icedark_elf (icedark_elf) wrote in rp_prompts, @ 2008-12-29 09:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | ladynero:icedark_elf:tb:ffvii |
Introductions pt two (Ten Set 04 # 10: Shadows)
Continuing from here.
"You act as if I'm not already lost," she said with a snort. "Good think I have you to follow."
He chuckled and lead her into the room where an old nun in a blue habit was working on another set of black robes. "Sister Taylor, we have a new recruit."
Sister Taylor looked up and smiled at her. "Come in, child. Now what department are you working for?"
Zack fought down a laugh as the woman's name and where she worked almost forced her too. "I think it's called AX." She looked at Abel, not sure what the other name was, though she knew he mentioned it.
Abel nodded. "She'll be working for the Department of Foreign Affairs, but specifically in the AX." He smiled and shifted the books under his arm. "And she would prefer the priest's robes since she is hindered in skirts."
The sister huffed and shook her head. "Women today. No sense of propriety," she muttered, veering away from the white habits she had been hobbling towards to pull one of the robes from the mass of black.
Well, she hadn't been scolded over that in a while. Ah, well, at least she wasn't going to have to fight the woman over this. "Thank you," she said lowly to Abel.
He just smiled at her as the sister walked over, holding out the robes. "You can change behind there," she gestured towards a screen set up in the corner. "I need to see if there are any adjustments needed."
"Ah, the fun part," Zack said dryly. "Thank you, though," she added politely to the woman, and went as directed. It wasn't hard to figure out how most things went, and she left her clothing hanging over the edge of the screen, walking back out in her boots. Better to adjust with shoes on than off, given how she'd be wearing them.
"Everyone modifies the robes just a bit to individualize then," Abel remarked, gesturing to his double belts. "Father Leon has his pretty much open to his waist, and Father Hughes has a shorter cape."
The sister tutted as she moved around Zack, straightening the robes here and there before stepping back. "You don't need any modifications. Good."
The cuffs were a little low, but she could work with that. Taking a moment, she did some twists and stretches, including all the way back to put her hands on the floor before standing again. "I can move in these. That's good."
Sister Taylor blinked at the show of flexibility but didn't say anything. "I'll have the Court Robes delivered to you later since there isn't a pressing need for them." She gathered a few more robes up in the same size and handed them to Zack.
Abel nodded and told here where there rooms were.
"Thank you again, ma'am," she said, taking the robes, then going to collect her other things. When she came back, the sword was once again on her back.
The sister huffed and shooed them out of her domain, citing other things to do, and Abel chuckled as he left, escorting Zack out of the room.
"Tell me, did we just turn into giant chickens?" She glanced back, amused.
"No, why?" He glanced at her curious
"I haven't been shoo'd like that in forever. Last time I saw someone do a shooing, it was to some chickens."
He chuckled. "Sister Taylor did live on a farm before she came to us."
Zack just continued to smile. "So, back to the rooms so I can shed all this stuff, then what?"
"Then, I either answer what questions you have and get you caught up on this world, or we wander towards the Training Yard," he admitted.
She perked up at that last choice. "Training yard?"
"Where the Inquisition plays and acts all many while beating up on each other," he remarked, dryly.
"That sounds like fun." She gave a shameless smile. "Me big fighter. Me thump things."
He snorted. "Then we'll head there so you can show up the Inquisition."
"You have such confidence in me."
"It's the sword. It's almost as big a phallic symbol as their lances." He managed to get that out with a completely straight face.
"Ooh, baby. I'm all about the phallic symbols." She returned the line with a smile.
"As long as you don't leave us over them," he shot back. "Sister Paula would be upset that she's not the only female in the Inquisition anymore."
"We could bond on how best to beat people up."
He shook his head. "She's not that open to anyone."
"Sounds lonely." Though understandable.
He shrugged. "She is happy in the Inquisition, destroying any Methuselah that crosses her path." He offered her a wry smile. "She is named the Lady of Death for a reason."
Zack closed an eye. "I'll make sure to remember that."
"At least the Knight of Destruction is out of the city right now," grumbled Abel, shaking his head. "Brother Petros may be the head of the Inquisition under diMedici, but he's a hard headed individual."
"I take it he would be bad to meet? Or at least one that should be met under certain circumstances?"
"He respects ones skills in battle. If you are weak there, you are weak forever in his eyes."
