Closed to morally_cryptic

[talentedscavenger]

Rey had experienced a whirlwind of events from locating Luke Skywalker's lightsaber to being pulled through time to meet the person who started it all; Anakin. The man was her grandfather, someone who was the 'chosen one' to bring balance to the Force. If that wasn't enough, she learned of her own powers and had to be trained to use them. It was an interesting time, spending weeks learning about the man and studying under him. They developed a friendship, a strange bond between two adults who happened to be generations apart. As much as she enjoyed her time with him, she was thrust back to her present time.

Anakin was right, it was like she never left. Everyone was still at the Cantina, looking for her. The First Order arrived...it was chaos.

But that was then, and this was now. She found out about Kylo Ren and the man he idolized so much. It pained her, no, angered her to know the same person she met had turned to the Dark Side. Rey kept her mouth shut to her cousin, managing to use the Force to keep him out of her mind and push him back. Now, she had a target on her back. The events didn't go well from there, losing her friend and semi-father figure, Han.

Now she was on a quest to find Luke. The man who could or could not be father. She didn't know how many children Anakin had, though she still remembered those strong Force visions of two children. Chewie and her managed to land the Falcon on the right planet, now she had to make the journey to find the Jedi. At least the time to herself would let her deal with her emotions. She was conflicted, angry, and hurt. From losing a friend to learning some of the truth about her grandfather...it was disheartening.

Comments

[morally_cryptic]

Well, he's been expecting something like this for, oh...about thirty years. Okay, maybe he'd been hoping she wasn't going to find out like she had but at least now, maybe, he can do something about it. He's tried to reach his grandson but...there's something in the way. With Rey though, now that she knows, now he should be able to reach her.

"You should slow down," he advises, appearing about as substantial as a hologram just off the side of the path. "The rocks are slippery."

Starting out a conversation with 'hi, how are you, sorry about turning evil' is for chumps.

[talentedscavenger]

Starting out a conversation of 'Hi' would have been too much to ask, not that Rey would respond to that either. She briefly pauses in her next step, but doesn't acknowledge the presence in front of her. No use in talking to ghosts. The woman would not start to cling to the coattails of someone she knew--at least thought she knew.

The sooner she got to Luke, the sooner she could try to get back to a normal life. Maybe she should go back to Jakku and forget everything that's happened.

She's only mulling it over, not fully intending on going through with it. However, considering her emotions are clouding her judgement, it's tempting to follow through with her thoughts.

[morally_cryptic]

"You're not going to do it," he says. And he doesn't even have to know her mind to say that, he can see it in her face. "And if you keep ignoring me, I'll just keep talking."

It's so rare he gets to talk to anyone these days. Or at them. Rey's the lucky winner, apparently.

[talentedscavenger]

Rey clenches her hands, continuing to ignore the ghost who was trying to speak to her. No, he could talk all day long for all she cared. As lucky as she might be, she wasn't about to acknowledge it.

So yes, keep talking Anakin. She won't say anything. Her emotions are easy enough to read, she's not bothering to keep them hidden from him.

[morally_cryptic]

He probably would have had an easier time talking to Leia and he'd actually tortured her, once.

But stubbornness runs in the Skywalker family just as much as the Force does so he merely follows her, not actually needing to worry overmuch about the path he takes. Perks of being non-corporeal.

"You know what happened now," he says, "and so do I. That's something we didn't have before, at least. And nice job with the lightsaber, by the way. Glad to see the training stuck. He doesn't need it though. He's got one of his own and this one is yours."

She might try not to say anything, but he's pretty sure he knows what buttons to press.

Maybe that was Darth Vader, though. He'd had a lot of experience in making people talk, after all.

[talentedscavenger]

He would have an easier time talking to someone he tortured. Not someone who had her trust, someone she had faith in. The last time she let someone in that close to her....well, they ended up leaving her on Jakku. Those scars were healed a long time ago, but the one he inflicted on her when he turned to the Dark Side....that one was still fresh.

He manages to hit the right buttons though, finally getting her to talk.

"Doesn't belong to me," she muttered under her breath. There's a reason why she's keeping the weapon inside her pouch and opting to have her staff ready.

