Video. alt title: those two star wars babes effed me up

[scrubscrub]

Who: Koala (ft.ing Sleeping Solo)
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Huntress
When: April 5th

[When Han falls into his coma on the first (April Fools! too bad she's unaware of the holiday), Koala starts out panicked the first hour, and then plotting the next. It's terrifying, of course. Of course it is. How can it not be scary, to have your friend collapse and not wake up when shaken? But now that he's laid down to sleep — some strange, unnatural slumber, nothing at all like someone simply asleep — she paces and bites her nails and tries to think of the best thing to do.

 

She pinches his arm. She yells loudly in his ear and slams two cans together. She splashes water on his face. She looks for magical potions or medicines or anything of the sort on the moon that would make him rise. Someone gives her something to run under his nose; they said it wakes people from fainting. Nothing. She runs in and hollers that his precious Millennium Falcon's arrived, and that they're going to smash it up if he doesn't come get it.

Nothing works at all, and eventually she sinks into the chair near his bunk, puts her face in her hands, and sits distraught for a moment with a wide, unnatural smile on her face — one anyone would recognize as all nerves.]
 

I-it's okay, Mr. Solo. We'll figure something out! There must be something I missed.
 

[Guilt wrecks her in ways she doesn't understand entirely.

 

She thinks of lecturing Han about wedding rings. And Leia being gone, just suddenly gone.]
 

[VIDEO]
 

[The feed opens to a smile, strained, incredibly strained. But unlike her usual facade, she's abandoned the mask of a pleasant, friendly worker; here, it's simply the impulse of a child who is absolutely terrified to cry on a fleet-wide entry.]

 

I-I've tried everything I can to wake up Mr. Solo, but still nothing... He just sleeps! Even telling him the ship was on fire didn't work; I'd hoped he'd hear and I could just apologize many times for causing a scene, but he just... keeps sleeping... Is this — is it because he's depressed? Because his — his friend and... and the person he loves were gone, and maybe he just wore himself out, because he was so upset! That's how it works, right? Sometimes people lose the will to keep walking; I've seen it before!

[She seems to be partly talking to herself, as if explaining inwardly. Trying to make sense of such a random event.]

 

I don't know what to do... I must've, must've have made this worse for him...! After all, I-I was talking about wedding rings! His wedding ring to the princess he cared about. I was talking about such a wonderful thing, but I never even considered how easily people can come and go. I've made it so much worse, to remind him of that right before she'd left, and he's gone and fallen into a deep, terrible sleep! I... I opened my big mouth and jinxed it! Maybe if I hadn't, it would have been easier...
 

[Sniffling loudly, tears brimming her eyes,she turns away slightly to scrub at them with the rag she's been wringing all the while.]
 

Oh, no — no, I'm not allowed, I shouldn't... It only makes things worse. But I miss Miss Leia and her lessons, and I don't... know what to do for Mr. Solo... Being able to make your own choices is so difficult; not knowing what your choices even are is so difficult! How does anyone handle it?

He's going to wake up, right?

 

[Surely he must. It won't be like her father. Mr. Solo isn't hurt! Just — a little stuck, is all.

Until then, she's going to just... go clean up. Maybe she should find more work to do.

Money is very important, after all. She bows her head, voice lower as she trails off.]
 

If only Miss Leia were here... If a prince can wake up the person they love, then maybe a princess could, too... Couldn't they?

[Go figure, the Organa-Solo's run rampant in her entries.]

Comments

[ voice ]

[beardstrokes]

[ Oh Force. He hopes his voice doesn't tremble. Exhaustion has wracked his body of late and he suspects a light breeze might actually knock him over.

Still, this needed to be addressed. ]

Where are you?

[ voice ]

[scrubscrub]

[Sniff. She feels a bit embarrassed already. A bit more guilty. Obi-Wan is their friends, right? She doesn't want to upset him, too. Oh, perhaps this was all a mistake. She should have just held her tongue, like she used to, like she knew she had to — !!]

I'm... in the kitchen, um... There's some dishes to wash.

I'm very sorry.

[ voice > action ]

[beardstrokes]

Don't be. I'll be right over.

[ Though it takes him longer than he normally would have liked. He pulls his cloak over his head. Exhaustion can be hidden and faked and he's usually quite good at it. But the souls' silent screams and pleas still ring in his head, making it difficult to concentrate.

Thankfully, locating Koala proved not to be difficult. He sighs quietly. ]

There you are. Did no one tell you about the deep sleep?

video;

[bloodbiter]

[her voice is as gentle and soothing as she can make it, her expression full of concern.]

Koala... Where are you?

video;

[scrubscrub]

In the kitchen, miss...!

I do apologize for taking up so much time. But I can assure you, I've been still working diligently on my job as a member of this crew.

video;

[bloodbiter]

No, no, that wasn't my concern. But... May I give you some company?

[Voice]

[two_jedi_sticks]

[Jaina doesn't want to use a video, not when there's bad news about her father now, too. It's hard to keep calm for herself, she doubts she can be very reassuring for someone else right now.]

