Dantooine, Saturday

[suitably_heroic]

The problem with portaling to Dantooine was that the portal dumped you out at the spaceport and then you had to fly a speeder through the grasslands just to get to the Enclave. It was a pain in the ass, and one of a few reasons why Atton couldn't actually argue with Mical's 'move off of Dantooine' plans too much.

He was still going to argue, though. Just because. (Added to that: Coruscant was like the pretentious guy's Nar Shaddaa, and what kind of person lives in a Temple, anyway?)

He was used to it now, though, which is why the moment he stepped out of the portal he was making a beeline for the guy who rented out the speeders, passing by a bunch of droids and a Rodian on the way there. "Just get me something fast, all right? A two-seater."

[[ for the kid with the funny hair. ]]

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[suitably_heroic]

Downright adorable, if you were the kind of person who could use that word non-sarcastically, which Atton wasn't. But hey.

"Yeah, it's all right," Atton agreed. "Hands inside the vehicle."

He took a sharp turn around the side of a large rock face. Not far now.

[myownface]

But Sparkle really really wanted to wave his arms around! Not that he was in the market for, like, a robohand or anything like that, so of course he was keeping his hands in, but man, want.

"God, Earth needs to get on top of making these things already. Like, any time. Really."

He'd want one. He'd probably never get off of it.

[suitably_heroic]

"Now that's something we can agree on," Atton said. "Cars are bad enough, but those rickshaws on the island? Talk about embarrassing."

Another turn, and there it was: the Jedi Enclave.

It'd seen better days.

[myownface]

"On an island full of stairs, the rickshaws are mostly just funny," Sparkle decided, grinning a bit. Anyway, it's small enough it's not like we can't walk everywhere any-whoa. Is that it?"

One of these days he was going to be able to finish a thought without diverting his attention mid-sentence like a dog noticing a squirrel.

"... Bit of a fixer-upper."

[suitably_heroic]

"Funny what a couple of wars, a pissed-off ancient Force user and some aerial bombardments can do to a place," Atton said. He was letting the gas go now - the speeder was slowing down all on its own. "But yeah, it's a pile of poodoo right now."

[myownface]

"So, you guys are kind of just squatting in there right now, right?"

Like, until they could actually find a place that was less likely to fall down on top of them? Sparkle had camped out in condemned buildings that had been in better shape than what he was looking at, before.

Apparently the city of Toronto had slightly higher standards than the current Jedi Order.

"No wonder people want to move."

[suitably_heroic]

"When they got started, Mical and Brianna had all these bright, shiny ideas about rebuilding the Enclave and setting up shop here," Atton said.

He stopped the speeder just outside the main path.

"The Republic's not in the best shape, so nobody wanted to go bang on their doors and go 'hey, can we move back into that giant-ass building in the center of town'. But apparently a couple of months with barely any running water or power was enough to change some minds."

[myownface]

"It's a pretty ambitious project for just a handful of people," Sparkle agreed, pursing his lips a little and peering up at the building. "Like, it might be worth coming back to and fixing once the numbers are up, but it'll be hard to entice people in if the room for rent is barely standing."

He could kind of see why some people were leaning toward 'excessively huge and fancy' in the place of this, yes. Still wouldn't be the choice he'd make, but if they were actively trying to expand and rebuild, he kind of figured the smart choice was probably the one he personally wouldn't make.

Because... Sparkle and smart choices. Ha.

[suitably_heroic]

"It was convenient, at first," Atton said, shrugging. He turned off the engine. "We saved the people here from some trouble back during the summer, so they were willing to put up with a lot from us. And parts of the inside aren't bad."

[myownface]

"Now that you've fixed the plumbing?" Sparkle cracked a little grin as he climbed down from the speeder. "Well, that's good, at least. If it works better inside than it looks outside, at least the worst of it can be worked with and the rest is, like, cosmetic."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton hopped off onto the path and approached the entrance. It slid open with a quick swoosh as soon as he'd cleared security.

Behind it laid a large round square with an open roof. In the center of the room was a large round patch of grass on a platform. The remains of what had once been a large tree were visible above the soil.

