2375/Grand Ocean's Laws

Grand Ocean's Laws
Date of Scene:	02 March 2025
Location:	Grand Ocean
Synopsis:	Laura, Hinoiri, Usagi, Rashmi and Amy go to the Mermaid Queen to talk about the matter of her missing memories. The truth that comes out has mixed receptions.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Hinoiri Kirara, Amanda Faust, Rashmi Terios, Usagi Tsukino, Melusine Muses Mnemosyne

---

Laura La Mer has posed:
Grand Ocean, at the Queen's great hall. This is the second time time human guests have visited her ever since Laura made friends with Hotaru, and this time she was bringing with her one of the Pretty Cures she has resonated with.

Ah, if only the circumstances were more pleasant than this... Laura wears her heart on her sleeve, and her thoughts are just as much in the open. But nonetheless they are important guests she is about to receive, and they deserve the best welcome Grand Ocean has to offer.

When Laura and Kururun brings the other girls in front of the Mermaid Queen, the monarch offers them a smile, crowned by an inquisitive gaze. The fact Laura became acquainted with them so quickly was unsettling her. Was she going to be hurt again? So soon after she has tried to save her? She was hoping her actions would have gotten Laura a bit more of a reprieve than this.

"Welcome to Grand Ocean, warriors from the surface. I am Melusine Muses Mnemosyne, Grand Ocean's Queen. I wish the times were better, but I extend to you the welcome fitting for ones so valiant", she speaks serenely. "To what do I owe the visit?"

"Queen", Laura looks up at the monarch with a mix of reverence and doubt. "I must have told you about Hinoiri Kirara, and the others are Usagi Tsukino, Amanda Faust and Rashmi Terios." The Queen's face distends at the pinkette's words, and at the same time, the latter frowns. She is really not denying that.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne bowed politely to the queen, a small smile on her lips. Holy buck that woman was big, and you know what?

It was kind of nice. Reminded her of Sora. Havign someone who was just... naturally THAT much bigger. Don't judge.

"Your highness," Cure La Licorne said before straightening up. "We're here out of concern for Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer," Yes, she DID in fact know her full name. HA! "Something happened to her memory. The time we knew each other, the people she knew, even giving me my henshin device. The last thing she remembered is waking up here and believing she was attacked when the Witch of Delays came. We need to find a way to find out how they did this and help Laura regain her memories. Whatever she discovered must have been important if her enemies went to such lengths to remove these memories."

She, at least, seemed to not realize what had actually happened. Yet.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Not that long ago, Amy would have been quite happy to meet Laura's mom. A mermaid queen in a magical undersea kingdom! How cool! She'd probably have showed up to court in one of Princess Serenity's dresses! (She might have a couple of those stored away in her backpack, currently... wherever her backpack goes when she's in henshin, in case her worries are unfounded.) As it is, though... Laura confirming she was only just woken up and sent out by the queen in the past few weeks suggests that something shady is going on, and Amy is on her guard, and transformed for the meeting.

    Not that she's expecting a fight, but... well, she can be ready and it's appropriate to be wearing her magical outfit, right?

    She didn't expect the queen to be a giant, though. "Uhhh," Amy asides to Laura, "Were you micronized before you were sent to the surface? I mean, were you magically shrunk to human size?"

    Oh, Licorne is starting the discussion. "Yes. We're... trying to figure out what happened. Can you confirm what day it was that you awoke Laura from the Witch of Delay's curse and sent her to the surface?"

    Saying it, she sounds a little bit like Hinote. She doesn't know any other detectives!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
-- THEN --

When Rashmi showed up to travel to Grand Ocean, it was not in her usual Barrier Jacket... but a white, techy nurse's outfit with belled sleeves, a poofy skirt, and summery green stripes. When asked about it, she'd simply shrugged, waving the heart-tipped pink rod in her hand. "Nicomachea's still running sims, so I borrowed one of the Arthras' officers Devices, just in case. Heart's Choir, this is Laura-chan, Hinoiri-chan, Amy-chan, and Usachan."

    <<Yes, master!>>

-- NOW --

...Rashmi is not very good at curtsies, as a physical movement, but when you're standing in front of a Queen that is easily twice your height, you do your very best curtsy. But Laura and Hinoiri absolutely have precedence in this particular meeting, and Usagi probably technically qualifies as another head of state... So as the others have questions, for the moment she only has a bowed head and a "It is an *impossibly* huge honor to meet you, Your Highness."

Because c'mon, *how often do you get to meet a mermaid queen?!* This would be the *exact* sort of thing that she and Hotaru would spend entire minutes mutually squealing over, because sometimes magic is just Cool Like That. A faint tinge of sadness touches her heart, at the thought of Hotaru, but she sets it to one side to address later. Right now, there is a friend with missing memories, and that is much more important.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Traveling to Laura's kingdom was cool - and Usagi absolutely did it as Sailor Moon, just in case, because frankly, if she can breathe in space while henshin'd - but being in front of her queen? Her queen who, it sounds like, is a bit also her mother?

Cool in a different way. Staring up at the giant mermaid queen, Usagi does not whistle or react in any loud rude way, but instead dips into a curtesy straight out of Princess Serenity's memories.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your majesty," she says brightly, once the introductions are out of the way. "And it's true, like they said - we're worried about Laura-chan and her memories, and we were hoping you might be able to help us clear this all up. After all, Laura-chan's on an important mission, and she even forgot she was a Cure!"

A problem - a huge one. Obviously, someone wants to make sure Laura doesn't complete her task.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Ah, so there is one of them who doesn't know yet. Or if she does, she is keeping silent on that for now. "Those are indeed troubling matters, she plays it safe with Hinoiri. She doesn't quite know how to proceed with them. To reveal the truth is something she can't just do out of the blue.

The Queen nods pleasantly at the show of respect given to her by the girls of the surface world. Even among those who suspect something, there is only pleasantries. Perhaps even if that comes out today, they may just understand why it was a necessary measure.

"I was always this size, Amy", Laura blinks at the Puella Magi's proposition. "The Queen is just the oldest among us", she shrugs, turning her gaze back on the monarch. What else would be the reason? It's just normal, really. "Did the Aqua Pot confuse you?"

The Queen gives no sign of minding the discussion about the size, and nods her head at Amy's request. This one is really unlike La Licorne, and she is already moving in the direction of the truth. "The day I awoke Laura from her sleep was on the 17th of February."

"I appreciate your concern, Sailor Moon, but that is not as much of a problem as you make it sound. Laura had already been chosen by the Mermaid Aqua Pact, and that was not going to leave her. Her duty is the same as always, and nothing has really changed in her ability to carry it out", she gently corrects the blonde girl.

"Is that really all you have to say, Queen?" Laura speaks up, disconcertated by the older mermaid's tranquil attitude. "You sent me up to the surface, and you knew what I was going to find, didn't you?"

The Queen smiles mirthlessly at Laura. "Yes, I did know what you were going to find. I am not just going to put you in graver danger than the one which struck Grand Ocean with my negligence. I don't want you hurt, Laura."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Pardon me, Your Majesty," Rashmi says, and she looks so... *so pained* to contradict the Mermaid Queen, but when one makes the mistake of dropping dates...

Drawing in a deep, fortifying breath, Rashmi looks up for a moment, then drops her eyes. Justin case maiking eye contact is an offense, she's never met actual ruling royalty before.

"I'm very sorry," she reiterates, "but... When did you send her to the surface *before* that? Because I met Laura-chan *last summer,* so..." The redhead in the nurse's outfit shrugs diffidently. "I'm sure you have good reasons, Your Majesty, but -- in my own opinion -- this feels like the time when the truth might hurt less."

Oh, how it *hurts* to cross a monarch in her own kingdom this way! But if Rashmi didn't stand up for her friends, she wouldn't be Rashmi.

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
"I'd say it's a bit more than troubling. The ability to erase people's memories like that? It's a magic I've only heard of in like... a few dark tomes back home." Pause. "Oh, ummmm... I... don't know how much Laura told you about me, or... was... how are you? Do you know who I am? Errr, Hinoiri Kirara, unicorn from Kirakirafantastica. I guess... yeah. If your memory was erased too..." she mumbled.

"That's just it, though. You didn't wake her up last month. You woke her up a LONG time ago!" Cure La Licorne said firmly. "I met her before then. She saved people, fought besides others. She's had her friends memories taken from her. And how can you say it's not that big a problem? She forgot about the people she's already allied with! She forgot me and, admittedly, I may not leave the biggest impression all the time she gave me a pretty cure device! And she FORGOT!"

"... But... you knew... so... was that your plan? When she got like this? Send her up to us, and hope we'd be able to help her regain her memories? Cause... I mean... okay. A little warning would have been nice, err, your highness. But we need to know WHO? Is this the witch of delays magic? Is it something else? Who do I need to light on fire because I've got a lot and I am *more* than keen to use it on whoever did this to my kohai!"

And she was, literally, heating up. Flames forming around her and slightly boiling the water.

And well... she... was used to talking to a ruler. And she was, unfortunately, drifting into old habits. Talking to the queen like she was Sora. Just tell me wha the lesson is already and I'll deal with it, gosh.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is surprised the Queen doesn't even try to account for how they could have already met Laura. Rashmi... approaches this diplomatically, and Amy looks at Licorne in surprise. "Wait, so your world did have magic like that?! ...Oh, only in a few dark tomes, not... modern practice..."

    "What if the person you need to light on fire is under water...? I'm sure we can work something out."

    Amy turns back to look up at the queen, stepping next to Rashmi and trying to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah. When we met her last summer, she also said she'd just been awoken from her slumber by you and sent up to find Pretty Cures... and she finally found one, only to forget her?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Wait, wait, wait," Sailor Moon puts her hands up, as Cure La Licorne starts literally heating up the place - flames appearing underwater is impressive' - and boiling the water. "I - you have to know Laura came to us before February, because you know she's a Pretty Cure, and she wasn't one when she first came to us. She was recruiting, but she didn't like, know how to use her own power, back then. So..."

She's starting to get a bad feeling about this.

"Did you know you were sending Laura-chan back to us without her memories? Did you know she was missing memories, and you just - didn't tell her? Because - that DID change things! She didn't even know she'd kind of already succeeded - she didn't even know that she had allies!"

Rashmi is shy and apologetic about it. Sailor Moon... is not, one hand on her hip, the other twitching as she resists the urge to point at the Mermaid Queen as though she were on the receiving end of a justice speech.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Grand Ocean's ruler gives Rashmi a nod of agreement. As much as she loathes to reveal this particular secret, there is truth in the Device Mage's words. "You might not be wrong", the Queen tells her reluctantly. "Please, do not be nervous, I have never condemned anyone for speaking the truth", she adds. She looks down regretful for Rashmi feeling so.

She raises a hand to signal Hinoiri to put a stop to her boiling spirits. "There is a lot I have to explain, so let me do it in order. Last summer, I sent Laura up after she survived the assault of the Witch of Delays with her mission to find the Legendary Pretty Cures and the Tropical Pacts, as she told you then."

"Things were a little bit sideways, but nonetheless she found worthwhile allies of other natures, and I was happy she was making friends again, because I know well the importance of such matters, even if they are a bittersweet remedy."

"She fulfilled all my hopes then, and she did what I was unable to do in my own time, and awakened the Mermaid Aqua Pact. She has always been a child of great potential, and I was happy she was finally realising it."

"But she started becoming too attached to one of her friends, and for her to be the same one...", the Queen shakes her head. Some things just cannot change, it seems. It makes her duty look a bit more futile."

"That child was Hotaru Tomoe, one of the Sailor Senshi known as Charon, and affected by a terrible illness, magical in nature, that was sooner or later going to kill her. We do not have a remedy for it, and initially I intended on letting Laura be with her until the end, and only then take away her memories, so she couldn't suffer."

"Things changed when they accidentally swapped bodies due to the Aqua Pot, and Laura was willing to shoulder Hotaru's burden herself." She sighs sadly, looking at the pink-haired mermaid. "Your devotion is admirable, Laura, but I could not let Grand Ocean's hope go unfulfilled and let you suffer. I had to erase your memories, with the hopes that things wouldn't get that bad again."

"The same one? What do you mean, "the same one?" Why did you call Hotaru that?" She grits her teeth. "Why did you take away my memories? I never asked you to, and you kept that hidden from me! I was not going to get hurt just like that, and if Hotaru is as special as you say, you have no right to make me forget her or the others!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
(Oh man, we've ended up in the middle of some choice family drama,) o . Usagi thinks, as she stares between Laura and the Mermaid Queen, and the Mermaid Queen admits that she's the reason that Laura lost her memories, and -

"So did you just not think sending her back to the same people you just erased from her memory was going to go wrong, or am I missing something?" Sailor Moon asks faintly, eyes flicking between Laura's outrage and the Queen's quiet, sorrowful concern. "I mean - even if we weren't going to get into how terrible it is to erase her memories, but you sent her back to us! It's not like you erased our memories, we just started befriending her all over again?"

Could the queen maybe like, explain it to her like she's two?

And beyond that... there's the whole, Hotaru of it all.

"Look, Hotaru is sickly. And she is in poor health. And she is, uh, technically possessed by the monster within her, and I can understand having worries about Laura-chan wanting to take that on for her, but - maybe I'm like, stuck on this, but - you just sent her back to meet Hotaru-chan again??"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens, frowning when the queen says Laura was 'too attached' to a friend. Although, she's surprised hearing the name, "How did you know her real name?! ...Err, continue..."

    And the awful truth comes out.

    Mermaids with mind magic. A video game warned her about that! It continues to be both amazing and messed up that her life imitates media, and right here is the latter side of that coin...

    ...But, the Queen here doesn't seem hostile, like she's about to go 'and now that you all know, I must take away your memories too, mwa ha ha.'

    Amy looks between those assembled. "Okay, uh. People from magical lands, level with me: Is messing with people's memories just not seen as as big a deal as it is to, uh, as it seems to me? Because my memories are who I am -- if I didn't remember my life until now, I'd be a very different person! Like, if I said 'identity death is real death' to other humans," she mutters, "well, certain other humans..." before continuing, "they'd know what I meant, but maybe mermaids and unicorns don't feel the same way?"

    La Licorne may remember that evening in Setsuna's office.

    "I am relieved that Laura seems to sort of kind of remember some things, at least, and at this isn't quite as bad as the sort of nightmare scenario I'd fear, but still..."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne was putting on a good demonstration of what would happen if the person she needed to light on fire was underwater. And well... She was trying to contain herself. For now.

And then... then the queen began to explain. How happy Laura had made her. How good. And she felt a little sheepish, her fire dying. To think this girl, who had done so much already... had chosen to make HER a cure. Had seen potential in her.

But then... then she kept going. Hotaru? Ohhh, right, that little kid Riventon used to talk about. Eh. How big a... oh. An illness? Wait, swapped bodies?! Oh, wow, was this during the time she was...

And then... then she found out the truth. That the queen had taken the memories.

"Wut?" Cure La Licorne asked, her fires snuffed out. "You... did this?" she asked.

She stared at her. And the queen...

... Like... Sora... wasn't she? She had the same air. Towered over Laura like Sora towered over her. Was the ruler. Had power.

... But... this was to protect Laura? To... save her from...

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Cure La Licorne roared, her fires just... almost EXPLODING as bubbles of boiling water formed all around her. Good thing she wasn't DIRECTLY next to anyone, or they'd be probably... very uncomfortable right now. And they were underwater.

"WHY?! How could you? You can't just ERASE the memories! Bad things happen, good things happen, but they don't CANCEL each other out! You can't take away the memories of a person without erasing the person! They shape who we ARE! Laura's a good, kind person! But erasing everything from her doesn't protect her! It just makes her forget what's most important! WHY those moments matter!"

Then... she glanced towards Amy. And sighed. "That... day. That wasn't what I meant. You'd forget being that person, who you were. But the memories you'd MADE as that person, even if you didn't directly remember them, they still helped to SHAPE you, they still made you the person you are. Even if you don't know they're real, it doesn't change their effect. That's what I meant, then."

Before her fierce gaze turned back on the queen. "Damn it, Sora, you can't just--" And then stopped, a hand going over her mouth. Of all the times to...

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When told that the truth will not be an affront, Rashmi nods, straightening at the back and shoulders, and reaches out to place a hand on Hinoiri's shoulder. "Deep breath, la Licorne-chan," Rashmi murmurs. "Let's get all the answers so we know how to fix the problem..."

And while she's doing that, Usagi is, naturally, doing her best to Woogle up the Riot Act and read it in full to the *Queen of Grand Ocean* and... okay no of all people a foreign princess is probably the best placed to so so, let her cook.

But one thing Usagi says sticks with Rashmi, and she turns a puzzled look up to Mnemosyne, nodding in agreement with Amy. "...Actually yeah... it kinda *does* sounds like 'memory erasing' is weirdly common here? Or at least, not the kind of crime it probably would be up on the surface?"

But the question remains; why make Laura forget everyone, only to turn around and toss her right into the middle of all those memorie-- oh gosh that's hot.

"Hinoiri-chan, *please,*" she murmurs.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"It is not just not a crime. It's an obligation we all have, Terios-san. The human world and the mermaid world should never meet. It has always been this way. Mermaids who meet humans have their memories taken away without fail, and kept in a chamber deep below Grand Ocean. I too will forget having ever met all of you once the Witch of Delays' threat is over."

"Why? What's the meaning of this, Queen?" Laura shouts indignated. To think that she was sticking to her position, and that she forgot about Hotaru, not once, but twice. "This is all so horrible. And you are saying that my time with everyone, I will have to forget it again?", Laura's tail creates a small turbulence as she starts working herself up with anger and dismay.

"That's right, after you return to Grand Ocean, you will forget again. It can't be helped, Laura. It's the Mermaid Kingdom's law. Humans' lifespans are so much shorter than ours than it is inevitable for us to feel grief and pain. That's why a mermaid so many centuries ago decided to take her memories of her own friends away, and since then it's the same for all of us."

The pinkette's hands tighten into fists. There is desperation when she speaks. "Even if I become Queen?" The monarch nods. "It is the law", she repeats.

Laura clasps her hand together while she gets angrier and more anguished. "That is just cruel! I refuse! I want to remember everyone! I don't want to forget!" The Queen doesn't reply, but just shakes her head sorrowfully.

"I did not think Laura would have approached you the same way she did back then. If you tried telling her what you knew, she should have been weirded and take her distance from you. She is strong in her convinctions, and if she heard you out, as long as she did not go down the same path, it would have been worthwhile", the Queen tells Usagi.

"Laura told me her name, before I took her memories away. The problem was she wasn't supposed to "sort of" remember. Her memories should have been scrubbed away completely, with no trace of them having ever been there. I underestimated just how attached Laura must have been to those memories", she addresses Amy next.

"All of this is a necessity. If it might be hard to understand, maybe you will understand with age." Even if they just aren't going to experience as much.

"It doesn't matter what they did, they cause pain and unhappiness. It is of vital importance we don't remember. Cure La Licorne, as one of our Pretty Cures, you are under my responsibility. While you aren't a mermaid and so I can't force you to go through it, I can make you this offer: think back to your painful memories. Wouldn't it be better if they just didn't matter, if you didn't have to remember Sora?" she offers the boiling girl.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
At the Queen's question, Rashmi hurriedly moves away from Hinoiri, placing Usagi between herself and the latest Cure. "Oh, Your Majesty," the Devicer sighs, hugging Heart's Choir to her chest.

"That... was a really bad question to ask this group. *None* of us are strangers to grief, but to imply that their memories can *stop mattering,* even if we don't remember them... that's an active *insult* to all the people we cared about, and lost. Maybe one day I'll grieve Amy-chan's passing, or Usa-chan's... and it'll hurt *so much* but I wouldn't ever trade a single moment for a lie that they never were. Maybe it's different for mermaids, Your Majesty," she says, glancing at Laura. "...But I don't think so, deep down."

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne opened her mouth again, but well... there was so much she wanted to say. And, oh, poor Rashmi's hand... She was TRYING but... Because they lived longer? THAT was it?! Sora lived longer than any pony, but she didn't erase her memories, she...

... Became... what she was now. A mare who never laughed, didn't joke. Got annoyed at the drop of a hat...

... But then... then... Her fists clenched and...

Didn't... have to remember Sora?

And she blinked and, slowly, that heat started to fade. "Wait... like... forget what..."

And now? Now she looked uncertain. Sora had been such a massive part of her life...

... But she had also, in so many ways, broken her. If she could erase all of that pain, the damage inflicted, if she could forget... what she lost....

... If she forgot all of that, would.... she be better for it? Sunset of Sora was... because... her mentor had forgotten her...

... Was it right... for her to forget her in return?

No, no, that was preposterous. That was a...

... But that knife in her heart... it'd stop twisting. It'd stop hurting.

Then she thought about... Double Trouble... If she could forget her, too. If she could take all of that pain out from her life...

... The worst part of all? Was just how tempting it was. And she'd gone entirely silent, the fight and anger driven out of her as she considered... all of that... losing all of that... "I..." she mumbled. "Just... forget her..." she mumbled.

... Was... that... okay? Her eyes, uncertain, shifted between the three here with her.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is gesturing at Hinoiri as Licorne rants about how awful erasing memories is, as if to say 'See! She gets it!'

    The Queen talks about a difference in lifespans being too great. Amy nods at Rashmi's words, and looks back to the queen, "Are you kidding me?! We just saw... we lost a friend earlier this year, a wonderful person who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect us, and though losing her was painful, we would never in a thousand years rather forget her! I've lost all my grandparents, we weren't close, but that doesn't mean I have to forget them!"

    "I heard of a story once, about a world where whenever people die, they are forgotten, because, I suppose, of a sorcery worked by someone of similar mind to this ancient mermaid you mention. But for humans, the point was showing how dystopian and messed up it is!"

    She points at the Queen. "It's a dumb and immoral law! Do you actually approve of it? Do your people?!"

    The queen keeps talking. Amy frowns more when she hears that Laura was expected to be weirded out. But she's trying to stop interrupting.

    The Queen makes an offer, and Amy looks at Licorne. She thinks of all she's been through. Not losing Molly, but... her life before.

    The girl who would take her place would be less troubled. Less weird and distant from her fellows. Able to have a normal life -- inasmuch as a magical girl can.

    She's seen stories like that. More than she can count. They're always so happy with their new life, and clueless of what was lost; And her distaste for such narratives is not from doubt that the resulting person would be happy.

    Maybe, if worse things had happened, she would rather forget. People have been through far worse than her, and she can't speak for them. Or maybe, if it came with a promise for being cared for...

    Amy shakes her head. Even then, she has friends counting on her help, friends who'd miss her, and nothing so terrible in her life that she'd give it up to run away from it.

    After the Queen and the others are finished, Amy speaks: "Maybe someone can have been through something that only brings them pain, that hurts them every day and shaped no part of their life or identity dear to them -- maybe it's not something that they can overcome and then experience being joyful for doing so. Maybe, then, they can make that choice. You don't make it for them."

    "And your plan was that when Laura's old friends told her we knew them, she'd be weirded out and leave. Not only hurting us, but driving her away from the one Cure that she found, that you charged her to find, and driving her away from Radiant Heart and the people who could protect her against the magical evil folks in Tokyo?! That's just reckless. Did you think it through at all? Or do you blindly follow this law..." She points, "Because forgetting is easier than making difficult decisions for yourself?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
And there's the truth. The Mermaid Queen had taken Laura's memories - no wonder she wasn't worried about her abilities being effected, she knew all along. And - it's not just her, it's their whole kingdom? All of their people? Never to...

Usagi can't help but think of the Moon. Of being Serenity, and falling in love with a world she was only supposed to watch and never touch, with a boy she was never supposed to meet, a whole world of people she was only supposed to watch from afar, and a part of her can't help but wonder - would her mother, her Moon Mama, have made the choice the Mermaid Queen and her people have?

Amy and Laura and Rashmi are all making their appeals, are focused on the Queen, but when that question - not a challenge, but a genuine offer - is made, Usagi's eyes are on Hinoiri. Hinoiri, who looks lost, hesitant, wanting and afraid at the same time. She closes the distance between them slowly and steadily, making no sudden movements.

"Hinoiri-chan. It's your choice. Your life. There's no right or wrong answer," she says gently, before turning to the Queen, Amy, Laura, and Rashmi. "Your majesty, I have to disagree with my friends a little. I don't think your law is dumb at all - but I do think it might be unfair."

She looks to Laura, who's so frustrated.

"Laura-chan should have been allowed to choose. You should have told her, before she even left, that this was the law. It's not fair to spring it on her. It's not fair to make her decide now, when she's already made so many friends, either. " A deep breath. "In my life - in both my lives - I've been lucky, that I got to be happy for most of my life. I might have lost my grandmother when I was young, but it's only recently that I lost friends, and it - it hurt, so much."

It hurt so much that once upon a time, Princess Serenity made a very regretful, very final, choice.

"You want to protect Laura-chan because you love her, right? So you don't want her to grieve, because - because she'll live a long time, and we might not be there..."

Not for the first time, she thinks of Chibiusa's Mama, the her who is queen, the her who is a millennia old, and she wonders if she'll have that lifespan. She'd claimed it, once, in a fit of rage at Kyubey, that she would live in the ages and stop his Wish granting, his Puella making, but to consider... to truly consider having such a life... living for so long that this queen speaks of making friends with humans the way parents talk about getting their kid a hamster as a starter pet -

"Isn't it lonely?" She asks then, quiet. "There's a whole world on the surface, and your whole world beneath the sea, and your laws mean we'll never get to share."

Laura La Mer has posed:
The Queen looks towards Rashmi as she expresses her disapproval and why. She just looks, contemplating her in silence. She is so attached to her grief that she can't see anything else. That was actually sad, but it is not for her to change what humans do.

"I can do nothing to help you, but you lost this one friend. Now repeat that loss for a life worth 400 years, how many losses can you take before it becomes too much? Would you be saying the same thing if you had lost tens of this friend? It may seem harsh to you, but this is all the right way", she tells Rashmi.

And Hinoiri's hesitation tells the Mermaid Queen all she needs to know about what is going on in her heart. "It's ok, La Licorne", she smiles at her encouragingly. "You don't have to hurt anymore. All that you have experienced, it can be gone. It's for your own good. You will be so much happier once you have forgotten."

A deeper sigh than any of those before comes out of the Queen at Amy's strong words. She was strong willed and young and arrogant. It is not her fault she uses those harsh terms. If she wants Amy to learn, she has to be patient with her.

"It is a necessity, and the fact you react so harshly to our customs speaks loudly to me on how grief has warped you. But I understand that. All I ask you that you try to leave it behind, of your own good", the Queen tells Amy softly.

"You had learnt what you needed to learn, and Laura would just not have believed you. Whether she would have fought alongside you or found others, she would have been fine in the end as long as she didn't keep the pain", the Queen corrects her.

The older mermaid shakes her head gently to Usagi. "No mermaid can choose. Not I, not Laura, not anyone in this Kingdom. How can they choose when they don't remember the impact grief had on them? I am the only one allowed to know of the machine's existence in Grand Ocean. I love everyone in Grand Ocean, and mine is a necessary sacrifice, so that they may not even suspect of the grief that once struck them."

"I won't accept this!", Laura intervenes. "This isn't right. I have always looked up to you as a kind and just Queen that showed consideration for everyone", she glares at the monarch. "I respected you, I wanted to be like you. But this... I can't ignore this!"

The Queen's hair moves quietly in the currents while she absorbs Laura's words. "You will have time to understand. When you and Hotaru first met, you were but six. Had I not intervened then, you would have pined after somebody you could never meet again for who knows how long. Death is even harsher than that. I want you to reflect on it, Laura."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"I don't think it's dumb," Rashmi says. "I don't like it, and I don't agree with it, but I don't think it's dumb. This isn't our civilization, and we don't get the *right* to stand in judgment of hundreds of hundreds of years of mermaid law. Maybe it really *does* protect your peoples' hearts, Your Majesty," Rashmi says, turning to Mnemosyne. "But if Usa-chan's right, and Laura-chan wasn't given the *choice,* then that was the first mistake. The second mistake was doing this *now,* then sending her right back... Because no matter how many Cures she gathers to fight the Witch of Delays, she's always gonna have many times *more* than that in the rest of us, who're fighting beside her just because she's a friend."

At Hinoiri looking lost and uncertain, Rashmi sighs, nodding. "What you want will *always* matter more than what I think about it, Hino-chan. I'll back you up, no matter what." She starts to say more, but shakes her head, moving forward to give Cure la Licorne a brief hug. "I'll back you up," she whispers into her ear, before stepping back.

But when Mnemosyne puts the question to her, Rashmi shakes her head. "This... This is why I can't *judge* your actions. Because I can only *imagine* living that long, and know that anything I say is gonna be just hollow conjecture. But... grief isn't the *only* thing that came out of our friendship with Molly-chan. Just because she's gone, doesn't mean her existence didn't impact our lives for the better. And the pain will fade, but the memory of how that life helped shaped mine? That's forever. If there's no way to take away the hurt and leave the good... then to me, it's a poor trade."

With that, she moves closer to Laura. "Death hurts, Laura-chan... it *hurts.* I get why she wants to protect you from it, but--" She trails off, blinking up, up, up at Mnemosyne. "...When she was *six?*"

It seems we are missing some years of context, here...

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne glanced towards Usagi and gave a small, gentle nod. "I... I... thank... you... it's... I just... I need to think on it..." she mumbled, her arms wrapping around herself. "Four hundred years..." she mumbled ever so softly. "I wonder... I wonder if... Sora... did something like this. Where she..." She trailed off for a moment. "I wonder... if that's... why she replaced me... forgot about me... I didn't think she had magic like this... but... perhaps she did. Does... She's lived for millenia. Have she just... erased... those hurts?" she asked softly.

"Amy..." Cure La Licorne said softly. "Please. Calm down." Geez, SHE was saying that. "She's... not... yelling at her won't change things. It won't... fix anything..."

... A necessary sacrifice. A law that the queen had to enforce, but hadn't made. That was what it was, sometimes. For those with such power. They had to make choices. To protect. Even if others yelled or got angry.

... How many times had she yelled at Sora over things like this, screamed until her throat was sore, before running off in a fury while Sora just looked down at her with a cool, steely gaze. In the end she had burned hot in fury. But it had take so long to drive Sora to that point.

... And now? To... spend the rest of her life pining over Sora. Over Double Trouble in another way. Love she'd never have. Care she was never worthy of.

... To give it all away. To lose that hurt.

... Was it... possible?

"... Your highness... I... I'll need to think on it. Sora was... Sovereign Sora was, for so long... everything I... wanted. Needed. And... there's no doubt... in my heart... giving it up... would make me happier."

"... But I don't know if it would make me better."

She looked to Laura. Her kohai. She sounded... well... empassioned, upset. She couldn't blame her. It was her thoughts that were... taken.

"Would... Would Laura have sacrificed herself to try and save this Hotaru, if she hadn't had her memories erased?"

... She needed to think on this. To just... tear out that hurt... And consider what would fill that hole in her heart.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy listens to the others. At first looks incredulous at Hinoiri, then sighs and tries to calm down. And is startled at the news of Hotaru -- so that poor suffering girl had a friend taken away from her? But...

    "...I planned to live that long--" Amy shakes her head. "No, I hoped to live that long, given the opportunity, small hope though it was -- although perhaps that was because I thought the same technology that would bring that was the only way I could ever be myself. And people always make this argument, and I always thought it was dumb, because why wouldn't you just give everyone long life? But also because, like... people plainly do live lives after losing friends, and family, and people dear to them, and there is sadness but also they can find happiness again."

    She sighs, and begins to pace. "Some have theorized that human minds wouldn't be stable that long anyway. That we'd... degrade, or just forget things, the neural connections that encoded old memories replaced to encode new ones. Who can say? It probably depends on the method, too."

    "There are many things in life I've forgotten. No one I was close to dead until now, but that's because for so long I was close to no one. Still, I had friends I'll never see again. Childhood friends who moved away, lost track of in the days before everyone being on Bookface. Hit it off really well with my college roommate one semester, lost track of him 'cuz I didn't use social media. And so many more people, who I've talked to that maybe changed me in one small way. I've read so many stories, and I don't remember every detail of all of them, but so many bits and pieces..."

