Luke's, Sunday

[uncertain_dume]

The week had been a good one.

Sure, Kanan had spent most of it worried about Rey and trying to secure a means to get to Jakku, but on Friday that worry had been wiped away, and now he was left just kind of lingering around the island. He had another bad feeling about next week, but there wasn't much sense worrying about that today when he couldn't even begin to guess at how to prepare for it until tomorrow. Hera was taking Vette off on a mission to help some Twi'lek refugees settle in somewhere reasonably safe from the Empire, one where he'd be more hindrance than help, so things were just... quiet, today.

He'd brought his dog to work. Poor Stance had been cooped up for most of the summer, and so he was going to use every opportunity to get him out of the apartment that he possibly could. That definitely took care of a lot of the quiet, at least.

Especially since the staff was playing the 'how high could Stance jump to catch pieces of pork chop?' game.

If Stance happened to be jumping far higher than any dog had any business jumping from a standstill, well, Kanan certainly didn't have anything to do with that. Honest.

Luke's is open, mind the dog.

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

Well. It would probably be a shame to let this week be too good, wouldn't it? Summer had been doing an awful lot of thinking since Wednesday, and a good deal of that thinking was mostly giving herself little pep talks for today.

"Heyyyyyy, Beeeeeeeeg," she said as she came in, very subtle, really, clearly nothing wrong, and, hey, technically, nothing was wrong, in fact, everything was the opposite of wrong, it was great, they'd been waiting all summer for a day like today, so why did this feel so terrible? But she was going to do it, they needed to talk about this, they were going to--

"Oh, hey, look! You brought Stance today!"

--be completely distracted by the dog, hello, dog, Summer was definitely not pouring her attention into kneeling down and petting and snuggling the crap out of your to deflect away from the fact that she didn't really come in for pancakes today, not at all! Perish the thought!!

Summer usually showered Stance with plenty of affection and puppy-talk, but she was really bringing her A-game that day.

[uncertain_dume]

"I brought Stance today," Kanan agreed, grinning. "He was getting a bit of cabin fever. This hasn't been a great summer for dogs."

It really, really hadn't.

"Hey, Summer. How goes things?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"It goooooooeeesssss," said Summer, in that long, drawn out way of hers that suggested exactly which way it went was...complicated, and she snorted, most of her attention focused still on the dog. "But to hear Pancakes tell of it, based on this week alone, it is so much worse for cats. She would barely even touch those cans of Tuna Trout Surprise before, but now, apparently, it's the only thing she wants to eat."

[uncertain_dume]

"Speaking with all the experience of a man who has been a cat on numerous occasions... yeah, basically. What valid reason could there possibly be for denying me this one thing that I want right this moment, as I have come to want it in my own time. Which, as we all know, is not your time."

Cats.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh, no," Summer snorted again. "Of course not. There's no such thing as Summer's time, only Pancakes', though, hello, Pancakes, this season is literally called Summer."

She frowned a little, already starting to feel this cat distraction losing its steam, searching Stance's face as if she could find another good stall in those big old puppy eyes. Or, alternately, she could just not stall and come out with it...

"It's not like there's a season called Pancakes. Unless you count Sundays...Speaking of which," she gave Stance one more nuzzle behind the ears before getting up, "go ahead and put in an order for me while I go wash the dog off my hands. Chocolate chip today, all the fixings, and a strawberry shake with glitter in it because...we have to celebrate."

[uncertain_dume]

"Oh we do, do we?" Kanan wrote down Summer's order and placed it in the cook's hands. Which, yes, involved placing it on top of a piece of pork chop as the cook stood on standby for his turn with the dog again. Once the cook had retreated back into the kitchen, Kanan looked back at Summer. "What's the occasion?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Hold on," said Summer. "Hands." Which she lifted demonstrably and wiggled her fingers before ducking into the bathroom for a nicely executed double-whammy of proper hygiene and delaying the inevitable. And one more little mini-pep-talk to her reflection in the mirror before she charged back out, slumped into her usual seat, and just said it.

"I," she announced, "am no longer the owner of Turtle & Canary, BDG.I just sold it, which means I've got more than enough seed money for the jello shop now. I need you to swing by the scrapyard and run a check on my ship for me, make sure she's good for travel, so I can start scoping out locations."

There, now, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Well.

That was the easy part.

[uncertain_dume]

"Hell, sure," Kanan replied, nodding. "If you've got some time this evening I can swing by there after work and give it a once-over. Hera's taken Chop off on some mission somewhere, or I'd get him to double check the diagnostic scans, but that's fine. I got by without an astromech just fine for damn near a decade, I doubt this'll be the time I'm suddenly not good at my job."

He grinned faintly.

"So, you're that much closer, huh? Excited?"

