1522/Not Bowing to Beryl's Threats

Not Bowing to Beryl's Threats
Date of Scene:	26 April 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	After Bow comes back from Beryl's trap safe and sound, they discuss the experience, and Crystal Hope also shows her hand (feat. Nat 20 roll). There is cuddling.
Cast of Characters:	Sayaka Miki, Bow
Tinyplot:	Operation: Past

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Sayaka Miki has posed:
It's the 26th of April, the day right after everyone's return from the trap Queen Beryl opened in Juuban, trap that has involved Madoka, Hinoiri and Bow too. Wanting to make sure Bow felt secure with the weirdness of Tokyo that was still new to him, she had elected to send Attesa to watch over him. Having seen Attesa come back to her safe and sound, that was the confirmation she needed that everyone was finally out of that place, a sigh of relief following right after.

With Bow possibly needing some explanations after the whole experience, Sayaka has gone to his dorm room not too long after classes were over, intending to bring Attesa out of the Labyrinth after she met up with him, since that was one of the factors that probably needed explanations in the whole mess with the Silver Millenium. Once she gets there, two knocks can be heard on the door, waiting for her to be let in.

Bow has posed:
War.

War never changes.

It doesn't matter if it's on the Moon or the Whispering Woods of Etheria. And perhaps that's why he was able to handle it a little better than everything that's happened to him since he arrived on this world. He had spent his time mostly seperated from everyone else - only linking up a couple times with the group - and that he was fortunate enough that Sayaka had sent him something of a guardian angel to watch over him.

Attesa had seen Bow through the music and the kitchen, and then through the end of the road - the fall of the Moon, the death of everything.

And it was not the first time he had bore witness to something that terrible.

So as everyone was seperating off and heading for comfort and care - Bow had fired off a text to Sayaka to let her know he was back and safe and then immediately showered for over an hour before faceplanting in the bed.

He was still asleep when the two knocks on the door sound out and he rolls out of bed with a grunt. "Coming!" he calls out, pulling on some sweat pants and a half-shirt as he made his way to the door, his hair still covered by a plastic cap to keep it moisturized. Opening the door, he finds himself in front of the best thing that's happened to him since he arrived on Earth, and all that stoicness just melts.

Before Sayaka's eyes, Bow's lip wobbles for a moment as his eyes fill with tears and he just sweeps the bluenette up into a hug that lifts her off the ground as he presses his face into her hair just to breathe in her scent and warmth and remind himself that he's home and okay now. "I missed you." he manages to get out into her ear.

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Sayaka's eyes open in surprise when she is hugged with such an impetus that lifts her up from the ground as Bow holds her tightly to him. In a way, she is actually seeing eye to eye with him for once. Though that doesn't actually mean she is seeing the tears in his eyes and the general sorrowful expression he has, since his face is pressing past hers, but what she can notice is his need to have some comfort given to him. And she can completely understand why - even if she was inexplicably cut off from her Familiar while Attesa was inside, once her eldritch doppelganger had come back she has been able to relay everything she had seen and experienced in that duration.

It really was a tough time, with all the death and destruction caused by Beryl. If before then the woman that lead one of Obsidian's sectors was a nebulous threat that loomed in the distance, now that she had learned everything she had done and was capable of, the chief of Beryl Holdings had made it abundantly clear why she is a menace that nobody could ignore. And then there was the fact they had lived through two different flows of time: while to her it had only been 1 day since she sent Attesa after him and a bit more than that since she had last seen Bow, it has been a whole two weeks since her boyfriend had last seen her.

In the meantime, though, she has one more pressing need to take care of, and that is to console her boyfriend that has seen all that destruction with his own eyes. Managing to move her arms from the tight hug he has her in, she hugs him back, saying "Don't worry, you are here now. It's all over."

Bow has posed:
Bow steps back, carrying Sayaka inside with him as he closes the door with his foot, as she speans to him, she can feel him decompress, like a balloon being deflated as he holds his girlfriend in his arms for several more moments when she starts hugging him back. There's nothing said for a bit, just accepting her hug and holding onto her before he finally moves to set her on the ground. "Sorry." he says, with no reason for an apology. "Just, sorry." Repeated again, he finally gestures. "Come on. Take a seat, I'll make some tea."

Once she's inside and settled, he reaches up and scrubs at his eyes with the front of his shirt to pull himself back together. "I watched them die, Sayaka. The senshi, Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Moon, Beryl... all of them." he tells her quietly. "All in gruesome and horrible ways."

