Mingling at the Bazaar

[cityship]

Next to the Mall Hotel, a large bazaar sprawled out through the streets. Food stalls, jewelery stalls, plastic surgery stalls...might want to stay away from that last one. But since the bizaar was close by, it served as a good place for the crew to meet up and start their exploration of XaXing.

[[ooc: This is just a general mingling post guys, so jump in and start threads, tag into other people's, whatever you want!]]

Comments

[encourage]

Sakura barely spent time checking out their 'accommodations' -- enough to know the basics of what was around, and to pick up a laughable version of a map (with an X to mark the Hotel, and squiggly lines of nonsense for the rest) -- before heading out into the surrounding bazaar. The open air nature was a hearkening back to the way of things back home, for all the shops they'd also had. It was far too easy to get distracted by the sights of all these new, interesting things, especially when over ninety percent of them she couldn't actively recognize.

Like this stall she was standing in front of now. Was someone really running an arm wrestling competition with a six armed alien slug-bird in the middle of a fruit stand?

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi was similarly looking about at the stalls as he walked, intent enough on examining the contents of each that he almost walked into Sakura.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, blinking in surprise. "I should have been looking where I was going." Actually, Sakura looked like she might be a fellow crew member; there were plenty of them about.

Poking out from his shirt pocket was the head of a small baby bird, young enough that its feathers were barely beginning to come in. Naturally, it was hideous -- and apparently, someone had already sold it to him.

[encourage]

Sakura tensed, more a knee-jerk reaction than anything else.

"It's all right." She smiled, looking just past him at the general crowd. "With a crowd like this, it's bound to happen no matter how careful you're being." They were lucky when it didn't result in someone thinking to use light fingers to relieve them of their belongings.

"Who's your friend?" She spotted the bird, looking at him curiously. "Has he been weaned already?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Oh, ah..." Zouichi looked a little embarrassed. "Yes, or so I was told. One of the stalls was selling animals as pets and I didn't feel right just leaving him there. I thought that since the ship could provide food tailored to Alice, it would be able to come up with something for this fella, too."

As if recognizing he was being talked about, the bird gave a brief squawk, cocking his head to regard Sakura with one beady little eye.

"I've never seen a market as big as this one. It's a little overwhelming." Actually, the only other market he'd seen was on Gondeptil. "...I'm Zouichi. Part of the Security Department now, I suppose."

[encourage]

His logic made sense as far as Sakura was concerned. Stacy managed to provide a wide variety of food for everything living on the ship -- and if all else failed, there might be some recourse in looking through was was available in hydroponics.

Sakura smiled at the squawk, waggling her fingers as if to say hello to the little not-quite feathered animal. "I know what you mean. The markets back home weren't even close to the size of any one district, here." She held out a hand, not sure if handshakes were part of his repertoire of greetings. "Nice to meet you, Zouichi-san. I'm Sakura, part of the Medical Department."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Specially-formulated for all your dietary needs!

Zouichi looked a little surprised at her form of address, but took her hand. He'd had to shake a lot of hands since arriving on the ship. "Sakura. Pleased to meet you. I'll be sure to remember you if I ever end up in Medical again."

He paused briefly. "If you don't mind me asking, are you also from Earth? That form of address is fairly local to the area where I'm from. In my world, anyway."

At Sakura's wave, the little bird retreated slightly into Zouichi's pocket. After a moment, he poked his head out again, giving her a squeak.

[encourage]

Her lips twitched into another small smile as the bird disappeared, then poked his head back out. She'd always enjoyed when she'd worked with them during her training as a medic, and then afterward. Given the numbers of messenger hawks Konoha had, she hadn't been short in practice on avians by the time she was considered fit to work with people.

"Earth?" Part of her wondered if he meant the nation from her world, giving her enough pause that she didn't immediately answer. There was another possibility that occurred to her to check on. "Do you mean the nation, or the planet?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He blinked. "There's an Earth nation? There are so many similar worlds represented on the ship that it's difficult to keep track of them all."

