Yamanaka Ino (Iris)

"Thank you," Ino said, with a bob of her head and a light, fluttery wave. Silly made a chirping noise as she spun and headed for the elevators.

Ino smiled slightly, reaching up to rub Silly's head as she pressed the up button on the elevator.

It would be a long, long ride, she was sure.

From:

Tseng was, of course, in his office by the time Ino finally figured out where she was going, and he was possibly looking somewhat amused... as much as Tseng ever managed to look amused.

He was also not alone. But he was going to at least save introductions until Ino knocked.

From:

Hey, now! Ino had accomplished some very important wandering around... while being lost.

At least she'd managed to keep from looking like she was lost? Exploratory expeditions were never amiss after all.

Just... ignore the fact that Ino had also taken a detour to Zack's room on the SOLDIER floor to pick up a few hair elastics of hers, to tuck into a pocket. She didn't think she'd need them, but all the same...

Eventually however, she'd found the right floor, and the right room, and after a moment to straighten her shoulders and shake off the feeling of being super dumb, she knocked. Once, then twice.

From:

From the other side of the door, she might have been able to barely make out a mumble, low and lazy and maybe just a little nasal, something to the effect of how the owner of that voice was starting to wonder if she was going to ever find her way.

That voice was silenced with a word, the name of the one who had spoken.

"Reno."

A pause.

"Come in, Iris."

From:

Ino grit her teeth, just slightly, at the sound of a voice she knew very well beyond the door.

Her face as she entered, though, was cool and composed, deliberately so.

She shut the door behind her, and then approached the desk, stopping a few feet from it. "Sir."

Even if it was tempting to stare at younger Reno.gy

From:

Younger Reno was wee and adorable and hadn't yet thought to do something crazy like grow out his hair, or blame himself for the state of the world as they saw it, and he certainly wasn't going to hesitate to leer at the rookie as she stepped into Tseng's office.

"Gonna have to get this one a map of the building," he mused, earning himself another look from Tseng before shrugging lazily and settling back to lean against the wall.

Tseng pressed onward. Reno would be Reno, there was no sense in fighting with him over that.

"Ready for your first assignment?"

He was, of course, not actually asking. She was a Turk. She would be ready for her first assignment when he said so. Or when any other Turk did, really, as well. She was, after all, the rookie.

From:

Ino hadn't heard a question that was so very much not a question in a goodly while. It was peculiar how that, too, was comforting. She only had to do her best, within the restrictions and rules that were placed around her, and she would be fine.

That was soothing.

She supposed it wouldn't be for everyone, some people chafed at being under the control of others, but for her, in this professional situation, it was something she enjoyed.

The way her eyes brightened, with minor irritation at Reno--who was, she reminded herself, an ass in any any universe--Ino simply nodded, resisted the urge to bow properly to Tseng.

"Yes, sir."

From:

"Excellent." And Tseng actually did appear to be somewhat pleased. Of course he would still have to introduce her to Verdot, and give her a proper briefing on the activities of AVALANCHE as of late, but for the time being, simply having new blood on the team was a refreshing change of pace.

And, he hoped, it would be one that would prove to be beneficial. At least to the Turks. Possibly to more than that.

"Before you leave, Reno will give you a proper tour of the building. Don't let him get to you."

He was, after all, Reno.

"He knows the assignment already. He'll fill you in on the details as you go."

From:

Reno (who was young and adorable and a bit of a brat and who was not the one that this account was made for, the username liiiies) shot Ino a lazy smirk, before pushing himself off the wall and making his way to the door.

"Get movin', Rookie. We ain't got all day. I wanna get down to the streets soon, and I ain't gonna waste more time than I gotta, showin' you where the bathrooms and your new livin' quarters are, yo."

As Reno headed out into the hallway, Tseng simply sighed and shook his head. Reno was impossible. And he wouldn't dream of trusting any new blood to anybody but.

From:

She bobbed her head to Tseng, not quite a bow in Wutaian style, but definitely a compromise in that direction (she couldn't help it, some things were ingrained) and then stepped after Reno on silent feet.

And wrestling with her emotions where Reno was concerned.

This one was not that one and, she thought, it was going to be hard to remember that.

Silence, for the moment, was the best response she decided, while following him.

From:

"Bathroom," Reno reported, pointing down one hallway. "Livin' space," he added, pointing in the other direction. "You can ask at reception what room number's yours. Or just keep crashin' with your SOLDIER, if you have problems findin' your way around, yo. You're a big girl. I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out, zoto."

Reno was such a caring individual. He always had been.

"That ain't all that important anyhow, since you won't be livin' around here for a few months yet. You armed yet?"

That was really the important part, here.

From:

"What sort of idiot would come to work without being armed?" she demanded, resisting narrowly the urge to put her hands on her hips.

Of course she was armed.

And she'd find her room later, if only to spite Reno, because yes, she was most likely to live with Zack.

From:

"You'd be surprised," Reno mused, shooting Ino that lazy grin of his before heading toward the...

Stairs.

There was no way in hell he was setting foot on an elevator ever again. Ino didn't mind a workout, right?

"So, what kinda weapon you got on you? An' Materia? Knowin' what we got to work with'll be helpful, here."

From:

"Giant shuriken," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. The Crystal Cross was a good weapon. "Wire, knives," kunai, "poisoned needles."

Why were they heading this way? Stairs? He had to be kidding.

"Thundara, Fire, Blizzaga, Wall," she rattled off, and really, she thought she had the basics pretty well covered in that.

From:

Hey, Reno wasn't going to knock a person with a huge throwing star, or anything. After all, Cissnei was one of his favorite Rookies, and she swore by hers.

"Just Fire, huh? We'll see if we can't get that levelled up for you today, then. Fire ain't gonna do shit against what we've been up against lately, yo."

He actually held the door open to the staircase for her. Apparently, he was totally not kidding.

From:

Ino stepped past him and out onto the landing and found herself facing stairs.

Lots and lots of stairs.

"I don't like Fire," she said, which likely explained some of why it was just a wee materia. And waited for him to start down the stairs.

Like hell was she going to go down them without him.

From:

"Neither does a lot of the shit you're gonna run into out there," Reno noted, glancing her way before starting down the steps, taking them two at a time.

She totally thought he was joking about the stairs.

That was so cute. <3

From:

"I know," she said, following him and picking a pace that would let her keep up reasonably well with him. "But the other two work on many of them better or just as well."

From:

"Many," Reno agreed, "that don't mean you gotta limit yourself, yo."

Said the guy who relied almost exclusively on Thunder-based Materias, yes.

"Talkin' about, you ever had your limit break, before?"

The weird crap that came up on this Planet. Really, now.

From:

"No," she said, not even sure if she'd get one.

After all, she hadn't been born here.

From:

"Eh, sooner or later," Reno replied, dismissively. There were plenty of people who hadn't, really. He'd gotten more than his share of rookies who hadn't had any clue what they were really capable of until he threw them bodily into a fight that looked like it was over their head at a glance.

Wow. Only fifty more floors to go!

"How you keepin' up, kid?"

From:

Really, it could be worse. It could be a hundred floors to go, and Ino was keeping up well enough--she was, after all, ninja-trained and meant to be able to run for days with minimal rest.

"Kid?" she objected. "I am not!"

From:

"Younger'n me," Reno decided, whether she actually was or not. "Close enough, yo."

She didn't seem to be tripping over herself, and so he picked up the pace a little.

From: