793/The Meloncholy of Setsuna Meiou Episode 793: A Modest Proposal

The Meloncholy of Setsuna Meiou Episode 793: A Modest Proposal
Date of Scene:	20 November 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Nurse Meiou invites Chiyo and Makoto out to eat at the cutest hotpot resturaunt in existence. Discussions of a morale-boosting event are made, some early details are hashed out, and Chiyo provides some newly-developed magical supplies for the Infirmary.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Chiyo Sakai, Makoto Kino

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Setsuna Meiou has posed:
A text will go out to both Chiyo and Makoto from Nurse Meiou early in the day asking if they mind meeting her for dinner to discuss nonurgent but possibly important matters of the 'sparkly' variety. It also warns you'll likely be exchanging identities with an ally...and also reccomending they bring appetite, as she has heard good things about where they're eating.

Instructions are to ask for the 'Meiou Party' when one arrives as well as directions.

The location is actually not terriby far from the school. It's nearly in the middle of the Shibuya ward at the corner of a larger building, and the signs outside advertise the place to be called:
KUMACHAN ONSEN

Naturally, lots of images of bears are everywhere, as well as rather a lot of stuffed teddy bears here and about.

Giving the staff the name of 'Meiou Party' gets a fair bit of smiles and one quickly led upstairs to a quiet corner booth where Nurse Meiou is waiting. Though given she's not wearing her labcoat and instead seems to be wearing a pale pink button down blouse and pale purple skirt, some other form of address might be more appropriate.

She smiles and waves to the arrivees and waits for them to sit.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Dinner out with a teacher? Even if it's of the possible alternate identity variety this gives Chiyo a chance to dress up! Just a bit. No school uniform for her, nor the pants and shirt of her work attire. Instead she's wearing a pair of warm black leggings, some brown leather ankle boots, and a pink dress. Over it is a larger, much warmer red coat and a bundled up knit scarf in a similar brown to her shoes. It was comfy, warm, and most of all cute.

When shown to the room she can really only hide her surprise a bit at seeing Setsuna in something other than 'work' attire. Though, it made sense. It's just the momentary lapse of seeing a 'teacher' outside of school in an unfamiliar setting.

"Thank you for the invitation, Meiou-sensei," she greets with a polite dip of her head before moving to take a seat. Her purse is clutched in hand as she settles down taking care to keep it out of the way.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto arrived at the arranged place with a certain amount of trepidation - sure, she knows that Nurse Meiou is a senshi and a trustworthy ally, but that still doesn't mean she can entirely shake the sense that she's being called onto the metaphorical carpet. It's hard not to, given her history.

A good bit of that apprehension evaporates as she steps inside the building, though. She takes in the interior of the restaurant with wide, sparkling eyes, only just remembering to tell the staff who she's here with in order to be shown up just about the time Chiyo is taking her seat.

"Oh, Chiyo-chan, hi!" She's taken care with her outfit - a soft wide-necked cream-colored sweater over a dusty-pink mock-turtleneck, forest green slacks, brown loafers. Setsuna gets a polite little bow before Makoto moves to sit as well. "I have no idea what's going on, but I've been wishing I could try this place out, so... thank you very much for inviting me, Meiou-sensei."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles at the two, greeting Chiyo with a warm, "It's my pleasure, Miss Sakai."

As the young woman sits down, she reaches out and hands her a long, small box, "Have a gift."

The shape and length of the box makes it rather apparent what's inside...and sure enough, it's a set of chopsticks...but this is a very well made set lacquered in a specific shade of pink with tiny white hash marks that might be particularly meaningful to Chiyo.

When Makoto arrives a moment later, Setsuna gives her just as open a smile and waves her over, "Anytime, Miss Kino. I have come to the realization recently that I absolutely LOATHE eating alone...so since my housemates were otherwise occupied this evening and we three have a bit of business to discuss, I thought we could make a dinner of it."

Then she reaches out and with a twist of her wrist, she produces a matching box to the one that she gave Chiyo...and within is a matching set of chopsticks, except these are lacquered in a very specific shade of green with pink accents on the rear ends.

Once both are seated, she nods to the waitstaff, who do the usual thing of handing menus, getting drink orders and waiting to see if anyone needs time.

Setsuna apparently doesn't, as she orders the beef with gochujang (korean red chili paste) broth, then looks over, "Get whatever you want, ladies. This is all on me and to say I am in no way hurting for money is a vast understatement."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"A gift? There's no need-" Chiyo begins only to get cut off when it's presented. Of course she opens it because who doesn't want to know what's in such a pretty box? The chopsticks there are quite pretty and she smiles at the fact that the pattern resembles the cross-hatch on her kimono when she's transformed.

