Thread: Leiamoody’s Wordy Words
Author: leiamoody
Disclaimer: Disney/Lucasfilm own the Empire, I’m just wandering around in it making stuff up.
Notes: This is a response thread to the Writer’s Block Challenge. Most of the entries in here occur in the Saga era, although some might slip into Before and Beyond. All of the responses will occur in my GFFA AU, which primarily relies on movie canon with some minor details borrowed from Legends canon.

Week 2 Prompts Used:
Word Prompts: Honesty, Neglect
Idea: Writing a letter to an absent loved one
Character: Leia

Title: Letter To A Scoundrel

Dear Han...no, that feels too impersonal now...Dear Scoundrel...Gods, no, that belongs to another time...how about...

To You, the one I miss.

Yes, that's how I can begin this letter you can't read and will probably never see, if there is ever a time when you are with me again and not in there...

I have to keep some faith we can rescue you. It's only been six weeks since it happened (I will not commit to writing how I lost you. The universe already knows how you were betrayed and imprisoned and taken away from me). When I can sleep (which doesn’t happen very much, and that always bothers you), I always see a room of orange and blue, with a demon in black and his minions in white surrounding us. There’s no time to say everything that needs to be said, especially from me. I wasted three years arguing with you instead of admitting what I felt. Now I’m punished wondering if I will ever see you again. Fett hasn’t delivered you to Jabba. He’s pulled you across some of the most obscure backwaters in the Outer Rim. Why aren’t you on Tatooine yet? Is Fett trying to lead us on some wild nerf chase (because he should realize we’re going to keep looking for you)?

For so many years my devotion has been to “The Cause”, as you named it during our first big argument on Yavin. I’ve been committed to the Rebellion because it has always been my only constant reality. Nothing else could ever matter, because I couldn’t imagine anything else would ever capture my attention. I was partially right. Nothing else matters to me but the Rebellion, but someone matters just as much, or matters more. I was stupid for too long and tried to force you into becoming the kind of person that I am. I should have focused on just appreciating our differences.

Do you realize I have trouble sleeping because of regret? You probably realized that was true from the beginning, because you could anticipate my feelings even before I was aware of them. (If I didn’t know you were really perceptive, I could have sworn you were Force sensitive). Regret keeps me going when I’m awake, but it tortures me when I try to sleep. I blame myself for Alderaan, for the impasse the Rebellion has experienced after Hoth. Most of all, I blame myself for keeping you all from paying off that debt. You could have went back to Jabba right after Yavin or any other time. You should have went to him with the money after we encountered the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell. But you stayed for three years because of me. I held you back from saving your life.

I wanted to keep you near me. But now you’re gone.

We are still no closer to getting you back.

Han, I’m sorry.

With all of my heart and soul,

Leia

 

Wonderful! Very lyrical and moving. If she can't/won't acknowledge these feelings out loud, at least she can write them down in private.

 

So lovely, so touching. For me, Leia is a hard one to write because she is so complex and she buries so much, but you've really caught all the conflict and loss and regret here in such an eloquent way. You really have a lovely touch.

 

leiamoody - hi! Well, this DWB breaking thingy is working like a charm!! Agreeing with divapilot ... Leia is layered and has a lot to live with and through and articulate. You've captured her feelings and motives expertly.

 

I wanted to keep you near me. But now you’re gone.

Awww, so sad.

Your writing is so graceful, and you've really captured Leia's emotional turmoil here. Like taramidala said, I can see her dealing with her feelings in private like this.

Great job on this.

 

Oh, this is beautiful!

Perfect. I can really feel Leia come across in this.

 

Enjoyed this poignant glimpse into Leia's mind and feelings. The feelings of inner guilt and conflict really come through, as does a certain amount of incredulity along the lines of, "wow, this 'scoundrel' didn't really do all this for me, did he?" It's like we get to see her in the process of realizing he's less of a scoundrel than she thought at first.

 

Thanks. It took three years for Leia to even get to the point to say "I love you" and that was only when Han was hanging on the precipice between life and death. I suppose it would makes sense for it to be easier for her to write down even this much in a datapad diary.

Also thank you. Writing Leia has been a challenge for me in the past, but I decided to really sit down and work out how to approach her in narrative form. Maybe it helps that I've always been reserved and buried many things, and somehow it's now become easier to integrate that characteristic into how I write Leia.

