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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[endsthegame]

"As well as being inferior in many other senses," Ender said, eyes still closed. "Yes."

[momslilassassin]

"Hey," Ben said, without heat. He enjoyed knowing that Ender was comfortable enough with him to drift off. "My poetry is astral."

[endsthegame]

"'There once was a girl from Naboo'," Ender quoted, "'Who got stuck in a really terrible poem...'"

[momslilassassin]

"Mine rhymed," Ben retorted, sticking his tongue out.

[endsthegame]

"Depends on what meter," Ender returned, "But since I don't intend to finish this poem, I guess we'll never know. But remind me to get you some books sometime."

Because getting Ben poetry books was totally a good idea.

[momslilassassin]

"Only if you make Tony pick them out and mail them to us," Ben replied.

[endsthegame]

"I don't think mr. Stark would know decent poetry if it hit him in the head," Ender said, dryly, "Which is quite possible."

He stretched his legs out, too.

[momslilassassin]

"Probably true. Maybe we could get someone to help him?" Ben's eyes drifted closed.

[endsthegame]

"That'll be some profession for me," Ender murmured. "Poetry teacher. If my career as a governor doesn't pan out."

Eyes still closed, he groped around for a pillow and tucked it behind him.

[momslilassassin]

"You were going to be a teacher anyway, weren't you?" Ben asked, poking a little closer to the weekend they didn't talk about.

[endsthegame]

"I don't think there was much poetry in that kind of teaching, kreetle," Ender murmured, "No partisans of Mars for those students."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's lips quirked up. "The future isn't written in stone. You could teach poetry this go-through."

[endsthegame]

Ender was personally of the opinion it probably wouldn't matter too much what he did or didn't teach, but he didn't say that. "I'd certainly have enough experience with bringing civilisation to barbarians," he said instead.

[momslilassassin]

"Hey, look who's had space flight longer," Ben replied, grinning, "and ignore the droid spoken word albums."

[endsthegame]

"Ah, what see'st thou else, in the dark backward and abysm of time?" Ender asked, with another nudge of his foot.

[momslilassassin]

"We see'st stone-carved creatures with tongues to feel your thoughts, and starry vistas to take your breath away," Ben replied, poking Ender's knee back.

[endsthegame]

Ender quirked a smile, settling in further against the pillow. "And how dost thou see such miraculous things?"

[momslilassassin]

"Just open your eyes and look," Ben said with a smile. "Beauty's everywhere."

[endsthegame]

Ender chuckled softly to himself, and shook his head, and opened his eyes obligingly.

"Word over all, beautiful as the sky," he murmured after a moment, quoting, and shut his eyes again. "Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost; that the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and again, this soiled world: my enemy is dead. A man divine as myself is dead."

[momslilassassin]

Ben felt a little shiver go up his spine. "What's that from?" he asked softly.

[endsthegame]

"Walt Whitman, an old American poet," Ender said, letting his head thud back against the wall. "It's called Reconciliation. 'I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near; I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.'"

[momslilassassin]

Ben shivered again and shifted closer. "That's beautiful. He was a soldier too?"

[endsthegame]

"He volunteered to be a nurse during the American Civil War," Ender said, opening his eyes up for the second time, and keeping them that way. "I think one of his relatives was a soldier. I'm not actually the biggest enthusiast, or anything, but that poem always stuck by me."

For obvious reasons.

[momslilassassin]

"I can see why," Ben said softly. "It has a way of getting under your skin."

[endsthegame]

"I remember thinking: it's quite revolutionary," Ender said, quietly. "Kissing your foe - that's the act of a renegade, at least in the middle of war."