Mission: Building the Future in Pagoda

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who volunteered
What: A very special mission that will fill you with a youthly sense of purpose. Or something.
When: July 20th - July 24th
Where: The enclosure of Pagoda
Summary: Mission detailed here. There are survivors to help and buildings to repair, and plenty more to keep the volunteers on their toes.
Rating: PG-13 for reasons

Direct further questions here!

Comments

All The Days

[etherealblast]

[When Fayt had heard the call for volunteers, he'd signed up in a heartbeat. He couldn't do much of anything in Zompania-- not really, even if he still considered his actions there a failure on his part. But here? Maybe he could do some good.

The atmosphere of the village is grimmer than he'd ever seen, and he sets straight to work helping with repairs. He at least knew enough to be able to help with those, and over the next few days clearing away debris and repairing buildings will be his focus.

On occasion, he might choose to expedite the process of removing debris by using the ring of disintegration, making small piles of splintered wood disappear from time to time into a shower of white sparks if the debris isn't salvageable, especially if it's still stained with something not mud. He can't use it on anything large, but it's something, and at one point he finds a book he leafs through, frowning a little at the unreadable text.

Though he's focusing on repairs, he can be found using what little healing symbology he has to help out with the occasional accidents the shifts are causing the repair workers, making attempts at healing enough to transport them to the medical area.

At night he'll be just as tired as everyone else, but he will spend some time trying to talk to fellow volunteers and Pagoda residents alike, and while his efforts to talk to people seem mixed, he does manage to meet a kid who's got a basketball on the third day in the late afternoon. It's pretty quick work to encourage a group of teenagers to help him erect a bare bones hoop using a piece of wood, and easy enough to trace out a court a ways outside the camp for them to play.]

[yourhatred]

[Itachi isn't a water bender, but he's been working with the filial spirit of that element enough that he's able to move buckets of it with relative ease. It helps with the cleaning up process, and what he can't clean or clear he can burn.

There's a fine mist around him, water infused with his chakra to help make up for what his eyes can't see when it comes to others getting near. He wants to make sure people stay clear of his efforts.

When he nears Fayt, he lowers that mist for a time. He's already aware that the boy has been around moving debris in the same area. As he stops, his ears pick up the familiar sound of paper, like pages being flipped.]

Find something?

[etherealblast]

[Fayt glances up as Itachi approaches in mild surprise before nodding back to the tome in his hand. He'd seen him moving around the general area, but had been focused on his own work.

Well, at least until he'd unearthed this thing from beneath a pile of wood and glass.]

Some sort of weird book.... can't make anything out in it, though. [Something even what the Malnosso had done to them couldn't translate. It was an oddity, to be sure, and after flipping through a few more pages with a thoughtful look on his face, he offers it over to the man.]

Everything the Malnosso place inside the villages should be legible to us, right? [Thanks to shift or otherwise, something translated it all. But not this.]

[yourhatred]

[The ninja accepts it from him, his one good eye spinning red with the Sharingan as he squints at it. After a moment, he pulls out a pair of spectacles and tries again. Though he would be able to read much of it to begin with, Fayt is right. It doesn't seem to be a language that's decipherable by whatever usually translates for them at all.

That, or someone didn't want them reading this particular language, and that made the text all the more interesting.]

...Should be.

[He gives the boy a look over his glasses.] What were you planning on doing with this?

[etherealblast]

Well, I just found it... I didn't really have any plans yet. [He shrugs, thinking for a moment as he runs a hand through his hair, watching as Itachi takes a look. He was a bit curious about it, but he wasn't sure it wouldn't get confiscated, either. If it wasn't from the village, then it was probably owned by someone who came from the outside.]

You have any ideas?

*wouldn't be able to read - whoops

[yourhatred]

If I had to guess, I'd say it belonged to a cultist. Whatever language it is, the Malnosso likely don't want us reading it, so it isn't translated for us.

[He hands the book back carefully, though he's still highly curious about it and wouldn't mind keeping it longer.]

At least that seems the most likely answer. Why they would have something like this with them when they attacked, I couldn't say.

[etherealblast]

I've got to agree with you there. It's the most likely explanation for why it's here but we can't read it, anyway. Someone must have brought it in during the attack. [He eyes the book cover again, lips thinning slightly as he takes it. The cultists he'd fought didn't seem like they carried around books for entertainment, so the guy was probably right about the Malnosso not wanting them to read it. He glances around, trying to see if the MSF are anywhere nearby.

Even a little bit of information, illegible as it was, could be valuable.....] They're probably going to want to burn this or something.

[He didn't sound all that keen on the idea.]

[yourhatred]

Most likely.

[And he's sure they have good reason to.

Still. Anything that might be a clue is worth looking into. He needs a chance to look at this further, or to get someone else to look over it. That would mean bringing it back to the enclosure. He's not sure how good of an idea that is, but if it did cause problems for them at least they would have learned something else about their enemy.

So is it worth the risk?]

Will you turn it in to them?

[etherealblast]

I don't know. Personally, I'm not all that inclined to hand it over without knowing why they want us to. [Fayt had dealt with being kept in the dark far too to much in his life to take orders without question. He wasn't a soldier, wasn't even close, even if that was what they amounted to for the organization.]

What do you think?

[yourhatred]

I think it needs to be studied. Deciphered.

Unfortunately there's also the possibility that it's dangerous. Whether or not it's just a book, we'll have to handle it carefully.

