Room 504, Monday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Ino got out of class, and it was one she was really going to have to reread her notes for and hope the handouts made sense because paying attention had kinda... failed her there, grabbed a quick sandwich from the common room (because, really, sandwiches were just about the easiest thing ever to make and she was hungry) and wandered back to her room with it in tow.

And the mirror. And the fact that, if she was going to make sure she was ready for things, then she ought to maybe make sure she had everything all set out. For the moment though, she was just sitting on her floor and staring at the mirror while she ate her sandwich.

[Open door, open post!]

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[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

There was a knock on her open door and a familiar face peeked through.

"Ino?"

He wanted to check on her before things later in the afternoon with Priestly and the others.

[intraspective]

"Yeah?" she asked, glancing away from the mirror with a frown.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Am I interrupting anything?"

[intraspective]

"A great deal of useless staring," she said, picking at her sandwich. "So nothing important, I guess. You can come in."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He slipped into the room and closed the door a little.

"Something the matter?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley knocked on Ino's door.

[intraspective]

"Stuff." She shrugged, glancing back at the mirror. "I'm back on active duty."

[intraspective]

She kicked her plate to the side. "Come in!" she called.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley entered and gave a little wave. "Hey Ino," he said.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"For your responsibilities at home? I... would almost think you'd be pleased."

[intraspective]

"Do you think I'm strong?" she asked, not looking at him. "Last time I went home, I learned I wasn't. If I mess up now, people could die."

[intraspective]

"Hey," she said, glancing away from the mirror and trying a smile. "How're you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He thought about that for a moment.

He didn't want to lie to her. And placating her, he had a feeling, was the last thing she was looking for. But neither did he want to destroy whatever confidence she had.

"I think you're strong in some ways. In others, you... don't react well.

"But I don't think you'd mess up. At least, not in a way that would harm others. Yourself, yes. But you're strongest for others.

"But I'm not exactly the person to ask."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good," Hurley said. "Things are going, like, good and stuff."

[intraspective]

"I know," she said, flopping back on the ground and covering her face with one arm. "But you're the one here, and I couldn't go and bother Cable-san while he was being all Mayorly. How don't I react well? I want to know."

She did, and didn't. It was a curiosity that she wasn't sure she ought to have.

"Other people matter more to me. I'm no one's number one, so I don't get to matter as much when it comes down to the wire." Matter-of-factly.

[intraspective]

"That's two goods in two sentences," she said, having to smile a bit more at that. "What's up that's so good?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't say that," he pointed out carefully, "that you're no one's number one. I think that's being unfair."

He breathed out.

"As to not reacting well, you let your temper get the better of you sometimes, and..."

He wasn't sure if he wanted to say what he was thinking.

"Are you sure you won't be angry with me?"

[intraspective]

"I don't," she said. "I know I'm important to people, I do, but I'm not number one to them. So it's entirely fair."

Ino glanced up at him. "I'd rather hear the truth, than not. I don't know if I'll be angry, but I'll try not to be."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"How do you know what anyone feels? How can you judge? Sometimes, the way people are towards others has nothing to do with you and everything to do with something entirely unrelated.

"And what's number one anyhow? What does that mean to you?"

Because when it came down to it, Amber and Fiyero and even Nor aside, no one could quite break him like Ino.

No one.

Which almost logically brought him to the second point.

He breathed out.

"Sometimes, only sometimes, and... not when it comes to how you treat me, mind, just..."

He didn't want to say this.

"You remind me of my mother."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Kinda... had a date last night?" Hurley said. He was a little embarassed, it seemed like bragging.

[intraspective]

"I'm listening," she said, her voice gone blandly neutral.

She knew enough about his mother to know that wasn't a good thing.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Would you rather I stopped?"

He knew that tone.

[intraspective]

That got a real grin out of her though--the first today.

"No way! With who!" Ino beamed up at him. "What did you do? Did it turn out well?"

[intraspective]

"No." Flatly. "I asked. I might not ask again."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Penelope," Hurley said. "We went out to Ching Tai and stuff. She taught me how to use chopsticks, it was cool."