fh_trips | Endor [Monday, December 29]

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field trip 2008: endor

Endor [Monday, December 29]

Luke, a tall golden droid, and the Ewok chief Chirpa, were waiting for the volunteers when the portal finally deposited everyone on Endor. "Welcome," Luke said, giving them all a smile, "and thank you in advance for your help."

He gestured to the Ewok. "This is Chief Chirpa, the leader of Bright Tree Village, where we'll be staying for the next few days." Chirpa bowed to them, then spoke a few words. The droid shuffled forward to translate. "Chief Chirpa welcomes you to Endor," he said, words coming out pinched and precise, "and requests that you make yourself at home. If there is anything he or his warriors can do while you are assisting their neighbors, please let him know."

There was a brief conversation between Threepio and the Chief. "Or tell me and I will convey it," Threepio said. "I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations, and will be serving as translator for you during your stay here. Do watch out for the bugs, and the large drops, and the variety of creatures found in the forest..."

Luke shook his head at him and Threepio stopped speaking. "He worries a little too much," he explained with an easy smile. "If you'll follow me, you can drop off your stuff in the visitors' quarters and we can get started building some huts."

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No, it didn't. "No, I don't want to be," she answered softly. Penelope couldn't lie.

"Okay then," Ino said. "Can you help me move this?"

This being a busted up board that was just slightly too long for her to move it on her own without massive awkwardness.

"When are you done school?" she wondered. "This semester coming?"

"Sure," she said and moved to grab and lift the other end of the board.

"No, I have another year after that, but I am getting married the end of this next semester. I will finish my senior year at him. At least this is the plan that my mother has determined for me."

"Do you have any plans of your own?" she asked, honestly curious as she made sure to handle most of the weight of the board. "Let's bring this over, this way a bit."

Penelope stepped the way Ino indicated, helping as much as she could. Physical work was new to her, but she was not unwilling, thus the reason for her being here.

"Oh, yes. I do, indeed. I want to be a horticulturist. I have several terrariums in my room. I love the study of plants and flowers."

Huh.

"Then what're you going to do about that?" Ino asked. "There's no point in studying if you're not going to do anything with it."

"I suppose... maybe once I'm married..." her words fell away. She had no idea how that would work out for her.

"Why're you so concerned 'bout what hasn't happened yet?" she inquired, setting down her end of the board with a thump. "If you want to do something, then do something about it now."

Penelope let go of her end and blinked at Ino. "But I am. I study in my spare time and take care of my plants. There is not much more I can do other than that. I'm very limited, you understand."

She scoffed. "There's loads of things you could be doing. People're only limited by themselves. If you think you can't do something, then you can't. If you want to be a horticulturist, then get out of your room. Books can't tell you everything. Taking care of only your plants means you'll just keep at that level. Plant something outside and see what the weather does to it, get a job at the flower store and learn how the temperatures needed to keep them fresh when cut are different from potted plants. Learn what they mean, and what they can do for people."

...Ino had strong opinions on plants, yes.

[Dear LJ, please keep working.]

Penelope smiled slowly. "I'm a creature of habit, I suppose. But I am slowly learning to change that. You must understand, Ino, it's not all that easy for me, to show my face in public. I've gotten much better since coming Fandom, but it's still something I am trying to overcome. I was never allowed out of my own home. My whole life."

[Omg, please.]

That's sick, she thought, but had enough tact (barely) not to say that out loud.

"Then study outside, even if you're not around people. There's a whole island of things to look at, and if you're not used to being outside you're going to have to get used to it."

Ino was rather blunt, wasn't she? Penelope wasn't used to being around someone like her... or wait, yes she was. Her mother was rather blunt, wasn't she?

Ducking her head, she nodded somewhat, and replied quietly, "Yes, yes, you are right."

Ino preferred the term 'opinionated' but blunt suited her just fine too.

She sighed, and put her hands on her hips. "You know," Ino said, "I think you could be pretty awesome. But no one is awesome at all if they don't try. I hate people like that, the ones that don't try, and I don't want to hate you."

Penelope tilted her head, looked at Ino. "I am trying, but I don't feel like I should have to explain that. People who know me, see it. There is much about me you do not know, Ino. Please don't presume that I could be awesome and am not already." No, Penelope didn't think she was awesome, but she had awesome friends so she figured she had to be a tiny bit awesome for people to like her.

"Maybe some people think you are," she said, with a confident little shrug. "But I don't think anyone with such half-hearted answers is. And that, Penelope, is my opinion."

"After all," she said, "you don't know me either."

"My half-hearted answers are just that, because I am so unsure of myself. I am not a strong person, but I am learning." She paused. "You're right, I don't know you," she said gently, "but I would never press my opinion upon you unless you asked." She would simply believe everything Ino said, or anyone for that matter. Penelope was a very naive and trusting person.

"Hey," she said, glancing over her shoulder at the area around them. "You say you're kept inside 'cause of your looks all the time? Want to hear a story?"

Her eyes flashed. "You might be interested in it."

