The Garden, Monday Early Afternoon

[intraspective]

Karla had let her pick the place for where the healing was supposed to take place and, while her hotel room had the advantage of privacy, Zack wasn't the only one of them who wanted to be out amongst nature for as long as possible before heading back to Midgar.

So Ino had picked her old garden, the one that she'd planted ages ago, behind the stables.

She arrived early, making sure to get there before Karla did, and took her time wandering through the trees, eating a few chocolate cherries off the chocolate cherry tree and inspecting the pillow tree and the blanket tree (and thinking about that period of a few months, back then, that she and Zack had camped out here, since he couldn't bear to leave Angeal's sword in the locker) and all of the plants that she still considered hers in some way, despite the fact that it had been five years and counting since she'd seen them all.

They were still alive. Thriving, even.

Ino found that comforting.

[Expecting one, but totally open!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, it's been awhile since I was here," Karla said fondly, looking around. "I'd forgotten about the chocolate cherry tree. I wonder if I could splice a branch onto one of my trees at home."

She smiled at Ino, but for a moment her attention was wholly distracted by the garden and the feel of the land beneath her feet.

"Where did you get all these crazy trees from? Are they native to your world?" Karla knew about Fandom and about Midgar, but realized she knew next to nothing about the world Ino had called her own.

[intraspective]

Ino always had been good about not talking about her home.

She grinned and popped another chocolate cherry into her mouth. After she'd swallowed, she said, "Catch!" and tossed one at Karla.

Deliciousness needed to be shared after all!

"And, nah, they're not from my world. My vision for this garden was completely different, but then this guy named Dor managed to spill seeds from his world everywhere and this is what happened."

Ino contemplated that.

"His world was way weirder than mine. These things pretty much grew up in minutes."

[glacial_queen]

"Well, remind me to be sad that no one ever spilled crazy seeds in any of my gardens," Karla said, catching the cherry and devouring it quickly. "Mmm. Definitely taking a branch or two to try to splice. These and honeypears would make an amazing set of desserts back home."

Closing her eyes, Karla inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of living, green things. "I wish I knew if we'd be able to see one another after this," she said softly. "I'd happily take some seedlings home and keep them safe for you until you could have a garden of your own."

Yeah, she knew how long that would be.

[intraspective]

A long, long time.

Ino tilted her head back to watch the blankets sway in the breeze before looking back at Karla.

"I have a box of seeds at home," she admitted, "that I've been keeping safe, so that when I plant a garden, I've got all the ones I want for it. Some of them ain't even flowers that are here. Some of them were too precious to stick here." Ino knelt down to pick a weed away. "Maybe I ought to send that box to you. You could plant them in my name or something."

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max was pretty much just wandering. Hands in his pockets, whistling tunelessly as he took one last turn around the island before he had to head home.

He'd forgotten how much he liked the place. He was going to miss it.

Ah. Well. That was life, wasn't it? He suppressed a sigh as he rounded the corner and spotted the garden ahead.

[intraspective]

Ino had progressed to inspecting all the littler plants, so she was kneeling down when movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes.

She looked up, and then blinked.

"Centurion?"

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

His footsteps stilled, and Max let out a little snort of amusement. "Not for years now," he said, looking for the source of that voice.

His own eyes widened. "Well. Ino." He smiled slightly. "Been a while."

[intraspective]

She brushed her hands off and stood, the wind tugging at her (ridiculously) long hair as she did so.

"Few years," Ino said, amused. "I hear that happens. And if you're not a Centurion, what am I supposed to call you?"

Yes, yes she could call him by his name, but that was no fun!

[glacial_queen]

There was the noise of metal sliding out of leather from behind him.

Because someone was a troll, that was why.

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Yes. Someone was. And had enough practice to be good at it.

Hearing that, Max drew on his aircrafting and spun far faster than a normal person, hands coming up ever so slightly into a defensive stance.

Then he relaxed, shaking his head, when he saw who was behind him.

[glacial_queen]

Karla was there, holding the cinquedea Max had given her many years ago. She tended to use her bladed sticks in combat more than her old sword, but between Lucivar and Julian, she never had a chance to let her skills--or her sword--get rusty.

"Kiss kiss," she said, grinning at him. "I see you still have decent reflexes."

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

When they'd first arrived, Ana had asked to go see the castle, so Billy was taking the opportunity to show her around the grounds. Tommy was mostly zonked out, having done a lot of running around earlier.

He was also hoping to spot people he knew. "Hey there's someone I know."

[intraspective]

Ino tilted her head, a bit amused at that comment.

"I suppose I can be labelled that," she said lightly. "How are you, person that I know?"

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

"I'm doing well. Mostly keeping out of trouble. This is Anastasia and Tommy." He set Tommy down and pointed them towards the pillow tree. "Here, go have a pillow fight."

"How've you been?" he asked Ino.

[intraspective]

"They're cute kids," Ino said, mostly because parents tended to frown when you completely ignored their offspring.

She was... not super fond of kids, no. Unless they were her Fandom-given own.

"I've been busy," she said, shrugging a little. "Mostly in the information gathering business."

[puppy_fair]

It had been meant to be a casual stroll to see more things that were... well, were familiar to him. Once upon a time, Zack had spent a good many nights out in the garden. He didn't have it in him to put Angeal's sword in the weapons locker.

These days, not much was different, he supposed.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

Funny, how they still tended to run into one another, even when they had a whole weekend to... well... to not.

[intraspective]

"Just nostalgia," Ino admitted, smiling a bit wistfully his way. Things had been so different then.

Harder in some ways, better in others.

"And waiting on Karla."

[puppy_fair]

"On Karla?" Way to get a confused headtilt out of Zack. "Oh. If you had plans..."

He didn't want to intrude if this was a private thing. A girl thing? Did girls do girl things?

He was so bad at this.

[intraspective]

"You'll like this plan," Ino said, looking away from him to touch one of the flowers with a gentle hand. "It's a 'can Karla heal Ino' plan, you see."

Very girly. Very private.

She was laughing at him a little, why yes.

[glacial_queen]

"Kiss kiss," Karla said, coming up quietly behind Zack. She doubted she could sneak up on him, but she'd learned that Warlord Princes appreciated it when she announced her presence anyway.

[puppy_fair]

"Kiss kiss," Zack echoed, smiling back at her a little. "How are you?"

It was good she'd given him that warning, yes. Even knowing she was coming, Zack was... jumpier than he used to be. A lot.

[glacial_queen]

Getting kidnapped by Turks and tortured by mad scientists would do that to a person.

"Here to make sure everything goes well?" she asked, letting Zack decide whether a hug was appropriate or not.

[intraspective]

[Continued from here!]

She ate hers, humming. "They are delicious," Ino said. "And thanks, I think."

They were totally still talking about the cherries, right?

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They were totally talking about the cherries.

"Do you feel like you've received enough in return?" Max asked, tossing another one her way before holding one up to study it thoughtfully.

[intraspective]

She was going to eat that one too.

Delicious, delicious chocolate.

"Enough?" Ino tilted her head back. "Ain't like I got a quota."