From the Roof of the MCA to the Moon! Thursday Afternoon

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan was still kind of uncertain about how he'd wound up agreeing to this. But here he was, running systems checks on the Escape, the fish still sandwiched between two pillows, screaming out its muffled Sabotage refrain like that didn't particularly matter.

He had to admit, the idea of dumping it off on-or-at-least-near the moon was pretty appealing, though. The rest of it?

"You comfortable, there?"

Well, the rest of it was a bit awkward.

[OOC: For one!]

Comments

[sith_happened]

Anakin shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and not just from fear of the fish shooting Little Bunny Foo Foo straight into his head.

"It's fine," he said. "I've sat in worse."

What an amazingly polite thing to say, Anakin.

[uncertain_dume]

"She's a good ship," Kanan muttered. "Belonged to a Separatist General during the war. Saved my life a few times."

The Escape was his baby.

[sith_happened]

"Mine were bigger."

That's super helpful.

"It's been a while, though," he said. "Generally I use a Lambda-class shuttle that got repurposed."

That's a nice way of saying "stolen."

[uncertain_dume]

Hey! Kanan's ship was repurposed, too!

"Lambda-class, huh? Nice." He tilted his head as he finished running the diagnostic, nodded in satisfaction, and then brought her up off the roof. "I'll admit there have been times when I could have come to appreciate a ship with a little more elbow room, but this one's just fine for one."

And unfortunately a little cuddly for two.

[sith_happened]

And slightly terrifying with a fish that can sing in your mind.

"My son got it for me," Anakin said proudly.

From a Death Star as it blew up. As you do.

[uncertain_dume]

The phrase 'my son' from someone Kanan's brain still associated strongly with 'Jedi' would stop breaking his mind someday. Really.

"That's Luke, right? Met him at the bar that one time. Seems like a good kid."

Who had most likely been older at the bar than Kanan was right now. Details.

[sith_happened]

"He is," Anakin said, smiling proudly. "I had...very little do with that," he said.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan figured. He'd met Anakin, too.

"So he's a good kid all on his own? Even better," he decided, lowering the ship's wings and bringing her up toward the mesosphere. It was better than thinking about the good potential kid the island had shown him a while back. The 'very little to do with that' thing seemed to be a trend among Jedi fathers... Not that Kanan was ever expecting to be a father. "And you've got more, right?"

They used to talk about these sorts of things! Back before that whole Vader thing. Kanan still remembered a bit of it, at least.

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Luke has a twin sister," he said, "and then I have two younger children with my current wife."

Who wasn't dead. Cough.

[uncertain_dume]

"Right, who works for..." Kanan waved a hand around while he groped for the word. "Buzzfeed? Was that it? She still there?"

Makin' small talk about Anakin Skywalker's wife, as you do. Totally casual trip to the moon.

[sith_happened]

"Still there," Anakin confirmed. "She's the political editor now. They've expanded their news service so it's not all quizzes about what your nachos topping choices have to do with your voting patterns."

[uncertain_dume]

The purely anecdotal ones, like what age your potato preferences meant you were. Kanan remembered.

"Hey, good on her," he replied. "Keeping an eye on that sort of thing sounds exhausting."

Which was just one reason he'd mostly settled for keeping his head down for... far too long.

[sith_happened]

"Oh, our kids have learned all sorts of Mommy words that she only uses when she comes back from a White House briefing," Anakin said dryly.

[uncertain_dume]

"Mommy words," Kanan echoed, amused. "Telling them not to repeat them must be a riot."

Possibly a literal one. Kanan didn't know much about kids.

[sith_happened]

"More like a lost cause, but we pretend that it's making a difference," Anakin said.

[uncertain_dume]

"Clinging to the little delusions is sometimes what keeps you going, huh?"

... Not that Kanan knew from experience.

Also, shut up.

The Escape broke atmosphere, and Kanan grinned as he put on the speed, not waiting for a reply. The rules were different out here, he kind of lived for space flight. Not the same way Hera did, no, but it was freedom in a way little else was. He could appreciate that.

[sith_happened]

"It's surprising how often it comes up with Padawans and children," Anakin admitted dryly before letting out a long breath as he looked out the front of the ship.

"This view never gets old," he said.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan could have stood up for the Padawans, there. After all, he still was one. Sort of. But with that view? Hell, he couldn't be bothered.

"Just gets better every time," he agreed.

Every day you lived to see this? That was a victory.

[sith_happened]

"When I was a kid on Tatooine, I wanted to visit every star in the sky," Anakin admitted. "I haven't gotten close."

[uncertain_dume]

"You'd need more than a few lifetimes for that one," Kanan noted, bringing his ship around and directing her toward the moon. "You'd think it would make you feel small, but I don't think I've ever had that problem."

Well. Once. But being blown out an airlock was a very different experience from sitting in a nice, pressure-controlled cockpit with a breatheable atmosphere and control of where you were going.

[sith_happened]

Yeah, being trapped in the vastness of space and realizing exactly how little it cared about you was...sobering.

Not that Anakin had experienced that in a disabled TIE fighter after the Death Star exploded. Cough.

"I've always found it easier to connect to the Force when surrounded like this," he admitted instead.

[uncertain_dume]

"I..." Kanan shot a sidelong glance toward Anakin, and then looked back out toward the moon in the distance. "... I wouldn't know, myself. I never really spent much time out here just... connecting."

Of course there had been ships to transport himself, Master Billaba, and the clones to their assignments during the war, but he'd never had this particular view. And once the war was over, he'd never had much interest in connecting with much of anything. Pushy as the Force was, he'd always worked at being that little bit pushier.

[sith_happened]

Anakin shrugged. "Different places work for different people," he said. "Right, so when we get to the moon are we just airlocking the thing and hoping for the best?"

[uncertain_dume]

Yeah, Kanan was going to leap on that out. It was all about the places and not at all about circumstance, really.

"That was the plan, yeah. It doesn't need to be on the moon to be out of our hair. I'm just as happy with it floating around space if you are."

[sith_happened]

"Singing its terrible songs, probably," Anakin said, shuddering.

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah," Kanan agreed easily, "but in space. Where nobody has to hear it."

It was even going to get blown out of that airlock while still strapped in between two pillows. So there was going to be the double whammy of a pillow muffler and no atmosphere to keep that damn thing silent. It would be blissful.

[sith_happened]

"And good riddance to it," Anakin said.

The fish will remember, Anakin. It will remember your betrayal.

Or something.

[uncertain_dume]

Anakin... Anakin...

The fish knows.

Kanan grinned as they came up on the moon, falling easily into an orbit around it.

"Would you like to do the honors?"

Please, please do it. Eject the fish.