Anakin has heard that before. Not always the same words, but the same sentiment.
Of course it didn't make him feel better, it never made him feel better. In the end, I can't help you wasn't functionally different from I won't help you. He was still on his own either way.
The inverse to Ben not being enough was Anakin was too much. Too loud, too much energy, too much excitement. Expressed too much. Felt too much. Needed too much. All his life he'd tried to make the whole of himself smaller to fit the limits of everyone around him. But he always, someway, somehow spilled out of whatever container he tried to cram himself into, and the gig was up.
If he could only be less than himself.
The silver lining, he could tell his therapist a version of this that was true without having to bring up things he couldn't bring up like his other memories. I lost a friend today translated across these universes they traversed.
"I am sorry I hurt you," he said, quietly, eyes meeting Ben's for only a moment.
That was another nail in the coffin - reaching out to a friend for help shouldn't hurt anyone involved, it was an act to alleviate pain. That it did here, just proved Anakin should respectfully keep his hands to himself. And what could he do with empty air as an answer anyway? Sure, air was necessary to live, but it didn't catch you when you were falling. If he was going to reach out to someone, he needed to know they would be there.
Re: Traveling Bar
Of course it didn't make him feel better, it never made him feel better. In the end, I can't help you wasn't functionally different from I won't help you. He was still on his own either way.
The inverse to Ben not being enough was Anakin was too much. Too loud, too much energy, too much excitement. Expressed too much. Felt too much. Needed too much. All his life he'd tried to make the whole of himself smaller to fit the limits of everyone around him. But he always, someway, somehow spilled out of whatever container he tried to cram himself into, and the gig was up.
If he could only be less than himself.
The silver lining, he could tell his therapist a version of this that was true without having to bring up things he couldn't bring up like his other memories. I lost a friend today translated across these universes they traversed.
"I am sorry I hurt you," he said, quietly, eyes meeting Ben's for only a moment.
That was another nail in the coffin - reaching out to a friend for help shouldn't hurt anyone involved, it was an act to alleviate pain. That it did here, just proved Anakin should respectfully keep his hands to himself. And what could he do with empty air as an answer anyway? Sure, air was necessary to live, but it didn't catch you when you were falling. If he was going to reach out to someone, he needed to know they would be there.