2035/Sailor Pyramid Scheme

Sailor Pyramid Scheme
Date of Scene:	30 October 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Shortly before Halloween, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon, and Jadeite go on a drizzly day patrol. Somehow, it ends up mostly a chat about upcoming streams, ViewTube channels, and gacha rackets.
Cast of Characters:	Jadeite, Usagi Tsukino, Makoto Kino

---

Jadeite has posed:
"Honestly, I haven't had the brains to play a video game and really get into it since before I became Jadeite. There was all the stuff going on in Obsidian, and then this year - you know how this year has been. I keep on thinking about watching a Let's Player, but if you have a stream, then I can just cut out the middleman!"

Tamaki is slightly damp from the drizzle, but it's not quite raining enough to bother pulling out an umbrella or a shield yet. (Yet!)

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a few days to Halloween, and Sailor Moon is out on patrol, grumpily wishing typhoon season would hurry up and end, already. It's not unheard of for the season to extend all the way through October, but it's not normal either, and while the rain isn't really coming down right now, everything is just wet enough that sometimes she slips and slides around as they travel over rooftops.

"Can't relate at all," she's saying, as they cross the rooftop of a five story building, looking out for trouble in a relaxed, lazy kind of way. "This year being like this has been all the more reason to game. And hey, at least log into DanDanPon, get your dailies!"

At the thought, she turns to Makoto.

"Are you still playing? There's a new cute boy, I bet he'd be totally your type."

This is a lie, but Usagi gets a little bonus every time someone she referred logs in, and she wants to save up for the upcoming Shichi-Go-San banner.

"Honestly, I don't know if this stream will be very good for that - it's gonna be a Scream Stream, not my usual, so who knows how far we'll actually get."

Makoto Kino has posed:
The weather has Sailor Jupiter slightly distracted. It's not all that strange, really, just rain... but when the wind picks up now and then, it's like she can hear a voice in the distance, too faint and far to make out what it's trying to say.

When Usagi looks her way to ask about mobile games, she shakes off her momentary inattention and smiles at her friend. "I haven't really looked at DanDanPon lately," she admits. "But you know I'll roll for a cute boy. I'll have a look once we're done patrolling."

At the explanation about the upcoming Scream Stream, she glances toward Jadeite with a laugh. "It should be good for a few jump scares at least." Looking back to Sailor Moon, she wonders, "Will you have a backup game, for if the scary game gets too scary?"

Jadeite has posed:
"I've never heard of DanDanPon - I'll give it a go once we're out of the rain," Jadeite says, nodding. He might as well give it a try. Especially if there are cute boys! None of them will be as cute as Mamoru, naturally, but there will surely be runners up. "Any advice for a beginner?"

He's been meaning to get closer to Usagi and the other inner senshi, so if they're all playing agame? He will play it. It'll be good for him. He's goign to get an A in being normal as a friend, which is good to do and normal to desire.

"Scary, huh? I watched some of my older cousins play scary games when I was a kid," he says to Jupiter and Moon conspiratorially. "The Resident Evil dogs always scared me silly."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I've told you about it before, but you probably forgot," Sailor Moon pouts, looking at Jadeite with the most put upon expression. "Mamochan deleted it, but Kazuo-kun plays all the time, so you have even more proof that it's a good game. As a beginner... just take it slow, save your currency? You have to get through the first few story chapters before you unlock good instruments."

This time, she'll get him to play! And then she'll farm Star Gems muahaha!

"I figured you weren't playing too much, Jupiter-chan, but you've got a pretty good roster - I used your trombone support the other day."

One must support friends! Especially when one is lightly using them.

The laugh earns another pout, "It's definitely going to get jumpscares. But no, I'm not supposed to chicken out. They get one usual stream and then I stream something silly so I don't have nightmares before bed."

A real fear, which probably doesn't surprise either of these two. She considers the idea of cousins for a moment, but Mahito had never been much of a gamer...

"I hate scary games, but my cowardice makes such good entertainment..."

