the great wall of something, all right

[haruno]

When Marco had mentioned the Great Wall of China back when she'd first pod-popped, she'd figured he meant some sort of landmark for a place she didn't recognize. Next to a word like "sky-scraper," and she guessed that this landmark had to be significant enough, or at least big enough, to hold up against something with a name that implied a

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[livestoannoy]

Marco shrugged. "How the hell should I know?" he said. "I never studied Chinese history or whatever. It's a wall. It's big. People like to stand on it and take happy snaps."

He nodded to one of the nearby streets. If he remembered right, the Wall wasn't too far away from where they were now. "Come on, down this way."

[livestoannoy]

Marco blinked. Definitely not from Earth. "Dude, that is so not fair!" he called up, before sighing and starting on the long way up - the stairs.

[haruno]

"Still not my name!" She shook her head, amused in a way she was choosing to show precisely because no one could see it. Fair was relative to where you stood. In the sense that had her stepping back and exploring the breadth of the wall, fair had to do with perspective.

Ostensibly, they were all caught up in war. War by its very nature wasn't fair.

... Maybe she should have offered him a lift. Oh well.

"Any idea how many decades went into building this wall? Are we talking centuries?" Shouting wasn't her favorite mode of conversation, but curiosity kept her talking when otherwise she might have been patient enough to wait for her not-Chinese guide to arrive.

[livestoannoy]

After a few moments of grumbling about high jumping barbies, Marco emerged from the top of the stairs. "Do I look like a History professor? I have no idea."

Yes, Marco could remember how long the wall was but not how long it took to build. This is what happens when you have someone who's highly intelligent and has a good head for numbers, but hardly ever pays attention in class.

[haruno]

Somewhat the opposite of the too book-smart, less street-smart Sakura. "I don't know," she said, "I haven't met one before." Still, it left her with something to think about.

"What else do you know about this wall, Mr. I'm-Not-Chinese-Nor-Am-I-A-History-Professor?"

She squatted, tapping her fist against the stone she was standing on.

[livestoannoy]

"What do you think I am, some kind of fountain of knowledge?" Marco said, rolling his eyes. "I said I'd show you the wall, not give a report on it."

He walked up to the edge and leaned out over it. "Have you thought of may, oh, I don't know - admiring the view instead of trying to collect a list of facts?"

[haruno]

She stood up, dusting off her hand on her thigh. "The view?" Looking up, she found herself regaled by a building that defied most description.

"The view's leaving me with even more questions." She was in the wrong mood to be quiet, sit back, and enjoy the surroundings. It was starting to become some horrible kind of habit, this perpetual, over the top need to know.

Worse, because it included the trivial things that were never going to matter. Like the Great Wall of China. Unless that bit of history needed revisiting. "Other than that... I don't know what you want me to say. It's a nice wall? It feels sturdy? The buildings around here reflect the current light in a kind of appealing way?" If she tilted her head to the side, like she did now, one of the structures even seemed to shimmer like a mirage in the current lighting.

[livestoannoy]

Marco turned to look at Sakura, raising an eyebrow. "Gee, you must have so much fun back in your world," he said sarcastically. "Seriously, don't you guys ever go sightseeing? You know, 'hey look, that thing over there is pretty or impressive or whatever! Let's go look at it and take lots of pictures because it's fun'. If all you want is to do something boring like 'learn the history', you might as well just stay home and read a book."

[haruno]

"Who takes pictures? Do you know how expensive it is to develop those?" Sakura looked incredulous, though she felt this was another disparity between cultures. She'd been running into enough of them. "Sure, we notice how amazing it is when we're out on missions, but at the same time, that's work. You can admire the view all you want, but at the end of the journey, you're getting paid to ensure something gets delivered, picked up, or someone else doesn't die."

Sakura shrugged, feeling a little defensive. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to know the history behind things. When you do, you learn a lot about why things are the way they are."

[livestoannoy]

Marco snorted. "Let me guess, they haven't invented disposable cameras in your world?" Marco said, amused. "Seems like you guys get the freaky leap-frog legs while we got the cheap photography tech. And haven't you guys ever heard of, you know, taking a holiday? Or does 'fun' not exist in your world either?"

[haruno]

"Fun? I think we covered that during one class, at the Academy..." She trailed off, then literally trailed off, starting to walk the available length of the wall. The rest of what she said was called out over her shoulder. "You don't get paid for holidays. The longest I ever took was a week at home."

She tapped her foot on the stone, wondering again about the sturdiness of the structure underneath. "I read for most of it."

To be more fair, she'd studied the entire time. What little else counted as a "holiday" fell more along the lines of pleasant, C rank escort missions. Nothing said someone couldn't enjoy their time at work, but it wasn't the kind of holiday the merchants talked about, or that people more generally meant when they spoke on getting away for a while.

[livestoannoy]

"You studied fun at school?" Marco said, snorting. "Man, you really need to get out more. Although 'getting paid' is a noble ambition, I'll admit."

He watched he walking up the wall, tapping her foot around. "You know you're not going to get it to reveal all of its secrets just by poking at it," he said, amused.

[haruno]

"We also sold bridges." She nodded, mostly managing to look serious.

"Are you sure? Maybe I just need to poke harder." She looked down at the wall, cracked her knuckles, and smiled. "What do you think?"

[livestoannoy]

"Oh, well that changes everything. Why have fun, when you can have bridges?" Marco said, snorting.

He raised an eyebrow. "Sure, go ahead. Obviously if you punch it hard enough it'll beg you to stop and start talking."

[haruno]

It was a bad idea, but Sakura figured she could regulate how much force she used well enough to not manage to obliterate a wall that had survived hundreds of years of rabbit history and Stacy's collection with one hit.

Pooling chakra in her fist, she said, "Let's test that out," right before dropping down and giving the Great Wall a polite punch to the head.

She was pleased to note she only disturbed the dust, leaving the surface intact, if less pleased to note the way she felt reverberations through her feet as said dust resettled. "Oh, you're kidding me --"

Please, wall, whatever you do, don't fall down! I swear I didn't hit you hard enough for that!

[livestoannoy]

Marco was about to make some cutting and incredibly funny remark, but then that rumbling started. And before Marco could even start demanding to know what the hell Sakura had done, the ground was falling away from beneath their feet.

The Great Wall of China was falling down - leaving Marco and Sakura stuck under the rubble.