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

[suitably_heroic]

Dane made a thoughtful noise. He reached for a taco, and took a bite. Clearly couldn't say anything because he was chewing.

"How's the business been, anyway?" Atton asked. Might as well play nice for now, he figured.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Well, I have some Hutts trying to kill me, but that's pretty normal," Cade said.

[suitably_heroic]

"What are Hutts, anyway?" Dane asked. "I mean, I got 'smelly' and 'disgusting', but not much else."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Giant slugs," Cade added, "who are mostly gangsters."

[suitably_heroic]

"Before you ask, no, I don't know why the giant slugs are gangsters," Atton said. "Or why they've been gangsters for literally thousands of years between me and him."

"The time thing is trippy," Dane admitted.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I like to think of it as Hutts never learning a thing," Cade admitted.

[suitably_heroic]

"Maybe it's genetic," Atton suggested. "Poor long-term memory."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"That makes as much sense as anything, plus a thousand years of generational wealth," Cade said.

[suitably_heroic]

"Wild, dude," Dane said pensively. "I can't believe it's been a thousand years--"

"More like four thousand," Atton said helpfully.

"...And you two can understand each other fluently. What's that about?" He reached for his soda. "If I go back four thousand years, my great-great-great whatever is probably rooting around in the mud by the Pearl River."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I've learned that it's best not to think too hard about that stuff," Cade advised.

[suitably_heroic]

"Starts breaking your head," Atton agreed. He eyed his quesadilla. "And your heart, maybe a little."

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade blinked owlishly at him, then turned to Dane. "It doesn't break my heart."

[suitably_heroic]

"Didn't think so," Dane promised easily. "You seem pretty chill."

Atton snorted. "Try rebuilding the Jedi Order for a few years, hoping you'll change something, only to find out your universe is still going through the same shit four thousand years later."

He took a swig of his soda.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I've solved this by never trying to restart the Jedi," Cade told Dane. "Problem fixed."

[suitably_heroic]

Dane's eyes darted to Atton and back. "Kind of seems like the healthier option," he admitted. "Not that I have more than two reference points here..."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I figure if it has to keep being restarted, it might not be meant to be," Cade said, while ten generations of his family screamed at him from the great beyond.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton sighed. He leaned forward with his elbows on the table; the shift of his sleeve meant that part of the I will stand in the darkness and laugh with my heel on its throat tattoo was visible.

"I know," he muttered. "Okay? I know."

Dane settled a light hand on his back.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"But it lasted past you to get to great granddad, so maybe you had to do your thing so I could give up on it."

Cade philosophy, everyone.

[suitably_heroic]

"One of your ancestors launched a galaxy-wide war - again - and another noped out of our galaxy entirely," Atton pointed out, face still on the table.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade waved at Dane. "Hi. My family's a moderately big deal. It's why I didn't use my last name."

[suitably_heroic]

"He's told me about your great-great-grandfather," Dane said, nodding, "Though I'm still unclear what his name is beyond 'schutta'."

Atton waved a hand. "The second Cade starts talking about his family history, you're going to start feeling sorry for him," he said, "And I'm not sure any of us are prepared to deal with that."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I am a tragic figure," Cade agreed. "An incredibly hot tragic figure."

[suitably_heroic]

Dane held his hands up and grinned. "No comment," he said cheerfully.

"You still traveling with friends, Cade?" Atton asked dryly.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade nodded. "With Jariah and Blue, yeah."

[suitably_heroic]

"And on a scale of 1 to 10, how tragically lonely are you actually?" Atton added dryly.