He draws in a breath. "It's not the first time I've seen death on that scale... it happened when we were all killed on Etheria, before Queen Angella sacrificed herself to return Etheria." Wait, what.

He gets out the kettle to start to boil the water as he shudders with the thought. "I'm working on coping with it, trying to take some positive out of the time I was there. I got caught in a loop with some musicians, and then there was the time I spent in the kitchens..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
When Sayaka is let down, she nods at Bow while undoing her own hug and taking the chair Bow has invited her towards. While Bow is making tea, the entrance to her Labyrinth opens, and Attesa walks out of it, she too taking place in one of the chairs available in Bow's dorm room. Around the bluenette Familiar, some notes float around, as per usual with regards to this particular one.

"I know", Sayaka nods in sympathy towards Bow, her expression making it very clear that she understand how gruesome of a sight it was, one she had been made part of the instant Attesa could reconnect with her. "But Bow, all of them, they are still alive. Jupiter, Uranus, Nephrite, Tuxedo, Sailor Moon, everyone, nobody is actually lost", she tries to reassure him. What else can be said to mitigate the impact of the loss Bow had witnessed? Very little. It's lucky anything can be said at all.

Sayaka offers an encouraging smile when Bow mentions he is trying to get some positive out of the experience. "I think that's a good thing. Would you like to talk about it?"

Bow has posed:
While in the kitchen, Bow removes the head cap he was wearing and catches a glimpse of himself and smirks. It's probably a good thing that Sayaka loves him because he looks a mess. Once the tea is made with the click of the kettle, Bow heads to the refrigerator, pulling out a couple of items and comes back to the seating area. After setting down the tray which has a couple of mugs, an electric kettle, tea bags and sugar and on a smaller plate a pair of hand pies.

And that's when he makes note of Attesa. There's a brief pause as he gets his first good look at Sayaka's familiar. He's seen chara, he's seen familiars, but... he's not quite sure what to make of Attesa. However. "Thank you for keeping an eye out." comes his comment to her because he's not sure what else to say.

He settles in next to Sayaka and gives her a quick kiss, again reminding himself that she's real and here and he's safe. "I know that." he says finally. "But that doesn't mean they didn't experience it. And I felt worse for them because they had to witness their own deaths. I couldn't even imagine."

"I remember when Angella died." he explains to Sayaka. "She was Glimmer's mother and the former Queen of Brightmoon. Catra had trapped us all in some... alternate reality. And she was using the Sword of Protection to do it. But it was unstable and was falling apart - and people were just... disappearing. Glimmer and I were among the last to go - and when She-Ra restored everything... she told us of how Angella had opeted to stay behind to retrieve the Sword and bring it to Adora. So... that's the closest I have seen to someone close to me dying."

"That's not to say I hadn't seen death in the battlefield. I mean, the Princess Alliance, the Rebellion. The war with the Horde. It... it was a thing. It happened. It was part of what happened, you know?" he asks her, sort of rambling, she may notice it. His hands fidget together, as he tries to find something that he can focus on and use to draw his attention away from. "...but these were the people I know as friends, and they all just..." A sigh and a shake of his head as he squeezes his fingertips into the meat of his palms.

"The pies were something I helped make while I was trapped. Roasted pork and vegetables." he's trying to distract himself. "And... if you want, I can get my violin and play the music I heard for you?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Considering he has had a shower not too long ago, one could say that's already a big step forward towards not looking like a mess. When Bow lowers the tray with everything on it, Sayaka helps herself to one of the mugs, pouring tea into the one she grabbed and adding a spoonful, breathing in the beverage's refreshing smell.

While she lets the sugar mix with the tea with the usage of a spoon, Sayaka explains who the familiar with the notes currently floating next to her Bow is looking at is. "This is Attesa", she says, "the Familiar I had promised would follow you into the Silver Millenium." Not that they knew what was on the other side of the portal back then. The eldritch figure nods slightly towards Bow and an unintelligible word is heard coming from her mouthless face. "That was her saying "hello", it's witch language", Sayaka clarifies.

Sayaka listens patiently when Bow lets out all of the pressure that came out of the misadventure that came out of Beryl's portal, as well as his retreading of the situation with Queen Angella. There is little difference between being forever lost in time and being dead, so all Sayaka does in the way of reassurance is attempt to squeeze Bow's hand, if he is ready for it.

