Room 504, Monday Evening

[intraspective]

The nice thing about playing with a puppy for most of the day was that, once she’d gotten back to their room, Zack had conked out fast and hard in a pile of limbs and fuzzy ears on the edge of their bed. Which meant that, until he woke up, she had the freedom to think and do what she wanted to.

Which, tonight, was a matter of finishing her e-mails. It was the matter of seconds to actually send them after proofing them one more time, and then Ino just leaned back against the headboard and frowned thoughtfully, absently toying with her hair.

It was weird, now, to not have something to write as a goal. ‘Sending out the e-mails’ had been a good way to have something to focus on that made her feel like she wasn’t going to suffocate under her worries.

Nothing to stop that now.

[Ooopen door, open post, yes!]

Comments

[puppy_fair]

Zack had to swallow a lump in his throat now, before he could talk again. He'd brought it up, and now there was no turning back. He'd have to barrel blindly forward and hope for the best.

The smile wavered a little.

"I was worried," he added.

[intraspective]

She studied her hair--it was such a useful hide-a-way and struggled to find something to say to that.

'I knew that too' probably wouldn't go over that well.

"Do you want me to say I'm sorry?" She was. For upsetting him.

Not for being silent.

[puppy_fair]

"No," Zack replied, shaking his head and chewing the inside of his cheek. "I want you to be okay."

Not just acting okay. He wanted her to be okay. And he figured that she knew him well enough by now to be able to tell the difference.

And he knew that she knew that he knew her well enough to be able to tell the difference, too. So there.

[intraspective]

So there so there so what?

My her hair was getting a lot of use as a cover.

"Am trying," she muttered, finally. "And you--I want the same."

[puppy_fair]

"I... don't know where to start," Zack confessed. He was starting to wonder if perhaps growing his hair out and slicking it backward had been a wise hairstyle choice. His floppy bangs had been so much easier to hide behind, too. "If it isn't one thing, it's another, lately."

[intraspective]

"And I didn't help," she said, in a teeny voice.

[puppy_fair]

Zack didn't even try to hide the surprised look that crossed his features at that. He'd been worried, yes, but that didn't mean she hadn't helped at all.

"What makes you think that?"

[intraspective]

She kinda curled in on herself.

"You were upset and I didn't--"

Ino shrugged helplessly.

"I didn't do nothing."

... Can we try that again with a logical explanation, Ino?

[puppy_fair]

"Ino... you were there."

Which was more than he could say for... Well... for ghosts now, mostly. It meant the world to him that she hadn't just run away. Running away seemed to be like the best option to default to, didn't it?

[intraspective]

She blinked and struggled to absorb that thought, that idea.

"Ain't... Ain't... even if everythin' is fallin' apart," Ino mumbled, "there ain't no place else I wanna be."

[puppy_fair]

"Then that," Zack informed her, taking a seat beside her, dripping towel and all, and reaching to pull her into his arms, "is a whole lot more than 'nothing.'"

[intraspective]

She wriggled her way not just into his arms, but into his lap as well.

"Doesn't feel like enough," Ino replied, melting into his hold.

[puppy_fair]

She was more than welcome to sit in his lap. He'd keep her there, though. Once his arms were around her, she was never getting away again. Ever. Ever.

"You shouldn't expect yourself to be able to fix everything overnight, Ino."

[intraspective]

Did she really feel like a girl who was planning on going any where? Ino certainly wasn't thinking anything like that.

"It's just... I want to fix one thing," she said, craning her neck back to stare up at him. "One thing to go perfect so the rest can seem not so bad."

[puppy_fair]

"Just one thing?"

Zack pursed his lips slightly, and then he shrugged a little. "I turned into a dog before I could book a portal to Rocket Town."

[intraspective]

"That doesn't solve a problem," she said, having to smile slightly. "But it would be--nice."

Ino chewed on her lower lip for a moment.

"I... I talked to Reno."

[puppy_fair]

Well, it was kind of like the little steps on the way to solving a problem. If they went to Rocket Town, then they were on Gaia. And if they were on Gaia, then maybe they could do some work or something, and Zack could stop feeling like such a worthless lump of discarded SOLDIER trash.

"You did...?"

[intraspective]

She nodded and swallowed.

"About--About Gaia and... stuff and how things were goin' and how things--" She waved one hand, almost impatiently, almost worriedly, moving for the sake of moving.

"He talked to Elena." Clipped. Keep it simple and she wouldn't trip over any of it.

"They're--They're goin' to help. Change things. No more of--keepin' in the dark 'cause of fear of change." Which was specific because Ino didn't doubt that they still would keep some things from them.

[puppy_fair]

Zack fell quiet. So, so quiet. Odds were high that he wasn't breathing at that point, that he was just there, letting the implications of all of that sink in.

"... Do they know where to start?"

[intraspective]

"They're tryin' to decide that," Ino said, toying with the hemline of her tank top. "Said they'd get back to me. That they need to figure out the present and how it goes back to the past to make it make sense the other way 'round again."

Well. They hadn't said that exactly, but Ino was generous about filling in the blanks.

[puppy_fair]

Which Zack appreciated, certainly.

"But... they will help?"

Don't sound so hopeful, Zack. Turks are still Turks no matter how you look at them.

[intraspective]

"They'll help," Ino said, with a nod that was a bit firmer than she'd thought it would be. "I believe Reno."

[puppy_fair]

Zack was smiling a bit, at that.

"Then so do I. I'll have to thank him for this, maybe..."

[intraspective]

"Nope," she said, wriggling closer into his embrace. "Thank him when we got results."