Room 204 [early afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

If he was being very honest with himself--which Ben tried to be--he wasn't exactly feeling like going to a dance tonight. The months he'd spent with Bean and Petra had been mentally and emotionally exhausting, and watching Achilles get executed hadn't exactly been a highlight.

And he was very, very worried about Ender. Under the guise of messing with his hair--which had gotten long and fairly stupid looking--he glanced at Ender in the mirror and waited for his roommate to say something.

[OOC: For the roomie!]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

And suddenly Ben wasn't so eager to meet Ender's eyes any more. "Why'd you let me go in with them?" he asked.

[endsthegame]

"Because I needed Bean to be safe," Ender said, shooting a look at his hair. "Because you were likely to pull something if you weren't allowed to go in."

[momslilassassin]

Ben made a little face. "I follow orders," he said.

[endsthegame]

"You'd have been miserable and tetchy," Ender pointed out. "There's no shame in that."

[momslilassassin]

"Not because I was anxious to protect Bean," Ben pointed out.

[endsthegame]

"No, because you were anxious to do something and get out," Ender said, shooting him another glance.

There was a lot of emotion running through him like a current, but he forced himself to keep it tightly locked up.

[momslilassassin]

"Ender," Ben said softly, chewing at his bottom lip. "Talk to me."

[endsthegame]

"About what?"

Ben, once again, you get to meet Bean's greatest headache.

[momslilassassin]

Which just made it more of a challenge! Because Ben had to be better at Bean at this, a contest neither of them would admit to.

He gave Ender a patient look. "Start wherever you'd like, but tell me about the last few months."

[endsthegame]

"I got an anonymous tip about Peter's new portal and Achilles," Ender said, shrugging. His usual emotional defenses weren't functioning at optimal capacity, so some emotion might have bled into that beyond the obvious. "I arranged a few things with Alai and I've been on the move until you guys showed up."

[momslilassassin]

"Anonymous?" Ben frowned. "But not that many people know you're here to tip off, do they?"

He shifted closer to Ender, near enough to brush shoulders. "So who do you think it was that wanted you back in action?"

[endsthegame]

"I have a hunch it was one of the Jeesh; the subject line they used points to a Dragon." Which was why he'd trusted the info and gone for it.

Actually, he had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't a Dragon -- it went back earlier than that. Alai, or Shen. "Maybe older than a Dragon."

Alai had almost but not quite confirmed his suspicions. Actually.

[momslilassassin]

"Alai?" Ben guessed. "Was he one that Achilles kidnapped? Bean and Petra never said."

[endsthegame]

"He was," Ender said, willing away the urge to check and see if there were numbers of casualties available yet for the Muslim-Chinese war. "He went underground shortly after they got out."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, watching Ender with worried eyes. "But he was going to be Caliph, so he'd have access to the information about Peter. Makes sense. Did he have you bouncing around the Muslim world?"

[endsthegame]

"I had to be on the move," Ender said, closing his eyes and shoving the laptop out of his way. "Stick too long to one place, and I might be recognized."

[momslilassassin]

"Sounds exhausting," Ben replied quietly, very cautiously leaning into Ender under the guise of moving the laptop onto the floor. "How long's it been since you've slept?"

[endsthegame]

"Less than twenty-four hours," Ender responded. Just not... very long.

[momslilassassin]

"And how long did you sleep for?" Ben checked.

Because Force knew he had about a month to catch up on himself.

[endsthegame]

"Two hours," Ender admitted. "Maybe three. I didn't have the time for more." Too much running through his head. "Checked on Tahiri yet?"

Maybe if Ben would clear out...

[momslilassassin]

"We're going to the dance later tonight," Ben said, "so you'll get some time to yourself then."

And until then, he'd just have to deal with Ben's hovering.

[endsthegame]

Sigh.

Ender sighed. "So I'm stuck with the grilling, huh?"

[momslilassassin]

"Yes," Ben said, "though I prefer to think of it as this strange thing called 'concern'."

[endsthegame]

"Duly noted."

Ender wasn't going to give an inch if Ben wasn't going to try and take it.

Not dirty.

[momslilassassin]

Ben sighed. "Ender, they got you to cry," he finally replied. "You can see how this might get me a little," freaked out, "worried, right?"