Second Floor Common Room, Friday Morning

[endsthegame]

If the radio was something to be believed, common rooms were a focal point of activity here. Ender had heard of people meeting, talking, forging friendships and forming their own groups up here, until they pulled back to the privacy of their own rooms.

For now, he didn't really feel like mingling. He didn't know how long he was to stay here, or why, except that they didn't want him on Earth back home and they taught classes here on things he'd never really thought about before. Or hadn't wanted to think about.

But if he wanted to grasp the rules of the school, he'd have to see it for himself. He didn't expect to spend a lot of time here, but it was still important to know: and so, quietly, unobtrusively, Ender made his way into the second floor common room in the morning, working the television remote until he found some history documentary on this time's previous century.

[ open like a common room, yay ]

Comments

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal was on his way to the library, in the hopes he'd be able to resume working there on Fridays, but Altra was hungry and so was he. In the absence of anything in the fourth - or the third - floor common rooms, they found themselves in the second.

"Good morning," he said as he followed Altra inside, stopping in his tracks as the television screen came into Altra's line of sight. It looked very different.

[endsthegame]

Ender's attention was drawn away from the television at last; he hadn't been wrong in his estimation of the common rooms as much as he'd thought, then. He gave both boy and cat a curious glance. The boy looked concerned-- like he wasn't seeing what he'd expected to see, but Ender couldn't tell what he was looking at.

"Hey," he replied, "Are you looking for something?" It didn't seem like questions were a problem so far, and Ender was curious.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"No," he said slowly, sounding very distracted, then he shook his head. "Well, yes, actually. I'm looking for breakfast. My apologies, the television caught me by surprise."

[endsthegame]

"You were surprised by the television," he repeated, tilting his head so he could look at Karal more closely. "Are you new?"

It seemed funny-- really funny-- to be asking that of someone when he'd only been here for a few days now, but he couldn't remember the boy from anywhere and he looked curiously lost.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal smiled. "No, but it looks different than last time I saw one," he replied. "I'm Karal, and this is Altra." Altra was looking at Andrew intently. "I have been away for awhile. Are you one of the new students?"

[endsthegame]

"It seems that's always the first question around here," Ender said, frankly. "I came here this weekend." How did it look different? It was a strange statement, and he found himself looking from cat to boy to television in thoughtful confusion.

The cat was looking at him. It made him a little uncomfortable-- like the cat was trying to see something he didn't want for it to see. "I'm Ender."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"It is good to meet you, Ender," Karal said, and Altra nodded politely. "Welcome to Fandom. Umm, I should probably tell you that Altra is not simply a cat. He's a Firecat, a person in his own right."

[endsthegame]

Somehow, that didn't make the cat's staring any less uncomfortable. What do you see? he wanted to ask, everyone keeps watching me. "So you're not from around here," he ventured, "I've never heard of a Firecat before."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"No, no I'm not. I come from a country called Karse, in another world," he explained, turning away. "Are you from this world?" Altra trotted over to lead the way into the kitchen. "And would you care for some toast?" Since this kitchen actually had bread.

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Morning!" Dean greeted Karal and waved at Altra. He paused. "So should I look at Altra when I'm talking to you so it looks to you like I'm meeting your eyes?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal laughed. "Good morning, Dean," he replied. "And that's up to you. If you look at me I can see you looking at me, and some people don't enjoy having Altra staring at them for too long."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean shrugged. "After the whole cast a spell on me thing, just looking seems kinda pedestrian," he said. "And Altra's not that bad."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"True," he said with a smile. "I will leave it up to you. Whichever you feel the most comfortable with."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Probably will go with whatever works in the moment," Dean said with a shrug. "So how does it go being back?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"It goes really well, Dean." Karal smiled widely. "I'm still ridiculously happy to be back here, and I'm going to open the library this morning." Whether someone would be there already remained to be seen. "And the explosives class is not nearly so scary as I thought it would be."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"I bet Vkandis really likes explosives," Dean observed. "Big booms, lotsa fire."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Altra stared at Dean and Karal covered a smile. "Perhaps, but I know Evey does, which is why I chose it," he said. "How are your classes, Dean? Enjoyable so far?"

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean was heading down from the fourth floor, intent on making a trip into town, but heard the tv going when he passed the second floor common room and ducked his head in to see.

"Hey," he said to the boy as he glanced at the program. "Whatcha watching?"

[endsthegame]

The common rooms worked as advertised; it was the second new face he'd seen since he came here. Ender looked away from the television, considering Dean for a moment. "'Greatest Moments of the 20th Century'," he offered, carefully, "I thought I'd get myself up to date. I'm new."

And that had all the essential information they'd ask for at first. That should be enough.

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, you can learn a lot from tv if you watch the right stuff," Dean agreed. "Dean Winchester. I'm not new."

[endsthegame]

"Ender Wiggin," he returned, filing away that information for later reference. "I'm still finding the 'right stuff'."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Documentaries are probably a good place to start," Dean said. "But don't underestimate the appeal of a good action movie."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not really an action movie person," Ender said, keeping his voice noncommittal. "But thanks for the suggestion. I'm just catching up on all the history lessons I missed."

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, the 20th century had a lot of history," Dean said. "I take it you're from some other time? And judging by how the moving and talking pictures aren't freaking you out, I'm guessing the future?"

[endsthegame]

"About a hundred years from now," he said, shooting the remote another sideways look. It remained as ancient as when he'd picked it up. "I didn't pay a lot of attention in class." Internally, he laughed at his own joke; but it didn't want to break through his expression, and he didn't let it.