She shakes a fist at the sky, mourning that she's so memeable.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"It's a rhythm game," Jupiter tells Jadeite, "so it's good for your hand-eye coordination. And the boys are cute. It's not like some gacha games where you can tell they're mostly aiming for people who like girls... which is fine, but it's not for me, you know?"

Her expression turns more sympathetic in response to Usagi's pouting, and she hangs back a but to give Sailor Moon a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I've never really been into scary games either. I'll be rooting for you."

Jadeite has posed:
"I probably did forget," moans Jadeite. You get one major brain injury and everything you were told goes out the window! Disgusting! "I'll see if I can't revive my account and start again. I don't know if I"m any good at rhythm games, but I'll find out!"

Good for hand eye coordination... he could use that, honestly. Help him practice a bit more...

He sighs melodramatically. "Such is the cost of being cute, I'm told."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"If you make a new account and use my reference code, I'll get more rewards," hmm, that would be useful, it's not her fault he lost his account~

"Yeah, the waifus and husbandos are all really well designed - they're based on instruments, because it's a rhythm and music game, but they actually look like human instruments, instead of just mostly naked girls and kinda naked boys. I mean, I don't have anything against that, but -"

Sailor Moon, please! Think of the children!

"Thank you, Jupiter-chan," she pouts some more. "And Jadeite-kun. It'll be fun for everyone else, at least, and Mamochan will be there, so I'll have company this time! I think Hinoiri is supposed to do her own stream, so she probably won't watch, but a bunch of other people said they'd watch."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter can't help but giggle, though she makes a halfhearted attempt to smother it. "How many referral codes have you cashed in by now, Moon-chan? Even getting Saitou-kun hooked..."

Oh, right. They are, at least nominally, on patrol for magical trouble. With this in mind, Jupiter veers off a bit, stepping nimbly up onto a low retaining wall for a quick look around. Soon satisfied that all seems quiet, she hops lightly back down again. "Actually," she muses, "I've been thinking about something you suggested a while back. Do you remember when you said I should start a ViewTube channel?"

Jadeite has posed:
"Sounds worth it to remake~" If he gets some of Sailor Moon's favor, so much the better!

"Oh, interesting. So there's probably an emphasis on mirroring individual musical genres and possibly individual instruments, given the fame that those like the Stradivarius hold..." Which he doesn't know much about. Yet. Perhaps he shall soon. "Nothing wrong with a little artistic nudity, but sometiems you want more art than nudity, right?

she too is a woman of culture.

"Oh! If Prin- if Sailor Moon has her own channel, you could have a subsidary channel?" he suggests, trying to follow the course of Jupiter's suggestion.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Oh, you know.... like thirty?" She's grinning mischievously. "I've gotten soooo many golden guitar picks and drum sticks and all kinds of costumes."

It's not much, but it makes life that little bit much better, having things, you know?

"It's definitely worth it to remake - but it's not that much about mirroring genres as playing songs? It's a rhythm game, so you're trying to match the rhythm so you can match the song, you know?" She hops up to where Jupiter stands, surveilling as well. There's nothing troublesome in sight, so...

"I guess we should move on to another roof?" She's reluctant. It's wet! It's cold! She'd rather be at home, even if patrol is important!

And then -

"OF COURSE I DO!" People might have heard that all the way back in Minato Ward. "Mako Makes! That's what I said you could call it! And you could make all kinds of treats and sweets and dinner feats!" Yes, she fully remembers her pitch. "Not a subsidiary channel though, her own thing, even if I would be delighted to be a guest on it and make all my followers follow you!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
The grin that Sailor Jupiter is not really managing to hide behind her hand gets bigger. "Sailor Moon's DanDanPon referral racket," she teases. "Who knew?" That hand lifts, swiping damp curls back from her eyes. "It wouldn't really--" she begins to answer Jadeite--

--but then the sheer volume of Sailor Moon's excitement has her wincing involuntarily. Her smile doesn't falter, however, only warming with affection. "Right, I was thinking of starting a channel for cooking videos. It wouldn't be connected to Sailor Moon's, since she streams video games... although we could give each other shout outs every so often. That'd be fun, I think." And it never hurts to promote your friend's channel!

