2054/A Crown of Thorns

A Crown of Thorns
Date of Scene:	09 November 2024
Location:	Cafeteria Plaza
Synopsis:	After a confession gone wrong provokes Makoto into a downward spiral, Hawkmoth sends over an akuma, to really jazz lunch-time up. When Briar Rose turns the Cafeteria Plaza into a fairy-tale ballroom, it's up to Mamoru, Bow, Amy, Tamaki, Ladybug, and Nephrite to talk her down. And as far as Nephrite's day is concerned? Every bus is one he can be thrown under.
Cast of Characters:	Gabriel Agreste, Makoto Kino, Bow, Mamoru Chiba, Jadeite, 280, Amanda Faust, Marinette Dupain-Cheng

---

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
Another day, another hunt for a target for his akumas. Hawkmoth has been growing more frustrated, lately. Time is running short - Emilie has been 'missing' for so long, and their son is growing up, and forgetting her, moving on with his life, and all the while, he can't save her.

Not without the Miraculous. And fighting the right targets for that has been so difficult, lately. He'd had success with a previous victim and her boyfriend, but Ladybug hadn't been exposed, and all signs show she's back in action.

So he has to try again. And he has to keep trying, until he gets Emilie back. And that means other akuma.

Choosing a new target requires finding not just strong negative emotion, but compatible emotion - feelings that he can use, that are overpowering enough that he can put them to good use...

And luckily, there's a sense of heartbreak brewing... at Radiant Heart Academy.

Standing in his lair in Obsidian, Hawkmoth frowns, wondering if he wants to risk an akuma at his son's school again... but then again, Adrien had been fine, last time, so...

Meanwhile, at Radiant Heart Academy, there's a scene brewing outside the Cafeteria Plaza.

November 9th has been, until now, a perfectly ordinary Saturday, with students trudging towards the cafeteria in search of sustenance, crowding around the bread and curry stations, digging into large bowls of warm food in an attempt to rid themselves of the chill. It's been not just cold, but damp, with the threat of rain on the horizon, and most students are in their longer-sleeved winter uniforms, not to mention bundled up in coats and jackets.

The tall 11th grader standing over a flustered 9th grader is still in the regular uniform though, braving the chill for the sake of keeping his toned biceps out. He's one of the students on Radiant Heart Academy's basketball team, a popular guy named Takeo Uzumaki who's relatively well-known. The 9th grader standing in front of him, still clutching a pink envelope and bento box, is probably an unknown - Mai Yuta is average-height, the cute-but-plain sort who doesn't stand out, and she's new to Radiant Heart, having only started attending in April.

The two of them are slightly to the side, not blocking the entrance, but perfectly still in line of sight.

"Look," Takeo Uzumaki is saying, "It's not that I haven't appreciated all the lunches and snacks and things you've been giving me, and the way you show up to practice and games to cheer for me is like, kinda cute I guess... But that doesn't mean I want to date you, you know? I mean, I'm just not into girls like you. I like them really cute, and you're not ... my type."

That last part is clearly a last-minute addition, as if Takeo had finally processed his words might be hurtful.

Mai on the other hand has stopped flushing - instead of blushing, she's staring at the other boy in horror and shame, eyes slowly filling up with tears. Her hands clench on the offered letter and lunch, trembling. Her mouth opens, but she doesn't speak.

"I can still have that lunch though, right? I mean, the cafeteria's good, but your snacks are like, way better, so -"

Back in his lair, Hawkmoth winces. That... well, that was a bit of a low blow, wasn't it? Still, there's plenty of negative emotion there - "Fly, my little akuma, fly!"

And the butterfly takes off, towards the school, and the scene at Cafeteria Plaza.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto hadn't meant to eavesdrop, really. She, like so many other students, had been on her way to the cafeteria herself, her own homemade bento wrapped in its cute rosebud-sprigged green fabric and her mind occupied with shopping lists. It's everyone's bad luck that poor Mai caught Takeo right outside the cafeteria entrance - everyone's bad luck that Mako's instinct, in the moment she realized she'd stumbled on a confession in progress, was to duck hastily behind a support pillar to the other side of the entrance so as not to interrupt.

She should have just gone on into the cafeteria and left them to it. Should have. Now she's trapped, heat flushing her face, her heart hammering rapidly against her breastbone as she clutches her bento in a suddenly white-knuckled grip.

Another boy's voice echoes in her ears, inescapable: "I prefer feminine girls, you know?"

For an instant, Makoto teeters on the knife-edge between outrage and that old pain.

"How dare you!" Two other ninth-grade girls burst out of the cafeteria and flank Mai to glare Takeo down with faces full of righteous indignation.

"You turn a girl down but you still want her to give you lunch?"

"What a creep!"

The moment passes, and now Makoto really is trapped, with nowhere for the storm of her feelings to go.

A purple butterfly flits through the air, unnoticed by the players in today's high school romance drama, and alights upon the rose stud earring in Mako's ear.

Bow has posed:
Yeah. It's getting colder. And while Bow is sporting the long sleeves of the winter uniform for RHA Acamedy, the abs are still, indomitably, on display. They took Etherian winters, they can tank a little Japanese cold. But while he may be feeling the chill, he's excited. Why? Because today, the cafeteria is serving American curry!

It's chili with rice, but Bow doesn't know that. He just knows it's less spicy that Rashmi's favorite curry and that works for him. He can eat a plateful of the stuff without an issue (or a glass of milk).

Just don't tell him about real American chili.

The commotion catches his attention, and his head turns towards where it is. But really, for the moment, it doesn't seem like it's a whole... Bow issue. He does, however, catch sight of Makoto. He lifts his hand in a brief wave to her, missing the moment of distress that she's in, but assumes that he'll catch her once things have cooled off and catch up with Adora's erstwhile roommate.

