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

[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?

[yourhatred]

[The ninja is quietly thoughtful for a few moments. Does he want it?]

... I might take it. For now. I will bring the matter up with my partner.

[etherealblast]

Works for me. [He offers over the book once more, glad at least someone was going to look into it.] All I know is I probably don't have a chance in hell of deciphering it myself.

[yourhatred]

I doubt I do either.

[But he takes the item anyway.]

But if we can ever find a cooperative former cultist... Also not likely.

[etherealblast]

You don't? [Huh, from the way he'd been talking.... but he snorts a short, humorless laugh at the thought of a cooperative cultist.] Yeah, my guess is there isn't a lot of chance of that.

[yourhatred]

I will decide if it's worth bringing back to the village before we're done here. If it seems like too much of a threat, I'll leave them here anyway.