ic contact.

[unrepentant]

@ skywalker

"Leave a message please."

✉️ ☎️ 📷

Comments

@ ben - botw car

[onlyhope]

[ just this picture ]

[unrepentant]

What is THAT

[onlyhope]

I have no idea.

Unlike those Korogu they're incredibly skittish.

[unrepentant]

You tried to catch one didn't you.

[onlyhope]

I was just curious!

botw car

[onlyhope]

[ Tension has strung taut between them since they met up on the ridge. It isn't how Obi-Wan wanted things to go, and he flounders as Anakin avoids him, trying to figure out what he had said wrong. He replays the conversation over and over in his mind, trying to suss out what underlying issue he hadn't addressed. Days go by, and it lingers with him, the focus of most of his meditation.

It is late, the moon high in the sky. The Happy Home app has given them a curious abode that looks much smaller on the outside than it does on the inside, but Obi-Wan has left the door open as he sits cross legged on the cool grass.

The reality is he wouldn't have needed the entrance hanging wide to know something was wrong. His brow pinches as the Force shifts around him like a storm cloud, urging him from the depth of meditation. His head turns as he rises to meet the disturbance, and as he realizes who it is he surges to the surface, eyes popping open. He blinks under the full moon and is still adjusting when he rises and ducks into their temporary home. The sense of de ja vu is intense as he crosses to where Anakin rests. ]

Anakin.

[ He urges, seating himself at the younger Jedi's hip and reaching for his shoulder. The number on Obi-Wan's bare inner arm gleams in the low light as he gives him a little shake. ]

Anakin, wake up.

[unrepentant]

No- [It's terrible.

Each time he's had one of these dreams- visions, he knows now- each time its real. As real as wakefulness. As real as being alive, or being in a fight, or flying a ship. As real as being in love.

He isn't inside his own body, he's too far away to get back to it and it leaves his limbs jerking, twitching- instinctively trying to get away. To make it stop. Anakin doesn't want to see these things, he's had no true interest in knowing the Force the way Master Yoda does, the Force never makes sense to him that way. He can't just watch it, he's inside it. He doesn't imagine Padmé's fear and pain, he shares it with her. The naked, horrible desperation on her face- the wetness of her tears and the way her throat closes as she tries to get the words out. She says his name until Anakin is mindless with it willing to do anything to end it-] -I'm trying!

[Damp with sweat, Anakin's head jerks against the pillow, his own number just barely visible. The whole of his body burning with adrenaline, urgency, anger, despair; his fingers spasm helplessly. The word comes out tight from tears, and teeth.] Please!

[And then his eyes open.]

[onlyhope]

[ They haven't shared a living space in a while; Obi-Wan had forgotten just how intense the Force can get around his young friend. It roils around him, slick like oil, as intense as a volcano. Asleep, they all have less control, their shields not as strong. Anakin isn't projecting so much as it seems like parts of him are seeping out from the seams. ]

Anakin.

[ He says it louder, trying to usher him from the grasp of the dream — and then Anakin's eyes snap open. Blue wild for the images of his dream, and Obi-Wan knows that this nightmare was like the others. The ones like his mother, the ones Obi-Wan had tried to assure him were dreams and nothing more. There is no reason for him not to believe that his former Padawan is having some vision of some kind of future.

It isn't the first time they've found themselves in this position — but the last time was many years ago now, and the mercurial nature of the space between them leaves him uncertain of what to expect. Though they have had their disagreements in the past, the one they navigate now is unprecedented. Obi-Wan's uncertainty on how to approach his young friend without making all the same mistakes — because they must have been there, signs that he had missed completely — is almost enough to make him hesitate.

But fear does not control him, and his own worry cannot supplant the fact that Anakin needs him. The past is done, Obi-Wan cannot unmake it; it is only the present he can affect.

As a boy, Obi-Wan would rub his back to bring him back down. That isn't an option here, so he lays his hand in the middle of Anakin's bare chest. Not to hold him down, but to give him something real to feel, removed from the phantoms his nightmare will create, waiting for the moment recognition enters Anakin's eyes. ]

You're awake. [ Statement. A fact. ] You're awake, Anakin.

