"

"Why do you think I'm here, Thalkyr?"

"Considering your last two trips to a ship named the Avenger ended in disaster - once for you, and once for the ship - I wouldn't want to wager a guess."

Aittera merely grinned. She was never really good at being a diplomat anyway. "It does seem to be a fifty-fifty shot when you put it that way, doesn't it? Whatever will you put your credits on?"

With that, she ducked under his Force pike to continue down the corridor, putting a little unneeded emphasis on the sway of her supposedly sizable hips.

"Just remember, my father won't protect you forever. And my mother knows where you two have been, and what you have been doing."

She didn't break stride or look back, but Thalkyr's parting words were enough to give Aittera the emotional equivalent of a punch to the gut. She had been operating under the assumption that Kol was making sure the nature of their relationship would not be getting back to Kiabe anytime soon while they worked out....what exactly? This was quickly moving further than she'd thought it would back when they'd agreed to spend a little time in each others worlds.

Walking in His World

Kol picked up the uniform jacket from the bed and held it for Aittera as she slipped her arms into the sleeves. Then, he held out the black leather gloves for her. "Truly magnificent, you look like that was made for you."

She took the gloves from him and began to tug the first on, smiling up at him. "Don't get too used to it."

Still...when Aittera walked over to examine herself in the mirror before pulling her loose tangle of curls up into some semblance of a ponytail, she had to admit to herself that the uniform seemed cut just for her. Her mind drifted to the dream in which another kind of Imperial uniform hung by a set of polished Sith armor.

"I wouldn't dream of it...well, we both know that is a lie." He gave her a wink as he retrieved the simple black tunic, pants, and boots he had had the droid bring over from his quarters and slipped them on. "Even you have to admit, you like what you see in that reflection."

Kol stepped behind her, looking at both their reflections as he fastened his belt with his lightsaber around his waist before slipping a hand around her stomach. "I know I certainly do."

She leaned back against his chest, her eyes drifting to his face in the mirror. "Now I do."

He kissed her on the cheek, giving her a smile in the mirror. "What would you like to see next Aittera? Besides me naked again, of course."

"Well, if you're going to give me a real tour of an actual Imperial dreadnought, I'd say let's start with the bridge, of course," she replied as though it was the obvious answer. "We can get to the parts I'll want to plant charges in later."

"Don't even think about it. Losing the last one was hard enough. You blow up this one after Kiabe funded it, and she'll be the one coming after you." He was probably not joking. Nonetheless he gave her a wink before heading toward the door.

She laughed as she followed Kol out into the brightly lit corridor. "Alright, some spray paint then. I can tag a few walls in the engine room, maybe write my name on a few of your fighters."

"If you wanted a hangar technician uniform, you could have just asked," he teased her as they stepped onto the lift and he pressed the control for the bridge.

Aittera tapped the uniform jacket. "Hey, I'm Intelligence. We go where we want, you know."

He laughed. "Well, just remember if you order anyone to do anything, imply bad things will happen to their families if they don't do as you say."

Aittera smirked at him. "In SIS, we just told them we knew how to make people disappear."

"We're a much more thorough people." Kol winked at her as the lift door opened, and they stepped out onto the expansive bridge of the dreadnought.

The captain, a blonde woman who appeared to be about a decade older than Aittera, walked toward them from one of the command stations and saluted Ragious with an arm across her chest. "Welcome home, my Lord. It is as always a pleasure to have you on the bridge of your flagship. When it is convenient, I would like to review the Avenger's performance report."

He nodded to the captain before he turned back to Aittera with a wink. "Look around, I'm sure you've been dying for the opportunity to get a look at secrets you can ransom to me later."

"You know me so well," she replied with a nod, watching him walk away from her before turning to look across the banks of computers that lined the perimeter of the dreadnought's vast bridge. Though her experience with larger warships was certainly limited, she wasn't as out of her depth as one might expect. Between her work with SIS and some rather thorough study sessions with Selus before their attack on this ship's predecessor, she found the layout and the ship's systems familiar enough that she could identify what each station was meant for.

Ragious only half paid attention to the captain as he kept glancing in Aittera's direction, noting the way the male (and quite a few female) members of his ship's crew also watch her. When the captain finally finished her report, he strode across the deck to rejoin Aittera near the front viewport, looking down over the ship's long arrowhead shape. "This is my favorite view of the ship. I could stand here for hours and look out on it."

