Second Floor Common Room, Tuesday Afternoon

[endsthegame]

Ender didn't get out much, and for the most part, he preferred life that way.

But he could only spend so much time holed up with the droid and his work without Valentine's voice prodding at him; and while that was rarely enough to actually move him to do something-- listening to an imagined voice was a little silly-- he felt like humouring it today.

So Ender made himself some tea, and sat down. He even turned on the television, seeking out a documentary on extreme engineering that looked interesting.

He blamed Stark.

[ open! ]

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[endsthegame]

"It would fit in our illustrous tradition of party themes," Ender said, without really bothering to sound anything but deadpan.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Who was responsible for this one, anyway?" Triela asked with a sardonic eyeroll.

[endsthegame]

"Joan," Ender supplied, "At least it gave people something to think about."

Or made the paranoid more paranoid. Ender was pretty much at the end of his paranoid rope all the time anyway, so he hadn't cared much.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Or heightened some peoples' paranoid," Triela snorted. "I figure just about everything that can go bad for me has at this point, so..." she shrugged.

[endsthegame]

"A little Friday the Thirteenth bad luck seems whimsical in comparison," he finished.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Precisely," she nodded.

Then cocked her head. "Sounds like you know how that goes."

[endsthegame]

"I've been here long enough," he said, vaguely.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Of course." That was it. Triela totally believed that was it.

[endsthegame]

Ender just smiled at her, a little crooked, and finished his tea.

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Triela couldn't help smiling a tiny smile back and shaking her head. "Your an odd one, Ender."

[endsthegame]

"Somehow," Ender replied, putting his glass down, "I don't think I'm the only one in the room that technically fits that."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Triela looked around the room, empty but for the two of them for the moment, and laughed. "Odd and observant," she corrects herself.

[endsthegame]

"I'm actually blind as a bat," Ender said, seriously.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"That explains why buttons on your uniform were done up crooked at the dance," Triela teased.

[endsthegame]

"And now I think you're blind, too."

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"Not even close," Triela snorted in amusement. "You don't replace someone's eyes just to leave them unable to see."

[endsthegame]

"Bionics?" Ender asked, looking up to meet those eyes now.

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Cybernetics, if there's a difference between the two." She widens her eyes slightly, but they look just like most other peoples' eyes.

[endsthegame]

"It's a nice job," Ender said, looking away again. "You did say you did missions."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. The whole point of the project was to test human enhancement. Small teams are easier to keep hidden and to coordinate, after all."

She had an odd sense that Ender would understand that.

[endsthegame]

He nodded once, processing it. "Like a scalpel," he said. "Not bad."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

"It worked," Triela's grin was predatory. "They got what they were looking for."

[endsthegame]

Something like sympathy flitted across Ender's features, but it quickly slipped back where it belonged. He had no illusions; she either had caught it, or wasn't paying as much attention as he thought. "You're still walking," he said, "That says enough."

[sorella-vecchia.livejournal.com]

Whether she noticed or not Triela gave no sign.

"Considering that if they hadn't picked me for modification I'd almost certainly be dead..." she shrugged. "There's worse places to be."

[endsthegame]

Ender had his own ideas about that, but they were still one messy ball of confusion and he'd wittle them down on his own time. "Sure," he said instead, "I'm always in favour of being alive, myself."