Aboard the Jade Shadow [Tuesday, Fandom time]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was grabbing a quick snack as he waited in the galley for his father to finish docking the ship on the first human-majority planet they'd seen in months and taking the chance to catch up on more reading about the Aing-Tii Monks. As soon as they restocked their supplies and checked for physical mail (Ben hoped that Tony's package would catch up with them here), they'd be heading into Aing-Tii space, which was a challenging enough flight that Luke Kriffing Skywalker looked slightly apprehensive about it.

Ben stopped being nervous by remembering that if Jacen had been able to do it, Luke would be able to do it better.

...it had never been said that Ben could not be very petty if the occasion called for it.

[OOC: Open for calls, texts, visits from the boy who's in space with him, care packages from home full of YA gay literature...]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"It's not his fault you kept it after all this time," Karla said, grinning widely.

You know, this almost made up for the not-calling day.

[momslilassassin]

"He wasn't supposed to find it," Ben said, sounding mortified.

[glacial_queen]

"So you're not even going to pretend like you didn't know you had it?" Karla asked. "Interesting."

[momslilassassin]

"It's been shipped to a different galaxy," Ben said. "It's hard to pretend I've never seen it."

[glacial_queen]

"Yeah, but you could have tried to say that you had no idea that it was still there and played innocent," Karla said. "...Why did you keep it?"

[momslilassassin]

"I was trying to protect the dorm from your cooking if it turned back into a cookbook."

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

[glacial_queen]

"Oh no," Karla cackled, snug in her denial. "No deflecting this back onto me. You deliberately kept it. Under your bed. That's hilarious."

Did it have anything to do with Slate being dark-haired and quiet? KARLA THOUGHT IT DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID.

[momslilassassin]

KARLA COULD JUST SHUT HER FACE ABOUT THAT OKAY.

"Shhhhhh," Ben mumbled. "I didn't think Tony would send it."

[glacial_queen]

"He thought you might be missing out on entertainment," Karla said, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. "I'm pretty sure he's sending you magazines, too. Filled with lots of informational articles."

Snerk. Snerk. Sneeeeeeerk.

[momslilassassin]

"And tissues," Ben added, blushing hard. "On a ship with my father who can sense my moods."

[glacial_queen]

"I'm sure your father remembers what it was like to be sixteen," Karla said with what was very helpful logic, surely. "Please. He's still a male. He'll probably just want to borrow some."

ENJOY THAT MENTAL IMAGE, YOU NO-CALLING MEANIE-FACE.

[momslilassassin]

Ben sputtered. "KARLA. EW."

[glacial_queen]

"He's just old, not dead," Karla reminded. "On the other hand, he's old enough to buy his own, so..."

She was helping. Somehow. Really.

"What else did you get?" she asked, changing the subject slightly because she was nice. "Tony wouldn't wait for me to bake a batch of cookies to send along."

[momslilassassin]

"Clothes, mostly. I didn't realize how many sweaters Ender owns." He'd mostly just focused on the navy blue one. "Movies, junk food, Mountain Dew...the essentials for survival."

[glacial_queen]

"Mountain Dew is repugnant," Karla informed him with no bias whatsoever. "And he remembered to pack the navy one, right?"

Or else Ben might lose his mind.

[momslilassassin]

"He did," Ben said, not sounding overly excited about that at all.

...shut up.

"And once you get past the scary color, Mountain Dew isn't so bad."

[glacial_queen]

Karla rolled her eyes at Ben's totally-not-enthusiasm-really, but didn't comment, mostly because Ender would be grumpy at her if she did.

"You forget the taste," she retorted. "That's the part I can't get past."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, it's not that bad," said the boy who ate everything.

[glacial_queen]

"You drink blue milk," Karla pointed out loftily. "Your tastebuds can't be trusted. And that's assuming you actually taste anything, rather than having the food just teleport into your gullet."

[momslilassassin]

"I don't know how to teleport," Ben complained. "Though I hear that's something the Aing-Tii can do. Maybe I'll learn!"

[glacial_queen]

"I've seen food in your general vicinity," Karla snorted. "I'm not willing to say for certain."

Pot, meet kettle.

"The Aing-Tii? Is this going to involve more holes to crawl into?"

[momslilassassin]

"No idea," Ben admitted. "We're not exactly swimming in an abundance of information on them. They're extremely xenophobic and never come out of their little corner of the galaxy."

[glacial_queen]

"And you're just going to drop in on them for a visit?" Skeptical Karla was skeptical. "Please tell me you'll try to remember that being a good guest doesn't include beating people up?"

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, I know that. Both fights were my dad's idea," Ben replied.

Luke was an amazing father.

[glacial_queen]

"Do you think you can convince him?" Karla tried.

"...You know, I almost want to see him in Kaeleer for a bit. It would be like...science."

Somehow.