MCA #4, Saturday Morning

[suitably_heroic]

There wasn't much that showed the difference between the Jaq that woke up that morning and the Atton who'd gone to bed early the night before: his hair was military short, and the jaded, tired look in his eyes had been replaced with something more wary and watchful. A little baby fat had returned to his features, too, and at least two-thirds of the scars were gone - but that was it.

Not that there was anyone in the bedroom to make those observations.

Which was probably a good thing.

Because when Jaq jerked up in that bed, it was with immediate readiness. This wasn't the barracks, with a dozen people up and around at the same time; it was an empty room, with just a large, glowing fern and-- were those Jedi lightsabers?-- a bed to greet him. Had the Mandalorians taken him? Wouldn't he be dead if they had? Jaq tossed the covers aside and found, to his undying relief, that he wasn't wearing stuncuffs. He hopped onto the floor and did an immediate check of the perimeter, finding some clothes (which he put on, even if they fit oddly), a blaster tucked under the bed and a door that wasn't locked.

He pushed it open, blaster in hand.

He frowned.

"Where in space am I?" he asked, Alderaani accent coloring his words. "Who's there?!"

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[myownface]

... That was not what Sparkle had expected to see this morning when Atton emerged from his bedroom, no. He looked up at him from the couch, a spoonful of Sugar Bombs halfway to his mouth, and blinked.

"Um, hi. Just me. Hi?"

Ah, shit, that was a blaster. Sparkle was going to kind of shrink down behind his cereal bowl a little.

[suitably_heroic]

"Who are you?" Jaq snapped. That blaster wasn't lowering any. "How did you bring me here?"

[myownface]

Shit, Sparkle was so not equipped to handle this.

"Swear to god, I didn't bring anybody here," he said, wide-eyed. "Fuck, how stupid do you think I'd have to be to bring you here against your will and then leave you armed?"

HE'D SEEN YOU CUT OFF SOMEBODY'S HEAD IN COLD BLOOD THIS SUMMER, ATTON. HE WAS NOT THAT DUMB.

[suitably_heroic]

Jaq went over that in his head. The guy had a point - this was the worst capture attempt in the history of warfare if he had. Still, something was fishy here.

He lowered the blaster, at least, but his eyes had narrowed. "Where's my commander?" he said. "Or at least the Jedi who lives here?"

[myownface]

"I have no clue who your commander is, man," Sparkle replied, chewing his lip. It wasn't like Atton had ever really given him the full and complete run-down of his life before Fandom, for all that he'd learned bits and pieces here and there. "But I'm like ninety-five? Ninety-six percent certain that the Jedi who lives here is out to lunch."

Totally and completely out to lunch.

[suitably_heroic]

Don't confuse him with your funny idioms, Sparkle. "Where?" Jaq demanded.

He took a few more steps into the room, keeping his eyes set on Sparkle the whole way.

[myownface]

Sparkle hiked his shoulders up at that, keeping his eyes on... pre-Atton Atton... Jaq? as he moved into the room.

"Like he tells me everything? He takes off sometimes and I don't see him for weeks. You could be waiting here a while and I promise you aren't going to find him anywhere on the island." None of these things were necessarily untrue! He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment. "Are you hungry?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Doesn't matter," Jaq said absently. He was faintly aware of his own rumbling stomach, but he'd learned to ignore it. "What planet am I on?"

He picked a chair at the far end of the room and sat in it, a paranoid look in his eyes.

[myownface]

"Earth," Sparkle replied, not unkindly. "It's, um, a bit far from where you're probably used to."

He finally tentatively started to lower his spoon back into the bowl.

"Really, we have plenty of food. I can grab you something, man."

[suitably_heroic]

Jaq mulled that one over, too. "Who are you?" he said.

He was apparently not satisfied enough to end questions hour yet.

[myownface]

"I'm just the idiot who lives with the Jedi whose room you woke up in," Sparkle replied, giving the sigh of a man who did not sign on for this. "Hi, I'm Sparkle. Mostly I cook things and keep my nose out of things, these days."

Summer had taught him a thing or two about that one.

[suitably_heroic]

"Right."

Jaq remained skeptical, fancy that.

"Earth," he said at last. "Never heard that name. Not Republic. Maybe Mandalorian?"

You better not be a Mandalorian, Sparkle.

[myownface]

"None of the above," Sparkle replied, shaking his head. "Neutral, I guess? It's kind of one of those planets that hasn't figured out little things like space travel yet. Most people here wouldn't know a Mandalorian to see one."

... Hopefully Atton wouldn't see any troopers this weekend.

[suitably_heroic]

... That would be good, yes.

"So what happened?" Jaq said, after a long pause. "Did we crash-land here? Why can't I remember?"

He still had that blaster. But at least it wasn't pointing anywhere near Sparkle anymore.

[myownface]

Sparkle shrugged his shoulders and shook his head at that.

"It happens around here sometimes. People just kind of wake up and don't know why they're here. I wouldn't know how it works. I'm from Earth, myself. But give it a few days, and you'll be able to get back to wherever. Think of it as a weird sort of interplanetary paperwork error."

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't trust it," Jaq said, his eyes narrowing. "This has to be some kind of trick. Someone trying to take steps against Lo-- General Revan or the Republic Army."

[myownface]

"Then don't trust it," Sparkle replied easily. "Shit, I don't even trust this place. I'm just kinda, you know. Here. Living with a Jedi, occasionally having blasters pointed at me by disoriented army guys, I guess."

This was his life now.

Sigh.

"Anyway, I'd appreciate you not shooting me. I'm allergic to being shot, and Earth doesn't have kolto."

[suitably_heroic]

"Why are you even living with a Jedi?" Jaq said, frowning at him. "Seems like a weird set-up. Don't they all hang out at the Temple doing nothing if they're not on Revan's side?"

[myownface]

"Trust me, it's a weird set-up," Sparkle confirmed. "I guess I'm living with, like, the one Jedi who cares and does things. Around here, anyway."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I try not to think too hard about it, I guess. It's a setup that seems to work okay for us."

[suitably_heroic]

"Right."

Yeah, that sounded fake, but okay.

Jaq shook his head. "I can't keep hanging around here, whatever happened," he said. "I need to get back to--"

He stopped.

"...I need to get back."

To his unit? There wasn't one left. Two for two now.

[myownface]

"I can't entirely help with that one," Sparkle replied, frowning faintly. "I mean, I only really know the one pilot, and if he isn't here," which was technically sort of true, "he can't exactly fly you back where you came from."

He sighed, and then nudged around a few pieces of cereal. Soggy. Great.

"I don't know how to help you, man. And I want to. I do. The best I can do is give you food."

[suitably_heroic]

Jaq watched Sparkle's face for a long moment, trying to figure out if he trusted the guy. Eventually, his instincts coughed up a very small yes.

"Fine," he said. "Food'll do."

When was the last time he'd eaten? They'd only gotten back-- he'd only gotten back from the mission last night.

[myownface]

Sparkle nodded faintly.

"You can watch me prepare it, make sure I don't try anything funny," he offered, giving him a wry smile. "But I was really just thinking, like, eggs and nerf steaks or something."

[suitably_heroic]

"That's what you're telling me," Atton said, but his expression betrayed the eagerness to pack something in his stomach that most teenage boys shared. "You go first. I'll follow."

[myownface]

"Fair enough," Sparkle replied, smiling softly before pulling himself to his feet and heading toward the kitchen. "If you actually recognize anything else in the fridge, you're welcome to ask for that too. But mostly it's Earth food, you know? Though I guess it's hard to go wrong with bacon."

Bacon was the terrible life choice of the gods.