fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Monday

There was no sun to speak of, but it was also pleasantly warm out here on this planetoid - so Ender decided to brave the dorm lawn. He'd packed more than his fair share of water bottles and sandwiches today.

He greeted the arriving students with a, "Sit down in a circle, please." He smiled. "You may well be the biggest class I've had in some time, actually. This way, we keep things fair."

He shoved his sandwiches to the center of the circle, so everyone could access it.

"Welcome," he said. "My name is Andrew Skywalker. I'm an alumnus of this school; I graduated several years ago." That was all they needed to know, as far as he was concerned. "And you might be wondering what you signed on for. I'll give you the spiel I give my students every year I'm here - but this is the only class that is prepared or rehearsed to any capacity. That, after all, is the point of it."

"While 'philosophy' is in my class's title, we're not here primarily to talk about the philosophers of old or the specifics of particular lines of thought in philosophy. In this class, we try to put our own experiences into a greater perspective through conversation and debate. Above all, philosophy is about asking questions about everything in the world around us - and about everything we feel about it. That means I expect some level of participation from all of you."

He smiled wryly. "That doesn't mean you always need to speak up about yourself," he said. "No topics are everything to everyone. If that week's subject veers too close to something you want to keep private, be my guest - just try and pitch in when someone else speaks. Ask questions."

"You can even ask questions of me, if you feel the need. And maybe together we can get to the core of our joint and individual experiences." His mouth quirked a bit more. "That doesn't mean we're always going to be lingering on the existential questions - or staring at our belly buttons. It just means we're going to try and dig and come to some understanding about each other, ourselves, and the world."

He picked up a bottle of water. "As for today, let's open a dialogue," he said. "Even the new among you have been here for half a semester. So I have to ask: how do you feel about where you are now? Is the island speaking to you, in a metaphorical sense? What kind of experience has it been for you? As for the rest of you, 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 you can bring up something else you feel is worth questioning. I consider most topics fair game, as long as they're brought up with regard for your fellow students. I can't claim knowledge on most, but I can claim an ability to annoy you with questions about just about anything."

He grabbed a sandwich from the bag. "Every week, we'll reflect on something that happened since we last met, but I'm always open to talking about anything that comes to mind." He nodded at one of the students. "Anyway, I've talked for long enough. It's your turn."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's a hard-light projection created by my Gem," Peridot replied, shrugging. Because, really, this much was just the way things were, for her. "It adjusts to most environments I'm subjected to, changes in gravity and factors like that, without my direct control. But I could change my body's shape if I wanted to, though it takes focus. We'd consider that a waste of energy, on Homeworld."

"Your people are not particularly concerned with appearances?" Ender asked.

"Except for the purpose of being able to tell one another apart?" Peridot shrugged. "We have aesthetic preferences. We understand and appreciate beauty, and art. But we don't place as much worth on physical attractiveness as humans seem to. Strength, sure. Size, absolutely. They can be applied to more practical uses. But human standards of beauty aren't the same as ours."

She had a triangle for hair. She clearly wasn't vain, per se.

"I suspect that this is in part because we don't have a biological urge to impress and secure a mate. But, of course, that's simply speculation at this point. I haven't had a chance to explore that hypothesis, yet."

"The way species reproduce does tend to have an incredible impact on the shape of their culture," Ender noted, thinking of the Formics and their inability to communicate with humanity - because they'd assumed most humans were worker drones, the same as their own people. "Humans in this time haven't had the chance to come to that understanding yet."

Peridot nodded a little. A lot of what drove Gem society was a similar need. After all, the creation of new Gems tended to destroy the biological components of the planets that they touched.

"In order to create new Gems, we need to expand, through the universe," she explained. "It takes hundreds of your Earth years for a new Gem to form in the ground, and when we're... born, I suppose, we're fully-formed. There's nothing, and then there's us. It has nothing to do with physical attractiveness and everything to do with resources. So we spread out, and we colonize."

Ender looked thoughtful, sitting back for a moment. "Are there other sentient species in your universe?"

"There are," Peridot agreed. "Though humans are the only ones I've encountered personally, so far."

And they were maddening, okay? Maddening.

"And how do your people communicate with them?" Ender asked.

He was not going to be rude and flat-out ask her if they colonized populated worlds, but...

"We're doing it right now," Peridot replied, raising an eyebrow. "We talk. Like this. If we bother communicating with them at all."

Yeah, yeah they did.

"I meant that your people no doubt run across such species while they're scouting for colonizable worlds," Ender said easily. "I was merely curious as to that process. It's not terribly relevant to today's class, either way."

Peridot tilted her head a little, looking at Ender curiously.

"Not many planets that we colonize already have a population on them," she settled on, finally. "We can live almost anywhere, and most planets that are useful to Gems are uninhabited. I haven't personally been involved in any scouting missions to inhabited planets that we intend to colonize, however. And communicating with other sentient species is... outisde of my skill set. I build things. I research. I'm not exactly a diplomat."

Meaning she was woefully unprepared for Fandom. It did explain why it frustrated her so much.

Ender parsed that, and filed it away at the back of his mind to bring up some day when they weren't simply having an intro class.

"How did you come to be here, if you don't mind me asking?" he said. "You're clearly not an envoy of any kind."

"It was a scientific expedition," Peridot replied, sighing. "Homeworld had left some experiments behind on their last trip to Earth, thousands of years ago. "I was just supposed to check up on the progress of those experiments. In and out. I wound up stranded, instead."

... Yeah, there was more to it than 'some experiments.' Somebody was conveniently leaving out the traitors still on Earth and the ship crashing and the Cluster.

"As unfortunate as that is, you seem to be making some headway on studying us locals," Ender said, smiling faintly. "Curious as we can be. It's no easy feat, finding a space for yourself with another species entirely."

He'd know. The Hive Queen still bombarded him with a million questions about the illogical humans, every day.

"I'd much sooner be back on Homeworld," Peridot confessed, bluntly. "My Diamond isn't going to be pleased that I've been held up here this long. I have work to do."

She frowned.

"But communication with Homeworld has been cut off, so I have little choice but to get by here as well as I can."

It wasn't technically Earth, so it could be worse.

Ender smiled wryly. "You wouldn't be the first to be trapped here against their will," he said. "Sometimes it's a learning experience."

"Well... it's definitely been that," Peridot replied. "I suppose there are worse fates. And it isn't like I'll be stuck here forever."

She perked up a little.

"Maybe the island will visit Homeworld, too."

... No that would be bad.

"It's always possible," Ender said, looking up at the sky. "In my day we did a trip around the world, once. You never know where you'll find yourself."

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