Room 327- Thursday afternoon

[notconflicted]

Despite being an only child who'd never really had to share her things in her life, Sia was pretty considerate when it came to sharing a space. So with Juliet away, it was nice to have the room to herself on a day off, to relax and listen to music from home just slightly loudly with the door open...

...and to go over datapads telling her what was going on back home because the proverbial apple had not fallen far from the proverbial tree even if said apple was a few generations removed. It was better to stay as informed as possible when she was presumably going to end up in leading things back home, and that was what she was going to keep telling herself since it was a better reason in her mind than "Sometimes I worry."


[Expecting one, but door and post open before that!]

Comments

[notconflicted]

"Or perhaps you only think that because you only see me when you're on a mission to make me angry," Sia countered.

No, she was really that uptight.

[suitably_heroic]

"Really," Atton said, "Because I'm trying to picture you smiling and I just can't do it."

[notconflicted]

Sia shrugged. "Give me a reason and maybe you'll see it."

[suitably_heroic]

"Here's a hint, princess," Atton said, tilting his head to get a look at what she was even doing. "If you have to turn smiling into a competition... you're doing it wrong."

[notconflicted]

"It's not a competition, it's a challenge," she said, frowning at the head tilting like she was trying to read something private, which she wasn't. One I doubt you're up for, considering every single one of our conversations."

[suitably_heroic]

"Because those are all my fault," Atton said.

He was reading now and it... was about as boring as it had seemed from a distance.

[notconflicted]

"Yes it is," she said, holding the datapad out. "Would this make it easier to read?"

[suitably_heroic]

"Nah," Atton said, though he took the datapad anyway. "Seriously? This is what you do in your free time?"

He held up the datapad and began to read out loud.

[notconflicted]

"I do care about what I'm missing at home, yes," Sia replied. "If you have a problem with that, then too bad."

[suitably_heroic]

"This is not really a 'Dear Sia, everything's good on the old moisture farm' letter," he said, casting it back onto the desk.

[notconflicted]

"Did you honestly expect it would be?" she asked.

Also, like she came from a moisture farm.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm just saying this could read less like a mission report," he replied. "Did heartfelt letters go out of fashion?"

[notconflicted]

"If you must know, due to the circumstances at home I'm unable to receive heartfelt letters." Not that Roan was a really emotional guy or anything. "This is what I get."

[suitably_heroic]

Atton wistled. "Sounds rough," he said.

[notconflicted]

"That's just the way things have to be right now. I deal with it," Sia said. She just wished she didn't have to.

[suitably_heroic]

"And this is why you need to relax," Atton replied. He reached into his pocket. "They still play pazaak in your time?"

[notconflicted]

Better watch it, Atton. She might think you're being nice to her.

"I've never played," she admitted.

[suitably_heroic]

Well, he wasn't. Because your face.

"Kids these days," Atton said, tossing a stack of cards onto her desk. "You're missing out on most of the major life experiences here."

[notconflicted]

"Playing cards is a major life experience now?" she asked, but she wasn't as guarded as she had been.

[suitably_heroic]

"It's not just cards, it's pazaak," Atton retorted. He picked a bunch of cards out of the stack and offered it to her. "There. That's your starter deck. We play Republic Senate rules; I'm out of credits."

[notconflicted]

She took the cards, and used her other hand to pull the chair from Juliet's desk over using the Force. "I assume that's fine, as I didn't understand as many of those words in context as I'd like."

[suitably_heroic]

"It means we push a lot of cards back and forth, waste a bunch of time, and nobody comes out ahead," Atton said cheerfully. "Anyway. You can have a starter deck of ten cards. Each new game, you pick four at random. That's your playing cards."

[notconflicted]

"Understood," she said.

Or, rather, tried to say. What actually came out was a "Mew?" since sitting in Sia's chair was now a surprised-looking black cat. With a white streak, naturally.

[suitably_heroic]

...

"No, really?" Atton said. "Right now?"

Only pazaak could suppress Atton's ability to make fun of her.

[notconflicted]

Right now? Why ever?

Sia mewed at him some more, like there was something he could possibly do to fix this.

She would smile if you fixed this, Atton. Promise.

[suitably_heroic]

Atton gave the cat a foul look, gathering his cards back up and shoving them back into his pocket. "Bad-- Sia," he said, pointing a finger at her. "That's the last time I try to cheer you up."

Shut up.

[notconflicted]

Like this was her fault? That only led to louder cat-trying-talk-and-still-sounding-exactly-like-a-cat noises as if trying to explain that this wasn't her fault and she didn't want to be a cat, thank you.

She did appreciate him trying, though, but she was never ever planning on saying that out loud.

[suitably_heroic]

"I'm leaving," Atton told the cat.

He got up, mentally cursing the Jedi who had plugged him back into feelings like 'guilt'.

[notconflicted]

Oh, really? He was going to leave her like this?

Sia leaped off the desk and thankfully landed on her feet, completely willing to follow him and pester him because she was having problems not being soft and fluffy here.

[suitably_heroic]

"Oh, come on."

Someone should probably feed her while she was li--

Stupid Jedi!

[notconflicted]

It wasn't like she had a roommate around right now. She was going to be feline and all alone here.

She sat in the way of the door, flicking her tail.

Adorably.

[suitably_heroic]

"Fine," Atton relented. He came to a stop. "But you owe me one for this, okay?"

[notconflicted]

She paused, thinking about it. She didn't like owing anyone, but... she kind of would for this. And she didn't really have other options.

She mewed her agreement.