trans_9 | Mingling at the Bazaar

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Mingling at the Bazaar

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!]]

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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?"

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.

"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.

"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?"

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."

"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?"

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?"

"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."

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.

"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?"

"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.

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."

"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."

He paused. Should he take the question at face value, or was she asking about something else?

"That's a bit of a complicated question. I am glad that I'm able to do what I was created for... and I plan to continue pursuing my mission objectives to the extent that I can. On the other hand, the only reason I exist is because humanity faces extinction. If Alex were here, I'm sure he'd have something to say about making decisions for myself, though."

"What about you? Do you enjoy what you do?"

Did she? "Yes," she decided, if the way she rolled that word over her tongue showed some further hesitation. "I enjoyed being able to protect those who couldn't, but especially..." She trailed off, thinking. "I like being able to help. Not just people, either," she said with a smile, indicating at Zouichi's partly feathered companion. "Helping birds to fly again is something worth smiling over."

There had been something liberating in watching those birds leave for someplace she could never go.

"Alex being one of your friends from home?"

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Mingling at the Bazaar

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this conversation is really meta

sob, I'm so sorry

It's no problem, haha :D

asdf oh good <3 \o/

he'll probably be super surprised naruto wears bright orange

naruto: not known for slyness

Re: naruto: not known for slyness

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