trans_9 | [open] rebuilding what we can at the cost of what we can't do

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

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.

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A tremendous thing in armor stands watch on the great wall, laying both gauntlet-clad hands on it as his gene-bred love of fortification comes to the fore. A true son of Dorn if there ever was one, Erhart revels in the existence of such a wall. It would not go amiss at Eternity Gate, or the Imperial Palace itself, in the Himalasyan highlands. He doesn't notice the young woman, not yet, lost in an almost-religious communion with the Wall itself.

Atom was sitting on the edge of the Great Wall, looking down at the scenery below. He'd been here before, but wow, he'd never expected to see it on a spaceship. There were a lot of things that reminded him of home, though.

He practiced whistling while he was seated there. He was not very good at it.

Jake wasn't quite the flyer he'd been before the war, but his peregrine falcon morph still worked - why wouldn't it? - and he occasionally took flights over the city to try and clear his mind. He spotted Sakura and something clicked in his head. She looked a lot like Marco's description of his new girlfriend. Maybe he ought to say hi. He glided down and perched on a nearby lamppost.

< You're Sakura, right? Sorry for the interruption. >

"Oh, this is no good."

A smirking Orochimaru leaned casually against the base of the wall. Till that moment the shadows, and perhaps his own ninjutsu, had hidden him.

"Now you're going to think I've been following you or laying a trap for you."

It felt like there had been a lot going on lately, enough that Ren was losing track of what was going on with some of his friends. So he was surprised to see that Sakura was walking toward the Great Wall, looking distracted.

"Sakura?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

Marco was flying over the city in osprey morph when he spotted Sakura as she got up onto the Great Wall. Normally he'd have just glided up and started teasing her about how she'd destroyed it in the first place, but after the last time they'd met, he wasn't exactly in that good of a mood to see her.

<You know, thank you so much for blowing me off the other day,> he said with biting sarcasm. <I especially loved your bullshit excuse. And the fact that it was incredibly obvious was a nice touch.>

Catching sight of the person she didn't recognize, she slowed. She stood a good thirty plus feet below him, more than able to continue on her way without interrupting his silence.

Opting for a midway point, Sakura lifts a hand in greeting. Her words follow after a few seconds of thought.

"Just to let you know ahead of time, I'll be working on the wall for a while. Down toward where it looks hit by a heavy falling object."

Sakura looked up, trying to trace the sound she was hearing to its source. A young boy sitting on the wall, attempting to whistle, brought something like a smile to her face. She lifted a hand to wave, hesitating to shout and possibly startle him when he's sitting there on the wall.

Not that it mattered, she was more than fast enough to catch him before he'd hit ground, but avoiding unnecessary trauma seemed kinder in this place.

Sakura sat back on her heels, running the back of one gloved hand over her forehead. She'd actually started making some progress, which left her in a much better mood than before.

She didn't recognize the voice speaking within her mind, if it did point toward a few given possibilities. Both especially because and especially not because of them asking after her.

Spotting the bird of prey after glancing around for things out of place, she nodded at it, trusting they'd be able to see. "No interruption," she said, briefly smiling. She didn't know if they heard her or not. She couldn't find it in herself to be bothered one way or the other.

Though she did lift her voice for carrying when she asked, "Is there something I can help you with?"

Sakura froze, then told herself to stop it. It was a second's hesitation, more than obvious to Orochimaru, and more than apparent to Sakura herself.

"You wouldn't bother yourself over one such as I." She said it so factually, her voice level and calm.

She really wanted to turn and head the other way.

Sakura jolted herself out of her own thoughts, smiling in reflex as she turned toward Ren's voice. "Ren!" Funny, how the level of respect she had for him didn't quite translate. "I'm fine! A bit distracted, but that's not new, is it?"

She wasn't entirely honest, but she didn't want people worrying over her. It did no one any good to impose like that, to become that sort of burden. She'd done it to those who deserved better too often back home.

