fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Monday

Ender had always preferred to teach his classes outside whenever possible. When it became obvious the morning would be a little chilly but not rainy, he posted a note on his designated classroom's door pointing all the students towards the dorm lawn.

He sat down on the grass out there, legs folded. By his side was a bag full of sandwiches, just in case any student had missed breakfast. And there he waited, quiet and patient, until everyone had arrived.

"You'll notice I didn't bring any books," he said, once they had. "Because despite what the title of this class might imply, I'm not actually here to tell you about Hegel or Kant and what they were thinking. They might come up, but if they do, it's because they have had interesting ideas that might be useful to us."

He stretched his legs out. "My name is Andrew Wiggin, though some people call me Ender," he said, "And I don't bring books here because I don't think they have all that many answers. I don't spite them for that, because I don't exactly have a lot of answers of my own. What I have are questions, which are far more useful in the long run. You can keep asking questions as the situation changes - answers tend to be the same thing no matter when you check up on them."

He smiled wryly.

"This class is about questions," he said. "And it's about opening a dialogue with those questions. Everyone here has sat through something in their life that they have questions about - though whether they want to admit that is another thing entirely. We're here to talk about those questions as they come up. No more, no less."

He tilted his chin up - maybe at Cade, maybe at nothing in particular. "Of course, that means I expect all of you to participate," he said. "You don't have to share about yourself if you absolutely don't want to, though I'll have you know that it helps. But I expect you to talk along. If you don't, I'm not going to apologize for the kinds of questions I'll ask. While we're at it, I also won't tolerate shaming anyone in this class for any reason."

Having said that, though, Ender's mouth quirked up. "Enough with the threats," he said. "I don't believe in classic introductions - I think I know what most of your names are, and I'll learn the ones that I don't, and what year you're in is of absolutely no concern to me."

"Let's open a dialogue instead," he finished. "For some of you, this is all new. How is it working for you? Are you elated? Annoyed? Don't want to be here? Achingly happy to be here? And for those of you who aren't - how has the past year treated you? Has there been anything that made you cry or made you think or made you wonder?"

"We can talk about that. Or we can talk about something else. I'm open to talking about anything, as long as you think it's worth questioning. Because you can assume from here on in that I really don't know a thing; but maybe by educating me, you can find something worth educating yourself about."

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"I don't want to be here."

Thank you, Cade. Very helpful.

"In class?" Yeul wondered. "Or on the island?"

"Class," Cade said. "It's early. I don't like early."

"Ah. It could be worse," Yeul said philosophically. "We could be out here in the rain as well."

Which... wouldn't bother her but would, she guessed, not be his idea of a good time.

"Why couldn't we sit in a nice, dry classroom then? Or the coffee shop?" Cade wondered.

"The coffee shop might be too far away for us to walk to and from and still have time for a class discussion," Yeul said, thinking that over. "And perhaps Professor Wiggin does not like being indoors."

"I'm okay with missing out on class discussion if it means I get coffee," Cade decided.

"I will bring you coffee next week," Yeul said, gently teasing. "What will you dislike then?"

"I'll come up with something," Cade promised. "It'll still be karking early."

She laughed softly. "I will look forward to it."

If you thought the sullen routine was going to get Ender to lay off you, Cade, you really didn't know your family tree all that well.

"And why is that?" Ender asked.

"You know why," Cade said, since stubbornness was strong with him.

"Do I?" Ender returned evenly. "Even if I do, the class doesn't, though your dodging the question might tell them a few things you don't actually want them to know."

"Because I don't like to talk about stuff," Cade retorted. "It doesn't fix anything."

"Maybe not," Ender said mildly. "Of course, so far, you've told us all that you and I have a connection, that you have issues with that connection, and that you feel like there's something that needs to be fixed. So I think you're doing quite well at the talking thing."

"Maybe I'll stop, then," Cade muttered.

"Or maybe you should cut the kuso and recognize that I'm not your enemy, and I'm certainly not you-know-who," Ender replied, looking him straight in the eye. "What exactly are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," Cade replied heatedly, big liar that he was.

Re: Talk.

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Once Ender seemed to be done talking to Cade, Bay slid over to sit near him. "You okay?" she asked, quietly as she could manage. "That looked intense."

Edited 2013-05-13 15:25 (UTC)

Cade nodded. "It's fine. He's just a pain."

"He definitely likes asking lots of questions," Bay agreed, glancing at Ender out of the corner of her eye. "So this is our Monday morning 'hear everybody's life story' class. Fun."

"No offense or anything, but I don't think I care that much about most of these people to know their stories," Cade said.

"I don't even know most of them," Bay said. "But I'll do my part and manage not to barf feelings all over you right now."

She wouldn't have been offended except for how he said 'no offense,' which made her wonder if she should have been.

"Appreciated," Cade said. "Not a big fan of any kind of barfing."

"it would be really weird if you were," Bay told him.