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]

Atton gave him the finger. Lazily. "Wow, I got an actual 'sort of'," he said. "That's practically a declaration of love from this guy."

"I hope not," Dane said, as he grabbed the plate with the al pastor tacos and oriented it so it was between him and Cade. "I don't have the weird superpowers you guys do."

"Less superpowers, more 'interconnectedness with the universe', blah blah," Atton said.

"He wrote a song about it," Dane confided. "It's a lot more flowery than that."

Atton threw a tiny piece of quesadilla at him.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade snickered. "You wrote a song about the Force?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Shut up," Atton told him, which was a yes.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade laughed harder. "I've never been that high."

Thank you, Cade.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton would've grumbled and made a joke, too, but he caught the look on Dane's face. Right. Less old Atton defensiveness, more-- anything else.

He sighed.

"I write about what I care about," he said. "And Force meditation's done a lot for me over the years. If that's not your hyperspace lane, whatever."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"It's definitely not," Cade said, smirking as he reached for his drink again.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shrugged. "Smirk all you want," he said. "Snark is always easier than sincerity. You don't have to put anything on the line."

Dane took a contemplative bite of his taco, clearly wondering if he should move the conversation somewhere less argument-y.

But well, taco. He was going to have to swallow that bite first.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I have no need to scream my feelings at complete strangers, you're right," Cade said.

[suitably_heroic]

"Making my case for me," Atton said, and before Dane could say anything, he added, "Did I ever tell you this guy saved my life? Straight-up yanked me from the brink of death."

Dane blinked, glancing from Atton to Cade and back. "Huh. Well. That sounds hardcore."

[shutupandkillsomething]

"I am, indeed, hardcore," Cade agreed around a bite of taco.

[suitably_heroic]

"And because of the way that stupid Force power works, I still have his voice knocking around my head sometimes," Atton said brightly.

He swallowed.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade blinked. He didn't remember that his voice would still be in Atton's head. "I'm the voice of reason," he finally declared.

[suitably_heroic]

"This is also how I know that one day you're going to crack and I really hope you're going to do it screaming into a microphone and not exploding at a bunch of strangers," Atton said, and picked up his soda for a sip as he sat back.

Dane, with the look of a man who had been here before (if 'here' was 'wedged between Atton and someone he wanted to make a point to'), said, "He's been telling me your job is getting shot at. What's that like?"

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Very good for cardio," Cade said dryly. "Getting shot at is the unwelcome side-effect of my job."

[suitably_heroic]

"So what's the actual job?"

This time, Dane managed to beat Atton to speaking. A small victory.

[shutupandkillsomething]

"Bounty hunting," Cade said airily. "A little bit of shipping between planets--"

[suitably_heroic]

"People and narcotics," Atton interrupted dryly.

[shutupandkillsomething]

Cade smirked. "Gotta make a living somehow."

[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."