to your stations, and may the Force be with us

[protectingthelight]

Who: Amilyn Holdo and YOU.
What: Holdo settles in at Riverview, has some awkward conversations, and generally has to deal with being here after mumble mumble spoiler mumble. Feel free to tag in off a prompt, or roll your own. Also, there will be comments for threads with specific people.
Where: Various locations including but not limited to: housing, government buildings, around town.
When: Over the first week or so that she's here.
Warnings: 'ware spoilers. I won't include any here, but threads will no doubt include them of necessity.

1. Community housing
If you live on the eighth floor, you will probably see Amilyn fairly regularly. She cuts a pretty unmistakable figure, being nearly six feet tall and with that purple hair and all. She's hung up her Republic-style gown for the time being (saving it, maybe, for some suitable occasion), but even with her civilian clothes she still wears her bracelets and rings.

2. Government offices
Amilyn shows up for work pretty much the day after she gets her assignment. So if you work as a community ambassador—congratulations, you have a new coworker. She's diligently setting up her workspace and getting caught up on all the latest news.

3. Entertainment and shopping district
All work and no play and all that stuff. Amilyn goes for walks, taking in the new sights and sounds, maybe stopping for a bite to eat somewhere interesting.

4. Wildcard
Feel free to suggest anything!

Comments

[protectingthelight]

It's 'a.holdo'. Very straightforward," she says with a smile. "I'll be happy to do what I can."

[protectingthelight]

Amilyn smiles. "Yes. Not exactly a meeting either of us planned, as I'm sure she mentioned. She's an interesting person." Read: prickly as a desert plant.

Wait. Wait. If that was really Jyn Erso, for all her evasions, that means this Cassian must be—

Amilyn's eyes go wide with something that's part recognition, part astonishment, but she has enough self-control this time to not blurt out something ridiculous.

[protectingthelight]

"Some, yes," she says, thinking of Jyn and Cassian. "Others—a matter of days. To be honest, those are trickier."

[protectingthelight]

So that's what really happened. The story as she knew it is reframed in an instant: Ben was the destroyer of Luke's work. That Leia should have hidden this truth made sense, of course—the revelations around Vader had rocked the New Republic and Amilyn knew well how much pain that had caused Leia. It stung to realize she'd been lied to, but— "I understand," Amilyn said, her voice soft. Force, how much should one woman endure? Amilyn's heart broke once again for her friend, even as she felt the deepest awe for Leia's sheer goodness in the face of trials that would have destroyed anyone else.

"I'm so sorry. It's—that's such an inadequate thing to say, Leia, but I am."

[killthepast]

He studies Amilyn's face. Her confusion, so sincere, says as much as her words. So he really was such a shame to his mother that she had to weave lies about what happened, even back when she sent him away. Ben Solo, always the afterthought.

"Ah... So that's all there is to it." With bite in his voice, he adds, "You should ask her for the whole story, the next time you see her."

[oldladyleia]

If it was anyone else, Leia would have thought that things like "understand" and "so sorry" were platitudes and nothing more than that. But with Amilyn, she knew that the other woman did and had and hopefully always would. For as long as there was them, before the other woman was lost to her.

Leia didn't think she could take any more losses.

Holding onto her best friend's hand she just looked down at it for a long time before she sighed softly. "I hated to lie to you, Amilyn. I hated to lie about this and Ben... But I thought that it would be safer for everyone, including him, if I did it this way."

[bythehand]

Finn smiles back a little, reflexively-- when it's not a high stress rigmarole, smiling back is sort of his go-to instinct. People usually have good smiles.

There are a couple of things to unpack here, then. Unexpected. Not impossible to adapt to. An officer in the Resistance, past-tense. That could mean a lot of things, he doesn't want to jump to any conclusions. He'll remember it, though, if he doesn't hear anything else about it. Circle back to it later, maybe. She's heard of him, that's another thing to pack right off for later, too. Poe told him word got around. Guess he was right.

"I was a Stormtrooper, ma'am." It comes out as a correction, carried by straightforward impulse more than anything, and lacking in sharpness. He'd be lying if he said his old life hasn't stuck to him in more ways than he can count, of course, but-- it threw him off to hear that, a bit, that's all. It was weird.

He swallows.

"I'm just Finn now. If that's all right."

[hylights]

'Days' is a little stranger to her. What could be the cause of that? Yet maybe she shouldn't look at things through the lens of what happened to her.

"I am sorry to hear it," she says at last, feeling it must be an odd situation to navigate at the very least. "If it's only days, then did something of importance happen in between, to make it harder to manage?"

[realists]

Everything is dangerous if you're cocky.

[ jyn has enough experience to not be cocky and there's something in her tone that reads "men, amirite" ]

[evasives]

Prickly as a desert plant is so apt, and he should not be so fond, but he is. Jyn is his favorite cactus. Fortunately he manages to hide most of it.

"She grows on you." Which is putting it mildly, what a dumbass.

Cassian sees that look on her face, but he's grateful she doesn't really say anything. It's already strange when he thinks about his name being on a wall. Spies are supposed to be unknown! He sort of shrugs off Holdo's recognition, which is probably better than ignoring it. "The future in our galaxy is a popular pull for the portal, apparently."

