The Garden, Thursday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

After a class, Karla went back to her room and changed into Morton's old cast-offs. Between the heavy content of today's discussion, the rapidly fading memories of the previous weekend, and the radio's reports that 'Dite was leaving--which would explain her message asking Karla to meet her at the store later--she had a lot to brood over think about. And now that the ground was thawed enough, Karla decided to skip the roof in favor of spending some quality time in the gardens. She could be useful and thoughtful at the same time with the guarantee that she'd feel better when she was done.

Ten minutes later, she was muddy, with dirt under her fingernails and over her face and already feeling a little better about everything.

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[endsthegame]

After his habitual visit to Cassidy, Ender had made his way outside with a book of Spanish lessons under his arm. He came to a pause when he saw who was out there, brief fleeting memories dancing around his mind before he firmly stomped them down.

"Ho, Karla." Operation: attempt to repress like Ben, in full swing.

[glacial_queen]

"Ender!" Karla glanced up at him, her smile there, if a little uncertain. Her memories were fuzzy and fading, but she definitely remembered yelling and being yelled at by Ender.

Guess which of those two was the more surprising. Just guess.

"Kiss kiss," she added, if a little belatedly. "Want to come get mucky with me. You look like you could use some quality garden time."

[endsthegame]

"I was going to head down to the park and read my book," Ender said, "Maybe get some color on me. But I can do at least one of those out here, too, if you're serious about the offer."

Ender had been less surprised by his own anger, if simply because he knew it was there - he just tended to avoid voicing it.

[glacial_queen]

"You just like showing off your ability to tan," Karla sniffed. "In light of Ben and my complete failure to say the same. But, yeah, of course I meant it. I doubt you got much of a chance to play around in the dirt in Battle School."

[endsthegame]

"Not a lot of dirt up there," Ender agreed, "Or we'd all have gone swarming around it."

He sank to his knees next to her. "So you'll have to tell me what we're doing," he said, putting the book aside, on a less dirty patch.

[glacial_queen]

"Mostly turning over soil, pruning, and making sure nothing untoward has taken root," Karla explained. "The earth is thawed now, so we want to make sure that it's looser around the perennials and that it's ready for new things to be planted by the annuals. This also gives us a chance to get rid of any big rocks or slugs or harmful bugs that might have moved into the soil for the winter, down low where they could survive by eating the plant roots."

She grinned at Ender a little more. "Ready to get dirty?"

[endsthegame]

"More than happy to," Ender said, with a smile. He pressed his hands to the soil. "Just don't spill anything on my book; the library would frown on that."

[glacial_queen]

Karla mock-pouted at him. "Ender, you wound me." Sapphire light sparked in the air for a moment as she tossed a hasty shield over the book. "If I ask what you're reading about now, will it require another relativity lesson for me to understand?"

[endsthegame]

"Not at all," Ender said, shooting her a little amused smile. "It's Spanish. Ben and I gave it a crack out of boredom on the way to Eros, and I guess the language appeals to me."

[momslilassassin]

Ben was returning from town with Tahiri's birthday gifts when he saw Karla.

"Hey," he said with a tiny smile. Everything was fine. Totally fine. Really.

[glacial_queen]

Yep. 100% trufax no-fail fine.

"Kiss kiss," she said, still puttering around in the garden. "Whatcha got there? Getting ready for my birthday early?"

Bantering proved everything was copacetic, right?

[momslilassassin]

"Close, but no," Ben said "It's Tahiri's birthday today."

[glacial_queen]

"That's an excellent way to get me off the track," Karla nodded. "This way I'll be extra surprised come my birthday. Good plan."

[momslilassassin]

"And I can't be sure you'll remember that I got you presents early," Ben teased.

[glacial_queen]

"So you'll just have to get me more!" Karla said cheerfully. "You can give me those when we go out for ice cream."

Because the ice cream they'd gotten over the weekend didn't count. For...reasons. Yes, lots of them

[momslilassassin]

"Do I still owe you that?" Ben asked.

[glacial_queen]

"Well, I vaguely remember a trip over the weekend," Karla said quietly. "But...I barely remember it. Do you?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

*riiing* Dinah wondered what her ringtone was these days. Hoped it was something more optimistic than her week had been.

[glacial_queen]

Right now it was just a regular ring, because while Kitty-Karla had been batting it around and chewing on it, she'd also managed to reset most of Karla's settings. See? This was what happened when the boyos let her get into the 'nip.

"Dinah!" Her kitty self hadn't managed to erase her contacts, thank the Darkness for small favors. "Hi! Are you back in Gotham?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Irresponsible Court. Pfftt.

"Yup. Just waiting for Jump Club to get started." Off the water tower into air mattresses. She had a while to wait for her turn, though. A lot of people had shown up for this one. "How're you doing?"

La la laaa. Nothin' to see here.

[glacial_queen]

"I'm...uh, you know. Doing." Karla sounded a bit subdued. "Everything's kinda...hazy. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Sorry about that."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Whew. Someone else who might not know what she'd been up to? That was... good. Right?

"Don't be. I kind of blasted out of here on Monday morning, when I'd meant to have coffee with people," Dinah said, then frowned, concerned. "I remember things pretty well, though. You don't?"

[glacial_queen]

"Not a lot," Karla admitted. "Very little of what I did this past weekend and almost nothing about what was from her...past? My future? If that was me? I don't even remember now anymore. I spent a lot of the weekend yelling at people, though, I remember. How about you?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"You were being a good friend," Dinah told her. She sighed. "And I remember everything I did and said, even though I don't remember stuff I *knew* very well any more. I used to have the whole cast of Priestly's restaurant TV show memorized, and now that's a blur."

[glacial_queen]

"I vaguely remember a much less colorful Priestly," Karla said. "Didn't he not make sandwiches anymore or something? Ugh, it's frustrating how little I remember!"