Melting Clock: Med Bay's First Arrivals

[cityship]

Things had been running as usual down in the med-bay, and to first appearances, this week wasn't going to be different.

But first appearances could be deceiving. This week was going to be different. And as the next few days passed by, the Medical Department was going to find that they now had quite a situation on their hands.

[[ooc: Okay, so this post is just for the affected characters who go into the Med-Bay before Quarantine, the Medical peeps who volunteered, and also the people who bring in said affected characters. If you've already organised who you'll thread with for this, just put their names in the subject line. If you're happy for any of the Medical guys to tag in, then just put "Open". There's also an ooc planning post for this if you want to try and plot for this.

Also, please note that both in terms of the timeline, both Kon and Jeka will be the last two to be brought in, regardless of thread order - they're essentially the ones who'll show up right before Quarantine, and be the ones that clue in Medical as to what's really happening here.]]

Comments

[encourage]

"Mmm. If you're used to us, then you know there's a reason why we do what we do. Or so I like to believe." There were other circumstances and other medics where it was anything but reasonable. Kabuto came to mind, leaving soon after.

"I promise to minimize the clinical stuff." For the moment. Should the situation change, that promise would be right out the metaphorical window. She smiled, a more relaxed expression than before. She was making an effort to be ore outwardly at ease than she really was, given everything the last few days.

"Why don't I start over? Hello! My name's Haruno Sakura--" she paused, then shook her head. "Sakura Haruno."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Kon smirked.

"So which is it? 'Cause I know it's Japanese, so I know it'd be family name first, given name second but when you flippy-floppy like that it gets a little more complicated."

He took a wild guess, "But Sakura sounds more like a first name. That means flower or something, right?"

[encourage]

"It's not Japanese," she said flatly. It's not the first time she's heard as much, but as an assumption, it grated time to time. Sakura made her tone lighten as she continued speaking.

"If you're right in that where I'm from we introduce ourselves by family name first."

She nodded. "Yes, Sakura's my first name. The sakura blossom is... ah, cherry blossom? Nice and symbolic, I'm sure, if for the wrong profession."

To say nothing that her name as a whole was a neat summation of her natural coloration. Pink hair, green eyes? With a name that literally meant field of spring cherry blossoms? Gotta love the parents who figured that one out for you, especially when they hadn't expected it to be quite that apt.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

That hair was looking a little red to him--but then again, that was likely the light of the lamps.

"I'm Kon-El. And Superboy. And Conner," he said, and then he paused. "I kinda have a couple names--you tend to collect 'em like Pokemon cards when you don't start out with a proper one--but most people just go with Kon. I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little busy not being a public menace right now."

Just a joke, even if it was a strained one. It made it a little easier to deal with, turning it into a joke. Just a little.

[encourage]

"I'll take a rain-check on the handshake, Kon." It presumed there'd be one. "Can't say I've ever heard of pokemon cards before. Are they anything like ninja info cards?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Can't say I've ever seen ninja info cards so I probably couldn't even tell you, but then I'm not exactly hip to what the youngins are jivin' to these days. What are they?"

[encourage]

"Pretty self explanatory. Information cards summarizing abilities and known affiliations of individual shinobi. They have basic information on height, a guess at weight, hair color, eye color, village, rank, things of that nature."

She shrugged. "They weren't anything I used."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Well, you're kinda old for card games."

He totally thought it was like Pokemon cards.

[encourage]

She gave him an odd look. "What are you talking about?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Pokemon is a kid's card game. Where you work stats and do...something. I don't know. I never ever played with any kid stuff."

Not "play," as in he doesn't now. "Played," as in he never did at all.

"You're talking about something like that, right? But a ninja game."

[encourage]

Sounded like someone had skipped past the pleasures of childhood. Not that it sounded entirely odd to Sakura; a bit extreme, but kids didn't always get a chance to be kids. Other possibilities didn't even occur to her.

"It's not a game," she said, shaking her head. "It's an amateur version of a Bingo Book. Only instead of consisting of nothing but criminals, the cards are tailored to your opponents. The last time I remember anyone using those was during my fist chuunin exam."

Remembering who it was (Kabuto again, why he was coming to mind so often lately was beyond her), she frowned. "They're statistics on the people you'll be fighting. Unless the pokemon system is how kids learn to catalog and plan for their fights with other kids in the village, I don't think we're actually talking about the same kind of thing."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Sooo...they're like opponent stalker cards?"

That's what they sounded like.

[encourage]

She wanted to refute that point. Hell, she opened her mouth to say so -- had a finger up in the air to point out how that couldn't possibly be it!

"More or less."

It was too bad that he'd hit the nail on the head.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"We have files on our bad guys like that. At the Watchtower, Titans Tower--I'm pretty sure the Bats have their own giant database. Gotta keep track of the bad guys."

Hold on.

"Hey, wait a second, if they're cards of real ninjas, are you a ninja?"

A ninja...medic? Well, that wasn't too out there.

"There was a doctor who was a ninja before. He got repodded. Dr. McNinja. I once heard a rumor his first name was actually 'Doctor.' He kinda had a name that lent itself to both jobs."

[encourage]

Interesting to learn organizations (if that's what they were) on his world collected information on problematic people, much like the ninja world kept tabs on their own.

"A medical kunoichi, if we're going for exact terminology, but yes, I am."

She'd not heard about Dr. McNinja before. "I'd have liked to meet him while he was still awake. Who knows, I might get the chance sometime in the future."

Sakura crossed her arms. "Now that we've gone over my professional record, what about you? What did you do on your world?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

Kon snorted.

"I beat up ninjas," he admitted, but there was no malice in his voice. It was just the irony was funny. "Well, okay, okay, that's only a small part of the job and there's a lot of variation in evil henchpeople, but I beat up people for a living mostly. Bad guys. I'm a superhero. Supervillains do bad, illegal stuff the cops usually can't handle, we go out, kick their butts, and take 'em to jail. And I still go to school for the normal stuff, but mostly I'm a superhero."

Was a superhero. Could he still be one with a case of the occasional evils?

He looked at her.

"I gotta say, I never really got to talk to Dr. McNinja much, and even then it was weird. I'm not used to talking to you people--usually I'm flinging ninjas across a room if I ever run into them. Though Rob over there--" He nodded towards the sleeping teen. "He's got more experience with ninja types than me. Practically is one, but uses all his training for the bad guy tail whup."

[encourage]

She felt her eyebrows hiking up as she listened to him speak. "So you've got these supervillains, and then you're one of the superheroes needed to stop them."

A little cut and dry, with ninjas apparently falling on the supervillain half of the equation. Definitely not what she'd expect -- some portion, sure, but even that depended on the village, not to mention the era. "It's not standard practice for Konoha to accept civilian endangering missions, let alone to endorse illegal activities."

Looking over at 'Rob,' she furrowed her brow. "You make it sound like all ninjas are bad people."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"They kinda are. They're assassins. Even Rob--he learned his stuff from a few good people and a few bad people, but he's a dark avenger of the night type hero, you know? Skillset don't make the ninja."

It was a matter of self-identification. Contracts. Allegiances.

"I'll throw you a bone here and admit that I don't know what you're like in your world. If you make a living out of doing stuff that isn't killing innocent people, stealing things, or protecting people that kill innocent people, good on you. But most of the time I've run into ninjas, they were doing dirty work for bad people. Anyone that takes on jobs that are actually somewhat helpful to people for money usually call themselves mercenaries instead."

[encourage]

"That'd make us villages of mercenaries, by your logic." She uncrossed her arms. "Free agents are usually blacklisted by the villages. It's rare you have anyone operating on their own with a village sanction while they're living outside the village proper, and those who don't are the ones who get lumped in with mercenaries where I'm from."

Mercenaries weren't as discriminating as the villages, lacking the support and infrastructure that any given village had with it's patron country. The Fire Nation supported the Hidden Leaf Village, and the Hidden Leaf Village was on standby for the Lord if and when he needed them.

Didn't do much for the politics in either body, but it made for a more honest system than what it seemed Kon was used to. "Missing-nin are dangerous for that reason. If you're looking for people who're less discriminating in what missions they accept, it's those without villages. The standard mercenaries aren't much of a threat on their own, but when backed by someone with extensive training..."

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Like I said, I'm willing to throw you a bone. That's just how it is in my world--and plenty of mercs are bad too. Superheroes see the best of a lot of people, but we also see the worst of a lot of people, too. The ones we fight are--"

He sucked in a puff of air and blew it out.

"--I won't even go into that. Every hero's got their list. The worst things they've seen, the worst things that've been done to them, to loved ones..."

He went on, "So I haven't exactly had the most pro-ninja experience. Just like I haven't had a whole ton of pro-cultist, pro-supervillain, pro-mercenary, pro-government, or pro-doctor experiences either, just to name a few."

[encourage]

"I can't help with half of those, but we'll see what I can do to for the two that apply." She smiled, a hint of determination that no one from home would ever be the kind of person he expected. For all Zouichi had mentioned media representations, on some worlds it appeared the ninja were still very much alive.

If not well, but who was she to know or understand people who operated under a similar title across worlds? Possibly even universes?

"Guess this makes you the first superhero I've ever officially met. What world are you from?"

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Little place called Earth. One of 'em anyway. Home of superheroes, supervillains, reality television, and the Big Belly burger," Kon said, squirming to get comfortable again. It was, needless to say, difficult.

[encourage]

Reality television? Looked like at least two Earths shared an affinity for television providing some source of entertainment. "Sounds appealing." She tilted her head to the side, blinking through the red afterimage that felt like it was slowly etching itself into her retinas. "Have a pillow that needs fluffing?"

A tangent, if at least back toward attending as a medic in what capacity she could, while being fairly unobtrusive.

[so-pregnable.livejournal.com]

"Nah." Still squirming. "...Maybe a little."

Might as well indulge in some pillow-fluffing if someone was offering.

"Stacy's got me tied down a little tight."

[encourage]

"Any chance it's related to the superhero thing?" She set about pillow fluffing, being careful to support what she needed to, and not jostle things unnecessarily.