She quiets briefly, looking contemplative, before adding, "I'd rather not use my real name, though. I was thinking I could use 'Miss Camellia' as my handle. It's not as catchy as your idea, though."

Jadeite has posed:
"I can't say I really know how it all works, but there's only one way to learn. Is there in game trading?" He can support his princess, he has the skills. "Is it a racket if we all doing it on purpose?" he teases Jupiter.

And he watches the two of them discussing the new channel - well, shouting about it? Something like that. And he considers.

"Jupiter, I've been playing around with clay a lot the last few months. If I made a camillia sculpture for you, would that be something potentially useful for your show?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Who could ever mistrust this face?" A hand is raised dramatically to Sailor Moon's forehead, before she cracks and giggles. "There's no in-game trading, but we can boost each other, and every time you log in after your account is linked to mine, I get a few more points. Some people call it a pyramid scheme, but I call it incentive."

Gacha truly knows o bounds.

Sailor Moon's hands clasp in front of her chest, and her smile brightens, warms. "Miss Camellia's Cooking! How does that sound? That would be so cute! If you want to keep your name out of it, I guess you might want to keep your face out too? You're so cute, but, there's lots of people who don't like having their face out there, so that makes sense..."

Jadeite suggests making something for the channel, and she grins.

"Look at you! Getting your first fanwork before you even launch!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"You've got me there," Jupiter laughs in answer to Jadeite's question about what counts as a racket. She's reaching to ruffle Sailor Moon's hair when he brings up the idea of a sculpture, stopping her short. Her eyes widen.

"That'd be wonderful!" She's very nearly starry-eyed over it all of the sudden. Then she catches herself and adds, "If it wouldn't be putting you to too much trouble, at least. But if you'd like to make a sculpture, I'll show it off for sure."

Now she does ruffle Sailor Moon's hair, mussing up her damp blonde bangs. "I guess now I really have to do it, huh?" she says with a grin. "Although, yeah, I don't think I'd want to have my face on camera. A lot of online cooking videos do it that way, focused just on the food and preparation." Looking out over the city again, she turns ideas over in her head. "Miss Camellia Cooks. Miss Camellia's Kitchen? We can workshop it."

Jadeite has posed:
"The one time I did, I paid for it," Tamaki teases. "This face is too cute to distrust."

His attention flickers to double check around him for - he doesn't know what. Some uneasiness creeping in on his bones. But it's likely his own anxiety, becasue he sees nothing, and so he returns back to talking to his comrades.

"I was thinking less fanwork and more something to help establish the channel?" he says sheepishly. "I can't guarantee it'll look the best- I'm getting back into sculpting and they're not always good - but camillias I can do pretty well. And it'd help to strengthen your show's id! And I can always make better ones later on!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Sounds like fanwork to me," Usagi says cheerfully, "It's a work that you're making to help Jupiter-chan because you're a fan of hers and want her to succeed."

The weather isn't getting worse - but it's cold and wet and they're just standing here, so they need to keep moving, right? Right.

"Maybe we should call this patrol? Circle back to campus, and Miss Camellia can show us how to make hot chocolate?" Wink, wink. "We can talk about the plan when we're out of this weather, and I know I'll probably miss it when it's snowing instead of raining, but..."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Almost as soon as Sailor Moon suggests ending their patrol, the wind kicks up again, spattering rain into their faces and tugging at hair and clothing. The voice at the edge of Sailor Jupiter's hearing almost seems to be screaming. It drags along her spine like a cold finger, and she has to repress a shudder.

"That sounds good to me," she says firmly. "I don't think even the youma want to be out in this gross weather. Let's head back and take a snack break." A wink back to Sailor Moon. "With hot cocoa."