243/An evening discussion.

An evening discussion.
Date of Scene:	15 August 2023
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Setsuna and Luna finally get together to discuss what to tell Usagi and the other Inner senshi.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Usagi Tsukino

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Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna's been wanting to talk with Luna ever since she found out about the Mau and Usagi...she imagines Luna kind of wants the same...and since she'd offered to take care of Luna for a while, she floats the idea to the younger woman to let her keep Luna at her place overnight so Usagi can have a bit of a night off...and consequently Luna can, as well.

It's not hard for her to pick a night when Haruka's crashing with Michiru, so she won't have to worry about confusing the poor blonde even more.

Thus it is that she picks up Luna in a cat carrier and heads out with her after work.

The trip isn't a TERRIBLY long one...just a brief walk to the main train station, then about a 20 minute ride down the Chuo East Line.

The neighborhood Setsuna gets off at is...rather upscale. Lots of very big houses. It's big money here...and Setsuna walks through the neighborhood to one of the larger places where, with a spoken word to the gate, she unlocks the place and walks in.

Once the front door is closed, she apparently feels free to start talking, "Let's head into the kitchen. I imagine you're probably hungry, and I KNOW I am."

Putting word to deed, she walks through a bit of corridor to what is a very well appointed kitchen. She sets the carrier on the large island at the center of the room and undoes all the latches so that Luna can get free, "Is there anything in particular you want? I stocked the pantry the other day...frankly, I don't know what you eat these days."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been a much awaited meeting, and with Luna half-healed and Usagi pressing for answers, she has to admit to some measure of eagerness herself. It's been far, far too long since she's been able to have a conversation with someone who knew the truth of things. Her memory is not as it was, time and the long sleep having eaten away at much and blurred yet more. Having someone else - anyone else - who understood, would be...

She hadn't been able to follow Artemis. He was busy keeping after her - the mysterious Sailor V, who must be one of the Outer Senshi. Setsuna was the only one she had, the only one she could keep tabs on.

And the indignity of being carred about in a cat carrier was worth tolerating, when that was the reward on the line.

The walk is pleasant, even if Luna is confined to the carrier, tucked comfortably in the center. The ride is even more so - the trains are steadier than even the most careful of hands, and she catches a catnap while they ride, letting the quiet chatter of passengers soothe her. Before long? They are in a rather nice neighborhood, one that Luna had searched once upon a time, in her hunt for the senshi - who could have guessed that if she had just searched harder -
But the time for that is past. And she had found who she was meant to find, three of the Inner Senshi already awakened, and the princess sure to be found soon...

Once freed, Luna prowls about the counter before finding an arbitrarily comfortable spot to sit, tail curling about her body and draping over her paws. "I find myself partial to fish these days, stereotypical as it is. Thank you, Setsuna-san. Your hospitality is much appreciated."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna glances over, "Ah, right. Obligate carnivore. Wasn't sure how close your dietary requirements were to regular cats."

With that, she hrms and looks through her fridge, "Well, I've got canned tuna...but..." She hrms at her choices...then sighs. She's actually going to have to TRY to cook.

She digs into the fridge, then pulls out a big bag of prepackaged vacuum sealed tilapia fillets, "...how about some tilapia? I think I'm going to cook some up for myself, and there's plenty for you, too." She eyeballs the offerings, then gets two of the larger ones for herself and a bit smaller one that looks about right for a meal for a cat Luna's size.

The bag goes back into the fridge, then she digs in the pantry for a moment and finds one of those one package rice sides that she reads the instructions on and tosses in a pot to simmer.

While that goes, she turns around and looks over at Luna, "How are you feeling? Everything healing well?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Obligate carnivore," Luna agrees with a shrug. "I can eat more vegetation than a Terran cat, but meat is preferable."

She enjoys a good amount of fruit, a broader variety of vegetables than even some humans, but meat will always be where the greater satisfaction. And Setsuna certainly knows how to treat a girl. Cat. Girl cat. Tilapia is a rare treat, if only because Usagi doesn't cook and Naru doesn't favor meat (truly the only flaw that delightful girl has).

"It would be much appreciated. Usagi-chan doesn't starve me, but the cafeteria's at Radiant Heart can't always match a nice homecooked meal."

Not to mention they rather frowned on cats dining in. Such unenlightened staff members!

"I am healing well. It would have been better to avoid the injury entirely of course, but given my givens, I prefer a simple fracture to what could have happened."

The impact of such a large vehicle applied directly to her rather fragile body could have been far worse, as she is very aware.

