twelve_not_fourteen | On the Light and the Dark ...

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On the Light and the Dark ...

“Ben --”

In a such a large structure with conditioners for the volume of systems and subsystems that run the Starkiller Base, it seems like there should have been more ambient noise then there was. Instead, the voice of his father cuts through the air like freshly sharpened vibroblade. It’s in the echo, however, that you can really hear the desperation.

“Han Solo, I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.” That voice, cold and mechanical with the face Han longed to see so badly hidden behind a helmet. The Millennium Falcon’s captain has to struggle to hold back the tears that seem to want to spill from his eyes.

How you could have been so close, as he stalked behind you and still you didn’t seem to feel him or acknowledge that he was there, the old pilot will always wonder. Han’s first footfall onto the durasteel catwalk not the usual confident step, but a shaky one. He has a bad feeling about what’s about to happen and yet, it’s a feeling he has to ignore for many reasons.

For, perhaps, the most important reasons that any man could ever hope to have.

Han sets his jaw and summons the same courage that allowed for him to skim a little too close to black holes and run hollering into crowded barracks full of Stormtroopers. It shouldn’t take that kind of bravery to face your own son, should it? He supposes not, and for a second or two while he approaches, he tries to pinpoint where it all went wrong. As if it was only one wrong choice that sent them through this hellish cascade and not a series of them made by multiple people.

“Take off that mask.” Han says, a bit of an edge in his voice again. “You don’t need it.”

“What do you think you’ll see if I do?” A pointed response, not quite as glib as the ones his father spouts off, but sort of philosophical. It reminds him of a Skywalker response.

“The face of my son.”

When Kylo Ren disengages the mechanisms that keep his helm in place, and he reveals himself, his father’s eyes seem to soften. The sad truth is that he can recognize you, but the light that he used to see in you - a brilliance that could have dwarfed any star that Han had ever seen, seems so far away.

“Your son is gone. He was weak and foolish like his father. So I destroyed him.”

“That’s what Snoke wants you to believe. When he gets what he wants, he’ll crush you.” Han pauses to look at his son, who seems to recoil at the words. “You know it’s true.”

“It’s too late.” Kylo protests, but he’s struggling with something and Han can see it in his eyes.

“No it’s not.” He says, doubling down on Leia’s insistence that their boy can still be saved, even though in the moment he’s not really sure. The Solo patriarch says it with all the hope in the galaxy though. “Leave here with me. Come home.”

Then, when it seemed like Han was so close to getting his son back, A blaster bolt flies past Han’s arm. It comes so close to hitting him that it singes the leather of his jacket and the smell of burning touches the air.

Han turns, snarling and withdraws his blaster. His hand speed still impressive for a non-force user and he fires three shots in the direction that the bolt seemed to come from. Then more blaster fire starts coming from all directions – from Chewie, Finn and Rey as well as the troopers of the first order who had filtered into the room.

At this point, the only sensible thing that Captain Solo can think to do is to sprint back toward his friends, snap off a few more shots and hope that his son had chosen to follow. He doesn’t hear the pounding of another set of feet behind him, though. The observation makes his heart sink.

Han turns to look back at his son, in the middle of the chaos, only to see the young man pulling the helmet on again.

What Han doesn’t see, in that moment, is the way a bolt threatening to hit him right in the back, changes mid trajectory and flies impotently into the emptiness below him. Did Ben Solo use the force to save his father? Did Kylo Ren only intervene because he still wanted to end his father’s life himself?

The Knight, clad all in black, ignites a scarlet saber that glows angrily amid the trickle of blaster fire in the air.

“Fall back.” He yells to Rey and Fin.

Chewie, doesn’t need orders from Han to know what he wants. The old partners know each other well enough that many things don’t need to be said. Get to the Falcon. Someone has to raise the ramp and ignite the engines.

Still, his Wookiee best friend will lay down some cover fire in the space between father and son, to give the senior member of this band of heroes some time to reconvene with Rey and Finn. Only then will Chewbacca hit the trigger for the detonators and sprint off to the ship. If Solo wants to be mad about that, his copilot thinks to himself, they can argue about it later.

Soon Finn, Rey and Han are scrambling though the snow and trying to lose their pursuers in the dark forest. Considering that he’s more than twice their age, Han thinks he’s doing a serviceable job of keeping up, but a look he’s catching in the female of their party’s eyes tells him someone is nearby.

