there is such a thing as an unflattering light [open]

[haruno]

Sakura figured she should probably be more annoyed than she was, crossing her arms and staring down the statue of her that was, consequentially, also crossing its arms and staring her down. Life imitating art was usually an expression she'd heard, not something she'd expressly seen. (Given the artists she knew, art wasn't even something held back

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[livestoannoy]

Marco had been flying over the city when he'd spotted Sakura heading into the art hall. He'd hovered for a moment, thinking.

He hadn't talked to her since she went and punched him in the face, which meant he hadn't had the change to give to her the stuff that would (hopefully) prevent her from punching him in the face againDecision made, he'd flown back to Cassie's house, picked up the things he needed, and headed back to the art hall, hoping that she'd still be there and he hadn't had to lug these things all over the city for no good reason

[haruno]

"Just like I make sure to read up on who is and isn't Chinese when I've never heard of the nation before."

[livestoannoy]

"Hey, I could have just assumed that you were Japanese when you started going on about samurai and ninjas," Marco said, grinning a little. "But I didn't. So there."

[haruno]

"And now you're assuming I know who or what the Japanese are." If she did have an idea. Sakura'd heard from Zouichi already about some similarities between what she knew from home and what this Earth nation -- no, Earth country -- had been like for him. She shook her head. "Next thing I know you'll be making historical references that mean nothing to me -- oh. Wait..."

She leveled part of an unimpressed stare his way. "The Stone Age? Jokes like that make a lot more sense if the people you're telling them to know what you're talking about."

Go figure if he just liked making himself feel clever. Sakura had a least made an effort to understand that reference in the Media Library, in some of her self-scheduled down time.

[livestoannoy]

"How was I supposed to know you didn't have the Stone Age in your world?" Marco said, a little defensive. She didn't like his jokes?!

But they had to be funny even if someone didn't necessarily know all the references, right?

...Right?

[haruno]

Maybe, Marco.

It all depended on the joke.

"Not knowing about the Great Wall or that you aren't Chinese might have been a hint," she said, looking over at him in amusement. "Not to mention my hair." Though he had mentioned (or at least implied) he wasn't much of a historian. "Unless your Stone Age was the Age of Lost Pigmentation, too."

[livestoannoy]

"Come on, you don't have to know about China to know about the freaking Stone Age," Marco said, ignoring the fact that Sakura actually had a point there. Then he stopped.

"Was that a joke?" Marco turned to look at Sakura incredulously. He broke out into a slow grin. "That was!" he crowed. "So you do have a sense of humour swimming around somewhere underneath all that pink."

[haruno]

She widened her eyes in mock surprise. "Me? A sense of humor? That's impossible, we don't have things like those in Konoha."

She kept walking, shaking her head. How sad. So delusional, and at his age!

[livestoannoy]

She just made another one! Ah, there was hope after all.

"You're not in 'Konoha' or whatever anymore, Barbie," Marco smirked.

[haruno]

She looked around, managing to not pause over the nickname she'd just given him license to use again. "Guess that might explain the unfamiliar scenery." Though in all seriousness, she turned her head to look back toward him. "Think we can agree to leave some of our assumptions back on the planets they came from?"

Sakura quirked up an eyebrow. Think you even can?

[livestoannoy]

"But if we did that, how am I supposed to laugh at the fact that you're a pink haired muppet fighting ninja?" Marco said, as if this were completely obvious.

[haruno]

"Quietly in the privacy of your own home." Stated with an affirmative nod, as if this, too, were completely obvious.

[livestoannoy]

"Okay, I take back my previous statement. You have no sense of humour. You're just a cold black hole of humourlessness."

[haruno]

She shrugged her shoulders, shifting the books and adjusting as one tried sliding off the top sideways. "Someone has to suck the joy out of things so other things get done."

[livestoannoy]

"Who says you can't get things done and have a sense of humour too?" Marco said, strangely serious for a moment. "Sure, you could just go around focusing on the fact that the world is so grim and awful and tragic. Except if you do that, you'll be grim and tragic too. And why would you do that, when the world world and see how funny it is? I mean, come on. We're in a giant trans-dimensional spaceship that calls herself Stacy and likes to get frisky with her tentacles. Until last week, we all had to eat gloop. When I woke up, there were zombies. And now here I am, talking to a ninja who can punch down entire walls after leaping over them and heal people with glowy energy stuff that looks like it was taken right out of Dragon Ball Z. Come on, you have to admit it. This whole thing just's so insane it's ridiculous!"

[haruno]

She paused, mouth opening as if she was going to interrupt. She didn't, hearing him through to the end. More references I don't understand, was a detached thought, next to, Sounds like it's important to him.

It made her think of other people, ones she hadn't seen in over three months and counting. Ones she might not see again for months still, if not years, if not lifetimes.

The note on zombies gave her a start, if she recalled reading something about them in the Media Library.

"So you smile," she said firmly. "And you figure out the things you can be happy about, because that's always in your control." It wasn't a statement to him. Sakura was reassuring herself, even if it ended up being a long way of agreeing with what he'd said. "You're right about that much. Everything about this is ridiculous and insane. Speaking of -- Dragon Ball what?"