Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

Ino had showered, found the oldest of Kabuto’s shirts and put it on (she was guessing that, from the amount of wear on it), and curled up on her bed with a purple notebook. Clearly she needed to figure out what was going on with her.

Stupid thoughts.

And she still couldn’t center herself. Ugh.

She was going to work this out. Seriously. For Lana, who’d made her promise to listen to Cable-san. For Liir, who’d said he’d believed in her. For Cable-san ‘cause she kept messing up there and even though she thought that he’d done his own share of mess-ups that didn’t mean she had to keep going with it. Or something.

And for herself, she supposed. Yeah. That too.

Ino stared blankly at the notebook for a long time before picking up her pen (purple, of course) and starting to write furiously in it. Every thought, every issue, every stupid thing she’d done lately.

Who knew? Maybe it would help. It could, really, hardly make anything worse.

[Open! ETA: Ino getting a letter from Kabuto via snake comes last, please! Everything else is before that!]

Comments

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"You're supposed to be rising above this kind of thing," Dick said, shaking his head exaggeratedly and making 'tsk tsk' noises. "I'm extremely disappointed in you, Ino."

[intraspective]

Ino's expression changed lightning-quick. "Most people are lately," she said flatly.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"I was just kidding," Dick said, dropping the silly quickly. "What's wrong?"

[intraspective]

"Nothing," she said. "I'm fine."

What she was, really, was an awful liar.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Look, I'm not going to push, but you're not coming off as very convincing," Dick said. He smiled a little at Ino. "For what it's worth, I don't have any complaints about you. You've been nothing but good to me."

[intraspective]

"Yeah," she said, "I'm doing okay on the sibling scale but messing up everywhere else it seems."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Hey, every winning streak starts with one win," Dick said. "If you can get at least one thing right - and trust me, you have - you can get everything else straightened out. I'm sure of it."

[intraspective]

She shook her head. "It's not working like that."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

Dick put an arm around Ino's shoulders and gave a small, encouraging hug. "Give it time. Ride through it. You'll see. And if you need anything, I'm here to help."

[intraspective]

Ino leaned into the hug, just a bit. "Thanks," she said, "you don't have to though."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"That's true of most of the things I do," Dick said. "I tend to do them anyway."

[intraspective]

"Dork." But she gave him a little smile.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"I've been called worse," Dick said. "Hey, I have to get going, but seriously; anything you need, just let me know. Okay?"

[intraspective]

"Okay," she said, though she wouldn't. Ino hated asking for help. "If I need anything, I'll tell you."

A beat.

"Thanks for coming to see me when you just got back," Ino told him. "It means a lot. You'll have to tell me about your trip next time, okay?"

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you'll hear all about it," Dick said. Honestly, he appreciated the extra time to come up with a better story about how he spent his trip home. "Have a good night. And I mean it."