driftfleet | festival day!

Entry tags:

festival day!

Who: EVERYONE
Broadcast: Up to you
Action: Everywhere in the Yadrolla system!
When: 5/30

[At last, the day has come: Festival Day! Once again, the Starstrikers have taken the trophy this year. But that doesn't mean members of other teams, or those who didn't play, can't celebrate with the rest of them!

There are parties everywhere. Ribbons, streamers, and confetti litter every major street in the system. (Remember what they say about glitter...) There is food on every block, and people cramming into shops to get in on the merch.

Don't forget about the reason for the festival-- the pet adoption drive! A large playground-type area has been set up on the Starstrikers' desert moon where people can play and interact with the lovable creatures needing new homes. Whether you're looking for companionship or just something to do, there's plenty to coo over! Every pet comes with an info card listing a fanciful name and a general description of their age and temperament. Maybe Sir Pringle the puppy or Marquess Mariana the fish can become your new best friend.

Sadly, the Fleet will be drifting in about a week... but feel free to party until then!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I guess there's one upside to being kidnapped.

[ Maybe more than one. He's a lot less bothered, honestly, now that he knows being here doesn't wreck the mission he's working on. Which, he tells himself, has nothing to do with letting down the Rebellion or Leia and everything to do with getting paid.

Even he doesn't really believe it. ]

I guess... I've missed a lot...

[ he says, a little more tentative, quiet, not entirely sure he wants to know. ]

You have.

[she’s not one to mince words, and since it’s Han stating the obvious in the first place, she doesn’t feel that she has to soften her response any. Not that she usually held back with Han anyway, but some things—like missing memories—are more sensitive than others. Something she knows well by now, being both on Han’s side of things and on the side of people remembering something others don’t.]

If you’d rather not know any more than what I’ve already said, I understand. Some of it is a bit difficult to explain.

[ Eventually, they have to talk about it. To some extent. He doesn't really want to. There's something daunting about the prospect-- the idea that she's known him for, what? Years? That he keeps-- what?

He's involved enough in her Rebellion to get captured by the Empire?

Han has spent an awful long time trying to avoid just that. ]

I mean.... Whatever happened is gonna happen, right?

[ So it doesn't matter what she does or doesn't tell him. Which doesn't answer whether he wants to know or not, in fairness... ]

[He's not wrong, but Leia's not about to not call him on that answer. Mostly because it leaves her unsure of where to go with this. If it's not something he wants to hear beyond his reasoning of "whatever happened is gonna happen," then that's something she needs to know.]

I suppose so, but that's not really an answer.

[ Han Solo, self-declared rebel, who sacrificed himself in the hopes of some slim chance of Leia's survival, wouldn't hesitate to find out everything she had to tell him, probably. Han Solo who just got caught up in all this nonsense and desperately wants to get paid?

He's a little less eager. He's still wrapping his head around the bits he's been able to infer.

But she cuts straight to the point, demanding. Some things apparently don't change. ]

It's just a lot, [ he says, more sharply than he means. The whole business has him on edge, and that's a terrible way to be. ]

Let's start with what you think I should know.

[She knows it's a lot and that's exactly the point she's been trying to be cautious of. She doesn't want Han to feel overwhelmed or become frustrated with all the information he's lacking, from her perspective. And yet, despite being conscious of that and trying to be understanding of his feelings, his sharp tone has Leia tensing, almost ready for a fight.]

You've been with us for the past three years, despite constant threats to the contrary.

[Is, ultimately, the place that's the best to start with, she decides. As obvious as it may have been already.]

Does that mean you eventually pay me?

[ He means it as a joke, but as soon as he says it he realizes it sounds like... well, a terrible joke.

~~He's never gonna get paid~~. ]

[Unfortunately, to Leia, it doesn't come off much like a joke. She stares at him for a short while, lips apart, before shaking her head.]

When you stop pretending money is the only thing you care about.

[ He probably deserves that. Weirdly, her incredulous, kind-of-annoyed reaction makes him feel a little less ill-at-ease. It's closer to what he expects, even if it's not really as... well, friendly as she's been.

Apparently, it's been a long three years. ]

Hey, c'mon. [ His brow creases, just a little, a hint of a frown he doesn't really want to show. He is, genuinely, trying to understand. ]

[Han's lack of fight in his response is enough to suck some of that irritation out of Leia. If he's not trying to be antagonistic, it's hard to muster up the energy to fight back regardless.]

We're friends, at least, by the time I'm from. I'd like for that to continue here.

[Not just because he's the only one from home here, but because he's Han. That part is more important than just any familiar face.]

[ He halfway wants to protest that he's not really a friendly guy, but, well-- he believes her. If it had been Luke showing up proclaiming they were best friends three years down the way, that's the kind of thing you could take with a grain of spice.

Leia, she means it. Whatever it means. ]

I just end up joining the Rebellion?

[ Not that he's not sympathetic to their cause! Has been, even. Longer than he's known her, but not enough to get in Imperial sights over it. Even Chewie's never managed to persuade him. He can't work out what would have changed. ]

No, you haven't formally enlisted.

