Kanan's apartment, Tuesday morning

[futurespacemom]

All right, Hera had shirts. She had gone to sleep in a shirt, she had just bought shirts at the store, and she didn't have so many things that she'd have lost them!

She was pretty sure Kanan wasn't the sort to steal all her shirts for a joke, and anyway all of his seemed to be missing too, and Chopper was still back on the Ghost (she had checked).

She had finally resorted to weaving her new scarf around her and tying it, in lieu of an actual top.

Then she went to make caf. She was not dealing with whatever this was without caf.


[Open post, though if you don't live there, you'd better knock!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

"My favorite?" Kanan blinked, and then scratched at his beard for a moment while he thought. "Anything I got to use my ship for, I suppose. I don't usually look back, if I can help it."

Because if he looked back, he'd have to acknowledge that maybe he cared. And he couldn't afford to care.

[futurespacemom]

"That even includes not playing favorites?" Hera nudged his good knee. "Well, what about something you hated? Not that was genuinely awful, just one of those things, like...ever do a desk job?"

[uncertain_dume]

"What, like temp work?" He laughed and shook his head. "Nobody would hire me, even though I applied for one or two. Not really my thing, but It helped that they had free caf."

Priorities.

"I'm less likely to end up behind the desk and more likely to end up being the guy who runs around doing work better left to droids, anyway. Delivery jobs, construction. Transit. Farm labor. Okadiah's wasn't the first cantina I've worked at. And not all of my jobs have necessarily been entirely above-board."

He suspected that Hera would have a thing or two to say about the occasional spice running meant to tide him over until the next planet with the next helpful person looking to hire a drifter who seemed to be down on his luck.

[futurespacemom]

"I sort of thought that went without saying." No, Hera wouldn't approve of spice running. Smuggling, though, she'd done quite a bit of herself. "Where's the most interesting place you've been?"

[uncertain_dume]

"The most interesting?" Kanan tilted his head in thought for a moment. "I mean, the award for that one's gotta go to this place, I guess. If any of the other places I've been were that interesting, I wouldn't have wandered off from them, bored."

Sorry, Hera. He wasn't quite ready to give you the full run-down of the places he'd been in his life just yet.

[futurespacemom]

Couldn't blame a girl for being curious.

"Well, that's a little worrying. Or exciting. Or both," Hera said with a grin.

[uncertain_dume]

"Like I said, this place is usually pretty quiet, but when it gets exciting, it doesn't skimp," Kanan replied, shrugging. "And sometimes it's just plain weird."

... Like with the rain.

[futurespacemom]

"So I see." Hera gestured out at the rain of whatever. "I guess I'll keep my eyes open."

If only not to miss things like shirtless Kanan.

[uncertain_dume]

"You're in for an interesting time," Kanan replied, smirking. "How do you feel about tooka?"

[futurespacemom]

Hera eyed him. "I'm afraid to ask. Why?"

[uncertain_dume]

"Well, I spent a week as a Loth-cat," Kanan explained, "so I figure if you have any allergies or aversions to something clawing at the walls, now's the time to speak up."

[futurespacemom]

"...You what?"

[uncertain_dume]

"I also spent one weekend as a kid-- I don't recommend it," Kanan added, ticking that off on his fingers. "And an angry old man. At least, I think I was angry. I don't remember much of that weekend in particular."

[futurespacemom]

"But how does any of that even work?" Hera protested.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave his shoulders a shrug.

"Hell if I know," he admitted. "I think reality here is twisted a little sideways or... something. I know that sort of thing shouldn't be possible. Frankly, I don't think Fandom cares."

[futurespacemom]

Hera sighed. "How many people leave this place in less than a month with splitting headaches from trying to figure it out?" she asked.

[uncertain_dume]

"... A surprisingly small number," Kanan replied, after pausing to seriously consider that. "I mean, some stick around entirely because they're stuck here, but figuring it out isn't usually the dealbreaker, with this place."

Usually.

[futurespacemom]

"What is?" Hera asked. "Or don't I want to know?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan pursed his lips a little.

"Sometimes, the island gets dangerous," he said, finally. "Really, really dangerous. Nobody ever gets really hurt. At least, nothing that lasts any amount of time. But until whatever happens is dealt with, you might as well be trying to navigate an asteroid field in a disarmed TIE."

[futurespacemom]

Hera pictured that, and of course immediately started picturing how she'd do it. Which wasn't the point, she was sure.

Instead, she gave Kanan a determined and slightly grim smile. "Well, I always did like a challenge."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan gave Hera a wry smile in return.

"Sometimes, it isn't even a complete surprise," he offered, and then his expression shifted, for just a moment, to something kind of tentative, hesitant, before he added, "to me, I mean. If leaving before things get ugly here is ever an option, I mean..."

He could speak up. Probably. He'd stopped carrying his lightsaber around so openly again since Gorse, but he'd circle back around to that point eventually. Hopefully.

[futurespacemom]

Hera nodded back, not wanting to make a big deal of that admission. "If you ever want to get out of here, just let me know," she said firmly. "We'll find someplace else."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan blew out a breath, and then nodded, trying to act like, hey, that wasn't a big deal at all. Really. Just another thing he could do. Like catching large falling objects with his mind. Whatever.

"Great," he said. "We can skip town, let someone else deal with it..."

Feel terrible about it. Worry the entire while. He buried his face in his hand for a moment.

"Or just... brace for it. Or whatever seems right at the time."

For all the insisting that he did that he didn't just randomly help people, he was actually kind of terrible at it in practice.

[futurespacemom]

Which Hera was not at all smirking about. Really.

"Whatever seems right," she agreed.

[uncertain_dume]

He'd gone full Jedi Padawan in every way except for the robes and the braid, the last time the island had gone to hell.

... And there had been a braid, at that. It just hadn't been his.

"You're smirking," he accused. He still had his hand over his face, but look, he just knew these things.