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Practical Philosophy, Thursday

"Last week, some of you brought up the topic of the island's influence on our perception of consequences," Ender said. "It's a topic that has been discussed by many generations of Fandom students across the years, and it's always worth revisiting."

No, no invasion could stop him from gathering by the tree on the lawn, bar a sudden rainstorm or extreme cold. The sandwiches were there again, as were the drinks. "And also, lo and behold, the island has thoughtfully brought us many lumbering conversational pieces."

Ah, dinosaurs. That took him back... all the way to his freshman year, wasn't it?

"So we might as well pick up where we left off," he said. "Dangerous animals now walk the island. How do you feel about that? Fear? Excitement? Do you still worry about what might happen with them, or no?"

A beat.

"Or talk about anything else. Conversation is always free in this class."

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Dinosaurs?

Prince Sidon

Nina

Norman Babcock

Keyleth

Juillenne Milone (and Camden)

Shuri

Lana Beniko

Have a sandwich, grab a pillow or a blanket...

Sandwich, bottle of water, Norman was settling right in today, glancing around thoughtfully.

And eager to have a conversation about dinosaurs instead of... whatever last week had been.

Sidon was skipping the sandwiches but all over those bottles of water as he settled down as comfortably as he could on the grass, though there was no small amount of shifting. He was getting there, really, but just still thought sitting was terribly strange.

It did, he notice, make it a little easier to see everyone's faces, though, when they talked.

"Sidon," Ender greeted, watching him shift around for a second class running. "Is there anything I can do to make sure you're more comfortable here? Our set-up here does make some assumptions it doesn't need to."

And of course Sidon, though he seemed a little sheepish for it having been noticed, just waved a dismissive hand and shook his head a little. "Oh, no," he said with a soft smile, "think nothing of it! I will admit, sitting is something that most Zora don't naturally engage in, but I must say, I've gotten quite used to it by now, and I've managed to get rather good at it, too, if I may say so myself. It just takes me a moment to settle into something that feels a bit more...natural, for something so decidedly unnatural for me and my kind."

"After all," he chuckled a little, his grin brightening, "I should hardly expect the whole class to as enthusiastic as relocating to the pond as I would be!"

"No, but there's no reason we can't relocate this a few hundred feet to the pond's shore," Ender said easily, "The rest of us can sit on dry land, and you can be where you feel most comfortable."

"I suppose," Sidon's head tilted a little, a finger to his chin as he looked thoughtfully bemused, "it might even be nice, on a particularly hot day, should we have any, for everyone to get to enjoy the water a little, if you're open to suggestions. But for now, truly, I assure you, I don't mind in the least. I rather enjoy this, really, despite the discomfort, because no matter how uncomfortable it may be for me...which isn't very, it must be emphasized...the feeling of being a closer part of such a fantastic group is so incredible that I could handle sitting like this all day if I had to, and happily!"

"How about we move the class next week, and you can decide whatever you'd like to do that day?" Ender suggested. "Far be it from me to get in the way of an exciting learning opportunity."

Lana would grab a sandwich, water, and blanket, and settle in, kneeling on it. She appreciated having classes that let her do this this term; it felt much more natural.

How do you feel about the dinosaurs?

Or talk about anything else that happened this week, or that has been on your mind.

"I'm already kind of used to dinosaurs being around," Norman admitted after a short pause. "Um. A little bit, anyway. They're one of the first things I noticed when I first came to the island."

It had been hard to miss the occasional dinosaur ghost mulling about.

Not much was going to surprise him this summer, perhaps.

"There was another invasion?" Ender asked, eyebrows raised.

"Not... necessarily?" Norman paused for a moment, and then offered, a little awkwardly, "I see things sometimes. That other people can't?"

Some days he was very tempted to just drop his voice into a whisper and say that one kid's line from that Bruce Willis movie.

Like, super tempted.

"Like, I can tell you the island had dragons made of jello on it once," he added. "And giant scorpions. Giant scorpions were definitely a thing that happened."

"And dinosaurs," Ender echoed, nodding. He didn't seem flummoxed in the slightest. "Is having your power... troublesome on this island?"

Norman fell silent for a moment, quietly picking apart exactly what it was on this island, really.

"No," he said, finally. "Not usually. It's led to some kind of neat stuff, actually, like seeing a dragon when I was visiting a friend's world, or conversations with people that nobody has been able to really talk to for a long time. Once you get used to the, um... variety... around here, it's not all bad."

