I grew up right by the beach, so...the constant presence of vast quantities of water was something I took for granted. Stan and I used to play by the ocean all the time!
[...ah. It's no sooner out of his mouth then Ford regrets it a little -- not because he's trying to hide it, but because thinking of Stan causes a sharp uptick in the amount of loneliness Ford's been feeling. Ow, whoops. Better not to bring Stan up.]
Oh, this and that. Having a precision instrument for analyzing matter helps with just about everything. I did put together a comprehensive multidimensional ruleset for Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons. Played a short campaign.
[That had been fun! Ford's thinking about running that game, and how fun it had been. He's focusing on this a little bit deliberately, since there are other things he doesn't want to think about.]
[He wants to ask about the matter analyzer but gets distracted by the number of words he doesn't understand in the second part. Luke gets a quizzical expression on his face.]
[Ford's face lights up. He thought you'd never ask.]
Oh, not literal dungeons. It's a fantasy role-playing game! It's from my world -- and, apparently, a couple others. You use the manuals to create your characters, then play through an adventure the Dungeon Master's made up for you! Sometimes you win, annnnd sometimes the entire party dies. But either way, it's a lot of fun!
How to recreate an entire order of wizard warriors from scratch? I didn't know how to do it when I got here. Now that I know how it ends, I know even less.
[Luke sighs. It's still hard to talk about this. Partly to admit his failure, but it's not simply ego. It's the pain of revisiting the thing he knows he probably can't stop.]
He's my nephew. He was here, as an inmate. Because... [He swallows.] Because I failed him. Will fail him, in my future--I try to train him, and I fail him, and he turns to the dark side. This plan I have, this new world we're building... all we do is recreate the old one.
...that's terrible! But -- but what about all you did? There has to be a way to build a society after the Supreme Lord's death that doesn't just put the Empire back in control!
[This feels DEEPLY unfair, and he's distressed on Luke's behalf.]
It's not about ... being rewarded for what I, what the Alliance, did. If we don't have something solid, something that works, to set up in its place, the vacuum left by the Empire will be filled. And now I know that I cause my nephew to turn, and that a group that feels disenfranchised by the fall of the Empire will rise to take power.
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neverjoinyou) wrote2026-04-05 02:51 pm![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lastvoyages IC Inbox
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[...ah. It's no sooner out of his mouth then Ford regrets it a little -- not because he's trying to hide it, but because thinking of Stan causes a sharp uptick in the amount of loneliness Ford's been feeling. Ow, whoops. Better not to bring Stan up.]
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You two... didn't overlap here, did you?
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I haven't been as... available as I should. [It's not quite a change of subject, but object.] So what else have you built, or discovered?
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Oh, this and that. Having a precision instrument for analyzing matter helps with just about everything. I did put together a comprehensive multidimensional ruleset for Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons. Played a short campaign.
[That had been fun! Ford's thinking about running that game, and how fun it had been. He's focusing on this a little bit deliberately, since there are other things he doesn't want to think about.]
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Dungeons? What sort of dungeons?
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Oh, not literal dungeons. It's a fantasy role-playing game! It's from my world -- and, apparently, a couple others. You use the manuals to create your characters, then play through an adventure the Dungeon Master's made up for you! Sometimes you win, annnnd sometimes the entire party dies. But either way, it's a lot of fun!
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So like… the Enclosure?
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[He still doesn't quite get it, so he tries to imagine it, biting his lip for a moment.]
Wait. So... it's like when, ah, I used to pretend I was a fighter pilot in my room.
[Except with actual friends or whatever.]
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Sort of, if it had rules, dice, and 2-8 players.
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Well, that's what I meant. With actual friends.
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Aw, cheer up, Luke! I didn't find anyone who wanted to play it with me until I was in college!
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That's sort of what I'm here to figure out.
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Really? I thought for sure you would know exactly where you were going.
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How to recreate an entire order of wizard warriors from scratch? I didn't know how to do it when I got here. Now that I know how it ends, I know even less.
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You... weren't here, were you? When... when Kylo Ren was?
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(He was, but he wasn't paying attention to Kylo Ren and can't place the name.)]
Doesn't ring a bell.
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He's my nephew. He was here, as an inmate. Because... [He swallows.] Because I failed him. Will fail him, in my future--I try to train him, and I fail him, and he turns to the dark side. This plan I have, this new world we're building... all we do is recreate the old one.
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[This feels DEEPLY unfair, and he's distressed on Luke's behalf.]
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It's not about ... being rewarded for what I, what the Alliance, did. If we don't have something solid, something that works, to set up in its place, the vacuum left by the Empire will be filled. And now I know that I cause my nephew to turn, and that a group that feels disenfranchised by the fall of the Empire will rise to take power.
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I'm...so sorry.
...is there anything you can do to keep that from happening?
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