MHA #1, Sunday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Something in her relaxed and tightened all at once when the portal closed behind her, leaving her staring at the empty Causeway. Go back to your island.

Well, she had. Here she was.

It didn't really feel solid or real or firm. Like walking through a fog. Those were her feet and they were moving but Ino didn't remember making a conscious decision about where to go. She should go to the dorms. Was she going there?

It didn't really matter, did it? Not right now. There was something wrong with that train of thought but she couldn't be bothered to figure out what it was. There was walking, that was close enough to properly functioning for her, right now.

Maybe she was heading towards her garden? That would make sense, almost. Things felt muffled, strangled, thoughts only half-formed before they skittered back, dissipating under the weight of the ennui that had fallen over her.

The preserve was another option. She had a hideaway there. That seemed… almost… like a good idea. Ino didn't really feel like company. She didn't feel like a whole lot, honestly. Blanked out, washed out, numb.

When her feet stopped moving, she blinked at her surroundings. Oh.

Well that wasn't much of a surprise either, though it twisted weirdly in her chest.

Ino didn't so much sit as collapse like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Slumping down against the wall outside the door, sandaled feet out in front of her, as she just closed her eyes.

Knocking just seemed like too much effort right now.

[For he whose apartment she's sitting outside of.

Warning: There is discussion of character death happening in this post.]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

If Ino were to ever ask Reno about this in the future, he'd tell her without hesitation that his Rookie Sense had been tingling, and he knew that he was needed by someone out in the hallway.

In reality, it was the critters that had noticed something was up, first. Mako was attempting to burrow under the door, and Petey was attempting to... gnaw on Mako, mostly. And the duck was sitting on the far side of the room, watching with ducklike disdain.

In any case, Reno was opening the door, looking out into the hallway, first suspiciously, and then, very swiftly afterwards, in concern.

"Rookie?"

[intraspective]

Her head came up slowly, far slower than she normally responded, and Ino glanced up at him with blank eyes.

There was... something she ought to say, right? Sorry for sitting outside of your place, perhaps. I missed your final, if she wanted to go for the completely unimportant right now.

Even just his name, she thought, but the words all died in her throat.

[raspberryturk]

Well... shit. There was a look that Reno knew all too well. It had him pulling in a slow breath, straightening in his shoulders for the first time in weeks, and nodding, just a little, while he worked out what to say next.

Words weren't happening much from him, either. And so he was going to open the door a little, put a hand on her shoulder, and gently nudge her to get her headed into his apartment. Two out of three animals were still more or less underfoot, so he gave them a light shove to the side with one foot along the way.

[intraspective]

Movement was mechanical, something her body did, with his nudge as she let him decide where they were going. Ino didn't really care. Couldn’t find it in her to care.

She wound up standing not far inside the door, staring blankly down at the animals, and knowing that normally she'd have been amused.

Ino took a few more steps and then just… didn't know what to do next.

[raspberryturk]

Right. He'd steer her onward to the couch, then. She'd managed to catch Reno on a day where he'd more or less organized what little he owned, and so there weren't rum bottles sticking out of the cushions or anything. Later, Reno would be damn thankful about that much, too. Right now, caring about the state the room was in was hardly a priority.

"Sit down," he instructed, hands on her shoulders, nodding at the couch. "Take a few breaths, and then try an' make some words, if you're up to it."

[intraspective]

It was probably a good thing he'd specified the couch, or else she might have just—sat down where she'd stood. Ino sat then, after a few moments, pulled her feet up under her. Her sandals on his couch. She'd apologize when she remembered that.

Ino kept watching him, the animals, all with that absent look that said she wouldn't be able to say what she was looking at, if asked.

Words? She supposed that… yes, well, he probably needed words. Rather than her just being a lump, even if being a lump was… easier, right now, than anything else.

It kept things from hurting too much.

Her first words were more of a barely comprehensible mumble that sounded a lot like she was sorry for this.

Ino knew that she would be, even if she couldn't tell for sure if she was right now.

[raspberryturk]

Reno watched. Reno listened and Reno watched, and then he made his way to grab a chair from the table, and straddled it backwards, facing her with his arms resting on the back of the seat.

Something bad had happened. And it was leaving a sour taste in his mouth. He shook his head a little, a silent sort of 'don't mention it,' before sighing and watching her, carefully. A moment later, there was going to be a very stupid cat in her lap. That was what stupid kitties were for, after all.

"Mission back home?"

[intraspective]

Ino stared down at the stupid kitty because that was easier than looking at him and thinking too hard about his question. There was something soothing about a kitty nomming at her fingertips and purring when she ran the hand that wasn't being nommed along it's back.

