better to burn out than to fade away ☼ may catch-all

[hopesparks]

Who: Anakin Solo, some CR, and maybe you
What: Catch-all with open and closed prompts
When: Throughout May
Where: Throughout the Trench

Content Warnings: None yet but they will be noted in the subject lines as needed!

Comments

[facultative]

"He was the Jedi that found me, Obi-Wan's master. Maul killed him."

Then Obi-Wan sliced Maul in half kicking off a one sided rivalry that lasted to this day. It was odd that he barely knew the man who completely changed the trajectory of his life.

[hopesparks]

Anakin breathes in sharply. The fact that both Anakin and Obi-Wan can restrain themselves around Maul, who killed someone important to them both, must take a lot of fortitude. He's not sure he could do the same to anyone who killed Luke.

"I'd like to hear about him. And your mother. Whenever you feel up to it, I mean."

There are so many gaps in their history that Anakin never even knew about. And here he thought he was the one to be filling in the gaps for his grandfather.

[facultative]

"I only knew him for a few days." He makes no sign of acknowledgment that he heard him ask about his mother. He can't talk about her directly, there was too much tied in her final moments.

To change the topic he pulls out a holocron he'd tucked away in his robes and tosses it at his grandson.

"Here. You can have this. Consider it a house warming gift."

It's an old training holocron he'd recorded mostly for Ahsoka before she left. He'd left it in the Temple to presumably gather dust, but it had somehow followed him all the way here. While the bulk of the lessons were recorded back on Coruscant, there's a few additions at the end that were clearly filmed in Trench.

[hopesparks]

Anakin catches the holocron easily, unable to mask his surprise. He hadn't expected a gift of any kind-- he'd barely expected his grandfather to show up in the first place. He holds it out in his hand and opens it, looking even more startled when the beginnings of a training video start to play.

When Ezra told him that Anakin Skywalker had a padawan once, he'd found it hard to believe. He couldn't picture his grandfather as a teacher but here he is, measured and patient and clear-spoken.

He ends the video by closing the holocron and sliding it into one of his pockets. Softly: "Thank you."

[facultative]

He shrugs, uncomfortable with the gratitude. "It's the least I could do." He's the reason why it had all been lost after all. It wasn't just the lives he took, he removed generations of knowledge from the survivors. What would come next would pale in comparison to what they once had.

[hopesparks]

Anakin shrugs. Nothing the older Anakin is thinking of even occurs to him. "You didn't have to do anything."

But he relents before it can get too awkward.

"I promised you answers and I've just been asking questions so far." He gestures at the sitting area, inviting his grandfather to sit down.

"Do you want anything? Food, something to drink?"

His manners are rusty, but he's trying.

[facultative]

"I ate earlier." More like used his new summoning powers to snack on a few bugs. He finally moves away from the window and takes a seat, hiding his hands in his sleeves so any awkward fidgeting could be out of sight.

"Water's fine."

It'll give him time to think of anything he wanted to ask. Or more accurately should ask.

[hopesparks]

"Sure."

With that, Anakin retreats to the kitchen. Filling up a water glass doesn't take long, but he dawdles a little, sensing that his grandfather might need a bit of extra time. Still, he doesn't take too long. He emerges from the kitchen and hands a glass to his grandfather.

"Here."

Then he sits down in one of the chairs. He places his forearms on his knees and leans forward, the picture of someone ready to listen. He's a patient listener, so he doesn't prompt his grandfather. He simply waits.

[facultative]

He takes the glass, but doesn't take a drink before setting it down. The expectation from his grandson is making him anxious. Too ready, if there was such a thing.

"Tell me about your father." He blurts out eventually. It's something that just came to mind, but the more he thinks about it, the safer it feels. After what Luke said, he doesn't think he should ask about his daughter that hated him once.

[hopesparks]

Anakin's eyebrows raise slightly in surprise, but he recovers pretty quickly. His dad is a pretty safe topic of conversation. As long as he glosses over a lot of how his parents met.

"My dad's name is Han Solo. He's a smuggler-turned-revolutionary. The best pilot in the galaxy, before my sister came along."

He pauses, thoughtful. "He's the sort of person who cares about people over ideals."

[facultative]

Anakin frowns. "I'm the best pilot in the galaxy."

Or maybe Han only got the title because he wasn't there to claim it. Evidently it became a family trait if his sister inherited their talents.

[hopesparks]

Anakin shrugs slightly.

"Maybe not enough people have seen you fly."

He knew piloting was in his blood-- Luke is well-known for his skill too. He wonders how much he inherited from his grandfather. More than he realized, apparently.

A slight smile. "Too bad we can't fly here. It'd be nice to fly with someone who can keep up."

Granted, the Rogues are good pilots. But flying with another Jedi is different. And he's intensely curious to see how good his grandfather actually is.

[facultative]

"If I can get my starfighter flying again I'll show you." Instead the lack of fuel means it's essentially a giant decoration for Obi-Wan's front lawn. He's thought about stripping it for parts before, but he's never gone through with it and instead every now and then he and Artoo would do some maintenance on it.

Flying was one of the few ways he could leave everything behind just for a while. When it was in the pilot seat nothing else mattered. It was the closest he could get to meditating most days.

"And I won the Boonta Eve Classic when I was nine. Plenty of people have seen me fly."

[hopesparks]

He leans forward, interested.

"What's wrong with it?" He'd like a challenge, and he hasn't had a chance to work on something just for fun in awhile.

Anakin's expression turns puzzled.

"I've never heard of that. But winning it at nine sounds impressive."

[facultative]

"Nothing. No fuel."

Podracing had been one of his interests even when he was older and he'd tried to follow the various circuits whenever he could. To hear someone who was related to him have no idea was a huge problem for him.

"How do you not know what that is? It's one of the biggest podraces. Does no one race in the future?"

[hopesparks]

Anakin does his best to hide his disappointment. He was hoping to have something to challenge him, but he can't do anything about a lack of fuel.

Anakin shakes his head.

"There are still races, but I've never heard of that one. Maybe it changed names."

[facultative]

He sighs, disappointed. "Maybe it's because it's from the Outer Rim, I doubt the Core Worlds started caring what happens out there." Not that he expected any better if his grandson had been raised on Naboo like they had planned with the children. The Hutts got away with what they did because there was no interest in that sector.

As long as their problems didn't interfere with the lives of those privileged enough to live in a different sector.

[hopesparks]

He wishes he could say that the new Republic cared for all worlds equally, but that's a lie. It had more recently become a source of frustration for the Order that was trying to protect the planets of the Outer Rim from invasion.

At least he doesn't have to worry about politics here.

"Yeah. It's unfair."

He sounds a little sad, but resigned. He doesn't expect it to change anytime soon.