Hijra [A few weeks later]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was catching up on emails from home--news about the Sith, the latest gossip from Jag and Jaina's corner of the galaxy and whatever Allana had gotten herself up to while being unsupervised (there was a lot of "it'd seemed like a good idea!!!" in her correspondence)--and then poking around scientific journals about advancements in reproductive technology.

You know. For no real reason. Cough.

He drank tea and really missed having those yummy red fruits around. He'd need to ask when they came back the next time he went to the market.

Comments

[endsthegame]

"Of course," Ender said, nodding. He already knew he was going to lose the race - but that didn't bother him. "No power abuse."

[momslilassassin]

Ben did a credible impression of Han's "Who? Me?" look, then grinned. "Of course. One, two, three, go!"

And Ben melted into the crowd.

[endsthegame]

Ender followed after him only a moment later, darting from one street to another at a respectable pace that didn't make it seem like he was running.

[momslilassassin]

Ben wove through the crowd almost effortlessly, feeling more like himself than he had in a long while. He'd forgotten how much fun some of what he could was.

He approached the stage from the east, eyes open for Ender.

[endsthegame]

"Are you sure you didn't just teleport here?" Ender joked about half a minute later. It was easy to tell Ben apart from the crowd - the red hair was a given.

[momslilassassin]

"You're just slow," Ben said, beaming at him. "That was astral."

[endsthegame]

"No, you were," Ender said, smiling at him. "My end featured an awful lot of embarrassing stumbling."

[momslilassassin]

"I find that hard to imagine," Ben replied.

[endsthegame]

"In some things, I'm not as smooth as you," Ender said, glancing up at the band on the stage.

[momslilassassin]

Ben laughed. "Not in many things."

[endsthegame]

"Regardless, the choice of restaurant is yours," Ender said, still smiling a little. "Feel free to 'rescue me' after."

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned back. "Maybe I will," he said, pointing to one of his favorite little places. "They have the best falafel," he said with great enthusiasm, if not the best pronunciation.

[endsthegame]

"Falafel," Ender corrected idly, turning around to look in the right direction. "I could live with that."

[momslilassassin]

"They have vegetables too," Ben said, eyes twinkling.

[endsthegame]

"Mhm," Ender said. "Show me some of those crowd-traversing moves; it's the only way we'll get over there."

[momslilassassin]

Ben reached out and took Ender by the wrist. "Just sense the rhythm of the crowd," he murmured, "and go left when they go right."

[endsthegame]

"Okay," Ender said. 'Sense the rhythm of the crowd' was easier for someone with Ben's senses, he suspected - but he could make a decent crack at it using his intuition, and so the first few steps he took weren't all that terrible.

[momslilassassin]

"Good," Ben said, speeding up without realizing that maybe not everyone could keep up with his intuition. "Now we really start going."

[endsthegame]

It took Ender more trouble than Ben probably realized to keep up with him, but he was sharp and smart. After a few near-failures he could genuinely start to guess which way Ben, and by extension the crowd, might go.

By the time they were running close to the restaurant, he'd almost gotten the hang of it.

[momslilassassin]

"Very good," Ben said, smiling proudly as they arrived at the restaurant. "You could be an honorary stalker."

[endsthegame]

"Ah, yes," Ender said, "Just what I've always dreamed of."

He smiled at the waiter. "Two, please."

[momslilassassin]

Ben let go of Ender's wrist as they were led to a table with a pretty good view of the festivities outside. "There's going to be dancing in a bit," Ben said. "Could get interesting."

[endsthegame]

"I think it's interesting already," Ender noted. "See that couple in front of the door...? They look almost paranoid about something."

Why yes, he was trying to openly stimulate Ben's Jedi cop skills today.

[momslilassassin]

Ben watched them over the menu for a moment. "Huh. Affair, maybe?"

[endsthegame]

"I don't know," Ender mused. "Seems a little easy. Look at the way they're motioning between each other."