fandomhigh | Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

The girl standing before the assembled group did not precisely appear prepared to talk. In fact, she looked a shade terrified of public speaking. Tyrion was certain she hadn't gotten that from him.

At her father's insistent nod, Joanna finally began to speak.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Joanna, Lord Tyrion's daughter. He's having me run class today because ..." She didn't really understand the because, and she trailed off there to look to her father.

"Because public speaking is an essential life skill," Tyrion supplied. "No one will take you seriously if the cat steals your tongue when you're nervous." That last bit was aimed at all of them, not just his daughter.

"Right," Joanna said. "That. So you're all, guests included, supposed to stand up for three minutes and say something about your child or your parent. If you have neither, spend your three minutes talking about..."

She looked to Tyrion again, and he shrugged. "How lucky you feel?" he tried. "If you feel lucky at all. Anyhow, it is a class presentation day, as the lady said. I'm sure you're all ingenuous enough to come up with something to say." He glanced back to Joanna to finish. "Do you want to wrap this up?"

Joanna nodded. "Take a few minutes to prepare, then begin with" -- she stabbed a finger into the group -- "you."

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"That is very reassuring only not," Ben told her. "Hi."

"Hi Uncle Ben," Kayla said, dimpling at him. She was very much like her mother, even if she'd never admit to it. "You can probably guess who I am, can't you?"

"You're Karla's," he said, smiling. "That part's obvious."

"Was it the Jewel?"

Kayla carefully unfolded a wing from her back and fluttered it at him. An eight-foot wing could do some damage if she didn't pay attention. "Bet you can guess my dad, too."

"Lucivar," Ben teased.

And now there was squealing and flapping at Ben. "Ew! Eeeeeww ew ew ewww!"

"We are in class!" Karla hissed at the two of them. "Be quiet!"

Kayla pointed at Ben. "He started it! He said Uncle Lucivar is my dad."

And now Ben had another blonde witch swatting at him and 'Ewing.'

NOT THAT THEY WERE ANYTHING ALIKE, OMG.

"Stopitstopitstopit!" Ben replied, covering his head with his arms.

"You stop it!" Karla growled. "That's just an awful thing to say."

But she did stop whacking him. But kept glaring.

"I'm sorry," Ben said with utmost insincerity.

"You are the worst," she informed him. In case he was at all unclear about that.

"That's not true, Mother," Kayla replied. She'd seemed to have gotten over her offense at Ben and was aligning with him to cause her mother trauma. "I thought Peter Wiggin was the worst. At least, that was the impression you gave when you met the son you had together."

"Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," Ben replied.

Maturely.

And now there was more flaily hitting. The circle of violence, Ben. The circle of violence.

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

"Please tell me you named this child Bean," Ben said between snickers. "Because in this screwed up world, up must be down and right left."

"I wish," Karla groaned. "That would have at least shown a bit of self-awareness for how crazy this is. We named him Aindric."

The origins of which were probably obvious.

"Has Ender met him?" Ben asked.

Karla shook her head. "Not unless he met him through Peter." She ducked her head, looking chagrined. "I might not have reacted well," she admitted. "When I found out who sired him."

"And the understatement of the year award goes to..."

"How bad was it?" Ben asked. "Shrieking, door slamming?"

Karla groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Some of that, yeah."

She was the worst parent ever. Well, besides Peter, obviously.

"He didn't expect quite that kind of reaction. I guess we...get along..in his reality." More than just long enough" to reproduce, apparently.

Ben skipped the obvious questions of "how?" and "really?!"

"Drug problem?" he offered instead.

"His or mine?" Karla snarked, then shrugged. "I'm left with that or complete mental break as my only options, I think."

"What was the kid like?" Ben asked, kind of weirdly fascinated by the idea. "Has he taken over the universe yet?"

"A sassier version of Wiggin?" Karla said with a shrug. "I didn't really get a chance to know him. He was dark-haired and smart; soft-spoken but with a snarky streak." Beat. "And he had a Jewel, of course."

Peter Wiggin's offspring. With Craft.

Re: General Class Stuff [4/02]

momslilassassin - 2012-04-09 00:38 (UTC) - Expand

glacial_queen - 2012-04-13 23:34 (UTC) - Expand