thisavrou_log | august overflow log

[continued from here]

[It doesn't go unnoticed, that look that flashes across his face and while her lips purse for a moment, she gives a gentle squeeze on his arm. Is it what she has done in the past? No, but there is no Senate here and those that know of Naboo are limited. There is no point to represent a planet where she is the only actual citizen represented. No, if anything that has been told is true, they will need to work together.

She draws them to a pause again, her eyes searching his, wondering where and why this is coming. That hand remains gentle on his sleeve as she steps in close.]

It's not that different from being a Senator, Anakin. It is about listening.

[And there has been plenty of breakdown in communication. The war represents that failure. So many failures.]

And voluntary, I should hope, or I would reject the duties.

I'm not sure I'd call press ganging voluntary. [There's a small grimace there: it could be worse, he knows it could be, he's lived it now twice over and some change. They have slavery in this galaxy too; this isn't quite that. Not quite, but sometimes it feels just as hopeless. He sighs as he pauses with her.] It just feels wrong. All of it. Not...not you.

[She nods gently, understanding, and while there is a part of her that feels that way, there is a part of Padmé that also acknowledges that she is being greedy and selfish. Without this place, she wouldn't be. She wouldn't have the ability to see her husband as he now is, not taken to the dark side there only a small flicker of light remains.]

I know, Ani. I do.

[She moves, to cup his cheek again for a moment, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath her palm.]

One day at a time. Together.

[They'll never make it anywhere at this pace, but he finds with every stop that he cares less. This matters. They do. These redefinitions and reinforcements that move them both farther and farther way from their fears (that may as well be one shared, universal concern).

It becomes harder to dislike this situation, however dubious his consent to it may be, when (aside from the worst of it, the parts that still leave him shaken) it keeps giving him things like this: these second chances he doesn't deserve and is offered the grace of nevertheless.

Anakin's eyes slip closed for a moment, taking this feeling in, this warmth, and memorizing it so he can't ever forget. Padmé's touches have always lingered, and he carries the ghost of that warmth in her absence like a haunting, but it's so much different when remembered for what it is.]

I would have it no other way.

[~~He has, of course, but if he'd had a choice...~~]

[Padmé, for once, truly doesn't care. While she knows time isn't meaningless, there is a quality about it that still hasn't quite settled in. Like those moments before waking when one is weightless, neither here nor there, but somewhere between.

Both her hands are there, seeking to cradle his face again, as if she can never get enough of being able to do that again. The darker truth is there, that she never will outside the reality of this universe. But she means every word that she says and has said. Together. Together. There is no other she could love like she loves him.]

I'll hold you to that, Anakin Skywalker.

[And she will, with gentle patience and love. Love is not weakness. Love is strength.]

august overflow log

@anakin

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