If I feel like getting a lecture from Obi-Wan I could.
[ Does he ever feel like getting a lecture from Obi-Wan? No. ]
I probably have the authority, but hypothetically speaking it would have to be worth my risk. Are you going to tell me what this hypothetical thing Obi-Wan wants is?
Hypothetically, and just purely hypothetical, I was ordered to clean up a mess I didn't cause and it's not fair because I had nothing to do with it. I'm innocent!
I was, hypothetically, practicing lightsaber deflection with Rex and Fives. However the room we were in turned out to not be the best suited for blaster fire. However again, Fives picked it out.
So, in theory, it isn't my fault that the walls got covered in laser residue.
In theory, you and Fives should both clean it up. Laser residue requires a lot of elbow grease. You're both pretty strong.
So theoretically you should be able to get it done quicker.
Also, hypothetically speaking, you should put up something easily washable or disposable before you do something like that indoors. Just a suggestion, not anything I've learned from experience.
[ He just keeps typing it to needle her, since she started this. ]
Hypothetically, I'd say you have more experience in just how much damage a reflected bolt can cause. Besides, don't you outrank Fives? I'm sure Obi-Wan would say that gives you a certain amount of responsibility.
[ There's an argument to be made here that Anakin is also responsible for Ahsoka, or that Obi-Wan is responsible for Anakin, that absolutely no one would agree with past a certain point, including Anakin himself. Not the point! ]
And Obi-Wan outranks me. Honestly, you got off light, considering what a stick in the mud he can be.
[ He loves Obi-Wan but really. ]
Though I suppose I know a hypothetical astromech droid who can spin a rag at high RPMs that should do away with that residue fairly quickly. If you ask him nicely.
If Obi-Wan sees this hypothetical droid he'll automatically blame me, so you'll have to be careful. This wasn't my fault and I'm not going to clean it up for you.
[ Though asking R2 to do it is probably not fair either, but whatever. The droid can scoldingly beep at all of them. ]
[ getting pulled over for reckless driving is not how she expected her morning to start, but she can't exactly argue against it. her bike had a... technical malfunction in the air so to speak (it crashed and burned) and the guard patrol was not amused by her try to wrestle them to get her keys back when they swiped it out of the ignition.
they asked for her parents so she could be let out, and explaining she has none would invite a lot of questions. instead she gives them the name of her older brother, to which they raise quite a few eyebrows but ultimately call. she thinks they wanted to get a laugh out of it more than anything. it's embarrassing and insulting but once she's out of here she can thank him and be on her way again. for now she sits in her cell, crossed legged on an uncomfortable cot, and stews. ]
[ Honestly, of all the surprises that could have come his way, getting a call from guard patrol about his sister wasn't one he expected. For numerous reasons. Still, he knows how to play along, and it will be good to see her again after so long. He's certain they've both changed.
Once he gets to their station, Anakin waves off the suggestion to accompany him to the holding cells. Yes, he wants her out of there again, but he needs to be smug just a bit while he's got a reluctant audience. It's a simple task in finding her, and he leans his shoulder against the wall above the panel that would disengage the barrier dividing them. He really does try not to sound too much like he's teasing. ]
I know dropping in isn't your style, Snips, but this is a bit elaborate for a 'hello'.
[ her head turns over just as he enters, sensing his presence already once he entered the holding station, and it's... mixed. she hasn't seen him in a good long while and she told herself that leaving the jedi would mean leaving him too. she prepared for that pain, but she didn't prepare for a scenario where they would meet again.
she breathes in, expression downcast, but picks herself upright in her cross-legged seat. her hands fold over her knees and expression not betraying that she missed him. ]
My drop in was a speeder malfunction. I tried to explain that, but turns out I'm too young to be unsupervised with it.