Easier than catching Adora these days.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Chilly in the Plaza! Mamoru's wearing his leather jacket over his shirt and tie and vest, precisely because no one's gonna stop him. His glasses are smudged and his hair is fluffy, and he's vibrating in place with excitement for Sunday when he moves in to his new place.

The prince settles his tray on a table and waves over at Bow as he sits down between Tamaki and Masato. "I literally can't think about anything else," he admits, but doesn't sound sorry.

That's when there starts being yelling over by the entrance, and Mamoru does a quick glance toward Bow to see if he can see anything, then half-twists in his seat to look, himself.

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki is trying to have a normal lunch with his normal friends in a normal manner, and not, for example, be having a depression meal of crackers, cheese, and a bag of candy from a vending machine. (Look, he is improving, it's fiiiine it's fine.)

"It's a great place! And the antiques have been a lot easier to handle than I expected," Tamaki says, grinning. Unpacking has been an ongoing process but it's been going on much faster than anticipated.

And then there's shouting and - hey. He twists alongside Mamoru, brow furrowing. "Don't we know that voice?"

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
It is chilly in the Plaza, especially to a man who's gotten used to the Southern California sun. Nephrite's settled back into school with ease, explaining his long absence to his peers with a shrug and a 'family, you know' that explained nothing and yet worked wonders on his and Mamoru's class.

That's right - thanks to skipping out on so much school, he and Mamoru are in the same grade now, and thus, the same class. Which means as he, Tamaki, and Mmaoru are having lunch, they actually could talk about their classwork... but they don't, of course.

"I mean, I wouldn't be thinking of anything either," Nephrite shrugs. "I'm moving in soon too, but like, I have a house. You don't. What are you supposed to be thinking about? Calculus?"

He has a genuine interest in calculus, and math in general, given it's use in astrology, but he's pretty sure that applies to literally no one else.

"Huh? Voice - oh," a door opens, as someone comes into the Cafeteria, and he hears the voices very clearly. "Isn't that the basketball player in our class? And...I don't know those girls."

Amanda Faust has posed:
                             | It's just that... |                              
   | Even though he is the prince who lifted her curse, just being told sweet  
                   nothings from a somewhat handsome fella |                    
| She fell in love immediately after. "What's up with that plot?!" is what I'd
                            like to think, but... |                            
          | I have come to understand her feelings just a little... |          

    Amy's reading manga on her phone again as she walks to the cafeteria, an oversized red raincoat over her uniform, head and hood tilted forward slightly to shelter her screen from the rain. The character's thoughts make her think of Hannah sweeping her off her feet, how she wanted to see Hannah again after that night over a year ago just from that, not even knowing her... It would have sounded ridiculous to Mallory. It seemed ridiculous at the time! Amy barely knew her, and yet she felt like that...

    << I can see why you target us for emotional energy... >>

    If Kyubey is listening, he doesn't respond. It was a little out of nowhere. It's not like he can read Amy's thoughts and know the context of mentally sending him random texts out of the blue.

    As she approaches the cafeteria, she glances around, as if she might see him -- and instead sees a guy and a blushing girl standing like a confession is being given in a goddamn manga, and, um, awkward, Amy starts to look around uncertain of which way to run from the awkward social situation--

    'I'm just not into girls like you. I like them really cute,'

    Rude and also, wtf is he on about basically everyone here is cute, and the part of Amy's mind not trying to gauge the socially acceptable action to take or getting outraged on that girl's behalf is wondering if she really ever looked at girls like straight guys do--

    Two other bystanders stepping in to tell the guy off -- what a creep indeed! -- remind Amy that this isn't a scene in an anime she's watching, this is really happening, and-- "Yeah!" she shouts at the boy, approaching to give a little solidarity--

    Although, if she likes that boy she probably doesn't want to be told that he's horrible-- the social-calculation part of her brain races ahead, and she's certainly not noticing butterflies or that Makoto is right over there...

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Oh thank heavens, it's finally a decent temperature! Marinette is out walking, doing nothing at all, in short sleeves (she's carrying her jacket) and listening to something in headphones. Which is why she's not noticed the situation. That and the fact that she's pretty clueless half the time anyway.

"Lalala," she sings, which is not the words but her typist doesn't speak much french so please forgive. And shouting shall not intrude.

Beat.

Shouting SHALL NOT intrude!

Shouting was intruding. Darnit. Pulling out one earbud, Marinette peers int he direction of. She frowns, not quite sure what's going on, but firmly annoyed now. It was a good song.

Gabriel Agreste has posed:
Takeo was not prepared to be surrounded by three upset girls when he turned down a girl! Like where did they even come from? "What, I mean, she made it for me, why shouldn't I eat it?!"

Boy is definitely not picking up on these social cues, that's for sure.

"What did I do that's so bad, huh?"

Once the butterfly sinks into the rose earrings, the connection is made. The purple symbol of Hawkmoth's power flashes over Makoto's face, and Hawkmoth's voice, falsely sympathetic and genuinely disgusted, comes to her mind.

"Briar Rose, you've been in that poor girl's position, haven't you? Misled, misused, all because of some fickle boy. You were in her position once, but no one came to your aid. No one's ever really come to your aid, have they? It's always been you against the world, and now, I've come to your aid. Why should you have to step back and stay quiet? Accept this power, and create the world you want to see - and all you have to do is get me the Miraculous."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"...that's right..."

She's glad, really, for those other girls, and yet... he's not wrong, either. There was no one rushing to her defense, back then.

If a girl like that, petite and cute, isn't feminine enough, then what hope does Makoto Kino even have?

Her treacherous heart can't deny the truth.

