2653/Heart stopper shoppers

Heart stopper shoppers
Date of Scene:	29 June 2025
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Masato makes good on his offer to take Amy shopping, along with Tamaki and Mamoru. Except Mamoru turns up as Mamorin, just for fun. Ami, already in the district, see the group and joins in. Usagi also makes it all the way from detention-- she's not missing a chance to go shopping.
Cast of Characters:	Nephrite, Mamoru Chiba, Amanda Faust, Jadeite, Ami Mizuno, Usagi Tsukino

---

Nephrite has posed:
Though the event had passed-- and Usagi and Mamoru were very married, secretly moon wedded, now-- Masato was not one to easiy reneg on an excuse to buy expensive and nice things. He was a man of taste, and if that were not obvious in the designer clothing he often sported, the Ferrari Testarossa that he picked Amy up in made that enormously clear.

Any excuse to drive it, though. He loved this car dearly, and for surprisingly sentimental reasons. Others would meet them there, it was a wonderful excuse to be handsome in public. Summer fashions were circulating. Amy was promised a dress-- and amongst other things, he was going to ensure she got one or two dozen.

Pocketed hands now as Masato walked beside her through the shopping district, sapphire eyes alert for the others-- he knew Mamoru and Jadeite were already here, he could feel it.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Masato!" comes a girl's voice from behind him and Amy, breathless with laughter. A tall girl, maybe Makoto's height? With blue eyes and fluffy black hair in a soft, curly bob; she's gracefully confident in a breezy navy blue A-line summer dress with pockets and a pattern of cat-shaped constellations and stars on it. Her chunky heels give her about two inches. "Amy-chan!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy was promised a chance to shop for a dress, and while it didn't come before the wedding because so much chaos, she's still happy for the opportunity! Although maybe now it will be more of a general clothes-shopping trip than specifically for a fancy dress, she's not sure. Either way is good, because a few weeks ago she did go out on her own and start to get more of an idea of what things she might like.

    She is dressed very informally, quite possibly looking and feeling a little underdressed next to Masato -- she chose the sleeveless red t-shirt and blue shorts for convenience while trying on clothes, since she can check the look of a dress or skirt or any top with more coverage without removing them. Rounding out the outfit are a beat-up pair of white sneakers with red treads and a white-and-blue kinchaku she's tied longer strings to so she can use it as a little crossbody bag for her phone and wallet.

    She's keeping an eye out for familiar faces; Mamoru and Tamaki-san should be easy enough to see over other passerby, after all!

    When an unfamiliar voice calls to Masato, Amy turns to glance behind her. She doesn't know this friend of his, and offers a friendly smile to her and Tamaki. And a "Oh, Hi Suikawa-san!"

    But the girl knows her. The way she says 'Amy-chan'... Amy can't quite place it. "Uh..." she couldn't have met this girl and forgot her, could she? "Our friends have told you about me, miss...? Good things I hope?"

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki's here in black slacks and a tie dye shirt, ready to go shopping - when he sees the group, he bounds over, waviing. "Hey, Amy, Masato! I haven't found Mamoru yet, but he should be around here somewhere!"

...blink blink, Huh. Who's this new girl? She looks... familiar but he can't put his finger on why.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Off in her own little world, the blue-haired senshi made her way through the district. Still dressed for school, Ami was like a breeze as she drifted from shop to shop to scope out windows. Unlike Minako, she wasn't a big shopper, but she also wasn't not a shopper.

Ami liked nice things, too, and sometimes it was pleasant to just look. The fun wasn't always in the acquisition, after all. The majority of it was in the company and the activity.

Sapphirine eyes were torn from some window or another at the sound of voices. Some familiar, some less so, and she was caught with a smile as she waved off toward Amy, the converging Shitennou, and--

Who was that?

Nephrite has posed:
Masato usually looks overdressed compared to most people, but his shirt is light and trousers are fitted, and when he turns to see who called out his name his brows rise. That's a very tall girl-- not that he minds a tall girl-- but he doesn't immediately recognise her. Has he flirted with her before, somewhere? She's very familiar-- she knows Amy, too.

He tailors a charming smile as if he does know her so as not to be rude, and thankfully Tamaki is tottering along.

"Tama-kun, you're very <flower child>, today?" He says that part in English, and his pronounciation is pretty good.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Because she has ~pockets~, the strange girl's hands are free-- and she laughs again, blue eyes bright, and then she grins. "This must be how Usako felt when she pulled this on me," she says, then points to the wedding ring on her hand. "She may be able to join us later after she gets out of detention. I'm still Mamoru though-- or Endy-- imagine! Crown Prince of the entire planet, going dress shopping for someone other than Serenity~"

When the Veil snaps, things, of course, make more sense. But truly, she looks... reimagined. And Masato and Tamaki can both tell what her earrings are made of. And she reaches hands out to grip and squeeze Masato's and Amy's hands, and then drop them and touch Tamaki -- and when she approaches, Ami -- and there's all the proof anyone would need that this girl who looks kind of like Mamoru is actually Mamoru. Warm golden home stillness peace strength; joy. She can feel the wedding ring on her finger.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    They're close to Usagi and call her that? And have the same wedding ring? And wait, Usagi's in det--

    The little piece of the veil crashes down and Amy's left staring, the words telling her this is Mamoru and now she can think that and Amy glances over the person in front of him and then scrutinizes her face and Mamoru takes her hand--

    --now that she can see, she's looking for the expected family resemblance, that he looks like his own sister, but is that makeup? Did Usagi no she's in detention did he know how to do makeup?

    Oh telepathy hi yes uh -- scattered thoughts whirl past as mental gears change. She watched a live action movie in this genre last night--the memory of Usagi becoming boysagi the first time, why was there veil oh because she changed in front of me--

    And then Amy smiles as she finds her mental footing, and there is a background feeling of comfort and shared experience, at least to some degree, as she discussed in KiraKiraFantastica. And to have that shared experience with a friend, a close friend, too. It is nice! And then contact is broken.

    "Sooooo." She asks eagerly, walking around Mamorin to get a look from all angles. "How is it so far? Wait, did the skills to walk in heels come with the body? I... guess the dress did? That's a neat design... um... Man, when I heard you were coming too I did wonder if you were going to do this... Cool! It's so cool!"

    And then she remembers the others and looks at them with an eager curiousness to survey reactions.

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki's eyes widen as the girl takes his hand and squeezes and he sees through the veil -

Mamoru will feel surprise, then realization, then delight.

"It looks like we not only have <flower power> today," he says, winking at Masato, "but <girl power> today! I suppose we doubly need to go shopping to become the cutest team of <blooming roses> in the city!"

Perhaps he's going a little over the top with the Americanisms - but with everyone here to have why not get a little silly?

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Absolutely. She was on her way over pretty immediately for the revelation and moment of contact with--

With Mamoru, but girl.

Ami blinked, looked him over, and then frowned. How was she supposed to refer to him--her--while he was like this? Mamoru-kun was awkward and Mamo-chan was absolutely out of the question. Her mouth opened and she spoke very slowly, very tenatitively.

"Hello Mamor...-san?" Ami squinted.

Nephrite has posed:
When the Veil lifts, and the source of Mamoru-presence is confirmed, Masato's features brighten into proud, mischievous glee. His eyes sparkle with excitement, and he laughs with small, shared joy. From the heels, to the particular earrings, to the all-important dress pockets, to the bobbed hair...

"You cheeky bastard," it's a compliment, and he looks Mamorin over with a slight throw of his hands, "That's fantastic... And tall. Look at your legs!" He says that like it's particularly attractive, though shakes his head. "Shame about the detention for Usagi-chan, though." Understandable, but a shame.

Ami-chan approaches too, and he turns a grin her way, rather uncontained. Tamaki's overtly extra response and attempts at English have him in even better humour. "Ami-chan. We're going shopping, since I promised Amy-chan to buy her a dress or several. Do you want to join us?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"You may have noticed my acrobatics and other aerial gymnastic feats," Mamorin says wryly to Amy, "I fumbled a little the first time, but I was also taking a ... crash ... course in having a new center of balance and modifying my proprioception to match. The heels were kind of a cakewalk." Making doing something hard look easy, technically.

She smooths out the skirt. "I honestly have no idea what I'm looking for. I know I do actually keep being disappointed it puts me in dresses, but Kazuo said that if I wanted the pen to make me look like a 90s lesbian I should be more specific. I bit him and left," she says reasonably, tossing her short curls. "It's funny how I never need glasses in henshin. Um."

Crossing her arms in front of her talent, she blushes kind of smirkingly at the attention. "Usako said Mamorin, and I think it's cute. Endy-chan is probably safe, Mamorin is probably safe..." She lets her arms drop and twists around, looking down, examining her own legs. "Well, there are heels too -- if I borrowed Minako-chan's compact and Usa used her pen, I would still be taller than she is, how unfair is that?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    He has a lot of practice moving his body. Makes... sense? She nods. "Yeah, the whole new body thing takes a little getting used to. Back when Hinoiri was a jerk she bumped me out of the way and I went down, pff," she gestures with her arm bent up at the elbow and then rotating forward to indicate falling, "like a newborn fawn 'cuz I didn't like... I was used to having more mass. No one could easily bump me that hard..."

    She's still smiling, "It's unfair if you think it's unfair, yeah. I'll let you know if I somehow come into posession of something that changes height."

    'A nineties lesbian'. Well, Amy imagines Mamorin in khakis and a polo shirt, at any rate. "I can see it. You'd look good in a lot of things... well I mean, I guess everyone kinda does? It's, uh, yeah... Well, what are you actually picturing when you say you want it to make you look different, then?" She rubs her chin, looking over Mamorin thoughtfully.

    And everyone's taking it well. This is okay and not weirding them out. Like, she didn't really expect their friends to be weird about this but it's still nice to see it!

Jadeite has posed:
"I suppose we have a new queen to serve until Usagi returns," Tamaki teases. "Yeah, you are tall! You're rocking those heels," and now he's feeling underdressed! And yet, and yet -

"How would you feel about suits? Plaid is in in the States too, I think," maximizing those cute 90s lesbian looks as much as they can. "Or maybe leather jackets? Or - wait, have you seen Kill Bill? That's twenty yeras old at this point, I think, but there are some cute looks there..."

Not fancy dresses, so then perhaps... an elegant prince(ss) kind of look?

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Sure." Ami replied absently to Masato for a moment as she continued to inspect Mamorin.

The senshi seemed to come to a conclusion about something with a short nod. This was no different than any other henshin. Mamoru was Mamoru and Mamorin was the name used while in the henshin. Ami nodded again.

"Mamorin-chan." She smiled at her. "I like your hair. And I would really like to find a dress like that--it's very cute."

Of course she did. It was similar to her own.

Nephrite has posed:
Masato reached out a hand to ruffle at Tamaki's hair with a snort, murmuring 'Kill Bill' amusedly in English. "I might buy you a plaid suit, Tama-kun." He smirked, but tilted his head as he started to walk towards the shops.

"Nineties lesbian... Isn't that something like a plaid tank top and heavy combat boots? Thick socks. What are those thing that were big? Tattoo chokers? Or denim shorts to the knee, all frayed and ripped."

Apparently that's what Masato thought of when he thought of nineties lesbians-- at least, he was thinking that meant a kind of style from American films and magazines, anyway. He really had no idea.

He leaned back, turning his head to Amy. "What about you? Do you have a visual style you like?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Something something LL Bean and denim sleeveless jackets or whatever," Mamorin says, waving her hand around. "Cargo shorts... wait..."

Yes Mamoru you already dress like a 90s lesbian (sometimes).

"Wait, no. Roller derby. Do you think I could get away with rollerskating in the street? Oh no we're going into shops, nevermind," she laughs, and now her hands slip into her pockets as she looks down at her dress again.

"I'm sure if we can find fabric like this, we can get Setsuna-san to make you dresses-- this one is unfortunately magic, or I'd tell you where you can get one," she says to Ami, taking her earplugs out of her pocket and casually putting them in while she's talking and they're walking. And then she winks. "I like my hair too. I mean, thank you."

Tamaki gets pushed, and Mamorin looks up at him all amusedly annoyed. "Punk! I am no queen! I'm a prince."

Oh. That's probably why...

"I just told the pen to make me a girl. Maybe I should have said roller derby princess. I mean I know now that I have to be more specific but this is literally the same kind of thing it had me wearing last time? I want to know what part of my psyche has decided girls have to wear dresses."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at the talk of... sleeveless jackets and cargo shorts? Eh, she can see it. "Thinking nothing looked good on me was uh... well yeah." She rubs the back of her head. "Hey, you planning to come shopping with us, right? Then you can like, see how a bunch of clothes look on you! That def helped me see some more options..."

    She glances to Ami. "Oh! I could conjure one, but they don't last forever if I'm not wearing them..."

    She looks back to Mamorin and considers the workings of magic, rubbing her chin. "Well. It might be that the pen, or its maker, decided that was more likely. Or... well, it is the disguise pen, right? So maybe it's because you expect that society at large expects girls to wear dresses, and therefor if it puts you in a dress that will seem less notable." She shrugs. "I suppose we could come up with some science experiments to figure that out..." She grins. "I'd be happy to, if you want!"

    And then she realizes she was asked something else and blinks at Masato. "Uhhhhhh. Well. So. I uh. I did look that up once... tried to find something that talked about styles... and what I came away with was uh, I dunno if these are common terms or not but 'girl' and--" she facepalms. "Wait, I mean--"

    "--going by some descriptions, I guess 'softgirl' and 'dark softgirl' with just a little bit of grunge? Or whatever you'd call 90s and 2000s stuff."

    She shrugs. "But, that was me thinking about it awhile back... I think it might vary rather more than that, but I don't have... words, for fashion stuff, you know?"

Jadeite has posed:
"I thought I was forbidden from calling you my prince! But if you must insist, I can return to that," Tamaki teases as he rocks back from being pushed. "Masatoooo, I don't need a plaid suit! I'm trying to go for gentleman, not ex-lumberjack!" He has some dignity! Not a lot, but some!

"Wish we knew if Japan had a Hot Topic. Then we could get cooking," tamaki mutters, as if he's been to one since he moved away from America when he was twelve.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I think you'd really knock the lumberjack look down, Suikawa-san." Ami smiled at him as she moved to follow along with Masato, but her gaze drifted to Amy. "Any dress with pockets is a success. Especially one as cute as that."

A glance toward Mamorin briefly, before she leaned in a little closer to the red-headed girl. "Between you and me, though. Let Masato-kun treat you a little bit, he knows what to look for. You can't dress as sharply as him without having an eye for these things."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
As the group ambles down the shopping street, they may become aware of a new sound - footsteps pounding the pavement behind them, before there's an excited call of, "Mamorin! Ami-chan! I escaped detention!!"

And then both of them promptly find their arms taken ahold of, as Usagi slots herself into place between them. She's a little out of breath, but not as much as they might expect, and she proudly declares -

"I didn't really escape, I just finished and then henshin'd so I could run all the way across the city and not miss anything! I didn't miss anything, right? I don't see any bags!"

Nephrite has posed:
Masato laughed both at Tamaki and Ami, and nudged at the other Shitennou's arm, "You'll have to shout <timber> when you enter a room--" He snickered a little more, but settled. "And anyway, <Hot Topic>... You're thinking of the Harajuku Collective collaboration a few years ago."

He does think on what Amy says though of her preferences, lifting his head to peer at the sky thoughtfully. "Soft Grunge... Maybe we should check the Ragtag store for something vintage. I'll have to take you to Kichijoji sometime. I like the suits there, but there's a lot of relaxed things like that too..."

Masato blinks as Usagi appears, and quickly grins her way. "You made impressive time, Usagi-chan."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Ohhh-hoh-ho, Mamorin looks a little flustered at Tamaki's teasing. "Ah--" she says, looking back to Amy, "That actually really sounds cool but I can't concentrate on it right now because--" and there's a growing smile, and she turns as the sound of slap-slap-slap feet on the pavement begins to be audible. "Because no offense to anyone, but my favorite part's about to get here~"

The sudden contact spills joy into both Ami and Usagi, fresh and bright and laughing silently, warm.

