suitably_heroic | From the Park to Room 503, Saturday Morning

A single speck of powdered sugar floated down from the heavens.

Down, down, down it went, past rooftops and treetops.

A gust of wind made it twirl around in the air, dancing on the breeze...

And then it landed on top of Atton Rand's nose.

"Eugh," he muttered, opening his eyes-- and then veering upright immediately as he realized that that one speck of whatever it was was just the vanguard of a far larger pack of snow that was headed straight in his direction. So to speak.

A moment later he leaped to his feet, but that had absolutely nothing to do with the snow and everything to do with how he had to get to his room, get his things and get out before the school got wind of the last week and he'd get put on a shuttle back to Nar Shaddaa.

He had no intention of going back there. Nar Shaddaa smelled, for one.

In fact, as he burst in the room, the first thing he did was grab his Earth encyclopedia-- well, okay, that was a lie, the first thing he did was pull on his jacket-- the next thing he did was grab his common American phrases book. Space, he was going to figure out a way to make living in Baltimore work, even if it meant charming Linda into letting him crash on her couch for a while.

Either way, he'd be here. In his room. Shoveling things into a bag and chucking the unnecessary stuff in the trash.

[[ the post, however, is opennnn ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

notconflicted

Sia had no way of knowing for sure whether things were normal again yet, but she'd gone up to 503 anyway to check. And when she saw what was happening, she had her answer.

"Atton," she said, conversationally.

From:

suitably_heroic

Well. Damn.

"Sia," Atton said, willing his body not to freeze up, which was an order that - accustomed to lying as it was - it obeyed. "Morning."

From:

notconflicted

"Good morning," she said, leaning in the doorway. "It's been an interesting few days, hmm?"

From:

suitably_heroic

"I guess you could say that," Atton said, tossing a tunic into his bag. "Figured after all that, I should probably go on vacation."

From:

notconflicted

"And here I thought you were taking off for parts unknown to never be seen again," Sia said, stepping inside and closing the door. "How many people saw you this week?"

It wasn't like she hadn't considered doing this very same thing after Cade figured out who she was.

From:

suitably_heroic

There was a brief silence on Atton's end-- not that being silent stopped him from packing. "You, and Sparkle," he said. "So if you want to be the first one to rat me out to the administration, you might have to run."

From:

notconflicted

"I can't even imagine why either one of us would do that," Sia told him. "Stop packing. I'm not going to say anything, and if Sparkle's inclined to do so, he can be convinced otherwise."

From:

suitably_heroic

"Well, I think I can run f--."

Oh. Okay, that had not been what he'd been expecting.

"Wait, what?"

From:

notconflicted

"There are only two people who know about this, neither of which should have any reason to turn you in for... what? Lying? At this school I doubt the administration would even care," Sia told him. "Leaving is completely unnecessary."

From:

suitably_heroic

"I don't know how much of this made it on radio, all right?" Atton said, shutting his bag. "And yeah, I lied. I do that."

From:

notconflicted

"The only thing that made it on was the name Jaq, with no indication of who he is," Sia said, as she'd been listening for that very thing. "Aside from myself and Sparkle- and I've been over that- you're in the clear."

From:

suitably_heroic

Atton dropped the bag.

That was probably progress.

"Great," he said. "So now all I have to do is wait around and hope nobody from back home shows up here and listens to the old broadcasts."

That was mostly sarcastic. He was still recuperating from this total expectations whiplash, dammit.

From:

notconflicted

"Everything reported was vague-" If apparently showered in glitter- "on a strange weekend when no one was really themselves, but if it makes you feel better I'm positive they can be deleted."

There was no reason for that, but she'd humor his sarcasm.

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From:

myownface

Yeah, like Sparkle was going to turn up seeing if Atton was back to his right mind today. After being told the guy was running off to war all of yesterday, he was...

... Well, he was kind of concerned. Even if he fully intended to remain shit at showing it.

