The Jedi Temple, Atton's Coruscant, Saturday

[suitably_heroic]

There hadn't been this many Republic vessels sitting outside and in the Jedi Temple in quite a while. The cavalry had come in full-blown last night, though by that time there was little left to do but clear the base of the regular-flavor pirates left inside. The Senator had been rescued, and was probably on her way home in a plushy diplomatic shuttle right now. Not so much for Atton, who sat patiently in his uncomfortable seat in the back of one of the Fleet ships as he waited for the pilot to clear the last of the landing procedures.

At least they hadn't brought the Hawk into this.

He reeked strongly of kolto, but that was a smell he was used to. Hadn't had the time to resolve more than the worst of his injuries, and his leg still hurt like hell from where it'd been pinned underneath the stupid Force-worm three consecutive times, but he'd live.

Mical sank down into the seat next to him. "You can't keep doing this," he said.

Atton slanted a look his way. "Do what?" he said. "Save your ass? Just stop getting in trouble, then."

It was a stupid joke; they both knew which one out of the two of them was most likely to get into that. Mical sighed. "Your ability to... resurge... is useful," he said. "But if you keep abusing it, you're going to get yourself killed."

"No, I won't," Atton said, shutting his eyes. "That's the whole point. I don't want to die, so I don't let me."

"Sometimes I wonder about that."

"Don't." Atton took in a deep breath and let his head drop back against the seat.

"You're indispensible to the Jedi Order," Mical pressed on.

"Thanks," Atton said dryly, "Good of you to recognize it." (He liked hearing it, but he wasn't going to tell Mical that.)

"...and we are still low on Jedi," Mical said. "You refuse to take a Padawan, Brianna is still searching for one, and Mira is preoccupied. I wondered if perhaps we should look into some of the old Jedi Order's old recruitment programs."

Atton blew out a breath. "How, exactly, did we go from being nearly murdered by a Force-worm you didn't see coming to trawling orphanages?" he wondered.

"And if we do resume said program," Mical said, ignoring him, "I'll need you alive to teach combat and lightsaber techniques. Please keep that in mind."

Atton opened one eye and squinted it at him. "Sure," he said. "I'll get right on that."

---

Mical offered him an arm to help him get out of the ship three times. Atton refused, of course, because it was karking Mical, and no, he'd do it on his own. He wasn't an invalid.

In the end, it was the troops that hauled him back up to his feet off the loading ramp. That was less galling, because it was familiar: they were laughing, and Parish smacked him over the back of the head once. You know, the military way. "Going a little feeble in the knees, General?"

Atton shot Parish a foul look. "Don't call me General," he griped. "This isn't the Mandalorian Wars, smartass." Plus it reminded him a little too much of-- yeah, not going to think about that right now.

"Do we need to get you a walking stick?" Thont asked.

"Only if you want me to hit you over the head with it." It was easy, getting back into this rhythm. Familiar enough that Atton could actually muster up a smirk as he glanced sideways at the kid-- Wisud-- and gestured at him with his head. "Actually, maybe this badass can do that for me. Hit Thont for me, will you, kid?"

Wisud, looking tired and smelling a fair bit of kolto himself, actually grinned underneath the Miraluka headcoverings. Hadn't actually seen the kid do that, uh, ever. The kid reached out and jabbed Thont lightly in the back; she made an exaggerated stumble forwards. "Oof."

Atton grinned a little, even as his arm got hauled over Parish's shoulders. "That's a good Jedi Padawan," he said. He glanced up at the Temple's entrance as it came closer and closer. "...Hey, does anyone happen to know what day it is?"

[[ thus ends largely handwavey adventures in Gamescommity. nfb due to distance, open! ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"You'd be amazed at how many piles of bantha poodoo expect more of everyone else than they do of themselves," Atton said. He squinted at Sparkle. "Or maybe you wouldn't be, for that matter."

[myownface]

Sparkle met that squint with a raised eyebrow on an otherwise completely deadpan face.

"Believe me, I so wouldn't," he confirmed. "That's kind of like part of the textbook definition of a hypocritical asshole. And the world is full of hypocritical assholes."

[suitably_heroic]

"You're telling me," Atton said, sighing. "Dump me on the couch, will you?"

And then they could get right back to pretending like he wasn't a sorry heap of ouch right now.

For all that he liked complaining, Atton rarely actually complained about anything real.

[myownface]

Aww, Atton. You were so much sorry ouch, weren't you? It's okay. Sparkle was even going to be somewhat gentle while dropping you off, there.

"How's that? Need anything before I go spelunking for nerf?"

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rolled his eyes. "I'm fine," he said. "Shoo, shoo."

He'd figure out something to do about his leg before Sparkle came back.

[myownface]

"Shooing, shooing," Sparkle replied. "I'll be back soon with food, then."

And they'd see if he could figure out those chips or not. Maybe he'd just go to that diner they sometimes hit up, get take-out, and then take notes...

[suitably_heroic]

Well, it wasn't like Sparkle didn't know his way around this general area by now, if he was going to do take-out.

Atton sank back into the seat and picked up the holovid controller demonstratively. See? Finding a holo, like a responsible person resting and crap.

