For her part, Sakura was eying one of the gelatinous circles. "That's really peach flavored?"
The server nodded, handing over a plate with the jiggling mass on it. Sakura still wasn't exactly sold on this experience, but she was hungry, and it was different enough (and affordable enough) compared to what she'd eaten on Stacy that she figured it was worth trying at least once.
Along with what might be tea, though she wasn't one to make bets around this place.
"Mind if I join you, sir?" Most the outside seating was occupied, but indoors was too stuffy to bear. Never hurt to ask.
Delicious delicious headcanon!harunoApril 26 2011, 09:23:00 UTC
"Winged, or wingless?" She paused, realizing she'd be better off clarify who she was asking that on. "Around the world, I guess, along with these Common Welsh Greens. Are there records of them on ship, in the Media Library?" If the field of study was that specialized, she wondered... What were the limitations in the Media Library's files?
Or, more to the point, in what Stacy kept accessible there? Manipulating information flow by memory or access.
"Winged, all dragons are that I know of. I haven't seen any information on dragons or anything from my world on the ship, but wizards do not deal in Muggle technology for the most part. Any knowledge on them would be in books, not in the odd screens they have in the library." Which he had never quite figured out, mind.
She nodded, internalizing this tidbit of information and reflecting on how that was at odds with her own knowledge. Dragons were wingless, and also mythological, back home. Kakashi's technique taken from whoever had invented it originally could create dragons out of water for the duration of its use, and those were certainly not winged.
So it was, with these drastic differences between worlds. "With worlds gone, do you think it means most of the knowledge like that gone with them? Thinking about the books and scrolls alone lost on my world... and how many have no equivalent in the Media Library?"
She ate another bite of her not-quite-recognizable gelatin, falling quiet.
He raised a finger to forestall what seemed to be a growing sense of disquiet. "Knowledge is discovered by people. Perhaps some things have been lost, but with all the people on the ship both out and still in storage I think the loss is much less than you fear. And even lost knowledge can be rediscovered. It hasn't changed, after all. The formula for the Elixir of Dreaming is the same whether I myself know it or not. So the knowledge is not gone, as you put it. It lives on in the minds of those who are here, and if not there, than it simply awaits rediscovery."
Sakura listened, absorbing what Remus said. It was easy getting caught up in her own thoughts, chasing more negatives than positives around. Being without her usual sounding boards was starting to be detrimental overall.
This time, when she nodded, it seemed like something had actually made an impact. "You're right. It's still here in all of us," she repeated, simplifying a bit. "As long as we remember, or we keep looking, or we keep trying, it's all out there."
The scale was beyond how she'd lived back home, forcibly expanded due to circumstance. "More than we even knew before."
"Exactly," he said, pleased that she had understood.
"If we run any danger, I think it is that many of us are alone. Not that we have no friends or allies, but that we have no one else that can quite understand us. I don't think there are any other wizards here, or even from other worlds whose magic works quite like mine. But for those of us for whom that's true, it means we need to be all the more true to ourselves."
Sakura held her tea between her hands. "I think I understand why you had the distinct pleasure of teaching at this school called Hogwarts," she said, lips turning up into a small, sincere smile. "You have a way of making people think about what you're saying. And listen," she added, if it was more a quiet admission on her part, and a roundabout way of saying thank you.
She'd needed to hear something like this, probably for a while. It was difficult being on her own, when she'd been such a creature of home for the entirety of her life. Sakura had never dreamed of leaving Konoha, not really. She'd never thought about leaving all the people she knew and trusted, but it hadn't been about that choice.
We need to be true to ourselves. Sakura figured she hadn't been doing too bad a job of that so far, if she'd stumbled. Because even if we're not alone, and we can be lonely, it's still a choice we make for ourselves.
"Thank you for the compliment, though the truth is really that it was a matter of desperation on the part of the Headmaster. The position had become increasingly difficult to fill in recent years." His smile faded as he contemplated his cup. "In truth I was a very poor choice, and though I don't regret my time there, it's better than it's over."
