Room 317 [after workshops]

[tatooine_doofus]

After his workshop with Mr. Winchester, Luke came back to his room to convince Artoo that Leia had gone home.

Artoo, still in the closet, remained unconvinced.

"I wouldn't lie to you about this," Luke told the door, rolling his eyes. "She came, she saw him, she had ice cream, she went home. Really."

Artoo let out a mournful whistle.

"Fine," Luke said, flouncing back to his bed. "I'll be over here, practicing levitation with Yoda who's a turtle again, thank the Force."

Yoda? Not thrilled by getting spun through the air again, but he couldn't talk any more, so no one cared.

The door was cracked open.

[OOC: Conversation between Luke & Rikku is locked to them and the topic is NFB, thanks!]

I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow

Comments

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It worked when I was rescuing Han," he said quietly.

Well, sort of. If you squinted. And ignored the part where he was almost eaten twice.

[the_merriest]

"Okay," Rikku decided. "You don't get to be vice-president. Even I have better plans than that one."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke gave her a rueful smile. "Okay, so it could've used some tweaking. Leia thought I was out of my mind. And Vader took me up to the Death Star and turned me over to the Emperor, so...that could've gone better."

Gee, Luke, ya think?

[the_merriest]

Rikku closed her eyes and shook her head. "You're ... but that means ... Luke, you're lucky to be alive, do you know that? That's ... crazy."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that occurred to me when they took away my lightsaber," Luke said. "But I had faith in my father. He was just so...conflicted. He wouldn't have let me die."

That's...a hell of a lot of faith.

And he meant every word of it.

[the_merriest]

Rikku took a deep breath and tried to understand the magnitude of what he was saying.

Finally she just gave him a light squeeze and shook her head. "I'm ... really glad you were right."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Me too," Luke said softly. "I wasn't sure I was going to be, towards the end. The Emperor was trying to get me angry--to lose control. He pulled out all the stops. It turned out that the Death Star was a trap--the entire fleet flew directly into a fully armed and operational space station that could blow entire ships out of the sky with one shot." His face went pale remembering. "Jedi can feel other beings' emotions--and that kind of fear, that magnitude of death--leaves a mark."

[the_merriest]

"They ... they killed people, just to hurt you," she breathed. "How do you even ..."

Rikku held on for a long moment before asking, with a note of confusion, "Any emotions? Like, mine, sitting here talking to you, you could just ... pick up what I'm feeling?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "I could read thoughts too, but that's rude."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shivered. "I'm not sure if that'd be a good thing or a bad one. To be able to do that, but then, if you couldn't switch it off ..."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded, very serious. "It was one of the first things Master Yoda made me control. I don't mention it often--it has a bit of a stigma around here." He pursed his lips. "I think my father did something he shouldn't have as a student."

[the_merriest]

"You mean, if I were sitting here, being sad or angry or happy, you'd ... pick that up, or does controlling it mean you wouldn't?" Rikku shook her head. "You mean he kind of ... went looking for information he shouldn't have, in someone's mind? Can you ... do that?"

She shuddered a little, imagining someone pulling secrets out of her mind, using them against her.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I always pick up the emotions," Luke said with a small smile. "I just can't tell if you're thinking 'wow, Luke's going around the bend' unless you project it at me."

He was quiet for a long moment, then nodded. "I think it was more that he altered someone's perception of their memories. It's called the Jedi mind trick, and it's only used in very specific circumstances. There were a lot of lectures on that."

[the_merriest]

Okay, Rikku couldn't resist. She focused for a few seconds on a single very clear thought. Wow, Luke's going around the bend. HI, LUKE!

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke totally cracked up, then thought back, Hello, Rikku, in a very amused tone.

[the_merriest]

"Whoa!" Rikku jumped a little, then giggled. "I heard that, in my head! That's so cool!"

She blushed. "Sorry, I totally couldn't resist, uh, you were ..."

Rikku dissolved into giggles again, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, you're telling me about your dad and all of it and I'm being a dork, I don't mean to ... act like I'm not, you know."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled. "It's fine," he said gently. "I'm not made of glass or anything. Or my father, who takes joy in wallowing some days, I swear."

[the_merriest]

Rikku nodded. "You're a lot stronger than some people would be, you know that? Maybe you can be vice-president after all."

She shook her head. "Jedi mind trick. Luke, that sounds ... bad. I mean ..."

She tried not to feel so uncomfortable, but it had to be projecting loud and clear. Dammit.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "It can be abused," he said softly. "I won't, though. It only works on the weak-minded anyway."

[the_merriest]

"It seems like it's kinda ... I mean, I don't know how you'd use that that it isn't abused. Not you!" She flailed a little. "I didn't mean that I thought you would, anyway, 'cause you wouldn't? Just that that's ... whoa. Kinda scary, yeah!?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know. I mean, you can use it to hide in plain sight, to convince guards you're supposed to be where you aren't..."

In his head he was back in a landspeeder approaching a checkpoint and knowing he was doomed.

"...as long as there's power, there's a way to abuse it," he said. "The Jedi have a lot of power at their fingers. Which is why a fall is so catastrophic. The Emperor certainly didn't have any qualms about reading my mind. Neither did Vader."

[the_merriest]

"Oh. I hadn't ... thought of it like that." Rikku considered. "If we could have done that with the Yevonites ... wow."

"I guess with anything there's a good and a bad. I mean, you don't have absolutes, right? Someone could say 'killing people is always very, very bad' but I h-had to kill someone, and I'm not evil. Right?"

What fun it was, making sure your friends knew you were a murderer and weren't going to have ethical issues with ever talking to you again.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Now it was Luke's turn to hug her tightly. "Of course you're not evil," he said. "There are always circumstances."

Like how many people were still on the Death Star when he made it explode.

[the_merriest]

Rikku squeezed back, relieved. "I didn't ... he was killing people, you know?! And he was gonna hurt Yunie and ... and nobody messes with Yunie, yeah?"

She thought for a long moment. "Is it ... just thoughts? That you get? If I, like, thought really hard about something, I could ... uh. Show you?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke knew that emotion only too well. "I went after Vader with a lightsaber because he threatened to turn Leia," he whispered. "So, yeah, I get it."

He frowned as he thought about her question. "Like flashes? Maybe. I've gotten some from Leia, but that might be a twin thing."