The Causeway, Sunday Morning/Afternoon

[lockestheway]

It was that time of the year again: spring break, with its travels to far away and exotic locales! Like Brazil.

Teachers and students had been asked to assemble at the causeway as per usual. Their portal would be leaving early on into the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to pack up your things and hurry on down to catch it.

So, the question remained: was everyone ready for some fun in the sun? Or was there still too much bodyswappy freaking out to be done?

Stay tuned.

[[ gather all, gather around! ]]

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[endsthegame]

"Topher...?"

Ender approached him with care - partly because he didn't want to startle the poor kid, and partly because he didn't know if this was a one-day stint or a weekender. Ahem.

[dollpocalypse]

"Hey," Topher mumbled. Guess who didn't look super enthusiastic right now either? This guy!

[endsthegame]

"How are you doing?" Ender asked, putting his bags down near him.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher thought about that for a moment.

"Bad."

Well, Ender had asked.

[endsthegame]

"I figured," Ender said, giving him a quick once-over to ensure he... wasn't maimed. "Karla didn't take this well."

[dollpocalypse]

"Figured that from the throwing things at my head," Topher mumbled. "And the throwing me. And the shower thing. And the yelling."

[endsthegame]

"You startled her." And the understatement of the year award goes to... "Tell me what happened."

'Do you want to talk about what happened?' was too much of a yes-or-no question for Topher.

[dollpocalypse]

Good choice there, Ender.

"Woke up," Topher mumbled. "And her hand was... ew, so I sort of... ran, and she, like, chased me. And I asked her to get me a phone so I could call Tony or someone--" because that made all the sense, Topher-- "and she magicked into the room and blasted the water on me and yelled and then threw me."

[endsthegame]

Ender privately hoped this didn't mean they were right back where they started, but he didn't say so. He did, however, decide to ask Karla about her version of the story later, if simply because it might make his job of any damage control easier.

"And what did you do?" he asked.

[dollpocalypse]

"Got clothes," Topher mumbled, unintentionally providing an explanation for the bulk of Karla's flail as well as his, "and left."

[endsthegame]

Ender winced a little.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said.

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah," Topher muttered, looking down and picking at his sleeve. "Me too."

[endsthegame]

"But are you feeling okay now, all things considered?"

Because that answer might be more descriptive than 'bad'.

[dollpocalypse]

Topher looked at his hands. Claws. They were very sharp claws. "Don't know," he said.

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded. "Stick to your room until it passes," he said. "Given past experience, it'll probably be over tomorrow."

Beat.

"Stay clothed." And hope Warren did the same.

[dollpocalypse]

"'s what Tony said," Topher mumbled. "I just don't get -- never mind."

[endsthegame]

"What don't you get?" Ender asked gently.

[dollpocalypse]

"She came and, like, found me and Tony and talked about how she messed up and she's sorry or something," Topher said, shrugging. "Like two weeks ago. So... so much for that."

[endsthegame]

Ender sighed. "Topher," he said, "Karla... isn't really comfortable with naked people in her room that she doesn't know. She probably lost it as badly as you did."

[dollpocalypse]

Topher flailed, and protested, "I did not hit her with things!"

[endsthegame]

"No, I know," Ender said, holding up a calming hand. "When you're scared, you run."

[dollpocalypse]

"Well, she didn't," he muttered. "So obviously she wasn't." Scared. You know.

[endsthegame]

"Oh, come on, you're clever," Ender said. "You know what fight-or-flight is."

[dollpocalypse]

He did, it was true.

"Well," Topher muttered, "she picked the stupid one. Like, what was I even gonna do?"

[endsthegame]

"And you also know what instinct is," Ender continued. "It would surprise me if you hadn't done research into that, actually."