Movie Marathon!

[thefinaljedi]

Who: Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Arsene Lupin III, Ami Mizuno, Adele Leblanc, Leonardo, Gambit, and anyone else who has the desire to show up.
What: Star Wars Movie Marathon
When: February 21st to whenever its done
Where: Luke and Ben's place
Summary: Luke and Ben have decided to just end the constant cycle of confusion and actually WATCH the Star Wars movies. There is soda (gasp!) popcorn, canned tea, and all sorts of other movie related nonsense.
Rating: PG, same as the movies (Could get PG13? doubtful)

Comments

[averybadfeeling]

[Well. That last movie ended on a much less disturbing note. No horrifying revelations, no awful moments relived, no traumas rekindled. Once Anakin had slaughtered the sand people, the entire movie had become limited to things he already knew.

The third movie, meanwhile, opened up with the familiar blare... and then his own battle over Coruscant, with Anakin. It was a bit heartwarming, remembering the comfortable interplay the two had had. The banter, the anticipation of each other's movements, the crazy, half-cooked plans that never seemed to go as intended, yet always seemed to work.

He watches, rather calmly, until the fight with Dooku. He himself was eliminated again- so very easily, he notes with distaste. Form II practitioners had always been able to pick apart his defenses with little difficulty.

The battle, however, then takes a turn for the disturbing, as Anakin severs Dooku's hands and holds him in the crux of their sabers.

Palpatine orders Anakin to kill him.

An unarmed foe, kneeling helpless before him.

... and he does.

He somehow knew it was coming, yet it still made his heart sink. He had thought Dooku's death no more than an inevitable product of the battle, an act of self-defense.

... And then Palpatine brought up the events of the previous film. Anakin's mother. The Sand People.

A flash of rage and pain overwhelmed him, and for a moment he felt hatred for the former Chancellor, now an Emperor as a result of this very manipulation.

It would not do. He must control his anger. Let go of his hatred. Palpatine had played his role as he saw fit, just as any other man, and hating him would not undo his machinations- it would only undo Obi-Wan's own mind.

Just as he was bringing his emotions into rein, however, Anakin refused Palpatine's insistence that he be left behind. A stab of vicious pride strikes him.

He was not yours yet, Palpatine.

... in the back of his mind, he realized that he would be, with time. Enough to try to kill Obi-Wan in a fit of pure rage. But he was not there yet.

If only he could have gone back to that moment. Perhaps then he could have done something differently.

... no. It does not do to dwell upon the past. What happened to Anakin was done with, now.

Anakin was dead. There was only Vader. He needed to accept it and move on.]

[fleurdesel]

[Adele is a silent presence next to Ben for the beginning of the film. The text crawl, the blaring intro, the first few frantic moments of combat. It bothers her little until the duel. Dooku. A second time, Ben faces him. A second time, Ben is disarmed, disabled, wounded. Anakin stands alone as she'd known he would and this would end badly. Has ended badly. And that anger, that resolve was terrifyingly familiar. For a moment it isn't a helpless Dooku she sees, but Unger. Wounded, out of ammunition, and bleeding at her feet. Waiting for the last bullet. That last moment of enraged certainty, just before she'd come to Luceti.

And she couldn't remember if she pulled the trigger. It had infuriated her in the beginning because she thought she would sleep easier, knowing. That she'd killed him, that she'd done what had needed to be done. But. Now it haunts her. Seven lives were already on her hands. Unger, no matter how horrid, deserved a trial. Deserved prison. Death, perhaps, but not at her hands. Not knowing now made her ill. If she had, she deserved whatever hell it earned her. But if she hadn't? Perhaps she could sleep easy, knowing she might stop herself from pulling the trigger when she returns.

For what would not be the last time tonight, she is somewhat grateful she will not survive her foolish, enraged actions. She had no Palpatine to blame. Everything that had been done, she'd done to herself. There was nothing for her to change, then, or now, or later.

Ben's brooding does not go unnoticed, however. She pulls herself from her reverie and reaches over, resting a hand on his arm. A physical crutch for emotion, she knows. Something a Jedi shouldn't need and most likely didn't want. But she was not a Jedi, and Ben is her friend. It is the only way she knows to comfort him.]

[averybadfeeling]

[He gives her another slight smile.

Somehow he knew this movie might well be among the most painful, and he appreciated her support.

Much of the movie progresses uninterestingly, save for the increased focus on Palpatine's own machinations and manipulations toward Anakin.

His conversations with Anakin become tense, uncomfortable to relive, as he begins to see the signs of Anakin's fall, and yet the him of only a few months prior was utterly oblivious to- or, as he was beginning to fear, unwilling to acknowledge- the warnings.

... This self-pity was getting old, and he needed to stop. He forced himself to keep watching, and to let go of the criticism of his own behavior. It was in the past, and all he could do now was learn from his mistakes.

The two parted ways. On such pleasant terms, even. The next time he saw Anakin, it would be to kill him, but for that brief moment, they were still friends. It was not distressing, it was... oddly comforting. Despite knowing that the rest of what happened would be pain, despite the impending terror of whatever would become of Anakin, whatever would finally destroy him, for that one, brief moment, he and Anakin had been brothers. As they should have been.]

[fleurdesel]

[That this was real to someone she knew, that his had, in fact, happened for someone else, changes the entire tone of the movie. What was once overwrought and wooden acting is now stiffly considered, analyzed, and set aside for future reference. This was Ben's life, just before he'd come here. This is what he'd endured. And other than the odd brush of her hand against his back and his arm, there was nothing she could do but sit and endure it alongside him.]