Stark Industries, Monday

[endsthegame]

Ender was happy to get back to work by the time Monday rolled around. Not that he hadn't enjoyed the Bahamas, in a distant way (and maybe a less-than-distant one, as the water reached out to something he couldn't quite define), but he needed the feeling that he was doing something, or going somewhere, at least.

He set up his laptop quickly once he hit the store, got his prototypes out, freed a stray orange from behind one of the engines, and got to it.

The randomly appearing fruit of the day would appear to be oranges, yes.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben came in at the usual time with a sack of burgers and two cups of coffee. "Ho, Ender," he said. "Miss the beach yet?"

[endsthegame]

"I would, if it wasn't for the fact we have a beach, too," Ender said, shutting his laptop.

[momslilassassin]

"But our beach doesn't have umbrellas and people to bring you water when you ask for it," Ben said.

Ben had kind of missed the point of the people bringing you drinks.

[endsthegame]

Ender gave the coffees in Ben's hands a significant look. But he said nothing about that.

"You could bring umbrellas," is what he said, "I don't think there's a law against it."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not the same as the girls on the beach who brought drinks," Ben insisted, holding the coffees close to his chest. "For one, you never tip me."

[endsthegame]

"Some people would say that's an advantage."

[momslilassassin]

"Which people?" Ben asked, handing Ender his sandwich.

But not the coffee. Nyeah.

[endsthegame]

"Now that would mean having to narrow down my outrageous generalisation," Ender said, and accepted the sandwich without as much as a look towards the coffee. "Of course, being Fandom, the 'it's a courtship ritual' people are more abundant anyway."

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "I don't bring you food as a courtship ritual. I bring it because if I don't, you might get too distracted to eat."

Not that such a behavior resembled something Ben did all the time. Really.

[endsthegame]

"I never said it was my theory," Ender pointed out, amused, "Although now I'm curious what the squirrels'll make of that."

[momslilassassin]

"Probably make flags or something," Ben said, rolling his eyes. "They're completely thermal. Aren't people allowed to have friends?"

[endsthegame]

"Not in Fandom," he said, and unwrapped his sandwich. "Although you have my platonic and unimperative thanks."

[momslilassassin]

Ben flashed him a smile. "And for that, you can have the coffee," he said graciously, handing him the cup. "Making any progress today?"

[endsthegame]

"I think I'm spending more time pulling oranges out of the systems than working," he admitted. "Back to the old grind."

[momslilassassin]

"Oranges are better than kumquats, at least," Ben offered, "or something that would get squashed and drip juice everywhere." He snickered. "I can just imagine the look on Granddad's face if the flight sim decided to start spouting fruit."

[endsthegame]

"You realise," Ender said, taking a sip of his coffee, "That by the Murphy's law that is this island, you've now rendered that inevitable?"

[momslilassassin]

"As long as you don't tell him it's my fault, it'll be funny," Ben decided. "He'll take the machine down to the screws to figure it out."

[endsthegame]

"Be sure to get in a video droid," Ender advised, biting into his sandwich.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snickered. "Bet I'd learn a whole range of Huttese curses I'm not supposed to know. Granddad has quite a mouth when he doesn't think anyone is paying attention."

[endsthegame]

Ender shrugged, putting the sandwich down. "He's trying to put on a professional appearance," he said, "Swearwords never contributed anything but colour to anyone's vocabulary. They're so easily replacable."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "Dad never curses," he said, "though Force knows he's been tempted to."

[endsthegame]

"He probably finds other ways to vent his frustrations," he noted.

Ender's own ways, for example? Very healthy.

[momslilassassin]

"Like how?" Ben asked. He smiled. "He doesn't eat ice cream, either."

[endsthegame]

Ender shot him an amused look. "You know him better than me," he said. "Speaking of your relatives, did you get any more files on Jacen?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben made a bit of a face, but nodded. "I was wondering--do you want to talk to Tahiri and Jaina about their versions? Neither of theirs has gone completely barvy and tried to take over the galaxy yet."