Turk Floor, ShinRa Building, Midgar, Gaia, Friday Morning

[intraspective]

"Yeah," Ino said, spinning around in her chair. "I've got it. Thank you. Let me know if anything changes, okay? Great! I'll be in touch."

Hanging up, Ino swung her feet up and over until she was lounging sideways in her chair, knees hooked over the chair arm, her back pressed against the other, and she let her smile fade.

Gods, but she had a headache!

No rest for the wicked, though, so she rapped smartly (but lightly) on Tseng's mind—he was mid-phone call himself, after all—and said, "Got a moment? Buzz me, when you do."

Then she picked up some of her neglected paperwork and tried to focus on that while she waited.

[For that boss dude.]

Comments

[ponytailedturk]

"And you know where Zack is?" The arrangement they had made had said to meet him in Gongaga, but plans could change. There was no telling what the infantry was up to out there, even in spite of the Turks' best efforts.

They had a bone to pick with SOLDIER at the best of times, after all.

[intraspective]

"I can find him," Ino said, not particularly worried about that. "If there's a deviation in the plan, I can track him like no one else can."

[ponytailedturk]

"Good. Then I'll have Reno fly you in as close as possible without attracting attention," he replied. "You'll have to find your own way from there, but that shouldn't take you terribly long. Your portal will appear at the agreed-upon location at the time allotted in your dossier. If you need the time or the location adjusted, contact me immediately and I'll make the necessary arrangements with Portalocity."

Possibly with threats.

[intraspective]

"Got it," she said, closing the folders. "Anything else?"

No, she wasn't trying to make this easy for him. Ino wasn't going to screw up saving Zack but making it easy on Tseng was something she wasn't quite capable of right now.

[ponytailedturk]

Of course she wasn't.

Tseng would have been far more paranoid, if she was.

"... Have you decided, yet," he ventured, after a long moment's pause, "to what extent you're going to remain involved with the Turks, after this mission is through?"

He probably shouldn't have asked.

At the same time, he couldn't not.

[intraspective]

Something ugly and spiteful bubbled up in her chest as her face tightened. It was tempting, so tempting to tell him she was gone after this, that this was it. She was done.

But despite the lies and the betrayal and everything... they were her family. Her only real family, despite her having called her dad for help. There'd been a distance there that hadn't been before and it hadn't even hurt. She'd left Konoha physically, mentally, and emotionally years ago.

"I'm still a Turk," Ino said, after a moment. "You call me, I'll do the job. I don't know about anything else right now."

Take it or leave it, Tseng.

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng watched the expression on her face shift without so much as a shift in his own. And, when she was done speaking, he nodded.

That was more than he had any right to expect of her. More than he had any right to ask of her. And it meant that he was going to have to conduct himself carefully going forward. If Iris wanted to remain not only in contact with the Turks, but doing jobs for them, they were going to have to work doubly hard to ensure that nothing tied her back to the island.

That nothing tied her back to Zack.

And that, too, was the least he could do.

"Then that will be all, unless there was anything else you needed," he said, simply.

[intraspective]

"Understood."

She turned to go.

"Be seeing you."

She didn't need or want anything else from him right now. He'd done quite enough already.