[IC CONTACT]

[photophobic]

You should know where to find me.
But if you leave a message here, I will see it.

Comments

[photophobic]

That depends on how they decide to deal with me.

[made_up_names]

oh
thats
yeah okay, thats fair

[photophobic]

Most of them aren't the people I remember, yet. Many of them come from a time before I was born.

It makes for interesting Thanksgiving dinner conversation.

[made_up_names]

[ Oh god. Peter is so glad this is over text because he just bursts out laughing. Thanksgiving dinner with Kylo Ren and his original trilogy mom and uncle ... yeah. That's a hell of a mental image. ]

oh
so like they didnt recognize you or anything?

[photophobic]

I considered concealing my identity or avoiding all contact with them. But ultimately my presence in the Force would have betrayed me. Even if I was a stranger to them, I knew who they were. What they had done, what they would do. It would have been impossible to contain— and for what benefit? No. I choose the truth.

There had also been another Kylo Ren in this reality before I arrived. I didn't have to make introductions to any of them who had met him.

[made_up_names]

[ Jedi and/or Sith-adjacent, right. No hiding in that case. And ... well, the other thing. ]

yeah
me too
not the "time travelers are here" thing but like
there was another version version of me and another version of one of the people i was closest to back home
which is a long way of saying i think i get it

[photophobic]

Was he here for long? Your alternate self.
Mine doesn't appear to have left much of an impact.

[made_up_names]

years, apparently
there's a ton of posts on the comm
ditto for my mentor

[ And one post in particular with a video of his mentor trying to kill him. Which is. Awesome. ]

[photophobic]

Unpleasant. To find yourself with such an easily accessible comparison.

[made_up_names]

yeah it’s one of the weirder things that’s happened to me
and that’s saying a lot

[photophobic]

Really.

[Just how many sticky situations could a boy only recently having acquired powers have found himself in anyway.
If Peter's still peddling that particularly unlikely story.]

[made_up_names]

[ Oops. He realizes his mistake only after Kylo’s response comes back. But - okay Peter, play it cool. Weird things were happening even before he got bit. ]

oh yeah
when I was seven iron man rescued me from a killer robot
and when I was like nine aliens squished my house
my aunt and uncle and I were homeless for like two weeks

[photophobic]

Just wait for the week where we wake up in each other's bodies.

[made_up_names]

ummmmmmmmm
what

[photophobic]

Exactly that. It hasn't happened yet, but I imagine it's only a matter of time.

[made_up_names]

gross
uh not you specifically, just hte thought in general

[photophobic]

Would you rather find yourself with memories that don't belong to you, perhaps, or temporarily lose them all. Or wake to find yourself repeating the same day, over and over. Or come to the realisation that you are slowly being transformed into someone or something other than what you are, and that you lack the ability to stop the process.

[made_up_names]

........
those are weirdly specific
im concerned now
do you need someone to talk to

[photophobic]

Why would you be concerned for me? I've already survived these things.

You, on the other hand, should be prepared for the future. This place is inherently unstable. Existing here will come with the price of accepting the inevitability of chaos.

[made_up_names]

because surviving something doesnt mean youre okay afterwards
it just means you lived

but i appreciate the warning, seriously

[photophobic]

[There's a significant delay. Kylo doesn't really know what to do with how Peter's message makes him feel, or indeed know how to identify what it is he's feeling.

Usually, of course, confusing things just make him angry. But he can't find anything in Peter's words to summon up that particular protective monster. So he stares, and after a while types back:]

What is "being okay".

[No. Too vulnerable. He adds:]

To you.

[made_up_names]

[ Oof. That was a loaded question even before Kylo turned it back on Peter. He's not sure how to answer either. ]

i dunno
feeling normal?
not worrying about things that i can't help?
feeling safe?

[photophobic]

[But you aren't, he wants to hurl back immediately, you aren't safe— and maybe he would have, without the buffer of his fingers stabbing letters onto the screen.]

Maybe you don't know what it is because it doesn't really exist.

[made_up_names]

maybe
but i felt different before

[ Or at least he feels different in retrospect, knowing how everything ends. ]

[photophobic]

So "being okay" would be going back. To being what you were before you were rescued from a killer robot or aliens squished your house and left you homeless.

[Sounds pretty much impossible, to Kylo.]