1782/B-Point: Only A Shout Away

B-Point: Only A Shout Away
Date of Scene:	15 July 2024
Location:	Paris
Synopsis:	Kyouka pulls Usagi aside for a moment, after Beryl's defeat.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Dark Kingdom Finale

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Kyouka Inai has posed:
    There's always a lot of cleanup after a big battle- even when a lot of it is taken care of by a miracle that puts all the buildings (and people) back together. It's not the sort of cleanup where you pick bricks up off the ground and sweep away dust- it's the sort where you collect yourself and your friends and make sure you actually really survived. There's some piecing back together that needs to be done.

    It's mostly been done. Newly-revived friends and allies have been located and people have been brought back out of the catacombs. The bad guys have not made a last-minute return in an Even More Final Form, which seems to suggest they are actually defeated and its not just an elaborate ruse.

    As people are preparing to go and find accommodation, someplace to rest and clean up and everything, Kyouka finds a moment to pull Usagi aside.It's not like 'hey, I need to talk to you' or anything like that. It's just a hand on a shoulder at a moment when nobody else is paying attention, drawing the girl off to one side of the group, out of immediate earshot of the others although not out of sight. "Holdin' up okay, kid?" She asks, her own facade uncracked in the face of these trials. If anything, she seems more nonchalant than is appropriate, given everything that's happened. Could be an act, though, she's good at that.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been a few hours, simultaneously the longest and shortest of Usagi's life. Beryl is dead. Metallia is dead. Every minute that ticks by is yet more proof of this, yet more surety, that they really did win, they really did finish this, they really did -

But Usagi hasn't processed it, not fully. She hasn't processed any of it, the long hours in the dark, the constant fighting, the blood.

Her hand fisted around a rose, buried in Fem's gut. The look in her eyes before the explosion ripped her apart. Her hand, in Mamoru's, the feeling of his grief and loss, as he told them about Chiyo, about Bow, about Rashmi, about Chrono -

They're okay now. Everyone's okay now, even the DG Girls are okay now, memoryless and confused and in the hands of the French police, but okay, and she's okay, she's better than okay, she doesn't have a scratch on her anymore.

Kyouka draws her away, and she doesn't quite burst into tears, but it's a near thing.

"We made it," she says, which is an answer, and, "We did it," and then, finally, a hard swallow, "She's really dead."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka has this air about her- like she's not really affected by all of this. Maybe it's because she wasn't there for most of it. She didn't see any of the deaths, she was too busy just trying to figure out where the hell she (and everybody else) was. Maybe she's just the sort of person for whom things like death and mortality aren't scary. Or maybe she's just had these same reactions before, and learned how to harden herself against them.

    But to say she's unsympathetic or unsupportive wouldn't be true. She doesn't scoff at Usagi's obvious feelings; doesn't belittle or ignore them. She gives the younger girl a look over her sunglasses, her grey eyes soft, and squeezes her shoulder before releasing it. "She is, and we're not. Counts as a good day in my book." Simple as that- any day you're alive and your enemies aren't, that's a day for feeling good.

    "You did real good back there, Usagi-chan. I know I've told you before that I think you have the makings of a leader. I knew you could do it, but it's always nice to see your feelings proven true. You never really know how the chips are going to fall until they do, but you're a good bet, Usagi Tsukino."

    She gives a small smile and a shrug of her shoulders. "And I appreciate the healing, even if a robot arm would have been pretty rad." That's probably a joke, but what she says next isn't. "I'm proud of you, kid. You did good."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's the shoulder squeeze that helps, because Usagi's always been tactile, the same way that Kyouka has always had that unaffected air. It might not be true, that air, but it's not offensive, either, not when Usagi has seen more than enough to know that Kyouka cares about her, cares very much about her.

She still scrubs at her face,e still tries not to cry, if only because if she cries now, she might not stop for a long, long time.

"Yeah," she breathes, "It's a good day. We did it. We got... we got as close to a perfect score as I think we could get, you know?"

They'd lost people, but it hadn't been permanent. Life isn't anything like a video game, but Usagi feels like she's won an extra life, a free continue, a third chance, to top off her second. She doesn't have to bring Chiyo-chan's body back to Ojisan, doesn't have to help Mamoru figure out who in Ohio-Indiana-American-State-Names they have to call, for Tamaki. Everything Beryl achieved, erased.

They won. They're walking away from this one, better than they had walked in, because it's over...

She breathes out again, and smiles, a little, "That means a lot, coming from you."

She - was she really the leader here? She doesn't think so. But on the other hand, her and Mamoru, they'd brought them all here, asked them to come and asked them to fight, and they handled it.

"I was - I was really scared," she admits, "But I had to keep doing it anyway. I wasn't... there wasn't anything we could do but keep going. No matter how many times they pulled one over on us, no matter what happened or who we lost or - we just had to keep going. Otherwise... what was it all for?"

What did her friends die for, if they gave up? She had to keep going. She had too. They all did. And they won.

"You would have looked really cool with a robot arm, but your jacket would have been super messed up, you know. I don't think a robot arm would fit." A little quirk of a smile.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "There's no such thing as a perfect score, but if you could actually get one, people would stop trying." Kyouka says, with a small chuckle. "Getting as close as we did is something most people can only wish for. It's definitely worth feeling satisfied about achieving."

    She shakes her head a little bit, making a face. "I appreciate that, but I'm sorry I wasn't there to help more. Dunno if it would have made a difference in the end but it doesn't feel good, knowing what you went through while I was stumbling around just trying to find you all. It's frustrating, though at least I made it before the end. Not sure I woulda been able to face you if I showed up after it was all over." A snort of self-deprecating amusement.

