Room 313, Monday afternoon

[solo_sword]

Before heading to class, Jaina had a voicemail from John announcing he was going out of town. It was only annoying for a little while, and then she realized she'd just have to settle for bitching at him some when he got back and went on with her day. Which kind of disappointingly wouldn't be filled with exploring or flying or setting horses free. ...She should really mention that last thing to Karal.

She spent part of her afternoon in the junkyard, finally finding a broken toaster that looked suitable to bring back and fix. She didn't feel like the garage today. Instead she sat on the floor of her room with parts scatterred around her as she took the thing apart so she could put it back together, definitely not thinking about things other than missing her boyfriend for a couple days.


[Open door, open post]

Comments

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

One of the unfortunate after-effects of Fandom Weirdness was the clear memory of things said and done. In Karal's case, this was the clear memory of telling both Jaina and Inara that girls couldn't do things like climb tress or fight Space Vampires.

Which would be why he was tapping on their open door, looking a little sheepish.

[solo_sword]

Jaina looked up and immediately asked, "Hi, um, do horses eat chips? I mean, are they supposed to?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal blinked in confusion. "Umm, they can, I don't think it would hurt them, but it's probably not a good thing to be giving them regularly," he said. "Why do you ask?"

[solo_sword]

"Because I fed your horse and let him play," she said, apologetically. "I was six."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Karal's eyes lit up. "Is that why he was out this morning?"

[solo_sword]

"Yeah. Sorry. I didn't know how to get him back and wouldn't have been able to get to the latch."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"It's all right," he assured her. "There was no harm done, and Sunlord knows, it's not the first time he's gotten out. He was good this morning, followed me right back to his stall."

[solo_sword]

"Oh, good," she said, obviously relieved as she waved him in. "He kept me entertained. Not much else I could have asked for."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"After the weekend he had with me, I'm sure he was glad of the company," he said as he came inside. "Umm, there was something I wanted to say to you, as well."

[solo_sword]

"Okay," she said, gesturing to the bed if he wanted to sit. The plus of camping out on the floor was having more room for guests.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He sat, loooking sheepish again. "I wanted to apologise for the, umm, the girls can't fight Space Vampires thing," he explained, rubbing his temple with one finger. This was the second time he'd had to make this sort of apology to Jaina. "When I was seven, I had, well, very Karsite notions of what men and women could do."

[solo_sword]

"Aha," she said, remembering. That sort of thing was easy to brush off when you were little. "Yeah, that's twice now, you know. Though I can guess you don't really think that anymore, since I would have had to kick you by now."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

He flushed and shoook his head. "No, no, I've learned very well never to underestimate the competence of a woman, no matter what the laws in Karse are. You definitely don't have to kick me."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke poked his head into the open doorway. "You're not little still, either," he said with a grin.

And fully dressed. Both were Very Good Things is Luke's world.

[solo_sword]

"No," she said slowly, "but it's probably a good thing I grew up again before I started getting into real trouble."

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke chuckled. "I think I was a few hours from knocking all of my teeth out, so I understand. I woke up wrapped in bubble wrap. I think Dad had given up."

[solo_sword]

"Well, you still ended up airborne, so you couldn't have been all bad," she pointed out. Then again, as long as no one met any vagrants or got kidnapped or lost in underlevels of anything, she wouldn't consider it all bad.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

"That was pure self-preservation," Luke said. "I'd been asking him to do that for about three hours straight. I'm half surprised he didn't leave me in a tree."

[solo_sword]

"He wouldn't have. He looked like he was having too much fun," she said. Which she recognized as a rarity, though that didn't make her any happier about things as a near-adult at the moment.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke's forehead wrinkled as he tilted his head at her. "You okay?"

[solo_sword]

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I'm just going to blame aging eleven years in one night." In reality, she was a little afraid of what he'd say about her.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke watched her eyes for another moment before nodding. "I can understand that," he said quietly.

[solo_sword]

"Though I bet you're just glad to get out of the bubble wrap," she said lightly.

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

He laughed. "I was all poppy when I woke up and rolled over. Artoo has great footage, I'm sure."

[solo_sword]

"Let's repress right past 'Artoo' and 'footage'," Jaina said quickly. "And by the way, I'm perfectly happy with my lightsaber color now, thanks."