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."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Well, I totally knew that," Tony admitted. "No sane person would be willing to code all night."

[endsthegame]

"Or weld things," Ender added. "Face it, Stark, you're as crazy as anyone else at this school."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You mean the suit isn't the sanest thing?" Tony asked, gasping with fake shock.

[endsthegame]

Ender paused for effect.

"No," he said, solemnly. "No, the suit is pretty hopping nuts."

[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.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony sighed. "I guess I should find someone to talk to about all these emotions I have. Is there even a counselor on the island?"

[endsthegame]

"I think we used to have one, but they ran off," Ender volunteered. "I never met the man."

Avoided him, really, but hush.

[endsthegame]

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

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"That somehow does not surprise me, considering everyone here."

[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.

[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.

[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."

[endsthegame]

"That's just what I heard from the grapevine," Ender was... not that quick to add. "I don't know whether he ran screaming, or just left."

[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've met the guy in the red pajamas. I'm pretty sure it was the former."

[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.

[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."

[endsthegame]

Ender snorted softly. "I can't picture Deadpool submitting to a psych exam," he said.