Ursa Major, Alcove D4 [all day]

[tatooine_doofus]

Luke was putting the last of his belongings into bags and boxes and trying not to be too upset about leaving Fandom forever tomorrow morning.

Outside his alcove, Artoo was selling copies of Fandom's Greatest Humiliations over the last two years for what he felt was a very reasonable price.

Whenever the melancholy threatened to overwhelm Luke, he'd look over at the little droid who'd begin to whistle "Doe, a Deer."

Artoo wasn't big on feeling sorry for yourself.

[OOC: Luke's farewell post! Come say goodbye :(]

Comments

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Fifteen percent," Luke replied, tossing a sock at her.

[the_merriest]

Rikku caught the sock and tossed it into the air, catching it again with her other hand. "You can't bribe me with socks, you know. I'm on to you."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm fresh out of hats," Luke said with a grin.

[the_merriest]

"Any belts you're not using?" Rikku found a match to the sock -- or at least something that could pass for it -- and knotted the two together. "Fancy ones. I like my bribes to be a little shiny."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Artoo helpfully popped a jar of glitter out for her.

"Thank you, Artoo," Luke said dryly.

[the_merriest]

"Artoo wants to make sure you engage in some of the obligatory boykissy before you go," she chirped. "Except I think Jo would totally hotwire him into a melted little husk for that. She's spunky. I like her."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Keep an eye out on her for a little bit after I'm gone?" Luke asked. "Not that I think she's going to spend weeks in bed pining or anything."

[the_merriest]

"I will," she said quickly. "Take her out to Caritas and all that. Are you guys ... doing the whole distance thing?"

A few galaxies might be kinda rough, and all.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

He shook his head. "It wouldn't be fair to her," he said quietly.

[the_merriest]

She bit her lip, and then a second later reached out for a huge, squeezy hug. Because. Ow. Ow. Ow.

"Being fair sucks," she said, trying not to sniffle. Or crack a rib.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It does," Luke said into her shoulder, holding on tightly.

[the_merriest]

She squeezed back, hard, and swallowed past a lump.

"I'm so sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I th-think ... I think you're doing the right thing but only you know if you really are and it's ... either way it's gonna be so hard and I wish it wasn't. I'm so, so sorry."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"We'll both keep busy," Luke said. On the manic side of busy, for him at least. "It'll be fine."

Ah, repression.

[the_merriest]

"It'll suck," she said, gently. "But it'll suck less as it goes and you can keep in touch and stay ... friends, right?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke nodded. "We can be friends," he said.

He hoped, anyway.

[the_merriest]

"You're coming back for visits, right?" she said, leaning back to wrap her arms around herself uncertainly. "Not doing anything dangerous or stupid? You'll ... be back for Homecoming, and all of that?"

It was so far away, dammit.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"I'm planning on it, but I don't know exactly what I'm going to be going home to," he admitted. "If we're in the middle of something..."

[the_merriest]

"If you're in the middle of something, call," she said, eyes snapping back up to his. "Hey, guys, bad stuff's going down, bring some guns. Don't you dare go back and get yourself killed."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Jaina knows really old me," Luke said. "I'm not planning on changing that."

[the_merriest]

"Okay," she said, trying to sound calm. "Keep that in mind. That bit about finding you and beating you up, that goes double if you get yourself killed doing something stupid."

It didn't have to make sense to be a good threat. Not in Rikku-land, anyway.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke smiled. "I'll even use other people's definitions of stupid things," he promised.

[the_merriest]

She giggled. "Use your dad's," she suggested. "Anything that would make him give you That Look? Off-limits."

The 'and HOW many times were you dropped on your head, exactly? was it on concrete?' look. Lots of people excelled at it, but Professor Skywalker gave it that extra flair.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke laughed. "Deal."

He reached out to give her another hug. "There's never going to be another one like you," he said.

[the_merriest]

She squeezed back, and dammit, this time she was tearing up. "See? If that's true, you're gonna be pretty lucky out there," she managed. Stupid sniffles. "I'm gonna miss you so much."

(edited for wtf lj o.o)

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Don't cry," Luke said, voice going wavery. "I'm holding it together by that much."