Shades of Gray

Author notes

462 - Bad business

avsaroke

on Aug. 3, 2018

Oh. Man.

This was one of the scenes I was waiting on for so long, and I’m sad it had to be cut short like this, but now the cat’s out of the bag. To clarify and put together a few things:

* Maev and Tattle know each other from way back (mentioned briefly on bonus page #4). Maev, in fact, knew Tattle during one of the worst parts of their life, when they were both stationed on an oonarian held moon decades ago. The trust they forged there is solid.
* Tattle has huge issues with the oonarians as a species. Just… blanket hatred. Slightly unhinged hatred at that, which is perhaps only fair considering what the oonarians put Tattle through and what they took from them.
* Shimsa operate under multiple names. It was meant to be part of the dialogue if this scene was done in proper comic form, but Don would also theorize that “Tattle” probably isn’t Tattle’s real name. And he’d be right. “Tattle” is in fact one of this particular shimsa’s various identities. How many do they actually have? Only Tattle and their handler know. This is the only “official” male identity they’ve held though. Every other time they’ve chosen to “officially” present as female.
* The identity of “Tattle” is being put back into circulation for the time being while one of their other identities is in hiding. People are looking for the other identity, and they don’t know that that person and “Tattle” are one in the same. Meanwhile “Tattle” is just an old washed up shimsa who hasn’t been on active duty in forever, doing a favor to an old friend by playing teacher for the next generation. Nothing to see here, move along.
* Non-kilm are only allowed to rise as high as 1st Lieutenant in rank. Tattle and Don are of the same rank, but only because Tattle can’t go any higher. They’d outrank Don several times over if it was allowed – they’ve certainly earned it. This can be frustrating for Tattle at times, especially when someone like Don starts getting uppity about it.
* Don’s a little too paranoid for anyone to take him seriously at first glance, but he’s starting to dig too much into Tattle’s past for comfort. There’s a small chance he might get lucky and connect the right dots, or call down the attention of the wrong people if he starts shouting too loudly. Things had to be nipped in the bud before it progressed any further.

I think that’s all, but if something’s still unclear, don’t be afraid to ask!