1265/The Rock Room

The Rock Room
Date of Scene:	12 March 2024
Location:	Penguin Park - Museums
Synopsis:	Mamoru and Zoisite go to the Science and Natural History Museum and first run into Kyouka in the gift shop, then Jadeite and Kunzite in the gems and geology exhibits.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Zoisite, Kyouka Inai, Jadeite, Kazuo Saitou

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The day is breezy but bright and getting warmer; the cherry blossoms out around the pond way over there are getting close to going from bud to bloom; the Science and Natural History Museum beckons.

As they go up the steps and he's opening one of the big front doors, Mamoru tells Zoisite, "It's not cheating if you're just using my notes to help study for placement exams, and I have notes going back to... well, since I got access to my old accounts, I have notes going back to first grade, but obviously you don't need those..."

He sounds hopeful.

It's big and well-lit inside, and the first elevator's right near the sign-in desk.

Zoisite has posed:
    Dressed for the weather in a stylishly oversized sweater, Zoisite follows along at Mamoru's side, his eyes scanning the crowd with serious scrutiny behind his sunglasses. Sunglasses that of course get pushed up onto his head once they enter the museum proper.

    "I have notes of my own," Zoisite points out as he looks around, absentmindedly sweeping his ponytail back over his shoulder. "And the same textbooks as you do. Really, Endymion, if I'm not worried about it at all, I don't know why you are."

    And then he sighs, a noise thick with annoyance. "Mamoru," he corrects himself, overe nunciating the syllables of the name.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Despite being ostensibly a teacher, Kyouka Inai is not the sort of person you would expect to find at a museum. She is the opposite of scholarly. She never finished high school. Hell, she never started high school. The last book she read was a manga with a title so long it barely fits on the cover. Her handwriting is so bad even she can't read it.

    Yet, with sublime unpredictability, here she is. In a museum. Well, to be more precise, in the gift shop. They have one of those big trays of loose minerals and gems, where you can purchase a little drawstring back for 1000 yen and fill it up. Nothing valuable, just quartz and amathyst and other pretty but generally valueless gemstones.

    She's holding them up one at a time, squinting at them, then tossing them back into the tray.

    The clerk behind the counter is giving her odd looks.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You don't have notes for the classes you didn't take," insists Mamoru, clearly worried like the nerd he is. "You don't have to use them if you don't want to, but I'm going to share my folders with you."

A beat, and the tall, black-haired prince smiles crookedly. "You can call me Endymion, or even Endy, it's not like I don't answer to it--"

He cuts himself off as he happens to glance into the gift shop as he's signing them in. He squints. "Is that Inai-sensei...?" he asks, maybe a little bewildered. "What is..." What she's doing is obvious. "What rock is she even looking for?"

Mamoru catches at Zoisite's hand and tugs, taking a step before letting go as he says, "Let's go bother her." And then as they get closer, "Inai-san!"

Zoisite has posed:
    Like a reasonable person would do, Zoisite was headed towards the sign-in desk. Maybe to look at a map, or find a brochure. But Mamoru's hand is in his, and Zoisite's head turns, a wordless noise echoing from him as he feels himself unceremoniously pulled in another direction.

    Though the tugging is brief (and not actually unwelcome in any regard) Zoisite still drawls out a "Really," at Mamoru, but he's fine with going along with him anyway.

    And then there are shiny rocks to look at. Casually, Zoisite ambles over to the same display Kyouka is at, and immediately plucks out a particularly nice-looking one. Of course, it's green. He holds it up to the light and twists it this way, then that way, before he apparently decides it's only sort of nice-looking, not actually worth his time, and tosses it back into the bin.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka actually flinches when she hears Mamoru call out her name, dropping the current rock she had been examining back into the tray with a little 'clink' and turning hastily to face the two approaching boys. She is in her 'casual' getup, which is to say black distressed jeans, red shirt and black leather jacket, and she looks, for some reason, like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, rather than a big pile of cheap polished stones.

    She gives Zoisite a look as he walks right up and starts messing with the stones- a look which says, 'what are you doing, kid' even though she was just doing that exact same thing, before she turns her grey-eyed gaze to Mamoru.

