Second Floor Common Room, Sunday Morning

[endsthegame]

Ever since the broadcast on Monday showcasing Daala's brutal violent response to slave uprisings, Ender had been busy: busy writing emails, busy coordinating with his people in Ben's universe, busy privately worrying about where all of this would lead - with or without him.

But eventually he'd run out of things to do, as impossible as it had seemed at the start of the week. Somehow, that message hadn't quite reached his brain, for he still felt jittery and concerned; keeping a lid on it around Ben had just made it worse.

So in an effort to calm down, he decided to hit up the common room for breakfast today. Got two packages of microwavable pancakes out of the fridge and opened them up, using his deft microwaving skills to produce a stack - mostly in hopes of luring in someone to talk to.

Unlike certain people of his acquaintance, he didn't actually care much about the taste of his breakfast.

[[ open! ]]

Comments

[life_inshadow]

"Morning, Ender," Tara said, and wandered over to a cupboard to rifle through for tea. "Having a good weekend so far?"

[OOC: May need to flee for weekend family shtuffs at some point, woe.]

[endsthegame]

"It's by far and away less insane than last week's, so I can't complain," Ender said, putting a plate with a stack of pancakes down on the table. "How about you?"

[[ woe! but sp = love, as always. :) ]]

[life_inshadow]

"Good," Tara decided. "Definitely much better than being a model again."

It was like the island thought that was funny, or something.

"Do I want to know how bad last weekend was for you?"

[endsthegame]

"Not all that terrible, and I think the worst skipped me," Ender supplied. "But listening to Peter complain about it for a full solid hour is punishment enough."

[life_inshadow]

"Ew," Tara decided, succinctly. "Is he convinced it's your fault somehow? My brother would be."

She finally unearthed the kind of tea she wanted and started assembling a mug for the microwave.

[endsthegame]

"Peter thinks that everything he hasn't thought of himself is everyone else's fault, let's leave it at that," Ender said, and sliced off a piece of pancake for himself. "You were a model?"

[life_inshadow]

"Again. I got hit with it that weekend last fall, too," Tara reminded him, then went thoughtful. "Um, actually? It was ... kind of fun to be that bitchy and shallow. In a never-want-to-do-it-again-really sort of way."

[endsthegame]

Ender chuckled. "A way to get all of your repressed frustrations out?" he said.

[life_inshadow]

"Way more therapeutic than being six or a boy again, yeah," Tara smiled.

And now she was going to have to wonder if she was done with those particular annoyances for good.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

As it turned out, today the fifth floor common room was sadly lacking in tea selection, which brought Wesley down several floors in search of more options.

"Good morning, Ender," he said, making his way over to the cabinet. "How have you been?"

[endsthegame]

"I'm sure some therapists would argue that going back to your childhood's better therapy in the long run," Ender said, "But I think I'd rather be vapid for a day, too."

Mind, his childhood was more than averagely traumatic. Also he was terribly unfond of therapists.

[endsthegame]

Worried. Busy. "Decent," Ender said, producing a friendly smile for Wesley's benefit. "It's been nice and quiet, barring some cleaning mishaps. How about you?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Passably well," Wesley answered, selecting some tea and moving to fill up a kettle. "Last weekend was, ah, certainly odd, but all in all things have been quiet."

[endsthegame]

"So I've heard. Over and over and over again," Ender said dryly. He reached for his own cup of tea and took a sip. "But I don't have the heart to complain about a weekend of harmless nonsense followed by absolutely no crisis at all."

[life_inshadow]

Tara scrunched her nose at that. "Maybe," she allowed. "It's just -- I didn't really like being a kid the first time. You feel kind of powerless."

[endsthegame]

Ender produced a slight smile.

"And here commercials and feel-good TV try to convince us that the typical childhood's a time of innocence," he said. "Powerless is a better word."

Not that he had any clue past said feel-good TV as to what a typical childhood was even like.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"No, nor I," Wesley agreed. "I'd certainly take... whatever that was over any of the island's more creative catastrophes."

[endsthegame]

"Creative - now that's a nice word for it," Ender said, paused, then added: "Can I interest you in a pancake?"

He wasn't going to be able to eat all of them, and it felt like a cheat to throw them all at the bottomless pit living in 204.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Oh, yes, thank you," Wesley said, offering in return, "Would you like some tea?"

[endsthegame]

"Already have some," Ender said, lifting his mug, "But if you don't remove the kettle, I'll be happy to grab a refill soon."

He set his cup back down.

"Recuperated entirely from last semester's crisis?"

[life_inshadow]

"Maybe the powerlessness goes with the innocence, kind of?" Tara decided. "... or maybe I'm just projecting, 'cause I wasn't that happy as a kid. It seems to m-make most people happy."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Just about," Wesley said with a slight smile. "It always surprises me how quickly people here seem able to move past these sorts of things -- but then, I suppose that's rather the case at home as well."

The kettle whistled, and he went to pour himself some tea, adding, "And yourself?"

[endsthegame]

"Fine," Ender said. "My boyfriend and I decided to take a long vacation afterwards, and that seems to have worked its magic."

He tilted his head at Wes. "Your world...?"

[endsthegame]

"No, I think I like being an adult a little better, myself," Ender said, the corner of his mouth quirking up more. "What was it like for you, growing up? If you don't mind me asking?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"Fixed itself quickly enough," Wesley supplied. "I was back a few weeks ago to deal with some issues, and nothing seemed terribly out of the ordinary."