Coruscant- Sunday

[notconflicted]

It wasn't as if they hadn't been aware that the Sith threat was still out there, but it'd been quiet for long enough that they'd maybe gotten a little complacent. They'd definitely been distracted. And then today the convoy carrying all three leaders of the Triumvirate had been attacked by a Sith cell.

It was a smaller cell, and Sia had an Antares-led security team of Imperial Knights in addition to the couple of Jedi in Master K’hruk’s speeder, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Her Knights also came out looking pretty amazing on the footage that made the news, so not only Sia was absolutely going to use that to her advantage, but she was also able to finagle this into devoting more time and resources into locating the remaining cells. Also, while this raised questions about how the Sith knew where they would be, there were less of them to worry about now. In the end, it was a rough day that worked in her favor for once.

She wasn’t exactly shaken up by this. This was fairly minor, but the rest of the events and meetings for today were postponed, and people hadn’t really been keen on bugging her anymore today. And with actual time to herself for once, she was spending it sitting on the floor of the vast, empty hallway outside her quarters, throwing a ball for Vitor to fetch without worrying about disturbing anyone.

Maybe she’d find an open training room later? What did normal people do with free time?

[Open!]

Comments

[suitably_heroic]

You know, Atton didn't make it a point to seek out Sia, these days. But the combined frustration of the island and his own increasing antsiness didn't exactly make for great, sane ideas.

He stared at Sia's name on his messenger app for a while.

Then, in a rush, clicked it, texted What's up?, and then immediately yelled at his phone: "No, no, no, don't do that! Don't send-- you sent it. I hate technology!"

[notconflicted]

Sia heard her phone go off, and frowned at it for a moment before answering.

Nothing, at the moment. Everything okay?

Even without their current weirdness, she honestly couldn’t remember the last time Atton had contacted her first. It had to have been years.

[suitably_heroic]

It's April First and I haven't had to maim anyone yet. So that's a plus.

Should he mention the pollen?

Nah, that might cross some wires.

[notconflicted]

The pollen would at least make sense. So far she was just confused, and a little worried.

Congratulations.

Then, You don’t text me just to chat. Seriously, is everything okay?

[suitably_heroic]

Yeah, yeah, the island's just being weird, we'll get over it.

There. Nice and vague.

(And yes, Atton was totally the kind of guy who would even text 'Yeah, yeah.')

[notconflicted]

There was one problem with vagueness.

What is it doing?

[suitably_heroic]

Oh, you know. Setting everyone on edge, Atton texted. Vaguely.

Space, why had he sent that first text to begin with?

[notconflicted]

And Sia was about to make it worse because now she was calling.

When the guy you’d slept with who immediately wanted nothing to do with you anymore started talking to you out of the blue and wasn’t giving real answers as to why, there were only so many ways to text “what’s happening?”

[suitably_heroic]

Atton groaned, slumping back in his chair.

He answered. "What?"

[notconflicted]

“You tell me,” Sia said, throwing the ball again for her dog to chase. “You’re the one who texted and started being vague about it.”

[suitably_heroic]

"Can't a guy just text because he's grumpy and Sparkle is... being Sparkle?" Atton said.

[notconflicted]

“A guy could, if that guy had ever done it before and been forthcoming with answers,” Sia said. “What’s Sparkle got to do with it?”

[suitably_heroic]

"Didn't I just tell you?" Atton said.

[notconflicted]

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Besides, when have you ever purposely talked to me when you're grumpy? I thought I'm usually the one causing it."

[suitably_heroic]

"Lots of things make me grumpy, you're not special," Atton muttered. "It's a crappy galaxy out there."

[notconflicted]

"All right," she said after a pause as Vitor skidded past her on his way back. "What do you want to talk about?"

[suitably_heroic]

"I was just checking in," Atton said. (Stupid impulse to text her. Stupid.) "Seeing how progress is coming along back there."

[notconflicted]

Sometimes she could just shake him. “Sith tried to kill me earlier today, otherwise all the news is boring.”

[suitably_heroic]

"Seriously?"

Everybody who knew Atton wanted to shake him most of the time. It was okay to admit that.

[notconflicted]

“I’m not known for joking,” Sia deadpanned.

[suitably_heroic]

"What happened, smartass?" Atton asked.

[notconflicted]

thst actually got a little smile out of her, just for being one tiny little thing in all this that felt normal. “A group of them ambushed our convoy. Antares was with me, there were Jedi and Imperial Knights there, we won.”

[suitably_heroic]

Atton let out a sigh. "You know 'Antares was with me' doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, right?" he said. "You have any idea how many Sith are still out there?"

[notconflicted]

“There are very few people I have left backing me up, and he’s not letting anything happen to me,” Sia said firmly. Maybe a touch defensively. “And we’re not sure. We didn’t destroy the Sith, just break them up and scatter them. This is finally going to give me some leverage in making finding them more of a priority.”

[suitably_heroic]

"You have to keep them on the run, or... well, you're going to be the one running soon enough," Atton said. "Sith are kind of like gizka. All you need is two, and in a week you've got an empire."

Beat.

"No offense."

[notconflicted]

“I’m aware. It’s why I have my job.” Maybe she was throwing the ball a little hard on that note. At the wall. Because it was more satisfying that way. “Anyway, that’s all that’s different, really.”

[suitably_heroic]

"No weird weather stuff where you are, huh?" Atton said, and immediately regretted it. "Lucky."

[notconflicted]

Sia frowned, and went quiet for a moment as the things he said before clicked into place.

“...Atton, is it pollen time?”

[suitably_heroic]

"I never said that," Atton said immediately.

[notconflicted]

“No, you didn’t, that’s why I’m directly asking,” she said.

[suitably_heroic]

"Well, why do you care?" Atton said. "It's not your problem if it is or not."

The labyrinthine process of arguing with Atton about something that was clearly true.

[notconflicted]

“Well, it does make me wonder why you contacted me when I’d think I would be the last on your list.”

Not that she was hurt by the whole thing, or anything.

[suitably_heroic]

"I just wanted to see if you weren't dead yet," Atton defended himself. "And you're not!"

[notconflicted]

“Yes, thank you for that,” Sia said dryly. “Of course it wouldn’t be for any other reason.”

She actually wasn’t assuming that there was, but messing with Atton was a time-honored tradition.

[suitably_heroic]

Did Atton suddenly miss Sarah right now? Ohhh, yeah.

"I don't know what you're thinking," he said, "But it's not what I'm thinking. Nope."

[notconflicted]

“Of course not. So what are you thinking?” Not that she’d get a real answer.

[suitably_heroic]

"I was thinking that now I know you're not dead I should end this conversation," Atton said, even if he kind of liked hearing her voice and hated himself for it.

[notconflicted]

Sia sighed, wishing she wasn’t disappointed in that. “Then I guess I’ll talk to you again the next time you want to make sure I’m not dead.”

So, probably never? Next pollen week? Because she wasn’t planning on setting herself up for this feeling on purpose.