"Hel-lo, bunnygirl," she says cheerfully and leans just there to kiss the side of the top of Usagi's head-- still taller. She teases, "It took you so long to get here, I was starting to think I was short! Ami-chan thinks my dress is a winner. I think I feel vaguely cosmically cheated that the pen doesn't default equate 'girl Mamoru' with 'roller derby princess'-- but we haven't got to a store for Amy-chan yet? Was that it...?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods at Ami's advice.

    'Soft grunge?' Amy's brain conjures something up like a pastel pajama top with distressed baggy jeans. u_u; "Uh... not so much all at the same time as I was defining a range... I... think I understand that just because you like two things doesn't mean... it'd be like the clothing version of having ice cream on your pizza. Yeah, they're both delicious, but... If you're combining them it's a deliberate choice, and that's not what I meant."

    And Mamoru says her sense of style -- (as defined by looking some random things up on the internet 20 or so months ago) -- sounds cool, and she positively beams!

    And then there's Usagi! Amy smiles, "We're not started yet, no." She looks back to Mamorin, "And I think it's a cool dress too! But how would the pen know to think that? Again, if it bothers you that much, we can come up with some experiments and figure it out."

    And then she blinks, and looks at Usagi out of breath, and looks at her communicator-watch, and considers how long it would take her to get here on patrol from when detention ends, and she whispers, 'wow...'

Jadeite has posed:
"<I'm going down, I'm yelling timber>? Is that what I'm doing these days?" Tamaki says, mock shocked. "Next you're going to say that Usagi <came in like a wrecking ball> and then where will we be? Next we'll have to <bring sexy back> and who knows how that will go."

He says that as if he's not grinning ear to ear at his awful bilingual jokes, leaning on Masato as he watches the lovebirds unite.

"Aw, thanks Mizuno-san," Tamaki says sheepishly. "I'm not sure if the lumberjack look is really my style, but I guess I can give it a shot? Or a dress with pockets, we're here for a good time."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Usagi-chan!" Ami brightened immediately and then her brows knit sharply. "Usagi-chan."

Somehow, she managed to convey a great deal in pure inflection. The same name twice in two very distinct tones. The latter of which almost managed to sound harrassed. "What were you in detention for this time?"

Ami let her gaze drift back to Tamaki and she had another smile for him. "I think you'd look absolutely amazing in a dress with pockets, too."

It would be terribly difficult to determine whether she was ribbing him or genuinely meant it. It was probably a little bit of both.

"The real challenge will be convincing Masato-kun to give it a try."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Wahh, Ami-chan it's not my fault!" She is immediately cowering against Mamorin - without removing her arm from Ami's - at that stern tone. "The math teacher wanted to know why I missed so much class and I didn't have an excuse ready!"

It had been unfair, in the sense that it's not like she asked to get corrupted and brainwashed and miss an entire month plus of school and tank her grades for the semester, but also, it's not like the teacher was wrong to be upset, so...

"Besides! The important thing is shopping! And teaching my Disguise Pen that Mamorin wants to be a Derby Girlie, not a Fancy Gal." She is ready to go in on that subject, especially since she doesn't know the references Tamaki is making, having listened to - and remembered - relatively few English songs.

"Let's go, let's go! Let's hit a store!"

Nephrite has posed:
Maybe some people don't find Tamaki's terrible English jokes funny. Masato isn't one of them. The worst they get, the funnier he thinks it is. He doesn't need to get the references. His attention drifts back to Amy, even as Tamaki gets distracted with a nearby store rack to start thumbing through.

"Kichijoji has a very broad variety of visual style, Amy-chan. I think you want 'dark girly' style, with some other things? There's lots of things to find in west Tokyo that are a little bit more tame... but if you don't want to check Ragtag, you could try Secret Honey."

