Kellerman's Resort, Tuesday Morning and Afternoon, October 13th

[endsthegame]

The weather at Kellerman's continued to be favourable, as the autumn sun shone down on the fields and streams of the area. The staff of the resort were busy but happy to help, bustling through the corridors and courtyard.

The boards outside were advertising a white water rafting trip today, for anyone willing to go out and risk the rapids; for the less adventurous, a trip to see the Cascade Falls might just do the trick.

[[ Cottage and Room List | Rooms | Activities Barn | Indoor Activities | Outdoor Activities | White Water Rafting | Cascade Falls | OOC | OCD up! ]]

Comments

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"Ender, hey," Tahiri replied, turning to look at him with a fairly easy smile; it was more relaxing out here, away from the inorganic creations that put part of her so much on edge. "Enjoying the trip so far?"

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"It's a nice break from the strains of a one-day job and two classes a week," he said, lightly, answering her smile with something equal. "You?"

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

She laughed. It was a little uncertain, but still a laugh. "Yeah, I really needed something less strenuous than only a five-day weekend for once."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"Now you've got all seven," Ender said, himself the picture of easy companionship: that was and wasn't something he had to work at. "But barring five-day weekends, how have you been? It's been a while."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"I haven't talked to you since the new kids showed up," Tahiri agreed. "It's been . . . interesting since then. The interesting part comes and goes, but when it shows up, boy, does it ever."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"As per usual," Ender said, with a touch of a smile, "I find that tends to go for people from your universe. Any particular kind of interesting?" A pause. "If you don't mind me asking."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"I don't mind," Tahiri assured him. "Ever gotten completely thrown for a loop, just when you thought you had something all figured out?"

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"Yeah." Ender's smile might have had something whimsical-and-bitter about it, but he wasn't divulging. "Once or twice."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

And she wasn't going to push, at least not now. This was supposed to be a vacation. "That kind of interesting. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one yet."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"Either way, it's probably opening up a door to more surprises," Ender said, shrugging one shoulder lightly. "I'll cross my fingers on the 'good' count."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"Thanks. So am I," she admitted. "We'll see how that goes, I guess. Although I could live without the surprise part."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"Unfortunately, I think the 'surprise part' is something we're all stuck with," Ender admitted. "I didn't expect Val to leave as soon as she did."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that," Tahiri offered tentatively.

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

He shrugged lightly. "She would've left anyway," he said, finally, "Eventually. On that level, most of our changes are pretty predictable."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

She gave him a toned-down version of the mildly skeptical look Ben often got from her. Mostly because she couldn't convince herself it was possible, she asked, "Is it really as easy to resign yourself to people leaving as you make it sound?"

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

One day, Ender would shrug his shoulders and tell someone, I lived with pain my whole life, I wouldn't know who I am without it, but while the idea was on the tip of his tongue, the words weren't, especially not to someone who was still close to a stranger.

"It's not resignation," he said, instead, "It's the reality of it. And it's temporary; Val will probably be waiting for me."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"Fair enough," she conceded, shoving down a quick flash of envy at it's temporary, and annoyance at the envy in the first place. "At least you've still got that to . . . look forward to?" That didn't seem like the right phrase somehow; she wasn't sure.

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

Ender shrugged once, affably. "It'll last until she gets bored of me," he said, "As all siblings inevitably must."

Though, to be fair, most siblings wouldn't take you along on a three thousand year journey until you finally gave up.

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"I'll have to take your word for that," Tahiri said with a crooked smile. "Even though you should probably give her more credit than that."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"She is very tenacious," he said, "But I think some things trumph siblings."

The answer to 'how do you accept people leaving' was simple; don't expect them to stay in the first place.

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

Well, if someone'd told her that a few years ago . . .

She probably wouldn't have believed it anyway; of course, a few years ago, before watching the growing divide between Anakin and Jacen in their stupid neverending debate over the Force, she'd have argued that point.

"I suppose. I wouldn't know, myself, not personally." This was awkward and unfamiliar territory that might drag her in an unwanted direction, so Tahiri veered sharply away with a non-segued, "So how does this place measure up to where you're from?"

She actually didn't know where that was, now that she thought about it.

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"It's Earth," Ender said, with a light shrug. "Beyond a few centuries' worth of technological advancement, and a few wars, it hasn't changed much." Beyond the fact that this Earth offered him some anonymity.

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"You are a master of overstatement, aren't you?" she asked good-humoredly. "I could almost live someplace like this."

Re: Cascade Falls

[endsthegame]

"It's nice," he agreed. "Calming, I guess."

Re: Cascade Falls

[weetuskenraider]

"I wish it was a little more calming," she muttered under her breath, then added more conversationally, "Quieter, too, especially away from the resort."