2600/A New Hich Score

A New Hich Score
Date of Scene:	08 June 2025
Location:	Game Crown Arcade
Synopsis:	Rashmi's day in the arcade is ruined when she spots Seriss taking down Molly's high score on her favorite video game -- but luckily Ahmya and Mamoru are there to help her through it, and New Moon has some words for Seriss.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Skyline, Rashmi Terios, Ahmya Karashima, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino

---

Molly Skyline has posed:
Saturday evening in Tokyo usually means a busy night at the arcades; afterall, they are a perfectly suited to teenagers and adults alike for blowing off steam after a week of school or work. Or whatever else it is that people get up to, like trying to open a fresh portal to Tau and bring back your boss, Mistress 9. Y'know, perfectly normal adult stuff.

But right now, honestly, it looks like a perfectly ordinary night. The arcade machines are behaving themselves quite nicely (and none of them are turning into Youmas, like vending machines) and there's an overall buzz of noise, from machines beeping and buzzing and cries of laughter and sorrow as high scores are made or missed.

Everything seems fine. Even Seriss Nyx is just doing normal stuff; the purple-haired woman dressed for once just in damaged jeans and a cropped t-shirt under a leather jacket, busy at one of the racing games.

Actually, it was Molly's favorite racing game.

And right now Seriss is focused on guiding a blue Nissan skyline around a track, sending it sideways around the corners with a focused look on her face, paying no attention to the big, blocky letters in the top right corner that say '1ST/12'. No, no attention to that at all.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi doesn't go to the arcade just to *play* games. Generally, she goes to be *seriously awful at them.* It's not actually uncommon for her to drift from empty cabinet to empty cabinet, tapping her arcade card against whatever machine strikes her fancy, and bopping away a few minutes later with a pleased smile. If the mood strikes, she'll find her favorite wizard-themed beat-em-up and spend most of the night and *all* of her yen on getting as far as possible; with good help, sometimes she'll even see the ending screen!

At the moment, she's in drift mode, threading through the racing-game aisles, when she passes Molly's favorite... and sees it in action.

Sees it in action using *Molly's car.*

...Rashmi is no longer drifting. She's just standing there a few machines away, waiting with a look of deepest dread on her face as she waits for the player to get up, or look around, or do something to reveal her identity. Because Rashmi has a sinking feeling she knows who it is.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Saturday evening in tokyo was, indeed, a good time for people to go out and about and do things! Which is what Ahmya was actually doing as well, right now. She had just finished a 'shift' at her family shrine where she'd been managing the fortune telling booth as well as occasionally the 'someone to talk to' mini-booth, not really therapy or advice or anything, but just like. For people in frustrating situations who need a neutral person to just sit there and listen. Usually this was handled by one of her parents, of course, but saturdays were busy so occasionally she was asked to sit in.

Mostly, though, that explained why she was wearing fairly traditional clothing as she walks into the arcade, the sight of a young woman in a full face of makeup, wearing a traditional kimono and tied up all properly and beautifully, holding a paper/lace umbrella was likely not the strangest sight -- cosplayers aren't exactly uncommon -- but it was an uncommon enough sight to draw some attention as she steps in, the soft ~clack~ of her geta ringing out, occasionally cutting through the din of the arcade machines and people chatting.

Of course, as usual, she had an eyepatch on covering her one eye, a fairly beautiful silk sash that matched the kimono she was wearing tonight. Let's see... get some food... get a shake... aaaand...

Oh hey is that Rashmi getting up from her game? Looking around too. Maybe she's looking for someone? That one eye starts to roam around the room for someone who she recognized -- as Hachi does her usual invisible crawl along the walls to keep an eye out for danger, just in case.

Hm. Nope, nobody she recognizes, so she opts to just walk over to Rashmi.

"Good evening, Rashmi." She says, dipping into a polite half-bow. Definitely hamming up the super formalwear she was wearing at the moment. Probably at her family's insistence. They were pretty supportive of her usual style, but sometimes, they just wanted to see their little girl being a Proper Little Girl.

