maskormenace | ♕ video; one

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♕ video; one

[ When the video clicks on she's smiling, reserved but something proud despite itself in her expression. The background is one of the basic assigned rooms (this one in Maurtia Falls, but she hasn't decorated anything or shown anything but walls to tell by. ]

From what I've been come to understand so far, there are quite a few people here from my home galaxy, and many of us from different timelines.

So. [ She doesn't clear her throat, because that would be uncouth. ]

I am Padme Amidala, mother of Luke and Leia Skywalker, Queen of Naboo during the Occupation, and Senator of the Galactic Republic before the end of the Clone War.

[ And now there is a little bit of a smile, able to bring some lightheartedness to it. ]

And currently a hair model, apparently. I know there are many people from my galaxy here, but this is a new world and a new place to learn, and I am curious.

This system of representatives for those among us brought into this world without our consultation seems to be a good one, but I would like to know more about it from those who are familiar with the systems. I am pleased we are not pawns here entirely.

[ Entirely. ] Or if you are not familiar with how this system works but would like to know, we can work out the details together, or simply talk about how this system functions.

The more you know about your system of governance, the more chance you have to affect it.

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I cannot imagine that people have not done research on this before, with as long as this has been happening.

It is troubling that we have no idea as to what will become of us, but still.

To be here and have this opportunity is something I hope to take advantage of.

I hope we all will.

[ BUT LIKE. not by being dooku or hux maybe. ]

There's definitely been a lot of chatter. Keep an ear out - some of the ones who have been around the longest sometimes come to the network to talk about it. It'll give you an idea of the context, at least.

But as far as I can tell, there's no rhyme or reason to it.

[He offers her a warm smile.]

It's not that much different to being a pilot. Very short life expectancy. Go into every day and every situation knowing that it might be your last, and take advantage of every second.

I know Luke feels the same way. [Pointedly... not mentioning Anakin.... Because Yikes, Padme. Yikes.]

I can always do my own research, to see what has been learned or gathered so far. Thank you for the advice, I'm sure it will be of help.

[ She almost laughs, shakes her head. ]

I have never been a pilot, myself. Well. I know how to fly, and I've posed as one a few times as protection, but it's never been my profession.

I had enough threats made to my life that I can understand the ideay you speak of, though.

[ Her smile is so fond at the mention of Luke again, as it turns every time either of her children is mentioned, something she means to try to check, to not make so obvious, and fails at every time. ] Luke is much like his father in his love for ships, it seems.

Anything I can fill you in on, I will.

[The smile fades when she brings up Anakin, though.]

... Yeah. Though for the fate of the Galaxy, I'm glad he didn't pick up much else from him. In all honesty--

[He hesitates, then switches to PRIVATE.]

In all honesty, I hope you know what you're up against, here. I promised Luke I would give Anakin a second chance, and I'm trying, but it isn't easy. I know exactly what he's put Leia through - even after he's long gone, just his name alone does her a lot of damage, later. I'm all for second chances, but if he hurts her, all bets are off.

I appreciate that a great deal.

[ Ah. Her smile does fade at that, turns into something more iron clad and hard, regal even. It's not a mask, quite - more the defense against the world she has always worn in public appearances, even though this has now been turned into a private conversation.

This is Senator Amidala, straight backed and unflinching even if the subject is so much more personal than those she ever debated on the Senate floor. ]

I've spoken to my daughter about what happens after my death, yes. And I know what happened before hand, and I know how I died.

If you're intimating that Leia would ever need any protection from her father that I could not provide, then I would suggest you reconsider that idea.

[ A pause for a moment, and she tries to thaw some, to not be quite so imperious. But her family --

Her voice is more gentle and tired when she speaks again. ] I am glad that she has a friend as loyal as you. But you are from a time far removed.

[The shift is visible, mostly because he's seen it before. Home, when Leia would switch between speaking just to him, then to the entire Resistance. Or when she was making a call to the Senate. Firm and regal, and it made him miss her so hard that it hurt. Not the Leia here, to whom he was still fiercely loyal, but his Leia, with her low warm rumble of a voice and her gentle countenance and her strength and her complete unwillingness to back down from what she knew was right. Force, but he missed her.]

