The Park, Friday Morning

[suitably_heroic]

The medic had freed Atton from his kolto bath again on Thursday morning. Another full day of observation, and he was good to go, with a bunch of patches in his pocket and an abdomen that still hurt if he bent the wrong way.

And then Mical had put him on the Ebon Hawk and sent him back to Fandom. (The Hawk was to make a point: stay there, don't come back. Otherwise Mical would've just kicked him through a portal.)

He wasn't planning to stay there. Not for long. Not with Mira out there, dealing with this problem that Atton was beginning to suspect was bigger than they'd anticipated.

He didn't bother to go back to the apartment - he didn't want to run the risk of running into Sparkle just yet - but stumbled down the stairs and walked down to the park.

That alone was probably more exercise than he should've given himself. He winced at the sound of his own breath as he sank down on a bench.

Space.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[spectre_alenko]

"My war involved flying around the galaxy fixing a bunch of inter-species skirmishes that would never have happened if the species involved had been able to get their own heads out of their cloaca long enough to evolve a minimum of empathy," Kaidan said wryly, "Considering that there was a galactic threat, worlds burning, and the species involved still weren't able to pull their heads out long enough to concentrate on the larger problem, I really don't need stories of your galaxy if I want to get my moral panties in a twist."

"It's not some sort of oppression olympics," Kaidan added, "Hearing about the horrors of some other galaxy doesn't make me feel good. It makes me wish there were something I could do to lessen them. It makes my heart ache for my friends who came from there, and it makes me glad that they survived it without becoming monsters."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton let out a soft snort.

"Space, I get it, you are such a karking Jedi," he said.

[spectre_alenko]

"No, from what I understand, I'd be the exact opposite of a Jedi," Kaidan said, tilting his head a little, "They're taught to suppress emotions. Not to get angry, not to feel fear. That's not what I was trained to do at all."

[suitably_heroic]

"You're like the Jedi because you have that righteous do-gooder attitude going on," Atton specified, waving his hand at Kaidan. "The whole suppressing emotions thing, that's just the trick the old guard used to avoid exploding and killing everybody."

[spectre_alenko]

"It beats the alternative," Kaidan said easily, "I mean, sure, I could be the type of guy to go around taking body part trophies and making jewelry out of them, but that's just so unsanitary after about a week. Less, in this weather."

"Jedi don't do the whole emotional popsicle thing in your time? Or, only the 'old guard' do?"

[suitably_heroic]

"There's only five of us, plus an ex-Jedi who refuses to join, Revan's widow," Atton said. "We have other things on our mind."

[spectre_alenko]

"That would do it," Kaidan allowed, thinking about it, "I take it Force sensitive kids aren't just coming from Jedi lines, then."

[suitably_heroic]

"Most Jedi don't have children," Atton said lightly. "Bastila and Revan are an exception. Most of us just get born somewhere in the galaxy, and we either wind up with the Jedi, or we don't."

[spectre_alenko]

"So I've heard," Kaidan acknowledged, "They must have loved each other an awful lot. Bastila and Revan, I mean."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton shrugged. "They dismantled Revan's empire together," he said. "I guess that creates some kind of bond, taking on a whole army."

[spectre_alenko]

"Did you know them, or were they before your time?" Kaidan asked, mostly just curious.

[suitably_heroic]

"I know Bastila. She's a pain in the ass. Brings her kid to the Temple some days," Atton said, snorting. "Revan... vanished a few years ago."

[spectre_alenko]

Reciting history, were you?

Kaidan processed that, then snorted, "Hell, Atton, from you, I can't tell if she's actually a pain in the ass or if you like the lady."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton's part in this story was super complicated and thus not relevant. Ayup.

"She's a snooty damned schutta who thinks she's better than everyone," Atton said, pulling a face. "You probably know the type."

[spectre_alenko]

"Schutta?" Kaidan asked, distracted by the new word and mentally trying to spell it in Aurebesh, "But yeah, I know the 'butter won't melt' type. I have, after all, met Seivarden."

[suitably_heroic]

"It's a bad word," Atton said merrily, because he didn't want to make this shit any easier. "But yeah, think Seivarden, except she actually did something - invented a new Force technique at 18, then saved the galaxy - so she's worse."

[spectre_alenko]

"So at least she kind of has a reason for her hubris," Kaidan noted, filing away the bad word. He'd ask Kanan about it later. "Unlike my local pain in the ass."

[suitably_heroic]

"Who was probably just born with a silver spoon up his ass."

[spectre_alenko]

"Her," Kaidan corrected absently, "Apparently in her world, female pronouns are the default." Then he made a face, "I don't know why I bother."

[suitably_heroic]

"Right, her, sorry," Atton said. "... Why do you bother? I can't figure out why anyone tries with that one."

[spectre_alenko]

"I honestly don't know," Kaidan said, shoving a hand through his hair, "Maybe because I don't want to be like her. I don't want to make people feel the way she goes out of her way to, or, if I ever had cause to, I'd want it to be a deliberate act to their face and not just .." He shook his head, unsure how to even finish that.

"I've been on the receiving end of being othered. I try not to do it to people, when I can avoid it."

[suitably_heroic]

"Seriously, you're either what goes for a Jedi where you come from or a boy scout," Atton said, with a little snort. "Not that I'm trying to screw up the pronouns on purpose, here."

He wouldn't do that.

[spectre_alenko]

"What are the Jedi, to you? I mean, when you say that word, what is it that you mean?" Kaidan asked, tilting his head a little.

[suitably_heroic]

"And then you overshot into therapist," Atton sighed. "You know, the Jedi. Force-wielding do-gooders who are too cryptic for their own good and think they've got a monopoly on grave-voiced reflections on how to be a good person. And then they run into battle and everything gets set on fire."

[spectre_alenko]

"I don't have that good an opinion of them," Kaidan said flatly, "Which is why I wanted to hear yours."