He nods at Usagi, and points to one. "Maybe we can start there."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No it's okay, I just have to be more specific--" Mamorin starts, and then Usagi makes a compelling argument for allons-y. "Yeah! Philosophy later." Her fingers curl between Usagi's, and there's an embarrassingly breathless excitement she's got over Usagi just being here, safe, herself, married, and also, girl hot goddammit the train of thought just veers into GIRL HOT. So she squeezes Usagi's hand, then lets go sheepishly because there's shopping to do.

She begins to head for the store Masato just indicated, then spins on her heel to look back at everyone again, and, OH.

THATS WHY

When she spins, in that dress, the twirl actually does legitimately give the same visual vibe as when Tuxedo Kamen does the damned cape-sweep teleports. And the smoothness of the motion is so graceful. And the way her hands smooth down the dress afterwards... even what her hair does-- no literally what everyone's been saying, she'd rock anything she wore.

"Concentrate on Amy though, I'll try on whatever."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy bobs her head at Tamaki's music references. Although she starts to think he's stretching it a bit, almost sounding like the token American character in an anime...

    ...but then, so what if he kinda does? That's fine, isn't it? Everyone happily being themselves... is why they can have this nice moment!

    ...And there's Mamorin and Usagi holding hands and he's-- they're looking at Usagi that way and such a cute couple and it's another side of Amy's friends and she smiles, happy they get to be this and the rest of them get to see it.

    Oh! They've wandered into a store, and she looks up at Masato, "Um? I... maybe?" n_n; "I don't have much idea how you like... classify style, or fashion, or aesthetic..." Dark Girly? Ragtag? Secret Honey?

    Respectively, these conjure up mental images of Otra and Winter dressed goth, raggedy Anne, and Cutey Honey posed with a pistol like a spy movie poster.

    "Is there some kind of like... fashion encyclopedia I can look up in?" She looks at the rack curiously, trying to figure out its theme.

    Mamorin twirling in the corner of her eye draws her attention and Amy comments, "Oh, it goes spinny! Neat, right? The hair, too..." as she smiles again, before looking around to see what sort of... clothes are here.

    Hey, maybe places Masato shops have some kind of organization, fashion classification system, right? If you go to the movie rental store they're organized by genre, it makes sense!

    Also a sign catches her eye. "Oh dang, everything in this section's 70% off? Lucky for us we came today!"

    She's new to how some clothing stores work.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
It was the way that she complained that softened Ami again and the senshi couldn't help but offer a squeeze through the claimed arm. Besides which, it's not like she could really be all that upset with Usagi given she knew the truth of things. The teacher may not have known all of what happened and thus their response was more due to ignorance than anything.

"I'd never let you fail." Ami offered comfort that probably sounded a lot more like hard work than actual comfort.

She had a very specific brand of care to offer for the most part. After all, she couldn't quite bake the way Makoto could.

Her attention diverted to Mamorin and her twirl, and Ami giggled.

"Mamorin-chan has discovered the secret power of a good dress." She leaned close enough to conspire with Usagi now.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Mamoru will feel the flood of affection, and Ami will feel the way Usagi squeezes her arm, both of them aware of how much Usagi loves them both, and how glad she is to be able to just chill out with them, no stress, no troubles.

As they diverge into the store and Amy speculates about how exactly one learns about fashion, a lifetime of knowledge bubbles up in Usagi. "Fashion magazines! The best way to figure out your style is to read fashion magazines! And look at fashion icons on social media, but especially magazines, because even if you can't afford the looks, you can get an idea of the style and they'll tell you how it works."

Turning around in the store, she gauges the style, and snickers at the for sale signs, very familiar with that sort of thing.

"My papa is at a big fashion magazine, so he's always been talking to me about this kind of stuff. Following magazines is a great way to get more of an education on this stuff! It's not like an encyclopedia, but it's better anyway, there's more pictures... but for now, let's just browse a little, and Masato-kun and I can tell you all about what's making each piece work, okay? Here, we can start in this section, where they're doing their summer looks -"

Nephrite has posed:
With Masato coming up alongside Amy-- she might find she's now book-ended but both Masato and Usagi, ready to guide her through various fashion possibilities, styles, and marketing tactics. Magazines, blogs, and even mannequins pointed out, they'll help her understand the difference between local boutiques and brands.

The two of them sure can talk about clothes. A lot. And they will.