2235/Vroom Vroom

Vroom Vroom
Date of Scene:	15 January 2025
Location:	Yumegahama Ward
Synopsis:	Mamoru asks Haruka for motorcycle lessons, then proves his new dad syndrome by not being able to shut up about Chibiusa until they get back to motorcycles with Hinoiri who is STRANGELY APOLOGETIC.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Haruka Tenoh, Hinoiri Kirara

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It was a text: Hi it's Mamoru! Meet me at the ice cream place from when I got shot, I have a sort of secret question to ask you and what kind of ice cream do you like? Same kind as last time? Or some kind of hot drink since it's

It was two texts: nm i dont have to prove anything lol

Okay honestly three: i will get you a tasty bribe!!! if you come

It is cold, but the ice cream and coffee and lattes and everything that this place has were really good. Mamoru's waiting outside the place with fingerless gloves, his leather jacket, a hoodie under it, and a beanie that says GUITAR WOLF on it, with his cowlick sticking out from under the brim. His glasses are going to get foggy when they go in, if they go in, and he would be warmer if he decided to wear something other than skinny jeans. At least there are sneakers on the boardwalk, not his usual dress shoes.

"Yo!" he calls out, waving.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    It really didn't take much to get Haruka out when the message comes from a teammate; as long as she's actually, you know, in Tokyo that day. Which in this case she was! And already out. The flurry of texts from Usagi's Prince got the blonde to smile slightly and text back.

    TXT to Mamoru: you don't need to bribe me but it does help.

    And that was all he got back until Haruka was walking up, hands in the pockets of a truly hideous mustard suit that she was still managing to pull off as some sort of constant challenge to any deities interested in fashion or attractiveness, stepping out in her own dress pants and very much boymode for the day.

    The attention of a couple of RHA students who were pointing at her and hiding very poorly only seemed to intensify as the 'hot guy' waved over to another 'hot guy'. Not wanting to burden Mamoru with the situation, Haruka turned around. "We're both taken, sorry girls..." The two girls blushed and raced off, having been both discovered and told off.

    "Yo." Haruka replied back with a smile. "So what's so important you feel like YOU have to bribe me? You know you can just ask, you're kind of royalty and junk."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Bribing makes me feel better," laughs that Prince, and then he sips his mocha latte. "I want to learn to ride a motorcycle, and I'm hoping you can teach me... and also maybe my daughter when she's old enough. I also would like help buying one, and buying equipment, and-- and I'd like to be good enough to give Usako a motorcycle ride for her birthday. If you think that's a long enough time."

He's watching Haruka to see when it processes, and he's also holding up a credit card cheerfully. "Let's get your unnecessary bribe," he adds, glancing back behind them to see if the girls are really gone before reaching to open the door with the credit card hand.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka reaches a hand behind her head. "Well, yeah, I can probably teach you how to ride." she says. "So long as you're less crazy about it than Kirara-san." she adds after a moment. "Not teaching another daredevil, should leave that to those of us who can cheat the wind." she says.

    "Buying one, I guess you mean picking one out since I think Mister Cat Cafe can pick up his own one. But... when's Usagi's birthday again?" she pauses, feeling bad for a moment that she doesn't know that off the top of her head... but she's always been bad at those.

    Then she paused. "Wait, daughter? How are you sure that you're going to have a daughter first. Could always be a boy." she says, not quiiiite fully picking up on the implication as she walks towards the door, letting him open it for her.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Open it goes, and Mamoru follows Haruka in, letting the door shut behind him. His glasses immediately fog up, and he takes them off to hang them over the collar of his hoodie, then sips his mocha again and grins, passing Haruka the credit card.

He answers questions in order, slowly, honestly kind of teasing affectionately. Not super slowly, just pedantically, with a little grin. "I'm not a daredevil. If anything, you'll have to deal with an overcareful student."

Then, he laughs goodnaturedly. "Yeah, Mister Cat Cafe can buy one, so, yes, picking one out. Her birthday's the last day of March."

It's not until after Haruka's ordered that he answers the question about a daughter. "Because she's fiveish, here from the future. Really smart, and clever too, and brave, and tiny, and angry."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    Haruka's got no glasses to fog, but she smirks for just a moment at Mamoru's. "Careful's good when you're on a motorbike. They don't have the crumple zones and seatbelts and all that a car has to protect you. So we'd be starting off slow. Just don't want you getting aggrivated I'm trying to prevent the Moon Princess from beating me to death with a tiara-wrapped knuckle for letting you get hurt on a bike.

    "They've got a coconut creme icecream I really like, if you don't mind." she muses. And then she looks at the fridge and watches the scoop and her brain catches up to his comment about his daughter.

    "Oh, the little pink girl." she says, casually. There's a beat pause or two before she turns around with a "WHA?!" and a bit of an open jaw. "Your daughter, yours and Usagi's... is that why she keeps buzzing around you?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru grins. He grins so wide, eyes sparkling and maybe a little too bright, and he doesn't have his glasses on to shield him. He's so openly full of joy. "Yeah, she's ours. We're all too young to be parents, but sometimes things happen--"

Then he blushes bright red for a second, hand over his mouth. "I mean," he says, muffled, then gathers his dignity and drops his hand, and it's so silly. "Not-- that kind of thing. In our case. But sometimes things like little girls falling from the ceiling happen, or rescuing a love-starved little girl from an untenably dangerous situation..."

Needless to say, the blush is gone, and the joy is quieter and deeper. "Anyway it's nice to have family," the boy laughs, a little wry. "I think I might get it now."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Well, you're talking like she's from this time, right?" Haruka asks, taking a spoon in her hand. "Like, if Usagi was pregnant right now, the lesson I would be talking about teaching you wouldn't have much to do with motorcycles." she says. "But she dropped out of ceiling from the future or something; that's just... another day in our lives." she says, before pausing to take a spoonfull of the ice cream - even though it's in a cone.

    "Yeah, I didn't understand what it was like to have a real family - one that cared about me instead of the way I performed for them - till I had Meiou-san and Michi." she says. "And now, Ho... Yokina-san, as well. So I get it. I didn't lose my family, but they lost me." she says, quietly. "And the one I have now is so much better."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru pockets his wallet once his card's back in it, and he laughs sheepishly this time, mocha-free hand going up to adjust his hat, then put his glasses back on. "Most of the kids in the orphanage were there because their families didn't want them," he says first, then finishes the thought, "so I figure we both know, yeah. I'm really, really happy for you." The smiling's brighter again.

The Prince of Earth doesn't say a single thing about the hilariously closest to a shovel talk he's gotten, but his eyebrows do go up. (His expression says 'as if' but it's impossible to tell whether he's incredulous over the idea that he'd knock Usagi up or over the idea that Usagi would let Haruka beat Mamoru up...)

(Just eyebrows up, that's all.)

Mamoru laughs again, though, and it's *clearly* because of the way Haruka put it-- and that bubbling joy is just below the surface of all of it. "Anyway-- I did actually come to ask you about motorcycle lessons, so I'm glad I did remember to ask... but, so, what day of the week would be good for you...?"

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Well, lesson number one about riding a motorcycle is that you should have both hands free for the handlebars, which means we can't really start anything till I finish this ice cream." she says with a smirk. "Workin' on that."

    "So look, as long as the kid's okay, then we're good, but if she's you two's future daughter that means she's going to be... well... she's going to be trouble, first..." she says taking a bite of her cone "... and second she's gonna need protecting, so you know you can call me. I've already gotten an earful of the things I should not do as Yokina-chan's guardian, so I'll probably make less mistakes if you need someone to keep an eye on her." she says. "Also, much faster running than any kid." she winks.

    "Anyways, good news is also that I actually came over here on my bike - would have also been hard to give you any kind of basic rundown if I was in one of the cars..." she muses as she finishes her cone and tosses the napkin she wipes her hands off with in the trash with an entirely-too-overdramatic-tossing-a-basketball-motion. She's been overseas lately.

    "Alright, let's head out and I can at least start you off with a crashless course today, if it's a good time...?" she says, heading towards the door.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
It was a beautiful day. And Hinoiri...

Was out of the BUCKING LOOP! Like, oh my gosh. It was so nice. Each day was new. And she had a glow about her.

Also, her hair was... she had the WORST helmet hair. Haruka, she was not. And she didn't even carrrrrre.

So while Haruka dressed like some kind of titan, devourer of all things good and fashionable in the world, Hinoiri was wearing... a... well... standard leather jacket, dark pants, orange shirt with a rainbow on under the jacket. Walking in and nearly bumping into Haruka. Pushing the door open right as Haruka was coming out and... Almost slamming into her. She eeped, stepping back. "Oh, sorry," she said.

Only to pause and blink. "Oh, Tenoh-san! Long time no see! Chiba-san, nice to see you, too. I hope you two aren't on some kind of patrol today," she said with a friendly smile.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You will absolutely be asked to babysit and yeah, yeah, please definitely prioritize making sure she's protected over me," Mamoru says with gratitude, humor, and then at the end, seriousness. It still sounds like a request, though.

"Oh," (Chiba-san okay I'm Chiba-san today? okay, can roll with it) "hey, Kirara-san," Mamoru says cheerfully-- so cheerfully-- way too cheerfully especially for a lying liar who lies-- after sipping his mocha again. He's clearly mid-conversation with Haruka, since he's glancing toward her once more and starting to open his mouth...

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "I'll just protect you all." Haruka says firmly. "I've had enough of seeing something fall because of orders, you know. Nothing personal, it's just not something my old soul can take seeing happen again."

    "Oh, hey Kirara-san." Haruka says as the firehead appears, waving softly. "Good to see you - as long as the first words out of your mouth aren't going to be some sort of challenge, because..." she shakes her head. "Too many people worked too hard to keep you alive, you know." she says with a wink.

    "Not on patrol per-se, but... hmmm." She debates for a moment having Hinoiri help her, but decides maybe not, unless she needs a bad example. "Well, we're just headed back to my bike. I guess from the jacket you came in on yours?" she asks. "Mind if Mamoru-kun gets a look at your bike? He might be getting one soon and yours and mine are pretty different so it might give him more thoughts."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara smiled up at him before glancing back towards Haruka. "Hmm? Oh... no. I'm uhhh... actually trying to take a break from competing for a bit. Maybe just relax. Chill, even. But, ummmm... about that. I uhhh... owe you an apology. Our last race... I think... I might have gone a lot overboard. Even if I was the only one who got hurt, the hurt it would have caused you wasn't fair to you and I understand why you haven't wanted to race me since. Also... sorry if it feels weird me calling you that. I'm trying to get better at the whole... calling people by their family name thing. Still feels a bit awkward to me but... it's the nice thing, right?" she said, moving aside so the two could pass.

"And sure, here," she said, before reaching into her pocket to pull out her keys, tossing them to Haruka. "I'll be out in a minute, but you can show him a bit of it if you like. Just don't take it out of the parking lot and don't drop it. Now, there's some strawberry ripple with my name on it," she said before making her way towards the line, lightly whistling as she went.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Something in Mamoru's face turns from normal-friendly to affectionately friendly, there. "Okay," he agrees simply, looking at Haruka. "I absolutely get it."

One corner of his mouth twitches at what Haruka greets Hinoiri with, and then he behaves better. He had to heal that road rash, after all. He looks to Hinoiri for a second, then back to Haruka as she asks about Hinoiri's bike--

--and then. Then he stares at Hinoiri Kirara like someone's replaced her with a Life Model Decoy or a... a non-dark-energy dark energy construct of some sort. He squints. He wants to ask her, the sorcerer or magical theorist or whatever she actually is, what it would be called if it weren't dark energy. But she's clearly been hit in the head--

He misses Hinoiri literally tossing the keys to Haruka, and stares after the unicorn as she heads further into the store and gets in line. He calls back, "Well you can call me Mamoru!" and then slide-steps the hell out of there with his mocha.

"You think she got ultra-purified or something?" Mamoru asks Haruka in a low voice as they head for the bikes. "I'll have to ask Usa."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
    "Yeah, a whole lot overboard! You nearly died! And think about how that woulda made me feel!" Haruka replies to Hinoiri. "No traumatizing me!" she says, bluntly. Letting out some of her held-back energy on the subject now that it seems like Hinoiri gets it.

    "Yeah, it is the nice thing - to use family names - but as you grow close to people it tends to move to first names." she says. "Especially once permission's given." she continues, inclining her head as Mamoru does just that.

    "Alright, let's go have a look. Her bike's a little different than mine, and if there's questions that causes I can explain how it affects performance. Or we could just... get you a basic bike, I'm probably going overboard already..." Haruka says as she catches the keys and starts to head out.

    As a low aside to Mamoru, she whispers. "...is it to hopeful of me to imagine maybe she grew up a little?" regarding Hinoiri.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Hinoiri Kirara cringed at Haruka's reaction. "Yeah... I... I get that. It's... not... it's rough to... see that happen. Heh..."

However, while they were heading off, she was getting in line... and it wouldn't be long before she was coming out to see them. Her bike... was a narrow thing. It had space for a passenger, had likely more power than its narrow, thin form would likely need, but it was obviously built for speed and maneuverability, over like... power. Definitely had a lower weight limit.

And it was black with flames on it, like her helmet. And had a helmet case on the back. Not very loud, either. Definitely well maintained, frequent maintenance. It was, in many ways, her baby. "So, what brought this desire for a bike up, Mamoru? Though... yeah. I could definitely see you on a bike. Might need to lose the cape, though, might get caught in the wheels and trust me, nobody wants that. Might damage the bike." She said it with a bit of playful tone to her voice, but well... magic. The bike might suffer more damage than he would.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...sounds fake, but okay, I'll allow it," Mamoru whispers back, "I just wanna see more proof. It's awfully sudden."

Then Hinoiri rejoins them, and asks about his desire for a bike, and he says a little shyly, "I want to work on my fear of cars and figure a motorcycle is a good start."

But there's other stuff for them all to talk about, and his eyebrows go up. "I wonder if I can make a retractable cape..."