That got a tight smile. "I'll have to see how I stand to him, then. Though do you guys use magic at all?"
"No. Using anything like that will get you labeled a witch and mistrusted."
"Lovely. Materia are some of my main weapons. I guess I could stick to the subtle things." She wrinkled her nose. "And keep limit breaks out of it."
"Just during practice," he remarked. "Out in the field, anything goes."
"That's not a problem. Though a few of my materia will trigger automatically if certain conditions are met." Zack's mind went to her final attack and phoenix combination.
"Then I would advise you try to keep those conditions away. If it does happen, we'll think of some way to explain it," he offered.
"Well, as long as nobody tries to kill me, I should be fine."
"I should be able to stall for that long at least."
Zack smiled. "I just have a set of materia that if I come that close to death, it'll revive me and heal me up."
He shook his head. "That should only happen out in the field if then."
"Then we're good. Push comes to shove, I can prove it's not me personally, but my items that cause the effects."
"If you have to, but try to avoid it." He sighed and shook his head. "Things are always tense between the departments because things are tense between the cardinals."
"It was more an "if needed" situation." She nodded. "Most of my things shouldn't cause an issue. Like my tetra will just cause some things like fire and electrical attacks to heal me instead of hurting me."
"That could be useful," he agreed.
"It is." That one she was sure of. "And I have a few of them. Small items are all I can seem to carry from world to world, so I can give some to others if they would like them."
"Wait a few months before you start handing out trinkets," he advised, escorting her into their rooms. "Then people won't wonder as much."
She gave him a small smile, but just nodded. Had learned to not wait on things, but would listen to him for now. Maybe leave some behind if she could when it came time.
"You do realize that until things are settled here and your assistance is no longer desperately needed instead of just required, you're going to have me clinging to you at night, correct?" he inquired.
Another small smile. "I know you'll try," she said simply. Wouldn't be the first world that someone had tried. "I'll do my best to stay until I'm not needed."
"Even if you're not needed, you'll be wanted," he offered.
She waved a finger at him. "Now you can't honestly say that until you've gotten to know me." Her tone was teasing.
"All right. I'll withhold judgment until tomorrow."
Zack gave a small laugh. "All right."
He smiled and pushed her gently towards the other wardrobe weapons locker combination. "Go put your new clothes away and then we'll see about training."
Grinning over her shoulder at him a moment, she went to do so. It didn't take too long, and then she moved back to him. "I'll have to find some care kits for my sword, and some basic supplies, but I'm mostly good to go now."
"You can probably find the sword kits in the Armory. We'll swing past there on our way out since it's near the Training Yard," he offered, starting back for the door. "As for basic toiletries, there's a small shop near the front gate that most of us like to use."
"I'll have to do that." She followed him again, determined to start memorizing paths. "So, how long before you get sent out again, any idea?"
He shrugged. "That is up to Cardinal Sforza and depends on what cases arrive for us to deal with."
"This really is set up like SOLDIER, then." Zack thought about that, and nodded. "Won't take too long to get used to that, then."
"I am hoping that it will be a while before the next one," he sighed, a sad look crossing his face. "The last one was only a few days ago."
Zack frowned slightly. "What happened?" That was not a look of a good mission.
"It started in Barcelona. A building suddenly crumbled with no apparent reason. Sister Noelle and I were sent to investigate." He swallowed hard at her name, but continued on. "We managed to track what it was. A new kind of weapon. Only, we weren't in time to stop it from destroying all of Barcelona. I survived. She didn't." He blinked back the tears that threatened to fall at the memory of his failure. "It was a test run to measure it's destructive capabilities before smuggling the Silent Noise Machine into Rome."
Grimacing, Zack almost reached out to touch his arm, but remembering when she did that in his rooms, she just bumped him with her shoulder again. "I take it someone stopped it from being used here?"
"They managed to stop it after it had been started, because I couldn't," he whispered, tears falling down his face now.
"It was stopped. That's good." Isn't sure what to do at this moment, so rests her hand on his shoulder, letting her fingers tighten.
He closed his eyes and forced the feelings back. He could deal with them later. Reaching up, he wiped his face off and offered her a bright and fake smile. "Yes it is. Only a few buildings were demolished here and they were older ones that were falling in anyway."
