x1 | video.

[t65]

[Hey, it's Luke Skywalker, sitting at his pastel desk. There's plenty of junk littered on it, mostly scraps of droid parts and tools, but the inquisitive observer will notice a few mystery vials of colorful chemicals, and a hypo of fast-penta scattered among the rubble.]

I noticed there aren't any service droids on the ship-- when I mentioned that to the captains, they said I should... make some? [Luke has a distinct look of 'what have I gotten myself into' on his face.] We definitely need some mouse droids and basic repair droids-- we already have good engineers, but this would help them out in a pinch. Do you think we need gonk droids?

[Well? Do you?]

Have you noticed any droids we could use? A 1B prototype couldn't hurt...

[That's right, request a droid, Luke might be able to make it for you eventually. He's serious. Though they probably won't have much in the way of lively personalities, who doesn't want a robot?]

Oh- and Doctor Yewll? Mr Banner? Ed? I know we discussed some kind of prosthetic... if I'm going to be making droids, I might need that sooner than later. [He kind of cringe smiles before cutting the feed.]

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[t65]

[Luke leans forward, putting his chin in his one visible hand. The other... well, he's kept his right arm mostly out of the shot as much as he can.]

I can make you a mouse droid, I'm already making plenty. An astromech... might take more time. I've never seen one without a personality matrix... [He grabs some draft paper and starts making hasty doodles.]

[deal]

[She's got no idea what half of what he said even really means, but his enthusiasm has her interested anyway. She copies his pose, her chin in hand, and watches him draw.]

You'd be willing to make something for me? I don't have anything to give you in return, you know.

[t65]

I might be able to reverse-engineer a navigation comm so it recorded where we were, not where we needed to- oh, that's fine. [He looks up without much thought, but his smile is warm.] This is supposed to be my job, now. You're helping me.

[deal]

[Well, if it's his job...

She's not about to argue with that.]

Do you mind if I meet up with you sometime and watch you work? I could help, if you showed me what to do.

[t65]

Of course! It's a good skill to have. [Wow, he really needs that second hand.] Do you have any experience with droids?

[deal]

No.

[She glances away, because admitting a lack of experience in something is essentially a weakness.]

But I'm good with my hands. And a fast learner. If that makes any difference.

[t65]

[Luke just keeps on smiling.]

I can show you the basics. Mouse droids are pretty simple... come by when you can, I'm in Moro #16.

[deal]

I'm in Moro #20, so you're close.

[And now she's smiling, and flips her hand up in a wave.]

I'll drop by in a few.

[t65]

[Luke frowns.] Poor you. The beds are awful. [But he perks up to hear she's coming.] I'll see you soon.

[deal]

The beds are beds. That's better than nothing.

[She cuts her end of things there, and shows up about ten minutes later.]

[t65]

They- [And then she cuts the feed, and Luke blinks, shrugs, and gets back to work. The gonk droid is starting to look more like a gonk droid when she walks in. It has legs! And... it gonks.]

[Luke smiles and waves when she walks in. She may notice, now that he's no longer able to hide it, that Luke only has one hand. Progress is slow, huh.]

[deal]

[For someone who comes from a place where all technology is gone, just seeing the gonking action is amazing. Impressed, she offers Luke a smile and a passing wave, but her attention is entirely focused upon the droid he's working on. She heads over and crouches down nearby it, reaching out with a cautious hand to touch at the top of it. She doesn't want to break it.]

You're really talented, you know that?

[She glances over at him then, taking notice of his hand. She doesn't say anything, since that's pretty common back home. She's pretty sure she was close to losing a leg, herself. It's normal to her.]

What's it saying?

[t65]

[She may notice the frame vibrating slightly; he hasn't put in the stabilizing servos yet.]

I'm alright. A little out of practice, it feels like. [For him, he just appreciates her not commenting on the hand situation. He holds up a spanner and starts screwing another bolt into place.] It's not saying anything. I promised someone I wouldn't put in any complex logical algorithms, so it's just running a vocalizer test.

[But... he promised to teach her. He should teach her.] Hand me the bolt box? [He points to a yellow toolkit to his right.]

[deal]

[Appreciating the fact that he's showing her what to hand over, and not talking to her like she's stupid, she smiles as she leans over to grab the toolkit that he's looking for. She takes a few seconds to look it over and commit the term and look of it to memory, before passing it over to him.]

Who made you promise that you wouldn't make him talk?

[It seems like an innocent enough thing to do, but she figures that there's probably a reason to not make them more complex than this. She thinks it's impressive all the same, and can't stop looking at the droid with a sense of wonder that she hasn't felt in a long time.]

[t65]

A few people. [Well, one in particular, but that's her business.] They're worried about how things with personalities will be treated.

[It's more complex than that, Luke knows, but he isn't sure how else to phrase it. Speaking of, he pulls a bolt out of the box.]

