825/A Good Book

From Radiant Heart MUSH

A Good Book
Date of Scene: 29 November 2023
Location: The Shed
Synopsis: After Veronica's Book was recovered from Sensoji Temple, she found some strange writing inside - shortly after, Usagi, Naru, and Adrien join her in the Shed to look into it, and talk about what's been going on with Midnight Tokyo, anyway.
Cast of Characters: Veronica Perenna, Usagi Tsukino, Naru Osaka, Adrien Agreste


Veronica Perenna has posed:
On the way back from the dorm Veronica has been examining what Nephrite could have been done to her book, and frankly the energy makeup wasn't quite the same. It presented some small ripples and when kept in a physical form, there was something embedded in the pages.

She has been using her uncloaking shimmers on it, and interestingly enough, writing started to manifest right away, even before the misty lights could have actually applied their effect.

She tried the same results by shining her calling card on it, and interestingly enough, the writing appeared then too. Next she tried normal magical light by bringing another relic in energy form next to it. No reaction. The conclusion was obvious. It only reacted to moonlight, which is very interesting.

Still though, this is a nice find, and one Usagi would have clearly wanted to know of, so she has called her with a request for a meeting, and the blonde girl has agreed to meet in front of this rundown shed not that far from the school. It's much better than running their analysis in the middle of the cafeteria.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi had found everything about that whole shrine incident... weird. Not just that Nephrite was teamed up with La Crima, but that they hadn't really been trying to do anything particularly evil, except that thing at the end with all the Dark Energy, but then - what was all that? Really, what was it?

So hearing from Veronica - and hearing that she wanted her to check out another relic - that was both surprising, and concerning. She, Naru, and Makoto had made it back to their dorms, so it had been easy to ask Naru to come with her to the Shed.

"Thanks for meeting us here, Veronica-chan!" She is resisting the urge to give her a nickname, like Nica-chan, with all her might. "This is a special place, so you've got to promise to keep it a secret and only tell people you trust with like, your life, okay? I haven't even told Mamochan."

This place is an old shed. Veronica might be feeling very confused right about now.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It had been an interesting book, and irritating as all get out to try and look at properly while there was fireworks going on over head. Naru is happy to come along with Usagi over to the Shed.

Unsurprisingly, she's got a coffee with her.

"Hi Veronica. How're you doing?"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Hello, Usagi-chan, Naru-chan! I am doing well." Veronica smiles at the two schoolmates when they approach, even though the circumstances aren't necessarily happy. "You may have guessed it, but the talk is about the fight over at the Shrine, and the relic I recovered from it. This time there are some things that would be interesting to bring up."

This dilapidated shed is a special place? Hmm, what is it hiding? The brunette stares at it for a second before returning to the conversation. "Sure, I give you my word!" Veronica promises.

As an aside, if Usagi were to try, Veronica wouldn't mind the nickname.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ah, there are? I was sure there wouldn't be, after you were right about the fan..." there was nothing to be worried about with the fan, after all. But it's a doubly good thing she brought Naru, then, because Naru-chan both knew Nephrite better than Usagi, and had a more investigatory mind.

"Great! Now watch and be amazed - you don't mind if I call you Nica-chan, do you? It's easier to say." She is unashamed to admit English names are hard for her! She's very bad at English!

And then she reaches out and opens the Shed. Twisting the handle one way as she opens the door reveals exactly what you expect - a dilapidated shed. Twisting it the other way though reveals... a pretty clean, sparse room. Chalkboards, tables, and some chairs. Also, it's much larger on the inside than the outside. It's like an old-style classroom, with large windows that showcase the forest, even though the shed on the outside absolutely doesn't have a single window. "It's a secret base!"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"The Shrine fight was interesting." Naru agrees as she waits for Usagi to demonstrate the magic trick of how to get into the /actual/ Shed rather than the shed. She steps inside, moving over to the windows to adjust the blinds a little. "Welcome to the Shed." She smiles and gestures.

There's a couch in here now too, not the most amazing, but comfortable enough.