"Setsuna-san. Forgive me for being so direct - but how are you here, rather than a the Gates?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna snorts a bit, "I'm a bit surprised more students haven't snuck hotplates or the like into their dorms..." She trails off a moment in thought, "...though on the whole, that might not be a BAD thing. Usagi-chan doesn't strike me as the kind to be all that good at cooking."

She then frowns, "...to be fair, neither am I, but I get by enough, I suppose."

That said, she reaches up over the island and retrieves a large, flat pan and turns to her stove top. It's a very fancy one...all glass surface. A knowledgeable eye will note that she uses an induction top. Mainly because she doesn't trust herself around open flames.

A bit of butter on the pan to heat up as she unseals the vacuum packages, "Did you want yours cooked or raw?" If Luna indicates cooked, she'll add, "Just let me know how done you'd like, then."

And then she's doing a light cook. Fortunately, tilapia doesn't take very long...and Setsuna, perhaps not surprisingly at all has arranged for the broccli cheese rice to be done the moment she's retriving and plating her fish. Then she steps over with her plate and one for Luna's with a small amount of rice for if the Mau wants a bit of variety.

As Luna asks about the Gates, Setsuna sighs, "...the Gates are gone."

She takes a bite of rice, chews, then swallows and goes on, "...well, not ACTUALLY gone, but five or six critical systems tripped at the same time and the core went into emergency SCRAM shutdown." She shakes her head and gestures with her fork, "...past viewing is POSSIBLE, but the AI assistance is nonfunctional, so following any specific thing is INCREDIBLY hard, the unholy amount of magic going around is making future viewing so unpredictable that I can generally reliably predict the weather tomorrow, and that's about it." She then stabs a bit of fish, "...and physical transit is impossible." She shrugs, "Which is why I'm here. The Gates don't NEED to be guarded anymore. And I owe it to the Queen to do what I can for her daughter and her court."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"She isn't terrible at it, but she's a very distractible girl, as you may have noticed," Luna sighs, more fond than not. Usagi still isn't what she'd want in a Senshi - too silly by far, open-hearted and sentimental, and in general not the brightest - but she's a good girl, and Luna cares, enough to try and improve her flaws rather than just ignore them. "She's got the funniest habit of making things that look horrible and taste quite good, or that look delicious and taste awful."

It's easy to share little anecdotes like that - and pleasant, too, to speak with someone who doesn't just look to her for guidance or information, but who knows very well what Luna is, if not quite who. She and Sailor Pluto had never been close - Luna was Queen Serenity's advisor (and a rather young one, not that she'd admit it), and that had certainly secluded her from making visits to the Gates of Space-Time.

She watches the glass cooking surface with interest, resisting the feline urge to touch that which must not be touched.

"Cooked lightly, if you don't mind. A treat like this deserves a little heat to it."

The smell of it is certainly nice, butter and fish and seasoning together. By the time the meal is done, Luna is fearing her stomach will betray her with a growl, and tucks in the second it's polite to do so.

Which means she chokes a bit when Setsuna drops the news so bluntly.

"Gone?!" How could the gates be gone?! Space and time were functioning, night following day and so on, so clearly time and space had not entirely been hijacked, and yet - and yet - "Nothing can pass through," she echoes, and shakes her head. "How strange the world has become, that this could happen! But you of all people would surely know if the Gates were vulnerable, so - I trust you, of course, Setsuna-san."

And then, the mention of their Queen. Luna's ears lower, her whiskers sag. She sighs, quiet and sad. "The Princess has not yet been found. I've been searching, but the world is a rather large place..."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna examines a bite of fish on her fork, a small little frown on her face, "Yeah, given that it's going to take the equivalent of Type 2 civilization to restart the primary core again and this one's nowhere NEAR that...well, the Gates are closed for the foreseeable future."

She sighs, then shakes her head and takes a bite, spending a few moments to chew and swallow before going on, "...on the upside, however...I do have some good news for you." Another bite, "...namely, you don't have to worry about the size of the world. You're almost certainly already in the right place."

She eats a bit more, letting that statement go for a few moments before continuing, "...Point one: For all her power, to cast a spell that would safeguard you and the rest of the court and see your souls safely to be reincarnated in this time and place? Queen Serenity would have had to lean VERY heavily on Destiny."

Another bite, "Point two: Destiny is going to pull like groups together. You've already found three of the Inners. I've got a line on the rest of the Outers..."

She doesn't mention that while Neptune is awake, Uranus is NOT...though who she HAS to be is, at least, known.

Saturn, of course, is not mentioned. It's a bit of a subconscious bias to let the ambulatory 'History Eraser Button' stay asleep.

