fandomhighdorms | The Pool, Thursday Evening

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The Pool, Thursday Evening

It was way past dark when Ender entered the pool area, his towel still loosely in hand. Way past dark, and well towards the night, quiet as anything ever was. He liked it that way. It still poked at old memories that weren't really that bad, when everything was said and done.

He slipped into the pool without a dive this time, shifting onto his back, and pushed off the edge with his feet. The friction stopped him after a while, not quite like zero-G, but it'd been close enough before and it was close enough now.

He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the water for once.

Maybe it'd wash out the sparkles.

[ open pool area! ]

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Triela was already sitting by the pool when he arrived. Not because she had a particular fondness for water or anything, but because she wanted some time alone.

She looked up briefly when Ender arrived, but decided that he wasn't a bother.

There was a neatly torn-open envelope in her hand, and she was reading over the single, crisply-folded, piece of paper it had contained. For the eighteenth time.

That meant there was some companionable quiet, and Ender was fine with it. But more time passed, and he twisted again in the water, suddenly longing for a little bit more control over his motions. He kicked hard, his body sliding through the water until his hand hit the side of the pool again, little more than a few feet away from Triela. He looked up at her once, but didn't say anything.

She glanced over when she sensed his approach, and then again when he reached the side. She considered for a moment, but she really did need a distraction, so she put the letter down.

"Hi."

He would've pushed off again and gone back if she hadn't answered; would've tried to tap the other end of the pool before drifting again. But she'd noticed him, and given up her quiet, so Ender guessed a greeting was warranted.

"Hi," he said. "Triela, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded, picking the letter up and sliding it into the inner pocket of her coat. She figured this might be an actual conversation. "And you're Ender." She doesn't bother making it sound like a question.

"And you have a good memory," he joked, pressing his hands against the tile and pushing up, so he could sit. "That's an asset, at least."

"I have a lot of practice," Triela shrugged lightly. "I try not to forget anything, that way I know I won't forget anything important."

"You might start to forget things eventually," he opined. He shifted, finding a better seat. "That's a lot of information."

"I think I'll be fine for a couple of years yet." Her tone sounded ever so slightly hopeful rather than sure.

He noticed that. It made him a little more cautious. "A couple of years," he repeated, "Is still a lot of memories to stuff in a head."

"Gotta try," she shrugged. "The alternative's a bit scary, after all."

"How scary?"

Curiosity and cautiousness could work well together, if you were careful about it.

Triela looked up, eyes flat. "I could forget pretty much everything."

It had happened to Angelica, after all.

He was going to take it as a given that she wasn't a normal girl. That was alright. He didn't really know how to deal with normal anyway. "I won't lie," Ender said, lightly, "That's pretty bad." He slipped his foot back into the water, just to test it. "But not yet."

"So far, so good," she agreed. "I figure I've got some time yet."

She smirked. "Besides, you remembered my name just fine too, you know."

"I do," he agreed, "But I'm crazy, so that might not tell you much."

"You don't look so crazy to me," Triela teased.

"The craziest people don't look like crazy people," Ender replied, "They just act like them when you least expect it."

"I am pretty sure that's just one of those clever phrases people use to sound subtle," Triela smirked.

"Or maybe it's true, and you're just too jaded to listen to me."

Triela laughed. "Now that was a brilliantly subtle rebuke," she crowed in approval. Well done."

"I've been accused of subtlety a couple of times," he said, smiling crookedly. "I think that's the most enthusiastic one."

"It looks like my roommate may have rubbed off on me a bit then," she snickered. "The one here," she was quick to add. "Not the one back home."

"Must be hard," he said, with a dry tone, "An enthusiastic roommate."

Privately, he thought it would be, but he'd been lucky with Ichigo in that regard.

Triela smirked.

"It's pretty awesome, actually. She's a lot of fun."

"Like I said. Must be hard."

"How is fun hard?" she asked, teasing.

"Exhausting," he said. It still sounded a lot like a joke. "You'd never get anything done."

"You sound like my other roommate," Triela laughed. "The one back home."

"Then you must have had a very good roommate," Ender replied, waggling his eyebrows a little to show that he was joking. It was one of those moments where it felt a little fake, but easy.

Triela cocked her head slightly. "You're just saying that because you think it's expected, aren't you? That's what she would do."

"If I was," he said, a little annoyed at himself for apparently being so easy to read, and a little curious as to why she could-- Ender was good at this, and he knew it. "Do you really think I'd tell you?"

"Nope," she said happily.

Then: "You are a lot like Claes. It's enough to make me homesick." Not really.

"It's better to ignore that," Ender replied, but he had the sense that she didn't need to anyway.

"Sounds like you speak from experience," she said, only half-teasing.

"Or maybe I just have some common sense."

"Always possible," she grinned. "Though it's a pretty rare trait in my experience."

"In mine, too," he said, frankly. "Everybody else seems to do without it."

"And somehow," she added, "They seem to get along rather well. That's always surprised me."

"It's not surprising at all," Ender said. He kicked a bit of water out of the way. "If everyone's playing by the same nonsensical rules, then the system works."

"You've got a point there," Triela laughed, flashing him a grin.

Then she cocked her head, "And how do you get along in the crazy world if you're the sane one?"

"You figure out what the rules are," he said, a little wryly, despite himself. His annoyance was still present, a soft beating thing that kept him focused, and aware in case she wanted something. "But I think that one's obvious."

Triela eyed him challengingly. "And have you?"

"I'm still crazy."

They weren't talking about him.

"Oh?" Triela quirked an eyebrow. "And what brand of crazy are you?"

"The kind of crazy that could toss a girl into a pool," he said. "Grrr."

It was a silly attempt at a joke, but it was all he had, and it sounded dismissive enough.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't really think that's an option here, but I appreciate the sentiment."

That last part? Sarcasm.

"I do what I can," Ender said, peering down into the water. He nudged his body towards it again. He could go for another swim.

Maybe somewhere else entirely.

She sensed what he was going for there. "It was nice talking to you again, Ender. We should do it again sometime."

And maybe she meant it. It was hard to tell.

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The Pool, Thursday Evening

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