1145/Facets of Our Situation

Facets of Our Situation
Date of Scene:	20 February 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	It's time to get updated! Usagi, Naru, Kyouka, Ami, and Mamoru swap information about the rainbow crystals - and Usagi's on-going nightmare problem.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Kyouka Inai, Ami Mizuno, Naru Osaka, Mamoru Chiba
Tinyplot:	Rainbow Crystals
Tinyplot2:	Usagi's Abyssal Nightmare

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
So one afternoon, a few days after Valentine's Day, Usagi texts a few of her friends a picture of herself with a green crystal.

TXT: Found another rainbow crystal!! Come to the Shed to find out more.

Why did she plan things this way? She's bored. And also, she's trying not to think of the horrifying truth about the Puella Magi, which she had promised not to reveal. So? What else was a girl to do but talk about the other weird thing going on?

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka, to be frank, has a lot of her own shit going on right now. On the one hand, that makes her less inclined to be all up in everyone else's business- even when maybe she should be. On the other hand, it also means she welcomes a distraction. Something to think about other than the problems racing around in her head with no easy solutions. So she doesn't hesitate to make her way to the shed when she receives Usagi's text. She was already on campus anyway, making the detour no harship.

    She enters dressed in her 'school uniform', button-down white shirt and black slacks, her jacket slung over her shoulder. She looks noticeably tired, but aside from that seems in fine condition as she makes her way to one of the old desks and hops up onto it, sitting on the desk part with her feet on the chair, tossing her jacked over another nearby empty seat.

    "Was this one in a crane game, too?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
ANOTHER one? That's precisely what Ami is thinking when she receives the text. Worried about exactly how this one came about she's already heading for the Shed as requested decked out in her own school uniform which she'd covered up with a big puffy coat that was oh-so-warm. That, and earmuffs, are enough to keep the chill off of her.

TXT: Are you alright? Do you need me to grab anything from the nurse's office on my way over?

Her phone in hand she jots off the quick message not bothering to wait for a reply though because sh *already* had a first aid kit in the bag she carried. If she really had to double back she would but she was already prepared just in case!

Stepping through into the Shed herself she blinks at Kyouka with a quick nod, and then toward Usagi. "No one got hurt, did they?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Unusually, Naru has been out of a few loops of late. She's been sort of in her own little brain space, but curiosity is what it is, and she's headed for the Shed. With a freshly steaming coffee.

Naru has also put a coat over her uniform to be tromping around outdoors, but she unzips it as she steps inside. "Hey folks." She glances at the trio already there and there's a little smile. "More crystals?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru comes in not too long after Kyouka and Ami and Naru, not in his school uniform, but with his leather jacket on over jeans and a long-sleeved pink t-shirt with a graphic on it -- a black and white drawing of a girl wearing an UNMASK aLIVE baseball cap. He looks cold, and therefore looks disbelievingly at Kyouka not looking cold at all, and then looks worried. Like 'does she have a fever??' worried.

But only a little worried, and he forgets when he sees Usagi. "Did yours not stay in your henshin pocket either?" he asks, grimacing, but the grimace also goes away almost immediately because over he goes to nudge her like a cat that wants attention. "Hi," he whispers, then glances back at Ami, who's asking the smart question, and Naru, who was wearing the smart coat.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Once everyone is here, Usagi is ready to answer questions - on first glance, she looks totally healthy, in her usual puffy purple jacket. She's still got the green crystal in her hand, and she's sitting with her feet propped up on a desk. When Inai-sensei comes in, she waves, and when Ami comes in, she puts her feet down and says, "No, no, everyone's all good! I mean, Rashmi-chan and Chrono-kun were a little beat up, but..."

And then Naru and Mamoru come in, and she hops a little.

"No, it wouldn't," she pouts. "I had to carry it, just to make sure I didn't drop it out of my pocket or anything."

She yawns, covering her mouth tiredly.

