406/Sailorphone

Sailorphone
Date of Scene:	11 September 2023
Location:	Dorms #2
Synopsis:	Pyrite needs to meet with Sailor Moon because she has an IDEA.
Cast of Characters:	Pyrite, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Dangerous Orbits

---

Pyrite has posed:
    A knock comes from the door. Two knocks actually. Well, it's multiple knocks, but from two distinctly different elevations and also one is more leftish and the other kind of bottom-rightish? Basically a short person is knocking and also an even shorter person, neither is the tall person, their height is sub-standard even for Japan.
    Yes, the knocking is coming from outside the dorm room, the spookiest of revelations.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru -- he's started thinking of himself as Mamoru again -- sighs and opens the door to his dorm room to let in Pyrite and Himeko, as whichever one of them was texting him indicated would be the case.

"What turned you into two of you?" is the first thing he asks, and his expression, as he pockets his phone, is patient. Actually patient, not fake-patient.

Pyrite has posed:
    "Some of my fetters broke." Himeko answers from where she stands holding her own alter-ego's hand.
    "I can no longer eat souls and some other things that do not apply, so the restrictions on them broke." Pyrite agrees with a nod as she holds her older self's hand and looks up at Mamoru. At least Pyrite is wearing her black school uniform and isn't standing in the hall with her Shitennou uniform.
    "We split into two of me because it was the old Pyrite and old Himeko who had those restrictions, and it was a choice between something bad happening or separating into a new Pyrite and a new Himeko." Himeko explains, reaching across with her right hand to scratch at the fresh-looking scar on her left cheek, with the reddened, irritated flesh around it.
    "Self-preservation." Pyrite says in a tone as though she is using a secret magic word of secrecy that she has only just learned.
    "The past remains with Pyrite, and the new things stay with me. It means we are more anchored in the present, instead of being scattered everywhere at once." Himeko clarifies.
    Pyrite raises her left hand and wiggles her fingers like she's sprinkling something. "Not as much confetti. Fixed past and future."
    Himeko shrugs. "The average of the past and future is the present."
    Ghost math. The newest and worst kind of math.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's still better than New Math, which is fifty years old now.

"Valid," says Mamoru thoughtfully, and then he goes to sit at his desk chair and not tower over them. "Why not transform, like I do, and like the magical girls do? Where sometimes I'm Hematite, and sometimes I'm Darien, and I can switch back and forth?"

A beat. "Is it time for the Welcome Home Himeko message yet?"

Pyrite has posed:
    Both girls come into the room, Pyrite's much shorter legs forcing her to walk more quickly, until she is released to go over to Mamoru and lay half-across his lap. Himeko closes the door behind her, and looks with vague annoyance born of jealousy at Pyrite for claiming the spot she's too old to sit in anymore. Not enough room! Being jealous of yourself is kind of wild.
    "We were already doing that, remember? Back then, Himeko and Pyrite were two forms of the same person. Now we are legally distinct, like Nephri--Masato-senpai said, so Henshin is..." She squints her bright red eyes.
    Pyrite turns her head to look at herself. "It will need sorting."
    "Yes." Himeko agrees reluctantly. "It will need sorting. This is new to both of us." She amends, "Or all of us." as she acknowledges that this probably isn't a routine occurrence for Mamoru either. "We might recombine again. We especially should do so before any attempts to bring us back to life."
    Pyrite is counting on both hands, quietly mouthing the numbers as she calculates. She and Himeko both answer at the same time. "On my birthday."
    Himeko says, "October thirty-first."
    Pyrite wants to shift until more of her weight is on Mamoru's lap so she can kick her legs in the air behind, but she doesn't really weigh anything anyway, so she just shifts off and floats in the air regardless. She kicks her legs there instead. "Halloween. I have learned of this from The Internets. I am excited for the Trick of Treating."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru pulls his phone out carefully, so as to avoid dislodging Pyrite, and he reaches over and pats a place for Himeko to sit on the bed too. He brushes Pyrite's hair away from her face absently, listening to the two of them intently, and then says, "Let me text Sailor Moon. We'll definitely have a birthday party for you both. Or you one, if you've recombined by then."

A beat. "It is definitely new to me too. At least the two-bodies part. Two sets of memories, unstuck in time, I can already relate to." But she knows that. Maybe they both know that, maybe only Himeko does.

He types in Usagi's number and sends,

    Darien TXT: Pyrite would like to meet the girl in the blue skirt with the tiara. We're in my dorm. Koji's still not back.

