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

[momslilassassin]

Ben shoved aside a childish impulse to mess up that meticulous pile.

"Ender," he said, scrubbing his hand through his hair, "I don't want to know everything. But I know when I've hit a sore spot, and there's more to this than sneaking past the IF."

[endsthegame]

"I like how you've decided that all on your own," Ender said, lightly. "There isn't anything else going on. The IF doesn't know I'm here and I'd like to keep it that way, so the flow of information from me to home is limited."

Even more so than usual. "The end. No mysteries here, just a plain lack of relevance."

You were totally going to be able to note the moment this conversation happened in the timeline just by the general straightness of the clothes in the pile in Ender's wardrobe compartment.

"And every moment you're going on about it is turning this molehill into more of a mountain."

[momslilassassin]

"And you were just simultaneously having that conversation and really concerned about how all of your shirts lined up," Ben replied.

[endsthegame]

"Yep," Ender agreed, because he was a pain in the ass like that. "An orderly wardrobe is the first step to an orderly mind."

[momslilassassin]

"Kuso," Ben retorted, throwing the balled-up shirt again.

[endsthegame]

"Very mature," Ender said, snatching the shirt and tossing it at the bed this time.

[momslilassassin]

"You started it," Ben declared sulkily, rolling over and away from Ender.

[endsthegame]

"I didn't start anything," Ender said. The offense in his voice made him sound a bit like Peter.

[momslilassassin]

"Fine," Ben grumbled. "You're the embodiment of all virtues. Force forbid I try to get you to open up about something you've decided isn't a big deal."

[endsthegame]

"No one said anything about anyone being the embodiment of all virtues, but thanks for exaggerating," Ender said, glancing back up at him (now that that didn't mean being confronted by a whole lot of boy-chest). "There is nothing here that's important enough to talk about. Pouting isn't going to change that."

[momslilassassin]

"You're avoiding telling your family that you've skipped off to another galaxy. Pretty sure he'd have an opinion if we asked Dad if it was okay for me to do that."

He didn't disagree about the pouting, though.

[endsthegame]

"Your dad," Ender said, finally giving up on the clothes so he could sit down on his own bunk, "Is a different case entirely."

[momslilassassin]

"How so?" Ben asked, staring at the ceiling.

[endsthegame]

Ender was fairly sure that 'because he doesn't have a murderous, divisive bastard for a son' was the right answer here, so he didn't say it. "For one, he'd have the ability to track you down and smack you around the head if you gave it a shot," he said, opting for the semi-deflecting answer instead.

[momslilassassin]

"A problem, but not an insurmountable one," Ben decided. "You don't think your dad would try to track you down here?"

He poked his head over the side of the bed to look at Ender. "Or are you afraid he wouldn't bother?"

[endsthegame]

Ender sighed in irritation. He reached down and began to get his boots of. "No, I don't think so, and no, I'm not afraid he wouldn't bother," he said. He was one hundred percent sure John Paul wouldn't, and that was absolutely fine. "My parents aren't a factor, but you know that already, oh nosy one."

[momslilassassin]

All of the blood was beginning to rush to Ben's head, so he flipped over the side of the bunk to drop onto Ender's...oops, boots.

"Ow," he complained lightly. "And parents are always a factor, even if they only exist in a vacuum to be replaced by a couple of crotchety old soldiers."

And in that case, Graff was the worst mother ever.

[endsthegame]

First things first: Ben was getting his shirt flung back at him again, and he'd better put it on this time. "Not for me," he said, "Mazer was a really awful cook anyway."

[momslilassassin]

"Probably terrible at lullabies, too," Ben said, voice muffled from inside his shirt.

"They might have tried to drive the need for parents out of you--or at least wanting to check with someone older for help--but I don't think that's all parents are for."

They can also, for instance, tell you to beat up Baran Do sages.

[endsthegame]

Yes. Ender really envied the part where they told you to beat up Baran Do sages.

"Of course you don't," Ender said, looking at him evenly, "You lost one of them, and nearly the other."

[momslilassassin]

"And you're treating yours like they're lost, too," Ben replied quietly. "Even when they were right in front of you."

[endsthegame]

"I think it's been made fairly clear what they want from me, Ben," Ender said, sounding tired. "And for that matter, what I'd like you to do is drop it."

[momslilassassin]

Ben was struck with simultaneous urges to give Ender a hug and smack him really hard in the head, so he ignored both.

"Okay," he said finally. "But if you ever change your mind about talking--"

[endsthegame]

"I have a very annoying Jedi monkey living above me," Ender said, dryly.

[momslilassassin]

"A very annoying empathic Jedi monkey living above you," Ben corrected with a tiny smile, "who, as strange as it is for you to deal with, actually cares about your feelings."

Even as he misinterpreted the big ones.