She needed to work on her game face. "Spending too much time with GLaDOS does nothing for my manners, I'm afraid."

Sakura set down the stone she'd just lifted, dust blowing out in a poof of air. There were streaks of dirt on her face, dust in her hair, and the distinct sheen of sweat beading around her hairline and the collar of her shirt.

Her mood, slightly elevated with a repetitive, completable task, soured. Not expressly due to Marco -- more due to his lack of tact that made Naruto even seem sensitive at times.

He really was angry, wasn't he? She couldn't blame him. Wouldn't blame him.

But damn that idiot to some of the more creative hells if he wouldn't demorph and talk like an adult.

Seating herself on the stone she'd just set down, Sakura folded her ankles behind each other and waited.

< I just wanted to say 'hi'. > Jake replied. After a moment of silence, he shuffled along the lamp-post and then indulged the hawk-mind by preening under a wing. Yep.

< Oh, sorry. My name is Jake. I'm a friend of Marco's. >

Sakura watched him, lips curling up for a moment as he preened. The soft pull of homesickness was back, conveniently forgetting the pain and uncertainty of the war she'd been "saved" right out of.

"I thought as much," she called out. "Just didn't know which one you were." Bowing her head to him, she let her smile warm a little. Marco was a sore subject at the moment, but she pushed that to the side. "A pleasure to meet you, Jake. I hope Marco hasn't been talking about me much."

Atom caught sight of her wave and waved back cheerfully. "Hey! Come on up! You can see all kinds of stuff from up here!"

That's... that's nice of you not to make him fall over, Sakura.

< Well, he told me a little about you. All good things. > Which was pretty much true. Honestly, Jake had been surprised Marco found a girl who would put up with him.

< I can demorph, if you want. I realize it might be a bit uncomfortable talking to a bird. >

Marco had already told her, anyway.

"And what will you be doing down there, Mamzel?"

He looks down at her, his helm's eye-slits whirring as they focus on the young lady.

Marco was already starting to demorph, but he wasn't particularly interested in waiting to demorph before demanding some answers here.

<Well?> he said, landing nearby as his flesh distorted and changed. <Are you going to at least give me a reason, or am I--> the thought speak cut out, forcing Marco to wait until he was nearly demorphed before continuing. "Am I just supposed to guess?"

"Rebuilding," she said bluntly. "I'm pretty sure I have the stone cement recipe figured out this time, so hopefully between that, fitting stones well, and the weight of the stones themselves, I'll make decent headway."

What, she heals kids skinned knees after knocking out giant centipedes. She always thinks of the lil' ones!

She half-laughed. "You do, do you? Hmm, that's a pretty tempting offer."

She tapped a finger on her lips, "thinking" it over.

"If you don't mind." She continued to smile, relaxing a degree. Not too far -- she wasn't sure how far to trust most anyone. That was something earned... and she didn't want to actively think on that, either. "I prefer seeing who I'm actually talking with."

Personal preference and all.

She fought off the urge to roll her eyes at his comment on Marco's behalf. "Considering the pains he goes through in order to tell me everything about my life is insane, crazy, and ridiculous, I find that hard to believe."

Sakura let him finish his sentence, then held up a hand, asking for him to stop.

"Marco? Shut-up."

Marco folded his arms, and raised an eyebrow. "I'll shut up when you start talking."

"Then sit down, promise to listen through what I have to say, and I'll start." She didn't pat on her stone, or any of the near-by ones. In fact, she was starting to feel a little lost, because for all the irritation and conflicting emotions, one thing she wasn't actually good at was talking.

Not like she was about to try.

"Rebuilding a fortification...."

His body language shifts, and despite his all enclosing helm, there's almost a smile to the black-armored warrior now.

"Sounds like a worthy task for a Son of Dorn, such as myself. My primarch was known to have built the greatest fortress in the galaxy, and all of us have inherited some of his skill. Would you like assistance?"

He moves down, approaching her, his body language almost cheerful now.

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

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