Who: Nate Roth and Laura Mayhew What: Phonecall When: Shortly after Laura encounters Ted. Warnings: Mild.
-ring ring-
"Diiiiiscount Dave's House of Knowledge, Nate speaking!"
"Wait, what?" -confused, but moves on- "Hey, Nate?"
"Hey Laura! Trust me, you don't want to know."
"No, I'm sure I don't. So, I think we have a problem. Or might have a problem. I don't know."
"Problem? What kind of problem?"
"I just met Darth Vader. So, uh, that kind of problem."
"What!?! Where?"
"On Bleecker Street. In the Marc Jacobs store. He works there."
"Do all of you people work with clothes? Seriously."
"Yes Nate. It must be something about intergalactic fashion. I think you're missing the point here. DARTH VADER."
"Intergalactic fashion? No, that can't be....right. Darth Vader. So, what's his deal?"
"He's just this... guy. Ted. Probably about twenty. He seems... pretty normal. For, well, you know."
"No scary black armor or breathing mask in sight?"
"Nope. He seemed totally normal. But Vader is definitely there. Like, part of him. I could feel it."
"Right, right. Use the Force and all that. Did you talk to Sloane yet?"
"No. I will though. Luke wants to see her."
"Understandable. Maybe we should all meet, talk this over in person."
"That's probably a good idea." -uncertain- "I hope this doesn't all go badly."
"What, with Vader? Forgive me for not being overly optomistic, but I don't like the idea of him being all up in our business."
-barely audible- "I gave him my phone number."
"You did what!? Christ, Laura, are you forgetting who this guy is? What he's done?!"
"No. No I'm not, really. But, well, Luke doesn't think he's all bad. At least, not Ted. I don't know about... about him. Maybe he's not all bad either. He wasn't always like that. He was, like, a cute little kid once..."
"Not. All. Bad. May I remind you of an incident involving a certain bounty hunter and carbonite! Not to mention the torture that was involved? He may have been a cute little kid once, but I doubt that's the part that got reincarnated."
"I know. Trust me I know. I have very vivid memories that I really wish I didn't. I could have lived a very long happy life without ever knowing what it feels like to lose a hand. But that wasn't me, that was Luke and I don't think I can argue with him about this..."
"The line between us and them isn't that thick, Laura. You're telling me that Luke is going along with this whole insane 'he's not a bad person' plan?" -pause- "No, of course he is. That's just like him."
-mutters- "Not as thick as I'd like it to be." -pause- "Seriously, it wasn't my insane idea. I couldn't stop him though."
"You didn't, uh, tell him about Sloane, did you?"
"No! No, absolutely not. Or about you. I didn't even tell him about me, but he knew. Well, he knew I was someone. He did that creepy low voice thing and asked if I was the son or the mentor, and then, uh, then I said something stupid, but he would have known anyway. I mean he would have known who I am, I had to sign this thing, but I would never have dragged you guys into this, and..." -runs out of breath, or possibly words-
"Eh, I could care less if he knows about me, but I don't like the idea of him knowing how to find Sloane. Not that she isn't fully capable of taking care of herself, but....yeah. Doesn't sit well with us. Who knows what kind of plots this Ted guy has brewing..."
"I don't think he's plotting much, Nate. He works at a high end clothing store, goes to Columbia, and doesn't do his algebra homework. That doesn't exactly scream evil genius to me."
"Just because he's not the one doing the scheming doesn't mean there's not scheming going on. He's still got Vader sharing his thoughts, and you know how hard it can be to shut them up."
"That's true, I guess. Oh hell. You know, I thought maybe I was starting to get used to this, and now..." -sigh-
"It's all fun and games until the villans show up."
"I don't remember it ever being fun and games."
"Not even a little?"
"Maybe just a teeny bit."
"It's a miracle!"
-laughs- "Shut up."
"I can't. It's an affliction that Han and I both share."
"Yeah, we've noticed."
"Somebody had to do the talking."
"I thought that's what you kept the Wookie around for. He was more eloquent anyway."
"Ouch. I don't remember the Wookie being the one to save your behind all those times..."
"I seem to recall you getting me into as much trouble as you got me out of."
"Nonsense. Those situations were totally under control."
"This must be some strange new definition of 'under control' that I wasn't previously familiar with."
"We got outta there, didn't we?"
"Yeah. Yeah we did." -pause- "Compared to that, this should be a piece of cake, right?"
"Hey, there's nothing we can't handle. Or at least, there hasn't been so far."
"Exactly." -pause- "Thanks Nate."
"You're, uh, welcome?"
-laughs- "Yeah. I'm going to see if I can get a hold of Sloane. I'll talk to you later."