February & March Catch-All

[spiritwalks]

Who: Vyng spiritwalks and various others
What: Catch-All for February. Closed Prompts (in comments) for now, but am open to adding more!
When: Various
Where: Various

Content Warnings: Listed in subject lines when applicable

Notes:

- Style veers wildly between prose and brackets. Just choose whatever style feels good when responding, and I'll match it ♥

- Feel free to hit me up at jackets or Jansen#8997 for plotting and general chatter...or if you want a starter of your own!

Comments

[jedies]

[ he hums lightly. ]

What sort of ways?

[spiritwalks]

More listening to the world around me, I guess. Serving creatures' needs. Studying them for the joy of it. Not wondering how they could be useful to me or my friends.

[People in his old world called him the Spiritwalker because of his unique ability to traverse the Spirit World. Of course, that means nothing here. But even if it did, Vyng still gets to decide what that title means to him. In Trench, he likes to believe the Spiritwalker is someone who walks alongside other creatures — as their support, their friend, and a bridge between worlds.]

Elemental stuff, too. [With his free hand, he idly traces along the rim of his glass. Fern frost curls around the top of the flare, like ice on the window of a cozy house.] If I can literally turn the tides by calling on them, then...living things won't need to fight my battles for me, you know? I can just keep serving them instead.

[jedies]

[ service is a jedi's primary function. it doesn't mean they are doormats but that is their calling. to serve. people often dismiss such a thing, but it's meaningful. obi-wan treats his moments of service much higher than he would treat a battle or a victory. ]

Have you been doing much of that here as well?

[spiritwalks]

As best I can. I don't really advertise my services. Just kinda run into problems that need fixing and go from there. Usually with mixed results, hahah...

[He could tell everybody he speaks to plants and help things grow, for example. But then people would be asking him to make flowers and trees grow because it's what they want to see, not necessarily because things want to grow here. And that's not really Vyng's way.]

There's plenty more I could be doing, I'm sure. If I could offer myself up to the land — commune with it on a spiritual level — then maybe that could open more doors. But it's kind of like approaching Illum. An unsettled heart makes it difficult.

[He still hasn't resolved things with the ghastly creature from his memories, in other words. But Vyng doesn't let it weigh him down. Not tonight. Tonight, he wears a crooked smile and calmly observes the glass's intricate ice patterns melt as he speaks.]

[jedies]

[ he shakes his head. ]

I don't think it's about what you could be doing. But where you feel your path is leading you to.

[spiritwalks]

True. Sometimes you've gotta be like a leaf. Just letting your expectations go, and seeing where the wind takes you instead.

[Some might argue Vyng goes with the flow a little too much. But it can serve a person well. Like deescalating a fight by going limp like a possum. Or simply shapeshifting into a sick skate ramp right before your friend's luggage cart plows into you.]

[jedies]

[ hmm. obi-wan hums. ]

Yes. But be careful as to not let yourself get blown away.

[spiritwalks]

Getting blown isn't such a bad thing. It depends on who you ask.

[How Vyng says that with a straight face is anybody's guess. And yet he very serenely punctuates his words with a slow sip from his straw, before adding:]

Purpose is what gives me direction. The rest works itself out.

[jedies]

. . . But what of your roots?

[ because that seems to be the main issue. all that trauma and pain, buried in the past, threatening to unearth itself. ]

[spiritwalks]

[That gives Vyng pause. If he were a younger person, he would have popped off with some smart-ass comment about roots being overrated. In a different time and place, he still might have made some flippant remark about being a free-floater, babyyyy. Like seaweed or driftwood. It's how Vyng sees himself...and one reason why he has such a deep affinity for birds.

Instead, he thoughtfully stirs the straw for a few moments. And quietly responds:]

In my culture, "being rooted" was a virtue. It means you stay put. Don't question anything. Never change.

[Stagnation, in other words.]

[jedies]

[ ah. that's a rather myopic way of looking at it. obi-wan is not sure he would agree with that. ]

Is that why you struggle to look back?

[spiritwalks]

[The ideal elf stayed in their community, their role, and their worldview. Vyng was a shapeshifter who did none of those things. It didn't win him many friends.]

It means I have a complicated relationship with where I came from. Looking back isn't always helpful.

[jedies]

It may not be.

But is it acknowledged?

[spiritwalks]

I acknowledge my eagerness to let go of that attachment means I've still got a ways to go. The more forced it is, the less attainable it becomes. And in some cases, that eagerness has done more harm than good.

[His title. His name. His shapeshifting. Each sacrifice much greater than the last...until he allowed his own self-loathing to consume him, along with all the creatures who trusted him with their wellbeing.]

[jedies]

[ he nods slowly. to let go, to reach a certain enlightenment is the ultimate goal of a jedi. but not at the expense of their purpose and their very being.

"luminous beings are we, not this crude matter"

and yet, cultural traditions, nuances, histories are kept alive in the jedi temple. no one forsake the clothing of their planets or the customs of their people simply because they've been adopted into the jedi. ]

Freewheeling can be just as dangerous as stagnation.

[spiritwalks]

I have family and purpose. Trading my roots for those things sounded good at the time.

[Maybe he would have eventually returned to his homeland. And if he'd done that, facing his father would have been unavoidable. But that is no longer Vyng's journey to make. Trench is his home now.]

[jedies]

What purpose would that be?

[spiritwalks]

You know, it really depends on when you catch me.

[A flippant answer on the surface, maybe. Vyng's shrug certainly doesn't help. With the same breezy attitude, he starts counting with his free hand, a finger for each example:]

When I'm a bonfire on the beach? My purpose is to keep people warm and consume whatever garbage they throw into me.

When I'm a tree? I hang out. Soak up some sun. Make fresh oxygen. Birds might park on my branches. Or they might not. Who can say? Either way's fine.

When I'm a rock? My purpose is to be a rock. 'Cause, like...a rock isn't trying to be anything other than what it's trying to be lately. You know? I don't need a purpose to justify my existence. I'm a rock, man. I chill.

When I'm a dad, I protect and care for my family. I cook them dinner. Give them lots of veggies. Make sure they don't get a case of the runs. Feed them medicine when they do. Offer hugs. Drop a storm on religious zealots who're chasing them. [As one does, obviously.]

[Vyng's open palm faces upward now, and he meets Obi-Wan's gaze with the ease of somebody who wears change like a fuzzy sweater they're willing to share.]

I'm the Spiritwalker. My purpose is...to be. Whatever others need in that moment. [His other hand, still threaded with Obi-Wan's, warmly grips tighter for a moment.] That's what I become.




[Aaand he could've just said that last bit from the start, he realizes with a quiet laugh. There would've been way less rambling. But that's fine. He got there eventually. Kind of.]

[jedies]

[ obi-wan hums. ]

And what of the things you wish to be?

[spiritwalks]

See, I don't like to be ambitious. I'm more of an in-the-moment kind of guy.

[jedies]

[ wryly. ]

I'm not sure if what I said counts as ambitious.

[spiritwalks]

My standards are very low.

[jedies]

You have standards?

[spiritwalks]

I'll be honest, I'm running a pretty steep deficit here.

[jedies]

It does seem a little . . . free-wheeling as they say.