[ age restrictions are such a chore. she's smarter than most adults. ]
a clone trooper, geared up in his armor with dark red markers, screams out to his regiment as they race down the dark streets of corcusant. chaos has reigned the past week, as the republic has fallen and the dark shadow of the galatic empire has risen. ahsoka, uncertain of what is happening or why, has been on the run for days as she tries to escape the city.
for now she must hide in the lowest echelons. the troopers rush in the direction their chase went, and she emerges from her hiding place in a dumpster as soon as the coast is clear. she smells of all the trash in this city, but that was even before she got into a nearly full dumpster. it doesn't feel so different from when she had to run from them before - funny how that wasn't even a year ago.
she brushes off a little bit of trash leftover on her and pants light, huddling her arms together under an old cloak she stole from a stall. coruscant is ground zero for the purges ordered by the new emperor palpatine. if she doesn't get out soon she'll be killed, and yet she tilts her head up and thinks of her master. she can't reach him now and has no delusion she ever could, and so she hopes in her heart he is safe. other names, faces, come to mind.
ahsoka faces back to the streets ahead and begins to walk, hurried and swiftly. she has to get out of here as of a week ago. ]
[Chaos reigned, and one of the first places that things had gone to absolute shit had been the Republic's prisons. Prison revolts, coupled with the overthrow of the ruling political party, had led to some unusual opportunities, and while Barris would not necessarily have slipped out and chosen to serve her sentence the rumors that the Jedi Order had been destroyed had lit a fire under her. She had no loyalty to them anymore, she had seen them as a failing organization for some time now, but they were still familiar, a fixture she had wanted to make reform...not see destroyed. She'd felt Luminara's death even at this distance, and that had been one more reason to move. She needed to figure this out.
The undercity was hardly a good place to be, but that was where she'd ended up, taking her time gathering information, and none of it was good. It seemed that Palpatine had been the one hiding, though that was only speculation on her part.
Hood up, she moved slowly from street to street, keeping on the move and trying not to make waves. OF course, the sound of blaster-fire and a ripple of danger-sense in the air, made it hard to not want to intervene in some way.
Moving from shadow to shadow, hand on the grip of the stolen blaster she'd been carrying, Barriss got ahead of whoever was being pursued without much difficulty, and before she reached a blind corner, waved her over.]
They'll see you if you head out that way. There's an exit to a higher level through this building.
[ before she met trace and rafa, the underground of coruscant was no place she would ever spend time in willingly. the time before was spent running from the clones and the order, hunting her for a crime she did not commit. if they had been willing to give her a chance, any chance, she would have never run. though that was not the day she chose to leave the jedi order, it set the stage for her self-exile. how could they ever do that to her, after all she had done for them?
it's a question she will never have an answer to now. maybe even hoping for an answer was a mistake.
what's not mistaken is the voice she hears, a cloaked figure waving her over. it's been a good long while since she last heard that voice, but ahsoka rarely forgets those who she held close to her heart. she forgets even less the people who hurt her.
she looks over her shoulder, checking for the battalion sent after her, and that is the only hesitation she shows before making a dash toward the figure. maybe the answers she was denied can be settled now. it would make her feel better amidst the million other questions that plague her mind as she runs for her life again. ]
[Barriss recognized the feeling if this woman in the Force almost immediately, and how could she not? They'd been together through some of the worst, bloodiest battles in the history of the Republic's final days, and there were other threads between them. Things that would surely come to light now, but like hell is she going to allow these "stormtroopers" to purge Ahsoka like they'd done to so many.
Slipping further into the building, still sticking to the shadows and adding a subtle touch of the Force to muffle both of their footfalls, she slips from spot to spot. There's a rush to it as she moves quickly, scrabbling up stairs with confident ease, saying nothing until the two of them have reached the top floor of this building and are standing beneath the hidden hatch.]
I'll go first.
[Because she doesn't exactly expect Ahsoka to trust her, even if she's being completely sincere. She shouldn't, and that's fine. Reaching for the hidden panel, she begins to tug, pulling it open and revealing just what she's said...a darkened street corner a level up.]
They won't find us on the next level up. Their patrols don't have the equipment to scan through the duracrete.
