maskormenacelogs | the night life's taking its toll

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the night life's taking its toll

WHO: Han Solo and Luke Skywalker
WHERE: some dive bar in Heropa
WHEN: now??
WHAT: Han goes drinking, Luke steals his drink. warn a man, Skywalker.
WARNINGS: drinking.

[Han hits up the local bars fairly often. Most of the time, it's in search of a job, something to keep his hand in the game, even if he ends up turning down a good chunk of the jobs that come his way. Those days, he ends up in Maurtia Falls, because that's usually where you can find people looking to get one thing or another smuggled into the other cities.

But today, he's not looking for a job, just a drink. He's in a slightly maudlin mood today, something he'll blame on the fact that he's been stuck on this one planet, in this one country, for months on end. And also the revelations that staying here has brought him, from Kylo Ren to Luke's father to kriffing Goldfinch's kriffing movie.

Sometimes a man just needs a break. So Han's here, in some dive bar in Heropa, nursing a mug of beer and very quietly missing Leia and Chewie and his ship.

At some point he ends up leaving the counter, to attend to certain bodily functions. When he comes back, he blinks.]

...you know, Luke, you could've said you wanted a beer too.

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[ Luke had seen Han as soon as he had gotten up and called out for him, but it didn't seem like he heard him. Clearly he was a man with a bathroom mission, so he sat near where he had been sitting instead and waited. ]

[ ...and stared at his drink. ]

[ He wasn't a big drinker; he could count the number of times he had on one hand. But with how stressed he had been lately, it was sorely tempting. Luke resisted for a good minute or two, before finally giving in and stealing his drink. ]

[ Of course Han chose that moment to come back. ]

[ Luke stared at him around the rim of the glass with wide eyes, pulling it away from his mouth like it would help. ]

Sorry...

[If it were anyone else, Han would mouth off to them, they'd mouth off right back, and the next thing you know there'd have been a bar fight and Han would have to go looking for another dive bar.

But it's Luke, so Han just. Scrubs a hand over his face, huffs out a tired breath. It's like the start of a joke: so a smuggler and a Jedi walk into a bar, and the Jedi steals the smuggler's drink.]

You know what, keep it, I've still got some money left. [So saying, he waves the bartender over and tells her to keep the drinks coming for him and his friend, and he'll cover the tab, promise. The bartender doesn't seem all that convinced, but one twenty-dollar bill later and Han's sitting back down next to Luke.]

Don't tell anyone. I got a rep to keep up. [Says you, Solo.]

[ Luke gave the bartender an apologetic look, before leaning against the counter with a faint groan. ]

Weren't you at that fanport thing? Apparently enough people think we're dating.

[ ...okay, maybe dating wasn't the right word, but he didn't want to say any of the other words that came to mind for that eyeful of "what the hell" that had him leaving almost as soon as he entered. ]

...did Kaytoo give you those books?

[This is the face of a man who has looked into the abyss and seen it wave cheerfully back at him, a doujinshi in its hand featuring tentacles in places tentacles should not be drawn. He stares at Luke a moment in sheer horror, then turns to the bartender and asks for a much, much stronger drink for both of them.

Then he turns back to Luke.]

And yeah, I was there. It was, uh. [Give him a moment while he gropes around for the right words to describe it.] Well, it's not something I've ever seen before.

[ Luke rubbed at the side of his face. ]

No. Walked in, saw that, walked right back out.

[ He groaned after a moment, letting his head flop onto the bar. ]

...Han, I think this place is worse than any kind of torture the Empire could come up with.

Oh, good, that means you haven't seen the worst of it. [The bartender, in the meantime, puts an unlabeled bottle in front of them, along with a few shot glasses, shooting them both a look that says your funeral, kids. It looks like clear water. It's not water.] Andor's damn droid must've bought out half the kriffing stand, though.

[Kaytoo is rapidly starting to catch up with Threepio on Han's list of "Droids Who Are Really Annoying".]

Tell me about it. It's like every week there's something.

[Luke nudged his glass toward Han, a quiet request to fill it. ]

I'm not surprised. Kay seems to enjoy... [ What was the word for it? ] --trolling? Sentients.

[ He pulled himself back up straight after a moment, rubbing his hands over his face. ]

...I still can't believe Leia's my sister. I can't believe I got to see my father before he was injured. I can't believe everything we do in the Rebellion seems to be for nothing.

[muttering:] Kriffing bucket of bolts.

[But he fills up Luke's glass, then after some consideration, fills up his own. Time to get so drunk he can't see straight or drive home, apparently. He hopes neither Elena or Steve will mind if he calls them up for a ride.]

I can't believe I've got a kid. I can't believe he hates me. What did we do to him? [And how can he fix it? He downs his shot, and coughs a little. Okay, that's strong.] It ain't for nothing. We get, what, thirty years before everything blows up again? That's not too bad.

[ Luke grinned at the muttering, shaking his head, before letting out a tired, pained sigh. ]

We screwed up. We apparently tried to hide our family legacy, and I tried to do the same thing to Kylo that Old Ben was trying to do to me.

[ He stared despondently at his drink, before grabbing the glass and downing it in one gulp. ]

[ He regretted it immediately, turning to the side and coughing like he was going to spit out a lung any second. Wow, that was strong! ]

Luke—

[Okay, maybe starting out with a very strong drink was not the best of ideas, Han is just going to grab hold of Luke so he can steady him and neither of them can fall off the stool from coughing so hard.