[unrepentant]

[He's never quite known how to explain it to the others. Anakin feels more grounded in the Force when he's flying, or fighting- even if its only training. Everything is always happening; everything is always happening all at the same time, in vivid detail and vibrant intensity. The visions are like this too, as if he's holding a small piece of the future in his mind but its moving away from him all the time. Its trying to reach him, to tell him something, but the present and the here and now, the living Force eventually just drowns it out.

Anakin comes awake on top of his mattress. The sheets are tangled around his legs like shackles and his pulse is throbbing in his ears, blotting out every sound that isn't Padmé's voice, an echo of an echo. And then there's darkness, a room full of it. Darkness and Obi-Wan. It's his face that Anakin's aware of first, looking at him the way he did when he was small. When his nightmares had been nightmares only. Wide-eyed and stiff with adrenaline, his body is prepared to fight- to run, to do whatever was necessary to stop this from happening; and there is Obi-Wan's hand. Bridging the gap between dream and waking.

His eyes cut back and forth across his friend's face and slowly, carefully, Anakin remembers how to breathe. The rise and fall beneath Obi-Wan's palm is shallow, but in the few seconds that pass it's a question he pushes out first. A quiet croak.] Did I wake anyone? [His fingers begin to unclench, releasing the sheet and with it, some of his own tension.]

[onlyhope]

[ He can feel it happen: under his palm, in the dissipation of the Force, over the shiver of the bond between them, freshly churned by their meeting on the cliffside. Obi-Wan doesn't move away, other than sitting up again at the younger Jedi's hip. His finger stay splayed, sliding an inch as he repositions to rest on Anakin's diaphragm. Obi-Wan barely contains the urge to rub a soothing circle on his belly as he watches Anakin's breath start to stutter into an even cadence. ]

No.

[ His voice is quiet, little more than a whisper. ]

I was already up.

[ He worries the words in his mouth, do you want to talk about it?, but swallows them down. That gives Anakin too much room to manoeuvre around the topic, something he has become a subtle master at as he has grown. Gently, carefully: ]

Was it the same nightmare?

🦇 🦇 🦇

[onlyhope]

[ It would be very difficult not to miss the way a good number of the passengers seem to be suffering from some kind of affliction. Curiousity has gotten the better of him many times in his life, and being on this train has done nothing to dampen the instinct. Only, upon doing the survey (what he suspects is the culprit) nothing appears to have changed in him.

At least, that was what he thought before he stepped in front of a mirror. Evidently, some side effects simply weren't that obvious at first glance. Still, it throws quite the wrench in his intention of finally getting around to reshaping his beard as he'd mentioned to Jack. His and Anakin's individual hotel rooms are directly next to each other, which is a simple solution to an irritating problem. Obi-Wan doesn't bother dressing when he exits his suite, clad only in linen slacks and slippers, towel around his neck and razor in his hand.

With his free hand he raps on the wooden door and waits for a response from his friend. ]

[unrepentant]

[He's been awake for some time. The nightmares haven't stopped since they'd arrived here, but even without them, Anakin has always woken early- for Watto's shop, and then for studies in the Temple. The implements in their kitchen are pretty antiquated, but they're in good working order and Anakin takes to them easily. He's on his second cup of caf and dressed in the dark, comfortable fabrics they've been provided- the lose ties dangle from his waistband and the short sleeves of his shirt expose the difference in his forearms.

Everything about this place feels opulent, not because they're surrounded by riches and gold, but because they want for nothing. The knowledge is strange, and painful. And humbling.

A knock sounds, and he knows without question who lies behind it. Anakin pushes to his bare feet with his mug in hand, pacing towards the door and tugging it open. His eyes flick from his friend's face, to the razor in his hand. Well that's new.]

Good morning Master. Caf?

