Luke Skywalker (ineedahand) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-02-12 17:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: leia organa, ₴ inactive: luke skywalker |
Who: Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa
What: Super Sibling Senses Activate (or, Leia and Luke sense each other upon his arrival and find each other)
Where: On the outskirts of the forest
When: A day or so pre-Turkey invasions
Warnings: I'd say none?
Status: complete
Well. He could safely say that this wasn’t something that had ever happened to him before - from the moment Luke came to his senses in a pile of branches and leaves, he was aware that he was somewhere else. Where he was, he honestly had no idea and that was more than a little unnerving, along with the fact that the only things he had were what was on him at the time of his being dragged here - his lightsaber at his waist and his cloak.
He had been in his X-wing, on the way back to the Temple - R2 wasn’t cussing up a storm so he definitely wasn’t at least immediately with him and he couldn’t sense Grogu in his immediate vicinity, nor could he sense anybody else around him.
Except.
Leia? Leia. He could definitely sense Leia, although she was different - far off. He pushed himself up as soon as he realised he could feel her presence and he started to walk towards it, pulling his hood up over his face so that he would blend into the forest, lightsaber in hand and ready for any potential danger. While it didn’t seem dangerous, he couldn’t confirm that it was safe enough to let his guard down, either - and if he was potentially in danger, so was Leia. He walked for what felt like hours until he reached the edge of the seemingly ever-shifting forest, lifting his head as he scanned the horizon for any sight of her.
Leia had been out for a long walk, skirting the edge of the forest but not going in. It was nice to be in a safer Vallo, one where they didn't have to worry as often about monsters or other menaces here. Although it wasn't out of the question. Here it was brighter, more livable. And she enjoyed spending time nearer nature, where she could turn off the part of her that felt so much from those around her. Sometimes, even all these years later, Leia felt regret about never having truly finished her training with Luke.
She had decided to turn back, find the nearest Waypoint and return to Morningside, when she felt the world shift around her. It wasn't subtle, and it was a presence she believed she'd never feel again. Leia turned, leaning her weight on her cane, and returned her attention back to the part of the forest she had just moved away from.
There, a figure emerged, and she held herself steady as it came closer toward her. "Luke," she said, her voice hoarse with disbelief. If she thought about it for a moment longer, she would have remembered that this world could bring in anyone it wanted, from any point in their lives, even ones who had passed into the Force.
It was always odd for Luke to come back to Leia after a long journey or a long time away and feel everything shift back into what he was used to - it was even stranger for him to have that sucker punch him after being in the Outer Rim, retrieving the child that had called out to him. Still, wherever he was, Leia was - he felt some kind of relief at that because if anybody had an idea of what was going on, it would definitely be his sister and if she was in danger, she was definitely giving them just as much trouble as they could be giving her. She didn’t seem distressed, though, not in a way that would mean she was desperate for help.
Still, Luke followed his nose past the edge of the forest and eventually his eyes settled on a figure in the distance. He started to walk towards it, only taking pause when he realised that the figure had a cane. It was Leia, but she had a cane that she was leaning on and even from this distance, he could tell that she had changed. Her hair was grey - he felt a sudden spike of confusion and worry and he started to jog until he reached her, coming to a stop a few metres away.
“Leia?”
"Well, look at you," she said gruffly, squinting a little to look at him as he approached her. "You haven't even got any gray hair yet." Leia shifted her shoulders back and glanced him over. "Are you all right?" She looked over his shoulder, behind him, though she had no feelings of anything else coming out of the forest with him.
It would be Vallo-like to trick her in this moment, to trick any of them, but she knew enough to know to rely on the Force to know that what was happening in front of her was actually happening.
Luke carefully pulled down his hood, frowning at her statement. “But you do,” he said, perhaps stupidly - Leia probably knew that, but for Luke it just seemed to raise more questions than answers as she glanced over his shoulder. “There’s nothing following me. A few creatures took a look, but none of them seemed bothered about attacking,” he informed her, placing his hands very gently on her shoulders to pull her in for a hug.
“I don’t know if I should ask, but- what happened? Are you alright?” he’d never heard of anything that made somebody completely healthy suddenly age prematurely and he couldn’t feel anything sinister lurking near them that could be somehow harming her regardless. That didn’t really take away from his confusion.
With one arm, she hugged him in close, taking a moment to breathe him in, remember what this felt like. It had been so many years without him and even their last meeting hadn't been in person. Though she'd felt him more acutely in those last moments than she had in many, many years.
