dollpocalypse | Room 307, Tuesday Evening

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Room 307, Tuesday Evening

So for Topher, today had been noteworthy due to a variety of circumstances, the most obvious of which being:

1.) His best friend was apparently a world-famous political blogger who'd saved a whole bunch of kids' lives
2.) Said best friend had just been forced to go into hiding to avoid being killed by a Belgian psychopath
3.) Topher's room was still full of paint fumes, and
4.) It was his sixteenth birthday.

As a result of all of that, plus the portal-lag that came from the round-trip excursion to Peter's universe, Topher was just a little bit exhausted by the time he got back to his room in the evening. Too exhausted, in fact, to indulge in his usual birthday tradition of a cupcake and a couple rounds of laser tag at the nearest arena. So instead, by the time he got to his room, he flopped down on his bed to try to repress concerns about Peter by playing Tetris on his phone.

At least he was kicking ass at it, so, you know, there was that.

[[open! billy | dave | kenzi | ben ]]

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"Oh." Well, shit. "That's not good."

Ben had a "well, what can you do?" sort of look on his face as he nodded. "But Bean's still alive, even if he's one of the most annoying people in history, so that can help."

"Oh my god he's so annoying." FINALLY. SOMEONE ELSE ACKNOWLEDGED THIS. "Peter snapped at me for saying so. God."

"He'll change his mind if he spends more than an hour with him," Ben said, "especially if Bean gets onto a spiel about how the sun shines out of Ender's ass."

Hello, Topher. Welcome to why Ben can't stand Bean!

"...ew," said Topher, who had never much wanted to know about the contents of Ender's ass, metaphorical or otherwise. "He's a big Ender fan? That would explain the sunny disposition at meeting Peter, I guess."

"He was part of Ender's jeesh," Ben said, nodding. "They all think Ender's astral, but Bean especially."

"Well," Topher grumbled, "you can like both of them."

Or... he could. It was pretty much just him.

"Bean's just spent more time with Ender," Ben said. "It doesn't help matters that Peter got Ender exiled from Earth, either."

"To keep him from getting killed!" Yes, Topher. That could be said without the arm-flailing.

"Altruism wasn't Peter's primary concern," Ben replied flatly.

"Sure it was," Topher said immediately. "He was all... you know. Worried. When it happened."

Ben arched up an eyebrow. "Because it was his brother or because it would mess up his plans about being Locke?"

"Because... neither," Topher said, giving Ben a weird look. "Because people dying is sucky."

It had been so long since Ben had thought about something in those terms that he looked momentarily stunned.

"...that too," he stammered.

Topher noticed the momentary look of shock and tilted his head. "What?"

"It's been a long time since I've thought of killing people as bad," Ben admitted quietly.

...

"Oh."

Well then.

"I mean. He's just a kid. If it were -- I mean, even if he weren't -- you know. You'd try and protect him from getting killed too, wouldn't you?"

Ben smiled a little to himself. "I don't think there's a reality around where I wouldn't try to protect Ender. Much to his annoyance."

"But -- even if you weren't, you know," Topher tried. "So. Peter too. I mean."

"I'm less convinced about Peter," Ben admitted. "The dynamics of that family is...complicated."

"But still," Topher insisted. "Peter's not evil. He doesn't want people to die."

"Oh, I know. He's taking the world over for its own good," Ben said a little cynically. His Jacen issues had a tendency to bleed into his view of Peter.

Topher made a face. "Why is that a bad thing? If he knows what he's doing, then isn't it good...?"

"Because most people don't take over worlds while cackling maniacally and fondling their death rays," Ben said. "They always say its because it's for other people, because no one else can do what they can do, because they have a vision that no one else can see--"

He stared at his boots. "It rarely goes well."

Topher wrung his hands, not sure how to put what was so obvious to him into words Ben would understand. "Yeah, but. He's Peter. He. I mean. He's smart and he, like, sees things and he freaked the hell out when he thought the kids were gonna get hurt. You know? He's not -- like that."

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