[onlyhope]

[ He isn't annoyed about the situation so much as mildly perplexed, so when Anakin opens the door with that arch expression and a simple greeting, Obi-Wan smiles. They have been around one another more in the last weeks than they have in a long time. The war kept them together most often, but not always in each other's back pockets like this. Sharing space, as though they were Master and Padawan again. He has seen Anakin in all measure of dress and undress, but finding him in a relaxed like this is — warming. ]

You know, I had made some in that funny little machine but-

[ Reflex, once Aankin has opened the door to permit him access, had been to step forward over the threshold. However as he starts to do so he feels himself repelled by some unseen barrier. Less as though he has walked into a wall, and more like he has been pushed back from the frame. Blinking, Obi-Wan looks up at the door jam as though he might find a sensor there — before realizing what the issue might be. It would explain his lack of reflection, anyway, and Obi-Wan has read enough lore to have a hunch over what is going on. ]

Ah. I think you may need to invite me in.

[unrepentant]

[It has been awhile since they've been close like this. They'd been deployed plenty of times as part of the open circle fleet, occasionally sharing the same room and in more desperate circumstances, sharing the same cot. What makes this so different is the quiet. There's no urgency or pain or terror vibrating through the air, the Force itself isn't screaming in his ears, he doesn't need to dash for the helm of a starship.

This is the kind of nearness they shared when he was growing up in the temple, a series of joined doors and nothing else that separated them. Obi-Wan steps forward and Anakin sees the freckles that stand on on his Master's shoulders, the skin a little paler here, hidden from sunlight by the layers of his robes. But instead of completing the motion he sort of, bumps backwards again.

Anakin frowns in confusion.]
Invite you in? Because of your-?

[One finger extends from where his hand is wrapped around his mug, but because of said mug, his attempt at pointy fang gesture comes off a little garbled.]

[onlyhope]

[ That Anakin chooses to take the time and pantomime the gesture flattens Obi-Wan's expression into exasperated amusement. Wryly: ]

Unless you you managed to build an invisible plasma shield in the last twenty four hours, I should think so.

[ There's a suggestion in there that probably this is possible. Truthfully, Anakin has no doubt that if his friend put his mind to it he could do such at thing. Never has he met someone so innately skilled with mechanics, so intelligent in how they work and how to fix them. Even things he is mostly unfamiliar with. This world might be primitive in it's designs and technology, but Anakin has done stranger things with less.

Then, since no invitation had been forthcoming and Obi-Wan is still standing half stripped in the hallway, he raises both eyebrows, playful and sarcastic. ]

May I?

text; i am sorry for this

[himbomb]

[unfortunately, enough time has passed for rex to text this guy to see if he's alright... and if he doesn't reply, he's either dead or ignoring this shit, and if that IS in fact the case... HE MIGHT AS WELL BE DEAD!!!!]

HEY!!!!!

[That should get his attention.]

u still breathin?

[WHY DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A THREAT]

u kno, through all the normal, necessary parts

[what is that supposed 2 mean????]

if ur only hemmin n hawin through the mouth ur gonna be a goner any day now get some help

how dare you be sorry

[unrepentant]

I don't know, that sounds pretty judgmental Rex.

What if I have a cold?

[himbomb]

k, but
do u tho

[unrepentant]

Well now I'm feeling vulnerable so I don't want to tell you.




I'm alright Rex. Thank you for asking.

What about you? How're you and your people?

[himbomb]

good, fine, not dead yet

[On his side of the feed, he grows.]

hey

do you think this train is gonna have a sexy time car?

[rex]

or a keg stand car, or a big booby grab car

[REX!!!!!]

@nefelibata, bursts in kool-aid man style

[shiftybladesofcray]

Anakin

Did you see the conductor's messages? About the possibility of maintaining the bonds with people on the train?

[unrepentant]

[He's not sure what he's thinking, because yeah, the conductors said that. They also confirmed that they're passengers just like everyone else. Once again, Anakin's desire to trust wars with his ability to actually do so.]

I did




What do you think?

[shiftybladesofcray]

Honestly I think they're incompetent cretins and there'll be some ridiculous side effect no matter what.

But with everything they've made possible so far, I don't want to dismiss the notion just yet.

[unrepentant]

So you

You want to remember me? Is that what you're saying?

[shiftybladesofcray]

well


I'd like to do more than just remember. If there's a chance to.

[If he'd still have her. They had agreed to stay together while they could, but asking for more than that might encroach on borders best left untested.]