1814/Epistolary

Epistolary
Date of Scene:	29 July 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Taro goes to deliver a cake and everything goes sideways emotionally and informationally how does this happennnnn
Cast of Characters:	Taro Yamada, Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba

---

Taro Yamada has posed:
It is a beautiful day in Tokyo. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, and Taro got a text from Usagi a few days ago that she was ready for cake. Fortunately for her, he'd been practicing what he wanted to do for her and Mamoru and Sailor Moon's (and handsome white haired boy's) engagement cake to improve on the one that Thetis so unkindly smashed. He'd made enough to cover his supplies from selling to the dorm mates and buy a little more patience for him using the kitchen so much, which means this one. This one would be perfect, so help him.

He's also got a little something for Usagi and company for business, as well. He'd pulled out dictionary dot com, several thesauruses, some manga, and a brush and ink to make a genuine, authentic letter from the old-fashioned Back Street Slasher, because an old urban legend wouldn't use a pen!

...The effect is somewhat lessened by the cake and the letter both being stored in pink, with the letter having a bunny, a moon and a rose sticker plopped where the address should go.

Text: usagichan cake delivery
Text: pls let me in i have the goods 4 u n mamo n moon

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh! Taro-kun says he's here with the cake he wanted to give us - or was paid to give us, I guess it's technically the Slasher giving us a cake?"

Usagi taps her chin thoughtfully for a moment, before shrugging. "Either way, we get cake! For you and me and Sailor Moon."

She pauses, glancing at her text screen.

"...do you think I can get double sweets while he doesn't know I'm Sailor Moon?"

Little diabolical plans here and there. A joyous thing to contemplate.

    Text to Taro: Yaaaaay! Mamochan's here too so hold on a second, okay?

She hops off the bed, and opens the door once Mamoru has given the all-clear. Yes, on this beautiful day, she had been cuddling with her loving boyfriend on the couch, dressed down in pink overalls over an orange shirt, for that 90s eyebleed effect.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The eyebleed is real. Mamoru, conversely, is just in jeans and a light purple shirt with a band logo on it, and argyle-and-cat-patterned socks. "Usa," he says a little chidingly to her question. Then he pauses. "Wait, from the Slasher? Sure. I was going to say use your own allowance, or mine, but..."

He swings his feet over the edge of the bed and puts his glasses back on, and he runs a hand through his hair before giving the all-clear.

He will not mention the fact that he knows Taro cried when bullied, but he's thinking about it. Granted, thinking about it in a 'if this happens again and isn't a misunderstanding I will make whoever did it cry' way, but still, Taro must save face.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The door opens. Taro's there in his red Sanrio hoodie with Hello Kitty and friends, with his long bangs pulled back with a red bandana over his head. He looks like an escapee from Hello Kitty's Line Cook Game For Kids, especially with the pink cake box and pink envalope on top.

"Hi, Usagi-chan, Mamoru-san. I'm here with your first delivery of cake." He can't really wave holding the cake box, but he wiggles his elbow at them before slipping inside and setting it on the table, popping the box open to reveal a pure white icing cake with strawberry slices arranged in the center to form a rose, with a full moon made from candied lemon and orange peels in the center. There are six rock candy rings, one for each color of the rainbow, nestled around the rim of the cake.

"It?s a lemon cake with a rose water frosting," Taro says as he sets it out. "I dunno how many people you?re all engaged to and I?m not going to ask because there?s probably secret identity stuff that you don't want to reveal, but hopefully six rings is enough to make everyone feel included."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The door opens, and Taro is in his Sanrio hoodie again, and truly she has no idea how he got the idea that he was scary. Sure, he doesn't have the handsomest face, but he's not scary at all! He's a nice guy!

Especially when he's carrying for them an enormous cake box. It's even cuter once he gets it settled in the free spot on Usagi's desk, revealing the perfectly iced white cake, with a strawberry rose and candied peel moon, and - huh, that's a lot of rings!

The explanation for the rings makes her eyes widen, and her mouth drop into a small 'o' of surprise. Usagi blinks. Blinks again. Shuts her mouth. Opens it. Shuts it again.

"Well," she says, and then stops, "If you think about it... well... I mean, this might as well work. You could always use more candy rings, right?"

She's dating Ami and Mamoru, and he's dating her and Kazuo and Tamaki, and together that's five of them, plus all of their secret identities, so really -

"Yeah, you know? This works. Thank you Taro-kun! It's so pretty! You must have put a lot effort into all of this!"

She's rolling with it! Sure, she's the only one engaged to Mamoru, but who is she to stop someone from wearing a ring on their finger? (The actual fiancé. That's who she is. The rings are for her. And also for him. But only one her and him. Specific ones!)

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru hears the explanation and his eyes widen behind his glasses, and he instantly looks to Usagi to follow her lead on this -- and she's rolling with it, so he does too. Besides, it's adorable. "Lemon cake with rose frosting! That sounds delicious," the too-tall boy says, already wanting to taste it--

He starts to think of something, then puts it out of his mind as too weird and absolutely impossible to be true, since Taro made this cake. Taro made it. Not the Slasher!

"And it's beautiful, and you're very thoughtful for putting all that effort and creativity in," he praises Taro-- then tilts his head. "I guess we should wait and share it," he says to Usagi, sounding a little bit dubious at the prospect. It really does look delicious. But then his gaze strays to the envelope, and he blinks. "Did... did the Slasher put the stickers on? And... the envelope?? Or was that you?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I was trying to get the rock candy to taste like roses too, but the first batch was like eating perfume so I lowered it on the second batch - but it may just taste like sugar. Which isn't bad, just, not quite what i wanted. The candied flower petals only last a day too and it takes time to get people together so those were out," siiiigh. He wanted it to be fancier.

"The Slasher commissioned me and all, but - Usagi-chan was the first person to welcome me in Tokyo and helped me out a lot, and Mamoru-san's been really nice and tried to keep me out of trouble when Thetis showed up, and I know you both helped Sailor Moon save the world so I wanted it to - you know. It should be good quality," and he's flushing a little as he fumbles his way through his explenation. "Because you all deserve it. Everyone I've tried to explain I have a little magic to has forgotton until I came here, and having all your hard work be forgotten sucks. So I wanted to show I wasn't forgetting what you've done."

He'd spent decades trying to carve his name into history, and he'd never saved the world. How maddening would it be for someone to do all that cool and dangerous stuff and everyone would forget?

Blink blink. "Oh! Yes, that's from the Slasher. I had it match so no one asked questions - I told Usagi-san that I thought you two might be able to talk him down from doing villain things, so I ran it by him and he wrote a proposal about it. I figure you can text me when you read it and I'll pass it along to him."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's something going on here, but it can't possibly be what Usagi's thinking it is, right? Except, Taro keeps talking, and it sure sounds like it's exactly what she thinks it is - R
"Taro-kun, you can't possibly be trying to like, apologize for this cake not being fancy enough, can you?" She squints at him. "Because, it's really fancy. And pretty! And I want to take a picture of it, so we can remember it forever, because we will eat it and - did you make these candy rings?!"

