Land Shark Living Room, Sunday Evening

[intraspective]

... Land Shark, Ino decided as she found herself a bottle of water and some chips and flopped down on the couch, was an okay cabin name.

She wasn't quite sure what it was but that was alright. Guessing from the rest of the cabins, Ino was figuring on some sort of monster but—well. Maybe the shark their cabin was named after was magic? Which was why it could go on land? Did it even matter?

Probably not, so long as it didn't attack them because they'd used its name.

It was something to idly consider anyway as she pulled her feet up under her and pulled out one of her notebooks as she made herself comfortable in her home away from the dorms for the next few weeks.

Besides, the living room was way better for checking out how many of her cabinmates would be social. She liked social!

[Open for fellow land sharks and visitors, yo!]

Comments

[angelo_wings]

Rinoa had packed away her things in A4 -- a few of them, at least. Most she had left back in her dorm room.

Angelo, naturally, had come along, and was now sniffing the many fascinating and interesting things to smell in this new cabin. She barked any time she found something of interest.

Rinoa frowned at the rain outside. "We should do something," she decided. "Cards? I have a Triple Triad deck, and regular playing cards, too."

No pinochle deck. Someone had tried to explain it to her, once, and failed horribly.

[intraspective]

"What's Triple Triad?" Ino asked curiously, looking up from her notebook. "And hi, Rinoa."

[angelo_wings]

"You've never played?" Rinoa asked, glancing at the other girl with a quick smile. "You need a three-by-three mat and a starter deck. Cards have a number for each side; if you lay a card next to another one, and your number on that edge is higher than the previous one, you 'flip' it to being yours. Winner gets to pick a card from the loser's hand and keep it."

She shrugged. "My deck is still pretty small. Some people have enormous decks."

[intraspective]

"Hunh," she hummed thoughtfully. "Don't think I've ever even heard of it, honestly. Maybe it's not big here? Is it popular where you were? It sounds simple enough, but..."

[angelo_wings]

"It varies," she shrugged. "Most students at Garden play, but other places, it's more hit-or-miss. The real problem is that every place you go has come up with its own home rules, which are a complete headache to remember."

Especially when so many of the rules were so downright frustrating.

"I can teach you some time, if you're bored, but if you've got no one to play with, it's kind of pointless."

[intraspective]

"I think I'm good," she replied. "I don't tend to play cards much--I'd rather read if I'm going to be time killing."

A beat.

"How're you doing, anyway? Got any issues with the cabins?"

[angelo_wings]

"I love reading," Rinoa beamed. "What kind of books do you like? The only drawback is that it's not very social, unless you're willing to put the book down and talk to people every five minutes."

In which case, why read at all?

"I don't mind the cabins." She lifted her shoulders easily. "Although I hope no one is allergic to dogs, here."

Keeping Angelo elsewhere was not an option.

[intraspective]

"Talking is better for passing the time," she pointed out lightly. "So putting things down isn't a problem in that case, 'least right now. I'd be hiding in my alcove if I didn't want to talk."

Ino hummed thoughtfully. "I don't know 'bout allergies, but I doubt anyone without 'em will have issues. If there's a problem that way, maybe they can trade cabins with someone else?"

[angelo_wings]

"I hope so," Rinoa said, setting her chin stubbornly. "Angelo's here, and she's not going anywhere else. If someone doesn't like it, that's their problem, not mine."

Obviously. Totally considerate of her cabinmates, right there.

"I don't mind talking, but sometimes you just run out of things to say," she added.

[intraspective]

"Hope you haven't after a few minutes of talkin' though," she said dryly. "Be a bit sad considerin' I had you pegged as a talkative one."

[angelo_wings]

"I am," she laughed. "So long as I have help. Sometimes, the other person is just silent and silent and silent until you want to scream!"

Exhibit A: Squall.

"And then you go, fine, I didn't want to talk anyway, and they don't know why you've stopped talking."

[intraspective]

Ino's grin was rueful. She'd done that before, yes. "Or you wind up losing your temper at them and they get pissed 'cause you're pissed and then you wind up stomping off 'cause they're the ones at fault, totally."

