[There’s a lot that could have gone wrong. They could have denied her entry. Boba could have already been moved. He could have shied away or raised an alarm when an unfamiliar visitor to the orphanage leaned down and murmured “Trust me,” in a familiar voice. Or the administrators of the orphanage could have realized that one of their charges was missing before she could reach her ship.
However, for the first time in a long time, things actually go Zam’s way. They’re flying away from the orphanage now, the hyperspace coordinates already punched into the console, and though Zam’s sure they’ll be raising the alarm back at the orphanage in a matter of minutes, she’s already rid of the face they’ll be searching for. Now when she turns back towards Boba, it’s not the face of a stranger -- more like the face of a ghost. She doesn’t know what Jango told him about her disappearance those months ago. Knowing Jango, probably the truth. Or at least, what he believed to be the truth.]
We’re nearly in the clear. How’re you holding up, kid? [It’s almost funny how mundane the question sounds. As if this isn’t coming at the tail-end of a rescue attempt months in the making. But fierfek, is it good to see him again. After she’d heard how Jango had died, well… Out of all the planets she’d peg as survivable for a 10-year old boy on his own, Geonosis is a hyperspace jump and an hour-long taxi ride from the top.]
[ A year ago, he would've been excited to sit at the helm with Zam. He would have asked Zam if he could punch in the coordinates because his dad had taught him how, he knows! He'd eager show Zam everything that his father taught him about piloting, the star charts he kept in his head, the type of ships that can go through a certain quadrant with no problem.
But he is quiet. Quieter than he ever was. His brow is furrowed in concentration. He was focused on the star chart, plotting out a revenge now that he's out. His father deserves that much.
Zam breaks him out of it and he looks at his hands instead. There's a heavy guilt and wariness that settles in his stomach when he looks at Zam. His dad never lies to him. He did kill her. Yet, here she is. ]
Fine. Thank you. [ Cutting to the chase ] Where are we going?
[His taciturn response is disconcerting, but not entirely unexpected -- after what he’s been through in the past few months, she wasn’t expecting him to be the same bright-eyed child she left on Tipoca City. She feels a strange pang of guilt at the memory, but she quickly brushes off. It wasn't like she could've changed things, refused the mission or talked Jango out of it. She hadn't known what would happen next. None of them had. She turns back towards the helm.]
Denon. Not as obvious as Coruscant, but just as easy to lay low for a while. [Not to mention she already has an apartment under a false name there.] They’ll probably put up a token search for you once they realize you’re missing, but I doubt it will get very far. It never does with-- [“With orphans.”] ...With these kinds of cases.
[ Denon; Inner Rim, similar to Coruscant but less Republic influence. There's work there, if you talk to the right people. He hears his father's voice in his head, chiming in with useful information, his only heirloom besides the booklet of rules. ]
You mean with orphans or clones?
[ There's an edge of bitterness and hostility in his voice. But he looks at Zam and it dissipates. He stares out at the hyperspace lights again. ]
[Her eyes remain fixed on the helm, though she winces slightly at Boba’s retort. Orphan. That word cuts even more deeply spoken aloud.
She glances towards him at his apology, a small, rueful smile on her face.] Hey. I can take it. [He’s angry. She can understand that. She turns back towards the window.] I would’ve come for you sooner, but… after what happened on Geonosis, there wasn’t word of any children among the captured. [Her gaze remains fixed at the empty space outside the helm, smile already gone.] I thought… Well, you can probably guess what I thought.
Should’ve known you’d make it. You’re Jango’s son, after all.
It's okay. I didn't think anyone was going to come at all.
[ There's a lot of the child still in him, despite the cold anger that curbs all of it. He resist the urge to pout and wills the tears to stay back. He has to be strong now. His father would want him to be, and he doesn't want Zam to think that he's still just a kid. ]
I thought-- My father said you died.
[ He stares at Zam then, searching for a response. Either positive or negative ]
[Yeah, she can imagine. This isn’t exactly how she would’ve liked to come back into Boba’s life, reappearing from the dead one year after he’d been abandoned on Geonosis, but the galaxy rarely yields to anyone’s wishes.