"Looking for someone?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
The electronic race contninues for another lap and a half, and then bright yellow letters flash 'WINNER!' in English across the screen, and triumphant music plays. A couple of other players who were participating in the race turn to leave, clearly having had enough of this experience -- but the purple haired woman remains, watching as she's treated to a victory lap and a spinning trophy on screen.

And then she gets asked to leave her name, condensed down to three letters, for the high scores. After that, the top five high scores get displayed on screen:

1. NYX
2. SKY
3. SKY
4. SKY
5. SKY

The woman basks in her victory for a moment longer. Then she turns, and is about to walk away.

Eye contact is made.

"Hello, Rashmi," she greets as she approaches, and bobs her head towards Ahmya, "Fancy seeing you here. Who's your friend?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Hi, Ahmya-chan" Rashmi says around a sigh, breaking her stare to orient on the girl headed her way. "...Wow nice kimono! Um... No, I'm just... sort of..."

Her head turns back to the cabinet, and she chooses her words very, very carefully. "...waiting for bad news."

And of course she wins -- there's at least two-to-five odds that she's bullied Molly into giving her access to her reflexes -- but Rashmi's eyes narrow into furious slits as 'N-Y-X' takes the top spot on *Molly's cabinet.*

A few locks of hair slip free of her plait, as she just *stares* at Nyx for a moment. Finally, she opens her mouth to speak.

"Kinda surprised *you're* here, honestly. Kicking puppies just doesn't have the thrill it used to?"

Tilting her chin up slightly, she shifts just a bit closer to Ahmya, subtly placing herself between Seriss and the mahou miko. "...My friends can speak for themselves."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Hachi had been watching the one that Rashmi had been. A quick communication to Ahmya gave her a general idea of what was most likely going on. Ah, Seriss Nyx feeling the need to prove herself better than her host in every way, most likely. That would explain Rashmi's interest, that look on her face, as well as the familiarity of the figure as she walks over.

Aaah. Seriss Nyx. The thing that had been making those disgusting youma she had fought off and on. The bobbed head is returned with a polite half-bow. "Ahmya Karashima, of the old Karashima shrine." She kept recognition off of her face. She was somewhat used to controlling her emotions, even if she usually didn't bother outside of her shrine maiden duties.

Antagonizing Seriss in the middle of a bustling arcade was a particularly terrible seeming idea, even with her usual disregard for secrecy regarding magic.

"Ahaha, thank you, Rashmi-chan. My parents insisted I wear something 'normal' for once." She says, amusedly. As if wearing a yukata/kimono casually was normal in this day and age, but, well, it was probably good enough for her parents, and she seemed to be enjoying it regardless.

Bad news... yeah. Seriss was pretty close to that, though she was leaning towards her assumption of not needing to act until forced to at this point. Rashmi's response gets a soft exhale from Ahmya, who actually lifts her hand to rest it on Rashmi's shoulder.

She didn't chide her, but there was a gentle squeeze as she looked between her and Seriss, that calm smile staying on her face. "My, you must have done something particularly striking to get a gentle person like Rashmi so upset with you." That movement to place Rashmi between herself and Seriss is noted. Hm. Did she need protecting?

...No.

...Mostly because she decided to lean into her pacifism side of things. Seriss had not forced combat, thus antagonism and combat was unnecessary. "Everyone needs a break, don't they? Even those infused with the darkness." Oh. There's the chuuni slipping out.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss arches an eyebrow. "The old Karashima Shrine? I've never been there, I'll have to give it a visit. A pleasure to meet you, Ahmya. Well; meet you outside of combat, at least, I get the sense we have crossed swords already, so to speak." She flashes a grin, "And battle is just so invigorating, don't you think? The rush of adrenaline, spell hurled back and forth, a chance to show your opponent just how strong you are... Truly, nothing else like it."

"Oh, but your temple," she continues, "What should I see, when I swing by? I won't be able to go in the next... oh, week or so, I'm terribly busy. You understand." She waves a hand dismissively, "I just had some extra time this afternoon while I let my employees tidy things up on one of my projects. I'll let you see the finished product in a few days."

