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@cristallin
ăăăąă* | reprinted with permission
âI have to say, I agree. I meanâŠI donât really want to go home. I like it here. It has almost everything I had back home. I mean, I miss certain people, but thatâs about it. This is my home now.â
   â thereâs a lot of people who feel the same way. even then,     you might luck out and cross paths here, too. but... itâs as     you said. this place is home to people. i just want others     to see that, too... thatâs all.
   âWhat makes you think itâs savinâ people from thâ city weâre out for? Far as Iâm concerned, a bunchâa buildings anâ poor folks caught in thâ crossfire ainât whatâs usinâ us as lab rats.â
   â that wasnât my point, but if you hadnât jumped to     conclusions then you would have known that. itâs     fine, saving people in the city when necessary...     i can respect that. but there are people here who     have, and still do, try to get everyone out of here.     itâs not fair, forcing everyone into those ideals.     thatâs what i was talking about, you see.
   â i wonder... why a lot of people here think itâs their     duty to save everyone from this city. itâs selfish, isnât     it? you see... not everybody wants to go back. so...     why should their wants be ignored, too?
            i was born just a girl ; not a warrior.           i was not meant for bloodstained hands.Â
Perhaps it was only natural for a boy to feel nervous in asking a girl to something such as this. It wasnât really anything he was used to back at home, because there wasnât a lot of time to waste looking at girls â or anyone, really â like that. There was discomfort, but not in a way that bothered him.
And especially not because she said yes. Wouldnât Han be proud?
TO: annie
FROM: luke s
MESSAGE:
Okay. As long as youâre willing, I look forward to it.
Would you like to meet there?
  Likewise had her own predicament never allowed such moments as this, no instances that might permit such lax and carefree events as these. Despite the lack of nerves within her replies, she could not deny that she felt a peculiar sense of something foreign in agreeing to something that was not meant for training or, even further, work. And still, she could not say she didnât look forward to some time without being watched by the eyes of those she had wronged.
TO: LUKE S. Â Â || Â Â FROM: ANNIE.
yeah. i wouldnât go if i wasnât. but same. sure. we could meet at the gate. or... whatever it is you go through to enter. that good?
A fast reply allowed familiar warmth to flood his chest. She was okay, and glad was an understatement of that fact.
TO: annie
FROM: luke s
MESSAGE:
Better, as well. Iâm relieved we share this sentiment.
Because, truly, he still felt guilty that she had to experience just what they had together. It wasnât fair.
Annual, huh⊠well. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go?
He paused, hovering on an idea. It caught his breath in a way he wasnât sure why. Brief hesitation aside, he would finally press send.
With me?
TO: LUKE S. Â Â || Â Â FROM: ANNIE.
same. at least things are back to normal.
  At the very least, as normal as being stuck within this city could ever be. Fingers had already begun to type a response before his secondary message was sent, pausing instantly the moment it popped onto her screen. Even now she knew not how she should feel toward the warmth and interest he held for someone like her.
you should take someone... | [MESSAGE DELETED] itâd be better if... | [MESSAGE DELETED]
  Words escape her, staring briefly at the blank screen before finally replying with certainty.
i donât normally go, but sure. i donât mind.
@cristallin
A flower festival, huh? Sounded like just the thing to turn around some pretty tense times lately. Hopefully, all would remain well long enough for a little relaxation.
⊠In fact. He knew the just the person who could use cheering up.
TO: annie
FROM: luke s
MESSAGE:
Hi Annie. Itâs been a while â are you doing okay?
I was wondering if you had heard of the Flower Festival next weekend?
   Familiar is the sound that beeps from her phone, dreary eyes careful to see who it was that messages her. Were she to say she were surprised to hear from the man, it would be a lie indeed. Even more if she were to claim there was no small traces of content in how the other keeps in contact despite all her means of anti-social display.
   Clicking open the phone, she instantly replies...
