5th Floor Common Room, Monday Early Evening

[intraspective]

Really, she ought to be asleep despite the ridiculously early hour. A weekend spent with little sleep and using loads of energy meant by all rights that she should be dead to the world at the moment. Ino had spent about an hour after her last class staring up at the ceiling before giving that idea up for a lost cause and wandered out to the common room to see what she could find that was entertaining enough to keep her from getting bored.

Normally Ino wasn't much of one for movies, but poking around turned up The Continuous Tale and it looked interesting enough for her to stare at while she tried to convince herself to unwind enough to actually sleep. Score!

That decided on, she made popcorn (because if she was going to do this movie thing, she was going to do it right) and curled up on the couch, hitting play. And, okay, maybe snuggle into a blanket as well. That counted as part of the whole movie thing, right? Right?

It totally did. She could even be convinced to share, if asked nicely.

[Ooopen as a common room is, yes!]

Comments

[wwiii]

"You do what you can," Warren replied, smiling and shrugging. "I understand that. Me... I'm not exactly a medic, but I have some basic first-aid knowledge, you know?"

And blood that had healing properties. But he didn't know it, and it wasn't likely that he'd figure it out any time soon. So.

"You take care of what needs to be taken care of. Or else situations get a whole lot worse."

[intraspective]

She bobbed her head, nibbling on some popcorn.

"And you spend your time in-between emergencies hoping people're smart enough to actually come in and get treated. Some people are sorta slow that way."

[wwiii]

"Slow, stubborn, proud, or maybe they're afraid of what people will find if they head into a public clinic for treatment," Warren offered. "Things like that make me thankful that I never really got sick, growing up."

And that he was an exceptional healer. Yep.

[intraspective]

"If you're hurt to the point where you seriously need help and you still won't get it and have no other options? Then you're slow," Ino insisted mildly. "I mean, I'm stupid about my own injuries but at the same time, I know what I can and can't take. If I'm bleeding out or something, I'll go get help."

Ino liked living, yes.

[wwiii]

Warren had sawed off his own wings when he was a kid. It was messy and painful and left him with oozing stumps of torn flesh and splintered bone where they had been just hours before.

They grew back.

"And, to be honest, I don't really want to find out what it's like to be pushed to a point where I can't take it," he replied, somewhat amiably. "Around here, I probably even have the luxury of being treated in the clinic with some semblance of basic human rights. Back home, if I tried the same, I'd probably be dissected."

[intraspective]

Ino eyed him.

Then lobbed a few kernels of popcorn in his general direction.

"Some semblance of basic human rights?" she echoed. "Everyone gets treated the same here. Especially at the clinic."

Clinic was no place for people who freaked out over powers and oddities.

[wwiii]

That was almost a laugh, there. A soft exhale and a smile as Warren lifted a hand to swat at the ballistic snack foods.

"I know, I know. Here is different. If people beat it into my head enough, I might even start to act like I believe it."

Eventually. Or something.

[intraspective]

"But you won't really believe it?" Ino asked, tilting her head. "Seems a bit lonely, I guess."

[wwiii]

"Yeah, well." And now Warren was going to have to pick the popcorn out of his lap, eye it for a moment, and then shrug and pop it into his mouth. It was still good, whatever. "You don't spend half of your life hiding what you are without getting used to being at least a little lonely, I suppose."

[intraspective]

"Why do you have to hide?"

It was blunt, but hey. Blunt worked sometimes.

"I mean--you've got wings. That's shiny. I'd expect stares and stuff but what's with the hate?"

[wwiii]

"I know, it's not like that here, but... Where I'm from, people tend to fear what they don't understand." Warren shrugged. "Some people who develop powers are a lot more dangerous than the kid with the wings. I guess people just don't want to take the risk."

All in all, he hadn't had it so bad. He'd had to hide, he'd had to tuck his proverbial tail between his legs and pretend that he was just like everyone else. But at the end of the day, he still had a home to go back to and a father who cared.

... Even if his father was kind of awful at showing it.

[intraspective]

She picked at her sleeve for a moment. Might've been lint, might've been nothing.

"Don't it seem kinda... I don't know... dumb to make people with powers hate you, the average person you, 'cause they're scared? Won't that just make the dangerous people more likely to lash out?"

[wwiii]

"Nobody ever said that fear had to be smart." He shrugged. That was always just how it was. It was stupid, maybe, but... "What am I supposed to do about it?"

[intraspective]

"I didn't say you had to do anything 'bout it," she pointed out. "I just asked a question."

[wwiii]

Warren looked at her quizzically for a moment at that. And then he relented, smiled, and looked down at the popcorn in his lap again.

"Then yeah, you're right. It is stupid."

[intraspective]

"I'm always right," she teased. "Better believe it."

Or not.