And then, her gaze falls back upon Rashmi, and she sighs. "Really, Rashmi. We must learn to get alogn better. I know you're upset, but the situation we're in here... it isn't going to change. You'd be much happier if you accepted the new reality and moved on. ...And, no, I don't kick puppies. I love puppies. They're just... so cute, aren't they? So are cats. Maybe I'll get a kitten, it'd be nice to have a pet, and Obsidian is rather lacking in cats these days."

The purplenette looks over her shoulder, scanning the room, and shrugs lightly. "Well we're here. What's your favorite cabinets? We might as well have a game. I'll buy."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
For Rashmi, this is very much like having an angel on one shoulder, and a devil on the other. Ahmya's conciliatory gesture gets an immediate reaction, and an apologetic look from over her shoulder. But then Seriss *opens her mouth,* and there's a part of Rashmi that just hears 'punch me in the mouth punch me in the mouth you know you want to punch me in the mouth.'

But Ahmya's *right there,* and being antagonistic would be counter-productive.

But Seriss is *still talking.*

"...Seriss if you weren't *squatting in my best friend's body* I might be interested in getting along," she says finally, completely ignoring any talk about it being a permanent thing.

Frankly at this point if Seriss told Rashmi the sky was blue, Rashmi would go outside and compare hex codes just to verify.

But one *has* to acknowledge the offer of a funded game. "...I'll just watch, thanks. It'd be rude to waste your money when I wouldn't be having fun."

Unspoken: But I'm not leaving you alone with *another* friend.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"You likely wouldn't find much of particular interest there. It's a small shrine to a kami of harvest." Ahmya responds calmly. "...A battle is something to be avoided, when one can. Seeking one out unnecessarily risks lives." Ahmya continues, though there is a very slight undercurrent below her voice. Not quite anger, not quite a threat, but a quiet tenseness.

Her almost reflexive introduction may have just potentially painted a target on her family shrine. And if such a thing happened, if Seriss Nyx was going to threaten her family, well.

...

She didn't even really want to think about that. Instead, that undercurrent faded as she continues. "We have somewhat of the standard things ones expects of a shrine. Fortunes, a place to pray, a donation box. When there are festivals, we have some food stalls that set up. It's a quiet little place. Peaceful."

And she'd like to keep it that way. Even if she somewhat agreed with Rashmi's internal -- and external -- sentiment towards Seriss.

"I generally prefer the rhythmn games. Not the dancing one, the button ones, generally." Dancing in a yukata would be ... easier said that done, really. It did kind of restrict her movements when she wasn't magically enhanced as Yorotsuchi. It was around then her snacks and her milkshake that she'd ordered arrived, a small sip of her milkshake taken.

Mmm. Tasty.

That hand leaves Rashmi's shoulder, though there was a little wave out of the corner of her eye as Hachi let herself be more visible for a half second. Just a little wave of 'don't worry I'm keeping an...'

'Eye on things'.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss lets out a patient sigh, and shakes her head, "Rashmi, you are admittedly a little on the young side to be worrying about blood pressure, but you really must watch your stress levels. it's not good for you."

"And your fmaily shrine sounds delightful. ...I'll keep an eye, next time there's a festival I'll drop by and try the food. I do love trying different things, this world has so much to offer, don't you agree? I found a place that does Mexican food the other day. Burritos! They seem so simple but they're so pleasing to eat."

The purplenette gestures to Ahmya, "But, by all means, lead on. Take us to your absolute favorite, I'd love to give it a try with you."

"Oh, and Rashmi; don't worry. Molly's in quite good hands, I assure you. She's not in any pain at all." She adjusts the spectacles sitting on her nose -- like what Molly would have worn, the same round lenses, just with the wrong color frames -- and offers a pleasant smile. "If there's anything you'd like to say to her, I can pass on the message. It's easy, you see, she's practically with me all the time."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
With every couple sentences that Seriss speaks -- that poisoned honey just *dripping* from her lips -- another hair springs free of Rashmi's plait.

But Ahmya wants this to be peaceful, and if she's to be perfectly honest with herself... so does Rashmi. It's just *so hard* given that the *one person* who could ruin her entire day with a smile happens to be occupying this arcade.

Touching things.

Speaking.

*Playing Molly's games.*

**Wearing her glasses.**

***Breathing the air.***

And she doesn't deserve a *nanosecond* of any of these experiences.

