intraspective | Room 504, Saturday Late Morning

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Room 504, Saturday Late Morning

When she got back to her room after spending the night across the hall, well, it was a good thing she was in a good mood.

Because Angel had somehow gotten into her hair elastics again. "How did you do that?" Ino wondered, kneeling down to pet Angel. "I'm pretty sure I put those away in a drawer specifically so you couldn't get them."

Angel purred.

"That's not helpful."

[Door open a smidgen, post is totally open!]

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When Jeff knocked on Ino's door, he was smelling quite distinctly of dead things from the ocean. "Are there any fish?" he asked, sounding a little scared.

...

...

"Fish?" Ino asked dubiously, wrinkling her nose at the smell.

"I had a fish rain on my bed this morning," Jeff clarified, pushing the door open a crack further. "Karal's cat ate them all."

"Fish rained on your bed." Ino just sorta stared. "How do these things happen to you, Jeff?"

Angel, on the other hand, went to investigate the door. And the fishy smells.

"I don't know," Jeff provided, mournfully, "It just sort of does." He slipped into the room.

She tried not to giggle, since he seemed so mournful about it, but it was hard to resist. "Maybe Fandom has a crush on you?" she suggested. "And showering you with strangeness is the only way it can find to properly express its feelings."

Oh. That was a mildly terrifying idea. Jeff came to a stop, freezing up mildly. "...Do you think so? If it does, I have to tell Turtle, she gets a bit jealous of things, she might want to kick something... I should've saved a fish."

Ino would like to see Turtle try and kick Fandom itself. That'd be funny. "It might," Ino said mock-solemnly, "I mean, you never really can tell around here. And no. You shouldn't have saved a fish. That'd reek."

"She might've liked to kick it," Jeff mumbled, "She really enjoyed kicking the mooses this weekend and when are they getting back?" Not the most subtle of segues, no.

Ino blinked a bit. Kicking moose? "Um. Some time tomorrow I think? Maybe? I don't really know. Why was she kicking moose?"

"Someone covered her room in glitter but she's above pranking so she figured she'd kick a moose," Jeff explained easily, like it was the most simple thing in the world.

"So instead of pranking the person back, which would make sense, she goes out and hurts something that didn't have anything to do with it?" Ino frowned a little. "That doesn't make any sense at all."

That was a good question. "She's civilised," Jeff established, completely ignorant of this fact, "Rather be the mooses than a fellow student. They bite."

"The mooses or the students?" Ino asked. "And it's not civilized at all to go and kick innocent things. It's mean."

"The mooses," Jeff offered. "They're really big."

"Doesn't mean you should kick them though, even if they are big and bite," Ino pointed out, "not when they were just minding their moosey business or whatever."

"You try having a girlfriend who kicks really hard," Jeff said, looking her right in the face.

The actual face. "It's good she's learning to redirect her anger. I wouldn't want her to just go around kicking people 'cos they glittered something, they might get mad."

"I hav--well, had, a boyfriend that would mess with my nervous system," Ino said, "so really, not a big deal. Maybe she could redirect her anger to something less... alive? How 'bout a punching bag or something?"

Mindful of not spending hours at a time in one position, Karal made himself leave his desk and go for a walk.

A walk that took him past Ino's room, which brought his idea from last week to the forefront of his mind.

Tentatively, he knocked on her door. "Ino, are you busy?"

Ino glanced up from a notebook and smiled. "Come on in," she said cheerfully. "I'm not doing anything that can't be interrupted."

"Thank you." Karal gave her a quick smile as he came in. "I am actually here to ask you for help."

She blinked at him. "Help? What kind of help?"

If he looked around the room he'd notice far more plants than really should be in any one dorm room. Ino had a bit of a Thing with plants. So did Anathema though, so it all worked out.

He did notice, and he waved a hand at them. "Plant help. You are the only person I know who knows anything about plants, and I," he looked down at his feet, a (really quite dopey) smile appearing, "I wanted to give one to Evey for her room. I thought you might be able to help me find one?"