Makoto's greeting steals her attention away. A quick look of surprise crosses over her face, only for a little laugh to come quietly. "Ah, Makoto-chan, hello again! It's good to see you."

The present is set down on the table beside her for now trying not to steal too many admiring glances toward it. It'd be rude to not pay attention to those she's at dinner with! "I've heard of this place and it does look cute. Also it smells rather nice." A little whiff of the air is taken enjoying the various savory smells.

"Just some hot tea for me, please," she begins only to glance thoughtfully at the menu. "I'll try the miso-bear with chicken and veggies, as well."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto looks, honestly, a bit floored to be presented with a gift on top of dinner; she hesitates a moment before, seeing as Chiyo is opening her own gift, she goes ahead and opens the box she's been given as well. Her face lights up with understanding and admiration at the sight of the chopsticks, and the very distinctive colors of the lacquer. "This is very generous, Meiou-sensei," she says, with a tiny laugh. "And beautiful. Thank you again. Ah--" the waitstaff is coming around, so she sets the box with the chopsticks down carefully on the table and directs her attention to ordering. "Ginger tea, please... and I'd like to try the soy milk broth with pork and veggies."

She waits, patient, until everyone's orders are in and the waitstaff is off on their way before she looks back toward Setsuna. "Not that I'm not incredibly grateful to be treated, especially somewhere like this, but... can I ask what this is all about? You mentioned that it had to do with--" She glances sidelong toward Chiyo, curious, as she tries to decide on the word to use. "--um, sparkles."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles and looks back at the two younger women before taking a moment to sip the green tea she'd had while she had been waiting for the other two.

Once the staff is far enough away, she looks over at Makoto and says, "Ah, yes. My apologies, Miss Kino. I had a discussion with Miss Sakai a few days ago laying out a bit of what this is about."

She looks between the two of them, "Now, I understand if you want to be careful with your identities, but I can assure you both that the other is quite trustworthy...and that you are both reccommended by the highest judge of character I know, Sailor Moon."

She glances about, then goes on, "In any event, as I'm sure you're both aware, it's been a rather rough couple of months on the more...sparkly side of life that we all occupy...and a while back while I was having a conversation with Sailor Moon, I had an idea bloom that I had the inspiration for a while back. Get some of us together and have a Magical Girl Iron Chef battle. As you may or may not have guessed, calling me 'loaded' is a bit of an understatement...and I'm more than happy to spring for a bunch of top shelf ingredients for us to do an in-henshin special to circulate around the community on ONE condition."

She gives the two of them a VERY SERIOUS look, "...I get to be the Chairman."

Then she breaks into a bit of a grin.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai glances aside at Makoto as well when the topic of sparkles is brought up again. Quietly sitting she allows Setsuna to begin her explanation, especially about identities. It's only once she's properly vouched for does she clear her throat quietly.

"Ah, well, I usually don't, but I know you Meiou-sensei, as well as our mutual friend, so..." She looks to Makoto again dipping her head toward her with a smile. "I'm Culinary Guardian Daifuku."

Honestly she had no idea if she'd ever run into Makoto while she was a magical girl or not. Maybe she had? It wasn't always easy to stop and introduce oneself.

At least the topic that Setsuna brings up is one she's familiar enough with, and she chuckles nodding. "I'm quite all right with the idea. I do enjoy cooking, and part of my ah... Speciality... Is helping to lift the spirits of others with what I make. This seems like it would do that in more ways than one."

Makoto Kino has posed:
At Chiyo's explanation of her identity, Makoto offers her a rueful smile and a tip of her head. "Sailor Jupiter," she offers in return. "Not that I've been at it for all that long."

Setsuna's proposal is obviously a new one on her - abruptly the tall woman has her full attention, her eyebrows lifting. "Seriously?" So many surprises this evening! She sits back a bit, considering the idea. The corner of her mouth twitches up into a smile. "I'm not gonna lie, that sounds pretty awesome, actually."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna grins...then pauses and shifts slightly back as a visual signal to the other two.

A moment later, the waitstaff arrives with everyone's orders. The plates of meat and condiments are set down as well as each person getting their own personal cookbowl with broth bear within.

As soon as they depart, the greenhaired woman turns on her pot and lets the bear begin to melt before looking back up...checking right, then left...then she steeples her fingers in front of her and adopts a very over-the-top 'evil genius' look as she says, "...EXCELLENT."

She manages to hold that for a few seconds before she has to cover her mouth to hide a giggle, "Good. I'll see about getting us a venue and working up some basic rules...though it'll probably mostly be pretty close to how they did the original Iron Chef back in the day."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai can't help herself from grinning over this idea as well! The exchange of magical girl names puts her a bit more at ease. It was nice getting to know some others, after all, and this seemed like an excellent way to have some fun that wasn't just fighting or trying to save lives.

