[video;] un: gen.skywalker

[ex_forcechoke292]

First off, whoever built these buckets of bolts in the hangar bay need to be let go. This is what happens when you let factories churn out garbage in large numbers: who's quality checking?

[He is. He's been here all of a few days, and he's already sequestered in the hangar, lamenting (loudly) over the sad state of automated affairs. This is where the video starts: he has the communicator propped up a short distance away as he's digging into the mechanics of one of the robots that had glitched out and come to a jerking halt with a wrench still clenched in its hand.

He mutters something about matrices before finally looking back up. This isn't the real point behind the message, regardless of how distracted he currently seems.]

Sad state of mechanical affairs aside, I have a question. [He sounds suddenly hesitant, as if he honestly doesn't want to ask it at all. He even rolls his shoulders back uncomfortably, before taking a long, deliberate breath.] I'm looking for a sparring partner. Swordsmanship proficiency if I can find it.

[Hoping against hope, but he doesn't sound too hopeful at all. As far as he knows, those who can really challenge him in this area are all back home, and neither side of that equation has a way to get back to the other... yet.]

Might as well make the most of being stuck out here, anyway.

Comments

[ouzel]

[ Cassian makes a noise, in the back of his throat. ]

Unfortunately. [ All they need is an Empire, but if this man is Jedi, then that may be before his time. ]

I don't know the exact number. It isn't in the hundreds.

On top of that people who found themselves here have been going missing, without record or acknowledgement.

un; tonyhawkprosk85

[shenunigans]

do you mean actual fencing or the gay shit with the white spandex and beekeeper masks where you hopscotch around and poke each other in the crotch with knitting needles

because i can do both

[taggingwomprats]

[ Luke had wanted to know who his father was, where he'd come from, what he was like, but he'd never imagined he'd get the chance. He was supposed to be dead and the man he was speaking to via holo looked far too young. But he said he was Anakin Skywalker and somehow, something at the back of his mind told him he was telling the truth.A pained expression flickers over his face at the question of how. ]

I wish I knew . I still don't understand how I ended up here or what's going on, but... I think you're my father. His name - your name - was Anakin Skywalker and he was a Jedi Knight. That's all I really know about him. About you.

[ Read: that's all Ben told him. ]

text | un: artsy

[angele]

It's a good thing they have you here if you caught all of that. Don't really want to get inside something that might fall apart...

video, un: (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

[straycloud]

Another one of you. I'm starting to wonder what draws you all here.

[ His lips quirk into an easy smile. ] I've held a sword once or twice, but I'm afraid I can't help you. Still, you should be able to find someone.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Half of this response makes absolutely no sense.]

That's not a form I've ever heard of. I can't recall ever having needed a mask.

#irony

[ex_forcechoke292]

As much as we had a choice, you mean?

[He isn't terribly happy about the arrangement, but he's been through worse detours. If an anomaly can bring them here, what's to say it can't work the other way around? He may not trust the powers that be here just yet, but he does still trust the Force.

It would just be nice to understand what it was thinking in turn.]

The ship itself seems sound enough, if you're worried.

[angele]

Pretending we had a choice, yes. [ Nothing wrong with trying to stay on the positive side, Anakin. ]

I just don't really know much about ships. It's nice to at least hear that from someone who doesn't work here.

[ex_forcechoke292]

"Another" one of what? [The question isn't quite accusatory, but that "you" carries enough of a connotation that he can't not ask.]

[straycloud]

Soldiers. I meet so many these days. [ If he catches any undertones, it doesn't show in his response. ] It's a change of pace from temple life.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[A scowl? No way. If the Separatists had droids half as entertaining, he might have even started to feel bad about the constant dismantling. Almost.]

Promise. No system meddling unless you say so.

[He's not sure he'd come out on the right side of an attempt even if it was necessary; it's not a difficult promise to make. The rest of that, however, requires a pause.]

...I can't say I know anything about an Empire? [Or an Alliance at this rate. There's nothing even saying he should--with all of the different worlds and people dragged onto this ship--but he's curious all the same.]

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It's both the explanation he wanted, and not one he knows what to do with right away. He's not blind to that upset, and he frowns as his glance averts for a moment.]

We never planned for-- [children. No. But hadn't he always wanted them? Regardless of what the Order had to say about it? Does a lacking plan make that less plausible? No. And the kid has a point: the whole situation already makes no sense.

He takes a deep breath. Alright. So he's a father. Oh stars.

He has a million questions about what this means, but the only one he can't swallow is:]

Obi-Wan knew about this?

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Anakin doesn't just frown at that, but instead adopts an outright scowl.]

I'm not sure what measure of competent leadership I expected out here, but it certainly isn't that.

[Regardless of the secrets clearly being kept, though the context still escapes him, that lack of basic acknowledgment feels irresponsible. It rankles in a similar way to the waste of clones back home when every one of those men had different personalities and potential.]

I'm assuming you've asked for an answer?

[Not nicely, perhaps. He wouldn't be particularly calm about it either. The nicety doesn't matter.]