The ground begins to shake.

For those inside the cafeteria, it's like the sun is abruptly blocked out. As the building rumbles and shudders, the windows go dark, the daylight blotted out by the massive vines that erupt from the earth around the Cafeteria Plaza. In moments, it seems, a wall of thorns encircles the whole area, throwing everything into shadow.

And then - outside - lights shimmer on.

Wisteria chandeliers glow high overhead, hanging from high arching branches. The Cafeteria Plaza is transformed into something like a grand hall, an art nouveau fantasy of tall trees and draping vines. Music and perfume drift from the green-leafed walls, woodwinds and birdsong.

In the middle of the open space outside the cafeteria, more vines curl around themselves into a high dais and throne, upon which sits Makoto - but Makoto gowned in cascades of silken petals, roses blooming in her long loose hair, crowned with a tiara of golden leaves and silver blossoms.

Briar Rose looks down on her kingdom. Her emerald eyes settle on Takeo.

"This won't do," she says.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Sometimes it's good to be in the background. For example, now. When nobody is really paying attention in your direction.

Opening her purse, Marinette calls out Tikki. "Tikki, time to get to work!" she says, which gets her a thumbs-up from the bug.

"Hope it looks alright," she murmurs to herself. But that's minor. She just saw someone get a Moth, and that means it's time.

"Tikki, Spots On!" The phrase is spoken, the earrings glow. And the magic calls out the change. But the person who steps forward isn't the same. Not a plain red bodysuit, oh no.

She has a hood.
Gloves.
A half-skirt.BOOTS! Long ones, that go up her legs!

Miraculous ...Ladybug?

Letting her yo-yo slip down, then up again, she steps forward. "Ladies. Gentlemen." Pause. And she looks up. Then down at her yo-yo, spinning. "I am way out of my league, this time."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"And Amy Faust," Mamoru adds to Nephrite after Amy yells 'Yeah!' -- he knows her voice well enough -- and that's enough to have him getting out of his seat, unfolding his legs from under the table and everything. "And oh, no, Mako--Aah!"

The ground shakes, which is count one against it, and then erupts in rose vines and tbh lots of other vines and Mamoru gets a complicated expression.

The prince crouches to touch the vines and their roots and the ground beneath the tiles chucked upwards by the disturbance of the foliage--

He sighs and glances up at Masato and Tamaki and shakes his head. "Don't fuck up, Neph, and remember if you gotta take one for the team, I'll fix it afterwards." What? This is Makoto, this is Makoto, this is Jupiter, Mamoru prays that Neph doesn't make this too weird to live...

He stands up, brushing his hand off on his knee, then holds up his pocketwatch in one hand and calls out, "Earth Prism Power, Make Up!"

One light show in front of the whole-ass cafeteria and everything, and Tuxedo Kamen jumps up to the wisteria chandelier and says to Briar Rose, "--"

No he DOESN'T SAY ANYTHING for a second, and then he lifts his finger and says, "Nevermind, you are so right!" over the sound of the general screaming and jumps back down, then pushes Nephrite forward.

Bow has posed:
"Seems to be some type of commition with a confession or something?" Bow asks as he comes over to join Mamoru and the others at the table. "It seemed like the girls had it well in hand, and considering all the things, I probably would have made it worse, somehow." he says with a shrug as he settles down with his tray. "So, what's the topic de jour?" Look, that was French. Mangled. Horrible French.

However, as the light seems to be snuffed out in the cafeteria suddenly, only to be replaced with something that reminds him of Princess Prom, except made from plants, the illumination of the chandeliers reveal all to the archer. "I don't think visiting the kangaroo court is on my plans today." he says to the other boys at the table, his attention switching up to Makoto and he draws in a breath.

But any words on the matter are slipped away with Ladybug makes her all-new and all-different Winterbug appearance. "You just need to swing harder for the fences!" he calls out encouragingly, even as he's moving to start to grab his henshin device and twirls it into place.

"By the Honor of Brightmoon!"

One transformation later, and the crystal reacts to the cold weather with winter gear! A hooded coat lined with fur is heavily vested across the front with a grey under-shirt that actually hides the abs away. Mittened hands that hand fingerholes for him to draw his arrows. Long pants lead to quilted boots, again, lined with some type of fur as he snaps his bow into place.

"Wait! You have a plan already??" he asks Tuxedo as he holds off on drawing an arrow. "Anything I can do to help?"

Jadeite has posed:
"No, I don't mean the boy yelling, I mean the girl telling him he's being a jerk - "

And then things change very rapidly inside and outside the cafeteria. Beautiful chandeliers, the sun going out, thorns everywhere -

Tamaki slips under the cafeteria table, and a few seconds later, Jadeite pops back out. "I do believe this is our cue, gentlemen," he says, unruffling his hair from having to pop in and out so quickly, and races after Mamoru.

Races, and grabs the moronstarted the whole damn thing, and. "Frankly, I should let her maul you for the little stunt you just pulled, but she'd be very upset with herself afterwards. Come with me if you want to live. Glory of the Snow!"

He throws up thick icy shields between him and Takeo, and he will be hauling this girl-insulting idiot away so that Makoto does not break her own heart by mauling someone while temporarily evil.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Hasn't Takeo ever heard that hell hath no fury?

    'What did I do that's so bad, huh?'