He found her lost in thought, staring out over the bow into the vast inky darkness beyond. If someone had told her a few months ago that she would be a standing on the bridge of an Imperial warship as a guest, she'd have branded them insane, but after the last month with Kol on Nar Shaddaa and the Hope, she was no longer constantly asking herself what she was doing. She was well aware of what she was doing. She was tempting fate.

She smiled easily as she looked up at Kol and nodded. "It's a beautiful view."

Leaning in close, he whispered to her, "Still want to graffiti her?"

Aittera chuckled and whispered back, "I think I've moved on to wanting to steal her."

He laughed, causing a few nearby crew members to jump in surprise. "I don't think she would be a good fit for you, you need to feel the controls and the ship respond as you fly through space."

"You're probably right," she grinned, looking back out of the viewport. Apparently, he'd watched her more closely than she'd realized in their time on her freighter. "Besides, think of the docking fees for something this big."

Kol laughed again, and the crew exchanged looks with each other, wondering who the agent was that put their Lord so at ease. "It doesn't exactly dock, that's what all those shuttles are for."

"Something a captain should probably already know."

"We could always get you into some classes at the Imperial Academy," he teased, leading her back toward the lift. "Or command school classes."

"Oooh! Only if you go with me. We can pass notes during class, and think of the fun of tormenting our instructors with that thing you do with the Force." Aittera held a hand out before her in imitation of the gesture he usually made when using the Force to move something.

"It's a deal. We leave tomorrow." The lift door opened, and Kol stepped in before she could respond, turning and giving her a grin before letting her in too.

Aittera stepped into the lift with a smile that rivaled his own, and once the door closed behind her, she gave him that knowing look he was learning all too well. "You do realize that was not Darth Ragious on the bridge just now?"

"And for that, I am sure my crew is grateful for your presence. Otherwise three or four would be in the morgue just for staring at your ass."

Dels'taron (Background, part 1)

Dels'taron leaned back in the passenger seat of the private speeder, sorting through a myriad of thoughts. Never had she seen so many Chiss in one place, and never had she felt the kind of longing to belong to something greater than herself as she had during the Red Flame ceremony. While her current position within House Arren was one of favor and she was valued highly by Darth Kaldaras, she still felt very much like the outsider who was to be shoehorned into a family she had no real place in.

When she was a child, she'd never thought to ask her parents how they'd come to live among the various alien species that made up the labor force on Au'Daxu or why they were the only Chiss family among their neighbors. It might have occurred to her that they were different if it hadn't been for the circumstances that bound them all together, creating a community among the men and women who were forced to work in the mines. They had all felt the oppressive boot of the Imperial guards equally, and they were all identified with the same terms.

Alien. Scum. Akk dog.

Even years later, the terms could send an internal shudder of rage through her when she wasn't prepared to hear them. By the time she had found herself counted among the rebellious group of youth who were griefing the guards who ran the labor camp, she had already been in trouble half a dozen times for minor offenses ranging from rude gestures to stolen rations.

That's when she had met Colonel Chadwick Kothe, who had been sent to deal with the dangerous rebel uprising that basically consisted of a group of bored, angry children with too much time on their hands while their absentee parents were working twelve hour days in the mines. Dels'taron had the misfortune of being the most recently detained member of the gang of miscreants, and while none of them were really afraid of the guards – having grown up around them and known them for years – the newly-arrived older human in his crisp uniform merely had to level his authoritative brown eyes at the Chiss teenager to make her nervous. It was immediately clear that he would not be as lenient or as forgiving.

Once he had her attention, he knew exactly how to walk the fine line between intimidation and manipulation. She found herself turning on her friends and their families, believing somehow that she was doing what was best for the community as a whole and safeguarding her parents. While she would come to realize years later that she truly had no choice but to comply with the formidable Colonel, she was convinced at the time that she chose willingly to betray everyone she knew, causing the deaths of nearly twenty of the community’s young people before he felt that the 'lesson' had been learned.

Kothe wasn't finished with Dels'taron. Leveraging her willing compliance, he convinced her that it would be in her best interest to go back to Kaas with him, assuring her that he would find her a place in Imperial service. Within the next year, she was also his wife – the pretty blue young alien on the social climbing middle-aged Colonel's arm at every official function – and a different kind of slave.