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]

Tatooine was good training to be a Jedi in some ways. It made you always think of the community, if you wanted to survive. Even Ben, known as a crazy hermit, was known and interacted with the settlements sometimes.

"What can I help with? Aside from moving rocks." That was pretty self evident.

[heypartner]

"Cook a few meals if you can cook. They got a rotation about it." He made a gesture that was supposed to indicate some sort of chart. It made sense to Cobb who talked with his hands but it might not make sense to anyone else.

"A big thing would be teachin' what useful skills you've got to others. Folks here don't know how to survive on very little." He gave Luke a look, "They've got it easy here even if they don't think that. We grew up harder. We know it can be much worse."

The water alone was an indescribable blessing in Cobb's mind. "I don't mean the fixin' ships and such but the day to day. Stars, even some of the combat you know would help others."

[hisfathersimage]

"I can cook." He's not particularly good at it, but he can make perfectly edible food. "I can strip and rebuild a vaporator in about an hour, but again, I think I'd need the data point to be able to make anything with the technology here." He can sand proof a home, which isn't really an issue here. "Water isn't really an issue here."

[heypartner]

"Yeah, there's no vaporators around here. Just pull it out of the lake there and purify it. Doesn't have that metallic filter taste of vaporator water." Cobb liked it. There was a sweetness to fresh water that no vaporator, no matter how expensive , could ever capture.

He'd probably miss that most of all when he got back home.

"That other town they just discovered probably needs a lot of work. You bring that Engineering there you'd have plenty to keep you busy." He twisted some wire together and grinned when the lights flicked on. "Just gotta fix the plumbing and the walls and windows and it'll be good."

[hisfathersimage]

"I haven't been over to the other place, yet. There doesn't seem to be enough of us to warrant building up a second place at this point."

More places to hold, more weak points, less defensible.

[heypartner]

"I think you're right but many of these folks don't think of survival like that," Cobb runs his hand through his hair. Sometimes the lack of common sense around here makes him frustrated. These folks are all decent people from what he can tell but they've lived very comfortable lives.

"I think they'll, at least, try to restore power to the place. See if that turns on some things they can poke at for answers." Which was fine. If they wanted to investigate and figure out the mystery of this place he would let them. Cobb planned to focus on survival.

[hisfathersimage]

"Right. I'm not used to being one of the 'sensible' ones." It's a mildly alarming thought. "I mean, I can see using the power to locate anything that can be useful if we shift it over here. But we can't move in over that sort of distance. There's just not enough people to maintain a second settlement. How is that not logical?"

[heypartner]

Cobb gave him a look. How did someone grow up on Tatooine and not end up sensible?

"I don't think anyone's thinking about moving but they'll definitely be runnin' around exploring there for awhile." And they could be split up. The Agrii could change their minds and shut down that train. The other aliens out there fucking with them could screw it up.

"We just got to be ready for whatever around here. Most days, nothin' happens. Then it gets weird."

[hisfathersimage]

Skywalker. That's how.

"What's 'weird'?"

That seems far more important.

[heypartner]

"Last weird thing that happened I was a newspaper reporter, blind, and raising Merrin, you met her yet? Great kid. Anyway, it was a whole other life." He tapped his temple again. "And up here it felt real. Like it was my real life. Like I'd lived no other."

And sometimes, he missed that life. He missed the peace he had in that world.

"And then before that we went to Coruscant but somethin' like nine hundred years in the past?" Cobb shook his head. "Ask Obi-Wan. He knows the time details better."

[hisfathersimage]

"No, I haven't met Merrin." He's not sure if she's been mentioned to him. "That... sounds really scary, actually."

He nods. "I heard about the Coruscant trip. Padme and Obi-Wan both told me about it. And Ezra. How did both these things happen?"

[heypartner]

"Well, the whole new life thing was some magical powers getting out of control." Cobb wouldn't mention Billy by name. He didn't want anyone looking at the kid warily. "And the other time it was the Agrii. Folks that brought us here."

Cobb rolled his eyes. He didn't have the highest opinion of the Agrii. They seemed real set on getting everyone else to solve their problems. And kept them captured here.

"They've got a lot of power."

[hisfathersimage]

"If they have a lot of power, why do they need us to do things for them?"

It's not the Tatooine way. You can, you do. Simple.

[heypartner]

"Well, folks tell me there are these storms that mess with your head and any powers you've got," he explained. "And they're very deadly to the Agrii."

Cobb sounded a bit doubtful about that. He had the same question. If they could do all this with their power, why couldn't they fix it themselves?

He shrugged. "Talk to folks who've been here longer if you want more details on the storms. I haven't been through one."

[hisfathersimage]

"If the Agrii are very powerful, and the storms affect powers, it might be connected." He isn't sure. Though he had heard a story, just a story... "In our galaxy, I heard a story about a planet that punishes power. The Sith and Jedi who went there and used the Force were swept away in giant storms. But I also heard stories about stones that could grant the heart's inner desire and potions that could make people fall in love, so I'm not going to throw too much weight into it."

[heypartner]

Cobb makes a face. All this power and space magic. He has none of that and doesn't really understand how any of it works though people have tried to explain it before. He does much better with practical realities like punching a man in the face with a fist instead of the Force.

"Like I said, if you want details on the storms talk to Jon. Cayde. Tony. Tommy. All them have been through 'em and know what they're like." Cobb can't really be much help with that sort of thing.

"Or just wait around. People keep sayin' they'll come. Like an old man predictin' a sandstorm because his knee aches."

[hisfathersimage]

"I know... Cayde? Sort of? We met once?" He doesn't know the others. "I might ask Moonshade, she seems to have been here a while." He knows her. She's friendly and feels safe to ask.

"If you claim a sand storm's coming every day, eventually you'll be right."

[heypartner]

"He's a good guy. Usually reliable enough. Runs a great bar." Which is a big point in Cobb's favor. What's a small town without a bar and a good bartender?

He shakes his head. "Moonshade's new. She got here after me. Jon. Tony. Cayde. Tommy. Those four, they've been here a long time. Ask them for the history."

Not that Moonshade is bad to talk to. Cobb likes the hunter. She's practical and steady. Her Howl had been a lot of fun, reminding him of gatherings back home in Mos Pelgo.

"Every town's got one sandstorm prophet," he rolls his eyes but it's with fondness. "Some are more reliable than others."

[hisfathersimage]

"Oh. Huh. She gives the impression of being well settled. Must just be a 'her' thing." He might need to look up one of the others in that case.

"We had a hermit who came into town and bought up supplies when a sandstorm was coming. A bad one. You could always tell by old man Kenobi turning up." Within the week, there'd be a storm. Beru said he knew because he could listen to the Tusken and they could read the winds and sands.

[heypartner]

"She's a survivor. Practical. Pretty sure you could drop her in the Dune Sea and she'd be fine." He had a lot of admiration for Moonshadow's skills. She knew her business and did it well. "It's easy to trust that sort of skill."

Even Cobb had heard about the hermit out by Luke's neck of the dunes. "Kenobi's here, you know. He's a Jedi."

Maybe he didn't need to tell Luke that. Maybe they all had a sense of each other. Cobb didn't know how the Force worked. "Does not seem like the type to become a crazy desert hermit but life takes odd paths."