[X] Convince your parents to let you attend the academy.
[X] I need to try to figure out what's wrong with me.
It's been a couple of days since your adventure outside. You've been... tiptoeing around your parents ever since. They had gone on and on about how worried they were and how she shouldn't have gone out alone like that, but did they have to yell at you so much? Sheesh, they could at least make up their minds about whether they were glad to see you home safe or angry that you had gone out like that. And you were grounded.
And you had been spending the past three days trying to get all of the mud stains out of your clothes as punishment. You all knew it was a lost cause but your parents were making you try anyways!
You had elected not to mention your troubles with the water or the doorway. You feel like that would only have caused more yelling at a time when you were getting yelled at quite enough already. Instead... You have been preparing to have an important conversation with your Mom. In the end, you decide that the direct approach is the best approach.
"Mom I want to go to the Ninja academy." You end up just blurting out while the two of you are in the middle of eating lunch. She carefully puts down her utensils, wipes her mouth with a napkin, and raises an eyebrow at you. After a moment's pause to take in your earnest expression, she sighs.
"Absolutely not."
"But-" You try to get a word in edgewise, but she just steamrolls over you.
"You would be nothing but a liability as a ninja. What are you going to do when a mission forces you to be outside in the sun for days on end?" She looks at you, waiting for your response.
"I can wear really thick clothes and-" Again she interrupts you.
"You know as well as I do what the doctors say. Thick clothing only mitigates the risk. There's a reason you're not allowed outside often Sakura." She goes back to her lunch, the argument over in her mind. You look down at your lap and swallow hard before screwing up your determination and practically yelling.
"I made a friend when I went outside! Her name is Hinata and she's going to the academy and that's the only time I'll be able to see her!" You stop and gulp down air before mumbling, "I just want to have a friend for once." Dejected, you walk away from the table in defeat. You know your Mom never changes her mind about things once she's made it up. You've never been able to argue her around on anything.
---
It's hours later when you hear your Mom tap on the door to your room. You don't reply, just sniffling into a pillow instead.
"You can go to the academy Sakura. I'm... sorry, how things have worked out. I just want to keep you safe." You look at the closed door, unsure what to do.
"Listen. Don't even worry about doing well at the academy alright? If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Either way you'll have been able to spend some time with your friend." You can feel her presence behind the door. You don't know if she's waiting for you to respond or if she's thinking of saying more. After a pause the moment of hesitation passes and you hear her walk away from the door.
---
Things are a bit awkward with your Mom for the next couple days, but when you tell her you want to visit the library, she doesn't question it. She just quietly tells you to get dressed up to go outside and says she has time to take you in just a few minutes. Usually its at least a day's wait between you wanting to go somewhere and your Mom having time to take you. Silence lingers uncomfortably between the two of you on the way, and your awkward pause at the door to the library to get your Mom to tell you to come on in already doesn't help matters. It's only when you're actually in the library itself that you realize you really have no idea where to start trying to figure out what's wrong with you. So... You start everywhere. You check out books on medicine, some you've read before and some you haven't. You grab fiction and folklore. You find religious texts. You even check out what few scant books on chakra theory are available in the public library.
Your Mom doesn't really question your selections; you've gotten similar numbers of books from the library on a similar number of topics before. You've always needed something to occupy you when you stayed inside all the time. At home, the pile is daunting, and the next several days and nights are devoted to note taking and cross referencing. You don't really know what you're doing if you're being honest, but you do so much reading that if an answer exists, there's a good chance of you finding a hint of it just based on the sheer volume of words involved.
In the end, you're left exhausted but you've at least firmly ruled out any medical explanation for what's happening to you. Medical issues don't just conjure up invisible walls of force out of nowhere. As for the rest... All of them offer up explanations. You could be cursed, there could be something wrong with your chakra, you could, it might, what if. It's better than nothing, but you still don't have any explanation for what's happened to you.