    Amy sighs. Goddamn it. She's never done this, but she's been the socially awkward guy not understanding why people are mad at him. "You just insinuated she's ugly. You crushed her hopes -- one-sided though they were -- and now you still want her gift she worked on so hard for? It's not... it's not like she made it just to make it, she made it so she could know someone she likes was enjoying it! Put yourself in her situation--"

    I'm sure I've read that manga she thinks, and also shut up, brain

    "--how would you--" and then plants burst out of everywhere, but not like Tellu's power, like between that and a Labyrinth, but she didn't feel one form around her like the other day, this isn't a Labyrinth--

    But there's a monster-person saying 'this won't do' who has clearly just turned the vicinity of the cafeteria into their demesne, Labyrinth or not. "Uhhhh." Amy turns and looks up at her. "What's your deal?" she asks, playing at being the clueless civilian while thinking about whether to just change in front of Godoka and everyone or to try and duck out of sight first.

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
"Oh, I am not in a position to be helping anybody with confession woes," Masato says with a sigh - he is self-aware, okay? "Maybe we can just let the girls handle this and talk about antique furniture some more..."

That's how it is, for a moment - just a mild flash of concern, an idiot from the class Masato is barely just settling into apparently making sure everyone knows how much of an idiot he is. The next?

The Cafeteria Plaza has transformed entirely, trees and draping vines erupted to change the shape of the space, tables abruptly moved around to make room for a sweeping ball-room look, vines curling up into a dais and throne. Lighting comes from wisteria-made chandeliers, high above, giving warm and yet almost ghostly light, and seated high above it all -

Damn, but that girl is pretty, seated so high up, all delicate petals and roses blooming in her hair, crowned in gold and silver.

Nephrite's always been partial to roses and to gold, for obvious reasons, and this girl is pulling it off. Of course she is. When has Jupiter ever failed to pull something off?

...wait what?

Masato practically snaps his own neck, with how fast his head spins back to the girl literally draped in petals, eyes widening, as he consciously takes in what his subconscious had already called.

Nephrite has already super fucked up with the love of his past-and-probably-present life on a quantum level, and also with a perfectly brilliant young woman in this life, and now there she is, looking more beautiful than ever, regal and stern and lovely and -

"Wait, what?" Mamoru, what do you mean he needs to not fuck it up!? What do you mean he needs to take one for the team?!

The henshin is belated, a rush of energy that sees Masato becoming Nephrite in form as well as name, shoved forward in his Shitennou uniform.

"Uh," he says, as Jadeite rushes Takeo away - or tries to, anyway - "Kino-san, you - ah, you - look incredible, today. I didn't think anyone could actually pull off that whole dressed like a flower thing, but wow."

Fuck.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Briar Rose brings her fingers to her lips - a glancing touch - and breathes out a blown kiss. Flecks of pink flutter from her fingertips, spreading and tumbling in the air. If Takeo is lucky, Jadeite has hustled him away quickly enough, but each student struck by a petal slows and stills as a corsage or boutonnier blooms upon their chest. Their expressions relax, misty-eyed. Entranced. Those affected gather in ones and twos to link hands, pacing out a pattern dance in time to the distant music.

Only now does Briar Rose seem to pay attention to the others - to Tuxedo Kamen, to Amy asking what her deal is. To Nephrite, and his stammering compliments.

Two more trees rise behind her throne, one to either side, each with the vague shape of a person - one masculine, with hair of oak leaves and a beard of moss; the other a willow, her leafy hair plaited over one shoulder. Our princess, says the willow in a voice like wind through leaves. Beloved daughter, says the oak.

"Pretty words," Briar Rose tells Nephrite with a faint Mona Lisa smile. "But you don't need to lie."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"A plan? No, I just delegated to the man with a crush on her," Tuxedo Kamen sings out to Bow. "I completely second-guessed what I was going to say, which was basically a compliment that she was pulling off the bramble-throne better, but also kind of a backhanded compliment because, well, villainy being compared to villainy--"

He holds up his hands. "Getting into the weeds. Here: Ladybug is here and GREAT DRIP, LADYBUG! that means the odds are pretty good it's her problem, which means we ask her what to do-- I mean besides trying to talk her down--"

He nods firmly to Jadeite, good, good call, maybe not the timing necessarily but Jadeite's a big boy and--

...Tuxedo Mask looks at Nephrite incredulously.

Like that's all he can actually do for a second-- until Briar Rose speaks, and Mamoru yells out, "IT'S ACTUALLY TRUE I HAVE HIS DIARY! Remember? I'll show it to you~?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
The Ladybug nee Winter gives a smile to Tuxedo Kamen, grinning as a bit of confidence hits her system. She WAS worried that the outfit didn't work. "Thanks! But working right now!"

Putting the yo-yo back on her belt, Winterbug adjusts her line of sight til she can see what's going on.

1: Boy is being pushed toward relative safety.
2: Briar Rose is sitting atop a throne, and the room is now a gothic briar patch.
3: ...profit? Til now nobody's made any demands or started to attack.

"Just hadda jinx it," she says as the kiss comes out, and she dives roll out of the way!

Then, on one knee, she says, "This is always about something! We either fix the heart, or break the earrings!" Note, the earrings are almost always easier.

Almost, she thinks, looking up at Briar Rose. This could be one of those exceptions.

Bow has posed:
"Wait, he has a crush on her? Didn't know that! I thought all of them were... you know..." Bow makes gestures to Tuxedo. "YOU KNOW." he says again, because had assumed and feels a bit like an ass at the moment. And he still regretted not asking Makoto to dance at Princess Prom, but that was a time issue and not anything else. But still, it sucked.

But it seems that they are the support squad for Nephrite, so he decides to join in to try to help out. "It's not your fault that you're so beautiful that he's been too awestruck to approach you!" Bow adds into the compliments as he dodges backwards from a kiss, reluctant to drw, but finally, he gets an idea.