    She gives a little smile as Usagi admits she was scared. "Being scared is normal, Usagi-chan. Not many people aren't scared when their lives, or the lives of their friends are on the line. But you're right, of course. Not giving up is what's important. Not just for yourself, but for everyone else. Even the people who don't know you're doing it, the people up here just trying to live normal lives. If people have to die, make sure their deaths mean something. Win the fight. People are afraid to die, but you know what's way scarier than dying? Dying for no reason."

    She glances around. "Of course, a little miracle helps with that, too." A shrug.

    "Listen," She pauses a moment, then goes on. "I heard you talking with some of the others about finding a hotel, a place to stay for a day or two. That sounds nice, but I'm going to head on home. I'm not much for straying too far outside my territory, know what I mean?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Have you ever met a gamer?" There's a wry smile, poking through, some good humor still there, under it all. "There's nothing like chasing the high of a perfect score."

Not that fighting was anything like a game, not that it was the same at all, but there was - there was some pride, under it all, that they'd done it. That they'd gotten all their people back. That she'd gotten all their people back.

"We really did do good," she murmurs, and can't stop herself from grasping at the Silver Crystal, dangling around her neck, holding it tight.

"You saved my life," Usagi says frankly, "Maybe you weren't there, the whole time, but neither was I, you know? I was lost in the tunnels too, when Chiyo-chan - when Tamakun -" A hard shake of her head. "You were here when I needed you to be."

Which, maybe that's selfish and egotistical, but it's the truth. Maybe someone else would be mad, but not Usagi.

"I don't know how I did it," it's a confession, hushed. "I mean, I used the Silver Crystal, of course, but I don't know what - I don't know if I can do it again, or on command, or what, and I'm... I'm glad, it took everything and I'm glad, but, I'm a little worried people are going to think I can do it... again."

Which is something she's going to have to figure out how to express to everyone here, because she would really - really - really - prefer if it wasn't spread all over Tokyo that she brought people back from the dead.

Mamoru's the Mahou MSF, not her. She doesn't do this. She doesn't know how.

The news that Kyouka is going back... is somehow not surprising at all.

"We brought a lot of us here," she says slowly, "It'd probably be good for you to head back and back everyone up, in case something happens. But you've got to eat some snacks before you go, right?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I saved your life," Kyouka says, with a nod. "I would have saved anybody's life, if I had the chance. But I'm glad I was there to save yours. If I hadn't been, I would have been pretty upset right now, I'd wager, since I rather like you, kid." That's just how it is. No mention of the lost arm, of the fact that she might have lost more (miracles notwithstanding). You do what you can.

    Kyouka just gives another small shrug at Usagi's confession. "Seems to me that anyone wishing for more than one miracle is being a bit selfish, don't you think? I mean, I guess in a way every night we come home with all our bits still attached is a miracle, but the sort you pulled off here? That's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Well, knowing it's you, I wouldn't be surprised if it was more than once in a lifetime, but I'm certainly not expecting you to raise the dead again next week."

    "Just be honest with them. Nobody is going to get reckless because they think you're a get out of jail free card. If they do, I doubt they're someone you're going to want to keep around anyway."

    On the topic of returning to Tokyo, she gives a little laugh and a shrug of her shoulders. "Don't make it sound more noble than it is. I'm a Tokyo gal, born and bred- Paris is nice, but it's not my city. I won't feel quite right until I have the Mitakihara asphalt firm beneath my feet again. I was happy to come with you, but I'll be happy to get home too."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Well, of course you would have," Usagi flaps a hand at Kyouka, easily affirming that, "But you didn't do it for someone else, you did it for me, so I get to thank you for it. I 'rather like you', too."

The arm that had been missing, the injury that's erased now, but still happened, all of that still exists in her mind - but with Kyouka whole and hale in front of her, it;s hard to be worried about it, not when she isn't it.

"Yeah, maybe, but, I'm selfish too. And I'm not... it's not so much worry that people will get reckless, but that they'll... tell people. And those people will tell people. And then everyone will think that I can help their dead."

She's visibly relieved that Kyouka thinks this is reasonable, and more, that Kyouka doesn't seem to expect this to be a new tool in her kit, doesn't expect Moon Alive Them Again Blast to show up next month.

Because she doesn't think it will be showing up, again. The crystal is tapped, drained, and it had taken everything she had and everything she wanted to give.

"Yeah. I mean, if they were willing to come with us to fight, they're totally going to be willing to respect this boundary, right? Right."

Right!

"Something can be for you and still be noble," she insists, "Like eating all of a cake that you know someone else's allergic too, so they can't be tempted."

Yeah, she's grinning, now. This is teasing.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I mean, look, bottom line is that people can think whatever they want." Kyouka says, raising a brow. "If you can't do it again, you can't do it again. Your friends will believe you. Anyone who doesn't can just fuck off, in my opinion. Getting one miracle should be enough to satisfy anybody, that's what I think."

    "I can respect not wanting to be made into a messiah, though." She says, with a slightly crooked smile. "It's a huge pain in the ass, everyone thinking you can solve all their problems." There might be a little bit of self-deprecating humor there too but... it's honestly hard to tell.

    "I never claimed to be noble, kid." Kyouka shrugs a little bit, stretching her arms above her head. "Just one more piece on the game board, moving as I know how to move." She smiles. "Enjoy your vacation. Tell Mamoru if he needs to talk, he knows how to reach me. And same goes for you too, of course. Even when I'm halfway across the world, I'm only a shout away."

    And then she leaves.