Manhattan Portalocity Station and Beyond, Wednesday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Coming here always made Jack restless - maybe because half the time, he was picking someone up from a different place and a different life, and as much as he was trying to do the healthy thing and not let the whole two-worlds-two-lives thing mess with his head, it still made him jittery.

Anyway.

It was just Cade. What was the worst that could happen?

(Probably a lot.)

He waited outside the station, wearing a jacket and hoodie and jeans and, probably, looking more genuinely relaxed than Cade had ever seen him. Even with the jitters. Even with the way his foot kept jumping.

Space. This was probably a bad idea...

[[ for that guy ]]

Comments

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade came out of the station with a black eye and his right arm in a sling. "Hutts, it turns out, aren't understanding at all. Kark 'em."

[suitably_heroic]

"Could've told you that up front," Jack said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But hey, I was impressed by your optimism."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Well, you know me," Cade said with a snort. "I known for my sunny optimism."

Or delusions of grandeur. One of those.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, I guess at least you made it to... how old are you now?" J-- Atton shrugged casually.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Sure, Atton, asked the hard questions.

"Thirty-enough," Cade replied.

[suitably_heroic]

"It's not fair you didn't get a timeskip," Atton, with all his forty years, muttered. He shook his head. "Anyway, are you hungry? Because we can grab a bite on the way home."

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade smirked. "You got olllllld."

[suitably_heroic]

"Okay, I like to think of being forty as a badge of honor, all right?" Atton complained (he was going to take that as a yes on the food front, and so started to walk). "Who ever expected me to reach my 40th birthday? Not me."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"You're only forty?" Cade teased. "You seem older."

Cade: still a shit.

[suitably_heroic]

"Says the guy whose liver is probably about two hundred years old at this point," Atton retorted. "Though I guess you make up for it with the brain of a toddler."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"And the body of a mid-tier god," Cade added.

[suitably_heroic]

"That Hutt really smacked you upside the head, huh?" Atton said, as he rounded the corner and headed into the next street. "Uh, so welcome to New York, by the way. The city that never sleeps but does know how to snore."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"It's cute," said, glancing around. "Smells a little like Nal Hutta."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rolled his eyes. "Well, the city isn't run by a Hutt," he said, "... though to be fair, it's becoming harder to see the difference."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Then you haven't been back in a while," Cade teased. "Hutts have a very distinctive...everything."

[suitably_heroic]

"So does our mayor," Atton said dryly. He shook his head. "Anyway, let's not talk local politics, or I'm going to have to go throw up and then maybe head down to Midtown with some eggs. How've you been, Hutts aside?"

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Busy," Cade said. "Bounty hunting's a great way to see the galaxy and get paid. Well, mostly get paid."

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, smuggling was like that too," said Atton, with a fond nostalgia. "You see anything particularly weird lately?"

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Other than the inside of a Hutt holding cell, which wasn't weird, just disgusting?" Cade frowned. "I had to go to Lotho Minor for some ship parts. That place is always weird."

[suitably_heroic]

"Lotho Minor," Atton said, his brow creasing as he tried to remember-- "Wait, isn't that a garbage dump?"

Literally.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"We needed discount repairs," Cade explained.

[suitably_heroic]

"That bad of a bounty streak, huh?"

They walked up to a small Mexican place, buried at the bottom level of a building. Atton nodded at the stairs before heading down.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade shrugged. "It happens."

Plus death sticks were expensive, but ANYWAY.

"Ooh. Tacos?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Tacos," Atton agreed, pushing his way into the Mexican place. "This is going to be dinner, probably. I think Dane's grabbing something fast on the way to work."

He nodded towards an empty seat. "Hope you haven't forgotten about Earth chillies."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I remember them fondly," Cade said with a grin and a stunning lack of knowledge about the difference between his 18 year old stomach and now.