Coruscant, GFFA [Wednesday night, Fandom time]

[momslilassassin]

After dropping their bags off at the Skywalker apartment, Ben insisted that Ender and Karla experience some of the sights and sounds (and smells, sorry to say) of Coruscant, and practically dragged them down to the Coruscant University sector and into the Haunch of Nerf, one of the stranger cantinas on the planet.

"I'd recommend the nerf," Ben said, eyes twinkling over his glass of lum. He rarely drank, but lum tasted like home and made him feel more like an adult. Tonight he decided he needed both.

[OOC: For the two mentioned!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"What?" It wasn't quite a screech, but only because Karla had remembered they were in public at the very last minute. Dropping her face into her hands, she just shook her head. "Mother Night. This is all some kind of revenge for that kind of child I was, isn't it? How did that even--never mind. I'm not asking. Pass me some of that lum would you?"

[endsthegame]

Ender wordlessly passed her a glass, looking slightly amused and just the tiniest bit uncomfortable, but only if you bothered to look. "She was a very special child," he said, "But she was happy."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was busy looking into her glass to notice, and his psychic scent was well and truly buried under the effluvia of the cantina. "I'm glad she was happy," she said after a long swallow. "I hope that means we were good parents, in more than just making sure she has all her limbs and wasn't kidnapped too frequently kind of way."

Ben's idea of what constituted good parenting was special.

"Though I think Ben and I have agreed that the odds of Jaenelle existing in this timeline are very low," she added.

[endsthegame]

Ender gave it a soft chuckle. "Basing that on what?" he teased.

[glacial_queen]

"Knowing one another," Karla said, chuckling. "I think we've come to the conclusion that we make much better friends than lovers."

There was also the part where Karla knew that when it came to laying a claim on Ben's heart, she came in a distant third, at that. But that probably wasn't something to mention to the person neither of them would admit to having claimed second.

[endsthegame]

"I'm sure the school is mourning that potential relationship already," Ender assured her.

He wasn't eager to change the topic, necessarily, but it seemed easier to go, "So who was the other one?"

[glacial_queen]

"Only the gossipy squirrels and their never-ending succession of flags," Karla muttered dryly. She wasn't even sure what they flags were for, but everyone on the radio seemed certain the flags were important.

"Emma Eleni, daughter of George Cooper," Karla said, flushing a bit. "Another surprise for me. I guess I should just be grateful that these other versions of me end up with males who are at least plausible, instead of marrying Chuck Bass or Arthur or someone. No children for you?"

[endsthegame]

"None," Ender agreed, "Which means I'm either bound to be surprised next year, or the multiverse has simply decided I'm going to be spending my better years childless." He didn't sound too fussed. Not really.

[glacial_queen]

Or the multiverse wanted to surprise him with the convent thing...

"Have you ever thought about having children?" Karla asked, idly sipping at her lum. "Do you want any?"

[endsthegame]

"It's our biological imperative," Ender said, thoughtfully. "To shape societies, you have to have children." A pause. "But I don't think this is exactly the best time to even consider it." Or ever. Possibly.

[glacial_queen]

"I don't think the decision needs to be made now," Karla said, a wry smile on her face. "Or acted upon. But it's still something interesting to think about. I'd thought about having children before this weekend; I'd always just assumed that I wouldn't."

[endsthegame]

"Why not?" he asked, with interest. "There's nothing stopping you later down the line."

[glacial_queen]

She shrugged a bit. "Just never seemed all that likely. My parents were very deeply in love when they had me. You know, storybook, happily-ever-after kind of love. And I decided that without that kind of love as an anchor, I'd rather not have children."

Added to the niggling concerns she'd gotten when Jaenelle blithely mentioned her being sick and having something wrong with her legs. Something so bad, Jaenelle's namesake couldn't Heal it. But she was doing her best to ignore those. After all, Jaenelle came from a future where she was married to Ben. All sorts of crazy things probably existed in that future.

[endsthegame]

"But you're not that old, Karla," Ender said, gently. "You can't rule it out that easily." Unless you were Ender, and hell-bent on sabotaging it yourself, but he was always a special case.

[glacial_queen]

"It's easier to assume I won't and be pleasantly surprised than hope for it and be disappointed," Karla said, still trying to sound terribly unconcerned with the entire thing. "I'm not ruling it out, exactly, just not really expecting to find it. I've got a lot of work to do and none of it's really conducive to dabbling in romance."

After being almost scolded in class on Monday, Karla wasn't going to bring up the bit about being difficult, or even challenging.

[endsthegame]

"From what I hear, romance always sneaks up when you least expect it," Ender said, smiling slightly. "At least if you believe all the novels." He was so her gay BFF it wasn't even funny.

[glacial_queen]

Karla poked at him, laughing. "That'd better not a jab at my reading habits," she warned. She really did read the most atrocious romance novels, ever.

[endsthegame]

"Why, is it accurate?"

[glacial_queen]

"Nooooo...."

Beat.

"Maybe?"

[endsthegame]

"So that would be a yes," he said, with a slight laugh. "Don't worry. Your reading practices are safe with me."

[glacial_queen]

"They're very entertaining!" she assured him, unable to say anything truthful about their literary merit. Or actual quality.