Room 504, Friday Afternoon

[intraspective]

It was probably a teensy bit rude how loud she had her music up—especially as Japanese pop was a bit of an acquired taste—in the morning, but Ino wasn’t really inclined to turn it down. (Unless asked. Or someone called her. Or... something.)

She’d left her door wide open and was sprawled on her stomach on her floor rug, going through her notebooks while absently practicing the mental shield work her father had set her to studying.

One page of notes and her shields were unraveling. Another page and she was pulling them back up. Down again, up again. Until it was like breathing. Ino frowned at her notes, having to stop and take a moment when her shields tangled over each other. Sigh. She smoothed them over and began again.

Okay, eventually it would be like breathing. Right now it was a bit too much of a stutter-stop sort of process than anything quick. She rubbed her eyes and rolled onto her back.

Maybe she’d take a break for a bit. Even if it was good training.

[Ooopen door, open post.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

Bod lived two doors down, had nothing to do and didn't want to be in his room. It was a fairly easy choice to stop at Ino's door as he passed, catching sight of her on the floor.

"This is an awfully loud study environment," he said, hopefully loud enough to be heard over her music.

[intraspective]

Definitely loud enough!

She blinked up at him, mind finishing her latest set, and wrinkled her nose at him cheerfully.

"Is that a request to turn it down?" she asked lightly, leaning over to twitch the volume down a little anyway.

[therewaslife]

"Not at all," said Bod, shaking his head and leaning against the frame of the door. "I'd ask you to turn it down if it bothered me but it doesn't. I'm not the one studying, after all."

[intraspective]

"It's useful," she explained. "Because it blocks out noise."

A beat.

"You can come in! Wanna sit or somethin'?"

[therewaslife]

"It blocks out the noise?" asked Bod, raising an eyebrow even while stepping inside the room and taking a seat on the floor near her. "It seems like it's creating noise."

[intraspective]

"It does!" she insisted, grinning a bit. "'Cause it's familiar noise, if that makes sense? I know how the songs go so I can ignore them easy when I'm concentrating."

[therewaslife]

"That makes more sense," Bod said, nodding. "My first thought was that there was some other noise in your room that I can't hear because of the music. Then, I was going to question how you sleep with all the various noises."

[intraspective]

"Nah," she laughed, "all my plants don't make much noise, really. Not unless I've got the window open and they're all rustling, you know? But--it's more for any sort of incidental noise out in the hall and stuff in this case."

[therewaslife]

"Understandable," he agreed, nodding. "People can be loud when they want to be. I'm very used to a quiet graveyard so even the smallest noises catch my attention. I'm just lucky I can focus pretty well so I don't go completely off the rails when it's loud."

[intraspective]

"I like noise," she confessed. "But not when I'm working--I can totally see how it'd be a big shock for you, though, just everyday sorts of things."

Ino lifted one shoulder a bit sheepishly. "If I'm not focused on something, though, then if there's no radio or nothing I tend to sing anyway."

Lucky for everyone that she had a rather nice singing voice, yes.

[therewaslife]

"You sing?" asked Bod, letting a smile appear on his face. "I don't sing at all. How often do you find yourself singing?"

[icecoldfrost]

"What do you think you're doing?" Emma asked, leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed. She'd just gotten back from the mainland, and Ino was lit up like a disco ball on Emma's astral plane. "Could you be any louder?"

[intraspective]

Ino's head tilted up. "What? The music?"

See? She could be nice, she was leaning over to turn it down.

Besides, Ino really could be louder with that.

[icecoldfrost]

"Not the music," Emma said, making a face. "You. Up down up down... you're making me dizzy."

[intraspective]

"Dizzy?"

Up and down. Ino’s fingers stilled on her notebook. "You can feel that?" she asked, dismayed.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma wriggled her fingers at the other girl. "Telepath, darling," she answered cheerfully. "I know all, I see all, I hear all."

"I thought the entire school knew that by now."

[intraspective]

"I don't pay much attention to talk 'bout mind powers," she said, pulling her shields up further and strengthening them as best she could. "Tends to lead to people sayin' things I don't care for."

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh god, did Jeannie give you her 'our powers are dangerous' lecture?" Emma asked, looking as if she'd swallowed something sour. "I swear, one of those gung-ho reservist-types waving a sword is more of an immediate menace to life and limb than I am."

[intraspective]

"Gung-ho reservist type here," she noted, waving one hand and not particularly offended at that. "Ish. I mostly go 'cause it's amusing."

What? It was true.

"But no, not that lecture. I get the 'you'd better watch you don't step out of line' lecture and nicely horrified looks if what I do comes up. 'Cause how dare I like having my 'non-fun and creepy' powers. I get tired of dealing with that."

And so she hid, instead. Easier.

[icecoldfrost]

"Telepathy is plenty of fun, so long as half the dorm isn't caught up in an emo-storm," she stated firmly. "Or that week where everyone's hormones were out of control. That was not-fun."

"If it's the mind-blind that thinks it's creepy, well, they can't understand. They don't see things like we do. Other people with powers? Have no room to judge either."

[intraspective]

"No room," she echoed, "but they still do. Invasion of privacy, you know? Creeps people out more than flying or healing or seeing things."

Ino shrugged a bit awkwardly--she wasn't used to straight out talk about her powers. This was... weird.

"It's no big deal if they don't know." A quick smile. "I'm pretty good at lying. And you've seen some of what else I can do--they like that better." Healing, for one.

[icecoldfrost]

"Privacy is an illusion best shattered before they find themselves dealing with the real world," Emma replied venomously. "There's squirrels that spread gossip about everything, and yet we're the ones invading privacy? Please."

"Besides, maybe if they bothered to learn to shield better, they wouldn't have to worry about 'people like us.'"

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Suddenly there was a small green fuzzy kid dancing his heart out in front of her door.

[intraspective]

Ino raised one eyebrow, amused, and turned the music up just a tad for him to dance to.

She certainly wasn't going to tell him to stop after all.

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was actually a pretty good dancer. Very flexible. Though at first some of his moves might look like flailing. He didn't understand what the people were saying, but he liked the music.