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]

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."

[the_merriest]

"You ... yeah. There are some people that, if you hurt them, I would just ..." Rikku shook her head. "It sounds crazy, but I don't know what I'd do. And I wouldn't be sorry."

Her tone changed from defiant to slightly wistful. "No, sorry, just ... memories. I wanted to show you ... Yunie, when we brought Tidus back to her. Since you helped and I can't really show anybody else or anything. She ... she ran from the beach and he jumped out of the ship and they just stood there and it was so, so amazing, you know?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"You'd be sorry after," Luke said quietly. "That's why I didn't kill him when I had the chance. Well, among other reasons."

He smiled as he nudged against her shoulder. "I'd love to see it," he said. "Give it a try."

[the_merriest]

"You ... really think so?" Rikku shrugged, a little awkwardly. "I was n-never sorry about Seymour. But then, he didn't stay dead, and he ... killed ... most of my tribe." She closed her eyes, trying not to see that again, and swallowed hard.

And then decided to try another memory, a happier one. The wind whipping as the door to the ship opened, and watching Tidus jump out into the water. Yunie's face, mouth hanging open, as she ran over the beach into the shallow water and nearly knocked him over. Jumping out of the ship, watching just out of reach, tears spilling down her face, Jude's arms wrapped around her, as Yuna and Tidus stared at each other as if nothing in the world existed.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"When I blew up the Death Star, there were thousands of people on board," Luke said. "I don't regret it, but there are always consequences. That sort of destruction stays with me."

Then he was too busy seeing flashes of her first memory and the entirety of the second to really talk.

"...wow," he finally breathed.

[the_merriest]

"I guess ... you're right. I mean, that's ... but you had to. It was a weapon, right? It was taking out entire ships, you didn't really have a choice." She bit her lip. "And ... we didn't either. You have to live with that, yeah?"

She turned to look at him, curiously. "Did you really see that? Yunie?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Look into my father's eyes some day," Luke said. "Really look. It stays with you."

He smiled. "And I really did. They looked very happy."

[the_merriest]

"But then, he did ... you know. Worse stuff. If that's him and all, and he was the Vader-guy thing. Why'd he change his name, anyway?"

She smiled, remembering again. "It was incredible. She's ... that's why I had to try. She lost everything and if I could ... could give him back to her ... and he deserved a life, too. One with her. You know?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I've never asked. I think it was because he didn't wanted to remember who'd he'd been," Luke said quietly, then smiled. "I can understand the thought. Leia's really, really happy with her pirate. And if my future's running along the same track as Jaina's, she'll marry him and have children."

[the_merriest]

"You've ... it's one of those timeline things? You've seen them?" Rikku laughed. "I, uh, that weekend, when the kids showed up, I had one. But they said those were just maybes, yeah?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, my niece lives down the hall. I've gotten used to it," he said with a smile. "And my kid was a 'never going to happen. ever.' He was with Rory and that's just...no. My father was Unhappy."

[the_merriest]

"You mean, here?!" Rikku stared, then laughed again. "Wow. It's gotta be pretty strange for her, I mean, your dad's here, too, right? Whoa."

"Rory ... oh, man. That's just, uh, messed up, right there." She shook her head. "Mine, uh ... do you ... think they're all not gonna happen? I mean, maybe those were the maybe-nots, that showed up?"

This was a totally casual question, here. Very. A lot.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, and she knew the whole family history, obviously. Flight class has been a lot of egos to manage," Luke said, understating things by a little bit.

He smiled softly, picking how just how casual the question had been. Really. "I think there are infinite possibilities in the universe. Some of them, statistically speaking, could've showed up here. You and Jude are that serious?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku shook her head. "Is she okay? I mean ... that would be a lot, to adjust to. I mean, for anybody, but especially, you know, with your dad being, uh. The whole he-went-evil thing?"

She bit her lip and looked down. "It's ... I probably sound so stupid. I mean, I'm fif-- well, sixteen, now, and we've only been together a few months and all. I guess it's just ... you know, I always have this ... with Yunie, saving the world, it was, okay, I'm gonna be the cheerful one, no matter what. I'll be strong, for Yunie. I'm not gonna break down and show how scared I am or how much I want to sit on the ground and cry and not do this. I ... I keep that up a lot, with most people, you know?"

She smiled, a little wryly. "It took him, like, a week to just ... step around that. And go, okay, that's fine. But I'm gonna put my arms around you anyway, so if you wanted to let that down, you could, I wouldn't tell anybody." She waved a bit. "I mean, not that he said ... you know what I mean. Right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I haven't really checked. Repression runs as strong as the Force in our family," he said wryly.

He smiled at her story. "That's wonderful. I told Tori most of this stuff and she didn't run out the door screaming...so that's a start, right?"

[the_merriest]

"Do you, uh, want me to stop in on her, say hi? See if she's okay with, you know, all of this?" She smiled a little ruefully. "We're pretty good at repression, too."

She considered the rest of it and nodded, tentatively. "Not screaming is good. Maybe she was kinda overwhelmed. It's a lot to take in, you know?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"If you would, I'd really appreciate it," Luke said softly. "And I'm not sure how to read Tori. She still talks to me, and hasn't had mysterious 'things' come up to stop us from getting together, so I think we're okay."

[the_merriest]

"Absolutely," Rikku nodded. "Where is she? And Tori ... I don't know her very well, but she seems really nice. Maybe she's just ... you know. Not used to all of it. Some people didn't grow up with all of this and it's kinda hard to know how to react, I think?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "And I don't know how to explain it," he said. "So it's probably better to just avoid the subject."

[the_merriest]

That got a skeptical look from Rikku. "Okay, uh, I don't think ... that's exactly what I meant, there. You weren't kidding about the repression, huh?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke shrugged. "I've seen how well wallowing works. I'd prefer to remember how to smile."