[taggingwomprats]

[ Anakin's - his father's - confusion is a bit painful to watch. If Lando had been telling the truth, then maybe he shouldn't be surprised by this. Besides, Cassian was from before Yavin. Right? Luke swallows and tries to think if something that isn't completely frustrating. ]

He knew about you and he apparently knew who I was. He -

[ Maybe he should do this in person. But he's already in motion. He unclips something and holds up a lightsaber. ]

He said this was yours when he gave it to me.

video; un: syndulla

[firstrebel]

The only up-side - if you can call it that - is that some of us have our own ships here with us.

[ Hera has a small smile on her face. ]

But, when you don't have any alternatives, you make do with what you can.

[shenunigans]

[Just the way Dave likes to keep it.]

they call it fencing
its an olympic sport apparently
at least i think it is
its like swordfighting but with everything good about swordfighting removed and masks and costumes put in

[ex_forcechoke292]

I don't know. I never did take well to being told how to fly. But the familiarity is something.

[He's finding enough to keep his mind occupied and away from the rising panic, at least, which--to her point--is something like making do.]

Which one is yours?

video; un: jace

[estrayer]

[ Here's Jace, arms folded and chin lifted. He's been throwing himself into training these last few days. He already misses the sparring partners he ought to have, but since that's not an option, anyone with experience is better than no one. ]

I'm good with a sword. I'll take you up on that. You formally trained?

[ He said proficiency, so Jace has some hope. He could use a challenge. ]

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Of course he knew about me, is where the pedant in him immediately goes, but the words taste sour, and they sit instead. Luke answers the question succinctly enough for him in Obi-Wan knowing who he is--and if Kenobi knows that, then he sure enough knows about Padmé too, stang--but even more certain is that final gesture.

A lightsaber is a tool for many things, and apparently one of them is putting final nails in coffins--namely his own. A metaphor that rings far too true when he considers the implication of seeing an exact double of the weapon hanging on his own belt in Luke's hand.

This weapon is your life.

Suddenly things make so much more sense. Especially when he can't ignore the nuances of implications in Luke's story. To anyone else, this might have seemed a coincidence. Pure conjecture and jumping to conclusions. But there is no other answer that he can fathom.]

It is.

[Once wide eyes avert quickly as he tries desperately to rein in the upset. On one hand: Luke is irrefutably his son as far as he's concerned, and in this, he feels nothing other than elation. On the other: his son is his own age (or nearly so), and the world that's been painted even with the broadest of strokes leaves him with little more than dread.]

Was, I suppose.

[So the old man does have an empathic bone in his body still--that's something else to celebrate, at least. But in all of this, he can surmise well enough what's happened to him, even without a concrete explanation. Obi-Wan being the one to give scant details and pass on heirlooms? Obi-Wan having anything to do with this at all, when Anakin knows he'd never have settled for anything less than raising his own child? He knows he's dead. It's worrying on some level, though self-preservation hasn't ever been a particular strong point, and that recklessness had to prove Kenobi right eventually.

The unspoken part of this affair is what worries him more.]

And what did your mother have to say about any of this?

[Please tell me I'm wrong.]

[ex_forcechoke292]

How is it a sport if you remove everything good about it?

[You are a very confusing boy, Dave. What is this world you come from?]

[ex_forcechoke292]

The droids are in poor shape, but as far as I can tell, the ship itself looks fine. It's not a make I'm familiar with, but I've been working on them as long as I can remember. The rest of this may not make sense, but this still does.

[He offers a small shrug, not that she can see it. He may be--yes, Clary--cynical about the overall state of affairs, but he does suppose it could be worse.]

Do you just not fly, or are you landlocked too?

[ex_forcechoke292]

["Soldiers." Well, he's not entirely wrong. Anakin chuckles at that.] Where I come from, they're not always so different.

[ex_forcechoke292]

Going on a decade now, yes.

[F I N A L L Y. Someone gets it. Thank the Force.]

Granted, it's been a while since I've used something other than a lightsaber, but the idea is the same.

[At least he assumes from prior conversation; "sword" rarely means exactly what he wishes it did with anyone outside the Order, for good reason. But it's close enough, and he can make do.]

[taggingwomprats]

[ It crushes Luke inside to watch Anakin - his father - react to this. He can't imagine how it would feel to find out that in the far flung future you were not only dead, but that your son was ignorant of anything but the barest bones of your existence. Luke takes a slow breath, trying to get a better reading on Anakin as he speaks. He doesn't know what to say to make this any easier. And when Anakin asks his question, Luke winces. He knows this will likely make it worse. ]

I... don't know. I never knew my mother, either. My aunt and uncle raised me.

[ His father knows them. Knew them. Right? They were related. That's all he can really think of. The dim hope that his father might at least be reassured by having some family around to help his son. Even if Owen had been a bit rough on him at times, he and Beru had loved him dearly and a part of Luke still mourned for them. ]

[ouzel]

We have no idea if the leadership is competent or even exists in the first place. The captain of this ship is not terribly interested in interacting with those of us that find ourselves here.

[ Cassian opens his hands and shrugs. ]

If there were a clear line of communication I would have used it by now.