[ the questions that come to mind as she follows the shadow, keeping up with her moves but still too far behind for comfort, continue to rise even as she pushes them off to the side. she cannot ignore her nagging thoughts of why barriss offee is helping her, only let them stew until a better time. ahsoka is less worried about how barriss escaped and more about if she's going to get backstabbed again.
so when she offers to go first, ahsoka nods without hesitation. ]
Thank you. [ it's strained, but still earned in the moment. ] There's something wrong with them - the clones. They aren't acting like themselves.
[ she can't claim to know every clone, too many to even conceptualize, but she knows where their loyalties lie. something is very wrong.
in any case, once barriss goes through the panel, ahsoka will follow and then close it behind her with a wave of her hand and the push of the force. she pulls up one of her lightsabers and turns it on, adjusting the intensity and size of the blade so it doesn't draw more attention than needed. like this it just looks like a fancy lightstick. ]
So... was there a prison break between everything going on?
[ calling her tone skeptical is generous. it's more an accusation. ]
[Barriss nods her understanding at the comment. She'd passed by a few clones in shadow, bending the light around her to stay hidden with the aid of the Force, and none of them had felt right. They had something wrong with them, in the mind. She was good at reading auras, always had been, and was a talented healer to boot. This was definitely not normal behavior. It was like something was controlling them.
The street they're coming out on is dark and deserted like so many on Coruscant. It's no trap. At least, it's not an obvious one.
The hooded Mirialan looks back over her shoulder when she hears the buzzing activation of the weapon, her expression concerned but not afraid. If Ahsoka wanted to kill her, she had every right to. This wasn't something she'd quibble over.]
...There were riots. My cell was damaged in them, badly enough that the Force jamming broke and I was able to get away. The clones had come into the prison and were executing any Force-sensitive prisoners...so I slipped out and figured I would investigate.
[She gives her old friend, ex friend, a somber look.]
I saw them pursuing you. You...shouldn't die here. So, I decided to help.
[Lowering her head, she breathes out.]
Are you planning on using that? If so, let's at least find a spot so the clones won't pick up on your trail.
[ but hearing the clones were even going so far as to execute force sensitive prisoners makes her nerves coil up, a dread that she breathes out to extinguish. everything is happening so fast and there's no time to think or dwell on the reasons why. that includes the need to work with barriss now, so they can both live another day to...
she doesn't know. argue, vent, maybe get an "I told you so" from a friend who perhaps saw what was coming before anyone else did. barriss was always wise and in touch with the force in a way ahsoka admired and questioned when they met. they've come a long way from being trapped under crushing boulders, yet still they are in the dark together.
from afar an echo of a running march rings and ahsoka only turns her head over shoulder for a moment, then looks back to barriss with a strong look. ]
Neither of us are dying here. Come on.
[ and though she has reservations, ahsoka pushes off the ground and dashes ahead of barriss to lead down a path she has no familiarity with. it's just her way, her (former) friend should know by now. ]
[Barriss eyes the weapon and frowns, but shakes off the negativity and moves to keep up with her old friend. This is a far cry from some of their previous adventures, though she's reminded in a way of skulking through tunnels during the war her and there. It's uncomfortable, but familiar, and she's not sure how she feels about it on the whole. Yet neither of them can afford hesitation, can they? No.
Keeping low, loping alone with the swish of robes the only sound heralding her passage, Barriss focuses her inner senses.]
We need to get up higher. Off of the main streets where we can. They'll spot us before too long, otherwise, and if they do that then they'll call for backup and we're done.
[She points upwards, towards a building that's just low enough that they can easily Force-Jump to the top, but tall enough that they can hide.]
There. We can regroup there.
[And without waiting, she picks up the pace and leaps up, catching the ledge and hauling herself over in a flash of blacks and greens.
Once there, she'll wait for Ahsoka, pensively looking down at her, ready to catch her if she stumbles.]
