pawnstorm | ( OPEN )

Who: Momkura &: fam (Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura-hime), Setsuna, and YOU.
When: 6/7 and onward.
Where: Caissa, Dunyaland, Lasker in general.
What: Adult woman takes water fights too seriously, a "family" outing, and some snooping. General job log, in other words.
Rating: This will be a family friendly log!! ~~we hope.~~

A - the one with super soakers. (caissa, OPEN)

[ One might think that, once someone's become a parent, they give up their childish whims. They become dignified and adult, either out of a desire to be a good role model or the absence of anything remotely resembling free time. Especially as a... well, she's not a single parent, but Sarada was largely raised by her mother alone, so you'd think Sakura would have grown out of things like chucking water balloons at civilians.

And she did, kind of. That sort of prank was more Naruto's schtick, but while he was almost always the mastermind and instigator, Sakura used to play along, and motherhood had never truly taken that mischievous side away from her. Just because she's more serious than she used to be doesn't mean she's had her sense of humor surgically removed, and she's getting paid to do this. Why shouldn't she have a little fun with it?

"A little fun" for a ninja, though, involves treating it like war games, except with one of these pump-action water guns instead of the sharp steel she's used to. Driven into an alley to reload, her back to the wall and her wet hair sticking to her forehead and cheekbones, she looks up as another hero takes refuge in the same secluded spot, likely chased in there by the same herd of civilian teenagers that had ganged up on her. ]

They got you too, huh?

B - the one with the role reversal. (caissa, CLOSED to setsuna)

[ Later that day — much later — Sakura has relinquished her water gun in order to finally escape the chaos, mostly because she's been at it for hours without rest or food. Hardly a first for her, of course, but this is a street festival, not a literal war. She's soaked, of course, but even in the waning light of early evening it's warm enough that she's no longer dripping wet. She has her arms crossed to keep warm as the night cools, wandering among the multitude of food vendors, stopping occasionally to see what they're offering.

Not that she's that picky an eater, but man could she go for some dumplings right now... ]

C - the one with family trips. (dunyaland, CLOSED to sakuras & naruto & sasuke)

[ Naruto, as she expected, hadn't taken much convincing to come along. She knew Sasuke would be a harder sell, but when she went to his room, she hadn't expected Sakura-chan to open the door instead. Remembering the girl from one of her first days here, remembering sitting in the hall and consoling her in her homesickness and loneliness, Sakura doesn't even hesitate or think about it before she offers for her to come with them to Lasker.

As they walk through the sprawling amusement park, it oddly hadn't even occurred to Sakura that they might be mistaken for being blood related until she heard a passing couple remark that they make a sweet family. It takes her off guard, and she has a brief, sudden pang of homesickness herself. She misses her daughter.

Before anyone notices her pause (she hopes), Sakura distracts herself by pointing out the nearest attraction. ]

Oh, look, they have a haunted house.

D - in which there's detective work. (lasker, OPEN)

[ The flashing neon lighting reflects oddly on hair like Sakura's. She stands in front of the Double Duo arena, looking contemplative, but it doesn't look like she's going in there quite yet. Instead, she absent-mindedly flicks the corner of a playing card.

You do not find her, she finds you sounds like the sort of thing you'd say about someone in Sakura's profession — the profession she had at home, that is. It turns out to be true, and while the brief, cryptic meeting gives her another direction and a reason to be wary, it leaves her with a lot more questions than she went into it with. For example: ]

So what's Double Duo about? [ She says this to whatever hero happens to be nearby, or to herself, it's not really clear... ]

Threaded | Flat

Actually, I... kinda fell into one of the water spouts running from those kids.

*Lola was completely soaked, which she'd managed to avoid most of her time playing this game. Which was mostly out of pride because she had dressed with getting wet in mind. Sadly while Lola's reaction time was great she didn't plan ahead when she jumped away from one water fight directly through a geyser. It launched a lot of water up right after she left the ground. And her jumps are high... doesn't mean she can actually redirect in the air.*

...I love your hair!

*Lola's pale pink didn't reach the root anymore, dark brown for approximately half an inch at her scalp. Made more obvious by how wet her hair was. And while she was clearly health conscious and fit... she hardly had the physique of a proper fighter. Nor the awareness as Sakura clearly surprised her and Lola's little exclamation was not at all stealthy.*

[There's so much to look at here. Naruto spends at least half the morning gawking- taking in the sights and watching visitors to rushing by from one attraction to another. He's been to festivals back home and he's seen celebrations before, but he can't remember ever seeing something quite like this. Naruto ends up trailing behind his companions a number of time, looking back just in time to realize they've gone ahead without him and jogging to catch up.

And that's when Sakura-chan points out the ride where people are screaming.
In line, some of the people are holding onto each other.]

A-ah...

Yamato-taichou's face comes back to him, lit up by flashlight.
No... nothing can be scarier than that. This'll be nothing. Right? It's not like there's real ghosts inside, and he doesn't want to look uncool in front of everyone.]

There's not even a lot of people waiting. [Because they know what's in there NO DON'T FREAK OUT] So we should get in line, right? [Someone please say no. Please. Save him from himself.]

[ As the dusk nearly passes, less and less people are playing. Instead, lamps of all shapes and sizes are multiplying in place. It's the indication that night is here, meaning everyone will soon unwind if they're not already. True enough, people have begun to settle down, returning home or heading down to the food court for dinner.

But for the busy workers, the day isn't quite over. Restaurants, cafes, stalls... Every one of them become brighter in order to catch attention. A particular Ma Jiang-themed stall has Setsuna as a volunteer tonight, and he's been tasked to help draw customers in. In front of his designated stall, he roams, trying to invite passing Heroes and locals to try the food.

Eventually, he comes across a particular someone. Although the passing female Hero is no longer soaked, Setsuna notices that her clothes are still rather damp. That must feel uncomfortable... So rather than advertise, he ends up offering something else. ]

Are you all right?

[Potemkin is about as contemplative, but looking down at something in his hand instead. He turns to Sakura when he hears her question.]

It seems to be a competitive game played with trading cards. People come to spectate it like a sport.

[He's flipping one over in his hand right now, too. Sakura might notice that the illustration (of a hulking, roaring giant) is actually the man she's talking to. No wonder he was examining it curiously.]

[You know what...she doesn't really know either.]

I was just given these Double Duo cards myself...[She looks around to see if there's a help desk.] Perhaps knowing how to play will help us investigate further, all I know is that it looks like people collect the cards as well?

[ Yes, to be fair to such late bloomers as Sakura, even the cheap price tag of 200 colle per hour might be worth a longer perusal to most. Moreover, their situation so often called for representing Blanc's Hall of Heroes in ... such similarly interesting ways that those needing the extra income are not necessarily so unused to getting their hands dirty. Either literally, or stooping to the level of adults playing the games of brats.

In this case, it's the latter. Levi, unable to quantify shooting people with water games as good 'ol screwing around, has taken the helm with... maybe alarming seriousness. Unfortunately, he's not the only one, though one might argue that he asked for the reprisal when talking down Blanc elites. (That's okay. He got that pig good before he fled for cover. He just didn't manage to avoid the water-squirting robots.)

—so now he's here. Crouching in the corner with another damp Hero, by chance. He sighs. ]

It's a mess out there. I'm sure you already know that.

A

C!

no subject

D

d!

A