    "What are you doing here?" She asks him, sounding mildly aggrieved. Surely not because he is in the museum. Most likely because he caught her there.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The drawled 'really' gets a brief bright grin back at Zoisite, all sparkling blue eyes, and then they're in the gift shop and there are cool rocks as well as a Kyouka. Mamoru doesn't abandon Zoi, per se; he stays close, but shifts his attention almost fully back to the ostensible teacher.

Sort-of guidance counselor. Sort-of adult.

"It's a museum with pretty rocks, we're pretty rocks, we were going to meet the cousins or something," he tells her cheerfully. "This is Izou Saitou, he's transferring in for the new year, so he'll be your problem too. Can I get you some labradorite? Or can I interest you in some blue sandstone?" A beat. He leans in. "Citrine? Honey quartz? Hematite?"

He is, naturally, wearing the black leather blazer that Kyouka got him for New Year's-- or Christmas, whichever-- with a black t-shirt, skinny jeans, and dress shoes. At the moment his glasses are clean.

Zoisite has posed:
    Despite Mamoru's shift in attention, Zoisite is able to keep himself busy. In fact, seeing the challenge in Kyouka's gaze, Zoisite sticks his hand fully into the rock bin and shoves it around. The clicky-clacky cacophony is truly something, and he stares at her as he does it... before he withdraws a picture-perfect blue angelite, which he decides to keep.

    So he drops it into one of the bags and sinches it shut.

    "Pleased to meet you, Inai-sensei," he says, full cheshire cat grin in effect.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka does not seem unduly put off by Zoisite's shuffling of the rocks. She glances his way when the introduction is made, for some reason sniffing vaguely at the air once before shrugging. It's not a haughty sort of sniff, more like she's testing the scent of the air. Then her gaze returns to Mamoru.

    "Ever my problem, huh, Chiba? What promises did I make in a former life to saddle me with you lot, I wonder." She gives a grin, the teasing affectionate rather than in earnest. "Hello, Saitou-san. It is, as always, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

    She then gives Mamoru a bit of a look. "You don't need to 'get' me anything, kid. I'm the one with a salary here, meagre though it may be. I'm just looking for a couple pieces for my collection. You don't need to worry about it."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Zoi doesn't need dark energy to basically be a jerk cat," Mamoru says, grinning, when Kyouka sniffs the air. He takes a step back just far enough to bump Zoisite's shoulder, and the look he gives the blond is affectionate.

Then, a half step forward so he can spread his hands wide and not actually smack into Zoisite, and he says, "I am magnanimous and also have an allowance now! And I like rocks. Can I pleeeeease get you a rock? If I pick one and give you it will you add it to your collection?"

He's not entirely being ridiculous, and his eyes stray to the bin of polished stones.

Zoisite has posed:
    The jerk cat comment gets a little grumbling from Zoisite, but Mamoru gets away with it because Zoisite excuses himself to go up to the counter. Of course, they exchange shoulder-bumps as he goes, a hum of mild acknowledgment given to Kyouka before Zoisite is instead acknowledging the employee working at the shop today.

    Unfortunate for them, really.

    If Zoisite and the counter person have a prolonged (if mild) disagreement, well... it's likely about how the attendant thinks Zoi doesn't understand how the whole loose rocks thing works, while Zoi himself insists he only wants this rock.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Look, I'm looking for some very particular shades, it's for a... project." Kyouka tells Mamoru, mildly uncomfortable. Maybe she thinks doing arts and crafts with stones isn't a 'cool' enough hobby for a sunglass-at-night-wearing, motorcycle-riding badass like herself. But Mamoru is insistent, and he's begging her so she heaves a sign. "Yes, fine. If you pick one out and give it to me, I will add it to my collection."

    She turns to side-eye Zoisite arguing with the clerk, and asides to Mamoru, "Are you really going to let him pay 1000 yen for one stone? If he wants that one, he can put it in my bag and I'll give it to him when we get outside." She spends less than that on dinner most nights. The idea of being so immoderate with money clearly makes her uncomfortable.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"He doesn't have his old job anymore," Mamoru murmurs back to Kyouka, already starting to look through the bin himself, "it'll be a life lesson if I have to buy him lunch at the end of the week. Either that or I'll intervene. Or you can intervene. I do want rocks too, though."

