Second Floor Common Room, Tuesday Afternoon

[endsthegame]

To say that Ender was Not Amused when he came home from classes to find all of Karla's books (as well as his copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, his books by Nietzsche and Kant and other philosophers, and any number of biology texts) reduced to romantic drivel would be a severe understatement. His laptop was not a credible alternative because he was still trying to come up with a good way to deal with Jane, and so the only option left to Ender was to head into the common room, and at least hope there were some good documentaries on.

"Oh, you have to be kidding me," he said, when the 111th channel also turned out to be playing... something by Jane Austen? No, even that was too much to hope.

This was not his week.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[endsthegame]

"I don't know, and I don't want to know," Ender told him, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Every channel shows the same kind of thing."

[momslilassassin]

"Normally it's game shows," Ben said, frowning.

[endsthegame]

"Now, it's bad romance movies," Ender said, flatly, "Much like what's happened to my entire bookcase."

Notice the common garden variety Ender in his very rare state of 'annoyed to the brink of sanity'.

[momslilassassin]

"I noticed that," Ben said sympathetically, for once choosing discretion instead of hair ruffling. "At least the flowers are gone?"

[endsthegame]

"I could live with the flowers," Ender muttered, "At least they weren't depriving me of something to do."

Maybe he should go into Fixer-Uppers and just ask whoever was on duty if they needed any help...

[momslilassassin]

Ben flopped down next to him. "Want to borrow some droid parts?"

[endsthegame]

"As long as they don't turn into sugar candies or something equally inane," Ender muttered, burrowing his face in his hands, "I'll take it."

[momslilassassin]

Ben chewed on his lower lip, then reached out to ruffle Ender's hair. "This just isn't your week, huh?" he asked sympathetically.

[endsthegame]

"Not particularly," Ender admitted to his hands. Which he pulled away. "I'll survive."

Through really, really staunch determination.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, I didn't think you wouldn't," Ben said with a little smile. "It's only a fake holiday."

Ben was rather spectacularly missing the point.

[endsthegame]

And thank god for Ben's missing-the-point skills, or Ender would really have to play against type and have a breakdown today. Luckily, so far, nothing had actually pushed him that close. "I'm just hoping this really doesn't get worse from here."

[momslilassassin]

Ben could pick up the very real distress, even if he couldn't figure out exactly why Ender was so upset.

He shifted a little closer, trying to be comforting.

Asking how it could get worse wouldn't help, he decided.

"Well if it does, there's no problem in just hiding in the room for a little bit," he said.

There!

[endsthegame]

"Thanks," Ender said.

Very, very dryly.

Between this random idiocy, Jane, Karla, and Ben being terribly terribly earnest, he was about ready to go find Shunsui and tell him he'd decided to become a Jainaist ascetic.

"I'll be fine," he added, a beat later.

[momslilassassin]

"But you aren't fine now," Ben said, frowning. "How can I help?"

[endsthegame]

"Can you undo whatever it is that happened to my books?" Ender asked.

It was mostly a rhetorical question.

[momslilassassin]

"I don't think so," Ben said with a little sigh. "It turned my research book into some sort of overwrought...thing."

[endsthegame]

"Then the best thing you can do is sit here and talk to me about anything but what's going on," Ender said. A beat. "And possibly figure out a way to wrestle these cookies away from Karla."

[momslilassassin]

"Before or after they turn sentient and attack?" he asked, grinning.

[endsthegame]

"I really don't think anything sentient can continue to exist in the wake of Karla's cooking."

Yeah, okay, someone was feeling a little dramatic today.

[momslilassassin]

Ben smirked at him. "You're in quite a mood."

[endsthegame]

"Fandom whimsy is usually a lot easier to ignore," Ender said, feeling a little rueful all of a sudden. "Or at least be distracted from."

Or maybe he just had a lot on his mind, but he wasn't about to talk about that.

[momslilassassin]

"I'll be right back," Ben said with a quick smile.

He returned to the common room a few moments later with a multitool and a collection of droid parts.

"Distraction," he explained, looking pleased with himself.

[endsthegame]

Of course he did. Ender would have snorted to himself, but... yeah. He was actually kind of grateful. "Let it never be said you don't have a one-track mind," he said, "But thanks, anyway."

[momslilassassin]

"A one-track mind would be telling you to make a droid that would store ice cream," Ben said, nudging his shoulder into Ender's. "And I'm happy to help. It's weird seeing you spun up like this."

[endsthegame]

"I'm not 'spun up'," Ender said, reaching for the droid parts. "Just very annoyed. Be careful Karla doesn't suck you into her whirlwind."