Taro is already her friend, of course. Once you've let someone cry on you, they're basically your friend for life and they really don't actually have a choice in the matter, and all that. She puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Taro-kun, this is already so fancy, and so neat, and you're really amazing, okay?"

The explanation for why - about wanting their efforts to be remembered, and his own struggle with being forgotten when he tried to tell people about magic... yeah, okay, her heart is melting a bit! At this rate, he's going to get hugged again!

"Thank you. And we'll tell Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen too, because I'm sure they'd thank you too. No one did it to be thanked, but it's always nice, right?"

Who noticed an envelope, in a time like this? Usagi's future husband, that's who. It was a good thing, too, because it had entirely skipped Usagi's notice, and she blinks, blinks, blinks at the envelope with it's adorable stickers.

"I told him! But... I didn't think the Slasher was going to give us a letter about it, or have it with such cute stickers... well! Let's read it, so you can give your boss a response!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"The Slasher is... but he just sent an engagement cake with six rings on it, surely he knows proposing to us would be terribly complicated~" Mamoru says, almost-- ALMOST managing to sound serious as he reaches for the letter and starts to open it.

"And yes! Definitely--" Oh Usagi doesn't know Taro knows Mamoru's secret identity. RIP. "--wait for a response, I can write really fast."

Usagi is so good, she's so much more of a people person by nature than Mamoru, and not even Endymion's social grace can save Mamoru sometimes. Sometimes like now. When he's just opening up that pink envelope and adjusting his glasses to read the brushwork instead of lavishing more very-deserved compliments on Taro.

"He has very nice handwriting," says the prince.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I'm really glad you like it, Usagi-chan," Taro says, flushing even more. He really liked her! HE really did want to be her friend! And maybe Mamoru's friend! And try and get the stabbing to be water under the bridge!

And then squeaks when Mamoru makes his joke. "Besides-he-already-knows-you-only-date-short-blondes!" aaaaaaa

The handwriting is very nice, using a brush, but it has a slightly wobbly quality to it, and there's a lot more kana and furigana used than you'd normally see in such a formal letter. Or a tenth grade textbook, for that matter.

To the Respected Sailor Moon & Tuxedo Kamen,

I am writing in the hopes of reducing the hospitalities(furigana: badness, he's clearly trying to write 'hostilities') between us.

As a villain, it is my belief that a villain is only as impressive as his opponents. When I first arrived in Tokyo, the valor which Tuxedo Kamen fought me with and the way his energy nurished (the kanji is missing a brush stroke) me made me think he and his allies would be worthy enemies to clash against. However, it turned out that Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon had enemies with power and without honor to fight against. Obsidian and Beryl have time and time again proven themselves to endanger children and civilians to press an advantage. It would be inappropriate to try to be a single villain wanting the spotlight when Beryl and her elk (he's clearly meaning ilk here) repeatedly crossed what should be normal rules of engagement, like messing with secret identities or kidnapping a little kid to steal her dolls and make them haunted.

The valorus (kanji is incomplete) Usagi told me that although I strived not to harm children in my villainy, to endanger adults without magic is also without honor. I have fought adults who did try and fight back or were villains in their own right, but it seems I was a big fish in a small pond before I came to Tokyo. How can I be a fearsome urban legend if I ignore enemies that are stronger than me?

As such, I would like to become your ally. I believe that Usagi is correct, and I should fight those who are stronger and meaner. My henchman has spoken of her virtue and honor at length and, given her relationships to you both, insists that speaks well of you and your allies; I also have strong impressions of you two as heroes capable of both glorious battle and forging partnerships with others. Your pedigree is "out of this world."

I regret that I cannot show my good faith by ceasing to drain people; I will starve to death if I do so. However, the generous Miss Naru has offered to allow me to sup now and then in order to reduce the amount I feed from civilians. I would like to swap to draining only voluntary donors like her, and to spread the drain around so that no one is significantly weakened. Feeding from mahou allows me to only have to eat once a month to once every few months due to their greater power. I would like to negotiate a way to allow this to happen, and to try and offer something of equal value to recompensate (that is not a real word) you for this. I have hopes that I may eventually be able to consuming youma or witches or other non-human monsters to reduce eating humans to zero times a year.

As such, I can offer my powers as a fighter against Obsidian and others who go around hurting people. I am also very long lived and magic and am not affected by the Fade, so I can assist with ways to get around the way it makes people forget important things. I am not knowledgeable in the ways of mahou so there may be other ways I can be your ally that I do not know yet. I spent most of my life outside of Tokyo so I have only run into magic things that are not me very rarely until now.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Also, with regards to Tuxedo Kamen: I have never seen someone magically change their clothes before. It was a very neat trick! I was very impressed with the aesthetic cohesion of his outfit as well as the speed and elegance with which he changed. I do not intend to tell anyone about his other identities specifically because I feel like Thetis's attack on him as a civilian was foul play and uncalled for.

Also thank you, Tuxedo Kamen for being nice to my henchman and trying to save him when Thetis attacked. I appreciate that. It's hard to find good help.

Congratulations on the engagement,
The Back Street Slasher

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
After giving Taro a twinkling-eyed grin for his reaction to the dad joke, Mamoru holds the letter up to read it out loud, making sure he doesn't call attention to the corrections he's making as he reads. At the 'cease hostilities' part, his eyebrows go up; his face changes throughout the rollercoaster ride of this letter, even if his voice remains even and methodical in its recitation of the contents. At 'like to become your ally,' a tiny frown creases his forehead before one eyebrow goes up, a little incredulous.

But he keeps going. He keeps going.

He finally stumbles, finally, over the compliments over his henshin. The stumbling is just his eyes closing for a second as he rallies himself to keep going, then finishing up.

He's silent for a moment, then moves over to Usagi's desk. "I hope he doesn't mind if the response is on regular notebook paper in pen," he says, taking out a piece of Usagi's paper and rolling over one of her pens. He slides the desk chair out, then glances up at Usagi. "I mean, I'm down, but he's going to have to work on his PR. If he wants to not be a villain, the name's a hard sell." A beat. "And as long as he asks nicely, *I* don't mind if he stabs me a little sometimes. As long as I'm not already low on energy."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Mamoru reads the letter, his voice as smooth and calm and a professional narrator; Usagi peeks at the letter from her place at his side, noting the spelling and how it's honestly not that much worse than her own, in places, though it's also so very long and formal and there's a lot of things here and -

"I can't believe he really listened to that," she murmurs quietly, when the valorous Usagi is mentioned, because yes, she meant it, but she's not used to villains actually caring about the points she's made about harming innocent people. This is new, surprising, and honestly pretty pleasant? Yes, pretty pleasant.

