Atton's Office, Saturday

[suitably_heroic]

Talking to Mira again that morning had actually been a pretty good thing - gave Atton a little energy boost he sorely needed. Okay, all he was planning to spend that energy on was going home and maybe watching something on TV, but still: energy. It was nice.

Had been nice, anyway. It lasted all the way down to the hotel lobby, where he'd bumped into Mical and suddenly his life had gotten a whole lot worse. Now he couldn't go home, because Mical would follow him there and talk at him and that was the absolute last thing he wanted to deal with. So instead he'd told the guy he had work to do and made a beeline to the school.

Mical had followed him anyway.

Well, at least now Atton knew for sure he actually had an office, and he'd gotten to it before Sparkle could. There was that.

"Why are you still here?" Atton asked him. He wasn't looking at the man, though, he was going through his many, many, many very important (empty sheets of paper) files. "There could be students' parents coming in any minute."

Mical heaved a sigh. "You are going to have to talk to me eventually," he said. "There are important matters to di--"

Atton pointed a pen at him. "No, I am not going to have to talk to you eventually," he said. "I came here all this way just to make sure I wouldn't have to talk to you eventually. You'd think you'd take a hint after a while."

"This is very childish," Mical told him. "I don't know why you are still this hostile to m--"

"Because you say things like that!"

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[exiledisciples.livejournal.com]

"All right, that was terrible phrasing," Mical allowed. Why did Atton always make these conversations so needlessly difficult to the point where he said things like that? "I mourn her too, Atton. I am simply saying that the time for strife has passed. We have to build."

[suitably_heroic]

"You don't want to build anything besides a graveyard," Atton shot back coolly. "Put a nice label over everything that's come and gone, dig into the past like it's a place worth visiting. It's not."

[exiledisciples.livejournal.com]

"If you disagree with our methods, there is space for that," Mical said with a sigh. "I am well aware that each one of us has different talents. I would not be here if I didn't think yours couldn't contribute to the future of the Order."

[suitably_heroic]

"I never said I wanted to contribute to the future of the Order," Atton retorted. "What good has the Order done for the galaxy in my lifetime? Space, I'm here so I can find you people something of worth from the whole spread of history of the damned Order, I think that's more than anyone can expect from me."

[exiledisciples.livejournal.com]

"We are all trying to make up for the mistakes of our past," Mical said. He had some hope left that this might actually lead to something productive. "That of the Jedi and that of ourselves--"

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm not trying to make up for my past," Atton said, interrupting him. "What ever gave you that idea?"

[exiledisciples.livejournal.com]

Mical rubbed his forehead. "Atton-- surely, you're--"

[suitably_heroic]

"What I wanted," Atton said, "was for this one person who might actually get it to know who I was and who I am. To keep her safe, so she could do something actually worth doing. And we both know how that panned out, so save me the rest of your speech."

[exiledisciples.livejournal.com]

There was a long silence. Mical contemplated telling Atton he was sorry - for Meetra's death, if nothing else - or imploring him to help them for her sake. But if there was anything the past few minutes had taught him, it was that that wouldn't go where he wanted it to go.

Instead he said, "I'll get us some beverages," and got up out of his seat.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, you get us some beverages," Atton muttered. "Take your damn time."

He sank back into his seat and sulked as Mical left the room.