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

[momslilassassin]

Ben tilted his head towards her. "How so?"

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't be able to look at her," Aravis admitted.

[momslilassassin]

Ben shifted just a hair closer to Aravis, still not comfortable with being touched, but hating feeling alone. "She turned back," he said, "but not before she did--" he searched for words, "a lot of bad things."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"We have all done bad things," she said softly. "I don't know that I'd be able to see anyone the same way, though."

[momslilassassin]

"And Tahiri can tell I'm holding back," Ben said, "but I can't tell her what happened. I don't want to break her."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Of course not," Aravis said, shaking her head. "And to tell her would shape her future, would it not?"

[momslilassassin]

"Very possibly," Ben said. "And much as I want to save her Ben from what I've seen, I can't do that either."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"I know what that's like," she said sympathetically, "though of course not to this extent. It's extremely difficult."

[momslilassassin]

"Tell me about it?" Ben asked. He was tired of talking about himself.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"There have been three people from my time here, that I know of, but all as people my age," she told him. "I can't tell them of how they'll reign in my time."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shifted a little closer and nodded. "I thought Jaina's timeline was a lot different from mine because her Jacen had died, but it turns out he'd only been captured for a lot of months." He shuddered. "And if Tahiri's future is bad, Jaina's is worse."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"You shouldn't have to bear this kind of burden," she said quietly.

[momslilassassin]

"Who am I going to tell?" he asked.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"Well. Me," she said, smiling softly. "But I don't like seeing anyone your age having to go through something like this. It was hard enough when I was fourteen."

[momslilassassin]

"Being forced into a marriage is pretty bad," Ben protested on her behalf.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"It is," she agreed, "and I was denied the last vestiges of my childhood before that. You deserve to just be allowed to be fourteen."

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave a sad little smile. "It wasn't much of a thirteen, either."

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't much of a ten through fourteen for me," she admitted, smiling softly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben almost brushed his shoulder against hers. "If I tell you everything, you promise not to get upset?" he murmured.