Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

Getting back from Michael's room, Ino didn't manage to completely shut her door before cracking up and laughing brightly.

Green.

She, she was going to do some work; really. Eventually.

For now though she was just going to laugh and laugh. Because, seriously, he was green. That deserved some laughter. She really loved Fandom sometimes.

[Door and post are open! ETA: The fact that Hoshi showed up and they talked about Michael is FB, what exactly they talked about in relation to him is NFB, please.]

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[intraspective]

Well. That was certainly not a good way to begin. "Actually," Ino said lightly, taking a seat on her bed and snagging a pillow to lean her elbows on, "I said we were friends, and then I said 'technically, I'm not with anyone at the moment because I'm trying to make up my mind between Kabuto or Michael' and then mentioned something about Michael being around more often."

Her memory was really very good.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," said Hoshi. "It's my fault, I guess. I never got to talk to other people my age back home and I'm not really familiar with relationships. I misunderstood what you said to mean that you and Michael were just friends."

[intraspective]

...

Well. An apology did take some of the wind out of her sails. Ino sighed, raised her chin, and decided to be gracious about it. Well, as gracious as she ever got.

"We're not... dating," Ino said at last, "but we're, I guess we're kinda hovering at the moment? Which is entirely my fault, I admit, but yeah..." How was she supposed to try and explain this?

"You can come in and sit," she told Hoshi, "I don't bite." Much.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," said Hoshi, taking a seat. "The reason I got into studying languages back home? I used to work one-on-one with a tutor because I was too smart for the schools. Thing is, the tutor would come over in the morning and drop off assignments, and then my mother expected me to stay inside and work on them for the rest of the day. So I could sometimes go for days without talking to another person. I started studying all these languages because it let me connect with all these other cultures, but when you don't get to talk to real people, you don't really know how to communicate. I'm still learning that myself."

[intraspective]

Ino was... was the kind of girl that had never had a problem with communication. And, furthermore, she liked people and socializing and hanging out with friends. What Hoshi was describing, well, sounded rather horrifying from her perspective.

"Days," Ino repeated, "without talking to another person." Pause. "What's the point in studying languages in that situation? It's not like you're using them."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"That's the argument someone used on my parents to get them to send me here," said Hoshi. "Plus there's a lot more to communication than words alone and you don't get to learn that when you don't get to interact with people. Sometimes it feels like the classes here are too easy for me, but actually living in Fandom is teaching me things that I never would have learned at home."

[intraspective]

Her lips twitched slightly, almost a smile. "Like how 'friends' doesn't always mean just that?"

... that was mean, right? Ino didn't apologize, she didn't often, but her next words were lighter.

"Did you know Michael is currently green?" Oh-so-innocently. She'd never promised Michael that she wouldn't tell anyone.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Like that," agreed Hoshi. "When it comes down to it, though, I'd like to be your friend too, even if that means staying away from Michael." She was sincere, and if Ino was being mean, Hoshi didn't realize it.

"Green? Really?" asked Hoshi.

[intraspective]

There was a bit of mental facepalming from Ino even though she was, in a way, glad that Hoshi didn't, hadn't, noticed what she'd said as being mean. "I," she tugged at her bangs, "ugh, that's not what I meant. It's just, well, we're not-dating, but there's an interest right? So, if you're his friend that's fine with me--he needs more friends, really--but, I guess I'm just asking, that if you want anything more than that, um, let me try and make up my mind first?" That sounded bad, right? Selfish. "Or, let it be Michael's choice to decide which way he wants to go. Because I totally don't control him or anything."

"Green as grass," she said, "his skin is, that is. Really. I saw him earlier."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"That works for me," said Hoshi. "I'm not really sure that I'm ready to actually date someone yet."

Of course, Hoshi's had her own experiences with being green, but those involved body paint that washed off. "What happened? I take it that this isn't a voluntary thing."

[intraspective]

"Still need more communication practice? Or just not interested?" She was, actually, interested.

"Apparently Liir's green too? And Michael tried to help him and I guess the colour transfered or something. By accident."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I think more practice is in order," said Hoshi. "The more I talk to boys or talk to other people about boys, the more I get confused by them."

She smiled. "I wonder if he'll still be green in class on Thursday. Isabel once changed the color of a sweater for me and I guess he thought he could do the same thing."

[intraspective]

"Boys," Ino said dryly, "are complicated. But I wouldn't want to do without them. Boys, definitely, are worth the effort of trying to understand them."

"I will laugh if he's green for that long," she declared, "but only because I care, and because it's funny. Maybe it's because Fandom whacky had something to do with Liir's colour change that he couldn't fix it?" That seemed as likely a reason as any. "I mean, a sweater is natural, so maybe..."

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I'll take your word for it," said Hoshi. If Ino had two guys that she couldn't let go of, then maybe there was something special about them.

"I've had too many experiences with Fandom weirdness," groaned Hoshi. "I got attacked by a vampire, spent one weekend as an adult version of me, then spent another weekend as a totally twisted version of me."

[intraspective]

Or maybe Ino had a possessive streak a mile wide and got attached to people easily. Not that they weren't special, but Ino did have a tendency to collect people.

"You don't like the weirdness?" Ino grinned. "It's fun, even with the freaking out afterwards. Did you get hit by 'lose your memory' weekend as well? I got that one, and the adult version--that one was fun--but I haven't been hit with anything like being a really twisted version of myself."

Ino didn't count the adult!her to be a fair description of 'twisted', from what she could remember all the decisions had come about in a way that made sense to her.

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I had the memory one too. I nearly attacked my roommate with a stapler," said Hoshi, chuckling at the memory. "But the twisted version of me was bad. I cut off the bottom five inches of all my t-shirts, participated in some very indecent dancing with a boy, drank a whole bottle of tequila and pierced my own belly button."

[intraspective]

Ino didn't think Hoshi's twisted version sounded all that bad. Short shirts? Sure! And indecent dancing could be fun with certain boys.

... considering what the waltz with Kabuto had turned into... yeah. Indecent dancing was good with her.

"A whole bottle?" That did startle her. "Isn't that stuff, like, really strong? Wow. And they gave you a piercing! Did you keep it?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"I would have liked to keep it, but it got infected and really started to hurt," said Hoshi. "One of the doctors at the clinic had to take it out."

[intraspective]

"Ow." Ino winced. "That's a good reason to take it out, I guess. If you liked it though, how come you haven't gotten another?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Ronan and I were just talking about that last week. I'm going to go to a place on the mainland to get it done, eventually. He's going to go with me and some other people," said Hoshi.

[intraspective]

She nodded. "Sounds like fun. It's probably good to have someone with you who knows what they're doing, right?"

[itsjustlanguage.livejournal.com]

"Plus it won't get infected that way," said Hoshi. "I'll let you know when I'm going, if you'd like to come with me. I should be going now, though. Annette came by to see me after class, and then there was the first Martial Arts Club meeting today, so I still have homework to finish."

[intraspective]

"I'll think about it," Ino promised, "depends on what else I've got going on though, but yes, tell me please."

She looked rueful. "I should probably do some work too, anyway, not homework though. Just other things. I'll see you around Hoshi."