Lost Pieces - October Catch-all

[hearuthinking]

Who: Jason Kolchek + semi-open. See prompts for details
What: October Plot Prompts
When: Throughout October
Where: Various locations. See prompts for details
Content Warnings: Vivid hallucinations, memory loss, the usual profanity, possibly violence? IDK

(To make this clean and organized for myself, the prompts are going to be in individual comments. As always, I'll match whatever style the other person sets)

Comments

Small memories

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra doesn't really know Jason well; he's been very deliberately keeping himself untangled from the more fighting oriented side of Sanctuary. Ezra is not strict pacifist, but he has some stuff to entangle about being a solider, versus being a Jedi.

And here, with the Sanctuary, he is more healer in training and gardener. Better he that stay focused on a couple of roles than trying to take them all on.

But that doesn't mean that he hasn't been paying some attention to the work Jason does. Especially after spotting him and Obi-wan together at the Sanctuary. That has been...notable.

So, he spots the slip, as he's passing through a room. And then a couple of other little things that don't fit until his admittedly limited impression that Jason is a detail oriented kind of guy.

So he sidles on up after another day of self defense class. "So. Question on the abrupt and rude side, but I think I'd be falling down in the job if I didn't ask. Have you been feeling ok?"

[hearuthinking]

Jason turned at the voice. The dragur eating his memories was just getting started and had yet to take anything too important away. So while Jason didn't immediately grasp why this boy's face was familiar, he did remember it after some thought. Obi-wan's student.

"Yeah, I'm all right," he shrugged. "I feel all right. Just feelin' a little scattered today. Probably workin' too hard."

The fact that he just spoke a lie said plenty, though Ezra might not catch it since he wouldn't be familiar with Jason's odd tic of repeating himself when he lied.

"What're you doin' here, kid?" Jason asked to change the subject. "Didn't figure a Jedi would need these self-defense tricks."

[ezra_of_lothal]

No Jedi is a full proof lie detector, so Ezra doesn't draw in firm conclusions. But sincerity isn't ringing through the Force, either.

He flashes a quick smile. "Oh, I'm here to check on the gardens. But sometimes I watch. Different fighting styles, different teaching styles. They're all interesting. And even back home, not all of my teachers were Jedi."

[hearuthinking]

Jason opened his mouth, about to give Ezra directions to the garden, but then stopped and frowned. What the fuck was up with his memory? He had passed his thirty-first birthday a while back but surely he wasn't going downhill that quickly.

"I'm blanking on the directions right now," he admitted, "but I don't think the gardens are that far from here. Obi-wan has one of the lunar flowers that grows here," he added. At least that memory was still intact.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Gently, Ezra says, noting that new slip, "I know where they are, Jason. I've been tending them for a while."

But then he breaks into a smile. "But then, no reason for you to know that. We haven't actually talked much."

[hearuthinking]

"We could," Jason suggested. "Talk more. I try to come by every day on my patrol." It seemed like a good idea, getting to know people Obi-wan knew.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I'm not here at the Sanctuary every day - I do stuff at Trench Farm and at the Orphanage, too. And my studies," Ezra explains.

He smile gets bigger. "But I think I'd like that, talking more."

[hearuthinking]

"Well, good." Ezra seemed like a good kid. "Not sure I've ever been by the farm," Jason added. If he had, he didn't remember it right now. He paused and ran a hand through his hair, searching for the memories. The fact that these little details kept evading him was starting to worry him. This had to be some of the Trench's bullshit, right?

"We first talked a while back," Jason recalled, struggling to remember. "You said I reminded you of someone. I can't remember the name. I can't remember... all kinds of random small shit."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"I'm noticing," Ezra murmurs, in quiet concern about the memory issues.


He's not ignoring the problem that brought him over to speak with Jason, but he keeps talking, casual and friendly. "Rex. Captain of the 501st. Has, uh, Obi-wan talked about the war, much?"

[hearuthinking]

"He was a general." That Jason easily remembered. He searched around in his head for the rest. Did Obi-wan tell him about the war? His memories were being eaten away bit by bit.

