![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
suitably_heroicAtton should sell the Hawk. In fact, he should've sold it already.
He'd come this far already. He'd cleared out his apartment, gotten a haircut - about as short as back when he'd been in the Republic army - and gotten a longcoat to replace the jacket he'd have to dump.
There he stood, outside the Hawk, humming a particularly jaunty Trandoshan rock tune about waking up to find someone you loaned your ship to died in a crash, and everyone else on the planet assumed that meant you'd died, so now you didn't have to come in to work or anything.
He felt better. Light. Not beholden to anyone or anything. Which was good. He'd missed that feeling, even if it was just a nice coat of paint on a speeder wreck.
Just... maybe if he got the Hawk's codes changed again. Gave her a nice paint job. Maybe moved some pieces around... no one would notice, right?
There was a brush of a familiar Force presence in the back of his mind all of a sudden, and he spun around-- no one could hide from the Force quite like he could, and this person was trying, but not good enough--
"And I was this close to thumping you over the head, too."
Mira thumped him over the head anyway. Just from the front.
"Hey!" Atton made a cursory attempt to smack her back, but that didn't land. "How did you find me?"
"Well, it wasn't hard," Mira said, crossing her arms and giving him an appraising look. "Mical told me you weren't answering his coms, so I checked the date and then pulled three weeks worth of Fandom radio logs, and after that you were pretty predictable." Beat. "And you took the Hawk, which is kind of a dead giveaway. I was going to say 'you're not as good at getting lost as you think', but that's not true, is it? Anyway, next time you want to talk to me, a com is easier, okay?"
Figures it'd be Mira. And, okay, maybe Atton'd been tempting fate, coming to Nar Shaddaa, but he'd kind of been going off instinct here. "Who said I wanted to talk to you?" he said irritably. There went his clean escape.
Clearly not buying it, Mira raised an eyebrow. "You know you don't actually have to be difficult all the time, right? This is not a mandatory part of human interaction. Just FYI."
Great. Of all the people to come find him-- well, okay, she wasn't the worst. Still. "Ugh," he grumbled. "What do you want?"
"I'm not saying I'm not curious exactly what misfired in that mixed-up brain of yours this time, but I know you're not going to tell me the details and I know the basics. Those squirrels are pretty thorough," Mira said. "But you should go back, because this is pretty stupid. Even for your standards."
"Well, I don't want to go back," Atton said, hating that he sounded like a petulant teenager the moment the words were out of his mouth.
"You don't have to stay," Mira pointed out. "Just put off your 'disappear to be a miserable idiot' routine until after graduation when everyone else is leaving. Because right now you're just asking for a strike team of hapless Fandom people to show up to find out what happened to you."
Yeah, right. "I really doubt that would happen," Atton said. Okay, some of them might be upset for like, five seconds, but they'd get over it.
Mira tilted her head. "Oh, so this isn't a passive-aggressive bid for attention?"
It actually took him a few seconds to figure out what the hell she was getting at; his face managed the visual equivalent of a confused splutter right before the actual confused splutter came out. "...What? No! I don't want a damn strike team! And I sure as hell don't want any of the kids knowing where I am!" Beat. "Let alone Skywalker!"
"You're not usually this sloppy, I had to check," Mira said matter-of-factly. "You really didn't expect me to show up?"
Atton scratched at the back of his head. "I thought you were punching bad guys on the other side of the galaxy," he said. She was busy most days, nowadays, so he'd naturally figured he'd be able to get away with it. ... Okay, that was a little-- "And hey, I wasn't sloppy! The Fandom end is wrapped up with a bow. No traces left behind."
"I was punching bad guys on the other side of the galaxy," Mira said lightly, "But you brought the Hawk. You didn't even change the codes yet."
Atton let out an irritated sigh. "I didn't want to get rid of it," he muttered, "And I should. I know better, too, sentimentality always trips a guy up. But there I am."
Yep, Atton Rand: perfectly capable of bailing on everybody he cared about on graduation day, not at all bothered by running out on the Jedi Order, gets cold feet and hives at the thought of dumping a blasted starship.
"So that's it?"
"Yep," Atton muttered. "You have a point, though, I probably shouldn't be skipping graduation, that'll draw too much attention. Guess I wasn't thinking."
"I don't want to say we're used to that, but we're used to that," Mira said sagely.
"You're a riot," Atton said. Damn it. What time was graduation, anyway?
"Excuse me," a voice called from behind them, "But I believe you are occupying our parking platform."
Atton groaned. "Again?" he said. "Tell me they didn't come blasters drawn."
Mira glanced over her shoulder, but didn't bother uncrossing her arms. "They have blasters drawn."
"Well," Atton said, sneaking a hand into his pocket where he'd hidden the lightsaber, "Think we can fix this in two minutes? I'm on a schedule."
