bakerstreet | the picture prompt

Anakin's words do seem to register with the knight as his helmeted head sinks down, but only for a brief moment. It soon becomes clear that he's misinterpreted them as a sign that he's failing to live up to the Sith Lord's legacy. "Guide me then. Help me to become as strong as you were."

Well, it could be worse. At least he was willing to listen to Anakin, no matter how warped his motives for doing so were.

Anakin closes his eyes in a clear expression of oh Force give me strength.

"I'd very much like to. More than words can say."

They can both play the misinterpretation game, even if Anakin is doing so intentionally.

Nope, that's still going right past the willful blinders Kylo has on. "I'm willing to listen." Mark the occasion down, for he's never told anyone that before. He's leaning forward, afraid that Anakin might disappear from sight before he can impart some words of wisdom for the knight.

"Please." Another word that rarely crossed Kylo's lips. And if his voice modulator didn't flatten out his tone, there would be a distinctive pleading sound to it.

Anakin taps the side of his temple. "Take it off, first." Of course he understand the effect a mask like that can have on people, but if they're going to be talking to one another as...mentor and student, perhaps, then a physical barrier isn't particularly helpful.

Plus, he'd like to attempt to avoid any other misperceptions. He's not entirely convinced Snoke doesn't have some kind of brainwashing mechanism built into the damn thing.

He's eager enough that he willingly complies with the request. Kylo presses down on the side of the mask. The snout moves up and out, allowing him to remove the helmet. He sets it down next to him on the bench. Ko

While Snoke probably has done a number on Kylo's head, there's no sign of it on his face. The only mark he has of the Dark Side is the scar left by Rey, shiny and pink where it's still healing.

Anakin smiles wryly at him and taps just under his right eye now. "You might be taking this 'emulate grandfather' thing a little too far, you know." In more ways than one.

"Just don't start losing limbs. Then we have to talk about how you only get one body in this world."

Then he shakes his head slightly, dismissing the comment for the moment. "Tell me where you think this strength derives from."

The comment about his scar and losing his limbs gets a twitch of the lips from Kylo that's almost a smile. Yes, he's realized that if he follows family tradition, he'll probably be losing a hand any day now. That's something that he can most certainly do without.

His head tilts and he blinks at Anakin. The answer seemed obvious to him. "From the Dark Side. The path of the Jedi was too slow and forbid too many ways to achieve the power I wanted." The apple didn't fall too far from the tree in this family.

Patience, Anakin. Which was still a difficult concept sometimes even in the afterlife. But hey, if they're going with teaching mode, he's going to shift into a better sitting position so everybody can be comfortable. Never mind the non-corporeal thing.

"Okay. And what are you trying to achieve with the power?" He holds a finger up, "and don't say to finish what I started. We haven't gotten to that yet."

At some point, they'll get to the part where treading the Dark path didn't actually provide greater actual power than that of the Light. It just gave a pretty convincing illusion of power. Kylo isn't ready for that discussion, not any time soon.

That makes Kylo give pause, because that had been exactly the answer he was going to give. He supposes his grandfather really has been listening in on all those times he's been talking to his mask. Finally, he has another answer ready. "I want to bring about peace and order."

Ben had grown up in a war zone his entire life. Seeing what it had done to the galaxy had made him want to see it brought to a calm state. Unfortunately, he was willing to pay any price to bring that about, including destroying entire planets.

I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire! Anakin frowns at the memory. In some ways, Kylo Ren wasn't so far off from trying to finish what Anakin had started, depending on one's point of view. But he had been lying to himself at the time and his grandson was lying to himself now.

He leans back slightly and turns his gaze toward the ceiling, "I suppose it could work," he starts. "At least for a while. The Rebellion didn't start overnight, after all, and the galaxy was ready for some stability after the Clone Wars." Just like Palpatine had planned it, of course.

Kylo frowns, a stubborn look on his face. The way Anakin was talking made it sound like it would only be temporary. "It will work. Once the Resistance is crushed, there won't be anyone left to stand in the way of the First Order. The Supreme Leader has said it will be so." Maybe he is just a little bit delusional, but it was only because he believed so fervently in what Snoke had told him. There was the light of fanaticism in his eyes and it seemed that nothing would make it dim.

"Did the Supreme Leader say that the Resistance wouldn't destroy your planet-annihilating base too? Because if he did, well, maybe he could be wrong about other things as well." But people like Snoke and Palpatine had a way of glossing over such things and making it seem like they were a part of the plan all along. It had taken Anakin longer than he's comfortable admitting to really see that.

This sounds similar to what Han had tried to tell his son when they were on the bridge. Once he gets what he wants, he'll crush you. Kylo doesn't want to think of that moment and the seed of doubt that had tried to be planted in his mind. He was so certain of where Snoke was leading him. "He's not wrong. He opened up my eyes and showed me the path I was meant to be on." There's a fine line between willful ignorance and stupidity. Kylo is dangerously toeing it.

Telling him that what Snoke showed him was the path Snoke decided he was meant for was likely not going to get him anywhere. Anakin's actually not convinced any of this will get him somewhere, but that's never stopped him before.

