A short time ago, in a farm-house not so far away...

[thefinaljedi]

Who: The Skywalker Family, immediate and extended and any close friends.
What: An evening with the family
When: August 4th
Where: Skywalker Ranch...or...something
Summary: Luke and Ami bring everyone over for a Sunday thing.
Rating: H is for Heartwarming


It's a bit of a monthly tradition, and has been for some time. The first Sunday of every month is the day the entire family gets together for an afternoon and has a nice dinner. Some might call the family a bit old fashioned, but it's just something that they do and have for as long as any of them can recall. It's never a fancy thing, but then does it really need to be? It's about the warm, fuzzy feeling of being surrounded by relatives and friends, sitting out on the porch and watching fireflies, and relaxing.

Food's been left to the people who can actually cook, because let's face it: Luke takes after his mother and Grandma Padme was not known for her fried chicken. But there's plenty of it. Chairs are set up on the large back porch so the weather can be enjoyed and tea along with a cooler of glass-bottled Coca-Colas, a bit of a splurge for the end of summer.

Everything's set to be a fairly nice afternoon and evening, provided the mosquitoes aren't too bad anyway.

Comments

[aryaunderfoot]

For all her usual outgoing personality, Arya tends to enjoy just sitting with the family during these dinners, listening to the conversation and absorbing any news that might be shared. She'll speak up if someone talks to her, of course, but as far as she's concerned, dinner is for listening while she eats. She loves to hear her family's stories.

It's almost enough to distract from the fact that she's occasionally slipping scraps to her dog Mycah under the table. Almost.

Once the dishes are cleared, it's time for catching some fireflies in a jar. Because why not?

[geniustheveil]

Arya's a little like Ami in that, which is quite possibly why Ami occasionally tries to draw her out more, asking questions about her day and about school especially. She isn't willing to let her daughter become - or feel - lost in the shuffle.

Today is no different, with Ami directing a few remarks specifically Arya's way, and a few innocent reminders that dogs aren't meant to digest human food (so please stop feeding him, Arya, you know better). Once the meal is over and cleaned away and dark starts to fall, though, she holds up a jar, carefully punched with holes across the lid. She smiles.

"Shall we go outside together?"

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya beams at the sight of the jar. Hunting down fireflies with her parents is always more fun than going out with just Mycah, and knowing that her mother got the holes punched into the lid already just makes it even better. She nods.

"Yeah, let's go! There's a lot of lightning bugs out there already."

It might not be fully dark yet, but she still spotted quite a few little winking lights out over the fields.

[geniustheveil]

"Do you know how fireflies began to glow?" Ami asks as she ushers her daughter outdoors. It's the preface to an old myth about the princess of fireflies from the south side of a castle moat and her prince from the north side; somehow Ami always seems to be telling Arya myths and fairy tales.

"It's a very cute story, but sometimes sad," she cautioned.

[aryaunderfoot]

"I don't care if it's kind of sad," Arya said stubbornly. "I still want to hear it."

Cute but sad probably means it's some kind of lovey-dovey story, and she is solidly convinced that those are just pure fairy tale. Not that she doesn't enjoy hearing them; she just highly doubts that any of it is true.

But still, she walks along beside her mother, her dog tailing along behind her as always. The air is warm, but not too warm. This is how summer should always be.

man this brings back memories of fireflies at my grandparents' growing up. <3

[geniustheveil]

Oh, of course they're pure fairy tale. What else could they possibly be? Ami's always encouraged flights of fancy and imagination, but she's always tried to draw the line between that and reality very firmly. If certain myths seem to tug at her, if certain stories feel oddly familiar, it's easy to tell herself it only means they touch her feelings somehow, and she's never considered it more deeply than that.

This story isn't one of those anyway, just a little tale about a firefly princess.

"One day, it was decided the Princess Hotaru of the fireflies at the south side of the castle moat should find a husband. This shouldn't have been very difficult, since she was very beautiful and bright and attracted many suitors. None of them touched her heart, however. Finally, she decided she would set them a task, and whoever could achieve it would be her groom."

right? <3 nostalgia bomb, right here.

[aryaunderfoot]

Ah, a princess and a suitor. She thought as much. Still, if it's a story her mother wants to share, she wants to hear it. Absently, she reaches back to scratch Mycah behind one ear as she listens.

And then comes the questions.

"What kind of task?" Arya perked up as an idea struck her, suddenly all interest. "Slaying a dragon?"

[geniustheveil]

"You're very close," Ami said, with a touch of pride that her daughter was quick to pick up themes in these stories - it would help her a lot in literature classes in school, too. "She told them to bring her back fire. For an insect, that's a very dangerous task just like dragon fire for a human."

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya nodded. That made sense. Fire was dangerous for anything, let alone a bug. Still, she gave her mother a sly grin. "I guess they couldn't just slay a dragonfly, then."

[geniustheveil]

"No," Ami admits. "They went to the nearby houses, to kitchen fires and candle flames. Many of them were hurt very badly trying to accomplish this for the princess."

There is a small note of disapproval there - a girl causing so much fuss over the question of love, demanding so much before she'd give any of herself. But Ami hadn't been easy for Luke to woo, either; it had time and patience to break down her reserve and her instinctive mistrust of people - of any class - approaching her.

"However, one day, the prince from the Northern side of the moat heard about the glittering princess and came in a palanquin of white lotus petals."

[aryaunderfoot]

As far as Arya was concerned, a bunch of foolish boys going off and hurting themselves was probably a good thing. If the princess didn't want to marry any of them anyway, better that they didn't get the fire anyhow. But her thoughtful look fades into one of confusion rather quickly towards the end of that.

