Atton's Apartment, Manhattan, New York City, Thursday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

You know, Atton was finally starting to get into a rhythm with this life, a daily and weekly routine. It hadn't saved him from careening past an episode of... something... last week, but now that the reality of the potentially-long stretch of life in front of him had settled in-- well, it at least kept his sanity intact.

End of the week was usually Lana time. They'd spent some time earlier that day sparring in the band's practice space. It'd been a good workout.

But now he was home, holding the door open for Lana to come on in. "You're welcome to grab a shower, if you want."

[[ expecting one, but as always open for messages and phone calls ]]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

Atton leaned over to look. He let out a surprised laugh.

"Oh wow," he said. "You really did look like a real teenager."

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed in turn. "Of course I did! What's that supposed to mean? Were you expecting me to show up in Sith robes or something?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Please, I'm not Skywalker, I'm actually capable of understanding Sith are just regular beings," Atton said, rolling his eyes. "But, you know, you really have the 'smart adult in the room' thing nailed down. I guess part of me thinks you were born 40 years old."

[unusual_sith]

Lana scrunched her nose. "I suppose I'll take that as a partial compliment, at least. It did take me decades to get here, though."

She thought about it.

"I think Fandom helped a lot with it, too. Showing me there were other ways to live than what our galaxy teaches. Getting a chance to be a child when I'd been Sith since I was so young. And meeting Jedi who weren't bogeymen. Even Skywalker didn't seem so bad back then."

[suitably_heroic]

"Must've been weird going home after that," Atton noted.

[unusual_sith]

"It was, a bit. I tried to bring the things I'd learned to dealing with it all, which helped, but it did make the mindset of many people much more frustrating to deal with."

[suitably_heroic]

"Yep."

Atton stretched his legs.

"You know, I realized recently that it's taken me twenty years to finally do what I wanted to do when I graduated," he said.

[unusual_sith]

"Music?" Lana asked. "Or just in general living on Earth and putting all that behind you?"

[suitably_heroic]

"The last part," Atton said. "I knew I liked Earth music after living here for a while, but I didn't really dream about making any myself. But I spent two... three? Space, I don't even remember. Some amount of years working out how I was going to do this."

[unusual_sith]

"Have you used that plan at all?" Lana asked, curious. "Or did you have to change the entire thing?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Fake ID, paperwork hacks to get myself a place, and the years of shoving Earth-specific knowledge into my head didn't hurt, either," Atton said. "Even if according to Dane, I can only pass as a millennial on a surface level because I don't know weird flash in the pan pop punk bands off the top of my head."

[unusual_sith]

"Just say you grew up in a cult," Lana suggested. "My roommate did, and she was very sheltered. Besides, isn't it a bit true of both of us?"

[suitably_heroic]

Atton snorted. "I grew up in a military family on Alderaan," he said. "And then I volunteered for a cult. It's not quite the same."

[unusual_sith]

"Right." Lana nodded. "Well, say it anyway. Did you know, there are Earth cults who believe they're descended from aliens? You'll fit right in."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shot her a dry look. "Pass," he said. "Attracts too much attention, anyway. If you really want to fake a good backstory, pick something that's not going to invite any further questions."

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed. "I once convinced an entire planet - well, the one city on the planet settled by outsiders - that the Commander was the leader of a cannibalistic pirate gang. Though you know, that invites fewer questions than you'd think."

Because people were too terrified of asking.

[suitably_heroic]

"Decent play for a short-term problem," Atton noted. "But you can't keep that up for months or years on end."

He wasn't the person to be jokey with about lying and fake identities. He'd lived too many of them, and often at the threat of serious harm if the facade broke.

[unusual_sith]

"True," Lana admitted. "I'd imagine you want to say as little as possible, honestly. Unfortunately, people who'd rather not speak about their past are universal."

[suitably_heroic]

"Doesn't even have to be that," Atton noted. "That might interest some people, too." He shrugged. "The trick is to seem just unpleasant and shallow enough that someone thinks: you know, I don't want to know. If they're not interested in you, be a creep. If they're interested in you, tell them you're not in whatever they are. That kind of thing."

He reached to pluck an imaginary piece of fluff from his genes.

"If vanishing into the crowd is the kind of thing you want, anyway," he said. "I guess that's the big change between me now and me at 23."

[unusual_sith]

"Not planning on vanishing anymore?" Lana smiled. "Past the obvious."

[suitably_heroic]

"Trying to do the opposite," Atton said wryly. "Trying to figure out who I am without constantly thinking about how my behavior affects whether other people pay attention and how."

[unusual_sith]

"That sounds...really difficult," Lana admitted. "How is it going so far?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I mean, a good reflex is hard to kill."

Atton thought about saying something else. Reconsidered it. Thought about it again. Sighed, and got up.

"Would you like a drink?"

He'd get to it in a sec.

[unusual_sith]

This sounded serious.

"Why not?" Lana said, making the effort to keep things light enough to be unthreatening. "What have you got?"

[suitably_heroic]

Not that serious, unless you meant in some small, private, interpersonal way.

"Lemonade, water, fancy soda?" Atton offered, as he walked into the kitchen. "Don't ask me what kind of fancy soda."