22nd Transmission: Memories [Action/Written]

[thefinaljedi]

Action

[Waking up this morning had been harder for Luke that it’d been in a long, long time. The past few weeks had been trying, with nearly everyone around him seeming to fall apart at once. Friends and family arriving from home, fellow Jedi and other people familiar with life in that galaxy so very, very far away were a blessing, but admittedly a mixed one. Each new arrival had seemed to come bundled with a bantha laden with baggage, a load of new problems to be dumped onto the growing pile that seemed to be collecting around the house Luke had called home for a little over two years. That house had seen many people come and go, and every single one of them had their own share of troubles, but never quite as bad as this. Han, Leia, and Anakin had been a perfect storm, a genuine disaster that Luke had no idea how to even begin to approach, and yet he still felt responsible for finding a way to resolve some of the tension. Ahsoka hadn’t helped matters, tearing off without much word to anyone, and all of this wasn’t even taking into account how Obi-Wan must be feeling with his emotions beyond his control.

And then there was today.

A reminder pinned to his mental calendar, a day he’d broken down and just completely failed someone he was supposed to care about. The last time he’d spoken that someone, someone he’d never see again, and one of the few moments he’d ever really regretted in his time in Luceti.

And of course, that had to be the day the Malnosso fulfilled his mission point request for a house expansion. A little bit of cruel irony that he’d expanded the house to better accommodate the influx of people into a home that felt somehow…emptier…than it should have. The second floor was lovely and put together precisely how he’d requested, but somehow stained for him. So, rather than face that chasmal emptiness he gathered up a few things and just left. Enough was enough, and there was only so much tension and emotional turmoil that a single man could take, even with the Force to aid one’s mind.

Luke strides the through the village with a purpose, Artoo rolling along behind him and whistling solemnly, the empathetic little guy the only person with any real inkling of what was running through his head. His first stop is the clinic, where he carries out his early shift with mechanical precision, but once that’s over he silently takes his leave, slipping out the back with the droid. Next, an hour or so in the Battle Dome running through a series of gymnastic exercises, and then he heads to by both the item shop and the flower shop. From the item shop, he picks up a fishing pole, and the flower shop a single winter jasmine and a sprig of wolfsbane. Finally, he’ll end this trip on Cherry Blossom Hill, planting those flowers.

After that, Luke heads straight for the teleporter, and to a place where he’d always liked to go and think: the beach. Sitting in the shade of a tree, he writes out a few notes, though he tosses most of them away before sending out three. After doing that, he lays out under a tree with only his droid and a small, glowing box for company, losing himself in conversation with the two machines.]



Written, Private to Red (Gameverse)

Red,

I’m going to be a bit preoccupied for the next few days, I was wondering if I could count on you to look after Hamal for me.

Luke





Written, Private to Obi-Wan Kenobi

Ben,

I’ll be away for the next few days. I need to get a little space from the house. I haven’t been kidnapped if anyone asks, I’m just out at the beach, fishing. If you need me, I’ll be out by the fort with Artoo.





Written, Private to Spock

Spock,

I’m sorry to bother you, but could you meet me down by the beach sometime in the next few days? I have a question for you and I’m not entirely comfortable asking about it over the journal.




[OOC: Luke will be out and about, and down at the Beach for the next few days, if anyone needs him or cares to run into him. Sorry for the lack of a more general message.]

Comments

[geniustheveil]

[She can agree about Anakin in a way she's never been able to feel about herself, and she nods.]

I haven't spoken with him very much yet this time, but I remember meeting him before.

[thefinaljedi]

[He nods again.]

The Hero with No Fear. Someone who did everything right...until he was pushed the wrong way.

[Luke sighs, squeezing her hand a bit.]

He's...not been home in weeks. We had a bit of an argument last week. Before he was kidnapped.

[geniustheveil]

[Luke if there's one thing the senshi - Ami's senshi - and Ami know, it's how important it is not to let someone drift away and stay away. She becomes a little more alert once it's mentioned.]

Do you know where he is?

[thefinaljedi]

He's been staying on the farm, taking care of the droids and Hamal. But he's not in the enclosure at the moment. I...felt the struggle when the Rogue Malnosso's droids took him.

