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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"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."

Ben bit back a "neither was Jacen."

Topher didn't need that particular bit of baggage.

"Maybe," he said instead.

"Is there -- something in the future that happens?" Topher asked, beginning to feel a little desperate.

Ben finally pulled ~~his head from his ass~~ himself out of some bad memories and shook his head. "I mean, Ender's Peter doesn't run around hugging puppies and belching rainbows, but he's not evil."

"Good," Topher said forcefully. "I mean. I thought so."

Shut up. Just shut up.

"So. Um." Now that that was settled... "The whole, um, ruling-the-world thing. How does that go?"

"For him or in a general how-to way?" Ben asked.

"For him," Topher clarified. "Unless you have personal experience I don't know about."

"I've had two relatives run the galaxy and another one attempt to," Ben said, before waving that aside. "He's not really my primary focus, you know? Ender's Peter's only been doing it for a few years anyway."

"Hegemonning?" Not a verb, Topher.

Ben nodded. Because he didn't know that wasn't a verb either.

"From Brazil of all places."

"Brazil? Really?" Huh. "I'd think there'd be... too many beaches."

"But that might not be for a while," Ben said. "I met Bean when he was older."

He snorted.

"He was still a pain then, too."

"But an alive pain," Topher pointed out. "So... lucky him."

Ben nodded. "Not for lack of trying on Achilles' part. He and Bean have bad blood."

"Wow, weird, 'cause I can't imagine anyone being annoyed at him," Topher said with heavy sarcasm. "What happened, anyway? I mean, I know they both went to Ender's school, but besides that."

"They both grew up on the streets in Rotterdam," Ben said, trying to recall the details. "Achilles is obsessed with eliminating anyone who's ever seen him weak, and Bean certainly has."

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Room 307, Tuesday Evening

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