2723/Rooftop Philosophy

Rooftop Philosophy
Date of Scene:	04 August 2025
Location:	Mamoru's Apartment
Synopsis:	Kyouka and Mamoru catch up a little bit.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kyouka Inai

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Back from Crystal Tokyo but not quite in time for his birthday, Mamoru spent the sacred day-of helping dig out King Endymion's thousand-year-old grave of his parents, and repainting the names on the side of the stone for him, as a birthday present to both of them.

Today he's on the roof repotting his roses and trimming them in the shade of the immense orrery with magical alicorn sovereigns hauling the sun and moon across the sky. Wedding presents from Kirakirafantastica, man.

The umbrella's up, and there's a pitcher of strawberry lemonade on the table with some fresh glasses, sweating condensation through the wirework table onto the surface of the roof. The sky's a clear, cloudless blue, and the prince is in cargo shorts and a sleeveless white punk band t-shirt, working on his tan.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    For once it's not entirely out of place for Kyouka to be wearing sunglasses, and she's retired the leather jacket for the time being- she might be overly attached to her fashion accessories, but even she isn't crazy enough to wear a jacket, let alone leather, in the middle of Tokyo's summer. It's not so much the heat which gets you, its the humidity. At least being a native to the city gives you some resistance but nobody is entirely immune.

    She comes onto the roof from the stairwell, pausing a moment when she sees Mamoru working on the roses. She's not surprised to see him, but the reaction indicates she wasn't looking for him but rather came up here for her own reasons.

    "Hey," she calls casually as she crosses towards the shade of the umbrella. "Nice orrery."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yo," says Mamoru, sitting back on his heels, then hauling himself up from sitting on his heels without using his hands, because he's a fit teenaged boy and can get away with that. He's grinning. "Nice knowing what it is. Kazuo loves it. I haven't gotten a clue whether Neph loves or hates it yet."

Dusting his hands off and grinning, he looks -- for a second -- like he might go in for a hug. He doesn't, but the telegraphing of it before the operation was canceled is an indication of the kind of good mood he's in. "So it wasn't just -- I mean, you knew we killed Demande and Saphir, right? But we also killed an immortal and a planet made of dark energy, and met Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion, and saw the city restored, and it was beautiful, I can show you-- wait--"

And he's taking his phone out of his pocket, dirty hands and all, and he queues up the right photos and hands his phone over.

"I mean I could also magically show you but it's hot out and I have dirty hands."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I only know the name, I don't know what it's supposed to do. Something to do with astronomy or something, right?" Kyouka gives a mild shrug. The potential hug is met with potential shying away, possibly mostly because of the sweaty heat and dirt rather than any other reason, but neither occurs.

    She just nods her head a couple times at his list of triumphs, giving him a lopsided smile. "Good job. Killing the bad guys and saving the city is what the job's all about. Sorry I couldn't be of more help during the whole thing."

    The phone is accepted and pictures are scrolled through. "I enjoy the fact that even when we're talking about magical alternate dimensions or time travel or whatever, your smartphone photo roll is still as reliable as ever."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah, it's supposed to show how the solar system works. But like, it's not for this planet or star system," laughs Mamoru about the orrery. Then he listens, and smiles lopsidedly. "Well I mean I can always be like 'exclusive access to a new theme park', or 'it's a movie set I got to visit', there's nothing visibly magic going on in the photos," says Mamoru with a one-shoulder shrug. In there, there is a picture of the sovereigns of the Crystal Millennium, and for Kyouka, seeing the two of them grown up like that, like that, is probably a relief on some level or other. They look like they're in their early to mid 20s.

"I hope their future never happens here, though," he says really softly. "It cost them most of seven billion people to get there. They know what it's like to lose and survive anyway. They know how to rebuild everything from ashes, but it had to be ashes first."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "So, functionally, its just art." Kyouka muses of the orrery. "Well, I've seen uglier rooftop decorations in this city, so I think it's alright."

    In some ways, a picture of grown-up Mamoru and Usagi is comforting. But Kyouka also fully recognizes the fact that this is not the versions of them that she knows, and also that the future is not set in stone. It's a comforting 'might be', but still a 'might be'. Still, they look good.

    At the tale of suffering to build paradise (or, some level of utopia at least), Kyouka shrugs her shoulders. "Nothing lasts forever. People are going to die, one way or the other. We try to prevent it, but a hopeful outcome, no matter the cost, is better than the ashes staying ashes."

    She's not in a particularly gloomy mood or anything, but she clings to the notion that the past is the past and it's what we do with the 'now' that matters. In a way, the story of Crystal Tokyo as it is - rebuilt from ashes and mistakes, is more hopeful to her than one where nothing ever went wrong.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's definitely art. And it looks super Jules Verne, so I'm in favor too," Mamoru says, taking his phone back and pocketing it, then moving over to plunk himself in one of the seats under the umbrella. He pours himself some strawberry lemonade and offers Kyouka some, wordlessly.