Hersnother bite all but finishes her plate, "...Point Three: This absolute EXPLOSION of magical girls that's started recently is going to draw every magical person of note on the whole planet before whatever happens, I'd wager."

She then finishes her food, wipes her mouth with a napkin, then rests her chin on the back of her hands and sighs, "...Gods, they're all so YOUNG."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"No, I can't imagine they would. What remains of our Silver Millennium doesn't have the power to do something as grand as aid the Gates..." It's hard to imagine the world without the Gates of Space-Time capable of running, the endless reams of the past available for research, the future - well. Luna had hardly been given the chance to view the future, of course.

"With that being the bad news, I look forward to the good," she says, taking another dainty bite of her food once she's sure she won't choke. Again. This time she judges well - because Setsuna really is offering good news, and at the very least, a measure of hope, exists. Because - "That's what I was hoping. To find so many of them, and so quickly, it must be a sign that we're on the right track. Our princess... I hope, when her guardians are gathered, she'll reveal herself to us."

It's her only hope, really. That if she gathers the four Inner Senshi, their princess will reveal herself, safeguarded once more. Oh, where could she be? Hopefully, safe, and likely without her memory, living the charmed life her mother the Queen would have wanted -

That's what Luna hopes anyway. It's all she can hope for.

"You've been working fast, Setsuna-san. It's very good - between the three of us - Artemis is here in the city as well - we're sure to find all those we look for."

The mention of the Outers does draw to mind Saturn, of course, but Luna can only hope the harbringer of death and rebirth will remain in peaceful sleep, incapable of threatening this world. She harbors no ill will for Saturn, but with the world in as much chaos as it is -

"It really is an explosion, isn't it? My memory isn't always the most clear, but surely there weren't this many magical people walking the Earth in the old days." Surely! It would have been far too chaotic! Dangerous! Princess Serenity - who is Luna kidding? Princess Serenity would have loved it all the more. Such a whimsical, unique place, the danger would have enjoyed it.

"...I know. Usagi especially. Mars-san has a keen eye and a steady head on her shoulders, and Mercury-san is a genius quite possibly beyond measure. Both of them, in some ways, wise beyond their years."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Here, alone with someone who at least is nominally an 'adult', Setsuna seems to be willing to let her hair down, so to speak. She pushes her plate to one side, the folds her arms over each other and rests her head atop them very near the countertop...kind of getting a bit more eye-to-eye with Luna, "...less 'working fast' and more luck, I think. I've got no way to really identify anyone nor awaking anyone not already awake..." She frowns, "To be frank, I was limited to paying attention to anyone who has a particularly unique origin or features and watching to see where the groups form as Destiny pulls them together...then I was going to start investigating more once the field narrowed."

She snorts, "...then I got reminded that I'm not stuck merely watching from a distance, I'm caught up in this, too when I found Neptune. Uranus therefore won't be far away."

She then tilts her head a little, "...yeah...I've had contact with at least one person who's trying to figure out what's going on with all this." She blows out a heavy breath, "...my gut is telling me that there's SOMETHING going on...and I'm pretty sure that whatever caused this explosion of magic is what inadvertantly knocked out the Gates. They weren't designed to handle the stupid amount of chaos that all this magic is causing..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Is it luck when Destiny is afoot?" Luna's tail swishes in the air as she paces the length of the counter, leaving the remainder of her good for the moment. It will keep. "Of the Inners, Usagi is the one with the most experience, and she's not even been active two months. And yet, despite everything, together we found Mars and Mercury in a matter of weeks. You are the Outer Senshi with the most experience... and you've found Neptune."

Luna's throat works, a low rumble equivalent to a hum escaping her as she thinks. "Sailor V may be Uranus. I'm not certain. But Artemis wouldn't be running about with her if she weren't one of the court, and important." This is something Luna can be certain of - Artemis was just as dedicated to the mission as she was, and his memory was ever so slightly clearer. He'd never admitted it, but there was something in the way he looked at her, when last they spoke...

She shakes her head. "Your strategy was a good one. There are many, many unusual children, and enough of them who turn out to be magical to be worth considering. With all this magic... our world wasn't like this at all. The Gates, they were designed to fit what the world should have been -"

Luna doesn't remember it, the end, that's the thing. She remembers pieces, bits, scraps of sound, sight, flashes of sensation, even choppy scenes here and there, enough to know that this was what their Queen had done, that Serenity had not accepted her daughter's loss with grace, had chosen to act and save them all - but the finer details, like how, or what, were beyond her.

