Fixer-Uppers, Monday

[endsthegame]

The island felt strangely empty without Valentine around. She and Dink had had to leave abruptly for their portal yesterday, and left Ender trailing around by the beach, lost in his own thoughts.

But between Dink and Carn, that made two of his people who would be safe. He took some solace in that.

Still, he didn't speak to Jane until at least a full hour into the workday. She mocked him for being morose; he insisted he wasn't. She rolled her eyes at him, but turned out to be kind enough not to push the point for the rest of the day.

Which was quiet, and uneventful, and the worst Ender had to deal with was a stray raspberry and a minor injury report from Shakespeare.

[[ open! note that I start the three-month project of doom today, and my availability will hence be more SP-y than previously. ]]

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[momslilassassin]

"Ho, kreetle," Ben said, coming into the shop with the super healthy lunch of milkshakes, burgers and coffee.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," Ender said, glancing up from the desk. "I see we're going nutritional today."

[momslilassassin]

"Very," Ben said with a grin. "The milkshakes looked good."

[endsthegame]

"Pass one on," he said, reaching for it. "So what did you get up to over the weekend?"

[momslilassassin]

"I spent some time with Dink, met Rhodey and annoyed Karla's Julian," Ben said. "How was Val?"

[endsthegame]

"Good," Ender said, with the little smile he got from time to time nowadays when the subject came up. "Ever curious as always, but Eros doesn't seem to be treating her too roughly. I think she's finding the colonists interesting."

[momslilassassin]

"Has she met whatsherface yet?" Ben asked, taking a sip from his milkshake.

Oh, Ben, stop pretending like you can't remember her name.

[endsthegame]

"Val was with me the few times I met Alessandra," Ender said, giving him a pointed look.

[momslilassassin]

"Does she find her interesting?" Ben asked blandly.

[endsthegame]

"Does it really matter?" Ender asked him, frankly. "Besides, if you're setting the example, then Val wouldn't have had to have met her to make a judgement call anyway."

[momslilassassin]

Ben knew that his instinctive dislike of Alessandra was irrational and useless, but he couldn't seem to stop it.

"Maybe," he agreed, avoiding Ender's eyes as he became far too busy opening his cheeseburger.

[endsthegame]

Ender exhaled audibly. A moment later, he'd reached for a burger, too, and took a bite.

He'd find some topic to talk about in a minute.

[momslilassassin]

"Dink's taking Graff's offer, then," Ben finally said in a bald attempt to change the subject.

[endsthegame]

"He is," Ender agreed. "He said he was moving to Eros after this visit. Speaking of which..." He glanced up at Ben. "I might be headed there Friday afternoon, in case you wanted to tag along."

[momslilassassin]

"Sure," Ben said with a little smile. "Dink's going to think I'm stalking him."

[endsthegame]

"Dink's going to have plenty of his own to do," Ender said, taking another bite of his burger before putting it down. "Though if you're worried, Carn should be lurking around there, too."

A few more Battle Schoolers and they'd be starting their own enclave.

[momslilassassin]

"I didn't get to spend much time with Carn," Ben mused.

[endsthegame]

"He's a good man," Ender said. "A little less in your face than Dink, but it's hard to top Dink."

[momslilassassin]

"You always know where you stand with Dink," Ben said with a smile.

[endsthegame]

"Better than with some people, at least," said Ender, who didn't smile-- he remembered a time when that had been briefly in question, too.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's eyebrows rose slightly. "Is there a story I don't know?" he asked quietly.

[endsthegame]

"It was Battle School," Ender said, "And being a commander was never very good for being sure who your friends are." Like Dink had said, the game had been everything. "That's all. Dink stuck by me in the end, though, probably more than anyone."

[momslilassassin]

"You were worried for a bit, though, huh," Ben guessed.

[endsthegame]

"Even Petra hated me for a while, after I beat her Phoenix Army," Ender mused. "I was the youngest person ever made commander, at least until Bean took the title from me. People resented it."

[momslilassassin]

Resented him, Ben amended mentally.

"The smart ones moved past it," he said, giving Ender a tiny smile.