Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

Ino was... back from her trip to Gaia. And Reno. Who was totally her favourite person ever right that second and was so getting a shipment of booze and soil once she'd figured out just how well she was really dealing with things enough to want to go out. And, augh, she had work the next two days. Lovely. It looked like she wasn't going to get a chance to brood. And maybe contemplate how much trouble she was likely to be in for getting back from a mission and fleeing again without so much as a by-your-leave. Whatever.

It was still rather up in the air as to whether or not being back was a good thing, but at least she wasn't freaking out about just being in Fandom anymore. Baby steps. Small improvements. She could live with that. Setting her bags on her bed, she'd deal with unpacking in a minute, Ino checked her voicemail messages and left a few of her own.

Then she stretched, ran her hands wearily through her hair, and got down to the business of checking over every single one of her plants. Shhh. They enjoyed it, and so did she.

[Door cracked open, post wide open.]

Comments

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley knocked on Ino's door.

"Hey, Ino, you there?" he said.

[intraspective]

"I seem to be," she called, pasting a smile on her face. "Come on in."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley pushed his way in. "You, uhhh, want me to leave the door mostly closed?"

[intraspective]

Ino shrugged a bit at that, looking up from where she was surrounded by her plants. "I don't mind either way. What's up?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Just, uhhh, checking in. Cause you kinda went away and stuff," Hurley said. "It wasn't, like, extra months and stuff, was it?"

[intraspective]

...

What?

"What?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Like, Tahiri went out for a week but apparently it was almost three months or something," Hurley said. "Like that."

[intraspective]

"Yeah. No."

Ino blinked at him.

"It's just been a bit over a week for me, I swear."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Okay, good," Hurley said. "Cause she came back all... moody and stuff, and I was worried you'd be, too."

Oh, Hurley.

"I mean, not that it's bad if you are. Just, hoping my friends are all okay and stuff."

[intraspective]

It said something that Ino was already moody and he hadn't commented. Ino contemplated that.

...could work to her advantage.

"I'm fine," she said, which was definitely a lie on some levels. "See? No bruises or anything."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Hurley said. "...and you don't have to just say so, if you're not."

[intraspective]

Ino just...

...sort of stared at him.

"What?" Yes, again.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"...I'm not making any sense, am I?" Hurley said.

[intraspective]

"Not really," she said honestly.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Sorry," Hurley said. "Guess I'm kinda... off and stuff, lately."

[intraspective]

She raised her eyebrows. "What--with the whole... vamp thing?"

That seemed like a million days ago.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Just sorta keep stumbling on stuff since then," Hurley said with a shrug. "Like I'm not quite... as useful or anything."

[intraspective]

She leaned back, eyes a bit cool though her smile stayed fixed.

"Maybe," Ino said, almost gently (by Ino standards), "that's because what people have going on, you can't do anything about."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Good point," Hurley said. "But I'm not even, like... good spirits dude. You know... the guy everyone can count on makin' 'em smile and stuff."

[intraspective]

"Everyone has different things to make them smile," Ino said, slightly impatiently.

"Sometimes, what makes them smile isn't always warm and cuddly."

Okay, that was definitely snappish there.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley looked over, a little taken aback. "...okay?"

[intraspective]

Breathe you stupid girl.

"But of course," she muttered, getting up to go and inspect the plants on her desk. "Fandom insists on warm and cuddly. Like a blanket that can fix everything. What-the-hell-ever."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley chewed on his lip a little. "So, you like... cold and... covered in spikes?"

[intraspective]

Do not snap at him.

In. Out. Count to seven.

"Yes," she said finally, dry as a desert and viciously biting. "I like the cold and spiky."

What did that even mean?

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

It was Hurley's attempt to come up with the opposite of warm and cuddly.

"This is like that... what is nice to some people isn't to others stuff, right?"

[intraspective]

"No," she said, "it's more of a situational thing."

At least, as she understood it.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you should explain it," Hurley said. "Cause I don't think I quite understand. Is that okay?"

[intraspective]

Ino was going to glare holes into her wall. Luckily she wasn't facing him.

"Let's see," Ino said coolly, "I was happy to have a hug when my boyfriend left, right? That falls under 'warm and cuddly' if we have to use insipid categories."

Poor Hurley, and she was being relatively well behaved too.

"In another situation, however, a hug is the last thing I'd need because it's not the same problem and so you can't apply the same antidote. Understand?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Hurley said. "Yeah." He actually think he understood that.

"Cause hugs don't really fix anything, anyway."

[intraspective]

"Right."

Or something.

"Hugs are a--comfort. But sometimes it's not comfort that people need. Which means a hug can become an irritation."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes people need to be able to work through stuff without, like... getting patted on the back and told everything is going to be okay, cause its really just a lie," Hurley said.

[intraspective]

"And sometimes," Ino said darkly, "okay is a relative term."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Something happened, didn't it?" Hurley said. "Something you don't want to talk about."

[intraspective]

She set the pot of flowers down gently, and turned around.

"I'm sorry," Ino said pleasantly. "But I don't know what you're talking about."

It was the sort of lie she'd tell on missions. The ones she'd spent years learning how to pull up at a moment's notice.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley had to respect that. After all, he wasn't telling anyone about the 'talking to dead people' thing that'd happened in the other universe.

He nodded. "So, I'm glad you're back in one piece." He gave a reassuring smile.

[intraspective]

Three days of hanging out with Reno had helped a lot.

"Yeah," Ino said, "it wasn't the sort of thing that was dangerous."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Awesome," Hurley said. "After Tahiri and her whole... yeah. Awesome."

[intraspective]

"If Tahiri's hurt then she'd best get to the clinic," Ino said neutrally.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley just nodded. "...you want me to go?" he said.

[intraspective]

Ino sighed.

"I think it might be best."

Vaguely apologetically.