A Small Bar in Lucca, Tuesday Evening

[suitably_heroic]

"This'll do okay."

The bar was small and cramped, but it had seats outside - one of which Atton dropped himself into. This was one of these weeks where the lines between what he did and what he pretended to do were kind of blurred, the practical side-effect of which being that he'd already had one or two drinks before coming here.

Which... probably explained why he'd been stupid enough to ask Sia to come along with him. Whatever. What was done was done, and at least out here he could always just stalk off (or better yet, make her stalk off) if he really didn't want to deal with any of it any more. "I take it you'll want something neon."

[[ for that girl ]]

Comments

[notconflicted]

"Are you judging?" Sia asked, settling into a chair. Honestly, she was more inclined to order something neon if he was, because theirs was a unique relationship.

[suitably_heroic]

"Only a little," Atton said, shrugging. "About a picometer."

[notconflicted]

That wasn't as fun. "Do you have any other recommendations?"

[suitably_heroic]

"They say the wine's pretty good out here, but I haven't really tried it," Atton said, shrugging one shoulder. "Your call."

[notconflicted]

"Let's go with that, then," Sia said. "I doubt it's often I get to see you try something new."

[suitably_heroic]

"All right." A week's worth of vacation and... okay, a lot of drinking... made Atton less generally contrarian than usual. He slid out of his seat and went inside, returning a few minutes later with a bottle of wine and two glasses. "Here we go," he said, setting them down.

[notconflicted]

"Sometimes it almost worries me when you go along with things without an argument," Sia said, but she was smiling a little.

[suitably_heroic]

"I can talk to people without arguing with them," Atton retorted, pouring wine into both glasses. "Just not with you."

[notconflicted]

"Obviously I'm special that way," she said with a nod.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'd go with 'obstinate and infuriating', but sure," Atton said, flopping back in his seat. "Whatever. I'm not in the mood to argue today."

Though god knew how long that would last.

[notconflicted]

"We might have to find something normal to talk about then," Sia warned, picking up her glass.

[suitably_heroic]

"If you've got any suggestions, I'm all ears," Atton drawled, sipping his wine. "Eh. Not bad."

[notconflicted]

"All right then. How's your trip going so far?" See, normal.

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't remember most of it so far, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's been pretty good." Okay, that was a lie - he'd been drinking a lot, but not that much.

But who cared?

[notconflicted]

"That's impressive, given it's only Tuesday," she said evenly. "I guess then I shouldn't ask what else you want to do here..."

[suitably_heroic]

"Make sure I don't remember most of the rest of it," Atton volunteered. He glanced over towards her. "How about you?"

[notconflicted]

"The exact opposite," Sia said, sipping her wine. "I'd like to see as much as I can, maybe spend a day being incredibly lazy on a beach somewhere."

[suitably_heroic]

"Like you could manage 'lazy' for more than ten minutes," Atton said. "Bet you've got some book lying around."

[notconflicted]

"Laying on a beach isn't lazy if you have a book?" she asked.

[suitably_heroic]

"Nope," Atton said.

'Cause that was how it worked.

[notconflicted]

"What if I slept instead? Technically that is doing something," Sia pointed out.

[suitably_heroic]

"No, sleeping is pretty much the apex of nothing," Atton said. "Eyes closed, ignoring everybody, not learning or accomplishing anything." Beat. "Sleeping's great."

[notconflicted]

"What if I were to just lay there, staring out at nothing?"

Apparently vacation kept Sia in a good mood.

[suitably_heroic]

"That would work as 'doing nothing'," Atton said, sipping his wine again. "If you manage that for more than an hour, I'll buy you another bottle of wine."

[notconflicted]

"Done." It'd drive her nuts, but she was stubborn enough to do it.

[suitably_heroic]

Which Atton knew by now. Be glad he didn't use that for evil.

"Is it just me, or do we spend a lot of time looking at old rocks when we have these trips?" he asked.

[notconflicted]

"You mean ruins?" she asked. "I believe they call it 'culture.'"

[suitably_heroic]

"You can't have culture when it's dead and broken," Atton replied. "Rocks are just rocks."

