Café Fina, Sunday

[puppy_fair]

Zack was at work, swaying on his heels, grinning his head off, and waiting.

It was entirely possible that he'd gotten the hang of this 'kid on Christmas morning' thing a little early. Or it was possible that he was looking forward to his break a little too much, or maybe, judging by the sword and the bag containing a change of uniform and some spare armor that he'd stowed away in the corner, he was planning on fleeing for a good chunk of the break right after his shift.

... Yeah. That one.

Today's Specials:
Free Apple Pie With Every Meal!

Swaying, grinning, and then occasionally breaking into a squat or twelve, it was entirely possible that Zack-the-puppy wasn't going to be getting much work done today at all.

[Open and OCD-freeeee. And visitors for Zack will come before Ino, chronologically, as Zack's taking off halfway through the day. Mod your dishes afterward!]

Comments

[intraspective]

Well, Ino was hardly going to help with the whole working thing.

Especially not when she showed up at twelve o'clock on the nose, snow-covered and bouncy and greeted him with a gleeful, "Is it time for your lunch break yet?!"

A beat.

"Hi!"

[puppy_fair]

"Hey, Ino!" Zack was doing more of that grinning, bouncing thing, now. "Totally time for my lunch break!"

The dishes all nodded. Emphatically. Go, go for lunch, now.

"You have your materia with you, right?"

[intraspective]

"Uh huh!" she said, tugging one of her mittens off and wriggling it out of a pocket. Ino, don't wave the glowy green thing around. "I had it with me all morning just so I didn't forget!"

She'd slept with it under her pillow. Ino's odds of forgetting it had been less than nil.

[puppy_fair]

Zack chuckled and gave his head a shake as he reached for the bag he'd packed.

"I have a few bits of armor to choose from, then," he replied, rummaging through it, now. "A bulletproof vest, a bronze bangle, my fire armlet, and a bronze armlet."

Mmmm, armor that was practically jewelry.

[intraspective]

Pretty and functional! Totally the best way to be.

Ino leaned over to see into the bag. "What do you think I ought to wear?" she asked, "I mean, don't think I know enough to make a choice yet."

Seriously.

[puppy_fair]

"Just for training," Zack mused, "anything with a socket will do."

It would! All she needed was something to slot the materia into! Handy, that.

"But on the field? I think I would hand you the..." He nosed at the armor for a moment more, and then surfaced with the vest, the fire armlet, and the bronze armlet. "These. You can put an armlet on either arm, and the vest should keep wayward claws out of you, for the most part."

Zack would make do with his earrings, a really crappy bronze bangle, and the force bracelet that he'd snagged from Bahamut. They'd find more stuff along the way, anyhow.

[intraspective]

Ino would be confused if she knew his earrings counted as armour. Somehow a bracelet didn't jar her as much.

"So I guess maybe hold off on suiting up entirely for battle for a bit, yeah?" Ino looked a bit sheepish. "So, I guess just one of the armlet's for now, right?"

A beat.

"I'm not stealing all your armour am I?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack laughed and gave his head a shake.

"Not at all, nah." He handed her the bronze bangle, a lopsided smirk on his lips. "I've still got enough to work with. I can't wear it all at once, after all."

[intraspective]

"Okay," Ino said, a tiny bit dubiously. "But seriously, don't get hurt 'cause you're giving me more protection."

Never mind that she needed that protection, yeah.

She twirled the bangle around in her hands, figuring out where the materia went. "So I just stick it in here, right? And it'll stay in there, for real?"

[puppy_fair]

"Just like that," Zack agreed, leaning over to see what she was doing. "It won't go anywhere until you take it out, honest."

At least, he was fairly certain that it wouldn't. It wasn't like he'd ever lost any of his, after all.

[intraspective]

Well, she was going to fiddle with it a little more before deciding that, really, she ought to probably put the materia in and so tried that.

It, being used to the whole going in slots things, of course worked just fine.

Which of course meant Ino had to shake the bangle--with it's green accessory--to see if it'd really stick.

"How's it staying in?" she asked.

[puppy_fair]

"Magic?"

Hey, it made perfect sense to Zack!

[intraspective]

It made sense enough to her, too!

She gave it a bit of a harder shake--the poor bangle--and decided it was probably going to stay in until she took it out.

"So I just gotta be wearing this and then I can do it, right?" As she slipped the bangle on one of her wrists.

[puppy_fair]

"That's about it, yeah," Zack agreed, nodding. "It's got to be equipped to armor or a weapon to work. You can't just stuff it in your pocket or whatever."

[intraspective]

"Why not?" she wondered. "I mean, isn't that just as close to you as it is in armour?"

[puppy_fair]

Zack blinked. And stared.

"You know... I've never really thought about that?" He'd never really given any thought as to where materia came from, either, or how it worked. So this was going to make for a lot of unanswered questions in that regard, wasn't it? "I guess maybe it has something to do with there being magic in the armor, too, that can channel it? But I've never really asked anyone about that before."

[intraspective]

Ino had this knack for asking absolutely unanswerable questions, yes! It was a gift!

"Maybe," she said, with a bit of a shrug. "I figure that's as good as answer as any?"

A beat. A bounce.

"So," Ino said, "what now?"

[puppy_fair]

"So, now," Zack said, "I tell the dishes that I'm taking off, and I ask them if they can handle the place for maybe the rest of the day--"

The dishes didn't even wait for him to finish talking. They nodded. Emphatically. Go, go, have fun!

"-- And then we find a place to practise!"

[intraspective]

Best. Dishes. Ever.

"You're all absolutely wonderful," she gushed at the dishes, bouncing excited. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"