1074/Three Royals And A Shed

Three Royals And A Shed
Date of Scene:	02 February 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	Mamoru Chiba, Ami Mizuno, and Tadase Hotori meet each other in the shed. Somehow That Word is only said near the end of the discussion.
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Ami Mizuno, Mamoru Chiba

---

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase Hotori knew he needed to meet more magical people. He needed to be part of the whole proper magical hero -thing- and especially with how things were going with Ikuto's attempts to get out of Easter with his hide and violin and other things intact, he might need help.

    And he wanted to help more, too. As much as Kiseki's 'chara-radar- was good for finding himself in random fights, it really wasn't much good at helping him make long term connections and being with a -team-. And as far as he knew, nobody else on the student council besides Cho was magical.

    All the same, if he was good at just approaching people and bringing up random banter, he wouldn't have had Kiseki - so instead of trying to have conversations with strangers after pasting youma, he decided to do something else - to hang around in The Shed since there was at least an overall awareness of who was there for what reason at base. And much to Kiseki's annoyance, it was a pretty quiet place to pound away at Student Council paperwork too.

    "Well, congratulations Tadase." Kiseki says. "You've found an even more annoying and boring place for us to waste our time than the Student Council room." he says. "This place could really use a video game system or ten." Then the Chara paused. "Hey, Tada-"

    Tadase cut him off. "No, I'm not diverting funding from something else to buying video game systems for the magic secret shed." Tadase said, looking up to give Kiseki look.

    "Man, what's the point of doing all this work if you don't get to benefit you. Or at least, me!" the tiny King said, crossing his arms.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno approaches The Shed from outside. The ground was hard and frozen, but thankfully there wasn't any snow today. It was just bitterly cold even for her who was a water and ice affiliated individual. Bundled up warmly in a wool peacoat and jeans, no doubt with a long sleeved blouse of some sort beneath, she pauses at the door to withdraw her gloved hand from a pocket. "This is it. It doesn't look like much and that's the point," she informs matter-of-fact with a moment to pause and regard the ground with a frown.

"Hm, we may need to see about ensuring the path doesn't get too worn down from use soon." The distracting thought is tucked away for later as her attention turns back to the door. "If you open it normally," she informs while swinging it wide to reveal the... really empty, small shed with part of the ceiling caved in, cobwebs, was that a raccoon in the corner hissing at them? "It's just what you'd expect." It's shut again quickly. Before any raccoon territory wars begin.

"If you twist the knob backwards though, it will open to the magical portion." It's displayed by her opening the door. The cooler wind momentarily blows into the room Tadase and Kiseki were seated in. It looks like a classroom filled with tables, chairs, black and white boards for writing various notes on. The windows were intact and the weather outside looked to be of a different season entirely. Not to mention location.

Ami quickly steps through leaving room for Mamoru to join. A quick glance and smile is offered toward Tadase. "Ah, Hotori-san, hello again! And Kiseki-san," she greets of the Chara. "I was just showing a friend around."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Was that a raccoon--?" Mamoru's still asking as Ami opens the door the right way, drawing back a little in dismay. But then he looks in and blinks. "All right, I believed it in theory, but it's really something else to see it in person."

He follows Ami in and waves. "Hotori-san, Kiseki-san!" he calls out cheerfully. "Good to see you in less dire circumstances! Mamoru Chiba, not Darien Shields-- it's a long story." This last is added with a laugh and a casual bow of greeting.

He's not quite as warmly dressed as Ami is -- he's just in jeans, duck boots, an argyle sweater, and a blazer-length black leather jacket. His glasses are fogging up, so he takes them off and hooks them over the neck of his sweater.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase looks up when the two enter. The Shed is nice and neither too warm or too cold, but the blast of winter air reminds him that the world outside is different than the world that -looks- like its on the other side of the windows. Maybe one day he'd see if he could find one that opened. Or maybe that's how you get lost in some sort of weird fey realm. But the thoughts are kind of stalled when Ami and Mamoru enter. The girl from before and... he thinks he's seen the guy before. It clicks when he tells him to use one name and not the other. "Oh, you were there with the Eclipse thing, the tea party at the tower with the... plushies... right? Fair enough, Chiba-san it is." he says, politely. "Makes sense that you'd be here, kind of hard to presume you're not in the magical know after all of that. Glad nobody stayed made of felt." he says, organizing his papers into a stack as he stands up to meet them.

