concoursec | Dogs And Dorms

Entry tags:

Dogs And Dorms

Characters: Mitsuru, Rinoa. And a puppy.
Location: Garden Dorm B119
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed-ish. PM or AIM if you want in?
Summary: Upon moving into her new dorm, Mitsuru finds a few surprises waiting for her in the form of new roommates and their pets.

Even without the need to transfer any furniture, heavy electronics (read; televisions that required a forklift to transport) Mitsuru still had more to carry then she originally thought. And without any staff to help, it took longer then she expected. Especially if she wanted to keep the filing system she'd developed for her notes intact.

But it was only on her last trip that Mitsuru ran into an unexpected snag. She stepped inside the dorm room, managing a balance between a book bag in one hand, and her rapier in the other...And found herself staring at a large canine sitting squarely in the middle of the bed Mitsuru had been hoping to claim. And abruptly Mitsuru found herself at a loss on just how to deal with this new development.

Because that was very clearly a dog. In a space dogs weren't supposed to occupy, or had any business being present at.

...

...It was probably going to take her a moment to get her mind past that fact, and all the rules and sub-rules in Garden code related to it.

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"Angelo, that's not my bed remember? It's the other one." Rinoa hadn't really noticed Mitsuru yet around the bulky things she was currently carrying. "Other bed girl, go on."

Angelo, for her part looked from her master to the invader and then gave what could only be called the doggy version of a shrug before jumping off the bed and heading for the other one. Curling up several times she eventually settled down, eyes watching as RInoa went to put her last load of things up. Once her arms were clear, she startled a little to see someone familiar but unexpected in her room.

"It's Mitsuru, right?"

"...Correct." Mitsuru watched the entire exchange between girl and dog with growing confusion, and grasped for some sort of toehold to get her thoughts back in order. As usual, she fell back on the rules of formality; those, at least, were always a constant.

...Even if the person in the room hadn't agreed with them in the past.

"Heartily, correct?" She set her pile of notes down on the desk, to be filed away later. Her rapier and scabbard, however, stayed in her hand. "Do you know why there is a-"

She glanced back at the animal to verify that it was still there.

"A dog in this dormitory?"

Rinoa and formality tended to butt heads more often than not as Mitsuru would learn entirely too well over their time as roommates.

"Rinoa, yes." She still hadn't given up on getting Mitsuru to call her by her first name, despite the other girl's insistence.

"Why there's a..." The dark haired girl blinked in confusion before looking over at where Angelo was rather demurely curled up on her bed.

"I'd say it's so she can get a little sleep. The rest of Garden can be awfully noisy after all." If she'd caught what her roommate had really meant by the question it didn't show.

"The rest of the Garden also has a clear, standing policy on pets not being allowed." She wasn't going to resort to arm crossing just yet. Partially because she was waiting for an explanation, and partially because her hands were full. Instead, Mitsuru gave the dog another long, cautious look, trying to size it-

Size her up. She was larger then most of the dogs Mitsuru had encountered before, and it was a bit surprising to discover the dog was female on top of all that. (Although, a part of her mind pointed out that at least the rules on gender divisions in the dorms weren't being broken.)

"Which is still begs the same question, Miss Heartily."

...Yep. Not going to drop that last name basis anytime soon.

"There's an exception to every rule after all, right? I've got permission from both the Headmaster and the Commander if that's what you're worried about." She should have known. Always such a stickler for the rules, Mitsuru. Wasn't that so very boring? She'd never understand people who thought that way.

"Angelo's not like other dogs after all you know. She's super smart and she's really useful in a fight too!"

"I am uncertain on the 'every' rule part...However, if permission has been granted by the higherups, I won't question it." Even if the idea of sharing a duplex with a dog was still going to take some getting used to. But now that she knew there won't be any eviction because someone smuggled an animal in, Mitsuru was able to relax a little.

Which made it easier for the next statement to surprise a response out of her.

"This dog can summon in battle?"

"I guess that it's not impossible that there's an exception to the rule about there being an exception to ever rule." Rinoa even managed to say that with a straight face, talk about being accomplished. Incompatibility with Angelo's presence meant an incompatibility with having Rinoa as a roommate, if that had been the case she would have just requested a room transfer more or less.

Now that was a startling question.

"Summon? Like a GF? No, of course not!" Though the idea of Angelo being able to summon Cerberus was kind of funny. "She's useful in a fight though and part of my limit break."

"Ah...Yes. Of course not. A bizarre idea, on my part." She gave a mental apology to Koromaru as she said that. And, now that she had that out of the way, onto the next thing that needed to be addressed.

"So...I will be your roommate, I take it?" She wasn't quite sure what she thought of that arrangement, and for a moment her expression flickered enough to give that uncertainty away. "I should be a fair roommate, I believe. I am not inclined to causing trouble, or interfering with someone's studies. And the worst late night thing I would be willing to cause would be reviewing notes."

