The Roof, Tuesday Evening

[endsthegame]

Temari had left. She'd left him a message, just written on paper, and he was grateful for it; at least it didn't make him feel as if some kind of teary farewell would be expected of him. He was waiting for a response of an entirely bigger magnitude, though: his request to be placed on a colonial vessel, to explore some of his own universe.

Hopefully, the bugger queen in the library was real. If she wasn't, he'd have to find out where the actual queen was buried - or search his mind to see if he just made it up. Either way, time out on the fringes would help him attain some of his goals.

Ben shouldn't know, of course, but he'd deflected that okay. If he knew Ben, then the Jedi would be too preoccupied with other things soon enough, and Ender would be able to leave in good conscience.

If they bothered to listen to him.

So Ender was back up on the roof, glancing over the rooftops of Fandom Town with no real sentimentality whatsoever.

[ open, but mildly SP-ish. Ah, timezones ]

Comments

[endsthegame]

"I hear opening a window works miracles."

[momslilassassin]

"I've been getting nagged at for staying in my room too much," Ben replied. "Vaping two ships with one shot."

[endsthegame]

"Think a night spent up on the roof will be enough?" Ender asked, nodding his head at the spot next to him, "I predict that won't help as much."

[momslilassassin]

Ben sat down. "Why not?"

[endsthegame]

"I think the roof has a reputation," Ender told him, tilting his head over. "I think Emmett will be finding some new, creative way to call me emo tonight."

[momslilassassin]

"Are you emo tonight in a new and creative way?" Ben asked, smiling.

[endsthegame]

Ender shot him a look. "Emo isn't really my thing," he said, "Especially not by this century's standards."

Liar.

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "Want to run that past me again?"

[endsthegame]

"I'm not very interested in nail polish."

[momslilassassin]

Ben blinked. "You've lost me."

[endsthegame]

"'Emo' is a 21st century stereotype," Ender explained, "It involves nail polish, long hair, and poetry. I'm not interested in any of those."

[momslilassassin]

"Ohhh," Ben said. "I didn't know that."

Pause. "The definition. I could've guessed the bit about poetry and nail polish."

[endsthegame]

"So the hair was a surprise," Ender said, levelly, and shot him an amused look.

[momslilassassin]

Ben smiled back. "You seem obsessed with my braid..."

[endsthegame]

"I couldn't care less," Ender told him, at roughly the same pitch. "But you care."

[momslilassassin]

"That's because it's attached to my head and hurts when it gets yanked on," Ben said, which while true, wasn't really the deal with the braid.

"What brings you out here? Since the air in your room was of sufficient quality."

[endsthegame]

And Ender knew that. "I thought I'd get some exercise in," he said, "Maybe see if I can jog my memory of astronavigation." It got pretty clear up here, after all.

[momslilassassin]

"You're on Earth," Ben said. "That over there is the moon of the world. Past that are planets of varying sizes and importance. After that is a whole lot of nothing. There. Now you're all caught up."

[endsthegame]

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Skywalker," Ender told him, with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

[momslilassassin]

"I get that a lot," Ben said. "Why'd you need the crash course? Or are you taking a breather from your other studies?"

[endsthegame]

"Neither," he replied. "I'm just taking a look." He glanced up at the stars - they were becoming more visible by the minute. "I realise it's not the same where you come from, but there's something innately fascinating about looking up and realisnig that every one of those spots is at least forty years old."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, it's still fascinating," Ben said, leaning back on his elbows to look up as well. "It reminds you of just how little you are, too. More people should spend time looking up."

[endsthegame]

"To an extent," Ender said. He was only a few inches from Ben, but it was comfortable, here. "We all wind up the same size." Ender's sense of scale might have been damaged over time.

[momslilassassin]

"Tiny bits of ash blowing from a funeral pyre?" Ben replied. Cheery. Really.

[endsthegame]

"No," Ender deadpanned, "Some of us don't go for cremation."