He pauses with a few yellow honey quartzes and a couple of citrines already in hand and looks back over to Zoisite. "Zoi, aren't you going to get me rocks, too?" He looks back down at the rocks in his hand, and process of elimination finds the citrine with the most yellow in it, then beams and holds it out to Kyouka.

Zoisite has posed:
    The attendant looks momentarily fraught, and then warms immediately to Kyouka's idea, so she sends Zoisite back over to the bin of rocks. He does so begrudgingly, but when Mamoru asks for rocks too, he purses his lips in thought.

    "I suppose I could pick out one for you," Zoisite says, though rather than digging his hand in as before, he stands at attention, eyes roaming the bin from afar. Then with a sigh, having pretended that he wasn't coming back over here with a particular purpose, he holds out his hand with the blue stone fit into his palm.

    He smiles his absolute most perfect smile. "Inai-sensei, could I possibly trouble you to add this to your bag?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I don't like life lessons that waste money." Kyouka grumbles, "But I also have better things to do than babysit your boys, Chiba." Which is funny because currently it sure doesn't look like it.

    She looks at the yellow citrine being handed to her at the end of the sifting Mamoru does, then holds out her hand to let him drop it there. She holds it up to the light, peering at it for a moment, then lowers it and drops it into the bag she had been filling, held in her other hand.

    "I already had a yellow one," She says, "But I think yours is better. So thanks." She smiles, and blinks a few times before shaking her head and glancing back over towards Zoisite.

    When he offers her the blue stone, she primly takes it and adds it to the bag as well. "I suppose I can find the room." She says, magnanimously.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"--okay, pick one out for me when we circle back around," Mamoru tells Zoisite, smiling lopsidedly. He gives Kyouka an ironic little bow. "Thank you for humoring one of my boys. And me. Blessings on your house. May your blankets be warm and both sides of your pillow cool--"

He ducks away with a shiteating grin, just in case vengeance is in the offing, and calls over his shoulder as he drags Zoisite out of the shop, "One of us will stop by your office! Thank you!"

Then there is definitely moving out to see bones and rocks in glass cases and giant resin dinosaur skeletons and and and.

Zoisite has posed:
    A delicate hand is lifted in farewell towards their guidance counselor (ignoring the fact that technically Kyouka is not Zoisite's guidance conselor yet) and then they're off for museum things. Which is when Zoi finally gets that brochure he was after at the beginning of all this, before talk of shiny rocks occurred.

    He buries his nose in it, making a thoughtful noise as he considers where they might start first. Only his eyes are visible above the brochure, and he peers at Mamoru for a moment before his gaze drops to consider the convenient fold-out map again. "Geology, Gems & Minerals," he reads aloud. "Oh, it looks like the Lumina Opal is in house right now." A beat. "I have absolutely no idea what that is, but I bet it's spectacular."

    To Mamoru, he offers a tilt of his head, and then Zoisite asks, voice dropping low so as to not be overheard, "Where to first, my prince?"

    The amused smirk that accompanies it means he's probably poking fun at someone. Probably Jadeite.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That... may be interesting; Mamoru blushes and ducks his head when Zoisite says that. Oh his ears are red too. He takes his glasses off to polish them on the hem of his shirt and clears his throat. Probably Jadeite, but it looks like the teasing absolutely affects Mamoru as well.

"Onward. To the Lumina Opal. And maybe to see if there's anything misclassified that could be the yellow or orange crystals, if you're going to call me that out loud..." In public. In a low voice. Like that. Like that.

Probably not the expected reaction. Mamoru puts his glasses back on and straightens up, perfectly poised (no he's not). He sighs. "Though I suppose it's better than 'sire' or 'highness' or something." Is it though.

Zoisite has posed:
    Zoisite can't help himself, he covers his mouth as he lets out an amused and admittedly also pleased laugh. It's not quite a cackle but certainly has the vibe of one. His eyes are still crinkled after as he looks back at the map, confirming the path their journey is about to take them on.