"Usagi has proven fairly adept at befriending the others too. These strange magical children who aren't quite her allies. She's... very good at that." It's easier to compliment her charge when she can't hear. "...I haven't told her of the Silver Millennium. Not any of them, not yet. But it will have to been soon, I'm afraid."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna blinks at Luna's declaration about Sailor V. She thinks about it for all of two seconds, then she has a mental image of Haruka in that ridiculous midriff-baring outfit she saw Sailor V wearing the one time they interacted. Said mental image makes her snort...then she sits up and starts giggling as she looks at Luna. She tries to hide it behind her hand...but after a moment, her giggles have transitioned to full-blown belly laughs and she spends a good several minutes laughing her ass off.

After a minute or two, the older woman manages to compose herself again...only to fight down another set of giggles as she imagines Haruka in the V costume again.

Finally, she pulls herself together completely and waves at Luna, "...sorry...sorry...Oh GODS, I needed that laugh..." She shakes her head, "...not your fault, Luna...your memory is fried almost as bad as mine is...but I can tell you for a certainty that Sailor V is NOT Uranus given I know who Neptune is."

She then stretches, "...and Magic has changed. I've met a few other guardians...and there's at least one major faction that channels magic through what I believe are sentient if not necessarily SAPIENT computers rather than binding them to things and Concepts like we did. I've reached out and made a contact and a tentative alliance with one of them."

As Luna admits to having to come clean to Usagi, Setsuna shakes her head, "...while I can't ENTIRELY fault your choice...I think keeping them in the dark is a much worse choice, overall. I'll help you explain it to them if you want." She then frowns, "...and I think we both REALLY need to get ahold of Artemis and take him to task for faffing about once he found someone."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna huffs and pouts the entire time that Setsuna is laughing, decidedly unamused at this response to her sharing what seems to her a perfectly reasonable bit of news. And she sits back, the bright pink of her cast accusing, until Setsuna finally manages to stop laughing. And when it turns out Setsuna still needs more time - well, she starts sulkily finishing her dinner, which is still very delicious, untainted by the fact that Setsuna is still laughing at her -

"What do you mean?" Because this is not funny, to Luna, this is concerning. And maybe Setsuna doesn't see it because she thinks she has a handle on the situation, but she doesn't understand - "If Uranus is accounted for, then we have a problem, Setsuna-san! There is an imposter among the Senshi."

Has Artemis been fooled? She can't imagine it, for he was an exceptionally clever, if annoying, guardian and yet, Luna can see no other possibility. Even in the worst of her fears, that Sailor V is Saturn, not when that terrifying glaive was nowhere in sight, but - "There are four Inners and four Outers in our princess' court. And I possess the final transformation item for final member of the Inner court. It is impossible for there to be another, and she knows of the Senshi, when no one else does. Not even a legend remained with the word Senshi, and yet she knows them on sight."

Even with magic changed and altered, there could be no mistaking that only the Senshi knew of the Senshi. This must be true.

Luna's tail swishes, frustration making the air whistle. "They are children. The little they've seen of the truth of things frightens them, and to give them yet more - to tell them that their very souls are not what they've thought, that once, long ago, they were of the finest court in all the universe, and that the enemy that even now stalks their steps lay waste to them all? It's too soon. It's much too soon."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna frowns a bit at the suggestion there's an imposter...but then she shakes her head, "...maybe...but that just means we need to talk to Artemis even more." She pauses, then relaxes a little, "...OR...he might have found a different magical girl who needed help and has enlisted her to help run cover for your mission. He might not remember much more than you or I do, after all."

She shakes her head, "Truth be told, between fourteen thousand years and the discharge I took when the Gate's failsafes blew, I'm kind of surprised I remember as much as I do."

As Luna speaks her piece about how it's too soon, Setsuna grabs the empty dishes and puts them into the dishwasher. She washes her hands, then dries them on a towel and gently reaches over to collect the Mau into her arms, "Well, while I can't say as you're wrong about it being too soon...and I can respect wanting to not burden them..." She shakes her head and starts walking toward the bedrooms, "...I'm afraid neither Destiny nor Circumstance is going to care very much about what we'd like...and on top of that, I can tell that Usagi is starting to chafe about being kept in the dark. I think we're going to have to tell them the hard truths. It's better than the soft lie."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's plenty easy for Luna to worry enough for two - she's been doing it all along, after all, fretting over Usagi's performance (and lack thereof) for herself and the missing Artemis, off doing whatever it was he was doing, which she now knows was trailing Sailor V. Setsuna is preternaturally calm, which might simply be the thousands upon thousands of years of active waiting in one place, but which is also mildly frustrating to the poor Mau with such responsibility over these Senshi.

