Second Floor Common Room [Late Morning]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

After his first class, Ned had come back to the dorms without much in mind as to what to do to pass the time until his class later in the day.

After talking himself into and out of it several times, he'd finally gathered up some things he'd purchased over the weekend and trundled everything down the hall to the common room. It was empty for the time being.

Before he could talk himself out of it once more, he started baking for the first time in years. A pie, of course. A simple apple pie but it felt good to be baking again. It'd been awhile.

[Open CR is open. He'll share, of course.]

Comments

[intraspective]

That did, in fact, get a snicker. Though she did wish that he'd stop being so... nervous. Yeah. Confidence, confidence!

"...I've never heard of a gremlin doing much more than making people act really odd." A beat. "Unless you're talking 'bout gremlins from your world?"

Which, hey, was possible.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I'm from here," he said, using a finger to point at the ground. "Well, not from this common room. Earth, I mean. This planet. I'm not from space or from another time. Just Earth. And I've never seen...a snake let alone a gremlin."

[intraspective]

She nodded. "Just checking! I'm from another universe entirely," Ino told him cheerfully. "It's apparently like Feudal Japan only with TV and radio."

A beat.

"And I've got a snake in my room if you'd rather meet that than a gremlin." She'd just, like, keep Kusanagi in his terrarium. Because Kusanagi was mean.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Another universe so...space?" Ned asked, trying to keep the different universes and times and galaxies and planets separate in his head. "As long as neither of them bit me, I wouldn't be too..." Well, yes he would. "As long as he didn't bite me."

[intraspective]

"No space," Ino said, "it's just that my world has no connection whatsoever to this world it's not in the past to it, or the future to it, so it's a completely different universe rather than a different timeline."

"I'd keep him in his terrarium," she assured him quickly. "I wouldn't let him out 'less the person I was doing it for knew how to handle snakes. He's not much of a biter though, really, since he's a constrictor but I totally won't be letting him out."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

Ned blinked and tried to make his very slow brain process all that. "Oh." He really wished he had better reactions to the different things people told him.

"He doesn't bite?" Well, that made him a little less anxious about her snake now. At least he wouldn't have to keep anti venom on hand. "No teeth or just no taste for that thing?"

[intraspective]

It was really quite easy once you got used to it!

That got a quirked grin. "Oh, he'll try to bite. But since I won't be letting him out he'll probably just flick his tongue at us and look grumpy." A beat. "Kusanagi is always grumpy."

"He's definitely not poisonous though, no way."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Not poisonous is good," Ned said and, finished placing the top on the pie, slid it into the oven before wiping his hands off on a nearby towel. "I have a dog. He's back in the room. He's not poisonous either."

[intraspective]

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he'd ever met a dog that was poisonous, but she didn't.

Ino was... just going to hope not. Though maybe she'd mention it to Hinata, to mention to Kiba, to see if there was any chance of that happening.

"What kind of dog?" she asked curiously. "What's his name?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Golden retriever," Ned said, smiling for once. "His name's Digby. He likes to sleep and eat and sleep some more."

[intraspective]

"Awwwwww," Ino said, grinning a bit. "He sounds sweet. Can I meet him sometime?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Sure," Ned said, smiling wider. "He's better at meeting new people than I am. Loves the attention."

And Ned was secretly grateful that people around here were dog lovers since he himself couldn't give Digby too much attention.

[intraspective]

Awwwww.

"I'll totally give him lots," Ino said, with a little nod. "But seriously? You're not doing too bad."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Thanks," Ned said, wiping his hands off and half smiling. "I'm not used to this type of place, environment. It's different."

[intraspective]

"Too many people?" Ino guessed. "Or the whole school-thing?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"First one," Ned said, nodding. "Not used to crowds."

[intraspective]

Ino was, still, somewhat stymied at the amount of people here that weren't used to crowds. It baffled her, the girl who'd never ever had a problem with people.

"Well," she said lightly. "Getting better at it? You've been here since the start of term, right? Everyone been nice?"

And if they hadn't been, Ino might just have to go and Have Words with them. Because Ino was like that.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Everyone's been nice," he assured her with a nod. "I guess I've been lucky. I haven't met anyone really with a mean streak."

[intraspective]

"There's not too many of those 'round here," she assured him. "I mean, you've got personality conflicts all over the place but when push comes to shove most people here are pretty nice and helpful."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Which is good," Ned said, tucking his hands under his arms. "I've met too many people who just liked being mean."

[intraspective]

Awwww.

He was a bit like a puppy really. "Anyone tries that here, you tell me, okay?" Ino said. "I'm up in 504, and I'll totally take care of anyone who tries to bother you."

If she was being impulsive... well, Ino. She did mean it though.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You won't get hurt yourself, right?" Ned asked, a little concerned.

[intraspective]

There was a good possiblity of hurtage all things considered but...

"Nah," she said confidently. "I'm a ninja. I can totally handle it."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You're a ninja?" Ned asked, only looking shocked because he thought they only existed in movies. "Wow, really?"

[intraspective]

That got a grin. "Totally really," she nodded. "On active duty for the last two years, started training when I was five."

Well, officially training since she was five. Dad had taught her a few things before that.