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"Shooting at my son 's not what I had in mind."

He's got the saber out and Han presumes that this is another force-sensitive batting away a blaster bolt with a with a lightsaber demo (despite Kylo's instance against as much). Of course, the kid could do that too. Probably could do it with his eyes closed. Probably has done it a thousand times.

Not as if Captain Solo hadn't noticed by now his boy seems to have a little trouble with empathy, but he must realize on some level it's uncomfortable to hear your son ask you to shoot at him. He takes a breath in and a breath out ... "It's coming at your shoulder."

That way, if something went wrong, it's a non-lethal shot. It's the only compromise that he can think of that will make both Solo's reasonably happy.

For all the things that Han can't do, in his day, he was very good at the quick draw. It was a stupid, foolhardy way to prove your nerve and your skill, but it didn't stop him from having done it several times. He loosens the security strap on the holster and then lets his fingertips dangle by the butt of his old standby. A Blastech DL-44 that he'd modified himself.

His hand moves fast. Fast for a human and non-force sensitive alone and when you factor how old his is, it's that much more impressive. What's special about Han's draw is that the movement is very well managed. Very little unnecessary movement in it from so many years of practice and of course, he snaps the shot off at hip height, rather than taking the time to raise his arm all the way up.

A scarlet bolt goes exactly where he intended to place it. It's coming right at his son's shoulder.

He was so fast. Kylo was surprised, and barely reacted in time. Still, his hand clenched, and the bolt stopped in mid air- just a little closer than he would have liked.

He took a moment to better compose himself as he walked around it, toward his father. Another flick of his arm and Han would find own arm pinned at his side, unable to lift his blaster again.

"Given the stories you used to tell..." And he did remember a few of them, "this may prove useful in certain unfavorable circumstances."

He strode over to his father, pointing his blade precariously close to his neck and shoulder, and then deactivating it entirely. He didn't, however, release Han or the blaster bolt yet.

It says something that Kylo Ren would use the force to freeze his arm in place after that. It's not as if Han even wanted to blast at him the first time, so he would have gladly put the weapon away if he just asked. Would have, likely, even if he didn't.

But the kid is ... trying to threaten him? Or intimidate him, perhaps? Using fear anyway. Likely, if Kylo was going to hurt him, he already would have. It's just that hasn't had the force used against him like this since that day on Cloud City and the memory of that, more than anything else, is what makes Han uncomfortable.

"It's ..." Han struggles to find the words to complete the thought. When does Han ever struggle for words? "... quite a display, son ..."

Edited 2016-06-18 02:06 (UTC)

Kylo wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for in his father's expression. Part of him desired fear as he proved he could take what he wanted, when he wanted. It was a feeling he was used to. But another part of him wanted something far more basic. When he approached, you could almost hear a little Ben Solo shouting, 'Watch me! Look what I can do! I'm useful! Notice me!'

And then the lightsaber powered down.

"It never mattered to you before, I don't know why I thought it would now..."

He wanted to force push Han right back out of that cargo hold. He nearly did. But instead, he just released his hold. The blaster bolt scorched the wall. Han was free to move his arm.

Were he not a little bit rattled by the use of the Force on his person, he likely would have had a more enthused reaction. Perhaps even shared the dreams he's very infrequently had of the Force. That he'd imagined what it would feel like to freeze a blaster bolt in place, just like he did.

Instead, he's just trying to keep his composure.

Kylo Ren's father was afraid of almost nothing. No phobias. No nerves in the face of mortal peril. He was afraid of Darth Vader, though. The man was cruel and cold. He had no problem torturing Han for the hell of it and then, testing out carbonite freezing on him - knowing full well how he and Leia felt about each other ...

"I'm sorry." He murmurs. Not even hearing his son's words, just the tone. He was feeling embittered about something and Han just wants to get his moment behind him.

He desperately wants to stuff down all the things that the kid knocked loose in his head.

Unfortunately for Han, Kylo Ren was often just as cold and cruel as Darth Vader. And sensing an inkling of a comparison between them should have made him proud. It was what he wanted most!

He could turn on the man, show him what real torture was like, how the Force could crack open the mind like an egg and slowly cook it over hellfire. But that... That suddenly didn't hold his interest the way it should have. The light... He could feel it calling to him.