[geniustheveil]

[That, at least, is reassuring to her private fears, which are really fears about herself. She puts them aside; the one troubled and in pain is Luke - and Anakin.]

Maybe he just needs that time, to calm himself.

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke again shakes his head.]

No. He won't return until Leia accepts him as a part of her family. Which she won't do.

[He knows better than that.]

But that...isn't really the bantha in the room.

[geniustheveil]

[She can understand. She had left when she thought there was no place for her as part of the senshi, too. Still, Anakin needs to be with family. Family is important.

Luke's next words draw a different question.]

Then, what is it?

[thefinaljedi]

[He squeezes her hand slightly again, and looks up at the sky for a long moment, his steps slowing.]

It's the date. It's been a year since...the invasion. Do...you remember that?

[geniustheveil]

[Several; but of course naming today as an anniversary tells her which, and for a moment she's silent, although she nods.]

I remember it. [That's all she says at first.]

[thefinaljedi]

Do you ever...get flashes of memory? From that false life?

[Because he does, sometimes.]

[geniustheveil]

[There's another noticeable hesitation, but after a second, another nod.]

I remember... parts of it, like impressions and feelings, almost.

[thefinaljedi]

Do you...remember Arya?

[geniustheveil]

[Oh, she remembers. She says it precisely, something she's always wanted that she believed she had, just for that brief time:]

Our daughter.

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke nods tiredly. This was what was really on his mind.]

Did you ever reconcile with her, afterwards? Talk to her?

[geniustheveil]

Not like I should. [It was too difficult. Oh, for the sake of the relationship from that time, she tried a little... but how long has it been now since they've spoken or spent time together, she and Arya?]

[thefinaljedi]

Me either.

[Luke slides an arm around Ami, pulling her in close. It really...wasn't right, and for all of the family issues to coincide with the anniversary of this?]

She's been gone for almost a year. But we never managed to reconcile. She...deserved better than I gave her. I never really was able to talk to her, after all that.

[geniustheveil]

[Lightly, Ami rests her head against Luke's side and shoulder. If she were being fully honest, it occurs to her that Arya could have contacted them - her - too; and that she didn't. But mostly, Ami regrets not making the effort herself.]

If something like that happens again, I don't want to have regrets afterward. [In other words, next time she wants to follow through.]

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke, though, knows why Arya didn't. Why she couldn't. Not really. The Stark family was either dead or dying, as far as she'd told him. Luke and Ami both had been a reminder of loss. Twice over...]

I...yeah. I feel the same way. Just...I hope nobody else has to deal with that. Or with the insanity that is my family.

[geniustheveil]

I think every family has its own troubles. [Even hers. She and Mama may be very close, but there are things that were small sources of strain between them. Usagi-chan, too; she remembers Usagi and her mother as very affectionate, but there were quarrels and arguing, too.]

[thefinaljedi]

As bad as mine? [He huffs a self-deprecating laugh.]

[geniustheveil]

Well... [She wants to say something positive, but it really can't be denied that the problems in the Skywalker family...

... may even surpass the difficulties among the senshi.

After a moment, she finds her positive spin.]

But I think you do all love each other. [And that covers a multitude of flaws.]

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke laughs a little mirthlessly, a pained sound as much as anything.]

Are you forgetting Leia and Anakin? The rest of us, certainly...but that...is a wound I'm not sure will ever heal.

[geniustheveil]

[She hasn't forgotten. There are painful loves, too.]

I haven't forgotten. But she's also his daughter, and he's also her father.

[thefinaljedi]

Not...if you ask her. Bail Organa was the father she knew. Anakin will always be the person who destroyed her homeworld.

[And really he can't fault her for being upset about that. He's still upset about that.]

[geniustheveil]

[And Usagi-chan is the one who destroyed Ami's. It isn't that she doesn't understand that pain, even more than she'd like to. It's that there still has to be love and forgiveness.

Or, well, you become Vader.
Or the Dark Kingdom's Mercury.]

I understand how she must feel; but that's also why it's so important. There's still a chance to change that future.