FN2187 (callmefinn) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2023-11-28 20:53:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | finn (callmefinn), rey (force_awakens), ~~2023 november |
Who:Finn and Rey
What:Trip to Naboo.
When:Sometime before Halloween
Where:Naboo
What:Things go sideways.
Finn wasn’t very good at entertaining himself, he had come to discover. They were in the future and somehow he still managed to be bored. He’d spent his entire life under someone else's command, so figuring out a new direction was proving to be more difficult than he thought. He didn’t know what he wanted. He watched Poe leave and find things to do with himself on a daily basis, but he tried to stay behind and figure out his own shit. Unsuccessfully.
Today for example, he was lying on their communal couch just watching some program on tv. Not really paying it much mind though. He’d built so many legos he was a bit bored of them too. He needed a challenge. Something physical to keep his mind on, but he had no idea what. He had his arm resting over his face and his feet curled up underneath him as he tried to rest a little. It also failed.
He stood and paced. Making his way towards the window to look out at their futuristic world with a bit of frustration.
–
Rey returned home with BB-8 trailing behind her. She had gotten some groceries for the house. As they walked further into the house, BB-8 beeped and whirled and Rey looked down at her friend. She quietly replied, “Yes, I do see he’s still here.” Lifting her voice, she greeted Finn. “We’re home.” She offered Finn a smile and then disappeared into the kitchen to put away the groceries.
Once she was done, she emerged again, but this time she had her staff with her. “Come on then. We’re going to Naboo.” Like they had talked about it before or something. Only they hadn’t.
–
Finn looked over at BB-8 when he made his little noises, and sat up to give the droid a headpat. Much like a cat. “Treacherous trip to the grocery store?” He asked with a hint of sarcastic amusement at her announcement. They’d been through much worse than a sea of people trying to get their food. Finn had to build an entirely different life for himself, and he’d never had the option to do that. It was a lot, trying to figure out what he wanted.
“We are?” He asked with a raised eyebrow as he saw her staff and stood. “What’s on Naboo?” He’d been curious. Rey standing with her staff was a lot more comforting than Rey with a bag of groceries. This was the Rey he was used to.
–
“We are.” She nodded, giving him a smile that was confident like she knew what was happening when really this had been a spare of the moment sort of thing. Or really, it had been something she’d been thinking about in the back of her mind about how to help Finn and now she was ‘implementing’ it.
“Naboo is our home. We can get some materials, some clothes, and go exploring. If you’d like, I can make someone angry and start a brawl.” She was mostly kidding about the last part… or was she?
–
This gave his brain some much needed adrenaline to wake up. This was the Rey he remembered. Going on adventures was just what he needed. Laying on the couch and trying to figure out what to do with his life was difficult, inspiration was entirely blocked. So he stood up and unwrinkled his jacket that was actually just Poe’s. He still hadn’t given that up.
That comment actually amused him. Not much had these days with his head full of figuring things out. “Wonder if it’s like the same one back home?” He was weirdly feeling a little nostalgic for it as it is. “I’m in. For brawls and otherwise.” Honestly a brawl sounded entertaining. “Sounds better than whatever the Housewives are doing.” He reached for the remote to turn off the tv. “When do we leave?”
–
“Right now.” The convenient thing about the transportation services was that the portals were usually always available and could bring you there whenever you wanted.
She had no idea what this Naboo would be like. When a portal arrived last time, it had been during the time when The Empire was around. She had no idea if this would be like that or it be ‘modern’ Naboo. Part of her hoped for ‘modern’. The one thing she was definitely looking forward to was to feel The Force so vividly again. There were strands here, but it wasn’t the same as home and she often missed that. She suddenly wondered if that was one of the reasons why Finn was in a funk.
She waited until Finn was ready, asked BB-8 to come along, and then they headed out.
It didn’t take long to be on Naboo. They were standing just within the city walls. Rey closed her eyes and took a deep breath and instantly smiled. It was busy, but a familiar sort of busy and things just felt like home. She looked to Finn to see his reaction.
–
Oh good, no more waiting. Finn was already ready for whatever. It wasn’t like he had a lot of things to worry about and take with. The only thing he had was Poe’s jacket, and that was on his person. Always. Even in the summer. Finn really wasn’t affected by the summer weather it seemed. Space weather was different. “Then lets get on this.” He grinned. He weirdly did miss home. He also had a few other things on his mind he hadn’t yet voiced, but now was the time for adventures with his other best friend. He needed that.
A change of scenery might help. He felt so lost on Earth he didn’t even know what to do with himself. The entire lack of Force didn’t help either, and he didn’t realize it until they were standing there in the middle of it all. It was like a brick was lifted off him.