She's also trying not to laugh, mostly because it's so - cute. Not just cute. Deredere levels of cute, as though everything from before had been tsuntsun and now they were on the other side, and it's bizarre and strange and surprisingly welcome -

And then he says that Naru has volunteered to let him feed off her, and Usagi is not very approving of that, if only because Naru gets fed on so much but - oh. Right. She was a knight now, she had more energy, and a sword -

"You could feed on m-my friend Sailor Moon," whoops almost revealed the identity, "She'd be glad to help, I'm sure. Especially if Naru and Mamochan are going to get fed on, Sailor Moon usually has a lot of energy!"

And if she offers herself, he's definitely going to realize that she's Sailor Moon which is... well, maybe she'll tell him after he quits?

"The name is a hard sell," she agrees, "Maybe fewer Slashes? And back streets?"

Hm.

"Yeah, less of that, but... I think this is great! I can't believe one of our kind of enemies just wants to chill out, that like, never happens!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
It seems to have gone over well? He thinks it's going over well! He spent so long on that letter! He worked so hard on getting the ink to look nice and to get all the kanji correct! He thought hard on what he'd offer and how he was acknowledging the points made! They were really good points!

"He's worked on being 'The Back Street Slasher' for a long time, so it'll be a hard sell, but I think if you help him work out what name works to make a seven foot monster man less scary, that'll work?" He already has a few ideas.

To Usagi: "He's been thinking about what you said a lot. He even did a kind of reckless thing and let someone else drain him so a civilian wouldn't be hit? Which, I don't know if that was a good idea since most villains here seem to drain energy for power ups and not to eat but I guess he felt bad for that little kid vampire... And, um, I think he'd take you up on S-sailor Moon's offer! And Mamoru-san's! That's part of why he was writing, he doesn't want to soley rely on Naru because it'd not healthy to drain the same person a lot!"

And to Mamoru - "He's crashing in my dorm room. I can go grab him now if you want? I figure that'll be faster than writing. He can just come in through the window so he doesn't freak out anyone in the dorms. And if he's at the window you don't have to let him in?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I can totally understand being loyal to a brand," Usagi starts, sympathetic, "But 'the Back Street Slasher' is the name of a creepypasta urban legend, not a reassuring hero in the fight against like, evil and stuff. I'm sure there's something else that even the most chuunibyou of hearts can be satisfied by!"

She'll help him figure it out, even if her own name is very straight forward and also came with the gig.

"He did? He let someone drain hi - oh, La Crima!" That's gotta be the only little kid vampire, and she shifts a little at that, "She's pretty dangerous herself... be careful around her. She goes for allies and enemies!"

But letting someone get fed so a civilian can be safe is actually concrete goodness, which she's, a little surprised her words inspired. "The Slasher is in your room?"

That's even more surprising! Which she thinks is fair, considering that he's a seven foot tall vampire man and Taro is a normal kid in a dorm! "I mean.. that works, otherwise we would just be sending you around the dorms to deliver letters back and forth..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru has to turn away so nobody sees him laugh at calling the Slasher a chuuni. And honestly...

No, he can tell the Slasher to his face how annoying it is that someone as nice as that scared him so badly.

When the offer's made, Mamoru turns the desk chair around, leaving the blank paper and the pen there on the desk, and he adjusts his glasses again. "Yeah. She stabbed Neph in the back while we were all still evil. I mean I stabbed her in return, but with the amount of trouble I got in for stabbing Sunbreaker, I should think it would happen less frequently. Especially when even Riventon yelled at me for that, and she's one of his lackeys."

He sounds a little huffy.

He makes a face. "Also, I don't feel bad letting the Slasher stab me if it keeps him alive and he's nice about it, but I don't want my tax dollars going to LaCrima."

Taro Yamada has posed:
He's trying not to pout. He's not a chuuni! He's a real urban legend!! Just because he was physically twelve when he thought it all up doesn't mean it was twelve year old syndrome!!!

"Well, he is the genuine creepypasta urban legend, as far as I can tell? But there's got to be something cool we can call him." cool! cool!!

"Yeah, LaCrima! That's the one. He says having to eat people is nasty and he felt bad a little kid was stuck doing it. It's good to know she's prone to backstabbing - oh, but he should talk to you about that, not me."

Yeah, don't get distracted!

"I let him hang out in my dorms sometimes? He won't attack me because I buy human food for him. He craves blood less if he's eating regularly and it's not like he can go shopping or borrow a kitchen, he's a seven foot vampire guy. It actually came in handy - when the whole, uh, Thetis thing happened, I texted him and he swooped in to help..."

Right. Yes. "See you soon! I'll send him over!" Taro out!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Being the real urban legend creepypasta will make people more nervous, not less," she points out, amused that this only strengthens her argument, and as soon as Taro is gone, she's looking at Mamoru and going -

"So that was a little weird, right? It's not just me? Maybe the Slasher is like, Taro-kun's grandpa?"

There's gotta be some kind of connection there. What kind of evil boss just hung out in your room and sent you off to buy groceries? That wasn't the kind of evil boss Beryl was.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"... that was definitely weird, but honestly I can't think of anything involving the Slasher that hasn't been weird," Mamoru says frankly, sort of half-sprawling in Usagi's desk chair. "Maybe he's his grandpa, yeah. That might explain Taro-san. Maybe I'd be a little like him if I had a grandpa like that."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro walks as calmly as he can to his dorm room, closes the door behind him -

"Dory! It worked!"

The little wooden doll looks up from where she's been flipping through a fashion magazine larger than she is and scrambles up Taro's arm, her fanged maw opening in a delighted grin. She's wearing a tiny western suit jacket over her white kimono, and claps in delight as Taro swings her around.

"Just think! We won't have to hunt anymore! And you can meet some more friends who are girls! Who won't forget you! We're gonna go down as ourselves and see them!"

Dory chirps in agreement - she's left her pad of paper and pen on the table, but Taro's read her excited essays on Amy and Chiyo and Fuyuko enough to know his familiar would be thrilled.

The closet door creeps open. "<If the two of you are going, I'd like to join you. You hardly bring me with you these days,>" says the doll Jack in flawless English. He doffs his little top hat. "<If we're truly allying with... heroes,>" and he says the word with distaste, "<I'd like to make sure they're up to snuff.>"

"Fine," Taro snaps as he henshins with Dory, his skin going pale blue,his sweater splitting and breaking into the Slasher's ragged cloak and straightjacket. "But you're staying in my pocket and you are not doing something weird. You may be the oldest of the three of us, but I got us a place to stay and a job and food and you better not ruin it!"

"<Or what? You'll smash me?>" Jack teases.

The Slasher's face pinches up. "Shut up. Why do you always have to be so weird? Get in my pocket!"

And with Jack settled in one pocket and Dory hanging on to his shoulder, the Slasher shimmies out of Taro's window, careful to close it behind him, and then hops around to Usagi's, knocking on politely.

"I can be Kuiper Belt Cape," he says without preamble. "That's as good as I've got so far."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A grandpa like that would explain so much about Taro that Usagi is already practically incorporating this into her worldview. Poor Taro!

A few minutes alter, there's the knock at her window, and she lets the Slasher in, watching curiously now that he's supposedly an ally...

"Kuiper Belt Cape," she repeats, and can't hide a smile, "Okay, that's not bad. I can't argue with that, how about you, Mamochan?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's definitely leagues better," Mamoru says, sliding the desk chair back out of the way of the window so the big vampire man can come in without stepping on him. "Probably could use some workshopping, but it's wholly inoffensive, at least."

He sits up and forward, elbows on his knees, away from the super tempting cake and its candy rings. "Your handwriting is very nice. And I won't talk about the stabbing any more if you never tell anyone how badly you scared me. Do you have a power that makes you scarier or something?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I can't change the outfit easily so I'm trying to find something that's not jarring. People would get weirded out if I went as Sparkle Guardian Dillo-Dillo or something like that. I figure mirroring the naming scheme of the planet squad is safe enough for now. We'll workshop it."

And then he squints at Mamoru, raising a hand over their heads and going back and forth in the universal gesture of measuring height. He's only a few scant inches taller than Mamoru - and Kazuo would tower over him. "You two really aren't scared of me, are you..."

Cough cough. Dignity, remember. These are future collegues. "It's a deal. And it's a trade secret, so I'd prefer you spread it wisely, but I get stronger when people are afraid. Which requires a certain mystique to work properly, you know."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You're supposed to be becoming an ally to Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen," Usagi says simply, "What's there to be scared of?"

Besides, he does not look scary, trying to clamor through her window, which even Mamochan has trouble getting in because they weren't super designed to be climbed in. Plus, with that letter he wrote, it's hard to see him as more than basically a Kamen Rider bad guy.

"We won't tell anyone, but, if your powers really do work on fear, I guess you don't want us to spread the word that you're an ally?"

FEAR POWERS. Like SILENT HILL! (She has never played Silent Hill.)

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Maybe if we say you're our ally but not necessarily anyone else's? That was me for a while... but nobody was afraid of me either," confesses Mamoru. "I was scared because I was so, so tired already, I didn't have much energy left after healing people and getting in fights all day, and I wasn't sure I'd make it home anyway."

A beat. "Obviously I did."

The fluffy-haired teenager drags his hand down his face and sighs. "The only people I'm likely to tell are my Shitennou. The only person I'm absolutely certain to tell is Kazuo. They can all keep a secret, don't worry." Another little pause, and he glances at Usagi first, then at Kuiper Belt Cape. (LOL.) "Are you Taro-kun's grandpa?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I'm still a big monster that eats people." Usagi. Usagi please. He cares for you deeply but he's trying to have some dignity as a villain,,,,

"...I dunno. It's useful to have the fear power, but if a mahou ends up shadowing me because they think I'm a potential threat, that's someone pulled away from an actual threat. Not to mention if e of those brats takes a potshot at me. I'd prefer to be nine feet tall fighting witches or whatever, but I'm not harmless like this." With a roll of his head, he lets two long red blades grow from his forehead like horns, trying to demonstrate.

"Good. You're the first," and he's very obviously stopping himself from saying 'meal' here, "person I've drained that left me feeling full in decades. It'd be inconvenient if you died. Besides, I want to eat wedding cake."

(Usagi's got that tsundere right on the money....)

"I trust you two. You're both kids with good heads on your shoulders. That Kazuo-san seems pretty sensible anyway - " adskfja;sldfkjasd;f. Wait. THey figured out he's connected to Taro? Oh no. Oh no - wait the grandpa thing works, even if, he is, possibly, gay??? "Yes. Yes I'm definitely his grandfather."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah, but you're teaming up with us so you don't have to eat innocent people anymore," Usagi says, sparing him no face.

"I'll tell a few people - I mean, tell Sailor Moon to tell a few people, and we'll see how it goes, maybe?" How's that sound? It could work -

She squints at him for the way he addresses Mamoru, but, he catches himself, and... it would be more than inconvenient, but she guesses it's proof he's still a villain...

"Well, if you want to eat wedding cake, you've got to make sure you don't get too fat off our energy." Huff! Taro, your weird grandpa better not be thinking of her Mamochan as a conbini snack!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
No, everyone knows Mamoru's not a snack, he's an 8-course dinner party. Or... something. "Hm," he says with a frown, sitting back in Usagi's desk chair. He's silent, watching as Usagi scolds the Slasher, and he tries not to smile, and then he glances back at the Slasher. "Do you have to take it, or can energy be given to you? I'm not talking about blood for now, just... you took a lot more energy than blood. And that replenishes faster. And I can give that."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Yeah, I figure between you and Sailor Moon, you'll work it out." They've got decent personal skills, he'll manage. "I can go longer than a month between meals, but I'd take less if it's more frequent. I figure a minor drain every month is going to be less of a problem than a big one every two or three." It's all logistical, ok?

And when Mamoru asks the question, the slasher pauses, thinking. "I don't know. I've never had energy given. I think I've been using blood as a medium to get energy, like how westerners would eat oranges at sea to get vitamins?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"We definitely will," Usagi huffs, mostly because she had kind of expected a little more, and then she relaxes a little, because she's not Rei-chan, she doesn't need to keep scolding, and if he gets it then he gets it. "A little drain once a month isn't bad. I kinda figured this was gonna be like a twice weekly thing."

She had still been willing to do it, of course. She'd just thought it would take more from them.

"If you've never tried it, we should try it soon, when Sailor Moon is around, because if you don't need blood that'd be cool. Mamochan is a growing boy and he needs his iron."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I need my iron, but I don't necessarily need the entirety of today's well of energy," says Mamoru amusedly, half-leaning to reach and tug at Usagi's shirt-- just a little teasing. "And see, there, Slasher, we may not be afraid of you but Usako wants Sailor Moon to be here for me doing an unnecessary healing on you. So she's still a little scared."

Now he's teasing them both.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Eh, I've got a henchman who can supply me with human food. That helps." And so, you know, if you help THAT GUY out... He's not tacky enough to say it out loud, but these two would definitely pick up that point - that delicate little Taro wouldn't mind maybe a snack or two. Or maybe cash money once he got out of Obsideon, or if something goes wrong - it's - it's not being weak if he's bamboozling them into helping him, right? Right!

"Yeah, I can do it whenever. Hell, if you need me to go hang out on the roof while you get her, call the secret number and do fiancee stuff, I can do that."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Betrayed by my own fiance! For showing concern! So that's where love gets you in this world," Usagi scowls overdramatically, pressign the back of her hand to her forehead in a totally fake swoon. "Just for that, I totally am going to go get Sailor Moon."

And she stalks out of the room, leaving Slasher and Mamoru alone for a moment.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We're not going to make out," Mamoru points out after a moment's faintly awkward silence, and proves that no matter how awkward something is, it can always get worse.

"Anyway I'll tell my boyfriends not to beat you up," he says once he's positive on whether or not the Back Street Slasher blushes.

Taro Yamada has posed:
He doesn't blush until the boyfriends are mentioned.

His beady little eyes dart around, weighing the question that's been on his mind for weeks, nay, months -

"So. Are they ALL blonde?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...no, Nephrite has brown hair," Mamoru says slowly, eyeing the Slasher. Then he pauses.

"Oh, or ... people I'm dating? Yeah, yes. All blond." A beat. He doesn't seem especially bothered, at least, just curious. "Why do you ask?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The door re-opens, and Sailor Moon walks in, just in time to hear 'all blond' and 'why do you ask?', and Mamoru eyeing the Slasher. She crosses her arms, looking playfully fierce.

"Yeah, Kuiper Belt, why do you ask?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
oh shit it's Sailor Moon! The Slasher - er, Kuiper Belt Cape straightens up a bit.

"Well, one is chance, two's concidence, but three is a pattern, right? It's probably alright since he's rich enough to support you all," which is a question he had that was already answered by Mamoru's admitted richness, "but I never met anyone who knew so many blondes at once before, much less was dating most of them." A pause. "Unless there's something about Cat Noir I should know?"

And with that sly look - it's an attempt at teasing. Somehow.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh he's very nice, but he's a little too smooth-talking for me," Mamoru says cheerfully, then reaches over to sling an arm around Sailor Moon's waist from where he's sitting and squeeze.

"Look at this cake he commissioned for all of us! Did Usagi tell you?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Plus, he's taken," Sailor Moon says cheerfully, leaning happily against Mamoru. "And there are a lot of blonds at this school; your grandson should show you around sometime."

Also, Tamaki is rich too, so, really, Mamoru is set for life -

"Usagi told me. It's super cute and I want to eat it, but I hear you're on the menu first. Or me. I can also be on the menu."

Taro Yamada has posed:
With...Naru? He hadn't really asked Adrien about Naru's relationship to him, given that he'd just come back from the dead, but that did track. Good for them.

"I figure I shouldn't ghost around and scare off his classmates. Kid scares people enough as it is." Which is to say, they bought it?? Holy shit. He is so good at lying.

As for the feeding - "I'm flexible," the Slasher says with a shrug. "I've never had energy givent o me before - oh, what - "

His hand is pulled down into his pocket; a second tiny doll clambers up his long arm and onto his shoulder. Unlike Dory, who's been sitting primly on the Slasher's shoulder, her tiny kimono bright against his cloak, this doll is in old fashioned Western clothing, all sober browns and greys except for the long apron and the dapper little hat. (Mamoru will recognize him from the fight at the doll shop, where this one kept on very slowly chasing Coco.)

The doll points one wooden finger at Sailor Moon.

The Slasher's smile dims away to nothing. "Actually, I think it'd be best if we got the energy from Mamoru," he says. Dory nods in agreement.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru briefly leans his head against Usagi's midsection, smiling, then lets go to reach forward, offering his hand. "Me first, I want to see if I can give it without you having to take. I'm really good at healing people and buffing them, and that's just a transfer of energy, too," he says.

And if the Kuiper Belt Cape takes Mamoru's hand, there'll be a glow, bright where their hands touch, and that energy that Taro had tasted back in March -- here it is, a flood of it, freely offered, filling in cracks with gold...

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah, but people are dumb," Sailor Moon says with no shame, "Still, you had the right idea. You'd get your butt kicked and he'd have to drag you away."

There are too many Mahou at their school for even a spooky old creepypasta to get away if he made himself known. "You'd hate it - oh! You've got another little friend, and he's all dapper!"

She's got a fondness for Western style formal wear. Where could it have possibly come from. But then Mamoru is stepping forward, so she waits, patient.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Jack puts a hand on Mamoru?s hand as Dory chirps, pleased with Sailor Moon?s comment.

The one thing that ties the three Rippers eating Mamoru?s energy is their sincerity and their hunger, all with gaping voids to be filled.

The Slasher?s is the strongest to read, at first. Mamoru no doubt can feel that loneliness resonating like a bell hit by a tuning fork; even touch alone would have him quaking inside. Like this, it?s the drumbeat of please-like-me don?t-fuck-this-up that keeps him from taking more, fear fencing in the urge to sink into the comfort. Fond reluctance underpins it all - there was a reason he?d stayed his hand in the many times they?d met after their first encounter, even if he couldn?t name it- and gratitude, that what was craved is freely given.

if Mamoru?s healed kids, Dory?s emotions will read instantly familiar. Too bright, too intense, fierce delight at tasting Mamoru?s energy to hot jealousy when Jack is praised to tingling glee and admiration when Sailor Moon praises her. She?s an empty house, and Mamoru?s wallpapered it pink.

Jack is the third and last, and it is at first with a gentle tug on the currents of energy flowing - and then a stronger one, diverting it away from the Slasher. It?s like a sinkhole, except those have a bottom. It?s like a tornado, except the winds only grow faster when they hit the ground. It?s like acid, except acid wouldn?t feel disappointed in the lack of the taste of blood.

There?s a pinch, and Jack?s emotions turn red with desire - and then there?s nothing as the Slasher grabs Jack with his free hand. The Slasher?s fear spikes; so do Jack?s little hands, tipped in red, tiny spikes having left tiny pinpricks on Mamoru?s hand. r
?Jack, no,? he scolds, tilting his other hand to give Dory to Mamoru before he breaks contact.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Being trusted, welcomed with opened arms, coming home -- a feeling of respite in safety. And this time there's no fear clouding it, it's not something stolen, it's something given, and it comes with Mamoru's feelings as they are now: gentle amusement, startled enjoyment of this guy it's surprisingly easy to wind up, appreciation for thoughtfulness, curiosity, a growing warmth toward a spooky creepypasta vampire who scared and drained him in an alley. Letting go of that, firmly.

"Hello, Jack, and your name was Dory, right?" he asks the girl doll siphoning off a little of the power. He holds Taro's hand firmly, ignoring the shakiness and just -- healing. Healing when there's nothing to heal. Transferring energy like a buff in battle. But it seems to be healing the former Slasher in some way anyway.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Slasher's little dolls are just so adorable. Jack is leaning towards her, pointing, and aw, he's old-fashioned, how sweet! "Jack is adorable," Sailor Moon says cheerfully, and waves at him.

But then - but then Mamoru starts to fo his thing, and that familiar look of yearning that so many people get around Mamoru, when he's doing it, comes to even the Slasher's face. That makes sense of home and lounging, the desire to sink into that sense of home.