Dad will come out of it okay. He's been through a lot worse than this.

[Voice]

[scrubscrub]

[She stares for a moment, smile grim despite herself.]

Ah, your...

Are you — Jaina? [Oh no. She shouldn't have been so noisy... If this is Jaina — ] I'm so sorry! Please forgive me; I shouldn't be reminding you of these difficult times for you... It was so thoughtless of me...!

[Voice]

[two_jedi_sticks]

No, it was good of you to say something.

[Focus on the practical! It was better to hear about it than to go to the ship to try visiting him and find out that way. The practical side also wants her to come up with a solution, but the only thing she can come up with off the top of her head is a failed attempt to wake Luke from a coma as a child.]

So...yeah, I'm Jaina. Nice to meet you. If it helps, don't try kissing him awake, like in a story. Let's just say I already learned that the hard way.

Video

[wolfuncaged]

[Oh, Koala. ]

It is fairly common here, you have little to worry about. He will awaken in time. Atroma did this to him, not you, you needn't blame yourself for this.

[Ugh and there's a question about choices that he still can't really answer. ]

From what I have learned, no one knows the answer to that. All you can do is whatever you think is best, and hope it is the right decision. If it is not, you learn from it and when a similar choice arises again, you know which is the best course to take.

Video

[scrubscrub]

[She looks down, wringing her hands in the small rag yet.

But her eyes aren't getting any wetter with unshed tears. They're drying steadily. Which is a good thing, as far as she's concerned; crying is... not a good thing. Even if everyone tells her it's okay, it still makes her feel wrong. An old habit, an old fear that doesn't die easily.

Do what you think is best...]

Is that what you've done, Mr. Fenris?

Video

[wolfuncaged]

[He understands that. Keeping your emotions on the inside. Not let them see what is going on inside, because it might be seen as a sleight on the household. It's a very hard habit to break. ]

It is. I have made many mistakes [so many damn mistakes] but I have learned from them. I am fortunate to have friends who have helped me in such matters.

[Video]

[save_the_souls]

[oh no...the poor girl]

He'll wake up. Sometimes people just go to sleep for awhile here.

And I'm very sure none of this is your fault.

[Video]

[scrubscrub]

I've heard... the Atroma do this... but why?

Why would they?

[Video] 1/3

[save_the_souls]

[Oh God she seems so sad and she's asking him the most difficult question. He has to be very careful to navigate his answer in a way that doesn't make her feel hopeless or to blame for what happened to Han Solo and Leia. Which is a tall order when you're dealing with a crazy entity like Atroma]

[Come no Allen don't screw this up...!]

[Video] 2/3

[save_the_souls]

[There's a pause as he struggles to find an answer. This...is hard. So hard that while thinking, he exhales a puff of air and half mutters to himself.]

Because they're sick $%&#s...?

[Video] 3/3

[save_the_souls]

[--!!]

[WAIT. WAIT SHIT.]

[THE VIDEO FUNCTION IS ON. THIS ISN'T TEXT. SHE HEARD THAT]

[HE SCREWED IT UP NOOOOooooooooo]

[bryces_pup]

[Oh Koala. Honey.]

Shhh, try to calm down. I've heard that people go into deep sleeps without warning for days on end. Likely that's what happened to Mr. Pilot. It was nothing you did or in any way your fault.

[scrubscrub]

[She is! She's doing her best to calm down. It's mildly effective, but...]

W-what can I do to wake him up? From a deep sleep?

Nothing's worked so far!

video;

[firstrebel]

[ Well, that's - a thing. Hera gives the girl a concerned look. ]

It's not your fault, Koala. Would you like to drop by the Golden for some tea?

video;

[scrubscrub]

... That would be nice, Miss Hera.

If it's not too much trouble.

[She hates being here and not... being able to help any. Mr. Greed's disappeared, but he's still on the crew list, and... and she just wishes she could figure out how to help them.]

April 8th - private voice

[monolike]

[It looked like Koala was getting plenty of help when Sorey checked on her so he left her friends to it to make sure she stayed calm. He still can't stop thinking about how frightened she'd sounded though, so after a few days he contacts her to make sure she's still doing okay.]

Hey, maintenance partner. You doing okay?

April 8th - private voice

[scrubscrub]

[She rubs at her face quickly, composing herself as best she can.]

I -- yes, I'm alright! I'm so sorry. I need to keep myself in check!

I wouldn't want to make anything harder. I shouldn't have panicked so badly...

voice; I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING

[nerdeology]

[Ahh, kiddo. She really does take on too much responsibility. He figures the others have it handled, but... well, they've never officially spoken. Maybe it'll cheer her up to finally speak with her ghost pal.]

I'm glad that it's been addressed already, but it really does have nothing to do with what you've said or done. These things are out of our control.

voice;

[scrubscrub]

[... Who is this? A new voice! She wipes away any potential tears quickly.]

I'm sorry. Yes, I — I think I understand now. I just feel so bad...

We were just talking together not so long ago, and now...

[Now Han is unconscious and Leia is gone, and... It's terrible.]