[notconflicted]

"Yes, but they used to be something. And that's the important part," Sia shrugged.

[suitably_heroic]

"Is it?" Atton sipped his wine. "I'd say what they build on top of it matters more."

[notconflicted]

"You're talking to someone whose home could very well be in ruins in her lifetime," Sia pointed out, and if she took a bigger drink of her wine there than necessary, well. "Besides, they didn't build anything on top of it here. And I think they usually don't."

[suitably_heroic]

"So if you get back, what are you going to do?" Atton asked. "Stand around, staring at the ruins? I don't think so. You pick up and you start building something else."

[notconflicted]

"Somewhere else, possibly. It'd depend on whether there was anything left to build upon," she said. Oh hey this was getting depressing.

[suitably_heroic]

"See, you can't stop and fixate on the past. It's not healthy, doesn't make anything better," said Atton, who was a living, breathing expert in the field of running away from things so hard you left a cartoon hole in the scenery. "You rebuild and move on with your life."

[notconflicted]

"Maybe." Sia wasn't sure she could do it. "Still, it makes for very nice pictures."

[suitably_heroic]

"Didn't think you were the type," Atton said, shooting her another glance.

[notconflicted]

Sia shrugged. "It's a thing people do on vacation, right?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm not sure there's really a guide for that."

[notconflicted]

"And yet that was how I was making my relaxation plans." Lies.

[suitably_heroic]

"Pretty sure sixteen year old girls aren't supposed to be hanging out with twenty-two year olds drinking wine," Atton replied. "Or at least, you're not going to find that one in a tour guide."

[notconflicted]

"Of course not. And it would worry me if they were that specific," she said.

[suitably_heroic]

"You're a real rebel, Si," Atton said, half-mockingly holding up his wine.

[notconflicted]

Technically, yes she was! She lifted her glass and said, "Besides, I don't hang out with you to relax."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton raised an eyebrow. "I always knew you were in it for my good looks," he drawled.

[notconflicted]

"Yes, that's exactly why," Sia nodded. "You've figured me out."

[suitably_heroic]

"So what is it?" he asked, slumping further in his seat. "Not that I care."

[notconflicted]

"Being with you is never not interesting," she said honestly.

The pretty did help.

[suitably_heroic]

"Huh," Atton said.

After a moment, he added, "Write that one in my yearbook."

[notconflicted]

"Are you surprised?" she wondered.

[suitably_heroic]

"That you'd say it aloud? Sure." Had to keep the old ego up front-- the last thing he needed was for her to think he had depths or something.

[notconflicted]

Sia looked interested. "Why wouldn't I?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Because you're stubborn and you think I'm an asshole most of the time?"

Hey, it was true.

[notconflicted]

"Not most of the time. Though you can be," she said honestly. "If there weren't pluses, I wouldn't bother."

[suitably_heroic]

"This conversation is really starting to confuse me," Atton said. Perfect excuse to down the rest of his wine.

[notconflicted]

"Because I don't hate you?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I think you're complimenting me, I just can't tell," Atton explained.

[notconflicted]

"I'm just stating my opinion," she said. Cryptically. On purpose.

[suitably_heroic]

"Ugh," Atton said, grabbing the bottle to pour himself another glass. "You need to stop enjoying yourself so much when you do that."

[notconflicted]

Sia smiled. "But it's so much fun."

[suitably_heroic]

"You've got a glass of local drinks and this--" He gestured at the bar, "...Music. Sound. Noise. Whatever it is. But no, you just have to torment me."

[notconflicted]

"I think if you really minded, we'd be arguing by now," Sia said, sipping her drink.

[suitably_heroic]

"This isn't arguing?" Sigh. He took a long sip of his own drink. "Okay. Next topic."

[notconflicted]

"Your turn to come up with one," she said.

[suitably_heroic]

Beat.

"Game of pazaak?"

That was your go-to for everything, Atton.

[notconflicted]

"I should have known," she said, but shrugged. "Sure."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, you ask me for a topic, I'm going to talk about the only thing I know anything about," Atton said, reaching into his jacket for the cards.