capeandcowllogs | Though we're strangers till now.

WHO: Leia Organa and Eames! And bonus!Han at some point.
WHERE: Eames's apartment (where Han and Leia are currently staying)
WHEN: Early morning of the 17th.
WARNINGS: None for now?
SUMMARY: Leia has nightmares about Vader and being helpless. Eames knows a thing or two about dreams. Maybe.
FORMAT: Prose to start? Eppy, it's up to you.

Alone, in the darkness of her chambers, were where most of Leia's dreams began, dressed lavishly in the royal garments of Alderaan. As she stepped out from the privacy of her room, bright colors assaulted her senses, beaming from the elaborate and floral decor of the ballroom. Already at her arm was Xizor, leading her out to the floor slowly toward the couples already spinning with a fervor to a violin's excited cry. Gently, he took her hand in his and pressed the other just behind her shoulder blade as they dove into the frenzy of color. His eyes glinted down at her as she stared around at the other beings stepping in time as her own feet moved with a perfected grace that she never knew she had.

As they dipped, bobbed, and weaved mechanically through the waltz, a sudden dark presence struck Leia so acutely that she stopped, but couldn't pull herself away from Xizor, his grip too firm and held her in place as her steps faltered and she stumbled a couple more steps before the trance swept over her again.

Powerless to stop. Powerless to get away. Powerless to even seek help.

No. She couldn't be. She couldn't! And with a forceful push, Xizor tumbled away from her and the waltz immediately stopped, the crowd parted and there stood Vader, a shade amidst the splendid spectrum, the only spot of black in the ballroom. The music silenced and the echo of joy dimmed into the agony of that false breathing, mechanical and cruel as he moved forward to replace Xizor, stature towering far above her. Where his glove met her hand, blood drained out and horror filled her senses as they began to waltz amid the intense stares of partygoers, a slow, macabre dance like one would before death.

She could only break away her gaze to see Han, frozen and hanging on the wall. Her heart dropped into her stomach. No, no, he was alive, she'd seen him, he was--- Vader stopped the dance and leaned down toward her ear, voice low, "Forgive me."

-

Almost immediately, Leia sits up in her bed, hand clutched to her chest and long hair curtained about her face. There’s a mumble from Han as he, too, wakes up from where he had previously been asleep on the couch.

“I’ll be back.” A bad attempt at trying to soothe the worried expression on his face as she pulls on a bathrobe over her nightgown and scurries out the door to their bedroom.

She can still hear the sound of Vader’s breathing in her ear as she moves toward the kitchen to try and make some tea for herself, as it’s nearly sunrise anyway.

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[Leia pales a little at his mention of the dream, but honestly doesn't know how that could be possible in the slightest. Even with the Force, she's never seen anything like that .]

What do you mean? You saw... [She swallows, paling further.] Lord Vader.

I did.

[ his expression is absolutely neutral. he'd seen all of it, more than he knew she would ever volunteer. it was an intrusion, and eames had tried very hard not to intrude where he was unbidden.

if she were angry, he would not blame her. ]

[Leia isn't so much angry as shocked and she simply stares at him for a little bit, trying to understand. Her fingers curl around the edge of the counter as she considers what this means. ]

He... He's taken the lives of billions of beings. Destroys entire systems with one wave of his hand. He holds the galaxy in his very fingers.

[There's something darker, though, that she fears and she can't quite figure out why. Why would Vader ever want forgiveness from her of all people? ]

And yet...

[ he lets the words hang in the air. eames knows enough of powerful men to know that there is always a catch, always something private that will trip them up, sooner or later.

this vader would be no different. ]

[Leia glances over at him, a little impressed by how he's picking up on things already. She knots her fingers together and takes a couple pacing steps.]

He's very interested in a close friend of mine, Luke. His gaze has focused and narrowed.

And this worries you?

[ picking up on things is eames' business. forging is all about the little things, one noticing them and working them into the facade. it's not something eames can turn off. ]

Vader cut off his hand the last time they confronted each other. I fear he won't be as lucky the next time.

[She bites her lip a little as her pacing continues across the kitchen floor.]

And Luke is a competent fighter but no match for Vader. None of us are. What Vader wants, he takes.

[It's odd to her to be opening up so soon to someone she really doesn't know that well, but for one reason or the other, she just feels comfortable.]

[ he watches her pace, then nudges out a chair with his foot, a wordless invitation to sit. ]

You may underestimate this Luke. And overestimate this Vader. Everyone has weaknesses.

[The offered chair does make her sit down and she does her best to try an relax, but it's just too difficult at the moment.]

He destroyed my home planet, Alderaan. And the billions of lives that existed there in peace. [She doesn't really talk about it much, but it has such a weight in her life, whether or not she acknowledges it.]

[ for a moment, eames lets that statement hang in the air. ]

A feat like that does not make a man unkillable.

No, it doesn't. [Leia goes quiet, folding her hands on the counter between them. Callouses cover her joints, the scars of fighting a war that they're constantly on the verge of losing, and for a moment she feels older, tired.]

He was capable of many things, he could lift objects with his mind.

[And, as she carefully lifts one of her fingers, the cup she left on the other side of the counter begins to float. Yet another worry on her plate. Would she become evil like him? Was that her destiny?]

[ to his credit, eames keeps the shock off his face. he's cultivated a very, very good poker face over the years. however, that trick takes him by surprise. ]

If you share the ability, then it can't be so hard to find ways to deflect the uses of his.

I don't have it at home. It came when I arrived here. Before I could... [Pausing, trying to figure out how exactly to explain this.] I could sense Luke. When he needed me. I could sense him through the Force.

[Setting the cup back down with a slow movement of her finger.] But this is entirely different.

Perhaps it's the beginning of a power. Things typically start small.

[ as his forgeries had. and now look at what he's capable of. ]

I believe you could destroy him, if you wanted. You're a very resourceful woman, Leia.

[Leia considers this for a woman. She wants Vader gone so badly and the dream is almost immediately brought back up in her mind. Forgive me. ]

We've been trying for years. We thought we had but he escaped.

And you've learned, yes? All those attempts, surely they've yielded information.

[ had eames the power, he would have offered his own services. he'd killed a fair number of seemingly untouchable men in his time. one more would make no difference. ]

Though we're strangers till now.

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