driftfleet | 02. this is my life now

Who: Gendry
Broadcast: NEVER
Action: On the Iskaulit and the Golden
When: August

The Golden

He'd went to sleep in his nice comfortable bed on the planet, completely oblivious to the notion that the fleet would be leaving that very same night. It was simply one of those things for which he'd had no intention of worrying about it. He woke with a start later because his augment was designed for one thing, which was to tend to the ship's engines. So when the ship began to sound just a bit ragged, he instinctively rolled off the floor the Atroma had unceremoniously dumped him in.

So they were right. He muttered some curses, then pulled himself up to his feet and went to work. After an hour making careful calibrations and monitoring the sensor readings (thank gods he'd learned to read!), he was finally able to return things to what he thought was comfortable. He would afterwards reflect that he really had absolutely no idea what he'd been doing, but the important thing was that the ship hadn't blown up and that this was about the best anyone could hope for. Though as he looked at the contents of what he had to work with, an idea had begun to come to mind.

Some days later, his crew would find him having already removed many of the panels off the stove as he tried to find a way to increase the heat. This was only his preliminary efforts, but he was fully convinced that he could cobble up the components he would need to make a workable forge up here in space. He had the experience, the knowledge, and absolutely none of the permission required to make it a reality.

(tl;dr: find gendry tearing up the kitchen, working on the ship, or paying a little too close of attention to what the exercise equipment is made of.)

The Iskaulit

At some point, someone had the decency to tell Gendry that he wouldn't have to live the rest of his life confined to one tiny ship trying to take things apart in order to stay busy. Instead he was able to live his life confined to several ships, one of which was large enough to be its own sort of marketplace. So one shuttle ride later and he was there!

There was absolutely nothing that interested him. The purpose of the gym eluded him, he didn't want to meditate, he barely could read so books were right out, he wasn't feeling particularly devout, and he hadn't been long enough away from the planet to feel particularly sentimental about seeing plants being grown. So that only left the space bar. With the well practiced ease of a man who spent an awful lot of time on a medieval world, he ordered an ale. What he received wasn't quite as frothy or watery or dirty as what he was used to drinking, but it was certainly a beverage. Eventually a few drinks later and he finds himself sitting on a bench in the public art display, staring at the mural of an artificial sunset.

(tl;dr: gendry can be found at the bar, checking out the art exhibit, or otherwise just wandering the iskaulit taking in the sights for the first time..)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He snorts and laughs, his hand reaches for it but the ball jumps out of Gendry's hand and into his. Sloppy and inappropriate use of the Force, Obi-Wan would be rolling in his grave - if he were dead. If he weren't here. Or something. Anakin looks sheepishly at the drink.

"Hold on, I'll get you another," and he leans slightly on the elbow resting on the counter. Spying an opening, he tugs a greenish bottle from the top shelf and into his hand, adding careless to sloppy and inappropriate.

"I don't know what this is but it taste like a--" He pause to grab a clean glass (again careless) and fills it with a light green ...beverage. "It taste like one of those drinks they tell you to chase with bacta. But don't worry," he grins for some reassurance, "I'm drinking and I'm fine."

So that happened. It was alarming to have anything snatched out of your hand, especially when there was no other hand involved in the said snatching. But the moment he settled back into a world where drunken men could start whirling thing about in the air with their hands, Gendry decided it was best to just take this at face value. Magic was just one of those things a person must resign themselves to live with.

"Ah yes. Fine." For some definition of fine. But a glass of something or other had been offered to him and he wasn't going to be rude(r) and not drink it. So he did drink it. And it was rather awful. Fortunately he was far too much of a man to ever show that, so he only nodded with that sort of forced smile people tend to get when they're not willing to admit an inconvenient truth. "Not bad."

He's a space wizard. It is frankly better to just accept it because he will continue this abuse without remorse. So, Gendry made a good choice. To just shut up and drink up. Anakin wouldn't have accepted anything less. It would have evolve into a night of many bottles until he finds the right one for Gendry. Or until he gets kicked out for stealing a sampler here and there.

Of course, then he sees the forced smile and the hypothetical becomes reality.

"You have a bad face," said with a completely straight face. He means a bad poker face but what is the space wizard equivalent for that. He takes the glass from Gendry and dumps it as if it's the only solution to a bad face. Anakin takes a good long look at the selection on the shelves again and rubs his chin.

"Alright, what would you like instead?"

"You don't..." Gendry watched the drink sail away again and there was nothing he could do about it. All that was left was to be forlorn and keep to the memories of the time they spent together. He didn't really think that drink needed to be wasted, as he had been raised on bowls of brown and that inspired a person to essentially eat or drink anything without wasting it. That felt like quite a waste indeed.

"I still have this." The drink, still tainted by rubber ball, was sitting with a fourth of it still in the glass in front of him. He was even prepared to drink it, should it have the decency to not simply fly away as the other one had. "It's fine. It's all... fine."

He shakes his hand grumbles out, "No. No, no, no. You're not drinking that. That's just," he leans over and wrinkles his nose at it, "water with some, uh, colouring."

Anakin promptly makes a grab for Gendry's tainted drink with every intention of making that nasty stuff follow the greenish liquid down the drain. He's pretty sure they're recycled anyway; a ship this size has no business not having an exceptionally efficient recycling process. It's space logic!

Oh. Gendry watched like a forlorn child as his beverage was taken from him. He had come here exactly for water with coloring since this was how the lowborn avoided tainted water. It seemed that as long as all his drinks were flying about, he wasn't going to have much of a choice in what he drank now.

"Well, I wasn't that thirsty anyway." Or so he claimed. It wasn't true at all.

"Here!" He announced brightly. There's already another glass in front of him. Anakin took the liberty of ... liberating one of the cold bottles from the icebox while the bartender was busy serving someone else.

The liquid in question is orange this time, and it bubbles, fizzes and crackles just enough to be noticeable. It should taste sweet, overcoming whatever alcohol is actually in the drink.

Gendry gazed at the orange drink in front of him and wondered what machinations of fate had brought him to this precise moment. He didn't drink it, but he did look at Anakin.

"Do you always tend the bar from the wrong side of the counter?"

"Do I always-- what?" He wasn't paying attention. He was, in fact, shoving another drink down his own throat. Because this is a man with a freedom pass, who doesn't even know what a freedom pass is and never thought he would appreciate a freedom pass. But nine months with his wife and more than a few disastrous arguments later, he is appreciating the time he has to drink and not have Padme worry about his potential for alcoholism.

"Wrong side of the counter?" He makes a point of patting the counter affectionately, like a well loved swoop bike. "No, this is just self-service."

"It's not self-service! You're doing all the work and I'm dealing with the consequences of it."

Consequences which involved indulging in the orange drink which was, he admitted, not so bad at all. He could finish this.

"What consequences!" Anakin spreads his hand outward as if to demonstrate the lack of attention they're getting, which is nice. He's just another drunk, and Gendry is another designated caretaker. His hand swings around and lands on Gendry's shoulder. "If there are any consequences, I'll be right beside you and I'll take care of it"

All of it. Because he can, you know, the Force.

02. this is my life now

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