TO: LUKE S. Â Â || Â Â FROM: ANNIE.
fine, i guess. better than last. you? yeah, itâs something they do every year. why?
   Besides the rupture in the sky that had appeared ever since that other world attacked, the night sky was serene. And the moon was even more so. And Sector oo6 was one of the better places to view the moon in itâs splendor.
With a careful sip from the small sake bottle he had purchased, the man continued his viewing as he normally did⊠though, for a while now, there had been a noise nearby that had been somewhat bothering him. It was no natural sound. The sound of impacts being madeâ the sound of something being hit. Punched, even. ⊠From the park bench he sat at, the samurai looked about.
Then, when he saw who it was that was making the noise, he stood. And quietly, he approached themâ leaning against another tree nearby as he observed the other.
âTrees donât particularly make for good sparring partners, Iâd imagine.â
@cristallinâ
  Feet are swift to collide with the wooden obstacle before her, that of a large tree which towers above most structures within the lush sector which she currently stands. Focused, a sweat already worked up with the length of time she has dedicated to the very inanimate object that one would claim to be her partner in training. Even when the stranger himself came to lean upon a separate tree does she pay little attention to his presence, a habit she has fallen into since she was deployed within the walls of her home.
  Ah, yet words tend to be more difficult to ignore in such cases as this...
  Movements halt as she steps back, shifting soles upon the ground whilst lifting her arm to wipe at beads of sweat. Only upon glancing at the samurai himself does she offer a response. Truth rang in his words, yet it was something she could not help; in the end, she only had come across one willing to learn from her techniques in her stay thus far.
  â and? itâs better than no one... at least here.     besides, not many like to train the way i do.
stranger in a strange land.
Her form surprised him â moreover, heâd never seen the things that were strapped to her and commanded a presence he simply couldnât understand. Weapons of some kind, perhaps the gear she had mentioned using in her homeland for various necessary purpose. It was all very foreign to him, though he would only study them for a passing moment before reacquainting himself with her face. She was tense, visibly more than usual, and it was easy to assume why. In such unfamiliar territory, Luke would surely feel the same. If not for his responsibility to get them out of this, heâd almost wish for he same ignorance.
â⊠Yes.â He speech remained soft, gaze flickering around them before he would temporarily reequip his blaster to his belt. They perhaps had a spell or two of peace, if he could even call it that. Based on what would happen next, Vader nor his henchman would seek them out. He would simply wait. â⊠âŠI donât know how, but. âŠThis is something I did many years ago. My fatherâŠâ He trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. She had to know. He couldnât keep it from her when she was now forcibly involved (and subsequently in danger).
His thoughts would wander to the hand, warm and human, that he was once more the owner of. It flexed and moved, tendons and striated muscles that didnât know their eventual termination. With a silent sigh, his brow lowered. â⊠This Luke is not the one you have met. âŠWell. This body isnât, you see. I am younger, now.â With care, he would reach out and take her hand in his own, prompting her to feel the difference.
â⊠I know what is to happen. Somehow theyâve taken us to what I have already done⊠my fatherâs starship⊠And it all ends in losing this.â
   Hearing confirmation that he retains knowledge of this place only heightens what queries she has blossoming within her mind, uncertain if she should find some solace or further insecurity of the very situation at hand. Shoulders droop in the slightest, at least comfortable enough in the presence of an ally than on her very own. Unlike the throes of her own world, there seemed more control over what battles were to come... and yet, even she could comprehend the foolishness of such a comparison betwixt dangers.
   Even from quieted observation alone can she note the visible concern over their predicament from the one who had already lived through it. Eyes drift, howsoever, at the mention of his father being amongst those of this foreign ship. â ... your father? â The pause in itself is met with more hesitation than not, her thoughts drifting briefly to that of her own flesh and blood whom awaited for her in a vastly different outcome.
