Room 529, Thursday Afternoon

[weetuskenraider]

"Absolutely not," Tahiri said for the thousandth time to the monkey that kept clinging to her foot. "Can you go play somewhere else?"

The monkey seemed perfectly content to ignore the suggestion -- even with a touch of the Force behind it -- and keep snuggling her foot; apparently her toes made astral handholds. It had been at this for the past couple of hours, since she'd stretched out on her bed to read some reports from home, and it looked like it had the energy to keep it up for a while.

Tahiri eyed the monkey dubiously over the top of her datapad. "I'm not so sure you're not really part mynock."

It ignored her -- again -- and kept clinging.

"I give up," she announced, and went back to reading.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post, SP for a bit later when I head home!]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"Tahir----eeeee owowow let go of my hair!"

Well, that was an inauspicious beginning to Ben's visit.

[weetuskenraider]

But about par for the course today, it seemed.

"You'd better not be bringing in another one of those things, Ben," Tahiri called, smothering a snicker as she gestured to nudge the door further open. (In case his hands were full -- with ice cream, or monkeys, as the case might be.)

The monkey curled around her foot perked up, and she glared at it. "Don't you even get ideas."

[momslilassassin]

He had both, it turned out--ice cream in his hands, and a monkey riding in his hood.

"I don't know if these are better or worse than the things shooting at me yesterday," he griped.

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri groaned. "Oh, those things. I don't want to talk about the hourlong conversation I had with myself in the mirror after my shower yesterday." She'd said plenty about it right there, thank you. "At least the creatures are just persistent."

To emphasize her point, she stuck her foot out and gave it a good shake; the monkey just held on tighter.

"What are the odds, do you think, that they won't want the ice cream?"

[momslilassassin]

"Well, Uncle Han might bet on it, but everyone knows he's barvy," Ben replied.

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"I promise I won't tell him you said that," Tahiri said solemnly. "I was going to send a message to him and Leia later. Have you been stuck with that thing all day, too?"

[momslilassassin]

"Yes," Ben said, rolling his eyes. "He had two friends when I was grabbing ice cream but I distracted them with strategically thrown bananas."

[weetuskenraider]

"Poor Chilly Boulder. They're going to be giving away a lot of banana splits for free today," Tahiri said sympathetically. "I've only had the one; it found me on my way back from the salle."

She set the datapad aside and patted the bed beside her. "What's the ice cream occasion today?"

[momslilassassin]

"I was hoping to bribe you into going to the dance tomorrow with me," he said with a little grin.

"Not you," he told the now excitedly cheering monkey.

[weetuskenraider]

"Am I that hard a sell that it takes bribery?" Tahiri asked; she was trying to pretend to be offended, but that was hard when the cheering monkey was making her laugh. "If you hadn't come to ask, I was going to come find you and tell you you had to go with me."

[momslilassassin]

"I figured waiting until this late might need some bribery," Ben replied.

[weetuskenraider]

"It might," Tahiri said, grinning too much to pull off mock-solemn. "I'd been thinking about going with Firekeeper instead, since you'd put it off so long."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, if you must," Ben said sadly, "I suppose I could ask Tony or something."

Dork.

[weetuskenraider]

"You could, but you're already here," Tahiri pointed out cheerfully. "So unless you're planning on asking me as practice . . ."

[momslilassassin]

"That seems unnecessarily cruel," Ben decided. "Will you go to the dance with me? Maybe we'll even go crazy and actually dance this time?"

[weetuskenraider]

"You mean we'd actually dance, in some fit of insanity? Well, in that case." You'd think Tahiri would just say yes, or that she'd love to go to the dance with him, but . . .

"Are these monkeys incredibly clingy?"

Would it hurt you to just say yes for once, Tahiri?

[momslilassassin]

Ben burst out laughing. "Sometimes I kind of love you," he teased.

[weetuskenraider]

"Only sometimes?" Tahiri teased back, as the monkey hugging her foot scurried up her leg and then began to climb the front of her flight suit. "Only kind of?"

[momslilassassin]

"Back off, monkey," Ben scolded, leaning in to kiss her. "You have your moments."

