neverjoinyou | lastvoyages IC Inbox

[Luke glances over briefly, worried he's offended Ford by refusing the gift--but the truth is, he likes to tinker, too. And it's been awhile since he's built anything other than a weapon or an engine. He wanders over with his mug, perching on the edge of the bed on the other end.]

What else is new?

[Plenty.]

Well, I'm working on a hydroponic garden out in the greenhouse with Laura.

[Luke shakes his head, chuckling to himself.]

No matter how far I get from Tatooine, water just being a thing you can use for, well, anything still seems crazy.

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.]

[Luke smiles gently.]

You two... didn't overlap here, did you?

No, we didn't.

[Luke nods, and takes a sip of coffee. Noting, perhaps belatedly, the terse answer and the tension.]

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?

[Ford leans back against the couch and sighs.]

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.]

Dungeons? What sort of dungeons?

[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!

[Luke’s still trying to picture this.]

So like… the Enclosure?

Not exactly. It's mostly in your imagination! With plenty of pens, paper, and overpriced miniatures to help keep track of it all.

Huh.

[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.]

[He laughs.]

Sort of, if it had rules, dice, and 2-8 players.

[Luke rolls his eyes.]

Well, that's what I meant. With actual friends.

[Oh. Well. That's both sad, and relatable.]

Aw, cheer up, Luke! I didn't find anyone who wanted to play it with me until I was in college!

You do realize that I'm not going to home home and play games, right? Or... go to college?

...well, then, what are you going to do when you go home?

[Luke sighs, leaning heavily against the wall he's next to.]

That's sort of what I'm here to figure out.

[Ah. Ford realizes he doesn't exactly know when on his timeline Luke is from. He sits there awkwardly for a moment.]

Really? I thought for sure you would know exactly where you were going.

[He raises an eyebrow.]

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.

....how does it end?

[Oh.]

You... weren't here, were you? When... when Kylo Ren was?

[Ford shakes his head.

(He was, but he wasn't paying attention to Kylo Ren and can't place the name.)]

Doesn't ring a bell.

[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.

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