Yeah, I'm from a time removed. Which means that if anyone on this planet knows how strong and how capable she is, it's me. I know better than anyone.

But she - or at least, the Leia back home - has seen a hell of a lot and gone through more. She'd be the first one to tell you that we are stronger together than we are alone. So yeah, I think we can protect her more together than you can alone. Even if she doesn't need it, she still has it.

And I know better than anyone else here that Anakin has something good in him left. I know what happened at the end of the empire and the end of his life. I just know what happened before it, too. I'd rather people not die before he finds his redemption, this time.

Never doubt that I know her strength.

[ Never doubt that Padme knows who Leia inherited that will of steel from, that rebelliousness, that urge to act.

It wasn't all Padme, by any stretch of the imagination.

Better than anyone. That stings, more than anything else he's said, because it's also true in ways that hurt. She barely knows Leia, has only met her a few times. This stranger --

The steel is still there, but it's softened some, buried in the sadness that comes with everything else. ]

I would not say better than anyone else. [ Poe you might want to stop making definitive statements on her family, if only because that's all still very raw for her.

A few weeks ago she was making plans for the nursery on Naboo. ]

History does not tell the truth - not the history Palpatine made. Despite dying days after its birth, it is possible I know more about the Empire's foundations than any of you who came to the knowledge years later.

Including my husband.

I would not discount that easily, or assume that I am trusting him blindly.

[Poe really should stop saying 'better than anyone' about everything, but, well, he's never going to because Poe. Sorry.]

I can only speak for what happened at the end. [That's as close as he's going to say "okay yes you're right" because she is, but.]

The Empire basically wiped out as much history as they could. Even the Jedi were considered mythical as early as my parent's time.

Trust me, I'm not discounting your knowledge, or your experience. Just trying to fill you in on mine. You're the best person here for being able to get through to him - even without knowing anything about what went on then, I would know that much.

I am giving him a chance not only because of Luke, but because I know that in the end, he seals the fate of the empire. For Luke, if for no one else. But whatever he did for Luke, he never did for Leia in the same way. However much he wants to get to know her now -- [He's getting visibly frustrated, but he stops himself and sighs, rubbing his face.]

Sorry. I've been here for months now, trying to figure out how any of this shit works. Anakin isn't even the one top of my mind. He's not even the worst threat here - at least, not how he is now. If he gets ported out and comes back from a later time period -- [He cuts off again. He did not mean to start spilling his feelings about this so much. But something about anyone who looks even remotely like Leia giving him a Talking To just sends him right into debriefing mode. Slow down, Dameron.]

All I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to think about him as a different person here. And I hope you'll help me do that. But I'm not going to lie and say that I'm going to let everything slide, if things go down.

He was a hero, in the end, and I'll give him that. But showing up at Leia's house and demanding that she let him into her life is not something I'm okay with.

Then do not try to speak for anything that happened before that.

[ That was sharp, cutting. If there is one thing she has learned here, it is that she does not like having her relationship with Anakin and her time alive misinterpreted as thoroughly as it seems to have been through the lens of the Empire.

Palpatine gave her a day of mourning.

She's trying, very hard, to be considered and measured in her responses to him, but he's bringing up things that she doesn't want to speak of to someone who is in almost every way a stranger.

There is a hand at her throat that she has not yet been able to remove. ]

I understand that his years as a Sith have erased for many of you the time before that. Try to remember that for him, and for me, those times have not yet happened. He is at a place that is --

[ It is not something she wants to talk about, but it is still important. ] He has been manipulated by the fear of losing me, of losing our children.

There is a great deal here that is far more complicated than anything you realize or have been told, Poe Dameron. Do not make assumptions based only on sight. Allow her to ask for help if she requires it, and allow me to be present now that I am here to answer what questions she has and to provide what help she might ask for without physical or outside intervention being necessary.

[ Force knows what Anakin's response would be to someone he doesn't know well flying in to separate him from Leia. ]

[Well, he stepped in it somewhere. He's not sure exactly where, trying to think back over what he said, but he stepped in it somewhere. He puts his hands up in the universal sign of surrender.]