"Sorry?!" He exclaimed, clinging to his anger before he lost it completely. "You... you were afraid of me then, too. Was that it? Was that why you stayed away? Was that why you just got rid of me?!"

Han, sensing that he can use his arm again, puts the blaster away. He never should have had it out in the first place. Coming back here to the large open space of the stern while his son was using the very powers that twisted him into darkness was a bad idea, clearly. Then again it is very much like Han to be the Captain of Bad Ideas. That the worked out for him as often as they did wasn the only surpising aspect.

"That's not true, Ben." He murmurs, the defense that the old man usually had against things he didn't want talk about or admit too was down. As if his son had broken it in his actions and with the memories Han had always tried to keep from everyone. "I wanted you at my side more than anything."

Not as if the kid needs to look as his mind to know he's telling the truth, his tone is a bit unsteady but it's definitely an honest one. "I just convinced myself that anything you could have learned from me was less important ..."

Edited 2016-06-18 12:02 (UTC)

"You're lying!" He shouted, but even Kylo didn't believe his own words. He could sense Han's sincerity, even as it flew in the face of everything the Supreme Leader confirmed to be true. "You... You have to be lying... The Supreme Leader is wise... And you... You..."

He activated his lightsaber again, growling with years of angry betrayal. He lunged, not for Han, but for the crates that dotted the room. The ones closest to him were literally hacked to pieces until his eyes started to fill with tears.

His fury eventually spent, he fell to his knees.

"You... You w..wanted me?"

Han's son had been seduced by a man who had told him all kinds of lies. Han knows as much. He even suspects his son probably does too. He wasn't around enough to remind the kid of the truth, though. Traditions of Jedi training be damned - he should have been. It was easy to see that now.

Once again he calls upon courage to approach. Maybe, with some work, it won't take so much of it for him to be near his own kid. It's not like the old man to be a hugger. There wasn't a lot of that in his childhood and though with his own missightedness there probably wasn't that much more in Kylo's, but to put his hand in the kids hair and ruffle the dark strands is the gesture of affection that he was comfortable with.

Chalk it up to being nurtured by a kind Wookiee in his teenaged years.

"I still do." He murmurs quietly and offers him this memory, "you know, when you were young, your mother used to get all glib with me about holding you so much. Teased me about being a scoundrel going soft, but she'd be lying if she said anything other the fact that she loved watching the two of us together. You could see it in her eyes how happy she was ... we both were."

"Sometimes, when your mom was on Coruscant trying to keep the senate from dissolving all over again and you were off with your uncle, which always seemed like the best place for you with how powerful we could all see you were going to be, I'd be convincing myself that we were doing the right thing."

Han clears his throat, his own eyes misty, and continues "Looking back almost every decision I ever had to make - what I wanted was easy and what was right was the hard thing. Being apart from you was so hard, I believed I was doing something good."

Edited 2016-06-20 15:36 (UTC)

By the time Han approached, the lightsaber had deactivated. Though, had he wished, Kylo could have easily reignited it again and cut both of his father's legs off a the knee. He could almost hear a voice in his head ordering him to, and he wasn't sure whether it was his master's or his own.

Tears were streaming down his face as he tried to remember being held, his mother smiling and Chewie rustling his hair the same way... Those thoughts were just tiny fragments between long stretches of lying awake at night frightened of the monster that never seemed to go away or the Wookie's sad attempt at helping him drown out the sound of his parents fighting. The loneliness he felt with Luke was no better. Every time he saw a shooting star over some ancient decaying temple, he felt a morbid sense of camaraderie that maybe someone, somewhere, had just been shot out of the sky and wasn't ever going to see home again either.

Kylo crumpled in on himself, clutching his head in both hands.

"I... I don't know what's real anymore..."

The dark sider's breakdown, fortunately or unfortunately, was interrupted by a comlink. It was Rey. 'Coming out of light-speed. We'll be entering the atmosphere in ten minutes.'

Kylo Ren could have killed him at almost any time. If Han let himself be intimidated by that fact, he'd never have approached him at all. It be nice if they could get to a point where he didn't feel like that was a lingering possibility between them. He's not much of a hopeful guy, not the way the Skywalkers tended to be, but he's certainly hopeful of that.

