Atlas Gym, Saturday Afternoon

[suitably_heroic]

Was Skywalker going to show? Atton had no idea. It was a school picnic day, maybe he had students to terrify. Either way, Atton wouldn't let it distract him from his first day back on the island.

Not that that was really even possible. The place had been a hovering nightmare over his head for too long, threatening him with bad memories and old breakdowns. But frankly, he was sick of it. Wanted to fix it. So: back to Fandom. He'd gotten a hotel room - the old apartment was long gone - and then grabbed his lightsabers. Not to the park, but here.

He picked a quiet spot at the gym, and got started on his stretches. He was grateful he'd come here from the Temple, and not from New York, where training was a constant game of cat-and-mouse with his roommate. At least his muscles were loose.

Right.

He took in a deep breath of stupid Maryland air, and exhaled.

Then he reached for his lightsabers, and lit the yellow blades.

Time for some juyo katas.

[[ open ]]

Comments

[sith_happened]

Call it a case morbid curiosity, but Anakin was there. "You are here," he noted. "I wasn't certain your message wasn't just an odd prank."

[suitably_heroic]

"Aren't you the Dean of Students?" Atton countered. Lightsabers off, he was busy rolling his shoulders. "Or does nobody tell you who your teachers are gonna be, to protect the faculty?"

[sith_happened]

"My list gotten eaten by a wererabbit," Anakin said. "I wish I was kidding."

[suitably_heroic]

"I really wish I could say I thought you were lying," Atton sighed. "But that sounds about right."

He stepped away from the mat, and walked towards him. "But yeah, I'm back. Apparently it's 'therapeutic' or whatever."

[sith_happened]

"Teaching in general?" Anakin replied. "Possibly. Teaching here? Definitely not." His lips quirked up. "It's nice to see that you aren't dead."

[suitably_heroic]

"Eh, you know me, I'm annoyingly hard to kill," Atton said, with a casual shrug, like him getting himself killed wasn't a real and persistent danger people had been worried about over the past few years. "You're still collecting wrinkles."

[sith_happened]

"I am not," Anakin lied.

[suitably_heroic]

"Aw, it's fine, not everyone can have an immortal baby face like me," Atton said, smirking. "Makes you look wizened."

[sith_happened]

"Wizened," Anakin repeated.

[suitably_heroic]

"Sorry, did I say wizened?" Atton said, faux-apologetic. "I meant wise."

[sith_happened]

"Of course you did," Anakin said, eyes narrowing. "I have not missed you at all."

[suitably_heroic]

"Glad to see you alive too," Atton said brightly. He gave his unlit lightsaber a little twirl. "So, I commed you because I'm going to be splitting my time between here and a place I've got up in New York," he said, "Wanna help me keep my combat skills sharp while I play Earthling for the next however months?"

[sith_happened]

"I'm always up for some lightsaber practice," Anakin said, smiling.

Despite being wizened. Ugh. That would linger.

"Why New York?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Big city on Earth that isn't insufferable and wasn't Baltimore," Atton said, with an easy shrug. "Wound up there during a bad spell and stuck around."

[sith_happened]

"How long have you been on this planet?" Anakin asked.

[suitably_heroic]

"Recently or in total?" Atton asked.

[sith_happened]

"Recently," Anakin decided.

[suitably_heroic]

"Stopped by Fandom a year and a half ago, came out of it feeling like I'd been hit by a landspeeder," Atton said. "So I took off, wound up in New York, and I've been running missions from there since."

[sith_happened]

"Well, you're not the strangest person in New York."

There was a compliment in there if you squinted.

[suitably_heroic]

"Thanks," Atton said drily.

He gave another vaguely noncommittal shrug. "It's been a good place to get away from Atton Rand."

Figure out how much was left of the kid he used to be, before he built this whole persona around him.

[sith_happened]

Anakin's lips quirked up. "That is a feeling I can completely understand. What have you learned?"

[suitably_heroic]

"That I kinda like being in a band," Atton said, and snorted softly, and shook his head. "Still figuring it out past that, but it's been good, I think."

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "You're in a band? What kind of music?"

[suitably_heroic]

"It's mostly just cover tribute stuff," Atton said, waving his hand. "But my roommate has delusions of becoming a songwriter with some indie-pop vibes, and that is the most Earth normal thing I have ever said to you in my entire life and I'm going to need you to wave a lightsaber at me and say words like 'kark' and 'poodoo' at me for a solid hour."

[sith_happened]

"First I'm going to need a moment to process 'Atton Rand' and 'tribute band,'" Anakin said with a snicker.