1358/Extracurricular Activities

Extracurricular Activities
Date of Scene:	27 March 2024
Location:	Cafeteria Plaza
Synopsis:	A gathering in the cafeteria after finals, discussion of clubs and the joining thereof. Ft. fairy tale tropes.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Jadeite, Zoisite, Chiyo Sakai, Usagi Tsukino, Naru Osaka

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I absolutely did not agree," Mamoru says firmly to Zoisite, pointing a fry at him. He pauses. "I mean I don't remember agreeing, and I generally don't have trouble remembering anymore, but I don't think I would have agreed when full of dark energy, either. So-- no! I said I'd take fewer extracurriculars not fewer risks." He gestures broadly at the school behind them, lunch on one side and next year's courses on the other, in front of him on the table, and then he pushes the catalogue across to Zoisite. "You can take more or less of both, *I* don't care."

Jadeite has posed:
"But you'll still be in fencing club, won't you?"

Listen, if his prince is being picky about what extracurriculars he takes, then he has to at least fight for the one he's planning to join!!

He takes a fry and swabs it with kechup before eating it. "Besides, it's fine if he takes risks as long as one of us is there, isn't it?"

Zoisite has posed:
Sitting with one leg crossed over the other, Zoisite leans one arm casually on the table, a half-eaten salad pushed off to the side for now. He only raises an eyebrow at the pointed fry and shifts his gaze to Mamoru's face, his expression flatly unimpressed. As if to say "don't you be waving complex carbohydrates in my face!" Which is what he'd say, if Zoisite even deigned such worthy of a response.

"Those words don't sound at all alike," he points out as he twirls a strand of hair around his fingers. The catalogue pushed his way is only given the barest acknowledgment, a quick flick of a look downwards, before Zoi's pushing it back over to Mamoru, as he says, "I picked out my extracurriculars weeks ago with Ami-chan's help."

Mention of fencing club (not the first time he's heard talk of it) has Zoisite sighing. "I'm thinking of joining the flower arrangement club," he says, but then he's making an aggrieved noise when Mamoru says he wouldn't care. Yes, now Zoisite's pouting.

But he also takes a noisy sip of his tea, so he's probably, you know, not actually that bothered.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"You guys actually use swords?" The question comes from Chiyo as she sits down nearby the group with a snack of her own. A bottle of Jasmine Green tea and some french fries of her own. With a tasty, tangy, horseradish dip because she was trying to expand her flavor profiles... and maybe, just maybe, work on her spice tolerance a bit since she was going to be roommate with Rashmi.

The purple haired girl sips her tea as she regards Tamaki, then Mamoru trying to determine if they seem like the 'sword' type. Only to realize she has *zero clue* about that.

"Then again I guess I'm hardy one to talk about weapons given I use a mallet." There's no question to ask if she can join them at all as she sits just in time for Zoi to mention... "Wait are you serious? About flower arrangement I mean!" Her eyes had already lit up with a burgeoning grin. "I'd love some new members in the club!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino loves lunch. One could argue (successfully) that it's her favorite period of school. And she really loves the cafeteria set up at Radiant Heart Academy, because having lunch with anyone and everyone is way better than spending it in her classroom, even with her friends there.

Instead of fries, she's grabbed katsudon, and, after surveying the lunch table - eyes focusing on Tamaki for a long moment - she takes the seat directly in front of Mamoru, smiling brightly as she puts her tray down. She's grabbed a strawberry juice, and offers everyone a cheerful greeting.

