[closed;] i wouldn't kill to win a war

[ex_forcechoke292]

Who: Anakin Skywalker (forcechoke) & Kylo Ren (outer_space)
When: 5/27; morning.
Where: Outside/MERO #010
What: Skywalker family drama.
Warnings: See above.



[In a move curious for Anakin Skywalker, he waits. It is with an abundance of information he's slow to put together, and unsure he's done all of it right (for all of the non-alarmed reaction it had received the first time), but he's sure this is a piece of it.

After speaking (demanding information from) to Obi-Wan, he has a name, he has a place, and a vague recollection of a face. More importantly, he has a question too. That is the piece that has him lying in wait, wrapped up as he is in uncharacteristic anxiety. The idea of this mask still leaves him nauseous, more frightened than he wants to admit to himself is possible, and it leaves Anakin Skywalker just a step away from hand-wringing.

A few mornings later, when he can't take anxiety of waiting on top of the possibility of...he's not even sure, he seeks the name out on the network, and puts that to a place. He can't trust his instincts in this; his instincts say to run, to leave this alone, just as they had the first time. This continues to come up, and it's not something to be forcibly ignored any longer. But even try as he might to disregard that bad feeling when it comes up, every closer step he takes settles it right in his throat.

At least he knows he's not wrong about one thing.

He hammers on the door a few times; just enough for Ren to understand it's a knock and not some errant accident. His roommates be damned. Would a man like this even suffer them?]

Kylo Ren. We need to talk.

[Muffled as it might be through the door, he knows he'll hear it.]

Comments

[outer_space]

[ On the other side of the door Kylo Ren dips into the Force, senses apprehension coiled tight. Nothing of Han Solo, or Leia.

The door opens. ] You need to talk. [ He cants his head, examining the play of emotions on Anakin Skywalker's face with unflinching curiosity.

He'd needed to talk months ago. The time for that has passed. ] Come in. [ The invitation is civil.

Kylo turns back to the room, all rounded edges and soothing colors. He gestures carelessly at the lone chair, stationed in front of a battered desk. ] Do Jedi sit?

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It seems such a contradiction, this room and Kylo Ren. One he should expect, given how often he's bothered Kenobi in his own just down the hall, but it's mentally remarked upon on all the same. In fact, it's the idea that this has been lying in wait just down the hall since that first month, and he'd thought nothing of it.

(But this wouldn't be the first time his blind spots and willful ignorance have been of serious detriment. This is an oversight of his own doing, no one else's.)

Anakin shrugs and leans against the desk instead, half-standing, still on guard. This could end up the most civil conversation of his life--which he somehow doubts, considering the question he harbors--and he still wouldn't feel right letting himself get "comfortable."]

I'm fine, thank you.

[Civility is given back in kind, though it's tense, strained, and not quite trusting. He doesn't even touch the "Jedi" part of this: he assumes he knows what Ren is, but at the very least, the intonation of that single word speaks volumes to he isn't.

An altercation, Obi-Wan had said. That too said plenty.

His arms cross slowly, a languid motion as he takes his time in scrutinizing the shape of this other man. His build, stature, posture, motions, all of it. It's either that, or potentially face the business-end of a lightsaber. He knows what he prefers.

Is he supposed to talk first? This is so out of his element, approaching this with caution and all the airs of diplomacy, but he supposes Ren has made it rather clear that he understands there's no real "we" in this. Not equally, anyway.]

I heard you recently came into possession of an... [No accusations, Skywalker, not yet.] artifact. Tell me what you know of it.

[outer_space]

[ Kylo settles against one of the dressers. He's matter of fact in his bearing, accustomed to inflicting himself on his surroundings, but there's a brittleness underlying his movements.

A week ago he would have been eager to share, would have seen this as the culmination of his training, the reward for his devotion. Now, all he can think is: this man could have found him easily, at any time. He waited until he wanted something.

Kylo Ren inclines his head in the barest of nods. ] It's in this room. [ His gaze doesn't stray from Anakin—he's volunteered the information to watch what the other man does with it. He allows the moment to drag out before he shifts against the dresser, speaks again. ]

You're nervous. [ “Frightened” would be more accurate; it would also be deeply disrespectful. The stirrings of wonder in his voice: ] Why?

[ex_forcechoke292]

Cautious. [A soft, but firm correction. In Obi-Wan's face, a statement of this kind could have been full of petulant whining, a tone far more exasperated than it is here. It's a question of semantics, one he doesn't like pointed out when this other man has, and has had for some time now, the upper hand here, both in knowledge and preparation.

The hill Anakin Skywalker dies on is not going to be one where his eulogy is given as "threw a fit like a child."]

If you know what it is, I think you know why.

[Because it's evil.]

[outer_space]

[ A thrill of fear. He'd never have thought he'd see his grandfather reduced like this, reduced to this. With a child's surliness and a parent's weary disappointment: ] Caution doesn't suit you.