"This place is called Vallo City," Leia told him. "It's not in our galaxy. There's no real explanation as to how we're brought here either." It felt a little like a gift that he hadn't been intercepted by a DOA person, that she got the opportunity to find him first. "And the most difficult thing to grasp is that people can be pulled in from any point throughout their lives. By looking at you," she said, cupping his cheek and smiling at him, "I'd bet we've had around twenty-five years between us."
Luke gave a short nod at the information, frowning a little as he took it all in. “It’s 9 ABY. I’m twenty-eight,,” he confirmed, then paused. “Or. It was 9 ABY. I’ll take your word for it that this doesn’t exist in our galaxy,” there were so many questions that Luke was afraid to ask, judging by the sense of sadness emanating off of her. How many had they lost? Who had they lost, specifically?
“So- it brings in random people from random points in time. In theory, anybody could be here?” he covered her hand on his cheek for a moment with his own, smiling softly. “To think, the last I saw you I was arguing with Han that I hadn’t used The Force to win a game of Sabacc against him. I can’t help that I’m just better than him.”
"34 ABY," she said, just to close that loop, let him know how far ahead she was. Leia thought back to what might have been going on for him, but the memories were foggy and she didn't push through the murkiness. "There are going to be people here that'll be able to explain this better than I would. I haven't been here that long - I turned up in this universe in an alternate, dark version. There are some people here who've been around for a year or more."
Leia gestured for him to walk with her, and she found them a bench for her to sit down, giving her knees a much-needed rest. "Ah, yes, Han always over-exaggerated his abilities in a game of Sabacc." She smiled, somewhat fondly but mostly sadly. She looked at him. "Yes, anyone can be here. There are several from our galaxy who you might know. Shara and Kes's boy, Poe. He's my best pilot. General Kenobi arrived recently. I don't know if you know if you've met Din Djarin yet where you are, or know of Cobb Vanth or Siri Tachi, if those names sound familiar. They're all here."
The sad tone to her voice when speaking about Han sent a shot of pain through his chest and he swallowed. The idea that Han was dead somewhere in the future was- horrifying. Painful. But Leia didn’t linger on it and Luke didn’t for now, deciding that they could talk about the depressing nature of war and society at some other time. “I remember Shara and Kes, definitely. I can’t say I recognise any of the other names,” Din Djarin rang a bell, but he couldn’t quite figure out why.
“I had just started to make my way back from picking up a Force Sensitive child. One of Yoda’s species, actually, who… has been through a lot. He travelled with a Mandalorian for quite a while and came to see him as a father,” he frowned a little. “Boba Fett tried to kill me not too long before we started hatching a plan to get Jabba out. I guess I had made the assumption that Mandalorians were fairly ruthless, especially to Jedi- but he helped him. I’m a little ashamed of my own assumptions there, actually.”
She folded her hands over the top of her cane and nodded. "Then you've met Din Djarin - he's the Mandalorian who was watching Grogu. They're both here, in fact. I haven't ventured to ask them where in their lifetimes they're from, but you can certainly do that." Leia set a hand on his arm. "I don't know him well, but he seems like a good man. You're right, nothing like Boba Fett."
Leia sat back a little and looked down the street, which was tucked out of the way from a busier thoroughfare that they'd get to when continuing to the nearest Waypoint. It was generally a little bit quieter back here, off from the main roads. Luke was from a point in their lives when she had given up on her training, turned her focus to politics and putting the galaxy together even better than it was before. She remembered the unrest in the Outer Rim, remembered that time in her life when she was focused on the galaxy, on Han, on Ben. It seemed like a lifetime ago. "I can take you to the DOA - they'll show you a little holo and get you set up with housing and some credits. Get you one of these -" She fished her phone out from her pocket and waved it at him. "I'd offer you the spare room in our apartment, but I'd have to check with Dameron about it first."
“If he wants to talk to me at all. While I don’t think he’s a bad person, I don’t think he was happy to see me. Understandably,” even without the knowledge from Grogu, he could tell that it was a bittersweet thing. Grogu would be safer with Luke because of the need to hone his powers and protect himself, but he had become a father to the child. Even Luke felt quite bad for being the one to tear them apart, even if he had planned on allowing him to visit when it was safe.
“Of course. I don’t mind where I live, really. I’ve certainly lived in worse conditions than a room in a city,” he looked down at the phone, a comms device of some sort. “You said that General Kenobi was here. Obi-Wan? Ben?” it hadn’t fully registered the first time that he’d heard it, but he could sense other force-sensitives in the area now that he could focus on more than just his fear that Leia was in danger. “It’s safe here, then?”
"It's safe here in the way you're asking it, yes. Grogu won't have to leave and disappear with you, and I'm sure you'll still be able to help him, if he wants you to." In fact, without some outside influences, without her own son here, without the First Order existing, without beings present who continually wanted to extinguish the Jedi, Vallo City was much safer than their galaxy. If one ignored the threat of monsters, of course.