There was definitely an air of anxiousness, there. Kanan was brushing that off as 'big life changes' jitters.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah, I mean, sure." Summer met his faint grin with one of her own, though she was a little distracted by the fact that the little tug in her chest turned out to be way worse than she'd expected. "I don't think it's really settled in completely? Like it still doesn't feel real that it's actually going to finally start happening. But, yeah, if you've got time to check it out tonight, that'd be great. Then maybe I can even get out there real quick and still be back for my class on Thursday."

She wouldn't, of course, but it wasn't as if she knew that yet.

[uncertain_dume]

"It's not a small change. But we've got your back every step of the way. So. Tonight it is, then," Kanan replied, nodding. "Are you going to need someone to watch the cat, or are you going to chance another round of cat-vomit cleanup for this outing?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I mean," Summer ventured after thinking about it for a minute, "if you're offering, that might not be a bad idea. I really think the stabilizer I picked up will help her a lot, but can you imagine if she got out and got lost? I'd be coming back with a new store but no cat."

And that would be sad.

[uncertain_dume]

"Then catsitting it'll be," Kanan replied easily. "Wait until you have somewhere permanent to keep her and then worry bout hauling her along, good plan."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," said Summer, leaning forward a little on her folded arms and smiling lightly, "exactly. One less thing to worry about as a juggle about a million possibilities."

Or, you know, just the one.

Which maybe she didn't really need to tell him about yet, anyway. Technically speaking, she was still just looking, everything was still technically just up in the air...

Her smile gained a little more brightness. "I've got to figure out a good time to corner Sabine, too," she added. "I want her to help me paint my ship."

She had a vision, dammit, and she knew Sabine's style was just the thing she needed to get it exactly right.

[heartinabox]

Regina had been meaning to get around to meeting her last employee for ages now, but the weeks that weren't trying to kill people, she'd mostly spent looking for ways to contact her son.

Was it too much to hope that the island was done wandering around? Probably. But it was honestly rather pleasant out, and she'd hit a dead end on the Henry front, so she could use a good distraction, today.

"I'm reasonably certain that a dog in the kitchen is a health code violation."

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm willing to put money on polar bears in the freezer being worse," Kanan replied, shrugging. "You new around here?"

Had to be. Hers was a face he really didn't know.

[heartinabox]

“Relatively,” Regina said. “I got here during the week in that charming coal town.” Her sarcasm was biting and clear. “It was quite the welcome.”

She offered her hand. “Regina Mills. I seem to own this place.”

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan hissed a little between his teeth as he reached to shake her hand.

"Silent Hill was... maybe not the greatest first impression the island could possibly have given," he allowed. "Kanan Jarrus. I seem to be that one employee who brings his dog to work."

A beat.

"I can take him home if you trust these chuckleheads to watch the place for a minute." He jerked the thumb of his other hand toward the kitchen staff. "I don't live far. My last boss was the one who encouraged me to bring him in now and again."

[heartinabox]

“Ah yes,” Regina said, clearly unimpressed with Kanan’s last boss. “The one who couldn’t organize paperwork if his life depended on it.” Regina shook her head. “It’s fine. You make a good point about the polar bears. Besides, where I’m from, that dog could turn out to be a paying customer.”

[uncertain_dume]

"Around here the dogs could be paying customers, too," Kanan replied with a shrug. "This one isn't generally, but if he does eat anything the kitchen guys aren't covering for, he's on my bill."

A beat.

"He could only talk that one week."

Which had been the best week ever.

[heartinabox]

“I’m sure it was adorable,” Regina said. A dog like that would be all helpfulness and cheer. Or ironically ornery, which was cute in its own way. “I’m told the island doesn’t actually spend all its time touring through story realms. This week doesn’t seem to have a particular theme. Is it too much to hope we may have finished with the ... extra oddness for awhile?”

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan paused a moment, and then blew out a breath and gave his head a shake.

"I've got a feeling about next week," he replied. "Which might just be only that, but I've learned to follow my gut instinct."

And, you know, the Force.

"This isn't the first time the island's bounced around," he noted. "My first summer here, it seemed to be on a tour of the multiverse. But the island itself didn't really change, only the location. It did only last the summer, though. The end might be around the corner, at least."

[heartinabox]

"Well, that's something, I guess. What sort of feeling are we talking about here?"

[uncertain_dume]

"A not especially great one," Kanan supplied. "Which have been pretty consistent for those weeks after the good weeks, which generally turn out being the worst of the lot."

[heartinabox]

"I was noticing a bit of a pattern," Regina admitted. "How are things here, otherwise? I'm told you're the one who keeps the pancake fiends in the kitchen in check."

[uncertain_dume]

"I'd say 'keeps them in check' might be giving me too much credit," Kanan replied, smiling crookedly. "But now you have me curious who thinks I actually manage it. As for the otherwise... I'd say things are weird, but that's all pretty relative. What are you used to, generally?"