Arrival

[medicalpunch]

Characters: Sakura and YOU! And at one point Sasuke
Setting: Various places in the tower, as listed.
Format: Starting with action, but will match your preference.
Summary: Sakura's first explorations in the tower.
Warnings: None to start, will update as appropriate.


[Floor 5: Security Center]

[Staring through the cameras at the various ruined worlds is nearly gut-wrenching, but Sakura steels herself against the emotional onslaught, studying each one, trying to divine some sort of order or secret behind them. She can't believe it's real -- although she knows that her own world was facing devastation in her last memories of it, it still doesn't seem real to her that this many worlds have found their end. (It doesn't help that the entire concept of there being this many worlds is a little difficult.)]

[But she's studying them nonetheless, her expression stony and determined.]

[Floor 2: Infirmary]

[It's natural that this floor has caught her interest, and she's giving it a particularly thorough examination. If this is all the medical facilities she's got to work with, then she'd better be clear on what she can do.]

[The stock of medicines is beyond disappointing -- small and basic things, here, as well as a couple extremely specialized formulas she quietly imagines to be ones required by specific residents -- but nothing that she considers truly needful, and no facilities for formulating her own, at least not here. She'll have to see if anywhere else in the Tower is more profitable than this. But she knows the treatment area, at least, and she's reasonably certain it will accommodate any work she needs to do.]

[Cafeteria]

[She's been given the obligatory bowl of oatmeal, and is regarding it with an expression of distrust. Not that oatmeal is necessarily an objectionable meal -- she's not exactly been enjoying gourmet since leaving Konoha to join up with the Joint Shinobi Army -- but the simple fact that she has been told she must eat it before partaking of anything else has her wary. What exactly does this oatmeal hold that it's so obligatory?]

[She stirs it around a little with her spoon, then takes a tiny bite, holding it on her tongue and trying to sort through the tastes, trying to use chakra to work through it as though it were a poison, searching for what makes it special.]

[Floor 28: Lab]

[Sakura is moving through the lab with a frown on her face; not working on anything, not yet, just investigating, figuring out what she'll have to work with in the future. Wherever she is, she's stuck now, and she'll have to make the best of it -- and she's already figured out that in a place like this, her skills will probably be extremely useful. So she needs to know where she can formulate antidotes -- and quite possibly poisons as well. She's investigated the infirmary already, and while it's decent, it won't do for formulating the more complex antidotes she's expecting to need.]

[This is the last place she'd want to work on them in, with poor instructions, no labels on some of the materials in stock, and no idea how much of the equipment works. However, she'll do her best with what she has.]

[Sasuke's room]

[Exploring the dormitories found her the door with Sasuke's name on it, sending her blood running cold. Sasuke, here? There are certain assumptions that she feels almost driven to make; while she doesn't act immediately, within a day or two of her arrival, she finds the room unoccupied and slips into it, tamping down her chakra as best she can and concealing herself.]

[Waiting.]

[He has to come back, this is where he sleeps, and when he does, she will do what she failed to before. Naruto's not here now to suffer the consequences of her attempt. It will just be the two of them.]

[She'll do it this time. She'll kill him. She'll end this destructive tension that's been tearing the remnants of their team apart for years. For Naruto, for Kakashi, for herself... she'll do this.]

Comments

[true_noir]

No, I think not.

[She smiled enigmatically, taking another bite of oatmeal as she looked at Sakura more carefully up close. The expressions were different. This one was very nervous and definitely did not seem to recognize her.

But it could be fun to tease.]

You will become accustomed to oddities like this in time.

[medicalpunch]

Oddities.

[She studies Chloe thoughtfully, still uncertain about all of this.]

You know who I am. How?

[true_noir]

We have met, but it was not you.

[She chuckled, shrugging and grinning over at her from where she sat. She set her spoon into her bowl and reached up to brush some of the hair out of her face.]

This is not the first world I have been stolen away to. I think you might be grateful not to remember the place we met in. There are worse things than oatmeal, Sakura.

[medicalpunch]

[Well, that's an ominous thing to hear.]

So it both was and was not me, in this... other place you were in?

[Bizarre, and yet, she's already realized that she needs to open her mind up if she wants to avoid being driven mad by this place.]

