Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Morning

[endsthegame]

Ender had been inside during yesterday's attack, knowing full well there was little he could do except make trips downstairs to make sure support was well-organised. These invasions had a habit of taking care of themselves, though, and so he hadn't been too concerned-- using Ben's brief absence to rewatch some of the videos he'd been sent

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[puppy_fair]

If there was one thing to be said for Zack, any one thing at all, it was that he had something of a sixth sense when it came to locating leftovers, no matter what common room he had to migrate to in order to find them. Today, that quest for food meant that he was wandering around in civilian clothing because his uniform was covered in zombie fish guts. Kind of uncomfortable, losing the armor, but it was too early in the day for him to care too much.

"Are these a free for all?" Because if they were, he was going to stack up two or three of the cheese ones and just mow them away right there and then.

[endsthegame]

Ender looked up from his laptop - and immediately shut it, to communicate across that he was going to make some time for Zack. "As free as can be," he said, "I liberated them from the fridge; I think they're yesterday's."

[puppy_fair]

"That would make sense," Zack mused, making himself a bit of a cheese sandwich-sandwich. The two or three that he'd been planning on turned into a stack of four, which he squashed down between his hands so that he could actually get it into his mouth. "The support group had a bunch of stuff set up in the lobby yesterday by the time I made my way back in. There really wasn't any lack of food on standby, from what I could see."

A pause, a thoughtful chew of giant sandwich, and then a headtilt later, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

[endsthegame]

"No, I was just catching up on some email," Ender said, smoothly. "Nothing really exciting; definitely doesn't match up to flying piranhas."

[puppy_fair]

"The fish were kind of exciting," agreed Zack, actually taking a moment from his very important sandwich eating to grin and flop himself down on a nearby chair. "One of those short-lived invasions, though. And just as messy as the flying fish types ever are."

[endsthegame]

"I don't exactly have a lot of experience with flying fish," Ender admitted freely, and put his laptop aside. "So I'm going to take your word for it. And take it as fact you were outside fighting them yesterday."

[puppy_fair]

"Almost all day," Zack laughed. "It keeps me busy around here, you know? I don't do too well when I have to sit still for very long."

Which was truth in a painfully obvious way, at this point. He was already shifting his weight about on the chair, trying to get more comfortable. It was a wonder that he wasn't trying to do so by taking the chair upside-down, yet.

Give him time. That was completely a possibility, too.

[endsthegame]

"I think humanity invented hobbies to deal with that," Ender suggested. Amused, most definitely, and shooting the chair a quick look.

It was very possible, yes.

"But that's just a theory."

[puppy_fair]

"Well, yeah," Zack allowed. "And, I mean, I have hobbies."

Squats counted, right?

"But there's not too much to keep a person really active, unless I sign up for the cheer squad or something when clubs start up again. Swimming or something, maybe? There is that pool downstairs, even once the ocean gets too cold to go splashing around in..."

[endsthegame]

"If this was any other town, I'd suggest a soup kitchen or a track team or something," Ender replied. Squats really didn't count. "Out here, though-- I honestly do think 'defeating invasions' is a very good way to spend your time. Even if it's just practice."

[puppy_fair]

"Yeah, but they're maybe once a month or so if I'm lucky," Zack sighed, demonstrating once again that he had a very odd concept of the meaning of the word 'lucky.' "That leaves a lot of time in between to just bounce around, right? What do you do to keep busy?"

[endsthegame]

"I work," Ender said, with a slight shrug. "And I pretend it's relevant work. That takes up a lot of energy, you know -- self deception."

[puppy_fair]

That response got a bit of a wry smile out of Zack.

"Tell me about it," he replied. Because, really, if there was one thing that Zack was good at embracing, self deception was pretty much it. "I had a job at the Fina in town for a bit there, but I never really was any good at it."

The dishes tended to get worried every time Zack came in with a smile on.

[endsthegame]

"You don't really seem like the serving food kind of guy," Ender admitted, with a slight smile. "Though I think that goes for most here: the food service industry doesn't suit us."

[puppy_fair]

"It reeeally doesn't," Zack agreed, shrugging his shoulders and tossing in another squirmy fidget for good measure. "But most of the work around here is that sort of thing. You know, small-townish stuff. It isn't bad if you want a bit of extra spending money to throw around, but it's not really engaging."

And yes, he did say the word 'engaging' with all of the fervour of a kid who had heard his mentor say it at least a hundred times in the past, and who was suddenly proud that he'd remembered how to use the word in context as well.

[endsthegame]

"I'd beg to differ," Ender said, stretching his legs out. "I work at Stark Industries," he explained. "Tony Stark's got pretty high standards for everything; you can say a lot about the work, but not that it's boring. Though not always as consequential as Stark wants to think."