The Gym, Sunday Early Morning

[intraspective]

Ino was there before dawn, putting her body through first stretches and then going full out against enemies only seen in her mind. A kick here, darting here, spin and punch there...

She fell into the pattern gladly, and in the back of her mind made sure that a small part of her was keeping an eye out for Liir.

The rest of her though was entirely focused on her practice. And gladly so.

[Ino is waiting for Liir, but the gym is totally open for all of your Ino-ish or gym-ish needs.]

Comments

[intraspective]

She considered him. "I'm not so sure I'll be any good at training that away," Ino admitted, "normally we've got the opposite problem at home. What would it take, do you think, that you'd stay and take a stand instead of running away?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"No way out," he said.

"Or... something I believed in. Something to fight for."

[intraspective]

Well. Ino would have utterly no words for how totally lame it would be if he wouldn't even fight when he had no way out. Seriously.

"A cause then?" Hm. Ino considered that.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"If you like," he said.

[intraspective]

Yeah. That got a Look.

"What I think isn't really great here when we're trying to get it to work for you," she pointed out. "I don't need encouragement to fight."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I was just agreeing with you actually," he said with a wince. "I... I've told Karal before. I don't believe in anything. I'm pretty sure I'm just not wired that way."

[intraspective]

Her eyebrows rose. "You don't believe in anything?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

[intraspective]

"You believe in some things, I hope," she said, frowning, "like, say, the fact that people 'round here happen to care about it."

Because, um, yeah.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"I know that."

He had proof. That sort of thing didn't require faith. And before he'd had proof?

...well, he hadn't believed it. He just hadn't thought it worth mentioning. Or rather, he'd thought it would have upset them if he'd mentioned it. It wasn't that he thought badly of any of them. It's just that, well, as he'd said.

[intraspective]

"So, do you believe that?" she asked, still frowning. "That we're not just going to, like, change our minds on you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I know that," he repeated. "And I don't think any of you would unless I gave you a damn lot of reason, malicious reason, to do so."

[intraspective]

"So how can you say that you don't believe anything?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Because," he said, "I have proof of that. I have memories, experience. Belief requires faith. Faith is something that exists without proof. Or when the proof is in doubt."

There was more to it, but that was as far as he wanted to go. He had a feeling Ino would be hurt if he said anymore, though that wasn't the intention.

[intraspective]

"Nuh huh," she said, "if you believe that we'll keep caring about you, then that's having faith in us, don't you think? Because you can't know the future."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Exactly. I can't."

All truths were truths for as long as they were true. But only that long.

Everything dies. Everyone leaves. Those always seemed to prove true. But he had to give her something, or she'd assume something that was almost correct but probably not right and she'd feel hurt.

He didn't want to hurt her.

"I don't think about the future. I don't plan much. I prepare, but that's different."

[intraspective]

...

...

"Trusting that someone'll care 'bout you down the line isn't what I'd consider to be thinking about the future. It just is."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Trusting is a different matter entirely," he said firmly. "I trust you implicitly. I trust Andrew. I trust Professor Ambrose. I trust Karal. I trust Miss Lulu. I never thought I would trust as many people as I do, but it's... it's sort of wonderful, in a way, as much as it's a little scary."

[intraspective]

"It's not a different thing at all," she insisted, "if you trust someone, then you believe them, then you've got faith in them. That's not hard to understand."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He shook his head.

"If you trust them, you trust them. You trust their word, their actions because they've proven themselves in one way or another. Trust is earned.

"Belief just is."

[intraspective]

"Belief still needs some sort of precedent to come from," she said, "like, I believe the sun'll keep coming up, because it always has."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"That's just using the word differently," he said. "Most of this is. The fact of the matter, though, is that I don't have a cause and I'm not sure I can ever find one."

[intraspective]

"Learning to fight to protect your precious people isn't a good enough cause for you?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He was silent for the longest time. Then he looked up at her.

"Do you really think," he said quietly, "I'll ever be able to protect them?"

[intraspective]

"Not with that attitude," she said.

"It's not something that'll happen overnight, you've got to work for it--and someone will always be stronger, better, faster than you, but you know, it's better to work for it and try. Because if something ever happens and you hadn't tried then I think that's the worst thing. It's one thing to try your hardest and fail, it's a totally different thing to just... not try."