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 shrugs. "I like what I like, I guess," he replied. It seemed the best sort of answer. He didn't want to suddenly go off about what he enjoyed, at least not until he was sure she wasn't going to bolt if he did.

"Cars and planes, mostly," he replied. "Though the latter is less hands-on...just the old duster and a lot of sending off for engineering drawings."

[un_handed]

She listened and she sipped her coke, cold enough that beads of condensation started to form on the bottle. Chily rivulets ran down over her fingers enough that she dabbed the cool dampness to the back of her neck. Summer was warming up and the garage was open but without much of a breeze.

"What's that like? Flying I mean." She sipped more cold soda wondering why he'd need the drawings too, unless... "You plan on working on them too?" That was ambitious.

[from_twin_suns]

"In my dreams, maybe. But it's just neat seeing how they work. Unless I just go for the Air Force Academy, my chances are pretty low, I guess. All I've ever done is take up the old duster, but..."

He smiled, fondly, at that.

"She's slow and not much to look at, but the second those wheels leave the ground you're just...in another world entirely. All that stuff about who is seeing who or who you're supposed to not be around and everything just kinda stops mattering. I mean, the world looks so small from up there, and you're defying gravity itself...yeah, it's...pretty great."

[un_handed]

"I can see that, for me it was more a means to an end. If I understand how it works I can make it work better. But I've never even thought of planes." They were a whole different ball game, they had to deal with differences in pressure, altitude, temperature. Not to mention the body structural issues. Something needed to be light and flexible but rigid enough to stay aloft. It was a lot to keep in your head at once.

"Is that your type?" The tease in her tone was obvious. "Slow, not much to look at? Must work with the girls over here." Sure he was waxing poetic about a plane and it made her want to know what that even felt like if it could inspire those sorts of words. But she wasn't about to get all tongue-tied over it.

[from_twin_suns]

"Everything around here is a bit too slow for my liking," he replied, with a slight shrug, hands going to his pockets.

"But how about you? What's your type?"

[un_handed]

"You're strange for a Havencrester." The tone indicated amusement and maybe a compliment in there. Also that maybe her move in the diner hadn't been the wrong thing after all.

"Haven't found one yet. Guess I'll have to let you know when I do."

[from_twin_suns]

"Thanks, I guess," he replied, sipping at his coke.

"Have to admit, bit surprised you showed up," he replied as well - perilously close to admitting he'd missed her presence, really.

[un_handed]

"No sweat." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I wasn't sure I'd be coming over. I thought about it and couldn't come up with any reason not to. And I came up with a whole bunch of reasons why I should. Most of them are about figuring you out."

[from_twin_suns]

He cocked his head a bit at that.

"What's there to figure out?"

Though he did like the way she shrugged. He was noticing a lot of those little details, it turned out.

[un_handed]

"You." She stated bluntly.

"You're not like them. You think for yourself. You have ideas." Implying that most of the people from his town were bland to put it mildly. A herd of sheep that follow one bleat all the way to the end of their days.

"And you have some kind of brass coming over to me like that. Even guys from my side generally wouldn't do something like that. Makes you stand out."

[from_twin_suns]

Well, it's complimentary, at least.

"Well, thanks for that - and I didn't see it as 'brass'...I mean, you came in on a gorgeous bike you clearly knew how to use, and were absolutely bold about it. That seemed like the sort of person I'd like to know. The, uh, cascade of red hair didn't exactly hurt, either," he added, with some honesty.

"That was a nice sort of moment to see. I'm a little surprised you don't have a crowd, all things considered."

[un_handed]

"And you had backbone enough to look at me and see me, not just where I'm from. That made you about the most interesting person there." But there must have been some vanity there as she smiled to the comment on her hair.

"I've never been big on crowds, I usually do better alone."

[from_twin_suns]

He shook his head. "I wouldn't care if you were from the moon," he replied, "you're different and alive in a way that this place...isn't."

The latter was interesting.

"You too, huh?"

Not that he didn't have friends, but - very few he felt close to, not really. Biggs, maybe, but he'd moved on.

[un_handed]

"I was more of a go my own way than a joiner type." And no one would really have her for too long anyway. She was prone to trouble and she started speaking up when she knew she was right and others were wrong. Most guys had no idea how to deal with that.

"But maybe I'm finding people who aren't boring." At least one. She sipped her coke with a little smile.

[from_twin_suns]

A little smile from her, he was finding, was worth quite a bit.

"Well here's to that," he replied, sipping his own after raising it a little.

"I like your way," he added. "It's been pretty great so far. Pretty very great."

Stop talking, you idiot.

"I could say much the same about you. Most people around here are...well, pretty conventional. No ambitions, just...going along, from day to day. You aren't like that."

[un_handed]

She wasn't given to smiling much so it was some sort of trophy that was well and hard-earned.

Her eyes narrowed in study, the emerald green seeming more intense as she did. Her forefinger tapped the neck of her coke bottle as though she was debating something. And after a long moment she nodded.

"You're cute." She didn't add something to counter the compliment, didn't say for his side of the tracks or anything. Just left it there with that smile curling higher in her lips.

[from_twin_suns]

"Which is good," he said, with a slight smile - and stepped a bit closer.

"Though, if I'm honest," he added, looking at those lips for a moment. "Think I'm still a little behind here and would like to catch up."

[un_handed]

She was all casualness and confidence in her lean back against the car, looking every bit as lean and formidable as her own motorcycle. His closer step made that smile even deeper.

"I should tell you I respect a bold move." The challenge was laid out for him and she lowered her coke to sit it on the hood of the car to her side.

[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."