Quiet Spot on the Beach, Monday Evening

[nonelikemesince]

So . . . that had been an eventful trip home. They usually were, but crash-landing ships and getting shot at and beating unreasonable odds were the kinds of eventful he was used to. Finally getting to meet the baby cousin who was also one of his teachers and -- well, everything that had happened with Tahiri? That was the kind of eventful that had Anakin feeling way out of his depth.

He'd been so out of his depth, in fact, that he and Tahiri had barely spoken the entire way from Yag'Dhul back to the Errant Venture, and they had yet to get around to "figuring it out" like they said they needed to do.

At least they were both clear on the fact that it hadn't just happened because they thought they were going to die on that station? That was something.

Still, when he left to head back to Fandom it felt a lot like he was running away, and rather than head straight back to the dorm, he took a detour out to the beach and sat down. In the sand -- which made him smile, and then feel awkward all over again.

He wasn't brooding, though. Honestly. Just thoughtful.

[OOC: Journal-ed, so as to keep all the canon catchuppy stuff out of comms, but open anyway!]

Comments

[arsenicmauls]

Gert had also had an eventful day. Today, she had started her job at the diner.

...Okay, so it wasn't quite the same thing as Anakin's day. But she was here at the beach to recover anyway. Or at least she was, until she saw a kid sitting in the sand and obviously thinking about things.

"Private brooding place, or can anyone join?" she asked, keeping her tone about as light as was possible for Gert.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"It's a public beach," Anakin replied, waving a hand. Ordinarily he might be more sulky about the interruption, or complain that there was plenty of space and nobody needed to crowd him, but . . . a lot on his mind here. "I'm not going to stop you."

A beat.

"And I'm not brooding."

Okay, that sounded a tiny bit sulky.

[arsenicmauls]

"That's good," Gert said, claiming a spot in the sand a respectful few feet away from him. "I'd probably feel kind of crappy if I interrupted someone who was brooding."

And yet.

"Hi, by the way," she added. That was a thing that people sometimes said.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Anakin replied, like the scintillating conversationalist he was. "Um. Sorry if you were expecting nobody to be here?"

[arsenicmauls]

She shook her head. "'S okay," she assured him. "I'm not brooding either. I wanted to check out the beach for a while and I figured the day I'm already covered with syrup would probably be the day. At least given this train wreck, I'm probably not going to end up whining about the sand later."

Sigh, Luke's kitchen staff.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Well, if you're covered in syrup, maybe it'll stick to you, too," Anakin pointed out. "Not your best day?"

No, really, Anakin? How observant.

[arsenicmauls]

"Not my worst either," she disclaimed, because being covered with syrup was an improvement over some actual injuries she'd sustained in the past, "but that'd be a no. I'm not going to be winning any Most Coordinated contests at my new job, that's for sure."

Even though she maintained that it had been the other guy's fault and not her own.

"What brings you to the beach?"

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Just thinking." Anakin ducked his head, noting that he'd never been this self-conscious, at least not this particular extra-awkward brand of it, before in his life. "I just got back from a trip home, and, um . . . a lot of stuff happened. I'm still figuring it out."

[arsenicmauls]

"Do you want a sounding board for it?" Gert offered. "Apparently, therapy is one of the many services I offer."

A beat. While that had certainly been snarky, it wasn't quite accurate.

"It's actually the only service," she added as an afterthought. "Unless you have some dire need of a dinosaur."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

". . . I don't think I have any dinosaur-related emergencies right now," Anakin said after a slightly confused moment. "No emergencies at all, actually."

He shrugged. "Would you really want to hear about it?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Sure," she said, shrugging one shoulder. "Unless it's personal stuff and you'd rather not, lay it on me."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Well." Anakin chewed on his lower lip. "It is personal, but."

Sure, he could challenge a giant terrifying Yuuzhan Vong warrior to one-on-one combat and not break a sweat, but expect him to try and explain this and he couldn't stop fidgeting.

"There's some stuff with my best friend," he finally said, not exactly stammering but close, "and I guess I don't know where that leaves us any more."

Too bad he couldn't explain this as clearly as he could explain a complicated piece of programming.

[arsenicmauls]

So it was that kind of personal problem. Weird. Gert hadn't played romance advisor in a long time. Lately her therapizing had been more of the family drama variety, like with Bay, or the superhero issues kind, like with Evan.

...Seriously, she did this a lot. It was getting to be a pattern.

"You're into her?" she guessed. "Or him? Or he-slash-she is into you?"

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"I guess we're into each other," Anakin said slowly. "I didn't even realize it until . . ."

Well. Maybe the evidence had been there longer than he'd been able to put it together.

"Just now, I guess," he finished.

[arsenicmauls]

"So that's good, right?" she pointed out. "No 'oh, but it can never be' awkwardness? I mean, as long as neither of you does anything really sucky in the process of asking the other one out."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Anakin poked a finger into the sand repeatedly, making little dimples form in the surface. "I thought we were going to die," he admitted. "That's when I figured it out. And people -- my teachers, my mentors, everybody, they're always telling me I shouldn't make decisions in the heat of the moment, and I never thought they might be right until this time, when I got us into that mess."

He stabbed his finger into the sand one more time, scowling. "So why am I picking now to think that maybe they might have been onto something?"

