Post by Bobbi on Jul 24, 2022 21:27:35 GMT -5
Coruscant
Upper Levels
“Hey Pigtails, you dropped your pocket!”
From behind, still about a yard away, Grant watched as the girl turned and looked down at the walk-way behind her in confusion while her friends began laughing. “Pocket -- what?” The confusion was unmistakable but was quickly overcome by both surprise and recognition when she caught sight of him from where he stood. “Dad!”
He’d found her. He had finally found her. It likely wouldn’t have taken so long if he hadn’t been battling the rest of his servitude, transferred as it was after the war into the hands of the Hapans. Maxima had been gracious and lenient, taking his sentence down in order to return him to his waiting family while still being fair for someone who had worked with the Buffton Empire as he had. His loyalty and service to keeping her safe had been a safeguard in that. A sentence was still a sentence just the same, and he served it as well as he possibly could just for the hopes of this day.
How many years had he been an Agent of the BTC? How many months had he spent keeping an eye on Maxima herself as a valuable asset in the interests of Emperor Buffton? And how many weeks had passed since he had last seen little Quinn? Though now she wasn’t so little anymore.
When last he’d seen her, she was just on the verge of turning thirteen and stood just about mid-chest to him. The top of her head was now just at shoulder height for him as she rushed toward him.
He had been hanging back for a while letting her walk with her friends, blending into the crowd of the city-planet’s population. Coruscant hadn’t changed much at all outwardly since the last time he’d been there. The spires were still spires, and the slums beneath the brightly lit surface were still dank and dark. The bright center of the universe could not compare at all to the quick young thing that launched herself to wrap her arms around him.
She’d cleaned up well. The multi-colored hair was gone, long since returned to what was her natural shade of dark brown. But she still wore pigtails. She still carried the same smile, her laugh hadn’t changed at all.
For that moment, where his arms threw wide and wrapped around her in return, the small packages he carried well balanced in the grip of his left hand when he returned the hug, none of the world around them existed. “I’ve missed you, Quinn.” He told the teen, giving her a tight squeeze, “But you must do me a favor, Darling, and do stop growing. At least until I’ve made up for lost time.”
“I’ve missed you too,” She whispered back, holding on as tightly as she could before pulling back just a little. The thumb of his right hand was lifted, catching at the moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes. “You’re …staying…then?”
Hopes and fears mingled together before his eyes in that young face. The last time they had seen each other, Grant was being ushered away for a talk with someone named Director Azure. And she was being sent off to his parents. Grandmother and Grandfather Asham were lovely people, and she had been well taken care of, but they were not him. For the short while that he and the gutter-rat girl had been together prior to that life had been so good for her. It was a far cry from sleeping in the slums, and then moving up into the high class world of the Ashams had been an elevation even above that. And the only thing that had been missing was the man who had promised he’d take care of her. The man who had taken care of her.
“That’s right,” His smile was a wide grin so dazzling that it banished her fears and swept away her tears, “I’m a free man now, darling, and the only thing I have on my agenda is taking every opportunity to embarrass you in front of your friends.”
The walkway they were on was wide, as were most of the more affluent walkways of Coruscant, looking more like a lane and less like a suspended bridge, giving plenty of room around them for others to move and walk. He wasn’t paying any mind to them, though. And just briefly he had lifted his gaze away from her to set his sights on the group that was waiting for her while Quinn’s cheeks flushed with a blush and she stepped back to push her hands against his chest hoping to stall him, “No, dad! No, please!”
But Grant, himself, was stepping back and shoving the parcels he had been carrying into her hands while letting them go. If she didn’t take them, they’d fall. Take them she did, bringing them close to herself as she turned and watched Grant close in on the group of teens she’d been talking to. Nervously, she covered one side of her face with a hand and groaned before following after close enough to hear him call out, "And who might you all be?"
Upper Levels
“Hey Pigtails, you dropped your pocket!”
From behind, still about a yard away, Grant watched as the girl turned and looked down at the walk-way behind her in confusion while her friends began laughing. “Pocket -- what?” The confusion was unmistakable but was quickly overcome by both surprise and recognition when she caught sight of him from where he stood. “Dad!”
He’d found her. He had finally found her. It likely wouldn’t have taken so long if he hadn’t been battling the rest of his servitude, transferred as it was after the war into the hands of the Hapans. Maxima had been gracious and lenient, taking his sentence down in order to return him to his waiting family while still being fair for someone who had worked with the Buffton Empire as he had. His loyalty and service to keeping her safe had been a safeguard in that. A sentence was still a sentence just the same, and he served it as well as he possibly could just for the hopes of this day.
How many years had he been an Agent of the BTC? How many months had he spent keeping an eye on Maxima herself as a valuable asset in the interests of Emperor Buffton? And how many weeks had passed since he had last seen little Quinn? Though now she wasn’t so little anymore.
When last he’d seen her, she was just on the verge of turning thirteen and stood just about mid-chest to him. The top of her head was now just at shoulder height for him as she rushed toward him.
He had been hanging back for a while letting her walk with her friends, blending into the crowd of the city-planet’s population. Coruscant hadn’t changed much at all outwardly since the last time he’d been there. The spires were still spires, and the slums beneath the brightly lit surface were still dank and dark. The bright center of the universe could not compare at all to the quick young thing that launched herself to wrap her arms around him.
She’d cleaned up well. The multi-colored hair was gone, long since returned to what was her natural shade of dark brown. But she still wore pigtails. She still carried the same smile, her laugh hadn’t changed at all.
For that moment, where his arms threw wide and wrapped around her in return, the small packages he carried well balanced in the grip of his left hand when he returned the hug, none of the world around them existed. “I’ve missed you, Quinn.” He told the teen, giving her a tight squeeze, “But you must do me a favor, Darling, and do stop growing. At least until I’ve made up for lost time.”
“I’ve missed you too,” She whispered back, holding on as tightly as she could before pulling back just a little. The thumb of his right hand was lifted, catching at the moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes. “You’re …staying…then?”
Hopes and fears mingled together before his eyes in that young face. The last time they had seen each other, Grant was being ushered away for a talk with someone named Director Azure. And she was being sent off to his parents. Grandmother and Grandfather Asham were lovely people, and she had been well taken care of, but they were not him. For the short while that he and the gutter-rat girl had been together prior to that life had been so good for her. It was a far cry from sleeping in the slums, and then moving up into the high class world of the Ashams had been an elevation even above that. And the only thing that had been missing was the man who had promised he’d take care of her. The man who had taken care of her.
“That’s right,” His smile was a wide grin so dazzling that it banished her fears and swept away her tears, “I’m a free man now, darling, and the only thing I have on my agenda is taking every opportunity to embarrass you in front of your friends.”
The walkway they were on was wide, as were most of the more affluent walkways of Coruscant, looking more like a lane and less like a suspended bridge, giving plenty of room around them for others to move and walk. He wasn’t paying any mind to them, though. And just briefly he had lifted his gaze away from her to set his sights on the group that was waiting for her while Quinn’s cheeks flushed with a blush and she stepped back to push her hands against his chest hoping to stall him, “No, dad! No, please!”
But Grant, himself, was stepping back and shoving the parcels he had been carrying into her hands while letting them go. If she didn’t take them, they’d fall. Take them she did, bringing them close to herself as she turned and watched Grant close in on the group of teens she’d been talking to. Nervously, she covered one side of her face with a hand and groaned before following after close enough to hear him call out, "And who might you all be?"
