thisavrou | video; backdated to 05/20; locked to Padmé, Satine, and Zam

[ Returning from Amissis-Re, Obi-Wan has never been more relieved to be riding with Anakin — a feeling altogether foreign most other times. At the moment no one is piloting transporter 002 in any meaningful way. They are, in fact, taking the long way back, and by way of abusing Skywalker's status, which affords them a little time to formulate a crucial warning.

No doubt, they both feel the heaviness of certain burdens. The trip through the Alter-Ingress had been both terrifying and sobering. The information they now find themselves in possession of is like a great mountain atop their shoulders — more so Anakin's, it seems, if his distant expression is any indication. It's why Kenobi doesn't hesitate to take the lead. ]

If you can spare a moment, we— Anakin and I have discovered information we feel is necessary to be shared and further disseminated going forward. Please, it's important.

[ On a locked frequency, the message is only for a very select few — those who would be most greatly affected by the information. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's the only thing he can manage other than anger. It gives his resentment a direction, and as much as Obi-Wan doesn't deserve it, he's the only one in the room.]

Is that you talking, or the Council?

This isn't helping. [ And then, as to be expected, he softens a bit and sighs. ] We can talk about it later.

[ Perhaps not what Anakin wants to hear, but Obi-Wan gestures to the screen and offers Amidala a thin smile. ]

I'm sorry, Padmé; we'll endeavor to maintain ourselves with a little more decorum going forward.

From my own...

[ Padmé sits down, as if her strings have been cut. How could she be so blind? She never even considered.... How did Master Yoda not know? Even with the attention being diverted to his lessors, for Yoda to not sense it...]

How did you find this out? Was it back on that ship?

No! [Anakin quickly cuts that one right off before he has to explain that in the middle of still trying to sort through how he feels about the Chancellor.]

No. It was... [he clears his throat roughly and looks over at Obi-Wan for a split second, grasping for some kind of mental grounding when he can't see her.] The temple. We were in the temple.

I brought back a security recording. It's badly damaged, but I'm hoping with a little time we may be able to recover more substantial information.

I'd also like Arnot to take a look. [ That said to Anakin, although Kenobi only tips his head in his former apprentice's direction. ]

And...The Chancellor was on that tape? Admitting to being a Sith?

[ She pauses, before standing up, going for her jacket. she has to see this recording. ]

I will meet you in the hangar when you arrive.

Edited 2016-05-27 20:43 (UTC)

It was unmistakable.

[ He doesn't expect Padmé will disagree when she sees the recording herself. The Chancellor's voice is still haunting him in this moment, every memory like a new revelation. ]

We should be too long. We'll see you then.

[ Padmé makes it to the hangar in record time, the memories of the last time she was here alone with Anakin just brushing her consciousness, too worried about her home to dwell on it. She prides herself on her patience and restraint, but both are in short supply with such harrowing news, and the senator finds herself pacing while waiting for their ship to return. ]

[ This may be one of the few times that Obi-Wan doesn't have the heart to complain about flying. Instead, he disembarks and waits for all the shutdown procedures before following Anakin out into the hanger bay. ]

There's Padmé. [ As if it needs pointed out. Still, he figures it's permission to seek out that familiar comfort he knows Anakin needs, even if he doesn't say it. ] You go ahead and I'll catch up after I've signed the ship back in.

[After all of this, the bodies, the clones, the revelation, attached to the secret he still holds onto in the back of his robes, Anakin wants nothing more than to be done. With responsibility, with knowing any of this, with this destiny, all of it. Everything he knows is attached to hurt, every breath he takes burns like he's still breathing in smoke.

He can't imagine a future worse than this. Let alone having to tell the people he holds most dear, dearer than even--perhaps unfairly--the potentiality of his children, that this is all there is left to look forward to. Death and betrayal in spades. And to make matters worse, Anakin suspects, given the timing, that the temple had been shown to them for a reason.

A reason he shouldn't have been able to come back from.

He nods numbly at Obi-Wan's instructions, not really looking to him at all, the floor almost seeming more welcoming than seeing Padmé on the horizon, the same worry and fear etched into an expression he can't console. If this betrayal hurt no one else more, it would be her.

The one person alone who deserves none of this hurt.

He stalks toward her slowly, steadily, trying to hide the shake that threatens in his good hand, the other tensing and locking up under the duress; his nerves aren't sure how to react, and the mechanics of the arm less so.]

I'm sorry. [It's all he can think to say. For all of this. For knowing it. For having nothing better to say. For dragging her into this at all.] Padmé, I--

[I'm so sorry. ~~I'll make him sorry.~~]

Edited 2016-06-01 03:37 (UTC)

video; backdated to 05/20; locked to Padmé, Satine, and Zam

no subject

no subject

no subject

audio;

video;

video;

video;

action;

action;

action;