She’s quiet for a moment, wondering how to approach this. Of course she’s thought about how she would explain her disappearance to Boba once she'd found him, but actually explaining it face-to-face… Well, it’s easier said than done.]
[The Red Orphan is run by a hard woman who tells old stories about how she ran supply lines for the Separatists during the war. Now, she's a smuggler, and she'll take on a general's son for the irony of it. Luke is dejected and grateful, and does tricks with his lightsaber in public so no one attacks her crew while they make deals in the market. It's a good setup, but Luke's been raised to know it's beneath him.]
[He spends two weeks like this, hopping around in hyperspace and wondering what the council thinks, before he feels his father's presence at his heels. He knew this would happen eventually. It's why he chose the time to leave that he did-- when father was on a mission offworld with his aunt, and mother was doing a complicated political deal. They'd all be distracted, and it'd give Luke time to- to what?]
[To mope.]
[Xithum is a trading hub on the edge of the Core. It's the closest Luke's ever gotten to the Outer Rim, and he wonders if it's near his father's home, a dust planet he's never seen. Xithum is a water planet with no real natural resources, even the fish are inexcusably common. Space is at a premium. People come to the scattering of islands to trade. When Luke feels his father's ship land, he takes a break from watch duty-- pitifully easy, boring watch duty-- and heads for the beaches.]
[Luke waits until he can feel him.] It took you forever. [He can't hide the fact that he's glad to see him. He missed his father before he left, and now it's been too months, and he can't help but smile when he sees him.]
[ There are moments in the last decade or so where he wondered if he's been too lax with Luke, if his love and devotion had made the boy too soft and weak, too sensitive to the harsh realities of the galaxy. When he had been left to be trained as a Jedi, even when they had both agreed to commit him to the studies of the Jedi Order, he had worried for him. He feels so acutely the bond between father and son that ever minute vibration, stretch, every change was felt in his whole being; the first feeling of prolonged absence, the first surge of independence from his only son, the first hurt, disappointment, and blistering anger from it, The inkling of darkness in his golden boy.
He wasn't there for any of them. Because he couldn't. Those were Luke's battles, they've decided that when he left. But their distance doesn't put any distance between Anakin and his worries. His only son ran away and the first thing he did was to dig himself out of the marshes he was in, chuck off the leeches stuck to his legs and back to his ship. Later, his wife commed him to tell him of the news while he was en-route to her. A brief stay in Dac to reassure her that he'll be fine - they'll be fine, another trip to Naboo University visit his daughter, to conceal their mutual worries with laughter and picking on Luke, then he's here. Xithum.
The loading ramp hits the sand. Anakin stands at the end of it, staring into the sand. His hands are on his hips but he looks any but stern. He looks more weary than anything. ]
Xithum. Huh. You know what Obi-Wan would say - you couldn't pick a more civilized place for a vacation?
[ His boots digs into the sand and he wraps his arms around his son. ]
[Luke embraces his father, hugging him a second longer, maybe a little closer, than he normally would. He’s missed him, that much is obvious. When he breaks away, he’s smiling.] It’s not a vacation. I earned my way—they’re paying me.
[He doesn’t know why he’s pointed this out. He doesn’t expect his father to be proud. Quite the reverse, actually, but it was necessary. He thinks it was. He wishes he were more sure.]
[ He reluctantly lets his boy go. His flesh hand cups Luke's face for a moment. A hint of a stubble scraps along his palm when he lets go. It's been too long. He turns back to the beach, wearily rubbing his back. ]
Well, the Council isn't pleased. But you didn't leave them much of a choice. [ His smile fades slightly and he toss Luke a look, slight raised eyebrow and edging on a lecture he's not really enthused about giving. ] You didn't give me much of a choice.
[ He chuckles; the irony of him lecturing about unexpected and unexplained absences doesn't escape him. He spreads an arm towards Luke and wraps it around his shoulders. His son is safe. That's all that matters. Everything else is just details. ] Now, tell me about the unsavory types you've been hanging around with.
