somethingwithturquoise | Outside the Archeon Nebula; the GFFW, Tuesday [01/15].

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Outside the Archeon Nebula; the GFFW, Tuesday [01/15].

At this point, the whole idea that these were flying 'lessons' really were just an excuse for Summer to get behind the wheel of the Escape. Her own flying experience before even coming to Fandom added to the multiple times of just getting used to this one allowed her to be a pretty quick study and now it was just all about the fact that flying ships was cool as hell, especially in new galaxies she was still learning her way around.

But she didn't need a whole lot of maps or coordinates to tell her when she and BDG had arrived at their destination.

Just as she suspected from reading up on it in her encyclopedia, it was very much an "Ooooooh"-inducing sight. "I'm going to go out on a limb," she said, once the initial shininess of it settled in, "and say this is probably the place?"

[[ for the gffa bdg bff ltd btw omg nfb obsv lol etc etc etc...]]

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"And," Summer said, deciding to keep it simple, because, sure, there were a million reasons and a millions ways to look at it, but, down to its core, it really was that simple, "when you fight back, I'm going to be here, too."

Like, literally. She wasn't scoping out real estate on Coruscant for the view, over here.

She offered a slight smile, but it receded a little as she tilted her head thoughtfully at him. "And there's no shame in running away, either, you know," she added, just in case. "If you hadn't, then who would still be here to fight like hell? And you may not be that kid anymore, Kanan, but he's still a part of you. He might have a different name, and, somehow, miraculously, even worse hair, but you wouldn't be here without him."

Kanan actually ducked his head at that, giving a soft exhale. A laugh.

"The hair was one of the first things to change," he assured her. "If it helps at all, I don't intend to wear a braid like that again."

No need to advertise, here. He fell silent for a few moments, and then added, "But you're right. There wouldn't be a me if there hadn't been a him. We wouldn't be having this conversation. You wouldn't be building a small Jello enterprise as a front..."

He laughed softly.

"It means a lot, you know. That you're here. That you're willing to face this with us."

Summer shifted a little in her seat, though she felt she did a pretty good job of turning it into a shrug. "Well, hey," she offered, "it's not like I've got anything better to do, anyway."

Except sticking around home, maybe, as her grampa went on an endless bender through the universe, trying to find some meaning and purpose as he tried to grasp onto the constantly unreachable. Mmmm. No thanks. Especially not when the alternative was helping people you cared about take down a total dirtbag Empire that went around killing people the moment they'd accomplished what you were using them for. So many levels of uncool right there.

"So," she then said, because this all wasn't really about her, anyway, "follow up question: any meaning to the name you wound up with? Or did you just sort of...pick a bunch of letters out of a hat or something?"

She could honestly see it going either way.

There was a few moments' pause after that question, as though Kanan needed a few seconds to attune to it, to wrap his head around it.

To figure out how to answer it. He'd never told anybody where his name came from; not even Hera.

But then, nobody had really asked.

"It's... an homage, I guess," he said, finally. "To the man who first showed me kindness after the purge. Taught me how to survive in this galaxy, how to not be a Jedi. How to lie, how to cheat, how to steal." He rapped his knuckles lightly on the dash in front of them. "Stole this ship from him. It was my cut of that last deal, anyway."

He slanted a glance toward Summer.

"Janus Kasmir. His name. It's not a stretch to get from that to Kanan Jarrus. It's just enough of a stretch that nobody's going to connect those dots. And it sounds nothing like Caleb Dume."

Better stretch than 'Ben Kenobi,' Obi-Wan.

Edited 2019-01-16 14:23 (UTC)

Summer took a moment to think about that, imagining and rearranging things in a little to see how they sort-of fit, and then she nodded.

"I like it," she said. "It works well. And probably still a better method than just picking letters out of a hat."

That was...probably exactly what she'd do if she ever needed a new name.

"Is he still around? This Janus dude?"

"Don't know," Kanan admitted, frowning a little at that. "When I took the ship, I... I really didn't look back. He let me go," not just because Caleb had punched him in the guts enough to wind him, "and that was that. He was the best thing I had going for me at the time, but I figured I was going to get him killed."

Aaand that last part was getting you a side-eye, BDG, because that was such a Kanan thing to say.

"That you were going to get him killed?" she asked. The guy who taught him to lie and cheat and steal, huh? "Because of the Jedi-shaped target on your back? Did he know what you were?"

"Before the island, he was the last person to ever call me Caleb." Kanan grimaced a little. "The one who fired the killing shot against a ship full of clones who had grabbed me. Yeah, he knew exactly what I was."

"Then maybe not a completely unfounded concern," Summer allowed, chewing her lower lip a little. Putting things together still. Trying to think of what else to say, what else to ask, what else she might want to know. Well. She kind of wanted to know everything, but you could make yourself crazy with stuff like that.

"Not completely," Kanan agreed. He fell silent, looking out the window and just contemplating space before him. "Have I told you much about the Force?"

A beat.

"... And suddenly I sound like I'm trying to sell you religion."

Summer laughed a little. "Yeah, good luck with that," she said. "My days as naive High Priestess to a bunch of world-destroying flying heads are thankfully over."

She took a moment to wonder if BDG got to meet that version of her, but, thankfully, she didn't think they'd managed to cross paths.

