[fic/rp] across the galaxy

[morally_cryptic]

[ooc: Just prompted by a little mental image of Anakin "stargazing" that popped to mind earlier.]

On Coruscant, it was impossible to see the stars, even if one was looking out from the Council room at the top of the Jedi Temple. An unfortunate side effect of so much light from so many buildings and various forms of transport speeding around the airways. Not to mention that there was simply so much starship traffic, one likely wouldn't be able to tell the lights of ships from the field of stars behind them anyway.

Anakin had discovered this unfortunate fact not long after he came to live at the Jedi temple. He'd thought that, surely, so close to the center of the galaxy, the sky would be full of stars to see that he'd never been able to see before on Tatooine. Instead it turned out that perhaps the only thing that was better about Tatooine than Coruscant was that the desert planet was so sparsely inhabited and that the skies were so clear. Even out on the Rim, the sky was full of stars and the spiral arm of the galaxy could be clearly seen arcing across it.

He didn't try to watch the night sky on Coruscant anymore, but he still kept up the habit of at least looking for a moment whenever he found himself on a new planet. At the center of the Republic, however, he has to content himself with substitutes.

Which is why he can be found in an empty classroom surrounded by a holographic rendering of the galaxy. He's been spending all afternoon, so far, carefully marking off different star systems in various designated colors. Technically the entire exercise could be done by a computer but that wasn't Anakin's purpose in doing it. It requires concentration, but it doesn't require him to spend much effort in actually thinking so the whole activity is almost meditative.

The first batch of colored systems is simple: yellow for those that Anakin has already been to. Naboo might possibly be a subtly brighter yellow than all the rest, as if he'd lingered on that one for a moment longer than the others. He'd once told Qui-Gon he was going to see them all and certainly he had a better start on most other inhabitants of the galaxy, but it was still extraordinarily minute compared to the sheer number of systems represented on the map.

The second batch are green, signifying systems where battles of the Clone War have been fought and the Republic retained (or gained) control. Another group are blue, for the Separatist-won battles.

And finally, there's a sprinkling of red dots across the galaxy, mostly concentrated Rimward, and these are for those systems where battles are currently raging. Places he should be where he could be doing some good and making a difference. Staring at those flashes of red, it was almost enough to have him just commandeering a starfighter and heading out somewhere...anywhere. After making sure orders somehow just happened to make it through the system so that Rex and the 501st would be meeting him, of course.

But it wasn't, quite, enough. Contrary to some people's beliefs, he did have enough self-awareness to recognize that any action along those lines would likely not end well. That didn't mean he didn't still feel the temptation and it's that thought that has him swiping a hand through the starfield and systematically clearing everything out again until only dots of yellow remain on the map. He stares at those longest before they're wiped clean as well.

Comments

Seeing as how you added RP to the FIC tag...

[master_obiwan]

At some point after Anakin clears away the colour coding, but before he shuts the hologram down completely, Obi-Wan is there at the doorway. He knows that Anakin knows he's there, but still, it's rare for him to get a chance to simply observe his friend while he's occupied with something else, so he says nothing.

No need to ruin the moment of serenity, after all.

Was going to make a new post but then I got lazy

[morally_cryptic]

They'd gotten settled in well enough and granted enough freedom that no one looked too askance at them if they were walking around without escort.

Anakin had thought they might actually be asked to do the job they'd signed on for, but apparently there was little need for that service yet. Either that or someone didn't trust them with such things yet. Or Kista thought they'd do better at doing their real job by staying here. Which wasn't necessarily wrong.

That said, it did seem things around the place were growing steadily more tense, more people and things arriving but nothing really seeming to go back out again.

For his part, Anakin was growing increasingly convinced if anyone there was tipping off the Separatists it was Malco, Jade's right hand man. He was definitely in the position to do so and of the few things he'd actually heard the man say, a good chunk of it certainly seemed to echo Separatist rhetoric. Coincidence? Perhaps. But that's not what Anakin's gut said.

Sitting down beside Obi-Wan in the caf area, Anakin raised his eyebrows, "is it just me or is this place starting to feel a little like a ticking detonator?"