fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Monday

The sky was overcast, but the temperatures weren't terribly low and the threat of rain not so high that Ender opted to stay indoors. Instead they were out on the dorm lawn again, a bag of sandwiches sitting in what would soon be the center of a circle of students.

Before he started talking in general, he glanced towards Yeul and said, "I'd like to see you after class, please."

Then his attention shifted. "Last week, we experienced some interesting events," Ender said, only a little dry humor obvious from his tone of voice. "The peppers were a nuisance, that's for sure. I hope all of you made it through unharmed and unsinged." They usually did at Fandom-- he didn't think he spotted any major injuries.

"Now, the phones are a semi-annual problem. I've experienced that one several times since I came here. I always don't realize what is going on until I've already made a few calls of my own - and I'm always left wondering what prompted me to respond in the first place," he said. "What is it that makes us want to say something back when someone says something to us? Why can't we just let obviously confused, crazy people be?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it's because our lives are built and supported by our ability to communicate, so when someone communicates oddly at us, we're alarmed," he said. "Maybe we've just all got tempers. Maybe we're just trying to turn a freak occasion into some amusement for ourselves. Or maybe it's just human nature for the entire tribe to start shouting when one member does."

He stretched his legs out. "How was your week?" he asked.

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"You can't compare yourself to those people on the rooftops, Sholeh," Ender said, leaning forward. "You might be them some day. In fact, I consider it likely. But they didn't wake up one morning knowing what to do. They had to learn one step at a time, same as the rest of us."

"...You think it likely?" Now Sholeh was all over confusion. Zeela, sure. She could understand if Mr. Wiggin had thought that she would end up on the roof with a bow, killing nasty things, but Sholeh? What was there about Sholeh that suggested she would ever be that...

That...

That badass.

"Why?"

"Because you're going to have to if you're going to live on this island," Ender said.

You either became a badass here or you became... well, Peter. And she didn't look like a Peter.

She didn't have the desk or the requisite Wiggin humor for it.

"...That's fair," Sholeh said. It was a much better answer than if he'd said he saw some kind of spark of greatness within her. She'd wanted that to be the answer, but she wouldn't have believed it if he'd said it.

"Yeul was right then," she said, nodding. "Everyone gets over things quickly because everyone here is just used to worse."

"That's part of it," Ender agreed. "But I wouldn't recommend going out and
getting used to worse just to appease your peers."

Practical Philosophy, Monday

Re: Talk.

Re: Talk.

Re: Talk.

Re: Talk.

Re: Talk.