[ ahsoka watches barriss get up without flaw, unsurprised the prison time did not shake her of the years of training the jedi gave her. being trained as a soldier turns out to have benefits for both of them, even with turmoil it formed. she deactivates her lightsaber and prepares for the jump, just as a sharp hum of energy ripples in the air.
ahsoka quickly bends down - avoiding the a few blaster shots - and leaps high. with a catch of the ledge and a handspring to flip over on the roof, ahsoka swiftly grabs her lightsaber again.
I saw something move! Scan the area. ]
Let's keep moving - they're everywhere.
[ how many clone troopers are there? even ahsoka doesn't know. she only knows there are enough to outnumber all the jedi even three times over. ]
[Barriss bounds across the rooftop, moving in a leap to another, and then another. She doesn't stop until they have well outpaced the Clones that have to move on foot, skittering to a halt in the darkened corner of one building several blocks away. She's confident that Ahsoka can keep up...and if she can't then that's not her fault.
When she does pause, taking a breath, she crouches low and looks for the other young woman.]
We can take a breather, here. We're only a block from another grate that'll lead us into some of the tunnels. I've got a hideout in there, and we can plan our next move once we're in a more secure place.
for unpragmatic
no subject
[ Does he ever feel like getting a lecture from Obi-Wan? No. ]
I probably have the authority, but hypothetically speaking it would have to be worth my risk. Are you going to tell me what this hypothetical thing Obi-Wan wants is?
no subject
[ narrator: but she was not ]
no subject
You know I'm not going to walk in and save your mess, right? Hypothetically.
[ Anakin will absolutely stand up to Obi-Wan about things, but not when he's not sure what those things are. ]
no subject
[ HYPOTHETICALLY... this is rude. ]
no subject
[ Now he's just being a jerk. He contradicts Obi-Wan constantly unless it serves him not to. ]
no subject
[ he has, but also, help out your padawan? ]
Ok should I just explain the hypothetical situation so you can hypothetically get me out of this?
no subject
[ That's actually true but most of that he learned while butting heads about it because he's Anakin. ]
Yes. I'm dying to know what this hypothetical situation is.
[ So he can hypothetically laugh about it and refuse to help, possibly. ]
no subject
So, in theory, it isn't my fault that the walls got covered in laser residue.
no subject
So theoretically you should be able to get it done quicker.
Also, hypothetically speaking, you should put up something easily washable or disposable before you do something like that indoors. Just a suggestion, not anything I've learned from experience.
no subject
Hypothetically.
[ she's getting tired of writing in hypothetically >:/ ]
no subject
Hypothetically, I'd say you have more experience in just how much damage a reflected bolt can cause. Besides, don't you outrank Fives? I'm sure Obi-Wan would say that gives you a certain amount of responsibility.
[ There's an argument to be made here that Anakin is also responsible for Ahsoka, or that Obi-Wan is responsible for Anakin, that absolutely no one would agree with past a certain point, including Anakin himself. Not the point! ]
no subject
You outrank me and him, so do something!
no subject
[ He loves Obi-Wan but really. ]
Though I suppose I know a hypothetical astromech droid who can spin a rag at high RPMs that should do away with that residue fairly quickly. If you ask him nicely.
no subject
Where I can locate this hypothetical droid. And also don't tell Obi-wan because I'll say it was your idea if you do.
no subject
[ Though asking R2 to do it is probably not fair either, but whatever. The droid can scoldingly beep at all of them. ]
no subject
[ r2 is free and wild, he's just friends with anakin and ahsoka. ]
no subject
[ An unfair comparison, probably, but Anakin isn't exactly known for being fair. ]
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I'm starting to realize you're a lot more powerless than I thought.
[ obi-wan is in charge and everyone just has to deal with it from the top down. ]
no subject
[ uses her actual name when annoyed? You betcha. ]
I don’t feel like being lectured. I have other things to do, you know. So does R2. This is generosity on both our parts.
no subject
Thank you for your generosity Master. I will be sure to repay the favor when the time comes.
