Apartment Above the Boards, Tuesday Morning

[intraspective]

Like Zack, Ino hadn't slept much after they'd sent Kueng home. There was a lot to think about and--in her case--a lot to read, look at, and watch. Tseng, Kueng's Tseng, had come through for her with every little bit of information he could scrape up that might change the future.

She'd wanted to go through it herself, first, before sending off copies to both the Tseng in her timeline (even in her head, she wasn't sure about calling him 'her' Tseng) and to Reno, with an email explaining what this information was and how she'd gotten it.

Then she settled in to review the information again.

Maybe it was morbid to watch herself die, but the fact she went out laughing, made her smile.

[Late post is late, but open, sure~]

Comments

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng paused, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"What do ninja do?"

It was occurring to him that 'ninja,' where Iris came from, might have had different implications than it had in Wutai. If only slightly.

[intraspective]

He'd paused and she took the chance to scurry forward until she was level with him. Ino contemplated his pant leg, before reaching out for it, since he hadn't offered her his hand like Reno had.

"Ninja do lotsa things," she said, staring up at him. Did he want a list? He looked like a list sort of teacher. "They protect the village and go on the missions that the Hokage sends them on and they kill and spy and defend and scout and capture and fight and intr--intera--question people and torture, which Daddy says means to hurt 'em bad so they tell things."

[ponytailedturk]

"Interrogate."

Tseng glanced down at the little hand that was now holding on to the fabric of his slacks.

.... Right.

"It would seem we have a different word for somebody who does very much the same thing."

[intraspective]

"So you are a ninja!" Ino said triumphantly, beaming up at him.

Her hand, like the rest of her, wasn't particularly clean at this point.

Sorry not sorry, Tseng.

[ponytailedturk]

Yeah, that was blood in his pants, then. Reno's blood, most likely. Tseng stared at her hand, and then sighed faintly.

"I suppose I am."

Maybe he could get Rosalind to give her a bath. She was her rookie, after all. And Rosalind seemed to have some experience with children.

[intraspective]

Honestly it had about a fifty percent chance of being Ino's own blood, from before she'd gone wee.

She beamed. "Are we going to get food now?"

[ponytailedturk]

"Once we get you slightly cleaner," Tseng replied, "I'll take you to the cafeteria on the Turks' floor."

Maybe if he was lucky, somebody would be there eating who knew how the hell to handle kids.

[intraspective]

"I'm not that dirty," Ino protested. This was a lie. "Reno didn't care."

And she was hungry!

[ponytailedturk]

"You're filthy and Reno is a slob."

Tseng told it how he saw it.

"It will only take a few minutes to wash your hands and face. A negligible amount of time."

[intraspective]

She giggled, leaning into his pant leg.

"What's a neg-li thing?"

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng was going to have to change his clothing just as soon as he got Iris into something clean, apparently. He sighed.

"Small. Very small."

[intraspective]

That was generally the price of having small children around, yes.

"Smaller than me?" she checked, tugging on his pant leg. "Where do we go to get clean?"

The hallway didn't offer many clues.

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng had nobody else to blame for this situation. Except Reno.

He was choosing to blame Reno.

"Down the hall, there's a locker room with a shower and a sink. This way."

He continued walking, leading her to the room in question.

[intraspective]

It was Reno's fault Ino was even on Gaia at this time...

"Do I gotta shower too?" she asked, dismayed.

[ponytailedturk]

If you asked Reno, Ino certainly didn't have to come here!

"You're filthy," Tseng pointed out reasonably. "But for now, making certain your arms and face are clean will suffice."

There would definitely be a shower in your future, kid.

[intraspective]

"Baths are more fun," Ino grumbled as she followed at his heels. "Can't I do that instead?"

Children liked fun, Tseng.

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng was never going to get this child cleaned and fed.

"... I'll see what we can do."

This was going to come down to sucking up to Reno again to get this done, wasn't it?

[intraspective]

Most probably, yes.

"I'll be really good if I can have a bath," Ino wheedled.

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I'll see what I can do," he repeated. Because maybe repetition would get him somewhere, sure.

[intraspective]

Ino sighed. Loudly.

"What does that mean?" she complained, dragging her feet. Leaving dirt and... other things on the ground behind her. Her cape was dragging too, making it worse. She was leaving a trail. "If there's a shower, there's a bath."

[ponytailedturk]

ShinRa's janitorial service was probably used to paths by now, honestly.

"Around here? Not necessarily."

Sometimes if there was a shower, there was a tiny lip on the floor to keep shower water from spilling out into the locker room before it could go down the drain.

[intraspective]

That wasn't anything like a bath at all!

"Why not?" Ino wanted to know. "That doesn't sound right at all!"

[ponytailedturk]

Tseng gave the child a fairly dry look.

"It's faster."

Turks didn't often have time to indulge. And if they did, they probably wouldn't be doing so in a locker room.

[intraspective]

Ino considered that seriously.

"Does that mean you all have bedtimes too?"

Look, she was trying!

[ponytailedturk]

And try as Tseng might, he really couldn't see the connection between one thing and the next.

"... No."

Given his job, it was any wonder he ever got a chance to sleep at all.