Stark Industries [all day]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was back for his last shift at his job and was making the most of his time (and his last paycheck) by putting together a small mountain pile of electronics that he was going to take with him when he left

Comments

[life_inshadow]

Tara was still sleepy from having stayed out a little too late the night before, but it wasn't going to deter her from checking in with Ben before they both left the island.

The kumquat shower, however, almost did.

"Hi," she said, brushing fruit out of her hair. "Uh .... does it rain fruit in here a lot?"

[life_inshadow]

"You have pictures of it, right?" Tara asked, smiling back. "For when you want to reminisce about ... ceilings that drop fruit."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "And the yearbooks. And my memory's kind of great. I'll have to make it rain grapes on Ender some day when I'm bored. He'll love it."

Probably not.

[life_inshadow]

"Do it when he has really important people visiting," Tara suggested. "That'll make it funnier."

Again, not so much.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "I will. The look on their faces would be priceless."

Ben didn't like Graff even the tiniest bit, no.

"What's your plan after next week? College, right?"

[life_inshadow]

"University of California Sunnydale," Tara agreed. "And Warren's coming with me. It's ... pretty dorky how much I'm excited."

[momslilassassin]

"I'd be worried if you weren't excited," Ben said, grinning. "What are you going to study? Or just 'everything'?"

[life_inshadow]

"Everything," Tara said, with a shy grin. "I'm a sociology major, but first semester is ... kind of a little of everything. It'll be weird, you know? Regular school after ... here."

Not worrisome-weird, though. Mostly good-weird.

[momslilassassin]

"Fewer squirrels reporting on what you're doing, for one thing," Ben said dryly. "No invasions...your probability of turning into a pony has to go down. Plus homework."

[life_inshadow]

"See, it was all up-sides up to the homework," Tara smiled, then went a little more thoughtful. "Sunnydale's supposed to be a little bit of a, um, a weirdness nexus? Not like here, but not ... completely normal."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded thoughtfully. "Well, someplace completely without weirdness would be kind of an adjustment, right?"

[life_inshadow]

"That was kind of my theory," Tara agreed. "Plus, I'll have to hide the magic less there. Maybe."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded again. "That'll be hard to go back to, huh?"

[life_inshadow]

"A little, but ... I knew it was coming," Tara shrugged philosophically. "What about you? Will Ender's world be kind of okay with the Force?"

[momslilassassin]

"Not exactly," Ben said, "but I'm kind of...done...with the Force for a bit."

Even though it didn't really work that way.

[life_inshadow]

"Oh." A pause. "I ... didn't know you could do that."

Tara could quit using magic if it was going to get her unwanted attention, but that wasn't the same thing as being done with it. And she thought the Force might be even bigger to Ben than magic was to her.