A Corner of the Preserve, Sunday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Ino's comprehension of Christmas didn't run much past shiny presents and such but she definitely had the looking like a kid on Christmas morning thing down pat as she half-danced half-bounced her way into the preserve with Zack after the dishes had shooed them out of Café Fina for the day.

And admiring her shiny armlet with her shinier Thunder materia in it. It wasn't technically a Christmas present, but it was the best present ever.

She was going to get to do magic!

There was nothing cooler than that. Well. Except for the next two weeks, uh huh.

"So," she said, grin evident in her eyes, her voice, her bounce, her face. "How does this work?"

[For the modded with permission puppy only, please!]

Comments

[intraspective]

She was still going to be considerate, okay? Though she could totally zap him (and cackle) if he desperately wanted her to!

...and the mental image was hilarious.

"Show me?" she asked, half just wanting to see maaagic and half wanting a real demonstration. It worked out!

[puppy_fair]

"Can do!" Zack gave a nod, a grin, and a bounce, and then singled out a tree stump not too far from where they were standing. "It'll be a different spell, because you've got my Thunder, but it's the same idea, okay? You just look at what you want to hit, concentrate on it and what you want to do, and-"

There was a gentle sort of 'whooshing' sound, and the ground at Zack's feet began to glow. He thrust out a hand toward the stump and...

A considerably large chunk of ice seemed to drop out of nowhere down on top of it, shattering on contact.

"Blizzard," he explained, putting his hand down again and nodding, satisfied.

[intraspective]

Ino did a little dance of pure glee where she stood.

Magic! Magic that she could do too! (That made it all the better, really!)

"Okay!" she carolled, singling out the same stump he had, figuring that if it was close enough for one spell that it'd be close enough for another type.

She hoped, anyway!

Concentrating was easy enough for her, though the ridiculous amounts of glee in her system made it a bit more work than usual, there was a small crackle and then the ground at her feet began to glow. Mimicking Zack's hand movement (he was going to be getting a lot of that, until she was more comfortable, yes) she thrust her hand out and--

A lightning bolt flashed from her fingers towards the stump.

Okay, so it wasn't the bestest lightning bolt ever, but it was still enough for Ino to squeak and point and bounce. "I did that?!"

Get used to incredulous glee, Zack.

[puppy_fair]

"You did that!" Zack was laughing. It was the sort of giddy, triumphant laugh that he reserved for moments of pure triumph. Getting someone to cast Thunder for the first time was totally triumph! "And you did a good job, for a first try! Do it again?"

[intraspective]

She did a quick twirled of pure unadulterated glee--it was magic, she was doing magic, it was awesome!--and then nodded. "Okay!"

The movements this time were a little bit smoother, as she focused, crackled, then the ground glowed--out went her hand, a bit more demanding this time--and the lightning that flew from her fingers was a bit more impressive.

Ino was biased, it should be noted. Zappity Maaagic!

[puppy_fair]

"Awesome!" Zack? Was going to bounce some more. Today was totally a bouncing sort of day. "See, you're a natural, Ino!"

Or, at least, as natural as it got while getting little shiny spheres to call on the power of the Ancients and the lifestream to do the casting for you. But it wasn't like Zack knew any of that.

[intraspective]

"What?" Ino asked (squeaked). "I don't think I'm that good!"

Not that she knew it, but her stats did lean that way however, so...

[puppy_fair]

"Well, you're good enough to not miss, twice," Zack pointed out, grinning.

... Granted, it was a tree stump. It wasn't exactly going anywhere.

"Wanna find out how many times you can cast it before you need to rest or drink an ether?"

[intraspective]

Also, she had years of training in hitting things with weapons.

"It's kinda a straight line," Ino pointed out, laughing. "I'd be a crappy ninja if I couldn't aim down that!"

A beat.

"But I can toootally do it some more, okay!"

[puppy_fair]

"Just keep casting it until you can't, anymore," Zack decided, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the nearest tree. "That'll give us some idea of what you'll be capable of, out on the field, you know?"

[intraspective]

Ino's grin went up a notch, getting brighter even though she'd already been beaming, and she stretched her hands out in front of her and nodded.

"You've got it!" she cried delightedly. "Let's do this!"

The timing was easier every time she did it, though Ino was still staying pretty much still as she didn't want to throw anything off by trying to dodge and roll and such while doing magic--was that possible, she'd have to ask--and every time she hit that stump (that poor, very dead, stump) Ino's eyes glinted with glee.

ZAPPITY ZAP. ZAP. ZAPPITY ZAP.

Best. Present. Ever.

[puppy_fair]

Zack grinned a little more every time Ino cast, counting under his breath as he watched the electricity arc from her hands to her target.

"You," he mused, somewhere between one casting and the next, "are enjoying this way too much."

He was so not one to talk.

[intraspective]

ZAPPITY ZAP.

"Oh," she said, "and who told me that sometimes you just wanna keep on fighting even when the enemy is down?"

ZAP. Concentrate, crackle, glow, and ZAP. And again.

And again!

[puppy_fair]

"Someone totally not me," Zack replied, shifting his weight uneasily, though his expression didn't change from that proud little smile. "Honest."

Liar.

