fandomhighdorms | 5th Floor Common Room, Monday Morning

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5th Floor Common Room, Monday Morning

A weekend of weirdness had happened in Fandom, and the only potentially embarrassing thing Francine had done? Had no witnesses. This was an event of epic proportions, and called for a celebration of epic proportions.

Or, you know, French Toast.

Because she really could make breffast.

Lots and lots of breffast, as it turned out.

[Open! Syrupy!]

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"Does it ever?" Katchoo asked with a snort. "What exactly do you guys do, anyway?"

"Not really," she admitted.

Ino considered how to answer the real question there for a moment. "Depends on how much experience you've got in the field, and what your rank is. The better you are, the harder your missions are. But the short and easy answer is: we do whatever we're paid to do, no matter what it is."

Which was everything from walking dogs, to murdering families. Though Ino was, at the moment, somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

Katchoo had a brief, terrifying mental image of a bunch of twelve-year-olds getting trained as Parker Girls, and she froze for a moment. She hoped to God that Darcy never, ever got that idea.

When she spoke up again, a perceptive person might be able to tell she was a little unnerved. "No matter what?"

"Yeah," she said, shrugging a bit, while surreptitiously eyeballing Katina. "We don't really have a whole lot of options for refusal 'less it's 'cause you're injured from another mission, or something. You do the job you're given."

"Huh," Katchoo said again. Safe to say she was mildly freaked out, though doing a fairly decent job (to the average eye) of not showing it. "You're okay with that?"

Ino hummed consideringly.

"I'm good with it," she said, "we don't think the same way people here do."

"Some people here do," Katchoo muttered darkly, but in a tone that implied she wasn't elaborating further on the point, at least not now.

Ino glanced over thoughtfully. "Well, yes, but here it's considered Bad-Wrong and Evil, whereas at home it's just the way everyone thinks when out on the job. So it's weird here."

It was how Tambi thought, and Samantha, and most of Darcy's staff, though Katchoo was pretty sure Darcy and Veronica considered it "Bad-Wrong and Evil" and that was part of the appeal for them.

"Most people here can't even wrap their brains around thinking that way," she agreed grudgingly.

She shrugged a bit. "It's a bit of an adjustment," Ino admitted. "And you learn to just shut up and let other people do the talking 'round here when it comes to that sort of thing. 'Cause otherwise they'll generally either be horrified or pitying and both of those are really annoying reactions."

Those were exactly the reactions she was terrified of. Funny, that.

"Tried to do it, have you?" asked Katchoo, as dispassionately as she could. "Talk to 'em about it, I mean?"

"Weeell," Ino said, glancing around the room and everyone else there before lowering her voice slightly, "not so much as 'hey, this is what I do, isn't it awesome?' sort of talking, but people always ask, like, what sort of things do I do as a ninja, so then I tell them, 'cause I figure if they asked, they get to know, and then the reactions go from there. Oh, and badly hidden disapproval too. That happens a lot. Like they think I can't tell that they're not happy with my life, but they don't want to say anything 'cause apparently telling the truth would be worse or something."

"Hell." Katchoo reached for a piece of sausage and dropped her voice to about the same level. (Not hard for her, really.) "I gotta think the truth is the one thing people really can't handle, most of the time. Give 'em their nice, clean little fantasies, all rainbows and ponies and flowers and all that crap, and they'll hide behind that as long as they want. Take that away and they really can't deal."

"Yeah," she said, making a face. "And then they take it out on you, or treat you like you're insane, or someone to be treated like glass."

Ino shuddered a bit. "It's kinda depressing, really. When this place, at least, is supposed to be more open minded." One eyelid slid shut in a quick wink. "But only if you fit their standards anyway."

"Conforming to society." Katchoo gave her the briefest half-grin, that quickly twisted into a sardonic smirk. "It's such a bitch, innit?"

"If you're trying hard," Ino laughed. "Which, admittedly, some days I'm better at than others."

"Why bother?" Katchoo asked, honestly curious.

Ino thought about that, sipping her juice and nibbling on a piece of bacon before answering. "'Cause I don't always mind being underestimated. People see tiny, cheerful and blonde and think you're a stupid little ditz whose greatest ambition is being fashionable and having a cute boyfriend, you know? And that can be useful at times."

"And it's easier, sometimes, than always getting mad at people 'cause they just don't get where you're coming from, and trying to explain either pushes them away or gets them pissed off at you, and if it means I'm not all by myself here, then it's worth keeping my mouth shut a bit. Pisses off less people who I care 'bout, 'cause thinking differently 'bout my life doesn't mean I don't care about other people, you know?"

Katchoo didn't necessarily agree, but Ino had earned her respect by now, so she gave a vague grunt and nodded. "Makes sense, yeah. Don't think I could deal with pretending to be someone people can underestimate myself, though." Mostly because she'd been taught how, and she really hoped she never had to use the knowledge again.

"I suppose," she said slowly, because mostly it was just automatic by now, the way she acted, "it's just emphasizing different bits and pieces of yourself. 'Cause I can be the cheerful, bubbly blonde, but that's not all I am, so it depends on my mood too, what people get. That, and we have classes on stuff like that, in the Academy. All the girls have to take them." The boys got to beat up things more. "I was one of the best," she admitted, "though Suzume-sensei said I still have to watch my temper."

No kidding.

"What, the boys didn't have to take classes like that?" asked Katchoo, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "That sounds like a ripoff."

"Some boys do, outside of the Academy--after they graduate," Ino said. "But in the Academy most anything beyond the basics of schooling your expression, and keeping your cool, is what the girls focus on more. It evens out more as we get older and find our specialities, but at younger ages..." She shrugged. "That's how it works. We still get time, obviously, to learn how to kick butt, but there's a lot of classes that are 'girls only'."

That bothered Katchoo somehow, but she did her best not to show it. "Hell. Your world sounds more interesting than mine."

She wrinkled her nose. "'Cause it's unfamiliar? I find other people talking 'bout their world's terribly interesting too."

She had no idea, Katchoo thought, how interesting this world really could be, in a sordid and depressing kind of way, and there was no way she was letting on what she knew.

"Yeah, y'know," she said, shrugging and snagging some more bacon. "It's the whole allure of the different and all, I guess."

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5th Floor Common Room, Monday Morning

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