The Junkyard, early afternoon

[sith_happened]

After Ethics, Anakin and Nina headed down to the junkyard to borrow a ship.

Well.

"Borrow."

Turned out that teenaged Anakin maybe needed to pay more attention in said Ethics class.

"I know how to make that one fly," he boasted, pointing to a familiar shuttlecraft.

(Because it was his when he wasn't being a high school senior. Grand theft shuttlecraft was less complicated when you were stealing your own stuff.)

Comments

[bookbeltof_love]

"Then let's borrow that one," Nina said brightly, completely unbothered by claiming it wasn't stealing.

They intended to bring it back after all!

[sith_happened]

"Let's see if it has some kind of security system first," Anakin said, walking over.

It did, but it would open for Anakin! What a neat coincidence!

[bookbeltof_love]

Funny how that worked out well for them!

"Sure," Nina said, making sure she got pictures of this. Prompto was going to be so jealous of her stealing a spaceship. "Are you good at disarming security systems?????????"

[sith_happened]

"I'm good at most things," Anakin said humbly, "but especially mechanics."

[bookbeltof_love]

"I'm good at a lot of things too," she said brightly. "But especially languages!!!!!!"

[sith_happened]

"I built a protocol droid to help me with that," Anakin said. "He's fluent in 6 million forms of communication."

[bookbeltof_love]

"//Droids are no substitute for human minds,//" she said snarkily, in Ryl.

Rude, tiny Bus Dean.

[sith_happened]

"You speak Ryl?" Anakin replied, shocked.

[bookbeltof_love]

"Of course," Nina said, resisting a snide 'doesn't everybody?' because she wanted to make sure they got to space instead of into a fight. "I said I was good at languages!!!!!!!!!"

[sith_happened]

"But you're not from my galaxy, are you?" Anakin said, flailing a little.

He was used to being unique and special!

[bookbeltof_love]

"Nope," Nina said cheerfully. "But I've visited!!!!!!!! I've travelled all sorts of galaxies!!!!!!!!!"

[sith_happened]

Anakin pretended--badly--not to be madly jealous to hear that. "//Do you speak Huttese?//" he asked, rapid-fire with the inflections of a native.

His need to show off was stronger than his need to not really think about Tatooine.

[firstofitskind]

Liam had, not surprisingly, been drawn to the junkyard especially during his exploration of the island. One ship in particular had caught his eye, though that wasn’t what he was currently occupied by. No, right now he was more interested in the two teenagers who seemed to be heading for one of the other ships in the yard.

[bookbeltof_love]

See, the fun thing about being a spy and going about stealing a spaceship (that belonged to Bus Dean) was that... Nina was paying attention to her surroundings.

Even while she posed for selfies.

"Hi!!!!!!!!!!!" she chirped, with a wave at the unfamiliar boy.

[firstofitskind]

Oh, that was... a lot of enthusiasm. Liam gave her a slightly startled look as he realized oh, she was talking to him, and a nod of acknowledgment.

[sith_happened]

"We're going to space!" Anakin said. "Want to come?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"Come on!!!!! We're going to go check out the moon!!!!!!!!!" Nina enthused.

[firstofitskind]

Liam frowned, a feeling of dread forming in the pit of his stomach. “But-“

There was a Taelon base on the moon.

He didn’t- he couldn’t- he wasn’t supposed to be like this. What if they saw him and they knew, somehow, what he was?

[bookbeltof_love]

"It's safe, I promise," Nina said, wide-eyed and earnest. "Like, I've been planning a party up there for ages!!!!!!!"

[firstofitskind]

“... Why?”

Again, nothing on the moon so far as he knew except a secret base where they experimented on people. Definitely not party material.

[sith_happened]

"I have no idea why on the party," Anakin admitted, "but it's really not that long a trip. We'll be back in a couple hours."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Because it's something no one else has done, obviously," she said, rolling her eyes and then bouncing in place. "Come on, come on!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a reconnaissance mission!!!!!!!"

[firstofitskind]

"It's something no humans have done," Liam corrected, actually managing a full sentence.

"Though I do not think the Taelons are much for parties, either. So perhaps you're right."

Just in case you were wondering who this stranger might be, Nina, you probably had your answer now!

[sith_happened]

"What's a Taelon?" Anakin asked. "Or who?"

[bookbeltof_love]

Tiny Bus Dean might ask what a Taelon was but Nina was staring, wide-eyed.

"Ohmygosh!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tiny Dad!