Chilly Boulder [afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

"Thanks, but I already have something to drink," Ben said politely to the polar bear offering him a soda. He held up his coffee mug. "See?"

The bear looked very sad, then held out the drink again.

Ben sighed. "Fine, I'll take it. Thank you."

As soon as the bear left, Ben tucked the bottle into the bag by his leg and checked his chrono. He had time to finish his coffee (with ice cream) before heading to the his (insanely scrubbed out since it had spent time in the maze, thank you) shuttle to head home for the holidays.

He tapped out a few messages on his comlink to let people at home know he was coming and people here know he was leaving, glancing every now and then at the door to see if he recognized anyone to say goodbye to.

Comments

[weetuskenraider]

"Thanks," Tahiri was saying to the polar bear just outside the door as she came in, a bottle of soda in her hand. She headed over to the counter to order herself a fudge brownie sundae before coming over to Ben's table, looking amused. "Of course you'd be here just before leaving."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, ice cream is astral," Ben replied, "and it doesn't travel well."

[weetuskenraider]

"Hardly," Tahiri agreed as she scrambled up onto the stool across from him. "Are you going home for any particular reason, or just to visit?"

[momslilassassin]

"Mostly to visit," Ben replied, "but I haven't been for a really long time since the summer, and I have a promise to keep to Anakin."

[weetuskenraider]

"So no new crisis. That's . . ." A little surprising. "Good to know."

Tahiri poked at her sundae, but her face went a little pale when she looked up at him. "You do?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "He wanted me to tell her that he loves her," he said quietly. "I'm not sure it'll be much comfort to her."

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri didn't need to ask who he meant; she swallowed hard, but shook her head. "No," she said firmly, "it will. More than you realize. More than it meant to me, because she never got the chance to . . ."

Her throat tightened too much to speak for a moment, and she stared down at the table to collect herself when she continued. "She held onto the pain a lot longer than I did. I suppose you're an awfully fitting choice to deliver that message to her, too."

[momslilassassin]

Ben reached out for her hand, sending a wave of love and comfort through the Force toward her. "Think she'll see it that way?"

[weetuskenraider]

"She had better," Tahiri said fiercely, but the mood was fleeting and her usual spark of humor returned easily enough. Squeezing his hand and returning the pulse of affection, she continued, "Otherwise I'm dumber when I grow up than even I thought was possible and you can tell her I said so."

She popped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and sucked on the spoon for a second or two, thinking. "A year or two ago, maybe, I doubt she'd have wanted to hear it, but now, I think, yes. Don't forget Anakin knew her -- us -- better than anyone. He wouldn't have asked if he didn't think she needed to know. He could be dumb sometimes, but I'm fairly sure he's right about this."

[momslilassassin]

Ben tamped down the instinctive flare of jealousy almost instantly and nodded. "She did get pretty dumb there for a bit," he said with a tiny smile.

[weetuskenraider]

"Oh, I won't argue with that," Tahiri replied. "Force knows I've already done my share of kriffing stupid things. I'd just like to think I grow out of it eventually."

. . . in so much as any Jedi ever really could.

She thought she might, maybe, have picked up a trace of something from him, though -- so she couldn't help it if she was looking at him curiously.

[momslilassassin]

"Fighting a ghost," he said in answer to her look, a slight flush to his cheeks. "I'm done."

[weetuskenraider]

"I'm not trying to say you don't know me really well too, you know," Tahiri tried to say, but she was more aware than she wanted to be that it wasn't as much of a consolation as she would have liked. And maybe it never would be. "I grew up with him, though. That can't really be helped."

Well. That was more depressing than she realized.

Taking a breath, Tahiri plowed on, "I've been invited to Zonama Sekot for a while during the break, to see how things are coming along. Tekli thinks they could use my help sorting a few things out with the refugees."

[momslilassassin]

Ben, knowing that going down the path to Anakin tended to lead nowhere good for his mental health, shoved it aside to deal with later.

Or never. Never was good too.

"What kind of things?" Ben asked, looking interested.

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri absently wiped a bit of fudge sauce away from the corner of her mouth and made a face. "It seems they're having trouble seeing eye-to-eye with the Sekotans about a few things . . . or my guess is, Tekli, Danni, and the others aren't exactly sure how to get them find common ground. Which leaves me in the . . . unique position of being the best suited for the job."

[glacial_queen]

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly! Fa la la la la, la la la la!" Karla was very much in the holiday spirit, trundling down the street with a bottle of coke in each hand and merrily caroling away. "'Tis the something something jolly! Fa la la la la, la la la la. Thing we now our something something! Fa la la, la la la, la la la! Trolls are scary, why sing about them? Fa la la la la, la la la la!"

What she lacked in lyrics, she made up for in fa la la-ing gusto.

Spotting Ben through the window, she waved and started making for the door. "See the blazing yew before us! Fa la la la la, la la la la! Burning trees go badly for us!"

What? Her lyrics at least made sense.

[momslilassassin]

Ben waved back, then frowned quickly. "Are those the words?"

He never had gotten around to asking Ender about the Wise Guys bringing Frankenstein to Jesus.

[glacial_queen]

"Nope," Karla said easily. "But I can't remember most of the words, so 'something' works as well. And who sings about trolls anyway?"

[momslilassassin]

"I have no idea," Ben admitted. "This holiday is confusing."

[glacial_queen]

"Winsol makes much more sense," Karla assured him. "No trolls or Frankensteins or anything like that. Just Witch."

Claiming the other chair at his table, Karla sat down, setting her bottles of soda to the side. "I'm glad you haven't left yet. I can still give you your Winsol gift!"

Since Ben didn't celebrate Christmas, either, Karla felt perfectly justified in using her own holiday for this.

"Happy Winsol, Ben," she said, calling in his gift onto the table between them. Though there were various snacks and things on top of the basket, the entire inside was lined with coffee, coffee, and more coffee. Which would go quite nicely with his second present, which appeared a moment later.

They had bows. That counted as being wrapped, dammit.

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave her an enormous grin. "This is astral," he said, getting up to kiss her cheek. "Thank you!"

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed, holding her face up for the kiss. "You're welcome," she grinned. "You're really easy to shop for, which is convenient."

[momslilassassin]

"You weren't that difficult either," Ben said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a few items. "Happy Windsol," he said.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was grinning when she saw the book and then burst out laughing when he got to the fire extinguisher and the emergency kit. "I'm not that bad!" she protested.

Yes, she was.

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned back. "Says you."