Room 322, Thursday Midday

[living_endless]

Didi had spent some time this morning talking to her fish as she cleaned and rearranged their tank. Either she was a little bored, or they had seen fascinating things during the gremlin invasion. It might have been both.

Once she'd gotten all of the conversation out of Slim and Wandsworth that a girl could expect (and a bit more), she flopped down on her bed and started watching a DVD of the movie from class yesterday. She hadn't seen it all the way through, and Scottish Accent Guy was hot.

The door to her room was open a crack so she could see people in the hall.

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[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"People suck," he said and there was a bit of a laugh there. "It's kind of funny, having a teacher who swears more than his students."

[living_endless]

Well, that went well.

... kind of. Because now Didi had to think about a whole different problem, and she just hoped she was connecting the dots wrong.

"Oh, Jono has that," she said casually and a bit slowly. "I don't think he likes it much, though. He got into an argument with somebody last week."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Well, that'd do to make his mind get off the Bella topic too.

He could dodge, but he wasn't the dodging type. "Yeah, I know," he said. The fish were very interesting now. "That... got kind of out of hand."

[living_endless]

"What happened?" she asked, in a quiet voice that needed him to tell the truth, one with a steel edge of anger underlying it.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

He either didn't notice the anger, or he simply accepted it.

"He caught me off guard," Jacob admitted and he'd gone through it enough in his head to make sort of sense of what'd happened. Even if a lot of it was hazy. "And I lashed out. He talked back and that just got us both pissed."

A shrug of his shoulder. "It's... bad if I get mad. If I lose control, so I just said whatever'd get him to go away."

[living_endless]

"... oh," Didi said. The problem with understanding people was that sometimes even when she wanted to be angry, she couldn't be. She'd seen Jake's temper; it wasn't hard to believe what he was saying.

And Jono had a temper, too.

"It's not like he chose it," she pointed out. "He -- every time somebody offers food, he flinches. He already has a rough time."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I didn't know that," he said sheepishly. "It's not exactly something you expect. Having... someone be half on fire. I mean, his scent was off, but..." Another shrug, he figured she'd at least know what he meant. "I should have been more in control. I know."

Another pause. "We fought together on Sunday."

[living_endless]

Didi felt like she had the weirdest boys in her life ever. But that wasn't precisely new. And yes, she knew what he meant.

"Yeah?" she asked. "So, what, you guys are buddies now?"

Just a little bit of sarcasm, there.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jacob snorted. "I doubt it, he doesn't even know it was me."

[living_endless]

"... don't tell me there was a mask and spandex involved."

Look, she lived with a superhero and her boyfriend was another one. A third would be overkill.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

He hesitated, but she'd told him straight off who she was. It was only fair right? Even if he was watching anything but her.

"Try fangs and a whole lot of fur."

[living_endless]

Didi's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Seriously?"

She didn't have a problem it it, she just hadn't expected it. Though it would explain the vampire issues even better.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

He nodded at the fishes. "It's why I have such a short fuse," he admitted. "I know that's not an excuse;"

[living_endless]

"I don't know about that," Didi said quietly. "How does it work? You get mad and -- you change?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Partly," he spoke softly now. "I can change whenever I'd like to. It's even easier when I'm calm, but at first it's definitely all about the anger and you don't even know why. You just get angry so easily and if I lost it, I could hurt someone. Badly."

[living_endless]

She studied him for a moment, not saying anything. "Have you ever?" she asked, finally. "Anyone who didn't deserve it?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"No," he shook his head. "There's a few of us, we keep each other in check. Sam was the first to turn, he hurt his girlfriend when he lost it. She's pretty scarred because of it. I don't envy him, having to figure it all out on his own."

[living_endless]

"And now you're here on your own," Didi said, and shifted to put a hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing to keep tabs on yourself? If there's anything I can do..."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Did bugging Blysse and Morgana count?

"Raven advised meditation, but I'm not sure if that's my thing," he said. Not that he'd tried. "Does this mean you're not pissed at me?"

[living_endless]

"I'm pissed at you," she said shortly. "I just understand why you did what you did. If I ever hear one word about you picking on anybody again, then I'll be really pissed."

She sighed. "Raven ... she's sweet. I don't think she understands anger. It overwhelms her."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Fair enough," he agreed and then had to ask. "Even if they're leeches?"

"She knows what it feels like," he added quietly, remembering what she'd told him.

[living_endless]

"She knows what everything feels like," Didi said, bowing her head. "She's been through a lot of pain, is all."

She shrugged a little. "You don't have to love vampires, and I'd get it if you asked for a new roommate if yours got turned. But yeah. You can't fight them here."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Having someone else's pain in your head, not the most fun," he agreed.

"I'm not promising that. I'll play nice as much as I can, but I'm a monster so I can protect. I'm not going to stand back and let them do anything," he said honestly. He wasn't going to bargain on this.

[living_endless]

Didi hesitated, then decided to go around him instead of fighting them. "Okay, but what if they don't do anything? What if you, like, walk into a common room and a vampire's in there?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Depends on what he's doing there," Jacob replied. "I'll keep an eye on him."

He was pretty much convinced it wouldn't take them long to do someone to warrant getting their throat ripped out.