001 | time here all but means nothing, just shadows that move across the wall.

[encourage]

You know, I have better things to do than daydream. Do I daydream?

[ Sakura has to stop and consider this, since she doesn't think she does so much anymore. Hadn't she been going to the store? The weird one, one of the first rebuilt after the attack, that'd made no sense when she'd stopped in to see how things were doing. Who had she even met at the time? Why had she come in again? ]

Not that it matters. Come on, wake up, stop staring into... oblivion? What kind of place is this to dream about?

[ Dreams are what make sense, if this is more of a nightmare after current events. No floor, endless stars? Points of light in darkness and buildings that feel more like child's building blocks strewn about an area, held up by nothing she could actively grasp as being there and concrete left her unsteady. What had -- been mentioned before? She pinches herself, flinches, and frowns. ]

Ouch! I knew that trick wouldn't work.

[ Things could stand to be a little more familiar. Sakura runs a hand through her hair, schooling herself into meditative breathing. Look. Observe. React accordingly. ]

All right, the stress has finally gotten to me. I'm standing in the middle of space, and there's an information booth. I wonder if it has any tips for how to locate your sanity when it's gone missing.

[ She makes herself stop again, largely because she's talking out loud to herself, and this isn't as helpful as she wishes it was. Time to pretend an audience! ]

Hey, if anyone can hear me, a little guidance would be appreciated! You've got a really nice place here, but there's a few dozen appointments I have to keep and a Hokage I need to check in on, along with most of a hospital to help run, and a war to prepare for, so as much as I'd love to stay, I need to get going.

[ Another pause, and she looks upward toward the sky that isn't the proper sky, and sighs. ]

Or I can use the information booth and file a complaint with whoever's in charge. [ Adjusting the gloves on her hands, she smiles. ] In a manner of speaking.

Comments

[encourage]

[ She smiles wryly. ]

Now that I've described the place, care to fill in any missing details the general overview missed out on?

[lamb_of_gold]

Is there somewhere you prefer I begin?

[encourage]

Where-ever makes sense to you.

[ She blew on the surface of her tea, studying it for a moment. ]

I'll try and follow along.

[lamb_of_gold]

Hmm. Well, I suppose essentials would be a good place to start. To begin, once you grow closer to the people on the Plane, be the closness a positive one or based in animosity, your world will slowly begin to merge with theirs.

Obviously, you've seen that you can come and go with ease. Know that you can bring any thing you're touching, or very close to, but you may not bring another person, unless he or she can come here already. Similarly, anyone you speak to of this place will promptly forget...

[Hm. It's been awhile since he's had to make the whole speil. Best to let that much settle for now.]

[encourage]

[ Sakura stares at Mu over her tea, aghast. ]

Our worlds merge? Forming bonds causes our worlds to merge?

[lamb_of_gold]

Yes. Sometimes the changes are subtle ones. Others, not so much.

[encourage]

What changes have you seen for yourself?

[ Her voice softens as she sits back, trying to make this make sense. Noooo way did she need to make her world situation more complicated, or anyone else's. ]

[lamb_of_gold]

Alternate languages on signs, unusual technologies, cherry blossom trees in Greece, calendars reading the wrong date...my mergers tend to involve many little things.

[encourage]

[ she sips her tea, falling silent. that's... big, in her mind. because small signs or not, it means a mixing of worlds. ]

What happens when worlds are fully merged?

[lamb_of_gold]

I'm afraid I can't answer that - they vary far too much.

[encourage]

[ She sighs, soft and resigned. ]

I had a feeling you'd say that. Yet it's happened already, hasn't it?

[lamb_of_gold]

Here and there. They're considerably more common between those who shared, give or take some differences, a world already.

[encourage]

Then wildly different worlds take longer. Thank goodness.

[ Pending no one close enough to her is here, it's a comforting thought. ]

[lamb_of_gold]

Generally speaking, yes. But as I said, it varies from merger to merger.

[encourage]

Something I'll have to see for myself in time. You make it all sound so inevitable.