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]

"Reno's way is the stairs."

"Wanna let me in on the conversation?"

"No."

[intraspective]

Ino looked between the both of them.

"Your way doesn't have stairs?"

This was pretty confusing all around for her.

[ponytailedturk]

"My way is the elevator," Tseng explained.

Around the same time, Reno's annoyed look at Tseng turned into something with a slightly more dangerous edge, and he crouched over and gestured to his back again.

"Whatever," he muttered. "Rookie an' I are gonna take the stairs. You're welcome to take the elevator or jump out the friggin' window if you want, yo."

"Reno."

[intraspective]

Ino... had no idea what an elevator was.

And, besides, the last time she'd gotten a piggyback ride, it had be crazy fun.

"Are we going to go fast again? she asked, clambering onto Reno's back again. "What's an elevator?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno just gave Ino a little grin over his shoulder.

"Yo, Tseng. Make yourself useful, find the kid some clean clothes and a towel if you ain't gonna find her some food, yo."

And then he was taking off at a run for the stairwell.

Tseng reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose and sighed, then turned to... well. To find the kid some clean clothes and a towel. There had to be something to fit her in the gift shop in the lobby, at the very least.

Why was this his life?

[intraspective]

Because he suffered so wonderfully?

Ino squealed with delight as Reno took off running.

"Are we going up again?" she asked eagerly. "Even if we're taking the stairs?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno had no idea what she was saying, again. But that wasn't going to stop him from grinning over his shoulder at her. Don't worry, Ino. He'd find a way to make this fun for you no matter what. He stepped through the door into the most disappointingly boring stairwell on the planet, looked over the edge of the railing, and then, making sure she was holding on tightly, simply jumped over the edge into freefall.

Apparently they were going down.

[intraspective]

And Ino... Ino had a split second of sulking over the really, seriously boring stairwell, before he leapt.

She clung, and shrieked with glee, as they fell.

[raspberryturk]

And Reno let out a whoop of his own as they fell, counting the floors they passed before throwing a hand out to grab the railing, and then swinging them into one of the landings. He looked up at the door number, and then smirked.

"See, way faster'n the elevator, yo."

He was seriously just showing off.

[intraspective]

He most definitely was, but Ino was enjoying it.

She giggled, tugging on his shoulder and pointing back upwards. "Can we do it again? Please?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno followed her finger, looking back up the stairs, and then smirked and shrugged before starting to run back up the stairs.

Why the hell not? It would take Tseng a while to catch up either way.

[intraspective]

"Yay yay yay yay!" she squealed, hugging his shoulders.

[raspberryturk]

Reno was grinning as he took the stairs four at a time, then pushed himself off the wall and jumped up to the next landing, then the next.

Showing off for a happy kid was... kind of great. He'd happily do that any time.

[intraspective]

And each leap to the next landing was accompanied by more gleeful noise from Ino.

See? See? She'd known he was a ninja! He was totally a ninja.

He was the best.

[raspberryturk]

Reno climbed the stairs even higher than the floor they'd been at, this time, before jumping back over the edge. Hell yeah, free fall!

"Wooo!"

[intraspective]

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

They fell and fell and fell and she wasn't scared at all.

This was way better than the elevators.

(Not that Ino really understood what those were yet. But it had to be better.)

[raspberryturk]

And once again, Reno threw out a hand, catching the ledge, swinging back into the landing, and then running down a few more steps so that they were on the right floor again. He grinned over his shoulder at her.

"So, how about that bath?"

[intraspective]

She only recognized that last word through sheer repetition.

Ino nodded. A bath sounded like a good idea, and she'd already had a bunch of fun, and they'd said she'd get food after.

"Bath!" she said brightly. "And then ramen! And maybe then more running around?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno grinned as he pulled out his passcard and swiped to open the door, and then sauntered on through it into the building.

"Bath," he mused, "then food, then... whatever we do, how's that sound?"

They were going to blather the same thing at one another in two different languages.

[intraspective]

Ooooh, hey! Hey, what was that?

Ino peered over his shoulder interestedly, pointing at the passcard. "What's that?"

[raspberryturk]

"Hm?" Reno glanced at her, then looked at the card. Then back at her. And then he nodded in understanding. "Oh, this?"

He held up the card in question?

[intraspective]

She made a grab for it.

"What is it? How'd it open the door? Is it some sort of jutsu thing?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno shrugged and handed it over, and then shut the door again and crouched down.

"Wanna try?"

He couldn't explain it to her, but he could let her play with it for a bit.

[intraspective]

She investigated the card first, flipping it over and back in her hands and trying to figure out if there was anything special about it.

It didn't look special.

But she waved it at the door hopefully anyway.

[raspberryturk]

And the panel made a little beep, and the light changed to green, and Reno reached to open the door.

Magic!