Chilly Boulder- Saturday night

[solo_sword]

Jaina was supposed to meet Ben tonight, so naturally that meant ice cream. Besides, was both good for celebration (yay graduation) and a good pick-me-up (any news that had to be told today). It worked.

So getting here early, she ordered something more or less at random and found a seat to wait for Ben. And try not to feel too old that the once-baby cousin she'd seen show up as a freshman had just graduated.


[Jaina's here for Ben, but can be open!]

Comments

[solo_sword]

"Ask for a flavor instead," she advised. "It sounds more impressive."

[momslilassassin]

"Oooh," Ben said. "What should be in it?"

Repressing his last conversation? Hell yes.

[solo_sword]

"You're asking someone who ordered off the menu at random," Jaina pointed out. "Tell them to rename your favorite after you."

Normally she'd think this ridiculous. But seriously, she knew him and the ice cream.

[momslilassassin]

"I might," Ben said. "I like most of them, though. Not rum raisin--that's nasty."

[solo_sword]

"Did raisin rum actually just come up in a conversation with the two of us?" she realized.

Not that she'd been repressing anything, either.

[momslilassassin]

"Seems so," Ben replied, making a little face. "Guess there are things neither of us want to bring up."

[solo_sword]

Just a little.

"Wanna get it over with?" she asked.

[momslilassassin]

"Not really," Ben admitted, taking another bite from his bowl. "Want to go first?"

[solo_sword]

Unless someone was dying, there probably wasn't a chance that his news was worse than hers. Jaina had no problem with going first and working up to something less terrible.

"Mom called me yesterday to tell me about Ailyn Vel," she said.

[momslilassassin]

And that was a stream of Tusken curses he'd picked up from Tahiri.

"I'm so sorry," he said, looking ill.

[solo_sword]

"We'll deal with it," she told him. "When I go back after this, we'll figure out what we need to do and we'll do it."

Okay, so maybe she'd worked up from wanting to be depressed about it all and was getting to the scary focus part soon.

[momslilassassin]

Ben looked worried anyway. "Where's Ben? And Tahiri?"

[solo_sword]

"Tahiri's with the Jedi. I just saw her a couple months ago, she's fine," Jaina assured him. The rest was not so great to tell. Which was why there was a little wince when she said, "Ben is apparently in the GAG."

[momslilassassin]

And Ben wasn't hungry any more. He pushed his bowl away. "Shit. Shitshitshit. Okay. You need to talk to him: he's probably freaking out about Vel being dead."

He froze. "Wait. Did Jacen fire you?"

[solo_sword]

She blew out a breath and said, "Yeah. That's why I have to go back when I do, see how it pans out."

And added 'talk to Ben' onto the mental checklist. If he'd talk to her.

[momslilassassin]

Yeah, by the look on this Ben's face, he was wondering about the possibilities of the conversation going as well as he'd hoped.

"He's going to take Jacen's side on that," he murmured. "Idiot."

[solo_sword]

"He's a little big on the hero worship," she said, because she was a few weeks out from outright agreeing with that statement. "It's one of the reasons Luke's having problems getting him away from Jacen without making things worse."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "Dad's trying?" he said. "Has he told Mom yet? Because I listened to her better."

[solo_sword]

"He and I have had several conversations about this now," she nodded. "Apparently he's told her, but... He was vague about it, but I guess Mara hasn't clued in yet to the fact that Jacen's going dark. She thinks there's some other explanation I haven't heard."

She kind of wanted to shake Mara a little, yes.

[momslilassassin]

Ben looked guilt-stricken. "And then I told her and she didn't tell him and went off and got killed," he mumbled to the table.

[solo_sword]

"Unless you physically did it, do not blame yourself," she told him firmly.

And told herself not to ask for details, because she was having a hard enough time handling this situation as it was.

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave her a little look. "You know it doesn't really work that way."

[solo_sword]

"It should," Jaina said. "Everyone's responsible for their own decisions and actions. You can't drive yourself crazy over something someone else does."

[momslilassassin]

"Too late," Ben murmured.

[solo_sword]

Jaina reached across the table to place her hand over his. "Then find a way to stop from now on," she said. "You shouldn't bear the guilt for someone else's actions just like no one should for yours."