    "It's see to good you again, Mizuno-san." Tadase says, and then he pauses and Kiseki facepalms. "Sorry, just uh. Had my head in my work." he says.

    But it's Kiseki who asks the actual other question. "Just a friend? What kind of f-HRRRK" interrogates the little Chara, floating a bit closer to the two of them before Tadase jerks him back by his cape.

    "Obviously it's somebody else who's on the same side as us, or she wouldn't have brought him here, Kiseki." Tadase says. "Be nice or your world's gonna get small and cramped again."

    "Hmmph." Kiseki says, and mumbles something about 'trying to help'.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Likely a raccoon. I wouldn't bother it. While generally shy, cornered animals can become unpredictable." Ami responds matter-of-fact toward Mamoru's question of the wild animal they'd glimpsed. It was tempting to say something more witty, like 'beware the guardian raccoon' to make it *seem* more mystical. She just didn't think she could pull it off with a straight face.

As greetings are tossed around she reaches up to undo her scarf at the very least, and the topmost button of her coat so that she's a bit more relaxed in the warmer atmosphere. Kiseki's approach and further questioning earns a surprised blink.

"Well, he's my --" Oh no, she can't say Prince. Ami stops there glancing toward Mamoru with a thoughtful expression. Perhaps she should avoid saying anything royalty related at all? She knew the one word triggered him but were there others?

"My friend's boyfriend. Also he's magical," she agrees with a solemn nod.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm regrettably taken," Mamoru tells Kiseki solemnly, blue eyes sparkling bright, "if you were asking for a friend."

Then he slings his jacket off and over his arm, toeing out of his duck boots so he doesn't track melting snow all over the room -- even if it's not someone's house. The jacket gets hung up next to the door and the sweater is on notice if it gets too warm in the Shed.

"I'm also a teammate," he adds cheerfully enough, taking his glasses off his collar again and examining them. Still foggy. He holds them in that hand and folds them up, then flips out a top hat from literally nowhere and puts the glasses in it. His hand goes in up to his elbow and takes out a climate-controlled pair of glasses and puts them on, and explains, "I mean, a teammate of Ami-san's. I have a lot of hats, but only one is a bag of holding. Formerly Hematite, presently Tuxedo Kamen, always Prince Endymion--"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Kiseki tries to fight free of the grab of his robe but eventually Mamoru and Ami both provide answers that obliviate the need. Tadase smiles back at Mamoru - his own eyes, red-violet, mirroring Mamoru's in a way. "Like I said." he adds as Kiseki returns to his shoulder. Kiseki shrugs. "Anyways, it's always good to know more people. The more we can all support and help each other, the better we'll all do in this whole fight thing." he says.

    "Ah, teammates... in a sense, that's why I'm here. I've always felt it's a little bit awkward to meet people when we're exhausted after a fight. But I don't exactly have a team." he says, in regards to the teammates. "A few people I can rely on, but most of the people I know aren't magic - or if they are they aren't sharing and don't have a small floating mouthy beacon to give it away."

    And then there's that connection that's made in his brain after he gets his current thought out. A sort of pause in the room, Kiseki standing straight as a board. "Did you say Prince?"

    Out of nowhere a shimmering golden crown just -pops- into existence onto Tadase's head, and he levels an accusatory finger at Mamoru. "You said prince. You might be a prince, but compared to me you are merely a lowly commoner! I am a King! Not just a King! A king of kings! And this room, this world, it's my domain! I'll rule the world, and protect all of my loyal subjects!" he says. Attentive eyes will notice Kiseki is making the exact same motions Tadase is. He clutches his hand forcefully and starts to laugh in a way that is clearly overdramatic.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno smiles warmly at the talk of teammates. Her own coat is unbuttoned further so that she can hang it up as well. "Teammates are always good, but so are friends. Even if the powers may be different." To be fair she was working on meeting people too. Most of the ones she knew were the other Sailor Senshi, including the Outers that had felt so distant before. Now she was rather fond of them as well.

Such thoughts are quickly forgotten as she blurts "Mamoru, no!" once she realizes he's about to give *all* his names and titles away. It's only because she'd seen the reaction the other day that Tadase had when it came to such things.

A soft sigh is exhaled as she tilts her head watching Tadase and Kiseki in how they act during such a moment. "Well. At least I can observe it better this time now that I know to expect it."

As the Kiseki posessed Tadase starts to rant about ruling, and cackling, she just calmly flicks her hand to the side to reach into her pocket space as she'd been watching Setsuna do so often lately. "Pardon me, Mamoru-kun."

