Kyp sighed deeply, steeling himself for what he knew was going to be a long ride.
With a final deep breath, he pushed the door to Jaina's room open.
She was sitting in the middle of her bed, her eyes dull as she wrung her hands.
"Hi." Kyp smiled as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Jaina's forehead crinkled as she tried to form the words.
Kyp waited, hoping his shields were up.
"Hi." The word was slow and garbled. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kyp. Who are you?" it sounded incredibly stupid coming out of his mouth, but it was the first thing that came to his mind.
"Mmmm-my name's Raina." She finally managed, still twisting the bed sheet between her hands.
Jaina. He almost corrected her, but decided to let it go. She'd been overwhelmed enough for one day. What did one little mistake matter up against what she was going through?
Her face was scrunching up again. "Wha' are you here?"
Kyp could've closed his eyes and been transported back sixteen years, when she'd lost her first tooth. The lisp was almost identical.
"Actually," he was suddenly glad he'd been cleaning out the store room only moments before, "I was looking for someone to play BlackAngel with." He gestured at the game system box under his arm. "Do you want to play?"
Jaina frowned intensely. "Ahhh... I," she corrected herself, "d-" she drew the sound out, "don't know. I nnn-never played it before."
It was on the tip of Kyp's tongue to tell her it had been her favorite game since she was old enough to hold the controls by herself.
"That's ok." He shrugged instead. "I'll teach you." Again.
Jaina attempted a shrug. " 'K."
Kyp set the box down, hoping all the components were still there, after it had been sitting in a musty room for almost three years.
Since she'd told him she never wanted to see him again.
" Nnnn-n'un else?" Jaina asked as he opened the box.
"What?" Kyp tried to keep his voice light as he pulled the transmitter cable out of the box and hooked it up to the holovision set.
"N'un else. To ww-work with."
Kyp looked up to find her scowling in frustration.
"What?" he asked gently.
She shook her head and shrugged with one arm. "Nah' right. Pppp..." she frowned when the sound didn't come. "Ppppp..."
Kyp wanted to help her, but something told him that wouldn't decrease her frustration any.
"Play." She finally got the word.
Kyp continued hooking the system up to the holovision. "I don't know. I didn't exactly take a poll in the hallway.
The right side of Jaina's face lifted in an unbalanced smile.
"Ok." Kyp plugged the controls into the system and unwound the cable. "Here's how you hold it." He put the duraplast panel in her hands and showed her the buttons. "This is how you jump." He pressed it for her to show her. "And this is how you shoot." He guided her finger to the trigger. "And you move around with this little thing." He thumbed the small joystick in the middle of the panel.
She frowned, obviously confused. "Shoot? At you?"
Kyp chuckled. "People have tried that before, but no, not with that. Just watch the screen." He turned and pressed the power command on the system.
Jaina's eyes widened when the holovision came on with a blast of cantina-style music.
Kyp rubbed his ears. "I thought I had turned that down." He muttered.
Jaina's lips were moving as she stared enthralled at the screen, but no words were coming out.
Kyp reached over to his control and pushed start.
Jaina laughed when a small, unidentified fuzzy creature popped up onto the screen, chattering as it ran-hop-skipped away.
"Ss-shoot that?" she asked finally.
Kyp almost laughed out loud. She'd asked the same thing when she was three.
"No." he shook his head with a smile. "Don't shoot at that. Watch." He pressed another button on his control set and the screen darkened for a moment.
"Shoot them." he told her, nodding to the dark caped figures now on the screen.
"Nn-no problem." She managed, moving the control panel itself subconsciously as she tried to catch the evil looking creatures with her scope.
Kyp spun his joystick and got the yellow-eyed shadow that was running up behind her game piece.
He started to turn his own piece back around to catch the other villain to his right, but it exploded in a graphic cartoon of gore before he was even completely turned.
He looked at Jaina to find her eyes still wide.
"Cool." Was all she said.
This time, Kyp did laugh.
Jaina looked at him, smiling self-consciously. "Do you play this a lot?"
Kyp shook his head. "I used to, but not anymore."
"Why nn-not?" she questioned slowly. "You ddd-don't like it?"