"This one was in that Toy and Card shop, over in Mitakihara. Rashmi-chan tried to lock it up in a void, and she turned into a youma - it like, corrupted her -" She shivers, remembering the sound of it.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "But she's fine now, I guess, based on your previous statement?" Kyouka rests her chin on interlinked fingers, her elbows on her knees as she sits on the desk. She gives a nod of greeting to Ami, a smile to Naru, and a roguish wink to Mamoru when he looks horrified. No doubt some line like 'guess I'm just too hot' would have been forthcoming had they not been in polite company.

    "So what's the deal with these things anyway? They're like a magic key, right? Isn't that what you told me, Mamoru?" She looks back to the boy with a more serious expression. "But why are they showing up now? And is it always gonna be like.. toy and game linked? At least that'd be something to work off of.."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno sighs in quiet relief at the assurance that everyone was all right at this point. The heavy bookbag she had slung over her shoulder is deposited onto a desk to free her up for shrugging out of her coat. "Hello Mamoru-kun, Naru-chan," she greets as well before fixing Usagi a look. More accurately, fixing the crystal she was waving around so boldly a *look*.

"Shouldn't we perhaps contain that for safety?" Her hand reaches out, flicking into that little magical pocket to withdraw her Mercury Computer. "I could likely create a temporary containment bubble of sorts. With a bit of time."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Ew.. Youma'd sucks. I hope she's alright now?" Naru winces with sympathy for Rashmi. "I hope the purification wasn't toooo awful." Because that stuff HURTS like stupid. Worth it, but ow.

Naru narrows her eyes at Usagi as she yawns. "You haven't talked to Yellow yet, have you?" She notes, a complete sideline to the current conversation.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Well... Riventon's got some kind of big crystal..." Mamoru says dubiously, then sticks his hand in his pocket and takes out the red gem, which he holds out for Usagi. "Beryl told me to find them so now she's told him to find them. Maybe the big crystal is for drawing them up from out of nowhere just by existing?" He glances at Ami. "Hi! You can try. They won't stay in our subspace pockets. They just fall on the floor."

Then he looks to Naru and Kyouka-- and he nods in agreement with Naru. "Best way to deal with it is being unconscious already," he says, then adds in Kyouka's direction, "If you put them all together, all seven? They apparently make a key to a door that no one knows the location of, that leads to Earth's magic's home."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I put it in the pocket where my phone disappears, when I transform, but it just popped out, yeah," Usagi explains, but she rolls the crystal across the table to Ami anyway, perfectly easy going. "Rashmi-chan seemed okay! She was really wiped, and I, uh, maybe did a Princess-sized Escalation on her because of the snakes, but she was fine! She walked it off!"

Just the memory of it is a little embarrassing - not the fight itself, but, then Naru calls her out and she's flustered, flapping her hands.

"I did talk to Yellow! I gave her the key and everything, she says we'll have to like, break into an underwater palace and stuff, so you know, it's going to take some planning!"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka makes a face at the mention of 'snakes', but remains where she is, watching as Usagi rolls the crystal around all casual-like. "Are we sure no one knows where the door is, or do we just not know where the door is?" She asks Mamoru, with an arched brow. "Not that I think the enemy is smarter than we are or anything, I just want to be clear on what you mean by 'no one'. And if you find all the crystals, do you intend to look for the door? Or just make sure nobody else finds it, either?"

    She adds, somewhat wryly, "I may have a personal stake in making sure the source of Earth's magic is kept safe." A beat. "I live here, after all."

    She gives Ami's computer a curious glance, but has no pertinent input on the viability of subspace storage, but she does give a look to Usagi and Naru at the mention of underwater palaces. "Does this have to do with the evil merman guy?" She had heard about that, at least.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Because.. of the snakes?" Naru wrinkles her nose and gives a little shudder. Why does it have to be snakes? "Ugh."

Naru mmms as Usagi flusters at her, but she's hardly phased by a little Usagi flustering at this point. "Alright. Well let me know when we're breaking into a palace." She notes to Usagi. Because apparently, she's in for that.