"How's everyone's day going? Are you joining a club too Tamachan, or is it just Saitou-chan joining Chiyo-chan in the Flower Arrangement club?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I was never in fencing club! In this school!" the prince protests in Jadeite's direction, and then looks up to see who asked, and sort of half-shrugs at Chiyo. "If I'm in my armor, I do, but otherwise not really? The joke--"

There is turning to lightly pound his fist against the table, and looking plaintively at Zoisite. "The joke was, I wasn't in any clubs because of Obsidian, so when I said I'd be taking fewer extracurriculars I meant no fake internship this year..." Mamoru slouches in defeat, in the face of enthusiasm and concern and archness and pouting. He sighs, putting his fry down instead of eating it. "Flower arrangement club? There's actually one? I feel like there's a club for everything. Is there an experimental archaeology club? I want to join it. And I still never agreed I'd take fewer risks. Whether or not you were around--"

And there's Usagi!! Mamoru looks relieved, for now. "Usako~ I am beleaguered. I am beset from all sides."

Jadeite has posed:
"Neither was I! But we can change that now, can't we? And flower arranging sounds interesting - I know it's a big thing in Japan, but I never really learned about what the club scene was like?"

He nudges Mamoru playfully with his elbow, winks to Chiyo and Zoisite, then nods deferentially to Usagi before he continues.

"Besides, isn't it traditional that the handsome knight wins the jousting tournament for his fair maiden?" Ey?Eyyy?? C'mon, if not for him, then to show off for lady love? he's being so normal about this.

Zoisite has posed:
"My hands are too delicate to wield a weapon," Zoisite lies. He's got calluses, same as the other Shitennou probably have, he just uses a lot of moisturizer. Nodding to Chiyo, he confirms his intention with a quick, "It's the best fit for me," as he turns the cap closed on his tea.

Underneath the table, his leg bounces a little bit as Usagi approaches, and Zoisite absolutely catches the look she shoots Tamaki, his lips twitching in a repressed smile of intrigue. The expression grows into a true cheshire grin as Mamoru pounds his fist against the table. Green eyes gittering, he unscrews the cap of his tea to take another drink from it --

-- only to choke lightly at mention of jousting. His eyes close shut and for a moment his face is the picture of serene calm, before he sets his tea down, swallows, and opens his eyes to stare up at the heavens (or, at least, the ceiling) as he silently prays to anyone who might be listening for relief.

Or maybe a quick bonk to the head. Zoisite does not specify his own head in that prayer. "Yes, flower arrangement club," he says, sounding indeed as beleaguered as Mamoru had just previously, as he looks at Usagi. "And you don't have to call me that, you know."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Armor? Chiyo's eyebrows raise at mention of armor. She'd not seen that at all before when he changed so it must be that 'prince' form she's heard of. The talk of flower arrangement is met with a rather warm and soft smile though. "Of course it's actually a thing. My grandmother was very much into it and taught me. It's traditional. There's so much you can do with flowers wether it be arranging them to best show off their natural beauty, or if you go for the European methods of delivering messages through various flower types..."

And then Tamaki WINKS over at them mentioning jousting and ladies and knights. A little uncomfortably uncertain squeak comes from her that she tries to hide quickly by taking a bite of her french fry, and leaning to the side to bump her shoulder against Usagi in greeting.

"Uh, I don't think I've met you before?" Deflect! Sort of. "I'm Chiyo Sakai. Usagi's cousin, and supplier of Mamoru's sugar addiction."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Wait.. we've got a jousting club now too?" Naru asks as she appears at the table wihtout lunch, but with a coffee. Because air plant. She slides into a seat at the table, reaching over to snag a fry from Mamoru's plate. Truly a club for everything.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Are they trying to make you join clubs instead of letting you be in the time honored Go Home club, Mamochan?" Usagi's eyes are bright with sympathy. She shakes her head in exaggerated sorrow. "Don't they know time in clubs is less time for dates?"

Aren't they right here, being spoken to as if they aren't? Yes. Yes, they are.

And then Tamaki, and Usagi blinks, and stares, and, "Does the handsome knight want a fair maiden?"

Was that too blunt? Oh no, what if it was?

"I mean, maybe the fair maiden should joust for a knight! Or the knight wants a knight. Or maybe, jousting is like, totally lame, because you get horrible splinters and also like, stabbed! Clearly, the best thing to do is for princes and princesses to skip out on clubs altogether."

