imthepilot | (no subject)

Galen gets a message late one evening. The evening Bodhi was planning to spent down in the barracks with the other cargo crews.

The message from the head medic. You better get down here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

galen_erso

"Yes, it freed me from watching that," Galen says. "And now, it will get me food, and your company."

He grins.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi shakes his head and steals a kiss. "Any idea what you want in the way of food? Or am I making this up as I go?"

From:

galen_erso

"I will enjoy whatever you make," Galen says, "so do go ahead and improvise."

From:

imthepilot

"You're too easy to impress." Bodhi shakes his head and starts tinkering. Crispy fried noodles with fine savings of meat to go with the salad. "Shall we put on a holo or something?"

From:

galen_erso

"Some music, maybe," Galen says. "Not a game, in any case."

From:

imthepilot

"Music is good. I tend to get stuck on the same things. Always good to hear new things."

From:

galen_erso

"I'm afraid my taste is rather basic," Galen says. He turns on the holonet, and some multi-species cantina band pops up and starts playing something cheerfully jaded and unexpectedly sophisticated.

From:

imthepilot

Bodhi listens as he cooks, surprised by the sophisticated music. "This is one of Lyra's?"

From:

galen_erso

"No, not really," Galen says. "She was interested in traditional music from the places we went to. This is just entertainment."

From:

imthepilot

"Wanting to understand the cultures she saw?" He asks, offering Galen a marinated slice of meat to try.

From:

galen_erso

Galen takes the meat from Bodhi's fingers with nimble lips, like a very tame predator, eats, smiles, and licks his lips.

"Excellent! And I think she liked to appreciate them, not just understand."

From:

imthepilot

"Did you find you appreciated them more with her?" He asks, trying to cover the little gasp as Galen nibbles the morsel from his fingers.

From:

galen_erso

"Yes, I found that listening without prejudice would open that world better," Galen says, licking his lips again as if to taste the last trace of those spices."

From:

imthepilot

"To hear with the heart, not the mind." He gestures to the tapestry on Galen's wall. One of the teachings of the kyber temple.

From:

galen_erso

Galen nods. "She brought all that to life. It all made sense, when she was doing it."

From:

imthepilot

"I'm glad. They were empty words to me growing up. Just the same rhetoric I heard from my mother and her friends. Sometimes I remember them, usually when they start to make sense to me."

From:

galen_erso

"Do they now?" Galen asks.

From:

imthepilot

"Some. Like that one." He reaches for Galen, pulling him close. "Others, about love and connection. And being part of something."

From:

galen_erso

Galen holds him. "Which don't?"

From:

imthepilot

"There was a lot of garbage coming from the street preachers and gutter prophets in the slums of Jedha. A lot of their ideas around children bothered me, mostly cause it meant so many died. The will of the Force doesn't excuse neglect." And that's very much his grandmother talking.

From:

galen_erso

"What ideas about children?" Galen asks.

From:

imthepilot

"That they should be raised by the entire community and share in the wisdom of all. Which sounds good but what it means in practice is no-one takes responsibility for them. I lost three siblings to malnutrition and preventable diseases before my grandmother found us."