fandomhigh | Galactic Field Trips, Monday

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extraterrestrial civilizations

Galactic Field Trips, Monday

"Good morning, everyone." Lana smiled. "Welcome to our last trip for this term. I hope you've enjoyed getting to see my galaxy." Albeit a carefully curated version. "For our last class, we'll be going to Dantooine. It's an agricultural world that's currently part of the Alliance. It's on the edge of Imperial territory and lies on two separate hyperspace routes, so it's not as out-of-touch as you might think, given its position in the galaxy."

Look, it was the boonies, but it was a pretty nice boonies.

"So, come on through." She waved them into the portal, followed along, and...oh, no. This was not Dantooine!

She turned just in time for the portal to close. "Damn it! Sorry, this is not our planned destination." She pulled out her phone as she looked around. "Welcome to Nar Shaddaa, playground of the Hutts and every criminal in the galaxy. Look, why don't you head into the casino, change a bit of money, and enjoy the slots while I call Portalocity and get us out of here. Just - look, stay away from the tables, don't make a scene no matter what you see, and do not approach anything large and sluglike."

Lana had to make some phone calls.

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Steven was on the very short list of people Watts would actually listen to and accommodate accordingly in a situation like this, and thus he slowed his pace enough to allow Steven to catch up.

Which Steven did, and then kept pace. "Are you all right? Where are we going?"

"I plan to drink enough to keep me planted firmly to my seat and not tempted to step foot inside the gambling den," Watts said. "You are welcome to come along if you choose."

He'd prefer it, but if Steven wanted to go gamble instead he wouldn't hold him back.

"As though I'm letting you out of my bloody sight," Steven said. He then did a double take when he noticed a nearby reflection. "Or Marc."

"It is literally impossible for you to let Marc out of your sight," Watts said, misinterpreting Steven's statement in his haste to get away.

Luckily they could easily move from reflective surface to surface as needed, so Marc kept pace with them as much as the surroundings allowed.

"No, I meant - " Steven pointed to the latest one, which of course just looked like himself. "He's about. Watching."

Like I'm leaving you alone in a place like this.

"And worried," Steven added, since that was true.

Watts's gaze darted towards where Steven pointed anyway, for just a moment, even though he knew he'd just see Steven there and not Marc.

"Well, he's welcome too, of course."

"We'll keep an eye on you then," Steven said. "Certainly not leaving you alone."

Hopefully despite the terseness of Watts's nod of acknowledgement, both Steven and Marc would be able to tell that the gesture was appreciated.

Watts slid into a seat at the lounge, immediately waving over a server and placing an order for a drink that he knew was both high in alcohol content and safe for human consumption. Once the drink was in front of him he drank that down and then ordered another in quick succession.

Figuring out payment would be a future Watts problem, as he'd skipped right by getting his money changed.

The terseness was more than understood and not taken personally. Steven took a seat besides Llewellyn and ordered something non-alcoholic, as one of them needed to keep their wits about them. For example to remember to get money with which to pay for things.

Marc, in the meanwhile, did not look pleased about their location. This isn't for you, Steven.

"I'm not leaving Llewellyn," Steven said. Though yes, admittedly even Steven recognized that this was much more Marc's sort of place than his own. Very much more.

You could keep watch, Marc pointed out, indicating his current position.

"Marc's wondering about coming out to keep an eye on things," Steven said. He indicated the reflective surface behind the bar which, as always, just showed himself. "I'd keep watch if he did though. Not go away, I promise. And certainly not if you'd rather I stay beside you."

The second drink wasn’t going down quite as quickly as the first but he was still making short work of it.

“So long as you don’t leave completely,” Watts said. Which was, yes, basically exactly what Steven had just said. But considering a moment ago he’d said they were welcome to come along if they wanted, this was- about as close as he’d get to outright asking for company from either one of them.

Edited 2023-06-19 06:56 (UTC)

"I won't, I promise," Steven said. He pointed to his reflection again. "I'll be right there. Or anywhere I can pop in. And if you need me in the body I can take over in a blink. All right?"

Another nod, around the rest of his drink. And then he was just going to drum his fingers on the counter as he waited for a server to be free so he could order a third.

Which was more than enough time for Marc to take over the body because they really could do that in less than a blink these days. Steven was now in the reflection, his worried gaze never wavering from keeping an eye on Watts.

As for Marc - yeah, like hell he was letting Steven in a place like this unsupervised. And as far as Watts was concerned there was also no way in hell Marc was letting him get drunk and have some kind of gambling related freakout also unsupervised.

He was going to get himself a proper drink, though, since why waste the opportunity to try the alien booze? But pacing it, not like Watts was doing.

"Breathe through it," Marc told him. "You'll be fine."

“Can I ask you a favour?” Watts implored.

"Go for it," Marc told him.

“Should I try to leave… make sure I stay?”

"Only place you're leaving is to go home," Marc confirmed. Which at this rate he figured would involve carrying Watts back to the portal but hey, Watts had done the same for him. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Thank you, Marc.

Marc waved off Steven's gratitude. Frankly with Steven not in control of the body that meant he was taken care of. Which only left Watts as the one to worry about. Way easier than worrying about them both.

“Thank you, Marc,” Watts said, unknowingly echoing Steven. He may well need to be peeled out of his seat by the end of this, that was true.

"You'll be okay," Marc said. "We've got you."

The "we" there was more to appease Steven's worried look than it was about Marc's belief that Steven could be particularly useful in this setting.

“Can I buy you a drink?” Watts asked.

Never mind that he’d skipped the ‘changing currencies’ step.

"Sure," Marc said, since Watts seemed like a guy who needed to feel a little control over the situation. "May as well try it while I'm here."

“Barkeep,” Watts waved the server over. “One more for me, and one for him as well,” he jabbed a thumb in Marc’s direction.

Steven looked worried. He should be drinking water.

"Steven wants you to drink water," Marc said, because fuck if he was going to backseat drive someone else's bender.

He should eat something as well. I brought snacks if he needs them.

Marc stared at Steven. "Seriously?"

Steven completely misinterpreted the question, which was amazing considering they effectively had the ability to read each other's thoughts. (Or possibly Steven was doing it on purpose, like an asshole.) In my bag.

Right. He was wearing Steven's clothes. Marc dug into the satchel. Sure enough, there was a snack sized bag of pretzels in it. He put that in front of Watts. "Here. He wants you to eat too."

Look, Watts knew Steven wasn’t actually in the reflective surface Marc had just glanced at- and when he looked over all he could see was Marc anyway. Regardless, it was getting a look of fondness. “Thank you, darling.”

Re: Class activity

hasaknightjob - 2023-06-19 19:57 (UTC) - Expand

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