Chilly Boulder [Friday afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was a slightly obsessive listener to the radio, so it didn't take him long to take his speculations from his conversation with Aravis and the information from last night's broadcast and realize that dead relatives had come to visit the island.

And that his mother had not. But he was fine with that. Really. Even if Anakin had come for Jaina and Tahiri and his grandmother had shown up to see Leia and Granddad, Ben didn't need anyone crossing over from the other side to tell him he was loved. He had plenty of people who were still alive to tell him that.

Truly. So let's just ignore the giant plate of ice cream in front of the totally adjusted (really, just ask him) Skywalker, shall we?

[OOC: So very open. Ignore the piles of emo.]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender had to dance around a puddle of emo to make it in pushed open the door to Chilly Boulder. It wasn't that he had Ben tracked, or anything, but his moods weren't very subtle, and his coping methods even less so.

For yet more reasons that involved patently obvious reactions on Ben's part, Ender didn't bother asking as he pulled back a chair and sat down and stole some of Ben's ice cream without asking.

[momslilassassin]

"Get your own, kreetle," Ben said, but without any heat in his voice.

[endsthegame]

"Someone has to look out for your metabolism," Ender said, lightly, and raised his eyebrows in Ben's general direction.

He wasn't so much talking about the food, no.

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him a smile that would have convinced most people he was fine. "I'm not going to get fat."

[endsthegame]

"Even you aren't immune to packing on pounds," Ender said, his tone still casual, but with an undertone that implied that he wasn't buying it.

[momslilassassin]

"I'll add another run to my schedule," he said. "The island is making me twitchy today anyway, so it couldn't hurt."

He took a bite from his sundae, then asked, "Anyone show up for you?"

[endsthegame]

"I don't really have anyone who would." Ender stole another chunk of ice cream. It wasn't that he particularly liked the taste, but it held a psychological component. "It seems to be mostly people's loved ones, as it stands." He fixed his eyes on Ben. "Twitchy because someone showed up, or twitchy because someone didn't?"

[momslilassassin]

"Both," Ben admitted. "Anakin Solo's here. He and Tahiri were...close."

[endsthegame]

"I know."

You didn't get to spend this much time around members of the Skywalker clan without picking up a few things.

"And the other?"

He had a hunch, but he wasn't going to say it aloud.

[weetuskenraider]

"--almost always here," Tahiri's voice came through the doorway as it opened. "He practically lives here. See?"

She and Anakin made their way over to Ben's table, Tahiri looking much more awkward about the whole thing than Anakin did, but giving Ben a look as if to say That looks like a sulking-sized helping of ice cream, Skywalker.

"Hi," she said, starting to reach out a hand toward Ben and stopping halfway, biting her lip. "Someone really wanted to meet you."

[momslilassassin]

Ben hardly noticed her movement because he was so busy staring at the other boy, eyes as wide as saucers.

Hearing about it on the radio, turns out, is nothing like meeting them in person. "Anakin."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

It was weird for Anakin too, if that was any consolation; the last time he'd seen Ben the boy hadn't even been walking yet, and here he was nearly Anakin's age, and Tahiri not that much older.

And, he realized, he didn't look a day older than he had in archive holos as old as Ben was.

That didn't stop him from giving his cousin a friendly smile. "Hi, Ben."

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him a tentative smile back. "Have I gotten better looking since you saw me?"

Nervous Ben made bad jokes. Blame time with Tahiri.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"And a lot taller. You sound like Tahiri," Anakin observed, laughing; beside him, Tahiri turned pink and ducked her head. "I probably owe you an apology for saying that, don't I?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben blushed. "I'll let it pass, seeing that you're dead and all."

He froze. "... you knew that, right?"

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know," Anakin assured him quickly. The way he'd gone out, burning his body up from raw Force energy, it would have been hard not to realize it. "It's okay, Ben."

It was one thing to know intellectually that there was timeline weirdness at work, that Jaina was older than Leia was here and Ben wasn't a baby, but seeing it was completely different, and he shook his head. "Has it really been that long?"

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri bit her lip again, looking uncomfortable. "I should go," she said hesitantly. "Leave you two to talk."

Mostly she was worried that the longer she stayed, the less she'd be able to lock her shields down; both of them were far too good at reading her, and this was just awkward beyond belief.

[notqueenyet.livejournal.com]

Aravis, on the arm of a tawny-skinned, lanky boy with her eyes and smile, was clearly in the middle of waxing poetic about her favorite topic: chocolate. "You must try the chocolate in ice cream form," she was telling him. "It's wonderf -- Ben!"

She grinned over at him, tugging the boy over a bit. "There's someone you should meet."

[momslilassassin]

Ben glanced up from his ice cream and grinned back. "Hello. Is this your brother?"

[lostofcalavar.livejournal.com]

Aravis nodded, while the boy stepped forward with a confident little step. "So you're the famed Ben?" he asked, smiling easily. "My sister was hoping I'd be fortunate enough to meet you." He ducked a swift bow, not unlike Aravis' usual Calmorene curtsy, and added, "Rishti Tarkaan. How does the day find you?"

[momslilassassin]

"Confusing," Ben admitted with a little laugh, "but the ice cream is helping. All of the good things Aravis might have told you about me are absolutely true."

[lostofcalavar.livejournal.com]

"They seemed to revolve mostly around how you ply her with this lovely chocolate of which she's so fond," Rishti commented, smirking a bit. "Our mother only sampled a bit -- "

"Ladies do not partake of excess," Aravis interjected with a nod, clearly trying to hide a laugh.

" -- and even she rather loved it. So Aravis assured me I simply had to try this iced cream."

[momslilassassin]

"Ice cream is astral," Ben assured him. "There are almost no bad ones." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Skip the green tea flavor."

[lostofcalavar.livejournal.com]

"Astral?" Rishti repeated curiously, though he gave his sister a significant look at Ben's advice.

Aravis sighed, and said, "I suppose courtly chivalry only extends so far when you have no money on you. I'll be right back." With that, she headed over to get their ice cream.

[momslilassassin]

"Sorry," Ben said. "It's slang for 'really, really good.'"

How to make smalltalk with a dead person? Ben went with, "So, enjoying your time here?"