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.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"Well, it'll only be for a week at a time, tops, but still..."

Yeah, she didn't want to be a pony either.

"Sevens?" Karina asked, curious. "And superheroes, huh? Do you believe that it's real?"

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah, but I'll have the chance to be a pony for a week for forever. Like, I don't want to be a grandma giving out literal pony rides, you know? Or teaching my sons to shave their faces by showing them on my new five o'clock shadow."

It was craziness. Sheer craziness. She couldn't even picture the number of ways this could ruin her entire life.

Which was funny, because back in LA, she would have sworn up and down that she didn't have a life, but with the island hanging over her head, she was discovering just how much worse things could get than just being the quiet girl no one paid attention to.

"The Sevens? Oh, they're a local gang. Technically, they're the South Seventees and they call themselves the SS." Kathy rolled her eyes, because really, guys? Really? Still too soon. "They're all over my part of LA. And, yeah, the Mighty Dragon's real. He's based in LA so people really get to see him. He flies and breathes fire and is way cool."

Someone miiiiight be something of a fangirl.

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"Way cool?" Karina teased. "Sounds like he'd be hot, instead."

Yeah, that was bad.

She grinned a bit ruefully and shrugged. So what if it was?

"Just the one hero though?"

That'd be a boring reality show...

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"That was terrible," Kathy said, grinning at Karina. "I mean seriously terrible."

In case she was wondering.

"No, not just one, though the others are more like rumors. A weird monster roaming Venice Beach. Maybe an ape-guy in Chicago, too. Stuff like that. What about your world? Anything weird there?"

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"It had to be said," Karina told her. "And... we've got superheroes, I guess."

Her being one and all.

"Some people," definitely not her, really, honest, "started getting powers some forty something years ago," she elaborated slightly. "That's pretty weird, right?"

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why would that be weird?" Kathy asked. "People are only just getting them in mine. I mean, literally just. The Mighty Dragon's the first real superhero in the world and he hasn't been around for even a full year yet!"

Why would getting powers be weird. It would be SO COOL.

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Karina just looked extremely dubious.

"I suppose it's totally cool having people be terrified of people with scary, uncontrollable powers. Or getting beaten up because of them. Or insulted and degraded."

None of which had happened to her, because Karina's closet where she hid her powers as a civilian was extremely deep.

"Yeah, we've got superheroes and they're cool and have powers," she said, her voice sharp and anxiety in her eyes, "but not all NEXT can be superheroes. Not all NEXT have that protection. Sure, I bet they get hate mail," and boy did they ever, "but they're symbols. It's the everyday people that get the worst of it, that are hurt by it. And people just spontaneously developing powers? That's weird. And scary. For every one person who thinks it's great, there's going to be a hundred that thinks it's wrong."

She was weird. And a freak. And a superhero.

Not that she was admitting to any of it.

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

Now Kathy was all kinds of confused. "Okay, whoa, whoa. What's a next? Why should people be terrified? Are you talking about like some kind of Y-People thing?"

She shrugged at Karina, not unkindly. "The Mighty Dragon keeps his identity a secret and while some people don't believe in him, I don't think anyone's afraid of him. Well, except for the criminals he puts away."

Re: Talk.

[notacokeperson.livejournal.com]

"And you think it's just going to stay that way?" she asked, tilting her head. "Like, oh good, one superhero is enough, no need for more people with powers? What if criminals start getting powers? How long will people not be afraid of them?"

Re: Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"You make it sound like people just decide to wake up one morning and get powers," Kathy argued, folding her arms. "I don't know how it works. And, yeah, I doubt that everyone's gonna be okay with it. People have a damn good track record of Otherizing damn near everyone. But you know what? Ask your average gay teenager if he'd rather be bullied because of his perceived sexuality or because he somehow got awesome powers and see what he says. You don't have to be special to get death threats and degradation."