Office Hours, Saturday, 10/3

[tyler_gone]

Tyler was in his office, and more than a little curious about what this year's crop of parents might be like.

He'd fill the time until anybody showed up by trying to read the xkcd archives.

Comments

[tyler_gone]

"... yeah," Tyler said, on his guard. "Tyler's fine. And you -- aren't Ino's dad. He came last time."

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

"He got called off on a mission," Asuma said, sizing up the man. "I'm Sarutobi Asuma--Ino's squad commander."

[tyler_gone]

"Asuma," Tyler said, rising enough to offer his hand for the man to shake if he wanted. "She's mentioned you. Pleasure to meet you."

He was assessing Asuma, too, and debating what the man wanted to hear about Ino's activities.

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

He was a tall man on the bulky side of trim--all of it pure muscle.

"You too," he said easily, noting the man's demeanour. "Mentioned me, hmmm?" Good to know. "What's the girl been up to?"

Blunt Asuma was blunt.

[tyler_gone]

"... are things getting worse at home or something?"

This was Tyler's way of saying he thought she was probably in the process of some kind of slow-motion breakdown.

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

Asuma could think of several answers to that, ranging from bemused to serious.

"What's your definition of worse?" he asked finally.

[tyler_gone]

Tyler sighed. "Is there a reason she'd be -- 'acting out' sounds like a cliche, but I swear to god, that's what it feels like from this end."

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

He played with his smoke, twirling it with absent-minded ease, while he considered that question.

"Ino's wilful," he answered. "It could be anything or nothing. Her missions have changed lately, though, if you're looking for a solid possibility."

[tyler_gone]

"Could be it," Tyler said. "Depending on the kind of change. She -- we had a disagreement over Fight Club. Not my finest hour, I'll admit that, but she completely lost her temper. And then yesterday I had a girl in my office telling me Ino wanted to stab her to test her healing and asking if I thought it was a good idea."

He shrugged. "She's always been strong-willed, yeah, it just seems ... closer to the surface these days."

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it is," he conceded. "I see her when she's the most focused--on missions. The letters I get are closer to reports than anything else."

"Did you get the whole story on the stabbing thing?" he asked curiously. "Ino didn't mention that."

[tyler_gone]

"I think it's recent," Tyler said. "And no. It was -- it felt like the other girl had agreed without thinking it through, like maybe she just needed somebody to talk to so she felt like she could back out. She had an accident. Her physiology's a little different now. Tougher. From what I heard, Ino offered to try to push it to the limit."

He looked a little amused at the next thing. "Once the other girl told me she'd been shot and healed without a scar, I ... questioned why testing was necessary."

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

"Mmm," he said, looking thoughtful. "I can think of a few reasons, but a lot of them depend on what she was going to do during the testing."

Asuma shook his head.

"Look," Asuma continued, "this world, from my understanding, isn't much like ours. Ino's missions probably aren't--acceptable here. If it was up to me, she'd have been pulled from your pretty little island years ago, simply to avoid problems springing up on her end. If she's acting out but not talking, then she likely doesn't feel she's safe enough to talk about things. And," he added dryly, "she's always been good at lying."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler couldn't entirely repress his urge to roll his eyes. "Trust me, I wasn't asking to pry out Ino's darkest secrets. I've noticed a change; we're barely on speaking terms just now, but I figured you might wanna talk to her about it."

He lifted his chin. "Why is she here if you don't want her here?"

[smokin-guardian.livejournal.com]

"Because I'm not the end-all of the command. Didn't mind her going at first, some space..." He shook his head. "That made sense. She needed it. Other than that, well, her father doesn't mind, Hokage-sama doesn't mind, and Ino herself wants to stick around. I get a say when it starts affecting her missions."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler nodded in understanding. "Right. So ..." he drew a breath. "I do like her a lot, whatever that's worth. Her work in class is still good. I hope she can make the worlds mesh better in her head, if that's the problem."