Lana's Alderaan, Thursday Evening
Jul. 3rd, 2025 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
suitably_heroicPeople'd be less impressed by the thrantas if they knew how karking stupid they were. Yeah, Jack had flown one once or twice as a kid; it was hard to grow up on this planet without it. But he viscerally remembered the stupid look in the thing's eyes, the way it would get distracted.
And his dad, grumbling about the wasted money the day after. Sitting in a chair at the medcenter, waiting for the kolto patches to be removed from Jaq's arms.
It'd been a long day out here. There wasn't much left of the town he'd grown up in. It'd been relentlessly renovated, older buildings removed and replaced with new, prettier ornate synthstone. If he had to take a guess, he assumed the people he'd grown up with had been priced out of the neighborhood.
Sorry, 'moved to more suitable housing'. It was Alderaan, after all.
And then they'd headed out, towards the mountains, a little more like the hiking trips they took back on Earth. But the mountains were taller and more majestic, and every once in a while, a thranta herd would come out from behind a snowy peak, and fly past the sun, and the sunlight would reflect on its wings, and Jack-- well, Jack wanted to grab a pebble and throw it out there with the Force. See if he could nail one.
But he wasn't the only one there, and he knew it was an immature reflex. Dane? Dane hadn't said all that much during the whole trip, content to take it all in.
But now, out here on this rocky outcropping, he'd stopped entirely. Gone silent, staring up at the wide wings that slid up past them, well up above.
There were those reflexes again. Jack felt the urge to disrupt the moment, to point out that they were just stupid animals. But he caught himself. Thought about it. Yeah, sure, he'd grown up out here with two parents deeply unimpressed with all of it - the scenery, the architecture, the animals. But not Dane, who’d grown up in a claustrophobic home with tight-knit parents, who had fled to claustrophobic dorms and found himself locked in relationships he couldn’t escape. Of course this was different; being out here, in the cold air, among the mountains, watching the thrantas fly by.
"Mind letting me in on what you're thinking?" Jack asked, when the silence had rung on too long. (Seriously. He couldn't help himself.)
“I feel like… I finally get Cade,” Dane said. His voice was hushed; underneath laid a tendril of insecurity that Jack tried very hard not to tap into. Then his eyebrows rolled up above his dark brown eyes, and he looked in Jack's general direction. “Why would you give all of this up just to slum it in some hole in the wall in New York?”
And that was a real question, sure. But Jack could read the one underneath just fine, too. He sighed.
“Honestly? I’ve seen a lot of amazing things,” he said. “A lot of incredible places. And only blew them up half of the time.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets. “They mostly made me worse, not better. Or, I don't know. Maybe I'm just too restless to settle for the galaxy I already know.”
“I wouldn't be able to do it,” Dane said. “If I were born here? I'd stay.”
Jack shrugged. “You were born in New York City and you'd rather pull all your nails out than move, even with all the family drama,” he pointed out. “I'm not wired that way. My parents never felt at home here after the war, so I never felt at home here, and then I left to go fight in another war. And then I saw a lot of things that screwed me up on every measurable level.”
“Whereas my folks took a big leap across a giant ocean and decided that suited them fine,” Dane said wryly. He pulled off his pack, and set it down on the rocks. “Would you ever come back home with me?”
“We live like four blocks from where you grew up.”
“To Guangzhou, I mean,” Dane said. “I've always wondered how I'd feel about it.”
“Sure,” Jack said, glancing over at him. Trying to get a read on his face, because that felt less weird than Force-sensing whatever was going in there anyway. “I'd be happy to.”
“Cool.” With a huff, Dane sat down on the grass beside his pack, and slid his arms around his knees. “How's it feel?”
“Weird,” Jack admitted. “It's the old days, but it's not the old days, which is about par for the course for this galaxy in any era. And I think there might be a statue of me somewhere which is, uh, deeply upsetting, actually.” He shrugged. “Alderaan's Alderaan, I guess. It's just a place. Not home.”
Dane nodded. “So...” he said, looking up, a faint smile on his face. “Are you ever going to show me anyone with those famous traditional braids you talk about, or--”
“I'm still not giving anyone an Alderaanian braid, dammit,” Jack muttered. “... Maybe if we head back and make it to Aldera by sundown, we'll see somebody.”
