The Attic of an Old Warehouse, AKA the Nominal Temporary Wiggin Home Base, Wednesday

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

They would have to take more of the heavy hitters out of the equation.

Ender knew that much.

Tony had been too wary to get too close to, but there was a chance they could pull him aside eventually. That wouldn't amount to much, though; he was just one player. But it would be something.

Ender sighed, leaning back in his seat in his little makeshift room. They had put up a deadline because he knew that without it, people would continue to be scattered in their efforts, and prone to give in to desperation. The downside of this was that they had a deadline, and time was ticking, and while Peter had mentioned some promising ideas coming in...

"I could have used you here, Bean," he murmured.

The large expanse of the mostly-empty attic was dimly lit, with scattered old boxes here and there. He could hear Peter tinkering with his desk in the next room, but that was that. Quiet.

[[ open, both for talking-to-Wiggins and talking-to-one-another purposes. FB for resistance. ]]

Comments

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime had been a bit hesitant to show up in the middle of the day, but he'd sort of convinced himself that that would be less suspicious than sneaking around at night or something, so he only looked mostly hesitant, as opposed to completely hesitant, as he poked his head into the attic and looked around.

"Hello? Ender?"

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

Ender recognized the voice. It took him a few moments to get his things in order, though, but those were quickly shoved aside.

He walked out of his room into the main chamber. "Jaime," he said, a slight smile on his face. "Hey."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Hey." Jaime managed a slight smile of his own. "How's it going?"

Nice question, Reyes. Real insightful.

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"Considering the circumstances," Ender said, where the word 'circumstances' covered so much: about life in Fandom, the upcoming battle, everything, "I'm okay. How about you?"

Now the implications of that question were probably even bigger.

[weldedtomyspine]

"The same. I guess."

He sighed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "I guess I'm kind of tired." And not really from lack of sleep.

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

Ender nodded. He seemed to be off thinking about something for a moment; then he said, "Pull up a box and sit down, please."

[weldedtomyspine]

"A box, huh?" Jaime managed a chuckle despite his mood. "Serious luxury, man." But he did as asked, taking a moment to settle himself, and collect his thoughts. He knew Ender didn't need any prompting, anyway. Both of the Wiggins were the sort to speak when they were ready.

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

Ender pulled up his own and sat down. "It won't be much longer," he said quietly.

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime blinked. "Think so?"

He didn't really notice the way his shoulders slumped slightly as a sense of relief settled over him.

"How soon?"

[survivorjello.livejournal.com]

It took some negotiating to get out of the hideout today, with protests about concussions and rest and all, but somehow Kate managed it. Mostly because she needed to get out and hear how things were progressing. Sitting still just wasn't happening.

And crossing the distance went just fine, which was a consolation after last night. She could still go out and not get caught.

"So apparently they have sonic tasers now," she announced to no one in particular as she showed up.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Leon and Angelo had laid down behind some boxes yesterday, and they were still there. Maybe something worthwhile would happen. Leon didn't have much hope of that, but there was always the possibility.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Leon sat up and looked at her. "Range? Area of effect?"

Things like "Hello" or "Gosh, are you okay?" weren't really his forte.

[survivorjello.livejournal.com]

That was okay. Kate had given up on pleasantries a while ago.

"Dunno, and dunno," she said. "Well, no. I was several feet away from him. And the effects probably lasted for... I don't know, fifteen, twenty minutes?"

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"Saturday," Ender said. "Win or lose, I doubt the island will be the same." His smile broadened. "Though I'm betting on winning."

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

Ender poked his head out the door. "What happened?" he asked.

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"Water?" Ender asked. After picking up the first signs of stirring coming from behind the boxes, he'd made it over there, and he was now holding a large cup of the stuff.

[survivorjello.livejournal.com]

"Topher immobilized me."

And please excuse her looking a little sour that it had been that geek. She felt ashamed for screwing up.

"Stark tech, no doubt."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Saturday." Jaime took a deep breath, then blew it out.

"Seems like it's been forever."

Another breath. "You need me to do anything in particular?"

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

Ender sighed. "We need to take Tony out as soon as we can," he said. "How long did it take you out?"

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"I might," Ender said, leaning forwards. "We've been talking about ways to deal with this, and it's becoming fairly clear we need as many distractions - and fighting bodies - as we can."

His eyes flickered briefly towards the back of Jaime's neck.

[survivorjello.livejournal.com]

"Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty?" Kate said, but shrugged. "Although it was kind of hard to tell, I couldn't exactly look at a watch."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime nodded slowly. "I guess... I always knew it would come down to something like that." He'd kind of stopped hoping for a more peaceful solution after only a few months, but it was hard to let go of that anyway.

"I suppose I can manage that." He managed an odd half-smile. "If I can remember how, anyway."

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"Long enough to keep someone under while they drag them in to detention," Ender said, waving a dismissive hand. "That's all I needed to know." He fixed his eyes on Kate. "You okay?"

[gameinprogress.livejournal.com]

"If you can cause enough of a nuisance, that would do," Ender said quietly. "But I can't promise you this will happen without bloodshed."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Yeah. I... kind of figured that out on my own, I think." Even naive optimism gave way to realism after a while.

"It's... going to be messy, isn't it?"