Room 504, Friday Afternoon

[intraspective]

After saying goodbye to Hannibal, Ino had wandered back to her room and, upon finding Zack out, had smiled slightly, determinedly, and went about making her own preparations. It was not really necessary to change her clothing into something she'd have worn out on the streets of Midgar—pink, frilly, short (because short she could fight in, and pink and frilly could be worked around and the entire thing made her look ridiculously harmless)—and brush her hair out so that it was a bit fluffier than normal. A tiny bit of make-up to make her eyes look larger and her lips poutier (and her head emptier).

None of that was necessary, no. And yet, in order to get properly into the role it was.

Ino closed her door, but didn't lock it. If Zack came back he'd be concerned by a locked door. Taking a seat at her desk and crossing her legs, Ino took a moment to center herself in order to properly play the role she wanted to here.

(Reno was going to be angry, she thought, then shoved it from her mind.)

Then, she picked up her phone and dialled a number that she wasn't, absolutely wasn't, supposed to have.

Another deep breath and she let an insipid smile cross her face as she waited for the phone to be picked up a world away.

[Primarily for the one on the other end of the line, though open if you want. Door closed.

ETA: That Ino is calling someone is FB, the topics and identity of who she's calling is NFB, please!]

Comments

[intraspective]

Little did he know that she wanted him to want the information!

So, in the end, it'd be her win anyway. But she was the very cutest girl ever to do a Gysahl green imitation. Absolutely.

"Well," she said, about as conspiratorially as a box of muffins, "there's very many of them, I'm sure you've 'heard tell' of that too? That's so cute, that phrase! Very posh! And as there's so many of them there's also duplicates of universes and doesn't that make total sense, hm? It's like shopping! They've almost always got the same dress in a different size!"

[puppy_fair]

No, this girl wasn't as stupid as she was letting on.

It took brains to come off as this vapid.

"And how does this concern me?"

[intraspective]

She laughed like she wasn't sure what he meant. "I don't really follow," Ino chirped. "I mean, it's about as obvious as a black bra under a white shirt, don't you think?"

He couldn't see it, but she was twirling a bit of hair around one finger.

"I do try to answer questions, did I answer it wrong?" she asked innocently. "Maybe I shouldn't have talked about dresses? Though some of this years styles are so adorable it's worth a bit of confusion!"

[puppy_fair]

"I'm not exactly the dress type," Tseng pointed out. Because, for just that one moment, he felt the absolute necessity to indulge his frustration at least that much. "And my experience with alternate timelines is limited only to what I've heard about them from Zack."

Which was something along the lines of, "There are other people here from Gaia and from ShinRa and I don't know, like, any of them mostly! And they're all Turks! You send a lot of Turks to this island, Tseng, did you know that? And they all kinda look at me funny."

... Which wasn't particularly helpful.

[intraspective]

"It's a shame," she said impishly, "I'm sure you'd look fabulous in a dress. You've the voice for it."

That made no sense and she was hurrying on before he killed her with his mind. And yet, smug enough that she'd gotten a reaction like that from him. A winner was her!

"And that's just not right," Ino continued on merrily. "Has Zack mentioned the other Gaias to you?"

[puppy_fair]

"... In passing."

That was about the best response that Ino was getting out of Tseng at this point, yes. Because he currently was attempting to kill her with his brain. To his great dismay, it wasn't working.

[intraspective]

She was revoltingly healthy, actually! Just to annoy him.

Yes.

"Well," Ino trilled, yes trilled, "then that must mean you understand about other ShinRas and other Turks? Like malls, they multiply! Or shoes left too long in the closet; I swear they breed."

[puppy_fair]

And with that, Ino confirmed Tseng's sneaking suspicion that they were having this conversation because of something far more Shinra-related than the fact that her current boyfriend looked good in a black uniform.

"I've been made aware that there are a number of Turks currently residing on the island, yes," he replied, unable to keep a decidedly wary note from his voice. He wanted to hear what she had to say now, that was the damnable thing. And all the same, everything that Verdot had taught him had his instincts screaming for him to hang up.

He simply tightened his grip on his PHS and listened.

[intraspective]

"Reno calls me his Rookie," Ino shared, and that was a cheerfully calculated slip. He could make his own assumptions from there, because it was true. "Isn't that cute of him? I tell him so all the time!"

And she'd likely just horrified the poor man that the Turks had sunk so low as to associate deliberately with her, and her IQ equalling that of a box of hair.

As well as both upped her threat level and her potential ally level.

"And they say that you're currently in the past for them. Isn't that odd? Why would anyone want to be backwards? Sideways? Anything but forward, I suppose, I don't really get it. Like a cat in water?"

[puppy_fair]

And now, the girl was giving him information that he could use.

