Anyway, this cake is great/So delicious and moist [Semi-Open]

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

The old cherry trees in the courtyard had decided to bloom with impeccable timing, transforming the entrance of the Susono Inn into an explosion of color. Pink petals collected between the stones of the courtyard's walkway, on the overhang of the foyer... oh, and if you got anywhere in a fifty foot radius of the place, you probably got a few on you, too.



The weather was cool and the air slightly crisp beneath the shade of the old trees. There were some wines and sake available for the older guests, and juice for the younger ones (both rescued from the Inn's storehouse). And of course, there was cake.

Mmm, cake.

[Subthreads are A-OK, feel free to threadjack. If you want a super-pathetically detailed map of the Inn for some reason, check here. The invitation post is here. Again, if you've threaded with Allenby/Zouichi a couple of times/are on good terms with them, consider yourself invited! Just ask if unsure]

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Medical still has you hopping around? I hope your workload drops off soon. Sounds like you could all use a vacation."

He smiled. "Ah. Well, I can't take all the credit -- I only found the place. But I'm glad it's a familiar sight for you. I haven't been able to see cherry trees blooming for a long time."

He accepted the package carefully. "Thanks; I'll set it inside for when I can find Allenby again. No matter how curious I am about it."

"So, are you a fan of cake?"

[encourage]

"I wouldn't know what to do with it," she said, smiling. She may have even been serious, if she didn't linger on the thought for too long.

"It feels like forever for me, if it was only so long ago as last spring. Then again," she trailed off with a shrug. When had she last paid attention to seasons, even back home? Konoha was fairly mild year long, with rains and cooler temperatures in the winter, but none of the snows of Iron or parts of Earth. "Good to see you can fight against temptation," she said, grinning. "As for cake? Cake's wonderful every once in a while."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He raised an eyebrow. "You sound like me. And everyone yells at me when I say things like that."

"Hmm. I mostly remember them from when I was a child. There wasn't really any time to look at them when I was older. And there aren't even that many trees left, where I'm from." He smiled.

"In any case, I think you'll be pleased. We have two different kinds, since Alastirra brought some of her chocolate cake as well. Care to help setting up? If not, you can just sit back and enjoy the trees."

[encourage]

She just smiled. Sakura managed to slide by without people yelling at her to take time off. It probably helped that most the time she didn't look or act like she needed it. A lifetime without tended to have that effect on a person.

"It was hard for me to imagine a world without trees until I found myself here. Hydroponics helps, if it's not quite the same as living surrounded by the woods." She looked back to him, smiling with a small shrug of her shoulders, as if to say, What can you do about it?

"Point me toward something that needs to get done. What's left for set-up?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"So you grew up in a forest of some kind?" How curious. Did ninja live in forests?

Zouichi picked a blanket off one of the nearby tables, giving it an experimental flap to straighten the cloth out. "Want to help set these out? They'll give people a place to sit without getting wet from the grass."

[encourage]

"You'd hope a Village Hidden in the Leaves has a least a few trees around," she said with a grin, picking one of the other blankets up. "Were all the picnic tables here when you found the place?"

What was helping him with his? More effective to do another one!

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Village Hidden in the Leaves? Sounds mysterious. And ninjalike." He finishes with one, and goes back for another. "And no, we had to set them up. It didn't take too long, though."

Honestly, Sakura, how do expect to set up perfectly spread-out picnic blankets with only one person to hold the ends? Sigh. People will just have to make do with slightly-less-than-perfectly-spread blankets.

[encourage]

She was a rebel. Can't tame her single-person tableclothing style! "Mystery and ninjas go hand in hand, according to most. Guess it fits, hmm?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Guess so." He paused, smoothing out one of the clothes. "You were a medic back at your village, right? Do medics use... ninjutsu or genjutsu to heal? Or just chakra in general?"

[encourage]

"Chakra in general." Mostly accurate, if there were ninjutsu techniques for medical shinobi. "Medical jutsu are their own separate category, if you're looking for separations. Genjutsu would be more useful in mental healing than physical." Given it was all illusion based in the firs place. "How many people are you expecting?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Hmm. There were several treatment techniques back on Earth based on the flow of energy through the body. I wonder if our worlds also have those in common."

"And I'm not sure. I issued a number of invitations, but people tend to be busy. I did not ask for... er... RSVPs?"

[encourage]

"They may, to some degree. Do you know of anything in the media library talking about those techniques?" She turned back toward Zouichi, curious. If she had a chance to read through them for herself, on top of learning something new, she might be able to get a better frame of reference for how similar his Japan and her Konoha were.

"Right," she said, "Then you're not sure. I guess that's part of the fun, in theory. Seeing who does show up in the end." Sakura wasn't sure, since most things were either obligatory or usually not done back home. She was also young enough that most the people she'd grown up with weren't getting married and moving into family homes yet, leaving her out of that experience loop as it were.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Most likely. Let's see... there's acupuncture, which controls the flow of energy using metal needles inserted into the body; Moxibustion, an herb application technique; and... ah. Reiki. It involves manipulating energy with the palms, I believe." He glanced back at her.

"Of course, by the time my era rolled around, people were more interested in using viruses to address genetic problems. Or nanotech to try and repair tissue damage."

He smiled. "That's one way of looking at it. And if no one shows up, I guess that will leave more cake for everyone else."

[encourage]

She smiled, shaking her head. "We have all of those, actually. They're not normally practiced by medical shinobi, but that's usually because we don't have time for it."

Mentions of nanotech and viruses caught her attention. "Viruses for genetic problems? Writing viruses to what, go in and correct the genetic code itself?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Yes, it seems like their combat applications would be quite limited. It would be quite difficult to stick your patient full of needles in locations that precise in the middle of a fight. Although I suppose if anyone could, it would be a ninja."

He nodded. "That's right. In fact, that's what they were trying to do with N5S: harness its ability to change the DNA of its host to grant people seemingly supernatural combat and regeneration abilities."

[encourage]

Sakura smiled. "Senbon needles tend to have a different use in battle."

"Super-soldiers. That's the word for that, isn't it?" She frowned, not all that enchanted to learn how universal some goals were. Creating the next best line of fighters -- to what end?

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Now I'm curious. What are they used for?"

"Not exactly. I think it started out with people attempting to obtain immortality. Something the regenerative abilities afforded by the virus promised to grant."

[encourage]

"Dango. For your mid-battle snack needs." She grinned, making light of the reality. They were used like any other weapon: to incapacitate and kill.

Dango would have been more fulfilling.

"At some point, the fear of ending seems to be almost universal. Or maybe it's just the unknown... Death being final in most cases."