medicalpunch | 1st Punch

[Action: Where the rivers meet in the village]

[Sakura's arrival in Luceti comes with a short, bitten-off yell of surprise and a splash as she drops into the icy water. The white-clad figure vanishes underwater, then reappears, struggling, fighting to surface long enough to catch her breath. It's shockingly cold, iced over in places -- although thankfully not where she fell -- and even if she knows nothing else yet, she knows she must get out of the water.]

[Flailing, gasping, reeling in shock from the sudden cold, it's extremely difficult for her to get atop the water as a ninja would normally go -- but she's too cold to swim properly, she knows that all too well, and with the ice besides, she has no other choice.]

[She's proud of her own strength and control, and she makes herself display it now, pushing up out of the water and working her way until she is balanced by chakra on the surface.]

[Now, though, she's exposed to the bitter air, soaking wet, with nothing but a thin, backless white dress to cover her. And she's freezing.]

[She makes her way toward the shore, where there's a journal waiting for her. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a warm blanket or anything like one. Just the journal, with her name on it, and a biting chill to the air.]

[Video]

[Sakura's hair is is still damp when her face appears on the journals. She's managed to get dry and warmed up -- and much more warmly dressed than when she arrived -- but she looks disoriented, worried, and worn.]

I don't know what this place is, where it is, why it is. I'm not sure I even want to speculate. But if there's anyone... familiar out there, anyone who knows me -- I'm here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hmph. If they like conscripts, I guess.

What about the other side? Are the people they're fighting any better?

[Pause] Well, I don't like them much.

Oh? Tell me about them?

[She holds a grudge against the people who killed her, but telling Sakura that just isn't on her list of things to do right now.] They aren't easy to reason with. They fight us as zealously as they fight the Malnosso.

I see. So it's really a matter of which one's worse, then.

[The people who want to kill them -- for what reason? -- or the people using them as conscripts and test subjects. Wonderful.]

Pretty much. All in all, life is usually comfortable here. [There's something in her tone that suggests that "comfortable" isn't exactly what Temari likes.]

[If it were, then she wouldn't live in the middle of the desert, man.]

Comfortable. Well, that's something for it, anyway.

I'd still rather be where I belong, uncomfortable and all. Of all the times to pull me out of...

[Hey. The desert is awesome.]

Of all the times?

[And uncomfortable.]

... How much do you know about... about what's going on back home?

[She doesn't want to get into the details of the war willy-nilly.]

[Also awesome.]

I know enough. [She knows about the war, at least, but she's also very aware that Sakura might be from further in the future -- or in the past. It's hard to tell.]

[It's ambiguous, but Sakura lets out a slow breath. At least Temari won't be asking about the people she knows to be dead. Gaara's still in good shape, and so far as she knows, the ambush squad is still in one piece.]

The war. Being a medic and getting pulled away from that...

[She shakes her head.] I know, I know, I won't actually miss any time. But not being there is hard. I can't help the feeling. [Because medics and their crazy sense of duty. It's what happens when you're the difference between life and death for a lot of people.]

[Temari nods, crosses her arms, and leans against the counter. For a moment, she looks away, then turns back to Sakura and shrugs.]

It's something that you get used to. Unfortunately.

Unfortunately.

[She grimaces, then shakes her head.]

Whatever it is, this or anything else, I'll deal with it. End of story.

[Of that, Temari has no doubt. She's the same way.]

You'll need a place to stay.

The housing... is free, is that right?

[She's been told that, but it seems a little unbelievable. To have everything simply provided for them, from housing to food to clothing...]

Yes. Like I said, most of your comrades are in this building.

Then I'll look for somewhere here, too. At least for the time being.

[In a strange place, in a strange world, she'll feel better to have her friends nearby.]

I know where most of the empty ones are.

If you could point me to one, then... [She smiles, then shakes her head with a sigh.] Then I'll settle in.

[As much as she doesn't want to. There's not a lot of point in being uncomfortable -- or homeless, for that matter -- if it won't get her home faster.]

There's one open on this floor. [She points upward then.] Five or six on the floors above us.

And this floor's the one where most of the people from our world are?

[Shrug] There's a few of us.

So I'm learning.

[The words are said with a mix of amusement and apprehension. It's good to be around people from home, and Temari's words are an understatement, but at the same time... there's so much that she's feeling driven to hide.]

1st Punch

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