milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Luke is sitting at the bar with a glass of firewhisky, which he hasn't had in quite some time. Although he's pretty sure there's no established protocol for what to do when your dead nephew from the future tells you that, in one version of your future, you go Dark, but "get a stiff drink and brood" seems like a step in the right direction.

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Anakin was on his way out the door to get the stiffness of sitting all day out, but he stops when he sees Luke.

"You look like I feel. Want to go out and work it out sparring?"

"... I don't think I should." He looks up. "What's the matter with you?"

"Eh. Got in a fight with your sister, met two of my grandchildren, and spent Force knows how long growing a Holocron crystal. I just need to get the aches out."

He looks Luke over. "What about you?"

"Two of them? Oh, Force. There's another one?" He slumps forward and lets his forehead rest on the bar. "Met one of them. Asked questions I shouldn't have, got answers I didn't want."

"Which one did you talk to? Jaina or Anakin? And what did they tell you?"

"Anakin." He sighs. "I should know not to ask people from the future questions about the future by now. I really should."

Anakin looks at him very seriously. "Luke. Whatever it is, it's not set in stone. Now, what did Anakin say?"

Luke takes a moment to gather his thoughts, then speaks quietly. "I know I should be glad to know it. Maybe I can keep it from happening in this timeline, at least. But I wish I didn't know." He bites his lip. "Apparently I -- some version of me, anyway, in whichever version of my future he's from, went and got apprenticed to a clone of the Emperor. He didn't tell me any more than that. Not that I was exactly encouraging, but... he went quiet. Two-word sentences. I don't know what happened."

And I'm sure he implied I hurt Leia. More personally, more directly than the whole mess would have hurt her. But he doesn't want to bring that into it yet. Enough to worry about the broad-strokes future for a few minutes.

Anakin puts a hand on Luke's shoulder and locks eyes with him. "I'm absolutely sure you wouldn't do that, son. You're too smart and too strongly of the Light to do that."

"Besides," he adds, "that's the future where you marry Mara. You're making yourself a new future with Val. Things will be different there."

"I don't really get the impression I started out any less smart over in that version, either." He sighs. "Honestly, I'm more worried about whatever happened that made it so personal to him. I mean, it's hardly a small decision that I'd have to avoid. But I can't help feeling like there's more in him being so quiet about it than just that."

Striding up to the pair, is another dead Jedi. What a surprise. He smiles at Luke and Anakin. "Good evening, Ani. Is this your son?"

In the moment before Qui-Gon approaches, Anakin speaks to Luke. "There's a lot he's quiet about. We'll find out why in time.

Then he turns to greet Qui-Gon. "Yes. This is Luke. Luke, this is Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. He trained Obi-Wan."

Luke turns, smiling. If the smile seems a little stiff, well, he's been brooding. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Master Jinn. Will you join us?"

"Please, call me Qui-Gon, Luke. There's no need for formality here" He smiles, and joins the pair at the bar. "I am pleased to meet you, Luke. Your father thinks quite highly of you."

Anakin looks away, not wanting to embarass Luke.

He blushes, slightly, but the grin grows more genuine. "He tells me so often, sir. I think very highly of him as well."

Qui-Gon grins, a large, warm smile. "I always believed in him." He pauses. "So, tell me of yourself, Luke, tell me of what you have done here in this place."

Anakin listens to this exchange with pride, and then slips out to the lake area. He needs to stretch his legs, and now he feels centered enough to practice.

"I haven't done as much as Anakin has. He seems to know everyone. I have a much smaller circle of friends." He hesitates slightly. "I spend most of my time with my fiancee."

The man looks slightly skeptical. "Your fiancee?" He just raises an eyebrow, as if inviting Luke to explain this strange phenomenon.

"... Well. Yes." He blushes. "I met her when I first got here, close to six months ago. She's from a different universe, and she tried to teach me to swim, and, um... I'm sorry, that was a completely random thing to mention. I wasn't any good at it anyway. The point is, I asked her to marry me about two months ago."

"Swimming is something a Jedi should know, Luke." He seems a bit amused by this. "If she tried to teach you to swim, she must be a sensible girl." He pauses, a serious look in his eyes. "Have you seriously considered the implications of this, Luke?"

"She's far more than sensible. I've never met anyone so brilliant." Qui-Gon's seriousness stops him from babbling about it any more, though, and he bites his lip. "If you mean the Jedi-related part, I have. I know it would have been against the Code in your time, although of course I have no idea how strongly you agreed with those aspects of the Code in the first place. But I believe it will work."

"The Jedi Code is what it is, whether you believe everything it says or not. There are reasons why the code forbade attachment. Such a change must be carefully considered." He pauses for a moment. "However, change is also what the Code needs. Nine hundred years of the same thing is not necissarily the best thing." A small smile. "Your father has taught me that."

He nods. "I don't know what the original reasons against it were, really. I assume it had to do with ensuring complete devotion to the Force, and I imagine fear that a Jedi who had just lost a lover would be easier prey to the Dark Side might have played into it as well."

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oldschooljedi.livejournal.com - 2005-03-16 05:27 (UTC) - Expand

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