"Dory is cute too," she murmurs, watching the little doll lean into touch Mamoru's hand, and Jack follows - she supposes weird living dolls must want to taste too.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Jack puts a hand on Mamoru?s hand as Dory chirps, pleased with Sailor Moon?s comment.

The one thing that ties the three Rippers eating Mamoru?s energy is their sincerity and their hunger, all with gaping voids to be filled.

The Slasher?s is the strongest to read, at first. Mamoru no doubt can feel that loneliness resonating like a bell hit by a tuning fork; even touch alone would have him quaking inside. Like this, it?s the drumbeat of please-like-me don?t-fuck-this-up that keeps him from taking more, fear fencing in the urge to sink into the comfort. Fond reluctance underpins it all - there was a reason he?d stayed his hand in the many times they?d met after their first encounter, even if he couldn?t name it- and gratitude, that what was craved is freely given.

if Mamoru?s healed kids, Dory?s emotions will read instantly familiar. Too bright, too intense, fierce delight at tasting Mamoru?s energy to hot jealousy when Jack is praised to tingling glee and admiration when Sailor Moon praises her. She?s an empty house, and Mamoru?s wallpapered it pink.

Jack is the third and last, and it is at first with a gentle tug on the currents of energy flowing - and then a stronger one, diverting it away from the Slasher. It?s like a sinkhole, except those have a bottom. It?s like a tornado, except the winds only grow faster when they hit the ground. It?s like acid, except acid wouldn?t feel disappointed in the lack of the taste of blood.

There?s a pinch, and Jack?s emotions turn red with desire - and then there?s nothing as the Slasher grabs Jack with his free hand. The Slasher?s fear spikes; so do Jack?s little hands, tipped in red, tiny spikes having left tiny pinpricks on Mamoru?s hand. r
?Jack, no,? he scolds, tilting his other hand to give Dory to Mamoru before he breaks contact.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Fond reluctance is met with growingly-fond affection: there may have been a hint of pity in Mamoru's face at some point earlier, but there's none of that now, only earnest urging that it's okay, that it's all right to need, and to accept help, and the energy and the welcome are still freely given.

It's strong, and there's so much energy this time, with Mamoru well-rested: the former Slasher can have as much as he wants, Mamoru is pretty sure. Because it's like healing. There was so much healing that he did that day before Taro attacked, and today, all that healing is Taro's. He keeps going, even diverting a better flow of it to Dory, and then to Jack-- but then Jack's stealing it from the Slasher, and Mamoru frowns.

"There's enough for you too, Jack, stop taking it from Kuiper--" he starts, and then Jack loses it and slices his hand. "Ow!" says the eleventh-grader as blood beads on his hand, and he frowns harder, but all he says is "Rude!" as he takes Dory gently and keeps feeding her energy.

The cuts are already healed with a little flare of golden light on the back of Mamoru's hand, but the blood is still there. "Sorry, Usako, can you get me a kleenex or something?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Serving as audience to a magical act is a little - boring? Is it fair to call it boring? It's a little boring. Sailor Moon isn't helping out this time, just watching over the whole thing, and unlike Rei-chan or Am-chan or Kaiou-san, she's got no magical senses or magical tools to track what's happening.

All she has is the expressions on everyone's faces, the look of yearning on the Slash- Kuiper Belt Cape, the look of compassion on Mamoru, the -

Well, that looks a little greedy doesn't it no-oh hell!

"I'm getting them, hold on a sec-" She doesn't even notice the slip of her name, because she has gotten a little casual with her identity. There's a moment, where she digs around, hunting for kleenex, then visibly gives up looking on her side of the room and pulls out one of Naru's desk drawers. There indeed is a box of kleenex, and she offers several sheets to Mamoru, before turning to Jack and leaning in towards him with the kind of exaggerated disappointment that one used when talking to a small creature.

"Jack! There was no need to do all of that! Mamochan was sharing just fine with you."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Sorry about that. He doesn't get along with people very well," Taro says, holding Jack carefully. His face twitches as Jack plunges his tiny knifehands into his arm to continue his meal, ravenous as he is, but this is business as usual, and he rolls on without pulling the doll off. "Can't teach an old dog new tricks."

He feels hollowed out inside with the sudden interuption of magic, but at the same time, he's feeling better than he has in - maybe ever, actually? Warm inside, comfortable in his skin, even with Jack leeching off some.

"Dory's a lot better behaved? She wanted to impress Sailor Moon, too. She wants a little sailor outfit." Which he's trying to find a pattern for, but she can't decide what kind of skirt she wants to go with it yet so he's focusing on detail work on the top.

Usako, Mamoru says, and it's like a telescope refocusing. Blond hair, blue eyes, sweet face - how had he not recognized her? This made most of his concerns go away, as mamoru was no longer engaged to two seperate women - and it meant that Usagi was likely safe from most of the morons who slunk around Obsidian, too - He just, you know. Will just have to be extra careful about not mentioing that he, Taro is also he, the Slasher who stabbed her fiance. She said she was ok with it but that was when he was a stranger! What about when they were f- f- friends?! Besides, he's not a snitch, her secret is safe with him!! (B-but would she know that?)

"<You're thinking too much,>" Jack says in crisp British English. "<You have that face again.>"

"<I told you not to make this weird,>" Taro hisses back in supernaturally crisp English. "'<You had! One job! I am trying to keep us fed!>"

"<And I am trying to keep you alive, but you've done a poor job of that this summer, haven't you?>"

The Slasher's face twitches.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
(It's definitely boring, watching Mamoru do healing in general -- and then especially when there's not even anything to see. It is so fair to call it boring.) Then it's suddenly not boring, and everything happens at once.

Mamoru gratefully takes the Kleenexes from Usagi and wipes up the blood on his hand, giving Jack a dirty look -- especially when Jack immediately goes on to chew on Kuiper Belt Cape (needs workshopping so bad), even while Sailor Moon is scolding him. "He'd get along with people better," Mamoru says irritably, "if he weren't a dick..." And then he sighs and visibly makes the effort to chill out. "But Dory is charming. Dory, you're charming! You'd look adorable in a sailor outfit. I think we can probably help find a pattern, right, Sailor Moon? Do we know anyone else who sews?"

There's the expression of someone starting to spiral in anxiety on Kuiper Belt's face, and Mamoru starts to reach forward again when Jack speaks English, scolding the vampire and ordering him around and talking about something Mamoru thinks he should understand, but knows he doesn't have enough information for--

"<Stop that,>" the prince says in well-enunciated Japanese-accented English, then turns to Sailor Moon again and translates, "Jack told Kuiper Belt Cape that he's thinking too much, he could tell by his expression. Then Kuiper told Jack he had told him not to make it weird, and that Jack had one job and that Kuiper was just trying to keep them fed, and then Jack said that he's trying to keep Kuiper alive, and that Kuiper has done a poor job of that this summer. Then I told them to stop it."

