all aboard the ss royalty

[actsmagnificent]

Who: Crew of the SS Bishop & friends, visitors, interlopers!
Broadcast: Nope
Action: Aboard the Bishop
When: This week

[ Bishopites! How is station life treating you? Can you fit all the stuff you bought with your casino winnings into your bunk, or did you lose your last boring jumpsuit when Lady Luck abandoned you? Has anyone touched the gumball crates yet? Have at each other here and mingle away! ]

Comments

[imahologram]

[Horrified seems too strong. Anakin was upset in the turbolift, but anyone would be. The fact that it's apparently stuck with him this long, that it's eaten at him enough that he asked Luke about it--she didn't expect that.

She doesn't really know Anakin Skywalker at all, though. Only Darth Vader. It was clear in the lift that they weren't the same, but she doesn't know the extent of it.]

What did you tell him?

[t65]

That he didn't know you were his daughter. I expected that to be enough for him, but he seemed upset that he would do that to anyone... [That had surprised him as well. He had expected many things of the man who would become Vader, but none of them were compassion for strangers and bystanders.] I hope that wasn't too much.

[imahologram]

[She shakes her head.]

It's the truth. It isn't too much. [And then a pause.] If he'd known...

[t65]

I don't know what he'd have done, Leia. It could have been worse. [The truth. Tell the truth. Even though he knows it won't help his argument, explain the way he feels, he can never lie to Leia.] After all, he knew who I was, when he... [Well, she can figure out the end of that sentence herself. Luke doesn't see the point of dwelling on it.]

The Dark Side, it changes you. That's what Master Yoda told me. Anakin, he feels so different through the Force. I wish you could feel it, Leia.

[imahologram]

I know. [That's part of what gives her such pause. The fact of Luke wasn't enough to bring him back from the darkness, wasn't enough to keep him from slicing off one of Luke's limbs--and yet the fact of Leia now, her past and Anakin's future, bothers him this much?]

...I can. Not like you do, I'm sure--but standing near Vader was like walking outside on Hoth without a coat. [For a long time, she'd assumed everyone felt it.] I know he isn't Vader yet.

[But he probably will be.]

[t65]

You can? [That's a cheering thought, in the midst of all this. Leia is farther along than he'd thought.]

I keep expecting that cold, when I talk to- to Anakin. But he's like a bonfire. [Yet there's something familiar at the center, that spans the gap of decades.] I don't know what the Dark Side does to people, but it did that to him. I'm sure of it.

[imahologram]

It had to have. [She remembers what it felt like to be in Emperor Palpatine's presence as well as Vader's; the chill they both exuded wasn't normal.

There is a long pause as Leia debates speaking further. She hasn't even said this to Han--but then, she couldn't, really.]

When we spoke, I felt sorry for him. He wants to make things right, but he doesn't know where to begin, and I...I couldn't tell him. [I didn't know. Her grip on Luke's hand tightens.] But just because he regrets something he hasn't done yet doesn't mean he won't do it in the future. We can't forget that.

[t65]

I know, Leia. Believe me. It's his future, maybe, but it's our past. Nothing can undo it. [He grips her hand in turn, careful, as always, not to grip too tightly and risk damaging the delicate synthskin covering.]

But while he's here, as he was... I want to try to know him. I'm not sure he wants me to, but... [I have to try.] And you have to choose your own path.

[imahologram]

If that's what you want [of course it is, of course it is], just...be careful.

[She can't join him in this, but she can't tell him not to get to know Anakin for his own self. She might as well tell Tatooine not to have two suns.]

[t65]

I will, Leia. I don't know how close he is to... the man he becomes. [The thing, the creature, no, he can never say that of Vader. Not when he's looked in his entirely too human eyes.] But I have to try.

[He looks up at Leia.] Is there anything you... want me to do? To not tell him?

[imahologram]

I know. [She can't follow him there, but she can at least understand his need to know the man.

At the question, Leia shakes her head. Nothing comes to mind for several long moments. And then, in a low, slightly pained voice:]

Don't tell him about Jabba. Please.

[t65]

I would never. [He's surprised by her even bringing it up, but then, perhaps it bears mentioning.] I swear, Leia; you have my word.

[imahologram]

I know.

[It's not like they've spoken on it since in any real depth; for the most part, they've gone on as though it didn't happen. Bringing it up at all leaves her with a strangely guilty tang in her mouth, as though mentioning it serves as an accusation of what Luke might say. And so, as explanation (and perhaps a little apology):]

That's the only thing.