Quote: M Fnord wrote:Benjamin blinked at the message on his screen and thought for a moment. He was feeling quite a few emotions at that particular moment in time.
Now. Timeskipping a bit here if only to address this outbreak of tinfoiling. We'll get back to the main part of our program after these words from our
sponsors...
Most prominently was anger for having his inteligence and heritage insulted. Another was a mild pang of shame since it was a bit of rumor mongering. Ben
could see Mal's point of view, but he just wished that Mal would come around to seeing it from his side of the forest. Part of what made people like Ben
and Mal SMOFs was that even before they came up out of the gravity well they paid attention to the political scene. That is part of what seperates the leaders
of Fen from the rest.
Benjamin could not help but see the political posturing for what he felt it was: the beginings of a witch hunt. And to be quite honest, he did not understand
what in Skuld's name these people thought they were going to get out of it. As far as he could tell, someone just felt that they had to spread some misery
around. Well, unfortunately it was starting to work.
For a few minutes, he wondered about how to respond to Mal's last message. Here, the conflicting emotions struck with a vengeance. After fifteen minutes
of trying and failing, he simply decided to let it go. With the mindset that Mal had at this time, it'd only lead to more vitriol throwing.
Was Ben paranoid? He would gladly admit to it. He would go on to say that when you got as many precious people to protect as he did, it paid to be a little
paranoid. To be honest it stressed him out a bit, though, so he figured he'd take Mal's advice and just chill. However, his mischievous side was not
to be denied and, on his own money, Ben hired a reputable massues to pay Mal a house call. No matter how smooth or rough things may go, a Senate hearing is no
picnic, and it's only fair that you follow your own advice.