2_old_for_this | From the Preserve to MCA, Saturday

Entry tags:

kanan jarrus,
magic

From the Preserve to MCA, Saturday

It was fairly quiet out here in the preserve; the odd animals seemed uninterested in Peter, which was fine with him. He wasn't out here to animal-watch.

It had gotten oppressive in his apartment, the walls seeming to press on him along with the memories. He still needed to do more, though. The magic was coming back to him, and he needed to remember more.

The air crackled slightly around him as he sank to his knees and took a deep breath. He cupped his hands together, channeling the excess energy into a ball, then pushing it away to dissipate in the air. He took another breath and sank back into the memories of Hell, searching for what he needed. From the outside, it might look like meditation, if you ignored the expression on his face.

[Expecting one!]

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In the future, upon reflection, Kanan would probably cite this exact moment as the first time in years that he actually acknowledged that re-attuning himself to the Force had been a wise decision. For starters, it would have saved him from mistaking what was going on for meditation. It definitely would have prevented him from stumbling up from behind Peter in the woods while out for some air of his own. But, as it was, Kanan was in need of a good stretch of his legs, and while the sights off-island were always interesting, sometimes he needed some quiet, too.

For what it was worth, he tried to be quiet once he noticed Peter kneeling in the undergrowth, but it wasn't like he was particularly trying to avoid every snapping twig or crackling leaf, either.

The presence outside himself barely registered with Peter, blending in with the ones in his mind. In memories, he hid from the demons, his latest teacher next to him as they pressed deeper into their hiding place. The magic welled up as he concentrated, keeping it quiet and deadly. This was how it was done, and this...

Just slipping by. That was really all Kanan had intended to do. Not get too close, really. He didn't want to disturb Peter's meditation, after all. But he couldn't help but pause as he walked by the man and noticed the look on his face.

No peaceful meditation was meant to leave a man's expression twisted quite like that.

He stood there awkwardly for a moment, reaching to scratch thoughtfully at his beard, and then decided, to hell with it...

"Hey, Octavian? You okay?"

Peter winced, in his mind and out of it, as the demons called for him. He wasn't going back; he had power now, maybe not enough to fight a demon lord, but enough to deal with these, if he just had enough time. He reached for more power, using the fear and hatred to channel it faster, to pull more, as he heard them approach.

Okay, the silence and the wince were worrisome, and Kanan faltered for a moment. Something was seriously going on with the guy, that much was clear, but he didn't want to just traipse over to him and shake him out of it, either. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, just sort of nerving himself up to act. And then he sighed, closed his eyes, and reached out tentatively with the Force.

Maybe Peter just wanted to be left alone. Better to be certain, wasn't it? And actual distress would be much more obvious if he closed his eyes and let himself actually see. So, that was what he did, reaching out toward Peter to give him a light brush with the Force, a concerned sort of question lingering unspoken within it.

The fear and hatred and power all twisting around Peter flooded into his senses and made his eyes shoot open like blaster bolts.

Peter spun at that touch, his hands coming up, a purple glow around them as he pushed. His own eyes opened, but the view before him wavered between Hell and trees lit by the bolts from his hands.

Peter pushed, and Kanan was already moving, the sight of lightning causing his breath to catch even as a single leap carried him up to perch into a bough of a tree that was splintering below him. His hand, by reflex, twitched toward his hip, an old instinctive grab for a lightsaber that wasn't there having been knocked out of him the hard way some eight years before.

So there Kanan was, up a still smoking tree, a blaster in one hand and the Force filling his senses with an urgency that it hadn't pummeled him with in ages. And rather than being afraid or even worried, Kanan was pissed off.

"Peter!" His voice was a sharp bark this time, the concern that had been in it now replaced by something harsher, fiercer. "Peter, get a karking grip!"

Because he would really hate to have to shoot you because you were a crazy murderous Sith, Pete.

That voice. It wasn't demonic. It was...familiar? Peter shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn't in Hell anymore. He'd escaped! He forced himself to start breathing again, to take in a deep gulp of air and let it out and let the memories go. They were memories, and he was here, and...he opened his eyes again, looking around, still a little dazed. They lit on the other man, and the name came to him after a moment.

"Kanan?"

"Kanan," came the terse affirmative from... still up the tree. He lowered his blaster only a fraction of an inch, expression wary. "You wanna maybe fill me in on what's going on, here?"

