(no subject)

[ezra_of_lothal]

Who: Ezra + Obi-wan. Ezra+Michael, Ezra+Ariadne
What: closed prompt in comments.
When:  Evening of 2/25, and also general end of the month
Where: Obi-wan's house in Cassandra, Michael's shop, Rooftops of Trench

Content Warnings:  Blood, offscreen deaths, aftermath of mass battle, grief, some corruption, others in tags

Comments

Obi-wan

[ezra_of_lothal]

Kanan told him once that you won not by beating your opponent, but by surviving. Well, he's alive. The massive beast never made it past the beach head, so the town at large survived, too.

Today still doesn't feel like victory. He should stay with the rest of the battle group, to clean up wreckage and sit with those mourning.

If he were Jedi he should be, he'd do that. He's just a halfway decent fighter, half trained in a tradition that maybe, on a very good day, he sometimes lives up to.

It's tempting to limp away, find somewhere to hide, and see how long it takes anyone to notice. But for one thing, he did make Anakin Skywalker a promise.

Obi-wan said he was always welcome, and that's also tempting in a couple of different ways. He won't stay long, he promises himself.

He tries to clean up before he heads to the Jedi Master's home, but there's probably no mistaking he just left a battlefield, even with a fresh cloak over everything else.

What he doesn't notice, that might also be a clue, is the flecks of amber color in his irises.

"Can I come in?" he asks, voice low, when the door opens.

[jedies]

[ he gives ezra a long, searching look as if he's looking beyond before nodding and stepping back. ]

Of course. As I said, you're always welcome here.

CW: memory alteration

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He stares back stiffly, as he waits for an answer. He doesn't think he could blame Obi-wan if he turned away another mess from his doorstep.

Maybe it would even be a good thing. Kill the illusion of safety and security that part of him craves. Particularly the blurry, faded memories of a life with where he grew up with a home. Never went hungry. A family he never had any right to.

Those had always been a lie conjured up by a powerful, frightened teenager. A nice lie, because Billy Kaplan was a sweet guy who'd just wanted everyone safe.

But that didn't make it any less a lie than what Palaptine had offered him, a life with his parents.

He certainly shouldn't be here because he wants the simulacrum of a brother.]

...But you have a brother to think about.

[The real one.

He stands there for another long moment. Obi-wan wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it. He wouldn't.

That's real.

Finally, he brushes past on his way in.]

[jedies]

[ his brow furrows in confusion, not quite understanding what ezra means and why he's hesitant. it seems there is something more weighing on the padawan's mind. gently, he lays his palms on ezra's shoulders, squeezing them slightly. ]

We are Jedi. We're already family.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He'd been thinking the civilized thing to do would be to ask to borrow the bathroom to clean up better; he's probably tracking beast blood into the house, which just what Anakin doesn't need-

Instead, he just bursts into tears. In relief, because that was nearly exactly what he needed to hear. He leans into Obi-wan's touch, and gasps out between sobs-]

Sorry. Sorry.

[jedies]

[ oh ezra. his heart goes out to him as obi-wan gently holds him, letting the floods dry out. ]

There is nothing to be sorry for. What happened?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[But there is, he thinks - if only for the thoughts in his head and how much he falls short of his own expectations. But he just lets himself cry and be held, until he thinks he can level out his voice enough to talk.]

A beast. As big as a Purgill. Some of us with visions knew it was coming, so we prepared - I connected to it before it reached Trench. I thought maybe I could-

But it was so...lost, and angry, and in pain. I couldn't-

[He lets out another shuddering breath.]

We killed it.

Michael

[ezra_of_lothal]

He'd meant to come by the shop again, before this, and thank Michael for his help in his first weeks here in Trench. And then time just...slipped away from him. To be fair, a chunk of it had been taken up preparing for the Leviathan.

And now that was over with, he had a slightly more concrete reason to come by.

He offers the...well, he's still not sure what Michael is, aside from probably not as human as he looks at first glance. He offers a smile anyway.

"I never properly thanked you for loaning your, er, pocket dimension. And I guess asking you to do work isn't really thanking you, either-" The teenager rubs the back of his neck, aware he's mucking this all up already.

"How does commissioning you usually go?"

[eudaimonikos]

"Pretty much like this," Michael replies, steepling his fingers as he leans forward over his desk. He'd been glad to see Ezra again! Honestly, not enough time has really gone by for him to notice.

Anyway, business. He's pretty casual about it, always has been. "You tell me what you want, I'll draw up some designs, we can talk through them, and then see how you like them once I make them. What're you in the market for? I don't charge too much, especially for newbies, so go nuts."

[ezra_of_lothal]

An encouraging start!

"Well. I'm a Jedi. Like Master Obi-wan Kenobi. And - I don't know what Anakin considers himself these days, but he was raised in the Jedi Temple, and I know I've seen him in the same basic style of tunics and tabards, but darker. The set I had was beige like Obi-wan's, but um. They were a gift and maybe just what was on hand?"

Or maybe he was given that color because he'd been with Master Kenobi, albeit an older version than the one here in Trench.

"At any rate, something like that, but less, uh, monochrome."

[eudaimonikos]

"Ah, those guys." Michael largely knows them as 'people from Maul's world'. They seem fine, though? If sartorially drab - because boy, are those beige robes drab! "Yeah, I get that. What kinds of color palettes are you into?"

