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[encourage]

Nara Shikamaru. Are you here?

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[bloodthirsts]

It's no problem. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you. [And she sends it.]

Seras Victoria, I've known him quite a while now. What's your name? [Maybe Shikamaru's mentioned her before.]

[encourage]

[ No comment on if Shikamaru will be glad to see her or not. It depends what his life has been like since whenever she was last around. Judging by what she's seen so far, that was around a year ago. ]

Nice to meet you, Ms. Victoria. I'm Sakura Haruno.

[bloodthirsts]

A pleasure. [She doesn't recognise the name.] How long has it been since you were last here?

[encourage]

Close to a year, as far as I remember.

[ She lets her expression slide toward something more serious. ]

Which isn't to say it's been a year. People do and don't remember all the time, when it comes to Core manipulation of where they are. I'd have to do a network dig, or ask around, to know if I've been here in the meantime. I know I was here at least once before the time I remember.

[bloodthirsts]

I've been here around four months, so I couldn't tell you for sure. [Seras's expression sombers.] I was here before too, I've been told, though I don't remember. It's disconcerting, isn't it?

[encourage]

Disconcerting for not knowing what it is you may or may not have done. [ Or who you may have failed along the way. ]

It's nice to meet someone else in the same sort of situation. Had all that many people you didn't recognize remember you from that earlier time?

[bloodthirsts]

Not many, actually. I don't think I -- the previous me was here all that long, from what I was told. [Though she wonders what she did, Walter hadn't really told her, maybe for a reason. Maybe she should ask...]

It's nice to meet any friend of Shika's. Are you a ninja from his world, perhaps?

[encourage]

[ She smiles. ]

You could say that. Or you would, actually. I am -- [ for all outward intents and purposes ] -- from Konoha. I'm not much of a remarkable shinobi.

[ This is modesty, if... tinged with something sincere. She's deviated from what a shinobi was alone; she had no village loyalty, she had none of the friends she could remember and not remember both at once to defend. All she has is the memory of dying yet again, this time at the hands of a madman egoist who no one stepped up to try and address when he was manipulating one of the most powerful shinobi from their world. ]

Not one of note, such as Shikamaru.

[bloodthirsts]

Right, shinobi, that's the word. [She snaps her fingers and then looks sheepish for a moment.] There's no need to be modest, if you're anything like Shika at all, you must be able to do remarkable things.

[encourage]

[ She laughs a little at this, waving her hand in front of her face. ]

You're too kind! I'm not from a Clan, or anything of the sort. I'm as mundane as you get among shinobi!

[ Minus her shishou, and she's an excellent healer, but as far as ranked things... that still wasn't of too much note in general. Outside of her works in poisons and antidotes, or her ability to speed-comprehend DNA code. ]

On top of that, I'm only a woman.

[bloodthirsts]

[Have a momentary stare when you say 'only a woman' there Sakura.]

Now I'm sure that doesn't make you less than any other Shinobi. [Huff.] I'd hang someone upside down who said that to me.

[encourage]

[ Welcome to the inherent sexism she grew up with. It's just rare to come out and say anything regarding it so bluntly. ]

I really don't see how you'd say a woman is the same as a man, if it doesn't have much to do with being greater or less than anyone else.

[bloodthirsts]

[Wonderful first conversation topic go! 8D;] Well... men and women, we're all people. We're not the same but we're all capable in our own ways. I don't think it's right to assume a man can automatically do something better.

[encourage]

Men have different strengths than women do. I won't say that's universal, if it's been consistent through all my experiences. Women often bear more of a brunt in patience then men, if we as much support the men we know as they in turn support us.

[bloodthirsts]

Like greater upper body strength? [By default anyway, not if you're a vampire or anything.]

It's a sensitive subject back home, women only really started getting equal rights to men a few decades ago. Really had to fight for them too. I wouldn't have been allowed to be a police officer like I am now that long back.

LMF WHOOPS

[encourage]

Yes, that's one example.

[ Sakura looks like she's... listening and not sure what she's hearing. In two years, countless interactions, and all the rest? No one has ever brought up women's rights as a topic of conversation, let alone gender equality. ]

Equal rights in what?

NO WORRIES! XD

[bloodthirsts]

Well in everything. Our right to vote, what jobs we can do, how much we get paid, marriage and divorce laws, child custody, what clothing we can wear... [She's ticking them off on her fingers as she speaks.] Don't you have a feminist movement in your world?

/SUDDENLY, ANIMORPHS???

[encourage]

[ Her eyebrow has crept up this whole time. ]

No. Not exactly. Why would there be restrictions on any of the things you've mentioned? In the case of Clans, I can see there be child custody issues, but these sound more like civilian concerns than anything I've dealt with personally.

NOT THE WORST THING!

[bloodthirsts]

It's been like that for women in my world for... well we got the right to vote about seventy years in my country. It took a lot of fighting, they called it the suffrage movement.

As for why... well, a lot of reasons. Established culture mainly based of religion said that women's place was in the home as wives and mothers, not as leaders and breadwinners.

[encourage]

Women as leaders is more rare where I'm from, if we're not restricted from being any of what you've said. Mother, wives, home-makers, breadwinners...

[ She shrugs. It's not that they can't do all these things. They just happen to not, in general, be as good at leading at the highest levels. They tend to fold or not press so stupidly hard, and it shows when they have less resolve than the men around them.

Nevermind that this resolve is often stupidly suicidal. Men don't stop to listen to what a woman says. Women fight and are strong because they must be. ]

[bloodthirsts]

There's only been one female Prime Minister for my country. A couple Queens back when the monarchy were still in power. [And erm, opinions varied on how well Thatcher done there.] That's really different.

[encourage]

Right, monarchies, like the ones in England? Western European countries on Earth?

[bloodthirsts]

Yes, that's where I'm from. England.

[encourage]

What's England like?

[bloodthirsts]

Oh it's lovely! Not quite as damp as some people would have you believe. Certainly we've got a temperate climate, but we do get sunshine as well. [Grin.] Especially out in the countryside, green rolling fields and moors, some charming little villages too. Lots of interesting old castles.