Regarding the fights between he and Leia, well, he would insist that they bickered with each other more than fought. That said, both of Ben's parents have strong personalities and while they're in accord on most things, occasionally they ran into subjects that they didn't see eye to eye on - everyone who ends up married, does end up having the occasional conflict. When the two of them argued, really argued, it was with all the passion the two them had. No doubt those were among the more unpleasent days to be the youngest Solo.

For what it's worth, Han and Leia do tend to make up pretty quickly.

The comlink's timing, ultimately, isn't really going to keep Captain Solo from saying anything. He'd said what he wanted to say. Actually sharing what he was thinking rather than have the kid pick up on it by intuition or proximity and the force. It's kind of a significant thing with him, because for all the talking Han Solo likes to do about his skill in the cockpit or the way he outwitted someone, he doesn't like to talk about himself or his past ...

"There ain't much in the galley, kid, but you should probably eat something." He murmurs, his hand removed from his son's hair offered him a squeeze of his shoulder. "I need to be up in the cockpit when we land. I'm still trying to figure out what those Rork ranchers have done to my ship ..."

With that, unless he hears some protesting from Kylo not to go, which ... he ain't going to hold his breath for, he's gonna to go up where a Captain/pilot belongs when a ship is about to land.

Edited 2016-06-21 11:29 (UTC)

He watched Han go, and he legitimately wanted to go with him. But he couldn't chance being seen, or even felt, so he sunk farther back into the cargo hold.

"Get yourself together..." he berated himself with a few deliberate punches to his own wounds. He needed some kind of pain to draw the darkness back around him, to cloak himself in its shadow and minimize his force signature. At least until they'd landed and taken off again.

Then, maybe, he'd come out.

Han largely leaves the act of guiding the ship to Chewbacca's experience and Rey's impressive reflexes. Which he's noticed, much to his dismay, are likely to surpass his own. Their destination being in the Ileenium it always seemed like you had to traverse through plenty of asteroid fields - both charted and uncharted - to get to any of the planets.

Hard to miss what a good team the two of them make. There's a touch of regret that he has to dump Finn and Rey off that he's feeling right now, but if the choice is between these two kids and his own son? Well, it ain't no choice at all, really. Even though they haven't spent more than a few days together, they made a good little team. The mood in the cockpit is heavy and a bit sad.

Han talks to the on planet transit authorities when the get into the planet's atmosphere and clearance to enter the airspace is grated. They then need to find the Resistance base on planet, which is no easy feat, even for the scanners on the Millenium Falcon. Eventually, Han, with more time to study of the readouts on the displays and actually look at the topography of the land, figures out where it is.

He has no trouble getting clearance to land the old YT-1300 at the base. At this point, the ship is nearly a century old (so there are hardly any in service) and with that familiar voice on the comm, the resistance fighters on this satellite base are all eager to receive the Millenium Falcon and welcome Han Solo, even though neither name is dropped during transmission. They frankly don't have to be.

Kylo will have to sit tight for almost an hour.

It's Han's idea to have Chewie stay behind, essentially, to keep people away from his son if anyone should come on board while he's tending to a few matters here.

Edited 2016-06-22 12:06 (UTC)

Dark siders aren't necessarily known for their patience, but Kylo Ren had enough of it to sit in that cargo bay. He didn't dare reach out with the Force to make his presence known, but in the back of his mind, he could feel Chewbacca on the ship with him, even after Finn, Rey and Han left. His father would be back, eventually. If, for no other reason, because he would never leave Chewbacca behind.

The longer he was here, the more agitated he seemed to get, though.

Losing Chewbacca would be among the most painful things Han could imagine, that's absolutely true. He wouldn't leave him behind anywhere, willingly, without talking to him about it and arranging a time and place to meet up again. Though his son doesn't give his father very much credit, because keeping his son's presense hidden is extremely important to him as well.

So to land, dump the kids off and get back into the sky as fast as possible? That seems suspicions. Likely to have someone contact the general and report the news back to her. So he's trying to keep everything casual. Hailing Leia himself, stilted conversation as it was and one that she spent the whole time knowing he was hiding something, was still better than having someone else communicate with her. At least this way, Han could see her reactions and predict what she was going to do in turn.

