Anyway, this cake is great/So delicious and moist [Semi-Open]

[zouichi]

The old cherry trees in the courtyard had decided to bloom with impeccable timing, transforming the entrance of the Susono Inn into an explosion of color. Pink petals collected between the stones of the courtyard's walkway, on the overhang of the foyer... oh, and if you got anywhere in a fifty foot radius of the place, you probably got a few on you

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Re: PICNIC!

[nobel_berserker]

Allenby laughed as she reached up to snatch falling petals out of the air, dropping them into her sake. Yeah, technically she wasn't drinking age, but what did it matter? Maybe when Earth was back, she'd put a cherry tree in a pot on that houseboat she wanted.

She eyed the cake sitting on the table, but she didn't go grab a slice just yet. It almost looked too pretty to eat, even if it wasn't what she thought of as a "black forest cake." (The thing looked like a little castle with cherries on the turrets, honestly.) Instead, she went looking for someone to talk to.

[haruno]

Maybe it's just seeing flowering cherry trees in this place that isn't home, and is universes removed from what home used to be, but Sakura's looking up at one of those cherry trees from her position on the stone walkway and losing herself in personal reflections. She shook herself out of them with a jolt as she registered someone else near-by, turning with expectant eyes toward Allenby. She smiled when she recognized her, lifting a hand to wave. Funny how automatic some responses were becoming anymore.

"Hey," she said, "Feels a little like we should be celebrating spring."

[nobel_berserker]

"Ya think so?" Allenby returned Sakura's wave cheerily, then held out her sake cup to catch a few more falling petals. "Seems more like winter to me with the way this stuff is falling! Buuut I don't think you could make cherry-petal angels."

There was a decidedly happy look on her face as she regarded the trees. "I never saw anything like this before."

[haruno]

"Mmm, it's one of the spring festivals back home. The sakura trees blossom and shed their petals fairly soon after."

She watched the drifting petals, amused as Allenby caught a few. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

[nobel_berserker]

"So you guys have a party over this? I can see why--it is beautiful," Allenby agreed. Falling cherry blossoms, who knew? When Earth was back, she'd make a point of finding a place there that celebrated it and going there when they did. "But ya said 'sakura.' That's your name, isn't it? And these are cherry trees."

[haruno]

"Yeah, it is. The sakura trees are cherry trees." A pause, since she has to assume one part of that at least left sakura untranslated. "If you were hearing my name as a literal translation, you should be hearing cherry blossoms."

[nobel_berserker]

"Huh! Well that's pretty cool." Allenby had honestly never thought about the whole language thing. "Whatcha mean by a literal translation? I just thought we were all speakin' the same thing... but that doesn't make much sense when you got different planets, does it?"

[haruno]

"Not particularly. People from the same world speak different languages. From what I understand, the ship is working as a translator for us at all time. When we're planet-side, something on the suit's doing much the same." Sakura rested one hand on her hip. "Try watching people's mouths when you're talking. I understand what you tell me, but the words I'm hearing don't always line up to the movements of your lips."

She wonders what a lipreader would learn, other than how vast the language spread was on this ship.

[nobel_berserker]

Allenby did so, watching Sakura's face intently as the other girl explained. Sure enough, things didn't line up the way she'd been expecting. Mostly, but not quite. "...Well that's weird," she said at last.

Wait. Wait a second... oh, dammit. "So you're saying that Stacy--is she going in our heads to make us understand this stuff?!"

[haruno]

"You believed otherwise?" Sakura was abruptly serious. "There are zones on the ship, here in the city, where she can't detect us. Not the way she can everywhere else, which is how fights could happen without following sparring protocol before the Warden personality was taken off crew management."

[nobel_berserker]

"Oh, I knew she could look in our minds whenever she wanted," Allenby said with a scowl. "But I didn't realize it was all the time! I just--I dunno, nobody ever had trouble understanding each other on my Earth even though we were from different countries."

She put a hand to her face. "And it's so useful, isn't it? God, I really wish I could punch her in the face sometimes!"

[haruno]

"You can always try Obs Dock, though I suggest recreating it in the sensoriums to avoid possible retaliation. I'm not sure if our friendly AI or the Warden has control of the ship's reaction to ship damage."

[nobel_berserker]

Allenby shook her head. "No, if I'm gonna wallop her I want it to be for real, and..." She shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to run into Punishment. I just hate the way she crawls around in our heads like it's a city street. Don't you?"

[haruno]

"More than anything. She knows it, too." Somehow that made it worse. "It makes it all the harder to pretend there's such a thing as a private life. I miss the illusion."

[nobel_berserker]

"Then there's no excuse. She needs to get out." Allenby scowled down at her sake. She'd never really had a private life, what with being in the military and managed and all. That she was used to. But when it came to her skull? No. That was off-limits.

Or it oughta be. She picked a cherry petal out of the sake and popped it in her mouth. "But Neuropathy got the fighting protocols turned off. Maybe they'll be able to get the rest of it taken care of too."

[haruno]

"Possibly when she's entirely reclaimed her functions from Warden, she'll officially be able to be ordered out. You're right to point out what Neuropathy has been able to figure out so far." People could screw with ones mind too easily, even back home. Genjutsu and things like eye and clan techniques were disconcerting realities.