meanwhile, on the ss babysitting duty

[resnipstance]

Who: Ahsoka Tano, you
Broadcast: Video
Action: OUT AND ABOOT
When: 31st

ACTION
[Ahsoka is wandering around outside with her usual air filtration mask on, but something is different-- obviously different. This isn't the sixteen-maybe-seventeen year old girl of yesterday. This is a pre-teen. And she seems lost.]

... Skyguy? ... Master Kenobi? I know you guys are around! You can come out now...! "Prank the padawan" isn't funny any more...

[She shudders.] This planet is giving me the creeps.

VIDEO
[The video is simple: a young, familiar alien graces the screen, except... something's off. Way off. It's not just that her clothes are different-- she's shorter, horns smaller, too. When she talks, her voice is more high pitched, and the cadence different too. Less... calm.]



Hey! Is everyone just okay with the fact that we can't go outside without air filters?! What sort of condition is this for people to live in? What's being done to help the local inhabitants? Or move them off-world?

I need to speak to the person or people in charge! Immediately.

Comments

[beardstrokes]

None taken.

But it's not a joke. I think something happened to your augment. What's the last thing you remember?

[resnipstance]

What's the last thing I remember? [She gives him another look, one that clearly says she thinks he's losing it.]

Um. Well. We just received another deployment... before that, I just got back from assisting Senator Amidala on Alderaan.

[beardstrokes]

[ Obi-Wan briefly racks his brain. ]

The one with Aurra Sing?

[resnipstance]

That's right! Boy, she is going to be in prison a long time.

[beardstrokes]

[ ho boy. ]

I wish that were the case. Ahsoka, for . . . Anakin and myself, it's been two years.

[resnipstance]

What, did I fall through a black hole? I'm pretty sure I'd notice if I were missing two years!

[beardstrokes]

Look at me carefully then - and trust your instincts. What do they say?

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka does look at him, then.

Honestly, it's hard to tell the difference between two years on someone already full grown as Obi-Wan is, but she listens to the Force.

There is something different about him-- even if it's not physical. And then there's her bond with Anakin. It feels... strange. Strained, even.]

I... [you can see the truth dawning in her eyes, but it's one thing to know it, and another to accept it.]

I don't understand.

[beardstrokes]

I know, Ahsoka. And I'll explain it to the best of my ability. It won't make sense.

But it will be the truth.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka takes a deep breath then, calming herself, before nodding.]

Then I'd better do my best to listen.

[beardstrokes]

[ A smile flits by briefly. ]

Excellent.

Now, Anakin, Padme and myself, not to mention your older self have been captured by the Atroma and had implants inserted in our minds without our consent. I assume the implant malfunctioned in some way, regressing you back to your younger self.

[ And he doesn't want to think about how well Anakin would take this. ]

For now, we have to stay with the Fleet. Escape isn't an option available to us -- [ And he raises a hand to forestall Ahsoka's inevitable protest. ] -- at least not yet. We're working on it.

[resnipstance]

But-- how is that even possible?

[She frowns, making another effort to calm herself. The "how" isn't as important as the fact that it is.]

Okay. So I've... time travelled? Or something.

[beardstrokes]

I suppose you could call it that. The implant tends to behave oddly at times. People go into comas and recall information from their worlds and so forth. It doesn't surprise me that it can do . . . this.

[ This, of course, is still a clusterfuck. ]

[resnipstance]

Okay...

[Just roll with it. Just roll with it...]

Sooooooooo... if you're from the future... can you tell me stuff that's gonna happen?

[beardstrokes]

That is not going to happen.

[resnipstance]

What! But that's not fair!

... Not even how tall I am?

[... Some things never change.]

[beardstrokes]

I think I'm being quite fair, actually.

[ He makes a show of pretending to think hard. ] Well. You do get taller.

[resnipstance]

[That seems to cheer her up.]

Taller than you?

[beardstrokes]

Not yet, Ahsoka. Not yet.

[resnipstance]

Awwww. Well, can't blame a girl for trying.

[beardstrokes]

I suppose I can't. But you do an admirable job of catching up.

[resnipstance]

[That perks Ahsoka up even more.]

That's me! Captain Admirable.

[After a beat:]

Soooo. What's the escape plan, Master Kenobi?

[beardstrokes]

[ Smoothly. ]

Still in the works, Ahsoka. And considering we're being watched for the sake of some holodrama, it's best not to say in public.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's eyes narrow to form her typical judging expression-- not Obi-Wan, though. Never Obi-Wan.]

Oh, we'll give them something to watch.

[She has no doubts even for a second about their ability to get out of this. They always do.]

[beardstrokes]

Let's not and say we did.

[ Especially right now, when she's so young. ]