Room 504, Saturday Evening

[intraspective]

It had been the sort of day where all she'd wanted to do was hide away and not talk to any one (Zack was the sole exception to that) and Ino was feeling quietly pleased with the fact that her day had gone exactly as planned.

She wasn't exactly in a good mood, no, but it had settled into something vaguely… calm. Calm was a good word. She would go with that.

Now, after showering and changing into her jammies even though Ino didn't think she'd be going to sleep any time soon, she curled up on her bed with a book and devoted herself to reading it just to pass the time.

That was all right, wasn't it? She thought so.

[For one and SP, la.]

Comments

[intraspective]

As he spoke, her hands went a pale glowing green.

These, she placed over his shoulder.

"Don't be stupid," she said, sounding distracted as most of her attention was busy tracking her chakra as it sank into his skin, into his injury. "You needed a healer. I am one. It's not a bother."

It was something that made her feel useful. Ino appreciated that.

[furnaceface]

He nodded at that, feeling more than a little awkward. Feeling naked, his bandages shucked away and his chest bare as a result. He was trying not to think about it, neatly filing this away under 'unimportant.' She certainly didn't seem to take issue with it, hadn't shied away when he'd peeled off his jacket. It wasn't a problem. Wasn't the end of the world.

Okay.

//What, no lecture about not dragging myself directly to the clinic, instead?//

The flames were a nonissue, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to be at least a little self-depreciating for a bit, first.

[intraspective]

"Didn't want you to bolt," she said, eyes not moving away from her work as she ruthlessly burned infection out of the wounds with her chakra--leaving no actual burns, mind--and carefully repairing cells, muscle and nerves.

[furnaceface]

//I'm hardly in any state to bolt,// Jonothon pointed out. That ache that had been floating away from him was slowly becoming sharper, more real, and ebbing away all at the same time. Watching was an almost eerie process, his injury illuminated in shades of green and flickering orange as sinew wove itself back into place.

He closed his eyes.

//Nearly did. Before. Not so much, now.//

[intraspective]

"I would chase you if you bolted now," she said, almost amused. "And how would that look to everyone?"

Really. A shirtless Jono and Ino wearing nothing but an over-sized shirt chasing after him. Seriously.

Skin knitted back together. Muscles healing. Pain dissipating as her chakra took the work of weeks and compressed it into a few moments.

[furnaceface]

//It would look something like a dishrag chasing a birthday candle,// Jono replied, dryly. He hesitated a moment, and then risked opening one eye to look, now.

It looked rather like a shoulder, to him.

[intraspective]

Even as he looked, the last of the redness faded, leaving smooth skin behind.

Ino stepped back, letting the glow fade. "I am way cuter than a dishrag."

[furnaceface]

//Well, I wasn't about to call you a fluffy towel,// Jono reasoned, giving his arm a swing, and then lifting it up in the air as he tested his shoulder. //I'm too tall to be a birthday candle, anyway.//

He'd look very stupid, standing in a cake.

[intraspective]

"Not for a giant," she retorting, smiling slightly. "Take it easy for the next day or so on that shoulder--give it a bit of a break, yeah?"

[furnaceface]

//That much, I can do,// Jono agreed, crouching down to collect his bandages and wincing a little as he looked them over.

//Lovely.//

This was going to be a 'wet leather coat, head down, hugging his own face and making a mad dash down one floor' sort of evening, yet.

[intraspective]

She didn't bother hiding her grin as she offered him a towel. "Wrap 'em in this," Ino suggested. "That way you're not touching any of that directly."

[furnaceface]

Quietly, Jono held his had out to accept the towel, and then gave his bandages another look. And then the towel. And then the bandages.

//Hands can be washed,// he said, after a moment. //But I can't use these again. Not like this.//

[intraspective]

She rested her elbows on her knees and looked at him.

"Do you have anything else you can use?"

[furnaceface]

//Turtlenecks.//

Lovely.

//Turtlenecks, and more bandages, I suppose, once I manage to work my way out of these trousers. Th'leather's ruined already, at any rate. Might as well cut them and put them to use. But for right now, not really.//

[intraspective]

She frowned slightly.

"You want a towel to cover up with 'till you get back to your room?" Ino asked, figuring that dancing around the subject wouldn't help. "If you don't want people to see."

Yeah, she hadn't missed his wariness.

[furnaceface]

A blind person could have caught his wariness. He wasn't just wearing it on his sleeve, he was practically radiating it.

//I won't burn it,// he replied, casting a glance toward the plants that she'd moved out of the way. //I have better control than that, at least.//

That would be a 'yes, please.'

[intraspective]

"If I doubted that," Ino said, standing and going to track down a third towel for the evening. "I wouldn't have touched you. My plants are different."

[furnaceface]

Jono wanted to sigh, at that. But projecting one at this point seemed like too much effort, and so he simply nodded, his eyes back on the floor.

//Thank you,// he said, again. Not just for healing him, this time. For being... normal about it.

[intraspective]

"You're welcome," she said, smiling as she tried to get a look at his eyes. One large towel for Jono in her hands. "Stop acting like I'll freak out, hm?"

[furnaceface]

Getting a look in his eyes would involve getting him to look up. And even if he did, it would be a difficult guess as to whether or not he was looking back, because his eyes had flickered away to a solid white somewhere through all of that.

//People freak out, luv. Even around here, people freak out. Why should you be any different?//

[intraspective]

Ino crouched down, towel puddling around her feet as she contemplated what she could see of his face.

"You're dangerous," she said bluntly. "I know that. Looking at you tells me that if you lost control, most of us would be dead in a heartbeat."

A pause.

"You haven't lost control. You're still here. I'm still here. Your appearance doesn't scare me. It's how you look. You are not your powers--why should I freak out? Since when do people get to choose their powers?"

[furnaceface]

In the place of a rueful laugh, there was a small spark, a flicker in the flames from yellow to white-hot before the whole mess of it faded away to blue.

//Some of us never wanted them in th'first place.//

[intraspective]

"Feeling sorry that you got them won't help anything," she noted, not flinching away from the flames.

[furnaceface]

//Maybe not,// he allowed, holding his hand out for the towel, //but I don't have to be happy about them, either.//

[intraspective]

"They say," she said, giving up the towel. "That the more powerful and dangerous your powers are, the more you should live your life filled with love for life."