Moctezuma, Christmas Day

[momslilassassin]

After wishfully believing Val would let them sleep in after their trek to the local cathedral to celebrate Midnight Mass with the rest of their neighbors (yeah, no way. She was up at 5:30, just like every other morning), Ben was--in the spirit of the season--bringing Ender and Big Val giant mugs of coffee from the kitchen while Little Val gleefully made confetti from wrapping paper in the living room.

The house was smelling promisingly of pork and chicken tamales--they were trying to embrace the local traditions this year, and Ben was always in favor of experimenting with anything food related.

"Merry Christmas," he said, heading back into the living room levitating two coffee mugs in front of him as he held his own in his hand. Force powers were so handy.

Comments

[endsthegame]

"And some terrible habits," Ender agreed.

[momslilassassin]

"You don't have terrible habits," Ben declared.

[endsthegame]

"I'm sure you can think of one or two," Ender said.

[momslilassassin]

"Bad ones, maybe," Ben said, kissing his cheek. "But not terrible ones."

[endsthegame]

"We'll have to cultivate those, then, until they're properly terrible," Ender joked, poking him in the side.

[momslilassassin]

"You are not terrible," Ben insisted, poking him back with a grin.

[endsthegame]

"That depends on who you ask," Ender said solemnly. "I think only a few people were fond of me last night."

[momslilassassin]

Ben shrugged. "Their loss, then."

[endsthegame]

"They're more open here than many Catholic societies I've seen," Ender mused. "But still."

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "That's not saying all that much," he agreed.

[endsthegame]

"We're still strangers, come bearing something they see as an alternate faith," Ender said.

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded. "But Earth was always home to multiple religions," he said. "Did they self-segregate when they expanded outward?"

[endsthegame]

"Yes," Ender said. "Last thing I heard, they give out specifically Catholic licenses to colony builders, these days."

[momslilassassin]

Ben made a face. "That seems like a less great idea."

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled wryly. "'Preserving human diversity across the galaxy'."

[momslilassassin]

"'Kind of'," Ben tacked on, smiling back. "Not saying my galaxy doesn't do it too, of course."

[endsthegame]

"Your universe isn't really a good basis for comparison," Ender said, "You've got a lot more species."

[momslilassassin]

"True," Ben said, "but we still have a huge range of humans being weird, too."

[endsthegame]

"I'll give you that," Ender said. "I'm still curious how your human civilization got started."

[momslilassassin]

"Me too," Ben said. "I'm not sure we have records that go back that far any more."

[endsthegame]

"You do have a history that runs tens of thousands of years," Ender said wryly. "It makes sense you'd forget some of it."

[momslilassassin]

"Plus governments that like destroying records every few generations," Ben added, making a face.

[endsthegame]

"I like to think there's still a treasure-trove of documents somewhere," Ender said wryly.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's smile was very fond. "Maybe in the Fandom library."

[endsthegame]

"I wonder if the island's seen a lot of people from earlier eras of your universe," Ender mused.