For allbingo
Sep. 7th, 2019 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Where Nothing Else Lives
Summary: Even Vice Admirals have their sorrows.
Prompt: Beads
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author’s Notes: This idea was part of a larger piece, but I thought the potential (informal) aunt-nephew relationship between Holdo and Ben/Kylo was too interesting to pass up.
It wasn’t always that Amilyn Holdo got to visit her nephew, but when she did, it was a pleasure. Even as they sat together, a tin of beads in front of them, Amilyn knew that teaching her young nephew crafts would be fun.
A furrow came between Ben’s eyes in that moment, something that was, Amilyn noted, very Leia-like. “They’re really small,” he said.
“Not that small,” Amilyn said. “Once you get them on a string, you don’t even have to think about it. Just one after the other.”
“Right.” A beat. “They are pretty, though.”
Amilyn smiled. “They are. I do like pretty things; why else do I wear dresses? That and the Republic uniforms are...tacky.” She sighed. “I’m always relieved to be out of them.”
“Why can’t you wear whatever you want?”
Apparently, younglings could be wiser than adults at times. “Well, some people think uniforms are more practical. It doesn’t help that anything feminine is seen as not worth taking seriously, and that anything outside a very limiting norm is seen as worthy of being excluded — that means shut out, isolated.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t change it,” Amilyn said. “You stand tall. You lead by example. You simply be who you are — and you’ll get at least someone, anyone, to follow you.”
“Could I change the galaxy one day?”
Amilyn smiled again. “You can be whatever you set your mind to, Ben. Now...first you have to make a knot. That way the beads don’t fall off the string. A bit counterproductive when you’re trying to make any piece of jewelry...”
***
It was better that Holdo didn’t show this to anyone. Things like one of those pieces of jewelry Ben Solo had made for her as a child had to be kept secret — hardly anyone could be able to wrap their mind around the idea that this sweet little boy became Kylo Ren.
Kylo Ren. He wasn’t supposed to be that way, he didn’t have to be that way. This Holdo simply knew. When Leia had called her over the comm to say that Ben had fallen to the Dark Side, there had been something in Holdo that knew, just knew, there was something wrong with it.
Even touching the piece of jewelry lightly brought back memories. “Well, I like your hair. It’s wizard!” Ben had said that when he’d first met Holdo, her hair dyed bright blue this time around. Making bits of jewelry together, and later, Ben taking up calligraphy and painting. Talking about Poe Dameron — and Holdo had never met Poe before, but the way Ben’s face lit up like a sun...he must have meant something to him. Did any of them mean anything to Kylo Ren, in a place where nothing else likely lived?
Holdo looked down at the necklace Ben had made for her as a child. It was worthy of being a keepsake, a reminder of what had been — something that lived in Amilyn Holdo’s heart, no matter what happened.
Summary: Even Vice Admirals have their sorrows.
Prompt: Beads
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author’s Notes: This idea was part of a larger piece, but I thought the potential (informal) aunt-nephew relationship between Holdo and Ben/Kylo was too interesting to pass up.
It wasn’t always that Amilyn Holdo got to visit her nephew, but when she did, it was a pleasure. Even as they sat together, a tin of beads in front of them, Amilyn knew that teaching her young nephew crafts would be fun.
A furrow came between Ben’s eyes in that moment, something that was, Amilyn noted, very Leia-like. “They’re really small,” he said.
“Not that small,” Amilyn said. “Once you get them on a string, you don’t even have to think about it. Just one after the other.”
“Right.” A beat. “They are pretty, though.”
Amilyn smiled. “They are. I do like pretty things; why else do I wear dresses? That and the Republic uniforms are...tacky.” She sighed. “I’m always relieved to be out of them.”
“Why can’t you wear whatever you want?”
Apparently, younglings could be wiser than adults at times. “Well, some people think uniforms are more practical. It doesn’t help that anything feminine is seen as not worth taking seriously, and that anything outside a very limiting norm is seen as worthy of being excluded — that means shut out, isolated.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Yes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t change it,” Amilyn said. “You stand tall. You lead by example. You simply be who you are — and you’ll get at least someone, anyone, to follow you.”
“Could I change the galaxy one day?”
Amilyn smiled again. “You can be whatever you set your mind to, Ben. Now...first you have to make a knot. That way the beads don’t fall off the string. A bit counterproductive when you’re trying to make any piece of jewelry...”
***
It was better that Holdo didn’t show this to anyone. Things like one of those pieces of jewelry Ben Solo had made for her as a child had to be kept secret — hardly anyone could be able to wrap their mind around the idea that this sweet little boy became Kylo Ren.
Kylo Ren. He wasn’t supposed to be that way, he didn’t have to be that way. This Holdo simply knew. When Leia had called her over the comm to say that Ben had fallen to the Dark Side, there had been something in Holdo that knew, just knew, there was something wrong with it.
Even touching the piece of jewelry lightly brought back memories. “Well, I like your hair. It’s wizard!” Ben had said that when he’d first met Holdo, her hair dyed bright blue this time around. Making bits of jewelry together, and later, Ben taking up calligraphy and painting. Talking about Poe Dameron — and Holdo had never met Poe before, but the way Ben’s face lit up like a sun...he must have meant something to him. Did any of them mean anything to Kylo Ren, in a place where nothing else likely lived?
Holdo looked down at the necklace Ben had made for her as a child. It was worthy of being a keepsake, a reminder of what had been — something that lived in Amilyn Holdo’s heart, no matter what happened.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-09 01:06 am (UTC)As former Navy the uniform thing is kinda big. The uniform serves to unify the people in rank so they can focus on their mission. The leaders have to set an example for those in rank. But there is an old Navy joke that Holdo reminds me of:
What uniform does an Admiral wear?
Whatever he wants.
In this case, whatever she wants, lol.
Not to mention that the Navy regs are very strict about hair, it has to be pinned up, above the collar, it can't be colored, blah blah. In the last days I was in, I swore that I was going to dye my hair blue, because I couldn't wait to get away from it all.
I do get where Holdo here comes from. I had the money to buy nice clothes and pretty dresses but rarely had the chance to wear them. And I got tired of pinning my hair up and I wanted to grow it out.
Beading is fun. And showing another side to these characters in creative pursuits, that's cool. Who would of thought of Kylo as stringing beads or painting. They often do not explore these sides of characters, do they? It's all lightsabers and fretting about the Dark Side.
Good piece!