Naru moves over to one of the desks, that has a stack of neat notes and some books upon it, to collect out a notebook and a pen.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Well, the relic is still working as it should, and nothing dangerous has been added, but it wasn't exactly the same, and when I tried to reveal what it had been hiding, it did so even earlier than expected. Basically, it just happens to react to any form of moonlight, revealing some sort of code." Quite convenient how she is able to magically recreate it.

"I also had a private talk with La Crima after the fact, and that too was interesting", she adds, only keeping for herself that the energy vampire is her roommate. She is not going to connect her and Norie.

When Usagi reveals the trick of the shed for herself, Veronica's eyes start shining, and she has to try it three to four times herself before she is satisfied enough by that magic to enter.

"Nica-chan is good", the brunette confirms as she takes in the sights of the Shed's interior, starting to pace herself from wall to wall and confronting it with what she remembers having seen from the outside to confirm that, indeed, the dimensions don't match. "This is awesome, Usagi-chan, Naru-chan. How did you find it?"

After she has gotten over the daze of the new place, she transforms just long enough to take out the book before going back to normal. "This is the one", she says, lowering it on a table. Without the touch of moonlight, all that the pages reveal are jewels patterned after constellations on each page, their name printed on the side.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi watches Veronica test the Shed's door again and again, grinning; she understands the feeling. Sure, there was being a magical girl, but this felt like real, proper, and very cool magic!

"I'm glad it's still working as it should, but it's not great that anything was different - wait, did you say code?"

Her thoughts come to a screeching halt, even as her body sees her sit down beside Naru. She pulls her phone out, planning to ask to take pictures.

"I'm doubly glad you're showing us then! If this is Nephrite's code, Naru-chan's been working to break it!" Shower her roommate in praise! Understand how wondeerful she is! "...you talked to La Crima? Well, I guess she didn't try to shoot you, or anything... that's pretty dangerous! But if she told you anything valuable, that's great, Nica-chan..."

Shee's a little doubtful, if only because La Crima is pretty... well... a little pathetic, someone she definitely pitied... but also someone she knew was very dangerous. "Inai-sensei! She's the self-defense instructor, and she got us this place - for all of us magical kids."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"For the light side magical kids." Naru corrects gently as she settles at the table with Usagi. The blonde might have her phone, but Naru is apparently a pencil and paper type.

"I suspect that all he wrote were some notes about the spells in question, but there's only one real way to find out." Naru comments thoughtfully. "He's very fond of cyphers and they are a pain in the butt to crack, but it's possible. They take quite a lot of time to get through." She nods at the mention of moonlight. "It was hard to read during the fight, because I only had moonlight periodically. It was like trying to read by fireworks."

Naru reaches over to touch the book lightly. "What did La Crima have to say on it all?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
The Shed door clicks open again shortly after Veronica stops testing it out. Adrien steps inside only to pause, staring openly at the trio here with wide green eyes. At his side is a duffel bag that seems full to the brim with whatever he was currently lugging around. Likely it wasn't his fencing gear for once.

"Oh. Ah. Hi everyone." He greets with a broad smile that looks a little sheepish at having walked in and being spotted. Naru he knew of course, as did he know Usagi, but the fact that *he* knew about this place? Naru was the one who told him. He'd showed up transformed last time to help keep his identity further.

Lugging a large bag around as Chat Noir would be very suspicious compared to the fencing prodigy that was often carting around his gear. He was way less likely to be followed this way so he took the chance.

Recalling the bag he hoists it up to offer, lamely, "I brought us supplies."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Yes, and I don't really know where to start trying to crack it", Veronica replies to Usagi.

She is put very at ease and marveled at once when Usagi revealed Naru has already been working on it. "That's incredible, Naru-chan! What have you discovered?"

When questioned about La Crima, Veronica starts explaining. "When I met her, she was in a very sour mood due to your Moon Healing Escalation and I don't think she was feeling particularly well physically either. That purification really did a number on her."

She takes out her calling card, ready to literally shine some light on the matter. "She has been talking about how she has been feeding Naru-chan with information, and how she was acting as a lure for us as a magical equivalent of magical espionage. Can you confirm she has been doing the former?" Veronica addresses the last question to Naru.

"I have never met Inai-sensei, but it sounds like I should if she is a self-defense instructor", Veronica mentions, writing down the name on her phone.