    "...I've had conversations that lead to conclusions like 'identity death is real death.' But... a more nuanced truth, perhaps, is that it's piecemeal. We're all ships of Theseus. Forgetting a little won't change us much, though it will change us. Forgetting a lot..." She stops pacing and holds a hand to her head. "Ugh, where was I going with this..."

    "...Right!" She stands up straighter and turns to the Queen. "I've forgotten countless interactions over my life. But they weren't magically wiped from my memory. All those bits and pieces still affect who I am. I wouldn't want a more thorough erasure of them all -- in aggregate, I might not be who I am anymore. And one more thing:"

    "You do this for the memories of humans... but what of the memories of merfolk? You said you live about four hundred years, not forever. And you're clearly not all the same age. One day you'll pass, and will Laura forget you and everything you taught her? What of those who knew merfolk with terminal illnesses, or who died of disease or accident? Are they erased too?"

    Amy shakes her head. "I hope not, but either way, one last thing: If, one day, I had lived so long, that I lost so many that I could not continue... that I could find no more joy in life save by forgetting everything and starting over... I, like... don't have to?" Her eyes water. Underwater, somehow. "Like, it's okay. I don't have to keep living, forever, if I no longer want to."

    She holds a hand to her face for a moment, feeling a frog in her throat, taking a breath, continuing. She lowers the hand from her face, almost done. I can end it. Or let it end. I suppose this is isomorphic to letting a new person with my face continue in my place. I just don't see how this hard rule benefits anyone. It just... prunes them. Cuts away pieces, without regard for how it will affect them."

    Amy takes a breath, wipes her eyes on her glove. "Also, you've been wrong multiple times about whether Laura would meet people again or not, apparently. This law really just can't seem to account for all the possibilities."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...So Hotaru-chan and Laura-chan met as kids?" Huh.... it's something to think about. Amy is still having a large negative reaction, and Rashmi is being her classic diplomatic non-judging, but Hinoiri... is really thinking about it.

And Usagi can't blame her. She's suffered a lot from memories that she can't change, losses that plague her, from being dumped out of the blue to being neglected and forgotten by her mentor and -

Yeah, it probably is very, very tempting.

"...I think the Laura who tried to save Hotaru-chan would still try to save her without her memories. But," and she looks at Laura again. "I don't know if you'd offer literally swap bodies with her, the way you were when you came back. And as someone who's kinda starting to be a parent... and who loves her daughter... I'd be scared if Chibiusa-chan wanted to take on Hotaru's pain, and I thought she'd do it. ...but I'd be proud, too."

Maybe that appeal will work.

And meanwhile, there's Amy, and she's saying things that Usagi sighs about, but also things that are reasonable and -

"Amy-chan, there's a difference between something that's theoretical and something that's real, you know? We haven't lost a lot of people, but her majesty - and Laura-chan - it's not a theory that... that they could out-live every single one of us. There's knowing you'll lose people, and there's knowing everyone you know will like... die. But you won't."

She shudders a little, just thinking about it.

"That was what my mother - Queen Serenity - had to deal with, you know? And it was... I know it must have been hard on her."

And besides... "And it's a species thing - your long lives, right? You can't just give everyone long life, because we're not Mermaids. And - I was wondering, I mean... you guys do die, right? But... I guess the grief is different. I wonder... what it would be like, if I made friends and knew they would die before me, unless something really bad happened? All of them... always knowing... would I be mourning people as soon as I started to love them?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Again, the Queen nods at Rashmi's words. She has recognised that there is a perspective she may be unable to acquire, but beyond that, there are some things that are true, and that Queen herself regrets. "My hand was forced when Laura risked to die to protect Hotaru, Terios-san. I did not want to, but if I did not erase her memories then, I could have lost her forever. I accepted that possibility, as long as things didn't become as bad."

"I am glad you consider her a friend, and I truly find that precious. If you want to fight at her side no matter what, then all this will have been worth it. Your memory will take its worthy spot in the chamber allotted to their conservation. Even if we won't remember you, it will stay in Grand Ocean."

A look of remembrance passes over the Queen at Rashmi's uncertainty. "Laura was a very lively and curious child once. Still is, in her own way. She kept slipping away to explore places she did not know, to understand what was all these new things." The Queen smiles softly at those past events.

"It was during one of those times, when she got to a beach without my awareness, that she met Hotaru. And they immediately took to each other, spending the whole day playing together, and when they went their separate ways, I intervened there, and took away Laura's memories to keep our worlds separate."

A slow nod is given to Hinoiri with another smile. "I am not rushing you. You are given the freedom to make your own choice on this matter. And when you picked a choice, I will be there to hear it", she promises.

A motion of frustration is kept still at Amy's words. The Puella's harsh terms are one thing, but must she ignore what the Queen says as well? "She would have been driven away by the weirdness of your words, or she wouldn't have taken the same path of self-sacrifice. Her meeting you was something I had foreseen", she gently reminds her.

"Death is not as plentiful between people who live similarly long lives. Many more humans die within 400 years than mermaids do. All mermaids live similarly long lives", she likewise echoes. "And her remembering you despite the machine goes against your suggestion of identity death", the Queen lastly points out to Amy. "

"Laura would have sacrificed herself", she replies to Hinoiri, and the pinkette averts her gaze at this moment, not denying the Queen's words. "It's why my hand was forced then", she confirms to Hinoiri.

Sympathy impresses itself on the Queen's gaze upon knowing Usagi's mother had been in the same place. "The burden of long-lived species is a troublesome one. I feel sorry that your mother was forced through such tragedies."

