5th Floor CR, Monday Morning

[withoutverona]

Romeo was up far too early for the start of two weeks off, fortified by a cheesy talk show and a pile of chocolate coins gathered on a brief but chilly trip to the deck. (And Romeo wasn't sure exactly when food falling from the sky had become normal, but it had.)

Next on Jerry Springer, elves with Santa fetishes, the announcer blared, sounding almost ashamed of himself.

"At least it's seasonal," Romeo told no one in particular as he unwrapped another chocolate.

{OOC: Open like a CR, yep.]

Comments

[withoutverona]

"And you've been here longer than I have," Romeo protested. "Fandom is unfair."

[intraspective]

"Fandom rocks with that unfairness," Ino said, giggling. "As I've guesses what I'll be and I'd rather not."

[withoutverona]

"It can't be worse than a rodent," Romeo pointed out. "Unless it's some kind of insect, in which case, you'd be lucky not to be stepped on before Fandom turned you back."

[intraspective]

"It's more that it'd be ridiculously not funny, in my opinion," she explained. "Because it's a rather easy leap in guessing if you know what my name means."

[withoutverona]

"My Japanese isn't that good," Romeo admitted. "Your name means an animal?"

[intraspective]

"Yup," she said, wrinkling her nose. "And Fandom does have a tendency to do stuff that's related, you know, to the person? So I figure that my odds are high of, if I ever change, I'm going to turn into what my name is."

[withoutverona]

"If you do not tell me what your name means, I will decide it means sea slug or the like," Romeo informed her. "Perhaps sloth."

[intraspective]

Ino eyed him.

For a few seconds.

Then cracked up laughing. "It doesn't mean sea slug!" she said, giggling and protesting. "It, fine, if you laugh I'm kicking you, it means boar."

Yeah.

[withoutverona]

Romeo made a valiant effort not to laugh for perhaps 10 seconds.

Nope. He'd risk being kicked. "Why on earth did your parents do that to you?," asked the boy whose parents considered Romeo William Montague a perfectly reasonable name for a helpless newborn.

[intraspective]

Because that was so much better, really.

She flushed, and stalked over to try and kick him in the shin just like she'd promised. "Family tradition," she muttered. "Dad's named it too--Inoichi, instead of Ino, but it means the same."

[withoutverona]

Romeo pouted as he moved his leg out of her way. "You still kick hard," he muttered. "So you're like the girl version of a junior, then. That's almost cool."

Even if boar was a pretty bad animal to be named after.

[intraspective]

"Boar," she reminded him, smirking at his pain and the fact that, if she wanted to, she could kick a lot harder. "It's almost as bad as Chouji being named after butterflies, but that's his family tradition."

[withoutverona]

Romeo shrugged a little and resisted the urge to rub his leg. "Family names aren't so bad, though, even if I would hate to be a boy named Butterfly. But you're likely right that if Fandom were to turn you into something based on your name, it would not be good."

[intraspective]

"On the other hand," Ino said, brightening a bit. "I could wreck violence good and well. Boars are violent!"

...Ino should not be pleased about that, no really.

"And Chouji's name makes sense with his techniques," she conceded. "He's got, um, these..." suicide, "pills, right? And when he uses them, his chakra increases and he sprouts butterfly wings of pure energy." She'd never seen it, but had heard about it.

[withoutverona]

"You shouldn't look so happy about being violent," Romeo told her, hypocritically enough. "As for Chouji ... I can only go back to your world being weird. And, wait, does that mean your techniques are somehow boar-like?"

[intraspective]

Ino considered how to answer that one.

"...not really," she said, somewhat sulkily, "we're pretty sure it's got more to do with our personality than anything else."

[withoutverona]

"And Chouji's personality just happens to match his name?" Romeo didn't know Chouji, so he could believe that.

[intraspective]

Ino considered that.

"Not really? I mean, he's a lot nicer than me," she could admit to that, "but his seems more like his techniques, and Shikamaru's--Shika means 'deer'--family are deer herders, so there's all sorts of reasons."

[withoutverona]

"Huh." Romeo, it seemed, was content to leave it at that, and he reached for another chocolate (and a subject change).

"Do you celebrate Christmas?"

[intraspective]

"I give presents," she admitted, "while I'm here, 'cause no one at home knows 'bout the holiday, but I don't really know any of the religious stuff around it."

A beat.

"I've got something for you, you know. But you can't have it now, 'cause that'd involve that long horrible walk just across the hall and down slightly." Long, horrible walk indeed.

[withoutverona]

"I got something for you too, if we're willing to risk that long, agonizing walk," Romeo commented, feigning dismay at the idea. "perhaps if we both go at the same time it won't seem so long?"

[intraspective]

"True," she mused. "As that would be sensible, and logical, and all of that. Shall we then?"

[withoutverona]

"An excellent plan," Romeo agreed, and while he didn't exactly mean to race Ino, he did leave the common room at top speed.

[intraspective]

Ino rolled her eyes, and sauntered after him. It was break, she wasn't going to rush. Romeo was totally a dork.

Scooping up the neatly wrapped present in her arms, and hoping that Ichigo didn't disappear while she was gone, Ino darted back to the common room.

And tried to ignore the twinge of 'what if he doesn't like it?' that assaulted her.

[withoutverona]

Romeo was a dork, thank you very much. But Romeo was back in the common room almost just as Ino was, package under one arm.

He'd done a lot of his shopping at Pixie Dust, as it happened.

"Merry Christmas," he said, offering her the gift.