fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

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Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

Zack was a little more laid-back then usual today when he stepped up to address the members of the reserves. His arms were clasped behind his back, and he was all but standing at attention when he spoke.

"Today, we're going to discuss something a little more specific than usual," he stated, looking around at the group. "Search and rescue missions, in case somebody goes missing during a raid or invasion. I know, we can't get too greatly into detail, considering it's difficult to tell these things if you don't know the nature of your enemy, but I'd like to get into some generalizations, if we can. Basic stuff, like staying in groups, using our phones to keep in contact with a main party, maybe the support reserves, at specific times in case we go missing too. If there are people with better noses or tracking abilities, that's awesome. If anyone knows of anyone from the magic reserve with a sixth sense for finding people, that's great, too."

"It is also useful to review our maps once more," Arthur cut in. "I would suggest that you split off and scout out specific sections of the island in groups of two or three, so that when we have the need of a specific knowledge of a particular area, we'll have someone aware of the details. Which is not to say," he said, after a pause, "That we don't want all of you knowing the island's specifics to the best of your ability. Should a search and rescue mission be needed, we must waste the least amount of time on figuring out where on God's green Earth we are."

Beat.

"If any of you would like to volunteer to scout out the closest few acres of mainland, we could possibly use that knowledge to our advantage as well."

Zack nodded, and then swayed almost uncomfortably on his heels before he added, "and when we're done discussing that, I've noticed that a few of you have been kinda making faces and grumbling at the activities and discussions that we do here at the Tuesday reserves. If you guys have anything that you would like to see us doing more or less of, please, let us know, and we'll try to work it in. Leto, Arthur, and I all have very different experiences, so we understand that you guys probably do, too."

"Keep in mind that our suggestions may not always seem to make sense to you, but we do know what we're doing," Arthur added, "And for the purposes of this reserve, we'd like to assume you do as well in your own way."

That was... encouraging, Arthur.

[And open!]

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Zack glanced up at that, smiling faintly.

"That seems almost more like a Turks thing," he noted. But chewed on his lip and thought on it for another moment more, before nodding. "But it could happen in SOLDIER, too, I bet. Turks just don't have the same muscle that we do, you know?"

"Exactly," she said, glad to have made him smile, "and you give a job to a person who has the best skills for it--in this case, if he's gone deep cover, it's still as himself, so he doesn't have to worry about acting 'less it's got to do with still being attached to ShinRa and the desertion. Other than that, though, he's himself. So they can use someone with more power, and considering his position and maybe the nature of what's going on..."

Ino shrugged a bit. "He might have been the only choice, you know?"

Did Ino believe what she was saying? Not really, but she easily admitted that, with what she knew, it was entirely possible.

Zack wasn't entirely buying it, himself. But it was a nice thought, and easier to swallow than the big, gaping hole of not knowing, and so he was going to cling to this. Angeal was out there, working, and he couldn't check in because of the nature of the work, and he'd come back when the job was done.

"Right!" And a nod for good measure. "It'll be fine. I mean, it's got to be fine."

"And in the meantime," she said, nodding her agreement. "You've got to kickbutt, take names, and pick up the slack left from him having to take a different job."

Zack stuck out his chest a little at that, putting his hands on his hips.

"That's right! I'm in line for 1st, after all. I have to start acting like it!"

... Putting your chin in the air doesn't necessarily mean you're acting like it, Zack.

Ino was just going to mime a quick punch at his midsection, and laughed.

"As long as you don't lord it over us, geez."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Zack laughed, shaking his head. "Technically, I don't hold rank over anybody here, unless they're deferring to me as a leader of the Reserves. So far as SOLDIER goes, that's a different military unit entirely. If I swap in the purples for blacks, all it means here is that I'm washing different clothes on laundry day."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, smiling. "Even if you're the only SOLDIER I've ever met, I don't know how important the uniform is to me right now."

But it was trivia, and Ino adored trivia.

"I used to be really proud of my uniform," Zack replied, smiling a little lopsidedly. "And then Fandom went and turned it into a person. They're kinda just clothes, now. Really."

Because his uniform had gotten all pervy on him. That kinda thing changed a guy's view of the clothing he put on every morning.

"Either way, I'm not going to get that rank unless I've earned it. So... Here's hoping, huh?"

