Pre-Jump Earth Literature

[aestrix]

It's a new term, and the end of the break between terms most students have been enjoying. But time marches ever on, and so at 1:00 PM, just after lunch, twenty-six students all around the age of fifteen are finding seats in an obnoxiously decorated classroom. It's one of those classrooms that tries very hard to be peppy and inspirational, and only succeeds at being very out of touch, and kind of creepy.

Soon it will be time to read about things long-dead people wrote.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

"Oh God."

[poll_the_stars]

"'This piece of wood was cut from a tree that has grown on my family's land for generations.' Toss. 'And now it is on fire.' The mortification!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Betans."

[poll_the_stars]

She giggles.

"Betans."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I mean, my own mother is Betan, I'm not condemning the lot of them, but she has this way of saying 'Barrayarans' like it's a potent curse, so I feel it's only fair."

[poll_the_stars]

Yvette laughs.

"Yeah, I don't actually want to condemn all Betans either. Just -" She waves a hand vaguely. "It is nice to talk to another Barrayaran and trash talk."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yeah. They're just so Betan. And there are a lot of great things about being Betan! But I think sometimes they are a little too aware of that and not quite sufficiently aware that not being Betan can also have advantages."

[poll_the_stars]

"Ha. Yes. That."

[thisvorlunatic]

"My mother is wonderfully adept at avoiding this trap, but then unfortunately there are also the Franks of the world."

[poll_the_stars]

"Ha. I think the Frankness of Frank is not exactly how Betan he is? I mean how Betan he is leads into it and definitely magnifies the whole issue, but there's a, something else that is separate that is the real problem, I think."

[thisvorlunatic]

He considers this.

"The personal problems of Frank in particular aren't exactly because of how Betan he is, but I think he definitely represents a local type, you know? Sheltered as hell, maddeningly unaware of it, patronizingly certain that he can do no wrong as long as he sticks to the proper principles? Beta Colony churns those out as though from an assembly line."

[poll_the_stars]

"Hmm, yeah. I see what you mean. I wonder how that could even be fixed on a societal scale. I mean, 'go study on another planet for a few years' would probably help a lot? It helped me, personally. But then Betans don't want to leave because they think Beta Colony is the best, and they never have anything prove otherwise, because they never leave, and around and around it goes." Pause. "What an easy trap to fall into. I can't even blame him."

[thisvorlunatic]

"My mother managed not to, but I suppose my mother's not exactly ordinary."

[poll_the_stars]

She smiles a bit. "What's she like instead, then?"

[thisvorlunatic]

He thinks about this, then shakes his head and says, "You'd really have to meet her. I can't begin to explain."

[poll_the_stars]

Snort. "All right then."

She pauses, and considers.

"We should probably actually do our homework."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...yeah," says Miles. "Um. Once more with a little less feeling?"

[poll_the_stars]

... She cracks up.

[thisvorlunatic]

He giggles.

[poll_the_stars]

"I, you, stop being hilarious I'm trying to be responsible!"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm sorry! I can't turn it off on command!"

[poll_the_stars]

"Uh huh," she says, then pokes at the computer terminal.

"I vote that if we need to lighten the mood we read one of Margaret's 'screw you all' speeches to each other in incredibly dramatic voices."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Agreed. Okay. Do you have anything you want to include in this essay, or would you rather just be my accomplice in making Frank cry?"

[poll_the_stars]

She snorts, then actually stops to think.

"... Okay, my turn for depressing. The female characters all lose their children and families. And - the play sort of implied Margaret had some kind of ability to curse and create prophecies and then she passed that on to the other women who have lost things. But that still rings kind of hollow to me. Elizabeth tried to keep her son safe by claiming sanctuary and staying in a church, and it didn't work, not because she failed, but because the people that were supposed to protect them gave her son up. She's treated as one of his main antagonists, but unlike the others he doesn't bother to kill her because she's no longer a threat. The Duchess was the first person to make Richard flinch, but all of the warnings of doom in the world don't make up for not - she didn't really have a hand in finally killing him? Okay, congrats, you called down curses on his name, but cursing until you're blue in the face doesn't actually - fix anything.

"I - am not sure where I'm going with this, actually. It's like - there's a silent potential horror story that hangs in the back of my head. It actually kind of goes something like this. The lives of every child I helped bring into the world, extinguished, my - the person I married and presumably love, dead, everything I try to do to stop something terrible, useless, and then I am bitter and powerless and there's nothing I can do but curse at the world."

She shrugs, and looks away. "It's a shitty, shitty fate. I don't know if we want to include it, but - it sticks out in my head."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Yeah, that's... I see what you mean," he says. "Nobody's getting a good deal here."