Private On Family Values

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Hello,

I created this chain letter because it struck me as a tactically sound way to sustain, enhance, and leverage our preexisting familial relationships to mutual benefit.

Recent family achievements as I understand them:

• Spencer fought an Anti-Force practitioner. Imagine encountering that in the wild.
• Ibaris pitted her battle meditation against the Grandmaster's at the reclamation of Coruscant and won.
• Quinn successfully ruined a major negotiation between the High Republic, Black Sun, and a planetary government. She also survived a murder attempt from the upcoming king of Naboo and recieved a 150,000Uc bounty for her troubles!
• Merion navigated to the Rishi Maze across half the Unknown Regions and died 100,000 times.

Take a moment to address these points:

• On top of the upcoming king of Naboo, is there anyone any of you would prefer to be dead? Please let us know.
• Do any of you need an interdiction ritual? I have a spare scroll.
• Do your invasion schedules allow for some form of gathering or joint action in the medium term?
• With the Empire ascendant I am exploring the possibility of a secondary residence in the Core Worlds. All recommendations are welcome.

Quinn Varanin Ibaris Varanin "Templar" Noelle Varanin Aston Jacobs August Oreno Aldric Varanin Mercy

 

[Mercy]

Mercy was pleasantly surprised to be included in the chain mail. It was always difficult to gauge where she exactly stood with Ashin and her family, but it was preferable to her original family in every single way.

She responded like this:

On top of the upcoming king of Naboo, is there anyone any of you would prefer to be dead? Please let us know.

Mercy: Carnifex burned down Tion before I could go and visit it. I always wanted to. I doubt he can be killed but he deserves some mild inconvenience.

Do any of you need an interdiction ritual? I have a spare scroll.

Mercy: I don't know what that is but you know how I am with reading.

Do your invasion schedules allow for some form of gathering or joint action in the medium term?

Mercy: I am available. Sounds fun. I know a good bar on Nar Shaddaa, we can use the backroom there.

With the Empire ascendant I am exploring the possibility of a secondary residence in the Core Worlds. All recommendations are welcome.

Mercy: I hear Chandrila is quite nice this time a day. Lots of culture. I wouldn't look at Hapes, it's quite chaotic there after my recent vacation.

 

[Noelle Varanin]

Dear a.varanin@empire.org

Thank you for your email.

Her Majesty is most grateful for your message. However, due to an exceptionally full schedule at this time, she is unable to respond personally.

We appreciate your understanding.


With kind regards,
Lin Arshu
Secretary and Chief Corresponder

 

[Aldric Varanin]

The fact that he was still getting messages from his family was showing that his connection to Eschan was not too far gone. Maybe that was a good thing, but Aldric was constantly on the move. Leave it up to his grandmother to get ahold of him through any means. Aldric read the letter as it came in and nodded.

Right.

So, they were all out there doing their thing. And of course Merion died a lot. And thought that was an achievement. Maybe Aldric was not quite to that level of crazy, but he was more than happy to find out what everyone was up to.

“Ashin.” He started the letter, never one to call her grandmother.

“I’ve been wandering, seeking history. Stumbled on something called the Fringe Federation. And the Moross Crusade. The Krath. Interesting texts. Interest history.

Learning more Teras Kasi.

As for the needs? Anything to help me… hide? Scroll of… hiding? I like passing by unnoticed. As for the Core. That seems to be turmoil. Perhaps the Colonies. Chandrilla seems to be nice?

I could meet there.

Aldric.”

 

[Quinn Varanin]

To: Everyone

1) Why is the Knave ( Mercy ) involved in this? Who said she was family?

Also, I was just defending myself and I had no intention of ruining the negotiations. Though I will say, their negotiations were ill-fitted for their stations. Jokes the whole lot.

Congrats on victory Ibby, sorry I was a brat.

Um, core worlds? I like Corellia, I'm not bias or anything of the sort, but I think its interesting.

There's also a lot of names I don't know, well I know August Oreno , But who's Aldric Varanin ? Who's Aston Jacobs ? Who's "Templar" ???

Are you adoption more children Ashin Cardé Varanin , Spencer Varanin

Quinn

 

[Spencer Varanin]

To: Everyone

You all forgot to call me on Mother's day. FYI its okay I forgive you.

attachment: <: cutelothcats1831848312.mp4 :>

Reminds me of all of you <3 even you "Templar" you're the little calico one that keeps trying to run away and fails, so cute.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Hello again everyone, including Noelle's social secretary-

Points of clarification as to who you are to each other.

• Quinn, Templar is your mother's ward. Aston is Spencer's brother, your uncle. Aldric and Merion are Noelle's sons and your nephews, and August is their father; Aldric is an itinerant and Merion is a navigator with the Diarchy.
• Aldric, I have no scroll of hiding, but if you would like to attempt the Sith face-changing ritual known as Mask, please let me know. If you have any questions about the Fringe, your grandmothers can provide answers.
• Mercy was my moist significant apprentice in the last half century and begged to be included on this chain letter; possibly, Quinn, to get your contact information.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Errata:

• It has been made clear to me that Srina Talon should have been copied due to her mentorship of Quinn while I was busy being a deity. All correspondence has been forwarded.
• Aldric and Merion have a sister who I believe is named Celeste. I am aware of no other grandchildren at this time.
• The previous letter referred to Mercy as moist. This was a typographical error.