"Here's hoping," she agreed, grinning a bit. "But only if you hope for me, when I go for testing to advance my rank, yeah? Fair's fair."

"Fair's fair," Zack agreed, and now he actually was smiling. "Do you know when you go for testing, yet?"

She shook her head.

"Noooo, Sakura's keeping an ear out 'cause we're taking it together--first few have to be in groups of three, you know?--and she's promised to tell me when it's going to start but other than that?"

Ino held up her hands and sighed. "No clue. I know first bit'll be 'bout a week long, then there's a month-long break before the final."

"Well, let me know when you're about to, and I'll take you out for ice cream or something like that, to cheer you on," Zack decided.

Because every occasion was an occasion for ice cream.

"You can take me out for ice cream whenever you feel like it," she said airily.

Ino was hardly going to turn down that, geez.

"But totally, I'll let you know for sure what's going on with that--final's a public exam, maybe," she continued, with emphasis on maybe, "if security is good, I might be able to invite people to watch in the stands."

"Oooooo."

Yes, Zack totally made the 'oooo' face to that, and everything.

"If it turns out that you can, let me know? That's something I'd love to be able to watch. It sounds interesting!"

"I'll keep you updated," she promised, the wording of that reminding her that she needed to update someone else of something totally different. Man.

Though, really, her updates for if he was allowed to go depended on both a) if security was good with it and b) if Reno was good with it.

Because if it was a choice between Reno or Zack getting to be at her final? It wasn't even a choice for Ino.

"If not before the exam, then definitely after the first bit of it for sure--if I've made it that far." Sigh.

Zack grinned lopsidedly at that, and then gave her a thumbs-up.

"And if it turns out that you can't, that's totally fine. I mean, it's not like SOLDIERs have some big testing process that we go through before we get promoted, so I can't really offer the same, you know?"

"It's not about fair or anything," she said, smiling slightly. "But you're--I'd want to invite you, 'cause I wouldn't be worried 'bout reactions to my world. 'Cause most of my friends aren't really comfortable with the whole job description, what they know if it."

Oooh.

"It's easier to have someone around who gets it," Zack agreed, looking upward for a moment in thought. "I remember my first day here, people were really put off by my sword. Sometimes, people still try to tell me I'm too young for this work. I just don't see it, really."

"Me neither," she said, wrinkling her nose cheerfully. "I mean, we've got civilians in our world too, but they're not anything like a lot of people here, so it's totally confusing."

Ino glanced at him and gave an impish smile. "But it does mean that here people don't like what we can do 'cause we're 'not old enough' or 'it's bad' or something." A hair tug. "Probably a good idea to not invite those sorts to an exam where the only rule is 'try not to kill to many of each other', and that's only a rule in the final."

"I think people are worried that it's dangerous," Zack noted, shrugging. "But then, maybe it's not so bad around here, but my world is dangerous. I stand a better chance in SOLDIER than I do travelling around on my own."

And there wasn't a force on Gaia that could have made him stay put in Gongaga, so that wasn't even an option.

She grinned at him.

"But good luck explaining to them that the fact that it's dangerous is part of the reason for doing it, right?" Ino tilted her head. "I mean, it's not just a job, you know? It's a tradition for me, and it's my way of protecting my home too. That's way more important than being safe."

Zack nodded.

"Yeah, if I was worried about staying safe, I never would have left home in the first place." And now he was rocking on his heels, thinking. It was almost a bounce, if you squinted! "Someone has to do it. I want to be that person. Age doesn't matter so much, on my world, like it doesn't on yours. We're all just people doing what has to get done."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "The age thing is just weird," Ino admitted, "I mean--if you're old enough to understand what you're doing, and want to do it for yourself, then I don't see a problem."

Tugging at her hair, she glanced around the clearing. "I mean," she continued, "last war, we had a few as young as six out in the field--that's super rare, you know? 'Cause the training isn't something that's easy, but those kids? Were only kids in age, 'cause they knew what they were doing and why at that point. And people here have a hard enough time with me graduating at twelve."

"Twelve is when I left home with SOLDIER in mind," Zack shared. "People here have a tough enough time with that."

Sigh. Shrug. Bounce on his toes.

"I guess it's just something to get used to, around here."

Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

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