She was worried, yes, and concerned, but she wasn't going to press or try to chase him down. She had too many things on her plate. That seemed a relative constant in her life since he's known her. And he managed not to slip the info that Ben was alive, though, he didn't try to lie and tell her he was dead, either. All and all, that was about as successful as he could hope for in a talk with his wife.

Then he had to get the frequencies of the next of kin from his Eravana crew. He had a password protected backup of the data stored onto the holonet which he took the time to download onto a portable interface. That didn't take especially long, but he wanted to do it when people werent hanging on him.

Then he arragned to have the ship refuled and then, he said his goodbyes to Rey and Finn.

Once all of that was all set, Han got back onto the ship and they prepared for their departure for the Jakku system.

Once the ship had taken off and left orbit, Kylo Ren reached out with the Force. True to his father's word, he sensed no one else aboard besides the three of them.

He was a little surprised by that, but it's hard to give a man credit when you hardly know him. Even moreso when he's a Resistance sympathizer.

He ventured out, walking through the corridors of the Falcon for a while. If he thought long and hard enough, he could almost remember this ship and how big it seemed to a tiny Ben Solo. The fragments were short and broken - peeking out of a hidden compartment in his father's spare jacket, running into the cockpit, pressing buttons on the Sabacc board without ever learning how to play. It was far easier to remember watching it blast into the sky from the ground below.

(The Supreme Leader liked that memory better. It was one he was allowed to recall more often. So, did that make it more or less real?)

Not feeling especially hungry, he passed the galley on his way to the cockpit. He knew his father and Chewbacca would be there.

"It's just us now." he stated the obvious, but at least his voice had calmed from earlier.

"... What do I call you? Master? Captain?" He meant, 'in public.' He was an apprentice, right? "...um... Father?"

It's not hard to be trusting as much as it is just a philosophy the Knight is not used to living anymore. In Kylo Ren's defense, however, it isn't necessarily the wisest course of action to trust a scoundrel. Lots of double talk, going back on deals and failing to fulfill his end of certain bargains have been linked to the Captain, after all.

"I think that depends on how hidden you want to stay, son." He murmurs, while his hands deftly drift over the various instruments on the Millenium Falcon's control panel. He doesn't seem to need to look at any of the trigger's he's hitting - including the ones overhead - he just knows where they are.

The mystery of what happened to Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is only going to stay a mystery for so long if he's out in public calling him 'dad'.

"But the robes will have to go. You'll never blend in anywhere in that."

The Wookie made a chuckling noise when Han pointed out the obvious. Kylo growled under his breath, but managed to maintain composure. If it hadn't hit home before, it did now. He was on the run, not just from the Republic and the Resistance, but also from the First Order.

He had to blend in.

"Right..." He looked around awkwardly. While Han flipped switches, Kylo just fiddled with his hands. "...Captain. I don't exactly have anything else to wear."

And unless someone over six feet tall (that wasn't a furry walking carpet) happened to leave their spare clothes in some hidden compartment, he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it.

It's not the length of the clothes that would be a problem, were he to grab something of his father's. There's only a difference of an inch or so between the two Solo men. It's the width that would be the problem. Kylo Ren would be swimming in anything that fits Han. Even in his day, when his muscle tone was at it's peak and his body fat was at it's lowest, he likely still had more mass than his kid does right now.

Not that, having just gotten his ship back, Han has a lot of his own clothing lying around to offer. There was going to be at least a day or two of throwing away all the previous owner's junk finding out what of his was still around - if anything - and doing a pretty substantial resupply. They'd get him a few things to wear then.

Before that, hopefully, they might be able to find something on his last ship that would fit okay. If the Eravana was still where he left it to find, that is ...

"It's one of a number of concerns I have right now, kid, but if I'm honest, not my priority. We'll figure something out."

Which brings Han's mind to what is weighing most heavily on his conscience right now and that is those next of kin messages. On the one hand' he'd love to get them over with now, but on the other hand ... he wouldn't be doing his due diligence till he got back into the Jakku system and saw if the ship was there.

Perhaps the multiple layers of robes and a generally imposing presence made Kylo feel a bit larger in stature than he really was... Regardless, he unintentionally shrunk back a little when Han spoke.

"You were the one who brought it up. What is your number one priority, then?" He grunted, and his eyes fell back to the ground. "...and what am I supposed to be doing about it?"

He honestly had no idea.