"He said somethin' about... the Jedi." Jason knew it was something important. "That they were in hiding? Because of the Empire."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Obi-wan was a High General under the Republic," Ezra replies, with a nod.

"And then...the Chancellor, who is secretly a Sith, got what he wanted out of the war. Consolidated enough political power. He proclaimed himself the Emperor and the Jedi traitors, because he knew the Jedi would oppose him. That's when I was born. Obi-wan is one of the few who survived that Purge. As was my first master."

[hearuthinking]

Jason absorbed it all in silence. He couldn't help thinking of the war back home. It wasn't hard to put himself in the shoes of those soldiers who hunted down the Jedi. And it wasn't hard to imagine what Rex must have been feeling when it all went down.

"I'm real glad y'all made it out of there," Jason said at last. "And for all the bullshit this place puts us through, I'm glad you're here."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra smiles crookedly.

"I miss the family I have left back home. But here is certainly better than dead. Or - I think, mostly alone, in Obi-wan's case."

[hearuthinking]

"I hope I help a little with that," Jason spoke up. "Makin' him feel less alone." Jason closed his eyes for a moment to search his mind for all the memories he had around Obi-wan. As far as he could tell, Jason had them intact. He opened his eyes again and focused back on Ezra.

"Here's better for me too," he confessed. "I don't know what woulda happened to me back home, but it wasn't gonna be good."

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Is he's talked to you about the war much at all, then...I believe you have," Ezra replies, with quiet sincerity. "Thank you. And I'm glad here is better for you, too."

[hearuthinking]

A little smile touched his lips. Jason figured, but it was nice being told.

"Does he... say much about me?" he asked. Trying so hard to be casual, but betraying himself with the hopeful tone in his voice.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Does he say much about me?" Ezra replies, just a little pointedly, with a faint, sympathetic smile. Because he sincerely doubts Obi-wan gushing with pride or something.

Then he shakes his head. "He hasn't. Not to me. He's a pretty private person and I try to respect that. Partly because our lives are out of order, and other multiverse weirdness - I know lots of things about him and the version of him never even kind of consented to telling me."

[hearuthinking]

Jason nodded, trying not to feel too disappointed. It was more or less the answer he was expecting. And really, why should he expect Obi-wan to tell people about them when Jason was keeping it from his friends too? They knew a little but not details, not Obi-wan's name. Still, he would've liked knowing if Obi-wan's people could tell.

"Guess you know about me now," Jason concluded with a shrug.

[ezra_of_lothal]

"Well. I did spot you when you were here with him not too long ago," Ezra teases gently. "And I wasn't trying to eavesdrop - physically or in the Force. Still, it seemed like...only good feelings."

[hearuthinking]

"Good." It was a relief having that memory still intact. There were some that were evading Jason's mind and it worried him that the more important ones would be next. Nick, Salim, Rachel, Eric, Joey, Merwin, Clarice. Jason listed off the names and faces of those back in his world, letting out a sigh.

"Remind me of that later, will ya? I don't know what the fuck is wrong with my memory but I don't wanna forget that."

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra nods slowly, letting his concern show on his face.

"If it seems like you've forgotten, I'll remind you, sure. I'll be honest, I came over because I thought I noticed something weird going on like that. Maybe, uh. One of the more experienced healers could look you over?"

[hearuthinking]

"Yeah, you're right." This probably wasn't corruption. Sure Jason risked that with his line of work, but he was in the Sanctuary a lot and that had to help protect him. But it sure as hell wasn't normal, either. It had to be whatever-the-hell the monthly Trench bullshit was.

"Uh." Jason paused uncertainly. "Where's the infirmary again?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra carefully keeps his expression calm, points and then starts moving in that direction.

"I'll come with you."

[hearuthinking]

Jason let out a frustrated sigh. The fuck was going on with his memory? He was here in the Sanctuary every day; he should be able to go around with his eyes closed. This had to be some Trench bullshit.

"Yeah, thanks. I hope they can fix this before it gets worse." It wasn't so bad that Esfir felt the need to manifest herself yet, which Jason took as a good sign.