Yamanaka Ino (Iris)

Iris settled back on her heels, taking a few snapshots of their Hojo and Smoochy masterpiece for her own safe keeping (though she'd get a copy of the video from Reno too, later, since she needed that in all sorts of ways). She felt tired, but… happy.

In an ugly, wrung out sort of way.

She'd done her work in setting the charges they were using to burn the mansion to the ground and Reno was off adding, he'd said, a few special touches. Since, of the two of them, he was the explosives expert, Iris let him be.

Tseng (any Tseng) hadn't replied to their selfie yet. It had been a bit.

From most of them, she could wait.

From the one here, though, she needed to contact him. Iris didn't know Sephiroth or Cloud's minds well enough to feel them at great distances.

But she knew Zack's mind—any Zack—enough to know exactly where he was and he was close. They were running out of time.

She huffed out a breath, set her elbows on her knees, looking up at their handiwork, and then hit the speed dial for the boss.

[NOTE: Second verse, same as the first. Talk of torture, actual murder, torture, and blowing up a building in it.]

They had left more than a week ago for home and they still weren't there yet.

In fact, they weren't anywhere near home given that they were currently being chased by a giant gummy bear that was half the size of a skyscraper. And Gaia had some monsters--even some jelly-like monsters--but nothing like this.

The fact that the rest of the world also seemed to be made of various types of gummies was honestly making getting away more complicated than it would be usually.

"Next time you suggest a detour, I'm going to tell you to shove it where the sun don't shine!" she snapped at Reno. "What's our portal ETA?"

( More under the cut, yo! )

[NFB, yo. Cowritten with raspberryturk and to be continued in the comments on the most SPiest basis possible.]

From: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
To: [Fandom Island, yes everyone]
Re: Zack's Birthday Party!

Yo!

Tomorrow is a very important day! One that cannot pass without notice! Or else the world will end.

Okay, probably not, but I'm writing this email (Karla had nothing to do with this; she's cc'd because it felt wrong to send out a party notice without her!) and so what I say goes!

Anyway, tomorrow is Zack's birthday!

Neither Zack nor I are actually sure exactly how old he's turning, due to shenanigans with timelines and other, less fun, things. But there's still going to be a party!

Get your asses down to the park. That's right, the park as soon as the sun starts setting (or later, whenever's good, really) for good food (Zack asks me to remind all of you that there will be vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available for those with dietary restrictions and that if you have any others, let us know; or not, I don't care. You're all old enough to avoid dying by eating something you shouldn't and I could heal your stupid asses anyway if you're not), good times, and free booze (I'm bringing three types of beer; you want something fancier, bring your own) and celebrate the fact that Zack's getting older!

Or laugh at him for getting older! I get to tease him for, like, a whole week about being older than me.

Presents are great, but not necessary. Just come on down and have fun!

If you got any questions, hit me up! Or hit Karla up, that'd amuse me a lot.

See you there!

-- Iris

[Quite naturally, puppy_fair has approved this email going out! Open for any emails or phone calls!]

Tseng had come through for her. Which wasn't surprising, but was always nice, and Ino had had her pick of buildings to sort through and determine which they were going to burn down in the line of duty.

Several of them were in the slums of Midgar and, Ino, after serious consideration of their locations, had set them aside. She'd take care of them on her own, later, once Sparkle had burnt himself out and she'd seen him on his way.

Sparkle was squishy in weird places. The goal was to give him something to do, not have a shouting match with him with the denizens of the slums listening in. If that happened, she'd be the one fixing that whole mess and while she didn't have moral qualms about erasing people's memories, she'd rather not have to do it en masse because she hadn't considered Sparkle's personality properly beforehand.

That was just sloppy and Ino despised that. Besides, like her mentor, Ino always had treated her Rookies well.

Not that she was telling Sparkle he was a potential Rookie. No sense in scaring him off.

The buildings that weren't in the slums posed more promise, and by the time she was at the Causeway, waiting for him, Ino was well content with her picks.

Now, just to wait for Sparkle.

[For he who is mentioned!]

Ino wasn't avoiding Zack. She really wasn't. This wasn't like the situation they'd been in last year, with both of them ignoring the elephant in the room and coexisting without ever really living with one another.

This was different because Ino had drowned herself in research since Kueng had left and had barely looked up from it for long enough to eat and shower and sometimes (maybe) sleep.