[protectingthelight]

She grins a little at the comment about Jyn. She can see it.

As for their galaxy... "Maybe one day someone will explain why." She purses her lips slightly, a little grim, a little put-upon. "I think at this point I'm the ... furthest along in the timeline, as it were. At least of anyone I've met."

[protectingthelight]

[ Amilyn recognizes that tone and snickers a little. ]

Don't I know it.

[ Her own smile fades. ]

I wish I hadn't had so much recent personal experience of that. [ A sigh, then a wave of the hand. ] Depressing subject. I'm sorry.

[protectingthelight]

Something of importance...!

Amilyn doesn't mean to be rude, really she doesn't. But Zelda's question hits her in such a way that it's just uproariously funny, probably because everything that happened is the exact opposite of funny. (Bombers and fighters lost. Dozens more deaths. Her own death. Yes, that's a little important.)

She starts to answer, but her reply dissolves into laughter. And soon she's laughing so hard she can barely speak.

[protectingthelight]

"Finn. I beg your pardon—I didn't mean to offend. It's a real pleasure to meet you, at last." A wry look. "Not exactly under the circumstances I would have expected. How long have you been here?"

[protectingthelight]

Amilyn had always wondered at Han's leaving. Knowing all this, now, she wonders if the secrets, on top of the grief, was part of what made him run.

"He ... told me to ask you the whole story, when I saw you," she says. "Now I realize what he meant—what he did to Luke, and—he went over to the First Order, didn't he? Leia—you've told me enough—you don't need to tell me more until you're ready. You did what you thought was best. I can't fault you for that."

She didn't know it, but she still only had part of the truth. Leia's confession and Ben's demeanour—clearly he was First Order now. But she hadn't yet connected Ben Solo and Kylo Ren.

[protectingthelight]

Something about that tone of voice hits her hindbrain and it's all she can do to not snap Don't take that tone with me, young man. He's not a boy anymore, for pity's sake. Her jaw tightens, but she keeps her tone controlled.

"I will. Since you don't seem to be especially forthcoming at the moment." She folds her arms and looks at him steadily. She's annoyed, she realizes—annoyed because he's not handling this situation in any kind of empathy, has decided to play games. A trace of the annoyance bubbles right up then. "Am I keeping you from something?"

[hylights]

Well, that's unexpected. Zelda's taken aback by the older woman's sudden burst of laughter, and she can only stare in confusion for a moment. She tries to think of what could have been funny about what she said... and she comes up with nothing. What did she do?!

She raises a hand awkwardly, not sure if she should maybe try to prod Amilyn out of it. "A-Amilyn? I apologise if I said something foolish--!"

[protectingthelight]

Amilyn shakes her head. Get a hold of yourself, woman. She manages to get her laughter under control and wipes her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry—it wasn't anything you said. Nothing you could have possibly known." She sighs. "Yes, something of importance happened. With permanent ramifications for me."

[evasives]

"I have heard a lot about the future, from some of the others. You don't have to tiptoe around anything for my sake, nor do you need to talk about it."

Cassian suspects there are still plenty of things he doesn't know, but he finds he doesn't... need to. Maybe that's part of the whole death acceptance thing. "I take it you are with the Resistance?"

[hylights]

It's a relief to hear she hadn't said something terribly wrong. Zelda lets out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, and places her hand on the table again.

"Oh, I see... I can imagine that might be difficult if there are others who don't know it yet. I'm sorry if I accidentally brought up something uncomfortable."

[oldladyleia]

For a moment, Leia wants to stay silent on this, the secret that is the closest and the one that is most painful to her heart. But she can't. Instead all she can do is just swallow, and look at Amilyn with haunted dark eyes. Her voice is soft, and the pain in it is well pronounced and it's only because Amilyn has known her for so long that she even lets anyone see this part of her. "Yes, Ben's in the First Order."

That part is easier to admit than this is, that's for sure. "Ben is Kylo Ren." She can't meet her friend's eyes as she said it, she doesn't want to see the realization that Ben was the one who killed Han, and killed potentially millions of other people because Leia had screwed up and sent her son away rather than attempting to understand and train him herself.

[bythehand]

He waves a hand-- no damage done, no lasting offense, especially as fast as she listened to his request. It's good that she was willing. That's a good sign.

"It's been about two months. Give or take a few days. Had plenty of time to start getting used to unexpected circumstances. You're new, then?"

[realists]

You know who I am. [ her shoulders lift in a shrug. her life is a depressing subject. but she has no real frame of reference for this tall, willowy woman, so she doesn't press. ]

[protectingthelight]

"Yes. And I'm old enough to have been in the Rebellion before that." It's almost funny, really. She's older than Cassian ... but if he had lived, he'd have been her senior. "Resistance to the very end, you might say."

She has a lot in common with him and Jyn, really.

[protectingthelight]

"Please don't worry—there's know way you could have known." She dabs at her eyes again. "Well, I certainly didn't expect that reaction. But then, much has happened in the last week or so that I never expected. Including being here."