"I'm not fooled, you know," Zack said with a mutter, letting her hand drop. But she didn't push. Not yet.
"Fooled?" He looked at her, hoping for curiosity but probably realizing he was failing at that.
She gave him a flat look. "I'm not an idiot." Nobody went from tears to smiling like that. But if he thought he needed to, she'd just wait.
His smile got a bit weaker. "If I can fool myself, I can make anyone believe it." A huff of laughter slipped out. "Only, I can't fool myself today.
"Then don't try." She figured this had something to do with the woman he had been mentioning, but without knowing details, it was hard to pry anything out.
"If I fool myself long enough, it becomes truth instead of a lie," he protested weakly. It was the only way he knew to survive.
Zack just shook her head. "What is it with silver and odd ideas? Honestly." Snorting, she looked at Abel. "So, sparring?"
He nodded and started walking that way again, trying to shove the feelings aside.
Muttering in her own head about idiots with pretty hair, Zack followed.
He lead her outside to a training yard where about a dozen men in armor were sparring against each other, and a single man in black robes was standing off to one side, staring at the training men from behind his long blond hair.
Zack could feel her nose wrinkle some at the armor. Never did understand that stuff.
Abel managed to paste a foolish smile on his face as he emerged, getting a few looks from anyone paying attention to them. "The ones in the armor are from the Inquisition, and that is Father Hughes de Watteau, codename Sword Dancer."
"So maybe I won't have to wait so long to meet him after all," Zack said with a small grin, looking at the other man for a moment, and glancing at the armored men again. Hmm. Slow.
"I would have thought he was off hunting down Methuselah again. I wonder when he got in?" mused Abel before shaking his head and waving at the yard.
Moving in, Zack looked around, taking in how the place was set up, and how many people were standing around, watching.
Only Hughes was standing and watching. The yard had some practice dummies set up against one wall while the opposite wall had targets for distance weapons, the few arrows sticking out of them proving that more than anything. Everything else was an open yard.
Deciding to say hello, she just moved towards the other, not wanting to appear in the least to be sneaking. Things like that got people stabbed where she was from.
Hughes glanced at her, his face unreadable, as he stared at her approach before going back to look at the Inquisition training.
"Oh, this is a fun world," she mused, and then just grinned. "Hello."
"Hello," he greeted, turning slightly to look at her. "Was there something you wanted?"
"Just wanted to say hello while we were in the same general vicinity. Abel makes it sound like it will be a rare thing."
"I have a job to do." He wasn't going to open up to this strange woman who was wearing the robes of an AX priest. He didn't do that to anyone else.
"Seems that way for a lot of people." She smiled. "But it didn't hurt to be polite. I'm Zack, and I hope you have a nice day." Ah, she was reminded of home. And then she returned to Abel.
Hughes stared after her, curious now. The only other one who had treated him like that had been Father Nightroad.
Abel smiled at her as she approached. "Are you going to train, or just want to look around a bit?"
"I could train, but I do better against a sparring partner." Sheepish smile, and she scratched the back of her head. "I tend to break dummies."
He tilted his head slightly. "If you promise to go easy on me, I'll spar with you," he offered.
Zack snorted. "From the sound of things, I'd doubt I'd have to go easy with you. But sure. With or without weapons?"
"Your choice," he offered, starting towards the center of an open section.
"I guess without for now." She rolled her eyes at him. "That work for you?"
He smiled and fell into a defensive position. "OF course."
She simply collected her sword with one hand and moved to set it to the side. Nobody would bother it, she was sure of that, and then went back to Abel, grinning, standing there. "Shall we?"
He nodded and then moved, launching a kick at her ribs. He figured that she would concentrate more on kicks than punches because women often had more leg strength to go with their lower center of gravity.
Sliding to the side, she made a grab for his leg, her own body dropping to give her more stability, grinning. This was going to be fun.
He barely managed to pull his leg back in time before throwing a punch at her, testing to see how her defenses were.
Moving to block the fist with an arm, she made a grab again, moving in closer to his bulk. Sometimes tall people did have the disadvantage when someone got on the inside of their range.
He backed up, not letting her get that close as he dropped to the ground to try and sweep her legs out from under her.
She went up. SOLDIERs jumped like jackrabbits, and she was no exception. Twisting some in midair, she tried to land on Abel with a grin.
