neverjoinyou | lastvoyages IC Inbox

IT'S ALL TEMPORARY, AND NONE OF IT IS REAL. I'M SMART AND I'M ALSO RIGHT, AND I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAVE TO PRETEND I'M NOT.

[He clambers up now to reach behind the counter and refill his drink. He also almost falls off and into the sink.]

NOT - NOT TODAY, GRAVITY.

[Had he fallen, Luke was ready with the Force.]

I'm not asking you to pretend anything. I'm asking you to... to be smart enough to realize you might not know everything. That can't be impossible, can it?

[In theory, he can fly. In practice, he's hammered.]

WE DID THIS ONE ALREADY, [Bill whines.] YEAH, I DON'T KNOW, OKAY? I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NOW. I'VE DONE... ALMOST EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF.

[He glares down at his new drink.]

SNART THINKS I SHOULD GET THE ADMIRAL TO TURN ME HUMAN.

[The amount that he Does Not want to do this is apparent, but he also thinks he might be running out of other options.]

It doesn't sound like that's what you want. [Luke knows there's a bit of going in circles with this, but he's not sure what he's doing. That much, he's never denied.]

And you've tried to figure out how to get out of here, how to pretend to be what someone wants. I say... we stop that. I say we just figure out who you are, without that goal. Bill... do you have any friends? I mean people you'd call friends.

WHAT?

[He blinks, bleary.]

I HAVE HENCHMEN, THEY'RE GREAT. NOT THAT ANY OF THEM ARE GONNA SEE ME AGAIN. THEY'RE PROBABLY ALREADY EATING EACH OTHER. DUMMIES.

[He's fond of that gang of inter-dimensional cannibals and demons.]

[Sounds nice.]

Okay. Well. That's... good. I guess. Are there any... is there anyone you, ah, feel... closer to, than most?

I MEAN THEY'RE KINDA INTERCHANGEABLE, ISN'T THAT WHAT HENCHMEN ARE FOR?

[He squints.]

I GUESS 8-BALL IS OKAY. HE JUST DOES THINGS WHEN I TELL HIM. I DON'T HAVE TO MICROMANAGE!

[Luke rubs his eyes.]

Okay, well, henchmen aside, ah... no one else? No one here, maybe? Or someone you know who isn't a henchman?

UUUUUUUH. I THINK I'M MICK RORY'S FRIEND, ACTUALLY. WEIRD, RIGHT?

[not that weird, they both like drinking and fire.]

[Not really.]

Why do you say that? I mean, why is it weird?

I DON'T KNOW! I THINK I WANTED HIM FOR SOMETHING AND THEN I JUST FORGOT TO STOP BEING NICE TO HIM.

[Luke is definitely NOT smiling. On the outside, anyway.]

That happens, sometimes. [He thinks of Han, and it's not the same thing at all but it's not utterly unlike, either.] So, can you tell me about him?

UUUUUGH, YOU KNOW HIM, HE'S THE ONE WITH THE BUZZ CUT THAT COMES IN A MATCHED SET WITH THE OTHER ONE WITH THE BUZZ CUT.

Oh, I know who you mean. I'm asking you to tell me about him.

YEAH, BUT WHY??

[All this stuff where people want him to DO things without telling him WHY is something he's hit the end of his rope about.]

Friends are important. Friends are one of the things that help remind us who we are and why we're here. And because I care about you, I want to know about the people you care about. I want to know how you feel about them.

I KNOW WHO I AM, [Bill sulks.]

LOOK. HE SAYS 'I set the library on fire,' AND I SAY 'COOL!'

AND THEN I SAY 'HEY, I'VE BEEN LYING ABOUT MY HISTORY AND MY NAME AND ALSO I'M FROM A NIGHTMARE DIMENSION' AND HE GOES 'Okay, let's watch a movie where something explodes.' AND THEN WE DO. AND WE DON'T TALK ABOUT IT ANY MORE! UNLIKE THIS. WHICH IS UNCOMFORTABLE!

[Luke raises a hand.]

Okay, okay. Sorry. I just... thanks. That sounds nice. [He's learning to see that in relative terms, ok.] I'm not going to try to make you do anything you don't understand. I'm not going to try to force you to behave in a way that doesn't make sense, just because you think that's what the Admiral's looking for. I want to concentrate on the things you like to do. That aren't... hurting people.

[This is entirely counterintuitive to the logic of how any of this is supposed to go.]

WHAT'S THAT GONNA ACCOMPLISH?

I don't know, yet. I'm not working towards a specific goal. Does that bother you?

WHAT! YES.

[Bill struggles into a sitting position.]

HEY, I SAID IF I DON'T FIGURE THIS OUT I DIE, RIGHT? I SAID THAT!

Well, you said you were going to kill somebody. Did you mean yourself?

WHAT!

[Literally what are these nonsense words, Luke]

EVERYONE ELSE.

[He's so confused.]

I understand that... that this is a second chance for you. But I'm not sure there's a timer on it. So you saying that you need to figure this out... I don't think you need to this minute. And I'm pretty sure that killing anyone here, let alone everyone, would get in the way of that.

I NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT AS SOON AS I CAN, BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHEN THE ADMIRAL'S GONNA DECIDE I'M NOT ENTERTAINING ENOUGH AND CUT ME LOOSE!

lastvoyages IC Inbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject