2173/Mahou 101: Sailor Senshi

Mahou 101: Sailor Senshi
Date of Scene:	17 December 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	The Sailor Senshi (and Luna the Mau) explain their magic to Entrapta. There are roses, transformations, and Impending Doom! Yay!
Cast of Characters:	281, Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba
Tinyplot:	Mahou 101

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Entrapta (281) has posed:
The shed is serene; nobody comes here without a reason, even if that reason is simply to get away from everyone else. Honestly that solitude has done wonders for Entrapta, and for her work.

Within she's working on something that needs a bit of focus. Precision work, with electronic parts placed carefully about her. It looks haphazard but she knows exactly where each part is, and what it does. A spark flies as she welds a single wire into place, her face hidden behind a dark mask.

She leans past a fizzy drink, taking a sip from a straw, and grabs a part carefully. Her hands are gloved, each and every part kept in isolation. Then she fits the tiny piece into place, turning her mask to let a magnifying focus give her precise vision for this weld.

"Okay, girl. We've got this, just hold still for me a little longer. I promise it won't blow up this time." She steadies her hand, then leans in with the saudering tool in one hand and a welding spark in the other. "Here we go.." Sure would be a bad time for someone to walk in.

Buuut luckily she manages the weld with no problems and nobody walks in right then. Yay! Trope subverted! "That was close! I was actually worried. Well, let's test your power source!" and she flips the power.

The moment afterward is both hilarious and terrifying, and anyone walking in would get to see the lights flicker for a moment! And a bit of smoke coming out of the purple-haired girl's mouth and ears.

"Ow."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Shed is pretty serene, but Usagi had heard about these interview/investigation/data collection sessions from Rashmi... and Amy... and Coco... and Madoka... and Wako... really, a lot of her friends! So it wasn't anything like a surprise to get an invite to come and share more information about their magic. Entrapta was, by all accounts, a nice girl, too, so Usagi's pretty excited to have a chance to meet her. She's walking over with Mamoru and Luna, bundled up in her heavy pink coat and with thick leggings under her skirt, all the better for keeping warm.

"Rashmi-chan's really taken Entrapta-chan under her wing, and she's really excited to have her own kohai, even though I think we have like, a lot of them, technically? And she wants to know more about how magic works!" She says as they walk along the path to the Shed, hurrying against the chilly wind.

"I don't see why she wants to know," Luna sniffs, tucked in close against Usagi's shoulder, ears pinned back against the chill. "You've all gotten along just fine so far."

"I mean, I think all the troubles we've seen have proven that is not true at all -"

Usagi reaches for the Shed door, twisting the special knob to open it, just in time to see the lights flicker and smoke coming out of a purple-haired girl's mouth and ears. The two stop and stare, and then Usagi steps further into the room, points at Entrapta, and says, "Mamochan, I think you should check on her."

Luna's tail flicks, and she mutters very quietly, "Perhaps I don't need to be worried after all."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Staring-- and then Mamoru's already closing the door behind them and moving swiftly past Usagi toward Entrapta. He's got a hand up to reach for Entrapta, telegraphing his motions, and he says right before touching the back of her hand, "I'm a healer. I just want to make sure you didn't do yourself any lasting damage--"

Then he's talking again, even as the sensation of his magic is a flood of information for Entrapta. "Electrification's usually okay, just unpleasant, right? But there was smoke coming out of your ears..."

It is a hell of a sensation: warm gold suffusing everything and immediately taking away any lingering pain, a sense of connectedness to life on this planet, to its long history -- not just human history, but history in geological time. But oh, human history as well: there are stories connected to buildings, to ancient ruins; there are stories told by streets, by objects, echoes of connections past. It's all an enormous welcome, an invitation to be connected, too. It feels like respite, like the safety that home holds for some people.

It has the feelings of mountains and streams and fields and oceans, of the living rivers underneath cities, of the electrical nervous systems of them, of life in pockets and seas... and there's something more personal, the feeling of explicitly Mamoru's concern, a background curiosity and interest, and absolutely medical knowledge clicking into place. "Startlingly, you'll be fine...?" he says, eyes wide as he takes his hand back and all the feelings withdraw.

Entrapta (281) has posed:
The purple-haired girl doesn't normally have that much hair, does she? I mean, people would have said something. I mean, sure, it's possible that the halo of hair around her head was caused by the electrical surge, but she wouldn't fit through doorways!

She tracks the arrival of ..are her EYES purple too? Yikes, that's some theme. Of..the new arrivals, especially Mamoru, her mouth opening to try and say something but then she's being healed and there's data to process!

"Oh, I wish I'd been recording that," she says as he finishes. "If I were to try to melt my brain a second time, would you be willing to ....no? Your face says no. Okay, I guess not." Then the girl smiles, waving to Usagi as if to ask her to join them! And the cat!

"Sorry, I was just doing some upgrades. I think it's okay, I just need to handle a few loose connections." Like the ones in her skull, possibly. "Can I help you? Have we met? I am here gathering data on magic styles, and yours seems new. Ooh, are you here to help?" She rubs her hands together, smiling brightly!

Her hair is soooo long! And purple. I like purple.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a look on Usagi's face that's all relief and also all questions - like, 'are you okay?' 'are you SURE you're okay?' 'oh, you're just like this? oh, okay' - but none of them are voiced, they just live on Usagi's face for a moment before she giggles a little and smiles brightly. "Please don't hurt yourself on purpose! Mamochan's nice, I'm sure he'd heal you again."

This, as she comes closer, shaking Luna off (the black cat hops down onto the table with a huff).

"I'm Usagi Tsukino, grade 10, also Sailor Moon, and this is my fiancé, Mamoru Chiba. We are here to help! And we have not met, but a lot of my friends have told me about you, so I wanted us to come help you with your research. We're Senshi, and I don't think you've gotten to talk to any of us? Also, this is Luna, she's my advisor, and don't mind her if she gets snarky, she's like that."

The cat? Snarky?

"How rude," Luna huffs, and oh right, that explains it. "However, it is nice to meet you, Entrapta-san. If whatever you were doing upgrades on is liable to electrocute you again, you may wish to have support on hand. You could have seriously hurt yourself."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Brains are really tricky," Mamoru admits, "so please no, I agree. I already had to put one back together once and I'm still not sure I put everything back where it was supposed to go."

He's silly amounts of tall, at least six feet, in this land of people who are generally considerably shorter than that-- and it's really silly when you realize Usagi is also exceptionally short. He's got over a foot on her. Black-haired and blue-eyed, his face is nice, a nice expression; he's wearing a black shirt and a black leather jacket and blue jeans, and shiny brown dress shoes.

He adds, "I'm in grade 11, but I go to this school too. What can we help you with first?"

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta blows some dust out of the mechanism she'd been working on, then coughs into her sleeve for a moment. Then she pops it closed, and the little device makes a whirring sound before settling to silence. Then she comes around the table, glancing at Luna thoughtfully.

Peering slightly, she makes a mental adjustment. Clearly cats on this world are more intelligent than she'd expected. Nodding as she gathers another important data point (this is going to come back on her someday) Entrapta says, "I have safety procedures, but that one was a surprise. Electricity ran a bit differently back home."

Wouldn't that require a change in the laws of nature? Maybe. Or maybe she's the one that's changed. "Let me get recording, and.." she leans over her table, then slaps a button. A few things seem to activate, and she turns back to you! "There we go!" Well, that was easy.

"Don't worry, my brain is pretty well scrambled as it is," she says cheerily. In the background, the little 'bot she'd been working on? It starts to move, trundling over toward Luna. Where it pauses, as if looking at her.

It's a roomba. Maybe it wants to tidy that location?

Entrapta, for reference, is shorter than average. So Mamoru would tower over her, as she says, "You're tall." She pulls out a tape measure, then quickly gets a data point on him. Without missing a beat, she continues with: "Well, what is a Senshi? Seems like a good place to start, there."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna looks back at Entrapta, with that cat-stare of infinity. She's quite the lovely little black cat, with her well-groomed fur and her wine-red eyes, and the golden crescent moon on her forehead. She seems to stare into Entrapta's soul...

And then the Roomba comes over, and she steps daintily aside, assuming she's in the poor robots path of cleaning, watching it carefully, because she has learned cleaning robots sometimes want to take the fur off of her to keep shedding down...

"The electricity worked differently? That's cool!" That sounds plausible enough to Usagi, who honestly could not explain how electricity worked even if Chibiusa said it was the only way to keep the Silver Crystal out of her sticky little hands. "Sure, sure, get recording, that sounds like a good idea."

Things activate, and Luna hums in mild concern - "You shouldn't go out of your way to scramble it more" - as she circles the Roomba.

"That is such a good question," Usagi contemplates the answer. "It means you're a Sailor Guardian, and you've got a connection to a... not just a planet, because it's moons and dwarf planets too, but, a thing in space? And when you transform, if you're a girl, you have a Sailor collar."

In the background Luna is making such a face of 'well she's not... wrong....'

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I am tall," Mamoru agrees gravely. He holds still to get measured, eyebrows up, then takes a seat on top of one of the desks. He looks over to Usagi, glancing at Luna on the way, then grins at her explanation of being a Sailor Senshi.

"If you're not a girl, you apparently get formalwear," he adds, then laughs and shakes his head. "All our connections to our planets take on themes, like for example-- Mercury is the Senshi of Wisdom and Water. And the powers fit the-- the stories of the planets, a little bit. But we're not-- we're all reincarnated, too."

Mamoru pauses to look uncertain, then, glancing at Usagi. "I'm not sure about the guys. They have qualities they're knights of, but I don't know if their powers are themed like yours seem to be."

Then he holds his hands out, and he looks at them, and they glow a little, and he laughs once more. "Honestly, I'mm not sure that's a good way to explain. And we didn't have anyone explain it to us. Maybe if we give you a lot of data you can tell us later when you have it figured out? Since you're recording, should we just show you? I'm better at showing than telling."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta? Her mind is awhirl.

Did their faces say no? They confirmed it with words, which suggests that...wait, did I get a social cue correct? That suggests that increases socialization has added effects! I'm actually progressing toward a state in which I can tell a person things and have them make some level of sense! To them! I have to continue this experiment, and allow for data points accepting alterations in my personal reaction sphere....they're talking to me.

Blinking, Entrapta quickly reviews what was actually said. She heard it, but...data! Oh, okay. "Emily, leave her alone. Emily's curious." She seems to be referring to the roomba, which has turned to ...well, not follow, but at least face toward Luna. "I think she wants to say hello! She's quite affectionate."

Jotting down information, the purple-haired girl (her hair is settling down, looks like it's normally twintails!) paces as she writes. "That makes sense, I do need to try to get some kind of demonstration if at all possible. So you say it's different by gender? I'm so lucky you both came, then!"

She grins, looking up and giving a thumbs-up that looks like it's really important. Puts a lot of emphasis into it. "I can look up information later, if anything is left out. I get that there's always going to be data that's missed, but the focus here is largely on magic."

Then she looks at Luna, who's still being semi-stalked. "Do you have a third form of magic? Or is that a personal question? I can never tell if I'm overstepping boundaries, I've spent my life in a few rooms with only robots for company. I think I might be a little weird."

Doesn't seem to bother her? She clearly likes who she is. "I'd love it if you could do a transformation. That's always a big moment, and gives off the best magical resonances." Whatever those are.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Emily?" Usagi and Luna ask at the same time, Usagi looking at the Roomba for the first time, Luna with more curiosity. Luna is the one to continue, "Is she aware? I was presuming she was a simple Roomba, but if she isn't going to come after my fur, I don't mind her inspection..."

Well, now Emily is being inspected as carefully as Luna considers her. She sniffs it, but presumably it still just smells like a Roomba, at least...

"Well, it's seemed different by gender so far," Usagi confirms, "I'm not sure if it's accounting for every gender? Because that sounds like a lot. And I've never tried to transform as not a girl..."

Hm, that sounds like an experiment for the disguise pen, but would that work? All the more to test!

"We are all reincarnations, so I don't know if that impacts things," she confirms with a glance at Mamoru. "We all had - well, wait, no, almost all of us are reincarnations - Sailor Pluto isn't one, she's just been... alive since all the rest of us were alive the first time..."

Hm, she might know more -

"There were no male Senshi known to us at the time," Luna says, breaking her staring contest at Emily to look up at Entrapta. "I am a Mau - an alien species from beyond the Earth's system. My species is able to transition between feline and humanoid forms, while maintaining our ability to communicate in either form. Usagi-chan's mother in her previous life also shared with me certain powers, but I'm afraid that's not relevant to being a Senshi."

Usagi blinks - "Did you say you lived your whole life in just a few rooms? Are you okay? I mean it's okay to be weird, that's fine, but I mean with the just a few rooms thing!"

But... she does sound okay...

"Sure, I can do a transformation. I use my broach; Luna gave me the original one, but it actually changed recently... here, you can look-"

She pulls the broach from her jacket pocket and holds it out, allowing Entrapta to look but not touch, before raising it into the air. "Moon Crystal Power, Make Up!"

There's a rush of light, Usagi's body briefly shrouded by a pastel rush of pale color, leaving only her eyes and a golden crescent moon mark on her forehead visible in her skin, before ribbons cover her frame, before transforming into her fuku, boots, and gloves. Her skirt and Sailor collar, and ribbons pop into existence next, and then her tiara, earrings, and odango caps, along with a swish of make up.

All of that happens in the span of a few seconds, and then Sailor Moon stands in the shed.

Luna smiles to see her. This Senshi - this Soldier of the Moon, who is still so new, having not existed in the Silver Millennium, her precious princess, her queen and friend's daughter.

She'll have to tell her, and the others, about their Sailor Crystals, she supposes. It hasn't been relevant - it isn't as though most of them have them readily available, safely hidden within them as they are - but they should know more of their power, and their origins. Those Sailor Crystals represent their ties to their guardian planet, after all.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm not sure about a third form of magic-- for a couple of years in this life I used Dark Energy, but it's really really bad for you. So bad for you. It's like eating lead. The more you eat the sicker and crazier you get," the black-haired boy says, then shuts up and waits for Usagi, briefly looking at Emily and Luna.

No he doesn't wait actually, he leans over a little and says, "We should try. I might get a fuku." Then he looks at Luna and says a little wistfully, "Maybe things would have gone differently if anyone had known. But I doubt it."

She does sound okay -- Mamoru's not going to pry. No. Instead, he's going to watch with hearts in his eyes as Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon: he'll never get tired of watching her.

Then he stands and takes a pocket watch from his pocket-- a six-pointed gold star with a round blue-and-white nighttime-ish design behind the hands. "I inherited this from my parents, who I don't remember at all," he says, showing her. "And when Kunzite borrowed it, his henshin looked like mine for a while. Like this."

He takes a breath and holds up the watch, and he calls out calmly, firmly, "Earth Prism Power, Make Up!"

A half second later, it's like Usagi's transformation, but almost in reverse: her bright colors are his dark jewel tones, and her red ribbons are his clothing gradually resolving on the dark silhouette of his figure. They resolve into a smartly cut black tailcoat tuxedo, a red-lined black cape, and a luminous-in-the-moonlight half-translucent white mask.

He spreads his hands, then flips his hand around and produces a rose out of nowhere, holding it out for Entrapta to take. "And," he says, and throws another one out of nowhere, and there's a red streak afterimage that follows it before it sticks, stem first, vibrating in the wall and dropping a couple of petals. "They also break chains, concrete, magic, and some youmas."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Emily is a roomba. She smells like one. She is shaped like one. She backs away a little as Luna approaches her. Then it (she?) turns to look at Entrapta, who waves to her and nods! Its okay! Yes, it appears that Entrapta has imbued intelligence in a glorified mop. Well. Huh.

She holds still so Luna can inspect her, having no real way to communicate. "I'll work on her being able to do more, she's very much a work in progress. But Ms Setsuna wants her back, so I might not be able to finish her right off."