Pyrite has posed:
    Pyrite smiles at the hair brushing. Himeko sits on the bed nearby and seems pleased just to be nearby. Neither of them is the needy, desperate-for-approval energy vampire they used to be. But that doesn't mean they don't still love the one who helped them out of the painful past. Even if they forget everything one day, this time together is real... No matter what face they're wearing during it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi had maybe, kind of, broken down a bit last night. Kazuo and Mamoru had been there for her though, and today, she's got her head on straight. She no longer wants to kick Sunbreaker until she dies.

Now she just wants to kick her until she almost dies.

Progress!

She'd gone back to her room in the morning - for clothes for class, to let Luna know what happened, and because she needed to tell Inai-sensei. And she'd even participated in some of those activities. A little.

The buzz of her phone is welcome, and she glances down at the message in surprise...

Usagi TXT: I'll come over.

Usagi TXT: Just a few minutes.

A few minutes later, a small rock hits the window of Koji and Darien's room.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We'll wait," says Mamoru, "until Sailor Moon is here to discuss whatever else it is. And, you remember Naru, right? The girl who was trying to help you understand what mythological creatures were? It's almost time to go find her."

It's quiet. Mamoru is happy to be with Himeko-- Pyrite-- both of them, too. Dust motes dance in the light streaming through the windoe. The sounds from outside are muffled, and the sounds of a busy dorm are all around them, creaking floors and walking feet and muffled conversations...

And then a rock at the window!

Because children love to be manhandled, Mamoru gets up and hauls Pyrite with him, giving Himeko a crookedly conspiratorial look, and hefts her under his arm like a sack of potats as he goes to open the window and look out. "Can you jump up? If you can jump up, come on in," he calls relatively quietly. Loud enough for her to hear, not loud enough to make anyone be like 'what is Sailor Moon doing here'.

Then he steps back. With Pyrite under his arm unless she wriggles enough or bites him.

Pyrite has posed:
    Pyrite weighs considerably less than a sack of potat, so this works out great! Also, she would never bite Onii-chan! What the heck! She might be inclined to wriggle, just for that sheer wriggling enjoyment, but she refrains in this situation as it is a SRS matter, with a capital SRS. This is why she is being hauled underarm like a sack of potat.
    Himeko stands up from the bed, and says quietly, "Yes... Masato-senpai asked for the message regarding Naru-senpai to be passed to Usagi-senpai. He and Inai-sensei found a cabin where she was being kept, and some of her belongings. I could tell you and her were not happy, so I gave the good news."
    She pauses as she waits to see what happens with the window.
    Pyrite does not! "That is when I convinced me to tell someone about the fetters. We sent a text to Dite-senpai about it." she points at Himeko because this clarification is clearly needed.
    Himeko shrugs and looks over in a 'what are you gonna' do?' way to Mamoru. "He hasn't responded yet."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon is indeed the launcher of the rock! And once Darien gives his permission for her to enter, she does indeed jump to the window! Bravo! Heroic deeds of superhuman - oh there she goes, tripping backwards, her kitten heel not quite having landed on the window sill. Don't worry though! Don't worry! Even as she fumbles back, she reaches out and snags a hold of the inside of the wall.

"Ahaha - never - fear - Sailor Moon - is here!" The last word is kind of wheezed out, because she manages to squeeze through the window, pinwheeling her arms to recapture her balance.

"I'm here- two of them?"

Hey, hey! That's - hey isn't one of these little girls Himeko? Is Himeko the sister friends with Pyrite the apprentice?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Utterly without comment (only with a smile) Mamoru holds his free hand out to catch Moon if she doesn't make it in on her feet. Then it's not necessary!

"Two! Yes. Himeko, Pyrite-- you can tell her the whole story if you want, but I think you should tell her your good news first," says Mamoru, setting Pyrite down unlike a sack of potat.

He pauses then adds carefully, "Not the WHOLE story. The relevant to today's situation parts of the story. Because the whole story would take too long."

