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

[the_merriest]

"I'm glad," Rikku said, nodding. "If you ... if you'd done that, you wouldn't have forgiven yourself. It wouldn't have been to save people, it would've been to get that guy, and that's ... harder. Yeah?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It would lead to the Dark Side," Luke said flatly. "Anything that's done for selfish ends--because I want it--that's bad. So I realized that about ten seconds into the fight, but it was a little late to back out. I tried. I did everything short of flying away to disengage, but my father had his part to play as well..."

He shook his head. "I thought about Leia and he called me on the relationship. I still don't know why. And then he threatened to turn her instead--and I kind of lost it again."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shook her head. "Wow. This Jedi thing's kinda ... scary. I mean, that you can just ... yeah."

"He hadn't known? About your sister? Like, at all, or who she was, or what?" She shivered. "Yeah, you said about ... I think being protective is different, you know? I mean. You have to keep her safe, right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke shrugged again, staring down at his hand. "I've never asked," he said. "I'd like to think it was the first time he put it together--if he'd blown up her planet and tortured her and known who she was..." he shook his head hard. "There are some evils I don't want him to have been capable of, you know?" he whispered.

[the_merriest]

"Yeah," she said softly. "That's ... that's a lot, you know? That's ... I hope you're right. I think you are. I don't think he'd be able to face her, if he had, you know? I mean, there's gone, and then there's ..."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"And he saved me, there at the end," Luke said fiercely. "I think family's incredibly important to him. He couldn't have done what he did if he'd known."

[the_merriest]

"He did?" she asked, smiling at Luke sympathetically. "Then yeah. Totally. If he saved you, he would've saved her. Right? I mean, he's your dad. You said he was never gonna kill you. He did bad stuff but ... he's not a monster."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"No, he was a monster," Luke corrected sadly. "He just loved me anyway, and that was something no one at home--not the Emperor, not Yoda, not Ben--put faith in."

[the_merriest]

"I don't believe that," she said. "That he was a monster. He loved you. He loved her, too, I bet. He's your father. I can't believe nobody believed you. Love is ... love is way stronger than evil. It doesn't seem like it, but it is."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke wrapped his arms around himself. "No one knows how many beings the Empire killed because we can't count that high. That's his legacy, and we both know it. I loved him enough to believe there's always a choice and if he was offered it, he'd take the opportunity to come back to the light. But right at the end, I still wasn't sure he'd do it, and I thought I was going to die right there as he watched as did nothing."

See, Luke? This is why repression was bad.

[the_merriest]

Rikku swallowed, hard, and then wrapped her arms around him and squeezed.

"You're okay," she whispered. "You were right. You ... you loved him enough to risk everything, yeah? Maybe nobody else would have."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Rory would have," Luke said softly. "She's what convinced me I was right. You have to earn that kind of love, right? So there was something in that suit of his worth saving."

[the_merriest]

"It's one thing to think it, it's another to ... to put your life on the line for it. Did you ... you really think he wouldn't have?" She shivered again. "That had to be terrifying."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "I was a little busy getting electrocuted at the time to really think about it then."

[the_merriest]

Rikku jumped. "Electrocuted?!"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke wriggled his hands and nodded. "Force lightning. The Emperor was a bastard."

[the_merriest]

Rikku was shuddering. "He c-cast lightning on you? On purpose!? That's ... that's just c-cruel! You c-can't ..."

She could still feel it crackling over her skin, bzzzzzzzzzzzzzZAP!

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke hugged her hard. "It's okay," he soothed.

[the_merriest]

Rikku shivered again, squeezing back, and then shook her head. "Whoa. Sorry. You, uh, you were ... I didn't mean to ... I, uh."

She cleared her throat, blushing. "I kinda ... got zapped once myself. I've been stupid about it ever since."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It hurts," he said, rocking her a little bit. "No reason to apologize."

[the_merriest]

Rikku held on for a long moment before nodding. "Y-yeah. I was ... just a kid, you know? It was an accident. B-but yeah, it ... it hurt, and it wasn't just the hurt, it was ... you feel like you're going to die and you ..."

She shuddered again, leaning in. "W-was it like that? For you? I ... oh, wow, if he's that powerful it had to be so bad ..."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

He was back on the Death Star, screaming in pain as he writhed on the floor.

He couldn't stop a shudder.

"It...wasn't exactly a highlight."

[the_merriest]

Rikku leaned her head on Luke's shoulder. "Y-yeah. I don't imagine it would be, huh?"

"W-was that ..." She cleared her throat and tried again. "He was ... trying to get you to ... be angry again?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke shook his head. "No, he was trying to kill me. I'd turned him down flat and he believed me."

[the_merriest]

Rikku stared. "Luke! That's crazy! He was just gonna ... zap you until you ..."

If she squeezed any harder, she might have cracked a rib.