木之本 さくら says everything will surely be alright (zettaidaijobu) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-04-01 23:40:00 |
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Sakura was happy for the break from school. It was weird that it was only a week, but it was still a week of not going to school. She was getting along and all, but sometimes it made her miss home because she had real friends there. She liked Stiles though. He was nice to her. But now she got to spend a week with her dad and that was also super exciting because she was getting to join him on a dig.
Okay, so it was because she had struggled on a science test but her teacher had realised it was partially because she was still getting a grasp of English for testing purposes so she was being allowed to write a report on the work her dad did and how it was related to the class.
And she wasn’t feeling sad or guilty about failing in her mission because she was given a second chance and now there was a new friend in school. And the Clow Card were becoming Sakura cards. So she was still tired from having to use so much magic and then waking up tired but it was okay.
Right now though, she was sitting in a tent keeping an eye on the food and water for those on the dig. It was Fujitaka’s idea, to let her feel like she was contributing. She liked it. Even if it did sometimes get boring. She liked when he would come back and explain things what all they had found to her since he was really smart and got excited about his work.
Getting in the field again was wonderful. Helena lived for being on site, even if her job was a macabre one. While she enjoyed the lab work as well, it was being in the field that was the enjoyable. Some were far harder to take than others, some even made Helena downright angry, but they were all experiences she enjoyed having at the end of the day.
Though sometimes it got a little irksome at being one of the only women on site, but she’d gotten over that years earlier. Male-dominated profession and all, but Helena had been told many times that she had a firmer stomach than a lot of men did at some of the digs she’d worked on in the past. She took that with immense pride, of course.
This dig was a bit challenging, and Helena’s work was pain-stakingly slow so as to preserve the remains as much as possible. Though after uncovering enough so the photographers and such could catalogue things, Helena decided to take a break and get some food. Walking into the food tent, she hadn’t expected to see a young lady there.
“Hello,” she greeted with a warm smile. Her hair was in a ponytail to keep it out of her face while she worked. Judging by the young woman’s look, she wasn’t part of the field team. Though she thought she bore a bit of a resemblance to one of the men currently working on it. “At least it is a nice day to be out here.” She went for some water first, taking a long drink of it.
And then someone was walking in and Sakura looked up with a smile. “Hi!” No one could say that the girl wasn’t energetic. Especially now that things were working out in her dreams. Even if they left her exhausted but she was sure that would pass with time. She just needed to get stronger in her magic. She hadn’t expected to see a woman there though! That was exciting. Most of the people she spoke to were her father’s colleagues at the university, but the ones on the dig were also nice to her.
“It is! My dad says it makes it easier but he works in anything because he works hard. Do you like working here?”
Okay so she had a lot of questions apparently.
Good thing that Helena enjoyed enthusiasm. It was also nice to see another young woman here. And with her statement, it was easy to pinpoint the man she was related to. It must be exciting to be able to do something like this with one’s father. Helena knew she had loved tagging along with her father when he went places. Never anything remotely like this, but the sentiment still stood. It had been time spent with her father.
“He is a wise man.” Helena said with a smile. “I do, yes. I admit I’ve been doing more lab work lately than being in the field, so this is a very welcome change.” The lab work had been of her own choice. First having taken some time off after her dreams had come to quite a dramatic end, and second when she’d gone back to work, she’d eased back into it.
“I’m Helena Wells-Quinzel,” she introduced herself. It was still strange to her to introduce herself with her married name. While the wedding band wasn’t on her finger currently, it was on the chain around her neck. Wearing jewelry on her fingers when digging was always a terrible idea.
“He is!” It was obvious that Sakura loved her father very deeply. Of course, she loved all her family and friends deeply. But Fujitaka was a really good man as well, so it wasn’t hard for that to be the case. The family was a close one (even if Touya was a jerk and mean to her). As Helena spoke though, Sakura listened in rapt attention, nodding thoughtfully along.
“That’s good that you got to come back to the field.”
Then introductions, which caused Sakura to fluster and bow. “Sakura Kinomoto.” She had a tendency to forget her manners when she was excited by something, or talking about something or…well, she just got caught up in conversations.
