Office hours [all day]

[sith_happened]

Anakin arrived a little late to work today: traffic coming through town had been a mess, and he'd almost had to start fights with three different little old ladies aggravating shoppers.

He put down his bag of decorations--lights and tinsel (stupid tinsel), bows and greenery--and began decorating his office.

And then taking pictures to send to Rory's phone. He had a promise to keep, after all.

The door was open. Holiday music was definitely not playing.

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[intraspective]

A very glittery Ino peeked around the door to his office in the afternoon. "You're decorating!"

Very good, Ino. Full marks for observation.

[sith_happened]

Anakin grinned a little sheepishly. "I promised my wife. Come in!"

[intraspective]

"Your wife sounds awesome," she said, grinning and bouncing inside in all her glittery glory. "Can I help?"

[sith_happened]

"My wife is awesome," Anakin replied with a matching smile. "Of course you can help." He tilted his head at her. "Is the tinsel still falling from the sky?"

[intraspective]

"I will take your word for it since I've never met her! And the showers are possessed by glitter demons," Ino said, laughing. "I was demonized good and sparkly. Isn't it awesome?" Complete with a little twirl.

[sith_happened]

"It's certainly bright," he replied. "Rory would love it. Glitter demons, huh? Weirdest I had as a student were very small bunnies that clung to things."

[intraspective]

"Well," Ino admitted sheepishly, "I don't know if the demons are metaphorical or not, but there is totally a lot of glitter happening in the showers, so demons work as well as anything."

A beat.

"Like the multi-coloured dust bunnies we had a while ago?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I had a few who liked to hang from a braid in my hair. It was strange."

Another small smile as he waved garland to hang from a corner of the ceiling and swag across the room. "So we'll be able to tell people's hygiene routines by who's sparkling today?"

[intraspective]

"I like the small animals, and stuff. It's fun to take care of them. What did you want me to help with?" Ino asked, watching the garland hang itself. "And, exactly, now we can tell who showers first thing in the morning, or later, or at night, and that's stuff I'm not sure I really needed to know but is a bit entertaining."

[sith_happened]

"I've got a bunch of bows in the bag," Anakin replied. "Why don't you stick them up where you think I need a bit of color?"

His office was pretty stark, other than the blue walls. Everywhere needed a bit of color.

[intraspective]

Ino poked through the bag to find the bows and contemplated his office. "Maybe you should have bought more bows," she said impishly, as she put one up on the wall behind his desk. "Because, really..."

[sith_happened]

"I don't do flashy," Anakin explained. "I grew up in a temple. There wasn't a lot of...anything, really. Lots of statues of old, famous Jedi. Lots of space. Not a lot of things to dust."

[intraspective]

Ino made a face as she put up another bow. "Any flowers about, at least? Flowers make up for a lot of things."

Really, if you took away all her plants, then Ino's room was pretty empty here.

[sith_happened]

"Meditation gardens, yes," Anakin said, nodding. "There was one that had a flower that was the exact shade of my wife's eyes. It grew on a planet that doesn't exist any more."

[intraspective]

Her head swiveled to glance over at him. "Anywhere you can get the seeds?" she asked casually. "I'm pretty good with plants."

Which was understating things quite a bit.

[sith_happened]

He shook his head sadly. "The temple's gone, too, and the planet blew up a few years ago. I'm not exactly in touch with the refugees. But thank you for the offer."

He distracted himself by trying--futilely--to keep the tinsel off the carpet. "Do you have big holiday plans?"

[intraspective]

She studied him for a moment, before shrugging a bit. "What was it called, do you know?"

And then she'd pester Ben about it.

"Not me," she said, smiling slightly. "My world doesn't celebrate it, so there's nothing going on. Just presents for people, and probably being bored here when everyone else goes home with their families."

[sith_happened]

"I'm waiting to hear back from my son, but there might be a chance for an off-world excursion," Anakin said with a small smile. "Lots of new plants to look at."

[intraspective]

Ino blinked.

"Seriously?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Forest moon called Endor. It's where the Ewoks are from. You'd be helping them to rebuild some of their homes, which were destroyed in the war."

[intraspective]

"I'd be delighted to help," she said honestly. "And not just for the chance to see new plants."

[sith_happened]

"You're not afraid of heights?" he checked. "They live up in trees that grow for kilometers."

[intraspective]

"I fly on a broom my brother made me," she said, smiling. "Heights don't scare me at all."

[sith_happened]

"You have a brother?" Anakin began hanging red balls from his garland. "Older or younger?"

[intraspective]

"Not blood related, or assigned," Ino said. "We just clicked, and it's the only word for it. Liir? He's older than me, we think, he's not sure about his age."