navigabo | LUKE SKYWALKER OPEN POST.

It's been a few days since... everything. The Rebels are preparing to mount their second offense, and what forces remain after the battle are scrambling to reorganize. Luke has been trying to reconsile recent events with his remaining duties, which isn't hard, really. The hard part is not forgetting. He can't just brush his feelings aside, he knows that. There's just no one to talk about it with. Leia, understandably, is not in the mood for any discussion of Vader that doesn't end in being glad of his death. Luke would like to think she'll feel otherwise, one day, but he can't force her.

So he sits and works and tries to neither overfocus or underfocus on what's taken place. He knows exactly where he burnt his father's body. He tries to resist the urge to return to that clearing.

He's readying his X-wing, now, making sure it's good for another run. He hasn't flown with his squadron in some time, and he no longer knows their formations. He's a Jedi now, full time, anyway. Did Jedi fly in formation? They probably didn't. Still, it's his ship, and he's got to make sure it's ready to take him wherever the rebels need him to be.

He's wearing his flight suit now, poking around in the interior. R2 is next to him, and they converse idly about the state of the X-wing.

"Well, I don't know, maybe someone has spare exhaust wiring," Luke replies after another round of beeping. The lower half of his body is currently hanging out of the X-wing, and his voice is muffled from bouncing off metal and wire. After another volley of beeping from R2, Luke peeks his head out of the ship. "You want to look for tubing? Will anyone here understand you? Besides the droids, you know what I mean."

It takes some doing for Jaina to get anywhere right now, considering right now is supposed to just be part of the history books. It's especially hard to get to the X-wings when you mother is years from becoming a galactic leader and there's only one known Jedi. No help from family privileges.

Luckily, she'd had plenty of practice getting underfoot with her brother, and the rebel staging isn't quite so organized as operations would be once the New Republic military got into full swing. She's borrowed a mechanic's jumpsuit and some supplies, and trots about with an armful of tools, trying her best to look like she belongs. Jaina's heard stories of how things were. The need to accept help and resources where available, right down to substituting wood for parts in A-wings.

And she certainly has the skill in engineering to pull of the role until she can find her uncle, though it's R2's familiar beeps and swiveling blue-and-white dome that finally have her zero in on Luke's fighter. No way she would have spotted Luke in his current position.

Jaina juggles the crate in her arms to give the little astromech a little wave, before piping up with a quick "Uncle Luke, need a hand?"

Luke's popped his head back inside his X-wing by the time he hears a child's voice echo in through an exhaust funnel. There are a few things that stand out about their statement. First, he's never been called 'uncle' by anyone before, to the point that he initially assumes someone's saying 'uncle' in the sense that he's won some sort of bet. Secondly, wow, really, still with these 'need a hand' jokes?

He pops his head out of the X-wing again, now squinting through some engine grease that's dangerously close to getting in his left eye. Next to him, R2 rumbles excitedly.

Luke looks over to see a little girl who looks... eerily familiar. How did a child get here? Luke shakes his head. "I'm sorry," he grins. "I think I should be asking you that, shouldn't I?" Because clearly they're lost, and a little confused.

They'll deal with this 'uncle Luke' business later. (Did Han put her up to this?)

Edited 2015-11-15 16:38 (UTC)

Well, Han probably did help teach the twins to call Luke uncle. Eyebrows go up, and Jaina affects a little shrug before clunking the crate down. Luke's always been warm, but he seems to wear his heart on his his sleeve a bit more in these younger years. "Okay, I did plan on asking for some help eventually. But, I mean...there's things going on."

Also, she's always wanted to work on an actual X-wing. She's rebuilt a TIE fighter, and done plenty of work on Tenel Ka's little Hapan ship, but Luke isn't putting in many hours in a snubfighter in her time. And Leia won't let her have her own, which is always a shame. She rubs hands together as she steps up to the machine, brimming with enthusiasm.

"How about a little multitasking? I bet we can finish up your work before we've finished catching up."

When she speaks, there's a little crackle through the Force that tells Luke... something. He knows the Force, knows it better than he ever has, but it's still not his constant companion like it was for Yoda and Ben. He's close, he likes to think, but he's not quite there yet. He can sense something significant, but he's not sure what.

Still, it means this little girl has all of his attention.

"Wait," he says, smiling. He brushes the engine grease out of his eye, which means it ends up streaked and sticky in his hair. He's had worse; on Tatooine, it would be dry by now. Luke sits down on a spare box of tools, putting him at eye level with the girl. "Why don't you tell me your name, first?"

When Luke swipes at some grease, Jaina feels like they'll be more in tune than ever. After all, how many times has her parents scolded her for running about with streaks across her face and stains in her jumpsuits? Unless there is a reason to clean up it's more likely she'll just mess it up a bit more.

If she hadn't had to go through this with her own mother, the question would have earned a bit different response. As it is, Jaina raises a hand to indicate herself, and announces with a crooked grin, "Jaina Solo. I'm your niece."

Of course, he sees the resemblance immediately. Nothing in the Force indicates a lie, either, though the Force occasionally has a creative interpretation of truth. So, logic may be currently missing from this conversation, but that's hardly going to keep a grin from stretching over Luke's face.

"Well, then," he says in his best 'talking to children' voice (excuse him if he's lacking in practice), "nice to meet you, Jaina. Would you mind telling me how you got here?"

"There was a little trouble at Cloud City."

Eyebrows have gone up for Luke's tone, which is at once appropriate and...so very not, at least from Jaina's perspective. It reminds her more of how he'd talk to the twins when he'd caught the two years ago trying to salvage a junk droid to do all their chores for them. It's how you address a kid who has wandered somewhere they know they shouldn't, not a teenager who can build her own lightsaber.

Okay, Jaina admits to herself, the distinction might not be so readily apparent. Needing more time to grow up a bit more is normal.

Oh well. In a moment, she's rolling up her sleeves and approaching Luke's fighter to see if she can peek in at his work. "Mom helped me get a shuttle, and things are pretty shaken up around here so I just had to follow...well, my feelings. And a little bit of memory." Trying not to sound like a fanciful youth chattering on.

LUKE SKYWALKER OPEN POST.

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