The brunette is about to shine her card on the book to give Naru a hand when Adrien comes in, at which point she rudely snaps the book shut and holds it to herself. "Do you mind? We are onto private matters", she tells the new arrival.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Okay, yeah, no inviting the people on the bad side," Usagi says, which is definitely a choice of words - her roommate is much more with the shades of grey than she is, clearly. She's not surprised to hear about La Crima, either. "She must have a lot of Dark Energy - the happy juice hurts when you're full of that stuff, or so Naru-chan's told me."

Usagi is not at all surprised when Naru reaches for the book - she loves knowledge and loves digging into things, and that book had been her companion for the whole fight! She is a little surprised to hear La Crima is leaking information, but then, Naru-chan had been sure she was shot on accident, and had been right. She was kind of... friends, with the energy vampire. Usagi might have said more, but there was the door clicking open, and then Adrien popped in, all blond hair, green eyes, and startled expression, and Veronica snapped and snatched back the book.

"Um... well!" This is awkward. "V... Nica-chan," a nickname won't give away her identity. "This is Adrien-kun; he's my and Naru-chan's friend, and he knows about this place too. There are a number of us people on the good side who know - people like Naru-chan and Adrien-kun, who don't use magic, and people like me, who do."

She pointedly doesn't say that Veronica uses magic, hoping to make her feel more comfortable and safe. She gently raises her hands in the classic gesture of calm down, don't shoot, everything's fine. "He's not going to do anything with the book, I promise."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hey there Adrien." Naru looks up from the book and its clear that she is zero percent surprised to see Adrien wander in. "Oh cool. Let me know if you need a hand with them." She comments to him.

Naru turns back to the book that the three girls are looking at and she pauses a moment before replying as Veronica attempts to kick Adrien out and she arches her brow. "This is a communal space for working together. There are going to be people coming in and out potentially. If you would prefer that other people on the light side not collaborate, than it was a bad choice to attempt to have this conversation here. I would value Adrien's perspective, personally." She leans back, clearly prepared to just not look at the book. No matter how interesting it might be.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste opens his mouth when Veronica snaps in his direction. No response immediately comes so he just looks properly scolded. He doesn't leave though as he instead turns to close the door behind him so that others wandering by that weren't in the know wouldn't get a glimpse of inside The Shed.

By the time he turns around again his smile has returned as he opts not to take offense at the situation. "I guess I don't have to worry that you're all looking at my latest magazine shoot, at least," he jokes lightly. His expression softens toward Usagi and Naru. "Thanks. I figured these might come in handy. I've got a decent allowance so picked it all up."

The bag is taken over toward a table, one away from the three girls so they can be given some space as he sets it down to unzip it. Inside are rolled up maps of the city. Several. One overall map, and then individual maps of each prefecture. There were other supplies as well like push pins, dry erase markers, and similar items.

"I'll just put up the maps and head out if it's really an issue. I thought it might help pin point the shrines that were being attacked."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica relaxes when Usagi vouches for Adrien, placing the book back on the table for Naru to look at. "I see, thanks, Usagi-chan", she smiles at the blonde girl before turning to address Naru.

"It's not that I have problems working with others, but this is sensitive information, and just like you don't hand out the Shed's location to just anyone, I would like to know who I am sharing something so important with", she explains herself.

She trusts the other girls' judgements, so she gets up to bow down at Adrien and introduce herself. "Hello, I am Veronica Perenna, Grade 7". The brunette sits back down on the sofa, placing herself close to the book, ready to start illuminating it. "We are about to discuss some leads about the Dusk Zone project known as Midnight Tokyo. How much do you know about it?"

Passing her calling card over the book, the item starts shining, the moonlight revealing the code on the book's pages for Naru to read. "So, is it true that La Crima has been passing you information, Naru-chan?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Right, right..." Usagi nods along to Veronica's explanation, but she's - she's remembering being a touchy Grade 7 student, and now, at the wise old age of fourteen, decides that this is just something to accept, she guesses. "We fought Nephrite, a Dark General yesterday, and Veronica got this book back from him."

Now that Veronica's decided to introduce herself, she's explaining more to Adrien. "And Veronica found out that he wrote some things in this book, so we're hoping to figure out what we can..."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Thank you Adrien, I appreciate it." Naru comments over to him first, keeping any comments about magazine spreads to herself, but there's just a tiny bit of a smirk.

