fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday After Classes

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Behind the Dorms, Tuesday After Classes

"It's introductions time again," Zack said, launching right into his greeting the moment it looked like everyone who was going to show up for the Reserves meeting was there. This was in no small part due to the fact that he'd only actually met one of the new kids yet, and his wiggly puppy sense was tingling.

A lot.

"Every semester we seem to get a trickle in of new faces, so it can't hurt for all of us to stand up and share! We need names, your fighting experience and weapons proficiency, and what kind of other skills you might have that would come in handy in an invasion situation!"

A pause. A kind of squirmy sway from one foot to the other. Zack wanted to get started on that noooooow.

"You new guys have probably had the invasions mentioned to you at least once by now, I hope. If not, uh... Welcome to Fandom Island! That sort of thing is what we're here for! I'll go first! I'm Zack Fair, SOLDIER 2nd Class, so yes, I am a kid in the military, and I do have a pretty decent rank, too. My weapon of choice is a sword and materia- little round spheres that let me cast spells, like fireballs or healing. I have access to items that can heal a person in a pinch, too, which comes in really handy on the field. Okay! Somebody else's turn!"

People! Introductions! Yay!

[OCD is up, and once again, the reserves are open to anyone who feels compelled to stumble along to scope it all out. We love new faces, from fighters and those interested in becoming them!]

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"Hey, there's nothing the matter than that!" Zack nodded, putting his hands on his hips. "I'm not so good at that sort of thing. It's more the Turks work, you know? So having someone on hand who knows their way around sabotage could come in really handy."

She had to grin a bit. Yes, she definitely knew it was more Turk work than anything.

"I know?" Ino said. "Just, some people get all weird 'bout it 'cause it's not the same as a 'real' fight, so, yeah. I figured it's easier to let the--leaders know."

"I appreciate it!" Perpetually happy boy was perpetually happy. Yes. "It's not the same thing as most of us usually do, but that's fine. If we limit ourselves to people who throw ourselves into the fray swords first, then we're cutting out a whole line of options for keeping our island safe."

"And this way leaves you better prepared for different enemies," she added. "'Cause, yeah, seriously--it'd be hard to believed that close combat'd solve everything the best way."

"Well, the guy who did this job before I showed up... He did that kind of thing, I think. It's balanced a little differently now with me here instead. That's not necessarily a good thing."

Zack swayed on his heels, and then shrugged.

"Either way, Ino, having someone like you around would probably be a huge help."

"He did," she said, smiling slightly. "At least a bit."

Understatement of the century, oh my yes.

"Probably?" she teased. "Should I be offended?"

Zack blinked, and then realized what he might very well have just sounded like he was saying.

"I mean, in the same way we'll probably see another invasion! You never can tell these things. Unless you know the future, you know?"

Ino just laughed.

"Don't say that, I bet there's a few who can. And that's just--creepy."

Oh, Zack had to put on his serious face at that.

"I know way too much of my world's future already," he noted. "I can get by just fine without ever finding out any more. I mean, I've met people here who can see things, but they know better than to share."

Layla Miller knew stuff. She kept the future to herself around Zack. Other people hadn't, so much.

Ino's eyes narrowed an infinitesimal amount, her smile covering it up unless you were really looking for that.

"Oh yeah?" Ino asked, tilting her head. "Know the future, do you?"

Reno had mentioned something about that, right? After telling her again to keep her mouth shut. Geez. Ino could keep her mouth shut on anything.

Zack just kind of... shrugged, a little.

"Someone just mentioned something, that's all. About Midgar."

He was suddenly very much not the happy wiggly puppy of a few moments ago. He was actually very much the opposite, and trying desperately to hold a smile in spite of that. He was failing at it.

Crap, she hadn't meant to kill his mood.

"Hey!" she said, snapping her fingers. "Did I tell you? I went to visit my friend from there, and guess what we found?"

She didn't give him a chance to guess.

"We found flowers growing! Naturally! Outside of the city boundaries!"

...it was probably a good thing Ino didn't know it was because Zack had died there, yeah. She wouldn't be nearly so excited about it.

... Whooooa.

Zack blinked, and then kind of stared at Ino, wide-eyed.

"Flowers, in the wastes? Really? You weren't like, waaay far out there or anything, were you?"

It was actually kind of lush and green, once you got closer to Kalm!

"Nooo," she said, grinning up at him. "We were, like, half a day tops from there. Hiking distance. I wanted to explore, and he said there was a good view, and then we found that and that was way better."

"Whoooooa."

That about summed up what Zack thought of that, didn't it?

"That's great! Is the ground there coming back or something? You don't suppose there could be more plants in other places, too?"

She was thinking that Mission: Distract Zack was a success, yes yes.

"He's going to look," she bubbled, because if Reno wasn't then Ino was going to kick his ass. "And we took two of the flowers to transplant them to other locations to see if it was the flowers that were doing the job. Like, maybe, they can grow so wherever the grow the land gets better."

Zack had the attention span of a hyperactive chihuahua on speed, so it wasn't as though Ino had a particularly challenging mission ahead of her, really!

"That would be awesome. I hope your friend finds something. Is that the guy who used to go here? So he's from my future, right? From what I've heard, they could really, really use a break like that."

"He's from a possible future of your world," she said severely, exuding confidence. "'Cause the future ain't set in stone, you know. I've met people from my world from different futures so don't you dare argue with me on that one."

"And yes, the guy who used to go here. Yeah--they need a break, and this is a good one. He's growing beans in his apartment. And radishes too."

... When she put it that way, it didn't seem so bad. Elena had tried to tell him the same thing, but there had been desperation in her voice when she had. It scared him.

"Do you think maybe there's any way I can help? I could buy them seeds from here, or something! Or... Hm. Think they could make use of Gil? Or potions or something? Potions are easy to find, in my time, I don't know about theirs..."

It helped that Ino could, actually, say that she'd met people like that with total confidence because she really had and that it wasn't her world that was going to get broken and maimed.

"Hmmm," Ino tilted her head. "Potions seemed pretty common when we were out killing monsters, but--how 'bout I ask him? He'd know better than me for what's really needed. Seeds and dirt though, he can totally use more of."

They were going to bury Reno in dirt and seeds at this rate.

"Seeds and dirt it is, then! And let me know if he comes up with something else that they might need? There might be stuff that's easier to get while Midgar is..."

Isn't yet a giant tombstone. Right.

Sigh.

Ino pinned him with a Look.

"Your Midgar might never have that fate," she said, trying to whack him (lightly) on the chest. "And I'm going to beat that into you if I got to. If people who're dead in my world can be alive and well and from the future in a different version of my world, Midgar can totally survive, okay?"

"It totally can," Zack agreed, sounding not entirely convinced. But he was taking a crack at trying, at least. "Still, it's somebody's Midgar."

Zack Fair was a tiny bit of a bleeding heart. That much was showing right now in spades, wasn't it?

It really was.

"I know," she said, very gently. "It is someone's Midgar. But it's not yours. Grieve for them, but don't think your world is going to end up like that. You don't want a self-fulfilling prophecy of disaster. Not when it's that large."

"All you can do for your Midgar is do your best and care for it. You got to have confidence, you know?"

"Embrace your dreams?" Zack smiled lightly. "And hold on to your honor. That's what my mentor back home keeps telling me. There's got to be something to that, if he sticks to it so thoroughly, huh?"

It was sort of rife with silver lining, but at least it was better than seeing Zack mope.

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