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[restoresbalance]

He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed tinkering on ships until he'd gone some time here without doing anything like it.  Growing up, Luke had always been up to his elbows in some project or another, fixing droids for his uncle or modifying the speeder he used; later on, the tinkering turned into working on real ships like his X-Wing, the

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[ghost_bait]

A soft, scuffing noise of a shoe against the floor was hopefully enough to alert Luke to the nervous young girl behind him. Looking for Steve had been... taxing, to put it kindly. Still, she'd thought that maybe he'd be in the hanger, considering how much he liked mechanical things and the fact that he'd not been in the sensoriums.

She bit her thumb before speaking, and mentally sighed. Why was she the one chasing after him, when he'd been the one to kiss her? How unfair was all that? "E... Excuse me," Miku addressed Luke's back and bowed deeply. "I'm... I'm looking for someone." Augh, talking to strangers made her stomach twist into fearful knots. "Maybe you've seen him?"

[ghost_bait]

Miku sighed and shook her head, "I hope he doesn't run away; it'll be hard to catch him." She looked sheepish, "I'm not very fast." As it was, she was already a few steps behind Luke, though she was doing her best to keep up with him.

Her heart suddenly clenched; what if he did run away again? What then? It was fine if he didn't want to pursue anything, but he'd kissed her first, and--! And--!!

...Well, she'd just have to put it away and let it go. Just like everything else. It'd be fine, eventually. Miku sighed heavily through her nose, and hurried her steps. "But... I like him, a lot, so I'll just try to be a little faster, this time," she murmured, mostly to herself.

[restoresbalance]

"If he runs away, I'll catch him and drag him back," Luke said, his tone of voice light as they walked. "And tell him that running away is no way to treat a lady."

The irony wasn't lost on Luke; most of the intervening decade between when he met Mara and when they actually got married could be seen as him running away, and he still sometimes felt bad about that. Thinking back on the whole Thrawn crisis, Luke realized that there had been more signs there than either of them had seen, probably.

He could almost hear Mara's voice in his head--We're already married, farmboy, you don't need to flatter me--and smiled a little. "Don't worry, Miku, we'll track him down. There's only so many places he can go, and if he likes you half as much as I think he does, he'll still come back to you."

[ghost_bait]

"Mm, maybe," Miku replied with a little smile. Even if it was a little sappy - especially with a stranger like Luke - Miku genuinely appreciated the sentiment.

She looked down the hall and frowned just a bit, "It really bothers me that all these hallways look alike."

[restoresbalance]

"I guess I'm used to it," Luke replied. "On a lot of ships, the interior looks the same wherever you go. I can understand how it can be kind of off-putting though. It sure was for me when I first boarded one of the big cruisers, being fresh off my home planet and hardly being in space before that."

They reached an intersection and Luke went off decisively down one path, following his Force-senses.

[ghost_bait]

"Steve showed me around, but I still haven't managed to get it. I... just kind of wander and hope I get to where I need to be." But she'd memorized the way to the sensoriums. If she'd closed her eyes, Miku was certain she could find it.

Of course, wandering around with her eyes closed hadn't been unheard of at that time. "My friend, Tess-chan, says that she doesn't even use a ship or anything. She just sort of hops from place to place. Like a grasshopper." Miku paused a moment and laughed, "A space grasshopper." Luke turned and Miku followed, obediently.

"Are we getting closer?" she asked and felt a bit of relief wash over her. Which was then mixed with a flood of nervousness.

[restoresbalance]

"Yeah, he's not too far. Probably the next intersection ahead."

Luke let them walk in silence for a bit, then looked over at her. "What's home like for you?" he asked. "If you don't mind my asking about it. I'm always curious though." He looked ahead, down the gently curving corridor. "As many planets as I've been to, the worlds of others always seem to amaze me."

[ghost_bait]

"Mm..." Miku tapped her chest quietly in thought. "Sort of like Steve's world, actually. But... Japan's different. I mean, it's still on Earth, but it's totally a different culture. But the widespread difference is... we don't have zombies," just ghosts. "I like it though. Japan, well, Mizuho, is small and quiet. I could go to Tokyo, if I wanted, but I usually only have to for work and things.

"Occasionally," Miku added with a little smile, "we have to worry about typhoons, but it's mostly just rain and rain and rain. More rain than you'd ever think a country would want. But there are bullet trains and all kinds of things... I miss it."

[restoresbalance]

"Small and quiet, huh?" Luke wondered what that was like. Even Anchorhead, hardly a metropolis with its own spaceport like Mos Eisley, hadn't been anything like 'small and quiet', if only because of the drunken brawls that erupted out of the cantinas.

"It sounds nice, though," he said. "Sure different than anything I'm familiar with."

[ghost_bait]

"I'd be happy to show you, Luke-san," Sorry, Luke. Habit. The next intersection was looming ahead, and all of the sudden her leg muscles wanted to pull her in a totally different direction. She bit her lip, shifted her weight and forced herself to keep walking. "Whether it be in the sensoriums or if we ever get a chance to go to an Earth similar to mine."

She mumbled something under her breath, to steady herself.

[craaazyisland]

The Force did not lie-- Steve was in a little alcove after the next intersection, looking out one of the small windows and into the black space beyond. When he heard footsteps, he glanced over to see who it was.

And like someone had set him on fire, his face turned immediately tomato red. The Force was probably screaming with the sudden surge of some combination of nervousness and sheer terror.

"Ah- hi, guys," he said, with obviously forced calm. It didn't work very well, either.

[restoresbalance]

Luke, who could sense Steve's emotions as though he really was screaming, did nothing more than let one corner of his mouth twitch upward. "There you are, Steve, Miku and I were just looking for you."

He turned to Miku with a smile. "See, I found him for you."

[ghost_bait]

Miku bowed deeply at Luke, "Thank you very much for helping me, Luke-san." It dawned on Miku that approaching Steve was a little bit like approaching Ruri with a new flea collar. It had to be done carefully and quickly, or else he'd run off.

"Hi, Steve."

[craaazyisland]

Steve was desperately trying not to hit full-on panic mode. Why was Luke with Miku? She had apparently asked him for help in finding Steve-- oh god, did she tell him what happened? Was he about to get lectured in front of her? Should he find a vent, immediately?

He managed to keep things under control, letting out a short breath through an awkward smile and reaching up to brush the hair out of his face. "Hi-- is..." He was about to ask if something was wrong. Yeah, no shit something was wrong, stupid. Oh god he was going to die. He was having a stroke. Had to be.

"What's up?" he asked. Not much better, but a BIT.

[restoresbalance]

"Oh, Miku was just looking for you and I thought I'd help her out." Luke smiled; he wasn't going to give Steve a talking to, not right now, but later he'd have to take the boy aside and tell give him at least part of the What Every Boy Needs To Know About Being A Man speech. Luke had been working on it for when Ben was the right age, but Steve was as close to a son as he could be without being blood-related.

[ghost_bait]

Miku nodded in agreement, Luke was perfectly correct, and she didn't have anything to add to it. "You... aren't expecting anyone else, are you?" Because she was quickly losing her nerve, and who knew what Tess would do to Miku if the girl came back without proper answers?