Shadows of Bankor

While Petrus was concerned about the damage to the city, he was especially concerned about his sister. And his friends. Fortunately, people seemed to be responding to comm signals, at least.

He also wanted to check on the damage at his place. And so, stepping carefully over rubble, he made his way up to his apartment, his booted feet padding audibly on the ferracrete ground.

Mia was doing some deep cleaning, but it wasn't for her apartment. Neither had she told the 'kid' what she was up to. Instead, she was just organizing everything after haphazardly replacing the broken-down door in the frame.

"Hey Mia..." Whatever Petrus had been about to say trailed off. He looked at her.

"Mia." He said mildly. "What are you doing?"

"Well, your apartment was a bit of a mess, as always. I found that out when I came in," Mia said instead of 'broke in.' She eyed the door and then scratched the back of her head. "Then, well, I didn't want to leave your apartment unattended. And I needed something to do as I waited."

"Oh." Petrus sighed. "Well, thanks. I guess there was bound to be some damage. The door, huh? That's bad luck."

He rubbed his face with his hand. "How's your place?"

Mia blinked. "Yup, bad luck that the door was all that broke. None of my stuff broke but I didn't check Dove's."

"Just the door? That's pretty good, actually." Petrus said. "Maybe the door needed fixing anyway, then."

He peered down towards their room. "Hey, I'm glad." He paused a moment. "Might want to let Dove go through her own stuff. You know how she gets kinda secretive about things."

"Oh yeah, that door definitely needed fixing. It was too easy to break... if it fell apart like that due to some shaking, that is."

Slowly, Petrus turned back to look at Mia. "Mia... what's going on?" He asked, blue eyes narrowing. "You're not telling me something, and you're not as good as Dove at hiding that."

"Oh, hm," Mia said, glancing over at the wall that may or may not have been broken in some parallel universe. "Being around Dove has gotten you aware of when people hide stuff, huh?"

The blonde sighed, digging her hands into her coat pockets. "I, uh, broke the door. Granted, totally good to know that someone could easily just ram into it and it'd break. So, now you know to reinforce it..."

Petrus sighed. "Yeah." Dove certainly did have secrets. He just hoped she could keep them from the Inquisitor.

"Okay. You broke the door. That makes sense." Petrus sighed. "Mia, why did you break the door?"

"Well, you didn't pick up your comlink and you didn't answer the door so... I thought you might have been crushed under something inside." Mia rubbed her chin as a realization dawned on her. "But I also didn't hear your comlink again when I called from outside. Kid, do you usually put it on silent?"

Petrus rubbed his face. "No, I had it off." He sighed. Going out to see Master Hin, he hadn't wanted to have his commlink on, just in case it could be traced.

"I guess that makes sense..." Petrus said, frowning. "But... Mia, you know I can take care of myself, right? I mean, I guess an earthquake could get anyone..." Maybe a Jedi less than others, though.

"Well, that, I, uh," Mia jumbled her words. She looked away, the first time in awhile she wasn't the confident speaker. She kept her shoulders up in a shrug, though the pockets were still large enough to house her hands.

Petrus blinked. He expected to be called "kid" another half-dozen times or so. He wasn't expecting that.

"What's wrong, Mia?" He asked, frowning.

"Nothing's wrong, really," Mia said, still shrinking back into her coat like a turtle. Maybe this collar could work out as a mask if she needed it to. "You've been taking care of yourself so much lately. Got yourself your own ship, broke some people outta prison..."

"Uh, well, yeah..." Petrus scratched his head. "I've been feeling, y'know, better lately, I guess. More like actually doing things instead of hanging around watching Warrior's Heart." He smiled. "Although I'm probably gonna keep watching it from time to time, anyway."

He nodded towards his door. "So, you need some help? We can work on it and chat."

Mia blinked. "How many episodes of that show are there? Or did you re-watch it a lot?"

She then looked over to the door and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, that. I'm not so handy when it comes to fixing things... Drove my dad crazy."

"Yes. And yes." Petrus said with a sigh. He really did watch too much Warrior's Heart...

Stepping over what remained of the door, Petrus returned not long after with a toolkit. "Here. Lemme show you a few things, then." He looked at her, eyebrows going up. "And you can tell me what's on your mind, huh?"

"Trust me, my dad already tried plenty of times. Heck, even my adopted family tried. Tython Run too!" Mia shrugged. "Stuff never really made sense to me."

Her brow raised too. "Nothing is 'on my mind,'" she said, a tad bit defensive. Mature as she was most of the time, she was still a teenager technically.

Unlike the 'kid.'

Shrugging, Petrus got to work.

"Nothing? Really? Nothing at all?" Petrus shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I'm always thinking about something. Worrying, mostly. Here, help me hold this." He put two door pieces into place, ready to seal.

"I do usually try to think of plans," Mia answered. She held onto the door just fine and gave a bemused smile. "At least I only harmed the hinges."

With her help, Petrus was able to get the hinge back in place, using his hydrodriver. He picked up the next one, holding it in place, then gesturing for her to help him.

"You always seemed good at the big picture sort of thing to me." Petrus said. "Dove knows how to hide someone. You're the one who realizes that it needs to be done."

"Maybe," Mia said, "Or maybe I just like to dream big." She looked past him for a moment, in thought. Then she shook her head, taking his directions as needed and smiled faintly.

"If it were up to me, I'd be back on my little farm instead of doing all this."

"Yeah?" Petrus paused a moment, leaning back against the wall. "Tell me about that again." He'd heard it before, but, well, maybe he hadn't really listened.