milliways_bar | (no subject)

(no subject)

[ hauntyholidays ]

Anakin Solo glances around as his Jedi Academy room turns into Milliways.

Outwardly, he pauses and stares at Bar. (Inwardly, he expresses an emotion approaching "relief".) After a second, he limps towards the counter.

"Bar," he begins, then winces and stops. Something, or maybe someone, is interrupting.

My son, says the voice. But it's not Leia or Han. Anakin waves a frustrated hand as he clambers up on a stool; he's had to put up with voices in the past.

This is more persistent than most, though.

Grandson, it corrects, as Anakin orders a Blue Fizz from Bar.

He grips the glass almost tightly enough to break it.

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Cassian hasn't seen Anakin since Kay comes in and he looks up from his datapad as he notices how tense the boy is, "Anakin, hello."

Today he's in his captain's jacket as he's planning his next moves with some new intel and processing some rumors. After the thing out back, he's gone deeper into his work.

Anakin breathes in, slowly, then out, slowly.

It might be a Jedi breathing technique, or a regular anxiety technique. The result is the same: he feels slightly more equipped to speak to other people. Especially since he already recognises Cassian.

"Hi, Mister-- um, Cassian."

(No ghost voices. Good.)

That kind of breathing is both a good and bad sign, Anakin's deal with scary things before and knows how to deal with them, "I didn't mean to bother you if you'd do better without company."

Anakin shakes his head, and smiles softly. "No, it's okay. I just thought I heard-- well, it doesn't matter.

"I need to get used to being around people again," he adds, glancing around at the other patrons. "I'm going home tomorrow."

Cassian nods as he orders a caf, "Strange things happen in Milliways, its hard to know what to trust. Are you looking forward to going home?"

"Yes," Anakin says quickly-- then he bites his lip.

He's happy to be going home. He'll see his siblings again, at least for a few weeks before they go to their own Jedi Academy sessions. And he'll be around his droids and computers and, hopefully, a bunch of electronics Jacen rescued from Coruscant's junk yards.

But his new best friend Tahiri doesn't have a home to go to. Certainly not now.

"...I wonder-- do you think I could use Milliways as a portal between my school and home?"

(No, of course not. Almost as soon as he asks the question, a breathy voice laughs.)

"I think you could if you can find a reliable door. I've never tried using it to go from one place to another, but it seems like it might be possible,"

He wonders what's worrying Anakin, but perhaps it will come out in time.

"Possible," Anakin echoes, looking at the door. Hmm. His most frequent door has been his own Jedi Academy dorm room. He might be able to set up a frequency-reading device on the doorframe, but it would cost a lot more than his allowance to transmit any info back to Coruscant.

He'll check with Jaina. They'll be switching places in a few weeks, and she's almost as good with electronics as him. But he suspects he might have to let this one go.

He sips the blue fizz.

"Why do you want to use Milliways? Is it that hard to go between your school and home?"

That doesn't seem fair with how young Anakin is. By Anakin's age, Cassian had left his home for good, because there was nothing left for him.

Anakin blinks and looks back at Cassian.

"I've never tried. I haven't been back to Coruscant since...

"--ah, I mean, it's not difficult. It's just expensive and time consuming."

"Your school's not in the Core? That must be hard on your and your parents."

It must be a special place, Cassian's trying to remember what Anakin told him about it.

"It's ... difficult, yeah."

Anakin technically isn't lying.

"Do you like it?"

Going to school was something Cassian barely did, most of his learning came from whatever information he could find or be taught by people he knew.

It's difficult for Kylo to ignore the child as he would prefer to. Not because he cares about the boy's mental state, but rather the state of the Force around him.

"If it breaks, you'll have to clean up the mess."

As soon as Anakin senses the vaguely familiar presence, he puts down the glass, because he's already half turned expecting to see one of his siblings.

"...you aren't Jacen."

Beat.

"Or Jaina."

(The ghost voice is ... waiting.)

"No, I'm not." There's something different about this boy, but he can't quite put his finger on it.

"I'm Kylo Ren."

"You," Anakin begins, then stops.

This is a bad guy. And Tahiri isn't here to help him.

He is now a short Jedi kid, clutching his fists by his sides.

He can feel the anger radiating from the boy. Fear as well, but it's the anger that interests him more.

He remembers feeling much the same way.

"Me?"

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