Basement pool [late afternoon]

[momslilassassin]

Ben really wanted to be at the gym, but even he wasn't stubborn enough to punch a bag when his joints weren't fully healed.

Floating in the water was better for that, even if he looked a little ridiculous wearing a shirt and long pants. The scars the Embrace of Pain had left weren't for other people to stare at, he'd decided.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the silence.

[OOC: Naturally, the silence doesn't have to last. Open!]

Comments

[endsthegame]

The pool was where Ender drifted.

The pool was where Ender always came back.

While he'd had plans to see Ben after all he'd heard on the radio, he hadn't expected everything to come together quite like this.

So he stood by the side of the pool for a while, watching Ben drift, thinking of zero-grav and paddling through warzones.

After some time, he sat down, slipping his legs into the water, and waited. It was well enough.

[momslilassassin]

Ben didn't open his eyes. "Ho, Ender," he said quietly.

[endsthegame]

"Ho, Ben," he replied, with equal quietness, and kicked one foot against the water. "It's been a while."

[momslilassassin]

Ben kicked one foot out, heading away of the center of the pool and closer to where Ender was. "How was your break?"

[endsthegame]

"I learned a few things," he said, vaguely, and stilled his feet, his eyes searching out Ben's form underneath the water. "Otherwise, it's been quiet. You?"

[momslilassassin]

"Learned a few things," Ben echoed. "It wasn't exactly quiet."

[endsthegame]

"Anything you want to tell me?"

Ender's feet were still still, but his eyes were anything but: alert and watching for any change at all.

"Winters tend to be a little strange, small fry."

[momslilassassin]

"Wouldn't know where to start," Ben said, hauling himself out of the pool with a tiny wince.

If someone was being observant, they'd have noticed the fading welts across Ben's stomach and back when his shirt rode up.

[endsthegame]

Someone was, and Ender's eyes categorized as they always did. "You could start with the injuries," he said, subdued. Because they were injuries, not because they meant anything to him. Really. "They're a little obvious."

[momslilassassin]

"Then you should've seen them a week ago," Ben said. "This is after three days in a bacta bath and whatever that lady did to me at the clinic."

He shrugged. "Jacen's a bastard. We knew that."

[endsthegame]

"We did," he agreed, easily. So Jacen had gotten close to Ben. Ben's cover had been broken. Ben had been hurt by Jacen. It was an easy three-step plan to understanding. "He's alive?"

[momslilassassin]

"Not due to my lack of trying," Ben said, a definite edge to his voice. "Dad wouldn't let me have the kill. Said I wouldn't come back from the dark side if I did it."

[endsthegame]

"I'd say that was a good call," Ender said, watching Ben, listening to the edge in his voice. He could imagine it: striking out against Graff, blaming him for all that had happened, except Graff would be the buggers and the other way around.

But it wasn't. "The kill's not worth it. Most of the time."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Did you fall in?" Triela asked as she took a seat by the side of the pool. "Because most people take their clothes off."

[momslilassassin]

Ben opened his eyes. "Didn't feel like putting on my swim trunks," he said. "I took off my boots, though."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"I suppose that's something," she decided. "You look pretty relaxed, so you must have made the right choice, I guess."

[momslilassassin]

"I like the water," Ben said. "Floating feels good today. And it's quiet down here. The new people...aren't that quiet."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"That," Triela snorted, "is something of an understatement. I think people are more... colorful than last semester."

[momslilassassin]

"The classes are also...colorful," Ben said carefully. "Heroing was odd today."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"There's a class on heroing?" Triela sounded just a bit incredulous. Then she laughed at herself. "Oh. Right. Fandom." Of course there's a class on heroing.

[momslilassassin]

"The master teaching it really likes to hear himself talk," Ben replied.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"I... don't deal well with those sorts of people."

[momslilassassin]

"I've learned to tune them out," Ben admitted, "but I've spent a lot of time around politicians."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Oh yeah? Me too." But... mostly to kill them. "They're not so bad." Because their security tended to suck.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "Then I'll trade you some of mine for some of yours," he offered, kicking in a slow circle.