Thank you. The DWB prompts do seem to bring something out from my unconscious.

Being a princess means living a very public life with very private thoughts, or so I would imagine. (Same as for any other public figure). Leia is very articulate in her thoughts because she can't express herself too much outside of her head. The life she's experienced up to ESB would have driven a less centered and self-aware person off the proverbial cliff. I imagined she kept herself sane by writing down random thoughts in a datapad with the expectation that no one but her would ever read them.

Thanks very much. I think that Leia would feel some level of guilt, even if she also realizes that perspective doesn't make sense on a practical level. But if you love someone and they make a decision that leads to something bad happening to them, you can't help blaming yourself.

Thanks. I spent some time making sure everything in this piece really fit Leia's voice.

Thank you. It would be pretty astounding to Leia that Han might have a better motivation than just the money. After all, he stated that he wasn't interested in revolutions and things like that. So it would definitely be a surprise to her.

 

This is powerful. It can tear one apart in a matter of minutes. I would not necessarily agree that he knew before she knew...however, the part about Leia blaming herself for Alderaan and wondering what the heck Fett is doing with Han, as well as the colours used at the beginning...superb stuff!

 

Thanks. I'll admit there is a definite possibility that both of them knew at the same time, but of course they would never admit to each other. Because Han and Leia just really like things to be complicated sometimes...they would get bored otherwise.
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Okay, time for my next prompt response. I apologize for it being rather long (although it does fit with the title of my response thread...wordy responses might be encountered from now on. ).

Week 1 Prompts Used:
Word Prompts: Ambition, Duty
Idea: Caught between rock and hard place
Character: Han Solo

Title: Fortune

Han didn’t know why he came down to Gold Street the morning after his grandmother’s funeral. He should have been at the their old house riding out the customary two day mourning ritual, where the bereaved were supposed to remain isolated from society focusing upon the recently departed. No respectable Corellian should have been wandering through the Blue Sector, littered with tattoo parlors, gambling dens, and other places of inequity. But Han came from a long bloodline of disreputable people, so it wasn’t unusual for him to wander through the district in search of answers to questions that whirled through his mind.

The biggest question: Why did people die with nothing to show for those years they struggled just to keep going from one day to the next? Tira Gama Solo had worked too damned long and hard during her life, and the only thing she had to show for her effort was 1,000 credits in savings and 200,000 credits in debts accumulated during her long illness. Spending her entire life at the bottom of society trying to create a better life for him wore out her heart, and she couldn’t afford a prosthetic replacement. What little money she saved in earlier years went to getting Han into the Academy when the scholarship didn’t cover the basic necessities. He got to attend, and was in his second year, doing far better than he would’ve expected. After graduation he would go into the Navy and become a pilot.

He stopped in front of a black transparisteel window emblazoned with a gold-painted open hand with five outstretched fingers and one human eye embedded in the palm. “Lady Sibylla, Fortune Reader” was written in Old Corellian along the top of the fingers.

Somehow he managed to pass every cantina and sabacc parlor without a glance, yet he suddenly decided to pause in front of a spook joint. His grandmother used to come down to Treasure Ship Row and consult the “professionals” who always told her she would be successful and would live a long and happy life. None of that ever came true. Tira kept working after he gained a scholarship to the academy that covered the basics but didn’t pay for much else. She would send along extra money to keep him amused, but that made him feel guilty. So Han started running along with a petty bunch of credit-making schemes like selling test answers to upper classmen terrified of failing the complicated exams necessary to graduate. He would transmit some credits back home every couple months, and his grandmother never asked where he managed to get the extra money.

“Can I help you?”

Han jumped away from the storefront window. A woman stood in the doorway, probably the owner, the one named “Lady Sibylla”, the lady who could supposedly read the future.

“You need my assistance.”

He stared at the woman. “I don’t need your help.”

“You were brought here for a purpose. Clearly you would not have sought the counsel of a being like myself if you don’t believe in fortune telling.”

“I don’t believe in crazy, lady.”

The fortune reader shook her head. “There is much more to the universe than dust.”

“Are you some kind of Jedi? They’re illegal.”

“Report me to whatever authority might still be rounding up those ancient devils just in time for Empire Day. I doubt there are too many legal types here who care about old wizards that have been chased away into obscurity.” Her eyes were steady, but challenged Han to actually follow through with what was an obvious idle threat.

