The number one drama causer is at it again. He's not really sorry.

[nouskaiananki]

Who: Vader
What: Self-surgery, healing, dragging people into his mess
When: Early month, prior to the mini-missions
Where: A room in a rent-by-the-day building in the Magitech, Obi-Wan's hut, probably other places as things develop
Content Warnings: self-surgery, blood (lots of blood), to be updated as needed



Given the chip implanted into them was at the base of their skulls, what it did, and the experiences he had with implanted chips - both in his men and in himself - it probably shouldn't surprise anyone he decided to handle it himself.

Not that he hasn't taken done preparations. A field surgery kit, mirrors, some kind of healing gel and bandages, a tarp on the floor under a cheap chair, and furniture moved away. The room was paid for a couple of days. After thinking it over before he started, he sent a text message to Padmé and a message to Obi-Wan.

Then he washed his hands, the back of his head and his neck, and sat in the chair, prepared so the mirrors allowed him to see the back of his head and neck clearly, even when his hands were in the way. And started cutting. Peeling. The scar tissue was thick, tough, and hard to pull apart. But pull it apart he did, because he didn't want to cut nerves or large blood vessels - there wasn't a bacta tank here. It took time, to get down to muscle, to scrap it away from the implants in his spine without harming his implants or causing too much muscle damage (what he thought was too much anyway).

He didn't winch or flinch, only swore when a blade broke. Angerly threw the disposable ones across the room and set a blade into the reusable ones.

Comments

[forceguided]

Well. No need to push or fuss, because he's here and he even showed up out of his own free will and everything.

"I'm willing to bet it's a combination of a bunch of things." Not that he has much to bet and no way to really prove it, but it seems like a pretty sure bet if he's ever seen one. "Which sport exactly?"

Because he's heard some things, but it's so much better hearing about it from the source.

"I can't imagine how Ben's kept his in for so long." Luke admits. It's easier for him, since he's got... so very little he can actively draw on. It's hard to miss what you'd barely even had. But knowing that he was missing it was almost as bad. He's been working on it, now that his chip is out and he's certainly a little better at Feeling things now, but it's still something that's not exactly the most reliable of senses. Though this close to Vader it's hard not to notice. Even for Luke.

"But there had to be better ways to go about it." Even if he didn't trust the locals, which is fair, surely someone else could have done it for him. With significantly less mess and hassle.

[nouskaiananki]

"Pod Racing. I was five or six when I started." That humans shouldn't have the reflexes for that, much less such a small child probably said a great deal about Vader's own natal prowess with the Force. Even if he was discovered then and there, the Jedi wouldn't have had him and it only would have made him an even more expensive commodity. One his mother would never have been able to hide or protect. He wasn't sorry he slid under their watch for so long - even if it proved just how little they really cared out about Outer Rim.

But that was the entirety of the Republic.

Vader shifted, mostly preventing that need-to-move itch from building. He'd never managed to sit still long. "Because he's closed himself off from the Force for years now. It's how I wasn't able to find him." He didn't need Obi-Wan to tell him. He knew, because the instant Obi-Wan had reached out, Vader had known and chomped down on him. Instantly, spanned by hundreds of thousands of lightyears, he'd known. He'd felt him.

"Such as? No Jedi would remove it even if they knew how, I'm far too dangerous. Sith aren't captured Luke, they are killed. Tech hasn't the knowledge as to how. Aphra could but she isn't here." Did he forget for the time being that Luke has no idea who Aphra is? Yes.

[forceguided]

"I used to pretend I was a pod racer." The words spilled out of Luke's mouth rather quickly. Fast enough that maybe he should feel a little sheepish about it, but he wouldn't. "Uncle Owen hated them, but I'd sneak away sometimes to watch."

The speed, the wrecks, the spectacle of it all was appealing to Luke as a child. Still was honestly, though he was perhaps a bit big to fit in the average pod these days. For all that people joked about his size, he wasn't that small in the galactic scheme of things.

Luke didn't notice, but that's because it didn't strike him as weird. He'd also never quite mastered the sitting still thing. "Oh. I guess that makes sense. He's probably used to hiding it." Because how else had he managed to live on Tatooine for so long? There hadn't been any rumors about anything mystical or Jedi-like related to the man, just a crazy old, desert hermit.

"Did you even ask anyone? There are a lot more people here than just a few jedi." Heck, maybe medical stuff isn't his field, but even Luke would have at least tried. After all, Vader was, as far as he could tell, a much bigger threat to the sylphid than he was to any of them right now. Though after the sylphid thread was another matter.

Though....

"Who's Aprha?" A new name. Curious. Tell him more.

[nouskaiananki]

"I loved to race. The speed, the danger. Mom hated them too, it carved away at her soul every time I was put into one. She aged every time she watched me in one, but she would always be there, always watched. She told me she felt if she watched me, I would be all right. To her credit, I was never badly hurt." That he'd suffered multiple concussions, minor burns, broken fingers, a couple of lost milk teeth, and a pair of bilateral femur fractures didn't actually strike him as 'badly hurt' - even though he'd been five when he started. "They are dangerous. Humans shouldn't be able to compete, unless they are very Force Sensitive. It would have at least clued the Hutts in as you being related to me. He wouldn't have been able to protect you from them."

"Stangers yes. Wow wouldn't have operated without stabilizing drugs to render me unconscious, without me being 'under', and them capable of doing whatever they wanted. We spoke yes, when I first arrived. No, they weren't an option." They had spoken about a great deal.

"Aphra is an archeologist in my employ. She's gotten her doctorate in ancient technology, and is quite talented at finding herself in places she shouldn't be able to access as well as finding artifacts of interest to us both. She's about your height, black hair," It could have been the environment, his recovering, his growing familiarity with Luke - but his speech was just slightly less formal, "brash and bold. Cheeky." Who would have thought he would have approved of that?

"Kix could easily as well. He's one of Tech's brothers. He was our medic, before he was lost in the Battle of Anexas." Lost he said, as if it didn't mean 'killed'. As if the weight of one of his men, killed again, didn't lay on him.

After a moment of moody silence, he gave himself a little shake and a wince. "Neither are here. So it doesn't matter."