thisavrou_log | potato salad for the soldiers

[The heat hits him, and this time, at least, it's less of a surprise. Still extremely unpleasant, like being smothered in ten blankets of dry heat, but he expects it. He still coughs a little as their appearance throws up a sandcloud, but he brought goggles and a hat this time, so at least he can see.]

[Yep, that's Tatooine.]

[He looks over to Wanda.] Everything alright?

[Wanda, on the other hand, only brought the sunglasses from this month's gift and has to bury her face in her red shawl until the cloud settles.]

I'm fine. [Though sorely wishing she'd grabbed the hat, too.] This is...a lot of sand.

[Luke sighs.] That's Tatooine. It's a desert planet. [He points out into the distance, toward the endlessly flat expanse. The heat heat has begun to warp the horizon into an indistinct haze, but if you squint, you can just see the shadow of huts, a little town, not far off.] And that's where I grew up.

The entire planet is like this?

[Yep, definitely missing the hat. And wishing she'd brought water and not worn such dark clothing.]

At least if something tries to chase us this time we will see it coming. [Give her some credit, she's trying.]

[Luke, for his part, was prepared; he has packs of water and food rations at the ready just in case. Enough that they can use it as a bargaining chip if they have to.]

You'll hear it, too. Sounds that echo off canyons can go for miles, and that's where you'll run into the most trouble. [He waves for her to follow, walking slowly, letting her get used to all of this.] Sorry, it's not the most scenic. But it is peaceful, like I promised.

It's the first desert I've seen.

[Clinically she understands them and she's seen them on TV and in memories, of course, but being there is different.

Fortunately Wanda wore boots so walking in all of this won't be quite the 'adventure' it could have been. She's still unused to the way the sand shifts under her feet with each step and walking on it is certainly more physically demanding than a flat surface.]

Is this where you learned...? [Wanda has no word for it since they were kind of running for their lives so she just wiggles her fingers. Everyone else pretty much does the same thing with her weirdness.]

My condolences, [Luke grumbles. Deserts are awful.]

[The thought that something as potent and arcane as the Force could be learned on this rock startles Luke into laughter. He shakes his head.] No, no. I learned in other places. I didn't even know what the Force was, when I loved here.

At least it must be pretty when the suns set.

[That's another thing she's seen pictures of, albeit only with one sun, and it must be much more impressive here. Tatooine has a harsh beauty even if Wanda is quickly learning that deserts aren't really her favorite.

She's mostly keeping up - luckily Luke isn't that much taller than Wanda.]

Are you also a Jedi?

[Luke isn't much taller than most people.]

[He does a little double-take when Wanda says 'Jedi', but then, why shouldn't she know? The universe is a big place. He's gotten too used to people being confused by the concept.]

I will be, someday. I'm in training.

[Well, when you poke at a Skywalker's thoughts certain things tend to come up.]

Just in training? You were doing well on Del Pascia.

[Then again, Luke doesn't seem like the type to flinch away from danger ever, so maybe that's not the best benchmark.

And speaking of training, Wanda is really starting to wish she could levitate two people and just rocket the two of them over there. It's so far...]

It takes more than what you saw to be a Jedi. A lot more. [It's hard for Luke to explain, so he doesn't try. He just sort of shrugs apologetically.] It's... complicated.

[She's talked to Anakin about this a bit, so she's gathered it's not a thing that can be easily packaged into a three sentence summary. One minute it sounds like a cult and the next it sounds like they must do great things. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.]

You protect people. [Right? That's the impression she's getting. Healers, guardians, something like that.] But that isn't always simple.

[Wherever Cassandra is on the Moira, a tiny droid will speed up to her. It's about the size of a breadbox, and makes a series of beeps to get her attention.]

[Then it plays a recording of Luke's voice:] Hi, Cassandra! Meet you in the cargo bay!

[And then the little droid races off in that direction, going as fast as its little wheels can take it.]

[She's in the middle of working when the droid shows up, and is about to crouch down to get a good look at it when Luke's voice sounds. She jumps in surprise, eyes wide as she watches the little thing race off. ]

Hey, wait!

[Dropping what she's doing, she chases after it, running through the ship until they reach the cargo bay. The droid keeps going until it reaches Luke, and Cassandra skids to a stop before him shortly after the droid.]

That -

[She nods toward the little orange thing, huffing as she catches her breath.]

Is really fast.

[There's a smile on her face, which clearly means that it being fast is a very good thing and Luke did a wonderful job making it .]

[Luke is attaching a leg to a gonk droid when Cassandra shows up. He looks up, beaming.] It worked! [That doesn't sound like you know what you're doing, Luke.] I mean, I thought it would. [Right. Moving on.]

Surprise...?

Of course you did.

[She goes right along with what he says, smiling in an amused and fond sort of way. Since he's down working on something, she moves in a little closer and leans down to place a kiss to his cheek. It goes right along with the hand holding, something she's comfortable with.]

Thank you, Luke.

[She crouches down to sit beside him, so she can get a closer look at her little droid. It's so orange. It makes her glance up at him, eyebrow arched.]

Is orange your favorite color or something?

[A kiss on the cheek is really all it takes to make Luke's day. The smile won't leave his face, now, not that he wanted it to.]

I, uh, painted it before we- I mean, yes. [He's really going to have to work on not getting tongue-tied so easily when he's around her, isn't he?] We can paint it something different if you want. I don't mind.

[He was really just testing out the spray cans.]

No, I like it the way it is. He's perfect.

[She looks it over some more, and takes notice of a red symbol painted on it. She points it out. It's adorable how tongue tied Luke gets these days, so she gives him another chance to stumble over his words with an answer.]

What does this mean?

[Luke just smiles and hangs his head, soaking in the compliment. At least when she asks him something this time, it's an answer he can easily give.] That's the Rebel Starbird. [He traces around the edges.] You can use it to figure out if someone's from my galaxy-- everyone knows that it is, there.

[That is not, strictly, true, but he's not thinking about the people from years before he's born, just now.]

[He realizes he hasn't, actually, explained anything.] It's, uh, the side we're on in the war. My friends and I.

[She's not expecting an answer that sits with her a little heavily, so she's quiet as she traces her finger along the design. ]

There's a war going on back home?

[Is that what turned his planet into a desert? She feels a strong sense of admiration for him, knowing that there's a war going on and he's so kind and optimistic despite it.]

Who are you and your friends rebelling against?

[Luke nods, taking it in stride. He hopes he hasn't scared her, but then, it seems like it'd take a lot more than a war to scare Cassandra.] A civil war, yes. We think what the Empire-- The Galactic Empire-- does is wrong. Privatizing farms, disbanding the senate, torturing people, killing them... It's not right.

That sounds like the government where I'm from, at least how it was before things went south. It's good that you guys are actually doing something about it, though.

[She smiles a little, giving him a nudge. She doesn't want the mood to become completely somber.]

Is that why you're training to become a Jedi?

Mostly, yeah. We're supposed to fix things. My father was a Jedi... [His expression goes distant, for a moment. He picks his words very carefully.] ...Once. I'd... like to do that right.

[He smiles, then.] I guess I shouldn't've put the symbol there. I was really just trying to test the paint cans. Sorry.

Don't be sorry. I like it.

[She can't really explain why, because she can't put a finger on it beyond the fact that she likes that there's a group out there rebelling against oppression. And it reminds her of him now, which is something that she likes.]

Could you -

[She hesitates, because she had seen the look on his face when he mentioned his dad.]

Do you mind talking about your father?

CLOSED.

WANDA.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

CASSANDRA.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject