393/Preparing to Take the Stage

Preparing to Take the Stage
Date of Scene:	08 September 2023
Location:	Secret Mountain Cabin
Synopsis:	Double Trouble arrives at the secret mountain cabin where Hinoiri has Naru stashed. They've got one conversation to learn enough about Naru to pretend to be her, so they're honest and appeal to Naru's better nature. They find her to be surprisingly cooperative with the plan. It almost makes them feel _bad_ about how they have to leave her at the end.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Double Trouble
Tinyplot:	Dangerous Orbits

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Naru Osaka has posed:
There are people for whom a cabin in the moutains unplugged from technology with nowhere to go and some books would be a dream come true. There was a time when Naru might have been one of the people saying that she'd love to spend time in the quiet.

This is too much quiet.If there was any doubt that Naru is an extravert, that has been utterly shattered.

So far she's sketched for a little while, she's examined the dvds. She's alphabatized the DVDs by title. She's done the dishes. She has eaten a few crackers and drank some water to have dishes to do. She has sat down to read. She has read the same paragraph 18 times. She tried a different book. She has determined that from the TV to the sink is 23 paces. She learned that she can do 23 pushups and the match to the paces made her smile.

Naru is currently at the table with her sketchbook and a glass of water.

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble would go absolutely crazy here. They need to be around and amidst people. They're so extroverted they _become_ other people. So, it's fortunate for them that they are not in the cabin...until they are.

With a little poof of magic, Double Trouble pops into existence just inside the front door to the cabin. They're in their natural form with the green skin and the long tail, yellow eyes and long yellow hair, and long pointed ears. They're wearing a black mesh body suit with zippers and pockets in various locations. They've got a mesh belt with a fancy belt buckle wrapped around their waist, a green gem embedded into the belt buckle.

Their tail swishes out and then wraps around their waist as they survey the cabin. Spotting Naru, they smile, and start to walk across the room. "There she is, the girl of the hour! Oh, you look _dreadfully_ bored, dear. Did that unicorn not leave you anything to _do_?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru manages not to startle as someone just /appears/ in the cabin. She takes her time to turn her head and consider her visitor.

Well. Hunh.

"Have you ever been told you may not do something? And then you absolutely want nothing at all more than to do precisely that?" Naru asks of her green skinned visitor. "I have plenty of things to do, there's even a television." She doesn't elaborate on what she WANTS to do that she may not. Perhaps that's obvious.

"Clearly you know me, but I don't have the pleasure of knowing you." Naru asks politely.

Double Trouble has posed:
"Of course you haven't, this is my _debut role_," Double Trouble says, grinning with their hands to either side making jazz hands. They look a little creepy with their long, slender fingers. Especially when you consider how sharp all their teeth are. "I'm Double Trouble, and I'm new in town."

They walk over and pull out another seat at the table, across the corner from where Naru's sitting. Their tail wraps down around one leg, and they lean back, crossing one leg over the other at the knee as they lean into the table. "But I need to learn the part, so here I am. And honestly, I'm dreadfully sorry about how we had to meet. Sunbreaker has impulse control issues. If she'd thought this through at _all_, you wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here. And yet here we are."

Then they lean forward over the table to peer at the sketchbook to see what Naru was drawing. Nosy little chameleon.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Pleasure to meet you, Double Trouble." Naru greets politely, giving a gesture to the other chair, as if a lack of invitation would keep DT from sitting.

Still, there's something to be said for keeping up the facade.

"I'd say welcome to Tokyo, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we're probably not in Tokyo right now." Naru chuckles lowly at the assessment of the situation. "Yes, that does seem to about sum it up. But here we are."

The sketchbook has doodles in it, a further sign of Naru's lack of concentration. Pencil sketches of different bits in the cabin, working on perspective, and detail work. The way the curtain hangs in the kitchen window, even if the view beyond it is nothing but blackness. A detail of the corner of the couch that faces the TV, done in almost photorealism.

Double Trouble has posed:
"Wow, you're quite the artist," Double Trouble says, looking up at her with those big, yellow eyes. They blink. It's _sideways_. So weird. They lean back. They gesture at the sketchbook. "Is that your _thing_? Are you an artist?" Clearly they don't know _much_ about her.

They don't wait for her to answer, though, before going on. "I want you to rest assured that you're not going to be here much longer. Sailor Moon and the rest of your friends are going to beat some sense into Sunbreaker, and get you out of here. It's only a matter of time," they say. They sigh and shake their head. "I'd say I hope she learns from this, but I don't think it's gonna be likely. In the meantime, I want to try and keep that unbearable unicorn from getting hurt too badly. I know she deserves it. But she's unbearable enough as it is. And she was miserable after the _last_ time she ran into you and Sailor Moon."

Then they grin widely, and say, delightedly, "Besides, I love a challenging, high-risk role."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yes." Naru gestures at her sketchbook. "I'm an artist. Usually a textile artist, but it neither travels well, nor gets me grades, so I spend more time doing fine art." The wrinkle of her nose speaks to her opinion on that term. "Which I do enjoy, it's not the art's fault that it's become .." she trails off and then shakes her head. "Never mind. You did not come for a detailed conversation about art critique theory."

"I have to agree that it doesn't feel likely." Naru sighs a little. "Which is a shame, really. I also don't want her to get hurt too badly." She watches the reptillian person and then quirks her head. "What are you planning?"

