Room 504, Friday Evening

[intraspective]

After talking to Hurley, Ino was glad to wander back to the room she shared with Zack—that was still weird to her, that she couldn’t say it was just her room anymore—and collapse on her bed.

Yay. A week gone by and she hadn’t—been weird and issuey at people other than... well, Bod had gotten a bit, but he hadn’t seemed to care and Ino just... wasn’t going to push that. All right, fine, and so on. She was fine.

Repression was probably bad, yes. Ino closed her eyes briefly, then sat up and stared at the open door. She should shut it. But that seemed like far too much work and instead she fumbled for one of her notebooks. A pen.

If she was thinking, she didn’t have to think.

It made sense to her.

[Open door, open post.]

Comments

[intraspective]

She really didn't mind, honestly. This was--better. This was comforting nonsense and something that she probably had to start considering sooner or later anyway.

Though not marriage. That was... that was something Ino wasn't ready to consider. She barely believed that Zack was going to stick around for the next month let alone believed he was going to stick around long enough that getting married would be a good thing.

"I think so?" she said, smiling slightly. "We're--comfortable. He makes me happy just by walking into a room I'm in. I don't want that to go away ever."

[withoutverona]

"I hope it won't," Romeo said, and you could almost hear his grin. "I feel bad that I don't know him more. I think i only spoke with him once or twice."

[intraspective]

"Then you've got to visit!" she said brightly. "And get to know him more. He's super friendly, honest. Like a puppy, but don't call him that, he pouts."

And his pout was a force of nature.

[withoutverona]

"I was thinking of it," Romeo admitted. "It's three years since ... everything, next week. It does me good not to be at loose ends on those days. And I want to see Reno teach." A beat. "He is still teaching, isn't he?"

[intraspective]

"Then definitely come visit," she said, voice softening but making no other mention of 'everything'. "Reno's teachin' a class on how to pick up after the end of the world. I'm one of his TAs."

[withoutverona]

"What does he think you should do after the end of the world?" Romeo asked. he was already tapping at his computer for portal prices.

[intraspective]

"Survive. Rebuild. That's what I gather anyway--we just did introductions and talked about what we'd do if we found out the end of the world was coming first class."

It had been a pretty awesome class in her estimation.

"He's a pretty good teacher," she shared. "And don't tell him I said that. His ego would become unbearable. My rookie told him that she was taking his class because of him and I just sighed."

Even if she'd taken the class for the exact same reason.

[withoutverona]

"It's not unbearable already?" Romeo joked. "And you have rookies now! I knew you spent too much time with him."

Kidding. But not, in a way.

[intraspective]

"My rookie is adorable," Ino shared, laughing. Because talking about Chloe was easy! "She's so shy she makes Hinata look like an extrovert and she's super sweet and hard working."

... Rather a weird sort of rookie for Ino to have and yet not at the same time.

[withoutverona]

"What are you teaching her?" Romeo asked, after making the appropriate awwwww sound.

[intraspective]

"First aid," she said promptly. "And meditation. And how to stand up for herself and anything else I think of as being useful. She's got a lot of things that she wants to work on and I--want to help her any way I can."

[withoutverona]

"You sound like such an adult," Romeo observed. "I'm impressed. I'd ask how it was going, but I know it must be going well."

[intraspective]

She flushed, not that he could see it, with pleasure at the compliment.

"I'm not really," she confessed. "I talk too much and go on tangents and sometimes we don't cover anything I meant to cover in a lesson but she trusts me and I can't do anything but hope I can keep that."

Because it was important to her.