It all sounded horrible to her.

And then Zoisite says - "Well, I probably shouldn't call you, you know, your other name, in case someone overhears. Just because some people know who you are doesn't mean I should spoil the whole thing. Plus, Mamochan was right, we already have one Saitou-kun, and Saitou-san is way too formal!"

Logic, she has it.

"Chiyo-chan, this is Tamaki Suikawa, he's one of Mamochan's friends. And Naru-chan, hi! I don't think we have a jousting club, unless we do, in which case we shouldn't."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru shakes his head! "I'm not joining any clubs. Go Home Club is fine even if you live at school. There's date time with Usa and date time with Kazuo, there's study time, there's 'the world must leave me alone right now' time, and there's fighting monsters time. There's no time for another thing!" He nudges his fries a little closer to the center of the table, but takes a couple. "Unless there's an experimental archaeology club."

He stuffs his fries in his mouth and pushes up his glasses with the back of his hand, listening to everyone else... listening... and then he turns his head to stare at Jadeite, glance at Naru with his eyebrows up, shake his head a little, and stare at Jadeite again.

But Usagi's definitely got that covered.

He finishes chewing, and adds, "I'm not a knight, anyway." And then primly, "And I don't joust. I'm too flexible."

Jadeite has posed:
But, but, but, where is time for Tamaki? He is packing his little rucksack. With his eyes.

"You are very delicate, after all," he tells Zoisite.

And Usagi beats him to introductions; he straightens up a little and goes for it anyway. "As she said, I'm Tamaki. I ended up getting sick and missed a couple of months of school this winter, so I'm trying to catch up - including trying new clubs and meeting people again. Though maybe I'm getting a little too excited...? Flower arranging sounds a lot more complicated than I had assumed - it sounds fun!"

AAAnd usagi's got him. Sigh. "If the fair maiden and handsome knight want to go to the no hoem club, then I can't argue that." siiiiiiigh.

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite rests his elbow on the table, to give himself a way to prop up his head. As he's suddenly feeling very, very tired. "Ah yes, the flower language. A hint: almost all of them mean 'love' in some way."

It's a funny thing that happens after, because Zoi himself said he was delicate, but when Tamaki says so, Zoisite takes in a breath like he means to argue! But the bluster is short-lived, because he has the capacity to, indeed, remember the words he literally just used to describe himself, and so Tamaki is thusly spared. Lucky lucky.

"Join or don't join whatever clubs as you please," he says. "I'm sure my new friend Chiyo-chan and I will, yes Tamaki, be having plenty of fun."

Sorry, Chiyo. "Besides," he adds, "Jousting is barbaric. What will we be doing next, eating turkey legs with our bare hands while we bang our mugs of mead on the table?" Where in the world is he getting this?

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai nudges her own plate of fries to the side as well in offering just a bit closer to Usagi. It's habit at this point. She knew of Usagi's appetite. "It's spicy," she warns of the dipping sauce, but there was nothing wrong with just eating plain fries either. The familiar Naru is also met with a, "Feel free to have some if you want, Naru. I never see you with more than a coffee."

A tilt of her head is offered toward Tamaki. "Nice to meet you, Tamaki-san," she greets in turn only to flash an amused grin at all the talk of clubs.

"I don't know. I managed to attend manga club, and flower arrangement club, as well as work at the shop with Ojiisan." Though she also wasn't dating anyone. "There's also Kyouka-senpai's 'Self Defense Class', too."

A pause comes, a little grin of amusement as she reaches for another fry. "Of course you're not a knight, Mamoru-kun. You're our Prince~"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A lightbulb goes ting in Usagi's mind, and she stares at Tamaki for a moment, munching on Chiyo-chan's fries, and sucking in a huge gasp of air when spicy hits her tastebuds. It's delicious! But it is spicy! "Thank you Chiyo-chan," she says before drowning her tongue in juice and pushing the dipping sauce towards Naru, so she can try too.