The council is never pleased. [Luke says, while actually, literally kicking sand.]
[He'd go into more detail-- he has a litany of complaints he's been practicing since he got off Coruscant. But his father wants to know about being a smuggler's bodyguard, so he talks about that instead, eyes wide.]
Oh, just smugglers. They're not so bad. They all told me stories from the War, [there's only one War anymore,] and battles they saw, or fought in, or smuggled for. I didn't know so many smugglers were veterans.
[Separatists, mostly. Be on the losing side, and it gets harder and harder to find legitimate work.]
[ In his youth, he might have been quicker to jump to conclusions. But he's too old for that shit. His back hurts from sitting so long, and his feet still feels cold from being in the marshes. Anakin close his eyes and sighs.
They've been cracking down on smuggling operations all over the galaxy. The Council isn't going to like hearing about Luke being involved. Though the Council doesn't need to know... ]
Knowledge about the space routes can get you far. No matter what your background is. Isn't that right, my son. [ He's smiling despite the jab. ] Do you even know what are they smuggling?
okay, first of all, i've never gotten gross and sweaty with you and even if i wanted to, it wouldn't be in a training room in a suit. [ implying a fist fight, without the paladin suits to help them! true test of manly... man-ness. u kno ] and second, robots don't sweat. like, at all.
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CALL OUT FOR TINY BOUNTY HUNTER
However, for the first time in a long time, things actually go Zam’s way. They’re flying away from the orphanage now, the hyperspace coordinates already punched into the console, and though Zam’s sure they’ll be raising the alarm back at the orphanage in a matter of minutes, she’s already rid of the face they’ll be searching for. Now when she turns back towards Boba, it’s not the face of a stranger -- more like the face of a ghost. She doesn’t know what Jango told him about her disappearance those months ago. Knowing Jango, probably the truth. Or at least, what he believed to be the truth.]
We’re nearly in the clear. How’re you holding up, kid? [It’s almost funny how mundane the question sounds. As if this isn’t coming at the tail-end of a rescue attempt months in the making. But fierfek, is it good to see him again. After she’d heard how Jango had died, well… Out of all the planets she’d peg as survivable for a 10-year old boy on his own, Geonosis is a hyperspace jump and an hour-long taxi ride from the top.]
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But he is quiet. Quieter than he ever was. His brow is furrowed in concentration. He was focused on the star chart, plotting out a revenge now that he's out. His father deserves that much.
Zam breaks him out of it and he looks at his hands instead. There's a heavy guilt and wariness that settles in his stomach when he looks at Zam. His dad never lies to him. He did kill her. Yet, here she is. ]
Fine. Thank you. [ Cutting to the chase ] Where are we going?
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Denon. Not as obvious as Coruscant, but just as easy to lay low for a while. [Not to mention she already has an apartment under a false name there.] They’ll probably put up a token search for you once they realize you’re missing, but I doubt it will get very far. It never does with-- [“With orphans.”] ...With these kinds of cases.
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You mean with orphans or clones?
[ There's an edge of bitterness and hostility in his voice. But he looks at Zam and it dissipates. He stares out at the hyperspace lights again. ]
Sorry.
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She glances towards him at his apology, a small, rueful smile on her face.] Hey. I can take it. [He’s angry. She can understand that. She turns back towards the window.] I would’ve come for you sooner, but… after what happened on Geonosis, there wasn’t word of any children among the captured. [Her gaze remains fixed at the empty space outside the helm, smile already gone.] I thought… Well, you can probably guess what I thought.
Should’ve known you’d make it. You’re Jango’s son, after all.
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[ There's a lot of the child still in him, despite the cold anger that curbs all of it. He resist the urge to pout and wills the tears to stay back. He has to be strong now. His father would want him to be, and he doesn't want Zam to think that he's still just a kid. ]
I thought-- My father said you died.
[ He stares at Zam then, searching for a response. Either positive or negative ]
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She’s quiet for a moment, wondering how to approach this. Of course she’s thought about how she would explain her disappearance to Boba once she'd found him, but actually explaining it face-to-face… Well, it’s easier said than done.]
