She gives a sharp intake of breath when his hand finds her shoulder. The Force's absence was most telling in the small things, like the ease in which someone could sneak up on her without it.
"What?!" she peers up at him through red eyes and straggly hair, "Who are you?! What are you doing here?! They'll kill you!"
"I came here to get you the fuck out of this nightmare, that's what I'm doin' here." Plays rested his pipe against his shoulder. "And you can call me Tony. Or Plays-in-Traffic. Answer t'both."
He glanced around and shrugged, "And if anyone tries t'kill me, that's what the fuckin' pipe is for. Come on, snap out of it. This isn't real."
"A pipe?" She laughs once and without humour, before burying her face again, "Please, go. I can't protect you. I'm not strong enough."
The rumbling in the earth grows louder, loud enough to discern that this isn't tectonic activity. Something begins to emerge through the mist ahead of them. No, not something. Somethings. Lots of somethings.
"So? At least I'm gonna try." He tossed an uneasy look through the mist and then looked down at Jaina. "You say you're not strong enough, but I know that's bullshit and you know that's bullshit. Get up. Fight this shit, man. This is a dream. A Nightmare. You're on Stacy."
Stacy? The name sounded somehow familiar but... no. No, this was Coruscant. She was raised here, at least partially. This was her home, at least partially. She wanted to die here. But her pride - the one that Jedi aren't supposed to have - couldn't stomach anyone seeing her like this.
She cradles her twin brother's body in her lap, reaching out to him and feeling nothing. The universe had never felt so quiet.
"What? Die? Just give up like that? No way in Hell. Have some goddamn pride."
He pointed the pipe at her. "Are you just gonna give up and let the Nightmare King have his way with you here? Are you just gonna give in to despair and sadness and apathy? Because none of this is fuckin' real. Your real friends and real family are all out there somewhere, in the real fuckin' world and they're fuckin' countin' on you to get yourself together and get the fuck out there and kick some ass. We're supposed to be heroes. We're supposed to die fightin' on our feet, not cowerin' in the goddamn dirt waitin' for the enemy to finish us off. Pull yourself together!"
Jaina stares up at him, completely dumbfounded, for several moments. She could feel that insatiable desire to give in welling in her gut. It felt so easy... since when did anything feel that easy?
The thundering charge of the Vong grows ever closer and it wasn't just her life that hung in the balance. He couldn't stop what was coming, not alone, not with a kriffing pipe.
She had felt this way so many times before, felt herself teetering on that morbid precipice. Her uncle had died howling at the moon so that her baby brother could live, only for Anakin to fall so that she might too. Every single one of the friends and allies that she had lost had given everything so that people like her could carry on, even if that meant to hurt and to struggle.
It can be seen in her face, the veil slipping. Their sacrifices meant everything to her. Maybe now was her time to follow them, maybe it wasn't. But she wasn't about to let them down. Not this time.
There's a snap-hiss! and a flash of violet light and she's on her feet, "Seriously, a pipe?"
Tony grinned as she ignited her lightsaber (his inner child was screaming in joy) and turned to face the oncoming horde with a shrug, hefting his makeshift weapon. "Well, normally I can turn into a ten-foot tall furry death machine with chainsaws for hands, but... uh... can't right now for some reason."
He tightened his grip, hands feeling slick with sweat, "Gimme a break. I'm improvisin'."
"You're not the only one. Normally I can move things with my mind, but no such luck." In other words, it was just her and her training. The Force wouldn't help her now.
The Vong are almost upon them now, taking form as the mist thins. Huge and hulking (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/4/4a/SW_Invasion_art.jpg) they came forward, plated like crabs, carrying with them the throaty din of bloodlust. Each of them brandishes what looks like a snake for a staff.
"I'm just saying, we're on a ship that practically rains weaponry and you couldn't even find a blaster," she smirks back, lightsaber thrumming as she whirled it into a defensive position, "Armour's weak around the joints, don't let one of their amphistaffs get its teeth in you. What are the odds on us getting some cavalry at this perfectly oppurtune moment?"
"Hey, when I woke up this morning, I didn't really think I'd need my pistol. Not sure my dinky nine millimeter would even scratch that motherfucker anyway..." He eyed on the oncoming Vong with trepidation. They look like Fomori to him.
"I think I was supposed to be the cavalry. Sorry, dude."
Hold on a minute. He blinked and looked down. Those were a bunch of dead Jedi. He dropped the pipe and scooped up a fallen lightsaber, shooting an apologetic look at Jaina. "Sorry. But at least it'll be better then nothing, right?"
As long as he doesn't lop his own arm off, anyway.
She's been trying to keep her eyes off the corpses of her family and his move scores a reflexive wince, though she shrugs it off and tells herself that they're not real, that her dad and Jacen and Luke and Mara and Wedge were all still out there somewhere. That they were probably in as much trouble as she was.
In the time that that piece of self-steeling takes, the Vong have cleared the distance. Jaina steals the first move and leaps into the throng of marauders, cutting and swiping, but not before shooting off a, "Kark the cavalry, it's more fun this way. Nice knowin' you, Tony!"
"What the Hell does kark mean, anyway?" he retorted as he waded in after her. True, he was swinging the thing more like a baseball bat than a sword, but he was still taking off limbs. It worked, too!
"I would imagine it's the equivalent of that 'fuck' word you use," she shouts over the clamour of battle, "Pretty liberally, I might add."