"My planet was called Earth; it was the third planet in the Sol system. And I was based in the Kanto area of a small island country called Japan. As I think a few other crew members were, before they came here."

Of course, they'd all come from different versions of Earth, but the basic idea was there.

[encourage]

"Then you're from Japan?" Or at least that's what his country was called, as far as she could tell. "Earth is a nation on my world, along with Wind, Water, Lighting, and Fire. I'm from the Land of Fire."

She considered the rest of what he'd said, trying to form a mental image of his world comparative to her own. "You hit island chains toward Water, but the rest of the nations are largely landlocked." Sakura wondered if the Media Library happened to have any world maps from her home. It was something to look into.

"There are other, smaller nations too, but I think by now we're probably not talking about the same planet. I didn't realize my manner of speaking was similar to anywhere else." The realization was puzzling... and curious.

this conversation is really meta

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Exactly. I'm afraid there isn't any Land of Fire where I come from... although it is interesting that the nations in your world appear to be named after five different elements. That is also characteristic of the area where I'm from. Western countries tend to recognize a total of four -- the names of your nations, minus Lightning."

"It's a little hard to hear similarity in languages with the translation systems working, honestly. However..." He fumbled around in one of his pockets, taking out a small pad of paper and a pen. In a few quick strokes, he wrote out a character Sakura would probably recognize -- it was the 'Fire' in 'Land of Fire'. "Look familiar?"

sob, I'm so sorry

[encourage]

Western countries, which in her understanding would mean countries such as her's and Earth. As hard as it was to grasp how distinct every individual's world was, in the scheme of things, it was intriguing whenever there were similarities to be found. She felt a little less isolated, culturally.

Looking at what he'd written, Sakura slowly nodded. "Fire," she said, if she wasn't entirely sure. "Or it reads like that to me."

It's no problem, haha :D

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"How curious," Zouichi stored the pen and paper away once more.

"But maybe not entirely surprising. Many of the crew come from very similar worlds -- perhaps my country is an analog of yours? Do you mind if I ask what you did before being brought aboard the ship?"

asdf oh good <3 \o/

[encourage]

Considering the explanation about stories traversing universes, and realities seeming to be shades of one another... "Not at all." Honestly, Sakura didn't mind so much as she'd generally abstained from saying. "I am -- and was -- a medical shinobi. What was it you did in your country?"

he'll probably be super surprised naruto wears bright orange

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"A shinobi?" Congratulations, not much surprises Zouichi.

Realizing he was probably being rude, he coughed, adding, "...I apologize. It's just that where I come from, shinobi are the stuff of legends. They are still featured quite prominently in media, despite being far removed from our present.

"I am a Synthetic Human created by Toha Heavy Industries. I was attempting to track down a cure for a virus that threatened to wipe out humanity."

naruto: not known for slyness

[encourage]

A synthetic human? To what extent did he mean synthetic? "If it's not too rude to ask... what do you mean by synthetic?" Back home, she might be tempted to think cloned, but it was abundantly clear to her the possibilities among all the worlds represented on Stacy were far less limited. "Where did a virus like that come from?"

Was it also manufactured? What could cause a virus that virulent naturally?

"Then shinobi are part of your world's history." It was interesting to think about, if abortive in terms of relating back to home. Maybe at one point she would also have been part of an archaic system to her world. The Ohm had taken away that possibility, likely forever.

Re: naruto: not known for slyness

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I'm an artificial lifeform made to resemble a human. Partially organic, partially mechanical. It's... a little complicated to explain." So here's hoping she'd understand what the heck he was talking about.

"As for the N5S virus..." he hesitated. "I don't think anyone knows exactly where it came from, but certain organizations on my world quickly attempted to modify it to take advantage of its regenerative properties. Instead, they ended up spreading it into the population at large. For humans, it's a highly infectious disease that turns them into mindless drones -- but synthetics aren't susceptible to it."

