Nagoya [a month later]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was still smiling as they walked away from the Portalocity terminal, his hand in Ender's. "That was a nice visit," he said. "Dad's really, really excited about becoming a grandfather, huh? I think the Ewok-themed nursery might be a bit much, though."

[OOC: For the boy!]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben rested his head against Ender's. "Good point. Will she be confused that we only have one at a time?"

[endsthegame]

"I don't think so. She grasps that part," Ender said quietly. "She seems a lot more understanding of it all now that it's taking place in my universe."

[momslilassassin]

"Why do you think that is?" Ben asked.

[endsthegame]

"I don't think she likes the Force," Ender murmured. "She calls it the Strange Song, or the Discordant Web, or whatever other imagery she happens to pluck out of my head that falls into a similar category."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not entirely convinced she likes me at all, either," Ben said with a wry smile.

[endsthegame]

"She likes you better now," Ender said wryly. "You feel more like you belong here these days, apparently."

[momslilassassin]

Ben chuckled. "Well, I wasn't doing it to please her."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled. "The impression that I get," he said carefully - he didn't want to give away anything that might lead to Jane. "Is that the Hive Queens had their own ways of working with the energy that underpins my universe. She understands life coming from that framework. She doesn't understand yours, and therefor it's inferior."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, that sort of thing," Ben said with another smile. "I'm used to that. It's like talking to a Yuuzhan Vong."

[endsthegame]

"I can imagine," Ender said wryly. "It's been a struggle getting her to open up about it, but I think I'm starting to get some level of understanding of her perspective on this."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm all ears for whatever you want to share," Ben said.

[endsthegame]

Ender let out a little breath. "She seems convinced there's... I can't describe it any other way than 'unborn souls'... living in this web of hers," he said. "Apparently when it was time for a new queen to be born, they would do some kind of ritual to coerce this soul to come to the body. I think. I'm not sure. But the Force doesn't work like that, so when we went to the cloners in your world... she was confused."

[momslilassassin]

Ben's own forehead was knitting up in confusion. "Can't really blame her. That seems...not at all how we do things."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled wryly. "She doesn't care what gender or sex we are," he said. "From her perspective, before, we were just trying to build a body, but now that we're back here we're doing things properly by building a body and coercing a soul to come live in it."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, from that point of view, then yes, what we were trying sounds a little unnatural," Ben admitted.

[endsthegame]

"It's funny, when you think about it," Ender said. "From her point of view, you're a bit of a Pinocchio story."

[momslilassassin]

Ben laughed. "Think I'm a real boy yet?"

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled. "We did just check," he teased.

[momslilassassin]

"I could be an incredibly talented droid," Ben said, kissing Ender's chin.

[endsthegame]

"With some very lifelike man-parts," Ender said, chuckling.

[momslilassassin]

"Never ever call it man-parts again," Ben replied, nipping Ender's neck.

[endsthegame]

"Sorry," Ender said, "I'll make sure to call Wango by his name next time."

[momslilassassin]

Ben burst out laughing. "Yes, please do."

[endsthegame]

Ender peered down over Ben's shoulder. "Hi, Wango."

[momslilassassin]

Ben was laughing so hard that he shook with it. "Kuso, I love you."