Blast from the past (1950's Star Wars AU)

[un_handed]

Summer 1952, it was just starting and shaping up to be a beauty. Most kids were getting that antsy feeling of the nearness of vacation and the want of freedom. But there were still three more week of school before that bell rang and let the kids free for the next three months.

Idyllic towns like Havencrest were almost too perfect this time of year. With their well-manicured lawns and pretty picket-fenced houses. The same could not be said of Bleakburn, just one set of train tracks over but a whole different world. The houses were not so quaint and the colors not so cheery.

Mara lived in Bleakburn, her family had for three generations now. She went to Bleakburn High School, or BBHigh as they called it, home of the Imperials. They had a reputation, as many towns that were not as well off as their neighbors, of being rough. That suited Mara just fine, she wasn't the sort of girl who felt like she needed any particular favor with the people of Havencrest and certainly never did anything to seek it out.

There were scuffles often enough between the rival schools but nothing, as yet, had been too bad. Street races, pranks, the occasional party was crashed but things remained a fairly constant level of general dislike between the towns. Both of whom claimed the one place that was any sort of fun, Moe Isleys. A diner that used the wide white back wall of the joint as a screen after dark and doubled as a local drive-in and hang-out. Sometimes they'd clear the parking lot and hold mixers there but more often than not it was used to watch the newest (that Moe could get his hands on) schlock film making rounds.

Mara had been there enough times to be recognizable, not just for her flame-red hair but also because she rode a motorcycle. Something she always grinned about when the 'Cresters looked at her with gaping mouths and dropped jaws. Keep staring, squares. In three more weeks she'd graduate and then she'd hit the road and leave both these towns behind her. She wasn't sure where exactly she'd go but the hell out of dodge sounded good to her.

That's why she was out here tonight, making some early goodbyes to friends she wouldn't be seeing again before she left because of this or that. So, like most bored kids in both towns, she headed to Moe's. Jeans rolled up over engineer boots, a black leather jacket and a black t-shirt beneath she could have been mistaken for a boy riding up. But when she parked and took off her helmet it was very clear she was anything but. She straddled her bike and hooked her helmet to the back and waved to a few people she recognized.

Comments

[from_twin_suns]

He nodded at that, placing his own bottle next to hers. A moment of silence passed as he made sure to wipe any remaining condensation from his hands - and to warm them. He nodded once more, as if working from an internal checklist.

Then, without preamble, stepped into her, a hand coming up to the side of her face, the other falling to her waist as he went for the kiss.

[un_handed]

Bold was exactly what he was, though not without also courtesy. His touch was only cool and not cold or clammy against her cheek. She expected, well she wasn't sure what exactly, but rather than harsh or timid he was somehow politely insistent.

It only took a moment before her hand moved up to run through his hair and the other curled into the front of his overalls. Mara returned the kiss and edged it up a little by arching up from the car and into him.

[from_twin_suns]

Ooof, just when he thought he'd gotten something figured out, she upped the ante a bit. He smiled a bit, against soft lips, deepening the kiss in turn. Well, it seemed as clear a signal to him as anything.

So he took his time, getting to know her lips, his own hands coming to rest on her hips - and one in that soft, vibrant hair, sliding through to find the side of her neck.

[un_handed]

Well, he wasn't shy when he got started and he seemed to keep up with everything that she did to turn that up. Not shy but not aggressive either, more...welcoming, cradling with gentle insistence.

She'd never been with someone who kissed or touched like that and it was something to adapt to but something she found she liked. she chuckled a low throaty sound and murmured against his lips. "A few more kisses like that and I won't need a plane to fly.

[from_twin_suns]

"Sweet talker," he replied, with a slight chuckle, kissing her one more time before pulling back a bit.

"So," he added, "guess this is about a little more than pissing off the idiots."

[un_handed]

"It was never just about that. I wouldn't have kissed you if you weren't cute." She took her coke again and sipped, lips curling up into a smile of pure mischief.

"Of course pissing off the idiots was a pretty good bonus."

[from_twin_suns]

He chuckled a bit. "You should, uh, give me your number for next time. I could keep you updated on the chaos and havoc you wreak on the social scene."

He paused a bit, reaching for his own drink.

"You know," he said, casually, "dance is coming up. Now, I was expected to ask someone who is now very huffy with me. So you've already helped me out there. I was thinking, since we're kinda doing things out of order...maybe it'd be nice to find out what it's like to dance together, have a proper date, after the kissing."

His eyes sparkled, with a hint of mischief of his own.

"The offer to take you up in the duster is separate from that, of course. Just to be clear."

[un_handed]

"Got a pencil?" She had no shame, at least not when it came to something she was interested in and this farm boy counted in that in spades.

but then he followed it up just as she was sipping coke and she had to bury her face in the crook of her elbow to keep from coughing, laughing, and choking all at once. A moment later and cheeks still red, eyes possibly waters from the bite of carbonated citric acid up her nose, she looked at him incredulously.

"You think my stunt got tongues wagging, if one of you took one of me to a dance those uptight hens might just explode."

