1985/Terminology and Youmanology

Terminology and Youmanology
Date of Scene:	04 October 2024
Location:	Function Hall
Synopsis:	Usagi, Wako, and Taro talk about youma. It turns out Taro's had some *interesting* ideas about them.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Wako Agemaki, Taro Yamada

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's after school, and with school have been back in session for a few weeks now, Usagi is back in the swing of things... even if she wishes she wasn't. Summer had been peaceful, after everything that happened, and she could honestly use a little more of that over pre-calculus. One thing that always makes being stuck in school again better, though? Hanging out with friends!

"I'm a genius, Wako-chan. Mamochan and I are revolutionaries in Mahou Dating! We should have realized it way sooner, but like, you can't get interrupted on your date if you start out with the fight!"

She's got a bottle of chilled peach juice and she's been smugly recounting the tale of her and Mamoru's cunning victory. Yes, she has already told Naru and Makoto and Rei and Minako all about it. She and Wako are perched on the bleachers of the old basketball court, and when she sees Taro, she pauses mid-story and waves excitedly.

"Oh, Wako-chan, that's my friend Taro - he's working at Nounamu with Chiyo-chan, and he's awkward sometimes, but he's super sweet."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako indeed seems quite impressed with Usagi's ingenuity as she nibbles on melonpan, eyes wide and attentive. "It makes sense! At least, it'd be super bad luck to run into two different youma on the same date." She takes a thoughtful bite from the melon bread, contemplating. "I bet it'd be easy to sell Takuto-kun and Sugata-kun on a date that starts with finding a youma to fight..."

She follows the direction that Usagi's attention swerves, sitting up a little straighter. "Oh, I think I've seen him before! Although we didn't really get the chance to meet properly." Nevertheless, she lifts her free hand to wave as well, albeit not quite so exuberantly as Usagi does.

Taro Yamada has posed:
It's fall! And it's cool enough for him to be comfortably wearing his hoodies instead of having to occassionally deign to go in only a shirt due to the weather. Disgusting. Finally he can be a proper beetle with a nice shell, as it were. It's perfect weather for studying, and perfect for getting up and personal with the oven as he makes test pastries to show his new client. Su - Suka - Sunata?? He's still working on getting the names down but he knows him now!!

And speaking of!! There's Usagi-chan, and there's Sumatra's friendgirl who sings, who he's going to be cooking for -

When Usagi waves, he rushes over, his metaphorical tail wagging in excitement. "Usagi-san!! Idol-chan!!" Heeeeey he's here!! "Hey, are you two busy?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Right? I figure we'd have to have like, disastrous luck to get two fights in one date, and this one went really well! We didn't even have to figure out where to get food, because we paid off the youma's delivery guy."

She should probably say more for that story, but she doesn't! Not with friendship and distraction's in sight.

It's fall, that's for sure, and while they're still getting decently warm weather - high seventies and low eighties - the constant threat of rain definitely means that the sight of Taro in yet another hoodie isn't out of place. Usagi isn't wearing a jacket herself, but she straightens her uniform shirt a little more when Taro comes over, giggling at what he'd called Wako.

"This is Wako-chan. We're not busy! We were just talking about the date Mamochan and I had yesterday."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"--the youma's whatnow?" Wako manages to ask, around the absolutely floorboarded moment she's having over Taro calling her 'Idol-chan'.

"Hi," she offers, managing a still slightly bemused smile. "You were at the concert in the park, right? For Golden Week? It's nice to meet you properly, Taro-kun.

She herself has traded the appalling orange RHA blazer for her familiar pink hoodie. It's not the most fortunate of color combinations with the rest of the school uniform, but it's really still too warm to have had to change out of summer uniforms just yet.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Wako-chan! Yes!" He snaps his fingers. "Right. I am - not good at names, I will try and remember it, I am really sorry if I call you something stupid." He's trying! He's, uh, distracted. "I went to your concert! Which was - in the spring, I think? Yeah, Golden Week! Your duet with that other singer was inspired! You two did a great job highlighting each other's talents, and it was a great character piece as an 'idol'."

It's been a while but it was really cool. How could he forget?

"Did the date go ok? That's always when the monster shows up," it happens in all the movies. Which is hilarious then, but less so when Usagi is affected.

He looks between the two of them, pondering. "Wako-chan's boyfriend, um, Seme-kun? said he wa sintrested in commissioning some pastries from me,so I wanted to ask you two what you'd advise."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Delivery guy," Usagi says, as if that's the concern here, and then she's snapping her fingers because - "I saw that on your ViewTube! It was a really great show, I would have totally thought you and Bass-chan planned it if I didn't know better!"

There's like, no way Wako would voluntarily share the stage with Bass-chan, not without telling people in advance! She's way too professional about all this. This is Usagi's core belief on Wako-chan and music.

"The date was great! We started with the monster hunt, so then we didn't get interrupted at all, and we had tons of pizza! We're going to try it again, since that's how you make science, but I'm feeling good about this plan." She's pleased as punch and that's probably why she starts to answer the question -

"Oh, pastries? I love pastries, especially cream-filled kin- did you say seme-kun?" Maybe she misheard.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako immediately turns bright red and hastily inhales like half of the melonpan in one go, which at least gives her an interval to try to figure out how on earth to respond to that.

Yes, Wako knows what a seme is. She's read a lot of manga.

"...really not good with names, huh..." she manages weakly, once she no longer has her mouth full as an excuse. "You mean Sugata-kun, I think? That sounds like him..." Let's not dwell too hard on which part she means. "And thanks, both of you. The performance did turn out pretty well. Bass-chan is annoying, but she definitely knows how to put on a show."

Wry smile. She's still a little conflicted about that whole incident, but she's reviewed the video and there's no denying that it watches well. "More importantly! What kinds of pastries were you talking about?" She's very interested in this, especially since Sugata being behind the order means a hundred percent chance she'll get to eat them.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Oh, was that improvised? I couldn't tell! You were really professional during and after the show. I don't know a lot about music, but the performance itself was really fluid and enthusiastic. The set decorations were themed nicely with your outfit, too, and the sound set up was really clear!" He doesn't know concerts very well,but as a horror lover, he can appreciate the efforts taken by another genre!

...and then Usagi and Wako react. He blinks, looking between the two of them with increasing concern. "Sugata-san, yeah. Um, isn't 'seme' a boy who dates other boys and is more boylike? Is that not the terms being used?" Ohhhh no this is like bringing up okama in front of Amy all over again,,,,

"Cream-filled is good," he says, getting back on track. "We were talking about apple and pumpkin too, since it's fall. I really like American Halloween and it's flavor profile, but that doesn't have a lot of overlap with the traditional Japanese techniques I specialize in, so I figured I'd ask to work out how much I stretch into Western pastry techniques."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I knew it had to be improvised," Usagi is very smug about being right, though she then frowns, because, uh, hey, wait, "But uh, wait... doesn't that mean she crashed your show? That's pretty rude of her, and I mean, okay, she did summon a youma just so she could promote her music so maybe I shouldn't be surprised..."

It does actually sound exactly like her, from what little Usagi knows about her.

But there's going to be time for that, later, because, she needs to defuse a very big misunderstanding. Unlike Wako, who's gone red, she's - well, she's gone a little pink, but she's staring at Taro with the confidence of someone going, 'oh you sweet summer child' on the inside.

"So, you didn't know and it's okay but, seme is a word about gay sex," she so blunt. So much more blunt than is appropriate, especially here in Japan! "Um, kinda specifically, dictating the positions. The seme being like the 'man' and the uke being like the 'woman' and yes, it's a really outdated way to think about it but, all that is to say, I really hope you didn't call Sugata-kun that to his face because he probably died inside."

She hasn't met him, but, from Wako and Takuto's stories, he seems like he'd be at least as taken aback as poor Wako-chan.

As for pastries? She waves at Wako to decide, because Usagi's only distaste is carrots.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"It's fine," Wako assures Usagi. "Well - maybe not fine exactly, but the show was good and I have an idea about giving her a taste of her own medicine sometime. Anyway!" Her full attention swings toward Taro, suddenly very intense. "Please tell me you didn't call Sugata-kun that where he could hear you and I wasn't there to see the face he made?"

Now that she's over the initial shock, the rose-bordered theatre of her mind's eye is, uh, having a field day. "...Usagi-chan's right, though, it's not good to pigeonhole people's relationships like that. I'm sure Takuto-kun would have opinions about it, too..."

She's getting way too distracted. With a quick shake of her head, she tries to push her thoughts back on track. "Right! We were talking about pastry. Apple and pumpkin both sound great, but if it's fall flavors, you have to have chestnut too. Hmm... black sesame is good. Oh, or sweet potato!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro very slowly tugs on the strings of his hoodie to make the hood cover his face, then puts his face in his hands. "OH noooo. I thought it was like, being butch but for boys...." He fucked up. He fucked uppppp. "He kept on calling u - " He stops himself before he says a word that is DEFINITELY not being femme for boys. "Called Takuto-san apprentice and I thought it was? Flirting?? And it was nice seeing them being so happy together in public?" AUGH. "No wonder he blew up a building afterwards... I think Takuto-san thought it was funny?"

Welp. He's got to apologize to Sugata-san later. Auuuugh.

He gently opens his hood back up as Wawko starts mentioning flavors."I can do all three of those. Sweet potatoes have a good overlap with western pastries too, and I think chestnuts and walnuts are popular for western pastry flavorings..." Hmm. "Do you have anything specific you'd really want to see? Or like, should I make them in shapes, or do specifically colored mochi?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Taro is slowly devoured by his hood, his face vanished, his voice emanating from nowhere. Usagi nods sympathetically to his plight, because boy did he fuck up!

"Wako-chan could probably explain about that, but it was probably just an in-joke. And you probably embarrassed them but if you apologize it will be fine, I'm sure! It was a mistake. But, uh, if you need terminology, I can give you some resources, I mean, so you don't start calling people bara or calling gei komi, like, hentai or something..."

She's learned a lot about terminology from hanging out online with other folks, and at the arcade with some other kids, but Taro... well... he's not the Slasher's grandson, he's actually the Slasher. So he's old. And old people are bad at keeping up with words.

So this makes sense. Even if it is really embarrassing for him. RIP.

"I like pretty much everything except carrots, but I think American fall flavors really like carrot, for some reason..." blegh.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Oh no, poor Taro-kun. Wako is kindhearted enough that she is at least trying not to dissolve into outright laughter in poor Taro's face. "He calls him 'apprentice' because of his family's kendo style," she explains, slightly strained by the noble struggle she's making. "And because he thinks Takuto-kun should be tougher on his enemies... Oh, but I can't believe I missed it! Hardly anything throws Sugata-kun, seriously! When we were little I used to try to scare him but I had to give it up because I was scaring myself more..."

She shakes her head again, wipes at her eyes like she's trying to rid them of tears of laughter. "It'll be fine, I promise. He won't hold a grudge about something like that, especially not once he knows it was a misunderstanding. I really wanna tease him about it now, though."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Yeah, that'd be good. The internet's gotten *really* confusing in the last few years and all the stuff I learned as a kid is super offensive now,,," He can't do this! Can't he get a memo and a vocabulary list in the mail?

"Carrots in desserts originated because the Americans had too much dried carrot after the War." you know. the war! "So they made carrot desserts to get rid of it, which shows that carrots in desserts is morally wrong. No carrots!"

HE finally flops down his hood, looking relieved. "Thank you, Wako-san. I'll apologize next time I see him. Um, if it makes you efel better, he was so alarmed he blew up a mushroom youma and several walls? I feel bad now but it's probably funny? To you?" Right?? Right?? "So that's why he's apprentice...."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi snrks, because there's a nickname that's always going to bring this moment back, right? It sure would for her. Of course, her face is thick enough that she wouldn't change anything, but not everyone can be as shameless as her...

"Well, now you get to tease him about this! Teasing your fiancé is the greatest gift that fiancedom gives you, you know? So if you think about it, Taro-kun just gave you a way to make up for years and years and years of lacking that gift!"

That's definitely some very Usagi logic, alright.

"Some of it might be coming back again, reclaimed style," she nods to Taro, "I'll send you some resources, I guess? And I don't really think that makes carrots morally wrong, but they're tastebudally wrong always, so I'll accept your support!"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Judging by Wako's delighted expression, yes, she finds this very funny indeed. "That's even better!" she exclaims, looking like Taro just handed her the best gift imaginable. "I'm still sad I missed it - was that the haunted house? I should have gone with them after all, I knew it - but picking on him about mushrooms is going to be just as much fun as picking on him about onions~"

The information Taro provides about carrots, meanwhile, is genuinely interesting. "I didn't know any of that," she says. "About carrots being popular in America, or having to use up dried carrots." A momentary pause for reflection. "I don't really mind them myself, but I feel like carrots definitely don't belong in pastry. I don't really have any specific requests, so you should make whatever you feel like and I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I always like good food."

The matter of resources, she leaves to Usagi - this is far from an area in which she has any expertise.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"You're already engaged? How romantic," Taro says, and even he is getting a soft shojou sparkle screen with flower petals. "No wonder he's buying all those pastries. I made Usagi-chan and Mamoru-kun an engagement cake when they got engaged this summer," which took many attempts to actually deliver because Thetis has issues, but it happened eventually. "If you wanted, I could make one for the three of you? I figured out a good way to make rock candy that looks like rings and I've gotten the flavoring a lot tighter now!"

He grins a little awkwardly at the praise. "I got really into American horror movies when I was younger so I learned a bunch of random stuff. They're not like, subtle, but the effects are really good!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Wako-chan's been engaged the longest," Usagi says cheerfully, "Cause she was engaged already when we met last year. But that shouldn't stop you from making her and Takuto-kun and Sugata-kun a cool cake!"

She would never stand in the way of sweets. She just also wants to make sure Wako gets her laurels, as the most engaged of them all.

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako shrugs a little, her smile turning slightly lopsided. "It was arranged by our families when we were really little," she demurs, and there's no real awkwardness to it. "I don't know if we'll actually get married, unless one day they make it so that three people can all marry each other, you know?"

Belatedly she seems to remember the melonpan, and there's a pause while she nomfs down another bite. "That's something we'll figure out later on," she says presently. "I don't think it's really cake time yet. It's sweet of you to offer, though!"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro nods. "I don't think anyone can do that yet, but they can change?" Three people getting married sems pretty reasonable! "Marriage has a lot of tax benefits. Everyone should get that."

And he nods further about the cake, thoughtful. He can work wit this. Especially since talk of last year has him remembering another thing he wanted to talk about -

"Usagi-chan, I heard people were assholes to you last Halloween. If it happens again, do you wan tme to have a word with them?" A word, he says, and he gestures palm-up, as the Kuiper Belt Slasher would with a blood blade manifested.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I hope it can change, because Mamochan and I haven't talked about marrying anyone else, but, you know, we might want to someday."

She could definitely see Mamoru wanting to marry Kazuo, at the very least, and Ami-chan might want to marry her some day too! They have to get the law changed to let them get married - and they also have to get it changed to let them get double and triple and quadruple married!
Shehe glances at Wako, not questioning her further, but wondering, because Wako-chan has been engaged for a long, long time - has it always been romantic? Or was it just what it was? She should ask her sometime...

