audio ; un: a.solo

[hopesparks]

[ There's a faint sound of wind in the background of his broadcast, as if he's sitting somewhere up high. ]

Hello. Again. [ Oof, okay, not the strongest start. ] I'm Anakin Solo, a knight of the Jedi Order, at your service. I sort of remember being here before, and I wanted to thank everyone who helped me out.

They offered me a bed at the orphanage, but I don't want to take it from someone who might need it.
How does housing work here, exactly? I don't mind sleeping outside, but that doesn't seem wise in the long run.

[ A pause. ]

By the way, I don't remember the sky being like this before-- is this normal? As normal as anything is here, I mean.

[ Another pause. He's clearly not in his element. ]

Thanks again.

[ The feed ends. ]


( ooc: let me know if you want to keep his tdm thread! i'm cool either way. )

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[hopesparks]

[ He sighs. His first instinct is to get frustrated, argue, force the other Anakin to see that he's telling the truth. But that won't work. So, instead of being immediately reactive, he goes quiet.

First, he changes over from a network broadcast to a private channel. Keeps things quiet, if they need to be.

Then he starts over. He's calm now, with no lingering irritation. All he can do is tell the truth, however unbelievable. ]

I was never a part of the old Jedi order. It changed dramatically after the end of the Clone Wars, and a lot of customs were lost. Taking in children that young isn't something anyone really considered, I guess. We don't exactly have the resources for it even if we wanted to continue the tradition for some reason.

[ He doesn't understand the point of it, but most of the information about the old Order is purposefully incorrect, vague, or missing entirely. ]

[facultative]

[That's a nice way of saying he destroyed it.

He's equally silent, but for longer until it almost feels like he's walked away without responding. Then finally:]

It's easier to let go of what you've never known.

[No one else had struggled as he did.

And no one else fell, but him.]

[hopesparks]

[ Anakin waits quietly for the other man to gather his thoughts. He can be patient, and he doesn't mind long silences.

But once he does get a response, it's not one he really expected.

Softly: ] You can't have a family?

[ His heart twists. That sounds so sad and lonely. Sure, the Order is his family but he wouldn't be the person he is without his parents and his siblings.

The sentiment also flies in the face of, well, the fact that he's sitting here right now. ]

[facultative]

[Anakin has never considered the other Jedi to be family. Family was the mother he left behind, the master who raised him, the woman he married and the padawan that abandoned him. To know later that it included a son still did not expand it much.]

No. It's forbidden.

[hopesparks]

[ He's silent for a moment, letting it sink in. Family is forbidden? He's sure Anakin isn't lying, but he's not sure how to feel about it.

Anakin Skywalker, after all, did eventually have a family. The thought that the old Order would frown on that, judge them for it, sits wrong.

He sounds a little sad when he responds: ]

Why?

[facultative]

[He scoffs.] Attachments are forbidden and love is the biggest of them all.

[hopesparks]

[ Something about that sentiment doesn't feel right. ]

How could you go through life without loving anyone? That sounds impossible.

[facultative]

And yet they've done it for thousands of years.

[hopesparks]

[ Anakin thinks that over. It really does sound impossible. ]

But we're taught to be compassionate. Isn't that a form of love?

[facultative]

[Considering that's the logic he used to justify getting married that's not going to help here. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he did it anyway.]

If it was, they'd call it love not compassion.

[Nailed it.]

[hopesparks]

[ ........

He's starting to wonder if Anakin Skywalker knows exactly what they're talking about. ]

If compassion isn't a form of love, what is it?

[facultative]

[He doesn't like this line of questioning.]

You should ask your master that instead of me.

[hopesparks]

Oh. Okay.

[ That should be the end of this line of conversation.

Except that Anakin did in fact call his Master and is patching him in. Does he know that Anakin Skywalker meant for him to talk to his Master at another time on their own? Yes. Does he care? Not really. ]

Master, can you help me with something?

[faithfulson]

[ Luke, ever busy with some project or another (this one involving something with a hammer, if the background noise coming over the Omni was any indication), answered the call without really noticing that he was being patched in on a conversation. He let out a surprised noise when he heard the younger Anakin’s voice, before he chuckled faintly. ]

You know, Anakin, I’m not your Master yet. It’s fine for you to call me ‘Uncle Luke.’

[ A faint grunt came from Luke’s end of the line, before he continued. ]

But still, I’ll do my best to help. What do you need?

[facultative]

[And now he has gone from surly to angry.]

What do you mean uncle?

[faithfulson]

[ There's a softer thump of the hammer, followed by a yowl of pain -- poor Luke hammered his own finger in surprise at the unexpected voice. ]

F-father?!

[ There's a pause, before his voice is suddenly sterner. ]

Anakin Solo.