[arsenicmauls]

"You think a lot of things when you think you're about to die," Gert pointed out. "Mostly of the 'oh, crap, why did I do this' variety. Makes sense to me."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"So does that make it a bad idea?" Anakin wondered. "I don't think it was. I mean, I definitely don't regret it."

He trailed off, looked down at the sand, and half-smiled. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised that you've been in the same sort of situation. Everyone does if they've been here long enough."

[arsenicmauls]

"I don't see why it would be," Gert said frankly. "Danger makes you think more clearly, doesn't it? Less petty crap to distract you."

She paused for a moment, not sure if she wanted to share this when she hadn't told anyone it before, but-- "The exact same thing happened to me before I got sent here, actually. Giving CPR to my friend Chase."

Her tone implied that she thought the situation was pretty ridiculous, but it was what it was.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Anakin didn't seem to think that was so ridiculous, but then, trapped in a locker on a depressurized space station. That did not exactly reek of dignity. "Did it just sort of hit you right then?"

[arsenicmauls]

"Pretty much," Gert replied, glancing down like that would hide the faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "We haven't actually spoken since then, but it was definitely one of those moments. For me, anyway."

Probably not for him, no matter what he had said at the time.

"If it's mutual for you guys, though, why not go for it?"

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Well," Anakin began, "it's sort of complicated. She's been through a really rough time lately."

And it worried him how much of the Yuuzhan Vong implanted personality seemed to have stuck with her.

It really wasn't that complicated. He was just overthinking.

[solo_sword]

Jaina tried to keep tabs on when she could feel Anakin on the island and when she couldn't, so when she knew he was back, she decided to seek him out.

"So," she said, taking a seat next to him, "how're you doing?"

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Anakin was glad to see her, and he scooted over closer to try and elbow her lightly.

"Fine?" There was no way he could tamp down the Force-equivalent of blushing he did at the question, though, not in time. "I didn't get sucked out into hard vacuum on a Givin space station, that is. So I guess that's pretty good, right?"

[solo_sword]

"I know I approve. Please keep that up," she said, but eyed him. "What was that?"

You couldn't Force-blush around Jaina and have her not comment.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"What was what?"

Don't even try, Anakin.

[solo_sword]

"You know what," Jaina told him.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Oh, and now there was actual blushing to go along with it.

"It's Tahiri," he finally blurted out, possibly more flaily than he'd ever been in his life. "Or, um. Me and Tahiri."

[solo_sword]

Awww. Weirdly, Jaina was kind of glad she was around to know about it before... everything, this time.

"About time," she smiled.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Anakin just stared at her for a second, slack-jawed and looking completely undignified.

"Did everybody expect it or something?" he squeaked. "First Corran, now you?"

[solo_sword]

"Your Jaina's not expecting it," she said. And that Jaina would probably be as shocked as she was, and then realize that it made sense. "I, however, am a few years ahead of you and know things like this."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"So can you use that future knowledge to help me out for once?" Anakin asked. "Just once?"

[solo_sword]

"About Tahiri?" she checked. For reasons.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Anakin told her. Still, for the record, about as red as Booster Terrik's Star Destroyer. If it was a little darker, he thought he'd probably be glowing.

[solo_sword]

At least she was being nice and not mentioning the potential glowing.

"Don't overthink it," Jaina told him. "It's a waste of time. Just go for it."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Is now really a good time, though?" It was nice and ironic that Anakin, who always rolled his eyes at Jacen for being overly introspective, really was overthinking things right now. "With the war going on and everything?"

[solo_sword]

"I don't think there's ever really a good time," Jaina said thoughtfully. "There's always something going on, and it's easier to put things off for whatever reason. But when you do that, you miss out on a lot."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Anakin couldn't deny that he wouldn't mind a repeat of what happened in the storage locker. Not that he would say so out loud.

"I just . . ." He shrugged. "Things won't be the same any more, and I don't want this to mean losing my best friend."

[solo_sword]

"You won't. You guys are always going to be Anakin and Tahiri, even if what that means changes some," Jaina told him. "And, I know you hate hearing about this, but I've ended up dating guys I was friends with and ended up friends with guys I dated. Just because a relationship changes doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Sometimes you wind up with something even better."

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Anakin relaxed enough to smile, and yes, it was a typically lopsided Solo grin. "Well, I guess I have to defer to your experience there."

Like Jacen would be any good for advice here. Like Anakin would even ask him, anyway.

[solo_sword]

Don't ask Jacen, he once dated a girl without realizing it.

"I am going to remember you said that always," Jaina teased.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Just this once," Anakin said, trying for a warning tone and mostly just getting 'still flaily and embarrassed' instead. "Which doesn't mean I don't expect you to try to use it against me for a long time."

[solo_sword]

Sometimes Jaina was really glad she'd figured out how to not just get sad around him. "I'll use it as long as I can. Sisterly right," she told him. "It's gonna be fine, you know."

Well. Probably not for Tahiri. But maybe she'd at least get something more timewise than Jaina's Tahiri did.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"Promise?" asked Anakin, then looked embarrassed for having asked.

[solo_sword]

"Promise," she said, slinging an arm around him.

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to remember you said that," Anakin told her. nudging at her with his shoulder as he leaned into her.