fandomhigh | BWI Airport, Portalocity Lounge, Friday Morning [12/30]

Anakin still thought that getting sent off to school at some place he'd never heard of (and he'd been trying to memorize star maps practically since he was old enough to read) was one of Uncle Luke's stranger decisions. He'd graduated from the Academy, he wasn't a little kid any more, but as his uncle's apprentice he didn't have much room to argue. He'd much rather have been back in the thick of things if it were up to him, but it wasn't and Luke had sent him here, so he'd trust Luke's judgment even if he didn't understand it. Sending him to Dantooine with Aunt Mara had been weird at the time, too, and turned out to be a valuable learning experience.

The large Fandom High banner in the Portalocity lounge left little doubt that he was in the right place. With a tiny sigh, Anakin set his single bag down on the floor, tugged at the hem of his tunic. and brushed his fingertips against the hilt of the lightsaber hanging from his belt. That, at least, was something familiar in a completely unfamiliar environment.

He never liked waiting around for things to happen, but since he couldn't be home helping the Jedi with the war effort waiting for the shuttle to show up was the only thing to do right now. Well, that and finding out what the other new students would be like, and he supposed that part would happen soon enough.

[OOC: You will wait for the OCD. *Jedi mind-tricks* Shuttle post is goooooooooo!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anakin laughed. "I'm willing to try almost anything that wouldn't be served at a Hutt's dinner table!"

It was like his stomach growled on cue right then.

"Actually, right now I'd be willing to try almost anything at all . . ."

Jim laughed faintly at that, looking around the lobby for a vending machine or something. He grinned when he saw one, nodding toward it.

"I have some money on me from the summer," he shared. "I used to have a job on the island, and American dollars don't really translate all that well to the drubloons we use back home. But it should be good enough to get something to tide you over until we get to the island, if you want. You can try some Cheezy Poofs now, if you're feeling brave."

Or like having orange fingers.

Orange fingers were no big deal!

"I've got a few credits," Anakin said quickly, not wanting to sound as if he was trying to beg. "It's okay, I won't starve, not really -- but I wouldn't mind trying those now."

Of course he was feeling brave.

Jim waved a dismissive hand, grinning and shaking his head.

"You can pay me back later, if you really want to," he decided, starting toward the vending machine. "These things are pretty picky even when you're using the right currency in them. If they'd let me take them apart, I could probably fix that, but most Earth people don't trust a kid to know what he's doing with their vending machines, I guess."

Someday, people of Earth. Someday.

"I bet I could try, too," Anakin declared as he followed along. "My sister's the real mechanical whiz, but I'm pretty good too."

Oh, great, now he was seriously contemplating taking the vending machine apart right now.

They could probably get it put back together before anyone noticed, if they were quick!

"Oh, yeah? You build stuff, then?" Jim gestured with one hand back toward his solar surfer while his other dug through his pockets for his change. "I made that myself, actually. It's not really all that hard. When I left Fandom I was in the middle of looking for materials from Earth that could be used to copy some of the things from Montressor that I used."

"Sometimes I build stuff, but mostly I help fix my dad's ship all the time," Anakin said, then looked like he was going to say something before he caught himself. No need to dump the problems with Dad on people he'd just met; he leaned forward to peer at the vending machine's offerings instead. "Did you find the stuff you were looking for?"

"Pretty sure, yeah," Jim replied, offering Anakin a crooked little smile.

He knew all about daddy issues.

"They always charge more for smaller portions in places like this, it feels like. But I should have enough to get," he pointed at a bag with kind of questionable looking orange, puffy contents, "that. And maybe something else, just in case you decide you don't like it. Chocolate is pretty good, too."

Even if he'd had a traumatizing experience with the stuff back when the island had been parked in Japan.

"I'll owe you something when we get there, promise," Anakin answered, frowning inquisitively at a pack of pretzel sticks that looked like incredibly tasteless rations. "And I think charging a lot for tiny amounts of food in any travel port happens everywhere."

"That's true enough," Jim mused. "At least nobody's here trying to sell us clothes or something?"

He was never going to let Delbert live down that clunky space suit that he'd bought at the space station back before they boarded the Legacy.

He popped a few coins into the vending machine, and then punched in the code to get the Cheezy Poofs.

"Now, if we're lucky, the thing won't just eat my money and decide to keep the food. They do that sometimes, too."

"Well, you know . . ." Anakin chewed on his thumbnail for a moment and glanced over at Jim with a speculative gleam in his eyes. "If it does eat your money it's a good reason to take it apart, isn't it?"

"You know..." Jim gave the vending machine a good kick, and the bag of Cheezy Poofs snagged on the coil, dangled there for a moment... and then stuck. "You might just be on to something, there."

Innocent grin. Innocent as the day he was born, truly.

Look, you spend a few months on a ship with a pirate as your biggest role model, and you see how well you hang on to your morals.

BWI Airport, Portalocity Lounge, Friday Morning [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! [12/30]