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Wellspring Arms & Meditation Centre, Wednesday

She'd vaguely planned to decorate today. After the way yesterday had gone, however, and an entirely sleepless night, Ino was more enthused to slump down in the chair and do absolutely nothing.

There. Store was open. Well done, her.

Ino pulled her knees up under her chin and pulled out her phone reluctantly. He'd... probably be interested right...?

It was stupid and dumb and beyond idiotic if she didn't say nothing. ... Funny how a good part of her was leaning towards being stupid as a thing she was okay with.

Eventually, though, she managed to send the text. It could have been more informative, she supposed, but considering that she wanted to crawl under the desk and die, Ino figured anything was better than nothing.

Wellspring Arms is Open.

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If you'd like.

"Spar," Reno announced, walking into the Wellspring as if he owned it. He didn't need a proper greeting. Proper greetings were for people who had, like, manners and shit.

But hey, to elaborate his point, he was going to at least make the effort to raise his hand enough to point to the meditation room.

He had his baton on him, of course. He always did, when he wasn't on school property. But it was hidden under his jacket. Better safe than sorry when dealing with an occasionally homicidal post-traumatic ninja.

Greetings were for other people! Ino blinked up from her staring--she wasn't in much of a mood to do anything, really--and nodded.

Hiding the weapon was probably a good thing, considering how yesterday had gone. She uncurled from her position and stood.

And headed for the meditation room. Who needed words?

Mod your zen, or ask Ino to help.

Ino shifted idly from foot to foot, wondering if she ought to be doing this, if it was going to blow up in her face, if she was going to be able to keep it together and do things properly.

Spar. Right.

For now, she had no weapons drawn.

Reno stepped into the meditation room after her, hands in his pockets, as casual and devil-may-care as he always was.

"Now," he said, actually leaning back against the wall, "we're gonna do this. And you're gonna start it. Make the first swing count, Rookie, because you ain't gonna get a second chance to catch me."

That wasn't him being cocky. That was him giving her fair warning.

Ino nodded, blue eyes cooling as she studied him. Back against the wall meant that she couldn't get behind him.

(Damn him.)

But there were other ways to attack and Ino abruptly disappeared in a swirl of smoke and leaves.

Someone had picked up a few new tricks since the last time they'd sparred.

Ino reappeared on the ceiling above him and, since he'd not said she couldn't, that was Fire ripping through the air. Followed quickly by Wall on herself.

She wouldn't have used materia in Miss Vida's shop. But Cable-san's was equipped to take worse than what she could dish out, Ino trusted.

Ah, materia. Reno twitched a bit of a grin as he looked upwards, gauging the strength of that Fire spell before deciding that... well, he'd really rather not singe his hair. His usual speed was plenty good enough for him to avoid the ball of flame headed his way, and in less than a heartbeat, he was standing clear across the room, buffing his knuckles on his chest.

"Wall, huh? Good opening move," he decided. It meant that he could get a little rough. Not dangerously so, but Reno knew full-well that he was prone to bouts of fury when he was in the middle of a fight, and just like his bringing his baton along, it was better safe than sorry. "You got better'n Fire?"

Because... Really, Fire was pretty... Uh. Fire.

If she didn't, he was going to have to hook her up or something. Jeez.

Ino was balanced on the ceiling still, like she could hang there forever, and her eyes studied him for a bare second, narrowed, and then she was gone again.

Different corner, different element.

How did he like Thundara?

Which was, well. Her best, really, when it came to materia.

Actually, Reno liked Thundara very much. In fact, Reno could stand still and bask in Thundara, and come out all the better for it. After all, there was a piece of armor that he didn't take off for anything, and it ensured that if he ever felt like sticking his finger in a wall socket for kicks, the worst he'd have to deal with was hair that was a little more spiky than usual.

And so, naturally, Reno didn't bother dodging that one. Ah, nothing like a bit of lightning to the brain to wake a person up in the morning.

"Good," he pretty much purred, turning to grin at her. "Better, yo. You level that one up enough, and you'll be doin' damn good for yourself."

Reno was, of course, slightly Thunder-biased.

And that would be why her next response was Poison. She'd known on some level, that Thunder against him wouldn't work. But at least he'd been pleased?

She wasn't pleased.