"Ah? Eh? Oh you mean -" and she flusters, turning red, "Oh no, did someone tell you about Sailor Eclipse?!"

Wahhhhhh that was so embarrassing!

"No, no, it should be okay. It was my classmates, and they backed off after, you know, that. Besides! It's wrong to use that to scare people!"

Wako Agemaki has posed:
Wako glances between Usagi and Taro; her brows lift curiously, not entirely following at first, but then understanding swiftly clears her expression. Mostly. "I remember that," she comments. "Although I wasn't there for the start..."

She trails off, glancing to Taro again with a new inquiry in her eyes. "So then, Taro-kun is magical too?" She won't ask about what Usagi means by 'that', but since she so casually mentioned Sailor Eclipse just now...

Taro Yamada has posed:
"It was the uploading you being scared and remixing it into songs on the internet I heard about." A pause. "But if they got magic'd at because they were being mean, they brought it on themselves." It's the old talk shit get hit rule! "Getting magic attacked is temporary but video is forever."

(TAro thinks of himself as having a naturally scary face. It is perhaps only now that there's some truth to that opinion, as his brow knits and he scowls, an echo of the ferocious face of the Slasher.)

And the cloud lifts, abruptly, and he puts his hands up. "I won't actually touch em then! I'll just scare them, give them a taste of their own medicine." Ah, Usagi, he's got it! No stabby! Only scary!

"I am magic too," he tells Wako sheepishly. "I was a bad guy for a while, but Usagi and some of her friends gave me a stern talking to so I got my shit together and I'm trying to do the hero thing now."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Ohh, it wasn't on the internet - our class did a test of courage and they used me screaming for part of the test," she huffs, "And they did get magic'd at, because I uh, got a little possessed and turned into a whackadoodle version of me who turned everyone into toys for a few days."

She sighs, a little.

"Wakochan was one of the ones who helped get me back to normal, after all that. And my class felt really bad about it, even if they didn't remember getting turned into toys about it."

Which is beneficial. Taro is making his scary face, but Usagi shares a boyfriend with Kunzite - scary faces don't work from her, once she likes them.

"Good, good! And hopefully we'll do something better for the school festival, this year," she huffs, "Because that wasn't very fun."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Oh," says Wako, not put off by Taro's description of himself as used-to-be-a-badguy. "I'm glad they got through to you. Usagi-chan's good at things like that. You really do remind me of Takuto-kun that way sometimes," she adds with a quick grin for Usagi. "He's good at turning enemies into friends, too."

Back to Taro-- "You and I haven't fought, right? I mean, I don't think we have, unless you're Riventon. Which if you are, please don't tell me." She pulls a brief, faintly pained face and glances to Usagi again. "Trust me, even when you went all Sailor Eclipse, you really weren't that bad. Everyone who got turned into toys turned back and everything."

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Oh," Taro says, relieve that Usagi didn't get tormented on the internet. He's still not thrilled about it, but it seems like it way less intense than he thought. "Good. I'm glad Wako helped and that they're all sorry for what they did." And that they all got turned into dolls and tormented, but he's just aware enough to not say that out loud.

"Maybe we can do a mini cafe? We have enough people who cook... Just as long as I don't have to be a waiter." he knows how that ends! (badly!)

And to Wako - "I don't think we have? I never met Rivington but he did sound like a weenie. I was going for a more old school urban legend thing."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Thanks," Usagi glances at Wako, and it's clear she's still embarrassed but more settled. "I haven't thought about it in a while, but it was around this time and all so..."

bleh. But Taro has better ideas - tasty ideas, even. "A mini cafe would be good! Cute and fun and there would be some really great food! And I mean, youma who order food can't be that common, since they're not smart and all," the pizza ordering kappa ninja man has got to be unique, right?