So many questions, so few answers. But, back on topic? "I've never encountered magic like yours, so I can't say. This is just data gathering, at this stage. Though I appreciate having your scholar with you." She nods respectfully to Luna, but isn't a mindreader so misses some of the background. Also she isn't sure who Pluto is, so she asks. "Mm, Pluto. Is she around?" You. Just. Mentioned. Her! Well, if nobody tells her, how would she have known? Anyway.

Scritching the top of her own head, Entrapta studies her notes. Then looks up, about the being locked up. "Oh. Yeah. It's fine, I made friends. Emily's the first one I've been able to produce here, though." Wow. That's...horrible.

And also, leaning to one side so she can see her computer screen when Transformations begin! She tries to see both that, and her screen where her data is coming up. "Oh! Fascinating, the shifts in patterns are..crystaline? That's incredible, I have to work out the math on this."

She doesn't look up for the rose. So much data to work through! Then, her head shoots up when Mamoru throws the second one. "What?"

Pause. Then she gets up, both hands reaching out. "A power transfer tool I can keep? With an expended matrix to compare it to?" Her eyes are spinning. "That's so wonderful..."

Neeeeerrrrrrrrd!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Emily smells like a Roomba. Looks like a Roomba. Sounds like a Roomba. But she's definitely more than a Roomba, that much is obvious. "As she is clearly more than a regular Roomba now, I believe Setsuna-san would appreciate receiving a Roomba back, rather than you undoing what has been done."

You have Made A Friend, Entrapta, and now you are forever responsible for what you have made.

"Yeah," Usagi hums, "I figured it would be better to have Luna with us, because she kind of knows the most out of any of us about how this all works? I mean, I recently got this new rod -" and she flicks her wrist and suddenly there is the Spiral Heart Moon Rod in her hand, as long as her forearm, with a crown-and-heart shaped end at the staff, with it's golden bow - "Instead of my old one. I don't think I can get the old one back? But, when I needed to be stronger, I was. That's kind of what being a Senshi is like, for me. When I need it, the power is there, and I know what to do?"

It's very unscientific, as Ami would complain.

"Oh, it's Crystal-y? That makes sense! I have a crystal," Usagi says cheerfully, and opens her broach, to show Entrapta the Silver Crystal.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She seems okay. Despite the three rooms thing and literally making her friends, she seems okay? She's very weird, but Mamoru already likes her, and she seems okay so he's still not going to ask. It's just-- she was more alone than he was, even before he met Takashi.

Tuxedo Mask grins back at Entrapta a little lopsidedly. "Yes, correct. You're welcome! I should probably be more careful with them, they do have some of my energy in them, but... I think it's plenty safe to give them to you."

He pauses and frowns at her experimental arrays. "Do you need a third one? In case expending the intact one doesn't record right?"

Then Usagi legit just goes 'OH I have a crystal!!!' and Tuxedo Kamen's gaze lands swiftly on Luna, but then he laughs. "I don't have a crystal, though, so I wonder why mine looked like that? Maybe you should have had a third senshi here, too."

Then the boy in the mask takes a breath, looks to make sure Entrapta is still recording, and then doesn't gesture or say anything-- there's just a line of crackling, sparking light that travels over him like self-lighting charcoal, leaving behind it a prince in a cape and pauldrons, greaves, faulds-- and a semi-military-looking tunic beneath it, dark blue with light blue and gold designs on it. "And this is more or less what I looked like around the time of the Younger Dryas. I'm stronger and have better access to some of my power this way."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Gah. "Gah! This is totally the opposite of my last interview, I have almost too much data! Which is impossible, of course, but you can only process so much in a limited frame of time!" She's talking to the room, not to anyone in particular, as she gets up and takes the rose.

And then is shown Usagi's Silver Crystal

And then another transformation, which she can compare readings on to the previous one on the same subject.

And she has to compare the data on the roses, and the existing pattern forming in her wavelength readings, and so many other things. She slaps herself on her cheeks, then takes a deep breath.

"Okay, it's going to be a long night," she says. It does not sound like an upset statement. Just one that has a lot of work to do.