"Violin form." he says, and the bow transforms from a weapon to a musical instrument, a horse-head shape at the top of it as he draws back a different type of bow. Bringing it across the strings, he starts to play, a slow, romantic melody. Might as well give the Shy Guy a musical accompaniment as he starts to play Perfect by Ed Sheeran.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTn3gkC5kkk

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite will simply be escorting the unlucky Takeo somewhere that he can ice over and leave to cower so he can get back in the fight. Just stick him under an ice bell so he can just be not noticed. Like girls should stop noticing him. He's been hustled quickly enough to avoid the kiss - but boy oh boy Jadeite is not discovering what ELSE Makoto can do with her new powers.

(He's - fairly certain she wouldn't kill. However, there are many things that are not fatal but very unpleasant that can be done with both roses and lightning! She doesn't need that on her consience!)

And now Jadeite will go about throwing shields for those students who aren't dancing yet, turning this into an ice gothic briar patch. Winter is coming!

Winter is coming very quietly so that he doesn't get shot at, thanks!!! You all go! He's got defense!!

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
Nephrite would like to argue that he's not a liar, but, well, his long stint of villainy, treachery, and murder-osity proves otherwise. In another life, he betrayed every promise he ever made, destroyed with his own two-hands all the trust that was ever placed in him, and forced the woman the girl in front of him had been to kill him.

So, you know, not a good place from which to argue the worth of his word.

"I wouldn't lie about tha- why do you still have that?!" His head snaps towards Mamoru, face awash in horror. "<Dude!> Not cool! And no! Not all of us are you know, some of us, you know -"

Nephrite, he clearly did not know.

Briar Rose brings her fingers to her lips, and gods above, Nephrite has never more wanted to be an appendage. Petals fly across the hall, causing students to begin pairing up, to begin dancing in glazed-eyed bliss, and Nephrite sidesteps the sweet blossoms, still approaching the dais.

When the tree people rise, he thinks, briefly, great, meeting the parents.

Then Ladybug speaks, and he says, horrified, "We can't destroy her earrings!"

Every single time he's seen Makoto Kino - not very often, not nearly often enough, not when he doesn't know her, the way he once did, the way he's still half-convinced he could, when he clearly hadn't, mistaking a woman he loved for the wrong woman entirely - she's been wearing those earrings. Never another pair. They must be important.

"ALL OF YOU STOP HELPING!" This is in response to Bow's earnest attempt at helping. He is not embarrassed. Shut up. "Kino-san, I have - I have lied about many things, and I have failed to be the man I once thought I was many times, but I am not lying when I say that you are stunning. In fact, you're very, very beautiful, and if not for the fact that getting brainwashed is a bit of bad habit I don't want to repeat, I'd - never mind, that's not the point. The, the point is... this can't truly be what you want. Right?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Uhh what. What is even going on. Everyone knows who the... person-turned-monster? is. Not a Witch, but what? Akuma turn people into things, and she's never seen a youma warp the world like this. Why does she have tree parents?

    And something about the way she says 'you don't need to lie' pulls at her.

    While Amy's sorting all that out, petals hit people -- the one that hits her coat does nothing, as she's not so easily drained as a civilian, and she flings her coat off with a dramatic fluorish to cover her own transformation.

    Also she looks shocked at Nephrite briefly. "That's Kino-san?!"

    Puella Red looks back to Briar Rose. "He's right, though, although maybe I'm not the best judge. Why do you think it's a lie...?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Once again, Briar Rose lifts her hand to her lips... and giggles softly in what seems like genuine amusement at all the yelling and flustering back at forth. The entranced students keep dancing at a stately pace, flowing effortlessly from pairs into more complicated quadrille figures in time to the music from Bow's violin.

Briar Rose tips her head back and looks up at Nephrite with lifted brows. "Why not?"

She holds out her hand in a wordless request for him to be a gentleman and help her up. Whether or not he does, she rises to her feet, shaking out the multilayered tiers of her skirt before she gestures around her. "This is all I've ever wanted," she says. "There's nothing painful or ugly here. Nothing but beautiful things."

Amy's question draws her gaze; Briar Rose's faint smile doesn't falter. "Because he's looking at the memory of a princess from a long time ago," she replies gently. "Not the girl who might as well have been invisible up to now."

She looks out now, around at the others. Notes Jadeite stashing Takeo, and her lips purse briefly, but perhaps she finds it an acceptable state of affairs for now. Bow, on the other hand, gets a smile, before her eyes finally settle on Ladybug and she seems to sigh a little. "Ah, right. The Miraculous. I don't suppose I could simply ask you to give it to me, can I?"

Bow has posed:
Bow rolls his eyes a little. "Ask her to dance." he suggests at Nephrite.

Bow's plan was simple.

Get Nephrite to ask Briar to dance.
They dance.
Nephrite is able to get earrings off of Briar.
Everyone's happy. *

However, in deference to Nephrite's request, he does slow down his playing for the moment. Let the guy that's known her for 10,000 years figure it out.

* Except Hawkmoth.

But he is quickly moving to set that plan to the side, even if he hasn't transformed the violin back into a combat weapon.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Winterbug blinks. She wasn't expecting to actually get spoken to. Pretty much every time she's been in a fight so far, she's been the one who's ignored. To be fair, the Miraculous is the reason why. Not her.

She says, "Lady...what's her name?" She pauses, looking around. "What's your name? I'm sorry, I don't know anyone yet." She tries to be nice, honestly she does.

Then, "Briar Rose? I mean, we could talk about it. But that's not what you actually want. Is it." It's not a question, though it does beg for an answer.

"Most of us here want to help you. And the rest are just afraid. I know that you didn't want that, not really. Nobody who wants darkness could make something this..."

It's a moment before she finishes, motioning around the room. This?

"This beautiful. This is amazing."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No diary, then?" Tuxedo Mask asks Briar Rose with fading hope. He takes a step forward, ignoring Neph's explosive indignation with every fibre of his being, then glances back at Bow and makes a face. "Zoisite isn't into me either," he says primly, not clearing the waters at all.

