Third Floor Common Room; Early Saturday Evening [ 06/13 ].

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine found comfort in a lot of the small things about early twenty first century technology that called up what she was used to. Today, it was managing to get her hands on e-books. E-books of political theory and discourse. Sure, she was plenty familiar with Locke, almost as familiar with Locke as she was Demosthenes, both past and future, but it amused her and she actually did find it interesting, thank you.

She just wasn't so big of a nerd that she'd just curl up in her room with it all day.

Okay, she was that big of a nerd, but she was trying to make it seem like she wasn't, so she went ahead and brought it out to the common room, made herself a sandwich, and curled up on the couch instead. This way, she may be a nerd, but she wasn't a recluse.

She wondered if she should go track down Ender after last night's boat note, but he'd be fine, she knew. And he was all about distance lately, anyway.


[[ my overworked brain demands idle wastes of time. Open! ]]

Comments

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Our society," Valentine said with a grin, "must help those who might screw things up for us if we don't keep an eye on them."

[momslilassassin]

"Our society is going to be very, very busy, then," Ben replied, grinning.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine looked rather agreeable to that fact.

"Most of the good ones are."

[momslilassassin]

"What I wanted a slacker society, where I live off of whatever edible stuff falls off a tree nearby?" Ben asked.

He'd die of boredom in a month.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Forget boredom...

"Because everyone wants to be lead by a malnourished lazy ass."

[momslilassassin]

"I'd have to be in charge?" Ben asked.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"If you want a leader," Valentine said with a nod. "Because everyone else would just be sitting around, eating whatever just fell of the nearest tree, too, probably. Until some other society looks at you guys and says, 'hey, these guys are idiots. Let's either kill them or take them over.'"

[momslilassassin]

"Could I come up with a suitably pretentious title like Hegemon?" Ben replied. "Maybe a hat?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"I think," Valentine said, "both of those would be appropriate. I'm not sure if Locke here says anything about either of them specifically, though."

[momslilassassin]

Ben leaned his head back against the sofa, more tired than he wanted to admit. "Does Peter wear a stupid hat? Or is he more of a swoopy cape guy?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Neither, actually," Valentine said after a moment, grinning faintly. "But he does wear a lot of black."

[momslilassassin]

"And very expensive shoes, or boots to make him look taller?" Ben asked.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"And the occasional pair of sneakers," Valentine said, "to show he's just a normal teenager, taking over the world."

[momslilassassin]

"As we so often do," Ben said. "You'd think this island would have taken precautions."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Nah," Valentine shook her head. "They probably get grant money for each eventual overlord they churn out."

[momslilassassin]

"It would explain some of the classes," Ben said thoughtfully. "Not the ones about fashion, but some of them."

There was a pause.

"Not that Peter should take time from his busy schedule to take them."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"That's true," Valentine said, "for a psychopathic slumbitch, he's a pretty sharp dresser. He missed that train, though. Even I only managed to jump on at the caboose."

[momslilassassin]

"I keep checking the new kids for some other version of Jacen to make an appearance," Ben said. "It's like a nervous tic."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Even if a younger version of Peter showed up," Valentine said, because, yes, she thought about it all the time, "I wouldn't give him more than a week on this island."

[momslilassassin]

"Before he took it over or before someone buried him in the Preserve?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"The latter," Valentine said, with probably far too much satisfaction in her grin. And she was holding back.

She was giving the squirrels extra rum next week, just 'cause, really.

[momslilassassin]

"Ender's not the only ruthless one in the family, then," he commented quietly.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine glanced over at Ben for a moment.

There were a lot of things that she could say to that. Part of her wanted to tell Ben to never, ever compare the two of them like that again. Part of her didn't know what she could say, what might inadvertently throw her hand into whatever battle of ego he and her brother were currently pursuing.

But she couldn't just leave it, either.

"Ender never wanted to hurt anyone, Ben," she said quietly, watching him, because if he didn't understand the difference...

[momslilassassin]

"I know," he said softly, eyes filled with the empathy he normally locked away so carefully. He blamed her being a Wiggin for getting this far. "But he couldn't allow himself to lose, either. And that doesn't leave you with a lot of good choices."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"No," Valentine agreed. "It doesn't. And you're right. He couldn't allow himself to lose, Ben. It wasn't an option."