"Yes; there are none left now, but in feudal times, shinobi were individuals that specialized in surveillance and subterfuge." He frowned. "I don't think I've ever heard of a medical shinobi, though. Are you a kind of combat medic?"

[encourage]

"In a simple sense, yes." She hesitated, though this particular information wasn't something she felt she had to hold back on. "We're trained to fight out on the front lines. Don't get hit, make sure the people you're fighting with survive to make it home again."

Simple enough to say, exceedingly difficult to do. Similar in theory to her conceptualization of a partially organic, partially mechanical artificial lifeform. (One almost solely aided by experiences on Stacy.)

"Which makes you perfect for dealing with the infected and tracking down a source, right?" She half smiled, if she was dead serious. Frightening to think a disease could do what otherwise only mind-washing or ninjutsu were capable of back home.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He smiled a little. "In other words, it requires courage, skill, and intelligence." Not that making direct combat your focus didn't require some of the same, but when you made safeguarding the lives of others your goal, you needed excellent judgment and careful coordination. Not something everyone was suited for.

"Yes, in a word. Dealing with infectees is by and large too dangerous for the average human doctor -- they'd require an armed escort just to get around. My company found it more feasible to entrust a few of us with their missions instead."

[encourage]

"Is it a mission you enjoy carrying out?" It was one way of sounding out if "artificial" extended into allowing a full range of emotion. People could be programmed into a lack of response, or a certain level of dedication.

She accepted his assessment of what her line of work required with a small smile, and a similarly small nod. Not to claim all of those merits openly, but to acknowledge all of them were important. The skill in control, keeping out of harms way; being strong enough to know you're in it and to do what you can to stay there for your teammates (and often friends). Being intelligent enough to know how to fix them, or get them somewhere where you could before getting back into the fray. "Something like that."

[silverduelist]

Strolling by at a pretty fast pace was Yzak, eyes moving back and forth to check out the stands as he moved. Not much had interested him so far, and really he was only looking to gather supplies. Maybe get a couple of somethings for himself if he spotted anything interesting enough. But he had yet to do so.

Noticing Sakura in the crowd, he figured he'd stop to say hello. As he approached, his blue eyes moved from her to the stall, and he raised his eyebrows. "What the hell?"

[encourage]

If the creature arm wrestling heard his comment, it gave no outward indication. Sakura turned her head at the sound of his voice, smiling briefly in recognition before looking back at stall. "I have no idea."

Honestly, she didn't. "Maybe it's a new way of bartering?"

Or being coerced into a specific kind of negotiation. After all, from what she could tell, the one running the competition was the fruit stand owner themselves.

[windyellow]

Dustin was a bit amazed at what he saw shopwise: shops selling clothes, food, weapons, almost anything he could imagine. "I wonder if they sell motorbikes here... Probably not." He was so intently looking over the shops, he didn't notice a certain pink-haired ninja as he accidently bumped into her.

[encourage]

Sakura turned to look at whoever had run into her, one hand up to steady them in case it was an indication of a partly completed fall. If it served to keep distance between them and otherwise leave her other hand free in case of need...

"Hey," she said, furrowing her brow. "Be careful!" She tempered her more irritable first response a moment later, briefly looking him over for any obvious signs of distress. "It's important to watch where you're gong in a crowd this thick."

[windyellow]

"Oh, sorry." Dustin apologized sincerely. The last thing he wanted was to make trouble for a stranger. "I'm just not used to a whole planet focused on shopping. Hard to keep track of everything."

[encourage]

Sakura tamped down on the rest of her irritation, considering she was in a similar situation. "I understand the feeling," she admitted, offering a small smile as she looked over what part of the crowd (and stalls) she could see. "It's overwhelming when you try taking it in all at once."

At least parts of it echoed the feeling of much, much smaller markets from home. "It doesn't help that things don't look exactly organized, from what I can tell. People used to this planet seem to understand the logic of where things are." She shrugged her shoulders, turning the motion into a small roll. "Which might explain part of why there are so many overeager guides 'willing' to show you around."