video; after the savrii invite the moirans to their home

[ventifact]

[it's been a while since rey has shown her face on the network. this will be the first time she's used the TAB to do so, and she's unceremoniously stuck it to bb-9's... face. the droid beeps softly, letting rey know that the video is recording. the scavenger is sitting cross-legged with her back to a wall, her staff laid across her knees and her pack beside her. she does not look pleased. in fact, she is frowning very deeply. she isn't very comfortable actually talking to people, but this is important, so she's making the effort.]

Wasn't there a point to all this?

[she pauses, knowing she should probably be more specific.]

The planets, the months of travel, everything— [her voice has been getting louder, so she stops for a breath. she has to calm herself down, pushing flyaway hairs from her face.]

We were supposed to be able to go home. We wasted a fracking year on that moon—if we'd gotten here a year sooner, would this all have been the same? We all saw the corpses on the way here. They died for this—some of us died for this. Coming to this hub, finding this working Ingress... that was supposed to be the end. But now we're just going to go to another planet, another unknown, and what? Live there? Or will there be another promise made, another contract to sign? Another delay to our return?

That's shit. We all know it's shit.

[rey sighs, closing her eyes and not speaking for a few more moments. she's tired, and just wants to go back to jakku. she just wants to go back to her old life, since what was supposed to be her new life seems nigh impossible now. she reaches forward to shut off the TAB, mumbling one more sentence under her breath:]

Why wasn't it the end?

Comments

[video;]

[ex_forcechoke292]

Has there ever been a point to all of this?

[Other than apparent misery? remains unsaid, though it's written clearly enough in the firm setting of Anakin's equally-annoyed features. The plan has always been, insomuch as planning could have even been effective in this environment, fixing the parts of the future that he knows are liable to break.

His annoyance is all too similar. They've all swallowed endless broken promises long enough, and now that they're at the supposed end of their original journey, all they get is...yet another promise?

But he's distrusted this from the beginning. Every accident, every crash, inadvertent wars, accidental slavery...there is no forgiving this utter lack of incompetency.]

I'm not sure anyone's ever known how to actually get us home, Rey.

[video;]

[ventifact]

[wow you are such a great teacher, so encouraging. but at least she cares about anakin's words, even if they make her bitter. rey runs a hand over her face before rubbing the back of her neck. dammit. who knew validation could suck so badly?]

I—we spent months trying to figure it out. We thought we were close.

["they told us we were close." more unsaid words that simply don't matter anymore, so why waste the breath?]

video;

[redshitlord]

... You really think it's scrap?

[He'd listened. He really had -- but he'd honestly thought -- he'd thought this was just a little step. Just a little snag.]

[Then she'd said They died for this—some of us died for this and that little shred of hope just starts to unravel. His shoulders sink.]

You don't -- I mean. They could still send us home. Right?

[It's possibly the youngest he's sounded to her face in a while.]

video;

[ventifact]

[crap. she'd forgotten that she's very good at shattering people's dreams when she puts her mind to it--or just speaks without really thinking about who's listening. rey sighs and crosses her arms, gripping her forearms tightly. she never wanted to say this to sideswipe.]

I don't know.

audio;

[grandpaladin]

There is always a point.

[So says the voice of the old Crusader. Firm and solid as ever, despite how gentle he tries to make his tone.]

[This is not something to charge forward into.]

We can't see it now, I think. But there is always a point.

audio;

[ventifact]

[man you should have been a jedi. you'd fit right in with all this wisdom you're spouting. but she's sick of wisdom right now, of "the force does things for a reason" or any variation of that.]

Bantha fodder.

video;

[jedimindtrick]

This is typically where I try to offer something soothing advice. For example: Where one journey ends, another is bound to begin.

[ ... ]

That being said, I think you're right. It feels less as if we've worked toward an agreed upon end, and more and more like we're unwittingly participating in some kind of game or scenario where we're always chasing the dangling snarfa root.

It's troubling.

video;

[ventifact]

[META AS HELL, OBI-WAN]

Troubling? I think we've gone a little past troubling.

[she takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back against the wall.]

This isn't how it was supposed to be.

video

[saveyourserpent]

Well, we certainly weren't going to get anywhere on a crashed ship, now were we?

Yes, I'm sure it feels like a giant step backwards, but with little else in the way of options, we can't exactly go back and spend all this time brooding over our regrets and what-ifs. I've tried it. It's unpleasant.

[Not a fun way to do things, no.]

We go forward, we find out what happens, we punch a few things if we have to. Or we go mad.

video

[ventifact]

[her lips pull back from her teeth and she snorts. brooding? this isn't brooding. this is her being angry that absolutely nothing has been done to get them closer to their own galaxies. rey is a master of holding on to hollow hopes--but right now, she's done with that.]

A ship that conveniently crashed when it got exactly where it was supposed to be going, and is now so beyond repair that there's nowhere for us to go except to another planet that might offer us another way to go home. Or it might not. Seems like the muja fruit always seems to be just out of reach for us.

video;

[seeingscarlet]

What else can we do?

[Wanda's voice sounds tired and worn down, because really, Rey's right. It's been one misstep after another, none of it their fault, and here at the end it's all been for nothing.

There's never really been a choice, has there? Just find a way forward and endure.]