But back to the issue at hand. "Or will the door just appear, because a surprising number of things seem to just make their own decisions, immaterial of us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm good at breaking into places, you should bring me," Mamoru tells Usagi and Naru. "As long as I won't drown."

His pocket buzzes, and he reaches in with his crystal-free hand to take out his phone. A piece of paper slips out too, and he absentmindedly bends to slowly pick it up with his crystal-bearing hand while he reads his phone screen. "Oh, Py-tan has some questions about the crystals too. And the bakeneko wants salmon, which is doable. Uhh..."

He realizes he has a piece of paper in his hand too, and blinks and glances at it, then purses his lips and pockets the paper, and reads off his phone, "How to find more crystals? Can win these at arcade like that one guy? I want to eat them. When-- hhhh..." He starts texting back: I'll ask that later, Hime-chan. Do not eat the crystals please. You can certainly look in all the crane games for another crystal. Please feed the bakeneko.

He tells Kyouka when he's finished, "I have a decent idea of the door in question's location fourteen thousand years ago. I don't know how many tons of rock and sand it's under at this point. The other guys might know. Mostly we used to just teleport there instead of using the door."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno snaps her hand forward to stop the roll of the green gem with a quickly produced mechanical pencil. No way was she touching that with her bare hands until she at least had a scan of it to ensure it wasn't about to potentially youma-tize anyone else. Though it was perhaps a slim chance given Usagi had been hanging onto it the whole time. "I'll certainly try my best. At the very least perhaps we should keep them somewhere safer than this. Maybe ... A Gate." Or maybe that was a bad idea. She'd have to bounce the idea past Setsuna.

Settling down into a seat she starts to type on her computer while listening to the others chat about the various different possibilities. "Oh, the water? We should speak to Michiru-chan as well then. Both she and I are affiliated with water after all," she muses only to pause suddenly and glance up.

"Wait, Evil Merman?"

Another pause and she adds quietly toward Mamoru, "Tell her no licking them either."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"She says we'll be able to breathe thanks to the key we found, so I think that should be alright - and you two being around would be really nice too, so!"

She would indeed like her best friend and boyfriend around - and as for the snakes? She makes the worst stankface at the thought, looking utterly annoyed.

"Yes, this is about the evil merman, and Ami-chan - uh, basically, Yellow Pearl Voice's version of Beryl stole something for me, and now I'm a little cursed with unending nightmares. A little!"

She yawns, again, undermining that a little.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Well, if you think you got it handled I trust that it's so," Kyouka says regarding evil mermen and underwater palace heists, "But don't hesitate to ask me if you need help. Seems like helping Usagi-chan sleep a little better is a worthy goal."

    She shrugs then, and says to Mamoru, "Okay, so nobody probably knows exactly where it is, but people could maybe find it. Sounds like it's in our best interest to just keep the crystals out of the wrong hands.. which seems to be what ya'll have been doing anyway, so kudos. And we have no clue where the next one might pop up?"

    She adds, dryly, "Someone who would eat them probably counts as the wrong hands, for the record."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Well that's reassuring." Naru murmurs on the notion of breathing underwater. "But that's a whole different flavour of mess. We'll get to that one in turn. I just wanted to make sure it was in progress, cause sleep is not optional." She waggles her finger at Usagi.

"So.. we're expecting seven crystals all told. How mamy do you have already?" Naru drags her thought back to the current crystal questions. "Or know of already? Are any in the wrong hands yet that we know of.. you said Riventon has a crystal, is it one of these?" Naru asks of Mamoru.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Usagi! You should have mentioned this!" Ami looks rather perplexed as she sits up straighter in her seat looking over the top of her Mercury Computer with a stern expression. "Sleep is very important! If you're not getting proper sleep due to nightmares, then it's actually going to become a detriment to your health! There's significant studies that prove lack of sleep can lead to serious issues."