Tamaki is looking forlorn, and Usagi knows in some part of herself she's going to regret this, but - "The maiden is Wako-chan. Like Chiyo-chan said - Mamochan's not a knight. He's a prince. The handsome knight is the two of you," she says, glancing between Tamaki and Zoisite. "But you don't have to be in a club together to hang out with Mamochan and me. Or, actually, to hang out with Mamochan and Kazuo-kun, mostly, probably."

Sorry Kazuo-kun! She is willing to share some but this is your brother-in-arms! You have to share more than she does!

"We're not really like, club people. But if you are, you should join one with Chiyo-chan and Saitou-chan. And if you're not, you can be in the go home club too."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm good!" Naru grins to Chiyo, although she's up to two whole fries, having stolen a second one in here, which is wholly proving Chiyo's point.

"I can recommend self defence class, but that's as much an after hours class as anything. It's fun, in its own way." Because Naru somehow has become a jock who gets up at the crack of stupid to go /running/.

The second fry ends up in the spicy sauce as Naru looks over to Tamaki and considers him a moment before her smile for him is gentle. It's been a while. Like.. last she talked to him he was trying to kill her sorts of been a while. "Hi Tamaki."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Wako-chan is the Maiden, Usako is the Princess, I'm the Prince, you guys are Handsome Knights--" Mamoru agrees all around, then adds, "--and Zoi is a philistine who thinks you bang mugs of mead when it's obviously mugs of ale--"

Then Mamoru lightly push-leans against Tamaki for a moment, gentle and affectionate. "Cheer up, eh? I'm not going anywhere. And yes -- join the flower club, and the fencing club! There are a lot of good fencers in this school. Or you can join kendo and get beat up by Kazuo-- wait, that might not be a selling point-- or yes! As Naru says, that. You can also take the self-defense class instead of phys ed, and have a free period in the middle of the day on gym days."

A beat. "I mean. Saitou-chan. Not Zoi. How silly of me."

Jadeite has posed:
"...oh. I forgot."

Not again. Every time he thinks he's remembered one thing, two more gaps show up. It's like climbing up a mountain made of ice cream.

And then Usagi brings light at the end of the tunnel. He looks between the two of them, a smile growing on his face, and then he push-leans into Mamoru in return. "Then... for me, I think I'll do fencing and flower arranging and maybe self defense, and if they don't fit, I'll join the go-home club. I guess I have to import jousting to Tokyo for us to watch!"

...and.

His face goes slack for a moment before he points a ketchupy fry at Naru. "Wait! It's you!! The cat meme girl!!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai lets her gaze roam around the table at talk of knights and such continuing. Of course she may have added to it just a bit trying to tease. Even so she can't resist leaning over to remark to Naru, "I think that makes us chopped liver?" Jokingly. Unless they were included in 'knights' but who knew. At least she doesn't seem upset by it. If anything, far more amused.

"You're welcome to join any clubs you'd like. I'm not going to be staying at the store anymore so I'll only be there part of the time." Grinning to Usagi she adds, "Rashmi, Wako and I got a triple in the dorms."

Zoisite has posed:
"I'd argue that given the traces of mead found in historic sites it's a perfectly acceptable old-world European alcoholic beverage for my analogy," is all Zoisite says. But thankfully he drops said analogy there, because it was growing convuluted, and besides it had nothing to do with the knightly experience of the Silver Millenium (probably).

When Mamoru uses his real name -- okay, okay, his nickname -- Zoisite's chin tilts up a little bit and he smiles, a little bit smug. And it's not even dimmed in the slightest by the later correction!

He turns to Chiyo, pulling his previously abandoned salad back before him to do a little bit more nibbling. "So, what precisely do I need to do to join the flower arrangement club?" he asks.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"NPCs, I think." Naru comments to Chiyo with a grin. "We can give out the quests and stuff."