[morally_cryptic]

Maybe he should've let Obi-Wan talk to her.

"You think it was a coincidence you found the damn thing? That it came to you instead of the other grandchild?" He rolls his eyes. "It's yours, Rey."

[talentedscavenger]

And that got her to snap. Rey whirled on Anakin, glaring at his non-corporeal form. One hand moved to her staff, almost ready to take it off her shoulder and fight him with it, while the other curls into a fist. There was no point in fighting a ghost.

"No it doesn't!" she yelled again, her hazel eyes lit up with anger. It didn't belong to her, belonged to Anakin, and now it belonged to Luke. She didn't want any part of a family legacy that was built upon abandoning family or killing innocent people.

"That grandchild is Kylo Ren. The grandchild that wants to be so much like you." Who worshiped Vader so much it was scary.

[morally_cryptic]

"A part of me," he agrees, because there's no use in denying it. "And I would help him see differently if I could."

She could try to fight him if it'd make her feel better but it really, really won't and she wouldn't get anywhere anyway.

"But you can. You can help all of them."

-- new AU -- siblings?!??!? :)

[morally_cryptic]

Of all the places for him to be sent on one of his first missions as a newly-minted Jedi Knight, of course the Council would think sending him to a desert planet was the best.idea.ever. Anakin is fairly certain that they likely sat around up in the Council chamber trying to come up with what mission would make the best 'test' for young Skywalker. Probably while giggling over tea spiked with Corellian whiskey or something.

Not that he's bitter.

Mostly he's annoyed that, in an eerie echo of how Qui-Gon Jinn had come across Anakin himself on Tatooine, his hyperdrive motivator is shot so even with his relatively simple mission taken care of, he can't actually go anywhere until the damn thing is fixed.

Jakku isn't exactly known for its mechanics' shops though. But there's plenty of junk and Unkar Plutt manages to remind him of a much larger, fleshy-colored version of Watto. Except Watto managed to actually be almost personable when someone showed up ready to buy. Unkar just waves him off with a grunt and points him in the direction of a girl pulling in to Niima Outpost on a scavenged speeder.

"I think," says Anakin to Rey without much in the way of preamble, "the big guy over there thinks you can help me. Either that or the grunt was indigestion..."

SIBLINGS!!!>!>!

[talentedscavenger]

It wasn't often the Jedi graced the Outer Rim with its presence. Most of them found their cause would be best suited for the Middle Rim. Or at least that's what the pirates, criminals, and smugglers believe. Rey doesn't know or care. She's more interested in keeping her head down and waiting for....she didn't know what she was waiting for anymore. She couldn't remember a time when she hadn't been on Jakku. Just a feeling of someone holding her, someone she connected with and then nothing.

Only the desert planet and Unkar.

And now, she had a Jedi in her presence. His robes make it easy to make him out as one. Something was pricking at the corners of her mind, but she doesn't think much of it. Instead, she climbs off her speeder, taking her goggles off her eyes and pulling down her mask.

"Help?" she repeats with a raised eyebrow. She removes her mask completely, showing her face, one that looks hauntingly like Anakin's mother. A woman Rey has never met.

"Depends, what kind of 'help' do you need?" Her hazel eyes harden then, believing the sort of help he might need might not be of the repair kind. She hated it when Unkar or any of his men tried to come to her, thinking they could bribe her with portions for a handful of minutes. Oh well, it was always fun to turn them down, then kick their arses for it.

[morally_cryptic]

When she reveals her face, Anakin does indeed do a short double-take, even if he tries to cover it. The resemblance is too close for him not to take note and certainly her being dressed for the desert only makes it more noticeable. But surely, he thinks, it must be a coincidence.

Then he focuses in on her tone and frowns slightly, not certain for a moment what prompted it. But-...oh. He shakes his head and points in the direction of starfighter he'd come in on. "Practically brand new," he says in a disgusted tone, "one of the first not to need a hyperspace ring and the motivator blew on me. Unkar seems to think you're the person to talk to." See? Strictly business.