"Yes, Obi-Wan. He's kept mostly to himself so far, but here's here. It's - there's a mix of beings here," Leia explained. "From many galaxies, many alternate universes. Some will recognize your name from stories they've read or watched where they're from." At that, a wry smile crossed Leia's face. "It's fun when that happens. I like the chance to tease people who are a little starstruck."
She paused for a moment. "Maybe there's an apartment on our floor that you can move into. It'll be -" Leia looked at him and took a deep breath before continuing. "I'd like to keep you close."
“Recognise my name,” Luke chuckled softly. “Well, that will be interesting. And- I would be happy to help Grogu, if he and Din would like my help. Although I’m not sure whether Obi-Wan would be a… better Master for him, all things considered,” Luke wasn’t ‘properly’ trained, not in the way that most Jedi were. He had trained himself and he had differing views than the old ways but Yoda and Obi-Wan had never berated him for that from the Force, so he could only hope that he was doing something right.
“Of course I’ll stay close. Tell me, did you ever come back to complete your training?” Luke smirked. “It’s never too late, Leia.”
"It's probably not a bad idea for Grogu to have both your influence and Kenobi's. And Siri Tachi, I believe she was a Jedi as well. Probably from around - Obi-Wan's time." Better that than saying from the time of Anakin Skywalker, but she wasn't certain of that either.
Leia shook her head, almost chuckling but not quite up to it. Hadn't her fears come to pass even without her finishing her training? What difference had it made, either way? "There's a lot of time between you and me," she said, "and no, I never asked again. It's not the path for me, I know that. And I'm at peace with that, Luke."
“Understandable,” he did think that Leia would have been formidable, but she already had been. She already still was, if Luke were to guess. He would have bet money on it. “A lot of Jedi here, then. And a Mandalorian. That’s- well, it’s interesting. This place is interesting,” he looked up to the sky, eyebrows raised.
“I’m starving, by the way. Would you like to accompany me to this- DOA place? We could get some food afterwards and talk more,” he hummed. “Wait, what do you do here? Are you a senator again?”
o
"This place keeps us on our feet," she said, "maybe in ways our universe didn't, but - it's not so bad. I'm glad for a break, honestly. Some people would even say that I deserve one." Leia stood up and nodded. "I'll show you where to go. And we can get you something to eat. Out if you'd like, or at my apartment. Up to you, how you're feeling."
Leia couldn't help but laugh a little. "Oh no, no politics for me here. I haven't been a senator for a long time. Here, I'm taking it easy. I'm sure I'll find something to occupy my time. I just haven't decided what that is here."
“I’m fairly sure you’ve deserved a break since the very first day,” Luke replied conversationally, watching Leia stand up. It was strange for there to be so many years between them - he’d always seen Leia as somebody stronger than him in a lot of ways, even if he was the one who was a master with a lightsaber - Leia had been world-weary when he’d known her and hardened to the galaxy they lived in. It was bizarre to see her so different yet so similar and he pushed himself up to follow.
“You could take up pottery,” he joked, plucking a random profession out of the air. “Or maybe bounty hunting,” he smirked a little, looking up at her hair. “Your hair looks nice. I still like the braid crown thingy you do with it, though.”
Leia half-snorted. "No bounties here and besides, Dameron would kill me. He's fancied himself some kind of protector over me or something. I let him think he has the upper hand but you and I both know I do." She tapped her nose conspiratorially.
Then reached up to touch her hair. "After all these years, I can't bring myself to cut it," she admitted. Her mother - Breha Organa that is - always seemed to be at the back of her mind, lecturing her about Alderaan and tradition and her hair, and she just couldn't let herself give in and chop it all off, no matter how hard she wished she could.
"Come, let's get you checked in and then we'll eat."
“Kes and Shara’s boy, right?” Luke couldn’t imagine any of them as anything but children, honestly. It was weird to think of Ben too - bright eyed and who was a fully fledged adult in Leia’s world. There were questions there he wanted to ask, but he was afraid to and didn’t want to breach this peace, not quite yet. “It’ll be interesting to meet him,” he offered his arm to Leia after a moment of walking, smirking a little.
“Of course you’re the one in charge. I’m not sure you’ve ever known how to sit back and let somebody else deal with the issues at hand, considering they probably wouldn’t get it right,” he spared another glance to Leia’s hair, grey where it had once been brown. Time skipping ahead was definitely jolting, even with the reassurance of the Force that this was definitely his sister. “Your apartment might be better. We can figure out what I’m going to do with myself from there.”