Room 424 [late morning]

[momslilassassin]

After running his errands in town, Ben was sitting on his bed trying to figure out how fit both his clothes and all of the chocolate he'd bought for Aravis into the small bag he'd planned on taking with him.

The door was open.

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You going somewhere, too?" John asked, leaning in the doorway as he liked to do in these situations.

He would not talk about how his bags were packed and he was ready to go and there was totally a jet plane waiting on him to leave. Even if all that was true, this was not that movie, thank god.

[momslilassassin]

"I'm going to visit Aravis for a week," he said, then what John said sank in. "Too. You're leaving."

His shoulders slumped.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he hated goodbyes, but it said something that he was willing to seek certain people out to say them. "I'd promote the part where I'm taking your cousin with me for a week, but that won't help you if you're off with Aravis."

[momslilassassin]

"I needed somewhere without any relatives," Ben said a little vehemently.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It's getting to be a little much, huh?" John asked.

[momslilassassin]

"Two Jainas, two Dads, an infant aunt and Granddad. Yeah," Ben said. "And that's not counting Tahiri."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

That was a lot of family. "Well, if you need another getaway, I've got golf passes and access to the bay. You don't even have to call ahead."

[momslilassassin]

"Would you tell Jaina?" Ben asked, sounding a little wary.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John paused because he knew he'd messed that up. "See, I sort of have to tell Jaina some things," he said. "Not the how or the why, but she freaks out when she thinks I'm lying to her."

[momslilassassin]

"Then she yells at me for the how and why," Ben said. "Not my favorite thing. At all."

[weetuskenraider]

"Remember, you have to come back in one piece," Tahiri said from the doorway.

These sorts of disclaimers were necessary, okay?

[OOC: Soooo gonna be slow until later . . .]

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled. "The worst thing that could happen is Aravis deciding she doesn't like chocolate any more," he said, "or I fall off a horse."

[weetuskenraider]

"In that case, all the advice I can give you is to have fun," she replied with a grin of her own. "Want anything from Arrakis?"

[momslilassassin]

"Sand?" Ben teased.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," he apologized, and he really was sorry. "You've both been through a hell of a lot this year." And hers was likely to get worse once John left because that was just how his luck seemed to go.

[momslilassassin]

"That's why I didn't want to tell her," Ben said, shoving a shirt into his bag. "She'd been through more than enough without dumping my galaxy's dysfunction on top of it. But she decided that it's because I was thinking she was some kind of little kid and I was really blabbing it to everyone else when I haven't said anything!"

That came out sulkier than he wanted. He cleared his throat and tried to look more mature.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Maybe she's just afraid people don't think she could handle dealing with hearing that about Jacen. He did come here and kick the shit out of her, after all." John still wasn't sure how he was going to deal with seeing her Jacen next time he went home with her. "But she also has this thing where she thinks her world is different, so."

[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss," Karla called, popping her head in. "You going on the trip?" They hadn't gotten around to discussing Ben's plans for the upcoming break. She eyed his pile curiously. "That's a lot of stuff."



[Feel free to be ignoring this thread if you like. Just wanted to establish Karla's nosy around]

[momslilassassin]

"Yeah, that's what I got after I told her. If she wanted to know that badly, shrugging it off like it didn't matter---" Ben shook his head. "It's not like I want this to happen to her at all ever but having the last year of my life dismissed as an interesting but impossible tangent...hurt."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm visiting one of my best friends this week while my mun attends a family reunion," Ben said with a grin. "Her name's Aravis. I think you two would really get along."

[weetuskenraider]

"Just for that, that's exactly what you're going to get," Tahiri told him.

[glacial_queen]

"Both a good friend of yours and a female? We probably would. Though I'm intrigued to know just what you were thinking when you said it." She gave him a dark look from his doorway. "Smart-ass."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John seriously felt for Ben, but he also thought he had some idea of where Jaina was coming from. Maybe. "No one is discounting what your life has been like." Because ow. "But she can't forget that a year ago her little brother died and now she's told she's going to kill her twin? Who she just got back? I'm not saying it's right that she's detached and bitchy to you, but I'm not surprised."

[momslilassassin]

"Sand cookies?" he tried.

[weetuskenraider]

"Keep pushing it, Skywalker." Tahiri let herself in and headed toward him. "You'll get one grain of sand . . . if I don't lose it."