He rolled out of the way, trying to get back to his feet before she could pin him on the ground. But an honest smile was appearing on his face, replacing the mask.
Grinning, she hit the ground and lunged right after him, going for his hair. Most guys forgot what a useful tool hair could be....
Instantly spotting her target, he whipped his head aside, getting his hair out of her range. He was *not* going to fall for that trick. He aimed another kick at her stomach.
Grunting as the kick connected, she didn't let the opportunity slide and went for his leg again as quick as she could grab.
He tried pulling his leg back but she had a good grip on it.
Sliding her feet under her, she twisted, keeping a good grip on his leg, but not wanting him to be able to get another kick in. Thus, she needed him off the floor.
Jumping into the air, he tried to use her grasp as a pivot point to bring his other leg around to either kick her in the shoulder or get her to release his leg.
Zack spun. She was faster now than she had been before the labs, and that had been fast enough anyway. So she put that to use, twisting hard and fast and then letting him go at the nearest wall.
He yelped as he found himself airborne and twisted to bounce off the wall. He managed to get his feet against the stone and launched himself back at her.
Laughing, she nearly flattened herself on the ground, and then pushed off, hard, trying to tackle him.
This time, he was the one who bounced, hitting the ground and then jumping up over her, his own laughter startled out of him.
Now she started to seriously attempted to connect with him. Most guys didn't expect girls to punch, but Zack was trained to be a fighter. Add in enhancements, and she could hit with the best. So she focused on jarring him with some good hits to the body.
He grunted as one of the punches connected with his ribs, but continued blocking as much as he could as he was forced backwards, step by step. The punches were a surprise, but they had some good power behind them.
Once they got into a pattern, she suddenly dropped and tried to echo his own move earlier and swipe his legs out from under him, pivoting on her hands as she did to bring her other leg in for a higher kick.
He threw himself into a backwards flip to avoid both legs but the higher kick hit his legs and threw him off balance, sending him sprawling with a grunt.
Catching both legs under her again, she didn't waste a moment, going after him again, attempting to catch him in a pin while he was down.
He rolled on his back and braced himself to flip her when she landed to pin him.
Cursing, she tried to dodge, but the problem with speed was it was harder to do, so she still connected, well aware that he was ready for her.
Planting his foot in her stomach, he grabbed her shoulders and flipped her over his head with a grin.
Making a snag for his hair in the half second she was close to him, Zack let herself go limp so that the foot wouldn't hurt as much, and then attempted to twist and get her feet under herself.
He snarled as his hair was pulled and he grabbed at her, not caring that his hand curled around one of her boobs as his other went for her neck.
She yanked, hard, and danced around him as best she could, going for longer hair.
He growled and ignored the pain from his caught hair as he flipped his head to the side, keeping his tail out of her hands. "I thought good little girls didn't pull hair," he taunted, shifting his hand from her boob to the hand caught in his hair.
Zack brought a knee up, hard, into his side. "Good little girls don't fight in war zones, either."
He took the blow and grabbed her leg, trying to pin it against his side and take it out of the fight. "You'll fit in fine with the rest of us misfits."
She head butted him right in the face.
Instead of releasing her, he held on tighter out of instinct. Too many times a Methuselah had tried the same thing to get away.
Grinning madly, she went for his hair again while he was distracted, hand darting in fast.
While she went for the hair, he lunged for her throat, his mouth opening to grab her throat just hard enough to let her know she was caught.
With that, she pushed off with her free foot, letting him support her weight, and slammed her foot into one of his knees.
He felt the pop of his knee dislocating and clenched his teeth on the scream of pain that wanted to erupt, breaking the skin he had caught between his teeth. Releasing her, he shoved her away as he fell to the ground, his hands going to his leg to get the knee back into place.
Rolling backwards, she caught herself and lunged forward again. This was common practice where she had been taught, and she continued through, absently readying a cure in her mind. Catching his shoulder, she shoved back.
Snarling, he caught her shoulders again and planted his good knee in her stomach, using her momentum to flip her over his head again with a bit more force as he released her shoulders.
This time she didn't let go, wrapping her fingers tight into fabric and hit the ground with a grunt. Half a second past as she caught her breath, then she arched her back, putting her feet under her and then whipping her body upright, dragging him along with all the strength she had, trying to slam him over her head onto the ground in front of her.
