Festival Log | OPEN

[abominable]

Characters: Anyone and everyone, OPEN
Location: The streets near the starter apartments
Planet: Coruscant
When: Wednesday evening
What: The mysterious community hippies of Coruscant throw a festival. Hilarity ensues.
Rating: pg-13 (??)

Comments

[sand_wormie]

[Lady, you are not fooling an empath. Even one as untutored as Luke, who is warding off the cold - it's not so cold most people notice, but everywhere is cold when you're a Tatooiner - with a very singular article of clothing. He was just occupied with gawping at the fair - the little markets in the upper Underworld helped prepare him, but it's still a sight - when she catches his eye.]

[Luke hesitates - he wants to find Leia - but only for a moment.]

...Hi. Um. Are you okay?

[sand_wormie]

It's a little worse than that back home, with Jedi. Jedi... Jedi are officially all traitors, so you just disappear. [And just because he doesn't buy into all the propaganda doesn't mean it hasn't affected him, in some way.]

[And there's yet another reaction to his name. Luke gives Catty kind of an odd look.]

Yeah, the same.

[pathtosacrifice]

And Palpatine is the Emperor. [Sucks that people know all about your life, doesn't it, Luke? Even if she... really only knows about your rebellious heroic years.]

You'll get used to it, eventually. Being here, that is. You don't have to do it, though, get training, so don't let anyone push you into it. You can do whatever you want, all on your own.

[sand_wormie]

Yeah.

I do... I don't know. Maybe. I want to be a pilot, but it's not like I have to pick one thing and stay with it. And... I think I'm supposed to be a Jedi, in the future, if that's why Old Ben hangs around the farm so much.

[pathtosacrifice]

You could be both. A pilot and a Jedi. [She chews on her lip.] You're young, though, and you can decide for yourself what you want to do. Some destinies just aren't set in stone if you don't want them to be.

[sand_wormie]

Maybe. Maybe.

[He sits down next to her, puts his tunic-covered knees to his chest with his arms circling them, and looks up at the sky. Firework light washes over his face, but it seems like he's not seeing it. Now Luke is moodier, less cheerful and more... almost intense.]

Do you know why I want to be a pilot so bad? It's not the flying. Well, it's not just the flying. Though I do want to fly...

[pathtosacrifice]

[Catty frowns, inclining her head to watch the kid. She didn't mean to bring about these changes in mood, but it almost seems like it's becoming a theme in his family.]

What else is it, then?

[sand_wormie]

Nights on Tatooine, if there's no wind it's usually perfectly clear and you can see up to forever. If none of the moons are up you can see more stars, everywhere you look - it's like there's no darkness.

[With all the light here, the skies between firework explosions are completely dark. Luke's looking up and not seeing them.]

The sky's like a huge bowl with patterns, and I know it's not, that's just what it looks like. That's just how humans see the sky. And usually when I go out there I see individual stars, and think about what they are, what planets they have, what those're like.

But sometimes, if I look for long enough, or if I'm tired or coming down with something... [He pauses, and for a moment it seems like he's done, will need prompting, but he goes on, more quietly.] Sometimes it changes. Sometimes I feel like I see more - like the stars and everything are so close, like I'm already there. Like I'm touching it. And it all feels... I don't know. Maybe... whole. One.

[And the mood is apparently shaken, because here's a

[pathtosacrifice]

You think a lot for a kid. [She leans over enough to bump him with her shoulder.] But it makes sense. Or... I think it does. [Catty chews on her lip for a second.] I've felt that once. Okay, no, that isn't right. I feel that way a lot, but what I mean is that I was whole once. I was one with everything. Life, death, the universe, good and evil and just... everything.

[She usually doesn't talk about things like this, but it feels important to attempt to reach a certain understanding with this kid, Luke Skywalker or not.] So I get it.

[sand_wormie]

I'm thirteen and from a rough world - we have to grow up faster than city kids. [He grins when she bumps him.] Though most of them don't think about far-off places much. I'm just weird.

[He listens, and there's the sense that he is listening, paying attention. Beneath the wild enthusiasm and the occasional moping, there's something... strange about Luke. He's a bit of a strange kid, really, and he's totally blind to that.]

Well. I guess they'd say we're both crazy, huh? [And strangeness is gone; he has a very broad, unselfconscious smile.]

[pathtosacrifice]

Hey, even city kids have a rough time. At least where I'm from. [She grins back.] You're not weird. Having dreams is normal.

[It's a good thing that Catty has seen the movies back home. And also that she's pretty close to the people in his future. She already knows why he's strange.

But strange is cool.]

I've been called worse before. And being crazy? So much better than being normal. Trust me on that one.

[sand_wormie]

The ones here - in the upper city, anyway - are nothing like the ones at home. Hardly any of them've even been shot at before. I keep thinking they're younger than they really are. [He's made some NPC friends, but is considered rather strange by them, too. ~forever an outsider~ and so on.]

It's just that the galaxy is so much bigger and stranger and more fantastic than anyone who's only lived dirtside guesses. It's probably more than what most others think, too - maybe even spacers get blind to it. I want to find out.

[pathtosacrifice]

[She purses her lips, giving him a look over.] Have you been shot at, then?

Then... You should do it. You want to travel and see the galaxy and discover what it holds for you? Do it. And don't regret it.

[sand_wormie]

Well, yeah. [He sounds faintly surprised, and reminds himself that this isn't Tatooine.] Tusken Raiders. You know, the Sand People. They've never gotten anywhere near hitting me, yet. Closest was about, oh, four meters.

I plan to! I'm saving money. It'd be an awful shame not to take this chance, while I'm here - I can't leave my aunt and uncle without saying goodbye, so I'll have to talk them around when I go back. [And a little glumly.] Which could be hard.

[pathtosacrifice]

[Look, unless you're part of a gang or gotten yourself into bad circumstances around here, Catty just assumes that tiny children are perfectly safe from the dangers of being shot at. Her hand goes to her stomach, to the place where she had been shot at by a droid months ago.] This place is made for the insane.

But at least you're have the chance here to do it. That's what I'm planning on doing eventually. Just... being out there, among the stars. [She pauses when he mentions his aunt and uncle before giving him an encouraging smile.] I'm sure you'll find a way to do it.

[sand_wormie]

It's an Outer Rim world. I told you, we have to grow up faster than these city kids if we don't want to spend all our time inside. [Luke sighs. She didn't believe him.]

It'll be great. You'll see.