fandomtownies | A Clearing In The Preserve, Thursday Evening

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A Clearing In The Preserve, Thursday Evening

This evening, there was a bit more activity going on in the preserve than the usual scampering and frolicking of the teal deer and the alots. Tonight, there were paper lanterns strung up through the branches and along the trees, there were tables set up in the clearing, and there was music. If it lacked a banner and balloons, they were hoping the glimmer of the lantern lights in the darkness made up for it.

Ino was turning seventeen, and there was only one thing to be done about it. Zack had sent out the e-mail yesterday, and he and Karla had taken care of the food and the cakes and the decorations, and, once Zack managed to get Ino to join them, they were going to celebrate!

[Up a little early for PARTY TIME goodness! Open!]

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"I said someday," Zack laughed, shaking his head. "This is Fandom. For all we know, instead of sending us our own kids next time, we'll get to meet our grandchildren around here, right?"

Zack logic! You couldn't argue with it, even if it was a little sideways!

Dammit, that was true! Zack was sort of like Jaenelle in that regard.

"See, now that you mentioned that, the island probably will," Karla scolded. "The first time I wake up with a curly-haired moppet in my bed calling my Grandmother, I'm going to come and kick you in the shins."

Terrifying thought for a SOLDIER 1st class, right?

Oh, Zack was going to lose sleep at night over that one!

"Well, then I hope for the sake of my shins that your grandmoppet's hair is straight," Zack decided, oh so very smug. "And refers to you as 'Nan,' instead."

That would save him, right?

Not very likely.

"Nan?" Karla wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Nana, maybe. Nana Karla works, too. That sounds like a fun name, right? One of those fiesty grandmothers that bakes cookies and terrorizes the neighborhood children?"

Karla could do that. Technically, since she never specified good cookies, Karla could do all three.

"Isn't that the best kind?" Zack had no idea. He'd sort of forfeited the whole extended family gig when he'd run away from home, and hadn't really given it any more thought from there.

... But cookies always sounded good.

"Of course! I'd hate to turn into one of those old, fussy grandmothers that embroider a lot and disapprove of everything," Karla said. "Though it helps I can't embroider worth a damn now."

"Oh? You used to be able to?"

Zack... didn't know much about needle crafts. He knew that embroidery involved thread. And that was about it.

"I used to be slightly better than I am now. I always hated it, so I slacked off whenever I could."

Karla was good at weaving and sewing and only because her caste-Craft required her to be able to spin tangled webs and sew up torn flesh. Anything beyond that involved knots, tangles, cursing, and the saddest needlework ever.

"Well, it's probably better than I can do," Zack laughed. "You should see how many socks I go through, because I can't stitch them up whenever my toes start to poke through."

Karla grinned. "Just be glad you don't have to wear pantyhose," she said. "They run if someone looks at them wrong, and can't be darned anyway."

"Clear nail polish will stop the run," Zack announced, helpfully!

...

"You'd be surprised what sort of stuff you learn when you're really bored and there's nothing good on TV."

"Really?!" Karla asked, amazed. "Damn, I would have saved any number of pairs from an ignominious death had I know that."

"...What kind of show talks about pantyhose?"

What? The question had to be asked!

"Oh, you know... this and that..."

Chick flicks. Really, really bad ones.

"If I knew I wouldn't have asked," Karla pointed out. "And probably would have known the trick with the clear nail polish."

You should have just blamed Ino, Zack. Karla would have believed it, too!

The next words out of Zack's mouth sounded something like, "mumbleumblemumbleGirlMovieChannelumblemumble."

Which was, at least, just enough to be able to pick out the important parts, right?

And that would be Karla, laughing at Zack. A lot. "Zack! That channel is awful!"

"It was either that or the Discovery Channel show about people fishing for crabs!"

... Which was actually a weirdly compelling show in its own way, but Zack had to change the channel from that one before he got any ideas about leaving ShinRa to become a fisherman in Earth's Northern Atlantic, instead.

KARLA THOUGHT THAT BECOMING A FISHERMAN WAS VERY MUCH IN ZACK'S BEST INTERESTS. YES. GO WITH THAT CAREER CHANGE!

"Oooh, that show is really cool!" Karla said, unwitting of the narration. "I get so nervous sometimes, watching it!"

"Like when the storms kick up and stuff, right?"

Stop bouncing, Zack. It wasn't helping you explain why you were watching that Heartland channel or whatever it was called.

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A Clearing In The Preserve, Thursday Evening

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