He really, truly ought to speak to someone about the nature of his condition. It was unfair to put others in danger simply because up till now there had been no moon to threaten him. But could he rely on that?
Sakura watched him in quiet, setting her cup down. Her hands folded over each other on the table, still. "Why?" is the first question to come to mind, and in her unguarded moment, the first thing spoken.
Confronted with the direct question, and especially in light of his current thoughts, he found himself quite unable to avoid answering in any diplomatic sense. Besides, it was certainly no secret in England, and he really should not keep it one here...
He set his cup down, gathered his mental strength for the moment, then looked up at her. "Because, quite frankly, I am a werewolf. While I taught at Hogwarts, the Potions professor was kind enough to brew for me a drink that enabled me to keep my mind while transformed, but of course that did not stop my transformations, nor of course was it completely reliable. In my defense, the one night I neglected to take it properly was so... so amazingly confusing, it shook the foundation of much of my very life -- but in forgetting to take it, I caused a great deal of harm and suffering, and very nearly killed or infected some students. I resigned rather than be sacked when my condition became public knowledge, but it was quite the right decision in light of all that."
Sakura sat back, forehead furrowing as she absorbed this information. It was hard, since the idea of werewolves was almost completely foreign. People didn't turn into animals for infectious reasons, and they certainly couldn't pass it along to anyone else. "A werewolf... What exactly does that mean?" Her vague idea could use sharpening for his particular use. "What controls the transformation, if you don't? Is it random?"
Sad, but sensible, when taking into account what he'd said. She held back on the other questions bubbling below the surface, riding on a sense of suspended disbelief she'd forced on herself after the first month and a half on ship. She'd wait before asking any of the rest, if he was willing to speak on this at any length.
Her gelatin wobbled slightly as another patron jostled the table as they moved by.
He did not speak as the other person passed by, but instead waited for their relative privacy to return, fingers drumming on the sides of his teacup as he contemplated it.
"A werewolf transforms into a wolf under the light of the full moon," he said at last. "Now, since I assume the moon has gone the way of Earth and no longer exists, that hasn't been a problem on the ship, which I can't say I mind very much. To be quite honest with you, I feel better physically these days than I have at any point I can recall in my life. And since I have not been transforming..."
She nods, keeping her eyes on him. It's incredible to believe in one way, but if she believed Marco, a singular transformation was nothing in comparison to upward forty separate ones. Still, the transformation being tied in to the state of the moon...
"I understand," she said, "Or at least I think I do." She pressed her lips together, then smiled. Just a little. "It hasn't been an issue. But it could be." She glimpsed skyward, then back to Remus. "If not on ship, then on worlds. Or if the ship can recreate the pull the moon has..." It's off target. Sakura stopped herself.
"Yes," he said wearily. "I become more convinced that anything is possible by the day, so why should I not think that my condition will become a problem sometime soon as well?" He smiled, wan but genuine. "Thank you. I needed to hear that from someone else before it was too late and I'd made another mistake."
"I don't think you'd have ever let that happen." She was firm, borrowing on both her own belief in peoples inherent better nature, as well as Naruto's stringent belief in people doing good over injury. When they knew better. (Or when they learned better.) "Between Science and Medical, there are a lot of qualified people who can work to help figure out a means of helping you keep in control, or even help with the transformation in the first place. Don't limit possibilities from the start, right?"
A small smile, since there's so much impossibility on that ship for her all the time. Things she hadn't dreamed possible. She lived the incredible, right down to the comfortable, harrowing familiarity of war. "One of my specialties back home deals with dosages in medicines and poisons. If something's worked out, even one such as I could be of assistance."
Demur, because basically everyone in Medical and Science can. The technology available on Stacy alone rendered much of what Sakura could do null, if not quite void.
The server nodded, handing over a plate with the jiggling mass on it. Sakura still wasn't exactly sold on this experience, but she was hungry, and it was different enough (and affordable enough) compared to what she'd eaten on Stacy that she figured it was worth trying at least once.