"What's a palanquin?" The word feels weird in her mouth. Pronunciation may be a little butchered.

[geniustheveil]

"It's like a litter," Ami answers. "It lets the person sit down on a chair, carried by several other people."

It might have been noted it made a very literal symbol of the people who rode smoothly on the effort of others. But as this was a story of a princess and a prince, that was only to be expected.

Sorry this is late ~_~

[thefinaljedi]

Luke loved romping around the yard with Arya more than anything else about these dinners. It brought back fond memories of his own childhood, chasing bugs with his own dad. He's got the jar, and he's trotting along after her, holding it so she can deposit her catch. And as he does so, he gets a little bit wistful. His little girl is growing up, and it's hard not to see it and think how it won't be too long and she'll be too old for this sort of thing.

"Hey! There's one right over your head, kiddo!"

No worries, homework ate me alive >>

[aryaunderfoot]

So much was over her head, though! Being short was such a drag sometimes. Arya craned her head back to look, was pleasantly surprised when the firefly wasn't too far above her head, and snatched it right out of the air neatly. For all her speed, she never smashed the bugs; at least, not since she was much smaller. Or if Mycah bumped into her, but the dog is too busy barreling along behind Luke to get in her way.

As she brought it over to add it to the jar, she opened her hands ever-so-slightly to peek in at it. And grinned, holding it up for her father to see.

"It's a big one. Here, look."

[thefinaljedi]

Luke managed to avoid tripping over Mycah, at least. He stooped down to peer into her hands and grinned right back. Carefully, he opened up the jar, covering it to prevent escape while they load in the newcomer.

"It sure is. I'd say he's the biggest one you've caught yet. Let's get him in with the others, and maybe he'll be enough to use as a lantern in the barn. What do you think?"

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya carefully tipped her newly-caught firefly into the jar, gently poking it along when it wouldn't move off her palm. She may be a rambunctious spitfire most of the time, but she could be very careful when she put her mind to it.

"I don't think he's that bright," she said, all seriousness. "We should probably catch a few more first. For a lantern."

A firefly lantern in the barn sounded pretty great, though. It wouldn't be any danger if a stray wind knocked it to the floor.

[thefinaljedi]

"Well, don't just stand there talking about it then, let's get to it!"

Luke couldn't help but laugh as he pointed off towards the forest and a bit patch of the fireflies that seemed to have gathered there. Probably to escape Arya, but who could say?

"C'mon, we've got a lot to catch if we want to light that whole place."

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya's serious expression melted into a wide grin. She could always count on her dad to find the best patches of fireflies to catch.

"Bet you I can catch all of them!"

It might be a steep challenge, but she knew she could do it. Some might slip off into the forest, but she could find them. It couldn't be any harder than chasing down and catching the barn cats for flea dips.

[thefinaljedi]

Oh, he has no doubt that his energetic daughter will manage that. Luke trots after her and does his best to corral the fireflies that run from her back towards the center.

"Haha, there you go kiddo! Hey, don't let that one get away!"

[aryaunderfoot]

"Got it!" Arya dove for a firefly making a hasty escape towards the woods, tucking herself into a roll when she knew she couldn't avoid falling in order to catch it. It was all fine and dandy and successful until Mycah bowled on into her, barking happily. Then she accidentally let her firefly capture go.

And gave her dog a shove before getting him in a headlock and ruffling his ears. The dog was more thrilled about the attention than anything.

"Mycah! I had it! Is it still here, Dad?"

[thefinaljedi]

Luke reacted quickly and caught the escaping bug, waggling an admonishing finger at Mycah. That dog sometimes got into all sorts of trouble! But he was the family hound, and as loyal a pet as any farmer could ask for.

"I got him, here! Look."

He quickly popped open the jar and deposited the catch, the firefly flapping around irritably as it was plopped into it's new home.

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya peered over Mycah at the new catch being added to the jar and beamed. "Good catch!"

She let her dog go and watched him bound off towards her father, then took her chance to look around for any remaining fireflies. They had caught most of them already, it seemed, and most of the slowly blinking lights were much farther off in the distance. She figured they could let them go for now. It was best to leave a few free anyway.

Standing and dusting the grass and dirt off her knees, she headed over to get a closer look at the jar again. "We got an awful lot of them this time."

[bided]

Trisha, for her part, will make a moment to speak to her niece. It doesn't come during dinner, however, but rather when Arya's catching fireflies. Trisha comes to stand nearby, watching with a nostalgic smile. "Your father and uncle and I used to do this all the time, when we were little."

[aryaunderfoot]

Arya stuffed her last firefly catch into her jar, managed not to trip over Mycah (because the dog had a special talent for getting tangled around her ankles), and beamed back at her aunt. Okay, maybe she was covered in dirt and some tree sap, and maybe she was supposed to be more of a delicate girl around family, but she really didn't care about any of that.

"Dad's really good at catching them. They're usually too high up for me to get after a while."

[bided]

Luckily, Trisha doesn't mind the lack of being delicate. She grew up on a farm, and her own daughter, Artemis, is a tomboy...so this doesn't really phase her, even if she was admittedly a bit more delicate herself as a child. It's good to see her niece happy and healthy, even if covered in dirt and tree sap. Children would be children.

"He's had a lot of practice; I think he "won" more often than the rest of us...but a lot of it, I think, has to do with waiting. If you pause, and then look around for the flash of light..." Though she expects Arya is nearly a master herself.