[etherealblast]

I'm not exactly a linguist.... I don't know how you'd even begin to translate this thing. [He bounces the book in his hand a bit, though that stops when he mentions that it's dangerous.] You think it's dangerous outright, or just whatever it might give instruction for is?

[yourhatred]

I couldn't say. The Malnosso have their reasons for wanting to be rid of them, and it might not be purely self-serving on their part.

The question is whether or not learning from them might be worth the risk. [Itachi has been a risk taker, but but if it means putting others in danger.]

[etherealblast]

Yeah, you're right. [Fayt's glancing down at the book again for a long moment, before shaking his head.] Maybe they might have their reasons, maybe not.... I'd personally like to find out. [But...] but if I think about it rationally, I can't make use of it, whatever it is.

[Without a functioning communicator, he'd never manage to understand a word of this thing.] You said it needs to be studied, so.... do you want it?

[borntorebel]

[The team of Lucetians here wasn't particularly large, but Leia still knew so few of them that it was strange for her to feel so out of place. She spent a lot of her time, day and night, attempting to help where she could. A destroyed village hardly needed a diplomatic princess-turned Galactic Senator.

But, on the third evening, she spots a blue-haired young man playing a game with some of the younger people that consists of a hoop, a ball and some symbols on the ground. It's interesting and new, so she stops to watch what their doing for a while. Totally not avoiding having to talk to Han, what are you talking about?

When the Pagodans leave to get some rest, Leia approaches her fellow Lucetian with a curious expression on her face.]

What is that game called?

[etherealblast]

[Fayt had just flopped to the ground to take a swig from his water bottle, so it's a surprise to see someone else approach after the kids had already left. It was nice, playing a full out game again, but better than that had been seeing some of the teenagers relax a bit. A basketball game wasn't going to fix what had happened, not at all, but it was clearly a momentary reprieve some of them needed. He tilts his head upward towards the woman, bangs sticking to his forehead slightly from the earlier exertion as he rests an elbow on his knee.]

It's called basketball. A team sport people play back in my universe. Seems like some of the kids here know it, too.

[borntorebel]

[Leia is active. She has been her entire life and finding new activities in a world where most of her everyday duties were no longer relevant is a priority.]

It reminds me of something called Smash Ball in my universe.

[She smiles a little, spreading her hands out.]

I was too short to play with the other children growing up, however.

[etherealblast]

Smash ball....? [He looks a little curious, wondering how similar it might be for a moment before smiling a little at the short comment. He knew that feeling.] Yeah, height can be an advantage.. or disadvantage, in basketball, depending on your position. Is it the same in smash ball?

[borntorebel]

Yes, very much so. I suppose the fact that I was the only girl there might have had something to do with it as well. Males of any species find it hard to be beaten by the female, I've found. Even in more cerebral games like Chess and Politics.

[Her smile is bright and self-deprecating. And she hopes just disarming enough so that she can learn this new and interesting game.]

But not all of them.

[etherealblast]

Not all of them, no. [He understands what she's saying, before shaking his head with a raised brow. Did she think he'd say she couldn't play?] But I think my best friend would have torn me a new one over something like that.

Did you want to play?

[borntorebel]

[Leia can't help but chuckle brightly at his answer. It's not every guy who can so honestly say that there's at least one strong woman in his life. It's refreshing.]

I'd love to learn how to play, but is it possible with only two people? You did say it's a team sport.

[etherealblast]

Yeah, we can just go one on one. [He stands, settling the ball on one hip with a hand and dusting some dirt off his pants with the other, not that there's a whole lot of point to the motion when he's been clearing rubble all day and looks it.]

Probably better to teach someone that way too, come to think of it.

[borntorebel]

Alright.

[Leia removes the blaster ftom her hip and the billowy top, revealing a skin-tight tanktop that she discovered in the stores of Luceti. Her pants fit snugly, as well as her boots, but she's worn similar clothes during fights and can hold her own. She's glad that she'd decided to wear her hair in the crown she preferred, instead of some of the other styles she wore. This was best for when she was active, after all.]

So, what are the rules?

[etherealblast]

[Huh, that worked.... He nods to her before motioning with his head towards the marks that had been carved into the dirt and marked out with bits of rock and rubble. It wasn't the nicest court in the world, but it functioned well enough.] Those lines mark the boundaries of the court and--

[He goes into a rather casual, but enthusiastic explanation of the game, and then into on how one on one works, as well as how to hold the ball, shoot it, and pass it.]

[borntorebel]

[She listens carefully to his explanation, filling the similarities and differences to Smashball awsy for later. Perhaps when they return to Luceti, she can find her own ball to practice with. Ehen he talks about "shooting" the ball, she nods slightly.]

Perhaps you might let me "handle" the ball to acquaint myself with it before we begin playing?

[ofwesternwinds]

[Rudy had also been quick to volunteer when he’d heard the announcement. Frankly… he wasn’t ready to go back to Zompania. It reminded him too much of certain events in the past. So, instead he’s doing his best to make up by doing whatever he can in Pagoda. The work proves just as trying, both physically and emotionally. And as much as he’d been trying to hold it in, dealing with the flashbacks and the nightmares haven’t been as easy lately.

But there’s a brief reprieve of those thoughts when he spots a familiar face among a group of kids. There’s a hoop, a ball… This game definitely looks familiar to Rudy, but there’s still some things about it that seem kind of strange. Still, it does bring back fond memories. He’ll watch the game for a while, only approaching once the crowd starts the dissipate.]

Hey. [There’s a smile and a casual wave as he approaches.] Good game.