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

[momslilassassin]

Ben reached for the former cookbook. "What happened to this anyway?" he asked.

[glacial_queen]

"Ender touched it," Karla said. "He's having a Fandom day."

Or it had been changed and she hadn't noticed. One was as likely as the other, today. Not that Karla knew that.

[momslilassassin]

Ben flipped idly through the pages, eyes going wide. "This is quite a book."

[glacial_queen]

"You could read it aloud while I stir?" Karla suggested impishly. "It looks like fun, if your expression is anything to go by."

[momslilassassin]

Ben blushed to his ears. "Maybe not this particular part?"

[glacial_queen]

"Of course not," Karla said. "You should start from the beginning."

But totally keep reading once he got back there. That part was implied.

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not sure you'd like it," Ben said. "It seems to be set at some kind of all-boys summer camp."

[glacial_queen]

"Why wouldn't I like it?" Karla asked, trying to keep her expression innocent as she added more paprika. She'd meant to grab cinnamon, but hadn't been paying attention. "Summer camp sounds like fun."

[momslilassassin]

"There's a weird obsession with showering?" Ben tried.

[glacial_queen]

"There's nothing wrong with cleanliness," Karla reminded. Totally not smirking when Ben wasn't looking.

[momslilassassin]

He blushed. "I didn't notice a lot about soap as I skimmed."

And good luck trying to get him to turn this book back over.

[glacial_queen]

"Whatever do you mean?" Karla asked, all over confusion.

Go on, Ben. Explain it to her.

[momslilassassin]

You are a terrible person, Karla. Just so you know.

More blushing.

"There was kissing."

[glacial_queen]

"What's wrong with kissing?" Karla asked. It was a good thing she needed to focus on mixing this dough. It made for an excellent reason why she wasn't looking at Ben. There would be no biting back the laughter then.

[momslilassassin]

"Nothing's wrong with kissing," Ben said. "It's just not normally something I associate with showers."

Or other guys.

[glacial_queen]

Or so he liked to tell himself.

"You don't?" Karla asked, looking up and giving him a wink. "You need to use your imagination more, boyo."

[momslilassassin]

Ben, in a shocking change of pace, blushed.

"Maybe the book will give me hints."

[glacial_queen]

Ooooh man. Somehow, Karla knew Ender was going to blame that on her. Unfairly.

"You should start reading it," she said, because she might as well be dipped for a sheep as a lamb. "I'll help explain any unfamiliar concepts as you go."

[momslilassassin]

Ben coughed and flipped to the beginning of the book "'Forest shoved his unruly sandy hair out of his eyes for the thousandth time and joined the dozens of laughing and shoving boys as they climbed onto the bus,'" he read. "What kind of name is Forest, anyway?" he asked, conveniently forgetting that some version of him somewhere had named a child King.

[glacial_queen]

"A lot of Earth names are dumb," Karla pointed out, unaware of a future child named Rook. "You know, we're never going to get anywhere with you stopping to provide color commentary every line or two."

Because that surely hadn't been Ben's plan! At all!

[momslilassassin]

"It's still early in the book," Ben said. "Maybe Forest isn't even our protagonist."

He let out another sigh, then read steadily through a chapter describing the camp and then each boy in Forest's cabin.

"Slate seems kind of interesting," he offered.

And not because he was quiet and had dark hair, okay.

[glacial_queen]

Suuuuure it wasn't.

"What's-his-name, Skye? Do you think he's going to be a jerk through to the end? Or will he have some amazing epiphany about the power of friendship and turn out to be okay?" Karla asked, scooping the dough out onto the cookie sheet.

'Dough' though the consistency was more like batter.

[momslilassassin]

"Probably the second thing, but not until they have to team up and fish him out of the river or something," Ben declared. "That way everyone's wet."

[glacial_queen]

"And then they get stuck outside somewhere and have to huddle up for body-heat," Karla said with a knowing grin.

It was like they had read the book already!

[momslilassassin]

He grinned back. "Because despite being at camp, no one knows how to build a fire."