So he got a bob of her head, for an affirmative.

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

What if he thought she was a traitor too?

[raspberryturk]

Honestly, now. If there was anyone in this room that deserved a label like that one...

He stood up after a moment, offering her a small hint of something that was more or less an attempt at a smile, and then he was taking a few steps. Into the kitchen. Grabbing the kettle and a container of hot chocolate powder and a mug, and coming out with the whole mess of it so that he could plug the kettle into the wall here in the living room. Because there was no way in hell that he was going to stand around in there waiting for it. And because... damn it, sometimes you just had to make hot freaking chocolate for your Rookies.

"Good to see you came back, then," he noted, idly. Casually, see? This was how Renos functioned.

[intraspective]

That, that at least she could answer. Somewhere between playing with the cat--when had Reno gotten a cat? Though this one looked familiar...--and watching him with the kettle.

"Weren't in much danger," she said, words soft. Not all there, no, but more than she'd managed since she'd talked to... who'd been on her team. "Not really. Got lucky."

Didn't sound like she had.

[raspberryturk]

Really didn't sound like she had.

"Wrong place at the right time?" He was wagering guesses, now, not so much to pry as it was in some effort to get her to jump-start her mind again while they waited for the water to boil.

[intraspective]

She didn't want to jump-start her mind. The numbness was comforting; it meant she didn't have to think.

Ino glanced back down at the kitten.

"Don't... Weren't like that." Not really. She was pretty sure.

[raspberryturk]

Petey was going to purr. Purr and gnaw, in true Petey fashion. From the floor, Mako was going to attempt to wrestle with Ino's foot, in turn.

The nameless duck was just going to continue looking disgruntled. As only a duck possibly can.

"No?" Reno pursed his lips for a moment, and then he sighed. "If you need to... talk or whatever, I'm right here, Rookie. You know that already. If you can't talk yet, that's good too. I'm still here, zoto."

[intraspective]

"I... I... don't know," she managed, absently moving her foot. The cat got more of her attention. She could see it.

"I didn't mean to come here... it just... happened."

[raspberryturk]

"Here's as good a place as any," Reno pointed out, looking at the kettle as it started to make the sort of noise that suggested that it was trying to boil. "Big couch, furry things with teeth..."

He scooped some of the powder from the can into the mug while he waited for the water.

"Safe."

[intraspective]

She winced, flinched, it was all the same.

"Asuma-sensei's dead," Ino blurted, because, somehow, that made sense.

She was safe. That was the safest part of... what had happened.

And maybe it made sense that she'd wanted to make sure Reno was okay, in a very fuzzy way. One mentor gone. The other in front of her.

[raspberryturk]

Reno was patching together what precious little he knew about Ino's home, about her language, about anybody whose death might ever hit her this hard. And, after a moment, he was nodding a little.

Bad week for the Rookie, then.

The kettle whistled. He unplugged it and let it sit for a moment.

"I'm sorry," he said, instead. "He did the job?"

[intraspective]

"Tried." Flat and empty. "The enemy escaped."

Escaped. Left. They hadn't been in much of a condition to fight them. Asuma-sensei would still have died.

[raspberryturk]

Another little nod. Pouring the water, now. Stirring. Wishing he had some damn whipped cream to top this stupid thing off with, but he'd make do with what he had.

He made his way over and held the mug out in front of her.

"But he tried."

That was what seemed to matter, here. And he'd bite back any of his opinions on those who died for the job. Now was not the time.

[intraspective]

She stared blankly at the hot chocolate for a moment before prying her hands away from the kitty to take it. It was warm against her skin.

That... felt good.

"Was outmatched," she said, avoiding looking at him. "Couldn't get away. We... were too late. Reinforcements. Weren't even there for most of it."

[raspberryturk]

"Sounds to me like he didn't die alone, at least," Reno pointed out. There was something gentle in his voice that was almost never there, otherwise. Maybe it was a bit of 'yeah, been there.'

"The job get done?"

That was the other priority. He died doing the job. This was about the job, just as much as it was about Ino, as much as Ino was about the job. Full circle, maybe.

[intraspective]

She just shrugged.

It might've gotten done, by now.

[raspberryturk]

.... That wasn't a good shrug.

"There's somethin' else, then."

That wasn't a question. Just an observation, and she was welcome to ignore it or expand on it however she saw fit.

[intraspective]

She wasn't even going to look vaguely at him. Just going to... drink her hot chocolate. It was too hot but that was okay. It gave her something else to focus on as she refused to answer him.

Ino had given him the parts that hurt the least, right now.

