Apartment Above the Boards, Wednesday Very Early Morning

[intraspective]

It was the middle of the night, closer to morning than evening, when Ino appeared in the apartment she and Zack shared in a near-silent puff of smoke.

She landed in the kitchen, which was good since that meant it was only a quick two steps to the side to stick her arm over the sink before blood hit the floor.

She hated cleaning blood off of things. It was bad enough that she was going to have to get her uniform repaired—Ino squinted at her arm in the near dark and then sighed, one long tendril of her hair reaching over to flip the lights on; yes, it was going to have to be repaired—but at least she could avoid extra mess.

Grimacing at the sight of her arm, and the blood oozing from the long, jagged edges torn into it, bone peeking out at her in the light, Ino resigned herself to the additional pain this was going to cause, turned on the tap, and stuck her arm under it.

At least it was just my arm! Ino thought optimistically, clenching her hand at the pain and absolutely refusing to make sad trumpet or dolphin noises. She didn’t want to wake Zack up. It could have been worse! And the Company will pay for the repairs to my clothes.

Now just to deal with the poison that wasn’t letting potions work…

[For the boy! Warning for blood and minor gore. Just to be safe, yo.]

Comments

[puppy_fair]

"Violent people with a grudge and no sense," Zack sighed. "There are a lot of those around, these days."

He watched the poison drain, and his arm tightened around her waist just a little bit more. Reflexively, protectively. Maybe something about having their bodies this close was a comfort, even while it made his insides twist.

And on that poison, his gaze remained. Thinking about what she was wearing and her reason for being out there in the first place just made his heart hurt.

"You get them, at least?"

[intraspective]

It was a comfort, that was the damnedest thing about it.

"Yeah," she said, "I got 'em. They won't be doin' this to anyone else."

[puppy_fair]

"Good," Zack replied, voice going a little bit quieter. "... Do you get a lot of copycats?"

He couldn't imagine why anybody would want to pretend to be AVALANCHE, but the world took all types, he supposed.

[intraspective]

"Enough," she said, flinching. "Mostly--mostly splinter chapters of it, here and there. Ain't much of a central organization these days."

She felt dizzy and sick and weak but the poison was almost gone. She'd just have to hang on a little longer.

[puppy_fair]

Zack's grip tightened just that little bit more. Nobody was going to be hitting the floor on his watch tonight, no.

"Ah," he said, nodding a little. "A bit like the last few rebels in Wutai."

He'd been dealing with them for years by the time he'd... uh. Stopped.

[intraspective]

Which was good, because otherwise she'd be clinging to the edge of the counter with the smallest bit of chakra she had left and Ino knew how that story ended with her on the ground, passing out after healing herself.

It wasn't the first time she'd had to do something like this. This time was only notable for the fact that she wasn't alone.

"A bit like that," she agreed, breathlessly, as the last of the poison dripped from her wounds, followed just by clean blood. Her arm was still in agony, but now--now she'd be able to heal it.

[puppy_fair]

Zack's gaze was still on the blood in the sink, but now he wasn't holding his breath. There was something less unnatural about it now, something that made his own blood run less chill.

That blood was a familiar sight. He could handle normal blood. Especially when it meant that Ino could get back to healing herself properly from there.

"Then I hope they get taken care of quickly."

Especially if they had poisons that resisted antidotes.

[intraspective]

"Me too," she sighed, and grimaced, forcing her hand to unclench as her other, glowing green, began dealing with the actual damage to her arm.

Gods, but those claws had fucked it up. Ugh.

[puppy_fair]

Zack waited quietly after that, watching her heal her arm, not wanting to distract her any more than he already had. His hand twitched a little, but he wasn't wearing anything currently equipped with his Curaga materia, and so there wasn't much he'd be able to do anyway.

"Anything I can do now?"

He suspected he was getting annoying, now.