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]

"You did ask," Kaidan noted dryly, "though, like I said, they're extinct. At least, in my reality." There was, after all, Liara and Tali's. And wasn't that just a thought to keep him up at night.

"Do they ever get sane again, the Sith? Have any of them ever walked away from it without someone raping their brain?"

He was starting to get a better handle on Kanan's fear.

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, sometimes," Atton said vaguely. (He wasn't going to give Anakin up, and his own story was more complicated than that.) "But it takes a lot of work. Coming back from it.. and stopping it. I knew one Jedi who cut herself off from the Force just to stop herself from tumbling over the edge into the Dark Side."

[spectre_alenko]

"It is possible, is what you're saying," Kaidan said as though filing that away, because he was. "That's something."

He wasn't sure what, but it was definitely something.

[suitably_heroic]

"Sure," Atton said, shrugging. "I mean, it's not going to bring back the hundreds of thousands of people that someone like Revan killed by that point, but yeah, sure, it's possible."

[spectre_alenko]

"No," Kaidan agreed, shoving a hand through his hair, "It wouldn't bring the dead back, and it wouldn't bring closure to anyone. Not at that point. I could understand why he disappeared. That would be an awful heavy load to try to live with."

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, we still don't know why he left," Atton said. "Maybe he was just going on a well-earned vacation. Who knows?"

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shrugged. He'd never met the guy, he couldn't say. "He hasn't turned up here yet, has he?" With this place, one never truly knew.

[suitably_heroic]

"Not that I know of," Atton said.

(He had, but it had happened two years before Atton's time.)

"Wouldn't that be a trip?"

[spectre_alenko]

"Depends which side of the Jedi/Sith fence he was on at the time, I expect," Kaidan noted, "or what age he was. Though, after hearing about him, I kind of suspect the Jedi I know would all go rather batshit if he showed up here as a high school child."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton's face did a few funny things all at the same time, before settling back on its usual placid, sarcastic expression.

"That would be, uh... no. Noooo. I hate you for putting that in my head."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan watched the expressions play over Atton's face. "Why? You seriously never thought about it, and you've been here, what, over a decade, you said?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Why would I think about it?" Atton said. "I like all that poodoo being over there, not here, and Revan's-- complicated. No thanks."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan shrugged a shoulder, "Common sense? Once I figured out that anything from our realities can just show up here for a weekend rendezvous, I started planning what to do if anything or anyone from mine ever did. What I'd do if Saren showed up, though a lot of that would depend on whether it was Average Asshole Saren or Indoctrinated And Pregnant With Reapertech Saren. What I'd be able to do if a Reaper showed up, though the main answer to that is mostly 'scream and die' because even one is bad news. Friends, enemies, monsters." He paused a breath, and shrugged again, "Habit."

[suitably_heroic]

"I don't like borrowing trouble," Atton said. "I sleep better at night."

[spectre_alenko]

"What is this thing you speak of, 'sleep'," Kaidan drawled, "I have heard of it but only in rumor."

[suitably_heroic]

"Hey, if you're curious, I can just smack you in the head and you can get a good look," Atton suggested.

[spectre_alenko]

"That's more likely to just rattle my implant than put me to sleep, but thanks for the offer. So kind," Kaidan commented.

[suitably_heroic]

"Suit yourself," Atton said, shrugging. "Sleep's good for you."

[spectre_alenko]

"So I'm told," Kaidan agreed blandly, "but then again, so is not sitting upright with a barely healed gut wound, so aren't we just a pair."