"I hate to say that that sounds like Artmis," she grumbles, but it really does. He would be the sort to go for such a tricksy method, finding an alternate to play the part and lure the rest away - "Maybe. Finding him at least is something we can agree on. Whatever he's doing with Sailor V... at least a decoy would explain the naming. V, of all things."

Not like there's a conspicious planet that starts with V, right -

"Memory is a tricky thing. There are parts of the past so clear to me that I feel as thought I could never forget them - and there are parts that may as well be television static, for all they have to offer."

Which is very annoying. Luna permits herself to be scooped up, drooping as Setsuna shares her own piece - "I know. The enemy has shown their face, and poor Usagi is not particularly brave at the best of times. Combined with the threats the fiend made towards Naru... she is very insist about getting answers."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna carries Luna into her bedroom, absently setting the mau on what appears to be a king sized bed covered in black jersey-knit cotton sheets. After doing so, she strides over to what appears to be a walk-in closet, whereupon the sounds of her changing can be heard as she speaks back loud enough to carry, "Well, let me know when you're planning to share, and I'll help as much as I can."

A few moments later, the tall woman walks out in a comically oversized black t-shirt that's long enough to come almost all the way down to her knees. It has a cartoonish picture of a few strips of bacon, and the legend:

BACON.
Proof that
God Loves Us
and wants
us to be
HAPPY

She walks over and climbs into bed, "I also think we should be making as many alliances as we can with other magical groups. I, for one, would not find having allies amiss when time comes to confront our enemies. If the price for that is helping some of them fight things and people we'd have conflicted with anyway...so much the better."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna allows herself to be carried, comfortable in Setsuna's arms. She looks around Sailor Pluto's home with genuine curiousity, but makes no effort to ask questions, or distract from the subject at hand. The topic is too important for that.

"I will do that. Usagi and the other inner Senshi would likely appreciate it... I'm sure they will be quite put out with me."

She doesn't like to think about it, but she's withheld quite a few secrets. For good reason, of course, but Usagi, Rei, and Ami... would they understand? That they had not just been brought into a war - that they had been destined for it all this time, their souls cast forward in time and reincarnated for the hope of peace and the inevitability of conflict, the settling of old grudges?

She considers it, the possible reactions. She considers again the consequences of this revelation, and the very real truth that she can't keep putting it off...

And is therefore unprepared for the sight of Setsuna's new attire, particularly the colorful sentiment of her shirt. She presses a paw to her mouth, stifling laughter.

"...Usagi-chan hasn't been thinking of it so strategically, but she's been doing much the same. Finding allies, creating alliances, mingling with the other magical girls in the area."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles a little as she notices Luna's stifled laughter. Part of the reason she wears lighthearted t-shirts like these around the house is precisely to lighten the mood. She's had enough seriousness in her life...she can afford to be a bit silly in places where it doesn't matter.

As she settles in, she hits a control on the nightstand, dimming the lights as she crawls under the sheets.

She settles in a little, "The bed's big enough that you shouldn't have to worry about me rolling over on you...and I'm sure you'll appreciate having someplace nice and soft to relax with those casts."

A yawn splits her mouth for a moment, "...sadly, old ladies such as myself need sleep...especially since I've got to be at school long before classes start."

She shifts a little, settling down...then she opens her eyes and says, "...actually, one thing that I don't know if you've looked into...but...I was coallating some info I found and I noticed that Miss Osaka has been in quite a lot of...events, is VERY even-tempered and quite repsonsible...could she possibly be the Princess?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The bed is soft and large, much larger than Usagi's simple bunkbed, provided by (un)caring school officials. There's plenty of room for a cat to sprawl, limbs and tail managing to take up an absurdly large amount of her bed.

"It is a very nice bed. You've a beautiful home in general, Setsuna."

She might not be yawning, but she is most certainly tired - at least, she is until Setsuna raises a most surprising - most unthought of - possibility.

"...I hadn't. You're not - wrong, that Naru Osaka has been the subject of far too many attacks for a normal human to bounce back from - and she remembers, each time. She is observing more and more from each encounter... and Usagi transformed for the first time in defense of her... perhaps... it is a possibility to explore."

Could Naru Osaka be their missing princess? So close, all this time?

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Head down on the pillow, lights low, and under comfortable sheets, it appears that the Senshi of Time fades into sleep fast, "...just had the thought...figured you'd be better placed to look into it..."

Another splitting yawn is let out, then Setsuna mumbles, "...gnight, Lnna."

Annnnnd...she's out.