 

[Mercy]

She scoffed and began to write the following:

Hello again everyone, including Noelle's social secretary and apparently the Dread Empress Srina Talon-

Point of clarification as to why I am on this chain letter.

• I resent the description, Mothe- Ashin Varanin. I merely pointed out that since I have spend more time around you and your wife than some of the people included in this letter chain (Quinn), I believe I have a right to be included.
• Furthermore, the idea that I have any need of Quinn's personal contact information is simply absu-

Somewhere around that part Mercy realized two things: Her haughty royal Tionese was starting to show even in her writing and she was coming across as a psychotic maniac, and not in the usual fun way.

Instead she rewrote the body of the text as followed:

• I did not beg, I simply requested, Varanin. But I appreciate the acknowledgment that I have been your best student in half a century. I will hang that on a wall, if I ever settle down somewhere.
• To Quinn, next time I see you, I will flick you over the head again and you won't see it coming, even though I am telling you in advance.

Yes, that took many attempts to get right.

 

[Merion Oreno]

Dear aunt Ibaris Varanin

This is Merion, your nephew. We met a couple of years ago on Eshan during the solstice festival.

I was very impressed and interested to hear about your battle meditation above Coruscant.

Do you have any pictures with Darth Solipsis ? The Diarches that I work for would like to kill him and I would like to know if his moustache is that impressive in person.

---

Aldric Varanin

Hi Aldric,

I got excited to see you reply to Grandmother's letter. Hope you're doing well out there. I'm usually based off Bastion or Yaga Minor but I get around a lot. Here's my Diarchy ship's comm code. Next time you're in the Braxant Run area, hit me up.

 

[Quinn Varanin]

Quinn read through the next couple of emails and frowned. As she half sat on the knee of the Knave in the middle of the populated area. Unfortunately for Quinn this was necessary because all the seats were taken and Mercy decided to not give up her seat.

“You weren’t supposed to read that!” Quinn turned her head and narrowed her eyes slightly to her seat occupier.

The desire to stomp on the foot of the leg she sat/leaned on was strong, but she avoided it.

“If you flick me, I’m going to start calling you Moist.” She grinned, thinking the threat held any substance.

Quickly her nimble fingers tapped away.

To everyone & Moist

I see mom hasn’t changed and is still collecting strays. Welcome to the family Templar. Be thankful you didn’t get turned into a cat.

Also hello nephews — we haven’t met but hopefully we do sooner than later.

And hiii Srina Talon !!! I miss you!!

Quinn

PS: I really liked the lothcat video you all should watch it.

Mercy Merion Oreno Aldric Varanin

 

["Templar"]

//: Laying on the floor in a room. Contemplating life, 'How did I get here?' //:

Templar lay flat on her back, eyes fixed on the blank ceiling.

Blink.
Blink.

Silence filled the air. It was peaceful. Almost peaceful. At this point Templar would have to be stupid enough to believe in peace anymore. At least not with Spencer keeping her. She learned pretty quickly… But Templar couldn’t feel Master’s presence. Was she here? Or was she lurking somewhere in the cracks of this place. Every time the Relic tried to slip away, her Master had known. Like clockwork. She was waiting for it. A game.

Then came the “dreams.”... Training, was what Templar was told. Memory recovery. Unlocking whatever fragments and gaps that were forgotten of Templar’s past life. ‘Yeah. Sure.’

Because cold sweats, dreams, and weeks of mind games were definitely therapeutic. These days it was hard to tell where reality started and ended. One moment Templar swore she was here. Breathing air, feeling the solid ground under her. The next she’d see her. The shadow Templar couldn’t shake. The one she expected every damn time she closed her eyes.

It was best not to play. Her eyes continued to look at the ceiling. Thinking of a way out.

A sharp beep cut through the stillness. Templar didn’t move. She’d learned not to flinch at the first noise in this place. It was usually bait.

Then came another beep. Then another.

Rolling onto her side, Templar’s gear clinked with the movement. Crawling towards the sound. Boots scuffing the floor. A communications pad sat on a desk like it had been waiting for her. Pushing herself up. Standing. That was new… Master never left her anything unsupervised. Templar’s eyes narrowed as she picked it up. An account already set up. Messages waiting.

Templar scrolled, brow furrowing beneath her helmet. The words didn’t make sense. Only knowing Spencer Varanin and of Ashin Cardé Varanin . Either all the senders was insane or she was. Not knowing how to respond. Thinking. Emoticons were still used, right? Slowly, tapping a response with a single gloved finger. Hunting each key like she hadn’t used tech since before the freeze. Before everything.

? (☉_☉) ?

(ಠ_ಠ) ┬─┬

(┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻

Maybe that was the point. Maybe the pad was just another hook. Another bait. Her eyes looked at the time stamp of Master's sent the message. Putting the pieces together. Was the peace she felt actually peace? Master wasn’t here? Templar had a chance.

Her thumb hovering over the interface—

and slipped.

Message sent.

Templar froze. The sound felt loud enough to echo. Pulse jumping. She’d needed to move fast. Dropping the pad back on the desk. The thing clattered across the top. Scrambling to the door.