In Front of the Dorms, Friday Mid-Morning

[intraspective]

After class Ino wandered outside to sit on the lawn, and settled down to try and think of a way to write to her dad and tell him she really didn't want him to come for Parents Weekend. Sure, she wanted him to find out about the Yondaime but... other things? Not so much.

Judging from the tone of his letters Ino doubted she'd have much luck. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd be sent out on a mission?

She also kept getting distracted by the group of wee knights who were plotting to take over the steps. At least, that's what she guessed they were planning from the amount of arm waving and pointing that was going on.

[Open!]

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[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

A kunai sharpened stick embedded itself in the ground near Ino, a piece of paper tied to the end of it. It looked almost like a marker-flag, or something of the sort; unless, of course, one looked closer.

It also helped if one knew what the symbols on exploding tags looked like. But the fire that suddenly began smoldering ominously at one edge of the paper was pretty obviously a Bad Sign.

[intraspective]

Ino stared at the stick, and the explosive tag, slightly incredulous, for all of three seconds before self-preservation had her scrambling out of the way.

The tag went off as she got out of range and Ino surveyed the damage with her hands on her hips. The knights were advancing on the spot with shields raised and swords drawn.

There was only one person she knew at Fandom who'd randomly fling an explosive note at her. Ino's eyes narrowed. Somehow, she'd get Kabuto back for this.

"He's such a jerk." She muttered vehemently.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

It really was just a small explosion. Kabuto was perfecting the art of controlling the exact size and range.

He jumped from the top of the building and landed lightly by Ino. "Busy day?" he asked pleasantly.

[intraspective]

Ino was pleased that she only took half a step backwards before getting a hold of herself and making a face at him. "You threw that at me on purpose."

The knights had, by now, spread out and had the area surrounded. Ino couldn't help but wonder what they were making of it.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto smiled, looking innocent. "Threw what?"

[intraspective]

Ino gave him her best how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am? look.

"Somebody threw an explosive tag at me." Her expression made it perfectly clear who she was blaming.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"Huh. I wonder why someone would do that..." Kabuto frowned slightly, looking at the burnt patch of ground. "You don't have any enemies, do you?"

[intraspective]

"Well, gee, I wonder who it could be?" Ino huffed, "Considering that Yondaime-sama wouldn't have done it, and Haku-san didn't seem the type, and I couldn't fling one at myself... well, I guess that just leave you."

Then she tried to elbow him in the stomach.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto let her; the better to keep up the innocent pretense. "Oof! That's not very nice. What did I ever do to you?"

[intraspective]

"Like that's going to fool me." Ino crossed her arms and glowered at him, "The stick? Came from the roof. Which is where you came from."

You know what? It was nice to be able to hit him sometimes. Yeees.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"No, I came from my room," Kabuto said. Which was a blatant lie.

If he let her land a hit every now and again, there was a better chance of her underestimating him. Nothing wrong with that.

[intraspective]

Ino waved one hand dismissively, "Whatever. I know the truth, and you are totally lying."

"And how can you make and use explosive tags here when they take our weapons away?" Ino was curious about the answer.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"I don't have them pre-made," Kabuto replied with a shrug. "And they're never anything terribly dangerous. I have a feeling if I tried to do anything really big, it wouldn't work." He grinned. "But I don't want to blow up the school. That's been done before."

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

Evie had followed a crusade of knights from the lunch room outside, and had to stop as they took a moment to dedicate their quest to their king. Little flags were waving, horns playing, and they saluted in formation before marching off.

Giggling, she approached Ino. "Hello! Isn't this amusing?"

[intraspective]

"Evie! Hello!" Ino looked up with a smile, "The knights are adorable, though I might change my mind if they try and attack me."

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

A small wing of them broke off to charge the sidewalk, and then stopped to claim in the name of whoever, planting a little flag in between the concrete spaces. Evie flopped down next to Ino, still smiling. "The penguins and bunnies were equally cute when they showed up, but they weren't quite this active. How has your week been?"

[intraspective]

"It's been..." Ino wrinkled her nose, despite the smile still on her face, "an experience." Not that it was all bad or anything, but still.

"How about you? Anything fun?" She watched as the little delegation moved onward, "What do you think they're saying?"

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

"Possibly they're going to attack those others?" Evie said, watching them huddle together and point at the knights claiming the sidewalk. "Oh, dear. I do hope no one gets hurt.... It's been rather quiet this week. I've been studying my Mayan and Egyptian again, and looking forward to Parent's Weekend next week." Evie smiled a little gleefully. "My brother is coming!"

[intraspective]

"They seem well equipped to handle it." Ino said watching as the other group of knights took notice and huddled together with some frantic arm waving. "Though I suppose we can step in if it gets out of hand."

"That's good! Does he know about Fandom?" Ino asked, ducking her head and frowning slightly. She didn't want to think about Parent's Weekend.

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

"Well, yes. In the sense that he was here last year. And I tell him things. I don't think he believes me, most of the time. But then, he was mostly interested in drinking and gambling that weekend." She sighed. "He needs a rest, so I'll be quite glad if he can find a way to entertain himself here."

[intraspective]

Ino's smile this time was more genuine, and there might have been a bit of a laugh in her voice, "Hopefully he spent time with you though? Be pretty rude if he didn't." She flicked a bit of grass in the direction of the knights just to see if they'd do anything entertaining. "Though... I'm not sure if I'd call being here as 'restful'."

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

Two of the knights decided that it was time to attack because of this, and proceeded to shoot teeny-tiny arrows at Evie's and Ino's shoes. "Oh, do stop that." Evie shook her finger at them. "Shame on you! It was only grass." She sighed. "Jonathan's been in a war zone for the last nine months. He's long overdue for a rest. So... you can see why even *this* place would be preferable." She smiled a little. "The War is due to end soon, though. Then he can go home."

[intraspective]

The little arrows only made Ino grin and tuck her feet under her legs. She picked up a few of them and gently lobbed them back. Hey, she didn't want them to go to waste.

"I can understand that then." Ino nodded, "Invasions by tiny little knights would definitely be preferrable to a war," she looked thoughtful, "Do you know it's going to end soon because of news from home? Or from the history books here?"

[bookyeve.livejournal.com]

The tiny arrows didn't even penetrate Evie's shoes. The knight's shook fists at them, then got into a rather ominous huddle, shooting glances over at the two girls.

"The history books. The battles where he is are due to be over by Christmas, although the War itself goes on for another five or six months." Evie sighed. "It's why I'm here, actually. My parents were worried about bombings, and wanted one of their children to be safe. Jonathan's been determinedly upbeat, but I think he's had a rather worse time of it than he's admitted to me." She shook her head. "I'm just rather relieved my parents won't be coming-- they *don't* know about this place, and all the strangeness. They'd take me out immediately if they did."

[intraspective]

"War is, I guess... hard to explain if you aren't there." Ino said while watching the knights plot, "I mean, I've never actually been in one - it's been a fairly peaceful decade back home - but we learn about it, and all of our parents have lived through at least one. Two for most of them."

Ino shook her head, "At least you know it'll work out alright in your case! And yeah, I understand about the parents. My Dad sent me here, but he'd pull me out if he got wind of some of what I've been doing."