𝒋𝒆𝒅𝒊 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑷𝑬𝑬𝑹

burning , bleeding , the younger sun pursued his sibling across the sky . the wily old star fled for the hills and safety , but it was his fate never to rest again . for the younger brother had only exposed his face . the elder had exposed his F A I L U R E

"Ben." She repeated, commiting it to memory, nodding so that he understood she wouldn't give him away in the event someone ask about him either.

PERHAPS FOR the first time in this conversation ( and perhaps in awhile ) , a small smile pulls at obi - wan's lips .

❝ it's nice to see you again , sabin , ❞ he echoes back . were their situations not so incredibly sad , it would almost be AMUSING .

. ܁₊ ⊹ . ܁ ⟡ ܁ . ⊹ ₊ ܁. He should not have one more drink. Looking at the man who sat next to him, he decided that maybe lingering a little longer wouldn't be too bad. An easy smile comes to his lips, nodding as he raises a hand to call the bartender back over, "Only if you're paying, my friend."

HE OFFERS a small smile , doing his best to call up the charming man he used to be . . . . it's difficult . he's more hermit than man now , his interactions with other people relatively few and far between . nevertheless , HE TRIES .

he takes the man's hand in his own . ❝ ben , ❞ he answers simply in return . there's little else for him to say , though , for as soon as the bartender leaves , casimir is straight to the point . obi - wan shakes his head .

should all else falter, she could trust in the right words finding her tongue. this was what padmé believed in, for she'd learned early on how to use words as both her sword and her shield, and only rarely had she found herself in settings that'd startled her strongly enough leave her speechless. she 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 knew what to say — until she didn't. until she was standing by the bedroom door, her mind memorizing the unexpected sight of bare skin with its old bruises and new pearls of water. until her eyes stilled on his equally widened ones. a somewhat foreign feeling began warming the sides of her neck before coloring her cheeks as rosy as her mouth was, lips parted in a loss of senatorial composure. having asked for nothing much from her moon goddess, padmé was close to praying for wisdom to reappear and replace the odd fluster that'd captured her cells. and when obi-wan broke the silence with a statement lacking his usual tone, she registered that he was a bit startled too and that she'd seen everything the towel didn't touch.

she breathed softly through her nose and gestured vaguely towards an inelegantly folded piece of clothing that'd clearly been left on the bed at the side of doing something else. ❝ i turned back, my... i forgot it ❞, she offered while gathering her thoughts, ❝ my shawl. ❞ stepping away from the door, she smiled faintly and cast her eyes towards the suddenly 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 lines in the wooden floorboards. ❝ you first. i'm sorry, this was supposed to be your own time. ❞ wrong timing itself could be easy to leave behind, but stars above, how to erase the image of a scarred and shower-kissed obi-wan from her head ?

HE'S FROZEN , bare feet rooted to the floor . he should move . for the love of the stars , he should cover up . but he doesn't . for whatever reason , he remains where he is , muscles locked in place .

Then there comes the question, and Dooku's first thought is of his father: Count Gora of Serenno. And of course, courtesy of his recent landing on this planet, he doesn't have all the information.

"Yes." He replies, tone steady. "And neither the ruling Count of Serenno nor I are particularly pleased about it." He adds, before speaking again. "Nevertheless, I must thank you, and your troops, for your timely rescue." And then, "Is the Council aware of this engagement already?"

HIS BROWS furrow further . he's only known one ' jedi knight dooku ' and they haven't been a jedi knight for a long time . and they're certainly not the age of the young man standing in front of him . but how could he have not known of another dooku in the jedi order ? especially after the massacre at geonosis , how much their numbers had been thinned , obi - wan was fairly sure he knew the name of every jedi left in the order .

❝ have you - - - been away ? on a mission of some sort ? ❞ he asks , trying desperately to make any sense of this .

HE MAKES an agonized sound .

𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐑𝐘 𝐀𝐓 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 , ( 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈'𝐃 𝐁𝐄 𝐋𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 )

EWAN MCGREGOR & LIAM NEESON

Just today realized I've spent the last eight years of my life and 200k agonizing words trying to work out just how true this is and how far he would go. The answer is

Very true