There were plants everywhere - and something that looked suspiciously like the remains of a small waterfall, now spitting a pitiful amount of water at random intervals.

Atton pulled a face at that last one. "Now what's he done?"

[myownface]

Sparkle took a moment to look back and forth between Atton and the scene set out before them.

"... How the hell do you break a waterfall?"

That one took a special sort of talent, Mical.

[suitably_heroic]

"By trying to put one in where it doesn't belong without actually bothering to get the plumbing right," Atton said, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Ugh. If we weren't moving out of here, this'd be at least a day with a hydrospanner. Fantastic."

[myownface]

Sparkle was going to just saunter right up to that waterfall for a better look.

"God, I've taken pisses with a better stream than this," he shared. Overshared. Informed the room at large, because Sparkle. "Is he grounded from playing with the plumbing? He should probably be grounded from playing with the plumbing. If the water pressure is this shitty here, what is it taking away from?"

It was kind of starting to look like maybe the enclave's biggest problem with the infrastructure was ineptitude.

[suitably_heroic]

Mical was frighteningly ept at the work he was actually interested in - research, spying, that sort of thing. But infrastructure? Bao-Dur had been their tech guy. Atton was reasonably good with a hydrospanner, but...

"Hopefully not the refreshers," Atton muttered, stepping past the giant tree thing in the center so he could head into the nice, safe, sort of warm-ish parts of the Enclave. "It took me two days to get those running."

[myownface]

"Okay, so why is he playing with the plumbing? Like. Doesn't he have shit he's good at to do?" Sparkle stared at the wet fart that was the waterfall for a moment more, and then shook his head and followed along after Atton. "And to set up a waterfall, of all things. Eesh."

[suitably_heroic]

"Probably tried to make the place look more Jedi-y," Atton said, shrugging. "Babbling brooks and swaying trees and all that p--"

"The refreshers are fine, just don't try to cook anything that isn't take-out right now."

A redhead was leaning against the wall a couple of feet away.

"Mira!"

[myownface]

"Mira?" Sparkle blinked at the redhead who had spoken, and then tilted his head a little and nodded. "Hey."

He hadn't really known Mira, during her stint on the island. But the face seemed familiar, and Atton seemed to know her, so a nod and a hey was what she was going to get.

"You can actually get take-out out here? That's impressive."

[suitably_heroic]

"Don't expect anything more sophisticated than nerf steak, but hey, it's good eats as far as I'm concerned," Mira said. "And stop staring at me, Atton, it's creepy."

Atton rubbed his forehead. "What are you doing here?"

"Just finished my mission," Mira said, shrugging. "Everyone seems to be piling on back all at once. It's almost like Mical planned it that way."

Atton pulled a face. "Yeah, a family reunion was just what I was hoping for."

He'd been hoping for an empty Enclave.

[myownface]

"Like a big ol' party," Sparkle mused, smirking a little sideways. "He's a manipulative shit when he can get away with it, isn't he?"

Seriously, Sparkle was starting to see why Atton didn't care much for the guy.

[suitably_heroic]

"Mical? Nah, he's all sweetness and light," Mira said easily, "If you don't mind taking your sweetness with a little 'spying on you for the Republic'."

"And being an idiot," Atton muttered.

"No, that would be your niche," Mira replied. "Anyway, I'm going to put together a couple more stun grenades. I'm sure I'll find you moping around here sometime."

[myownface]

"I'll try to keep his moping to a minimum," Sparkle offered, smirking. "We'll see if we can upgrade it to at least skulking, this weekend."

Sparkle was all heart!

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, thanks for nothing, you bantha-licked nerf herder," Atton muttered, but Mira had already pulled away from the wall and started walking. "Ugh."

[myownface]

"If you didn't like it, I wouldn't be here right now," Sparkle shared brightly, giving Atton a grin and swaying a bit to try to bump shoulders with him. "Anyway, last I checked we weren't here to mope, right? So it's not even going to be an issue."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rolled his eyes, but at least obliged in shoulder-bumping. So Sparkle hadn't been quite disavowed as a friend forever yet.

The weekend was long, though.

"I'm just hoping nobody else decides to swing by and say hi," he said. "Mical's bad enough, but Brianna?"