Caritas, Thursday

[wrongkindofsith]

"No." That was Cara's final word on the matter.

No, Tino, they were not going to try to sell anyone eel-infused cocktails.

No, Zombie Band, you could not keep that dead eel as a mascot or a pet. It wasn't even a zombie eel, just a dead one.

[Open, no OCD]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

"I need a drink," Atton told her as he sat down. "Any drink."

Brianna. Eugh.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara didn't even say 'no' this time, just glaring at Tino until he backed away from the bar.

She reached for an unopened bottle of something that looked strong and a glass and put them both down in front of Atton. "Do I even want to know?"

[suitably_heroic]

"A colleague showed up and hijacked my class," Atton said, pulling his face. "Someone thinks they're funny. And thanks."

He poured his glass nice and full.

[wrongkindofsith]

You know, Atton, some people would appreciate a highly trained warrior wanting to spar with them in her underclothes.

"Doesn't sound that bad, letting someone else do the heavy lifting."

[suitably_heroic]

It wasn't the part where she was in her underwear that he minded.

"She likes to spar," Atton specified. Vaguely.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara still wasn't seeing the problem here, of course she did consider sparring a perfectly acceptable form of foreplay.

"And?" she asked in the exact same tone as she had yesterday when Anakin had claimed he wasn't on a date because he was married. "Wait, did she beat you?"

[suitably_heroic]

Atton rolled his eyes and said, "Her culture insists on people sparring in their underwear," he said, "Which isn't exactly appropriate in class."

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara was so the wrong person to be looking to for sympathy in this situation. If she was ever the right person.

"Sounds useful enough." she said with a shrug. "You're not always going to have the luxury of getting dressed before a fight."

Also he hadn't denied being beaten.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton let out an irritated sound, which he promptly drowned in the drink.

"I'm going to get the guy who tipped her off back," he muttered instead.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara bit back a smirk. "So he can send you more help?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, he escalated it," Atton retorted.

[wrongkindofsith]

"Which means you started it?" Cara asked. Innocently. For her. Which wasn't very.

[suitably_heroic]

"He chased this lovely woman I was sleeping with out of the Temple," Atton said. "He had it coming."

[wrongkindofsith]

"Oh, poor baby." Hey, Atton, you'd never guess who hadn't gotten laid or seen her girlfriend since August. "I'd think you'd appreciate the half-naked sparring then."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton pulled a face at her. "Not that she doesn't look great in her underwear," he said, "But the making me take my pants off in front of my class kind of blots that out."

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara went to top up his drink, because this conversation was hilarious and she wanted it to keep going.

"You didn't strike me as the prudish type," said the woman who'd taken her both previous classes to the onsen. "Unless you were actually bedding her in front of your class, I doubt you traumatised them."

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm not prudish," Atton retorted, "And hey, I have nothing to hide--" Except some leftover scars from some pretty traumatic events. "--But it's the principle of the thing."

(And he had, for the record, only gotten laid about twice since June partly thanks to that conga line of pretty traumatic events. So... stuff it, Cara and Mical.)

[wrongkindofsith]

"This school regularly has students going shirtless to welcome new kids," Cara said. "There's no principle to be had."

Then, because she was a terrible person, "Ever think he drove off your previous bedmate because he was jealous of her?"

(And if Mical was actually able to drive a woman from Atton's bed, then Atton might want to work on his technique to get them to stick around.)

[suitably_heroic]

Atton let out a snort and took another sip of his drink. "Nah," he said, "See, that would be understandable and human, because I mean, look at me."

... Anakin Skywalker he wasn't, on this topic.

"He just wants to put the Jedi back together exactly the way they used to be, lifelong dry spells and all."

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara was looking at him, note the lack of visible swooning.

"That sounds terrible," she said, with some actual sincerity. "...doesn't Anakin have a wife and half a dozen children? And a boyfriend?" Because that was a lot of sex he wasn't supposed to be having then.

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, Anakin Skywalker is the worst Jedi ever," Atton said easily. "I think the story is the Jedi Order screwed him over on that, so he screwed them back. So to speak."

That wasn't really the story at all, except from a really broad point of view, but he wasn't about to spill all of Anakin's terrible life choices to a veritable stranger.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara already knew Anakin made terrible life choices, just look at his hair, she didn't need all the details. "Well he's definitely screwing someone."

[suitably_heroic]

"Just the wife, I think," Atton gossiped said gossiped. "I don't know what's going on with him and the other guy except that that imploded pretty badly before he got here."

[wrongkindofsith]

"That can't have been pleasant." Not that Cara was speaking from experience or anything here. Nope. "At least they're going on dates to try and fix things."

As opposed to one of them trying to fix their relationship by stringing the other up to the ceiling and helping brainwash them. For example.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton snickered at that one. "Save that kind of talk for Wednesdays," he said, "At least that way you get Skywalker shrieking about it on the radio."

He was a bad friend.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara smirked. "He did seem put out this morning."

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't think the word 'subtle' is in his vocabulary," Atton offered. "Sad for him, because every time he overreacts about this, somebody else decides to start doing it just for giggles."

[wrongkindofsith]

"Not that either of us would ever do that." It was completely different when you were picking up on weird sexual tension.

[suitably_heroic]

"Of course not," Atton said. "We're good people."

He made fun of Anakin about it less these days! ... because he'd already put in his fair share before the other guy even showed up.

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara nodded in agreement. "The best."

It was a good thing she was there to pick up the slack then.

[suitably_heroic]

He had faith in you, Cara. And respect. Faith and respect.

Atton took a swig of his drink. "Cheers to that."

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara toasted him with the bottle. "Worse things to drink to."

[suitably_heroic]

"Definitely," Atton said. He tilted his head. "Hey, you teach that other Don't-Get-Killed class, right? The one for the kids who think they've already got it all figured out? How's that going?"

[wrongkindofsith]

"None of them are dead yet, so clearly it's working," Cara said dryly.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton thought about it. "I can't argue with that logic," he said.

[wrongkindofsith]

"Of course, I've also been going easy on them." Yes, springing a dragon on them counted as going easy. They hadn't even been in any real danger from it.