As soon as they're both steady, Han huffs out a breath.]

I can't blame—well, us. Future us. Them. [Argh, time travel.] Who'd want to be related to your old man? [A pause.] No offense.

[ Sorry, Han, but Luke was too busy motioning to the bartender for a chaser, and he can't even respond until he manages to get it down. ]

I can understand that, but with the way the galaxy was? Our positions in whatever Republic resulted from our actions? There needed to be some kind of transparency.

...and I should have known better.

[ He was still wrestling with how he felt about Obi-Wan and Yoda both lying about his father. Why would he continue to take their teachings at face value, if what Kylo said was true? ]

[ Luke let out an irritated groan... before pouring them both another shot. ]

You know better now.

[Which is a paltry thing, because it's not as if they retain any memory of this mess when they go back. Han's pretty sure, anyway. He did go back, for all that he spent the whole time stuck in a block of carbonite.

The second his shot glass is full, he knocks back the whole thing. Again. It goes down easier the second time.]

Stang, that's strong. And I should've been there. Or at least I should've understood him a little better. [He waves a hand in the air.] Lot of things both of us should've done. Should do. Kriff, I'm getting a headache keeping my tenses straight.

[ Luke let out another irritable noise, downing his second shot as well. He struggled against it, not nearly as used to alcohol as Han was. ]

This may not mean anything, but there's gotta be something we can do while we're stuck here.

[Right. He's just going to stay here, keep Luke from hacking up a lung from the alcohol.]

You could tell me more about that Force thing of yours, so if I talk to him I can understand. [A pause, then he huffs out a breath.] Or—something like that, anyway. [It's not a power he could ever even begin to understand, he's pretty sure of that, but this is his boy. He's got to try.

He sighs, pours himself another shot.]

Andor's putting a timeline together. I figure we should put something together with it, if anybody else from the Rebellion comes in. [Taking a thoughtful sip now.] Like one of those little brochures with all the information on them, right? 'Cept we're not selling something and it's just for people from our galaxy.

I know about the timeline; I contributed what I could, at least the parts that mattered.

[ No one really needed to know about hive mind parasites or any of the other crazy crap they've been through. ]

I'm not even sure where to start with describing the Force, outside of what Ben was teaching me on the Falcon.

[But then how's Han going to tell everyone about the time he was almost boss of a whole hive mind, huh?]

So start with what that old fossil was going on about. What was he saying? [Give him a second to dredge up what Ben Kenobi was talking about.] Something about, uh, the Force controlling your actions, obeying your commands, something something, then you got stung by a remote.

[ Luke's eyes very nearly rolled into the back of his head. ]

You have an amazing memory when it comes to times I've screwed up.

[ He shook his head, pouring himself another glass, but only sipping at it this time. ]

Yeah, the Force is like an energy field. It connects everything that lives together, at least in our galaxy. People that are Force sensitive can tap into that, but it works both ways; a Jedi can use the Force, but the Force can also guide a Jedi.

[ He paused, thinking. ]

Um... think of it like an extreme version of your terrible 'luck'.

Leia's is better.

[Another sip, and this time, quite unlike the last time Han heard this talk on the Falcon, he listens and lets the words sink in.]

So, what—if you're a Jedi you got a better chance of controlling this mystical energy field that also controls you? [This is going to give him a headache. Not to mention, it's probably obvious from the way he frowns down at his drink that he doesn't like the implications one bit. He's not Force-sensitive. What does that mean for him?] And my luck is not that bad.

[Your car breaks down twice a week.]

How many times has the Falcon broken down since I've known you?

[ More times than anyone can count. ]

If you're Force sensitive, and trained, yes. Though even without training, it's possible. Even when I was a kid, I remember times where I just... knew things, things I shouldn't have known, and I didn't know why. It was because I was reaching out to the Force, and didn't realize it.

Not that many.

[You had to limp all the way to Bespin for hyperdrive repairs one time after nearly getting caught by the Empire, Solo.]

Must've been a pain trying to throw surprise parties for you. [Not that there probably were many of those. Han takes a sip, running all this information through his head.] But with training, you can sort of—make it listen better to you, right?

[ Yeah, he's not even touching that one. You know what you've done, Han Solo. And what your ship hasn't done. ]

Yeah, you can; you can learn how to control it. The Force still guides your actions, but it's more of an... instinct, I guess you could say.

[...shut up.]

All right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this—thing you've got with the Force? This, uh. [He waves his hands in the air, as if to try and indicate the magical mystical energy field that surrounds and penetrates everyone and everything.] This thing, it's a give-and-take kinda relationship, right?

[Wait. That doesn't make sense.]

No, wait. It's more like—trying to get used to a rowdy tauntaun? [That probably works slightly more, right?]

[ Luke pressed a hand to his mouth, thinking. ]

...yeah. Because there's temptation that comes with learning the Force. That's the Dark Side, and you need to relearn everything you are in order to be able to tame it.

[ He paused again, frowning. That would explain when people said that the Jedi order used to take children away from their families, and also why Yoda tried to protest that he was too old to learn. ]

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the night life's taking its toll

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