The Park, Saturday Morning

[suitably_heroic]

Jack woke up on a park bench.

That was disorienting, because it had been a long time since the last time he'd slept on a park bench. At least a couple decades. It had probably been this very park bench, though, he registered slowly as he sat up and felt his back do a thing it shouldn't be doing.

He rubbed his face. Squinted. Rubbed his face again. Squinted some more. "Definitely flamingos," he muttered.

Yep. Yep, this was Fandom all right.

"This is the last time I touch any flyer I get from the school without gloves on," he said, and finally stood up, stretching.

Ugh.

[[ open ]]

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[unusual_sith]

And shortly thereafter he was getting a phone call. Ring ring!

[suitably_heroic]

Jack snagged his phone out of his pocket, squinted briefly at how dated it looked, and then-- answered it. "Yeah?"

[unusual_sith]

"I'm somehow back in my old apartment on Fandom," Lana started. "Where have you ended up?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Bench. Park. No idea how," Jack muttered.

(Future/Past Atton was going to yell at Portalocity so much over dumping him in Fandom later.)

[unusual_sith]

“Please tell me it’s at least Fandom and not Central Park,” Lana said. “The island gets stranger every year, but at least the cops aren’t quite as bad.”

[suitably_heroic]

"Fandom," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I only wind up on those kinds of benders when you're around, for some reason." He ran his hand through his hair. "If this is what I think it is, I probably don't have anywhere to crash, so..."

[unusual_sith]

“I claim no responsibility for any benders,” Lana said primly. “I’m a responsible adult. With an old apartment, apparently, which…” she checked, “has a coffee pot, so you don’t even have to pay in caffeine to crash here.”

[suitably_heroic]

"Right, where is it again?" Jack said. "Because my back is going to need a better place to sleep off the rest of the morning."

[unusual_sith]

Lana took a second to think about it. And then a minute to google it. "The one north of park that's not the junkyard. Number nine. At least we're where we were planning on being this weekend. Park bench notwithstanding."

[suitably_heroic]

"I hadn't decided yet," Jack grumbled. But he turned on his axis and began to walk north. "This feels like elder abuse."

Even if, per the rules of Star Wars video game characters, since they hadn't been living as hermits on Tatooine, they were pretty young-looking for people in their sixties.

[unusual_sith]

"If it were targeted, I'd say so, but I imagine it's everyone," Lana said. "It usually is." She was already remembering how to use this old machine to get it to cough up coffee. "And if you'd decided not to come, you would have been forced to babysit and mercilessly mocked all weekend."

[suitably_heroic]

"Please. Your kid loves me."

Yep. The directions were beginning to come to him now.

[unusual_sith]

"Of course she does. Which is why she would have mocked you mercilessly," Lana answered. "Lovingly, but mercilessly."

[suitably_heroic]

"Nuh uh," Atton said, as he wandered the road towards her apartment. "We'd just talk shit about you."

[unusual_sith]

"Of that I have no doubt," Lana said wryly. "In between bouts of you getting mocked." That was her story and she was sticking to it.

"I have some bagels that look edible. Not New York quality, but food," she added as she looked around the kitchen some more. "And some bacon if you think it's worth chancing."

[suitably_heroic]

"If we're stuck here for the weekend..." He wasn't far now. "Ugh. How did we survive here all these years?"

[unusual_sith]

"On a lot of takeout, as I recall," Lana answered. "It's not bad for a small town."

[suitably_heroic]

"Yeah, but it's still a small town," Jack complained.

Oh, look. There was MCA.

He rang the bell for her apartment.

[unusual_sith]

"True." Lana let him in. "But it's still better than Dantooine."

[suitably_heroic]

"Please don't mention Dantooine to me this week," Jack muttered.

He stepped into the elevator.

[unusual_sith]

"Sorry," Lana said sympathetically. "Come on up, and we'll have bagels and bacon and coffee, and tonight we'll have drinks and meeting people you were already grumpy with twenty years ago, and you'll have a lovely time."

[suitably_heroic]

Jack let out a loud sigh. He ended the call.

Got to her floor. Knocked on the door.

[unusual_sith]

Lana let him in, trying to judge if he was in a hugging mood or a changing the topic mood. She split the difference by squeezing his arm and moving on. "This place is barer than I remember. Coffee should be ready, though."

[suitably_heroic]

"Good, I can use it," Jack said. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, this week has been-- weird."

He was the only Lost Jedi left alive.

He couldn't wrap his head around it.

[unusual_sith]

"I can imagine," Lana said. "You know you only have to ask if you need something. But for now, coffee."

She led the way into the kitchen and got down a couple mugs, pouring coffee into each and adding milk to hers. "Bagel or back to sleep first?"