Han reached into his flight jacket pocket and pulled out a bronze five credit coin. “So you read peoples’ futures? Tell me what comes next now that I’m alone.”

The fortune reader stared at the coin. “I usually charge far more than five credits, because I offer truth. But for you, I will not charge any fee.”

“I don’t take anything for free.”

“Pride is a wonderful attribute until you let it get in the way of the important matters.” The woman shrugged. “Of course you are free to leave if you wish. I can show you things, but I cannot force you into doing them. Your will determines your fate.”

Han wanted to protest, but some weird calm feeling overcame his resistance. “I’ll do it for now.”

The fortune reader smiled. “Thank you.” She reached out her right hand. “Sibylla Orien. And you are—“

“Why don’t you tell me who I am, if you’re supposed to know everything?”

“It makes you more comfortable to introduce yourself.”

Of course she was right about that. Han didn’t like someone knowing everything about him without him knowing how they knew those things. “Han Solo.”

Sibylla nodded. “Yes, as I suspected. Your grandmother often talked of you during her sessions.”

So that explained how she already knew his name…somehow, which didn’t exactly make sense. But it was the only explanation she offered, and he wasn’t able to come up with anything better. “Yeah, I guess she did talk about me.”

“Come inside.” Sibylla opened the door to her shop and let Han enter ahead of her. The bright sun momentarily obscured his vision, but when he could see the interior Han noticed it was quite different from the other establishments his grandmother usually visited. Everything was decorated in silver and black instead of bright colors and wind chimes made from gold coins. Her appearance was unlike those other spook merchants, who preferred flashy jewelry and tattoos; she wore a simple bottle green dress with small hints of white at the collar and cuffs and her black hair pulled up in a bun.

Sibylla led him to a small circular table covered in black silk. “Please sit down”.

Han seated himself in the chair on the left hand side, while she placed herself into the empty seat opposite him.

“I am sorry for the loss of your grandmother. She was a great benefactor to many among our community of seers.”

“Yeah, she laid down a lot of credits on fakers.”

“Call them whatever feels necessary. But you are with someone who can actually uncover hidden truths.”

“Sure, whatever.”

She pulled out a set of cards from an ornate ebony and gold box. Han realized she wasn’t using standard fortune cards when she began to shuffle the deck. He recognized the backs, decorated with glowing white figures on a midnight blue background, as a Centran sabacc deck. “You don’t like the usual cards?”

“Sabacc cards are more unconventional than the usual ones.”

He leaned back in the chair. “Does that mean you see things easier?”

“It does help sharpen one’s focus, given their association with gambling.”

“How’s that work?”

“’The odds’, as they are called by many such as yourself, are just a simple way of acknowledging the role of destiny.” Sibylla laid out the cards in a half-moon arc on the table. “I will give you a very simple reading. One that involves picking each card at random and explaining its meaning rather than a traditional layout. Does that work for you?”

Han shrugged. “Go ahead.”

She turned over the first card. “Ah, the Wheel. Very auspicious, because this indicates a balance of good and bad elements, and the beginning and ending of things in your life.”

“That means my grandmother’s death and me finishing up another year as a cadet. Like I didn’t already know all this crap.”

“It’s far more than just your immediate circumstances.” She let him see the card, which he had seen before in both the regular and Centran sabacc decks. A giant metallic wheel floated against a starry background. “This also represents the start of a new path. The days of childhood are over. Your adult life is now fully underway, with more opportunities before you than were imaginable in the past.”

“Like what? I’m already gonna be in the military after I graduate.”

Sibylla turned over the second card. “Maybe not. But you do have strong indications of leadership in your future.”

“Like a General or something?”

Sibylla held up the second card. “Definitely a leader of some kind.”

Han noticed the card was the Chariot; a winged creature guided a golden chariot up into some imaginary blue sky. “I guess that means victory.”

“It means your future will be tied up in certain degrees of military victory.”

Han grinned. “So I will be a General.”

“You will definitely succeed in some kind of martial ventures. The future you have constructed for yourself does not always lead to the future you shall possess.”

“Then maybe I don’t want that future.”

“It doesn’t matter what you decide, the future you earn is the one you will receive.”

Han frowned. “I don’t want to finish this reading.”

“Since I’m not charging you for this session, the door is open both ways.”

