PIRATELAND

[cityship]

An area built over a bay, there is no actual solid ground anywhere to be found in Pirateland. It's a land made entirely of wooden walkways, nets to climb, and of course, wooden pirate ships to explore. And then there are the rides: A pirate ship that swings nearly upside down; bumper boats; a ride that starts out as a Tunnel of Love but quickly transitions into a drunken pirate-themed It's a Small World.

And then, of course, there are the souvenirs to buy in the many assorted gift shops. Flimsy plastic swords, pirate hats, stuffed parrots. Or why not go get drunk down at the tavern?

((OOC: Like with Kittenland, feel free to come up with your own rides and attractions at Pirateland in addition to these ones!))

Comments

[a_mere_human]

Yes, this girl and he were both on the same wavelength, which caused him to consider her again, for a moment. He had to wonder just what kind of life she lead for her philosophies to fall in line with his.

He pushed himself off the railing and, with a slight tilt of his head, signaled her to join him as he started walking. He didn't really have a destination in mind, so much as 'anywhere but here' seemed as good a place as any.

"And what of our 'crew;' how many of them do you think are facing the full reality of the situation head on?"

[encourage]

His question was a good one. A moment of thoughtful hesitation before she fell in step with him, popping a slice of orange into her mouth to forestall any immediate response. When looked at head-on, she knew some were more readily facing reality than others.

"I don't think most of them are looking away from what we're facing." Which wasn't the same as saying they were truly facing it. "The situation's gotten more complicated, and we're not any more cohesive."

Which is where she saw problems. As much as they were technically united toward one cause, they didn't act as a group with different specializations. In her eyes, the crew on Stacy acted as somewhat cohesive units that didn't quite harmonize with each other in a way they'd need to to come out of this.

"It's amazing we've lost so few of us, even if we've been out of direct confrontation most the time. People seem caught up thinking about the afterward, when we haven't even fought the 'war.' You see it in the council, and how we make homes in the city and not the barracks. Looking for a sense of privacy and the familiar, which probably helps. I don't know." She caught echoes of familiarity previously, and now she had the only real familiarity in Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru.

"Too much rebuilding before this thing is won -- or lost -- means some of that reality is being pushed to the side. How much that's changed since Lirath," things she'd read about, that she'd been running mazes on the day of, and for the follow-up by the Daligig, hadn't it been? "And the follow-up, I don't know."

[jesus_is_gundam]

He took a moment to process her answer, listening as much to what was said as what went unsaid. As they walked, the scenery changed, the gangplanks, sails, skulls and crossbones all starting to fade into the distance.

"We're slaves," he stated, bluntly. It was a fact that didn't please him, and why would it? "Its the part of our reality that so many on the ship do all they can to deny."

[encourage]

His word choice was blunt in a way she wasn't entirely prepared for. Slaves as such weren't foreign, but were outside the realm of her expertise from home. Outside of the clans, at least, and she knew little of any kind of indentured servitude or slavery as occurred within the clan structures themselves. One of the mixed blessings of being born outside any of the major ones.

"We don't have the freedom of choice." Not really. Freedom of perspective, freedom to embrace or turn away from what they were presented with, but no real freedom to up and leave. Not really. Would they really be able to, even if they wanted?

She doubted as much. The villages hunted down deserters as ruthlessly as they could afford. Hard to suspect that the GIA and Daligig wouldn't feel similarly toward them, given the way they "owed" their survival to them.

"Not the way some have wanted to believe we have. Who isn't denying this reality?"

[a_mere_human]

"I'm not," he answered. "I can't." A lot of their situation struck way too close to home for him, in so many ways that he couldn't turn a blind eye to it, even if he wanted to. But he didn't want to, which, in his own way, he was acknowledging with that admission. Even before he became an Innovator, he knew his brain worked in ways that others different, that his perspective of the world around him was vastly different than others.

Maybe that's why he was willing to have this conversation with her. Why he sought her out when Miss Sumeragi would be better suited for something like this. Her perspective seemed to be from a similar angle as his.

"And there are others who won't."

[encourage]

The scenery around them was taking on an oddly familiar feel, like a stylized version of some of the architecture Sakura could vaguely recognize from home. Coming face to face with odd echoes of parts of her own history made her quiet, then certain.

She'd always known what she needed to do. She'd been doing it, in her own way, since waking up. With Tsunade, and Jiraiya, here to back that resolve, it only strengthened her willingness to face what stood before them all.

Setsuna had said he couldn't deny this reality. Neither could she.

"I won't. Even if some part of me wishes we could." Her lips curled up into a slight smile. "The part that dreams this is all a nightmare. Those irrational parts of yourself."

She looks down, hands coming up in front of her, one rubbing the back of the other. "The ones you shut away and ignore, but know are there anyway."

She looked straight ahead, lips settling into a line of concentration. She wasn't seeing the park, whatever one they were in by now, nor anything in the distant horizon. There was something beyond all of that which drew her attention, kept her focus.

[a_mere_human]

Maybe she was looking at the same thing he was. He was staring in the same direction, his own expression not much different than hers.

In the background, several guys in black pajamas were dashing and leaping across the rooftops. Two kids, dressed in costumes from the latest Street Brawler game were play-fighting along the causeway. There was more going on, most of it blurring into a noise that Setsuna wasn't devoting much attention to.

