Yamanaka Ino (Iris)

Ino knew she probably should've, you know, gone to grad. To congratulate people, to tease them (and radio definitely made it sound like there was something to tease them about), to ask what their plans were and…

To say goodbye to some of them just in case she didn't see them before they left…

Yeah. That would be why she hadn't made it to grad. She didn't want to say goodbye to anyone and, rather foolishly was clinging to the idea that if she didn't say it, then it wouldn't have to happen.

(It would. Fandom wasn't that kind.)

Funnily enough, having gone through it before didn't make this easier at all. It made it harder. So when Ino woke up at crazy early in the morning o'clock with that knowledge hanging over her and the fact that there was a brunch today (another chance to say goodbye, ugh), she promptly curled up closer against Zack, hid further under the blankets, and buried her face in the pillow.

No. Not happening. She was not going to deal with this today. No one could make her!

[For that boy she's using as a shield only, please!]

Ino was very dubious indeed at the moment.

It was bad enough that she'd woken up in the same room with a boy. (Even if she happened to like that boy.) Bad enough that he'd had cooler slippers than she'd had. Bad enough that all her weapons had been turned into toys.

But Zack had a smile on him, and was pretty cute (for a boy), and he shared his magic marble things with her. Jump had been a lot of fun, really.

She still didn't believe him when he claimed his toy sword could summon things, though. Ino spun and came to a stop in a clearing in the preserve. "Far enough in!" she declared, because clearly things like this couldn't just be shared where anyone could see. "Now you've got to show me. I'm watching you."

Half hoping he'd fail so she could lord it over him. And half hoping he'd manage it because that would be the best thing ever.

[For the weetiny puppy!]

Ino had spent a good while, today, contemplating the tickets she'd picked up and wondering if they were a good idea.

Because… really… Zack was dealing with quite a lot and in that light, wanting to go to the prom seemed like an almost stupid and childish idea. On the other hand, though, it might be a good distraction? Get him out and about a little more?

Thursday evening and now she was… pretty much out of extra time to make up her mind as to whether or not it was a good idea. Ino headed back to her garden, where they'd been sleeping for the week, with food from Ching Tai and when she spotted him practising with his—Angeal's—sword, took a moment to just admire the figure he cut before saying anything.

"You hungry?" she called. Food. Food was a good way to start things, right?

... Oh, who was she kidding? She'd rather ask and get it over with. Not being sure sucked.

[For the modded-with-permission puppy!]

She'd spent the afternoon in the fourth floor common room, spending her time keeping other people calm and gaining a potential Rookie of her very own. Ino was humming as she flung her window wide open and dug through her notebooks to pick and choose what she'd be able to actually teach Chloe.

After all, Ino wasn't going to try teaching her anything to do with chakra until she'd gotten a better idea of where Chloe's strengths and weaknesses lay.

Ino paused long enough in her reviewing to send a few texts out assuring people that things were back to normal on Fandom before going back to her information hunting.

And humming. Ino was doing a lot of humming. It was a good night.

[Door and post are open, yes!]

"I still think you're cheating," Ino complained half-heartedly, grinning and hunting for her sandals. "You totally didn't walk 'round yet on your knees. Cheater. Why should I go on a date with a guy who can't keep his promises?"

Yes, a date.

They were just friends so this was just one date and that was it but they'd made a deal about this one so it had to happen.

Ah ha! Her sandals! Ino slipped them on, tied her hair back from her face with a brightly coloured ribbon and glanced at him.

"You ready?" A beat. "Cheater."

Not that she'd refused, mind, when he'd brought up the date they hadn't had yet. Shush.

[For the daaate.]

There were few things more awesome than rounding out a day spent hard at work by getting a phone call from a totally awesome guy who was bound and determined to drag her out into the snow to train.

Okay, so her protests had been laughing and consisted mostly of 'where, when, and I'll need to change first' but shhh. She had totally put up a fight. Really.

That was totally why she was grinning up at Zack, despite the snow landing on her face, and bouncing a bit as she tucked her gloves away. "So," Ino said brightly, "materia first? Or weapons?"

She'd brought both. A call for training was way too general to do anything but.

[For the puppy who was modded with permission!]

Ino had woken up at her normal ridiculous hour, freezing, and taken a long look outside before deciding that her clinic shift could go screw itself because Ino? Ino was not going outside in a blizzard. Even if, she'd realized as she'd hauled more blankets on to her bed and crawled back under the covers, the clinic probably had power and was warm. Clinics had things like back up generators and stuff, right? Eh, not worth the odds of getting lost and dying, no.

When she woke up a few hours later—warmer, but then enough blankets to drown in helped with that—Ino peeked out and swore when she realized what she really should have realized before. Her poor plants! It was funny how that got her out of her nest of blankets faster than anything else had as she went to work tacking up blankets over the window and wishing like anything that she had some way to keep her plants warm.

Poking her nose out the hall said that it was even worse out there and she shut her door tight and the shoved blankets at the bottom of it to keep any cold air from getting in. Then she went digging through her kit that she dragged around on missions and came up with a few glow sticks—snapping them got her some light, and if it was green light, well, it was better than nothing. Even if it was an absolute bitch to read by.

So, Ino spent her nibbling on chocolate and granola bars (she had ration bars but Ino was saving those for if this went on for longer than a day or two) alternately reading by glow stick and exercising because that got the blood moving and she could pretend she wasn't cold for a bit and fussing over her plants.

And hiding. But seriously, she was from the Fire Country. Snow and cold were not her friends. Ino curled up in about twelve blankets with another granola bar, another glow stick, and the play she'd picked up in Gaia.

Today sucked.

[Closed door but open post, yes.]

Ino was just glad, all things considered, that the rain wasn't sheeting down on them and the sky was a brilliant red overhead with the sunset--there'd been no way to check that out before coming and umbrella's weren't really used much by, well, ninja.

Or by SOLDIER members, she was pretty sure, considering Zack still... didn't seem to own coat. It was cold, geez.

The forest rustled with the wind and the hard-packed dirt road they were on was clearly well used. Ino grinned over her shoulder at him. "It's just a bit further, and we'll be to the gates. You've got your papers on you, yeah?"

Because if not, they were going to have a problem. And Ino would kick Zack in the shins.

[NFB due to distance, and for the SOLDIER with her!]

Reno having been successfully avoided, Zack having gotten his travel permit to her world, and Ino in a totally good mood having scored some chocolate after a quick stop in town... she was pretty sure most of the things in her world were right and good for the moment.

Ino flopped down, radio turned on because, no, she wasn't sick of the carol thing yet, and tugged out one of her notebooks.

This one was red. She figured it was fitting.

Breaking a piece of chocolate and nibbling on it, she set about dividing her list of questions into smaller sections and making notes on which ones she could probably get away with asking Reno. Which ones Zack would answer with no problems, and which ones Elena would probably answer without arousing much suspicion from her.

She hummed absently as she worked, feet kicking idly at the air. It was Good Fun and Good Use of Her Skills to have something like this to do.

Reno was probably wishing she'd never ever thought of it, though. He had no idea how thorough she could be.

[Open door, open post!]