Apartment Above the Boards, Wednesday Morning

[intraspective]

Ino wasn't avoiding Zack. She really wasn't. This wasn't like the situation they'd been in last year, with both of them ignoring the elephant in the room and coexisting without ever really living with one another.

This was different because Ino had drowned herself in research since Kueng had left and had barely looked up from it for long enough to eat and shower and sometimes (maybe) sleep.

So, in a way, she was perhaps to be forgiven for not realizing just how much time she'd spent buried in years and years of painstaking work—a great deal of it done after her death—by a man whose love for her showed in the sheer amount of information he'd provided.

There was a lot of think about. And not all of it was about her death either.

Ino frowned at the report she was rereading.

[For ze guy, yo.]

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[puppy_fair]

It was nearly lunchtime when Zack made his way into the room, Girl by his side, a few takeout boxes of Chinese food in hand. There was a faintly worried look on his face, but he didn't dare speak. Whatever she'd been working on had clearly become an all-encompassing sort of important, the kind that made the rest of the world matter that little bit less.

A Turk's work, he supposed.

And so, wordlessly, he put the food down in front of her, not on the papers, but within her line of vision. And then he just sort of stood there awkwardly.

[intraspective]

Ino blinked at the boxes of food that abruptly appeared in front of her, interrupting her line of thought.

Which meant, in turn, she became aware of the great lump of Zack nearby. Hovering a bit anxiously. (She wasn’t reading his mind, but that was hard to miss.)

She craned her neck to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

Was something wrong?

[puppy_fair]

"I don't know," Zack said, tilting his head at Ino. "I've been wondering for over a week now if that's something I should be asking you."

Since it has been about as long since all this had started.

[intraspective]

Oh.

“Ah—“

Well, shit. Ino reviewed the last week mentally. It was a hazy blur of work… work… and more work.

“I thought I’d told you,” she said lamely. “I wasn’t avoiding you on purpose.”

[puppy_fair]

"And I didn't think you were," Zack said quickly, looking slightly worried, now. He fidgeted for a second, and then pulled a pair of chopsticks out of his pocket and set them down by the food. "But you've been missing sleep over this. I think you forgot a meal or two. I'm... kind of worried."

A lot worried. This was Zack.

[intraspective]

She followed his hand with her gaze as he set the chopsticks down.

“Are… are you Mama Ducking me?” she asked, bemused.

Over a few meals missed and lack of sleep?

[puppy_fair]

And now Zack was blushing. Thanks for that, Ino!

"I mean... kind of, I guess," he muttered. "I mean, I can take the food back, if you don't want it."

Was Mama Ducking really so bad?

[intraspective]

No, it really wasn’t.

“I didn’t mean anything bad by it. Just… ain’t used to it.”

Her smile gentled as she looked back up at him. “No, don’t,” she said. “How ‘bout we eat together, instead?”

[puppy_fair]

Zack chewed his lip for a second, and then smiled and crossed the room to get a chair, pulling it over so that he could sit there with her.

"I'd like that," he replied. "I've missed eating with you."

This week. In general. Whatever, pick one.

[intraspective]

"Sorry I haven't been around," she offered, though she'd been home the entire time.

She really hadn't been around--not for him.

[puppy_fair]

"Well, you've been busy," Zack replied, and then glanced toward the papers. "What is all that, anyway?"

[intraspective]

Ino tensed slightly, even as she reached for the chopsticks and Girl settled herself in the space between their chairs.

"It's... timeline information," she said finally. "I asked Kueng's Tseng for it."

There was no point in hiding it from Zack.

Aside from the video of her and Reno dying. That--that--she didn't want to show him.

[puppy_fair]

Zack wouldn't have been able to handle video, no. That was a good call. He pulled out his own chopsticks, and then reached for a box of veggie noodles.

"Kueng's Tseng," he echoed, mulling that over. "About... about what happened, then?"

[intraspective]

"Yeah," she said quietly. "'bout everything that happened."

Which covered a lot of ground, really.

[puppy_fair]

It really did.

Zack silently poked at his noodles for a few moments before speaking again.

"Is there a game plan yet?"

Because there had to be something, right?

[intraspective]

"We're still working on that," she said, toying with her chopsticks and making no move to reach for any of the food. This topic didn't make her very hungry, no matter how necessary food was. "But... Zack, there's only one person who has a chance against Sephiroth."

And that was him.

[puppy_fair]

And that unspoken part wasn't lost on him.

Yeah, he was still just stirring at his noodles, now.

"That didn't turn out very well the last time."

That wasn't a no. It was maybe more a way of quietly questioning just what he'd have to do for it to work out better.

[intraspective]

Watch her die, apparently.

Ino wasn't going to say that.

"Last time you faced him, you hadn't been through Nibelheim yet," she said quietly. "Maybe that makes the difference?"

She stared at the reports for a moment.

"After I died," she said quietly, "you killed him."

[puppy_fair]

Zack's jaw tightened a little at just hearing that name said aloud.

Nibelheim.

"Then," he said, at length, "I need to do better this time."

He needed to kill Sephiroth before anybody else got hurt. And he had to find a way to do that with ShinRa's entire infantry out to destroy him.

[intraspective]

It was the first time she'd said it aloud in his presence.

"Kueng's Zack... I imagine he'd lost a bit of his edge," she suggested, glancing at him. "Due to, you know, being a dad."

And not being officially hired as a SOLDIER anywhere. That too.

[puppy_fair]

Zack hiked his shoulders up a little.

"Maybe," he said, biting his lip. "But I don't think that's all there is to it. You didn't... I mean... Sephrioth makes it look easy, but there's more to it than that. Angeal," and there was a new, different sort of tightness to Zack's voice at that name, "had added the strength and abilities of several monsters to his own, and Sephiroth could have made quick work of him."

Hell, he'd made quick work of Zack, and Zack was the one who had been forced to take Angeal down.

[intraspective]

"I don't know," she admitted, a bit helplessly. "In... in regards to Sephiroth, I ain't going to be any help."

She just wasn't strong enough. She was never going to be strong enough.

[puppy_fair]

"I just... I just need you to stay safe," Zack said softly. "I'll fight him if I need to. I'm not convinced I can do it. But I'll try. I just need to... well... to figure out how to beat him."

Being even more superhuman than he already was wouldn't hurt, there.

"... And how to not get hunted down by ShinRa before I can."

[intraspective]

"I'll do my best," she told him earnestly, setting the chopsticks she wasn't using down and reaching to touch his arm. "I ain't plannin' on going nowhere."

But being a Turk was a dangerous job and she wasn't inclined to give it up either.

She couldn't promise more.

"Tseng and I are workin' on the ShinRa angle."

[puppy_fair]

Zack gave Ino a small, wry smile at that.

"You are? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

He wasn't sure entirely how he felt about that, besides that it would make a lot of things a lot less complicated. And maybe one or two things at least a little bit moreso.