He stared at the remaining cards that laid face down on the table. There was no reason to believe anything she had told him. He didn’t need to hear the rest of her nonsense.

But maybe there was another future in store for him than what he planned. “I’ll stay long enough to indulge my curiosity.”

“Very well.” Sibylla turned over the next card. “This is an interesting contrast to the Chariot. It represents something both literal and figurative.” She held up the card for his inspection. “The Lovers.” That was a card he had never seen before:

“I’m not involved with anybody right now.” He wasn’t interested in anything more than random encounters whenever they came along, which for a guy like him was quite often. There was no need for commitment in his life, because he had never seen any good role models of it growing up. His grandmother’s first marriage ended in divorce, and his birth parents disappeared and left him behind when he was ten days old. “So that card means I’ll get involved with somebody?”

“There is another interpretation besides the literal one illustrated. It also means you will be at the crossroads of two major decisions at several points during your life.” Sibylla placed the card back on the table. “But at some point a woman shall become the main factor behind your most important decision.”

Han snorted. “The only woman who’s gonna influence me from now on is Lady Fortune.” He leaned forward in the chair. “And I’m talking about money, not fate.”

“That’s not a wholly terrible ambition. But you must allow for the influence of destiny, because it will sometimes happen whether you like it or not.”

He frowned. “Maybe I want this over with now.”

“Very well.” Sibylla drew another card. “Ah, this is a very good card to end our brief encounter. I suspect you won’t mind this one. It represents the ultimate outcome of your immediate future and your ultimate destiny, should you pay heed to your circumstances at all times.”

“What is it, the Idiot card?”

She held out the card to him. “It’s the Universe.”

“That means—“

“You will get the opportunity to do everything your spirit desires. When you come to the final years of this life, you will be a happy man.”

Han stood up and took the card from her. The image was of a man standing on a planet surrounded by the stars and other planets, with a rising sun illuminating the scene and him.

“So that will be me one day? How does that mean I will be happy?”

“The Universe card represents ultimate achievement when it comes to a person’s future. Success in every possible form will be accomplished because you have gone through a journey that tested you in many different ways. You will become…” Sibylla tilted her head “…fulfilled, I suppose.”

Han gave her the card. “No major problems along the way, huh? I get to make some difficult choices at certain points, then everything works out in the end. Sounds too good to be true.”

“I never said there wouldn’t be obstacles along the way. No being’s life is ever free of difficulties.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“I could tell you the bad things by picking out some other cards. But I don’t think you need to know about those misfortunes right now.”

Han looked down at the other cards still lying face down on the table. So many possibilities were hidden underneath those black and white line drawings, and he could very easily have Sibylla draw every last remaining one until the faces and their meanings for his future were revealed. Did he really need all that knowledge? Could he handle knowing the good and bad that awaited him in the future?

“I’ll pass. I like being surprised.”

Sibylla nodded. “Good choice.”
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I've seen other writers do this, so I'll do it too. These are the EU elements borrowed for this story:

Tira Gama Solo (Han's grandmother, whose background I changed)
Blue Sector
Treasure Ship Row
Centran sabacc deck

 

n/m

 

n/m

 

I enjoyed your interpretation of Han in this one, and I could hear H. Ford's voice all the way through. Definitely one very interesting (and aptly named ) fortune teller, and her readings of the cards are intriguingly ambiguous and heave just enough room for dramatic irony (WE, of course, know how things will work out for Han even though HE doesn't!). I get the feeling that visiting one of the fortune tellers frequented by his grandmother was in part a way for Han to come to terms with his grief—and it seems like a very Han way to do so. Nice work here.

 

Love how this story manages to include so many of the themes and hints at Han's future. And the conversation with Sibylla at the beginning had me chuckling. You've got a marvelous sense for how he thinks and talks, and I like that we get to see him at the transition to adulthood, as Sibylla notes. There's a lot of the older Han in him -- especially the way he likes to be seen by others -- but he's still very young here.

 

Ooh, mav's DWB thread was a truly brilliant idea for all the wonderful fics it inspired, and these here are among my favourites! Like everyone else I found that you really got Leia's voice and dilemmas right in your first entry, but your young Han... he's just perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed how "I'm leaving but finally I'm staying but no I'm leaving" gave its rhythm to the story, and I certainly hope we get to see Lady Sibylla again!