Then he looks back at Mako and says firmly, "You're not going to get the Miraculous. You know what happened when Usagi got it, right? It messed with Ladybug, here, and we JUST got her to team up with us! It would be like someone stealing your henshin pen-- oh wow where's the rest of you?"

Oh no.

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
He is a gentleman. He hasn't always been, and perhaps at a guys night with the boys he never is, but with not just a beautiful woman before him but the beautiful woman? He is a gentleman, and extends his arm to help her up... though as he does so, he can't help but realize he's looking down at her - substantially so.

"You're... shorter."

Apparently, he's doomed to eternally stating the most inane things to her. The petals of her dress brush against his pants legs as she shakes out the skirts, and his throat catches as she states a simple wish. For things to be beautiful. For there to be nothing painful or ugly in the world, and he wonders if it means anything at all that he's still in that world.

And then skewers him through the chest (no wait, that was Kunzite) with her words, and he closes his eyes, and does not withdraw his hand.

"I can't deny that I've been blind in this life, and distracted. But my ineptitude hardly changes your beauty... though... losing over a foot of height certainly make you a bit... less of a statuesque beauty - wait shit, don't punch me for that, I heard how it sounded, I'm not saying you're not still beautiful! It's just - ah, Kino-san, the world isn't always a beautiful place, as you know all too well, but retreating into a world of beauty won't change that. You're a fighter. You've always been a fighter."

Jadeite has posed:
"I believe I"m the only one of us who's straightforwardly a man's man," Jadeite tells Bow as he joins them, having put up a nice row of shields to keep the students out of this. (mostly out of this.)

Compliments and love don't seem to be working too well. Perhaps he should take a different approach?

"Listen, that guy is the worst, none of us here are disagreeing on that. But I know from experience that supernatural bloody vengeance only feels good short-term. Instead, we could just ruin his life on a not-supernatural, social level, which will have much longer lasting effects and be much more instructive on demonstrating how not to insult a woman in five syllables or less."

Which is an offer he will definitely go for after if she asks him after she de-transforms. He is a man of his word!

"Besides. Nephrite is the same flavor of idiot as I am, pining after someone from another life, but I know he's not lying about liking YOU-you either."

Amanda Faust has posed:
This is all I've ever wanted. There's nothing painful or ugly here. Nothing but beautiful things."

    Images of victorious villains or fallen heroes on final pages are called to mind once again. It really does sound like something that's said in a bad ending, doesn't it? The words of someone who's been hurt, and brought about a warped vision, in service of the wish that they will never be hurt that way again--

Because he's looking at the memory of a princess from a long time ago. Not the girl who might as well have been invisible up to now.

    And Amy winces slightly and looks away. She hasn't thought about it lately, but...

    "I feel you. A lot of people do. I wonder sometimes why, if it's what's inside that matters," she looks directly at Briar Rose's eyes, "I'm treated so differently after I wished to be cute."

    That admission is a bit more private than she'd usually admit to all, but if it will get Kino-san to listen... fine.

    "And one day I'll pay a price for that Wish, and I'm okay with that -- I'd pay a lot of terrible prices for it, so..." Amy gestures at Briar Rose and the plants around them. "Can't say I blame you or even that this is all that bad."

    Man, buying time to talk would really work better if she actually had some kind of argument to make and she is desperately trying to think of one.

    "Come on. There's gotta be another option. Another way. Hawk Moth isn't gonna create a world of beauty, is he? How will this... last?"

    And then Amy just winces. As she realizes what she's said is I get this and you don't and hasn't provided any kind of justification or alternative at all.

    D-damn, I'm the worst...

    At least that realization shows on her face...

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I thought not," Briar Rose answers Tuxedo Kamen, in a tone of resignation. "It's too bad, though; it would make everything so much simpler."

Winterbug's words, though, and Nephrite's - and Jadeite's, too - they have her hesitating. Her brow creases faintly beneath the coronet of gold-and-silver leaves and diamond dewdrops, and her lips curve into a hint of an uncertain frown.

This is... it's wrong. Why is it wrong?

The oak and willow rooted behind the throne seem to shudder.

"...mmm... I'm sure that's why you were so taken with Naru-chan." Those green, green eyes slant a look up at Nephrite. "Because she's so statuesque."

When Briar Rose looks out at the others again, no trace of her former soft smile remains. "What's wrong with wanting things to be like this?" she demands. "It's beautiful, isn't it? It's safe." Her gaze falls on Amy, searching. "Why should only some wishes be granted?"

A breath passes, before Briar Rose shakes her head. "I never wanted to be a fighter. I have no intention of going back to being that girl - huge and awkward and unfeminine, and no good for anything else."

Bow has posed:
"Wait. Wait..."

"Is that what you really want, Briar? I remember the young, attractive woman that swept me into a culinary delight with her delicious meals and snacks. I wanted you for the Prom, because not only was your food wonderful, but you seemed to want to be part of it so badly that I just couldn't tell you no, even if I wanted to."

"Then I found out you were roommates with one of my two best friends and that made you even more special to me, because if you can hald Adora, for gosh shakes, you need to let me in on that secret sometime. I'm sorry you didn't get swept off your feet at the dance."

"I saw your past, what happened to you in that glimpse... and there's nothing I can do about that, except sympathize for you. But I don't think you'd want me to do that. To pity you, or any of that stuff. Yeah, you're a girl. A really cute one. You're also one of the most powerfil allies I know and one of the first people I asked to help me rescue Adora when she was all stuffed with dark energy. And you did. No question, no hesitation. You may be attractive on the outside, but inside, you're even more so, simply because..." He spreads his hands wide, gesturing around him. "Look at all the friends that have come to your aid tonight. Don't listen to Hawkmoth, he finds the one negative thing and builds on it. You're stronger than most of us here. I'm banking that you're stronger than his influence."

