Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[endsthegame]

It was late morning, nearing noon, and Ender had finished his morning exercises a while ago. He'd sat down to work in his room afterwards, but this sense of-- moroseness he had been trying to avoid wouldn't leave him alone, making him restless and a little irritable. Jane's commentary about that hadn't really helped either.

Which was why right now he was curled up on the couch in the common room, with Animal Planet playing some documentary about Brazilian tree-frogs in the background. He'd taken the datapad Ben had given him for his birthday with him, and he was poking idly through stats for alien races he'd never heard of before.

He was still a little restless, but at least he was less irritable. The calm, he could fake.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Why are you up this early," Tony whined asked, rubbing his eyes. "Better yet, why am I up this early?"

[endsthegame]

"Because Ben and I are good influences on the teenage psyche?" Ender wagered, glancing up from his datapad.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony just made a face. "Does that mean you're going to come running with me and not be human or something?"

[endsthegame]

"I'm completely baseline human," Ender said, putting his datapad aside. "I take it Ben's dragged you out on one of his morning runs..."

Which Ender had no trouble keeping up with him during, but let's not be mean and mention that to Tony.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"We went for one together during that weird mushroom invasion," Tony replied. "I like going on my own usually."

A beat.

"Because no one here is sane about exercise."

[endsthegame]

"It's Fandom," Ender noted. "Most of us have some kind of athletic background." A beat. "And alas, I'm hopelessly crazy, too."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Morning, Tony," Sov said. "How are you?"

They hadn't seen him in a while.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Up way, way too early," Tony whined said whined. Because he was a wimp and needed to get to bed rather than work on things at odd hours of the night.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov didn't bother to hide a grin. Whining usually got that response at home. "Why?" they asked.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I supposed to be running around the island every morning for 'stamina building'," Tony replied. "I'm pretty sure this is just Mr. Rogers trying to make me quit training."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Trying to make you quit training?" Sov asked. "It sounds more like you've started."

Not that Sov really saw the point of running around the island themselves.

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

Sov had been heading out for a walk, but stopped on the second floor when they noticed there were people there.

"Hi," they called out.

[endsthegame]

Ender glanced up from his datapad again. "Hi," he echoed. "Morning."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

"Morning," Sov repeated, then took a few steps forward. "What are you watching?"

That could refer to the datapad or the TV and was mostly a way to start a conversation.

[endsthegame]

But since 'watching' was a word so congruous with observing what was on TV, that's where Ender's attention went. He hadn't actually been keeping track of the documentary, so it took him a few seconds before he answered, "Documentary about rare tree-frogs, it looks like. Sorry, I haven't been paying attention."

[child-of-rer.livejournal.com]

For all Sov knew, the datapad could be another kind of TV. They leaned against the armrest on the couch, now looking at the screen. "Frogs in trees?"

Yes, that did sound interesting in a weird way, but they weren't sure Ender really wanted company.

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"Frogs?" Ramona greeted him blearily, eyeing the screen as she wandered in and made a beeline for the kitchen. Coffee. And cereal. And then she might be sort of human. "Learning? This early?"

It wasn't that early. She was just a late riser.

[endsthegame]

"It's never too early to pour teachings into your empty brain," Ender said, cheerfully. "Especially when it's about hopping."

... Somewhere at least two people accused him of being a dork full of bullshit at the same time.

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"My brain isn't empty," she assured him, setting to work making herself some coffee. "My brain is full of sleep, still. It's like a sponge -- I won't absorb anything until I've gotten that part taken care of."

[endsthegame]

"It's two hours before noon, or thereabouts," Ender said, amicably. "I'm sure your brain will manage its start-up procedure pretty quickly."

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"You're either very into schadenfreude, or not used to teenagers," Ramona replied, eyeing him over the coffee filters. "I lean towards the former, entirely because there's a frog documentary on the television, and it's ten in the morning on a Saturday. That's almost sadism."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Ramona." Tony was slightly more conscious now. Slightly.

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"You look as sleepy as me. I feel more normal," she decided.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I know," Tony said, glancing around. "I'm pretty sure people here aren't human."

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"Robots, maybe?" Ramona asked, eyebrow arching. "You're the scientist. You tell me."