[Which she still doesn't understand. He's been involved with them for so long already, spends his time making runs for them, and travels with the Alliance even to planets as desolate and miserable as Hoth. At that point, enlisting just makes sense, even if you aren't someone like Leia.]

That doesn't mean you don't spend your time helping us, though.

[ Now that, he understands, at least partway... in that just the word enlist kind of makes his skin crawl. It doesn't entirely surprise him that if he's lost his mind and decided to join he's still not joining. ]

Okay...

[ There's gotta be a why, though, that he's still not quite getting. For all his not-entirely-joking jokes about money, he's got debts. Bigger ones than she knows about, maybe, which is the other thing-- even if he is a bit of a sympathizer, sooner or later that kind of thing catches up to you. ]

Three years of Rebelling off the books, and then...

[ Then possible death, frozen in carbonite, or maybe something worse? There's gotta be more to all of it. ]

Then Ord Mantell happened.

[At least, according to their arguments that's what happened. Leia doesn't exactly agree that it was reason enough for him to finally decide to leave, but that was part of the heart of the argument anyway.]

We ran into a bounty hunter on a mission, and you took that as a sign.

[she pauses, pursing her lips for a moment, before adding on--]

Despite telling me you were going to stay.

[ The last bit-- would he tell her that? Promise something? There's more here than the Rebellion, he thinks-- there has to be, since he's known about that far longer than he's known her. The shape of it's suggested by everything he isn't saying. ]

Having a bounty on you is a pretty good reason to leave, [ he points out dubiously. Since he assumes that's what she meant. It's hardly surprising he'd want to get that dealt with. ]

We all have bounties on our heads.

[Well, Han might be the only one with a bounty from someone like Jabba, but for Leia, they're all basically the same thing. It's not as if she expects any bounty hunters to leave her or Luke alone if they work for Jabba. The Empire would pay too high a price for them for them to be ignored.]

It's not as if any of us would have turned you over.

I don't think that's what I'd be worried about.

[ Knowing the kinds of people he owes money to... which mostly means, knowing Jabba... He absolutely thinks there'd be bounty hunters that wouldn't bother going after anyone else. The Empire promises more than it actually pays, and the kind of people who work for the slug will take a sure criminal thing quicker than getting tangled up with the law. ]

[She shakes her head, because no, she doubts that thought ever crossed Han's mind. She has a feeling she knows pretty well what helped him make up his mind, anyway.]

What would you be worried about?

[Because as much as she thinks she knows, it's different hearing it from Han himself, and even more different hearing it from Han who hasn't yet experienced things leading up to Ord Mantell and everything else that's happened between them.]

Probably the same thing I am now. It's not just that I really like money, you know.

[ Even if he does like money a lot. There's nothing wrong with that, if you ask him! ]

Hell, if I'm getting chased down by bounty hunters, do you really want that on top of the Empire being after you?

We could have found a way to help you with your debts.

[Well, she might've had a hard time convincing high command to devote those resources to Han, but her own resources, if she were able to access them, she would have lent to him in an instant.]

I would rather have you with us.

[ It's a nice idea, but he can guess that the Rebel Alliance doesn't have those kind of credits sitting around waiting to bail out a non-affiliated smuggler. That she thinks she could even make a case for it is... interesting.

He stops short, looking intently at her. ]

And why's that?

Is it that unbelievable that I like being around you?

[She meets his gaze, not backing down or wavering under his intent stare. But it's obvious there's more to her reasoning than just her non-answer to his question. There's just a slight vulnerability to her expression that, despite her best efforts, Leia can't quite quash when it comes to Han and this particular subject.]

Not at all.

[ He doesn't quite break out in that shameless, lopsided grin-- the subject's too fraught for it-- but there's something of it in his tone, the way he narrows his eyes just the slightest bit to peer at her, takes a half a step nearer.

It's pushy. He has no idea just how pushy he's been, over those three years, but even now-- not that he likes to admit it, but he has been flirting with her. Very nearly since they met, near-deaths aside. ]

Just a little surprising to hear you say it.

[It's pushy, yes, but it's behavior she's more than used to from Han by now, and she really doesn't mind being close to him. She likes it, even, even if going that far and admitting that is a bit too much for her based on what they have here now and on what Han remembers now.

She doesn't back off as he steps closer, instead standing her ground and continuing to meet his gaze.]

You don't always make it easy, you know. Even in my time.

[ Now he does smirk, just a small one.

Give him time to realize all the implications here. It'll take a bit. It's not that Han has never been willing to do anything for someone-- it's just-- well, he's spent a long time trying to be a guy who wouldn't. Staying uninvolved. Looking out for no one but himself.

You get in trouble, doing things like aiding the Rebellion for a girl. Which she's demonstrated pretty clearly.

For now, though? He's kind of gloating. ]

Would you really want me to?

festival day!

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i'm so sorry

han no..............

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