fandomhigh | Practical Philosophy, Monday

"Hey," Ender greeted the group, smiling faintly. "It's traditional for my class to spend the first week reflecting on the future, and the last reflecting on the past."

"Specifically," he continued, stretching his legs out in the grass of the dorm lawn, "How much have you changed since you got here? How do you see your future, on the island or off? Has the island been an interruption in your life, to be skipped past and left there once you graduate? Or going by your experiences, do you think it will forge lasting changes that will stick with you in the times ahead?"

He smiled briefly.

"I realize this isn't a particularly philosophical series of questions," he said. "But it's something worth reflecting on, not just with me, but between yourselves. I have a feeling your viewpoints will be as diverse as you are."

He sat back.

"But to pull it larger: do you think there's a shared experience here on this island? Something similar we all take away from it? Or none at all?"

After he let those questions sink in, he looked towards one student in particular ~~if she was there~~. "Peridot? Can you come see me after class?"

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"How do you feel about that?" Ender asked, tilting his head.

Peridot paused for a moment, considering the question. And then she shrugged her shoulders.

"Afraid, a little," she replied. "Some of those thoughts are dangerous ones. The same sort of thoughts that spark rebellions, that get Gems shattered. I don't want to be shattered. I don't want to be mistaken for the traitors who stood against Homeworld. I remain loyal to my Diamond. I just... wonder if the way humans do some things is more logical."

"There's a long road between thinking different thoughts and actually choosing to act in opposition to anything," Ender said quietly. "You don't have to let them influence your actions, if you decide the ramifications aren't worth it."

"But what do I do if I decide they are?"

These were the questions that... didn't keep her up at night, as Gems didn't sleep, exactly. But she had to consider them all the same.

"My Diamond is reasonable, the most logical of them all, but there's a history."

"Then you have to listen to your conscience," Ender said frankly. "It's all any of us can do."

"My..." Peridot frowned a little. "That's a small talking insect, isn't it? I don't have one of those."

She'd been trying to take in human entertainment again. For insight.

Ender blinked. Then he let out a soft laugh. "No," he said. "A conscience is... the voice in the back of your head that tells you what's right and wrong, more or less. Though some cartoons have taken to giving it an anthropomorphic shape."

Peridot blushed faintly, that blue tint coloring her cheeks.

"Oh. It's metaphor, then."

Having a conscience was like having a noisy insect infestation. Good to know.

"Yes," Ender said, "Though knowing it is nothing to be embarrassed about. You're learning."

"I am," Peridot agreed. "I suppose, at the very least, I learned this one before spending a few hours attempting to communicate with crickets."

Then again, around here she stood half a chance of being successful at it.

"Well, it's Fandom," Ender said. "You never know when the crickets are your fellow students."

Peridot paused to consider that. And then she nodded. It didn't seem that odd, considering what she'd seen of the place so far. And all the worlds they'd stopped at along the way, this summer.

"Perhaps they'll be as confused about humanity as I am," she decided. "And then I can be the professional on the topic!"

Peridot dared to dream big.

Practical Philosophy, Monday

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