Beyond - Legends Thank You (Luke/Mara vignette, response to I Dare You challenge)

Title: Thank You

Author: Kudzu

Timeframe: Between Jedi Knight III: Jedi Academy and Before the Storm

Characters: Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker, OCs

Genre: Angst/Romance

Summary: Mara Jade is confronted with a painful memory of her past on a lonely backwater world in the Mid Rim.

Disclaimer: Unofficial, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade characters property of Lucasfilm, etc etc.

Epigraph: ?Some times in our lives / We all have pain / We all have sorrows / But, if we are wise / We know that there?s / Always tomorrow? -Bill Withers, ?Lean on Me?



The bartender recognized her: red-gold hair like the color of sunset on Coruscant, emerald-green eyes that could have been gemstones mined from Dellalt, fair skin as soft as a stuffed Ewok toy, and a no-nonsense attitude that brought to mind an Imperial stormtrooper.

She was Mara Jade, New Republic-affiliated smuggler, pilot, and off-and-on Jedi-in-training.

Jade had plopped down on a cushy barstool and had sat for fifteen minutes, staring blankly at some part of the drink-mixing equipment over his shoulder before finally demanding, ?Well??

The bartender decided that it wouldn?t be such a good idea to casually bring up the fact that he hadn?t seen anyone remotely famous in the grubby Excavated Carbuncle Tavern in the twenty-three years that he had operated it, here on the insignificant little Mid Rim world of Doolamar. Instead he said calmly, ?You want a drink??

The woman?s green eyes blazed angrily. ?You think I stopped by to admire the scenery? This has to be one of the dullest worlds that I?ve ever seen.?

He couldn?t be too hurt by this. Doolamar?s tourist industry consisted of sightseers from the agriculture-overgrown, bland planet of Bul Phop, located only about a parsec away. To them, anything was better than the giant, round farm biosphere on which they lived. Simply put, Doolamar was indeed very dull. Their most exciting feature was a small geyser and the little town built around it over on another continent.

So he just nodded and inquired, ?What type of drink are you looking for??

?Something hard and bitter," she answered with a scowl, "because that?s how I feel right now. Hard and bitter.?

?Ah. My personal recommendation would be our heavier guta, the Grievous Bombardment. You see -?

Jade cut him off mid-sentence. ?I?ll take that, then,? she said. ?One to start. We?ll see how I feel after that.?

He nodded. Mara Jade, Hero of the New Republic, was trying to get completely and totally wasted?and if he knew what was good for him, he wouldn?t get in the way of that objective. ?Coming right up, ma?am.?

The bartender turned away and picked up a small shot glass, then placed it under a tiny spigot and filled it to the brim with milky orange liquid. He turned back to slide the shot glass to Mara Jade -

And found her singing quietly under her breath, tears glittering in her green eyes. He couldn?t make out the words, but the song sounded?sad. She seemed to notice him and reverted back to reality.

?What are you staring at?? she snarled. She aimed her finger at the shot glass. ?Are you going to give me that or not??

Cursing himself inwardly, the bartender handed over the liquor; she downed it in a single gulp and slid it right back. Smacking her lips slightly, she nodded. ?More of the same.?

He refilled the shot glass and handed it back over. Jade swallowed the alcohol down again. Again he filled it, and again she drank it. More and more and more - she never asked to sample any of the Excavated Carbuncle?s other alcoholic beverages. It reminded him of a common gang initiation ritual that he had heard about among lower-class teenagers across the galaxy: shot after shot, until the drinker blacked out or until the group leader called an end to it.

It was usually the former.

After half an hour or so of this - he was impressed at how long she could keep it up - she glared at him blearily out of reddened eyes. ?Not many customers,? she said huskily.

?What??

?You deaf? Not many customers. Yo

 

That's really lovely. Mara drunk and emotional is a tricky thing to handle, but you did it very well. It comes across as being very real; I could see this happening. Luke is wonderful in the comforting role, of course, but his characterization here feels deeper than that. There's the trademark Luke compassion as well as the Jedi calm, but in the way he knows what questions to ask at the bar - as opposed to simply accepting that Mara's dead drunk and leaving it at that - and his lack of surprise at her consumption, I can see some of the Rogue Commander persona as well. I wonder how many times he dealt with similar situations as a young, brash fighter pilot commanding a squadron of young, brash pilots like himself, all under immense stress in wartime? The interaction between the two of them is also excellent, and I really liked the way you set the scene. It was all very easy to visualize.

And looking at the challenge link thread, you had a really evil challenge to work with, too! Wow. I'm even more impressed with the result now. Great job all around!

 

Wow! Can I have him comforting me next time I get depressed?

 

Aww! You did a great job with your challenge! - See.... you were all worried for nothing!

 

123 drinks? I'd be dead.

Good job with this. I can believe that Mara would try to drown her sorrows and regrets with alcohol. It was lucky that Luke was nearby to help her. ~~Luck had nothing to do with it~~

 

Wow! You did an amazing job with your challenge! Take a bow! I really enjoyed it--poor Mara! Good thing Luke was nearby, huh?

 

You did a terrific job with such an evil, evil challenge.

I really liked how vulnerable Mara became.

Bravo!

 

Bravo! Can you post your dare?

 

It's in the challenge response thread.

 

Wow, nice work! I wouldn't have known it was a dare answer if I hadn't gotten here from the link thread.
Beautifully written and a great story!

 

Great work! That was a tricky dare.

I liked Mara's regret here, having to face what she'd done in her past. Her and Luke were both written wonderfully.

Beautiful fic!

 

Brilliant job, Kudzu!!!

 

I'd like to thank whoever dared you. Wow! That was heartwrenching and so real. You did a wonderful job with Mara, but I especially loved how you wrote Luke - all the subtle and understated ways he comforted her. \

You should write more like this!

 

Thanks so much, guys. I'm really quite honored; this is my first time really writing Luke and Mara, and I'm glad I did them justice.

And I think I'm going to send this back up for a spell.