 

Thanks. I can write Harrison pretty sufficiently if I concentrate hard enough. When it came to Sibylla, I wanted an obvious name that helped point to her role, although I originally wanted to use the term "Theobule", which was supposedly the origin of the term "sibyl" (incorrect historical assumption). But the final choice of name just looks better, and works better for her role at this point in the story.

Thank you. Han would definitely be in a transitional phase after the death of his grandmother, so the young man is forced into evolving up, for lack of a better term. The process of maturity is the hardest when you don't have any choice when the process begins, but he's already becoming the scoundrel we all know and love.

Thanks and thank you. I like writing Leia and Han, so when I get their voices right, it's always good to know. And Sibylla will make another appearance...or several, depending on the stories, because she happens to play an influential role in my AU (although not necessarily in the guise of Lady Sibylla).

 

Finally getting around to read your second story in this thread.

But Han came from a long bloodline of disreputable people, so it wasn’t unusual for him to wander through the district in search of answers to questions that whirled through his mind. - Tell me something I don't know.

“I don’t believe in crazy, lady.” - love how this sentence can mean something completely different...aaah, the importance of that particular comma.

There are many strong sentences in here and the story is balanced. I am not getting the "so, I should pity Han for having had a chaotic family?" vibe from it, more likely "so, that's why he's like this?"and that's a good, good thing.

What I liked most, however, was grandma's planning of her little boy's future despite her own life being anything but rosy; and the very ending. How many of us would have whatever-idiom-you-prefer to do the same? Ironically, that's the first spark of ideals in a young man robbed of them by default.

Love how all the cards are right, buuut one isn't.

Spoiler

Han stood up and took the card from her. The image was of a man standing on a planet surrounded by the stars and other planets, with a rising sun illuminating the scene and him. - . HOW WUDE!!! SYBILLA WRONG. DAT NOT HANSOLO, DAT MESA, MEGAJARJAR!!!

 

Thanks for reading. I never wanted to write Han from the perspective of someone to be pitied, because he would never view himself as someone to be pitied. I always had my own ideas about what formed his character, and the idea of being raised by a grandmother after being abandoned by his parents and growing up poor was the strongest idea I've had for years. The only part I borrowed from the Legends EU are the names.

When it came to the notion of Han's grandmother giving up any hopes of a better life for herself in exchange for something better for her grandson...well, that's a notion that I imagined would be the most likely way Han could get exposed to ideals that focused upon putting others ahead of yourself, etc. He wasn't going to learn that in the Empire or being a smuggler, and it wasn't likely that he spent his entire life being selfish and *suddenly* discovered altruism just because of some farmboy and a princess.

In regards to your spoiler...I can't say anything. Shake my head, yes, but I can't say anything.

 

Week 3 Prompts Used:
Word Prompts: Overindulgence
Phrase: A blessing in disguise
Character: Luke Skywalker

Title: Taste of Destiny

"You'll never guess what's in the box." Han entered the common room carrying a black shipping crate with two silver locks on the top and bottom. It was a typical security box used to ship important yet small items throughout the galaxy. Something in that kind of container was most likely expensive and probably obtained through means best left to Luke's imagination.

"You've got the Emperor's soul?" Wedge called out from his place at the corner table, seated next to Luke. Janson was on Wedge's left, while Hobbie was on the other Corellian's right. Sitting in the center of the table were a group of haphazardly organized and very empty Zeitgeist Brew bottles. Downtime on Thila was a rare commodity, so a case of ale from the Corporate Sector seemed like a good way to indulge their downtime. Even Luke couldn't resist kicking back two bottles, although he nearly decided against it once he remembered the labels with the dancing letters that appeared once the caps were taken off.

"That never existed," Han snorted. "What's in here is definitely exists and just happens to be rare."

"The first bottle of Whyren's ever produced?" Hobbie asked between drinks of ale.

"Like I'd give any of you guys one sniff of that if I did have some." Then he glanced over at Luke. "Maybe just you, kid."

Luke shrugged. "It would be a waste of time. I'm not into the hard stuff."

Janson glared at him. "It's not just 'hard stuff'. It's the only Corellian whiskey that should be legal."

"Plus it's not fair to the rest of us to keep it to yourself, " Wedge added.

"It's not Corellian whiskey." Han sat down in the remaining empty seat across from the pilots.