Along with what might be tea, though she wasn't one to make bets around this place.
"Mind if I join you, sir?" Most the outside seating was occupied, but indoors was too stuffy to bear. Never hurt to ask.
Reply
Or, more to the point, in what Stacy kept accessible there? Manipulating information flow by memory or access.
Reply
Reply
So it was, with these drastic differences between worlds. "With worlds gone, do you think it means most of the knowledge like that gone with them? Thinking about the books and scrolls alone lost on my world... and how many have no equivalent in the Media Library?"
She ate another bite of her not-quite-recognizable gelatin, falling quiet.
Reply
Reply
This time, when she nodded, it seemed like something had actually made an impact. "You're right. It's still here in all of us," she repeated, simplifying a bit. "As long as we remember, or we keep looking, or we keep trying, it's all out there."
The scale was beyond how she'd lived back home, forcibly expanded due to circumstance. "More than we even knew before."
Reply
"If we run any danger, I think it is that many of us are alone. Not that we have no friends or allies, but that we have no one else that can quite understand us. I don't think there are any other wizards here, or even from other worlds whose magic works quite like mine. But for those of us for whom that's true, it means we need to be all the more true to ourselves."
Reply
She'd needed to hear something like this, probably for a while. It was difficult being on her own, when she'd been such a creature of home for the entirety of her life. Sakura had never dreamed of leaving Konoha, not really. She'd never thought about leaving all the people she knew and trusted, but it hadn't been about that choice.
We need to be true to ourselves. Sakura figured she hadn't been doing too bad a job of that so far, if she'd stumbled. Because even if we're not alone, and we can be lonely, it's still a choice we make for ourselves.
Reply
He really, truly ought to speak to someone about the nature of his condition. It was unfair to put others in danger simply because up till now there had been no moon to threaten him. But could he rely on that?
Reply
Reply
He set his cup down, gathered his mental strength for the moment, then looked up at her. "Because, quite frankly, I am a werewolf. While I taught at Hogwarts, the Potions professor was kind enough to brew for me a drink that enabled me to keep my mind while transformed, but of course that did not stop my transformations, nor of course was it completely reliable. In my defense, the one night I neglected to take it properly was so... so amazingly confusing, it shook the foundation of much of my very life -- but in forgetting to take it, I caused a great deal of harm and suffering, and very nearly killed or infected some students. I resigned rather than be sacked when my condition became public knowledge, but it was quite the right decision in light of all that."
Reply
Sad, but sensible, when taking into account what he'd said. She held back on the other questions bubbling below the surface, riding on a sense of suspended disbelief she'd forced on herself after the first month and a half on ship. She'd wait before asking any of the rest, if he was willing to speak on this at any length.
Her gelatin wobbled slightly as another patron jostled the table as they moved by.
Reply
"A werewolf transforms into a wolf under the light of the full moon," he said at last. "Now, since I assume the moon has gone the way of Earth and no longer exists, that hasn't been a problem on the ship, which I can't say I mind very much. To be quite honest with you, I feel better physically these days than I have at any point I can recall in my life. And since I have not been transforming..."
Reply
"I understand," she said, "Or at least I think I do." She pressed her lips together, then smiled. Just a little. "It hasn't been an issue. But it could be." She glimpsed skyward, then back to Remus. "If not on ship, then on worlds. Or if the ship can recreate the pull the moon has..." It's off target. Sakura stopped herself.
Reply
Reply
A small smile, since there's so much impossibility on that ship for her all the time. Things she hadn't dreamed possible. She lived the incredible, right down to the comfortable, harrowing familiarity of war. "One of my specialties back home deals with dosages in medicines and poisons. If something's worked out, even one such as I could be of assistance."
Demur, because basically everyone in Medical and Science can. The technology available on Stacy alone rendered much of what Sakura could do null, if not quite void.
Reply
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