fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms and Beyond, Tuesday Afternoon

Today, one of the two men in charge wasn't bothering to look the other way whenever the other strayed into his vision. Arthur, it seemed, had decided to declare himself Past That for no reason at all. "Afternoon, students," he called, "Today, there is no time to fool around. We'll be mapping the shoreline by foot, in twos and threes. If you have the means to venture out onto the water, today or this week, I ask you to do so as well. We will continue to gain oversight over the island and its structure." A pause, in which he failed to seek out Ino in the audience. "Next week, you will be facing one another in a mock battle. Bring practise weapons."

Noting that Arthur had decided to make an effort, Leto saw no reason not to do the same, and so he did acknowledge his presence, even if he didn't address Arthur directly. "And for those of you who were here last week, you are welcome to hand in the reports on strategy," he continued, then shot a glance at Arthur, to check if he had anything to add.

"For those of you who are still looking to gain some fighting skills, you can come to Leto or myself," Arthur continued, shooting Leto a glance from the corner of his eyes to see if he agreed with that, "Or find a willing teacher now, before we disperse. If you are new, you may speak up now to let us know what your skills are, so everyone will be thoroughly informed in the event of an emergency."

Leto gave a nod in response, but had nothing more to add. He found himself a little relieved that things were a little less tense than last week.

[~~wait for OCD~~ OCD has been up for a long time and I forgot to edit.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Next generation of X-Wings," Ben said, "built just for Jedi, so they don't have comm packages."

"Wow. One less thing I'd have to remember how to work," Tahiri said thoughtfully, and snorted. "I barely belong in a regular old X-Wing right now, let alone an XJ3, or . . ."

Luckily, the frustrated moment passed quickly, and she continued in a brighter voice. "Well, since we're here and don't have mapping droids on us, want to take a walk down the beach?"

"Sounds nice," Ben said, reaching for her hand. "Maybe you'll see something I'd miss."

"So far I see a lot of water," Tahiri announced a few steps later, just because she had to make some kind of crack. "And there --"

She pointed to an out of the way and apparently empty cove with several sets of identical booted footprints leading to and from it, the clarity of the prints fading as they got closer to the shoreline. "I know there's a ship there, it's just got some kind of cloaking system."

Sure, she was enjoying this walk, but she could multitask too.

"What kind of ship?" He was a Skywalker. It was in the blood to ask.

She knew he'd ask. "It's Jen's. About the size of a small shuttle. I helped her destroy the time travel circuitry a while ago, but I didn't exactly ask about the specs."

Tahiri grinned at him. "That's more of a Skywalker thing to do."

"There was time travel circuitry and you got rid of it?" Ben asked, trying to meet her eyes. "You didn't want to go back and fix anything?"

Tahiri met his gaze and didn't flinch. "I thought about it. And boy, did she ever yell at me."

"Oh?" Ben replied. "How so?"

"There was a whole lecture about how you don't mess with the past, because . . ." Tahiri shrugged, debating whether it was her story to tell, then ~~shamelessly self-modded and~~ went on. "She did it, and it made things worse. There was this guy she loved, and . . . I mean, have you ever met her? I guess I decided I didn't want to end up like that."

Ben reached out to squeeze her fingers. "It's kind of like seeing the future, then? Where trying to change it can just make it worse."

"Kind of, yeah, I guess," Tahiri said slowly, and squeezed his hand a little more firmly in return. "Is it always that way, though? Because . . . I mean, I really don't want to. You know."

He leaned his forehead in to touch hers. "Whatever the alternative, it's got to be better than what happened," he said firmly.

Tahiri reached up to wrap her arms around him and give him a brief but fierce hug. "You know one thing I like about the future?"

"You already know how cute I'll be?" Ben teased.

"Besides that." She laughed, and briefly wondered when exactly it had gotten so completely effortless to be able to do that again. "Actually, I just meant you in general."

Ben's cheeks went pink as he smiled back. "Maybe your me won't be as astral."

"You are my Ben, dummy," Tahiri insisted. "But I think the one back home will turn out just fine, too."

Although she did hope like crazy, even if she tried not to think about it in any concrete way, that if he ever had to learn some of the same tough lessons this Ben had, they wouldn't involve scars she'd given him.

"Keep him away from Jacen?" Ben asked. "Assuming he's really still alive in your version, of course."

"If he is . . ." Tahiri nodded firmly. ~~Because avoiding the bug books or not, she wasn't going to eventually forget saying that hearing Jacen out is dangerous because he says one thing and means another, dammit.~~ "It's not that I don't think any version of you can't take care of yourself, but . . ."

She grinned. "I can't help caring."

Ben grinned at her, mapping the terrain temporarily forgotten. "I'm just that adorable, huh?"

"Beyond adorable." Tahiri had no idea exactly how ridiculously schmoopy she sounded right now, or she'd be embarrassed at herself.

He turned beet red. "And that's a good thing, right?"

"No, it's absolutely horrible."

As if she could even say that with a straight face. Tahiri's Force-sense was very . . . warm and fuzzy right about now.

Ben smirked at her, then leaned in to kiss her.

Re: Arrive/Mingle

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 13:56 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 15:38 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 15:54 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 16:03 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 16:08 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 16:56 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 17:13 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 19:44 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 20:17 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 20:21 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 20:27 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 20:35 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 20:46 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 21:05 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 21:24 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 21:29 (UTC) - Expand

weetuskenraider - 2009-05-20 21:50 (UTC) - Expand

momslilassassin - 2009-05-20 21:53 (UTC) - Expand