“It feels different.” It was more modern, but not in a bad way. Not like Madison felt. That feeling of the Force was all around them again. “But smells the same.” A hint of amusement to his tone, he was already in a much different mood. Whether it was improved or not, time would tell. But it started out on solid ground.
–
“It’s probably what someone from Madison calls ‘Naboo adjacent’.” Rey tried to remember everything The Doctor said to her, but the woman spoke quickly and some of it was hard to understand. “Something like… it would be dangerous to have our worlds be the exact ones… I’m not too sure the entire explanation. But I can feel The Force here flow freely and I miss that.”
She eyed their surrounding area. “Do you want to go get a drink or would you like to look at what there is to buy here?” She’d like to do both. Maybe get a few more sets of clothing as she still preferred the clothing from home to the clothes in Madison.
–
“Drink? I missed the bars.” He admitted with a grin, his spirits already seemed to be lifted a bit. But he was being cautious for some reason. Holding back a little. There were worries still on his mind, but for the time being he was going to try to just focus on being with one of his best friends. He could walk with a bit more confidence in that world. “Adjacent? Why would it be dangerous?” That kind of thing went over Finn’s head. The multiverse theory was very much not a thing he really understood.
“Both though.” When they got to the bar, the usual music played. He could see people and creatures alike fussing with the various foods he was used to seeing. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m actually hungry too.” Sitting across from her at one of the tables, he looked over at the band in thought for a moment. “There’s something else..”
–
“Dangerous because we could change the course of history. Like if we went back and accidentally got Leia killed or distracted Han from something.” She wasn’t sure if those were great examples, but they were valid. “Even the idea of going back and stopping someone like Vader or Ben. It would change the way things play out. Maybe Palpatine would win or I’d be dead -” She paused, realizing she might have told more than she meant to. She forgot Finn wasn’t from her time. “Or the Death Star turned into something worse.” She tried to seamlessly cover her tracks. “So this is safer.” Rey hoped that made sense.
Her eyebrows lifted a little. “Something else?”
–.
“Hm..do you believe all that?” Finn wasn’t sure what he believed in regards to one little change affecting the course of their reality. He wasn’t judging her though, he wasn’t like that. He was really just curious. “How could it be worse?” He didn’t seem to catch what she was saying about being dead. Which was probably for the better. As they got near the bar he stopped and looked back at that city for a moment behind them. “I’ve been thinking about maybe wanting to learn how to use a lightsaber. I could barely control it in the forest.” He was lucky or maybe something else that he didn’t burn off his limbs in using it. “But I know I’m not a jedi so maybe it’s a ridiculous idea.” He trailed off with a shrug.
–
“I guess I do? We’ve never experienced time travel, but if you went back in time and killed Luke Skywalker, there would be a different outcome to everything.” She knew there were certain people who had been integral to the success of bringing down The Empire and then also the First Order.
She looked at him. “That might be a good idea. We should probably start with staffs first.” She offered him a smile. “But I don’t mind helping you learn. You could use mine to train, since I’m not sure there’s any kyber crystals around so easily.”
–
“Unless it’s a different place entirely.” He shrugged. Not really sure how that all worked, so he let it drop. “Seems like a lot of extra stuff to worry about. There’s enough to worry about without adding that.” A small smile as he opened the bar door for her and took a look around. Maybe they’d find a drink. Or a bar fight, bar fights were also fun. He could honestly use the entertainment at this point.
“I did pretty okay with one against Kylo, but if he ever shows back up I’d like to not land in a coma again.” One was enough, thanks. Assuming Kylo would attacked them, but he would always assume the worst with that guy. There was no redemption for him after the life Finn had lived under his thumb. “Yeah? I’d like to learn. Whichever thing.” He strode up to the bar and ordered two drinks. Leaning on it as casually as if they belonged there. At one point they did.
–
Rey tried not to feel as uncomfortable with the mention of Ben. She knew Finn was from an earlier time and even then, there wasn't many who knew his change or what he had done for her. She might be in love with Xander now, but there'd always be a part of her that remembered Ben.
"Thankfully he is not in Madison." She pushed the words out even if she didn't believe it. Could there not be redemption for him? Anakin found redemption in Madison.
Despite there not being people they probably knew, there we're still Storm Troopers. The New Order still existed. And so when things got a little quiet as two storm troopers walked in, Rey took them in. People seemed to slowly ease back up, though she was sure many were switching their conversations. They recieved their drinks, but half of Rey's minds we're on their new friends. They seemed to be searching for someone and Rey was looking at the crowd to see who didn't want to be noticed. Then she caught movement under one of the tables. There was a child of 10 or so who was crouched and looked concerned. "Finn…"
–
He probably could, but Finn still had some hard feelings to work through if that ever happened. If Kylo ever did show up and try to screw with them again. But that thought flew out of his mind with a nod at her comment. “Yeah. Just us.” He was a little concerned that might change, based on the people around them constantly getting new friends from their home worlds. It’d been on his mind.