    Even the mention of certain specifically colored crystals doesn't dampen his mood, though he does nod seriously, a look in his eye that suggests perhaps such a thing wasn't all that far from his mind either. Those pesky crystals do like to pop up in unusual places, after all!

    "Is it though?" Zoisite puts voice to thought, and he slants a glance upwards towards Mamoru before he puts the topic to rest, for now. No doubt it's in his back pocket for the future, though, because there's no way Zoisite wouldn't. The heels of his boots click against the flooring as they walk, navigating the halls of the museum (and on Zoisite's part, avoiding collisions with children with an imperious stare, which creates its own sort of mundane, non-magical forcefield).

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The cackling does nothing to mitigate the blush, nor, my god, does the 'is it though' out loud. Mamoru sticks his hands in his pockets and tries to bring up Endymion's blase cool and it's not working at all. Instead, he lets breath out slowly between his teeth, following after Zoisite until the heat dies down.

The click of those cute boots on the floor, and the parting of the children like the red sea, makes for a nice sort of meditative calm he can grasp and hold to, and the blush is gone by the time they get to the Lumina Opal.

"Do you remember," he murmurs, "before I knew how to teleport, how many locks I picked trying to find the silver crystal? This is making me wish I were a criminal, look at it."

Zoisite has posed:
    Does Zoisite even know the effect he's having? Oh, of course he does. He's probably even doing it on purpose. The way he's swanning off towards the gemstones is definitely a form of gloating, in its own way.

    The mischievous look is still firmly in place when they make it to the exhibit and the Lumina Opal, which is very beautiful, and also very big. So too are Zoisite's eyes, at this moment. Big, to be clear: he's mooning over the stone, mouth parted slightly before he remembers himself and closes it, trying not to gawp. Very unseemly, that.

    "It is very pretty," he hedges, feeling like he's just said the understatement of the century. "Not worth going to prison for, though." His lips purse, and then uncaring of the few stares his next statement garners him, he adds: "Still, lockpicking's a good life skill to have. You never know when it might come in handy."

    Circling around the display of the opal, Zoisite leans in for one longing look before finally stepping away to survey the lands for other shiny baubles to appraise. "I'm not feeling anything unusual," he says, voice low again. "But we'll see."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No," agrees Mamoru, "not worth going to prison for." Then he grins sidelong at Zoisite. "Oh it comes in handy with astonishing regularity."

He's keeping his hands in his pockets as he moves, eyes still on the opal, watching the light play in its depths with every miniature step he takes, every lean, every tilt of his head--

And then Zoisite steps away and business-modes, and Mamoru nods. "I mean, weirdly, I haven't felt anything specific from them until I held them in my hands, and then it was just the faint hum of magic, more or less-- but I've got one of them in a pocket right now and it should react if we get closer to one, I think?" he half says, half asks, as they move away from the giant opal toward the next display. His voice is relatively low in this quieter gallery, too, even if for the most part he doesn't much seem to care.

--well, Zoisite's surveying, Mamoru's just moving on autopilot to the next closest case.

Zoisite has posed:
    The new information about how the crystals work, how they don't seem to have a noticeable energy signature unless you're holding one, makes Zoisite's green eyes gleam. They narrow, and he twirls a lock of hair around one finger thoughtfully... only to turn sharply on his heels to stare, eyes wide, at Mamoru.

    He hustles in close, and reaches to touch Mamoru's wrist, a light grip but one that implies if he were less restrained it would have been an encircling of fingers. "You have one in your pocket right now?!" he asks, somehow both whispering and high-pitched at the same time. Then he gives a furtive left-and-right look, to make sure no one is eavesdropping.

    "Right. Okay. This is fine." He does not look like he thinks it's fine, but the moment of panicked concern has passed, and now Zoisite is workshopping plans for what to do if someone comes on the warpath for the crystal. In the meantime, he bends over slightly to consider a display of semi-precious gemstones set into various ancient jewelry, but none of them jump out as being of the correct color or size.