So, in a way, she was perhaps to be forgiven for not realizing just how much time she'd spent buried in years and years of painstaking work—a great deal of it done after her death—by a man whose love for her showed in the sheer amount of information he'd provided.

There was a lot of think about. And not all of it was about her death either.

Ino frowned at the report she was rereading.

[For ze guy, yo.]

There'd been a lot to think about from yesterday. Almost too much, really, which was why when Zack had suggested they all hit Luke's for breakfast (a family breakfast) Ino had plead work and promised she'd be along in a few.

And she would. Be along, that was.

But what she had to do didn't have anything to do with work.

She sat cross-legged on her bed, Silly perched on her knee, and Kueng's Silly perched on her other knee, and Girl dosing behind her. (Ino was pretty bemused by the duplicate of her chicobo.) They were eyeing each other. Ino gently rubbed both of their heads and then sent off the message she'd realized last night that she should have sent earlier.

Kueng's safe.

Because with his fathers' only the gods knew just how badly they were taking his disappearance.

[For those she's messaging, but also open for calls/visitors, yo.]

It was still disgustingly cold out, so Ino wasn't outside.

Nope, she was still hanging out on the couch, buried under dogs while the rest of them played or napped or wandered through the apartment at will. She'd never tell Zack, but a couple of the older dogs totally had her smitten.

Silly was perched on the back of the couch, watching the proceedings with beady eyes, but so far none of the puppies or the older dogs had made a go at eating Silly, which Ino figured was a win.

She was very damn near content as she worked on her petition for Tseng. Tseng was going to dismiss it no matter how much work she put into it, but hey, it gave her something to do.

And it would amuse her to send it to him.

[Open for visitors or calls~]

It would be a damn dirty lie for Ino to even pretend she wasn't really into what was out of Taylor Swift's new album. She totally was. No shame.

"My castle crumbled overnight," she sang while scrubbing the floor. Cleaning the kitchen wasn't very glamourous but it was pretty important. "I brought a knife to a gun fight."

Ino was pretty sure she'd win in a case like that. She was also reasonably sure Taylor would too, if she cared enough.

Still, misdirection was a useful tool. She leaned back on her heels and stretched, smiling at where Silly watched her from the counter.

"And I know I make the same mistakes every time
Bridges burn, I never learn, at least I did one thing right
I did one thing right
I'm laughing with my lover, making forts under covers
Trust him like a brother, yeah, you know I did one thing right
Starry eyes sparkin' up my darkest night
My baby's fit like a daydream
Walking with his head down
I'm the one he's walking to
So call it what you want, yeah, call it what you want to…

She was possibly going to sing this song until the kitchen sparkled. It was catchy.

[For ze boy, please!]

It was the middle of the night, closer to morning than evening, when Ino appeared in the apartment she and Zack shared in a near-silent puff of smoke.

( Cut for blood and minor gore! )

[For the boy! Warning for blood and minor gore. Just to be safe, yo.]

It was just past midnight when Ino finally, finally made it back to the apartment above the Boards. (It wasn't home, not yet, maybe not ever. Home had a green and black and smoky sky.)

Out of respect for Zack's sleeping mind (peaceful, for once), and out of habit, Ino slid into the apartment so silently that not even a whisper of rustling clothes marked her passing. She was so tired. And sore, though she'd taken care of injuries before coming back here.

Her uniform had seen better days but… well… that was another reason why it was good Zack was sleeping. She poked her head into the living room and paused. He was on the couch, bare-chested, with a puppy sleeping on him.

Irritation borne of her own exhaustion and the unexpected presence of the puppy rustled at her nerves, but her eyes were drawn more to the grey-scale and moon-lit tracery of torture scars that rippled Zack's chest, and while her nerves jangled, that made her stomach drop.

She was glad he was asleep. She had no idea what he'd say but—Ino didn't think he'd want her to see. (She'd always had good eyesight, though, and the moon helped—)

And the puppy…

Ino took a deep breath and headed, silently, for a shower. They'd talk about it tomorrow. She didn't want a dog but—they'd talk about it tomorrow. If she woke him up to talk about it now, neither of them would be happy.

(Maybe it was out of character to be so thoughtful but… but Ino was tired. She wouldn't enjoy this fight, the way she enjoyed a lot of them. But not this time, not now, not like this.)

Shower, bed, sleep. Tomorrow she'd deal with everything currently drowsing in the living room.

[Establishy! Zack and puppy modded with permission.]