driftfleet | Gumball Wishes and Taxicab Dreams

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Gumball Wishes and Taxicab Dreams

[On today's episode of the Drift Fleet:

The cargo holds are full of mysterious crates! The crews are filling beyond capacity with new faces! Official alerts are informing the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are docking at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke!

What are they going to do!? Stay tuned to find out!

...Meaning, this is a kickoff mingle for you all to enjoy the beginning of the latest plot setting. This is a convenient place to start threads relating to the first week of the event-- meeting new crewmembers, reacting to the mysterious cargo, arriving on the station and discovering that you're all broke, etc.

Tag around, start whatever you'd like, have fun. And, as always, feel free to make your own posts and mingles from here on in, as this will be the only mod-posted one for this event!]

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[That, there, is the Obi-Wan she knew. She smiles, suddenly more comfortable despite herself. The waiter delivers her drink, and she takes it with a minimal amount of stalling before finally answering the initial question.]

We... worked for some people. I never asked why you took the contract. They... well, they had a pretty low opinion of people who broke the contract.

[She takes a drink from her glass.]

And they never let us read the contract.

That sounds like a shady business contract.

[ And he probably took it under the guise of infiltration. That would tie up. ]

What were we expected to do?

They were pretty good about picking people without other options.

[Which is why she never asked him-- or many other people-- why they took the deal. He was a good person, though, she could tell. She'd figured, to some extent, he wanted to take the CDC down, but she'd never figured that was the entire reason why he was there.]

I... that's... [But, no, she has to say it. Just pull the bandaid off, Fiona.] We helped destroyed worlds. Planets, you know. With... life on them.

[ That was a blow he was not expecting. He . . . helped destroy planets? He wouldn't. He couldn't. That was impossible. Surely, no matter what the future brought, he would have never advocated for the destruction of other life forms.

What hold could anyone have on him to do that?

He remains quiet for a long time, letting the grief wash over him. ]

Did we see it happen?

I'm sorry... [She sees that grief, and moves to reach out, put her hand on his or something. She stops herself before she can get far, though after it's obvious what she almost did. This is a different man, and they're not quite friends yet, maybe not ever. And, more importantly, now he knows what she's done, what she did, what she'd probably do again. He wouldn't want comfort from someone like that. He's a good person.]

I only saw it once. I only... I only completed one mission before I got killed.

It's not your fault.

[ The response is automatic, but no less genuine. He exhales quietly. What's happening to him? Was this some kind of test from the Force? To test his commitment?

To show he'll never be Jedi enough? ]

[She wrinkles her nose over a mirthless smile.] Kinda is.

[She takes a deep breath. The response to pain, grief, suffering, is always to just steamroll through it. Anything and everything can be ignored. Humor is an excellent way to do it. Her tone could not be dryer:] So after that bombshell, I bet you're dying for the rest of the details, right?

[ Wryly, dredging up a smile. He, too, can use humour to deal with shitty life situations. ]

I would hate to leave it unfinished.

Yeah, sounds about right. [Wry, bitter, who's counting. She takes another sip of her drink. Should have asked for something stronger, but she didn't want to drink hard liquor in front of him for some reason.] Hey, just curious. Before you were here, what were you doing?

[Because she'd like to avoid dropping any more bombs if she can help it. At the very least, she'd like to avoid doing it on accident, for fuck's sake. That'd be truly unforgivable.]

Hm? I believe I was on Coruscant. I hadn't been deployed after my Utapau mission. Why?

[ Avoiding timelines? Makes sense. He's heard enough of the future by now. ]

[A mission. Which means he was still...] Okay. So the you I knew was from... after this you. [She rolls her eyes, momentarily caught up not in existential angst or dire self loathing, but how fucking dumb her vocabulary has become since leaving Chicago.]

Unless you really wanna know, I think I'll keep the shit you told me to myself, alright? Don't really think anybody deserves to know their future. [She makes it sound like a curse.]

[ Even if it came after . . . the end, Obi-Wan still can't picture himself advocating for the destruction of other planets. He simply nods. He knows his future, though some of the intimate details are still secret to him and he prefers it that way. ]

That's fine with me. I know a little of it already.

Oh, really? [She tries to sound detached, and fails utterly. There's too much sympathy in her voice.] What d'you know?

[ He hesitates. ]

The Jedi Order was . . . effectively destroyed and the Empire took over. I managed to survive and help train one of the last Jedi left to defeat the Emperor.

And there is a Sith Lord named Darth Vader around as well.

Darth Vader? [Oh, for fuck's sake. Look, she recognizes the name 'Obi-Wan Kenobi', you can't grow up in America and not recognize that name. But he was some old guy, and Fiona's long ago settled into the idea that the films aren't accurate to the people she's met.]

[For all she knows, the Darth Vader they're talking about is totally different from the mouth-breathing Mustafa. Maybe he's some pipsqueak idiot, maybe he's even a nice person. It's always easy to count on her ignorance.]

[So she decides not to confirm or deny any of that. Half of it doesn't mean anything to her anyway. Just... she made a commitment, once. It probably doesn't count anymore, but if you can't keep those when you're dead, what's the fucking point of getting a second chance?] We were gonna make some kinda memorial. For the people who died in the war. I know you don't know me for shit anymore, but if it's still something you wanna do, I'll help.

I don't know.

[ Technically, they're not dead. Yet. Making a memorial for them would be akin to giving up and Obi-Wan's never been one to give up. ]

They're not dead yet. If I did such a thing, I'd be saying that they are already dead to me. And I'm not willing to admit that just yet.

[Her smile is sad, but very genuine.] Good.

[She's quiet for a moment. Considering if it's her place. Ultimately, the urge to speak wins out.] Since I been out here, [in fucking space,] I seen some weird shit. Like... coming back from the dead. And magic. Gods. Freaky shit. I dunno if anything's set in stone.

I don't think it is.

[ And even if it was, Obi-Wan would fight it with every fiber of his being. Surrender is not something he ever learned. ]

I like to think we are the masters of our own fate.

[She considers it.] Some people are. I think... I think you can be.

[This is the philosophical shit she misses. Missed.]

I think it applies to all of us. Even the smallest thing can aspire the greatest change.

[ And being on Mortis has taught him a little of the magnitude of their actions taken. ]

I'm sure you are too, though you do not realize it.

[There's a slight twitch, something in the set of her shoulders, the angle of her gaze. She doesn't like being read.] You'd know; you're the Jedi.

[Noncommittal at its best.] How long you been stuck here? In the fleet, I mean.

[ He calculates the time in his mind. They usually work in cycles so . . . ]

A month, at least?

So you're almost as new as me. I'm fresh off the boat. Ship. [That was almost an awful pun, good job.]

I'm a little less fresh, to be honest. While this is my first time being kidnapped by a powerful alien race, it's certainly not my first jaunt in space.

Was that a dig? [She cocks her head, expression sharp but fond. Earth, the backwater pre-spaceflight planet. What a fucking world.] The company I worked for-- Cosmic Demolition Crew-- that was my first time in space. About... nine months ago, now? Ten.

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