Alright, alright. [He lowers his arms, frowning.]

Just know there's a lot that you don't know either. That even Leia doesn't know, not yet. But I promise I won't do anything without her say so. [He pointedly doesn't say your.]

[ The surrender signal is odd to her - she tends to go into conversations with the idea of them ending in resolution, rather than surrender.

Especially one that follows immediately with contradiction of that. ]

Of course there is a great deal I don't know, or am not aware of yet.

It would perhaps be better for you if you also did not make actions based on a version of a person that has not yet come to pass.

[ Just. Saying. ]

I'm not going to take any actions at all, unless something happens here.

[He's a pilot, not a politician.]

But even if Leia suddenly hurt a lot of people, I'd be forced to do something about that, too. My greatest hope is that we can all leave the wars behind us and find a new life here, but I'm not naive enough to think that it's just going to happen. Not when one of us has already been killed.

Hux had already brought the war here, and he doesn't seem to care who is collateral.

Then perhaps speak less of the threat that you will.

[ Pause, and then sudden and deep concern, because she was getting fairly chilly then but he spoke of one of their own already having been killed. She knows they come back, is gripped with the sudden icy fear that her children have known the touch of death.

Even if it was not them, that one of their own has died -- ]

Hux was responsible for this death? I'm still new, I had not heard of any of us dying.

It was a heads up, not a threat. [Its not defensive. If anything, it's apologetic.]

[For the rest, though, he is solemn and grim.]

It wasn't exactly publicized. [He hadn't even told Leia yet, but.] I'm not just placating, when I say I want peace. Hux is-- [Here he looked very dark indeed--] a greater threat to that than anyone here, but the more people I can keep out of that fight, the better. He targeted Bodhi, kidnapped, and killed him. All because he defected from the Empire before Hux was even born.

Finn and I might be the only people here from his time, but he thinks the entire galaxy owes him for the death of the empire. So the pot is being stirred, whether we like it or not.

Perhaps a heads up I did not need to hear, currently. Unless you think you have active reason for it being likely to come into play.

[ Seriously, she does understand - she was there when Anakin choked her into unconsciousness, she saw the light in his eyes, the way he could not respond to reason, was trapped in his own mind.

But she is growing tired of others attempting to warn her of something she already knows and knows can be fixed.

That is not entirely fair to them, but it is hard to dismiss. ]

Bodhi? I have been speaking to him, some. And this Hux killed him? [ Who she has also been speaking to - she had already disapproved of his views, but that is an extremism from him that she hadn't quite expected yet. ]

Is Bodhi all right? Is he safe, now?

I've only got history, Senator. Nothing current. You won't hear about it again from me.

[He looks pretty somber about Bodhi though.]

He's - better, now. And he's as safe as any of us are. Death doesn't mean a whole lot, here, but that doesn't mean it doesn't mean anything.

He's one of the best, and he deserves peace. They all do.

Death will always mean something, I'm sure, if hopefully the sting here is abated some.

[ Curious phrasing though. She pauses, considers. ] "They"?

Rouge One.

[His expression is still grim, but there's something proud about it, now. Something firm.]

You won't - know anything about them. But they're the reason the Death Star was defeated. Without them, I can't imagine what the galaxy would even look like. I wouldn't need to. I would never have even been born.

They all died. On that mission. But now they're here. And they deserve whatever life they can make in this place.

From what I've come to understand of history, it sounds like we should all be thankful for their bravery.

I'm glad some of them have received a second chance here, for the time being.

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♕ video; one

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we're private now BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS GOOD IN STAR WARS LAND. everything's good here.

this is fine

it's star wars so literally nothing is fine ever

THIS IS FINE i yell in a burning room

everything's super cool i say as i'm melting of fire

good bye world

someone save me i'm dying

Not sure if this works timeline wise BUT WHATEVER

g o d

Sorry Padme

are you really though???

only a little, after this tag being a million years late

<333

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JESUS CHRIST ok i think we can. let this one slide off now lmao