Here, this is a restraining bolt. It's the kind of thing you'd use on a droid that wouldn't behave. I don't like them- [But he hands it over to Cassandra for inspection,] it's the sort of thing you only need if you mistreat or steal your droid.

[deal]

[She takes it and starts to look it over, but promptly sets it aside when he says what it's used for. Her eyes narrow and she turns to fully look at him, wondering if he thinks she's the sort of person who would need or use one.]

Do I look like someone that's gonna mistreat or steal a droid?

[She doesn't really think that a droid that lacks a personality can misbehave, or that one with a personality should be faulted for misbehaving. The whole bolt thing reminds her of how she was kept in line by people back home, and she presses her thumb over a scar on the inside of her wrist.]

[t65]

No, [Luke says, as though that's obvious,] but a lot of people are worried about that on this ship; it's good you know how to do it, so you also know how not to do it.

[At least, that's always how Owen had taught Luke.] Here, let me show you the other bolts... [Luke reaches up to pull one off the frame of the gonk droid he's still working on.]

[deal]

[Her eyes narrow a little, trying to figure out his logic. She guesses it makes sense, to know how to do something so you don't do it incorrectly if worse comes to worse. So she shrugs and pays attention, scooting in closer to Luke so she can get a better look at what he's doing. When he reaches for the bolt, she reaches up as well, playfully swatting at his hand so she can pull it off on her own.]

I don't really care what a lot of people on the ship think. But I don't want to hurt a droid, if it's sticking with me.

[Which is her way of saying that she'll learn about how not to do things, and is also her way of saying his logic makes sense. She hardly ever freely admits that.]

[t65]

A lot of people are worried that droids are being mistreated. It's why I'm not putting personalities in. You really don't care?

[Luke laughs when she swats at his hand. He pulls out a fusion wrench and hands it to her.] Here, this is a diagnostic bolt. If I wired the base frame correctly, it should start beeping when you put it on. [He demonstrates how with the wrench.]

[deal]

I care if people are being mistreated. It's why I went to try and help Rinzler, even after he hurt my friend.

[She frowns a little as she takes hold of the wrench, and moves it so her hand is wrapped around it comfortably enough to use. She rises up on her knees to work properly, and using the technique he's just shown her, moves like she's using it properly.

There's no beep, and she makes a show out of laughing and smirking over at him.]

I don't hear anything, droid boy.

[Of course, she's not actually touching the wrench to it properly, and after some laughter she takes care to do things right. There's a beep as she starts putting it on, and smiles to herself at the satisfaction of knowing he did things correctly on top of the fact that she's doing things properly too.]

[t65]

[Luke knows what people say about Rinzler, lately. He's not sure if he agrees with Cassandra, but he respects her willingness to stick by her friends and her principles.]

Oh, I really am rusty, I- hey! [But Luke's grinning, even if his tone is a little childish.] Okay, okay, you got me.

[He points to a few more bolts in the box.] Those are diagnostic. The rest are mostly used to give droids more information when you don't have time to reprogram them with it. They're pretty simple.

[He leans back and grabs a long cylindrical tube.] You want to help me put in the main power cels? It's easier with two hands.

[deal]

[She thinks it's funny how all of this is so easy to him, like reprogramming and knowing exactly which part does what. It's so far removed from anything she could've learned to do back home, so she supposes that getting to have moments like this one are part of what make being here not bad at all.

As he grabs a tube, she nods, taking a few seconds to touch at the other bolts he's pointed out.]

Two hands that know what they're doing, maybe, but you're stuck with your trained ones and mine that are still learning. Luckily, you're a good teacher.

[Smiling, she puts the bolts she was toying with back where they came from.]

Are the power cels what keep it running?

[t65]

[Luke grins, obviously pleased by the compliment.] I only just started; we'll see what you say in a week. [He's serious about this, if she is.]

Yes, but these are special. Gonk droids are power droids-- that's what their real name is-- so they have their main power- [He taps some similar-looking tubes within the droid's frame.] -and the auxiliary power for mobile recharges. My friend Biggs used to call them 'walking batteries'.

[deal]

[She's not used to people making long term plans with her, and she stares over at him for a few moments before trying to act like she isn't shocked by something simple that he's said in passing.]

So, I'll never run out of energy when he's around.

[Slowly, a pleased smile tugs up at the corners of her mouth, and she ducks her head so he can't see it. It's the sort of smile a kid might give for being excited about something, and she's sure it looks stupid. So she acts as if she's getting a good look at the tubes within the frame, so her hair falls down in her face.]

I can come by a few nights a week, after I'm finished with my work. Or you could meet me for dinner sometimes, then we can come back and work.

[t65]

[Luke snorts.] Only if you're a droid.

That sounds nice. I'll need an assistant until I get this patched up, anyway. [He nods toward his right arm.]