[true_noir]

I'm afraid I couldn't be more precise, even if I wanted to. If you ever meet someone called "The Doctor," he might be able to explain it better. However, yes. It was you, but it was not the you in front of me.

[She chuckled and shrugged.]

These worlds are not good for those who wish never to be confused or feel some strange sense of deja vu, I am finding.

[medicalpunch]

That much, I can agree with!

[As for the rest of it... she's really not sure what to think about any of this. Different worlds -- her world, gone! -- someone who knows some other version of her... somehow...]

I'm still not entirely sure that this isn't some kind of dream.

[true_noir]

[She set the bowl to the side and reached out abruptly. Her fingers moved to pinch at Sakura's cheek while she giggled.]

A test, if you will. I'm afraid, though, that I feel quite real. However, it may yet be a nightmare for those who are still awake.

[medicalpunch]

[The motion is unexpected and not particularly welcome; Sakura pulls back with a sharp look at her.]

From everything I've seen so far, nightmare is about right.

[true_noir]

[The smirk on her face said she found that reaction amusing, though she collected her bowl again and kept her hands to herself for the moment.]

And what have you seen so far that leads you to believe that? Not that I doubt you. I am simply curious.

[medicalpunch]

[She waves a hand.]

The floors I passed through to get here. The idea that my world has been destroyed. [Her tone says clearly enough that she doesn't believe it.]

[true_noir]

A good example, yes...

I suggest not trusting your senses completely in this place. They can be altered. Memories can be changed. Perceptions can be made to match what they wish you to experience. Truth is a fickle mistress, not worth searching for.

[medicalpunch]

[Cheerful. This might just increase her conviction that this is a hideous illusion, all of it.]

How do they gain the power to do all that, and to so many people? [She knows how Madara is planning to do it -- do the creators of this place have a similar power source?]

[true_noir]

I don't know. I have just recently arrived, like you. [She tapped the bowl of oatmeal with her spoon as a reminder.] Before? It was a goddess, and those tend to have considerable power.

[medicalpunch]

I'll have to look for the answer, then.

[She's... dubious about that last part. How real are the gods, really?]

[true_noir]

You will, if the answer is that important to you. I do not know that it truly is worth worrying about... unless you wish to oppose them, rather than simply wait their attention out.

Eventually, everyone leaves. Perhaps years, but nothing in these places is eternal.

[medicalpunch]

And when they leave, where do they go? If our worlds are truly ended, as they claim...

[true_noir]

To the blasted fragments of what remains... or back to their homes if the holders of the tower lie... or to another lying, demanding realm, as I did to this one.

[medicalpunch]

[Charming, all of that.]

I think I'll hold onto the idea that we're being lied to.

[true_noir]

You are probably right, Sakura. I ... do not trust much of what they say, though I am certain enough that I will be eating their oatmeal today.

[medicalpunch]

I hate giving them control of anything. Even if it's just my food.

[It's a growl; as much as she acknowledges that they probably have control here in the Tower at least, she still hates it, she still wants to resist, even if she knows it's futile.]

[true_noir]

... my solution is to seize control in other ways, wherever I am able. It may be an illusion, but it is comforting.

[Admittedly, this meant that she sometimes did some fairly horrible things in the name of feeling 'in control']

[medicalpunch]

In whatever way you can.

[As much as she can, she intends to fight.]

[The question is, is it worth starting with the oatmeal? To comply with their wishes, or to make herself sick to what is likely to be little larger effect?]

[true_noir]

In every way that I can...

[She shoved the spoon into her oatmeal and leaned forward, an impish, almost vicious grin on her face. there was a glob of the stuff on it, dangling between her fingers and it was obvious that she was tempted to try and shove it into Sakura's mouth.

In fact, after a second's hesitation, she did try to do just that.]

[medicalpunch]

[The obviousness works against her; Sakura's reflexes are too good for that, and she manages to grab Chloe's wrist before that glob gets too close to her lips.]

Hey! The hell do you think you're doing?

[true_noir]

Trying to take control of the situation and make sure you eat your oatmeal of course. [Said with an impish grin as she leaned a little forward.]