"If they know of the Shed, then they've been vetted." Naru points out to Veronica. "So while I can appreciate wanting to know who you are working with, telling everyone you do not know to get out is not the way to achieve that."

Naru nods at the question. "Yes, La Crima is amongst my sources for information. By no means is she the only one."

As the moonlight settles on the pages, and the writing is revealed, Naru picks up her pad of paper and pencil and starts making her own notes about what's there. "I noticed them during the fight, but couldn't actually stop to take notes." She looks up at Usagi and flashes a teasing smile. "You all were distracting."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"It's a new topic to me, really. I mostly know about some of the magical heroes I'd encountered while in Paris. A few seem to be here now as well," Adrien supplies while pinning up the largest map on one of the walls. It was starting to look officially like a planning station of some kind. "Though I did hear about the shrine attacks and how the generals are leaving some of their energy behind them, possibly to either poison or take control of the ley lines they're on."

He pauses to glance over his shoulder watching the moonlight fall on the book revealing text. The final pin is put into the map keeping it secure, and he risks wandering over to regard it curiously. "I thought it might help if we could mark where each location that was attacked is. If they're following a pattern of some kind we may be able to figure out their next target before they attack."

"At least," he admits with a sigh, "That's the hope. It seems to work for detectives in the movies."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"According to La Crima, we are supposed to defeat Nephrite away from the temple", Veronica says. "She was luring us there, so we would find a way to do that. She didn't expect us to challenge Nephrite there, or for her to get that blast of purification."

She looks at the notes Naru is taking. She really is meticulous. "I explained to her why we have that reaction with dark energy, but on that front, now that you know it's a harmless lure, she would prefer that not to happen again."

"Our altercation there, as short as it was, had been enough to achieve Nephrite's goal, even if luckily Himeko-chan had chosen not to intervene." Which is a good thing, given she too was responsible for a fight a temple last time. "I don't get why Nephrite seems to be helping you, if his goal runs opposite to ours. I mean, what with you getting the book, and then that bit at the end", she asks Naru.

Veronica looks over at the map Adrien is laying out and her attention focuses on Sensoji temple.

"That's odd. Sensoji temple is where Himeko-chan had attacked, but she had personally communicated to me via some sort of telepathic channel that she didn't mean any harm this time. She was only there when she felt part of the temple being destroyed", the brunette clarifies.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We'd better have been distracting," Usagi laughs, shaking her head a little. If their fight wasn't at least a little distracting, that'd be pretty embarrassing!

"That's a great idea, Adrien. Naru-chan and I were keeping track of a lot of things on the whiteboard in our room, but there's only so much you can hide behind those pretty pink curtains."

It was true. They had accidentally erased or partially erased notes way too often hurriedly covering the board up. In this place, at least, they never have to do that. Actual maps? Those would be great. "There's a map we have with some of the plans, but the translation for all the notes and such isn't done yet. Once we have that though, we can copy it all onto our own map, and finally understand!"

Wouldn't that be something?

"A harmless lure?" huh? "Well, fighting him somewhere else might be a good diea, but it's not like we could get just anywhere. Those temple grounds are huuuuge and full of people, and no one who was there had a barrier... and purification hurts, when you're full of Dark Energy. It kinda, I guess, burns it out?" Usagi looks Naru's way, double checking if this is an accurate way to describe it. She's also not saying anything about Nephrite's behavior! He's Naru-chan's evil bad boy!

"As for Himeko-chan... we can trust her to be honest. If that's why she was there, that's why she was there."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I mean, we know that they are headed for a selection of shrines, but the order and the timing is always in question. Being able to have a map we can write notes on will be amazing, thank you Adrien." Naru glances to him with a smile before she returns to squinting at the book. "Could you turn the page for me, Veronica?"

"Most of the attacks are a distraction from other things that are going on at the shrine at the same time. At least that's been my exprience at other shrines." Naru replies almost absently.

Naru nods to Usagi at the question about purification. "Yeah, it sort of burns and .. sparks? Like that feeling when you hit your funny bone really hard and your arm tingles? Like that, but amped up to 12, and burning.. and yeah.. do /not/ recommend." Because of course Naru knows exactly how it feels to have dark energy purified out of you.