Finn looked back casually and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it is a little close to home..” He muttered quietly, keeping his voice down. For the moment, he just watched. The storm troopers began questioning the inhabitants of that bar. Finn’s senses prickled. “Do you feel anything?”
–
“Maybe” Her eyes went back to the child, her brow furrowing just a little. There was something, but she was sure what. It didn’t matter to Rey though as this child didn’t deserve The New Order anymore than anyone else did. “We need to cause a diversion so the child can escape.” As much as she wanted to do more, they were bound by only a few days in Naboo. Though as she sat there she wondered if they could help the child more - They might have to leave at some point, but if the child needed help, could they not try for a few days? Of course, she could be overthinking things too.
Rey told herself to focus. None of that mattered at this very moment. What mattered was helping now.
–
“One diversion, coming up.” Finn smirked as he approached one of the troopers, giving him a tap on the shoulder and then a sucker punch right to the side of the helmet.The last thing Finn was about to do was let someone get taken and stolen away like he was. Even if this wasn’t their world, he wasn’t going to let that happen on his watch. A second turned with a blaster, and Finn held his arms up for just a split second as if to fake arrest.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size.” He commented as the guy looked back toward the kid, and Finn took the opportunity to knock the blaster from his hands.
–
The moment Finn started fighting, Rey went into action too. One of two things usually happened in things like this. Either the person who was in danger saw their opportunity to run and ran, or they froze.
The kid froze.
And so Rey headed to the child and crouched, extending her hand. “Come on. This way.” She had to give a secondary encouraging nod to coax the child to take her hand, but then she was up and heading out the door. Of course that was when two more troopers decided to come in. Rey pulled out her staff and had the element of surprise on her side. She managed to knock both of them on the ground before she grabbed the kid’s hand again and ran outside. She trusted Finn would follow them.
“Why are they after you?” Rey glanced at the kid, but the kid said nothing. Of course, it didn’t help she heard someone say ‘They’re over there!’ and so Rey picked a side street and began looking for a place to hide.
–
The kid took her hand, Finn didn’t even look back. He trusted Rey to get out of there with them and they’d meet up later. They always found some place to do so. Naboo was home. It wasn’t hard to figure out where they were going. “Nuh uh.” He clanked a couple of storm trooper helmets together as he saw them coming and trying to point out his friend.
This was not exactly the kind of Naboo trip he’d expected, but then again..it was nice and familiar. He was getting that adrenaline fix that he so desperately needed. There was a successful pile of stormtroopers in his wake and he paused to catch his breath. It was at that point he looked for Rey and took off in the direction she went. The kid was afraid, and Finn wasn’t so sure he liked where this was going. What did they want that kid for? Was it someone to arrest or was he a recruit…? Neither outcome was good.
He looked for his friend, and then stopped for a moment, closing his eyes to try to block out the noise and sudden rush of bright light that he could swear he could see. When he looked up however, nobody else was reacting any special way. He wasn’t sure what that feeling was but it was overwhelming. He felt Rey. She was nearby. He headed right for her and crouched near where she was. “I think we’ve lost them.”
–
Finding a place to hide after running through a few alleys and corridors wasn’t that hard, but then again, she had had much practice over time. The kid, at least, seemed to trust her enough to follow which she was grateful for. It would have been difficult otherwise.
When Finn found them, Rey felt her shoulders relax. “Good.” Rey looked at the child. “They’ve lost their mother. Apparently him and his mother have been accused as being part of the Resistance… Which means I think now we need to find his mother and get them to the Resistance for safety.” Even if they weren’t in the Resistance, there was no way The First Order was going to actually listen to their story. Their fate was already decided. “He thinks she’s in the market. I think I know where the Resistance would be there.” So they just needed to find mom and Rey was certain things would be okay.
–
God why was doing this so much easier than fitting in and finding a job in a quiet community? Maybe he had some kind of problem. “It’ll probably be less obvious if we split up.” Not that he wanted to be apart from Rey, but the two of them would now stand out like a sore thumb thanks to that incident back there in the bar.
–
Rey agreed. “Okay. We split up then.” She put her finger into the ground and made a small map in the dirt. It was crude, but it worked for their needs. “This is where I think they have a stall. If we get there, they should be able to hide the boy and keep him safe until they can get him off the planet.” They went over a few more things to make sure it would be as successful as possible. Then she looked at both of them. “Ready?”
They could do this.