Edited 2008-12-30 03:05 (UTC)

She wondered at that look in her eyes but found herself nodding. "Yes."

"Once upon a time," Ino said, "there were two little girls. One was bright, popular, and top of her class in looks, style, and grades. The other was painfully shy, lacking the power to believe she was worth anything, and had an overly large forehead. This little girl tried to hide it with her bangs, but people teased her mercilessly, and she spent all her time crying, so much so that she looked like a ghost--and that only got her more teasing. And more tears."

She tucked a bit of hair behind one ear, and glanced over. "One day, the little girl with the huge forehead was crying in the park, all by herself, and the popular girl came over and asked 'why are you crying?'. The popular girl listened to the other girl's story and, in the end said, 'come here tomorrow, and I'll give you something to fix it all'."

"You following so far?"

She was listening intently, so nodded at Ino. Yes, she was following. And there was that tug on her heart for that little girl with the big forehead. How could there not be?

"The next day, both girls were at the park again. The popular one, after making sure the shy girl's eyes were shut, tied up that hair and bangs the shy girl had grown to hide her forehead with a red ribbon--leaving the forehead bare to the world. The shy girl protested 'everyone will make fun of me even more!' and the popular girl just leaned over, poked her in the forehead, and said 'they only make fun because they know it bothers you. You've got a pretty face, so show it off to the world--confidently, confidently!'"

"Now, of course, the popular girl knew that the ribbon wasn't the cure-all she'd said it was, but it was the starting point, and as long as the other girl believed in it, then it was alright. The popular girl introduced the shy girl to all her friends saying 'this is my new friend, so you've got to get along with her'. In class, when the shy girl faltered, the popular girl was there to say something that would help. And in this manner, a year or so passed. The shy girl was still shy, but every day she wore the ribbon. And every day the popular girl did her best to encourage the shy girl to be more confident in herself."

"Then, one day, there was a break through. The shy girl had found the courage to confess to the popular girl, and a few of their other friends, who the boy she liked was." Ino shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Only... the boy the shy girl liked was the same one that the popular girl had liked for months. At that time the popular girl chose not to mention that she liked the same boy."

Penelope was very much held attentive by Ino's story. Picturing in her mind's eye both girls, and the lovely red ribbon. Friends. Something Penelope grew up without.

"Keep going," she encouraged. She wanted to know what happened to the girl. And the boy, and the popular girl.

"That night," Ino said, after a moment to gather her thoughts, "the popular girl went home straight away and curled up in her father's lap, and just thought for hours without moving. She knew that, if she said anything, the shy girl would let her win the boy."

"And that night, the popular girl made her decision--she valued her friend's progress more than the boy. So as the days went by, she started gently shoving the shy girl in the boy's direction, all the while keeping silent about her own feelings for the boy."

"All secrets, though, come out eventually. And the shy girl, when she found out that the popular girl liked the same boy... in a way the popular girl had been more successful in building the shy girl's confidence than she'd thought, the shy girl, rather than conceding the boy to the popular girl..." Ino tugged at her hair. "The shy girl ended their friendship, and gave back the ribbon, saying that they were rivals now. Right there, in front of her friend, the popular girl reacted and said 'sure, we're rivals, and I'll win' but that night, the popular girl was the one that cried herself to sleep. She didn't understand how a boy was more important to the shy girl than their friendship."

"The popular girl spent the weekend thinking, not bothering to go and hang out with her other friends, and claiming that her parents needed her help out in the store as her excuse for brushing them off. By the time Monday had come around the popular girl had decided what she was going to do. If the boy was so important to the shy girl, so important that she could break with the one who'd helped her, and encouraged her for years... then fine. The popular girl decided that, if her friend, her best friend needed an enemy to fight against, rather than a friend who'd hold her hand, that she, the popular one, would be that enemy. The next morning, instead of just greeting the boy with a smile and her usual wave, the popular girl hugged him. It was her declaration of war--and the greatest lie of her life."

"The shy girl didn't know that the popular girl still considered her to be her best friend, and the fight over the boy began in earnest. Two years of school it went on for, the boy not interested in either of them, and the popular girl liking the boy less and less as she realized he wasn't the type to ever care about either of them. But the shy girl, every time, rose to the challenge of 'who would win the boy' and for that the popular girl wouldn't quit the game."

"Graduation came," she said, "and the shy girl was put on a team with the guy she liked, while the popular girl was put on a team with two guys she'd known since they'd been crawling. The popular girl shouted, and stormed, but in reality didn't mind her team at all. The shy girl crowed triumphantly and then, as they saw each other less often without school to bring them together, the popular girl had to make sure that every encounter meant more. That every shove was harder and rougher. All in the name of making her friend stronger."

Ino took a deep breath, and shook her head.

By this point, Penelope couldn't look at Ino, and hid her face with a curtain of long dark hair. Such a sad story. Heartbreaking. How could friends ever be like that to one another?

"And their friendship was lost forever?" she asked quietly.

She couldn't ever become like that. So prideful... Is that how she came across to Ino?

Oh. How terrible.

Endor [Monday, December 29]

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