Hannibal's house (where Jono isn't being lied to today), Friday

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal hadn't noticed anything different yet today himself. He'd heard the radio, which had made him cautious, but it wasn't as though he made a habit of lying to the cats, or even to Jono these days.

So, he was staying inside for the moment and working on new wedding preparations. It wasn't as though things could go bad that way, after all.



[OOC: Open post!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"Please. I will very rarely turn down more coffee," Kanan replied, smiling faintly. "It's no caf, but it still isn't bad."

Yeah, even on honesty day, coffee rated a paltry 'not bad.' It wasn't the same!

[sharp_as_knives]

"A friend and former student of mine is currently in some version of your galaxy," Hannibal said. "I've asked him to return with caf, if possible."

He set the current crepes aside and started on another pair.

[uncertain_dume]

"Oh, yeah? He from there, or...?" Kanan's curiosity was piqued, now. Not just because of the caf, granted. But hey, it was no secret that he wanted to get back there, was it?

[sharp_as_knives]

"He's from a world more like mine," Hannibal answered, "but he has a friend who is from yours. He's gone missing, and his 'Jedi' friends want Sparkle's help in finding him."

Could you hear those air quotes, Kanan? Hannibal was still a bit dubious about Jedi, if Anakin Skywalker was an example.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan knew immediately that turning the conversation toward those airquotes was a bad idea. A terrible idea. Why the hell was he opening his mouth, then?

"I take it you aren't a fan of the Jedi?"

Frack.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal thought for a moment as he folded the crepes around their filling.

"I know very little about them. Obi-Wan Kenobi seems pleasant enough, but we've met only briefly. Anakin Skywalker is the Dean of Students here, and I have better knowledge of him. However, I am prone to think poorly of anyone who turns a child under their authority in for war crimes to a government he doesn't know, with little to no evidence and no guarantee of fair treatment, then throws me out of their office when I attempt to protest."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan swallowed heavily, looking unfomfortable. The best thing to do would be to keep his mouth shut, here. To listen, to not make any indication at all that he knew what Hannibal was talking about. So, to that end, what he was going for was a noncommittal, "Ah."

What came out of his mouth instead, of course, was, "Master Skywalker always had a reputation for being impulsive."

Kanan went pale.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal raised an eyebrow. "More rude and misguided than impulsive, I would say. You're from roughly his time, then, and acquainted by reputation at least?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Roughly," Kanan confirmed, darting a quick look toward the doorway. No reason. "It would have been difficult to avoid hearing stories of Master Skywalker during the Clone Wars. Or any of the Jedi Masters, for that matter."

He was standing up. Right now. This was Kanan pulling himself to his feet.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal set the crepes in the oven to caramelize and started plating the bacon.

He sighed. "Please sit down, Mr. Jarrus. Whatever you've heard or might repeat, I can assure you I have no current intentions of telling another, nor do I have the least interest in your galaxy's politics except as it impacts my friends. Which I count you among, unless you should be so rude as to walk out upon my feeding you."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan's jaw clenched, almost imperceptibly. His hands were white-knuckled into fists, his senses screaming at him to bolt or attack or something. He'd said too much. He'd said too kriffing much and they weren't even on an inhabited planet. His home galaxy was Force only knew where. There was nowhere to run.

His tongue feeling like lead in his mouth, Kanan sat back down.

"Wouldn't want to insult you by leaving," he said, because at least that much was true. Hannibal hadn't done anything. "It's not a topic I discuss readily with anybody. There's too much history there."

[sharp_as_knives]

"In that case, I apologize," Hannibal said. "I am terribly nosy by both inclination and profession, and it's difficult to set aside. Even if I don't ask, I always wonder."

He added small orange slices and some greenery to the plates.

"I am also concerned for my friend. When someone who was treated so ill by the Jedi here returns to say they are one, I can't help but question their methods and motives."

[uncertain_dume]

"You would hardly be the first," Kanan muttered, frowning a little and then pulling in a breath. Okay. Calm. There is no p--

He wouldn't fall back on that. He couldn't, even if he wanted to. There was passion, and thinking otherwise got tangled in his mind's eye and came out sounding more Sith than Jedi. He swallowed, and then tried to say something useful.

"I might have... some passing knowledge of the methods of the Jedi. I can tell you right now, your friend is probably with some Jedi order from the past, compared to me. They were all but wiped out in my time."

[sharp_as_knives]

"A few thousand years prior to Skywalker, I believe," Hannibal agreed. "I was incredulous, hearing he would instantaneously vouch for the complete impartiality and honorable behavior of any government, let alone one so far from his own knowledge."

He took out the crepes, plated them nicely with the rest, and got out a long-handled match. He eyed Kanan for a moment, then said, "I would like to know more of the Jedi, if you wouldn't mind. They are largely a mystery to me, and it's difficult to combat - or acknowledge agreement with - something with which you are not familiar."

He lit the warmed syrup and quickly poured it over the crepes, basting them. "Alcohol with your sweets," he added with a smile.

