Practical Philosophy, Monday

[endsthegame]

Yesterday's revelation that they were releasing another movie about his life had not put Ender in the best mood. It was a harsh reminder that what awaited him back home wasn't always much better than what met him here-- at least at Fandom he could expect a certain degree of anonymity.

While he tried to keep the annoyance and frustration and numerous other emotions out of his work today, it was obvious he was quieter and more distant than he usually was. He picked a topic that was as comfortably distant from his own experience as he could find, without becoming irrelevant to their story entirely.

"This is our last class," he said. "Sooner or later, you'll find yourself at your last class, period. Fandom is a school and so your stay here comes with an expiration date. Are you glad about that? Relieved? Unhappy? When you leave, what will you carry with you of this place? Mostly negative experiences? Mostly positive? Why?"

Then he fell silent.

Comments

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Because you're proud of the accomplishment, or just because you're happy to move on?" Ender wondered.

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"Because it'll be over," she said honestly. "I know we're supposed to care about highschool but it's not really going to matter in the long run for me."

Since she... already had her career.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"It didn't particularly matter for me either," Ender said. So he wasn't exactly about to judge her on that score. "Some of us show up here with other obligations already in place."

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"That, exactly," she said, nodding, though if Ender was a superhero, superstar idol then Karina was going to laugh forever. "But, I mean, there's no reason for me to not get my diploma either, so... here I am. Besides, my parents will be happy knowing I've got it."

Karina considered that.

"Well, Dad will, anyway." Her mom was pretty hung up on the superhero, superstar part.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

He was just a burned-out child veteran who was given a governorship by an old man in the throes of a fit of guilty conscience, unfortunately.

And some other day he might have made a little joke about her mother. Ender wasn't in the mood now, though, so he just nodded. "There are other things you learn in high school," he said, "Like spending time with your peers. So it's not such a terrible waste. It can just feel... counterproductive."

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much," she said, agreeing with him for once. Which probably meant the world was ending or something. "It's just, this takes up a lot of time that I could put to better things."

Like modeling and commercials.

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"But you're stuck here," Ender filled in. "Waiting. Poking at anything useful you can find that's worth doing."

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

“And racking up positively ungodly Portalocity charges,” she said, nodding. “So I can spend a lot of time in my world instead.”

Re: Talk.

[endsthegame]

"Have you managed to find anything productive at all to channel your time here into?" Ender asked. A moment later, he added, "You don't have to tell me what it is."

Karina being who she was.

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Well, hey, it was like he was learning! She could appreciate that.

“No,” she said, which was the truth. “But I haven’t really tried.”