The Park, Friday Afternoon

[uncertain_dume]

The weather was nicer than it had been for what felt like months, and Kanan was in the park again, as usual. He had the usual complement of swords, between the bamboo training swords and lightsaber. He had the dog, because at this point there was no way Stance was going to let him leave the apartment without him.

He had... A lot on his mind.

There were things he'd been putting off for weeks now that he was going to have to actually do something about. There were other things, ones he had been putting off for years, that he was going to have to do something about too. And while, intellectually, he knew how he was going to have to handle both, actually executing either was going to be a different matter entirely.

It was a meditation day today in the park.

[Open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

While Rey still didn’t get why any part of last week’s sparring session had been a big deal, the weekend that followed had kind of taken up most of the space in her brain ever since, so she hadn’t dwelled on it too much. That was probably for the best, really.

When she showed up today, though, she wasn’t sure what Kanan was doing or if she should interrupt, so she just hung out awkwardly for a bit.

[uncertain_dume]

At least she didn't have to hang out awkwardly for too long. Kanan was keeping an eye open, so to speak, since he was expecting people to show up in the park today anyway.

That, and Stance started barking happily when he saw Rey, running over to say hello. Who could possibly meditate through that?

"It's fine," he called, giving up on his meditation for the time being and looking up at Rey from where he was sitting. "I'm not doing anything that can't be interrupted."

Or that wasn't interrupted already.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey was immediately crouching down to give Stance all the pets hello.

“What are you doing?” Rey asked, still petting.

[uncertain_dume]

And Stance was immediately jumping up to try to lick Rey's face right off, because pets hello!

"I've had a lot on my mind lately," Kanan explained, a little smile crossing his face at the show. "I'm looking for insight, mostly. For direction."

[thatwaslucky]

Rey, shockingly, was not used to having her face licked, and barely knew what to do with that. Mostly she laughed and let him.

"You can get that by sitting in the park?"

It wasn't like she'd know what to do with meditation even if she understood what it was.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan just grinned while Stance went to town. Oh, Rey. That dog was going to love you best just because you let him crawl all over you.

"I can get that by sitting in the park," he agreed. And then added, "And by asking the Force really nicely what it thinks about things."

Which wasn't quite how it worked, but...

... Actually, it might be relevant for Rey eventually, anyway. Who could be sure?

[thatwaslucky]

Rey looked skeptical, but she figured it didn’t matter that she didn’t understand the Jedi stuff. It worked for him, and it was still interesting.

“What do you ask it about?” she wondered, letting Stance crawl all over her as much as he wanted. They were best friends, okay.

[uncertain_dume]

Bestest best friends. If Stance could knock her over, he was totally going to flop himself across her and have a nap there, dang it.

"The future," Kanan confessed. "Where I stand with the Force, where I should stand with it. And whether I should start considering where other people stand, too."

What it might mean if he did.

[thatwaslucky]

At least Rey wouldn't let herself be knocked down. Probably only because she was talking.

"I'm not sure what that means," she admitted.

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm not going to say something trite like, 'the Force works in mysterious ways,'" Kanan offered. "But I will say I have to wonder if it's joined forces with Fandom and is playing a practical joke with me."

He reached for his lightsaber and pulled himself to his feet.

"Any time you're done with Stance there, I'll be happy to take you through a few more forms."

[thatwaslucky]

“Sure,” she said, trying to get up.

And then asked Stance, “Can I get up, please?”

[uncertain_dume]

Stance tilted his head at Rey for a moment, considering that. He'd really rather not...

Kanan pursed his lips for a moment, and then said, "He responds better if you take a moment to just sort of... focus on him. Think about making a connection, getting into his head and letting him get into yours. Then ask."

Okay, weirdo.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey paused, and yes, that sounded weird.

And what happened was is she looked at Stance very seriously and said, “Please let me up.”

That was not the same thing.

[intotheout]

Tip, on the other hand, was bright-eyed and bushy tailed. She was even running as she approached. Voluntarily.

Look what you'd done to her, Kanan.

"Hey." She stopped and tilted her head. ". . . Are you okay?"

[uncertain_dume]

"For a week where not much actually happened at all, it has been incredibly long," Kanan said, cracking an eye open to glance Tip's way. "I'm just... working through some of it. Nothing I can't tackle again later."

He offered her a little smile.

"Tell me your week's going better."

[intotheout]

Tip shrugged. "It's been a pretty average week, other than the whole 'meeting my clone from the future' thing at the start of it."

[uncertain_dume]

"Your clone from the future," Kanan echoed, blinking. "Well... that would be... interesting."

Kanan was trying very hard to wrap his head around the whole clone deal. Maybe someday.

[intotheout]

"Her name was Unicycle. It was very weird."

[uncertain_dume]

"I've known clones with names like Big-Mouth and Soot."

And Stance.

"So far as clone names go, that's actually pretty normal."

[intotheout]

"She was named by Boov, and it's not actually weird for them, either. But since she looked exactly like me when I was little. . . ."

[uncertain_dume]

"My kid looked a lot like me this time around," Kanan offered. "Not quite the same thing, I know. He had his mother's hair, sort of. My same stupid eyebrows, though."

Look, he'd argue he had perfectly normal eyebrows if anyone else called it. But he was well aware of his own face, thank you.

[intotheout]

"Hera has hair?" That was definitely the important part of that statement, yes.

[uncertain_dume]

Well. That was one way to make Kanan blush. A lot. Dammit, Tip. He was so obvious you could call the mother right away. That was talent.

"Jacen's hair was green. Hera... doesn't have hair. No."

[intotheout]

The only other people she'd seen him spend time around were teenagers. Hera was the obvious choice for many reasons.

"Ahhhh." Tip nodded solemenly. "Right, now I'm just glad Unicycle didn't have gray hair because she was half-Boov or something."

[uncertain_dume]

Hey! Kanan had adult friends!

They just didn't tend to hang out in the park watching him swing around swords with teenagers, granted.

"Not that there's anything wrong with gray hair?" It might've been strange to see on a person who was near identical to herself, granted. "So it was an interesting weekend all around."