She manages to jam her saber under the armpit of one of the Vong, sweeping it upwards and shearing the limb clean off. As the creature sinks to its knees she brings her weapon around and cleaves head from shoulders. It wasn't pretty, but without the Force she couldn't afford to play for aesthetics.
Plays clumsily impaled one Vong and then whiped it around in a wild swing to cut another in half. He barely dodged getting nailed by a staff and then whipped around and up again to try and take out another.
"Less than when we started?" she replies optimistically, ducking a right hook from one of the Vong and driving her saber through a crack in its chest plate.
"Guess that works!" He slashed the legs out from another. He'd keep on going until he finally got hit or they made it out of this nightmare. Whichever came first.
Although there may only be two of them, and an awful lot of implausibly well-disposed-for-combat alien gribblies, they made it out the other end. Positive thought counts for a lot in the kingdom of nightmares, so it seeme
Standing amid a pile of those that had fallen by her hand, Jaina allows her posture to sink along with her blade and heaves breath after breath. Around them, the city begins to rebuild itself into the gleaming capital that it had once been, then slowly fades out of existence as her mind gets back to reality.
"Thanks," she eventually manages between breaths, "I was a goner."
Tony slumped, breathing heavily. It'd been a while since he'd had to go all-out in his human form. Getting lazy. He offered a grin. "No problem. S'what I do."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
"What?!" she peers up at him through red eyes and straggly hair, "Who are you?! What are you doing here?! They'll kill you!"
no subject
He glanced around and shrugged, "And if anyone tries t'kill me, that's what the fuckin' pipe is for. Come on, snap out of it. This isn't real."
no subject
The rumbling in the earth grows louder, loud enough to discern that this isn't tectonic activity. Something begins to emerge through the mist ahead of them. No, not something. Somethings. Lots of somethings.
no subject
no subject
She cradles her twin brother's body in her lap, reaching out to him and feeling nothing. The universe had never felt so quiet.
"Let me go with them."
no subject
He pointed the pipe at her. "Are you just gonna give up and let the Nightmare King have his way with you here? Are you just gonna give in to despair and sadness and apathy? Because none of this is fuckin' real. Your real friends and real family are all out there somewhere, in the real fuckin' world and they're fuckin' countin' on you to get yourself together and get the fuck out there and kick some ass. We're supposed to be heroes. We're supposed to die fightin' on our feet, not cowerin' in the goddamn dirt waitin' for the enemy to finish us off. Pull yourself together!"
no subject
The thundering charge of the Vong grows ever closer and it wasn't just her life that hung in the balance. He couldn't stop what was coming, not alone, not with a kriffing pipe.
She had felt this way so many times before, felt herself teetering on that morbid precipice. Her uncle had died howling at the moon so that her baby brother could live, only for Anakin to fall so that she might too. Every single one of the friends and allies that she had lost had given everything so that people like her could carry on, even if that meant to hurt and to struggle.
It can be seen in her face, the veil slipping. Their sacrifices meant everything to her. Maybe now was her time to follow them, maybe it wasn't. But she wasn't about to let them down. Not this time.
There's a snap-hiss! and a flash of violet light and she's on her feet, "Seriously, a pipe?"
no subject
He tightened his grip, hands feeling slick with sweat, "Gimme a break. I'm improvisin'."
no subject
The Vong are almost upon them now, taking form as the mist thins. Huge and hulking (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/4/4a/SW_Invasion_art.jpg) they came forward, plated like crabs, carrying with them the throaty din of bloodlust. Each of them brandishes what looks like a snake for a staff.
"I'm just saying, we're on a ship that practically rains weaponry and you couldn't even find a blaster," she smirks back, lightsaber thrumming as she whirled it into a defensive position, "Armour's weak around the joints, don't let one of their amphistaffs get its teeth in you. What are the odds on us getting some cavalry at this perfectly oppurtune moment?"
no subject
"I think I was supposed to be the cavalry. Sorry, dude."
Hold on a minute. He blinked and looked down. Those were a bunch of dead Jedi. He dropped the pipe and scooped up a fallen lightsaber, shooting an apologetic look at Jaina. "Sorry. But at least it'll be better then nothing, right?"
As long as he doesn't lop his own arm off, anyway.
no subject
In the time that that piece of self-steeling takes, the Vong have cleared the distance. Jaina steals the first move and leaps into the throng of marauders, cutting and swiping, but not before shooting off a, "Kark the cavalry, it's more fun this way. Nice knowin' you, Tony!"
no subject
no subject
She manages to jam her saber under the armpit of one of the Vong, sweeping it upwards and shearing the limb clean off. As the creature sinks to its knees she brings her weapon around and cleaves head from shoulders. It wasn't pretty, but without the Force she couldn't afford to play for aesthetics.
no subject
Plays clumsily impaled one Vong and then whiped it around in a wild swing to cut another in half. He barely dodged getting nailed by a staff and then whipped around and up again to try and take out another.
"How many of these guys are there?!"
no subject
no subject
no subject
Standing amid a pile of those that had fallen by her hand, Jaina allows her posture to sink along with her blade and heaves breath after breath. Around them, the city begins to rebuild itself into the gleaming capital that it had once been, then slowly fades out of existence as her mind gets back to reality.
"Thanks," she eventually manages between breaths, "I was a goner."
no subject