"I can't imagine what war against the Horde was like", Sayaka says in veiled agreement. "But I am sure everyone there was they were risking and still did their best to give everyone else a shining future. You probably miss them a lot, but their sacrifice is not a loss meant to perpetuate suffering", she tries to give him a few words that could possibly soothe his pain. "That food sounds good, and I would love hearing what music you learnt."

Bow has posed:
After making his own mug of tea, Bow sets it down to cool as he listens to Sayaka and she makes her introduction of Attesa. "Hello, Attesa. Thank you again." he offers to her. This isn't out of the realm of normalcy for him - he comes from a world with some pretty freaky things, after all.

When she reaches for his hand, Bow loosens his fingers, opening his hand to hers so that their fingers can intertwine and he gives it an affectionate squeeze. "The thing with the Horde was that most of the rank and file? They were all robots. Automations. You could strike with impunity and not worry about if there was someone alive inside." He blows out a breath, appreciating the moment to just hold onto her hand.

"That changed near before... where I left." Bow admits. "That was where reality was changed and just... as things came back..." And for a moment, Sayaka can clearly see that Bow is clearly confused about something. His eyes narrow and he moves his fingers, as if calculating something. "When... when..." he repeast. As that happens, Sayaka can see the soft green glow on the back of Bow's neck intensify and Bow blinks a couple of times as if something just dawned on him, "I mean, it was a war." She may have just caught Crystal Hope resetting Bow's memories.

"Anyway." His hand loosens from her. "You settle back, I'll get my violin and I'll play you something." A total distraction, as he moves to get up from his seat to head to his side of his room to gather his violin case. "Oh. Violin or lute?"

Sayaka Miki has posed:
It was sort of like the robots that they had met on the beach when Bow was hastily seeking to come out of the portal. Sure, those weren't of that same Horde, but still, the principle of the matter was the same. If only things had been similar on their own side, the battle for Bow and the others would have been much different. Although she is not sure what such a fight would mean for the environment when both sides would lead fresh "soldiers" on the battlefield for as long as they had resources.

Sayaka's brow furrows when Bow starts acting confused and he tries counting something and as a result of it the control chip on his neck glows with that sickly green. If that wasn't enough to tip Sayaka's off about Crystal Hope's intervention, the eerie discrepancy that the change in Bow's behaviour had shown was enough to make her understand he was thinking about something that the AI didn't approve of. "Darned Crystal Hope", she mutters in Witch Language, before addressing Attesa directly.

"You should pay attention, Attesa, soon we will likely get into a fight to get rid of that AI. She is manipulating him, and the extent to which the consequences could go is unclear, but they are deep. Crystal Hope is nasty, and not worthy of any trust." The bluenette Familiar blinks and looks a the chip herself before replying in the same language. "I understand, Oktavia. I will relay that to Brillio and Tramonto later. Just mind your Grief Souls."

Sayaka is not worried about the extent that would get out of her, since she has a pretty good stash as of now, so she tries to set that aside for now and talks to Bow. "I had remembered Attesa needed to know something about the fight against Jupiter and Nephrite that I had forgotten to explain", Sayaka lies, even if she doesn't like it any. The truth can't be out yet. "But both instruments are great. Maybe the lute? You haven't played it yet."

Bow has posed:
It really was one of the things that kept balance, though. The Horde had limited resources on Etheria - they were recycling robots and First Ones tech just to try to keep the war going. Given time, the Rebellion could have won, had it not been for Catra, and the portal.

As Sayaka and Attesa are talking, Bow lifts his head, hearing the strange language. "It's so cool that you know a whole other language to communicate with her." he explains, sounding clueless about the true nature of the conversation that the bluenette was having with her familiar. "I'll have to see if you can show me how to say hello or at least understand some basics, just in case there's a problem."

When she asks for the lute, Bow nods, digging a little further in the closet. Pulling out a case, he comes back around to sit near Sayaka again. Unzipping the case, Bow takes out a pretty well-worn and beat up looking wide-bodied lute. One could say it was well-loved, but honestly, it's near the end of it's days. "Alright. I'm not very good at this instrument. Not like the violin."

