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...]

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[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, reaching out for his knee again. "It's not that easy in peace, either," thinking, always, of Jacen.

[endsthegame]

"Or in any time," Ender said, taking his eyes off the wall opposite him, and back to Ben at the contact. "Most people find it hard to swallow even the idea that someone else might hold the enemy in their hearts; it's the only way to stave off realising how similar we all are."

He rubbed at the leg of his pants. "But give me renegades any day."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded again, dragging his eyes away from how comfortable Ender's shoulder looked at the moment. "That's what made the last war so ugly," he said. "It was very difficult for people to look at Corellians and see an enemy and not...Uncle Han, or General Antilles. It was a family fight, beginning to end, and not just my family."

[endsthegame]

"People prefer their wars to be clean," Ender said, "But they never are. So we play pretend 'till the enemy is less human than we are, until we can't. And then, inexperienced with the concept as we are, we flail around to create the difference. Because most of us don't really think that the beautiful part of a ceasefire is the end of carnage, we think it's the knowledge that the other is vanquished, and everything is us now."

[momslilassassin]

"Explains a bit about the negotiations we left," Ben said.

[endsthegame]

"Explains a bit about a lot of things," Ender said, wryly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned out to ruffle Ender's hair. "Maybe," he agreed. "We don't really live in the galaxy. We live in our heads and the galaxy there might be vastly different than reality."

[endsthegame]

"Ah," Ender said, shooting him a glance that was somewhere between amusement and affection. "Now that's a heretic thought, Jedi."

[momslilassassin]

"Maybe," Ben said, "but I'm pretty sure the galaxy I live in and the one Daala does are really different places."

[endsthegame]

"And how about Luke's?" Ender asked, diverting his eyes back to the hull on the other end of the room.

[momslilassassin]

"I think his and mine have more overlap," Ben said, "but my time in Fandom has helped give me more, um, non-Jedi perspective on things?"

[endsthegame]

"Like I said," Ender said, his lips curving up, though he wasn't looking back at Ben. "Heretic."

[momslilassassin]

"I probably learned it from you," Ben said.

[endsthegame]

"Gratifying to know I taught someone something," Ender said, "Even if it's just the spirit of heresy."

He poked Ben in the arm. Mostly because it was there.

[momslilassassin]

Ben replied by headbutting Ender's shoulder. "You taught me other stuff too."

[endsthegame]

"Like violence," Ender said, and added a theatrical, "Ow."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, I didn't realized you'd been replaced with spun glass," Ben teased.

[endsthegame]

"You're a brat, Jedi Skywalker."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, you taught me that to," Ben said, leaning back against the wall. "I was perfectly polite before I met you."

Liar.

[endsthegame]

Ender chuckled, and dug his feet under the blanket.

"What I'm just trying to say," he said, "is that a little heresy is good for you."

[momslilassassin]

"It's certainly opening to the mind," Ben said, smiling.