But she *won't listen.*

Inner conflict, thy name is Rashmi.

But finally, *finally* she manages to unbend enough to speak again... Though not, perhaps, to Seriss herself. "...Molly, you're my best friend and I wish I could pull her out of you *right now.* But hold on until we can."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"We try to be welcoming of all visitors, so long as they do not cause problems." Ahmya responds, her tone retaining that relatively polite friendliness. Not quite holding Seriss at arm's length, but definitely a little bit of that practiced calm kindness in her voice. "This world does have many wonderful things, yes. It's why it is a place worth preserving and cherishing, for sure." Ahmya adds in, gently.

She didn't have much hope for getting Seriss to cease all operations peacefully, however, if there is even a thread of hope, one must tug upon it and attempt to find its core. If nothing else, it is better to have a villain looking to RULE the world, rather than destroy it.

...Much easier to fix in the long run, as well. A thought that gets the very slightest exhale, as she offers some of her snacks to share. "Have you tried fried cheese curds yet? I find the way that they kind of squeak a little bit against your teeth a bit fun."

She starts to walk towards said cabinet. "Oh, and, don't uh. Don't expect too much of me -- I used to be much better at it, but only being able to see half the world is a bit inconvenient for the game. I have to play at an odd angle to see the whole thing, too." It was half an excuse so she could stand at an angle to keep Seriss in her visual range once she was there, but also a carefully curated truth.

Ahmya didn't particularly love lying, after all. The arcade cabinet she leads them to is ... one of those ones that has a bunch of anime songs, and some Hatsune Miku theming to it as well.

What? She's the grandmother of virtual viewtubers for a reason. Girl has some virtual pipes on her.

It's... not /entirely/ that Ahmya wants this to be peaceful, but the risks outweighed the rewards of starting a fight here. Two mahou. One dark general, and, by Hachi's count, no less than 15 or 20 innocents that could potentially be harmed before any form of barrier could go up, if Seriss really wanted to.

It wasn't quite like being held hostage.
They could technically leave whenever they wanted to.
But that, in and of itself, was a risk.
Because then, what happens if Seriss gets bored?

"..." Ahmya quietly decides, though, that she doesn't know Molly well enough to really... butt into the interaction between Seriss and Rashmi, instead getting into place at the arcade game. Not really one of those 'versus' games, though there were two side-by-side for semi-competition since it still had scores and a leaderboard.

And once the game started -- she chose something incredibly peppy and up-beat, she was decent, but like she said.

...Only seeing half the world did have its downsides, and while she compensated fairly well, she semi-consistently would miss about half of the furthest notes.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss smiles pleasantly, perhaps a little bit condescendingly, at Rashmi. "I'll tell her," she replies. "Well; maybe just the bit that won't get her hopes up. Otherwise it would be cruel, don't you think?"

And then she leaves the racing game behind, still blinking the top five scores with her name at the top, and follows Ahmya to the game of her choice, popping one of the cheese curds in her mouth, immediately taking on a thoughtful look. "...It does squeak," she agrees, and pops another one past her lips. "But it isn't unpleasant. And they do taste quite good. Thank you, Ahmya, I appreciate you sharing those with me. Very generous of you." She reaches up to adjust her glasses, and the back of her hand bumps her earring -- the solitaire earring with the corrputed version of what used to be Starcrash's jewel. Of course she'd never be without it, just like Molly never was. "Perhaps we can meet for food another time, mm? There's this curry place I've been told is absolutely divine, I've been meaning to go there and try it. Perhaps after my next big milestone. I'm quite close already."

And, true to her word, she pays for both games.

"Are you sure you'd rather not play, Rashmi?" She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Suit yourself. Another round later, perhaps? I imagine I'll be here all night. You're not into the racing games I don't imagine, you strike me as more someone into the adventure games. Come on, at leastt tell me which is your favorite."

If she knows how particularly Ahmya is keeping an eye on her, she either doesn't show it, or doesn't care. Her attention is focused on the game; and at first, she struggles. This wasn't the sort of game Molly would ever have picked either, but she'd play if her friends wanted to, naturally. But either she did bully Molly into giving up her reflexes or she just has her own, because she gets the hang of it very quickly and before long she's well on her way to racking up a high score.

