Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

Paperwork was not Ino's very bestest friend ever, no.

Especially when she probably didn't know enough about the subject to fill in all the blanks. This was not stopping her from going through the pile and filling in anything she did know, mind, but it did mean she was gathering a list of questions that Ino was pretty sure the village only wanted so they could totally be insanely nosey.

Did it really matter if he had siblings, after all?

Ino was pretty sure he didn't, anyway, but that wasn't the point.

Once you'd ascertained that, oh hey, no they were not a threat to Konoha and yes were willing to swear on this, Ino was of the opinion that the rest of it was garbage.

This did not stop her from doing it, of course, but it did mean she was muttering to herself about utter idiots who needed a book written for a visitor as she steadily worked her way down the questions. Music was on, the door was half open and Ino was working on her bed.

[Open door, open post!

ETA: The phone call with Reno is chronologically last, plz. The content of the call is NFB!]

Comments

[intraspective]

...

...

Ino was torn between frustration and stress-fuelled hilarity, really. Seriously. Ow.

"Why does he snap?"

[raspberryturk]

This wasn't something that Zack could have any effect on, either way, and so Reno sighed, buried his face in his hand again, and pressed onward. Why the hell not? Ino was treating 'don't tell Zack' like a mission objective, and so it was safe.

And if it wasn't safe, then he would take whatever measures needed to be taken to ensure the safety of Gaia. That went without saying.

"On a mission somewhere, Sephiroth found files on the being we call Jenova," he replied. "Who he's been told his entire life was his mother. Guess he had problems with ShinRa keepin' most of her body in a tube to be experimented on an' used in the SOLDIER project, yoto. Figured that her rightful place wasn't as some kinda science project, an' that instead, the two of 'em should be rulin' the planet together."

Not right in the head by that point, that Sephiroth.

[intraspective]

It was a sucky mission objective but it wasn't like she got any say in her missions, right? So sucky was well... to be dealt with.

Suck it up. And bitch. A lot.

She chewed her bottom lip at that. "Can't say I blame 'im for not wanting her experimented on. Wouldn't want my mom in that situation either, you know?"

[raspberryturk]

"She ain't really his mother," Reno sighed. "She's a blue-skinned freak from outer space that crash-landed on The Planet ages ago, an' has been tryin' to destroy it in one way or another since. I don't know much about the project that Sephiroth came from, but he had a human mother, just like the rest of us, yo. That much, I do know."

Which hinted somewhat at exactly how shitty ShinRa had been, so far as things like 'human rights' went, perhaps.

[intraspective]

"Blue-skinned freak," Ino repeated.

The sad thing was that that made more sense than some other things in that explanation. She could only thank Fandom. Her world had demons, not aliens. Totally different thing.

"So he figures destroying the world is a good idea for revenge or somethin' 'cause of his fake-mom?"

Her head hurt.

"The SOLDIER project--and Jenova?" That was a separate question. She just wasn't sure she could phrase it right so he got it fragmented.

[raspberryturk]

"Somethin' like that," Reno replied, managing to pick apart the two. He figured he knew what she was getting at, both ways. It was a Turk thing. "He wanted to rule the world. Which apparently means killin' every livin' thing on it, and then ridin' the planet off to another planet to repeat the process. Probably her idea, not his."

Okay, deep breath, now. It was never any secret that Jenova cells were used in the SOLDIER project, but Zack probably didn't understand what Jenova was, so this could be touchy territory.

"When people join SOLDIER, they go through a series of alterations, zoto. It's a cross between bein' doused in mako, fused with Jenova cells, an' some kinda technological whatevertheshit that they have put in their heads. The Jenova cells make a lotta the difference, yo. They take on some of her traits, like bein' able to take stupid amounts of damage without dyin', but it means that they're genetically impossible to tell apart from shit like monsters, among other things along those lines, yo."

[intraspective]

Annnd that was Ino's stomach, tying itself in a knot. Even as she distantly spared part of her mind to mused that 'whatevertheshit' was a rather awesome way to describe something.

"Zack asked if he was a monster." Flatly. "I told him he wasn't. You sayin' I'm wrong?"

She didn't want to be wrong.

"Any other traits?"

[raspberryturk]

"So far as his cells are concerned, an' so far as all of ShinRa's monster-huntin' equipment ever saw it, yeah, you're wrong, yo. But mentally, nah, he's human. He's a good kid, even."

The kind that made Reno wrinkle his nose and want to kick him in the shin for being so damn optimistic all of the time.

"There's other shit, too. They're immune to certain scientific procedures, they're more prone to bein' genetically manipulated in other ways. That kinda thing. If you're worryin' about SOLDIER boy so far as that goes, there ain't no point. You'll be happy to know that Zack gets to stay Zack."