Naru mmms about why Nephrite is helping her. "The motivations of the various of the Obsidian boys are their own." is what she decides on, with no comment on relationships between said Obsidian boys.. or one in paricular.. and herself.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
As the talk about the Generals keeps tying back to Obsidian, Adrien finds himself looking a bit more worried. Glancing down he takes his phone out to regard it before stuffing it back into his pocket without actually unlocking it.

"I don't really work inside Obsidian, but I do work with some of their staff on occasion when my father has me do a photo shoot or publicity opportunity. It probably won't help immediately, and maybe not with this situation either, but I'll start trying to see if I an overhear anything from anyone."

Though, really, he had to wonder how his father got involved with such a group.

The thanks for the maps just earns a grin. "If I can't use being rich to help my friends, what good is it? Besides, this is easily written off as 'school supplies' under my allowance. Father won't look at it too closely." A beat comes, and he admits, "Or at all probably. Usually his assistant does that."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Veronica makes no further comment about Nephrite and instead complies with Naru's request about turning the page, still keeping the calling card suspensed above it.

"La Crima has been very specific that an important part of their plan is to draw conflict to the shrines, that's why we have to avoid playing into it, by luring the fight somewhere else", Veronica specifies.

"If it was just a distraction from things occurring in other part of the temples, they wouldn't specifically want us there."

Veronica meanwhile had known nothing about Naru having had to be purified of Dark Energy, so of course, that matters prompts a question from her. "What happened? How do you know how it feels?" Well, not like it's the time now, she corrects itself.

"Nevermind, we have more urgent things to do, sorry. But that feeling is exactly why La Crima would appreciate not being retaliated against so intensely, since she is playing corporate espionage, as she put it. She has even had to settle for aged stock of her comfort food while she was trying to recover from the pain it had dealt her."

"My point about Himeko is she was helping with Midnight Tokyo at Nezu, yet didn't care about Nephrite at all at Meiji." The dark energy she was outputting back then worked just as well as the one Norie was responsible for. "Just that she seemed to have a change of heart along the way, at least pushing her in neutral territory, so that's one less thing to worry about."

Veronica looks at the map Adrien has laid out again. "Do you think we can use that to predict where they will strike next?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The news about Adrien's dad has Usagi turning to him with concern - because, even though she'd kind of known he was a famous model, she hadn't really put together... "I'm sure your dad isn't working with them for evil. They're like, a huge megacorporation, and that means there's a bunch of people just doing, you know, normal stuff, and you know, the guys we meet who do bad things. And even then, almost none of them are doing stuff with the Obsidian logo, you know?"

There's no way Adrien's dad would side with the bad guys on purpose - but there's plenty of odds he could be in danger!

"And besides, being rich is a super power, you know?"

She's saying that with a grin, and a wink, then settles back, looking at the book...

"Can we see if all this language sticks around with pictures? That'd make it easier for the people trying to break the code, like Naru-chan."

And - well -

"Pyrite does work with Nephrite's... boss? Leader? Friend? So maybe she was helping as a favor?" Why wass she only helping the one time, anyway? It's a fair question.

And the maps are too...

"I hope so. The map I have has a bunch of big circles on it - maybe all of these places are in those circles... maybe all the places they plan to attack are?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"For sure not all of the staff at Obsidian are awful." Naru reassures Adrien. "There's plenty of people who work there who literally just work there. It's an evil megacorp, sure, but it does employ people beyond the actively evil ones."

"Sum up.." Naru glances to Veronica with a rueful look. "I got kidnapped, shoved full of dark energy until I youma'd and then purified 'til I got better. Do not recommend, it sucks." An efficient summary, even if it likely begs more questions than it truly answers.

"That's the first time I've heard .. or seen .. La Crima at. Sometimes not getting in the way of purification is best done by not being there." Naru points out pragmatically. "I'm not sure how much aim there is on the happy juice, but it's a valid point."

