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[While watching text posts to the network go up, Ezra's been pondering the literacy gap he suspects one or two of his neighbors may be silently not addressing. There's the idea of classes, but he's had another thought to sneakily get around it.]

I can't believe I didn't think about this before, but...I guess it's because we don't have anyone blind here in Temba right now.

My point is - I did live with someone who was blind for a while, and I was wondering...there isn't a program somewhere on the network to read text out loud is there? Is that something someone with Communications could make? Seems like it would be useful.

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[This might have been a particularly inappropriate time to insist on texting, so, for once, there Tony is, looking slightly irritated about having to actually hold his communicator before he very abruptly produces a press-ready smile. Is it undermined at all by the mothkitten tucked up against his neck and audibly snoring?]

I only found out recently that whatever it is that lets us talk to each other doesn't work for written communications. That's weird, right? It's weird.

Hold on, give me ten minutes, I'll get you a draft.

[Ok, that's adorable. Does Tony have a soft touch somewhere under all the...whatever is up with Tony that Ezra doesn't get? Ezra will ponder.]

It's a little weird.

Ten minutes, wow. Uh, thanks, Tony, that would be awesome.

I'm thinking, maybe that was deliberate.

[It doesn't look like he's actually going anywhere for that ten minutes, he is just talking.]

Control some information, you know, make sure we aren't that cohesive. But I've been able to read some languages I've never seen before in my life, too. That's got to be the datapoint. Not that I'm not good with languages, please, my genius is vast and intimidating, are you intimidated yet? But, usually, it does take a little bit of work.

It's really hard to know what's deliberate versus the Agrii....just not thinking things through.

[Tony makes a thoughtful sound, and for a moment he's looking away, distant and more blank than contemplative as he compiles his code and tries to do the same with the concept that Ezra had apparently given him.]

It's convenient, isn't it? That the Agrii are kind of--you want to help them, they're naive and you're inclined to think they don't act out of malice. I don't buy that they're unaware that kidnapping is an act of violence. And I'm not saying that I don't think there's someone else, but...

[That will have to wait. It hasn't been Tony's ten minutes, but as he trails off, another slightly stilted voice clearly filtered through speakers makes Tony grin and the kitten on his shoulder twitch and look around blearily. It's familiar, dark and deliberately pronounced, and it announces:]

Hello world.

I still haven't met any of them, so I don't have a solid opinion aside from, um, there's some stuff very wrong on this planet and some of it does seem completely deliberate.

[He tilts his head and grins.]

Is that...Jon?

He provided the most material.

[This would be a good excuse if Tony didn't look so pleased with himself.]

We can call it the Judicious Orator Network. J.O.N. He'll be ready in a minute, and you'll have to do plenty of testing for me. It's not easy to see all of the weak points when they don't effect me, and I'm over here in the garage, you know--I don't see a lot of what needs to be fixed. So.

[He is trying very hard to tell Ezra something, but that program doesn't come as easily, so he's back to looking kind of blank while he works on the easier problem of getting J.O.N. onto everybody's devices with an idle scratch to get the mothkitten back to sleep.]

[He could probably intuit things better if he really was close enough to pick up on the general tone of Tony's feelings and thoughts, but he's not, so he's left guessing a little more blindly.]

Well...I don't mind coming over to talk about it with you. At all.

No--ah, I mean, you can if you want, I'm at the library, it's not so bad, I meant generally--

That, that right there, you do that a lot.

[It's not just Jon's voice that Tony can pull from the network, after all.]

If someone needs something, you're the one that knows.

[The teenager just looks confused, for a second, then flustered, and shrugs awkwardly.]

Oh. Um. I do what I can.

I'm sure I miss plenty, too.

Edited (missing word) 2021-07-08 23:12 (UTC)

Now's not the time to be humble, sweetheart, we don't have enough resources in this place to be wasting them like that.

You're doing a good job.

[That wasn't the hard part, but a necessary one so Tony gladly goes back to his programming so he can send a file to Ezra to try for himself. It appears as a text message; 👓]

Thank you. I just...I've let over confidence and tunnel vision get away from me before.

[There was a reason he was busted down to lieutenant by the Alliance after he ran his first mission as a commander, even if he got the rank back eventually.]

I don't want to repeat those mistakes.

[He opens up the program.] This, this looks good, Tony. I'll let you know if I see any tweaks needed.

Edited (typo) 2021-07-11 15:37 (UTC)

What are you, seventeen? That comes with the territory. It's going to happen again, and it's going to be embarrassing, we'll work through it.

I don't think listening to everyone's problems is going to make you a monster or anything, though.

Eighteen, but yeah, ok, I know I'm going to make more mistakes.

Things here are...not lower stakes, really. Less life or death under pressure. It's easier to take the take to think stuff through.

Christ, that's even worse. I bought a car company just to tank it when I was eighteen. You do me one better, and I'll make you anything you want.

[What Tony didn't want to say was that seventeen was too young to know what you were like under life or death pressure, but he did tip his cheek against the kitten with an apologetic twist of his brow. It wasn't like Ezra was the only one here forced to figure it out that fast.]

What do you have to get back to?

