out of the wormhole and
on the other side of space
Luke Skywalker woke up somewhere that was very much not Tatooine. He rubbed his eyes and felt the ground around him, which was very much not sand. He hoped that this meant his plan had worked. All he had to do now was find out where he was, contact Artoo through his comlink, locate the crystals, and—
"You finally awake?"
He fully opened his eyes, and was able to make out the silhouette of a figure standing over him. It was a girl, one who couldn't have been much younger than him, staring at him quizzically. He sat up and found that he was surrounded by a crowd of young people dressed in funny clothes.
"What?" was all he could manage to say. The young people laughed at him.
"You were out cold, man. Looks like you got wasted at your costume party," a boy beside of her said.
"I wasn't— you know what, forget it. Where am I now?" Luke asked.
"You're on our bridge, and you should probably think about leaving. We always come here after practice, everyone knows that. Not really fair if we don't get a chance to relax just because some stoned creep—"
"Ian!" a different girl snapped, cutting the boy off. "I really don't think he knew. He's obviously not from here."
"Fine, but you better go home now. Come on, up you get," he grabbed Luke's arm, tugging him upwards and forcing him to his feet.
He nearly fell over, but was able to brace himself on the railing of the bridge. He looked down below him and saw what he thought was a river.
"I'll leave, but first I hope you will answer one question for me. What planet is this?" he asked seriously.
Nobody said anything. The boy, Ian, burst out into a fit of laughter. Luke did not appreciate this.
"What? It's just a question," he frowned.
"Shit, you really are baked," the girl who was standing over him before whispered.
Luke thought about what that could mean, and then nodded quickly. He did feel rather exhausted from his travels.
"Yes, I am baked."
The girl grinned and turned to her friends, gesturing to the strange boy who they found unconscious on the bridge.
"I better get him home, guys. I don't feel right sending him on by himself like this," she told them.
"Doesn't seem safe, Avery. I don't like the idea of you disappearing into the night with some weird dude who can barely stand up straight," the supposed Ian said.
"Wouldn't be the first time she's done that," someone else in the group yelled. The girl glared at him.
"Screw you guys. I'm trying to do the right thing. I'll see you Monday," she hissed, grabbing Luke's wrist and pulling him behind her as she stormed off the bridge. They walked until Luke could no longer see the scrutinizing gazes of the people in the crowd behind them. She finally stopped when they reached what he could only guess was town.
"Where do you live?" she asked him.
"Not anywhere around here, I can tell you that much," he replied, looking around.
"So there's nowhere for you to go? Where did you come from?"
"I'm not quite sure where I'm supposed to go yet, or how far I need to travel. That's why I was hoping you all could tell me where I am, but your friends seem to be offended by any sort of misunderstanding," the young Jedi murmured, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"You're in Delaware, man. Probably the most boring place on Earth. And yeah, I guess intolerant is a good way to describe them," she laughed softly.
Okay, so he was on Earth. Now he could relay this information back to Artoo, and hopefully get his hands on a map of some sort in the process.
"I have no knowledge of Delaware. How do I get out?" he asked.
"I've been tryin' to figure out the same thing," she chuckled. "Come on, you can crash at mine for the night. Just don't steal anything or my dad will kick your ass when he gets back."
"When he gets back from where?" Luke asked, not wanting to get his ass kicked. That would likely cost him some time.
"From seeing his mistress, I guess. My dad's a real asshole, 's part of the reason why I wanna get out of Delaware so bad."
"Mine too. He's also the reason why I want to get out of Delaware so bad," Luke said, a bit humorously.
The girl laughed and lead him across sidewalk after sidewalk, stopping at a rather large home. He looked around and took in what he could of the town. Most of the buildings were made out of either brick or stone, standing broad with rows of rectangular windows in the front. Luke wasn't impressed by the architecture one bit. She pulled out her keys, unlocking the door in front of them.
"There shouldn't be anyone home. Claudia doesn't work on the weekends, so she won't come in tomorrow morning and start beating you with a vacuum cleaner. Do you need water? Any medicine? What all did you take?" she questioned as she lead him into the house. She threw her coat down on a chair in the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet.
"What all did I take? You mean from my home planet? I only brought this comlink so I can get back in touch with my droid. I mean, I brought a weapon and some stuff to eat, of course, but I'm hoping to be out of here relatively fast," he explained, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
The girl looked at him incredulously. She searched his face for some sort of sign that he was joking, and then turned on the overhead light.
"Your eyes aren't glassy or red, so I don't think you're high. You haven't been walking funny or stumbling around, so I doubt you're drunk. Are you sober?" she said as she examined his face. He was uncomfortable, and backed away from her in his chair, clearly offended.
"I'm not drunk!" he cried. "I'm on a mission. I would never risk being intoxicated on a mission."
She looked at him once more before moving away from him. She seemed to be in deep thought, so Luke was careful not to disturb her as she paced the floor. Finally her head snapped up and she met his eyes again, the glass of water she had been fixing for him long forgotten.
"Get out. If you're just messing with me, I don't want you here. I don't usually do shit like this, y'know? I don't welcome strangers into my home. I don't ditch my friends on a Friday night. So unless you're going to be honest with me, just leave. I don't like being taken advantage of," she said sternly.
This caught Luke off guard. His eyes widened comically and he stood up, barely two inches taller than her.
"Why is it so hard to believe I traveled here on a mission? People do it all the time. We all have our own businesses to attend to. There's no reason to get so upset just because I haven't revealed my plans to you."
"I'm upset because you're telling me you aren't from this planet!" she yelled back.
"So? I'm sure at least half of your friends from the bridge aren't native to this planet. In fact, I don't see how anyone could live here. It's dirty and cold."
"Everyone lives here. It's the only habitable planet we know of. You're out of your damn mind."
He was shocked, couldn't even bring himself to laugh. At this point he had figured out that she wasn't kidding; she truly had no concept of space travel. Did this planet really not know what was out there? Had she never been anywhere except Earth? He thought back to not even that long ago, when he too had never seen space. He remembered gazing out through the glass panel on the Falcon for the first time, Han already irritated with him within only an hour of the two meeting.
Han, who was frozen in carbonite now.
Because of Luke.
He sighed and ran his good hand through his hair.
"Okay," he said coolly, thinking over his options. "I'm gonna take you up on your offer and stay here for the night, if that's alright with you. Then, in the morning, you can tell me where I need to go to get what I'm looking for. That's likely all you can do to help me."
Still clearly frustrated with him for not making a whole lot of sense, she simply nodded to the couch in the living room. She had walked out of the kitchen before he could even thank her. He made his way into the living room and grabbed a blanket folded on an arm chair before he decided to lay down. Placing his comlink on the table and sliding his belt underneath it, he allowed himself to close his eyes. I won't be here for very long, he reassured himself, just long enough to deal with the crystals.
As his thoughts rolled around in his head, he finally came to what he would consider a sound conclusion: this planet was miserable.