[ezra_of_lothal]

Oh, good. Michael does know who he's talking about.

"I like oranges and yellows and greens. Browns and deep blue to keep it from being completely eye searing are good too."

[eudaimonikos]

"Ah, I love blue." He's probably wearing at least one shade of blue on him right now! It's just an off-handed comment, though; you can't possibly just have outfits of one color. Reaching over to grab his notepad, he starts to sketch something out.

"The outfit itself does seem pretty practical. Good for running around in." He'll keep that same general shape, then. With some variations - again, you can't have all your clothes look the same! "Hey, are you feeling better? You seemed pretty sick, last time I saw you."

Ariadne

[ezra_of_lothal]

So, he doesn't actually hide after the big fight. But he does, after the raw pain of the experience eases a little, perch on top of a roof of one of the multistory buildings in town.

Sometimes he still misses his tower, out in the grasslands of Lothal.

He's trying not to think too hard, mostly watching the sky and the occasional bird or cat-bat go by.

...oh, hey, that looks more like a person with wings? Wait-

"Airy?" he calls out.

[demonicbeauty]

Alastrian wings were black as velvet, but reflected rainbows, like an oil slick.
Ariadne's were as wide as she was tall, maybe even wider, and she stretched them to the absolute limit, soaring over Trench. She had to savor it, store it all up: the slap of cold air in her face, wind flowing through her hair. She missed the feeling of the clouds seeping through her fingers. And the sense that all things were possible.

She knew her time was short. The wings would fade away and just be a memory again.

Until they, she was going to squeeze every second of pleasure that she could out of the circumstances. The gods knew she didn't have a lot of pleasant surprises in her life. She had to take advantage.

But that didn't stop her from banking sharply, arching around in the sky, flying over Ezra's rooftop to wave and hello.

And maybe show off a little, twisting in the air like a gymnast or tumbler.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ezra watches, with wide-eyed delight.

"Ok, Airy definitely suits you, like this! Is..is it part of the shapeshifting?"

The wings, he means.

[demonicbeauty]

With a final, small twirl, she touched down on the roof beside him. It was a light landing. Balanced and graceful. As if she'd been doing it her whole life. In another life, she might have been, too.

She gave him a little curtsy. "No," she said. "I...might have made a trade with the Chocolatier for a candy. I...I was expecting chocolate, not this."

Not that she was complaining. Not even a little bit.

Still, her smile was a little awkward. A little embarrassed.

[ezra_of_lothal]

He blinks at her. "And the chocolate physically changed you."

Well, that's a little weird but this seems like a harmless change, so he's not sure why she's embarrassed. Sometimes sensing emotions more clearly than just relying on body language isn't that helpful, because the why's of emotions can be so slippery.

"Well, looks like you're taking to flight with way more grace than I did. Not that I've had wings exactly. Sabine's people, jet packs are a traditional thing for really dedicated warriors. Uh-" He gestures towards his back. "It's a machine, it makes a controlled stream of fire and hot air. Strong enough to lift you up."

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne gave Ezra a graceful, little smile. He beat her to her own question. Not everyone was quite so quick to pick up the fact that Ariadne didn't know a thing about technology. He was insightful, though. Thoughtful.

She gave him another curtsy. "Thank you. When I was a girl, I used to love flying. My adult wings never came in, but I like to think this is how I would have looked."

If she'd been able to live the life she should have known.

Ariadne did a small pirouette, showing off her wings as she expanded them as far as they would go. "I think they look like my father's."

Obi-wan (some time later)

[ezra_of_lothal]

[Ezra still wasn't completely sure this was a good idea. Wanting things didn't make them a good idea.

But he doesn't really like the idea of Obi-wan feeling isolated while Anakin is being even more withdrawn, either, and he knows he has himself has been feeling lonely, so -

Making himself at home, it is.

He's up early in the mornings. He tries to stay especially quiet at those hours. Hot beverage, then a solid block of meditation, then actually making breakfast, if it's not made yet.

Then after mid morning, he's often out, to the Archives, and other community oriented tasks he's set for himself.

A couple of days in, he stands in the zen garden area, lightsaber in hand. Maybe he should ask first? No, that's dumb. Surely Master Kenobi fully expects him to work on his forms.

He ignites the green blade and goes through katas. Shii-Cho first. Then Soresu. ]

[jedies]

[ obi-wan has always kept early mornings. part of it was training, old habits. others is that even after all this time, he's not used to the solitude. as much as it can be in a place like this. ]

Ah. Already at it?

[ezra_of_lothal]

[The impulse to freeze is there, and there's a slight stutter in his movements, but he keeps going.]

Didn't always have time to just...work on muscle memory, back home.

Then I had over half a year I didn't use my lightsaber in real combat, in Temba, just practice. [He's glad for that time.]

Anyway, might as well take advantage of less busy times, here.

[jedies]

I'm not sure if I'd call this less busy.

Less tumultuous, perhaps.

[ jedi are always busy in some way. ]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He laughs at that.]

Ok. Yes. Even Temba was busy. Farming, very small babies, setting up the area we called a temple, studying, trying to navigate Temba brand of weird stuff...

[jedies]

A Jedi's life is never quiet, for sure.