"But it's definitely booze," Janson leaned forward to inspect whatever lay in the crate.

Han rapped his knuckles on top of the security case. "Something very intoxicating and very rare."

"Yes, expensive booze!" Hobbie exclaimed.

"You've had enough to drink," Luke joked.

"I'm just getting started," Hobbie retorted. "And I'm getting first swallow of whatever's in that case."

Han turned the crate around and opened it. "This stuff is called 'The Breath of Heaven'." He flipped the lid up to let the X-wing pilots view the contents. "It's some weird type of wine made by cloistered members of the Iziaka Order on Xaan Doro. Only twelve bottles a year are produced."

"So that makes us very lucky," Wedge declared.

Luke noticed two smoked brown glass bottles filled with rose-colored liquor dotted with golden bubbles within the black velvet interior of the security case. Something felt strange about the wine in those bottles, almost like they were...alive?

"Luck got me this little treasure during a three-day sabacc game on Lacace." Han pulled out a bottle.

"The guy never did say how he got hold of these, but he probably won them the same way I did."

"I think you made out pretty good," Janson stated.

"Maybe so. If what the guy told me is true, anyone who drinks this stuff is supposed to have some kind of mystical experience."

"Like hallucinations?" Wedge asked.

Han shrugged. "Depends on the being. This stuff is made from Doroan rice, which is supposed to be infused with the Force..."

So the liquor did possess a unique living characteristic. A certain level of Force sensitivity managed to survive the fermentation process. Now Luke was curious to have a drink of this spiritual elixir, to see if he could make any connection with the Force within those bubbles of living something.

Han seemed to pick up on Luke's sudden urge, or he was just motivated by a sudden desire to make the pilots uncomfortable. "Everyone gets a drink instead of fighting over who gets the first taste."

"But there's only one glass," Hobbie replied.

"There are some plastene cups above your head, kid." Han pointed to a small cabinet above Luke's head. "That's how everybody gets a taste." Solo grinned. "After you're finished drinking, you have to tell everyone whatever you saw."

"What's that supposed to accomplish?" Luke stood up to get the cups. He was afraid to expose anything that might come from his unconscious due to the wine's influence. If he mentioned his conversations with Ben from beyond life Han and the others would think he was crazy.

“I’m curious to see if the side effect is just some kind of nonsense,” Han responded.

“You really think anyone’s gonna reveal they see purple dragons dancing around the room?” Wedge asked.

“Funny, I see a little green Rancor holding a zithar whenever I’m drunk,” Hobbie said.

“Unfortunately I always see you guys,” Janson retorted.

Luke sat back down at the table and placed the cups near the bottle of wine. “Are you going to join in your own challenge, Han?” He knew the Corellian had a preference for sarcasm that occasionally bordered on the harsh. Sometimes Luke wondered if Solo viewed him as some kind of idiot? Did he really expect Luke to reveal anything that might emanate from the Breath of Heaven? Would he make fun of Luke no matter if the young Jedi took one drink or refrained from letting any of the wine go down his throat?

Han shrugged. “I’m willing to go one round.”

“What if you see something…” Hobbie wiggled his fingers “…spooky.” Then he laughed in the style of a cheap horror villain.

“Unless you’re talking about me seeing one of the many creditors I owe money to, then I don’t usually see anything scary.”

“Here comes Princess Leia,” Wedge pointed toward the doorway.

“If Her Holiness was really coming this way, I would’ve already felt the chill.” Han reached forward to grab the bottle of wine. “Enough talk, gentlemen. Either we do this or it goes untouched.”

The pilots looked at each other, then nodded.

Han pulled the cork stopper from the bottle. He poured a little of the wine into the shot glass. “Get a cup and I’ll give you all some,” he told the others across the table. Then he filled the red plastene cups with some of the Breath of Heaven.

Hobbie grabbed a cup, followed by Wedge, Janson and finally Luke.

The next several minutes consisted of the men looking into their respective containers. Nobody wanted to be the first to take a drink and face possible humiliation.

Luke frowned. Was drinking a Force enriched wine somehow important to his destiny? It didn’t seem likely. Yet who could predict what might prove useful in his learning process?

“Here goes nothing,” he declared to Han, his fellow X-wing pilots, and the universe. He brought the cup to his lips, tilted his head back, swallowed the wine. The aspiring Jedi placed the now-empty cup on the table.

