The backpedaling takes Obi-Wan more by surprise than the assumption itself, and he glances at Luke with slightly raised brows. "In this instance, your assumption is entirely correct. Not only would it probably not be safe for you elsewhere - but, let's be frank, where else would you go?" His tone is gentle even as his words are blunt. "You don't know this galaxy. The one you're familiar with is at least 15 years in the future."
"Now," his tone turns brisk and business-like again. "Almost there, I'll help you get settled and go back for--" And that's when Obi-Wan remembers thinking the R2 unit seemed familiar, but had decided it was merely similar to the one he was so used to. "R2-D2?" He hazards the guess, unsure which will upset him more: that it isn't the same droid - or that it is.
There's a wave of relief at that, as well as some chagrin at having doubted Ben. (He's getting used to that concept, it seems--it's hard not to, with the man next to him and his presence in the Force a familiar comfort, even if the image is utterly wrong. Fascinatingly so.) So he smiles gratefully, nodding.
He squints up at the other man as he falters over R2's name, and his eyebrows raise. "You did know him!" he says, a trifle indignant, though in the grand scheme of things it's a lesser lie than others Kenobi fostered. It's one part of the mystery he's never pried from R2's memory banks--why the droid had said he'd been owned by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Luke's emphasis again surprises him, before Obi-Wan's shoulders sag slightly and he offers a small, bittersweet smile. "If you didn't know that, then you probably aren't aware that he originally belonged to your mother. I was there during the altercation he survived, when several of his contemporaries did not, and the queen deemed him exemplary."
His reminiscence, and the familiarity he's already starting to feel with Luke, just from the other man's behavior and feelings toward him, have made Obi-Wan's tongue looser than typical. He glances at Luke and wonders just how much he told him, in the future-past. What truths did he obfuscate, or outright hide from him?
Trying to divert the conversation - at least until he has more time to consider what, if anything, he will tell Luke if the boy asks after certain subjects (he should have had at least a decade's more time to think on that before he'd needed to know) - Obi-Wan nods toward the small dome of his house, closer than it appears due to its sunken architecture. "Here we are."
Luke has so many questions. His eyes widen at the mention of his mother, something of a lost little boy rising to the surface. Who was his mother? What queen? How did R2 go from whoever she was to Leia to Ben to him? What did it mean, and how much more did Obi-Wan know that he hadn't told Luke?
He's opened his mouth to spill forth about eighty different variations on those questions when Kenobi forestalls him by gesturing to his hut, and Luke is forced to follow his gaze out of politeness as well as curiosity. It looks the same, slightly less weathered, perhaps, but things aged quickly in the desert.
He wonders how long Ben's been here.
"Thank you," he says, meaning for the whole thing--whatever's going on here, he could've ended up with worse company, even if this is company which makes no logical sense. "If it's like I remember, I'm sure it's cozy."
That draws a startled laugh from Obi-Wan. "If by 'cozy' you mean ramshackle and covered in sand and dust, then yes, it's extremely cozy."
He does his best to keep the place clean, but even though he has water to spare in his reservoir, he's not going to waste it wiping down every surface constantly. He has a new appreciation for Anakin constantly complaining any time they were on a dry world, though.
Ah, there it is; that sharp pang of grief he tries to keep tucked away, whenever he thinks of his friend, his brother.
After helping Luke hobble over to a softly lined davenport, Obi-Wan stands and just looks at him for a moment. "You look like your father," he murmurs, unable to stop the words, or the sadness that creeps into his eyes.
"Tell me something. Anything, about your life. Something inconsequential, that it won't matter if I know."
Much as Luke had always wanted to leave Tatooine--and as many times as he'd been dragged back--there's a strange sort of nostalgia, being here. He's been back, but only after Ben was gone, everything fallen into the sort of disused dustiness that makes its current state seem pristine.
He glances up sharply at the observation, barely heard over the distraction of his leg, and his eyes widen with an almost childlike loss mixed with the same sort of gratitude he'd felt when first hearing his father was a Jedi Knight. He's never much thought about it, knowing he'd never have the chance to know what Anakin was like. Must be something about this room, he thinks, and swallows back all the things he wants to tell Obi-Wan.
He wants to say I met my sister. He wants to say Anakin's still in there, even now, and I will reach him, and you will be avenged that way. He wants to say so many things that this man probably shouldn't hear, given that they don't know why this is happening or what might affect the future. His past? Whatever this is. But what will matter to Ben, that won't alter his actions? Or reveal more about Ben's own end? Luke's life, of late, has been a string of consequential events.
"I finally tasted ice cream," he says suddenly, without thinking. "Just last year, actually." He smiles. "It was amazing."
The lingering melancholy he's still feeling, that prompted his question looking for a distraction, is pushed roughly aside at Luke's words, and Obi-Wan starts laughing. And laughing. Because yes, that is something foreign to Tatooine, and even if the observation reminds him of Anakin as well, it's a good memory.
"Yes, most ice cream is amazing. Y-- Some people speculate there are more flavors than stars in the galaxy." He stops himself from saying those 'people' was actually Luke's father. He needs to start divorcing Luke from the idea of being Anakin's son; he is his own person, with a lifetime of experiences. He's possibly almost as old as Obi-Wan's former friend. It's hard though, because Luke looks so much like him, and even some of his facial expressions and mannerisms, things commonly thought to be learned from parents, not inherited, are so similar.
No, no, stop that.
Still. He thinks Luke's forced convalescence in his home will help. To that end, Obi-Wan moves to get Luke some water, before heading out to fetch R2-D2.