"I can put in a good word for the Art Club, but really it's just a convenient excuse for studio time." Naru comments on the topic of clubs and then.. then Tamaki has his realization and there's a fry pointed her way. She reaches over to snag it from him with a laugh. "I mean.. not the first thing I would have gone with.. but yes. I stopped, cause.." she doesnt elaborate on the why. "I can start again if you want."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Then that's a plan," Usagi says cheerfully, "And don't be silly - you two aren't NPCs, you're the like, tank and wizard."

Tank, gesturing to Chiyo-chan and wizard to Naru.

"You're just as cool as the rest of us, even if you aren't part of our courts."

That settled, she takes a bite of her katsudon, chewing thoughtfully, "Why do you want jousting so much anyway? Isn't it kind of scary?" Tamaki, explain!

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai stares a long moment at Naru's assessment about NPCs. "Oh NO. I'm a *shopkeeper*," she realizes with a mock gasp. At least until Usagi mentions she's a tank which garners a brighter grin. Her arm slides around Usagi as she leans in to hug her with a chuckle.

"Court or not, you're still family this time around so you're stuck with me. I'll always do what I can to help you out. Mamoru too," she adds. "He's helped me and Ojiisan so much."

For Tamaki and Zoi she adds, "Oh it's pretty simple. Just show up to one of the club days. The listings are posted in the club building on the bulletin board. Usually there's not a lot of new people for Flower Arrangement Club so I'm sure they'll be excited to have some new faces." Pausing a moment she adds, "And I think I'm going to drop manga club this year." A fry is dipped into the sauce as she considers. "Things seem to be getting a bit more complicated for me. I should really start training with the others on my own 'team' now that... You know, there's more than just *me* around."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru extricates himself from the bench -- leaning partly on Tamaki to do so -- and tells Naru, "No matter what he says, I think you should. He won't be throwing his phone out any windows or whatever it was he did to it, I don't even know."

Then one hand ruffles bright curly comparatively-short hair, and Mamoru picks up his more-or-less empty tray, leaving the catalogue of classes and clubs on the table, along with his school bag. "Back soon," he says cheerfully and walks off.

Jadeite has posed:
"If you're related to the princess, you could be a dutchess or a marquess too, if you want," Tamaki says thoughtfully. "Naru's definitely a wizard, though. When I was, sick," there's only barely a guilty pause around the lie, "the cat photos really cheered me up. Put things in perspective."

Surprisingly grounding.

As for jousting - "It's not scary! THey get people who are trained to joust for entertainment. It's completely safe for both the riders and the horses. It's like - pro wrestling, just with a few more bells and whistles."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Uh huh," Usagi says skeptically, as she's pulled in for a hug and gives a good snuggle in return. "People always say things aren't scary, right before something horrible happens - there are horses?"

Usagi, what did you think jousting was -

"Horses are pretty cool... but I don't know if the school has enough horses for a jousting club?" That sounded like something that would need a lot of horses. Like, four, maybe, or even six. Mamoru gets a wave as he departs, and Usagi pouts a little to see him go, but...

"I do have you now, Chiyo-chan! And if you want to be a maruiste," she massacred that word, "then I'll make you one!"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai tips her head toward Tamaki when he suggests such titles for her. She's not even going to try to pronounce the one that Usagi mangles knowing she'd likely mess it up as well, but she does smile at the offer. "Usagi-chan's 'court' is all people from the Moon though, right? Or at least their past lives. I'm pretty sure I'm definitely from Earth." A pause comes, as she remarks, "Given the kami that gives me my own powers especially. I'm okay with not being royalty of some sort. Besides," she adds with a chuckle that dies as her expression goes blank.

"Mother would just send me more *awful* dresses if she found out." Not that she would ever TELL her mother but reminding Usagi about the chiffon nightmare might get a laugh.