Han waited about one minute before he asked the inevitable question. “See anything yet?”

Luke was just about to reply when a sudden image came into his awareness. A slightly older version of him sat in a darkened room, wearing black…the room felt rather than appeared familiar…was it Ben’s hut on Tatooine? He was engaged in the construction of a lightsaber…telekinetically. Every component of the saber hung in the air like a holofilm in pause mode until the saber was complete. The future version of Luke reached out with an invisible grasp to ignite the lightsaber and reveal the color of the blade: a shimmering, brilliant light green.

“Why are you staring off into hyperspace?” Han’s voice pierced into Luke’s mind. He took a deep breath, and returned back to the familiar drabness of the lounge on Thila.

“I just got a little dizzy for a minute,” Luke replied.

“Did you see anything?” Janson asked.

Luke shrugged. “Nope.”

Han narrowed his eyes. “You’re lying, kid.”

“No.” The young man’s gaze was steady against the Corellian’s inquisition. “It just gave me a fuzzy head for a couple seconds. Now it’s gone.”

“That means it’s okay to drink!” Hobbie declared. “My turn!” He gulped down his little bit of Heaven, soon followed by Janson, Wedge, and then, after two minutes of looking around the table, Han.

“Anybody got something to share?” Solo asked after yet another minute.

“It tasted like fizzy cough medicine,” Janson replied.

“I’m disappointed,” Hobbie said.

“I think the Empire’s gonna build another Death Star,” Wedge declared.

“Was that a vision?” Luke asked. He never detected any Force sensitivity in his fellow Battle of Yavin combatant.

“The Empire will probably be stupid enough to do something like that.”

“So nobody’s seen anything?” Han asked.

“You haven’t made a report, Solo. What’d you see?” Hobbie inquired, leaning his elbows on the table.

“Nothing but a sudden headache,” the Corellian replied. He glared down into the rosy fizz that remained in his glass. “So much for this making you see things.”

“But at least you got something rare,” Luke replied. Maybe this was another lesson on his road to becoming a Jedi: lying to preserve your image of sanity.

 

Very interesting piece that's got a spot-on mix of the serious (Luke's vision) and the humorous (the Rogues and their banter). What you did at the end with the various "reports" was very cool—Wedge's reaction in particular shows us that Luke wasn't the only person who "saw something," and then Luke's' "white lie" about seeing nothing suggests that the others may have been white-lying too. But who was, and who wasn't? And what, if anything, is the role of Force-sensitivity in the whole issue (especially give that Wedge's non-Force-sensitivity is established)? Kind of a fun puzzle.

 

Thanks.

I really had a difficult time with this one, because I was trying to go for straight humor, but then the idea of the midichlorian infused wine causing Luke to see a glimpse of the future came along and I had to go in the direction of semi-serious. As for who saw what, it's actually pretty simple. Luke saw something concrete, and he will always see something concrete if he ever finishes the rest of that wine. Wedge actually had a lucky guess . I was going along with the angle that Wedge, like Han, sometimes has moments where it almost seems like he was in touch with *something* that enabled him to accomplish the feats he was capable of*. Basically, since Corellians have this weird affinity with luck, I imagined that luck might be a manifestation of the Force. (Ob-Wan would disagree, but I would disagree with him about that "certain point of view" nonsense ). Hobbie and Janson really didn't see anything...except each other .

*(Admittedly, I wasn't aware Wedge was specifically established not to have Force sensitivity. I've never read all of the X-Wing novels or much of the EU. But I never thought he was Force sensitive anyway, just like I never thought Han was Force sensitive).

 

Enjoyed that bit of fun and serious! I liked what LUke saw. I almost thought he'd see Mara Jade ... Bet Han saw him with Leia. He's certainly not gonna tell that!

 

Thank you.

Sorry, but Mara Jade doesn't appear in my AU. Like I said, I was never a big reader of the EU, and if I tried to write her, she would honestly be so out of character, her fans would hate me. I think it's better to leave her to people that are familiar with her.

Now when it comes to Han and Leia together...why spoil the surprise?

 

See, I interpreted this differently. I read it that they all saw "something" but only Wedge was blotted enough to tell the truth. Like Luke, they lied. This is rather like "The Monkey's Paw" in a way; be careful what you wish for. Maybe the rare thing is being honest with yourself.

Or maybe I'm overanalyzing things.