Room 529, Afternoon

[weetuskenraider]

It wasn't like Tahiri did a whole lot of meeting people, so when she saw her message light blinking she was a little surprised.

Of course, the first message kind of pissed her off, so she wasn't exactly polite about replying. Not very Jedi of her, but seriously, really? The second one was much more polite, but still confusing, so of course she had to reply to that one too.

And then the third message just made her want to die. She opted for flailing a reply instead.

She was feeling a little more Yuuzhan Vong today than usual, because technology was being evil. Villips were less hassle than this.

[OOC: To be updated through the day, of course! Subject of convo with Hurley NFB, please.]

Comments

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley stared at his phone.

"Okay, I'm seriously wondering what the heck is up today," he said.

[weetuskenraider]

"The entire phone system has gone thermal," Tahiri said, staring darkly at her phone.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Hurley said. "I almost think I should start sending messages only through four-dee."

[weetuskenraider]

"That might be a good idea," Tahiri said slowly, with an uneasy glance at the droid. "I'm almost wishing I had a villip right now."

That slipped out before she could stop it, and she mentally kicked herself. Well, she'd meant to tell him sooner or later.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"A what-up?" Hurley asked.

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri sighed. "Hang on," she said, and reached out through the Force to nudge the door shut, as well as suggest to any squirrels in the vicinity that they might want to be elsewhere.

"You know how you were asking why the droid made me nervous, and I promised I'd tell you?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley nodded. "Yeah," he said. This sounded like serious conversation time.

[weetuskenraider]

She let out a soft laugh. "Do we have ice cream?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley thought. "I have... cosmic brownies?"

[weetuskenraider]

"I'm guessing you don't mean they're actually from another planet," Tahiri noted. "Sure, why not?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley pulled the box from his under-the-bed stash. "It's just the brand name," he said. He opened the end of the box, and slid one of the individually wrapped portions out into his hand. He tossed it Tahiri's direction. "They're good, though."

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri snagged the brownie and unwrapped it, then took a bite. "Oooh, that's . . . really sweet. Wow. Anyway." She ran a hand through her hair and looked at him sheepishly. "I'm trying to figure out where to start."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley nodded. "Like... wherever you'd want to start, it's all okay. You don't have to say anything you don't want to."

[weetuskenraider]

"No, you should know," Tahiri said. Just in case. "See, the thing is, I told you there's a war going on at home right now, right? A couple of years ago, I got captured in it."

She reached up and rubbed at the scars on her forehead, self-consciously. "I wasn't a hostage, or a prisoner of war. I was . . . an experiment, maybe."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Oh man," Hurley said. His eyes watered a little. "I... oh, I am so sorry."

[weetuskenraider]

"Yeah." It wasn't as hard to talk about it as Tahiri had thought it might be, but she was a little scared he'd freak out when she finished. "The Yuuzhan Vong . . . exist outside of the Force. So they can't use it. And they wanted their own Force-user."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"So they... tried to make you into one of them?" Hurley guessed.

[weetuskenraider]

"Shaping, is what it's called." Tahiri's fingers traced the scars again. "The Yuuzhan Vong don't believe in technology. It's an abomination to them, but things that are alive . . . their ships, their buildings, their weapons, all of it's grown. Shaped. Their people, too. I could go into the reasons why but you'd probably get grossed out. But yeah, they tried."

She looked out the window for a moment, then back at him. "They actually kind of succeeded."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Huh," Hurley said. This had gone beyond the scope of what he could conceivably empathize with. "That doesn't sound good."

[weetuskenraider]

"Riina Kwaad," said Tahiri, her voice more guttural than usual. "That's who I was going to become. The thing is, she's not gone."

She tapped her temple with one finger. "I still have her memories. I remember growing up in a crèche on a worldship. I know how to speak the language. Pain is a religious experience. All of that. It's not me, but it is."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Whoa," Hurley said. "That's... oh man." He slid off his bed, and went over to Tahiri's. "Can I give you a hug?"

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri just kind of stared at him for a moment.

Granted, she hadn't mentioned the whole Yuuzhan Vong fetish for lopping off their own limbs and replacing them with parts of venomous animals or anything like that, but . . .

"A hug?" She couldn't help laughing a little bit. "No freaking out?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Dude, you're my roommate," Hurley said. "If any of that meant you were bad news, I woulda noticed already."

[weetuskenraider]

"Maybe," Tahiri said quietly. "It hasn't happened yet since I've been here, but she's slipped out a few times before. They're not . . . nice people, Hurley."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"They don't sound it," Hurley said. "But... well, I trust you. Even with all this."