Room 204 [afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

Attention world: Ben Skywalker finally got his hair cut!

Newly shorn (not quite military short, but close) thanks to the people at the spa (where he rather vehemently turned down a massage, an eyebrow sculpting and a pedicure. The staff had discovered quickly how easy it was to make him blush), he was now back in his room tinkering with a couple of projects that he was thinking of turning into holiday gifts.

The door was wide open.

Comments

[solo_sword]

"No one smiles permanently. Know it had to go away sometime and you'll feel much more at ease about it." She spoke from experience.

[momslilassassin]

"That's...really kind of depressing," Ben decided after a moment. "I'm still smiling."

[solo_sword]

"I mean it literally. Seriously, if I saw someone just randomly smiling for an hour straight, I'd get pretty freaked out," she said. "But in a non-literal way, you should be still smiling."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrugged. "It was a long year, and November was a long month. But December will be better."

Why yes, he was Luke's son.

[solo_sword]

"And meanwhile I'd just written off the year, including December," Jaina said wryly. Which wasn't really true. A lot of parts of it had been great. "I don't even think I saw you for most of November."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrugged uncomfortably. "I wasn't great company," he said. "There was an anniversary."

[solo_sword]

It didn't take more than half a second to remember what the anniversary was, but it was hard to believe it'd been a year already. "Sorry I wasn't around anyway," she said. "How are you doing now?"

[momslilassassin]

His hands suddenly became incredibly fascinating. "Okay," he said carefully. "Worried about Tahiri."

Because it was healthy to just shift your problems to one that was more immediate.

[solo_sword]

"Haven't seen much of her lately, either," Jaina admitted, wondering if she'd missed something big.

[momslilassassin]

"Do you know about Riina?" he asked softly.

[solo_sword]

She nodded. "Yeah, I know. And mine's had some trouble there." Which was the safe way of putting it. "She causing trouble?"

[momslilassassin]

"What kind of trouble?" Ben asked.

[solo_sword]

"There was an incident back home... I don't think it's a problem for this Tahiri," she said, not wanting to freak him out with something she didn't see happening. "She's got a much better grip on all this than mine."

[momslilassassin]

"That is not the most reassuring thing I've ever heard," Ben told her flatly, curling his arms around his chest. "Tahiri's had a couple of blackouts when Riina's taken over."

[solo_sword]

Huh. "Recently?" she wondered. She hadn't talked to Tahiri in a while, and was sort of wondering whether she should be looking for something now.

[momslilassassin]

"Parents Weekend," Ben said. "Turns out it was astral for everyone."

[solo_sword]

Jaina knew she'd been plenty self-absorbed for the last month, but she had no idea how she'd missed that for two months. "What happened? Was anyone hurt?"

[momslilassassin]

He shook his head. "And that's the weird part. Riina came to Tara's defense or something and yelled at her family for being, well, kind of manipulating bastards."

He wasn't sure he'd want to get Riina's opinion on his own family, if it came down to it.

[solo_sword]

Jaina frowned. Not what she would have figured from the Yuuzhan Vong personality. "Riina did that? That... is weird, yes."

[momslilassassin]

"And being a Skywalker about it, I'd have to say that it shows that there's good in everyone, even Yuuzhan Vong, and it's good to know that there is something that Tahiri and she have in common," Ben said to his hands. "But I want Riina gone. And that is just never going to happen, huh."

[solo_sword]

"I don't know," Jaina said honestly. Her Tahiri hadn't exactly managed it, as far as she knew. "There's got to be some way to make i better, though. I have every faith in that."

[momslilassassin]

"She says it's not getting better," Ben said softly. "Not the way things are right now."

[solo_sword]

"She'll be all right," she said firmly. "She's Tahiri."

That really was reason enough for her to believe what she said.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's snort was eloquent. "She's not the only Tahiri I know, and the other was far from all right."

[solo_sword]

"That Tahiri's got different experiences than this one, like this one's got different experiences than mine. That Tahiri has never been to Fandom, and doesn't know the same people, and maybe that's what makes all the difference." Enough time living in Fandom had given Jaina a bit of an interesting perspective here.