[open] rebuilding what we can at the cost of what we can't do

[encourage]

Sakura look a left turn between two disparate pieces of architecture, eyes sliding over them both without truly appreciating what they saw. An inventory of places that were problematic for being hiding spots, possible ambush zones, tactical advantages in territory ran though her mind, along with figures and numbers for things she kept track of to make sure her thoughts weren't allowed much time to wander.

As it was, they were still getting away from her, heavy with emotions and logical conclusions that played off loyalty and desire to protect all at once. It left her looking pensive as she walked through the city, making her way toward the Great Wall of a country she would never see.

Comments

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

Probably more self-aware. Jake could be very rude when he wanted to. For a moment he hesitated and then took her hand and shook firmly. He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "That's Marco for you. And..."

Another moment of hesitation before he finally answered. "...nineteen. Almost twenty. Why do you ask?"

[encourage]

"Timelines. Marco was about your age when I first met him." It gave her an idea of a when that Jake was from, if she didn't press the point. Much like her handshake had been firm to meet his own firmness, her questions tended to have direct, understated points.

"I'm sixteen, myself. Or was. Might have been enough time since I last remember to have added another year or so of life on to the count."

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I heard about that whole... clock thing." Jake looked a bit thoughtful. Marco was about sixteen now. That whole time-loss thing just sounded weird. "He looks like he's about sixteen or seventeen now. Like you. Not sure how I feel about that, but he's still Marco."

Curious. He shrugged it off and filed the information away for later use.

"Been here that long? Guess I shouldn't be too surprised, considering the ship."

[encourage]

"Yes, he still is." She kept her tone even, if not quite light. She was fond of the idiot, and she was damned if she knew why half the time. Either way, it took backseat to the things she was facing that were problematic because he refused to slow down and think about them from an outside perspective.

"I don't know," she said, honest. "I hadn't recently turned sixteen, so like I said, it's possible. Not that it should matter." Which is when she paused, looking away for a moment. "Mostly people from the 20th and 21st Centuries on Earth seem to have issues keeping age and capability separated."

She looked back toward him, attempting to be light. "Sorry, you really don't need me saying that." In a way, they'd lived it first hand. Those kinds of preconceptions bled over into a society at large.

Sometimes the standard worked for you, even when you worked against it. "Mind an awkward question? Not about you, or -- anyone you know, promise. Nothing prying at least."

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know what you mean," he replied, voice quiet. He still remembered how hard it been to think that they could actually do anything about an alien invasion. It'd been stupid. It'd been reckless. And they'd done it anyway. They'd become heroes and in the process, they'd lost that period of innocence they were supposed to have while they grew up.

They'd lost everything. Almost everything.

He came back to himself and the present after a long moment of staring into the distance and tried to smile, "Depends on the question. Ask and I'll see if I can answer it."

Or if he wanted to. But if Marco trusted her, he supposed he could as well.

[encourage]

Such luxuries. Sometimes innocence was what you had before you realized what it meant to kill. Other times it was what went away when the justification for murder finally packed up and left through the front door.

Sakura knew she'd back out of asking if she didn't ask now. It was embarrassingly personal, but the desire to know, and not learn in the roundabout way she'd tried for figuring out Hispanic overrode her urge to shut down and say nothing at all.

"What does the United States, or at least the part you're from, considered dating to be?"

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

Jake blinked for a moment. The question honestly surprised him. He reached up and scratched at his cheek.

"Dating...? It's... well, I've never really dated. But it usually means you're in a relationship and you're going out together. Usually. And that you're not seeing anyone else. I don't know, I never really figure it out myself."

[encourage]

Welcome to the wild world of talking to Sakura, Jake. It's a riot.

"That's... more than I knew before." At least the exclusivity made sense. It was the same back home, but... "Not exactly helpful when I'm trying to figure out where it's different from what I know it as."

She didn't realize she was frowning, disturbed by what thoughts were in her own mind. Something about Eva's joking when it came to bastard children, Marco's particular reaction to the mention (again, joking) of marriage as a stretch and something more.

Things weren't quite adding up. "But thanks for answering."

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"I guess dating is different on different planets. Makes sense."

In a really odd sort of way. The question had come out of nowhere, at least from Jake's point of view. They weren't having relationship problems, were they? But it wasn't his place to ask that. Well, at least not Sakura. His best friend might be a different story.

"No problem. I guess it's sort of a culture shock."

[encourage]

"Ongoing culture shock. I think I understand one thing, then I'm hit with ten more that don't make any sense."

Speaking of...

"Is there a stigma against bastards on Earth?"

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

Jake looked surprised again. Well, Sakura sure had a lot of questions.

"Uh, I guess so. I know it's an insult, but I've never really looked into why..."

[encourage]

More than he might ever know.

"Thought so."

Not that being a bastard couldn't also be bad in terms of her culture, it just held less weight outside of certain clan and civilian areas of life.

She lapsed into silence, looking off into the myriad of buildings, bits, and bobbles that made of the city landscape. "How've you been adjusting?" she asked at last, sincere enough in her interest. "To this war. Or the ship, if you prefer."

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Fine," is the instinctive, almost automatic reply. He's fine. Better than fine (and that worries him), because he's settled back into the role of a soldier and a leader far easier than he should have. But he doesn't think about that, because that would mean facing up to his own demons.

"Can't complain, really. Haven't been shot at yet."

[encourage]

She'd heard answers like that before. She'd given them often enough, swallowed them down from the people she wanted to help and never could.

So her answering smile is as instinctive as the flash of concern and worry, gone quickly enough it was hard to say it'd ever been there in the first place. She didn't have the energy to spare. Did she?

"Lucky," she settled on. "Used to be all we had to worry about were bows and arrows. I." Her correction is still not quite automatic. "All I had to worry about."

Her pause was in self-reflective humor. Weapons like the ones she'd come into contact with since waking up in space made anyone capable of killing, where her own skills (and so many on her world) came out of years of training. "Since I'm sure the spontaneous dehydration, teleportation, blood-absorption, mind-controlling threats weren't that big a deal."