Haven Base [early evening]

[tatooine_doofus]

Not that he hadn't appreciated the effort, because he had, but Luke had to admit that his first joint birthday party with Leia had been a bit of an experience.

And not just because someone had left Janson unsupervised with the food. In his worst kitchen experiments with Gavin, Luke had never managed to turn something that shade of purple.

It had been nice to have some down time, though. Rogue Squadron's missions had increased in tempo and Luke had barely had time to breathe, let alone remember things like dates. The surprise part of the party had been complete: mostly because he'd forgotten it was his birthday at all. Leia had teased him about that for an hour.

He flopped onto his cot--a perk of being in command meant he didn't have to share his admittedly tiny quarters--and fiddled with something mechanical and complicated that Wedge had given him, enjoying time to himself. Artoo burbled happily in the corner, checking for new communications.

[OOC: Open for calls or emails. Up early for great SP justice!]

Comments

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"What's a chocobo?" Luke asked. "And it's mostly fighting. I'm the commander of a squadron now. I keep forgetting that people here think of me as a hero type."

[the_merriest]

"It's a tiny little chicken-bird thing," she giggled. "He fits in the palm of my hand and he's trying to eat Petey and he's gonna get himself killed. I taped it and sent it to his boss."

Because she was evil, that was why.

"People back here kinda think of you as a hero, too, you know," she beamed. "I mean, saving a galaxy kinda trumps most of our save-the-world types. Show-off. What's your squadron up to?"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"We're kind of the tip of the spear," Luke admitted. "If things are going to get wild, we're the first ones sent in. I've lost track of the number of systems we've been in the last few months, trying to convince the Empire to give up." He snorted. "Surprisingly, they still say no."

[the_merriest]

"Governments are stupid," Rikku sighed. "They're still pretending they haven't lost? I guess they can't lose well, that kinda thing. Idiots. So you go blow up their strongholds and point and laugh?"

Very simplified view of war, yes.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"We save the pointing and laughing for someone else," Luke said with a small smile. "We just blow things up. A lot."

[the_merriest]

"If you need anyone to get in on that, I'm really good at pointing and laughing," Rikku announced. "And I have bombs if you need help blowing things up, but if you've got your whole own squadron you probably don't, but it doesn't hurt to ask, you know? And please be careful even though I know you will, I just worry anyway. And tell Artoo that if he lets anything happen to you I'm gonna be really disappointed and not teach him any more songs."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke repeated that to Artoo, who burbled for while. "He says that if I do something stupid, he's riding along with me in the X-Wing and it wouldn't be his fault," Luke recited. "And if we do something landbased, I'll totally give you a call, okay?"

[the_merriest]

"It probably wouldn't, but he still loses out on rumba-privileges," she giggled. "He's supposed to be smart enough to save your butt anyway. And that sounds awesome. I'm always up for a good explosion. Especially ones you can roast marshmallows over. Man, now I want s'mores."

Come to think of it, she had some useful goodies that'd be perfectly safe in transport. Small, powerful bombs made for good care package material. She'd throw in some cookies and call it a late birthday gift. And possibly smack herself for not thinking of it sooner.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I miss those," Luke sighed. "Are you all back in the cabins again?"

[the_merriest]

Marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate: going in the care package.

"You bet," she nodded. "They got really weird with the names this time. Um. Like Cuddly Wuggly Bear and Precocious Ponies and so on. I'm in the Icklest Koala. I kinda wish there were, like, little mascots or frilly pink decorations. Just to really make the guys feel un-macho."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

There was a pause. "Is icklest even a word?" Luke asked, laughing.

[the_merriest]

"I don't think I want to know," Rikku giggled. "At least I'm not in Wee Gremlin. That's just asking for it."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"It really is," Luke agreed. "The entire cabin is going to end up thinking they're a circus troupe or something."

[the_merriest]

"I've actually never been bitten, you know," Rikku teased. "Maybe some of us are just more careful than others."

Like that wasn't asking for it. She was going to completely deserve whatever happened, at this rate.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"Personally, I wonder if Artoo wasn't calling them over to me," Luke said, ignoring Artoo's screech of protest.

[the_merriest]

Rikku burst out giggling. "Oh my gosh, I bet he was! No fair, why couldn't we use him to sic gremlins on other people? Tell him I'm really disappointed! We could've charged for it!"

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke burst out laughing. "Embarrass your friends!" he said. "We could have made loooots of money!"