The Jedi Temple, Atton's Coruscant, Friday

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, can you table the work for me for the next week?" Atton asked, as he casually jogged up to reach Mical. It wouldn't be the first time he'd asked for some time to himself, albeit usually not so much; he figured if he played it cool, Mical wouldn't have the slightest clue why.

"Why?" Mical asked, without looking up from the datapad he was holding.

"Fandom thing," Atton said, shrugging. "Looks like crazy is starting to break out again, you know?"

"All right. But if you can come back sooner, please do."

"Thanks," Atton said casually. "I'll leave you to your, uh, whatever it is this time." Beat. "How's that whole mob situation coming along, anyway? I know Mira was on it for a while, haven't heard much of it."

"Slowly," Mical said. He still sounded distracted. "It's as if with every leader we throw in prison, another two present themselves. But I'm sure that with time, Mira will be able to find the right head to cut. So to speak."

He didn't want to say I told you so, but... "I told you so," Atton said. "These things are always more complicated than they seem from the outside. You can't keep cutting off heads and hope you hit the right one. You need to send someone in to spend time on the inside, and Mira's great at a lot of stuff, but that's not it."

Because Mira was Mira, and her approach to infiltrating anything was usually to find the guy she needed, shove a Bothan Stunner in his side and drag him off. Which was effective, if what you wanted was specific people. Just not when you were trying to tackle some kind of amorphous band of criminals who were smart enough to anticipate incoming strikes.

"I'm not sending you, Atton," Mical said, with a sigh. At least he was finally looking up off that datapad. "It's much too dangerous."

Atton rolled his eyes. "Hey, dangerous is what I'm used to--"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it," Mical said. And then he paused, and narrowed his eyes. "What, specifically, is this crazy you're worried about?"

Ah, hell. Sometimes the guy had surprisingly decent instincts, which was a pain in the ass. "Ah, you know, some idiot with a god complex showed up and started attacking people, the usual."

"You're lying to me, aren't you," Mical said flatly.

Atton shrugged a shoulder. "Usually, yeah," he said, "But not on this one."

And now that datapad was getting lowered. Ah, space. "Does this have anything to do with your interrogation of Jedi Shan several weeks ago?" he said.

... the narc. "She told you about that?" Atton asked, because blowing it off was just not going to happen now, apparently.

"Atton, this is not the time to go chasing off into the Unknown Regions," Mical said. "It's a fool's errand."

"Well--"

"No," Mical said flatly. "I will not give you time off for this. We need you here, not chasing off after whatever self-destructive quest you've come up with this time."

Atton groaned, and repressed the urge to-- "You're not the boss of me," he said. So much for repressing. "If you won't give me the time off, I'll just take it."

Mical's answering look was all flavors of incredulous. "I am no one's boss, no," he said, "But I am your friend, and I knew her almost as well as you do. It does me no pleasure to refuse you my aid, but surely you can see this is ridiculous."

"No, what's ridiculous is that we're sitting around here when for all we know, the next war might be starting over in the Unknown Regions," Atton retorted. "You know Canderous thinks somebody started the Mandalorian Wars on purpose, to weaken everyone? Make us ready for a big invasion?"

Something flashed in Mical's eyes.

"...He might be right," he said. That flash was replaced by a deep confusion. "There is... something... I can't remember. Something about a hunger, and..." He shook his head. "No, Atton. I am willing to free up your schedule, but only if you spend that time on Fandom. I would be happy to schedule you a portal, even. But if you are staying in this galaxy, pressing matters remain, and you can explain to the Republic why you didn't show up when they needed you."

Atton let out a frustrated groan. "Fine," he snapped, "I'm taking the week off to go to Fandom. Vacation. There. Happy?"

... He'd have to let the kid know. He'd spend the weekend on the island, do his class on Monday, and then quietly sneak back to his galaxy afterwards, an off-the-books portal. That'd be easier on everyone, right?

"Not particularly," Mical said, rubbing at his temple. Strange. "But fine."

[[ establishy, nfb & nfi. ]]