glacial_queen | The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Tuesday (Fandom Time)

Warren had gone to graduation, but Karla hadn't been able to get away to go, too. That had been disappointing, but it had meant she'd been able to make sure that there was literally nothing about to go wrong or that would need her attention for the next week or so.

Why?

Because Ben and Ender were visiting, eeeeeee!

While she couldn't ignore her responsibilities entirely (more's the pity), she had informed her entire First Circle that she would be largely unavailable for the duration of the visit and was to be bothered only in the direst of emergencies. And if there was a dire emergency, they needed to inform her on psychic threads and never in front of her visitors.

If anything happened, Ben and Ender weren't going to know about it, dammit. And most certainly wouldn't be involved in fixing it. But nothing was going to happen. She was Quite Serious about everything going smoothly. Were you listening, Kaeleer? Nothing bad was allowed to happen.

[NFB, open to residents and the expected guests!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

endsthegame

"Don't eat all the snacks," Ender told Ben.

He turned back to Karla. "And thank you," he said. "We've managed to pick a movie I think won't end in tears."

From:

momslilassassin

"We're ridiculously proud of ourselves," Ben added. "I double checked to make sure we're not accidentally watching porn, either."

From:

glacial_queen

Karla waggled her eyebrows at that. "I'm sure you did," she said serenely.

Look, if Ben was just going to set her up for comments, he couldn't blame her for taking them, okay? And she'd say that that was a very restrained response as it was.

You're welcome.

"Do you like your suite?" she asked, letting them into the front parlor of her own. She was pretty sure the TV room was the third room through the door on the right? "I don't need to send footmen to stand and point to the exits or anything?"

From:

endsthegame

"We like our suite fine, though we could do with about five less rooms," Ender said, half-teasing, half-trying to ensure the topic change stuck and Ben wouldn't go red like a ripe tomato.

He followed her, making quick note of what he could see of the layout of her own suite.

From:

momslilassassin

Ben was a lovely shade of pink instead? It looked really bad with the red hair.

"It's bigger than our house at home," Ben said, nodding.

From:

glacial_queen

WHO HAD BROUGHT UP PORN? WHO? NOT KARLA.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be able to judge how much the Queen likes you by how much square footage you get when you visit or something," Karla said. "This was my mother's suite, but Warren and I only moved in a few weeks ago. It had to be seriously refurbished."

Because it had also been Ludmilla's suite and Karla had refused to step foot into it until all traces of Ludmilla's taste and Hobart's presence had been expunged from the very walls.

"But now anyone who comes in here knows that I'm the very specialest person in the whole estate. Y'know, on the off-chance they were confused about that or something."

Though to hear Mallory bitch about her jeans, you'd think Karla wandered the estate in rags and tatters.

From:

endsthegame

"In other words," Ender said, finding a seat, "We should have brought measuring tape to our quarters. Just to determine whether we should feel offended."

From:

momslilassassin

Ben raised his hand. "Very important question! If we look under our bed, will we find more than ten ugly vases that used to be in your suite?"

From:

glacial_queen

"Not if you look only under your bed," Karla said, because that kind of reassurance was important. "There wasn't room for ten vases and all the knickknacks. I had to hide some in your closet, too."

From:

endsthegame

"Ah," Ender said, "In that case, we're here to run you out of your suite and claim it as our own."

From:

momslilassassin

Ben nodded. "Or you'll wake up with an ugly porcelain horse head in your bed."

Who let him watch ~~meta for~~ the Godfather?

From:

glacial_queen

That someone was getting a glare, because Ender should really have known better.

"Pffft, if you can find your way to the bedroom, you can keep it," Karla declared. "Besides, I haven't told you how much ugly crap is hidden under my bed."

Though when they went back to their room, they might indeed find an ugly porcelain horse head and a very confused servant who did not get paid enough for some of the orders he took in this house.

From:

endsthegame

But where were they going to find an ugly porcelain horse head at this hour? The only way to accomplish that was to let Ben go shopping!

"Ben picked a comedy for us tonight," Ender said, changing tracks. "So we'll settle for the room with the screen this time."

From:

momslilassassin

Ben nodded. "I haven't seen it enough to do a dramatic reenactment."

The car movies, on the other hand...

From:

glacial_queen

Please. For the car movies, all he'd have to do is flex and make vroom vroom noises interspersed with occasional bouts of gunfire.

"A for real comedy, right?" Karla checked, opening the laptop so they could put the DVD in. It would play on the large TV, which was hooked up to it via an amalgamation of wires that Karla wasn't allowed to touch. But somehow it all worked, so that was good enough for her. "Not like the animated movie of sadness?"

There was another one that had fooled her recently. It had been a cartoon about bunnies! Who'd known that a cartoon movie about floppy bunnies could be filled with horror and sadness?!

From:

endsthegame

"Not like the animated movie of sadness," said Ender, who'd be very grateful to find out he'd missed out on Karla watching Watership Down. "I had Valentine vet it just to be sure. It's a silly one about knights."

From:

momslilassassin

"Ka-nig-its," Ben pronounced helpfully. "There's coconuts, too."

From:

glacial_queen

Watership Down hadn't helped Warren's bunny fears any, either.

Of course, neither would this. But, details.

"What's a holy grail?" she asked, looking at the cover of the DVD. "Isn't a grail just a cup?"

Poor Ender, once more the fount of all Earth knowledge for the aliens.

From:

endsthegame

It'd been a while since he had to play that role. It was almost novel again.

"It is a cup," Ender agreed, "But it's a legendary one from Christian myth, supposedly pursued by King Arthur for the powers it possessed.

From:

momslilassassin

Ben laughed. "Think our Arthur's running around looking for a cup now?" he asked. "If he's using coconuts for horse noises, I want holos."

From:

glacial_queen

"He'd make poor Merlin bang them together," Karla sighed. "Though I doubt they're using coconuts. It'd be beneath his dignity."

And then, because it needed to be asked.

"..Coconuts? And why is the DVD asking if want to watch the Lego version?"

From:

endsthegame

"The team behind this were absurdist comedians," Ender said. He leaned over to tap a few buttons. "That probably has something to do with it - but we'll want the regular version."

From:

momslilassassin

"Hurry," Ben said. "If you don't make a choice, the thing yells at you to get on with it. It's very rude."

From:

glacial_queen

Fortunately, Ender saved them from being scolded by the DVD. That did not stop Karla from leaning over and poking Ben in the ribs. "I can't believe you guys brought a rude DVD over to yell at me," she teased.

A knock at the door revealed several footmen, bearing large bowls of popcorn, several pitchers of juice, and various other snacks for them to enjoy.

One of the bowls was placed specifically in front of them. "Mrs. Harrin requests that this bowl be used for throwing," he said, looking a little apologetic. "It has neither butter nor salt."

"Thank you, Magnus," Karla said with a smile. "We'll remember."

Magnus looked relieved as he bowed out and Karla gave the boyos a rueful shrug. "I warned the staff about what happened during terrible movies," she explained.

From:

endsthegame

After setting up the movie, Ender sank back into his seat. "I see you're making good use of the perks of your position," he noted, looking at the spread. "Though I think you and Ben'll burn through that in less than an hour."