"Sorry," she said, not even sure what she was apologizing for.

[raspberryturk]

"Don't be." Reno pulled his chair up a little closer, and then sat back down in it, backwards like before. Chairs weren't made to sit in the right way, damn it. "You do what you got to."

It wasn't 'you do the job,' but it had the same intonations. The same force of belief behind it. Even if 'what you got to' wasn't the job itself. You did it. Because that was what you were.

[intraspective]

"Sure," she said, sounding tired. "If you say so."

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah," Reno replied, firmly. "I do."

And that was that.

"Is there anything I can get you, Rookie?"

[intraspective]

"I don't know," she answered, shrugging. "I just... I don't know."

She'd gotten here. Where to go from that--Ino had no clue.

[raspberryturk]

More nodding. More pursing his lips and thinking the situation over. Some grimacing whenever he thought it over too much. Damn, this was complicated. Always would be, he supposed.

"You got my couch as long as you need it. Don't let Petey drink outta your mug, that's just nasty, yo. And if you need someone to walk you back to the dorms later, you got it."

[intraspective]

She knew, vaguely, that if she stayed here too long Zack would come pounding on the door. It was a feeling she had.

Her lips twitched as she looked down at Petey. "He won't get in my mug."

Thank you? For not pressing? For letting her stay there and just--breathe?

[raspberryturk]

"Good." There came a twitchy little smile, and Reno was draping his arms forward over the back of the chair again. "So, am I pullin' out steak or chicken tonight for supper, Rookie?"

Look, she was going to be a fixture on his couch for a bit, he was fairly certain. He was going to feed her. Supper wasn't for a while yet, but this carried the added bonus of not being the heavy stuff, too. And when you couldn't talk, you deflected. Turks knew how to do that with the best of them.

[intraspective]

She blinked at him.

Deflection was one thing, yes, but it was a little harder to follow when you were the one having trouble tracking a conversation in the first place.

"You cook?"

Which would've been a lot more incredulous under normal circumstances, but...

[raspberryturk]

Reno just kind of raised an eyebrow at that, yes.

"I throw meat in a pan and turn the heat on," he reported. "That counts."

He wasn't exactly a huge fan of food poisoning, and once upon a time, most of his meals didn't come in a liquid format. Even if his cooking didn't taste amazing, it wasn't likely to kill anyone unless he seriously wanted it to. Minimum effort, food goes in mouth. It was when he tried to get fancy that things went horribly wrong.

[intraspective]

"Oh."

She felt oddly like she'd misstepped there and yet couldn't quite bring herself to care anyway. And she still had to... answer the question.

"Chicken, I suppose," she said quietly.

[raspberryturk]

Reno chewed his lip at that. And then sighed.

"Or we can order out. I ain't picky, really. Food's food, you know? Supper ain't that big a deal."

This wasn't him relenting and changing his mind so much as he was trying to get across that it wasn't what they were eating that was important, it was the fact that she was going to have to eat, and he didn't know that she'd have the presence of mind to put food into herself otherwise.

[intraspective]

"You need to eat," she said, sipping her drink without really thinking about it. "I don't really care."

She wasn't hungry. That probably wasn't a surprise, was it?

[raspberryturk]

"You're gonna sit. And when supper time rolls around, you're gonna eat," Reno said, putting perhaps a slight note of authority into that statement. It was an order if you squinted, and a worried statement from a friend and mentor if you didn't, and maybe, maybe, it would hold some weight with the girl.

"You need to eat just as much as I do, Rookie," he said, a little more gently. "Don't get me all worried or whatever, here."

[intraspective]

She'd take it as an order, the words dribbling down into the part of her mind that was used to orders, needed them.

"Ain't worth worryin' 'bout," she said, giving Petey a hand to gnaw on. "I'll eat."

A little. And then she'd just stare at her plate, but.

[raspberryturk]

But a little was better than nothing. Reno would be satisfied with a little.

"Good."

And now he was standing up, crossing the room, picking up Mako, and depositing him on the couch, as well.

"Keep an eye on them while I grab the chicken outta the freezer, then."

... Yeah, he didn't have to actually thaw the chicken first. But Mako was just kind of good for people, and having two dumbass critters in her lap had to be better than just one.

[intraspective]

She was... hardly going to protest at the presence of two animals keeping her company.

They were soothing.

Ino was likely going to spill her hot chocolate at this rate, but fuzzy critters climbing on her meant that she wasn't just sitting blankly.

She didn't really acknowledge him or what he said. He was there, a presence that soothed without stifling and he seemed okay with her just... sitting.

Right now, she could do that. It meant she didn't have to think.