Starks [at least for now], Friday, September 24

[momslilassassin]

Ben was hardly a stranger to how Stark's was set up, but it was the first time he'd been in the shop unsupervised, which was why he might look like most kids would in a candy store.

...no one ever accused him of being all that normal.

He was behind the counter bright and early that morning, fiddling around with a mouse droid and eager to earn his paycheck so he could get rid of that damn arm tattoo help the community with their technology woes.

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[endsthegame]

Around noon, though, there was supervision--

Or at least an Ender, returning over a year's worth of lunches. In the shape of some sandwiches and two large coffees. "I see the store hasn't been disassembled yet," he commented. "I'm relieved."

[momslilassassin]

"I was saving that for after Master Holmes' class," Ben said airily, holding his hand out for the coffee.

[endsthegame]

"I'm not sure 'Master Holmes' is particularly interested in how machines fit together," Ender said, shoving the coffee into his hand. "But I'm sure he'd appreciate the sentiment."

[momslilassassin]

Ben laughed. "I don't know," he said. "He seems very interested in how everything else fits together."

[endsthegame]

"No, people," Ender said, then paused, and waved it off. "Not even that. The anatomy of crimes. The people and the machines happen to be incidental."

[momslilassassin]

"He certainly found you to be an interesting puzzle," Ben commented.

[endsthegame]

"Most people do," Ender said. There was more than a hint of something sarcastic in his voice. "I'm fascinating."

[glacial_queen]

"Ben, does Ender know you're back there?" Karla asked, ducking her head through Stark's door. Oh, you discovered the most hilarious things while wandering through town some mornings. "You know, I would have assumed most Jedi get a stipend or something."

Knowing Ben, they did and he just blew it all on ice cream.

[momslilassassin]

"Dad said I needed to get a job to pay for tattoo removal," Ben said, making a face.

Well, Luke had said that after he'd gone off and laughed hysterically for a few minutes, but Ben didn't know that.

[glacial_queen]

"You still have that?" Karla asked, lips twitching suspiciously herself. "Oh."

[momslilassassin]

Ben, showing off his Jedi skills in diplomacy, stuck his tongue out at her. "Shh."

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't actually say anything!" Karla protested.

"...Yet."

[momslilassassin]

"You were thinking them loudly," Ben replied. "Hi! How was your week?"

[weetuskenraider]

"Isn't it the wrong day for you to be in here?" Tahiri asked, wandering in sometime in the afternoon. "Or did you just get bored enough to start ransacking the place for more droid parts?"

[momslilassassin]

"Ender hired me," Ben said with a grin. "Don't tell him it's a recipe for disaster."

[weetuskenraider]

"Well, if he didn't already figure that out for himself," Tahiri said, heaving a playful sigh, "then I suppose there's no hope left for either of you, is there?"

[momslilassassin]

"Not at all," Ben agreed, laughing, "but there are people who would argue that's been the case all along."

[weetuskenraider]

"Can you blame them?" Tahiri scanned the counter for a clear spot to perch on. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you'll end up building now that you have access to all of this, firsthand. Or maybe it would be easier to ask what you wouldn't build, since Force knows that answer would take much less time."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shifted aside a bunch of droid parts to give her a not-painful place to sit. "I might make some progress on the astromech now," he said. "Seeing Jaina's made me realize how much I miss having Artoo around."

[the_merriest]

Okay, so, Rikku was totally heading back to the store today in order to start doing some important clean-up and figuring out what to rename the place (since it kind of wasn't Stark Industries any more, not technically anyway) and -- ooooh! The store was open! She got to meet her first employee!!!

She entered the store trying to look as business-like and professional as an oddly-dressed girl in green short-shorts possibly could. It helped that she didn't think she was oddly dressed.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Rikku, and I have important --"

News, but first, she was going to squint at the boy and try to figure out where she knew him from. (Well, other than here, because here was the obvious answer but that didn't, say, give her his name or anything.) He wasn't a cheerleader, he hadn't worked at Wellspring, had he?, he ...

It helped that he looked a little like Luke.

"OHMIGOSHBEN!"

Ben should think fast if he wanted to avoid a tackle-hug.

[momslilassassin]

Ben could normally think pretty fast, but he wasn't generally accustomed to having to dodge hugs from random women, either. (The Hapan twins were a fluke, okay.)

"Um," he said, holding still. "Do I know you?"

If this was his pillow or an ice cream sundae come to life to find him, he was going to have words with someone.

You know, as soon as he was no longer being hugged.

[the_merriest]

"Don't be silly," Rikku said, squeezing one last time before letting go. "We totally met ... I don't remember when? But I'm sure we did. You're Ben, right? Ben Skywalker, Luke's Ben?"

Clearly, Ben should remember every strange blonde girl that had ever hugged him. Whether or not said girl was an ice cream sundae.

(She wasn't. Honest.)

[momslilassassin]

"Yes," Ben replied warily. "Hi?"

[the_merriest]

"Hi," she grinned. "I'm Rikku. I'm a friend of your dad's. Probably not your dad. I mean, there are like twenty-five Skywalkers running around here and most of them aren't from the same universe, right? But the one that went here, we were friends. We had a club. You know what? I should call him. We haven't talked in forever. Maybe not since Dawn and I were arrested and got those tattoos."

This was all really seriously helpful information that Ben would want to hear. Lucky, lucky Ben.

[momslilassassin]

Ben was doing a pretty decent impression of someone who'd just been hit by a landspeeder. "Uh...huh," he said finally. "Can I help you with something?"