2) Another visit

[ezra_of_lothal]

Who: Obi-wan + Ezra (and maybe Anakin?)
What: Checking in and asking some pointed question
When: February
Where: Obi-wan and Anakin's residence



Well, he'd been planning on checking in with Obi-wan very soon, anyway. Then he spots this. He manages to reign in his impulse to march right over to Obi-wan and Anakin's house, to wait until he gets a quick acknowledgement that it isn't a bad time to visit.

But once the door opens, he looks over Master Kenobi rather frankly, and asks, urgently, "Is everything ok?"

Comments

[jedies]

[ obi-wan blinks, perplexed by that question. ]

Of course. Why wouldn't it be?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Uh. Uhhh. He hadn't thought past that question, really.]

There was something...a little odd posted on the network from your screename, earlier.

[jedies]

Yes, Boga apparently took it upon herself to . . . get some attention for me. That's all.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra stares, briefly, open mouthed.]

I...see.

[Then he shuffles his feet, embarrassed.]

Sorry. I just. My, um, previous experience makes me think of you as pretty private. So my immediate reaction was - big behavioral changes are concerning? Maybe especially here.

And if I'm ever just - just wrong. I'd rather you tell me.

[jedies]

[ a low chuckle. ]

I am private, certainly. I do not share a lot of myself easily. But physical sharing isn't the same as intimacy.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Well. Sure. I get that. [A beat.] In theory. [He sure doesn't have any direct practical experience.]

I really was planning on coming by, before that, anyway.

[jedies]

[ he seems bemused. ]

Of course. And it's true, it sounds stranger in theory. I don't indulge in it often because it'll never compare to our connections in the Force. Still. There's no harm in it.

[ezra_of_lothal]

I never thought there was! Inherently.

Like I said, it just struck me as odd for you.

[There's a little more awkward shifting, before he says, mostly to the floor, in a rush, with a hint of tentative teasing-]

You should have fun.

[He glances up, again, watching to see how that lands.]

[jedies]

I certainly deserve to.

[ his smile holds a twinkle in his eyes. ]

But it's not a pressing issue if I have fun in this manner or not.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He grins. Of course Obi-wan deserves it.]

Definitely.

[It's a relief, honestly. He can't think of much Ben had done just for fun. Had fun, when people were happy around him, yes. Took joy in ordinary things, certainly.

He suspects that well of grief he associates with the older version made taking that extra step for himself hard.

Ezra straightens, smiling even more widely.]

Come on, show me some kind of tea you've found here you like.

Unless you do have a hot date to get to or something. [Totally teasing.]

[jedies]

Not at the moment, no.

Come in, please.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Thanks.

[He's happy to quietly follow wherever Obi-wan directs. But then he spots something he thinks is new. Maybe he'd somehow just noticed it before? A drawing.]

That's...Master Jinn, right?

[jedies]

[ a brief pause. ]

It is.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra's gaze swings towards Obi-wan, trying to figure out how quickly he should drop the topic.]

I, uh. Saw him once. In a memory.

[jedies]

Ah. A good one, I should hope.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[It was more than one memory, really. A long shared meditation with all the Jedi in their little enclave, with sharing on all sides. But what Ezra remembers most clearly of Qui-Gon is the flashes of the duel with Maul. And it's end. So, no, not a good one.

He shakes his head slightly, face solemn. Then, hesitant and gentle, watching Obi-wan even more carefully-]

It'd be nice to hear about some of the good ones.

[jedies]

I'll have to think of one.

[ it's been a while since he's reached into the more positive memories of qui-gon. seeing him again had helped soothe some of the fraught nature they held. ]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Hmmm. More firmly, the padawan adds-]

Only if you'd like to.

[jedies]

Well, we had a mission in Kashyyk long ago. We had to help the Wookies. Apparently some of them were going missing and we suspected a slave trade was taking place.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra's expression brightens.]

My first mission with Kanan involved rescuing Wookies being sent into forced labor. I mean, I say mission. I didn't know he was a Jedi until he snapped together his lightsaber, and it was a big deal.

[jedies]

[ he smiles faintly. ]

We arrived during Life Day and witnessed the celebrations. As always, my Master turned it into a lesson.

But unfortunately, we were beset by Trandoshans.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra leans in a little, eagerly.]

What sort of lesson? How did you deal with the Trandoshans?

[jedies]

I learned that sometimes, it pays to be unorthodox and lean into my own strengths.

To worry less about what I'm not and consider what I am.

So I showed up at the Trandoshan camp, pretending to surrender.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He breaks into a warm, affectionate smile. Yes, he knows that lesson.]

I've gotten that talk. I'd been worrying about my lightsaber skills not measuring up.

[Then he nods. That strategy could work, when working to undermine somewhat honorable or reasonable sorts.]

Where was Master Jinn?

[jedies]

In a cage. He got himself captured after all.

But when they brought me close, he was able to reach into the Force and grab his lightsaber from my belt.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Teasing-] Yeah, masters do that sometimes. And then act surprised when you come to rescue them, in my experience.

And then?

[jedies]

And then it was a quick battle. The Trandoshans surrendered and we returned to our life day celebrations.

It was a nice change of pace too. Quite often, we would travel less habitable worlds.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra tilts his head thoughtfully.]

Was that typical for most Jedi out on missions at the time? Or more your specialty as a team?

[jedies]

[ obi-wan runs his fingers down his beard thoughtfully. ]

Not a lot of missions are typical, since they're left for the teacher to decide. Qui-Gon had a stronger focus with the Living Force than I did at the time so he made that his focus.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He's storing away all these bits of data about how the Order operated before the Clone Wars.]

Oh, so you learned how to connect to animals from him, then?

[jedies]

It's where I started to learn it. I only achieved mastery . . . much later.

[ after qui-gon passed. ]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Oh. [He blinks, finding himself surprised that it wasn't something that came quickly to Obi-wan, for some reason.]

Well, I'm not sure what counts as mastery of...any particular skill with the Force, really. [He shrugs, feeling even more ignorant than usual, and looks sheepish.]

But once I got the hang of that once, it's kind of been my...thing?

[jedies]

[ obi-wan smiles faintly. ]

True, calling it mastery is probably a boast on my part.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[His eyes go even wider. Wait, what?]

I wasn't trying to imply anything like that. You would know better than I would. Just...it's one of the things I'm better at, relative to other things I've learned.

[And then he snaps his mouth shut, rather than point out that his sample size for comparison to other Jedi is pretty small.]

[jedies]

[ he chuckles. ]

I was only teasing, Ezra. And you never know. Your talents may be stronger than you realize.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He smiles again - teasing is completely fine, he's just being dumb, apparently.]

Maybe. Kanan said he didn't have anything left to teach me, since his own training was limited. But that was kinda silly of him to say. First off because he learned all kinds of stuff after he was blinded; he kinda had to. And there was plenty to teach me about just...life.

[His gaze drops a little.] If he'd had the chance to.

[jedies]

[ his expression softens. ]

I'm sure he passed on what he felt was meaningful.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Heavily-]

Yeah.

[He forces himself to look again and smile slightly.] Thank you for telling me a story about Master Jinn.

[jedies]

You're welcome.