[from_twin_suns]

Well, if you're being successful, keep it going.

"Well that's one way to scramble the eggs, at least. But I'd like to ask you anyways."

And that look on her face was rather absurdly cute, wasn't it?

[un_handed]

"I'm tempted to say yes just to see if you'll follow through with it." And to enjoy the thought of heads blowing up like overinflated beachballs.

"Wait, is it one of those fancy dances? How much will I need to dress up for it?" She did have dresses, and she did clean up well, but she had to make a point that she would be putting effort into it.

[from_twin_suns]

"Hopefully," he replied, "quite a bit." He shrugged. "I'll be wearing my best," he added.

Which ought to answer very well whether or not he planned to follow through.

"Look, life is short. Who knows how long I'll be here? Or where we'll be in a year or two? You're...something else. I want to see what all things that means."

[un_handed]

"I think I can manage something, but no laughing or I'll punch you out." After all he'd only seen her in something more street appropriate.

"I'll add an address to that phone number when you get me paper and a pencil." she was agreeing to go with him and even to let him drive, that said a lot.

Maybe there was a whole lot more to him than just where he was from, and she sure liked the way he'd stepped up in kissing and asking her out. She might have taken the first steps with him but he was not lollygagging behind.

[from_twin_suns]

"Pretty sure I'll settle on 'staring like a country rube,'" he replied, with a grin. But he was very, very happy with that outcome, there.

"And I'll definitely do that," he added, with a nod.

"Plus with that out of the way, if you'd like to see some sky today..."

[un_handed]

"Never lose the farm boy charm, it makes you different." She didn't want to keep smiling like this but he made it all but impossible to stop.

"Yeah, show me how to fly." She nodded with a hint of a challenge in her tone.

[from_twin_suns]

He indicated towards the barn with his head, reaching out a hand for her.

"C'mon, then," he called. "Adventure awaits, and all that."

[un_handed]

Mara took his hand and fell into step with him. It was easy enough to keep pace with him as her legs were nearly as long as his.

"You're with me, the adventure already started."

[from_twin_suns]

He grinned at her, shaking her head.

"You're good at that," he replied, pulling her a bit closer. "I think you're good at a lot of things, really."

When he reached the barn, he pushed open the door in a long, slow arc - revealing the yellow-painted Stearman Kaydet inside. And old cropduster though she might be, he'd kept her in perfect condition. She gleamed, aside from the duster pods slung underneath.

[un_handed]

"You play your cards right and you just might find out how right you are." Mara let him draw her closer until she could lay her free hand on his upper arm as they walked hand in hand.

The barn didn't look like much, most barns were just the same to her but when he opened it there was not just horses or cows or pigs or whatever farms had. It was a real plane alright, bright yellow and shiny as lacquer.

"So you really fly this banana?" Her words might not have sounded impressed but the way it captured her attention spoke differently. She stepped toward it and ran her fingers over the top of the lower wing.

[from_twin_suns]

"I did, supposedly so did my dad," he said, with a shrug. "Family stories, but I like to think it's true."

There was an insignia on the side, just next to the pilot's cockpit, of a lancing knight, in black. The rest of the plane looked like she still wore her 1940 colours, and that was because he'd very carefully painted her that way.

"She's always brought me home," he said, fondly, patting the fuselage.

[un_handed]

"Supposedly?" He'd said he didn't have family or something to that effect hadn't he? She couldn't recall the specifics but now she was more invested in learning about him.

"She?" Mara mused. "Not the jealous type I hope."

[from_twin_suns]

He shrugged a bit.

"He died before I was born, I think? My Aunt and Uncle never talk about it, and he left so little behind I'm just going on stuff I found in the newspaper microfiche," he replied.

But he smiled at the latter.

"Well, she's an old lady - I don't think you've got anything to worry about." He moved to a nearby locker, opening it up and taking out two pairs of goggles - one of which he carefully cleaned with a handkerchief before offering it over.

"So, Maureen, ready to hit the skies?"

[un_handed]

She wasn't sure what to say to that, she wasn't good in the offering comfort and condolences gig. But she didn't interrupt and nodded along, at least she could listen respectfully.

He didn't seem too badly broken up about it anyway, so when he moved on she just followed in suit, taking the goggles she noted that he prepared for her.

"I think I'm ready for anything you can dish out, flyboy."

[from_twin_suns]

He nodded, decisively.

"Then let's get you strapped in," he said with a grin.

He indicated the forward cockpit.

"Just step up on the wings there, where you see the indentations."

[un_handed]

Mara had never set foot in or on a plane before but that didn't stop her from intuiting her way around, she hooked a hand on a strut and pulled herself up to where she could climb the steps and settle herself into the snug cockpit seat.

"A lot different than the bike." She noted.

[from_twin_suns]

"A lot," he agreed, nodding, before hopping up and pulling himself overarm into the pilot's cockpit. A bit showy, but who cared?

"Ready?" he called, before hitting the ignition. The sudden burst of fuel smoke and the sputtering of the engine drowning out anything other than a brief reply as the prop roared into life.