As was probably clear by that near tower of paper and folders on the desk.

"It would be really cool though, if it could happen!" Rinoa added, since Mitsuru apparently took her reaction a little too hard.

She nodded, "It sure seems that way." Her misgivings might have been a little more obvious. How was she supposed to share a room with someone who refused to call her anything but her last name? Could have been worse though, at least she wasn't calling her Caraway.

"You don't have to worry so much about that sort of thing. Was your last roommate really uptight or something?"

This term was shaping out to be...Interesting, to say the least. (And if she ever found out about the 'two-surnames,' Mitsuru would likely stare and boggle enough to rival some of her reactions to Tilmitt The Cheerful.)

"I'm not worried." Mitsuru finally leaned her rapier against the wall as she said that. Mostly to better cross her arms. "I'm making an introduction, so we can understand with living with one another will be like."

She also shook her head in response to the last part. "No. She was polite enough."

At least things would never be boring, that was always a plus. (How about the part where Rinoa consciously threw away her last name to take on her mother's maiden name?)

"Isn't it more fun to experience that for ourselves?"

Really, what was with Mitsuru and being polite? There was way more to life than that. "Polite enough? That doesn't say very much about her, does it?"

Mitsuru frowned at that, and shook her head at both questions.

"I think that prudence takes priority over entertainment." Poor Rinoa. Nothing like rooming with an icicle. A formal icicle at that.

"I wasn't very well acquainted with her; my focus was more on assignments and studying." She glanced back at the dog, and then her roommate. "If I am to be frank, then the main reason for this exchange is because your pet took me off guard, and it seemed smart to clarify why."

This semester was already looking to be super exciting. Best new roommate ever!

"Why can't there be a place for both?" Somehow this seemed even less productive than talking to a wall.

"Doesn't that get kind of lonely?" And if there was one thing Rinoa couldn't stand it was loneliness. "Exchange?" Mitsuru really did talk super weird. "Oh..I see I guess." No, not really. Her new roommate was confusing.

"Not very often. I have my studies to keep my mind occupied, and my books when that fails; loneliness doesn't enter into it." She was just going to pointedly dodge that other question.

"Speaking of which...I should finish moving my things in, and organizing my notes for future reference."

"But books and studies are just things. They're not people, they can't talk to you or be there for you if something bad happens." Rinoa wasn't letting you go that easy Mitsuru, not just yet anyway.

And the look she gave Rinoa, in response? An impolite way of translating it would be 'and your point with that would be?' But Mitsuru was nothing, if not polite; a closer equivalent would probably be that this Heartilly girl had something she was trying to prove with that argument, but Mitsuru couldn't understand the logic behind it...Or even what sort of benefit she was getting at.

"I must disagree. While conversation can be useful, I find that studying and reading can be very helpful with taking your mind off of things, and helping you manage any worries. That's been the case for me, several times."

That look was very familiar to Rinoa by now. Why? Because she was entirely too used to seeing that same expression on Squall's face. Come to think of it his reaction to that statement would probably be pretty similar considering how often he'd been cloistering himself away with a bunch of papers and nothing else lately.

"Studying can be good for getting your mind of things, but it's not always good for getting your mind off things. And what if you need help with something? Books and papers can't do things for you can they? It's important to have friends too for when bad things, good things, or well anything really happens! There's nothing worse than needing a friend around to help and finding out that when it really counts you're alone."

"..." There was another traditional ~~abuse of ellipsis~~ mannerism the two shared, then; namely, a long silence and then the decision that eye contact was overrated.

Although even dropping her gaze, it might not have been enough to hide how she reacted. For a moment, that carefully formed mask slipped enough to show something...Pained flicker across her face.

"...I think that's enough conversation for now." Mitsuru finally said, not really answering or arguing with Heartilly's statement. "I still have a few more things to move in...And I would be ashamed to distract you from completing your own arrangements." She started to turn towards the door as she said that.

"Still...I hope you will have a good term, and I will make an adequate dorm mate, Miss Heartilly."

Well, at least it was behavior she was used to dealing with, so it could have been worse.

Oh no, dropping eye contact with Rinoa was never enough to hide reactions. She'd gotten super good at keeping track of things even after that, she'd had to because with Squall there really wasn't any other way to know what was going on sometimes. That look was worth worrying about, but even Rinoa knew better than to push things all the time.

"We can talk more later. Like you said there's a lot of stuff we both need to do." She meant it though. They would talk later, whether Mitsuru wanted to or not.

Still that didn't stop her from adding one last little jab.

"I'm sure we'll both have good terms and more than that, I'm sure we'll end up good friends too."

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Dogs And Dorms

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And I've just realized I've been misspelling her surname. orz

XD

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