"Who is doing what and where seems to be an ever evolving and shifting situation." Naru nods in agreemant and then mmms softly. "Well, they are running low on shrines that are on the map, so we know the where, or can narrow down the where, but then when is the eternal struggle."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste inhales deeply to calm his frazzled nerves. It wasn't the first time he'd felt anxious and worried about something. All that time working as a model meant he was familiar with keeping those particular emotions under control. Even if this was far more serious than something as silly as stage fright.

"Right. Sorry. Let's focus on this," he agrees with a quick rake of his fingers back through his blonde hair. Might need a haircut soon. A thought for later.

"That's the hope. If we can find a pattern we might be able to tell where they're going next, or at least see if there's some central location they're focusing around. Though if it's the shrines on leylines, then it might not really have a pattern of any sort. Not sure."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Having someone you know being involved in an organisation they don't know the full scope of is admittedly very tricky. Adrien doesn't seem anxious externally, so that's a good thing at least. "I would assume he more thorny parts of Obsidian probably double and triple-check their secrets don't leak even by mistake, so their normal workers are safe from being involved into those operations", she shares her musings.

It does beg more questions, but Veronica did say she is keeping her curiosity in check now, and both the tone and the content of Naru's reply would have worked as a deterrent against more of them even without that promise.

"I did try to suggest she shouldn't be getting involved, especially since she doesn't like the plan at all, but that was when she explained she is working from the inside against them", she comments.

The when is as tricky as Naru says, and Norie hasn't shared any information on that front, so she can only hope the answer is in that code. Which actually would be more useful to have in pictures without Naru having to copy every single line patiently, so Veronica nods and comments "I don't think my light should provide much interference against the phone's camera, so go ahead if you want to give it a try."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Alright! Here goes - if this works, it will be way easier to get this translated..." Usagi lifts her phone and adjusts the filters, then carefully takes a picture of the revealed lighting. Flipping to her gallery, she holds her breath and - "Success! Look, it took a picture of the writing! This is great!"

Showing everyone her phone, she looks down at the book and wilts - "Now we just have to... do that with all the pages he wrote on."

The La Crima conversation makes her grimace. "It's great that she's apparently sabotaging from the inside but... I can't really direct where the Escalation goes - I mean, I can pick left or right? But after that it's kind of area of effect. Maybe if you see her again, tell her to run on sight?" It sounds flippant, but it's honest.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There's some level of pattern." Naru nods to Adrien. "Or at least.. I mean.. humans can make a pattern out of damn near anything, so /I/ can see a pattern in them, but that doesn't mean it's the same as was intended."

"While I'm glad to get whatever notes Neph put in here." Naru notes as Usagi starts photographing various pages. "They dont have the same cadence as the coded stuff. I suspect it's yet another language. Or possibly yet another code." She sighs softly, no doubt envisioning the next set of hours worth of work in detangling this, to then find out its Neph's grocery list or something.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Adrien Agreste leans over to regard the picture that Usagi successfully took with an emerging grin. "That's great! That will help a lot, plus then there will be a back up in case this gets lost or has to be returned to the owner. Do we know if he knows that it's missing yet?" Thoughts he had which reminded him of a similar situation he'd been in once after borrowing a book of his fathers. Eep.

Usagi's lack of enthusiasm at having to take multiple pictures though earns a slight pat on her shoulder trying to be reassuring. "That's not so bad though. It can be done in batches. Maybe take pictures of ten pages, take a break, then do ten more? It won't be so bad that way."

"Maybe I could work with you to see if I could help on translation, Naru?" He pauses looking a little sheepish. "I am multi-lingual so maybe it won't be too hard to pick up if I catch onto what you're doing."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"Awesome!" Veronica smiles at Usagi's success. That's one less thing we have to worry about, and if Naru shares the code, then they can work at 4 times the pace. They will have this done in no time!

"I can work at it too, my parents have been working hard on providing me as much of a broad education as possible", she mentions. The perks of being born into nobility and having a voracious curiosity.

"I will tell La Crima that then", Veronica mentions to Sailor Moon. "I will try to break the news to her as well as possible."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh! Yeah, batches of photos and then a break in between sounds good to me. We'll get through this!"

A little cheer, and Usagi turns the next page in the book to get more pictures.

"Honestly? Even with how crazy things have been... I'm still feeling pretty good. We're getting more and more allies all the time, and even their own people are kind of turning on them. I really think we can do this."