Room 204, Sunday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

It was sad being stuck in sweaters and sweatshirts again--and right now Karla was wearing both because it was cold, dammit--but it wasn't like there was nothing to do in Fandom. Just because they were no longer in Hawaii didn't mean they couldn't keep themselves entertained.

...It just all had to be inside. And not on the beach. And probably wouldn't involve brightly colored drinks decorated with cute plastic animals and tiny umbrellas.

Instead, Karla had decided that the boyos were going to host another movie night. Rather than let Ender choose the film, she'd grabbed one about a snake and a magical cup or something. She hadn't really been paying attention. Actually, she was planning to use it for background noise while she and Ben bitched about Ender's tan and she laughed at Ben for getting his face stuck to the table that one time.

"Kiss kiss!" she called, poking her head through the door. "I'm bored, so guess what! We're hanging out today!"

Weren't they so lucky?

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"I seem to notice a distinct lack of asking whether or not this witch is going to allow you to either dunk or weigh her," Karla said, setting aside her empty box of what had once been kung pow chicken. The boyos could banter all they liked; Karla had been hungry.

"And I'm pretty sure I weigh more than a duck, anyway."

The week in Hawaii had helped with that.

[endsthegame]

"Somehow, I don't think that argument would hold up in the Middle Ages," Ender replied, shooting Karla an amused look.

[momslilassassin]

Ben grinned. "But it doesn't matter anyway because Ender won't get us a duck."

[endsthegame]

"Stop fixating on the duck," Ender told him. "We can do without the duck."

[glacial_queen]

"I think we should figure out if I weigh more or less than Ben's head," Karla said with a nod. "That's dense enough to sink."

[momslilassassin]

"We're not cutting my head off to find out," Ben decided immediately.

[endsthegame]

"Don't get so morbid," Ender said, like the big hypocrite he was. "We can just tie the rest of you up and only put your head on the scales."

... Not dirty. Um.

[glacial_queen]

"See? Now there's a workable plan," Karla said, her voice bland like a bland thing. "Though then we'd have to find scales big enough to fit his head..."

[momslilassassin]

"You'll have to be on the other side of it too," Ben pointed out, frowning.

[endsthegame]

"I think we can manage that, Ben."

This felt strangely comfortable, with the silly banter and the movie and Ender had absolutely no idea how to cope with that, but he'd just keep going.

[glacial_queen]

SACKCLOTH AND ASHES! FOREEEEVER!

"Anything we could fit your gigantic head on, will fit me just fine," Karla promised. "Though if you could maybe promise not to sneeze?"

She'd lost her purple monkey down someone's shirt when the animals had gone flying. Unfair.

[momslilassassin]

"Brat," Ben said, reaching out to tickle her. Because tying him up to find out if his duck-weighing head was okay, but alluding to the flying plastic monkeys had clearly Gone Too Far.

Or something.

[endsthegame]

That was a little more familiar, at least in the sense that he wasn't a direct part of it, though Ender gave the dueling fools a fond look. "Be nice," he said, dryly.

[glacial_queen]

"Yeah, Ben," Karla said. "Be nice!"

Tickling was cheating! Also, it made it hard for her to eat.

"You're making it hard to concentrate on the moooovie!" she added, trying to hide behind Ender. Because he'd appreciate being between them at the moment, really.

[momslilassassin]

Sorry, Ender, Ben was going to try to end up kind of in your lap as he reached for Karla. "Some king thinks his son's a girl," he said. "Learn to multitask!"

[endsthegame]

Yeaaah, these were Ender's hands, winding up very firmly on the blankets. And, just maybe, clenching on them a little.

His body had gone a little tense for several reasons.

... He probably wasn't going to break anyone's limbs.

[glacial_queen]

"Your GIANT HEAD is in the way of the screen!" Karla informed Ben, hugging the wall in an effort to avoid his hands. "My ability to multitask..."

...was going to take a small beating as she noticed the slight threads of tension spiraling through Ender's psychic scent. Hmmm.

"Shouldn't it be harder to dodge away from Jedi?" she asked, flinging herself the other way. Hopefully Ben would leap away and come after her over here.

[momslilassassin]

Ben was eager enough to follow her and give Ender some space.

...a lot of space as he tipped himself off the bed.

"Ow."

[endsthegame]

Ender hugged his arms around himself and leaned forward in the distraction. Besides the general discomfort of being crowded, he also had an, er, another problem. Thanks, Ben.

He forced himself to track his eyes over to Karla rather than stare resolutely at the screen, but he couldn't think of anything particularly witty to say, so he just didn't say anything. Instead, he gave the blankets a nudge - they were a mess now after that little display anyway - and pulled them over his legs.

[glacial_queen]

Karla's eyes, however, were focused resolutely on Ben since he was the one on the floor and there was no reason to look at Ender at all, right? Right?

"It's a beautiful thing when precision of movement and elegance of form combine in one person, isn't it?" she said dryly, peeking over the edge of the bed. "You'll have to demonstrate that move for your grandfather next time you spar. Call it something witty, like 'Skywalker Special.' He'll love that."

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, I'm sure he would," Ben groused, heaving himself off the ground and flopping next to Karla. "He has a weird sense of humor."

He gave Ender a slightly worried glance. He'd noticed the stiffening (no, the other one, this was Ben) and needed to check in.

[endsthegame]

Ender had the blanket covering his lower parts by now, and was resolutely thinking back to some of the not-the-worst-but-still-pretty-bad moments of his life, which in turn wasn't doing much for his peace of mind, even if it (...mostly) worked downstairs.

But he managed to meet Ben's eyes evenly. No, he was fine, really. "I always knew you were the normal one out of the family," he deadpanned. It wasn't a very good one, but it should help to defuse the worry.

[glacial_queen]

"And isn't that a terrifying thought," Karla said, looking back at the screen where people were singing, "He's going to tell..."

Apparently they'd missed something while Ben was crawling all over Ender and then flinging himself to the floor. She was going to have to watch this movie again another time.

[momslilassassin]

Ben wasn't sure he was entirely buying Ender's look, but he wasn't going to push it. He grabbed a box of Chinese food and turned his attention back to the screen. "Oh good, more silly violence," he said, digging into his dinner.

Be impressed by his stomach.

[endsthegame]

Ender was, but he wasn't about to go into that, mmkay?

He settled somewhat more comfortably under the blankets now that most of the problem had gone away, and reached for the box of Chinese food he... hadn't emptied yet.

His own appetite was kind of ridiculously pitiful in comparison to anyone else in this room. "I think they ran through a lot of pea soup and food coloring for this movie."