"Well," Ino grinned, "I can definitely help with that. But first you've totally got to tell me who Evey is." Because the smile he got was really quite adorable.

Karal's smile was blinding, an odd mix of shy and proud. "Evey is my girlfriend."

She laughed brightly. "You're so cute," Ino said, "you look just crazy about her."

He blushed. "I suspect I might be," he admitted, sounding nothing but pleased by the prospect. "She wanted something bright to give her room some life, and I thought a plant might do both those things."

"That's incredibly sweet of you. Way sweeter than Jeff's reason for wanting a plant... Do you know if she's had plants before?" Ino asked, "Because some are easier to take care of than others."

"I'm not sure, but she's very smart and very responsible. So long as it doesn't require magic to keep alive, I'm sure she'll be able to." He might be a bit biased, yes. "If there was something maybe with a flower, or some bright colours?"

He paused, as the rest of what Ino had said percolated through the happy haze talking about Evey always caused. "I'm afraid to ask why Jeff wanted a plant."

Ino tapped her pen against her cheek, mentally cataloguing her plants. "I've probably got something that fits the bill," she assured him. "Just give me a bit to think."

"Mostly 'cause he was lonely. So he wanted a person-sized plant to keep him company. I found him talking to it yesterday."

"Poor Jeff," he said, feeling extremely sorry for him, even if he had been responsible for dragging Karal into a locker. "Do you want me to go away so you can think?"

"I kept him company for a bit yesterday, and then he came by earlier as well, so I should hope that he's not all that lonely. The only day I haven't seen him this week was Thursday." Ino said almost absently. Then she blinked at him. "Oh? Ah. No. Talk about something, whatever, I don't mind, really. Distractions are helpful when I'm trying to think."

"Apparently, there was a rain of fish in his room this morning," he said helpfully. Jeff was practically made for distractions. "He seemed very confused about it, even more so than usual. I don't know whether they were alive or not."

"He definitely smelled like they'd been dead a bit," Ino admitted. "I love him but he's confusing like crazy."

"Hmmmm," she got up and headed for a few of her plants, holding them up to show him. "What about something like this? Or maybe this one? Though this one is nice too."

Karal looked at each one carefully, but his eyes lit up at the last. "That's the one," he said, pointing at it. "Glory, that is perfect!"

Bright and strong and vibrant, and incredibly unique -- it reminded him of Evey.

She grinned at him, offering him the plant. "It's a bird of paradise flower," Ino told him with a smile. "After the bird they're said to resemble."

He accepted it almost reverently, wrapping his arms around the pot. "It is amazing, Ino," he said quietly. "Are you sure you can bear to part with it? And you must let me give you something for it!"

"You don't owe me anything," Ino insisted, "really. Not a problem." She smiled though. "And I'll be good without it, honest."

She had many more plants after all.

He looked uncertainly between her and the plant. "You're sure?"

Her smiled was genuine. "Totally sure."

"Thank you." It was heartfelt, and he might have hugged the pot slightly. "I'll let you know how she likes it."

"Just have it be well taken care of," Ino said, relieved he wasn't going to push the whole payment thing, "and I'll be more than happy. I look forward to knowing what she thinks."

Ino tended to do badly when people thanked her for things. It made her uncomfortable.

"I will, I promise." One of the flowers was tickling his nose, and he gently pushed it aside. "And it is dreadfully rude to visit, take your plant, and then run away, but I'm going to have to," he said apologetically. "But if you wanted to come by for tea sometime, you'd be more than welcome."

That earned him a bubbling laugh. "I don't mind, really," Ino assured him, "and I'll make sure to do that. Go on, take your plant and see what Evey's got to say about it."

He blushed again, but gave her a huge grin. "I will. Thank you again, Ino!" he called as he disappeared out the door.

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Room 504, Saturday Late Morning

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