Room 218, Tuesday Evening

[glacial_queen]

As part of her resolution to 'spend as much time with graduating friends as possible,' Karla was getting ready for Ender's visit. They'd planned to get together Friday at the picnic to exchange presents--and also to have a Serious Talk, but Karla was focusing on the more enjoyable aspect of the evening instead. His presents were wrapped--like everyone else this Christmas, he was getting the hideous Christmas sweater that was apparently a tradition no one had told her about yet, though his was a little more understated than the one she'd gotten for, say, Momoko.

She'd gotten him a few other odds and ends, too, but obviously the sweater was the best part. It was traditional!

[Specifically for one, but can be open!]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender knocked once on the open door before he entered, mostly to give her some warning. He had his own gift tucked under his arm, but mentally, he was dwelling rather more on the 'Serious Talk' end of tonight's visit.

Contain your shock, everyone.

"Hey, Karla," he greeted.

[glacial_queen]

That was because Ender sometimes hated joy. Trufax.

"Kiss kiss!" Karla greeted, turning around with a smile and a poorly-wrapped box in her hands. "Come in! I have snacks and everything!"

Because it was Ender, those snacks took the form of a fruit platter rather than anything from J,GoB.

[endsthegame]

"And so do I," Ender said, setting one of his packages down on the table. "But that package goes last."

He grabbed a seat and sat down.

[glacial_queen]

"Ooooh, but now I want to know what's in it first," Karla said with a laugh. She offered him his first box, the one with the awesome sweater in it.

Hopefully she could convince him to wear it while he opened the rest.

[endsthegame]

Unlikely. Ender opened the box, and as soon as its contents were revealed, a brief flash of puzzlement passed by his features before he quickly wrangled it back under control. "It's very festive," he said after a beat. "Thank you."

He'd never wear it. But thank you anyway, Karla.

The sweater was at least less dadly than her cookies.

[glacial_queen]

"It's traditional," Karla said, willing him to put it on. "I learned about them this year. And since I already know you like sweaters--" and Ben liked really dark blue ones "--I figured this was the perfect gift!"

Wear the sweater, Ender. It keeps her from baking!

[endsthegame]

"It is traditional," Ender agreed - partly to, yes, keep her from baking. "Again, thank you. It's very thoughtful." Ahem. Very sometimes, he was in the practice of kind lies?

He reached for one of the two packages he still had on him, and passed it on to Karla. It was the gift that was at least partly Jane's fault (...okay, they were both Jane's fault. The food had been his idea, though): a long, purple Nabooan robe with blue detailing.

He figured she'd appreciate the part where it covered one's ankles without looking frumpy.

"So I came here to talk about two things," he segued smoothly.

[glacial_queen]

"...Your trip?" Karla asked hopefully as she opened her gift. "Oooh," she breathed, holding the robe up to admire the detailing. "It's gorgeous!"

And he'd thought she wouldn't appreciate it!

"With a decent hemline!"

[endsthegame]

"Topher Brink, actually," Ender said, sitting back. "But I'm pleased you like it. It's traditional Naboo make, or so I'm told."

[glacial_queen]

Ugh, Topher.

Karla didn't bother to hide her reaction to his name. She was pretty sure Ender knew how she felt about him or he wouldn't even have been mentioned.

"What's the second topic?" she asked instead.

[endsthegame]

"What happened during our last crisis," Ender said, and reached out to steal a piece of fruit. "I thought starting off with Topher would be easier, all in all."

[glacial_queen]

"I don't have much to say about Topher," Karla said, crossing her arms, thus proving Ender's theory right, "other than he's a jerk and he's hurtful and I don't regret any of the times I hit him. Especially when it came to Jono. He just kept pushing and pushing and pushing, even though any moron could see how upset Jono was getting. But he refused to drop it."

Probably because that was how Topher got his kicks. Asshole.

[endsthegame]

"Probably because he didn't understand why Jono was getting upset," Ender said. He showed no sign of this information being new to him, though it definitely was. "I don't think Topher is all that sensitive to the kind of cues you and I take for granted."

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba had been in a mood since the welcome picnic, and eventually decided that it might be healthier to try and talk about things instead of just brooding.

And that was why she was visiting one of her closest friends on the island, and knocking on the open door.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," she said, genuinely.

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up, rather broody herself after her conversation with Ender, but gave Elphaba a smile anyway. "Not at all," she said. "Please come in. Want some fruit?"

She still had the remains of the fruit platter, after all.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, but... maybe in a bit," Elphaba said, entering the room. "I trust you are well?"

It was funny, she'd come to talk about herself but now couldn't really come up with a natural way to do so.

[glacial_queen]

"January's already shaping up to be much better than December was," Karla said, side-stepping the question just a bit.

She gestured for Elphaba to take a seat anywhere she liked. "And you? You went home for Lurlinemas, right? How did that go?"

Don't worry, Elphaba. Karla was more than ready to talk about you instead!

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"Lurlinemas went quite well, actually. Father was a little abhorred by my new choice in fashion, but Nessa was very amused even if she didn't let father quite know that she approved," Elphaba said. "My trip home probably could not have gone smoother."

She sat down once she figured out a good place to sit. "Then there was the picnic." Her tone indicated that event was a complete change of fortune.

[glacial_queen]

Karla raised an eyebrow at that. It was surprising to hear Elphaba speak almost fondly of home and then have a complete reversal when it came to Fandom and the picnic.

"Really?" she asked. "Was someone, uhh, insensitive?"

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"In a new and different way," Elphaba said. "She used a.. well, a very rude term for people from the Vinkus country. Which was entirely strange because no one in the Vinkus is green. And by all accounts she's from those stupid children's stories about Oz."

Elphaba let out a huff. "And she's entirely too innocent that it's making it hard for me to hate her."

[glacial_queen]

"Dorothy?" Karla guessed. After all, she'd met the girl. "Maybe she was taught the term by someone else and didn't know any better?"

Which was still unfortunately, but not really the girl's fault. "And, well, it's possible that the people in Vinkus are green in her world. There are some really strange deviations from reality to reality."

The differences between Jono's world and Warren's were staggering.

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"It's very confusing," Elphaba said, which was really just the tip of the iceberg. "It was one thing for my world to be wrong in a strange story, it's another for someone to know a different Oz than I know. Especially when..."

Elphaba sighed and leaned back. "When she's the one who kills all the so-called wicked witches."

[glacial_queen]

Karla flinched but said, "Fortunately, we don't know any of those, right?" She reached to take Elphaba's hand if she'd let her. "It's just one more detail those books get wrong."

She gave her friend a wink. "Besides. There's no way any witch worth her salt could get taken down by the little girl I met at the picnic."

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

"That's exactly it," Elphaba said. She happily let Karla take her hand, the sort of physical gesture she was not accustom to but often craved. "She seems so... bright-eyed and empty-headed. Hardly the type to hunt down a witch and kill her with a bucket of water."

Which still boggled Elphaba to no end.

"I'd ask her about it, but I don't think I'd like the explanation."

[glacial_queen]

"I could ask her if you wanted," Karla said, since she could see how that conversation could really upset Elphaba. "It's probably something the books got dreadfully wrong."

Glancing around as if looking for eavesdroppers she added, "Mother Night, you know as well as I do how often this world fails at basic fact checking."

Sorry, Earth! But it was hard not to feel superior sometimes, okay?