[uncertain_dume]

"Thank you. There were records, of course, of ancient Jedi history, but I don't know when Master Skywalker," and Kanan wanted to kick himself for being unable to call him anything but that, "would have had the time to read them. And the libraries are probably long gone. I can't imagine the Empire was terribly concerned with preserving them when they were busy destroying all traces of the Order that they could find."

He sighed, looking slightly upset. He hadn't talked openly about this with anybody, with the exception of Master Kenobi, since his days with Kasmir.

"There are some things that I can tell you about the Jedi, but in that much time, it's difficult to say exactly what I'd get right. The galaxy has changed a lot in a few thousand years."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Tell me what you can," Hannibal suggested. "And eat." He slid the well-plated crepes toward Kanan, along with silverware. "Learn to enjoy oranges."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan did, at least, take a moment to look appreciatively at the plated food. It was far less stressful than having a candid conversation about the Jedi.

Far less.

He made a reach for his fork, and nodded, and even let himself take a few bites - pausing briefly after the first to inform Hannibal that "This is easily the best dish of flat things and fruit I've ever had," - before leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling.

"Okay, maybe first I should ask what you do know about the Jedi, yourself."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal laughed. "The flat things are crepes. They can be eaten on their own, or filled with any number of sweet or savory things."

He sat back and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I know that the Jedi are some sort of order, although I'm uncertain if it's religious in nature. They begin learning or indoctrination - I'm unsure which - young, as something called Padawans. They have little regard for the flavor of their food; that, combined with their truly lamentable dress sense, would lead me to believe the order is ascetic in nature, were it not for the notable amount of product and time that Mister Skywalker spends on his hair."

Not that he was against spending product and time on one's hair, but honestly.

"I know that they lasted at least several thousand years as of your time," he continued. "And that they seem to have a fanatical hatred of people known as Sith, which I gather to be another order, although I know nothing of them, either."

He spread his hands. "That is the sum of my knowledge of the Jedi."

[uncertain_dume]

That was actually a fairly impressive summary. Kanan's eyebrows went up as he listened, and then, once Hannibal was finished speaking, he nodded.

"Close," he replied. "You're right that they're some sort of order, and while I wouldn't call them religious in the same way most faiths work, there is a strong sense of faith and devotion in the Force - a power that connects all living things. Not everybody can make use of the Force, some people are born with a sensitivity to it. Most aren't. But those who were born Force-sensitive were taken in by the Order and raised in the way of the Jedi themselves, taught to use the Force to maintain order in the Galaxy. To protect those people who couldn't protect themselves."

To go to war by fourteen. As one does.

"The Jedi were supposed to live humble lives, hence the robes, but, uh, the food thing is news to me." He gave a wry quirk of a smile. "Maybe the Jedi of a few thousand years ago were just lousy cooks."

He didn't know. He'd never met any.

"And the Sith..." Kanan frowned. "The Sith are the opposite of everything the Jedi stood for. Where the Jedi embrace peace, the Sith embrace passion. The Jedi valued knowledge over the Sith's quest for strength and power. The Jedi draw from the Light side of the Force, and the Sith pull from the Dark. I wouldn't say all Jedi have a fanatical loathing of the Sith, but there sure as hell isn't any love lost between them."

[sharp_as_knives]

"So, they are a sort of religious police force?" Hannibal asked. "Are those they recruit given a choice?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Some were. Mostly those who joined later in life, if for some reason the Order didn't find them when they were young. Most - the younglings, most of the Padawans - are taken pretty young. It wouldn't have been uncommon for a Jedi to not remember their homeworld, or their family."

Instead of saying more about where he stood on that, Kanan shoveled some more food into his mouth.

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal frowned. "And are they permitted to leave if they choose to?"

He leaned forward and spoke softly. "Understand, I realize that for many people, their chosen associates are more of a family than those they were born among. And I'm not so naive as to believe that we are all not indoctrinated in some ways in the cultures to which we are born. But I do believe very firmly that everybody should have the opportunity to become their own person, to realize their own potential. I find fanaticism of the type I've observed in Mister Skywalker to be generally detrimental to that pursuit."

[uncertain_dume]

"Like I said... Master-" dammit, "-Skywalker had... a reputation. He's kind of the exception, not the rule. You've met Master Kenobi? The Jedi were more like him, ideally."

He tilted his head, and then added, "And there have been Jedi who have left the Order. Before the Order was taken down, I mean. By choice. The Jedi were a lot of things, but they did understand the importance of following the path the Force set before somebody."

[sharp_as_knives]

Hannibal was pensive a moment longer, then nodded. "There are unstable people in every group, I suppose. It's good to know they aren't all like that."

He cocked his head curiously. "The Jedi are quite well known in your galaxy, then?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah, though people think of them more as legends, now. It's been eight years since anyone's seen a Jedi, but anyone who was there during the Clone Wars know what we did."

It was really a matter of time before that word slipped out, wasn't it? Kanan paused, and then pressed onward, as if maybe he could hide the fact that he'd said it by just... powering through.

He was already making plans to skip down the moment the island moved to another inhabitable planet.

"The Emperor went out of his way to slander them, to label them as traitors so that he could step up and take power in the wake of the war. But the Jedi have been around for thousands of years, keeping the peace. They aren't exactly some well-kept secret."