The gym, Friday morning

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It's early, and there's Aeryn in the gym, trying to hurt the punching bag.

It's officially routine.


[For Luke. And I am going to be omg so late to work.]

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Luke walked into the gym with a grim look on his face and waited for Aeryn to notice him.

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It only takes her a moment, and she backs away from the bag this week, rather than the usual stalking she does. "Hey," she greets him, frowning a little at his expression.

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Luke gave her a small smile. "Bit of a long week," he said, "but I imagine you know that feeling, too."

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Aeryn takes a deep breath and nods. "Anything you need to talk about?"

And yes she really did just say that.

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Luke shrugged. "Personality conflict," he said. "Nothing I really want to discuss."

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"Need to hit?" she asks. For her, it's the logical next question.

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"If you're finished," Luke said, "then yeah, a bit."

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Aeryn gives some room to let him go for it. "By all means."

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Luke battered away at the bag for solid five minutes before he was ready to speak again.

"I needed that," he said with a grim smile. "How are you doing?"

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"I've had better weeks," she says, sighing a little. "I'm beginning to say that every week."

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"I know the feeling," Luke said. "I'm about ready to write off the entire month of November, and I'm not even taking Vader's class."

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"I hear things have to get easier eventually," Aeryn offers, though she doesn't sound too optimistic.

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"It would be hard for them to get worse," Luke said, stepping back from the bag.

Ahh, Skywalker optimism.

He smiled. "This isn't the worst week I've had here, though, so that's a good thing, right?"

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"It worries me a little that you can say that, though," she says. There might be a part of her that's still a little protective.

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Luke shrugged. "That first week was tough," he said, understating things by quite a bit.

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"I imagine it would be hard to top that, actually," she frowns.

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Luke thought about what Aeryn had told him last week and decided to give her the entire story.

"It hadn't been a great week before I'd gotten here, either," he said quietly. "I watched Ben die...and I was too late to save my aunt and uncle."

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She watches him carefully, remembering the vision thing, and asks, "Did you know it was going to happen?"

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Luke shook his head, looking very young. "No. The vision thing is new--John was the first."

He stared at the floor. "Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru just bought the wrong droids. The Empire executed them for it and then burned the house to the ground."

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There are a lot of reasons behind it, and she doesn't like any of the reasons, but she says, "I'm sorry. But if you'd been there..."

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Luke nodded. "Ben said that too. It doesn't really make it any easier."

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"I know," she says. "It isn't fair, and it shouldn't have happened. But you're also fighting against the ones that killed them. That's a lot, Luke."

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Luke nodded. "There's no such thing as luck or coincidence," he recited. "And if I had been at home, I would never have known the truth about my father, or the Empire...or any of it. I would have had a completely unremarkable life on a desert planet that no one's ever heard of." He bit his lip. "And I get the feeling that would've been a bit of a waste."

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"You were one of two people to make it back from destroying something that could obliterate planets," Aeryn reminds him, and continues honestly, "It would have been a waste. You're capable of good things."

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Luke blushed. "So are a lot of people," he said. He gave the bag another couple of hits. "Thanks again for helping me out," he said, giving Aeryn a grateful smile.

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"I'm glad you asked," she smiles. "And to be honest, I could say the same to you." Shh. She doesn't give a lot of people that much credit for helping her with issues.

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Luke's smile broadened. "Any time," he said. "Really."

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"So," she says. "Want to try actual sparring, or would you like to take it out on the bag some more?"

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"Sparring, please," Luke said. "The bag's not the same kind of a challenge."

And that he could say that after only a few months of practice said a lot of things about how much he wanted to impress Aeryn.

And how much time he'd been spending in the gym to make sure that he could.