"The only person who can possibly know what you're truly meant for is you, grandson." He smiles, wry. "And it's the Force that can help you with that. Not the Dark side." Pause. "Not the Light. Those words are...limiting."

Obi-Wan had once said that only the Sith dealt in absolutes but the Jedi were just as guilty.

Anakin's words agitate Kylo. He rises from where he's sitting down. Then he paces back and forth as if he can outrun the thoughts running round in his brain. He can sense the old feelings of doubt creeping back into his mind. When he finally turns to look back at his grandfather, there's a storm brewing in his eyes.

"No one ever gave me that choice before."

His parents had foisted him off on his uncle without ever consulting Ben on what he wanted. By the time Snoke had found him, he was a lonely, confused teenager. He would have been willing to follow his master into hell if he thought it would get rid of the turmoil in his head.

Anakin remains where he is, watching Kylo move, the faintest hint of a smile playing around his lips. They really are far to alike for anyone's own good.

"You're being given it now. Believe me, I understand the conflict you feel perhaps better than anyone. Certainly better than anyone living."

A Jedi who tried to purge themself of all darkness would be just as unsuccessful as a Sith who tried to purge themself of all light. There was always a balance point for everyone.

And that was what neither the Jedi nor Sidious had understood about the prophecy of the Chosen One.

Kylo sits back down on the bench where he started out at. His head hangs down low, his hands entwining in his hair as if the movement will keep him together. He's torn, both his call to the Light and Dark trying to tell him which way to turn.

When he looks back up at Anakin, his resolve has been hardened. The grip the Dark Side has on him is too strong for just one conversation to change his mind. "I can't turn my back on everything I know. I've come too far to go back now." There's too much blood on his hands for him to just forget everything and start over again.

And there it is. There's the trap. When Obi-Wan once told Luke if started down the dark path it would forever dominate his destiny, that's what he really meant. Once you step down the path (any path, really, but particularly one that cuts you off from anyone you've ever cared about), it only becomes increasingly difficult to turn around due to one's own inertia. To the belief that one you could make everything right if you just keep going.

Holding his gaze, Anakin manages to keep sympathy from his expression if only because he doesn't want Kylo to interpret it as pity. "I will do whatever I can to help you find the power you need, grandson. But I will not help Snoke. This isn't an ultimatum. I'll still be here if you call but not at the behest of the First Order."

Anakin receives an expression that is one part grateful and two parts confused. He's so caught up in Snoke's web that he fails to see how his personal goals could be separate from those of his master and the First Order. He wants what they want...doesn't he?

"Next time, do you think you can show up before everything goes to shit?" He sounds flippant, but he's still a little annoyed that his grandfather waited until now to start pulling the wise Force-ghost routine.

He smirks slightly, in a way oddly comforted by that tone. "I'll see what I can do."

Trying to explain just why he thinks it's taken so long to actually make himself seen until now seems like a waste of time though. So he just stands and spreads his hands. "If nothing else, you could use some drilling in lightsaber technique." Which, though it can certainly be taken as a criticism of Ren's fight with Rey was just as much Anakin's honest opinion of his more practical training. Of course, it wasn't Luke fault he hadn't had much to work with when he began teaching the next generation...

Kylo's face falls at the mention of his lightsaber. Anakin just had to go and remind him that he'd failed at beating Rey. He was strong with the ways of the Force, but he was still unskilled. It didn't help matters that there wasn't anyone to spar with. The other Knights bore different weapons, so most of what Kylo had learned was from Luke and being self-taught. "I've done my best with what I had."

[ooc: they should really meet on the Force equivalent of the astral plane or something for some proper lessoning, lol.]

"I don't doubt it. And now you're getting something more." That is, personalized instruction from his non-corporeal grandfather who was arguably one of the greatest lightsaber swordsmen in Jedi history. He'd cut enough of them down with it, after all...

"And you can feel free to blame me for there not being much out there for you to make do with."

[OOC: Maybe we can do that in their next thread? Or later on in this one?]

"It wasn't just you." Kylo had his fair share in cutting down Force users too. He hadn't gotten the nickname Jedi Killer for nothing.

Internally, Kylo is practically shrieking with happiness. Getting personally instructed on lightsaber techniques from his grandfather is one of those things he had dreamed about, but never actually though would happen. He pulls his lightsaber out, and even as he turns it on, it's clear he wields it differently than most Jedi or Sith. Whereas most would hold it out away from the body and with the blade held high, Kylo wields his as though it's heavier, with the blade held close and low to the ground.

[ooc: i'm game!]

This is one of those times that Anakin wouldn't mind actually having a physical body. For even if he'd grown more powerful than he could possibly imagine according to some people, that didn't mean he could reach out and see what it felt like to wield the lightsaber Kylo Ren had constructed. Certainly he can make an educated guess, though, and that will have to be enough as he paces around his grandson for a few moments, studying his stance.

"It does have to take some imagination," he pronounces after a moment, "to fight with those crossguards. Certainly it's more dangerous if you aren't careful." Which probably at least partly explains how Kylo is standing now.

the picture prompt

Yes it is! /Skywalker Whine Gene activated

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i make this shit up as i go

Don't we all?

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joy is of the Light, Kylo :)