Ugh. Aldera.
[[ nfb due to distance, can be open for comms/phone calls/messages ]]
And his dad, grumbling about the wasted money the day after. Sitting in a chair at the medcenter, waiting for the kolto patches to be removed from Jaq's arms.
It'd been a long day out here. There wasn't much left of the town he'd grown up in. It'd been relentlessly renovated, older buildings removed and replaced with new, prettier ornate synthstone. If he had to take a guess, he assumed the people he'd grown up with had been priced out of the neighborhood.
Sorry, 'moved to more suitable housing'. It was Alderaan, after all.
And then they'd headed out, towards the mountains, a little more like the hiking trips they took back on Earth. But the mountains were taller and more majestic, and every once in a while, a thranta herd would come out from behind a snowy peak, and fly past the sun, and the sunlight would reflect on its wings, and Jack-- well, Jack wanted to grab a pebble and throw it out there with the Force. See if he could nail one.
But he wasn't the only one there, and he knew it was an immature reflex. Dane? Dane hadn't said all that much during the whole trip, content to take it all in.
But now, out here on this rocky outcropping, he'd stopped entirely. Gone silent, staring up at the wide wings that slid up past them, well up above.
There were those reflexes again. Jack felt the urge to disrupt the moment, to point out that they were just stupid animals. But he caught himself. Thought about it. Yeah, sure, he'd grown up out here with two parents deeply unimpressed with all of it - the scenery, the architecture, the animals. But not Dane, who’d grown up in a claustrophobic home with tight-knit parents, who had fled to claustrophobic dorms and found himself locked in relationships he couldn’t escape. Of course this was different; being out here, in the cold air, among the mountains, watching the thrantas fly by.
"Mind letting me in on what you're thinking?" Jack asked, when the silence had rung on too long. (Seriously. He couldn't help himself.)
“I feel like… I finally get Cade,” Dane said. His voice was hushed; underneath laid a tendril of insecurity that Jack tried very hard not to tap into. Then his eyebrows rolled up above his dark brown eyes, and he looked in Jack's general direction. “Why would you give all of this up just to slum it in some hole in the wall in New York?”
And that was a real question, sure. But Jack could read the one underneath just fine, too. He sighed.
“Honestly? I’ve seen a lot of amazing things,” he said. “A lot of incredible places. And only blew them up half of the time.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets. “They mostly made me worse, not better. Or, I don't know. Maybe I'm just too restless to settle for the galaxy I already know.”
“I wouldn't be able to do it,” Dane said. “If I were born here? I'd stay.”
Jack shrugged. “You were born in New York City and you'd rather pull all your nails out than move, even with all the family drama,” he pointed out. “I'm not wired that way. My parents never felt at home here after the war, so I never felt at home here, and then I left to go fight in another war. And then I saw a lot of things that screwed me up on every measurable level.”
“Whereas my folks took a big leap across a giant ocean and decided that suited them fine,” Dane said wryly. He pulled off his pack, and set it down on the rocks. “Would you ever come back home with me?”
“We live like four blocks from where you grew up.”
“To Guangzhou, I mean,” Dane said. “I've always wondered how I'd feel about it.”
“Sure,” Jack said, glancing over at him. Trying to get a read on his face, because that felt less weird than Force-sensing whatever was going in there anyway. “I'd be happy to.”
“Cool.” With a huff, Dane sat down on the grass beside his pack, and slid his arms around his knees. “How's it feel?”
“Weird,” Jack admitted. “It's the old days, but it's not the old days, which is about par for the course for this galaxy in any era. And I think there might be a statue of me somewhere which is, uh, deeply upsetting, actually.” He shrugged. “Alderaan's Alderaan, I guess. It's just a place. Not home.”
Dane nodded. “So...” he said, looking up, a faint smile on his face. “Are you ever going to show me anyone with those famous traditional braids you talk about, or--”
“I'm still not giving anyone an Alderaanian braid, dammit,” Jack muttered. “... Maybe if we head back and make it to Aldera by sundown, we'll see somebody.”
Ugh. Aldera.
[[ nfb due to distance, can be open for comms/phone calls/messages ]]