[ He shoves off from the dresser, obliterates in quick strides the scant distance between them. Anakin's betrayed no interest in the helmet's whereabouts—Kylo's satisfied it's information he's after. ] You can ask anything. [ He meets, then searches, the other man's eyes. ] But I don't lie.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Even scared, as true as Kylo's assumption had been, Anakin doesn't flinch at the sudden change in proximity. If this to be about posturing, so be it. On the surface, all it earns is a scowl.]

What do you want it for?

[The helmet's physical presence is tangential. It informs the question, the threat of it heightens the urgency, it confirms far too many things he still doesn't understand. Beyond this, frankly, Anakin wants nothing to do with it. He could go his whole life never seeing it again, certainly not touching it. But he can't ignore it.]

Are you Vader?

[He almost hopes that's right, and not the small fact he'd passed aside and ignored for too long. A ridiculous "fact" that feels more and more real the more he considers it. The future is staring you in the face, hadn't he said so?]

[outer_space]

[ His heart picks up, beats urgently. The question throbs in his chest. The air in the room, this banal affair of durasteel and dust, warms as if feeding some unseen fire. He's exultant; he's dismayed that the Force could accommodate so monstrous an error.

(Kylo Ren has dreamed himself into Vader's armor, dreamed of grazing the dark lord's power, but he has never dreamed with the intensity necessary to become him.)

He doesn't contemplate yes. The most he can seize for himself is another moment of uncertainty. ]

No. [ Saying it, Kylo Ren feels himself diminish. He looks over the man before him, learning him by heart: the scar at his eye, the gloved hand, the lines the scowl has deepened in face. ] I'm your legacy.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It's not an answer to a question he's asked aloud; it's almost as if Ren can hear him playing out the consideration in his head, giving him solutions and clarifications he doesn't want. The ones he isn't asking for, and should have faced long before now.

I'm your legacy he says, so certainly. He's been taught over and over again by the Order, by Obi-Wan specifically, not to trust these revelations when he can't trust someone's actions, but then...Dooku had been telling the truth the whole time too. Over and over again, with constant warning. It hardly explains his own intentions, and Anakin isn't sure he wants to know that either.

But is believing this really so ridiculous?

Paired together with that first thing he'd heard, the part he hasn't wanted to accept, the part he brushed aside (a different legacy, one of willful ignorance rears its ugly head once again), it isn't difficult to put together what he means by that. Which leaves him with a question that forgets "Darth Vader" entirely.]

Some legacy that is. How?

[Whose lost child are you, Kylo Ren? Who are you?]

[outer_space]

[ Kylo stares at him, dumbfounded. That the Jedi are blind, that theirs is an order founded on the scrupulous avoidance of certain stark truths, he knows. He'd assumed his grandfather would be different. Slowly, emphasizing every syllable: ] You're not listening.

[ He breaks away from Anakin to pace the room, shoulders hunched, thoughts frenzied. He thinks of freeing the mask from its hiding place, repeating himself with Vader's eyeless gaze boring into the other man.

But no. If the man can remain oblivious to the workings of the Force, no amount of logic or passion will persuade him. Kylo stops, abruptly, and turns. ] Why did you come here? After months? [ The word quivers with emotion. ] It obviously wasn't for answers, since you're intent on ignoring them.

[ex_forcechoke292]

It wasn't for clear answers apparently.

[He falls back on sarcasm. That makes this a little easier to swallow around. Truth or no, kept promise or no, these aren't answers that go together, and the insistence on changing the subject looks willfully avoidant.

Anakin thinks about leaving. He considers heaving a great sigh, declaring this as useless as it feels, but this is tantamount to admitting defeat.

The darkness he'd felt once creeps in again now, muted and distant and clouded. There's no clarity in the intent or meaning, and none in Ren's either.]

The thing behind that mask is responsible for killing everyone I know. I've seen too many people die this week to care about "legacy."

[Family is supposed to be unconditional, Skywalker. Why does this suddenly come with cavats?]

So, what is this? A hobby? Does it do something? Is this some Sith apprenticeship thing?

[outer_space]

You're Vader. [ He snaps, in more ways than one. Interrupting whatever question Anakin's asking.

It's said with neither malice nor adulation. Not to wound or provoke or inspire.

He says it to be clear.

Not that it matters—the man will doubtless contrive some reason to dismiss it. ] Now leave.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[Anakin stares at him for a moment, mind trying to process this, before he...simply fails to. It doesn't compute at all. What should be gasping indignation or a screamed "THAT'S NOT TRUE, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" (though certainly thought), only comes out as a scoff.

He doesn't believe a word of it. There's no lie to sense, perhaps, just desperation, frustration, and they seem to share both. There's nothing here to prove it either.]

Right. [As if that isn't the most contrived and lacking attempt at explaining away something forbidden--or something that should be.] And gladly. Waste of time anyway.

[He doesn't want to stay here; this had been just as useless as he thought, but at least, in this, there's no loss. The only victory that had been passed to Kylo Ren, it seems, is a pointless passage of time. He pushes away from the desk and crosses the room quickly, only pausing at the door long enough to glare.]

But so we're clear - you touch Kenobi again, I will find you, and you will regret it.