"Nah, he's not Riventon. Mamochan would have been way less surprised."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
A breath rushes out of Wako, and she visibly relaxes with it. "Oh, good," she says. "You seemed way too nice for that, anyway. And since you think Riventon is a weenie, we can definitely be friends!"

Cheered either by this prospect or just by Taro's opinions about Riventon, she nods energetically to the suggestion of a mini cafe. "I doubt anything we could do would be completely youma-proof... they're so random. But at least a cafe would be fun, and it'd involve good food. It's got my support. We should campaign for that to be your class's festival project." She says it like she has any influence at all over what Usagi's class does for the school festival.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I'm not nice, I'm terrifying," Taro says in his big puffy hoodie and overgrown kitten hair. "But I would like to be friends! And if a youma attacked, everyone would be well fed and able to run away really quickly."

A thoughtful pause. "If it attacks a cafe, would a youma turn into food? Are they edible?"

Hold on. "If they have wallets, can we rob them? I usually keep some cash on me when I transform on purpose I'm not sure how safe it is to bring my wallet...."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi looks Taro up and down, pointedly, and says, "Nope, sorry, terrifying was abandoned at the door. You're nice now, Taro-kun."

Get Complimented, dummy!

"I'm pretty sure that youma wouldn't have real money, even if they had wallets. They probably don't know what money is." She's pretty sure of that, anyway. "Besides, there's like, gotta be a sixty percent chance it's not attacked, just because that'd be predictable. Right?"

Another pause.

"I fought a food youma, once. One of the Silver Crystal lollipop's Chiyo-chan sells got corrupted and turned into a giant lollipop with people stuck to it. I... don't know if it was edible, because it was dirty and I didn't want to find out."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"Don't youma pretty much use magic for whatever they're doing, anyway?" Wako's brow furrows slightly. This is a question she's never pondered before. "All the youma who've had fake businesses and that sort of thing, it was all just kind of magicked in, I think. Like the spa that time, where Sugata-kun's house is now. And the photo studio, and all that."

She pauses to make a dismayed face at Usagi. "That's awful. Who wastes perfectly good candy turning it into a youma?" The thought links to another, and her expression shades a bit sourer. "Now that you mention it, what's her face that wanted to steal Takuto-kun had a youma with a giant lollipop. Takuto-kun got stuck it it. That was pretty gross, too."

Taro Yamada has posed:
Nice?? Nice!! "I guess it's better than nothing," Taro mutters, fingers tapping against each other. Nice... He can do that, he guesses...

He listens to the conversation on youma with increasing confusion and raises his hand. "Wait, why are they making people out of food? Is that why Beryl's henchwomen were so weird? Instead of paying for actual workers, she'd make people out of random objects??"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I think so. They usually like, take over a place, I guess, or steal one, or make a fake one, like this time we were on a cruise ship that ended up being a fake cruise ship with magic..."

And then Taro say something mindbogglingly confusing.

"...People? They're not making people. They're making monsters?"

A beat.

"I'm not sure why a monster made of candy, but, sometimes it's almost like... the monsters just happen."

Wako Agemaki has posed:
"I think that's kind of a thing with most of these types," Wako reflects. "Like Riventon. They don't really seem to care about people at all, it's just about what they want. So... yeah, why would they bother with hiring actual people and paying them and all of that? They just throw around a lot of Dark Energy or drain it from people."

She hadn't quite expected the philosphical turn this conversation has taken, but she nods along in agreement with Usagi, musing over the concept. "I guess it's kind of like the legends you hear sometimes - how an umbrella that lasts for a hundred years, or a comb that's used to comb the hair of a thousand corpses, they become youkai? I've fought one of those, you know. A kasa-obake, I mean. It was kind of pathetic, to be honest, I felt bad." Pulling herself back from the aside, she goes on: "Anyway, it's like that, except they probably just pump whatever full of dark energy. If they actually had to wait a hundred years or do all that work to make their hench-monsters, you'd think they'd be more careful with them."