Office Hours, Friday, 3/12

[tyler_gone]

It had been a boring couple of office hours, so Tyler had decided to bring in some games to give himself something to do besides drinking coffee and trolling on the Internet.

Today, he was playing pool against himself on a miniature pool table. He kept cheating when it was stripes' turn.

[OOC: Open office hours.]

Comments

[intraspective]

So.

Ino had skipped his class on Monday and, well, that probably deserved some sort of explanation.

She rapped lightly on his doorframe. "Tyler-sensei, you--" her lips quirked, "too busy playin' pool to talk a second?"

Or a minute. Or--whatever.

[tyler_gone]

"I can take a break," Tyler said, straightening and offering her a cue. "Or we could play while we talk. What's up?"

The last was a bit mock-casual. He had noticed she'd missed class, and radio said something about the clinic....

[intraspective]

"I don't know the rules very well," she said, smiling a bit as she took the cue he offered her. "But I suppose the rules are only important if everyone agrees on them, mm?"

A beat.

"Wanted to apologize for missin' class, mostly," Ino admitted.

[tyler_gone]

"Makes you easier to beat," Tyler said, as he racked the balls. It also helps that my mun can't play pool AT ALL. "And it's fine. What was up? Lasting weekend trauma?"

[intraspective]

"Bit of that," she confessed, leaning against his desk and watching. "Bit of a head injury, too. Nurses weren't impressed with me much for waitin' the whole weekend--as if I had much of a choice."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler grimaced, though he barely looked up from his fiddling. "Why didn't you get a choice?"

[intraspective]

Her lips twisted. "Got hit--knocked out--Friday evening. Didn't wake up as me 'til Monday. Totally not my fault but did the nurses care?"

Nooo. Geez.

[tyler_gone]

"Ino, you were unconscious for two days." And now Tyler did set the game aside. "Even if somebody else took your place for a while, that's ... I'd freak if I was a nurse, too."

[intraspective]

She stared at him for a long moment before her shoulders slumped and she looked away. "I know that," Ino said, "I didn't argue with the nurses at all 'bout it."

Well. She'd barely argued. This was Ino.

"And I've been being good 'bout what kind of training I've been doing all week too. I'm not being dumb about it, promise."

[tyler_gone]

It was Ino, so Tyler looked skeptical about the not arguing. "I trust you on that," he said, because he did.

"So ... you probably want to know what you missed in class? Or do you want to talk about the weekend?"

He'd been a baby. He was ready to move on.

[intraspective]

"You do not want to know about my weekend," she informed him seriously, "and I don't want to talk about it because talking about it sucks."

A beat.

"What did I miss and what do I have to do to make up for it?"

[tyler_gone]

Tyler took her at her word. He had never been the talk-about-your-feelings-type to start with, and dealing with teenage girl emotions, especially this teenage girl ... he gave her a sympathetic look and waved his hand to symbolize moving on.

"Not much," he said. "We talked about how the philosophies we lived by would affect our parenting, when and if we had kids. Got any thoughts about that?"

[intraspective]

Ino stared at him, rather dismayed.

"Why is this week all about parenting? I don't want to think about that."

At all.

Mother was the worst word ever right now for her. Right up there with calamity.

[tyler_gone]

"Because I planned my class just to screw with you," Tyler told her high-handedly.

Then he relented. "Want me to tweak it and give you a different assignment?"

[intraspective]

"It would be deeply appreciated," Ino told him earnestly, even resisting the urge to give him a dirty look for his first comment. "Otherwise you're stepping right into weekend issues and you don't want that."

[tyler_gone]

"Probably not." He stared into space, considering it. "Write a page on how your personal philosophy effects an everyday task. Eating, sleeping, going to class, whatever won't traumatize you. Does that work?"

[intraspective]

"For an assignment like that," she said, smiling at him. "I'll even buy you coffee for class on Monday."

It worked. She could do that no problem.

[tyler_gone]

"You know how to bribe a man, Ino," Tyler said. "Sounds good from here. Just take care of that head."

[intraspective]

"I will," she promised. "I'm kinda fond of it, after all."

You know, all things considered.