"That's not enough." The words weren't said harshly or cruelly, it was just another fact of the situation. Simply acknowledging reality isn't going to change it, but it is a very important first step. But... "Are you willing to do something about it?" He asked. Did she want to take that next step? And did she want to take it with him?

[encourage]

Sakura caught a foam shuriken that went flying their way, tossing it back toward the young alien who'd lost aim in going after another young alien. Setsuna's first statement was jarring, but it was the second that had her turning toward him, brow creasing just a little. What was he really asking? Or more to the point, why was he asking her, let alone now? Was the pressure of the Daligig on ship, along with the battle on Lirath, making those who did face what was there to be seen stir to movement?

Were there groups interested in doing such things? Tsunade-shishou...

"Yes," she said, after several moments of silent consideration. "I am."

[a_mere_human]

He didn't doubt that she meant that. Whether or not that meant she'd do so under the auspices of Celestial Being was something he'd need to find out.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his omnicomm, tapping it a few times before holding it out for her. "Then read this." He was making her an offer, for her to take or leave as she chose. "Everything you need to know about us is in here."

[encourage]

Her pause before accepting the omnicomm left her examining his face. He didn't emote, much more familiar in a sense by the lack of what he showed than ever what he did. If what she saw was reassuring, she didn't actively register.

Taking his omnicomm, she merely nodded, brow furrowing in preparation for what she felt was not going to be simple reading. Sakura was intelligent, and fairly intuitive. A large portion of what she found herself reading, in these reports and what they implied, she herself had presumed, or made close enough guesses and conclusions to agree with. Not everything. She could sense the alien edge to these words, the part that spoke of another cultural viewpoint. Her world was enmeshed in war; the group that spoke of ending it was not ending war so much as wishing, ultimately, to puppet everyone into complacency.

"Are you sure?" She didn't look up, one finger stroking the screen of the omnicomm as if that would coax answers out of the device that it hadn't already offered. She was thinking, calculating. If she had the gist right, if she knew what this was, then there was a chance that the loyalties she had to Jiraiya and Tsunade would be in and of themselves asked to take backseat. "That you want to be showing me this."

Emphasis on me. Asking, as she looked up, quietly serious, if it wasn't a mistake in and of itself. I'm the one who lets them down. I'm the failure in my own story. Are you sure you should be showing this to me?

Only she did have more confidence now, she realized. Somewhere between living months alone among strangers who had little reason to care for or trust her, being in places that stripped her of selfhood and then stripped her of originality, asked to make the hard calls that killed when needed and couldn't save others, Sakura had been finding her failings weren't insurmountable.

[a_mere_human]

"Armed interventions are never done arbitrarily." It was an abrupt nonsequitur, so much so that Sakura could be forgiven for thinking that he hadn't heard her question at all. But he had, he just saw no real need to address it, since the answer should be obvious.

He had given her the omnicomm. He wouldn't have done that if he wasn't sure. Looking for a reason to doubt her now served no purpose, and while he was willing to help her through this process, he wasn't going to hold her hand every step of the way. She would have to take each step, and move forward of her own volition.

His attention was momentarily drawn to their right, at a game in which people had to throw plastic fireballs at different targets. An announcer was looking for volunteers, challenging to see who in the crowd was downright fierce.

"All conflicts are researched thoroughly, from how they began to what drives them to persist." Since it had been his experience that most conflicts continued due to external forces and influences. But once those forces were removed, often the desire to fight went with it.

"We don't have enough information on this conflict to proceed effectively." And that's what he needed her for. Just as much for her brain, if not more so, as her ninja skills.

[encourage]

She was quiet, observing her surroundings with the half-attentive air that came along with the necessity of knowing what was out there at all times. Much as people insisted this was a place of idle enjoyments, she knew better than to believe there was such a thing as safe. Even home, even the world she'd created around the Konoha she'd thought she known, had proven anything but safe in the end.

Hardly even sacred.

"The stone that rolls gathers no moss." Idiomatic, but it was her response none the less. Information would come through perseverance and patience. Finding the right information. Being informed enough to act. "If it does gather an interesting view of the countryside."

[a_mere_human]

"You fit in among the landscape better than I do." It was delivered as little more than a casual observation, but it was more than that.

Since the first moment he awoke on the ship, Setsuna had done his best to make sure that Celestial Being would not comply with rules or orders just because someone else believes they have the right to give them. The ship's constitution meant little, and rank meant even less to him, and he was never shy about letting the crew know. Needless to say, his opinions weren't appreciated.

As a result, Celestial Being was on the outside looking in, which was fine with Setsuna. That's how it's supposed to be. But he did recognize that they had information he would need, and without Wong Liu Mei to provide it, he would need an alternate among the crew.

Sakura fit most of the qualities he needed in such a person. She was friendly enough with the crew that they would share information; smart enough to ask the right questions; inquisitive enough that no one would wonder why she was asking; and despite them having similar viewpoints, no one would suspect her working with him.

"You'll meet the rest soon." Not that he ever actually bothered to ask her if she was in or not. One would think that would be necessary, but he took her still being there as a sign that she was in.

[encourage]

She looked to him, sharply, at his statement. Not can, but will.

It almost made her smile.

"I look forward to it." A simple statement, and more commitment to any one cause than she'd been asked to given past waking up on Stacy.