Office Hours, Monday, 4/6

[tyler_gone]

Three hot showers, half a bottle of whiskey, an exhausting gym workout, and ten hours of fitful sleep after he had come out of the closet recovered from (un)life as a zombie, Tyler was back to his routine.

... he was in his office, anyhow. That counted. So what if he was mostly stupidly staring into space and trying not to think?

The door was open. Tyler wasn't into confined spaces just then.

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[intraspective]

"Tyler-sensei," she carolled, leaning in the open door and looking tired and in need of a shower but otherwise okay. "Can you explain why Ghanima-sensei says everyone ought to have learnt 'bout overthrowing evil in the last week?"

Yes, she could've asked Ghanima-sensei that. But Ino liked Tyler-sensei better. Teenage girl bias.

[tyler_gone]

"Ino. You went away and zombies invaded," Tyler said, in a voice laced with sarcasm. "You missed a fun time."

[intraspective]

"Well," she said, contemplating that. "Does that mean I'm, like, a anti-zombie spell or something? Which is kinda depressing 'cause zombies sound a bit neat. Like, a convention of bands?" Maybe he didn't like the music? Or maybe Ino was just tired.

Ino was thinking more along the lines of the zombies at the bar.

[tyler_gone]

"They tried to kill us all," Tyler said, so flat it might be hard to tell if he was kidding or not. "They bit me and I spent three days trying to kill people and eat their brains. I think the defense squad almost set the school on fire to get rid of them."

A beat. "You really didn't talk to anybody during Ghanima's class, did you?"

[intraspective]

"Oh." Well. "At least it wasn't permanent?"

Ino had no idea.

"Nope," she said, with a shrug. "It was a movie day, Ghanima-sensei was grumpy, so I kinda spent the period doodling in one of my notebooks and eating the fruit she had out. People were, like, all tired and stuff, and I figured explanations might take more than a quick note."

[tyler_gone]

"We got lucky," Tyler said. "Again."

He swiveled a little in his chair. "You'd probably have better luck getting details out of someone who spent the attack thinking about something more complicated than who had the tastiest brains."

[intraspective]

She shrugged a bit. "Fandom doesn't much do permanent." Two years here and Ino found it hard to worry about anything real ever happening. "It's always bad-awful then awesome-fix." Except for nightmares, but Ino didn't have that issue much. "Which, obviously, is totally a good thing." Though it wasn't much help in pounding any empathy home...

"That's revolting," she said, "though I'll make note of it, and remember to go pester someone." Once she got some sleep. "I'm going to take a wild guess then and assume I didn't miss much of class on Thursday?"

He looked kinda crappy. She could be a totally normal sort of annoyance for him. See, she was just going to wander in and flop down on a chair, totally uninvited. And glance around. "You ought to have flowers."

[tyler_gone]

"Y'know, I talked to Nathan last night and I don't think class came up," Tyler said thoughtfully. "You're probably right. No point teaching anything if half the class is dead and the other half wants to shoot things."

He raised an eyebrow. "Flowers?"

[intraspective]

"Shooting things would've rocked, though I can't complain 'bout my mission either so, whatever. Excellent. I'll maybe check with Algren-sensei just in case, but hopefully nothing."

"Flowers," she said, nodding her head. "You can make a statement with them. Not just, like, frilly girlie statements either. I can say 'go away, never talk to me again' with flowers, so. And they're good for you."

Make you happy. Ino was clever enough not to say that, even while tired.

[tyler_gone]

"I'll tell you what, Ino," Tyler said shrewdly. "You choose flowers that say 'go away, you're wasting my time' for my office, and I'll display them until they turn brown."

He actually liked most of the people who came to visit him. It just couldn't hurt to have a little secret message.

[intraspective]

She beamed at him.

"Lucky! And I work at the flower shop tomorrow!" Now she had a goal.

A beat.

"But I'm not wasting your time, just so you know," Ino informed him. "I'm totally only doing what you told me to last week."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler shook his head. "You're taking me away from very important teacher business," he said solemnly.

You know, for his one (.5, if you considered how much work Nathan did) whole class every week.

[intraspective]

"But that's a good thing," she said, eyes wide and ingenuous. "Otherwise you'd be finding more things for me to do."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"There's a helmet just waiting to be cleaned," Tony informed him, wandering on in to hunt for coffee.

[tyler_gone]

There was a fresh pot, of course. Tyler practically had the stuff injected into his veins.

"You didn't burn it?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Do you know what it takes to melt titanium?"

[tyler_gone]

"More than you have here?" Tyler speculated.

He twirled a little in his chair, wondering why he always had such a hard time saying he was sorry. "I wish I hadn't tried to eat you. Twice."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I can't fault you for good taste." Apology accepted.

[tyler_gone]

Good.

"And I told Nathan that I was lucky there were some superheroes around to shove me in the closet."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Very lucky." Keep on being smug, Tony. "It gives Steve something to do."

[tyler_gone]

"And you found out the suit is zombie-proof," Tyler said. "What did you do the rest of the weekend, fly around and zap things?"

He was so good at the precise technical lingo.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"A plus for the weekend all around," Tony replied, pouring himself a rather large cup of coffee. Because he could.

[tyler_gone]

He could! There was even sugar, if he wanted it.

"Not one I need to relive, though," he admitted. "I sacrificed a deer. And killed at least two people."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"...killed people?" That almost made him stop from taking a sip of the coffee.

[tyler_gone]

"Bit them and tried to eat their brains," Tyler said. "Jean-Paul, he's a teacher, and one of the blond girls from Wellspring. Temari?"