[ Amazing how quickly people picked up the, "You are in trouble," voice. ]

[hopesparks]

[ Ah. He knows that tone of voice.

Mumbling: ] I was working up to telling him.

[ As usual, things have escalated quickly with him around. ]

[facultative]

You. Quiet, you just got here.

I want to know what's going on, Luke.

[Luke is in no position to tell anyone off here.]

[faithfulson]

[ Luke's wince could practically be felt across the network. Thanks a lot for getting him in trouble too, nephew! ]

Uh... another member of our family showed up?

[ ...could he get away with lying and saying he married Han, and Anakin was adopted? No, definitely not; he was not that convincing of a liar, and considering what just happened, he doubted Anakin would be good enough backup. ]

[ He let out a pained sigh, muttering a soft apology to no one that was present, before continuing. ]

I... may have neglected to mention that I was only one of your children.

[facultative]

[He's furious right now, but behind it is a hurt that Luke hid this from him. For all his son's grand speeches about how there was good in him, he hadn't seen fit to tell him this. Now he had cause to doubt if Luke even believed it or if it was just the best way to try and keep him placated.]

I see. Any reason for that?

[If he hadn't slipped up here, would he have ever mentioned it?]

[faithfulson]

[ Luke took a deep breath, letting it out slow. He could feel the distrust and the hurt coming from the other side of the line, and it hurt him too. At the same time, he couldn't blame his father for mistrusting him after keeping a secret like this. ]

I promise, I kept this to myself out of the best of intentions.

[ He took a deep breath, ready for a very unhappy conversation. ]

To protect us from the Emperor, Leia and I were separated when we were born. While I was farming, Leia was fighting as a politician. She... doesn't exactly have the best history with 'Darth Vader.'

[ Understatement of the decade. ]

I had only just learned that we were related, and told her as much a day before I ended up here. If she ended up here from around the same point in time as I did, it wouldn't be fair to her that everyone knew something she barely had a chance to process herself.

[facultative]

And I'm 'everyone' to you? You had no right to keep this from me.

[Anakin frequently reached for anger when faced with difficult situations and this is a betrayal.

And he can draw the parallels between their situations. Luke had seen fit to dump everything about the future on him on their first meeting as traumatic as it was and yet now he was deciding otherwise?]

Either I am him or not. Make up your mind.

[hopesparks]

[ Anakin listens with an increasing sense of guilt. He's forced his uncle to reveal something he'd kept secret for his sister's sake. There has to be a way to fix this, a way to bring everyone back together, a perfect response.

Then it hits him-- that's the answer. There isn't a perfect response. ]

Wait. Look, I've known Uncle Luke my entire life and he has never done anything out of malice. He always thinks of the needs of others and tries to respect them all, even if it's impossible. There was never going to be a perfect way to tell you any of this. And there was never going to be a perfect way for you to respond. Families are messy under the best of circumstances.

[ Anakin can't help but think of his own father. Their own messy, strained relationship that's slowly piecing itself back together. ]

And you're not under any obligation to be my grandfather here in the Trench. But you can be, if you want.

[ He braces himself. This wasn't enough, was it? It's never enough. ]

[faithfulson]

[ Luke took a deep breath when the younger Anakin interrupted, taking the chance to draw in calm from the Force, and release the heated response he initially had from his mind. His father was such a hot head... it was like he knew how to press every single button he had to make him forget all his training and just dissolve back into that reckless farmboy again. He took another deep breath when his nephew finished speaking, making sure he had his emotions in check, before he spoke again. ]

Anakin's right; I meant no offense, and was only thinking of Leia. She is not nearly as forgiving as I am.

[ He paused, a wry smile coming to his face, something easily heard in his voice, knowing what he would say would get him smacked. ]

She is very much her father's daughter: quick to respond with anger first, even if it isn't always a logical response.

[ His tone calmed slightly, a bit of fondness creeping in. ]

The fact that 'Anakin Solo' exists and is here is proof enough that her opinion of you would change, father. But if she appeared here, she deserves a chance to sort all that herself first.

[facultative]

[The fact that both of them could remain so calm enrages him further. It's like this wasn't an issue for them. Luke's seeming condescension calling him illogical doesn't help matters.]

There's no perfect way, but anything would have been better than this.

You can't claim to be thinking of others when you saw fit to tell me my future the first day we met. You were being a coward, this isn't about her.

[That knowledge had knocked him off course and he was still struggling to find his way even now. He doesn't know what's worse, that Luke thought so little of him that he didn't think it would be devastating to hear or that this was the point, the only way he could retaliate against the man that brought so much pain and suffering to the galaxy.]

I thought Owen would have taught you better. I know your grandmother did for him.

[And then he's hanging up, his omni discarded.]