"Can I get back to you on ...almost all of that? You've given me a lot, and I have to work through the math on all of it. Like, the crystal? I didn't mean that directly, let me get a reading on that one though hang on.."

She was staying on topic for like, ten seconds there. Then she's scanning Usagi's crystal, and her hands are just doing it, and she's still talking. "No I was noting a pattern in the data points that suggests a crystal wavelength structure. Your magic itself is crystaline in nature, it forms patterns instead of staying in a stable structure. I think it might be unique, but that means it's going to be exponentially difficult to plot."

Maybe Luna grasped that. Or Luna already knew that. But. "Is...there anything else I need to know?" Entrapta looks up, at you both.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Entrapta says she's okay. She seems okay. She made her own friends and she lived in a small room and she has Rashmi to be her senpai, and she has Usagi and Mamoru to be her friends, and she's okay.

And if it turns out later she's not? That's okay. That's what friends are for. But for now? They have a little overwhelmed her and -

"You can definitely get back to us on that! Plus, like, we're friends now, so you can always ask to look at my magic again; I don't mind helping you learn more - and Sailor Mercury would probably love to talk shop with you, she loves data!" She will casually confirm that of course there will be future times to study and answer questions and get more to learn.

"And Pluto is around! I'll ask her to come talk to you too, and she'll probably love chatting about more stuff?" She hums a little, thinking of what a nerd (affectionate) Setsuna is, and nods decisively. "I'll definitely tell her."

And then she closes up her compact, hiding the crystal. "So our magic makes crystal patterns... I don't really know what that means? But it's cool."

Luna did know what it meant - or at least, she had a feeling she did. It meant that the Senshi, and their Sailor Crystals, were constantly evolving, integrating their expectations, their emotions, their lives, into their power, their abilities.

The Leaves of Oak. The Mercury Lyre. The Mars Arrow. The Venus Love Me Chain. The Spiral Heart Moon Rod, still held so casually in Sailor Moon's hand - what are these but the power of a Senshi made manifest, carved into existence by will and heart and power?

It was the Senshi's Sailor Crystal - like Usagi's very own Silver Crystal - that allowed them to be Senshi, and they would always be Senshi, once awakened. It was who they were. It was why Luna worried so much about the Fade, and what it would do to her charges, who had been reborn to be who they were and could not be anyone else.

But she wouldn't say any of that, in front of a stranger. Instead, she cleared her throat, and said, "I would be willing to speak with you again, as well. I am interested in following your research, young Entrapta."

And then Usagi taps her chin and says, "Oh, right, last thing - since you're getting readings and all!"

And then with a flash of light, she's in a gauzy white dress with gold decor, her blond hair silver, her skin faintly glowing with moonlight.

"This is what I looked like, back then. We were the Prince and Princess, instead of Senshi; the others have been Senshi both times though, so I'll definitely drag one of them back next time!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"There's one last thing," the Prince says, almost shyly. He gives the Princess an apologetic look, then says to Entrapta, "Mercury's going to be taking readings on Kunzite, one of my Shitennou, because he just turned eighteen and that's-- that's when magic starts fading, and we start forgetting everything we could do. I don't know how that interacts with our reincarnations. I'll be eighteen in August. Maybe if you could take readings too, just to track what's happening? And-- maybe see if there's something that can be stopped, or fixed."

Entrapta (281) has posed:
Entrapta is nodding as she writes down some relevant side notes, the data largely being captured by crystal scanning tools she's personally invented for this project. She's always worked with crystals, so it's not a hardship. And she lives to be challenged!

"I'd love to meet them," she says in response to Usagi. But her mind is on similar things to Luna's. That a power structure that can grow is leaps and bounds ahead of one that has a static power formation, and this might, just possibly, be the basis for all magic. Right here. Because of how immense it really is, when it's broken down.

She glances up, but at Luna, to say how she'd love to share her research, when of COURSE Usagi transforms once more. And darn it if she doesn't have more data, her eyes trying to take it all in.

So when Mamoru speaks, she's busy. But still present, she's just got to...do...things. So many things.

"I've had some ideas," is all she manages to say. But somehow, that alone feels...ominous. Before she looks up, and begins to smile.

What...have you done?