"No." Kyp shook his head. "I like it. I just don't."
"Oh."
Kyp could see she didn't think his answer was enough.
"I used to play with a friend of mine, but she doesn't like me anymore." He explained quietly.
"Sss-sorry." She was wringing the sheet again.
"It's ok." Kyp assured her. "It's still fun."
" 'K."
Kyp shot the last shadow and turned to her. "Think you're ready for the next level?"
"Ss-sure." She picked up her control panel as he changed the setting and peered at the translucent duraplast covering.
"Ss-so I can't ss-shoot you?" her slurred words sounded almost disappointed.
Kyp laughed. "No, you can't shoot me, but you could shoot my game piece."
"Really?" the word was surprisingly clear as her game piece spun and fired.
Nothing happened.
"But it won't do anything." Kyp finished, grinning.
The glare she sent his way was so Jaina that he almost forgot she wasn't the same.
Kyp grinned. "Sorry."
Jaina nodded to the paused game screen. "Play."
Kyp pressed the start button to resume the game.
He grinned at how quickly Jaina started jerking her control set around to match her movements of the joystick.
"Get him!" Kyp exclaimed, shooting to no avail at one of the hooded shadows coming at him.
Jaina was depressing the trigger as fast as she could. "Die!" she yelled at the obstinate villain.
The menacing shadow finally disappeared in a puff of black-green smoke.
"Good job." Kyp complimented.
The self-conscious half smile was back. "Than's"
"Miss Solo?" a medic shoved the door open and waltzed in. "It's meal time." She looked at Kyp. "I'm sorry, sir, but visiting hours are over."
Kyp stood. "Sure thing." He waved briefly at Jaina. "I'll just leave the game here." He waited until the medic's back was turned. "Maybe Miss Bossy-pants will play with you." He whispered.
Jaina grinned. " 'K"
Kyp smiled back as he left the room, wondering to himself how long it would take before she even remembered her own name.
And how much she hated him.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Coming up on reentry." Jag said, monotone.
"Praise all things sacrilegious." Tahiri said sarcastically. "I thought I'd never get out of this seat."
Jag eyed her oddly.
Tahiri chose to ignore it.
"Out of plain curiosity, do you use strange comparisons often?" he reached over to fiddle with the controls.
Tahiri scowled. "What, you're susceptible to the flaw of curiosity, too?"
"If curiosity is a flaw, then yes." Jag's voice was mild.
"Fine. And I'm totally guilty of creating my own invectives." She narrowed her eyes. "None of which are pretty."
"I'm sure."
Tahiri sighed. "How long, again?"
"About fifteen standard minutes, but I never said so in the first place."
"whatever." She frowned again. "I just want to go back home."
"Once again, that's probably a given."
Tahiri glared. "I cannot believe there is someone in this world more annoyingly stiff than Tenel Ka." She muttered.
Jag – wisely -chose to remain silent.
"You know," Tahiri took advantage of the moment of free talking space, "I think it's funny how everyone says 'standard time' when no one uses anything but standard time anymore."
"Valid point." Jag admitted, somewhat begrudgingly.
"How much longer?"
She could've sworn she saw Jag roll his eyes. "Now only eleven minutes."
"So we have to get in, check Eclipse out, make any final preparations, and then we can get the heck out of here." Tahiri mused.
"In that general order, yes." Jag agreed.
Tahiri took a deep breath and blew it out, still scowling.
"I wonder how Major Solo's health is faring." Jag wondered aloud.
Tahiri sighed. "Your guess is a good as mine, unfortunately. Last thing I heard was when Jacen called two days ago."
Jag nodded. "It sounded worse than we thought."
"Now if that wasn't the understatement of the universe's history, then I don't know what is." Tahiri shot at him.
Jag silently adjusted another control.
"Sorry." Tahiri apologized. "I didn't mean to yell at you."
"No permanent harm caused." Jag replied stiffly.
Tahiri stood. "Call me when it's two minutes to reentry." She called over her shoulder as the cockpit door slid open.
"That's only about eight minutes from now." Jag frowned.
"Right. Plenty of time to catch up on some sleep."