When Setsuna shifts in her seat she looks over toward the approaching waitress who doles out the little hotpots full of solidified bear broth. It might be a slightly childish response but she claps her hands together just grinning with complete adoration at how it looked. "It's so cute! I wonder..." No, now was not the time to plot possible new sweets of a similar nature.

"Right, yes. That would be fantastic. Though you do know I mainly cook sweets and such. I could try to cook other things but I think ... Even though my 'kitchen' supplies me most things, if it's outside the realm of sweets then it would be better to supply the ingredients as you've suggested."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"It is cute," Makoto agrees brightly. "It almost makes me feel bad to melt the little guy... but at least we can think of it as letting them enjoy a nice hot bath."

While they wait for the hotpots to work their magic, she turns her attention back to the subject at hand. "Aside from baking, I only really know home cooking kinds of things. But it's fine for us not to be five-star professional level, it'll still be a lot of fun. I think there are a lot of people who could use a bit of that around now."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sestuna holds up a hand, then flips it back and forth once to produce another of those little chopstick boxes she gave the other two.

When she opens hers, however...

Well, the sticks are...

...saying they're 'black' kind of takes from the experience.

They're not 'matte black' or 'flat black'.

They're more a 'WOW, that's BLACK' kind of black.

It's a black you can almost HEAR.

And in this lighting, it almost looks like she's using two anomolies in spacetime as chopsticks to stir her red bear around as he slowly melts and falls over, "FANtastic. I'm glad we're all on board, then. I'll get to arranging things later this week and I'll get back to you about arranging a good time."

She then smiles and glances over, "...but enough of work, how have the two of you been getting on, lately? No serious injuries, I take it?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks rather relieved when Makoto says she mostly bakes. At least they would be on the 'sweet' playing field that way! The hot pot tears her attention away again to regard the bear starting to melt. "I know there's been times I've felt like melting in a hot bath," she jokes with a quiet chuckle.

Then Setsuna takes out her own chopsticks. It causes her to blink. Then blink again. Her eyes narrow to thin slits trying to process just how Dark no... Black no... DEEP? They were.

"Well," she murmers after a moment of thought. "At least we know you're not Anish Kapoor."

She takes up her own new pink chopsticks testing them out while watching the bear melt and she starts to at least add some of the harder veggies, like potatoes and carrots so they could simmer longer.

"I'm fine. I haven't had much going on since the thing with the youkai gates. I've been trying to keep an eye on it however." Of course she doesn't even utter those words before taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was listening in as unubtrusively as possible so people wouldn't think SHE was weird for looking around in the first place.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto has at least seen something like the chopsticks Setsuna produces, though the slightly brain-bending effect of it still gives her a moment's pause. Maybe two. It's probably best not to look too hard for too long, in case something decides to stare back.

"I've been okay," she confirms distractedly. "Nothing too crazy, unless you count being turned into a plushie for a couple of minutes. It was fine, though, it wore off." There's a beat before she makes a face. "When I say it out loud, it sounds totally insane."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna blinks at Makoto, "...plushie?"

Another long blink, "...like...were you just turned into an inanimate object, or could you still move?"

She shakes her head, then winks at Chiyo and clicks her chopsticks that direction as she also puts some of her longer cooking bits into the now boiling broth.

She then snorts and shakes her head, "...and I actually kind of understand. About a month ago I got hit by an effect that made me about the size of someone in, say, grade 6 or 7."

She scowls a little, "...that was an UNPLEASANT couple of weeks at home...because, as you might imagine, I had arranged all my stuff to be convenient for me to reach normally."

She waves a hand more or less at herself to indicate her rather towering height, "...then I was suddenly about half my normal height for a while...getting stuff from cabinets was ANNOYING."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks between the pair surprised at hearing what both have been through. Nothing like that had happened to her before! Then again she wasn't out and about as often as others, likely, what with her work at the shop. "I feel like I've been rather lucky compared to most. I'm glad you're both all right now."

A soft 'oh' comes from her as she looks down to her lap recalling something. The chopsticks are placed down for now in favor of taking up her bag in her lap to open. "Before I forget. Meiou-sensei, you asked me to come up with some items. I wanted to do something that's shelf-stable too, so I did a few based on my new candy."

A small neatly wrapped plastic bag adorned with little silvery diamond designs. Inside? Smaller gem shapes, silvery and shiny like some kind of... Silver Crystal. Which she offers over to Setsuna.

"They're pineapple flavor."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I could still move," Makoto assures Setsuna cheerfully, "and talk and everything. Even use magic... sort of. It came out as a little felt lightning bolt, so it wasn't really useful, but." She seems fully unbothered by her very brief experience as an animate toy, as she picks up her fancy new chopsticks. "Sailor Venus was there to make sure I didn't get stepped on."

She pauses in the act of nipping up a piece of carrot to put in the broth when Chiyo presents her creation. And blinks. "Wait. Is that...?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna blinks at Makoto's description of how things were for her as a plushie...then her eyes light up and she asks, "...oh, PLEASE tell me that the plush lightning bolt stayed around..."

Because that would be ADORABLE...and an AMAZING keepsake.

She gives a brief nod at Sailor Venus helping out her teammate...and then Chiyo gets her attention again.

Her eyes open a bit wide and she lets out a little gasp, "...Miss Sakai...those are AMAZING looking..."

She reaches out and takes the offered crystal, looking it over in her hand for a few moments before handing it to Makoto to look at if she wants, "...excellent. Let me know what you needed to make those, and I'll get you a supply to use whenever you make a batch."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"Thank you. I based them off that ClockApp video," Chiyo explains with a proud glint in her eye at the reaction to them. They WERE pretty though. The metallic shimmer over the sugar crystal thankfully didn't rub off on the bag or fingers. She'd managed to seal it inside the sugar somehow.

"Oh it's not too hard, honestly. It's just a lollipop. Flavoring, sugar, edible glitter. I'm selling them out of Nounamu too, but those are bigger and don't have my 'special touch' with them."

Quietly she asides to Makoto, "When I cook while in my other guise, my food has the ability to revive and renew those that eat it. Both in spirit and physically. Meiou-sensei asked for something to keep at the school for special cases."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"You know," Makoto admits, "I didn't think to look. It would've been cleaned up with the rest of the mess from the culture festival by now, if it didn't disappear when I turned back."

She quickly sets her chopsticks down again to accept the wrapped candy, looking it over with eager curiosity. She shifts it this way and that to watch the shimmer.

The aside from Chiyo finally draws her eyes away from the candy, which she hands back to Setsuna with only a trace of reluctance. "That is so cool!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna nods, "As things have heated up, I've run into more than a few times where giving a little bit of a magical 'boost' to what I can do with mundane means would have helped TREMENDOUSLY."

She gives a sitting bow to Chiyo, "Thank you once again, I'll try to use them as sparingly as I can get away with soas not to cut into your other duties overly much."

A glance back at her pot reveals that the broth is mostly melted and the veggies are getting properly soft...so with a nod at her food, she starts to tuck in for a few moments...

...but not before she gives a bit of a look at Makoto...then a slight grin as she gets an idea.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"It's no trouble at all. This will actually help me a bit, too. I may come up with some items to carry around on myself. I've been called on more and more to help with that ability," Chiyo admits quietly only for her attention to be stolen by the hot pot.

The little bear was sunken down with just it's eyes and ears above the 'water' level now. She takes up her chopsticks again to add in some of the chicken she'd ordered and a mushroom for extra umami, unaware of what Setsuna may now be plotting.

"You're welcome to stop by the shop sometime if you want, Makoto-chan. I could show you how it's done if you'd like."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Picking her chopsticks up again, Makoto resumes loading up her bowl of broth with veggies. The suggestion from Chiyo gets a quick and enthusiastic nod: "I'd love that! Just let me know when would be best for you and I'd be glad to come by."

Veggies simmering, she picks up a piece of pork to dunk into the broth. "Shabu-shabu, swish, swish, guess what's going in my dish~"

The little sing-song half under her breath trails off as she sees Setsuna grinning at her. Inadvertently, her face turns pink. "What?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna gets caught looking, then glances to either side as if being a bit extra conspiratorial, then she leans forwards and makes the 'shhh' gesture for a moment before saying, "...sewing is a bit of a hobby of mine...and...well...keep this between us, but I just got an idea for something to make for most of the girls for Christmas."

She makes the 'shushing' gesture again and winks at the two, "...so please try to act surprised as well when you get yours, okay?"

Then she grabs a bit of meat, gives it a quick cook, and eats it and some veggies.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai looks between the two uncertainly at the mention of gifts. What idea had sprung into Setsuna's mind seems completely out of her grasp of guessing at this point. "I promise to be properly surprised," she agrees with a grin before dipping her chopsticks back in to fish out some of the meat for a quick nibble.

"This is really good!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Poised with her chopsticks and that piece of meat dangling in her hotpot, Makoto meets Setsuna with a deer in headlights look. "...I mean..." she says, "...you know I'm a really bad liar, right?" An embarrassed little laugh escapes her. "I'll try, though. If we're lucky, I'll have forgotten you said anything by Christmas time."

With the vigor of someone who has decided she should probably stop talking, she gets to work eating instead. Her mouth is consequently too full to agree with Chiyo verbally, but she nods enthusiastically all the same.