[He hasn't the faintest clue what doing one better means in this context, but if he knows when he sees it, he'll hold Tony to that promise.]

Well, um, that kinda depends on if I have to go back exactly to where and when I came from, or if there's some wiggle room.

I kinda, uh....kidnapped the entire Imperial fleet blockading my home world with the help of Purgill. Space whales. My family and friends had a plan to deal with the troops on the ground, so at least for a while, Lothal should be free. I'd like to go home to help keep it that way.

But where I was, was on the flagship of the fleet, mid-hyperspace jump, surrounded by a lot of unhappy enemy soldiers. And Purgill couldn't exactly communicate to me where they were taking us. Just....very far away.

Shit, sweetheart, you don't do anything by half, do you? Did you not have a plan? Far away or not, how did you think you were getting out of there?

[He sucks in a breath slowly, remembering how Hera had begged him to try to find a way off the ship.]

I knew I wasn't going to get out of there. I'd had....a pretty detailed vision of different paths. Staying on board and keeping him busy until the jump was the only one that took Thrawn off the board in the long term. He's the Empire's strongest strategist, so that meant the entire Rebel Alliance's chances got better, with him gone. It would be worth it.

And I knew if I survived, there was going to be something else I was needed for. Maybe this. That part wasn't clear.

Don't get me wrong, I'm both very impressed by and adamantly against the suicidal tendencies, but we're going to have to circle back around to that. What do you mean--you sound like you can actually see the future.

[Earnestly-] I'd really rather be alive, I promise.

And I mean...yeah. A little. Everything that ever was, or is, or could be, is part of the Force. One of Cal's gifts is the past. Most strong Force sensitives are a little prescient.

Edited 2021-07-12 04:49 (UTC)

The past is different--You said 'if', you said 'different paths'. That's probability, not faith.

Ok, yes.

There's probably thousands of years of discussion on this, but I'm trying to catch up on the, um, academic part of Jedi education. Even Cal's way ahead of me there, and obviously Obi-wan's the best person here to ask. I know there's a Jedi saying that the future is always in motion. Kanan always told me just because you see something in a vision, doesn't mean something will happen, and even if it does, it doesn't mean you have the full picture, because most visions are short and fragmented.

My personal experience backs that summary up, even with visions of events hours or days out.

On the other hand, sometimes I know something's about to happen seconds or moments before it does. Jedi in combat are fast, but it's partly because if they are very...open and paying attention, they're sometimes reacting slightly before things happens. I guess that close in time, the probability of variance is so small, it's next to nothing.

Edited 2021-07-12 22:22 (UTC)

Are you sure that's not just combat training? I've known a few fighters who can do the same, ten moves ahead and--you know, especially if you're raised from birth to be a war machine, it can feel like that sense is built in.

I'm not trying to burn down your whole thing, it's just--you're not the first person here to tell me that there's a predetermined path, some fate or destiny, and the future is already in the code. I don't buy that. Sure, you can see what's coming, and if you're really good at it you're going to be right most of the time, but you can't tell me that we don't have full control over it and it's the Force and whatever--that's not the future I believe in.

The future is always in motion--that's good, I might take that one.

I'm sure for temple trained Jedi who have learned martial arts and lightsaber forms from when they're small, that stuff goes hand in hand with what they get from the Force. Sure.

I've had hunches and bad feelings that have saved my skin for as long as I remember. I've blocked shots there's no physical way I should have seen coming; I just knew. I didn't start Jedi or any other kind of serious combat training until I was 14.

I believe our choices matter, too. Just - we're not alone. We're all connected. But that doesn't mean we have full control, either? No one can control everything.

Not with that attitude.

[Tony looks shocked, like he has just been personally insulted, but it gives away easily to another wry smile.]

Maybe control wasn't the right word. We have an uneasy relationship, me'n'...

So, I have this little habit that I let grow and take over my whole life, and ruin my job and my relationships and my ability to function, and one of the tools that I have to manage that is to believe in a higher power. And for most people that's God or--the Force, probably, something bigger than you. And it was hard for me, figuring that out, because I'm not religious, I wasn't raised to believe in any of that stuff and I've met gods and every one of them is just as fucked up as the rest of us. So...okay, so, it's the Future, that great, big power--capital F, Future. And if I think it's this greater power, then that means I can't think that I have any control over it, not on my own. I worship it.

But what the Future is, besides being changeable and fantastic and better than anything that came before it, its always going to be people. It's made of every choice that we're all making, all together, isn't it? It has to be a connection.

Cool.

Sounds like we don't believe so differently. Though, you may even more optimistic than I am.

[Tony chuckles, sure, maybe he's a little optimistic, then uses his new program to repeat:]

Cool.

[Which, in Jon's voice, manages to sound incredibly sarcastic and makes Tony laugh again. Hopefully that was a nice break, because Ezra did just say some pretty heavy shit.]

It must be hard to be optimistic when you've got that kind of pressure on you that early.

Optimism was harder, for the most part, when I was just looking after myself, really. Just surviving. When I didn't feel as connected or alive.

But you do now.

I miss Lothal and my family that's not here, but yeah. I do. I'm doing ok.

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