Pyrite has posed:
    Pyrite is put down unlike potat. She waves towards Sailor Moon excitedly, and opens her mouth, but then Mamoru adds on further clarifications. They don't latch onto her soul like fetters did. She just respects the instructions and requests, because she cares about her big brother and trusts him. She'll still close her mouth and pout a bit though.
    Himeko nods and smiles at Sailor Moon. "Um... So, the good news is that evidence was found of Naru-san's presence by a friend of Onii-chan's, and also Inai-sensei. I passed that information to Usagi-san, who is room mates with her. But, as I am a psychic like Onii-chan, I sometimes see the future, past, or both. It used to be harder to control. It would be like... Just existing in many places and times at once and seeing them even when other people couldn't. Flipping TV channels in the middle of doing everyday things, only the channel was a moment in time, with all the emotional content that I felt at that time. Even if that moment hadn't happened yet."
    Pyrite looks at her older self concernedly. "We have a plan to help rescue the Naru." she asserts. "Because we saw ourselves come up with the plan. But first we need Sailor Moon to tell us about something, so that we will be inspired to think of it."
    As if that isn't confusing enough, Himeko then goes on to explain the ele--err, unic--capybara in the room. "The long and short of it is... I'm Himeko Soryuu, and Pyrite used to be both Pyrite and Himeko. We split. We're, um." She looks at Mamoru to check if she's really allowed to reveal the truth.
    "Pyrite and I are both ghosts of the same person. Before Onii-chan found us at the shrine... We..." It's difficult to address the subject, not just because of the associated trauma but because of the cognitive dissonance and the sheer forgetfulness that plagues her.
    Pyrite, looking just like the little Himeko that first met Usagi at that picnic, says, "We died. It wasn't Onii-chan's fault. We were left alone for too long by the people who used and abandoned us. It took time for him to even remember he had a sister and come looking for me. There was no way a little girl would survive all alone there."
    The recollection is still... Distorted, clearly. Their memories are bleeding into the present, making them honestly believe they were once blood relatives of Darien Shields, and were at the orphanage with him no matter how chronologically difficulty or outright impossible that might be.
    Himeko sighs as Pyrite walks over to her, sits back down on the bed, and helps her younger self into her lap to hug her. "Onii-chan is trying to find a way to bring us back to life. But before then, we need to use the powers we have now to help save Naru-san."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Mamoru - and it's definitely Mamoru she's looking at even if she isn't entirely sure why she's so sure - is kind enough not to laugh at her. The two girls - Himeko and Pyrite, and Pyrite, she knows logically, is the apprentice of Hematite, but she looks just like the Himeko that she once picniced with and promised to see ducks with - are more confusing. Not in a bad way, in a baffling and continuing to be more baffling way, as the two reveal -

Things. Himeko-chan is not just psychic, but a ghost. Himeko-chan is Pyrite is a part of the Dark Kingdom. Himeko-chan is Pyrite-chan is Darien's sister is a ghost - and had all the horrible, awful things Himeko once mentioned happened to her. Himeko is the taller, older one. Himeko is the one who cried and broke her lights and was so sorry for it. But they're also both Himeko and both Pyrite, aren't they, if they were once the same person and still are, a little bit? And they need her.

To tell them how to rescue Naru. To tell them something that will make them know how to rescue Naru.

It's very confusing.

"Thank you both for helping me and, um, Usagi-san, to find Naru," it's the first time she's referred to herself in the first person. She feels a desire to crouch down, to be on the eye level of the young Pyrite, but to be honest, she's not that tall herself, and it would be insulting all around. She rocks a little instead, shifting her weight, "How can I help? What do you need from me, Himeko-chan, Pyrite-chan?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
--and right there in front of Himeko and Pyrite, Mamoru just... sidelong-hugs Sailor Moon. And then he lets go and rummages for one of the unopened canned beverages Kazuo got last night, and he puts it in Sailor Moon's hand, because listening to Himeko is an Experience and she might need more caffeine and sugar to deal.

Then he pulls over Koji's desk chair and puts it where she can sit, and he listens and listens, to all three of them, and his eyebrows go up a couple of times but he doesn't interrupt. Finally, he takes a seat in his own chair; Py-tan and Himeko-chan can sit on the bed if they want.

"We'll have to help Sailor Moon find the Silver Crystal," he says softly, "to help bring you back to life. It works miracles. But that's still a secret, remember. We don't tell anyone at Obsidian that that's who we're helping. Right now, we focus on Naru-chan."

Pyrite has posed:
    Pyrite and Himeko look back at Sailor Moon and Mamoru as they ask what's needed to help, and explain the plan with the crystal. Then Pyrite looks up at Himeko from the latter's lap, while Himeko looks down at Pyrite from above. Then they both look at Sailor Moon, and speak in perfect synch even if one sounds a bit younger than the other.
    "Find the Silver Crystal and Awaken the Princess."
    Then Pyrite speaks alone. "Sailor Moon, what is the password?"
    Then Himeko speaks alone. "Sailor Moon, who is Usagi-san?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon hugs Mamoru back, which, if it wasn't obvious by now that full blown treachery to the Dark Kingdom was happening, then there's a horse just waiting to be sold. But for now? She takes the seat offered by Koji, and waits patiently - and is glad for the seat, because Himeko and Pyrite together are not... creepy... but it's certainly unsettling that they know about things they should not know about.

Sure, the Silver Crystal, which their enemies are after, and which Usagi dreams about entirely too often - Usagi will circle around to that, when she has Naru safe and sound and cares more about terrifying magical artifacts - but the princess? She hasn't mentioned the princess to anyone.

"How did you..." but she stops. And she swallows.

"Coffee and cream," she says, because she has to trust them. Mamoru, who she will not doubt again, and Himeko-chan who reached out to her, and Pyrite, who is Himeko-chan, and who is here and who helps and who needs help in return. "I'm coffee. Naru is cream. And I'm Usagi-san."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And-- Mamoru's a little lost, but Pyrite, Himeko, and Usagi seem to know what's going on. He offers, "I used to have dreams about a princess. I forgot them when I forgot the rest of me, and Himeko-chan-- part of her was holding all those memories for me." He looks to the two (one) girl(s) and laces his fingers together, sitting forward with his hands on his elbows. "Is that the princess you're talking about, Hime-chan?"

Hime-chan. You little princess.

"Usako-- you'll have to come up with a new password after this," he says with a ghost of a smile.

Pyrite has posed:
    Pyrite and Himeko nod as though they'd been expecting that answer. They also don't immediately reply to Mamoru. Then Pyrite hops down and Himeko stands up, and they move to stand next to each other. After sharing a glance with each other, they look to Sailor Moon and Mamoru. Then they are both surprised. "Usagi-san is Sailor Moon!?" she asks in a whisper-shout so that no one outside the room will hear.
    Pyrite says, "Hm! That explains why Hematite-senpai had such lovey dovey feelings towards both of them!" She is not nearly as quiet as she should be.
    Himeko then cups her chin thoughtfully. "Then that gives me an idea." She holds up her left hand and gives it a stern look. Her fingers start to unravel, and the effect travels all the way down to her forearm, and then up into her shoulder, and as she unravels, she comes back together with fingers of a less pale color, and arms with a bit more muscle to them, and a uniform replaces her jacket, shirt, and jeans, and blonde hair springs from black, and soon--
    Usagi Tsukino stands there, looking at Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru.
    Pyrite undergoes a similar, if more unsettling transformation, turning into a mass of scribbly black lines that draw and redraw themselves over and over every second, as if under the pen of a frantic artist being urged on by voices in his head, and the outline of Pyrite grows and fills out, and her clothing clearly changes, and as the silhouette stabilizes, detailed comes back to her. But she is Sailor Moon. Ish. She's still desaturated in color, and it takes some concentration, for the same vivid brightness of Sailor Moon to appear on her as wel. Even if her hair is black instead of blonde. And even if she has a scar on her left cheek, like Himeko had until moments ago.
    Sailor Moonite and Usagi Himeko nod solemnly to each other.
    "They thought they could use the appearance of our friends against you. But now we will use the same trick against them. When Sailor Moon shows up outside their secret base to challenge them..."
    Pyrite poses and gives a big smile. "And Usagi Tsukino sneaks in through the back to rescue Naru."
    Then the both of them say at once. "And then the real Sailor Moon will punish Sunbreaker in the name of the Moon!"
    Both not-Usagi and not-Sailor Moon pose this time.
    The smiles on their faces then disappear, as each of them reverts back to their original appearance, with signs of mild fatigue in Himeko, and Pyrite just look slightly disoriented by the sudden shift in height.
    Himeko looks at Pyrite.
    Pyrite looks at Himeko.
    They nod to each other, then Himeko looks towards Mamoru. Her more alive-colored but still pale skin goes even paler as her red eyes widen, in shock and realization. "The Princess... The one from your memories... Were you looking for me? For... That? The... The Princess of light from inside the shrine?" She staggers backwards with a hand to her head until she can sit down. She finally understands why this Princess is so important, and why she needs to make sure someone knows to awaken her.
    "Oh... It is so obvious now." Pyrite says suddenly as she looks thoughtfully at Sailor Moon. "It is even in my name."
    Both girls then say synchronized again, one in wonder and one in regret, "I am literally a Princess... Named princess."
    Himeko smiles lop-sidedly. "I have the excuse of not knowing it until now. But I assume the magic that messes with people's minds is responsible for obscuring it for everyone else, huh?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Usagi is Sailor Moon," Sailor Moon says, her smile slanted, not sure how this will help - "Definitely going to need a new password, Mamochan."

This one has certainly served it's purpose, though. She's used it to the best of her ability, and it had kept her from being tricked, from letting Naru go forever -

And then Pyrite absolutely obliterates her brain and every thought she'll ever have again.

"Lovey... dovey... feelings? For both..."

Her entire face is red. Her hands are holding said face. Her eyes are staring at Mamoru -

And then Himeko and Pyrite come apart and transform into her and her brain breaks again, for way worse reasons, watching it. Watching them becom - her.

And proposes an idea.

"And they won't figure out that Usagi Tsukino is Sailor Moon, they'll just know that Sailor Moon wants to make sure that Naru is safe... and we'll beat her so badly, she'll never try to hurt Naru again!" Because even if Naru is mostly just bored, even if that shapeshifter can be trusted -

And then, Himeko is going pale, and saying things, that, Usagi doesn't fully understand, but also that - could make sense. But. Could - could her princess be a ghost? And - could Himeko-chan be her princess? Her name really is Princess -

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Literally all Mamoru can do-- there is so much going on here and legitimately all Mamoru can do is sink down in his chair and cover his red, red face with his hands, and that doesn't hide his ears from being red, and he's absolutely positive he will melt all over the floor and how in the hell will anyone be able to get him out of the floorboards and--

"... maybe if your hair is longer?" he asks a little helplessly of Himeko. And Pyrite. "I don't-- I guess? Sure. I'm sorry, I'm still in linear time. How did you know Usagi and Naru had passwords? Is that from the future, too?"

His face is still red.

He is trying to ignore that.

Pyrite has posed:
    Himeko shakes her head. "I don't know. I learn of the information at some point. I think I might be beyond the point of learning about it now, if it happened in the past." She looks at Pyrite. "She might still be able to, since she is closer to who we were initially."
    Pyrite looks up from fiddling with the ribbon on her uniform, blinks, and asks, "What?"
    Himeko says, "The password. Needing it to convince Naru that I am Usagi so she will trust me and let me help her escape. We haven't found out the password exists or realized we need it yet."
    Pyrite nods firmly, with little-girl determination as she clenches her fists. "Hm! Yes! I understand completely!"
    Himeko seems to take that as settled and smiles at Mamoru. Then she considers the proposal of hair length.
    "I will experiment at another time. I'm still learning how to control my body, and I think messing with it too much will make it harder to function like a living person later on. That's why it's important for me to do what I can now, before the option is lost."
    Pyrite, meanwhile, clasps her hands together in front of herself like she's praying, and closes her eyes. Wind suddenly starts blowing indoors, as it sweeps up the young ghost's hair and blows it out behind her. Her long black hair grows even longer, and her clothes are replaced by a white gown. A red glow surrounds her, giving an ominous feel to whatever's happening. Then she opens her glowing red eyes, and they are fiery in their intensity. She begins to levitate into the air, and the fierce, cold, yet burning gaze of the child becomes more pronounced.
    Her eyes are the narrower, more angular, more sinister ones she had as 'Pyrite the Apprentice Shitennou', rather than the round wide ones of the newly-found Pyrite-the-child.
    She separates her hands and puts them both out to her sides, and then brings them together in front of her chest. The red glow grows as the wind picks up in intensity, swirling all around the room. Something starts to form between Pyrite's hands. A... Suggestion of something. A concept. An almost-was and might-be. But she can't make it become complete. She strains, and it shows on her face as her hands and body tremble from the effort.
    But a SNAP of... Of crimson. The color crimson, snapping, echoes through the dorm room, and the wind stops, and Pyrite stops, and she slowly drifts towards the floor, reverting back to her Shitennou uniform, and looking thoroughly stunned and out of it.
    Himeko appears to have disappeared during this.
    "I cannot be the Princess without my other half. If I wield the Silver Crystal like this, I will bring ruin upon this world beyond what even the Silver Millennium saw. No more than the Shadow that seeks it, by another name. I cannot summon it. I cannot remember it. It is not mine." Pyrite says, speaking formally, and more completely than she normally does in child form.
    The Shitennou uniform wavers and disappears too, returning her to black school uniform.
    Himeko reappears during this process, and promptly barfs all over the floor.
    Oh, geez.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
And Usagi is... baffled. Confused. Doesn't fully understand what's going on. Other words that convey the utter sense of what is happening, insert them here:

"You're... missing another piece of yourself," she tries to understand. And. If Himeko is a ghost... if there's a light in a shrine... maybe... she's been split up, and if they can fix it?

It's too big an idea, too confusing.

What she understands now, is that Himeko doesn't have the Silver Crystal. Can't have it, or something awful will happen?

What's a Silver Millennium?

What she understands now is this is how they save Naru. And there's nothing more important than saving Naru.

Also: Himeko-chan is throwing up. She understands that too.

"Ewww..."