The Perk, Thursday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Atton couldn't stay here. He was aware of that much; he needed time to deal with the whirling dust the past month or so had kicked up, and he wasn't going to be able to do it here. Especially not with Sparkle being in the state he was. It sucked, bailing on the kid, but it was better for everyone involved.

He had an hour left before his portal arrived, so he swung by the Perk, picking up something with caramel in it. He picked a booth somewhere at the front of the house and sank down in a seat, cup in hand, and considered the streets outside. It wasn't the same without the familiar Maryland skies, anyway, he figured.

Or maybe that was just him.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"I don't suppose you have any real caf in yet, huh?"

This was basically a ritual by now. Kanan would come in, ask for the good stuff, and the barista behind the counter would sigh, promise him that they'd check with the supplier the next time they put in an order, and then proceed not to, because clearly this guy was going to settle for the coffee.

"Right, well, my usual, then, I guess. But you know I'd be in here twice as often if you got the good stuff."

And so it went.

[suitably_heroic]

"You can try what you want, you know," Atton said idly, raising his voice. "They're never gonna haul in caf because they wouldn't know quality if it hit them upside the head."

Big words, for a guy who'd settled for drowning local coffee in caramel.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan's expression immediately brightened just that little bit more, and he grinned and pointed at Atton while the barista muttered something and poured Kanan's coffee.

"See? This guy knows what I'm talking about," he laughed. "You're practically throwing money away."

The barista raised an eyebrow, pointedly set the coffee down on the counter, and Kanan smirked as he picked it up and made his way over to grab a seat near Atton's table.

"So, another one of us caf addicts a little too far from home to be able to get his hands on the good stuff, huh?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Why do you think I'm going back?" Atton said. "Four days back in this cafless desert and I'm running back to Coruscant like my life depends on it."

Well, probably Baltimore, first, before dragging the Hawk back and hitting up Nar Shaddaa, but Atton wouldn't be Atton if he'd go blaring his actual travel plans to every stranger he ran across.

"We have another one from back home, huh," he added, sipping his coffee. "Please tell me you're not another Skywalker. They're like a plague."

[uncertain_dume]

"Oh, space, no. I'm a Jarrus. Kanan Jarrus," he said, leaning back in his seat and sipping at his own coffee. "Got grabbed here while flying a mining freighter between Gorse and Cynda, but good luck getting back on that garbage ship the company had me flying."

Yeah, that little piece of trash parked not far from the Hawk? It was no wonder Kanan wasn't quite sure he could get home even if they were in the right galaxy somewhere.

[suitably_heroic]

"Riiiight, so you belong to that pile of junk parked next to the Hawk," Atton said, leaning back with his cup. "My condolences."

Beat.

"That thing looks worse than my ship did after it crashed on Dxun."

Not that that was hard, considering the Hawk hadn't actually been all that messed up at the time, but Kreia and blackmail and Atton being a lying liar who lies and, well, stuff.

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah, well, Expedient isn't mine," Kanan snorted. "Company issue, through Moonglow. My ship is in the wrong galaxy right now, and I swear, the Escape is no piece of trash."

He was kind of in love with the Escape. And maybe still hadn't seen the Hawk yet, or he might kind of slowly catch on to which Hawk it happened to be.

"On Dxun, huh? How the hell did you get out of that mess?"

It was called the Demon Moon for a reason, after all. Even Kanan avoided that one.

[suitably_heroic]

"Got some help from a bunch of Mandalorians stranded on there, if you'll believe it," Atton said, sipping his coffee. "I don't actually know the whole story there. Most of the crew was out there chatting up the bucketheads while I was plowing around the ship's insides, trying to get it to start making engine noises again."

Ugh, Dxun. Ugh, Mandalorians.

"Let me tell you, I think that moon gets at least half its reputation just because of how humid it is. Maybe most people who got stranded there just got their sweat clogging up the controls, or something."

[uncertain_dume]

"Mandalorians, huh?" Kanan looked thoughtful at that. He'd had his life saved by Mandalorians once himself, on Mygeeto. Which was something he might even mention, if he wasn't so hell-bent on hiding the whole Jedi thing. "Well, you made it, anyway. And cemented one of the many reasons I'll never go vacationing on Dxun."

Dxun? Totally off the itinerary for future trips.

Malachor, on the other hand...

[solo_sword]

Jaina hadn't been sleeping great the last few days, which meant coffee got to be pretty necessary by the time afternoon swung around.

"My first instinct is to interrupt your thoughtfulness to say you look thoughtful," she said as she waited for her drink.

[On some SP but pinging anyway!]

[suitably_heroic]

"Is that like the Anacondan eating its own tail?" Atton said, looking up. "I rank it a two out of five on the list of great openers."

[solo_sword]

"Really? I might have to use it more often," Jaina said. "What's number one?"

[suitably_heroic]

"'Hey, what's up'?" Atton offered. "It's hard to argue with a classic."

[solo_sword]

"Obviously that's how I should have followed up with that," she said. "Hey, what's up?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Just passing through, as it turns out," Atton said, waving vaguely at his coffee. "Heading back out home in an hour, but I thought I'd stop by here to remind myself how bad coffee is. How about you? I haven't seen you around in a while."

They didn't talk much, or anything, but Atton saw people walking around. Occasionally. And she hadn't been one of them.

[solo_sword]

"Been stuck here thanks to dimensional screwups since graduation," Jaina said. Save for one day. "Doing okay, considering."

She hadn't punched anyone yet, at least. Probably mostly because the island was quiet.

"Are you living back home now?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah," Atton said, shaking his head. "Just spent the past month and a half out on mission--" Okay, technically he'd gone rogue, but whatever. "--and I want to sit out the rest of my summer somewhere nice and tropical. But I'll be back to business here in fall. Don't want the Jedi back home thinking I'm going to be there all the time."

[snipsnspecks]

It was a day for caffeine deprived Force-sensitives, Ahsoka came into the Perk after a morning of working in the junkyard. Her repairs had worked for all of five minutes, then a motivator had blown and fried all the circuitry.

Unlike some people, she didn't bother asking after caf, terrible GAR caf was a lesson in appreciating something that was actually drinkable.

[suitably_heroic]

Huh. First a pilot, now a Togruta. "They really are hauling them in from my galaxy this semester, aren't they?" Atton mused, eyeing her without being subtle about it. "Was there a two-for-one special?"

[snipsnspecks]

Ordinary Ahsoka would've been politer (or at least wittier) in her reply, but fried circuits, and remarks like Atton's often presaged a lek-grabbing incident like she'd complained about in class yesterday, so instead she muttered something in Huttese that she most definitely was not supposed to have learnt from Anakin.

Ahsoka, no.

[suitably_heroic]

"Okay," Atton said, sipping his coffee. "Anyone tell you shouldn't be rude to your elders?"

[snipsnspecks]

Oops.

"Master Skywalker's mentioned it a few times," she said, because she'd probably only realise the tell calling Anakin that was right about the time she stopped caring it was one. "Usually right before he gets in a fight with Master Kenobi." Which had a way of undercutting the message.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton tilted his head. "Yeah, that sounds like Anakin," he said. "So you've already met the local welcoming committee from our neck of the multiverse. What's your name, kid?"

[snipsnspecks]

"Yeah, I have." Well, it wasn't untrue. "Ahsoka Tano. You know them too?"

This just kept getting better.

[suitably_heroic]

"Anakin Skywalker's a friend of mine," Atton said, shrugging faintly. (He was these days, anyway.) "I'm Atton Rand. From a couple thousand years before his time, so I don't know where you and me stand."