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[haruno]

Closing the last document she'd pulled up to read on stone masonry, Sakura sighed. She was pretty sure she had everything in place to start on repairs to the damage she'd caused, even if she wasn't sure there was anyone on ship who had a vested interest in caring. If it felt right to her to help remake what she'd unintentionally made a crater in

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[eradicating_war]

He had to think for a moment, on how to phrase this all so that she would understand. He wasn't the best with words, and this was a somewhat esoteric concept.

"Where I'm from, the ability to travel to and from virtually anywhere on earth was commonplace, and had been for centuries. Entire industries were based around it." But that was another topic for another day. "Its not at all uncommon for a civilian to leave their home and move thousands of miles away to get a better education, or in search of better economic opportunities. Its also not uncommon for people to be forced out of their homes because of an invading military force, and live as refugees in another land." Something he had personal experience with.

"Regardless for the reasons for the move, things like languages and cultural traditions aren't forgotten or left behind, simply because you move from one place to another. Your bloodline and family history don't disappear either. Its those things, largely intangible, that make up someone's ethnicity. People tend not to let go of that, and they don't try to drastically change who they are or how they live, simply because they changed where they live."

But back to her original inquiry...

"Hispanic only vaguely describes someone's ethnicity, not their nationality. Its more of a general term, since there are a number of related cultures and subcultures that identify themselves as Hispanic. What country they're from is an entirely separate subject." On his earth, anyway.

And he probably just said more there than the sum total of every conversation they've had up until now.

[haruno]

Sakura straightened in her chair, watching Setsuna as he gave her his explanation. She could better understand what he meant, relating it to familiar parallels in her own life. Travel itself might not be so common, but moving groups still was to this day. Prior to the establishment of the villages, it'd been harder to track. Ninja Clans didn't exactly absorb each other, though there were a few times in history. With the establishment of the villages, some of the weaker clans stopped the overt affiliation, while carrying forward their traditions.

Then again, she knew of most those by proxy. Without a genealogy and clan of her own, she could only rely on what she'd read or learned through contact over the years. "Then it doesn't have so much to do with the country, and more to do with culture and shared history." Though as refugees... "Maybe even as an effort to keep what they can of a home they've been driven out of, in some cases."

Marco really could have been nice enough to state a country, not a cultural identity. Now that she knew Earth had those in abundance, in a way that spoke to identity carrying forward that she otherwise wouldn't have expected.

[eradicating_war]

"Correct." He decided not to elaborate further unless requested, apparently having already blown through his allotment of words for the day.

[haruno]

She hummed under her breath, still considering. Setsuna had helped explain things unfamiliar to her in a way she thought she understood. It was more complicated than it initially appeared, if it did start to explain some of the defensiveness she'd inadvertently run into when talking to the thirteen year old Marco.

"Is there any reason," she asked, choosing her words carefully, "For people to be defensive about their cultural heritages? Is it common to attack people for being..." she trailed off. Different wasn't the right word, nor was integrated, since both only encompassed the ideas of alien nations clashing, or refugees moving into a new area. "Being something outside what a country chooses to define itself as, culturally? Do some nationalities clash with cultural identities?"

[eradicating_war]

"Yes." Which is really how he knew all of this. Celestial Being was out to eradicate all armed conflicts, though that started with understanding why conflicts happened. And you really can't find a bigger and more complex source of friction and strife than when cultures grind against each other.

Part of him wanted to leave that explanation there, but as he considered her, he figured that simple answer wouldn't be enough. So, welcome to Racism 101, Sakura. Apparently he is old enough to be her teacher.

"Historically, whenever one empire would expand, they would treat the people of any land or culture they conquered as lower class citizens, sometimes reducing them to nothing more than property and selling them off as slaves. Refugees who fled were more often than not seen as barely tolerated but unwelcome guests. By my era, slavery was outlawed through the world, and the major powers strove for social equality between the majority and minority ethnic groups within their borders, but... That sort of attitude could remain as part of the fabric of a society for centuries." There were still parts of the Middle East where he was unwelcome simply because he was born in Krugis. And its not like Turibia could've even attempted their short lived succession from the Union had they not felt the United States were treating them like second class citizens.

"If they were in the minority..." Well, she was smart enough that she could figure out the rest.

[haruno]

Respectable enough to be one of them , at least. (Respect and levels of stubbornness sometimes seem related.)

She listened, following his train of thought (thinking she did, at least) past the end of his sentence. Usually she'd parrot back the ending, but this time, she kept it to herself. If this group was in the minority, than the majority attitude would end up being turned on them, potentially unmitigated. Being told you didn't belong, or couldn't be a part of something, based on your cultural heritage.

Not entirely alien, considering how power plays could affect people back home. Entire countries had been destroyed before, and historically, entire clans. Survivors of even small scale destruction were shuffled off to different corners of a country, or the countries surrounding their former home. Some grudges could carry over, some from within a village itself against those in it. Especially when death was involved...

Naruto's childhood hung in the back of her mind, a lonely landscape she really only knew about as she'd gotten older. Entire groups of people, treated like he'd been, for far less reason. Hated for being there, and perhaps seen as an obligation. The guests who never knew enough to leave and go home. (Who might have no home.)

Headache inducing, but finally making sense. "It was that much more evident." She couldn't believe she was faintly troubled by the politics and history of a world that wasn't hers. It was disturbing, if it might be the fact she could see it in the first place that disturbed her most. She was silent for a while longer, thinking, not happy with her thoughts. "Thank you," she said eventually. "For helping to better explain."

Ah, she was back to the needless clarifications.

[eradicating_war]

He grunted in acknowledgment, then looked at her as if to say anything else?

[haruno]

At first, it didn't seem like Sakura noticed he was looking back at her, still lost as she was in her own thoughts. Yet she shakes her head finally, a not quite universal sign to say no. Not right now.

She had enough to think about for the time being. Further questions would come later.