Room 424 [evening]

[momslilassassin]

An afternoon thinking he was a little girl had not been exactly what Ben had been planning, though the distraction had been kind of a relief.

...not that he'd admit that.

He was in his room, carefully examining his air vent to see how the gremlin had gotten in and looking to see if there was a way to discourage them from returning without breaking the terms of the treaty.

The door was open a crack.

[OOC: Post is open completely!]

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

Feeling really sort of terrible still about the events of the last week or however long it had been, John had a few people he felt he should apologize to, and one that he felt pretty guilty about.

Venturing out of his room was the only way to accomplish that, but John could hope a gremlin wouldn't get him while he was with a Jedi. Ignore that he knew the Jedi got bit a lot.

So there he was, drumming his fingers on the door and peeking in the crack. "Hey buddy, you in there?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben froze, then realized that was an extremely stupid reaction.

"Yes," he replied. "You're not going to throw anything gross at me?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I promise, nothing gross here," John sighed, pushing the door open. "I'm real sorry about that."

[momslilassassin]

Ben made a face. "Yeah," he said.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," John made a face in return. He thought it was pretty gross, too.

[momslilassassin]

"It's good to see you with all of your bits attached," Ben said. "Let's not do that again."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I'm not planning on a repeat event," John assured him. "But I did bring you a present to try to make up for it?" He held up a disc bearing a copy of Jaina and Tahiri's gremlin bite performance.

[momslilassassin]

Ben flinched before he could stop himself.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Little jumpy."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John hadn't thought he could feel worse. "I'm really sorry, Ben. Maybe I should just give you some space."

[momslilassassin]

And now Ben felt guilty for making John feel bad. "No, stay," he said. "I'm not ready for big crowds, but being by myself isn't any better."

Ben was a mess. He thought he was covering well.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

And then John remembered that day in Flight Club that felt like ages ago. "It's more than just the zombies, huh?"

[momslilassassin]

"Let's say I'm suddenly very grateful we burn our dead," Ben said softly. "Because the combination of this weekend and the one before would give me nightmares."

If he slept.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Jesus, and I thought this weekend was bad enough," John murmured, slowly leaning against a convenient piece of furniture.

[momslilassassin]

"I'm an overachiever," Ben said with a completely humorless smile.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like," John frowned at the weird smile. "Sometimes talking helps. Jaina likes to make me try when I get all weird."

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "Jaina tries to make you talk?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, she's big on me sharing. Ironic, huh?" John verified.

[momslilassassin]

"Completely," Ben said. Oh, look at him trying to change the subject.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John looked at him for a moment and decided to just ask. "What happened back home? I know you said everybody died, but you didn't say anything about your Jaina and that worries me, being as I have a bit of an attachment to this Jaina and who knows how your present and her future are tied."

[momslilassassin]

Ben stared at his hands for a long, long time.

"She killed him," he said softly.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

Pronouns were not useful. "Jaina killed Tenel Ka's dad?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben blinked, then shook his head. "She killed Jacen," he whispered.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John blinked. He opened his mouth as if to speak and stopped.

That was...something.

[momslilassassin]

Ben curled in on himself. "Yeah."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"How is she?" Why was he asking that? John should not feel for a Jaina that was not his and yet.