She was narrowed eyes and blonde anger and she was disappearing again to land behind him and lash out with one foot at an ankle and kunai flying.

It was a red and black flicker that took the kunai and avoided that foot, and it was Reno who appeared directly behind Ino, giving a thoughtful frown to his bleeding thumb.

"Serves me right for tryin' to catch it," he mumbled, giving his head a shake. "Ino, start talkin' to me. Keep goin' on this way, and you'll go berserker on me. And that won't do neither of us no good, yo."

There was a difference between a spar, and a death match with a caged animal. He could handle both, but he'd really prefer the first. Though, in retrospect, he had been aware enough of the possibility that this would go sour when he came in. After all, she'd tried to kill Max.

Ino tilted her head at him, vaguely birdlike. Quizzical. Talking?

They were supposed to be fighting.

… Weren't they?

But hey, at least he wasn't getting more kunai flung at him.

"Words," he said slowly, holding up his hands- one empty, one holding the kunai that he'd grabbed from thin air. He glanced at it. Checked himself. Appearing armed was stupid. So he let it drop.

A little bit of blood trickled down his hand and started to soak into the white of his shirt sleeve. Whatever.

"We're not goin' on with this until you start makin' words at me."

The kunai hit the padded floor with a dull thud. Ino's eyes tracked it, then remained on it.

She shook her head.

And Fire, again.

Reno just heaved a sigh, and dodged the fire again. A little more slowly than before, hitting the floor in a tumble. Not threatening. Practically civilian, by most standards.

Okay. Fine.

"What's your favorite color, Rookie?"

He picked himself up and dusted himself off, offering her a crooked smirk.

He was going to get her to talk come hell or high water. If it meant confusing the shit out of her, then hey, why not?

… What was he asking her?

Ino eyed him. Replayed his fall in her head. Not him, then? What was he playing at? The first dodge had been him. This one wasn't.

Too slow.

Her favourite colour?

Ino stared at him, studying, looking for a threat.

"Mine's red," Reno continued, smirking a little at the stare. "But you can get a pretty good case for orange lately, zoto. Blame Rikku for that one."

Softie.

"I ain't gonna do nothin' until you start talkin' to me, Rookie. Favorite color, or I turn an' walk out."

No, he wouldn't. Though he was starting to feel kind of... off. He cast a thoughtful look at his thumb, dripping blood onto the floor in harmless little pat-pat-pats.

"You poison them throwing blades of yours," he added, thoughtfully. "Don't you?"

Well. This had the potential to get shitty, fast. And the sad thing was, he knew he should have seen that coming.

Yes, yes she did.

... There was something wrong about that, wasn't there? Ino frowned, slightly, as it occurred to her that maybe she shouldn't have done that?

No? It had been a fight, but not a spar.

"Purple," she said, "then pink."

"Not bad colors," Reno decided, taking a deep breath. Holding it. Making a concentrated effort not to let his eyes cross. "Favorite food?"

Keep drilling her on inconsequential things. Get her to start using her conscious mind. Instincts were good when your life was in danger, but it wasn't, here. He still hadn't so much as raised a hand to her.

Shit, it was poison. He'd need to take a remedy for this, if she'd let him. And he'd need to put it off until he knew she wasn't going to just throw more poison-tipped shuriken at him if he were to reach into his jacket.

She shook her head. Took a step forwards.

Then retreated. Warring with the part of her that cried this was a trick and he was doing this to confuse her and the other part that pointed out she'd asked him for a spar and had she lost her fucking mind?

"Cherry tomatoes," she said, not moving closer, but not moving away.

"Not a bad food," Reno decided, smoothly. "Never had any of them until I joined the Turks."

Fresh vegetables did not really happen to exist in the Midgar slums, after all.

"Least favorite song."

Keep coming up with words. Speak around grit teeth. Don't let those knees buckle. He was stronger than this. Better than this. Should have equipped an Esuna...

He was--getting pale, wasn't he? And there was a problem with that, she just had to...

His words pitter-pattered into her head and word by word they became utterly irrelevant to the fact that she--

"I poisoned you!" Oh look, proper Rookie horror.

You can't see me, but I'm practically giddy with holiday cheer and yet Ino is like this and that just makes me happier and I'm aware that that makes no sense whatsoever.

Hi!

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Talk to Ino

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Meditation Room

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Shooting Range

OOC