He did have a six-back of beer hanging from one hand as he sauntered up to Atton's room, though. If the kid he'd talked to yesterday didn't want any, Sparkle would have no problem at all finishing it off himself.

"Knock knock, sweetheart."

From:

suitably_heroic

Atton had calmed down a little after Sia's visit. In as much as a guy with as much anger at his core as him could, anyway.

"This would be a good time to tell me if you ran off and told the school administration on me," Atton said. He didn't really feel like he needed another preamble - he needed to know whether to get out or not.

Edited Date: 2012-12-01 06:45 pm (UTC)

From:

myownface

"What, like some kind of snitch? Atton, honey, I run around breaking into people's homes and stealing, like, tea candles and crap just because it amuses me. What's a little being-too-old-for-high-school?" Sparkle shrugged, holding up the beer. "Besides, who the hell would help me drink this, if I went and made a rat out of myself?"

Sorry, Atton, but whatever it was that you figured was bad enough to get you kicked out of school over? Sparkle didn't care.

From:

suitably_heroic

Sure, Sparkle, make sure he wasted a perfectly good panic attack.

"Nobody, that's who," Atton muttered grudgingly. "Give me the damn bottle."

Putting on the attitude didn't keep him from visibly relaxing.

From:

myownface

Sparkle didn't generally like waste, but sometimes he just couldn't resist making people feel just a touch like maybe they were overreacting. Which was no small feat for a guy who jumped up on tabletops and sang Broadway tunes just because he was bored. He smirked as he handed Atton the beer.

"So," he said, as casually as though he was just discussing the weather, "what's got you here pretending to be a kid in the most fucked-up high school in the multiverse, anyhow?"

From:

suitably_heroic

"The kid you met was stupid and pissed off the wrong people," Atton said, opening up his beer and taking a long drink. "And if the choice is between hanging out in containers that smell like Hutt piss or pretending to be seventeen for a while, it's pretty easy."

Sparkle's whole casual thing was a gift. It made it so Atton could at least do a decent bid at making this sound like it was no big deal.

Edited Date: 2012-12-01 07:18 pm (UTC)

From:

myownface

"Kid I met seemed pretty sure he was gonna save the galaxy single-handed, I think," Sparkle mused, cracking his own beer and leaning back against the door. "I can see how that'd lead to pissing people off."

He shot Atton a grin that was interrupted only for more drinking. And more talking.

"Seventeen isn't all that bad on the second go-around, is it? I mean, aside from taking classes and hanging out with we little kids who haven't even made it to seventeen yet ourselves, and all?"

It sounded like it beat the alternative. Sparkle could relate to that.

From:

suitably_heroic

"He was naive and stupid and didn't know a damn thing about what he was getting into," Atton said.

That sounded pretty final.

He took another sip of the beer (and honestly, Sparkle was rising in his books by anticipating that he'd need the drink). "So yeah, I'm enjoying seventeen a lot more this time around. Turns out I should've spent more time blowing off classes and drinking."

From:

myownface

"Pretty sure all adults say that," Sparkle noted. "Probably have less shit to be drinking about, though. Most don't... go into hiding, anyhow."

Mmm, beer.

"You do any good, for all you pissed people off?"

Sparkle wasn't even really expecting a straight answer about that one. But he had to ask.

From:

suitably_heroic

"Nah," Atton said, after a short silence. "No, I didn't."

That deserved a big gulp of beer.

"I mean, we threw the Mandalorians out on their asses. But after that everything went to hell anyway."

From:

myownface

Sparkle was already readying the next beer. That's how much he cared, Atton.

"I'm shocked. Stunned, even, that life's a bitch no matter what galaxy you're in." No. No he wasn't. "You made it out alive, anyhow. That's got to be worth something."

From:

suitably_heroic

"Yeah, and I'd like to keep it that way," Atton said. "So I'm sticking around here as long as they'll let me. Then maybe I'll move to Baltimore or something. This planet isn't so bad."

Drinks, food, and most major conflicts were across the ocean...