Ami lifts a hand to gesture at Naru with a firm nod agreeing with her. "Not optional at all! You could start stumbling around, tripping into things, dozing off radomly, be unable to pay attention--" Here she pauses thoughtfully, rubbing at her chin. "... Maybe you already have sleep deprivation come to think of it."

Shaking the thought off she gets back on track. "I'd defintely like to help against this fellow, then, if I'm able. For now, yes. We've the red and green crystals?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Two I think. Two? Red," Mamoru holds up his and waggles it at Naru, "and green. The one Riventon has is black, and large, and from Beryl. And for the record, Riventon wants nobody to have all of them. Absolutely not Beryl, but not us either. To be perfectly honest, at the moment that's fine, because-- yeah," he nods to Kyouka. "And no, no idea how to find more. But I mean... did Riventon or Sunbreaker show up at the fight with Rashmi and snakes? Because if they did, they might have a way. It might be that black crystal. But that's a big if. He didn't seem to realize I had one on me."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I know, I know, but it started like, right after we got through putting the boys in the Gates, and celebrating being done with the Midnight Tokyo Project, and like, a bunch of stuff, and so I just felt like maybe, just maybe I would just ignore that. Like, how bad could some nightmares be? I get nightmares all the time!"

She leans back in her chair, crossing ehr arms.

"But then you know, it's actually really exhausting and I'm sleepy all the time and I cried at lunch, which, isn't unusual, but also, a bunch of snakes bit me and I attacked them with my tears, and I'm choosing to blame that on the sleeplessness!"

It definitely wasn't the sleeplessness.

Another, jaw-breaking yawn, and then she scrubs her face a little.

"Just these two, but there's like five more, and Riventon was there, but all he did was make fun of people and act mean, you know, like usual." Pause, and a squint, as she tries to remember - "I can't remember if he had a crystal with him, but I don't think he was in the shop before the youma went all youma-y."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "And the black crystal isn't one of the real ones for the door? We're sure about that, right? Is this like a ROYGBIV rainbow or some kind of alternate rainbow with purple instead of indigo and violet?" Kyouka clearly is not an artist and never understood why 'purple' wasn't good enough to make it into the official rainbow. Who is this Roy Biv guy anyway and why does he get to make such decisions unilaterally?

    "Sleep is definitely important." Kyouka then adds, standing up from the desk she'd been sitting on and stretching her arms over her head. "Speaking of, if I get back to my office now I might have time to take a nap before my next appointment." She glances around at the assembled. "Sounds like you kids have things in hand, but remember, I'm just a call away if you need help. Anytime. Whether its colorful crystals or evil fishdude nightmares."

    She smiles then turns to walk out, clapping a hand familiarly on Mamoru's shoulder as she passes before exiting.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Riventon isn't /always/ mean.." Naru protests, but she doesn't push it too far. It's more the exception than the rule for Riventon to be nice.

"So we're back on yet /another/ crystal hunt." Naru comments. "Just more colourful than just silver, so at least the universe is providing us with better visuals?" She glances to Kyouka and there's a flash of a smile. "Are we talking various colour theories, or spectrum of light. I'm voting the later, personally."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Five more. So far the first two were found in areas that children often visit. I wonder if that's a clue, like how so many magical types are young, like us." Ami has to think and come up with ideas. Even if they might not be right it was at least something that keeps her mind going as she pauses to type away on the laptop again.

At least the computer means she goes quiet though it's likely she's still listening to them all. A glance or two is even stolen to ensure she doesn't have her attention get too focused on trying to scan the crystal that had been presented. Absently she remarks, "It's probably a good thing he is mean. With that boyish face and hair he'd get too many girls after him otherwise, and then we'd never be able to fight him properly."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Clapped on the shoulder! Kyouka gets a lopsided smile and a brief tilt in her direction as she goes.

Mamoru pockets his red gem again, then sits next to Usagi to provide a handy upright pillow if desired. "I could carry you back," he tells her, "to your bed, and then sit there and tell off your nightmares as they show up. It wouldn't work but it might make you laugh."

