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Oh. [ He nonchalantly crush the escaping snack under the heel of his hand. ] Thanks. These things are such a hassle... But pretty good. [ He offers the bag to Vima. ]

Anyway, our military efforts are funded by the Republic. A send a lot of bills to the Republic.

[Vima selects one... carefully... and peers at it.]

And here I thought I was an experienced interstellar adventurer. Is this some kind of moving plant, or a fungus?

[She pulls a face over the talk of bills. War is expensive in every way.]

Must be tough for everyone--I bet they have to pull money out of all the social necessities to keep the war funded.

[ Anakin also peers at small thing, all spiced and delicious, turning it over between his thumb and finger. ]

I think it's some kind of dried bug.

[ A mysterious origin which apparently he doesn't care about because he pops another one in his mouth nonchalantly. Crunchy. He chews a lot longer than he needs to. ]

We all had to make sacrifices. The Republic took loans against the Banking Clan, countless clones were created, and the Jedi knighted some Padawans earlier than they should have.

I don't think it's dried all the way. [Vima likes to consider herself an adventurous individual, but she's not sure about something that's still moving... since she's already holding it, she pops it into her mouth... it's not bad, but...] I'm just gonna keep looking for bofa treats.

[Hmm... it sounds like the Republic of the future is bigger than the one she lived in. More complex. Messier. She doesn't remember any Banking Clan, for instance.]

Were you one of them?

[ He's a bit surprised at the question. Did he look too young or something? Biting back a petulant "no", he floats a snack in the air and into his mouth. ]

That's not a question for me to answer, is it? But in my opinion, I didn't think I was. I had passed my trials already. It just happen to coincide with the beginning of a galactic war.

Edited (icon) 2016-03-09 05:11 (UTC)

[Hah, show-off. Evidently future Jedi are also prone to playing with the Force.]

I meant age-wise, not maturity. So you were one of the last Jedi to be trained before war broke out, huh.

[The inverse of her own situation.]

[ How could they not. Though, Obi-Wan would make a fuss about it, if he were still his padawan. Anakin shifts and leans his elbows on his knees ]

My answer is the same. And it's not really about age, is it. [ He thinks about her last statement for a moment. ] I wasn't. A lot of my age-mates didn't make it to knighthood. I was one of the lucky ones.

[ If he's honest, luck has nothing to do with it. He is better. He survived for that long, so he is better. ]

[Yeah, Vima can't criticize. POTS AND KETTLES.]

[One of the lucky ones... didn't make it? Vima's eyes widen. In other words, a lot of his fellow apprentices died before their training was complete.]

...That's pretty rough. [...] I suppose a lot of Knights and Masters didn't make it, either.

[ He stares at her for a moment then nods. ]

Like I said, I was one of the lucky ones. But there are still many Jedi who still serve the Republic, and many more are out there in the galaxy, doing our job as peacekeepers.

[ And they will all die. He looks down at his hands, at the little snack trying to escape again and he lets it this time. ]

[She watches as he watches the next bug escape. She wonders what he's thinking. She knows, now, what happens to the Jedi in four thousand years. She's been talking about that to her mother, and Obi-Wan.]

...Peace is the most important thing for a Jedi to achieve, but also the most difficult.

[ He says firmly, almost to himself. ]

It shouldn't be.

[ A Force pull puts the snack back in his hand. ]

Anyway. Your mother's here. That must be nice.

It's pretty strange--what with her being from ten years ago and all. The last she knew, I was four.

But it is nice, you're right. I did miss her. And I missed being from the present instead of the ancient holocron past, too.

[ He chuckles almost sheepishly, dipping his head a moment. ]

Sorry, I didn't realize that might make things difficult for you. We are ... still Jedi, the both of us.

[ He says it with some uncertainty. The thought of his own mother lingers in the back of his mind. ]

Well, you can't help from being from so far into the future that me and everyone I know are just historical footnotes at best.

[It's joking, but if it feels like there's an undercurrent of something like pique, well, that wouldn't be inaccurate. It's not at all their fault, and she knows it, but the feeling of being unincluded hits her on a visceral level.

Still, she doesn't miss the note of uncertainty in his own voice.]

You don't sound a hundred percent sure about that.

[ He offers a small smile and a steady look. ] Well, you aren't a footnote to me anymore. You and your mother.

[ He's not sure if that helps; comforting people isn't ... doesn't feel like it's been his strong suit for ages. Even if he was good at it as a kid, doing everything he can.

He paused at her questioning tone, hesitating to answer with the honesty he feels like Vima deserve, especially after saying what he did. He starts quickly: ]

That's because I'm not. Being a Jedi -- it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. It hasn't for some time now.

I'm glad. Wouldn't want anyone to think I'm just a holocron projection.

[It does help--truthfully she has been feeling less weird around the Future People, she just has a tendency to feel neglected if there's even the slightest interpretation for that being the case.

Of course, the Future People's forthcoming-slash-past disaster is still a matter of great concern to her.]

What did you think being a Jedi means, and what's changed?

[She's got some reasonable guesses, but it's always good to hear other people's own words.]

Edited 2016-03-20 04:39 (UTC)

[ He tilts his head and considers how to answer that question honestly for a moment.

He asks instead: ]

What do you think it means?

Answering a question with a question.

[no, okay, she'll be serious.]

When I was little, and before I went to Ulic, I thought it meant being a hero. Fighting dark Force users and adventures on different planets. But of course you know it's not that simple.

It's what you do when you're on the precipice. The choices you make when it looks like you have none left. Do you jump? Do you lash out? Or maybe, you decide not to fight.

Knowing what to do then is what it means to be a Jedi.

[ He hums an agreement. Her version is a lot deeper than his, that's for sure. ]

When I was little, I thought being a Jedi was to help people who needs it the most. It meant being able to do something about the injustice in the galaxy. You stand, you jump, you lash out for a cause that'll be worth it in the end. Because you know those people are worth it.

[ He falls quiet for a moment, only a sigh escapes him ]

I feel like this war has revealed too much about the truer nature of the Order I grew up in.

War tends to strip everything raw. You see what people are really capable of, for good and ill.

[She takes a seat on the floor, crosslegged.]

The nature of things like... what happened to Ahsoka, and more?

[ He nods quietly. There's a quick flash of anger and bitterness when Ahsoka is mentioned, enough in the Force to be palpable and for his jaw to set. ]

It's complicated. War is complicated. It would be easier if we weren't Jedi, in some cases.

Yeah... yeah it would, sometimes. [Automatically, her mind goes back to Ulic.] The Force helps--it can do a lot. But it's easy to follow the wrong path without realizing it, because it seems like the quickest way to victory.

We can't always afford the time to think about that in war. The quickest way to victory is the only way to save more lives, more planets would be saved.

[...yeah, there's the idea that he's like young Ulic surfacing again.]

Really? [Was condemning Ahsoka the quickest way, she wonders.] It can seem that way, but the shortcuts can end up costing you the most if you don't pay attention to what you're cutting through.

[ A faint smirk ] Not if you do it right.

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tobeajedi - 2016-04-04 01:47 (UTC) - Expand