May the Fourth Be With The All Skate

[jedi_interrupted]

The bar shifts, or it changed when no one was looking, and now resembles a certain cantina popular with the villainy and scum, as well as more upstanding folks. The air is dryer than usual, and a taste of grit and sand just hangs in the air. It just makes you want some blue milk doesn't it?

Has your character changed? Perhaps...who can tell? The Landlord I suppose but they aren't talking.

[ooc: HI and Welcome to a Star Wars themed All Skate, the best way to celebrate May the Fourth! Party style post. You do not have to interact with any of my characters to play.
The Rules are simple:
- This post, and any post with the subject heading ALL SKATE are open to everyone.
That means old characters, new characters, retired characters, doubles of characters, original characters, non-canon compliant characters.
- We will all play nice and adhere to Wheaton's Law: Don't be a dick.
- Gratuitous behavior, either of a violent or sexual nature, will not be tolerated in the Comm. Take that to an OOM, and then Content Warning the hell out of it before you link it.
- Communication is paramount. Everyone's keyed up, let's just have some fun.]

Comments

[acertainpov]

"The Sith Empire," he repeats, but without question - more an acknowledgment. "That does spearate us in time rather."

But. Then he just sighs. "And yet, it seems that the more things change, the more things stay the same. That seems to be the exact situation with the current War."

[last_kallig]

"My condolences," Ibani says, utterly sincere.

She picks up her cup of tea for the first time, and without conscious thought, reaches for the Force to check if anything on the table has unpleasant surprises in it, such as drugs or poison. She does this to everything she might eat or drink, a deeply ingrained habit thanks to many, many months of Overseer Ragate poisoning her students repeatedly to drive certain lessons in detecting and purging poisons home.

[acertainpov]

It's clean, of course. Safe and, incidentally, delicious. But Obi-Wan, his own mouth occupied with tea, raises an eyebrow at her over his cup.

What emotions he's projecting in the Force are a gentle teasing. Not actually offended, but an amused pretense at it.

[last_kallig]

"Habit," Ibani explains in response to his gentle teasing. "No insult meant to your hospitality." Her own emotional tone is also one of gentle teasing.

Hm. This IS good tea!

"Deeply ingrained thanks to Overseer Ragate." Ibani's tone isn't FOND, exactly, but Overseer Ragate is the instructor she hates the least of all the ones she had on Korriban.

[acertainpov]

"And my Padawan complains about my teaching methods," Obi-Wan says dryly.

Except, after a second's reflection:

"Although if I had taught him that some of our missions may have gone very differently."

He doesn't forget being drugged by pirates that one time.

[last_kallig]

"Depends on what you're used to," Ibani replies, tone dry. Ibani was used to worse, SO MUCH worse.

"It's a useful skill to have. I take it they were on the receiving end of something nasty?" Because since Obi-Wan knows HOW he surely always checks these things, right?

[acertainpov]

Ah. Yeah, about that.

He speaks directly into his tea cup.

"We may have been drugegd and taken prisoner by pirates."

But okay, look it was definitely Anakin's fault.

[last_kallig]

"Oh dear," Ibani replies. "Well, I suppose you could think of it as teaching them that no one is infallible?"

[acertainpov]

"Yes, that's what I said," Obi-Wan bluffs, not entirely convincingly, but he's hoping the self-deprecation is charming.

"Important lesson for him, there. And we escaped, which is the important thing."

[last_kallig]

"Of course," Ibani replies. She doesn't buy it, be she's amused by the self-deprecation.

"That is the important thing, yes. I'm glad you both got out of that situation." And she does mean it.

There's a feeling of wistfulness in the Force for a moment. Ibani never had a positive bond with any of her instructors, and none of them would have ever gone WITH her into a dangerous situation.

[acertainpov]

He softens a bit, but there's no sign of the extent of his relationship with Anakin, even in the part of this conversation that's actively unsaid. No hint of how far Obi-Wan would go for him.

Just amused tolerance of a young friend who clearly can't be trusted out on his own, even now.