The prince turns to glare at Jack, then looks back at Kuiper Belt Cape. "Do you need blood too, or was Jack being extra levels of annoying?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You can absolutely teach an old dog new tricks," Usagi huffs, hands on her hips, and that's the thing about the veil - now that he knows, it's practically impossible not to see it, all the similarities that were right there, in his face this whole time. "One way is by locking him up in a crate until he's learned his lesson, becuase he's not actually a dog and he can talk just fine!"

She is giving Jack such a look, and the English flies entirely too fast for her to process it, so Mamoru gets an especially grateful look as he translates.

"Secondly, Setsuna-san, the school nurse, is really great with little costumes, she made Plushie Kamen and Sailor Plush, so she'd probably have a pattern you could size down. Dory is definitely very cute and charming and was sooo polite and did not stab my fiance, which was unnecessary!" Did you hear that Jack, it was unnecessary.

"But thirdly, using another language to keep secrets is jerk behavior. Kuiper is doing his best, and you're still alive to stab at him like a jerk, so why are you complaining, huh?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
"He doesn't stay in crates, he can cut his way out," the Slasher says, sounding as tired as he is annoyed. "He is risking ipad privilages, though."

"<And leave me alone with all the little students?>" Jask asks, and his head rattles with silent laughter.

"He's a dick and he doesn't like speaking Japanese. Energy works better for me than blood, he's just - WEIRD." ugh ugh ugh.

"...Taro said that the school nurse was reccomended to him as someone to help with getting his government IDs back in order, so it'd be goodf or him to see her anyway. We could ask about outfits as well. Dory's been very good. She hasn't attacked anyone since the doll shop and that was more playing than anything else. And she's been practicing her kanji."

Dory chirps in agreement and preens in Mamoru's hands, looking especially flattered for a doll with a little nightmare face.

"No secrets, hm?" Jack swaps to English-accented Japanese as his blank-faced head swivels around. "Doesn't that mean YOU should be telling them things? I'm not the one keeping secrets, boy."

"Shut. Up."

"As I recall, you worked out their identities from scratch because they were keeping them secret from YOU. And now we're getting lectured? I don't think they even know what you did for them."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"He doesn't have to tell us anything he doesn't want to," Mamoru says firmly. "And he figured out my identity because I transformed in front of him. That sort of thing isn't like... obligatory reciprocity, and besides, stop being a dick," he adds crossly at Jack.

Mamoru glances to Usagi and tells her, "He implied that losing his ipad privileges would be a bad idea, leaving him alone with all the kids in the dorms. Threats against other people is how Beryl generally brought me in line."

Finally, he looks to Kuiper, still feeding Dory energy, visible by the faint glow around his hands. "So why can't we just kill him? I'm sure you've thought of it before."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"If he's going to be a rude little jerk then we could put him in a real cage, if there's a reason you can't get rid of him," Usagi huffs, glowering down at Jack. All his cuteness has worn away with his rude behavior. "And also, like, it's not that impressive to have our secret identities, the only people more open about it than us are the Chara Bearers and Star Drivers."

Before he goes around feeling smug that he got something over on them! Sailor Moon might not be tall or very fierce-looking, given that she's a beautiful young girl, but she can certainly bring a discouraging look to bear!

"Still, I don't think we should kill him," though her glance to Mamoru has no judgement, "Even if he's a horrible little man."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"He can cut his way out of cages. We should not kill him," the Slasher says quickly.

But not quick enough, as Jack pops his little wooden head off.

Dory's head springs off her wooden neck, and she has to jolt forward to catch it before it can fall to the floor.

When Jack puts his head back on, Dory's head snaps back on as if magnetized - only for her arm to fall off when Jack pulls his own off. She barely catches it between her legs before Jack drops his arm and then plucks his head off again with his one attached hand, holding it up while Dory's head rolls into Mamoru's open hand.

"The wonderful thing about the three of us is that as long as one of us eats all the damage, the other two will revive as good as new. And being dolls, the two of us can soak up just about anything HE gets put through:

"Being thrown several hundred feet in the air into a metal box," like when the Slasher had helped Sailor Moon defeat a witch. "Being hit with a cannon hard enough to snap a human's spine," as the Slasher had taken from his victim during laser tag.

"Falling into a stream during a storm. Getting hit by a drunk driver. Getting hit with a chunk of rooftop during an earthquake. Falling asleep outside when it's too hot. Grabbing a live wire before it can touch water. Hitchhiking on a train badly. Tripping at the top of a concrete staircase.

And Jack turns his severed head to 'look' up at Mamoru even as the Slasher's face goes bone white. "Drowning on dry land."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"So," Mamoru says quietly after a loaded pause, "we just have to make sure you soak all the damage." Then he looks at Kuiper Belt Cape. "And after that, you stop doing wildly dangerous things, and you come to me if you get hurt and Dory can't handle it?"

He doesn't seem to understand the implications of 'drowning on dry land' -- it's not actually enough to break the veil, since Mamoru had told Taro to get out, and was a little too busy dying to process the fact that the Slasher was there. There's the 'what he's done for them' that Jack said a moment ago, and there's an itch at the back of Mamoru's mind that wants to put the two together, but he's also currently busy looking for ways to take Jack out of the picture.

He's also very careful with Dory, holding his hands still.

"We do know two shrine maidens, too, and one of them is very good at exorcisms."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I was wrong," Sailor Moon says thoughtfully, looking at Jack with hard eyes. "Killing him sounds like the right move after all."

The words are sharp in her mouth, as painful as biting into solid chunks of ice, bringing back the memory of hot blood on her hands, of the spray as a girl became so much meat, her school uniform stained, her flesh rent and torn. But she said them anyway, and she meant them too.

"But until we can do it without making the rest of you suffer, we'll just have to find a box he can't cut his way out of, right?" Her bright smile is as warm as ever, saved for the Slasher, for Dory. It drops when she looks at Jack, and she grabs him with gloved hands, fully aware of the danger.

And she looks at the Slasher. "When we fix this, you stop making bad choices. If you need the two of them to come back, it means you're not as durable as we could be. Don't go getting hurt just because a creep like him promises to fix you."

She's going to be calling Wako-chan and Rei-chan very soon.

Taro Yamada has posed:
?You think I haven?t tried exorcism?? the Slasher asks quietly. ?My family tried everything when it happened. Nothing worked.?

(?I know you don?t remember why, Ma, but don?t get close to me. You can?t - I keep on telling you and then you forget - Ma, please don?t cry!?) R
% ?I don?t think he can stop making bad choices,? Jack purrs; he jabs at Usagi?s fingers to get enough room to stick his head back on with his free arm, lifting up red claws to his flat face in a feline gesture. Dory pops back together and shrieks at him, hissing defensively behind Mamoru?s fingers.