"You're still going, though. That's pretty impressive, for someone so new to using materia."

[intraspective]

He was not going to distract her with compliments! No! He was a dirty filthy liar and she knew that he'd said that and--

"I am?"

Pure childish delight, shut up.

ZAPPITY ZAP. And once more, concentrate, crackle, glow, arm stretched out, and ZAP.

Then rather than doing it again, Ino rested her hands on her knees and actually paid attention to the fact that, she was pretty sure, she wasn't supposed to feel that tapped out. Drained. In a way she wasn't used to.

"Don't think I can do more right now," she said, sounding a bit disgruntled. And sulky. "Feel kinda--empty?"

Well, Ino, that was what happened when you ran through all your MP for kicks.

[puppy_fair]

Zack was ready with an ether in hand, nodding as he tossed it her way.

"That'll help," he replied, "though you might need two or three to feel totally recharged. It happens when you cast all at once, like that. But getting some rest will make that feeling go away, too."

A pause, and then he pushed himself off from the tree, his expression thoughtfully. "You cast Thunder twelve times, by the way. Totally not bad for a beginner."

Actually, better than he'd been able to do when he first started out, he was pretty sure. SOLDIER were trained for more physical tasks, generally. The magic was just a very useful sort of tool to be used whenever necessary.

[intraspective]

Potions she'd been warned about before, and Ino eyed the ether she caught rather dubiously.

"This taste as bad as potions're supposed to taste?"

She rolled her shoulders, eyes contemplative as she studied the damage she'd done to the stump. "Twelve, huh? That all depends on the person using it and what they're good at?"

[puppy_fair]

"Pretty much," Zack agreed. "I'm trained with my sword more than for any sort of magic specialization, even if I do kinda swear by my materia at times. Someone else might be better with magic. Just like anything, I suppose. Either you're a runner or you're not."

A beat.

"And yeah, ethers taste almost as nasty as potions do. You'd think they'd put some sugar or something in them, to hide the taste, but I guess they're more worried about function than flavor."

[intraspective]

That meant Ino was going to give the ether a nice long look and sigh. Before uncapping the thing and downing it as quickly as possible.

Euuurgh.

"I can get that, but still--ewwww," Ino complained lightly, making a face. "So--I don't totally suck at magic then? For a baby at it? I'm going to be gleeful about that, I promise."

Once she shook the bit of sulk out of her system. Why couldn't she be awesome at it? Geeez!

"And I'll get better with practice, right?"

[puppy_fair]

"If you don't get any better with practise, I'll ask you why you stole my cursed ring," Zack replied, laughing a little. "Feel better? Or do you think you'll need another one?"

[intraspective]

"Cursed rings halt progress?" she asked, tossing the empty bottle back at him for lack of anything to do with it.

Ino considered his question. "Better? I don't know--it's kinda hard to gauge it when I ain't never before! But I feel a lot better from running on empty!"

[puppy_fair]

"Cursed rings halt progress," Zack agreed with a nod as he swiped the empty container from mid-air and then pocketed it. He'd toss it in the trash later. "I don't know what it is about them, they just keep you from getting stronger at all, no matter how hard you train. But they make you stronger in the here and now, so they're fine if you're not planning on ever fighting anything stronger than whatever monsters you already know you can handle."

He tossed her another ether.

"Hold on to that one. I don't imagine we'll be actually fighting anything today, but this is Fandom, so it might surprise us on the way to catch our portal, huh? If you're feeling better, that'll be good enough for now, huh?"

[intraspective]

Ino tucked it away in her pockets and nodded, mentally making notes that cursed rings sounded like they sorta royally sucked to her.

She nodded. "Yeah," Ino said, grinning again. "And I don't think we'll be really fighting much at home? 'Cause we won't leave the village or nothing so--that's plenty time to get any rest I need, right?"

[puppy_fair]

"More than enough," Zack agreed, chuckling. "A nap will do the trick, anyhow."

Zack, of course, was not a big fan of naps. So he burned through ethers as if they were oxygen.

"Think that's enough for today? Have you got everything you need for the trip?"

[intraspective]

"Just got to grab a different coat," Ino said, looking down at hers. "This is too warm for Konoha--'less you think I'll need it for Midgar?"

It was winter in Konoha, but winter in Konoha meant lots of rain and not much snow.

[puppy_fair]

"You... Might need it for Midgar, yeah." Zack gave the coat a critical sort of look for a moment, and then he shrugged his shoulders. He was standing there in his short sleeves, and the weather didn't seem to bother him one bit.

Which was odd, considering how tropical Gongaga actually was.

"There's probably some kind of vague attempt at snow, right about now. Midgar doesn't get much, but it does get cold enough there that when it does snow, it sticks around for a little while."

[intraspective]

Ino would really like to know how people like Zack avoided getting cold, geez.

"I'll grab my other one just in case," she said, shrugging and grinning. "And meet you down at the Causeway?"

Unless he desperately wanted to come with her, or something. Ino was pretty good either way.

[puppy_fair]

Zack had pretty much everything that he was going to need, but he was easy, and he'd probably take this opportunity to swing by the pond to watch the flamingos doing their little dances on the ice some more, anyhow.

"Sounds good to me. See you then!"