The Pool, Saturday Morning

[endsthegame]

There were no objects Ender felt more than the most superficial care for, which meant that this weekend's bout of strangeness had, so far, passed him by entirely. Instead he'd made his way down to the pool for his usual exercise, towel in hand and ready to give in to some mindless physical pursuits.

He slid slowly into the water with a sigh, embracing the near lack of gravity for a few split seconds of utter nostalgia. Then, he pushed off from the wall and cut through the water, one long motion after the other. He was thinking about space again, and distances; it was obvious that this term wouldn't allow him much in terms of mental exercise on the topic, but he was used to making his own fun by now.

[[ open pool, open post! ]]

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[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

The strangeness had been passing over Valentine, too, in a way, except perhaps in the form of the unconscious need to seek out exactly what it was she loved more than anything else, which took her on a predictable journey, and down to the pool was one of the first stops on the list. She padded over to the edge, kicking off her shoes so that her ankles could rest in the water as she just sat there watching Ender.

[endsthegame]

Ender knew she was there; he didn't let it interrupt his lap, and he didn't suspect her of expecting him to. Instead, he made it to her at the lap's natural end, by the edge of the pool where her feet were.

"Come to get your feet wet?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"No," Valentine said, "I came to keep the rest of me dry. Enjoying your swim?"

[endsthegame]

"It's good for me," he said, leaning his arms on the edge. "As is Phys Ed."

He shot her an amused little glance.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"It would figure you'd be in that class with me," Valentine said, shaking her head. "You couldn't have wound up in something I'm good at, like writing?"

[endsthegame]

"I'm not much of a writer." Barring the obvious, of course. "I thought I'd leave that to the sibling who knows how to rouse the hearts and minds."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"I wish I could leave the phsy ed to the sibling who can run an obstacle course," Valentine said. "Looks like you're not the only one the IF wants to get masochistic shits and giggles out of anymore."

[endsthegame]

"I can deal with the IF," Ender said, paddling a little to stay in place. Even when they handed him crazy courses that were clearly meant just to occupy his time - but then everything about Fandom was.

He'd have to hand it to them, though; by the time he made it back into the known universe, he'd be old enough to be taken seriously.

"Consider it a form of highly redundant lottery."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Hardly," Valentine said. "They let me pick my other courses. This one is quite clearly tacked on because someone thinks it's funny. Interestingly, though, Graff might resemble Dukes in a few years time at the rate he's going."

[endsthegame]

"He went through a thin patch," Ender felt the need to point out, flicking some water at her. "He might turn into a stick just to spite you."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"I'll believe it when I see it," Valentine said, kicking a little splash back in retort. "And what do you think about Deep Space?"

[endsthegame]

"I think someone is trying to live out his pride, hopes and dreams," Ender said, soberly, ignoring the water she'd splashed even as it barely missed his eyes. "I fail to see anything educational about it."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Your assessment," Valentine said, "almost makes me want to try to convince you to spend most of the class in bubbling excitement over colonization, just to annoy. It would pass the time."

[endsthegame]

"He won't be hard to confuse," Ender returned. "I think I'll be packing on some extra coursework to make it through."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Maybe therein lies the real reason for me getting that second job," Valentine mused.

[endsthegame]

"I did hear you went for something a little less orthodox," he returned. "I'm sure Freud would have something to say about it."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Oh, well, you know Freud," Valentine shrugged. He'd always have something to say about a Wiggin, to be sure. "I just fear for what might happen when February rolls around if my boss is as delighted about my name then as she is now."

[endsthegame]

"At least you've weathered the hormones," Ender said, with a slight hint of idle distaste in his voice for the concept. "I doubt Val's Day can be any worse."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine couldn't help her small grin. "It's my day," she said. "It can't be worse, I won't let it."

[endsthegame]

"So that's Space Survival and Phys Ed down," he mused, glancing at the ceiling. "What else keeps you from mischief, dear sister mine?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Creative writing, which I'm the TA for without even having to show off my extensive resume of experience, and Destiny & Free Will with Miss Atreides." There was a slight lift of her eyebrow to express to him how interesting she thought that particular class was. It was definitely one to satisfy her need to eavesdrop into other people's philosophies so far.

"And you've got Flight and Flying, right?"

[endsthegame]

"Destiny and Free Will is a nice, long massage for the mind," Ender allowed, although he didn't trust Lady Ghanima very much.

Again, it was nothing personal. He didn't really trust anyone.

"With Anakin Skywalker," he replied, "Ben's erstwhile grandfather."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"With the nice hair," Valentine noted. "Do you miss flying? Or is it just an unfightable draw toward Skywalkers? Or none of the above?"

[endsthegame]

"I think learning the mechanics of outer space travel is rather relevant to our future," Ender said, shooting her a wry look, "Don't you think...?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"For pilots," Valentine said, "yes."

[endsthegame]

"Then it must be my undying lust for the Skywalker family," Ender said, not missing a beat.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"You can't hide these things from me, Ender," Valentine informed him. "I'm very astute."

[endsthegame]

"If you're done establishing how my baser chimp impulses lie at the root of my class choices..."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Really, Ender could stand to let some of his baser chimp impulses take over for a chance, but Valentine just smiled at him, kicked a little more water his way, and promised, "I'm done."

[endsthegame]

He flicked a little water back at her. "Ghanima's an interesting teacher," he noted, "I saw you talking to her about the worms."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

That turned Valentine's smile a little slight. "I couldn't ride one of them," she admitted. "They made me nervous."

[endsthegame]

"There wasn't really any need to, Val," Ender pointed out. "I think all the other students gathered was 'they're vast and they move'."

His own assessment might have been different, had he gone. He'd been content to watch.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"While all I could think of was all the different ways they would likely turn around and kill us," she said quietly. "And all the reasons why I wouldn't blame them. Call me paranoid."

[endsthegame]

"They wouldn't," Ender said, simply, and glanced at her. "If you're that size-- if you're that old-- would you really waste the effort on an ant in the sand behind you?"

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"I would," Valentine said. "If the ants kept biting. If the ants were poisoning the sand. I might."

[endsthegame]

"You know something about the worms I don't," Ender said, simply.

It didn't sound like a question.

"The terraforming."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine's feet dragged circles in the pool.

"Water's deadly," she said.

[endsthegame]

"Ben and I were wondering about the water."

That had made Ender right; he wasn't really the kind to lord it over Ben's head.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine just shook her head a little. "Humans can't live without it; the worms can't live with it. It won't work."

And she couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that her personal experience told her that the humans would win, but that meant that the worms would lose, and she couldn't help feeling infinite sadness for that. It was like Miss Atreides had told her: the worms don't bother them, don't even think of them. And yet the humans were going to destroy them anyway.

[endsthegame]

"You'd think that with any planet in the universe at our disposal, we'd learn."

Ender's own tone was mostly stripped of emotion, underscored with a light edge of mostly-repressed bitterness. "At least, if you were in the habit of self-delusion."

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Valentine held her sigh, instead just looking at Ender for a moment.

"I think most people just call it hope," she said after a while.

[endsthegame]

"It's in our nature to kill, right?" Ender didn't seem bothered. At all, really. "Otherwise, how else would we survive..."

He pushed off.

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

And Valentine didn't say anything, she just watched Ender's form cutting through the water. What could she say? She agreed entirely.