fandomhighdorms | The Gym, Sunday Early Morning

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The Gym, Sunday Early Morning

Ino showed up, bright and early--earlier than normal in the hopes that Liir would already have been at the gym--but that turned out to be wishful thinking. Seeing that he wasn't, she shrugged, and got to stretching. Maybe she'd do a bit of practising herself before he showed.

He'd said he normally woke up pretty early, right? So he'd be here soon hopefully. Ino didn't want to be late to meet up with Michael for MercCon.

[Ino's here for Liir, but also open for all your early morning gymish needs.]

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[ooc: sorry! family emergency]

He trotted in not to much later, muscles warm and upon seeing Ino, a smile on his face.

"Sorry," he said with an apologetic wince, "I was trying to get some prep work done on a cooking project of sorts."

Ino grinned at him. "You like cooking a lot it seems," she shook her head, "it's fine, I kept myself busy anyway."

[Not a problem. Don't worry about it.]

"It's something useful that I know I have at least a passing skill at," he said. Then he nodded to her stretching.

"And they should be done later in the afternoon if you'd like to try some."

...if he'd gotten it right, anyway. He'd gotten a few pieces when Three would make it, since there were so many and he'd watch with such attention and so it was one of the few 'desserts' he'd actually liked.

She tilted her head consideringly, "If I'm not busy with Michael I'd be happy to." Which reminded her... "I've got to be out of here by around nine, if that's alright with you?"

"Of course," he said. What right did he have to argue?

"What were you thinking of teaching today?"

He was allowed to voice any objections, but Ino grinned at him. "MercCon's on," she explained, "and I don't want to miss the morning panels."

"Basic stances, and how to move from one to the next." Ino said, "That's where I started with Lana." So it'd work well enough for him too.

"As you say," as he stretched.

"By stances, you mean how I might stand or am I misusing the word?"

"How you stand, and how the rest of your body is in relation," Ino said with a shrug, "it can be a bit boring until you put it all together but it is important to get it right."

"I'm sure it's not boring."

Nothing was boring except, perhaps, listening to someone ranting about the same nonsense they'd ranted about for years.

Or repeating yourself over and over becausethe listener kept forgetting what you'd said.

He stood up.

Ino really disagreed, but hey, whatever, if it made him happy. Lots of things were boring in her opinion.

"It's a lot of repetition," she said, "which is useful, but not really my favourite thing to do."

"That can be pleasant, if you're in the right frame of mind," he said, looking at her expectantly.

"I suppose, sometimes I'll try and meditate while doing it and that does help." Ino shook her head. "But not while teaching it. Alright, the first stance goes like this..."

She started showing him how to position himself, using her body for demonstration.

At first he moved to exactly mimic her movements.

Then he realized that that probably wouldn't be what she'd want. Instead, he took in the stance and made a few adjustments for his own size and shape. Things that would be automatic for most people were things that he had to consider; where most people had an automatic, he drove a manual.

When she'd noticed him stop mimicking her, Ino smiled slightly, and continued with the next step while keeping an eye on his form in case she had to stop and correct anything.

He followed her carefully, taking the time to correct before standing still in the stance.

She grinned at him. "You're getting better at not just copying whatever I do."

"I'm reminding myself," he said with a very faint smile. "I want to learn this right."

"Iruka-sensei would've loved to have a student tell him that," Ino said, thinking of her teacher at the Academy, "but I guess I'm glad you're working on it."

"Iruka-sensei?"

He was unfamiliar with the terminology as well as the name. "Is that someone here or someone at home?"

"A teacher back home," Ino said, "that's what 'sensei' means. Someone who teaches."

"Is it used specifically for those who would instruct in self-defense?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head. "No, it's for any kind of teacher. A way of respecting them."

"Then would you object if I called you Ino-sensei?" he said. He wanted to do something to let her know how much he appreciated it. Something to express his respect and gratitude. The idea that she might not know that upset him; he'd only barely gotten over the idea that he couldn't give her anything back for it.

The sudden stillness that came over her probably expressed her reluctance, but she followed that with a dismissive wave and a short laugh, "Seriously? That'd make me feel old, but if you really want to, I guess..."

She'd just cringe a little every time it happened. Because seriously. Ino-sensei. Just... no.

If she could read the narrative she'd tell Liir that really he didn't have to do anything for her, but really, if he mentioned at some point that he could fly Ino would be highly interested in that.

The stillness told him everything he had to know. While most social queues weren't something he'd recognize or be able to identify, discomfort was one he was more than familiar with.

"It's unnecessary," he said, looking at her apologetically. "Please, forget I said it."

She looked sheepish. "It's a nice thought, but I just... I'm only fourteen. It doesn't sit right with me."

"Understood," he said with a nod. She didn't need to explain herself to him. He was the one who'd made the mistake, after all.

"Next?" he prompted, in the interests of moving on from the awkward moment.

Ino looked briefly fustrated before shaking her head. "Next, then. You start this way," she continued, showing him how to go about it.

He followed her example slowly at first and then he took the time to move himself into the position quicker and quicker.

"Don't go too quick," she cautioned, "there's no need to rush it."

He slowed down.

"Okay."

More pacing. He tried to keep that in mind.

"Rushing things only leads to making mistakes," Ino said, knowing this was in fact one of her bad traits when it came to pretty much everything but flowers and studying.

"She used to say that as well," he said with a wince. But he didn't say anything else; he went through the movement slowly, obviously thinking about every stage.

Ino caught the wince, but figured, hey, he'd tell her not to pry if he didn't want her to right? "She?"

"The Witch," he answered without a pause. "I was her... servant."

There was another word that might have gone there, but it was obvious he wasn't going to use it.

"She let you come here then?" Ino asked, thinking that was pretty nice of the Witch, or whatever, to do that.

"She died," he said flatly, matter of fact. Entirely without emotion.

In the way that said there was plenty; it was just heavily suppressed.

"She probably wouldn't have let me go, if she was alive," he said a moment after. "After all, who would have served her eggs or cleaned her clothes or fed the monkeys?"

...

Wow, Ino had kinda stepped on that one, right?

"... couldn't she have done it herself?" Ino offered, wondering if she should just, you know, shut up before she said something that actually made Liir act upset. "Laundry's not hard, or making eggs."

"She couldn't be bothered. She had her work. It was more important."

Than me. Than anyone.

"And no, laundry isn't hard. Nor is eggs or cooking in general. It's probably why she trusted me with them."

That made Ino blink. "Could she do them?"

"The laundry, probably not," he said. "Not easily, anyway. She had an aversion to water. But the rest... of course. She just didn't want to. And I did it."

"If it worked for you," Ino said with a shrug, "I just don't get it."

Now he looked at her.

"What don't you get?"

"Why get someone to do something if you can do it yourself," Ino said simply, "I mean, I guess I understand with the laundry if she had issues with water, but..."

"Because she didn't want to do it," he said, keeping his tone neutral. "Because she didn't think it was worth her valuable time when I could do it. Because it was beneath her. I don't know. She's dead. I couldn't tell you."

He was proud of himself by the end, that his tone and volume hadn't changed.

Ino thought that was a pretty sorry excuse. 'Beneath' her? What the hell did that mean? She could tell he wasn't happy with the topic though, so she shrugged.

"Whatever, guess it's different in your world." And that was all she was going to say on that topic. "Next stance."

"No, I doubt it's any different," he said. "That's just how it was. The maunts told me to go with her when she left and I did and that's just how it was."

He seemed to have said his piece at that point, so the next words out of his mouth were.

"All right, next stance. Yes."

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The Gym, Sunday Early Morning

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