The Park, Tuesday Early Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

Grief was never the kind of thing Liam had never been allowed the time to experience. Not when as far as the world around him was concerned, the person who'd died had been... a colleague. Or an enemy. Even Da'an hadn't known that Beckett had been his mother, and as far as the Liberation was concerned, she'd been a traitor to humanity, Motivational Imperative or not.

He'd thrown himself in to his work, because what else was there?

Then he'd come to Fandom, and the island had brought her back for a weekend, somehow, and not as Agent Beckett, Protector to the UK Companion, but as his mother. She'd known who he was. It had been wonderful, for two whole days... and then she'd left again.

And now he didn't quite know what to do with himself. Yesterday had pretty much been a loss, barely fit for company that wasn't Verity or the mice. Today, he'd felt the itch to get out, to go do something, but the problem was... what? He'd tried throwing himself in to work, but the station had been all abuzz with chatter about the long-lost brother of theirs that Calvin had run in to over the weekend.

He'd finally decided on the park, since the weather was clear enough, and was running through tai chi forms in an attempt to settle both body and mind.

[ooc: open!]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity didn't believe in hovering or fussing. Quite the opposite in fact! It just so happened that when she got back from dance class and happened to notice that Liam was still gone, she just happened to decide to go for a walk. A really long walk. Throughout town. Looking at stuff. Nothing in particular! Just...stuff.

And when she happened to discover her boyfriend going through tai chi forms in the park, she changed course to stroll over and walk. Not because she was trying to keep an eye on him! Just because he was pretty to look at.

Yes.

"Hey you," she said, when she was close enough to talk without yelling. "Fancy meeting you here."

[firstofitskind]

It was really so strange how things like that happened!

"Hey," he replied, taking a moment to finish up the form he was on. "Dance class go well?" he checked.

[arboreal_priestess]

A mystery for the ages.

"Yeah," she said, a little subdued herself. "My head wasn't entirely in the game and it showed. Bleh. Between this island and the way shit is out in Baltimore, my focus is shot." She kissed him on the cheek, then moved away so he could keep going through his forms if he wanted to. "How goes practice?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam blew out a long sigh. "Fine?" he tried. Liam, that would probably be more convincing if you didn't make it sound like a question.

He would get back to the tai chi in a moment, but first... "The way shit's out in Baltimore?" he asked with a frown, wondering if she was talking about, like... the usual shit, or snake-cult-level shit.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Even with the cult gone, things are a little...unstable out in Baltimore right now. A lot of people left, others have moved into their places. Now you've got angry cryptids arguing over who has right to what locations, as well as the arrival of assholes who just like feeding on chaos. Cryptid carpetbaggers, I guess."

[firstofitskind]

Liam nodded. The fallout, he was more or less familiar with. But at least the fact that nothing big was brewing for now was... something?

"Good to know some things stay the same no matter what reality you're in," he said with an eyeroll. According to Renee, Earth had pretty much gone through the same thing post-Taelons. "And nothing new from our 'friend'?" Those were some pretty audible airquotes, there, yes.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm pretty sure you were the one who talked to him last," Verity said, snickering. "I don't know why, but he seems more partial to the not-me person in this relationship."

Maybe because of how very you you were, Very.

[firstofitskind]

"That's because he has terrible taste," Liam said haughtily, in his not-at-all-biased opinion. "You're a delight."

[arboreal_priestess]

"That's what I keep telling him!" Verity said with a laugh. "Usually prefixed with 'motherfucking' because it makes him make that face."

Just as a thought, Very, but this might be why.

[firstofitskind]

"Mmm," Liam hummed. "He does think you maybe swear a little too much," he told Verity, expression wide-eyed and apologetic. As if he might be telling her something she'd be reluctant to hear.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oh no!" Verity said, pressing her hands to either side of her face. "You don't fuckin' say!"

[firstofitskind]

"I do fuckin' say," Liam informed her, still in that exaggerated tone. "But," he continued, "I also don't care what he thinks. So it works out nicely."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Awww," Verity said, stealing a kiss. "You say the sweetest fuckin' things."

[uncertain_dume]

Guess who was out walking his dog?

His dog who was named after the old friend who had come to visit him this weekend, and wasn't that a weird adjustment to make now that Kanan was down to just one Stance and was no longer referring to him as just 'the dog,' to avoid the relentless teasing that would've come from that.

... Guess whose dog was running over to Liam to investigate that tai chi, there.

"Oh, come on, buddy," Kanan protested, giving chase. "Let the man do his forms."

[firstofitskind]

Guess who had to just stop and kneel down so he was closer to eye-level with the doggo?

"It's fine, I was about to take a break anyway," he informed, well... the statement was directed to the dog, technically. But it was obviously for Kanan's benefit.

It was also kind of a little white lie, but shhhh. Shhh.

[uncertain_dume]

Stance was all up in Liam's face, yes. Kanan was just standing back, arms crossed over his chest, and chuckling.

"Well, if you were about to take a break, then Stance can go right at it. It isn't like he's ever known affection or friendship in his life, after all."

Stance was clearly spoiled rotten.

[firstofitskind]

"Oh, clearly," Liam said, offering Stance some behind-the-ears scritches.

... Look, Liam might not do touching when it came to (most) people, but animals? Animals got pats.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan had read those notes on the radio yesterday, he was inclined to let Liam have some quality puppy time, now that he knew it was okay. Anyway, it wasn't like he'd deny most people their puppy time on a good day.

"Fortunately, he gets into the hang of being around people pretty quick," he noted, smiling faintly. "So, how goes it?"

[firstofitskind]

A shrug. "It goes," he managed, finally. No use saying it was 'fine', not when, yeah, he was well aware that Kanan had read those radio notes. "Keeping myself busy," he admitted.

[uncertain_dume]

"Not a bad way to go about it," Kanan acknowledged, giving a nod of his head. "That's been me all day, running maintenance checks on my ship. So far as guests went, I had it pretty easy, but that sort of thing'll still throw a person."

He walked over to a nearby bench and took a seat.

"Sometimes I have to wonder if the island thinks it's being kind or cruel, or just doesn't understand the difference."

[firstofitskind]

"I heard a little about yours," Liam admitted. "Calvin was pretty thrilled that they ran in to each other." He sighed. "I'd have to go with that third option, personally."

[uncertain_dume]

"Stance was pretty excited about it, too," Kanan admitted. "He's never met any of them before, but they're all brothers anyway. That means something, I guess."

Kanan's own relationship with blood family was... not. It tended to leave him a little bemused at the best of times.

"This place."

[firstofitskind]

And Liam's was... complicated. Which wasn't actually all that unusual in Fandom, true, but this weekend had been the first and only time he'd been able to interact with his mother as someone other than a colleague. Hence the 'kind'. But then they'd had to say goodbye again, and he was left feeling much as he had when she'd actually died. And without any way of suppressing all of that and pretending it didn't exist. Which was the 'cruel' part of the equation.

"Yeah," he exhaled. "Is it wrong that I'm kind of glad half the town's gone right now?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Nah," Kanan replied, shaking his head. "The quiet's a nice change of pace after two busy weekends, anyway. This island is too small for that many people, damn it."

This island was too small for one half-trained Jedi to make it through a weekend with that much ambient heartbreak without needing to do some serious meditation in order to not crack.

[firstofitskind]

Liam was right there with you, and he wasn't even truly telepathic, just... psychically sensitive.

"And usually I like the small," Liam admitted. "But you're right. It was very- crowded."