Room 204 [afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

"Last load," Ben said from behind a pile of metal. "Think we could start our own branch of Stark's right here in the room?"

His side of his new room was already neatly organized--not that he had much that wasn't droid parts--and he was talking mostly to hide his nerves.

Given the room's other occupant, he wasn't sure why he was even trying.

[OOC: For the roommate, and then open!]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"For anyone I've ever found worth talking to," Ben replied. There was a slight pause. "And for me."

[furnaceface]

All a little broken. Ben too. Definitely was something of a trend then, wasn't it? Wonderful trend to keep up. All the rage. Scars and burns, inside and out.

//This have anything to do with that...// He tried to remember the word. //Jedi thing?//

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "And a war thing."

[furnaceface]

//Bugger.// Eloquently projected, Jonothon. //Somethin' big that yer can't get away from?//

It always was. That was possibly a stupid question.

[momslilassassin]

"It's over now, but for the last few years, definitely something big that I couldn't get away from. Jedi are generally at the front lines for wars, and this one was, well, kind of our fault," Ben blurted.

[furnaceface]

//But it's over now,// Jonothon repeated. Because that seemed like something most mutants were ever going to dream about. It was worth repeating. //Over or not, there's no bloody glory in the front lines. Doesn't matter what people try to tell yer to the contrary, does it? Doesn't go away so easily as all that, no matter who started it.//

[momslilassassin]

"Not at all," Ben said, shaking his head sharply to stop the memories. "It's the third war since I was born. I think it would be ridiculously optimistic to think it will be the last one in my life."

[furnaceface]

//And yer a part of it, like it or not, because of what yer are.// Jonothon's shoulders rose and fell slightly in a somewhat not-quite-right mimicry of a sigh. //I'm beginnin' to get a taste of what that life is like, myself. Not quite the same. Nobody expects me to fight.//

That much was his choice. And it was a sideways sort of war with no clear enemy except whoever was trying to kill you at the time.

[momslilassassin]

"So there aren't a lot of others like you?" Ben asked.

Ben was from a different galaxy. He kind of assumed Jono was a special variant of a human species.

[furnaceface]

//Not exactly like me, no,// Jono clarified. //I'm a mutant. Homo sapiens superior, they say. Some of us fly, some of us read minds or make fireworks with our hands or copy other mutant abilities. Some of us are just bloody ugly. It doesn't much matter which is which. Humanity doesn't much care for us either way. Even if we're exactly the bloody same race as they are.//

[momslilassassin]

"That's stupid," Ben said with all of the black-and-white view on things that comes with being fifteen.

[furnaceface]

Jono gave of the mental equivalent of a derisive snort, and then shook his head.

//I'm not particularly chuffed over the situation myself, Ben. But they see people who can do things they can't. They get scared. Most mutants just want to be left alone. But there are dangerous ones, too. People are going to keep being people no matter what genes they carry.//

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "But they have to prove themselves to be dangerous," he said. "You can't judge an entire population based on one person."

He might have felt a little strongly about that. Thanks so much, Jacen.

[furnaceface]

That statement was going to be chewed on for a moment before Jono could reply.

//Is that really how it works where yer from, mate?//

Because if it was, wars or no, Jonothon rather wished that he was there, instead.

[momslilassassin]

"No," Ben admitted, "but it should be. It's how it works for Jedi."

[furnaceface]

//Apparently, most people aren't Jedi.//

Crying shame, that.

[momslilassassin]

"There are a couple hundred of us, and a few trillion beings in the galaxy," Ben said. "Even in my grandfather's time, there where only a few thousand."

[furnaceface]

Well, that kind of put things into perspective for Jonothon a little.

//War?//

Extermination of some sort? There were only so many reasons Jono could speculate on for a group of people a few thousand strong to get decimated quite so thoroughly.

[momslilassassin]

"Extermination," Ben corrected. "My father and aunt were the pretty much the only ones left at the end of it, and that was because the bad guys didn't know they were born."

[furnaceface]

... Oh. Jonothon looked at Ben thoughtfully for a moment, before piping up again with a rather astute observation.

//Sounds like your reality is every bit as rotten as mine, then.//

Oh yes. He was a regular sherlock, sometimes.

[momslilassassin]

Ben let out a humorless laugh. "Sounds like it."

[furnaceface]

Jonothon settled for just sitting there for a moment, his gaze somewhere down by his knees again. Had to be a bit broken, indeed. It was an epidemic around here, right along with chipper people and telepathy, apparently.

And then, after that moment's pause, he looked up again, suddenly and with all of the conviction of a man who decided that they needed escapism or something.

//You know what we need? We need to find a place to rent a few 'orrible slasher films, and then we need to sit down and watch the bloody lot of 'em so we can laugh at how stupid they all are, or yell at the screens, or whatever the hell suits us best at the time.//

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen a...slasher film," he admitted, "but there's a movie theater in town."

[furnaceface]

//They're brainless and gory, mate.// Jono was doing about the closest thing he could manage to a smile, now. Something that pulled his cheeks upward and half-touched his eyes. //Some crazy bloke with a knife or a chainsaw or whatever, just hacking apart whoever he bloody well pleases. They're ridiculous.//

And that was why Jono enjoyed them, yes.

[momslilassassin]

"And completely unrealistic?" Ben checked. He'd seen people really hacked apart.