Mission: Burying the Past in Zompania

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who volunteered
What: A very special mission that will bring you honor. Or maybe just traumatic memories. Whatever.
When: July 20th - July 24th
Where: Zompania, or what's left of it
Summary: Mission detailed here. There are graves to dig and buildings to raze, and plenty more for the volunteers to stay busy with.
Rating: PG-13 for probable mentions of gore and other sad things

Direct further questions here!

Comments

[endgames]

[The moment the dual missions were announced, Shikamaru knew one would be getting more volunteers than the other. They'd need every one of those extra hands too, and more still after the mission is over for them. But for all its difficulty, Pagoda would be the cleaner of the two options. For everything grim that enclosure was put through, there's always something positive to be found in recovery.

(that's the feeling he remembers most about rebuilding Konoha, at least - everyone moving forward)

There's no drudging up that kind of optimism for Zompania, and it's the more uncomfortable mission to start. So it's where Shikamaru knows he needs to be. After this, though... Maybe I should spend more time in Luceti again.]

[Days 1-3]

These suits are too damn itchy. Anyone got a backscratcher I can fit under here, or something?

[Being back here out of the thick of it somehow makes it weirder, Shikamaru thinks. Also the hazmat suits are itchy, if you hadn't heard yet. It's something he makes sure to loudly and repeatedly complain about to anyone within earshot in between the work they do, so don't worry if you haven't yet. He won't let you miss it.

As for said work, he doesn't slack on the job. With a wide array of explosives, plus Asuma's jutsu, he has a lot to lend the demolitions part of the project, and he can be found among loud blasts and thick clouds of ash. When he gets weary of that, in a need of a break to recover chakra, he pitches in collecting the bodies, or the bleached white skeletons that refuse to burn. A storage scroll makes it easy carrying many of them at once and transporting them to the graves. That's less gruesome work for everyone.]

[Night 3/Morning 4]

[They'll be putting together the memorial sometime tomorrow. Between that, and just the memories of what happened here, there's this whole atmosphere of paying one's respects. Since it's rough sleeping anyways (maybe if these hazmat suits weren't so itchy guys), Shikamaru excuses himself from his tent for a late night stroll away from camp. He doesn't leave without informing an MSF soldier and leaving some collateral to guarantee his return; he has a good enough reputation with them by now that they trust him and permit it.

Catch him on the way out, or go with? It's nearly dawn by the time he returns, so he'll again be available then if anyone sees him coming back in.]

day 1

[musubi]

[Complaining is supposed to be Isamu's job, Shikamaru, just in case you didn't get the memo. As it is, he's feeling royally deposed.

Well not really, but he doesn't want to be the redundant one.

Instead, he'll just have to fall back on his snarky charm, or at least he considers it charming. The girls might go for it in the movies, but he hasn't had any luck with it here. Or back home, for that matter. At least he's trying to keep from adding to the dreary atmosphere.

He doesn't have much reason to be here at all. He has a place to volunteer at already - 7th Heaven. But a lot of the usual patrons there (as well as the employees) are spread out to the to mission locations anyway. So rather than be a complete bum in their absence, he finds himself back in Zompania. When had he developed a need to be useful?]

Why don't you just dump some baby powder in the damn thing if it bothers you so much?

[endgames]

[SNOOZE YOU LOSE. Alas the world is not enough to contain their combined, pained whining.]

What, you got some on hand?

[musubi]

No? What would I have any for?

Clinic might, though. We have one of those set up here, right? [Someone's bound to get injured bringing buildings down, he imagines.]

[endgames]

I don't think they're prepped for changing diapers.

[musubi]

You use baby powder for more than changing diapers, man! Come on! Ninjas should know this sort of thing.

[Okay, so it is called 'baby' powder. But still.]

[endgames]

Most guys just wrap themselves in bandages for everything.

[musubi]

... Even for itching?

[Because that mental image amuses the hell out of him.]

[endgames]

Keeps shit like bugs and poison ivy out.

Night 3

[generalflirt]

[ LEAVE WITH HIM OBVIOUSLY. Actually Masaomi noticed him getting up (how would he not, because he was shaking a tent there) so he makes to follow him, folding an arm behind his head. Come on bro, BRO, let's go.

(his reputation is pretty mixed) ]

[endgames]

[Let's gbro?

Well this is going to be a long walk. For all the meandering, there's a purpose to this stroll that Shikamaru doesn't expect he'll be fortunate enough to achieve in a timely fashion.]

You're not gonna whine at me later for this, are you?

[generalflirt]

Of course I am, you're denying both of us sleep. [ But he won't, not really. After all, they're going out to g'bro right now. He just wishes he wasn't in the shift hazmat suit ]

[endgames]

[I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyways...]

Oi, oi, don't put it all on me. It's not like you had to come.

[generalflirt]

Don't you give me that, Shikamaru Nara. Where you're venturing, I'm bound to follow.

[endgames]

There's supposed to be some life lesson you learn as a kid about bridges...

[generalflirt]

Well fortunately for us, I sort of get the feeling Zompania's on the edge of a tundra. No big things here to bridge over.

[endgames]

[Shikamaru hums at that and, with no pockets in these hazmat suits to stuff his hands in, folds them behind his neck instead. Truth be told, that's the only thing that really bothers him about the suits but oh well. They'll be gone tomorrow.

Keeping his ears pricked for the sounds of any animals out here he continues to wander about, stopping every now and then to examine the trees.]

[corrinesbell]

[Sheena ended up in Zompania because she figured nobody who'd been there for the start of the draft would go, and she knew about how much work they would have to do. More hands make faster work. Hard work, too, she's exhausted by the end of most days.

So the thing Shikamaru keeps doing with a scroll? Definitely interesting. She stops him with a tap on the shoulder once, right as he finishes...doing that thing.]

What is that? [She knows stuff like wing pack and the idea of storing big items in small spaces, but he's using paper. She uses paper. This could work out nicely.] The...stuff you're doing here.

[endgames]

[Shikamaru had just finished sealing another body into the scroll. Once the cloud of smoke dissipates (fairly fast), standing over him like she is Sheena may notice the kanji for "body" repeated several times on the parchment.]

It's a storage scroll. [He looks back down at the paper.] I'm sealing the bodies into it so they're easier to carry. I can transport more than a cart would with it, and it's less of a pain that way.

[corrinesbell]

[Oh really. The scroll gets a better appraisal now - she can read it without the benefit of weird translation occurrences - and the 'body body body' is a little creepy but effective.]

Can you teach that to people?

[endgames]

Sorta. You'd have to know how to mold chakra first. That's something I can also teach, but it would take time.

[Sealing is one of the easier jutsus, however, once you have that down. For these purposes anyways.]

[corrinesbell]

Oh. I dunno if I can do that; it's just that this kinda moving stuff around looks a lot less...messy. And way less likely to upset anybody.

[endgames]

Heh. [He rolls up the scroll, making to sling it across his back and rise in the same motion.] Less smelly too. Are you also collecting bodies?

[corrinesbell]

I'm doing whatever there is to do. So, yeah, it's stuff like that right now. [Sheena pulls a face.] Can't say I like it very much. It was a really awful fight and some stuff happened that I'm not sure I totally understand yet.

[endgames]

Mm. I'm not sure I want to either, though the extra intelligence would make things simpler. I should've brought my camera.