Why he was still perched in a smoking tree that was making ominous creaking sounds underneath him, for a start.

Peter looked around, grounding himself in the here and now, and clenched his hands, forcing the magic back. He scrubbed his hands over his face. "You...uh. Startled me," he finished lamely.

"No kidding." Kanan's own voice was flat, one eyebrow raised, and he lingered in the tree for another moment more before leaping back down to the ground in one easy motion. His blaster stayed in his hand, but at least it wasn't still pointed at Peter. He gestured toward the splintered, smoldering tree trunk with it, instead. "You do this to everyone who startles you?"

"I thought you were a demon," Peter answered. "Or I didn't even see you, really. I just saw the demons." He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and took another deep breath. When he took them away, he saw only the preserve, though there was still a sense of flames licking at it just out of sight.

Kanan's eyebrow raised a little, and then, finally, he holstered his blaster again.

"And I thought you were a Sith. Difference is, you were actively trying to kill me at the time," he pointed out. And he still wasn't entirely convinced Peter wasn't Sith, at this point. "If one of the students had been standing there, you and I would be having a hell of a lot more than a chat right now."

He hated that he'd been drafted into teaching, but he was going to protect those kids fiercely now that he had.

"Speaking of," Kanan leaned up against a tree that wasn't half mulch. "You and I are going to have a chat, Peter."

Peter sighed. "I didn't think anyone came out here. I guess I'll stay in my apartment from now on."

Kanan crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. That was not the chat he had in mind.

"No burning the building down," he intoned, dryly. "Now, since you almost cooked me, do you want to talk about why you were throwing lightning at demons in the woods?"

It had taken effort to not say 'Force' before 'lightning.' And his hand was still hovering by his blaster. Just in case.

"I wouldn't be throwing magic around if I hadn't been startled out of it." Peter held up his hands. "Not blaming you, just - if I'm home alone, it won't be dangerous." He snorted humorlessly. "Well, not for anyone but me."

Kanan continued leaning against his tree, watching Peter quietly for a few seconds before heaving a sigh.

"Right, fair enough. So, what were you doing that's so dangerous for you?"

You had seemed like a decent person, Peter. Kanan didn't want to think you were a Sith, but the whole 'lightning from the hands' thing wasn't reassuring at all. Especially following what he had seen around you through the Force.

Peter grimaced. "Remembering."

Kanan resisted the knee-jerk urge to say something smart or to throw something at Peter for that reply. Clearly, the man had some things to work through, here.

It was just that apparently, having things to work through made him a very dangerous man.

He pulled in a deep breath, then pushed off from the tree and walked over to Peter, offering him his hand.

"I'm not going to drag particulars out of you," he grumbled. "Everybody has something, and all. But I'm here if you do want to talk. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to hear it. Not just because you nearly vaporized me, either."

That did help some, though.

"Yeah." Peter gave him a smile that was as much a grimace and took that hand to pull himself up. "I can tell you some. It's not like it's a secret. Just...can we walk or something?" He was still feeling antsy, and the trees were close. He needed to move.

"Yeah," Kanan said, arms crossing over his chest again once Peter was on his feet. "We can walk. Want to head back to my place, have some... tea... or something?"

He'd offer Peter the caf he'd gotten last weekend, but he wasn't feeling actively homicidal, as annoyed as he was to have the Force hanging around the edges of his consciousness, with him not wanting to nudge it aside. That lightning had left him more shaken than he wanted to admit.

"Pet the dog. Level with one another a bit."

Peter had been going to suggest just wandering the preserve, but he wasn't going to turn aside a gesture of trust like that one.

"Yeah. That'd be...nice." He rubbed his arms absently, less from any sort of cold and more to reassure himself that he was all here, really here and not back there again.

"Alright..." Kanan turned back toward town, pausing to make certain Peter was going to keep pace with him easily. "I suppose I should apologize, too, for startling you."

It hadn't been his intention, of course. But that didn't change the fact that it had happened.

"It's okay." Peter shrugged it off with a self-deprecating smile. "Most folks probably don't...well."

Don't accidentally try and kill you for it.

"You'd be surprised." Kanan shrugged, picking his way between the trees. He was doing a remarkable job of keeping calm, all things considered. "Can I ask what that lightning was about? Where does a guy pick up a trick like that?"

If you were Sith, Peter, Kanan was going to be so annoyed.

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