   Only that of a peculiar warmth pulls her from the recesses of her mind, pools of cerulean lifting to take note of the hand which has taken hold of her own with care. One that should not be where the feeling of metal and mechanics should reside, the very trait that had caused the initial spark of their further interactions within the city. Fingers twitch beneath his grasp, unknowing of what to do in the wake of such a gentle touch as this, before retracting her hand in the slightest in her processing thoughts. Upon his next words does she piece the connection together, that what was to come was not that of a heartfelt reunion of any kind.
   â then, if you know this place... and whatâs going     to happen, it should be easy to get out of here,     right? before you lose your hand, or run into     any problems he might make.
   Soles adjust themselves as she shifts to scan the area, as if assessing what aid she can possibly provide despite the vast difference between their own weaponry. â Iâm a fish out of water here, depending on the enemy... but Iâll do what I can. You see, this is my maneuver gear, â she mentions, lifting a couple of sturdy wires that connect to the blades itself. â Usually, itâs used for combat against Titans, but... in this case, itâd be better to use it as a way to get around easier. â
     Blunt, distant, something she knows herself well, awfully familiar from this particular person. The way the blonde speaks of her former work shows no attachment or care toward it, and it makes the soldier wonder why sheâd called out to her; did she simply want to chat with a familiar face, or did she have something else sheâd wanted to ask? An individual who seemed so similar to herself, yet very much different with her own accord.
     â⊠Yeah. I guess so, huh⊠Sorry, I wanted to ask you⊠When you were at that store, you didnât even care, even if I was in broad daylight⊠Why?â While racking her head for a better way to explain her own curiosities, she must have become less exact and more vague.
   Peculiar, how this woman recollects well beyond the days that many might otherwise. Briefly does the faux soldier pause in afterthought, as if an attempt to remember the very instance the other speaks of; a tablet, expensive in make and model that most would spend hundreds on in order to obtain. Fingers lift to tuck a strand of blonde tufts behind her ear in realization, blinking once whilst proffering a neutral glance in her response.
   â does it matter? why i did... or didnât stop you.
   â say... isnât today just an excuse for people to be     assholes to each other without the consequences?
Mar 22 â Happy Birthday, Annie!
So Annie⊠What is your reason for fighting?
stranger in a strange land.
Heâd been here before.
Physically, one time. In his dreams and nightmares, many. This particular moment had only occurred once and somehow, in some way, he was back. But he wasnât the same. He knew that enough in the way this body felt. It was him, but he had long lived through this moment and knew far too much to have been sent back to see it again in good faith. Last he remembered was the city, dismantled by forces he didnât understand⊠a deep breath, a closing of the eyes. And then, like reawakening, this. What explanation was there? Could he really make any sense of it? As of late, it was as if logic truly didnât exist. Even now, in a the middle of a mission he knew the beginning, middle, and ending to, he did not see the truth of his destiny.Â
Rigid and heavy, he felt foreign in his own body. It was some years in the past, of course, and the body truly did not belong to him as such. He was younger. Brighter. And his hand was a warm humanâs hand, the one he had been given at birth with the other as he was meant to have. There was no mechanical appendage, no older sense of calm in this body. It had not had to accept the hardship just yet. It hadnât yet suffered its decisions, physical and otherwise. He felt these things but knew this body had no idea of them. It was as if he was given a second chance⊠but if he were to change anything hereâ
He moved, almost mechanically, along the walkway. Sights he had seen before, noises heâd come to hear in the backdrop of his being to follow this encounter. He knew it all, understood it all better than heâd ever want to. But with this knowledge it felt scarier than the first. The blaster in his hand seemed almost wrong, while the lightsaber on his hip waited to be drawn in almost burning anticipation. Knowing what came with every step made him move even slower, cautious to whatâd surely be waiting for him but not wanting it to come all of the same. Hesitance. He shouldnât be here.
And neither should she.
