Room 504, Saturday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Being back in Fandom was a peculiar… sort of disconnect.

Ino was curled up on hers and Zack’s pushed together beds and pretending to read. Which was rather futile because she knew it was pretence and so it would have been more productive to actually do something…

But she didn’t really feel like it. There were a lot of things she had to think on, but those thoughts felt almost like she was clinging to broken glass in her hands, and that hurt.

Like a toothache, however, she couldn’t quite stop poking at them. Even when doing so only hurt things more.

And, turn the page. Keeping up appearances, even just to herself, was important.

She was supposed to be reading. Would claim to be reading.

But her gaze wasn't on the book.

[Open door and post!]

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[intraspective]

Ino tilted her head a little--he'd changed, mid-way through his story, and she wasn't sure if she ought to ask or if she shouldn't...

"Did you land in her garden?" she asked, because that was the most logical conclusion she could wrest from... what he'd said.

[puppy_fair]

Zack twitched a little smile. Always with the twitchy little smiles.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I kinda did. And so she leaned over me and went, 'Hellooo?' And that's when I woke up."

It had been a weird day, when he'd met Aerith.

"She's neat, though. You two could probably learn a lot about plants from one another."

[intraspective]

"Bet I know more," she said, idly. Ino didn't really know if she did, but it seemed like the thing to say. "What's she like?"

[puppy_fair]

"She's quiet," Zack replied, tilting his head thoughtfully. "And gentle. Really, really gentle. And afraid of the sky."

That part had stuck with him. It was... kind of sad, in a way.

[intraspective]

Awww.

"Ain't never seen the sky?" Ino guessed, craning her neck to look at him. "I can't think someone raised with it would be."

[puppy_fair]

"She grew up under the plate," Zack agreed with a nod. "So she's used to looking up and seeing... you know, that big sheet of metal overhead."

He shrugged a little. "I'm not sure how she manages to get her flowers to grow in the dark, like that. But she does. In Midgar. It's the weirdest thing."

[intraspective]

"Bet it's nice for her."

Ino leaned forward to poke at Silly. Just because it was funny the way that Silly's feathers ruffled up indignantly. "Hey, you."

"I can't imagine growing up like that."

[puppy_fair]

Zack shook his head a little.

"Yeah... Me neither. There are a lot of things out there that a person should be afraid of, sure, but the sky..."

There had been sunshine hitting the flowers, in that other Gaia. Through the hole that he'd made in the roof.

Weird.

[intraspective]

"It just seems like something everyone ought to have," Ino said, glancing at her ceiling. "I wouldn't want to never see it."

And being afraid of it...

[puppy_fair]

"It was... kind of neat, when I first came here," Zack noted, totally not afraid to step into mild tangents, "and I was so used to looking up in Midgar. I mean, I grew up in Gongaga, but if you spend enough time somewhere, you get used to..."

He'd finish a thought eventually. Honest.

"I mean, when I first came here, it was like... rediscovering it."

The sky.

[intraspective]

Mild tangents were fabulous things after all.

"What's your favourite sky?" Ino asked curiously, laying back so that she was more comfortable.

[puppy_fair]

"Favorite? Ever?" Zack gave that one a moment's consideration. "Gongaga always will be, I think. I mean... It was pretty up in Modeo, all pinks and purples when the sun was going down. But..."

Little smile again, and then he was flopping back to look up at the ceiling, mindful of the chicobo.

"Gongaga. Right before the rain."

[intraspective]

"I'd like to see that," she murmured, reaching out to trace her fingers down his arm, just because she could. "It sounds--restful."

And rest was in short supply lately.

[puppy_fair]

"I'll take you," Zack decided, nodding a little. "I'll show you the way Gongaga is supposed to be. Introduce you to Mom and Dad..."

The ones who hadn't seen him in merely years, not well over a decade.

[intraspective]

"I'd like that," she said, smiling a bit--but genuinely, this time. "Even with your mom talkin' about weddings and stuff."

[puppy_fair]

Zack huffed a soft laugh, reaching his elbow over to give her hip a gentle nudge.

"It's the grandkids she's interested in," he decided. "We probably shouldn't tell her about Inori and Angeal."

He'd been fairly out of it when the kids had shown up on the island, before. But that didn't mean he remembered them any less fondly.

[intraspective]

She wriggled into the touch, even as Silly hopped up on her stomach and settled down.

"No?" Ino asked, teasing a little. "I have pictures."

[puppy_fair]

"She'd want to meet them," Zack pointed out, grinning a little. "As soon as possible, you know."

[intraspective]

"We're still in school," Ino said, flushing. "We can use that as an excuse. And then... busy with work... or something?"

[puppy_fair]

"Or something," Zack agreed. "I'm not in any hurry, really."

He'd liked the kids, sure. But the world that they could potentially bring them into, even after graduation...

And without a dad...

Would... be...

"She'd like to meet you anyhow, though. I mean, this mysterious girl who's gone and stolen my heart? I think that's actually how she put it when she wrote me back, you know."

[intraspective]

"I'm very mysterious, don't you think?" she asked, smiling a little more. Determined not to think about the downsides to having children. "Your mom might be on to something there."

[puppy_fair]

"Just about the most mysterious ever," laughed Zack, wiggling over the bed to get a little closer to her. "She'd be very impressed."

Zack's mother, it should be noted, would be impressed just so long as whoever Zack brought home happened to be breathing.

... It was possibly hereditary. But Zack had chosen well in spite of this crazy genetic trait.

[intraspective]

"As she should be," Ino said with a fair imitation of loftiness. "As I put up with you."

And adored him to a scary degree.

[puppy_fair]

"I know! How do you manage that, anyhow?"

This question, naturally, ended with a reach upwards, so that he could tickle the heck out of her sides.

He had to do something to warrant that lofty tone from her!

[intraspective]

She squirmed, laughing, as Silly fluttered off her stomach, cheeping sulkily about the whole state of affairs as Ino just laughed.

"Stop that!"