We can't stay here. Going with them is the only chance we have.

video;

[ventifact]

[rey drops her head as she rubs at the back of her neck. wanda is right, of course, but it doesn't make her feel any better. "it's not fair" echoes in the back of her mind, but she's never said that in her life and won't start now. nothing is fair, and it doesn't do any good to complain about it.]

We shouldn't have to take more chances.

[farmboyjedi]

I feel the same way. I haven't been here long, but I was hoping it would work.

[ventifact]

Maybe part of the problem is that we counted on it too much. We didn't have a backup plan.

video

[gentlemenpreferblondes]

Well, considering our previous luck this really shouldn't come as such big surprise.

video

[ventifact]

You'd think life could only let you down so many times, and yet here we are.

video;

[deconstruct]

[ andyr finds it incredible, sometimes, how the people on this crew are so unaccustomed to unfair deals, fallen through plans, and tragedy. is he sad for the dead, yes, and does he think it sucks that they can't leave yet, yes, but is he going to be surprised by it at all? no. ]

Because body counts don't buy resolution. [ for all the people that've died trying to free his own world, that seems like something painfully obvious to andyr by now. ] They don't buy anything, they just are.

video;

[ventifact]

[rey has only really been let down once in her adult life, and it was a hard let-down. she's so used to meticulously caring for only herself, that she expects things to go as planned--when she plans them. none of this had been planned. there had been other people. and, just like the first time she'd let other people into her life, she's been disappointed. her minute social life is the bane of her existence.]

They don't.

[of course they don't. she isn't stupid. rey has seen her fair share of corpses--people died on jakku all the time. but they were all doing their job. these people had just been looking for a way home. but maybe it's better to think that they died before finding out they couldn't return to where-ever they wanted to go. she should think about this more rationally, but it's so hard to when her future as a jedi has basically been ripped away from her.]

They just deserved--I don't know. Closure, maybe. We deserve closure. Not just another open-ended promise.

video

[greyate]

[ Jean gets her frustration. Gets the questioning and wanting to go back home. But the Captains had been telling the truth when she first arrived. She had felt it. They had genuinely believed that reaching this place would send them back to their worlds.

She shakes her head, ]

The Captains didn't know this was going on here. They believed reaching here would be it and we'd all be able to go back where we came from.

And who knows if getting here a year earlier would've made any difference. Maybe it would've and maybe it wouldn't have. Thinking about it won't help us now.

[ Jean's already let her mind run these circles over and over again and no good comes of it. Just frustration and anger at the situation. ]

video

[ventifact]

[rey has spent the entire trip mulling and brooding over it, too. she knows, at least, that jean is probably telling the truth--rey has seen and felt her powers, knows just a fraction of what they can do. it doesn't lessen her dissatisfaction with the captains, but it's something, at least. she sighs, and rubs at her temples. she knows jean is being sensible, but it's hard to swallow right at this moment.]

You're right, it won't.

Video;

[pubcrawl]

[ He hears what she's saying. He gets it. The frustration isn't just centered around her, it's in everyone everywhere he goes and passes by the random crew member he's yet to meet.

So he asks the question: ]

Is there ever a point?

Video;

[ventifact]

[oh good, someone who is just as salty and frustrated as she is.]

People keep telling me there is.

text; encrypted

[notglitching]

[Back isn't where Rinzler wants to go. Not now, and not ever, and there's a part of him that minds this delay not at all.

But the reason for it? The betrayals, and the failures, the overwhelming stupidity of those who set themselves in charge? He minds that plenty. If stupidity is even what it is. Why, why, why. Rinzler doesn't find that hard to answer.]

They lied.

text; encrypted

[ventifact]

[she could understand not wanting to go back, if there's nothing for you there. she could understand if a single person said that this was what they wanted. but nobody has said that, and that makes it easy for rey to go back to what she thought the moment she stepped on that ship and was promised a way home. she's never trusted anyone's promise.]

i know.

Audio

[beautifulspaceraptor]

Unfortunately, there's only one direction we can go in if we want answers.

[ Nihlus is tired, but not as tired as he had been. Sleep had helped put things into perspective somewhat, even if the perspective wasn't a particularly pleasant one. ]

Audio

[ventifact]

That seems to be the consensus. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it.

text;

[a_shadow]

If there was anything I could have done I would have done it in a second. Still would. I'm sorry you didn't get to go home.

[ The response is perhaps uncharacteristically sentimental, but Tex has seen the grief and pain so many people in the camp are experiencing now that they've realized they're not returning to their native worlds. ]

text;

[ventifact]

[rey's surprised by the sentiment, definitely. she likes tex, probably because she thinks they have a lot in common. so it's an easy disposition to return.]

i know. i think a part of me knew, once we crashed, that this wouldn't be the end of it. but i kind of hoped.

[and she really isn't the prying type, but she can't help but ask:]

did you want to go home?

voice;

[worn_wings]

I dunno. Never seemed to me they were all that sure. Just, didn't have nothin' better.

[ Really, he's trying to sound sympathetic as he can. It's just... not his strong point. ]

voice;

[ventifact]

[luckily for him, she isn't good at accepting sympathy anyway. and she gets what he's saying, regardless.]

It would have been better to let us know there was a chance of failure. We could have been prepared.