Room 504, Sunday Evening

[intraspective]

Her conversation with Reno had… gone.

That was a good word for it, she thought, flopping down on her bed. Gone. This time, rather than solely focus on what was wrong, though, she reached for her phone and one of her notebooks.

In order to change things, she had to do something.

So that ‘one day’ that they’d promised each other had a chance of actually happening. Ino worked, writing out everything she remembered from Gaia, using the pictures and videos she’d taken to jog her memory.

If change was to happen, they’d have to do it themselves. It didn’t change the way grief pounded on her, the way that devastation lurked under a veneer of productivity, but that was alright. She’d relearn how to function. Was doing so right now.

Each word written was another arrow to knock a timeline off whack. Defy fate. And refuse to allow history to repeat itself.

[Oooopen door and post!]

Comments

[ponytailedturk]

"He will," Tseng replied. "They aren't my orders to give, but I'll be putting in a request for SOLDIER assistance shortly, and strongly recommending him for this upcoming mission."

Because he trusted Zack. Because he knew that there weren't many SOLDIERs who could do the job.

Because, Gods, the poor boy must be going stir-crazy with no actual work, by now. Maybe he'd appreciate some Turks work, himself.

[intraspective]

Tseng had no idea how much his work would be appreciated. Seriously.

And she breathed easier knowing that she'd still have time to figure out how to tell Zack what she was, now. He'd need to know, before the job.

That wasn't the sort of thing she could spring on him right before a mission.

"I see." She did, it worked out. "Might I know--what we're to do?"

Maybe she wasn't allowed? If so, she could handle a no. It was enough, hearing that there was a job just waiting for her.

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng twitched a light smile.

"You'll be training. Before any actual work, there is an orientation, after all."

Perhaps she'd heard of it. She did know a Reno, after all. And what Rookie of Reno's didn't know about securing Sector Eight?

"We'll be needing Zack elsewhere. There might be some overlap. I still have some details to work out."

Like... most of them.

[intraspective]

She flushed, thankful he couldn't see it.

Idiot. She was an idiot.

"Yes sir," was all she said, because truly, there were no words for her incompetency. Then--

"I've obtained further data on the condition Gaia has ended up as, in another timeline."

[ponytailedturk]

That earned a thoughtful pause.

"You'll bring that with you, next weekend."

That would be an order. One given in a deceptively light tone, for Tseng. But she'd said yes to his offer. It was an order all the same.

[intraspective]

"Yes, sir."

Really, she did not mind the orders. Ino thrived with knowing what she was supposed to do and what her standing was. It gave her something solid to stand on after too long drifting.

Which was why she did not ask if there was anything else, not right now. She was too junior and that would sound presumptuous of her.

She would wait for him to decide.

[ponytailedturk]

"Very good."

Tseng was not generally one for long, chatty phone conversations. He would see what she was capable of in a professional atmosphere, under the supervision of one of his most trusted Turks, and he could go from there.

"Saturday."

He did not have to tell her to be ready, first thing. If he had to tell her that, then, again, he'd hired the wrong person for the position.

[intraspective]

"Saturday," she repeated, smiling a little. "Yes sir."

And then she waited until he hung up before closing her phone and reaching one hand up to pet Silly.

"We've got work to do," she murmured to her chichobo, who kwehed in agreement. "Ain't that a good thing?"

She thought it was.