[ :/ ]
for chosenfordarkness
they asked for her parents so she could be let out, and explaining she has none would invite a lot of questions. instead she gives them the name of her older brother, to which they raise quite a few eyebrows but ultimately call. she thinks they wanted to get a laugh out of it more than anything. it's embarrassing and insulting but once she's out of here she can thank him and be on her way again. for now she sits in her cell, crossed legged on an uncomfortable cot, and stews. ]
no subject
Once he gets to their station, Anakin waves off the suggestion to accompany him to the holding cells. Yes, he wants her out of there again, but he needs to be smug just a bit while he's got a reluctant audience. It's a simple task in finding her, and he leans his shoulder against the wall above the panel that would disengage the barrier dividing them. He really does try not to sound too much like he's teasing. ]
I know dropping in isn't your style, Snips, but this is a bit elaborate for a 'hello'.
no subject
she breathes in, expression downcast, but picks herself upright in her cross-legged seat. her hands fold over her knees and expression not betraying that she missed him. ]
My drop in was a speeder malfunction. I tried to explain that, but turns out I'm too young to be unsupervised with it.
[ age restrictions are such a chore. she's smarter than most adults. ]
runaway jedi
a clone trooper, geared up in his armor with dark red markers, screams out to his regiment as they race down the dark streets of corcusant. chaos has reigned the past week, as the republic has fallen and the dark shadow of the galatic empire has risen. ahsoka, uncertain of what is happening or why, has been on the run for days as she tries to escape the city.
for now she must hide in the lowest echelons. the troopers rush in the direction their chase went, and she emerges from her hiding place in a dumpster as soon as the coast is clear. she smells of all the trash in this city, but that was even before she got into a nearly full dumpster. it doesn't feel so different from when she had to run from them before - funny how that wasn't even a year ago.
she brushes off a little bit of trash leftover on her and pants light, huddling her arms together under an old cloak she stole from a stall. coruscant is ground zero for the purges ordered by the new emperor palpatine. if she doesn't get out soon she'll be killed, and yet she tilts her head up and thinks of her master. she can't reach him now and has no delusion she ever could, and so she hopes in her heart he is safe. other names, faces, come to mind.
ahsoka faces back to the streets ahead and begins to walk, hurried and swiftly. she has to get out of here as of a week ago. ]
no subject
The undercity was hardly a good place to be, but that was where she'd ended up, taking her time gathering information, and none of it was good. It seemed that Palpatine had been the one hiding, though that was only speculation on her part.
Hood up, she moved slowly from street to street, keeping on the move and trying not to make waves. OF course, the sound of blaster-fire and a ripple of danger-sense in the air, made it hard to not want to intervene in some way.
Moving from shadow to shadow, hand on the grip of the stolen blaster she'd been carrying, Barriss got ahead of whoever was being pursued without much difficulty, and before she reached a blind corner, waved her over.]
They'll see you if you head out that way. There's an exit to a higher level through this building.
no subject
it's a question she will never have an answer to now. maybe even hoping for an answer was a mistake.
what's not mistaken is the voice she hears, a cloaked figure waving her over. it's been a good long while since she last heard that voice, but ahsoka rarely forgets those who she held close to her heart. she forgets even less the people who hurt her.
she looks over her shoulder, checking for the battalion sent after her, and that is the only hesitation she shows before making a dash toward the figure. maybe the answers she was denied can be settled now. it would make her feel better amidst the million other questions that plague her mind as she runs for her life again. ]
thought I hit submit, and whoops it wasn't sent.
Slipping further into the building, still sticking to the shadows and adding a subtle touch of the Force to muffle both of their footfalls, she slips from spot to spot. There's a rush to it as she moves quickly, scrabbling up stairs with confident ease, saying nothing until the two of them have reached the top floor of this building and are standing beneath the hidden hatch.]
I'll go first.
[Because she doesn't exactly expect Ahsoka to trust her, even if she's being completely sincere. She shouldn't, and that's fine. Reaching for the hidden panel, she begins to tug, pulling it open and revealing just what she's said...a darkened street corner a level up.]