“Indeed it is, I do enjoy being back out here.” Even if her job wasn’t the nicest or easiest one to do from an emotional standpoint. But it was good to get out of the lab and have a new case to work with as opposed to simply helping process evidence from other cases at the lab. “As much as I enjoy all facets of my job, it is the fieldwork I enjoy the most.” Well no, Helena didn’t actually enjoy the times where she had to appear in court and testify. She hated that, though it was largely just the sleezeball defense lawyers that she hated.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Sakura.” It was slightly difficult to tell if Sakura was in high school or college. “Are you wanting to do work like your father in the future?” It was a safe question, not quite the asking if she was a college student or not, but it also got to what she liked. It was obvious that she had some similar interests to her father considering she was here on this dig.
Just about to turn fifteen, Sakura was definitely still in high school. And given her normal disposition, people often mistook her for younger given the fact she was so trusting and outgoing. There were reasons Touya seemed to think she needed looking after, that she would trust the wrong person. She probably would but she never seemed to consider that.
“I don’t know. I messed up on my science test because of the English so my teacher let me come here to write a report to make it up. I don’t know what I want yet.”
Not that many people in their teens knew what it was they wanted to do with their lives. Sakura was just trying to deal with turning Clow Cards into Sakura Cards in her dreams right now, and maybe see if she couldn’t speed the process along and do so here as well in case she needed to be able to use them for something.
Helena wasn’t one to judge a book by its cover. Many people’s disposition could peg them as being far younger than they were, and also the other way around. And it applied across the board, not just to teenagers and young adults.
“I am sorry to hear that, English is not an easy language to learn.” It could be tricky for native English speakers, let alone someone learning it as a non-native speaker. “Though at least you are able to make up the points by writing a report. It must also be nice to be able to be here with your father as well.”
That was an understatement. She knew that Japanese was considered difficult and they were taught English in school, but she still struggled with it sometimes even though she was getting better with it as well.
“Yep! So it all works out and I am very excited to get to see my dad work. He’s a really good teacher and I’ve seen him do that but not a dig before.” If there was one thing which could always perk the girl up, it would be talking about her father.
While Helena had been multilingual before her dreams began (she was fluent in Latin, German and French), she now had a few others added to that list because of the dreams. She could even decipher some ancient languages, such as Coptic and Old English as well. The Warehouse had been good for teaching her more about ancient languages and cultures than she would otherwise have learned.
“You must be more than excited to watch him on a dig.” Helena said with a smile. “I have found that you learn so much more being out here than you ever would in a classroom. Seeing your father in his element must be a source of pride for you?”
“I am!” Even when she felt bad in the dreams when she had messed up all of his research trying to capture a card. Yet he had handled it well, as only her father could. But getting to see him doing something he loved? It was even better. And as Helena mentioned, there was more to learn by doing than just being told. Goodness knew that it was that way when it came to capturing the cards. Or had been. Now she was changing them into Sakura cards and exhausting herself in the process, but it was at least getting easier to do so.
“Hai!” Because sometimes she still seemed to slip into Japanese more often than not. Even though it wasn’t happening as often. But right. Back to English, “He loves what he does. Teaching too, but this is different.” She couldn’t exactly place it, she just knew it was different.
Helena smiled. “Being able to dig into one’s job like this is always exhilarating.” She made a pun on purpose because she couldn’t help it. Whether Sakura would catch it or not, she didn’t know, but it didn’t matter either way. “The difficult part about these things, at least for myself, is being away from my loved ones.” It had been difficult for her to go on location and leave Christina behind, especially in the early days when Christina had been all she’d had.
“Still, it is very rewarding in the end. Though some days it is hard for me to stomach my job.” Digging up human remains was rarely classy or nice. Helena preferred working with older remains. Fresher ones were difficult to stomach, even for her iron stomach.
The pun went way over Sakura’s head. She didn’t really understand the turn of phrase of digging into something, so instead the teen just nodded as if she understood even though she really didn’t. She understood the majority of the comment though, which was all that mattered. Especially as Helena mentioned the part that was hardest for her.
“My father says that too. But it’s okay because I can take care of myself.” And before, Touya had always been around. But he was living on campus now. Not that it mattered, he showed up a lot and Sakura never wanted her dad to worry about her anyway. And speaking of, Fujitaka was heading their way, so Sakura gathered up her notes for the day. “I should go. It was nice talking to you!”
It was easier now, with Christina currently staying with her parents in London. She had to admit she was wondering what Harley was getting up to in regards to the house. But it would certainly be nice to see her wife again once she was done here. And then was planning Christina’s birthday party and the trip to London that needed finishing.
“It was nice to meet you, Sakura. I shall see you around.” Helena said with a warm smile and nod of her head. She then went about getting something to eat before she went back to work. She just hoped that the weather would hold. She hated when weather was poor and she was still needing to do work.