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

[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."

[thefinaljedi]

Luke tapped on the side of the jar as he knelt down to show her the catch. There were already at least a dozen, and the lightshow was pretty incredible.

"We sure did. Now, do you remember what I showed you last time? How should we take care of them?"

Because he's not going to let her just keep them locked up with no idea how to take care of them or keep them alive. All living things deserve a chance for a full life, after all. Life lessons!

[aryaunderfoot]

It wasn't too shabby a job for just being one night's catch. Arya grinned, watching the little lights blinking on and off in the jar.

"Well, they need leaves and water. And some sugar water so they have something to eat." Just leaves and water hadn't been enough the last time. A bunch of dead fireflies was enough to spark her into learning what exactly it was that the little bugs ate. "We might want to get them a bigger cage to live in, too."