[[ NFB, NFI ]]
He'd come this far already. He'd cleared out his apartment, gotten a haircut - about as short as back when he'd been in the Republic army - and gotten a longcoat to replace the jacket he'd have to dump.
There he stood, outside the Hawk, humming a particularly jaunty Trandoshan rock tune about waking up to find someone you loaned your ship to died in a crash, and everyone else on the planet assumed that meant you'd died, so now you didn't have to come in to work or anything.
He felt better. Light. Not beholden to anyone or anything. Which was good. He'd missed that feeling, even if it was just a nice coat of paint on a speeder wreck.
Just... maybe if he got the Hawk's codes changed again. Gave her a nice paint job. Maybe moved some pieces around... no one would notice, right?
There was a brush of a familiar Force presence in the back of his mind all of a sudden, and he spun around-- no one could hide from the Force quite like he could, and this person was trying, but not good enough--
"And I was this close to thumping you over the head, too."
Mira thumped him over the head anyway. Just from the front.
"Hey!" Atton made a cursory attempt to smack her back, but that didn't land. "How did you find me?"
"Well, it wasn't hard," Mira said, crossing her arms and giving him an appraising look. "Mical told me you weren't answering his coms, so I checked the date and then pulled three weeks worth of Fandom radio logs, and after that you were pretty predictable." Beat. "And you took the Hawk, which is kind of a dead giveaway. I was going to say 'you're not as good at getting lost as you think', but that's not true, is it? Anyway, next time you want to talk to me, a com is easier, okay?"
Figures it'd be Mira. And, okay, maybe Atton'd been tempting fate, coming to Nar Shaddaa, but he'd kind of been going off instinct here. "Who said I wanted to talk to you?" he said irritably. There went his clean escape.
Clearly not buying it, Mira raised an eyebrow. "You know you don't actually have to be difficult all the time, right? This is not a mandatory part of human interaction. Just FYI."
Great. Of all the people to come find him-- well, okay, she wasn't the worst. Still. "Ugh," he grumbled. "What do you want?"
"I'm not saying I'm not curious exactly what misfired in that mixed-up brain of yours this time, but I know you're not going to tell me the details and I know the basics. Those squirrels are pretty thorough," Mira said. "But you should go back, because this is pretty stupid. Even for your standards."
"Well, I don't want to go back," Atton said, hating that he sounded like a petulant teenager the moment the words were out of his mouth.
"You don't have to stay," Mira pointed out. "Just put off your 'disappear to be a miserable idiot' routine until after graduation when everyone else is leaving. Because right now you're just asking for a strike team of hapless Fandom people to show up to find out what happened to you."
Yeah, right. "I really doubt that would happen," Atton said. Okay, some of them might be upset for like, five seconds, but they'd get over it.
Mira tilted her head. "Oh, so this isn't a passive-aggressive bid for attention?"
It actually took him a few seconds to figure out what the hell she was getting at; his face managed the visual equivalent of a confused splutter right before the actual confused splutter came out. "...What? No! I don't want a damn strike team! And I sure as hell don't want any of the kids knowing where I am!" Beat. "Let alone Skywalker!"
"You're not usually this sloppy, I had to check," Mira said matter-of-factly. "You really didn't expect me to show up?"
Atton scratched at the back of his head. "I thought you were punching bad guys on the other side of the galaxy," he said. She was busy most days, nowadays, so he'd naturally figured he'd be able to get away with it. ... Okay, that was a little-- "And hey, I wasn't sloppy! The Fandom end is wrapped up with a bow. No traces left behind."
"I was punching bad guys on the other side of the galaxy," Mira said lightly, "But you brought the Hawk. You didn't even change the codes yet."
Atton let out an irritated sigh. "I didn't want to get rid of it," he muttered, "And I should. I know better, too, sentimentality always trips a guy up. But there I am."
Yep, Atton Rand: perfectly capable of bailing on everybody he cared about on graduation day, not at all bothered by running out on the Jedi Order, gets cold feet and hives at the thought of dumping a blasted starship.
"So that's it?"
"Yep," Atton muttered. "You have a point, though, I probably shouldn't be skipping graduation, that'll draw too much attention. Guess I wasn't thinking."
"I don't want to say we're used to that, but we're used to that," Mira said sagely.
"You're a riot," Atton said. Damn it. What time was graduation, anyway?
"Excuse me," a voice called from behind them, "But I believe you are occupying our parking platform."
Atton groaned. "Again?" he said. "Tell me they didn't come blasters drawn."
Mira glanced over her shoulder, but didn't bother uncrossing her arms. "They have blasters drawn."
"Well," Atton said, sneaking a hand into his pocket where he'd hidden the lightsaber, "Think we can fix this in two minutes? I'm on a schedule."
[[ NFB, NFI ]]