This was, of course, the shocking realization heâd come to upon rounding the corner and sensing another presence. She had hidden well, as he could not physically see her, but his force abilities had heightened, realizing many bodies existed in this ship but having neglected to make any one feeling more specific than the next. Perhaps it was the distraction of having made this journey in the first place. Nevertheless, her close proximity spoke to him in a voice so familiar, so cutting and unbelonging in all of this that it nearly knocked him backwards. It was not safe. Not for her. Not like this. Of all the people that couldâve stumbled into thisâŠ
â⊠Annie.âÂ
He didnât want it to be her.
   Familiar is the voice which calls her name, having the capacity to set her rigid muscles at ease for the briefest of moments. Perchance it should not be relieving in itself, knowing another she has become acquainted with as he to be within a realm that he might possibly be foreign to. And yet, knowing she was not merely the only one in the same predicament causes her mind to fall into the slightest ease despite continuous instincts of survival gnawing at the back of her mind.
   Cerulean hues are keen in their scan about her vicinity, swiftly discerning the lull of safety that ensues in this very moment. Only when reassured of their lacking company do soles press forward, fingers loosening themselves as her frame becomes visually revealed for the Jedi himself to see. Whether a sight he wishes for or not, it is the least she can do in the presence of one she can claim more an ally than anything else. Closing the distance betwixt them, she remains alert as she finally speaks in mild surprise at his own happening here.
   â luke? if youâre here, too, then...
   Silence thus follows, though it is more in wonderment at the notice of something different about him. Something lacking, or rather regained in the moment of where they stand. What hand that is to be robotic is no longer so, already blossoming several queries in her mind as to just what they have stumbled into. Eyes lift thereafter rather than linger much longer than necessary in light of their uncertain predicament, leaving behind any obvious inquiry that she might pose until she might bring the topic about in a safer area than this.
   â do you know where we are?
stranger in a strange land.
returnedjedi
   Chaos litters the streets of the temporal city that many have claimed as their newfound home, betwixt earthquakes and other disasters alike which sprinkles itself amongst the citizens with no safe haven. Even so, there is but little any can do when thrust into the throes of the unknown, utterly bewildered in both action and comprehension of just what it is that has begun to unravel into something which none could resist. Only time would make it so that the blonde warrior herself might be ensnared by the ongoings of all the confusion which surrounds her, having made an attempt to locate an area of safety.
   Something which she has no doubt stumbled far from in this moment.
   The gentle hum of distant machines greets her as soles tread forward, feeling the weight of her maneuver gear which remains strapped upon her figure. Foreign, the very objects which she peruses akin to nothing she has seen prior to this very moment. Mechanical items that no other of her own era or realm could identify as anything but utterly foreign. And yet, she cannot help but step forward further, gaze drifting along this mysterious scenery itself in brief contemplation of where she has happened upon.
   Silence lingers if only but a moment, the distinct sound of faded footsteps ringing in her ears as muscles grow rigid. Instantly do her instincts take place upon the approaching entity, uncertain if it were friend or foe; in the end, survival was key, even in this unknowing place which she currently resides. Fingers are swift to to take hold of the dual blades tucked inside the cases at each hip, shuffling to the side to crouch against the nearest wall as to conceal her presence despite the unfortunate lack of crevices that might properly secure her.
   Each breath taken grows heavier with each passing moment, knuckles white upon the grip of her handles. How pitiful, she thinks, that she is forced into such a situation as this, where she is to be pitted against a combatant she knows naught of. Even upon thinking of her options, were she to merely remain where she stood in the minuscule chance she might be bypassed, she knew there may be possible conflict to come of this encounter. Eyes remain vigilant, howsoever, as she leans forward so blue hues may peer beyond the edge itself, hoping she might catch sight of the very person who she hears in the distance...
sincerity.
@cristallin
Like many moments before this one, Luke was at a loss of what to do.