    So he moves on, but he remains well in Mamoru's periphery, attending to his knightly duties moreso than he perhaps was before.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I always do," Mamoru says in soft startlement, voice low and a little questioning, an upward inflection. He doesn't shake Zoisite off, he doesn't seem to mind. For Zoi, there's a flood of affection and surprise and amusement in that touch, the touch empathy as always a two-way street; Mamoru picks up his worry and his exasperation. "In a passport pocket under my shirt--"

He follows after Zoisite instead of being all reasonable prince and letting his guardian workshop plans, and keeps his voice low, trying to sound reassuring, definitely sounding apologetic. "I don't want to go home and have the whole room overturned because someone was trying to get at the thing in a hiding place. Better they come after where it can be defended. I'm gonna give one to Jadeite and one to Kazuo, do you want one too, instead of me? Until we get another one."

Jadeite has posed:
It is a beautiful day to be indoors, where it's heated, perusing artworks at a museum. Tamaki saw a flyer for the museum and had texted Kazuo in excitement, and had all but dragged his friend here in excitement.

And then promptly got derailed from the dinosaur exhibit by the rocks for - well -

"See, even though all of these were considered jade in China back in the day, the famous mutton-fate jade was actually nephrite! Sculptors commented on the difference in hardness between the two types of jade," Tamaki is saying with excitement, pointing to the statues in the Jade Exhibit. There's a deep green elephant statue, uncanny in it's realism despite being dog-sized, holding up an elegant talisman composed of two tigers carved in white nephrite. "Historically, jade usage goes back over 5000 human years - My prince!!"

He'd know that voice anywhere. How can he not spin to face him?

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo appeared promptly at the text. Because in this life, he barely met Jadeite, and Tamaki is entirely new, and --

-- and he does not regret this choice even while the excited words are flowing over him, without a chance to get another one in edgewise. It's fine. It's fine. If Tamaki is explaining things to him, he's not trying to investigate the objects on display personally, which is all too plausible another outcome of enthusiasm. 'No, officer, I was just trying to take apart the case because I thought security improvements could be made!'

This does, however, mean that Kazuo's attention is not so fixed in one place as Tamaki's has been. And Kunzite has always been distressingly good at watching multiple things at once.

Somehow he doesn't ruffle Tamaki's hair when he spins. "I thought it was over nine thousand," he says deadpan instead, and then turns as well and nods in the direction Jadete's facing.

Zoisite has posed:
    Is that the tiniest smidge of relief in Zoisite's face, when he spots two of the other Shitennou in residence? Perhaps. But it's gone, replaced by a more neutral mask a second later, as Zoisite gives them both a nod in turn, still mid-conversation and not willing to bypass his current train of thought for proper greetings.

    Even with Mamoru's emotions still lingering from their shared touch, he is resolute. "I think it puts you in undue danger, even though I understand why you have it." He turns his nose up and crosses his arms. "Not to say I can't protect you, of course. But we should mitigate risks as best we can before they become problems for us," he adds.

    Whether or not he thinks it's wise to exchange crystals isn't answered in the moment, given that they're out in public, but Zoisite certainly pins it in his mind as something to address as soon as realistically possible.

    That said, he turns to Tamaki and Kazuo, tucking his hands behind his back as he strolls over. "Enjoying a little alone time together, I see," he teases, then leans in, nose nearly to the glass as he peers at the contents of the case. "I'd criticize you for being self-absorbed, but," his nose wrinkles a touch, "I'm not that hypocritical."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's Mamoru's turn to spin in shock when he hears Tamaki-- and then basically die ten deaths in his shoes there in the rock room of the science and natural history museum, hands coming up to cover his face which is now *very* red.

With every last negative-amount of dignity he has remaining, he lets out a Breath. And takes his hands away, and his glasses with them. And he stands straight! And he wipes his glasses on the hem of his t-shirt again! And he says, with his face still Quite Red, "Tama-kun. Kazuo-kun." He's not looking up. He's absolutely not looking up and his ears are red and the back of his neck is red and his face is red and he says, flatly, to Zoisite:

"You can't keep them in henshin pockets. Worry about that vampire not about crystal thieves who wouldn't actually hurt me if he came in person," he says, then clears his throat, and he's running out of glasses to polish here.

Apparently he has no problems talking about this out in public. Apparently Jadeite has no problem yelling 'my prince' out in public.

