fandomtownies | Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

You know what was cool? Puppies.

You know what Zack had? Also puppies. Or, well, one puppy, anyway. The rest of the litter that had been here when he'd arrived on the island had been adopted out over the past couple of weeks, and just one was left. People liked 'em small and cute, apparently. Not really a surprise, but it was interesting to see in action while the older, no less lovable dogs tended to stick around a little longer.

The island was fairly quiet otherwise, but Zack was okay with that. He'd gotten used to the quiet over the past few years, and occasionally wondered just how he would have actually fared, if he'd ever managed to make his way back into Midgar. Now there was a city that didn't know the meaning of the word 'quiet.' He still wasn't sure if he was going to miss it or not. He smiled a little to himself - mostly because smiling was his default state of being, whether he really felt it or not - and reached down to pat the pitbull puppy that was currently snoozing in his lap.

He hadn't yet paused to contemplate the wisdom of making a lapdog out of a pup that would one day grow into a brick shithouse of a dog, but even if he had, he was sure there would be someone around who could appreciate that sort of thing.

[OOC: Open, if there's anyone left on the island!]

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Today, Ino wasn’t here to play with the animals. She wasn’t even really here to talk to Zack awkwardly. (Though that was going to be a thing, and she knew it.)

It was barely even Ino who stepped into Furnado at all. (Hello, Iris.)

For the first time since she’d come to the island—since she’d met up with Zack—Ino was fully, and properly, dressed in her uniform. Her hair was pulled back tightly into a long, blonde snake of a braid. (Silly was asleep, at home.)

She was every inch the Turk today.

"Zack," she said, and stopped.

Zack looked up with a smile, and then froze. The smile, that had been tentatively warm and open, seemed to be stuck on his face like a rictus now, and the puppy in his lap whined and stirred as it felt Zack tense up underneath him.

He could see Ino in there. Could see her face, anyway. But everything else about her was--

It was them.

It was them, and his heart was pounding in his ears, and his hand reached back reflexively for a sword that wasn't there, set aside for the day so that he could play with the dogs without worry.

Yeah. Yeah, that was about what she’d expected. It would have been kinder to call him but, at the same time, Ino hadn’t wanted to dance around it any further.

She was a Turk. Still.

At the same time, she was going to just… stay near the door. Thanked the gods that he hadn’t been wearing his sword.

"This isn’t about you," she said quickly. "But—I’ll be gone for a few days."

Ino. Ino. This was Ino. Zack's head was screaming that over and over and over again. Ino Ino Ino Ino.

Slowly, carefully, he managed to relax. Keep his vibrant blue eyes on hers. Breathe.

"He's sending you on a job, is he?"

Tseng. Zack couldn't bring himself to say the name anymore.

Ino’s face showed no sign that she heard the shrieking Zack’s mind was doing—but she heard it loud and clear. It was hard not to hear it.

"That’s right," she said, keeping it simple. "Feed Silly for me?"

Silly. The chicobo. Something else to focus fiercely on, instead of that uniform. Good, He knew Silly. Silly was a good bird.

"I can do that," he agreed, giving a brisk, firm nod of his head.

In his lap, the puppy tried to bury his head between Zack's knees. For a pup that was going to grow to be big and strong, he was a timid little thing, now.

He was and it was because they were upsetting him.

“Thanks,” she said quietly. "I'll get out of your hair then. Just wanted to let you know."

"Okay," Zack said quietly, reaching down to pick the puppy up, to hold him close to his shoulder, instead. He could have left it at that, but another moment later, he said, "What if it ever does become about me? Or Cloud?"

It was hard not to wonder, when she was wearing that suit.

Ino stopped, half turned around, reaching for the door.

She could have left it with a flippant non-answer, or something evasive, but Zack wanted her to talk to him. She'd try honesty.

"I love being a Turk," she said, "and I love Midgar and Gaia and everything about it. It's my home. But, Zack, if it became a choice between you, this, and everything else..."

It still wasn’t much of a choice. She was a slow learner. She was stupid.

"It’s always going to be you."

Zack blew out a breath at that. One he hadn't been aware he'd been holding. And he nodded a little.

"The Turks need you," he said, finally. "Midgar needs you. I'll see you when you get back."

"You got it," she said, and with a faint, uncertain smile on her face as she glanced back at him, Ino left.

Portals waited for no one.

Zack stared after her for what was probably forever. It felt like forever, anyway. The puppy had calmed down, and was making soft little snoring sounds in his ear. Which was fine. Zack wasn't going anywhere anyway.

He was spinning his wheels.

He was...

"I got it," he sighed. "Man-oh-man."

Furnado Animal Shelter, Tuesday

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