Then he glances to Naru and nods briefly. "Visible spectrum," he says, and then his gaze laser-eyed narrows in on Ami, and he regards her with archly teasing amusement. "Do you have a ~cruuuuuush~ on my ~brother~?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi makes a face at Ami's response, because, ew, he was not cute. And she's making that face even more so at Naru, for thinking he was nice - but Naru was always making friends with everyone.

"Well, so far we have red and green, and I don't know if it will be a standard rainbow in the sky type rainbow, but if it is, we'll know what to look out for... on our crystal hunt." Naru does get a grin for that. Always about those crystals.

"And they're even a way to get ultimate power. What is it about all these fancy rocks, huh?" Inai-sensei has to go, and Usagi gets it - she had called everyone up out of the blue. "I'll let you know if we get into trouble, Inai-sensei! And if we need to hold another rock."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"At the very least the more colorful crystals will hopefully help us to identify them quicker than the Silver Crystal," Ami suggests with a smile toward Naru's own theory. "Spectrum of light does make the most sense. Especially if there's also a black crystal which would encompass all the colors."

Already she's starting to glance back to her laptop intending on typing out some quick theories to possibly study up on, or at least jot down for future reference. Notes were always an important part of learning! Or sleuthing in this case.

Her fingers falter against the keys, mashing out a series that makes absolutely no sense, at the tease from Mamoru. A little startled squeak of air slips between her lips as she turns bright red.

"What? Brother? He's your--No! I just... I just think I like guys with long hair, maybe?" Her voice comes out in a high-pitched squeak and she keeps. Talking. "Which I suppose would make sense given Zoisite and I were lovers in our past lives, and he has really long hair and ohmy."

Her hands just lift to clap over her face with her head ducking down.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Or the black crystal has nothing to do with it all." Naru points out. "So far it feels like most things are crystals, or rocks of some sort, and we might be mixing out sets of things."

There's a glance over to Ami as she squeaks and then Naru starts to giggle softly as Ami keeps talking, and digging herself in deeper. "Mmm. Hmm mmm." She grins over to the hiding Ami.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I don't know about ultimate power, but they're certainly a way to open a door to-- to my home. To the ancient heart of Earth's magic, to the place I was supposed to protect, a place I used to be able to get to by dreaming of it. I feel like-- I feel like I don't even want to breathe its name, because Beryl didn't remember it. I don't want to release it into the air," Mamoru says, and he shoves his hands in his jacket pockets, red crystal gripped in one fist.

He lets out a tiny little huff of a breath, then shakes his head. "The black crystal is not one of the seven."

Finally, Mamoru gives Ami an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I had to tease. He is my brother in all but blood-- we grew up together in this life. He's a very pretty jerk who's sometimes nice to Naru and usually nice to me. And it sounds like you have a thing for pretty, long-haired jerks..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ami-chan, I love you and support you in everything that you do," Usagi says, very seriously, "But you have terrible taste. I mean, Zoisite might be kind of better, these days, I haven't seen him very often, but Riventon? I'll - well, I won't cut his hair, someone would go for mine, but if it's the hair, we can fix that! I'll give all the boys in the school hair growth serums!"

She can fix this, honey! She can make it better! Is that Zoisite boy really good enough for you?

She reaches out, squeezing Mamoru's hand.

"We're going to make sure she doesn't get to keep any part of your Kingdom. Even the part Obsidian Tower is on!"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno risks dropping her hands away to see Naru's smug teasing smile, Usagi's look of utter yuck face, and Mamoru's teasing. As well as an explanation. Though still a bit pink she drops her hands away to her lap to clutch at her skirt with clenched fists. "So it seems. I should try to work on that and avoid such boys."

Quietly she murmers, "Maybe girls with long hair?"

The thought is allowed to pass as she smiles toward Usagi's reassurance with a nod. "I'll get your feedback on anyone I might actually be serious with since my own judgement is apparently suspect." It's all she says now as she nods emphatically with her. "Right! We're not going to let anyone get Earth! It's our home too, now!"