He barely managed to twist around to keep his injured knee from hitting the ground before reaching an hand out to grab her throat. "Hold!" he snarled, hoping the command to end was universal.
She stopped, watching him calmly, and her grip moved from one of containment to one of support. "All right. Knee?"
"Give me a few minutes," he said, reaching down to grab the kneecap through his pants and force it back into place with a sickening pop that had him shuddering as he rode out the pain.
"All right. Sorry about that." She ran her fingers over the bite mark, and was satisfied with how it was healing. Should be closed soon enough.
"Sorry about the bite, but most Methuselah will head for the throat," he stated, stretching out on the ground to wait for the throbbing to stop.
"I'm used to things like that." Zack grinned at him. "This has been fun for the most part. Bruising, but fun." She looked around, waiting for him to be ready to continue.
"I wasn't expecting you to use fully disabling hits during a sparring session, but I'll remember that you get violent for future sessions."
"I take it that you guys normally don't? Sorry, I'll modify." She scratched the back of her head, glancing back at him with a sheepish smile.
"Not usually because we don't have the same healing capabilities as the Methuselah do," he remarked, sitting up and testing his knee. Better.
"I'll remember that. Want to move on to weapons? Or do you not live fire here?"
"Live fire is elsewhere. Arrows are easy to dodge, but bullets are a bit harder to see."
"I'll remember that." She gave him a small, sideways smile, and her voice dropped. "I guess I should mention I can dodge things like that, hmm?" Soft voice, not wanting to project that around.
He looked at her before snickering slightly. "You're going to be an interesting addition."
She reached up and wiped some blood off his face. "Super human. I can pick up and lift most things. And we're basically rabbits with the leaping capabilities. And it only gets stronger the higher rank you get."
He shivered, suddenly aware of the taste of her blood on his tongue and he scrubbed his mouth, trying not to think about how interesting it tasted.
"You okay?"
"Didn't mean to break skin. Not what I was trying for," he mumbled, looking away.
"And I dislocated your knee. So far, I think I'm up on the damage scale." She stood up, and offered him a hand. "Want to try again, or ready to call it quits for now?"
"Call it quits," he stated, taking her hand and acting as if his knee was still injured. The pain was down to a faint ache that was rapidly vanishing, but everyone here didn't need to know that.
Zack nodded. "Let me grab my sword, and we can go get you rested up." After making sure he had his balance, she went to do just that, glancing around to see if anyone was paying attention to them.
Every eye in the training yard was on them, a few filled with admiration while others were more calculating, as if trying to figure out how she would match up with them. Sword Dancer looked as unreadable as ever.
Giving them all a bright smile, she wandered back to Abel. "I feel like a really good steak dinner. Shall we?" She offered him her arm.
He nodded and rested his hand on her shoulder, favoring his 'hurt' leg for a bit as they walked.
Once they were out of earshot, she looked at him. "I can do another cure when we hit the room if you'd like."
He shook his head. "I heal a bit faster than normal, but I don't let anyone really know. The Inquisition might get ideas."
"Wise idea. They are a bit...intense when something intrigues them, aren't they?" She didn't move her hand. If Abel wanted to keep them off his tail, Zack was going to do her best to help.
"Like a rabid dog with a bone," he agreed.
"So, should I worry?"
He shook his head. "You weren't moving faster than a normal person. The fact that you have more jump than a jackrabbit doesn't mean much."
"Noted. Keep real sparring out of sparring rooms."
"Real sparring? How is that different than what we were doing?"
"I actually move my speed. And there's a lot more explosions." Zack chuckled. "For SOLDIERs First Class, it wasn't uncommon to face off against oh....a hundred troops armed with live weapons and grenades. As a spar. And they are breakable, so you have to be careful."
He stared at her, stunned. "That's ridiculous. Live weapons should not be used for training exercises."
"At least I was usually armed with my sword in those spars."
"It is still ridiculous. What if something happened and someone was seriously injured or killed?"
"Wouldn't be the first time." Zack sighed. "It's a company. As long as it's "cost-effective', they didn't care. Though they'd be unhappy if it was one of their expensive to make SOLDIERs that got damage. But we're built to take a beating."
He shook his head. "That is sheer foolishness. We are not like that here."