"I urge you all to go back home and to reflect on what has been said. Many things have been talked about and I realise they need time. Laura, please guide them back", the monarch looks towards the young mermaid. "Yes, Queen", the pinkette agrees rigidly with not as much warmth as when she came in today.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'Laura would have sacrificed herself.'

Well, *that* puts a cap on everything to make it make sense. What loving mother would *dare* risk outliving her own daughter, especially one with as much life ahead of her as Laura apparently is to have? And it's with a sigh, that Rashmi nods slowly, at least able to follow, if not fully understand, the logic behind the decision. "Thank you, Your Majesty, for allowing us the privilege of your audience."

As she turns to join Laura, she pats Hinoiri's shoulder, giving the unicorn Cure a concerned look. "D'you want an ice-cream-and-philosophy-debate night? Or d'you want some time in your own head about this?" This, said with a look that implies she'd understand and approve of whichever option Hinoiri goes for.

But as they walk toward the exit, Rashmi tries to catch up to walk alongside Laura. "...I get why you're angry," she says. "I would be too... But, Laura-chan? There's a lot about the future that nobody knows for sure... And one of them's 'can we save Hotaru-chan?' And that's a question that *needs* an answer, before anything else, y'know?"

Hinoiri Kirara has posed:
Cure La Licorne nodded to the queen, giving her a small smile. "Thank you, your majesty. I'll... I'll try and let you know soon..." she said before glancing to Rashmi. "You know? I think... I think an 'Ice-cream-and-philosophy-debate night might be good... You know? Just... I don't know... I think... I would be happier. A lot happier. But... what if... the person I am... is worse without those memories? And... I... I just... don't know anymore."

"... I wish life had more easy answers..." she mumbled. Before glancing back to Laura... And reaching out to give her hand a light, comforting squeeze. "And... I think you should join us. I think... I think there's going to be a lot to talk about. For all of us..."

"... Buck, it's times like this... I kind of... wish... I could still write Sora letters. If ever there was someone who could understand this situation the best..." Unfortunately, she didn't have a Sora now. And... she... wasn't even sure Sora WOULD be the best right now.

... She wasn't sure of a lot right now. Aside from... her own aches and pains. As she let Laura's hand go. "And... for what it's worth?" Hinoiri mumbled before glancing back towards the queen. "She... I think she made the wrong choice. To not... talk with you first... but... I think... she did make the choice out of love. And sometimes... sometimes... people... make the wrong choices over the people they love. I think."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy looks... somewhat sympathetic at the mention of fearing her daughter's death.

    Part of her wants to snap 'why would it matter, you could just forget her too' but she doesn't hate the queen enough to say something so heartless.

    Still. The job of mahou shoujo is a potentially deadly one. You don't enter a secret world of magic and fight monsters without risks. Amanda knew that the entire time; she knew that when she took Kyubey's offer; she knew it longer than she knew she was Amanda.

    Sailor Moon chastises her, but...

    "But they haven't." Amy notes, coldly. "They haven't experienced it either, because their memories have been sealed away, because one person long ago decided for everyone. So they don't actually know either."

    "Yes, she sort-of remembered us; because your machine malfunctioned -- she wasn't supposed to, you said yourself."

    Amy sighs and folds her arms. "We can't take her memories back, or set off on some quest to destroy your machine. Because we've got our plates full with" and she counts out on her fingers,

    "A friend who's cursed into a vampire against her will,"

    "Terrorists from an alternate future attempting to murder innocent children to get revenge on versions of people who don't even exist in this timeline,"

    "A friend who got turned into a cat,"

    "That friend who died? Her body's been taken over by something we know almost nothing about but she's giving off weird xianxia villain vibes something fierce,"

    "And the very thing that was sealed inside Hotaru? Is a threat to the entire planet, so, we kind of have to prioritize even if we decided putting a stop to this was needed!" Amy throws up her hands.

    She turns on one foot and starts walking out the way she came.

    Ah. Now she understands the appeal of shoes that dramatically click while you walk. They would provide a sort of 'mic drop' effect when you've said your piece and walk away.

    She hopes her friends don't get too mad, but dammit, she was holding back!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Her hand was forced when Laura risking dying to protect Hotaru... was this when Laura and Hotaru were body-swapped, or was this a different time?

Usagi's been willing to die for her friends, to kill for them, to suffer for them, but - would she want Chibiusa to do that? No. No, she'd tear out her own heart, before watching Chibiusa die, even if it was for her friends, even if it was the same thing Usagi herself would do.

Is... this a little bit of what being a mother is like? She's... kind of lucky that her mother doesn't know what she's doing, huh? She'd be grounded forever. Rashmi too.

She can't help but have sympathy for the Queen and for Laura, because it wasn't fair for Laura's mother to do this to her, but also...

"Thank you for your sympathy, your majesty. My mother - she's gone now. She sacrificed herself for me and mine. I'm glad I remember her," and she's not seeking to challenge. "She wasn't willing to lose her daughter either."

She cannot judge that.

But there's somewhere here who is, or who maybe is missing the point, and when she so coldly suggests that because they aren't suffering the pain -

"Amy-chan." Usagi says just as coldly. "You're being really American about this. Your ideas aren't always the best, you know? Just because you see something one way - you don't get to just stomp into someone else's world and decide you know best, without ever even trying to understand."

And she turns to the Queen, and she curtseys again, respectful.

"Thank you for sharing with us. Thank you for hearing our views. We're going to go back now, and maybe we won't agree with what you've done - I still think you should have talked to Laura-chan about this - but I'm sorry for the disrespect. Your world has it's own threat, and despite everything, we will help Laura-chan defeat the Witch of Delays."

And then she hurries off to catch up with her friends.