Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

After a week of vacation, it was time to return to work - not that it had really changed much for Ender, who had taken advantage of late-night hours to keep up his research back in the Catskills. It wasn't as if his life in Fandom could get any slower or lazier as it stood.

Still, he and Ben had possible plans for the week, which might also warrant some research, so Ender's attention kept darting between his work for Stark, his research (and other related activities, since Val had given him access to some of her contacts, although he wasn't so stupid as to believe she'd given him all of them) and thoughts paid to what he knew of Ben's home universe.

[[ and stark's is open ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben had gone home and scrubbed for an hour after Ghanima's class, so he was a little less blue than he'd been when he'd left class.

"If I go home looking like this," he said, holding one of the cups of coffee out for Ender, "my father will never stop laughing."

[endsthegame]

Ender took the coffee cup, his own face marginally cleaner by virtue of the Stark Industries bathroom. "Tough luck."

[momslilassassin]

"You look good blue, though," he teased. "My paint clashes with my hair. Want to leave tomorrow after I spar with Granddad?"

[endsthegame]

"I think this is where I'm supposed to point out I always look good," Ender said, thoughtfully, then nodded. "But sure. I think I've had my fill of paralysis for the day."

Not that he had been, but 'sitting still' counted.

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled. "I learned early that I can't control most things. The paralysis was just a reminder not to drink tea from guys who look way too interested in you drinking the tea."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not sure the lesson was necessary," Ender said, freely, "Or effective, for that matter."

[momslilassassin]

Ben took a sip from his coffee, looking interested. "What would you have done?"

[endsthegame]

"To communicate the lesson?" Ender asked, raising an eyebrow. "Or to talk about the Tao in general?"

[momslilassassin]

"Let's start with the Tao," Ben said. "I'm not that familiar with the philosophy."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not exactly an expert, either," he pointed out. "No religion when I grew up, remember?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "But from what I know, it's a Buddhist philosophy, where Tao is an undefinable quality that lies within everything and everyone. It's not something that you can get, or intend to get, it just comes to you. Which I assume was supposed to be the point of paralyzing us."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded thoughtfully. "I thought that qi seemed similar to the Force," he said. "Though as far as I know, the Force doesn't care about how your room is arranged."

[endsthegame]

"Or does it? I think I heard a little Force bird telling me about your stray diodes last night."

[momslilassassin]

"They were aligned precisely so you would step on them in the middle of the night," Ben informed him breezily. "Very Zen."

[endsthegame]

"You're really mastering the principles," Ender said, wryly. "But putting people into triggering situations without telling them what's going to happen-- is more of a recipe for emotional distress than anything else. Brains shut off."

[momslilassassin]

"Maybe that was the lesson," Ben said, "because you can't learn anything if you let your emotions control you. You're never going to be able to control everything anyway, and Master Atreides doesn't do things without a purpose. Some of our fellow students needed to learn patience."

[endsthegame]

"You can't do anything if your limbs don't function," Ender said, sharply. "While Miss Atreides might not do anything with a purpose, it's idiocy to assume everyone will submit to the idea that purpose is a benevolent one."

Issues with authority? Ender?

"A better way to learn patience was to tell them to sit still on pain of punishment, if that was the intention."

[momslilassassin]

Ben caught the tone shift and his eyes turned a little sympathetic. "But it's not always going to be an evil one, either."

Only next to Ender did Ben look like an optimist.

[endsthegame]

Ender had a few reasons not to be. "She's a player, Ben," he said, "There's a difference between teaching and stripping people of their autonomy in the name of some virtuous philosophy when the practicalities are going to fall out very differently."

[momslilassassin]

Ben bit his lower lip as he nodded. Being a member of an order that routinely stripped people--however temporarily--of their autonomy in order to get information, pass by unseen or avoid awkward question gave him a slightly different perspective on things. "What kind of player?" he asked, shifting the subject slightly.

[endsthegame]

"Just one," he said, vaguely. "Much like her brother."

[momslilassassin]

"How incredibly enlightening, kreetle," Ben said dryly.

[endsthegame]

Ender grinned. "I try to be," he said. "While I'm sure both of them consider their intent to be completely benevolent, it doesn't take away the fact I get the uncomfortable feeling they try to move us like chess pieces."

Not that Ender ever did that.

[momslilassassin]

"Would it make a difference if they saw you as a pawn or a queen?" Ben asked, only a teasing a little.

[endsthegame]

"I've been both," Ender said, simply. "The trick is making sure they don't know which one you can be."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "I think I'd hate to watch you and my father play chess."