inbox;

[craters]

❝Hi, you've reached Haruno Sakura. If this is a medical emergency, please leave your name, location, and a brief description of the injuries.❞

𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧 🌸 𝗔𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗢 🌸 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

（ ooc; if you'd like to handwave her healing/helping your character, feel free to reply and just put HANDWAVED in the subject line. helps me keep track! ）

Comments

un: jonas.

[coherer]

(noctis' and asa's disappearances have made jonas more of a worrier than he had been. it's perhaps unnecessary to be concerned over sakura's well-being as he had been with theirs, but behind her natural strength and will, he believes there's a wall that's been erected there to keep others from seeing past it and within her. some projection is likely; he knows he's always pretended to be fine or used jokes to explain his true feelings. this situation, however, appears different.

she wasn't at the clinic for their usual fare of homemade lunches or takeout. isolated, this wasn't odd, and jonas hadn't thought much of it. on returning the next day to find more of the same, this time with a man in her place, his pulse began to race.

now, hours in with no sign she's even on the network—with no proof of life, his shadow corrects him—his thumbs hover over her contact card in his phone, paranoid. it's then lifted to his ear with a tap, unsurprised to hear her voicemail recording.)

Hey, this is a medical emergency. My name is Jonas Ward, I'm at your clinic, and there's a doctor here who is not you. Confused, upset, clutching my pearls. I need immediate confirmation that you are still a young lady with pink hair and not a forty-year-old guy with depression stubble.

...

I'm worried about you. Just let me know when you get this, okay?

(here he sighs away from the receiver, pushing tarp away from the clinic's entryway to peer out into the harbour's streets.)

I'll talk to you soon.

↪ text

[craters]

Hi Jonas. Confirmation granted, still nineteen and pink-haired. 😋 And wow, he's not forty! You might need your eyes checked...

I'm okay, thanks for checking in. Just needed a few days to myself.

The man at the clinic is Doctor Leonard McCoy. He knows his stuff, so don't worry if you need anything there, he'll help you out.

[coherer]

(the relief at seeing her notification is immediate and intense. he knocks his phone against his forehead twice after reading her message, breathing out. ugh.)

Whatever, the imposter is definitely noticeably over 30.✋🏻✋🏻

(there's a fine line between being loyal and being clingy, and jonas detests clingy. he, therefore, makes it a goal to message doctor mccoy to give him a warmer welcome while sakura rests.)

You take it easy, man. We'll take care of things here.

[craters]

（ this response is a bit delayed. she's back and forth on whether or not she wants to tell him, and ultimately it's the fact she surmises he'd be more hurt if he didn't that drives her to say: ）

Naruto's missing. So, Sasuke and I are going to look for him. That's why I won't be around.

So... if you could please keep an eye out in the city, or on the Netherwork for me... in case you see him. I'd appreciate that.

[coherer]

(fuck.

what could be worse than that? the unknown is usually unsatisfying to all, and to jonas it's frightening. it's naruto. he may not have known naruto for long, but that short time was plenty impactful. did he get lost or run into trouble? did his shadow get the best of him or leave him at ascension?

if only there were records of people's comings and goings.)

Of course, I will.

(no pomp or jokes, no pitying apologies, and no optimistic platitudes. he'll look—that's that.)

[craters]

Thanks, Jonas.