[weetuskenraider]

"Lots of them, thanks."

The monkey chittered indignantly, but scrambled around to perch on Tahiri's shoulder.

. . . which didn't stop it from cooing when Tahiri wrapped an arm around Ben's neck to kiss him.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's monkey decided that an excellent vantage point to see what was going on was right on time of his head.

"...this is getting ridiculous," Ben sighed.

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri could swear the monkey on her shoulder was trying to high-five the one on Ben's head.

"Would it be wrong to use the Force to get rid of them?"

[momslilassassin]

"I think it's probably more wrong to keep kissing and accidentally traumatizing some monkeys," Ben decided.

[weetuskenraider]

"Do we have to be that concerned about monkey trauma?" Tahiri complained.

". . . and there's something I never thought I'd say."

[momslilassassin]

Ben tilted his head to nip at her ear (and maybe tip the stupid monkey off his head). "I didn't know you liked an audience."

[weetuskenraider]

"I don't," Tahiri insisted, as the monkey on her shoulder let out a little "ooooooooooooooooooo." "I just don't feel like having to stop."

[momslilassassin]

"Me either," Ben said, trying to snuggle a little closer and getting a claw in his arm for his trouble.

[weetuskenraider]

"Do you mind?" Tahiri asked the monkey in an aggrieved tone. "You're nice and everything, but there's a time and a place."

Because she and Ben had ever grasped the concept of a time and a place.

[momslilassassin]

There might be a first time for everything? Possibly not today, though.

The two monkeys looked very, very pathetic. "No," Ben said, pointing to the door. "Out you go."

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri's monkey twisted its fingers (Tahiri briefly regretted that they had opposable thumbs) into the collar of her flight suit, and she could swear she saw its lower lip quivering.

"You know how much you like hugging? So do we," she tried to explain to it. "But this is not a group activity."

[momslilassassin]

"Why don't you go hug each other?" Ben suggested, cheeks going a little pink. "Somewhere else. That's not here."

Too subtle for monkeys?

[weetuskenraider]

Entirely too subtle for monkeys. Or maybe too pointed, since the monkey snuggled up to Tahiri even more defiantly.

"Honestly," she said, exasperated. "Stop monopolizing me. Part mynock, I'm telling you."

[momslilassassin]

"All annoying," Ben declared. He imbued his voice with the Force. "Out. Now."

[weetuskenraider]

"I tried that," Tahiri told him sadly. "They weren't feeling particularly persuaded."

[momslilassassin]

"Why would clingy monkeys need to be Force-resistant?" Ben replied, frowning. "Come on guys, out. You can take the ice cream."

That he was going to bribe his girlfriend with. Nice, Ben.

[weetuskenraider]

"Hey!" Tahiri objected. "Why should they get the ice cream?"

Make up your mind, Tahiri. Do you want the ice cream, or the privacy?

. . . to be fair, that could be a tough choice.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned in. "If they leave, I can get you to forget about the ice cream..." he murmured.

Because speaking in a normal tone might upset the monkeys.

[weetuskenraider]

"Oh, could you?" Tahiri asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'd like to see how you plan to pull that off."

Who knew what might or might not upset the monkeys, any more? They were pink. All bets were off.

[momslilassassin]

He blushed furiously. "Well, I was going to try to do something that I'm not sure monkeys need to watch?"

Smooth, Ben.

[weetuskenraider]

Pfft, smooth. Tahiri didn't have much more of a concept of smooth was now than she had when they'd started going out, and by this point she didn't care. (She did think it was a good reason to tease him, though.)

"Oh, well then, in that case."

She turned and gave the monkeys a stern look. "You. Out. Take the ice cream, but you need to leave."

As an afterthought: "Please."

[momslilassassin]

"I can't believe that worked," Ben said as the monkeys wandered out.

[weetuskenraider]

"Did you get banana ice cream?" Tahiri had to ask, but she was already snuggling up closer to him -- and waving a hand to shut the door firmly after the monkeys.

[momslilassassin]

"With walnuts," Ben added, more interested in nipping at her neck than talking about ice cream.