A red plastic bucket is taken out. It was one of those cheap ones from a dollar store, but at least it was new and clean. Taken in both hands she strides over to *plonk* it down over Tadase's head.

"We really ought to test out what else may work for this. Perhaps something more easily accessable can be used."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I-- what? I don't want to rule anything, I'd rather finish school...?" Mamoru starts, mystified, drawing back a little like he did with the raccoon. "You can rule whatever you want, Hotori-san..."

He watches Ami flip the bucket over Tadase's head and only gets more bewildered. "Uh-- I'd offer my hat, but I don't think it would accomplish the same, uh, effect."

He waits. He just waits. And then he says, closing his eyes and pretending literally nothing just happened, "I'd be more than happy to help you out with things, be someone you can call. Just keep in mind that if any of my guard is with me, they might call me that reflexively. I mean I'll tell them not to..."

That's one hell of a trigger.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase Is mid rant when the bucketing happens, and he pauses - and then his whole body visibly relaxes from its tense, dramatic modem. Eventually he brings a hand up to lift the plastic bucket up. Another sigh. "Sorry, that's not... something I have any control over. That word is the trigger." he grumbles. "I don't know if it's unique to me or not, but none of the few other Chara Bearers I know seem to have similar issues." he says. Then he brings up his other hand to pull the bucket off, and he turns to Ami and bows slightly towards her. "My apologies, Mizuno-san, and thank you." he says.

    "I guess that's my reward for wanting to be strong-willed." he says, rolling his eyes. Then he looks over at Kiseki, who makes an act of whistling and floating off. Well. At least he's not actively driving anyone insane now.

    "Sorry, that's not... me." Even if it is KIND OF. "Not to that extent. Or dream. It's like whatever handed out magic decided to monkey's paw me on that front." he says, shrugging. "Also my apologies, Chiba-san. Not the kind of meeting I was hoping to have when I was looking for new allies." he admits. "But maybe getting it out of the way early is for the best."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno reaches out to gently take the bucket back from Tadase once he's pulled it off his head. All so she can make it vanish again back into whatever subspace pocket storage cubby she has set up. It did take up a bit of space, but most of her items were books or computers so it wasn't such a huge issue yet.

"It's alright, Hotori-san. Although I am curious..." Her head tips toward Mamoru considering. "Maybe wearing a hat *would* help? If you've already got something on your head there's not really room for a crown." Maybe that was simplifying it far too much. "Although that would maybe flatten your hair out." Hm.

"It's also not your fault, Mamoru-san. You had no idea it would happen and that *is* your title as Endymion, so it's bound to come up on occasion. I only know because I saw it happen the other day after he mistakenly called me a princess." Here her lips quirk in a vague smile. "And forgot he did."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru is still watching a little warily, but now that the fuss is over and it's safe to pretend the world is made of decorum once more, he's mostly relaxed again. A quick nod toward Tadase, and Mamoru finally perches on the edge of a desk. "It's all right. I used to have a lot of things that triggered that kind of... explosion... in me. I get not being in control all the time."

He doesn't sound like he's lying or being placating or making things up in order to fake-sympathize, he's perfectly serious, argyle sweater and all. "And if you're looking to break the curse, Ami-san helping will probably get you further than anyone else. But I'd be pleased to be your ally, Hotori-san."

Then Ami's words penetrate and something clicks.

Mamoru leeeeans forward, starting to grin. "Wait, you called her princess and... forgot? And Kiseki-san wanted to know what kind of friend I am?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase watches the bucket vanish, to which he gives a kind of sheepish note of "I hope you didn't start carrying that just on the off chance you'd run into me ranting." he says, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck. Well, it -was- a difficult thing for him to not be embarassed by.

    "It's not like I can wear a hat indoors anyways, that's not really in-dress-code." Then he pauses. "...then again maybe the dress code doesn't apply to magical dimensional spaces that happen to be on school grounds. Looking outside maybe we're not really indoors at all..."

    "I really don't remember saying that..." Tadase admits, and it seems as though his feet are more interesting than ever now. "I'm sure I did but it was probably a slip. Cure Wukong basically said a lot of the girls are princesses or something; she's got a mermaid prince for a roommate, and everything." He tries.