A pause.

"I mean, not to step on anyone's toes!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen's eyes widen behind his mask at Jadeite, and he lets out a low whistle. He leans over to tell Tamaki, too softly to interrupt the people actually doing a good job, "You're worse than an angry lawyer, I love it."

But then he's looking, actually looking, at Makoto-- and at the roots beneath them. He takes off a glove and crouches again, then drops one knee to the floor and his fingertips to the closest vine.

There's a faint glow as his awareness travels partly through the earth, below the overgrown ballroom of a cafeteria, through the vines as his feelings open up honestly. If Makoto's connected to them in some way still, it's like physical contact with him.

His gaze searches for hers, and he calls out, "You don't take up too much space. You deserve to understand that. We have a place now, even if there were idiots who didn't want us, before. Even besides Neph finally discovering he can talk about feelings."

Jadeite has posed:
"Unfeminine?"

Jadeite looks up at Makoto in her flowing dress, with the flowers and the trees, then at the students dancing around her, the boy in the back, and back at Makoto.

"YOU'RE unfemenine? You're UNFEMININE? Who's saying that dumb fucking shit to you? Do the boys in our classes not have eyes? Are people that glutted on internet mirages and photoshop? You wear dresses that'd make my aunts back in America bite plates out of sheer cuteness, you keep my boyfriend from starving to death because you're a Madonna in the kitchen, and I have never seen you look bad around around flowers! If people are mad that you're tall, they can shove it! We're ALL going through puberty AGAIN and it's WORSE this time! Anyone who thinks you're less of a woman because you're tall should go take a hike on a ski hill during a snowstorm! I have seen such tenderness and gentility from you that would make a kitten weep! You deserve to be protected too! Seriously, say the word, if you have names I can probably get permission to cause havoc."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Kind of silenced, Winterbug asks whoever's closest, "You can go through ....puberty...twice?" She blushes a bit at the word, which is a testament to her love life. Or lack of one. BUT ANYWAY.

She doesn't want to intrude, this might actually work out. But she does use this moment of not being the focus of attention to whisper 'Lucky Charm'.

If we need anything, this is the time to get it. She's gotten pretty good at reading the rhythms of goings-on past years.

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
Oh he deserved that, he deserved that, he deserved that, but Makoto does not deserve this.

"I thought she was you," Nephrite says, and regrets that those words are being said here and now, in front of an audience, where they may surely get back to Naru, though given she's dating someone else, and happily, and she had turned him down thoroughly (and thank the stars above for that) she would hopefully not take it too badly.

"Because I am truly pathetic. I saw her, a girl so wise and stubborn and determined to stand by Sailor Moon's side, and I thought for sure that she was you. And when you came forth at that jewelry princess' gala, I felt like the stupidest man alive." He still does! Quite often! "As Mamoru so bluntly put it, the truth is all over my diary. But you're - you're not wrong, either. How can my feelings be convincing, when so much of them are born from thousands of years ago?"

He steps forward, closer, perhaps crowding her, perhaps putting himself into the danger-zone, but unwilling to leave.

"I am recognizing, in this very moment, right here and now, that apparently every man we both know has a greater knowledge of you than I, and that is my own fault. I am the one who lied to you. Who betrayed you. Who didn't see you, and ran away to California rather than deal with my feelings, and am now being forced to confess this all in front of an audience - I honestly might break out into hives over this, and I deserve that."

He's grimacing, shamed and woeful and truly looking a bit like a sad puppy that knows it was wrong.

"What you've made here is beautiful. But a wish that makes you anything less than what you truly are shouldn't ever be granted. You don't have to listen to me - you don't ever have to live to me, not when I'm more of romantic mess than the lead of a shoujo manga - but you should listen to everyone else here, who's had the honor of knowing you."

Amanda Faust has posed:
You're... shorter.

    Amy winces slightly at that. The comment about Naru gets a glance from Amy to Nephrite before looking back to Briar Rose.

    "It's not wrong to want things to be like this." Amy shakes her head a little.

Why should only some wishes be granted?

    Amy cringes at herself. It is unfair, and she doesn't deserve to be the lucky one--

    And then Briar Rose says the next thing, and Amy just. Hangs her head, looking down at the ground, defeated.

    Amy doesn't know Kino-san well enough to know if it's true, but she also suspects that if that's how she feels, those feelings hurt regardless of reality.

    Amy can only say, softly:

    "...Everyone who wants this should have their wish. But I don't know how to make it happen."

    She doesn't know Kino-san well. She can't say such specifically supporting things as her friends can.

Makoto Kino has posed:
She could lash out. Instead, Briar Rose wraps her arms around herself and draws inward, ducking her head. The steps of the entranced, dancing students falter, miss a beat. Through his contact with the vine, Tuxedo Kamen can feel it: like the whole palace of vines and branches around them is trembling, like distant thunder. One after another, their words find their way to the heart of the girl inside the akuma.

She looks from one face to the next again. Looks around her at her beautiful, impossible castle. Looks back at the oak and the willow, sad substitutes for parents that they are.

How can it last? Amy asked, and she was right.

The moment hangs suspended...

...and then, at last, Briar Rose's shoulders slump. A single tear sneaks past her lashes, becoming a small white petal that drifts gently down through the air.

