(no subject)

[imthepilot]

Bodhi waits by the outer door of the facility, looking up at the sky that is for once not black. Grey and hazy but not black.

The medic has given him a series of injections that allow him to walk and carry a light pack without too much pain. Granted there are patches he can't feel, his hip mostly. But he can live with that to enjoy a day outside.

Comments

[galen_erso]

Galen appears a few moments later, with a facility management droid by his elbow.

"Keep those safe for me," he says, handing the droid the official code cylinders from his uniform, with which he is wearing a ratty warm jacket and non-regulation boots.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi waits till they're out to edge of the pad to speak. "I don't think I've ever seen you look so dressed down." He smiles.

[galen_erso]

"There's no point in wearing formal uniform for a hike," Galen says. "Director Krennic would of course wear his cape, but he seems to feel incomplete without that glorified bedsheet."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi snorts a laugh. "Yeah, I've seen him. From a distance, anyway. He's um... quite a sight."

[galen_erso]

"It must be so impractical," Galen says, easily striding out into the roughening terrain. "But the fellow is bedsheet crazy, anyway."

Another one of his terrible inept jokes, most likely, as he suddenly grins at Bodhi.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi laughs and spins around. They're out of line of sight of the facility so he has no hesitation stealing a kiss. "You're terrible! And I love you for it."

They reach the first set of ridges and Bodhi pauses to consider the climb.

[galen_erso]

"We can use a rope for that," Galen says. "We don't really need it, but it might even good practice."

He grins at Bodhi. Out of earshot and eyesight of the facility, he seems to perk and loosen up.

[imthepilot]

"It's not that bad. I think we can free climb it." He pulls the straps tighter. "And the practice will be good."

He steps to the base of the cliff and reaches for the first handhold. He's not a technically skilled climber but he knows how to think a path out.

[galen_erso]

Galen watches him for a while, then starts to follow. "You're quite the natural," he says from below Bodhi.

[imthepilot]

"Just one of Jedha's street spiders, climbing the walls and cliffs of the city." Bodhi looks back, hanging his weight off his fingers.

[galen_erso]

"Strong and light," Galen says, "so you must have been a menace as a kid."

That's said very fondly.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi chuckles, bouncing up another couple of footholds. "The art wasn't in being the biggest or the strongest. It was in being the fastest."

He reaches the summit and perches, legs dangling. "The fast ones didn't get caught."

[galen_erso]

"I still can't catch you," Galen says, smiling up at Bodhi from where he is following upwards.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi reaches down a hand to help Galen up the last step of the way, gesturing him to sit. The view wasn't bad. They can see the damaged landing pad clearly.

[galen_erso]

Galen comes up and sits, his shoulder touching Bodhi's.

"There's actuwl landscape, look!"

[imthepilot]

Bodhi hums an agreement but his eyes are drawn to the damaged pad. Even with most of the wreckage cleared away, the scorch marks, the buckled and scored durocrete still bear witness to the disaster. And how close they all came to death.

[galen_erso]

Galen puts his arm around Bodhi and sighs quietly, following the direction of his glance.

"So fragile," he says. "No matter how large the things we build, they are so small in the vastness of nature, and so easily broken."

[imthepilot]

"The width of a fingernail." Bodhi recites, resting his head on Galen's shoulder. "That's what they teach us at the academy. That's the thinnest seal on a ship. The line between life and the cold, dark death of space. They show up holos. You never forget just how close you are, every second." He takes a deep breath, trying to shake of the morbidity of the thought. "We should keep moving before the rain comes back."

[galen_erso]

Galen leans in to kiss Bodhi's cheek, then gets to his feet.

[imthepilot]

The kiss makes Bodhi smiles and he follows Galen up. The next peak is a little more challenging and Bodhi finds himself a little breathless before he makes the peak. "Good thing the doc fixed my lungs! I'd need to be airlifted back to the ship otherwise."

[galen_erso]

"And she'd have my hide for gloves for bringing you out too early in that case," Galen says, arriving just behind him. "Is that your ship?"

He points.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi peers and nods,looking at the sadly leaning ship two ridges over. "That's it. It doesn't too bad from here all told. Up close that broken strut is going to be ugly."

He sees his footing for the decent and pauses, chuckling. He picks a torn scrap of cloth from between two sharp rocks. "I think that was my hip."

[galen_erso]

Galen looks at the scrap in Bodhi's hand and shakes his head. "That all happened so terribly fast," he says. "We were bizarrely lucky, or rather, the Force was with both of us."

[imthepilot]

"A bit of both maybe." Bodhi pockets the cloth out of habit. That's what pockets are for - keeping things you might need but don't know when.

"If that wind gust hadn't blown me out of the convoy, I might have been on the pad then the two big ships came down so hard. I might have been under one."

The thought has been niggling at him. Could a freak storm be the will of the force too? If so, why was he saved when so many others died.

[galen_erso]

"I am glad that you were saved and then saved me," Galen says. "I find that I finally prefer to be alive and well again."