The Attic of an Old Warehouse, AKA the Nominal Temporary Wiggin Home Base, Wednesday

[gameinprogress]

They would have to take more of the heavy hitters out of the equation.

Ender knew that much

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[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime had been a bit hesitant to show up in the middle of the day, but he'd sort of convinced himself that that would be less suspicious than sneaking around at night or something, so he only looked mostly hesitant, as opposed to completely hesitant, as he poked his head into the attic and looked around.

"Hello? Ender?"

[gameinprogress]

Ender recognized the voice. It took him a few moments to get his things in order, though, but those were quickly shoved aside.

He walked out of his room into the main chamber. "Jaime," he said, a slight smile on his face. "Hey."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Hey." Jaime managed a slight smile of his own. "How's it going?"

Nice question, Reyes. Real insightful.

[gameinprogress]

"Considering the circumstances," Ender said, where the word 'circumstances' covered so much: about life in Fandom, the upcoming battle, everything, "I'm okay. How about you?"

Now the implications of that question were probably even bigger.

[weldedtomyspine]

"The same. I guess."

He sighed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "I guess I'm kind of tired." And not really from lack of sleep.

[gameinprogress]

Ender nodded. He seemed to be off thinking about something for a moment; then he said, "Pull up a box and sit down, please."

[weldedtomyspine]

"A box, huh?" Jaime managed a chuckle despite his mood. "Serious luxury, man." But he did as asked, taking a moment to settle himself, and collect his thoughts. He knew Ender didn't need any prompting, anyway. Both of the Wiggins were the sort to speak when they were ready.

[gameinprogress]

Ender pulled up his own and sat down. "It won't be much longer," he said quietly.

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime blinked. "Think so?"

He didn't really notice the way his shoulders slumped slightly as a sense of relief settled over him.

"How soon?"

[gameinprogress]

"Saturday," Ender said. "Win or lose, I doubt the island will be the same." His smile broadened. "Though I'm betting on winning."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Saturday." Jaime took a deep breath, then blew it out.

"Seems like it's been forever."

Another breath. "You need me to do anything in particular?"

[gameinprogress]

"I might," Ender said, leaning forwards. "We've been talking about ways to deal with this, and it's becoming fairly clear we need as many distractions - and fighting bodies - as we can."

His eyes flickered briefly towards the back of Jaime's neck.

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime nodded slowly. "I guess... I always knew it would come down to something like that." He'd kind of stopped hoping for a more peaceful solution after only a few months, but it was hard to let go of that anyway.

"I suppose I can manage that." He managed an odd half-smile. "If I can remember how, anyway."

[gameinprogress]

"If you can cause enough of a nuisance, that would do," Ender said quietly. "But I can't promise you this will happen without bloodshed."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Yeah. I... kind of figured that out on my own, I think." Even naive optimism gave way to realism after a while.

"It's... going to be messy, isn't it?"

[gameinprogress]

"Probably," Ender said. "But it was going to be messy anyway. Just... slower."