Kohala Coast, Hawaii - Morning & Afternoon - Friday - February 25th

[ft_directory]

With only two days of vacation left, time was running out for the guests to enjoy the blue skies and warm ocean breeze of Hawaii. Luckily, there were still plenty of things to do at the resort, for anyone who wasn't worn out from all the fun yet!

[ Guest Quarters | Resort Activities | The Spa Without Walls | Beach Activites | Tidepool Education | OOC ]

Comments

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

Ah, so that's where they were going. He should have guessed.

"Well, as Ben likes to say, Fandom rarely provides us with any that are actually possible," Ender said, "So I think for the moment you can probably breathe easy."

Why yes, he was missing the point entirely on purpose.

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

Karla would utterly unsurprised to discover that Ender had a better idea where she was going with their conversation than she did. Sometimes it felt like their conversations were like chess games and he was always thinking five moves ahead.

"If I had any indication that was actually going to be my life--mother to seven children, I mean--I'd be stowing myself away on your ship as you head off to Eros," she replied.

A thought occurred to her and she was asking it before she even consciously decided to. "Do you want kids?" she asked. "Not, 'do you think having kids would be a good idea?' or 'can you ever see yourself having them?' because I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that, but...I dunno, deep down where your instincts are, do you want them?"

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

He was genetically programmed, then reinforced, on the matter of thinking five steps ahead in any conversation. He didn't even realise he was doing it anymore, most of the time.

He also very much wanted to say no, but that would be a lie, he realised. "I have no idea," Ender said, truthfully. "I'm a creature of responsibilities. But that has very little to do with anything. I'm not letting some Fandom phantom dictate what I will or won't do with my life."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly something I was worried about with you," Karla snarked. "But they have made me think, at least. Before, there was always this kind of...absent expectation that I wouldn't have children. For lots of reasons, but none of them had anything to do with whether or not I wanted them. Now seeing futures where I do...it makes me wonder. Not whether I won't or I will, but what I actually want."

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"So do you know what you want?" Ender asked. He... mostly just didn't want to think about it. Not yet. Not in these circumstances; that's why he'd said what he'd said about phantoms.

Fandom whimsy.

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"Not seven," Karla said fervently. "And not really, no. I want a future where I feel loved and comfortable enough to have children, but that doesn't mean that I actually want them. And making the decision based on how adorable they were or how attached I got to them over the weekend is a poor way to make a choice of that magnitude."

Making a face, she added, "Though I suppose a good way to tell whether I've made a decision is just seeing how I react to the idea of nine months without Craft. If I'm still recoiling in horror from the idea, the answer's probably still no."

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"I'm sure the time will come," Ender said, "By which I mean 'when you figure it out', or 'when you decide to', depending on what happens at the time. Either way, I think those children could do a lot worse than you as a mother, if you opt for it."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

Karla shrugged a bit, flashing him a small smile that faded soon after. "I worry some about being able to be a good mother and a good Queen," she said idly. You know, because she didn't have any reason to give a sentence like that any kind of emotional weight. Really. "But, either way, that day is a long time from now. I'm still trying to figure out who I am to be responsible for anyone else."

Which was also kind of ironic, when you thought about it.

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"If the time is right, you'll figure it out," Ender said. This topic was... a lot less complicated when he could make like Ben and shut off any consideration about his own situation.

He'd either think about it later, or find a reason to feel offended by it. He wasn't actually Ben. "I did find you a few books. If you want to read, and maybe talk to me about it." Deflect, deflect.

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"I would, please," Karla said, nodding. "I haven't decided to rest on my laurels in the wake of what happened in Rinoa's world or anything. And it's always fun to argue with books."

Which Karla did. Often out loud. Sometimes just with scribbles in the margin with helpful comments like 'Pompous jerk' and 'remove your head from your ass first.' Don't worry, Ender. She wouldn't write in yours.

"Speaking off, have you been reading the books I gave you? Any of them strike your particular interest?"

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"I'll get you a few once we get home," Ender promised, "Just as long as you remember about me occasionally so I can actually pretend like I have any wisdom to impart."

That was mostly a joke.

"I've found everything I've read interesting so far," he added, "Which I know sounds like a cop-out, but it's true. I actually set out to talk to Cassidy the other week to colour in some of the edges from another perspective."

And because the Hive Queen wouldn't stop calling him, but...

... But. Actually, he was starting to think there was something he might have to ask of Karla.

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

Ask her, Ender. Aaaaaaaaaaask her...

"You did?" Karla asked, pleased to hear that. "I bet she appreciated that. Anything in particular? I wonder just how much our answers would have differed. So much is the same, and yet...She's a Queen with a whole world of experience I don't have."

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"Just her experiences back in her own Territory," Ender said, easily. "It was an interesting conversation. I'm planning to follow up on it."

He really should ask her.

"But I have another, mostly unrelated thing, to ask of you," he said, "You're more than welcome to say no, of course. It's about the Hive Queen."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"I should talk to her, too, about that," Karla said. "What it's like to grow up a light Jeweled Queen in a non-aristo setting. She's the first friend I have that that applies to, actually," she said, sounding a little embarrassed about it.

Though that was an interesting commentary about the Queens Jaenelle had surrounded herself with. Karla would have given that more thought, but Ender's next comment blew all such thoughts out of the metaphorical water.

"The Hive Queen?" she repeated, blinking at Ender in surprised. "What about her?"

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"Fandom isn't safe," Ender said, bluntly. "Something could happen to me here at any time and I'd be powerless to stop it or avoid it. And I can't risk that meaning the end of her, so I was hoping-- if anything ever happens to me-- that you'd be willing to go into Special Collections and find her for me."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

Karla gaped at him for a moment. Not because of the request--exactly--but more that he would ask her.

Granted, she was probably the only other person who knew about the Hive Queen, but still...

"Of--of course!" she stammered. "Find her and take her home with me. And, if I could, find her a place for her and her people." If something--if the worst--happened to Ender, that would be the most fitting memorial she could think of for him, finding a new place where the species he'd devoted his entire life to could thrive.

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"It's fine if you can't," he said, staring down into the pool full of baby animals. He was seriously starting to believe Jane's accusations about his demeanour were true. "If there's no place for her, tell Valentine. She'll know what to do."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"I'll still look," Karla said stubbornly. "If nothing else, Hell has lots of empty islands. It's no Hawaii, but they'd have room to expand and live."

An island far away from the Hell-hounds, thanks.

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"I don't doubt for a moment that you would," Ender said, with a brief smile. "Thanks."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"Anytime," Karla said, smiling back. "It's not like you haven't helped me enough times."

Damn you, Ender, and your ability to make helping you out seem like a favor to others.

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

He was insidious. There were at least nine boys and a girl back in his world alone who could tell you that much.

"Anyway, I'm not planning to kick the bucket any time soon," he said, "so hopefully this will all remain theoretical, and we'll all merrily continue on."

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

"Don't you ruin my vacation by dying on me," Karla warned, because it was all about her, clearly. "It's a rule, dammit."

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

"Cross my heart," Ender promised, even making the requisite motion. "No dying."

No matter Ben's occasionally over-worried fears about him being a suicide risk.

Re: Tidepool Education

[glacial_queen]

Karla wasn't particularly concerned about Ender and suicide, actually. For all that he was broken, he never got around to giving up. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"Glad to hear it," Karla said with all due mock-solemnity. "That might put me off my pina coladas and that would just be unforgivable."

Re: Tidepool Education

[endsthegame]

Weren't they going to be surprised when Ganges rolled around...

"Have you discovered any fruity cocktails I haven't tried yet?" Ender asked.