"So I can tell. I really will do better about injuries from here on out." That reminded her to check her throat again. It was closed. Hadn't been that bad a bite in the first place, just enough for decent blood. Absently cleaning her fingertips off with a few quick licks, she hummed. "So, that was SwordDancer, hmm? Quiet."
"He doesn't talk much, but he has a very low tolerance for Methuselah." He sighed, not wanting to air the other man's problems but knowing that Zack needed to know should she be paired with him.
"So, in other words, make sure he knows I'm not one. Just in case."
"More like keep your head down should he encounter one." He shook his head. "The De Watteau clan was a powerful family in Amsterdam before they were slaughtered by Methuselah, their youngest daughter kidnapped, and her brother's arms cut off to keep him from fighting back." He tilled a subtle head back towards SwordDancer.
Zack hissed. "Ouch." She shook her head. "I'll remember that." Glancing around, she was pretty sure they were heading back to the rooms they had been assigned. "So, do you guys have any actual training rooms?"
He shook his head. "There is a shooting gallery that part of the dungeons was converted into and then the training field."
"No solid light, then?" That would be...interesting.
"Solid light? What's that?" He looked at her even as he pushed open the door to their rooms.
That got a blink. "You...um.... Solid light technology. Sort of like holograms and such, only, well...solid."
"We have *a* hologram system but that is to allow Sister Kate the ability to interact with people, even limited as it is."
"Ah. Okay. Now, imagine it able to do damage to real objects."
He blinked at that,, a stunned look on his face.
"I guess not. That was one of our primary training aids."
"My apologies. I am imagining the destructive capabilities of something like that, especially if the person was able to shift from solid to light and back."
Zack grimaced. "As far as I know, it's a fairly limited range unless you have the power source to fuel it for longer. And I don't think ours was capable of doing that, or else the fights would be a lot harder in there."
He quietly closed the door behind them as he ushered her in. "Do you think you could replicate that technology if given the chance?"
Zack thought about it. "You already have the basics....and I've had to help fix the damage I caused more than once. I...maybe?"
He nodded once. "Don't tell anyone about that, because if someone with less scruples managed to get their hands on it to do a reverse technology on it, it could lead to serious problems."
Zack gave a wry grin. "I don't know about that. At most, all I could do would be a tiny one, and it would probably require several materia and mako to run. And as far as I can tell, you guys just don't have the power resources for it." The simulation room had required most of a reactor output to run in fully active mode.
He sighed a bit, relieved at that. "After the Silent Noise Machine, I am wary of anything new that could be used as a potential weapon."
"Sounds like you had good reason." She cast a cure on him, just to make sure that all the injuries were healed. "There. Now to wash off my neck."
He grimaced at the reminder. "Sorry again."
She gave a snort. "I've had a lot worse in training. This is nothing. I didn't even need a cure."
He nodded again, patient to wait for her, and realizing that the shadows that had been hovering over him since Sister Noelle's death were starting to recede with Zack's cheery optimism.
Giving her throat a quick wipe down, she came back out. "So, you've had a very interesting day so far. What do you plan on doing for the rest of it?"
He shrugged a shoulder. "Not sure, honestly."
Shedding the longer robes until she was just in the undershirt and pants, Zack set her magnet by the Buster, and stretched. Working at it slowly, she went about loosening up all the muscles that had tightened up. "Well, if you have no major plans, I might nap on you. It's been a long time since I got really good sleep."
He nodded, shrugging out of his gun harness. "I don't mind at all."
Toeing off her boots, the woman kicked them by the bed, and smiled at the man. "Thank you."
He bent down to unfasten his boots before stripping off the robe, leaving him clad as she was, and then he stretched out on the bed.
After giving him a moment to get comfortable, Zack moved to curl up by his side. "You want a book or anything to occupy yourself while I am a lump?"
"No, I'll be fine," he remarked, curling an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer.
She grinned up at him, looping her own arm around his waist. "You're going to nap too, aren't you? I did wake you up, after all."
"Perhaps. I haven't decided yet," he confessed, relaxing on the bed. A nap did sound like a good idea though.
Resting her head on his chest, Zack shut her eyes. "Feel free to poke when when you are ready to get up again. I just need a little nap."
"Then sleep," he murmured, stroking her hair with his hand. Catarina had been a fussy sleeper after the attack. He had years of soothing little girls to sleep to fall back on.
Making an amused sound, but relaxing none the less, Zack let herself doze off. Sleep did sound good.