The Garden, Monday Early Afternoon

[flowering_mind]

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

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[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.

[flowering_mind]

"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.

[flowering_mind]

"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.

[puppy_fair]

Aww, laugh it up, Ino.

"Ooooh." He blinked, and then he smiled a bit. Actually laughed a little, himself. "Okay, that's a good plan, I can't deny it."

Because, you know... he didn't actually want her to die of radiation poisoning just because he didn't want one of his friends being experimented on by Hojo McPsycho.

"... Can she?"

[flowering_mind]

"I don't know," she admitted, hating to be realistic and possibly stealing that laugh of his away. "But she's willing to try and it were a better option that just giving up."

While Ino had mixed opinions on dying, and was self-destructive to boot, she was not actively suicidal.

She glanced at him. "Did... did you want to stay for it?"

[puppy_fair]

That... did kind of take the wind from his sails, he couldn't deny that. But he appreciated that... at least she was being honest with him. He'd take blunt.

"If you don't mind," he replied. "I think I'd like to know."

He would like to know. Very much. He worried.

[flowering_mind]

"Okay."

Honestly, Ino didn't mind--

No, fine. She should probably keep on being honest with him, shouldn't she?

"I'd like it if you stayed," Ino admitted. She still felt safest while he was around.

[puppy_fair]

"Then I will," Zack replied. It really was as simple as that, wasn't it? "And... we can take things from there, whatever happens."

[flowering_mind]

"I'm going to pretend that sounds more optimistic than it did to me," Ino said, glancing his way and smiling slightly. "I'm trying, anyway."

[puppy_fair]

Zack chewed on his lip for a few seconds, almost sheepishly, before deciding to clarify, "I meant... what we do to keep you from getting sick again, after she's healed you."

Because don't think he hadn't figured out what the cause was, Ino.

[flowering_mind]

Yeaaah.

Ino was... not making the most brilliant decisions ever by pretending he didn't know. But she was going to keep pretending.

And ignoring that elephant in... the... garden...

"I predict that 'eat more' is going to be on that list," she said determinedly, and not looking at him any more. "Right up there with 'sleep'."

Both of which couldn't hurt!

[puppy_fair]

"Eating more is a great plan," Zack agreed. "Sleeping? Is way up there, too. I'm all for anything that leads to eat and sleep."

[flowering_mind]

"Even though I'm terrible at both."

It was true. So, so sad and true.

[puppy_fair]

Zack wasn't even going to try to deny it.

"Yeah. So... let's do something about what's causing that."

Well, that was a complicated can of worms.

[flowering_mind]

Ino took a deep breath.

"This ain't gonna do that, you know?"