"Oh I see how this works," she muses once she starts donig well. "This is a good game, Ahmya, excellent choice."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...I'm sure," Rashmi says, crossing her arms and watching Serris at play. Which is *so.* *Galling.*

It's times like this Rashmi can actually understand what is going on in Catra's head; if it were *her* instead, she's probably be flying at Seriss' face in a mad rush of steel-rending claws, fire, and sword-work. ...Which wouldn't accomplish anything *helpful* but hey 'Catra' and 'catharsis' start the same in English, is that a sign?

Probably not.

Seriously could this evening get *any worse* than to find out Seriss intends to be here all night?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"--eaming isn't the same without you. I mean... oh, hey, Rashmi-chan! And-- Karashima-san? And... oh," says Mamoru, as Prince Endymion teleports the two of them into the center of Game Center Crown, then drops henshin completely into a black cotton yukata with hand painted mauve roses climbing over his shoulder and down his back, a wine red obi, and velcro strap sandals. There's a black moon on his forehead that strangely looks a little lopsided...

...and he's holding New Moon's hand, his phone in the other, even as the gold motes of sparkling light from his teleport and de-henshin finally fade. That 'oh' is doing some heavy lifting as he gives the daimon woman an arch look. "Seriss Nyx."

He glances down and to one side at New Moon and raises his eyebrows. "Remember where we are."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's - oh," and the conversation they were having, is cut off, as New Moon's attention fixes from Mamoru to the other powerful dark energy presence. Unlike Mamoru, who is easily recognizable to most of those present, New Moon is not recognizable, save as a girl about their age, with shoulder-length pink hair, a black dress, and a straw hat with a mauve ribbon wrapped around it. Her face is hard as she stares at Seriss Nyx, blue eyes flinty.

"What's she doing here?" She asks Rashmi and Ahmya, not taking her eyes off the bodysnatcher. Mamoru's hand is squeezed, and there's a faint flash of annoyance in the contact - mostly because the reminder is reasonable and she can't pick a fight, because Wicked Lady likes this place.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
Look, if she's going to be playing with Seriss, it's good to be able to see her too. She'd even picked the machine that had Seriss on her good side so she could do just that! She does listen to Seriss, and that talk of the cheese curds and the squeak. "Yeah, it's like... a nice squeak! And of course the cheese is tasty." She says, her tone taking on ... less of a practiced cheer, and more of an actual cheer. "Hm. In that case, we should trade phone numbers and see about meeting up to spend time together, to eat, and such."

.o(Nicomachea? Hey? Are you listening? Heeeeey? Hello? Helllooooo??? If you're listening please let Rashmi know I have a plan and I'm not just being stupid -- I mean I am being stupid but it's a tactical stupid and I'm going to take steps to make sure that it goes as minimally poorly as possible.)

"It's a surprisingly good way to train your reflexes and get in some exercise, and you barely notice it too because you can just bop along to the music." She responds to Seriss about the game, giving an agreeable nod. "You really pick things up quickly, too, it seems." She's letting her emotions become more genuine gradually, less controlled and measured.

This is going to suck this is going to suck this is going to suck.

"You said you like animals too, right? I know a good places to go enjoy the wildlife, there's so many fascinating animals and bugs around here."

Oh there's no way this isn't going to go poorly at all in the long run. Is she going to have to interact with the bad side for this a lot more? Who can she even remotely trust over there? ... Didn't Mamoru used to be with them? Maybe she can go to him for advice.

Aaaaaaaaaaa

And then, as if he heard her wish, there was, very suddenly a Mamoru there right in the middle of the Game Crown!

...Huh.
Maybe her kami heard her internal flailing and decided to throw her a bone?

"Hello, ... Chiba-san?" She says towards Mamoru, her tone half-questioning if she should call him something else. Luckily there were probably other Chibas in town somewhere so it wasn't /entirely/ exposing him to call him that.

She waits until she finishes out her game, having done pretty decently, enough that she gets ON the leaderboard, though nowhere near the top, in the top 20. And then turns so that she can dip into a polite bow towards Wicked Mask and the other new arrival next to him. "It's wonderful to see you again, as well as your friend...?" She says, by way of indirectly asking New Moon's name. The question of what she's doing here gets a helpless shrug.