Jadeite has posed:
No one around them bats an eye. Why should they? Being cringe in public is a teenager's natural habitat. Some chuuni kid with blonde hair was cringe, but not a truly unusual sight in a town with a top school. Nor were a bunch of teenagers talking about some viddy game nonsense like vampires and crystal thieves.

Tamaki, however, only realizes his mistake when he sees his prince blush and hide his face in his hands, flushing himself. "R-right, En- Mamorin," Tamaki stutters. "We didn't know you'd be at the museum as well. Are you well?" Vamp? Ire?? Crystal??? Thieves???? "Can we help you??"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Did she pull something again?" is Kazuo's first question, mostly at Mamoru. Apparently 'vampire' has an identity attached. Somewhere. "Or is this just the standard consideration?"

That is, apparently, his version of hello. So is the way the corner of his mouth turns up at Zoisite's teasing. "Tamaki was just assuring me that it was not, in fact, self-absorption," he adds to Zoisite. "Apparently the white pieces are nephrite jade." Because feeding the trolls is actually Kazuo's hobby.

Zoisite has posed:
    Lips pursed in clear amusement, Zoisite peeks over at Mamoru out of the corners of his eyes, because he's currently feigning interest in these wonderful jade specimens, here. But mostly he's just trying to hold in his laughter.

    At least until it spills out into an actual giggle, one hand over his mouth as he looks between Mamoru and Tamaki. Even mentions of vampires only has him shaking his head.

    "Of course we'll protect you from any creatures of the night," he says, self-assured. And then Kazuo gives him the gossip, which has both hands coming up to cover Zoisite's mouth this time, his green gaze positively gleeful. "Is that so?"

    As he inches over to Tamaki, he can't keep the impish smile off his face. But as of yet he doesn't make his move.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
These teenagers are Cringe In Public yes. Yes. 'Mamorin'. "...I'm fine now, Tamakin~, the vampire was at the beginning of the month," Mamoru huffs, putting his glasses back on. He glances at Kazuo, shaking his head. "That guy vampire. Or stabber. Or whatever. He was like 'I'm sucking your blood' but it was a knife out of his hand? I think he was a little confused." He straightens his shirt, then his jacket, and he gives Zoisite a sour look for all the giggling, then looks back at Tamaki. "I have crystals for you both. Zoi is apparently scared I'll get mugged for them, but you guys getting mugged is obviously fine, he didn't have a problem with that..."

Oh, Mamoru.

This again.

Jadeite has posed:
'Tamakin' just makes him blush harder. It takes him a moment to regain his focus - a moment where he's too distracted to notice Zoisite inching over...

"It's not self absorbed if it's research," he says, then lowers his voice.

"Vampire?" He hisses under his breath. "Do you need us to hunt him down?" Ask him to hunt him down. Please. Just say the word.

"My prince, it's our JOB to get mugged instead of you. You can heal us if we're hurt! But what would we do if you were harmed on our watch?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Call Tsukino," Kazuo says to Tamaki, lazily matter-of-fact. In a way that has in recent memory gotten bread thrown at his head. "Who will figure out how to fix things, then wail at him for getting hurt and scaring her. If it happens enough, he might get slightly dissuaded." He gestures lightly, then inclines his head to Zoisite. "But Zoi has the right idea. Nobody gets mugged instead of. We stick close enough together to come help, that's all."

A pause.

"Which, granted, means you'll be able to hear me complain at the universe that 'sorry, which vampire?' is now a question we have to ask. But I'm sure you'll all survive."

Zoisite has posed:
    "No one is getting mugged," Zoisite says with a flat voice, shaking his head at Mamoru with enough vigor that his hair whips around his head, so he has to toss his ponytail back over his shoulder. And then he looks around themselves, sighing, as he points out, "Let's discuss this somewhere else, where people won't overhear and think we're completely off the deep end."

    And since he's close to Tamaki, he reiterates his "No one is getting mugged!" Whatever infuriating nonsense he had planned for Tamaki is apparently cancelled, so all Zoisite does is briefly touch his shoulder before gesturing on. "Go. Tell us all about Nephrite-kun's stones, hm? Let's pretend to do normal museum things at the museum. Not vampires or muggings."