Reaching up, she carefully removes first one earring, then the other. Holds them out, her face turned away rather than watch the dream end.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's -- well, he's a man of simple delights, and one of those delights is seeing his friends be even momentarily happy and he's sure there's at least a hug coming, he's SO sure, he fumbles his hat to get his phone out of it, then has to scramble after his phone, but he's very fast, so he's got it up and recording what could be extreme happy or extreme awkward--

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
Nephrite doesn't look away, as Briar Rose slowly removes first one earring and then the other, as a tear falls from her eye and becomes a petal that a part of him wants to catch, because he really is a stupid seventeen year old boy -

But he doesn't really know what to do with his hands, either, because see, a part of him thinks maybe this is a moment where a hug should happen but the rest of him thinks he is so far from the hugging zone that it might as well located in Jadeite's hellish Midwestern corn fields, and the rest of him knows that a handshake is dumb, like the dumbest possible idea, like, truly, the worst, and then there's this tiny itty bitty part of him that wants to kiss her on the forehead which where is that coming from -

So, instead of doing any of those much more reasonable things, Nephrite bows to her. Like, hand to his chest, back bending, hair sweeping forward over his shoulder, bows to her.

Like a fucking moron.

"Thank you, for this." he says, as if he's not the biggest idiot who ever walked the Earth. To think he once thought of himself as suave and charismatic. Clearly, he left that behind in a crater on the moon.

Only after he gets back up does he notice Mamoru filming, and his eye twitches.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
But no. It seems that Lucky Charm is not to be done subtly. Something is happening. Lights, and magic. Strobes come out of Marinette's yo-yo, and it...what? It's just a yo-yo right?

NOT RIGHT NOW. Right now it's blitzing the air with beams of light, all over. It touches the entire dome, the thorns and the throne and the people. It's a yo-yo, a toy!

It's a ball of light, coalescing. Pulling down. Creating. The Ladybug is the power of Creation.

Prove it.

Even Winterbug's eyes widen, as the light burns and glows in her hands. And then.

"I think this is for you," she says, to Briar Rose. As she holds out ...this.

Wisteria chandeliers glow high overhead, hanging from high arching branches. The Cafeteria Plaza is transformed into something like a grand hall, an art nouveau fantasy of tall trees and draping vines. Music and perfume drift from the green-leafed walls, woodwinds and birdsong.

In the middle of the open space outside the cafeteria, more vines curl around themselves into a high dais and throne, upon which sits Makoto.

Makoto gowned in cascades of silken petals, roses blooming in her long loose hair, crowned with a tiara of golden leaves and silver blossoms. With the smile she should have had, and people dancing.

"Pretty sure it's for you," she says. As she frees the butterfly, almost an afterthought. It's bye-bye butterfly. And maybe a bit of beauty saved.

Jadeite has posed:
"It's beautiful," Tamaki says, watching as Ladybug's yoyo turns Nephrite and Makoto's reunion into something out of an art museum. It's beautiful. They're both beautiful. He's not going to bother pulling out his phone because Mamoru has it covered, and also because he wants to see as much of it with his own eyes to try and do something with it. How can he not immortalize this moment?

She'd let them talk her down. And Nephrite had finally pulled his foot out of his mouth. It's a beautiful scene.

After a moment, he leans over to Ladybug. "Several of us lived through puberty, died, were reincarnated, and had to grow up again, hence two puberties. As much fun as it is to be returned to life, I could do without being thirteen again."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sees Briar Rose's body language shift out of the corner of her eyes and looks up, and sees her cry, and

    nonononononononononononono cries her brain in sympathy, and if she were reading a story, at someone being about to do something analogous to this she'd be shouting don't do it! at the screen, but it's not a story, and Kino-san has to--

    Don't they always think they have to?

    She can't see a way to get around Dark Energy problems (and tries not to think of what she'd do if everyone insisted she step down, if they had a way, to avoid one day unleashing a Witch)

    She runs up and hugs Briar Rose, tightly, now, before she changes back, just for a moment.

    Kino-san's friends have all said wonderful things, and hopefully she will feel better, and not feel like becoming an akuma again, but

    There's still some hurt that won't go away, too. The tear shows that.

    "I'm sorry." she whispers, and then steps back as there are certainly going to be some other hugs coming for her.

    And now, things others are saying make their way through her head, and she looks at Jadeite with surprise, and then to Marinette, and steps towards her and shrugs. "Yeah. In lots of different ways, apparently." She looks back to Jadeite, and sort-of-stage-whispers, not wanting to like. Be actually loud while Kino-san and friends are having a moment but also, like, what. "Excuse me, is it worse the second time for everybody?!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Briar Rose makes a quiet, surprised sound when Amy hugs her, but she manages a bit of a hug back before the other girl scoots away.

The Lucky Charm does its work. The art nouveau tree-palace, the oak and the willow, the dais and throne and the rose-petal gown... all of these things vanish like a dream in the morning, leaving just the chilly Cafeteria Plaza and a number of students blinking their way out of a daze.

Except--

Makoto, back to her proper height and shape, cradles a beautifully detailed snowglobe in her hands. When she tilts it slightly, tiny petals eddy around the scene that Ladybug captured and preserved.

It takes Mako a second or two to look up, blinking hastily. "...thanks, everyone," she manages to say, not very loudly. "I'm... I'm sorry about all of that."

She can't really bring herself to meet Nephrite's eyes. Her cheeks flush brightly as she ducks her head again.

"Oh god, did I really take up everybody's lunch time with this...?"

NPC Nephrite (280) has posed:
"It's good to see you yourself again," Nephrite says, voice tight and choked. "It's never any trouble, to help you. Now if you'll excuse me -"

And then, he'll be turning on Mamoru and Tamaki and chasing them around the Plaza, with a (subdued) roar of,

"What the hell was all of that about! Did you even think for a second how she'd feel! I'm going to give you both wedgies you'll feel until you're eighty! Are you recording?!"