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]

"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."

[momslilassassin]

"I'm not interested in being sucked," Ben replied obliviously, fiddling with a droid part. "I've just noticed it normally takes a little more than whimsy to knock you off stride."

[endsthegame]

Sometimes, Ender really wondered if Ben was at all aware of what came out of his mouth sometimes.

He'd ignore it, though. "There's been a lot of whimsy," he said, "And I'm kind of emotionally attached to my books."

Let's hope that wasn't just asking to have someone bring his bookcase to life this summer.

[momslilassassin]

"I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow," Ben assured him. "You haven't lost your research."

[endsthegame]

"And thank God for that, or I really would have had to do something drastic," Ender said, dryly. He fiddled with the part, not really in the right mindset to do something concrete with it yet.

[momslilassassin]

Ben shot him a worried look. "You're sure there's nothing else I can do to help?"

[endsthegame]

You could stop crowding me, Ender thought, then waved that thought away. It wasn't constructive, and Ben would pick up on it if he kept it too long. "Ben, I'm not bleeding from anything, and nothing really traumatic has happened to me recently," he said. "Seriously."

[momslilassassin]

Which was kind of why Ben was freaking out. He was used to at least having a vague idea why Ender was off-kilter, even if it wasn't going to be something they would talk about.

"Okay," he said, trying to not look as uneasy. He glanced back at the television. "Would it be better to just turn that off?"

[endsthegame]

"What, you don't want to watch two unconvincing twenty-somethings fawn all over each other with two-bit dialogue?" Ender asked, reaching for the remote.

[momslilassassin]

"Not even a little bit," Ben admitted. "But at least they aren't singing."

[endsthegame]

"Your wish is my command," Ender snarked, turning the thing off. "I was starting to go a little crazy myself."

[momslilassassin]

"I'd noticed," Ben replied with a little smile, "but you started out a little crazy to begin with."

[endsthegame]

"That's me," Ender agreed, "Haven't got a lick of sanity left in me."

[momslilassassin]

"And you don't even have good looks to fall back on," Ben said, shaking his head sadly.