"Enjoying the arcade and taking a break from her work, evidently. Not that she can't speak for herself, of course." She gives New Moon an equally polite bow as she had given towards Mamoru.

Hachi, meanwhile, has started to make herself extra invisible in the corner because, well, she has instincts. And those instincts scream 'Nope' and the only thing keeping her from absolutely abandoning the scene is Ahmya's presence.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss comes to the end of her game a little after Ahmya, and after entering in 'NYX' once again it's revealed that on her cabinet, she got a score that slots her into 9th place. "Not bad for a first go," she muses. "And yes, Ahmya, I do pick things up quickly. I am extremely intelligent and this body has phenomenal reflexes, I have to say. That part never gets old."

The dark general of the day turns around, resting against the arcade game that's behind her now; she holds the bag of cheese curds, popping one in her mouth and chewing it placidly as she regards the newly arrived New Moon and Mamoru with his crudely applies crescent moon.

"Must be more friends of yours," she comments to Rashmi, casting a sideways smile in her direction, and eating another curd. "Well, it is always good to have more company," she pronounces, "But unless we're all going to pile into one of the banks of racing games, there might be a few too many of us now to all participate in the same game."

Seriss pulls out her phone, regarding it and the text message that just made it buzz, and tucks it back in her pocket. "...Hmmm? Trade phone numbers?"

Seriss tilts her gaze back to Ahmya, and taps her chin, "Oh... I don't know. If you want to get ahold of me you can always just call Obsidian Tower, I'm not sure I like the idea of handing out my cellphone number quite so easily. But I suppose you have until the end of the evening to convince me."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'What's *she* doing here?'

* Usurping Molly's high scores.
* Ruining my night.
* Revealing heretofore untapped vistas of hate and resentment in my heart.
* Begging for a broken everything.
* Torturing me *and* Molly with the knowledge that any fight I start would be worse than useless for either of us.
* Promising to visit my and Ahmya's family businesses like it wasn't a threat.

Rashmi could say a *lot* of things to answer that question, but the one she seems to settle on is a ground-out;

"Existing."

Which is perfectly factual and neutral and really, isn't that crime enough?

Which is when it occurs to her that it is in fact Mamo-kun's *new friend* that asked, and a half-dozen new hairs pop out of her plait... which is looking fairly fuzzy, all things considered. Closing her eyes, she follows her own advice to Koji and mentally counts to twenty-one by threes, then back down again, to put her mood somewhere north of 'Find Hawkmoth, pick him up by his neck, and shake until the power to *stop all this corruption nonsense once and for all* falls out.'

At which point she turns to New Moon, clasps her hands together, and bows deeply. "Thank you for taking care of Usa-chan, New Moon-san. She means a very lot to me."

And a truly *poisonous* glare is thrown Seriss' way, but sadly there's no translation, even in the Lexicon of Teenage Sighs, that could possibly match the thoughts running through her head at the moment.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
His hand is tight on New Moon's too; she can tell he's angry, but a calm sort of anger that he's already in the process of burying. Mamoru looks thoughtful, instead, after she asks her question. He glances toward Ahmya again and frowns a little when he hears her explanation. "Mamoru is okay," he tells her, "but she also seems to be tormenting Rashmi-chan... would either of you like to come with us?"

The vibe though his touch is a somewhat desperate Can we go? We can go, right? We don't want to make a mess, can we go? There are innocents here, Veiled but not protected, except by us not starting a fight-- can we go?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's no problem," New Moon says, briefly startled from her glowering at Seriss Nyx in favor of regarding Rashmi. "Usa-chan is important to Wicked Lady, so it's only natural that I'd keep her safe! And don't worry, Nyx, I don't want to play games with you. I can tell you'd be a sore winner and a sore loser."

She hmphs, pointedly casting her opinion away from Nyx, and to Mamoru - sure, we can go, I don't like her. If you want the rest of them to go, I could take them, but Rashmi probably wants to keep glaring at her for a while.

And one way or another, the second he gives the inclination again, she'll leave him with, teleporting.

