The Astronomy Suite In The Arms Hotel | Saturday Evening

[dollpocalypse]

It had officially been forever since the guys' last drinking night, so with the six of them all on the island for a weekend, there was really no excuse not to have some kind of gathering. And since Topher's hotel room had space on the ceiling and awesome futuristic-looking furniture, there was pretty much exactly no question about where this gathering would be.

And with an alcohol tolerance that had been drastically reduced by going almost fourteen years without drinking at all, Topher stood a very high chance of getting stupidly drunk tonight. It was probably going to be hilarious.

The bar was stocked to capacity with, among other things, every necessary ingredient for every girly cocktail ever invented, and Topher had hauled the entire contents of his office's Drawer of Inappropriate Starches onto the table for the occasion. (Ivy would get more for him before he got back to LA, he was sure. ...He was mostly sure.)

"B-t-dubs, there's astronaut ice cream in the bathtub," Topher announced loudly to everyone. "...No idea why it's there. But Ben gets last dibs."

Cruel, Topher. Cruel.

[[for the 20-years-older nerds! let's see if two decades made them more responsible.]]

Comments

[momslilassassin]

Ben wandered in eventually from his own hotel room. "Astral ceiling," he declared, trying to figure out which galaxy it was depicting.

Because nerd.

[dollpocalypse]

"Right?"

Best ceiling ever.

Anyway-- "Ben, you're in luck," Topher announced. "We still have like a whole gallon of space ice cream left. You can take it and elope with it."

[momslilassassin]

"Pretty sure Ender would kick my ass," he said with a laugh. "At least if I ran off without even checking what flavor it was first."

[dollpocalypse]

"Wow, you've gotten picky in your old age," Topher remarked, squinting. "Are you sure you're Ben?"

[momslilassassin]

"Pretty sure," Ben said, "but it's always smart to check. My galaxy is pretty good at cloning."

[dollpocalypse]

"Hey, like Jessica's," Topher replied. "Except in her world, if you were a clone of you, you'd be a girl now." He shrugged. "Don't ask."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, I'll ask, but not until I drink a couple more of those pink things with the umbrellas," Ben decided. "I'll take the umbrellas home and give 'em to Val."

Best dad ever, right?

[dollpocalypse]

"Val... Ender's sister?" Someone was behind the times. "Oh, man, I remember her. I can't believe she never punched me."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, as much as she'd love them, I meant Val, our daughter," Ben said, practically beaming with pride.

[dollpocalypse]

"Oh, cool! Wow, everyone has kids now. Except with you guys it's completely predictable, obviously." Everyone in this room had been shipping it for more than twenty years, so... "How old is she?"

[momslilassassin]

"Seven," Ben said. "The boys are younger."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You would think so!" Judging you, Ben. Judging you.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, unlike some people, I don't spend my life in penthouse suites," Ben said, grinning over at him. "It's good to see you, Tony."

This was a happier, less alcoholic version of Ben, thank goodness.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Well, this was happily hitched to an Ender Ben, so...

"Just some of my time is spent in penthouses," Tony assured him, yanking him forward for a hug. "The rest is in grave danger."

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him a tight, backslapping hug in return. "Well, of course," he said. "How badly was the suit banged up this time?"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"The usual," Tony replied. "Nothing a little buffing won't take care of."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, if you need something tweaked, let me know. Trondheim is cold and boring," Ben replied. "I could use a new project."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You know you're always welcome to come," Tony replied. "It might not be as exciting as, say, space..."

[momslilassassin]

"Turns out that space can get a little boring, especially when it takes years to get between planets still because the physics there is stupid," Ben replied. "Who knew?"

Twenty years later and he still was annoyed by Ender's universe's adherence to physics.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"See, this is why we can only travel through space where you're from."

[momslilassassin]

"Plus my galaxy has Twi'lek dancers," Ben offered with a grin. "So far in Ender's it's nothing but humans."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"We're only going to your galaxy from now on," Tony decided with a nod.

[momslilassassin]

"I'm pretty sure we're still between wars," Ben said agreeably. "We should go soon."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"There's a tourism ad if I ever heard one."

[momslilassassin]

"It's a tragedy that they haven't hired me to promote them," Ben replied.