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Atton didn’t like T3-M4 and T3-M4 didn’t like him. And, until a short while ago, that mutually hateful relationship hadn’t done either of them any harm. Until T3-M4 started to annoy Atton in ways that convinced him that it was deliberate but were just inconspicuous enough to have the rest of the crew disagreeing with him. It would be little things like the Droid stealing his dirty clothing and claiming that it was moving it into the crew’s laundry pile, except it would always ‘drop’ Atton’s underwear in a place that Liadan was bound to find it, or by pushing between Liadan and Atton when Liadan was correcting his stance. But the most damning piece of evidence was T3-M4’s vendetta against the jigsaw puzzle.
He wasn’t really sure where Liadan had found it, but she’d pulled it out one day and suggested that they do it together. At first, he’d been excited at the prospect of having something that she did only with him… until he discovered it was a 500 piece one. Still, while they worked, they would talk. And Atton discovered how easy, and rewarding, it was to make her laugh. As the pieces slowly feel into place, Atton found himself having to swallow a smile every time he saw her, despite the difficulty of the puzzle and their situation. They had finally figured out the sides and were beginning to work on the interior when T3-M4 trundled past and ‘accidentally’ knocked over the board they were creating the puzzle on, destroying a large part of the puzzle they’d been working on. Atton immediately got up to chase after the rapidly fleeing droid, but Liadan grabbed his sleeve, and pulled him back down so he would help her pick up the pieces.
The second time was much worse. This time, Liadan had worked on the exterior while Atton had worked on the interior. This new tactic had allowed Liadan to quickly undo the damage while Atton made headway. But this time, T3-M4 crashed straight into the board while ‘fleeing Kreia’, sending pieces flying and undoing all of their work. Yet again, Atton stood to pursue then dismantle the droid, only to be stopped by Liadan, who urged that he remain calm and help her find the scattered pieces and redo everything.
But the third time was by far the most infuriating. By some miracle, they’d found all the pieces and were two pieces away from finishing the puzzle. To prevent any more ‘accidents’, Liadan had taken to keeping the puzzle out of reach when they weren’t working on and locking the door to the cockpit when they were. Yet that must have clearly slipped her mind on this occasion. For T3-M4 wheeled in, beeping cheerfully about the hyperdrive or something, nudged the puzzle over and zoomed out. Atton leapt to his feet to chase the pesky droid and this time, Liadan made no attempt to stop him.