Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

The nice thing about playing with a puppy for most of the day was that, once she’d gotten back to their room, Zack had conked out fast and hard in a pile of limbs and fuzzy ears on the edge of their bed. Which meant that, until he woke up, she had the freedom to think and do what she wanted to.

Which, tonight, was a matter of finishing her e-mails. It was the matter of seconds to actually send them after proofing them one more time, and then Ino just leaned back against the headboard and frowned thoughtfully, absently toying with her hair.

It was weird, now, to not have something to write as a goal. ‘Sending out the e-mails’ had been a good way to have something to focus on that made her feel like she wasn’t going to suffocate under her worries.

Nothing to stop that now.

[Ooopen door, open post, yes!]

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[intraspective]

She took a deep breath before even trying to formulate a response to that.

"I just... I thought it wouldn't happen again," Ino said, her voice tiny. "And then it did and it was worse and the only thing that made it better was that we weren't there for months and months."

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Lana said quietly. "I think we all thought we were safe from that happening again."

She remembered all too well what it had been like in the past - finally giving up on getting home, making a whole new life, and then losing that too.

[intraspective]

Ino bobbed her head. "It didn't get you, did it? I haven't--heard back from those off the island really."

Probably because they had lives and she'd e-mailed them just a little while ago. Ino knew that.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana shook her head. "No. I've been safe here all along. Just came back from a wonderful birthday weekend away with Shawn. We were both fine."

[intraspective]

She...

"I forgot," Ino said quietly. "Sorry about that--was your birthday a good one?"

It was something to think about that wasn't disastrous. Ino was okay with that.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Hey, don't worry about it," Lana said easily. "Sounds like you had plenty of stuff to keep your brain occupied. And yeah, it was good. Really good."

[intraspective]

"What did you do?" Ino asked, seizing on the distraction gratefully.

Not the healthiest coping method around, no, but it was her favourite.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Shawn took me to a lake for a picnic and we just... it was wonderful to be able to get away, just the two of us." Her love for him was clearly evident in her voice. "He's so overworked. I don't like the stress they put him under. So to have a whole three days and nights away from it all... it was great."

[intraspective]

Ino tugged her feet up under her. "He workin' for some point? 'Cause if it's just being overworked for no reason then--job hunt, maybe?"

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"He's healing people," Lana said softly. "He'd put up with pretty much anything to be able to keep doing that."

[intraspective]

She fiddled with her hair.

"He's still got limits," Ino replied. "He should be careful--you make more mistakes if you're tired."

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, I help as much as I can with that," Lana said. "Still, the only time he ever felt he'd reached his limits was during the plague in Fandom - I don't know if you were there for that. And he was coming down with it himself, so..."

[intraspective]

"I was here for that," she replied, and shivered again. "Never wanna go through that again either."

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, no kidding," Lana said. "I really thought I was going to die."

[intraspective]

Ino winced.

Probably not the best topic to think of right this instant.

"But we didn't," she said firmly, ignoring that Bart had.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana sighed. "Yeah."

[intraspective]

Ino swallowed and nodded. Okay. Okay. She could do this.

"Did you--want to come over? For a few days?"

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"I'd like that," Lana said. "I can take a couple of days. When do you want me?"

[intraspective]

Ino shrugged then remembered Lana couldn't see that. "I... don't know. I'm busy through to the end of Wednesday but... it's up to you?"

She was easy that way, when it came to seeing a friend.

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

Lana ran through her schedule in her head. "I could get there... Wednesday night if that works. Stay till Friday night or Saturday morning?"

[intraspective]

Ino bobbed her head.

"I'd like that," she said softly. "I'll meet you at the Causeway?"

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"Sounds good," Lana said with a smile. "I'll be there."

[intraspective]

"Okay," she replied. "And Lana? I'm... glad I e-mailed you."

[lovelylana.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad you did too, Ino," lana said sincerely. "Really glad. I've missed you."

[intraspective]

"Yeah," she said softly. "Me too. It's been too long."