(no subject)

[imthepilot]

Bodhi can't help but get up and fiddle. He's slept so much since the accident, he finds it hard to stay still for too long. Even if holding Galen in the afterglow is magnificent.

Instead he investigates Galen's little kitchenette, seeing what he might have to work with. He's starving!

Comments

[galen_erso]

"It doesn't tell right from wrong," Galen says. "Even Darth Vader, the Empire's Sith lord, still uses it. It exists, never judging."

[imthepilot]

And there in lies the difference between the truth of the Force and the religious rhetoric he grew up with. "Half the stories I've heard about Darth Vader make me doubt he's real."

[galen_erso]

"He is," Galen says.

[imthepilot]

"I don't know if that's reassuring or terrifying." Bodhi admits.

[galen_erso]

"Terrifying," Galen states. "He is."

[imthepilot]

"I'm not going to ask. I don't think either of us want to talk about that scary individual."

He squeezes Galen's hand again. "Tell me about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where did you grow up? I feel like I've done nothing but complain about my family but I know very little about yours."

[galen_erso]

"I'm an only child, and my parents were ordinary people from the planet Grange," Galen says. "My mother was a teacher, and she recognised early on that I was clever and made sure I had all the input my growing mind needed. I kept winning science fairs as a kid, and finally ended up getting fest-tracked to a very good education through programs of the old republic."

[imthepilot]

"Before everything when wrong." Before Bodhi's time. A slight reminder of the age gap between them. "It's a good thing. She wanted the best for you."

[galen_erso]

"And she got it," Galen says. "They both died in the wars, when the fighting happened to brush by Grange. Krennic took me to see it, in order to make me want to work for him."

[imthepilot]

The Jedhean curse that slips through Bodhi's clenched teeth would have earned him a beating from his grandmother. "What is it with that man?"

[galen_erso]

"He never got over the fact that I said no to him," Galen says. "He kept badgering me through much of my life, for this thing or that."

[imthepilot]

"You and he-" He asks, he sentence hanging in the air. A jealous ex could be even more dangerous than a vindictive commander.

[galen_erso]

"Never," Galen says. "But in hindsight, I think he may have wanted me. I openly said no to all his schemes to advance, his job proposals, his grandiose ideas because I was just not interested. I might not even have noticed what may have been his advances, when we were student. I later puzzled that out with Lyra."

[imthepilot]

"Oh right." Not jealous, just worried. "What little I've seen of him up close, he doesn't strike me as a man use to being told no."

Hence the obsession probably.

[galen_erso]

"H'e most definitely is not," Galen says. "He even had Lyra killed, just to make me do his bidding."

[imthepilot]

"Galen, I'm sorry. I knew she'd died. I didn't realise- it must be hell for you. How- how can I help?"

[galen_erso]

"Be with me," Galen says. "And maybe keep your eyes open for my Jyn, out there."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi gets up and moves around the table to pull Galen into his arms. "Gladly."

[galen_erso]

Galen holds him close and buries his face Bodhi's chest. "There is hope again, now you are there."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi holds Galen close, whispering a soft endearment in his ear. "Tell me everything about her, Galen. Let me help you find her again."

[galen_erso]

"Fierce, unstoppable, fast and trustworthy," Galen says. "She answers fast and has a great sense of humour. She could make me laugh even in bad times, but she always knew when things got serious. She was a kid when I last saw her, but she can't have changed that much. Not even being raised by Saw."

[imthepilot]

"Saw?" Bodhi draws back a little to look Galen in the eyes. "Saw Gerrera?"

[galen_erso]

"You heard about him?"

[imthepilot]

"I've heard of him, yes. From what I've heard, he's the rebel leader on Jedha. The one leading the raids on the shipments."

His lips thin. "He's the one my brothers are-"

[galen_erso]

Galen just stares at him, wordlessly.

The, slowly, he starts to smile.