Reno didn't dole out his Rookie nickname indiscriminately, and Tseng could only assume that clear across the multiverse, at least that much remained the same.

As for the rest...

"They're all in our future?" A pause. "Do you know how many they are?"

Yes, he was going to ask questions, now. And if he didn't get the answers as quickly as he liked, at least there would be answers of some sort.

[intraspective]

"How many futures?" she chirped, swinging her feet idly just for the movement. "Infinite like the stars. All the ones I know are in the future but that might be comparing seasons and that's a headache and a half."

[puppy_fair]

"And how many are currently affecting the island?"

Tseng could play this game. He could pare down his questions all day, just so long as it continued to feel as though she was giving him something to work with.

She wouldn't still be speaking to him if something like that wasn't her intention, would she? So long as he wasn't flat-out volunteering information, himself, what harm was there in finding out?

[intraspective]

Ino hummed slightly, annoyingly, just because she could while she tallied them up.

Cloud, damn him. Elena and Reno. Elena's sister. And--there'd been that other girl, hadn't there? Who knew if she'd come back?

"Three and a half," Ino said, like that was totally obvious, no really. "Not including yours because that would make it four and a half and four is an unlucky number."

... Yeah.

[puppy_fair]

... And pointing out the superstitious number was an interesting way to make Tseng suspect that you were Wutaian in spite of your blond hair, Ino. Which only managed to pique Tseng's curiosity all the more.

"Dare I ask how a half managed to come into play?"

[intraspective]

"Someone was here and then gone and might come back," Ino clarified cheerfully. "But I can't count them out because the moment that happens they'll show up again, the island is like that."

[puppy_fair]

"This island you're residing on sounds like a fairly fickle place," observed Tseng.

[intraspective]

"It has feelings," she confided, making her sound no doubt even insaner. "And don't ever give it ideas as it listens like a toddler told they can't have cookies."

[puppy_fair]

No, it really wasn't helping Ino sound any more sane. Tseng would have discounted that observation entirely, were it not for some of the more... interesting stories that Zack had passed on to him about the place already.

"I suppose I shouldn't discount any opinion of an island capable of drawing people in from different points in time itself."

He frowned for a moment.

"You didn't call simply to ask for the photos, then."

Obviously not so, by this point, but he wanted to hear it from her mouth, now.

[intraspective]

Ino laughed merrily. That empty-headed bubble-brained laugh of hers. "I did say I didn't want to waste your time, didn't I? I am pretty sure I did which is good because otherwise I'd be being desperately rude. But how else would I know Reno? You'd know if I knew yours?"

And how cute a Reno he was with his hair so short? Awww.

[puppy_fair]

"Especially if he considered you a Rookie, yes," Tseng agreed, his frown going thoughtful for a moment.

Was she from one of these potential futures, then? And if so, was she a Turk?

... And now he was simply hoping that they never became that desperate. She could be the most competent individual in the field, but that laugh got his blood pressure up.

"I do have work to do," he intoned, eyes travelling to a report on possible Wutai spy movement within Midgar's city limits. "If you have a point to make, I suggest you get on with it, then."

[intraspective]

Little did he know that she was using that laugh deliberately just as part of the persona. Her real laugh was far less grating.

"I always have points," she giggled, because he needed some insipid giggling as well too, right? "Even if it's just that people really shouldn't be so afraid to wear colours out. Some of the future isn't sparkly bright enough for ShinRa. Twinkle twinkle little corporation; which doesn't have the right ring to it at all, no? Avalanches can try and block the sky. The future knows--you wanna become clairvoyant?"

[puppy_fair]

Oh, now Ino had Tseng's attention all over again. AVALANCHE was the first thing that leapt to mind, of course. And from there...

"I'd be remiss to turn down any information that I might come to find useful," Tseng pointed out. "Particularly from any source that purports to know first-hand what the consequences of our actions might be."

He'd lost the luxury of simply hanging up the phone and ignoring her not far into the conversation at all. Now he didn't seem terribly upset about that, anymore.

[intraspective]

"It's so sad the lack of trust," she sighed. With a giggle. "It's like looking in a mirror and not seeing yourself, don't you think? I think so, though my hair is just dreadful today."

At least he was still talking to her. That was the important thing.

"I'll be your contact," Ino continued, making sure to keep her voice terrifyingly empty of thought--it was a sham, but it was a useful sham. "Assuming you have no objections?"

[puppy_fair]

"It would seem," Tseng noted, dryly, "that I'm hardly in any position to object."

Whether it was because this girl actually knew something, or because she knew too much, all remained to be seen.

[intraspective]

"That too," she admitted, and laughed. "But that would be like pointing out the sky is blue if you're not in Midgar."