Meat n' Greet

[cityship]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall

Comments

[haruno]

Too much like Naruto, in a way; Sakura found herself moving forward, about to rest a hand on his shoulder before she even realized she'd moved. "People have a hard time accepting that kids grow up faster than they'd like. We all think we can help preserve someone else's childhood, and forget how it feels to be told we're too young to help."

Or remember what it is when we realize we are too young, but growing up faster by necessity. "Besides," she said, "If you're training, it goes further than you might think. Nothing can take the place of experience, but preparation is key to survivng long enough to get that experience, right? If there really are all these people from all these... different universes, training and finding challenges to overcome to be ready for the ones we'll face later can't be hard to find."

If it was hard to swallow. She smiled. "You've been a big help. I'm sure if it's important to you, the adults won't have much choice other than to acknowledge the same thing of you and all the other kids."

Because war didn't leave many people at home, and in her world, once you qualified as genin, you could well be out on field. At least people weren't passed through the Academy at six anymore.

[hisfathersstaff]

Negi nodded, being a war-baby himself. Born to the Queen of Calamity and the savior of the magic world, he was caught in two sides of a never-ending conflict as well. Still, Sakura's words made him feel better, for not many people offered up the same wisdom she did.

"Thank you Sakura-san," he said. "That really does mean a lot and I'm glad I've been a help."

He smiled, a wide grin that could have easily been on Naruto's face, a sign that some things transcended shounen heroes. Or maybe it was a universal thing to have such confidence in the face of overwhelming odds. "Never give up huh?"

[haruno]

His grin was infectious, enough so that Sakura was really smiling in return. Transcendent or universal, it didn't really seem to matter. Sakura responded to that personality as much as she did to Naruto's -- though with noteably less expectation of idiocy. (Benefit of the doubt, of course."

"Mmmhmm. Never give up." Retreat, regroup, survive, plan, fight back, but never give up. When you stop believing in your ability to achieve even the most impossible things, you're losing more than your confidence. You're losing part of yourself. She couldn't bring herself to say as much out loud. It'd feel too hypocritical and out of place, given the circumstances.

"Anything else you can think of that I might want to know?" It was a sort of shift in subject, back to his original offer.

[hisfathersstaff]

"The smaller things then. There's a few points of interest on the City map you can visit. Kang's bar the Drunken Dragon, Reinforce Zwei's Stormwind Clothiers, Ed Elric's Atelier for Small Objects and the Sensoriums as well. We've got a limited amount of real food but the Sensoriums doubles as a cafeteria, especially since the real cafeteria only dispenses food in a paste-like form." Negi made a grimace.

"The sensoriums can recreate locations from your world, in addition to finding something from your world in the city proper, provided Stacy has one of your home buildings. And it shapes the nutrient paste into edible tasty food too."

"The Atelier can create small items for you, to medium ones. The forges, Daja and Hiccups, will forge weapons for you, though Daja works on a price system for her work. And Rein's clothing store seems to have a near-unlimited supply of cloth for sturdy clothing for everyday use."

[haruno]

Paste like... If that didn't sound absolutely appetizing. Sakura figured it was about as bad as it sounded, based on Negi's grimace.

"How do the sensoriums work, if they can do all of that?" Shaping the paste didn't take away the fact it was still the paste, but if it was tricking the senses... that was disquieting.

"A price system based on what, exactly?"

[hisfathersstaff]

"You can think of what you want and it'll come to life in there," said Negi. "Like say for instance you think of your bedroom, and the sensoriums will bring it to life around you. Or if you think of a person, they'll act on your memories or conversely act out if you've got an over-dramatized idea of someone. It's flexible like that."

At this, Negi shrugged. "To be honest, I haven't met Daja or spoken with her, but only that she has some kind of trade/barter system going on for her services. Which I suppose isn't bad, but it is rough for a first awakener without any established support or friends here yet."

[haruno]

Negi's description of the sensoriums further cemented the surreality of the situation. The ship itself could act like a genjutsu user, to an extent that was disturbing to contemplate. What said that ability was restricted entirely to the sensoriums themselves? "Sounds unbelievable. Not to say I don't believe you. It's... incredible to imagine."

It made her uncomfortable, but she forced herself to move past that, focusing on this Daja. "Still, it seems more fair to Daja and everyone else in the long run."

[hisfathersstaff]

"Yeah. They're not hard to work at any rate." Negi really had no concept of illusions other than spells anyhow.

"It does at that. Free service is great, but doing other things for people in repayment does help out a lot," agreed Negi.

[haruno]

"It builds a sense of give and take," she said, thinking of it more in terms of what service exchanges worked like back home. One wasn't always paid enough to get things done, and the exchange of one service for another could often act as a bridge where finances otherwise would have stood. "A sense of greater community, in a way."