[talentedscavenger]

Rey took notice of the short double take, but she doesn't care to comment on it. She was used to stares, comments, and the harshness that came from being around scum. It was a miracle she didn't sink down to their depths, though there were times when she was tempted to. The brunette tilts her head to the side, waiting for him to tell her what he wanted--oh, he....didn't know what she was talking about.

Well....there's a first time for everything.

"You mean used. You wouldn't say 'practically' if it hadn't been used." Her eyes drifted over to the starfighter, knitting her eyebrows together as she started to think about the components inside.

"You'll need more than that, if the motivator blew on you there's something else going on." She decides to leave her collected items attached to her speeder in favor of moving over to his starfighter. It was probably a good idea to actually wait for Anakin to walk with her, rather than instantly walk away from him.

"Open her up and let me take a look."

[morally_cryptic]

"It's a damn sight newer than anything you've got around here," Anakin comments dryly as he walks with her over to the starfighter in question. "And I know what's going on," he adds, "but that's the part I need."

Was she really going to tell him how to fix his own ship? He hadn't asked for her opinion, after all.

Ugh, he's pretty sure he feels sand creeping down the back of his robes.

[talentedscavenger]

Deal with the sand, Anakin. It's everywhere, and probably was starting to settle in his hair as he was speaking with Rey.

"Then why add 'practically' to begin with? Wouldn't have commented on the age if you didn't bring it up." They were bickering, they had gone past the point of her trying to help him out in a nice way. Nope, this was turning into a small battle of who knows what.

"If you know what's going on and you know the part you need, you would have said that from the get-go. Not, 'I think you can help me'. No, you would have asked directly, point blank if I had a new motivator." Granted, she had a few of them, but she needed to find out which type he might need for his 'practically new' starfighter.

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin lets out a huff of air, irritation already building. "Are you always this polite when someone is trying to give you business?"

Next time the Council tries to send him to a place like this, he's going to make sure they send Obi-Wan instead.

"And I said 'I think you can help me' because Unkar Plutt pointed you out. For all I know he just did it to get me out of his face and if that's so, we're both wasting our time here." It's not like the ship couldn't fly. He could always try Cratertown or just go out to the ship graveyard and try his own luck. Or jury-rig a better comm relay that might actually get signal back to Coruscant asking for pickup but that would be pretty embarrassing.

[talentedscavenger]

Rey turned to him to give him a slight smile. He should see her when she was dealing with thugs who looked a lot tougher than him.

"I'm showing you I'm willing to help. Besides, the business would go to Unkar anyway," Considering whatever she had usually went to him anyway. Whatever parts she had, she cleaned and tried to fix. Unkar always paid for parts that actually worked instead of pieces that would become scarp metal.

"Look, I have the part that you need, but considering you've made a starfighter that doesn't use a hyperspace ring I need to see if the part will fit." She was trying to fix his ship, so he could at least be nice to her. If not, she could give him directions on how not to die in Jakku.

SIBLINGS PART 2

[talentedscavenger]

It was a bittersweet moment for Rey; finding her family only to lose one part of it. Anakin's--their mother died after the three of them were reunited. She only saw the woman for a handful of minutes before she took her last breath. They grieved together on Tatooine before going to Coruscant to figure out what they should do. Anakin was dead set on not taking Rey back to Jakku, to let her live out her days as a scavenger. He wanted to protect the remaining family he had, which was understandable. However, the Council wasn't too thrilled to learn who Anakin brought back.

For now the Council was humoring Anakin, letting Rey stay at the temple. She knew she couldn't stay there forever, however she was a bit out of her element. She was used to working, but for once she didn't have something to do. Nothing to repair, nothing to scavenger for. On the bright side, she wasn't starving either, but she felt useless. Anakin was a Jedi and she....she was still trying to figure that part out. The Council made it clear she shouldn't be trained. Too old to be a padawan, regardless of how sensitive to the Force she was.

Or perhaps, no one wanted to deal with training another Skywalker. Either way, with Anakin busy, Rey took to the only thing that comforted her. One of the few things that kept her mind focused and made the rest of the world fade away. She left her room in favor of going down to the Hanger Bay to watch the ships come in and leave, maybe see if she could get her hands on a ship that needed to be repaired.