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"'Not bad' is an understatement, 9th place on the first go is pretty good, even if it's something you're already kind of used to. They have some all sorts of difficulties of songs too, so there's tons of replayability and different difficulty levels and such." Ahmya responds to that. The talk about her being extremely intelligent and the phenomenal reflexes is noted, though Ahmya gives a polite smile at that part. A part of her wants to chide Nyx. But pushing too far is a bad idea. "Well... yes. Trading phone numbers would make it a lot easier for us to arrange going out for curry and such, after all." You can always call Obsidian Tower. Hm. Well... that's... sure a thought. 'Hi, evil lair of the evil evils, I'd like to talk with your evil general, Seriss Nyx and ask her out to hang out!' ... ...

You know it's kind of funny enough that she might try it sometime just to see the response. "...Anyway, you know. I... well, it would make it much easier to get to know each other." She says towards Seriss, flashing a smile, that light purple eye of hers raising to meet hers.

Rashmi ends up introducing New Moon to her indirectly, which is noted quietly. Rashmi seemed to be focusing elsewhere right now, so she decides to let her focus on /less/ frustrating things. Like Wicked Mask and New Moon. Who... are about to leave. Hm. Gone as soon as they arrived. "I'm alright, in all honesty." Though she'd understand if Rashmi left. Rashmi is taking this less well. "I can't help but be curious about the whole situation later, though." She comments, her eye going to New Moon with a curious look -- but not an unfriendly one. "So I might try to get in contact with the both of you, when you're not busy." Though it was more subterfuge so she could talk with Mamoru.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Well, they were here... very briefly," Seriss observes, as Mamoru and New Moon both teleport back out again. "And she was rude. Could you believe that? I don't believe I'm a sore winner or a sore loser." She pauses, and smiles at Rashmi.

"Now now. People exsist, and sometimes people we don't like very much exist, and that's their right, isn't it? If we went around doing away with people we don't like because they exist, pretty soon we'd run out of people, wouldn't we?"

Seriss pops a cheese curd in her mouth, and tilts her gaze back to Ahmya. She hmms, and taps her bottom lips as she eats the curd. "Alright," she says at last. "Phone numbers... I'll think about it. And don't worry, if I decide it's a good idea, I know where to find you."

At about that moment, her phone buzzes again, and she pulls it out to look at it.

"Well! Looks like I'm needed again. You two go on and have fun."

As she speaks, a soft, purplish glow forms and intensifies around her, before she, too, teleports out, leaving Rashmi and Ahmya on their own again.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
And she's gone, just like that.

*Always,* just like that.

And she didn't even have the common decency to eat a plasma lance or .50 cal grenade before she did, this time. Not like anything *Rashmi* could do would ever wipe that smug smile off her face.

Wow it really *is* like being in her old high school except the bully is pointing a gun in her face. And her friend's faces. And talking idly about going to *her family's restaurant* and just... having a gun, there.

Rashmi does not realize she is vibrating in place, until she opens one hand and sees just a little bit of blood trickling from the pad of her thumb.

"...Huh. Ahmya-chan, are you okay? Because... I don't think I am."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The moment he has his answers about whether or not they're going, yes, Mamoru teleports out with Usagi.

A moment after Seriss teleports out, Mamoru walks back in through the doors in his yukata, the moon wiped off his forehead. "Do you--" he starts, looking around, seeing the crowd, seeing no Seriss, and his eyes settle on Rashmi and Ahmya.

He starts back over to them, lifting a hand. "Sorry about that. I did not want a fight. Oh--"

He's over there, and he holds out his hand to Rashmi, "You look like hell, want a shortcut to temporary equilibrium?"

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"Yeah, it was... pretty in and out, for sure." Ahmya comments towards Seriss thoughtfully. The talk of people existing is listened to, and frankly she can't argue with that argument, which luckily was /not/ directed at her, so she just opts to not. "Alright, well! ... I guess I'll have to try calling the tower to arrange something, later, then." It seems like she doesn't intend to let that thread go.

Just ignoring it would be bigger folly, after all. "Goodbye, Seriss." She says, actually politely half-bowing as the demoness teleports away.