Having learned the way of the Jedi had helped him slowly discover his true purpose in the world, and with that came many answers to questions he had never considered the origins of. A lot of things had begun to come together â an ultimate direction and means to pursue that. But in many ways, Luke had been cheated out of things that would otherwise make him normal.
Or, well. As normal as one could be. And this, what he was about to do, was certainly an example of that.
Many weeks had passed full of companions and experiences he wouldnât have had without the intrusion of this city onto his life. He didnât quite hate all of it, either â in fact, he had learned much of the way of others and universes he could hardly imagine the reality of. It made him feel like a better person. A more rounded person. Even if he didnât make this realization tangibly, a warmth had grown in his heart full of discovery and adventure, the confidence that this perhaps had been exactly what he needed in the time he needed it.
He did not want to stay here, of course. There was much left for him to do at home. But for now, assimilating and planning for what could possibly come next was the best thing he could possibly do to help that mission.
Which had begun in many ways with a girl.
The very girl he sought to give a special delivery to. Heâd known nothing about this day of Valentine â it was not a holiday celebrated on Tatooine or anywhere in his galaxy, perhaps, â but the concept was enough to encourage him to participate. A day filled with kindness and recognition of appreciation⊠and for some, love. An ultimate promise. He couldnât quite make sense of that part, having never felt it or âdatedâ (as they said here) anyone. And this girl was his teacher. A⊠friend. They had become something like friends, hadnât they?
And so carefully held in his gloved hand was an expression of that friendship; heâd asked around and did the necessary research to have come up with a modest bouquet of roses. Yellow roses, just the same as her hair. He quite liked her hair â pale and golden in the light and practically glowing in the dark. Tied together with a red ribbon, it seemed appropriate enough a gesture⊠especially for someone that he felt truly deserved a bit of kindness in this world. There was a lot he felt she should have, in fact. Yet this was simply his way. A conscious that simply wanted the best for others. She was no exception to his sincerity.
Which brought him to her doorstep, pausing for just a moment to collect himself. Realizing what implication this was â or at least what had been told to him upon his research â he actually felt rather nervous. He hoped not to make a wrong impression, certainly when he himself did not understand what the impression actually would feel like if he did feel it. The only concrete realizations he had were that she was a rather pretty person and awfully nice to him for what sheâd been doing since he first came here. Couldnât that be enough for now?
With a deep breath, he knocked, chasing such complicated thoughts away.Â
   Having expected anything of some kind to be bequeathed unto her on this day was certainly beyond the blonde warriorâs very notion. Content had she been amidst the emptied corridors and rooms which create the home which she calls her own, cerulean lifting at the sound of a knock upon her door thereafter. Curious, though more in wonderment of just what it is that brings an unexpected visitor to her door at such a time as this; truly, it was nothing in connection to the very day itself, an inclination she is more likely to believe than naught.
   Ah, just how wrong this thought was indeed, however.
   Opening the door only brings an inquiring expression that mars porcelain features, though perchance she should have realized the Jedi himself might have approached her housing in due time with the interactions that have recently sprouted betwixt them. Even then she is not daft enough to bypass the flowers which he grips within gloved digits, blinking only once as she further opens the door. An invitation, silent as per usual, for if he wished to enter and take whatever conversation was to unfold inside a more preferable environment than outside for any and all to eavesdrop.
   â did you need something?
   Stepping aside, caring little about the state of her housing in the wake of a guest, she merely glances toward the male despite her sudden query on his reason for arriving without notice. Perhaps it was another means of guidance, one she might be possibly able to assist in other than mere techniques or information on the city itself, if such were possible.
aspectodestruccion:
   âI get sick of hearing about it. Same sentimental bullshit and candy every year, but itâs not like itâs gonna change. People like those kinds of traditions around here.â
   â donât get me wrong, it has its perks. but... most people     are stupid enough to use it as a way of escape from the     reality weâre in. youâd think theyâd have learned by now.     or, maybe, iâm just giving them too much credit.