And just as he starts to play, there's a god-awful sound from the stings, and the neck of the lute cracks and breaks. Bow's eyes widen in panic. "No no no!" he manages, a small gasp. "I... I don't think I can fix it this time..." His tone is forlon as he turns the lute over in his hands, all the other repairs he's done on it are visible. "...I brought this with me from Etheria..."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
Teaching Bow Witch Language... Is that a thing that can be done at all? Given that her speaking it is more magical in nature than simply knowing how to speak it, she doubts that's a thing she would be able to teach. On the other hand, Witch runes can in fact be taught, though the ones she had learnt before wasn't any magical understanding. She should try and ask Madoka or Gretchen (maybe both) if they understand her when the former is not being Hope Witch. "I will try my best", is all she can promise Bow.

She watches with perplexity see Bow extract a very derelict lute from his closet, whose appearance makes Sayaka surprised it didn't crumble into dust as soon as Bow touched it. She is not sure it would make much of a good sound, regardless of Bow's skill level in it. "Are you sure you should play one? It looks pretty old..." she voices her doubts before the lute breaks.

Sayaka bites her lips when Bow starts talking about that lute with a clear mourning tone, already voicing his regrets for its loss and showing her all the times he repaired it. It really meant a lot to him. "I am sorry you lost it", she tells Bow. "It clearly had a good run, and I am sure it would appreciate the fact you took such good care of it if it could speak."

Bow has posed:
There's a sigh, and Bow moves to set the broken lute carefully on the table with a sigh. "I'll get the violin later. I'll take it as a sign that maybe I need to wait before playing music again, eh?" he asks Sayaka with a mote of amusement.

Instead, he opts to occupy his hands with the mug as he leans in close to Sayaka again. She's really what he needs right now. Her closeness and affection. As much as she offered at the start of their relationship, he's more needful of it now.

He takes a draw up the mug and sip the tea within. "Anyway. As you know, I got pulled in after the others. And when I arrived, apparently... Endyimon and Serenity were getting ready for a swim and I totally ruined the romantic moment because I didn't realize what was going on. That they were echoes of the past, and well, it was an amusing situation."

"It was something nice before we suddenly found ourselves in a portal and coming out in the midsts of a maddening riot as Beryl had worked the people of Earth into a frenzy, claiming that the residents of the moon... did you know there's a whole palace and city on the moon? At least there was... I don't think any of Etheria's moons were ever inhabited..." A pause and he shakes his head. "Sorry, off track."

"Anyway, Beryl had convinced the people of Earth that the Moon was going to steal the Prince... and even brainwashed his faithful guard against him. I mean, I had heard bits and pieces of the story - but it was entirely different watching it unfold in front of your eyes. Seeing it. Smelling it. Feeling it. It was all so real." he admits quietly. "It was during that when I got seperated from the others."

Sayaka Miki has posed:
"It's definitely a sign that you would need a new lute", Sayaka says when Bow starts half-joking about what the destruction of the lute would mean for him. "But there is no hurry", the bluenette remarks. She certainly doesn't want to make him feel pressured with the current situation.

She has been made privy of Bow's (mis)adventures through Attesa's eyes, and nods in sympathy when he recounts some of them to her. "I am sure it's alright. The real Endymion and Serenity didn't have their swim interrupted, and all that happened is just getting the attention of shades of the past slightly." Though it's a whole other matter that they have a splendid palace there, and that he doesn't believe there were any buildings there. "Have you ever been there? Maybe you will find some if you get the occasion. It can even be your big moment that makes you famous across all of Etheria."

The low admittance in Bow's voice makes Sayaka sigh slightly. The whole place was horrible, and she is cursing Beryl a thousand times over ever since Attesa came back to her. "Beryl is horrible, but she won't get to do as she pleases any longer. I am completely sure that whatever her big plan is, we will thwart it. And we are now aware of the stuff she wants to pull thanks to her own trap. She totally set herself back", Sayaka tries to reassure him.

Bow has posed:
"Yeah." Bow says with a sigh of a thought. "She showed us how she came to be. And while she showed us her weakness as well." he points out, but he looks a little confused. "The moon palace? Only in the portal. But lets figure out if I can even get back to Etheria first?" he asks with a thoughtful smile.

"But for now?" He considers, and moves, settling closer to Sayaka. "Can we just... cuddle for a bit?" he asks her. "I really missed you, bluebird." It's a soft confession, but honest and true as he looks into her eyes, and if she allows, there will be a kiss and then just cuddling on the couch. No movie needed. No music. Just... Bow holding onto Sayaka and being completely in love with her.

Which is probably the best therapy and balm for the last couple of weeks he has gone through.