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[ezra_of_lothal]

"I'm Ezra Bridger and this is my communicator thing. Leave a message!"

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[TEXT | UN: JustLuke]

[ezra_of_lothal]

Sure. Go for it. I guess I can't swear to be judgement free, but I do try not to judge.

[faithfulson]

Oh no, like I said, you’re free to judge me. I kind of expect it.

So I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I care about Airy. A lot.

[ezra_of_lothal]

I noticed. I care about her, too.

As a friend.

[Just clarifying there, to cut down on confusion. Maybe that's what Luke wants to know, the friend part?]

[faithfulson]

[ Luke wasn’t going to question it; he wasn’t the jealous type, and wouldn’t have immediately jumped to assuming they were competing for Airy’s feelings. ]

I met her when I first came here, and we hit it off right away, even though my father was harassing her just because she looked like my mother. At the time, I thought she just RESEMBLED my mother.

Now that my mother is here, you can understand why I’m conflicted now.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He thinks about it for a minute. There are a few directions he could go with this.]


Have you met any of the troopers from the Clone Wars?

[faithfulson]

Not to my knowledge, though I think Han mentioned one of our Pathfinders on the Endor mission was one. I had other things on my mind at the moment, so I can’t say for sure.

Why?

[ezra_of_lothal]

I've known several of them for years - Rex the best. I'm honestly sorry to hear you haven't met him, in particular. He was a captain in your father's battalion. I learned a lot about being an officer from him.

My point is, while there's a lot of complicated stuff to talk about with that war, the troopers I've met remembered serving under the Jedi fondly. I think part of that is because the Jedi could tell them apart in the Force, and bothered to get to know them as individuals.

[faithfulson]

[ Luke’s reply takes a moment, mostly because he’s having trouble articulating it. ]

I appreciate the comparison, and I know the two of them are different. That’s not really what I’m worried about, though.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Ok. What are you worried about, then?

[faithfulson]

[ Again, there was a long moment before Luke’s response came. ]

I guess I should start this by asking what you know about Leia.

[ezra_of_lothal]

I know she's your twin.

I just want to make sure what I think I know lines up with your experiences. There may be dominant timelines, but Time can ABSOLUTELY split, for lack of a better word.

Leia Organa, princess of Alderaan, right? Neither of you knew the other existed, most of your life?

[faithfulson]

Yes, that’s it. And well. The fact that we were separated and then reunited led to some problems.

I think part of me knew that she was my sister, through the Force. But I misinterpreted the feeling of being reunited as something else.

[ezra_of_lothal]

[It takes him a second, but it clicks.]

Affinities in the Force can be confusing like that. I instantly felt like I had a crush on Sabine.

She's not my genetic sister. Informal foster sister, since Kanan and Hera took us both in as teenagers. But she's still my sister. It just took me a while to get that was the right shape for the connection I felt.

[faithfulson]

So you can understand why I hesitate when it comes to this relationship. I saw my sister and thought I was in love, when really it was familial love. Is something similar happening here? Am I just reacting to Airy’s physical appearance, rather than the fact she’s a very different person?

I’ve had way too much time to think on this.

[ezra_of_lothal]

I get it. I haven't really tried to date, at all, so there may only be so much helpful that I can say here.

I'm sure you've gotten variations of the 'be mindful of your feelings' talk from Ben and Yoda. I do think this sort of thing is part of why we, as Force sensitives, have to be extra careful. We feel a connection. It's easy to rush ahead on that feeling.

But at some point, we do have to do the slower, harder work of relationship building, too. Whatever sort of relationship.

[faithfulson]

Yes, I know, though I can’t tell you how strange it was to hear it boiled down to just “no attachment”. No wonder people have trouble understanding how the Jedi are. We celebrate the existence of a thing, and honor it’s passing, but then let go, because all things are united in the Force, even that which has passed on.

Taking it slower, though. That might be a good idea. It would help me make certain my feelings are genuine, and not a reaction to the Force trying to make a connection to a past I can’t remember.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Sounds like the beginning of a plan, then.

On 'no attachment'. Honestly? I think the position of the Jedi Order of political neutrality under the Republic, that the Order was traditionally communal in nature, and the Force/philosophy stuff got muddied, at some point. Maybe even for some Jedi.

Here, the politics of our home galaxy matter only in the abstract and as much as we let it, and traditions have to be adapted, at best. That mostly leaves being in balance with your own emotions, and that's going to look different, for each person.

[faithfulson]

[ Luke let out a sigh before he responded. ]

I can’t even begin to guess where things went wrong with the Jedi Order, politically or philosophy or something else. All we can do from here is learn from what remains.

But you’re right; we’re not going to find the same issues here as we do back home. There is a different sort of balance here, not just with our emotions, but to settle that which we hold onto. I’ve seen that with my father, who clings to the guilt of the man he will become, and Maul with the guilt of the man he was raised to be.

[ezra_of_lothal]

That's a pretty apt summary of why I find talking to both of them pretty frustrating.

I also find myself wierdly more worried about Obi-wan here and now then I was the older version I spent a lot of the last year with. I get the impression a lot of his time and energy here has been eaten up with damage control.

[faithfulson]

Don't tell them, but I feel the same. Sometimes I just want to grab my father and dump all the memories I have of Vader into his head and hope that would be enough to turn him around, but I know that would be the worst thing to do.

And I really need to talk with Ben. He's taking on way too much, and I need to make sure he knows he's not the only one here to DEAL with everything.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Yeah, I try not to let many details about my own memories or what I know second hand about either of them slip. The bad stuff, at least. Laying it all out for Maul the last time he went on a revenge rant on the network was tempting.

Since Anakin has kind of disappeared to wherever he is around Trench, I've moved in with Obi-wan. He offered to let me move in when I got here, but I didn't think Anakin would take it well. Sort of moot, now.

So I'm doing my best not let Obi-wan be physically alone. And I don't think he's intentionally shutting me out, otherwise, so that's something.

But you talking to him might be a big help, too.

[faithfulson]

I didn’t know my father wandered off. That’s worrying.

[ Understatement of the century; he was going to have to go looking for him at some point. The last time they talked… well, it had been a lot. Being Vader, even briefly, had taken a lot out of him. ]

I’ll reach for him later. I’ll make sure he knows there are people here that love and care for him. I’ll make sure Ben knows that too.

[ezra_of_lothal]

Good. Thank you.

I'm worried about Anakin, too, but I'm 100% sure he'd take a check in from you better than he would from me.

[faithfulson]

Well, sometimes. Our relationship here is a work in progress, to put it mildly.

[ Dealing with a younger version of his father was... so much to deal with. Mostly because he just didn't know how to deal with him, and just how different he was from the version of his father he already knew. ]

I'll try my best to get through to him, regardless.

[ezra_of_lothal]

But he accepts that you're his son, right? You're family to him. Hopefully that counts for something.

Pretty sure he sees me as an interloper with questionable motives.