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin had, at least, not forced Rey to stand in front of the entire Council while he argued for her to be allowed to stay in the Temple. He did, after all, remember quite vividly how it had felt to be in that position himself. Eventually, they had relented, but mostly because Anakin quite reasonably (or so he was of the opinion) pointed out that there really wasn't another choice unless they wanted to alienate a powerful, untrained, Force sensitive. Wasn't that a good way to send her down the path to the Dark Side?

Or at least, that's what he said to them. In reality, he had no intention of leaving her to shift for herself and perhaps it was that reality that the Council had actually responded to. If Anakin was going to do what he damn well pleased in this particular situation anyway, they likely figured it best to at least keep an eye on things instead of forcing him to step outside the lines.

All that said, he was busy and even with Rey there, the Council certainly wasn't going to keep him at the Temple when he could be out on missions. So he doesn't actually end up seeing her as much as he might have liked...which only makes seeing her in the hangar as he brings his starfighter in that much better of a surprise. "Making sure everyone's keeping their ships cleaned to your standards?"

[talentedscavenger]

Rey sensed Anakin coming towards her, but she didn't bother to turn around. How strange it was to be able to easily sense him now when for years she had no idea of his existence. They hadn't been able to see much of each other, but she understood why. She wouldn't be the one to keep an important Jedi from his duties. Who knows how much trouble he was already in because of her. Sooner or later she would have to repay him for what's done for her now. Yes, he was family, but...she wanted to do something more than say 'thank you' repeatedly to him.

"Only making sure your ship is up to snuff," she shot back with a grin. The other ships did interest her, making her want to learn each piece and gear worked together in each ship. But that could wait. She wasn't expecting Anakin to be back already from his last mission. Which usually meant he had at least one day before heading out again.

"Did anything break this time?" More teasing, finding it easier to talk about that than to ask what the Council had said about her. Teasing was better than saying, hello and goodbye to him repeatedly. Or trying to bring up the subject of her leaving the Temple to go find work. The Council couldn't keep her here forever, as much as Anakin maybe would have liked. Sooner or later, she would have to find a place or her own, and make a new life for herself.

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin makes a face at the teasing, but it's hard to look properly offended when you're trying not to grin as well. So he settles for climbing out of the ship in very dignified fashion, "nothing broke, but it could use a good wash and wax if you're so inclined. All that space dust is hell on the paint job..."

[talentedscavenger]

Oh, she knows he's trying so hard not to grin. She could see it in his eyes, how he wants to laugh but doing his best to hold back. Seeing him climb out of his ship makes Rey roll her eyes, almost wondering if he'll trip over his robes in the process. Oh that would be a fun sight to see.

"Ahh, no. I'm not the owner of the ship, so that lovely duty falls on you. But, if you need the help, I might know someone who might be incline to help. If you ask nicely that is," she teases back, waiting to hear what kind of remark might fly out of his mouth.

[morally_cryptic]

He's had far too much practice at clambering in and out of ship to get caught up in his robes. Though there was a reason so many Jedi rather dramatically dropped their cloaks before getting into fights.

"Mmm. They told me I can't keep taking advantage of the younglings like that." He did, actually, have a shadow or two though he has consistently maintained he's not interested in taking on a padawan.

[talentedscavenger]

If Anakin ever tripped over his robes, Rey wanted to be the first one there to see it. Just to be there for it, possibly chuckle, then make sure he was alright. She was quickly discovering the perks of being a sibling. Though there was a draw back or two, such as people looking at her and muttering something about being a Skywalker--like it was a bad thing. She didn't pay any attention though.

"Oh you thought I meant them. Shame, I was referring to a great mechanic, but I think you blew your chance with that." The brunette let out a soft chuckle, loosely crossing her arms over her chest.

"Glad to see you made it back in one piece." Not that she was worried or anything.

[morally_cryptic]

[ooc: sorry, in the midst of moving preparations...tagging has slowed down a lot]

"A great mechanic?" he raises his eyebrows before pointing to himself, "I only know of one of those around here..." but then he smiles at her, "and I didn't even nearly die or anything."

Surprising how often that sort of thing could happen.