Awkward alliteration allays anxiety

[hisfathersimage]

WHO: Luke Skywalker + OTA
WHERE: TEMBA - Temple and loose in the city
WHAT: Exercise, practice, not knowing what to do with no active war...
WHEN: Within a week of arrival?
WARNINGS: Description of canon injury scars. Will add in comment headers as relevant.



Like most Jedi, Luke is an early riser.

It's more by habit than any desire to be awake. Tatooine hours run from pre dawn to near midday, then start again in the late afternoon. The Rebellion runs on no known clock or cycle known to the Force and Yoda ran on 'will this help push Luke over the edge and make him quit' time. And since the Endor mission, Luke hasn't slept well, plagued by memories dredged up by Palpatine's actions, startling awake several times a night and often with a soft thump of dropping furniture back to the ground.

He's up before dawn to grab water and something light the eat and then takes off for a run, to try and burn off the night's nightmares. It's actually past sun up by the time he finishes, moving to a private-ish area outside and moving into some katas. It's one of the few times he can be found without his tunic and robes hiding him from neck to wrist to ankle, instead barefoot and wearing only an undershirt and pants as he moves through the familiar motions of the different forms.

It's pretty clear why he covers up. He has dark pink scarring covering his chest and shoulders and upper arms, fractal lightning trees that must grow from somewhere around the middle of his chest, under the singlet. He still wears one glove to cover the damage on his right hand that he never quite got around to getting fixed, the metal ring in his forearm the only real hint that there's something abnormal about it. He has a couple of puncture marks in his shoulders that were never treated with bacta and he moves like he's never had an injury in his life, pure, fluid strength and grace.

He practices with the lightsaber a bit longer than usual, to make sure he's top of his game in this place. Then it's a shower, breakfast and get on with the day...

Which is wandering around trying to work out what people who aren't fighting a war do with all this time.

Comments

[hisfathersimage]

If you have beacons you can't shut off, you do your best to minimise them. That is at least a universal thing. "So I have a bit of an instinctive mistrust of anything that looks like a stormtrooper. I've spent a lot of time avoiding them."

[on_repeat]

The clone sighs. "I'm fully aware of that being a problem," he says with a bit of a crooked smirk, although it remains mirthless. "While the armor's not changing any time soon, my duty is to aid the Jedi and everyone else who's been brought here."

[hisfathersimage]

"To aid the Jedi? Well, I suppose, yeah, they fought on the same side." It makes sense, now he's not having a knee jerk reaction to the man. "When are you from?"

[on_repeat]

Echo tilts his head a few degrees downward. "War's still going. We're winning battles, but the Separatists aren't giving up any time soon."

And being away from it and not being able to continue fighting alongside his brothers isn't really helping him feel better, but what can he do?

[hisfathersimage]

The Clone Wars are still going.

He doesn't know what to make of that. What to say.

"Do you know Padme back home?"

[on_repeat]

Better to change subjects to keep things light.

"Only from the public broadcasts," Echo replies. "Meeting her outside of the galaxy's the first time I've ever met her in-person."

[hisfathersimage]

Right. Of course. Broadcasts.

"What about Obi-Wan? General Kenobi."

[on_repeat]

Echo perks a bit at the name, if only for a few seconds. "I met General Kenobi after my first assignment. He's in charge of the 212th with Commander Cody, but our battalion works closely with his."

His smile then drifts, fading a bit from the corners of his lips. "It's just...strange now. Not bad, but strange. Since he's not a General anymore."

[hisfathersimage]

"Did you know Anakin Skywalker?" He can't resist the chance to find out, to try and learn a little more about the man before he fell.

[on_repeat]

"Yes," Echo says, blinking. "I know General Skywalker. He's my General."

Because it's a fact. Because he's technically still serving in his battalion.

[hisfathersimage]

Luke's lower lip crumples briefly before he composes himself again, putting those untidy emotions away.

"Oh. I didn't realise..."

And now he doesn't know what to say. He can't say who he is, not to someone still serving with his father. Not when he doesn't know if Padme has told anyone who the father of her babies are. "What's he like?"

[on_repeat]

Echo notices the brief shift in Luke's expression, concern coloring his features as he takes a moment to think about the question that comes from the pause. There's a touch of innocence in the way it's said, one holding a meaning he doesn't quite understand.

"General Skywalker's a good leader," he answers. "He's daring, brave, and always fights alongside his troops."

[hisfathersimage]

"Is he- good to his troops?" It's ambiguous, but it's the only way he can phrase it. Does he treat them well, respect them, help them? Does he occasionally pick people up by the throat and crush their windpipe for disappointing him? (No, he imagines not, but it's there in his mind.) "Forgiving of mistakes?"

[on_repeat]

"He makes sure to keep us in line, but that's for everyone's benefit," the clone explains. "He cares about us. And does his best to keep us alive while we're out on the field."

Spoken like there's never been any harm done, no brutality except against the droid armies they faced all the time.

"We return the favor by giving it our all. Even if his battle plans can be a little, uh, unorthodox, it gives us an advantage by being unpredictable," Echo adds with a light shrug. "But there's never any bad blood."

[hisfathersimage]

It's what Luke had hoped, maybe even expected, but the comment about being unorthodox makes him look up and smile. "Yeah? What sort of unorthodox? I won't take it as bad mouthing him, you're not, I'm just curious."

[on_repeat]

The smile is evident, but Echo has to laugh a little. "It wasn't all that bad," he admits. "Most plans put the General up front. Then again, he had the flair for it."

Whether it was a direct attack or a distraction, there was no discounting the extra flair he added to everything he did.

"The Commander followed his lead. So did my captain, for that matter."

[hisfathersimage]

Luke thinks back to Vader's preferred entrances, the way he flew, the statements he made. "Flair for the dramatic, huh?"

He could see that pretty easily. Apparently, Dark side or Light side, some people just had to be dramatic.

[on_repeat]

"Yeah! That's how it is, all the time."

And Echo is reminded he misses it -- misses them along with everyone else who isn't away from the galaxy -- but it's nice to think back on their antics.

"I'm sure General Kenobi has more stories to share, since he's known General Skywalker for longer than I have," he says after a moment, a little quieter now that he's been thinking.

[hisfathersimage]

"Not the same," Luke protests. "It's like... asking an uncle about someone, and then asking their squad mates. It's a completely different experience of the person and I want to have a more rounded picture, not just who his old Master interacted with him."

[on_repeat]

The closest Echo can relate to that is hearing things about certain clones from other clones. And stories can be wildly exaggerated. While he still wonders why Luke is deeply invested in learning more about Anakin this way, a thoughtful expression crosses his features.

"How about this: you get settled in a little more and I'll tell you whatever I can about him."

[hisfathersimage]

Luke's surname would possibly answer a lot of questions (and raise a whole bunch of other ones), but he doesn't offer. "Okay, sounds like a deal with me."

[on_repeat]

A deal's a deal. With that, Echo nods. "I'll let you get back to it, then," he says with a smile, stepping around Luke to head into the temple grounds. "I'll see you around."