The Perk- Tuesday afternoon

[solo_sword]

While the other Jedi were on a mission to go after the Sith, Jaina had gone ahead and surprised everyone by opting out for a different one. Namely, there was information that she might be able to find out on island, and she was the only one who could really get it straight from the source.

So she'd caught a portal in this morning and once she got settled in, sent a message to her grandfather to meet her here. Then she got some coffee- she still thought caf was better, for the record- and went through her datapad while she waited just to make sure nothing had exploded back home. Literally or figuratively.

[Jaina's here for one, and up early for time zones, but can be open before that if you don't mind SP while I zzzzz.]

Comments

[sith_happened]

"Jaina!" Anakin said, coming into the coffee shop and reaching out to hug her.

[solo_sword]

"Good to see you too," she smiled, hugging him back. "How've you been?"

[sith_happened]

"It's been a trying few weeks," Anakin admitted, "but nothing that pressing. How are you?"

[solo_sword]

"Could be worse, could always be better," she sighed. "I'm here for work, if that tells you anything."

[sith_happened]

Anakin slid into the chair across from her, eyes serious. "Of course," he said. "What do you need?"

[solo_sword]

"Well, we think Abeloth has a connection to the Celestials," Jaina said. "Word is, you've dealt with all of that directly."

[sith_happened]

Anakin reached up and rubbed his eyes. "I'm going to need some coffee to get into them," he said.

[solo_sword]

"I figured it was better to come to you than to send the former Joiner King to talk to the Killiks about it, which was our only other option," she said apologetically. "It's on me. What do you want."

[sith_happened]

"Wow is that second one a terrible option," Anakin agreed. "Okay. Do you know anything about them at all to start?"

[solo_sword]

"Not a ton," Jaina admitted. "They're responsible for the creation for a lot of stuff, threw the Killiks into Unknown Regions, and we think the Maw might've been created to hold Abeloth."

[sith_happened]

Anakin blew out a long breath. "I didn't know that about the Maw."

[solo_sword]

"It's a recent thing. Luke apparently found this out when he and Ben were traveling around," Jaina said. "Which probably explains why it was the kids who were sheltered there during the Vong War that lost it when she became a thing again."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded, eyes wide. "The Celestials wield vast, vast power," he said quietly. "I met three during the Clone Wars."

[solo_sword]

"What happened?" Jaina asked.

[sith_happened]

"The oldest one--he called himself Father--sent out a Jedi distress signal we hadn't used in 2000 years. They sent Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and I to investigate. He was dying and wanted someone--well, me--to take over as the balance point between the embodiment of Dark--called Son--and Light--called Daughter."

Anakin made a face. "It was not a great few days."

[solo_sword]

"That sounds like an all-around terrible idea," Jaina frowned. "What does being a balance point entail?"

[sith_happened]

"Taming Son and Daughter," Anakin said, making another face. "I didn't name them. I was asked to choose to live on Mortis forever and keep them from killing each other and throwing the galaxy as we know it into chaos."

[solo_sword]

"And obviously you didn't do that," she said. "Because you're here."

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "First he tested me to be sure I was the Chosen One, which is always a treat," he said. "He had Daughter take Obi-Wan, and Son take Ahsoka and I had to choose which one would die. Naturally I chose neither and being able to back that up meant I was who prophecy said I was, apparently. When I tried to leave, he told me my selfishness would haunt the galaxy. Guess he was right."

[solo_sword]

"Well then he shouldn't have put you in that terrible position," Jaina said honestly. "I would have thought that condemning someone to death would be the thing that said you should represent the Dark."

[sith_happened]

"He wanted to see if I could bring both of his children under control," Anakin said. "He figured one life was a small sacrifice to make. I just disagreed. Vehemently."

[solo_sword]

"I probably would have, too," Jaina shrugged. But then, she sucked at the 'choose one' kind of scenario. "Any idea who or where the Mother was?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin pursed his lips in thought, then shook his head. "Whoever she was, she was long gone before we got there. Just the Father, Son and Daughter for us, and then were all dead when we left."

Oops?

[solo_sword]

Jaina blinked. "What happened to them?"

[sith_happened]

"There was this dagger of power because of course there was and Son got angry with Father and tried to kill him and Daughter got in the way," Anakin said, "so then everything went out of whack, and Father sacrificed himself. Son's power was tied to Father's and so with Father got he wasn't so overpowered that I couldn't take him down." He gave her a grim smile. "Look at me, bringing balance."

[solo_sword]

"That is a mess," Jaina said simply.

[sith_happened]

"It really was," Anakin admitted. "So you're guessing Abeloth is a Celestial?"

[solo_sword]

"It'd make some kind of sense, given the level of power she has," Jaina said. "I'm not sure I care what she is as long as we can figure out how to beat her."

[sith_happened]

"Well, they aren't unkillable," Anakin said. "I killed the Son. It just took an insane amount of Force energy."

[solo_sword]

"Considering what we've been experiencing on the Sith planets trying to find her, I think insane might be understating it," Jaina sighed.

[sith_happened]

Anakin reached out to squeeze Jaina's hand. "Obi-Wan might remember something else," he said. "We were separated a long time on Mortis and I don't remember some of what happened."

[solo_sword]

"I can try to talk to him, but I'm only here overnight. I can't really spend too much time with everything going on," Jaina said. "Sith and Force entities are surprisingly time-consuming."

[sith_happened]

"I'm just not sure if I've given you anything helpful," Anakin fretted.

[solo_sword]

"You've given me more than we had before, and that's helpful," she assured him. "I'm positive we can work with this. I can take it to the Council, and I'm sure the Masters would have at least some insight on it."

[sith_happened]

Anakin rubbed the back of his neck. "Be careful," he said. "Actually careful, not our family's version of it."

[solo_sword]

"I'll do my best," Jaina said. "Which is about all I can promise. Sorry."

See, lying about stuff like this would probably be better.

[sith_happened]

"Then good hunting," Anakin said, "and call when you can."

[solo_sword]

"The second I'm able," Jaina promised.

[sith_happened]

"Can you stay and chat a bit or do you have to get back?" Anakin asked.

[solo_sword]

"I've got time to catch up. My portal doesn't leave till morning," she said. "Apparently my threats to Portalocity only work so far."

[sith_happened]

"That's not very wise of them," Anakin decided.

[solo_sword]

"No, but they've lucked out in that I'm saving the real rage for those who try to kill me or others, so..." Jaina shrugged.

[sith_happened]

"Plus the whole 'forgot to mention the multiverse was ending' thing was years ago," Anakin teased.

[solo_sword]

"Oh, even aside from that, the hell I had to go through to get here was for that was worthy of at least a decade of threats," Jaina said. "But they haven't done that to me since probably last year."

So long ago!

[sith_happened]

"Time for another gnome sacrifice?" Anakin guessed.

[solo_sword]

"It's always time for a gnome sacrifice," Jaina said.

[sith_happened]

"We need t-shirts that say that every time we use Portalocity," Anakin decided.

[solo_sword]

"I got a gnome necklace for Christmas one year that I bring with me when I travel here so I can wear it if I need to talk to someone in person," Jaina said. "I'm not above intimidation techniques."

[sith_happened]

Anakin smiled proudly. "Good girl."