fandomtownies | Magic Box, Thursday, 1/06

Tahiri had a class this afternoon, but right now she had an idea and the impulse to act on it.

It was late in the morning when she headed into town from her favorite meditation spot on the beach, walking a little awkwardly the way she always did when the necessity of shoes was involved, and pushed the door to the shop open with an odd little smile on her face.

"I haven't been in here since that time . . . you know," she observed. "Hi, Tara."

[OOC: OMG CURVEBALL. I needed to stop procrastinating on this, heh.]

"It's been forever," Tara agreed with some surprise, setting her book aside. "Hey, Tahiri. What's up?"

"Not much, and that will never not be weird to say," Tahiri admitted. She even managed to keep from rolling her eyes when she added, as if remembering, "Oh -- I'm supposed to let you know lunch might be a little late today, but it's on its way."

Like she was supposed to be some kind of messenger. Honestly.

Tahiri took a long look around the shop like it was the first time she'd seen it, because it had been a while and the last time she'd been here she hadn't exactly been herself. "I actually had a question about something, and I was hoping you could help me."

"Oh, thanks. Sorry Kennedy's making you play messenger," Tara said apologetically. Honestly, she had a phone...

She smiled a bit, focusing on Tahiri. "I ... might be able to help? Maybe? I like to try."

"It's okay. I don't mind, really; I was on the way." Though Tahiri suspected she'd gotten stuck with the job just because ~~someone thinks she's hilarious~~ she'd had the fabulous timing to wander into Il Pollo right about then. There had been yelling (not at her). She wasn't sharing that bit.

"This is where Luke would quote Master Yoda and say 'Do or do not; there is no try,'" Tahiri joked, but sobered up fairly quickly. "Sorry. I suppose that's only funny for anyone who's had Ben's dad as a teacher. The thing is, I've been looking for a crystal, and I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before."

Context would help, Tahiri.

"For my lightsaber, I mean. The one I've been building, since I broke my old one. I could have fabricated one, but it wouldn't be right. Not this time."

"And it can just be an ordinary quartz crystal?" Tara blinked a few times as she went over to the fresh display, not understanding the Luke/Master Yoda joke at all. "Like ... one of these? I'm kind of surprised there aren't special crystals back in your world that you have to use. it's like finding out your spaceships work on plain old gas."

Tahiri really needed to find the right audience for her jokes. She laughed, though, following over to the display.

"Well, certain crystals are supposed to be more valuable for building a lightsaber than others, but no, their main purpose is to focus the energy for the blade," she explained. "You can use almost anything in a pinch, as long as it'll do that. If I really, really wanted to just get this thing built, I could go down to the junkyard and find any old lens, but I want to do it right."

She had to pause for breath there, but looked up at Tara as she continued. "I mean, it's supposed to be a personal weapon. And I thought . . ." She looked around the shop again, and smiled. "I'm not sure I'd be as whole as I am now if it wasn't for what happened here. I'd say if you helped me find something, it'd be pretty personal."

Tara listened closely, feeling honored by the request. "It would be," she said softly. "Especially since you -- helped me so much, too. Helping you with this ... well, it's the least I can do."

She eyed the display. There was rose quartz, clear quartz, quartz in a variety of hues and degrees of roughness. "What calls to you?" she asked. "Or, if nothing does .. do you have a favorite color?"

Tahiri drifted a step closer to look over the crystals, mentally picking out the clearest ones -- poor Tenel Ka ought to get royalties for how often Master Luke had used the story of how she lost her arm dueling Jacen because she'd rushed her way through her first lightsaber and used a flawed crystal as a cautionary tale -- before she closed her eyes and just reached into the Force for guidance.

She reached out, slowly extending the index finger of her left hand; it moved toward one particularly clear piece of citrine and snapped to a halt as if drawn by a magnet.

"Well," she said, opening her eyes and laughing softly, "I think that looks like a good choice."

"That's a pretty one," Tara told her, echoing the soft laugh. "S'funny, you know? I kind of expected you to just tell me you liked blue or something, but it's -- it's like that ch-chose you." She was clearly impressed by this.

