[ matou sakura at first glance seems soft-spoken and timid, but beneath her mild veneer lies a depth of emotion she fears showing to others. sakura believes herself to be unworthy of love and is inherently fearful of disagreeing with others or putting her trust in them. as a result, she often puts up a mask of forced agreeableness in all but the most stressful of circumstances-- an excellent way to keep people at arm's length without seeming to at all. it's not uncommon for what she says and what she feels to not match up, or for her to try to shut people out. her symbiote ability she keeps well-hidden, afraid of the consequences.

any character who can sense life force or magic would be able to feel an uncomprehendingly large amount of it emanating from her, to the point that it should feel a little horrorterror-ish-- impossible and terrifying and nonsensical. ]


i. STATION 72 - get up

[ There are not one but three separate moments you might run into Sakura when she first arrives on the station.

The first is when silent tears well up in Sakura's eyes as she wakes up in the nesting pod, simultaneously aware of her situation and yet unwilling to process it. One hand stretches out in front of her automatically, as if reaching for something that isn't there anymore. Her eyes fall on the back of her outstretched hand, and though she's utterly silent on the outside, her mind is nothing but one long, loud scream.

The second is not long after waking. The next hour sees Sakura running frantically up and down the hallways of the station, out of breath and peering into every room as if looking for something specific. Maybe she peers into your room, or maybe she just runs past you in a dash. Her mind just feels like barely-suppressed panic. If your ears (or mind) are particularly attuned, you may be able to hear her mumbling-- ]

Chicken-- I need... a chicken... or an animal... a-anything...

[ The third is only shortly after that. Spoiler alert, we both know that Sakura isn't going to find any livestock on the station. Nevertheless, perhaps you find yourself drawn to a large emotional spike of distress sometime later. Which is to say, if you follow it, you'll find Sakura in an abandoned and out of the way room, covered in blood and kneeling over what looks like a large and intricate magic circle and crying. She does not want to get up. Not at all. ]

[ Sakura is as Sakura does, which means eventually she will settle in and adapt. And the first step to adapting, she knows, is settling in to a familiar routine. Stress cooking is very much a thing for her, but there aren't a lot of fresh ingredients to be had on the station, which means trips to the marketplace to see what she can bargain for. Of course, her first trip will find her absolutely swindled and talked into buying everything her small hands can possibly hold. It's not entirely her fault-- the food here is alien to her, she doesn't know what half these things even taste like, what their worth is, or even what food group they belong to, in some cases.

Perhaps you find her being hassled by a vendor trying to pressure her into buying some strange alien product while she unsuccessfully tries to find a graceful way to say no without being rude. "Oh, I don't know," she hedges awkwardly, trying desperately to catch someone's eye in the crowd to give her an out.

Or perhaps you find her staring with confusion at another stall, picking up all sorts of different products and then putting them down again, overwhelmed by all the strangeness. A vendor probably tells her off at one point for touching too many things, or perhaps you hear her wondering aloud what something tastes like. At some point she probably mumbles under her breath something like, "I just want to find some rice..."

Or perhaps you find her later on in the day, struggling to carry all her purchases, a truly staggering number of grocery bags hanging off each arm. Sakura is stronger than she looks. ]

[ got an idea? have at it! if you want to hit me up or plot together you can find me at exclamationmarks on plurk or emiri#3333 on discord! ]