    Mamoru continues and he shifts taking a step back towards the wall. "Yeah I'm not... entirely in control of him. Like, he's hatched from my Heart's Egg and the person I thought I wanted to be at the time, but he's got a mind of his own, too. And a lot of the times is more interested in worrying about things for him than things for me?" he says. "So I'm not sure what he meant by that." says the boy who is used to hiding emotional parts of him to seem calm and in control, who is feeling steadily less in control right now.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno looks a bit puzzled herself as the talk continues. She was clearly missing some further, hidden meaning here. "I did start to carry it with me because of you, Hotori-san. I was curious and thought I might see if you wanted to test what may work for you. And it's true, hats aren't part of the dress code, but it would be far easier to carry a hat arond in case of emergencies than a bucket." A small pause comes and she murmers, "Maybe a bucket hat...?"

The talk of princesses again earns her hands lifting with a little chuckle. "To be fair we were discussing Usagi-chan at the time, and she is our Princess. I was probably a slip of the tongue. I know I say things at times when my mind isn't entirely focused on a conversation that don't quite... fit well." A lot really. She was getting better!

All the talk though of being unable to handle things earns a softer gaze over toward Mamoru. "We've all been through things. Except for me, really. All I have to deal with are past life memories."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You're alive," Mamoru tells Ami gently, "you've been through things."

Then he pushes up off the edge of the desk, vanishing his hat again in order to hold up his hands. "Peace, Hotori-kun, I'm sorry I pushed. And yeah, there are a lot of princesses around. My girlfriend, for example, yes. And... it's okay."

A bright glitter of laughter behind his glasses, and Mamoru says, "I did tell Kiseki I'm very taken."

He pads over to where he took his boots off and bends down to start putting them back on. "I was actually on my way to pick up dinner from Korma Chameleon before Ami and I ran into each other and she said she'd show me the Shed. If you want anything, text me and I'll drop some off on my way back~"

A beat. "Please feel free to give Hotori-kun my contact stuff, Ami-san!"

Once his jacket's back on, Mamoru goes back out into the cold in a fluster of blustery gust from the door.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    "I think... I might prefer the embarassment of losing myself to one of wearing a bucket hat everywhere." he says, shrugging. "It also doesn't last forever, just a few minutes. I don't know, really, I lose track of time, but it will run itself down eventually." he informs.

    He just finds it in the moment more convinent to not worry about the whole if/why he said princess talk. Yep, that's why. "You can also say the word in English, if it helps. It only sets me off if it's in Japanese. And if I'm already henshin'd it's not a concern either." he says. Then he turns to Ami. "Past life stuff?" He asks. Well, that has him at least genuinely curious.

    "It's best not to worry too much about Kiseki anyways - when it comes to questions and stuff I mean. Sometimes I'm not entirely sure what he's getting at myself... He's got a good heart in there somewhere, just buried... deep." he says. "And I need him to be able to help people. So we have a sort of uneasy truce." He says, waving his hand.

    "...I don't know that we've ever really tried to go through a... set of things like that." Tadase says. "I forget how we even found out it was a bucket at all." he admits.

    He waves to Mamoru as he heads out. "It was good to meet you, Chiba-san. Hopefully next time we can talk with less... ranting."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno can only shake her head slightly when Mamoru tries to encourage her with such words. She knows he means well, but she knew that he and the others had been through so much more. "I guess it's part of growing up when you have powers," she reasons chuckling quietly. "Have a good meal, Mamoru-kun." And off he goes.

"Well, I suppose that's fair. Bucket hats aren't great unless you're at the beach to begin with. They do make some cute looking ones, but..." Here she pauses tapping at her cheek thoughtfully with one arm crossed over her chest to grasp the elbow of the other arm. "Mm. Yes, you'd look better with your hair as it is. Would you like our contact information? He did say I should give you his," she reasons while reaching into her purse to pull out her phone.

"You are right, that it's good to meet and keep in touch with other magical types. I'm trying to get out to meet more people myself. That's part of why I came to see Chrono-kun the other day."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    "Yeah I should pass you mine too." he says, pulling out his own phone. Compared to the phone of your average japanese teenage girl (and thus most people Ami probably knows), Tadase's phone is terribly basic - it's just a phone in a dark blue case with no adornments or dangly bits.

    "Yeah, well, I was always hoping people would feel comfortable around me, but it turns out it's kind of the problem in the other direction." he admits. "Like, since I have Kiseki I've never bothered to hide it - if you can see him you'll figure out who he belongs to pretty quickly. But for a lot of other people it's... a secret they've been keeping for longer." He says. "And just being like 'hi I know I helped you send that demon turtle back where it came from, but can I get your phone number' isn't a discussion I've really found myself being comfortable having."

