Office #30, Sunday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Atton arrived in his office almost an entire weekend late.

Look, he'd gotten the far-away office for a reason, and that reason was largely making sure nobody bugged him.

So he got there at the start of the afternoon, set up some terrible holo to watch, and left after a couple of hours. Parents Weekend, right?

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[nuclear_snide]

Far offices weren't going to save you from annoying coworkers, Atton!

Bob came in through the wall, squinted at the holo, and asked, "What are you watching?"

[suitably_heroic]

Sigh. Oh well.

Atton gestured towards the holo. "Trandoshan trash drama," he said, "A four-hour epic about screaming and shooting people over your mate."

Full of lizard people! And loud rock music.

[nuclear_snide]

"Sounds utterly mindless. Wonderful." Bob settled in against a wall and, contrary to habit and the narrative, proceeded to watch the lizard-people yell at each other.

[suitably_heroic]

"Having a bad parents' weekend, Bob?" Atton asked casually, without taking his eyes off the holo.

[nuclear_snide]

"Well, I suppose it could be worse," Bob allowed. "My parents could have shown up. I just met Time. As if Death wasn't bad enough! Don't ridiculously powerful and dangerous beings have better things to do?"

[suitably_heroic]

"In my experience? No," Atton said, settling back in his seat. "What's the fun in being all-powerful if you can't make the lives of the little people hell?"

[nuclear_snide]

"Honestly, even when they mean well, it never ends pleasantly." Bob shook his head. "What about you, any particular horrors this weekend?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Besides Sparkle deciding to torture me about a thing that came up on radio?" Atton said. He shook his head. "Nah. It's been all terrible television and terrible holos. I got a weekend off, I'm going to enjoy it."

[nuclear_snide]

"That's the spirit." Bob approved. "So how do tell which are the mates?" he asked. "They all seem to want to shoot each other."

[suitably_heroic]

"They're the ones with the slightly smaller heads," Atton explained. "You might have to squint a little. Also they yell slightly less. Usually."

[nuclear_snide]

"That explains why I didn't recognise them," Bob said. "Not much in common with human women."

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, they're not human," Atton pointed out. "Hell, as far as non-humans go, Trandoshans are kinda out there. But they make great music."

If you were into screaming.

[nuclear_snide]

"I'll take your word for it," Bob said. He wouldn't know good music if it hit him over the skull.

[suitably_heroic]

"It's loud," Atton allowed, "That's the important part, right?"

Dude, you were into classic metal. You had barely scratched the surface of loud on this planet.

[nuclear_snide]

"Is it?" Bob had no clue. He wasn't really a music person. He didn't really like what Atton usually played, but then it was safe to say that millennium-old dead sorcerers probably weren't their target demographic.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yes...?" Atton ventured.

[nuclear_snide]

Bob shrugged. "Most of my owners thought it was about the fiddly bits, but they were mostly bastards, so I won't take their word for it. Harry just likes the emotion in it all."

[suitably_heroic]

"That's the loud part," Atton said helpfully. (No, not really.) "Really works on your feelings and stuff." Beat. "Did you say 'owner'?"

[nuclear_snide]

"I suppose if your feelings are all the loud sort," Bob agreed a bit dubiously. "Dead," he reminded Atton. "Somewhat attached to my skull, generally. I serve whoever has it. Fortunately Harry's a bit more permissive than most; I doubt any of the others would've let me come here to teach."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton pulled a face. "Really?" he said. "Okay, that's screwed up. Never decided to take a roll for it?"

[nuclear_snide]

Bob laughed at the image, though it was tinged with bitterness. "Not likely; I'm a prized possession. Besides, I can't affect the physical world." He waved a hand through the desk. "Anyway, most of them have been...hm. Manageable?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Manageable," Atton echoed, skeptical. "What, they didn't play punt-the-skull?"

[nuclear_snide]

Bob snorted. "Even the worst of them never did that. I told you, I'm a prize possession. And I've gotten very good over the years at making lives miserable if they even thought of it."