...After she's sure Seriss is gone, she then pulls out her phone and quickly works out a text to send off, as Rashmi recovers from the ordeal. Once she's done with the text, she reaches her hand to rest it lightly on Rashmi's back.

"I'm alright. My shrine maiden training came in handy, you never know who will show up at shrines, so the ability to remain calm at all times in all situations is pretty important."

She says evenly, holding up a packet of fries. "Fries?" She offers.

And then Mamoru was back! Again! ...Well, that... might make things interesting, since she just texted him. Huh. "I won't complain. It certainly wasn't how I expected tonight to go."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh good," Rashmi says faintly to Ahmya's answer, looking down at the offered fries as a complicated look crawls over her face. When Mamoru re-enters, sans crescent moon, the pink-frosted noodle gets a look of almost heartbreaking confusion, as she holds out a hand to him -- but stopping just short of taking his.

"I'm *too angry to eat,*" she says in a shivering voice. A very, very good indicator of not only what Rashmi's going through, but what Mamoru will be in for if he takes her hand.

And, somehow, one doubts she'd blame *anyone* for passing that up.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There-- Mamoru gives Rashmi a look that can only be described as gentle, and he reaches to bridge the gap and take Rashmi's hand, eyes closing. "It felt like that might as well have happened today," he tells Ahmya ruefully, now already a little distractedly.

What Rashmi gets is, first, just the feeling of home and respite, the feeling of a real connection that's almost tangible between her and her parents in that direction, Chrono in that direction, Molly in that other direction--

--and then their awareness dives into the structure of the floor, into the foundation, the sidewalk and street, the earth beneath it. The earth! The connections are also connected strongly to the Earth that now surrounds them; everyone is, everyone on the planet is connected to it, even the visitors and the new residents...

Then below, well under the streets, around the edges of tunnels, through rock and underground water and bedrock, and all the way out to the bay, and beyond the bay across the ocean floor and beneath that and further away, the Pacific Rim, the tectonic activity--

...then they withdraw carefully but quickly enough, and the connections are golden and the lives at the ends of them bright. And then Mamoru opens his eyes and looks a little wry. "Figured you could use some... grounding."

Ahmya Karashima has posed:
"...I don't love faking a smile, to be honest. But, well, it's better than a fight." Ahmya continues gently. At least she'd done her best to direct Seriss' attention her way, even if it only helped so much. "...At least, well. ...In this situation." She lowers her hand at the 'too angry to eat' comment. And Rashmi's actions where she reached out towards Mamoru and then hesitates.

"...Wait, was he /not/ talking about teleportation??? I just assumed we were going to get taken to an onsen or a nice pond or somewhere with lots of cheap, breakable pottery or something."

And then there was... Something happening, and Mamoru's answer to her goes unreplied to. Ahmya, instead, just opts to fall quiet, while she might not have Known what was going on, she also knew enough to know that this was something to not distract from, and instead she quietly goes over to get drinks for the both of them. And then, once the two are done with their Moment, she would quietly hold out the drinks to them. Something she knew Rashmi likes, and then for Wicked Mask, who she knew less well, she opted for something safe.

... A sprite or sprite-adjacent drink.

Both in to-go cups, in case Rashmi and Mamoru didn't feel up to having them immediately.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi closes her eyes against the sheer *strength* of those connections... though she can't help but feel a pang of sick resentment as the connection to Molly, strong though it may be, reminds her that everything Molly has touched, Seriss seems to delight in defiling with her very presence. Still... There's her family, there's Chrono, and everyone and everything anf it's *not* all at once, just present enough to be *felt* if not fully *understood.*

And when contact is broken, a tear falls from Rashmi's eye before it opens... and she can't *help* but give a short, wet laugh at Mamoru's joke. "Yeah... I think I did. Thank you, Mamo-kun..."

And there's Ahmya with a melon soda and Rashmi is *grateful beyond words,* as the impulsive hug clearly shows. "I feel..."

Her stomach growls.

"...like kara-age. Want some, Ahmya-chan? I'm buying... I'd ask you too, Mamo-kun, but I feel like you were here on business?"

Either way, after the rough night she just had... It's proof that friends are the best thing to have, that it's not so rough anymore.