Luke tries to remember if he'd ever seen Ben laugh. Chuckle is the best he can do, so he watches in wonder as the man outright laughs. At something Luke has said, which he'll admit himself is ridiculous. It had been the only thing to come to mind that isn't going to upset the man, and maybe it's the heat got him thinking about cool desserts. But there's something about making Obi-Wan's face crease into mirth that is oddly satisfying. And humanizing--he needs to start seeing this man as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight in exile, not the old hermit he'd lost on the Death Star.
He drinks the water down gratefully, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after draining the glass, and then sets to examining his leg as Obi-Wan fetches R2. It doesn't seem to be broken, but he sprain is pretty intense, as is the swelling.
Luke finally lies back, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, trying to figure out how he got here. He'll have to check the flight recorder, but as far as he can tell, it hadn't been an instrument malfunction--but something had definitely happened to throw them off. And he'd, apparently, traveled through time. He wonders if there's any precedent for this. And how one would go about even finding that out. And that leads to another thought, and another--if this is real, what will his presence do to history?
And if he's here now, does that mean he was here when he himself was a boy?
It's all giving him a headache by the time Obi-Wan gets back, frowning with furrowed brow up at the ceiling and lost in thought.
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"Now," his tone turns brisk and business-like again. "Almost there, I'll help you get settled and go back for--" And that's when Obi-Wan remembers thinking the R2 unit seemed familiar, but had decided it was merely similar to the one he was so used to. "R2-D2?" He hazards the guess, unsure which will upset him more: that it isn't the same droid - or that it is.
no subject
He squints up at the other man as he falters over R2's name, and his eyebrows raise. "You did know him!" he says, a trifle indignant, though in the grand scheme of things it's a lesser lie than others Kenobi fostered. It's one part of the mystery he's never pried from R2's memory banks--why the droid had said he'd been owned by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
no subject
His reminiscence, and the familiarity he's already starting to feel with Luke, just from the other man's behavior and feelings toward him, have made Obi-Wan's tongue looser than typical. He glances at Luke and wonders just how much he told him, in the future-past. What truths did he obfuscate, or outright hide from him?
Trying to divert the conversation - at least until he has more time to consider what, if anything, he will tell Luke if the boy asks after certain subjects (he should have had at least a decade's more time to think on that before he'd needed to know) - Obi-Wan nods toward the small dome of his house, closer than it appears due to its sunken architecture. "Here we are."
no subject
He's opened his mouth to spill forth about eighty different variations on those questions when Kenobi forestalls him by gesturing to his hut, and Luke is forced to follow his gaze out of politeness as well as curiosity. It looks the same, slightly less weathered, perhaps, but things aged quickly in the desert.
He wonders how long Ben's been here.
"Thank you," he says, meaning for the whole thing--whatever's going on here, he could've ended up with worse company, even if this is company which makes no logical sense. "If it's like I remember, I'm sure it's cozy."
no subject
He does his best to keep the place clean, but even though he has water to spare in his reservoir, he's not going to waste it wiping down every surface constantly. He has a new appreciation for Anakin constantly complaining any time they were on a dry world, though.
Ah, there it is; that sharp pang of grief he tries to keep tucked away, whenever he thinks of his friend, his brother.
After helping Luke hobble over to a softly lined davenport, Obi-Wan stands and just looks at him for a moment. "You look like your father," he murmurs, unable to stop the words, or the sadness that creeps into his eyes.
"Tell me something. Anything, about your life. Something inconsequential, that it won't matter if I know."
no subject
He glances up sharply at the observation, barely heard over the distraction of his leg, and his eyes widen with an almost childlike loss mixed with the same sort of gratitude he'd felt when first hearing his father was a Jedi Knight. He's never much thought about it, knowing he'd never have the chance to know what Anakin was like. Must be something about this room, he thinks, and swallows back all the things he wants to tell Obi-Wan.
He wants to say I met my sister. He wants to say Anakin's still in there, even now, and I will reach him, and you will be avenged that way. He wants to say so many things that this man probably shouldn't hear, given that they don't know why this is happening or what might affect the future. His past? Whatever this is. But what will matter to Ben, that won't alter his actions? Or reveal more about Ben's own end? Luke's life, of late, has been a string of consequential events.
"I finally tasted ice cream," he says suddenly, without thinking. "Just last year, actually." He smiles. "It was amazing."
no subject
"Yes, most ice cream is amazing. Y-- Some people speculate there are more flavors than stars in the galaxy." He stops himself from saying those 'people' was actually Luke's father. He needs to start divorcing Luke from the idea of being Anakin's son; he is his own person, with a lifetime of experiences. He's possibly almost as old as Obi-Wan's former friend. It's hard though, because Luke looks so much like him, and even some of his facial expressions and mannerisms, things commonly thought to be learned from parents, not inherited, are so similar.
No, no, stop that.
Still. He thinks Luke's forced convalescence in his home will help. To that end, Obi-Wan moves to get Luke some water, before heading out to fetch R2-D2.
no subject
He drinks the water down gratefully, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand after draining the glass, and then sets to examining his leg as Obi-Wan fetches R2. It doesn't seem to be broken, but he sprain is pretty intense, as is the swelling.
Luke finally lies back, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, trying to figure out how he got here. He'll have to check the flight recorder, but as far as he can tell, it hadn't been an instrument malfunction--but something had definitely happened to throw them off. And he'd, apparently, traveled through time. He wonders if there's any precedent for this. And how one would go about even finding that out. And that leads to another thought, and another--if this is real, what will his presence do to history?
And if he's here now, does that mean he was here when he himself was a boy?
It's all giving him a headache by the time Obi-Wan gets back, frowning with furrowed brow up at the ceiling and lost in thought.