( closed. )

[apoptotic]

CHARACTERS: anakin & assorted others
DATE: catch-all from end of december through january
WARNINGS: skywalker etc will edit if anything comes up
SUMMARY: stuff and things

( individual prompts in the comments. if you'd like a starter, hit me up here or pm me through this account! ♥ )

Comments

[apoptotic]

[ three years of a war and anakin cannot enter a room with looking around. and he is admittedly curious as to how the more senior members live. he finds only a utilitarian, well-lived in room.

seating himself, he picks the tea least objectionable to his nose for himself. so far nothing has gone as he would have expected — as he had been taught to expect by the council — and lloyd is as placid and amiable as their conversations had led him to believe. cautiously optimistic despite himself, anakin relaxes by degrees.

as the gloved fingers of his prosthetic hand wrap around the cup, he nods to the folder. ]

What is that?

[lloydology]

[ Certainly, Lloyd's nature might mark him as a good actor, but it's not in his nature as an individual to hide who he is. It's part of what he loves about ALASTAIR: there's no rigidity here, no expectation to be anything other than his own self. ]

Transfer papers.

[ He says it even as he's setting aside the tea, casual and relaxed. Moving back, he opens the folder, revealing a page entitled REQUEST FOR TEAM TRANSFER in neat, black font. ]

That is--if you're still thinking about it.

[ They're here to discuss, not for Anakin to feel pressured. Lloyd's body, as it turns out, can drink, because he takes a sip of his own tea while waiting for Anakin to let him know. ]

[apoptotic]

I am. [ anakin takes the time to look them over, enough to make it seem like he is still as confident in this decisions as he had been. there is no other reason. he has nothing to compare them to; transfer wasn't something among the jedi. they remained with the order until they died — or they left, the masters to become one of the lost, knights and padawans to be forgotten.

anakin doesn't take a drink. instead he folds his hands inside his sleeves, distracted, a little frown marring his brow. ]

What should I expect? If I go through with it?

omg slides in here.........

[lloydology]

[ Lloyd motions to the door, meaning outside, the castle, Audentes. ]

More of the same, just with a different coat of paint: adaptating to a new team just like you've adapted to this one; people you get along with, people you don't; similar missions and different ones. [ A shrug. ] The jobs can be complex but the life really isn't. Is there anything in particular that worries you?

is all good, we're both great with times

[apoptotic]

[ a shake of his head. ]

Guess I wondered about the process itself. Would I vanish as abruptly as the others have? How do you decide who is best needed where?

[lloydology]

[ Lloyd shakes his head. ] I don't make the call.

I get an emergency request, a call for help, usually because a team's staring at imminent mission failure and need more hands on deck. Then I look through whatever's available to fill in the blanks. That's why it's so time-sensitive. [ And why someone might be there one day, gone the next. ALASTAIR doesn't have a hierarchy in the way Anakin imagines; Lloyd is, for all extents and purposes, a middleman. ] Skillset's the most important, of course, but if they're not the type to hit the ground running then it's a lost cause. A transfer like yours, though--I could give you twenty-four, forty-eight hours to wrap things up with your current team before moving you.

[apoptotic]

[ twenty-four, forty-eight hours to say goodbye. that's more than he expected. more than he was typically given even before alastair. more than he needs were anakin honest. he would need at most minutes: to get the things he has collected throughout his stay and send a brief message out. with whom would he need to wrap things up?

luke is all he had. the only one that mattered anything at all.

only one person matters more. she's the one both urging him on and keeping him rooted as he does not know what could help her. what could save her. he's torn as he has always been. she would know what to do. and anakin misses her so it has become a physical ache. a ghost present for her absence.

he knows what she would do. ]

How long, [ he begins slowly, ] have you been with ALASTAIR? If you don't mind me asking.