The Perk - Saturday morning.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan knew something was off the minute he walked out of his building. There were more children than usual by a factor of many. The children all seemed to be accompanied by an adult or two, so he wrote that right off as 'not his problem, they're not feral' and headed to the Perk. No way was he dealing with a weekend like this without enough coffee and sugar to drown in.

He ordered his usual coffee confection, something with caramel and chocolate syrup on the whipped cream, and went to take a table in the back where he could watch through the window from a safe enough distance. Kind of cataloging the children. They didn't seem to be island residents made suddenly small. That made him feel better.

[Open]

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[ai_kid]

After having surprised one of her mothers, Esk Four strolled around the streets of Fandom. When throwing a glance through the window she saw a familiar face, so she turned around and headed inside. After a smile and a nod to the baristas, she walked over to Kaidan.

"Good morning," she said, smiling. "You might not now me here, am I right?"

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan looked down at the little girl, smiling automatically. He shook his head, "No, I don't believe we've met."

[ai_kid]

"I thought so. Mother didn't recognize me either, and I've traveled back in time, but where I'm from my other mother is a close friend."

Esk Four smiled again, curious to see if Kaidan would figure it out.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan processed that. He looked at the child. He then asked, very quietly, "Please tell me your mothers are not Jack and Seivarden?"

The island was being wacky again. Ok. Noted.

But was it being insane?

And then, because this was a kid and they were in a coffee shop, he asked, "Can I get you a snack or anything? You, uh, probably shouldn't have coffee but they have hot chocolate?"

[ai_kid]

She wasn't someone who laughed generally, but that idea was funny.

"No," she said. "Poor child. EDI and Breq are my mothers."

She smiled again. "I'll have tea, please."

She didn't wear gloves as she was not in a place where it would upset people if she did, but she had picked up the Radchaai habit of drinking tea.

[spectre_alenko]

"EDI, huh? Have you talked to her, or just Breq?" he asked, still processing this. She couldn't have talked to EDI first. EDI would have warned him. A Jackarden baby would indeed be a poor child. He was so very relieved right now. "I'll get your tea."

He went and spoke with the baristas, ordering a good loose-leaf tea for her. It wasn't due to Seivarden's flippery. He'd spent too much time with Hernando.

[ai_kid]

"Thank you. And I've spoken to Breq, not EDI. They don't have the connection set up."

She smiled at Kaidan.

"I'm Esk Four."

[spectre_alenko]

"Good to meet you, Esk Four. Would, uh, would you like to talk to EDI? I can comm her in if you want," Kaidan offered, handing her a mug of tea.

[ai_kid]

She smiled as she accepted the mug.

"That would be very helpful. I'm guessing she might be a bit surprised, considering Breq was."

[what_dad_was_like]

Was Jacen slipping out of the apartment today as soon as he possibly could?

You better believe he was. He loved his mother, and heck, his father even had a pretty great dog. But he wasn't quite ready to go from being the only child of a single mother to being the big brother to a little pest who had grown up with both of her parents, and so he'd waited until Anan had them good and occupied, and then he went for a wander to look for a breakfast that hadn't had a little kid narrating what he ought to be doing through every step of its preparation.

There was a place with a name in High Galactic that looked pretty promising, and so he straightened his jacket - mostly gray, with a wolf emblazoned on one shoulder and orange flames embossed over the top of it - and headed inside, making his way to the counter.

"Hey, I don't suppose you take payment in credits here?"

The flower shop place didn't last year, but it didn't hurt to check.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan glanced up. His conversation with Breq's child earlier had given him a head's up what was going on.

He caught the barista's eye and gave a very slow and deliberate nod. They normally didn't take payments in credits. They would today. He'd cover it later.

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen stood there hopefully before the barista looked back at him and gave a slow nod, too.

"Great," he said, expression brightening. "Then I'll have a caf and some kind of pastry, please? Maybe something with berries. Or jogan if you have it?"

It was... probably not a super promising sign that the barista then proceeded to look thoroughly exasperated, was it?

Someone's dad had already driven half the staff here to fits, asking for caf before he could get home.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan cleared his throat, "They don't have caf, just coffee, and you'd probably enjoy the cherry danish. Jogan isn't really imported here, though sometimes T&C has Meilooruns." He thought about it, "T&C also sometimes carries caf, but you'd have to brew it yourself."

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen glanced toward the man over there, blinking bright blue eyes and tilting his head a little, curiously.

"You're from home?" He paused. "Brewing it wouldn't be a problem, Mom has a caf maker on the Ghost. But that kind of defeats the purpose," of heading out to hide from weird pseudo-family, "so I'll... just try the coffee, then, thanks. And the cherry danish."

Those were all weird words, but hey, he wasn't too choosy. There was some Twi'lek in his blood even if it wasn't immediately obvious, after all.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan paused for a second. That face.. was Caleb with some different coloration. His mother ..was probably Hera, considering the mention of the Ghost. That tracked. And.. the kid didn't recognize him. He processed that.

"No, I'm from a different reality entirely. My," brother, "best friend here on the island is a caf addict. He insists there's a difference between it and coffee but I can't taste a difference at all." He threw the kid a lopsided smile, "You're probably going to really like the danish. It's sweet."

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen processed all of that with a little nod.

"I like sweet." A pause, and then he offered, "Mom mentioned this place has a lot of different galaxies connecting to it. It's still kind of weird, but exciting, too? I got to fly the last time I was here, though. Not the Ghost. It was going to be the Phantom. And then there was a last-minute change of plans."

To the prettiest little tricked-out freighter he'd ever seen. Still, he wrinkled his nose.

"Small system."

Empty. No wonder Mom didn't come back after his father had died.

[spectre_alenko]

"It is that," Kaidan agreed, "Both the island being weird and exciting and the system being small. Creeped me right out when I got here and found out this is the only inhabited planet. Not like that where I'm from."

[what_dad_was_like]

"No?" Jacen looked pretty much immediately intrigued at that, yes. "What's life like, in a completely different galaxy? I mean, you... you look pretty human, or near-human at least, but most people here do, I guess."

That on its own was weird.

[what_dad_was_like]

And eventually, said little pest was going to show up and run at him. "Jacen!" She grabbed his sleeve. "I found you!"

[what_dad_was_like]

Noooo whyyyyyyyyyy.

"Anan."

Jacen tried not to sound half as defeated as he actually was. But. You know. Totally defeated. So much for hiding all weekend.

"Hi, kid."

[what_dad_was_like]

"I'm not 'kid', I'm me," she said stubbornly. "And you went off all alone and you could be in trouble! We should stick together."

Which she was doing her best at; that sleeve wasn't going anywhere. "Is this a food place? Do they have any mynock?"

[what_dad_was_like]

"It's a food place, they have pastries," Jacen sighed, a little resigned to having a pint-sized babysitter attached to him at all times, now. "The big guy over there says cherry stuff is pretty good?"

He nodded over to Kaidan.

[what_dad_was_like]

Anan looked over and grinned. "That's Uncle Kaidan! Hi, Uncle Kaidan!" She waved at him. "Can I have cherry stuff, too?" she asked Jacen.

[what_dad_was_like]

"Unc--" Jacen buried his face in his hand for a moment or three, and then nodded and leaned over the counter. "Right, so... that thing I ordered? Double that."

A pause.

"But maybe get some juice or something instead of the coffee, for her."

She did not need to get wired.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan offered quietly, "Mexican hot chocolate for the little."