"The apocalypse we came to save it from was the second one. They only have Senshi there. So back in 2000 when they had a literal zombie apocalypse, it was a miracle they managed to save like fifty million people. Once we got them their Queen back and she could purify the shit out of everything except Riventon, she was able to bring their empire back from death. I mean, I agree that a bright future happening after awfulness is hopeful and good, but ... I'm not entirely certain that everyone dies sometime, though..." he trails off, looking out over the city.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka will never say no to lemonade, strawberry or otherwise, so she accepts the glass, although she remains standing for the moment. She does take advantage of the shade the umbrella affords.

    "Fifty million people is more than I've ever saved," Kyouka says, as if this is a reasonable comparison, "So were I in a position to judge I would say 'good job'."

    She doesn't initially respond to Mamoru's doubt about the inevitability of death, though after a moment says, "Inevitable until proven otherwise. I've yet to meet anyone who hasn't died at least once, and should have."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"And we did just kill an immortal," Mamoru says decisively after Kyouka amends her statement. "Yes good. And yeah true, I did die once already. And there's no saying how long I would have lived if I hadn't."

He sips his lemonade, cooling off out of the sun, the red tips in his hair bright against the black. His glasses stay dark, and will until he goes back inside, and in the meantime he takes them off to sit up and bend over and wipe his face on his shirt. "Ugh. I'm just going to water them and finish the trimming after the sun goes down."

Finally he says, "I think you've probably saved the world before, and that's a lot more than fifty million people."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka lifts her shoulders in a little shrug. "Dying and being reborn is still dying. And you know.. even if it happens once, twice, ten times, can you ever really know there's no end? You can think it, believe it, even. But the universe is full of surprises. The way I see it, you can never actually know anything until it happens. You can guess and you can believe but." She shrugs.

    "Personally I don't even view that as like, a negative thing. It just means don't make assumptions. It also means that even when it seems like you've lost, don't give up. Because who the hell knows what might happen." She sips from the cold drink, enjoying the tart chilly flavor.

    She smirks a bit at the last statement Mamoru makes. "Maybe, but it's hard to see it that way. I mean, unless you sacrifice yourself in the doing of it, you're saving yourself too. Saving everybody else is just a nice bonus. I dunno, is it weird that I give more 'credit' to someone who salvages a shit situation rather than someone who prevents any such situation from arising in the first place? The latter is objectively the better outcome."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"It's not weird. One is a much longer job that takes a lot of patience, frustration, and exhaustion, and it's ongoing. But I think it's comparing apples and oranges. Everyone has a job to do, and for some people that's saving, and for others it's rebuilding, and for a few people it's both," Mamoru says, surprisingly philosophically for an eighteen year old. He melts a little further into his chair and sips more of his drink.

"Did you meet Kazuo's mom Saori-san yet? She's great. She's on your floor. But she keeps corporate hours, so I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't. Oh, shit, did I tell you about Entrapta's lab getting built on the other side of the building? We're putting all kinds of magical and mundane safeguards in."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka doesn't comment, but honestly feels that anyone who has died and been reborn, seen the (possible) future and gotten married by the time they are 18 is entitled to a little philosophical leaning. She just shrugs, a silent agreement or at least acknowledgement of the point which she doesn't dispute.

    Kyouka gives a little shrug and a grin at the mention of Kazuo's mom. "Oh, I've met in the 'hi, how are you' sense but nothing more than that. She seems nice." She shakes her head at mention of the lab, though. "No, I hadn't heard about that. Doesn't bother me though, if you're concerned. This is still probably the safest place I've lived, magical mad science lab or no."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I was, a bit," Mamoru allows, sitting up again from his melted puddle. "But I'm glad you're not bothered. We have to keep her away from Obsidian and we'd like to keep her on Earth instead of Kirakirafantastica, which is where she's going to go if we can't get her set up." He's quiet for a second, then finishes his strawberry lemonade. "Oh hey, speaking of setting her up -- can I borrow the ratchet old barrier device you were using in the gym before you got a better one from Yuuhi-san? Just until Rashmi-chan gets a better solution. Catra says that Entrapta doesn't tend to explode things, but... to be on the safe side."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I'm not bothered by very much," Kyouka says, untruthfully but not disingenuously. "Besides, in my experience it often pays to keep dangerous assets close to home. Easier to respond to problems."

    When Mamoru asks about the old barrier device, she shrugs a little. "Sure, no problem. I think it's at school, but I can get it for you. I haven't been using it,so it's just been gathering dust."

    A small smirk. "I agree that when magical science is concerned, mad or otherwise, better to be on the safe side."