On the last day of the week you still have little in the way of answers. And you and your Mom have still barely exchanged five words since you asked her to take you to the library.
---
Sakura has gained Skill: Researcher (0)
So, let's talk Intentions, Conflicts, and Will. You might think that the outcomes here are just me deciding what happens- to an extent that's true, but they are very much informed by the mechanics being used. In the argument between Sakura and her mother, both of them were trying to get their way, and so a 'winner' has to be decided upon. However, this isn't as simple as just comparing some arbitrary social stat and seeing who has the bigger number. That's part of it, sure, but neither of the characters involved were using anything like Skill: Persuade for this argument. Both of them were using passions, and that very much shaped their arguments. For example, despite Sakura having Passion: I should become a ninja. (1) that wasn't what she was using in that argument, because her motivation for wanting to go to the academy isn't really based on her desire to be a ninja. Instead, Sakura was using Passion: Hinata is my friend! (3) as her base number in that conflict. Meanwhile, Sakura's mother was using Passion: I need to keep my daughter safe. (3). But wait! Both of those numbers are the same, aren't they? This is where Will comes in. Whenever you want to do something, you may spend 1, 2, 4, or 8 Will on it, to represent your focus on and investment in the outcome of that action. Will can only be spent in these intervals, so for example, you couldn't ever spend just 3 will instead of 4 or just 6 instead of 8. A person only has 8 will total, and spending 4 or 8 represents some large strain- to the point where doing it too often will actually cause wounds, like a heart attack from stress for example.
Spending Will also changes the use of a skill or passion into an Intention- a declaration that you are attempting to do a specific thing. For Sakura, this is something she wants pretty desperately, but it's not life or death- she's going to spend 4 will. For Sakura's mother, this is also a big deal. The academy is a pretty big jump from 'stays at home all the time' and she's worried Sakura will get hurt. This being the case, she will also spend 4 will. Again, this leaves them tied. However, that assumes all else is equal- but it really isn't. Sakura is still a child and if her mother says no, she has very little recourse. Therefore, her mother has a significant edge in this argument, giving Sakura a penalty of -2 and leaving the numbers at 5 and 7 in her mother's favor. Now you might be thinking, but wait! Sakura won that argument, didn't she? She did, because she had one last card to play. She invokes her Bond (3): Hinata is my best friend. and gains +3 to her Intention. This leaves the final score at 8 to 7 in Sakura's favor. Thus, she gets her way. Having succeeded at her Intention, she also regains 1 point of will.
What about her second action? Well, you'll notice that Sakura is a bit run ragged at the end of this update. For this action, Sakura was only working with Passion: I need to figure out what's wrong with me. (0). If you remember the handy dandy difficulty chart from a previous update, doing something 'effective' and moving closer to your goals is rated as a difficulty of 4. Thus Sakura once again needed to spend 4 will in order to obtain a productive result. This is unhealthy for the poor girl! Obviously no real admonishment is meant towards the players as this is the introduction to the mechanics, but it's something to keep in mind. If an update happens and Sakura needs to spend a lot of Will in large increments, you might want to give her a rest with your next votes and vote for things where her higher rated passions (and eventually skills) or her bond apply. Or just something where you don't need a big success to get a good result.
There is a rainy day forecast in the coming week.
Action Slot 1:
[] Talk to your Mom.
[] Figure out what that red stuff is.
[] Hinata said something about me throwing that Kunai? I should try to practice that.
[] I should go outside and try to make more friends.
[] I need to try to figure out what's wrong with me 2.
[] Write-in.
Action Slot 2:
[] Leave empty.
[] Talk to your Mom.
[] Figure out what that red stuff is.
[] Hinata said something about me throwing that Kunai? I should try to practice that.
[] I should go outside and try to make more friends.
[] I need to try to figure out what's wrong with me 2.
[] Write-in.
I reserve the right to totally ignore any canon depiction of Sakura's parents. Sakura in name only has been the name of the game from the beginning after all.