She walked over and ran a finger over the citrine to find the price tag. "It's rare," she added. "Not expensive, but rare. There aren't a lot that are naturally that color. And it symbolizes hope and strength. Good choice for a weapon, right?"

"I do like blue," Tahiri replied honestly. "My last lightsaber was blue. The color always reminded me of Anakin's eyes."

A faint, sad look crossed her face for a moment before she willed it away. "If I'd made the choice by myself, I suppose that's what I would have picked. And . . . I would have kept trying to use it as a way to hold onto him, somehow. And I don't think that would have been good."

She looked down at the citrine, the scars on her forehead puckering slightly in thought. "But this feels right. I didn't even realize the symbolism, but Force, it's perfect."

Tara silently contemplated the crystal for a moment. "It's a lot of weight to put on a little rock," she said. "But I think this one can handle it. It's got, uh, character."

It was a silly way to put it, but she wasn't just being silly.

Tahiri didn't think she had been.

"You can feel that?" she asked, tilting her head slightly in a silent request for permission to pick it up. "I shouldn't be surprised; you knew there was something wrong with me before, without me having to say a word about it. I can't describe what it is, exactly, but I just . . ."

She murmured something guttural in Yuuzhan Vong. "I just know."

Tara nodded, granting the requested permission. "Not as strongly as you do," she said. "But ... yeah. It feels right. I'm not sure if it's a witch thing or a person thing."

Tahiri curled her fingers around the citrine and gave Tara a knowing look. "Who's to say it can't be both?"

"I think I'm going to say it can be," Tara decided, smiling back. "And it's yours. On the house."

Tahiri opened her mouth to protest, snapped it shut again, then shook her head, looking uncertain; on the one hand, she couldn't ask Tara to do that for her, but on the other she couldn't deny it was a relief. Paying for a lightsaber crystal felt wrong somehow.

"Are you sure?" she asked instead. "I don't want you to get in trouble or anything like that. I still owe you so much as it is."

Pesky Yuuzhan Vong sense of honor.

"It's nothing," Tara said. "Call it a late Christmas, early graduation present and we're good."

Besides, she still owed Tahiri a lot as well.

On that point, you could argue that they were even. Tahiri turned the crystal over in her hands several times and took a breath.

"All right, if you put it that way, I think we can negotiate a deal," she said; it sounded a little silly, but she was still a little bit in the mindset she'd had to adopt while working out conflicts on Zonama Sekot over her break and it seemed like the best way to approach the matter.

She cracked a grin and tried for a joke, her other favorite method of dealing with slightly awkward situations. "Let's just hope I don't have to use this lightsaber to save you at some point."

"I think one of my life goals is not ending up in situations where a light saber has to be used to save me," Tara said, with a lopsided smile. "Which ... sometimes even works."

"Try and keep it that way," Tahiri replied as she tucked the crystal away into one of the equipment pouches on her belt. "As a general lifestyle, I don't honestly recommend it."

She made a complicated little formal gesture with both hands, looking a bit abashed.

"Thank you for this," she said seriously. "So much."

Tara looked down, brushing her hair out of her face in a way that gave her time to think. "Don't thank me again," she said. "Just ... use it well. Okay?"

"Always," Tahiri replied with more vehemence than might seem strictly necessary to anyone not privy to certain uncomfortable possible-future knowledge. "I promise you that. Force willing, I won't have to use it too often."

Movement outside caught her eye, and she tucked a strand of hair absently behind her ear as she turned to look.

"I think your lunch is here. I should probably get going; you probably don't want me here for that."

"I bet there's enough to share," Tara said wryly. "But ... it is kind of our thing, yeah. It was really good to see you again."

There was also the fact that Tahiri was pretty sure any eyerolling on her part would just make things tense.

"It was' it's been way too long since the last time we talked. I need to stop being so scarce," she conceded. "I don't have that much time left here, and it'd be a shame to waste it. Um . . . have a good lunch, okay?"

Magic Box, Thursday, 1/06

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