They won't find us on the next level up. Their patrols don't have the equipment to scan through the duracrete.
all good, sorry for the holdup on my end
so when she offers to go first, ahsoka nods without hesitation. ]
Thank you. [ it's strained, but still earned in the moment. ] There's something wrong with them - the clones. They aren't acting like themselves.
[ she can't claim to know every clone, too many to even conceptualize, but she knows where their loyalties lie. something is very wrong.
in any case, once barriss goes through the panel, ahsoka will follow and then close it behind her with a wave of her hand and the push of the force. she pulls up one of her lightsabers and turns it on, adjusting the intensity and size of the blade so it doesn't draw more attention than needed. like this it just looks like a fancy lightstick. ]
So... was there a prison break between everything going on?
[ calling her tone skeptical is generous. it's more an accusation. ]
no worries, take your time.
The street they're coming out on is dark and deserted like so many on Coruscant. It's no trap. At least, it's not an obvious one.
The hooded Mirialan looks back over her shoulder when she hears the buzzing activation of the weapon, her expression concerned but not afraid. If Ahsoka wanted to kill her, she had every right to. This wasn't something she'd quibble over.]
...There were riots. My cell was damaged in them, badly enough that the Force jamming broke and I was able to get away. The clones had come into the prison and were executing any Force-sensitive prisoners...so I slipped out and figured I would investigate.
[She gives her old friend, ex friend, a somber look.]
I saw them pursuing you. You...shouldn't die here. So, I decided to help.
[Lowering her head, she breathes out.]
Are you planning on using that? If so, let's at least find a spot so the clones won't pick up on your trail.
no subject
[ but hearing the clones were even going so far as to execute force sensitive prisoners makes her nerves coil up, a dread that she breathes out to extinguish. everything is happening so fast and there's no time to think or dwell on the reasons why. that includes the need to work with barriss now, so they can both live another day to...
she doesn't know. argue, vent, maybe get an "I told you so" from a friend who perhaps saw what was coming before anyone else did. barriss was always wise and in touch with the force in a way ahsoka admired and questioned when they met. they've come a long way from being trapped under crushing boulders, yet still they are in the dark together.
from afar an echo of a running march rings and ahsoka only turns her head over shoulder for a moment, then looks back to barriss with a strong look. ]
Neither of us are dying here. Come on.
[ and though she has reservations, ahsoka pushes off the ground and dashes ahead of barriss to lead down a path she has no familiarity with. it's just her way, her (former) friend should know by now. ]
no subject
Keeping low, loping alone with the swish of robes the only sound heralding her passage, Barriss focuses her inner senses.]
We need to get up higher. Off of the main streets where we can. They'll spot us before too long, otherwise, and if they do that then they'll call for backup and we're done.
[She points upwards, towards a building that's just low enough that they can easily Force-Jump to the top, but tall enough that they can hide.]
There. We can regroup there.
[And without waiting, she picks up the pace and leaps up, catching the ledge and hauling herself over in a flash of blacks and greens.
Once there, she'll wait for Ahsoka, pensively looking down at her, ready to catch her if she stumbles.]
no subject
ahsoka quickly bends down - avoiding the a few blaster shots - and leaps high. with a catch of the ledge and a handspring to flip over on the roof, ahsoka swiftly grabs her lightsaber again.
I saw something move! Scan the area. ]
Let's keep moving - they're everywhere.
[ how many clone troopers are there? even ahsoka doesn't know. she only knows there are enough to outnumber all the jedi even three times over. ]
no subject
[Barriss bounds across the rooftop, moving in a leap to another, and then another. She doesn't stop until they have well outpaced the Clones that have to move on foot, skittering to a halt in the darkened corner of one building several blocks away. She's confident that Ahsoka can keep up...and if she can't then that's not her fault.
When she does pause, taking a breath, she crouches low and looks for the other young woman.]
We can take a breather, here. We're only a block from another grate that'll lead us into some of the tunnels. I've got a hideout in there, and we can plan our next move once we're in a more secure place.