He tapped his fingers against the water bottle for a few beats as he thought on it some more.

"It's not really the power that's the trouble," he added, finally. "For me, that's kind of like asking what it's like to have eyes, if that makes sense? It's not necessarily the power that's the problem, it's more that... maybe I relate better to the things I see that other people can't than I relate to... you know... people. People are hard."

"Did you have a lot of friends growing up?" Ender asked, tilting his head. "You can ignore that question if it's too personal, I'm just curious."

Norman bit his lip a moment, and then shrugged.

"I made one when I was eleven?"

It wasn't exactly some well-guarded secret, no. Anyone who spent three seconds with a member of his family would find out anyway, and there was still one more Parents Weekend to go before his own graduation.

Ender nodded. Thoughtfully, mostly.

"You relate to what you're familiar with," he said. "The voiceless can use a friend or two, too. I'm not sure if, in the long run, the difference is really all that important..."

"The zombies at the bar like when I visit," Norman offered. "Most people just talk at them. Conversation's hard for them to have. And there are some really nice people in the graveyard. They have a lot of stories about the kind of place this can sometimes be."

And now he was very interested in his water bottle, just kind of idly twisting the cap off, and then putting it back on again.

"There really shouldn't be much difference," he admitted, aware that he was about to meander on back into 'casually morbid conversation' territory, but figuring it was relevant anyway. "Most living people get there eventually, too."

Edited 2019-05-18 11:30 (UTC)

"They do," Ender said, his mouth curving. He reached for a bottle of water. "When I'm not teaching, I'm what's called a 'Speaker for the Dead' in my world," he said. "Though that's nothing more esoteric than travelling to places and unearthing the truths of someone's life, so they can be eulogized with full honesty. I don't have a gift nearly as grand as yours."

If he was reading what Norman was saying about his powers right.

Norman's head tilted a little to the side at that as he mulled that over, though a weird look crossed his face at the word, 'grand.' People back home had mostly come to terms with what he was, but it was still jarring to hear it referred to as anything more palatable than 'unusual.'

"I think... a lot of them would like that," he said, thoughtfully. "Most people just kind of keep on being who they are, and plenty have lived lives they're satisfied with, but if they're around, it's because they have something they feel they haven't finished."

And having the truths of their lives revealed if they weren't around wouldn't matter one way or another, would it?

"I hear, 'would you please tell...' a lot." A pause. "Along with the occasional request to make sure the stove is turned off at home or whatever."

"And do you?" Ender asked.

Norman's smile went a little crooked at that.

"Do I like that, or do I make sure the stove is turned off...?"

"Tell them," Ender said wryly, "And turn the stove off."

"I do, when I can," Norman replied. And there he went, right back to his fidgeting. "It's easier these days than it used to be. People know I'm not just... being cruel or something. Doing it for the attention."

God, the last thing he ever wanted was attention.

"Well," Jules said, lips quirking up in a grin. "Cam is a fan. Of the smaller ones at least."

What? They were tasty, apparently.

Ender's mouth curved. "And you?"

"I got to see them up close in a class yesterday," Shuri said, "and I still find it hard to believe that they're real."

"I'd advise against petting them to make sure," Ender said dryly.

Lana thought about it, sipping her water thoughtfully. "These animals seem much more like some back home. I haven't had any problems with them so far, though; they've mostly seemed to keep to themselves. Well, the ones that aren't furniture or something." That playground was weird, okay?

"Large, dangerous animals are common where you're from?" Ender asked. "How are they a part of life?"

"Mostly we try to stay away from them," Lana said. "But when you're in a tomb trying to research something, it's hard to avoid the k'lor'slugs. The best you can do is try to kill them before they get you."

"Sounds troublesome, having burial places overrun with aggressive animals."

"Not if you're an ancient Sith that doesn't want people disturbing your corpse," Lana pointed out. "I think some of them lured them there deliberately."

He's here, if you need him.

I'm just never going to get over the fact that we're going into the Eurovision finals with a song that is 1) actually good, 2) not sung by a douchebag, 3) actually stands a real shot of winning this thing.

AMSTERDAM 2020 C'MON

Edited 2019-05-16 11:48 (UTC)

*waves flag!*

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Practical Philosophy, Thursday

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