Office Hours, Friday, 10/02

[tyler_gone]

Before Tyler could do anything else today, he had to check in with someone.

"No," was how Marla answered, on about the eighth ring.

"... huh?"

"Caller ID," she explained, rat-a-tat-tat. "Whatever you called to ask me, Tyler, I'm pretty sure the answer is no."

Tyler let out a sigh. "So you aren't coming to the island this weekend."

"Nope. Got the invitation, again. Figured the free meal wasn't worth the gas money." A wry beat later, she added, "How are your friends?"

"Tony's fine. I guess Pepper and Rhodes are fine too, I just haven't --" He cut himself off. "Do you care?"

"Not especially."

"So ... always a pleasure, Marla."

"Wish I could say the same to you." And then they hung up.

That bit of business taken care of, he checked his mail. he had to read the letter three times to make sure it said what he thought it said.

He remembered that conversation, vaguely, if he thought hard. It was actually pretty standard advice for him; he'd stolen it from some old punk song.

And, somehow, it had changed the world. He had changed the world for the better, for once.

That ... had to make a guy feel good.

He left his office door open as he waited for any visitors.

Comments

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

Jennifer knocked on Tyler's door as she entered.

"Mr. Durden?" she said. "I was wondering if I could talk to you about something."

[tyler_gone]

"Sure, Jen," Tyler said, with a quick, easy smile. "Got a parent coming who you need to warn me about?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I wish," Jennifer said. "My dad actually couldn't make it. I tried to get a hold of my cousin, but that didn't happen, either."

[tyler_gone]

Another student, and Tyler might have made a joke about how this made it easier for her to spend the weekend mocking everyone else's families. Jennifer wasn't that student.

"So you're just observing this time around," he said sympathetically. "Hey, me too. What's up?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Well, there's this... thing I've been thinking about doing, with the help of Ino Yamanaka," Jennifer said. "And Miss Atreides wanted me to talk to someone about it, to make sure I knew what I was doing."

[tyler_gone]

A long, long pause. The scar on the back of Tyler's hand was suddenly the most fascinating thing in this or any other room.

Tyler shouldn't think this was ominous. And yet...

"What does Ino want to help you with?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I don't really... know my limits," Jennifer said. "When I'm the She-Hulk. I don't know how much I can take, how much I can heal. And Ino wants to help by... testing that."

She really had no idea how naieve she was being.

[tyler_gone]

"I see." Tyler was going to have to ask Ghanima how they'd gotten this one past her. "Testing ... so, what, she's gonna attack you?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I think so, yeah," Jennifer said. "I was... leaving that stuff up to Ino. She seemed really... professional about it."

[tyler_gone]

This is Tyler's I'm not surprised snort. "How far would you let her push you? Blood? Gunshot wound? Permanent scarring?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Well, I figured blood was going to happen," Jennifer said. "But... I mean, I don't even have a scar from the gunshot I had at the start of this whole She-Hulk thing."

[tyler_gone]

"So you already know you can get shot and not scar," Tyler pointed out. He wanted to see if Jennifer would follow him on this.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Right," Jennifer said. She was suddenly unsure of herself. "...so we wouldn't need to test that, at least."

[tyler_gone]

"... and you've been in spars in that shape in Fight Club, haven't you?" Tyler rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sorry if I'm remembering wrong. You stand out, but it all gets blurry."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I have," Jennifer said. "Recently, too. But nobody... stabbing me."

She frowned when she said that last part. "This is starting to sound weird."

[tyler_gone]

"Teensy bit," Tyler agreed. "Look, Jennifer, if you really want to do this, I can't stop you. But I'm not sure I see what it will do that you can't get another way."

And with someone more likely to respect limits, Tyler thought but didn't say. He was all for people pushing themselves; he just wasn't sure he liked where Ino was likely to push Jen.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure, now," Jennifer said. "I think this was what Ino was warning me about, but I wasn't understanding."

[tyler_gone]

"Ino warned you?" Tyler echoed. "How did Ino warn you?"

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Well, she wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into, for one. And I don't think I did. And she also wanted me to know that... it wouldn't affect her to hurt me, and I should be ready for that, and I don't think I realized quite what that meant, either," Jennifer said.

[tyler_gone]

"I couldn't get my head around it, either," Tyler said, rubbing his forehead and pondering sending the both of them to see Sweets. "Look, you want my advice? Go to Fight Club. Spar the big guys, Deadpool and Cable and Minsc. Fight more than once a week. I don't think you have to let somebody come at you with a knife."

"Also," he added, putting on his Responsible Adult Hat even more firmly, "how were you going to know if what she was doing was too much? I'm sure somebody would heal you if you got hurt, but things go too far fast enough, you could end up dead before anybody could blink."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," Jennifer said, very serious. "I think you're very right. Even if Deadpool scares me."

She nodded. "I'm going to tell Ino I don't think it's a good idea, any more."

[tyler_gone]

"Try Anakin Skywalker," Tyler suggested. "He's very good. And he's less likely to tell you about your possible future sex life."

"And for what it's worth, I wasn't trying to talk you out of it."

Not entirely, anyhow.

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"No, I get that," Jennifer said. "But I think... It was something I wasn't thinking about, properly."

[tyler_gone]

"Then I helped you work it through," Tyler said. "Glad I did something useful today."

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, Mr. Durden," Jennifer said. "Thank you so much."