In spite of Hojo's best efforts.

[intraspective]

She was, in fact, relieved to hear that. It didn't stop her eyes from narrowing speculatively.

"'bout the mental part," she started, then stopped, and then just...

Well, silence on her end.

Ino was thinking.

[raspberryturk]

"What about it?" Reno's eyebrow twitched up a little at that. Silence wasn't always a good thing, was it?

[intraspective]

Not really, no.

She tucked her legs up under her chin and studied the sheet of paper she'd tugged out to scribble on. Details, here.

"Jenova cells. Mako. Whatever piece o' tech gets stuck in 'em--that make mental manipulation easier too? Not genetic level. Or--not just."

[raspberryturk]

"So far as I can figure, the mental manipulation goes hand-in-hand with the genetic. That's how it was with the Ravens, how it was with the Genesis Copies, an' how it went with the Sephiroth clones, too. So, so far as I can figure, unless they get screwed around on a cellular level too, they're safe."

A pause.

"The DMW is there mostly to regulate their growth, I think. Keep 'em from overloadin' themselves an' gettin' too strong too fast, or somethin'. I ain't no SOLDIER-scholar or nothin', here. I just know what happened an' what didn't."

[intraspective]

"DMW?"

It was like he was talking in code.

"I was just thinking. That's all."

Ino, get better at diverting the conversation.

"So if they were strong willed before, they'd be strong willed after?"

Better.

[raspberryturk]

"Digital somethin' or other," Reno replied, dutifully.

Mind Wave, Reno. Digital Mind Wave. But it wasn't as though he ever gave a shit what it meant for.

"I figure they'd be just as strong after, yeah. Why?"

[intraspective]

"Digital somethin' or other don't equal DMW."

That was a stall, yes. Pretty lame one, even, and she knew it.

"Wondering." She tugged her hair sharply. "'Bout the 2nds and 3rds taken and turned into full monsters. That's all."

[raspberryturk]

"You want me to make some shit up, Ino, I can. Digital Muffin Wanker. I don't know, here."

... It would be very, very scary if Zack had a 'Digital Muffin Wanker' in his brain.

"Thing you gotta wonder ain't so much about the resolve of the guys that Genesis turned over, Rookie," and now Reno was really getting a feel for how close Ino had gotten to Zack, considering just what she knew, here, "it's how nasty Genesis had to be in order to take that many of 'em, and break 'em all."

[intraspective]

...yes, yes it would be.

She bit her lip, hard, for a moment then asked in a soft voice, "What if they ain't broken, really?"

[raspberryturk]

That made Reno frown a bit more, yes.

"The Sephiroth clones were," he attempted. "The Ravens weren't, though. They were trapped somewhere in their own heads, so far as I can tell. I'm just figurin' that since Genesis an' Sephiroth were so damn similar in some ways, it was probably the same story, there. Not trapped, so much as just not all there no more."

[intraspective]

You got anyone on that crazy planet of yours who can check for sure?

Ino ignored that thought.

"Genesis ones ain't that strong physically," she answered. "What 'bout the Sephiroth ones?"

[raspberryturk]

"Hard to say," Reno admitted. "For the most part, Sephiroth himself killed 'em off. They were sick, I think. Mako poisoning or worse."

He was not going to volunteer the fact that there was an exception to that, and that exception was the guy who thought he was Zack, no.

[intraspective]

"They going to be a while in coming?" she asked quickly. "Or soon? Ish?"

[raspberryturk]

"The Sephiroth clones?"

Zack would only ever meet one. And he'd drag the poor guy all over the planet, too. He'd never really understand what he was doing in the long run, would he?

"Zack'll never have to worry about 'em," Reno replied. "They're years down the road, yo. An' someone else deals with all that, like I been sayin'."

Thank you, Cloud, for being a convenient scapegoat so that Reno could tell little half-truths again.

[intraspective]

The wording of that made her frown. She filed it away for more thought.

Good enough, for now, to know that Zack wasn't going to fight them.

"Yes," she said sourly, "the guy who needs to believe he's Zack. Right."

[raspberryturk]

"Right," Reno agreed, and if there was anything in her tone that bothered him, he sure as heck wasn't letting it show in his own. It was back to that same constant, lazy drawl that he always used, interspersed with occasional pauses to take another puff from his cigarette. "I don't think there's even a way to explain all that so that it makes sense. Just, that's the way it's gotta be, because that guy's the only one who can take on Sephiroth an' make it stick."

Well. Mostly stick. It kinda un-stuck last year, and that had sucked, but then Cloud made it stick again. Thank you, Cloud.

Jerk.

[intraspective]

Ino's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, had been for quite some time, actually.

"Reno?" That was lilting, deliberately toying with the word. "Thanks."

And then she hung up on him.