Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

It was Sunday when it had worn off; Ender knew because he'd been up on the roof, and he'd felt more than his fair share of Fandom issues falling off his shoulders by now. It didn't mean that he wasn't still thinking, but it meant that everything could now be shovelled into the realm of the purely theoretical, and that was easier.

He was idly making his way through one of Fiona's books as he fiddled with something or another. A breathing unit. It might be useful for class, and he didn't know how to put one together yet.

If nothing else, he was learning how to manage his resources.

[[ open! watch as I commence spammage ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben always stopped by on Mondays. Not doing so would mean there was something wrong. And why would there be something wrong? Because there wasn't. At all.

Really.

"Ho, Ender," Ben said, poking his head into the shop.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," Ender replied, looking up from his fiddling. He left a passing thought to the idea that Ben was probably ignoring a great deal right now, and that he saw no need to push on that score.

[momslilassassin]

Asking about the weekend was definitely out.

"An entire class on water," he said instead. "Did you enjoy it?"

[endsthegame]

"I did," Ender said, shrugging slightly, "Probably a lot more than Lady Ghanima did."

[momslilassassin]

"It must be a desert planet thing," Ben said. "Tahiri can't swim. There was no reason to learn on Tatooine, and no place to even if she'd wanted to."

Somewhere in the back of his head, he wondered why he'd brought Tahiri up at all.

[endsthegame]

Ender could guess, though, so there was a flash of a wan smile across his features that quickly settled down again. No point in dwelling on it, no matter what anything else might be saying. "It's a pity," he said, "Swimming is the next best thing to null-g."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "And in class, with the air masks and the stupid shoes for swimming, it's a lot like the vacuum suits for space."

He glanced down at his hands. "I was in the vacuum suit when I went home in the spring. Had to knock a nasty little droid off of our ship."

It was Ben's version of a silent apology--a bit of history he hadn't shared with anyone else.

[endsthegame]

"On the surface of a ship?" Ender asked, tilting his head. Again, he could make guesses, but he was fully unaware what to do with them. "That might've made mobility difficult."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's mind offered up the memory of a skeletal hand reaching through the airlock, scrabbling for him. He fought back a shudder, settling instead on biting his lower lip. "I was still in the ship," he said, "but the airlock was blown open. He had a blaster, I had the Force. I won."

A very tiny shrug, only noticeable if you were watching very, very carefully. "Still can't believe he followed me."

[endsthegame]

"Sometimes the enemy is tenacious." It was an utterly Wiggin statement. "No other choice."

[momslilassassin]

"He tracked me halfway across the galaxy after I'd changed clothing and identities four dozen times" Ben said. "I'm not that interesting."

[endsthegame]

"No," Ender said, slanting a look at him. "Not at all."

Much like how Ender kept telling he was boring, but he'd done his life's work already.

[momslilassassin]

"I blame the programming," Ben said, picking up a piece of electronics for something to hold in his hands while he talked. Memories of the spring were suddenly a lot more prominent in his mind. He thought he'd dealt with that--or repressed it enough not to think about it, which he viewed as pretty much the same thing--and realizing it wasn't over was adding to the disquiet he'd felt since whatever had infected the island with crazy had worn off.

"He'd been set up to break me, and that didn't happen."

[endsthegame]

Ender sat back, mostly to give him some space if he needed it - physical space. "A tenacious droid, then?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben's expression flickered, viewing the motion as Ender being repulsed by him. "Very," he said softly. "I pushed him into a nebulae. Maybe he'll stop following me now."

[endsthegame]

"That tends to do it," Ender agreed, his head tilting slowly as he tried to identify the motivating factors behind that flicker. He wasn't fully sure. "So you carried on?"

[momslilassassin]

"Things were busy," Ben said, crossing his arms over his chest protectively. "There wasn't time to worry about unimportant things," his eyes met Ender's, "so you use yourself up because you don't want to burden others."

[endsthegame]

And that wasn't a telling statement at all.

Ender met Ben's eyes right back without any trouble at all, and held it for a moment. "When was that, exactly?" he asked. "In the timeline."

[momslilassassin]

"After Coruscant," Ben said, "but before Jacen died. I wasn't that important."

And he truly believed that, but not in a "so feel sorry for me" way that he'd had when he first came to Fandom. He felt that his father'd had more important things to be focused on, and had softpedaled what he'd gone through to make it easier for that focus to be kept.

[endsthegame]

"To the people at the top," Ender surmised, breaking the look to make sure he didn't jam his fingers into anything he was working on.

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. He'd managed to work himself into a corner of the room while trying to stay casual about it. He felt the need to have his back covered. "I'm not exactly going to share what happened with every Jedi apprentice passing by."

[endsthegame]

"I'd say you're a little out of that league by now," Ender said, and started to consider getting up from his desk.

[momslilassassin]

He nodded again, focusing too hard on whatever useless bit of technology he had in his hands. "At home, I don't exactly have a peer group," he said. "And when family is also the people at the top, things get...complicated."

[endsthegame]

He was telling Ender?

After another moment, Ender decided that the right course of action did involve getting up, if simply for the symbolic value of it. Ben was sheltering himself, and while he didn't want to knock him too far out of his comfort zone, he did have to approach by a few steps.

"They're all in the same line? No conflict of interests? Or does that just add to the complications?"

[momslilassassin]

"On this particular course of action, there wasn't anyone saying no," Ben said, only telling any of this because he knew Ender understood screwed up families. "His parents had agreed that Jacen needed to be killed. Not neutralized, not rehabilitated. Killed. And that their daughter needed to do it. And that her uncle, who'd trained them both, would help." He took a deep breath. "No one needed the baby of the family to come in and demand attention for his injuries. So I didn't."