?I mean. He could do what you?re telling him and avoid danger like a good boy,? Jack says, and he takes off his top hat to salute Usagi mockingly. The Slasher?s cloak falls with it, twisting back into a red sweater, the Slasher?s deathly pale face gaining the fading bruises of being thrown into a wall by Thetis a month previous, his blood red eyes melting into Taro?s brown.

?But it seems to me the last time he died, it was for YOU TWO. I guess we?d just have to leave town to stay out of trouble, wouldn?t we? Since you two friends of his know best.

Taro hadn?t looked this frightened even when Thetis had flung him across a room; his breathing has gone rapid, and his eyes are darting to the window - the nearest way out.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay but did you try with a shrine maiden who's also a magical girl? Because there might be extra oomph there that isn't there with a regular shrine maiden," Mamoru says hopefully. "It can't hurt to try."

And then we can kill him, if that works. There are so many options--

But then the Slasher is transforming, and Mamoru's eyes widen, and his very first reaction is to glare accusingly at Jack in Sailor Moon's gloved hands-- and then he looks to Taro and says very gently, "You're safe with us. You don't have to run."

Then he protectively (uselessly) shields Dory with one hand while holding her in the other, and he continues, "And please, do me a big favor -- I'm a healer, don't take damage for me. Don't risk death for me. I had to get that drilled into my head, too -- you're worth it in and of yourself, you don't have to prove your worth. And you can't just decide someone else's life is worth more than yours. Try to fix things, sure, try to stop things, but not with your life. All you'll need to do is recalibrate what kind of damage you can take before it's too much. I had to do that when I stopped being Hematite. It's possible, even if it's hard."

Technically he should have done that recalibration before he stopped being Hematite, but that complicates his argument.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah, it might be different with a magical girl who's a Shrine Maiden," Usagi says firmly, "And also it might be different with my power too. I mean, I'm not a priestess, but I am pretty powerful when it comes to purifica- OW!"

The little jab isn't quite enough to draw blood, not through her gloves, but it was still sharp and sudden enough for her grip to loosen, and then the little jerk has his hat off and Dory is shrieking and the Slasher is -

"Oh," Usagi says, "Yeah, I'm incorporating that into my worldview. Hold on a second?"

And she tightens her fists around Jack and shakes him around like a rag doll for a second.

"First of all, that's a bunch of stupid lies, Jack, you should get better at that kind of thing. But I'm still tired of people dying for us, so no, it sounds like he shouldn't avoid his friends, he should stick close and let us help instead of trying to handle everything by himself."

Taro Yamada has posed:
The panic is thick enough that it feels like he?s choking. Taro isn?t - he?s lived long enough to recognize the taste of his own fear - but his instincts are almost entirely flight, stopped only by the other pieces of himself in Moon and Mamoru?s hands. He can?t leave with his other bodies in someone else?s hands; he can?t stay when every shield he?s put up has been torn down so thoroughly. And as such, he?s not thinking at all when he responds:

?If that baja blast bitch had actually died when I stabbed her, it wouldn?t have been a problem! What kind of moron hires a woman with no internal organs! It?s not like I died for fun! You can?t come back from the dead and Adrian can?t heal at all, I wasn?t going to just run away when she came in ready to kill all of us to make a point! I could have won! I?m not stupid! Am I a moron for taking a hit to get Adrian out? What was I supposed to tell Usagi, that I let her husband die because I was weak?!?

The venom in his words would probably sting more if he wasn?t sobbing by the end of it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Taro-kun," Mamoru says, calm and firm, and he leans forward to catch at Taro's hand with the one that's not holding Dory. He projects calm along with more energy, the golden warmth something huge and ancient and safe, something to hide behind or lean against. "We're not scolding you. We're giving you pointers for what to do when you can't just shrug off death. If you need to leave, that's okay too, but come back?"

He recognises the absolute dead-sure need to leave in Taro's eyes, his face, his body language. He's felt it himself.

He offers Dory to Taro.

"Come back when you feel better. Neither of us is going to make you do anything you don't want to. Just please don't listen to Jack's stupid lies."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The burst of venomous words is the last thing Usagi's expecting, and she blinks in confusion for a moment, staring down at Taro. "Baja blast...?"

And then it makes a little more sense, and she shakes Jack a little more as she concurs with Mamoru, "We're talking about Jack being dumb. And you're not stupid, but when you can get back up from hard hits it's really easy to get in the habit of taking all the hard hits."

Which js something they're having to train out of Tamaki. Usagi is honestly grateful that Makoto-chan has better self-esteem and isn't half-looking to die the way her fiance's boyfriend practically is.

She opens her hand, though, when Dory is released, and allows the little creep to bounce away. "You can go. Thanks for talking to us, and wanting to be our ally, okay? This is still my room, so if you want to come visit again, just knock on the door okay?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Dory and Jack hop to him, Jack scurrying into a pocket while Dory takes his shoulder again, chirping. And he should go. He has to go. He ought to go. he must go.

Mamoru takes his hand and there is warmth there, a feeling of something bigger than him, something that will protect him. Of being very small. The smell of instant green tea. The faint whir of a sewing machine, and dishes clinking in another room.

A dam bursts; Taro sinks into Mamoru?s arms, crying like he hasn?t in years.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That is not what Mamoru was expecting, but his expression when he looks over Taro's head at Usagi is 'I don't know what I was expecting'. Otherwise, he just holds the other boy, rubbing circles on his back, projecting calm, calm, calm. "Nobody's mad at you," he murmurs, "And we're friends now. We'll all figure this out together."

That's how friends work, right? That's gotta be it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not what Usagi was expecting either, but once the crying starts, and she sees that Mamoru has it covered, she steps back to dig into the minifridge in her and Naru's dorm room, digging around for water and the last of Naru's latest muffin batch. The last one that survived the devouring...

In an act of real kindness and restraint, she brings the water and muffin back over to Taro, and pats his shoulder.

"We're in this together, okay? You think we could beat Beryl and lose to that little jerk? We'll help you."

Taro Yamada has posed:
The water and muffin vanish almost immediately into the void between long bangs and sweater collar, because Taro is almost as much of a menace to food as Usagi is.

"'fank you," Taro says in a small voice, mouth full, before swallowing and attempting to scrub his face with the crook of his elbow. It just smears the tears over his face further. He already looks younger than he should be, but right now he looks like he's barely in his teens, his usual surly mask torn off.

"It's not like I'm trying to get hurt. I usually try and play it safe, since dying still hurts. I just...." He shudders, taking another mouthful of muffin and barely chewing before he swallows.

He's trying to think of a way to say 'I was scared for you both' without sounding pathetic. He is failing. But Mamoru can feel it - the way Taro feels pulled to them both, like a stray kitten winding around a human's feet. The way Taro had been ready to flee for safety, only for Mamoru's aura of warmth to become the safest place he could think of.

"Jack usually behaves if he gets fed on time. So he shouldn't go around acting up. He's turning into an ipad baby." A tinny giggle.