Rutherford B. Hayes Campfire, Sunday Morning

[endsthegame]

There had been a lot of parties on the island over the week. Ender hadn't visited any of them, as per expectations. But morning found him out by the campfire again, this time armed with a bag of marshmallows which he set aside.

Calmly, he poked the fire into action, spark into flame, and sat back to watch it dance. He draped one arm over his knee, made himself comfortable.

And waited to see if anything would happen.

He had all the time in the world. In one manner of speaking.

[ open campfire! ]

Comments

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

"I used to learn languages," she admitted, running the pads of her fingers along the bark.

"And examine things with my microscope; some chemistry. Research, well, we were always doing that.

"I've found here that I like shopping, though."

She didn't mention sparring as that was one part fun, one part extremely dangerous.

[endsthegame]

Ender considered any number of possible avenues of conversation he could take with that answer, but there was one he knew would be relatively easy on him, and maybe even interesting. "Chemistry," he repeated, "I've been looking into some biochemistry lately."

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

That got a smile.

"Are you interested in any particular area? I brought some of my books with me; I even have a collected text of Wöhler's work in my trunk if you wanted to see it."

[endsthegame]

"Above all, I'm interested in absolutely anything that crosses fields with entomology," he admitted, unrepentantly. Xeno-entomology, but Ender wasn't about to come into that. "I haven't gotten to Wöhler just yet."

Someone was enabling his obsession interest; that made it a decent day.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

Someone else enjoyed one of her hobbies; that made it a pretty decent day for Fiona.

"My brother is just a little better with zoology than I am since I usually focused on botany," she admitted, "but we both spent a lot of time with the entomology books."

After all, they were useful.

"Which languages do you know?"

That might limit the books she could lend him.

[endsthegame]

"Just English, I'm afraid," he said, "But I'm a quick study."

That was only a minor understatement.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She quirked her lips for a moment before nodding.

"I'll see what I can come up with. The books are back at the dorms but I can take a walk."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not going away any time soon," Ender said, easily, "I work at Stark's on Mondays, and I'm not straying far from this cabin over the next week."

Val would be proud of him for trying to make a friend, so it'd look believable enough if the time came.

[cutsthestrings.livejournal.com]

She nodded.

"I'll try and find you when I get some things together. For now, though" she pushed herself up from the log, "I have a few errands to run. Enjoy your fire, Ender."