"But, no," she said, "I don't think you really have. What's the whole deal with the Force?"

She didn't even really know what it was, and yet she still felt it had to be said with a certain sort of inflection all the same.

... That was fair.

"It's, uh..." Really, if he spent any more time grasping for words, people were going to start to wonder if he even knew the language. "Simply put, it's what the Jedi took me in for in the first place. I'm Force sensitive. It means I have a connection with the energy that moves through all things in the galaxy that most people don't."

Another moment and he added, wryly, "I swear I'm not trying to sell this. It just means I can do things like..."

Like hold up his hand, and then levitate the nearest object that wasn't bolted to the floor. So... a Coke bottle. Empty. Because a man needed his caffeine, okay? And there weren't exactly places to recycle these things in space.

"You know, the more you tell me you're not trying to sell me, the more it makes it sound like you are, right?" Summer pointed out, because she kind of had to, though she was tilting her head with more attention on the Coke bottle than anything else. Trying to rewind, thinking of any moments where she might have known he could do that, but not really sure. There was at least once, she could recall a time talking to him with Keara on the brain, but that was probably just after she'd gotten back from that whole ordeal, and the exact context escaped her.

But now, all of a sudden, it was all she could think about. It seemed a pretty safe bet that BDG didn't pick that up from shacking up with a Krootabulon Warrior Priestess, though, and that if she hadn't noticed it by now, it wasn't so much her lack of attention as it was probably an incredible effort on his part to suppress the idea that he'd even had it.

"Telekenisis," she noted, unconscously rubbing at her neck a little, and getting more intrigued. "Is there anything else?"

"One or two things," Kanan agreed. "Increased stamina. Agility. Strength. Reflexes. Aim. Awareness. I can leap clear from one side of my warehouse to the other if I want."

... And he could have left it there.

But...

"Communicating with animals through the Force. Sensing other people, some amount of empathy. Some level of increased persuasiveness. Visions... mostly prophetic, largely useless."

Was he growing gradually more sheepish as he went on? Yes. Yes he was.

Whewboy. That was some list.

"Yeah," she said, "one or two."

A little easier to see why they would have been such an asset to serve a purpose now...and such a threat once that purpose was met.

"I think I might need to see that leaping one before I believe it, though."

The thought of BDG leaping across his warehouse was ridiculous, and she figured she could use a good bout of laughing so hard she nearly peed herself after all this, anyway.

Edited 2019-01-17 01:19 (UTC)

And he didn't have half the talent some of the Masters had!

... Because he was a half-trained student. Details.

"That can be arranged," Kanan replied, smiling crookedly. Because... hooboy. "Hell, you can come watch me train, sometime. I'm not likely to bust out much of that around this place," he gestured toward the window, indicating the galaxy at large. "... But if I do, better to not surprise you with it."

"I'd like that," Summer decided with a nod. "I'd like to see some of it in action, maybe understand it a little more, even though, after that list, I'm going to try not to let anything that comes out of you surprise me now."

She liked to think that not too much out of him did surprise her anymore, but she also knew that sort of thing was always being proven wrong.

"I'll try not to let there be too many more surprises," Kanan answered, smiling faintly. Thankful that she was taking this so well. "I know all of this is... kind of a lot."

He slanted a glance toward her.

"Some of that, I've never told anybody before. Weird to have it just... out there, now."

And Summer slanted a glance right back at him.

Did he know her? Come on. Finding out your best friend had all these crazy pretty-much-superpowers that landed him being a child soldier that ran away from a virtual genocide of betrayal and all but forced him to completely change his indentity and hide who he was was a walk in the park.

....okay, so it really wasn't, but she could sure as hell handle it like it was.

And the warm little surge of pride that went with being trusted with stuff he'd never even told anyone before went a long way with helping that, too.

"It feels good, though, right?" she asked. "That's a lot to just carry all by yourself, Kanan."

"Feels good," Kanan replied, smiling wryly. "Feels weird, but feels good."

He breathed out a huff of a laugh.

"And now if some eight-foot amphibious green guy comes up to me calling me either 'Caleb' or 'kid' and tries to throttle me for flying off with his ship, you even know he's probably got a half-decent case for it."

Well, so much for the trying not to be surprised thing.

That barely even lasted a second.

"The guy you named yourself after is an eight-foot amphibious green guy?"

It wasn't an important detail, Summer knew that, but it seemed like kind of an important detail, okay?

"Well, sure," Kanan replied, smiling crookedly. "He's a Kalleran. They're kind of all eight-foot tall amphibious green guys."

Welcome to the galaxy, Summer.

It's not that there was anything wrong with eight-foot tall amphibious green guys! It wasn't like she'd never seen any before! It was just...not at all what she expected.

She was maybe expecting someone who could provide a decent excuse for inspiring that beard as well.

"Clearly," she said, "I could stand to spend a little more time in the Ks of the holo-pedia."

Kalleran. Like she was supposed to just know that!

Well, actually, Kasmir had more than enough chin to do the trick there, too.

"Can't hurt," Kanan chuckled. "At least these days most humans who hang around the core worlds can't tell a Twi'lek from a Togruta. You'll already have a leg up on some of them."

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Outside the Archeon Nebula; the GFFW, Tuesday [01/15].

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