[myownface]

Sparkle took a moment to make sure Atton was doing just that. And then nodded, satisfied, before making his way for the door.

When he came back a good twenty minutes later, it was with a large number of nerf burgers and some of those chips, along with a couple of juices and one 'adventure item,' which was his affectionate term for anything he just sort of pointed at randomly on the safe-for-humans portion of the menu, hoping for the best.

He seemed to have scored some sort of dessert... fruit... thing this time, so he was considering it a win.

"Delivery!"

Anyway, the diner could prep this stuff way faster than Sparkle could, and he didn't want to piss around on his own for too long.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton, being the beacon of responsible behavior that he was, had fallen on the floor a total of three times while trying to 1) get himself back into walking shape and/or 2) find something to support his leg with.

If he was sprawled somewhat pathetically across the couch at this point, well, he really had no one to blame but himself.

"Yeah, yeah," he called, "Come in, put it on the table, I'm starving!"

[myownface]

"If you manage to completely waste away between me standing at the door and me putting the food down in front of you, I'm... gonna actually be really impressed, man," Sparkle decided, making his way over and starting to unpack his order. "And look, there should be enough for leftovers, at least for another meal. Unless, like, 'starving' actually translates to 'secretly a bottomless pit' or something."

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah," Atton said. "I mean, the whole Force sensitive thing messes with your metabolism a little, but not that much."

Unless your name was Skywalker, anyway.

"What'd you get?"

[myownface]

"Nerf burgers and those chips you mentioned," Sparkle reported, pulling both out from the bag as he said so. "Enough juice that we could probably stave off dehydration for a few weeks if need be, and... I don't know, but it has fruit on it."

He peered at it.

"The funkiest-looking fruit I have ever seen."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton squinted over at him. Or rather, the food. "Eh, that's Jogan fruit," he judged. "That's not really that funky."

Beat.

"Just not very Earthy, I guess."

[myownface]

"It's purple with stripes." A beat. "See, now you have me wondering, like, what is funky by your standards. Oh god, are those, like, the apples of space? Did I seriously just randomly bring back space apples?"

A beat.

"Space apples look cool, anyway."

[suitably_heroic]

"In terms of how available they are, yeah, they're space apples," Atton said, rolling his eyes. "Space, don't let anyone around here know you're that easily impressed."

[myownface]

"Well, apple apples are just, like, red. Or green. Or yellow. Or some combination between those three things. These are fucking purple with squiggles all over them."

Sparkle was so that easily impressed.

"Anyway, I'm sure the novelty will wear off after I eat, like, a few million of them."

Because he was so going to get more of these.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton let out a snort. "Planning to vacation out here?" he said, holding up his hand for a Jogan anyway. What? He was getting hungry. He'd eat just about anything.

[myownface]

"Sure, why not," Sparkle replied, passing the fruit to Atton and taking one for himself. "Like, I spend half my time here anyway, you know?"

[suitably_heroic]

Atton took a bite. Yep, still familiar. Being on Earth hadn't randomly turned him into a bumpkin or anything. "Fair enough," he said. "Not like anyone would kick you out of the Temple, probably."

Since it was going to take them at least two generations to fill this place back up again...

[myownface]

"It's not exactly like I take up much room," Sparkle agreed with a shrug. "And if someone did chase me off, whatever. I'm a fast learner. I can cope."

It would be an adjustment, but he already had an understanding of the local currency and a very basic grasp on reading Aurebesh these days. That was more than he had going for him the first time he'd run away from home as a kid.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton tilted his head further back against the couch so he could kind of squint at Sparkle. "Everyone knows you here," he said, "They're not going to chase you off."

It wasn't very vehement, because see up above re: not trying to give off too many promises. But still, seriously, the only person in this house who'd ever get all 'get out of my house' about anyone around here was... well, Atton. And he had a vested interest in Sparkle sticking around.

[myownface]

"Not unless I was really asking for it?" Sparkle glanced back, and then shrugged his shoulders a bit. "Sorry, man. I know they're not going to or anything."

But he was in that weird mental place these days where nothing was a given. Not even the givens.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, in here, we've got Deesra, who won't care unless you break down a load-bearing wall, which I doubt you're capable of," Atton mused, "Mical, who's more likely to take you aside to have an earnest conversation about personal ethics, Brianna who doesn't particularly care about anyone outside of the library, Mira who's always gone, and Visas, who's the same."

He stretched out his legs a little further. (Really, the only asshole in here who'd willingly throw someone out on the street would be Atton, because see above re: vestigal Sithly opinions about self-sufficiency) "And the Padawans are basically something out of kid's TV. Not sure what 'asking for it' would be like out here."

[myownface]

"Um. Admittedly, neither am I," Sparkle replied, blinking. "I mean, I could probably take out a wall if someone gave me a few days to prepare and, like, a speeder to crash into it."

But that seemed like work. And also like it would probably kill him. So no thanks.

[suitably_heroic]

"So hey," Atton said, taking another bite of his fruit, "From a certain point of view, the heroes of a galactic republic wouldn't kick you out, which makes your Mapleview Lane old folk morally inferior by a huge degree."

That was Atton being aspirational. Enjoy it while you can.