Second Floor Common Room, Friday Morning

[endsthegame]

It had been a thankfully calm and uneventful week for once. Ender knew better than to hope that would continue, though he wasn't so bound by superstition that he feared acknowledging it aloud. However, not exactly being the type to talk to himself, he didn't anyway-- instead he was doing so by moving into the common room without his laptop this time.

He was going to check out if the History Channel was showing something interesting instead.

Yes. Exciting.

He had a bowl full of cereal and a glass of milk, and he was going to spend this morning doing the closest thing to relaxing he ever did. Well. Second-closest. He'd already gone through his morning exercise schedule.

...

Nerd.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss quirked a small smile, and added, "Yeah, after a certain point, tenacity and stubbornness and an unwillingness to learn from mistakes all sort of blend together, don't they? If at first you don't succeed, it's probably for a reason. And -- well, most of the actual country is still there." Most of it. "It's just called Panem now. Has been for close to a hundred years. And the states are gone."

[life_inshadow]

"Panem," Tara repeated. "... what happened to the states? I'm just from here, pretty much. West coast and a universe over, but, um, that's about everybody."

Realizing something, she added. "Oh! I'm from the same world as Wesley. More or less."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Like how Kennedy is?" she asked interestedly, cocking her head. "So you have the vampires and demons and all of that, as well?" And the West Coast, too. That was interesting. "As far as Panem goes, the states were dissolved and became thirteen districts. I'm from Twelve, which as far as I can tell on modern maps is somewhere near Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The region called Appalachia."

[life_inshadow]

"Exactly like Kennedy, with the vampires with bumpy foreheads and demons and everything," Tara confirmed. "You know her? She's my girlfriend."

Which Katniss may well have known, in the same high school grapevine kind of way that let Tara know Katniss and Wesley were dating, but it was still fun to say.

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

Katniss did vaguely know that, and the idea made her smile, for a number of reasons. "She's very good with a crossbow," she offered. "We've talked weapons a few times. I'm an archer, myself."

[life_inshadow]

"She's awesome," Tara offered, gushing only the tiniest bit. "She's worked with them pretty much her whole life ... probably like you."

Since she figured somebody had to be good to call herself an archer.

"She's shown me a little, but nowhere near what she can do."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"Hers are different," Katniss admitted, "since I just use a regular bow and arrow, but it's impressive all the same. I don't like guns, so anyone who says they can shoot without going near bullets earns all kinds of respect from me."

[life_inshadow]

"Guns kind of freak me out," Tara admitted. "It's just ... they feel so final, you know? You never hear about anybody accidentally shooting someone with a bow and arrow."

[thegirl-onfire.livejournal.com]

"They move too fast," Katniss agreed. "I don't trust most machines, to be honest. A gun can be jammed, or hurt someone through a complication or poor aim. Bows and arrows rely entirely on the archer to function. Plus guns are messier. A bullet'll tear up whatever you're trying to shoot."