Double Trouble has posed:
"I absolutely did come here to hear about art critique theory, if that's what you want to talk about," Double Trouble says with a light laugh. "As for the plan, well, so, there's no way Sunbreaker is going to give you up before she gathers whatever information she's after. My goal is to get some heat off of her so that she can do that. But, again, worst case, you're getting rescued eventually." They still haven't explained what it is they're going to _do_ though.

And then they don't have to. Right before her eyes, they transform. Although really it's less a transformation and more just a shift. One moment they're Double Trouble, and the next they're Naru Osaka. Identical in every way to the girl sitting across the corner of the table from her.

"After she picks me up, Sunbreaker is going to 'come to her senses' and I'll be released," says Naru's double. "If I play the role well enough, it'll buy her the time she needs to get what she wants from you. If not, well, any time I can buy her is going to help her out."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru watches DT become her and she mmms softly. "Ahhh, I see." She considers it a moment and then nods. "You're very good at that." She compliments, gesturing Double Trouble to stand and turn aroud so that Naru can see all of them as her.

"That should be interesting, not only to see how you do, but also exactly how long it takes for you to get found out." Naru nods thoughtfully.

Double Trouble has posed:
"It's a challenging role, for sure," says Naru's double as she gets up off the chair and takes a step away from the table before twirling around. Every little detail. She even has Naru's voice. Then she twirls around again, and it's Double Trouble standing on the spot. "But the better I get to know _you_, the better I'll do."

They sit back down, their tail winding around the chair leg, and lean back, lifting one knee up over the other and leaning in on the table. Just like they were before. "So, when you say textile art, do you mean fashion? What's your _passion_, Osaka-san?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh absolutely." Naru smiles brightly and easily. She leans back in her chair, considering the conversation. "Fashion is my textile focus. Designing dresses and the like. Skirts too."

"I'm part of the Art Club." Naru points out, not an unreasoanble leap. "There's not a lot of textile artists, which is hardly a surprise really."

Naru mms softly. "I could kill for a cup of tea, but alas. No such luck." She gestures a little. "I'm in grade nine, that's probably also relevant for you. Are you planning to attend my classes?"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble is a talented actor. There is no role they play better than themselves, calm, collected, confident, and in control of the situation. They smile and nod, and say, "Yes, I don't think it'll be convincing unless I do. I'll definitely have to improvise, as you're clearly as talented as I am at what _you_ do."

Meanwhile, inside their mind they're panicking a little. They had not considered that if they are being Naru Osaka, and attending _her_ classes, then who is going to be Dianora Lagorio and attend her classes? Hinoiri was going to _owe_ them, for making their life more complicated.

They consider Naru for a moment, bringing one hand up to tap their long, slender fingers against their lips. "Mmm. I gather you have a lot of friends. Normally, if I were going to be replacing somebody, I'd spy on them long enough to understand their connections. But we just get this conversation. Can you tell me about the people that I'm most likely going to need to convince I'm you?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I do have a lot of friends." There is not a hope of Naru being able to deny that. Most of the school knows her on some level. "My best friend is Usagi, you are certainly going to to convince her. She's.. very very friendly and enthusiastic." Naru's voice and expression is fond, she cant' help herself. "She's my roommate, and in most of my classes."

Naru considers. "Let's see, you'll probably encounter Darien and Koji, they're roommates. Hannah is likely to have wondered where I was too. Honestly, you probably are going to encounter a lot of people, especially as I've been gone for a few days."

Double Trouble has posed:
Oh this is perfect. Usagi is somebody that Double Trouble already wanted to meet. Hinoiri was going to introduce Dianora eventually, but this way she'd get to _pre-meet_ her, and as her best friend and roommate at that! What an opportunity. Double Trouble can't help but smile, so they say, "Sunbreaker didn't make this easy for me, that's for sure. But I'm glad my debut role is something _challenging_."

They rise up from their seat, then, and say, "I wish we'd met under different circumstances, Osaka-san. You seem like a nice girl, and you're a great artist. I'd love to see some of your fashion designs some day, I bet they're smashing. But I'll understand if you'd rather not, after this is all done and over with."

They reach to touch the green gem in their belt buckle and there's a thrum of magic as an inky black serpent shoots out of the belt buckle. It's a big snake, like an anaconda, but it seems to be made out of shadows. It's just a little wispy like that. It darts across the floor in an instant and winds it's way around Naru's legs and up around her abdomen and head in just a couple of heartbeats, completely restraining her in her chair.

"I'm not from around here, Naru. In the world I'm from, magic energy is just freely available. And I can use my abilities at my whim. But here? Here I have to _get_ it from somewhere. And that's where you come in. My friend here is going to keep you restrained, and then," they pause as the creature's head comes around and it's dark mouth opens up and chomps down on Naru's shoulder. It _won't_ leave a mark, but it _does_ hurt immensely. "Slowly drain your energy and send it to me. It's just a trickle, though, just enough to let me keep your shape, so it won't leave you _too_ weakened."

They walk up to Naru and rest their hand on her other shoulder. "They'll rescue you sooner or later, I'm sure."

Then they turn, and walk into a different room so they don't have to look at her while they wait for Sunbreaker to fetch them.