The Roof, Friday Morning

[endsthegame]

It had happened as it had happened the last time: overnight, while Ender was still awake, bundled up in blankets on the roof with his laptop in front of him, working. His position shifted slightly, his center of gravity dropped, his arms grew shorter and his waist grew thinner.

He was a girl again. A slightly more matured girl - for women did reach puberty quicker than men - than he'd been the last time this had happened, but still fundamentally a girl.

His mouth twisted into a slight grimace because of the coming discomfort of his body, but it felt altogether natural anyway. He kept on working. This was hardly going to distract him, although it might shift his point of view slightly.

That was welcome, too.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

Karla was up early for a change. If anyone asked if she was checking to make sure the sun was coming up as it should, she'd deny such an assertion vehemently.

...Which was probably why it was good that the likelihood of such a question coming up were nil.

She absently nodded to the other female on the roof, mentally filing her under 'people I haven't met yet.' Until she got close enough to catch wind of her psychic scent.

"Ender?!"

Wait--no, it felt like Ender, but not entirely.

"Ender?" This was a it more tentative.

Though that change could be easily explained by 'omg--female!'

"Seriously?!"

[endsthegame]

That was enough to startle just about anyone.

Ender looked up. "Karla," he said, with just a hint of surprise.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was...boggled. Flummoxed. Shocked. Surprised. Bloody well confused.

"You can't be a female. You just can't!" Karla was stubbornly clinging to the idea that she was insane. That wads actually more comforting. "I'm not seeing this. Nope. No way. I CAN HANDLE SUNS THAT DON'T RISE FOR THE BLOOD BUT THIS IS JUST BEYOND THE PALE!!!"

Karla wasn't adjusting well.

[endsthegame]

No, that much was evident.

"Karla," Ender repeated, more sure now that he was certain it was her, "Sit down."

That was command voice, right there.

[glacial_queen]

Karla didn't sit so much as 'dropped in a heap that conveniently landed bottom first.' Having someone tell her what to do was nice since it freed up her mind to focus completely on utterly denying what she was seeing. "No, no, no, no, no," she informed him. As if explaining rationally that this was not possible would change things back. "No."

[endsthegame]

This was shock. Considering the way gender lined up in her world, Ender supposed he shouldn't really be surprised. "Karla," he said, because repeating her name seemed like a decent way to anchor her, at least. "It's a Fandom thing. It'll be back to normal by this time tomorrow, if it's anything like last time."

[glacial_queen]

"You cannot be a girl," she explained. "That's not how this works. Males are males and females are females. That's how it works. Are you suddenly going to be a Queen now? Or a Healer? Just because you're a female? No!"

That argument wouldn't have made sense even if Ender were Blood. Now it was just a kind of gibberish.

On the other hand, it was coherently spoken gibberish. Some credit was deserved here.

[endsthegame]

And credit was given.

"I am a girl," he said, slowly, but not because he thought she was slow. "For the day. Not a Healer, not a Queen, just the same psychological imperative with a different physiological shell."

[glacial_queen]

"But you can't!" Karla wailed. "It just...isn't right!"

She possibly would have tried to explain what 'it' was and why it wasn't right, but she burst into tears instead.

Karla had been through an awful lot lately and apparently gender-swapping was just enough to push her over the edge.

[momslilassassin]

Ben tromped up a few minutes later, a distinctly unlady-like sound, regardless of the current packaging. "Hi, Karla," he said ruefully.

[glacial_queen]

"Not you too!" Karla wailed.

Which might be Ben's first indication that Karla was not going to handle this well.

[momslilassassin]

Uh-oh. Unhappy girl.

Ben was very, very bad at handling unhappy girls.

"I'm sorry!" he babbled. "It's not my fault."

Excellent, Ben. Quote Uncle Han.

[glacial_queen]

"When I find out whose fault it is, I'm going to kick them. With my boots. My knife-boots." Karla declared. "I hate this."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not exactly thrilled either," Ben said dryly. "I'm short, and none of my clothes fit."

[glacial_queen]

"I like your hair," Karla allowed. "I could brush it for you. And--Mother Night!" She'd just noticed Ben's figure. "How come you get better tits than I do?!" she demanded. Yes, it was relevant. Shut up. "How come you get nice ones and I'm stuck with bee stings?!"

Ender got tears. Ben gets anger. It sorta all works out.

[momslilassassin]

"I don't know!" Ben replied. "It's not like I ordered these!"

[glacial_queen]

"I hate everything," Karla sulked. "My entire world has turned upside down and I don't even get nice tits."

[momslilassassin]

"This is not okay," Ben griped, stomping up onto the roof and yanking at one of the long braids he'd managed to wrangle his--her?--hair into.

[endsthegame]

Ender looked up. "It'll pass," he said. "Hi."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm short," Ben said, sitting down next to him. "And...top heavy or something."

[endsthegame]

"And you are...?" he prompted.

Not that he had a shortlist of people who spent their time on the roof.

[momslilassassin]

Ben glared at him. "If you can't figure it out, you're not half as smart as you pretend."

[endsthegame]

"You know, you could be insulting a complete stranger right now," Ender said, conversationally.

[momslilassassin]

"You're still the same on the inside, kreetle," Ben said, rolling his eyes. "Even if you're all...pretty now."

[endsthegame]

"I endeavour to make myself look nice for you," Ender replied, dryly.