Did he tell you what happened?
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this got long ;_;
REVIVIES THIS im sry
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[He spends two weeks like this, hopping around in hyperspace and wondering what the council thinks, before he feels his father's presence at his heels. He knew this would happen eventually. It's why he chose the time to leave that he did-- when father was on a mission offworld with his aunt, and mother was doing a complicated political deal. They'd all be distracted, and it'd give Luke time to- to what?]
[To mope.]
[Xithum is a trading hub on the edge of the Core. It's the closest Luke's ever gotten to the Outer Rim, and he wonders if it's near his father's home, a dust planet he's never seen. Xithum is a water planet with no real natural resources, even the fish are inexcusably common. Space is at a premium. People come to the scattering of islands to trade. When Luke feels his father's ship land, he takes a break from watch duty-- pitifully easy, boring watch duty-- and heads for the beaches.]
[Luke waits until he can feel him.] It took you forever. [He can't hide the fact that he's glad to see him. He missed his father before he left, and now it's been too months, and he can't help but smile when he sees him.]
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He wasn't there for any of them. Because he couldn't. Those were Luke's battles, they've decided that when he left. But their distance doesn't put any distance between Anakin and his worries. His only son ran away and the first thing he did was to dig himself out of the marshes he was in, chuck off the leeches stuck to his legs and back to his ship. Later, his wife commed him to tell him of the news while he was en-route to her. A brief stay in Dac to reassure her that he'll be fine - they'll be fine, another trip to Naboo University visit his daughter, to conceal their mutual worries with laughter and picking on Luke, then he's here. Xithum.
The loading ramp hits the sand. Anakin stands at the end of it, staring into the sand. His hands are on his hips but he looks any but stern. He looks more weary than anything. ]
Xithum. Huh. You know what Obi-Wan would say - you couldn't pick a more civilized place for a vacation?
[ His boots digs into the sand and he wraps his arms around his son. ]
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[He doesn’t know why he’s pointed this out. He doesn’t expect his father to be proud. Quite the reverse, actually, but it was necessary. He thinks it was. He wishes he were more sure.]
I’m glad they let you come and find me.
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Well, the Council isn't pleased. But you didn't leave them much of a choice. [ His smile fades slightly and he toss Luke a look, slight raised eyebrow and edging on a lecture he's not really enthused about giving. ] You didn't give me much of a choice.
[ He chuckles; the irony of him lecturing about unexpected and unexplained absences doesn't escape him. He spreads an arm towards Luke and wraps it around his shoulders. His son is safe. That's all that matters. Everything else is just details. ] Now, tell me about the unsavory types you've been hanging around with.
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[He'd go into more detail-- he has a litany of complaints he's been practicing since he got off Coruscant. But his father wants to know about being a smuggler's bodyguard, so he talks about that instead, eyes wide.]
Oh, just smugglers. They're not so bad. They all told me stories from the War, [there's only one War anymore,] and battles they saw, or fought in, or smuggled for. I didn't know so many smugglers were veterans.
[Separatists, mostly. Be on the losing side, and it gets harder and harder to find legitimate work.]
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They've been cracking down on smuggling operations all over the galaxy. The Council isn't going to like hearing about Luke being involved. Though the Council doesn't need to know... ]
Knowledge about the space routes can get you far. No matter what your background is. Isn't that right, my son. [ He's smiling despite the jab. ] Do you even know what are they smuggling?
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you would tell us if you used the training simulator to make five hundred robot versions of yourself
right?
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keith, the training simulator decided that i am so handsome they should take up my image. all hundred and five of them
lucky you, huh!
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wanna come and watch?
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you're just going to get all gross and sweaty with robot me's
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[Totally ... missing ... the meaning he just implied here.]
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THIS IS THE DUMBEST TAG
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tflns you
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but seriously r u ok
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bc i didn't get my butt kicked
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what r u a childrens cartoon
come on i will take u 2 the hospital u big whiner
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i don't like hospitals
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