He looked to his father with the same anxious expression that he he often gave the Supreme Leader. The look in his eyes screamed that need for guidance. He needed to be sculpted, made into something, painfully if necessary. It was what he was good for.

"Don't you ever ..." plan outloud? He doesn't finish the sentiment, but that's where he was intending to go with it. Maybe he doesn't. Maybe that's why he wants to spend time around Han because nobody ever taught him how to pursue the things that were important to him. And he doesn't know how ...

"I'm thinking outloud, kid, I do that sometimes." He'll let his son figure out that other people do that by the power of conjecture. "Especially when I'm this chair."

Behind the yoke of the Millenium Falcon is where Captain Solo does his best thinking. Fortunate for him because often, he's put himself in a situation that requires a cunning escape and he has to pull out something clever in a hurry. Sometimes, when he's floating through space with time on his hands he'll feel a certain peace and clarity that he doesn't feel otherwise. He's always been wired that way.

"My last crew is probably all dead, Ben. If they had any family or people that cared for them ..." His voice trails off. It was a concern of a Captain to think about these things and not really his concern or even Chewbacca's for that matter. Besides the fact that Han is distinctly sure that he and Kylo Ren have different views on life and death. Even in the days where Han was at his most gritty, there was a consideration for others.

Edited 2016-06-24 11:04 (UTC)

Planning was the Supreme Leader's role. When Kylo spoke aloud, it was usually reaffirming his convictions, convincing himself he was right, or asking his grandfather's spirit for guidance. In other words, he prayed aloud far more often than he plotted. (It showed.)

He also lacked a certain degree of empathy when it came to Han's real concern. After all, by comparison, how many of his former 'crew' on Starkiller Base just met their end from that explosion? Until now, he hadn't even given it a second thought.

"So?"

Kylo Ren was conditioned to be merciless and to kill without conscience. He was used to masked soldiers, plucked from birth and stripped of everything except their rank and number. Even the ones without masks were expendable as long as the First Order endured. Their deaths could fuel his power if he only let it.

"Why do you care? There are more to take their place."

That was admittedly the kind of conditioning he expected. It dawns on him that the same conditioning that saw Kylo Ren so committed to darkness has to be very much like the troopers themselves received. They were just numbers. Faceless behind white helmets. Their lives had no value but to serve and blah blah blah ...

Why did Ben eat up the rhetoric like candy while someone like Finn resisted it? What made them different? Finn's parents were even more non-present than he and Leia were for their son ...

"Their lives have meaning." The elder Solo insists. He's got no intentions of actively reliving his days in the Imperial Navy any more than his subconscious reminds him of, but he knew what it felt like to be in a helmet. "There are people who are going to wonder what happened to them and there might not be much I can offer them and some people are no doubt going to hate my guts when I offer the news ... but they deserve closure. I could give them at least that."

Han looks over to Chewbacca, the two have been working together for so long, they don't need to vocalize a lot of what they're doing anymore. They just know. Pre-jump checks are done and since there are no problems, it was time to get to hyperspace.

"Alright, Chewie." He murmurs. "Let's make the jump."

Maybe it was like Leia said long ago - that there was too much Vader in him. It was the yardstick by which Kylo Ren measured himself and the First Order gave him the means by which to do that, to be that. More importantly, there was power. People like Finn had nothing to gain. He did. The Supreme Leader promised him everything. Everything.

And yet, he still felt goosebumps when they made the jump to hyperspace...

"You pride yourself on closure. But you still call me by that name..."

Han has said as much himself. 'Too much Vader' in his son, but the words never felt right in his mind when he thought them and they didn't sound right when he said them out loud.

So it begs the question, why would he say it. Maybe it's because Han doesn't like to admit that he sees a lot more of himself in the darkness of the younger Solo than he's comfortable with. The hair-trigger temper, the sudden and drastic shifts of mood - don't such actions ring more true to a particular cocky smuggler than the cold fury of Darth Vader?

Destiny might have been doing a young Han Solo a favor when he was born unable to manipulate the force.

"What name do you mean?" He murmurs, as his eyes drift over a few of the more important displays. By the time you got into hyperspace, you were usually in the clear ... but he always stayed in the cockpit for the first few minutes, just to be sure.

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Ben can sense the thoughts if you want him to? He's not likely to bring them up, though.

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