    "Of course I haven't really had a henshin for very long either, so I'm getting used to the whole... people don't automatically recognize me thing... for a while, like when I was working with Mamoru, I had very limited powers and everybody could see who I was." He says.

    Maybe he's sharing so much in an effort to avoid Ami bringing him a bucket-beach-hat. And he realizes how much he's talking about him and his past, blinking is reddish eyes and then looking at her. "How long have you been doing all of this? If it's not a secret you need to keep. If it is I totally understand."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno doesn't seem to mind that he's talking about himself, or his own issues. She focuses on transfering the numbers over by gently reaching out to take his phone in one hand while hers is in the other. A quick text is sent from hers to his, and she offers it back. Her own phone is... Well it's a light blue but it's nothing fancy. It's not cheap but it's not fancy. More 'adultish modern' in a way. Except for one cute little phone charm dangling from it.

"Oh, maybe three or four months?" Looking up again Ami smiles at him hoping that the newnesss on her own behalf was reassuring as well. "It's still new to me, too. Apparently I'm reincarnated from another life and I was also Sailor Mercury in that one. Except actually from the planet Mercury at that point." He had thought she was from another planet the other day after all.

"Sometimes when I'm transformed I get these glimpses of memories. I'm not really very good at remembering them all, so it's unusual. It just feels like I've done so much before when I'm like that." She was far more confident transformed than she was currently. Something she wanted to work on./

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase takes his phone back from her. "Thank you, Mizuno-san." he says, and looks to her. "Please don't hesitate to call me anytime. Worst case I can't come. Or mash out a text. I really do like helping, and the safer we all are the stronger we all are, right? And... I'm largely a defender so my best use is helping protect others so they can do their jobs." he says. "I figure we only get to do this for a little bit of our lives - so I want to make sure I give as much as I can during it."

    "I've been magical for a lot longer than that... but I've only really had powers since a month or so back. Before then I had a power but it wasn't a henshin and it's... weird. As far as I can tell there's a lot of ways to be magic and we all have our own rules, and usually having a Chara doesn't actually give us a henshin. But with the help of an artifact I found, I think about three of us can actually fully transform."

    "I see how that would be... difficult. Sometimes between Kiseki and I we still don't remember everything... and we only have really, one life to remember. But... I can speak a little bit to knowing how to do something even when you know you haven't. That's kinda what Kiseki was originally born from, my desire to be a confident leader. With him I'm able to talk in like, student gatherings and stuff, wheras before I was... not great. But it feels weird to develop a talent you didn't have like that, magically. Feeling like you've done it a hundred times."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno considers this for a short few moments. "If he's born from you though, that means that you always had that ability inside of you. It's just given form now so that you can do it. I'm sure if you'd had the chance to practice on your own you would get there, too. Though... It does sometimes help having friends to cheer you on as well," she admits with a little sheepish smile, and duck of her head. "I'm not exactly super sociable myself. I'm getting better though."

The number is saved, phone flipped shut, and tucked back into her purse. "Of course. The same goes for you as well. The entire point of The Shed, and the training sessions at school, is so that we can help each other where we need."

A little dip of her head is given. Not quite a bow, but close enough. "I should head back to my dorm for now. It is a bit late, and honestly Mamoru-kun's mention of food earlier has reminded me I should grab something as well. It was good seeing you again, Hotori-san."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
    Tadase nods. "Yeah, I think that's how the magic is supposed to work - bring you closer to your would-be self. And probably grow up a bit too - if Kiseki is any indication. Or maybe it's not supposed to work at all and magic is just weird... but it is sometimes nice to think there's a reason I have a little fairy and you're a reborn princess of Mercury and my friend is the incarnation of the legend of Wukong." he says.

    "But even if there isn't a reason, there's absolutely a reason to oppose all of the people trying to hurt or abuse other people and that's what I'm really focused on now. I'm sure I'll get the public speaking thing settled, but not if the world ends or is ruled by a crazy lady or whatever." he adds.

    "Mm,, yeah, it is getting a bit late." he agrees, starting to head over to the door. "I hope to continue to." he says. "See you." Then he pauses. "What? Sorry. Maybe I'm more tired than I thought." He will, however, attempt to get the door for her as they leave.