fandomhigh | Library, Thursday [4/7]

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Library, Thursday [4/7]

Cassidy hadn't been feeling well most of the week, so she had stayed in her room. However, she seemed to be feeling a little better today, and that's why she was early for her shift.

She straighted up everything she was supposed to take care of -- and made sure that all of the books were behaving themselves. Once she was satisfied with that, she selected a book on self-defense, one on languages and one on mythologies of the world and returned to the desk.

The library was going through one of it's more peaceful moments, it seemed.

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"The Romance languages are always kind to the ears," he said, with a little smile. "There's a reason why French tends to be associated with fits of romanticism."

"Fits of romanticism?" She asked with a grin. "That makes it sound like something a healer would be required for."

Ender snorted softly. "Romance does share a few markers with your common garden variety mental disease."

She laughed softly. "Like what?"

Cassidy didn't have a lot of ~~any~~ experience with romance.

"Victims of love are frequently delusional," he said, "Their behaviour is erratic, and their judgement so far past questionable they should be locked up for their own safety. And many of them would thank you for it, once properly recovered."

There was a lot of amused irony in his voice. And a hint of self-deprecation, if you knew where to look for it.

"You make being in love sound horrible, my friend," Cassidy said thoughtfully. "So, if I were to ever fall in love and exhibit such behavior contrary to who I am, can I count on you to lock me up for my own good until it passes and I am myself once more?"

She was grinning cheerfully at him.

"I have a feeling that if I tried, you'd break out and waste an hour lecturing me about joining the fussing hordes," Ender said, with a wry smile. "Besides, it's a brand of delusional that no one manages to avoid forever, so you might as well learn how to cope."

She giggled. "I can't see honestly lecturing you about anything, but it's nice that you think so." She tilted her head again in thought. "Although, when the island was doing weird things and making people kiss strangers or even more, Shira and Karla locked me in my room to make sure that nothing would happen." She wrinkled her nose. "That's the problem with being the lighter Jewel of your friends. But if what I saw before they did that was any indication of the kind of things romance and love makes you do or say, maybe I should try to avoid it at all costs."

"I think the island's fits of whimsy are a sad reflection of any real thing," Ender replied. "You'll know it when it happens, and stumble all over yourself a couple of times. But it's a necessary trigger to spur us all to couple up and stick together while our babies grow up, so it really can't be helped."

Romantic, Ender.

"It's still a little strange that the island has such broad reaching fits of whimsy," Cassidy's eyes were thoughtful. "I would hope that there is more to love and romance than just sticking together while the children grow up. My parents certainly seem to love each other very much, beyond the fact that they have two children."

"There's the initial rush, for a start," Ender agreed, "Though a lot of that is more passion and hormones, which is a subtly different beast."

"According to some of the books I've read, romance, passion, and love are three completely different things. Where does hormones fit in to the equation?"

"The inner chimp," Ender said, solemnly, "Which likes to jump up and down and convince you to pick fleas out of other beings' pelts. Except slightly lower."

Cassidy just stared at him for a long moment and then blurted out the first thing that came to the forefront. "Fleas?!" Her voice was horrified.

Ender blinked once, then realised the confusion. "It's just a figure of speech," he said, "Please excuse me my ridiculous metaphors."

Cassidy nodded slowly. "You don't think too much of romance, do you?"

"Actually, I think a great deal of it, especially as a social coagulant," Ender said, with a wan smile. "It's just not for me. Don't mind me ruminating pointlessly, either."

She gave him a smile. "There is never anything pointless to discussion of a topic," she disagreed. "I've read some of the books from this world that are called romance novels, but they don't seem to be very romantic at all. They seem to be more of an excuse to avoid the concerns facing a Virgin Night and bed each other in some very strange places. Not to mention putting the female in all sorts of predicaments that require the male she's bedding to have to rescue her."

"Well, women in this world don't have to worry about their Virgin Night the way the Blood do," Ender said, happy to steer the topic away from him. "But I agree - they're very high drama, at best, and smut at worst."

"All they do is have sex! I mean, one of them had sex across a stool. How did they not break the woman's back, I ask you?" Cassidy said. "There's no plot and no point. If you go by those books, I think your idea of fleas make much more sense."

Dear god, don't anyone introduce her to "romance" movies.

"Thus bringing us back around to the difference between romance and love, and passion," Ender said, wryly. "And pretty shallow passion, too."

"I don't think that love and passion should be so shallow," she mused.

He smiled a little. "That's a good thing to know about yourself," he said, "Especially on this island. Avoid the television at all costs."

"I don't think I've ever watched anything one of those but once. Apparently it was something called The Bachelor and Z told me that it didn't count as television."

"Oh, it counts as television," Ender said, "Just really, really bad television."

Any other week, he might have added 'the kind Ben would watch'.

"It's not all horrible, because nothing is, but it is about ninety percent schlock."

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