"Unfortunately, so did our enemy and fellow prisoner. It can't be all wins."

[last_kallig]

"It never is," Ibani agrees. "At least in my experience." Not that she looks, or is, more than 20 years old.

"If you run into that enemy again and need an extra set of hands, I could help," she offers.

[acertainpov]

"I fear that may be a conflict of interest," Obi-Wan points out wryly, but not without a flash of gratitude.

"Jedi and Sith, you know."

[last_kallig]

"I have no particular quarrel with the Jedi Order," Ibani replies. "I was...discovered at eleven years old and told I could either train to join the Sith Order or be executed on the spot."

"I'd like to reform my Order, if I can. I will, of course, probably die horribly instead." Ibani is entirely matter of fact about that. She accepted the fact that she's on borrowed time many, many years ago.

[acertainpov]

Yeah, he knows that feeling. They may none of them survive this particular war.

"Then if you can some through our door, and we have need, I'll ceratinly keep you in mind."

You never know. Obi-Wan needs rescuing at least once every two months.

[last_kallig]

"Thank you," she replies. "I'm very handy with a force cloak, if you ever need someone with stealth skills."

[acertainpov]

"Noted," Obi-Wan says.

And that really might be useful - Anakin and Ahsoka are neither of them the stealthiest. But with his particular skills leaning that way it also may not.

"And of course I can return the offer. I'd hate for you to die horribly if I can help prevent it."

He's such a softie, this one.

[last_kallig]

He really is.

Ibani blinks in surprise and the Force echoes it. "You'd offer help to a Sith, one who's likely to be at war with the Republic and the Jedi whether they want to be or not?"

[acertainpov]

Obi-Wan just raises an eyebrow, with a slight smile.

"Short of actively helping you wage war on my predecessors," he says. "It could be considered a Jedi's duty to offer help where it's needed.

"...if the alternative is your death."

[last_kallig]

"I suppose time changes things," Ibani replies.

"In the closing days of the Great Hyperspace War, long before I was born, the Jedi Order tried to kill everyone with even a drop of Sith blood in them, without regard to age or Force ability." Sith blood, as if it was a bloodline or a species, which is probably not a way Obi-Wan is used to hearing the word Sith.

Her smile turns tired for a moment. "Even in my present there are Jedi who would do the same thing again, if they could."

[acertainpov]

No, but Obi-Wan didn't do extra reading, it doesn't mean that he's completely ignorant of history.

"Then I don't think I would recognise them as Jedi," he says. "Which I understand might be a bit of a surprise coming from me, sitting here a General in the Republic Army."

But, there it is. And he lets it show, just a hint of the regret he feels at the appalling circumstances the Jedi Order finds itself in.

"Nevertheless, the offer stands. And you can tell me if I'm not sincere."

[last_kallig]

"No, you are sincere," Ibani replies, smile turning less tired.

She moves to reach out to touch his hand when she feels his regret, but stops, unsure if it would be welcome. "I may be able to offer less direct aid as well. It occurs to me that I've never seen a Jedi use a force shield even though the technique does not require the Dark side."

[acertainpov]

She stops, and he considers, and a second late his own hand closes the distance. Yeah, that's okay.

"What does that technique involve?"

He'd rather assumed it was similar to his own use of disguising his presence, going undercover, but she's talking about it like it's something much more useful.

[last_kallig]

Ibani's smile broadens at the contact. She might be a bit touch starved, just a little.

"It's a protective barrier, something capable of stopping blaster bolts, lightsabers, almost anything, really. The more...energetic whatever you're trying to stop is the more it will take out of you."

She grins mischievously. "Or if you shape one correctly and put it on the ground your sparring partner can suddenly find themselves without any traction. Just a side benefit that, but hilarious."

[acertainpov]

In which case, he's just going to leave it there. There's no harm in it after all.

"That," he says, his interest piqued, "does sound useful."

And not just because he wants to try it on Anakin.

"And you think you could teach it to an old Jedi like myself?"

(He's not forty.)