[angelo_wings]

"Boys," Rinoa said with a mock-wistful sigh. "If they're going to be so frustrating, they have no business being so cute."

[furnaceface]

//Ah, it's you,// Jono greeted, so very pleasantly from the seat he'd claimed. //Welcome to the cabin of estrogen and me, luv. Know any good games on that regular deck?//

Because he had no idea what Triple Triad was, either.

[angelo_wings]

"Hello again," she said. "I guess this means no cabin make-overs or sleepovers? Unless you're into that kind of thing."

Or could be dragged into it kicking and screaming.

"Hearts, Spades, Gin, Rummy ... I'm not any good at poker, but that's because I'm a bad bluffer. I've never gotten the hang of bidding right in Bridge, which usually upsets whoever I'm playing with. Do any of those count as 'good'?"

[furnaceface]

//They count as card games,// Jono decided. //Which is good enough for me. Hearts is simple enough, if we were to start a game and then have to deal newcomers in.//

Even if he was a little disappointed that she was no good at poker. He had an excellent poker face.

//And I'm not opposed to sleepovers, but so help me, if I can't sleep at night for all of th'giggling, I'll be forced to take drastic measures.//

[angelo_wings]

"We'd need more than two for Hearts," Rinoa said, looking around. "Perhaps we could pull Ino in. That reminds me, you're formally invited to join the club we mean to be starting. Yes to Nos."

Jono meant he qualified. Didn't he feel lucky?

"Drastic measures like ... wearing ear plugs?"

[furnaceface]

//And sulking,// Jono confirmed. //I'm outnumbered six or seven to one, and I'm not bloody crazy, luv.//

Which promised to make this into a very interesting summer, indeed, didn't it?

//... Mind tellin' me more about that club, perhaps?//

[angelo_wings]

"You have 'no' in your name," Rinoa said. "So do I, and so does Ino. We're starting a club."

No, seriously, that was all there was to it. That, and boredom.

Said club was never going to happen, but it was fun to discuss anyway.

"You don't need to wear ear plugs or sulk if you join us for Truth or Dare," she suggested. "And toenail-painting and I Never."

[furnaceface]

Well, if it was about having a 'no' in his name, Jono wouldn't complain about membership. It sounded adequately contrary, for his tastes.

//I would perhaps contemplate joining th'lot of yer just so long as my toenails are left out of this,// he allowed. //Now, what th'hell is I Never?//

[angelo_wings]

"You've never played I never?" Rinoa asked. "That should be a first round question, 'I never played I Never before.' It's a drinking game. Someone announces something they've never done before, and if you have, you have to take a drink."

[furnaceface]

//Ah.//

Sigh. Or, rather, a complete lack of one. Naturally.

//Sounds like an interesting game,// he replied, picking a vague, somewhat disjointed ditty on the strings of his guitar. //I'm not really much of a drinker, though.//

[angelo_wings]

"So do something else, instead," she suggested. "The point of the game isn't the drinking. It's making people admit embarrassing things in public. Drink water, or --"

Right, not much of a drinker, because he couldn't talk, and not that he was a recovering alcoholic. She cleared her throat and continued as if she hadn't missed that beat.

"-- or sneeze or strum a chord on your guitar. Or ask really embarrassing questions once everyone else is too tipsy to be discreet."

[furnaceface]

He couldn't sneeze either, but he didn't feel it was mandatory to point that out at the moment, really.

//Now that sounds like an option,// he replied, pointing her way at the last suggestion. //It isn't as though they'll know I haven't done those things if I don't immediately reach for th'bottle, anyhow.//

He'd be the most experienced individual in the cabin by virtue of the fact that he had no mouth.

[angelo_wings]

"Nothing's really stopping people from lying," Rinoa said, "except that it's kind of against the whole spirit of the game. I'm surprised no one's ever been blackmailed over I Never."

It didn't help that admitting something to a group made for bad blackmail material, as it was already semi-public.

"Are drunk people any fun to watch?"